A sea of excited elementary, middle school and high school students dressed in red and gold greeted Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park on Tuesday, Oct. 15. Besides students, members of the HBHA community of families, faculty and staff attended the all-school assembly in the Social Hall of the Jewish Community Campus.

Schwartz took time to speak frankly to the K thru 12 student body about personal character.

“Character is what you do when nobody is watching,” Schwartz told the students. He emphasized learning from failures instead of getting upset by them, and he encouraged kids to be their best selves 100 percent of the time.

In a question-and-answer session following his talk, Schwartz, who grew up in a Conservative Jewish home in Los Angeles, shared that his Hebrew name is Gedaliah and that Sandy Koufax was his childhood hero. He revealed to the students that he gets anxious before games, and that he believes the outcome of a game does not matter as long as he gives it his all and is respectful toward his opponents.

Schwartz’s visit to HBHA also included a tour of the Campus led by Head of School Howard Haas, including frequent stops for photographs. He was invited over to multiple families’ Shabbat dinners and he even signed the Senior Lounge wall in the Upper School. During a stop in the eighth-grade history class taught by Dr. Edna Levy, Schwartz revealed his love of history and admitted he is fascinated by the Civil War. Schwartz said he plans to marry in March and raise his children Jewish.

“My fiancée and I talked about that and we’re going to make it happen.”

Schwartz attended Hebrew school throughout his childhood and plans on a Jewish education for his children. “It sets your values of who you are,” Schwartz said. “And I think it’s just growing up Jewish that made me the person I am today.”

Some of the Lower School students, smiling and in awe of Schwartz’ imposing 6-foot-6-inch frame, had an opportunity to take a class picture with him.

“I’ve always wanted to see someone who was famous,” said first-grader Sadie Gershon.

“We are fortunate to have Geoff Schwartz, a man of great character and a true mensch, in our greater Kansas City Jewish community,” Haas said.

Alex Sher is a senior at HBHA.

“A Guide for the Perplexed: by Dara Horn, Norton, 2013

Josie Ashkenazi is at the top of her game. She is the chairman of a software company that markets Genizah, a product she invented, that archives virtually everything in a person’s life. She has a loving husband who is her partner in the company, a 6-year-old daughter, and a bitterly jealous sister, Judith, who was never as smart or successful as Josie.

This plot line echoes the biblical story of Joseph. Judith convinces Josie to accept an invitation to consult at the newly restored Alexandria Library in Egypt; and when Josie is kidnapped, Judith takes over Josie’s life. However, Dara Horn — an amazing novelist who never tells a simple story when she can intertwine two or even, as in the case of this novel, three stories — also introduces the Egyptian experiences of two historical Jewish thinkers: Maimonides and Solomon Schechter.

In 12th century Cairo, Maimonides is mourning the loss of his beloved brother David, the victim of a shipwreck en route to India. Schechter, in the late 19th century, is in the process of rescuing Jewish history in the form of the documents in the Cairo Genizah, which he has purchased and is shipping to Cambridge. One of those documents is David’s last letter to Maimonides before the shipwreck. During her captivity, Josie has one book with her that she reads at night, and the book keeps her sane. It is Maimonides “Guide for the Perplexed.” The manner in which the author combines these disparate Egyptian narratives into an amazing whole is beyond masterful.

Asthma, too, is a strand of this novel. The need to be able to breathe freely is an issue with which all the protagonists must deal.

Dara Horn’s previous novels, “In the Image,” The World to Come” and “All Other Nights,” melded Jewish history and tradition with the history of the era in which the novel was set. In “A Guide for the Perplexed” she has succeeded again. This novel is essential for Dara Horn fans; and with its complex plot and flawed but heroic protagonists the book should win her many additional readers.

“The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker, Harper 2013

In 1899, an unlovable Jewish bachelor hires a shady wonder-working hermit to make him a golem wife that he plans to take to America. However, in Helene Wecker’s absorbing first novel, plans rarely come to fruition.

The bachelor dies en route, but not before bringing the golem to life. Having no papers, the golem cannot pass inspection at immigration. The solution is simple. She walks into the water of the New York Harbor, appears to have drowned and emerges a little damp in lower Manhattan.

