Archived News

JEWISH HERITAGE DAY — This Sunday, March 25, is Jewish Heritage Day at Livestrong Park at the Legends, as Sporting Kansas City takes on Dallas. As in the past, several local rabbis will participate in a ceremonial kickoff preceding the game. Once again the Vaad will be supervising the sale of kosher hot dogs. A portion of the proceeds will benefit SASONE and the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy Sports program. Kickoff is at 6 p.m., and tickets are still available by contacting Emily Hanover at or calling 913-387-3838. The first 150 registered will receive a T-shirt. My Hebrew is rusty, but it looks to me like it will say Sporting Kansas City on the front.

OPENING AT A THEATER NEAR YOU — “In Darkness” begins its run here on Friday, March 23, at the AMC Town Center, Glenwood Red Bridge and Cinemark Palace. Nominated this year for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, “In Darkness” is based on a true story. Leopold Socha, a sewer worker and petty thief in Lvov, a Nazi-occupied city in Poland, one day encounters a group of Jews trying to escape the liquidation of the ghetto. He hides them for money in the labyrinth of the town’s sewers beneath the bustling activity of the city above. What starts out as a straightforward and cynical business arrangement turns into something very unexpected — the unlikely alliance between Socha and the Jews as the enterprise seeps deeper into Socha’s conscience. The film, directed by Agnieszka Holland of “Europa Europa,” is also an extraordinary story of survival as these men, women and children all try to outwit certain death during 14 months of ever-increasing and intense danger.

LET ALL WHO ARE HUNGRY — When you read this, Passover will be just about two weeks away and JFS is winding up its annual campaign to collect kosher-for-Passover food for those who don’t have the financial means to purchase it for themselves. Once again, JFS is partnering with Yachad — the Kosher Food Pantry, to provide enough kosher-for-Passover food for the entire week. The food drive is still in need of walnuts, gefilte fish, matzah, grape juice and sweets (such as jelly candies, macaroons and cake or brownie mix). Food items may be dropped off at any time in a barrel outside the JFS Kansas office in the Jewish Community Campus. Financial donations are also being accepted. Send checks to Jewish Family Services Holiday Project, 5801 W. 115th Street, Suite 103, Overland Park KS 66211, or call (913) 327-8250 to use your credit card. Donations can also be made on the agency’s website: www.jfskc.org/donate. JFS is also seeking volunteers to pack the Passover food packages along with delivering them. Deliveries will be made April 4-6. Contact Anna Feldman at 913-730-1452 or .

PASSOVER PHONE APP — Just in time for Passover, OU Kosher — the world’s most recognized kosher symbol — has launched a new OU Kosher phone app to search the kosher status of all OU products for Passover and year-round. The free app is available for download for iPhones, iPads, iPod Touch and Androids. To download this app, simply select “OU Kosher” from the iTunes App Store or use direct link to the app from the OU’s website at www.ou.org/apps. The direct application can be downloaded at http://itunes.apple.com/ke/app/ou-kosher/id491138771?mt=8. In addition to the ability to search for more than 600,000 products, manufactured in nearly 8,000 plants, in more than 90 countries around the world — the app provides the most up-to-date kosher alerts; new product updates; and allows easy access to ask a question or to call the OU Kosher information hotline. The app can be used in conjunction with the OU website and Passover Guide. Additionally, the OU Kosher Facebook and Twitter accounts plan to help prepare for the eight-day holiday by featuring kosher for Passover products, recipes and articles to educate and engage fans and followers.

PAREVE CAKES AT HEN HOUSE — Last week the Hen House at 117th and Roe began selling pareve cakes, much to the delight of many kosher consumers. The Vaad posted the good news on its Twitter and Facebook pages and drew lots of responses. For more local kosher information, Like the Vaad HaKashruth on Facebook, follow it on Twitter or go to its website,  http://vaadkc.org.

Just last year I read the best-selling novel, “Cutting for Stone,” by Abraham Verghese. The book, set in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is a multi-generational saga of Dr. Shiva Stone and his family. As interesting as the book was, I did not add Ethiopia to my bucket list of travel destinations. Ethiopia was too far away, just another third world country offering nothing that would tempt me to visit.

However, I quickly changed my mind about visiting Ethiopia when I received a call from my friend, Bari Freiden. She and her husband, Dr. Floyd Freiden, heard about a JDC mission trip to Ethiopia and Rwanda to visit JDC-IDP projects in those countries. Would we be interested in going with them?

