Archived Opinion

During the past 18 months, U.S. and world affairs have left me with a feeling of helplessness and a lack of control over important matters in our daily lives. Nevertheless, I remembered something I learned from my grandmother — “only you are in control of your actions, your life and what you put into this world. Think global, act local.” While I may not be able to directly change the direction of our government, I am part of making a difference for a very important and growing population right here in my own backyard — our older adults.

The aging population is a historically underserved community, and most are living on very low social security checks just to barely scrape by. Add to that they no longer have the autonomy and independence to drive themselves where they need to go. It’s hard not to have empathy for this ever-growing community that has contributed to society their entire lives, but are often overlooked and taken advantage of once they reach their golden years.

Growing up spending large amounts of time at my grandparents’ house in Nebraska I watched my grandmother care for my grandfather. I spent most of my summers there finally seeing him lose his own autonomy as the car keys were taken away just as I got my license gaining my own independence.

Watching my grandfather lose his driving privileges was a far more emotional experience than I had anticipated. My grandfather was fortunate to have a wife who could drive him. However, many older adults do not have that family member to take them where they need to go. Here in Kansas City we are lucky — there is JET Express, a program where volunteer drivers take older adults who no longer drive to the places they want and need to go. JET Express is a program of Jewish Family Services and is open to anyone regardless of their faith, culture or lifestyle.

I started volunteering as a JET driver in May 2017, and it has truly changed my life. I was apprehensive at first, not knowing what it would be like and if it was even something I would want to keep doing. Looking back over a year later, I can’t believe how many people I have connected with and all the friendships that have formed. My Kansas City community exponentially expanded once I started volunteering, which has led to other opportunities for me personally and professionally.

The beauty of JET Express is that it is completely flexible for the volunteer drivers and the riders. As a young professional who travels for work and leisure frequently, I love that I can sign up for as many rides that fit into my schedule while I’m in town. Those weeks when I’m traveling, I simply don’t pick up any rides. Using a simple computer program, if a ride works for your schedule, you simply click a few times and you are confirmed as their driver. Many rides are flexible, which means that when you call the rider to confirm the ride, you can figure out the best time and day to take them grocery shopping, or wherever they need to go. In addition, there are also one-way only rides that make it so easy to pick a rider up on your lunch break and take them on a quick ride without worrying about waiting around. You can also drive on the weekends, if you’re available.

There aren’t adequate words to describe the mutually beneficial relationships I have formed through volunteering for JET Express — it has restored my belief in humanity and the importance of helping others. More drivers are needed to meet the growing demand for rides of older adults. I hope others will take a chance and volunteer for something that is both personally rewarding and necessary in Kansas City.

Jet Express is a volunteer driver program of Jewish Family Services. Information about the program can be found at www.jfskc.org/jet-express.

‘Hanukkah Candles’ stands up to ‘White Christmas’

In the Dec. 6 issue of The Chronicle, a column was published in which the author suggested that there are no Hanukkah songs with the warm appeal of “White Christmas.” I would propose one such song for consideration: Kenny Ellis’s “Hanukkah Candles,” which can be found on YouTube.
As for “White Christmas,” I am reminded of Philip Roth’s comment that Berlin’s genius was that he took a holiday about Jesus and changed it into a holiday about snow.
Stu Lewis
Prairie Village, Kansas

Keep history of the Holocaust alive

I was deeply moved to learn that there are less than 50 Holocaust survivors still alive in my home town of Kansas City, Missouri. I grew up among the “greeners” and went with my parents to many New AMERICAN CLUB events. I started writing and speaking about the Shoah at age 16.
Now that I am 70 years old I realize I am close in age to the youngest living Holocaust survivors. I have dedicated my life to teaching about the Shoah and fighting anti-Semitism. I beseech all of you to join with me in teaching our children and grandchildren the history and the lessons of the Holocaust.
The anti-Semitism we are experiencing every day around the world including the United States is not new. As we just learned in a recent report, one-third of Europeans know little to nothing of the Holocaust. The internet and all media just bring it to our attention in a vivid manner.
Hopefully the murders in Pittsburgh have awakened us from our slumber. It is true, this was the largest number of Jews targeted specifically in the United States at one time. As I have often written, these horrible incidents will be repeated by copycats.
Teach your children about Judaism and our survival. Fight anti-Semitism with all your might.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Edison, New Jersey

