While in Israel on sabbatical this past winter, Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff learned about a Kabbalat Shabbat service at Port Tel Aviv right on the Mediterranean Sea. The more he learned about it, the more he wanted to bring a similar Kabbalat Shabbat service here. So The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah is doing just that: three erev Shabbats this summer — beginning tomorrow, Friday, June 21, as well as July 19 and Aug. 16 at Gezer Park in Leawood.

“Summers are for enjoying nature and sounds and sights of the world around us. So, it seems summer-ish to enjoy Shabbat outdoors,” Rabbi Nemitoff explained.

The evening begins with Bisseleh Nosh at 5:30 p.m. The one-hour service will begin at 6 p.m. It is open to the community. Those planning to attend should bring chairs and blankets to sit on.

Gezer Park, while not the Mediterranean Sea, was chosen because it’s a unique spot that brings the spirit of Israel, especially the Gezer Region, right here to Johnson County. The Gezer Region just happens to be the sister city of Leawood and the region the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City works closely with as well.

“Included in the park are a sculpture of Jacob’s Ladder, a copy of the oldest agricultural calendar known (the Gezer Calendar), and a Havdalah Garden. Celebrating Shabbat in this setting brings a bit of Israel — its history and spirituality — to our experience,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

B’nai Jehudah’s senior rabbi explained these Shabbat at Gezer Park services will be come-as-you-are gatherings that will be very relaxed and full of music. A simple 8 ½ by 14-inch piece of paper will replace the prayerbook for these services.

Outdoor services have been around for centuries. Rabbi Nemitoff explained in his weekly Bisseleh Bytes email to congregants last week that in the “16th century, Jewish mystics in Safed, Israel, would go out into the fields on Friday evening, in order to welcome Shabbat. So excited and filled with joy to have this island of time to relax and reflect, they would literally go out so that Shabbat would arrive earlier ... just like we often go out our own front doors to the cars when family and friends arrive at our homes! On these three Friday nights, we go outside, to be part of nature ... as we welcome Shabbat.”

Music will be provided at these three services by a group of musicians new to B’nai Jehudah.

“We are creating a vibe and a sound and feeling that we hope will be both joyful and spiritual and moving for people. We hope it will appeal to all ages,” the rabbi said.

“Our service will be 90 percent musical and we hope that folks will join in and sing with us every moment of our tefillah. Through participatory singing, we will raise each other up to a place of joy,” he continued.

B’nai Jehudah has done a lot of experimentation with prayer for the last two years. When the formal experimentation ended last year, a group of lay people in the congregation led by Rabbi Neal Schuster, who is also a member, analyzed the data, comprised of 547 responses from 28 different services.

“What we heard was two things. Music and message were the most important aspects of tefillah for people who came,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

“They wanted music that was embracing and joyful. Whenever we had that kind of a service that was more focused on music, our attendance was higher. Our people’s sense of being uplifted as they left the service was higher and it’s clearly one of the things that is driving people to find meaning and spirituality in their lives.

“So we’ve heard that. People want participatory music and we are going to try that in these three services,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

The rabbi is hoping several hundred people will come to each of these services.

“If we have a great response we’ll have people return. It may determine where we go as a congregation in terms of tefillah. We don’t know. But we are hoping this is going to touch people in a very special place,” the rabbi said.

These services are being marketed toward unaffiliated Jews in the community.

“But we invite anybody who wants to who would not otherwise be at this synagogue to experience Shabbat with us these three times. We do not want anybody else’s numbers. But we’d love to have the world see what we’re doing. We’d love to have non-Jews come to this service. We want people to see what Shabbat can be like. Nothing would be more wonderful to us than if we had 300 people and 100 of them were people who we have never seen before. And if we never see them again, that’s OK too,” he said.

The goal of these three services, Rabbi Nemitoff said, is to create a spiritual and joyful moment and to teach people that Shabbat can be celebrated in many different ways — outside or inside.

“We really, really want people to embrace it and find great meaning in what they are doing for that hour period,” he said.

“The Port of Tel Aviv is not 133rd and Mission and 133rd and Mission is not the Port of Tel Aviv. But we hope people will see us and they’ll be intrigued by it and they’ll come and celebrate Shabbat with us. We just hope that it will be this incredibly wonderful experience,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

Parking is extremely limited at Gezer Park, so participants are urged to park cars in the Price Chopper parking lot on the south side of 133rd Street and walk across the street. Organizers also are encouraging people to bring a Shabbat picnic dinner to the service. A special price for a four-piece chicken dinner at McKeever’s Price Chopper will be available those three evenings.

For more information about Shabbat in Gezer Park or to learn more about ordering a meal from McKeevers, contact B’nai Jehudah at 913-663-4050.

