Vol. LXXXIV No. 32 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 84 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
6 Nisan, 5765 April 15, 2005 3 Sections
Germany | Iran | Israel | Latvia | Lithuania | Mexico | Morocco | Poland | Romania Russia | Scotland | Spain | Sweden | Ukraine | Uraguay | Venezuela | Zimbabwe
Venezuela
Argentina
Germany
Poland
Israel
Ukraine
Russia
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Introduction Jewish Omaha: A Global Village In one sense, we’re all immigrants. Even Omaha’s first Jews: the families of Julius Brandeis and Edward Rosewater emigrated to the United States from Germany. And what better time to read about leaving a country (and often hardship) behind for America (the Goldene Medina) than during Passover, when we are commanded to recall the Exodus of the Jewish people from Mitzrayim to the Land of Israel--the Promised Land--and from slavery into freedom. But the Omaha Jewish community of the 1950s and ’60s really included only one group of emigrés: survivors of the Holocaust. Children of survivors recall their parents being called “greeners”--a not-very-subtle description of how out of place they were in postwar America. Still shocked by their horrific experiences in the concentration camps, Holocaust survivors rarely spoke of the war years and the discrimination and deprivation leading up to that. Today, thank G-d, survivors not only feel more comfortable about telling their stories, many of them insist on it. As Helena Tichauer says in her story, “We have to remember. Not because it just happened to Jews. Because it’s happened to many nationalities and religions.” She and her sister, Lola Reinglas, are among the many survivors who speak to groups at synagogues, churches, schools and other public gatherings. But this is not 1960, nor are Holocaust survivors the only immigrant group living in Omaha today. Among the members of the Jewish community are more than 300 from the former Soviet Union, some who came more than 25 years ago and others when the floodgates opened in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
communist regime in the USSR. Other foreign nationals arrived here from South American countries (including Beth El Synagogue’s Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Gastón Bogomolni and their families--you can read Lena Bogomolni’s story on page 5 in this section). And of course, Omaha now boasts a number of Israelis, many of whom came here for academic posts at the University of NebraskaOmaha (thank you, UNO!) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (and thank you, Dr. Hal Maurer!). In fact, our newest arrival is Dr. Jonathan Kipnis, a rising star in the scientific community, whose story is on page 3. All in all, this issue represents stories from an amazing 14 countries--Sweden, Scotland, England, Canada, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and Germany--with stopovers in four more: Zimbabwe, the Dominican Republic, Spain and Chile. In addition, members of the Jewish community have emigrated from Mexico, Morocco, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iran Rumania and South Africa. As in past special issues, we were unable to tell all of these stories--some longtime immigrants were reluctant, other newcomers unsure of how other relatives would view their joy at living in America. Our freelance writers for this issue include: Diane Axler Baum, Leo Adam Biga, Gary Javitch, David Leibowitz, Bert Lewis, Joan K. Marcus, Claudia Sherman, Jennifer Sherman and Liz Varela. Jennifer Sherman, by the way, is one of the subjects of this issue; she visited here from Venezuela several years ago and fell in love with a nice Jewish boy from Omaha! (Now that’s one way to increase Omaha’s Jewish population!)
Front cover: Creative Director Richard Busse designed this beautiful front cover, displaying a map of the world and the countries from which some of our featured interviewees came from. From left: Karen Klingberg Mavrapoulos was born in Venezuela; Dr. Horacio Plotkin is originally from Argentina and met his wife Carola in Canada; Helene Tichauer is from Poland, but is pictured here visiting a Holocaust Museum in Berlin--her hus-
An issue of this size cannot be produced without the help of these freelancers; we thank them for their perseverance, hard work and skill in creating such fascinating pieces. Our gratitude also goes to the staff and volunteers of the Jewish Press: our creative committee, who manages to develop new themes for our special issues, year after year, and Jean Duitch, Dottie Rosenblum and Suzanne Singer, who assist the staff on our weekly issues as well as on the Passover and New Year’s editions. And a big thanks to: Advertising Manager Allan Handleman, who has worked diligently to retain and recruit current and new advertisers; Creative Director Richard Busse, who created the ads and layout in this issue and once again dazzled us with his original front cover; Assistant Managing Editor Lori Kooper Schwarz, who scanned photos, prepared stories for production, and juggled this special issue in addition to her work on our regular weekly issues; and Bookkeeper Barb Kirkpatrick, who recently took on additional duties to learn our accounting system and bring us up to date while still working nearly full-time for the Jewish Federation. We are also very grateful for the support of our clients, whose advertising messages in the Press enable us to produce these large issues, year after year. We hope our readers will patronize these loyal advertisers and tell them you saw their ads in the Jewish Press! The Hagaddah closes with the words: L’shana b’Yerushalayim--next year in Jerusalem! May we celebrate a joyous Passover and all be immigrants next year--in a peaceful Israel. Carol Katzman, Editor Joanie Jacobson, Chairman
band Walter, whom she met in Uruguay, was born in Germany; Lola Reinglas, (Helena’s sister) was born in Poland, met her husband in Munich, and emigrated to the United States after the war; Rami Arav is a sabra--a native-born Israeli; below him is a photo of the Mosenkis family the day they left Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, for America; and--our newest arrival--the Kipnis family--is pictured in Israel, but parents Jonathan and Olga were born in Moscow.
Wishing Jewish Omaha a Peaceful and Healthy
Passover
Staff & Committee
(Founded in 1920) 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. 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. 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.
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Meet Omaha’s Newest Arrivals, Via Moscow and Israel by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press They’ve only been in Omaha a few weeks, but there’s been a buzz about Israelis Dr. Jonathan and Olga Kipnis since last fall. Turning down offers from major universities like Harvard and Stanford, Dr. Kipnis chose instead to work at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in his specialty--CNS, the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) injuries and neurodegenerative conditions. “This was a coup for UNMC,” said Dr. Howard Gendelman, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at UNMC. “He’s quite a catch for us,” he adds with a touch of pride in his voice. By now you’ve surmised that Dr. Kipnis is a respected and well known researcher in his field. He’s not even 30years-old, yet he’s published a prolific amount of scientific papers and received numerous awards, including the prestigious Israeli Knesset Award and Distinguished Prize for Research excellence--the highest prize awarded in biomedical research by the State of Israel. Until his arrival in Omaha, Dr. Kipnis was a “post doc”--performing post-doctoral research at the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science. That’s where he met Dr. Gendelman, who took a sabbatical from UNMC several years ago to work there with Dr. Michal Schwartz. Under Dr. Schwarz, Dr. Kipnis notes that “one of the most significant discoveries made by this group is that immune system can positively affect outcome of
central nervous system trauma. This was further, until it reaches its final destinaagainst the dogma that immune activity tion--our complete understanding of in injured CNS had only detrimental what happens, our ability to control effect.” This was a big breakthrough. these processes and our ability to help Based on this discovery, during the patients suffering from mental and cogfirst stage of his Ph.D. studies, the group nitive diseases.” discovered several ways of how to b o o s t i m m u n e activity to improve functional recovery after spinal cord injury, brain trauma or in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients. “In other words, we developed vaccine for these conditions,” he explains. One Dr. Jonathan and Olga Kipnis and their children: Noa, who is almost four of these vac- years old, and baby Michal, born Jan. 1, 2004. cines is already under clinical trials on That’s seems to be a tall order for patients. someone so young, but one look at his He’ll be continuing this line of research credentials should be enough satisfy the at UNMC’s Center for Neurovirology and toughest critic. Neurodegenerative Diseases (CNND), A graduate of Tel Aviv University with lead by Dr. Gendelman. a bachelor’s of science in biology and “This is a very new field and no one life sciences, Dr. Kipnis added a master’s ever before showed any effect of in neurobiology and neuroimmunology immune system on cognition,” Dr. Kipnis from the Weizmann Institute before comcontinues. “I feel that this discovery is pleting his Ph.D. there last year. His new my baby and I would like to develop is title at UNMC will be Assistant Professor
of Pharmacoloy and Opthamology and Senior Staff scientist and Chief of the Laboratory for Neuroprotection at the CNND on Dr. Gendelman’s staff. Using research from Weizmann, Dr. Kipnis explains how the process will continue at UNMC. “One of these vaccines is already under clinical trials on patients. At Weizmann, we proposed that immune activity might be required for normal brain functioning as well, and indeed we found that for a proper cognitive brain activity several sub-types of immune cells are required. “When mice are deprived of these populations of cells, their cognitive activity (learning and memory) is significantly impaired,” he explains. “Interesting is that in the elderly, these populations of cells are reduced and this might be a reason for age-related dementias. Dr. Kipnis suggests that his research “actually proposes that the drugs for reduced brain cognition might not be directed towards targets in the brain but towards targets in immune cells, which will make drugs much safer and much more efficient.” It’s no wonder UNMC is so excited about this addition to their staff. This world class research, which has shifted into high gear under the leadership of Dr. Hal Maurer since his arrival in 1993, has more than doubled the dollar amount amount of grants to the Med Center. From $30 million in 2001 to $68 million last year (surpassing his prediction in a 2001 article in the New Year’s edition of Continued on page 4
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Omaha’s Newest Arrival Continued from page 3 of the Jewish Press of $62 million), Dr. Maurer anticipates UNMC reaching nearly $100 million within a year or two. But more than foundation and government grants--and the building of the Durham Research Center (with a proposed second tower on the drawing boards) is the recruitment of world class researchers--like Dr. Kipnis--and the possibility of vaccines and drugs to alleviate symptoms, and...maybe even cures. “Now,” adds Dr. Gendelman, “when we say we’re from UNMC, even people from the major research centers of the world, are well, jealous. The goals of the medical center really goes hand-in-hand with the goals of the Jewish community. The fact that Jonathan chose Omaha bodes well for us, too.” To understand Dr. Kipnis’ passion for his work, read what he has to say about his role models: “When I was very little, growing up in Moscow, my late grandfather (my mother’s father) called me ‘Professor’ and actually this nickname remained with me for many years. I do not know why he decided to call me this, unfortunately I could not ask him, as he passed away when I was eight, but maybe because I was very curious. “And now I am very curious,” he insists. “I am curious to understand how things work, how small proteins interact with each other and build such complex things like memories. How feelings are translated into protein interaction in the brain and what happens in the brain then? How is the brain built and how does it work? Why cancer appears and why do people get old?” This curiosity extends to a wide range of scientists, like Isaac Newton, Marie
Curie, Mikhail Lomonosov, Galileo Galileo, Ilya Mechnikov, “mainly because of their their scientific courage. “Of course I am also influenced very much by a scientist, who was my mentor during Ph.D. studies, and under whose supervision I was doing my post doc at Weizmann in the last year, who became my friend during these years--Prof. Schwartz,” he added, noting that Pro.f Schwartz is “one of the bravest and smartest persons I have ever met.” Under Dr. Schwartz, Dr. Kipnis has published a wide range of scientific discoveries--from “vaccines for neuroprotection on the damaged optic nerve” to “multiple sclerosis as a by-product of the failure to sustain protective autoimmunity” among dozens of others. He has presented at international conferences and was recipient of the Sir Charles Clore scholarship for his doctoral studies. In 2002, he was a representative of a student delegation from Israel to the International Summit of the American Academy of Achievement in Dublin, Ireland. This very modest young man would rather talk about his research than himself. Dr. Kipnis sets aside two hours a day (“It is in most cases two hours of night.”) just for reading and notes that his “greatest hobby is to make science and to have fun with my family.” And so, this conversation continually returns to his research and his desire to help others. “Many other brain functions are dependent on immune system. The group at Weizmann showed just last year that psychoses in mice, reminiscent to schizophrenia could be ameliorated by a proper activation of immune system. Weizmann is currently running a small
clinical trial with vaccine for schizophrenic patients. “We also found that an ability to fight off the consequences of stress are also mediated by immune cells,” he notes, adding that the group is preparing a manuscript for submission “where we show a vaccine for post-traumatic stress disorder. Of course the precise mechanism of how immune cells mediate all these beneficial aspects on brain activity and why some people develop mental disorder and others neurodegenerative are still unknown and we are investigating them and hope to have answers (at least partial) in a near future to help patients and may be even to prevent development of these terrible diseases.” As a scientist, Dr. Kipnis hopes to do what others dream: discover a cure for cancer. Even as a young boy, he was “very worried that someone will do it before I grow up!” He was already performing experiments at home, which he now understands to be “just crazy”, but was supported in “these stupid experiments,” especially by his other grandfather (father’s father) who also has since died. As he grew and matured, he became interested in plant genetics and tried to develop new strains of flowers by crossing two different seeds. While the young Jonathan was experimenting with growing plants and crystals, his future wife, Olga, also was growing up in Moscow. They both arrived with their families, just after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the former Soviet Union. The couple married in 1998 and have two daughters: Noa, who is almost four, and Michal, born Jan. 1 of last year. Olga has been working for more than
seven years in a leading hi-tech company in Israel and, according to her husband is “also one of the world leaders in telecommunications at Amdocs LTD. She left her work for me and thus made this move possible,” he adds. “We hope she will find a suitable job in Omaha.” So just what did Dr. Kipnis know about Omaha before he was recruited by UNMC? Actually he likes steaks very much, and learned Omaha was a great place for steaks (are you listening Simon family?) but had never been here before meeting Dr. Gendelman. “I liked the city very much during both visits to Omaha, and also liked the people of Omaha,” he adds. “Needless to say the Jewish community has been very welcoming. I visited Beth Israel and bought a house near the synagogue and the Jewish Community Center. I think this is a great place to live, to work in scientific research, and for my children to grow up.” It is also very important for Dr. Kipnis to say that the Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders, under Dr. Gendelman’s direction at UNMC “is one of the world leading centers in this field. The center and the research done in it served as a very strong attractive force for me” to come to Omaha. By the way, Dr. Kipnis describes his wife as “a very spiritual person, and during the last two years has dealt with a variety of healing methods, such as Reiki to help people in her own, very unique way.” Could he even find Omaha on a map? “Oh, it is very easy,” he laughs, “You are in the center! “When I am asked now where I am going, I always say, ‘in the heart of the United States!’”
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It’s Hem Ljuva Hem--Home Sweet Home--Wherever Lena Lives by OZZIE NOGG When Chilean-born Lena Bogomolni croons lullabies to her children--10 month old Emmanuelle and 21/2year-old Samuel--she could sing in fluent Spanish, French, or English. But Lena sings and speaks to her children in Swedish, the language she grew up with in Stockholm. “I moved from Chile to Sweden in 1974, when I was three,” Lena explains. “If I need to sing a lullaby it comes naturally in Swedish. That’s the language I learned as a child and I think it is very important to keep the language alive in my family. Adults struggle to learn a language, so if you can give it free to the kids, why not!” Keeping multiple languages and cultures alive for their children is important to both Lena and her husband, Gastón, a native of Argentina. The couple came to Omaha in 2002 when Gastón--now the cantor at Beth El Synagogue--was hired as its Ritual Director. Lena speaks Spanish to her husband, Swedish to their children, and English to their Omaha friends. “I would feel a little fake speaking English to the children,” Lena says. “It’s important The Bogomolni family: Samuel for the kids to know holding Emmanuelle. where they--or, in this case their parents--come from, and if they don’t understand the languages they lose a big part of the culture. Gastón’s Swedish is not so good, but already Samuel can speak to me in Swedish, and then turn around and translate what we were saying into Spanish for Gastón. “If children start early to understand that we are not all the same, it’s great. I think people sometimes have a problem with that concept. They think just because you live here, you have to be exactly like them.” Lena’s move to Omaha was circuitous and totally unplanned. “I lived in Stockholm until I was 13, then moved to Cuba to study dance. I suffered an injury when I was 19 and returned home to Sweden.” After receiving her degree in linguistics from the University of Stockholm in 1995, Lena lived in Switzerland until 1999. “I continued my French studies at the Université de Lausanne, and then started my PhD in Bilingualism,” she explains. “But I never finished. Somewhere along the way I lost my motivation and decided to move to Paris, where I had some family.” But a funny thing happened on the way to France. “One day I was sitting with friends, talking of the next step to take, and someone suggested Barcelona. We had all been there together and planned to eventually move there. And I thought, why not be the first one in the group to do it? So I took my bags and went to Barcelona, where I knew no one. The same week I arrived in Barcelona, though I didn’t know it at the time, Gastón--my future husband--moved there from the Dominican Republic where he’d been working. It could be just coincidence, or maybe not . . .” Lena and Gastón left Barcelona for Omaha without a backward glance, buoyed with a spirit of adventure and youthful enthusiasm. “I moved here sight unseen.” Lena says. “Gastón came once for an interview and liked it. I did a lot of internet research before coming and I imagined what Omaha was like. The worst that could happen was that we wouldn’t like it, but I wasn’t worried. We decided to come, we arrived and that was it. But I was surprised after a couple weeks when it started to get hotter and hotter. I never imagined that it could be so hot in the Midwest!” The weather was not the only adjustment Lena faced. “My pre-Omaha life was quite different from this one. I lived in a big, busy, metropolitan European city, with work and without children. I loved that part. Still, I wasn’t very attached to Barcelona and never felt completely comfortable with the people, so I had nothing to lose by moving. When we arrived here, I didn’t know how to drive--I never needed to because I always used the public transportation--and suddenly we were in a place where if you don’t drive you are no one!” she laughed. “For me, learning to drive seemed impossible. I was so scared. It took me nine months to finally
decide to get the license, but once I did it I discovered that I love to drive. I still can’t understand how I survived those first months without a car!” Lena credits Lili Berkovits, wife of Beth El’s former cantor, Emil Berkovits, with helping her ease into Jewish life in Omaha. “Lili was the first person I got to know when we stepped out of the plane. She had the experience of having lived in other countries and she helped me very much when we first arrived. I also felt comfortable because we spoke French together and it was very relaxing not to have to think in English all the time. Lili showed me around Omaha and taught me a lot about the culture here.” Lena is quick to praise the Jewish community as a whole. “People have been great and really friendly, inviting us to different holiday celebrations like Thanksgiving dinners, 4th of July pool parties, Super Bowl gatherings. With time, we have created our different circles of friends.” Far-flung friends and family are kept plugged into the goings-on at the Bogomolni household through e-mail and the internet. “They are such great inventions! My with papa Gastón; mama Lena mother still lives in Sweden and my sister lives in the south of Chile with her family. I communicate with my mom almost every day and e-mail my friends a lot. Most of us now have children, so we compare experiences about raising them. “My friends also give me reports about how America is judged overseas, and how foreigners in general are viewed with so much suspicion. This was already on the rise when we left, but there is also more fear after 9/11, and people are more conscious about the new terrorism after the 3/11 train explosion in Madrid last year,” she admits. Lena visited Chile only once since she left, 30 years ago, and confesses she has little interest in going back. Sweden is a different story. “My mom has come to Omaha when both our children were born, and I definitely want to go back to Sweden to spend time with her and my family and friends,” she insists. “I want the kids to know Sweden, too.” Lena thinks it benefits us to have new blood in the community, and feels it’s important to learn about one another’s cultures. At the same time, she believes it’s vital to keep individual and national traditions alive. “Yes, it’s good to be able to adapt to different cultures, but we can’t go around and be chameleons, either. I think the countries where I lived have formed me. That’s why I am the person I am. I can’t go and become a complete American. Right now, some of the American customs, like Thanksgiving or Halloween, aren’t so important for me, but maybe when the children get older that will change. I don’t know.” Lena’s observations on being foreign-born are instructive. “I have been foreign-born ever since I remember. Everywhere I lived I’ve been foreign. And yes, it can have its bad side. You are never like the others. You never fit in 100 percent,” she admits. “People forget that you don’t have the same cultural background, and sometimes they talk about things, or use expressions that they all understand, but I don’t have a clue about what they’re discussing. “But there’s a good side, too. The greatest benefit is that you learn to accept the differences between people easily, which I think is important in the world we live in. You learn to be more tolerant and to not discriminate against those who are different. I think being foreign gives you a great opportunity to see things from a different perspective, which can help you a lot.” After almost three years in Omaha, Lena Bogomolni, her husband and children, are visible and valuable assets to the Jewish community--a role she hadn’t anticipated. “When I was living in Switzerland, I decided that the next country I moved to was going to be the last one. Wrong! Spain was a brief stopover, and now I am here--a Swedish citizen with an Argentinean husband and two American children. I realize that you can’t really decide or predict these things.”
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A Journey Comes Full Circle by JOAN K. MARCUS the connection with Hillel, I was still fascinated with Dr. Lourdes Secola brings a rich heritage from her the idea of being Jewish.” family. She was born Catholic in Caracas, Venezuela, to Romer had converted to Judaism in 1989--prior to Alberto and Maria Lulu Secola, has lived in Boston, Annelise having her Bat Mitzvah in 1995. “I couldn’t be Gainesville, FL, and Omaha--and became Jewish along allowed on the bima because I wasn’t Jewish,” Lourdes the way. remembers. “Daniel wasn't old enough and Romer Her father, Alberto, was born in Puerto Rico to would have been the only one up there with her. So, I French-Italian and Spanish parents. He served in the decided that the time had come for me to be Jewish. army and then immigrated in 1946 to Venezuela to By this time, we had moved to Omaha because Romer work as an auditor. Her mother Maria also had an took a position at Creighton.” accounting background. Lourdes admits that by the time she converted, “my Lourdes remembers growing up in a traditional children had been raised as Jews and I kept a kosher Catholic household with methodical parents. But she home. I was a very good Jew for a Catholic!” admits to always being curious about other religions. In 1992, another daughter, Emma, was born. The little “In the summer of 1966, when I was only nine-years- girl died in a drowning accident a few weeks before her old,” she recalls, “I remember going to get what we second birthday. Lourdes and Romer divorced in 1998. would call here a social security card. While I was “When Emma died, I wasn’t there but the first call was applying, I met a Jewish girl of Cuban origin. Her name to the rescue squad and the second one was to Rabbi was Susanna Garcia Behar. Her mother was Jewish and Paul Drazen. The outpouring of love and sympathy from I was fascinated with her and her Judaism. the Omaha Jewish community was amazing. Everyone “Catholicism was different because it was a lot of mem- said they had never seen anything like it..” orization and I was always at Mass. It was a family requirement, but there wasn’t a lot of involvement with the Church and I didn’t like that,” she admits. “Part of me was hungry to have religion at home because in Catholicism, everything is at Church.” Lourdes went to Catholic high school and still questioned the fact that there was no outlet for her curiosity. Her religious questions were answered with no discussion. “The fact that I asked questions and was silenced didn’t sit very well with me,” she says. At 18, after the traditional five years of high school, she went on to five more years of professional training. Central University of Venezuela Dental School was her choice of colleges. There, she began to fulfill her dream of learning to be an orthodontist. “I Shelley Lerner and Lourdes Secola at ther wedding at Beth El Synagogue, had orthodontic work myself and I was Oct. 10, 2004. always interested in the ‘before and after.’” Lourdes is a pediatric dentist in private practice. She She recalls that when she would go to her orthodon- has previously taught dentistry at Creighton University. tic appointments she wouldn’t sit in the chair and wait, She is a member of the American Dental Association, instead, she “would walk around the room and look at American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the models of the orthodontist’s work.” Southwestern Society of Dentistry for Children, It was while she was in dental school she began to Nebraska Society of Dentistry for Children, a lifetime meet Jewish friends. “I was always studious and I took member of Hadassah and a member of Beth El. a class that used statistics,” she recalls. “I met Jewish She has helped with the Hispanic community by students who further peaked my curiosity. In 1975, I doing screenings for dental needs of children. Since she heard about a Passover seder for the first time.” has the linguistic skills, it is easy for her to go through In l981, she had finished dentistry school in dental history in order to assess needs. Venezuela and was invited to study dentistry at Boston In May of 1999, Lourdes was invited to meet widowUniversity. By this time, she had married Dr. Romer er, Shelley Lerner, co-owner of Bel Air Men’s Fashions. Ocanto. Their daughter, Annelise, was born in 1982. “I didn’t think that it was a date but Annelise said, Because of her continuing curiosity about Judaism, ‘Mom, you’re having a blind date!” she laughed. Lourdes decided that she and her husband would attend Lourdes thought she would be home by 10 o’clock, a Passover Seder in April of 1984. This experience made but the evening stretched on because she and Shelley her even surer about her curiosity about Judaism. By this had so much in common. time, the family had moved to Gainesville, FL. After “I offered to help with the dishes and we began to attending Mass one Sunday, Lourdes discovered that a talk,” she remembers. “We put the dishes away and we Jewish center was across the street from the church and were still talking! It started like a simple friendship and she decided, with some fear, that she would seek out it grew.” more information about Judaism. Shelley and Lourdes were married on Oct. 10, 2004. After bonding with some of the people at the Jewish Their four children are: Jodi Lerner, a special education center, invitations to Shabbat dinners and classes were teacher; Annelise, a student at UNO who hopes to showered on Lourdes and Romer. Upon arriving home become a cantor; Justin Lerner, a physical therapy stufrom a Shabbat dinner one Friday, Lourdes finally pro- dent at Washington University; and Daniel, a pre-law claimed, “This is what I want to do!” student at Creighton University. A son, Daniel, was born in 1985 in Gainesville. Lourdes insists that Omaha is her home. “Years ago, Although she had not yet converted to Judaism, I grew up in a household that was multicultural. My Lourdes and Romer went to Israel in 1988 with the father was an American, so I had a strong American Dental Peace Corp. “It was an incredible experience influence in my life. I got my first American passport because I was in transition,” she recalls. “After making when I was 16 and lived between two cultures.”
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For My Mother: A Survivor’s Story by LEO ADAM BIGA the compound reserved for males. himself to stay alive in order to keep an oft-repeated Helena Tichauer was Occasionally, the family was able to vow he made--that he would live to see the day the tempted to give up more visit each other before curfew, but oth- Germans were “beaten. Yes, he had strong will power,” than once. If she had, no erwise Helena and Karolina were on she said. His daughters did, too. “If I didn’t have, then one would have blamed their own. I would be six feet under a long time ago,” said Helena. her. For persecuted Jews Being smart and self-sufficient, Still, there were times, she said, when “I was thinking like her and her family, reaHelena was well-suited to be her to give up. I could have. I could have thrown myself in sons for despair were everymother’s caregiver. Except for one the electrified wires and been finished with my life. But where in Nazi-occupied short interval, the two remained I couldn’t, because I had to live for my mother.” Poland. Her family’s pleastogether throughout the entire Shoah Weakened by disease and malnutrition, Karolina was ant, comfortable life in nightmare and even for years after its a pale shell of herself. If she were unable to work or if Krakow had been wrenched conclusion. Their time together at even she appeared unfit, Helena knew her mom would away in the looming darkPlaszow and, later, at the death camps soon be disposable and, thus, a sure target for externess of the Holocaust. of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen mination. She’d already lost her little forged a mother-daughter survivor’s “My mother was very sick. She had thrombosis in brother, Nathan, when he bond of unusual depth. both legs. She had terrible bronchitis and TB (tubercuwas seized by the Gestapo This symbiosis began at Plaszow. It losis),” said Helena. “I forced my mother to work. from the clutches of their was 1942. Helena was 19. Her mother There was not any other way. I pushed her and she mother in the Krakow 41. Officially a forced labor camp pushed herself, even though it was very hard for her. I Ghetto and sent to his death then, Plaszow was--for all intents and said, “If you’re not going to work, they’re going to kill at Auschwitz. No sooner did purposes--already the concentration you.’ She knew if she was not going to do it, it was her remaining family arrive The street where Helen and Walter Tichauer lived camp it would later be designated as. going to be the end. She wanted to live.” in Plaszow, the forced labor in Monevideo, Uruguay after the war--Helena Escape was useless. An electrified To fool the guards into thinking her mother stronger camp and eventual concen- took sons Fred, left, and Carl and their families fence ran around the perimeter. The and ruddier than she really was, Helena used a ruse tration camp depicted in there to visit in 2001. commandant, Amon Goeth, ruled like that, if discovered, could have meant death for both of Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, than her pater- the despot and sadist he was. People were executed for them. “Everything was taken from me. Everything,” she nal grandmother fell victim to Nazi atrocities. the slightest infractions or no reason at all. Prisoners said, except for one item she hid from the humiliating “She was pulled out of line with many others and were ill, overworked, underfed. strip searches conducted in camp--a tube of lipstick. ordered to dig graves. Then, they had to go into the Amid such conditions, Helena’s own survival is amaz“I carried the lipstick here,” she said, indicating graves. She took her bible with her. She was a very reli- ing enough, but that she pulled her mother through the between her bosoms. gious person. She said to us, ‘The upstairs is calling.’ ordeal with her is even more remarkable. The fortitude “Mother was very white, like no blood was left in her And she was shot with the others.” and fate that brought Helena and her late mother out face. She was very frail. Each morning, I tried to put on After seeing this, Helena, who’s lived in Omaha since alive is shared, too, by Lola, a fellow survivor who was my mother’s cheeks the lipstick, so that she would look 1963, said she thought, “This is our end. I prayed to the not reunited with her sister and mother until many healthy for the Germans. Every day...I made her look Lord that maybe I don’t get up the next day.” In years later. Lola was the first of the sisters to come to healthy. I saved my mother this way.” Continued on page 8 Plaszow, she watched as her mother wasted away. She Omaha and she still lives here. knew she must do something before it was too late. “I (Read Lola’s story of survival in the Second Section was the one that looked after her,” said Helena, who of this Passover issue, starting on page 26.) had to fight through her own malaise. “I didn’t have Much of their strength came from the sisters’ any spirit. I vegetated. But I had my mother, and I had father, an educated man who, despite their unimagto live for her.” inable plight, they recall as never losing hope. The eldest of Karol and Karolina Schulkind’s three Through it all, he remained “always” optimistic. children, Helena took charge of her mother’s well“He said every day, “The war is over tomorrow.’ I being because someone had to. Her mom was a rather wanted to believe him,” Helena said. She recalls he fragile woman, whose delicate sensibility and privi- somehow managed secreting a radio inside the leged background ill-prepared her for the rigors of camp that he kept hidden and listened to for news enforced manual labor and starvation rations. of the Allies’ advance on Axis Germany. “He’d come “She never did work before the war. She was spoiled,” and cheer us up, telling us the war would be over is how Helena described her pampered mother, whose soon. Sure that helped. Wouldn’t that help you if stately Krakow home was run by servants. Helena’s you were down in the dumps? He lifted our spirits younger sister, Lola Reinglas, was at Plaszow, too, but in and the spirits of others, too. It’s true.” a different barracks. Eventually, Lola was shipped out of He survived the Holocaust, tragically dying two Lola Reinglas, left, and her sister, Helena Tichauer, and their husPlaszow altogether. Their father was in another section of days after liberation. She said her father also willed bands: Walter Tichauer and Irving Reinglas in Omaha in 1981.
