Vol. LXXXVIII No. 14 Omaha, NE
Celebrating 88 Years of Service to Nebraska and Western Iowa
Postville Jewish community struggles to survive after raid by BEN HARRIS United States -- Rubashkin is a figure of reverence, a POSTVILLE, Iowa (JTA) -- After former man who built a successful business and thriving Jewish Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin was arrest- community while performing countless unsung acts of ed earlier this month, Rashi Raices joined several dozen kindness. members of this town’s Jewish community in volunteer- Continued on page 2 ing the equity on their homes to guarantee his return to face trial. All told, they were willing to put up the equivalent of about $2 million, according to the judge in the case. The court also received 275 letters from around the world testifying to Rubashkin’s character. Rubashkin stands accused of a host of crimes stemming from his stewardship of the Agriprocessors meat packing plant in Postville. To much of the outside world he is the public face of a rapacious company that has demonstrated deep contempt for the law. But to the several hundred Jews of Postville -- home of the company’s main plant and once the largest kosher Rashi Raices offered her home equity to the court in an effort to secure bail for former Credit: Ben Harris slaughterhouse in the Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin.
15 Kislev, 5769
December 12, 2008 2 Sections
Author visits “Chanu-Kids” party at Kripke Library by SHERRIE SAAG Administrative Assistant Center for Jewish Education Celebrate Hanukkah, enjoy storytelling, and eat lots of yummy latkes at the Kripke Jewish Federation Library’s fourth annual “Chanu-Kids” party this Sunday, Dec. 14, 3:30-5:30 p.m., in the Kripke Library. A special guest will be children’s author Anne Marie Asner, creator of Noshy Boy, Klutzy Boy, and Shmutzy Girl. “We are excited to have a children’s author join us for Chanu-Kids this year,” said Gary Katz, library administrator. “Anne-Marie’s books are fantastic! She introduces some basic Yiddish words to beginning readers in a very creative way. My kids love them.” Asner will host a special story time plus kids of all ages will be entertained by a magician, a Hanukkah sing-a-long with Emily Meyers, balloons, crafts and more! Parents and grandparents (aunts, uncles and friends, too!) will have the opportunity to shop the incredible selection of children’s books for sale during the event. While the party is geared for younger children, books for older children and adults will also be available for purchase. “Books make great Hanukkah presents. This is a great way to either begin a child’s or grandchild’s personal Jewish book collection or enrich the one they already have,” said Katz. Continued on page 2
Artist forges a family at new Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts by LEO ADAM BIGA If the art world has missionaries then Rebecca Herskovitz has found her calling as an art educator helping young people explore their creative potential. She doesn’t look much older than the kids she works with at the new Kent Bellows Studio and Center for Visual Arts, 3303 Leavenworth St., where she’s education coordinator. She came to Omaha from San Francisco a year ago to fill the post and after months of planning she launched the center’s first after school classes in early September with 21 students. Two 16-week semesters are offered per year. The education program matches students from metro area high schools with professional working artists in classic apprentice-style mentoring relationships. The center, whose classes are being held at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in the Old Market until the center’s permanent home undergoes renovation, is named after the late Omaha realist Kent Bellows. The noted Bellows, the subject of a future Joslyn Art Museum retrospective, was well-known for supporting young artists. His studio space on Leavenworth serves as the administrative base for the Kent Bellows Foundation and mentorship program.
Inside Opinion Page see page 12
Rebecca Herskowitz is an artist-in-residence at the Bellows Studio, temporarily located at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in downtown Omaha. Omaha native Anne Meysenburg, a Bellows lived and worked will eventually University of Nebraska at Omaha grad, is host classes and gallery shows once the executive director of the Bellows founda- interior is renovated. Largely preserved tion and the Studio/Center for Visual the way the artist left it, the studio will Arts. also be an archive for scholars. For now, The studio where the iconoclastic field trips bring the kids on site to the
This Week: Hanukkah Issue starts on page 17 See Front Page Stories & More at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press’
For Indian Jews, sense of security is shattered: Page 3
Bellows space. Everything from his eclectic personal belongings to elaborate backdrops he made to sayings he scribbled on walls adorn the converted storefront studio. It’s sacred ground for communion/inspiration. “You feel like this is a place where something very special has been happening,” Herskovitz said there recently, “and to emulate that place of creativity and to be inhabiting it is absolutely contagious. It will be exciting to teach classes upstairs where those installations are and where the shrine that Kent made is. You can just feel it’s a place where magic was taking place. For kids to walk in there every day will be an enchanting thing. I’m very excited about that.” Meanwhile, Miss Becca, as she calls herself, leads her young charges in the bowels of the Bemis building at 724 So. 10th St. The basement’s formerly blank walls and exposed pipes-vents have been transformed into dynamic spaces for hanging art made by students and their mentors. She encourages students to make the environment their own -- a living, evolving expression of themselves. “I want them to take ownership over those spaces and I believe in the art space becoming to a certain extent an art piece itself over time. You just want a space that feels alive.” Continued on page 28
Coming This Month: Senior Living on Dec. 26 Iraq is latest mission for Nebraska’s AG: Page 6
Federation honors exec, volunteers: Page 16
Recipes for fall and for Hanukkah: Pages 22 & 34
Page 2
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
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Continued from page 1 “The community cares very much for Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin,” Raices told JTA three days after a federal magistrate rejected the appeals and ordered Rubashkin detained until trial. “If they didn’t trust him, and if they didn’t care for him, they would not put up their homes,” Raices said. “Do you think if we really thought he was going to run away that we would put up our homes?” The public offering on Rubashkin’s behalf is all the more noteworthy because it comes at a time of tremendous uncertainty for Postville's Jews. The shutdown of Agriprocessors, which filed for bankruptcy Nov. 4 and hasn’t operated the plant in more than a week, has had deep consequences. “People for the first time are going on to food stamps and Medicaid and unemployment,” Raices said. Agriprocessors was the economic engine for the entire region of northeast Iowa, but the Jewish community was particularly dependent. Some 90 percent of Postville’s Jews were employed directly by the company, many of them as ritual slaughterers, or shochtim. Even those who didn’t often were employed by organizations established to service the community and therefore are dependent indirectly on Agriprocessors. Teachers in the Jewish community school haven’t been paid since Oct. 3. Jewish Agriprocessors employees are, by one estimate, 12 weeks behind in their pay. A nonprofit effort has been established to raise money for the Jews of Postville and state assistance is on the way, but in the meantime some families are struggling to heat their homes and keep food on the table. Their situation has gone relatively unnoticed, even though a massive federal immigration raid in May made this sleepy northeast Iowa town a focus of national interest. Instead, the bulk of news reports have focused on the plight of the largely immigrant work force detained by the federal government and the unsupported families
role in helping procure false documentation for the plant’s illegal work force. In his ruling, Scoles cited a number of factors that made Rubashkin a flight risk, including the fact that Jews are granted automatic citizenship in Israel and that two former Agriprocessors supervisors already are believed to have fled there. He also noted that a travel bag filled with cash, silver coins, Rubashkin’s birth certificate and his childrens’ passports were found in his home. His attorneys countered that Rubashkin’s financial situation was deteriorating and that he was saving the money to meet his family’s needs. They also argued that Rubashkin was tied deeply to the community and his 10 children, eight of whom still reside in Postville, including a mentally challenged son who is said to be particularly reliant on his father. “Any judge can now say that they will not allow a Jew out just because he is a Jew, because a Jew has the right to run to Israel,” Raices said. “So you know what? Everyone’s hurting themselves out there by not bringing an outcry about that. That is blatant anti-Semitism. And he’s just the first one that’s suffering from that.” “This past Wednesday was a very black day for Judaism, not just for Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin,” she added. “It was a black day for Jews in America.” Goldsmith declined to go as far, but he did offer that Rubashkin was the victim of “over-prosecution” and that the judge’s decision was “perplexing.” While the community anguishes over Rubashkin’s fate, it also has more pressing concerns. At the Kosher Community Grocery on Nov. 21, the shelves were noticeably less than fully stocked. In the kitchen, Mordy Brown was slicing onions for cholent, part of the meal he was preparing for the approximately 40 yeshiva students in Postville. Brown said the store is extending credit to some families short on funds and that cash flow is “very low.” Some meat remains in stock, but last week’s order, Brown said, is going to be the last for a while. He pre-
Production at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville has been shut down more than a month and it is unclear when it will Credit: Ben Harris resume. they left behind. Much of the plant’s former non-Jewish work force is now stuck in Postville with dwindling resources, living off the generosity of area churches and dependent on the good will of the city’s residents. On Nov. 21, Mayor Robert Penrod initiated the process of having Postville declared a disaster area -- a move that is expected to result in nearly $700,000 in state assistance. Later in the day, a notice was posted in the Postville synagogue announcing that help is on the way for those struggling to pay for food and utilities. Morale in the Jewish community has been especially hard hit because of a widespread sense among Postville Jews that they have been given a raw deal. Not by the Rubashkins, whose business practices some outside critics blame for the current crisis, but by the media, which many Jews in Postville see as unduly biased against the company, and by the federal government, which is seen as having moved more aggressively against Agriprocessors than against other companies accused of hiring undocumented workers. That sense of grievance was compounded Nov. 20 when U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles refused to release Rubashkin on bail, concluding that he posed a “serious risk of flight.” Rubashkin faces substantial jail time for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud the company’s bank, as well as a host of charges related to his
The Postville Jewish community is raising relief funds through the website PostvilleEmergencyRelief.org. dicted the shelves would be empty in three days. “It’s getting really tough,” Brown said. Meanwhile, at the packing plant, all was quiet. Handwritten signs posted in the window announced more bad news: No work on Sunday and Monday. A court-appointed trustee was due Monday in Postville; the town is hopeful that checks will be issued soon thereafter. But there are few illusions that Agriprocessors can recover as a going concern. Virtually the only hope for the future of the Postville Jewish community rests with the plant’s purchase by another company. “I don’t know that the name Agriprocessors can be resurrected,” Goldsmith said, “but I think the plant can be resurrected. There just might be too much baggage with the old name.” Talks with investors have been under way for months but no deal has been announced. Bernard Feldman, the company’s recently appointed chief executive, submitted an affidavit to the court claiming that he expected “such negotiations will be fruitful [and] completed in the very near future.” In the meantime, the community languishes in uncertainty. And while the worst of the humanitarian crisis will likely be avoided through state assistance and outside donations, the intensity of the anger remains.
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12 Temple Israel Shabbat, 4 p.m. at Remington Heights SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13 Out of Sight Saturday Night/Overnight, 6:30 p.m. JCC Dance/Omaha Dance Project Performance, 7 p.m. SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14 JFS Hanukkah - Project Driedel, 9 a.m. Adult Ed., and BESTT Latke Party, 10 a.m. at Beth El C Pre-Kindergarten, 10 a.m. at Beth El L BESTT Teen Class with Rabbi Gross, 10 a.m. at Beth Israel I Mishpacha Morning, 10:15 a.m. at Chabad P BESTT 3 & 4 year old program, 10:30 a.m. at Beth El Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing, 1 p.m. JCC Dance & Omaha Dance Project, 2 p.m. & Sixth Annual Chanu-Kids Event, 3:30 p.m.
S A V E
MONDAY, DECEMBER 15 JSS Senior Luncheon, noon Jewish Book Club Meeting, 10:30 a.m. Kabbalistic Insights for Women, noon Chabad JFS Hanukkah - Project Tzedakah, 1 p.m. JFO Executive Committee Meeting, 6 p.m. Judaism 102, 6:30 P.M. Soul Maps, 7 p.m. at Chabad JFO Board of Director’s Meeting, 7:30 p.m. Judaism 101, 8 p.m.
C L I P & S A V E
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16 JFS Hanukkah - Project Tzedakah, 9 a.m. Parsha, Prayer and Prophets, 9:15 a.m. at Chabad Sisterhood Lunch, noon at Beth Israel Mishnah Club, 3:45 p.m. BBYO Night, 6 p.m. Bedtime Storytime for Kids, 6 p.m. at Chabad House Board Meeting, 7 p.m. at Temple Israel Rabbi Mizrahi’s Class, 7:45 p.m. at Beth Israel
C WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17 L Spice and Spirit Cooking Club, 9:30 a.m. at Chabad OTYG Latke Cooking Party, 6 p.m. at Temple Israel I On Being 60, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel P
C L I P
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18
& Women of the Torah, 9:30 a.m. at Beth Israel
&
S A V E
S A V E
Adult Study with the Clergy, 10 a.m. at Temple Israel Jewish Ideals and Ethics, noon at Beth El Dorothy Kaplan Book Discussion Group, 1 p.m. Yiddish Group, 1 p.m. Beth El Clergy Visit to Remington Heights, 1:30 p.m. Parsha Club for Kids, 3:40 p.m. at Chabad JCC Hanukkah Extravaganza, 5:15 p.m. FJA Hanukkah Play Performance and Reception, 7 p.m. Class with Rabbi Gross, 7:30 p.m. at Beth Israel 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)
This Space For Rent Call Allan Handleman 334-6451
Author visits “Chanu-Kids” Continued from page 1 “Chanu-Kids,” for preschool through third grade children, is free of charge and sponsored by the Ruth Frisch and Oscar S. Belzer Endowment Fund and the Morton Richards Youth Program Fund. Jewish Book Month is presented by the Center for Jewish Education through
the Kripke Library and is sponsored by the Special Donor Advised Fund of the Jewish Federation Foundation and the Gertrude and Albert Newman Fund. For more information, please call Gary Katz at 334.6462 or gkatz@jewishomaha.org.
December 12, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 3
For Indian Jews, sense of security is shattered by JEREMY KAHN MUMBAI, India (JTA) -- The Colaba neighborhood that surrounds the modern apartment block where terrorists last week murdered a Chabad-Lubavitch couple and four other Jews has begun to return to normal. The maze of dusty alleyways that surround the now infamous building, Nariman House, is bustling. Shoppers have returned to the market around the corner, where Chabad Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg used to buy chickens for kosher slaughter. On nearby apartment blocks, residents are repairing windows shattered by the gunshots and grenade blasts that took the lives of Holtzberg, his wife, Rivkah, and the others. But for Mumbai’s ancient Jewish community, nothing will ever be the same. “This is the first time when a Jew has been targeted in India because he is a Jew,” said Jonathon Solomon, a Mumbai lawyer and the president of the Indian Jewish Federation. “The tradition of the last thousand years has been breached.” Jews are believed to have lived in India since the time of King Solomon, and throughout its ancient history the community has experienced virtually no antiSemitism -- a source of pride to India's Jews and non-Jews alike. “This is one of the few countries where Jews never faced discrimination and persecution,” said Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, who heads the Jewish community in New Delhi. Mumbai’s Jewish associations run particularly deep. The construction of many of the city's best-known monuments and civic institutions were funded by the socalled “Baghdadi Jews” -- actually a col-
lection of families from Syria and Iran as well as from the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra -- who arrived in then-British Bombay as shipping barons and manufacturing tycoons in the late 18th century. The city is also the heart of the Bene Israel community, a group of ethnically Indian Jews who claim to be descended
Rivkah Holtzberg, left, at the opening of the Mumbai in 2006. from seven families shipwrecked on the southern Indian coast while fleeing persecution in the Galilee during the second century B.C.E. In 1947, at the time of India’s Independence, it was estimated that about 25,000 Jews lived in India. Fewer than 5,000 remain today, the majority of them in Mumbai and its suburbs. But Solomon said that perhaps five times that many Indians have at least one Jewish parent.
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Since the Nov. 26 terrorist attacks that laid siege to the city and left at least 170 dead altogether, a sense of sadness, shock and fear pervades the community, said Antony Korenstein, the India country director for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The JDC provides social, cultural and educational services to local Jews. “This attack has really shaken us up,” said one local Jewish educator, who in a sign of the newfound insecurity among the city’s Jews would only speak on the condition of anonymity because he feared he might be tarnewly renovated ritual bath in geted in the Credit: Chabad.org future if his name appeared in the media. “If with such ease they could finish off the whole Chabad House -- the property and the people -- now we have to have a fresh look at our own security,” the educator said. Solomon said that Jewish leaders here are considering whether they would have to restrict access to synagogues and community centers to authorized visitors – a precaution common throughout much of the world but never done here.
“Jewish institutions in India are soft targets,” he said. “After being used to living fearless for so long, we are going through a phase where we are debating with ourselves about being careful and whether we need to change our mode of existence.” Many of Mumbai’s old Jewish synagogues are in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. Historically, relations between Muslims and Jews in Mumbai have been cordial. “The Jewish community has always been very close to the Muslims,” Korenstein said. “In this kind of society, with its hundreds of religions, the two great monotheist faiths living together, they find an affinity.” Solomon Sopher, the chairman and managing trustee of the Sir Jacob Sassoon and Allied Trusts, agreed. He pointed out that 98 percent of the student body at the E.E.E. Sassoon High School in the Mumbai neighborhood of Byculla is Muslim, even though it was founded as a Jewish school and is run by a Jewish trust. But Sopher worries that another international jihadi group will wish to target India's Jews. The one alleged terrorist in Indian custody -- he was part of the overall attack, but not the seizure of the Chabad House -- has told interrogators that all the attackers were Pakistani and confessed to being a member of Pakistani-based militant outfit Lashkar-eTaiba, according to the Mumbai police. “It is an outside hand and not something from within,” Sopher said. Others are less certain. Among some Mumbai Jews, fears are growing about radicalization among the large local Muslim population. Continued on page 4
Page 4
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
For Indian Jews, sense of security is shattered
Continued from page 3 tion, the Chabad House is located in Colaba, at the “We have had of late this imported brand of hatred southern tip of Mumbai’s long peninsula, whereas most coming from west Asia which is really changing the Mumbai Jews live farther north. Muslim population here,” said the local Jewish educator. But Holtzberg did provide kosher meat for the “We see changes in them, and though there are moder- Orthodox among the Indian Jews and ran a Torah study ates and good Muslims, there are some who speak class for local youth. He also led Shabbat services at the against us.” Keneseth Eliyahu synagogue, a turquoise-painted coloIn the streets surrounding the Chabad House, Hindus nial-era temple that has become a popular tourist attracand Muslims, Jains and Parsis all mix easily. This part of tion for Jewish and non-Jewish visitors to the city. Mumbai has never experienced the communal violence Sopher said the attacks had already brought the comthat at times has wracked other parts of the city, accord- munity together as never before. He said the leadership ing to residents. of the various synagogues and community centers have Holtzberg and the other Lubavitchers staying at the met to figure out their response to the attacks and ways Chabad center were a visible presence in the neighbor- to enhance security. hood, with their black garb and hats, said Kailash But for now, the mourning continued. About 100 Sonawane, who lives across the street from the Nariman people gathered Monday at Keneseth Eliyahu to mourn House. But Sonawane and other residents said the the Jewish deaths. Chabad Jews kept to themselves, almost never speaking Rivkah Holtzberg’s father, Shimon Rosenberg, memoto local residents. Local residents were often shooed rialized his daughter and son-in-law, and thanked his away from the Nariman House gate by the Chabad grandson Moshe’s caregiver, Sandra Samuel, who House residents, Sonawane and others said. escaped with the two-year-old in the early hours of the The Holtzbergs’ nanny siege. would take their two-year “With great resourcefulold son, Moshe, to play in ness Sandra saved the life of the street outside the my grandson,” Rosenberg Nariman building, but said, according to reports. she would never let any“Had she not he surely one else play with or would have been murtouch the boy, said dered.” Kalpana Sonawane, During the ceremony, Kailash's sister. Moshe cried out for his Still, they never had any mother. concerns about the Jews The Jewish victims from living in their midst, the the Mumbai Chabad House residents said. Following Several thousand mourners attended the funderal of Rabbi siege showed no indications the attacks, however, the Gavriel and Rivkie Holtzberg at Kfar Chabad. Credit: ISRANET of torture, a Mumbai doctor local residents said they were unhappy that Chabad- said. Dr. Ganjanan Chawan saw the bodies when they Lubavitch has declared its intention to rebuild another arrived at JJ Hospital in Mumbai. Chabad House on the same site. His statements in the Dec. 3 edition of the Jerusalem They fear the new building could become a target Post contradicted an interview with a morgue employee again, endangering their lives. Terrorists firing from of the hospital printed the previous day by the newspaNariman House during the siege shot and killed at least per. The morgue employee had said the Jewish victims had more injuries than the other victims in last month’s three Indians on the surrounding streets. There seemed to be some separation, too, between terrorist attacks on the Indian city. More than 180 peoChabad and most of the local Jews, several in the com- ple were killed. A hospital doctor was quoted Nov. 30 on the Rediff munity said. The community here has often been fragmented. The Orthodox Baghdadi Jews tended to look Indian news site as saying that the bodies of the Jewish down upon the less observant and darker-complected victims bore torture marks. Mark Sofer, the Israeli ambassador to India, spoke to Bene Israel. As the city’s Jewish population dwindled, however, the victims’ relatives and Mumbai Jews. “The State of Israel will not sit quietly while Israelis these distinctions became less important. The Lubavitchers, however, remained unkown even to most and Jews are massacred just because they are Jews,” he said. “We will continue to work with India and with other Mumbai Jews. “Rabbi Holtzberg’s work was with visiting Israelis, other countries in the world in order to prevent this kind businesspeople and tourists,” Korenstein said. In addi- of event from happening in the future.”
JTA BRIEFS
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The West Bank has seen significant economic growth, according to a new report. The growth can be attributed to security measures, civilian assistance steps and successful coordination between the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, according to a report released Monday by the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories section of the Defense Ministry. Wages increased 24 percent and unemployment decreased by 3 percent compared to the same time frame in 2007, according to the report. The number of workers employed in the West Bank itself grew by 10 percent, as did the number of permits for Palestinians working in Israel. In addition, trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority jumped 35 percent. The number of vehicles imported to the West Bank soared 953 percent, from 299 in all of 2007 to 3,148 in the first 10 months of 2008. At least 113 road blocks were dismantled, according to the report, and some 20 Palestinian police stations were opened throughout the West Bank. In addition, Israeli and Palestinian security forces have held an additional 247 meetings since January to build confidence and coordinate activities.
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An advisory group to the Israeli Chief Rabbinate called on the Israeli government to provide security to Chabad houses worldwide. In the wake of the terrorist attack on the Chabad center in Mumbai, the Chief Rabbinate’s Council adopted a resolution Monday asking Jerusalem to finance security for the 3,000 Chabad houses around the world, saying they act as embassies and take care of thousands of Israeli travelers. The council was meeting for the first time since it was elected last month. Meanwhile, Israeli security officials told the Jerusalem Post Monday that they plan to recommend that Chabad move its operations in Asian countries to secured buildings instead of free-standing buildings.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (JTA) -- President-elect Barack Obama said Iran’s “threats against Israel are contrary to everything that we believe in and what the international community should accept.” On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Obama told host Tom Brokaw that the United States needs to “ratchet up tough but direct diplomacy with Iran” and make it clear to the Iranians that their development of nuclear weapons and their funding of terrorist organizations “like Hamas and Hezbollah,” and threats against Israel are “unacceptable.” The president-elect suggested a “carrots and sticks” approach to changing the way Iran operates, including using economic incentives and sanctions.
