Vol. LXXXIV No. 31 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
An Evening of Magnificent Music...
The past and present came together at Beth El Synagogue last Monday night, as (from left) Cantors Ray Edgar, Gastón Bogomolni, Emil Berkovits and Wendy Shermet, along with the Nebraska Choral Arts Society Masterworks Chorus, wowed the crowd of over 550 people during “The Voices of
Beth El,” Beth El’s 75th Anniversary Cantor’s Concert. The concert, a benefit for the Beth El Youth Scholarship Fund, was underwritten by the Noddle family, in memory of their parents, Robert and Edith Noddle. More pictures on page 2
Is Gaza Part of Land of Israel? It All Depends on Whom You Ask by DINA KRAFT During biblical times, Gaza was part of the land TEL AVIV (JTA)--The sandy strip of land known as the promised to the Jews but never part of the land actualGaza Strip--wedged between the flat, arid landscape ly conquered and inhabited by them, said Nili Wazana, where Egypt, Israel and the Mediterranean Sea meet-- who lecturers on Bible studies and the history of the is something of a conundrum in Jewish history. Jewish people at Hebrew University and is writing a Depending on how one interprets the Bible, Gaza either book on the borders of the biblical Land of Israel. was or was not included in the Land of Israel conquered She said there are contradictory references to Gaza in by the Israelites; Samson is the only Israelite noted for the Bible. One passage, often cited by Jewish settlers having set foot there; and in the Middle Ages, the false and their supporters is a passage in Judges which says messiah Shabbatai Zevi gave the area a bad name when the tribe of Judah took control of the area. But other he launched his movestories in the Bible conment from its shores. tradict this--typical of the After a contentious Bible, she said. debate, Israel’s Knesset “On almost everyrecently voted to unilatthing you will find an erally withdraw from the opinion and an opposite Gaza Strip and evacuate opinion. It was not a the 7,500 Jewish settlers homogenous text, it was who live in suburbannot written at the same style settlements there, time, and there are comwhere sprawling green peting ideologies,” lawns and playgrounds Wazana said. “The quesare protected by wire tion of Gaza is one of the fences and military issues where you will search towers. find different opinions.” The settler population is Polls show that most dwarfed by the 1.3 million The Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip, as seen in an Israelis are in favor of Palestinians who live in undated file photo. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said he leaving Gaza. They see densely populated Gaza, will remove most of the settlements in the Gaza Strip. neither historic nor strateCredit: Brian Hendler/JTA gic reason for staying. which is 25 miles long and just 6 miles wide. The settlements often come under But to Yigal Kamietsky, the rabbi of the Jewish setattack by rockets and mortar fire. School busses are tler bloc in Gaza known as Gush Katif, Gaza is an intearmored and escorted by soldiers in an area where drive gral part of biblical Israel. by shootings and roadside bombings are facts of life. “Gaza is part of Land of Israel, no less than Tel Aviv But the Jews who have made the Gaza Strip home in and Bnei Brak,” he said. “There is no doubt it is part of the years since settlement returned there following the the borders.” He said that not only was it considered a Six-Day War in 1967, remain defiant and hopeful that mitzvah to settle there, but that “if we were not here, I the close-knit communities they have built will be am not sure the State of Israel would still be there.” allowed to remain. Continued on page 4
Inside Opinion Page see page 12
This Week: Passover Recipes: Page 10 Buber Scholar to Speak at Brooks Lecture: Page 2
28 Adar II, 5765 April 8, 2005
Losing Grandmother Leads Family to Help Others Cope with Grief
by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Isaac and Becki Frishman were both close to their grandmother, Helen Mason. One of their favorite things to do with her when she visited Omaha from her home in New Rochelle, New York, was to go out to lunch -sometimes followed by a movie or a visit to a museum. When Helen died in August 1999, Isaac seemed angry, and Becki cried a lot, recalled their mother, Martha Frishman. So she asked her pediatrician how she could help her children cope with the loss of their beloved grandmother. The doctor's nurse recommended the Centering Corporation founded in 1977 by Dr. Marvin and Joy Johnson. Sponsored by the Centering Corporation, Kids Kamp is a grief workshop for families which the Frishmans attended. The Johnsons eventually started Ted E. Bear Hollow. Helping families, especially children, cope with the loss of a loved one is the primary goal of Ted E. Bear Hollow. Grief support groups are facilitated by trained child grief facilitators at day camps and on follow-up Saturdays. “We focus on four tasks,” pointed out Joy Johnson: “recognizing the death, grieving the death, commemorating the person who died, and moving on with relationships.” Isaac, now a 15-year-old sophomore at Millard South High School, described the organization as “a place where people go to mend their wounds and get back to life as they knew it before someone in their family passed away. It helped me get back to my life and continue.” Losing someone close to you, “is something that never goes away,” Isaac acknowledged. “Certain things trigger memories and sometimes I get depressed,” but he has learned to move his thoughts on to something that isn’t depressing.
Brother and sister, Isaac and Becki Frishman, are helping others cope with death as they recover from the loss of someone they loved.
Becki, 13, said, Ted E. Bear Hollow is “a place where people go to talk about people who they loved who died. They can help each other grieve.” She added that Ted E. Bear Hollow “helped me deal with my grief and not take my anger out on other people.” Although she still feels angry sometimes and still cries sometimes, she learned it helps to talk to other people. She also writes about her grandmother “in my English reports at school.” Becki is an eighth grader at Peter Kiewit Middle School. Both Becki and Isaac are now volunteer team peer facilitators at Ted E. Bear Hollow at the request of the Johnsons. “They had done so well when they attended Kids Kamp in integrating their own grief and helping others,” said Joy Johnson, that the youngsters as well as their mother were asked to participate in Ted E. Bear Hollow’s pilot year in 2001. Martha Frishman is now a member of the organization's board. Continued on page 4
Passover Issue Coming Next Week: “Jewish Omaha: A Global Village”
YJO Sponsors Passover cooking Class: Page 3
Passover Crossword Puzzle: Page 11
New Op-ed Feature “In My Opinion”: Page 13
Page 2
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 8, 2005
Martin Buber Scholar to Speak at UNO Brooks Lecture and at Temple’s Ministers Institute
Gary Kuklin
Parents
by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Dr. Gilya Gerda Schmidt will be the guest lecturer at this year’s Rabbi Sidney H. Brooks Lecture on Thursday, April 14, 7:30 p.m., at the Alumni Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). Her topic will be “The Many Faces of Martin Buber: Herald of a New Age for Christians and Jews.” The lecture is open to the public and there is Dr. Gilya Gerda Schmidt no charge. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Dr. Schmidt moved to the United States in 1962. She is now professor of religious studies at the University of Tennessee and has headed the department since 2002. Introduced to the teachings and philosophy of Martin Buber while she was an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh in 1983, her dissertation topic was “From Turmoil to Unity: Martin Buber’s Efforts Towards a New Concept of Jewish Community 1897-1915.” Martin Buber, 1878-1965, was a Jewish philosopher and scholar who exerted great influence on Jewish and Zionist thought in Western Europe. He delved into Jewish mysticism and published collections of Hasidic tales. He settled in Palestine after the rise of Nazism and became a professor of social philosophy at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Schmidt is the editor and translator of numerous books and articles including The First Buber: Youthful Zionist Writings of Martin Buber. After she was already the mother of two, Dr. Schmidt began her college career graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts in 1983 and
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Building Repairs Underway at Beth Israel
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, APRIL 8 Ministers Institute, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel JELS Talmud Class with Guy Matalon, noon BEST Family/Congregational Dinner, 7 p.m. at Beth El SATURDAY, APRIL 9 Men’s Club Shabbat, 9:30 a.m. at Beth El C L SUNDAY, APRIL 10 I Jewish Potpouri, 10 a.m. at Beth El P “Cleaning for Pesach” Class, 10 a.m. at Beth Israel
C L I P
WRJ-O Friendship Tea, 2 p.m. at Temple Israel & HAZAK Deli, 5 p.m. at Beth El
&
S MONDAY, APRIL 11 A Visions Tour of Hindu Temple and Lunch, noon V Hadassah Board Meeting, 1 p.m. E
S A V E
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 Nebraska AIPAC Annual Event, 7 a.m.
THURSDAY, APRIL 14
& Beth El USY Spring Kallah, April 14-18 S A V E
Nebraska AIPAC Annual Event, 7 a.m. BBYO SRC, April 14 -17 Walk-in Drop-in, 10 a.m. Adult Education, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Yiddish Group, 1 p.m. JFS Becoming a Love and Logic Parent, 6 p.m. All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated. The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of events. To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437. FOR A COMPLETE LISTING, VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)
This Space For Rent Call Allan Handleman 334-6451
by MARY BORT For Beth Israel Synagogue Walking by construction barricades at the front of the building, a postal carrier delivering mail at Beth Israel Synagogue recently asked if the building had been hit by a car “again.” His question had merit. Last October, only two weeks before Beth Israel’s official Building Dedication, the synagogue was hit by a car involved in an accident on Pacific St. The accident resulted in damage to landscaping and to the east side of the building’s entry. Temporary repairs were done to make the building presentable in time for the Dedication. Now that winter has ended, permanent repairs are underway at Beth Israel.
According the Beth Israel’s Executive Director, Beth Cohen, “The brick work had to wait until the temperature was warm enough. Our contractors have removed the temporary fix they placed on our building, and are now in the process of reinstalling metal studs and brick work, as well as readjusting the front doors which were slightly warped after absorbing the impact of the car. Final sidewalk repairs are also underway.” Repairs to Beth Israel’s building are expected to be completed by early April. Rainy weather would be the only cause for delays. And, as long as the building can avoid any future collisions with automobiles, Beth Israel Synagogue should look good as new.
An Evening of Magnificent Music...
TUESDAY, APRIL 12 National ADL Holocaust Curriculum Review, 8 a.m. ADL’s Manhigim Institute, 4:30 p.m. JSS Concert, 5 p.m. BBYO Night, 6 p.m. Board of Directors Meeting, 7 p.m. at Friedel YJO Passover Cooking, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel JSS Concert, 7 p.m. Omaha Symphony Concert, 7:30 p.m. at Beth El
C Patter, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El L Youth Group Dinner, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel I Board Meeting, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel P
earning her master’s degree in Germanic languages and literatures from the University of Pittsburgh. A Mellon pre-doctoral fellow, she received her Ph.D. in 1991 in comparative religion with a concentration in Judaism also at the University of Pittsburgh. She has taught courses in the comparison of world religions, introduction to Judaism, contemporary Jewish thinkers, voices of the Holocaust, modern Jewish thought, and women in Judaism. Among her community activities, Dr. Schmidt is a member of the National Conference of Community and Justice in Knoxville, TN; the Southern Poverty Law Center, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the NAACP. Dr. Schmidt attended a conference on Buber in 1985 in Germany where she met prominent Israeli Buber scholars. In 1986, she spent a summer living on a kibbutz in Israel learning Hebrew and becoming active in synagogue affairs. In 1987, Dr. Schmidt was awarded the Israel Heritage Room Scholarship for dissertation researching the Buber Archives at Hebrew University. She was also the recipient of more than a dozen other honors including the National Endowment for the Humanities grant for summer seminar on Zionism at New York’s Columbia University. Sponsored by the Religious Studies Program, College of Arts and Sciences at UNO, the Rabbi Brooks Lecture is held in cooperation with Temple Israel. In addition to speaking at UNO, Dr. Schmidt will be the guest presenter at the 65th Annual Sidney H. and Jane Brooks Institute on Judaism for Christian Clergy on Friday, April 15 at Temple. Her topic that day will be “Martin Buber and Life on the Narrow Ridge.” At 10 a.m., she will discuss Buber’s struggle with “I and Thou,” and at 1:30 p.m., his fascination with Hasidism. These lectures are open to the public.
