Women of Valor: A benefit concert to support breast cancer awareness, in loving memory of Florence Eisenberg

Sunday, October 18, 5 p.m., Temple Israel
Jonathan Leshnoff, associate professor of music at Towson University in Maryland, has been commissioned to write a new composition entitled “A Righteous Soul,” which will performed by the Aeon Ensemble and Cantor Wendy Shermet. In addition to Leshnoff’s composition, the concert will include healing songs performed by a women’s ensemble and remarks by Dr. Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of UNMC’s Eppley Institute, and director of the Eppley Cancer Center. A reception, sponsored by the Women of Reform Judaism, an auxiliary of Temple Israel, will follow the concert. All proceeds will be used to support breast cancer awareness.

Tickets are for sale in the Temple lobby during Religious School, in the Temple office during the week or at the door. Tickets cost $18 for adults and $10 for students. Patron sponsor levels are Will – $50; Spirit – $100; Courage – $250; Strength – $500; Audacity – $1000.

Charlie Brown’s Philosophy – thanks to Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts:

This was shared at our Adult Ed session yesterday, thought you might enjoy it.
Shabbat Shalom

Don’t try to answer these questions: just think about them:

Who are the 4 wealthiest people in the world?

Who are the last 4 people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize?

Who are 4 recent Academy Award Winners?

Who has been Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for the last 4 years?

How would you do on these questions:

Think of a few teachers who aided your journey through school

Think of a few friends who have helped you through a difficult time

Think of several people who have taught you something worthwhile

Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special

Think of a few people you enjoy spending time with…

The second questions were easier, weren’t they??

The lesson:

The people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the most achievements, money, fame, popularity…

They simply are the ones who care the most….

And I pray we cherish all those special people in our lives…even if they are of blessed memory.

SOLD OUT: Tri Faith Initiative’s Dinner in Abraham’s Tent

If you can’t join us at the Qwest, consider organizing your own Dinner in Abraham’s Tent, inviting some interfaith friends over for dinner and to watch the webcast.

BREAKING NEWS
We have been able to make arrangements to webcast the “Conversation on Peace” live from the Qwest that night. Just before 8 p.m. Central Time Friday night, log onto this website and you will be able to click through to the webcast at mms://209.200.118.182/tfilive. (If you try to go there now it will just come up as a Windows Media screen.)

WE NEED YOUR HELP
To get the word out about the webcast to everyone you know – around Nebraska, around the country and around the world. Send an email to at least five friends who would be interested, and ask them to send it on to at least five friends and on and on. If everyone receiving this sends it to 5, they send it to five, they send it to five and they send it to five – we can reach over 30,000 in the next 24 hours.

ABOUT THE EVENT
The Tri-Faith Initiative is host for a conversation on peace with national faith leaders Rabbi Peter Knobel, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church, and Dr. Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America. A worship service will include a traditional evening prayer service from each faith.

Rabbi Josh Zweiback Appointed Director of the Year-In-Israel Program at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem

Rabbi David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), has announced the appointment of Rabbi Josh Zweiback as Director of the Year-In-Israel Program at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem, effective July 1, 2009.

“The appointment of Rabbi Josh Zweiback as Director of our Year-in-Israel program inaugurates an exciting new era in rabbinical education at the College-Institute. His intellectual ability, his Jewish knowledge, his religious sensibility, his love of Israel and Hebrew, his musical talents, and his wealth of congregational and educational experience in the American rabbinate make him uniquely qualified to play a creative role in the formation of our students as they begin their quest for religious leadership in the Jewish world,” said Rabbi Ellenson and Rabbi Michael Marmur, Dean, HUC-JIR/Jerusalem.

Ordained by HUC-JIR’s New York campus in 1998 and trained as a Jewish Educator with an M.A.J.E. from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education, Rabbi Zweiback has served Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills for the past ten and a half years. He began his career at Beth Am as Adult Learning Coordinator, the movement’s first full-time adult educator. He was later promoted to Senior Educator, tasked with overall responsibility for all of Beth Am’s education programs. For the past three years, Rabbi Zweiback has focused on the pulpit and pastoral components of synagogue life, sharing fully in the preaching and lifecycle load of the congregation with his Beth Am colleagues.

