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SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE 1920 Vol. LXV No. 20 Omaha, Nabr.
14 Shavat, 5747 Friday, Fabniary 13, 1987
Abe Greenberg fund now administered by Foundation
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Herachel Fox
Judy Fox
Cafe L'Chaim to feature husband, wife performers
A cabaret style concert of Jewish and contemporary music with the fire and flavor of the great Jewish artists, vaudeville performers, and cantors of yesteryear will be presented at the Beth El Synagogue Social Hall at 7 p.m. on March 8. The husband and wife team of Cantors Herschel and Judy Fox will be the featured performers at the Cafe L'Chaim concert. Herschel Fox began his career as a pantor in Winnipeg, Canada. He has appeared in nightclubs, theaters, and synagogues throughout the U.S. Heiias also had roles in three off-Broadway productions and hosted several radio series. He is ctirrently the cantor at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, Calif.
Judy Fox has appeared at many of the major supper clubs in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Far East. She has also performed on top cruise lines and at conventions. Proceeds from the concert will help support Beth El youth scholarships to various Jewish camping experiences. Reservations are required. Ticket prices are: Patron—$50 per person; Donor—$18 per person. Prices include dessert and wine. Tickets must be purchased by March 1. Mail checks to Beth El Synagogue, 210 "Sou* W.tJmaha, Ne. 68132. CdBtact the Synagogue office at 553-3221 or Marlene Hechtman at 391-3008 for more information.
By Joanie.Jacobson Federation public relationa director
The art of self-defense ^. The following accounts are based on ac- by your students and department head. tual events on file at the ADL/CRC office. "If you're not at work over the Jewish holidays, don't come back." "Today we are going to write a short essay on 'What Christmas Means To Me'." "You're a Jew from the East—you don't know how to relate to students from the Midwest." "The Holocaust never happened." These are the voices of hatred and fear— of bigotiy and injustice. They are the voices echoing, voices that have threatened Jewish survival since the beginning of time. And they remain the voices of discrimination and anti-Semitism in the year 1987. But this is America. The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"... Title VII of the CivU Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment on the basia of race, color, religion, sex or naticmal origin. How, then, do we I as Jews defend ourselves? i^~-Imagine, if you will, that you are a radio f station manager. You qipty at a small Midwestern college to manage the campus radio station, with the understanding that you are not a teacher. Upon being hired, you're scheduled to teach a Communications course. In the classroom, you encounter anti-Semitic remarks: "The Jews control the national media. You were the one responsible for cancelling all Christian programming. Perhaps you're just too Jewish to teach here." You talk to witnesses that confirm the fact that Jewish jokes are La form of entertainment, and that although . anti-Semitic behavior does not pervade the entire campus, it is, indeed, demonstrated
Students complain to your supervisor. The supervisor tells you that your year-end evaluations are poor but refuses to let you see them. You are forced to resign. What can you do? Imagine, if you will, that a symposium on the Teaching of the Holocaust in Public Schools is being held at a university in your town. A Holocaust Revisionist Group gives thousands of dollars to the university for a counter-symposium and a full-page ad in the school newspaper, depicting the Holocaust as nothing more than a legend—a fantasy. What can you do? Imagine, if you will, that you are a used car salesman. You ask to get off work for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Your boss says that if you miss work for the Jewish holidays, don't bother to come back. What can you do to defend yourself? "Report it," answers Yiteak Santis, director of the Omaha office of the AntiDefamation League and the Federation's Commimity Relations Coipmittee. "Information is Uie key. It enables us to observe patterns and propose possible scdutions. If a Jewish institution has been vandalized or defaced, we need to know about it. If antiSemitic materials are being circulated, we need to know about it. If a neighbor is harassing a Jeirish neighbor or a child is intimidating a Jewish child, simply because they are Jewish, we need to know about it. "Negotiation can be quiet and amicable. Meetings can be arranged between parents and children, clergy and educators. We're here to foster intei^group relations and understanding, but at Uie same time, to defend (Continued on Page 9)