In a parallel story, a Syrian Christian metal worker is asked to repair a metal urn. When he polishes the urn, a jinni emerges; however, this jinni is controlled by an iron bracelet on his wrist, which severely limits his powers. This novel is the story of what happens to each of these supernatural beings on the loose in New York City at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Jinni, now named Ahmad, is a creature of fire, and he can assist the tinsmith in the repair of broken frying pans. The golem is recognized by a saintly old rabbi who takes her home, names her Chava, and instructs her in human behavior. How these two creatures meet, how they survive the strange world in which they find themselves, and how they deal with the evil stalking them is a fascinating, page-turning adventure.

It would be unfair to readers to spoil the plot by revealing the ins and outs of Ahmad and Chava’s adventures. But the reader can expect to visit saloons, posh Central Park mansions, tenements, jails, a Jewish bakery, a Syrian coffee house, see murders committed and marriages arranged, and watch our hero and heroine deal with Chava’s creator, the ominous hermit who has arrived in New York with evil intentions.

Although the novel is not a serious intellectual work, with its monsters and humans both good and evil, it is a fast-paced story that brings to life the immigrant culture of the Lower East Side. “The Golem and the Jinni” is great recreational read.

Andrea Kempf is a retired librarian who speaks throughout the community on various topics related to books and reading.

OVERLAND PARK HONORS ALAN BRAM — Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass and Public Safety Committee Chairperson Dave Janson presented an award to retiring Jewish Community Campus Executive Director Alan Bram at the public safety meeting on Oct. 9. Bram has served as Campus executive director since before the Campus opened 25 years ago. In his remarks, Chief Douglass very eloquently praised Bram for his many years of dedicated service and his commitment to the safety and security of everyone who worked at, or were guests at, the Campus. The police chief also pointed out that he and Bram worked together to bring security cameras to the Campus, which is a huge safety tool for the Police Department if ever needs arise for police to react to an incident.

KC NATIVE TO WRITE MARTINEZ BIO — A couple of weeks ago we learned that Michael Silverman, a native of Prairie Village, has been tapped to write a book about pitching great Pedro Martinez. The book about the three-time Cy Young Award winner will be published next year by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This will be Silverman’s first book. He’s been writing for the Boston Herald and covering the Boston Red Sox for more than 10 years. He is the son of Eileen Silverman and Stanley Silverman.

JEWISH STUDENT ARTIST TO BE FEATURED AT FIRST FRIDAY EVENT — Shane Lutzk, a senior at the Kansas City Art Institute studying in the Ceramic Arts program, will be featured in a group showing on Nov. 1 at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave., Kansas City, Mo., for the Crossroad District’s First Fridays celebration of artwork in our community. Three of Lutzk’s “Blossoming Flower” concepts will be featured at the exhibit during the entire month of November. These three pieces are hand built and the surface was derived from an Oil Raku firing process. This unique, yet complex firing process produced distinctive surface elements with an assortment of colors, including a range with sharp hues of turquoise and silver. Lutzk says he enjoys integrating techniques and experiences with architectural study to develop projects in historic, contemporary, urban and nature as the root of his inspiration. The Nov. 1 event takes place from 6 to 9 p.m.

GRANDMOTHERS AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE FORMS HERE — Several members of the Jewish community have joined a new group called Missouri Kansas Grandmothers Against Gun Violence. Led by Judy Sherry and Susan Blaney, it is the first chapter of the national group: Cape Cod Grandmothers Against Gun Violence, which began as a result of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Other chapters are planned for Chicago, Tucson and Dayton, Ohio. The local chapter’s goals will be much the same as the national ones, and are outlined on the web sitewww.moksgag.org.

Grandmothers Against Gun Violence (GAG) is not against guns per se but is against gun violence, and in favor of reducing it. Specifically the group will advocate for universal background checks in the purchase of firearms, and registering guns taken across state lines. As a 501(c)(3) organization, GAG cannot support particular candidates for office or particular political parties. It does support legislation that it believes will reduce gun violence. GAG also plans to reach out to other like-minded groups and coordinate activities with them.

Though you wouldn’t know it from the name, the group is open to grandfathers and people who are not yet grandparents, but are concerned about the effects of our current gun-toting society.

The group meets monthly — the next meeting is slated for Nov. 4 — and will feature speakers from a wide variety of the community, from the faith leaders, to mental health experts and legislators. Interested people can request information at , or check its website, www.moksgag.org, currently being built.

For 12-year-old twin brothers Jack and Sam Reeves, coming of age in their Jewish tradition has a profound meaning. On Nov. 30, just weeks after turning 13, they will observe their B’nai Mitzvah — a moment that symbolizes crossing the threshold of boyhood and becoming accountable for their own actions.

