December 22, 2017

thejewishpress AN AGENCY OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OMAHA

this week

RBJH celebrates Hanukkah Page A8

A story of long lost family

GABBy BlAIR Staff Writer, Jewish Press magine the classic family reunion; Immediate and extended family members get together to reminisce and catch up on life.

Now imagine a family reunion where all are strangers... 500 relatives traveling from six continents, 15 counties and over 50 cities to meet in London. A gathering so monumental that it was covered by BBC! Last year, to satisfy the curiosity of her daughter, Sue Rubin decided to submit her DNA to Ancestry.com. “My results came back with thousands of possible matches for family members. I was shocked,” she says. Born to Betty and Bus Rubin, Sue grew up in Omaha and had many family members and cousins and was under the impression that she knew them all. As a result of the DNA testing, Sue received a phone call one day from a gentleman named See Rubin: long lost family page A2

Sue and Betty Rubin

Dara Rosenberg wins Elie Wiesel called it night Outstanding Alumni Award

Annual Chabad Hanukkah Parade Page B2

inside Viewpoint Synagogues Life cycles

Sue and Betty Rubin:

D ECEMBER 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 | 4 T EV ET 5 7 7 8 | V O L. 9 8 | NO . 1 1 | 2 SECT IO NS | c A nD lelI G h tI nG | FRID AY , D ECEMBER 2 2 , 4 : 4 1 P. M.

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Hanukkah Extravaganza Pages A4 & A5

WWW.JEWISHOMAHA.ORG

SPonSoReD By the BenjAmIn AnD AnnA e. WIeSmAn FAmIly enDoWment FunD

B4 B6 B7

GABBy BlAIR Staff Writer, Jewish Press Dara Rosenberg, daughter of Maynard and Sylvia Rosenberg of Omaha, was recognized as one of this year’s Outstanding Alumni Award Winners at the 2017 Burke Bash on Nov. 17.

Each year at the Burke Bash, e Burke PTO, in conjunction with the Burke Alumni Association, strive to honor alumni who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments or service in their respective fields. Rosenberg (class of 1998), a Buffet Award winning science teacher in Omaha Public Schools at Alice Buffett Magnet Middle School, was flattered to be one of this year’s honorees.

An active member of the Ne-

Dara Rosenberg braska science community, Rosenberg has demonstrated exceptional service in support of the advancement and continued excellence of Omaha Public Schools. She has helped cra science curriculum for both OPS and the state of Nebraska at the middle and high school level, and her bio is rich with her many accomplishments, highlighting her passion as a teacher, stating: “Dara inspired and led a team to create the OPS BLAM curriculum which utilizes lowest performing indicators See Dara Rosenberg page A3

Auschwitz II Barracks Credit: Lankhorst/Wikimedia Commons RIchARD FellmAn e recent trip I took to Prague, A trip to the great cities of CenWarsaw, Krakow and Budapest tral and Eastern Europe by a Jew was no exception to that demoraltoday can’t be considered comizing rule, even though in years plete without a visit to whatever past I’ve been to a number of Nazi killing site is in the path of those hideous places. In past travel, however difficult and howyears, I’ve visited Dachau near ever sad that visit might be, for the Munich, Germany, Babi Yar in history of European Jewry and its Kiev, Ukraine, and the forest outsudden demise in the middle of side the shtetl of Lechovitz, in the 20th Century has no parallel Western Ukraine, once the home in the thousands of years of Jewish of the Fellman family and where life, and those death camps tell the Nazi hordes shot and killed the story of Judaism’s destruction by Jews of that and neighboring vilthe Nazis of Germany. lages in 1941, before the large See night page A6 Still the Remnant remains.

A2 | The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017

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Kukla family reunion

Continued from page A1 Howard Coleman from Chicago. Coleman introduced himself as her long -ost cousin and explained that he had been studying the genealogy of the Kukla family. His search led him to Ian Levine, an esteemed British record producerturned-historian and Kukla family expert; as it turns out, Sue’s family tree grew far past Omaha.

For the past 20 years, Levine has been researching his family’s tragic past. As a child in a relatively small family, Levine recalled stories told by his grandmother, Golda Cooklin, of the once large and formidable Kukla family. He also heard painful stories of how most of his family was wiped out, sent to their deaths in Auschwitz, while others were burned alive aer being locked in the great Choral Synagogue, in Riga, Latvia. As Levine grew older, his curiosity about his family grew as well; what had happened to them? Was it possible that fragments or records related to his kin were out there somewhere? What if some had managed to survive? Upon the death of his grandmother, Levine began working in earnest, gathering names, dates and notes; his tireless search for answers led him on a journey he could have hardly imagined at the outset.

Starting with his own immediate family, Levine knew that his own great-great-great grandfather Mordechai had nine sons born in Latvia between 1821 and 1845; Levine’s own great-great grandfather, Hatzkel, and his brothers Berka, Hirsch, Dov-Azriel, Elikim, Josel, Leizer, Yehuda and Abram. Hatzkel, born in 1839, immigrated to England, a move that likely saved his descendants’, including Levine’s, lives from the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Making it his life’s work, Ian went on to successfully track down living descendants from each of the nine sons of Mordechai, no small feat considering the obstacles he faced.

His search has taken him around the world with one branch of the family, those born to Elia, grandson of Hirsch Kukla, making their way to Nebraska. e descendants of this branch include Betty Rubin (nee Kuklin), her daughter, Sue, and their extended families. “It was really exciting and quite remarkable,” exclaimed 93-year-old Betty Rubin, when asked what she thought about having family all over the world. “I always knew my father, Davol “Willie” Kuklin, and his 11 to 18 siblings (there are discrepancies on the number

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of siblings) fled Latvia due to violence against his family that resulted in the death of one of his brothers, but I had no idea how extended our family was around the world.”

Betty Rubin’s uncle, whom immigrated earlier, sponsored the rest of the siblings, most of who settled in Nebraska.

Willie Kuklin married a Polish woman, Yetta Everakes, of Chicago, and the couple made their home in Omaha, where he worked as a butcher at the Central Market.

In July 2017, Sue traveled to meet Ian Levine and over 500 of her other newly-found family members in England for a family reunion unlike any the world has ever seen. “It was really amazing and quite overwhelming,” exclaims Sue, who was thrilled to meet many long-lost cousins. Her mother Betty lamented that she was unable to attend, “If I was a few years younger I would have loved to go. I always loved traveling and what an opportunity! I am so glad Sue was able to make it.” Indeed, Sue took off for Europe, but before heading to England, she stopped first in Poland. “I went to Auschwitz. It was a terrible and compelling tour. I remember thinking to myself how grateful I was that my grandparents had emigrated away from these areas before World War II; it never occurred to me to check the list of names because I did not know that I had family members lost in Auschwitz.” Sue continued on her journey, arriving in London a few days later. “I recall sitting in this great big reunion hall, with other family members from all over the world and this elderly man gives testimony about surviving the Holocaust. I was just shocked. Knowing that our family had indeed been so terribly impacted, even distantly, was a concept I have been struggling with ever since.”

Since last summer’s reunion, Sue has stayed connected with many family members all over the world. “It is truly amazing to me how just one family can migrate so far, all over the world, and that one person, Ian Levine, could have such drive and tenacity to connect us all through his research; it is just mind boggling.” Two of the most important messages that Rubin took away from the reunion are, first, “we are all so much more connected than I could have ever imagined;” secondly, Rubin says, “In spite of pogroms, and persecution; in spite of the Holocaust and those who sought to destroy the Jews of Latvia and elsewhere, we are still here, and we are thriving!”