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December 12, 2008
Newman Supporting Foundation awards grants
by MARY BORT Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation The Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation Board of Trustees met in October to review 19 applications for grants. Nine of the applicants were selected to receive grants totaling $20,470. According to Marty Ricks, executive director of the Foundation, “After careful consideration, the Board chose the recipients based on their unique and meaningful contributions to the Omaha community.” The Jewish Community Center (JCC) received a grant for the 2010 JCC Maccabi Games. As indicated in the JCC application, 1000 Jewish teen athletes, as well as parents, adult coaches and staff from all over the country and Israel will come to Omaha for a week in August of 2010. With more than 120 Omaha Jewish teens expected to participate, they will experience competition, Jewish socialization, and cultural and community service programming. The Maccabi Games will bring the entire Omaha Jewish community together as hundreds of volunteers will participate and provide home hospitality. The grant will help defray costs that come from hosting this exciting event. Another grant was awarded to the JCC for the next Omaha Community Teen Trip to Israel in 2009, known as ARTZA. The grant proposal explained that the four-week experience will involve up to 34 Jewish Omaha teens. ARTZA is provided by the JCC Association Summer Israel Program. The goal is to provide teens with meaningful experiences through cultural, social, educational and outdoor activities in Israel. The JCC also received a grant for the Community Shaliach Program. The shaliach implements programming and serves as an Israeli resource to the community. As described in their grant request, the shaliach serves as the Judaic resource for the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO), area synagogues, the Pennie Z. Davis Child Development Center (CDC), Kidz Inn, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and serves on the board of the Omaha Jewish College Students Union. The program is entering its fifth year, and has been successful in achieving its goals. Jewish youth benefit and the community stays actively involved with Israel. Funding was allocated to the Heartland Holocaust Educational Fund to provide Holocaust and genocide education courses at universities and colleges across the state. Currently, courses are taught at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the the University of Nebraska-Kearney, Creighton University and Wayne State College. According to the HHEF grant proposal, the purpose of providing Holocaust and genocide education courses is to foster understanding, compassion and mutual respect. Jewish Family Service (JFS) was awarded a grant that will support the agency’s Hanukkah food basket program. Fortyseven families and individuals will receive groceries and gift certificates to help them celebrate the holiday. The Hanukkah gift basket program is in keeping with the JFS mission. As stated on its web site, the goal of JFS is to “... strengthen and preserve life in the Jewish community and community at large through every stage of the life cycle.” JFS provides family life education, emergency financial assistance, a crisis intervention team, special needs support, and projects such as the Hanukkah gift basket program. A grant also was given to the AntiDefamation League/Community Rela-
tions Committee (ADL/CRC) for the 23rd annual Prejudice Elimination Workshop (PEW). The ADL/CRC grant proposal described the PEW as a one-day program held in November. Close to 300 high school juniors from 30 public, parochial and private schools from the Omaha area attend. Thirty-five professionals from education, business and nonprofit communities volunteered for the event and were trained by ADL staff to serve as workshop facilitators. The ADL/CRC has seen an increase in interest to participate in the already wellattended workshop, both by schools and volunteers -- to the point where they are unable to accommodate all requests due to space limitations. This successful program has a series of goals that are met during the workshop. The goals include understanding the harm that prejudice and discrimination causes, recognizing biases and taking responsibility to fight prejudice and discrimination, challenging stereotypes and biases that interfere with understanding among groups, and building bridges of understanding and forming new friendships among students who represent diverse cultures, races, religions, sexuality and abilities. National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW)-Omaha Section received a grant to publish the sixth edition of Resources Available For Teens (R.A.F.T.) in Spanish.R.A.F.T. is published every three years and distributed to junior and highschool students, school counselors and agencies who work with teens. NCJW indicated in its grant proposal that R.A.F.T. currently lists more than 200 references, with addresses, phone numbers, and brief descriptions of organizations that provide services to teens. With a growing Hispanic population in the area, NCJW wants to make R.A.F.T. available to teens from that community. Omaha Public Schools has indicated a need for the publication to be printed in Spanish and the grant from the Newman Supporting Foundation will enable NCJW to accomplish this goal. The Federation received funding for its 11-day Young Adults Mission to Israel in June of 2009. Up to 34 individuals will participate. In their grant proposal, the Federation explained that the mission will serve as the basis for developing a new Young Jewish Omaha (YJO) leadership group for the community. The goal is to educate next generation donors and leaders about the relationship, responsibilities and partnership with Israel, so that these young adults can expand their understanding of Jewish world structure and their role in supporting local and global Jewish needs. The Federation was awarded another Newman grant for its program that welcomes newcomers and young people to the Omaha Jewish community. The grant proposal explained that social, educational and community service programs are provided. Newcomers and young people -- including singles, couples and families with young children -- are given networking and mentoring opportunities. Newcomer events are held, as well as “executive” lunches with guest speakers. Members of the Newman Foundation Board of Trustees include Susie Noddle, president; Sharee C. Newman, vice president; Lisa C. Lewis, Secretary-Treasurer; and Jamie Zacharia Friedland, Jay R. Lerner, Murray H. Newman and Patricia M. Newman. The Foundation has been providing grants to the Omaha community since 1987 and will continue to provide support in the years to come. For more information, please contact the Foundation office at 334.6439.
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December 12, 2008
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Iraq latest overseas mission for Nebraska’s attorney general
by JOAN K. MARCUS two different trips. One was to Egypt, Israel and Jordan. Fifth generation Nebraskan, Jon Bruning, a Another group traveled to China and India. Finally, as a Republican, was a state senator in the Nebraska kind of an offshoot group, we went to Northern Iraq.” Legislature for six years until he was sworn in as There are 40 million Kurds who are the largest ethnic Nebraska’s 31st attorney general in January of 2003. He group in the world without a country, Bruning continwas re-elected in 2006 and will begin his seventh year in ued. Most of them live in Northern Iraq, Syria, Southern the job. He also is the president-elect of the National Turkey and some in Iraq. Association of Attorneys General. “So, they’re kind of spread out all over the place and During a recent address to B’nai Brith Breadbreakers, not really liked by any of the countries where they live,” Bruning said, “I am proud of this position. There are 31 he continued. “The Turks act like the Kurds aren’t there Democrats and 19 Republicans, and they didn’t have to and use military might to crush them. The Iraqis, espepick me. They understand that I try to be in the center. cially under Saddam Hussein, treated them brutally. Of I’m a little right of center, but not out there on the course, the Iranians don’t want anything to do with edge!” them.” In April, Bruning will visit Israel for the fourth time. He As an aside, Bruning commented, “Israel is the only readily admits, “Every time I go back, I learn something place where you don’t have to be Jewish. You can be new. My eyes are opened and my heart fills up with love whatever you want to be and the government will leave for the country of Israel. I believe that we as Americans you alone.” have the responsibility to do everything we can to supWhen the group flew into Baghdad, they had their port Israel and make sure we continue to help them be passports stamped “Iraqi-Kurdistan.” The Kurds elect a that spot of freedom and democracy in the Middle East.” president, a prime minister and a parliament. Meeting the Bruning lives in Lincoln with his wife, Deonne and Rodel Fellows allows them to meet future national their two children, Lauren and Jack. His reputation is American leaders. fearless in protecting children from sexual predators and “The other thing that struck us is that they’re trying to educating parents and teachers about how to shield children. He appeals excessively lenient sentences and has earned the reputation of being, “The People’s Lawyer.” Educated at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, he ran a private law practice in Omaha before entering public office. During his introduction of Bruning, attorney Steve Riekes said, “Jon has been to Israel several times and has reported back. I thought that it would be very interesting to At Breadbreakers to hear Nebraska’s AG Jon Bruning (back row, third from left) are get a report of his most recent trip to George Shafer, left, Gary Javitch, Milt Marcus, David Lercher; back row: Al Iraq. We have seen his public service Abramson, Irv Epstein, Bruning, Steve Riekes, Sol Kutler, Jim Wax and Nate Schwalb. as he helps the consumers and citizens of Nebraska.” Bruning began his talk by completely changing the subject and speaking about the six individuals who were convicted of everything from murder to accessories to murder who were freed and exonerated last month. In 2001, State Senator Ernie Chambers authored and passed a bill to allow convicted inmates to ask for DNA testing to request evidence to prove their innocence. In 1987, two men named Winslow and White were convicted of murdering Helen Wilson, an elderly woman in Beatrice. “The tests came back and the prosecutors came into my office, said that the DNA did not match the blood and semen found on Helen Wilson. They asked me what I wanted to do,” Bruning related. “I said I wanted to do the right thing. If it didn’t Young attorney Ari Riekes, left, chats with Jon Bruning about match, I wanted to talk to Winslow and White again and the Attorney General’s office. figure out what was going on. Occasionally, there are make the pitch that businesses can be successful there. If ways to be at a crime scene without leaving any DNA.” you are trying to make a decision about where to expand He added, “Lo and behold, there was a suspect at the your business, Iraq is not going to be at the top of your time, Bruce Smith, who people had placed near the mur- list,” he said, but “the Kurds are trying to make the point der as his grandmother lived in the building. It seems that that it is safer than Americans believe.” Smith “hated his grandmother and Helen Wilson lived in According to Bruning, “CNN paints Iraq as being a the same building.” dangerous place. I would make the case that, just like Sex crimes are usually crimes of anger and this was a Israel, it is reasonably safe. Of course, they have their crime of violence, according to Bruning. “We still had issues and are concerned about security.” some evidence from Smith in 1987. DNA now has techHe added, “The Prime Minister begged us to have the nology that all of us understand and is basically foolproof. United States stay in Iraq. And, when I asked how long We tested Smith and we had a match. The State of they wanted us to stay, he replied, ‘10 years and we’ll have Nebraska had put six people in prison for a crime that stability.’ If we pull out as quickly as some want us to, we they didn’t commit,” he said. could have those who want to destroy Israel surrounding “We made the pardon happen as quickly as we could it. Right now, we have the Kurds helping us. If we pull and they were out of prison the next day. Now, I know out as we did in 1991, we could lose Iraq and the next that all prosecutors and defense attorneys will have ‘some place in jeopardy is Israel! So, I think we’ve got to stay egg on their faces.’ We still all knew that we had to do the until the job is done and the region is stable.” right thing. And, we did.” When asked about his political aspirations for the He then moved on to speak of his recent trip to Iraq future, Bruning alluded to the fact that he will run for which was sponsored by the Aspen Institute, a bipartisan another term as Attorney General. think tank based in Aspen, Colorado. A donor gave In the 2008 election, Bruning backed out from what money to begin the Rodel Fellowship to take emerging could have been a “knock-down, drag-out fight with leaders on learning tours, before they become governors Mike Johanns for the United States Senatorial seat.” and senators. Bruning smiled, “Governor David Heineman is going Bruning explained, “The idea is to take us, members of to run for another term. And, then, we’ll see what the ‘B’ team, as we called ourselves. Twelve of us went on Senator Ben Nelson decides to do.”
HOLIDAY CLOSING & EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed Thursday, Dec. 25 and Thursday, Jan. 1. The deadline for all ads, articles and photos is 9 a.m. for the Jan. 9 issue on Wednesday, Dec. 30. There will be no Jewish Press on Jan. 2 due to staff vacations and a need to upgrade computer equipment. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.
December 12, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 7
Omaha teens break down prejudice, build up respect Get ready to run
by THERESE VAUGHN-WEINER Anti-Defamation League Nearly 250 high school students from the Greater Omaha area came together with volunteer facilitators to participate in the ADL’s 22nd annual Prejudice Elimination Workshop (PEW) last month at Metropolitan Community College’s South Omaha Campus. The one-day interactive seminar challenges youth to face their own prejudices and promote respect, both within and beyond the classroom. “The ADL of the Plains States Region has organized this workshop for over two decades,” Regional Director Alan Potash said. “While it has proven effective, unfortunately, it’s still very much necessary. As long as there’s prejudice, ignorance or hate, we need education programs like PEW.” A selection of high school juniors from nearly every high school in the greater Omaha area participated, including public and parochial schools in Omaha, Bellevue, Millard, Papillion, La Vista, Fremont, Elkhorn and Westside districts. Representing a cross-section of race, ethnicity, religion and socio-economic conditions, the students arrived at the event as strangers, and left with new perspectives, new skills, even a few new friendships. “The diversity was the best part of the whole day. Just gathering all of us from different schools around town. It’s a good start, a really good start,” Central High School student Brad Simms said. This year’s PEW workshop was kicked off with the award-winning Silent Beats, a short film featuring an African-American teen who is met with hurtful stereotypes and suspicion at the corner grocery store. After the film, the audience broke off into smaller classrooms for some vigorous mental exercises and discussion, one participant called “soul-stretching.” Each small group was led by two community volunteers. Coming from diverse professions and backgrounds, the facilitators worked to create a safe, yet dynamic environment for the teens to explore issues of prejudice, intolerance and bullying at their schools. “I only wish we had this type of workshop around when I was young,” English teacher at Skutt High School Amber Johnson said. “Growing up in a small Midwestern
town, we had very little diversity. We didn’t even know what ‘Caucasian’ meant, not to mention ‘diversity.’” While many of today’s youth seemed more comfortable than older generations with cultures and skin colors across the spectrum, other differences presented more of a struggle. “This workshop is helping me change my opinions on certain things, especially homosexuality,” Alexandria Ewing, a student at Roncalli High School, said. “So many religions say it’s a sin, but I don’t believe that government should be able to tell people who they can’t marry.” Ciera Hollingsworth, 16, had preconceptions of a geographic scope. “I guess I thought the kids from West O [Omaha] would be preppy and talk a certain way. I had this impression of how they would be. It was definitely a learning experience for everybody,” she said. With political differences splintering the national map in recent months, the presidential election also prompted discussion. “We live in a polarized society today; the election made that clear,” Benson High School educator Mike Emmer said. “Hopefully, this workshop helps to bridge some of those gaps and move us further along toward change.” One topic that got everybody cheering was former Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch, who attended the event. The inspirational Heisman Trophy winner and Omaha business leader has agreed to help promote ADL Plains States Region’s “No Place for Hate” initiative, which empowers schools to build understanding across racial, ethnic, religious and other divides. “We were thrilled to have Eric with us,” ADL Education Associate Jessica Gall said. “He knows a lot about how diversity can help you win, not only on the field, but in school and later on, at work. Considering how much the demography across the Midwest has changed in recent years, it is crucial to equip kids with the skills they’ll need to succeed in a diverse world. It’s their future, after all.” PEW was made possible thanks to a grant from the Murray H. and Sharee C. Newman Supporting Foundation. For more information about PEW or other ADL anti-bias education programs, please go to www.adl.org or call 402.333.1303.
for Hanukkah!
by LOIS EPSTEIN for B’nai B’rith Hanukkah is an important time for Jews to celebrate an ancient victory for religious freedom. Hanukkah, also known as the “The festival of lights,” is a holiday marked by candle lighting for eight nights. Each year as part of the festival commemoration, Henry Monsky Lodge B’nai B’rith sponsors a walk/run. This year’s special theme is “To Run for the Festival of Lights.” In addition, this year B’nai Brith is helping Jewish Family Service. Many of JFS’ clients are in dire need of laundry detergent. Each runner is requested to bring one or more jugs of laundry detergent. That theme was chosen, according to Lodge trustee Steve Riekes, because “We are fortunate to live in a country where the separation of church and state allows us to practice freely as Jews. Moreover, the run symbolizes our religious diversity in a pluralistic society.” The event will take place on Thursday, Dec. 25, 9 a.m., starting at the Jewish Community Center. Participants should meet at the Sokolof Fitness Center. You do not have to be a runner to participate. The “Run” is not a race This unique event is a group activity to draw attention to this year’s theme. As usual, at the conclusion of the run, refreshments will be served. Participants will follow a prescribed five-mile route, together, beginning and ending at the JCC. Howard Kutler of Nova Health Equipment will follow in his. Participants who feel tired or would like to walk less than the five miles may elect to ride in the van for such portions of the route as they desire. If you wish to enter, please send a check for $18 (Students: $10) payable to B’nai B’rith Henry Monsky Lodge and mail it to Henry Monsky Lodge of B’na B’rith, 333 So. 132nd Street, Omaha, NE 68154. A long-sleeved t-shirt is included in the entry fee. For those who cannot physically participate, donations can be sent to the above address as well.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
New revelations strengthen identification of Herod’s grave
by EDGAR ASHER JERUSALEM -- Analysis of newly revealed items found at the site of the mausoleum of King Herod at Herodium (Herodion in Greek) have provided Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeological researchers with further assurances that this was indeed the site of Herod’s 1st century B.C.E. grave.
yielded many fragments of two additional sarcophagi, which the researchers estimate to have been members of Herod’s family. The mausoleum, says Prof. Ehud Netzer, director of the excavations, was deliberately destroyed by the Jewish rebels who occupied the site during the First Jewish Revolt against the Romans which started in about 66 C.E. Also found in the latest excavations are the remains of an intimate
Herod was the Roman- Above: The podium of Herod’s mausoleum as it is today. Right: appointed king of Judea Professor Ehud Netzer stands next to a red sarcophagus thought to from 37 to 4 B.C.E., who be that of King Herod. Two other sarcophagi were also discovered was renowned for his which likely belong to members of Herod’s family. Below: many monumental build- Reconstruction of Herod’s mausoleum with artificial cone and ing projects, including the monumental stairway. Credit: ISRANET reconstruction of the theater just below and to Temple in Jerusalem, the the west of the maupalace at Masada, the harsoleum, with seats for bor and city of Caesarea, some 650 to 750 spectaas well as the palatial comtors, and a loggia (a kind plex at Herodium, 15 of VIP viewing and hospikilometers south of tality room) located at the Jerusalem. top of the theater seats On the basis of a study and decorated with wall of the architectural elepaintings and plaster ments uncovered at the moldings in a style that site, the researchers have has not been seen thus far been able to determine in Israel. The style is that the mausoleum, known to have existed in among the remains of Rome and Campania in which Herod’s sarcophaItaly and is dateable gus was found, was a lavbetween 15 and 10 ish two-story structure with a concave-conical roof, B.C.E. Thus far only one wall painting scene has been about 25 meters high -- a structure fully appropriate to found intact, though there are traces of others in the Herod’s status and taste. The excavations there have also room.
The dating of the wall paintings makes it reasonable to assume, says Prof. Netzer, that the construction of the theater might be linked to Roman general and politician Marcus Agrippa’s visit to Herodium in 15 B.C.E. The theater and its lavish loggia were deliberately destroyed for the creation of the conical artificial mount that constitutes the widely known popular image of the Herodium site and that apparently was built at the very end of Herod’s reign. Prof. Netzer is convinced that Herodium would never have been built had it not been for Herod’s known determination, made at the beginning of his career, to be buried in this isolated, arid area. He undoubtedly personally chose the exact location for his mausoleum since it overlooks Jerusalem and its surroundings. This led to his decision to make the entire complex the ‘crowning glory’ of his outstanding building career and to name it after himself. The extensive site, which probably will not be fully excavated for many years to come, if ever, includes a huge palatial complex, the theater, and a ‘country club’ of sorts, including a large pool, baths and gardens, in addition to Herod’s burial installations and mausoleum. The palace was the largest of its kind in the Roman world of that time and must have attracted yearly hundreds, if not thousands, of guests, says Prof. Netzer. A description of Herodium, as well as of Herod’s funeral procession there, can be found in the writings of the ancient Roman-era historian, Flavius Josephus. The excavations, on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, have been conducted with the assistance of the Israel Exploration Society, with contributions by individuals and Yad-Hanadiv foundation. There also has been financial aid from the National Geographic Society. Also collaborating in the excavations are the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Gush Etzion Regional Council. The Israel Museum will launch an exhibition of the findings there in 2010. Prof. Netzer is hopeful that with the further findings at Herodium, there will be increased visits to the site by Israelis and tourists, and that the overall area might be converted into a national park.
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Chabad of Nebraska fires up its “burn the mortgage” campaign
pose, respect, responsibility for one by SHEVI KATZMAN another, knowledge, security, and Many are apt to hover protectively over their bank peace prevail. accounts and live frugally A quote from the mission stateduring challenging economment reads: “We recognize the innate ic times such as these. Yet, goodness in humankind and seek to Milton and Marsha inspire and empower all people to Kleinberg and Phillip and maximize their potential on life’s Terri Schrager, are showing journey - with joy, passion, and that the opposite is true. enthusiasm. We work with all denomBoth the Kleinbergs and inations, cultures, economic status, the Schragers are dedicated and faiths and reach out to help to helping Chabad burn rather than wait to be called upon.” their high-interest mortgage. The Chabad House has raised The campaign, chaired by Jewish awareness throughout Omaha the Kleinbergs, was launched by its mere existence. For 10 years, in October with a goal to Jews and non-Jews have been have the $200,000 mortintrigued by the outdoor menorah, gage paid off by the end of the large sukkah, the happily frolickthe year. ing children, and have in turn discovThe campaign has introered and recovered their soul. duced Chabad to many “We have personally seen the members of the Omaha impressive work that Chabad and the community who choose to Shani and Rabbi Mendel Katzman celebrated 20 Katzmans have done for our commucommit their hard-earned years in Omaha last April at a gala attracting more nity and felt moved to help out with savings even when the econ- than 350 people. this worthy project,” said Nancy omy is so uncertain. As of press time, $30,000 has been Schlessinger, who along with her husband Joel is part of collected for this drive. To speed up the effectiveness of the team to bring this campaign to fruition. “There are this goal, the Schragers have pledged to match donations so many unseen things that Chabad does on a daily basis exclusively given towards the mortgage fund of Chabad that go unnoticed but are truly important. For this and House to double the value of all the money donated up many other reasons, we want to make sure they have the to $50,000. ability to continue their important mission.” Purchased in the spring of 1998, the Chabad House Phil Wolf expressed his sentiments regarding what has become the hub of its many statewide activities. A Chabad House has done for this community. “We were dozen classes for men, women, teens and children of all raised to equate Jewish education with Holocaust educaages and stages take place at the Chabad House each tion which made it difficult for young Americans to week. The building also serves as the home base for the identify with Judaism. Chabad has taught a relevance, a Camp Gan Israel summer and winter program and hous- joy, and offers a platform for discussion.” es a kosher food pantry serving the metro area. He added, “I am more comfortable and interested in The Chabad House hosts various support groups , and identifying myself as a Jew.” serves as a home away from home for many students and Milton Kleinberg launched this campaign because, he travelers. Annual holiday bashes and community-wide said, “I would like to see the important work of Chabad social events happen there too. Statewide public continue unhampered. A mortgage for a non-profit Menorah lightings, crisis counseling, roving rabbis and organization has an extremely high interest rate. Dollars other social services for the general community are dis- that would be used constructively to help our communipatched from within the four walls of the property, locat- ty in so many ways are being wasted on interest to the ed on the corner of 120th and Shirley Streets. bank.” Rabbi Mendel and Shani Katzman established the Rabbi Katzman expressed his sincere appreciation to Chabad House here in the fall of 1986 when they arrived the Kleinbergs for initiating this project and to the in Omaha as the emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Schragers for stepping up with such generosity. Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson. Chabad House seeks For more information or to participate in this camto improve the world though education, action, and lov- paign, contact Marsha Kleinberg at mmkleinberg@ ing kindness; to help realize a moral, G-dly world in cox.net or Rabbi M. Mendel Katzman at Chabad@ which honesty, integrity, a sense of meaning and pur- aol.com.