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For My Mother... Continued from page 7 ing their posIt was not the only time she saved sessions, as her mother’s life. Once, she said, her Jews were mother left the barracks to use the made official latrine, which wasn’t much more than outcasts in a hole in the ground. “She fell down their own the hole and was drowning in sh_ _ up land. to here,” Helena said, gesturing to her In March neck. “Somebody called me, and I 1941, the had to pull her out and wash her off. city’s Jewish It was a terrible thing.” population How different things were only a was ordered few years before-- before the German to gather up invasion and occupation of Poland no more than began in 1939 and, with it, the ethnic five pounds cleansing campaign the Nazis called of belongings “The Final Solution.” per person The Schulkinds were a family of and marched prestige in the largely gentile district Left: Helena and Walter with two of their grandchildren, Cory and Jamie, 1982. across the of Krakow where they lived. Their Right: Walter and Helena visit Israel. river into an history in Krakow went back more than break of hostilities. abandoned Gentile district that became September 1939 is when it all changed. their ghetto prison. The stone wall and a century. Karol, the father, was a highly respected and successful electrical engi- An eerie quiet fell over Krakow the first barbed wire enclosed Krakow Ghetto neer and the owner of his own company few days after war was declared. would be their grim dwelling place the employing several people. A World War “Nothing was happening, but then the next several months. I veteran, he attended university in Germans began bombing Krakow,” she The Schulkinds shared a two-room flat Austria. He was, Helena said, “a brilliant, said, using the blitzkrieg strategy that with another family of five. Fear ruled overwhelmed Polish defenses, if not the ghetto occupants’ lives. Beatings and eminent, handsome man.” Karolina, the mother, was a pretty, Polish resistance. killings were widespread. Once, the “We spent most of the time in the base- inhabitants were gathered in a public porcelain doll of a woman who was the picture of refinement in the house she ment bunker in our house. I was terribly square and those ordered out of the decorated and in the artistic pursuits she afraid something might happen to my ranks, some 1,500 men, women and chilfavored. The family vacationed together, mother and father.” The Schulkinds and dren, were machine gunned. Enforced with swimming and hiking-filled sum- their house survived the attack labor, which was mandatory for all ablemers in the country and winter skiing unscathed, but neighbors were not so bodied persons, regardless of age, prolucky. Then, the German Army marched vided some relief. treks in the mountains. Helena was a smart, lively 16-year-old in and life as the Schulkinds knew it Each Schulkind worked except for with two years of “gymnasium” (high stopped. Nathan, who was too frail. Karolina, the No more work. No more school. No mother, repaired military uniforms. school) under her belt and a dream of becoming a physician. “I wanted to more freedom. Karol, the father, plied his trade as an Everything the family once took for electrical engineer inside and outside the study medicine,” she said, but her fondest “desire was shattered” by the out- granted was stripped from them, includ- ghetto. Lola was transported by truck
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HAPPY PASSOVER!
each morning to clean at a Krakow hospital. Helena swept dirt from the street and sidewalk in the summer and cleaned snow in the winter. Food was in chronic short supply and the only way to get more was to barter or trade. In a bold and dangerous move, Helena’s father defied authorities and held onto the family’s jewelry and silver, which he kept hidden. Helena said she used these valuables for procuring food on scavenging missions outside the ghetto she planned and executed herself. “I tried many times to get out from the ghetto,” she said. “Not to escape, but to organize food supplies. And I did. My mother said, “You know, if you’re going to go, you’ll be killed.’ I said, “I’m going to take my chances.’ I was frightened. But, you know, in a situation like that I took the chance.” She said that while the ghetto was barricaded by heavily guarded wall and wire, there were entrance-exit points where one could dare sneak past or bribe the guards, who were often directing traffic in and out of the ghetto. Her preferred method was to position herself near the passage way and bide her time for a guard to turn away or occupy himself talking with someone, and then, when “the opportunity” presented itself, she “slipped out. I went where I could get food. I can’t remember where, but I bought it somewhere” with the forbidden treasures she carried. Then, food in hand--“a loaf of bread maybe or whatever I could get”--she had to repeat the process and “slip back in. I thanked God nobody ever caught me. I would probably have been shot.” Continued on page 9
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For My Mother... when she was separated from her mother and shipped to the Tarnow Ghetto. Strangely, she said, she was sent back to Plaszow, where she was gratefully reunited with her ailing mom. She believes her father played a role in getting her returned. “My father was still alive, and people told me he had some influence with higher officials.” Helena, her mother and others were taken by train, on cattle cars, to Auschwitz. They knew evil was there. “I was terribly sad when I heard the word Auschwitz. I was afraid they took us to die,” Helena said. However, they were spared in the short time they were there and, later, at Bergen-Belsen. As the war neared its end, the Nazi killing machine was disrupted. She and her mother were among those liberated by American soldiers at Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945. “When the war ended, people cried from happiness” at having survived, she said, “and from sadness, too. The first words were, “I don’t know what happened to my father’ Helena Tichauer, center, and granddaughter Randy, left, visit and “I don’t know what Modevideo, Uruguay, with the rest of the family: son Fred, happened to my brother.’ grandchildren: Ryan, Cory, Jamie, daughter-in-law Gayle and It was very emotional.” son Carl. Liberation found Gestapo told Karolina she and her son Helena and her mother down to maybe would be killed right then unless she let 65 pounds each. Her mother was quite him go. He was taken away, never to be sick. Their recovery began in Germany seen again by his family. He died at and continued in Sweden, where the Auschwitz. International Red Cross found them pasShe soon lost another member of her sage. Helena’s mother recuperated in a family, when her grandmother was shot sanatorium. “The care was excellent,” before her very eyes at Plaszow. The Helena said. misery of Plaszow ground prisoners It was in Sweden Helena learned Lola down. Degradation and torture were all was alive. By the time they exchanged they could expect. Death, their only letters, Helena and her mother were release. Once, Helena was picked at ran- bound for Uruguay, where relatives dom and beaten. “They chose me--I lived. Meanwhile, Lola married Irving don’t know why--and put me on a table Reinglas and settled in Munich, and gave me 25 lashes on my bottom Germany, before coming to America with a leather crop...no reason at all.” with their first born child in 1949. It was Camp commandant Amon Goeth in Uruguay Helena met and married would “shoot people, line the bodies Walter Tichauer, a gifted glazer who fled up” and force prisoners like Helena to Germany after Kristalnacht. Their two “look at them. This was Goeth. He was sons, Fred and Carl, were born there. terrible.” At the opposite end of the Walter did glazing work and Helena was spectrum was Oskar Schindler, the a nurse’s aide. German industrialist well known among Years later, Lola prevailed on her prisoners for doing “business with the mother and Helena and her family to Nazis” in the camp, where “his Jews” relocate from Uruguay to America. They were protected and where he operated a came in 1963. pot and pan factory. Just as Lola and Irving made a good Helena’s sister, Lola, believes a fateful life here, so too did Helena and Walter. encounter with him saved her life. Helena had her own hardware store in Caught bringing food to their father after north Omaha, where she survived being curfew, Lola said a man she now recog- held-up at knife-point, and, later, she nizes as Schindler beat her unconscious had a gift shop in the Westroads. Walter rather than let her be shot by the SS. applied his craftsmanship to new buildThe only relief from all this despair ing projects. In 1967, Helena and her siswas in the scattered moments Helena ter lost their mother. She was only 63. and her family stole with each other. Today, these survivor sisters are longTheir work--pounding rocks into gravel time volunteers at Methodist Hospital. at a quarry--was pure drudgery. What They love America and appreciate the passed for meals--a slice of bread and way the country has embraced them. cup of coffee in the morning and a A grandmother of five and greatrutabaga broth at night--offered no satis- grandmother of two, Helena rarely talks faction. The starvation diet forced pris- about the Shoah. When she does, she oners to make awful choices. says, “I don’t wish on my worst enemy” “I asked my mother--What should I do? what occurred. “That’s why we have to Should I eat bread now or keep for remember. Not because it just happened tomorrow? I kept for breakfast.” to Jews. Because it’s happened to many In 1944, Lola was shipped out of nationalities and religions. They’re Plaszow to work in the first of two muni- humans. They are people. They have a tions factories. Then, Karol was trans- soul. They have feelings. And this is ported to another camp. This left Helena what counts.” to fend for herself and for her mother. Now writing her biography, she’s “My sister was gone. My father was proud of how she carried on and started taken away. And I had to care for my over, first in Sweden, then in Uruguay mom. It was very hard. I was just a and then in America. “That’s the story of young person. I didn’t know from life.” my life. I’m still alive. I still go on. Maybe Then, Helena’s worst fears were realized this was destiny for me.” Continued from page 8 Months later, at Plaszow, Helena said she employed a similar artful dodger routine. “There was some kind of opening there, and I looked for the opportunity and I went out,” she said. This time, however, she had nothing to barter with. “I went to some homes where gentiles were living and I begged them for food.” Helena’s family was severed the first time when the ghetto was emptied and its occupants assembled in preparation for marching to the nearby Plaszow camp. The Gestapo began pulling the old, the young and the sick out of line, including her brother Nathan. Her mother pulled him back. That’s when the
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Two Worlds Unite in the Heart of America by JENNIFER SHERMAN here--to be with him. And the day after my graduationTo attempt to characterize what defines the Jewish com- -Dec. 13, 1998--I took an airplane to Omaha and I’ve munity of Omaha is a difficult task, as the diversity of its lived here ever since,” Karen said, showing her determembers come to enrich this cultural mosaic. mination. People from diverse backgrounds have come to the “I must admit that making that choice was not easy heart of America, and have turned this small city into their for me--it caused problems in my family. Nevertheless, home. There are many reasons or circumstances that my future was waiting for me. This changed my life, attract them to the United States. Those who decide to and if I had not done it, I would not have the family I emigrate encounter a universe of opportunities--ones do today. Overall, I feel it was the right decision,” which they cannot find in Karen explained. their countries of origin. In 1998, Karen obtained Even though the relocation her post-graduate degree in to another country often Business Administration brings about an uprooting of from Creighton University, the culture, heritage and lanthen began a CFA guage, the U.S. offers opporCertification program. tunities of work, a better During the past five years, quality of life and the added Karen has been a business value to learn a second lanmanager of a web hosting guage as part of the Angloand internet services compaSaxon culture. ny, and now works for a For Karen Klingberg, clearing house in the operaimmigrating to the United tions department. States signifies much more After a three-year relathan that. Even though she tionship, Karen and has always planned to conDimitrios were united in tinue her studies in the U.S., Karen Klingberg Mavropoulos, and her husband, Dimitrios marriage in a ceremony that the defining reason she with their oldest child--Phoenix Ariel--summer of 2003. combined both the Jewish decided to leave everything in her native Venezuela and Greek traditions. The occasion was celebrated in was love. Del Ray Beach, Florida in May of 2002. Let’s start from the beginning. Karen has an interesting Coming from a populous and congested city, Karen European and tropical mixture, one that determines her believes Omaha is an ideal place to raise a family, “It character and attitude about life. “My father, Tomas has the benefits of living in a city, but is still small, and Klingberg, was born in Pernambuco, Brazil, by chance, makes me feel comfortable-- right at home. However, it because his parents left Germany before World War II, has taken me a while to adapt to the climate, for in and Maria Castañon, my mother, is originally from Madrid, Caracas we lived in an eternal spring and it makes me Spain,” Karen explained about the origin of her family. nostalgic to be so far from the sea.” Her parents met in Caracas and exchanged nuptials, In the last few years, Karen has noticed that Omaha bringing to the world little Karen on July 16, 1976. has grown tremendously. “It is impressive how much Since then, Karen was raised in a Jewish family. Three the city has extended--there are new urbanizations, years later her brother, Alex was born. Both were edu- malls and restaurants. In a certain way, we are part of cated within the traditions of Judaism and attended a that development and that is very satisfactory,” comprivate Jewish school. They continued with their stud- mented this talented Latina. ies within the community at Hebraica Moral y Luces For any foreigner, it is a continuing challenge to Herlz Bialik High School. adapt to a new society. All individuals who emigrate During summer vacations, the kids were sent to B’nai must be prepared to face challenges in its process of B’rith camps. That is where Karen began to develop adaptation, at a personal and professional level. The her leadership qualities, and later, became a madrija language becomes a barrier, and there are challenges (counselor) and assistant director of the camps. Winter you must overcome to achieve your goals. vacations were usually spent in a cozy cabin in Vail, “My experience since arriving here has been hard, Colorado, where the family went skiing. because I am far from my family, nevertheless I cannot Before beginning her university studies, Karen trav- complain. I have had a job, studied and secured my eled to Israel with her schoolmates where she found an own well-being. It is difficult when you must do everyextraordinary experience, one that proved to bring thing by yourself, without counting on any type of aidabout lessons of its own. Finally, the hour had arrived -but the satisfaction is great, since we are creating our that would define her future… own path and building a family,” Karen indicated, “My decision to study economy happened by chance. revealing deep emotions. I would have liked to become a genetic engineer, but To become part of the community has made life easthen, I did not want to leave my country. Therefore, I ier for the Mavropoulos’. “The Jewish community of chose a career that was going to allow me to explore Omaha has been very receptive, we have made severdifferent fields after I graduated, “ Karen explained. al friends who have welcomed us and opened the That is how Karen graduated with her degree in doors of their homes for us, invited us to celebrate in economy from Andres Bello Catholic University. In her festivities. In major holidays, we attend Beth El final year of studies, she had the opportunity to work Synagogue and share a table with the Tene’s. Gady and part-time in banking, and in the summer of 1997, she Mindy have become our family here. We are good interned for the Mercantile Bank in New York. “This friends and we not only share Jewish traditions, but life became a wonderful experience because it was the first in general,” Karen said showing gratefulness. time I left my home and had to take care of myself. And It’s been a year and a half since Karen brought her that is how I learned to develop and grow on a per- first child into the world--Phoenix Ariel. She is currentsonal and professional level,” Karen commented with ly expecting her second. “To be mother it is the most nostalgia. beautiful experience I have had in all my life. It is Within her plans was always the hope to continue something that fills you inside, as it is your own creher studies in the United States, and that is the reason ation. You watch it grow, you educate it, and you why months before graduating, she applied to receive receive love. One learns much from children--you learn a credit granted to youth wishing to study abroad. to have patience, to give affection and begin to give Because of her talents and dedication, the Venezuelan another sense in your life,” says Karen holding her government chose her for this prestigious opportunity. small one in her arms. She then prepared for the TOEFL and GMAT tests and Karen’s parents divorced when she was only 11received excellent results, which allowed her to enter years-old. “That was a significant point in my life, I any university she wished. However, her decision was consider family stability extremely important, for that influenced by matters of the heart. reason, I do everything within my reach so that my “While I investigated universities that offered a Masters family stays united,” Karen concluded. in Business Administration, I put myself in contact with The family is the core of society, and without a doubt the son of a friend of my mother’s, an old friend from this is a multi-ethnic nation, one that requires tolerance childhood, Dimitrios Mavropoulos of Thessaloniki, and respect of the differences of individuals. That is the Greece.” While Karen and Dimitrios exchanged e-mails, wealth of our civilization--to share the individualism they explored several opportunities, and maintained a and to celebrate in various traditions. It does not matlong-distance relationship for a few months. ter where we come from--nor towards where we go-“We fell in love, and that is why I decided to come while we form this grand and diverse family.
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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April 15, 2005
Jewish Summer Camp Made This Israeli a Jew by JOAN K. MARCUS It is very difficult to render Rabbi Aryeh Azriel speechless. However, when I asked him, “Where is home?” he paused and became thoughtful. After a few moments, he answered, “Wherever I am! But, of course, I miss my homeland of Israel. “Israel has to be a part of every Jew’s life and it has definitely played a big role in mine,” he insisted. “Israel has added a dimension to my Judaism that can’t be ignored. I am a stronger Jew and rabbi because of being born in Israel and seeing the relationship between Israel and Judaism.” Rabbi Azriel was born in Tzvat (Safed) in Israel on Dec. 18, 1949. His parents, Marcel and Lydia Azriel, had immigrated to Israel from Sofia, Bulgaria, after Israel’s War of Independence. “My parents left Bulgaria and went to Israel with 50,000 other Jews several years after the end of World War II. They feared the communist takeover, so they interrupted their careers and went to Israel with nothing.” Because of these fears, Aryeh’s grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles also came to Israel to live. “It was difficult for my parents because they literally had nothing. They lived in a house deserted by the Arabs after the 1948 war. My father worked in a little grocery shop and sold eggs from door to door. He says he doesn’t remember being poor because food was never missing. “But, I remember moving from Tzvat to Ramla, near the airport. Then, we moved to Bat-Yam, on the coast, where I spent most of my childhood. I don’t remember living in a tent, but most immigrants did in those days. When Aryeh was six months old, he, like many others of the time, caught polio. “My mother took it upon herself to make sure that I would walk,” he said with pride. Lydia Azriel vowed that her son would someday walk and she dedicated her life to keeping her promise.“She schlepped me to one orthopedic surgeon after another and to every possible hospital,” he recalls. “She didn’t want me to miss school, so I spent every summer of my life in the hospital.” He underwent 14 surgeries and describes his life as “an exhibit at orthopedic conventions.” Knee surgeries and joint replacements--accompanied by metal inserts-scar his lower body. “I carry these scars as a badge of honor. After my 14th birthday, I was finally able to walk unassisted.” Despite suffering from polio, Aryeh has memories of a happy childhood. However, because of his extensive hospitalization and many surgeries, he has little memory of his summers. Playing and running with other children were things that just weren’t part of his life, instead, he recalls sitting on beds in therapy centers.
His teenage years were difficult for him because he wasn’t able to join in physical activities like dance, roller skate and soccer, a big sport in Israel. But he laughs when he remembers, “It was difficult for me with women--but I overcame it!” His physical therapy sessions did bring him into contact with unexpected people. Famous violinist, Yitzhak Perlman, also a polio victim, became one of Aryeh’s friends. “I am indebted to the therapists and surgeons who encouraged me to be able to walk. These people are the best in the world,” he insists, “because they have put people back together. Of course, my mother always pushed me--physically and otherwise.” While his mother was accompanying him to doctors and therapists, his father was working hard and became an accountant. His sister, Tali, is 11 years younger than Aryeh, because, as he says, “My parents were so busy taking care of me, it wasn’t until they realized I was able to be independent, that it was time for my little sister’s arrival.”
to live as a Jew,” he recalls. “This was different from the secular Israeli I had always been. Secular Israelis speak Hebrew and eat kosher food because it’s easier there. But, there’s no conscious Judaism. “When I was age 19, I was introduced into how to be a conscious Jew in a pluralistic manner. Until then, it was Orthodox Judaism that was extremely political and dominating. It was a monopoly and that was the only way to be Jewish in Israel. The choice was either secular or Orthodox.” Though he was unable to join the Israel Defense Force, Aryeh worked in a Boys Town-type setting each summer “to give something back to Israel. All of my classmates would come home from the army on Friday,” he recalls, “and wave their machine guns in front of the girls. I however, wasn’t impressive or macho. I didn’t have any army stories to tell.” But he soon began going to the funerals of many of his classmates and the young Aryeh realized there would be no possibility of peace in Israel without returning some of the territories. This lead him to a job at the Jewish Agency office in Tel Aviv. He recruited high school students to help welcome immigrants to Israel and worked on programs to introduce Zionism and Judaism into the high schools. Much of his time was spent being involved in Labor Party politics and the Peace Now Movement. He was very political and became involved in student organizations as well. “In January of 1973, a camp Rabbi Aryeh Azriel has participated in a number of community trips back to Israel--his home- director from the Olin-Sangland--and lead a Jewish Federation Outreach Mission there in February of 1997. Ruby Institute, a Reform Like many other secular Israeli families, the Azriels Jewish summer camp, invited me to apply for a posiwent to the Mediterranean to swim on Yom Kippur. tion in America. I went to the interview, got the job and “We never went to the synagogue when I was a child,” this is when I really became a Jew!” he admits, not on Jewish holidays or on Shabbat. The camp, located between Madison and At age 18, Aryeh wasn’t able to go to the army like Oconomowoc in Wisconsin, was a shocking experiother Israelis. Instead, he began college at Tel Aviv ence for the young Israeli in many ways--and not just University, where he studied geography and Bible. He Jewishly. “I went to the laundromat for the first time,” never ever thought about being a rabbi, until he he laughed, “and after washing all my clothes together, encountered Rabbi Uri Regev, who would become a my underwear was all red. Nobody told me to separate lifelong friend and mentor. colors and whites! In Israel, they hang everything out“One Friday night, Rabbi Regev invited me to serv- side and it absorbs all the rays of the sun--and the ices in a basement shul in Tel Aviv. It was a Reform, fumes from the busses.” progressive service, and it was then I decided I wanted Continued on page 17
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Some Thoughts on Tourism in Israel OUR MAN IN ISRAEL by CARL ALPERT Haifa--In a country which has no oil, no coal, no minerals, it has been said that Israel’s only natural resource is tourism. In normal times (have there indeed been such?) tourism has been a major income-producing factor in the country’s economy. However, Arab terrorism and a U.S. State Department travel advisory warning American citizens against visiting Israel caused a sharp decline in the last few years. Yet it is encouraging to note an upturn. In the first seven months of this year the number of tourists was up 58% over the same period last year, but still a long way from better years when the number of visitors was close to three million a year.
Then the Intifada broke out. What about the Jews? Does Israel have any special attraction for them as Jews? It has been said that the majority of world Jewry have never visited Israel even once. According to a survey conducted a few years ago by the American Jewish Committee, American Jews, in their identity as Jews place Holocaust remembrance in first place, followed by celebration of Jewish holidays, Jewish study, synagogue services and Jewish organization activity. Visits to Israel came last. Is this a reflection of the true picture? The United States is the principal source of tourists to Israel, followed by France, England and Germany. In the world, France leads in attracting tourists, some 77 million a year. Compare the attractions of France and Israel. It should be noted that some thousands of our visitors are not attracted by the religious or historic sites, but fly directly to Eilat for the climate and the sports activities there. Attempts have been made to promote special appeals. Not long ago Israel published a Guide to Medical Tourism, listing special facilities for cancer patients, plastic surgery, cardiovascular and orthopedic cases. Attention was called to the therapeutic benefits of the Tiberias hot springs and exposure to the waters of the Dead Sea as well as the climate in the area. Large numbers of tourists come here as members of organized groups which follow a preplanned itinerary, taking in the major classical sites. Organizations and institutions of course have the visitors spend time in their special areas of interest, but occasionally it is
Pictured above: Following the liberation of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1967, the Western Wall plaza was cleared of houses and a complicated archaeological project was initiated to clear a tunnel from the plaza northwards. Thousands of tons of dirt and refuse were cleared along a length of some 488 meters to reveal ancient structures and water systems, including a Hasmonean water tunnel and a section of road dating from the time of the Second Temple. Not only does the tunnel expose the bedrock of the Temple Mount, but the carefully dressed Herodian stones from the Second Temple can now be seen as well. The start of a tour to the tunnel complex is via a large impressive scale model of the Second Temple. The model is computerized so that the visitor can see how the Temple Mount and its immediate area looked at various time scales before its final destruction in 70 CE. Top right: The Yosef Caro Synagogue was built in Safed as a Beit Midrash (study room). Rabbi Yosef Caro was the author of the Shulchan Aruch, one of the most important interpretations of Jewish Law. The building was destroyed in the 1837 earthquake, but was completely restored by Yitzhak Guetta. Bottom right: Israeli Minister of Tourism Gideon Ezra stands with the Greek Archbishop Damaskinos of Jerusalem on the shores of the ‘Lowest Park on Earth’ at the Dead Sea. The park is situated along an unspoiled area north of the Ein Gedi Spa on the Dead Sea. From here the visitors can see the expanse of this unique inland sea which All photos credit: Isranet is 1362 feet below sea level. How to attract tourists from abroad? The present Minister of Tourism is of the opinion that special attractions must be provided, and he is agitating for opening of a horse-race track and a gambling casino. Opinions differ as to the drawing power of these. After all, Israel has its own unique attractions. The fact that Christians outnumber Jews among the tourists should provide a clue as to where the advertising appeal should be made. Some years back, when we visited China, we proudly climbed the Great Wall and were presented with a very attractive certificate, in Chinese and English, certifying that we (by name) had “scaled the heights of the Great Wall of China at Badaling Pass, outside Beijing.” It was signed by a Chinese witness. That was almost 20 years ago. And now we read that the Israel Ministry of Tourism is to give Christian tourists pilgrimage certificates regarding their visits to places like Jerusalem, the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Nazareth and Bethlehem. If properly executed this program should attract and encourage more Christian visitors. There had once been expectation of a massive program of Christian tourists. Back in 1998, the Vatican representative in Israel predicted that by the year 2000 there would be five million Christian pilgrims.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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good for individuals to break out on their own. For those who seek something different, we have a suggestion. If you have an adventurous spirit, devote one day, together with a companion, to go out without a plan and without a guide. Step out of the hotel and walk down the street. Look around you at your leisure. Then another street. Observe. Ask Israelis questions and seek their advice. You will find most of them friendly and cooperative. A knowledge of English will be quite sufficient, but you will also have opportunity to show off the bit of Hebrew that you may have acquired. Explore. With all due caution, in the big cities you will be as safe as you would be at home. You will discover a side of Israel that most tourists never get to see, and you will have stories to tell when you return home. At a time when criticism of Israel seems to be growing, even in certain Jewish circles, it behooves all who associate themselves with the existence of the Jewish state, at the very least, to visit the country. By so doing they will aid the national economy, encourage the Israelis, and not least, strengthen their own sense of identification with the country. Carl Alpert can be reached at: alpert@techunix.technion.ac.il.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
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A Dream Come True by JOAN K. MARCUS Gregory Kogan, tall dark and handsome, looks completely Americanized as he brags about being an “American businessman.” However, his thick Russian accent predominates as he tells of being born in the Belarussian State in the former Soviet Union. His parents, Roza and Michael Kogan, were “blue collar” workers. Gregory, like all Russian children, went to school six days a week. Michael had been raised in a religious Jewish family, but the family became nonobservant when the Nazis came to Russia in 1941. Then Jews of all ages from their town were taken and put into a ghetto. The ghetto was surrounded by gasoline with the threat from the Nazis they’d ignite a fire around the ghetto--thus eradicating the Jews by burning them to death. Kogan says, “My father wasn’t very observant as a Jew because, in those days, Jews were persecuted. We observed Passover in our home but we didn’t go to the synagogue. We still knew that we were Jewish.” Gregory repeats the story of his family as it was told to him, “My grandmother told my father to run away when the Nazis weren’t looking. He did and he hid for two months in the trees. He was eleven years old and he ate berries, mushrooms and leaves from the trees. A Russian woman took my father into her house; she knew that if the Germans found a Jew in her house, they would kill her.” Then Michael joined the partisans and became a commander of the troops. “He saw all of our relatives killed right before his eyes. He was a small boy and they gave him a bomb and told him to go kill Nazis.” Gregory grew up remembering stories of persecution of his family. Although he had a pleasant childhood, it Gregory Kogan had been devoid of Judaism. He graduated high school and went to college to become an industrial engineer. As required of all Russian boys, he then served in the military for two years in Siberia.“In Russia, if you don’t go to the military,” he adds, “you go to jail.” After his military stint, he went to work in a metal factory where he worked his way up to general manager. “Even though some of the people in the factory had more advanced degrees than I did, I knew the job. I understood the machinery and how to make it faster and how to troubleshoot when there were problems.” During his military service, Kogan met his wife, Galina, in Bobryish City when he was shopping in a department store. “She worked in the department store and we started to talk,” he recalls. They’ve been married for 26 years. Around l979, Gregory’s cousins, Leah and Joseph Kosinovsky, came to the United States. “I knew that they wanted to go to America for freedom; I began to have a dream of having my own business and having religious freedom as well.” The process took almost 10 years. Wading through the visa application process, the Kogans finally made it out of the former Soviet Union through transit points in Italy and Vienna, Austria. “When we had the interview with the United States ambassador, he told us it would take a long time, but we finally were given permission to come. I began to realize my dream might come true! We were the first family to arrive after the fall of the Berlin Wall, even though Russians had been coming to Omaha for 25 years.”
Even though Kogan was excited about coming to America, the arrival of his family in New York was less than smooth. “Galina, our daughter Lina--who was then nine--and I arrived at Kennedy Airport. They had lost our luggage--and it wasn’t found for three months. We knew very little English and had almost no money. It didn’t seem then that my dream would come true.” “We didn’t know American customs or culture; we had no American-style clothes or anything! We had zero knowledge and it was very frustrating.” But the Kogans perservered. After being settled in Omaha by Jewish Family Service’s Resettlement Committee, Gregory used his experience in construction and began painting. He later formed his own business, Universal Construction Company. Kogan’s business is remodeling; he replaces roofs, gutters, downspouts and siding. He also buys properties, remodels them and then puts them up for sale. “My dream has come true and I have found the right occupation,” he says. “I have never missed Russia because we have freedom.” Galina’s mother and father, Aron and Lyuba Blyakher, arrived in l991 to join the family. “They came, along with my mother, to live in the Livingston Plaza Apartments--a wonderful place managed by the Seldin Company; they do a great job for its elderly residents. “In Russia, free food, free clothes and nearly everything was given to the people under the communists. But the life is a lie told to the Russian people!” he insists. “However, here in America, the same things are available if you work hard--but we have freedom! This is what Aron and Lyuba have always dreamed about.” Aron told the Press, “It was a little bit scary when we came because we had no money and no jobs. We arrived right before Christmas, and when we drove through downtown, I saw all kinds of lights. I didn’t know what they were and thought there was a fire somewhere; I had never seen anything like it.” Gregory and Aaron both spoke of being met by the Jewish Federation. “They rented us an apartment and gave us some furniture. We were given food and taken to appointments with social service agencies, where we applied for food stamps and other things that were available to us.” The families were overwhelmed. The concept of religious freedom was something that had never been experienced by the newcomers. They recall that “Rabbi Katzman of Chabad came and took Aron to services. At first, it was strange,” Gregory says, “and then it was wonderful--to see the tradition, to pray and to hold the Torah.” Rabbi Katzman takes Aron to services several days a week. Gregory, Galina and Lina are members of Temple Israel. Lina, who is deaf, has been able to attend religious school at Temple with the help of an aide who signs for her in the classroom and during services. Lyuba works as a volunteer every day at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. Because of her language skills, she visits with the residents and acts as an aide, translating from Russian to English and back again. She laughs as she tells of her love for the residents and her volunteer work. She has been honored with the Volunteer of the Year Award from Jewish Senior Services and says, “I tell everyone I’m an American--not a Russian!” Gregory insists, “I appreciate this country--big time! It’s a country of opportunities. You just make a goal and you can do anything you wish. You just have to be honest, reliable and dependable. “Some people think you can reach your goals right away and that’s not going to happen,” he says proudly. “It takes some time but anything is possible in the United States because it’s truly a country of opportunity!”
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DP Camp to New York to Omaha-A Journey “Alex Ander” Wouldn’t Trade by JOAN K. MARCUS Alexander Grossman felt somewhat special whenever “Mrs. Fink” and then after her passing, “Mrs. Riekes” came to his house to deliver gifts at Hanukkah and Purim. The small boy looked forward to visits from the women who always brought him something “fun”, such as the red wagon he kept until this past year when the wheels finally fell off! Even now, as a grown man, he remembers the two delightful women who befriended his parents, Ignac and Miriam Grossman, brought him treats, and helped his parents with getting through the day to day challenges that non-English speaking immigrants faced. He also remembers the love and appreciation his parents had for the two, as they called them, “angels”. Alex was born in 1948 in a displaced persons camp that was outside of Linz, Austria. His father, Ignac Grossman, had grown up in Czechoslovakia in a small town in the Tatra Mountains close to Hungary. It was a small resort city where there were very few Jews. Ignac was fiercely Jewish but more secular than religious. Fortunately, he was trained as an apprentice in a machinist program. This skill later saved his life. His mother, Miriam Golomb, was born in Konin, Poland. She was raised in an Orthodox environment. Much to her dismay, her brothers went to learn in the yeshiva, but her job, as the oldest girl, was to help at home with her eight brothers and sisters. That experience gave her a thirst for Judaism and knowl-
the healthier women. She worked in the factory until the end of the war and always considered herself fortunate in some way, because she never had the dreaded number from the concentration camp tattooed on her arm. When war came, Ignac, because of his mechanical training, became a tank commander in the Czechoslovakian army. The country was very quickly subdued Ignac and Miriam- Grossman celebrate the brit milah of and the Germans took him as a prisoner of war. their son, Alex, in 1948 in a DP camp in Austria. He was captured, tattooed edge that she pursued throughout the with the number, 33075, and sent to remainder of her life. Auschwitz. Later, he was moved to When the war began, Miriam’s family Mathausen, another camp. Again, his was ordered to go to a concentration skills as a machinist saved him because camp and scheduled for immediate exe- Mathausen was located outside of anothcution. Fortunately, they were taken er work camp, Goosen--where they used instead to the ghetto of Lodz where they slave labor. Ignac worked in a German lived with a family. Unfortunately, half aircraft factory that was constructed of her remaining family was exterminat- inside a hollowed out mountain. ed and the other half starved to death in Toward the end of World War II, the ghetto. As unfortunate circumstances Americans invaded the camps, released sometimes demanded, she had to per- the prisoners, and sent both Miriam and form the Chevra Kedesha duties (Jewish Ignac to a displaced persons camp by ritual preparation of the dead) for many Linz, Austria. The refugees were either of her immediate family members. rehabilitated or many of them died from Miriam somehow survived the ghetto malnutrition or disease. It was in this but was later “selected” to go to a cre- camp that the couple met and married in matorium. When the Nazis suddenly 1946. Their son, Alex was born there two needed someone to work in a ball bear- years later. ing factory, she was pulled from the creThe United States Army immediately matorium line because she was one of hired Ignac to be a truck mechanic. He
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was given the option of immigrating to the United States--again because of his mechanical skills and service with the Army. So, the family came to the United States when Alex was 18-months-old. The Grossman’s were settled in a small apartment in New York City and Ignac was given a job in a bicycle factory. Since he had always lived in a small mountain town and had no English skills, the new American was lost and befuddled in New York. “My dad was lost for two days trying to get to work,” Alex recalled. “He asked to be moved to a small town where there were mountains. The Jewish Agency in New York, said that they had ‘the perfect place’. So they loaded the new settlers on a train and sent them to Omaha, Nebraska. We had no money or English speaking skills.” (And no mountains!) “We were settled by the Jewish Federation in a small apartment on 19th and Clark Streets. Our apartment was right across the street from the Riekes Shul,” Alex remembers. “My father went to work for Morton Ehrenreich at the Studebaker agency. Dad worked there until 1972 when he went to work for Vickers.” Miriam was a “stay-at-home” mom until Alex was a teenager. She then worked for Aaron Zeiderman and Carl Rosenberg as a seamstress. “We moved to 17th and Sahler in 1953 and I went to Saratoga School,” he added. “Growing up on the north side of Omaha, I felt somewhat detached from the mainstream Jewish community.” Continued on page 16
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For more information: Call the number above or mail this form to receive an illustration of the life income you can receive and the tax benefits you may obtain. ❏ Check box to receive a brochure describing charitable gift annuities. ❏ Check box to receive an illustration of life income and tax benefits. Please provide your birth date: __________. ❏ In the case of two people, the birth date of the second party is __________. ❏ If you want the Foundation office to call you, please provide your name: _______________________________, phone: _______________ and address: _______________________________________________________________. Please mail to the Jewish Federation Foundation, 333 S. 132nd St., Omaha, NE 68154 or send an email to Marty Ricks at mricks@jewishomaha.org.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
DP Camp to New York to Omaha Continued from page 15 When Alex was in second grade, it became possible for children of newcomers to become American citizens without taking a test. At the appointed time, he went to the courthouse with his parents. After taking the oath, the judge told him to sign his complete name. With all of the excitement of a second grader, young Alex took the pen from the judge and signed, “Alex Grossman.” The judge then asked, “Alex! Is that your complete name?” Alex thought for a minute and in his best cursive writing, wrote above his name, “Ander.” Thus, he became and has remained for all legal purposes: Alex Ander Grossman. “Sometimes, it was difficult for me because I was the only Jewish kid in the grade school. My parents were very conscious of being Jewish and didn’t allow me to participate in Christmas programs or sing religious songs,” he admitted. “We attended synagogue weekly and I went to Talmud Torah, but at school, it was a little hard being different.” He attended Horace Mann Junior High where he continued to be in the minority, but “not because I was Jewish. In junior high no one cared or hassled me because I was Jewish--that was cool. It was more so because I was white. In those days you had to earn your respect. I did, and was soon accepted by all.” Finally, when Grossman was old enough to attend Central High School, he met “all the other Jewish kids.” He was active in the Beth Israel youth group but, there again, most of the Jewish kids lived on the other side of town and it “was a real schlepp to take part in the activities, but by then I had a car.” “We had ‘the teacher’, Mr. Wolfson. His expectations were high, tolerance for
Left: Ignac and Miriam Grossman landed at Ellis Island in 1949 with baby Alex. Above: Alex receives a Civil Air Patrol award in 1964. Right: The Grossman family today: Sarah, Alex, Mary Sue, Daniel and Josh.
misbehavior was low, and method of enforcement with some of the more troublesome students, like me, was a ruler across the fingers,” Alex laughed. “For the most part, his students were very good and had healthy hands.” He described his family as blue collar. “My father worked on Sundays and evenings to generate supplemental income,” Alex explained. “Saving and giving tzdekkah were important. My mother also took in tailoring at home for extra income.” Proper behavior and Jewish education were stressed in the Grossman home. “Out of my mother’s family, she and two brothers survived. The same was true in my dad’s family--three out of the 12 kids survived. So, surviving was a message from G-d,” he stressed, “and I was going to grow up remembering and continuing to be Jewish.” Alex graduated from Central High in 1966. “Ever since I was 13 years old, I’ve had some kind of a job. I worked in a television repair shop and then at the
Studebaker agency in the parts department. During summers, I took in cars for repair. I worked hard but I was a happy kid,” Grossman stated. “I’ve always had an interest in electronics and helped my father in the garage on Sundays.” Though he admitted to being mechanically inclined and loving electronics, he “hated to have to work when the other kids were off” but learned a lot from his experiences. “Kids today don’t have any interest in learning about fixing and building things,” Alex added. “In a way, I feel sorry for them, because it’s easy to take advantage of people when they don’t understand how things work.” Alex studied electronics at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Then, he left college to work in broadcasting at WOW-TV and KOIL radio. In 1970, he began working for WOW-TV in broadcast engineering. His career later took him to KYNE-TV, Channel 26. Twice, he took sabbaticals in order to tour Israel on a motorcycle and work on a kibbutz. He graduated from UNO in 1974 with a degree in engineering technology. While a student, he met Mary Sue Pickett from Beaver City, NE. They were married
in January, 1977, at Beth Israel, where family are still active members. Mary Sue works for the Jewish Educational and Library Services. Alex worked for a computer company and in 1977, was hired at Boys Town Institute as the director of the electronics division. He oversaw computing equipment and electronics for the research labs. Six years ago he was moved to the home campus, where he is in charge of networking infrastructure and desktop computing for all of Girls and Boys Town. Mary Sue and Alex have three children: Sarah, 20, and Joshua, 18, who both attend UNO; Daniel, 14, is an eighth-grader at Westside Middle School. “The values that my parents instilled in me would be the same wherever I grew up,” Alex insisted. “Those values come from them--not the country. “I got a good, broad view of people-people from all walks of life,” he added. “Would I trade my experience growing up where and how I did with somebody who grew up in Omaha’s ‘Jewish’ neighborhoods? Not really. I feel very fortunate to have been exposed to the entire spectrum.”