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Millie Altman turns 105

The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017 | A3

surrounded by friends and family, Millie Altman celebrated her 105th birthday at the rose Blumkin jewish home, thursday, Dec 14.

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community

Dara Rosenberg

continued from page A1 in math and science and Greek and Latin roots to increase achievement. At the time of its implementation, it helped to increase achievement in Science, Math and Reading at two OPS high schools by 8% & 15% on the State NeSA exam. From 2007-2016 Dara served as the coordinator of the Buffett Science and Engineering fair growing it from two grade levels and 50 students to more than 300 students participating in grades 68 and now comprising the largest middle school fair in the state. Over the last 10 years, Dara has had over 200 students participate at the Metropolitan Science & Engineering Fair (MSEF) and has coached 13 students into top five placements at both MSEF & NJAS. Further, one of the high school projects she coached was flown on STS-134, the final mission of the space shuttle Endeavour and was later presented in Vancouver, B.C., at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting. Dara serves as a Science Matters Network Key Leader, member of the Metropolitan Science & Engineering Fair Board, and both the Nebraska Department of Education and OPS standards adoption committee.

In 2012, Dara was the recipient of a science immersion learning experience with the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium traveling across South Africa to create a program for teachers comparing current savannah habitat with ancient Nebraska sa-

vannah habitat. In the lead up to last summer’s solar eclipse, Dara worked to create “Buffett’s Got Sol”, a cross-curricular building-wide initiative for 1,200 students to experience the Solar Eclipse as a Buffett Magnet Middle School Community. According to Rosenberg, “is all-day event included educating students and staff on safely viewing a solar eclipse and creating multi-disciplinary lessons dedicated to the advancement of eclipse knowledge through lessons in Science, Mathematics, History, Art and Digital Media. Buffett’s Got Sol was included as an official NASA viewing site, featured in the Omaha World Herald and featured throughout the day by WOWT 6 News during their statewide coverage of the Eclipse.” Dara was utilized as an on-air expert of eclipse happenings.

Rosenberg has served as Buffett’s assistant swimming coach for the past six years and currently is in her first year as head coach. is season, her team hopes to defend their six-year title as city champions.

When she isn’t busy coaching or teaching the scientists of tomorrow, Dara enjoys volunteering as an ambassador for Omaha Performing Arts and is an avid traveler.

jewish press Notices

The Jewish Press will be closed on Mondays, Dec. 25, 2017 and jan. 1, 2018.

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A4 | The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017

The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017 | A5

hanukkahextravaganza

T

he Jewish Federation of Omaha hosted its annual Hanukkah Extravaganza Sunday, Dec. 10 to celebrate the 2018 Kids Campaign which raised funds for Hanukkah for Houston.

More than $1000 was raised by children from the community and matched by two donors, so a final total of $3000 will be sent to the Houston Jewish community as it recovers from the devastating floods.

Additionally, Atlanta organi-

zations have raised $1000 to date and are still collecting.

Houston is excited to be able to use these funds for a party for their preschool students, as well as a big party for the community at their CultureFest.

Also on Sunday, the Wish for Wheels bike build took place at the Jewish Comunity Center.

Thirty bikes were provided to kids through Mercy Housing to low income families.

A6 | The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017

Night

Auschwitz winter

Continued from page A1 concentration camps and crematoria were opened.

On this trip we walked through all that remains of Auschwitz-Birkenau, over the former site of Treblinka, which the Nazis totally destroyed before they abandoned it hoping that no one would see what they had done in murdering thousands, and into the Lopuchowo Forest, near the shtetl of Tykocin, a few kilometers from Warsaw, Poland, where the Jews of that small village were marched and killed among the silence of the great trees.

Wiesel wrote of his introduction to Auschwitz that he would “never forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.”

Everything that followed can today fit under his classification of “Night.”

Our touring group entered Auschwitz through the infamous gate proclaiming that “Work Makes One Free” and on to the camp itself, once a Polish military installation but greatly expanded by the Nazis with new barracks, assembly yards, and the neighboring work camp of Birkenau with its row aer row of barracks and watch towers and barbed wire fences and, of course, the crematoria.

We held a Memorial Service in Birkenau, and we recited Kaddish. I could not hold back tears. e next day we went to Treblinka. Nothing is there except the Memorials, a huge collection of what look like gravestones, each representing one village or town destroyed by the Nazis. e massive field of stones overwhelms everyone.

Earlier that day we went to the shtetl of Tykocin, near Warsaw in Poland. ere is nothing unusual about Tykocin except for its synagogue which is still standing. e local guide explained that the Nazi soldiers used the building for storage of military hardware and grain. It has been lovingly refurbished and today looks much like it did years and years ago. e village, now without Jews though before World War II a large portion of the shtetl was Jewish, looks and feels as before except for cars and trucks driving on its narrow streets.

But the story is in the forest, the Lopuchowo Forest, a few miles, or kilometers,

Jewish Press readers,

Credit: Wikimedia Commons outside the town. e Jews were gathered and marched down the roads we traveled from the shtetl to deep within the forest. We were there in late Fall, and the trees were turning to gold and a so red, except for the pine trees, which remained green. e forest was thick. Once deep inside it, no one would hear the noise of the herded Jews, and no one could possibly hear the rifle fire that would soon destroy every living Jewish soul.

I walked that road together with our entire touring group. I looked ahead and behind and to the right and to the le, and all I could see was forest and more forest. e only exception was to look up, up to the sky and to the heavens.

I wondered what those who were being force-marched through this same forest that day nearly 80 years ago saw what I couldn’t see, yet I knew they saw exactly what I saw and what I couldn’t see. But they could look to the heavens and see the sky and I’m sure they asked themselves why they were being led to slaughter. What had they done to deserve what they knew was ahead for them?

At last, we reached a small cleared opening, about the size of the infield of an American baseball diamond.

It was here they were lined up, stripped of their clothing, their eyeglasses and any jewels, and summarily shot. And they were le for dead.

As we again said Kaddish deep within the forest, the sky was gray and overcast. A slight drizzle fell from the clouds, just enough to make us damp, no more.

We then turned and walked back and out of the forest, down the same path. e sky seemed to clear. A faint bit of sunlight emerged. e so rain stopped.

I wondered... why am I alive and walking out of this killing ground? What did I do to survive? What made my grandfather leave old Russia and travel to America in the years before the 20th century that resulted in my living and not dying in a forest just like this? It was nothing on my part, just as it was nothing on the part of those killed in this forest that placed them here.

Night describes what I had just witnessed, though I found myself marching into sunlight and out of this deathly forest and into life.

I mumbled a prayer of thanks.

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Chabad Food pantry volunteer recognition

The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017 | a7

community Organizations

B’nai B’rith BreadBreakers

O

GaBBy Blair Staff Writer, Jewish Press n Thursday, Dec. 7, 12 volunteers from Chabad’s Food Pantry were recognized for outstanding service. They are: Cheryl Lerner, Joan Marcus, Julie Phillips, Jay Benton, Gary Lerner, Laura Holling, Howard Kutler, Alec Lerner, Elaine Urban, Scott Weiler, Rhonda Saferstein and Schahar

L.O.V.E. Tribute cards

GaBBy Blair Staff Writer, Jewish Press Did you know that L.O.V.E., the League of Volunteers for the Elderly, offers tribute cards as an option for observing life cycle events? Whether you are preparing to celebrate a simcha, such as a birthday, anniversary, or B’nai Mitzvah, the recovery from an illness or injury, or perhaps, a more somber occasion, in which you wish to express sympathy, L.O.V.E. is prepared to meet your needs.