Get your groove on during Beth El’s Jazz Shabbat
by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator The smooth jazz stylings of singer Mark Bloom will add an unusual musical twist to Beth El’s musical Kabbalat Shabbat service on Dec. 19, so if you’re interested in adding some swing to your Friday evening routine, don’t miss “Jazz Shabbat with Mark Bloom”! The Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter/keyboardist will share his inspirational sounds and innovative musical talents during the 6 p.m. service. Joined by Cantor Beth Schlossberg, Bloom will present a unique and spirited melding of traditional Jewish melodies with modern rhythms and harmonies -- everyone from the young to the not-so-young is sure to love this unique service. Bloom, an accomplished musical director, composer and performer, is a frequently-featured performer at the URJ Biennial, as well as CAJE and the Chicago Jewish Folk Arts Festival. His Jazz Shabbat has been enjoyed by over 55 congregations throughout North America, and he has been nominated three times for the American Jewish Song Festival. In addition, Bloom has produced
Out
Dining
December 12, 2008
numerous scores for stage and film, and has worked with a wide array of Jewish performers, including Danny Maseng, Doug Colter and Rabbi Joe Black. On Bloom’s web site, Rabbi Black lauds the special Jazz Shabbat service, saying, “Jazz music has a fixed form that is played by the group, while at the same time each musician takes the music and makes it his own. The same is true with prayer. Prayer is a combination of Keva, the written word and Kavannah, the spiritual dimension of each individual. Mark’s Jazz Shabbat service combines aspects of the service with music that melds with prayer.” Following the service, everyone is invited to stay for a special “preHanukkah” dinner, featuring a family-friendly menu. Cost is $15 for adults and $8 for chilMark Bloom dren, ages four-12; there is no charge for children three and younger. Reservations are needed by Dec. 15, and may be made by sending a check -- made payable to Beth El --to “Jazz Shabbat,” Beth El, 14506 California St., Omaha NE 68154. Be sure to indicate the number of people in your party, and entrée choice of fish or chicken. Reserve your spot today and plan to jazz up your Shabbat during this unique and memorable evening.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 9
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December 12, 2008
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Meet the faces of Yachad
more than that shows in his eyes though. by ANDREA BARTMAN for Jewish Family Service He has many things to be proud of. Along with work at Bag-N-Save, Josh This ongoing series focuses on individual time at the Child Yachad members; who they are as individu- volunteers als and what they gain from their involve- Development Center on the JCC campus. He’s fond of children, as well as the ment with the Yachad program. This series is a chance for the community elderly, and says he enjoys being helpful to discover a bit more about the members with stacking chairs and cleanup after the and why this group is such an integral part kids. Michael also does volunteer work at of the programming available at Jewish the CDC, and it stands to reason that Family Service. All of these Yachad mem- they enjoy working with children. bers are seeking greater involvement in They’re talkers – both of them – and I their community and a chance to spread observe that they probably have no troutheir wings beyond what they already ble keeping up with the “busyness” of children and chatting with those older accomplish every day. than themselves. Josh and Michael Parsow We rewind for a moment to high school Sitting down in their living room to speak with me, these brothers, along with years and Michael takes the reigns of the their mother Carol, make me feel imme- conversation once again. He’s a flurry of diately at home. More like a visit with smiles and enthusiasm about his years at friends or relatives than an interview, the Elkhorn High School. “I had the best conversation flows naturally and quickly teachers ever and had fun,” he states. His from these two distinct personalities. involvement as the unofficial mascot for Both Josh, 31, and Michael, 26, are the cheerleading squad couldn’t have anxious to speak to me and at times anx- hurt. Carol comments that friends from ious to interrupt one another to accomplish that goal. Carol intercedes occasionally to remind each one to “wait for their turn” to tell me what they would like to say, but in the reassuring and comforting way that only a mother can provide. Michael is first up to speak, and out tumbles so much information that we break it down into subjects to make sure we discuss it all. He wants to begin by telling me about his Josh Parsow, left, and his brother, Michael, active members past camping experiences. I of Yachad, are the sons of Alan and Carol Parsow. let him lead the way with this topic that the squad were frequent visitors at their he’s obviously very dedicated to and home during high school years and seems to be one of his greatest joys. Michael still occasionally sees some of “I’ve been going to camp for thirteen them. years,” he touts, and then goes on to On the topic of hobbies, Michael keeps explain to me that this camp is a major rolling with three main themes: camping, commitment for him and that his respon- music and cooking. He mentions the sibilities have been stepped up recently Yachad camping at Mahoney State Park since he’s been involved for so long. and how much he enjoys this yearly outCamp Sabra, located midway between ing. “I caught two fish last time. It was Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, is awesome!” he says. “We also went putt361 acres of wide-open space in an envi- putt golfing.” He mentions the food ronment that fosters Jewish traditions and from camp and that leads into how much acceptance of others. “Michael has gone he enjoys watching cooking shows on TV. for years,” comments Carol. “Over the Emeril Lagasse is a favorite personality; past five or six years they’ve asked him to Michael wrote a speech about him once go back as senior staff because he’s just in high school. When I ask Michael if he full of spirit.” Michael says his main job cooks at home for his family he tells me at camp these days is to “keep the spirit about his famous smoothies; “Funky up”. “The campers go crazy when they Monkey” being his very favorite. He also see me down there,” he says. It’s obvious shows me a newspaper clipping of when in the way he speaks so fondly of these he actually met the iron chef Masaharu experiences that he’s the perfect man for Morimoto in person at an event at the the job. Qwest Center Omaha. The sparkle in his Josh is waiting in the wings during this eyes reflects what a personal thrill it was “camp conversation” to tell me about for him. some of the things that are important to Broadway music is high on the list of him as well. Work is at the top of his list. interests for Michael as well. When I ask “I work at Bag-N-Save,” he says. “I do if he’s seen any productions he and his the carts.” The oldest of three brothers, mother list a few, including the Lion Josh is responsible for this among other King, Aida, and Beauty and the Beast. He duties at work and proud of the fact that tells me of a time that he and some friends he’s been on the job for over four years actually recorded their own music at a now. “He’s learned a lot there,” says his recording studio and how very much he mother. Josh is also signed up for the would like to again some time in the Ultimate Life program through the Ollie future. Webb center. This companion program When I turn my attention back toward provides opportunities for individuals to Josh and ask him what his favorite foods participate in activities of their choosing are he states simply, “Hot dogs.” Josh has with someone other than a parent. his own hobbies (that don’t include cookMiddle brother, Danny, 29, is living ing!) including swimming in the summer and working in Chicago and both Josh and watching sporting events on TV. His and Michael speak excitedly about him. favorite sport to watch is, without a There’s affection in their eyes, and a little doubt, wrestling. “Josh loves to play wonder too, at what all Danny gets to Xbox and Nintendo too,” Carol adds. experience, but one thing there isn’t is When I ask Josh if he enjoys watching any jealousy. These two are quite busy football, he says “Of course!” with activities and engagements of their We turn the conversation toward perown. When I ask Josh how he feels about sonal struggles and what they’re each being the eldest of the three brothers, his looking to improve on. “My excitability,” response is simply “Not bad!” Much Continued on page 11
December 12, 2008
The faces of Yachad Continued from page 10 is Josh’s response. Mom agrees that this is something that she works on with him to get under control. She explains that he’s sometimes rattled in social situations and adds that getting Josh to adapt and relax more in group settings is on their list. For Michael, it’s getting him to slow down a little; “I need a stopwatch” is how he puts it. Metering himself in conversation and allowing more back and forth with others is where he’s focusing his efforts. They’re both so animated and fun to talk with that I’m disappointed when we’re nearly through. At the end of our interview, they show me around the house and introduce me to their father, Alan, who’s busy working
in his home office upstairs. Finally, Josh and Michael get out the Yachad upcoming calendar of events and point out a few specifics that they’re especially looking forward to. They both very much enjoy the group outings, but “we need more volunteers to help us out,” Michael says. He’s more aware than you’d think of what it takes to run this program that provides such a positive outlet for himself and his brother. As a camp staff member himself, he’s had a glimpse of the organization and dedication it takes and both of these men attest to how much it means to have the group available to them. If you have a family member interested in joining Yachad or you are interested in volunteering, please call Jewish Family Service at 330.2024.
MARRIAGES
LEVINGSTON/POLIKOV Carla Kate Levingston and Chad Michael Polikov both Polikov, honorary bridesmaid of Atlanta, all sisters-inof Atlanta, GA were married on Nov. 1 in New Orleans, law of the bride. Shayley Polikov of Chicago, niece of the LA. Rabbi Harry Danziger groom, was the flower girl. officiated the ceremony at the The groom, son of Sheila and Marv Polikov, is a gradMaison Dupuy Hotel. uate of the William Allen White School of Journalism The bride, daughter of and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas in Barbara and Jeff Levingston Lawrence, where he earned a degree in Broadcast of Cleveland, MS, graduated Management. He is a senior search marketing specialist from the University of Texas at Jackson Healthcare Solutions in Atlanta. in Austin with a degree in psyHe is the grandson of the late Ethel and Seymour chology and earned a Masters Goldston and the late Bernice and Abe Polikov. of Social Work from Tulane The best man was Adam Einiger of Atlanta, GA. University in New Orleans. Groomsmen were Kenny Polikov of Chicago, Lance She now serves as an onsite coordinator with Hospice Polikov of Atlanta, brothers of the groom, and Kevin Atlanta. Levingston of Atlanta, brother-in-law of the groom. She is the granddaughter of David Antis of Crowley, Rylan Polikov of Chicago, nephew of the groom, was LA, the late Gerry Antis, and the late Vivian and Alfred the junior groomsman. Andrew Levingston of Atlanta, Levingston. nephew of the bride, was the ring bearer. The maid of honor was Leslie Levingston of Houston, Following a honeymoon to the Royal Hideaway in TX, sister of the bride. Bridesmaids were Jodi Polikov of Playacar, Mexico, the couple returned to their home in Chicago, Simone Levingston of Atlanta and Sara Atlanta.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
O-16! It’s Lunch & Bingo at Beth Israel
by MARY BORT for Beth Israel Synagogue Looking for something fun to do on a wintry afternoon? Do you still have Hanukkah gifts to buy? Then make plans to attend Beth Israel’s Sisterhood soup and sandwich lunch with Bingo on Tuesday, Dec. 16, noon. The lunch will feature homemade soups and sandwiches at a cost of only $5 per person. Following lunch, attendees will have the opportunity to play bingo. According to Beth Cohen, executive director, “Sisterhood has arranged for some terrific prizes, so don’t miss out on the fun.” Sisterhood’s Gift Shop will be open during the event. Chairman Bette Kozlen has lined up a wonderful array of Hanukkah items to choose from, including items for adults, children and your home. If you are looking for a menorah, then look no further; the Gift Shop has many to choose from, including made-in-Israel gifts. To make reservations or for more information, please call the office at 556.6288.
BIRTHS
Sara and Lance Polikov of Atlanta, GA, announce the Nov. 19 birth of their daughter, Hayden Elizabeth, named for her great-grandmothers, Helen Wagner and Ethel Goldston. Grandparents are Carol and Alan Friedkin of Youngstown, OH, and Sheila and Marvin Polikov. Great-grandparents are the late Helen and Albert Wagner, Laura and Saul Friedkin, the late Ethel and Seymor Goldston, and Bernice and Abe Polikov.
Drs. Sarah and Beau Konigsberg announce the Oct. 20 birth of their son, Rex Kramer. He has a brother, Leo Grandparents are Dr. Harvey and Marilyn Konigsberg, and Barbara and Ed Boos of Cozad, NE. Great-grandmother is Frieda Konigsberg of Bayonne, NJ.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
Giving can still be joyful Despite the wallop we’ve all taken in our 401(k)s, our IRAs, our savings, and the values of our homes, most of us, at least in Nebraska, still have jobs. This part of the country is not subject to the boom-and-bust cycles of markets like Miami, Phoenix and San Diego. And because Nebraska is not home to major financial centers (forgive us, Mr. Buffett!), there won’t be the thousands of investment bankers and financial advisers out of work as there are in New York and Chicago. That’s not to say that times aren’t hard here. Omaha’s daily newspaper announced job cuts due to loss in ad revenue and the Jewish Press outlined last week our plans to forge ahead with launching a new website next summer to combat our losses in print ads. It’s likely that local Jewish organizations, the Federation, its agencies and synagogues will see some losses as well; even if donations are up, there’s been a 40% drop in the investment income on which we’ve all come to depend in balancing our budgets. But all is not lost. And here’s why. Omaha has been -- and will continue to be a very generous community. Whether it’s an increase in gifts to the Federation’s annual campaign or a bequest to the Jewish Federation Foundation, Omahans (and former Nebraskans) want to see the work of their favorite institutions continue. And while the Press certainly urges readers to patronize our advertisers (especially when it comes to gift giving!), there are other ways to give, make people happy -- and support a cause. No doubt, Chabad will be the recipient of
much of the Jewish world’s largesse in coming months as the international group seeks funds to rebuild the Chabad House in Mumbai and protect the nearly 4500 schluchim (messengers) around the world. ZAKA, too, will need additional support; ZAKA sent volunteers to Mumbai in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks to ensure that the victims were treated respectfully and that all body parts were returned to Israel for proper Jewish burials. In Israel itself, AFMDA -- American Friends of Mogen David Adam, Israel’s Red Cross, is on hand every time rockets are fired from Gaza into Sderot, Ashkelon and other nearby Israeli communities. MDA runs blood drives, assists victims after traffic accidents and their volunteers, too, were on hand in Mumbai, offering medical attention to Israeli survivors of the terrorists bullets and bombs. In these pages, you’ll also read about the work of the former ZIV Tzedakah Fund begun by poet, author and tzedakah-guru Danny Siegel. Now that Siegel has “retired,” other groups, like KAVOD, have taken its place. KAVOD, by the way, was started by former Omahan Rabbi Josh Zweiback. Jewish Social Services (which also runs the Blumkin Home and Jewish Family Services), Hadassah, B’nai B’rith, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, as well as the ADL, JCC, the Kripke Library and the CornerStones Fund of the Center for Jewish Education will happily accept your donations and send good wishes for Hanukkah to your friends and family. So will
Beth El, Beth Israel and Temple Israel, along with Tifereth Israel and B’nai Jeshurun in Lincoln and B’nai Israel in Council Bluffs. And remember to make your pledge to the 2009 Federation Annual Campaign, too And let’s not forget the Jewish Press! Readers can help us by making tax deductible gifts toward out newest project, the launch of our website, or just for general operations. There -- don’t you feel better already? Happy Hanukkah!
FOCUS ON ISSUES by LESLIE SUSSER JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel may consider beefing up security at hundreds of Israeli and Jewish institutions around the world in the wake of the terrorist attack at the Chabad center in Mumbai, experts say. The attacks on 10 sites in the Indian city, which killed nearly 200 people, could lead to a shift in the way Israel views global terrorism and the way to combat it. Six Jews and Israelis were among the victims. Besides tightening security around the institutions -- Israeli representatives and businesspeople abroad may be advised to concentrate their offices in a single, well-protected compound -- experts say there will have to be more training of counterterrorism forces, restructuring of intelligence gathering and enhanced global cooperation in training special forces and sharing intelligence. The Indian special forces who responded to the Mumbai attacks were criticized as being slow to respond, inadequately prepared for such an attack and lacking key equipment. Israeli experts long have predicted a megaterror attack involving local, Western and Israeli targets, including symbols of government and economic power. Experts believe Mumbai will become the new model for international terrorist networks such as Global Jihad or al-Qaida. As the Mumbai case showed, even in cases in which Israel ostensibly is not the focus of the conflict or attack, Israeli and Jewish institutions are likely to be targeted. The lone surviving Mumbai terrorist, 21year-old Azam Amir Kasab, reportedly told investigators that he and his comrades were given specific instructions to kill Israelis. Weeks before the attack, reports said, members of the terrorist squad spent time at the Chabad center to gather intelligence. If true, this shows that the attack on Israelis and Jews
An effective pre-emptive counterterrorist measure could be to hit terrorist training camps in places such as Lebanon or Pakistan, Israeli experts say. Counterterrorism experts now are calling for revising this approach. The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the bombings in subsequent years in Bali, London and Madrid all involved the Global Jihad’s modus operandi of hitting several targets simultaneously. Israeli experts see even greater sophistication in the Mumbai attacks. More targets were involved, the targets were selected carefully to shut down a big city and the nature of the attack required a huge military effort to bring it to an end. The possibility of Hezbollah, Hamas or Global Jihad attempting something similar in Israel is a worst-case scenario that Israeli security specialists must consider. What was new about Mumbai was the sheer size of the targets taken over by the terrorists. Indeed, the Mumbai attacks may serve as a game-changer in the way counterterrorist forces prepare for attacks. Going room to room and floor to floor in a multistory, modern building to flush out ter-
Jewish Press Board Michael Sigmond, Vice President; Stan Mitchell, Secretary; Michael Siegel, Treasurer; Howard K. Marcus, Immediate Past-chairman; Marc Brodkey; Andie Gordman; Michael Kaufman; Bette Kozlen; Susan Lehr; Jamie Meyerson; Andy Ruback; Jim Simon; Nancy Skid; and Dorothy Spizman. The role of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is to involve Jews in meeting Jewish communal needs locally, nationally and in Israel. Agencies of the Federation are: Community Relations, Jewish Community Center, Center for Jewish Education, Jewish Family Service/Jewish Senior Services, and the Jewish Press . Guidelines and highlights of the Jewish Press, including front page stories and announcements, can be found online at: www jewishomaha.org; click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Editorials express the view of the writer and are not necessarily representative of the views of the Jewish Press Board of Directors, the Jewish Federation of Omaha Board of Directors, 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.
Mumbai attacks bring new security challenges was part of the overall planning of a highly sophisticated, multi-target operation. It has enormous implications for security at Israeli and Jewish institutions worldwide, but equally so for intelligence gathering. At the behest of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the former head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Dan Meridor, produced a classified report in 2006 on Israel’s defense and intelligence needs in an age of potential high-tech mega-terror. His recommendations, which remain secret, apparently were largely ignored; Mossad chief Meir Dagan preferred to focus the agency’s intelligence-gathering effort almost exclusively on Iran’s nuclear program.
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rorists who could be anywhere and to save hostages requires highly coordinated action by much larger special forces than currently exist in Israel -- or for that matter, anywhere else. For Israel, it means training more special forces at home and possibly helping train others abroad. It also means heightened surveillance at potential target sites to spot suspicious people, guests or customers trying to gather intelligence and prepare for an attack. Israeli experts note that the attackers in Mumbai were highly skilled in the use of weapons and explosives, had detailed intelligence on their targets and used sophisticated navigation devices. In other words, they performed like soldiers in a regular army. Like soldiers, they likely spent time at terrorist camps undergoing training. An effective pre-emptive counterterrorist measure could be to hit terrorist training camps in places such as Lebanon or Pakistan, Israeli experts say. While acknowledging the difficulty of fighting terrorists at as many as 10 sites, Israeli experts have been very critical of the way Indian security and special forces operated. They point to three stages of failure: the lack of any prior intelligence on the planned terrorist operation, the failure to intercept the terrorists as they infiltrated the Indian coast and the slowness of the counterterrorism operation on the ground. The experts were particularly critical of the drawn-out operation at Nariman House, the building that houses the Chabad center. Unlike the large hotels, the experts say, there was no reason to take 12 hours to liberate the much smaller Chabad house. For the hostages to have had any chance of survival, the counterterrorist operation needed to take place in minutes, not hours. Others in Israel slammed the critics, noting that Israel, with its long history of fighting terrorism, has had its fair share of failures, too. For its part, the Israeli government has studiously avoided any official criticism of the Indian effort. Diplomats, fearing possible Continued on page 13
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December 12, 2008
Killers from the swamp
BEHIND THE HEADLINES by SHOSHANA BRYEN
The terrorist attacks in Mumbai were extraordinarily well planned: it took a year, the experts said. Selecting and training the right people; getting them to the target; having ammunition (and accomplices?) in place; diversionary attacks; and then the main strikes on two Western-oriented targets. They let some Turkish people go, and an Italian, keeping the British and Americans. They were not suicide bombers - they intended to live as long as they could to kill as many people as they could. And amid the yearlong operation, they found and cased the Chabad House. Jews constitute an estimated 0.03 percent of the population of Mumbai, but these guys took the time to find and kill the Jews. (And who are those Western journalists calling Chabad “missionaries”? They are not, but if they were, would that make a difference?) We will hear more about who and what and why, but if you want to know who did it, it was the killers from the swamp. Whether al Qaeda or al Qaeda-wannabes, whether British-born Pakistanis (there is evidence that some were) or Pakistani-born-Pakistanis or Indians, whether trained in Pakistan or Afghanistan or Iran, there are people who work around the world to bend the minds of young men (women are in the closet) to kill on behalf of radical Muslim ideology that has as its enemies Jews, Hindus, the West (including but not only Christianity), modernity in all its forms including democratic thinking and the rights of women. The Australian newspaper reported that the surviving terrorist said they were sent on their mission after listening to, “provocative speeches by Hafiz Mohammed Saeed... Saeed, described as [terrorist organization Lashkar e-Taibe]’s supreme religious and political head, declared in one speech: 'The only language India understands is that of force, and that is the language it must be talked to in.’” The Australian cited terror analyst Praveen Swami who has followed Saeed. “India, [Saeed] claimed, was ‘building dams in Jammu and Kashmir to choke Pakistan’s water supplies and cripple its agriculture.’” According to Swami, Saeed told his followers that India had “made a deal with the United States to send 150,000 Indian troops to Afghanistan” and that it agreed to support the U.S. in its existential war against Islam. In Lahore at the end of October, Swami said, “Saeed proclaimed that there was an ‘ongoing war in the world between Islam and its enemies.’” “He claimed that ‘crusaders of the East and West have united in a cohesive onslaught against Muslims.’” None are real; all are easily believed by the easily led. We are reminded that in July, the NYPD published a report about the potential for homegrown terrorism in the United States and for the radicalization of segments of the American Muslim population. They were most concerned about the use of the Internet to spread radical ideology in private, along with local radical leaders who could find susceptible young people to send abroad to be steeped in the ideology of the swamp. Mumbai was not about politics or political grievances. It was about carefully honed hatred coupled with the means to kill. And that is what we in the progressive world -- including and particularly the progressive Muslim world -- have to worry about. Hatred taught and nurtured.
Shoshana Bryen is the Senior Director for Security Policy of JINSA, the The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. Read more at www.jinsa.org.
Mumbai attacks Continuned from page 12 strains on the close ties between Israel and India, urged Israeli critics to tread more carefully. Israeli-Indian military, intelligence and counterterrorism cooperation is extremely close. Over the past several years, India has purchased an estimated $8 billion worth of military equipment from Israel, including the Green Pines radar system employed by Israel’s Arrow anti-ballistic missile batteries. India’s defenserelated purchases from Israel amount to some $1.5 billion annually. Just three weeks ago, Indian Defense Secretary Vijay
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 13
Jews mostly at ease with Obama appointees
by RON KAMPEAS President Bush who supports making eastern Jerusalem WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Barack Obama’s “team of the capital of a future Palestinian state and advocates rivals” is turning into a collection well known to the putting an international peacekeeping force in the West Jewish community, which should comfort those who Bank. expressed apprehension about who the president-elect In an Op-Ed column in the Washington Post of Nov. would appoint to his Cabinet. 21, Scowcroft argued in favor of those positions in a Obama is fulfilling pledges he made during a grueling piece that was co-authored by Zbigniew Brzezinski, election campaign by reaching out to notables in both President Carter’s national security adviser and a longparties with deep wells of experience. After a welter of time critic of the pro-Israel lobby. But Steven Spiegel, a UCLA political scientist who leaks lined up U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (DN.Y.) as secretary of state and former NATO command- advises the Israel Policy Forum, said the fact that er Gen. James Jones as his national security adviser, Scowcroft and Brzezinski felt they needed to make their case in a newspaper rather than privately to Obama Obama confirmed the announcements last week. Some Jewish observers are uneasy over who might pre- demonstrates that they don’t have the president-elect’s vail in a rivalry between Clinton, who is seen as pro- ear when it comes to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. “If Scowcroft was sure the president-elect was on his Israel, and Jones, about whom some Jewish observers side, he wouldn’t be taking this public,” Spiegel said. have expressed reservations. Seymour Reich, a former chairman of the Conference Steve Rosen, the former AIPAC foreign policy chief who now writes a blog hosted by the Middle East of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Forum, has raised concerns about Jones that have said Obama’s deliberative style means that he’s unlikely redounded in the conservative Jewish world through e- to press Israel into an accelerated peace process, especialmails. Rosen’s piece on Jones was titled “Jones to be National Security Adviser; wrote harsh report on Israel.” Condoleezza Rice, the current secretary of state, added Jones last year to her team of generals monitoring the “road map” peace plan launched by President Bush in 2003. Jones reportedly wanted to publish a report that was harshly critical of Israel’s failure to facilitate the creation of a Palestinian security force and to allow more freedom of movement for the Palestinians. But the report, which was never published, also was tough on the Palestinian force, expressing doubts Gen. James Jones, left, a former NATO commander, tours Afghanistan on Oct 4 Presidentabout its readiness to meet elect Barack Obama reportedly is ready to name Jones as his national security adviser. Credit: NATO Israeli expectations that it would contain terrorism. And in public forums and as ly with Hamas terrorists still controlling the Gaza Strip NATO’s commander in chief, Jones has been friendly to and making a comprehensive deal unworkable. “He’s very pragmatic, during the campaign and in his Israel and its regional security concerns. As for Clinton, her deep ties to the pro-Israel commu- appointments,” Reich said of Obama. “For those who nity date back to her days as the first lady of Arkansas, want him from day one to put two feet in the peace when she gained an admiration for the Jewish nation process, it’s not going to happen. It’s going to be delibafter introducing Israeli early childhood programs in erate; nothing’s going to happen overnight.” Obama’s emphasis will be the economic crisis, Spiegel Arkansas. She endured some criticism from pro-Israel groups said. On foreign policy, he said, Obama is deliberatively while her husband was president -- for her infamous choosing people who will have the independence to hanembrace of Yasser Arafat’s wife and for being a stalking dle the international stage, but without drama: Clinton horse for Palestinian statehood, floating the idea without as diplomat, Jones as a tough-minded coordinator. “What these appointments suggest to me is that he’s President Clinton’s administration formally proposing it -- but as a U.S. senator Clinton has been solidly pro- got to solve his economic problems first and foremost,” Israel, emphasizing the need for Palestinians to temper Spiegel said. It was “ridiculous” to worry about Jones, he said, with incitement against Israel as a precondition for peace. Her likely deputy will be James Steinberg, a deputy a Cabinet that includes Clinton and a White House that national security adviser under President Clinton. has as senior advisers Rahm Emanuel and David Axelord Deputy secretaries of state often serve as day-to-day -- both of whom are deeply pro-Israel. Meanwhile, Obama’s domestic choices have been point men in dealings with the Middle East, and Steinberg’s record is reassuring to the pro-Israel estab- widely praised among Jewish groups. The United Jewish Communities federation umbrella lishment. He has advocated an increased role for Arab states in helping to create conditions for a Palestinian organization has issued several news releases hailing state, long the position of the American Israel Public Obama’s appointments, including the selection of former Sen. Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Affairs Committee. Some in the pro-Israel community have expressed con- Human Services and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as cerns about others who might make it into Obama’s chief of Homeland Security. By contrast, over the past several years the UJC critiinner circle, noting that after the election it emerged that Obama had been speaking frequently with Brent cized the Bush administration for starving federal entiScowcroft, the national security adviser to the first tlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Obama also pledged during the campaign to move away from Democratic Party dogma when it comes to churchstate issues, favoring, for instance, vouchers for families who send their children to private schools, including Singh visited Israel to discuss the purchase of state-ofparochial schools. the-art Phalcon early-warning planes, missiles, helicopThe Jewish community is divided on the voucher issue ters and maintenance equipment for unmanned airand is waiting to see what Obama’s education appointcraft. The visit also focused on counterterrorism, with ments augur. high-level intelligence exchanges on the war against However, the Orthodox Union already has praised global terrorism. two appointments announced last week to the White After Mumbai, the already deep cooperation between House’s Domestic Policy Council: The incoming directhe two countries on counterterrorism almost certaintor of the council, Melody Barnes, and her deputy, ly will be enhanced. India will want to share Israeli Heather Higginbottom, are both former Senate staffers expertise, and Israel will be desperately keen to provide who helped author legislation protecting religious rights it. Both sides recognize that fighting global terrorism in the work place and in federal institutions. will take a huge international collaborative effort.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
Candlelighting Friday, December 12, 4:38 p.m
Synagogue Listings B’nai Israel Synagogue 618 Mynster St. Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 322.4705 email: CBsynagogue@hotmail.com
B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Friday: Services followed by Oneg, 7:30 p.m. with teacher Daniel Christensen, who will present “Go West Young Jew.” The community is invited.
