VQ5C10-C0 fcO .N€VP.HISTORICAL •13 00 • -T L I !V C 01 •
SOC
^^«-. acAVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE 1920
Vol. LXV No. 23 Omaha, Nebr.
•i
Search Committee appointed for new executive director
p uonaioYale has been appointed to head a Search Committee for a new executive director of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, according to Saranne Gitnick, president. ' Chosen by the Executive Committee'of the Feueration Board to serve with Mr. Vale are: Harvey Cooper, Mary Fellman, Carl Greenberg, Howard Kaslow, Joe Kirshenbaum, Don Klein, Say Lerner, Bert Lewis, [urray Newman, Marvin j^ftlikov and Mort Trachtenfciarg. '" "Steven Rod's recent tfesignation to.assume a new position with th^ Jewish
Donald Yale Welfare Board, the national association of Jewish Community Centers, leaves us with a very important place to fill," said Mr«. Gitnick. She explained that the Search Committee was
"carefully chosen to help in the very sensitive process of finding the right person. "We have people with campaign involvement. Federation leadership, personnel professionals, agency connections—in general a cross-section of people who have demonstrated a deep understanding and caring attitude in Federation work. "In addition," Mrs. Gitnick continued, "We have invited the director of personnel service at the Council of Jewish Federations to meet with us next week. We expect his expertise to provide us with guidance in setting up some parameters."
1 Adar, 5748 Friday, Fvbniafy 19,1988
Basketball commissioner to speak at stag April 13 David J. Stem, commissioner of the National Basketball Association, will speak at the 34th annual B'nai B'rith Charity Stag, April 13 at the Peony Park ballroom. Mr. Stern became the fourth NBA t»mmissioner in 1984, succeeding Larry O'Brien. He will discuss the world of professional sports. Mr. Stem graduated with honors frOm Rutgers University in 1963 and Columbia Law School in 1966. He then joined the law firm of Proskauer, Rose Goetz and Mendelsohn which represents the NBA. There he worked on a number of
and, in 1980, he became the executive vice president of legal and business affairs.
David J. Siwa NBA assignments including the Oscar Robertson AntiTrust Litigation Case. In 1978, Mr. Stem became the first general consul representing the NBA
Mr. Stem is a member of the board of trustees of Beth Israel Medical Center and chairman of the Eumual fund for the Rutgers University Foundation. He is also a member of the board of directors of TARGET, an anti-drug awareness program of the National Federation of State High School Associations. The maMer of ceremonies for the stag will again be Dave Blackwell, sports director at KLUB radio in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Chattanooga rabbi says lecture by Eban not kosher for Pesach ly Andrew Silow Carroll NEW YORK (JTA) - A iReform synagogue's scheduling of a lecture by Israeli Knesset member Abba Eban, traditionally a popular draw on the Jewish lecture circuit, has angered pK>me members of the Chatttanooga. Term., Jewish community. But according to Orthodox Rabbi Michael Katz, the beef is not with the content of Eban's message, but the timing. Eban is scheduled to speak Thursday, ^pril 7, which is the seventh bight of Passover and thus fraditionally a "yontiff," or boly day. Rabbi Ken Kanter of the pah Congrejfation, the ure's sponsor, explained a telephone interview
that he would have preferred a different date but that April 7 was all that Eban's. representatives offered. "It was a choice between that night and not having hiid at all and ^ chose to have bim/' said Kanter. The lecture will be held in an auditorium at the University of Tennessee. According to Kanter, the auditorium can accommodate more people than Mizpah's 500-8eat sanctuary and the university will contribute a "substantial portion" of Eban's $11,000 lecture fee. But Katz, rabbi of Beth Sholom Congregation, said scheduling the former for- . eign minister on the holiday "turns wkat should have
been a statement of solidarity"—a speech by an Israeli leader—"into a demonstration of divisiveness." In letters he wrote to Kanter, the university, the Chattanooga Jewish Federation and three Israeli politicians, including Miniater of Religious Affairs Zevulun Hammer, Katt argues that Eban's apjjearanceat-^he university conflicts wiih Passover celebrations. He is calling on Chattanooga's Jews to boycott the lS:ture. "They (Mizpah) have the right to do something outrageous and I have a right to say something about it," Katz explained in a telephone interview. An original co-sponsor of the event, the Jewish Community Center of Chat-
tanooga, withdrew when, according to director Tom Neuman, it realized the event was scheduled on a holiday. ^ Approximately 2,000 Jews live in Chattanooga. F«ity familiea belong to Beth Sholom, 300 to Mizpah and 350 to B'nai Zion Synagogue, the Conservative synagbgue.
Rabbi Richard Schuhnan of B'nai Zion Synagogue said he will not discourage C(B>greganta from attending the Eban lecture, but would not Dublicize it or encourage attendance ^ther. Katz said he would not have urged a boycott had Mizpah planned to hold the
event in its own synagog But Mizpah's decision to ( public with the event fleets pciorly on the commiK^ nity." "Why else is Eban available on that night?" he aaked. "Because no other Jewish cgnummity would schedule him.