Our beautiful tribute cards, printed on thick, quality card stock lets your recipient know you care; for them and for others. All proceeds from the sale of Tribute Cards benefit L.O.V.E. directly, which in turn supports the Residents of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, whose lives L.O.V.E. is dedicated to constantly improving. Tribute Cards are available when the Volunteer

Changing your address?

Please give us the following information: Your name, old address and new address and when you want the address change to go into effect.

thejewishpress Call 402.334.6448 or email us at jpress@jewishomaha.org

B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers meets weekly on Wednesdays at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home auditorium from noon to 1 p.m. For specific speaker information, please email Gary.Javitch@Gmail.com, Breadbreakers chairman. For more information or to be placed on the email list call 402.334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.

Shatil. Their commitment to serving those in need of assistance and dedication to facilitating the program are instrumental in making the Chabad Food Pantry a success.

More information about the Chabad Food Pantry is available at: www.ochabad.com.

For those seeking assistance or wishing to volunteer, please call 402.957.2705 or email: foodpantry@ochabad.com.

Office is open or by appointment. Please contact Sabine Strong to arrange a time for purchase.

Tribute Cards are available for $5, $10, or $18.

As always, with the purchase of 5, get one free; 10 get 2 free!

Want to buy Tribute Cards? Interested in volunteering with L.O.V.E? Want to make a donation?

Contact Sabine Strong, RBJH Volunteer Coordinator at 402.334.6519 or via email at: sstrong@ rbjh.com. Background checks are required of all volunteers as the safety of our Residents is our number one priority. L.O.V.E. is a 501c3; all donations made to L.O.V.E. are 100% tax deductible.

Vna’s 21st annual art & soup fundraiser benefiting shelter nursing

When you attend Art & Soup, you support a great cause while sampling unique food prepared by talented local chefs. You can also view and purchase items from local artists, who donate at least 50 percent of their sales to Visiting Nurse Association (VNA).

VNA is the exclusive public health nursing provider in Omaha and Council Bluffs homeless and domestic violence shelters, as well as to youth living on the streets. Our Shelter Nursing Program ensures homeless men, women and children have access to healthcare, social services and community resources to help them address their health needs and improve their quality of life.

In 2016, VNA shelter nurses provided 9,472 face-to-face visits to 189 children, 233 teens and young adults, and 2,001 adult women and men. VNA is on track to serve the same number of individuals in 2017, and has increased the number of referrals being made, with 2,172 referrals to needed community resources completed so far this year.

The 21st anniversary of Art & Soup will be on sunday, Feb. 25, 2018 at the Embassy Suites – La Vista Hotel and Conference Center.

Hosted by Honorary Chair John Prouty, this popular event allows you to directly impact the lives of vulnerable individuals and families while participating in VNA’s most unique fundraiser.

Advance Art & Soup tickets are available for $50 at vnatoday.org or by calling 402.930.4170. Tickets will be $55 at the door. Those attending the Patron Party will have first access to the Art & Soup event, and be first to taste the soups and preview the silent auction, with first access to original artwork on sale. Patron Party exclusive access is from 1 to 2 p.m. for $100, which includes entry to Art & Soup through 5 p.m.

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A8 | The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017

Brain games for seniors

community

RBJH celebrates Hanukkah

Anna Mosenkis put on a Hanukkah show at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home for the community to enjoy singing Hanukkah favorites and Eastern European tunes along with singing classic Jewish music.

Latkes were served warm and delicious. Pictured above right: Lynne Saltzman and Joyce Ashley enjoying the Hanukkah concert with Anna Mosenkis.

L.O.V.E. hosted a Hanukkah party for the RBJH Residents with upbeat music with Tim Javorsky playing music from the great American songbook by Jewish composers. As a gift to all of the Residents, L.O.V.E. donated fresh Krispy Kreme jelly donuts to all of the dining rooms. Pictured left: Pat Mogil and Roger Darrington wishing all a Happy Hanukkah.

There is a new and expanding thought process that brain games for seniors can help in avoiding, postponing or help mitigate debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer’s, dementia and other cognitive function related diseases.

Scientists are starting to discover that the old thought process that your brain peak’s at a young age and after a certain age is slowed and declining is simply untrue. There is belief that the brain is capable of development and learning new skill even when it is older.

This is welcome news for those living or working with seniors who are coping with these diseases.

In a recent study, seniors were tested and given varied activities.

Some seniors learned one skill only like learning to quilt, another group learned digital photography and yet another learned both. One group was asked to do non-active activities like reading newspapers or doing a crossword puzzle. The groups that had active, hands-on activities scored the highest with the researchers tested memory capabilities after 14 weeks.

So what does this mean for those that are working with seniors, caring for seniors, or are senior themselves? Challenge the brain!

Learn new skills, learn a new language, and push the brain to learn something new. While doing crosswords and reading are still ways to pass time and can be enjoyed it relies too much on passive participation. Research is still early and the market is starting to get flooded with new products designed to support this idea, but the key takeaway may be that the brain loves new things. If learning a new game or new skill could have beneficial health benefits effects to help the fight off these diseases then it may be well worth the effort.

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The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017 | B1

section2

COMMUNITY

The Reform movement is alive with the sound of music

Penny SchWaRTZ BOSTON | JTA mily Katz and Liora Hyman arrived early enough to snag front row seats for a concert with some of their favorite performers.

But this show wasn’t at one of Boston’s storied nightclubs. Rather, it was the first-ever music lab at last week’s biennial convention of the Union for Reform Judaism, where 6,000 delegates gathered at the Hynes Convention Center for the movement’s largest ever gathering.

When popular Jewish singer-songwriter Peri Smilow led off the set with her new song, One, the excited teens could hardly sit still. The friends, who met last summer at a program for youth leaders at URJ Kutz Camp in Orange County, New York, were on their feet, singing, jumping and bouncing with the beats that constitute the Jewish soundtrack of their lives.

While songs and melodies are integral to worship in all the major Jewish denominations, the Reform movement has been the boldest in experimenting with genres and reshaping traditional liturgy in song. It’s an emphasis reflected in synagogue services, religious schools and summer camps. The Hava Nashira Institute, an annual five-day summer program in Wisconsin, serves as a unifying training ground for synagogue and camp song leaders and cantors, and attracts people from outside the Reform movement.

Katz, a high school junior who helps lead religious services at Temple Beth Jacob in Concord, New Hampshire, said being a Jewish song leader is emotionally fulfilling. “The music completes me,” she said. “We are all singing the same song. We all know the words. It is so much fun singing the music we all love.”

But in the sounds and lyrics of this contemporary Jewish music, Katz and Hyman, a high school senior from Long Island, New York, find more than social engagement and entertainment — it is a source of inspiration for their faith, they both told JTA. The biennial’s schedule demonstrated the centrality of music in the Reform movement: There were three dozen musicians, a choir, late-night

concerts, multiple workshops on worship music and musical approaches for congregations. There were more than 30 performances staged in partnership with Jewish Rock Radio, part of a nonprofit founded by musician Rick Recht, who grew up in Reform’s NFTY youth group. There was a coming-out party for PJ Library Radio, a streaming music service from PJ Library, the popular Jewish children’s book giveaway organization.

“Music plays one of the key roles in how our services continue to trans-

tice that continued into the next century.

Starting in the 1960s, the folk music revival was introduced to the Reform movement — a transition most associated with Debbie Friedman, a prolific singer-songwriter who died in 2011 at age 59. Beginning in the late 1960s, she helped move the Reform movement away from the organ, choir and a cantorial soloist to the guitar-plucking, participatory style of the American folk scene.

