Issuu

A N AG E N C Y O F T H E J E W I S H F E D E R AT I O N O F O M A H A

The Jewish Press WWW.O M A H A J E W I S H P R E SS .CO M

INSIDE

WWW. J E W I S H O M A H A .O R G

JFO ANNUAL MEETING

Jeannette Gabriel to speak at B’nai Israel Page 3

he Jewish Federation of Omaha invites the community to our Awards Night and Annual Meeting, Monday June 7 at 7 p.m. Current CDC guidelines will be followed. We are excited to welcome you to the beautiful new Alan J. Levine Performing Arts Theater. The 2020 award recipients include Marty Ricks, who is the JFO Humanitarian of the Year; Jamie Friedland and Ted Friedland, the Phil & Terri Schrager Spirit of Federation Award; Shane Cohn, recipient of the Bruce Fellman Memorial Young Leadership Award; Abigail Kutler, who receives the Lois Jeanne Schrager Memorial Young Leadership Award; Chris Ulven, recipient of the Jody and Neal Malashock Award for Professional Excellence; Chabad, who will receive the Jewish Federation of Omaha Community Service Award; Laura Kirshenbaum and Jordan Raffel, recipients of the Robert and Ellen Gordman Teen Leadership Award and, finally, the recipients of our Agency Volunteer of the Year Awards. Please join as we celebrate all recipients while helping us install the new JFO board of directors. We will also have the opportu-

You can’t sing, go home Page 3

Thoughts on the current Mideast Crisis Page 8

REGULARS

Spotlight Voices Synagogues Life cycles

4 5 6 7

SPONSORED BY THE BENJAMIN AND ANNA E. WIESMAN FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND

MURPHY SCOTT WULFGAR Communications Director, ADL-CRC Plains States Region A little over one month ago, Ellen Platt delivered her D’var Torah and entrusted the Jewish community with a painful and personal story whose roots had been hindering racial progress and healing for more than a year. If you have not done so, we en-

nity to thank those who are retiring, including Louri Sullivan and Steve Levinger. So much has happened in our building over the past year. The Annual Meeting is the perfect opportunity to see all the changes to our newly renovated Staenberg JCC. Come experience the beautiful Schlessinger Family Lobby and the newly installed donor wall. It’s a work of art! See JFO Annual Meeting page 2

courage you to watch it. Through her words, we were invited to become a part of this story and a communitywide solution to a systemic problem. Since Ellen’s sermon, there has been a groundswell of positive support, heartfelt apologies and conversations aimed at moving us forward. Anti-racism work, like Temple Israel’s Racial Justice Initiative led by Rabbi Deana Berezin, is beginning to blossom in spaces throughout our community just as we at the Jewish Federation of Omaha ( JFO) and Omaha’s Anti-Defamation League (ADL-CRC) have been thoughtfully preparing our own internal and community-facing plans of action. ADL-CRC has been part of the JFO family for years, yet, despite this longstanding relationship, some might be unclear what the ‘CRC’ stands for.

The CRC (Community Relations Committee) is a bridge between the resources of a national social justice organization like ADL and the immediacy and intimacy of local community outreach provided by JFO. The CRC has always been an ideal; a principle to adhere the work of ADL to the local community and vice versa. We are looking to re-imagine that ideal and realize it in a much more concrete way. First, by expanding the scope of ADL-CRC’s Civil Rights Committee to include a wider range of community members working alongside both JFO and ADL staff to dismantle any silos that may have prevented collaboration and to join the many others seeking to usher in a new era of Jewish allyship in the Omaha community as See Allyship Initiatve page2

It’s good to be back! I’m back! After a productive and fun summer as the Jewish Press’s intern in 2020 and a whirlwind of a senior year at college, I SAM KRICSFELD am grateful Intern, Jewish Press to return as the 2021 Summer Intern. If you don’t know me, my name is Sam Kricsfeld. I just graduated from the University of Kansas with a BS in news and information journalism and a minor in creative writing. I also studied Hebrew to pick up where I left off after my time at Friedel Jewish Academy. At KU Hillel I was a writing and marketing intern, and I am just finishing up my fellowship in the Hillel International Writing Program. I’ve written and edited for KU’s newspaper, the University Daily Kansan, and its magazine, CHALK. I have written upwards of 25 articles for the Press between last year’s internship and freelancing. My father, Dr. Alan Kricsfeld, is a physician in Council Bluffs, a board member of Jewish Family Services and a past president of Beth Israel Synagogue. My mother, Debbie Kricsfeld, was previously a board member for the Jewish Press, Friedel and Beth Israel. My sister, Rachel Kricsfeld, was a dancer at the JCC Dance Training Company and a student at Friedel. She will be attending KU in the fall. I can’t introduce myself without mentioning my passion for cars. My Bar Mitzvah was car-themed, I have bookshelves full of car books and I have a few too many Hot Wheels. I hope to have a career in automotive journalism as an editor for a car magazine or website. I am proud to write and intern for the Press. Every person I work with is welcoming and supportive. The Press’s audience is constructive and loyal. The JCC has been renovated and looks beautiful. Every aspect about working for the Press is fantastic, and I’m so glad to be back for another summer. As always, I aim to produce enjoyable and interesting content for you throughout the summer in addition to Annette’s and my Death and Mourning series. You all were so supportive of my writing last year, and I thank you very much. I am fortunate to be a part of the Omaha Jewish community and to have a voice here at the Press. Keep an eye out for my byline! The Jewish Press Summer Internship is made possible through the generosity of the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation.

June 4, 2021