SCHOOL DEDICAtED CHAPLAIN HONORED JERUSALEM (JTA) BOSTON (JTA) - Rabbi According to Robert Alvin Liieberman, staff The first ORT junior high Siakiifi president of the chaplain of the Boston Vet- school in Jerusalem, the Chattanooga Jewish Feder- erans Administration Med- Beverly Minkoff Junior ation, there have been a few ical Center, has been named High School, was dedicated complaints about the lec- Chaplain of the Year by the last week by Women's ture but the federation U.S. Reserve Officers As- American ORT. The late planned no action. "If a Re- sociation. He has served for Minkoff was president of forin temple doesn't cele- the past four years as staff the CH-ganization. The school brate the holiday as strictly, chaplain of the 94th U.S. offers an experimental proit's up to them and not the Army Reserve Command at gram in advanced science federation's business," he Hanscom Air Force Base . and technology and has become a showcase school in near Boston. said. the ORT network.
'Jews are less religious than Protestants and Catholics' . By Gary A. ToUn, director Cohen Center for Modern Jewiah Stadlea BrwidcbUi Jews have become more and mor (like other Americans. float Jews dress like their fellow i leiicaoB, eat the same oods, live in the same neigHborh They go to the same chools and work in the same ofi Jews have also a(ioptk(j)e<rof the habits, both good nd bad, of the general society. A few differeocea remain. 0W8 vote differently, leaning mere to the Democrats, while thar white, milldlar«Uss Amsricans lean more toward Reublicans. Jews are more likely to be in white collar jobs ban other Americans. Jews have fewer children. Jews are also dlftarant in one area that ia iranicaily strikDg: Jews are much less raliglouB than Proteotante and Catholics. While other Americans are devetoptog stronger lee with orgu^izad Religion and religious beliefs, Jews sre reakhig their bonde. I The Qallup Organiwitlon has just rehaaed a msjor r*prt mtitled IM«loa in AiMrica. The study is mainly ^t Protestant* «d Catholics, but also includes a small ample of Jews. The religious profilt of Jews, espodal^ in botrast to Proteetanta and Catholica, is pretty grim. Siity^m* peromt a( Proteatanto aagr that reUflon is veiy imartant in their Uvee. as do 52 panapt of Citlwiies, hut ^ aOpsrcMit of Jews. At UM other Did of the spectrum
as a group are drifting further away from their religion. No matter which way you looit, at it, a greater propor' tion of Jews are less'formally religious tbian Protestants and Catliolics. The Gallup poll shows that 72 percent of Protestants and 81 percent of Catholics hekmg to a church, comparM to 44 percent of Jews belonging to a temple or synagogue. The evidence from Jewish population studies around thecountry point to a great deal of exaggeration in Jews reporting their synagogue membership. If tliey go to services on the High Holy Dsys, or used to hekmg to a synagogue, or their piurenta beleagi people often s«x tliat they have a current membership. In fact, while Che 44 percent figure that the GaUup poll reports is very low, it may be really as low aa 33 percent or laea. While Jewa belong at far lees than half the rate of ProteetanU and CathoUcs, UM^ also sttend at about half tht rate. While 41 percent of the ProteetanU and 40 paroent of Catholics sttend church in a typical weak, the numher drops to 20 percent for Jews, Gallup ahows dafinitive^ that -the Jewiah level of rsUgioua involvement on the whole is vastly leee than Christian Americans.. Leee formal raUgioua behavior ia accompanied by low levels of ritual obaervance hi the home, little knowledge of Judaiam, and km lavela of vohmtsariam for Jewieh organizations. In a more aaaimilated SQda^, Jswe cannot remain through the oamoaie of naighhortiood, fHendfhinaqd family connactiaBe. Thoee ties are alMrmors tenuous lo^ than lh^j>—eogsnsisiieBifo. For yesse. Jews have been leee sd Oatholiee ssjr that rellgian ia not very important to religions than Proteetanta and Catholics, in the formal is«i. eoiVarvd to M peroeat of Jews. While there eaema sanss of obesrvanoe. Bat the ethnic tiee of family and nslgfaibaiiiWinsiresmniiirrnteetantseiidrafhnHrs Trrrs borhood etill hooded Jewe as a group. Jews coUM take
themselves and their religion for granted, and still be Jews. Today, some Jews are becoming more obeervSnt, snd more religiously involved. But they are a minwity; Tlie drift remains in the opposite direction. Judaism, if it is to survive today, must be more than an aging ethnk ^roup tied by old world memariee that become more dim with each passing generation. The less distinctive and vibrant Judaism becomes as a religion, the less attractiveneaa sod meaning it will have. Judaism can develop a self-perpetuating and self-fulfilling cycle of disintegration. The Gallup poll must concern us. The data are conats* tent ova- time. Some may delude themselvee into braving that being "just Jewish" or an "ethnic" Jew alone may satisfy their religkMa needa. Perhi^a such a way of life may do tor theni, but may not suffice for their children and grandchildren. Religion without substance cannot be auataining for long. How much reUgion is "enough?" Enough to make it distinctive, to provide a more and ethical framework for evenrday life, to pifMde eome q^Mtual atiuctura in our civfti It has to be enough to make it tangible and < ble. A six-year-old or sixteen-yeer-oid aniit be ablei tinguish Judaiam from other religious frameworka. Judaifmia not likely to itisapnear, but it ean become n>ot>.i meanlngleee, If aomeone calls himaelf Jewiah. but bahav in w^^ that are faidistinguialiahle from everyone alM^ wh doee it mean? Withdot the substance of aome ritual I. gogue till, education, phOanthraptc or ocginlsaitldttl t Judaiam etill has mnihlp'g to offer the nnt gwsnitioii, i the next onei Even if we still eall ouraelvee Jews, aothii ia what we will become.