Last weekend I went to Joplin, Mo., on a small plane along with Hal Samuels and Jerry Bressel to deliver supplies and visit with people who live in its small Jewish community. From the air, as you fly southward, you can see exactly where the tornado traveled, because the area is stripped empty compared with the surrounding areas that appear normal. But on the ground, as we drove south from the airport on Main Street, the quaint downtown seemed fine. One wondered what the big deal is, since no signs of damage were apparent.

As we continued south, approaching the areas affected by the tornado, words seem inadequate to describe what the eye sees. For nearly six miles long by nearly one mile wide, the devastation is almost total. The images we see on TV, in the papers and on the Internet pale in comparison to the physical reality. Trees knocked down to the ground with bark peeled off. Mangled cars and twisted steel in every direction.

In the midst of this devastation people stood picking through their destroyed homes, searching the rubble for remnants of their previous lives. Among the ruins stood American flags proudly waiving and hand-made signs expressing determination and hope.

It’s hard to describe the contrast in Joplin, where one area is severely damaged yet a nearby area appears to be fine. Words truly fail to convey the heartbreak these people will face for months, if not years. Their hardship is exacerbated because the Joplin area was already hit hard economically. This disaster has now destroyed many businesses and subsequently caused the loss of even more jobs.

I know the student rabbi, Ariel Boxman, who picked us up at the airport and drove us straight to the United Hebrew Congregation. I was there often, in 1991-92, when I was a rabbinical student just like Ariel. At the temple’s entrance stands a sign “UHC Distribution Center — Please Come In.” Ariel has been instrumental in opening the congregation to help the whole community. As we walked in we saw people milling around what looked like a rummage sale picking up whatever they needed. Also, people were coming in, some from out of town, dropping off food and goods. Throughout town, we saw several tents giving away food, goods, clothes and offering free phone calls. The American spirit is alive and well in Joplin.

Our Kansas City Jewish community has begun providing support — financially and through hands-on volunteer efforts and the donation of goods. Jewish Federation Executive Vice President and CEO Todd Stettner said all the money donated to the Jewish Federation’s tornado relief fund is already being distributed through partner agencies Heart to Heart International, which provides medical emergency assistance, and Salvation Army, for ongoing relief efforts. At press time, more than $56,000 has been raised through the Jewish Federation for tornado relief efforts.

Jewish Federation is also coordinating with Jewish Family Services and an anonymous donor to the Federation’s Gesher XL emergency assistance fund to financially assist the five families in the Joplin congregation that lost their homes. Currently, JFS and the Jewish Federation are working on how to facilitate this financial help.

Joplin’s UHC congregation has asked for material support, including goods for children and household items that will be collected in Kansas City (See story Page 3). A variety of Jewish agencies in the Kansas City community are also working to directly help Jews in Joplin.

Members of Temple Israel are planning a visit to Joplin to join with the United Hebrew Congregation for one Shabbat in August. We welcome other members of the Jewish community to join us. This will not only be an opportunity for me to return to the pulpit I held many years ago, but also one for us to give our support for that entire congregation.

When President Obama annoU.N.ced his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the1967 lines as the starting point for negotiations, he in effect adopted the PLO Phased Plan for the gradual destruction of Israel.

While Hamas adopted the position of destroying Israel in one step through constant armed struggle, the PLO, led by its main faction, Fatah, adopted in1974 a new political method of achieving that goal through two steps. According to the plan, the first step is the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders. The second step is to liberate all of Palestine by destroying the Jewish state through armed struggle or through the “the right of return” of millions of Palestinians to Israel. That would demographically and democratically cause Israel to lose its Jewish majority and character.

In his speech about the Middle East, Obama divided the core issues of the future Israeli-Palestinian negotiations into two phases. According to the order set by the president, he, in effect, demanded of Israel to agree to give up their only bargaining chip of land, based on the1967 lines with “mutually agreed swaps” in the first phase of negotiations before Israel and the Palestinians will start discussing the other substantive issues such as the “right of return,” the Hamas-Fatah alliance, and recognition of Israel as the Jewish state.

