Vol. LXV No. 6 Omaha, Nabr.
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SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SiNCE 1920 5 Chatvan, 5747 Friday, Novembar 7, 1986
Israel Bonds offers "Reinvestment Sunday"
,r Bethlar Beth I srael Synagogue will serve ati bead[quarters for the Israel Bond Reinvestment 'Sunday campaign Nov. 16 when those who bought Israel Bonds in late 1971 and 1972 ' may reinvest their securities aa much as 13 s months before maturity. ! Dr. Paul Shyken, General Chairman of Isl tad Bonds in Omaha, pointed out that these [ 15 year bonds are normally due to mature Inext year. I "The State of Israel," he said, "is offer[ing up to 13 months of advanced interest ' to the registered owner of the Bonds provid[ big funds are added and the Bonds are reinf vested immediately." He said "All congregations in our community support the Israel Bond program to mobilke investment capital for Israel's eco1. nomic development each year. That is why ^ we have chosen Beth Israel Synagogue as > the best location for Reinvestment Sunday. i Also, that Sunday ia the day we will be I honwing Truman Clare at our annual Din-
ner of State. People attending the dinner can bring their Bonds in for early reinvestment at that time. If you plan on bringing your Bonds to Beth Israel Synagogue before the dinner and would like to stay for the Dinno- of State, please inform us at that time and we will try to accomodate you for this event in honor of Truman Clare." Dr. Shyken added, "There are many people in our community who hold Bonds which have already matured. These securities do not increase in value beyond the maturity date. We urge these friends of Israel to redeem these matured bonds and to reinvest in new bonds. Neither the State of Israel nor the Bond owner receive any benefit from matured Bonds sitting in a safe deposit box." Bond owners who cannot visit the synagogue on Reinvestment Sunday can call the Israel Bond office 518 Service Life Building, 1904 Famam Street, 341-1177 for information and forms for reinvestment.
International performer in JCC show, Nov. 16 By Lynda Frank Free-lance Writer "Everymother" has been everywhere— !, or so it seems. Merlyn Brown who makes I her JCC theater debut Nov. 16 as a tradi) tional Jewish mother in the play, "Isn't ft ^ Romantic" has leaaived'pofwmapcc a» colades in Australia, South Africa, London, L Scotland and several U.S. cities. Last July I she and her husband moved to Omaha. Her b', paternal grandfather was not only a tailor [ but a Yiddish Shakespearean actor and her I'^matemal grandmother was a frustrated opera singer. Bom in South Africa and raised in a tradi: tional Jewish home, Merlyn began dancing !and singing at the age of four. When she was 17 she decided she wantid a full-time stage career. At the urging of her father, she took a secretarial course to have something t to rely upcm if her stage career could not ['support her. "This was the best advice I fever received and it has helped me all along." i In 1967 Merlyn married a TV produoer and moved to England and Scotland. ' A «<>ng she wrote for a docttaantary f produced by her husband won a Goldad f Harp Award. Merlyn finds it amusing that a South African Jewess would win an award for writing what was believed to be a traditional Scottish song. The family, pow also consiBtiiig of three children, next inov«}(o Auattsalia.- In 1968, she had the }ong#st running aolo female TV juA in Australia ind was busy doing cabaret, talk shows, game showa/mo^dhtg, being a mother and entertaining for many Jewish organizations. Merlyn's routine >gener6Hy combined the serious with comedy
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Mcriyn Brown and she. became an expert at parodied songi. (She can sing in seven languages, includJng Hebrew, Yiddish and En^^ish.) In 1972, now divorced, she and her children moved back to Soiith Africa. South African TV was in its infancy and she did some television work besides doing con^ oarts, night club work and shows for ^M» ^'bomes/plus raising her children and wmi-> ing for an American poippany. tt' was t^roug^ this company that abe i^et her present husband, Bill Broiini, and .eventually moved to tin U.S.