My husband, Dr. Michael Blum, immediately called Trish Uhlmann to get more information about the trip. Trish, who is chair of the international development program of the JDC, was the chair of this trip and was thrilled with the possibility of us joining the group.

I emailed the JDC and told them “yes,” add us to the list.

As we started preparing for the trip, Michael ran into Dr. David Kaplan at Congregation Beth Torah. He subsequently signed up to go on the trip with us. So, on Feb. 7, the six of us from Kansas City joined the other trip participants, including several JDC board members and national staff, for the 13-hour plane ride on Air Ethiopia from Dulles to Addis Ababa.

The ‘Joint’

I was familiar with JDC work in Romania and Russia but was not really familiar with its history or the extent of JDC’s projects throughout the world. For 96 years, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) — also referred to as “the Joint” — has exemplified the principle that all Jewish people are responsible for one another. JDC’s reach is global, yet it is uniquely equipped to make a deep impact locally.

Active today in more than 70 countries, JDC and its partners work to rescue Jewish lives at risk, bring relief to Jews in need, renew lost bonds to Jewish identity and Jewish culture, and help Israel overcome the social challenges of its most vulnerable citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

The Joint’s IDP

The Joint’s reach extends beyond the global Jewish community by providing non-sectarian disaster relief and long-term development assistance worldwide. Since its inception in 1914, JDC’s non-sectarian efforts in the form of the International Development Program (JDC-IDP) have been carried out in more than 60 countries by offering humanitarian aid to those who have suffered from man-made and natural disasters such as earthquakes, famine, extreme poverty, political instability and war.

JDC-IDP addresses victims’ emergency needs and then provides longer-term rehabilitation and development assistance. Training is an essential part of these efforts, as JDC-IDP works to enhance the abilities of local partners and to ensure that the projects continue even after JDC’s involvement has ended.

All IDP projects are independently funded, with start-up money coming from local governments, NGOs or philanthropists interested in projects in developing countries. The role of the JDC is to assist each project raise the initial funds and to help in the development of the program, with the final goal being for each project to run independently without further assistance from the JDC.

Unity Scholarship Program for Women

One of the outstanding IDC program in Ethiopia is the Unity Scholarship Program that provides young women with full college scholarships, including room and board. In Ethiopia, the number of women enrolled in higher education has traditionally been very low with boys having the priority to attend university if the family can afford to send them. A major donor, Rita Levi-Montalcini from Rome, began the scholarship program that the JDC helps administer. The actual scholarship awards are part of the IDP. It costs just $7,500 to send one young women to the Unity College in Addis for three years, which cost includes room and board.

At a restaurant located on the hill where 14,000 Felasha Jews were encamped before being airlifted to Israel in 1991, we met with 20 young women who had received college scholarships. Most of the young women were current students, but we also met with some of the graduates, all of whom were employed. The local woman in charge of the girl’s dorm, Tegest Heruy, spoke beautifully to our group about the importance of giving talented young women the chance to attend college and how much the recipients are able to give back to their families, communities and Ethiopia. An interesting coincidence is that Tegest’s son and daughter both live in the Kansas City area and Tegest has visited here several times.

IDP projects in Gondar, Ethiopia

On Feb. 13 we flew to Gondar, a one-hour plane ride north of Addis. We immediately drove to one of the rural school projects funded by IDP donors. Even before we entered the school compound, several students rushed out to meet us. After Trish cut a dedication ribbon, we entered the school yard where the voices of more than 100 children greeted us in song. The singing continued as we set up tables where our assignment was to give five de-worming pills to each student in the school. We told each student “swallow, swallow” in Ethiopian as they drank their glass of water. While the students waited in line for their medicine, Michael pulled out his bag of magic tricks and did a few simple sleight of hand tricks. Michael would continue to entertain the children we met, with his largest audience being the 500 students at the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda.

After handing out the last of the pills, we visited some of the classrooms, which were exact replicas of a one-room Kansas prairie school, with desks for the students neatly lined up and a simple chalk board at the front of the room. Before we left the school, we were treated to an Ethiopian coffee ceremony and other refreshments by the school staff.

There were two moments that stood out for me that morning. One was the unveiling of a plaque at the school that read “Salej Kidane Meheret Primary School implemented by the JDC and funded by the Osher Foundation — US February, 2012.”

The other moment was a stop at another village school to see a classroom built with funds raised by the teenage son of one of the JDC board members on our trip. This young man had come to Ethiopia four years earlier with his family. After that trip, this young man decided that he wanted to help build a classroom on his own so he proceeded to raise the cost of one school room, $17,000, from family and friends. We were able to see the finished project and watch the young man’s mother put her hand in cement to dedicate her son’s project.

