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O C TO B E R 7, 2 02 2 | 1 2 T I S HRE I 578 3 | VO L. 1 02 | NO. 50 | TWO SECTIONS | CANDLELIGHTING | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 6: 37 P.M.
NJHS anniversary tion of Omaha. JILL KUSHNER BELMONT he Nebraska Jewish Discussions about creating a hisHistorical Society will torical society began in 1980, when welcome Oliver B. Polthe groundwork was carefully laid. lak, PhD, back to “I contributed my professional edOmaha for the organiucation to community building,” Polzation’s 40th-anniversary celebration lak said. “Mary anticipated the 1989 on Sunday, Oct. 16, at the Jewish Field of Dreams mantra, ‘If you build Community Center. Pollak will serve it, they will come.’” as keynote speaker during the 2 Two years later, the Nebraska Jewp.m. event. ish Historical Society -- which also Pollak, who co-founded NJHS serves the Council Bluffs Jewish along with the late Mary Fellman, is community -- was established. In adProfessor Emeritus of History at the dition to Fellman and Pollak, the organization’s founding executive University of Nebraska Omaha, where he taught from 1974 to 2012. board members included Silvia RoffAn esteemed author, he has penned man, and the late Lois Friedman and Joie Simon. 11 books and hundreds of scholarly Pollak’s own dedication to preservand popular articles. Before his reing and sharing history (“my vocatirement in 2016, he also practiced Oliver Pollak tion and avocation,” he said), can be law in Nebraska and Iowa. He curattributed to his childhood experience of emigrating from rently resides in California. Pollak said that Fellman had been impressed by the England to the United States in 1952. growth of local Jewish historical societies around the coun“Perhaps my immigration to America at the age of eight try, and had realized that establishing one in Nebraska imprinted the fragility of the sense of place, deracination would be of great value to the Jewish community, as well as and memory,” he said. “Certainly my parents, refugees from to the state in general. Germany and Austria, and family losses in the Holocaust Calling her “a muse and a macher,” he recalled that Fell- had an impact. My parents tried to protect me and offer man edited the Jewish Press from 1943 to 1947, and in 1978 New World opportunities. The culture shock of a little kid became the first woman elected to lead the Jewish Federa- See NJHS anniversary page A3
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Israeli rescue services connect Page A3
High Holiday prayers not working for you? Try remixing metaphors. Page A4
General Election Candidate Statements Section 2
Memory Serves: Symposium event at UNO
REGULARS Spotlight Voices Synagogues Life cycles
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(m)Eat the Press
Maggie Conti, left, Dr. Mark Gilbert, and Jill Ohlmann
MAGGIE CONTI RBJH Director of Activities and Volunteer Services Rose Blumkin Jewish Home staff
recently spoke at Memory Serves: Drawing Others Close International Symposium at the UNO Barara Weitz Community Engagement Center. Jill Ohlmann, Activities Coordinator, and Maggie Conti, Director of Activities and Volunteer Services, discussed the program Opening Minds through Art (OMA) and RBJH activities before and during the pandemic. The symposium explores how the humanities can play a pivotal role in addressing the challenges and rewards of caring for older adults and caregivers and See Memory Serves page A2
ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT Jewish Press Editor No, that is not a typo. We just finished our work on this year’s High Holiday issue, which was foodthemed. For the first time, we’ve decided not to stop there. After writing about some pretty mouth-watering dishes, why not come together and enjoy some of these foods in real life? Year after year, our staff create
endless stories for the bigger editions of the Jewish Press. However, once the paper hits your mailbox, we move on rather quickly—and that is a bit of a shame. “The Salami 101 story brought back wonderful memories of Diamond’s Butcher Shop,” Howard Kutler said. “My mother would pick me up on Sundays at Beth El after Hebrew school. We would go to See (m)Eat the Press page A2