April 15, 2005
Ensuring Continuity FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT by ZOË RIEKES President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha Just as the Passover season is a time of renewal for the Jews, this year, it’s also a time of renewal for the Jewish Federation of Omaha. The Federation is in the final phase of a comprehensive Strategic Planning process...a process that will determine our priorities and focus for the foreseeable future. The Federation’s strategic planning process truly is a grassroots effort involving a cross-section of people from the Jewish community. The Strategic Plan’s foundation grew from the results of a community survey that was recommended by Sandy Friedman and members of last year’s Planning and Evaluation Committee. An independent research company used a scientific sampling method to contact members of the Omaha Jewish community. The Strategic Planning Committee appointed subcommittees to examine each of the five priorities identified by the Omaha Jewish community. Those priorities are Jewish learning, outreach, leadership, financial resource development and the organizational struc-
ture of the Federation and its agencies. The Sub-committees have met and have developed strategies and initiatives for each of their respective priorities. Now comes the challenge of implementing their plans. As President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, I feel that it’s vital that we examine where we came from so that we can see where we are going. This is what strategic planning allows us to do. The Jewish world changes so quickly, and it’s in our best interest to be proactive as we look to our future. Going through a planning and self-examination process periodically is crucial for the well being of the Federation and our entire Jewish community. This Passover, as we sit at our seders, we can all be comforted by the knowledge that we are sitting together with Jews in the Omaha community and all over the world. This holiday and its traditions are symbolic of who we are as a people. Not only are we dedicated to ensuring the continuity and growth of our local organized Jewish community; we are also responsible for the safety and security of Jews around the world. By continuing to work together, I have no doubt that we can accomplish our goals for the future. The Officers, Board and Staff of the Jewish Federation of Omaha all join me in wishing you and your family a joyous and kosher Passover! Chag Pesach Samayach!
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Jewish Summer Camp Continued from page 12 “During that summer, I was invited to come to America and work three years in different Reform synagogues,” he added. “So, in 1973, I traveled around America and Canada with five other Israelis, arriving home right before the Yom Kippur War. Sometime after the war was over, I received a letter from a man I had met during tbe summer who worked in the North Shore Congregation in Glencoe, IL. He invited me back as a youth director. Because they didn’t have much money, he arranged for me to teach Hebrew and work with youth groups in other synagogues. That’s how I came to America!” Aryeh had three American Jews for roommates who later became rabbis. He worked at camp every summer after that. During one of those summers, he had a camper named Azriel (pronounced with an long “A”, unlike Aryeh who pronounces it “Ahzriel”). “This camper had a sister Elyce,” he smiled. “I was curious about this young woman with my name, so, when his parents and sister came for visitor’s day, I managed to go out The Azriel family: Rabbi Aryeh and to lunch with them. Yaniv, age 11. Elyce was a college girl and I fell in love with her five minutes after I met her. “It took her a little longer to fall in love with me!” he smiled again. They were married in Chicago in 1976. In 1976, Aryeh graduated from Spertus College and the young couple moved to Israel. He continued to work with the Reform movement, noting that “it was a year of hardship and it was very disappointing for us. When we were invited back to America, I worked in Glencoe again and the idea came to me to apply to rabbinical school.” After entering Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1980, he finished in just 21/2 years (being a native Hebrew speaker does have its advantages). He was ordained in the summer of 1983 and wrote his senior thesis, “Satan in Rabbinic Judaism” in English--a real challenge for him.
He and Elyce shared a “very modest life. When we look back,” he said, “it makes us feel good about where we started and makes us appreciate this world.” His first job was at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation (where Omahan Rex Perlmeter now serves as senior rabbi) serving with Rabbi Murray Soltzman, a great role model for Aryeh. “It was a great experience--being in Baltimore with 100,000 Jews and a congregation of 2400 families.” Their daughter, Leora, was born there in 1985. Three years later, the Azriels had the opportunity to come to Temple Israel in Omaha. “When I told my father I was coming to Omaha, he took out his atlas and was delighted because Omaha was only three fingers from Chicago,” he laughed. “In addition to the warmth and love we felt when we came to Omaha, it was near OSRUI--the camp that had played such a big part in our lives.” Another blessed event occurred when Aryeh and Elyce decided to adopt their son, Yaniv in 1994. He was adopted through an agency in West Palm Beach, Florida, with the help of Elyce, daughter Leora, 20, and son Omaha attorney, Larry Batt, who has since died. “I will always have a place in my heart for Larry,” he said quietly, “because he helped us make the connection with the agency where we found our son. “Our two children keep us young,” he insists. “Elyce and I wish for meaningful lives for them--lives that make a difference for them and the people they touch. We can’t promise them happiness because they will have to find that for themselves.” Yaniv is now learning to play flag football. “I cry with joy when I see his fast little legs,” he says, shaking his head, “because he is doing what I never could.” Although he loves Temple Israel and his work here, Rabbi Azriel admits, “There is a feeling of exile that will always stay in me. I think that feeling is essential for every Jew. In a way, I think every Jew lives a life of exile. There’s something in us that makes us different from other people!”
EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press office will be closed Monday, April 25 for Passover; therefore, the deadline for the April 29 issue is Wednesday, April 20, noon. Questions? Call 334.6448.
May your home be blessed with Health and Joy this Passover.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Educational Odyssey Leads Israeli to Omaha
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by GARY JAVITCH turned his well-researched dissertation Moshe Gershovich, 45, spent the first into a book, which was published in 2000. quarter century of his life growing up With his ability to turn a phrase--to near Tel Aviv at a time when many per- write well--he also honed his language ils - including two wars talent to speak effec- threatened the very tively and persuasively. existence of his homeThose rhetorical skills land. With so many helped earn him an events unfolding before opportunity to teach at him, he developed a another prestigious cenfascination with the ter of higher education, study of history and an this time at the ability to depict accuMassachusetts Institute rately those events in of Technology, where print. he spent three years as During the better part a visiting lecturer in the of the next two decades history department. that followed, he lived To augment his educaand worked in an acational background, demic environment in Gershovich sought the United States, experience in the forwhere he took advanmer French protectorate tage of many opportuof Morocco, located in nities to study, learn the Middle Atlas mounMoshe Gershovich and teach. tain town of Ifrane in What makes his story noteworthy, northwest Africa. Besides his native however, is his unique application of the Hebrew, the professor also speaks fluent 3R’s of education. In Gershovich’s life French and can converse easily in experience, the classic school definition Moroccan Colloquial Arabic. Those takes on a new form. For this lifelong multi-lingual skills helped ease his tranacademician, the Three R’s are all about: sition to the Al-Akhawayn University facresearch, ‘riting, and rhetoric. ulty, which he joined as a visiting Research and Writing Fulbright Scholar in their School of Because he was born with a congeni- Humanities and Social Sciences. tal heart defect doctors corrected when Reflecting on his educational experiMoshe reached the age of seven, the ences, Gershovich jokes about the young Gershovich was not permitted to ironies that came with his new teaching take physical education classes. As a assignment. Al-Akhawayn University result, unlike other Israeli youth when was named after the two kings whose they became of age, Moshe had to actu- vision helped create the institution--the ally volunteer to join the army. There he late King Hassan II and his fellow King served as both a soldier and a civilian for Fahd of Saudi Arabia. seven years. The newly-formed educational facility, In the military, Moshe researched bat- just three years old when Gershovich tles, regimental histories and heritages of arrived in 1998, prided itself on its being different units for commemorative pieces very tolerant of diversity. Indeed they and brochures. He would also prepare were. However, one cannot overlook a teaching tools, using actual combat huge irony in all this: Saudi money events as a prelude to discussing a moral helped subsidize the academic position dilemma that evolved from the military of this Israeli Jew. Gershovich, who also action. “I would then pose a question for taught Hebrew there, in effect, became a unit to review. For example, I might the first person ever to teach Moroccan ask, ‘Under what circumstances would History at a Moroccan University to you consider leaving comrades behind? Moroccan students. Or, ‘How would you treat the civilian As his short-term teaching stint was population caught in the middle of a bat- about to end, Gershovich investigated a tle scene?’” different academic opportunity. Omaha In that army role, the young private beckoned. He interviewed for a Middle often got to meet generals and other East History position at the University of future leaders who would later go on to Nebraska. After an intense competition, take important government posts. the university awarded the teaching spot Among those was Yitzhak Rabin, whom to another. However, not wishing to lose he once successfully convinced to lec- a scholar with Moshe’s credentials, offiture to a small, select group about his cials offered him another position teachexperiences during the Six-Day War. ing Modern European History, and he Simultaneous with his army experi- accepted it. ence, Gershovich studied at Tel Aviv “That was in the spring of 2001,” he University, graduating magna cum laude recalls, describing how he jumped into in 1982. Shortly afterward, he took a his new job with vigor. Within a short position with the university, working as time of his arrival, he felt the embrace of a researcher at the Dayan Center for our Jewish community. “They adopted Middle Eastern and African Studies and me,” he says. “So I got very involved in specializing in Arab-Israeli relations. Jewish Omaha.” He started teaching While at the Center, a good friend who classes for the Federation’s Jewish had been accepted at Harvard encour- Educational and Library Services (JELS), aged him to apply also. Much to Moshe’s Temple Israel and the Melton Program. surprise, Harvard admitted him as well. He has taught the history of Israel, and Receiving a stipend for tuition and living on occasion, he sits in as a co-moderator expenses, the young scholar entered a on the popular “Guy and Bob Show,” program that would eventually lead him the nickname for the free weekly current to earn a PhD in Middle Eastern studies. events program held at Tuesday noon in Rhetoric the JCC library, lead by Guy Matalon, At Harvard, Moshe spent eight years as the JELS Director, and Bob Wolfson, the a Teaching Fellow in their Core Program, Executive Director of the ADL-CRC. General Education and History DepartOutside the Jewish community, ments, doing research and developing an Gershovich has participated in a dual expertise in French military policy in enrollment program between UNO and Morocco, a topic he covered in his disser- the Millard Public Schools, in which he tation. Based on that scholarly work, he Continued on page 23
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Latina Mom by JOAN K. MARCUS She remembers that livMaria Martinez Neesman didn’t ing in the camp was very know that she was Jewish when she difficult as a Jew. “I never was born. Her mother, Sagrario Sigala went out with other kids Martinez, and father, Gabriel on Friday night because I Martinez, lived in Barquisimeto, was home for Shabbat. I Venezuela, where their six children never went to the were born. movies,” she said. “I still Gabriel is an electrical engineer don’t like cartoons and who worked for oil companies. things other kids saw at Maria, who was born in 1960, rememthe show.” bers that her father became very The Martinez home was interested in Judaism when he markosher--which was also ried Sagrario. difficult. And Gabriel “Dad started to study Judaism and made sure that his three found out many artifacts and tradition boys and three girls that indicated that Sagrario was received Jewish educaJewish,” she explained. “Mom’s tions. “I remember that grandfather had been Jewish and so my brothers went to a Aron and Jacquelyn Neesman we were accepted and converted into farm with my father to Steve and Maria Neesman Orthodox Judaism.” make sure that there was Maria remembers living in an “oil camp.” According a baby lamb. It had to be raised a certain way and then to her, “It was pretty much like a military camp, but it prepared especially for Passover,” she recalls. “At our was on an oil base. It was the same style of living as seder, it was just our family. There might have been a any military base in a foreign country. couple of other Jews who lived in the camp, too.” “It was in the middle of nowhere,” she smiled, “and American schools in Venezuela only went to ninth we had to travel whenever we needed something. grade for accreditation purposes. Her brothers all went When I started school, my parents decided to enroll me to Israel to study and go into the army. Maria decided in an English speaking school. I went to school with that she would move to Akron, OH, to attend school. children of people who lived in the camp and spoke She lived with one of her brothers who moved there English and Spanish at home. ” from Israel for college. Sagrario and Gabriel had to travel for more than an “In high school, I became a rebel,” she smiled. “I had hour in order to attend Jewish services. “We had very gone from such a sheltered, religious life that I didn’t little contact with other Jews because we only went to practice any religion for a while. I was still Jewish, but services on the High Holy days. We tried to go once in I didn’t practice it.” a while on Shabbat, but we always observed Shabbat at Maria went on to college at the University of Akron home.” and graduated with a degree in special education. Since
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she hated cold weather, she moved to Austin, Texas. When she attended a friend’s wedding, she met Omahan Steve Neesman, a professional freelance photographer. “I met Steve and liked him,” she added. “We commuted back and forth for a year-and-a-half when we decided to get married. When I called my father to tell him that I was going to marry a Jew, all he could say was, ‘Is he nice?’ “My dad had always told me he wanted me to marry a Jew and then, when I told him about Steve, Dad forgot all about the Jewish part!” She was married twice--in a civil ceremony and then a religious ceremony. “They are very strict about the rules of marriage in Venezuela--especially when you marry a foreigner. So, we had our civil ceremony here and then we had our traditional religious ceremony with the chuppah in Venezuela.” Maria says that she enjoys Omaha, her home for the past 20 years, because it is a safe place with good family values. They have two children; Aron, a freshman at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and Jacquelyn, a sophomore at Westside High School. As a behavior interventionist at Westside Middle School, Maria deals with discipline. She describes her work as being similar to what used to be a “dean of discipline,” adding, “I can assist the principal with discipline and run a program for children who are ‘at risk.’” She is the coordinator for a mentoring program using adult community members working with “at risk” students for an hour a week. For example, if a child is in trouble or needs assistance for academic success, Maria finds ways to help. “Sometimes kids are struggling because they don’t have friends or aren’t doing well in school,” she explained. “Then, I intervene.” Continued on page 23
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April 15, 2005
Dig a Little Deeper to Discover an Israeli Archeologist in Omaha by CAROL KATZMAN Editor of the Jewish Press Rami Arav’s Bratislavan great-uncle wanted to come to America, but he gambled away his ticket on the Titanic. Arav’s grandfather gave him the money for a ship leaving later and his great-uncle eventually went into the hotel business in New York. He died in 1926, leaving a young wife and two children. Contact with the rest of Arav’s family was lost. Years later, in 1980, the son--Arav’s uncle--traveled to Bratislava to find out about his father’s family. Only the cemeteries remained. A non-Jewish woman found the family’s gravesites. From there, he traced the family to Israel, where they were reunited in 1987. “My grandmother was over 90 by then,� Arav recalls. “My uncle went to see her. He walked in--tall, blue-eyed, blonde--looking just like my grandfather. My grandmother looked at him and said, ‘You owe me money for the ticket.’� Now imagine a young boy growing up in Sejera, a forerunner of the kibbutz movement in Israel. His mother is a Holocaust survivor from Hungary, while his father’s family had not only lived in Israel for decades, but had sabra yichus (that’s Hebrew and Yiddish for a nativeborn nobility!). His family’s story is so compelling--on both sides, that perhaps that is the reason Rami Arav became an archeologist. Director of the Besthsaida Excavations at the University of Nebraska Omaha, Arav is used to digging deep into the past to discover hidden treasurers. But he does-
voice. She was a little girl who looked up to him and his brothers and sister with great admiration. Schloss-Strasse--Castle Street--is a long street with old linden trees shading narrow sidewalks; time has left scars and cracks along their large gray cobbles stones. The street descends downtown from the top of the hill. Towering over the hillock and overlooking the town is an imposing medieval castle, a far cry from the elegant chateaus of this period elsewhere in Europe. Schloss-Strasse was the heart of the old Jewish community of Pressburg. Its businesses were downSen. Ben Nelson (then governor of Nebraska) greets Dr. town; my mother’s family Richard Freund, center, and Rami Arav in 1993 at the business was women’s bouBethsaida Excavation site in the Galilee. tique, a typical Jewish busin’t just dig into the earth; Arav has spent ness in those days. countless hours writing down the stories On Fridays smells of Sabbath cooking, of his mother and father. chicken broth and sweet chocolate yeast So we’re going to let Rami tell this in cakes were pouring down the street. The his own words... air was filled with a relaxing atmosphere My mother remembers Benjamin of the forthcoming Shabbat. Children ran Spiegel calling her “mein kleines up and down the street; some went Fraeulein�--my little young lady, with a down the riverfront to wade in the shalheavy southern German accent when he low shores, touching the rough trunks of entered the house in Schloss-Strasse in the old linden trees alongside the banks. the city of Pressburg, on the bank of the Towards evening, families gathered at Danube River. It was in the early 1930s. the Moorish style synagogue, a large Benjamin was her oldest cousin, big, brown building decorated with horse strong, and energetic, with a booming shoe arches and a silver dome. Like a
mother sheltering her children under an apron, the dome embraced the top center of the structure. Families would greet each other “Gut Shabbos� in a Jewish-German manner, insisting on German, not Yiddish, as they saw themselves as part of the German culture. Near the synagogue, on the same side of the street, was a small Catholic chapel donated to the town by the Emperor Franz Joseph II. The two buildings seemed to fit together in a strange harmony like two estranged relatives standing stubbornly aloof. When the castle was housed by its noble dynasty, the Jews played the role of middle class, forming the social glue among the nobles, peasants and other classes of the downtown area. The town is no longer known as Pressburg. The Jewish neighborhood was destroyed as was the Moorish style synagogue. Only the Catholic chapel is left standing, a silent witness in today’s the city of Bratislava--the capital of the state of Slovakia. At the dinner table, the family would talk about the family affairs, business at the shop and the current political state. Katherine and Leopold, the grandparents of this extended family, oversaw the family. Their brown pictures hang in my mother’s bedroom, looking like two old sages taken almost from the Talmud itself. Long gone are the good old days for the Jewish community at Pressburg. The empire, with the Habsburgian dynasty at the pinnacle of its gable, seemed to them Continued on page 21
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Dig a Little Deeper Continued from page 20 an artistically balanced mosaic of multi-lingual peoples. The Great War shattered this picture and Europe dissolved into a harsh reality of nationalism. The last Europeans left in an increasingly alienated continent were the Jews. German language, education, literature and art were their holy relics and they were hanging onto them for their lives. “The world is changing,” summed up old Leopold, “and I am not sure it is for the better.” One day at the dinner table, he announced, “There is a civil war in Spain. The communists are organizing an international Above: Rami Arav, right, greets Tourism minister Moshe Katzav at Bethsaida in 1997. brigade to fight General Franco; I Below Naomi Arav, left, and Rami with daughter, Anat, at UNO in 1995; Anat now lives wonder what will come of it.” in New York. The Aravs also have two married sons, one in London and one in Israel. The words “international” and “brigade” sounded to them like magic. Here was Europe trying to restore itself, to save itself from chaos and oblivion, and attempting to bring about a new and more just world. “It is the time to do something,” said Benjamin one day. “We can no longer sit back and wait until all is lost; we’ve got to stand up and save our culture. I am going to join this brigade,” he said with glittering eyes. But for a young person from Pressburg who wished to join the brigade there were only two options: go west to France and England or go east to the Soviet Union and the Red Army. Benjamin chose to go east. “I will be back,” thundered his voice at my mother, “and you had better behave. I do not want to hear any March of 1944, Adolf Eichmann and his gang of SS complaints about you and be good to your cousins.” thugs took over the Dohêny Street Synagogue as their Benjamin never came back. In the first few months headquarters to prepare for the Final Solution of the there were letters about his training and his future Hungarian Jews. When Fodor, Gertie’s boyfriend, realtransfer to Spain. He was looking forward to this. After ized what was coming, he arranged for her to stay with all, he felt, it was a mission to save Europe. But then his family--peasants in a small village. no more letters appeared. Playing the part of a good Catholic schoolgirl, Gertie At the end of WWII people began piecing together attended Mass regularly and never gave the “relatives” the remnants of their families. One account said that any reason to doubt her story. While translating docuBenjamin was seen in Stalingrad bravely fighting the ments into German, however, Gertie was discovered by German Nazis. It was said that he was killed but noth- a young German officer, who repeatedly tried to court ing was certain, nothing confirmed, not a single sign. her. “My mother was scared,” Arav admits, “but one Netanya, Israel, the year 2000. day, this German told her he knew she was Jewish. My Yehuda Leopold Spiegel, sits in a little room in his mother broke down and said she was ready to die. But apartment enjoying his favorite hobby radio transmis- he replied, ‘I recognize how exceptional you are,’ and sion. He was the youngest of Benjamin’s brothers, born never turned her in to the Gestapo.” in the same year his grandfather died. Now a retired Gertie stayed in the village until the end of the war high school teacher, he spent a pleasant afternoon call- and later emigrated to Israel, where she met Abraham ing anonymous listeners: “This is Netanya calling… Arav, born in Sejera. His father, born in Hebron in the This is Netanya calling…is there anybody there…?” 1890s, was orphaned and sent to Mikve Israel, a school One day out of his metal radio receiver a little voice similar to Boys Town. Built by the Jewish Alliance of emerged. “I am Andrei calling from Russia.” France, the school was located near Jaffa. In fact, the “You sound very good,” said Yehuda Leopold and Kaiser met Theodore Herzl at Mikve Israel in 1898. The they started to chat. “Tell me about yourself.” Rothchild family helped graduates of the school con“I am a retired Red Army officer,” said the voice. tinue their studies in Paris or settle in Sejera, this small “My older brother was also an officer in the Red village between Nazereth and Tiberias in the Galilee. Army, but we lost tracks of him many years ago,” According to Arav, Sejera would become a landmark Yehuda Leopold told him all about his lost brother. in the history of Zionism, adding, “My grandfather met “Let me see what I can do for you,” said Andrei. “I David Ben Gurion there.” Ben Gurion, who was an worked in the Red Army archives… I know some peo- instructor, would eventually be the first Prime Minister ple… I will do a little research.” A few months later of the fledgling State of Israel. The first Jewish graduthey met again on the radio transmission. ates of Sejera formed HaShomer, the Watchers, whose “Do you have any news?” Asked Yehuda Leopold cadres filled the ranks of the Hagannah--the pre-State “Yes, I do,” replied Andrei from the metal box. “Your army. And Rami was born in 1948 in Sejera. brother was indeed transferred to fight the civil war in He was only three months old when the Arab League Spain in 1936. He was injured and evacuated to a hos- laid siege to the village during the War of pital, then was taken back to Russia. There he recov- Independence. The Arav family added three more chilered and was stationed in a combat battalion. He was dren: two more sons and a daughter and Rami is the a good officer with good records. only one who today is not involved in agriculture-“He married a woman in the eve of WWII. Then though he does admit to digging in dirt! His siblings when the war broke out, his battalion was stationed in hold advanced degrees in agriculture, veterinary studStalingrad. He played a crucial part in defending the ies and biomedical engineering. city, but was killed when he was run over by a Nazi But Rami Arav is no slouch; he has a PhD from New tank. He is buried in Stalingrad.” York University and was teaching at Haifa University Yehuda Leopold sighed deeply. “We have had this (home of Dr. Menachem Mor, who was Creighton feeling he was killed in the war.” University’s first holder of the Klutznick Chair in “But this is not the end of the story!” Andrei insisted. Civilization), when the position opened up at UNO. “Benjamin was survived by a son, Leo; I suppose it was “Menachem introduced me to Richard Freund,” Arav his grandfather’s name, wasn’t it? Leo died of cancer a recalls. And 10 years ago, Arav and his wife, Naomi, few years ago, leaving behind his a wife and a child. arrived in Omaha to direct the Bethsaida Excavations “This child--Benjamin--named for his grandfather, I from UNO. But don’t assume this story ends here. Like suppose, immigrated to Israel just last year. He lives in the good archeologist he is, Arav continues to dig Netanya--at Hashoshanim 25,” Andrei concluded. “Yes- among his family stories. -right down the street. Neighbors, in fact.” So this ‘dig’ is complete. But is it? Ask an archeologist But, this isn’t the end of the Rami Arav’s story either. like Rami if an excavation is ever finished, and he’ll just Rami’s mother, Gertie Glick, grew up in Budapest. In smile and answer, “Dig a little deeper!”
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by OZZIE NOGG on the 50th anniversary of Roni’s grandRoni Reiter-Palmon--her desk piled with parents, and set up housekeeping in Tel graduate student theses papers--sits in her Aviv where Ophir received his office at the University of Nebraska- Engineering degree from the Institute of Omaha, where she is Associate Professor Technology and Roni earned a BA in and Director of the Industrial/ Psychology and Sociology from Tel Aviv Organizational (I/O) Psychology University. In 1987, they moved to the Department. Her husband, Ophir Palmon States, so Roni could pursue an --his camera unobtrusive but ready--sits in advanced degree in I/O Psychology– his studio with his subject, waiting for the first at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and then eyes to reveal a truth. at George Mason University near It’s relatively easy for Roni to describe Washington, D.C. her work. “Industrial/Organizational In both cities, Ophir worked as a Psychology takes what we know about mechanical engineer. “But the human human behavior and applies it to the interaction was missing in this work,” he work place. Things like how to select says. “My need to express myself creativethe best person for the job, how to ly was not being satisfied. So I decided to design effective employee training, take a hiatus from engineering. I was a develop talent and motivation. pretty good amateur photographer -totally “Our I/O program ranks among the self-taught--and I wanted to try may hand top in the country, which makes us very at that craft for a while.” proud,” she smiles. “Right now, I teach A serendipitous opportunity brought and advise a dozen bright, capable grad- Ophir--now a part-time cameraman--to uate students. I mentor them, try to help Capitol Hill. “I covered Senate committhem develop further. I love what I do.” tee hearings and news conferences. The For Ophir to explain his art is more difficult. “I use the camera to tell stories,” he says. “Stories about people and their life's experiences. A family rising to a new day at home, a bride and groom on their wedding day, a girl preparing for her BatMitzvah, a couple get- The Reiter-Palmon family: Roni and Ophir, and the kids: Shir and Tomer. Photo by Ophir Palmon: Artistic Visions. ting ready to have their first child. Their emotions, work was exciting--it let me tell a storypersonalities, and interactions. I take -and I decided to go into photography photographs of what I feel just as much full time.” as of what I see. By 1993, Roni had her Ph.D. in “Over the years these stories have Industrial Organizational Psychology taken me to some very interesting and began looking for a teaching posiplaces, both geographically and emo- tion at a school that offered a doctoral tionally. To this day I find it hard to talk program in that field. “My options were about my artwork, and I much rather limited, because at the time there were show my photos and let them tell the only three positions available in I/O prostory than talk about them.” grams. We also wanted to find a univerObviously, the Palmon’s career fields sity in a city large enough for Ophir to are markedly different, yet both partners establish his own business. Omaha was in this Israeli husband-wife team con- on that short list.” tribute to Omaha in valuable ways. “I knew nothing about the place,” “I was born in Austin, Texas,” Roni says, Ophir adds. “In fact, the first time I heard “so I don’t exactly qualify as foreign-born. about Omaha was when Roni phoned However, my parents were Israeli sabras. me from her hotel room while interThey came to the States to complete their viewing for the UNO job. When she education and I was born while they were said, ‘Ophir, I think this is it,’ I opened working on their Ph.D.s. After they com- the atlas and located our next home.” pleted their studies in 1970--I was six--we Roni also recalls that visit. “I vividly returned to Tel Aviv.” remember sitting in the hotel room and “I, on the other hand,” counters Ophir, seeing a TV commercial for soy beans. I “was born in Israel--in Ramat-Gan. My knew this was going to be very different dad immigrated from Romania after the from Washington, D.C.,” she smiles. war, and my mom is a sabra, the daughThe differences were welcome. “When ter of chalutzim--Israeli pioneers. I went we arrived, I was struck by the friendlito elementary and high school in Ramat ness of everyone,” Roni says. “Not just Gan--the city was a safe place for middle the people I work with--that I kind of class families--and spent most of my expected--but every person on the time in scouts and in the youth band, street, in the supermarket. playing French horn.” “People were eager to help, especially Roni and Ophir met while serving on when they found out we were new to the same Israeli military base. the area.” Today, 11 years after their “Ophir was an officer,” Roni says. “I arrival, life in Omaha continues to suit was an enlisted person, so initially the the couple, as well as their daughter, relationship was quite secretive. We Shir, aged 12, and six-year old son, liked the same books, enjoyed good Tomer. Even now, when people hear conversation, took walks in the rain Ophir’s accent, they invariably ask under his umbrella. It was wonderful.” where he’s from. The pair dated for three years, married Continued on page 23
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 23
A Picture of Two Worlds
Educational Odyssey
Continued from page 22 “I often find myself in the role of an Israeli spokesman,” he says. “I enjoy that role, engaging people who have certain questions that they might not find answers to anywhere else.” Roni admits that being away from family is hard. “The Omaha Jewish community in general and the Beth El community, specifically, have been a great help. We both come from very secular families--we never attended services in Israel-and our folks almost had heart attacks when they learned we’d joined a synagogue.” Ophir explains that the process started slowly. “When Shir was little, we realized we had to give her a sense of her Jewish culture, since she wouldn’t get it in school, the way we did growing up in Israel. At first, we went to synagogue only on the High Holidays. Then we signed Shir up for Hebrew school, so she would be with other Jewish kids--there are none in our neighborhood. She really liked it, so we started to come occasionally on Shabbat. “It was important to her, and it became important to all of us,” he admits. “Now we attend synagogue regularly and enjoy the services and friendship so much. Both Shir and Tomer see this as part of their lives, and if I dare suggest that we stay home, they refuse.” As their way of spreading Israeli culture in Omaha, Roni and Ophir take part in the Omaha International Folk Dance group, where Ophir is a performer and teaches Israeli dance. “I think we both serve as educators about the Arab-Israeli conflict for Jewish and non-Jewish friends,” Roni adds. “We’re often asked our opinions and interpretations of the news, and provide a point of view that may not be regularly heard, particularly by non-Jews.” In their home, the Palmons speak Hebrew and keep their culture alive with Israel radio, music, newspapers, books, movies and food. “The only thing missing,” says Ophir, “is the weather. In Omaha we can’t duplicate a typical Israeli 65
Continued from page 18 gives talks advanced placement (AP) history classes. He has been a guest speaker as well at various other organizations. Also worthy of mention is a Holocaust course Gershovich developed at UNO. He also traveled to Offutt Air Force Base to teach a class. However, on the afternoon of September 11, his scheduled presentation was cancelled after the base heightened security levels. When the class finally resumed, it was taught at a different location. Gershovich maintains a very busy schedule. He is working on a second book, an oral history of Moroccan war veterans who served in the French Army. He plans a third book later about his many experiences in Morocco. Commenting on prospects for peace now that new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is in power, Gershovich points to the good things taking place: “The two sides are talking again; there seems to be a reduction in the level of violence (as of this writing in February) - both important factors in the development of a meaningful relationship.” Yet, the Middle East expert remains a bit skeptical. “Mistrust between the two parties remains high,” he observes. “The two sides still haven’t started talking about the substantive issues.” In 2000, he was very optimistic. “I am much more cautious now. I doubt if there will be a ‘true peace’ in my lifetime.”
degree winter day!” Roni, Ophir and the kids try to go back ‘home’ every two years. “Yes, I still call Israel home,” Roni says, “even though we’ve been gone for 17 years. I must admit, though, that during our first visit back, Israel suddenly didn’t feel like home so much. Time had changed both me and the country. While I was there, I missed being here, and when I was here I missed being there. Neither place seemed quite like home. I had no home! “On some level, that feeling still exists,” Roni admits, “although Omaha feels more like home than any other place, because we’ve formed relationships here and belong to a community. But I do still miss my family and Israeli friends, especially when bad things and violence happen there.” During those times, Roni and Ophir search the internet for Israeli media news reports. “My parents are actually very happy we’re far from the danger,” Roni says, “but it is very hard to be here, where the world does not stop just because 20 people died in a terror attack in Israel. Over there, when that happens, the world does stop for a bit before it goes back to normal. So sometimes we have to pretend everything is normal, even when we’re deeply upset and have no one to share our feelings with.” This may, in part, account for the sense Roni has of being somehow apart from the crowd. “I grew up in a different way, so I have different values, a different perspective, and I’m not sure others always understand where I’m coming from. Also, I think we’re more appreciative of what we have here--the financial opportunities, the security, the relative lack of stress. Shir actually said she thinks many kids her age, and Americans in general, don’t appreciate all they have. Ophir and I and the children know how much we’ve achieved here--my work, Ophir’s ‘artistic vision.’ We also know how much we’ve gained from the community. We do not take anything for granted.”
Latina Mom Continued from page 19 Since coming to Omaha, Maria has earned two masters degrees from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. One is in behavior disorders and the other in secondary administration. “My children think that I ought to continue and get a doctorate. Maybe later,” she laughs, “but right now I think it’s important that I be around for Jacquelyn. “I love Venezuela and the way that I was raised. I miss it and I hope to retire there. Also, I have a large extended family there and we need more family as we get older. My parents did an awesome job of raising me and letting me be who I am. “I am who I am--Venezuelan, Jewish and American,” she insists. “It’s all interwoven in me and that makes me a whole person. Sometimes, I catch myself trying to teach my children trying to be Jewish or American, instead of just accepting them as a whole package!”