Nazis in the USA

In the wake of the murders of Jews in the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue, PBS’ “FRONTLINE” presented “Documenting Hate: New American Nazis,” which aired for the first time on Nov. 20. (It is available for viewing online at pbs.org/frontline.) It exposed the scary Atomwassen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist organization based founded in 2013. Its goal is to train “lone wolf” terrorists to murder Jews and other “inferior people.”
The most frightening scene was an interview with its leader James Mason. He said that his heroes were Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the Arthur P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma; Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 Jews in the Pittsburgh synagogue; and the driver of a car that killed Heather Heyer Chare and injured 19 others in a peaceful demonstration against neo-Nazis in Charlottesville. 
It was astounding to learn that there were those who are being encouraged to enlist in the armed forces to obtain training that can be used to commit terrorist acts. What is to be done about this threat? Organizing interfaith groups and obtaining support and solidarity can continue to serve as positive movements. Nonetheless, ways must be found to criminalize hate groups. It is apparent that spreading hate rhetoric leads to terror activity, encouraging “lone wolf” attacks.
The first amendment guarantees freedom of speech. Hate groups have been defended under that protection. It has been determined, however, that hate speech that leads to criminal activity is not to be tolerated. It is time to hold those responsible for the killing of innocents to be held accountable for their behavior. We no longer should accept the James Masons of the world that glorify killers.

Sol Koenigsberg
Overland Park, Kansas

The year was 1937 — a most difficult year for the Jewish people in Russia. Many were arrested and few returned home. Among them was my grandfather, Yitzchak Elchanan Shagalov, a loving husband and father. His “crime” was that he was Jewish and devoted to his Judaism at any cost.
The week he was arrested, my grandmother, Maryashe Garelick Shagalov, took her children and daily walked to the prison, waiting for a glimmer of information. On Friday, someone came over to my grandmother, looked her straight in the face and said: “If you come here again we will arrest you and put your children into an orphanage.”
She got the message and slowly walked the children home. Before sundown, she arranged the makeshift candles on the table and said to her children, “They can take our bodies but not our spirit; for this which father was arrested, we will now continue to do; come let us light the Shabbat candles and say the blessing and honor Shabbat.” The children watched with sadness in their eyes as mother lit the Shabbat candles. Grandma looked up at her children and said, “Come to me dear children, and let us dance and be happy; today is Shabbat!”
My grandmother always had a song on her lips. Life was not easy and raising six children under the watchful eyes of communism while remaining stalwart in their Jewish observance was more than a challenge. Many succumbed to the communist ideology out of necessity more than out of conviction. But some like my grandmother never did. “They can take our bodies but not our spirits,” she would repeat to her children.
Years later, in America, my grandmother was sitting at the wedding of one of her great-grandchildren with the family all around her. A Russian woman who was also at the wedding, stood watching the scene. Suddenly she burst into tears. She said, “Maryashe, we had such pity on you in Russia, seeing how poor you were and raising your family on your own; but now look how rich you are!”
We are now approaching the holiday of Hanukkah, when darkness was overcome by the Maccabees’ steadfast faith in G-d, and willingness to fight for what is right. With great resolve they battled the Syrian-Greek army to win the freedom to serve G-d faithfully. With great miracles the few overcame the many and entered Jerusalem and the holy Temple. Here they found all the oil for the menorah defiled by the Greeks. They searched until they found one single cruse of oil with the seal of the Kohen Gadol, enough to last for one day. But it would take seven more days until new oil could be made. G-d saw the love of the Jewish people for the mitzvot and performed a miracle for them. The cruse of oil lasted eight days until the new oil arrived!
The menorah in the Temple spread its light over the whole world. The victory of the Maccabees signaled that ultimately good will overcome evil.
The only way to fight darkness is with light. Let us commit to lighting the Shabbat candles, at the proper time, 18 minutes BEFORE sundown. Girls light one candle before their mother; women light at least two candles. Shabbat candles bring light and peace into our homes, our communities and the world! Let us commit to lighting the Hanukkah menorah each night of Hanukkah (beginning Sunday evening, Dec. 2). The light of the Hanukkah menorah is meant to bring light to the darkness outside until everyone can see their way and follow the “right path” home. Friday evening we light the Hanukkah menorah first and then the Shabbat candles. Both must be lit BEFORE sundown. Think of someone else you can encourage to LIGHT UP. Each candle matters!
Let us stand strong in our commitment to Torah and Judaism until the day will come when peace will reign in the whole world. May it be speedily in our times!

