Yia Yia’s, the PB & J restaurant group’s venerable Euro-bistro, opened at its free-standing Leawood location (119th and Roe) in December 1993. Since then, the Leawood corridor — which could be considered located in the heart of the Jewish community — has seen numerous restaurants have come and go. Even PB & J has changed. Over the years Coyote Grill at Mission Center and Paradise Diner at Oak Park Mall, two beloved PB & J spots, were closed. The restaurant group no longer runs Paulo and Bill’s or Grand Street Café, and now runs restaurants in several other cities well beyond the Kansas City area.

But Yia Yia’s in Leawood remains a PB & J mainstay — and a Leawood restaurant icon of sorts. It would be easy to overlook a place like Yia Yia’s, given the binge of upscale spots that have opened in the area in the past 10 years or so. But Yia Yia’s still warrants attention from serious gastronomes.

The restaurant occupies a beautiful space. The entrance is isolated from the rest of the place — keeping the mood tranquil in the dining area on busy nights. The large dining room rests atop mosaic tile floors and within stone columns and fabric-covered wall panels. Tables and booths are comfortable and spacious, and there is ample room between one table/booth and the next. An appealing outside patio has always been a dining hot spot in the nicer weather.

One evening our waitress confessed that she had recently started working at the place. She was charming and attentive throughout the meal, though, and her only slip was an unduly strained and verbose explanation of the seafood special — a whole sea bass. We had to ask her to repeat the description, and were surprised to learn that she had described merely one entrée, rather than two or three. Before taking our orders, she brought out a basket of wonderful, warm sourdough bread, along with complimentary babaganoush for dipping, which was frankly a little bland and underwhelming.

We shared an outstanding plate of Gnocchi ($9.95), as an appetizer. The gnocchi was perfectly cooked — firm but not overdone — and sat in a delicious gorgonzola cream sauce, with tender pieces of roasted chicken, chunks of gorgonzola, spinach and walnuts. A nearly perfect dish. We were somewhat less fond of the Short Rib Ravioli ($12.95). The meat pulled from the ribs was tender and moist in the ravioli pocket, which was coated with a very light hazelnut brown butter. Tart, dried cranberries were an unusual component, however, that did not marry well with the dish. I tried the Cream of Mushroom Soup ($4.50) one night — the soup of the day — and found the creamy, pureed mushroom soup to be flavorful and fresh, though the slightly grainy consistency was a little distracting. I did also add a dash of salt. Our waitress kindly brought (on her own initiative) an additional wedge of the bread to dip into the soup. Yia Yia’s makes a fine Caesar salad ($6.95), a well-chilled and unusual take on the classic, with ample anchovy and garlic flavor, but also a Dijon mustard flavor, to some extent.

Yia Yia’s does some nice things with poultry. Roasted chicken is, to some, the comfort food gold standard. There is something about tender and juicy chicken, wading in the chicken’s own juices, along with fresh herbs and roasted cloves of garlic. Yia Yia’s offers Campo Lindo Farms Natural Chicken ($17.95), a free range rendition from a notable family farm about 35 miles north of Kansas City, in Lathrop, Mo. Served on the bone, the terrifically moist one-half chicken was sitting in its own juices, and was surrounded with red onions, olives, roasted garlic, red chiles and capers. The large hunks of Yukon gold potatoes served alongside were cooked to a perfect, crispy finish. The Spiced Roasted Duck Breast ($22.95) was beautifully sliced and moist — cooked just before the point at which the duck might have been dry. It was flavored with Albarino (a white wine grape distinctive for its fruity apricot and peach notes), apples and chilies, and served with a decent toasted almond basmati rice.

But it was not just the poultry. Yia Yia’s has a decent way with fish and beef, as well. Fresh Atlantic Salmon ($22.95) was also perfectly cooked and moist, with a hearty grilled flavor. Yia Yia’s has always excelled with its seafood offerings. The wait staff is wholly accommodating, and will gladly leave off the sherry-shrimp cream served atop the salmon, and will substitute the shrimp ravioli served alongside for another accompaniment, if requested. My wife opted for the Flat Iron Steak ($19.95) one night, a generous 10-ounce portion sliced and fanned on a long, narrow plate, and served Southwestern style, with roasted sweet corn and grilled scallions. She ordered her steak medium well To this day, I cringe when she requests it north of medium — though she has made some progress, over the years. She used to ask that it be prepared well, well done (yes, she would say it twice). I was pleased when the steak actually came out closer to medium rare. It was flavorful and well-prepared, if not spectacular — probably rendering it our least favorite of the sampled entrees. It had been a pretty tough group of entrees, however, within which to compete.

Seventeen years from now, it is hard to imagine that the Yia Yia’s formula would become outdated: European comfort food prepared with fine ingredients, and served by attentive wait staff in an inviting atmosphere. Hard to imagine what Leawood will look like by then, but Yia Yia’s will surely still be alive and kicking.

Food:  3 1/2 stars
Atmosphere: 3 1/2 stars
Service: 3 1/2 stars
Out of four stars.

Fundraising campaign aims to replace symbolic structure quickly

The menorah that sits outside the Chabad Jewish Center at the University of Kansas was vandalized sometime between late Friday evening, Feb. 4, and Saturday morning, Feb. 5.

