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Vol. LXIII No. 43
Remarks by Norman Lear to the Central Synagogue upon receiving the Shofar Award New York, N.Y. May 10, 1985 I am honored to receive your Shofar Award this evening jn this glorious Moorish Revival landmark sanctuary; the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the state of New York. When I think that I am only your second honoree, and that the first one was Senator Jacob Javits, I am more than honored. I'm intimidated. Few people in public life have commanded the respect and affection of Jacob Javits and it awes me to be following his footsteps to this pulpit. The shofar was used as a rallying call, a call to battle, and no one in the United States Congress symbolized it more than Senator Javits — battling for civil rights, for greater U.S. support for Israel, for pension reform, for the War Powers Resolution, the Legal Services Corporation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. But the shofar had other meanings, too._ Among them, it was used as a rallying call to battle for a sense of moral and ethical Tightness, in one's personal life, of course, and in the society at large. It is to this meaning of the shofar that I would like to address these remarks tonight. I find it a jarring coincidence that today, May 10, is the anniversary of one of the moat chilling events in the history of freedom-loving peoples. The 52nd anniversary of the Berlin book burnings. On this evening half a century ago, Berliners stood at the University of Berlin at midnight. The Nazis had seized over 20,000 books and pamphlets from private, public, and university libraries, and the crowd cheered as torches were put to the materials considered "un-German." Among the authors whose works went up in
flarnES that night were Thomas Mann, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Jack London, Helen Keller, and H.G. Weils. Now, I am not recalling 1933 Berlin to suggest that we Eee the real equivalent of the Nazis in 1985 America, but you should know that last year there wore moves to drive books out of schools and libraries in 48 out of 50 states in our country; John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Aldous Huxley, Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger were among the authors under attack; and it is we — you and I — who are in danger of being equated with the onlookers in Berlin, 1933. The Berlin bookburnings were an assault on free thought, free expression, reason, and rationality mounted by a relative handful of Germans who had begun some years before. The surprise is not in that early, relative handful of thoughtkillers — they're always around — the surprise is in the vast amount of those who did nothing but look on. I want to tell you tonight that there is a movement in America today, a disparate movement of many parts; secular, church-based, political; a movement that doesn't want you to think of it as a movement per ee, but one v/hich ia moving inexorably forward with its own vision of America — a vision that you and I and our Founding Fathers do not and cannot share. And all we are doing, for the most part, is looking on. In times of hardship, voices of stridency and division always replace those of reason and unity, and the. results have always been a deterioration of free and open dialogue, a tension among races; classes, and religions, and the temptation to grasp at simple solutions to complesc problems. In our time of hardship, it is the ultra-fundamentalist evangelists of the electronic church and their absolutist counterparts, in and out of politics, that feed on the deep and valid concerns of the mass of Americans. With the
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growing division between the haves and the have-nots, the shifting, uncertain nature of jobs and job opportunities, the increase of street crime and violence, the surging growth of our drug problems, the splintering of American family life, the mounting concerns over nuclear proliferation, our people may be more anxious, frustrated and fearful than at any time in recent history. Responding to this time of crisis is a new breed of monopolists, monopolists of truth and values, with their simplistic solutions to our most complex problems. We have lost our way, they say, because we have turned our back on Jesus and followed the devices arid desires of our own hearts — and America's purity and strength can bs restored only if the nation submits to the political and moral answers which they see as Biblically self-evident. To disagree with this extremist coalition on numerous matters of morality and politics is to be labeled "satanic," "anti-religion," "unpatriotic," or "anti-family." These moralists see the dissonant variety inherent in this blessed pluralistic society; they sac Christians who disagree with other Christians; they see Jews and Buddhists and Muslims, people of all races and religions and lifestyles; they see hotheads, sybarites and ascetics, mockers and madmen; they see people who decline to submit to an ordered morality . . . and it frightens them. And so they would tame the dissidents. They would contract this multi-faceted land into their own tiny garden of saints. To make us properly moral, they would settle for a nation where there iB no way of life which differs from their notion of a Biblically-oriented family. This is their vision for America — a society composed of solid, middle-class, one-morality families, leading conformed lives on the model (continued on page 5)
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Omaha Section National Council of Jewish Women is celebrating a banner year by presenting a "Call Police" banner to organization volunteers. The banners also will be available to the public for $ 3 . Displaying the banner are Cathy Chriotencon (left) and Joye Wees. Joshua Wees is up front. .