IDP Projects in Rwanda

In Rwanda, the main IDP program is the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village 40 kilometers east of Kigali, which is home to 500 Rwandan orphans from the ages of 13 to 18. After the Rwandan genocide in 1994, philanthropist Anne Heyman read about the crisis and went to the JDC to discuss a special project she and her family wanted to fund. The JDC assisted in purchasing the land, finding an architect to design the village and working with the local government to obtain building and other permits.

Modeled after the Yemin Orde Youth Village in Israel, every Rwandan village nominates the neediest of its orphans to live in Agahozo Shalom for four years. The selected students spend the first year getting adjusted to living in a location where lack of food and shelter is never a worry. During this first year they also receive extensive counseling to heal their emotional wounds.

I spent time talking to one of the first-year students who spoke beautiful English. He told me about his learning to get along with the other students and about the need for “tikkun olam.” It touched me to hear these Hebrew words coming from a Rwandan orphan. In a country ravaged by hatred and killing less than 20 years ago, the words one student shared with me validated the efforts of the JDC by helping to develop these non-sectarian projects. In a world where there is so much destruction and tearing down, Rwanda is a proud example that a country can be rebuilt and that enemies (the Hutus and the Tutsis, which ethnic designations are no longer used in Rwanda) can learn to live together in peace.

I will be forever grateful that I was able to see for myself the humanitarian work that JDC does for both Jews and non-Jews throughout the world. When Trish called me earlier this week and asked what project we might be interested in funding, my answer was “I really don’t know as it is so hard to choose just one.” Michael and I will decide which project to support after we share our extraordinary trip experiences with our children and our oldest grandson, Mitch. It will be a worthy conversation to have with our family.

A propaganda broadsheet has been produced and distributed by a group calling itself the “Occupy Kansas City Journal.” Leonard Zeskind, president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, reports the broadsheet contains assertions usually reserved to the Aryan Nations and Ku Klux Klan. One panel of this broadsheet contains a depiction of a stereotypical Jew along with words: “So what have those ‘Great Humanitarians,’ the Jews, been pouring into the well of white culture over the past half century.”

The propaganda broadsheet at issue is available on a website www.occupykcjournal.com. It was also mailed to several Kansas City Council members.

Dated Jan. 22, 2011, it is a collage of photos and cartoons that are not appropriated to be republished in The Chronicle. It is graphic with more than one sexual scene, several unflattering photos and comments about President Barack Obama and nasty comments aimed at a variety of minorities.

A press conference was held Tuesday, March 13, to discuss the broadsheet. It was was attended by leading advocates from the Occupy Kansas City movement, including Michael Enriquez; Marvin Szneler, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee; Anita Russell, president of the Kansas City, Mo., branch of the NAACP; and Zeskind.

Zeskind said Enriquez spoke out strongly against the contents of the broadsheet, making it clear that Occupy Kansas City leaders did not agree with the material that was propagated in the movement’s name. Enriquez reiterated that the mainstream movement was not associated with the propaganda in any way.

Earlier Zeskind said such claims published in the broadsheet and on the website are both racist and anti-Semitic “and the fact that they are being made by a group using the ‘Occupy KC Journal.com,’ has magnified its import.”

At the press conference Szneler said when he saw the page, which he called the work of “purveyors of hate,” he really couldn’t make sense of the connections between all the images on the page. He noticed immediately, however, “that they are disgusting, racist, bigoted and hateful.”

“Like many bigots, they are equal opportunity haters. I am Jewish, but know full well that hatred against Jews is usually accompanied by hatred of African Americans, gays and lesbians, Hispanics and anyone who does not match the ideal description of the bigot.”

Szneler thanked those representing the mainstream Occupy Kansas City movement for stepping up at the press conference “to say no to hatred, bigotry and anti-Semitism.”

“They not only are doing the right thing, but they remind each and every one of us, not only those assembled here today, but all of us, to speak up and say no to hatred. Whether it’s an innocent joke, bigoted comment, or an act of violence like this mailing — we cannot stand by quietly. We cannot tolerate hatred for one second.”

Zeskind pointed to a poll conducted in December 2011 by the Pew Research Center that found that 44 percent of Americans support the Occupy Wall Street movement, with an even larger number supporting its goals. He said large percentages of Americans, however, do not support the anti-Semitism and racism found in this broadsheet.