“We embraced the idea that American folk music could tell our stories... and we shaped that into something Jewish,” said Jeff Klepper, a contemporary of Friedman and co-composer, with Rabbi Daniel Freelander, of the popular song Shalom Rav. Klepper, a cantor at Temple Sinai in Sharon, Massachusetts, said he and his colleagues, who began performing the early 1970s, saw music as a way to bring people together and affirm Jewish beliefs and values.

The URJ biennial featured the North American premiere of the Debbie Friedman Suite, arranged and conducted for a full orchestra by Or Oren, a 24-year-old Israeli composer who is a film-scoring student at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The suite includes nine of Friedman’s songs, including L’Chi Lach, her gender-neutral interpretation of Genesis 12.

“They are the symbol of her music and mean a lot to Jewish Musicians Josh Goldberg, Rick Recht, Mikey Pauker, Doni Zasloff and Josh communities here and other places in the world,” Oren wrote Warshawsky perform at the biennial convention of the Union for Reform Ju- in an email. daism, held Dec. 6-10, 2017, in Boston.

Klepper, Boxt and others noted that there’s an explosion of Credit: Union for Reform Judaism music being written and incorporated into the Reform moveform our movement,” said Rosalie Boxt, director of worship for the URJ. ment. The music is more varied than three and four decades ago, and The music of the Reform movement is attuned to the world around it, brings in broader musical influences. Klepper pointed to Joe Buchanan, Boxt said. It’s an ethos that dates back to the late nineteenth century who celebrates his decision to become a Jew-by-choice in Texas-style in Germany, when Reform synagogue music was influenced by church country blues. music, she noted. While the more traditional movements eschewed inHyman, the New York teen who’s the daughter of two Reform cantors, struments during Shabbat and holy days, Reform temples welcomed pipe said as a child she was lulled to sleep to the music of Debbie Friedman. organs, strings and, later, guitars and percussion. Nineteenth-century She envisions a future in Jewish education and music. composers like Solomon Sulzer and Louis Lewendowski set prayers in “I want to help people through music and create change through styles that borrowed from the contemporary genres of their day, a prac- music,” she said. “I build my life on Jewish music.

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Yoni’s Corner

T

B2 | The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017

community

Annual Chabad Hanukkah Parade

through town and lit Hanukkiahs affixed to their roofs. Left picture: Participants gather around the Boys Town statue in front of the Boys Town Hall of History; right picture: Mario Lopez was one of the volunteers who took part in the parade.

The status of the Western Wall

vice president because of the Jerusalem announcement last week, which reversed decades of policy by U.S. presidents.

Congress recognized “undivided” Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 1995. e Western Wall is the outer wall of the Second Temple, destroyed in 70 C.E., and its largest remnant. It is adjacent to the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, and currently home to Islam’s third holiest site. e mount is controlled in part by a Muslim religious authority. e officials said Pence would press forward with the effort by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and key adviser, to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations while cognizant that the Palestinians were in no mood to revive the talks aer the Jerusalem announcement.

“So the vice president is going to reinforce the president’s bold, courageous and historic announcement regarding Jerusalem,” one official said. “As the president said, we remain dedicated to the peace process. We understand that the Palestinians may need a bit of a cooling-off period.”

In 2004, President George W. Bush said in a letter to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that it was “unrealistic” to expect the sides to return to the 1967 lines, but also spoke about land swaps to compensate Palestinians for Israeli settlements, a position that the Obama administration also embraced.

Coming in March

WASHINGTON | JTA e Trump administration said it cannot envision an outcome in which the Western Wall is not part of Israel — the first signal by any U.S. administration that it recognizes a claim to Jerusalem outside the 1967 lines.

Senior administration officials briefing reporters about Vice President Mike Pence’s (later canceled) visit to the region were asked whether Pence planned to visit the wall, as President Donald Trump had done during his June visit, and whether it would be an official visit, unlike Trump’s, which was private.

“We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not be part of Israel,” said an official, confirming that Pence’s visit would be in an official capacity. “But as the president said, the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement.”

Trump last week recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but also said he was not presuming an outcome of final status talks.

Israel captured eastern Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 Six-Day War. e statement Friday was the first sign that any American president recognizes Israel’s claim to territory beyond the 1967 lines.

Pence’s tour of the region will include talks with Egyptian and Israeli leaders. Palestinian leaders are boycotting the

women’sguide

As every year, Chabad’s Rabbi and Shani Katzman gathered a group of community members together for the Annual Hanukkah Parade. With Boys Town as its starting point, the giant menorah is lit, there’s music and plenty of yummy sufganyot as well as the necesssary hot coffee after which a parade of cars took off

Yoni DoRon Community Shaliach he month of December is upon us! Metaphorically, and sometimes, it feels like it is also literally upon us. I am learning that in America, the lovely December is one of those months that jumps on you, puts all of its weight on your back and still has the nerve to yell at you to go faster! You really need to find a gap in order to take a breath from all the hectic holiday atmosphere and commitments. It has been a long time since I have spent time in America during the holiday season, and I find the experience amazing, weird, and very, very funny. Firstly, I love how frustrated many of the people in our Jewish community can get with the constant replaying of Christmas songs on the radio.

Another thing that I found that rubs people the wrong way is seeing people dressed up in Christmas attire at the end of October. But truly, for me, the experience is like walking in a shiny sparkling museum. Everything is very impressive and mesmerizing.

It's funny, because Hanukkah, for me, has never been a holiday that you notice very strongly externally, in the sense that Israel does not suddenly wear a new outfit. Not many lights are strung up (you do get the occasional city square giant Menorah), and the songs playlist mainly focuses on the theme of light and such subjects, so not too many direct Hanukkah references are made. Maybe that is because I feel that in Israel, celebrating Hanukkah means celebrating our heroes – past and present. In Israel, the focus is turned from the “miracle” aspect of the holiday, over to the heroic tale of the Maccabees. It's ingrained in the Israeli make-up very strongly, and even many of our leaders and pioneers used the story of Judah the Maccabee for inspiration.

For the past four months, Israeli Heroes has been a central topic of discussion in my classes that I teach in the different Hebrew schools of the synagogues in the community. We've touched on Herzl and Ben Gurion, obviously, but also talked about Itzhak Rabin and Gal Gadot.

Dealing at this time of year with the identity of who our heroes are is crucial. Cultural myths and the heroes who lead them reflect on our morals and the messages we want to pass on to the next generation.

When I asked the kids who their heroes were, I was so happy to hear them mentioning Martin Luther King Jr. and Ellen Degeneres, both people who acted and fought against oppression, both times against the odds. at is why I believe that even today, the essence of the story of the Maccabees is still an important one, one that should not be lost to us, that we should not neglect when telling the story of Hanukkah, because it is a message that is still relevant to us, our kids, and the world we live in.

Passover We’re Happy In The Neighborhood!

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The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017 | B3

RBJH Intergenerational Book Club

Jill OhlMAnn Activities Coordinator, RBJH Residents of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home recently welcomed a class of seventh graders from Buffett Magnet Middle School. Each year, the Home partners with Buffett teacher Amy Tunning and her students for an intergenerational project Above: Resident Marvin Parand book club. e first ilman and his sister Barb meeting was a getting-to- Widman with student Alyssa know-you session, during and right: Resident Annette which students interFettman with student nyah. viewed the seniors. is year’s book selection is A Night Divided written

by Jennifer A. Nielsen. It is a historical fiction novel centered on the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. In February, the RBJH Activities staff will take the residents to the school for a book discussion and a tour of the building.

NCJW Nebraska 2018 Directory Alice Klein NCJW Nebraska e National Council of Jewish Women Nebraska is starting work on its 2018 Directory.

