Vol. LXXXII
No. 41
Omaha, NE
13 Sivan, 5763
June 13, 2003
SERVING NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA FOR 82 YEARS
Norman Batt Dies at Age 85 Federation Described as “Sound as Ever” at Annual Meeting
by CAROL KATZMAN, Editor The man who personally acted as the general contractor for the current Jewish Community Center building-Norman Batt--was buried yesterday at Beth El Cemetery. He died June 9 at the age of 85. “My dad was so proud of the work he did for the ‘J’,” said his son, Bob Batt. “His name is on the cornerstone of that building, along with others in the family.” Batt began his volunteerism in the Omaha Jewish community when Paul Veret was still in charge of the old ‘J’. When his children were young, he cochaired Camp Brewster sessions. He liked to take credit for the hiring of Sherman Poska as the director. He first became a construction chairman when a new camp was begun near Louisville, NE. This camp was partially funded by Jule M. Newman, named in honor of his deceased wife, Esther K. Newman. He always spoke of his work on the new JCC as his greatest accomplishment. He said that when he was chosen for the job, the building became a magnet to him. Each night, after dinner, he would check to see what the workmen had done that day. He tried to manage every penny and make sure that no money was wasted. “His passion for the JCC resulted in
one of the finest state-of-the-art facilities anywhere in the country at that time,” said Jeff Aizenberg, JCC Executive Director. “He spent hours and hours and hours on it,” said Morley Zipursky, who was President of the Jewish Federation at the time, “and he did a terrific job. Norm was an integral part of making it happen.” Batt went to Denver to see their JCC and returned to to propose that Omaha had enough money to build an outdoor pool. Many joked about it because Batt had forgotten to allow (Continued on page 2)
by CAROL KATZMAN, Editor Steve Pitlor, President of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, presided over its annual meeting Monday night which focused on honoring volunteers and leaders. In his remarks, Pitlor outlined three challenges in the year remaining in his term as president: “re-establishing missions to Israel, (unveiling) long range plans to update facilities for our elderly, and enhancement of Jewish education.” Pitlor also noted that Steve Pitlor, Federation President, opened “our Federation is as the Annual Meeting of the Jewish Federation, sound as ever...in mid-size which celebrated its 100th anniversary. to large communities, Omaha’s campaign was the fourth gave a “state of the Federation” highest in the category, exceeding address. Among the honorees were outgoing Nashville, Tucson and New Orleans,” agency presidents: Dr. Patricia among others. Newman of Jewish Family Service, In 1903, the year the Federation was Fred Tichauer of The Jewish Press established, this community raised and Mimi Waldbaum of the Anti$1363. The 2003 campaign raised Defamation League; and incoming more than $3 million and the presidents: Justin Cooper of JFS, Federation Foundation’s assets now Joanie Jacobson of the Press and Sara exceed $30 million. Juster of the ADL. In addition to Pitlor, Federation (Continued on page 8) Executive Director Jan Goldstein
Belzers’ Legacy Enriches Family and Community by CLAUDIA SHERMAN, Foundation Public Relations Coordinator It could have been a scene from Fiddler on the Roof. It was about 1920 in Ukraine, Russia. There had been a pogrom in the tiny shtetl of Chan burning the town to the ground. A teenage boy stood in a lineup expecting to be shot and would have been if a soldier had not spared the boy, because he was “altogether too small, too young.” But this wasn’t a Broadway musical. Israel Belzer, a resident of Chan, was a widower with five children including Oscar whose life was spared. Belzer already had relatives living in America--in Omaha. A cousin sponsored the family to join them, and in 1921, the immigrants made it to Ellis Island. In a speech on his 80th birthday, Oscar Belzer said, “.....a miracle happened and we were able to leave that inferno and come to this great beloved land of ours, the United States of America. I sometimes think we ought to kiss the soil of this land everyday for affording us the opportunity to live here in freedom as human beings.” Arriving in Omaha, the six Belzers moved in with their sponsor Oscar Goldner, his wife, children, and mother. By 1928, Oscar Belzer graduated from Creighton University Dental School following in Goldner’s career path. Belzer was secretary-treasurer of his class and never forgot how much he owed Creighton, one of the few professional schools at that time to accept Jews. One day, a young woman, Ruth Frisch, came to Belzer’s office for dental treatment. Her parents, Anna and Samuel Frisch, were from Hungary. Ruth, born in Omaha, had gone to Central High School and was working as a ticket taker at the Circle Theater near 33rd and California. Belzer must have been enamored with the young woman from the outset. He called her that night to see how she felt and insisted she not stand on the corner waiting for a streetcar. He would pick her up. Oscar and Ruth fell in love and were married in 1933 in Rabbi David Goldstein’s study at Beth El Synagogue. They had eloped and lived separately
Oscar and Ruth Belzer for six weeks before telling their parents who disapproved of the union. Oscar loved his work and became known as “the singing dentist,” said his niece, Eunice Denenberg. He practiced in Omaha from 1928 to 1952 in the Medical Arts Building at 17th and Dodge. “He adored opera and classical music,” Denenberg added, “and was a great dancer. He was always smiling and having fun. He was a scholar of life, of mankind, and read extensively in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, and Russian. He was very well learned in Judaic studies and interested in social justice and politics.” “And he worshiped and adored his wife,” Denenberg said. “Ruth was the earth mother. Their house was the house everybody went to--family, his colleagues and their families, immigrants. It was
very exciting at their house and full of life, music, people, and food. Ruth was a great cook and, in every respect, the perfect helpmate. She made it easy for Oscar to go out and participate in society and created a peaceful haven at home. Ruth made that magic happen.” Denenberg was certainly in a position to know. Her father, Louis Newberg, died when she was only seven. So she and her mother, Oscar’s sister, moved in with the Belzers. “They became my surrogate parents even while my mother was still living,” Denenberg explained. The Belzers’ son, Jerry, “was like my brother. He was the only one of Ruth’s five pregnancies that resulted in a live birth. Jerry Belzer became a pathologist. Denenberg recalled how her aunt was active in all the Jewish women’s organizations, especially Hadassah. “That’s what they did for fun,” Denenberg reminisced, “raise money to establish a Jewish state.” The Belzers attended Chevra B’nai Israel at 18th and Chicago. “Oscar went there to daven all the time. I remember being under the shelter of his talit with Jerry,” recollected Denenberg. In 1954, the Belzers moved to Los Angeles where Oscar practiced dentistry until he retired at age 84. Ruth and Oscar celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary in 1997, one month before he died. One year before Oscar’s death, Jerry Belzer died. He was 62 and “kind and gentle, just like Oscar,” his mother later said. “Thoughtful and non-judgmental. He was witty and well-read, and that’s the way Oscar was.” (Continued on page 6)
INSIDE: JCC Hands Out Awards ......................... page 7 The History Footprint ......................... page 10 Teen Wins NFTY Art Award ................ page 12
Page 2
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 13, 2003
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS C L I P & S A V E
FRIDAY, JUNE 13 Visions Board Meeting, 9:30 a.m. MONDAY, JUNE 16 YES Program, 10 a.m. Talmud Class with Rabbi Kutner, 7 p.m. at Beth Israel
C L I P & S A V E
TUESDAY, JUNE 17 BBYO Night, 6 p.m. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18 B’nai B’rith Breadbreakers, noon, at the Park Inn Regency Lodge C L I P & S A V E
THURSDAY, JUNE 19 Walk-in Drop-in Activity, 10 a.m. Yiddish Group Meeting, 1 p.m. Monthly Book Discussion Group, 1 p.m. in the Kripke Library All events held at the JCC unless otherwise indicated.The Jewish Press is not responsible for the accuracy of events.To keep calendar accurate or for questions, call Marlene Hert at 334-6437. FOR A COMPLETE LISTING,VISIT THE FEDERATION’S WEBSITE: www.JewishOmaha.org (click on calendar)