During his tenure at Beth Am, Rabbi Zweiback initiated numerous educational programs including Tzavta, a family b’nai mitzvah enrichment program; Hagigah, a theater based children’s education program; Hadracha, a teacher training initiative; and helped found Gan Ami, Beth Am’s early childhood education program.

Rabbi Zweiback supervised all aspects of Beth Am’s adult education program and particularly enjoyed the opportunity to teach courses in Talmud, Zionism, Jewish mysticism, Tzedakah, Modern Jewish Thought with a focus on the writings of Emanuel Levinas, and Reform Judaism. He worked with colleagues to create and implement a Lifelong Jewish Learning Map, which serves as a curriculum of Jewish studies for all ages of synagogue life. For the past five years, Rabbi Zweiback has served as a Visiting Lecturer at HUC-JIR’s Rhea Hirsch School of Education in Los Angeles, teaching a course in Adult Curriculum.

He has a passion for communal programming and initiated the Peninsula Night of Jewish Unity, which is now in its eleventh year. This event brings together over twenty Jewish institutions in the Bay Area for an evening of Jewish learning and attracts over 500 people from all of the movements of Judaism.

He has taught 7th grade Jewish Studies at the Gideon Hausner Jewish Community Day School in Palo Alto for four years. He developed an approach to teaching Pirkei Avot through song composition, which culminates each year in the debut of recordings written and performed by the students (http://www.hausner.com/avot/).

Four years ago, Rabbi Zweiback helped launch Beth Am’s Fund for the Future Endowment campaign, which just reached its goal of building a four million dollar programmatic endowment for the congregation.

“Yoshi Zweiback will bring to our Year-In-Israel Program his unique and inspiring energies as dynamic congregational rabbi, master educator, songleader/musician, and social activist. Throughout his rabbinic career, he has been a leader in the transformation and revitalization of Reform Judaism in the congregation, the classroom, and the broader Jewish communal world. This appointment marks a new era for the enhancement of our program and the impact it can have for our students and graduates. Rabbi Zweiback’s move to HUC-JIR/Jerusalem with his wife and three daughters is a significant expression of the centrality of Israel to American Reform Judaism. He will leave his mark on all our American and Israeli programs and be a wonderful and crucial addition to our staff,” said Rabbi Naamah Kelman, Associate Dean, HUC-JIR/Jerusalem, who will become Dean of the Jerusalem campus on July 1, 2009.

As an HUC-JIR student, Rabbi Zweiback founded KAVOD, a tzedakah collective dedicated to promoting human dignity (http://www.kavod.org). He continues to serve as KAVOD’s Volunteer Executive Director. KAVOD’s board includes fourteen graduates of HUC-JIR. Six years ago, in partnership with the College-Institute, KAVOD initiated a Tzedakah Fellowship program which affords HUC-JIR students the opportunity to learn how to raise and distribute tzedakah funds efficiently and effectively. Since its inception, KAVOD has distributed over $750,000 with an overhead of just $75.

Rabbi Zweiback is a musician and composer who has served as a songleader at various movement camps and in youth group settings for over twenty years. As part of Mah Tovu (http://www.mahtovu.com), he has released three albums and published two books. Mah Tovu has performed across the United States and their melodies have found their way into camps as well as synagogues.

His publications include the teacher’s guide to Shalom Ivrit II; Day of Days; and Days of Wonder, Nights of Peace: Family Prayers in Song for Morning and Bedtime, all from Behrman House Publishing. Numerous sermons have been published in The American Rabbi. He wrote a chapter in Theological Terms in the Talmud, edited by Dr. Eugene Borowitz. He has served on the editorial board of BabagaNewz Magazine since its inception in 2001.

Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Rabbi Zweiback was raised in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Dr. Speedy Zweiback, and his mother of blessed memory, Hermene Zweiback, made Jewish education and Jewish community a priority for Josh and his sister and brother. He attended Princeton University, graduating magna cum laude, Phi Betta Kappa in 1991.

He is especially excited about bringing his eleven years of congregational experience as an educator, rabbi, and musician to the first-year students in Jerusalem. He also looks forward to pursuing a Ph.D. in Jewish Education.

Rabbi Zweiback is married to Jacqueline Hantgan who is a public policy advocate and organizer. in the field of stem-cell research. Jacqueline and Josh met in Jerusalem in 1992 and have long wanted to return there to live. They have three children: Isa, Ariela, and Naomi.

Join our Book Club about “The End of Poverty”

The End of Poverty discussion was interesting and thought provoking for me. The first six chapters provided a background for our conversation. I look forward to reading more from this author and the conversation to follow.
Pam DePorte

I was very pleased about the discussion about “The End Of Poverty”. I believe that Jeffrey Sachs does a wonderful job explaining his own story and his dealings with the economies of Bolivia and Poland. It is really impressive to see his true understaning of economies. I am thrilled to hear that he has been consulted in regards to our economic situation now. He is one of the few people that I would trust to resolve this crisis. I welcome everyone (readers or not) to come and join in this conversation.
Mimi Silverman

The old adage, ‘if you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention” and I always think of something you said (in fact shared it that day) about “people do care and they do feel the pain and they do listen and say oh, how awful and they do get it – and then the switch flips and they say, hey! lets go shopping!” – it was stunning to me that only only 4 Temple people showed up. Stunning.

Learning, paying attention, showing up to events, exchanging thoughts & perspectives that you might not otherwise have considered is a good thing – loved the professor.
Adios – Ellen Platt

Purple States of America

Magda Peck, Omaha, Nebraska, January 21, 2009

David Anderson Inauguration 2009

David Anderson and Magda Peck Jan. 20, 2009

When I learned a few weeks ago from Senator Ben Nelson’s office that we had been allotted two coveted tickets, I could see it so clearly: standing near the base of the Capitol Steps on a cold sunny day, surrounded by throngs of passionate people of all hues and hometowns crowded together at high noon.. Our son David, a freshman in Political Science at American University, would be at my side as we heard Barak Obama, our President, articulate his vision for a new America in his compelling, stentorian voice.

In the end, that is just what happened, almost.

Participating on the front lines of history is messy, hard work. After a five mile trek from the AU campus, we joined hundreds and hundreds of Purple ticket holders already on line just before 8. We had been instructed to wait in a damp underground tunnel beneath the Mall before going through security at our designated gate at 1^st and Louisiana, two blocks away. The line barely inched along, and no one seemed to know what was holding us up. By 11 am we finally reached the tunnel’s entrance when news quickly spread through the weary crowd that the Purple Gate had been closed due to overwhelming crowds and a possible security breach. We would not be admitted to see the Inauguration.

David simply refused to believe that we wouldn’t get in, that we would be locked out of history. Many folks walked off in anger, but we pressed on snuggling into a persistent throng of still hopeful folks. Waving our Purple tickets, we chanted “Open the gates! Open the gates!” A middle aged African American woman standing next to us would not be denied this moment. She pressed the wheelchair bearing her bundled up 90 year old mother forward stating firmly “We’re Purple and we’re coming through.” The crowd parted to make way, then followed her lead. They re-opened the Purple Gate just before noon. Once past security, we dashed forward to see anything, catching the tell-tale words, “…so help me God.” Cannons fired, and two million and two people roared for change.

Peel away the over-packed Metro, many miles of walking, damp and bitter winds, utterly complicated logistics, and a near miss to the main moment, and it all came down to one thing: bearing witness to history. Being there etched an old life lesson first hand. Yes, we still have Red states and Blue states, Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and progressives and folks still not engaged. We will always have difference – Black and White, Christian, Muslim and Jew. Yet in the messiest of moments of unfathomable importance, our duty is to become purple citizens of change, demanding our place and part for democracy in action.

