When Sarah Hurwitz was working as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama, and later as head speechwriter for Michelle Obama, she often was assumed to be a good source of knowledge about Judaism.
Except Hurwitz wasn’t.
She had grown up nominally Reform. And after her Bat Mitzvah, Hurwitz felt her relationship with Judaism was pretty much over.
AN EVENING WITH DEBORAH LIPSTADT — An interfaith audience of approximately 300 people attended “Antisemitism Here And Now with Dr. Deborah Lipstadt” on Sept. 5 at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The event was co-sponsored by Jewish Federation, Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, JCRB|AJC, UMKC and UMKC History. The internationally renowned scholar best known for her expertise on Holocaust denial was introduced by her friend Patricia Werthan Uhlmann, who was instrumental in getting Lipstadt here for the presentation. Federation’s Director of Marketing and Communications Mimsy Tallent said the audience was very interested in what Lipstadt had to say. At one point while discussing modern day anti-Semitism, Lipstadt discussed that, in many cases today, men are wearing baseball caps instead of kippahs when traveling, women don’t feel comfortable wearing a Star of David or Chai symbol, and many are afraid to tell a neighbor/co-worker/stranger/etc. they are Jewish because of not knowing how that person would react. “When a group doesn’t feel free to walk in their own skin, something is wrong,” Lipstadt told the audience. The historian’s newest book, “Antisemitism: Here and Now,” is available on Amazon and at other book retailers.
SUICIDE PREVENTION MONTH — There have been several events in the community this month led by members of the Jewish community, including the SASS (Suicide Awareness Survivor Support) Remembrance Walk and SPEAK UP Walk. This past week, Dr. Karen Arkin, one of the founders of SPEAK UP and a former member of the Kansas City Jewish community, was featured in Parade magazine. In the article “A Mother Opens Up: 7 Things I Want You to Know About My Son and Suicide,” Arkin said: “His suicide wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t our fault. It was the fault of the disease of depression. But there will always be a hole in my heart.” You can find the article on parade.com by searching Karen Arkin.
According to Dr. Steve Arkin’s Facebook page, Sunday’s SPEAK UP Walk was the largest one ever. It attracted more than 1,000 walkers, and donations and sponsorships have exceeded $150,000. Funds raised will help educate local teens and their families about mental health and suicide prevention.
DWTS AND JEWISH GEOGRAPHY — I’m a fan of DWTS (“Dancing with the Stars). When pro dancer Alan Bernsten was introduced on Monday’s season premiere, I immediately wondered whether he was Jewish. I Googled him and it appears he is. One of the first things that came up was a Twitter post from 2016: “I hope all of my fellow Jews have an easy fast this Yom Kippur.”
YALE LAUNCHES HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS PODCAST (JTA) — Yale University’s Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies launched a podcast series last week featuring the remembrances of survivors.
The series started with the testimony of Martin Schiller, a Jewish man from Poland who described his experiences in the concentration and slave labor camps of Plaszow, Skarzysko-Kamienna, Buchenwald and Theresienstadt. Plaszow serves as the setting for the film “Schindler’s List.”
Titled “Those Who Were There,” the podcast has narration by Eleanor Reissa, an actress and Yiddish theater director, and historical oversight by Professor Samuel Kassow. It features testimonies collected from 1979 onward.
To learn more, visit fortunoff.library.yale.edu/podcasts/.
Note early deadlines for High Holidays
The upcoming High Holidays bring with them adjusted deadlines for the month of October. They are:
Monday, Sept. 23, for the Oct. 3 issue
Friday, Sept. 27, for the Oct. 10 issue
Tuesday, Oct. 8, for the Oct. 17 issue
Friday, Oct. 11, for the Oct. 24 issue
Deadlines will return to normal for the Oct. 31 issue. The deadline for that issue is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22.
Questions? Contact Editor Barbara Bayer at 913-951-8425 or .
Never date a fellow rabbi — that’s what both Sarah Smiley and Josh Leighton thought when they met while at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. It didn’t quite work out that way.