Beth El Synagogue Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Omaha, NE 68154-1980 492.8550 www.bethel-omaha.org
Beth Israel Synagogue Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific St. Omaha, NE. 68154 556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org
Chabad House An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 S. 120th St. Omaha, NE 68144-1646 330.1800 www.OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 S. 20th St. Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 435.8004 southstreettemple.org
Offutt Air Force Base SAC Memorial Chapel 301 Lincoln Highway Offutt AFB, NE 68113 294.6244
Rose Blumkin Jewish Home 323 S. 132 St. Omaha, NE 68154
Temple Israel Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 7023 Cass Street Omaha, NE 68132-2651 556.6536 templeisrael-ne.org
The Neighborhood Minyan 1317 No. 57 St. Omaha, NE 68132 551.6609
Tifereth Israel Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Blvd., Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 423.8569 www.tiferethisraellincoln.org
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BETH EL SYNAGOGUE Services conducted by Rabbi Mordechai Levin and Cantor Beth Schlossberg. FRIDAY: Musical Kabbalat Shabbat service, 6 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning services, 9:30 a.m.; Junior Congregation (3-7), 10 a.m.; Kiddush sponsored by Beth El; Minha/ Ma’ariv, 4:40 p.m. MORNING SHABBAT LIVE: Saturday, Dec. 13, 10:30 a.m. to noon. Led by Esther Katz, for 4-8 year olds and their favorite adult(s), the theme is Hanukkah. No charge to attend, but for planning, RSVP to Margie in the synagogue office, or at programming@bethel-omaha.org. WEEKDAY SERVICES: Sundays, 9 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.; weekdays, 7 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. SUNDAY: Bible Study Discussion Group; and Navigating our Services with Joy led by Susi Frydman-Levin, 10 a.m.; The Mitzvah Club, also led by Frydman-Levin; and Synagogue skills class, led by Cantor Schlossberg, 11 a.m.; BESTT Hanukkah Party, 10 a.m.-noon. Students and their parents are invited to this fun-filled morning, which will feature games and a variety of Hanukkah-related activities, plus latkes and sufganiyot. JAZZ SHABBAT: Friday, Dec. 19, 6 p.m. Special Shabbat service featuring jazz musician Mark Bloom. Congregational pre-Hanukkah dinner will follow. Cost: adults, $15; children 4 – 12, $8; no charge for children 3 and younger. To RSVP, send check to the office. Please indicate the number attending and entrée choice (chicken or fish). SHABBAT TUNES & TALES: Saturday, Dec. 20, 11:15 a.m. This lively Shabbat sing-along, led by Patty Nogg, offers Shabbat music, custom made for children up to age five and their parents. All families in the Jewish community are welcome. NITZANIM: All families with three and four-year-old children in the Jewish community are invited to this program on Sunday, Dec. 21, 10 a.m., to learn about Hanukkah. Nitzanim programs held several times a year, introduce little ones to Jewish holidays and their accompanying celebrations. No charge to attend; for information or to register, contact Judy Rubin at
498.0904, or eddir@bethelomaha.org. GIMLETS & GELT: Those in their 20s or 30s (married or single), who would like to share a great Hanukkah party with other Jewish adults, are invited to Gimlets & Gelt, on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 7 p.m. at Myth, a new martini bar at 1105 Howard St. Enjoy snacks, martinis, and meeting and mingling with others. Cost is $10. For more information, call the office.
MONDAY: Kabbalistic Insights for Women, 12:15 p.m.; Soul Maps, Kabbalah to navigate your inner world, 7 p.m. TUESDAY: W.O.W. Prayer, Prophets, and Prayer, 9:15 a.m.; Bedtime Storytime, 6 p.m. THURSDAY: Jewish Thought, 12:45 p.m.; The Parsha Club for Level I beginners, ages 5-6; and Level II for ages 7-9, 3:40 p.m. Please contact shevi@ochabad. com for a guest pass. All events and programs are open to the entire community.
BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE Office Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; Fri., 8:30 a.m-2 p.m. Services conducted by Rabbi Jonathan Gross and Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi. FRIDAY: Kabbalat Shabbat, 4:38 p.m. “How to Host an Interactive, Engaging and Exciting Shabbat Dinner,” 6 p.m.; Shabbat Dinner, 7 p.m. Babysitting will be available for Kabbalat Shabbat and the program. SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m. free babysitting, 9:30 a.m.; Children’s Classes, 9:45 a.m. with Torah Parade; Kiddush sponsored by Julee and Jacob Katzman in honor of Rick’s 60th birthday; “Guard Your Tongue” and “The Great Midrash” are one hour prior to Mincha, 4:30 p.m., followed by Seudah Shlishit; Havdalah, 5:42 p.m. SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Reading the Rambam, 9:45 a.m.; Rabbi Gross’s Teen Class, 10 a.m.; Kids’ Crafts Hanukkah project with Miss Andreea, 10 a.m.; Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. WEEKDAYS: Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Ma’ariv, 8:30 p.m. TUESDAY: Sisterhood Lunch, noon, featuring soup, sandwhiches and BINGO; Mishnah Club for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, 3:45 p.m. at the Blumkin Home; Rabbi Mizrahi’s Weekly Class, 7:45 p.m. THURSDAY: Women of the Torah class, 9:30 a.m.; Rabbi’s Gross’s weekly class, 7:30 p.m.
CHABAD HOUSE Services conducted by Rabbi Mendel Katzman. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. FRIDAY: Services, 7 a.m. SATURDAY: Maamar class, 9 a.m.; Service, 9:30 a.m.; Youth Minyan, 10:30 a.m. MiniMensch title will be awarded; Kiddush lunch follows; join Rabbi Katzman from 12-1 p.m. SUNDAY: Service, 8:30 a.m.; Mishpacha Mornings, 10:15 a.m. For more information or to register email Estie@ochabad.com. WEEKDAYS: Services, 7 a.m.
To Submit B’nai Mitzvah Announcements Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154. Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, by e-mailing the editor at: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org or online at: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press.’ Submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Federation website: www.jewishomaha.org, click on ‘Jewish Press,’ scroll down to ‘Submit Announcements, and complete form.
CONGREGATION B’NAI JESHURUN Services conducted by Rabbi Ilan Emanuel. FRIDAY: Shabbat Evening Service, 7:45 p.m. led by Rabbi Emanuel, with oneg following. SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m.; Torah Study, 10:30 a.m. all led by Rabbi Emanuel. SUNDAY: All LJCS students meet at Tifereth Israel; Sanctuary Time, 9:30 a.m.; Classes, 10 a.m.; LJCS Family Hanukkah Event, 10:45 a.m.-noon; Gan/ kindergarten students and their families are invited to join us at 10:45 a.m.; and from 4-7 p.m. join us for Hanukkah Hoopla featuring Jewish Jeopardy. Enjoy latkes and bid on silent auction. Cost is $6 per adult, $3 per child. For more information or to RSVP calll Jean at 435.8004 or stemple@neb.rr. com. Call Amy at 423.9579 or az@neb.rr.com to contribute to the silent auction. TUESDAY: Women’s Lunch group, noon. WEDNESDAY: Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel. ADULT EDUCATION TUESDAYS, 7 p.m. series on Sacred Concepts, led by Rabbi Emanuel.
Service, 10:30 a.m. Emily Glazer, daughter of Jordana and James Glazer, will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah. SUNDAY: Teacher Meeting, 9:30 a.m.; Book Sorting Day, 10 a.m. Call Danielle Gordman, 343.1435 or Program Director Wendy Goldberg, if you have any questions; Grades K-6, 10 a.m.–noon; Hanukkah Parties, 11 a.m. All grades with have class the first hour and parties the second hour; Children’s Choir Rehearsal, noon, lunch provided for choir members and younger siblings; Camp Shwayder, noon. Visit with a representative during lunch about summer opportunities at this Colorado Jewish camp. TUESDAY: Executive Meeting, 5:30 p.m.; Board of Trustees, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY: No Middle/ High School; Grades 3-6, 4-6 p.m.; All School Dinner, 6 p.m.; Family School, 6 p.m.; OTYG Lots of Latkes Cooking Party & Games, 6 p.m.; Another Thought on Being 60, 6:30 p.m. with by Rabbi Aryeh Azriel. THURSDAY: “Adult Study with the Clergy” with Rabbi Azriel, 10 a.m.; Religious School Steering Committee, noon. Hanukkah Dinner, Friday, Dec. 19, 6 p.m. with Kol Rina and Temple’s new Children’s Choir. After services, stay for a traditional Hanukkah dinner sponsored by the WRJ–Omaha. Bring your own menorah and candles. Send a check with reservation to the office by Dec. 12. No phone reservations accepted. Adults, $9.50 ($12.50 after Dec. 12), Children grade 6 and younger, $5 ($8 after Dec. 12), Children two and younger, no charge.
NEIGHBORHOOD MINYAN FRIDAY: Minyan, 4:37 p.m. SATURDAY: Srvices, 9 a.m.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE FRIDAY: Services, 7:30 p.m.
ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to the Blumkin Home, 2:30 p.m. led by B’nai B’rith Members. SATURDAY: Services, 9 a.m. led by Miles Remer. SUNDAY: LOVE Gift Shop Bazaar, 1-3 p.m., in the Blumkin Home tea room.
TEMPLE ISRAEL FRIDAY: Shabbat Comes to You at Remington Heights, 4 p.m.; Shabbat Service: Human Rights, Human Wrongs, 6 p.m. led by Rabbi Eric Linder, Cantor Wendy Shermet. SATURDAY: Sparks Beneath the Surface, 9:15 a.m.; Shabbat
TIFERETH ISRAEL Services conducted by Nancy Coren, Lay Leader. Office hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. MONDAY and THURSDAY: Minyan, 9 a.m. FRIDAY: Services, 6:30 p.m. SATURDAY: Morning service, 9:30 a.m. and Talmud study. SUNDAY: All LJCS students meet at Tifereth; Sanctuary Time, 9:30 a.m.; Classes, 10 a.m.; LJCS Family Hanukkah Event, 10:45 a.m.-noon; Gan/kindergarten students and their families are invited to join us at 10:45 a.m. WEDNESDAY: Men’s Lunch Group will meet at the Knolls, 12:30 p.m. Contact Yale Gotsdiner at 423.7066; Hebrew classes (grades 3-7), 4-6 p.m. at Tifereth Israel.
Large print living will available Jewish Heritage for the Blind announced the availability of the large print “Jewish Halachic Living Will”, produced by the Agudath Israel and the Orthodox Union. Forward your request on your formal stationery by fax to: 718.338.0653 or send an e-mail to jewishheritage@gmail.com. Requests must include a phone number to confirm delivery. Supply is limited.
December 12, 2008
Gifts in advance
SPARKS FROM THE WORD by RABBI MYER S. KRIPKE Parashat Vayishlah In our contemporary life, we remember how often nations tried to appease Hitler. But nothing availed. The more he got, the more he wanted! But Easu was no Hitler. When Jacob sends precious gifts ahead to him, he found that it was completely unnecessary. Esau had no harm in mind. He wronged, much more than he had done any wrong. So Jacob, who the Sacred Text does not shield from his sometimes ill-concealed deceptions, finds it now unnecessary to appease Esau. Taking it all together, Easu turns out to be in his way much more the gentleman than our ancestor Jacob! He has no desire to accept precious flocks and herds from Jacob, nor to demand more. He doesn’t want anything. He simply wants to be considered equally before his parents with his brother Jacob. But Isaac and Rebecca have made their choice: this leaves Jacob in the light and Esau covered with suspicion. It is not pleasant to read the Bible and criticize the point of view maintained there, but enough evidence is given to make conclusions opposite those the Text itself takes! Someday, somebody will write an alternative couple of chapters on Jacob and Esau and get a little more fair and just equation.
B’NAI MITZVAH Nathaniel Erik Teetzel, son of Sarah Engstrom Teetzel and Erik J. Teetzel, will become a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Dec. 20, at Temple Israel. Nathaniel is a seventh-grade Principal’s Honor roll student at Beveridge Magnet Middle School. He plays bassoon in the band at Beveridge Magnet School. His interests include swimming, playing chess, reading and bowling. For his mitzvah project, Nathaniel went to Open Door Mission to help prepare and serve food. He has a sister, Naomi. Grandparents are Frances and Philip Teetzel of Ramsey, MN, Peggy Stewart of Janesville, WI, David Engstrom of Washington, MN, Lynda Abbott, and Timothy and Sharon Brandt, all of Rochester, MN. Great-grandparents are Bev and Ken Brown of Spooner, WI, and Irma Sasse of Worthington, MN. Sanford (Sandy) Friedman will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his Bar Mitzvah on Saturday, Dec. 27 at Beth El Synagogue. He will recite the Hanukkah Haftorah, the same portion he delivered on Dec. 12, 1958, and on Dec. 24, 1983 on the occasion of his 25th anniversary. Friedman served as a Beth El board member for eight years including two years as the President. He also is a past-president of the ADL/ CRC and NCCJ and current president of Ironwood Country Club. Sandy Friedman and his wife Amy will sponsor the Oneg Shabbat following services.
Pictured left to right are Dr. Roger Friedman (now of Encino, California), Sandy Friedman, I.H. Friedman (deceased), Ruth Friedman (deceased), and Steve Friedman.
DEATHS DORIS COHEN, Doris Belzer Kwiatek Cohen died Dec. 2 at the age of 82. Services were held Dec. 4 at Mt. Sinai Cemetery. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Sidney Kwiatek, and brothers Milt and Dave Belzer. She is survived by husband, Bill Cohen; daughter, Terri Kwiatek of San Francisco, CA; son, Ron Kwiatek of Royal Oak, MI; grandson, Zachary Kwiatek of Royal Oak, MI; stepdaughters, Sheri Cohen of Houston, TX, and Joni Cohen of New York City; sister and brother-inlaw, Shirley and Albert Sorkin of Denver; brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Ed and Phyllis Belzer of Prairie Village, KS; sisters-in-law, Dorothy Bloom Belzer Ranier of Culver City, CA, and Fayna Manvitz Belzer of Overland Park. Memorials to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, Beth Israel or Beth El. LEONARD GERALD FINKEL Leonard Gerald Finkel died Nov. 18. Services were held Nov. 21 at Bikur Cholim Cemetery in Council Bluffs, IA, and officiatied by Rabbi Eric Linder of Temple Israel. A successful businessman in Council Bluffs, owning Home Furniture and a portfolio of real estate. He was a member of the Tangier Shrine for over 50 years. He was preceded in death by his parents Morris and Jennie Finkel and brother, Harold Finkel. He is survived by his wife of 67 years Helen Minkin Finkel; sons and daughters-in-law, Joel and Lois Finkel, and Ron Finkel and Linda Blumel of Scottsdale, AZ; grandchildren, Kevin and Cristi Finkel Gladwyne, PA; Marti Finkel Poulos and George Poulos; two greatgrandchildren; and a sister, Arlene Finkel Hershorn of Wichita, KS. Memorials to the American Foundation of the Blind. AUDREY SHAPIRO Due to a technical problem in transmission, the following information was omitted from Audrey Shapiro’s obituary last week: services were held Nov. 19 at Mt. Sinai Cemetery. Memorials to: Temple Israel, Rose Blumkin Jewish Home or V.N.A. Hospice.
Pledge a mitzvah for victims of Mumbai by SHEVI KATZMAN The world is still in shock at the horrific murder of Rabbi and Rivka Holtzberg, and many other innocent people in Mumbai last month, an attack against G-d and all that’s good. What can I do? What can we do as a community ? A special video presentation and memorial service for the Victims of Mumbai was held Sunday at the Jewish Community Center. To pledge a Mitzvah now in memory of the victims, please visit: www.Ochabad.com. Any questions contact Carol at the Chabad office at 330.1800 or ADL at 334.8200.
HOLIDAY CLOSING & EARLY DEADLINE NOTICE The Jewish Press will be closed Thursday, Dec. 25 and Thursday, Jan. 1. The deadline for all ads, articles and photos is 9 a.m. is Wednesday, Dec. 17 for the Dec. 26 issue and Wednesday, Dec. 30 for the Jan. 9 issue. There will be no Jewish Press on Jan. 2 due to staff vacations and a need to upgrade computer equipment. Questions? Call 402.334.6448.
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To Submit Announcements to the Jewish Press: Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 (with photos we will scan and return). Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org. Readers can also submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Check the Jewish Press, however, for notices of early deadlines prior to secular and Jewish holidays.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
Federation honors exec, volunteers at community event
About 125 people attended last week’s community event, where Jan Goldstein, Federation executive director, was recognized for her 10 years of service and volunteers Howard Epstein and Bobbi Leibowitz were honored with the Spirit of
Federation awards. Photos from top left: Campaign Cochairman Carl Riekes; Dick Fellman and guest speaker Ra’anan Gissen who told the crowd that Israel originated the message of “Hope and Change�; past president Norm
Sheldon and Goldstein; Epstein and Federation President Bob Lepp; Gissen and Alan Murow; Leibowitz; Howard Epstein’s daughter Emily Epstein and mother-in-law, Marian Miller; Leibowitz and Zoe Riekes; Riekes and Goldstein.
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December 12, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Happy Hanukkah
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
‘Great to give out money’ Mitzvah Heroes Fund carries on where Ziv Tzedakah Fund left off
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by ADAM KREDO “successor,” each demonstrated a “dedication to Ziv’s Washington Jewish Week vision,” according to the final report. When Bill Begal stepped off of the airplane at Israel’s Though the fund is nowhere near Ziv in terms of cash Ben Gurion Airport in April, he held a cooler filled with flow, Meyerson, 55, the fund’s bookkeeper and an edubone marrow in one hand and wad of cash in the other. cation consultant (Morah Mary Consulting), said it This wasn’t your typical vacation: Begal was there to recently surpassed $30,000 in donations, something help. “The first thing I did after I landed was deliver this Kerbel called “pretty surprising for a nine-month operabone marrow to a hospital and saved a life,” recalled tion.” Tapping community connections and longtime Begal, 39. “Then I gave out $5,000 in only 36 hours -- friends, the fund solicits general donations and specific I did more in this time than most do in two weeks.” For allocations. So far, it’s received 120 donations, eight of Begal, this was not a random act of kindness. As one of them between $1,800 and $2,900. Most people, howevthe three founding members of the Mitzvah Heroes er, contribute around $140, according to Meyerson, Fund, a nonprofit charity group based in Rockville, days with some donors giving as little as $18. “It’s slow and like this come often. steady,” Begal said of the group’s cash flow. “There’s no “We don’t talk the talk, we really such thing as a small mitzvah. We can walk the walk; it’s great to give out make $18 go unbelievably far. For money,” said Begal, who owns Begal $18, we can buy kids lunch!” Enterprises, a fire- and water-damage Funds are doled out rather quickly, restoration company in Rockville. On according to Meyerson, who will be that particular trip in April, his donatraveling to Israel next month for a tions provided Passover meals for third round of disbursements to varipoor Israeli families. ous charities, such as HAMA (Humans Established earlier this year in and Animals in Mutual Assistance), an response to the closing of the Ziv organization that provides therapy Tzedakah Fund, a charity founded by using animals, and the Diplomat poet and writer Danny Siegel in immigrant absorption center for elder1974, the Mitzvah Heroes will pick ly Russians. Meyerson will also arrive up where Ziv left off. Founded by armed with a supply of winter coats to longtime friends and Rockville resibe donated to needy families. dents Begal, Steve Kerbel and Mary In terms of contributions, Begal Meyerson, Mitzvah Heroes will conexplained that many donations come tribute to individuals and organiza- Danny Siegel is known as the Pied Piper from area shuls and day schools, tions fighting to make a difference, of Tzedakah. though he declined to say which both locally and abroad. ones. “We get to use the Mitzvah Heroes Fund as a “This isn’t a decision we made last March,” Begal shield to protect,” Begal said, pointing out that givers explained. “This is something we’ve been involved in for remain anonymous to highlight the deed over the cona long time.” All three co-founders have worked with tribution. Running a full-time charity, though, can be Siegal professionally and personally over the years. They complicated. Thus, the group turned to Arnie Draiman, say the Ziv Fund’s closing provided an opportunity to Begal’s uncle who lives in Jerusalem and served as Ziv’s open a new chapter in local philanthropy, and they seem Israel agent for 12 years. Draiman has a similar role for proud to fill Siegel’s oversized shoes. the Mitzvah Heroes Fund, maintaining contact with all “I’ve done [Danny’s] laundry and washed his dishes,” of the fund’s charities and programs in Israel, many of said Kerbel, 47, a Jewish educator who works at Capital which have carried over from Ziv. Camps. He met Siegel more than a decade ago, teaching With Draiman’s help, Kerbel was able to donate about classes for him on a United Synagogue Youth trip to $7,000 during the group’s second official visit to Israel Israel. “I’m pleased with the mixture of factors that over the summer. But disbursements do not wind up they’re bringing to this,” Siegel said of the group. He solely in the Jewish state; there is a large effort to help noted that while nobody can take over for Ziv, the three individuals and charities in the U.S., as well. During founders bring a great business sense to philanthropy. Rosh Hashanah, the fund helped provide meals for “Nobody has ever accused Danny Siegel of being a busi- Holocaust survivors in New York City by giving them nessman,” he said, poking fun at himself, while praising $100 gift cards to local food stores and recently donatBegal’s knack for organizational planning. ed $500 to a member of a local synagogue who was Begal met Siegel in the 1970s and has lived next door struggling to pay rent. to him for the past nine years. The trio asks Siegel’s fun“There’s a direct connection with people,” Meyerson damental question when seeking out recipients: “Who’s said. “It’s all about people; that’s the point of Mitzvah doing good?” And the name -- Mitzvah Heroes -- comes Heroes.” from a term that Siegel coined to refer to his member Editor’s note: another fund listed in the last newsletter charities. In fact, in Ziv’s final allocation report, the sent by Danny Siegel’s ZIV Tzedakah Fund is one run Mitzvah Heroes is listed as one of five charities that by former Omahan Rabbi Josh Zweiback. Donations to donors should consider giving to in light of the fund’s Zweiback’s fund, KAVOD, can be sent c/o Judy closure. While none of the five is referred to as Ziv’s Zweiback, 8914 Farnam Ct., Omaha, NE 68114.
Temple Israel to celebrate Hanukkah with singing, tzedakah, dinner
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by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Kol Rina and the new Children’s Choir will fill the sanctuary at Temple Israel with the sounds of Hanukkah at Shabbat worship services beginning on Friday, Dec. 19, 6 p.m. Their voices, combined with soloist Tamara Field will lead the congregation in songs such as “Eight Days a Week.” During the service, Rosie Zweiback will be honored for her seven years as program director at Temple Israel. In addition, the families who will be leaving on Temple’s ten-day family trip to Israel on Dec. 21 will be blessed by Rabbi Aryeh Azriel and Rabbi Eric Linder. It has become a tradition at Temple to choose a tzedakah project to which the congregation can donate each year at Hanukkah. This year, those who attend the Hanukkah service are asked to bring any brand of gently used running shoes and old crayons. Every year, millions of pairs of athletic shoes are thrown away, clogging land-
fills and wasting usable materials. Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program helps alleviate that waste by recycling the material and giving old shoes a new purpose such as a new surface for a running track, a basketball court, or a playground. Broken crayons will be donated to the National Crayon Recycle program which reprocesses them into new crayons. If your child uses crayons at a restaurant, take them home and then bring them to Temple on Dec. 19. The restaurant just throws them away adding to already overcrowded landfills. Please leave the wrappers on the crayons. After services, Women of Reform Judaism will sponsor a traditional Hanukkah brisket dinner (or a vegetarian entree) at a cost of $9.50 for adults, $5 for children in grade six and younger, and no charge for kids who are two or younger. Reservations are required. Please bring your check to the Temple office. Prices increase after Friday, Dec. 12.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Taubman rocks the house Concert raises funds for youth at Beth El and Temple Israel
Photos from top left: Temple Israel’s Rabbi Aryeh Azriel dances with a young friend; co-chairing the concert were: Brian and Jaime Nogg and son Jordan, Steve and Patty Nogg, and Jeff and Kelly Nogg and daughter Riley; Beth El’s Rabbi Mordechai Levin joins Taubman on stage. The concert benefited Beth El’s Youth Scholarship Fund and Temple’s camp scholarship program.
Photos from above: The joint was jumping when renowned singer/songwriter Craig Taubman took the stage at Beth El last Sunday for a special family Hanukkah concert. The audience of 325+ clapped, danced and sang along as Taubman worked his musical magic and signed CDs for Alex Kraft and others after the hour-long performance. The concertwas made possible, in part, through grant funds from both the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation, and Carol Gendler.