By Joanie Jacobson Federation Public Relations Director Mr. B'nai B'rith. Generous. A people's person. Sweet. A philanthropist. An angel. A patriarch. The human spirit. Superlatives—nothing but superlatives to describe Dr. Abe Greenberg, affectionately known as "Doc." Whether a close personal friend, an acquaintance or a patient, people say nothing but the best about Doc Greenberg. ' Doc was everywhere in the community. He was president of the Federation, Campaign general chairman, synagogue president (he belonged to all three), served on local hospital boards and was Acting Health Director for the City-County Health Department. His greatest love was B'nai B'rith, serving as president of the Henry Monsky Lodge, District 6 President and International Vice-President. The list goes on and on. Dr. Abe Greenberg "Doc gave away thousands of dollars of Humanitarian professional services," remembers Ed 1892-1972 Rosen. "I'd go with him on Sunday mornings to make house calls in North Omaha... free of charge. He was generous spond. People believed in him. He saw no about giving money and generous about evil in anyone. He gave without taking." Doc Greenberg was still alive in 1964, asking for it. Even when he was a national officer, he never lost interest here at home. when a group of Trustees from the Lodge Doc Greenberg was somebody big in this decided to honor him in a way that would perpetuate his name. Young people were alcommunity." In 1950, Earl Siegel, then president of the ways important to him, and the cost of a Lodge, was just starting a new business. college education was escalating, "so, we "Doc was general chairman of Philanthro- decicbd to establish a scholars^p fund in pies and aaked me to head the Men's Cam- his name," said Ed Rosen, first preddent paign. I said, 'Doc, I have no time, no of the Dr. Abe Greenberg Foundation. "The money and I've got to get this business off fund provided interest-free loans to qualifythe ground!' To this day, I can't believe I ing students. We'd award about three scholdid it. He led by example. You couldn't say arships a year, but twice that many would apply. I remember we helped to put a boy 'no' to Doc Greenberg." Sam Stone, from Peoria, 111., was a close through rabbinical school. "Over the years, ipembership in B'nai friend and colleague in national B'nai B'rith. "Abe Greenberg had a great intensity about B'rith had declined, and we no longer had things he believed in. He took special in- the manpower to keep the Greenberg Founterest in ADL, BBYO, Hillel and Jewish dation going. We were determined that one Adult Education Programs. He felt per- way or the other, it would be maintained. sonally responsible for Jewish survival and The answer was clear. In 1986, funds were that it was his destiny to get others to re(Continued on Page 3)
Dialogue sought before showing of 'Shoah' on PBS CHICAGO - Hoping to forestall tensions between groups, a coalition of Polish American and Jewish American leaders is urging Polish and Jewish organizations nationwide to hold dialogues with each other in connection with the Holocaust film "Shoah," which is expected to air on PBS channels this spring. The fihn caused considerable discomfort in both the Polish and the Jewish communities when it was first shown. Many Polish Americans felt that "Shoah" painted a one-dimensional picture of Poles as anti-Semites during the Holocaust. Their criticism of this portrait as superficial led many Jews to feel that Polish Americans were denying both the unique nature of Jewish suffering during the Holocaust and the existence of anti-Semitism in Poland. The Chicago-based coalition—a group spearheaded by the American Jewish Committee, the Polish American Congress, and the American Foundation for Polish-Jewish Studies—is offering guidelines and training worit8h<H)s to newly-formed dialogue groups and leadership organizations concerned about Polish-Jewish relations in the United States. Its own objectives as a dialogue group, said the coalition in a recently issued statement, include "containing the damage from legitimate differences over the meaning of historic eventa; probing the feelings 'Shoah'
evoked in dealing with stereotypes to which both Poles and Jews are subjected; placing historical events in a context faithful to the truth and to each group's understanding and interests, and sending a clear, credible message to each community about the value of the Jewish American-Polish American relationship." Describing the Chicago group's experiences and conclusions, the statement said: "The Polish Americans expressed compassion for the Jewish grief over the systematic annihilatiMi of 6 million of their people. They recognized that the Jewish experience in the. Holocaust was unique—that Jews were marked for extermination solely because they were Jews. They heard the resentment Jewish Americans expressed at the extent and nature of Eastern European anti-Semitism. They understood the anger the Jews felt that some Poles in the film, who witnessed the horror of the Holocaust, still display traditional anti-Semitic attitudes today. "The Jewish Americans,- in turn, expressed compassion toward the Polish Americans' sense of grief over the death of three million non-Jewish Poles at the hands of the Nazis... The Jewish Americans came to understand the Polish concern and anger that 'Shoah' might erroneously be regarded as the definitive history of those times ... Poles felt the film was unfair be(Continuedon Page 11)
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