Now married with a 2-year-old daughter, Eliana, the two rabbis both work at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. They’re the only married rabbi couple to both work at the same congregation in the Kansas City area.
Joe Pfefer is an old hand at getting awakened in the middle of the night to start his workday. He’s been at it for 50 years.
Pfefer owns Jade Alarm Co., based in Kansas City, Missouri. As told on the company’s website (jadealarm.com), he started Jade Alarm in 1969 in the basement of the home of his late parents, David and Lillian Pfefer. His parents owned a parking lot at 2201 Brooklyn, near the old Municipal Stadium. One night, soon after they returned home after operating their parking lot while a game was played in the stadium, a would-be intruder tried but failed to force open their front door.
LAWRENCE — After the Sept. 17 do-over election, Israel is likely to have its first “unity” government in 30 years, according to the author of a new book on Arab electoral politics in the Jewish state.
And while four Arab parties have once again formed a Joint List that is likely to increase their standing in parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is unlikely to be able to form a completely right-wing majority coalition, as he has in the past. Thus, he will be forced to ask the centrist Blue & White Party of former army general Benny Gantz to join him in a so-called unity government.
EXHIBIT OF LOCAL SURVIVORS — To mark the 80th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II, MCHE is displaying portraits of local Polish survivors from its exhibit “Honoring the Past” (originally “Portrait 2000”). Located in the lobby gallery of the Jewish Community Campus, the exhibit runs through Sunday, Dec. 1. To hear testimonies by these and other local survivors, visit mchekc.org/survivors.
HY-VEE’S TASTE OF KOSHER NIGHT — Hy-Vee’s kosher department at 95th and Antioch is under new supervision. As the store’s kosher specialist, one of the first things Joan Fogel is undertaking is a Taste of Kosher Night, which will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. It will feature food demonstrations by Steve Ellenberg, giveaways, coupons, kosher pizza, challah, lox, rugelach, lamb, whitefish and more. For up-to-date info, visit the Facebook page Hy-Vee in the Eruv.
‘FIDDLER: MIRACLE OF MIRACLES’ — A few weeks ago we published a JTA story about the documentary “Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles.” It will open here at AMC 20 in Leawood on Sept. 13 and be here, according to its distributor Roadside Attractions, “hopefully at least a week, maybe longer.” A documentary about one of Broadway’s most beloved musicals, it explains its creative roots in early 1960s New York, when “tradition” was on the wane as gender roles, sexuality, race relations and religion were evolving. If you missed the story, you can search for it on jta.org.
LEST WE FORGET: ‘BIG SONIA’ — Tying in with the exhibition of LEST WE FORGET by Luigi Toscana at the National WWI Museum and Memorial, which opens Sept. 20 and concludes Oct. 6, Goethe Pop Up Kansas City is presenting a special free screening of “BIG SONIA.” Sonia Warshawski is one of the seven local survivors included in the LEST WE FORGET installation. The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23, at the UMKC Student Union Theater, 5100 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO. A Q&A with Toscana and Sonia’s daughter Regina Kort will follow.
DID YOU MEET HARRY TRUMAN? — If the answer is "yes," the Truman Library wants to hear your story! The Library is creating a video that will be featured in the museum’s new Truman exhibition that tells the story of Harry and Bess Truman’s lives once they returned to Independence, Missouri, following his presidency. The Library is seeking stories from individuals who had encounters with either Harry or Bess in Independence to help shape this narrative.
If you have a story to tell, go to the website trumanlibraryinstitute.org/local-memories-truman/ and complete the short form by Sunday, Sept. 22, describing your interaction with the president or first lady. Someone from the Truman Library will contact you if you are chosen to be featured in this video program, in an upcoming issue of TRU Magazine or on the TRU Blog.
CORRECTION — An incorrect caption was published in the Sept. 5 issue of The Chronicle in an article about a trip for teens to the AIPAC policy conference. The photo, with the correct caption, is below.
Becca Levine, director of youth and family programming at Congregation Beth Shalom (first row, far right), and Rabbi David Glickman (top row, far right) accompanied six teens to last year’s AIPAC annual policy conference. They are shown here with five members of that group and hope to take an even larger group to the conference in 2020.