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December 12, 2008
Parties for bibliophiles SIMCHAS & CELEBRATIONS Reviewed by JEANETTE FRIEDMAN
Book parties for young and old provide a plethora of themes: serious ones, silly ones; at home or to go; with or without authors. The kind of book you want for your party sets the tone for the event. Book parties can be brunches, luncheons, teas and dinners -- or something as simple as chips and dips. Some groups like to pick the latest book on Judaism, or issues like the environment, feminism or politics. Others like memoirs or history, and still others prefer entertainment-oriented material, such as celebrity biographies, pretty coffee table books, mysteries, romance; the subject matter is endless. Genres, such as Westerns and science fiction, lend themselves to unusual décors and creative menus. For the unusual, consider carpooling with friends and meeting at a local bookshop. Book a table in advance at a bookshop café, or make arrangements at a nearby eatery to top off your book purchases. From a cup of espresso and biscotti to a hearty meal, choose places that suit the mood, the theme and the weather of the books you choose. The hostess foots the food bill; the guests pay for their own books. Sugar is brain food, so be wicked and book a table in a real patisserie, where you and your friends can indulge. If you really share a passion for words, assign some books to read and invite your friends to discuss how they feel about what they’ve read. Everyone reads the same book, and everyone gives their point of view. To make it exciting, find out if there are local authors you can invite to join you, either at home, in a bookshop or a library. Check with your local booksellers to find out if they have accommodations. A good place to mine for local authors is the local library. Ask the librarians in the reference section if they can help with your search. Check with the community relations people at local bookstores and see who will be presenting what and when. Find out if they will help you arrange a party and enlist people who love to read to suggest books they’ve enjoyed. Once you locate an author you like, invite him/her to a book-signing-and-selling party. Usually, the author
Crafting
happily will answer questions and talk about what it was like to write the book. This is particularly fun if a friend has written a book and you can introduce him or her to new “fans” who will be happy to shout, “Auteur, Auteur” and get their fresh, crisp copies of the book autographed. The author is happy, the friends are happy, To quote TV chef and cookbook author, Emeril Lagasse, “Everything is happy, happy, happy.” And to “kick it up a couple of notches” -- especially if you do a cookbook party -- “Bam!” figure out when everyone can get together and send out invites. The most fun book party is a themed book party: Spy vs. Spy; murders, romance, history, children’s books, art books, travel books -- choose whatever bites your fancy, is trendy and fascinates, or stimulates the mind. Children’s book parties can be delightful. Each child brings a favorite book that is put on a shelf or in a big box, and then the children choose lots. The five kids who get picked are blindfolded and pull a book out of the box or off the shelf. Those books are read aloud to wind the kids down. A Dr. Seuss Party (or other character-themed book), calls for decorations, too. Many partygoods stores or online companies have children’s book characters printed on paper plates and napkins. Reading the books out loud is a ton of fun. Read the Dr. Seuss books as fast as you can, the faster the better, for a barrel of laughs! The menu: Green eggs smeared with jam and anything your imagination can devise. For older kids, themes can include a Lemony Snicket Memorial Party (send him off with a blast!), a bewitched Harry Potter party, a dinosaur party, an intergalactic party. There are so many to choose from, it is mind-boggling. And, for the lovely ladies in your life, there are always Romance novels. Decorate with lacey, pink and red hearts or purple for passion. Design a breathtaking floral centerpiece or have a local florist design something for you that reflects who you are and sets the romantic mood. Make sure there’s plenty of luxury chocolate available for this one! Travel books make a great theme for menus and décor, too. Sandwich travel posters between clear contact paper for placemats, create an international menu, and use airplane and cruise ship models for centerpieces. Invite a travel writer, show a travel video or DVD (from tourist offices) -- from Israel, Shanghai or Timbuktu. In any event, have fun! Jeanette Friedman is a freelance writer in New Jersey. She writes regularly for Jewish newspapers across the country and is a member of the American Jewish Press Association. She can be reached at: thewordsmithy@aol.com.
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by Rivky Koenig (Artscroll/Shaar Press, $29.99)
READ IT AND E AT Reviewed by LOIS FRIEDMAN
This is a book of projects for families to make together -- and perfect for Hanukkah. Koenig, a teacher who is passionate about three things: family life, crafting, and preserving Jewish traditions, shares some of her most popular projects and favorite recipes. Crafting is not an exact science, turn on your imagination and creativity and savor the “Look what I made!” delight! Some special notes, advice for kids and descriptions of needed supplies precede the projects that are organized by the calendar and the holidays, as well as Shabbat and “For Every Day.” For each of these the chapter pages feature a description of the holiday, a list of the projects ... usually six or more, four or so kosher recipes and a menu/party theme. For Hanukkah, the craft projects are a glowing glass menorah, wooden block menorah, clay dreidel charm jewelry or key chain, dreidel place-card party favors, dreidel-stamped gift wrap and card, Hanukkah tray, and latke servers. A Doughnut & Ice-Cream Pary is described. Potato Latkes with Applesauce and Sufganiot (doughnut) are the recipes for this holiday ... so there’s plenty to do during the eight days. Each of the one-toa-page ideas has a “What you will need” list, a “How to do it” section with brief numerical, clear instructions and features a full page, colored photograph of the finished project. For the set up of the Doughnut & Ice Cream Party, a plastic cloth is suggested as are sauces, toppings, sprinkles, nuts, frosting, cups, cones, and bowls set out to go with the doughnuts and ice cream. It’s a kid’s party dream ... dip this, dunk that and sprinkles on everything. Another day, make the latke servers decorated with glass marbles with kids and grandkids. This recipe is part of the Potato Latkes recipe: STRAWBERRY APPLESAUCE 16-ounce bag frozen strawberries 32-ounce jar applesauce Place strawberries into a large microwave-safe bowl; microwave for 4-6 minutes, until mushy and juicy. Add the applesauce to the bowl and mix well with a spatula; reheat another 3-4 minutes. (Estimated Prep Time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 7-10 minutes per batch, Parve.) Lois Friedman can be reached at ReadItAndEat@ yahoo.com.
happy
Hanukkah May the warmth and glow of each candle you light, make your heart and home happy and your Hanukkah
bright.
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December 12, 2008
A new album tries to change Hanukkah’s reputation ditty with a previously un-mined sonic dignity that’s only slightly compromised MUSIC REVIEW by the chanting of the title phrase (possiby HADARA GRAUBART For any self-respecting cynic, it’s de rigueur to despise Christmas music -- primarily for its relentlessness, and the forced irony it creates in many, many otherwise joy-free environments (malls, car repair shops, pharmacies). Hanukkah music has been saved from this fate by its obscurity, and as a result, the general public probably doesn’t realize just how limited and infantile the catalog really is. Then again, why shouldn’t it be? Winter holidays are under no obligation to have larger or more adult musical repertoires
bly excusable as an allusion to DJ-ing). The sultry Ladino tune “Ocho Kandalikas” has the benefit of not being in English, so its lyrics don’t sound as silly as they might otherwise. In this case, it also benefits from the sensational voice of Yasmin Levy. The New Agey “Relics of Love and Light” includes just enough of Avivit Caspi’s Middle Eastern trilling to exalt it beyond yoga class background noise. It has that certain quality often found in Israeli music (and actually, in a lot of
Left photo: Erran Baron Cohen collaborated with Idan Raichel on the new album, “Songs in the Key of Hanukkah.” Right: The cover of “Songs in the Key of Hanukkah,” a new album proCredit: Courtesy of Erran Baron Cohen duced by Erran Baron Cohen. than other festivals -- and Hanukkah is most things Israeli): it sounds a little cheesy, definitely a children’s holiday. Still, there is but is somehow still tough and sexy certainly no reason why its songs cannot be enough to be compelling. transformed into more pleasurable fare, or Another original, “Look to the Light,” some new ones added to the mix. sounds so much like the 1970s hit Along with a cadre of talented collabo- “Dancing in the Moonlight” that I kept rators, Erran Baron Cohen (that would expecting someone to rhyme “light a candle be neither Borat, nor the neuroscientist, tonight” with “supernatural delight.” With but a third talented brother), has taken a folkie groove and painfully earnest lyrics: on the task, producing the new album “We struggle for freedom, and tyranny tries “Songs in the Key of Hanukkah.” to exert itself/But tyranny weakens, and in Baron Cohen seems to be banking on the end justice will prevail” -- the song the possibility that at the root of some attempts to infuse Hanukkah with a spirit Jews’ distaste for Christmas music is the typical of other modern Jewish festivities: fact that, by definition, it’s not ours. We the call to use our own history of oppresmay even envy the celebratory mood that sion to inspire a fight for the greater good the endless seasonal loop of Christmas of all mankind. This sentiment is generally music seems to engender in some people. reserved for Passover, but there’s room for But we don’t have a soundtrack to ampli- it here. (Ironists beware: In this song, when fy those emotions in ourselves. they say the word “echoes,” voices echo.) Hanukkah music can never compete “Rock of Ages” continues in this vein. when it comes to sheer volume, but if it Although it has a Top 40-ish intro that were done well enough, we might actual- could suggest R&B or retro hip-hop, it is, ly listen to it. Don’t we deserve the oppor- in fact, another soaring ballad that wouldtunity to bask in our own nostalgia (not to n’t sound out of place on a telethon; I mention a tiny dash of elitist superiority could practically see the camera panning over impeccable production values and to each member of the chorus as they the multiculti cachet of Sephardic music)? croon “All men free/Tyrants disappear“Songs in the Key of Hanukkah” starts ing.” And though there are hints of off with the Jewish answer to “Twas the gospel (especially in the repetition of Night Before Christmas,” the play-by- “sheltering tower”), unexpectedly fresh play rundown of the festivities known as backbeats keep this from sounding like “Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah.” While I one of those Christian rock songs that’s never thought I would hear the word ostensibly about God, but sounds suspi“sufganiya” in a rap song, I’m not totally ciously like it’s about a hot lover. surprised -- there’s been a bit of a trend The final track, “Ma’oz Tzur,” is the toward Jewish novelty rap. Hanukkah song that most reminds me of But things start to get interesting when, Christmas carols, whether because of its in his klezmer-inflected take on “I Have a ubiquity or some legitimate melodic symLittle Dreidel” (the classic ode to DIY metry. This rendition is no exception. toy-making that has confounded generaIf listeners have paid attention up to this tions of children whose dreidels are clear- point, they might already be feeling a bit ly mass-produced out of plastic), Jules uncomfortable after the previous track, a Brookes growls the words “dreidel I shall rap called “My Hanukkah (Keep the Fire play” as if he is singing about starting a Alive)” -- which, via lines like “A nation rumble, not spinning a top. Later in the awakened against assimilation,” “Down song, Brookes’ wailing might convince lis- with Antiochus, up with all the priestly teners that “Dreidel” is actually the name zealots,” and “How you gonna make a of his tragically lost love. This drama pro- child of God become what he isn’t?” vides a welcome makeover for a song underscores some of the religious fundaabout a soul-crushingly un-fun game. mentals of a holiday seen by many prima“Spin It Up” is, essentially, an instru- rily as an occasion for latkes and candles. mental remix of the same song’s Hebrew But either way, the sentimental finale can’t version, “Sevivon, Sov, Sov, Sov” (the help but send a message -- Joy to the World! main lyrics translate to “Hanukkah is a -- that leaves us carol-haters a bit uneasy. good holiday;” they aren’t missed here). Hadara Graubart is the music editor The pulsing electronic reggae imbues the at Nextbook.org.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 21
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December 12, 2008
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by LINDA MOREL NEW YORK (JTA) – In the 19th century, Esther Levy pinpointed a problem: how to juggle being Jewish with being American. She worried that Jews were assimilating too quickly, shedding their time-honored traditions. So Levy wrote a Jewish cookbook, the first of its kind in this country. Encyclopedic in scope, Jewish Cookery Book on Principles of Economy: Adapted for Jewish Housekeepers with the Addition of Many Useful Medicinal Recipes and Other Valuable Information Relative to Housekeeping and Domestic Management, by Mrs. Esther Levy, was published in 1871 by W.S. Turner of Philadelphia. While that was a mouthful, the book is now back in print with a trimmer title. In 2004, Dover Publications published an unabridged copy called The First JewishAmerican Cookbook. Taking modern readers back to a world ruled by elegance, Levy wrote a remarkable culinary and historical document that offered surprisingly modern and quaintly dated recipes with practical advice on keeping a kosher home, managing a household with finesse and instructing servants. Like other recipe collections of its time, the book included medicinal recipes and concoctions for cleaning every belonging that could soil or smell. Levy was a woman of refined taste when it came to entertaining and the presentation of food. She addressed readers with the confidence of Martha Stewart. “The table should be well polished and covered with a green baize cloth, over which a fine damask one should be spread,� she wrote. “Plates and dishes must be hot,� she instructed. “Bread should be cut in pieces about an inch thick, or pastry rolls should be used. Lights, either at or after dinner, should be subdued and above guests, if possible, so as to be shed upon the table without intercepting the view.� Although she left many clues about her world, sadly little is known about Levy. She was born Esther Jacobs, probably in England. Most likely she lived in Philadelphia at a time when synagogues and Jewish newspapers flourished, as did economic opportunities for upwardly mobile Jews. While her cookbook featured a smattering of recipes for Passover, with recipes such as Matzo Cleis Soup and Matzo Fitters, she didn’t cover Jewish holidays, nor did she mention Thanksgiving. At the time, no statistics were kept on how many 19th century Jews embraced the American harvest holiday, but much can be learned from Levy’s cookbook about what Jews ate during November. She was quite specific about autumn entertaining, writing that “Sauces ... vegetables and sliced cucumbers, or glazed onions for fall goose, should always be placed on the sideboard.� The cookbook outlined the foods in season during each month of the year. In November, turkeys and other foul were abundant, as were potatoes, parsnips, turnips, lettuce, cabbage and apples -- the foods most Americans eat at Thanksgiving today. The recipes below call for this cornucopia of seasonal produce. Levy’s cookbook offered two ways to prepare holiday birds: “To BOIL A TURKEY, stuff it with breadcrumbs and seasonings. Boil the bird in a floured cloth to make it white.� Repulsive to today’s sensibilities, this method makes amusing reading. “TO ROAST TURKEY,� Levy recommended a sausage stuffing. “Baste it [the turkey] well and dredge with flour while basting. Serve it up with a nice gravy. Garnish with veal sausage.� Drawing on typical British, German, French and American fare, her cookbook also is a good source for how to throw a formal dinner. Some of her advice sounds familiar, while other rules seem archaic. “The first course generally consists of soups and fish, which are removed for the roasts, stews, etc. of the second course,� she wrote. If two soups are presented, terrines should be set at the head and foot of the table. If four soups are served, then place terrines on all four sides of the table. Even by Jewish standards, offering four soups at one meal exhibits a generous abundance. The first course is followed by “delicate vegetables dressed in the French style, puddings, creams, jellies, etc.� Aside from pastry served on elevated stands, fruit was the prevailing dessert. “The side and corner dishes, usually put on for dessert, consist of compotes in glass dishes,� she wrote, describing many styles of serving fruit -- fresh, dried or frosted.
Thanksgiving is an old-fashioned holiday that has evolved over the centuries, so it’s interesting to glance back at how affluent Jews ate and entertained during November in mid-19th century America. As harvest fare is essentially kosher, I suspect Levy would not have discouraged Thanksgiving celebrations, as long they were done in style. “There should always be a corkscrew ready, and funnel with strainer, and brad-awl to break the wire of the champagne bottles, and the other to strain port wine, if required for dinner,â€? she wrote. Naturally she advised polishing stemware until crystal clear. Levy’s purpose in writing a cookbook was to offer practical advice for New World Jews “without benefit of a traditional ethnic education.â€? In other words, she was encouraging an American lifestyle while maintaining Jewish values, a delicate balancing act still in progress. Prim and proper, Levy’s voice continues to resonate today. I have adapted these recipes drawn from The First Jewish-American Cookbook to meet modern tastes and measurement standards. Written in paragraph form, many of her directions lack yields and precise ingredient amounts, skip steps or assume a level of skill that home cooks may lack. Added as an option, margarine was a rare commodity in America before World War I. It was invented in France in 1870. In spite of modifications, the essence of Levy’s intentions was honored. VEGETABLE SOUP Ingredients: 1/2 head of romaine lettuce 4 tbsp. butter, cooking oil or non-hydrogenated margarine 3 onions, peeled and diced 3 turnips, peeled and diced 1/2 tsp. chopped dried mint or more if desired 1 teaspoon fresh or dried parsley, chopped Salt and pepper to taste 2 quarts, plus 1 cup, of water 1 tablespoon flour 2 (10-ounce) packages frozen peas, defrosted Preparation: Rinse lettuce leaves and shake dry. Stack several leaves and cut them in 1/2-inch widths, creating ribbon-like slices. Continue until all leaves are cut. Briefly heat shortening on a low flame in a large pot. Add lettuce, onions, turnips, mint, parsley, salt and pepper. Cover pot and simmer on the lowest possible flame for 30 minutes. (Add more shortening, if needed.) Then pour 2 quarts of water into the vegetable pot. Check seasoning. Soup will probably need more salt. Cover pot and simmer for 2 hours. Pour 1 cup water into a medium bowl. Sprinkle flour, a little at a time, over water, whisking vigorously after each addition, until flour is fully incorporated and lumps disappear. Reserve. Before using, whisk flour mixture again and add to pot, along with peas. Simmer for 15 minutes. Serve immediately, or cool to room temperature and refrigerate for no more than 3 days before reheating on a low flame. Yield: 8 servings. KERTOFFLE CHARLOTTE (A Potato Kugel with Fall Spices) Ingredients: 6 medium-sized baking potatoes, peeled No-stick vegetable spray 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs, plus 1/4 cup 1 egg, beaten Salt to taste Pepper to taste 4 tbsps. melted butter or margarine, preferably non-hydrogenated 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg Preparation: Grate potatoes by hand or use the grating attachment of a food processor. If you use a food processor, place grated potato shreds in a colander and drain excess liquid by pressing down with the palm of your hand. Preheat oven to 450Âş. Coat a 9-by-13 inch ovenproof baking pan with no-stick vegetable spray. Continued on page 23
December 12, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 23
‘The First Jewish-American Cookbook’
Continued from page 22 Move grated potatoes to a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and remaining ingredients. With a wooden spoon, gently mix ingredients together, until well incorporated. Spoon potato mixture evenly in prepared pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup breadcrumbs over the top. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until casserole bubbles and top turns crunchy brown. Center will remain soft. Serve immediately. Yield: 6-8 servings. CABBAGE with Brisket in a Sweet and Sour Sauce Note: This recipe is intended as a side dish. Ingredients: 2 1/2-pound brisket, fat trimmed Salt and pepper to taste 2 tbsps. cooking oil 1 beef bouillon cube 1 small red or green cabbage, about 2 1/4 pounds 1/2 tsp. Allspice 1/2 cup white vinegar 1 tbsp. sugar Preparation: On top and bottom sides of brisket, sprinkle salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large pot on a medium flame and brown brisket in oil. Add enough water to submerge brisket, about 5-6 cups. Drop bouillon cube into water. Stir occasionally until it melts. Reduce heat so that brisket gently simmers on the lowest flame possible for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, remove outer leaves from cabbage. Rinse and cut into thin slices, discarding the core. To the brisket pot, stir in Allspice, vinegar, and sugar. Add cabbage and stir. Add more salt, if needed. Cover and continue simmering on a low flame for 90 minutes, or until meat feels tender when pierced with a fork.
Turn off flame. Remove brisket and slice thin. Cut slices horizontally into halves or thirds, depending on length. If serving immediately, drain sauce from cabbage and pour into a gravy boat. Place cabbage on a platter and top with brisket. Or cool, refrigerate, and serve within 3 days. (Recipe pairs nicely with the Kertoffle Charlotte.) Yield: 6-8 servings (as a side dish). SHORT PASTE FOR TARTS (Tart Dough) Note: European recipes, particularly for baking, often indicated measurements by weight, rather than volume. Ingredients: 1/2 pound flour (1 1/2 cups) 1 ounce sugar (1/8 cup) Pinch of salt 1/4 pound butter or non-hydrogenated margarine (1 stick), cut into 8 pieces 1 egg 1 to 2 tbsps. cold water, or less Preparation: Place flour in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. With a large spoon, make a well in the flour. Place sugar, salt, butter or margarine, and egg in the well. On a low speed, mix ingredients with a dough hook or flat beater attachment. (Whisk attachment is too weak.) Once flour is moistened, increase speed to high. With machine running, add water a few drops at a time until incorporated. Add water carefully until dough clumps and forms a stiff consistency. If you add too much water, dough will become sticky and unworkable for tarts. TART ASSEMBLY (by Linda Morel) Ingredients: No-stick vegetable spray
3-4 baking apples, such as Gala, Cortland or Empire Preparation: Preheat oven to 350Âş. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with no-stick vegetable spray. Place dough inside pan. With fingers press dough to spread evenly across the bottom of the pan. Press dough up the sides of the pan 1/4 of an inch. Peel and core apples. Slice apples paper
thin and arrange in concentric circles, starting at the edge of the pan and moving toward the center. Cover gaps between apple slices by overlapping with additional slices. Apples should cover bottom of pan completely. Bake for 1 hour, or until apples darken, perhaps blackening at edges, and dough turns golden brown. Serve immediately or at room temperature. Yield: 10 slices.
Temple Youth Group volunteers at Tri-Faith Food Bank event by CLAUDIA SHERMAN Temple Israel Communications Coordinator Thirty-seven teens from Omaha Temple Youth Group (OTYG), the United Methodist Youth Group, and the Omaha Muslim Youth Group spent two hours at the Omaha Food Bank on November 23 sorting three tons of food. They had donated 300 pounds of the non-perishable groceries themselves. After that, they took a school bus to the home of OTYG President Susan Freeman where each youth group contributed to an ethnic potluck dinner. The evening concluded with the teens attending the Thanksgiving Interfaith Service at Temple Israel. OTYG is also involved in a "Go Green" campaign to decrease the use of paper by using email, text messaging, and facebook. They've already reduced their use of paper by 50 percent. They use cloth and reusable dinnerware for all their events, promoted the use of reusable cloth grocery bags for Temple's High Holy Day
food drive, and are making a donation to Carbonfund.org to support the global effort to "go green." In their continued effort to "green" the synagogue, OTYG is challenging Temple members to install one compact fluorescent light bulb in their homes each night of Hanukkah. Youth group members will be
selling the CFL bulbs at Temple on Wednesday nights and Sundays during Religious School hours until Hanukkah. Proceeds from OTYG's Change the World fundraiser will be used to purchase blue recycle bins and recycled copy paper for Temple.
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December 12, 2008
Dry and colorful, not syrupy sweet, Israeli wines come of age make wine. They began planting fewer vineyards in Israel’s low-lying coastal areas and more in higher-altitude regions like the Golan Heights, the Upper Galilee and the Judean Hills, where the climate has proved better for growing quality grapes. The Golan Heights Winery, established in 1984, played an important role in the quality revolution of Israeli wines, bringing in expertise from California and raising the bar for other wine makers here, said the director of wine development at the Carmel Winery, Adam Montefiore, who also has worked at the Golan Heights Winery. “The planting had been going on in the wrong places of the coastal plane, where the soil was not right and with grapes that were not the right varieties,” Rogov said. “In the Golan Heights, the primarily volcanic soil is excellent for grapes and the chalky, volcanic red clay of the Upper Galilee is also very good.”
Eli Ben Zaken smells a wine in one of the cellars of his Castel du Domaine, near Jerusalem, on Sept. 8, 2008. Credit: Brian Hendler When he came to Israel 25 years ago, the country was a “wine desert,” said Rogov, who runs an online forum [3] on Israeli wines and is the author of “Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines.” “If people told me then that Israel would be producing the wines they are producing today, I would have laughed in their faces,” Rogov said. The return of modern winemaking to the region began in 1882 with the investment in wineries in Zichron Yaakov and Rishon Le-Zion by philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The baron, who in France owned Chateaux Lafite, arguably the world’s most famous winery, hoped a wine industry would help support Jewish settlement in what was then Ottoman-ruled Palestine. Rothschild’s wineries eventually morphed into the Carmel Winery, still Israel’s largest. But for decades it was Carmel that was synonymous with the thick, sweet kosher wine that Jews around the world used for kiddush on Shabbat and holidays. “Liquid religion,” Montefiore, who works for Carmel, calls it. “Probably the most famous Jewish brand name in the world.”
