Russian Community's Life: Jewish Community of Omaha, NE

The real value of something can be evaluated only in comparison. Executive Director of the Jewish Federation Bob Gast consider that he do the most for immigrants and do it better than any other Jewish Federation in the United States. Moreover, Bob Gast says that other Federations come to Kansas City to learn.

In the middle of November 1998 we were in Omaha, Nebraska, and could not miss the opportunity to learn what their Jewish Community does for immigrants from the former Soviet Union, or "Russians" as we are called in the Kansas City. In Omaha immigrants are called "New Americans."

The Jewish Community of Omaha consists of 5,000-6, 000 people, including 115 families (about 200 people) of immigrants. The Jewish Community of Omaha is about four times smaller than Kansas City's, but has a large Jewish Community Center (JCC) consisting of a social hall, gym, indoor pool, large workout area, and their sizes are about the same as in our JCC. They also have a 350-set theater (we do not have one). Their K-6 Hebrew day school does not have an Upper School.

Because the JCC in Omaha was built in 1972, i.e. 26 years ago, it is now expanding to almost twice of its size at cost of $8.5 million. After the expansion, the Omaha JCC will meet or even exceed the size of our JCC, less only in the total price: cost of our was $32 million.

Omaha has 8 synagogues, or about the same number as in Kansas City.

The Jewish Federation of Omaha finances a weekly English newspaper "The Jewish Press" that is similar to our "Jewish Chronicle." The newspaper has three paid employees and many volunteers, and because of this, is almost self-efficient financially. The newspaper is printed in 6000 copies compared to 4000 copies of "The Jewish Chronicle" and is distributed not only in Omaha, but also in many small towns in Nebraska and Iowa. "The Jewish Press" exists for over 75 years.

The number of immigrants in Omaha is about 10 times less compared to Kansas City, but their social life is more active and interesting compared to ours. Similar to Kansas City, the Jewish Federation of Omaha works with immigrants through their Jewish Family Service (JFS) that has a Resettlement Department with four paid employees. The JFS issues a bilingual bulletin in English and Russian every 2 months of 12 to 44 pages. Rita Paskowitz, the coordinator of the JFS resettlement program, was very nice and explained everything in detail, but we will present condensed information from the bilingual bulletins that were provided by Rita:

April 1997:

1. The JFS and the "New American Society" (NAS-organization of immigrants) announced the preparation for a celebration of the Day of Victory in World War II. A committee of three people was elected.

2. Classes for preparation for the citizenship exam were open from February 23rd. Three classes based on level of knowledge were formed. Each class consists of 6-8 people. Four teachers and two translators were assigned.

3. Jewish Senior Services, Jewish Historical Society, and Jewish Family Services announced a joint oral history project about life in the former Soviet Union. The project was successfully completed in 1998 by the preparation of a collection of memories of immigrants in the bilingual collection of stories "Exodus," issue 1. A team of 21 immigrants prepared this issue.

4. On April 3rd, there was a meeting of the Resettlement Committee where 15 New Americans, "American" Jews, and representatives of many Jewish Agencies were present. Emphasis was made "on the need for our New American Community (immigrants) to become a vital part of our Greater Omaha Jewish Community."

May - June 1997:

1. This issue begins with Rita Paskowitz's words: "when I first took on my current job at JFS, I was completely overwhelmed. I had no idea what I was supposed to do... So Tammy Sittler, longtime Resettlement Administrative Assistant, and I had dinner with a small group of New Americans, and I asked them what I was supposed to do. Needless to say, they told me."

2. Information about the Victory Day celebration, which was attended by nearly 200 people, the vast majority of them from the New American Community.

3. Rita Paskowitz mentioned her Job Description on page 14. Do employees of our JF&CS have a similar document? Our newspaper asked Mr. Bob Gast about a copy of these documents. No answer yet!

July - August 1997

1. On July 17, there was a meeting of the Resettlement Committee where 27 people, mostly from the New American Community, were present.

The evening agenda was to gauge interest in various programming ideas in order to create an event calendar for the upcoming year. The most popular possibilities included the upcoming Shabbat Dinner, a Sukkot activity, a Thanksgiving Dinner, a Chanukah Party, another International Women's Day Celebration, a Victory Day observance, a real American Fourth of July Picnic, and a celebration of New Year's Day.

2. Jewish singles age 35+ sponsor Jazz at the JCC.

3. Information about two Russian Club activities that are regular meetings twice each month.

November - December 1997

1. Information about Hanukah.

2. Information about a volunteer program that links seniors with families in the community.

3. JFS invites immigrants to join the Jobs Task Force.

4. Information about the Euro Cafe and Deli (Russian Cafe/food store). Kansas City has two Russian Food Stores.

5. Information about the Sukkot Celebration.

6. Information about 1998 events (6 major events).

January - March 1998

1. Information about Passover.

2. Another Victory Day Commemoration. A 13-person committee has been formed.

3. Information about the Job Search Committee.

4. Some facts:

HIAS receives a fixed per capita amount from the Department of State for each refugee resettled and uses this funding to reimburse communities (such as Omaha or Kansas City) for their expense during the first 30 days. The passthrough amounts for Fiscal Year 1997 (Oct. 1, 1996 - Sep 20, 1997) were:

Non-Matching Grant Refugees - $584

Free Case Non-Matching Grant Refugees - $684

The budget of the Resettlement & Acculturation Program of JFS in 1990-95 was $700,000, or $140,000/year.

5. Information about the poetry of Asja Sapir, a local Russian poetess.

July - August 1998

1. The Jewish Life Cycle.

2. Judaism 101 or Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Being Jewish But Were Afraid to Ask.

3. Victory Day 1998. Over 200 New Americans were present. A team of 68 people prepared this celebration.

4. Information about Gaucher disease.

5. Information about the first workshop of the Job Search Committee.

6. A New Americans Cultural Society (NACS) had been founded in May 1998.

Mission: We want our children to read William Shakespeare in English, Alexander Pushkin and Lev Tolstoy in Russian, and to pray in Hebrew.

Peter and Sabina Shapiro

Not all mentioned facts were checked. Anybody who wants to correct them, is invited. Please, send letters.

In the next issue we plan to publish an article/letter from an Omaha resident that supports the truth of described facts.