C L I P & S A V E
Continued from page 1 Top right picture: Reveling in the lovely community gathering were, front row, Cantor Bogomolni, Cantor Shermet, former Beth El Cantor Emil Berkovits, Cantor Ray Edgar and former Beth El Cantor Chaim Najman; back row, Beth El Rabbi Mordechai Levin, NCAS Masterworks Chorus Conductor D. Anthony Trecek-King, and event chairmen Diane and Larry Malashock. Bottom left picture: Beth El Cantor Gastón Bogomolni, left, and retired Cantor Ray Edgar of Santa Fe, N.M., delighted the crowd with a mischevious, lively rendition of “Tel Aviv.” Cantor Edgar’s father, Aaron I. Edgar, served as Beth El’s cantor from 1936 to 1972; a recording of his singing opened the Cantor’s Concert and paid tribute to the late hazzan. Bottom right picture: Former Beth El Cantor Emil Berkovits, who serves Temple Israel in Swampscott-Marblehead, Mass., sang the beautiful “Avinu Malkenu,” accompanied by the Masterworks Chorus.
April 8, 2005
by PAM MONSKY nies such as Haagen -Daz, Con Agra, Federation Communications Director Rich’s, Sea-Pack, Perdue Chicken, Tired of serving (and eating) the same Brinker, Darden and has been featured old recipes at your family’s seder? You in various publications. can learn how to shake up your seder Today, Kramer is quickly gaining an this year by attending enthusiastic local fol“Passover Cooking lowing as a caterer in With a Flair,” sponsored Omaha. She will marry by Young Jewish Andy Ruback this year Omaha (YJO), on and noted that the couTuesday, April 12, 7-9 ple are members at p.m. at Beth Israel Temple Israel. Synagogue, located at Kramer attributes her 12604 Pacific St. love of food and cookLeading this fun and ing to her Panamanian innovative Passover heritage. “I grew up cooking class is Omaha around food and lot’s native Teresa Kramer. of it! Traditional foods While enrolled at of are great because they The Culinary Institute express who we are Of America in Hyde and where we come Park, New York, she from but there is always was asked to do an an opportunity to get “externship” with creative and express Teresa Kramer Wolfgang Puck at the our individuality. Let’s critically acclaimed Spago restaurant in just say I love to jazz things up a bit!” Los Angeles. Kramer catered many pri- explained Kramer. vate parties for celebrities as well as the Kramer is thrilled to offer this free annual “After-parties” for the Oscars and cooking seminar to YJO, adding, “I want Screen Actors Guild Awards. this class to inspire you to call your mom In 1994 she returned to Omaha to or your bubbie and ask for the recipes become the Executive Chef for the you remember eating on Shabbos or at Champions Club, and once again left your Passover seder. Then you can add Omaha when she was chosen to be the your own twist...start your own tradihead chef for the United States Ski and tions! Snowboard Teams at the 2002 Winter “Passover Cooking With a Flair” is free Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. On the and open to YJO members (Omaha heels of the Winter Olympics, she was Jewish community members, married recruited for the position of private chef and single, ages 25-45). Registration is at the 2003 & 2005 Masters Golf recommended, as space is limited. Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. In Register by April 5 by calling Jill Simon, addition, Kramer has been involved in YJO Project Coordinator, jsiresearch & development for top compa- mon1123@cox.net or call 934.2076.
Visions performers, Talia Osteen, Andra London and Amy Turner on stage.
Andra London gets Jonathan Rathson to join in the singing while Uri Levin looks on.
Jewish Community Is Invited to Attend Beth El’s Festive Congregational Seder by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator In keeping with the generations-old tradition of joining loved ones to celebrate the festival of Passover, Beth El Synagogue will host its annual congregational Seder on the second night of Pesach, on Sunday, April 24, 6 p.m. The entire Jewish community is invited to come together as Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni lead the commemoration of the Exodus and celebrate the Jewish people’s journey from slavery to freedom. “A warm, joyful evening is being
Page 3
“Passover Cooking With a Flair”
Visions Rock the House by MARY SUE GROSSMAN Administrator Jewish Educational & Library Services Nearly 300 people enjoyed the talents of the musical group “Visions” on Saturday evening, March 26 in the JCC Theater. Performers Andra London, Talia Osteen, and Amy Turner presented a delightful mix of Jewish and pop selections during the concert which was presented by Jewish Educational & Library Services and YJO (Young Jewish Omaha). Wonderful harmony, humor, and audience participation were all part of the evening. To see more photos from the concert, visit the Federation website at www.jewishomaha.org. To learn more about Visions and hear a sample of their music, visit their website at www.visionstrio.com. Visions CDs are also available in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
planned, filled with singing, instrumental music and meaningful concepts from the Haggadah to reflect modern slavery and freedom,” Rabbi Levin said. “We look forward to sharing our celebration with the community.” Cost of the congregational Seder is $22.50 for adults; $18 for seniors; $15 for children five to 12; and $5 for children under five. The cost includes a three percent contribution to Mazon: the Jewish Response to Hunger. For reservations or for further information, please call Harriet Einziger at the synagogue at: 492.8550.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 8, 2005
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Is Gaza part of Land of Israel? Continued from page 1 It was evacuated during the war and was Kamietsky was referring to the more among the first to be resettled by Jews than 4,000 rounds of mortar fire launched after 1967--first inhabited by Israeli solonto Gaza's settlements. He said Jews diers from the Nahal brigade before there act as a buffer for those Jews living becoming transformed into one of severwithin Israel’s pre-1967 borders. al civilian settlements established in the Kamietsky takes strength from history, 1970s as the settler movement gained where Gaza was often caught in the strength. crossfire of war. “Always in history, Gaza seemed more problematic,” he said, noting the fabled enemies of the Israelites, the seafaring Philistines who controlled the area in biblical times. The one period when Jews appeared to have sovereignty over Gaza was during Hasmonean rule when the Jewish King Yochanan--whose brother was Judah the Maccabee-Watched by a body guard, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul captured the area in 145 C.E. Mofaz, center, is greeted by Malcolm Hoenlein, right, the Haggai Huberman, who Executive Vice-chairman of the Presidents Conference, in has written extensively on Jerusalem, Jewish leaders affirmed support for Israel’s disthe history of Jewish settleCredit: Brian Hendler/JTA engagement plan. ment in Gaza over the centuries, is writing a history of the Jews in Any attempts to downplay Jewish Gush Katif. He maintains that the Jews roots in the Gaza Strip “is part of the diswho lived there always considered them- information being spread,” said Eran selves residents of the Land of Israel. Steinberg, spokesperson for the Gush He says that Jews lived on and off in Katif settlements. Gaza since the time of Roman rule, their For her part, Wazana said present-day settlement following a pattern of expul- debates over territory mirror those in the sion during times of war and conquest Bible. “Descriptions of borders reflect difand return during more peaceful peri- ferent ideologies even back then,” she ods. The remains of an ancient syna- said. “People have put words in the gogue found in Gaza date to around 508 mouths of God even in biblical times. If C.E. Its mosaic floor was unearthed by you have an ideology, you will find the archeologists and is now displayed in right words to support it.” the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Some who oppose Jewish settlement There was reportedly a large Jewish in Gaza point to the fact that Orthodox community in the area when the Jews are allowed to consume produce Muslims invaded in the seventh century. grown in the Gaza Strip during shmita, The Jews were noted for their skills as the seventh, or sabbatical year, when farmers and for making wine in their fruits and vegetables are not to be cultivast vineyards. vated in the Land of Israel according to After the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 Jewish law. But Kamietsky said it is persome Spanish and Portuguese Jews fled mitted to grow produce in the Gaza Strip to Gaza. When Napoleon’s army because even though it is every bit “as marched through the area they fled, but holy” as the rest of the Land of Israel, it later returned in the early 1800s. was not an area settled during the When the first wave of Zionist settlers Second Temple period when Jews arrived in the region at the end of the returned from exile in Babylon. 19th century, a group of 50 families Today support for Jewish settlement in moved to Gaza City. According to Gaza is dwindling, especially as Prime Huberman, they established good rela- Minister Ariel Sharon--once the settletions with local Arabs. They stayed until ment movement's champion--becomes they were expelled in 1914, along with its greatest threat. Gaza’s entire Arab population, by the “There is a lot of use of historical arguOttoman Turks during World War I. ments” to bolster an argument, said David In 1920 the Jews returned but at this Newman, a professor at Ben-Gurion point, with Arab and Jewish nationalism University who specializes in political on the rise, tensions simmered and the geography and writes about Israel’s borformer good relations with local Arabs ders and settlements. “But political decibegan to sour, said Huberman. sions are based on real politics,” he said, The major Jewish presence in Gaza on adding that “people on both sides give up the eve of Israel’s War of 1948 was a kib- historical aspirations to reach a safer, more butz called Kfar Darom, set up in 1946. secure compromise.”
Losing Grandmother
SENIOR LIVING ISSUE INFORMATION Publishing Date: May 20, 2005 Space Reservation: May 5, 2005 Camera Ready Deadline: May 9, 2005
To place an ad in this special section, call Allan Handleman at 402.334.6451.
Continued from page 1 “We took a college course and were the only two people under 18 in the eight- week class,” said Becki. At the time she was 10 and Isaac was 12. Becki assists in a group with younger children at Ted E. Bear Hollow. “We do arts and crafts projects, read books, and talk about our feelings,” she mentioned. “Being one of the kids first was helpful.” According to Isaac, the experience has “made me a lot more outgoing and willing to help people with their lives and problems.” Both he and his sister submitted their work at Ted E. Bear Hollow as their mitzvah projects, a requirement for B’nai Mitzvah students at Temple Israel. Isaac, who enjoys acting in school dramas and musicals and participating in swing choir, helps special education students at his school in their music class.
Becki also enjoys being in swing choir and performing in stage productions at her school. And she’s able to listen to her friends who are “going through the same thing” she experienced when her grandmother died. It’s still hard to talk about her sometimes, admitted Becki who also understands that it’s ok to be sad. She knows that by helping other kids, especially if they’ve lost a grandparent or a parent, it helps her. Ted E. Bear Hollow is offered to children as young as three and teens as old as 19. A family member or guardian must attend the adult group. There are no fees to participate in the eight-week sessions, scheduled once a week year-round. Follow-up support groups are then offered once a month. A teen camp is being introduced this year. Call 502.2773 for more information.