“We had a lot of people here for Shabbat and we know for sure it was here at 10:30 p.m. Friday night and it was gone at 10 a.m. the next morning,” said Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, co-director of the center along with his wife, Nechama.

Anytime a religious institution is vandalized, Rabbi Tiechtel explained that the act is usually considered a hate crime. He believes, however, that intent must be taken into consideration before this vandalism can really be classified as a hate crime.

“We’re located right in the center of a college town right off campus. Friday night is a time for partying and in the past we’ve had minor incidents where students have done stupid things,” he said.

More importantly, Rabbi Tiechtel said the vandals didn’t leave anything on the property or leave any graffiti.

“Based on that, we’re thinking it’s just a prank from some wild students. But we don’t know. The investigation is still pending.”

KU Chabad was established in the fall of 2006. Rabbi Tiechtel said the 6-foot-tall metal menorah was broken into two pieces horizontally and many of the branches were taken from the site.

“It’s not easy to take it apart. You need two or three people and you have to cut some wire as well. It’s stuck in the ground so you can’t take the menorah itself,” Rabbi Tiechtel explained.

While the original menorah cost about $1,000, Rabbi Tiechtel estimates it will take $2,000 to replace it.

“We want a bigger, better and brighter menorah,” Rabbi Tiechtel said. “We want one that’s 8 feet or maybe even higher.”

A fundraising campaign is already being spearheaded by senior students Megan Singer, a Kansas City native, and Leah Levy and Rachel Kraig, both of Skokie, Ill. Singer said it’s important for Chabad to have a menorah.

“It’s a symbol that every person who goes down 19th Street sees. The menorah stands outside the Chabad House to show it’s a place where any Jewish person is welcome. If there is not a menorah outside the Chabad House, it will not be easy to find,” Singer said.

Rabbi Tiechtel said a student committee is exploring many options for a replacement menorah, including having it made in Lawrence and getting some KU students involved in the design or construction.

KU Chabad is using this opportunity to gather the community together.

“We believe that the greatest way to fight negativity is with positivity. It is so important to us that such an act should not breed even further negative feelings,” the rabbi said.

“We’ve gotten tremendous feedback and received very nice notes from other congregations in town and members of the community,” he continued.

KU Chabad hopes a new menorah is in place soon.

“Many people who don’t come to Chabad regularly look at it every day and it means something to them, too,” Rabbi Tiechtel said. “We don’t want to wait too long. We don’t want the darkness to be there any longer.”

Jewish Family Services Help@Home program is having a great problem. Its growth and success has necessitated a need for Help@Home to recruit more volunteers. (See below.)

“It’s been a wonderful program that keeps growing,” said Dawn Herbet, JFS’ director of older adult initiatives. “Just in the last year we’ve added 57 households.”

Help@Home is all part of an initiative that started about three years ago when JFS decided to enhance its programming for older adults. Its first venture was the JET transportation program, which can also trace much of its success to volunteers. A little more than two years ago, in October 2008, Help@Home was launched.

Herbet explained that Help@Home, which was designed following successful program models in Israel and the United States, supports the healthy aging of older adults in their own homes. It does this by providing high quality, dependable home repair services and greater access to a variety of other services which help maintain independence and provide for peace of mind.

In just three years Help@Home has grown to service 88 member households. To join, one must be an adult 65 or older or have a physical or mental disability. The service provides its members the tools and services for them to remain independent, comfortable and in control of their daily lives for as long as they choose to stay in their homes.

Because no one will be denied membership to Help@Home because of financial needs, membership fees are charged on a sliding scale and run $7.50 to $75. Generous grants from funders including the Jewish Heritage Foundation of Greater Kansas City, the Menorah Legacy Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City the Legacy Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation and United Way, also fund the program.

Herbet said JFS uses a very confidential process to determine the member’s fee. The application form is also easy to complete, she said.

The monthly Help@Home fee pays for all labor costs, regardless of how many times a member uses the service.

“You can use us one time, you can use us four times, or you can use us 12 times in a month. There is no additional labor fee. The only additional fee is if we need to buy supplies to do the job,” she said.

Help@Home has a full-time community handyman, Seroj Terian, and an on-call handyman who are available to do minor home repairs and computer troubleshooting. The phone is answered 24 hours a day to handle home emergencies.

Herbet said Help@Home also has a partnership with John Knox Village to offer home-safety assessments. An occupational therapist makes sure members’ homes are safe to help avoid such things as falling and slipping. Following the assessment, Help@Home helps members decide how to handle any modifications. The handymen can take care of minor modifications.

Major modifications will require members to hire a contractor. In that case Herbet said Help@Home has a referral list.

“We have researched them and we are comfortable referring them out to our members,” Herbet said.

One of the reasons the program has grown is because members are happy with it and talk about it to their friends. Members are comfortable calling Help@Home, Herbet said, even if it’s the middle of the night.

“That’s because they know if they don’t know who to call we have somebody on call to answer the phone who they know who can tell them what to do,” she said.

