Traditional Jewish Areas of Interest and Concern

• Combatting antisemitism
• Advocating for a safe, strong Jewish democratic state of Israel
• Advocate to protect our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion
• Supporting and advocating on behalf of refugees and immigrants
• Healthcare and Human Services and the advancement of access, innovations, and inclusion to care and services that honor the dignity and needs of all people. Each according to their own needs and beliefs
• Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Access – confronting racism and discrimination, including those harming LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities
• Advocating to maintain a democratic and pluralistic society through unfettered access to civic engagement

Work Focus

• Advocating for the Jewish people, Israel, and marginalized communities
• Responding to incidents of hate and antisemitism across our community
• Providing outreach, allyship, anti-bias curriculum, and training and resources to the Jewish community and community at large
• Building relationships and coalitions with civil rights, ethnic, and service organizations, as well as marginalized communities, to work together to achieve similar goals
• Working with elected officials and community partners on issues that impact the Jewish community and marginalized communities
• Providing opportunities to increase engagement  across the synagogues and Jewish  organizations in our community

When is a Policy Issue a Jewish Issue?

• Does it affect the safety and security of Jews in our community, in America, in Israel, or elsewhere?
• Does it impact the state of democratic pluralism in the United States?
• Does it affect the internal quality of Jewish life, and does it help support Jewish institutions?
• Does it involve a Jewish religious imperative?
• Does it relate to the historical experience of the Jews?
• Does the Jewish community have both the resources and the expertise to deal with it?
• Is it a matter of concern for our coalition partners?
• Can the Jewish community make a difference on this issue?

The Omaha Jewish Community Relations Council’s public policy positions advance the ability of our organization to support our local, regional, and global Jewish community, with a special focus on upholding a healthy, safe, and caring community that is just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive; building bridges with other civic groups; and connecting with Israel and world Jewry. JCRC Omaha’s positions are derived from and aligned with the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations.

JCRC’s Public Policy and Civil Rights Committee advances public policy priority areas based on both the challenges that Jewish communal life faces and opportunities to further strengthen it. In supporting specific legislative and policy vehicles within each area below and in adding compelling legislative priorities, we prioritize issues with a nexus to the JCRC and community we represent, and we strive to be balanced and non-partisan. (These positions were approved by the JFO Board in August 2023)

Jewish Communal Security and Support for Israel

Since 1856, Jews have lived, worked, and thrived in the State of Nebraska. However, our enduring presence does not guarantee our safety and security. We must be ever vigilant about the rise of antisemitism both in Nebraska and across the globe.

1. Safety and Security: Protecting and expanding the Nonprofit Security Grant Program; promoting and accessing other security enhancements that safeguard high-risk nonprofits and communities; and advancing community safety, with reasonable gun safety measures.

2. Combatting Antisemitism: Combatting antisemitism, including through coordinated governmental and civic approaches; we refer to and apply the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, originally adopted by the Department of State in 2012, and expanding Holocaust and genocide education.

3. Support for Israel: In partnership with JFNA’s Israel Office, and all major Jewish organizations in the U.S. supporting Israel’s security and addressing delegitimization of Israel, including by combatting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement; advancing policies that help normalize relations between Israel and other countries; and supporting a two-state solution where Israel lives in peace with a demilitarized Palestinian state. We also encourage further investment, partnerships, and collaboration to continue Israeli technology innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in Nebraska.

Jewish perspective:

Safety and Security: Jewish tradition teaches about the importance of protecting and cherishing every single life, for all life is holy. From the Mishnah we learn that “One who takes a life, it is as though they have destroyed the entire world. And one who saves a life, it is as if they have saved the entire world.” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). Each life is an entire world; we must work to safeguard every life using all tools at our disposal including accessing security enhancements for our communities and proactively engaging with our legislature to enact reasonable communal safety legislation.

Combating Anti-Semitism: Avot D’Rabbi Natan teaches: “Who is the strongest of all? One who overcomes his [her/their] inclinations…And some say one who can turn an enemy into a friend.” To combat antisemitism in all of its forms, we must work to build authentic relationships, taking these words to heart and finding common ground.