Obama argued that by mentioning “land swaps,” he did not actually call for Israel to withdraw to the indefensible ‘67 lines, since Israel can trade off other land to avoid the ‘67 lines. But in reality the president handed the Palestinians a tremendous victory by embracing the Palestinian assertion that it somehow has the implicit right to every square inch beyond the green line and thus must be compensated on a 1:1 basis for the adjustment to the line. This means that if Israel wishes to keep the Western Wall or the Jewish quarter in East Jerusalem, the Palestinians would have to agree first and then in return Israel would have to compensate them with a land swap from inside tiny Israel.

Furthermore, when the president mentioned in his speech “the fate of the Palestinian refugees,” he did not say that there will be no “right of return” to Israel proper, or that the Palestinian refugees and their descendants will have to find their home in a future state of Palestine.

Moreover, Obama did not take any firm stand concerning the issue of a Hamas and Fatah reconciliation. He did not say that the U.N.ited States will not recognize or support a Palestinian state as long as Hamas, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by U.S. law, is in the government or U.N.less Hamas recognizes Israel’s right to exist and stops terrorist acts against Israel. Thus, Israel is called on by Obama to agree to risk the possibility that Palestine will be ruled by Hamas with its rocket arsenal firing daily at Israel’s main population centers from the West Bank as they do from Gaza.

Netanyahu came to Washington hoping to get Obama’s help in derailing the upcoming U.N. vote in September recognizing a Palestinian state. But Obama’s decision to publicly confront Israel again, with only few hours warning on the eve of Netanyahu’s visit, further weakens and isolates Israel internationally. I fear that in turn will help fast forward the vote at the General Assembly .

But Israel is not alone. As we saw from the numerous standing ovations giving to Netanyahu during his speak to Congress, Israel has the support of the majority of the American people and the overwhelming support of a bipartisan Congress. To gain support in its opposition to U.N. official reocognition of a Palestinitan state, Israel’s only solution is to appeal directly to Congress to pressure Obama to veto such a U.N. decision.

According to the U.N. charter, an American veto at the Security Council would effectively derail any attempt by the General Assembly to grant full membership to a Palestinian state. Such a vote by the General Assembly would be a merely symbolic victory without any legal leverage to harm Israel. Moreover, Israel can persuade the Congress to cut its aid to the PA because of its alliance with Hamas which violates U.S. laws.

By now, most objective observers would agree that Obama’s heart and sympathy lie with the Palestinian cause. If he is elected to a second term he will work hard to be the “father” of the Palestinian state at the expense of Israel. Israel’s friends, Jews and non-Jews alike, need to work very hard during the next 17 months to help elect a Republican president who will be pro-Israel first.

Shoula Romano Horing was born and raised in Israel. She is an attorney in Kansas City and a national speaker.  Her blog is www.shoularomanohoring.com

When our daughter was preparing to “graduate” from the Jewish Community Center’s Child Development Center, I wrote a column supporting the benefits of sending your child to a Jewish preschool. Now she’s about to be confirmed, and I still believe in the power of Jewish preschool.

I wasn’t even married or a mother when I first began writing about Jewish education. I listened carefully as Hilary Lewis, of blessed memory, and Alan Edelman, who were with what was then known as the Central Agency for Jewish Education, promoted the virtues of Jewish education.

I’m not sure I really needed the pep talk then because I was committed to being an active member of the Jewish community. I had a Bat Mitzvah, was confirmed and loved every minute of the time I spent in BBYO. I wanted any kids I had to attend religious school and have Jewish friends.

As the editor of The Chronicle I have joined Alan, who is now the associate executive director of the Jewish Federation, and the other educators in the city to promote Jewish education. But I have to admit that the fact my daughter is being confirmed this weekend has as much to do with luck as it does my belief in a good Jewish education.

Our daughter really liked, and had a great education, at the Jewish Community Center’s Child Development Center. She made a lot of good friends, and, subsequently, so did my husband and I.

When she “graduated” from pre-K, she was excited to attend religious school. She’d already had a taste of it by attending the family service every Sunday. I think whoever had the idea to serve bagels and begin the morning with a family service was a genius. While I don’t miss having to be somewhere every single Sunday morning, I do miss schmoozing with my friends and the lift that service gave me as I started my Sunday every week.