While presenting what is usually Rabbi Daniel’s Rockoff’s monthly lunch-and-learn in Village Shalom Monday, June 3, I was reminded why I decided to return to Kansas City. I entered the room to speak to a group of elderly women and one gentleman expecting to be teaching what I had prepared. When I left, I had learned as much, if not more, from their wisdom and warmth and had gained a new understanding of the material for myself.

For the fourth consecutive summer, Congregation Beth Israel Abraham & Voliner has hosted a group of interns from Yeshiva University so that they “will become part of the K.C. BIAV community for the month, spending their days working at a variety of exciting internships, and dedicating their nights to energizing and learning Torah to the Jewish community.” Now that I’m in my second year in the program, I can testify that this description is only half of the story.

For instance Ora Laufer, a 20-year-old participant from Monsey, N.Y., explained her experience, this way: “It may be cliché, but we are getting way more than we are giving. To see lay-leaders step up to service the community’s needs is inspiring to us as a group.”

This attitude has pervaded the trip, with all the interns immediately seeing what they could learn from the community. David Muller, a 22-year-old participant from Cleveland, felt that this was “the perfect transition from college to the real-world.” “While at Yeshiva University, we learned a lot about being in the workplace while living a life of service to one’s community. This is the perfect chance to see it firsthand.”

Muller continued to discuss how impressed he was at the seamless teamwork that allowed the community to operate smoothly.

At 37 years old, Chad King, president-elect for the Overland Park Rotary Club, will be the youngest incoming president in the club’s history. His one-year term will begin July 1. King, who is Jewish, has been a member of the Overland Park Rotary Club for nine years and is a recipient of a Paul Harris Fellow award, the club’s most coveted honor.

King is at least the fifth Jewish person to serve as president of the Overland Park Rotary Club. Previous Jewish presidents include Jeff Goodman, Melynn Sight, Mary Cohen and Art Ruben.

King has been extremely active in the club, serving as secretary and vice president, and currently president elect. He also serves on the Overland Park Rotary Club Foundation Board and on the Star Spangled Spectacular Board.

King is an independent contractor of a Farmers Insurance Group in Overland Park. He said as a small business owner, he doesn’t have the time or the money to do the things that Rotary can do on a regional or international basis.

“Rotary is an awesome way to do a lot, to be part of something bigger. Our club has helped support a library in Cambodia and a school in Mali; we’re in the process now of building a water project for a village in Tibet. These are amazing, wonderful things that I can’t do on my own and we get to change the world in that way,” he said.

King said Rotary took on the challenge to end polio 20-some years ago when polio was active in 40 to 50 countries. Now, only 1 percent of the population of the world is at risk of contracting polio.

On a local level, in addition to supporting Safehome, Hillcrest Transitional Housing, Deanna Rose Farmstead, and countless other organizations, Overland Park Rotary Club is responsible for the Star Spangled Spectacular — the fireworks display at Corporate Woods during the 4th of July.

“The city provides the fireworks and Corporate Woods is a partner for the space,” King said. “We sell to the vendors and our club members are out there selling soda and beer the day of [the display].”

Rotary raises corporate sponsorships to put the fireworks display together. Each year, the event raises funds for deserving local charities in the Kansas City area. The proceeds go to the Overland Park Rotary Club Foundation Board, which gives the money to charities that support Rotary’s mission. This year, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties, Ozanam and the Rotary Youth Leadership Institute will be receiving donations from the event.

“We give them (charities) a sizeable five-figure check,” King said.

King’s goals as incoming president of the Overland Park Rotary Club are to engage the members to get and give more out of their membership as well as connecting and engaging with other Rotarians in the district.

King and his wife Amanda Morgan King, who is a member of the Jewish Federation board, and their 10-year-old daughter Susanna are members of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah and live in Overland Park.

For more information about the Overland Park Rotary Club, go to OPRotary.org.

The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah was one of eight winners of the 2013 Union for Reform Judaism Belin Outreach and Membership Awards. The Belin Outreach and Membership Awards have been designed to encourage and honor Reform synagogues with outstanding outreach and membership programs, which actively welcome and integrate those new to Judaism, create relationship-based membership models, or develop new, innovative ways to engage and retain members.

Eight winners were awarded $1,000, funded through the generosity of the late David Belin, the first chair of the URJ-CCAR Joint Commission on Outreach and Membership. Nine other congregations received honorable mention for their exceptional programs. All winners and honorable mentions will be honored at the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial in San Diego in December.

B’nai Jehudah was recognized for its IJP (Individual Jewish Path) program. IJP was modeled after individual educational programs used in the school systems. B’nai Jehudah’s IJP invites members to explore where they see themselves in their Jewish life and through the process of sharing conversations, develop a program (path) for their own personal Jewish growth or development.

Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff said it’s a big honor to be recognized as having one of the best outreach programs by the URJ, which counts about 950 Reform congregations as its members.

“This is an amazing thing that we are doing,” he said.

“Our goal is that every congregant will pursue an individualized Jewish path and in so doing the individual, the community and the world become better,” he said.

Rabbi Nemitoff said whenever he or Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner have shared the program with other congregations across the country, they’ve often heard, “Oh my god, why didn’t we think of this.”

“We really began about four or five years ago using the language of Jewish journeys before anybody else did. I’m very proud of what our people did because our congregation came up with this idea, not us, as part of our shared visioning and it’s been phenomenal. It’s been a major, major piece of what’s made our congregation so strong recently,” he said.

The IJP program was honored as Program of the Year two years ago by the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. Reform Judaism magazine also highlighted the program in a recent issue.

This program is one of the reasons B’nai Jehudah, unlike other congregations across the country, is gaining members. Rabbi Nemitoff said the congregation now has about 1,050 member units and it actually grew by 30 families in the past year.

“We are in great shape financially. Our congregation has been incredibly generous. We’re on very stable ground. We don’t owe anybody any money and we have a lovely endowment. Our religious school has grown this year. We have a new preschool director and so we are rebuilding that. Things are really great right now,” he said.

URJ Senior Vice President Rabbi Jonah Pesner said for the past 18 years, the Belin Awards have encouraged Reform congregations to find innovative ways to welcome and engage those who might find a home in our congregations, bringing new life to our communities.

“The winners exemplify the Jewish mitzvot of ahavat ger, loving the stranger, and keruv, drawing near those who are far.”

Rabbi Nemitoff said he felt privileged that he actually knew David Belin. He described him as one of the strongest advocates for outreach in the Reform Movement before he passed away.

“He was brilliant and passionate about the need for us to engage people and meet people where they are at. He wrote a masterful book called ‘What Judaism Offers You.’ To this day I use the booklet,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

“I use it in our Introduction to Judaism class because in 40 pages it is probably the best summary I’ve ever seen for why somebody should be Jewish. It’s masterful,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

For more information about the Belin awards, visit: http://urj.org/cong/outreach/belin/.

MINI BBYO REUNION — If you are a member of the classes of 1975 and 1976 — or a few years before or a few years after — stop by the annual Bowling with Barb event at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, July 14, to get a little extra shmooze time. The actual fundraising event for Mitochondrial Disease, a disease under the umbrella of Muscular Dystrophy, will be held at the Ward Parkway Lanes and begins at 2 p.m. This will give the BBYOers of that generation a chance to chat and catch up with friends they may not have seen in many years. For more information about the mini reunion, the event, or how to make a donation, contact Barb Mendelsohn at 816-589-1144 or .

ISRAELI SCOUTS COMING HERE — Over the weekend you may run into a group of 12 Israeli Scouts and two leaders who are arriving from the Gezer Region Friday to attend Camp Naish in Wyandotte County. Before and after camp a group of families, most of whom are connected with Boy Scout Troop 61, will be hosting these teens and leaders. We’ll tell you more about their experiences here in an upcoming issue.

YIDDISHE KOP — A loyal reader sent us this interesting tidbit. We don’t know where it originated, so unfortunately we can’t properly credit the author.

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $1.2 billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300 Celsius.

Confronted with the same problem, the Israelis used a pencil.

APP TEACHES CHALLAH BAKING — Let’s Bake Challah!, the new app from G-dcast, is the first children’s app to offer a Jewish cultural experience in a playful way. Mix challah, braid it, bake it, decorate it, bless it and eat it — it’s the whole megillah on your mobile. The app is also an experiential way for children to learn how to bake and practice rituals like saying Hebrew blessings over bread. The app is available for free in the iTunes store at: http://appstore.com/LetsBakeChallah.

“Watching my three-year-old son spend hours on my phone during long plane flights and car trips decorating everything from balloons to cupcakes made it obvious that we needed to make a Jewish contribution to the early childhood mobile space,” G-dcast’s Executive Director Sarah Lefton said. “We knew that if we designed something to be as fun as it is educational, then kids would embrace it.”

Let’s Bake Challah! is G-dcast’s first offering for the preschool set. Designed to be easy to use by the pre-literate child, the app builds not only Jewish literacy but also fine motor skills as kids swipe to knead bread, shake salt on top and sprinkle on sesame, poppy and more exotic toppings to their hearts’ delight. Activities are narrated by the parent’s choice of a female or male voice.

G-dcast is a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to raising basic Jewish literacy through online videos, games and mobile apps. Visit www.g-dcast.com for hours of playfully animated learning.

