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SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE 1920 Vol. LXV No. 14 Omaha, N*br.
27 Klalev, 5748 Friday, Dec. 18, 1087
Rose Blumkin and family donate $500,000 Health, happiness 'best Hanukkah gift'
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By Morris Moline At the age of 94, Mrs. Rose Blumkin is concerned about old age—not her own, but t^e Jewish elderly of Omaha. Mrs. B said she was bom a day before Hanukkah, that her family was planning a birthday party for her on the first day of Hanukkah, and that she had little presents all ready for the younger members of her family. What would she like for her birthday and for Hanukkah? "No presents, everybody should be well... I'm one of the lucky ones, the best Hanukkah gift is health and happiness, and God has given this to me." Mrs. B told the Jewish Press this week that she learned about, philanthropy from her mother in Russia. "We were very poor, yet my mother always was prepared to share what she had with those less fortunate ... when I was six years old, I promised my mother that I would get a job, work hard and make something of myself so that I could help'the family." Her early success in business made it possible for Mrs. B to bring her parents and other family members to the United States in 1922. "There is not a thing that I wouldn't do for my mother, and God has repaid me with the same kind of treatment from my children," Mrs. B said. She said that when her mother suffered a stroke at the age of 89, she brought her to Omaha from California. Mrs. B. said that her mother expressed concern over the amount of money and attention that was being channeled to her care and that she cautioned Mrs. B about spending so much. "I told her not to worry, that for every dime I gave her, I got back thousands." She added that she wasn't the o^ly one lavishing atten-
tion on her mother. "My kids treated her like a girl friend... they are the classiest kids, turning out just the way that my mother had wished for me." Mrs. B said that her philanthropic foundation provides funds fora variety of worthwhile activities, but that she has a fondness for paying particular attention to the elderly. "If you have your health; your eyes, your ears, you should be with people, and I have these things so I continue to work. When I can't continue to work and I need care, I plan to have my needs attended to in my own home... I 'm one of the lucky ones." She explained that her current gift to the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home is just her way of making it easier for those who need care in their old age. "They should have a decent place to live with good kosher food and if I can help, I'm glad to do it." Mrs. B said that she has lived her life with common sense as her principal means of education and that she has never forgotten the fact that she grew up with the poor and disadvantaged. "I tell all my customers (at Nebraska Furniture Mart) that the best news they can give me is when they cdme back and tell me what a good deal they got." She added, "Only in America could a story like mine happen, not in Russia, but only in this, the best country in the world ... here, if you're not lazy and you have your health, you can get somewhere." A salesman interrupted, "Mrs. B, there's a woman here from Des.Moines... you gave her a price last week and she's back looking for you." Mrs. B looked at me and I knew the interview had come to a close. Business was calling. And as she has been doing all of her life, she answered the call,
Gift 'significant' for future expansion
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Rose Blumkin
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Award recipients among Annual Meeting honorees By Lynda Frank Mort Trachtenbarg, president of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, has announced Sunday, Jan. 10,1988, as the date . for the Jewish Federation's 84th Annual Meeting. The event is free and will be held in the Jewish Community Center theater begiiming at 7:30 p.m. A reception will follow. Bev Fellman, a full-time French teacher, is chairman for the event. Activities for the evening will include the installation of Bev Fellman 1988 officers and board members, the premier perfcmnance of the JCC's Kdlot Children's Choir and the presentation of the Volunteer of the Year, Community Service, Humanitarian of the Year, Jewish Teen Leadership, Lois Jean Schrager Memorial Young Leadership and Justin Gnenberg Memorial Young Leader^ ship awards. The 1987'Endowment Achievement Award will also be presented that evening to Jule Newman. Carmi Schwartz, executive vice president of the Council of Jewish Federations, will be the keynote speaker. He will also present Jewish Family Service a Shroder Award honorable mention for the Omaha Jewish community's Farm Crisis Project which sought to counteract antiSemitism among the rural population of Nebraska and show the Omaha Jewish community's concern for the plight of the farmer. Mrs. Fellman, who expects over 300 people to attend this year's Annual Meeting, said, "Every member of the community, whether or not they've been involved in the Jewish Federation agencies, should share in the honor of recognizing people who've worked hard. These people come from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds but share the ideal of getting down to work."
A donation of $500,000 to the Jewish Federation of Omaha has been offered by Mrs. Rose Blumkin and her family as the initial gift for' a capitltl expansion fund for the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, Mort Trachtenbarg, Federation president, has announced. In addition to Mrs. Blumkin, the donors are Mr. and Mrs. Norman Batt, Mr. and Mrs. Louie Blumkin, Mr. and Mrs. Jerome I. Cohn and Mrs. and Mrs. Charles Schneider. "This generous gift has been given to us as a significant portion of the funds needed for the future expansion of the Rose Blurakin Jewish Home," noted Mr. Trachtenbarg. "The gift comes from the family's continuing desfre for the comfort and dignity of our elderly."
wide committee in order to determine specific needs and to develop a plan for expansion which then has to be presented to the Federation's Planning and Evaluation Committee, and ultimately to the Federation Board for approval. The committee, comprised of 11 people, is working to complete its report in the next 60 days. Eugene Brandt, executive director of the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home, is working with the committee. "We are taking steps to assure that the study process is efficient and thorough," he noted. "It is always so difficult for me when we have to inform members of our community that there is a waiting list for their mother or father to go on, instead of a room for them to move into.
Mrs. Blumldn is featured tonight in a speeia) documentary on Channel 7, KETV, at 8:30 p.m. He added, "This new gift We are all eager to see the is particularly outstanding study completed." when we recognize the origiMrs. Rose Blumkin, who nal gift of $1,000,000 made works seven days a week at by 'Mrs. B' and her family Nebraska Furniture Mart in 1981 to" help make our new Jewish Home for the and is affectionately known as 'Mrs. B,' this week Aged possible. The Omaha celebrated her 94 th birthJewish community is • day. "What has happened blessed to continue to receive such outstanding to me could happen only in America," she notes. 1987 leadership and philanmarks the 70th anniversary thropic support from this of her emigration from Rus•family." sia to the United States. Don Klein, president of the Bureau for the Aging, is When she gave the initial currently working with a gift to make the new Home study committee to plan possible back in 1981, she and study the need for ex- exclaimed "God has blessed paiiding the bed capacity of me, allowing me good health the Home. Mr. Klein ap- and the ability to continue pointed the community- my work."
Israel's new status By David Friedman WASHINGTON (JTA) - Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci sigi^ a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which gives Israel the status of a major non-NATO ally of the United States. The agreement, signed at the Pentagon as the first item on Rabhi's agenda as he began a three-day visit to Washington, provides for the United States and Israel to carry on joint military research and development programs. But perhaps more importantly, it allows Israel to bid on s:.>&':i^»-. •;^ms^Maomi. •
military sales to the Pentagon on the samebasis as NATO members. This new status for Israel was announced last February at the White House during a meeting between Premier Yitzhak Shamir and President Reagan.Shamir, at the time, called it "a new dimension to our relations." However, the agreement takes on new importance in the wake of Israel's agreement, under pressure from the United States, to cancel development of the Lavi fighter.The pact is expected to help save many of the defense industry jobs lost by the cancellation.
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Hanukkah torch relay Among thofe participating in the third annual Hanukkah torch relay, Bponaoied i>y the Jewish Community Center and the Omaha Committee for Soviet Jewry, Sunday, are from left: Dennis Palz, Robert Bert, Scott Kotzen, and Bob Hurwitz. r ^nt,;A,afSrmm&i«i^f
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