Help feed Israel’s hungry

I have always been incredibly supportive of Colel-Chabad, mainly based on the emotional reaction I got from watching Colel-Chabad’s Salie Mazon (Food Baskets) video.
Many of us are really unaware that, in general, there are three types of economies: namely, first world (where most people are considered above the poverty line); third world, where most people are below; and then there is what I call in-between.
Though Israel has had, thank G-d, unprecedented technological growth, the sad fact remains, based on Israel’s comprehensive government report, that there are approximately 131,000 “single parent” families in the country, nearly 31 percent of which live in poverty. In addition, two out of every five children in Israel go to bed hungry.
Unlike in America, where there are food stamps and Section 8, stipends are given only, for example, if one has an income below $1,570 with one child or $1,790 for two children.
A full 80 percent of these women work, resulting in quite simply the working poor.
When the government wanted to do something (unfortunately paltry, relative to the need) they partnered with Colel-Chabad.
While the government supplies 20 percent and Colel Chabad 80 percent (mainly from donations of American Jews) thank G-d now over 8,500 families (selected by local social workers in over 70 municipalities) receive a food basket that ensures nutrition security (valued at 500 shekels worth of dry goods, and 250 shekels for a food gift card.)
But the sad fact is there are approximately another 95,000 families in truly dire need.
If the plight of a child going to bed hungry, a mother not knowing how to feed her children, is one that you feel, I encourage you to go to our Special Campaign, colelchabad.org/Campaign.htm?aCampaign=GC12&aId=980, and, equally important, to encourage others to do so.
(Editor’s note: Rabbi Zevi Wineberg is currently director of a special Let’s Stamp out Hunger in Israel campaign for Colel-Chabad.)

Zevi Wineberg
Brooklyn, New York

The deadly intrusion into the Tree of Life - Or L’Simcha Congregation during Sabbath prayers has shaken all Jews. In the aftermath, the Kansas City community, led by clergy of different faiths, gathered for a memorial service in a local synagogue. An outpouring of support and good will by the non-Jewish community was heartening. People attended the service to stand together against discrimination and violence, and to stand together with Jews as a united faith community.
In a different time and in a different place, a tragedy brought the faith community together in Topeka.  In 2006, St David’s Episcopal Church was destroyed by a fire that had been ignited by an arsonist. Church members were understandably distressed and especially worried about finding a place to hold their religious services. Without hesitation our former congregation, the only Jewish one in town, offered the use of our sanctuary. The invitation was accepted gratefully and services were held at Temple Beth Sholom for the next eleven months. As we shared a space, we got to know one another and developed friendships.
After the church sanctuary was reopened, our congregation gifted a lectern to St. David’s. This lectern was carved with a motif of Stars of David which had long been used by our congregation.  A church member told me recently that the lectern is still used at every Sunday service. The disturbing incident at the church led to a voyage of discovery for both congregations which has resulted in an enduring relationship. Throughout the years, our congregation was invited to join church activities which included a miniature golf outing and a bake sale, a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the reopening of the church and more recently, a special St. David’s Day service followed by sharing a meal together. The youth groups of both worked together on a Peace Pole which the students decided should include Hebrew words. Church members have attended the annual TBS Blintz Brunch where they have served food and repeatedly volunteered to clean up the kitchen at the end of the day.
The relationship between the congregations was further enhanced at the Show Up For Shabbat service held at Temple Beth Sholom. St. David’s worshippers were present with their pastor, Rev. Dr. Vicki Smith, in an audience of 300 attendees. The supportive relationship and friendship that have existed between the two have provided each with the strength to achieve various goals, and to unite in times of joy and solace.
To join with others is to take an initiative more than we are used to. Though a Jewish congregation partnering with  that of a different religion can serve as a solid example for all congregations. Somewhat like the “sister city” program which has been successful across America. Here in Kansas City, with an active interfaith community, uniting to further the goals of people of faith should be easy. We need only to move from where we are now to a new place of discovery, mutual interest and friendship. Yes, mistakes will be made as we a build a relationship. Yes, we must overcome societal influences that would keep us apart from one another. Yes, we must overcome any misconceptions and stereotypes about each other. Uniting with people of different religious traditions can, however,  be key to making positive changes in the community.
There are other ways we can reach out to the non-Jewish community. Hold a “teachers’ night” where children invite their educators and principals to join their families for a Shabbat service. At a different time, “neighbors’  night” can give us the opportunity to welcome our next door or around the corner neighbors to pray with us. Our family participated in both these activities during our years as members of Temple Beth Sholom.  Invite your state legislators to attend the State of Kansas Holocaust Commemoration with you. Lawmakers are usually in session in the capitol during Days of Remembrance and a few are invited each year to participate in the readings of the service. Lawmakers make decisions that shape our lives and they need to know about our Jewish history. These are small “but” important actions to strengthen our bonds with others.
The Dalai Lama, the recipient of the Nobel Peace award in 2010, believed that “Finding common ground among faiths can help us to bridge needless divides at a time when unified action is more crucial than ever.” In these stressful times, people of faith standing united with one another can strengthen and benefit all of our lives. 