A local Jewish student was denied entry into the United Kingdom late last month. After being detained for more than nine hours, he was put back on a plane to the United States by customs officials. During that time he was never told why he was being denied entry. He was told his photo and fingerprints have now been placed in a database that will make it difficult for him to obtain entry into the U.K. or any other E.U. country.

The U.K. man who had offered Louis “Chip” Cantor summer work experience and is not Jewish, Kevin Shilling, said the U.K. Border Agency agent he spoke to in his attempt to get Cantor admitted into the country made more than one anti-Semitic comment to him during the telephone conversation they had.

Chip Cantor told his story to two local television stations last week. On Tuesday, June 4, the 23-year-old student told KMBC he was traveling to the U.K. to visit and gain summer work experience and to participate in a fundraiser for a child who has cancer. He left Kansas City on Wednesday, May 29, on an early-morning flight and waited in line to go through customs after landing in the country after 10 p.m. London time. When he got to the front of the line, a female customs agent began looking at his passport and treated him courteously. The routine exercise ended when she noticed the two pages in his passport with Israeli visas.

“I spent my freshman year studying abroad in Israel,” he said.

Cantor is no longer speaking publicly about the incident.

“I am feeling ‘publicized out’ at the moment,” he commented via email.

In the same email, Chip wrote that he never really wanted to tell his story publicly.

“My only real goal with this fiasco is to get my fingerprints and picture removed from their database and the blacked out stamp in my passport removed as well,” he said.

Cantor said he understands people with Israel visas are frequently denied entry into countries all over the world.

“Usually with very little explanation as to why they are being denied entry. It is sad, but it is the reality we are living in. This will, of course, never change my love for Israel, it will only make it grow stronger,” he said.

The Cantor family has contacted the office of Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts for assistance in getting Chip Cantor’s name cleared.

The customs nightmare

Chip’s father Chuck Cantor said his son told him the female customs agent — who for some reason was not dressed in a customs uniform — was very pleasant toward him until she saw the Israel stamps in his passport. Then she simply walked away with his passport without speaking a word to him. Chip told his father he estimates she was gone 45 minutes to an hour. He never saw her again.

“He has a lot of Israel stamps,” Chuck said. Chip has been to Israel several times including two programs sponsored by Young Judaea — the six-week Machon program and a gap-year program. Chip Cantor graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 2009 and will be a senior in the fall at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Finally, according to Chuck, a different, uniformed customs agent came to see him. Chip was told they were taking his bags and detaining him for questioning. He was not told why.

Once in the interview room Chip told his father that he was told if he changed any of his answers to any questions, he was going to go to prison.

“He said, ‘Why would I change my answers? I told you the truth,’ ” Chuck said.

Chip wasn’t allowed to be in sight of his luggage and eventually was put into what he described to his father as a detention cell.

“At some point a woman who was wearing a burka came to the cell to photograph him,” Chuck said. At that point he was fingerprinted as well.

As she’s doing this, she said to him, “We’re putting your name and fingerprints and photos into a database. From now on it is going to be very difficult for you to ever travel in the United Kingdom or anywhere in the E.U. It will be up to each individual country to decide if they want to admit you,” Chuck said his son was told.

Chuck said Chip kept telling the customs agents he had not committed any crimes or done anything wrong. Eventually another agent came to tell Chip he was being deported. Now several hours after he was detained, Chip was given the opportunity to call his father.

Chuck said he advised his son to ask to speak to someone from the American consulate or the U.S. embassy. Those requests were denied.

At this point, Chuck asked to speak directly to the customs agent and was connected with Philip G. Yeomans.

“I was trying to get my son into that country. I was very calm. I called him sir, I was very respectful,” said Chuck, who continued to explain that he was sure his son had the appropriate paperwork to enter the country.

After Chuck spoke to Yeomans, he contacted Shilling in the U.K. for assistance. It was about 3 a.m. U.K. time. Shilling called Yeomans.

Shilling noted the conversation didn’t accomplish anything. Several times, however, Yeomans made anti-Semitic comments to Shilling. At one point, when Shilling was explaining the reason Chip was in the country, the customs agent told Shilling that Chip should have lied to the customs agent, adding, “A Jewish kid would find that easy,” Shilling reported.

Yeomans the custom agent also told Shilling any additional attempts to aid Cantor would be useless and “the little Jew will be on his way back to his rich daddy,” in a matter of hours.

Chuck Cantor said during the time Chip was in detention, he was given only a half of a sandwich and very little water. When Chip asked for more food and water over several hours, he was alternately denied, told to “stop pestering” them, and told he could have water “only if you say please.”

In the morning, Chip was escorted to the plane by another customs agent for a flight back to the United States. At this time Chip asked the agent for his passport and was refused.