Are you a member of NCJW? Did you get the last directory in April? No? Please let us know so we might update your information to get the current directory out to you, and ensure that you will get the 2018 version. You may contact me at

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2018-19 Scholarship applications now available

GABBy BlAiR Staff Writer, Jewish Press Financial assistance may be available for qualified applicants planning to attend the Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center, Friedel Jewish Academy, JCC summer camp, Jewish residential summer camp, Israel programs, college, vocational and technical schools, and adult Jewish education classes.

Scholarship and grant applications can be found on the Jewish Federation of Omaha webpage at: http://www.jewishomaha.org/education/scholar ships-and-grants/.

Applications and all required documentation are due March 1, 2018.

Questions? Please contact Diane Stamp at 402.334.6407 or dstamp@jewishomaha.org.

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B4 | The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017

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H

Look it up

ANNETTE vAN DE KAmP Editor, Jewish Press ere’s the Jewish Telegraphic Agency headline I read last Sunday: “Attacker in Gabon stabs Dutch reporters, calling it revenge for U.S. Jerusalem decision.” So I click, because I want to know what happened, who they are and what outlet they work for. But the story continues: “An attacker from Niger wounded two reporters for the National Geographic channel at a market in Gabon, saying it was a revenge attack against the United States for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The attacker, 53, who has lived in Gabon for the last 20 years, according to Reuters, shouted Allahu Akbar, Arabic for God is Great, before stabbing the two Danish journalists at the market popular with tourists in the capital of Libreville, on Saturday.”

Wait. So are they Dutch, or are they Danish? This is the kind of sloppy headline that drives me crazy. Instead of focusing on the story, which is a ridiculous example of transferring blame, I spend the next few minutes trying to hunt down the actual details. Luckily, I find the actual Reuters brief (they were Danish) quickly, but I’m distracted from the story.

When ‘Dutch’ and ‘Danish’ are mixed up, I usually just calmly (okay, mostly) correct people. I’ve become used to others not being able to tell our countries apart. But seeing it in a headline of a news agency I trust, I am once again reminded of the fact that we really have to pay attention when we read the news. It’s unfortunate, because journalism, especially in 2017, struggles with a myriad of issues.

We’ve all heard the term ‘fake news’ so often; it has become a permanent thorn in our side. We shouldn’t make it any easier on the naysayers.

Then I catch myself. Would I be this irritated if someone mistook Virginia for West Virginia? Maybe my overreaction

stems more from the fact that the Dutch/Danish mix up aggravates me on a personal level. Or maybe I am so worried about the fake news narrative that every single mistake lights up like a neon sign. Journalists are still allowed to err like human beings, are they not? Mix up a country now and then? Spell a name wrong? Is it any journalists’ job to be factually correct 100 % of the time, while leaving the reader no responsibility whatsoever? Is it possible that maybe we should all share some of that responsibility?

It’s something I haven’t quite figured out.

Of course, journalists and news outlets need to get their facts straight. We have a code of ethics that includes not making things up. However, the above example is not a matter of ‘making it up,’ it’s just geographical ignorance. Here’s another example, from an editor’s note attached to the original Reuters brief: “This story corrects to make clear attacker was ‘Nigerien’ from Niger, not ‘Nigerian’ from Nigeria.”

Right. ‘Niger’ and ‘Nigeria,’ not the same place. ‘Dutch’ and ‘Danish,’ not the same thing. And I wonder: how many of us really know the globe? How often do we look things up when we read about what happens in faraway places? We rely on the writer of the story to make things understandable, not confuse us more. As readers, we don’t have the time to research every single bit we read. Besides, in today’s world, where so much news is thrown at us from every angle, how often do we go past that headline anyway?

I do know one thing: I’ve just spent over 500 words not

talking about the actual story. That’s a shame, because the “random guy attacks random people in a place far away to protest President Trump’s announcement about Jerusalem” narrative is becoming a growing concern. Maybe we’ll save it for next week? By the way, ‘Gabon’ is located on the At-

comments, from bad to worse. “Rabbi, please cross your legs when seated on the bimah, otherwise it’s too distracting.” “Rabbi, are you pregnant?

Your breasts look bigger.” And so on, and so on.

Women rabbis are counseled to wear lipstick or told not to wear lipstick. We are told that our clothing choices are too revealing or too dowdy.

Our shoes are too sexy or too old fashioned. Our

ized feminist Torah scholarship.

However, women rabbis still experience substantial obstacles: gender-based bias, inappropriate comments, sexual harassment, sexual assault, lack of proper institutional support, undermining behavior, and issues related to contracts, pay equity and parental leave. Intertwined with these challenges are issues of sexuality and gender nonconformity.

The CCAR already has in place a robust ethics code and rigorous ethics process to address instances of rabbinic misconduct. Whether these experiences happen in congregations, in communal or institutional settings, in rabbinic school or student placements; whether they happen with colleagues or with laypeople, when complaints are reported, they are responded to with the seriousness that they deserve. WRN, the Women’s Rabbinic Network, has been tackling these issues for decades and is currently spearheading an important project on pay equity with Women of Reform Judaism.

But we must do even more to create safe and sacred communities for both those who are participants in those communities and those who serve them. The time has arrived to open a communitywide conversation beyond the ethics process about these experiences, and examine the way that women in the rabbinate face systemic and ongoing challenges.

The responsibility to strengthen the Jewish community and enhance the professional and personal lives of Reform rabbis is central to the mission of the CCAR – it is our ethical and professional mandate to address these deeply troubling challenges. The Task Force on the Experience of Women in the Rabbinate will study the realities facing women in order to identify their root causes and potential solutions. It will engage our membership, laypeople and partner Reform institutions. Ultimately it will create change for the good and bring healing, hope and greater strength to our rabbinates and the communities we serve.

Rabbi Hara Person is the chief strategy officer for the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the publisher of CCAR Press.

lantic Coast of Central Africa, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north and the Republic of the Congo to the east. Yes, I had to look that up.

When women rabbis say ‘#MeToo,’ communities must pay attention HARA PERSoN NEW YORK | JTA In a recent talk at Temple Emanuel here, former first lady Michelle Obama spoke about how women live with tiny cuts that build up over time, cuts that we endure without noticing, even as we bleed. That is what it is to be a girl and a woman in this world, she said, urging women to own our scars and to find power and healing in doing so.

The last weeks have been a sobering reminder that sexual misconduct is rampant in every profession, not just in the entertainment industry or in politics. It is a reminder, as if we needed a reminder, that to grow up a girl is to expect, if not accept, unwanted comments, remarks, touching and assault. As women, in our personal lives and professional careers, we all have our stories, our workarounds and our scars.

The conversation about sexual harassment and sexual assault in our society comes at a time when the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the professional organization of Reform rabbis, stands ready to launch the Task Force on the Experience of Women in the Rabbinate. This need became evident in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, the publication of The Sacred Calling: Four Decades of Women in the Rabbinate and a study we undertook on rabbinic professional satisfaction. Although women have been Reform rabbis for 45 years, it is painfully obvious that these issues are still a fact of everyday life.

The rabbinate is no exception to the conversations going on in the wider world about women’s experiences. It is the rare female rabbi who, if married to a man, has not been asked if her husband is also a rabbi. Or the joke we all hear: If the wife of a rabbi is a rebbetzin, what do you call the husband of a rabbi? (Lucky.) While seemingly harmless, such comments nonetheless undermine the credibility and authority of women as rabbis.