Congregation Beth Torah has hired Rebecca Reice to fill the position of rabbi educator that is being vacated by Rabbi Vered Harris in June. Reice, who will be ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles at the end of May, will assume her duties at Beth Torah on July 1.

Rabbi Mark Levin said Reice is very immersed in her Judaism and comes with only the highest of recommendations.

“I’m very excited to be working with her. She is very talented,” Rabbi Levin said.

Reice was born and raised in Chapel Hill, N.C. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with special honors in Plan II (honors liberal arts) and psychology. After completing her undergraduate studies, she worked for the Hillel of Silicon Valley as a Hillel Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow.

She began her rabbinical studies with HUC-JIR in Jerusalem in 2006. Since then she has earned a Master of Arts degree in Hebrew letters (2009) and a Master of Arts degrees in Jewish education (2010), both from the HUC-JIR Los Angeles campus.
The rabbi-to-be said she is especially interested in music, storytelling, liturgy and the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). In addition she loves to cook and garden. Her husband, Asher Lazarus, is an engineer with IBM and a passionate triathlete.

Reice said when she first learned about the opening at Beth Torah, she consulted her hometown rabbi and personal friend, Rabbi John Friedman of Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, N.C. Coincidentally, Rabbi Friedman is close friends with Rabbi Levin and grew up in Kansas City, attending The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.

“He (Rabbi Friedman) said don’t miss this opportunity to meet with Rabbi Mark Levin,” Reice said.

She was also attracted to the way Beth Torah described the congregation and the position in the job posting, saying it used “visionary language.”

“There was a certain attitude about life-long learning and about how a community could function that was really exciting to me,” she continued.

Reice, who will be 29 when she joins the congregation’s clergy staff, said she had a fantastic initial conversation with Rabbi Levin and Michelle Cole, the congregation’s president, on the HUC-JIR Cincinnati campus.

“I felt it was a really clear and open community, which is something I value and was very exciting. At the end of my interview they handed me a giant bag of of Beth Torah things, including the citizen band, which I had learned about in my research from a great video that is on the home page of the Beth Torah website,” she said.

She said she has been telling her friends she’s already been embraced by the community.

“I come from the South and I talk to strangers. I’m just naturally friendly, that’s my attitude toward the world. Then I walked into a congregation where it seems like everybody talks to strangers. Everyone was friendly and open and sweet,” she said.

“That to me is an incredibly precious part of synagogue life that isn’t available everywhere. I’ve been to plenty of synagogues in this country where nobody talked to me at the oneg,” she continued.

Reice is excited to work with the staff at Beth Torah, who she already calls family.

“That’s the kind of commitment that I see the professional staff and the lay leadership have to each other," she said.
"I think that relationship between laity and clergy says so much about a congregational culture, and it’s a question that I kept asking congregations during my interviews this year and I was so moved to see what it looks like at Beth Torah.”

Reice and her husband plan to return to Kansas City to become more acquainted with the area the weekend of March 23.

Put down the guns and pick up a soccer ball.

That is one of the goals of the Let Children Play for Peace effort, an organization started in Kansas City by an Israeli Jew and an Egyptian Muslim. Let Children Play for Peace has collected hundreds of new toys and is delivering them in equal amounts to children in Sderot, Israel, and the Gaza Strip. Soccer balls, kites, stuffed animals and more were delivered to Israel last month and will be handed out to children who live in an area where simply playing can be hard to do when surrounded by violence.

“We want to bring attention to peaceful efforts by helping with children’s needs,” said Sam Nachum, the Jew in the partnership. “Most of the time these children have no toys, and we don’t think that is fair.”

Born in Israel, Nachum moved to Kansas City in 1978. He had met Dana, who he would eventually marry, a few years earlier while she was visiting Israel and she lived here. Nachum saw first-hand the effect violence can have on children and how damaging it can be.

“They can forget what it is like to be a child,” he said.

Work on this project began around three years ago during the conflict in Gaza. The reports of the fighting were so bad that Nachum, a member of Chabad House, knew he had to do something to help. One night at a gathering at the Jewish Community Center, a Muslim man, Ahmed El-Sherif, spoke up and Nachum was impressed with him.

“It was very courageous for Ahmed to show up and to speak,” Nachum said. “We began talking and together we came up with the idea of collecting the toys.”

El-Sherif was born in Egypt and, like Nachum, had seen violence before relocating to Kansas City. He and Nachum started the Let the Children Play for Peace organization so that other children might have some relief from the stresses associated with the conflicts in the area.