April 8, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 5
Relationship Between Pope, Jews to be Explored in Exhibit Organized by Jewish, Catholic Institutions in Cincinnati by IRIS RUTH PASTOR Managing editor, The American Israelite and DENNIS O’CONNOR Managing editor, The Catholic Telegraph CINCINNATI--One of the fascinating legacies of Pope John Paul II’s papacy is his life-long affirming relationship with the Jewish people, acknowledged in an important exhibit opening May 18 called “A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People.” Transcripts, photos, prayer books and other important items are being gathered from around the world for the first-ever exhibition on the subject, a partnership of the Shtetl Foundation, Xavier University and Hillel of Cincinnati. The 1,500-squarefoot exhibit opens on the late pope’s birthday and runs through late summer, when it will move to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C. From there, it will tour Jewish and Catholic colleges and universities and other venues throughout the United States before traveling to Europe and becoming a permanent display in Israel. Last October, the pope gave his blessing to the project after hearing a brief presentation by Rabbi Abie Ingber, Executive Director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center of Cincinnati; Dr. Yaffa Eliach, former Brueggeman Chair at Xavier University and president and founder of the Shtetl Foundation in New York; Dr. William Madges, chairman of the Theology Department at Xavier; and Dr. James Buchanan, director of the Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue. At that meeting, they presented the pope with a leather-bound overview of the project, a copy of which will be dis-
played at the Eliach, a exhibit. child survivor “The geneof the sis of this Holocaust, project goes established to the fall of the first cen2003, when ter for Eliach was at Holocaust Xavier as the studies, docuBrueggeman mentation p r o f e s s o r, ” and research said Madges. in the United “While she States. She was here, she helped introhad several d u c e conversations Holocaust with James Pope John Paul II, left, meets with Yaffa Eliach of the Shtetl studies into ( B u c h a n a n ) Foundation in New York, Rabbi Abie Ingber of the Hillel colleges and and me about Jewish Student Center in Cincinnati, James Buchanan of universities in her research Xavier University’s Brueggeman Center, and William Madges North and about the of Xavier University during an October 2004 visit. S o u t h CREDIT: Greg Rust/Xavier University America. pope as a priest and bishop.” Eliach had prior experience in conEliach provided fascinating details structing teaching exhibits. Her creation about his lifelong relationship with the of a permanent exhibit at the United Jews, beginning with his childhood, States Holocaust Memorial Museum in where Karol Jozef Wojtyla was born and Washington, D.C., called “The Tower of raised in the small town of Wadowice, Life,” is both well known and heavily visPoland. In this small town of 8,000 souls ited. From that focus on life, Eliach later --2,000 of whom were Jewish. Wojtyla founded the Shtetl Foundation. spent the first 18 years of his life in an Her enthusiasm for the project continapartment rented in the home of a Jewish ued to grow and her leadership was an merchant, Yechiel Balamuth. There he important impetus for getting the exhibit forged friendships with Jewish comrades off the ground. such as Jerzy Kluger, Zygmut Selinger, Jesuit Father Michael Graham, gave his Leopold Zweig and Poldek Goldberger. commitment as well, and ultimately “Yaffa laid out the story to us, saying worked together with Cincinnati's Jewish that this was a very important part of John Foundation to bring the project to Paul’s life that needed to be told,” Madges fruition. The lead financial sponsorship of said. “Yaffa said she would work on the the exhibit is the Jewish Foundation of project, and we all gave our skeptical Cincinnati and Xavier University. ‘yeses’ and moved forward.” Madges noted that the project is signifi-
cant for numerous reasons. Pope John Paul II is the first pope since the first century to visit a synagogue, as well as being the pope who established diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel. “This exhibit is the kind of thing a Catholic university and a department of theology should be doing, namely bringing the Catholic tradition into fruitful dialogue with others,” Madges said. Rabbi Ingber concurred. “It was the first time since St. Paul that a pope had been into a synagogue,” said Rabbi Ingber, whose grandfather was killed by the Nazis and his father was running through the streets of Poland while John Paul II was living there. “The pope carries 2,000 years of history by going across the Tiber River in Rome,” (entering a Roman synagogue). “Maybe God’s plan for healing the world after the Holocaust was John Paul II. If there is a plan, John Paul II’s presence as the 20th century waned allowed some balance in the telling of these stories.” And perhaps story telling is the appropriate way for the lessons of the horrors of the Holocaust to be imparted. That an inter-faith dialogue has been at much of the heart of John Paul’s life is perhaps the key ingredient to the exhibit, Brueggeman Center’s Buchanan said. Buchanan noted that in an age of globalization, in which diversity has become a complicated question, the pope is a role model. “Here is a guy at the head of a worldwide organization who has fought tooth and nail to change, to become more tolerant. “That’s the experience and message I’d like to see people leaving with as they exit the exhibit,” Buchanan said.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 8, 2005
ORGANIZATIONS
IN THE NEWS
BREADBREAKERS Renee Corcoran and Helen Rifkin will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, April 13, noon, at the Park Inn Regency.Corcoran is the Executive Director and Rifkin is President of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. They will discuss recent developments. Chuck Sigerson will speak on Wednesday, April 20, noon. Sigerson a City Councilman, is running for re-election to the District 7 seat. Cost is $11 for a full lunch and $3. for beverage service only. The community is invited to attend. VISIONS Reminder: The Hindu Temple Tour is on Monday, April 11. Join Visions at 11 a.m. at the Mediterranean Bistro (1712 No. 120 St.) for a delicious and relaxing lunch. Individual checks will include tax and gratuity. Following lunch, we will meet at the magnificent Hindu Temple (13010 Arbor) for an informative presentation and escorted tour which will explore the beauty and mystique of the Temple and Hindu Philosophy. Tulip Festival Tour to Orange City on Thursday, May 19. Cost is $53 per person. Depart from the JCC at 7 a.m. and return by approximately 7 p.m. Roundtrip transportation by deluxe motor coach. The trip includes a delicious noon meal in Orange City, guided tour of the tulips, Orange city Stage/Street Performances, shopping, and professional escort. For reservations send form to Anne Skolkin, 1010 Regency Parkway #302, Omaha, NE 68114. Make check payable to Visions. Deadline is April 20. Branson Show Extravaganza on September 19-23. The cost of $454 per person (double occupancy). For more information call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638. JEWISH SENIOR SERVICES Reminder: The Omaha Municipal Orchestra presents Water Music on Tuesday, April 12, 7 p.m. in the JCC auditorium.Enjoy works from composers Mendelssohn, Chausson, Handel and Smetana and features Wendy Eaton, mezzo-soprano. There is no admission fee. This
Solution to Passover Crossword Puzzle on page 11
concert is sponsored by the Noddle family in memory of Edith Noddle. LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Come to the Yiddish meeting at the JCC on Thursdays, 1-3 p.m. Call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638. WALK-IN, DROP-IN For those members going on Thursday to the Farmer’s Daughter Restaurant in Council Bluffs, please meet at the JCC main entrance at 10:45 a.m. YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS The next Y.E.S. meeting will be Monday, April 18, 12:45 p.m. at the JCC auditorium. The Omaha Theater Company presents Nebraskaland. Cost for lunch is $6 per person. Nebraskaland introduces the audience to 15-famous Nebraskans, including authors, sports heroes, Native Americans, and other political and community leaders. Students from the Friedel Academy will join us. Call Maggie Conti for information at 334.6521. TORAH LEARNING CENTER All classes are taught by Rabbi Tuvia Hoffman. Please call him at 981.0569 for more information. Mondays, 7:30 p.m.: “The Siddur: The best selling book of Kaballah” in the Omaha Room of the JCC. Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m.: “Growth Through Torah” at a private residence. Thursdays, 1 p.m.: “Meaning of Life & Other Business” based on The Way of G-d by Rabbi Chaim Luzatto, also in the Omaha Room of the JCC. KRIPKE LIBRARY BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP Rabbi Jonathan Gross of Beth Israel Synagogue will lead the upcoming discussion of Nathan Scharansky’s Fear No Evil. This remarkable biography of courage in the face of obstacles details the story of man’s survival against years of political oppression in the USSR. Copies of the book obtained through inter-library loan are available in the Kripke Library for those who are interested in reading and participating in the discussion which will be held June 16, 1 p.m. On May 19, 1 p.m., the book discussion group will be reading The Book of Splendor by Frances Sherwood. For more information call 334.6462.
BIRTH Debbie and Ken Shonfeld of Winnetka, IL announce the Jan. 28 birth their son, Benjamin Reid. He has three brothers, Sam, Zach and Jordan. Grandparents are Marilyn and Bill Shonfeld of Glencoe, IL and Maxine and Joe Kirshenbaum. Kallen and Michael Bresel announce the Feb. 15 birth of their daughter, Mika O’Mara. Grandparents are Marge and Jim Bresel, and Judy and Robert Zimmer. Great-grandparents are Morris Bresel and the late Jean Bresel, Myra and Leo Sivin, Barbara Zimmer and the late Harold Zimmer, and the late Lorraine and LeRoy Coss.
Marty Kaplan took first place in Alto Sax Duet at the recently held Elkhorn Band Olympics. Marty, a sophomore at Central High School, is the son of Howard Kaplan and Julie Frank. He is a member of the Central High School Band and has been playing alto saxophone for six years. EnCircle Home Care is helping the aging Omaha population maintain a productive, dignified, independent lifestyle at home. The new business, located in Omaha at 4812 Dodge, recently opened its doors and began meeting an array of client’s needs as an in-home care provider. EnCircle Home Care provides a preferred level of non-medical, in-home care for individuals who need assistance with activities for daily living. They serve the elderly, the disabled, individuals who have been injured or are recovering from illness, expectant and new mothers with custom services to meet their needs. Some services include: companionship, meal preparation, laundry and ironing, touch-up cleaning, errands and shopping, incidental transportation, medication reminders, assistance with paying bills, writing letters and e-mails, non-medical outpatient services and 24 hour care. EnCircle also assists with transitions to assisted living facilities or nursing homes. EnCircle is a family owned and operated business, managed by Brendan Bishop, whose own experience caring for his elderly grandmother inspired him to start EnCircle.
ENGAGEMENT SAMUELS/JACOBSON Julie Samuels of St. Louis, MO and Robert Jacobson of Corpus Christi, TX announce their engagement. The daughter of Dr. Larry Samuels and Stephanie Samuels, the bride-to-be graduated from University of Texas at Austin. She is an elementary school teacher. She is the granddaughter of Raymond Hutner and the late Dorothy Hutner, and David Samuels and the late Rosalie Samuels. Her fiance is the son of Bruce Jacobson and Shelly Jacobson. He graduated from University of Texas at Austin and is currently studying at the University of Texas School of Law. He is the grandson of the late Abe Hoffman and Helen Marie Hoffman, Leonard Jacobson and Eilee Jacobson, and the late Esther Jacobson. A May 29 wedding is planned in St. Louis, MO. CORRECTION The Noddle family name was misspelled in the headline in last week’s article about Beth El Cantor’s Concert on page 2. The Jewish Press regrets the error.
Class of High School Seniors...
