Vol. LXVI No. 39 Omaha, Nabr.
28 lyar, S74B Friday, JuiM 2, 1989
•red Simon, Milt Abrahams recognized for their active support of the arts By Lynda Frank Omaha's Bemis Foundation, founded in 1981 to support the visual arts, is one of 17 artist colonies in the United States and the only urban colony. According to Foundation Director Ree Schonlau, the other colonies are located on estates donated and endowed by patrons. "The cultural resources here are unavailable in other cities this size," she said. "The reason Omaha is unique is because the citizens here support the arts." Each year the Bemis Foiindation sponsors an awards dinner honoring individuals or corporations who have shown outstanding support of the arts. The recipients at the Fourth Annual Arts Awards Dinner on June 10 will be Milton Abrahams and Frederick Simon. "I'm pleased the Foundation has selected two strong individuals who have been supportive for so long and haven't done it for social reasons but for love and compassion of art and our dty," Ms. Schonlau said. "It takes those kind of people to turn a city around, and a dty would be pretty blank without art." "Mr. Literary Arts," as Ms. Schonlau called Mr. Abrahams, is being honored for his support of the literary arts, as well as for his work on the board of directors of Joslyn Art Museum. "He's always generous to arts organizations," Ms. Schonlau said. Mr. Simon is being honwed for his years with the opera. "He was a pivotal person in its existence and has helped take it to its current level of excellence," said Ms. Sdionlou, who alao noted Mr. Simon was for-
Ree SchonlaD merly involved with the symphony. "He and his Corporation support every art medium in this city. I've heard he fights hard for dollars to be given to the arts," she said. Ms. Schonlau said arts organizations' need people with a passion for the arts to help in any way they can. "Both of these men have given of themselves physically, spiritually and finandally. They've given more time than money. We need 50 to 100 more of each of them, but I'll settle for 20." According to the mission statement, the Bemis Foundation supports creative human beings and nurtures exceptional talent. Artists from all over the world are given a place to work, a place to live and a monthly stipend. Ms. Schonlau said the colony in Omaha is attractive to the artists, especially those from the coasts, because it is safe, affordable and the dtizens appredate and support their work. The Foundation is funded by grants from the National Endowment of the Arts, from various art foundations around the country
and from corporations. However, she said most of the funding is from individuals, such as the two men being honored this year. "These two men," she said, "are a great example of how an individual can make a difference." Past recipients of the Arts Awards have included Union Pacific Railroad, FirsTier Corporation and Charles Peebler of Bozell & Jacobs. Each recipient receives a sculpture by Jun Kaneko, a Japanese artist who now lives in Omaha. Robert Dougherty will be presenting the awards this year. Mick^ Sturm is chairman for the Arts Awards Dinner which will be held at 7 p.m. at the Bemis Foundation, 614 South 11th Street. Eunice Denenberg and Allen Tully are program chairmen. Tickets are $125 per person. For information, call the Foundation at 341-7130.
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Ray Goldstein has been elected president of Beth El Synagogue for 1989-90 by the board of directors. Other new officers are Cheryl Cooper, Sanford Friedman and Sherman Golbitz, vice presidents; Natan Schwalb, secretary; Bruce Friedlander, treasurer. Two new board members are Bruce Shackman and Gary Nachman. The new officers will be installed at a dessert-dance Sunday evening, June 26. The latest drawings and plans for Beth El's new building to be erected at 144th and Dodge were shown at the annual meeting, where the officers were elected. Outgoing president Ozzie Nogg announced that the fund drive total for the new buiUing has reached the $3,500,000-mark. Pictured above are Ozzie Nogg, left, and Ray Goldstein.
