SERVING NEBRASKA, IOWA
Vol. LXI No. 24
Omaha, Neb., Frl., February 25,1983
Seder volunteers? The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home ia looking for volunteers to conduct two Passover seders for residents and their families. Seth Levy, assistant administrator. Mid that either an individual or a family would be acceptable. The seders will he conducted on the evenings of March 28 and 29, and approximately 130 people will be in attendance. Anyone interested may contact Mr. Levy at .130-4272.
New York, NV, The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith praised the Government of Bolivia for its eipulaion of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and at the tome time itutued an appeal to potential witnesses who could testify about his wartime activities. Abraham li. Foxman, ADL'o nssociate national director, sent a telegram to President Hernan Siles Sumo applauding Bolivia's expulsion of Barbie, whose activities in Nazi-occupied France earned him the dubious title, "tho Butcher of Lyonn." • . "We commend you and your democratically-elected Government for denying Barbie a haven In Bolivia, thus permitting his accuser* to face him in the courts of France, where he committed hU criminal seta," said Mr. Foxtnan'a telegram. The one time Gestapo chief in the French city of Lyons, who had been living under an assumed name in Bolivia since the 1950'fl, had been sentenced to death in absentia by a postwar military tribunal. He now faces a new trial because France had abolished capital puninhrncnt in the intervening years. Mr. Foxman, in releasing tho test of his message to the Bolivian President, urged witnesses to atrocities which can be tied to Barbie to immediately contact any of ADL's 28 regional offices. The ADL official caid that "we believe that depositions from those t*bo suffered at the bands of Barbie and hia SS troops will not only be useful as evidence against a criminal who has etcaped punishment for 30 years. This testimony will help refute the lies of en international network of ontiSemites which is trying to persuade the world that the Holocaust is a hoax. "The Barbie trial and the testimony of his Jewish and Christian victims will cast a searing light upon those liars who seek to deny the historic evenu which unfolded with the rite of Adolf Hitler fifty years ego."
New York, NY — A pro-Arab propaganda network of more than .10 organizations is engaged in a heavily financed campaign to change American public opinion and policy on the Middle Rust and curtail U.S. economic and military aid to Israel, the Anti-Defamation league of B'nai B'rith has disclosed. The structures, backgrounds and activities of the organizations ore detailed in a 100-pago "handbook" entitled "I'ro-Arab Propaganda in America: Vehicles and Voices." The ADI. publication aliso identifies dozens of individuals — Kome closely linked to the Palestine Liberation Organization — an itpcarheading the campaign which escalated ahnrply since the furacli military action in Lebanon last
summer. According to Abraham H. Foxman, ADL's associate national director and head of the League's Internationa] Affairs Division, "the attempt to undermine support for Israel, America's only reliable ally in the region, is a threat to basic U.S. interests." He pointed out that since its founding 35 years ago, support for a strong, secure Israel has been American policy through eight U.S. Administrations. Mr. Foxman ttaid that in addition to the well organized campaign to curtail U.S. support for Israel, the handbook documents a parallel effort to secure American recognition (continued on page 12)
Chaplain Gonsher
Allan Gonsher. dir e c t o r of Jewish Family Service, has been appointed to the City of Omaha Police Chaplaincy. He Is one of 14 clergymen who are on call two days a month to provide service to (lie community and to aid to Internal police counseling.
Purim — giving, eating, noisemaking By Dr. David Gcffen "Even when all the contents of the Prophets and the Sacred Writings have been forgotten, the Booh of Esther will still bo remembered and accordingly, Purim will still be celebrated". This statement from the Jerusalem Talmud stresses not only the eternity of the Booh of Esther, but even more so, that of Purim'itself. Three elements in tho Purim celebration, gift giving, special foods and noise making, help to build tho holiday into one which can surpass even time itself. Purim occurs at the end of tho winter when people have been overly concerned with keeping warm and avoiding contact with others because of the transmission of ailments. A kind of self-centeredness has descended upon us. Purim, however, appears to help shake us loose from our eel fishnets and urges us to give two types of gifts, one to our friends and associates and one to those in need. Esther (9:22) enjoins us: "They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and oa an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor". Yet to give a gift with a truly open heart requires an act of commitment, and this is one of the lessons which the holiday teaches us. According to the Shulchan Aruch, "Each individual is obligated to give gifta to the pooTon Purim'T In certain communities this is accomplished by placing an anonymous donation just before the Purim evening service, on a plate in the synagogue. However, there arc those who follow the Shulchan Aruch's dictum which emphasizes, "we are not careful to whom we give on Purim, but we give to anyone who>.t retches out hi* hand to take", and thus they know, personally, whom they assist. Yet there is a universality to the oct, as the concluding section records: "in a place where it is customary to givo also to non-Jews, we do so". , The second type of gift in traditionally called 'shalach manct' ('sending portions'). It must bo composed of two different types of food and drink. In North.African countries it was customary to bake for shalach rnnnot sweet cakes laced with colored sugar in the shape of people, soldier* and heroes of the Megitlah. Since the Moslems knew of these culinary delicacies, they labeled Purim "Id
Afishkar", tho sugar holiday. In Eastern and Central Europe the traditional Purim food was called "mohn toschen", poppvoeed pockets. As tho various legends developed about the three cornered cake and its connection with Homan'o bat, these treats became "haman taschen". The word "mohn" in Judco-Ccrmfln was
written with a "mem', 'hcih', 'nun*. These letters can be turned around and become the Hebrew name of Haman. Thus, even the filling of the pastry itself relates to the archvillain of the Purim tale. These foods for Purim suggest that even from the bitterest of experiences sweetness can burst forth. Foods, moreover, nourish our bodies and therefore grant us an opportunity to elevate our souls. Purim bids'us eat and drink and enjoy ourselves, but still reminds us who we are and what ethical concepts must motivate us in our daily pursuits. We can satiate ourselves but we must never lose sight of our ultimate goal — to strivo to better the human condition. The third Purim element of noise-making mny stem from an unusual source. Whereas Judah Maccabeo led the resistance against the Greeks, the Persian Jews were leadcrlcsn, but fought bravely to defend themselves from Hainan's edict. Even though Haman had been executed, his order to destroy tho JOWB stood, and only via self-defense did they save themselves. An echo of that action may be seen in stamping one's foot or making other types of/noise to drown gutJIflmfla!fl_ " nHme~3uring tho recital of the Klegillah. Howls it possible that in the nynogoguewhen a Biblical Book is being read, we encourage ear-splitting noise? Why do we seem to break down tho decorum in the house of prayer in this deliberate fashion? / The Biblical passage states, "You shall surely erase the remembcrancc of Amalck (tho family of Haman), and tho name of tho wicked will rot". This led to the custom of drawing pictures of Hainan or writing his narno on stones and sticks and then rubbing them together to erase what had been drawn or written. In Italy it was customary to break a bowl with Hainan's name on it and recite Isaiah 30:14; "It is smashed as one smashes an earthen jug, ruthlessly shattered so that no shard ia left in its breakage", Purim falls this year on Sunday and the World Zi- Turkish Jews wrote Hainan's name on a hammerhead and onist Press Service provides us with some informa- .banged away. In the seventeenth century the grogger tion on the holiday along with a photograph of a (noisemaVcr) came into special use as an ear shattering snowy Purim in Jerusalem. method of blotting out Haman's name.