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by SHANI KATZMAN Parashat Naso The Revelation at Sinai which we just celebrated on Shavuot, is often described as the marriage of the Jewish People to G-d. The Covenant--Torah and Mitzvot--serves as the Ketubah, our marital obligations of loyalty and commitment to G-d. The prophets also speak of this bond and of Israel’s sins as a wife’s betrayal of her husband. Following this model, the sages of the Talmud see the sotah--the “wayward wife” discussed in our parashah--as the prototype of all transgression of the Divine will. The Hassidic masters further investigate this prototype, finding in the particulars of the laws of sotah insight into the deeper significance of transgression. The sotah is not a woman who is known to have actually committed adultery, but rather one whose behavior makes her suspect of having done so. Her faithfulness to her husband must therefore be established before the marriage relationship can be resumed. A woman becomes a Sotah through a two-stage process: jealousy (kinui) and hiding (setirah). The first stage occurs when a husband suspects his wife of an improper relationship with another man and warns her, before two witnesses, not to be found alone with that individual. If the woman disregards this warning and proceeds to seclude herself with this person, she becomes a sotah, forbidden to live with her husband unless she agrees to be tested with the “bitter waters”. The woman is warned that if she has indeed committed adultery, the bitter waters will kill her; if, however, she has actually been unfaithful, the drinking of these waters exonerates her completely. In fact, the Torah promises that, having subjected herself to this ordeal, her marriage will now be even more rewarding and fruitful than before her going astray. As applied to the marriage between G-d and His people: Israel can never truly betray her G-d; at worst, she can only be as a sotah, a wife whose behavior gives the appearance of unfaithfulness and causes a temporary rift between herself and her husband. The process by which this happens was begun at Mount Sinai, where G-d, like a jealous husband, warned: “Do not have any other gods before Me.” But no matter how far the Jewish soul strays, she never truly gives herself to these other gods; she is only hiding from G-d, indulging the illusion that there exists a dimension of reality that is outside of G-d’s all-pervading presence and providence. Even this she can do only because G-d has set her up to it by His jealousy. In the case of the sotah, simply secluding herself with another man does not make her a wayward wife--unless such seclusion has been preceded by a warning from her husband; in other words, it is the husband’s jealousy which makes her act a betrayal, not the act in and of itself. By the same token, a soul’s hiding herself from Gd is possible only because G-d has allowed for this possibility by proclaiming: “Do not have any other gods before Me,” thereby giving credence to the illusion that there can be anything other. Were it not for this Divine contrivance, sin--that is, a denial of the Divine reality--would not be possible. To continue the analogy: When the Jewish people act as a sotah, they are tested with the bitter waters of galut (thus: “Because of our sins we were exiled from our land”). Indeed, 2000 years of exile have proven that, despite all appearances, the Jewish soul is inseparable from her G-d. The Jew may be persecuted for centuries, may assimilate for generations, but ultimately there comes a moment of truth, a moment which lays bare the question of who and what we are stripped of all distortion and self-delusion, and our innate faithfulness to G-d comes to light. And like the bitter waters of the sotah, galut is more than just a test. It is a “descent for the sake of ascent,” a crisis in the marriage which ultimately deepens and enhances it by unearthing deep wells of loyalty and commitment which remain untapped in an unchallenged relationship. The trials of galut call forth the quintessential powers of the Jewish soul, intensifying the bond between G-d and His people. Shani Katzman is the Director of Education at Chabad of Nebraska and the wife of Rabbi Mendel Katzman.
DEATHS Norman Batt (Continued from page 1) for a door leading to the pool as it had been an “add on.” Batt was only the second President of the JCC, from 1975 and 1976, and honored at the 1978 biennial conference of its national organization in Montreal. He also served on the boards of Beth El Synagogue. His volunteer commitments were many and varied and spanned five decades. He fell in love with Frances Blumkin in 1927, but the couple didn’t marry until 1945. They would have celebrated their 58th anniversary on June 24. Batt first worked in Chicago for his parents. “I took a huge cut in pay to go to work at the Nebraska Furniture Mart,” he recalled with a smile in an interview in the March 26, 1999 Jewish Press. It turned out to be the right decision, however, as ‘the Mart’ prospered under the business acumen of his mother-in-law, Rose Blumkin. Serving as Executive Vice-president of NFM, he retired when Rose sold the business on a handshake to local financier Warren Buffett. His son, Bob, has worked at the Mart since 1972 and took over his father’s position after he retired. Norman Batt was preceded in death by his son, Larry, who died just last year at the age of 58. He is survived by his wife, Frances; son and daughter-in-law, Bob and Janice Batt; daughter, Ellie Batt of New York City; daughter-in-law, Margaret Kirkeby; and grandchildren, Jonas Batt of Seattle, WA, Aaron Batt of Costa Rica, Sara Batt of Omaha; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law Frances and Louis Blumkin, Cynthia and Charles Schneider, and Babe Cohen and the late Jerry Cohen. A humble and quiet man, he cared about Omaha Jews. When the old ‘J’ was torn down, he saved two tiles from its lobby. He stored them for many years in the basement of the new JCC building and then they reappeared when the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home was remodeled. The tiles, lettered in Hebrew, reflect “peace, love and sincerity.” These are all qualities shown every day by Norman Batt. Services were held at Beth El Synagogue on June 12. Memorials to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home or Beth El Synagogue. (Joan Marcus contributed to this article) DAVID KRANTZ David Krantz died June 4 at the age of 96. Services were held June 5 at Beth El Cemetery. Krantz, who originally was in the mattress business with his brother in Des Moines, IA, bought Allen Furniture in 1944. He retired in 1975. He was preceded in death by his wife, Rose. He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Howard and Barbara Krantz, daughter and son-inlaw, Judy and Jack Baker; grandchildren, Susie and Stuart Smolar, Betsy Baker and Richard Heyman, Tom and Amber Baker, Jim and Susan Krantz of Chicago, and Jim Baker of Lawrence, KS; eight great-grandchildren; and a brother, Aaron Krantz of of Sun City, AZ. Memorials to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. BERNARD LARRY WEISS Bernard “Bernie” Weiss died June 9 at the age of 82. Services were held June 11 at Beth El Cemetery. He had several careers, serving in the U.S. Navy for eight years, working for RW Grace and owning parking lots. He was always active in synagogue life, even in his later years at the Blumkin Home. He is survived by his wife, Marjorie Weiss; daughter, Cheryl Kricsfeld; daughter and son-in-law, Pam and Bruce Friedlander, all of Omaha; son and daughter-in-law Dr. Marlon and Cindi Weiss of Lincoln; grandchildren: Dr. Alan and Debbie Kricsfeld of Omaha, David Kricsfeld of Kansas City, Michael Kricsfeld of Lawrence, KS, Andee and Anthony Scioli of Omaha, Jimmy Friedlander of New York City, Noah, Molly, Casey and Levi Weiss of Lincoln; and two great-grandchildren. Memorials to favorite charity.
PERSONAL With gratitude to Hashem, the congregation, relatives and friends are welcome to join us for a Kiddush in honor of the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Shelly and Rae Coren on Saturday, June 21, following services (approximately 11:30 a.m.) at Beth Israel Synagogue.
June 13, 2003
SYNAGOGUES
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 3
Candlelighting Friday, June 13 .............................................. 8:40 p.m.
TEMPLE ISRAEL
BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE
BETH EL SYNAGOGUE
Member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations
Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism
7023 Cass Street, Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556-6536 templeisrael-ne.org
Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
1502 No. 52 St., Omaha, NE. 68104 -5013 556-6288 BethIsrael@novia.net
14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492-8550 WEB--www.bethel-omaha.org
FRIDAY: Men’s Club, 11:45 a.m. All male members of Temple Israel are invited to a weekly informal get together at Spirit World, 7517 Pacific St. Join us for some relaxation and great conversation; Kabbalat Shabbat honoring Cantor Emil Berkovitz, 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Rabbi Craig Marantz, Cantor Wendy Shermet and Cantor Berkovitz will officiate. The Kol Rina choir will join the cantors to sing an extended Kabbalat Shabbat worship service. The Oneg is sponsored by WRJ. SATURDAY: Bagels and Sacred Books, 9:30 a.m., in the Milder Center; Morning service, 10:30 a.m.; Rachel Alexandra Brodsky, daughter of Jody and Joel Brodsky, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah. ADULT EDUCATION TUESDAY, June 17: Conversations with the Rabbis, noon-1 p.m. Join Rabbi Azriel for an informal BYO brown bag lunch and discussion of current events and issues that affect the Jewish community in Omaha and around the world. THURSDAY, June 19: Adult Study with Rabbi Azriel, 10-11:30 a.m.
