Paying my rent to the Jewish community in any way possible

My Jewish Journey- by Jan Schneiderman, President Elect of Temple Israel. Jan shared her journey with the Board of Trustees at the February meeting.

Some of you heard my Jewish journey last summer but this will be a much shorter version.
I was brought up in what I call a secular orthodox home. We didn’t keep kosher and my parents worked on Saturday. We observed some of the Jewish holidays certainly not all. My parents belonged to Beth Israel, which was, then at 18th & Chicago.

We spent Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in Omaha staying at the Fontenelle Hotel so that my father could walk to the synagogue.

As a female, we were not expected to go to Hebrew school nor have a bat mitzvah. And Sunday school at the JCC on 20th & dodge became my only experience in Jewish education which i now know i did not take very seriously.

Being the only Jewish family, life in a small town was often painful for me as I was a frequent victim of antisemitism I believe today that my Jewish identity became stronger because of these abusive incidents.!!

I married les in 1959 at Beth El synagogue where his family belonged and where we then became members.

We have been blessed with three very special children and seven grandchildren.
It was at the beginning of Robin’s Hebrew school year that we decided to join Temple Israel. This quickly became my spiritual home

Our children went to Sunday school, to Hebrew school – all were Bar and Bat Mitzvah. And in confirmation class with Rabbi Brooks.
Being a volunteer was a very important in my Jewish journey. I began this part of the journey with NCJW and in 1999, I was proud to have been elected national president of the oldest Jewish women’s organizations in America. I have been taught to be a leader, an advocate for social justice, and a fund raiser.

It has always been very important to me that my volunteer life center somewhere in the Jewish world. Because if we as Jews don’t do for ourselves, no one else will do it for us. I now serve as an honorary national president of NCJW. I am leadership development chair for the international council of Jewish women. , I have served on the Jewish Federation board both as a board member and as a vice president and have chaired the Federation Women’s Campaign twice. I am a member of the local ADL board and serve as a national commissioner of ADL. I have co-chaired the Nebraska AIPAC council. And am now president elect of Temple Israel.

I travel to Israel each year – sometimes twice. I have traveled on missions with the Jewish Federation, NCJW, ICJW, and with the conference of Presidents of major American Jewish organizations. But probably the most meaningful trip was traveling to Israel with my two older grandsons and seeing life in Israel through the eyes of teen-agers.

There is so much that has shaped my life and my journey and passion as a Jewish woman. My soul was molded by the example set by my parents. And it has been enriched by my family, my friends and my volunteer life. And I continually nourish it by paying my rent to the Jewish community in any way possible.