Aaron Rabinovitz is one member who is very satisfied with the Help@Home program. At age 78, he said that he is healthy compared to many of his contemporaries, but sensible enough to know that there are things, such as climbing ladders, that he no longer should do. So while he misses being able to fix anything he wants anytime he wants, he’s glad that Help@Home is there when he needs it.

“There’s certain things that I can’t do anymore that I used to be able to do and it’s awfully nice to be able to call Help@Home and set up an appointment and get some of these things done. The truth of the matter is they have a very fantastic individual who is extremely bright, knowledgeable and a very handy handyman. Besides that, he’s a nice person,” Rabinovitz said.

Rabinovitz said that his children also had issues with him doing certain things around the house, so they are happy with the service as well. Herbet said that’s another plus to Help@Home.

“The program really does give peace of mind to our members’ families. For those who have family members who might not live here or just can’t always get to the house to help their parents, that’s why we’re here. We are someone the loved ones can call,” Herbet said.

Volunteer Mike Woolverton said Help@Home is a great way to help the community and yourself at the same time.

“I’m a great believer in the chesed spirit and I like the opportunity to give back to the community,” Woolverton said.

He was raised in southern Missouri and spent a lot of his childhood around elderly people.

“They watched out for me and took care of me and I swore that once I got old enough I would do something to repay them and this is my way of repaying them,” said Woolverton, who volunteers as a computer technician and teacher. Retired from the U.S. Air Force, he was laid off from his job in 2009 and would like to find a part-time job that would allow him to continue to volunteer. Besides Help@Home he also teaches at the Heritage Center.

Be a volunteer

People who are handy around the house, good with tools or good with computers are being recruited as Help@Home volunteers.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to go into someone’s home and have an impact on their lives,” explains said Dawn Herbet, JFS’ director of older adult initiatives.

JFS is recruiting people who can volunteer as little as one hour a week, or as much as 12 hours. JFS is seeking at least 10 people to supplement the three volunteers currently working with the program.

Volunteers will help the handyman or may do some minor repairs on their own. To learn more about volunteering, contact Adrienne Kizer at (913) 327-8257 or .

For the first time since its inception The Gathering will be held in a synagogue, not a church.

This will be the seventh time Jews and Christians will come together in a united call for peace in Israel. The Gathering VII will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 20, at Congregation Beth Shalom’s building on Wornall. It is free and open to the public.

Rabbi Alan Cohen, director of interreligious affairs for the Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee, is co-chairing the event with Pastor Paul Brooks of First Baptist Raytown. He said organizers felt it would be nice to have the event in a Jewish setting for a change.

“We recognize that there may be some in the Jewish community who still feel awkward attending an event in a church,” Rabbi Cohen said.

Since the event has always been held in a church, Pastor Brooks said it “would be wonderful to meet in a synagogue.”

“I’m also excited about seeing many of my Jewish friends,” the pastor said.

Rabbi Cohen said he hopes that holding the event in a synagogue will boost attendance from the Jewish community. Although there are no exact figures, in the past it has seemed that more Christians attended the event than Jews.

The Gathering is sponsored by a diverse group of organizations and agencies, and supported by more than 100 individual churches and synagogues. Pastor Brooks believes it is important for two reasons.

“One is to show our support for the nation of Israel. It’s also important to build relationships between the Jewish community and the Christian community,” Pastor Brooks said.

Rabbi Cohen believes the relationship that has been established with this segment of the evangelical community over the years is important.

“It’s one that we really need to strengthen and involve as many people from both communities as possible,” Rabbi Cohen said.

For the first time The Gathering is being held on a Sunday afternoon instead of a weeknight. The time change, Rabbi Cohen said, hopefully will be more family friendly.

Because the event is taking place on President’s Day weekend, Rabbi Cohen said the focus will be on the historic relationship between Israel and the United States. Both Pastor Brooks and Rabbi Cohen noted that volunteer Judy Hastings, a member of First Baptist Raytown, has written an “outstanding” script for the event. This year she has added passages that recount the relationship of historical relationship between America and Israel. Clergy from both the Jewish and Christian communities will read from the script and lead prayers for peace.

Pastor Brooks said organizers didn’t change the program any in light of the events taking place in Egypt, Israel’s only friendly neighbor in the Middle East.

“It could be that the sense of urgency felt by those people who attend may be different,” Pastor Brooks said.

“It’s a very volatile part of the world and Israel is always being threatened by its neighbors. It will be very sad if anti-Israeli politicians take over Egypt. It will be very sad and very dangerous. We just have to hope that cooler heads will prevail.”

All men and women who have served, or who are currently serving in the U.S. and/or Israeli armed forces will be recognized. The event will also feature a musical presentation performed by Yachad: The Traveling Tefillah Band, Shir Balev and children and adult choirs from both the Jewish and Christian communities.

For more information about the Gathering, visit www.jerusalemgathering.org.

There may be a foot of snow on the ground but you know spring is around the corner when major league pitchers and catchers report to spring training. That happens in a little more than a week, meaning that little leaguers will soon be running the bases as well.
Little leaguers in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Kan., will have Jaxson Dubinsky to thank as they hit the fields this spring when they get a chance to use equipment he helped to collect.