Support for Israel: The words of renowned poet Yehudah HaLevi remind us “My heart is in the East, and I am in the uttermost West.” Though we live here in Nebraska, for many, a piece of our heart resides in Israel. We look to the words of Israel’s national anthem, to guide us in HaTikvah, the hope, that we will find the ways to create a peaceful world where generations of Jews who come after us will call home. We may all answer the questions of whether Israel is a Jewish State or a State for Jewish People or a state that lives by Jewish values differently, and yet, we all sing the words of HaTikvah and pray for peaceful coexistence with our neighbors:

HaTikvah, by Naphtali Herz Imber: As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart, With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion, Then our hope – the two-thousand-year-old hope – will not be lost: To be a free people in our land, The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Communal Infrastructure

One of the greatest strengths of the Jewish community in Nebraska is its commitment to philanthropic giving to both Jewish and non-Jewish entities. We must continue to ensure that we serve as good stewards to our community and that we advocate to those in positions of power to ensure that public education, health care, and support for those in need are not diminished especially in times of such inequity.

1. Charitable Protections: Encourage the efficient and responsible administration of national tax policy to support and encourage philanthropic activity.
2. Stability of Communal Institutions: Maintaining or expanding nonprofit infrastructure and relief funding; responding to natural disasters; and ensuring access to resources for Jewish institutions including community centers, childcare providers, and schools to serve the community while supporting public education.

Jewish perspective

Tikkun Olam, which translates to “repairing the world,” is a cornerstone of Jewish ethics and social responsibility.  Tikkun Olam compels members of the community to actively participate in bettering the world and elevating the lives of others.  And to repair the world, it is best to begin at our own doorstep–within our local community. Maintaining and improving the communal institutions that people rely upon are vital for the holistic betterment of society and thereby embodies the principles of Tikkun Olam.

Health and Human Services

Omaha is a vibrant, prosperous community but we know that not all residents have equal access to needed services to lead a thriving, healthy life.

1. Health Care, Services for Vulnerable or Disadvantaged Populations, Including Older Adults and People with Disabilities: Safeguarding long-term care and safety net support programs is a priority, including but not limited to protecting Medicaid and Medicare; advancing programs and services to enable people with disabilities to achieve maximum independence, community, and inclusion; strengthening access to mental health and health care, including by supporting innovations that increase accessibility and fiscal responsibility; supporting reproductive health rights and the ability to follow personal religious beliefs; and supporting programs for older adults.
2. Holocaust Survivors: Ensuring that Holocaust survivors receive support to live with dignity and an enhanced quality of life by promoting person-centered, trauma-informed care.
3. Economic Security: Supporting programs that alleviate poverty and promote economic mobility for low-income Jews and other communities, such as expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit; and addressing food insecurity, including through the Emergency Food and Shelter Program.
4. Affordable Housing – As a community we must support and advocate for affordable housing options that ensure a safe, accessible home for all, but especially low-income populations. We support policies and educate the community about affordable housing assistance.

Jewish perspective:

The notion that we all have a responsibility to care for the vulnerable among us (represented in our texts as “the poor, the orphan, the stranger, and the widow”) is a common thread woven throughout our sacred texts. Isaiah exhorts us: “Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:17).

Reproductive Rights: Jewish law and thought do not hold a binary, black-and-white view of abortion. While our tradition affirms that a fetus must be respected and cared for as potential life, Jewish law also states that, because a fetus does not become a full “person” until birth, abortion is not only legitimate but required in instances where a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother (Mishnah Ohalot 7:6).

Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI), and Human and Civil Rights:

We must work to ensure that Omaha is a welcoming place for all. One way to ensure that is to make sure that we welcome the stranger with open arms. Another way is to always be thinking about our own biases and what we can do to mitigate them. Our community should be a place of inclusivity for all people.

1. Aligning and implementing best practices relating to JFNA’s JEDI strategic objectives and integrating a focus on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout all public policy priorities.
2. Combatting all forms of hate, extremism, antisemitism, racism, and discrimination, including those harming LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities, by supporting legislation and developing resources to address hate crimes and combat abuse and harassment, and advancing policies that ensure justice, equity, and communal belonging.
3. Refugees and Immigration: Supporting Jews and other marginalized populations fleeing Persecution.
4. Supporting civic engagement to foster a stable democratic environment in which our communities can flourish. Also to engage in meaningful dialogue to better understand the African American experience in this country and what is misperceived in our community to be anger as opposed to generational rage over past wrongs.  

