An illuminated board has replaced the monuments, some of which date back to the late 19th century
Alisa Kartch chuckles a lot when discussing her months long project for Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner, but it is serious business.
As the administrator at BIAV, Kartch is spearheading a project to return as many of the synagogue’s 800 historic bronze yahrzeit plaques as she can to loved ones of memorialized congregants. An illuminated board, operational since around the High Holidays in 2019, has replaced the old system where the month’s yahrzeits were marked by posting the bronze plaques.
Kartch laughs mostly when talking about the many times she moved the plaques during the painstaking process of cataloguing all the memorials. She estimates a box full of them weighs about 30 pounds.
Sometimes she used a dolly to move them. “Or if I was feeling strong, I just picked them up and schlepped them,” Kartch said. At 61 years old, she was not looking to win any strength contest — just proving to herself every now and again she was fit enough to do the work.
The plaques are like stepping stones recounting the synagogue’s rich history. That history dates back to the late 19th century, as recounted on the congregation’s website.
The congregation began in 1890, when minyan meetings were held in the Hammerslough Building at Fifth & Main Streets in Kansas City, Missouri. The group gathered as Etz Chaim (Tree of Life), and in 1894 it founded the Tefereth Israel Congregation.
In 1959, the congregation moved to 83rd Street and Holmes Road as part of a merger with two other congregations, Beth Abraham and Beth Medresh Hagadol, becoming Beth Israel Abraham. It then merged in 1960 with Voliner Anshei Sefard to become Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner.
Like other congregations, BIAV followed the migration of Jewish families into the Kansas suburbs, as its young families wanted a building closer to Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and other Jewish institutions. BIAV opened a branch in an Overland Park office building in 1987, followed by the purchase of its current location on 99th Street and Antioch Road.
The yahrzeit project began more than two years ago when a congregant offered to donate the illuminated sign. The offer came in conjunction with the remodeling of the sanctuary.
Throughout the process, Kartch has moved plaques from a storage area behind the sanctuary, into the administrative office and into the beit midrash. The project has also included sorting the plaques by month and alphabetically by name.
For several months in 2019, Kartch and a couple volunteers entered all the data into a spreadsheet. The interim rabbi at the time, Yitzchak Mizrahi, proofread each Hebrew name in the spreadsheet.
Several dozen of the plaques did not include years. But of those with full information, the oldest dates back to 1879. The most recent dedication came in July 2015. Alphabetically, the plaques range from Hespir Aaron in February 1935 to Rebecca Zusman in May 1959.
The workers finished the data-entry project more than a year ago. They have taken photos of the plaques for posterity.
If Kartch can find homes for at least a quarter of the plaques, she would feel as though the synagogue has done its due diligence. She’d like to meet that goal by Passover. So far, only about a dozen of the plaques have been claimed.
“Some people think it is creepy,” she said, “but other people would love to have it as a keepsake.”
Eventually, the synagogue will sell them. And that is where an interesting twist of fate came about.
Kartch did an internet search looking for local metal recyclers. The second one she called did accept bronze, and it turned out to be KC Iron & Metal, Inc., which she found to be a Jewish-owned company in Kansas City, Missouri.
The company was founded in 1960 by Louis and Pauline Levine. Their son, Sanford Levine, took over the business in 1975 after his father died of a heart attack. Levine is a member of Kehilath Israel Synagogue.
Levine said his business has experience recycling religious items like urns or portions of cemetery plots. But, he said, it is nice that BIAV found his company. “Being Jewish I have more of a feeling for the meaning of the monument tablets.”
He estimated that, based on their material, BIAV could get $2 per pound, or maybe a little more, for the plaques. Kartch said the synagogue will beautify or improve their building with the proceeds.
And, Levine said, “I will probably give a donation to BIAV once it is all said and done.”
People interested in reclaiming a yahrzeit plaque can contact BIAV administrator Alisa Kartch by email at or by phone at 913-341-2444
