ilewish Press
Sioux City congregations mergepage 6.
Serving Nebraska and Iowa Since 1920
23 LYAR. S753 Friday. May 14.1993
Vol. UX No. 32 Omaha
24th Street exhibit earns community-service award By Deborah Fellman The Nebraska Jewish^ HistoricaLSociety's exhibit on Jewish life on North 24th Street from 1910 through the 1940s has won the. Jewish Federation of Omaha's Community Service Award for 1993. The award will be presented at the Federation's annual meeting on June 13. Curator liana Marmon and NJHS executive director Mary Fellman formed the exhibit of hundreds of photographs and artifacts from the period. They also interviewed dozens of former residents of the neighborhopd, using excerpts of these oral histories in the exhibit. "For almost five years, we talked about an exhibit on Jewish life on North 24th Street," Mrs. Fellman said, The exhibit included photos of families, 3torefix)nts, people in cars and on bicycles, and religious celebra• tions.
'Some people going through the exhibit would cry when they saw things that reminded them of their childhood or someone who was dear to them"
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Reminiscences included comments such as Bess Borden's on the Levinsdn Star Store: "Across the street was the store of the century...They had everything you could possibly think of, from oilcloth for the dining-room table to nuts and bolts, a dress store, a hat store, (and) a shoe store." The exhibit spanned from the JCC's entry lobby through the entire gallery. Hie hallways were filled with artifacts such as antique washing machines and grocery scales, pews and a stained-glass star of David from the Kapuher Shul, a phonograph player, an oldfashioned car. and an old-time streetlamp. On opening day. more than 800 people visiting the exhibit also ate corned beef sandwiches, pickles and potato pancakes at the kosher deU set up in the JCC's auditorium. The menu was reminiscent of the food available in North 24th Street shops, Mrs. Fellman said. Another panel in the exhibit revealed people's memories of North 24th Street delis: 'I used to love walking
Mor« than 800 visitors ate old-faahioned dfeU-style sandwiches at the JCC on the exhibit's opening day. Nate and Doris Shukert were chairmen of the dell. into Adler's Deli because the aroma of the pickles hit you tb« minute you walked in the door." Sam ^tylian said. Joe Kirshenbaum remembered that "you'd go in there and (Mr. Adler would) stick his hand in a big barrel and pull out a pickle for you. It really smelled. but it smelled good." The exhibit brought back memories for many viewers. "Some people going through the exhibit would cry when they saw things that reminded them of their childhood or or so^neone who was dear to them," said Susan Silver, the historical society's archivist. According to Louise Abrahamson, NJHS president, the exhibit aimed not only to offer nostalgia for people
who grew up on North 24th Street, but also, "to educate Omahans...about the thriving, close-knit Jewish enclave." "We ... also tried to show the younger generations how their parents and grandparents lived," she said. Each photograph was accompanied by a panel of informative blurbs, often naming the people pictured. Some large-group photos, such as graduation pictures, included people who had not been identified. "We did get a few calls identifying people, or correcting the spelling of people's nan^s," Ms. Silver said. Portions of the exhibit are still on display in JCC hallways. On May 24 many exhibit panels will be transferred to the Omaha Community Playhouse for the run of "Fiddler on the Roof," which opens May 28.
Omaha's last soda jerk holds on to tradition ''^"'?dZbtel^''nda>d"'^®® Four decades after he made His first chocolate soda, Dof\ Klein is a pharmacist and the longtime owner of an independent drug store. But he's also still a soda jerk. . ,' '. His soda fountain at Crls' Rsaall in Dundee is the last remaining drug store suda fountain in Omaha, and Mr. Klein dovsn't let just anybody work tlien. "1 train them all myself," he said. "There's a right way to make a soda. I want things made ths way 1 ."^ madk them at my first Job." fhai^.-.f Mr Klein said, IS to stir chocolate syrup Into a I' ils of ice cream before adding the •oda wuu.i, u..... .dst step is to drop in a scoop of ice crsani. While the soda founUin'fi ' ' nny have faded with the advent of drive-in iiu and, later, pixaa parlors, it still claims mun^ UWUUMS. "Wa have reKulars," Mr. Kisln said. "We've got young kids to senior citixens. A k>t of these people hers come in every day." weekdays, the fountain's red vinyl rotating stools QUad by bualneupeopla between appointments, 1 sUy-at. in for 0 On Saturday nlghta, li'» crowded with cotiplaa. The founuin serveH •hakes, sundaes, end ' ly-brswsdoeflbe, tl' "The soda foun -'"In said. "It's something Ui biuiH people ii>u> itw sluru. It's a business.' It's also, like a stUt-running Modal A Ford, • cultur-
By Larry Cohler Waihington Jewish Week ' WASHINGTON. DC— Kamal Karazi, Iran's' ambassador to the UN, dill not (ii.sappoint those whij IXIKTUHI a hard lini> mill
L.tfttt month, Crls' was the site of a spda-fountain .party sponsored by the National Association of Soda Jerks, on whose advisory council Mr Klein serves. The daylong fountain parly ofl'erud devotees an opportunity to drink milkshakes, malte and sodas at a genuine soda fountain, like in the old days. It also allowed them to meet om"Our society needs soii^ i. We need a place >'I iH'iiy Iinvis, who developed ' >ir«e yearn ago. Ms. UuvLB aniU alR' mx ' • • •
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hanKing out at the sodii Ts; rite iturms waa tiiuther >er future husb« Kuessed It,. '<! memories of soda fountains alao '«. That's what got me interiig in • drug slors," he said. 'II the National Association of • 341-aMO.
UniiUiiig wiUi ciiUciuin of the United .'StHtHH. Karazi — th' ranking Iruniui. In America, sincu Wuuti Ington and Teheran du not maintain relations — charged that the West maintained a "double Htancfard" when it came to democracy and Islam. He claimed the Wi>fit WHS trying to "leap) OS tha sourua ot ty in tite Middle iUsi. ^ He also denied Israel's right to saist as a Jewish state and vehemently criticised the Mideast tH>nco proceBS.
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His remarks on the issue, at an April 28,forum sponsored by the journal Middle E^st In came during an I'x with Israeli reporters wliu publicly iduntilied their ''illllllull