Jaxson thought it would be a good idea to commemorate the memory of a former baseball coach, the late Mark Boresow, when he made plans for his mitzvah project prior to his Oct. 2 Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Beth Torah.  At the time, he never imagined he could help hundreds of kids fulfill their dreams. But a few months later, the teen found himself bound for Philadelphia in a truck filled with bats, gloves and hundreds more pieces of baseball gear he collected for Pitch In For Baseball (PIFB), a non-profit organization that distributes baseball equipment to programs serving underprivileged kids throughout the United States and the world (www.pitchinforbaseball.org).

But only about half of the equipment made the trip east. The remaining equipment — nearly 500 items — will stay in Kansas City with the KCK RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program. Many kids don’t have the resources available to play baseball, said Cle Ross, executive director of the Kansas City chapter of Major League Baseball’s RBI program.

Jaxson said he chose this project because he’s played baseball since he was 3 years old.

“I wanted to give other kids the same possibilities I have when it comes to baseball, so they can enjoy it as much as I do,” he said.
Jaxson, a seventh-grade student at Overland Trail Middle School, noted that if Coach Boresow was able, “he would have made it possible for everyone to play baseball. But in 2008 he died in an accident, and he was a huge inspiration to me.”

“I feel like I’m honoring him by giving more kids the tools they need to play ball,” he said.

His goal was to collect at least 500 pieces of equipment, and he achieved about double that goal. Jaxson’s father, Steve Dubinsky, explained that he first got permission to collect equipment at his school.

“He made signs and placed barrels throughout the school where kids could drop their equipment. Also he sent a letter to those invited to the Bar Mitzvah,” Steve Dubinsky said.

A supportive father, he helped as well.

“I also sent a note to people I know who coach baseball, have kids, etc. and one of those people was Jeremy McDowell, who is a tournament director,” Steve Dubinsky said.

McDowell invited Jaxson to collect equipment at his tourney. He also donated $600 worth of tournament vouchers as prizes to the top three teams who collected the most equipment. Blue Valley Recreation, where Jaxson plays baseball, also donated items in the organization’s lost and found to the collection.

PIFB distributes equipment all over the world, from the Philippines to Philly, but Jaxson wanted to be sure the equipment he collected helped kids in his hometown. So David Rhode, founder and executive director of PIFB, introduced Jaxson to Cle Ross, and Dubinsky split his donation.

Jaxson’s donation sets a new standard in terms of the distance driven to make a donation. The Dubinsky family, including Jaxson, his parents, his sister and his dog, drove 1,200 miles from Leawood to deliver the equipment to PIFB distribution center in Harleysville, Penn.

Dubinsky’s donation included 200 balls, 150 gloves, 150 pair of cleats, 100 bats, 40 equipment bags, 20 complete sets of catchers gear, dozens of pairs of baseball pants, caps and other assorted accessories.

“This young man is setting an important example to his peers,” said Rhode. “This one-time collection is a significant accomplishment, but Jaxson has an opportunity to continue his service, whether it’s with us here at PIFB, the RBI program in Kansas City, or both.”

Jaxson said he couldn’t have accomplished this success without the help of others. He thanks Midwest Sports Productions for letting him collect equipment at the Monster Bash baseball tournament, and Bobby Hennessey at Honda of Tiffany Springs for letting his family borrow the truck to drive to Pennsylvania.

Given the international nature of “The Daughter of the Regiment,” a French opera by an Italian composer, set in Switzerland and sung — in a departure from the company’s usual custom — in English, who would be better suited for the title role in the Kansas City Lyric Opera’s upcoming production than an Israeli-born American citizen who currently resides in Germany? Such a singer is Nili Riemer, a young soprano who is quickly making her mark on the international opera scene.

“Daughter of the Regiment” will be Riemer’s second appearance with the Lyric, following her portrayal of Mabel in “Pirates of Penzance” two seasons ago. She has fond memories of her previous visit and of working with a company which is dedicated to bringing up-and-coming singers to the city. She is especially looking forward to working with Dottie Danner, who “is known for her high-energy staging, so you can bet that I’ll be getting a workout whipping all the soldiers into shape.” She is also anxious to work with such talents as Vic Robertson and KU-based John Stephens and Joyce Castle.

Originally hailing from Netania and Herzelia, just outside of Tel Aviv, Riemer immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was 9 years old. She still has ties to her native land, visiting every summer, and speaks fluent Hebrew. About eight years ago she studied at the Israel Vocal Arts International. She has strong Jewish roots, having attended a Jewish day school. At Tufts University she was active in Jewish student life and sang in a Jewish a-cappella choir, “Shir Appeal,” which toured the country. Before devoting herself to singing as a full-time career, she worked at the Israeli Consulate and the Aliya Center in Boston. In her recitals, she usually tries to incorporate some Jewish music. Though not formally affiliated with any of Frankfurt’s synagogues, she and her German-Jewish husband feel strongly connected to their Jewish heritage through their ties with Israel.

