Archived News

Ambassador Dennis Ross will be the first speaker in the inaugural lecture series “Truman and Israel,” which is co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Foundation and the Truman Library Institute. The William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Ambassador Ross worked toward Mideast Peace under Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and served as a consultant for other administrations. He recently completed and published the book, “Doomed to Succeed: The U.S. — Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama.”

Benny Harding will chair the 2016 Yom HaShoah/Holocaust Memorial Service, to be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at the Jewish Community Campus. Harding is the son of Dorothy Kuzeck Harding and Harry Harding, both of blessed memory.

On Tuesday, family and friends dedicated a memorial on the Jewish Community Campus honoring the lives of Dr. William Lewis Corporon, Reat Griffin Underwood and Terri LaManno. Dr. Corporon and his grandson Reat were killed in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Campus where Reat was to audition for the Jewish Community Center’s KC SuperStar singing competition. Terri LaManno was killed in the parking lot of Village Shalom, where her mother lived.

While the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City is not hosting a community seder this year, Chabad continues to offer seders. This year a first and second night seder meal will take place at The Shul — Chabad of Leawood, 5051 W. 134th St.

Today, April 14, marks the second anniversary of the murders of three people at Jewish sites in our community. Reat Underwood and Dr. William Corporon were shot in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Campus, and Teresa LaManno was killed in the parking lot of Village Shalom. That tragedy forced the Jewish community here, and others across the country, to re-evaluate their security plans.

By the end of 2016, Jewish Family Services will move and expand its Missouri operations. The social service agency, founded in 1901, has signed a long-term lease as the single tenant of a 13,116 square foot, three-story building just west of Holmes Road at 425 E. 63rd Street in Kansas City. The opportunity is structured such that JFS would lease the building for 15 years, and have the option to renew for up to 25 years. The announcement was made by Don Goldman at the agency’s annual Friends of the Family community breakfast and lunch on Wednesday, April 6. This space will replace the current offices the agency has in Missouri and will be located in Brookside East.

YASHER KOACH — Monday night Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy celebrated its 50th anniversary with a grand event at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The night was dedicated to the founders, alumni, educators and supporters who created and implemented a vision for a Jewish community day school.

Effective March 31, the Jewish Heritage Foundation and the Menorah Legacy Foundation merged into a single foundation to be known as the Menorah Heritage Foundation. The announcement was made last week by Frank Sterneck, president of the Jewish Heritage Foundation, and Jeffrey Kramer, M.D., president of the Menorah Legacy Foundation. The combined assets of JHF and MLF, based on Dec. 31, 2015, year-end valuations, are approximately $52.7 million.

The second SevenDays: Make A Ripple, Change the World celebration is set for April 12-18 and designed to strengthen a sense of community through mutual understanding among religions, races and cultures in the Kansas City area.

Johnson County Community College will stop offering Hebrew-language classes for college credit starting with this year’s fall semester due to budgetary constraints, low enrollment and other factors.