Individuals struggling with infertility will have a safe space to swap resources and share stories starting Tuesday, March 19. Priya: Growing Jewish Families is launching a quarterly support group called Bloom for past, present and potential clients. The first group meeting is from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Brookside campus of Jewish Family Services, 425 E. 63rd St., Kansas City, Missouri.
LOCAL ARTIST EXHIBITION IN LONDON — Shane Lutzk is going “across the pond” for his first solo exhibition in London next week. “Continuity and Transformation” will be on exhibit at Oneroom Gallery beginning March 21. The exhibition will feature large-scale sculptures and smaller objects. Lutzk utilizes the potter’s wheel to create his wall installations and architectural vessels.
His ceramic work involves a continuous study of formal language of the vessel. While traveling abroad, Lutzk was greatly influenced by the historical architecture in Kecskemet, Hungary. He develops work by integrating the precision and structural components found in the diversity of architecture. Lutzk designs monumental sculptures that reflect his thoughts and complement architectural form. He expresses himself each day by developing and designing innovative vessels. His sculptures create a spatial connection with the viewer, according to scale. He determines what he wants to convey, experiments and then decides on the composition and proportions of each ceramic piece, he said.
A NEW MEANING FOR MA NISHTANAH — A staged reading of “A Very Different Night,” written by Stu Lewis, will be part of The Living Room Theatre’s “Night of Ten-Minute Plays” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 18. Lewis, who is a member of Congregation Beth Torah, said his play was about a young man who invites his non-Jewish girlfriend to meet his parents for the first time at their Passover seder. The Living Room Theatre is at 1818 McGee in Kansas City, Missouri, and admission is “pay what you can.” (Make sure you have cash.) For more information, call 816-533-5857.
WATCH SHIR JOY CONCERT ON FACEBOOK — Those who missed the Shir Joy concert at Congregation Beth Shalom featuring Hazzans Tahl Ben-Yehuda, Asa Fradkin, Steven Stoehr and Lizzie Shammash can watch it on Facebook (facebook.com/BethShalomKC). I hear it got rave reviews!
KU CHABAD’S BAR MITZVAH YEAR — We all know I find little tidbits about our community by perusing Facebook, but I’ve been a little behind lately. I stumbled across a post on Zalman ‘n Nechama Tiechtel’s page from March 4 pointing out they arrived in Lawrence, with their then-6-week-old daughter Mina, to start Chabad at KU on March 4, 2006. The photo with the post was a copy of the front page of The Chronicle from May 26, 2006, which featured a photo of the Tiechtels and the headline, “KU gets its own Chabad House.” Rabbi Zalman, as he is known around Lawrence, is fond of saying “We arrived in this small college town with a dollar and a dream.” Their first event was hosting a Shabbat dinner for four students. Thirteen years later, Chabad at KU sponsors a variety of meals and courses throughout the week and always a Shabbat dinner. The Chabad co-directors wrote, “As we sit around the lit Shabbat dinner table with warm challah, chicken soup and matzah balls, delicious kosher chicken and kugel, the most important aspect of the evening will be the real sense of family and connection that is felt by all present.”
There’s more. “We are continuously inspired each and every day by the countless young Jewish men and women who make time in their day and space in their heart to connect with their own heritage.”
Their primary responsibility is to the students at the University of Kansas, but they reach out to the entire Jewish community in Lawrence as well as communities in surrounding areas including Manhattan, Kansas. Rabbi Zalman has even answered a few of my questions on occasion. To that I say todah rabbah and mazel tov on your anniversary. We wish you many more successful years with your beloved Jewhawks!
This spring there may be two Jewish faces on the Kansas City (Missouri) Public Schools (KCPS) Board of Education following the election set for April 2.
LAWRENCE – How will last week’s announcement of corruption charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affect the country’s April 9 parliamentary elections?
REHOVOT, Israel — For years, Israeli scientist Tamar Flash has been fascinated with the octopus, and the unusual way the invertebrate’s eight arms propel it effortlessly through the water.
ISRAEL DAY IN TOPEKA — Kansans who support Israel will gather at the Kansas State Capitol in Topeka on Tuesday, March 19, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to “let our representatives know that Kansans love Israel.” This event is being supported by diverse communities in Kansas that are working together to speak out against hate, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias. More information can be found on the Kansans for Israel Facebook page (facebook.com/kansansforisrael).
This week the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City (The J) embarks on the public portion of a fundraising campaign to build a Family Recreation Complex expected to open in late 2020. The 27,000 square-foot expansion will be located on the west side of the Jewish Community Campus between The White Theatre wing and the Fitness and Sports facility in what is now green space.
You’re in for a delightful evening if you attend the Shir Joy concert at Congregation Beth Shalom on Sunday, March 10. Hazzan Tahl Ben-Yehuda, director of congregational learning at Beth Shalom, is hosting the concert and will be joined by three other cantors.
Jennifer Savner Levinson is one of seven people in the greater Kansas City area to be chosen as The Independent magazine’s 2019 Class of Rising Stars. The honor is a result of the work she does as community outreach facilitator for Speak Up (Suicide Prevention Education Awareness for Kids United as Partners Foundation.)
“It’s really exciting to be recognized because Speak Up is only three years old,” said Levinson, an active member of Congregation Beth Torah.
Kansas City jazz violinist Adam Galblum has a special place in his heart for the late jazz violinist Claude “Fiddler” Williams, and he jumped at the chance to honor Williams on Feb. 20.
Galblum performed for the radio show “12th Street Jump” at the Black Dolphin in Kansas City, Missouri. The show celebrated Williams’ birthday: He was born Feb. 22, 1908, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and died April 26, 2004, in Kansas City, Missouri.