Dinitz says American Jews favor encouraging Soviets to go to Israel By Cathrine Geraon JERUSALEM (JTA) -' Simcha Dinitz believes there is a growing tendency among American Jews to accept the position that Jews emigrating from the Soviet Union must be encouraged to go to Israel rather than to the United States. Dinitz, chairman of the Jewish Agency-World Zionist Organization Executive, said that "Many of the American Jewish leaders are having second thoughts about the immigration of Russian Jews to the United States, and there is now a
eSpfce c ^^ € ^ lext weekend is Shavuot. Or is it SHHHvuot, sine* it comes and goes so quietly, unnoticed by many of us. Let's fix that, okay? The root of the word Shavuot is "sheva"-aeven. Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks) faUs seven weeks after the start of the grain harvest, when an orasr of newly-cut barley was Woufht to the Tm|>la. Starting with the second day of Paaaover, the oiaar la counted for forty-nine days, and on the fiftieth day the harvest ends and we have (U-dah) Shavuot, also known as Hag ha-KaUir or Festival of the Harvsst. (The Gxwk word for Mth day is ptntaeoit which accounta tm another name for Shavuot.) AJong with Passover and Sukkot. Sicvoot is one of the * three timsa 4nring tha ywr wiian the laraaiitas aoade pitgrimagee to Jeruaalani. On Shavuot they btxmght two loaves of bread baked from the wbaat of tha new crop and samples <i< UM first ftuiu, wfakJi gave Shavtaot yet another name—Hag da-BiUnirinL To prepare for the pflgrimags, farmsrs inspsctad their crops and tied red threads aroond any fig. pooMgranate or baaA o( pspas that kwkad ripe. Theee fruita, aloag with wtMt,bwisy.oltvsa and dates, wsw tha pOsdfatobaskati •ri «n*Ml to proesaMia to J««saliOL tFwnws who Bved
Building fund tops $3.5 million
tendency to accept the IsDinitz also claimed that raeli position to further the the American Jewish Joint Russian immigration to Is- Distribution Committee, rael." one o( the agencies that Speaking at a meeting of helps the Soviet emigres the WZO Executive, Dinitz, while they wait for entry who recently returned from into the United States, the United States, said agrees with the Jewish American Jews have be- Agency that the transit come aware that a heavy in- camp at Ladispoli must be flux of Russian Jewish im- drastically reduced in size. migrants will place a severe A sudden cutback in the burden on their communi- issuance of American visas ties, both economic and psy- last year, mainly because of chological budgetary constraints, left About 90 percent of Jews thousands of Jewish emileaving the USSR opt to grea stranded in Ladispoli. settle in countries other The JDC has heretofore than Israel, chiefly the token care of them, but dow, United SUtee. according to Dinitz, it is pre-
pared to withdraw 8uiqx>rt for Russian Jews appealing an American deciaion not to grant them visas. Dinitz also reported that Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has appealed to the administration in Waahing^ ton to issue U.S. visas to Jews still in Russia, which would eUminate the need for places like Ladispoli In addition, the Israeti government and the Jewish AgHicy are trying to get the Soviet authorities to agree Uf allow the Israeli consular mission in Moscow to iasa* visas to Russian Jews.
AlookmtUutpedMidayottheJtwUityeu... By OziieSogg
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far aw«y arrived, obviously, with raisins instead of grapes, the Exodus at Passover, ends at Shavuot with the giving but nobody gave a fig about that.) of the Torah. So ragardlees of all its other names. Siiavuot can be called Leading each processMo was a flutist and ^ ox, its horns painted gold. Evfryooe who crowded into Jerusaiam-the the hirtiiday of the J e wish religion and, as such, it deserves rich and the poqr—lait the jqy of the festival. Half the day our attention. , The ways to celebrate are many. Try these. was devoted to study snd ths otbar half to eating and drinking. It was a time of happhieas and thanksgiving. • GO TO SERVICES • But with the faU o( tha Second Temple and the Exile, the Itigrimagas stopped, and the theuea of Shavuot beAnd that means more than dashing in right before Yizcame Raval^ion, Covenant and Torah. What had stttted as a harvsst faaat was transformed into a festival com- kor and dashing out after you've said Kaddish. Only if you msDMratlBg sn tramt unparallelad to the history of the Jew- stick around 1^ tiie wiiole service will you find the real ishpemie—tha Giving of the Law. meaning of Shavuot. Tha Bible dose not say that the Torah was gim on IIM Torah portim read on tlie first day of Shavuot Shavuot, but Talmudic interpreUtion tells us that ths To- indudes the Ten CommandmenU—the basis for the Coverah was given fifty days after the Exodus, on tba sixth of nant and for all civiliaad Ufa. TUa declaration of ethical behavior and kijralty to God had Dsvir been heard until the Sivan-tha daU of Shavuot. Paaaover is ths Season of Our Freedom. Shavuot became torah said it. To hear the words on Shavuot should be ths Ssasoo of ths Giving of 4ur Law-Z'Mon Matan required UstaBiiig (or all of us. Anothsr part of tba aarvice that gives it a specialflavor Torah^jmn-wban ths Jews gave up soma of thsir new frasdom and accepted tha obiigatioas of the Torah Paaao- is the "^fw^fag of tha Akdamot, a miratanous hymn that v«r and Shavuot, first linked as harvast fiativala. bacame . fCsaiH—id aa P^pT) connectad on a deeper level. Ths Oncaas that began with
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