“Children are the ones that suffer the most, both on the battle field and at home,” El-Sherif said. “Children are innocent yet they still suffer. I think we were inspired to do this because both Sam and I lost a lot of our childhood. People don’t realize how damaging that can be. We want to help kids today, on both sides, try to avoid the same things that happened to us.”

Some could consider toys as luxury items; however El-Sherif and Nachum see them as more than that.

“Most of the time, people send medicine or food during these times,” Nachum said. “The needs of children are often forgotten. But to see their faces light up when they get these new toys, you realize how much they mean to them."

What started as a two-man effort quickly morphed into a large-scale organization with volunteers from a variety of groups and faiths joining.

“We really knew that something had to be done, and to send something that would benefit children, who have no part in the fighting, made sense,” said Nick Awad, a volunteer with Let Children Play for Peace. Awad is a Palestinian Christian, a minority where he is from, and also wants an end to the fighting. “What everyone involved wants is for the shipments to lead to more efforts where people reach out to both sides.”

Awad says that helping children has been a cause that so many different people can support, and the more people that volunteer and donate, the more children that can benefit. Nachum agrees.

“Everyone has come together and been so supportive,” Nachum said “No one has heard the idea, and said they didn’t like it. No matter what side you are one, everyone has been able to remember what the important thing is and that is helping children.”

The help included raising more than $9,000 to pay for the scosts, taxes and other red tape involved with shipping the toys to the Middle East. Nachum and a group of 16 volunteers from Let Children Play for Peace all personally flew out to area to help with the delivery. While there the volunteers received considerable media attention, appearing on television, radio and in newspapers.

“We want to make sure the toys go where they are supposed to go,” Nachum said. “That is everyone’s concern now.”
The deliveries have gone well so far, but the shipment to the children in Gaza is still waiting on final approval. The organizers know they must be diligent when dealing with so much conflict. However, they hope the potential rewards will be more than worth it.

“This help can open the door for dialogue and communication between the two sides,” Sherif said. “Maybe people will think twice before they will do action that will damage a child’s life.”

“Our main goal is that one day, the children of Gaza and the children of Israel can come together and play,” Nachum said. “We want to build a soccer field in-between the two where they can play. That is a dream of Ahmed and me. For these kids to meet on that field instead of the field of battle.”

For more information on this organization or to donate, visit www.letthechildrenplayfor peace.org.

TWINKLE TOES — For the second year in a row the Kansas City Jewish community has had a representative invited to perform in KU Student Union Activities’ “Dancing with the Stars.” KU Hillel Executive Director Jay Lewis was paired with Bridget Qandil, the owner of Camelot Ballroom in Overland Park, in the event held earlier this month. Lewis and his partner did a Broadway routine to “Oh What a Night,” a Frankie Valli hit from the musical “Jersey Boys.” Lewis said he had a blast. “I was nominated to participate by a large group of Hillel students so I was happy to represent them and KU Hillel in this event. There were over 500 people in the Kansas Union Ballroom. It was fun to do something completely outside of my comfort zone and I really enjoyed how much the students and my family enjoyed that I was doing it.” Publicity before the event noted that Lewis’ prior dancing experience was limited to watching “So You Think You Can Dance” and dancing in his living room with his wife and two kids, Keaton and Mckenna. On the night of the competition, Lewis had a large group of supporters sitting in the audience. Many of KU Hillel’s student leaders showed up with signs and banners to cheer him on. Lewis danced exceedingly well and received all “8s” from the judges. While Lewis unfortunately lost to KU football player Daymond Patterson, he gave KU Hillel great exposure to the KU community.

ENVOY HAS TIES TO KC — The JTA has reported that Israel has appointed its first Ethiopia-born ambassador to Ethiopia, Belaynesh Zevadia. What it didn’t report is that while working in the Israeli Consul General’s office in Chicago, she got to know several members of the local Jewish community including Jewish Federation Executive Vice President and CEO Todd Stettner and Marvin Szneler, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee. Zevadia was the first Ethiopian Foreign Ministry cadet. She made aliyah at the age of 17 and studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and African studies and a master’s degree in African studies. Here she also worked as a diplomat in Houston.
“This is proof that in Israel, opportunity is available to everyone — native Israelis and new immigrants alike,” Zevadia said.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that Zevadia’s appointment “conveys an important message to Israeli society, which is currently dealing with the issue of racism towards Ethiopians in Israel.”

