Rabbi Mendy Wineberg believes that the ideal situation is for every member of the Jewish community to have a place of worship within close proximity to their home. While he knows Chabad House Center of Kansas City can’t open a location on every corner where a Jewish family lives, he knows they can do the next best thing; open up a Chabad House where the most number of Jewish people live.
St. Louis — Sam Fox still recalls the day many years ago that a friend asked him to speak to a young Bryan Cave lawyer who was writing a book on management. Grudgingly, the busy businessman and philanthropist agreed to spare half an hour as a favor.
SevenDays-Make A Ripple, Change the World is the overarching theme of a series of community events scheduled April 7-13 to commemorate the tragic events that took place a year ago outside of the Jewish Community Campus and Village Shalom. Three innocent people — Dr. William Corporon, his grandson Reat Underwood and Teresa LaManno — lost their lives at the hands of a Neo-Nazi shooter.
When Barry Kaseff of Leawood turned 40, he didn’t want a big party. Instead, he asked family and friends to join him for the day in building a Habitat for Humanity home.
ROCKING FOR CANCER RESEARCH — For the fifth time, AEPi at the University of Kansas held a rock-a-thon to raise funds for awareness for a philanthropy. For 48 hours last week, an AEPi brother rocked in a chair on Wescoe Beach.
Since the tender age of 3, Samuel Bak has always known he would be an artist. A Jew born in Vilna, Poland, in 1933, the year Hitler came to power, he has said his paintings “come from a compulsive need to give meaning to the miraculous fact of my survival.”
It’s been a long time since Bernie Pucker lived in Kansas City and attended Congregation Beth Shalom. But Pucker’s love for his hometown, and his lifelong respect and admiration for his boyhood spiritual leader, Rabbi Gershon Hadas, is a big reason Kansas Citians will be able to view the upcoming exhibit “ILLUMINATIONS: The Art of Samuel Bak.”
Jewish identity experts will emphasize three areas when advising parents how to raise a child to become an involved Jewish adult: visit Israel, belong to a Jewish youth movement and attend Jewish overnight camp. At least two local Reform congregations — Congregation Beth Torah and The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah — think sending their children to overnight camp is so important that they send their religious school directors there as well.
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, The J, has taken the first step to find a new leader to replace Jacob Schreiber, who resigned as president and CEO last month. His last day was Jan. 23.
AM YISRAEL CHAI — Some people never get a chance to celebrate the completion of a new Torah. I have been privileged to witness such a momentous occasion three times in the past four years — each time it has been an exciting and heartwarming experience. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}Sunday’s Torah Completion Ceremony at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life at KU did not disappoint and the very cold weather did not keep approximately 150 people including KU students and parents, KU dignitaries such as Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, the mayor of Lawrence and a large group of KU Chabad supporters from attending. As Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel said, the completion of this Torah, which took seven months, tells the story of the vibrancy of the KU community. The Torah was written in Jerusalem and students and members of the community had opportunities to write letters all over campus and feel proud as they were reminded by the rabbi that, “One letter is as you have written the whole thing.” The Tiechtels have been in Lawrence for nine years now and have seen the Jewish community at KU grow by leaps and bounds, and he noted he was beyond delighted to share the day with everyone, also saying it will be a moment we will always treasure and remember. Indeed, it may be the one and only time I will ever see a school mascot, in this case Big Jay, help as the scribe, Rabbi Berel Sosover, writes a letter in the Torah! There was truly a lot of love, excitement and ruach in Lawrence on Sunday. Mazel tov!
