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Yom HaShoah Commemoration Now accepting applications for the 2026 Bucky & Caryl Greenberg: Inclusivity, respect & equity scholarship Page 2

Friday Lunch Page 7

Israeli Chef Coming to Omaha for Lunch & Learn Page 8

HEIDI HEILBRUNN IHE Program and Communications Manager The Institute for Holocaust Education (IHE) invites the Omaha community to gather in remembrance and reflection at its annual Yom HaShoah commemoration on Wednesday, April 15 at 6:30 p.m. The ceremony will take place at the Staenberg Jewish Community Center, honoring the lives lost during the Holocaust and celebrating the resilience of survivors, keeping their stories and memory alive for generations to come. A candle lighting ceremony will be held to remember the six million Jews murdered in Nazi Europe, paying tribute to our shared loss and the impact of this loss on humanity. The moving ceremony also pays tribute to survivors and their remarkable stories of resilience. Omaha clergy, survivors, second-, third-, and fourthgeneration survivors, as well as members of the community will serve as candle lighters.

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NANCY COREN It is hard not to lose track of time when one is constantly moving between semi-normal daytime activities and a safe room; keeping track of sirens but not hours and days; checking on the safety of one’s family members and friends. Yet here we are in the midst of this war with Iran’s terror regime and its proxy, Hezbollah, and I am just now starting to realize that three weeks have gone by since this war began. Last Friday (March 20, ed.) was an

Meet Me in the Middle: Jewish alumni and friends reunite in the Heartland AMY BERNSTEIN SHIVVERS JFO Foundation Executive Director This spring, Jewish friends and families from across the country will return to where many of their stories began — the Midwest. The Omaha Jewish Alumni Association (OJAA) invites the community to gather for Heartland Homecoming, a joyful reunion celebrating shared roots, friendships, and the enduring spirit of Jewish life.

The featured speaker will be Kenneth D. Wald, who won the 2020 National Jewish Book Award for Foundations of American Jewish Liberalism. He will present, ‘Studying the Holocaust, One Family at a Time.’ A pioneer in the study of religion and politics, Wald earned his degrees from the See Yom HaShoah page 3

Notes from Jerusalem

Spotlight Voices Synagogues Life Cycles

SPONSORED BY THE BENJAMIN AND ANNA E. WIESMAN FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND

intense day here with seven sirens, seven trips into our safe room, and loud booms overhead. Yet between booms and sirens we were preparing our Shabbat meals, cleaning up our apartment, and thinking about ushering in Shabbat. During one of the alerts, I was working on math problems online with a student who has been accepted into nursing Nancy’s safe room selfie, with Charlie and one of her her grandchildren. school. Each of us automatically went into our safe rooms have learned that no matter what and we continued working together. I we’re doing, following Home Front suppose it was our way of keeping Command directives is essential. We did have that student and ananxiety from taking over. When we other single friend over for Shabbat each heard one of the explosions near dinner, with much concern about our apartments, I must say we both paused and our eyes widened! We See Notes from Jerusalem page 2

Marti Fry and Nini Rosenstock

The event will take place on Sunday, April 26, from 1–3 p.m., at B’nai Israel Synagogue and Living History Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where generations of Jewish families worship, celebrate milestones, and build community. Event co-chairs Amy Frankel, Patty Nogg, Abby Coren, Janie Kulakofsky, and Michael Fineman hope the gathering will serve as both a reunion and a rediscovery. "Just yesterday at an event I ran into another Jewish Omahan (in Chicago), and we immediately felt a bond. Omaha has always been like that, especially within the Jewish community. I have lived in many cities, but nowhere else have I experienced the same depth of connection, legacy, and shared history. Omaha is a unique place, and it is exciting to see the Jewish community thriving and growing. For many of us who moved away, our Jewish identity was shaped there. Returning now and seeing its vibrancy feels both meaningful and natural,” said co-chair Amy Frankel. The setting itself carries deep meaning. B’nai Israel Synagogue, now a historical landmark, a place of worship and a living history museum, preserves the stories of See Jewish alumni page 3