Music has always been an important part of her life, even before her conscious memory of it. Her parents recall her singing even as an infant, and she knew 50 songs by the age of 3. At age 15 she began to take voice lessons. At first she wanted to sing Broadway music, but when her voice teacher heard her sing “Think of Me” (from “Phantom of the Opera”) she asked her to try Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro” (from “Gianni Schicchi”), and she was soon hooked on opera. She earned her master’s degree in voice at State University of New York at Binghamton (author’s note: my alma mater). Her resume includes appearances in most of the standard roles for coloratura (high-voice) sopranos, such as Queen of the Night, Lucia, Despina, Lakme, Olympia (a roll which she played on roller skates) and Cunegonde — as well as some rarer ones, such as her upcoming appearance as the controller in Jonathan Dove’s “Flight.” At the top of her wish list for future projects is Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’s “Ariadne auf Naxos”— “a smart, sensual and sarcastic character that I think I could really have fun with onstage.” She gets as much enjoyment from the portrayal of a character as she does from singing, and she is always “looking for the next director to come up with some crazy idea” — as long as the concept makes sense. She enjoys doing “crazy things onstage with a hyperactive character.”

As for “La Fille du Regiment,” she describes it as the “one to see” for a first-time opera-going experience. It tells the story of a young woman believed to be an orphan who is adopted by a regiment of soldiers, who collectively become her father, and of her romance with a young man who enlists in the regiment in hopes of marrying her. Of the character, Riemer comments, “She’s a daddy’s girl who is tough as nails but discovers that she has a sensitive side to her. It will be fun getting to play a tomboy … but I have to find a feminine element in my swagger and let that develop throughout the show, as I am taught to become more refined.” One aspect of Marie’s character that disturbs many viewers (spoiler-alert) is that when she learns of her high-born ancestry she passively agrees to an arranged marriage suitable to her new station in life. Riemer explains, however, that “Marie is a soldier at heart — and a soldier follows orders.”

The Lyric’s production promises to be the sort of high-energy show in which Riemer thrives. Opera buffs and opera neophytes should have an equally good time.

“The Daughter of the Regiment,” will be presented by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Feb/ 19, 23, 25 and 27. For ticket information contact (816) 471-7344.

From a childhood on Pierce Avenue on the North Side of Chicago, to working for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Tina Hacker grew into a powerful writer of sensitive, literary poems. Recently a collection of her poems, “Cutting It,” was published by The Lives You Touch Publications of Gwynedd Valley, Pa.

“These poems show how people cope with struggles, from the grand scale, like the Holocaust, to the more common problems facing us all, like forgetfulness,” Hacker wrote when she submitted this manuscript.

Her eloquent poems touch on issues such as the Holocaust and growing up in Chicago.

“On Pierce Avenue,” she said, “it was almost all Jewish and all my relatives were there. I lived there till I was 12 when we moved to Hollywood Park.” Then she attended a public high school, that was “about 95 percent Jewish.” So although her family was not religious, she was surrounded by Jewish culture and ritual.

She sang in two synagogue choirs as well as in the semi-professional Max Janowski Choir. “We sang at the Lyric Opera House for the 13th anniversary of the state of Israel,” Tina remembers, “I shared a stage with Jack Benny, but didn’t recognize him!”

From this youth of performing, Tina really did not focus on writing until she was in college. She has both a bachelor’s degree in teaching and a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Illinois.

But it was really her years growing up in Chicago and hearing stories about the Holocaust from family members who were survivors that touched her. In her book, the poem, “Looking for Helen,” has the most meaning for her. Helen was a cousin who survived Auschwitz. One day, after 25 years, she informed the family that her name was Julie, not Helen. No one ever knew why, but Tina supposes:

Now I call her Julie without translating
Her new name into the original.
I wonder if she will change her name again.
Where has she put Helen?
Is she in hiding so when the Nazis
come, her neighbors will say,
“No one by that name lives here.”

Tina moved to Kansas City to work for Hallmark Cards, where she spent 37 years until she retired. For many years she edited the Jewish lines, and then was the Jewish consultant for these card lines. She edited three books for Hallmark relating to Jewish issues: “Shalom, The Heritage of Judaism in Selective Writings,” in 1972; “The Jewish Spirit.” in 1976; and a book of Sholom Aleichem tales called “A Childhood of Honey and Tears.”

For a while she belonged to Kehilath Israel Synagogue where she became a close friend of Dorothy “Dottie” Shoham. She wrote “Sheba” about her.  This poem is one of two of her poems nominated for a Pushcart Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes of the small presses. The other poem, “Final Night,” was recently nominated.

Hacker is active in the writing community of Kansas City. She is the immediate past co-president of the Writers Place and served on the board for four years. Her poems have been published in many literary journals and anthologies.

She and her husband, Lynn Norton, live in Leawood, where her home is decorated with Jewish art including a driedel and chanukiah collection. Norton, an artist who works for Hallmark, drew the cover art for the book.

To get a copy of the book, contact Hacker at or go to Amazon.com. The book costs $15 plus postage.

Jews in Israel, as are those throughout the world, are keeping up with the news in Egypt through various newspapers and television reports. Like many issues facing the Middle East, there isn’t just one opinion on the subject.

For instance, Ronnie Belzer has been living in Petach Tikvah since 1969 with his wife, Judy. A retired college teacher, he asks, “Do you think my opinion is any different or more unique than the experts?”