2005
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We will be pulishing our annual Graduation Teen Age on June 10, 2005. To be included, we need your graduation photo and the following information. Name ____________________________________________________________________ Parent(s)’ Name(s) _________________________________________________________ Current High School _________________________________________________________ College you plan to attend ____________________________________________________ Send by May 13 to: The Jewish Press | 333 So. 132 St. | Omaha, NE 68154
April 8, 2005
Beth Israel’s Sisterhood Gift Shop Back in Business By MART BORT get to pick up a new packet of meat, For Beth Israel Synagogue dairy and parve stickers for your cabiAs you prepared for Passover? Are you nets and cookware. in need of a Seder plate or matzah box? According to Kozlen, “We’re stocked Or do you need a gift for someone's with a terrific variety of giftware, with birthday or anniversary? Beth Israel gifts ranging from traditional to funky. Sisterhood’s Gift Shop is now back in With such a wide array of Judaica, you’re business and offering the community an sure to find something to meet your extensive selection of Judaica. needs.” Bette Kozlen is one Between now of the Sisterhood memand Passover, the bers in charge of the Gift Shop will be Gift Shop. “While the open Sunday synagogue was built mornings, 10and we settled into the 11:30 a.m. new building, the Gift Purchases can Shop went on hiatus” also be made durshe said. “Construction ing regular synaof our new Gift Shop gogue office cabinet was recently hours. “It’s nice to completed and now know you can Bette Kozlen, left, JoEll Gerber and Lynne we have a wonderful stop in any time Saltzman restocked the gift shop. display area for all the and someone can Judaica we were keeping in storage.” help you with gift choices. This is an Gift shop items for Passover include important service to the community. Seder plates, Elijah’s cups, matzah boxes We’re also glad to arrange for special and covers, horseradish and saltwater orders if there is something particular dishes, plague puppets, and bibs. Other you need.” gift items include challah covers and For information about Beth Israel boards, mezzuzahs, Nosh boxes, Hamsa Sisterhood’s Gift Shop, call Bette Kozlen plaques, cookware, the Sisterhood cook- at 333.1621, or the synagogue office at book, and children’s gifts. And don't for- 556.6288 Beth El Synagogue’s third-grade students will participate in a special consecration ceremony on Sunday, April 10, during an 11:15 a.m. assembly service in the sanctuary. Each child will help to lead the service and will also receive a siddur from Beth El Synagogue Talmud Torah (BESTT). Celebrants include: front row, Chelsea Kavich, left, Elizabeth Snyder, Megan Kahn, Jacob Hoberman, Chad Shulewitz; back row, teacher Eadie Tsabari, Alyssa Cohen, Alyssa Kirshenbaum, Ariel Juster, Julia Edelstein, John Gallagher and Education Director Judy Rubin.
Book Fair Over Achieves Goal at Friedel by JORDANA L. KURTZMAN about a third of the new resources came for Friedel Jewish Academy from parent and PTO donations. Barb Friedel Jewish Academy had their very Sather was completely surprised how first Scholastic Book Fair during Parent- well Friedel did with this Book Fair. “I Teacher conferences last month, and the can't wait to do it again next year! I am event was an astounding success, judg- constantly amazed at the generosity and ing from its reception and final tally of support of Friedel parents.” sales. General studies teacher Barb Principal Cookie Katskee concurs with Sather organized and planned the entire this sentiment. “Having a Scholastic affair, thinking the Book Fair would be a Book Fair is a win-win situation for the one-time event. school and the parents. Parents get to “Scholastic is great about supporting buy wonderful books and computer smaller schools like ours, but they do have games for their children at great prices, a minimum amount of sales a school has to and the school gets to replenish their achieve in order to allow a second Book book shelves and computers with more Fair the following year,” she explained. of those supplies, which the children get Friedel had to sell at least $1,200 in books to use for years and years to come.” and other educational supplies, and they For more information about Friedel met that goal easily, selling almost $1,400 Jewish Academy, please call Katskee at of Scholastic materials.” 334-0517. Although most people are aware that schools not only make profits in the way of books and CD-ROMs for participating in Book Fairs, but they also allow parents to have direct input as to what is placed on the library book shelves and in the classrooms. For Friedel Jewish Academy, the end result was an addition of $700 worth of books and educational computer games for the students and their teachers. In addition to acquiring Teachers Diana Zeman, left, and Administrative Assistant many of these supplies from Mary Jane Tweedy, Barb Sather, and Denise Bennett prethe profits of the sales, pare for the Scholastic Book Fair at Friedel.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 7
Jewish Journey Group at Temple Israel to Explore Overcoming Obstacles to Faith by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator “‘For the believer there are no questions and for the unbeliever there are no answers,’ said Menachem Mendel, a rabbi of the 19th century. That conclusion does not accord with my own experiences,” writes Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis in his book For Those Who Can’t Believe: Overcoming the Obstacles to Faith. “I have come to know many believers with profound doubts and many unbelievers with deep yearnings for serious answers,” Rabbi Schulweis adds. Temple Israel’s Rabbi Craig Marantz will lead a Jewish Journey Group on the subject matter of Rabbi Schulweis’s book. The group will meet on Tuesdays, April 19 to May 10, noon to 1 p.m. in the library at Temple. It is open to the community. “My personal desire is to provide an opportunity for those who struggle with conventional notions and beliefs about God to reshape those notions into something more authentic and relevant to their lives, something that embraces the complexity of their lives,” said Rabbi Marantz. “Muteness and boredom are symptoms of disbelief in the wisdom, morality, and reality of conventional religion,” according to Rabbi Schulweis. “The disaffected are not mean spirited. Their complaints should not be dismissed. Many of the
complaints are justifiable and many of the questions are honorable.” Rabbi Schulweis “resists the temptation to answer simplistically,” pointed out Rabbi Marantz. “He gives us a chance to shape a pattern of belief that sort of jibes with the complexity of our lives. In Judaism, wrestling about (or with) God is an authentic Jewish activity.” “It is in (the) refocusing of the questions of conventional theology that Schulweis’s wisdom lies,” observed an editorial review from Publishers Weekly. Rabbi Schulweis is the founding chairman of the Jewish Foundation for Christian Rescuers, an organization that identifies and offers grants to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews threatened by the agents of Nazi savagery. He is the author of Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion, Evil and the Morality of God, and In God’s Mirror as well as an editor and contributor to a number of magazines. He also serves as spiritual leader of Congregation Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. There is no charge to participate in this Jewish Journey Group, offered by the Hermene Zweiback Center for Lifelong Jewish Learning. However, please register with Temple’s Program Director Rosie Zweiback at rzweiback@templeisraelomaha.com or call her at 556.6536.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 8, 2005
April 8, 2005
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 8, 2005
Channeling and Updating Bubbe, Cook Recreates Passover Memories by LINDA MOREL NEW YORK (JTA)--The first time Tina Wasserman prepared gefilte fish for Passover, it smelled up her whole house. The fish was past its prime, but it wasn’t spoiled, so “it didn’t make my family sick,” she says. But still, the experience was so horrifying that she didn’t attempt to prepare gefilte fish again for many years. Wasserman, who is Reform Judaism Magazine’s food columnist, has learned a thing or two about gefilte fish since then. First, you must buy fresh fish. Now that seafood is so popular, that’s much easier to do now than it was in the ’70s, when Wasserman started out. And she’s discovered there’s no need to boil fish patties for three hours, as old-fashioned recipes instructed. In fact, Wasserman suggests cooking gefilte fish for a mere 25 minutes. As she talks about gefilte fish, Wasserman laughs. She knows that the thought of cooking it makes some people gag. But that’s the result of commonly held misconceptions, she believes, and lists those incorrect ideas: The house smells for days. Fish heads are scary. Scales stick to fish. The jarred kind tastes better. “Well, I can’t help you if you prefer the jarred variety, but I can resolve the other issues,” she says. Fresh fish isn’t stinky at all, Wasserman says. Instead, it smells like the sea. Nonetheless, she suggests making the poaching liquid in advance, to lessen the time you and your kitchen are exposed to the scent of fish. Moreover, “if you don’t like the jelly with the fish, then you can skip the whole head and skin process,” she adds. And if you ask the store to fillet the fish, you won’t have to deal with the scales. Wasserman, who earned a master’s degree in food and fashion merchandising from New York University, has been a cooking teacher for 33 years. She taught first in her native New York, and for the past 25 years she’s taught in Dallas, where she lives. When she teaches, she says, she tries to think of everything that can go wrong and offers her students tips on avoiding those pitfalls, along with faster alternative preparation methods and substitute ingredients. “When it comes to gefilte fish, you can take my basic recipe and use fish that’s indigenous to your part of the country,” says Wasserman. In Texas, people add snapper because it’s not bony and tastes good. Though sea bass is gelatinous, its flavor is delicate and slightly sweet. Ocean trout also adds interesting nuances. She presents much of this wisdom on her website: Cookingandmore.com. “From the time I was 12, I knew I wanted to teach cooking,” says Wasserman, who got her start teaching at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan when
she was in her mid-20s. Back then, someone suggested that Wasserman start Passover workshops. “Why on earth in New York do you need classes on Passover cooking?” Wasserman remembers thinking. “But much to my surprise, students came.” And they’re still coming. Until then she had not realized how many people have lost their family recipes for such popular holiday foods as matza balls and tzimmes. “Throughout the centuries, Jews have moved across the g l o b e , spreading their food habits with them,” says Wasser man, Tina Wasserman in her proand she sees fessionally outfitted home it as her job kitchen in Dallas where she to help keep teaches kosher cooking. those cultures Credit: Courtesy Tina Wasserman alive. For example, by featuring Syrian spiced meat with eggplant and prunes on her website, Wasserman is keeping a part of that culture vibrant. Wasserman is a bit like the bubbe you wished you had, or the one who is no longer here to help you cook holiday foods. When she first moved to Dallas, she taught cooking at a Jewish community center there. “People figured if I’m from New York, I must know something,” she says. But Wasserman is a second-generation American, and many of her Dallas students came from families that lived in this country for three or four generations. Besides her impressive credentials, which include consulting for the largest fish market in Dallas, creating delicacies for the biggest kosher caterer in Philadelphia and acting as Chef Field for the Marshall Field department store chain, the thing Wasserman has going for her in the Jewish cooking world is her knowledge of kashrut. She was raised in a Conservative household. When she was in college, if friends had a question about kosher food, she reports, they said, “Go ask Tina. She knows everything.” “Today I keep kosher because of tradition,” she says, amazed at what you can do with kosher food. And she doesn’t mean high-fat, low-flavor dishes but wholesome, delicious cuisine. When she lived in Manhattan, Wasserman conducted Passover cooking workshops in her apartment, and attracted an assortment of students. One day, in the middle of a cooking
class, Wasserman saw her mother, who then had cancer, entering her apartment. Wasserman became overcome with emotion as she thought, “You’ve given me Passover traditions--and now I’m passing them on to people who have none of their own.” More recently, Wasserman, resurfacing her kitchen cabinets, had to remove all their contents. As her 17-yearold daughter stood in the kitchen, Wasserman clutched a plain box. “Do you see this box?” she asked her daughter. “If anything happens to me, grab it. “It contains all of our family’s original recipes.” Wasserman’s kitchen renovation is now finished. Though her recipe box is back safely in its place, as Passover approaches she refers to it often--after all, she’s busy teaching holiday cooking classes. Sephardi and Ashkenazi recipes by Tina Wasserman: HOMEMADE GEFILTE FISH-THE EASY WAY POACHING LIQUID 4 pounds whole fish (any combination of carp, white fish, pike, snapper, or sea trout) 2 carrots, cut into 1-inch lengths on a diagonal 2 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch lengths 1 pound yellow onions, thinly sliced 1 Bouquet Garni (1 bay leaf, plus thyme, marjoram, and summer savory or parsley to taste) wrapped in cheese cloth 2-3 quarts water FISH 2 medium yellow onions 1 carrot 1/4 cup very loosely packed fresh parsley 2 eggs 1/3 cup water 1/2 cup matza meal Salt and pepper to taste Garlic, ginger, sugar, dill, or whatever your bubbe used to use Fillet the fish--or better still, have the store do it for you. If you want to make a gelled broth, take home the head and bones. Reserve the filets. Rinse out the head of the fish. Make sure any bloody masses are removed. Soak all of the bones and the head in cold salted water to cover for 15 minutes or longer. Drain and discard the water. Place the bones and head on the bottom of a large Dutch oven and cover with carrots, celery and thinly sliced onion (from Poaching Liquid list). Add the Bouquet Garni and the 2-3 quarts of water to cover. Simmer for 60-90 minutes. Carefully strain the liquid. Reserve carrots and set aside. Discard the head and bones. Cool and divide the broth in half. To make the fish, grind reserved filets twice in a grinder fitted with a fine blade
or process in a food processor, until mixture develops a fairly smooth texture. Remove fish to a large bowl. Grind or process (from Fish ingredient list) the onions, carrot, and parsley. Add to fish. Add eggs, water, matza meal, salt, pepper, and additional flavorings, if desired. Mix well with a fork until light and fluffy. NOTE: to check for seasoning, cook 1 teaspoon of fish mixture in salted water for 10 minutes. Taste and then adjust seasonings, if necessary. Never taste fresh water fish raw! Shape the fish mixture in your hands to form ovals and gently place in a frying pan to which half the prepared fish stock, about an inch deep, has been added. Poach covered for 20-30 minutes (depending on size) over low heat or until center of a fish oval appears white. Drain on a cloth, then cool in reserved fish broth. Serve with horseradish. Garnish with reserved carrots. Yield: 8-12 patties SYRIAN SPICED MEAT WITH EGGPLANT AND PRUNES 2 lbs. ground chuck meat 2 teaspoon ground allspice 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon kosher salt Pepper to taste 3 tablespoon corn oil 6 medium onions, halved lengthwise and then cut into fourths 4 large red potatoes, cut into eighths 12 ounces pitted prunes 1 large eggplant, quartered length wise and cut into 1-inch slices 2 6-ounce cans of regular (not flavored) tomato paste 1/4 cup light brown sugar 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice In a large 2-quart bowl, combine the ground meat with the allspice, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Distribute spices evenly by mixing first with a fork and then with your hands. Place the oil in the bottom of a 6-quart Dutch oven or metal casserole. Place half of the onion slices in the bottom of the pot. Cover with half of the meat, making sure that you press the meat evenly and firmly into the onions. Scatter half of the potatoes, prunes, and eggplant over the meat. Repeat with the remaining onions, seasoned meat, potatoes, prunes, and eggplant. In a 3-quart bowl, combine the tomato paste with the remaining ingredients, along with salt and pepper to taste, into a smooth sauce. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Gently swirl the pan to allow the sauce to permeate the dish evenly. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Keeping the meat at a medium simmer, cook for 2 hours, or until the potatoes are tender and dish is thickened. Yield: As part of a Passover meal with other entrees, 36 servings, but only 12 servings as the single entree of a normal meal.
