Archived News

BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS — You don’t need to drive to Lawrence to get pics of gorgeous sunflowers. You can find them right here in Overland Park at Mitzvah Garden KC. The folks at Mitzvah Garden invite you to come to the garden any Sunday between 8 a.m. and noon to see the sunflowers in their blooming glory. Take a selfie or an entire group photo. While you’re there, take a minute to plant a seed or pull a weed. Most important volunteer to help harvest to feed the hungry in our community. So far this year Mitzvah Garden has harvested 7,900 pounds of produce, which has gone to food pantries throughout the metro including JFS, SAFEHOME and Kosher Meals on Wheels.

AMERICAN JEWISH EXPERIENCE IN WWI — I recently visited “For Liberty: American Jewish Experience in WWI” at the National WWI Museum and Memorial, for the second time. If you are a trivia buff you can learn a lot of fascinating facts such as Irving Berlin wrote “Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” while stationed at Camp Upton on Long Island during World War I. It eventually became part of three different Broadway shows. He also wrote “God Bless America” while in the Army but revised it almost 20 years later before Kate Smith performed it for the first time. The sheet music was released in 1939. The exhibit runs through Nov. 11, don’t miss it.

SASS 15th ANNUAL WALK TO REMEMBER — Suicide awareness is in the news a lot lately. In this week’s edition of The Chronicle you can read about You Be You, the teen mental health program entering its second year on page 18 and about the annual Speak Up Walk to raise awareness of mental illness on page 16.
Both of these efforts are in their infant and toddler stages compared to the SASS-MoKan’s annual Remembrance Walk. This year will mark the 15th anniversary of the walk, which remembers those who have lost their lives to suicide, homicide, fire, accident and other traumatic deaths. The Remembrance Walk will begin at 9 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 9, at Loose Park, 51st and Wornall in Kansas City, Missouri. It is sponsored by SASS-MoKan, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit suicide awareness survivor support organization (sass-mokan.com/).
The support group was started by Bonnie and Mickey Swade to honor their son, Brett, after he lost his life to suicide 14 years ago. The annual Remembrance Walk is the major part of SASS-MoKan’s fundraising to help with suicide awareness, education, prevention and survivor support. Funds earned from the walk stay exclusively in the metropolitan Kansas City area.
Facts and figures from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention show that suicide is the 10th leading cause of death overall in Missouri and Kansas. It is the second leading cause of death for ages 25-34 in Missouri and second in Kansas for ages 10-34. More than twice as many people in Missouri die by suicide than by homicide with nearly four times that many in Kansas. A Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC) report shows that the suicide rate in Kansas increased 45 percent between 1999 and 2016. The rate in Missouri was 36.4 percent. The report said that adults 45-64 had the largest increase in suicide.
Suicide rates among young people go up in the school year and down during the summer. Although the reason is unclear, more girls attempt suicide than boys. Teen suicides in Johnson County nearly doubled in the first six months of 2018, according to Johnson county Mental Health.
This year’s event begins with walk-up registration available at 8 a.m. The walk will start at 9 a.m., followed by a balloon release, which will be around 10 a.m. The pre-registration fee is $25 and the day of the walk is $30. Participants can register online by going to sass-mokan.com/Sass-walk/ and clicking on the registration link.

He can belt out a song like a rock star accompanied by a big band; croon like Frank Sinatra with just a piano accompaniment; or daven in a rich tenor voice during services at his Conservative synagogue.
He’s Cantor Randy Herman, who has been the full-time cantor at Bet Torah in Mount Kisco, New York, for 10 years. He’ll be here for Day of Discovery on Sunday, Aug. 26, giving an interactive musical family program for kindergarten through sixth-graders and their parents that will take place from 9 to 10:50 a.m. in White Theatre at the Jewish Community Campus.

In 1868 two Jewish merchants, Simon Barnum and Moses Snattinger, arrived in Topeka, Kansas, according to “The Spirit Unconsumed,” a book written about Temple Beth Sholom. They started a Chevrah Kidisha Bicor Cholim for the community in 1872 to help with the sick and provide burial rites and to acquire land for a cemetery. 
In 2018, 150 years later, the Jewish community in Topeka continues. This summer the Jewish community is celebrating the creation of the Jewish community as well as the 90th anniversary of the establishment of Temple Beth Sholom. Throughout the past year, several events have taken place, but the culmination will be on Aug. 18, when an Anniversary Gala will be held in the Temple Beth Sholom Social Hall. The evening will feature a catered dinner and entertainment. Special guests expected to attend include Rabbi Larry Karol, a former rabbi of the congregation, and his wife, Rhonda, as well Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla.

Rabbi Nati Stern is on a mission. He is armed with cookie dough, marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips, sprinkles and jelly. Those things are part of the recipe for inspiring Jewish teens. He runs a public-school club called Jewish Student Union (JSU) and he wants everyone to feel welcome attending the club.
His welcoming ways appear to be working. After a long day of tests and essays and presentations and projects, a group of young Jews make time for JSU. They make the time in their busy schedules because they want to hear what Rabbi Stern has to say.