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April 15, 2005
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Destined to Live by LEO ADAM BIGA That’s as close to an explanation as Lola Reinglas can offer in making sense of her Holocaust survival. An Omaha resident since 1949, Reinglas and her sister, Helena Tichauer, survived a series of internments, some together-some apart, that defied reason except for the intervention of fate and their own indefatigable will. “We’re both very strong women,” Reinglas said of she and her sister. Born Lola and Helena Schulkind, they were the well-to-do daughters of a proud, old Krakow family that included a younger brother, Nathan. Their father Karol was an electrical engineer and their mother Karolina a model of refinement. Like so many Shoah families, the Schulkinds remained intact but a short time in the war. First, Nathan was taken away. He soon perished. Then, a grandmother was killed. Finally, Lola was sent to one camp while Helena and her parents remained at another. Except for a short separation, Helena and her mother remained together during the entire ordeal. Their father survived mere days after being liberated. After the Holocaust, Lola could not find her sister and mother. By the time she did, they were headed from Sweden to South America. Lola met and married The wrinkles on this 1941 photo of Lola’s family are due to her fine cabinet maker and fellow survivor Irving Reinglas frantic clutching of it throughout her years in the camps. Taken in a refugee camp and they emigrated to America with in the Krakow ghetto, it shows her 12-year-old brother, Nathan their first child. The couple’s new life here saw them Schulkind, later killed in Auschwitz; her parents, Karol (also killed in Auschwitz) and Karolina, and her sister, Helena, 17. build a business and raise a family. Meanwhile, Lola’s sister and mother built a new life coming,” Lola said. Built over a Jewish cemetery, inscripof their own--in Uruguay, where Helena met and mar- tions on desecrated tombstones could be read in the ried Walter Tichauer, a German Jew who fled there pavement covering the heavily fortified camp’s roads. after Kristallnacht. Lola was finally reunited with her Random, public executions orchestrated by Goeth and mom, in 1957, when Karolina visited the States. Three his SS staff were done for sport and intimidation. It was there Lola and her family arrived in 1942. The more years passed before she saw Helena. On a 1961 visit to Uruguay, Lola laid the groundwork for her previous several months the family had been confined, mother, sister and sister’s family to move to America, with thousands of others, to a barbed wire and stone wall enclosed ghetto in the Podgorze district of which they did in 1963. Each sister’s odyssey is a compelling lesson in human Krakow. Even after generations of living in Poland, the Schulkinds and their fellow Jews were systematically intolerance and endurance. made enemies of the state by edicts of the German Helena’s story is on page 7. This is Lola’s story. By the time the former Lola Schulkind reached occupation that began in 1939. “We were born and Plaszow, the forced labor camp turned concentration lived there from one generation to another for probacamp outside Krakow, Poland depicted in Steven bly 100 years, but we still had no home. It was like we Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, the words of her father never belonged,” Lola said. Almost immediately, Jews lost their rights, their jobs, reverberated in her head. “He always told us, ‘Remember one thing--live. No their possessions. Curfews limited their movements. matter what, try to do your best and live. Don’t give Yellow Stars of David identified them. They were tarup.’ And whenever it was very bad, somehow I heard gets of roundups, beatings, killings. With her own eyes, the voice of my father. Even to this day,” she said, Lola saw male Orthodox Jews accosted on the street by “when things go bad...I hear that voice, ‘Don’t give up.’ thugs and the victims’ beards savagely “cut off, skin and all,” with knives. She knew of people arrested and I don’t.” It was at Plaszow she believes Oskar Schindler saved never being seen again. Lola, who’d completed elementary school and one her life. The camp was where the Jewish workers year of business school, was 14 when the war under the German indusbroke out. The Shoah not only ended her early trialist’s protection were formal schooling, but her childhood as well. Her interned for a time. father had to give up a business employing sevSchindler, she said, was a eral people. When ordered to leave their homes well-known figure in the in March 1941, Jews were marched to the ghetcamp, but his good to prepared for them, where they lived in works on behalf of Jews squalor. Allowed to take only five pounds of were not. His enamelarticles per person, they brought whatever works factory was nearclothes they had. by. He operated a pot Jews were moved into what had been the and pan factory inside homes of Gentiles, who, in turn, left to take over the camp and was often the Jews’ abandoned homes across the river. in and out of Plaszow, The Schulkinds occupied a two-room flat with where, it turned out, he another family of five in an overcrowded apartbribed the commandant ment house. There was Lola and Helena--two to keep “his Jews” safe. years her senior--then-11-year-old Nathan, and One night, a teenaged their parents. “We thought it was bad before we Lola was caught past curwent to the ghetto. Then, we went to the ghetfew sneaking food to her to. Not enough food. Ten to 15 people in two father in the men’s barrooms. We slept on the floor. No privacy. No racks. What happened next was something she Lola Schulkind and Irving Reinglas were way to take a bath. The living conditions were terrible. We thought, This is the worst. didn’t understand until married in March 1946 in Munich. “Well, how wrong we were,” said Lola. Nothing could years later--long after Schindler’s rescue efforts were prepare them for what lay ahead. revealed. Ghetto life was a particular shock to the Schulkinds, Taken to a hill by uniformed men, a man in the group she now recognizes as Schindler “took a gun and put it who’d enjoyed a privileged life replete with servants, to my head,” she said. “I thought he was going to kill summer-long stays in cottages, winter skiing vacations me. But he started hitting me...beating me, beating at lodges, and more. A bookworm, Lola had no access me...until I lost my consciousness.” She now surmises to her beloved literature. The historical anti-Semitism harbored by a large segthat with German soldiers looking on, he could not let her go with only a warning and, “instead of killing me, ment of the native Gentile population, combined with the Nazis single-minded implementation of the Final he beat me” and, thus, “saved my life.” Plaszow was a Dante’s Inferno overseen by sadistic Solution, left few friends Jews could turn to for aid. Amon Goeth, a large man often seen on horseback or What help did exist, in the form of food or shelter, surrounded by dogs trained to attack “on his command exacted an exorbitant price and extraordinary risk. of Uda. When you saw him, you knew trouble was Continued on page 27
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Destined to Live Continued from page 26 Lola’s father, whose plan to take his family to Russia years earlier was rejected by her mother, boldly refused handing over his valuables to the authorities. “He took a great chance,” she said. The family used jewelry and silver to barter with Poles and Germans for precious food provisions in scarce supply.. The ghetto was a despairing place where time stood still. Nothing beyond the imposing stone wall or the forbidding armed guards surrounding it existed. “We were afraid because we never knew what was going to happen tomorrow,” said Lola, “or for that matter in an hour from now.” People disappeared. Others got shot. When word came the Germans were liquidating the ghetto, she saw soldiers throw infants out of third-floor windows. Making the harsh life there a little more bearable was her father’s eternal optimism. Despite having come back from service in the Austrian Army in World War I a man who “didn’t believe in anything” having to do with God, she said he was an inspiring fellow who buoyed people’s spirits. “When you’re an optimist like my father was, you always believe that better days are coming. He was always telling people. “Tomorrow is going to be better.’ He always believed.” Hardly a pacifist, he wanted more than anything to see justice done to his people’s tormentors. “My father always said, “No matter what’s going to happen, I’m going to stay alive and see the Germans beaten, but good.’ And, believe it or not, he survived the concentration camp and lived to see himself liberated and the Germans beaten like dogs. Two days later, he died.” There was no leaving the ghetto unless
chosen for physically a work and mendetail at a t a l l y f o r c e d couldn’t labor projdo it. They ect outside gave up. it or you They said, w e r e “What for?’ brazen And they enough to died.” sneak out. Death Lola was was never picked to far away. work as a Not long c l e a n i n g Irving Reinglas, back row left; his sister Channah died in Auschwitz before the girl at a (Lola’s daughter Ann is named for her), as did his sister, Ruth, front g h e t t o ’ s K r a k o w row; Irving’s parents--Jeanette and David--were taken hostage for l i q u i d a h o s p i t a l money and killed even after the ransom was paid. His brother Jacob, tion, she w h e r e right, was sent to the Russian border, where he was hit in the back r e c a l l s w o u n d e d with a rifle and later died. o r d e r s Germans were treated. Mornings, she was being given via loudspeaker for all part of a group of slave laborers taken by inhabitants “to concentrate in one place.” truck to their assigned jobs. They were told to bring only what they The manual labor was new to her. “It could carry, which meant something was the first time in my life I scrubbed awful was coming down. Sure enough, floors, cleaned windows, cleaned toilets she and her family watched in horror as and washed dishes,” she said. an estimated 1,500 men, women and Demeaning as the work might have children were ordered out of the crowd been, she counted herself lucky as it --to stand in front--where they were meant access to extra food. “Whatever I killed by machine gun fire. “I witnessed could save, I brought it back to the ghetto that. You know, I had never seen my for my parents and my sister and brother father cry before. He was crying like a to eat.” She said to her surprise some baby and blood was running like a river. Germans at the hospital were “very good” It was horrible.” to her. “If they had food they couldn’t eat, The ghetto dwellers were assembled they’d tell me, “You take it.’ I was very once more, prepared to march to an happy I could bring some food.” unknown destination, when her brother As her saga unfolded, Lola found Nathan was pulled out of line by the working “the only thing that would save Gestapo. “The man said to him, “You you...No matter where you were, as long can’t go.’ He was 13, but very skinny and as you could work, you were OK. Once very little, and they were pulling out all you just laid down ...then they took you the old people and young children and and shot you like a dog. A lot of people the ones whose looks they didn’t like.”
Wishing Your Passover Is Filled With Health and Happiness.
That’s when her mother bolted for her only son. “She grabbed him and went back in line with him. The man came and looked at my mother and he said, “If you’re going to do that, I’m going to kill your son and you right now. He can’t go.’ So, they put Nathan out and put him on a truck to Auschwitz. That was the last time we saw him. They brought him straight to the ovens.” The remaining human caravan from the Krakow Ghetto ended up in Plaszow, a compound around which an electrified fence ran. Stripped naked, prisoners endured another selection process that eliminated the weak and old. It was then and there that Lola’s paternal grandmother was forced to dig her own grave. “She said to us, “If that’s what God wants, that’s what’s going to be.’ She went in that grave with her bible, and they shot her right in front of us,” Lola said. Brutality became a numbing reality at Plaszow. Random acts of barbarism the order of the day. Once, Lola was forced to watch the hanging of a man caught trying to escape. “And so help me God I could hear the bones crack in his neck. They let him hang three days, so everybody that worked saw him. I said, “No, this is it, I will never survive.’” She did survive, but only by steeling herself. “I was like a stone. I left everything behind me. I had no feelings.” When the woman next to her in the barracks died overnight, Lola waited until the morning to report it so that she could consume the extra ration of bread and coffee. In such a place, she said, “We could not speak about the future-only about what was.” Continued on page 28
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April 15, 2005
Destined to Live
One Determined Lady
Continued from page 27 broke out in several Polish Upon first arriving at Plaszow, cities. “Poles started shootLola continued her routine of being ing Jews in the street. They brought to the hospital to clean. didn’t want us. My uncle Later, she worked in a quarry breaksaid, “This is no place to ing stones with a hammer to make stay.’” Lola said. Like hungravel. Once, she switched jobs dreds of thousands of other with her ailing mother, who was too survivors, they wanted out weak to carry a yoke laden with of Europe. buckets of water. Lola briefly Ironically, they fled first to worked in a paper factory. Then, occupied Germany, where one day the factory was closed and displaced persons camps she and others loaded onto cattle were a way station out. Lola, cars and taken by train to the first of her uncle and cousins went two nearby camps whose German by way of Czechoslovakia, munitions factories she worked in. where they stayed a week It was 1944. Her remaining family and were treated royally. stayed behind at Plaszow. “The people were wonderAt Skarzysko Kamienna, Lola ful.” In Germany, they lived operated a machine making anti-airin the Foehrenwald refugee craft shells. “You had a quota to camp, where she fell in love make 80,000 shells per shift,” she 1987: Lola and Irving Reinglass and their children: with Irving Reinglas at first said. “If you couldn’t make your Jeanette Reinglas Baker, Stephen Baker and Ann sight. Married in 1946, they quota in eight hours, you worked Reinglas. lived in Munich until ’49, until you did. Sometimes, you worked 12-14 hours on when they came to America under the auspices of the one slice of bread and a cup of coffee.” Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a major supporter Unable to meet the quota any other way, workers of Jewish survivors in DP camps. mixed defective shells in with the good ones. Once, a The ship carrying Lola and Irving docked in New woman foreman discovered a bad shell in Lola’s batch York Harbor on Thanksgiving Day. Given the choice of and used a riding crop to administer “25 lashes on my staying in New York or relocating, they opted instead rear end,” Lola said. “I couldn’t sit for six months.” for a smaller, slower city. HIAS officials suggested In 1945, Lola went to Czestochowa, the site of anoth- Omaha, where the couple knew not a soul. With er munitions factory. There, she fell ill. “I could not eat. Jewish Federation sponsorship, they settled here and I could not drink. I was down to 60 pounds.” Later, she cobbled together a successful life. They learned found herself again in transit by train--this time to English. They ran their own business, Easy Chair of Germany--when the train stopped at night. By morning, Council Bluffs. They gave their two daughters, Jeanette the captives discovered their captors were no where to and Ann, a good education and every advantage. Lola be seen. The advancing American Army had set the eventually regained her sister and mother. Germans on the run and the emaciated refugees were Today, Lola is without her Irving, who died in 1988. soon rescued. The grandmother of two stays active. A longtime volThe war was over. “I was free,” Lola said. unteer at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, she now After months of rest and nourishment in an gives her time to the Methodist Hospital gift shop. American-run refugee center, she felt strong enough to Except for an occasional speaking appearance or travel. “I didn’t have money. I smuggled myself on a interview, she doesn’t revisit the Holocaust. “I don’t live train to Poland. It took me three weeks to get to in the past. It’s not that I have forgotten. I know I’ve Krakow.” She went to her family’s home, praying for been to hell and back,” she said, “but this is not my some sign of her family, only to find strangers. “The main subject. I think about today and tonight. If I lived woman there said to me, “Oh my God, you’re still in the past, I would have been in the nut house a long alive?’ I said to her, “You drop dead.’” Undeterred, she time ago.” found an uncle who’d survived and stayed with him. The Holocaust, she said, is an unfathomable episode Two cousins joined them. In Krakow, she learned the whose echoes, sadly, reverberate in latter-day oppresfates of her brother and father. Awaiting word on her sion and violence. “There is not a word in the dictionmother and sister, they located each other and began ary that describes the atrocities. And for what? corresponding. Wherever you look today, people are fighting. And for Just when it seemed the danger was ended, pogroms what? For power. For nothing else.”
by JOAN K. MARCUS Vera Dobin speaks with great joy about her youth. She was born in Russia in Kinel--Kuibyshev in 1942. Her father, Abram, was killed in action in World War II when Vera was only three months old. Vera and her mother, Esther Lipshyts, who taught Russian literature, moved in with her grandparents in Kislovodsk. Vera’s mother was for many years, a principal of the school there. Her grandfather, a watchmaker, provided a good home for Vera, her mother, aunt and a cousin. “I was a good student because my grandparents insisted that I had to be one of the best. I had all ‘fives’ and that was the highest mark that you could get,” she said proudly. She received a gold medal at her high school graduation in 1959 which she still has. “When we moved to the United States, the inspectors saw the medal in my purse and stopped me. When I told them what it was,” she explained, “they decided I could keep it. “Last year, I went back to Kislovodsk to attend my 45th high school reunion. The 28 of us were so happy and had such a good time,” she said, “but I think I came the farthest.” After graduation, Vera wanted to be a doctor. You know,” she added, “it was almost impossible for Jews to enter medical school at the university. Even with my gold medal, it was impossible.” In fact, one student put a notice on the wall that said, “all places sold,” a comment on the school’s acceptance policies. “After I was rejected from medical school, I was too ashamed to go back home and went to live with friends in Vorkuta, in the north,” she admitted. “I couldn’t imagine how it could be that I couldn’t enter the university with my high test scores.” Instead, she became an aide in the school for chemistry and physics. After a year, Vera decided to go to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to attend Cinema University, where movie engineers were trained. “I continued to work hard and when I graduated, I received a red diploma--that was the best.” In 1963, she married Joseph Dobin. Their son, Alex was born in 1964; Joseph died in 1986. Vera continued to work and study at Cinema University for 15 years. She then worked in a special university for another 10 years. “I was a special researcher at the Institue for Air and Space Photography. It was a fascinating job and I got to travel to interesting places and work with many geologists.” In 1991, Vera followed her son, Alex, to the United States. “In 1989, Alex had visited California; when he came back to Russia, he decided he wanted to move to the U.S. Alex wanted my mother and me to come with him in 1989, but I didn’t have anyone to substitute for me at work; I had to train somebody before I could move.” Continued on page 29
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A Foot in Two Countries by DAVID LEIBOWITZ here [to the United States}.” Eitan Tsabari has one of the more This was 1989, and Eitan and his new unique immigrant experiences. The rea- wife left the farm (which they still own) son? He lived more than 40 years in his and came to Omaha. After spending his native country (Israel) before meeting an entire life in Israel, Eitan was unsure American woman and starting a new life what to expect of Omaha. He had very in a new country. So Eitan has really little information on which to base any been able to experience both places to impression, so when he finally arrived it the fullest. His memories of the “old was something of a “culture country” are not relegated to old photo- shock…especially when I met the Jewish graphs and anecdotes; they are very community.” much alive within him and his family. “I was surprised at the level of involveEitan Tsabari was born in Jerusalem in 1948 --shortly after Israel gained its independence and became a state. He spent much of his life in Israel working on his family’s farm, and working as a civil engineer. He had a great life, and was quite successful in his Eitan and Eadie on the beach in Tel Aviv with three of their four children: profession. So Onie, Ron and Gal. Effie, their youngest daughter, was born in Omaha. what prompted a move as drastic as ment of most of the Jewish people here in moving from Jerusalem to Omaha, town in the Jewish community,” he said. Nebraska? “Through this I could understand how, in “I met Eadie, my wife,” he said. “She many other places, Jews could survive and was born here (in the United States). I be together and keep their religion. Maybe met her in Israel, and we lived on the it is only like that here. I don’t know about farm. Due to financial problems, after the East or West coast.” two years, we decided to move over Continued on page 30
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One Determined Lady pital, I learned to communicate in English because it was necessary. “When I got to the last level of studying English, the teacher came told us that we could take the TOEFL test. Some of the students had tried many, many times and didn’t pass. I decided I would take it just for fun,” she added, noting that she passed it on the first attempt. Vera then attended Metropolitan Community College where she eventually worked in the safety, economics, and computer departments. Then, she decided she would try out her English skills by getting a job. “I was in Kohll’s Pharmacy on 84th and saw a sign asking for a cashier. I went to Louis Kohll and admitted I had never worked as a cashier,” she recalled. But, she added, “If you show me, maybe I can do Esther Lipshyts and Vera Dobin attended the citizenship it.” of their grandson and son, Alex Dobin, on June 15, 1995. She didn’t think that he “I had begun to study English and the would hire her, but wound up working alphabet while still in Russia,” she there for about two years. “In the beginexplained. “One cold, windy and slip- ning, I didn’t understand what customers pery morning, Alex told me I had to go were talking about, but people helped. to UNO to take a test. It was hard, but-- Sometimes, the staff would help me to my surprise--I passed it! I was put on practice English. Lou gave me extra the third level right away. paperwork, because he knew I could do “But I came home and cried and told it. He was very fair.” Alex that I couldn’t learn English--the Alex is now President of his own comclass was too hard. He told me I should puter company, American Starlex. After wait for a week or so and it would get leaving Kohll’s, Vera began working for better. By the end of the semester, I had him in his computer business. “I help all A’s and I had began, little by little, to him keep his books. Who can help if not learn English,” she admitted. his mother?” “Alex insisted I had to learn 10 English Sadly, Esther died in 2003. Vera says, words a day. When people would call “Rabbi Craig Marantz was wonderful to on the phone, I couldn’t understand me then. It was terrible when she died what they were saying,” she laughed, “so and I still cry every day--but life continues. I asked them to write me a letter.” “Although life has been difficult, I am She added, “Each day, before I went to busy all of the time. I attend classes and school, I studied the lessons. I was doing services at Temple Israel and I have well when my mother had a heart attack friends,” she said. Every day, I read and I had to spend day and night at the Torah on my computer. I am glad I came hospital with her. When I was at the hos- to America, but I miss my friends.” Contineud from page 28 “People at my work liked me--even though I was a Jew. Sometimes, they would tell me, ‘You are good--even if you are Jewish,’” she recalled. She soon realized it was important for her to come to live with her son. Vera and Esther came to Omaha on Oct. 30, 1991, and she remembers it was very difficult when they arrived in the U.S.
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BROADMOOR
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
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Left: Eitan’s parents: Nachman and Mazal. His father died, but his mother still lives in Jerusalem. Right: Another IsraeliOmaha couple: Beth Seldin and Amon Dotan, left, visit with the Tsabaris, right, and another couple in Israel. The Dotans lived at Kibbutz Ayalet HaShachar. Continued on page 30 “In Israel, you are among Jewish [people] all the time. You are not really involved in a certain community as it is here,� he continued. “Here, even if people are not your friend, when you go to the community center, and are involved with some kind of event, you don’t do it just because these are your friends or something. You are part of the community. It is part of your life here.� Once settled in Omaha, Eitan began looking for work as a civil engineer. He met with some initial resistance from employers who were concerned about his lack of engineering experience in the United States. So, undiscouraged, Eitan took a job as a maintenance man. After a few short months, he opened his own handy-man business that he operated for over three years. It was around this time that Eitan began working for the city of Omaha as a civil engineer. He still works for the city today, though in a different capacity. In addition to the differences in the Jewish communities, Eitan noticed some other major differences between life in Jerusalem and life in Omaha. For example, weekends. “I was born in Jerusalem. On The Tsabari children in 1995: Ron, left, Onie holding Effie, Shabbat, there were no cars, or very few cars on the and Gal, in front. In August, Gal will leave for Israel where road. There is very little activity from Friday evening to she will participate in the Tzofim, the Israeli Scouts, and preSaturday night. Here, everything is still going on.� pare for basic training in the Israel Defense Force. “On Yom Kippur it is dead quiet everywhere. I’m not talking about Jerusalem only, but all over Israel,� he that while in Omaha, he has met Jews from all over the said. In Omaha, to most of the city’s residents, Yom world; most notably people Central and South America. Kippur is just another day; cars are everywhere. Eitan noted that the impact of foreign-born Jews in When Eitan left Israel, he left behind much of his extended family. His mother, for example, remains in Omaha can be felt everywhere, and cited the rabbi at Israel to this day. Fortunately, he is able to visit about Beth El as a prime example. He credits the rabbi with creating, “a new way of worshipping. Many people twice a year. His Omaha family consists of his wife, Eadie, and his come to the synagogue on Friday nights now, which two daughters Gal and Efrat. Gal was born in Israel we didn’t see before. It is very nice, and great to see.� In turn, Eitan’s Omaha experience has affected and and came to the US at age one; Efrat was born here. Eitan has two sons from a previous marriage, Ron and changed him as well. He now feels more connected to Onie. Ron lives in Israel, while Onie is currently living the Jewish community as a whole, and appreciates its strength and diversity. and working in Madison, WI. “The cohesiveness of the group, the way that they Overall, Eitan feels his experience in Omaha has been very positive, and it has opened his eyes to many live in order to preserve Judaism,� he said, is what has different cultures and ways of worship. He pointed out impressed him the most.
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R EAD IT AND EAT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN Sharing food is a form of love...made of dreams, aspirations, memories...100 distinguished chefs share recipes and stories of family mealtimes and traditions. The chefs’ names are listed int he front page of the chapters. Among them are Marty Blitz (chef of Mise en Place in Tampa) whose bubbe lived right by the Brooklyn bridge-- his contribution, a fusion knish. Joyce Goldstein, cookbook author and former chefowner of Square One restaurant, remembers lunches with her father and chocolate eclairs. Award winning
pasty chef Gale Gand made pies using her great-grandmother’s rolling pin long ago with her mother, Myra. Bruce Hildreth (proprietor/chef of Tapatio in Columbus, OH) and his wife were given Grandma Pearl’s cherished blintz pan. The author of this cookbook shares his memories of Hanukkah latkes--grating potatoes with his mother and grandmother. This is all about memories, recipes, cooking and eating. The blue and pumpkin graphics and print leads you from story to story, recipe to recipe and memory to memory. Each of the chefs’ recipes often are made up of several recipes to be incorporated into one dish. This is a cookbook to be read and savored as well as to use. A portion of the proceeds from the dale of this cookbook will benefit Share Our Strength, “one of the nation’s preeminent anti-hunger agencies.� For Passover add Gale Gand‚s recipe to your Seder. Continued on page 45
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From Poland to Palestine, from Israel to America: A Family's Story of Survival and Accomplishment by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Knowing how Eyal and Ruti Margalit and their three daughters, Noam, 11, Tal, nine, and Doron, two, arrived in Omaha about a year and a half ago, is only half the tale. How their families got to Israel is the other half. Eyal, the son of a fifth-generation Israeli and a 1933 Polish immigrant to Palestine, was born in Haifa and went to school there through high school. He served in the Israeli Army for four years and fought in the Lebanon War in 1982. He eventually became an artillery officer and served in the Reserves Eyal’s mother, Sara Zis, moved to Palestine with her parents and siblings when her father, despite his prosperity, grew increasingly wary of life in Poland. Unable to convince the rest of his family to leave with him, he later learned that they all perished during the Holocaust. Eyal entered medical school in 1983 and started a nine-year M.D./Ph.D. program at Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem. “I did research on the higher functions of the brains of monkeys and decided at the end of my internship to be an ophthalmologist.” Ruti’s father, Israel Stashefsky, was born in Detroit, the first generation of his family to be born in America. “The Navy wanted him to be a physicist, but he also belonged to the Zionist Youth Movement and assisted the Hagganah.” His dream was to go to Israel to build a kibbutz “so he went to construction school in Detroit.” Stashefsky made aliyah on Jan.
Eyal Margalit (in back row) with Noam and Tal, Ruti (in front row) holding Doron have criss crossed America since they arrived in the U.S. in December 1998. Most recently they visited Hawaii in February. 1, 1949, arriving during a snowstorm at what would be Kibbutz Sasa, about a mile from Lebanon in “a beautiful area” of the Galilee. Tzila Hammerstein Stashefsky, Ruti’s mother, was born in Warsaw and survived the Warsaw Ghetto smuggling in weapons and food. Tzila’s father escaped from a train on its way to Auschwitz and came back to bribe his family’s way out of the ghetto. Tzila was hidden in a third floor bombed out
building and was brought water and a piece of bread each day to survive. They escaped Poland only to be stranded in Cyprus and denied entrance to Palestine. Finally, the Hagganah spirited Tzila off the ship into Palestine. She made her way to a kibbutz in northern Israel, established by Americans, where she met Stashefsky. They were married in 1952. At the request of the Jewish Agency, they went back to Detroit in 1959 to organize another aliyah.
Ruti, the second of Tzila and Israel’s three daughters, was born in Detroit but grew up in Israel. She attended school on the kibbutz where her parents still live. “The kibbutz took in children through the youth aliyah program. These children, from deprived areas in Israeli cities, went to school and lived with the kibbutz families,” Ruti said. For a year after high school, Ruti volunteered to work with youth in a deprived neighborhood of Tel Aviv. She then fulfilled her military obligation in the Army and became an officer before returning to work in the cotton fields at the kibbutz. She was also the extra-curricular activity director at the high school. In 1985, Ruti applied for medical school, a step that had to be approved by the kibbutz. “I was the first child (from the kibbutz) to want to go into medicine,” she explained. She was accepted to participate in a seven-year program at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. During the summers, she worked at the kibbutz picking apples and in Jerusalem in nursing jobs, cleaning and giving private lessons. Ruti and Eyal met during their sixth year of medical school in the trauma course (ATLS or Advanced Trauma Life Support) which originated in Nebraska. “We were the first class in Israel to go through this training,” she pointed out. “There was a lot of enthusiasm around it!” Continued on page 32
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April 15, 2005
From Poland to Palestine, from Israel to America stay in touch via occasional telephone chats. After Eyal’s two-and-a-half year research fellowship ended, he was accepted for a clinical fellowship at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins for two more years. Following that, he accepted a position as the head of the retina unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). He wanted to practice in an academic setting and “be at the forefront of science. We received a warm welcome phone call in Baltimore from Omaha’s Rabbi Aryeh Azriel which helped us make the decision,” Eyal said. Upon moving to Omaha in September 2003, Ruti was offered a faculty position at UNMC in preventive and societal medicine. She is involved in the medical school curriculum and instructs residents and medical students in the area of doctor-patient communication and professionalism. Eyal had received his Nebraska medical license before leaving Baltimore, and Ruti earned hers a year after arriving here and is now looking forward to some clinical practice. In between working with patients at 23-week gestation to 98 years old, Eyal is working on electrical devices that will give sight to the blind. Implanted in four patients so far, the devices are under examination by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He treats patients suffering from diabetic eye disease, macular degeneration, premature birth, HIV, and retina detachments and oversees all retina eye surgery at UNMC including laser surgery. Although he was “very enthusiastic” to move here, Eyal said it was also “kind of scary.” His position carries “a big respon-
Continued from page 31 Between medical school and internship, Eyal and Ruti enjoyed back packing for six months all over South America. They married in 1992 and moved to Kibbutz Sasa where they lived while interning at a hospital in Tzefat. In addition to working at the hospital, they were expected to work shifts in the dining room and milk cows at the kibbutz. “It was tough to be an intern and a good kibbutznik!” Ruti recalled. Later, they moved to Jerusalem to complete their residencies at Hadassah Medical Center--Eyal in ophthalmology and Ruti in pediatrics. She had Noam in 1993 and Tal in 1995 while still in pediatrics. She remained in pediatrics for three-and-a-half years and then completed the requirements of family medicine. After completing their residencies, Eyal’s interest in designing a retina prosthesis led to his invitation to become a research fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Ruti was accepted as a fellow at the University of Maryland in family practice and then as a fellow at the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins. “We lived in a huge apartment complex with other research fellows,” Ruti said. Noam attended a public school with children from 47 countries including Iran, Syria, and throughout Asia. “We belonged to a synagogue and managed to find time to hike and camp.” Doron was born in 2002. Noam had friends from Germany, Israel, and South Africa in Baltimore. Her best friend there was a Japanese girl named Sayaka. Tal’s best friend in Baltimore was also a Japanese girl who has returned home to Japan. The two
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sibility. But I’m gaining a lot of experience and succeeding in doing some research. I feel I made a good choice.” “We find Omaha a good place to live,” Ruti added. “We were surprised by the Jewish community--the JCC, the CDC, the warmth, and all the activities. It’s amazing! People are interested in Israel and Jewish life. Friedel (Jewish Academy) is wonderful for the girls. They can maintain their Hebrew,” their first language at home. “Families in the community are close,” Ruti has noticed. There’s “a high value on families” which is important to her. They spend their spare time together exploring parks and learning about what the Omaha area has to offer. “We joined the zoo, the Children’s Museum, the Rose and the Wildlife Safari.” They’ve gone skiing and seen the snow geese at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge. They’ve also been to symphony concerts and performances at the Omaha Community Playhouse and found “the bookstores we love.” They are members of Beth El Synagogue and several local professional medical associations. Ruti spends a lot of time helping with the extra-curricular activities at Friedel and is on the school board. As a family, the Margalits have driven across Nebraska to visit friends in Boulder, Colorado. They’ve also been to the Black Hills, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Niagara Falls, Utah national parks, the Grand Canyon, throughout New England, Vancouver, Seattle, and Hawaii among other places. Once a year, they return to Israel. “I get very homesick,” admitted Ruti, whose longing was relieved by visits here from her parents, Eyal’s brother and
his family from Jerusalem, and Ruti’s sister from Kibbutz Sasa. They miss the scenery as well. Although they were amazed by the dramatic display of Nebraska’s autumn colors, they miss the sea and the mountains, the smells and food of Israel. One of the problems with the conception Americans have of Israel is disseminated by the media, Ruti believes. “People don’t understand that life goes on. People have a resilience--they go to work, children go to school, celebrate birthdays and holidays. The country is very diverse and beautiful, and there are great places to wander. The only way to realize the reality is to go and visit,” she suggested. “There are conflicts, but it’s a beautiful country; the people are warm and caring, families are close, and despite the problems, people are happy and like to celebrate.” Noam remembers going to kindergarten in Israel. Now, she really likes Friedel. “I like being in a small school. Everybody is really nice there. It’s like a family.” “It’s a cool school,” Tal added. “We do a lot of fun stuff and the teachers are good.” As for future destinations in their lives, the girls, who like their parents are Israeli as well as American citizens, have given it some thought. Noam is interested in the science of astronomy and would “maybe like to work at NASA.” On the other hand, Tal would “like to live in Israel some day and be a doctor or a teacher.” Knowing where the girls already have been is only the beginning of their stories. But it offers insight into where their futures will lead them.
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Proud to be an American by JOAN K. MARCUS Mark Silberstein, a man who collects clocks, says time has gotten away from him since he came to the United States in 1957. Although he remembers his home of Montevideo, Uruguay, he considers himself a true American His parents, Nachum and Shayndl Silberstein, escaped to Argentina from Poland before the Holocaust. They later settled in Montevideo in 1938. Nachum had been a hat maker in Poland and Shayndl was a homemaker. “There was always food on the table and we were a happy family. However, we were very poor,” he recalled, “and my parents, my older brother and I all lived in one room. “Everybody on my father’s side of the family was in the jewelry business. I remember that my father and his brother were very close and they always worried about having money for my girl cousins to have a dowry.” His family didn’t have a telephone. “It wasn’t necessary to have one because Jewish people didn’t need
got home, my uncle explained it to me.” Because he loved television as a teen, Mark went to work at the same station where his uncle was employed. At first, he worked part-time rewinding, cutting and cleaning film. “I did anything that I could because I loved working there. It was a short time later that I began working in the production department.” As the years progressed, he became the director of the station. He directed commercials, children shows and newscasts. “Everything was live then and I was in a world I found to be completely fascinating.” In the late 1960s, Mark came to Omaha to see about the possibility of his mother and brother moving to Omaha from Uruguay. “I was in Omaha and I left the immigration office and somebody called me by my Hebrew name, “Moishe.” I turned around and it was my neighbor from Uruguay-- Helena Tichauer! She said her son, Carl was dating a Lerman girl who had a sister. Helena suggested that I might want to meet this girl’s sister. “I was working full time and decided that Left: Mark Silberstein. Below: the Silberstein family: Mark and Phyllis, at the wedding of Seth and Janet, center, Neil and Deborah. Both sons and their wives live in California.
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to call each other. It was a wonderful way to grow up because you could just knock on the door and visit. Of course, you had to bake something to take when you went!” Mark went to Hebrew school in the morning and academic classes in the afternoon. Although his home was very open when it came to religion, Mark remembers that his father went to the synagogue to daven along with many other people who had come from Poland. “The men sat downstairs and the women were upstairs. The shul was all wooden and very pretty,” he remembered. In 1954, Mark was in a store and he saw a television set. “We became fascinated with this new medium and I told my mother I was going to work in television. My uncle in Lincoln, NE--Eli Modenstein--worked at a television station and I asked him if I could come to Lincoln to live with them and learn about working in television. “His wife, my Aunt Ann, said that I could come but that I would have to wait until after my Bar Mitzvah,” he told them when he was only 11-years-old. “I had to wait two years and then moved to Lincoln to live with my aunt and uncle. Since kids went to work in Uruguay after the sixth grade, my parents thought that I would have more opportunities in the United States.” In order to get to Nebraska, Mark took a job working in a warehouse so that he could earn enough money for his ticket. “I worked very hard carrying 100 pound bags of sugar to get the money,” he recalled. “That’s how badly I wanted to come!” In 1957, he came out of school in Lincoln one day and it looked like they were shooting a western movie. “I didn’t know much English and all of the parents were milling around,” he recalled. “There were police all around and then someone told me that they were looking for a mass murderer! His name was Charlie Starkweather, but I had no clue who he was. When I
it was time to meet a girl. We double dated with Carl and Gayle and both couples ended up getting married. So, we went from being neighbors in South America to being brothers-in-law!” Phyllis and Mark were married in 1968. Mark continued to work at the television station for 20 years, from 1967-87. The station was sold in 1986 and by the following year, the new owners moved in all of their own people and Mark lost his job. Unfortunately, Mark was then forced to leave broadcasting. He worked in real estate for a time and then became an appliance salesman. He became an expert when he helped open a department at Sears at the Oakview Mall. Later, executives from Lowe’s pirated him away. “I have worked for Lowe’s for two years as an appliance specialist. It’s been a good move.” Phyllis, a second grade teacher in Randolph School in Lincoln, is also a Sunday school teacher at Beth El Synagogue. Their children, Neil and his wife, Deborah, live in Los Angeles where Neil is an architect. Seth and his wife, Janet, also live in Los Angeles where Seth works as a computer specialist for Raytheon Company. “We have grandchildren on order!” Mark laughed. “I’m not sorry I left Uruguay,” he added. “However, I would love to go back to visit. My family has been spread around Argentina, Uruguay, Israel, New York and California. Some of the rest of the family we never found because they were killed in the Holocaust. “There will be a Bar Mitzvah next year in Uruguay. We’re thinking about visiting. Maybe next yeart” He gives credit to the Modensteins for helping him to come to this country. “It hasn’t been easy but, thanks to my aunt and uncle, I have been able to accomplish many things. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them!” He ended by saying, “Another reason that I have had a good life is that Phyllis has been a terrific wife. We both worry about each other and she keeps me going all the time. She will retire after this school year and then, we’ll see...”