Office hours: Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Howard Kutner. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 7 p.m. West Minyan, 7:30 p.m. at the home of Dennis and Susan Paley. SATURDAY: Morning Services, 8:45 a.m. Elina Yurikov, daughter of Galina and Artur Yurikov, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah. Free babysitting begins at 10 a.m.; Junior Congregation, 10:30 a.m. A Kiddush luncheon is sponsored by the Yurikov family. Mincha, 8:35 p.m., followed by Shalosh Suedot and Ma’ariv; Havdalah, 9:50 p.m. SUNDAY: Services, 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m. and 7 p.m MONDAY: Talmud class with Rabbi Kutner, 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome. GRADUATION SHABBAT Saturday, June 21, Beth Israel will be holding special services honoring all of our graduates. Sarah Grossman, a graduate of Omaha North High School and of Beth Israel’s Hebrew High School will be the featured speaker. Please contact the office if you have a family member to be recognized.
Office Hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. FRIDAY: We come together to welcome Shabbat with prayer, music and song at a joyful Kabbalat service, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Please join us for Morning Services, 9:30 a.m., as Rachel Gordon becomes a Bat Mitzvah. Following services, Bruce and Sandy Gordon will host the Kiddush in honor of their daughter. Evening services at 8:55 p.m. SUNDAY: Services at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. WEEKDAYS: Services at 6:55 a.m. (followed by an optional continental breakfast); and 5:30 p.m. ADULT EDUCATION Wednesday, June 18: The Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah Class, 7:30 p.m. taught by Cantor Emil Berkovits, continues in Stage Two focusing on the Shaharit Service for Shabbat. Sunday, June 22: The first session of Sunday Morning Adult Learners, 11 a.m. with Leonard Greenspoon, Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton.
BEYT SHALOM
An Affiliate of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
3012 S. 119th St., Omaha, NE 68124-5130
P.O. Box 241130 402-592-4082
FRIDAY and SATURDAY: Shabbat in the Home.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway, Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294-6244 FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.
B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 618 Mynster St., Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 Phone: 322-4705 e-mail: doc jeb @aol.com FRIDAY: Evening Service, 7:30 p.m. Oneg will follow.
Temple Israel Dedicates Its New Scroll of Ruth by Claudia Sherman Temple Israel Communications Coordinator
TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 tiferethisraellincoln.org
423-8569
Services conducted by Rabbi Stanley M. Rosenbaum. Minyan, Monday & Thursday, 7:15 a.m. FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 p.m. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 17: Ladies Lunch, noon, at Bob’s Gridiron, 27th and Highway 2. If you would like to attend, call Ruth Goldenberg at 488-6375. Wednesday: Men’s Group at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. If you would like to attend, call Yale Gotsdiner at 423-7066, or the office.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME SATURDAY: Services with Yizkor, 9 a.m., led by Rabbi Maximo Shechet.
CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN SOUTH STREET TEMPLE
Member of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations
2061 S. 20th St., Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435-8004 jewishnebraska.org FRIDAY: Early Shabbat Service, 6 p.m., led by Jeff and Eleanor Kirkland. SATURDAY: Morning Service, 9:30 a.m., Torah Study, 10:30 a.m., both led by Stephanie Dohner. TUESDAY: Board Meeting, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY: AA Meeting, 7 p.m. in the Library or Social Hall. GAME NIGHT Saturday, June 21: Game Night with Potluck meal, 6 p.m. If you have questions or need a ride, call Deborah Swearingen, 476-7528 Stacey Rockman, left, president of Women of Reform Judaism-Omaha (WRJ-O); Katherine Finnegan, and Wendy Goldberg, both WRJ-O members, stand in front of the ark following Erev Shavuot services with Temple Israel’s new Scroll of Ruth. WRJ-O commissioned Rabbi Moshe Druin, a scribe who spent a week here in April, to inscribe the scroll for the congregation. The scroll, dedicated on Shavuot, was passed among Jews-by-choice who came up to the bimah during the service. Others honored at the service were Temple’s adult learners and all those who supported WRJ-O’s Torah Restoration Project which included restoring Temple’s Torahs.
CHABAD HOUSE An Affiliate of the Worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch Movement
CORRECTIONS There was a factual error in the article about Beth El Talmud Torah’s Eighth Grade graduation in the May 31 issue. The eighth graders received, as a gift in memory of Frances Green Fellman, a copy of the book Back to the Sources. The article mistakenly referred to the books as a gift from the Leon Fellman family. Beth El regrets the error. Howard Kaiman’s name was left off the list of graduates from the Melton Mini School in the June 6 issue. The Melton staff regrets the error. Amanda Ipock graduated from Burke High School, not Millard North, as stated ‘In the News’ in the June 6 issue. The Press regrets the error.
1866 So. 120th St., Omaha, NE 68144-1646 Phone: 330-1800 E-MAIL--chabad@aol.com WEBSITE: www.nebraskajudaism.com Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Monday-Friday: Services at 7 a.m. SATURDAY: Services at 9:30 a.m. SUNDAY: Services at 8:30 a.m.
B’NAI MITZVAH Anna Weiss Munzesheimer, daughter of Alice Weiss and Ken Munzesheimer, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah Saturday, June 21, at Beyt Shalom. Anna will be in eighth grade at Millard North Middle School this fall. She enjoys theater, forensics, hiking, martial arts, creative writing and hanging out with her friends. For her mitzvah project Anna helped young adults in a Special Olympics Bowling League. Anna has a sister, Sara, and a brother, Sam. Grandparents are Herb and Trudy Nieder of Newton, NJ and the late Larry and Lillian Munzesheimer. Rebecca Joy Crabb, daughter of Suzan and Ian Crabb, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah Saturday, June 21, at Temple Israel. Rebecca, a distinguished honors student, will be in eighth grade at Westside Middle School this fall. She is the principal chair in the Omaha Area Youth Orchestra Philharmonic, plays Bassoon in the middle school band and tenor sax in jazz band. She also plays soccer and basketball. For her mitzvah project she volunteered in the Maccabi Games Office at the JCC and helped create a power point presentation for the ADL. Rebecca has a brother, Michael. Grandparents are Ariel and Harriet Distenfeld of New York, NY. Great-grandparents are Don and Jean Crabb of Sarasota, FL.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 13, 2003
EDITORIAL Just as Shavuot signals a new beginning for the Jews as a people, the Annual Meeting of the Jewish Federation of Omaha means the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. Volunteers are honored; outgoing presidents and board members are thanked for their service and a sort of State of the Union address is given, outlining past accomplishments and future challenges. Steve Pitlor spoke eloquently Monday night in just that vein. He noted that even in the economic downturn, Omaha managed to rank fourth in the group of midsize-to-large Jewish communities in actual campaign dollars. And he outlined three goals for the remaining year of his presidency: a revitalized Israel missions’ program, unveiling the plan for a new, remodeled or expanded facility for our Jewish elderly, and enhancing Jewish education. Those are ambitious goals, to be sure. Despite the introduction of a new ‘Road Map’ and yet another handshake between an Israeli prime minister and a new Palestinian one, terror continues against Israeli civilians. Yet the goal of sponsoring more
LETTER FROM ISRAEL by HARRY ALLEN One of the more inane bits of psychobabble in the face of a personal tragedy is that one must “get on with one’s life.” In fact, when people are faced with a climactic event in their lives, one does not get on with one’s life--rather they start over. A child dies--parents do not get on with their lives as they once were. One must create a new life with a new reality. A marriage ends--a new life unfolds. Changing jobs, moving to new cities, and, in our case, making aliyah to Israel, all involve starting over. The baggage of the past is always carried, but life really does change. As it is with people, so too it is with nations--and the Jewish nation is an old hand at starting over. The holiday of Shavuot began our centuries-old process of “starting over.” When we came to Sinai and accepted the Torah, the Jewish people started over. True enough, it took 40 years of wandering to completely erase the past, but as a people we began an entirely new adventure. Sinai was a seismic break from the past. When we entered the Promised Land we also started our national life anew. At each stage of a tumultuous history, we Jews in a sense “started over.” After the exile, the rabbis started a new Judaism--they wrote the Talmud which, in many ways, replaced biblical Judaism. After each dispersion, we began a new kind of existence. When the European enlightenment allowed the Jews to enter civil society--Jewish life in many ways started over and the Zionist revolution was certainly a new start for the nation. All of this by the way prefaces to the present. Is the “road map” a starting over in the history of Israel or is it merely a continuation of the present with different players? Tom Segev, writing in Ha’aretz, made the point that 1967 was “a starting over” for Israel. The country, prior to the Six-Day War, was in a deep depression, emigration from Israel had reached epidemic proportions; the economy was shattered, and there was virtually no aliyah. The victory not only changed Israel’s boundaries, but created a new energy, a wholly different kind of national mentality. Now we have a new tectonic shift in policy. Sharon has committed to a Palestinian state; Abbas has recognized the trauma of the Holocaust; and Bush has spoken the words--Israel as a Jewish state. Are we really starting over--beginning a new reality? Time alone will tell, but until we know--we must get on with our lives.