“Simply stated, if there is a major regime change, it will be bad for Israel because we will then have to tear up our ‘cold peace’ agreement and prepare for another major adversary — in the south,” said Belzer, who has three children, nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Judy Firestone Singer lives in Kibbutz Merav, which is on the Gilboa mountains in the rural north. She has lived in Israel since 1983 and currently serves as mayor of her kibbutz and lives there with her husband and three daughters. The daughter of former Chronicle editor and owner, the late Milton Firestone and Bea Firestone Wasserstrom Flam, she says she’s far from an expert on the Egyptian situation. But she believes the recent uprising and riots in Egypt are fascinating historical material, great TV, and pose an interesting — if unsettling — dilemma for Israel, and for the West in general.

“Egypt, while in theory is a democracy with regular elections, is really a semi-totalitarian, fairly repressive, state firmly in the control of one man, President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power since 1981. Arab countries have no tradition of revolutions or popular uprisings — that is, until very recently. Suddenly, the impossible has become a reality, as hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets, demanding the removal of the oppressive and corrupt regime.

“So, as champions of democracy and western liberalism, shouldn’t we be pleased? Well, not so fast. …

“Western countries, and Israel in particular, are extremely concerned about instability in the Egyptian regime. No one knows for certain what will happen if Mubarak is in fact forced from office, but it certainly does provide the opportunity for extremist and terrorist groups to step in, which could have a very damaging effect on the country and on the region. Egypt is, of course, one of the only two Arab countries at peace with Israel; but Israel is quite unpopular in Egypt and it is generally assumed that Mubarak has been single-handedly maintaining the peace with Israel for many years. The Egyptians in the streets at the moment are not thinking about Israel, but in the medium-to-long run, the fate of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty is far from certain.

“As the most populous, powerful and influential Arab country, what happens in Egypt sets the tone for much of the Arab world, and Arab rulers all over are no doubt on the verge of panic. The unrest has already spread from Lebanon to Tunisia to Egypt, and it is unlikely to stop there. Large-scale disruptions in numerous countries in the region will have a destabilizing effect, the results of which cannot be predicted,” Singer said.

Barry Kaplan made aliyah a little more than two years ago and currently works as sales manager for Identity Travel Ltd., specializing in bringing Jews and Christians to Israel. For a while he was happy to see change taking place in Egypt. Now he’s not so sure because he worries about the influence of the Islamic Brotherhood, “which spawned Hamas, Hezbollah and who knows what else.”

“I remember what happened in Iran when the religious fanatics took over,” he said.

Kaplan is saddened that the U.S. government does not seem to learning from the lessons of the past.

“I only see lip service and posturing. As an Israeli citizen, I now see Israel being pushed into a corner. We have been there before. We left Gaza and got rockets in exchange. We now have the possibility of the largest population of Muslims in the Middle East, being led by a fanatical group who only wants to see Israel wiped out of existence. Even today, one of the Egyptian leaders of the so-called revolution is calling for the extermination of Israel and the government has not even changed yet. Remember, that we here in Israel really hear what is said in Arabic and get correct translations. We hear the English also. Regretfully, the world only believes what it hears in English,” he continued.

“Things are changing every day, and we must keep aware of these transitions and how they will affect the largest concentration of the Jewish world today, tomorrow and in the future,” Kaplan concluded.

Author Libby Astaire said the crisis in Egypt hasn’t really affected life in Jerusalem, where she has been living since 1995.

“Here in Jerusalem life goes on as normal. Yesterday, we finally got a good rainstorm, which the country so desperately needs. Today, I’m working on a magazine article. Tomorrow, the daughter of a good friend is getting married. Normal, no?

“But what about Egypt? In a way, what’s going on there is ‘normal,’ too. Jewish tradition tells us that God creates the world anew every second of the day. That’s why we should never take for granted things like good health, a job — or the stability of a political ally. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.

“And so last week a friend fell and broke her knee, the father of a neighbor passed away, and hundreds of thousands of fed-up Egyptians took to the streets. What’s going on? God is running the world, as He always does. We just don’t know yet what the next blink of the eye will bring,” Astaire said.

Diane Wolkow Schaefer, who at one time was managing editor of The Chronicle, says current Middle East events, especially in Egypt, are just one more example of the fact that man can plan or theorize all he wants, “but ultimately everything that happens in the world is determined by the One Above.”

“You can apply this to everything from politics to the stock market to even being stuck in a traffic jam when you are in a rush to get to an important appointment. So I’m skipping all the theories about what’s happening in Egypt. Instead, I’m spending my time on more practical matters, like family, work and my daily obligations as a religious Jew,” said Schaefer, who is working as a technical writer and renovating her apartment where she lives with her husband and three children.

Esther Levens loves politics and she loves Israel. Her love for one or the other has crossed paths more than once in her life and led her in 1991 to found Voices United for Israel, known today as the Unity Coalition for Israel. Her work supporting Israel has brought her much joy and has earned her the respect of Israelis, Christians and now the Jewish community. She will be honored, along with her late husband Vrem, Sunday, Feb. 13, at BIAV’s annul Purim Gala. (For more information, or to make a reservation, contact Barry Rubin at BIAV at (913) 341-2444, e-mail , or go to www.BIAV.org/purimgala.)