I remember standing next to my parents at the base of the Lincoln Memorial on a hot ‘60s August day at the Poor People’s March on Washington. I remember feeling the shimmer of his wondrous words, how his message infused me with hope. Sure enough, just in time forty five years later it came full circle. At the other end of the Mall by the steps of the Capitol, under cold blue skies, David was at my side. Blocking the wind from my back, he leaned in for warmth, and rested his chin on my head. And we listened, together, to the newest leader’s fine firm words for a new day.

From extended family in Israel

This is from Jordana Glazer’s Cousin in Israel

I hope you’re not answering this mail to be polite. I do feel that when I send you these e mails that I am sharing my feelings, fears and frustrations with you. You probably understood that  by now. So take it as my alarm system contacting you. I just had nothing to ‘really’ say. You don’t have to answer.

And at times like these when half the country live in shelters for days on end, and my son is now in the army, the economy is my last, last and least priority.

Worst is, that whatever the outcome may be ‘they’ will not go away and we still have the other maniacs up north. Our problems will not be solved yet.

I always knew that when hell breaks loose here, we could run. But now we can’t. Ari is in the army and he is on his own – legally – but not in my book. I fall asleep at night designing an escape plan, to fly out with all the kids…..this is a real nightmare, for all of us here, North and South, all over Israel. The feeling of unity is very high among Israeli’s and it’s the most pulsating feeling. We all know –except for a small number of delusional left – that this is once again, a war of survival. All these soldiers are my kin, and I feel for all of them, what hell they are going through. I don’t know if any American can understand this. It is the unique characteristic of Israeli life. People are quiet, everything slows down as if functioning in slow motion. You can see it on everyone’s face. The worrying, the automatic movements, and the fear. I listen to the radio and television all day, I pray, I pray and pray (Tehilim כ’) for this to stop and I pray for the young men fighting for our country.

Maybe, just maybe, I can’t take this pressure.

I do have a small request. Don’t be indifferent. Look up Hamas on Wikipedia, hard to comprehend that they are considered human beings. Spread the word of who these people are, write on blogs supporting us, write on blogs throughout the world. Write to the TV stations and newspapers that report bias misconceptions. Write to your congress rep. If there is a Israel support rally; go to it, be another statistic in the count for support. Many countries have displayed their support for us and a few arab countries have implied their support (Egypt).

It’s at times like this that Jews around the world have to wake up and help, each in their own way. You cannot preach the liberal approach; democracy and peace agreements are not among these maniac’s agenda. It’s not even an issue of land for peace, and not a two state solution. They want annihilation, destruction, and death to all Jews, and then to all that are not muslim all over the world. That’s their goal. That is their principleof existence. It’s a matter of time how the Us and Europe will continue to deal with this, on 9/11 you had a taste.

Yes, I am a voice from Israel

Yes, I am a voice from Israel but aside from political views which have been hashed over we have little more to offer than what you see in the US – assuming that you watch more than one TV channel, preferably including international channels AND that you are updated from internet sources from Israel.

Interestingly, when my wife Line and I met up with a group from Omaha on the first day of the war (it was a Shabbat afternoon), it was Jon Meyers who told us that the bombing had begun!

What you don’t have access to however is the feeling that we do, and more so, our neighbors and friends who have children called up and serving in the heart of the Gaza strip.  This war is different from all of the previous (and I’ve been here still prior to the Yom Kippur war in 1973!) – the press has been locked out and the soldiers, our children mind you, have been stripped of their cell phones to call home with updates from the front line.  Too many mistakes were made with both the press and errant phone calls during the last Lebanese incursion and the army moved quickly to stomp out these leaks.  Nobody has up to date and/or accurate information as to what is exactly happening on the front lines.  It will takes months to filter out when the fighting stops and the kids start to speak of what they saw and what they did.  I am sure it will be ugly unfortunately as the Hamas, like their brethren in Lebanon drag the fighting into residential areas using civilians as shields.  This is not new.
All of our sons have been through the army in one capacity or another and our middle son, Dudu, has also been called in to do his job now in the war effort.