New Beginnings? missions to Israel is probably the least difficult to accomplish. The others may be a bit more challenging. As we’ve noted before, Omahans are just recovering from expanding the JCC; ground has been broken for a new Beth Israel building, and now Temple Israel is attempting to raise as much as $22 million for a new facility. The question is: does the Jewish community have the financial (and emotional) resources to raise even more dollars for a different kind of facility for our elderly than we now have? As to enhancing Jewish education--we suggest a community forum on the subject. Is the Federation competing with our synagogues in that area? Are there programs which the Centers of Excellence could produce more efficiently than either the synagogues or the Federation? Can we be more creative in the delivery of these services to children and adults alike? And, of course, what’s the cost? These are not “loaded” questions, rather they’re “leading” questions meant to prompt discussion. The Press welcomes your suggestions in all these areas and we’d be happy to print your letters.
BEHIND THE HEADLINES by DANIEL PIPES Can the “road map” that President George W. Bush just launched do better than the dismal failure of prior Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy? It can, if it avoids making the same mistakes. The failure of the last round was foreshadowed at the very moment it started, on Sept. 13, 1993. That day famously saw a handshake between two archenemies, Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat, on the White House lawn and the signing of the Oslo accord. Less famously, its demise came at the same moment, as a pre-recorded speech by Arafat to the Palestinians rolled on Jordanian television. In it, Arafat avoided any mention of peace with Israel or the renunciation of terrorism, the central premises of that day’s agreement. Instead, he explained how his having signed the Oslo accord fit into the context of destroying Israel. Arafat reminded viewers of a decision by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1974 to establish “a national authority on any part of Palestinian soil that is liberated or from which the Israelis withdraw.” He presented the Oslo accord as a step toward the piecemeal dismantling of Israel. In response, Rabin should have immediately put a stop to the negotiations. He should have declared the just-signed agreement void because Arafat had breached its core principle--Palestinian acceptance of the Jewish state. Rabin should have suspended his part of the bargain until Arafat spoke again to renounce violence and accept the permanent existence of Israel. But Rabin, of course, did no such thing, not then and not at any other time during the remainder of his prime ministry, despite myriad cases of incitement and violence. Nor did his successors. To the contrary: Israelis showed themselves so indifferent to violence directed against themselves that their most far-reaching concessions to the Palestinians came after the current war started in September 2000. This seeming illogic had a reason, as Douglas Feith (today, undersecretary of defense for policy) explained in 1996 in the Middle East Quarterly. The Israeli leadership, he showed, was engaged in a “withdrawal process, not [a] peace process.” In one politician’s words, the West Bank and Gaza were but “a burden and a curse.” In effect, the Israeli government unilaterally pulled out of those territories. Arafat exploited this reality by pretending to renounce violence and accept Israel, while in fact doing the reverse. That proved good enough for the (Founded in 1920)
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Learning from Oslo Israelis. Not surprisingly, Palestinians developed a disdain for those agreements which they breached with impunity and felt ever-more emboldened to kill Israelis. Finally, they launched a war and the Oslo round collapsed in February 2001. This history has direct implications for the “road map.” The impetus for diplomacy this time comes from Washington, not Jerusalem; so, when Palestinian violence again flares up (when, not if) American officials will be the ones deciding how to respond. Bush has rightly emphasized the need for “a complete end” to violence and official incitement. He has also promised to insist on “commitments fulfilled.” The monumental question ahead will be whether such statements are Oslo-like rhetorical or truly operational. What will happen if: • Mahmoud Abbas’ promise to “act vigorously against incitement and violence and hatred, whatever their form or forum may be” is as hollow as when Arafat gave such assurances? • His renunciation of “terror against the Israelis wherever they might be” is meaningless? • Hamas and Islamic Jihad engage in violence against Israelis? The temptation will be--as Israel’s government did during the Oslo round--to overlook the Palestinians’ trespasses, hoping that further benefits will somehow cause them to stop the incitement and the violence. But that approach failed last time and will do likewise this time. Ironically, should President Bush be serious about his round of diplomacy succeeding, he must give more consequence to the murder of Israelis than did successive Israeli prime ministers. He must be willing to delay the timetable he has set out until the Palestinians truly fulfill his requirements of them. The White House last fall established a “zero tolerance” policy for Iraqi violations of U.N. resolutions; it must do likewise today with the Palestinians: any incitement or sanctioned violence stops the process cold. Doing so will permit the Bush administration to help bring about Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation. But ignoring the violence will only make things even worse than they are now. Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and author of Militant Islam Reaches America (W.W. Norton).
JEWISH PRESS COMMITTEE Howard K. Marcus, Vice-Chairman; Bobbi Leibowitz, Secretary; Scott Meyerson, Finance Chairman; Fred Tichauer, Immediate Past-president; Jean Duitch; Penny Endelman; Kip Gordman; Stanley Mitchell; Linda Saltzman; Joey Shyken; Steve Simon; Nancy Skid; Melanie Weinstein; and George Schapiro (Honorary Committee Member). 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.
June 13, 2003
Page 5
A Rude Awakening
BEHIND THE HEADLINES by JUDY PALKOVITZ The House of Representative’s vote last week to ban so-called “partial-birth abortion” came as a shock to me. I had anticipated the outcome of the vote, but was shaken by the imminent reality of a federal law that actually makes it a crime to perform a type of abortion. Congress, over the years, has restricted access to and funding of abortion services. Both houses of Congress in the past have also passed similar “partial-birth abortion” bans. But, in the end, calmer heads have prevailed, and these measures have always died--either by a failure of one chamber of Congress to pass the law in the same congressional session or by a presidential veto. Today, however, we live in a different time. The enactment of the abortion ban is all but guaranteed: the Senate passed the ban in March and President Bush has repeatedly pledged to sign it once it reaches his desk. We are thus, at the brink of a major setback in our fight to maintain reproductive rights in this country. “Partial-birth abortion” is not a medical term; it is a political term. Abortion opponents claim that the ban would outlaw only a specific and rare abortion
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
procedure used in the late stages of pregnancy. In truth, the legislation is worded so vaguely that it could be interpreted to apply to the most common abortion procedures, used at all stages of pregnancy. The Supreme Court has already ruled that this vagueness is unconstitutional. In 2000, in a case called Stenberg v. Carhart, the Supreme Court struck down a nearly identical Nebraska “partialbirth abortion” ban in part because the law’s language was so vague that doctors might be hesitant to perform legal abortions out of fear of prosecution, conviction and imprisonment under the “partialbirth abortion” law.