Sharansky in London by Martin Gilbert Editor's note: This is the first in a series of three articles written by Professor Martin Gilbert, a British historian and a member of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews advisory board. Professor Gilbert is the official biographo^ of Sir Winston Churchill, and has written a number of books about Soviet .Jewry, includfaig The Jews ot Hope, and Sebaruukr- Hero ot Out Time. Professor Gilbert will be in Omaha this December as a lecturer for the Jewish Federation Library's annual book fair. It was on the afternoon of Sunday, S^ tember 21, that Natan Sharansky (as he now wishm his name to be spelt) arrived in London from Israel When he left, shortly after midday on the following Sunday, he had given to the cause of Soviet Jewry in Britain an energy and a determination which were surely unique, and certainly badly needed. During that sing^ week, Sharansky held more than fifty meetings. I myself was present at twenty of them. Bach day, from just after dawn till wdl after midnight, he hwdly ever paused in his efforts to alert both British Jews, and the wider non-Jewish public, to the plight of the refuseniks. Sharansky's meetings with the Jewish community began at the Albert HsIl on that first Sunday night. Five thousand people gathered there to hear him (and several themtM^'Biore were unaMeto get tidieta). No seat was empty. When Sharansky entered the hall he received a standiiig ovation. There was a second standing ovation wheii he rose to speak, and a third when he sat down. In a speech reported prominently on British television and in the national Press, Sharansky began by thanking British Jewry for supporting his own struggle, his wife Avital, and all Soviet Jews. In words which brought tears to many in that vast audience, he then spoke of "my concern about my brothers whom I left in the Soviet Union, my concern about their fate." And he asked his listeners, while always
seeking the "practical" lines of strug^, never to lose contact with idealism. "Without idealism," he declared "we cannot continue our Struggle." By way of illustration, Sharansky spoke of how President Mitterand had admitted to him that whiQ Avital hod gone to see him to urge her husband's release, he, Mitterand, thought to hinudf: "How can she be so naive. The Soviets vrill never do it." Then, three weeks ago, Mitterand admitted to Sharansky: "But she was right, and I was wrong." Particularly moving was the moment when Sharansky deecribed the KGB's taunt to him, after showing him the British television film of Avital leading a protest outside the Soviet Embassy in London, that these protesters were only "students and housewives," so how could they help him. He had come to London, he said, to thank (hose students and housewives who worked on his behalf. From that night on, as he travelled without respite from one meeting to anothn', Sharansky urged every Jewish group to whom he spoke to go out into the wider world of nrai-Jewish life to enlist support for the refusenik cause. Public pressure was essential. For him in prison, "the worst time was when there was no public pressure." But public pressure had to have an object; that objCict was to bring Western governments to use whatever power they had, to- demand a j«opening of the gates of Jewish emigration. At a joint meeting with the Union of Jewish Students and the Student Academic Campaign for Soviet Jewry, Sharansky stressed the importance of the issue of Soviet Jewry forming a part of student activity beyond its Jewish aspects and groupings. It was especially impwtant, he fdt, lor Jewish students to alert non-Jewish students to the forthcoming Vienna meetings of the Helsinki process. There must be united student pressure at Vienna, to spotlight the Soviet Union's violations of Helsinki Accords. (CoDtinned to Page 2)
The tpl""tff Iff fl\lll ffft''"Hlti""** plionnmo-
non will be shared with the Omaha community when "Isn't It Romantic" opens on Nov. 16 (or three consecutive weekends at the JC^. The play is the poignant, yet funny, story' of t#o daughters and two mothers. Merlyn who' plays Tasha, describes her character aa a "with-it Jewish mother with traditional Values; who is like 'Everymother' and reminds me of my mother."
New York Marathon and Jewish culture
PV By Morris Maline Visiting New York City to run in the Marathon proved to be a "thrilling Jewish experience" for Steven J. Riekes of Omaha. In an interview with the Jewish Press upon his return, Mr. Riekes minimized the ifact that he and fellow Omahans Robert llurwitz and Barry Siff finished the race. • "The race was really something with more :than 20,000 running through every Borough being cheered on by neighborhood 'groups of many cultures.''' However, the Jewish connection during the Marathon itself and on the Shabbat jpreceding th^ event was "voy impressive," Mr. Riekes pointed out.
Although the race didn't start until nearly ll a.m., buses started moving the thousands of runners at 6 a.m. to the starting point in Staten Island. A number of large tents had been set up to accommodate the runners and protect them from the morning rain. In one of the tents, prayer books were distributed, yarmulkes were donned along with talaysim and tefillin—behold a Rosh Chodesh minyan was under way complete with a Torah service. 'jjt was such a thrill to see all of these runners davening. I met Jews from Australia, (Coatinncd to Page 12)
Soviet's Religion Minister Rabbi Arthur Schneier (left), president of the Appeal of Conscience Foondation, New York City, with Konstantin Kharchev, diainnan of the Council of Religions Affairs of the USSR's Coondl of Mfaiiatecs. RoMU Sducier's group hosted Mr. Kharchev here, marking the first time any Soviet Minister of Religion hod ever visited the U.S. In a meeting with American Jewish leaders,. Kharchev pledged that no more synagogue doshigs in the USSR woreMag planned and that he would aedi to provide more rabUs for Jmrish congregations in the Soviet Unioii. .Sane rabUBical studnits might be trained in the U.S., he said, if relations between Moscow and Washington improved. He urged "patience" in efforts to improve religious life for Soviet Jews, adding that "the process of democratization in my country is touching the religians sph«c aa welL"