“The guy walks him onto the plane and in front of everyone, like a prisoner, he says here is this man’s passport. Do not give him his passport until you land in the United States,” Chuck said he was told. The American Airlines purser told Chip that, in 17 years flying internationally, he had never seen anything like it.

Less than 36 hours after leaving Kansas City, Chip was back in town.

Shilling, Chip’s would-be employer in the U.K., is helping the Cantors try to clear the young man’s name there. When contacted by The Chronicle Shilling said, “I’m really so sorry for Chip and the way he was treated. I want to reassure all your readers that if they plan a visit to the U.K., once they get past the U.K. Border Agency they will find friendly, welcoming people, without prejudice.”

Before 9/11, Sheila Sonnenschein lived comfortably among mostly Jewish people. A meeting with a Muslim woman following that tragic event not quite 12 years ago grew into a strong friendship and eventually opened a variety of new doors for Sonnenschein. One has been the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, an organization she has been leading since the beginning of this year.

Sonnenschein is officially GKCIC’s convener and will serve in that position until the last day of 2014. She explained that as its convener, she acts as a facilitator who tries to bring people together in some kind of consensus.

“But in essence, it is like being president,” Sonnenschein said.

GKCIC bills itself as “Building the most welcoming community for all people.” Its website says the organization is “growing a sustainable, pervasive culture of knowledge, respect, appreciation and trust amongst people of all faiths and religious traditions in the greater Kansas City community.”

Sonnenschein said GKCIC tries to educate people around the Kansas City community about different religions. It does so through a variety of programs “where everyone is invited to come and learn.”

“Educating people about different faiths and cultures helps break down stereotypes. It also prevents stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination,” Sonnenschein said.

GKCIC programs include its annual Tables of Faiths luncheon, Food and Thought Dinners, two book clubs, a monthly discussion group called Vital Conversations, a speakers bureau and its upcoming Midsummer’s Light (for more information, see box). Details regarding GKCIC programs are on its website, kcinterfaith.org.

GKCIC was established in 1989 as the Kansas City Interfaith Council (KCIFC) by the Rev. Vern Barnet. The council became its own non-profit organization in 2005. The following 15 faiths are officially a part of the organization: American Indian Spirituality, Baha’i Faith, Buddhism, Christian-Protestant, Christian-Orthodox, Christian-Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Paganism, Sikhism, Sufism, Unitarian Universalism, Vedanta and Zoroastrianism.

Sonnenschein, a member of Congregation Beth Shalom, is the first Jewish person to be the group’s convener. Other Jewish people who serve as an adviser or director include Gayle Krigel and Susan Choucroun.

Advisers or directors either officially represent one of the 15 religions or are members at large. In 2005, Sonnenschein’s friend Mahnaz Shabbir, who was an at-large member, invited Sonnenschein to serve GKCIC as her alternate.

“At-large members are people who are a friend to interfaith and they don’t necessarily represent a religion. So even though Mahnaz is Muslim, she asked me to be her alternate because she and I have a lot of the same kind of thinking toward being open to others and working with people of different faiths,” Sonnenschein explained.

Sonnenschein immediately enjoyed her association with GKCIC.

“It just spoke to me. I really enjoyed meeting all these new people of all these different backgrounds and it really inspired me to understand others. I grew up in a Conservative Jewish home. I went to the Hebrew Academy through seventh grade. I was very involved in my Jewish heritage. I really didn’t have that many non-Jewish friends. That has now changed,” said Sonnenschein.

She eventually became active in the organization, serving as an at-large member, co-convener and planning programs such as the Tables of Faith luncheon and the predecessor of Midsummer’s Light, Winter’s Light. She said the upcoming Midsummer’s Light will feature stories, music and dance of different faiths and cultures, including the Tikvah Dancers.

“This is a way to educate people about different faiths and cultures that they may not have heard about or know much about,” she said.

Getting together with members of the GKCIC is always a learning experience, Sonnenschein said, even at business meetings. Those are held at 6 p.m. on the second Monday of the month at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church and are open to the public.

“For example as we talked about Midsummer’s Light we learned that the dancers needed to be dressed modestly,” Sonnenschein said, noting that some types of costumes are offensive to some religious groups.

Over the years Sonnenschein said members of GKCIC have learned to better understand what is acceptable, and sometimes not acceptable, to members of certain religions and have tried hard to balance those things. One of those is when to schedule programs.

“The other directors have learned over the years that the Jewish community would prefer not to have programs on the Jewish Sabbath. So we try not to schedule things from Friday night to Saturday night if at all possible. That is one thing people of other religions have learned about Judaism,” she said.