Cinical Research Study for Men with Type II Diabetes In men with Type II Diabetes, levels of testosterone (the main male hormone) may be low, whether or not the signs and symptoms of low testosterone (such as a drop in sex drive, loss of body hair, enlarged breasts and/or poor erections) are present. Heartland Clinical Research is conducting a clinical research study to see if an investigational new treatment will help to control blood sugar levels in men with Type II Diabetes who are: • between 30 and 80 years old, and are • currently treated with oral anti-diabetic medication(s) without complete control of • their blood sugar levels. • Study participants may or may not show symptoms of low testosterone Note that if you require insulin therapy to control your diabetes, and/or if you have used testosterone therapy within the last 6 months, you will not be eligible to participate. Other inclusion or exclusion requirements also apply. Please call for details. Qualified participants will receive study related exams, lab work and investigational medication at no cost. Participants will also be reimbursed for their time and travel related to the study. If you are interested in learning more about this research study, please contact:
Heartland Clinical Research, Inc. 2219 N. 91st Plaza, Omaha, NE 68134 402-502-9364 or 402-502-9363
April 8, 2005
Former Joslyn Chef Catering Temple Israel Congregational Seder by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Why is this night different from all other nights (at least all other nights of Passover)? Because, this night, the second night of Passover, you and your family can enjoy a traditional festive Seder meal from matza ball soup to a seasonal spring dessert without being a slave to the kitchen. Debbi and Judy Josephson are chairs of Temple Israel’s Congregational Seder on Sunday, April 24, 6 p.m. The traditional meal will also include a vegetarian selection and is catered by Chef Haddam Catering Company. John Haddam is the former executive chef of Joslyn Art Museum. The Josephson sisters-in-law have planned family Seders together previously, but this is the first time they’ve arranged a Seder for a couple hundred. Judy Josephson is “looking forward to enjoying delicious food and a very meaningful, traditional Seder with our expanded family at Temple. Let us do the work and you can enjoy the evening! It’s going to be a complete, full Seder. We hope everyone--members of Temple and the community--will join us for a great night.” Debbi Josephson added that “the
Seder is a nice time to get to know other people and enjoy the camaraderie.” Reservations are due by Friday, April 15, at Temple Israel. Temple members were mailed reservation forms which should be returned with payment. Nonmembers of Temple may make reservations (if seating is still available) between April 15 and Tuesday, April 19, by turning in their reservation and payment to the Temple office. Adult meals are $18; for children in sixth grade and younger, the meal is $8; children two and younger are free. As Passover concludes, the congregation is invited to join in Moments of Remembrance on Saturday, April 30, 9:45 a.m. Moments of Remembrance, a community gathering of mourners, is intended to be a comforting experience for those who have lost someone dear recently or in the past. In a supportive and caring setting, congregants can share their memories and feelings for loved ones who live only in someone’s memory. Yizkor will be recited at the 10:30 a.m. Passover service that follows Moments of Remembrance. Names to be read during Yizkor should be called in to the Temple office at 556.6536 by Tuesday, April 26.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT More than 40 local restaurants and caterers will step into the ring to offer a taste of their finest and most popular menu items at the 17th annual Taste of the Nation, Sunday, April 10, 5:30-8:30 p.m., at the Holiday Inn Central. For tickets, call 402.493.4739 or visit any Commercial Federal Branch location.$70 for general admission, $100 for VIP (allows early admission at 5 p.m.). Proceeds from Taste of the Nation will benefit the Omaha Food Bank. Based on the timeless stories of Sholom Aleichem, Fiddler on the Roof is a family musical about the bonds that hold husbands and wives and parents and children together in times of hardship and times of joy. Create a new tradition in your family and see Fiddler on the Roof at the Orpheum Theater April 22-24. Tickets for Fiddler are currently on sale and may be purchased through Ticket Omaha, at the Orpheum Theater, 409 So. 16th St. Telephone sales at Ticket Omaha are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday at 402.345.0606. Tickets can also be obtained at www.ticket-master.com or 422.1212 (Omaha) or 402.475.1212 (Lincoln). Information can be found at www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com and www.omahaperformingarts.org. Andy Warhol’s Athlete Series 1977-78 will be on view at the Fluxion Gallery April 6-30. Internationally known art collector Richard Weisman will be signing his book Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection on Friday, April 15, 5-8 p.m. A major portion of the proceeds from the sale of Weisman’s book will benefit The Bemis Center for Contemporary Art. Visit our website at www.fluxiongallery. com. Noted pianist Frederic Chiu will perform for the Tuesday Musical Concert Series on Tuesday, April 12, 7:30 p.m. at Joslyn Art Museum Tickets are $30 for adults and $5 for students. For information, call 551.2234.
Jewish Scout Troop to Become Year ’Round Activity by GREGG LOUCKS Pack 218 has a new Cubmaster and a new Committee Chair. Keep meeting in your dens until Monday, April 18, 7 p.m., when we will meet at the Jewish Community Center for a Cub sign-up event, hosted by the Jewish Committee on Scouting and Troop 218. Jeff Quandt and Karen Ingles have volunteered to serve as the new leaders of Pack 218. Quandt brings 20 years of Scout leader experience, having served as a Cubmaster as well as a Scoutmaster in the Mid-America Council. Ingles, currently the Cub Membership Chair for Soaring Eagle District, has worked as a Den leader, a Cubmaster, and a Pack Committee Chair. What can you expect with this new leadership aboard? A planned program facilitated by trained Scout leaders----for Jewish boys in grades first through fifth--boys from all over the Metro Omaha
area---boys from Beth El, Beth Israel, Chabad House, and Temple Israel--boys who attend public schools, Friedel Academy and other private schools. Pack 218 is an all-inclusive pack. Pack 218 is a pack for families. Bring your son’s siblings to the April 18th event. Bring all your children every week to the den meetings and to the monthly pack meeting. This is Scouting for Jewish families. And as a family pack, the parents will fill the leadership roles. The new Pack 218 is a year-round Scouting activity. Your family will be given the opportunity to participate in Scouting activities every week this coming summer. So, keep meeting in your dens; use those Cub handbooks and sign off on your Scout’s achievements. For more information about these changes or enrolling your child in Boy Scouts, call me at: 431.9272, or on my cell at: 614.1859.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 11
A Peaceful Passover by R. BERNARD MANN Legacy Crossword Puzzles, 2005
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ACROSS 1. Not clerical 5. Laplanders (name they prefer) 10. French goose liver spread 14. Prefix meaning inside 15. Mismatch or fight 16. Soon, in Shakepearese 17. Agenda part 18. Shell crew member, affectionately 19. One spelling for Plains Indian abode 20. Interface between fabric parts 21. THE KIND OF BREAD MATZO IS 23. Middle word part for Ap- and -lic 25. Kind of hot roof the cat was on 26. OMER, WHAT WE DO BETWEEN PESACH AND SHAVUOT 31. LAMB’S SIRE 34. State in a solid way 35. “I might _ treatment center,” (go back in again) 37. Ancient Nabatean city in Jordan 38. Snake-like fish 39. “ _,” the cellarer said, pointing to the cask 40. Two _ he who was mentor to Samuel and Mr. Whitney, who invented the cotton gin (subj., verb) 42. Scrupulous
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43. -Tin-Tin 44. PESACH WAS A TIME FOR SUMMER WHEAT 46. U.S. architects association 47. Add this to Exam- and you get the guy who just took the test 48. PESACH WAS A TIME FOR THE WINTER BARLEY 53. WHAT READING THE HAGADDAH IS, FORMALLY 57. Above 58. French thousand kilos unit 59. Roman route 60. Short dress 61. Bury 62. Israeli singer Noa 63. Knievel 64. Thongs, ties 65. Villa d’____ DOWN 1. Hawaiian welcoming devices 2. Your bills or chips on the table 3. Concept 4. The rest, not the aristocracy 5. Check it (out) 6. Name for on-the-wagon group 7. Loose limestoney earth 8. “1 get it” 9. Put sword back in scabbard 10. Typewriter part 11. Have __ (have influence) 12. Drink hard and often 13. Geraint’s wife, in Idylls of the King 72. Austrian city’s musical pitch?