The impending enactment of the "partial-birth abortion" ban should alarm not only reproductive rights activists and abortion providers, but anyone who cares deeply about religious rights in this country. As the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade recognized
30 years ago, women, in deciding whether or not to terminate a pregnancy, often draw on their religious and moral beliefs. When the government outlaws an abortion procedure, it intrudes on the province of religion to guide these sorts of moral decisions. The “partial-birth abortion” ban particularly offends our Jewish values because it does not contain an exception to permit the banned procedure when necessary to preserve a woman’s health. Under Jewish law, the preservation of a woman’s health--both physical and mental--is the paramount consideration in deciding whether an abortion is permissible. Congress’s approval of the abortion ban gives all religious groups--Christian, Jewish and other religious communities--a wake up call to join together to reclaim the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. It is our right as Americans to consult our own religious beliefs, free from government interference, in matters as intimate as abortion. Judy Palkovitz, a Pittsburgh resident, is the national secretary of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the Editor: A recently received letter to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home represents the feelings that other residents’ families have expressed over the past years. It is always a “life” to our staff when they are thanked for doing what they love to do. They become very close to our residents and their families and care for them as they would their own. With the approval of the family, we’d like to share this letter from the Noddle brothers. Joanie Bernstein, President Jewish Senior Services To Michael Silverman, JSS Executive Director: Although this past week has been difficult for all of us as a family with the passing of our mother, there is something we want to convey to you and your entire staff. The care our mother received at the Home for the past two years was outstanding. There is no doubt the services the Home provides with sensitivity and caring makes the Blumkin Home something the community can be very proud of. Dealing with older patients is a challenge almost every minute of every day and the needs and desires
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of the residents are unique to each individual. The professionalism with which the staff carries out their duties while maintaining a dignified and refined atmosphere is a credit to everyone associated with the Home. Our mother, like many others, could be difficult at times, and your staff went far beyond what is necessary to ensure she was comfortable, had superb care and made us all feel welcome. There are far too many people to mention, but you know the people who worked at the North Station, from the nurses to the LPNs and all the numerous aides. We want to express our deep appreciation for the caring way in which they oversaw the needs of our mother and hope you acknowledge to all of them our thanks for their services. All of this doesn’t happen without a leader blessed with the capabilities and sensitivities needed to run such a complex operation. (Thanks) for creating an environment in which we are proud to have the finest nursing care home in the state of Nebraska. Harlan, Jeff and Allan Noddle To the Editor: I am writing to forcefully object to the Jewish
Press publishing David Bedein’s article, “The Road Map Rekindles Arab War for the ‘Right of Return’” (May 30). In the article Bedein accuses the U.S. government of supporting the Palestinian right of return to the villages they lost in the 1948 War of Independence. But this accusation is utterly false, and it is a shame that the Jewish Press chose to let Bedein air this falsehood in its pages. No U.S. President or high government official has ever supported the right of return. The Clinton peace plan did not support a right of return; in fact, Clinton explicitly said that the Palestinians must give up their hope for a return to the lost villages. (They could of course return to the West Bank and Gaza under the Clinton plan.) President Bush as well has never endorsed a right of return, and has recently said that Israel has a right to remain a “vibrant Jewish state,” which everyone understands means that there is no right of return for the Palestinians. Jeff Spinner-Halev Schlesinger Professor of Political Science and Judaic Studies University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 13, 2003
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Belzers’ Legacy (Continued from page 1) Jerry Belzer bequeathed funds to Creighton University to endow the Dr. Oscar S. Belzer Chair in Dentistry which was created in 1997. In 1998, the Dr. Jerome J. Belzer Chair in Medical Research was established at UCLA where Jerry had been a resident after graduating from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In addition, the Belzers donated funds to the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society (NJHS) to provide for office space and furnishings. Other recipients of the Belzers’ generosity are Creighton University for scholarships, Jewish Family Service in Los Angeles and the Jewish Home for the Aged there, and the Jewish Federation Free Loan Association. With her aunt’s and uncle’s wishes in mind, Denenberg set up an endowment with the Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Omaha. Income from the Ruth Frisch and Oscar Belzer Endowment Fund will be used to provide refreshments for receptions in conjunction with events at the Omaha Jewish Community Center sponsored by the Jewish Federation or any of its agencies. Events may include speakers, Jewish cultural arts performances such as films, plays, concerts or dance performances as well as other cultural and educational programs. “Endowments like the Belzers’ are crucial to augmenting the quality and scope of basic programs and events funded by Federation through the annual Campaign,” said Federation Executive Director Jan Goldstein. “The fact of the matter is that we cannot keep up with the rising costs of providing the community with things we’ve taken for granted in the past. “We appreciate the value this endowment adds to our Omaha Jewish community,” she added. Denenberg, who so admired Oscar’s and Ruth’s values, created the Belzer Family Gallery with a gift from Ruth Belzer, next door to the NJHS office at the Jewish Community Center. Although Oscar and Ruth lived in Los Angeles for 50 years, “Omaha was home,” Denenberg said. The gallery was dedicated in June 2001 in honor of Ruth’s 90th birthday. Ruth Belzer died in 2002 at the age of 91. In addition to the financial gifts she and Oscar made, she left the legacy they shared of “family, education, and social justice which was pervasive through everything they did in their lives and was handed down to the next generation” as well. Debbie Denenberg, daughter of Eunice and Norman Denenberg, remembers “the learning I’ve done with Uncle Oscar and Aunt Ruth about my life, Judaism, decisions--about the nature of the world and our family’s place in it.” The Belzers’ greatest gifts, according to Debbie, were “wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.”
ENGAGEMENT
CDC Graduates Three Classes by JEWISH PRESS News Service
The Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center graduated three classes of preschoolers last month who will enter kindergarten in August. Graduates from Bettie Adams class include: Carter Prout, back row left, Steven Levitan, Alex Workman, Noah Carver, Jack Cohen; middle row: Ben Eliason, Tom White, Zev Randone, Solomon Marburg; front row: Maggie White, Brooke Shulewitz, Jackie Sjuilin, Samantha Nahlmov and Abby Hack. Janette Morrissey is the Teacher’s Assistant.
Wendy Hutchinson is the teacher and Cindy Salkin, her assistant, for the following graduates: Sierra Stratton, back row left, Monica Siegel, Elias Ginsburg, Rachel Zetzman; middle row: Tuscan Fairfield, Madison Koperski, Brett Robinson and Elise Karstens; front row: Lauren Kirshenbaum, Jacob Koperski, Jordan Walsh, Reed Wallace and Andrew Wine.
PALEY/COX Dennis and Susan Paley announce the engagement of their daughter, Nikki, to Ken Cox, son of Maurice and June Cox. The bride-to-be graduated from Stern College for Women in New York with a B.A. in English. She earned a master’s degree in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston, where she currently teaches. Her grandparents are Norman and Joan Rips and the late Arthur and Evelyn Paley. Her fiancé has a B.A. in philosophy and religion from Duke University in Durham, NC, and a JD from Boston College Law School. Following an Aug. 31 wedding, the couple will live in Chicago.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Czech-born artist Andrea Dasha Reich will exhibit her paintings at the Loft Art Gallery, 1105 Howard St., in the Old Market, through July 23. The opening reception is June 21, 7:30 p.m.
Julie Shelburne is the teacher for this graduating class and Barb Giller, her assistant: Jared Gustafson, back row left, Maggie Neary, Emily Doll, Ben Warren; middle row: John Faur, Isiah Schrier, Elliot Mackling, Jack Goldstein, Nicolai Rip; front row: Abby Reiss, Michael Militzer, Tehra Finn, Devon Cleaveland and Chaim Haywood.
June 13, 2003
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 7
JCC Honors Athletes, Volunteers and Staff at Annual Meeting by LISA SHKOLNICK, AND RACHEL BLUM Omaha’s Jewish Community Center 1991 in Omaha and again in Detroit held its end-of-the-year Board in 1992, winning a gold medal for tenMeeting, one that is very special to nis at the Omaha Games. Center members and staff. Jenny Patton graduated from Recognition was given to the many Westside High School in 1998, where JCC members who have excelled or she excelled as a swimmer. She won accomplished great achievements and four State Titles in high school, and to JCC Staff who are celebrating their lettered in swimming all four years. 5, 10, 15 and 20 year anniversaries Patton received a swimming scholarwith the Center. ship to the University of Illinois, JCC member recognition awards where she also lettered in swimming include the Jewish Athletic Wall of all four years. She graduated this past Fame Awards, the Jewish High School spring from the University of Illinois Athletes of the Year Award, and the in Elementary Education. Isadore “Boggy” Bogdanoff All JCC Ira Epstein attended Omaha Maccabi Team Award. Central High School from 1945-49, Inducted into the Jewish Athletic where he participated in football and Wall of Fame were Lisa Coren, Ira gymnastics. He attended the Epstein and Jenny Patton. University of Nebraska where he letCoren graduated from Burke High tered in gymnastics in 1950, ’51, and School in 1995, where she lettered in ’52. While in college, he was a distintennis and was on the varsity team for guished member of the university’s all four years. In 1992, she was #2 Innocents Society. Singles Metro and State Champion Jewish High School Athletes of the and #1 Doubles Metro and State Year were also announced and Champion in 1993. From 1992-95 the include: Michelle Simon--softball, Burke girls’ tennis team claimed the track and captain of the varsity basMetro Champion title each year and ketball team at Millard North; Sarah the State title three of the four years. Linn--track and co-captain of the Lisa made the All Metro Academic cheerleading squad at Burke; Kim Team every year. Pitlor--varsity tennis, cheerleading In her youth, Coren participated in squad and volleyball at Central; many JCC athletic programs, includ- Jennifer Cooper--captain of the ing JCC swim team, and also partici- nationally award-winning Millard pated in the JCC Maccabi Games in North dance team; Jamie Lovette--
Lisa Coren, left, Ira Epstein, and Jenny Patton were inducted into the JCC’s Jewish Athletes Hall of Fame.