“Until there was a Jewish presence on the council the directors didn’t really understand that and now they do, and it’s wonderful,” she added.

But, holding programs on Sundays isn’t ideal for some other religions, she pointed out.

“Programs held on a Sunday might preclude people who are Christian who go to church on a Sunday afternoon from attending. We are trying to balance it out,” Sonnenschein said.

Other than its advisers and members at large, GKCIC doesn’t have any official membership roster, although it has 2,300 people on its mailing list. But that’s about to change, Sonnenschein said, as the organization is preparing to launch a membership program where they can have official members.

In the meantime, one thing she wants people to be sure to understand about GKCIC is that members don’t try to convert one another to their particular religions and the group isn’t about interfaith marriage.

“In this context when we say interfaith, to me it means multi-faith in a sense of getting to know others because they are our neighbors. In the Interfaith Council there is no attempt at converting people to another religion. In actuality we are there to appreciate and respect other’s religions and just learn.

“What I have found, and what many others have found, is that when we learn about other religions we actually become more committed and more understanding of our own religion,” she said.

Midsummer’s Light

The Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council presents Midsummer’s Light: an afternoon of interfaith music, dance and storytelling, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, June 23, at the Kansas City Library, Plaza Branch. A reception follows the program, which is free and open to the public.

Syed Shabbir, 41 Action News reporter, will again emcee. In addition, he and his uncle, Shadman Shabbir, will perform traditional Middle Eastern music on the harmonium and violin.

The program also features crystal singing bowls and Sanskrit chants by Jeri Birdsall, Chinese Lion dancers and drummers, Gospel songs by Bryan Austin, Tikvah Israeli Dancers, “A Story of ‘Abdu’l-Baha,” by dramatist Joyce Stohr, a scene from the play “Harriet Tubman” by Shirley Johnson, a tribute to Swami Vivekananda by Hindu youth, and African drumming by Bird Fleming and youth members of the Traditional Music Society.

The event is co-sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library and Cultural Crossroads.

Many teens begin their summer vacation by hanging out at the pool or seeing a movie. But not Lissa Leibson. She will be traveling to Washington, D.C., next week to receive a special award from the United States Congress.

Lissa, who will be a senior at The Barstow school when school begins in August, decided to take part in the Congressional Award Program, a program open to American students ages 14 to 23, because she likes to be challenged.

“I wanted to stretch myself by setting a long term goal, working toward it, and then achieve it. I’d also been doing a lot of community service before starting the award program, but after signing up for the award, I finally had a goal in mind for my community service.”

Lissa has earned a gold award and will travel to Washington, D.C., with her mother Andrea Poisner-Corchine and her grandfather, Eugene Leibson, to receive it. The ceremony will be held Wednesday, June 19, at the Cannon House Building on Capitol Hill. The ceremonies are divided by state, and each will include a color guard presentation, invocation, speakers, and a brief introduction of each medalist as they receive their medals. Congressmen from each state present the medals to their state’s award recipients.

Participants can earn recognition in the Bronze, Silver and Gold categories. The average number of Bronze Medals awarded per year is roughly 2,500, Silver Medals average 1,200 and Gold Medals average 250 to 275. For the local area, Kansas has eight gold medalists, six silver medalists and eight bronze medalists.

The Congressional Award Program consists of four parts: Volunteer Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and Expedition/Exploration. Participants are required to set goals in each of the four areas.

Lissa believes she had a truly rewarding experience in each area.

Lissa’s goal in the Volunteer Public Service category was to improve the lives of children in the Kansas City area. In order to complete this goal, she volunteered with Cancer Action, with gym classes in Barstow’s lower school, The Ronald McDonald House, Operation Breakthrough and Summer at Barstow.

“Volunteering at Summer at Barstow Camp was where I first discovered my passion for working with younger kids,” Lissa said. “Being an only child and not knowing any kids in my old neighborhood, I have grown up mostly around adults. So, working with kids was out of my comfort zone. However, I learned to love working with younger kids and I have subsequently volunteered there each summer. I helped out in a variety of classes including sports, art and math programs. While volunteering, I also learned a lot from the campers, such as how to play the Pokémon card game and the alluring qualities of Silly Bandz.”

For Personal Development, she chose playing the piano and gardening with her parternal grandfather, Eugene Leibson.

“When I was in lower school, my grandpa and I started having a garden,” Lissa said. “However, I only helped out when it was time to pick our crops. As I got older, I wanted to have the satisfaction of knowing that I could grow my own food. I began researching the best kinds of crops to grow, planted, weeded and watered throughout the summer. The most rewarding part was after so many hours of watering and weeding, I finally got to eat the food that I grew.”