PUPPY LOVE — Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy third-grader Brianna Katz is concerned about puppy mills. She has learned that Missouri is a national hot spot for puppy mills and got Kansas City Mayor Sly James to sign her petition to stop them when James visited HBHA in February. Brianna’s passionate drive against puppy mills also got her a cute photo and story in the most recent edition of 435 South magazine. She is the daughter of Vicki and Gary Katz and belongs to Congregation Beth Shalom.

COMMUNITY VOICES — Another member of the Jewish community was well featured in the March edition of 435 South. Congregation Beth Torah President Michelle Reznik Cole was described as an energetic mother of two, wife, entrepreneur, lay leader and school volunteer. She shared her secret with readers for balancing her activities with a two-minute rule, in her own words.

OU GUIDE TO PASSOVER — The 2012 OU Guide to Passover is out, providing new and interesting features addressing commonly asked questions fielded through the social media, to the extensive lists of food and other products that are certified kosher for Passover by the OU. The guide, with a press run of more than 60,000 copies, will be directly available through the mail to all OU members and Jewish Action subscribers. Individual copies can be ordered on the OU Passover website, www.ou.org/passover-guide.

“It’s not your grandfather’s seder,” says Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff when describing the Community Second Night of Passover Seder sponsored by the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City, Jewish Family Services and supported by congregations. It takes place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7, at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.

Reservations are currently being accepted for the seder and must be received by Wednesday, March 28. After that date, reservations will be accepted on a space-available basis. Reservation forms are available at area congregations and at the Rabbinical Association’s website, www.kcrabbis.org. For information, or to inquire about confidential financial assistance, contact Annette Fish, administrator/program director for the Rabbinical Association by email, or call 913-327-4622.

The food will be kosher-for-Passover and prepared under supervision of the Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City. The meal will be served under Rabbi Nemitoff’s supervision.

As in year’s past, this contemporary seder will be multi-denominational, noted Congregation Ohev Sholom’s Rabbi Scott White. Rabbi Nemitoff, senior rabbi of the host Congregation B’nai Jehudah, is once again the lead organizer for the spiritual portion of this event. He said this year’s service features the participation of more local clergy from Reform and Conservative congregations than ever before. Besides Rabbis Nemitoff and White, participating clergy include Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner and Cantor Sharon Kohn of B’nai Jehudah; Rabbi Alan Cohen and Hazzan Rob Menes of Congregation Beth Shalom and Doug Alpert, spiritual leader of Congregation Kol Ami.

This seder will be family-friendly and include traditions and customs of the Passover seder while incorporating meaningful events of our day into an interactive and hands-on seder experience. Modern day readings and additions will focus on maggid, the telling of the Exodus.

For the last several years this seder has been an experiential seder. That is what sets the evening apart from what one might remember as “your grandfather’s seder,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

“This is not sitting at a table, either small or large and having Uncle Sammy sleep during half the seder and having Aunt Bertha talk through it all and having your grandpa shush everybody,” Rabbi Nemitoff explained.

The plans for the evening are not yet totally complete, but Rabbi Nemitoff expects it will begin as it has the past couple of years with the participants being in Mitzrayim, the land of Egypt.

“We will experience what it meant to be slaves in Egypt. We will experience the first part of our seder in a sense of closeness and discomfort and without any sort of what I would call lavish relaxation,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

That’s an aspect of the seder that’s made an impact on participants.

“I enjoyed the entire evening from the moment I arrived,” wrote one participant who is self-described as of advanced age.

“The initial gathering place consisting of the long sparsely adorned tables set the stage for the feeling that we were indeed still slaves in Egypt and it seemed so right that we did what we did there and then began our trek to the Promised Land and the feast that followed.”

As the evening progresses participants will hear the maggid (the telling of the Passover story) and rotate through creative stations. If there are enough families to warrant it, Rabbi Nemitoff said a special family section may be created for the telling of the maggid.

One seder participant from the past noted that the creative telling of the story was “awesome!”

“I invited a friend who is a non-Jew; she was overwhelmed by the experience and enjoyed the informative way the rabbi told the Passover story.”

At the different stations, participants will have the opportunity to sing songs led by Cantor Kohn and Hazzan Menes. They will also help prepare a meal for the homeless.

“One of the key statements in the Passover Haggadah is let all who are hungry come and eat. We take that seriously in our community with all of our various food collection programs and food serving programs. So one of the things that our participants will do is prepare a kosher for Passover meal that will be served to the hungry in our community during the following week,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

This mitzvah project has proven to be a very popular part of the evening recently.