But the Reeves brothers will celebrate another milestone at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah come the end of November: growing from a very shaky beginning into thriving young men.

In celebration of their B’nai Mitzvah, and as a way to honor those who helped them get past that shaky beginning, the boys chose to create a playroom at Overland Park Regional Medical Center for their mitzvah project. The Sam and Jack Reeves Play Therapy Room opened Sept. 29.

The NICU

Jack and Sam Reeves of Leawood weighed a combined 3 pounds 12 ounces when they were born on Nov. 5, 2000, and spent the first 79 days of their tentative lives in the Overland Park Regional Medical Center NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). The boys’ mother, Lisa Reeves, recalls watching her tiny, fragile sons in their incubators with husband Matthew, wondering if they would each survive the years to become a Bar Mitzvah.

“Would they walk or talk, what would their quality of life be,” says Lisa, a school psychologist in the Blue Valley School District. “There were more questions than answers for a long time.”

Lisa went into pre-term labor week 25 of her pregnancy and on Halloween 2000 delivered the boys at 26 weeks. She   remained   in   the  hospital  for a week following Jack and Sam’s birth. When Lisa was discharged and ordered to go home and rest to regain strength, she and husband Matt took the worst car ride of their lives.

“On the way home we talked about being scared and not knowing what to expect,” says Lisa. “We were shell-shocked and shaken but prepared to take Jack and Sam’s progress one day at a time, one step at a time. Although we were emotional because our newborn sons weren’t with us, we knew the boys were in the best possible hands.”

Some days during Jack and Sam’s wobbly journey to self-sufficiency the Overland Park Regional Medical Center NICU nurses reported to the anxious couple that the brothers took one step forward and two steps backward.

On other days there were monumental victories, like when Jack and Sam started inching their way up on the weight scale.

Requirements for the boys’ homecoming included being able to breathe on their own; to take food by mouth rather than via a feeding tube; and to maintain a consistent body temperature. It was a joyous occasion when on Jan. 23, 2001, at 3 months old, Jack, who weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces and Sam, at 5 pounds, 6 ounces, were approved by neonatologists to go home.

“They were huge compared to their auspicious beginnings, but pretty tiny for almost 3 months old,” says Lisa. “They came home on supplemental oxygen with apnea monitors, but they came home,” says Lisa. “At last we were a united family.”

Choosing a mitzvah

Fast forward to 2013 when Jack and Sam, now middle school students and brothers to sister Abby, 7, began planning the community service portion of their B’nai Mitzvah. Jack, who is hearing impaired, loves music and drama; Sam, who has cerebral palsy, is into sports. Finding common ground for a collaborative project posed a bit of a challenge for two boys with passionate opinions.

“The project needed to represent something that impacted their lives,” says Lisa. “One day during a family brainstorm session we talked about the Overland Park Regional Medical Center NICU. That resonated with Jack and Sam, who said they wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for those doctors and nurses.”

Both boys, the grandsons of B’nai Jehudah members, Sheryl and Michael Porter and Marian and Charles Reeves and the great-grandsons of Ruth and Harry Kreiter of Chicago, felt this project was important.

“I feel really good that we could do something to help the NICU. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be alive today. Helping them start the playroom helps us show them how much we appreciate all they did for us,” Sam said.

Jack added, “It is important to our family to do what we can to make the world a better place. It just made sense to us to do our B’nai Mitzvah project for the NICU because they did so much for our family. It feels good to give something back to them.”

So Lisa got the ball rolling by calling Elaine Riordan, a social worker at the Overland Park Regional Medical Center NICU, to discuss the idea of outfitting a playroom.

“Elaine was there in 2000 when the boys were born,” says Lisa. “In fact, I discovered many of the same nurses and doctors were at the NICU.”

Elaine receives updates from many NICU parents on their babies.

“Every year hundreds of little miracles leave the NICU and go home to grow and become the persons they were meant to be,” she says. “All NICU staff members love to get holiday cards or Facebook posts from our graduates. Anyone will tell you, it is very heartwarming to see babies — and their families — flourish.”

Like many other parents, Lisa and Matt proudly sent updates on Jack and Sam to the NICU. Elaine wasn’t surprised when she received a call from the Reeves about the boys’ philanthropic project.

“To me, it’s part of the miracle,” says Elaine. “The twins’ efforts will provide a play therapy room for older babies and developmental equipment and toys for preemies. And probably most importantly, their story will provide inspiration for hundreds of parents that sit at the bedside of their babies, hoping and praying for their own little miracles.”