Eric Rosen loves the shared experiences that are the very heart of the theater, those among cast, crew and audience alike.
Rosen marked his 10th year as artistic director of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre on May 1. He was an integral part of the regional theater’s growth and increasingly lauded reputation during that decade.
But now it’s time to move on: His final official day at the KC Rep will be Aug. 31. He and his husband, Claybourne Elder, and their son, Bo Rosen-Elder, will move to New York to live closer to family on the East Coast, the theater said in a news release.

Thirteen weeks into the Mount Kilauea eruption flows on Hawaii’s Big Island, they are still going strong with no end in sight. Rabbi Rachel Short, formerly of Leawood, who now lives on the Big Island, said conditions continue to become worse as each day goes on and more and more homes are lost.

Rabbi Doug Alpert, spiritual leader of Congregation Kol Ami, was recently elected as president of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City. Rabbi Alpert succeeds Rabbi David Glickman of Congregation Beth Shalom.
Elected to serve with Rabbi Alpert is Rabbi Javier Cattapan of Congregation Beth Torah who accepted the position of vice president and Rabbi Scott White, Congregation Ohev Sholom, is secretary-treasurer.

ISRAELI FILM OPENING IN KC — “The Cakemaker” will open tomorrow (Aug. 10) in Kansas City at the Tivoli Cinemas. The film follows a German pastry chef who travels to Jerusalem in search of the wife and son of his dead Israeli lover. “The Cakemaker” was a Critic’s Pick in both The New York Times and Los Angeles Times and was also featured in The Forward, Jewish Journal and NPR, among other news outlets. In addition, it was an official selection of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and the Miami Jewish Film Festival. The film is director Ofir Raul Graizer’s feature debut.
The drama is rated PG and is in English, German and Hebrew with English subtitles and runs 105 minutes.
For show times and more information, visit tivolikc.com.

NETFLIX SAYS IT’S NOT ­OFFERING LOUIS FARRAKHAN DOCUMENTARY (JTA) — Last week on this page we reported that Netflix would begin airing a documentary about Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Apparently that report was inaccurate, as Netflix said it was based on an “internal miscommunication.”
“[I]t appeared to be scheduled for release on Netflix, but it is not,” a representative said in a statement July 31, after The Chronicle had gone to press. “We apologize for any confusion this has caused.”
The film, “The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan: My Life’s Journey Through Music,” had appeared on lists in media outlets of upcoming Netflix offerings. Farrakhan, who has a history of making anti-Semitic statements, had also written July 30 on Twitter that the documentary would be available on the service starting on Aug. 1. His tweet is no longer available.
In June, Twitter removed Farrakhan’s verified status after a clip was posted of the Nation of Islam leader speaking about “the Satanic Jew.”
Farrakhan has promoted an array of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including that Israel and Jews knew ahead of time about the 9/11 terror attacks and that they controlled the world. He has also attacked white people and the LGBTQ community in his statements.

AMAZON REMOVES RACIST AND ANTI-SEMITIC PRODUCTS FROM SITE (JTA) — Amazon removed racist and anti-Semitic products from its site being offered by third-party sellers.
Amazon announced the move in a letter to Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., dated July 31. In mid-July, Ellison in a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos called for the company to stop selling “products that promote hateful and racist ideologies.”
Among the products removed were a Nazi swastika pendant, a Nazi eagle sticker and a cross-burning onesie for baby boys, according to BuzzFeed, which published the letter. Amazon also was offering books by white nationalist printing houses, including on Kindle.
In its letter to Ellison, Amazon said that it prohibited the listing of products that “promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promotes organizations with such views.”
The company said it had reviewed the products and contents referenced in Ellison’s letter and “removed the listings that were found in violation of our policies and permanently blocked the seller accounts that were in violation of Amazon policy.” Amazon also said it was reviewing seller accounts for potential suspension.

The Wall of Respect was a mural created in 1967 by Chicago artists representing the Organization of Black American Culture. It fostered Black pride, revitalized the neighborhood and gave birth to a national community mural movement. Some 49 years later, the Wall no longer exists having burnt with the building it was painted on. However, historic photos of the iconic wall were powerful enough to inspire a project in Kansas City that has engaged more than 150 people of all ages and ethnicities from all over the metro area.
Kansas City’s Wall of Respect opens to the public at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, at the Jewish Community Center (The J), 5801 W. 115th Street in Overland Park. The free program features a video of the process required to create the installation, a talk back with the artists and educators involved and hands-on activities as well as an ethnic snack buffet. The Kansas City Wall and accompanying activities will be at The J until Aug. 14.

Daniel Shafton has gotten a hands-on education the past few years in how political campaigns operate. And it’s paid off.
About two months ago, Shafton, a 21-year old Jewish Kansas City-area native and a senior at the University of Kansas, became co-manager of Kansas gubernatorial candidate Jim Barnett’s campaign. He shares co-manager duties with Maci Hagelgantz, who handles news media and scheduling while he handles all other aspects of the campaign.