HAPPY HANUKKAH AT THE WHITE HOUSE — Village Shalom President and CEO Matt Lewis and Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City President and CEO Jacob Schreiber were among some 500 guests attending the 2014 White House Hanukkah Reception, one of two such events that ushered in the second night of the holiday.
President Barack Obama addressed the gathering and introduced two students and a teacher from Hand in Hand, an Arab-Jewish school in Israel that had been the recent target of arson. The students lit two candles on the menorah as Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at Amercian Jewish University in Los Angeles, recited the holiday candle blessings.
The annual tradition was established in 2001 as an opportunity for the U.S. president to mark the festival of Hanukkah with American Jewish politicians, educators and organization leaders.
WHO WILL BE OUR FIRST JEWISH BABY? — By the time you read this there may already be a first Jewish baby. But just in case, here’s a reminder to contact us if you think someone close to you has given birth to the areas first Jewish baby of 2015. The Chronicle’s First Jewish Baby contest is limited to residents of the five-county greater Kansas City area (Jackson, Clay and Platte in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte in Kansas), and the birth must take place in greater Kansas City.
Parents should call The Chronicle editor Barbara Bayer at 913-951-8425, or contact her via email at as soon as possible after the child is born, preferably the day of the birth. A winner may not be declared immediately and could take as long as 24 hours after the initial contact with The Chronicle. The parent or parents must agree to be interviewed and photographed along with the baby for a story in the newspaper to be awarded prizes. The official rules were published in the Dec. 25, 2014, issue.
Photo credit: Steve Sheffey, JTA