Project Reeves-NICU was launched in earnest. NICU occupational therapists briefed the family and drafted a wish list of items for the room. The boys appealed to family and friends for support and donations started appearing daily in the Reeves’ mailbox.

Cash in hand, the boys piled into the family minivan for shopping excursions to purchase a squishy floor mat, rolling shelves, crib and wall mirrors, bouncy chairs and other equipment.

The initial wish list was satisfied, more money was raised and the boys continued checking things off a second list. In early September the family gathered to assemble items in their basement for transport to the designated room at Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

“We’ve collected more than $3,000,” says Lisa. “We will continue to raise money and hope to help out NICU families through the Overland Park Regional Medical Center Circle of Hope Foundation to address ongoing needs.”

Since Chanukah and Thanksgiving won’t overlap again until the year 2070, you might consider celebrating them together this year — unless you’re around age 30 or younger, then you’ll likely have another chance.

But in honor of “Thanksgivukkah,” Creative Candles has produced its Harvest Candle Set for the first and second nights of Chanukah, which fall Wednesday, Nov. 27, and Thursday, Nov. 28. The five candles from the locally-owned Jewish company come in an array of harvest-inspired autumnal colors: terra cotta, moss green, gold, chocolate and café aulait.

You can purchase them online exclusively through The Jewish Museum in New York City. The set of five is $10. Just go to http://shop.thejewishmuseum.org/jmuseum/product.asp?s_id=0&prod_name=Hanukkah+on+Thanksgiving+Candles&pf_id=PAMDICHOJLEAMFMI&dept_id=3144#.UlbkYdKsjTo.

“They come packaged as a set of five in a tidy little tube that would make a great holiday or hostess gift,” said Maxandra Short of The Jewish Museum Shops. “The hand-dipped candles are virtually smokeless and dripless and made in the U.S.A. They’re really high end.”

Pamela Fleischer, who works with her husband Ken Weiner, owner of Creative Candles, said the idea for the Harvest Candle Set evolved while she was talking to one of their buyers. They agreed they had to come up with something for Thanksgiving.

“When the buyer saw some of the products with all the 54 colors we make, she said it would be great if we could get a harvest assortment,” Fleischer said. “She said wouldn’t it be fun just to package for the first and second nights of Chanukah. So right then we came up with the product. I just think it’s a fun thing for the holiday season.”

Creative Candles has been making Chanukah candles since at least 2006, Fleischer said — a year after Weiner purchased the then 45-year-old business. Originally sold only in ivory, Chanukah candles now come in silver, pearl and sapphire as well. They, too, are available only through The Jewish Museum.

Fleischer said Creative Candles and The Jewish Museum go back a long time.

“That was in place before my husband bought the business in 2005,” she said.

So if you want to do something special to combine Chanukah and Thanksgiving, the Harvest Candle Set is the perfect way to do that.

“They’re just a beautiful way to celebrate this sort of holiday without committing too much to an entire menorah,” said The Jewish Museum’s Short.

The 17th annual Chanukah Art Contest is open for entries. Deadline for entries is 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18. The deadline is very early this year as the first night of Chanukah is Nov. 27, the night before Thanksgiving.

The contest is sponsored by Chabad House Center and The Jewish Chronicle. This year’s grand prize, provided by Chabad House, is an iPad mini.

The contest is open to all students in grades K-8. This year entrants will all be judged together in one level. One grand prize will be awarded. Two first prizes — gift cards to Target or Michael’s — will be awarded. This year the name of every child who enters the contest will be recognized in The Chronicle’s Chanukah edition.

Since its inception, the contest has attracted children form all corners of the Jewish community. Students must live in the greater Kansas City or surrounding areas (Lawrence, Topeka and St. Joseph) to be eligible. Photos of the winning pieces of art will be published on Thursday, Nov. 28, the second day of Chanukah.

Art projects must relate to the story or celebration of Chanukah. They may be either two- or three-dimensional (for example paint, drawing, craft or sculpture). Art must be original. Entries created from kits will be disqualified.

An iPad mini will be awarded to the creator of the most outstanding art project. Gift cards to Target and Michael’s will be awarded to the two first-place finishers. A student is not eligible to win the grand prize two consecutive years.

Entries must include the student’s name, grade, religious school name (if applicable), home address and the best telephone number to reach the student’s parent/s. Please put this information on a separate sheet of paper, attached to the entry. Students should not write their names on their entries as judges are not allowed to know the identities of the artists.