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April 15, 2005
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A Precious Stone from Paradise:
Speaking Hebrew with a Spanish Accent by LIZ VARELA “I didn’t have to stay there and work In a world where so many people live forever, but that was their life. They within boundaries, it is refreshing to be were people with courage. This only close to those whose ideals and culture emphasized the concept of the kibbutz,” truly cut across borders. she explained, and added, “It was far difPresented to the Jewish community is ferent than what you see in American someone whose extended travel has society.” made her not only more cultured, but Then came her defining moment. given insight into her religion as a About seven months into her trip to Jewish woman. It started when grandfather Cohen, originally from Palestine, traveled to the luscious place known as Venezuela. He went in search to find opportunities, as he had heard it was a rich country with many precious stones. He wanted to search for diamonds in the rainforest. What he began was a beauty far greater than a sparkling jewel. Cohen started a legacy of culture and family. Three generations: Jennifer, her mother and grandmother. One of Cohens’ six offspring was Raquel, the oldest of his two Israel, Jennifer received bad news from daughters. Later in life, Raquel Cohen her mother--her grandmother had married David Ghelman and they real- passed away. ized how rich in treasures Venezuela “One month later I was almost ready was when they had their precious little to go to the March of the Living--in jewel--Jennifer. Poland,” and she recalls like it was yesA gem discovered terday, “I was traveling in a bus from Tel Jennifer grew up in Caracas, Aviv to Jerusalem when I received a Venezuela, the beloved capital city of phone call saying that my father was this topical paradise. “It’s a beautiful really sick. I took the first plane straight city…it’s in a valley, so mountains sur- to Venezuela and when I got home my round the city. There is a lot of green, a father was gone.” lot of nature. People that live in the Her heartfelt words continued: “That’s inter-tropical sun are blessed. We have when my life as an individual started. I the perfect sun all year around,” she said think I became responsible for myself. joyously. All of a sudden half of my life was over,” Growing up a young child in the she looked down, a sadness crept into blessed tropics, Jennifer attended Jewish her voice, “I was a little girl before I school throughout her life. Immersed in went to Israel. My father held my hand. both a Jewish and Latino culture, she And when he passed away, it was like believes it was the best of both worlds. he let go of it and I had to confront the “In addition to our formal education, reality of my world.” we had extracurricular and cultural activFacing the world headstrong ities as well as leadership groups to be There’s something strange about part of the community.” death. Just when you think it will conHer education entailed two separate sume your world with negativity, it curriculum, which included regular brings about a birth of another kind. An schooling, as well as Hebrew, biblical awakening. studies and traditions. Jennifer, who had lived with and been Then, after Jewish high school, she trav- close to father for most of her life, was eled to Israel for a year as a participant in then reunited with her mother, stepfaa leadership program. “It was amazing,” ther and two brothers. Showing his genJennifer describes. “Imagine this,” she erosity, her stepfather funded her higher said, “When you’re in Jewish school, they education. With that, she started taking teach you so many things about the reli- classes at the university right away, gion and values. Then, when you arrive, where she chose a major in social comyou get to see everything you have been munications. learning. It materialized all the knowledge “I have always been in love with the I had learned in school.” language and writing--I use to write Her travels went far beyond an oppor- poetry. In my college years, I developed tunity to see a mystical place she had my writing skills. I knew that was my been taught to love all her life. goal--journalism.” “The first time I stepped in the In her third year of college, she encounPromised Land, I felt blessed, I felt that tered an amazing opportunity to write for my heart belonged there. And, I felt very Nuevo Mundo Israelita, the Jewish press attached to Israel and my culture. I had in Venezuela. There, she took on her role a great experience, and traveled all with grace and fervor. She was grateful around Israel to experience the different for the chance to be encompassed by the ways of life of that marvelous country.” community she adored. Jennifer spent three months in a kibJennifer became the press director for butz, where, among other things, she the Sephardic Jewish Community was able to improve her Hebrew. She Institution. After three years in that posiworked part-time in a butcher shop dur- tion, she began working for the cultural ing her tenure in the kibbutz, and arm of the institution--The Sephardic remembers working side by side with Studies Center of Caracas. Putting to use older people who had their concentra- her social communication skills, she tion camp numbers tattooed on their began programming events, taking care of skin. Though shocking, it was then that all the logistics for cultural happenings. her feelings of gratitude were affirmed. Continued on page 35
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 35
A Precious Stone from Paradise Continued from page 34 they needed gas. “It was a great opportuHowever, the whole nity for me because I country was on strike, so really learned a lot about there was no oil. my roots from being Her mother suggested there.” she visit the U.S. again. Continuing with her Childhood friend Karen outreach work, each Klingberg-Mavropoulos summer, Jennifer would lived in Omaha, (see her work as a counselor at story on page 10), so Jewish summer camps in that’s how Jennifer venVenezuela, the U.S. and tured to the middle of Israel. America. “It was great because it “She invited me to come involved education, visit her to see how her extending the values of life was.” That Jan. 2, your culture.” 2003, she arrived in a Madrija Jenny, as her chilly wonderland with a campers lovingly dubbed return flight scheduled her, also learned from the four days later. children. “Working in A citizen of the world summer camps really Her luggage never changed my life and my arrived. But, there was personality. I became a no reason to panic. more outgoing person Jennifer, a spontaneous with outstanding leaderand lighthearted young ship qualities.” woman, would not let Unfortunately, the that stop her. So, heart in beauty of her country hand, Jennifer went out turned ugly as the politithe next night. She set cal and economic situaeyes on a creature she tion in Venezuela began later described as her deteriorating. The lead- Jennifer Ghelman and David Sherman, son of Patty and Mike ‘soul mate’--David ers, leaning towards a Sherman, were married May 16, 2003, in Omaha. Sherman. communist regime, attempted to transform the econo“The rest,” she said, “is history. The day after, a my into that of absolute rule. Sunday, I remember it perfectly. He took me to the zoo Fearing what was to come, Jennifer’s mother, stepfa- and I fell in love with him.” ther and brothers moved to the United States. She A few days later, her scheduled return-flight was would occasionally travel to visit them, and during one looming. Jennifer said she didn’t want to leave Omaha of those trips, in December of 2002, there was an until she saw snow. upheaval. A strike in Venezuela. “The whole country “So, I stayed,” she professed with conviction, and stopped everything for more than two months. The added that she didn’t have anything to do in Venezuela businesses closed because the opposition wanted to with the strike. get rid of the president. It was crazy!” Jennifer “After a couple weeks I found a job at Shirtal, a jewexclaimed. elry store owned by friends Gady and Mindy Tene,” The luscious tropics became extremely hostile and Jennifer explained. And, to fulfill an extension of her dangerous surroundings. Jennifer describes the situa- passion, she enrolled in a creative English writing protion despondently: “Venezuelan President Hugo gram at UNO. Chavez sent people to jail who went on strike. After a Because she came to the U.S. with a visitor’s visa, few months, the economy was underground. They Jennifer was expected to return to Venezuela after 30 were broke. They (employers) weren’t making any days. So, she filed an extension for six more months. money, yet still paying employees.” After time had passed, Jennifer told David that she didJennifer was planning to go to a retreat for meditation n’t want to stay in the country illegally or be deported. in the Andes, but there was one problem--to get there Her adoring boyfriend understood. He went with her
Best Wishes For A Happy Passover
to Florida to meet her parents, and when they returned to Omaha they were married in the Douglas County courthouse on May 16, 2003. She began working at Beth El Synagogue as a seventh grade Hebrew teacher, which was followed by a great opportunity producing a car magazine in Spanish. Now, she wears several hats. Jennifer still carries with her a sense of community. She remains active through many facets of art. Her freelance work for various organizations has left her with a sense of satisfaction in her new country. While freelance writing for the Jewish Press and working full-time for the Reader newspaper, she is able to take on the great challenge of the English language. In her spare time, she also enjoys performing as part of a multicultural theatre group. “It has been a great experience to share with people from different backgrounds,” she says fondly. Her fondness carries over into Omaha, her new home. “I find the people in Omaha very friendly, they are nice and open to help you. And that’s really important for me.” Jennifer adds that being embraced by the Sherman family has been one of the most meaningful experiences. “When I first moved here, I didn’t have any family. They took me in as their daughter and I am very grateful for that. They are an extraordinary Jewish family with similar values to my family in Venezuela.” She has friends in 10 different countries. This fact, added to her travel and origin abroad, have opened gates and opportunities for a better life for this young Jewish Venezuelan. “Of course I miss my country, my culture, my family, my friends, but I found here a man with whom I can share my life and start a new life from scratch. I came here, and I’m willing to give of myself as much as I can,” she professed. Jennifer’s only complaint? Why, the weather, of course. This tropical beauty is use to sunshine all-year long. So, don’t mind her if she is feeling slightly more blue than the rest of us during winter time. However, the precious jewel remains as brilliant as ever. “I feel that I’m a citizen of the world,” Jennifer enlightens. “Life brought me to Omaha, but I don’t know what tomorrow has in store for me. In the same way that I lived once in my homeland, I’m willing to move around the world until I find the place where I belong. It’s not that I’m unhappy here, it’s just that I’m ready to discover more of the world. Other cultures, other societies. I’m always willing to be surprised by life and what it has to offer. And today I can say that I live in Omaha, however my soul shall always be connected with the essence of Judaism.”
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Great Scot! Omaha’s Israeli Connection by OZZIE NOGG If there’s such a thing as a Scottish gypsy, Alex Hill fits the bill. The Glasgow native hung his hat (or is it tamo’-shanter?) in London, Tel Aviv, Haifa, New York City, Boston, San Francisco, Champaign-Urbana, and Beloit, before relocating to Omaha in April, 2003. “My first contact with Omaha was in 1980, during a business trip for an Israeli high-tech startup,” Hill explains. “At that time I never imagined how a sequence of events would bring me back, 23 years later, as a resident, not an overnight visitor.” A man with three passports--US, UK and Israeli--Hill is a bona fide moving target, yet easily pinned down. He offers up facts and feelings about his life with candor, definitely not our image of a Brit in that regard. “I was born Oct. 9, 1941, at 5:50 p.m., just in time for supper,” he says with a grin. Hill describes his late parents as, “Victorian in all senses of the word, which is no surprise since Queen Victoria still reigned over the British Empire when my mother was a child.” He has two older siblings, Bernard and Anne. “Anne was born with a severe case of Down Syndrome, but she’s nearing 70, still going strong, and lives in Glasgow in a wonderful Jewish facility for the mentally challenged that my parents helped start four decades ago.” In 1962, Hill graduated with honors from the University of Glasgow with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and natural philosophy--physics, in American English. At his first job in London, Hill worked as an engineer for a small company that designed and patented innovative applications for spe-
cialized motors. “Over the four years I worked there, I developed a strong bond with the owner. He, his wife and two children were like family to me. They were Jewish, the wife was a Holocaust survivor. Then the owner suffered a heart attack and I had to keep everything afloat. But we got lucky. A company in Beloit, Wisconsin, heard about our technology and offered to buy it, contingent on my coming to the States to work for them. The sale would assure my employer financial stability. It was perfect.” Ironically, the offer put Hill in a painful, no-win situation. “It was spring, 1967, and Israel was in crisis. The events leading up to the Six-Day War were occurring while I was packing for Beloit. “I felt I should go to Israel, not to the U.S. But my employer and his family were desperate. This was a profound moral dilemma. Should I help my people-- Israel–or help the four people who depended on me, personally. I was faced with two equally ‘right’ choices. Either decision would bring me a measure of guilt. It was a life-changing moment. In the end, I agreed not to collapse the deal and took the job in the States--a choice, which, at a very deep soul level, I regret to this day.” After working a year in Beloit, Hill added advanced academic credentials to his resume. In 1969 he completed a Master’s degree in math from the University of Illinois. “Next, the Israel Aliyah Center in Chicago got me to Arad for a five-month ulpan, I then entered Technion–the MIT of Israel–and received my Master’s in computer science in 1972.” Hill returned to the States, joined a computer service bureau in New York
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City, and rose through the corporate ranks. When the company was sold in 1977 he took his profits and returned to Israel. “I planned to settle down in Haifa, marry, start a family and get involved in the emerging high-tech industry there.” And so it went. “I married a sabra, produced two lovely daughters, and-together with Allen Reiter, a professor from my Technion days--co-founded Reiter Software Systems Ltd., one of the first software companies in Israel.”
“Our first customer was American Express, not bad for an unknown company based in Israel. Our second customer was Union Pacific, the client that brought me to Omaha on that sales trip in 1980.” During his time with Reiter Software, the first intifada began, and Hill--already into his forties--was drafted by the Israeli Defense Forces and subsequently found himself doing reserve duty as Liaison Officer to the UN peacekeepers on the Golan Heights. “My commanding officer said, ‘Hill, your qualifications aren’t your military skills. The UN officers drink lots of beer and whiskey. You Scots are good at that, so you’ll be able to keep up with them.’ I’m proud to say, I didn’t let our side down!” His shuttling between countries took a toll on Hill’s family life. “After having always been a member of two minorities --Scottish and Jewish-I became a member of a majority. I was now The Hill family, circa 1950. From left: brother Bernard, mother divorced.” Hill’s ex-wife Carrie, sister Anne, father Jack, and Alexander. If you mistak- lives in Haifa with their enly shortened his name, you received a stern Victorian stare daughters, Kareen, 24, from Mrs. Hill who would quickly put the offender in place. A and Sharon, 22, both of different life, a different time. A much simpler world where the whom he speaks about rules and mores were abundantly clear. with pride. It’s no exaggeration to say that Hill, “Kareen served the IDF in the Air Allen Reiter, and a small band of other Force and is now completing her undervisionaries were among the pioneers of graduate degree in criminology in Israel. Israel’s high-tech industry. As VP of Sales Sharon served with the infantry, then for Reiter, Hill commuted between Israel spent a year traveling in Central and and New York, marketing what was, at South America. that time, highly innovative software. Continued on page 37
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Continued from page 36 utive years. He takes his nomadic ways in stride. She speaks fluent Spanish, lives in New York, and “Big cities, small towns, I’m usually not fazed by tranworks at a Brazilian restaurant to pay her way through sitions. Also, all my moves have been without family, Baruch College. Both girls have visited their dear old so I’ve never faced the serious issues of a spouse’s dad--abba--in Omaha. Sharon loves the intensity and career ambitions, or children’s education.” cultural diversity of Manhattan, while Kareen prefers Hill considers the Omaha Jewish community “quite the more Israeli-like climate and lifestyle of Southern amazing” for its size, and appreciates the facilities and California. If they’re like their abba, who knows where programs offered to all age and interest groups. “I affilthey’ll finally settle. iated with Beth El Synagogue soon after I arrived, and After his divorce, which Hill calls “the low point of feel very welcome there. My impression is that I would my life,” he left Israel and went back to Glasgow, “to feel no less welcome at any other Omaha congregathe bosom of my brother and his family. After 20 years tion.” At Beth El, Hill attends services regularly and, not of being fiercely independent--that’s my adopted sabra surprisingly, is the only member who davens, chants mentality--I needed emotional support from my sib- haftarah, and speaks conversational Hebrew with a lings, my cousins. It was a tough period, and they Scots’ burr. helped me slog through.” When Hill’s business experience came to the attenOne year later, by then living near London, Hill was tion of Jane Murow at the Jewish Federation, she recruited by Magic Software Enterprises, at that time a promptly put him on the Community Development small Israeli software venture, which today is one of Committee whose aim is to attract new people to Israel’s leading NASDAQ-listed companies. Omaha. “Between 1989 and 1992, I got Magic’s UK branch up “That happens through jobs and economic incenand running. Then, following Magic’s successful IPO, tives,” Hill says. “Omaha is exploding, ready to change came my transfer to Magic’s headquarters in Tel Aviv from an agri-business center to a more technology-oriand the realization of my dream. I was back with my ented economy. So let’s make a hi-tech shidach daughters, my friends, and between Israel and Omaha.” Toward that goal what I hoped would be a Hill joined the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, permanent home in Israel. The Midwest International Trade Association, Life was good again.” The Omaha Information Technology Council and Over the next six years, The Midlands Venture Forum. At meetings, he’s Magic Software grew into a adept at working the room. “Everyone knows me global player, and Hill travas the only Scottish-Jewish guy in Nebraska--the eled the world--Poland, Israel promoter. I don’t hide my agenda.” Turkey, Slovenia, Hungary, So how does Hill make friends and a place for Nigeria--promoting the himself in ever changing environments? Does he company at conferences get lonely or think about settling down? Again, and trade shows. “But pubhe doesn’t dodge the questions. licly-traded companies are “Each move occurs in a context, usually workfickle beasts,” he says. related, which can be the starting point for social “Heads roll, new managenetworking, too. Sometimes there’s already a ment comes in, players and Jewish component. If not, I seek it out. Of positions change. course, it’s never a one-way street. The newcom“In 1998, following such a er must put effort into making friends, and the change, Magic moved Hill community must respond. I’ve already enjoyed to Boston as VP of many Shabbat dinners at the homes of fellow Corporate Business DevBeth El members, but I’ve not been as reciprocal elopment. But he soon recas I’d like to be. I attribute this reticence not to ognized that for him, the my nature but rather to the uncertainty sur‘magic’ was over. “We partrounding how long I’ll remain in Omaha. ed ways. Magic was legally “Of course I’d love to find another companion, obligated to relocate me but it can be painful to invest oneself too much back to Tel Aviv, but with in personal relationships when you know you’ll no job there to return to, I be moving again. In my case, the only unknown decided my value to Israeli All dressed up with somewhere to go! is when. technology was greater in Alex Hill was in demand for family “I grew up in a place and time where life folthe States, where the market weddings as pageboy walking behind lowed a predictable pattern,” Hill continues. “Get was.” the bride holding the train of the wed- a good education, follow a conventional career Hoping to find the next ding dress. Here he is fully kitted out path, marry the girl next door, set up househot venture that would get with Balmoral hat, sporran, buckle keeping near the family homestead, engage in him back to his beloved shoes and matching tartan kilt, socks accepted communal and social activities, have Israel, Hill continued to and tie. Most “chupahs” in those children. That was also my vision. But my life “network like crazy” while days in Glasgow took place in the didn’t even come close to following the expecttraveling between that Sanctuary of the Shul--quite a sight to ed pattern. When I recognized that fact, I initialcountry, the UK and Boston see as the bride entered--and the ly felt guilty because it was antithetical to my as a business consultant in young bridesmaids were totally smit- upbringing. But when the pattern kept repeatingthe newly emerging world ten! -so many major moves, and so often--I gave up of web-content managethe guilt and accepted this as part of who I am. ment. Following the market crash of 2000, he soon It’s neither good nor bad, right nor wrong. It simply is found himself among the army of similarly qualified what it is.” executives, all chasing after non-existent opportunities. Hill feels his adult choices were influenced by child“And then, out of the blue, my Omaha past caught up hood circumstances. “I’m certain that much in my with me. Suffice it to say, I’m here today because of behavior was shaped by my sister’s Down Syndrome. events that I now view as providential rather than coin- My parents brought Anne up at home rather than send cidental.” In Omaha, Hill is an independent consultant her to some impersonal institution. My brother and I for early-stage high-tech ventures. grew up with Anne. We took her with us to the local “My expertise lies in devising and implementing cinema and on walks in the park, and the nastiness and business plans during that critical start-up phase when name-calling we encountered from kids in the neighit looks like Mission Impossible. When human and borhood left indelible marks. financial resources are limited, product is still in devel“I like to think that the experience made my brother opment, and there are no customers. But I’ve learned and me more sensitive human beings than might oththat if I believe in the project and if the essential ingre- erwise have been the case. At the same time, we both dients are there--the utter conviction and infectious understood that Anne would become our responsibilienthusiasm of the entrepreneur--success will come. ty when our parents could no longer care for her. But That’s what sets my adrenaline flowing.” how could we best fulfill that obligation within the conWhen asked if being foreign-born poses problems-- text of our own careers, our own families? socially, politically or culturally--Hill answers with a “Our parents solved the dilemma. They raised the self-deprecating laugh. “I don’t seem to have a problem issue of the mentally handicapped--a hidden subject in fitting in wherever I live, although the fact that I’ve those days--and, as I said earlier, helped create a place moved around so much could be interpreted by a where the Jewish handicapped in Glasgow would shrink as a clear indication that I do have a problem fit- receive proper, loving care. Perhaps the assurance that ting in anywhere!” Anne was safe and in good hands gave me permission Since leaving Glasgow in 1963, Hill hasn’t stayed in to leave, to live on my own terms. I’m never bored. the same geographical area for more than five consec- Each day’s an adventure. That’s what keeps me going.”
fata’s Ca La
Great Scot!
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by BERT W. LEWIS One of the dictionary definitions of a community is “any group living in the same area and having similar interests.” To define a Jewish community might take a few more words, but no matter who or what makes up a community, as a whole it’s something of a mosaic. That is, each member is one tiny segment of the entire picture and as such, contributes to all the colors and textures of the group. While a great percentage may be native to the area, most communities today count folks from all over the civilized world in their population. Omaha is no exception. Adding to the diversity of our own Jewish community is the Mosenkis family--Anna and Igor and their children, Florina and Robert. They came here from Kiev, with Anna’s late Mother, when the changing political climate in the former Soviet Union opened the doors for limited emigration. Their arrival in America was a dream come true for Yevgenia (Anna’s mother), who had worked tirelessly to overcome any and all obstacles . She knew that if her family was ever to enjoy a good life, they had to get to the U.S.; her sister in New York served as a sponsor to help make the dream a reality. Anna recalled their reaction when they were told that upon arrival they would be settled in Omaha, NE. She explained they had some knowledge of the geography of America, and knew of Nevada as a place where nuclear testing had been done. Somehow, in their minds, Nevada and Nebraska became one and while they were still anxious to come, they were fearful of being so close to a place where radioactivity might be a problem. Their fears came from having lived very near Chernobyl at the time of the nuclear accident. In time, they were disabused of these fears, and made up their minds this place called “NE” would be good. The actual arrival to Omaha is a sweet and emotional story. Igor tells that as they and other passengers were getting off the plane, he noticed a group of people in the terminal, waving small American flags. “I saw this crowd,” he recalls, “and thought there was some dignitary arriving and this was a greeting committee.” He motioned his family to move to the side, and allow whoever it was to make their way out. Not until they were all in the terminal did he realize the “greeting committee” was for his family! Having b e e n brought here and underwritten by the Jewish Federation of Omaha, they were welcomed as the n e w e s t The Mosenkis family in 2002: Anna, Robert, residents Florina and Igor. of our community, by a group representing Jewish Family Services. (Like most every other Jewish community in America, our Federation had agreed to resettle a certain number of emigrating families--like the Mosenkis’.) To better understand their surprise of what Omaha offered, Anna relates her first impression of the three bedroom furnished apartment which would be their new home: “I looked at all the rooms, saw what I thought was the community kitchen, and wondered which room was to be for us.” In other words, it never entered her mind the entire apartment was for her family of five! That was the beginning--the “once upon a time” part of the story of the Mosenkis family in America. Unfortunately, not long after their arrival, Yevgenia’s health failed and after a tragic illness, she died in her new homeland. (Having personally known her, I can honestly say there would be no way to describe her pride in the accomplishments of this family, as of now, 13 years after arriving here in “Nevada/Nebraska.”) Omaha is their town. Igor says “Anna never tires of talking all the wonderful things about Omaha.” They’ve made this place theirs in every way. They love the people, the things to do, the places to see and just life in general. They both work hard and have realized the American dream. They have a lovely home, cars, good jobs where each works in their chosen field. Igor was trained as an engineer and when he came here soon acquired language skills so he could find work. He began his career at Union Pacific and is still there. Anna is an esthetitian at the AYM Skin and Body
Volko Mosenkis, left, father of Igor, standing right; Anna’s mother, Yevgenia Tsarevskaya, seated left, Florina, Anna and Robert Mosenkis in 1987 in Kiev. Care Center and uses spare time to play piano wherever needed. The children? Grown up now, and very useful citizens. Florina graduated with honors from Washington University and is now a CPA here in Omaha; she was married in January in Las Vegas to Oleg Vinokurov. Robert is a full time student at UNO and works a regular job and manages to continue his practice of volunteer work. He’s been recognized for countless hours of help to others, by the Federation and all the way up to the Governor. There doesn’t seem to be a limit to how much he gives of himself. This is by way of a condensed version of what goes on with this family. Anna, an accomplished pianist, has played for the pleasure of the elderly, for children, for synagogue activities, for most anyone who has asked, I think. She’s known for the warm smile, the kind heart and the lovely lady she is. And, as Igor reminds, the undisputed champion of Omaha supporters! Do they ever think about their hometown, or wish they could go back? They say they really don’t have anyone there anymore, since most all of family and friends have gone elsewhere to other countries. And they’re quick to remind that “this is home now.” This is where they can live freely and practice their Judaism. Anna speaks of the importance of religion to them, and the pleasure of belonging to a beautiful big synagogue. She recalls, as a child her grandparents made “a little shul, in one room of their apartment.” But she says it was not talked about outside the family, nor was anything done to call attention to it. They both regret the absence of a religious education and made sure the children took advantage of what was available to them at the Friedel Jewish Academy and Beth El Synagogue. Anna proudly mentions her grandfather was a cantor, but had only his one room family shul in which to sing and daven. She remarks “religious freedom was a large reason for us to come here.” And “here” is where both Igor and Anna think is just about the best place they could possibly live. They consider themselves so fortunate to be in a place where cultural events are available to them, and hardly miss an opportunity to see and hear the music, plays or speakers. Literature figures importantly too, and it turns out, Igor has had a lifelong interest in the work of Mark Twain. He has read all of Twain’s works, in Russian! Anna interrupts to tell of a gift Florina gave Igor years ago when she was still in school at Washington University in St. Louis. While her parents were with her for a visit, she took them for a ride with a surprise destination, which turned out to be Hannibal MO, the home of Mark Twain. Igor was thrilled! Listening to both of them tell about what it’s like for them to live here made me ask what their expectations were as they made the long trip from Kiev to Omaha. Anna looked at me with a surprised expression and said simply but with great emotion “our expectations were for a future!” Our Jewish community is richer with the addition of this family, just as their lives are enriched with the opportunities within easy reach for them. They are proud American citizens as well as proud Nebraskans. They’ve come a very long way since that day in 1991 when they got off the plane not knowing more than a handful of English words. They are indeed, a perfect example of that which makes diversity in a community.
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 39
Never Forget From Whence You Came by JOAN K. MARCUS Joan Wiseman Kaiman remembers the day that she came to America from London, England, met in New York by her uncle, Henry Appel and her fear. “We came from London with a couple of trunks--no money or anything else,” she recalls. “I was 16-years-old and scared to death!” Joanie was born in 1936 to Faye and Morris Wiseman in the east end of London in an area known as Whitechapel, where most of the Jews lived. “Petticoat Lane was like a huge flea market run by the Jews. You could buy anything from dill pickles to clothing. Rumor had it thieves would lift your billfold at the beginning of Petticoat Lane and sell it back to you at the end!” Faye and Morris both worked for an uncle, Lou Blackman, who had a ladies hat factory. Morris was a machinist and Faye sewed the hats. Morris had always dreamed of moving to America. However, even though he tried to run away from home to get here, it remained a dream. “My grandparents lived near Petticoat Lane and my mother’s parents were very Orthodox Jews. I saw more of the back of my grandfather than the front because he was always davening. “My mother had three sisters and we were a very close family. Every Sunday, we took the train and the bus to go to one of my aunt’s where we would have supper and play cards. Pesach was beautiful because there would be 26 people. I would sit next to my cousin, Barry and we would giggle until my grandfather would stop the seder!” Her very early childhood recollections include being dropped off at her grand-
parents’ house and air raid sirens sounding. “My grandmother would take me to the shelter in the church on the corner. “As World War II progressed, my mother and I were evacuated to Peterborough, where we lived with a family. It was in the Midlands and we were safer because the Nazis would fly over and bomb London instead,” she remembered. “The father soaked his feet in a big bowl at night and the next day, the mom made mashed potatoes in the same bowl!! We returned to London a couple of weeks later.” Morris heard that Lockheed Aircraft was hiring at a plant in Leicestershire. They were doing government work for the war and Morris surmised that if he could get a job there, he wouldn’t be drafted. “Dad said he was a machinist but he had only worked on hat machines. However, he got the job and the whole family, including all the grandparents, moved to Leicestshire. All the aunts and uncles came along, too. I went to St. Barnabus Catholic School, because we didn’t announce the fact that we were Jews; there was too much anti-Semitism then,” she explained. “It was tough! “Food was rationed but we lived in a house where my dad built a chicken coop in the backyard so at least we had eggs. And we had chicken for Friday night. That’s where we stayed until the war ended. “My dad became active in a group that entertained prisoners. One time, he took me to a prison where the Duchess of York was visiting with the Red Cross and I got to meet her.” The Wiseman family members con-
stantly heard planes flying overhead on their way to bomb London. However, the Lockheed plant was built into the side of a hill and camouflaged. “One night, a shoe manufacturing company had a fire and the Nazis flew over and saw it. They dropped a couple of bombs because they figured that somebody else had bombed the place. We knew what was going on but didn’t realize the intensity of it. Food was rationed so we ate lots of powdered eggs and baked beans on toast. Joan Wiseman in citizenship classes in 1957 in Omaha.
Joan stands in front of her home on 50th and Hamilton, where she lived with her aunt and uncle, Sally and Henry Appel.
“My mother would see a food line and she would stand in it just to see what she could get. She didn’t know what it was for. We never had candy, but we used to eat cough drops because they were sweet! “One time my dad came home for lunch and brought ice cream. I went back to school and told the kids that I had ice cream for lunch and nobody believed me! The kids all wanted to smell my breath because it was unheard of to have ice cream!” “To this day, I still don’t know where he got it.” The family moved back to London in about 1945. Morris went back to work at the hat factory and Faye worked at home because Joan’s sister, Sandra (Shkolnick) had been born. Continued on page 40
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
From Whence You Came Continued from page 39 However, because of all the bombing and destruction, it was very difficult to find a place to live. They found a place in Bethnal Green above a hat shop. “We felt fortunate to have a bathroom but it only had a sink and a stool--no bathtub! “Every Friday, I got on the bus all by myself to go to a bathhouse to take a bath. I went on Friday so that I’d be clean for Shabbat,” she explained. “You would take a number and sit in the bathhouse. After your number was called, you went into a room where there was a tub. If you didn’t bring your own soap, you could buy it. Things were really tough and we were poor. We didn’t have toilet paper, so we used newspaper.” Because of the differences in the English educational systems, Joanie decided to go to a commercial school. This gave her three years of bookkeeping, shorthand and typing. “This was right after the war and during the time when Israel was becoming a state, so there was much anti-Semitism. I had one girlfriend who was Jewish and we were picked on unmercifully. I remember once that I wore a navy blue coat and someone put a swastika on my back in chalk and I had to ride the bus with it on. She says she was picked on in school because she was a Jew. “I would fight back and get into trouble and once I was called to the principal’s office and my hands were each hit three times with a cane!” she recalls. “My hands were swollen and sore but I wouldn’t cry. After that, the kids quit picking on me.” In 1948, Joanie’s aunt and uncle, Sally and Henry Appel, moved to Boston. One Sunday, Henry read an Omaha World-
Herald and saw an advertisement that Leroy Wade Heavy Hauling Co. needed a traffic manager in Omaha. He applied for the job and later became the CEO of the company. Her Aunt Sally invited them to move to America. Finally, the family’s appli- Joan Kaiman, left, and her family on a Caribbean cruise: Megan Bucher, cations for Pat and Ben Hale, Michelle and Ron Bucher, Debbie Hale, holding Noah, i m m i g r a t i o n and Amanda Bucher. was approved and, in 1952, they came to bookkeeping. She remembers, “I was 16-years-old Omaha. “I was taller than anyone else--had and I knew nobody. I started to meet funny clothes--it had taken every penny people but the worst thing was my that we had for the tickets. We were on English accent. When I went to a restauthe lowest deck of the Queen Elizabeth rant, I always ordered the same as everyand we were seasick for six days,” she one else because nobody could undersaid. “We arrived in Omaha on April 6, stand me.” Before her 18th birthday, Joanie’s 1952. Aunt Sally and Uncle Henry drove to New York to meet us and we drove friend, Jean Katz, invited her to meet a back to Omaha to be greeted by the cousin, Ben Kaiman. “It was love at first sight for me,” she flood of 1952!” After arriving, Joanie got on the street- admitted, “but it took Ben three years car and asked the conductor, “Please tell before we were married. “I couldn’t get him to propose but, one me when we get to Mutual of Omaha.” She admits she lied about her age in night, he picked me up at work and order to get a job, but was hired to run asked if we could stop at the Fireside a lithograph machine. Eventually, she Restaurant for a drink. I thought that it worked her way into the collection and was strange because he didn’t drink--but auditing department, where she did I agreed.
“He took the newspaper into the restaurant, another strange thing. When we were seated, he began reading and then handed it to me and said there was an article I should read. When I got to the engagement announcements, ours was there.” Joan and Ben were married on Feb. 2, 1958. Their two daughters are Michelle (Bucher) born in 1961 and Debbie (Hale) born in 1964. In 1970, after a year in the restaurant business in Clearwater, Florida, Ben decided he wanted to move to Israel. However, Joanie missed her family in Omaha so much that she convinced him not to go. They returned to Omaha and Ben eventually joined a partnership at Pioneer Uniform Company. Ben’s cancer was diagnosed in 1985 and he died in 1990. Joanie has four grandchildren today. “For the first four years after Ben died, I didn’t know what to do,” she admitted. “Then, I decided I would take that trip to Israel. Ben had always wanted to go before he died, but he was too sick. I went on the trip and cried a lot because I kept thinking about Ben. “I was in a daze but that was my ‘turn on’ to the Jewish Federation. It was when my life turned around and I began to move on and get involved with the Annual Campaign and community activities. “The Omaha Jewish community is the greatest in the world,” she insisted. “However, the code I live by is that I never forget from whence I came. That has brought me to where I am today. My life now is devoted to helping others and doing community and volunteer work because now--it’s payback time.”