And the comments don’t stop there. There are these lines, uttered at board meetings or during the oneg or even at a funeral, like “I’ve always wanted to kiss a rabbi,” or “If rabbis looked like you when I was a kid, I would have come to synagogue more.” There’s a kind of sliding scale to the

Credit: Lior Zaltzman

voices are too soft or too strident. We’re too emotional or we’re too cold. We’re called by our first names while the male rabbi is called Rabbi LastName. We’re called kiddo, babe, sugar, sexy, honey.

We’re advised to get home quickly from a board meeting so that we can make our husbands happy.

And it isn’t just laypeople. There are stories as well of rabbis in positions of power preying on younger, more vulnerable rabbis, inappropriate touching or comments during supervisory sessions, and jokes that are not in the least bit funny.

In only four short decades since the first ordination, there are now nearly 700 women members of the CCAR, the first rabbinic organization in history to admit women as full members. In this time, women rabbis have made profound progress.

The adoption in the 1980s of egalitarian liturgical language and gender-neutral God language in our prayer books and Haggadot opened up prayer and Jewish practice in important new ways. The development of new life-cycle rituals allowed for the sanctification of experiences previously outside traditional Jewish practice. The publication of the groundbreaking and award-winning “The Torah: A Women’s Commentary” highlighted and canon-

The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017 | B5

What a liberal rabbi learned at the Trump Hanukkah party

sador, Ron Dermer. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer the non-Orthodox rabbis. Just last week, top African-Ameriand a handful of national Jewish community leaders were can leaders stayed away from the opening of a civil rights there, too. A majority of the guests seemed to be Orthodox museum in Mississippi because Trump would be taking part.

Jews, with many affiliated with Chabad.

If you’re wondering, leaders of the Reform movement, At the time my wife and I accepted the invitation, I had no numerous other Reform rabbis and my congregation’s leadidea just how exclusive the guest list was. I reached out to nu- ership, all of whom I told about the invitation, encouraged merous friends who I figured would be far higher up on the us to attend. priority list than I. No one I contacted was invited. I did not Those who know me and the advocacy that I do, underknow that I would be the only Reform rabbi in attendance, stand well that no politician or political party escapes my maybe the only Reform or Conservative rabbi, and certainly criticism. This administration is certainly no exception. But I one of a very small number of inviengage civilly, even when others do tees who are not registered Republinot come close to returning the cans. Of those who are outspoken favor. My goal is always to help adsupporters of social causes usually vance the causes dear to me, espefound on the political left, I may well cially when those causes are under have been the lone person invited. threat. I try to be as present as I can What was the party like? and speak to whomever I can, even On the whole it was a relatively if my counsel ends up being normal Hanukkah party. There drowned out or ignored. were latkes and sufganiyot. The MaWhile most of the talk at the rine Band played in the grand enHanukkah party was on Jewish getryway and the girls’ choir sang Mi ography and in support of the Rabbi David Kaufman and his wife Julie, attending Jerusalem recognition, I mentioned Yemalel (Who Can Retell?) at the the White House Hanukkah party in Washington, to a handful of guests my concerns beginning of the formal program.

Credit: Kaufman about the lack of an anti-Semitism The president told a version of the D.C., Dec. 7, 2017.

Hanukkah story and boasted about his announcement a day envoy, and the potential budget cuts and their impacts on earlier to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. A Holocaust health care and hunger advocacy at the state level. survivor spoke of her experiences. Rabbi Meir Soloveichik The best quote about advocacy I know comes from a of New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel offered the Orsports hero, hockey great Wayne Gretzky: “You miss 100 thodox version of the prayer for the government -- with its percent of the shots you don’t take.” If you don’t engage in a awkward references to God who grants “dominion to rulers” way that might be successful in changing policy, if you don’t -- and the more fitting Shehecheyanu blessing. President speak to and build relationships with those who might lisTrump’s Jewish grandchildren kindled a single candle on a ten to you and influence others, you will never be heard and silver menorah. Guests joined in singing Maoz Tsur (Rock of have a chance to influence policy.

Ages). We did not say the traditional blessings because it was Far too many people take a different path, believing that not yet Hanukkah. it’s better to scream in protest, name call, engage in virtue Other than a smaller group of VIPs, the vast majority of signaling and boycott rather than engage constructively and guests were not allowed to interact with the president, Vice civilly with decision makers.

President Mike Pence or the Kushner family, nor was there To paraphrase Gretzky, “One-hundred percent of the canan opportunity for photographs to be taken with any of them. dles you don’t light stay unlit.”

Whether you blame Trump or his opponents, the political This Hanukkah, let us bring light and not darkness into our climate has seldom been so polarized. Last year the Reform, world. Be present and reach out. Build relationships. Don’t Reconstructionist and Conservative movements debated boycott. Attend. Share your light. The people whose hearts whether they should help organize a pre-Rosh Hashanah and minds are kindled might help you to change the world. conference call with Trump. When they declined (a decision David Kaufman is the rabbi of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in I disagreed with), Trump held his own call and did not invite Des Moines, Iowa.

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DaviD Kaufman DES MOINES, IOWA | JTA A Jewish woman walks into the post office to buy Hanukkah stamps for her holiday cards.

The person behind the counter asks, “What denominations?”

The Jewish woman responds, “Oy! Are we so polarized?

Some Orthodox, some Conservative and some Reform.”

Yes, we are so polarized, both religiously and politically.

Most reports about the White House Hanukkah party noted that leaders of the Reform movement and congressional Democrats were not invited. Whereas the Obama administration invited 1,700 people to two Hanukkah parties last year, the Trump administration invited a mere 300 to one such party.

Among them was one politically independent Reform rabbi from Des Moines, Iowa -- me.

How in the world did I get an invitation?

I got on the list because I reached out to someone I knew in the administration while advocating for the State Department to maintain the position of special envoy to combat anti-Semitism. Earlier this year there were discussions that the position would be eliminated, and I and many others were urging the White House to reconsider.

I didn’t scream and yell. I didn’t call anyone names. I made a case for why that position was and is needed, and asked that my note be forwarded to whomever would be able to impact the decision. The position was officially retained, though as of yet no one has been nominated to fill it and that may not happen for a while longer.

A few months after I sent the email, out of the blue I received a call from someone at the White House inviting me to the Hanukkah party. I knew it would be a simple matter to decline the invitation. I was already going to be away that day at a conference. But it isn’t every day that one is invited to a party at the White House. President Obama held nine Hanukkah parties and I wasn’t invited to any of them.

Who else was invited?

This year, a significant percentage of those invited were Jewish friends and relatives of the Trump and Kushner families, with a large percentage of the rest seemingly connected to the Zionist Organization of America or the Republican Jewish Coalition. I’m sure many guests fell into all three categories.

A group of girls from a local yeshiva choir and their chaperones came to sing. Two Republican members of Congress attended, Reps. Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee. The Israelis on hand included the U.S. ambas-

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b’nai israel synagogue

Please join us for our upcoming events: Join us for our monthly Shabbat Speakers Series on dec.

22, at 7:30 p.m. with guest speaker Howard Kutler. He will talk about his grandparents, Harry and Sarah, who left Russian in the early 1990s and immigrated to Council Bluffs. He will address their journey and the wonderful new life they built in America. (Please note special date.) Our service leader is Larry Blass, and as always, an oneg to follow service. Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

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

beTh el synagogue

Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman. friday: Nebraska AIDS Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m. saTurday: Shabbat Morning Services, 9:30 a.m.-noon; No Junior Congregation; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 4:45 p.m. weekday serVices: Sundays, 9:30 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. sunday: No BESTT Classes; Christmas Eve Dinner and a Movie, 6 p.m. Cost is $15 for adults, $8 for ages 6-12, age 5 and under no charge and family maximum is $45. monday: Switch Day at the Blumkin Home, 9 a.m. To sign-up, contact Larry Kronick at llk22@aol.com or 402.515.2888. wednesday: No BESTT Classes; No Hebrew High Classes.