In a recent interview from her Prairie Village home, she said she has loved and supported Israel long before “the state was even a state.” She said she first starting believing in the importance of a Jewish state when she was a young woman in Kansas City working for United Jewish Social Services.

“I realized early on how really vulnerable Jews felt around the world,” she said.

A graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, she worked with the very first wave of European refugees immigrating here following the Holocaust. She met them at the railroad station and was charged with finding them housing and kosher food.

Like many Jewish people at that time, Levens said she wasn’t really aware of what was happening during the Holocaust until after the fact because it wasn’t “accurately reported.” But the work she did with survivors was so important to her that she played an instrumental role in arranging some of the earliest Yom Ha’Shoah remembrance services in the state of Kansas. Eventually she was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

Politics and Israel

Esther has been a widow since 1983, but she still beams when she discusses the way she and Vrem worked together for a variety of causes, including supporting the political career of Bob Dole. She vividly remembers the reason Vrem chose to support Dole, when he was still relatively unknown outside of Western Kansas, after meeting him in 1967 during his first campaign for Senate.

“The very first question (Vrem) asked Bob Dole was how he felt about Israel. They were very satisfied with each other’s answers,” Esther said.

Esther said it was always important to Vrem how people felt about Israel, because he was extremely passionate about it.

“He had been involved in the Sonneborn group, which smuggled weapons to Israel and actually went to jail for that,” Esther said. (See related story below.)

As is often the case with married couples — they were married 21 years — Vrem’s causes often turned into Esther’s causes. So he asked her to host an event for the senatorial candidate. Although she was told that “nobody attends political things,” Esther said about 500 people filled the back yard of her ranch-style home for the event.

Over the years Vrem remained friends with Dole, and Dole and his wife, Elizabeth, are serving as honorary co-chairs of the Purim Gala.

Voice of millions

Esther didn’t concentrate completely on volunteer activities. Several times over the years she worked as a professional for Israel Bonds. But her experience with Dole’s political campaigns helped spur her toward forming Voices United for Israel.

“I realized how many unbelievably dedicated Christians there were and how absolutely huge these organizations are,” she said.

“It’s an incredible reservoir of support for Israel and nobody had tapped into it. What was really amazing to me is that most of these groups that we gathered together didn’t know each other before this. Everybody thought they were operating on their own,” Esther said.

When she founded the organization 20 years ago, Esther said people warned her that it wouldn’t work.

“There was a lot of mistrust on both sides.”

Today the Unity Coalition for Israel has convened an alliance of Christian and Jewish organizations actively working together to generate support for Israel. Its more than 200 autonomous partner organization represent more than 40 million people, making it the largest network of pro-Israel groups in the world.

Esther notes the group’s philosophy is Israel is not just a Jewish issue.

“Millions of Christians resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state of Israel. Because we work closely together, and speak with a united voice, our message is being heard.”

Over the years, through several large conferences in Washington, D.C., featuring American and Israeli government officials, Esther has gained the respect of politicians from both countries.

One of those is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 1997 when he was serving his first term as prime minister, he sent Esther a letter following one of her Washington conferences, which he attended. He thanked her for her personal efforts, and the organization’s efforts, at a time when Israel was being subjected to many international pressures.

“The work of (UCI) is now more crucial than ever. I extend my warmest wishes to you, to the distinguished leaders, and to the rank and file of the organization represented by (UCI). Your success is Israel’s success,” the prime minister wrote.

Through her efforts she has made many friends from around the country and Israel, including Yitzchak Ben-Gad, the former consul general of Israel to the Midwest and to Florida and Puerto Rico.

“I met Esther Levens in the early 1990s. … Esther proved to be an energetic, determined and brave Jewish leader dedicated to the safety and security of the state of Israel. She worked tirelessly even under a barrage of opposition and obstacles along the way. No doubt, Esther fulfills the ideals of Sheet Chagall — a Woman of Valor. As our sages have said: ‘There are many women who excel, but you excel among them all,’ ” he said.

UCI

Today UCI’s programs include a speaker’s bureau, a three-day high school democracy seminar outreach program, daily e-mail news summaries and action alerts on current issues connecting UCI members to public officials in the United States and Israel.

She still serves as president and CEO of UCI. After all these years, she is also still dedicated to supporting and preserving Israel, reminding people she’s old enough to remember when there wasn’t an Israel.

“Young students don’t have that contrast and that sense of appreciation of our history. They take it for granted that Israel has always been there and it always will be there. They don’t realize the urgency and the immediate needs as they arise on the international scene to really rescue the Jewish state,” she said.

For more information regarding UCI, or to get on its daily e-mail list, visit www.israeliunitycoalition.org.

Vrem Levens: A friend of Israel

The late Vrem Levens is being honored posthumously at BIAV’s Purim Gala Sunday, Feb. 13, along with his wife, Esther. During most of his life he kept it a secret how he supported the Jewish state in its early years. Below are excerpts from a column Stan Rose wrote April 29, 1983, soon after Levens’ death:

In 1946, when Vrem joined that secret American organization called the Sonneborn Institute — Israel was not a state. It was still only a state of mind — a hope and a wish and a dream.

