SERVING NEBRASKA, IOWA Vol. LXI No. 46
Omaha, Neb., Fri., July 29,1983
Jewish Family Service New director is named conducts agency study for Jewish Day School By Morris Mallnc Jewish Family Services, a department of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, is conducting an evaluation of its agency services, Rabbi Gonsher, director, has announced. Rabbi Gonsher described the evaluation process as internal, comprehensive and major in scope. Robin Glick is planning chairperson for the evaluation. According to Rabbi Gonsher, this evaluation is somewhat different than those ordinarily mandated on a regular basis by the Federation for its operating agencies. "The professionals involved in this evaluation have intimate knowledge of family service operations and are highly qualified
to undertake a self-evaluation," he added. The evaluation itself, he explained, will consist of three major efforts: the solicitation of input from the overall Jewish community, contact with at least eight other United Way Agencies, and consultation with a national accrediting organization. Rabbi Gonsher pointed out that Jewish Family Service has seen rapid growth in the past few years and that an evaluation is necessary at this time to aid in future planning. Other members of the evaluation committee are Natalie Gendler, Barbara Orlik, Jerry Taxman, Dorothy Rosenblum, Howard Epstein and Dr. Murray Frost.
Head nurse runs her department from a wheelchair JERUSALEM - The little boy in the wheelchair is filled with disbelief as he looks in amaze- p ment at the nurse who is directing the work in } the Orthopedics Department of the Hadassah- j Alyn Hospital for Crippled Children. Like him, she is in a wheelchair, and like his own, her legs are completely paralyzed. Head Nune Betty Mayers is known for her devotion, efficiency, humanity and understanding of little patients to whom she is on inspiration. Thirty-five years ago, as a young nurse at Hadossah, Betty Mayers was pregnant end contracted poliomyelitis. The daughter she bore was perfectly normal, but she remained paralyzed in both legs, confined to a wheelchair ever since. Today her daughter is grown and has qualified as a physiotherapist. It is part of the accepted wisdom of modern societies that a nurse requires strong legs and feet, as well as a heart full of loving kindness and a head full of medical knowledge. Many people asBetty Mayers (turned that the paralysis meant the end of Betty's career as a nurse. And, indeed, a lesser person might have given up nursing- Yet she has been Head Nurse of Hadassah's Orthopedic Department in the Alyn Hospital for Crippled Children for 12 years. •
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It's not remarkable," she insists. "My job requires ability to organize, to carry responsibility and to see that the nursing staff functions efficiently — all of which I can do from the wheelchair. Dr. Gordon Robin, the Hndassnh orthopedic surgeon who heads the Alyn Department, concurs: "She may not put an the planter casts or splints herself, but she makes sure that everything is done properly. She is an excellent head nurse."
Ms. Marcia Smith Barnentein, an educator from Connecticut, has accepted the position of educational director of the Jewish Day School of Omaha, succeeding Harris Goldstein who had resigned. Ms. Barnestein comes to her new post from the position of educational director of Beth El Congregat i o n and J u d a i c studies curriculum coordinator of the Solomon Schechter Academy, both in Marcia New London. Barncstein At the synagogue, she has supervised instruction from nursery school through high school and has taught and administered programs in both the junior congregation and adult education classes. At the Solomon Schechter Academy, Ms. Barnestein has supervised and taught at all levels and has developed a series of curricula including a special class in the study of the Holocaust. Before coming to New London, Mt. Barnestein taught in both day school and synagogue school programs in Connecticut and New York state. She also served as assistant principal of the Orange Synagogue Religious Center Hebrew School in Orange, Connecticut. Ms. Barnestein earned the bachelor of science degree in Hebrew culture and secondary and elementary education from New
York University. During her undergraduate days, she also studied at the Teachern Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and spent her junior year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She holds a master of science degree in educational anthropology as well as teaching certification by the State of New York. . Ms. Barnestein produced a study of parental attitudes toward handicapped children and has written programmed learning packages in Judaic studies. Also, she authored the Old Doctor: A Man Who Loved Children, a biography of Januscz Korczak, the author, educator, social worker, and physician who devoted his life to orphaned children throughout central Europe, and died with his charges at Treblinka. Ms. Barnestcin's work is to be published. Ms. Bamestein's appointment was secured through the Community Teacher Program of the Bureau of Jewish Education of The Jewish Federation of Omaha. She was chosen from many applicants after a national search. In addition to representation from the Jewish Day School of Omaha, representatives of the three major synagogue schools participated in interviews and recruitment. The Jewish Day School of Omaha provides a program of general and Jewish studies and is still accepting applications for the 1983-84 school year. Enrollment information is available by calling the school at 334-0517.