Lower left: JCC staff celebrated employment milestones, front row left: Brenda Suput, Susan Gann, Emilie Marek, Patty Nogg; back row: Bob Franzese, Paul Roth, Bill Sullivan, Nancy Carlson, Kaye Dulzo, Corey Kirshenbaum, Dalene Hutchinson, and Lora Rosenbaugh (Julie Roan not pictured).
Left: Girls swept the awards for graduating high school athletes: Michelle Simon, left, Sarah Linn, Kim Pitlor, Jennifer Cooper, Jamie Lovette, Lauren Freeman. (Lindsay Itkin not pictured.) Right: Hannah Wolf and Ben Epstein are recipients of the first Isadore “Boggy” Bogdanoff All-JCC Maccabi Team Award. varsity softball at Bennington High Nancy Wolf. She attends Millard West School; Lauren Freeman--member of High School and plays varsity girls’ the varsity tennis and swim teams basketball. She is a member of the and captain of the pom squad at Crusader Summer Select team and Central; and Lindsay Itkin--swim- has participated in four sets of JCC ming, cross country and soccer teams Maccabi Games. at Burke. Her most memorable moment was Isadore “Boggy” Bogdanoff was a scoring the winning shot to beat lifetime member and participant at Toledo at the Sarasota Games to bring the JCC of Omaha. For his athletic home the gold. ability, his community service and his Ben is the 17-year-old son of Lisa overall generous spirit, the JCC and Gary Epstein, a junior at Burke, established the Isadore “Boggy” where he played basketball for two Bogdanoff All JCC Maccabi Team in years. Ben has participated in three 2003, to recognize outstanding teen sets of JCC Maccabi Games. participants. Epstein has enjoyed the high level of As a young man, “Boggy” was a star competition with Maccabi. “It truly basketball and baseball player at the has been an experience competing at ‘J’. In his middle years, “Boggy” was this level with Jewish athletes from an active participant and leader in across the U.S. Maccabi is the only dozens of Jewish organizations. Many place where I could have had this high people later began to refer to him as caliber experience,” Epstein added. the “Mayor” because of his involveRecognized for five years of service ment with and concern for hundreds were: Kaye Dulzo: CDC of fellow JCC members. Administrative Assistant; Bob Visiting hospitals, calling the sick at Franzese, JCC Athletic Director; home, going to funerals, going to serv- Dalene Hutchinson, Infant Care ices at the Blumkin Home, driving Teacher; and Julie Roan, JCC people to the airport, picking up and Massage Therapist. delivering items for people that needFor 10 Years of service: Sue Gann, ed help, sending hundreds of cards for CDC teacher; Patty Nogg, CDC every occasion imaginable, delivering teacher, Judaic Music Specialist; Lora the Jewish Press to the Health Spa, Rosenbaugh, CDC teacher, Resource keeping in touch with those who were Center Coordinator; Brenda Suput, home bound, are just a few of the CDC Infant Care Assistant Teacher. activities that kept “Boggy” on the For 15 Years of Service: Nancy move. He loved seeing the children Carlson, CDC Curriculum Coordinaparticipate in sports at the ‘J’. He tor, teacher; Corey Kirshenbaum, always had a story about his own love CDC Director; Emilie Marek, JCC for the Center and everyone that he Member Services Associate; Bill met here during his 91 years of life. Sullivan, Building Engineer. This year’s recipients are Hannah And for 20 years of service: Paul Wolf and Ben Epstein. Hannah is the Roth, Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 17-year-old daughter of Phil and Maintenance Supervisor.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 13, 2003
Volunteers Honored at Federation Meeting (Continued from page 1)
Recognition was also given to Volunteers of the Year: Lyubov Vlyakher, Gary Epstein, the late Marvin Gerber, Sally Kaplan, Suzanne Singer, John Sutin and Fred Tichauer. Keith Graul and Alli Willensky were honored with the Teen Leader awards and Stacey Rockman and Todd Simon with the Young Leadership awards. The Jewish Community Center’s 2002 JCC Maccabi Games won the Community Service award and Roz Friedman accepted the Humanitarian of the Year award on behalf of her late husband Ike Friedman, the Friedman family and the Friedman Foundation. About 130 people attended the event.
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Photos from top left down: Foundation Chairman Steve Bloch applauds Roz Friedman, calling her a “gem”--a reference to Borsheim’s, her family’s jewelry business; Lisa Shkolnick, Marcia Pitlor and Jeff Aizenberg kvell at their Community Service Award for the 2002 JCC Maccabi Games; Judith Feigin accepts a Volunteer of the Year Award from Forrest Krutter and Zoë Riekes on behalf of her late father, Marvin Gerber. Middle column: Cantor Emil Berkovits leads Steve Nogg Forrest Krutter and the audience in Hatikvah; Andi Willensky accepts the Teen
Leader Award on behalf of her daughter, Alli, along with winner Keith Graul; Stacey Rockman and Todd Simon were recognized as Young Leaders. Right column, from top: Jan Goldstein, Federation Executive Director, thanks her staff, volunteers and the community; Rabbi Mordechai Levin of Beth El gives the invocation; Steve Pitlor recognizes outgoing Campaign Chairmen Jerry Kohll and Joanie Kaiman for their service; Gary Kaplan, just installed last Sunday evening as Temple Israel’s President, congratulates his wife, Sally, as one of the Volunteers of the Year.
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L.O.V.E. Honors Rabbis, Cantors
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Photo from top left: Rabbi Mendel Katzman, left, Cantors Leo Fettman and Emil Berkovits, Rabbis Aryeh Blum and Aryeh Azriel were among the clergy presented clocks--a Gift of Time-Sunday night. Also honored were
Rabbis Debbie Stiel, Maximo Shechet, Mordechai Levin and Howard Kutner, Cantor Gastón Bogomolni. Mark Sanford played piano, while, right: Andee Scioli sang and Jill Belmont played guitar. Esther Wax was also honored.