Jewish perspective:

Genesis 1:27 teaches that God creates human beings b’tzelem Elohim, in God’s image, thereby imbuing each person with a touch of the Divine. Every person should be treated with the dignity and respect accorded to God’s creations. We have an obligation to create radically inclusive communities that create space for each person to be their authentic selves. As we advocate for inclusion and equity in our spaces, we remember that we are responsible for one another and that we are commanded to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev.19:18). As Rabbi Hillel taught in Pirkei Avot, “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself, then who am I? And if not now, when?” (Pirkei Avot 1:4).

Bills: Education, Antisemitism, Separation of Church and State

LB 538 (Hardin) Require school boards and postsecondary institutions to adopt policies against discrimination and antisemitism

LB 691 (Holdcroft) Require schools receiving state funds to display the Ten Commandments

LB 549 (Lippincott) Allow school boards to employ or accept a volunteer chaplain as a school counselor

LB 549 (Lippincott) Allow school boards to employ or accept a volunteer chaplain as a school counselor

LB 122 (Meyer) Require display of the national and state motto in schools (In God We Trust; Equality Before the Law)

LB 552 (Lippincott) Prohibit public secondary institutions from having a DEI office or requiring training or participation in DEI activities

Bills: Elections

LB 3 (Lippincott) Winner-Take-All;

LR 24CA (Dorn) Winner-Take-All ballot initiative

LB 541 (Holdcroft) Eliminate online voter registration

LB 659 (Andersen) Voter machine auditing

LR 27CA (Hunt) Extend term limits for the legislature to 3 terms instead of 2

LB 218 (Fredrickson) Implement a voter registration process with state IDs and drivers licenses at the DMV

LB 237 (M. Cavanaugh) Permit counties with populations greater than 10,000 residents to conduct vote by mail

Bills: Support for Families

LB 14 (Spivey) Hunger Free Schools

LB 505 (Prokop) Appropriate $20M over two years for food assistance nonprofits serving 10 counties or more

Family Medical Leave Act (LB 189 M. Cavanaugh; LB 415 Ballard; LB 689 Strommen)

LB95 (Fredrickson) Childcare employee subsidy pilot program

LB153 (Guereca) Extend postpartum coverage for moms and babies under the Children’s Health Insurance Program to six months

Bills: Immigration

LB181 (M.Cavanaugh) Extend Young Adult Bridge to Independence for young adults not lawfully present

LB 301 (Ibach) Allows eligible aliens to serve as law enforcement officials

LB 299 (Ibach) Allows eligible aliens to access employment-related benefits such as retirement and unemployment benefits

LB 532 (Kauth) E-verify for new hires, imposes penalties for hiring unauthorized aliens, auditing and reporting

Bills: Juvenile Justice

LB 556 (Riepe) Allows law enforcement to detain children at a younger age (from 13 to 11); lowers the age for charging minors with certain serious offenses from 14 to 12

LB407 (J. Cavanaugh) Juvenile court exclusive jurisdiction for minors aged 13-15)

LB584 (Spivey) Removes life in prison and other sentencing provisions for minors

LB700 (McKinney) Extends juvenile court jurisdiction to age 26, protections for minors during interrogation

Bills: Equal Rights

LB 512 (Holdcroft) Prohibit discrimination; lawful source of income

LB 89 ‘Stand with Women’ (Kauth) and LB 605, (Raybould) Inclusive athletics and youth programming LR5CA & LR6CA (M. Cavanaugh) Gender-neutral marriage certificates

Bills: Reproductive Rights

LB 273 (Hunt) Medical Power of Attorney

LB 655 (Murman) Medical conscience-based objections

LB 669 (Storer) Informed consent; pre-abortion counseling

LB 53 (M. Cavanaugh) Criminal and civil immunity for pregnancy outcomes LB 512 (Holdcroft) Enhanced reporting requirements for abortions

View the most recent survey results of our Jewish communal priorities here.

View the 2022 survey results of our Jewish communal priorities here.