A group of KU students recently participated in a special graduation celebration. Unlike many other events at this time of the year, which mark academic achievements, this one was a celebration related to their personal growth. More than 50 students gathered to celebrate a semester of Torah learning as part of the JewishU program at KU.

Jesse Wilks had a bar mitzvah — just not a religious one.

His parents raised him in a secular home in New York City but still instilled him with a strong sense of Jewish identity. His mother — who worked for the Workers Circle and is now on the editorial board of the left-wing Jewish Currents magazine — hosted holiday dinners, minus the religious prayers. Instead of attending Hebrew school at a synagogue, Wilks grew up going to a “shule,” or non-religious school that taught him Yiddish.

BERLIN (JTA) — Following a spate of anti-Israel protests across Germany tied to the ongoing Israel-Gaza violence, political leaders here have vowed to crack down on demonstrators who have used antisemitic rhetoric and have attacked Jewish institutions.

Big Slick, the celebrity fundraiser that’s raised more than $12 million for Children’s Mercy Hospital, will return this June as a virtual celebrity variety show. It will be hosted by KC and area natives Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, Eric Stonestreet and David Koechner. Rudd, who is Jewish, is one of the founders of Big Slick, along with fellow Shawnee Mission West alumni Riggle and Sudeikis.