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Pulverente
Anything Is Possible by JOAN K. MARCUS “I went to England and then the troops were sent to Samuel V. Cooper, juris doctor, was born in Chelm, Belgium. Then, the war in Europe ended in 1945. Poland. Because of his determination, tenacity and “I was sent through the Panama Canal to the hard work, he became a lawyer and served as a Philippines. The war with Japan was still on, but the Douglas County judge for 32 years. atomic bomb was dropped while we were aboard ship. The renowned Jewish author Shalom Aleichem wrote A few days later, they announced that peace had been stories about the foolish-wise people in a mythical city. declared and they signed the surrender on the battle According to rumors, the city was actually Chelm. ship Missouri. We stayed in the Philippines and I got However, nobody could ever say that Sam Cooper was out in February of 1946,” he explained. foolish. Those who know him can tell you that he may “Then, with the GI Bill of Rights, I finally had money be diminutive in stature, but he is certainly tall in the to finish law school!” He went to Creighton Law School intellectual department. for an accelerated law school program. Sam’s father, Martin “By going to summer (Mayer) was from Russia sessions, I finished in and he met Ida (Chaya) two years what would who had a candy store. normally take three and Martin was captured by graduated in 1948 with a the Austrian-Hungarian law degree.” military during World In 1953, Sam was a War I and had been a practicing lawyer, and his prisoner. After the war, brother, Jack was driving Martin and Ida were marto Dallas to work for a ried in Poland. Sam was radio company. born in 1922 and, in “My mother didn’t want 1924, Martin left his wife my brother to drive alone and two sons and went so I decided that I would to America. ride along with him. I His goal was to save wasn’t making much enough money to bring money anyway because I his family to America. He was new in my law pracworked for several grotice. I moved my office in cery stores, including with another lawyer. He Tuchman Brothers. Then, kept assigning me to be he decided to use the the trustee in bankruptcy $500 that he had saved to and I got five dollars for open his own grocery each representation. store on 21st and St. “So, we got to Dallas Marys Avenue. and my cousin introSam, his brother Jack duced me to Judith and their mother arrived Steinhorn, a young from Poland on Dec. 27, woman who was work1929. Their father had ing in a shoe store. I Judge Samuel Cooper saved money and, with asked her for a date for the help of an uncle, Harry Cooper, the family united. Sunday night--then I asked her out again for Monday (Harry Cooper was the builder of the old Beth Israel night and then, I asked her to marry me! and Beth El Synagogue buildings and of the present “I knew what I wanted and it was definitely love at Temple Israel.) first sight!” They were married two months later. “I remember the apartment complex where we lived Judy and Sam have four children, Hollie Zeiderman, in Poland because it had a well in the middle,” Cooper Justin Cooper, Ronna Emanuel and Marsha Simon. recalled. “I can also remember the trip when we came They have 11 grandchildren. Hollie and Ronna are to America. We were put in the bottom of the ship--in teachers and Marsha works in administration of steerage.” Methodist Hospital in Omaha. Justin has followed in his Sam remembers that his youngest brother, Dave father’s footsteps and is an attorney. Cooper was born shortly after the family was reunited. Sam later went into practice with attorney Loyal Sam, who was called by his Hebrew name, Zacharia, Kaplan. “Our office was in the Omaha National Bank began Mason School without knowing a word of Building and we did both interstate and intrastate comEnglish. Gradually he began adding words to his merce.” Later, he formed a law partnership with vocabulary. Norman Denenberg and Edward Mullery. “I tried to pick up the language by talking to the “I began getting involved in politics because I had other kids,” Sam said with a smile. “The school did some spare time. I particularly got involved with the have a speech teacher who came around once a week, presidential campaign when Adlai Stevenson ran but I mostly learned as I went.” against Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. I worked on the He describes the language that the family spoke at campaign and when, Stevenson lost, I stayed involved. home as “a combination of broken English and “There was a lawyer in Omaha--Bernie Boyle--who Yiddish.” By the time Sam started Central High School, invited me to meet Ralph Brooks, the Governor of he was fluent enough in English to be part of public Nebraska. After a time, Gov. Brooks appointed me as speaking and debate classes. Although he had dreams Douglas County Election Commissioner. In 1956, there of attending college, Sam knew his father didn’t make was a movement to start the Omaha Charter enough money in their small grocery store to send his Convention. Later, there was a reform movement of the sons to college. His aspirations of being a lawyer would county court system. There were several of us who ran have to remain a dream. for Douglas County Judge in 1972 and I was elected.” While he was taking debate, the coach suggested that In February of 2005, Sam retired after 32 years on the Sam write an oration for a contest that was sponsored bench. “My parents told me that anything was possible by The Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign in America,” he stated proudly. “They wanted me to be Wars. Oddly enough, the topic of the paper was to be, secure and be able to make a living.” “The Benefits of Living in a Democracy.” Plans for the future might include a volunteer posiSam wrote the paper with the encouragement of the tion with the county prosecutor’s office trying to negocoach. He won the local, state and national debate con- tiate between people who file complaints. This mediatests with the paper and was awarded $1000--more tion could avoid cases going to litigation. money than he had ever dreamed of having. He says, Hard work, studying and education have made every“In 1941, that was big money and it provided funds for thing possible for the little seven-year-old boy from me to have a college education when I graduated from Poland. Who ever thought that a little boy who couldCentral.” n’t even speak English would become a lawyer and a He attended Omaha University until he was drafted prominent judge? into the army in January of l943. Sam’s parents did.
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A Juban? Yes, a Cuban Jew by DAVID LEIBOWITZ community. “I have been going back and When one thinks of Cuba, what usually forth since 1955,” he joked. comes to mind is either great cigars or Over the years the kosher slaughter Fidel Castro. It would probably not be the business, like many businesses, began to Cuban Jewish community. But Cuba has consolidate. Big companies bought up had a long history with the Jewish people, the smaller ones and eventually there and it became an important place for Jews were no kosher slaughterhouses left in beginning in the 1930s. Omaha Rabbi Sioux City. Maximo worked a number of Maximo Schechet knows this firsthand, as other jobs, including selling insurance he was born there in 1936. over the phone for six years, while stayMaximo’s paring very involved in the ents immigrated Jewish community. to Cuba from Eventually, with the Ukraine at that encouragement of some time. They left of the Omaha rabbis, Europe for the Maximo resumed his same reason studies to become many Jews left-ordained as a rabbi himthe rise of self. Nazism through“The community has out the contibeen beautiful to me. I nent. In his parhave nothing but the ticular case, highest regard for this Maximo’s father community,” he said. He was a rabbi and has now been a rabbi for a shochet more than 10 years, and (kosher slaughthough he calls himself a terer) and the “retired person,” he is the practice of rabbi/chaplain for the kosher slaughter Rose Blumpkin Jewish was forbidden in Home. He is happy to Ukraine. This give back to the commuwas obviously a Maximo as a little boy in Cuba. nity that has helped him way to discriminate against the Jewish in so many ways. community. So, with no way to make a Clearly, the Omaha Jewish community living and anti-Semitism on the rise, they has had a positive impact on his life, but decided it was a good time to leave. what about the impact overall of foreignThey wanted to come to the United born Jews on Omaha? States, but due to the quotas imposed on “I think it is an asset that Omaha has Jewish immigration, they went to the not realized yet. You have a high class of next best place--Cuba. At that time, trav- people that emigrated here from other el between Cuba and the United States countries. They are educated people. I was permissible, and they used the same think that enriches the life of a commumoney. Also, Maximo’s mother had an nity,” he surmised. aunt in Cuba, so it was the next best “When the people from, say, South place to go. America come here, they are very much The remainder of his family stayed encased in Judaism,” he said. “In the behind in Europe, and with few excep- South American countries, there is freetions, became victims of the Holocaust. dom for the Jew, but not like the freeMaximo estimates the number of Jews in dom in this country. It hasn’t gotten to Cuba at that time to be more than 10,000 the point of comfort where we forget in Havana alone. He describes the com- where we came from.” Maximo feels the munity as “transient. They were today passion and dedication to Judaism here…tomorrow to America,” he said. shown by the immigrant community While in Cuba, Maximo’s father makes the entire Jewish community became quite an influential man in the stronger. “It revives the Jewish life.” community. He worked as a mohel; and Maximo’s own life was made stronger was instrumental in helping poorer Jews when he in Cuba get needed everyday supplies met his like food or baby formula. He was c u r r e n t respected in both the Ashkenazi and w i f e , Sephardic Jewish communities. Jeanne (his There are still Jews today in Cuba who first wife lead happy lives and are not discriminat- p a s s e d ed against. “To my understanding, Castro away) and is not an anti-semite,” according to settled in Maximo. Either way, America was the O m a h a . ultimate destination for most Jewish He has immigrants. two grown This was especially true for Maximo sons from Rabbi Maximo Shechet now himself, because shortly after his Bar his first serves as rabbi/clergy for resiMitzvah, his parents sent him to a yeshi- marriage, dents of the Rose Blumkin va in New York. His younger brother, S t a n l e y Jewish Home. Jacob, joined him a few years later. His Michael and Mark Joel. parents stayed in Cuba until 1955, when Maximo did have one very important they moved to Cincinnati, OH. His father message he wished conveyed to the was offered the position of shochet for younger generation of Jews in Omaha. that community. After yeshiva, Maximo “What I want to convey to the Omaha joined his parents in Ohio and he began Jewish people is not to forget your studying to be a shochet as well. Jewish roots. The beauty of the Judaic One day, the community’s head rabbi roots is found no place else,” he said. informed Maximo of the need for a “You must practice it as well. If you shochet in Sioux City, IA. He got the job, destroy your Jewish roots, what will you and off to Iowa he went. “Sioux City used replace them with? Not once in all my to be the biggest kosher slaughter area in years working [outside of the Jewish comthe world,” he said. At one time in the munity] did I come to work on the early 1960s there were more than 12 full- Sabbath. Not once did I take off my yartime shochtim in the area, and they mulke there…and guess what? The nonslaughtered over 1500 cattle per day. Jew will respect the Jew when he is reliMaximo met his first wife, Bea, in Sioux gious, when he is observant,” he insisted. City. Bea had relatives in Omaha, and that “But when you become like everyone was Maximo’s introduction to the Omaha else, that respect is lost.”
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 43
Rooted in London, Blooming in Omaha by DIANE AXLER BAUM Oliver Pollak, who came to this country from his native London at age nine, claims he entered the field of English history “to compensate for the loss of his English accent.” While he’s joking, of course, it’s true, nonetheless, that Oliver shares with his wife, Karen, a keen interest in cultural and intellectual subjects. History (English or otherwise) is high on the list. In a recent interview about their more than 40 years together, the Pollaks talked about a rewarding life: a life anchored in family, close friendships, and a commitment to Jewish values; enriched with travel and diversity; enhanced by books, art, and fine food. Their life also reveals a pattern of repeated experiences, and coincidences, with English overtones. The first was Oliver’s birth, on Nov. 10, 1943, which took place in London by something of a geographical accident. His parents, after all, were not English, but refugees from Hitler’s regime when Oliver, and later his sister, came along. As a boy, Oliver moved with his family to a small town in Ohio, where his grandfather had accepted a job as a physician in a tuberculosis hospital. Two years later the promise of a warmer climate, among a number of advantages, resulted in the family’s relocation to Los Angeles, CA. Karen, who spent her first five years in Toronto, Canada, also moved to California in childhood. Like Oliver’s parents, hers, too, were seeking a gentler climate. (The similarities and differences in their backgrounds prompted Oliver to quip, “I was born in a blitz, and Karen was born in a blizzard.”) So it happened that Oliver and Karen both lived in L.A. as teenagers, and eventually both attended California State University-L.A. A chance meeting during a college winter break sparked romance, and by spring, Oliver invited Karen to meet his family. Leaving for Vietnam shortly after, he called Karen from Hawaii to propose marriage. The Goldstein-Pollak wedding took place in May, 1966, but, sadly, Oliver was obliged to go back to Vietnam, leaving behind his bride and his work-in-progress toward a Ph.D. in History at U.C.L.A. After serving in the war, he returned to his thesis while Karen held jobs in her field of statistics. In addition, even then she was a gourmet cook with a flair for entertaining. “We had friends over all the time,” she recalled. “Many of them were in different Ph.D. programs or studying law.” Oliver’s thesis topic, “Empires in Collision,” looks at the history of Britain and Burma. His need to do research with original documents took the young couple to England in 1970. Karen was employed part-time while assisting her husband with his research. They
In addition, Karen joined the Jewish Community Center’s Art Committee and later served on the JCC Board. She and her husband “visited all the synagogues before joining Beth El,” where they remain active. By the time Noah was 10, they had become part of a havarah and had forged many important friendships. One treasured relationship resulted in their role with the founding and ongoing development of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society. “We used to go to Friday night Shabbat dinners at Mary and Morrie Fellman’s home,” Karen related. After Morrie’s death in 1983, Mary and Oliver began talking about the many as
Left: Karen and Oliver Pollak at a family wedding; right photo: son Aaron Pollak, 30, left, a cousin of Karen’s--Bruce Sarbi of Winnepeg, Erika Yabek, fiancée of son Noah Pollak, 33. lived in a big room in a large house in one of London’s Jewish neighborhoods. “We did some entertaining, but we ate out a lot, and we made many friends,” Karen recalled. They also seized the opportunity to travel through England and Europe. One year later, their first son, Noah, was born, but by then Oliver had accepted a job teaching British History at a university in Zimbabwe, Africa. Days after the brit, Karen and the baby boarded a plane for an 18-hour flight to the adventure of a lifetime. Oliver remembers Zimbabwe for its “rich, intellectual environment” and the satisfaction of “teaching in his field of study” and “living in an area going through decolonization.” For Karen, who had a nanny to help with domestic chores and childcare, there were the pleasures of shopping for food, cooking, and entertaining. “People came from all over the world and stayed at our house,” she said. They also made time to “hook up with the synagogue” and to travel in Africa and South Africa. A position in the History Department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha brought the Pollaks here in May, 1974. Over the past 30 years, they have contributed greatly to Omaha and its Jewish community and have enjoyed benefits in return. Here, their second son, Aaron, was born in March, 1975; here, Karen plunged into pottery and taught her craft to others; here, Oliver attended law school. When he opened his first law office, Karen took the role of office manager.
yet unorganized archives relating to the Jews of Nebraska, Mary found the money and recruited the members to get started; Oliver served as President, Karen as Treasurer. Thanks largely to the efforts of Mary and Oliver, today the NJHS, now under the presidency of Helen Rifkin Chorney, is “nationally recognized among the top tier of the state societies,” Karen said. In recent years, the Pollaks have been supporters of the annual Klutznick-Harris Symposium in which Oliver has served as a presenter. In addition, he occasionally teaches courses sponsored by Jewish Educational and Library Services (JELS) and contributes frequently to the Jewish Press. He is a past-President of the Jewish Press Board. Karen continues full-time employment, encourages her husband’s activities, and remains an admired hostess. The Pollaks still visit England whenever possible, but this summer won’t be one of those times. In August, they will travel, instead, to their older son’s wedding in Northern California. That’s where Noah, 33, is a highschool teacher, concentrating on English; and his fiancée, Erika Yabek, teaches first grade. Karen’s eyes brightened as she describes their future daughter-in-law, “a lovely young woman” who has “so much in common” with their son. This is the kind of naches that makes Berkeley a more desirable destination than London--even if your roots are in England.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Kleine Helga, Kleine Helga: A Story of Then and Now by OZZIE NOGG Open the album and you’ll see a black and white photo of three-year old Helga Lenk, chubby and smiling, bundled in wooly hat and mittens, standing in the snow near a bridge in Dresden, Germany. “It’s my husband Phil’s favorite picture of me,” Helga says. “He calls it ‘the cute little fat kid.’” Another picture shows Helga on her fifth birthday. She’s in the backyard of her Dresden home, dressed in a print summer frock, with a garland of flowers in her hair. “My father smoked, and the cigarette packages came with flat, silk flowers in them. So my mother sewed the flowers onto an elastic band and I wore it like a crown. I remember it gave me a terrible headache,” she laughed. These pictures, and others, show Helga Lenk Lincoln Patterson before she arrived in the United States, more than 60 years ago. “The pictures were taken by my father, Sam Lenk, with his precious Leica camera--the only possession we managed to smuggle out of Germany. I made the albums for my three grown children--Stephanie, Doug and Craig--and gave each one of them their own copy as a Hanukkah gift about ten years ago. I also included an audiotape of my story. I think it’s very important to pass all this on to my children. “And let me tell you, when they turned the pages and began to read the captions under the pictures--this was your Greatgrandmother, Chava--here’s your Greatgrandfather, Shevel--they were pretty tearful.” Engaging Helga Patterson in conversa-
tion is easy. “Today we Animated can’t afford and inquisisuch complative, she’ll cency.” eagerly disThe Lenk’s cuss books, arrival in the movies, reliStates was, gion, politics, according to or the shameHelga, a typiful lack of cal scenario. customer “We were service at the shuttled from grocery store. Dresden to But getting Berlin, stood her to talk in endless about her lines, moved childhood in from one offiDresden is cial’s desk to another matanother. ter. “It’s such Finally we old news-were cleared everybody to sail, and knows my wound up in story by now,” New York is her usual City with relresponse. atives, all of Perhaps whom were what she sees professional as the rising people--attortide of antineys for the Semitism in movie indusE u r o p e Helga as a toddler in Dresden, Germany. try or profesprompted her to agree to this interview. sors at Columbia. “When my parents and I arrived in “My father was a skilled jeweler, but Omaha in 1945, the rest of the commu- could only find work as a bricklayer. nity was just waking up to the scope of Eventually, a distant cousin who lived in the disaster that had befallen the Jews. a place that my New York family We refugees--the Erman family, Marcel described as ‘Indian Territory’ agreed to Kahn and his parents--we understood sponsor us. the magnitude, but American Jews didn’t The cousins were Lazer Kavich’s partake the tragedy seriously. ents, Ida and Archie Kavich, and the
town in the middle of the US was Fremont, Nebraska.” Helga’s father went ahead to set up housekeeping, “so desperate for money that he sold the Leica camera for a song,” she recalls. Helga and her mother spent three days and nights on a Greyhound bus, traveling to their new home. “My mother cried all the way. She was certain there’d be no school in this God-forsaken town, and her beautiful, brilliant daughter’s life would be wasted.” Fremont turned out to be a welcoming place where Helga was viewed as an exotic Jewish refugee. She was quick and intelligent, always on the Honor Roll, and won every essay contest sponsored by the American Legion on the topic, “What It Means To Be an American”. “The prize was always a bag of groceries,” Helga remembers, “which was a big deal to my family.” In addition to having smarts, Helga was also popular and industrious. As a young teenager she worked in a meat market, did double duty in the hardware department and soda fountain at Kresges, and sold ready-to-wear. Jobs were easy to come by, but Jewish social life was not. “When I was a freshman at Fremont High, the non-Jewish president of the senior class asked me to the Junior Senior Prom. My parents wanted me to date only Jewish boys, but the Jewish boys in Fremont weren’t asking me out. To them I wasn’t an exotic.” Helga’s parents did relent, and she went to the dance. Continued on page 45
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Kleine Helga Continued from page 44 hotel and then took the bus to a corner where Iris had “Mother and I took a Greyhound bus into Omaha arranged to meet us. Then, together, we began to and bought my prom dress at Brandeis,” she smiled. walk. It was like yesterday. We walked past the apart“It was strapless, red and white dotted Swiss.” ment building where my grandparents had lived. I By the time Helga was 16, her parents realized she showed my children where the synagogue had stoodneeded the companionship found in a larger Jewish -there was a small obelisk marking the spot. We community, so the family moved to Omaha. When passed the place where my grandfather’s jewelry store Helga arrived at Central High in her senior year, she had been, before it was destroyed during wasn’t welcomed with open arms. Kristalnacht. I saw the neighborhood grocery store “It was wartime, men were scarce, and girls were that once displayed window signs screaming, Juden protective of their territory. The only one who was Verboten--Jews Forbidden. nice to me from the beginning was Anna Jane “And then we walked to the apartment building Kulakofsky. But that’s water over the dam, and we where I had lived. As we got closer, I saw an old, bent laugh about it now,” Helga says, referring to the over woman. It was Mrs. Fettermann--Iris’ mother. women who soon became --and remain--her friends. When she saw me she kept saying, ‘Kleine Helga, Like so many others who escaped the Nazis, Helga Kleine Helga.’ Little Helga,” she recalls. “After all these recognizes the role that luck played in her life. years, after all we’d gone through, Iris was alive; her “My grandparents, my parents and I lived In mother was alive; I was alive, standing where everyDresden in 1938 when the Brown Shirts destroyed thing began. I’d come full circle. It was amazing.” Jewish businesses during Kristalnacht--that November A long time member of Beth El, Helga served on the night of broken glass. But we were fortunate enough synagogue Board of Trustees, was President of to have non-Jewish neighbors who made sure we Sisterhood and still participates in adult education stayed safe.” classes there. She also volHelga has gone back to unteered on Women’s Germany twice. “It was still Federation Campaign and East Germany then, and is an ardent supporter of once the Russians turned the Joslyn Museum and us away at the border,” she Omaha Symphony. explains. “But I wanted my Her working career children to see my roots, so includes stints as campaign we tried again in 1976. That staff associate for United time we made it.” Way of the Midlands, marNot only did Helga want keting representative for her children to see her Security National Bank, and German roots, she also Campaign Chairman for wanted them to meet the CHAD--Combined Health Christian family that kept Agencies Drive--where she the Lenks safe before the coordinated the fund raiswar. The trip back became ing activities within various a living version of the Omaha corporations. photo albums Helga later “I have Jewish friends made for her children. and non-Jewish friends, all “All these years, I’d kept of whom are very dear to in contact with Iris me,” Helga says. “I’ve Fettermann --my best girl always moved easily friend growing up. Iris and among different groups. I Helga Lenk Lincoln Patterson as a young woman in Omaha. her family were non-Jews. like it that way. The diverThey lived in the apartment right above us. During sity enriches my life.” blackouts they would tap on the gas jet pipe--that sigCurrently, Helga rides out the winters in Sanibel, nal meant it was safe to go upstairs to their apartment Florida. “Phil shuttles back and forth from his Omaha where the Fettermanns would feed us. They were very office, but I refuse to deal with the ice and cold any kind. And very brave.” more,” she says. In advance of her 1976 visit to Dresden, Helga made “Still, I’m always glad to get back in the spring. My plans to see Iris. roots may be in Germany, but my branches are in “When the kids and I arrived, we checked into the Omaha. It’s the place where I feel safe. It’s home.”
Page 45
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The Jewish Kitchen Continued from page 30 COCONUT CHOCOLATE MACAROON TOWERS Makes 3 dozen cookies 3/4 cup sugar Scant 1/2 cup egg whites (from 3-4 large eggs) 3/4 pound (21/2 cups) unsweetened flaked coconut 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
Preheat the oven to 350º and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Combine the sugar, eggs whites, and coconut in a bowl. (The recipe can be made to this point and refrigerated for up to three days.) Measure out teaspoonfuls of the coconut mixture and place them one inch apart on the cookie sheets. (Have a damp cloth nearby to wipe your fingers.) Pinch the mounds with your fingers to create a pyramid shape. Chill for 30 minutes. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown on the edges. Let cool completely on the pans. Carefully remove the cookies and dip each tip into the melted chocolate. Place back on the tray and allow the chocolate to set. Store in airtight containers. Lois Friedman can be reached at: ReadItAndEat@yahoo.com.
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April 15, 2005
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This Doctor Defines “Interesting” by GARY JAVITCH It was not the first time I had talked with Dr. Horacio Plotkin. While the first two contacts--both brief and informal-left me with a very positive impression, it was at my third meeting with the Argentinean-born physician, that I really got a better picture of him. And the vision that first jumped into my mind was the oft-repeated description that John F. Kennedy gave at a dinner for American Nobel Prize winners in 1962. That was when the president announced to the intellectual elite assembled before him that this was “probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in the (White) House, except for those times when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” If the mind of Horacio Plotkin is not as expansive as Thomas Jefferson’s, it comes remarkably close. During his medical career, he has maintained a very busy consulting practice giving invited talks around the country and serving as a peer-reviewer for several medical journals. In addition, he has contributed chapters to three medical books and wrote more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals. These include the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of Clinical Endocrmology and Metabolism, and numerous other medical publications, writing in both Spanish and English. Besides those two languages, he also speaks Italian, French and Portuguese. “I do not write in Portuguese,” he said modestly. “I only learned it because Brazil bordered our country.” Currently writing a handbook of metabolic bone disease in children, he is also in the process of putting together an article on the results of treatment with children who have cerebral palsy. “These youngsters often get osteoporosis” (a brittleness in the bones that makes them fracture easily), he explained. “Our research has uncovered different ways to strengthen their bones.” He began his medical career at the Alvarez Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he did his residency training in pediatrics. After that, he was awarded fellowships to train at the Garraham Hospital in the field of Pediatric Endocrinology and the Metabolic Research Institute to learn about metabolic bone diseases. Both of these medical facilities are located in Buenos Aires. There were several other noteworthy fellowships, as well. He earned one at Yale University where he studied endocrinology. Then in 1997, Dr. Plotkin garnered another one, traveling to Montreal for a five-year fellowship at the Shriners Hospital for Children. There, he studied pediatric bone diseases and served as the Clinical Research Coordinator and CoInvestigator of the Genetics Unit. A Medical Career His odyssey to Omaha began after a leader in the field of pediatric bone disease visited Patagonia, Argentina. That’s where Horacio first met him. It was quite an exciting moment, as the admiring new physician had read every single article that the researcher had ever published. He invited Plotkin to Montreal for a
three-month visit. While there, Plotkin did so well that he received another invitation for a fellowship at Yale. Following a one-year stint in New Haven, he returned to Montreal for another fellowship. The Yalies did not really want him to leave, but lost him to Canada because his Shiner’s Hospital destination in Montreal focused on Pediatrics, whereas the Yale position emphasized an adult practice. Why trade Canada for the United States? In August 2001, he got an invitation from UNMC’S Bruce Buehler, who was very familiar with his work. Dr. Buehler told him he had received a $5 million grant for his work in metabolic medicine and he wanted Dr. Plotkin to help make the work “exceptional.” When he came for his interview, Plotkin could barely imagine all that really lay ahead of him when Buehler pointed to an empty field and said “there, we will build a magnificent research building on that site, referring to what was to become the the Durham Research Center.” Since his arrival at the medical center in June 2002, the metabolic bone diseases program has expanded from a regional one. It is now national in scope. And some patients have come from as far away as Spain. His work has also been very helpful in identifying youngsters who have osicogenis imperfecta, also known as “brittle bones disease.” Often occurring in elementary-age school children (and younger), the genetic disease causes bones to break easily when youngsters are picked up or fall. As if parents did not have enough to worry about in those circumstances, this disease also creates other problems for them: they might get falsely accused of child abuse. To help them, “I have, on occasion appeared as an expert witness on their behalf.” Choosing Medicine All these accomplishments, and yet as a young man, Plotkin wasn’t quite sure he wanted to be a doctor. During high school, he worked as a journalist. While in medical school, he wrote a monthly column for a national newspaper. He also was the creative force behind many graphic humor pieces, despite the fact that he couldn’t draw. In that role, “I suggested to the artist the theme and commentary of the point I wanted to make,” he explained. “I started publishing them in magazines when I was only 13. “My late father, a physician,” Horacio chuckled, “wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He convinced me to finish my medical school education and then decide,” he recalls. So besides staying in medical school, the young student spent the next 18 years working for a variety of different newspapers and magazines, providing them with medical humor and social and political criticism of the health system. To keep busy during his summers and to earn money, the med student served as a bartender and performed in community theater. When he became a doctor, he played the guitar in an all-doctor band. “I wrote some of the lyrics for the group, but I was not a professional musician. I had fun,” he admitted, “but I was not very good.” Continued on page 47
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Doctor Defines “Interesting” Continued from page 46 They had no contact for Staying in Omaha the next 12 years. with Family and Friends “I saw her again just When he flew in to Eppley Airfield, before I left for America he saw the familiar LED greeting: and Yale University. He “Omaha: “The Best Kept Secret.” How thought the relationship was over. The couple true it was, he reflected. “The city has finally reconnected, changed so much in his two and a half however, because of a years with all that new construction-remarkable coincidence. the Qwest Center, a new arts center-Plotkin’s younger sisit’s amazing all that is going on. All at ter who is an art teacher the same time-- and still Omaha gives me that warm, small town feeling.” in their native land, met His family truly feels a part of the Carola for the first time community: “There are many nice when Plotkin’s future people here in the Jewish communiwife came to work at ty.” The synagogues welcomed him her school. While getalso. That was how he met fellow ting acquainted, Carola Argentinean and Beth El Cantor mentioned that she had Gastón Bogolmoni, with whom he dated a man with the feels quite close, sharing a friendship same last name.... and an interest in music. The rest, as they say, “Omaha is a great place to raise is history. kids,” he observed, referring to what Across continents, the he calls his “Tower of Babel” family, couple started to date where at home they speak Spanish, again and after what English and a little French--a vestige of could only be described their experience in Montreal. as a world-wide, whirl“We live in the Pacific Meadows area wind courtship, they and the kids can play in the street,” agreed to marry. he added. Their family includes In 1999, they wed in Sophie, 5, Lucas, 3, and Olivia, who Argentina, in the homejust turned one; Olivia is American; land where his mother the other two are Canadian. and younger sister still His wife, Carola, and he love to live; Plotkin has an older socialize with fellow Argertinos in The Plotkin family visit a local fire station: Horacio and Carola and their children Lucas, age 3, Sophie, age 5, and sister, a PhD in Little Omaha. The “Areno” group gets the baby, Olivia, who just turned one. Rock, AR. together frequently to sing, play Besides seeing ill chilHospital, the University of Nebraska Meeting Carola games and talk. In the summer, the Medical Center, and the Heartland. At dren, Dr. Plotkin continues his imporThe romantic story of his nuptials is family has gone to the Lake. the lunch, he highlighted some of his also quite interesting. He met Carola tant work to prevent bone diseases, He has spoken to many groups groundbreaking research in what was a when he was in his last year of medical especially osteoporosis. around the city, including B’nai B’rith most interesting power point presenta- school in 1987, at the age of 22. He reminds everyone “Drink your Breadbreakers, a year ago last March. tion, which revealed some fascinating “I dated her for just a few months and milk, do your exercise and keep At that time, he was already bringing “before” and “after” shots of his reha- then because of a busy schedule I lost active!” honors and recognition to Children’s bilitation work with kids. track of her,” he smiled sheepishly.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Happy Passover NCJW extends its warmest wishes to the Jewish community for a Joyous Passover.
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Beth El Synagogue Wishes you a happy, healthy Passover. May Passover bring special joy to you and your family. Omaha Chapter of
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April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 49
Not Your Bubbe’s Cooking
Cookbook Author Fishbein’s Best Advice: Limit Your Menu by SUZI BROZMAN Atlanta Jewish Times When the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in New Jersey, published Susie Fishbein’s The Kosher Palate in 2000, the fundraising cookbook was an immediate success in kosher circles nationwide. Cooks marveled at the new twists on traditional Jewish recipes and the fresh innovations that brought kosher up-to-date. That led to a book deal with Artscroll and to Fishbein’s second cookbook, Kosher by Design. Fishbein has also appeared on the Today Show with Katie Couric as well as a number of other shows. Now Fishbein, 36, is promoting her latest book, Kosher by Design Entertains. The mother of four young children says her approach is simple. “I love cooking Susie Fishbein and entertaining. I’m not necessarily the most talented cook. In fact, when I do cooking classes, there’s always a sigh of relief when I say I didn’t go to cooking school,” Fishbein said in a recent interview. “The appeal is that I’m just like the audience in my kitchen in New Jersey.” Her philosophy of entertaining is to limit your menu- but make everything fabulous. “People eat with their eyes. It’s not about the quantity. If you serve three meats and 17 side dishes, you’re signaling that you don’t know what’s good, so you throw everything at people. It takes away from what you’re trying to do. “My menus say put your efforts into a few things, make each one memorable. People should leave feeling not stuffed, but like it was all wonderful.” What’s a typical Shabbat menu at the Fishbein home? “People always ask that,” she said. “I always start with something beautiful, maybe a martini glass with sesame
noodles, topped with a glass toothpick skewered with a single piece of meat. Then a salad, full of interesting nuts and other fun ingredients. I make my own challah. That always scores points. “And then an impressive main dish, maybe my standing rib roast with melted tomatoes, a steamed vegetable and one side dish, perhaps individual kugels elegantly presented.”
She adds: “Dessert should be awesome, a beggar’s purse with delicious sauce, and fresh fruit. Many people don’t want overly rich desserts. You don’t need to make six kinds of cookies and a lot of cakes. I don’t overstuff my guests anymore.” Fishbein has stuffed her latest book with more than 250 recipes, most illustrated with lavish color photographs. She offers menus, beverage recommendations, a resource guide for locating unusual kosher ingredients and a helpful index for adjusting some 70 of the
recipes for Passover. What’s next for the busy writer? Fishbein is working on a new book, “a cookbook for children, to teach kids about real food. My kids have learned to appreciate good food, and they’ve learned portion control, which people aren’t born with. My message will be like it is in my current book, not to deprive yourself. Learn to eat fabulous things, and to know the difference between quantity and quality.” GLAZED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH STRAWBERRY SALSA Chicken Breasts: 4 boneless skinless, chicken breasts, tenders removed salt freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 shallot, minced 1 2 cup chicken stock 1 teaspoon potato starch 3 tablespoons strawberry jelly 11/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Strawberry Salsa: 2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped 2 tablespoons chopped red onion 11/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint juice of 1 lime Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat the oil in a medium skillet or grill pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and sear on both sides, four to five minutes per side, until browned. You can also grill the chicken on a barbecue grill. Remove the chicken to a plate. To the same pan, add the shallots and sauté on low heat until soft, about four minutes. (If you grilled the chicken on a barbecue, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and sauté the shallots in it and continue). Continued on page 58
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
APRIL 22-24 • ORPHEUM THEATER Tickets are available at at the Orpheum Theater, call 402-345-0606, or Ticketmaster.com and outlets, call 402-422-1212 (Omaha) or 402-475-1212 (Lincoln)
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 51
40 Ways To Lead Your Seder by DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP Driving home from a Passover workshop, I was reminded why I try to attend at least one such session each spring: new ideas keep my seder preparation a joy and not a chore. One of the participants at a workshop I attended suggested it would be great if there was a way for the whole community to share its seder suggestions. Here is my own modest attempt at such an exchange. Friends, relatives, acquaintances, past workshop leaders, and friends of friends all contributed to this list. I hope these ideas are as inspiring to you as they were to me, but before you pull out a pad and start jotting down the ideas you want to try this year, I offer a cautionary tale from the year I attempted to see how many new and exciting things I could do at one seder. My siblings complained vehemently about how all their “favorite parts” of the seder had been altered. The seder was a quite a lot longer than usual. And the few ideas that really worked were overshadowed by the complaints. I’ve learned my lesson and only add one or two new things each year. The ones that work become family traditions and the others are remembered only as experiments or as humorous disasters, as the case may be. 1. Have a variety of Haggadot at the table and encourage your guests to bring their own favorite version so you can pull insight from many different sources. Include some children’s haggadot or ones your kids made themselves. 2. Go around the table and name things that free us and enslave us. Or ask your guests when they have experienced freedom or slavery. 3. Show and tell: Have adults bring an object or a poem or drawing to your seder that represents their own struggle from slavery to freedom. 4. Assign each guest to bring a question with them to the seder. 5. Put something unexpected on the table to elicit questions. Examples would be something from your own family’s history or something that would initiate a story about women’s roles in the exodus from Egypt. 6. Invite someone who isn’t Jewish or hasn’t been to a seder for a while to add some fresh insight to your Passover gathering. 7. Serve potatoes along with parsley to help fill empty stomachs and stave off the question of “When do we eat?” If you’re asked for an explanation of the potatoes explain that they were the vegetable often used at seders in countries like Russia when green vegetables were not available.