The mezuzah is the mitzvah mentioned in the Shema Yisroel, the special prayer Jewish people say twice daily. There are many laws describing exactly what a kosher mezuzah should be. A kosher mezuzah must be written by a learned scribe on parchment, just like a Torah scroll and tefillin. Many other detailed laws make the mezuzah kosher.
According to Jewish law, a mezuzah must be checked twice in seven years. However, many have the custom to have the mezuzah checked yearly, preferably during the month of Elul prior to Rosh Hashanah. A professional scribe checks the mezuzah to make sure that all its letters are intact. If even one letter gets erased or besmirched, the mezuzah needs to be repaired or replaced. A competent scribe can advise one what to do.
One place to have your mezuzot checked or to purchase new mezuzot is Chabad House Center. For more information, call or text Blumah Wineberg at 913-940-1113 or the Chabad House at 913-649-4852.
“They can’t afford to pay to pray with friends and family.”
That statement was part of a conversation a Jewish Family Services spiritual care volunteer recently recounted to Jewish Community Chaplain Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick. People often ask Rabbi Rudnick or a JFS volunteer where they can attend services if they are unaffiliated. The question comes up more often as the High Holidays approach, which begin this year the evening of Sept. 29.
“In general I say you would be welcome at any congregation,” said Rabbi Rudnick in a recent conversation with The Chronicle. “But it gets trickier for the holidays.”
At the University of Kansas, both KU Chabad and KU Hillel offer services for students for the High Holidays. The same is true for similar organizations at college campuses across the country.
“It’s amazing to have our student community come together and celebrate the holidays,” KU Hillel Executive Director Suzy Sostrin said.
KU Hillel Senior Jewish Educator Rabbi Neal Schuster added, “It’s really important when students are away from home that they have someplace to go to celebrate and observe the holidays and be with their community.”
KU Chabad’s Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel echoed those statements and said it offered holiday meals at no charge as well.
“Our goal is for every single Jewish student to feel the spirit and the joy of the holiday even while in college,” Rabbi Tiechtel said. “That is why we host the services and meals on campus to enable all to feel welcome and embraced.”
For more information about services at KU Hillel, contact Ira Kirschner at . For more information at KU Chabad, contact Rabbi Tiechtel at .
Watching a service streamed online is an option for those who don’t belong to a congregation or who are unable to attend services in person. While no local congregations are streaming services, there are several Reform and Conservative congregations across the country that provide that service.
Jewish Community Chaplain Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick believes the availability of streaming services has helped many people in our community.
“Sheldon Wishna, may his memory be a blessing, was a strong proponent of this because he had his own situation of being stuck inside for several months … and started getting connected on his tablet through one of the synagogues in New York City,” Rabbi Rudnick explained.
Through Wishna’s efforts, Rabbi Rudnick believes residents of some senior communities, including the Atriums and Town Village, have been connected to the holidays through online services.
One Conservative congregation that streams services is Temple Beth El in Springfield, Massachusetts, led by Rabbi Amy Walkk Katz, Ph.D. Rabbi Katz was an assistant rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom and taught Melton classes here for several years.
Here are three streaming services you can sample:
Conservative — Temple Beth El, tbespringfield.org (click on the round button “Chapel Services Live” in the upper left corner.) Shabbat morning services are at 8:30 a.m. Central. Evening holiday services are at 5 p.m. Sept. 29 and Oct. 8. Morning holiday services are at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9.
Conservative — B’Nai Jeshrun, bj.org/spiritual-life/live/ (click on Spiritual Life and then BJ Livestream). Kabbalat Shabbat is streamed at 5:30 p.m. Central every Friday; Shabbat Morning services are streamed at 8:30 a.m. every Saturday. Morning holiday services start at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9.
Reform — Central Synagogue, centralsynagogue.org/worship/live_streaming. Erev Shabbat, 5 p.m. Central; 8:30 a.m. Shabbat. Holiday times not yet available. Contact the synagogue at 212-838-5122.