We got lucky because many of our daughter’s preschool friends also belonged to our congregation. These kids liked being with each other, which probably caused havoc for some of the religious school teachers. By the time the Bar/Bat Mitzvah year rolled around, many of them had known each other for more than 11 years. In fact more than a dozen teens in that class attended the CDC. I watched as many of those kids, now Jewish adults, read the Torah, often while sitting with my friends who I had met through the preschool. It is something I will never forget.

Informal Jewish education also played a role in confirmation. Almost all of these kids my daughter grew up with have experienced some sort of informal Jewish education — camping experiences at the JCC, overnight camp, Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing!, NFTY conclaves, B’nai Tzedek shuks and BBYO. These activities — mostly fun and not stuffy school settings — allow kids to see a larger Jewish community than just their own congregations.
I wouldn’t be completely honest if I didn’t mention that there were bumps in the road along the way to confirmation. Being an affiliated member of the Jewish community is expensive. It’s also hard to make sure your child can meet attendance requirements when there are school activities and sports schedules to work around.

As my daughter got older and graduated to classes that no longer included family-type events, I missed the camaraderie of seeing my own friends. I grumbled loudly every single time I had to leave the house after dark to pick up my child.

But no matter how much I complained about her being one of the last ones out the door every Wednesday night, she chose to continue her religious education. She still has friends at religious school. She did the work. She met the requirements. And Sunday she will walk through the sanctuary and stand on the bimah as she did on consecration and at her Bat Mitzvah. She will once again wear a white robe, much like the one she wore at consecration some 10 years. And once again I will sit there, the proud mother, most likely with tears in my eyes.
And it all began 14 years ago at Jewish preschool, which I still highly recommend.

Next week on Wednesday, June 1, we (the Jewish people) will mark Jerusalem Day — a holiday that celebrates one of the most enchanting cities in the world.
I was born in Jerusalem; my father’s family still lives there. For me the simplicity and spirituality of that amazing city can be found in every street corner, on the people’s faces and in the air. Something about that place makes you feel like you are home.

As a true history lover, every time I enter the city through Shaar Hagai (the valley gate — the road surrounded by mountains that leads to Jerusalem), I think about its great historical importance. When I think of the battles fought there, something unexplainable awakens in the heart. It is as if the entrance alone is preparing me to change my state of mind — even before I enter this remarkable city.

Jerusalem’s many battles

Who hasn’t fought for Jerusalem? Of course, the Jews, but don’t forget the Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greek, Romans, crusaders, Muslims, Ottomans, British and others. Everyone tried to catch a piece of that G-d plot called Israel. And in doing so, none of them forgot to visit its most important place: Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has 70 different names in Hebrew, all of them describe beauty and holiness. In the Talmud it says that the world got 10 degrees of beauty and Jerusalem got nine of them.

Jerusalem is where they say Kein killed Hevel, where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac. In this city, 3,000 years ago, one of the most significant events for the Jewish people happened: we became a united people, a nation. By uniting the 12 tribes, King David conquered Jerusalem and made it the eternal capital city of the Jewish people. His son, King Solomon, built the holy temple there, and after centuries, King Herod renewed it.

Through all the exile that the Jewish people had seen, whether it was difficult or comfortable, the Jews have dreamed about the land of Israel, and in it — Jerusalem. Even today, we pray to the East — the direction of Jerusalem. When we get married we break glass to remember the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

Of course, Jerusalem is the home of a very special place. It’s a place without glamour, a place symbolized by its simplicity and humbleness — the Western Wall. When you walk to the Kotel (Western Wall) through the Jewish quarter, you suddenly come upon this breathtaking sight. Touching the great stones, which came directly from the times of King Solomon, and knowing that you are standing where the temple once stood is magical. But the Western Wall we see is only the tip of the iceberg. The wall stretches wider and deeper than anybody could have thought. You can feel the link that connects the past with the future.

The best time to be at the Western Wall is during the High Holidays, when thousands of Israelis are gathered to pray, sing and dance together, just like biblical times. This experience makes you feel like you suddenly know the pure meaning of the Jewish people, no matter how religious you are. And hearing the shofar brings you as close as you can get to the holy temple.