“One theme my family found most interesting is that we take care of feeding all who are hungry. I loved that and thought it was the best message for my kids and for me,” was written on a post-seder comment card.

Rabbi Nemitoff said the seder will be concluded in lavish style, with tables with table cloths and fine food. He expects it will end by 9:30 p.m.

“We will have a wonderful community experience,” he said. “We really do hope the community will consider joining us. It’s not B’nai Jehudah’s seder. This is not Beth Shalom’s seder. This is not New Reform’s seder. This is the community seder and it’s really meant to allow everybody in the community to come together and celebrate,” he said.

The food, and the entire evening, has gotten rave reviews in the past.

“Very enjoyable! Very creative! Food was very good. The idea of different groups breaking up and rotating to experience different things was great!”

If you are a fan of children’s books, cholent or books written by people with Kansas City ties, you’ll want to seek out “The Cholent Man,” written by Danny Zeldin.

Zeldin grew up in Kansas City and is the son of Stan and Joyce Zeldin. He taught Judaic studies in the upper school at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy for two years, leaving the school in 2007.

He still teaches Jewish and general studies, but he now lives and teaches in San Diego. He moved there in July 2011 from New England.

The book explains why we eat cholent on Shabbat. It’s main character, Avrumy, meets a friendly stranger one Friday afternoon. As explained on the book cover, “After a journey together into the past, Avrumy discovers the reasons behind this long surviving Shabbat tradition. As dream blends into reality and reality fades back into dream, Avrumy grows to realize that cholent is much more than just a tasty food; it is a tradition whose observance helps keep us spiritually healthy and permanently united — and it’s yummy.”

The 24-page book was published last April by AuthorHouse. It can be purchased on the publisher’s website as well as amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Zeldin said he came up with the idea for “The Cholent Man,” as he searched for a subject that had not yet been addressed in other Jewish children’s books. He also wanted to make sure he wrote a book with an educational component.

“My first thought was food. Kreplach, gefilte fish, charoset, hamantaschen, sufganiyot, sheep’s heads … if you’re outside looking in, you’d be right to think that Jews eat some pretty strange stuff,” Zeldin said.

He pointed out that next to sheep’s heads, cholent may be the strangest food Jews eat.

“I was unable to discover any children’s literature on the subject,” he said. “After researching cholent’s history, I decided there was definitely a story to tell.”

He believes the book is geared toward older elementary school students.

“I did a book signing at an Orthodox elementary school in Brooklyn. The fourth and fifth graders were a great audience. They responded very well to it and asked more questions than we had time for,” Zeldin said.

He knows that the book is aimed toward a small audience.

“It was written for the family that regularly makes cholent on Shabbat, but that also lives the lifestyle represented by the characters in the book. I have had some non-Orthodox parents tell me that their kids like the book, but more consistent appreciation for the book has come from mainstream Orthodox families,” he said.

“The Cholent Man” features illustrations by Jade Fang, an artist from Malaysia who studied in the United States and now lives in Singapore. Zeldin searched for the illustrator himself and Fang was his first choice.

“I had an idea what I wanted the characters to look like and I narrowed it down to three artists whose work seemed to best represent the images I had in my head,” he explained. “After Jade sent me her first pencil drawings it was clear that the book found its illustrator.”

He thinks Fang’s drawings are “truly amazing.”

“Jade spent several months researching Jewish villages and dress from the book’s setting, and it is her artwork that truly brought the book alive. As a bonus she learned some new words like dreydl, boychikl, and tati,” he said.

Zeldin has considered writing more books.

“I have some drafts of other works, including a novel, but those dusty pages know they have to wait until summer break in order to get my full attention,” he said.

“Hemingway once said, and I’m paraphrasing, that discussing one’s work before it is finished is like stripping the stuff off of a butterfly’s wings. I’d hate to mess with such beauty,” he continued.

A member of the Jewish community, 17-year-old Sonia Larbi-Aissa, competed among the world’s best and brightest during an international debate in South Africa this January.

Sonia is a junior at The Barstow School and at one time attended Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. She represented the United States at the tournament with two other teammates and an alternate teammate.

Sonia has participated in debate at Barstow since eighth grade and attends a debate camp for girls each summer in Minnesota. Last summer coaches from the United States World Scholars Debating Championships team held auditions for the team at debate camps throughout the country. Sonia decided to try out.

“I applied because it really appealed to me,” Sonia said. “Especially the international part.”

The audition included a debate round with a partner as well as individual speeches.

“It ended up being a really good debate,” Sonia said. “It was really fun.”