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8. Have two afikomens. The grownups hide one for the children to look for and the kids hide the other for the grownups. 9. Come to the table dressed as a character from Jewish history and explain your appearance. Or you could ask your friends and family to all come dressed like historical figures and to bring along an explanation of that person’s role in the Exodus from Egypt. 10. Replace the Maggid section of the Haggadah with a Passover story told in your own words, or with a play or puppet show. If you plan to involve your guests, assign parts and costumes ahead of time. 11. Spend some time with your children before Passover explaining what they can expect at your seder, watch a video about Passover, such as “Shalom Sesame,” and give them an assignment to prepare for the seder.
12. If they are old enough and brave enough, let your kids lead the seder and tell the story in their own way. This is especially fun one year with teen-agers or preteens. 13. Turn popular music, such as songs from the Lion King, into Passover songs by changing the words and then making copies of the lyrics for your guests. Go online and search for new songs to share. There are so many at the Jewish web sites. 14. Assign each participant an animal noise to make during the singing of Chad Gadya. An alternative is to go around the table taking on one phrase of the song per person and then having the same people sing the same phrases every time. 15. Have a contest to see who can say the last verse of “Echad Mi Yodei-a” (“Who Knows One”) in one breath.
16. Start your seder in the living room or family room where your guests can relax on the couch or comfortable chairs. If you do this and light candles: learn from my family’s experience and make sure the candles do not drip on the carpet. The same goes for red wine. 17. Begin your seder under a tent in the family room. Dress your family in desert garb and invite your guests to take off their ties and get comfortable on pillows on the floor. 18. Ask one of your guests to prepare a list of 10 plagues for our day, such as homelessness and AIDS. 19. Create “plague bags” for the kids. Fill paper lunch bags with a little toy representing each plague in the Haggadah. (Try Nobbie’s for some of the hard-to-find plague toys.) Some Jewish book stores also offer ready made plague bags, but making them is more fun. 20. Add some Sephardic flavor to your seder with a new recipe or tradition. Please note that Sephardic Passover food differs from Ashkenazic traditions. 21. Try a new recipe from one of the modern Jewish cookbooks and serve it at your seder. 22. Make a different kind of charoset this year, or make several different versions and invite your guests to sample them all. Hint: a Sephardic recipe calls for dates, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, raisins, apples, ginger and cinnamon. 23. Cook something from scratch that you usually buy in a box or bottle--such as dessert or gefilte fish. 24. Send the men to the kitchen to cook and clean up afterward and let the women lead the seder. 25. At the very beginning of the seder, give your guests an estimate of when dinner will be served. If your family traditionally spends more than hour conducting the first part of the seder, advise your guests to have a snack before they come over or provide snacks such as vegetable sticks at the table. 26. Put matza in a bag or pillow case and pass it from person to person to “carry” for a while during the seder so everyone is reminded of the experience of carrying your belongings out of Egypt. 27. Do something just for fun. One family that has legendary seders is know for their egg cracking rituals where participants knock their hard-boiled eggs against their neighbors’ eggs to see whose eggs will crack last. 28. If the weather is nice, move at least part of your seder outdoors. You can set up tables in the back yard or invite your guest to wander through the yard or neighborhood for part of the seder. Continued on page 63
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April 15, 2005
Meet the Matza by BATSHEVA POMERANTZ (IPS) Matza is such a central component of Passover that one of the names the holiday goes by is Chag HaMatzot (holiday of the matzas). Matza, or unleavened bread, is a reminder of the food hastily prepared and eaten by the Jews leaving Egypt during the Exodus and is made only of water and flour. Also known as “bread of affliction” (lechem oni), its cost reflects its scrupulous preparation and the importance of the mitzvah of eating matzah at the Seder. According to the Torah, one is both obligated to eat matza and prohibited from eating chametz (leaven), derived from the fermenting of five types of grain: wheat, barley, oats, rye and spelt. Many Jews shop for processed foods and food products that have a proper rabbinical endorsement (hekhsher) specifically for Passover. Throughout the rapid process of making kosher matzah, bakers repeat the words, “Leshsem mitzvat matza” (“For the sake of the mitzvah of making matza”). In order to prevent the dough’s fermentation--which occurs from exposure to high temperatures, humidity and an extended kneading and baking time--the bakers constantly clean off the dough clinging to their equipment and keep a fierce eye on the clock, as according to the Talmud the leavening process begins after water and flour have been in contact for 18 minutes. Therefore from the moment water is added to flour until the matza is taken out of the oven not more than 18 minutes can pass. Until about 150 years ago, all matza was handmade and usually rounded. With the advent of machine-produced matzah, the shape became square and techniques were developed to ensure the constant cleaning
of the machinery used to provide matza for the masses. The Yehuda Matzos factory in Jerusalem, founded in 1949, is owned and managed by the Ludmir family who started baking matzahs in Safed in 1921. “We start the special production line for Passover at the beginning of November,” says owner and manager Mordechai Ludmir. “The process from the kneading until the matza is completely baked takes five minutes.”
Although the kneading, the rolling out of the dough six times, perforation, slicing and baking are automated, it is labor-intensive to guarantee meticulous prevention of hametz. Three mashgichim (kashrut supervisors) stand by the two machines, which are used consecutively – one mixer kneads the dough while employees scour the other one so that no dough adheres to its blades. Every 18 minutes the mixers are switched. Yehuda Matzos produces both regular and shmura (guarded) matzas (“You shall guard the matzas.” Exodus 12:17). Shmura matza is guarded from when the grain is harvested as a precaution to assure that rain or dampness does not cause fermentation. Shmura
matzah is usually eaten by observant Jews throughout the entire festival, as well as by many others at the Seder when the obligation to eat matza is most relevant. “This year we are producing 3,000 tons of matzahs for Israel and for Jewish communities in the United States, Canada and South America”, says Ludmir, whose factory also produces matza flour, a staple of many a Passover recipe. Handmade matzas are still preferred by some Jews for the Seder and are made with mayim shelanu (literally “waters that rested”)--water placed in a bucket overnight to cool, thereby preventing fermentation. The Handmade Shmura Matzah Bakery in Kfar Chabad, the hub of Israel’s Lubavitch Jews, starts work a month after the Succot holiday season ends. “We have plenty of mashgichim,” says manager Yossele Raskin. “Before the 18 minutes are up, the utensils and tables where we roll out the dough are changed to clean ones and the workers inspect their already clipped fingernails and wash their hands well.” Raskin relates that some of his clients eat this type of matza throughout the Pesach holiday; others buy three boxes (each matza comes in its own box) especially for the Seder, which requires that three pieces of matza, representing the three Biblical classes of Jews, Priest, Levite and Israelite, be placed on the Seder plate. The middle matza is removed during the Seder and broken in half by the person leading the Seder. The larger half, the Afikoman, is then hidden and at the appropriate time the children present, filled with anticipation, rush off to look for it. The child who finds it often receives a gift. The Afikoman is the last item to be eaten and its indelible flavor is a reminder of the importance of matza and the main reason for the Passover Seder--the celebration of the Jewish people’s deliverance from slavery to freedom.
Wishing You and Your Family a Happy & Joyous Passover!
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 53
Man Who Saved Hungarian Jews, Largely Unknown, is Featured in Film
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT by TOM TUGEND LOS ANGELES (JTA)--Until Nazi Germany occupied its wavering ally Hungary in March 1944, the Jews of Budapest had survived in relative safety, though they were severely restricted and harassed.
women of Budapest as the representative of an Italian cattle-import company. Just as Oskar Schindler had a Nazi background, Perlasca was a proud veteran of Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia and of the Italian legion that aided the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. But on Nov. 30, 1944, he comes across a raid on a house sheltering Jews and is horrified by the brutality of the SS and Hungarian police and the mistreatment of the Jews.
Giorgio Perlasca, played by Luca Zingaretti, shown here in a scene from the movie, Perlasca, An Italian Hero. Credit: Courtesy of Rai Fiction But with the invasion, the arrival of Adolf Eichmann, and the enthusiastic cooperation of the native Arrow Cross fascists, the deportations and bloody killings of the city’s Jews reached a climax in the fall and winter of that year. Still, at least 33,000 Jews were saved, mainly through the compassion of a few diplomats who set up “protected homes” under their nations’ flags. Even the International Red Cross helped. The most famous of the rescuers, Raoul Wallenberg of Sweden, has been honored as the embodiment of the Righteous Gentile. Some people also have heard of the noble work of Swiss diplomat Carl Lutz. Giorgio Perlasca, on the other hand, is almost unknown. Perlasca, who was Italian, is credited with sheltering and sustaining some 5,200 Jews from November 1944 until the concentration camps were liberated by Soviet troops in January 1945. His story is now told in the film Perlasca, An Italian Hero, which will screen in major North American cities during the coming months. In the movie, Perlasca, played by Luca Zingaretti, is a balding, nondescript 34year-old man, enjoying the wine and
After befriending some of the expelled Jews, Perlasca decides he must help. Waving a letter of appreciation from Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, he manages to become an assistant to the sympathetic Spanish ambassador in Budapest. Like Schindler, Perlasca is a man of strong nerves, great resourcefulness and infinite chutzpah. As Budapest descends into chaos, he bullies Hungarian officials into believing that all Jews are Sephardim, and therefore Spanish citizens, and produces fictitious orders from Franco, threatening the execution of non-existent Hungarian prisoners of war in Spain if “his” Jews are harmed. Even after officials at the Spanish Embassy flee the capital at the approach of the Red Army, Perlasca stays behind as the self-appointed “consul” of Spain. Perlasca died in obscurity in Italy in 1992, but in recent years he has been recognized for his humanitarian heroism by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and by the governments of Italy, Spain and Hungary. Directed by Alberto Negrin and based on Perlasca’s diaries and the book The Banality of Goodness by Enrico Deaglio, the film is in Italian with English subtitles.
To Submit Engagement and Wedding Announcements: Names of the man and woman, date and place of wedding and who officiated (in the case of the wedding announcement) shall be included. In addition, the names of each set of parents, step-parents, grandparents and step-grandparents and living great-grandparents and the cities in which all of the above reside shall be listed. Late parents or late grandparents may also be listed. Names of the institutions to which the bride and groom attend or from which they have graduated shall be listed, along with where they are employed and/or military service. Honor attendants and the cities in which they reside shall also be listed; site of reception; and site of vacation/trip following ceremony. A good quality clearly-identified photo may be used in the announcement as well. Lengthy announcements may be edited. Photos are welcome. (If the ceremony took place in a church or was presided over by a member of the clergy from a faith other than Jewish, that information shall not be included, however the announcement can be printed with the other information noted above.) Persons submitting these announcements shall be told that a lengthy announcement may cause the information to be delayed to a later edition of the Press.
To Submit Commitment Ceremony Announcements: The Jewish Press Committee voted on June 16, 1999, to accept announcements of commitment ceremonies under the heading “Commitment Ceremonies.” Information should include the following: the full names of the two Jewish men or two Jewish women and their current city of residence, date of the ceremony place where it occurred and name of the rabbi who officiated. Other information may include the following: educational, military and/or employment information; names of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents (including those who are deceased, if requested); and attendants; site of reception; and site of vacation/trip following ceremony. A good quality clearly-identified photo may be used as well. Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing the Editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org. You can also submit wedding and engagement announcements, births, and commitment ceremonies, as well as obituaries, online at the Jewish Federation website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements.
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April 15, 2005
Jewish Food..Redux
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I can’t deny the topic here is often food--and I don’t know why. Is it because I’m a woman or because I’ve been what was once called a “homemaker” or because I like to cook or because I really like to eat. Never mind. Let’s not try to solve that one, but no matter, today the subject is once again food. Ethnic food to be exact. But let me start by mentioning a recently published article on the topic of dieters who claim to miss crunchy or crispy food items. There was a long discussion about the absence of particular textures as well as flavors in certain currently popular diets. It was all very scholarly and intended to both educate as well as comfort those dedicated people who were determined to be both thin and healthy. Following this story, printed near enough to be easily noticed, was a suggestion from some food editor or other, who was determined to be a hero. This person had a wonderful idea to share with all who might be looking for that certain “crispy crunch”. Here was her idea: “Next time you’re preparing chicken and following instructions to remove the skin, do not throw it away. Instead, take a flat oven pan and put the chicken skin on it, adding a little salt and pepper. Oven roast at about 425º for about 30 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Cool and eat--it’s really delicious!” I have to tell you I was hysterical. Did the person who published the recipe know she was describing grebenes? Did she have any idea if she added onions
she’d have Jewish ambrosia? Did she even guess she might have invented a way to make grebenes (at least a little) more acceptable to the food police? Probably the answer to all the above questions is a resounding “NO,” but you have to agree the story was worth telling. I mean really kids, for centuries we’ve been eating that gourmet grease and loving it, but who would have thought to bake it on a dry pan? Isn’t it like one of the commandments to follow carefully? Don’t we all know it take pieces of schmaltz and onions and then pieces of skin to “pragel” until crisp and heavenly? Well, what’s the difference? Who in his or her right mind can eat these incredible bits of childhood memories anymore? We all remember how the stuff tastes and most of us salivate just talking about it, but where in the Food Section of any newspaper do you find an editor who thinks she’s made a new discovery? I just thought the whole thing was hilarious.....somebody with a name like O’Brien or McClary is going to tell us how to make grebenes? Get outta here! Lady, we invented the entire concept of grebenes! I’m not sure who invented the heartburn which frequently followed, but I know whose kitchens had a bowl of grebenes whenever a chicken was roasted for shabbos dinner. So that’s yet another of my stories about food. What can I tell you? I’m a Jewish lady with a very long history as CEO of my kitchen. How can I not like talking about food? And grebenes? Who doesn’t like talking about them? It’s not as good as actually eating them, but everyone I know enjoys recalling how good those crackled as they were chewed. The lady gave the newly discovered “roasted chicken skin” idea another reason to say “Boy, did my mom make great grebenes!” Bert Lewis can Bertlewis39@aol.com.
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Blue Box Bob Goes to School: JNF Launches New Education Program by SHIRA ZAMIR for the Jewish National Fund New York, NY--Jewish National Fund is introducing Blue Box Bob, a new multi-component education program for Jewish day, afternoon and Sunday schools. The program, now in its pilot year, includes Blue Box Bob visiting students in grades Pre-K through four across the country. To date, 91 U.S. schools are registered for the program. “JNF has recognized a great need to instill the Zionist dream into new generations of youth,” said Robert Levine, JNF Vice President for Education, “and to instill in them pride in the achievements of their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents in the building of a Jewish homeland.” Offered at no cost to schools, the Blue Box Bob Program is designed to use stories and innovative education materials to foster themes such as Nation Building, Partnership/Connection to Israel, and Active Responsibility/Tzedakah. Registered schools will be provided with Blue Boxes and educational materials thematically based on Israeli history and tailored for each grade level. The JNF Blue Box, or charity box, is a signature symbol of Jewish National Fund. In the first half of the 20th
century, every coin deposited in the JNF Blue Box made the giver a partner in the creation of the State of Israel. Coins collected from JNF Blue Boxes distributed around the world were used to purchase the land JNF currently owns in the land of Israel. Today the JNF Blue Box is a symbol of the bond between man and country, a link between the Jewish people and the land, a symbol of Jewish continuity. Each school participating in the Blue Box Bob Program will set a monetary goal and designate a general project category to fund--Blue for water, Green for trees, and Brown for land. JNF volunteers dressed as Blue Box Bob will visit the schools three times a year to distribute Blue Boxes, tell stories and hand out prizes. The educational materials include "transformers," colorful sheets that fit around the Blue Box. Each transformer (three per year, with a different set for each grade, for a total of 15) represents a different figure in Israeli history, such as Theodor Herzl, a chalutz (pioneer) or a an oleh (immigrant). The second component of the program includes a school visit by a volunteer dressed as Blue Box Bob. To be a Blue Box Bob volunteer, obtain more information on JNF educational initiatives, or to register for the Blue Box Bob program, call 212.879.9305.
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 55
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Page 56
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Children’s Books: from Passover Fun to Holocaust Remembrance edition (this book is such a classic you ning illustrator. may have had a copy when you were a It’s beautiful book with a child as the BOOK REVIEWS kid!) of My Very Own Haggadah by narrator, an approach we don’t see by DONNA AND PERRY BLANKINSHIP A mother and daughter team
For many years, I attended a Passover holiday workshop every year as part of my regular seder preparations. At these workshops, I picked up a lot of good information and fun ideas for celebrating the holiday. In addition to the new ideas that have become traditions at our seder, one thing we continue to enjoy is buying at least one new Hagaddah or Jewish book around Passover each year. There are always a few new selections on the Jewish bookshelf around this time. Here are a few new kids books you may enjoy, with reviews from a mom and daughter’s perspective. Passover begins with the first seder on Saturday evening, April 23. After the Passover books, we’ll talk about some new books concerning the Holocaust, written specifically for kids. Holocaust remembrance day--Yom Hashoah--is May 5. (Editor’s note: Yom HaShoah will be commemorated in Omaha at Beth Israel Synagogue on Wednesday, May 4, 7 p.m., and in Lincoln, at the Rotunda of the State Capitol also on May 4, 7:30 p.m.) At the end of this story, you find some special books that aren’t related to either Passover or the Holocaust. Enjoy! For the younger children on your seder guest list, pick up a copy of the 30th anniversary
Judith Groner and Madeline Wikler with pictures by Sally Springer. T h i s Kar-Ben Copies creation is basically a Passover coloring book. It’s designed to keep kids busy at the seder table (or while mom and dad are getting ready in the kitchen) but also offers an easy-tounderstand overview of the holiday and the rituals. Some families with a bunch of young children may want to use this book as their first half Hagaddah, eat dinner, put the kids to bed and then finish up with some adult learning and discussion. Doreen Rappaport has two new books out this year: one concerning Passover and the Holocaust and the other taking a look at Jewish heroes in American history. The Secret Seder tells the story about a boy and his parents who are hiding in Nazi-occupied France during the Holocaust, pretending to be Catholics. The book touches on themes of resistance, survival and faith and is illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, a Caldecott award-win-
enough of in children’s literature. This book also has another element that is so rare to find in children’s books: suspense and drama. I couldn’t wait to see how the story turns out. The publisher, Hyperion Books, says, “The Secret Seder is appropriate for five to nine-year-olds, but use your own judgment. Some five to seven-year-olds may be too sensitive to enjoy this story. In The Promised Land: Lives of Jewish Americans by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (HarperCollins Publishers) you will find a fun book about Jews who have been famous or infamous in American history. Perry says it’s the kind of history all kids would enjoy reading, not just Jewish kids. Each onepage history lesson is told like a story with beautiful color pictures. The book covers everyone from some of the first Jewish Americans to Houdini, astronauts, Supreme Court justices and sports heroes. It’s doubtful you’ll find yourself saying: I didn’t know that person was Jewish, but your kids will probably be surprised and proud to learn we have an astronaut
and a Supreme Court justice in the family. Just out in time for Passover is Shlemiel Crooks by Anna Olswanger and illustrated by Paula Goodman Koz (published by Junebug Books, a division of NewSouth Books, www.newsouthbooks.com). This book is as fun to read as it is to hear. Here’s a chance for your family’s best storyteller to brush up on his or her humorous stage presence and Yiddish accent. The book is based on a true story the author uncovered while researching her family tree. She even includes a clipping from the local Yiddish paper at the end of the book to prove it really happened. This is the story of two crooks who attempt to rob the local tavern owner of his stock of Passover wine, while the tavern owner is down the street studying Talmud (or sleeping in Talmud class, as the case may be). The book is written in such an inspiring way, it’s hard to keep a straight face while writing this review. This is a book you’ll want in your collection, but it’s so lovely and fun you’ll probably be selfish and keep it on the adult book shelf instead of letting your kids get their grubby hands on it Continued on page 57
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Children’s Books: from Passover to the Holocaust Continued from page 56 Another wonderful new book for older grade school or middle school children is Six Million Paper Clips: The Making the Children’s Holocaust Memorial by Peter W. Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder Hildebrand (Kar-Ben). This interesting and informative book tells the story of a group of school children in a small town of only Christians in Tennessee who want to do something to remember the victims of the Holocaust. The Children’s Holocaust Memorial began as an after-school project and grew to bring the students international recognition and participation. Perry says this is a true story that shows kids really can make a difference. The book has already been made into a documentary, which is showing at various Jewish film festivals and in other venues. If your children want to know how the Holocaust is related to their life today, buy them this book. Now for a few new books that aren’t about Passover or the Holocaust… Another of my favorite writers, (Omaha’s own!) Ozzie Nogg, whose short stories have appeared regularly in Jewish newspapers around the country (including the Jewish Press), has selfpublished a collection of her tales, Joseph’s Bones: A Collection of Stories, available at oznasbooks@cox.net. We both agree this book offers great bedtime story material. It feels like someone’s grandma is telling you a story about when she was a little girl. Many of her stories focus on Jewish tradition, identify and values, but some of them are just plain fun, like her bittersweet piece about the time a girl tried to cheat her brother out of his best shooter marble. Dr. Ron Wolfson, author and Vice-president of the University of Judaism, calls Ozzie “Omaha’s gift to Jewish literature,” in a publicity piece about the book. I had to laugh when I read that, because being from the Midwest myself, I’m not sure I’d want to be called Peoria’s gift to Jewish literature. But it also has a ring of
truth to it because these stories offer a glimpse of what it’s like to be a Jew in smalltown America, an experience I share with Nogg. The glossary in the back is great. We love glossaries, in case you haven’t noticed. This one has a bunch of Yiddish as well as Hebrew and we found it quiet educational. Two new story collections from ArtScroll would make a nice addition to many Jewish households--Touched by a Story for Children by Rabbi Yechiel Spero and illustrated by Shaya Schonfeld and A Treasury of Shabbos Bedtime Stores by Shmuel Blitz and illustrated by Tova Katz. But they’re missing something that prevents them from having universal appeal. Yes, you guessed it. They don’t have glossaries. In these cases, glossaries are essential because the stories are peppered with Yiddish and Hebrew. Without a glossary, I was stumped at times by a couple of words that were not explained in the context. Households where Yiddish and Hebrew are spoken regularly will not have this problem. We especially liked Touched by a Story, which was filled with stories that focus on the variety of mitzvot or commandments. They are short enough to make good bedtime stories and leave little heads with good thoughts for sleep. Surprisingly, the bedtime story book included a few scary or sad stories that may not lead to happy dreams. All of these books should be available at your favorite Jewish bookstore, but if you need more help finding them, here are some useful links: www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com, www.harpercollins.com www.artscroll.com, oznasbooks@cox.net, and www.karben.com. (Editor’s note: Many of these books are also available in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. Ask the staff there for other recommendations as well. And don’t forget to check out the Kripke Library’s cookbook section!) Donna Blankinship is a freelance writer from Bellevue, WA. She can be reached at: donna@ghostwriteronline.com. Her daughter, Perry, is in the fifth grade at Sherwood Forest Elementary School. Donna wants you to know that Perry is getting paid for her contributions to this column.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
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Continued from page 49 In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the chicken stock. Add it to the pan. Add in the jelly and balsamic vinegar. Cook until thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and coat both sides with the glaze. Remove from heat. Prepare the salsa. Place the chopped strawberries into a small bowl. Toss with the red onion, balsamic, pepper, mint, and lime juice. Allow flavors to mix for 10 minutes. Serve chicken with the salsa warm or at room temperature. Yield: 4 servings.
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HAZELNUT AND HONEY CRUSTED VEAL CHOP 11/2 cups shelled hazelnuts 1 clove garlic, sliced 1 shallot, sliced 4 tablespoons dark honey 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, plus extra for garnish 6 (11/2-inch thick) veal chops salt ground white pepper Preheat oven to broil. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process the nuts, garlic, and shallot until finely minced. Add in the honey and pulse to make a paste. Stir in the chopped chives. Set aside. Season the veal chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the veal chops on a baking tray 6 inches from the heat and broil 5 minutes per side. Spread a layer of the honey paste over the top side of each veal chop. Place crust side up on the baking tray. Return the tray, uncovered, to the oven on the rack furthest from the heat. Broil for 10 minutes longer, checking to make sure the honey crust is not burning. Garnish with chopped chives. Yield: 6 servings.
3 tablespoons margarine or butter 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt 1/2-1 teaspoon ground white pepper Place the parsnips, potato, and turnips into a pot with enough salted water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are very tender, about 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile, pour 1/4-inch of oil into a
Pictured at the top: Gazed Chicken Breasts with Strawberry Salsa; above, Hazelnut and Honey Crusted Veal Chop; and below, Whipped Root Vegetables with Caramelized Onions Parve or Dairy.
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large pan and place over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion. Allow to slowly cook until caramelized and brown, about 30 minutes. When the vegetables are done, drain them well and place them in the bowl of a mixer with a whisk attachment. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the oil and add the onions with the 1 tablespoon of oil into the bowl. Whip all the vegetables until mashed and creamy. Add in the sour cream, margarine, salt, and pepper. Whip until all combined. Yield: 6 servings.
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 59
Travel Geared to Jewish Community Expanding with Creative New Options by SORIYA DANIELS ness appealed to Bernhardt, and to his teenage daughThere’s no roughing it, either. The Kosher Years ago, Passover travel usually meant shlepping to ter, who made friends from Scotland and Ireland while Expedition’s package includes modern cabins with priMiami Beach--where great operatic tenors such as on the ship. vate baths and maid service. Robert Merrill and Jan Peerce would conduct the Seder For something really different, Kosher Expeditions For something a little more laid back, Club Kosher at a fancy-schmancy hotel--or to the Catskills, which 800.923.2645 offers a dude ranch adventure in the not- offers their yearly package dubbed “Passover in was more haimish but just as fattening. so-wild West. Participants can ride horseback, go white- Paradise,” with two destinations to choose from: Today, however, Passover travel options have water rafting, relax in a hot spring, and explore nearby Cancun and Tucson, Arizona. The Cancun trip, at a expanded to encompass experiences ranging from Yellowstone National Park. (The ranch is just 26 miles Hilton, offers guests typical resort amenities and expanDisney World to the Caribbean to a dude ranch in away.) sive child-care programs, as well as atypical Mexican Wyoming. And you can get some decent deals on Joel Weinberger, a Maryland resident, took his two fiestas for those looking for a good party. In Arizona, Miami Beach too. spa delights abound and the In fact, the entire kosher resort features an expansive travel business--especially golf course. There will also around the United States--be ample opportunity to has grown dramatically in explore spiritual realms recent years, according to with scholar-in-residence, industry executives. Rabbi Manis Friedman. “It’s exploded,” said David For details, go to Lawrence, an executive www.ClubKosher.com or with Kosher Expeditions, phone 866.KOSHER-2. which has offices in Atlanta, If San Juan or San Diego New York and Los Angeles appeals to you, and offers kosher-catered Afikomantours offers two trips to places ranging from resort packages featuring Alaska to Zimbabwe. Glatt kosher meals, Seders Lawrence attributes a lot and kid’s camp. For more of the increase in kosher information, call travel to the situation in 888.AFIKOMAN. Israel, where the Intifada And there’s always Miami discourages many would-be Beach and the surrounding tourists from vacationing in A number of hotels and resorts in Israel offers special packages for Passover. Visitors to Eilat, for example, can add excur- vicinity. Several hotels linthe Holy Land. “We’re get- sions to the Negev, dive underwater to see the colorful coral of the Red Sea, go parasailing, or just lounge by the pool. ing both coasts offer comting a lot of day schools that Passover vacations are now offered in Europe, North America, and on cruise ships as well. Photo by Jack Hazut. plete packages for the jet used to go to Israel but are set. Check out www.totalnow looking for other options,” he said. daughters on the trip a couple of years ago. lyjewishtravel.com for more information. Kosher Expeditions and other travel companies are “My kids got the experience of being out there in also becoming more adept at reaching specific Jewish rural America,” he recalled. All meals were glatt kosher, Free lance writer Soriya Daniels can be reached market segments, according to Margo Dix Gold of the served family style in the ranch’s dining room with sev- at: soriyadaniels@excite.com. Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. eral barbecues during the week. “Trips are no longer marketed only for seniors and empty-nesters,” said Gold, who noted that more and Happy Passover more vacations are being designed for singles or for people desiring adventure travel. For example, said Lawrence, his company can provide food for observant Jews who want to take a leisurely cruise or climb Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro. ® “Kosher-trained chefs and mashgiachim (kosher inspectors) travel with our groups,” he said, “and we’ll Gourmet Baskets... for the holidays, home fly in food if necessary.” entertaining, gift giving or The Jewish travel business is especially good around thank yous. 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Included are children’s Park Hopper passes for fullstay guests and transportation to all Disney theme For Award Winning Burgers parks. To learn more, call 866.GO.MATZA. If you prefer to spend Passover at sea, the Ontario 17th & Vinton Travel Service 800.893.5617 is booking passengers aboard the “Deep South Caribbean” kosher cruise, departing from Fort Lauderdale on April 22. The cruise package includes Seders on the first two nights of Happy Passover! Passover conducted in a separate area of the dining room under Conservative supervision. The “Deep South’s” itinerary includes Martinique, Barbados, Antigua, St. Maarten and the Bahamas. 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Page 60
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Mortar the merrier by SCHELLY TALALAY DARDASHTI There are more versions of charoset than for matzo balls or gefilte fish, and the simple Ashkenazi version pales in comparison with the complex versions favored by the Persians and Sephardic communities. Maimonides wrote that the normally thick paste was meant as a reminder of the mortar our ancestors made in Egypt. While ground cinnamon seems to be a universal, its original long stick form recalls straw used to make the bricks. Tradition calls for common ingredients found where one lives. As our ancestors moved around the world, their recipes incorporated new items. Today, we have access to everything delicious. The Eastern European version is simple, with apple, walnuts, wine and cinnamon, because shtetl markets didn’t offer exotic nuts and fruits found in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Asia or the Caribbean. The final product may be smooth, chunky or cooked like jam. Some families serve it in a bowl, others make tiny balls, bricks or pyramids, coated with cinnamon. Certain traditions limit consumption to small amounts at the seder, while other communities mandate huge bowls of the delicious stuff to spread on matzo all week. Ingredients range from coconut to chestnuts to every kind of nut and fruit, while new-age versions include avocado. Some are sweet, using white or brown sugar, honey and sweet red wine, but there are also peppery, vinegary versions. When we lived in Teheran, two signs marked the Passover season. In the old days, cooking pots were large, heavy copper utensils coated with tin which had to be periodically resurfaced. Before the holiday, the pots would be taken to the coppersmith who made them brand-new with re-tinning. The other was when large bags of nuts were brought home, stored in a special area, cleaned, shelled and roasted at home for the Persian charoset, called halek. In the old days, Grandma used a wooden-handled half-moon hand chopper in a wooden bowl, while today’s food processor makes easy work of even complex recipes. In Curacao, they combine peanuts, cashews, brown
W i s h i n g
y o u
a
sugar, dates, prunes, raisins, figs, candied fruit, wine, honey, cinnamon, orange juice, lime juice or even watermelon and tamarind juice. Surinam’s cooked mix features cherry preserves, grated coconut, almonds, dried fruit, cinnamon and wine. While Provence offers chestnut paste, fruits, wine, vinegar and ginger, Venice mixes up chestnuts, poppy seeds, various nuts and fruits, cherry or orange brandy instead of wine, and honey to sweeten. In New Mexico, roasted green chili peppers, seeded and chopped, are added to the mix, while in California, contemporary versions offer pecans and pears or avocados and oranges. My favorite, of course, is the luscious Persian halek, combining every available nut and fruit (fresh and dried) melded with warm spices. The term halek is also used for Indian date syrup. Babylon’s Saadiya Gaon’s version combined date syrup with crushed nuts, toasted sesame seeds and wine vinegar, while Mogador’s featured dried rose petals marinated in sweet wine, added to cinnamon-spiced date-nut paste. Jewish cookbooks from around the world are on my bookshelves. Here are some of my favorites, including the most unusual Zakynthos Greek version with vinegar and pepper. Why not try a few varieties at your seder this year and see how the rest of the world lives? CALIFORNIA CHAROSET 1 large avocado, peeled, diced juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2 cup sliced almonds 1/3 cup raisins 4 dates, pitted 2 figs or prunes 1 whole orange, peel, section, remove pits 2 Tbs apple juice or wine 2 Tbs matza meal Toss avocado and lemon juice in a bowl; set aside. In a food processor or blender, place almonds, raisins, dates and figs. Process until coarsely chopped. Add orange peel and orange sections, process briefly to com-
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bine. Add avocado, process only 1-2 seconds. Transfer to a glass bowl. Gently fold in juice or wine and matzo meal. Cover with plastic wrap and chill. Makes about three cups. SURINAM’S SEVEN FRUITS 1 cup unsweetened coconut 1 cup chopped walnuts or grated almonds 1/4 cup sugar 1 Tbs cinnamon 1 cup raisins 1 cup dried apples 1 cup dried prunes 1 cup dried apricots 1 cup dried pears 1/2 cup cherry jam sweet red wine Combine everything, except jam and wine, in a nonstick pot. Cover with water, simmer over low heat. Periodically, add small amounts of water to prevent sticking. Cook at least 90 minutes. When done, force through mesh strainer, stir in jam, let stand until cool. Add enough sweet red wine to be absorbed and chill. Makes about five cups. PROVENCAL From Sefer HaMenucha, 13th century Provencal scholar Rabbi Manoach 1 pound chestnuts 1 cup blanched almonds 2 medium tart apples, cored, chopped 1 cup dates, pitted 1 cup dried figs 1 cup raisins, seedless 1-3 Tbs grated fresh ginger wine vinegar Vacuum-packed chestnuts will do. Next year save fresh ones when in season. Finely chop chestnuts and almonds. Add finely chopped fruits. Stir in enough wine vinegar to make a thick paste, add ginger. Makes about five cups. MAIMONIDES’ RECIPE 1 cup pitted dates, chopped dried figs or raisins 2 cups water 1/4 cup wine vinegar 2 Tbs fresh or 1 Tbs dried hyssop leaves (not ground) Cover fruit with water, soak overnight. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently, until mix becomes thick. Cool. Stir in hyssop and vinegar. Continued on page 61
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Mortar the Merrier Continued from page 60 PEAR-PECAN HAROSET 2 pears, unpeeled, cored, finely chopped 1 cup finely chopped pecans 1/2 cup minced raisins 2 Tbs honey 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup sweet red wine Combine everything, except wine, in a bowl. Add enough wine to bind mixture. Serve in a bowl or make 1-inch balls and arrange on serving plate. Makes about three cups. CURACAO GAROSA HAROSET BALLS From Recipes from the Jewish Kitchens of Curacao: 14 dates, pitted 10 prunes, pitted 8 figs, stems removed 1 cup golden raisins 1 cup cashew nuts 1 lemon, with peel, chunked 1 cup sweet red wine 1 cup honey 2 Tbs cinnamon In food processor, coarsely chop dates, prunes, figs, nuts and lemon. Add wine and honey, process to mix well. Mixture should be moist but firm enough to shape. Add a little extra honey, if needed. Transfer to bowl, refrigerate 30 minutes. Serve from bowl, or form into 1-inch balls, roll in cinnamon. Cover and refrigerate until needed. Makes 25-30 balls. PERSIAN HALEK It may seem like a lot, about 8 cups, but families eat it all week. Many families make twice or three times as much. Ingredients change according to individual family custom, while the finished texture runs from coarse to smooth textured according to family. It looks like mud (think “mortar�) and tastes divine. 1/2 cup each: shelled almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and hazelnuts (21/2 cups nuts) 1/4 cup dates, pitted, chop 1/4 cup golden raisins, seedless, chop 1/2 cup dried apricots, chop 1/2 cup prunes, chop 1/4 cup dried, seeded cherries, chop 2 medium apples, peeled, cored,
and chopped 2 pears, cored, chopped 2 bananas, peel, mash 2 oranges, peel, pit, chop 11/2 cups red wine (or more) 2 Tbs wine vinegar (or more to taste) 21/2 tsp advieh (recipe follows) 1/2- 3/4 tsp rosewater Finely chop nuts in food processor. Remove to bowl. Finely chop dried fruits. Add to bowl. Finely chop fresh fruits. Add to bowl. Prepare the spice mixture called advieh: Mix together 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 3/4 tsp black pepper. Combine wine and rosewater, add spices, blend well. Mix into already chopped ingredients in the bowl. More wine may be needed. The halek is complex, sweet and sour, peppery and very exotic. In Persian supermarkets, one can buy prepared packets or jars of readymixed charoset spices called advieh halek.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 61
We must plant trees in the landscape of freedom. We must take in our hands the tools to build cities of peace.
