BBYO WILL KEEP US TOGETHER … — It’s not a surprise to anyone who knows me that I have a soft spot in my heart for BBYO because it was a very important part of my teen years. I can honestly say what I learned in BBG — specifically Heart of America BBG — has helped me in some way through every phase of my life that followed, including and especially all my work here at The Chronicle.
Republican Joy Koesten is challenging two-term incumbent Jerry Lunn in the Aug. 2 primary for the seat in District 28 of the Kansas House of Representatives. Koesten is a member of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah and Kehilath Israel Synagogue.
Chef Moshe Basson learned to cook from his mother, his grandparents and the Arab women in in the neighborhood where he grew up.
IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL — Next month the School of Education of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem plans to honor the memory of the late Professor Seymour Fox. While Fox never lived in the Kansas City area, he is related to all of the Leskys in the area, who “are very proud of his achievements.”
Over the years the Kansas City Jewish community has become known for its cooperative endeavors. In that spirit, Congregations Beth Shalom and Ohev Sholom have agreed to join together for morning minyan three days a week at Village Shalom. The Conservative congregations will pray together for Shacharit services on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Two Arab-Israeli teenage girls stabbed a security guard near the Ramla central bus station on Thursday, Feb. 4. Many Kansas Citians are familiar with Ramla as the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City provides funding for several programs in the area.
SMILE, YOU’RE ON CANDID CAMERA — The focus of our spring Jewish Life magazine is on teens who recently became a Bar or Bat Mitzvah here in the Kansas City area.
“The Jewish community should be extremely proud.”
Led by Barry Kaseff, the local Jewish community banded together to build a “Mitzvah House,” for Heartland Habitat for Humanity. Mark Naster, Heartland Habitat’s director of corporate and foundation relations, announced the coming together of an entire Jewish community “has not been done by any other Habitat affiliate in the country.”
It has been almost two years since a senseless hate crime took the lives of Dr. William Lewis Corporon, his grandson Reat Griffin Underwood, and Teresa LaManno. On April 13, 2014, Dr. Corporon and Reat were killed in the parking lot of the Jewish Community Campus where Reat was to audition for a singing competition; LaManno was killed in the parking lot of Village Shalom where her mother lived.
Thirteen is that uneasy, angst-filled and shaky time of life when one tries hardest to fit in while one’s body is filling out. As one 13-year-old recently posted as her status, “So far, being 13 is like one long extended pimple.” For most Jewish kids, approaching or turning 13 also means becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