A sacred city to all

Jerusalem is sacred to Christians and Muslims too, and contains many churches and mosques. While at times it seems everyone in Jerusalem lives in harmony, at other times, the movement of one tiny rock from one place to another, seems to be the cause for a third world war.

Until 1967, Jews couldn’t pray at the Western Wall that was under the control of the Jordanians. The entire city was divided in half and the conditions were unbearable. Then, one day during the 1967 war — a war that was forced on Israel by its neighbors — the Israeli paratroopers liberated eastern Jerusalem, including the Western Wall.

From that day in 1967, Israelis celebrate Yom Yerushalaim (Jerusalem day) to remember the day when finally, a Jewish presence was renewed in east Jerusalem and at the Wall. Let us all remember this special city this month.

Acting against intelligence

Mr. Obama’s diktat  that Israel return to its 1967 borders is a trenchant repudiation of the skilled military assessments upon which American presidents are meant to rely.

Lt.-Gen. Thomas Kelly, director of operations for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff during the 1991 Gulf War, said: “It is impossible to defend Jerusalem unless you hold that high ground [in Judaea-Samaria]. I look out from those heights and look onto the West Bank and say to myself, ‘If I’m the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, I cannot defend this land without that terrain.’ ” (Jerusalem Post, Nov. 7, 1991)

General Kelly was reiterating what previous Joint Chiefs had determined. A study by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in June 1967 concluded: “From a strictly military point of view Israel would require the retention of some captured Arab territory in order to provide militarily defensible borders … [including] control of the prominent high ground running north-south through the middle of West Jordan [Judaea-Samaria],” as well as the entire Gaza Strip and the entire Golan Heights.

In an interview with a German news magazine, Abba Eban, the late South African-born, English-educated man who became Israel’s Foreign Minister said it best:

“We have openly said that the map will never again be the same as of June 4, 1967. For us, this is a matter of security and of principles. The June map is for us equivalent to insecurity and danger. I do not exaggerate when I say that it has for us something of a memory of Auschwitz. We shudder when we think of what would have awaited us in the circumstances of June, 1967, if we had been defeated; with Syrians on the mountain and we in the valley, with the Jordanian army in sight of the sea, with the Egyptians who hold our throat in their hands in Gaza. This is a situation which will never be repeated in history.” (Der Spiegel, Nov. 5, 1969)

Acting against intelligence assessments from previous Joint Chiefs of Staff, the will of the Congress in 2004 and Israel’s own long-standing assessments, Mr. Obama becomes comforter of and collaborator with brutalists who espouse a 7th Century-mindset. Arafat, Hamas, Hezbollah, et al. literally have the blood of Jewish innocents on their hands.

Israel’s “peace partner” Hamas’ recent outrage, the cold-blooded killing of the Fogel family, proves the point. Father Udi, 37; mother Ruth, 36; 10-year-old Yoav; 4-year-old Elad; and 3-month-old Hadas were all butchered. Hamas did not ‘merely’ stab and slay wee Hadas, they severed her head.

Perhaps The White House doesn’t read the world’s press. More likely, it just doesn’t give a damn about either Israel or the Jewish people. 

J. Scott Brown

Leawood, Kan.

“My house shall be a house of prayer for all people.” This phrase, taken from the prophet Isaiah, adorns the facade of many historical Reform temples in our country. One has to wonder why would such a verse be chosen out of so many in our tradition. Why such a universalistic statement?

Reform Jews have been accused of being “assimilationist,” of trying to become like gentiles while assuaging their guilt for leaving Judaism. I would venture to say that in fact the reality is the opposite.

The goal of Reform Judaism is to make it easier for non-Jews that value our way of life to join us in the Eternal Covenant between God and the People of Israel. We do not set out to be missionaries, yet it is wrong not to share what we have with others that may want it and would benefit from it.

Historically Judaism has taken different approaches to the issue of welcoming proselytes. At first, Judaism was one of the greatest proselytizing religions; then due to Roman and Christian persecution around the 4th century, Jews stopped welcoming converts. In current times, the attitude is still negative toward converts. However, I believe it is beginning to change and should change even more.

There is a famous Midrash that asks: Why did God cause us to be exiled and suffer so much among the peoples of the earth? The answer it provides is that God intended us to bring into our midst worthy proselytes.