In the past eight years, Carmel has worked hard at a transformation of its own, and it’s now recognized for a collection of top-quality wines. It’s a shift that, according to Montefiore, is part of a larger revolution in which up-and-coming boutique wineries have pressured Israel’s older, more established wineries to react by creating top-quality wines. “It’s been fun to be part of building an image rather than holding on to an image,” said Montefiore, whose great-great-grandfather was the heir and nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore, the famous Jewish philanthropist from London who invested heavily in the Jewish community in Palestine in the late 19th century. Israel today has about eight major wineries, 10 medium-sized ones and nearly 180 boutique wineries. They range from the high-end Margalit and Yatir wineries to the innovative and organic Neot Semadar Winery, the southernmost winery in the country, located deep in the Negev Desert. At Ramat Raziel, a moshav in the forested hills outside Jerusalem, Ben Zaken has spent the last few weeks walking through his vineyards testing the grapes until they were ripe for harvest. An Egyptian-born immigrant from Italy, Ben Zaken says the process of working the land makes him feel especially rooted here. He says he also sees a role for Israeli wine beyond the pleasure of its taste. “Here you can show the world that Israel is not only about wars and violence,” he said. “And their image of Israel changes.” For more information, visit: www.castel.co.il, www.businessweek.com/ and www.wineloverspage. com/.
Press announces winners of Hanukkah art contest
by CAROL KATZMAN Editor, The Jewish Press Lila Ferber, who has entered the Hanukkah art Contest run by the Jewish Press since it began six years ago, has won first place. Her butterfly hanukkiah appears on page 17, the front page of this week’s Hanukkah section. The daughter of Jenni Schlossman and Jeff Ferber, Lila is 13-years-old. Second and third place winners are Laura Kirshenbaum, age eight, daughter of Jenn and Matt Kirshenbaum, and Ari Saltzman, age five, son of Linda and Kevin Saltzman. The top three winners will receive an annual membership to the Omaha Children’s Museum. Honorable mention goes to Ari’s sister, Dina Saltzman, who will receive a calendar from Fat Brain Toys.
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by DINA KRAFT RAMAT RAZIEL, Israel (JTA) -- It’s harvest time at the Domaine Du Castel winery and crates full of small, plump grapes the color of blueberries are being loaded into a machine that removes them from their stems and pumps them through plastic piping into a towering, silver-colored vat. This is how the two-year process of wine making begins in a terra cotta-colored building that originally was a chicken coop and is now considered the producer of some of Israel’s finest wines. This year the winery was awarded the much-coveted four-star rating in one of the world’s premier wine guides, Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2008. In Israel, “there is a wine revolution going on when it comes to quality,” says the founder of Domaine Du Castel, Eli Ben Zaken, a mild-mannered man with thick, wavy hair and a beard. A former restaurateur, he began making wine as a hobby until the top wine taster at Sotheby’s in London came across one of his bottles and, much to his surprise, declared it “an outstanding” find, Ben Zaken said. Wines have been produced in these Judean hills, not far from Jerusalem, since biblical times. The remains of a wine press from the Second Temple period was unearthed near where Domaine Du Castel [1]’s grapes are grown. But only in the last 25 years or so have Israel’s wines begun to take off around the world, transforming the reputation of kosher wine from the syrupy kosher kiddush variety to world-class vintages. “International expertise, modern technology and dynamic wineries have ensured continued advances in quality,” Johnson wrote of Israeli wines in his book. A key turning point in the “coming out” of Israel’s wines came just last year when Robert Parker, a leading American wine critic, tasted more than 40 Israeli wines for the first time. He awarded 14 wines scores higher than 90 on a 100-point scale. A major achievement for any winery, the scores signified an exceptional worldclass product. A list [2] of some of Parker’s favorite Israeli wines was published in Business Week. The highest score, 93, went to a pair of Israeli red wines: the 2003 Yatir Forest wine from the Yatir Winery and the 2005 Gewurztraminer Heights Wine Yarden, a desert wine from the Golan Heights Winery. Israel’s wines began their metamorphosis in the 1980s. Israelis started traveling abroad in increasing numbers and returned with an appetite for better food and, with it, better wine, according to the restaurant and wine critic for Israel’s daily Ha’aretz, Daniel Rogov. Some Israelis began studying winemaking in places such as France and California, returning home with the expertise not just on how to make wine but where to
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December 12, 2008
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ATLANTA (JTA) -- Notice anything unsettling about your kids’ Hanukkah wish lists this year? A Maccabean je ne sais quoi that transcends the standard sticker shock? Might it be that the latest lot of hot holiday “toys” are not actually toys at all? You have the Disney Flix Video Camcorder ($79.99, Disney); the Barbie Digital Picture Frame with Remote Control ($99.99, Emerson Radio Corp); and the Kid-Tough Portable DVD Player ($149.99, Fisher Price). And, of course, some toys don’t even pretend to be toys, the crown jewels of hightech Hanukkah hauls: cell phones, iPods and laptop computers. “We’re finding that kids have one foot entrenched in kid-dom and another entrenched in technology and things you might normally associate with adults,” says Leigh Anne Brodsky, the president of Nickelodeon and Viacom Consumer Products, which has released a new line of branded electronics aimed at kids, including a $250 SpongeBob SquarePants flatscreen TV. Experts say the concern over high-tech toys is not so much in their existence as it is in their rapid and aggressive replacement of the tried-and-true standbys -- the good, old-fashioned, non-electronic, non-flashing, non-instantly gratifying toys that long lit up children’s Hanukkah wish lists -- and their imaginations. “Old-fashioned retro toys, such as red rubber balls, simple building blocks, clay and crayons, that don’t cost so much and are usually hidden in the back shelves are usually much healthier for children than the electronic toys that have fancier boxes and cost $89.99,” says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a developmental psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia. Ever wondered why archeologists find baby dolls wrapped up with ancient Egyptian mummies, toy-sized chariots that date back to the days of Julius Caesar and cavern walls decorated with the prehistoric equivalent to crayons? It’s because these objects are the timeless tools of childhood. They are essential springboards for learning about the way the world works, vehicles for exploration and experimentation, and props with which to practice being mommies, daddies, firefighters and school teachers. Childhood is a learning process by design, and traditional toys are a core part of the curriculum. “The central importance of creative play in children’s healthy development is well supported by decades of research,” says Joan Almon, the coordinator of the U.S. branch of Alliance for Childhood, a worldwide organization that promotes healthy living for children. “And yet chil-
dren’s play, in the creative, openended sense in which I use the term, is now seriously endangered.” Sadly, there’s not much we parents can do to halt the societal evolution from Babes in Toyland to Kids in the Electronics Aisle. But we can rally back with a healthy balance. The following suggestions will help you keep creativity and imagination burning bright in your children for many high-tech Hanukkahs to come. • Limit screentime. According to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average American child spends four to six hours a day zoned out in front of a screen, yet the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting children to no more than two hours daily of television, computers and video games combined. Simply, if we don’t ever tell our kids to stop using electronic products, chances are they never will. • Equip them with classic toys. Hanukkah provides the perfect opportunity to gift our kids with springboards for creative play, such as puppets, building blocks, modeling clay and tea sets. “Your child gets to build his or her imagination around these simpler toys,” Hirsh-Pasek says. “The toys don’t command what your child does, but your child commands what the toys do.” • Accept the mess. Exercising creativity can be a whole lot messier than playing video games or watching TV, so put old newspapers on the floor, cover the kitchen table with butcher paper, rope off an area of the house for childhood clutter to gather, then let your kids yuck it up. • Pick worthwhile electronic toys and games. Just because a toy requires an electrical current doesn’t necessarily mean it’s devoid of value. Fulfill your kids’ high-tech hankerings without compromising their creativity by searching for electronic toys that offer opportunity for growth and imagination. • Celebrate Shabbat. In the weekly Sabbath, we have a God-given day of rest from all things high-tech and a full 24 hours for kids to engage in essential, imaginative play. A special box full of battery-free playthings pulled out at sundown every Friday will get kids into the playful Shabbat spirit. • Be a worthy role model. Admit it, we are addicted to high-tech toys just as much as our kids. So lock up the Blackberry, unplug the Internet and take a much-needed screen siesta yourself. And should you happen to stumble upon a few superheroes imagining up adventures in the family room, be sure to join them in flight. Sharon Duke Estroff is an internationally syndicated Jewish parenting columnist, award-winning educator and mother of four and spoke at Temple Israel last week. Her Jewish parenting book, Can I Have a Cell Phone for Hanukkah? (Broadway Books, 2007), is available where books are sold. Visit http://www.sharonestroff. com.
To Submit Announcements to the Jewish Press: Announcements may be e-mailed to the Press with attached photos in .jpg or .tif files to jpress@jewishomaha.org; faxed to 402.334.5422, or mailed to 333 So. 132 St., Omaha, NE 68154 (with photos we will scan and return). Forms are available through Omaha and Lincoln synagogues, by contacting The Jewish Press at 402.334.6448, or by e-mailing: ckatzman@jewishomaha.org. Readers can also submit other announcements -- births engagements, marriages, commitment ceremonies or obituaries -- online at the Jewish Federation of Omaha website: www.jewishomaha.org. Click on “Jewish Press” and go to Submit Announcements. Deadlines are normally eight days prior to publication, on Thursdays, 9 a.m. Check the Jewish Press, however, for notices of early deadlines prior to secular and Jewish holidays.
December 12, 2008
Rabbi or comedian? He’s both make people laugh. Rabbi Bob Alper, whose latest DVD, “What Are You ... A Comedian?” has recently been COMEDY REVIEW released, has that ability. by AARON LEIBEL Washington Jewish Week
Let’s face it, every good congregational rabbi has a little ham in him or her. Not the kind that violates the strictures of kashrut, heaven forbid, but the sort of “ham” that leads people to crave the limelight. For when rabbis gets up on the bimah every week to try to persuade congregants to be better Jews, to be more righteous people, they’d better be entertaining or they’ll likely lose their audiences, most of whom are sure they already are tzadikim, holy people. So, it’s not unusual for a rabbi to enliven a dvar Torah, a Bob Alper sermon, with a joke or two. Most of our spiritual leaders, however, would do well to keep their daytime jobs, for it takes a special talent to
For example, Alper - who was ordained at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1972 and led congregations in Buffalo, N.Y., and Philadelphia before hitting the comedy circuit in 1986 - says that ever since he was a child, he had dreams of being a TV celebrity “surrounded by beautiful, adoring women.” But then he says he remembered that it was an impossible dream, for he is Jewish and couldn’t be a TV evangelist. Or there are the fantasies that he had as a rabbi. “Instead of saying, ‘We invite the bar mitzvah to ascend the pulpit for the reading of his portion,’ just once, I would like to say, ‘Joshua Shapiro, come on down.’ Or, before Yom Kippur, to go to family and friends and tell them, ‘If there is anything during the past year that I have said or done that has hurt you or offended you, I want you to know: You’re too sensitive.’” The rabbi, who still conducts High Holiday services in the Philadelphia area, says he has a friend who works in a bank in the Vermont town where the comic lives. Last fall, that person took a call at the bank for Sue. “I’m
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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sorry,” he said, “Sue is not here. This is Yom Kippur.” The person replied, “Maybe you could help me, Yom.” As you can see, the humor is skewed to the Jewish end of the dial. It might be best to take your good friend Chaim, but not Chris, to see Alper perform. But even Chris might appreciate the inherent easygoing nature of Alper’s humor. There’s no cursing, no screaming, no derision in his jokes. Even his sexual references are gentle. For instance, the comedian relates that a psychotherapist counseling a couple asked the woman how she signaled that she wanted to have sexual relations with her husband. She said she tells her husband, “Sweetheart, I am going upstairs to take a long, hot shower.” The startled husband said, “All these years, I thought you were telling me not to run the dishwasher.” But his humor seems always to return to its Jewish roots. He was a rabbi in 1977 during a blizzard and was trapped in his synagogue for 30 hours. During that time, he says he learned the real meaning of “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” As I said, a very funny Jewish comedian. To learn more, visit www.bobalper.com
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Omaha Performing Arts welcomes Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band to the Kiewit Concert Hall at the Holland Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 8:30 p.m. Goodwin has built a reputation for his composing, arranging and playing skills -- both keyboards and woodwinds -- throughout the music and film industries. He has worked with artists such as Ray Charles, Christina Aguilera, Johnny Mathis, Toni Braxton, John Williams and Natalie Cole. His cinematic scoring and orchestration craft can be heard on such films as Get Smart, The Incredibles, Glory Road, National Treasure, Remember The Titans, Armageddon, The Majestic, Con Air, Gone In 60 Seconds, Enemy of the State and even the classic cult film Attack Of the Killer Tomatoes. Tickets, priced at $40-$85, may be purchased through Ticket Omaha online at TicketOmaha.org, by
phone at 402.345.0606 or in person at the box office at the Holland Center, 13th and Douglas. The Kent Bellows Studio is holding its inaugural art exhibition at the Bemis Underground on Thursday, Dec. 18, 7 p.m. Versa Vice: Reflections of an Underground Society is the inaugural show of the Center for Visual Arts mentoring program. Formed in 2007, the organization has a mission to ignite the creative spark in individuals. Art work by area students as well as mentors, including Director Rebecca Herskovitz, will be featured. Read more about her in Leo Biga’s front page story. NET Radio continues its holiday tradition of airing “Hanukkah Lights,” National Public Radio’s (NPR) annual celebration of the Jewish festival of lights. The
special program, airing Sunday, Dec. 21, 6 p.m. presents brand new fiction to celebrate and illuminate the holiday season. A story by Gerald Shapiro, a University of NebraskaLincoln English professor, is one of four featured on the program. The moving tales of discovery and reconciliation, the persistence of hope and the promise of undimmed light are read by Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz. Shapiro wrote “The Latke Maven” expressly for the “Hanukkah Lights” program. It is set in the Kansas City of 1959, where an intrepid fourth-grader weaves unlikely tales of Judaism for his Gentile classmates -- until a boast about Hanukkah finds him cooking up a small miracle all his own. Shapiro has written three story collections: From Hunger, Little Men and Bad Jews and Other Stories.
The armest anukkah reetings from s to ou.
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December 12, 2008
Artist forges a family at Bellows Studio
Continued from page 1 With just the right amount of evangelical zeal, Herskovitz is the Pied Piper for this new arts program whose mission is to live up to the standards of its legendary namesake and his fierce creative independence. An independent thinker herself, the Bellows position allows her to design programs from scratch that give students outside-the-box opportunities for artistic growth. “I think I was ready to do something a little bit different -- that allowed me to write my own curriculum,” said Herskovitz, who was teaching visual art at a special ed school in San Mateo, Calif. and making her own art before arriving in Omaha. “When I’m making art and when I’m teaching it’s kind of the same feeling. It’s the feeling of when you have a calling -when everything else kind of fades away and you feel excited and don’t want to think about anything else, almost to the extent where you forget to think about other things and two hours pass and you realize you haven’t moved from the same position.” Prior to San Francisco, the Newton, Mass. native taught art at a public high school (in Worcester) while earning her master’s in education. When she read about the Bellows opportunity she knew it was the right niche for her. “I really gravitated towards the mission, which is so linked to creativity, and that really fit with my own teaching philosophy,” she said. “And then I just really loved the idea of a new arts organization just getting started. It’s a really special thing to be part of making a place that you would have wanted to be in when you were in high school. I wish there had
been a program like this for students interested in the visual arts. And as a teacher I wish I had been in an area where there was a program like this for me to recommend my students to.” She said breaking away from the prescribed confines of public school educational approaches is what the Bellows project is all about. It’s liberating for Herskovitz and her students to not be
that’s vital. That’s what’s going to allow us to give something different to kids than what they can normally receive.” The task of selling this new program to high school art teachers, who’ve become her best recruiters, proved difficult at first. Herskovitz received few replies to an email she sent teachers over the summer announcing the program. She finally got the captive audience she craved when invited to make a presentation to teachers during an OPS professional development day. “It took a little while to explain what we’re doing and it took teachers a little while to realize this is something really new and really different,” she said. Before long, she was invited to classrooms to make her pitch directly to stuHerskovitz works with 21 student artists from area high schools in a dents, who she said Bellowsprogram at the Bemis Center. quickly recognized driven by the kind of test score mentality the program’s benefits. More than 50 and conventional thinking that she said applied. She was prepared to start the proresults in “very limiting” curriculum in gram with 12, but, she said, “we had so the public schools. Instead of “putting up many fantastic applicants that we’re above obstacles to people having innovative and beyond that with 21 kids.” A whole thought,” she said, the Bellows model is new class was conceived to accommodate “founded on the idea of finding and nur- the larger than expected numbers. turing those individual creative sparks in As anticipated, a large number of stuyoung people.” dents are from Omaha Central, whose Unlike a public school setting, where downtown location is mere blocks from she said kids are apt to “get lost” in large both the Bemis and the Bellows studio. classes, the small Bellows program Other schools represented include Bryan, ensures “individual attention.” “The stu- Burke, Westside, Duchesne and Council dent-teacher ratio is extremely close and Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. She feels students
will come from a wider geographic area once the program offers transportation. A goal for a diverse student mix has been met. “We wanted our program’s demographics to look like OPS’ demographics and we match up perfectly with that,” she said. “My vision of a really healthy classroom is one where there is a lot of heterogeneity of all things -- in terms of learning styles, ethnicities, ages and the neighborhoods they come from.” What does she look for in prospective students? “We’re just looking for a creative energy and kind of a passion for trying new things and wanting to have a role in their own education. We’re not looking for past experience. We’re not looking for some particular skill-set.” The selection process involves an essay and an interview. She makes a point of meeting applicants’ parents or guardians. “I think parent support is a huge deal.” She encourages parents to visit the site “to know where their kids are going to be hanging out.” Herskovitz enjoys being on the ground floor of something different and she senses students and parents do, too. “I think it’s a completely new take on arts education,” she said. “This is a place where you get to feel safe. This is your creative family, your artistic community. We’re continuing what Kent showed all of us -- this very powerful form of teaching, which is the mentoring relationship. I hope our mentors push students to find their own footsteps.” She believes the mentoring component is what distinguishes the Bellows program from other enrichment programs. Continued on page 29
Out
Dining
December 12, 2008
Artist forges a family Continued from page 28 “It’s a program that takes place after school but it’s not a typical after school program,” she said. “Students are having the opportunity to work with professional artists in very close ratios one-on-one, where the emphasis is really on creative thinking and problem solving, and I think that focus is really different from a lot of other programs. “I think the most powerful learning experiences happen when you’re able to have a mentor who stays with you, and I think what allows teenagers to really open up is knowing that adult is going to be with them for as long as they want them to be. And our program is built so we can continue those relationships for as long as the student wants to be there participating in it.” The art educator spent a fair share of her time in Omaha the past year steeping herself in the local art scene, casting her “On the Hills of Brownville” eye for potential mentors by Rebecca Herskovitz among the area’s deep pool of working artists. Her first crop of mentors represents a cross-section of Omaha’s best and brightest. There’s Mexico native Claudia Alvarez, a ceramicist, longtime art instructor and former Bemis resident artist. There’s Omaha native Bill Hoover, a painter, writer and musician who also works with kids at Liberty Elementary School. There’s Jeff King, a graffiti, street-inspired painter whose work incorporates text. King conducts art workshops with kids at Norris Junior High. And there’s painter Caolan O’Loughlin, an Irish emigre who’s done curatorial-consulting work for the Bellows and who has a teaching background. Herskovitz completes the Bellows mentoring staff. Guest artists also make presentations-demonstrations. Bemis curator Hesse McGraw contributes to some classes. Herskovitz has students utilize the Bemis as a kind of living laboratory and resource center by studying-critiquing the art displayed in its galleries, poring over books in the well-stocked art library and visiting resident artists’ studios. “The Bemis has been very generous,” she said, “in making its facilities available.” It may be a temporary home, but the Bemis couldn’t be a better fit. “It just matches up so well with our mission,” she said. “I can’t imagine a better set-up than to have art students immersed in a contemporary arts center where professional international artists are living and working.” Even when the Bellows studio is in use she foresees the Bemis continuing to play a role in the program. It adds another layer of experience and can help the program accommodate more students in the future. The historic Old Market and its rich social-cultural milieu becomes another venue for art stimuli. Mentors also bring students to their own studios and to the studios of other artists throughout the city and they make gallery visits together. Herskovitz said she and her fellow mentors seek to deconstruct assumptions about education by finding teachable moments in all kinds of situations or settings. “I think there’s a huge myth that you can’t teach art and I think it’s because of the way people think about teaching. They think of it as training or instilling this knowledge when really it’s more about facilitating thinking.” What she’s in the process of trying to build is an environment where “young people become a learning community and bounce ideas off one another,” she said. “There’s a way to do that and with my curriculum that’s what we’re aiming to do. It’s structured within that to
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meet the individual needs of students.” Sometimes, students work with mentors in workshop fashion on specific techniques or tasks, she said, and other times they break off to work on their own individual projects. Teachers move around the room, sharing observations and comments with students. Whenever possible, students interact with one another. “Equal to what you see is what I hope you feel -that this is a place where these students feel really comfortable and can be themselves,” she said. “My goal is to create an art learning family. This is their chance, if they want to be someone different than they are in school, to be different when they’re here. If they need a different type of learning environment I hope this can provide that for them.” She’s devised a sequence of programs/classes to engage students of varying abilities and interests. “The artist-in-residence program is for older kids who are more advanced and are really ready to have more independent studio time and to meet one-onone with a professional mentor. The studio thesis class is meant for 9th and 10th graders who feel themselves being pulled by the arts and are still kind of finding their voice. That’s more of a small group setting where kids can talk to each other and mentor each other along with the teacher.” The gallery internship program provides students opportunities for organizing-curating-marketing student-mentor exhibitions. The program’s first exhibit, Versa Vice: Reflections of an Underground Society, opens Thursday, Dec. 18 at the Bemis Underground. This three-day showcase will reflect the work students have been making in class and the collaborative projects they’ve participated in with fellow students and mentors. Ideally, Herskovitz said students will participate in several if not all of the program’s classes, progressing from beginner to advanced sessions, along the way getting exposed to different mentors and their varied philosophies, techniques, styles. Although she didn’t have anything like the Bellows program in her upbringing, Herskovitz had her art-loving family. “Both of my grandparents on my dad’s side were very involved in the arts community. Growing up I would be set free to make art projects,” she said. It was in high school her own passion for art bloomed and that’s one reason why she enjoys working with that age group. “I got very involved and inspired. I just couldn’t stop doing it.” Her dual passion for teaching began about the same time when she taught in an after school program. She said even though her therapist parents, younger brother and extended family “don’t always understand my art, they have been so supportive. I feel really lucky for that.” Before accepting the Bellows job Herskovitz researched Omaha’s arts community and she came away impressed. Now that she’s here carrying the banner for an arts organization bearing the name of an Omaha art icon she has an even deeper appreciation for things. “Now being part of it it’s really wonderful to know these different organizations and different figures. I think maybe because of Omaha’s size you really can know people in the arts community and you really can make relationships. In San Francisco that was much harder. There wasn’t that sense of a supportive community. It was still kind of strangers operating in their own spheres.” Omaha’s small-town-in-the-big-city character is just what Herskovitz has been searching for in forming an art family away from home. “I love being here.” Applications and inquiries may be made by calling 707.3979 or emailing Rebecca@kentbellows.org. Check out the web site at www.kentbellows.org. Leo Adam Biga is an award winning local freelance writer, who writes for the Jewish Press, The Reader, and New Horizons, as well as other publications. He can be reached at leo32158@cox.net.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
In new novel, A.B. Yehoshua asks if Jewishness is something one can shed
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professional troubles of Amotz, the husby ADAM KIRSCH NEW YORK (Nextbook) -- A.B. band Daniela left behind in Tel Aviv. If the Tanzania sections of the novel Yehoshua, long recognized as one of Israel’s best novelists, has in recent years deal with the deepest moral problems -also emerged as one of its most promi- by the end, the two Israelis are debating nent scolds. On Tisha B’Av this year, he the ethics of the Prophets under an published an op-ed in the Guardian African sky -- the Tel Aviv sections are a deploring the “moral deterioriation” of comedy of manners, taking the reader Israel’s public life. Contrasting scandal- adroitly through all the phases of contemplagued politicians like Moshe Katsav and porary Israeli life: family, army, work, sex, Ehud Olmert with the austere founders even traffic jams. of the Jewish state, Yehoshua argued that Yehoshua’s decision to cut back and the lawlessness and immorality of Israel’s forth between the two stories -- each secoccupation of the West Bank was now tion is just a few pages long -- keeps bleeding back into the state itself. Friendly Fire from gathering much narraBut if he is tough on Israelis, Yehoshua tive momentum. But as the novel prois no gentler on American Jews. On the contrary, in 2006, during a heated panel discussion at the American Jewish Committee’s 100th anniversary celebration, Yehoshua proclaimed the futility of American Judaism. Only in Israel was an authentic Jewish life possible, he insisted. Diaspora Jews change their nationalities as if they were changing jackets, whereas for Israelis, Jewishness is a skin that cannot be removed. Yehoshua must have been A.B. Yehoshua greets a reader at an Italian bookstore, March Credit: DavideDenova/Creative Commons brooding on that image, 1, 2008. which provoked understandable anger gresses, it becomes clear that Yehoshua’s among American Jews, while he wrote mastery of fictional technique has not Friendly Fire, his quietly impassioned new decayed. On the contrary, the slow pace novel. For at the moral center of the book helps the reader to see how carefully is an Israeli who desires to do exactly Yehoshua has devised the symbolic what Yehoshua said was impossible -- to scheme of the book. In time, every event abrade away his Jewishness like a layer of and every setting starts to seem like a flesh. metaphor; and quietly, without insisting, Yirmiyahu, a retired Israeli diplomat, Yehoshua allows these metaphors to echo has chosen to spend his old age in and interrogate one another. Tanzania, working as the bookkeeper for Take the run-of-the-mill problem that a team of African anthropologists. To faces Amotz, a building engineer, as Africans, he reports to his visiting Israeli Friendly Fire opens. He has designed the sister-in-law, white people are muzungu, elevator for a new high-rise apartment “not actually white but peeled. Our black building in Tel Aviv, but the residents are skin has been peeled from us.” In just the complaining about flaws in the shaft that same way, he defiantly says, he means to cause “an insufferable roaring, whistling, spend the last years of his life becoming and rumbling” whenever the winds blow. When Amotz rides the elevator to find muzungu to the Jews. And he means it. When his sister-in-law, Daniela, arrives at out where the wind is leaking in, he Yirmiyahu’s remote house, she gives him observes: “Without question, within this a parcel of Hebrew newspapers and shaft that was meant to be completely Hanukkah candles; he immediately tosses sealed off from the world swirl uninvited them into the stove, neatly erasing all spirits.” Yehoshua says nothing more than this; but it is impossible for the reader not traces of both Israel and Judaism. The reader does not have long to won- to make the parallel with Israel itself. der about the reasons for this disaffection. Despite the Zionist dream of a self-suffiYirmiyahu’s wife, Daniela’s sister, has cient Jewish homeland, Yehoshua sugrecently died in Africa, and Daniela’s visit gests, the country can never be truly is ostensibly a pilgrimage in her memory. “sealed off” from the outside world, and But beneath this natural grief, the family it, too, is haunted by the “uninvited spiris really suffering from an unnatural and its” of its neighbors. Yehoshua makes even as mundane a incurable one: the death of Yirmiyahu’s son, Eyal, seven years before, in an army detail as time zones carry a hidden symbolic charge. Amotz is expecting a phone operation on the West Bank. What makes this loss so intolerable is call from Daniela in Tanzania, but he gets that, as the novel’s title reveals, Eyal was the time wrong, since Dar es Salaam is not killed by a Palestinian bomb, but by actually an hour ahead of Tel Aviv, not an his fellow IDF soldiers, in a case of hour behind, as he assumed. “The African “friendly fire.” This dull euphemism continent is west of Israel, or east?” he becomes, on Yirmiyahu’s lips, a kind of asks, and of course the answer is both: curse word, which he can’t stop repeating Israel is geographically between east and to himself. The State of Israel took his west, just as it occupies an in-between son from him, the way God nearly took space in the world’s political and cultural Isaac from Abraham; but this time there imagination. As the novel goes on accumulating was no last-minute reprieve. This is a fictional premise fraught with these layers of meaning and symbol, it dangers: the temptations to sentimental- becomes clear that Yehoshua is not just ize, moralize and sermonize are great. writing an Israeli novel: He is evoking an But Yehoshua deftly sidesteps them, Israeli, and Jewish, way of being and choosing instead to lower the tempera- thinking, in which nothing in the world is ture of the novel to a slow, meditative simply what it is, but comes to us multiburn. He accomplishes this, in part, by ply encoded. This endless meaningfulness, which alternating the scenes of Daniela and Yirmiyahu in Africa with an entirely dif- forces Jews to be ever-vigilant interpreters, ferent kind of story -- the domestic and Continued on page 31
December 12, 2008
Beth El’s Judaica Shop offers one-stop shopping for Hanukkah
by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Walk into Beth El’s Judaica Shop, and you’ll quickly see that all that glitters is not only gold - it’s also silver, metal, pewter, glass and brass. Every type of Judaica item imaginable can be found at the shop – and at this time of year, everything you need for Hanukkah is right at your fingertips: beautiful menorot and dreidels, colorful decorations and candles, plus holiday wrapping paper. When you enter the shop, you’ll be greeted by a riot of vibrant color, with shelves filled with gift items galore: unique artwork for the home, sparkling necklaces and earrings, intricately crafted mezuzot and tallitot, g r a c e f u l Shabbat candle- The shop's many Hanukkah offerings sticks, and a include children's games, decorations, artlarge variety of work, candles and gift wrap, among a variJewish-themed ety of other Judaica items. books. Among the Jewish artists whose work are featured are Tamara Baskin, Gary Rosenthal, Ayala Bar, Danny Schwartz, Piatti, and Koresh. For kids of all ages, an entire wall is dedicated to children’s gifts, from Jewish-themed baby books and Aleph Bet foam shapes, to dolls and games such as “Torah Slides and Ladders” (a take-off on Chutes and Ladders) and Kosherland (Candyland). This shop has something for everyone and offers the luxury of one-stop shopping. And, as an added bonus, proceeds from sales support the synagogue in a myriad of ways; over the years, funds have been used to purchase office furniture, a computer, kitchen equipment, landscaping and have supported innumerable programs and projects for Beth El’s religious school. The entire community is welcome to visit the Judaica Shop. Hours are Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (when religious school is in session), Wednesdays, 3
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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ORGANIZATIONS
p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and by special appointment. For more information, call the office at 492.8550.