We hope for a quick end to the fighting.  What happens next is anybody’s guess.  I can’t say that establishing “trust” with such a cruel, terrorist organization will work; I’m not optimistic.  The Palestinians however have to be given the strength to throw out these lower life forms, terrorist elements,  from amongst their people and try to build a viable state and economy with a future based on peace and commerce and not warped religious zealotry.

I don’t know if anything that I have said makes the situation any clearer.

We count our blessings for the security which we enjoy in Jerusalem and only pray that the well being of those citizens in the south of Israel will improve shortly.

Give our warmest regards to Rabbi Azriel and of course Jon Meyers and his wife and everybody else from the Omaha Jewish community.

If we can be of any further help – please be in touch.
Dan & Line Bleicher
Jerusalem

War at Home

Tamar Halevy, Israeli emissary
Jewish Community Center of OmahaLast night, at 1:00 am, I got a phone call from my mother in Israel: “I felt the explosion” she said with trembling voice, “a missile just landed outside our house, and I heard it so close”. Obviously, I couldn’t go back to sleep last night.
My name is Tamar Halevy; I’m a 23-year-old volunteer in the Jewish Community Center of Omaha, representing The Jewish Agency for Israel.
I’m from a small village in Israel called Kibbutz Hatzor, located 22 miles from the Gaza Strip and 29 miles from Tel Aviv. This is where I was born and raised; this is where my whole family lives today, 4 generations of Halevys.
My home is under attack now.
Last Saturday, December 27th 2008, I’ve joined a group of 2 millions Israeli civilians that have no safe place to live; I’ve joined a larger uncountable group of people, who cannot sleep at night anymore, spending hours worrying about their closest loved ones, asking “will they survive the day?”
Last Saturday morning, the Qasam’s alarm was heard in my home for the first time, announcing: “code red, code red”. My family didn’t even have a shelter to go to because who would have thought that this area, the heart of Israel, only 29 miles from Tel Aviv and 39 miles from Jerusalem, will ever be attacked?
For the first time since Israel’s Independence War in 1948, my home was under attack again. My father, Michael, who was a baby in 1948, was evacuated to a safe place in the Tel Aviv area during the Independence War. Now, 60 years later he is not going anywhere, “this is my home”, he says, “and I’m sticking to my home”.
But, like my father, 60 years ago, my newborn nephew, Noam, now 8-weeks-old, and my sister-in-law, Noga, have left the Kibbutz to a safer place. Noam’s father, my brother Ram, an officer in the Israeli Army, left home on Friday to protect our country.
In my Kibbutz, again – for the first time in 60 years of independence – all the pre-schools, the kindergartens and the schools are now closed. The community dining room was evacuated. They hear the rockets falling all around them; they hear the alarms and pray for luck.
Three years ago, when the 2nd war in Lebanon broke out, and the northern part of Israel was attacked by thousands of rockets by Hezbollah, I was in the army, a young and determined border police officer. Although I was not fighting in the front lines, I felt that I’m contributing to my country and protecting my friends and family.
It has been 4 month since I took off my uniform and returned my military ID. It seems so close, and yet, I’m so far away right now. Today, here in Omaha, thousands of miles from my family, and my country, I feel guilty for being safe and so distant. I feel guilty watching my friends on the news, fighting and defending my country without me. I feel guilty knowing that they’re in danger and I’m here.
My family was lucky in the last three days. Not so lucky was Irit Sheetrit, a 39-year-old mother from Ashdod, Beber Vaknin, 58, from the city Netivot was killed when a rocket fired from Gaza hit an apartment building in the city; Hani al-Mahdi, 27, from Aroar, a Beduin settlement in the Negev was killed when a Grad-type missile fired from Gaza exploded at a construction site in Ashkelon; Warrant Officer Lutfi Nasraladin, 38, from the Druze town of Daliat el-Carmel was killed by a mortar attack on a military base near Nahal Oz.