Another Talmudic text states that proselytes are like boils to Israel. Rabbi Avraham Haguer (the proselyte) expands on that text by saying that converts are detrimental to the Jewish people only in that they are such good and committed Jews. When God realizes that those born Jews are so lax in their commitment to Judaism as compared with converts, then God punishes those Jews.

Born Jews must change their attitude of surprise about why anyone would wish to convert unless they are getting married. Just because we grew up with Judaism as our birthright, we fail to see what a precious legacy it is.

I have also heard many people say that “converts are not like us born Jews.” I totally agree with that statement but for the opposite reason. Generally converts show far more commitment and devotion.

They help replenish the ranks of our people and we should applaud them for it. Converts cannot weaken or change the “racial constitution” of the Jewish people because race doesn’t exist, it is a cultural construct. Jews are not a race! Jews don’t have a pattern of characteristics. Rather we are mutts, having characteristics of all the peoples that hosted us as well as Mediterranean characteristics.

Having already performed almost 400 conversions (mostly abroad) I wish to make a call to our community to truly make our own homes, our synagogues, houses of prayer for all people even as we are respectful of the beliefs and practices of others.

QUESTION: If one is short for a minyan, I have heard that one can open the Ark and count a Torah scroll for the 10th person. Is that true?

ANSWER: That is not only untrue, but it is somebody’s grandmother’s fable. I have heard this concept quoted from time to time and it is absolutely not based on Jewish law or tradition. One of my out-of-town colleagues had a humorous comment about the myth. He said, “If I could circumcise a Torah then I would count it for a minyan.”

I have no idea where people get these strange concepts and ideas and they live as folklore for generations. I understand that one of the congregations in St. Joseph, Mo., did utilize that practice for many years in the 1960s and 1970s during a period when they did not have a full-time rabbi. The idea of the Torah being so special to fill a role of a human being might be very mystical and romantic; however, it does not fit the bill as far as Jewish law is concerned.

Now that we are on the topic of traditions that are not based on Jewish law, I would like to address a very important topic that comes up all the time. Many Jewish people are under the impression that one has to have a mezuzah on one’s front door. That is very true. However, it is necessary to have a mezuzah on every door of one’s home other than the bathroom. The Bible is very specific when it mandates “you shall affix them, meaning the mezuzah, to the door posts (plural) of your home.” The Torah commands us to affix a mezuzah to every door post of our homes. Any room, in which you live or eat or study or have any kind of activity, requires a mezuzah. Even though many of the synagogues in the community, including my own, have beautiful mezuzot mounted, technically a synagogue, since it is not a place of dwelling, does not really require a mezuzah as your home does.

The other concern that we need to express is that so many mezuzot that are sold either online or even in some gift shops of synagogues around the community are really not “kosher.” By that I mean they have to be written by a scribe and on parchment. You can tell if your mezuzah parchment is not a “kosher one” by just trying to put a little tear into it. If it is parchment it will not tear. It also has to be handwritten by a scribe, like a Torah scroll, and not photocopied. Many mezuzot available online and around town have photocopied insertions to put into the mezuzah. It would be a shame for an individual to spend the money, time and effort of getting a mezuzah and a beautiful one perhaps at that, only to have it be not acceptable by Jewish law. Even though the primary purpose of a mezuzah is fulfilling a biblical commandment, the tradition is that they do protect our homes.

May 10 will be Yom Haatzmaut, Israel’s 63rd Independence Day Anniversary.

It is hard to believe that Jews are the only people capable of returning to their ancestral land after a 2,000-year hiatus. It is true that there has always been a Jewish presence in the land of Israel, albeit very small at times. Yet, no one nation has been able to achieve such a feat. In fact, not only have Jews been able to return to Israel but we speak almost the same language. If in a similar situation to the comedy “Encino Man,” where a frozen caveman comes back to life after being thawed, if an ancient Israelite returned to Israel today, he or she would be able to understand and be understood almost perfectly by any passerby in the streets of Tel Aviv. Furthermore, if he walked into an Apple store and saw a computer, he would understand what that machine does because the word for computer (machsheiv) implies a machine that thinks for you.