B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS Mace Hack will speak at Breadbreakers on Wednesday, Dec. 17, noon, at Regency Lodge, according to Marty Ricks, chairman. The Executive Director of the Nature Conservancy in Nebraska, will return to Breadbreakers to discuss the environment, nature and wild life. All men and women in the community are invited. The program is free. An optional buffet lunch is $13; beverage service only is $3. For more information or to get on the email list, contact Lois at 334.6443 or bnaibrith@jewishomaha.org.
THE YOUNG ENERGETIC SENIORS Join us on Monday, 12:30 p.m., at the JCC for a special Hanukkah program with Lisa Senal, who will perform a selection of Broadway musicals with accompanist Esther Wax. Lunch is served at noon for $7 per person. Join us for Bingo with Miles Remer at 10 a.m. Call Teresa at 330.4272 for transportation. For information, call Maggie Conti at 334.6521.
LOMIR REDN YIDDISH Yiddish brings us closer to our roots! Come join us every Thursday, 1-3 p.m., in the social hall of the JCC. For information, call Anne Skolkin at 343.1638.
Caryn Rifkin, the Beth El Judaica Shop's volunteer manager/buyer, goes over the inventory of Hanukkah menorahs on display.
VISIONS Membership dues for 2009 are due. Please mail your check, payable to Visions for $7.50, to Phyllis Schwartz, 1212 So. 137 Ave., Omaha, NE 68144, by Jan. 31.
A.B. Yehoshua Continued from page 30 is exactly what Yirmiyahu has gone to Africa to escape: “a place where we do not exist in any memories. Not religious, not historical, not mythological Everything that has oppressed me begins to fall off, without argument or debate.” Yet it cannot escape the reader that, even in Africa, Yirmiyahu shares the name of one of the great Hebrew prophets (as, for that matter, do Amotz and his father, the Parkinson’s-afflicted Yoel). Yirmiyahu is fully conscious of this irony, and he lectures Daniela at length about the cruelty of the God whose threats fill the Book of Jeremiah: “A prophecy of destruction, with relish. Disaster and death and cannibalism...You worshiped other gods, so you deserve that your sons and daughter be eaten.” Yet what is Yirmiyahu himself if not a Jeremiah, whose rage at Israel is immense because his disappointment in it is immense? The “friendly fire” that claimed his son did not break that connection. On the contrary,
over the course of the novel, we learn that Yirmiyahu has done his own investigation into Eyal’s death, and what he learns -- about Israelis, Palestinians and their violent embrace -- only deepens its tragic ambiguity. So, too, Amotz decides that he is ultimately responsible for the flaws in the elevator shaft, even though he did not build it himself -- that an obligation to the community is not less binding because it is unasked for and even unfair. By the time Daniela and Amotz are reunited in the novel’s last pages, none of the novel’s breakages have been permanently repaired. But Yehoshua’s subtlety and compassion allow Friendly Fire to offer the only kind of affirmation we need or can accept from art -not a false consolation, but a true image of solidarity. Adam Kirsch is the author of Benjamin Disraeli, a new biography in Nextbook’s Jewish Encounters series. Reprinted from Nextbook.org, a new read on Jewish culture.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
Israeli surgeons share expertise in China by ALISON KLAYMAN (Editor’s note: Ra’anan Gissen, the former spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was felled by a stroke and remains in a coma, spoke about Israel’s Save a Heart project at last week’s Jewish Federation community event. He noted all the medical programs which Israel exports -- and those to which residents of neighboring Arab countries flock, such as Hadassah Hospital’s in vitro fertilization clinic.) SHIJIAZHUANG, China (JTA) -- “Where is Yang’s heart?” Dr. Alona Raucher-Sternfeld cooed in Hebrew to 5-year-old Yang Bin as she prepared him for surgery aimed at repairing his tiny heart. As she danced her fingers on his belly, the language barrier disappeared and the boy’s previously defiant exterior melted into giggles. Yang Bin was one of about 80 children who traveled, some hundreds of miles, to see the visiting medical staff from Israel, all of whom are volunteers with Save a Child’s Heart, a charity based at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon. The team of 15 doctors, nurses and medical technicians set up shop at Hebei Children’s Hospital in Shijiazhuang, some 170 miles southwest of Beijing, continuing a partnership that began 10 years ago. The group has provided surgeries for more than 2,000 children from more than 33 countries. More than 40 percent of the patients are from Africa, and another 45 percent are from the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Iraq. Doctors who visit these areas generally perform check-ups and select patients to take back to Israel for operations. But China is not Zanzibar, and it’s not Iraq. Thanks to the country’s economic boom, an examination room in Shijiazhuang that was nearly bare just two years ago now includes a computer, a Photosmart printer, and a threefoot high cart with a monitor and echocardiography machine. The technological advances, impressive by Chinese standards, enable operations to take place here rather than in Israel. Still, the Israelis come prepared with some of their own equipment, too. Raucher-Sternfeld took one look at the hospital’s echo machine and asked the
staff to wheel it to the hall. She pulled her own GE model from its sleek silver carrying case and plugged it in -- the difference between a clunky, decades-old desktop and a new Notebook.
colleagues, but it is a crucial few steps. Since Save a Child’s Heart began its partnership with Hebei Children’s Hospital in 1998, Israeli experts have returned eight times and brought more than 10 Chinese nurses and doctors to Israel for training. “This face-to-face training helps open new ways of thinking and gives our patients the care they deserve,” said Dr. Wang Jianming, the chief of pediatric surgery at Hebei who studied at Wolfson in 2000. The cooperation with China coincided with Israel’s own advances in pediatric cardio care. As recently as the 1980s, Israeli children with heart problems often sought treatment abroad; Israeli surgeons were studying abroad as well. Eventually there developed “more than enough qualified heart surgeons for all the Israeli children who need heart surgery, and the Israeli system was in a position to reach out and help others,” said Simon Fisher, the director of operations for Save a Child’s Heart. Anita Jiang, an operating room nurse, spent six months training in Holon. “In Israel they were hard working and strict about procedure, but also treated the sick children with patience and warmth,” Jiang said. Professional training is a major goal of the program, but children like Yang Bin are the real reason the Israeli medical team left their homes for China. Before he turned a year old, the boy was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect, known as VSD. Four years later he was well past the age when he should have had surgery. His grandfather Yang Li saw a 28-second news item about the Israelis’ visit and immediately embarked on the 125-mile trip from his village. Dr. Alona Raucher-Sternfeld, an Israeli volunteer with Save a The grandfather understood the severity of Yang Bin’s Child's Heart, performs a post-operation echo exam on a problem. A neighbor also had a child with VSD who Chinese baby in Hebei Children’s Hospital in Shijiazhuang, died when he was approximately Yang’s age. China. Credit: Alison Klayman As his grandfather waited, Israeli and Chinese surgeons “I like my machine,” she said. “It can record and store Lior Sasson and Han Jiangang worked together to repair the data.” a hole between the ventricles of the boy’s heart. Yang Li But the Chinese staff was disappointed. insisted for the entire four-hour operation that he wasn’t “Our machine is only six months old,” one doctor nervous. said, shaking his head. “The foreign doctors are very good, they will not Israel might be just a few steps ahead of their Chinese Continued on page 33
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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Celebrate Hanukkah the Friedel way by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT The students at Friedel Jewish Academy have been known to not only study hard, they also entertain and feed their visitors. The annual Hanukkah play is scheduled for the evening of Dec. 18, 7 p.m., and the whole community is invited. Sudents in kindergarten through sixth grade will per-
Doron Margalit, Yael Schuller, and Harper Gordman get ready to decorate their puzzle pieces. form a play composed for them by the Friedel Judaic Studies department. Hebrew teachers Na’ama Artzi and Eadie Tsabari have been busy for weeks, practicing with their students, and if the past is any indication, it will be a wonderful evening. “We just love to have visitors,” principal Ron Giller says, “and the Hanukkah play is a perfect evening for ‘loyal customers’, as well as newcomers. I am very much looking forward to it. After the performance, which will be in Hebrew, guests are welcome to stay for refreshments; of course, Sufganyot are front and center on the menu.” Visitors to the play will also be treated to a glimpse into the inner workings of the school’s art department. All the wonderful projects the children have created during the first half of the school year will be prominently displayed in the JCC gallery. The students, inspired by various Jewish artists, have been working with recycled materials. “They have been working so hard,” art teacher Julie
Phillips says, “and it is amazing what they have come up with. I think everybody will be blown away when they see what the youngest members of our community are capable of. In addition to their own art projects, they also created a large dreidel puzzle, made of many pieces, which was mailed to our sister school in Israel in time for Hanukkah.”
The unfinished puzzle awaits students’ art. As always, the morning after will be just as busy, as Friedel opens its doors to anybody who is ready for latkes. Students and staff, with the help of many volunteers, will prepare potato pancakes from scratch, and a $5 lunch will be served between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Take-out, in packages of 10 latkes, is also available for the price of $10; proceeds will go to the school. Prices
include accompaniments, as well as the knowledge that Friedel students learn the value of keeping our culinary traditions alive and well. All the necessary ingredients for
Friedel students complete the puzzle! Latke Day are generously donated by Bag ‘n Save. Please call Friedel’s secretary, Mary Jane Tweedy, at 334.0517 for additional information; pre-orders can be called in before Dec.17.
Authors open Speaker Series B’nai Israel Synagogue began the “Second Friday of the Month Speaker Series” last month with Betty Dineen Shrier and Bill Ramsey. The authors discussed highlights of their lastest book Doorway to Freedom: The Story of David Kauffman Merchant . A wine and cheese oneg followed the service. The series is designed to offer the Jewish community a variety of speakers and topics of interest. Guest speakers make their presentations during the service in lieu of a sermon. The speakers series continues on Dec. 12 when teacher Daniel Christensen will present “Go West Young Jew.” The Jewish community is always invited.
From Our Family To Yours...
Israeli surgeons Continued from page 32 make a mistake,” he said. Indeed, two days later Yang Bin already was out of intensive care. By the time the Israeli doctors left for the airport, all eight children who had surgeries were moved out of intensive care.
Happy Hanukkah
Dr. Alona Raucher-Sternfeld, an Israeli volunteer with Save a Child's Heart on a mission to in Hebei, China, along with local nurse Fang Yun, who spent six months training in Israel. Credit: Alison Klayman “Yang stayed at home and is different from the other children,” Raucher-Sternfeld said as she checked the Doppler image of his heart to verify that the operation was a success. “In two months he can become one of them and go to school. Maybe even the Olympics.”
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December 12, 2008
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The latke variations: Move over potatoes by LINDA MOREL NEW YORK (JTA) -- My brother-inlaw asked me a surprising question: “How many different kinds of latkes do you make at Chanukah?” “Just the potato kind,” I said. “Why?” “Since you prepare eight different charosets at Passover, I figured you’d make lots of exotic latkes too,” he said. While Robbie meant this as a compliment, he caught me off guard. Since he knows I enjoy cooking and inventing recipes, he set the bar high. Yet his question got me thinking. Why are latkes usually made from potatoes? Why are they almost exclusively served at Chanukah parties or for dinner? What’s wrong with other times of day? Everyone loves latkes, so I thought it would be fun to create a new latke recipe for each day of Chanukah. For years I’ve had a secret desire to eat latkes all day, starting at breakfast. I wondered why no one had ever created cocktail-hour latkes. I’ve had dessert latkes, but none worth eating again. One cold October weekend, I decided to revamp Chanukah’s signature dish, experimenting with ingredients as far flung as bananas, salmon and chocolate. Yet with a twinge of Jewish guilt, I questioned if it was right to take latkes so far from their roots, the lowly potato? In Yiddish, the word latke means pancake. The definition doesn’t include a connection to potatoes. After consulting Webster’s Dictionary, I confirmed that a pancake is a thin, flat cake of batter fried on both sides on a griddle or in a frying pan. Although Ashkenazi Jews are famous for preparing latke batters with grated potatoes, the tuber is a relatively recent addition to their culinary repertoire. Originating in South America, potatoes were unknown in Europe until the 16th century, when explorers brought back tuber shoots from their travels. Once planted, these shoots grew abundantly throughout Eastern and Central Europe, where produce was sparse during harsh winters. Potatoes became an inexpensive crop to farm and arose as a staple of the Ashkenazi diet. It didn’t take long for Jewish housewives to discover the wonders of grated potato batter sizzling in chicken schmaltz. At Chanukah, the shortening of choice was goose fat. The crunchy result is now history. Although potatoes have proven to be a superior latke ingredient, I decided to see if other foods could enhance the Jewish pancake genre. Since breakfast is my favorite meal, I began by dropping a dollop of yogurt into my basic flapjack recipe, creating a tender pancake as airy as a cloud. From that recipe I played around with ingredients, giving rise to three more early morning delights: fragrant Banana Latkes, dripping with maple syrup; Creamy Lemon Latkes, dusted with confectioner’s sugar; and assertive Tex-Mex Latkes, spiced with chili and cumin. My original pancake recipe was so delicate, so I turned my attention to dessert. Two sensational confections evolved: Pumpkin Latkes, flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom; and Chocolate Chip Latkes, smothered in chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. Satisfied with my results so far, I had to admit I missed the texture of potato latkes. Noticing a package of fine egg noodles in my pantry, I remembered the zucchinis in my refrigerator. Together these two ingredients fried up every bit as crisp as their traditional counterpart. My husband thought I was crazy as he observed me fry everything inside of our
refrigerator -- except the bins and the shelves. But after weeding out a few wacky flavor combinations, he reaped the benefits of tasting some amazing latkes. Asian fusion ginger latkes dipped in soy sauce were a notable failure. “What makes you think people want to try new latkes?” he asked, sampling the noodle pancake. “Wow. This is amazingly crisp.” “A few days into Chanukah, potato latkes can grow tiresome,” I said. Nibbling a salmon latke, he said, “This one is a keeper. I’d serve it with a crisp white wine or maybe champagne.” “It’s possible there are people who’d like to entertain during Chanukah without making an elaborate meal,” I said. “They could throw an hors d’oeuvre party or just serve dessert. After attending a couple potato latke parties, some people might desire new recipes to surprise their guests.” “I haven’t tried the Tex-Mex latkes yet,” he said. “I thought brunch latkes would be good for people who can’t be torn from Sunday afternoon football games,” I said. “For people like you.” He nodded, indicating that I’d whipped up another winner. “But did you ever consider working with jalepeno peppers?” he asked. “Or chorizo sausage?” “That sounds tempting,” I said. “It’s too bad Chanukah has only eight days. There’s so little time and so many foods to fry.” BREAKFAST OR BRUNCH BASIC FLOUR LATKES Ingredients: 3 tablespoons butter for batter, plus 2 tablespoons, or more, for frying 1 egg, beaten 1 teaspoon plain yogurt 1 1/4 cup 2 percent low-fat milk 1 2/3 cups flour 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Preparation: In a small pot, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Cool briefly. In a large bowl, beat egg, yogurt, milk, and melted butter, until foamy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into egg mixture. With a wooden spoon, stir ingredients until well combined. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large (12inch diameter) skillet, preferably the nostick variety, until butter sizzles but doesn’t burn. Pour half a soup ladle of batter at a time into hot pan. When bubbles appear in batter and bottom surface turns golden brown, flip pancakes. Turn only once. Gradually add more milk to batter if it thickens while first batch cooks. Add more butter to pan, if needed. Serve pancakes immediately. If making several batches, pile pancakes onto an ovenproof dish and keep warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve. Yield: 8 latkes, 4 inches in diameter BANANA LATKES
Banana latkes with chopped walnuts add some crunch to a Hanukkah brunch. Credit: Linda Morel Continued on page 35
December 12, 2008
The latke variations
Continued from page 34 Mash 1 banana (preferably over-ripe) with a fork until mushy. Add banana to step 3 of Basic Flour Latke recipe and follow remaining directions. Serve with maple syrup and chopped walnuts.
CREAMY LEMON LATKE To step 3 of Basic Flour Latke recipe, add 1/2 cup whipped cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Follow remaining directions. Sprinkle confectioner’s sugar over top of latkes and serve with black cherry preserves. TEX-MEX LATKES To step 3 of Basic Flour Latke recipe, add 1/2 cup canned cream style corn, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon minced roasted red pepper (from jar), 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder. Fry latkes in peanut oil and follow remaining directions. Sprinkle freshly minced cilantro on latkes. Serve with sour cream.
HORS D’OEUVRES OR LIGHT BITE SALMON LATKES Ingredients: 2 pounds salmon, skinned, boned and ground. (For convenience, ask your fish monger to grind the salmon.) 1 small onion, chopped fine 2 tablespoons dill, finely minced 1/4 cup flour or matzah meal 1 egg, beaten Kosher salt to taste Ground pepper to taste 3 tablespoons olive oil Preparation: In a large bowl, mix together with a wooden spoon the salmon, onion, dill, flour, egg, salt and pepper until well combined. Form salmon mixture into latkes, 3 inches in diameter. Heat oil in a large skillet on a medium flame. Fry latkes in oil until bottom surface browns, then turn
latkes and brown the other side. Fry for about 6 minutes per side, or until latkes are cooked through. Serve immediately with sour cream. Yield: 10 latkes ZUCCHINI BIRDS NEST LATKES Ingredients: 12 ounce package Fine Egg Noodles 4 tablespoons peanut oil, or more, if needed 1 onion, chopped 3 zucchinis, grated. If grating with a food processor, squeeze out excess liquid that forms 2 eggs, beaten 4 tablespoons flour Kosher salt to taste Ground pepper to taste Preparation: Prepare noodles according to package directions. Drain and place in a large bowl. Mix in 1 tablespoon of peanut oil. Cool briefly. Mix in remaining ingredients. Form batter into 3 inch latkes. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Fry latkes in skillet. Turn over when bottom surface is well browned. Continue frying until top is well browned too. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately. DESSERT PUMPKIN LATKES To step 3 of Basic Flour Latke recipe, add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon cardamom. Follow remaining directions. Serve with butter pecan ice cream. CHOCOLATE LATKES To step 3 of Basic Flour Latke recipe, add 1/2 cup chopped semi-sweet morsels and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. Follow remaining directions, but fry on a medium-low flame so chocolate doesn’t burn. Serve with warm chocolate sauce (or melted semi-sweet morsels) and vanilla ice cream.
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
Page 35
Association of Jewish Libraries publishes Israel@60 reading list
by ANDY LEVY-AJZENKOPF Canadian Jewish News The Association of Jewish Libraries has put out its recommended reading list on the topic of Israel's 60th anniversary. Released in early November by the New Jersey-based association, the “Israel@60” list contains more than 30 titles, covering suggested reading for both adults and children as a -- no pun intended -- bookend to this year's anniversary celebrations. According to the association, the Israel@60 reading list was compiled by member Andrea Rapp, a librarian at the Isaac M. Wise Temple in Cincinnati, who is an expert on the topic of Israel. “Last summer, [the association] asked me to compile a one-page bibliography -- adult books on one side, children's on the other -- of recommended, in-print titles about Israel,” Rapp told The CJN via e-mail. “I review books on Israel for our AJL newsletter and have published an article about bias and misinformation in children’s books on Israel. I imagine that’s why I was asked.” The association has published the full list of works on it’s website, each one accompanied by Rapp’s short description of the text, and can be found at www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb. The site also contains links to relevant websites that also provide some video and audio resources for those wishing to learn more about the history of the Holy Land. In conjunction with the Israel@60 recommended reads, the AJL also recently launched its new Podcast section. Updated monthly, the podcast section allows website visitors to listen to audio recordings of Jewishthemed books and lectures. The podcasts can be accessed at www.jewishlibraries.org/podcast. Many of the books and resources on the list are available in the Kripke Jewish Federation Library. For more information, visit www.jewishlibraries.org.
