Pictured are a group of KU students exploring Jewish knowledge at one of the many JewishU courses this semester.

Spring time and blooming blossoms generally mean that graduation season has come around. This week a large group of KU students participated in a very special graduation celebration, but this one was different. Unlike many other events at this time of the year marking academic achievements related to their majors, this one was a celebration related to their own personal growth. A group of over 50 students gathered together virtually to celebrate a semester of Torah learning as part of the JewishU program at KU.

We, the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City have and continue to recognize that living through this COVID-19 pandemic presents an urgent, on-going risk to the health and life of those we love, our Jewish community, the broader communities in which we live and our world. We have met in a spirit of cooperation and shared purpose demanded by the moment to meet our obligations to protect the health of our congregants, and to be an example of how all humanity is responsible one-for-the-other. Our respective synagogues and lay leadership have responded in that same spirit, and have been integral in responding to COVID-19 reflecting our highest Jewish values. Speaking with one voice gives real guidance in the face of often-times conflicting information.

By Meryl Feld / Editor

“While the past few years has seen our audit numbers pretty consistently between 8 and 13 incidents, for 2019 we recorded 42,” Karen Aroesty, the regional director of ADL Heartland, which serves Eastern Kansas, Missouri and Southern Illinois, told The Chronicle. That’s over three times the incidents recorded in our region in previous years.

The kosher industry has not stopped due to the pandemic, although adjustments have had to be made. On the macro level there are some challenges that are beginning to trickle down the supply line. Many ingredients are supplied by factories in China, and although for the most part these factories have restarted their production lines, kosher inspectors are unable to travel to China at this time. There are some 1,500 kosher factories in China (none of them have the prestige of our Vaad’s certification), and many specialty ingredients from China are used in food plants in the United States. Factories that produce basic ingredients are able to continue producing kosher even at this time, but for more sensitive ingredients the kosher certification is suspended until inspectors are able to resume their visits. We will be monitoring the ingredients supplied to our clients to ensure their products are not affected by this.

Pictured here from left are Eli Cohavi, University of Denver; Sara Saidel, Young Judaea Year Course then University of Maryland; Addison Brand, University of Kansas; Gavi Glickman, Yeshivat Orayta then University of Maryland Honors Program; Mirra Goldenberg, University of Colorado; Ethan Herman, Tulane University; and Ayelet Schuster, Bradley University Honors Program. (Courtesy of Julia Shapiro Photography + Art)

Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy board of trustees, administration, faculty and staff are proud to announce the commencement for the Class of 2020 will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 18, in a private ceremony. The community is invited to watch the ceremony in one of two ways:

2019 Global Table chairs and event attendees at Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City’s 2019 Global Table event.

 

By Meryl Feld \ Editor

“We did go out and buy food for families who literally had nothing in their homes,” Hilary Cohen Singer, the executive director of Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City (JVS), told The Chronicle.