Archived News

JEWISH FEDERATION OPENS EMERGENCY FUND TO AID FRENCH JEWS — Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City stands in solidarity with the 500,000-strong French Jewish community, the families and friends of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo and kosher market shootings and the entire nation of France. For those interested in providing philanthropic support to the victims of recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Jewish Federation has opened the France Emergency Fund. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}The funds will be used to address security needs of the French Jewish community, as well as to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims and their families. To donate, go to www.jewishkansascity.org/france.

Beginning with the issue of Jan. 8, The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle is changing its website, www.kcjc.com, from a free website to a site available to subscribers only. Print subscribers will receive a digital subscription at no additional charge.

SINGING FOR CHARITY — As one of her Bat Mitzvah service projects, Kansas City native Kayla Israel recently hosted “An Evening for Eos,” a benefit concert to raise money and awareness for eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGID), which Kayla has been living with for many years. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}She now lives in Champaign, Ill, and was joined on stage at a theater there by her music teachers (Deb and Jim Dobbs) as well as three of her local theater friends (Maddie Henson, Ally Miller and Maddy Childress) for an evening of Broadway songs.

Good Shabbos KC, a new Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City program, hopes to be a hospitable way to bring Jews together for a monthly Shabbat dinner while raising awareness about its mission: To sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}Once a month on the first Friday of the month, beginning Feb. 6 (the Shabbat before Super Sunday) through and including Jan. 1, 2016, members of the Jewish community will invite people to their homes for a Shabbat dinner through this effort coordinated by Jewish Federation.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s mission is to sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world. It takes money to do that, which is why the Jewish Federation raises funds year round and makes annual allocations to fund a variety of programs locally and internationally. Representatives of two of those recipient agencies — the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee — were in town in mid-December to explain to leaders of the Jewish Federation what they are funding and why their donations to these agencies are vital to the welfare of Jews in Israel and overseas.

People of all faiths are invited to come together for a special service in support of civil rights and to further the work of an icon of the 20th century who strived to make all people equal. 

Since Dec. 25 is a national holiday when most people do not have to work, Jewish people often look for ways to spend the day. Optometrist Jeffry D. Gerson decided to spend it helping Jewish people in need by providing comprehensive eye exams, and in some cases, eyeglasses as well.

HAPPY HANUKKAH AT THE WHITE HOUSE — Village Shalom President and CEO Matt Lewis and Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City President and CEO Jacob Schreiber were among some 500 guests attending the 2014 White House Hanukkah Reception, one of two such events that ushered in the second night of the holiday.

On Christmas Day in 1982, Marcia Eveloff, a member of Congregation Beth Shalom, volunteered at a church to serve hot meals to those in need. This act of kindness and giving inspired Eveloff to encourage her synagogue to participate in this mitzvah. After sharing the thought with Rabbi Morris Margolies, the Conservative synagogue’s senior rabbi at the time, Eveloff gained congregational support and in March 1983, Beth Shalom’s Lechem Committee was established.

Korean War vet Erwin Stern had never been to Washington, D.C., until he was chosen to participate in the Heartland Honor Flight. He said it was a great honor, as did two other Jewish men and World War II veterans — Jack Forman and Erwin LaPine.