ISRAELI CHAMPS —On June 30 the Optica International team became the Israel Men’s Slow-Pitch Softball champions. Four men with ties to the Kansas City community played on that team including Naftali, Yoni and Akiva Schwartz, who lived here while their father Rabbi Morey Schwartz served as rabbi of Congregation BIAV. Josh Wajcman, the son of Mindy and Davey Wajcman, has lived in Israel the past several years. The league plays ball on the Gezer field that was renovated in 1997 through the generosity of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.
NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE — Jordy Altman, who became a Bar Mitzvah and was confirmed at Congregation Beth Torah, and moved to Los Angeles not long after graduating from the University of Kansas, has recently launched an online magazine. He describes 8Bit Bro.com as “the super online magazine that covers the best in pop-culture entertainment, featuring humorous articles that poke fun at today’s movies, television stars and unsung heroes of YouTube. It’s as if your favorite late-night talk show host was always online, providing you with the most crucial information for your off-beat brain.” He said he is currently running the magazine out of a tiny office in the heart of Hollywood and created 8Bit Bro after leaving CBS to pursue a career in comedy. You can see 8Bit Bro on a regular basis by visiting www.8bitbro.com or liking it on Facebook. Altman is the son of Julie and Ron Altman.
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM — Beth Sarafraz and Rivka Berger of Brooklyn, N.Y., are seeking stories about personal experiences with intuition, premonition or precognition for a book they are writing. Jewish Chronicle readers are invited to share such stories with us. The stories they have in mind would involve experiences where people obtained information through any means that defies logical explanation (such as in a dream). Paying attention to or acting on such information may have even changed, or saved, their lives. Send such anecdotal accounts to them at (chalamti chalom means I dreamed a dream) along with contact information. They ask all information be placed in the body of the email and that no attachments be sent.
VETS SHARE THEIR STORIES — The American Legion — the nation’s largest veterans service organization — has launched a new interactive Web page that provides a way for veterans and their families to keep the memories of military sacrifice alive. The new Web page — packed with stories, photos and videos, as well as a database — is now available at www.legion.org/honor.
“All veterans and military families are encouraged to share stories of their time in uniform and/or their family’s military legacy. This is one way in which The American Legion is continuing to honor America’s servicemen and women, past and present, who keep our nation safe,” said James Hall of New Jersey, chairman of The American Legion Magazine Commission, which oversees the organization’s website.
Readers have submitted more than 150 stories since the Web page officially launched in May. Those wanting to share their stories can go to www.legiontown.org to submit text and photos online. Once approved by an administrator, those stories will appear on the honor and remembrance Web page.
“We know that honoring our military heroes is incredibly important to our membership, and veterans and their family members everywhere,” said Hall, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. “Sadly, our World War II vets are dying off. We launched this Web page so that we could preserve their memories and heroic efforts for future generations. But of course this Web page is open to all veterans, regardless of time of service.”