Mary Greenberg, Ph.D., serves on the State of Kansas Holocaust Commission. Her speaking engagements on preventing anti-Semitism, and the link between leadership and anti-Semitism are based on her research that advances the study of the Jewish people in the Diaspora.

The Holocaust is the systematic mass murder of European Jewry and others by the Nazis.
The term Holocaust literally means a fire that causes total destruction. Yehuda Bauer, one of the world’s most eminent historians of the Holocaust, differentiates between the term genocide and Holocaust by defining the term genocide as partial murder. While there have been numerous instances of genocide, the total annihilation of a people was never an officially sanctioned purpose of a national government as it was in Nazi Germany. It is precisely this which differentiates the Nazi action against the Jews from other genocidal attempts against a people.
The Nazis wished to conquer the world and therefore threatened the very existence of every single Jew in the world. The principle target of the Nazis was always the Jews. Yes, it is true that as many as 50 million human beings were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. The Nazis destroyed the lives of Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally disabled, Jehovah’s Witnesses, communists, socialists, trade unionists and religious opponents. But it was only the Jews who were singled out for the Final Solution.
On Nov. 9, 1938, mobs burned synagogues, destroyed Jewish homes and businesses, vandalized Jewish hospitals, orphanages and cemeteries, and dragged thousands of Jewish men, women and children into the streets, where they were beaten and humiliated. The Germans later called this night “Kristallnacht” — The Night of Broken Glass — because of the tons of shattered glass that scattered throughout German cities after it had taken place. The Jews began to call that date the beginning of the Holocaust because of the tremendous violence that started on that night and grew even more dreadful as time passed.
On Nov. 7, 1938, the Third Secretary of the German embassy in Paris, Ernst Von Rath, was murdered by Herschel Grynzpan, a 17-year-old German-Jewish refugee. Herschel wanted to avenge his parent’s expulsion, together with 15,000 other Polish Jews from Germany to Zbonszym. The Nazis used the murder as an excuse to start the mobs and riots that began the “final solution,” the extermination of Jews.
The German government attempted to disguise the violence of those two days as a spontaneous protest on the part of the Aryan population. But in reality, Kristallnacht was organized by the Nazi chiefs and their thugs with technical skill and precision. The Nazi chiefs commanded the Gestapo and the storm troopers to incite mob riots throughout Germany and Austria.
Kristallnacht marked the beginning of the plan to rob the Jews of their possessions for the benefit of the Reich and then to sweep them forever from the German scene. Thereafter, Jews had no place in the German economy, and no independent Jewish life was possible with the dismissal of cultural and communal bodies and the banning of the Jewish press.
During Kristallnacht, more than 1,100 synagogues were destroyed, as well as 7,500 Jewish businesses and countless Jewish homes. Several hundred Jews were killed and 30,000 were arrested and sent to the concentration camps at Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Dachau, where thousands more died. Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s Berlin reporter called that night, “the worst outbreak of anti-Jewish violence in modern German history.”
Today, many historians can trace a pattern of events before that night that suggest such an atrocity was to happen. In 1933, when the Nazis took power, German anti-Semitism adopted quasi-legal forms. One of the new anti-Jewish forms of action, which had begun with the Nuremberg laws of 1935, included the separation of the Jews from the daily structure of German life. Jews systematically were deprived of civil rights and isolated from the general populace through humiliating identification measures. Nazis boycotted Jewish shops and took away their jobs. Jews were declared the value of their possessions. Civil Service and police often arrested and forced them to sell their property for a pittance.
How could the entire world stand by and allow such a disaster to occur? The fascist or authoritative regimes in Italy, Romania, Hungary and Poland were governments who approved of this pogrom and wanted to use the pogrom as a case to make their own anti-Semitic policies stronger in their individual countries. The three great Western powers — Great Britain, France and the United States — said the appropriate things but did nothing to save the Jews. In the late 1930s, Hitler told the world to take the Jews, but there was just no one willing. Even in our own country, President Roosevelt and his administration kept on expressing their shock over the terrible events in Germany and Austria, but when it came time to act and help save the refugees by bringing them to the United States, the government refused and replied by saying that they had no intention to allow more immigrants to enter.
Looking back at Jewish history, every Jew should be cautious and alert to any hints that might be seen now. Kristallnacht teaches us many things. Among them that we must remain vigilant and not permit even the smallest seed of anti-Semitism to take root.