BERT’S EYE VIEW by BERT LEWIS Father’s Day--an annual affair probably invented by a greeting card company. Or am I being too cynical? Whoever decided to designate one day every year to remembering Dad, whether for honorable reasons or not, did us all a favor. Personally, I don’t need a certain day in June to remind me of my dad. Lots of things do that--fresh doughnuts, a baseball game played on a corner lot, somebody with a gorgeous voice singing liturgical music, a really good joke played on somebody, a freshly made piece of gefilte fish--are things which can make me think of him. Of course, those are only a few reminders of my dad--the ones that come to mind easily. My brother, who looks more like our dad every day, sometimes makes me stop and forget what I was saying, just by a certain expression on his face. We Jews don’t say, “He’s the spittin’ image.” We’re more likely to say, “Yankel mitt der bayner.” If your Yiddish is lacking, please find somebody to translate. I know exactly what it means, but in English, it’s ridiculous. My dad loved a practical joke and had little shame when he inflicted one on an unsuspecting victim. But he’s the same guy who was always at the card counter, picking out the most sentimental birthday or anniversary card. He got a kick out of the comical ones, but they weren’t his style. He really was a softie. For years and years and years, he would go shopping by himself, and buy lovely nylons for the women in his family on Valentine’s Day. I don’t remember when he stopped that, but I’d guess it was when panty hose were introduced. He had a special reverence for the memory of his mother, my bobie. He always remembered her efforts in the most trying situations, as well as lighter moments. He loved recalling how she referred to her favorite imported cocoa as “important cocoa,” and he never got over the conviction that she made the world’s greatest honey cake. Anybody who knew my dad knows something else about him, too. He loved beautiful clothes and was meticulous about his appearance. To give
him a necktie as a gift was not taking the easy way out. He really spent a lot of time choosing the perfect tie for every suit he owned. If there was a special occasion, he’d often shop for a new one to wear, so he’d be really dressed for the event. A standing joke on Farnam Street, where his place of business was for so many years, was no matter how high the temperature, if Jake Wine was walking downtown to the courthouse, his tie was in place and his jacket was on. His only concession to summer heat was to wear a short-sleeved white shirt under the suit coat. Maybe one of the few exceptions to conservative and proper dress was what he wore when driving a sports car. Being in the business, he frequently had access to a convertible....and boy, did he love to wheel around in one of those! For those kinds of trips, he wore sporty looking caps, not his usual snap brim hat. Of course, I’m remembering the years after I’d grown up and left home. I clearly recall when my brother and I were little kids, a car with a rumble seat (yes, I said rumble seat) only made an appearance in the inventory during the coldest winter months! I could go on and on, telling stories about our Yankel. He was one of a kind, despite my brother’s resemblance to him. You always knew where you stood with him--that old “what you see is what you get” described him perfectly. If he was angry about something, it was no secret; by the same token, if something tickled him, he was quick to share his delight in whatever it was. To talk about Dad and not mention his love and devotion to his family and to little kids, is to short-change him. He was, as I have tried to say here, a wonderful father. He was a grandfather who would melt at the sight of an aynicle. Which leaves me with one last thought about him. I’d give anything I have to be able to introduce him to my great-grandson. I know he’d kvell and probably call me “an alte baba.” That would be just like him. When you give your dad his gift on Father’s Day, please don’t forget to tell him you love him.
To Our Mom, Suzanne Singer Congratulations on your honor from the Federation. As always, we are proud of all you do. Wish we were there to share the moment with you
All our love, Ken, Dan, Debra, Carrie, Kelly and Johannes Andrew, Adam, Zach, Lindsay, Mikaela and Alexandra
Page 10
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 13, 2003
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by RACHEL KATSKEE, JCC Program Associate The annual BBG Beau Dance was held last month at Ironwood Golf and Country Club. This year’s theme was “An Enchanted Forest,” organized by dance committee: Becky Kahn, Kim Pitlor, Annie Rifkin, Betsy Goodman, Amanda Ipock and Abby Ginsburg, who worked very hard for months to make the dance a very special evening. At the end of the evening, the new 2003-204 Beaus were announced. Ediar BBG selected Brad Abramson, pictured at left with his date Marissa Epstein and MZ Yoshanah elected Alex Raksin, right photo, with his date, Chelsea Taxman.
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Taking Holocaust Education to McCook by OLIVER B. POLLAK Since 1989 I have traveled throughout Nebraska making presentations on the Holocaust to libraries, middle and high schools, correctional centers and church groups. The sponsorship of the Nebraska Humanities Council has taken me to Ainsworth, Bassett, Bellevue, Burwell, Clay Center, Columbus, Geneva, Imperial, Lincoln, Madison, Newman Grove, Seward, Tilden, Wuaneta, and Lawrence, Kansas. Karen usually accompanies me and we stay in bed and breakfasts. I go because I am asked and because the story about my grandfather, Felix Bachmann, who survived Terezin Concentration Camp is compelling. I find, like Cantor Leo Fettman, that the tellers of stories and the audience have an insatiable hunger to hear. These trips also allow me to gather information on the courthouses and Carnegie Libraries about which I write. In early May we headed west on Highway 6 passing through Crete, Dorchester, Friend, Exeter, Fairmont, Grafton, Sutton, Clay Center, Harvard, Hastings, Minden, Holdrege, Arapahoe, and Holbrook. These are small towns; Holdrege with 5600 people is large. Crete, Clay Center, Hasting, Minden and Holdrege are county seats. Crete, Sutton, Clay Center, Harvard, Hastings and Holdrege are among the 69 Nebraska communities that contain Carnegie libraries. We spent the night in Cambridge, population 1107, 31 miles from Oxford, population, 879. The Cambridge Inn formerly known as the Faling House, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Our hosts, Gloria and Gerald Hilton, purchased the house six years ago. It was designed by William F. Gernandt in 1907, who also designed seven Nebraska Courthouses. I was happy to sell and inscribe a copy of Nebraska Courthouses to our hotelier. There were five bedrooms on the second floor. Two Danish artists, Charles F. Hansen and James F. Willer who lived in Fairbury, produced exquisite birds eye maple faux finish on the doors. The massive carved built-in china cabinet with leaded glass in the dining room is magnificent. A few days after our stay, during a large storm, water penetrated the dining room ceiling and severely damaged the faux wood ceiling. On my way to my 8:30 lecture we passed through Bartley and Indianola. McCook High School has 370 students and adjacent Junior High School has 370 students. In two sessions I talked to about 500 students. Although the topic is somber I enjoy telling the story, tying it to contemporary issues and highlighting different aspects. Each program provides time for questions. They are unpredictable. McCook students asked what my grandmother did, what did my Grandfather do all day, and what does Mazel tov mean. The High School Wall of Fame includes George
Norris and Ben Nelson. McCook also contains Nebraska’s only Frank Lloyd Wright House, and a gorgeously preserved building it is, as well as the unassuming George Norris home. Karen and I took the opportunity to visit Governor Frank and Maxine Morrison. They are a charming, knowledgeable and talkative couple. The Governor’s public activity started 70 years ago as Frontier county attorney continuing to the present sponsoring The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument on Interstate 80 in Kearney. Their walls are filled with mementos, clippings and photographs. Someone once characterized these towns as Resume Speed, Nebraska. That is probably a misnomer, and should be replaced with Reduce Speed Ahead, Nebraska. We responded to many “Business District” signs, but I still feel guilty for not stopping for Historical Markers along the highway. Being inveterate radio listeners, just west of Lincoln we lose KIOS and National Public Radio and pick up the Nebraska Public Radio Network. It is a bit of a change of pace, and I wish some of the programs they carry were also on KIOS. The smallest towns have a palpable sense of quiet desperation. Many stores were empty and boarded up. Some well placed murals brightened up a town. The smallest towns, usually less than 50 people, were unincorporated. Water towers, grain elevators, the railway and an occasional golf course dotted the landscape. The car dealers were either Ford or Chevrolet/GMAC, no foreign cars. Crete, once a heavily Bohemian and Czech community, because of the packing plant has a Latino influx. We counted no fewer than three grocery stores catering to Hispanics, including cooking taco’s in front of Las Brisas Mercado, also the name of a restaurant in Laguna Beach, formerly known as the Victor Hugo Restaurant. On the return trip we took Highway 89 and 136 paralleling the Republican River, through Marion, Danbury, Lebanon, Wilsonville, Hendley, Beaver City, Stamford, Orleans, Alma, Republican City, Bloomington, Franklin, Inavale, Willa Cather’s Red Cloud, Superior, Ruskin, Deshler, Gilead (population 37) and Fairbury. These are the real towns behind Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon. When the light was fading and we could not take pictures, and we were experiencing road fatigue from seeing so many small towns, we headed back to the interstate. American highways and the freedom of the road are an American staple. We are a people on the move and in love with our automobiles. This has been magnificently recorded in literature by Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, Wright Morris, Bill Bryson, and Charles Kuralt. But there is nothing like driving yourself. OBPOMNI@aol.com
June 13, 2003
ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Bob Wolfson and Kent Pavelka will speak on Wednesday, June 18, noon, at the Park Inn Regency, according to Gary Javitch, Chairman. Wolfson and Pavelka recently returned from Israel and a week of broadcasting Pavelka’s KKAR morning news show from Jerusalem. Cost is $9 for lunch and $2 for beverage service only. Breadbreakers is open to the community. Y.E.S. Members will meet Monday at the JCC. Come play bingo at 10 a.m. with Eileen Remer or exercise with Stacey Paskert at 10:30 a.m. Bring articles to share for “YES Talk” at 11 a.m. Following lunch at noon, join us for the Annual Father’s Day Celebration with the Rick and Chris Show. For transportation call Dee Dee at 330-4272. Call Maggie Conti for reservations for Bluffs Run Casino on June 26; the deadline is June 19. WALK-IN, DROP-IN Members will meet on Thursday at the JCC. Exercise and Bingo will begin at 10 a.m. in the Social Hall, at 11:15 a.m., lunch will be served from the Bagel Bin or bring a dairy sack lunch to eat. Join us at noon for the movie Catch Me If You Can in the Blumkin Home auditorium. LOMIR REDN YIDDISH The Yiddish Conversation Group will meet on Thursday, 1-3 p.m. at the JCC. Call Anne Skolkin for information at 343-1638. VISIONS Join us for Visions’ Annual Baseball and Barbeque on Thursday, June 26, 6 p.m. for dinner in the Stadium View Club; the game begins at 7:05 p.m. Cost is $16 per person includes dinner buffet and the game. Send reservation form to Harry Alloy, 11317 Harney Plz. Cir., Omaha, NE 68154. Deadline is June 16. Plan ahead! Visions presents a day trip to Kansas City to see The Producers on May 2, 2004. The cost will be approximately $102 per person which includes coach transportation, a box lunch and the performance. Dinner in Kansas City is on your own. If interested call Jim Wax at 393-4442. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN NCJW-Omaha Section will hold a Calendar Meeting, Tuesday, June 24, 7 p.m. Call Kim Noddle for more information at: 391-7022.
