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Family Service Offers Life Education Series .COUNCIL BLUFFS. LINCOLN, OMAHA Omaha, Neb., Fri., October 16,1981
Itural Arts Council is varied programs By Margie Gutnlk In April of this year, Omaha's first Matza Bakery was held at the JCC. Talmud Torah classes, families, the Jewish Day School, the JCC preschool, and various other groups attended, baking their own matzas and increasing their knowledge a bit from delightful and indefatigable Hassidic rabbinical students. In May of this year at Beth Israel Synagogue, the Omaha Jewish Community observed Yom Hashoah, a day set aside for commemoration of the Holocaust. A prosecutor from the Neuremburg Trials (Continued on Page 2)
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Jewish Family Service announces its Fall Family Life Education Series, starting Oct. 26. This Fall's programs include: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting; Strengthening Families - a program on sexuality; Women of a Certain Age; For Men Only; Families-Alcohol; Peer Counseling; Marriage Enrichment; Stress;' and Preppy Preparation. Mary Ann Porter, the Youth Alcoholism Consultant at Methodist Hospital, will present a series entitled "FamiliesAlcohol." This program will focus on the problems surrounding adolescent alcoholism and drug abuse. The concerns of adolescents will also be addressed in other programs. Barbara Orlik, therapist at West Omaha Family Mental Health Clinic, is one of the six speakers involved in a program called "Peer Counseling." This series is for high school students who want to acquire listening skills and assertive behavior, as well
as topics pertaining to sexuality, chemical dependence and adjustment difficulties. Mrs. Orlik will speak on conflicts and solutions for adolescents from divorced families. One final program focusing on adolescents will be "Preppy Preparation." This series is designed for the high school student who is considering college. Emphasis will be placed on the student becoming aware of his or her values and interests, and how those apply to college and a career. The presenters will be Stan Malacheski and Sharon Ballenger. Several programs will emphasize the family. "Strengthening Families" is a two day program on sexuality designed for human service professionals as well as the community. Dr. Sol Gordon, professor and chairperson of Child and Family Studies at Syracuse University, will speak. " S t r e n g t h e n i n g the American Jewish Family". Other topics that will be addressed by Dr. Gordon and other therapists and
educators are adolescent sexuality, sex and the elderly, incest, positive sexual communication and homosexuality. Ken Long, private practitioner, presents several other programs that focus on the family. They are "S.T.E.P." and "Marriage Enrichment". "S.T.E.P.", which stands for Systematic Training for Effective Parenting, is a program to help parents realize the goal of raising responsible children with emphasis on communication skills. "Marriage Enrichment" is a program designed to improve a good marriage. Discussions focus on commmunicatlons skills and conflict resolution. The concerns of being a divorced or separated father will be addressed in an informal group called "For Men Only". This group will be led by Allan Gonsher, director of Jewish Family Service and will address topics such as being a parttime father, having full custody of your children, reestablishing a social life and expectations of your exwife.
Livingston Plaza rises near JCC
Progress on the construction of the Livingston Plaza apartments for the elderly continues at a brisk pace. The photo at left was taken from the south and shows where the apartments
connect to the Jewish Community Center. The photo at right was taken from the east and shows the recreation room.
Begin and Reagan - but not Fagin
As the political conflict over the AWACS sale heats up, American Jewry will have to fight an internal battle with itself. If it can stay cool under fire and not strike its flag, this fight can lead to an historic breakthrough for VJewish acceptance as well as for national values in America. There is a history of American Jewry being pressured to prove its loyalty to this country by sacrificing its own interests and deepest feelings. In the 1930s and 1940s, out of fear of the dual loyalty charge, a segment of American Jewish leaders ran the American Council for Judaism to deny Jewish peoplehood and nationalism and to 'prove' how totally devoted Jews were to America. Out of fear that their patriotism would be compromised, American Jews tied their hands in fighting the Roosevelt government's indifference while European Jewry suffered catastrophe. In this generation, out of shame and regret for the Holocaust, thanks to the magnetism of Israel and its
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security needs, American Jews have become much more assertive. Zionism has become a badge of honor. Political action has moved up on the community agenda. Thanks to the civil rights and ethnic movements of the '60s and 70s and the political interest groups of the 70s and '80s, the recognition that advocacy of one's own special concerns is legitimate and enriching to democracy has grown. Whatever the cost to national welfare, when the National Riflemen's Association frustrates the general desire for gun control, Americans have come to see that the interaction of determined minorities and more marginally interested majorities is a valuable part of the give and take in democracy. It prevents tyranny of the majority and creates a more comprehansive consensus which is the key to the health of the democratic system. In recent years, the growth of interest politics and a (Continued on Page 3)
Rabbi and scholar Irving . Greenberg is director of the National Jewish Resource Center.