Entries will not be returned. Entries will be available for pickup until the end of the year at Chabad House.

Art projects may be dropped off now through Nov. 18 at Chabad House Center of Kansas City: 6201 Indian Creek Drive, Overland Park, KS 66211.

The decision of the judges (staff members of The Chronicle and Chabad House) shall be final.

For questions or more information, visit www.ChabadKC.org or contact the Chabad House, 913-649-4852 or .

A VISIT WITH THE POPE — Last spring Rabbi Herbert Mandl was supposed to go to the Vatican to do research in its library, an honor in itself. But his wife Barbara was injured in an accident on the first leg of the trip, forcing the trip to Rome to be postponed so she could heal. As they say everything happens for a reason and now that the trip has been re-scheduled — he leaves this week for three weeks in the holy city — he has learned he will get an opportunity to have a personal meeting with Pope Francis. He’s very excited, and we’ll tell you about his meeting with the pope and his research in November after he returns.

MORE PEW INFO — KU Hillel’s Facebook page alerted us to what the campus organization called, a “fantastic article about the future of Jewish life,” in USA Today, “Jewish campus groups optimistic despite statistics.” It was written by Allison Hammond, a junior at KU who went to Israel last year on KU Hillel’s Birthright trip. KU Hillel’s Evan Traylor is one of the students interviewed in the article. Check it out here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/13/jewish-students-pew-study/2975387/.

ON THE STAGE AGAIN — Ruth Bigus is on the stage again, this time performing “Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits,” with the group she helped form, Mid-Life Players. It’s a non-profit group that does musicals in concert, using performers age 35 and up. She said, “It gives us an outlet to perform shows we might not be cast in at our ‘mature” state! This show parodies all the wonderful Broadway musicals we enjoy — including my favorite ‘West Side Story!’ ” Shows are Oct. 18-19, Oct. 25-26 at the Alcott Arts Center in Kansas City, Kan. She’s in all but the show on Oct. 25.

ISRAEL-BASED TEVA ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS — JERUSALEM (JTA) — Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, headquartered in Israel, said it was laying off 5,000 employees.

The layoffs, which were announced Oct. 10, will take place at Teva sites worldwide and amount to 10 percent of the company’s workforce, according to the Israeli business daily Globes.

Hundreds of employees in Israel are expected to lose their jobs, though most of the layoffs will take place outside of Israel, Teva President and CEO Jeremy Levin told Globes.

Cutbacks and restructuring expected to take place through 2017 are expected to save the company $1.5 billion to $2 billion, half of it in 2014.

Levin told Globes that the cost-cutting plan was due to global challenges, not financial distress.

The local Teva office just moved into a beautiful new building at College and Nall in Overland Park.

TECHY WITH LOCAL TIES — Yeshivat Noam, a Jewish day school in Paramus, N.J., was recently awarded a $1 million dollar multi-year grant to create the school’s Educational Technology and Innovation Program. What makes that relevant to us is that Seth Dimbert, a former student at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and a leader in the field of educational technology, innovation and 21st century learning, has been hired to lead the school in this new approach to learning. “We conducted a thorough search and all roads led to him,” said Rabbi Chaim Hagler, the school’s principal, in the New Jersey Jewish Standard.

Dimbert, who was also quoted in the Jewish Standard, said the program is still in the early stages but it will allow the introduction of new technology.

“Technology is the language our students speak, and utilizing this allows us to speak to them,” Dimbert said. His goal is to teach the students “the skills they will need to navigate a complicated world.”

Dimbert is the son of  Ellen and Ron Dimbert.

Last week a study came out noting that a growing proportion of Jews are unlikely to raise their children Jewish or connect with Jewish institutions. Congregation Beth Shalom, with a series of classes provided by the Jewish Outreach Institute, hopes to change that, at least a little.

The JOI mini courses are called Mother’s Circle and will be offered on Sunday afternoons from 1 to 3 p.m. three times this fall — Oct. 20, Nov .3 and Nov. 17. They will be taught by Annie Glickman, the regional director for The Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, A Project of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This Jewish mother of three also happens to be the wife of Beth Shalom Rabbi David Glickman.

“Mother’s Circle provides the curriculum. I’m acting as the facilitator because it’s really a curriculum that lays out suggestions for questions, suggestions for study, suggestions for conversation and of course there is this ritual component where in any given class we’re bringing in ritual objects that you might see or experience in the home or in the synagogue. There’s a tactile component as well,” Glickman explained.