Rudolph Sonneborn, a wealthy New York Jew, had promised David Ben-Gurion, the eloquent Major Aubrey Eban (who later became better known as Abba Eban) and Haim Slavin, the arms manufacturing expert for Ben-Gurion, that he would recruit the necessary manpower to obtain surplus weapons — making tools to arm the Israelis for the coming War of Independence.

Thanks to the efforts of young men like Vrem Levens, the nation’s junkyards and factories were scoured for surplus tools that were taken apart, crated and smuggled by ship to the Israelis, while bribed custom officials looked the other way. By making good on the promise to arm Israel, the Sonneborn Institute helped make possible Israel’s victory in the 1948 War of Independence and its recognition as a nation.

Vrem was caught by federal authorities in the act of smuggling the machinery and punished as an example to show England and the Arab countries that the United States was not taking sides in the struggle over Palestine. (Levens told Rose), “Because we were sworn to secrecy, my part in the Sonneborn effort was never revealed. The judge sentenced me to 90 days, but later commuted the sentence to 60 days. I served those 60 days and the jail sentence is still on my record.”

Zvi Rafiah, a consultant for Israel on American affairs, said in later years, “Vrem always was ready to go to Washington and raise any issue of injustice to Israel with any legislator. He was listened to and respected because he had a brilliant grasp of Israel’s problems. It was never necessary to call him. He was always one step ahead of the rest of us. He always used his influence wisely and effectively.”

The extreme winter weather we have been experiencing this week can be brutal on utility bills.

That’s where companies like Barry Dicker’s Decent Energy, Inc. can help. Decent Energy provides innovative renewable energy and energy-efficiency solutions for homeowners and businesses. Dicker, the company’s founder and president and a member of Kehilath Israel Synagogue, said the first step in finding energy-efficient solutions, which lead to ways to save money, is to conduct an energy audit.

An energy audit, Dicker explained, means testing the home for a variety of things such as air leakage. An audit can also test for combustion safety problems — such as carbon monoxide issues, gas leaks and sometimes mold or air quality issues.

“All these things tend to be symptoms of the systems in the house not working correctly. The systems all have to work together,” he explained.

The systems Dicker is referring to include insulation, air barrier, the furnace and cooling system.

“Very often they don’t work together and when they don’t, very often people feel uncomfortable,” he said. “That’s when someone will say ‘I feel a little cold’ in this room or that room. These are symptoms of the systems not working together properly,” he said.

Determining whether these systems are working properly is not guess work. Instead, Dicker said Decent Energy employs “a fairly rigorous process using some high-tech tools.”

Those tools include thermal imaging cameras and a blower door — which is a big piece of red fabric “and a fan that we stick in a door that tends to scare all the neighbors.” It’s used to test the air leakage of a home or an office building.

“There’s another fan that we put on the duct system called a duct blaster that gives us a sense of whether heat or cold air is escaping to the outside,” he continued.

Dicker explained that audits Decent Energy conducts for homeowners are considered independent audits.

“We are the trusted adviser and a neutral broker trying to provide the homeowner with independent advice around how best to proceed. Very often that involves coaching the homeowner in connection with implementing a series of do-it-yourself measures,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of handy people around Kansas City and for something easy like caulking around window moldings and the wall; someone can do that while watching a football game on Sunday. That can add pretty considerably to the home’s comfort level,” he said.

“A lot of what we perceive as window discomfort is very often air moving through the moldings around the window, it’s not the window itself,” he continued.

Dicker said if a homeowner wants to select a contractor, Decent Energy will “provide ongoing instructions on to how to implement the energy-efficiency improvements in a sensible way.”

Decent Energy will also provide referrals. If the company does that, a homeowner will receive no fewer than three names of independent contractors.

“If we are the party that is also doing these improvements, we’re not going to be fulfilling the trusted adviser verification role, which is so important in terms of ensuring consumer protection and building a sense of public confidence in terms of the approach that we take,” Dicker explained.

He said Decent Energy wants to be able to make sure if the contractor doesn’t do the job correctly, the contractor can be held accountable for implementing the measures the Decent Energy recommended in a way that will work for the homeowner.

Dicker has been conducting residential audits for a couple of years. The company itself has been around since 2005.
Energy audits for homes can run from $550 to $750.

It may surprise people to learn that newer homes may need energy audits more than older homes, Dicker said.

“Some of the homes built in the early ‘80s are much better built than some of the homes built in the last five years,” he said. “Generally anytime somebody is feeling uncomfortable in their home and the bills seem to be too high, that’s an indication that an audit may be a benefit.”

Dicker said he’s in business to help people save energy because it’s something that speaks to him spiritually and something he enjoys from a teaching perspective.

Saving energy and teaching others how to do so is also important to Dicker because he believes that very often those that profit from traditional energy sources are groups that are hostile to Israel.

“I think that anyone who cares about Israel should care about energy and energy efficiency whether or not they identify themselves as a green person. When we buy more petrochemical products it puts money in the pockets of people who are hostile to Israel and ultimately that’s not a good thing,” he said. Originally from the Boston area, Kansas City is his wife Amy’s hometown. They moved here because they decided this was “a much better place to raise a family than the metro Boston area,” almost three years ago.

Decent Energy is also developing new products, Dicker said, which could help create more jobs for people in this difficult economy.