Sarit Horwitz has been learning, mentoring and teaching in Jewish settings for as long as she can remember. Ordained as a rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary on May 21, Rabbi Horwitz plans to keep on teaching, mentoring and learning for years to come.
JEWISH LIFE ON CAMPUS — Hillel International launched “Hillel College Guide: The Official Hillel Guide to Jewish Life on Campus” this summer, providing unique insights for students and parents on organized Jewish life, Israel programming, the availability of kosher food and the relative size of the Jewish community on campuses across North America. The magazine also includes rankings of what schools Jewish students are choosing. KU Hillel is ranked 50 out of 60! Topping this year’s lists are Rutgers University on the list of public schools and New York University on the list of private schools. The rankings are based on self-reported enrollment data from the schools on the list.
Epsten Gallery, which is approaching its 25th anniversary in 2016, has been known by a variety of names over the years, sometimes leading to some confusion. Regardless of its official name — The Kansas City Jewish Museum Foundation, The Museum Without Walls, The Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art or the Epsten Gallery — as an entity it has always provided a mixture of museum-quality exhibits and programming that interest the entire community. Today Epsten Gallery Foundation President William Kort said the gallery is widening its net, increasing its programming to appeal to an even broader range of people in the community.
JOE HOTROD AND THE SPARKPLUGS RETURN — They’re baaack!!!! Some of us middle-aged former BBYOers waited 40 years for Joe Hotrod and the Sparkplugs to reunite last year at Bowling for Barb, a fundraiser organized by Barb Mendelsohn, my friend of too many years to count. Barb was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease more than a decade ago and she organizes this event, along with much appreciated help from friends and family, to help fund research to find a cure for the disease. This will be the eighth year we have gathered to schmooze about our lives today and think back to when we were teenagers and had no real cares in the world. The boys in Joe Hotrod had so much fun last year they decided to play at the fundraiser one more time! This year, in addition to their oldies but goodies from the 1950s, the “real musicians” in the group (Ronnie brothers, please don’t be mad!) will throw in a set featuring music from our time, the ‘70s. All the originals (or the original subs) can’t make it back here this year but we’re looking forward to hearing Bart Cohn, Jerry Fehr, Ron Fredman, Ron Altman, Larry Myer, Jim Appelbaum, Eric Morgenstern, Bruce Wasserstrom and Rabbi Scott White (yes, he was a teen in the ‘70s!) and watch them wow the crowd. As an added bonus, Dr. Gerard Vockley, the man who supervises all the research to find a cure for mitochondrial disease, will be there also. So you can bowl, kibbitz, listen to music or do any or all of the above at the event slated to take place Sunday, July 12, at Ward Parkway Lanes from 2 to 4 p.m. This is not an official BBYO function, but if you were a member I guarantee you there will be someone there you can have a lively conversation with about old times. So please join us. You can even visit with me. I’ll be at the registration table happily taking checks and credit cards. See you there!
“The unspeakable murder of nine accomplished, beloved and respected African-American Charlestonians of faith in their own church on Wednesday (June 18) has hit our city like an earthquake.”
—Author Robert N. Rosen
Rabbi Alan Cohen, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth Shalom, is currently in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is seeing first-hand how the murders of nine black Charlestonians is affecting the Charleston community, and its Jewish population. Rabbi Cohen is spending the next couple of months in Charleston filling in as the rabbi for Synagogue Emanu-El, while its regular rabbi is on sabbatical.
In February 2014, Jewish Federation President and CEO Todd Stettner announced his intention to retire in September 2015, giving the leadership approximately 18 months to make plans for a future without him. But sometimes the best laid plans don’t come to fruition, and the person tapped to replace him chose to remain in her current community instead of relocating to the Kansas City area. So an interim plan has been put in place.
Late last week in a joint statement, Jewish Federation Chair Patricia W. Uhlmann and Stettner announced that he had agreed to continue to serve the agency’s chief executive until a successor has been found.
Rabbi Q — officially known as Rabbi Mendel Segal — has been very, very busy lately. Earlier this year the executive director and rabbinic coordinator of the Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City launched his new product line, Mendel’s Foods, LLC, and has hit the kosher barbecue circuit, proving once again he is a champion smoker.
On June 14 at the second annual Chicago Kosher BBQ Competition and Festival, Rabbi Segal’s barbecue won first place in the chicken, brisket and beans categories and took third place with his ribs. The judges also crowned him the competition’s grand champion.
STAR SPANGLED SPECTACULAR UP AHEAD — Overland Park Rotary is continuing Overland Park’s July 4th fireworks tradition with its 24th annual Star Spangled Spectacular event in Corporate Woods. Each year, the event raises funds for deserving local charities in the Kansas City area. This year, Sheffield Place, Make-A-Wish Missouri and the Rotary Youth Leadership Institute will be receiving donations from the 2015 event.
As has been the custom the past several years, several members of the Jewish community are on the planning committee, chair by Congregation Beth Shalom member Chuck Gasser. Craig Novorr serves at the organization’s president.
The board of directors of the Jewish Heritage Foundation of Greater Kansas City has announced that Rita Cortes will become the new executive director of the organization. Cortes will be the third executive director in JHF history as she succeeds Ellen Kort who is retiring after more than a decade of leadership.
“Music is the soul to language.” Thus did Abraham Joshua Heschel define music as the key element to Jewish prayer, which is called “tefillah” in Hebrew. It is in this spirit that The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah announces that Coleen Dieker has been appointed the congregation’s music director.