This article was originally published by Israel Resource News Agency. Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg is chairman of the New York Board of Rabbis Holocaust Education Committee and the author of several books, including “The Holocaust as Seen through Film” and “The Holocaust Haggadah.” Visit www.bernhardrosenberg.com.

For the first time…

As a Jew, I honestly have been processing my own response to the tragedy in Pittsburgh and I have been unsure how to react or what to say and do.
This week, I worked at the JFS Food Pantry at the Jewish Community Campus, a volunteer position that I’ve been doing for several years. For the first time ever (including after the shootings several years ago), I felt some insecurity while waiting out front for shoppers to drive up to load their cars. For the first time, I saw the armed security guards that walk the building and drive the campus grounds in a different light. For the first time, I saw the groups of children in the playground (Jewish and non-Jewish) from the day care program and worried. For the first time, I saw the kids from the Hebrew day school and worried. What’s become of our country, our world, our lives?
I see a president who enables racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, and worse. I see a complicit Congress full of Republican hypocrites afraid to call out the overt racism, etc., that has become a daily occurrence.
I’m worried. I’m not sure what to do other than vote and worst case, to leave.

Jeffrey Roitman
Overland Park, Kansas

Last Shabbat (Oct. 27), the world witnessed the deadliest act of anti-Semitism in North American history. This Shabbat, Jews are responding with its greatest show of solidarity.
The Jewish community is witnessing an unprecedented rise in anti-Semitic acts in America, up 57 percent in 2017. And, in the aftermath of the lethal attack at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, the Jewish community is are also witnessing an outpouring of support — showing that “out of the fires of desperation burn hope and solidarity.”
Peace-loving citizens from every corner of the globe, clergy from every religious sector, political leaders from both sides of the ocean and both sides of the aisle — are uniting with the Jewish community for Solidarity Shabbat across the continent.
What do Jewish Federations do when the unspeakable happens? They stand together. First and foremost, as a people. And as the Federation Movement.
From Toronto to Tampa. Montreal to Minneapolis. Cleveland to Corpus Christi. Federations across the continent are participating in Solidarity Shabbat: Stand With Pittsburgh. The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City invited the community to join #ShowUpforShabbat.

#ShowUpforShabbat Participating Congregations Nov. 2-3, 2018
(Contact individual congregation for times)
Congregation BIAV
Kehilath Israel Synagogue
Congregation Beth Torah
Congregtion Beth Shalom
New Reform Temple (Friday, Nov. 2 only)
Congregation Ohev Sholom
Congregation Kol Ami
The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah (Friday, Nov. 9 only) Rev. Adam Hamilton of the Church of the Resurrection will join the B’nai Jehudah that evening, along with members of his church, to celebrate Shabbat. All are welcome.