Richard Katskee, Arthur Ko3owsky, and Daniel Mirvish are among 11 Nebraska high school graduates who have been recognized as members of the 1985 University of Nebraska All-State Scholastic Team. The team members are the state's top scorers on the American College Testing examination taken by more than 5,000 Nebraska high school seniors. —Richard Katskee, 17, of Omaha Burke High School, will attend the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as a pre-law major. He is a National,Merit Scholarship winner. He received a $1,500 scholarship to the university. . Katskee, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Katskee, 10356 Browne, was a National Honor Society and .Junior ROTC member. at his school. He .participated in band and orchestra, and is an Eagle Scout. .'—Arthur Kospwsky, 18, of Omaha Cen-
tral High School, is a National Merit Scholarship winner and will attend Washington University in St. Louis. He will major in math and physics. Kosowsky received a four-year tuition scholarship to the university, an American Honda Scholarship and the Council for Periodical Distributors Scholarship. Kosowsky, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Kosowksy,317 S. 51st St., captured top honors in English, science and piano while at Central. —Daniel Mirvish, 18, of Omaha Central -High School, will attend Washington University in St. Louis. He received a full-tuition scholarship to the university and is a National Merit Scholarship winner. Mirvish, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Mirvish, 664 N. 59th St., was a National Honor Society member, Latin club member and vice president of debate and math: club .at his school. " .
A charter membership drive has begun for.OMAHA ARTS WEST, the new designation for the Cultural and Performing Arts programming at the JCC. In announcing the drive, JCC Vice-President Silvia Roffman said that the name OMAHA ARTS WEST was chosen because it is a signature that readily identifies "who, what, and where we are." • ; "We are really proud of our unique facility. It's the only fully-rounded performing arts complex in the rapidly-growing western part of Omaha, and it's within 5 to 10 minutes' driving time of thousands of families." The logos for OMAHA ARTS WEST and its five divisions — theater, dance, music, film, and gallery — were designed by Evy Katz, professional artist and chairman of the JCC Art Committee. The nine-event 1985/56 OAW season prices for JCC members are: Sponsor, $100; Patron, $50; and Subscriber, $25. Non-JCC memberships are available, also. Sponsors and patrons receive special benefits that include gallery discounts and extra opening night tickets. "This is a terrific chance to see great programs and concerts at very reasonable prices," said Mrs. Roffman. She added that a special extra benefit for sponsors and patrons will be announced shortly. OAW opens Aug. 17 with Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" and continues with
two more plays: "Horowitz and Mrs. Washington," presented for the first time in Omaha, and a world premiere play to open in April, 1986. Two nationally-acclaimed dancers and their companies will appear. Rachel Lampert, who has been called "the Woody Allen of modern dance;" brings her troupe in October, and Anna Sokolow begins a one-week residency at the JCC in February, 1986. Sokolow's choreography has included
New Omaha Arts West logo designed by Evy Katz. works for the Broadway theater, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Alvin Ailey dance troupe. She will teach at the "J" and will present a specially-created .work at the end of her residency. • ' Jazz clarinetist Giora Feidman and his trio will perform at a one-night concert in March. Feidman was a principal with the Israel Philharmonic for 18 years. Three classic cinema pieces and a variety of special exhibits in the gallery complete the OAW season.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Jewish activist Dr. Isai Goldstein from Tbilisi has been told to report to the KGB for arrest on charges of treason by reason of spying," the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry has reported. Goldstein, a 27-year-old physicist, refused an exit visa to Israel for 14 years, could face execution, the SSSJ said. The arrest was termed by the SSSJ "a frightening display of Mikhail Gorbachev^ emergence into a new Stalin. This is the fourth arrest of a .Russian-Jewish activist within the past month." According to the SSSJ, Goldstein, his family and brother belonged to an unofficial musical group called Phantom. It is comprised of refuseniks and human rights activists. Eight other members of the group were detained as well, but evidently only Goldstein and human rights campaigner Edward Gudeva are charged with treason. KGB Colonel M a "on Nnshivlli accused Goldstein of being in illegal contact with foreign diplomats, correspondents and tourists, the SSSJ reported. Meanwhile, the SSSJ also reported that Dan Shapiro, a Moscow Hebrew teacher, has received a: two-year suspended sentence for "anti-Soviet slander." The Soviet Union's news agency, Toss, claimed that the trial was open, but supporters of Shapiro and Western reporters were barred entrance to the courthouse by the KGB.