Nebraska ETV offers Years of Darkness
They were the years of darkness — from ' era, premiering Wednesday, Aug. 3, at 10:30 the end of one World War to the end of a p.m. over the statewide Nebraska Educasecond. It was a time when a thriving cul- tional Television Network. Each of the documentaries and dramas in ture — a unique Jewish culture in Europe — was doomed to becoming virtually ex- the series recounts experiences of Germans and Jews between the ware and during tinct. Public television presents Years of Dark- World War II. Dr. Annette Insdorf, assoness, a special eight-part series of American ciate professor of Film History and Criti(continued on page 2) and foreign-made films which illustrate that
Excerpts from my Russia journal
The plight of the Soviet Jews Editor's Note: Kansas Congressman Dan Gllckman recently participated in a delegation of Members of Congress invited by the Supreme Soviet to visit tho Soviet Union. He kept a Journal of bis experiences and provided the Jtwish Preta with a selection of execrpta from that journal. Ills report is us follows: By Congressman Dan, Glickman At the invitation of tho Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the chief legislative body of the Soviet Union, I wa» fortunate to be a part of a delegation of 10 Members of tho House of Representatives who traveled to Russia. While other Members of Congress have visited the USSR, we were the first delegation to be formally invited to the Soviet Union in over four years. We met on issues relating to trade, arms control, regional conflicts such as Poland and Afghanistan, and human rights. The following are execrpta from a journal I wrote during the trip. JULY 2 , 1 9 8 3 We left London Heathrow Airport for Leningrad aboard an Air Force C-9. Two Russian navigators were on board. I introduced myself, but they spoke no English. On the airplane, several warning! were given by U.S. Embassy personnel about the fact that we were to assume that we would bo watched, listened to and followed all the time. One State Department aide was particularly concerned that we would be jeopardizing the lives of any Soviet itfuseniks we might meet in the USSR because they have
been categorized as "enemies of the State." Most of us in the delegation, however, felt that anyone who wanted to Bee us already wa» in jeopardy, and it wax important to let them know we cared about their freedom. Curiously before wo left London, wo were told by embassy personnel that our refuscnik visit in Leningrad' was going to be scheduled at the same time oa our trip to the Hermitage, one of the great museums in the world. Could this be mere coinciCongressman dence, or could the Soviet Glickman officials have decided that fewer members of the delegation would want to visit with refuseniks so as not to miss the Hermitage? We shall see. JULY 3 , 1 0 8 3 Meeting with refuteniks. Among them were: Evgeny Lein, a mathematician, who was imprisoned, is now a stoker in a bath house; also tutors a bit. Five yean ago, he applied for a visa to Israel. His wife olio lost her Job. He earns 60 rubles a month and pays GO for rent. He was supposed to have kicked a military man,
but was really arrested for helping with Jewish history lessons. He was put in jail before the trial and spent six and a half months in prison. His visa was rejected because he was in the Army once and authorities said he had state secrets. Abrnm Kagan, senior researcher in the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He applied for a visa in 1977 and maintains his current job because of strong support from American scientists. This is an atypical situation. The Institute of Hydromcteorology expelled his son. Some institutes, which are less prestigious, will admit Jews. Medicine has a very strong anti-Semitic tradition here. Jacob Rabinowitz. His wife and children got visaB and left three years ago. His son is at Brandeia in Boston. He said the situation with Jewish people is getting worse. They cannot get together to talk about Jewish history; can speak Hebrew only in a small group. Wo also met Evgeny Matskyn, a refusenik who has been corresponding with two of my Kansas constituents, Rick and Betty Shore in Wichita. An unbelievable coincidence. My wife and I were invited to. his flat. After our meeting with the refuseniks, we had time to visit the Hermitage after all. It was disheartening to see Rembrandt, Picasso, Renoir in various states of deterioration. Art and Jews are not treated well here. On our way out of the Hermitage, a consulate official told me that tltere (continued on page 12)