Joan and Maury Udes donate $200,000 to help resettle Soviet Jews in Omaha

Joan and Maury Udes donate $200,000 to help resettle Soviet Jews in Omaha

A gift of $200,000 has been made to the Passage to Freedom Fund by Joan and Maury Udes to aid in the resettlement of Soviet families in the Omaha area. The announcement was made by Shirley and Leonard Goldstein and Miriam Simon, co-chairmen of the Passage to Freedom Campaign.

Joan and Maury expressed their concern "about the need for Russian Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union and resettle in our country. We are also concerned that our community do its part in assisting in this resettlement," they said.

"Migration has been forced upon the Jewish people for thousands of years due to oppression and persecustion," the couple stated. "Fortunately, there have always been communities who were willing to accept the responsibilities of welcoming these refugees as brothers—of resettling, retraining and absorbing them into the community. We are happy that we are able to make a small contribution to this effort."

"I hope that everyone in the Omaha Jewish community will assist these immigrants in finding jobs, furnishing their apartments, providing clothing and welcoming them to our city," Mr. Udes added.

Mrs. Goldstein, who, along with Mrs. Simon, has served as co-chairman of the Soviet Jewry Committee since 1974, has devoted all of her time, energy, and resources to this single effort to free Soviet Jews.

"I'm overwhelmed," she said. "The Udes' gift is the high point of over 15 years of hard and important work. Now many people have this feeling for what we're doing

"Times have changed. Resettlement is much more costly than it was in the early '70s when the first two Soviet families came to live in Omaha. While the Udes' gift is extraordinary, fundraising will have to continue in order to meet future needs.

"I can't help but have a special feeling for Joan and Maury. I remember Maury would always ask me, 'How are things going?... What's happening with the Soviet Jews?' He always seemed to have a special interest in the project. Today, I'm very greatful for that interest, and, of course, for his overwhelming generosity."

Mrs. Simon was the founder of L.O.V.E. (League Offering Volunteers for the Elderly), a group formed to enhance the day-to-day life of residents of the Dr. Philip Sher Home, now the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home.

"I know Maury to be a very caring person," she commented. "Years ago, he brought an aunt from New York to the Dr. Sher Home. He made sure she had the best of care and visited her regularly. His gift to the Passage to Freedom Fund is absolutely a gift from heaven and very much in keeping with his kind and generous way."

"I suppose you might say I'm repaying an old debt," expained Mr. Udes in a recent interview. "My dad was born in Russia. He was six months old when my grandparents immigrated to the United States. Someone had to help them get here. Now I can help. I know this is something my father and grandfather would have wanted me to do.

"My grandparents had relatives who had already come to America so, at first, all of them lived in New York City. Later, my grandparents moved to Arkansas where my grandfather owned a retail dry goods store. We called it 'the hole in the wall' because it was so small. I remember my grandparents were very dedicated to their family.

"There was only one Jewish place of worship in our town—one Reform temple, that's all. We didn't come in different 'flavors' in those days, and being a rabbi in a small southern town was a tough job.

"It was my father who would talk about the general conditions in Eastern Europe... pogroms, constant oppression, lack of opportunity. Our people were denied educational opportunities. There was prejudice against them because they were Jewish. It was never considered illegal to beat a Jew.

"My mother's mother came from Germany. Her family was lost in the concentration camps. I have letters from my grandmother's sister during the time she was imprisoned..."

It was at this point in the interview that Mr. Udes left the room and returned with a pile of old letters— correspondence between his grandmother, her sister and American authorities—letters of hope and appreciation, of worry and despair.

"I was at Dachau as an American serviceman," he added. "I saw crematories and the incinerators. I saw where they hung them and where they shot them...

"It's important that we help bring people out of Russia while there's still the opportunity to do so," he said. "My grandmother tried many times to get her sister out... to send her money... you have to do something."

The Udes' gift will be made in four annual payments of $50,000 each, the first of which was made in December of 1989. Monies will be used to cover "the basic necessities such as apartment rental, utilities, furniture, kitchen equipment, linens, food, bus fare and day care for young children while their parents attend English classes, job training and the managment of day-to-day necessities for a projected time period... after which, it is hoped, that at least one member of each family will be employed.

"Why did I give it?" he said, repeating the question. "It's difficult to answer properly. Personally, as I said, to repay an old debt, but generally, because freedom is[?] important, necessary and a high priority. I can tell you[?] this," he concluded, "I have a wonderful sense of satisfaction.

A graduate of Purdue University, Mr. Udes was transferred[?] to Omaha as a salesman by Lyon Metal Products.[?] On April 1, 1951, he started Builders' Supply, Inc., with[?] the money he had saved. He currently serves as the company's[?] Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Udes is a member of Temple Israel and the father[?] of three daughters.