September 1, 2023 by Jewish Press

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

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Meeting Mika Friedel prepares students for success Page 4

MARK KIRCHHOFF JFO Community Engagement and Education ou can only meet someone for the first time once and you hope that the wonder, anticipation, and speculation will at a minimum not disappoint and at best be satisfying. Such were my thoughts on Aug. 15 as I prepared to fire up the video magic of Zoom and start the kind of meeting that we have learned to love and hate through the Covid times. It was time to meet Mika Mizrahi. She is currently living with her parents in the Golan Heights area of Israel and will arrive on Sept. 5 to be the shlicha for Omaha for the next two years. I’ll cut to the chase and let you know that meeting Mika for the first time went beyond satisfying to refreshing, enlightening, and definitely energizing. Mika was born in a village north of Haifa. She has an older brother who has been living in Berlin, Germany, for the past 10 years. Her older sister lives close to her and is studying sociology. At age six, Mika visited the United States on a family trip celebrating her brother’s bar mitzvah. She doesn’t remember much about it, and she certainly didn’t learn anything about Nebraska or Omaha. Today, however, when she tells her friends about coming here, she pulls out a map and points to it and explains with enthusiasm, “See, it is right here – next to Texas!” Oh, this is going to be fun. Mika explained that in Israel, once you finish school, there is the option to take a year and perform community service, often outside the borders of Israel. She decided that she was too young to do that, so she proceeded on the normal course of joining the IDF. There, she worked in human resources where she assisted soldiers who were exiting the

Omaha’s embrace of Who Are the Marcuses? Page 5

Building relationships: Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company 2023 Summer Intensive reflection Page 12

Mika Mizrahi

military to ensure that they were receiving all the benefits that they had earned during their time of service. She also assisted Arabs and Christians who were joining the IDF to find the kind of assignments that they desired. Her responsibilities put her on call 24 hours a day, and it was not unusual for her to be called in the evening to work through See Mika Mizrahi page 2

IHE Lunch and Learn Series Record enrollment and a new middle school

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SCOTT LITTKY Institute for Holocaust Education Executive Director The Institute for Holocaust Education is pleased to announce the next three months of our Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series. The Third Thursday Lunch and Learn Series, presented by the Institute for Holocaust Education, is programming that seeks to educate, engage, and empower the community through discussion, presentations, and informative speakers about topics related to the Holocaust. All Third Thursday presentations are offered via Zoom, from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on their respective days. On Sept. 21 at 11:30 a.m,. Dr. Hillary Rubesin, will present Where

Hillary Rubesin

Does Your Heart Feel Safe and Happy?: Expressive arts therapy with refugees and immigrants. In this presentation, Dr. Rubesin will speak about her artsbased, mental health work with refugees and immigrants from across the globe. A brief discussion of wartime and resettlement trauma will be followed by case studies of Dr. Rubesin’s work with refugee women from Burma, newcomer youth from over 40 countries worldwide, families living in migrant shelters along the See IHE Lunch and Learn page 3

2023 FJA Middle Schoolers

SARA KOHEN FJA Director of Advancement Friedel Jewish Academy started the school year on Aug. 16 with record-high enrollment and a new middle school. With 69 enrolled students, including 18 kindergarteners, Friedel has more students than at any point since the school first opened in 1964. Head of School Beth Cohen says that, “This record-high enrollment is a sign that people recognize the enormous advantages of a Friedel

education.” She emphasizes, however, that the school remains focused on maintaining the small class sizes and low student–teacher ratios for which it is known. “We know from research that having fewer students per teacher is important for students’ achievement. That’s why we maintain a 10:1 student–classroom teacher ratio. Every student gets individualized attention, and no one slips through the cracks,” Cohen says. See Record enrollment page 2