Jews have never abandoned their original language and Hebrew writings have existed throughout history even as Jews spoke other languages. They have also developed their own dialects like Yiddish or Ladino. Minimally Hebrew was kept as a language of prayer and scholarly religious writings. In medieval times, the knowledge of Hebrew allowed Jews to be translators and to be intimately involved in voyages of discovery. Whereas an Italian traveler such as Marco Polo had no hope whatsoever to be able to communicate with someone in China, as well as on the countries he would have to transverse in order to get there, he could count on the almost certainty that having a Jewish translator with him would make communication easier as they would encounter other Jews along the way that would speak Hebrew alongside their countries languages.

Modern Hebrew is not exactly the Hebrew of the Bible. The biblical world view and sense of tense (past, present, future) is quite different from ours. Also there are many words required for modern communication that do not exist in the biblical lexicon. Thus, modern Hebrew had to be “invented.” It’s inventor was Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (born Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman in 1858 in Luzhki — present day Belarus). He was a great linguist and scholar who immigrated to Palestine in 1881. He was determined to revive Hebrew as a language for everyday communication for Jews that spoke the different languages from the countries they had come from and had a hard time communicating.

Ben Yehuda was such a believer in the Hebrew language that he decided to raise his son, Ben Zion (the first name meaning “son of Zion”), entirely in Hebrew. He refused to let his son be exposed to other languages during childhood. Ben Zion was the first child raised solely in the Hebrew language. An anecdote is told that exemplifies the commitment Ben Yehuda had for his cause. Apparently Ben Zion must have had some kind of learning disability or developmental delay because he only began to speak at the relatively late age of four. Ben Yehuda and his wife took the boy to the best doctors, who “diagnosed” the problem as being the parents fault for only talking with the boy in a “dead language.” I can only imagine how much flack he got from Mrs. Ben Yehuda and yet he persisted! Ben Zion, who later changed his name to Itamar, grew up to be the first native speaker of Hebrew in almost 2,000 years!

A thank you to the Jewish Community

On behalf of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy board of trustees I want to say thank you to the entire Kansas City Jewish Community for your enthusiastic support of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy! We held the annual HBHA Civic Service Award celebration on April 10 and with your participation it was a huge success. The outpouring of support from the entire community was overwhelming and palpable.

The evening was very emotional as we celebrated our 45th anniversary. With our wonderful hosts, Trish Uhlmann and Dave Porter, we walked down memory lane and honored our long time friends and supporters, Maria and Fred (z”l) Devinki. For those of you who weren’t able to attend, the story was told of how it all began with a brief conversation begun by then Federation VP Sid Deutsch walking out of shul alongside Neil Sosland. Neil then discussed the concept with his wife, Blanche, who took to it without hesitation and thus the school was born. The Soslands gathered an amazing group of dedicated parents who pitched the idea to Hyman Brand, our first board president. He was so impressed with these “young punks” that he not only agreed to be the president, but went on to raise the money needed within two weeks of their meeting. This community has grown from that original school, housed in Congregation Ohev Sholom’s builidng, to what is now a state-of-the-art, top-notch community day school.

We honored Mirra Klausner and Brenda Althouse with the John Weill Uhlmann Young Leadership Award. Those two are such incredible assets to this community and we are all fortunate that Brenda and Mirra are taking such an active role and are accepting of their leadership roles within the Jewish community.

We also heard from Jonathan Edelman, recipient of the Head of School’s Shining Light Award. He spoke eloquently about the similarities and differences between the school from which he is about to graduate and the school that his mother, Debbie Sosland-Edelman (one of the first students at school when it began) graduated from when it was in its infancy. He noted how today’s HBHA is everything that those founding parents dreamed of, and so much more.

One of the great challenges facing that original group was how to serve the entire Jewish community. The school not only serves every denomination of Judaism, but also serves the whole community by providing an outstanding general and Judaic education that will help to attract Jewish professionals to Kansas City. These same attributes also help to bring our kids back home after college to take their places as the leaders in our community.

At this time of year, I feel it is especially appropriate for all of us to take a moment and express our gratitude for the fact that we are free and able to live in a society and a community that embraces and values our Jewish tradition. So, on behalf of the board of trustees, the parents, faculty and staff of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, I would again like to thank the entire Jewish community for all of your support. Our school is here for, and because of, this Jewish community and we will always strive to carry out our mission to help keep our Jewish community strong and vibrant.