YEMENITE WITH A KICK 15 dried figs, chop 15 medium dates, pitted, chopped 2-3 Tbs sesame seeds, lightly toasted 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground ginger 1/2 tsp ground cardamom 1/2 tsp cayenne or a small chili pepper, seeded dry red wine Finely chop figs and dates, add sesame seeds and spices. Stir in enough wine to form a paste. Store in refrigerator, serve at room temperature. Makes about two cups. ZAKYNTHOS HAROSET Cookbook of the Jews of Greece 1/4 cup ground almonds 1/4 cup raisins, mashed in vinegar A good pinch of pepper Mix together for just a symbolic taste. This recipe originally added a pinch of finely ground brick dust, but I can’t advise this if you want to protect your teeth and avoid lawsuits. A former New Yorker, Schelly now lives in Tel Aviv and is a freelance journalist writing on Jewish genealogy, food and travel. Contact her at schelly@allrelative.net.
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Page 62
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
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CB RICHARD ELLIS/MEGA WISHES YOUR FAMILY A HAPPY AND HEALTHY PASSOVER
at Kosher Consumers Up North
by LARRY LUXNER also are turning to the relatively small but lucrative LUJAN DE CUYO, Argentina (JTA)--Guarding the kosher market to supplement exports in the face of entrance to Bodegas Barberis, a family-owned winery weak internal demand. in western Argentina, is a small ceramic statue of the That’s resulted in the appearance on U.S. supermarVirgin Mary, known locally as the Virgen de la ket shelves of relatively inexpensive brands such as Carrodilla. Chile’s Layla Cabernet Sauvignon and Argentina’s “She’s our local patron saint and protector of the Byblos Bonarda, both imported by Abarbanel Wine Co. vineyards,� said Adrian Barberis, who with his three of Cedarhurst, N.Y., as well as Chile’s Alfasi Merlot, brothers owns the prosperous winery. imported by Royal Wine Corp. The Virgin hardly would cause an eyebrow to be raised “Currently, Argentina is exporting more than 50 perin this devoutly Catholic country--except for the fact that cent of its total production. Some bodegas export up to Bodegas Barberis, 15 miles south of the city of Mendoza, 90 percent,� says Enrique Chrabolowsky, a Jewish wine is a leading Argentine exporter of kosher wine. critic based in Mendoza. Each year, the churchgoing Barberis family turns over Chrabolowsky, who with co-author Michel Rolland 20 percent of its 100-hectare winery to a team of Chasidic has just published a coffee table book, “Wines of Jews from Buenos Aires. For several months before Argentina,� said that last year, Chile exported a record Passover, the Chasidim supervise every aspect of wine $900 million worth of wine--mainly to Europe and production--from fermentation to bottle-sealing--to ensure North America--while Argentina exported $300 million. that the laws of kashrut are observed to the letter. Both neighbors are taking advantage of the fact that By now, the winery’s 15 employees are used to see- they offer relatively cheap land, phylloxera-free soil, ing the half-dozen bearded men running around check- high productivity and low wages compared with more ing cooling tanks, tasting samples from wine vats and operating forklifts on the loading docks. That’s not all. Honoring a Jewish tradition known as terumot vena’aserot, Barberis must intentionally spill on the ground or give to charity 10 percent of its annual kosher wine production. Other talmudic laws prohibit Barberis from using fruit produced during the first three years of a grape harvest, require all wine to be flash-pasteurized before bottling and demand that the land be allowed to rest every seventh year. “We are allowed to cultivate the grapes and bring them to the bodega in plastic bins,� Barberis said. “We leave them in the truck, and the rabbis and their employees Adrian Barberis inspects grapes at his vineyard in Argentina's Mendoza province in unload them and do the whole February 2005. Bodegas Barberis provides grapes for production of kosher wine for Credit: Larry Luxner/JTA process in a special sector of the export to the U.S. market. bodega. The only thing our oenologist does is explain established wine-producing countries, such as France, to the rabbis and their people how to use specific Germany, Italy and Spain. machinery.� Even so, less than five percent of the kosher wine Barberis said his biggest market is the United States, bought in the United States comes from South America. where an estimated one-fifth of Jews regularly drink That’s mainly because the cheaper sugary-sweet kosher wine, mainly at weddings, circumcisions, bar Concord varieties produced by Mogen David and mitzvahs and funerals, and at their Shabbat tables. Manischewitz in upstate New York still command 40 The peak season for kosher wine is right before percent of the U.S. kosher market, and Israel also comPassover, when hundreds of thousands of American mands a healthy share. Jewish families stock up. In fact, a search for “Chile� at www.kosher“It all depends on production schedules,� said wine.com, a Chicago-based online retailer, turns up 13 Barberis, who is familiar with basic kashrut terminolo- labels, while a search for “Argentina� brings up only six gy. “The Orthodox Jews don’t work on Pesach, so if labels. Both countries pale in comparison with Israel, Pesach coincides with fermentation and the grapes are with 152 kosher wine brands on the market. mature, we can’t use our grapes, meaning we have to “Argentina never paid attention to exports, because buy grapes from other wineries.� almost all of its production went for the internal marThis year, Barberis expects to sell $300,000 worth of ket,� said Barberis. “Then internal consumption began kosher wine to Royal Wine Corp., an importer based in declining, which obligated us to export our products. Bayonne, N.J. We started later than Chile, which never had a big interOther wineries in both Argentina and Chile--a six- nal market and has been exporting since the beginning. hour drive over the Andes Mountains from Mendoza-- But Argentina can grow rapidly and has big potential.�
KATELMAN ANTIQUES WISHES EVERYONE A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PEACEFUL PASSOVER
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40 Ways to Lead Your Seder Continued from page 51 29. Invite your neighbors to drop by for dessert at about the time you expect to be opening the door for Elijah. Make sure you let them in on the gag beforehand. 30. Revive an old family tradition you haven’t tried in a while. 31. If you have young children, experiment with a two-part seder: do a quick and childcentered version, put them to bed and stay up the rest of the night discussing the Exodus among the adults. 32. Search for a different midrash-one not highlighted in the Haggadah-to discuss during your seder. If you want to do the work, you will find an never-ending variety of interesting topics to discuss in the Talmud. 33. Have the participants decide what and how much to read and just keep reading around the table until the Haggadah is finished. 34. Learn something new this year about one aspect of the seder to share with your guests. Attend a Passover workshop to prepare yourself for the holiday or ask a friend to share his or her most creative seder idea. 35. Watch The Ten Commandments on TV the night before the first seder to get your family in the mood for Passover. 36. Ask your rabbi if he or she knows of anyone who doesn’t have a place to go for Passover and then invite them to your seder. Or you could call Hillel and welcome a student into your home.
37. Invite a Russian family, buy some Haggadot with a Russian translation and ask them to recite a few passages in their native language. If you don’t know a Russian family, call Jewish Family Service and ask them if they know of any families who would like a place to go for seder. 38. Clean your cupboards of chametz and donate the food to your local food bank. You should be able to find a collection bin at your synagogue, if you don’t ask your rabbi if you can set one up. 39. Go shopping for Passover and buy a few extra Passover items for the Passover food drive. If your community doesn’t have one, start it. Or donate the cost of one extra guest at your seder to MAZON: The Jewish Response to Hunger. 40. Plan an activity for the kids to do before the seder that gets them in the mood and also works off a little excess energy. One family I know starts by having the kids build card cities while their parents act as slave drivers urging them on. Then the kids are told to go to a neighbor’s house (if you have a big enough back yard, you can keep this activity at home) to each pick up a piece of matza. They bring the matza back to the house by way of a circuitous route (instruct one of the older children where to go or draw a map for them to use). When the matza arrives at the table, the seder begins.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 63
The Plagues of Pollution and War: Secular Jews Update the Haggadah by TOM TUGEND LOS ANGELES (JTA)--There are more than 3,000 printed versions of the Passover Haggadah in existence, according to educated estimates. And that’s not counting private Haggadahs, custom-made on the family computer. It’s a far cry from the 13th-century Spanish version, believed to be the first stand-alone Haggadah. In the following centuries, the Haggadah has been adapted, at times almost beyond recognition, by environmentalists, humanists, feminists, vegetarians, socialists, gays, lesbians and others. In other editions, the original focus has shifted to recognize the Holocaust, creation of Israel, and various political and ideological causes, with quotations ranging from Anne Frank to Ho Chi Minh. One of the latest entries is the slim, updated, Yiddish-leaning Sholem Family Hagada For a Secular Celebration of Peysakh. It is published by the Sholem Community of Los Angeles, a 50-year old secular Jewish educational, cultural and social institution, edited by the group’s “guide,� Hershl Hartman, and Jeffrey Kaye, and illustrated in full color by Kevin Bostwick. Like other secular or humanistic Haggadahs, the Sholem edition rejects the recitation of “deistic formulas or acceptance as literal truth of the myths of the traditional hagada.� However, it seeks to honor “the folk traditions that took inspiration from
the [Exodus] legend to imbue generations with a commitment to social justice and equality.� Hartman said he had made a special effort “to keep the language fairly accessible to children while avoiding a childish tone that might repel or bore adults.� There are some innovations in the new version that might startle many synagogue-going Jews. For instance, the frogs and boils of the traditional Ten Plagues have been replaced by such manmade miseries as “the plague of homelessness�, “war�, “poisoned air and water� and “the nuclear shadow over our lives.� Besides the prescribed bitter herbs and charoset on the seder plate, an orange is added to symbolize “those not fully recognized by the Jewish community--women, gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and transgendered people.� The Haggadah pays special tribute to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising during Passover 1943 by including the Partisan Hymn and Binem Heller’s poem “Peysakh Has Come to the Ghetto Again.� In at least one important respect, tradition has remained unchanged in the rousing rendition of “Had Gadya,’’ the song about the kid my father bought for two zuzim. For information and to order the Sholem Hagada, call 818.760.6625, or online at: www.sholem.org/hagada.asp.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Passover and Vegetarianism by RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ, PH.D. Passover and vegetarianism? Can the two be related? After all, what is a seder without gefilte fish, chicken soup, chopped liver, chicken, and other meats? And what about the shankbone to commemorate the paschal sacrifice. And doesn’t Jewish law mandate that Jews eat meat to rejoice on Passover and other Jewish festivals? An increasing number of Jews are turning to vegetarianism and they are finding ways to celebrate vegetarian Passovers while being consistent with Jewish teachings. For many years, Jonathan Wolf, a Jewish vegetarian activist, has hosted up to 50 people for completely vegetarian seders. Contrary to a common perception, Jews are not required to eat meat at the Passover seder or any other time. According to the Talmud (Pesachim 109a), since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jews need not eat meat to celebrate Jewish festivals. In scholarly articles by Rabbi Albert Cohen in the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society and Rabbi J. David Bleich in Tradition magazine, this concept is reinforced. Also, Israeli chief rabbis, including Rabbi Shlomo Goren, former Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel and Rabbi Sha’ar Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa, were or are strict vegetarians The use of the shankbone originated in the time of the Talmud as a means of commemorating the paschal lamb. However, since the Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Huna, states that a beet can be used for this purpose, many Jewish vegetarians substitute a beet for the shankbone (Pesachim 114b). The important point is that the shankbone is a symbol and no meat need be eaten at the seder. Jewish vegetarians see vegetarian values reinforced by several Passover themes: • At the seder, Jews say, “Let all who are hungry come and eat”. As on other occasions, at the conclusion of the meal, birkat hamazon is recited to thank God for providing food for the world’s people. This seems inconsistent with the consumption of animal-centered diets which involves the feeding of 70% of the grain grown in the United States and two-thirds of the grain that we export to animals destined for slaughter and the importing of beef from other countries, while 20 million of the world’s people die of hunger and its effects annually. Although he is not a vegetarian, Rabbi Jay Marcus, Spiritual Leader of the Young Israel of Staten Island, saw a connection between simpler diets and helping hungry people. He commented on the fact that karpas (eating of greens) comes immediately before yahatz (the breaking of the middle matza) for later use as the afikomen (dessert) in the seder service. He concluded
W
H E R E
that those who live on simpler foods (greens, for example) will more readily divide their possessions and share with others. • Many Jewish vegetarians see connections between the oppression that their ancestors suffered and the current plight of the billions of people who presently lack sufficient food and other essential resources. Vegetarian diets require far less land, water, gasoline, pesticides, fertilizer, and other resources, and thus enable the better sharing of God’s abundant resources, which can help reduce global hunger and poverty.
• The main Passover theme is freedom. While relating the story of our ancestors’ slavery in Egypt and their redemption through God’s power and beneficence, many Jewish vegetarians also consider the “slavery” of animals on modern “factory farms”. Contrary to Jewish teachings of “tsa’ar ba’alei chayim” (the Torah mandate not to cause unnecessary “pain to a living creature”), animals are raised for food today under cruel conditions in crowded confined spaces, where they are denied fresh air, sunlight, a chance to exercise, and the fulfillment of their natural instincts. In this connection, it is significant to consider that according to the Jewish tradition, Moses, Judaism’s greatest leader, teacher, and prophet, was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt because as a shepherd he showed great compassion to a lamb (Exodus Rabbah 2:2). • Many Jewish vegetarians advocate that we commemorate the redemption of our ancestors from slavery by ending the current slavery to harmful eating habits through the adoption of vegetarian diets. • Passover is the holiday of springtime, a time of nature’s renewal. It also commemorates God’s supremacy over the forces of nature. In contrast, modern intensive livestock agriculture and animal-centered diets have many negative effects on the environment, including air and water pollution, soil erosion and
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depletion, the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, and contributions to global warming. Jewish vegetarians view their diet as a practical way to put Jewish values into practice. They believe that Jewish mandates to show compassion to animals, take care of our health, protect the environment, conserve resources, and share with hungry people, and the negative effects that animal-centered diets have in each of these areas, point to vegetarianism as the ideal diet for Jews (and others) today. Sources for further information on connections between Judaism and vegetarianism include: • The International Jewish Vegetarian Society; 855 Finchley Road, London NW 11, England (www.jewishvegetarian@onetel.net.uk). • Judaism and Vegetarianism by Richard Schwartz, new, revised edition (New York: Lantern, 2001) • The web site of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA): www.JewishVeg.com, including over 100 articles at JewishVeg.com/schwartz by this author. • Micah Publications; the source for books on Judaism and vegetarianism and related issues; 255 Humphrey Street, Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945; or micah@micahbooks.com. They have published vegetarian-friendly haggadahs, Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb and Haggadah for the Vegetarian Family, both by Roberta Kalechofsky, founder and director of Jews for Animal Rights (JAR) and Micah Publications, which contains traditional and new material for a vegetarian seder, including recipes, songs, notes, readings, and a bibliography, and The Jewish Vegetarian Year Cookbook by Roberta Kalechofsky and Rosa Rasiel, which includes many recipes suitable for Passover. They also have a vegetarian Passover cookbook and a video casette that describes a vegetarian seder. Other books that have vegetarian recipes appropriate for Passover include No Cholesterol Passover Recipes by Debra Wasserman and Charles Stahler and Vegan Passover Recipes by Nancy Berkoff, both published by the Vegetarian Resource Group (P.O. Box 1463, Baltimore, MD 21203; www.vrg.org), and Jewish Vegetarian Cooking (the official cookbook of the International Jewish Vegetarian Society) by Rose Friedman (Thorsons Publishers). Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D. Is Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island and the author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, Judaism and Global Survival, and Mathematics and Global Survival. He is also President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and can be reached at: rschw12345@aol.com.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 65
125 Best Cheesecake Recipes by George Geary (Robert Rose, $18.95)
R EAD IT AND EAT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN This cooking school teacher writes his first cookbook. He shares his secrets, techniques, no-fail tips for perfect cheesecakes, descriptions of ingredients, sweet and savory cheesecake recipes and toppings. Bake and no-bake. Simple and show stopping. Wedding, Quadruple Chocolate, Berry Berry Berry, Kiwi, Rocky Road, Herbed Gorgonzola, Pesto Sun-Dried Tomato cheesecakes. A cheesecake for every day and for everything there is a cheese cake. One-to-a-page recipes with clear, numerical instructions and tips. Add this to your dessert list for your Seder or any day during Passover. PASSOVER HONEY CHEESECAKE Preheat oven to 350º. You’ll need a 10-inch cheesecake pan, ungreased, or springform pan with 3-inch sides, greased. CRUST: 2 cups ground almonds 1/4 cup matzo meal, ground
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (Tip: Grind nuts and matzo meal together in a food processor to keep the nuts from turning to butter.) In a medium bowl, combine almonds, matzo meal and butter. Press into bottom of cheesecake pan and freeze. FILLING: 4 packages (each 8 oz) cream cheese, softened 2 cups sour cream 2/3 cup liquid honey 6 egg yolks 2 tbsp vanilla 1/2 cup ground almonds In a large mixer bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream and honey on medium-high speed for 3 minutes. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Fold in vanilla. Pour batter over frozen crust. Sprinkle chopped almonds on top of batter. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the top is light brown and the center has a slight jiggle to it. Cool on a rack for two hours. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a least six hours before decorating or serving. Variation: Substitute pecans for almonds for a more complex nut flavor. Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@yahoo.com.
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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
Lecturer to Discuss Corporate Complicity in the Holocaust Northwestern University Professor Peter Hayes will share his research on the behavior of German corporations during World War II on Thursday, April 21, 7:30 p.m., at the Nebraska Union, 1400 ‘R’ St. in Lincoln. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL.
April 15, 2005
Synagogues B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE FRIDAY: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m.
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.; Tot Shabbat, 6 p.m.; SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m.; Kiddush is sponsored by Jill and Mark Belmont, in honor of their son, Colin, becoming a Bar Mitzvah; Junior Congregation, 10 a.m.; K’tantan, 10:45 a.m.; Evening Service, 7:55 p.m. 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. BESTT PESACH PROGRAM Sunday,10 a.m. to noon, for kindergarten through seventh. 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. COMFORT AND CONVERSATION Wednesday, April 27, 6 p.m.; for those mourning the recent or past loss of a loved one. PASSOVER THURSDAY: Shaharit/Siyyum B’khorim, 6:30 a.m. SATURDAY, April 23: Mincha, 5:30 p.m. ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL PASSOVER SEDER For the entire community on Sunday, April 24, 6 p.m. Please call the synagogue for information.
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 the Sisterhood; Mincha, 7:45 p.m.; Havdalah, 8:50 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; “Cramming for Pesach: Test Your Knowledge of the Haggadah,” with Rabbi Gross, 10 a.m.; 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. THURSDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m., followed by Siyyum B’chorim. Pre-Pesach dinner, 6 p.m. Search for Chametz not before 8:47 p.m. FRIDAY: Shacharit, 7 a.m.,
Chametz to be burned no later than 12:15 p.m. Burning of chametz can be done at the synagogue at 11:30 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. SATURDAY, April 23: Shacharit, 8 a.m. (please note special time for Shabbat service). Recite Kol Chamira, nullification of chametz, by 11:06 a.m. Mincha, 8 p.m. Candlelighting and earliest time to start seder is 8:58 p.m. SUNDAY, April 24: Shacharit, 9 a.m. Mincha, 8 p.m. Candlelighting and earliest time to start Seder is 8:59 p.m. MONDAY, April 25: The synagogue office is closed for Pesach. Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha, 8 p.m.; Havdalah, 9 p.m.
BEYT SHALOM FRIDAY: Learner’s Minyan, 7 p.m. at the synagogue SUNDAY: Religious School, 3-5 p.m. at the JCC. FRIDAY, April 22: Shabbat in the Home CONGREGATIONAL SEDER Saturday, April 23, 5:30 p.m. at the synagogue. Please come as our guest and join us in a spirited music filled evening of song and prayer. Call the synagogue with your reservation. SUNDAY, April 24: No Religious School
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. SATURDAY, April 23, Shabbat HaGadol: Shacharit, 8 a.m. followed by Kiddush; Chametz may be eaten no later than 11:05 a.m. Nullify Chametz by 12:13 p.m.; Mincha, 7:30 p.m.; Seder Intro, 8 p.m.; Communal Seder, 9 p.m. Programs are open to the community. For information or to register, call 330.1800 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. led by Rabbi Stiel, with the Adult Hebrew Class participating, sermon by Sue Schreiber. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. All led by Rabbi Stiel; Game Night, 6 p.m. SUNDAY: Hebrew School, 9 a.m.-noon; RUACH Lunch and
Games, 12:15 pm.; Board of Trustees Meeting, 3 p.m.; Youth Group Progressive Seder, 4 p.m. TUESDAY: Youth Group volunteer with FUN CLUB Scavenger Hunt at the Auld Center, 4:45 p.m. ADULT EDUCATION Tuesday, April 19, 7:30 p.m.: Rabbi Elihu Milder will examine the Passover Haggadah, covering its development; the Four Questions, and other interesting material. Passover refreshments will be served. FRIDAY, April 22: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m., led by Rabbi Stiel. SATURDAY, April 23: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. All led by Rabbi Stiel. SUNDAY, April 24: No Religious School Classes; Community Passover Seder, 6 p.m. Cost is adult members, $10; non-members, $15; children, ages five-12, $5; and children under age five are free), using a wonderful new haggadah called A Night of Questions: A Passover Haggadah. RSVP to the Temple Office at 435.8004 or stemple@neb.rr. com.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Steve Riekes. PASSOVER SATURDAY, April 23: Services, 9 a.m. led by Andy Greenberg; First Seder, 6 p.m., led by Andrew Greenberg. SUNDAY, April 24 Second Seder, 5 p.m., led by Marti Nerenstone.
TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Family Shabbat Service, 6 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel and Cantor Wendy Shermet will officiate together with the Grade Four students. Public and religious school teachers will be honored at this special service; Early Worship Service, 6 p.m. Rabbi Craig Marantz and Jeffrey Taxman will officiate using the Union Prayer Book. SATURDAY: Bagels and Sacred Books, 9:30-10:15 a.m.; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. Jordan Jeffrey Slutzky, son of Lesley and Jeffrey Slutzky, will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah. ADULT EDUCATION SUNDAY, Apr 17, 10:15 a.m.: Continuing Hebrew. Colleen Kennealy will help students improve their reading and understanding of Shabbat prayers. TUESDAY, April 19, 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. WEDNESDAY, April 20: Conversation with Rabbi Craig
Candlelighting Friday, April 15, 7:46 p.m.
Marantz, noon-1 p.m. THURSDAY, April 21: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Cantor Shermet, 10-11:30 a.m. SHABBAT COMES TO YOU Rabbi Craig Marantz and members of the Temple Youth Group will lead a Shabbat Service, Friday, April 22, 4 p.m. at Remington Heights. SUNDAY, April 24: Passover Morning Service, 10:30 a.m.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN AT TLC FRIDAY: Mincha, 7 p.m. followed by Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; followed by Kiddush luncheon; Mincha, 7:30 p.m. followed by Ma’ariv. FRIDAY, April 22: Mincha, 7:50 p.m. followed by Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv. SATURDAY, April 23: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha, 7:40 p.m. followed by Ma’ariv. SUNDAY, April 24: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha, 7:50 p.m. followed by Ma’ariv. Monday, April 25: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Mincha, 7:50 p.m. followed by 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. JEWISH FEDERATION OF LINCOLN KICK-OFF EVENT SUNDAY, 7 p.m.: Cantor Gastón Bogomolni of Beth El Synagogue in Omaha will present a program of Jewish music, accompanied by the children of the religious schools of B’nai Jeshurun and Tifereth Israel. All current and potential donors are invited to the program, followed by a dessert reception. Babysitting is available; call Marcia Kushner for information or to arrange transportation, 423.5959. 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. PASSOVER THURSDAY, April 21: Shacharit/Siyyum Bechorim (First Born), 8:15 a.m.; FRIDAY, April 22: Shabbat HaGadol, 8 p.m. SATURDAY, April 23: Morning service, 9:30 a.m.; Light candles no earlier than, 8:59 p.m.; Mincha, First Seder, 6 p.m. SUNDAY, April 24: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.; Light candles no earlier than 9 p.m.; Mincha, Second Seder, 6 p.m. MONDAY, April 25: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m.
April 15, 2005
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Index of Advertisers Advertiser Page AAA Rents ............................................................ 62 Abraham Catering ................................................ 12 Abrahams Kaslow and Cassman LLP .................. 42 Absolutely Fresh Seafood ..................................... 37 Action Ink-Jet and Toner Refill ............................... 57 Acura of Omaha ................................................... 34 Alkar Billiards and Bar Stools ............................... 44 All Makes Office Equipment Co. ........................... 54 All Seasons Home Improvement ............................ 6 Allens ................................................................... 45 Allergy, Asthma and Immunology ......................... 57 American National Bank ...................................... 42 AMIT Women ....................................................... 48 AmSan Nogg Chemical & Paper Co. .................... 30 Associated Counseling Professionals .................... 18 At Your Service ..................................................... 13 B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge ......................... 48 B’nai B’rith Youth Organization ....................... 24, 48 B’nai Israel Synagogue ........................................ 48 B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue .................................. 21 Badger Body and Isuzu Truck Company .............. 57 Bag ‘N Save ........................................................... 8 Belgrade Family ................................................... 21 Bergman’s ........................................................... 62 Bernina Sewing Centers ....................................... 46 Beth El Sisterhood ............................................... 48 Beth El Synagogue ............................................... 48 Beth Israel Sisterhood .......................................... 48 Beth Israel Synagogue ......................................... 48 BILU USY ............................................................. 24 Bloomfield Forum .................................................. 6 Blooms ................................................................ 55 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska ..................... 65 Blumenthal Cady & Associates ............................ 61 Borsheim’s ........................................................... 11 Brandeis Catering ................................................ 37 Broadmoor .......................................................... 29 Broadway in Omaha ............................................ 50 Brodkey’s ............................................................. 18 Brownell Talbot ..................................................... 63 Builders Supply .................................................... 43 Canfield’s Sporting Goods .................................... 45 Care Consultants ................................................. 65 CBRE/MEGA ....................................................... 62 CBS/Home-Gary Kuklin ...................................... 26 Chabad of Nebraska ............................................ 48 Christel’s .............................................................. 33 Cohen Family ....................................................... 17 Commercial Printing Co. ...................................... 30 Countryside Village ............................................... 19 Crown Pointe ....................................................... 56 Crowne Plaza ....................................................... 43 Dance Shoppe ..................................................... 19 David Morton Food Marketing .............................. 54 Elliott Moore Enterprises ...................................... 65
Advertiser Page Encircle ................................................................ 51 Expressions Imprinted Sportswear ....................... 28 Eye Essentials ...................................................... 17 Factory Eyeglass Outlet ........................................ 40 Fahey, Mayor Mike ................................................. 9 Family Enrichment, Inc. ....................................... 60 Family Fun Center ................................................ 51 Fifth Third Bank ................................................... 60 First Westroads Bank ........................................... 57 Frankel, Zacharia, Arnold, Nissen, Stamp and Reinsch ................................................ 21 Fraser, Stryker, Meusey, Olson, Boyer and Bloch, P.C. .............................................. 6 Friedel Jewish Academy ......................................... 7 Garbo’s Salons & Spa .......................................... 11 Genzyme Corp. .................................................... 32 Girl Scouts-Great Plains Council ........................... 17 Girls and Boys Town ......................................... 9, 29 Goodman Zimmerman Mortgage Company ........ 41 Gordmans ............................................................ 68 Grace/Mayer Insurance ....................................... 36 Great Western Bank ............................................. 20 Greek Islands ....................................................... 12 Grubb and Ellis/Pacific Realty ................................ 4 Hadassah ............................................................ 48 Hagel, Senator Chuck and Lilibet ......................... 20 Hampton Inn ........................................................ 15 Harris Center for Judaic Studies at UNL ............... 28 Heartland Clinical Resaerch, Inc. ......... 5, 14, 38, 64 Herman’s Nut House/Pear’s Coffee .................... 10 Hockenbergs ........................................................ 47 Honeyman Rent-All .............................................. 33 Horizon Dental Center .......................................... 54 Hy-Vee ................................................................. 25 I-Go Van and Storage .............................................. 6 Ideal Pure Water ................................................... 14 Industrial Packaging Corporation ........................... 8 Israel Bonds ......................................................... 53 Jacobson Fish Co., Inc. ........................................ 14 Jewish Community Center ................................... 18 Jewish Family Services ......................................... 20 Jewish Federation of Lincoln ................................ 34 Jewish Federation of Omaha .................................. 3 Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation ............. 15 Jewish National Fund/Gamma Tours ................... 16 Jewish Press .............................................. 2, 24, 67 Jewish Senior Services ......................................... 23 Jewish War Veterans ............................................ 48 John A. Gentleman Mortuaries ............................ 29 Julio’s ................................................................... 59 Katelman’s Antiques ............................................ 62 Kohll’s Pharmacy and Homecare .......................... 6 KPTM/KXVO ........................................................ 61 Krieger and Krieger ................................................ 5 Lafata’s Caffe Italiano and Bakery ........................ 37
Advertiser Page Lakeside Dentistry .................................................. 9 League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly ............ 48 Legacy Dental ...................................................... 31 Lerner Company .................................................. 56 Li’l Prince and Princess ........................................ 19 Lion’s Automotive Upholstery ............................... 17 Louie M’s Burger Lust .......................................... 59 Louis Liquor Grill and Bar ..................................... 13 Lynn Roberts International ................................... 62 Malashock Jewelry ............................................... 33 Malbar Vision Centers .......................................... 26 Maple Crest Care Center ...................................... 14 Marathon Realty .................................................. 64 Mark Sanford Group ............................................ 41 Marks Clare and Richards .................................... 35 Marriott Regency Hotel ......................................... 36 Mazon .................................................................. 61 McGill, Gotsdiner, Workman and Lepp, P.C., L.L.O. ................................. 44 McGrath, North, Mullin and Kratz, PC LLO .......... 38 Mediterranean Bistro ........................................... 59 Metropolitan Community College ......................... 42 Mid-City Jewelry and Loan ................................... 47 Mid Con Systems ................................................... 7 Midwest Ear Nose and Throat ................................ 8 Midwest Woodworkers ........................................... 5 Moore’s Landscaping ........................................... 63 Mulhall’s .............................................................. 45 Mutual Protective Insurance ................................. 58 N. Pitlor and Son, Inc. .......................................... 22 National Council of Jewish Women ...................... 48 NCSY of Beth Israel Synagogue ............................ 24 Nebraska Childrens Home Society ....................... 35 Nebraska Democratic Party ................................. 47 Nebraska Furniture Mart ...................................... 26 Nebraska Jewish Historical Society ...................... 48 Nebraska Wine and Spirits, Inc. ........................... 45 Nelson, Senator Ben and Diane ........................... 34 No Frills ................................................................ 18 Nobbies ............................................................... 54 Noddle Development Company ........................... 15 Northwestern Mutual-Rob Randels ....................... 46 Odyssey Health Care .............................................. 7 Omaha Compound Company ............................. 46 Omaha Paper Stock Co. ...................................... 22 Omaha Steaks ..................................................... 40 Omaha Surgical Center ........................................ 26 Omaha Temple Youth Group ................................ 24 Omaha Trans Video ............................................. 38 One Drake Place .................................................. 31 Park Plaza Regency Lodge ................................... 65 Parsow’s .............................................................. 11 Pasta Amore ........................................................ 55 Peterson Bros. Realty ........................................... 57 Pip Printing .......................................................... 63
Advertiser Page Planned Parenthood ............................................ 47 Pollak and Hicks .................................................. 30 Prudential Insurance-Joseph John ....................... 57 Pulverente ............................................................ 41 Randy’s Pharmacy ................................................. 9 Recroom ................................................................ 5 Regency Court ...................................................... 11 Remington Heights Retirement Community ......... 27 Residential Mortgage Services, Inc. ...................... 51 River City Star ....................................................... 64 Riverfront Place Condos ....................................... 49 Rockbrook Floors ................................................. 22 Rockbrook Village ................................................. 55 Rossi .................................................................... 55 Rotella’s Italian Bakery ......................................... 21 Russell’s ............................................................... 19 Ryco Packaging Corp. .......................................... 40 Salon Aura ........................................................... 42 Sarah’s ................................................................. 19 Savannah Pines ................................................... 44 Schrier Ford .......................................................... 14 Schwalb Realty .................................................... 54 Second Story ....................................................... 36 Security National Bank ......................................... 55 Senor Matias ........................................................ 12 Sir Speedy ........................................................... 45 Sol’s Jewelry and Loan ........................................ 30 Sonny Gerber Auto Sales ...................................... 41 Spirit World .......................................................... 13 Sprigs ................................................................... 12 St. Joseph Villa ....................................................... 4 State Farm Insurance-Gary Kudym ...................... 10 Suburban Newspapers, Inc. ................................. 10 Sunridge Village ................................................... 30 Superior Pools and Spas ........................................ 6 Swartzbaugh Farber and Associates .................... 33 Temple Israel ........................................................ 48 Terry, Congressman Lee ...................................... 32 Tier One Bank ...................................................... 38 Topp’s .................................................................. 11 Torah Learning Center ......................................... 48 Turnbull, Dennis-Contractor ................................. 60 University of Nebraska Medical Center ................. 39 V. Mertz ................................................................ 12 Valentino’s ............................................................ 13 Venice Inn ............................................................ 37 Visions ................................................................. 48 Wells Blue Bunny ................................................. 52 Wiesman Development ........................................ 10 Winery ................................................................. 59 Wolfson Used Cars .............................................. 58 Wyndham Street LTD. .......................................... 62 Zio’s Pizzeria ........................................................ 59 Zuerlein Dentistry-Dr. Brian Zuerlein ..................... 58
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
April 15, 2005
Best Wishes for a happy Passover and a celebration of freedom with family and friends.