JOI’s Mothers Circle was originally established as an umbrella of free educational programs and resources for women of other religious backgrounds raising Jewish children within the context of intermarriage or a committed relationship. However the mini courses at Beth Shalom are open to any woman — non-Jewish, Jew by choice or born Jewish — who wants to become empowered and learn more about raising Jewish children.

The free mini courses provide an overview and guide to Jewish parenting. Through experiential education and a supportive environment, JOI explains participants will gain confidence through knowledge and establish key goals by addressing topics such as creating a Jewish home and Jewish life-cycle events.

Judy Jacks Berman, Beth Shalom’s director of early childhood education, said the Conservative congregation is offering the courses free to any woman in the community — members or non-members, affiliated and non-affiliated.

“We have an anonymous donor who believes in supporting us in outreach efforts to bring in interfaith families as well as families of all different backgrounds who are raising Jewish kids and want to be a part of the Jewish community,” said Berman, who serves as the program’s coordinator.

Beth Shalom offered a taste of Mother’s Circle just before the High Holidays.

“The women who came were very, very positive and interested in continuing to learn more together and now we want to get the word out that we will be having more classes and anyone is welcome to join in,” Glickman said.

Berman noted the target audience is early childhood parents.

“You don’t have to be an early childhood parent, you can be raising older children, too. But it seems that when people have children, that’s the age they start thinking about how they are going to raise them,” she noted.

Glickman and Berman made it clear that the mini courses will be taught in a non-judgmental manner.

“It’s very open. We certainly talk about ritual and practice but there is no obligation. There’s no pressure. It’s really just education, for women to be able to make choices and have more background so they can decide what they want to bring into their home and what they want to talk to their children about,” Glickman said.

“It’s a very non-judgmental environment, very open and any question is welcome. It’s an opportunity for women to fill in the gaps if they have heard about things or if they have questions about things,” she continued.

They expect to offer a hands-on learning component as well.

“Most likely we’ll have a cooking or baking component, so it won’t just be a discussion. It will be an opportunity to learn and dialogue together,” Glickman explained.

This is not the first time JOI’s Mother’s Circle classes have been offered here. They were offered in some combination by the Jewish Community Center and CAJE, the educational arm of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, from about 2003 to 2008 and taught by Tamara Schuster. It was funded by a variety of funds, foundations and individuals.

Glickman said when Mother’s Circle classes were offered here then, they were exclusively offered to women who were not Jewish.

“We’re still seeing a priority in reaching out to women who do not identify as Jewish and we are also seeing women who may have grown up Jewish or who may affiliate Jewish but need the same kind of outreach in order to strengthen their understanding of Judaism when they are faced with how they are going to raise their children. We’re just trying to find where women are and give them the tools to empower them in a non-judgmental and non-threatening way. Mother’s Circle has been terrific in providing the resources to do that and meet the needs of these parents,” Glickman said.

The first session on Oct. 20 will be about creating a Jewish home. Glickman said they will discuss such common vocabulary as mensch and mitzvah, learn a little about ritual objects found in a Jewish home such as a mezuzah, and talk about other things, including bedtime and Shabbat prayers.

The second session, set for Nov. 3, will focus on life-cycle events as well as Jewish education.

The theme of the third session Nov. 17 is Chanukah and the December dilemma.

“This highlights the December dilemma and juxtaposing Chanukah versus Christmas and how to balance that. We’ll discuss the challenges and some of the conversations we can have with our kids about what we see and what we experience,” Glickman said.

If the demand is there, more courses will be offered in the spring. As a woman with 30 years of experience as an educator in the Conservative movement, Berman is thrilled that Beth Shalom is making this opportunity available.

“In the old days the interfaith family only felt welcome at a Reform congregation. Times have really changed and the truth is that the Conservative movement and Conservative synagogues are reaching out to interfaith families because so many of the Jewish spouses grew up in a Conservative or an Orthodox home and they are much more comfortable in a Conservative synagogue,” she said.

“We want people to know that we are open and accepting and welcoming with wide-open arms the interfaith family and the family that is really searching for more meaning in their life.”

Berman added that Rabbi David Glickman, who came to Beth Shalom as its senior rabbi in the summer of 2012, “is very, very, very accepting at welcoming people wherever they are and helping them find meaning in the family life.”

Childcare will be available with advance reservations. To learn more or to sign-up, contact Berman at 913-647-7287 or .