In the area of physical fitness, Lissa set her goal to learn to play tennis. She accomplished this goal with two different activities, practicing and conditioning. A secondary goal was to be selected her school’s junior varsity tennis team as a junior.

“To achieve this goal, I began taking tennis lessons during the off-season and even did a bit of conditioning to stay in shape,” Lissa said. “Unfortunately, toward the beginning of the season during my sophomore year, I pulled a muscle in my hip and was out for most of the season. However, I continued to take year-round lessons off-season. During the tennis season of my junior year, I played in the top four positions at each match. I also participated in the Sixth Annual JV Northtown Invitational in 2012 and our team placed first. I plan to make the Varsity team my senior year.”

For her exploration trip, Lissa decided to go to Israel with NCSY’s TJJ program.

“One of my favorite experiences was when we went to volunteer at an organization called Chazon Yish’aya,” she said. “This organization helps feed homeless people in Israel and also helps them find work. The day we were volunteering we were with another group of regular volunteers. I helped by washing and cutting onions to be put in the soup and by carrying watermelons to the room where other people cut them. The regular volunteers could barely speak English, and most of the teens on my trip could barely speak Hebrew. However, it was amazing how even though both groups of volunteers came from different cultures and spoke different languages, we could still come together and work toward the same goal: providing a positive impact on the local community.”

As she was able to relate a personal experience in every category, Lissa earned the highest honor, the Congressional Gold Award.

Getting involved is nothing new for Lissa. As a member of Congregation Beth Shalom and part of the Confirmation Class of 2012, she has taken part in several local Jewish group activities.

She is in BBG’s Saadia chapter as well as a part of Kansas City’s NCSY youth group. She enjoys NCSY for the social aspects and the sense of Jewish heritage it brings to her life.

“I love NCSY because I used to go to HBHA when I was in lower school, and since leaving I’d felt as though I was losing my connection to Judaism,” she said. “But NCSY has helped me connect with Judaism again. I love hanging out with and learning from other kids who are so passionate about Judaism.”

Lissa said she would not have been able to complete all the requirements and be recognized as a congressional gold medalist without the support of her family — her mom and step-dad (Andrea Poisner-Corchine and Robert Corchine), her dad and step-mom (David Leibson and Barbara Kovacs), her maternal grandparents (Lorraine Chadwick and Rita and Larry Poisner) and her paternal grandfather (Eugene Leibson).

If you ask Patricia Werthan Uhlmann why she chose to take on the responsibility of leading the Jewish Federation as the incoming board of directors’ chair, it quickly becomes clear that it is about linking her own history as a Jewish woman to the future of Jewish life.

“I’m honored to take on this tremendous responsibility. I’m paying it forward — for the future of my family, and of this community. I want to see the Federation engage and grow and strengthen,” said Uhlmann.

Uhlmann is well qualified to take on the role with her long history of serving the Jewish community. She is currently wrapping up her position as chair of the Jewish Federation’s Allocations Committee. Previous Federation roles include Campaign co-chair and Women’s Division (now Women’s Philanthropy) president. Uhlmann also currently serves on the executive committee of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), where she is vice chair of the 100th Anniversary JDC “Shabbat Around the World.” She has also been chair of JDC’s Europe Committee, as well as chair of JDC’s International Development Program.

“For many years, Tricia has been a great friend to the Jewish Federation and the Jewish community. She truly embodies our mission — to sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world — dedicating her time to garner resources and improve the lives of those in Kansas City and around the world through her JDC work,” said Miriam Scharf, who will complete her term as Jewish Federation board chair in September.

Said Todd Stettner, executive vice president and CEO of Jewish Federation, “From the moment I met Tricia over a decade ago, I was impressed with her warmth, energy and passion. These qualities have enabled Tricia to make a positive impact. Because of her local, national and international relationships she has developed, I think Tricia is perfectly positioned to lead the Jewish Federation, bringing innovative ideas from around the globe to our own community. I look forward to working with her.”

As for what to expect when Uhlmann takes the helm:

“I feel it’s important to turn to our younger leaders, engaging them to help reinvigorate and re-imagine the future of Kansas City’s Jewish community. It’s their time to develop innovative and creative ideas to imagine, plan, and invest in our future, but it’s up to all of us — whatever our age — to continue to work together to achieve this goal,” said Uhlmann.

“There are so many exciting opportunities available, and I want everyone to know that their gift — of time, talent or treasure — truly means something. It is so much more meaningful to give when you are part of something and enjoy seeing the benefits of the work you do and the things you care about. My family taught me by example: It’s better, and more fun, to give with warm hands.”

Uhlmann will officially become board chair on Sept. 10, at the Jewish Federation’s Annual Meeting. More information about the event will be available soon at jewishkansascity.org.