New Years Toast, saturday, dec. 30, noon. At Kiddush following morning services, we invite you to join us as we raise our glasses in an early toast to usher in 2018.

Chesed Committee visits The Blumkin Home, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2 p.m.

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

beTh israel synagogue

Services conducted by Rabbi Ari Dembitzer. friday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Candle Lighting and Mincha, 4:41 p.m. saTurday: bar mitzvah of noah shrago; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Insights into the Weekly Torah, 3:40 p.m.; Mincha/ Seudah Shlishit, 4:25 p.m.; Havdalah, 5:46 p.m. sunday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Bagels and Beit Medrash, 10 a.m. monday: Shacharit, 9 a.m.

Tuesday: Shacharit, 7 a.m. wednesday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

Thursday: Shacharit, 7 a.m.

chabad house

Office hours: Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Friday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. friday: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by coffee, treats, study and shmoozing. saTurday: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. weekdays: Shacharit, 7 a.m. followed by coffee, treats, study and shmoozing. monday: Personal Parsha class, 9:30 a.m. with Shani. wednesday: Mystical Thinking, 9:30 a.m. with Rabbi Katzman.

All programs are open to the entire community.

congregaTion b’nai Jeshurun

Services conducted by Rabbi Teri Appleby. friday: Candlelighting, 4:45 p.m.; Shabbat Evening Service, 6:30 p.m.; Oneg, 7:30 p.m. saTurday: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study on Parashat Vayigash, 10:30 a.m.; Havdalah (72 minutes), 6:15 p.m. sunday: No LJCS Classes. monday: Temple Office Closed wednesday: No LJCS Hebrew Classes.

No LJCS Classes: Winter Break, dec. 24-Jan. 7. Classes will resume wednesday, Jan. 10.

Our Chesed branch (Caring Committee) is looking for volunteers to provide transportation for Temple members and friends who aren’t able to drive themselves to doctor’s appointments

and other commitments. Volunteers are also being sought to help caregivers in our Temple community when they need a little time to get things done for themselves. Contact Chesed Branch Head Vicki Edwards at vgrandma1947@gmail.com if you would like to help with this important mitzvah.

It’s time for our annual holiday drive for Clinic With a Heart!

Please help by donating over-the-counter medications and personal care items. Donations can be brought to the Temple Office any time the Temple is open.

offuTT air force base

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

rose blumkin Jewish home

saTurday: Services, 9:15 a.m. led by Stan Edelstein.

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

Temple israel

friday: Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. saTurday: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat Service, 10:30 a.m. sunday: No Religious School.

wednesday: No Religious School.

No Religious School: Winter Break, dec. 24-Jan. 6.

TifereTh israel

Services conducted by lay leader Nancy Coren. Office hours: monday-friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. friday: Services, 6:30 p.m. saTurday: Shabbat Morning service, 10 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 11 a.m.; Please join us after services for a light Kiddush Lunch. sunday: No LJCS Classes. monday: Tifereth Israel Office closed. wednesday: No LJCS Hebrew Classes.

Thursday: Hebrew classes for adults, 6:30-7:30 p.m., with Esti Sheinberg.

It's not too soon to be thinking about summer camp! All Federation families are eligible for Camp Incentive Grants of $300 per camper to pay the initial camp registration deposit. Application packets are availible in the Tifereth Israel foyer.

No LJCS Classes: Winter Break, dec. 24-Jan. 7. Classes will resume wednesday, Jan. 10.

If you'd like to host our next Shabbat Potluck Dinner at your home, please contact Nancy Coren. The date of the dinner will be on Jan. 12, at 6:30 p.m. The host provides the space. The synagogue can provide paper goods, juice, and challah.

To submiT announcemenTs

Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press at jpress@jewishomaha.org; or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.

Readers can also submit announcements -- births, b’nai mitzvahs, engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewish omaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Please check the Jewish Press, for notices of early deadlines.

Conservative youth group cuts ties with former director accused of inappropriate sexual behavior ben sales JTA United Synagogue Youth, the youth group of the Conservative movement, has cut ties with Jules Gutin, its former longtime director, after former youth group members accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior.

The allegations include multiple instances of Gutin inviting USY participants to sleep in his bed, according to Rabbi Steve Wernick, CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

In one instance, Gutin allegedly touched a 17year-old male while in bed, according to the Jewish News Service.

“The allegations were wide ranging and all inappropriate,” Wernick told JTA. “There are allegations in which Jules and a USYer shared a bed, and what happened there. There is more than one allegation. It’s all inappropriate, even from being in the bed. Even if they were in the bed and nothing happened, that’s still inappropriate.”

Gutin denied the allegations, Wernick told JNS. The New York Jewish Week was the first to report that USCJ was severing ties with Gutin.

JTA left messages with Gutin seeking comment.

Gutin, 67, was the international director of USY for two decades, until 2011. More recently, he led trips to Poland for the group. The allegations stem from the 1980s.

The allegations first emerged last month, and USY suspended Gutin the week of Thanksgiving as it investigated the matter.

USY severed ties with Gutin on Dec. 5, and set up a hotline for victims of sexual harassment and assault in the organization.

Gutin, a popular figure within the Conservative movement and USY most of his life, was honored at a gala when USY celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2011.

“Jules is renowned for his leadership, creativity, and ability to connect with our teenagers,” organizers of the event wrote at the time in a Facebook

post that attracted dozens of favorable comments.

“Under Jules’s leadership, USY and Kadima have flourished and alumni throughout the world refer to him as their mentor, citing his influence in their choices and successes achieved in their adult lives.”

Gutin is the second USY official to be accused of sexual abuse against teenage participants decades ago. Robert Fisher, 70, former director of the group’s Pacific Southwest Region, is accused of inviting at least three boys to sleep in his bed and touching at least one of them inappropriately, according to The Jewish Week. He also pressured at least one teen into undressing for him.

Fisher told The Jewish Week that the allegations were true. He ended his affiliation with USCJ in 2002 and is now retired.

One of Fisher’s accusers, David Benkof, told The Jewish Week that as an adult, he reported the allegations to Rabbi Jerome Epstein, who then was executive vice president of USCJ. Epstein claims to have investigated the allegations, though Fisher told The Jewish Week that he never spoke to Epstein about them.

Epstein referred queries from JNS to an attorney for USCJ. Since setting up its hotline earlier this month, Wernick said USCJ has received a call every day or two. While many of the calls relate to abuse perpetrated by Gutin or Fisher, others have implicated synagogue staff members or people outside of the Conservative movement.

When USCJ is able to find two independent corroborations of an allegation, they refer it to the synagogue where the alleged perpetrator worked.

“We’re not the Church and we’re not an investigative agency,” Wernick said. “We do believe we have a moral obligation when approached to pass on information and encourage a synagogue to do an investigation. It’s up to them to figure out their own process.”

The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017 | B7

Be a role model;

lifecycles iN mEmOriam

iLENE tOBy (mOrriS) paChmaN

Ilene Toby (Morris) Pachman passed away on Nov. 27 in Florida.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands, Bill Hafits and Bill Pachman; son, Larry Hafits and sister, Rose Lowenstein (Herman).

She is survived by daughter, Fran Delisle, daughter-in-law, Patricia Hafits, daughters and sons-in-law, Susie and Paul Shyken, Karen Pachman and Mike Cook, sons and daughters-in-law, Allison and Louis Pachman, Mary and Howard Pachman; grandchildren: Lee and Gary Shyken, Paige and Jeff Shyken, Beth and Chad Rothbart, Danny Pachman, Alex Pachman; nine greatgrandchildren; numerous nieces and many friends.