Each season, Kansas City Symphony Music Director Michael Stern programs classical favorites as well as hidden gems of the repertoire. During the Oct. 25-27 concerts, the Symphony and guest pianist Alon Goldstein will treat audiences to one of these gems with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Second Piano Concerto.”

“We’re pleased to welcome virtuoso Alon Goldstein back to Kansas City,” Stern says. “His take on this second concerto by Tchaikovsky is a thrilling ride. While the work is played less often than the famous ‘First Piano Concerto,’ the second concerto is equal in lyrical vitality and power. I absolutely adore this piece, and I love doing it with him. So, I am happy that it is with this concerto that he is back with us for his first orchestral concert in Helzberg Hall.”

Goldstein, too, is pleased to return to Kansas City to share his interpretation of the Tchaikovsky, which he describes as a marvelous work. One highlight of the concerto for Goldstein is the slow movement because of the equal interplay of solo lines with the piano, violin and cello. He likens the movement to a sort of triple concerto.

“It’s an incredibly gorgeous movement with these incredible Tchaikovsky tunes,” he says. “It has this longing quality, melancholy, and love of the Motherland — this ever flowing, everlasting sense. You have this wonderful display of pianistic virtuosity in the outer movements, but at the same time, these other orchestral forces within the second, slow movement.”

The highly sought-after pianist is quite the globetrotter, frequenting concert halls and festival stages all across the nation and abroad. Just last season, he completed a 17-concert Latin American tour with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, performing in Argentina, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. The collaboration was so well received they earned a return tour for the 2015-16 season. Other season highlights included a debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as well as the Tokyo Quartet on its final tour. This season he has already performed in Germany, Israel and various locations across the U.S. Yet even with his extensive touring and performances with elite international ensembles, Goldstein agrees that the Kansas City community is lucky to have such a vibrant and successful symphony orchestra.

“The audience in Kansas City is an audience that is exposed to such high level music and so much music as well,” he says.

Not only is Goldstein an award-winning pianist, taking home top prizes from numerous prestigious competitions in the United States and Israel over the years, but also is an acclaimed recording artist. The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., chose a live recording of one of his recitals there for its first album release. He has recorded solo recital programs through the Jerusalem Music Center “Mishkenot Sha’ananim” and the Israeli Music Institute featuring works by Israeli composers. In upcoming albums, Centaur Records will release a live recording of Goldstein performing Mendelssohn’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” and “Piano Concerto No. 2” with the Israel Chamber Orchestra and Yoav Talmi conducting.

“Making music with Alon Goldstein is a very easy and joyous experience,” Stern remarks. “I think it always enhances the experience, for us on stage and also for the audience, when performers are like-minded in their approach and their intent, and this is especially true with him, since it is always a treat to collaborate with close friends. Alon, by virtue of his wonderful training — he is ‘old school’ in the best sense of the word — has a special place for me. His intrinsic feeling for music and the textual intentions that the composer wrote in the score, his astonishing technical command of the piano and his natural communicativeness, make him a musician very much out of the ordinary.”

Goldstein owes his success as a pianist in part to the superb training Stern mentions. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Goldstein studied with legendary pianist Leon Fleisher, who is also a part of the 2013-14 Kansas City Symphony season lineup. Fleisher will perform the iconic “Piano Concerto for the Left Hand” by Maurice Ravel Feb. 7-9.

As for the three-concert series on Oct. 25-27, the Symphony will open with “Les Préludes, Symphonic Poem No. 3” by Romantic-era Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, then follow with “Concerto for Orchestra No. 2” by Pulitzer prize-winning and contemporary composer Steven Stucky who is from Hutchison, Kan., and end with Goldstein’s performance. Tickets are available through the Symphony Box Office at 816-471-0400, or online at www.kcsymphony.org. Tickets start at $23. Group and senior discounts are available. Students 25 and younger with a valid I.D. may purchase tickets for $10, based on availability. The Symphony performs at Helzberg Hall in the Kauffman Performing Arts Center, located at 1601 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo. Garage and street parking information can be found online at the Symphony’s website.

The 15th annual Kansas City Jewish Film Festival kicks off at the Jewish Community Center in the White Theatre on Saturday night, Oct. 12. As usual, it features great films with a Jewish twist. The festival’s finale, “Dorfman in Love,” set for Sunday night Oct. 20, written by Wendy Kout and starring Sara Rue and Elliott Gould, may be the most lighthearted on this year’s agenda.