Israeli civilians in Southern Israel are being attacked by the Palestinian terror organization Hamas, constantlyand deliberately for 8 years. 2 weeks ago, after 6 months seize-fire, Hamas had renewed its attacks on Israeli communities in the range of 25 miles from Gaza Strip, including major cities such Be’er Seva, Ashqelon, Ashdod, Sderot & Netivot.

In response to the hundreds of rockets and mortars that have been fired into Israel over the past 21 weeks, on December 27th, Israel launched as a self defense measure a series of airstrikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
Imagine rockets being shot from Council Bluffs to Downtown Omaha. While a rocket travels those 15 miles, how much time will you have to protect yourself and your loved ones? What if those rockets were shot at you non-stop for the past 8 years? How would you defend yourself? It’s not easy to be an Israeli who lives overseas these days, worrying for friends and family who are under constant rocket attacks from Gaza.

“The Qasam rockets fired by Hamas deliberately and indiscriminately target civilians and this terror is intolerable. Israelis should not have to live in danger in the homes and schools. America must always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself against those who threatened its people.”
Elected-President Barack Obama, July 2008.

I didn’t experience first-hand any news about the conflict with the Palestinians until about 4 weeks ago

I arrived in Israel in September to do a postdoctoral research fellowship at Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva.  I didn’t experience first-hand any news about the conflict with the Palestinians until about 4 weeks ago.  Two of my ulpan classmates travel to class by bus from Sderot, a city that has sustained heavy rocket fire from Gaza for years. Our ulpan teacher remarked to the class that their situation was terrible with all of the rockets Hamas was launching into Sderot.  The first day of the Israeli air attack on rocket launching sites and other strategic targets in Gaza, my girlfriend who was visiting from the U.S. and I heard the sound of jets flying overhead in the morning.  The following day, the mood around townin Beer-Sheva had grown tense.  Rockets from Gaza had already landed in Ashdod and people realized that Beer-Sheva was the same radial distance from Gaza as Ashdod.  Monday we left Beer-Sheva to visit Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv on a trip that we had planned earlier.  I found out that two friends of mine had been called up for reserve duty: one for navy intelligence, and the other to work receiving the families of injured soldiers at Soroka Hospital in Beer-Sheva, southern Israel’s main hospital.  Wednesday morning in Tel-Aviv I got a text message from my friend in Beer-Sheva that two rockets had fallen in Beer-Sheva, but that everyone was okay.  Some very close family friends in Tel-Aviv convinced me to stay with them in Tel-Aviv until the situation calms down.  I was concerned about how my friends in Beer-Sheva would view my “running away” from them and from my home at the first sight of danger.  Later I learned that most Israeli friends of mine in Beer-Sheva whose families lived elsewhere in the country had returned to to their families.  Israelis have told me that the population traditionally shifts away from problematic borders when conflicts erupt.  University courses have been cancelled until further notice, although the university remains open for research activity and staff.  I have been in Tel-Aviv for 5 days now.  Yesterday (Monday) two rockets fell in Beer-Sheva, and two more fell today (Tuesday).  No one has been injured in Beer-Sheva, but several people area treated for shock each time a rocket lands in town.  There are advantages to being outside of Beer-Sheva right now.  The threat of being injured by a rocket may be small, but there is palpable tension from living in a city where rockets are falling.  The tension is stressful, and it affects everyone’s mood and behavior.  I know that it puts my family and friends in the US at ease knowing that I am outside of Beer-Sheva.  In Tel-Aviv, it is easy to forget that there is a military campaign going on in Gaza.  I have been out swing dancing the past two nights here.  Last night I went to a studio where I taught a swing dance workshop a month ago.  An Israeli woman my age who attended that workshop told me: “I am against the war in Gaza, but I am for it if means that you will come out dancing more in Tel-Aviv!”

Jonathan Rathsam