24. -berry _, great dessert 26. Trick, practical joke 27. Large island at entry to Gulf of Livonia, as you would find it on a map 28. Pete ____, RussianAmerican comic actor (last name abbrev.) 29. PARSLEY OR OTHER ON THE SEDER PLATE 30. WHERE A MILLION CELEBRATE PESACH IN ISRAEL (starts here, ends at 49 Down) 31. Caress again 32. El- ____, a wadi at northern part of Sinai, meets the Mediterranean 33. Photo finish, not glossy 36. Citrus fruit 38. Important period of time 41. Flexible 42. Workers who put doors on pivots 45. Buy fish fresh, frozen, or 46. A Parisian month 48. You click on this to get back to the website’s main page 49. SEE 30 DOWN 50. Descartes 51. Musical pitch, in Milan 52. Start of the formal word for how-de-do 54. “__ later than you think” 55. WHAT MANY A FAMILY LIVED IN DURING THE EARLY PASSOVERS 56. Lake or Canal
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 8, 2005
Opinion Why Do We Need Op-Ed Pages? The purpose of the editorial and opinion pieces is to be a forum that will raise issues, inform, educate, challenge conventional wisdom, provoke discussion and, in some cases, even promulgate change. The last two weeks’ editorials on Terri Schiavo have generated more calls and letters to the Press than any other issue in the past nine years. Some of those have been to point out errors--and in acknowledging Toby Schonfeld’s point last week, we compounded our error by making another one. Due to our production mistake after the April 1 paper was proofread, a sentence was omitted from the second paragraph. It should have read like this: “Toby Schonfeld rightly points out in her Letter to the Editor, that the Schiavo case is not about assisted suicide (though Mary and Bob Schindler, Terri’s parents, might argue that it’s murder). Unlike the case of Christopher Reeve, the Schiavo case contains more than its share of dysfunctional family dynamics. In Reeve’s case, his wife Dana promised to care for him, regardless of his declining health. True, Reeve still had his faculties--but had Dana not stood by him, imagine the loss in the area of advocacy for spinal cord therapies and stem cell research.” We sincerely regret the errors and any confusion they may have caused. Also, we’re happy to print letters, like Dr. Ron Cooper’s and Lisa Lewis’ on page 13. Based on his extensive medical knowledge and experience, Dr. Cooper is right when he says “his knowledge of Jewish law is probably equal to the editorial writer’s knowledge of medicine,” and that “these laws could be interpreted in many different ways.” The Press was incorrect to infer in the first Schiavo editorial that Jewish law is definitive on this issue. We hope readers understand in last week’s op-eds, that regardless of what the law might say, it is subject to interpreta-
tion. And that’s why it’s so important to involve your rabbi in these difficult decisions. Some readers also have suggested it is not our place to editorialize about controversial issues. As stated on our mast: “Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Committee, the Jewish Federation of Omaha or the Omaha Jewish community as a whole.” This newspaper is the only vehicle to reach all Jewish households in greater Omaha and Lincoln. Where else can all viewers weigh in with their opinions? If we shy away from subjects that might make people uncomfortable, then we’ll wind up with a bland, uninspiring newspaper that doesn’t matter--and that no one wants to read. Frankly, that’s our worst fear: becoming irrelevant. To that end, the Jewish Press is introducing a new feature on the op-ed pages. We recognize there are times--and issues--that deserve more than the 250 word limit in a Letter to the Editor, so “In My Opinion” makes its debut today with a column from Zoë Riekes, President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. We welcome other readers as well--including our rabbis, doctors, attorneys, academics and others with specialized knowledge or experience--to submit opinion pieces we will print in the Press on a space-available basis (subject to all the usual rules of civility and good grammar, of course). Disagreement is healthy in a free society. And this editorial
(Founded in 1920)
writer takes no offense--personal or otherwise--when people of good conscience disagree with op-eds--or anything else published in this paper. To weigh in on this--or any other subject--you can always call this writer directly at 402.334.6450 or via e-mail at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org. We look forward to many more stimulating discussions about issues of importance to us as Jews, as Americans, and as members of this community.
Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Committee, the Jewish Federation of Omaha 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 a Constitutional Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Deadline for copy, ads and photos is: Thursday, noon, eight days prior to publication. E-mail editorial material and photos to: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; send ads (in .TIF or .PDF format) to: rbusse@jewishomaha.org.
Looking Ahead, Looking Back
OUR MAN IN ISRAEL by CARL ALPERT Haifa--Many of us base our moods and expectations for the future in the Middle East on what we read in the press or see on television. Outbreaks of terrorism and collapse of peace talks inevitably lead to pessimism, and we hasten to search for further developments that may alter the trend. The history of the past 50 years, if portrayed in graphs alone, would depict a wildly erratic series of lines jumping up and down without rhyme or reason. Back in 1993, when the skies were blue and relations with our neighbors were most promising, Arkia Airlines lost no time in drawing up a regular schedule of flights from Tel Aviv directly to Beirut, Damascus, Amman and Akaba. Flight times were determined and rates fixed. However, they stopped short of actually printing the tickets. On the basis of our experience we have learned not to rely either on predictions or on specific occurrences. Tomorrow is another day. We recall the scare that was voiced just five years ago, as our civilization turned into year 2000, and appropriate adjustments were made to our whole computer system. There were serious computer experts who predicted that the whole international network faced an apocalypse because of what became known as the Y2K Bug. The crisis passed. Problems dealing with even minor matters were reflected on the screen and in the press,
and at least provided entertainment for the public. Such was the case, for example, 13 years ago, when the Minister of Agriculture issued a decree barring the popular food firm, McDonald’s from importing its french fried potatoes on the grounds that locally grown potatoes could meet the requirements just as well. A case was prepared for the courts, and threats were made that the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. was being undermined. The subject disappeared from the news, and presumably a satisfactory agreement was reached. It was in 1994 that the Society for the Prevention of Smoking turned to the State Comptroller for help. The requisite Knesset committee had approved an amendment that would bar smoking in all the country’s work places, with provision for space for smokers. The difficulty was that the Prime Minister and Acting Health Minister refused to sign the bill. He was Yitzhak Rabin. His aides sought to avoid public controversy on the matter except to say that the premier, as a heavy smoker himself, would feel “hypocritical” about signing such a bill. Circumstances soon resulted in another Minister assuming the Health post, and the bill was passed. The records of recent years contain hundreds of predictions with respect to the future of the Middle East. They range all the way from a serious study of political and economic factors which indicate that Israel will be wiped off the map within 10 years, to another analysis which declares that the only alternative is a comprehensive war which will end with a mass emigration of the Palestinian
Joanie Jacobson Chairman Carol Katzman Editor Richard Busse Creative Director Allan Handleman Advertising Manager Lori Kooper-Schwarz Assistant Managing Editor Barbara Kirkpatrick Bookkeeper Jewish Press Committee Howard K. Marcus, Vice-Chairman; Bobbi Leibowitz, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Finance Chairman; Steve Simon, Treasurer; Fred Tichauer, Immediate Past-chairman; Jean Duitch; Penny Endelman; Kip Gordman; Stanley Mitchell; George Quittner; Linda Saltzman; Joey Shyken; Michael Siegal; Nancy Skid; and Melany Weinstine. The role of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to involve Jews in meeting Jewish communal needs locally, nationally and in Israel. Centers of Excellence of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Jewish Educational and Library Services, Jewish Family Service, and Jewish Senior Services. The Jewish Press and the Foundation are constitutional committees of the Jewish Federation.
Arabs to neighboring states, and the proclamation of Israel sovereignty over the entire area between the Jordan River and the sea. To those who have faith in long-range predictions, we recall the expectations of the world’s major businessmen, politicians, religious leaders and journalists who attended the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893 and were asked what the future held in store for the United States in the next 100 years. Five of their predictions came true; 10 were completely off target. The five: • the telephone would replace the telegraph; • general income tax would be imposed; buildings would be air-conditioned; • women would be given the right to vote; • cities would become collections of neighborhoods. The 10 that didn’t come true: • Railroads would become the major means of transportation; • unemployment would disappear; buildings would be constructed of aluminum; • hypnosis would replace anaesthesia; • laws would be so simply and clearly expressed that there would no longer be need for lawyers; • the problem of alcoholism would be solved by religious influence; • destruction of the forests would result in construction from stone and metal only; • the problem of crime would be solved by control of natural increase of criminals; • democracy would take over throughout civilization. So much for long range predictions. Carl Alpert can be reached at: alpert@techunix.technion.ac.il.
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: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org.. Letters should be no longer than 250 words and must be singlespaced 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, but should be printed as soon as possible to ensure timeliness. Letters may be 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. 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 more information, contact Carol Katzman, Jewish Press Editor, 402.334.6450. Postal The Jewish Press (USPS 275620) is published weekly on Friday for $31 per calendar year U.S.; $35 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. 132nd St., Omaha, NE 68154-2198 or e-mail to: jpress@jewishomaha. org.
Nebraska Press Association
National Newspaper Association
April 8, 2005
Pluralism and the Press
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 13
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
IN MY OPINION by ZOË RIEKES In response to a number of phone calls made to the Federation office and to the chairman of the Jewish Press regarding the March 25th editorial on the Terri Schiavo case, I’m writing to clarify the relationship between the Jewish Federation of Omaha and the Jewish Press. The Press is a Constitutional Committee of the Federation, funded, in part, by the Federation Annual Campaign, but whose policies and procedures are determined by its own lay committee and are in line with the mission of the Federation...“to promote and enhance the quality, welfare and continuity of Jewish life in the Omaha community, Israel and throughout the world through charitable, educational, social service, cultural, religious and recreational opportunities.” The editor of the Press has always been free to express his or her opinion on the editorial page. There is an ongoing, mutually-supportive communication between the two organizations, but the Press does not undergo weekly scrutiny and censorship by anyone on the Federation staff or lay board. The editor determines the content and placement of every weekly issue. I would like to make it clear that the views in the Schiavo editorial do not reflect the opinion of the Jewish Federation of Omaha or the Omaha Jewish community in general. We at the Federation do not want to compromise the position of the editor of our award-winning Jewish Press, and have no objection to raising issues of controversy in a free and open press. However, the Federation represents and respects all aspects of Jewish life and pluralism within our community. I am taking this opportunity to stress the importance of sharing ideas, concerns or objections in a public forum and endorse this new feature in the Jewish Press. If anyone has need for further discussion, please contact Carol Katzman or Joanie Jacobson at the Press, 3346450. As your Federation President, I am also available and may be reached at the Federation office, 334.6430.