Rue plays Deb Dorfman, 27 and single, who lives in suburban Los Angeles with her depressed widowed father and works for her manic married brother. When Jay, her unrequited love, needs a cat sitter for a week, Deb volunteers. Bad news: Jay just moved into a downtown L.A. loft and it’s a total mess. Good news: this gives Deb one week to transform the chaos into the perfect home for Jay and win his heart. Over the course of one crazy week, Deb Dorfman discovers true love by having learned to love herself.

Krista Blackwood, the JCC’s director of cultural arts, calls the movie “a feel-good, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy.”

“You’ll find yourself rooting for Deb Dorfman, played by Sara Rue (best known from the sitcom ‘Less Than Perfect’ and the comedy-drama ‘Popular’), to spread her wings and find love. Rue’s deadpan comic flair brings extra charm and joy to what could have been a tired rom-com formula. And Elliot Gould is perfectly cast as Deb’s kvetching dad,” Blackwood said.

Writer Kout is best known for her work in television. She created and was the executive producer on the hit ABC show “Anything But Love,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis. She also wrote for or developed projects for Paul Reiser, Jane Fonda, Robin Williams, ABC, CBS, NBC and Lifetime Television.

She has also written many feature scripts, but none of her film projects before “Dorfman in Love” were ever produced. Recently she’s been concentrating on writing plays. Her first play, “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Helen Gahagan Douglas,” co-written with Michele Willens, was a 2006 O’Neill Conference Finalist and was nominated for the Weissberger Award. Her second play, “Naked in Encino,” premiered in November 2012 in Denver and won four Marlowe Awards.

Kout describes the opportunity to write “Dorfman in Love,” as beshert. It all started with a visit to downtown Los Angeles, a spot she wasn’t all too familiar with, and a chance meeting with old friend and producer Len Hill.

Hill is now a real estate developer who owns a lot of downtown property and he invited Kout to see some of his properties. The tour is something she now says changed her life. It was while she was standing on the rooftop of one of his buildings that she was inspired to write this screenplay because she was moved by his passion.

“As a writer, we’re always attuned to themes and characters and ideas and I started feeling something. I realized that I was looking at my friend who had repurposed his life and he was sharing it with me, who had repurposed her life from being a screenwriter to a playwright, and I was staring at our city, which was in the process of being repurposed.

“I said Len, I’ve just got to tell you this area is such a rich arena for a film. It’s not just about repurposing our cities and our buildings. We have the capacity as human beings to be repurposed. And he looked at me and he said, ‘You write it and I’ll produce it.’ That’s what we did.”

She asked for, and was given, the unusual freedom to find her voice during the process. She suggested to Hill that she write a screenplay and if he liked it, he could produce it. If not, she would move on.

She’s thrilled she got the freedom to write Jewish characters.

“I’m Jewish and I write Jewish characters and I’m actually kind of proud of that and I didn’t have to change that,” she said. “You’ll hear Yiddish in this film and you’ll say ‘Oh my God I’m actually hearing Yiddish in an American movie.’ ”

Rated PG13, the movie was theatrically released this past March after a successful run in film festivals. It won Best Feature in the Miami Jewish Film Festival (2012), Marbella International Film Festival (2012) and Hollywood Film Festival (2011) and Best Comedy in the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (2012).

“We have so loved the festival process and we would not have had theatrical distribution had we not been discovered by festivals and supported by them, specifically Jewish festivals all over the world,” she said.

If you miss it at the local Jewish Film Festival, it is available On Demand on most cable networks and on DVD through Amazon.com.

It’s gotten rave reviews as well. Alanna Berman of the San Diego Jewish Journal, noted that the film is much more than a love letter to Los Angeles.

“As much a Jewish comedy as a romantic one, the film lightheartedly explores how a change in scenery can quite literally change everything. It’s no wonder that ‘Dorfman’ won Best Comedy at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival last year,” Berman wrote.

Kout hopes “Dorfman” draws a big crowd here.

“The people who attend film festivals are very important to independent filmmakers,” she said. “We all want them to feel our gratitude about seeing these films and attending these festivals because as our initial audience they help expand our audience with their support. Part of what has happened with our little movie is people like it and when they like it they share it on Facebook and in emails. That’s how we became known to distributers and also continue to be known in the world. If you go Amazon.com you’ll see 53 reviews of the movie and almost all of them are raves and those are just people who just found it,” she said.

“Even though I may not be there to say this, I say thank you to the audience and all the audiences for all the films at the Kansas City Jewish Film Festival.”