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December 12, 2008
Comic relief: ‘From Krakow to Krypton’ throws Jewish cartoonists into spotlight
by EMILY SAVAGE j. The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s ... a book about Jews and comic books! And it is, admittedly, much more exciting than I thought it could be. While comic books themselves still give me a heart-palpitating rush, I worried that dissecting their creation and connections to Judaism would ruin their simple, aesthetic fun. Luckily, that’s not the case with From Krakow to Krypton. In the comic book world, superheroes created by Jews are everywhere, from Superman to Batman to the X-Men, with many minor and not-so-minor players in between. In From Krakow to Krypton, MAD magazine writer Arie Kaplan has assembled a veritable dream team of Jewish comic book characters, artists and publishers. Follow-ing a foreword in comic form by Harvey Pekar and JT Waldman, the book is fat with quotes from famous comic book artists and writers such as Will Eisner, Stan Lee and MAD magazine’s Al Jaffee. Kaplan quickly declares that Jews are the core of the comic world. Jews created the first comic book, the first graphic novel, the first comic book convention and the first comic book specialty store, among other notable achievements. From Krakow to Krypton spans from the creation of comic books in 1933 to the popularity of underground comix in the 1960s to the advent of popular films based on comic characters. In between there are highlights such as the 1952 creation of MAD magazine by Jewish writers, the 1962 creation of Spider-Man by
Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber), and the 1978 X-Men revelation that Magneto was a Jewish Holocaust survivor. This aspect of the book is neatly sectioned off into the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages of comic book history. The book is a fun and surprisingly thought-provoking read. Along with the thorough history of comic books, there also are plenty of asides, interesting factoids and colorful graphic images. Kaplan doesn’t just focus on the simple fact that these comic creators were Jewish -he delves into their Judaism, their careers and how their background affected their alternate realities. Kaplan studiously describes Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s humble beginnings and feelings of inadequacy, which led them to create a man of undeniable strength -- a super man, if you will. An early version of the Man of Steel was more interested in fighting social injustices than battling strange, unearthly figures. He fought abusers and crooked government officials in an effort to preserve the goodness of the human race. “It’s not too far of a stretch to surmise that Siegel and Shuster’s obsession with social justice came from their Jewish background,” Kaplan writes. “Jewish ethics largely revolve around the concept of tikkun olam, or healing the world, and though this isn’t an exclusively Jewish ideal, a strong concern for social ills is found in the work of many Jewish writers, artists and performers.” The book also discusses why the world of comic books was so enticing to young Jewish writers and artists.
“I think the factor that brought all the Jewish guys into [comic books] is that there was a tremendous amount of antiSemitic bigotry as far as a lot of [other] industries were concerned,” MAD’s Jaffee writes in the book. “We couldn’t get into newspaper strips or advertising.” Kaplan excels at setting the early comic book scene -- the dank Brooklyn walk-up buzz-ing with creative, Jewish up-and-comers, tapping into a brand new type of entertainment. It is an exciting world, despite the obvious anti-Semitism that forced many of the originators to cover up their backgrounds and secularize their names. The comic world was a place for Jews to vent their frustrations about antiSemitism. Early comics were a subtle (and not-so-subtle) way of fighting the injustices of the world. The Holocaust, for example, was the subject of several vengeance storylines, such as the first
issue of Captain America (created by Jewish cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, born Jacob Kurtzberg), which showed the spangle-suited hero punching Hitler in the face. Though the comic world has come a long way in its acceptance of minorities, Jews still occasionally hide under their pseudonyms and behind their superheroes. Kaplan comes back to this point toward the end of the book when he discusses the 2004 comic book “The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist.” “In the story we see the Escapist’s Captain America-esque origin,” Kaplan notes, “and all the Jewish metaphors contained therein: the themes of escaping from bondage; the ultra-WASPy hero created by a Jew; the hero who wears a mask to hide his true self.” From Krakow to Krypton by Arie Kaplan (225 pages, Jewish PublicationSociety, $25).
Beth El Men’s Club sponsors Hanukkah raffle by JILL BELMONT Beth El Publicity Coordinator Eight prizes with the average value of $150 will be up for grabs during the Beth El Men’s Club second annual Hanukkah raffle, underway now. One lucky ticket holder will walk away with a Nintendo Wii; another will win a sports-heart-rate watch; and others will win gift certificates to establishments such as the Apple Store, Best Buy, Nebraska Furniture Mart and a variety of restaurants. Each winner, beginning with first-place, will have the opportunity to select his/her own prize. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit Beth El Synagogue Talmud Torah, as well as the Child Saving Institute of Omaha, according to raffle chairman Gabe Meyer.
“We are raising funds two worthy causes -- religious school programming at BESTT, and CSI, which provides a wide range of services to children and families in need, including adoption placement, emergency shelter, and crisis counseling,” Meyer said. The drawing will be held on Sunday, Dec. 21, he added, noting that ticket holders do not have to be present to claim their prizes. Tickets are $5 apiece or three for $10; they may be purchased at the synagogue, or by contacting Meyer, at gabe@ meyer717.com, or Scott Simon, at simonsz@cox.net. To be eligible, all money must be received in the Beth El office by Friday, Dec. 19.
Happy Hanukkah Wishing the Jewish Community a Joyous Hanukkah Season.
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The Israeli to blame for your Sudoku addiction
by KARIN KLOOSTERMAN ISRAEL21c When asked by colleagues or potential business partners, high-tech entrepreneur Gideon Greenspan says he has 25 years of experience as a software developer. Most people scratch their heads, of course: Greenspan, who’s developed the world’s most popular online Sudoku game Web Sudoku, is only 32 years old and he looks much younger than his age. “I started writing software when I was seven and started selling it when I was 17 in London,” says Greenspan, both an Israeli and UK citizen who now calls Tel Aviv home. While the Macintosh utilities that he created as a teen (covered on TechTV and CNN, among others) still see some online sales, it was Web Sudoku -- built with his wife Rachel, a statistician -- that really set the world on fire. After laying the foundations for Web Sudoku, very quickly Greenspan invited his wife Rachel into the project. “She analyzed the puzzles and worked out the logic,” he tells ISRAEL21c. “She understands that side of things a lot better than I do.” Voted by TIME Magazine as one of the best websites of 2008, Greenspan’s game sees about 250,000 users a day, and is syndicated by American newspapers such as the Chicago Sun Times Online and The Denver Post and the online portal Yahoo. The website is surprisingly simple and clean, with basic puzzle choices in levels of easy, medium, hard and ‘evil.’ Copyscape for catching content thieves Since founding Web Sudoku in 2005, there have also been premium Sudoku downloads for Mac and PC, and a series of Sudoku puzzle books, with the most popular ones sold in Germany. But Web Sudoku isn’t Greenspan’s first online suc-
cess. A year earlier, he released credits people and companies purchase to Copyscape, a plagiarism search engine offset the greenhouse gas emissions creatthat can track down copies of content and ed by taking flights, driving cars or conwhere it’s published online. suming food and energy. Helping writers, newspapers and web“While there were tons of providers site owners, Copyscape keep tabs on selling offsets online, I was looking for a where their printed copy is going and central repository of information that offers both premium services as well as compared and contrasted the providers, free searches. Launched in 2004, it is cur- so I could make an informed choice rently used by about 200,000 content about where to buy,” says Greenspan. owners every month. “Eventually I decided to solve the The original Google Alert problem myself, and created Carbon Other smaller enterprises created by Catalog. Carbon Catalog is a directory of Greenspan include Google Alert, carbon-offset providers and the projects launched in 2003 before Google came that they support. The listings are reguout with its own alerts, and one of the first applications of Google’s original search API. Over 200,000 people have subscribed to the service, for the in-depth results it provides above and beyond Google’s offering. Premium services, advertising and syndication sales for Web Sudoku, Copyscape and Google Alert, have allowed Greenspan to develop in a new direction, and today he’s devoting his spare time and then some, to the “I started writing software when I was seven and started selling it when I was 17 in London,” says Israeli software develenvironment. “I’ve always been aware of oper, Gideon Greenspan. green issues. One thing I like about the larly updated based on the information software business is that you can create a on each provider’s website. Carbon lot of economic value while consuming Catalog also rates providers based on (relatively) few natural resources. But I’m their transparency and the quality of their no “tree hugger” and my approach is projects. “But there’s also an entrepreneurial pragmatic rather than ideological.” angle. Depending on what happens in the Carbon Catalog for the environment In response, Greenspan has built UN, and in America’s corridors of power, Carbon Catalog, the world’s most com- the next decade could see massive growth prehensive and up-to-date source of in the carbon markets, and I’m positionwhere to buy carbon offsets, the carbon ing Carbon Catalog to take advantage of
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that. But this is for the longer term - for now, I’m focused on providing a noncommercial service for voluntary offset buyers.” Greenspan also advises a number of Internet companies on technology and strategy. He has a PhD in Computer Science from the Technion - Israel Institute of Science, and two MAs -- in Philosophy and Computer Science -from the University of London and Cambridge. A few words of wisdom for those who’d like to build a high-tech company? “I follow the Google formula,” says
Credit: www.daily-sudoku.com/sudoko/ Greenspan. “That’s doing one simple thing as well as you can, and not bothering users with too many adverts or other distractions. The other running theme in my strategy is that I pursue ideas that don’t require excessive upfront investment. “I tend to do things differently and grow along with my projects.” Karin Kloosterman is the Associate Editorial Director of ISRAEL21c, a media organization focusing on 21st century Israel.
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Best wishes from our family to yours for a holiday filled with love and light!
Page 38
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
In an Israeli desert, water is his way of life pick up a problem in the soil when contaminants have reached the groundwater. “Groundwater is the most precious water resource,” Dahan tells ISRAEL21c. “By the time researchers understand what’s happening in observation wells, it’s already too late.” While in Nevada, he realized that there were no tools for monitoring what happens to chemicals and contaminants before they pass to the groundwater. It's especially a problem around gas stations, factories dealing with hazardous waste, and leaching from landfill sites. Rather than collect samples of water from the groundwater source deep underground, Dahan envisioned a way for scientists and those working in soil remediation, to follow contaminants every step of the way. He built a prototype of a system that is inserted like a flexible rod diagonally through the soil, taking measurements all the way to the groundwater. With environmental protection high in the minds of Americans, Dahan is hoping it will be commercialized into a product. But in the meantime, he says, basic water research will be his focus. Is water research an ideology for you? “It sounds sweet but this is how it is,” says Dahan, a married father of three. “Everyone should do what is within their skills and capacity. I understand water and this is why I am here. I used to be a fisherman. I can contribute, so this is what I do. We cannot live blindly without taking a holistic approach, and without talking about the whole environment. We can’t talk about water exploitation, without talking about the consequences of using this water.” Dahan’s lab and home are in the same village, and part of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, a unique off-campus set of institutes affiliated to Ben Gurion University that invite faculty and students to conduct desert research, in the desert. Originally called Sde Boker, sharing the name of the nearby kibbutz, the campus was established in the early 1970s, as part of a dream of Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion to make the Negev Desert a place that is a cross between Oxford, England and Yavne, an ancient Israeli town of Jewish scholars. By 2002, The Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, which is also part of Ben Gurion University,
by KARIN KLOOSTERMAN ISRAEL21 Planted in Israel's Negev Desert is an academic oasis of scientists and their students. They are studying a natural resource that may be more valuable than oil in the notso-distant future. That resource is water. Dr. Ofer Dahan from the Department of Environmental Hydrology and Microbiology at Ben Gurion University is one of the 26 water specialists who have uprooted their families, bringing them to the remote village of 200 homes in Midreshet Ben Gurion, in the Negev. Dahan, a hydrologist, is devoting his life to studying water in one of the driest places in the world. For him, it’s not a strange concept at all. “You see my research is conducted at sites around Israel, in Ashdod... in Ramat Hasharon, sites in places that are not all deserts. The uniqueness of this institute is Dr. Ofer Dahan, of Ben that people live and work in Gurion University, hopes his the same place. You can't go research could help stop shopping in the evenings; contamination of ground kids can't go to the mall. water at an early stage. Any paved roads we have Credit: ISRAEL21 here are the playgrounds. We enjoy the safety of the place,” says Dahan, who was a fisherman, before he became a water researcher. Among Dahan’s particular research interests is the vadose zone -- the region in the soil between the soil surface and groundwater. After graduating from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he moved to Reno, Nevada for post-graduate work, where he first had the opportunity to build a prototype for a device that can test and monitor groundwater contamination of the vadose zone. This invention, tested both in Nevada and Arizona, could become an essential tool used in soil remediation one day. Basically, monitoring stations deep underground only
Made possible by JNF. This is Israel today. And JNF will make sure it’s Israel tomorrow. In the face of the worst water crisis in Israel’s history, over 1.5 million Israelis receive water from 200 reservoirs, dams and water recycling centers created by JNF. We’re currently building 5 new reservoirs to help Israel avert a water catastrophe. This is JNF. We’ve evolved into a worldwide environmental leader dedicated to the growth, prosperity and security of Israel. Support us now by visiting www.jnf.org or calling 1.888.JNF.0099 today.
www.jnf.org
Forestry Water Community Development Security Research Tourism & Recreation Ecology Education ●
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was founded to house under one roof, all aspects of water resource research, from groundwater production and desalination technologies to research into treating marginal water sources. "It's the only institute in Israel that has one large critical mass of people dealing with water issues," says Dahan who arrived to his specialty after what he calls a long process. “I was never thought to be a typical academic person; my friends make fun me. I used to be a fisherman, in between periods of being a beach bum. During my studies I met a wonderful woman who was my teacher,” says Dahan. “You never know where the next meeting will take you.
Singing in the supermarket
TIME OUT by ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT
We are so busy shaping our children’s Jewish identity, that sometimes we forget not everybody in Omaha is Jewish. We take them to a Jewish school, synagogue services, religious school, and Chabad summer camp. We celebrate the holidays with other Jews, and eat the appropriate foods at the appropriate times. Every now and then, we get to be reminded that in spite of what our daily life revolves around, we are still part of a minority. For instance, when I took my then three-year-old daughter shopping, and she sat in the cart singing the “I am Proud to be a Jew” song at the top of her lungs. Yes, people stared. They stared until their eyes almost fell out of their heads, and so what? I refuse to let it make me uncomfortable. With the Christmas season almost here, majority culture is about to explode all around us. Every year, this leads to discussions about how to navigate between who we are, and where we live. Come the month of December, we can’t leave our house without stumbling over an elf, a Santa, or being told to have a happy Christmas. In addition to that, many of us have mixed families, and are more or less expected to attend a tinsel-party in some way, shape or form. We can choose to be annoyed (tempting, I admit) or we can go with the flow, all the while keeping a firm grip on what we believe in. For us that means a never-ending discourse with our children about the ‘why’s’ and ‘why nots’ of Christmas. Because every outward sign of this holiday either shines or blinks, it can look oh-so attractive to the little ones. A tree with pretty things in it? Never. Bright, flickering lights outside? Sure, as long as they are blue. After Christmas sales? Always. Attractively wrapped chocolates, shaped like Santa? No, absolutely not. (Although, believe it or not, many of them are kosher; don’t ask me why.) The truth of the matter is, if Christmas were a holiday mostly experienced inside a church, in a spiritual way, we wouldn’t have this dilemma. It is the fact that it comes with ‘extras’, displayed in shopping malls, television shows, and even on people’s cars that makes it so hard to circumvent. It simply is everywhere. If you want to avoid it entirely, you must lock your doors or leave the country, and for most of us, that’s not exactly an option. The key to a happy December is to not treat it as a competition. We don’t need to buy bigger and better presents for Hanukkah, just because the stores are full of attractive displays; we don’t need to put wreaths on the front door just because the neighbors have such pretty ones on theirs. However, we also shouldn’t avoid things that reek of ‘the season’ just to make a statement; we don’t have to prove that we are different, we already are. Accepting ourselves as we are leads to accepting others. So yes, I put out a Hanukkah flag, but I would anyway. I also put up lights all over the front yard, because I would feel a little sad if we were the only dark house on the block; to me that would send the message that we are too different to enjoy ourselves. But it’s a slippery slope, and I can fully understand it if others decide they don’t need to be plugged in to that particular habit. I guess, as with so many things, it’s about personal choices. Whatever those choices are, we should forever stop feeling uncomfortable, we should never apologize, and we should all sing loudly in the supermarket. Annette Van de Kamp-Wright is a local freelance writer, who is a member of the American Jewish Press Association and can be reached at: avandekamp@tconl.com.
December 12, 2008
Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
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IN THE NEWS
The Boy Scouts of America, MidAmerica Council installed the 2009 executive officers last week. Lloyd Roitstein, Scout Executive/President recognized Dan Neary as outgoing Council Chairman. Neary provided support to the council following the tornado that struck Little Sioux Scout Ranch on June 11, 2008. Tenure awards were presented to board members who have given 25 years or more to the Council Board, among them: Richard Fellman, 25 years, Richard Kaplan, 40 years, and Irving Veitzer, 40 years.
Among his more recent activities are serving on the boards of the Nebraska Foundation for Visually Impaired Children, the Boys Town Boosters, the Jewish Federation of Omaha, and Jewish Social Services. He also serves on the Ak-Sar-Ben Floor Committee, was selected for the 28th class of Leadership Omaha, and was appointed to the Omaha Baseball Council in 2004, where he was asked by community leaders to join the committee to evaluate the feasibility of a downtown ballpark versus renovation of Rosenblatt Stadium.
Former Omahan Jeffrey Silverman of Chicago, son of Stanley and Norma Silverman, was honored by the University of Massachusetts Medical School on Dec. 2 for establishing the Silverman Chair in Natural Sciences. The event featured Victor Ambrose, Ph.D., professor of molecular medicine and co-recipient of the 2008 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.
Jewish National Fund (JNF) is proud to announce the launch of JNF Ambassadors, a program that will enable teachers and parents to work together to enhance JNF and Israel education in schools throughout the country. While JNF has long worked closely with thousands of Jewish day and congregational schools across the country, the Israel Advocacy and Education Department always looks for creative ways to develop even stronger bonds with those schools and their students. After much research and many surveys, JNF designed the Ambassadors program, which designates a specific parent-teacher team in a school to be directly responsible for JNF-Israel curriculum. “Our education programs have already proven to be effective,” said Michelle Beller, JNF’s Education Programs Manager, “so we devised a way to get the community involved. This takes it to the next level.” Launched in August, the program is multi-denominational and is open to schools that already have relationships
Anthony D. Scioli, a partner in corporate development at the law firm of Kutak Rock, was chosen as one of Midlands Business Journal’s “40 under 40” at its recognition event last week. A cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he earned a juris doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2000. His practice focuses on Internet and technology law, corporate finance, entertainment and media law and general corporate transactions. Scioli immersed himself in Omaha’s charitable organizations after moving from his native Rockville, MD, with his wife, Omahan Andee Friedlander Scioli.
Index of Advertisers Advertiser Page AAA Rents ...................................................................... 8 Abacus Consulting ...................................................... 26 Absolute Serenity Day Spa .......................................... 18 Alegent Health ............................................................. 16 All Makes Office Equipment ....................................... 33 Associated Counseling Professionals ......................... 16 Bergman Jewelers ...................................................... 26 Body Basics ................................................................ 25 Boys Town ................................................................... 32 Broadmoor Market ...................................................... 19 Care Consultants .......................................................... 8 CBRE|Mega ............................................................... 23 Charleston’s ................................................................ 29 Clinical Cosmetics - Angela Bell .................................. 10 Countryside Village ...................................................... 19 Crowne Plaza .............................................................. 20 Culligan Water ............................................................. 34 Custom Care Nursing ................................................... 4 Dance Shoppe ............................................................ 19 Darland ....................................................................... 28 Emanuel Contracting, Inc ........................................... 23 Enterprise Bank .......................................................... 34 Eye Essentials ................................................................ 2 Garden Café ................................................................ 25 Genzyme ....................................................................... 7 Gordmans ................................................................... 20 Grace/Mayer Insurance Agency, Inc. ........................... 8 Greek Islands .............................................................. 29 Hadassah ................................................................... 37 Hairitage ........................................................................ 2 Hy-Vee ......................................................................... 40 Interim HomeStyle Services ....................................... 39 Janine McClintock Photography ................................ 21 JetLinx ......................................................................... 23 Jewish Federation of Omaha ........................................ 3 Jewish National Fund ................................................. 38 Jewish Press ............................................................ 5, 17 Jewish Senior Services ............................................... 37 Kidwell Companies ..................................................... 10 Kohll’s Pharmacy & Healthcare ................................. 30 Leisure Life Sports ....................................................... 18 Louie M’s Burger Lust ................................................... 9 Malashock Jewelry ...................................................... 18
Advertiser Page Malbar Vision Centers ................................................... 6 Market Basket ............................................................. 19 Marriott ........................................................................ 36 MDK & Associates ........................................................ 2 Mid-City Jewelry & Loan ............................................. 21 Nan C. ......................................................................... 22 Nebraska Children’s Home Society ............................ 31 Nebraska Jewish Historical Society ............................ 22 Nebraska Statewide Classifieds .................................. 15 Nobbies ....................................................................... 31 Noddle Companies ....................................................... 3 Omaha Children’s Museum ....................................... 26 Omaha Performing Arts Society ................................. 24 Omaha Steaks ............................................................ 28 Omaha Surgical Center ................................................ 4 Omaha Symphony ..................................................... 30 Omaha Trans Video .................................................... 22 One Drake Place ......................................................... 21 Parsow’s ...................................................................... 35 Passport Restaurant ................................................... 29 Pasta Amore ............................................................... 25 Pulverente .................................................................... 15 Regency Court ............................................................ 35 Remington Heights ..................................................... 27 Rockbrook Floors ........................................................ 34 Rockbrook Village ........................................................ 25 Rolling Hills Ranch Independent Living ...................... 10 Rossi ............................................................................ 25 Russell’s ....................................................................... 19 Sarah’s ........................................................................ 19 Scott Conference Center ............................................... 3 Security National Bank ............................................... 18 Sol’s Jewelry & Loan ..................................................... 6 Sound Environment .................................................... 25 Spirit World .................................................................. 29 St. Joseph Villa ............................................................ 33 Suburban Newspapers Inc. .......................................... 9 Trocadero .................................................................... 36 University of Nebraska Medical Center ....................... 11 US Congressman Lee Terry ....................................... 36 V. Mertz ....................................................................... 29 Valentino’s ................................................................... 29 Zio’s ................................................................................ 9
PEOPLE WHO READ NEWSPAPERS ARE
STUDENTS WITH BETTER GRADES It all starts with Newspapers
with JNF as well as those that don’t. It encompasses grades pre-K through high school. Eleven schools already participate in the Ambassadors program. They are extremely excited about the new passion for JNF initiatives that the program has instilled in their students. They all participate in a monthly conference call where they swap ideas and share their accomplishments. As an added bonus, the ambassadors of the enrolled schools got to participate in the August CAJE (Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education) Conference in Vermont free of charge. There they partook of all the lectures of the five-day conference and were formally trained as JNF Ambassadors. For more information, contact Michelle Beller at 703.888-2235 or mbeller@ jnf.org. In a contest designed to make spirits soar, students in Grades 4-7 are invited to create a logo for one of Nefesh B’Nefesh’s Aliyah planes. One Grand Prize winner will be selected to have his/her design reproduced on a Nefesh B’Nefesh plane and will receive roundtrip airfare and accommodations for two to Israel for a four day/three night trip in the summer of 2009. This winner will also have his/her work posted on BabagaNewz.com and announced on www.nbn.org.il/contest. Three runners up will also have their artwork published and each will receive a gift pack from BabagaNewz.com. The contest is currently underway and ends Monday, Feb. 5, 2009, 5 p.m., and is open to students in the United States and Canada, except where prohib-
ited. Complete rules and the official entry form (to be signed by parents) may be downloaded at BabagaNewz.com/destinationisrael. BabagaNewz.com, an educational website for Jewish middle-schoolers and teachers, is teaming up with Nefesh B’Nefesh, the organization that is revitalizing Aliyah (immigration to Israel) from North America and the United Kingdom. Contest updates and winners will be posted. BabagaNewz.com is a non-profit project of JFL Media and The AVI CHAI Foundation.
New York, Paris, Omaha? Yes, Omaha. Multiple times a day fashion editorturned-entrepreneur, Alice Kim, explains to wide-eyed customers why she left her job at In Style magazine to open up shop in the Old Market. A fascination with Omaha, spurned from several avenues like Kurt Anderson’s 2007 New York Times article about Omaha’s cultural renaissance and the odd coincidence when Omaha band Tilly and the Wall was on the cover of her New York Bible, Women’s Wear Daily, the same day of the premier of Paris Je T’aime (in which one of the vignettes was directed by Omaha native Alexander Payne). Her lifestyle boutique, Trocadéro, is located at 12th and Howard. The boutique is filled with her favorite brands and designers from working in the industry as well as personal notes alongside the merchandise. Now Kim is is writing a book. Trocadéro has also gotten the attention of national publications, Elle, Travel + Leisure and most recently Marie Claire. Holiday hours begin Dec. 12, or shop online at www.shoptrocadero.com.
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Jewish Press, Omaha, NE
December 12, 2008
EMPLOYEE OWNED
Happy Hanukkah!
Celebrate the Festival of Lights!
Warm wishes to all and many thanks for your kind patronage.
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