To the Editor: A second edition of Jewish Life in Omaha and Lincoln is in preparation. If readers know of any typographical errors or misidentification of individuals or events, I would appreciate their corrections to make the second edition better. Thank you for your help. Contact me at: 345.1717 or OBPOMNI@aol.com. Oliver B. Pollak To the Editor: The Jewish Press editorial about Terri Schiavo was appalling. It was not based on facts. It is true that she is not, by definition, brain dead. No one has suggested this. She is in a persistent vegetative state secondary to prolonged cerebral hypoxia. Her cerebral cortex (the thinking, feeling portion of the brain) no longer functions. Her brain stem (the lower, reflex portion of the brain) does function. Schiavo’s breathing, spontaneous eye opening and eye movements are not voluntary as the editorial incorrectly suggests. This is not a guess. She has been examined by a number of nationally recognized neurologists and this is the diagnosis. Individuals with physical and mental disabilities or neurodegenerative disorders should in no way be equated to Terri Schiavo. These individuals feel and think and should take offense at such remarks as made in the editorial. Medical records show that Schiavo has received excellent nursing care. Her husband initially made all efforts to keep her alive, hoping that she would recover. To think that “sensory stimulation” would have made any difference for this woman is foolish. She didn’t improve and her husband attempted to honor her wishes that she not be kept alive in such a state. The courts on numerous occasions agreed that this was her wish. The author of this “opinion” should not be so quick in judging Michael Schiavo. Though my knowledge of Jewish law is probably equal to the editorial writer’s knowledge of medicine, I
suspect these laws could be interpreted in many different ways. I would agree that this is a serious issue, but let us ponder it with facts and correct medical information. These medical decisions are personal issues for ourselves and for our families. Leave Congress out. Leave the zealots out. Ron Cooper, M.D To the Editor: I am not a rabbi or a religious scholar, but I was shocked to read the editorial in the March 25, Jewish Press, “Is the Terri Schiavo Case Assisted Suicide?”The editorial attempted to summarize the issue by making the naive declaration that discontinuing hydration and nutrition for a woman in a persistent vegetative state was “against Jewish law”. In truth, Jewish law is far more complex than that. The beauty of Jewish law is that it permits debate and interpretation. It looks to understanding, not certainty. It is not dogmatic. At the very least, the editorial should have called for discourse on the issue. I would hope that my Judaism allows me and my spouse to make these kinds of decisions without the fear of vioiating Jewish law, and certainly without the fear ofintervention by the Federal government and Christian zealots. Further, the editorial ignored Michael Schiavo’s efforts in pursuing a cure for his wife’s illness during the first six years of her infirmity. The editorial also dismissed the countless judicial opinions, which found that there was no basis, in law or fact, to side with Ms. Schiavo’s parents. I would expect an editorial in the Jewish Press to be well-reasoned, and not an effort to pander to emotions by comparing the overwhelmingly painful Schiavo family decision--and that of countless families faced with the identical issue every day--to genocide, or assisted suicide. Lisa C. Lewis
Pope John Paul II Witnessed Shoah and Emphasized Ties with the Jews
BEHIND THE HEADLINES by RUTH ELLEN GRUBER ROME (JTA)--Though a staunch conservative on most Catholic issues, Pope John Paul II made bettering JewishCatholic relations a centerpiece of his policy and took revolutionary strides toward this goal during his more than 26-year reign. The pope repeatedly condemned anti-Semitism, commemorated the Holocaust on many occasions, presided over the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel and met frequently with Jewish religious and lay leaders. To be sure, lingering tensions and unresolved issues remained. But in general, most Jewish observers say the Polishborn pontiff, who died Saturday night at age 84 after a lengthy illness, will be remembered as the friendliest pope ever toward the Jews. “Pope John Paul II was a man of peace, a friend of the Jewish people, who worked to bring about historic reconciliation between the peoples and to renew diplomatic ties between Israel and the Vatican at the end of 1993,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his Cabinet on Sunday. “Yesterday the world lost one of the most important leaders of our generation, whose great contribution toward reconciliation, unity among peoples, understanding and tolerance will remain with us for many years.” Rabbi Jack Bemporad was one of more than 100 rabbis and cantors who met with the pope in January to thank him for his commitment. “No pope has done as much or cared as much about creating a brotherly relationship between Catholics and Jews as Pope John Paul II,” Bemporad, Director of the Center for Interreligious
UnderstandWojtyla grew ing in up at a time Secaucus, NJ, when Poland said at the was the hearttime. “For me, land of Eurit’s simply opean Jewry. revolutionWadowice ary,” added itself was Bemporad. “I more than believe Pope 25% Jewish, John Paul II and the future will be conpope had sidered a J e w i s h great healer f r i e n d s , in the relaneighbors tionship and classb e t w e e n Pope John Paul II lays a wreath for the victims of the mates. Catholics and Holocaust, at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem March Half of the Credit: GPO/BP Images/JTA six 23, 2000. Jews.” million Karol Jozef Wojtyla, then the 58-year- Jews murdered in the Shoah were Polish, old archbishop of Krakow, was elected to including the future pope’s friends and the papacy in October 1978. The first neighbors. Wojtyla himself worked in a pope from Poland and the first non-Italian Nazi slave labor camp and studied for the to sit on the papal throne in more than priesthood in secret. 450 years, he took the name John Paul II After World War II, the discovery of to honor his immediate predecessor, who what had happened at Auschwitz, only a died after only three weeks in office. few miles from his hometown, marked Wojtyla assumed the papacy just 13 Wojtyla for life. As pope, John Paul years after the Vatican’s historic Nostra referred to the 20th century as “the cenAetate declaration opened the way tury of the Shoah,” and it was highly toward Jewish-Catholic dialogue. The symbolic that in 1979, on his first visit declaration, issued in 1965 by the Second back to Poland after his election, he knelt Vatican Council convened by Pope John in prayer at Auschwitz-Birkenau to XXIII, condemned anti-Semitism and for commemorate the Jews killed there. the first time officially repudiated the Throughout his reign, John Paul age-old assertion that the “perfidious repeatedly recalled the Holocaust and Jews” were collectively responsible for condemned anti-Semitism as a sin against the crucifixion of Jesus. God and humanity. On his more than 100 John Paul’s papacy built on this, and in trips around the globe, he sought to meet Jewish terms it was marked by dramatic with Jewish leaders. He also issued “firsts,” starting with the pontiff’s own unprecedented expressions of contrition personal history. Born in 1920 in the for past Christian hostility and violence town of Wadowice, near Krakow, he was, toward Jews. in short, an eyewitness both to the The most dramatic of the pope’s many Holocaust and to the oppressive and meetings with Jews took place in April often anti-Semitic policies of communism. 1986, when he crossed the Tiber River to
visit the Great Synagogue in Rome, becoming the first pope to visit a Jewish house of worship since Peter. At the end of 1993 the pope took another unprecedented step, overseeing the formal establishment of full diplomatic relations between Israel and the Holy See, 45 years after the founding of the Jewish state. The pope’s historic visit to Israel in March 2000 marked a culmination of these policies. His visit was formulated as a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to mark the beginning of Christianity’s third millennium, but it brimmed with significance for Jews as well. He visited Yad Vashem, (the Bethsaida Excavations) and at Jerusalem’s Western Wall he bowed his head in prayer and slipped a typed, signed note into one of the cracks between the stones. “We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness, we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the People of the Covenant,” the note said. But several issues still dog CatholicJewish relations and continue to provoke clashes from time to time. These include differences over what can be called “historical memory”--for example, over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII, whom the Vatican wants to beatify but whom critics accuse of failing to speak out to save Jews during the Shoah. Outstanding differences on bilateral issues, as well broader differences over Middle East politics, also have clouded relations with Israel and are the focus of protracted negotiations. Looming above all is the question of whether John Paul’s proactive teachings about Jews will endure, and whether they will trickle down to the world’s one billion Catholics.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Synagogue Listings B’nai Israel Synagogue 618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com
Beth El Synagogue Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org
Beth Israel Synagogue Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific St. Omaha, NE. 68154 556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org
Beyt Shalom An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation 3012 S. 119 St. P.O. Box 390352 Omaha, NE 68139 660.2395 www.beytshalomomaha.org
Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 nebraskajudaism.com email: chabad@aol.com
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 jewishnebraska.org
Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244
Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 333 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154
Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org
The Neighborhood Minyan Torah Learning Center 1313 No. 58 St. Omaha, NE 68132 553.5397
Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethlincoln.org
FREE LARGE-PRINT HAGGADAH Individuals who have a vision problem may obtain a free copy of the Large-Print Passover Haggadah (Hebrew/English, Hebrew Only, or Braille editions) which will enhance the seder and make the Passover holiday more enjoyable. To obtain a free copy, call the Jewish Heritage for the Blind at: 800.995.1888, or fax your request to: 877.230.2205. Please include your name, mailing address and telephone number. Supply is limited.
April 8, 2005
Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE
missioner’s Meeting, 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.
BEYT SHALOM
BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m. with help from the Men’s Club; Kiddush is sponsored by Men’s Club; Evening Service, 7:50 p.m. CONGREGATIONAL SHABBAT DINNER: April 8, 6 p.m. following Shabbat services. WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sunday, 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.; Weekdays, 6:55 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Sitter Service is available during Friday night and Saturday morning services, on a drop-in basis, at no charge. SUNDAY: Jewish Pot Pourri Class, 10 a.m. Bible Study Class, 11 a.m.; Adult B’nai Mitzvah class with Cantor Bogomolni, 11 a.m.; “Living Hebrew,” a new, intermediate-level Hebrew course, 11:10 a.m. WEDNESDAYS: PATTER (Parents & Toddlers, Torah, Exercise, Recreation) with Helen Epstein, 10:45 a.m. THURSDAY, noon: The Most Important People and Ideas of the Hebrew Bible, with Rabbi Levin. BESTT CHAVERIM: Meeting at “That Pottery Place,” 14450 Eagle Run Dr., on Sunday, April 10, 12:30 p.m. HAZAK DELI NIGHT: Sunday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. OMAHA SYMPHONY SEVILLE NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: Tuesday, April 12, 7:30 p.m., in the sanctuary. WOMEN’S ROSH HODESH GROUP: Wednesday, April 13, 7 p.m. at the home of Patty Nogg, 1435 N. 135th St. Theme: “Cooking Up Passover Memories and Traditions.” TOT SHABBAT: Friday, April 15, 6 p.m. CONGREGATIONAL PASSOVER SEDER: Sunday, April 24, 6 p.m. For reservations, call the synagogue office.
BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Free Babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Jordana Kurtzman in honor of Joshua’s birthday; Mincha, 7:45 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:41 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; In Preparation of Pesach Class with Rabbi Gross, 10 a.m. “Cleaning for Pesach: What Makes a House Chomatz Free?”; Call the synagogue office for Mincha/Ma’ariv service time. WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Call the synagogue office for Mincha/Ma’ariv service time. WEDNESDAY: Board of Com-
FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7:30 p.m. SUNDAY: Religious School, 3-5 p.m. at the JCC.
CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. FRIDAY: Services, 7 a.m.; SATURDAY: Mamarim class, 9 a.m.; Services, 9:30 a.m. followed by a Kiddush luncheon. SUNDAY: Services, 8:30 a.m. Mishneh class, 9:30 a.m.; Aleph Champion and Little Scholars Programs, 10 a.m.-noon. WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m. MONDAY: Halacha, 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Torah for Teens, 4:15 p.m. WEDNESDAY: Kabbalah: Passover: A New Freedom Within, 7 p.m. Programs are open to the community. For information or to register, call the office or visit: www.nebraskajudaism.com.
CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN Rabbi Debbie Stiel will be in Lincoln two weekends a month. Please call her at 402.416.2321 or e-mail: dstiel@everestkc.net to set up appointments. FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. The Rabbi Search Committee has arranged for a rabbinical candidate to visit our congregation; Rabbi Smith will lead the service. Oneg following, provided by Lori and Andy Merliss. SATURDAY: Torah Study, 10:30 a.m., led by Rabbi Smith; Reception for adult members of the congregation, 7:30 p.m. at the home of Elin Siegel and John Mosow, 8103 North Shore Drive. SUNDAY: Hebrew School, 9 a.m.-noon; Youth Group Picnic, noon at Antelope Park. Bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert will be provided. Parents are asked to pick up kids at the park at 3 p.m.; Hallah High Advisory Board, 12:15-1:30 p.m. COMMUNITY SEDER: Second night community Seder for
Passover will be Sunday, April 24, 6 p.m., in the South Street Temple Social Hall. Prices are: Adult Members, $10; non-members, $15; children, ages 5-12, $5; and children under age 5 are free. RSVP to the Temple office. ADULT EDUCATION Tuesdays, April 12, and 19, 7:30 p.m.: Rabbi Milder will examine the Passover Haggadah, covering its development; the Four Questions in detail, and other interesting material. Passover refreshments will be served.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Rabbi Maximo Shechet.
TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Craig Marantz and Cantor Wendy Shermet will officiate. The Oneg Shabbat will be sponsored by the Women of Reform Judaism, Omaha. SATURDAY: Bagels and Sacred Books, 9:30-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Brittany Elizabeth Baines, daughter of Brigitte and Kenny Baines, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah. ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, April 10, 10:15 a.m.: Continuing Hebrew. Colleen Kennealy will help students improve their reading and understanding of Shabbat prayers. SUNDAY, April 10: The 4 B’s: Behaving, Belonging, Believing and Bagels. Part II: Christianity Through Jewish Eyes. February’s 4Bs, with Rabbi Craig Marantz, was merely a taste of how Judaism understands Christianity. Many questions remain: How does the messiah in Judaism differ from Christian understandings? How do Jews make sense of the Christian concept that God sacrificed his son for the sins of mankind? How do Jews refute anti-Jewish teachings in the book of Paul? Bring your own questions and join us as the conversa-
Candlelighting Friday, April 8, 7:39 p.m.
tion continues in the library, 10:30 a.m.-noon. TUESDAY, April 12, 7 p.m.: My House Shall Be a House of Prayer for All Peoples: Responding to the Challenges of Outreach. Congregants John Dacey and Todd Hutton will facilitate exploration of perceived barriers Jewsby-choice and interfaith couples entering the Jewish community. THURSDAY, April 14: “Adult Study with the Clergy”, 10-11:30 a.m. “Sex Education 101: A New Focus on Teen Sexuality”, Wednesday, April 13, 6:30-8 p.m. Author and lecturer Howard Schiffer will lead parents through the minefield of the “birds, bees and beyond” talk with their children. Free Sitter Service is available with advance reservations through the Temple office. The Red Cross Bloodmobile will be at Temple Israel Thursday, April 14, 1-7 p.m. Please call the Temple office, 556.6536, and schedule an appointment to make a real contribution “from the heart.”
THE NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN AT TLC FRIDAY: Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; followed by Kiddush luncheon followed by Mincha, 7:30 p.m. Ma’ariv.
TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Rabbi Stanley M. Rosenbaum. Minyan, MONDAY & THURSDAY, 9 a.m. FRIDAY: Services, 8 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m. WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group will meet at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Contact Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066. ADULT EDUCATION MONDAYS: Introduction to Judaism with Rabbi Stanley Rosenbaum, 7:30-9 p.m. SUNDAYS: (during Hebrew School days): Jewish Law through the Ages with Rabbi Rosenbaum, 10-11:45 a.m.
B’NAI MITZVAH Colin Joseph Belmont, son of Jill and Mark Belmont, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, April 16, at Beth El Synagogue. Colin is a seventhgrade superior honor roll student at Millard N o r t h M i d d l e School. He enjoys playing baseball for the Kingswood Knights and basketball for the JCC seventh-grade select team. He also likes bowling, music, and hanging out with friends.
For his mitzvah project, Colin collected paperback books for “Operation Paperback,” a grassroots organization which sends reading materials to American troops overseas. Colin has two sisters, Jessica, 18, and Lindsay, 16. His grandparents are Barbara and Marshall Kushner, and the late Joe and Florence Belmont. Jordan Jeffrey Slutzky, son of Lesley and Jeffrey Slutzky, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, April 16, at Temple Israel. Jordan is a seventh-grade student at Papillion Junior High School.
He enjoys playing football, basketball, baseball, and in Cadet Band. For his mitzvah project, Jordan volunteered at Paws for Friendship, the Blumkin Home, and was a teaching assistant at Temple Israel for fourth grade. Jordan has a sister, Alexis, and a brother, Justin. His grandparents are the late Adele Slutzky and Charles Slutzky, and Sharyl Pistulka. His great-grandparent is June McNamara.
April 8, 2005
Preparation for Passover
SPARKS FROM THE WORD by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Tazria--Shabbat HaHodesh Our ancient ancestors were determined not to come to Passover with any suspicion of bodily impurity. Any contact with a human corpse or indeed, any dead animal, or any unusual bodily secretions of one’s own or the presence of leprosy (we cannot identify the disease the ancients meant), rendered one impure. We have already noted, in the comments on the previous Sidra, that the concept of purity and impurity is alien to us. A woman after childbirth is considered impure and the onset of various diseases rendered one impure. To the ancients none of this seems strange, as it does to us. And they accept it as quite natural that the priest served as medical officer. He it was who examined and re-examined a person affected by disease, pronounce him clean or unclean, and could quarantine him and re-examine him after the enforced separation from the community. The text also includes “leprosy” of the garments of the afflicted person. And leprosy of his house, as well! We might consider all of this to be some kind of fungus. There is a fascinating story in II Kings. Somewhere in the ninth century BCE, the Assyrians were besieging Samaria, capital of the Northern Kingdom. Two lepers brought the good news to the city fathers that the siege had been lifted. The people inside refused to believe it, until they had sent a small task force to verify the news. And they found that the Arameans’ military had fled in fear at a strange sound in the heavens. It may well be noted that the Torah identifies the spring month (Aviv or Nisan) as the beginning of months, the first month of Israelite freedom after the Exodus.
DEATH NORMAN CAIN Norman Cain died April 1 at the age of 83, just six weeks short of his 84th birthday. A memorial service was held April 4 at Temple Israel Livingston Chapel. He is survived by his wife, Ruth; sons and daughtersin-law, Jack and Judy Cain of Fresno, CA, Stuart and Judy Cain Bellevue, WA; daughters, Karen Cain of Minneapolis, MN, and Susan Townsend of Tucson, AZ; grandchildren, Jeramy Cain, Kiara Cain, Darcy Cain and Matthew Townsend; a brother, Howard Cain of Chicago, IL; and sister-in-law, Pearl Herzog. Memorials to the American Cancer Association.
Foundation Still Collecting for Tsunami Relief by JANET HENTHORN for the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation The Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation has been collecting donations for Southeast Asia Tsunami Relief for the last several months and forwarding the donations to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). During this period, $21,040 has been sent to JDC, which has raised more than $16 million for disaster response; JDC has already allocated $4 million for emergency relief in India, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia alone. This money provides food, hospital supplies, clean water, and rebuilding materials, as well as school kits and work-relief programs. The Foundation office will continue to forward donations to assist in this urgently-needed humanitarian effort. Call the office at 334.6440 for more information.
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To Submit an Obituary Notice: Send full name, age, date of death, location of service and burial site to the Jewish Press via e-mail: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org; fax, 402.4.5422; or mail, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68114. Survivors shall be listed, including names of surviving spouse, sisters, brothers, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren and their places of residence; the numbers (but not names) of great-grandchildren, as well as the name of the spouse or children who preceded the deceased in death. The cause of death may be included, if authorized by the immediate family. In cases where confusion might arise due to people of the same name either being the deceased or a survivor, maiden names or middle initials shall be added, if known. Nieces and nephews shall be listed when there are no surviving children or grandchildren. Friends of the deceased (companions or life partners) shall be listed. Other pertinent biographical information (including honors or the serving as an officer in a Jewish organization) may be included at the Editor’s discretion. Memorial suggestions are acceptable to any bona fide, charitable organization; addresses will be included to out-of-state nonprofit organizations, if provided.
Community Invited to Concert Save a Life (or Three): Sign Featuring Municipal Orchestra up to Donate Blood at Temple by RITA SHELLEY In the summer of 1717, England’s King George commissioned George Frideric Handel to compose music to be played during a royal party on the Thames River. Thus, musicians performed the premiere Handel’s “Water Music” while riding on a river barge. The king enjoyed the music so much that he immediately asked for two additional performances, also played on the river until the early hours of the morning. Considered to be one of the most extravagant concerts in London’s history, “Water Music” became an instant classic that continues to inspire music lovers today. This famous work also happens to be on the program for the Omaha Municipal Orchestra’s Tuesday, April 12 free concert in the JCC Auditorium. Sponsored by the Noddle family in memory of Edith Noddle, the concert begins at 7 p.m. “We are so fortunate to have the Noddles underwrite entertainment of this caliber,” said Mike Silverman, Executive Director of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home and Jewish Senior Services. “Concerts such as these serve as a gathering point for residents of the home, their friends and family, as well as for the entire community. They also provide entertainment for residents that otherwise might not be accessible to them.”
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Americans nationwide have been donating blood to the Red Cross in increased numbers to sustain a secure blood supply for all in need. Through the Red Cross for more than 50 years, donors have been ensuring that the safest possible blood supply is readily available to the military, to blood centers throughout the country, and for all of America’s 5,000 hospitals. Temple Israel will sponsor its annual Red Cross Blood Drive on Thursday, April 14, 1-7 p.m. Temple members Harry Alloy, Judy Vann, and Bonnie Pfrenger have volunteered to chair the Blood Drive at Temple. They have been calling past donors to reserve a time to donate on April 14. However, first-time donors are also needed, and they can call Temple at 556.6536 to make an appointment. Blood donors must be in good health, be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, and know all medications that they’re taking. It takes about one hour, 15 minutes to complete the process which is completely safe. We all expect blood to be there when we need it, but only five percent of Americans actually give blood and the supply cannot be stockpiled. According to the Red Cross, every two seconds a patient suffering from cancer, involved in an accident, receiving an organ transplant, or with a chronic disease needs blood. One single donation can save as many as three lives. Questions regarding eligibility to donate can be directed to 341.2723. Ask for a donor health consultant at extension 2196.
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EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Passover issue--“Jewish Omaha: A Global Village”--will publish April 15; there is no regular news in that issue. The office will be closed Monday, April 25 for Passover; the deadline for the April 22 issue is Wednesday, April 13. Photos used in the Passover issue may be picked up in the Press office during regular business hours anytime after April 13. Questions? Call 334.6448.
Address _______________________________________ City, State and Zip _______________________________ Phone _______________ Check enclosed for $ _________ Mail to jBay, The Jewish Press, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 The Jewish Press jBay classifieds are only for use by individuals –businesses should contact the Advertising Department– Allan Handleman, 334.6451 for display ads.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 8, 2005