Listening Post - Kansas City Jewish Chronicle

RESTAURATEUR OF THE YEAR — We send a belated but hearty Mazel Tov to Alan Gaylin, who was recently named Restaurateur of the Year by the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association. Gaylin owns and operates Bread & Butter Concepts consisting of BRGR Kitchen + Bar, Urban Table, Gram & Dun and Taco Republic. Gaylin attended the University of Texas and worked as a server for Pelican’s Restaurant, advancing to the positions of general manager and director of operations. His restaurant experience continued after graduation, holding positions with various restaurant companies. He served as a senior vice president of operations at Kansas City-based Houlihan’s where he was part of the rebranding of the company. He hopes to establish Bread & Butter Concepts as a restaurant group that can grow throughout the Midwest and is an active part of the Kansas City community.

RABBI JACQUES IN THE NEWS — Temple Israel’s Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn is in the national news again. This time the Religion News Service featured him in a story headlined “Kansas City rabbi grows a congregation of Latin American Jews.” Published Thursday, Jan. 14, it explains how the Brazilian-born locally-based rabbi is catering to a growing number of Latinos who are choosing to convert to Judaism as they abandon the region’s dominant Roman Catholicism. You can read the entire story at http://www.religionnews.com/2014/01/14/kansas-city-rabbi-grows-congregation-latin-american-jews/.

‘LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER’ RETURNS — “Listen to Your Mother Show: Kansas City” wants to read your story about motherhood. Stories are being accepted from all ages, genders and ethnicities about you as a mother, your mother or the mother-person who shaped your life for the second annual “Listen To Your Mother Show: Kansas City.” “Listen To Your Mother Show: Kansas City” is part of a national series of live readings of original stories about motherhood. This heart-warming and sometimes hilarious event will take place at Unity Temple on the Plaza on May 3. Ten percent of the ticket proceeds go to support Women’s Employment Network (WEN), www.kcwen.org. The show is being co-produced once again by Erin Margolin. The deadline for submission is Feb. 15. For more details, visit the website at http://listentoyourmothershow.com/kansascity/.

Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy first grade teacher Civia White (left) took hundreds of messages to God, written by Hebrew Academy students, and placed them in the Kotel during her recent trip to Israel. The children wrote these messages with their grandparents during VIP Day held at the school in November. This HBHA event hosts grandparents and special friends of each student for a morning of activities and entertainment. ‘The kids were so excited to know that the notes they made for our school Kotel bulletin board were actually going to Israel and being tucked between stones at the real Western Wall,’ White said.