Sonia was invited to a more selective round of auditions, but team USA coach Kate Shuster said she knew Sonia would be on the team before her second audition even started.

“We knew right away when we auditioned her that she was a great candidate for the team,” Shuster said. “Within 30 seconds we had agreed.”

Shuster said coaches don’t usually agree on candidates that quickly, but Sonia stood out above the rest.

“She had sterling recommendations and academic credentials but what really stood out to us is that she had unusual poise for someone her age,” Shuster said. “She was a special case and we knew in our guts immediately that she would make the team.”

Sonia was the only Midwesterner on this year’s team. All her other teammates live in California.

“We are really happy that she’s on the team,” Shuster said. “Sonia was a great ambassador, not only from the United States but from the Midwest.”

Sonia found out that she had made the team in the fall and began preparing for the world tournament with her teammates and coaches.

Shuster said the team used technology, such as Skype, to have practice debates and coaching sessions.

“Students were given topics and then asked to deliver speeches,” Shuster said.

Sonia spent at least two hours a week in preparation for the tournament.

International debate differs from the policy style of debate in which United States students participate. In U.S. policy debate students research a topic that they debate throughout the year in pairs of two.

In international debate, the topics vary from round to round and three students participate on each team every round, instead of two.

“Each person gives a speech and then one person gives a reply,” Sonia said.

Sonia gave the reply speeches for the U.S. team during the tournament.

“It’s the most challenging speech of the debate,” she said.

In international debate, participants are given a list of potential debate topics before the tournament to research, but some topics are not revealed to the students until the tournament.

“Half of the rounds are impromptu and half of the rounds are prepared,” Sonia said.

Sonia and her teammates participated in eight preliminary rounds at the tournament. Their topics ranged from racial profiling to foster care reform.

Participants are judged on style, presentation, organization and strategy.

The U.S. team went 2-6 in the tournament.

“A lot of losses were split,” Sonia said. “We would consider that a success.”

Shuster described the international competition as fierce.

“It’s much harder than anything that is available to high school debaters in this country,” Shuster said. “The students we compete against speak four or five languages. ...We are talking about the very brightest students in the world.”

Sonia’s trip to South Africa was as cultural as it was academic.

She said she made friends with debaters from other countries. And during downtime Sonia and other students visited historical sites in South Africa.

Sonia said one of her favorite parts of the trip was a visit to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held captive.

“It was kind of over powering,” Sonia said.

Sonia will continue to compete with the U.S debate team at other international tournaments this year.

“When you are on the team, you don’t just go to this tournament,” Shuster said.

Sonia and her teammates are slated to compete in the Pan-American Debate Championship in July in Chili.

“I definitely plan to continue this style of international debating,” Sonia said.

Sonia’s mother, Nancy Larbi, supports Sonia’s international endeavors.

“It’s really preparing her for the future and preparing her to be a contributor in the future,” Larbi said. “Your communication skills are very important no matter what role you play in society.”

The lawsuit between Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn and The New Reform Temple has been terminated. On Wednesday, Feb. 29, Johnson County District Court Judge David W. Hauber granted NRT’s motion to compel arbitration.

“With that, the next step is for the plaintiff (Rabbi Cukierkorn) to submit a demand for arbitration, if he intends to proceed, which we assume he does,” stated NRT President Michael Grossman in a statement to The Chronicle.

Rabbi Cukiekorn said he does expect to move forward with arbitration.

Rabbi Cukierkorn filed the lawsuit in late September, claiming NRT breached the separation agreement the two parties mutually agreed to in March 2011. That was precipitated by a decision made in December 2010 by NRT’s board of directors not to renew the rabbi’s contract, which was to last through June of this year. Payments, as agreed to in the separation agreement, began April 1, 2011, and were to continue through June 14, 2012.

According to court documents obtained by The Chronicle, NRT stopped making the agreed upon payments in mid-June of last year. At that time NRT sent Rabbi Cukierkorn a letter stating that unless he could provide documentation relating to monetary transfers from NRT’s discretionary fund, the congregation would cease payments agreed to under the separation agreement.

Rabbi Cukierkorn’s lawsuit asked the court to enter judgment against NRT, requiring it to comply with the terms of the separation agreement and provide full payment, as well as interest.

Rabbi Cukierkorn is now the rabbi of Temple Israel of Greater Kansas City, which recently celebrated hitting the 100-family member milestone.

NRT hired Rabbi Alan Londy to serve as interim rabbi last summer and offered him a three-year full-time contract earlier this month.