Dining
OMAHA CENTER FOR TORAH LEARNING Rabbi Aryeh Blum will give his weekly parasha shiur tomorrow afternoon, June 14, 7:10 p.m. Time for Talmud is Monday, June 16, 7:30 p.m. The Beit Midrash meets on Tuesday, June 17, 7:30 p.m. The Wednesday Women’s Class is June 18, 7:30 p.m., all at the OCTL House, 1313 No. 58 St. Join OCTL for the weekly discussion of Torah Topics at Lunch ’n Learn, Wednesday, June 18, noon, at the Kripke Library; the Wednesday Teen Class continues to meet throughout the summer at 7:30 p.m. at the home of Brooke Shrago, 805 So. 120 Ave. For information about OCTL, call Rabbi Aryeh Blum at 320-8055.
The Judith and Charles Ginsburg Chair in Pediatrics has been established at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas by friends and family to honor the professional and civic contributions of ex-Omahans, the late Judith Turner Ginsburg and Dr. Charles M. Ginsburg. UT Southwestern is the only medical school in the world with four Nobel Laureates in medicine. Charles (Chuck) Ginsburg, the Marilyn R. Corrigan Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Research, served as Chairman of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern and as Chief of Staff of Children’s Medical Center of Dallas for 15 years before becoming the Associate Dean for Faculty Development at UT Southwestern last summer. Judith (Judy) Turner Ginsburg was an active and respected civic volunteer in Dallas before her death in 2000. Their late parents were Nathan and Sis Turner and Jessie and Yale Ginsburg.
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At the annual conference of the Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies (AJFCA) in San Diego last month, Steve Stiel, Executive Director of Jewish Family Service of Omaha, was elected to a two-year term on the AJFCA Board of Directors.
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Former Omahan Becca Goldstein, daughter of Donald and Ann Goldstein, graduated last week from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government with a Master in Public Policy and Urban Planning (MPP/UP) degree with a concentration in housing, urban development and transportation. She has a B.S. from Northwestern University.
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IN THE NEWS
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Summer is a great time for family reunions. As you attend these special events, please remember that the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society would appreciate having copies of your family trees and photos. In order to build our archival collection, we look to members of the Jewish community to donate family, community, organizational and personal memorabilia and photos. It’s so important for these items to be preserved and kept for future generations. And, if you can help us identify either of the photos above, we would be very grateful! For more information about how you can help NJHS, please call me at 334-6441 or 334-6442. Items for donation can be mailed or delivered to our office, located on the campus of the Jewish Community Center, 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
June 13, 2003
Molly Needelman Wins National NFTY Art Contest Jewish Friends and Events
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by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Molly Needelman, a American Hebrew member of Omaha Temple Congregations summer Youth Group, was astoncamp in Wisconsin, where ished when she saw her many Temple youngsters artwork on display while have attended over the attending the North years. American Federation of “I think my mom saw my Temple Youth (NFTY) talent, if that’s what it is,” National Convention earMolly said, “and pushed lier this year in me into art and I came to Washington, D.C. Her love it.” Her mom, Lee acrylic won first place at Needelman, is an accomNFTY Nationals. plished artist herself. “It’s For Molly, it was “mindgreat having my mom in boggling. As I walked into the house because of her the hall and saw (the art background,” Molly painting) there, I was like commented, “but I don’t --whoa, I did that! It was really take after many of just one of those moments her techniques. She’s like when you feel like you’re a personal critic for me on the top of the world!” and I am for her.” A senior-to-be at In addition to the Westside High School, national NFTY competiMolly has been enrolled in tion, Molly’s painting took art lessons since she was first place honors among in the second grade. Last nearly 35 entries at the Molly Needelman displays her award-winning year, she took Drawing Late Nite Café art compepainting. and Painting 2 at tition in December 2002 at Westside and tried her hand at sculpture and pot- Christ Community Church in Omaha. The previous tery in eighth grade. She works mostly in acrylic, year, she placed in the same contest. In addition, pencil, and pen. she won a silver key for the Scholastic Art Her winning entry, “Praying for Peace,” is “a hard Competition for Nebraska for a painting she did edge piece of a Jewish man praying at the Western about the effects of modern society as contributing Wall. The wall is all blurred,” she explained, “but factors to anorexia and depression. you can tell what it is. He’s a really modern At 17, Molly plans to keep art a sideline in her life. Jew...wearing some cool sunglasses and has an ear- “When you make what you love into a career, it ring. But he also has on tefillin and a yarmulke.” becomes work and it takes the joy out of it,” she Molly added that she started painting with believes. However, she hasn’t completely ruled it acrylics in the seventh grade. “My earliest good one out of her future vocational plans. “Maybe I’ll do was probably at Tiferet” which is a specialty unit at something involving art” perhaps “art therapy or Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute, a Union of something.”
by JOE BERKOFSKY NEW YORK (JTA)--Soon after the Monica Lewinsky scandal erupted, Hillary Rodham Clinton encountered Elie Wiesel in Davos, Switzerland. The Nobel laureate embraced the first lady and asked, “What is wrong with America? Why are they doing this?” Clinton said she did not know, and Wiesel replied that he and his wife, Marion, were her friends and “want to help you.” Wiesel’s “experience as a Holocaust survivor has given Elie a kind of genius for empathy. He never flinches from anyone else’s suffering, and his heart is big enough to absorb a friend’s pain without a second thought,” Clinton writes in her new autobiography, Living History, which hit bookstores Monday. While the Lewinsky affair may be dominating the media swirl around the launch, Jews and events in the Jewish world play roles big and small. The former first-lady-turned-U.S.-senator refers admiringly and affectionately to the late Yitzhak Rabin and his wife, Leah, and writes that the Israeli leader only agreed to the handshake “as long as there would be no kissing, a common Arab custom.” Clinton is less complimentary about Arafat, blasting the Palestinian leader for the failed 2000 peace talks with then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. “Unfortunately, while Barak came to Camp David to make peace, Arafat did not,” she says bluntly. “The tragic events of the last few years show what a terrible mistake Arafat made.” Clinton, who spends a lot of time explaining--in the book and in interviews--why she stayed married to her husband, writes that it was a longtime Jewish friend and mentor, Sara Ehrman, to whom she turned for advice about Bill. Ehrman, a Washington roommate of Clinton in the early 1970s--and later the Clinton White House liaison to the Jewish community--tried to persuade Hillary not to move to Arkansas to be with Bill. “Are you out of your mind?” Clinton recalls Ehrman asking. “Why on earth would you throw away your future?”
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