There is something striking happening in Omaha Nebraska that is unlike anything the world has ever seen. The Tri-Faith Initiative is a mission that has been over ten years in the making, and it has finally begun to take shape in West Omaha. In today’s diverse cultural and religious world, there is often a lot of ignorance and even fear that is perpetuated throughout the media. The Tri-faith initiative seeks to foster respectful and educational dialogue between the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

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America’s fastest growing form of gambling is state lotteries. While I don’t think that gambling is immoral per se, I do think it is dumb to lose a lot of money gambling, but we all do dumb things from time to time. If someone wants to waste his/her resources in the pursuit of unearned riches, that’s his or her business; it’s a free country. But for the state to allow irrational behavior on the part of its citizens is not the same as the state encouraging such behavior, let alone exploiting it. Government is supposed to try to make its citizens smarter, not take advantage of their stupidity. I believe that today, state and local governments are playing upon and encouraging an attitude toward life which must be opposed – the fantasy of having our lives dramatically changed for the better in an instant. Lotteries lure the poor into a dream of easy escape from poverty. I don’t believe in living in a fantasy world. Judaism recognized there is a certain dimension of our life which is subject to mazel, luck, chance, fate. We believe in luck, but we certainly do not depend on luck. READ MORE

 "Unraveled: A Visual Response to RavelUnravel" is a traveling art exhibit based on the themes explored in Project Interfaith's RavelUnravel.com. RavelUnravel is an interactive, multimedia website featuring more than 1,100 short video interviews of people discussing their religious or spiritual identity, stereotypes that they have encountered, and how welcoming they have found their communities to be. Project Interfaith invited artists to submit art pieces that were inspired by RavelUnravel.com.

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Cantor Wendy Shermet and Dr. Tamara Field can be found on the new CD, "The Spirit of Hope & Healing - The Spirit Series Volume 12." They recorded the song Yihyu L'Ratzion. 

To buy the CD, click here.

 "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." 
- John Quincy Adams.

As the Director of Youth Engagement, I certainly see my role as one where I strive to inspire our youth to become future leaders at Temple Israel and in the Jewish community as a whole.  I truly enjoy working with the 7^th through 12^th graders to plan and chaperone exciting events, whether we are just having fun, leading services, planning large events or doing community service.

This past fall, I helped plan not one, but two rush programs.  Each of the programs was a success with great numbers in attendance.  After some smaller programs, November became the next month to look at for planning to see if we could continue to engage our youth. READ MORE

*From the Jewish Press*

by Rabbi Josh Brown of Temple Israel and Rev. Scott Jones of First Central Congregational Church

(Note: Names in this piece have been changed for the purposes of privacy to the individuals mentioned)

Jane works full-time at her minimum wage job while raising her daughter. Last June, she started saving pennies from each of her paychecks to have enough money to buy her daughter school supplies in advance of her starting her next year of school. READ MORE