The Jewish community will get together Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Jewish Community Campus to stand together in solidarity with the people of Israel and pray for peace. The rally begins at 7:30 p.m.

Evan Traylor (right) is pictured with Tammara Durham, vice provost for student success at the University of Kansas.

JEWISH STUDENT HONORED AT KU — Evan Traylor was one of two University of Kansas seniors honored with the 25th annual Excellence in Community Education and Leadership Awards during halftime of the KU-Oklahoma homecoming football game Oct. 31. The other honoree is Hannah Reinhart.

photo by David Sosland Gus Eisemann

Over the last two years, Midwest Center for Holocaust Education staff have worked to preserve audio and videotaped testimonies of local Holocaust survivors and to make them accessible to the public on the MCHE website. These testimonies cover the geographic range of European Jewish experiences in the Holocaust as well as a variety of circumstances, including forced labor, hiding, death camps and emigration in the 1930s. This collection, available at www.mchekc/survivors, includes:

Rabbi Vered Harris

Rabbi Vered Harris, formerly the education rabbi at Congregation Beth Torah and now the spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, has long been committed to social justice. Her latest project is two-fold and it involves her long, blond hair.

Our Jewish Cub Scout Pack 3153 learned a little about empathy at its recent pack meeting. The theme was bravery and the Cubs made condolence cards for the families of firefighters Larry Leggio and John Mesh, and thank you cards for the two firehouses that suffered the losses after a building on fire collapsed on Independence Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, on Oct. 12.

GRAND GIVERS DEDICATED IN MEMORY OF SAM GOULD —Many people in the Jewish community loved Sam Gould, and he was well known for his love of baseball, sports, the Jewish community in general and Kehilath Israel Synagogue in particular. I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Gould, who insisted I call him Sam, until a few years ago when K.I. celebrated its 100th anniversary. To honor Sam, K.I. announced last week that its Grand Givers event, the congregation’s major fundraiser of the year set for Nov. 14, will be dedicated in his memory. I am told that Sam always supported Grand Givers and bringing in well-known talent to K.I.  He also led K.I. in many capacities, including as K.I. president in 1973 and 1979 and as an active K.I. board member for most of his life. The Lucy and Sam Gould Charitable Fund for Kehilath Israel is covering the cost of The Second City, which has produced premier comic talent for over 55 years. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. and includes entertainment, prizes, appetizers, desserts, drinks, and more! For more information, see the story on Page 3 or contact Elizabeth Peden, K.I. executive director, at 913-624-1880, ext. 203.

Rita and Irwin Blitt at the announcement of the Rita Blitt Archive at Washburn University's Mulvane Art Museum.

World-renowned award-winning artist Rita Blitt and her husband Irwin have selected Washburn University’s Mulvane Art Museum as a permanent home for a significant body of her life’s work. Blitt’s work — she’s a painter, sculptor and film maker — bridges the world of visual art, music and dance, and creates unique opportunities to explore and celebrate art where vision, sound and movement intersect.

Lo Cain available at Etsy and ebay.

My quest for a Hebrew Kansas City Royals shirt started at the end of last week when a loyal reader emailed me and said, “You should find that Lo Cain shirt I saw on TV.”

One of the popular classes for Jewish studies students at the University of Kansas is Intermediate Hebrew I.

Students at the University of Kansas can now officially earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jewish studies. The decision was finalized last month. Professor John Younger, director of KU’s Jewish studies program, said this week that four students have officially declared a Jewish studies major and a fifth may declare shortly.

Photo by Scott Fishman. Chavie and Rabbi Ari Adler with their children, Tzipporah, 5 years old (from Left), Yehoshua Baruch, 3 years old, Temina, 1 and a half years old, and Sara, 3 months.

The Kansas City Community Kollel said goodbye this summer to two of its veteran, eight-year employees this summer — Rabbis Elchanan Schulgasser and Binyomin Davis. The Kollel now operates with one part-time rabbi and his wife and several adjunct staff members.