July 14, 2023 by Jewish Press

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TICHAUER Memorial Garden

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

Not Our Kind SHIRLY BANNER JFO Library Specialist On July 20 at 1 p.m. the Dorothy Kaplan Book Discussion Group will gather for their monthly meeting. Group members have the choice of meeting either in person in the Benjamin and Anna Wiesman Reception Room in the Staenberg Jewish Community Center or via Zoom. This month they will be discussing Not Our Kind by Kitty Zeldis. New participants are always welcome.

Susan T. Lehr to be new Acting U.S. Attorney Page 5

KELLY TICHAUER-KIRK y grandparents Walter and Helena Tichauer were both Holocaust survivors. They both suffered unimaginable horror and pain, but never gave up despite extraordinary obstacles or let their experiences define them. Together, after the war, they managed to build an amazing life together, first in Montevideo, Uruguay and then in Omaha, Nebraska. They had two sons, were grandparents to five and great grandparents to 13. They lived the American

M What happened when a Jewish group and the Moms for Liberty shared a conference hotel Page 6

Dream. Walter and Helena’s greatest joy was their family and their family legacy was and still is the ultimate victory against Hitler. Though Walter and Helena have both been gone for many years, the impact they made on the lives of their family and each and every person they met was profound. Their memory will not be forgotten. When a Jewish person dies, we say “may their memory be for a blessing” which serves a twofold purpose, to comfort the mourners and honor the newly deceased to ensure their soul is elevated. More importantly, See Tichauer Memorial Garden page 2

Meet the staff: Jason Epsenhart

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ASHTON KAY Jewish Press Intern We all see this building and marvel at the dedicated people that keep this place clean and safe, both inside and out. I’ve yet to meet someone not impressed by the JCC, not only because of its scale and grandeur, but despite it. Many people underestimate the amount of work and dedication that goes into keeping a building like this in good condition, let alone the pristine state that you and I always know it to be. Not to mention the JCC is constantly in a state of growth, as it’s currently undergoing multiple expan-

Jason Epsenhart

sion/remodeling projects simultaneously. All of this wouldn’t be possible without the strong facility team here at the JCC. The facility team has its hands on every aspect of the building, making sure that it’s always up to the standard that we all know. And at the heart of the facility team is our one and only Jason Epsenhart. Jason is originally from Brooklyn, where his grandparents migrated to

after World War II. He went to trade school where he studied heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). Immediately after, he went to work for the Gold Strike Hotel and Casino in Jean, Nevada. Jason said that this exposure to a new world made him learn a lot very quickly. “It was very exciting for a young man coming from Brooklyn, New York. It was exposure to a whole different world, and I learned a lot very quickly. It was a graveyard shift meaning my shift started at 11 p.m. and ended at 7 a.m.” Jean is close to the California border, and most of the Gold Rush visitors were an older established crowd. “They just enjoyed live entertainment and the machines. They weren’t really rowdy. The weekend was a whole different ball game.” This proved to be much more tame than some of the casinos he would later work at. In some of Jason’s later positions he would be given some pretty bizarre requests. See Jason Epsenhart page 5

Prejudice is nothing new. Janis Ian voiced this in the lyrics of her classic song Society’s Child, “but honey, he’s not our kind.” Whether it be religious, racial, or sexual orientation, people throughout history have harbored prejudice to varying degrees against groups of people for no rational reasons. In Not Our Kind, Kitty Zeldis deals with this issue of religious prejudice head on. Eleanor Moskowitz is a teacher in search of a new position mid-term when she and socialite Patricia Bellamy meet through a minor traffic accident. In need of a private tutor for her precocious 13-year-old daughter Margaux, Patricia hires Eleanor. Margaux is recovering from a recent bout of polio and walks with the aid of a cane and is very self-conscious about this malady. Eleanor treats her with the respect she deserves and a close bond is quickly formed between the two. Patricia has never really had any associations with anyone Jewish before and fears the repercussions that may result from her husband, Wynn, and their social peers finding out. Patricia suggests Eleanor use the name Moss rather than Moskowitz while in their employment to avoid any “awkwardness” and not ruffle any feathers. As Eleanor and Margaux become closer, Patricia becomes envious of this and a love-hate relationship exists between Patricia and Eleanor at times. The Bellamys relocate from their apartment in New York to their summer country home in Connecticut. To further complicate thing, Patricia’s wandering and philandering brother Tom enters the See Not Our Kind page 3