Sagee Tal strolls along the beachfront to meet me at a little seaside café next to his apartment in Haifa, Israel. Having left his suits and ties back in the States, he has embraced the Israeli workplace uniform of jeans and T-shirts. It is a windy weekday and despite being in the midst of exams, Tal takes some time out from revision to reflect on the past year and a half as an American medical student studying at the Technion in Israel.

The son of Alex and Orna Tal, Sagee Tal was born in Houston and at an early age moved to Kansas City, growing up in the Jewish community and attending Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy.

“My Mom taught Hebrew at HBHA and I have fond memories of the JCC. It felt like my second home.” recalled Tal.

Tal’s father is an endocrinologist and it was his career that brought the family to the heart of America. Dr. Alex Tal worked at the Truman Medical center and UMKC for many years prior to moving to Pittsburgh, Pa., where they currently reside.

“My Dad grew up on one of the first kibbutzim in Israel, Degania Bet on the banks of the Sea of Galilee,” Tal explained. “He was the son of Russian immigrants and he was raised on the kibbutz by his aunt while his mother chose to live in a larger city.”

Eventually Tal’s father, too, left the kibbutz for the city, this time to Tel Aviv to study medicine. Here he qualified as a doctor, met Sagee’s mother and, following his army service during the Yom Kippur war, they moved to America in pursuit of the American dream.

“My dad always wanted me to be a doctor,” explained Tal. “My sister had succumbed to parental persuasion to follow his lead in medicine but I was more resistant.”

Tal moved to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and studied economics.

“Medicine was always at the back of my mind so I took the medical pre-req courses, just  in case.”

Tal graduated, began a career in economics but again, medicine beckoned, and he studied for the MCAT (medical entrance) exams, just in case.

Realizing that he was not cut out for the business world, medicine yet again beckoned, and this time Tal realized that indeed medicine was the career for him. Concurrently, as Tal confirmed to his father that he would be following the family tradition and pursuing a career in medicine, his paternal grandmother took ill in Israel. Tal’s father rushed to her bedside in Rambam hospital in Haifa and during his visit happened to hear a gaggle of eager medical students speaking English with their mentor.

So impressed with the depth of their knowledge and positive approach to their medical education, Dr. Alex Tal made enquiries as to where these medical students were training. Upon discovering that they were studying at an American medical school program based in the Technion, and with his son’s future medical career at the forefront of his mind, he researched the program before returning to America.

“My Dad was really enthusiastic about the Technion American Medical School program (TeAMS). I had the required grades and while I had planned to apply for medical school the following year, on a whim I decided to send in an application. The TeAMS program has a rolling application scheme so I applied on the off chance that I would be able to interview in the summer vacation,” said Tal. “Almost immediately I received a reply informing me that I could be considered for entry that year [2011], if I flew out to Israel straightaway to interview as there would be no more U.S.-based interviews.”

Tal took a week to weigh his options; he consulted his parents, friends and other medical school students.

“I had always wanted to spend time in Israel and I knew of the Technion’s excellent reputation. Upon hearing such positive feedback from TeAMS students, I decided to take the chance and fly (to Israel) the following week for interviews.”

At the end of June 2011 Tal arrived in Haifa, impressed the Technion’s admissions team, and was accepted to the program.

On Oct. 4, 2011, Tal arrived in Israel to begin his medical studies, two days after leaving his job in economics, and he hasn’t looked back since.

“I don’t think I could be having a better experience. The studies are interesting, it is taught well, and being in Israel on the beach is wonderful,” Tal exudes. “I love Bat Galim [in Haifa], it’s extremely relaxed and I live close to other students, in a beachfront apartment, just a few minutes’ walk from the medical school.”

While first-year classes were more ‘science-y,’ Tal says that this year, his second year, is directly related to the clinical medicine that he is beginning to practice.

“Some of my classes take place in Rambam hospital, with real patients, practicing the clinical skills previously learnt theoretically.”

Israel’s informal culture allows medical school students to access top doctors from day one.

“We see what residents see in the states. Everything is much more relaxed here so you can go up to any doctor and ask to shadow them. Not only that, but when you are shadowing them they often involve you in their medical procedures.”

While medical school is undoubtedly an incredibly demanding experience, Tal says that he manages to find time to socialize with local students, spend Shabbat meals with the local community and enjoy the best of what Israel has to offer.

“The Israeli lifestyle is great, people are friendly, more family orientated, less competitive and I even find the Israeli chutzpah endearing!”

Tal’s classmates come from across the United States and Canada. From Quebec to New York, from Ohio to California, all with one goal in common: to be the next generation of American doctors (with a little bit of Israeli chutzpah picked up along the way.)

Anna Harwood writes about Israeli innovation, science and culture. She moved to Israel from London two years ago.