Ilene was born in Omaha to Michael Morris and Fannie Kohn. She married Bill Hafits of Sioux City, IA, and moved to Fremont, NE, in 1950 where they raised their two children. While living in Fremont she made life-long friends and was very involved in Eastern Star, Girl and Boy Scouts and constant activities with her children. In April she moved to Florida to be closer to her daughter.

When Bill passed in 1971, Ilene returned to Omaha to be near her father.

She married Bill Pachman in 1980 and was delighted to join a whole new large family. After Bill retired, they traveled to Israel, Europe, Alaska and took cruises. Ilene was rarely without yarn in her hands, creating beautiful things that she was always giving away. She was passionate about mahjong and spending time with her friends and family. For many years she was very involved in the YES (Young Energetic Seniors) Group at the Jewish Community Center and treasured all the friends she made there.

Memorials may be made to the organization of your choice.

murray kitNEr

Murray Kitner passed away peacefully on Dec. 10 at age 98 surrounded by his loving family. Services were held on Dec. 14 at Riverside Gordon Memorial Chapel in North Miami Beach, FL, and officiated by Rabbi Tuffs.

Birth

LEVi LEB BENtON

Adrianna and Jay Benton announce the Dec. 2 birth of their son, Levi Leb. He has two sisters, Fiona Sky Eide (9), Ayala Rose Benton (1) and a brother, Benyamin Jay Benton (4).

Grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Pelmer of Chicago, IL, and Bonnie Hines of Omaha.

Great-grandparents are George Rudolfo and Ramona Rivera-Rudolfo of Chicago, Carol Pelmer and the late William Pelmer Sr. of Chicago and the late Richard and Billie Spiegal of Omaha.

Three killed in Brooklyn house fire

JTA NEWS STAFF ree children and their mother were killed in a house fire in Brooklyn that authorities reportedly believe may have been started by a Hanukkah menorah.

Five other family members were injured in the early Monday blaze, including the father, three other children and a cousin. e father and two children are in critical condition, according to e New York Times.

Yeshiva World News cited what it called “highly credible sources” confirming that the New York Fire Department is investigating the blaze as being started by a menorah.

Visit us at jewishomaha.org

the person you want your kid to be.

What stronger anti-drug message is there?

He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Naomi (Echenberg) Kitner, Jacob and Lillian Brookstein, wife, Charlotte Joyce Brookstein, his brother and sister-in-law Myer and Eve (Stroiman) Kitner.

He is survived by his children Naomi, Michael Kitner and Helen Mlock, Bart Kitner and Bonnie Rosenberger; grandchildren: Mariah, Portia, Erica, Ryan and Emilie, and Nikki; niece Mimi Kitner and husband Peter Schwarz, nephew Cary and Elen (Henderson) Kitner; great nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and all those whose lives he touched, and by his exceptionally devoted friend and companion Selma Nichols who enriched his life.

Much appreciation and gratitude to extraordinarily supportive cousins Jon and Debbie Kitner and their family. Very special thanks to Gerry, Esther, and Laura, and Doctors Gorin, Lemont, and Mesa, for their care and compassion.

His positive attitude was an inspiration to many. His love and generosity knew no boundaries. He was adored.

Memorials may be made in his memory to the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation, Jacob and Lillian Brookstein Endowment Fund, 402.334.6466.

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Lyra aNN haLpEr mONaSEE

Lyra Ann Halper Monasee passed away on Dec. 8 in Scottsdale, AZ. Services were private.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.

She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Pam and Arthur Rosen of Scottsdale, AZ, and Lisa and Wayne Auer of Prairie Village, KS; and two beloved grandchildren, Drew Auer and Grant Auer.

She was born in Dallas, Texas, on Oct. 15, 1927. Lyra Ann was the daughter of Robert and Ann Halper. She attended Sophie Newcomb College and graduated from the University of Texas. Lyra Ann married the love of her life, Charles Arthur “Chuck” Monasee, on Jan. 28, 1950. The couple lived in Omaha for 52 years and later moved to Scottsdale, AZ. Memorials may be made to JDRF or Parkinson’s Charities.

Cause and effect: Parsha Vayigash

According to some opinions, the jealousy of Yosef ’s brothers and the eventual sale, caused the long exile of Egypt. The deeper understanding, however, is that the exile to Egypt was necessary in creating the Jewish people. The sale and jealousy was G-d’s plan to enable the exile.

We need to affect the world raBBi ari around us. We need to incorporate DEmBitzEr some values from the world Beth Israel Synagogue around us into our universal mission. This can only be done in exile. The goal, however, is to eventually get to our homeland with these new perspectives.

Shabbat Shalom

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B8 | The Jewish Press | December 22, 2017

usnews

L

Why Jewish day schools are breathing a little easier on tax bill Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON | JTA awmakers finalizing the proposed tax overhaul reportedly have removed a provision that had sent shivers through the graduate student and Jewish day school communities. e House version of the reform bill, which was draed by the Republican leadership, had removed the qualified tuition credit. e credit exempts from taxes the free tuition that private schools, including Jewish day schools, oen extend to the children of employees.

However, the Senate version maintained the credit.

On Dec. 13 aernoon, Bloomberg News reported that the proposal in the House of Representatives to remove the credit was dropped from the reconciled version of the House and Senate bills.

Master’s and doctoral students who supplement their education by working at their universities are compensated in part by tuition waivers, which have been tax exempt for decades. Removing the exemption, as House Republicans had proposed, would have had students looking at tax increases of four- to seven-fold, according to an estimate.

Grad Students Are Freaking Out About the GOP Tax Plan was the headline in Wired in an article that quoted a number of students who indeed seemed staggered by the prospect.

Unnerved, too, were Jewish day schools, according to two umbrella Orthodox groups that lobbied hard to keep the

Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images credit. e tax break has been key to attracting top staff to the day schools, according to the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America; staffers get free or reduced tuition for their own children. Taxing that tuition would make it hard to hire qualified teachers, the groups said.

“Many K-12 schools in our community (and others) are only able to attract quality teachers by providing discounts on tuition for their children,” said a letter sent Dec. 7 by the Orthodox Union’s Washington office to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the chairman of the House tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

Of the 1,004 Jewish day schools in the United States listed

by J Data, the database run by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, 731 are Orthodox. A publicist for the Conservative movement, to which

the Solomon Schechter schools are affiliated, did not return a request for comment in time for publication.

Dave Sloan, the president of the Modern Orthodox Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Maryland, said school staffers could have taken hits ranging from “thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars,” depending on their number of children.

“It will be incumbent on our institution to true that up,” or compensate the teacher, Sloan said in an interview before the news broke that the credit would not be removed. “It’s not an extinction-level event, but it creates pressure on our budget to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Berman, with 700 students, has tuitions ranging from $16,000 to $23,000, depending on the grade.

Agudath Israel of America raised another flag about the proposal: Compensating the teachers for the tax hike through salary increases would place them in a higher tax bracket, which could also have deleterious effects.

“Its elimination can result in higher taxable incomes that would make them ineligible for health insurance and other social service benefits — a devastating loss,” said the dra of a letter Agudah was set to send to the conference committee, the gathering of lawmakers and staffers that reconcile the House and Senate versions. e committee reportedly was close to a reconciled bill on the aernoon of Dec. 13.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to sign the bill before the year is out.

It’s not clear whether a separate proposal in the Senate version favored by the Orthodox movements had survived the reconciliation. at proposal, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would have made a portion of 529s, the tax-free savings accounts for college tuition, available for religious day school tuitions.

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