Working on behalf of the community is an integral part of Judaism. Such public service is often referred to as a mitzvah or tzedakah, meaning good works, charity, or righteousness. A desire to help society has led Omahas Jews to run for public office, sit on governing boards of charitable organizations, contribute money to worthy causes, and work in occupations and industries that improve and enhance the well-being of the larger community.
CIVIC LEADERSHIP
Jewish men and women have played prominent roles in public office, serving as mayors, council members, state senators, and United States senators. In the judiciary, they’ve filled seats in county, district, and appellate courtrooms and served as justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court.
EDWARD ZORINSKY
The son of Russian Jewish immigrants was a political late bloomer. For more than two decades, Edward Zorinsky worked in the wholesale tobacco and candy business. He was also active in the community, serving on several boards, including the board of directors of the Omaha Public Power District from 1969-1973. Zorinsky’s knowledge and experience propelled his successful run for mayor, a post he held until 1976. He was the first Jewish person to win a Nebraska statewide election when he became a United States senator that year, serving until his untimely death in 1987. A federal building and Zorinsky Lake Park are named in his honor.
LEE C. WHITE – 1966 swearing-in ceremony
In the 1960s, attorney Lee C. White worked quietly and closely on civil rights with Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He examined issues of housing discrimination on military bases. White was also instrumental behind the scenes in ensuring the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination in access to voting. This trusted presidential adviser did not seek the spotlight, but he shared in successes related to veterans’ affairs, military construction bills, small business, pardons, and natural resources.
IRVIN STALMASTER
In 1928, Governor Adam McMullen appointed Omaha attorney Irvin Stalmaster to be a district court judge. He was the first Jewish person named to the state’s district court and, at age thirty-one, also the youngest. He was later appointed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. In 1932, Stalmaster published What Price Jury Trials? in which he exposed problems with the modern jury system.
HENRY MONSKY – 1946
Attorney and civic leader Henry Monsky, a graduate of Creighton University School of Law, focused on juvenile justice issues. He helped his friend, Father Edward J. Flanagan, develop Father Flanagan’s Boys Home (now Boys Town), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping at-risk children and families. President Roosevelt appointed Monsky to help plan the Office of Civilian Defense. As the international president of B’nai B’rith, Monsky helped Jews before, during, and after World War II and consulted on the formation of the United Nations. Front row, left to right: Henry Monsky, Alfred M Cohen, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lr. Col. Elliot Niles
LINDSEY MILLER-LERMAN
Lindsey Miller-Lerman clerked for District Judge Hon. Constance Motley in the United States District Court Southern District of New York from 1973-1975. She then joined a private law firm in Omaha. Later, Judge Miller-Lerman served on the Nebraska Court of Appeals before being appointed chief judge. In 1998, Governor Ben Nelson appointed her to the Nebraska Supreme Court, the first female justice in the court’s history.
MILITARY SERVICE
Through the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, members of Omahas Jewish community have answered the call to defend their country. They have served with distinction in the military and remained active in the veteran community after the conclusion of their service.
JEWS IN MILITARY SERVICE
HYMIE EPSTEIN
Medic Hymie Epstein served in the jungles of New Guinea during the Battle of Buna-Gona in December 1942. He braved enemy sniper and machine gun fire each time he crawled through no-man’s-land to rescue another wounded comrade. The twenty-two-year-old Omahan saved many men before he was killed. His brothers-in-arms had to hastily bury him where he fell. In 2017, Epstein’s remains were located by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Agency (Offutt Air Force Base). Seventy-five years after his heroic service, Epstein’s remains were returned to Omaha for proper burial.
LOUIE BLUMKIN
Louie Blumkin, the son of Nebraska Furniture Mart founder Rose Blumkin, had a distinguished military career during World War II. From 1939-1945, he served in the Third Armored Division under General George S. Patton and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. His battalion was later sent to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. At the end of the war, Blumkin joined the many other American soldiers sent to liberate prisoners at Dachau and other concentration and slave labor camps. For his heroic service Blumkin received a Purple Heart, a European Service Medal, a Good Conduct Medal, and four Bronze Star Medals. He helped resettle Holocaust survivors in Omaha and employed many at the Nebraska Furniture Mart.
PAUL G. COHEN
Brigadier General Paul G. Cohen served as the Assistant Adjutant General for Air and Commander of the Nebraska Air National Guard, headquartered in Lincoln, responsible for commanding and directing its 1,100 members. During his thirty-five-year military career, including over six years on active duty and twenty-nine years in the Air National Guard, General Cohen received many military decorations, including the Legion of Merit, a Meritorious Service Medal, and an Air Force Commendation Medal.
HERMAN ROSENBLATT
Lieutenant Commander Herman Rosenblatt served as an air combat intelligence officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. His service earned him the Legion of Merit and Silver Star, as well as the Air Medal for acting as tail gunner of a torpedo bomber between November 19, 1943, and June 12, 1944. During that time he gained extremely valuable intelligence in the face of intense enemy aircraft fire. Rosenblatt provided vital intelligence in support of the landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa in 1945 and aided in the air-sea rescue operations of pilots.
Ray Shapiro, Sam Wolk, and Leo Sherman, May 31st, 1945, Dusseldorf, Germany
Epstein-Morgan – American Legion Post 260
Shabbat Services, Italy, 1944