Eric Kaseff
President
HBHA board of trustees

Be inspired: Volunteer

In a recent article in The Chronicle, Village Shalom expressed the need for more volunteers. As a volunteer myself, I have received a tremendous amount of enjoyment and inspiration from the wonderful residents I now consider my friends.

If you choose to volunteer at Village shalom, any amount of your time (even one hour a week) would be greatly appreciated and much needed. The residents are always so excited to see the volunteers and look forward to spending time with them.

There are several ways you can get involved. Village Shalom has a calendar full of activities such as group games, visiting residents and assisting with dinner parties and entertainment. Recently the activities department planned a casino night for the residents. They did a fantastic job which was reflected by all the smiles and laughter heard throughout the room!

Hopefully, this has inspired you to become a volunteer for Village Shalom. If interested, please contact the volunteer coordinator at (913) 266-8310 or at

Betty Stern
Overland Park, Kan.

If someone murdered a loved one of yours would you benevolently erase the atrocity from your mind? If the murderer still lived, would you seek to convict him or merely discover other avenues of interest to preoccupy your time? (Editor’s note: The Jewish community’s annual Yom HaShoah commemoration will take place at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 1, at the Jewish Community Campus.)

Six million Jews were brutally murdered, yet some wish to conveniently forget. Why live in the past? The dead cannot be revived! Let us speak for the living; let us turn toward other outlets of concern.

The Nazi mentality still exists; we dare not naively believe that anti-Semitism has vanished. Hatred and bigotry is a cancer that eventually returns to haunt its innocent victims. Unless intense treatment and annual diagnostic tests occur, tragedy is inevitable.

Some naively believe that public denunciations and continued documentaries will awaken latent Nazi tendencies. Allow me to suggest the opposite. Those who truly wish to destroy the Jewish nation certainly do not need additional incentives.

Like parasites, they survive at the expense of others. These cannibals of society eagerly await to devour their prey; they feed upon fear and desperately search for defenseless scapegoats. An apathetic approach combined with the fear of retaliation merely furnishes fuel for those seeking scapegoats. Too often we dismiss the obvious in order to achieve peace of mind.

As we travel backward into the time machine of history, this truism becomes evident. The socialist party declared a boycott to begin on April 1, 1933, of all Jewish businesses in Germany. Naively, the following sentiment was expressed in the April 3, 1933, edition of the London Times: “There is no spontaneous hostility to the hard-working small Jewish shopkeeper or trader.” The New York Times reported, “There is an active anti-Semitism in the German masses if they are left alone.”

Eventually the press awakened to the reality of an impending nightmare. In response to Kristallnacht, the New York Times observed: “It is assumed that the Jews, who have now lost most of their possessions and livelihood, will either be thrown into the streets or put into ghettos and concentration camps or impressed into labor brigades and put to work for the Third Reich. As the children of Israel were once before the Pharaohs.” Following the atrocities of Kristallnacht, the London Times exclaimed, “It is not to be believed that the nations cannot find the means of assisting unwarranted citizens to leave Germany and of providing the territory in which those Jews can find a liberated community and recover the right to live and prosper. There is no difficulty which a common will and common action cannot overcome.”

Now we can openly admit, too little too late! Fear and appeasement provided the Nazi party with the subterfuge they eagerly sought. Isolationism blinded the eyes of our so called leadership.

Various pleas remained unheard and unanswered. A cable sent to Breckinridge Long, on March 26, 1943, stated: “Gravest possible news reaching London past week shows massacres now reaching catastrophic climax, particularly Poland, also deportations Bulgarian, Rumanian Jews already begun. European Jewry disappearing while no single organization rescue measure yet takes … extermination reaching peak. Urge allied relief.”

Ironically between 1933 and 1943 there existed more than 400,000 vacant positions in the United States immigration quotas of countries under Nazi domination. Yet, Cordell Hull insisted, “I cannot recommend that we open the question of relaxing  the provision of our immigration laws and run the risk of a prolonged and bitter controversy in congress on the immigration question-considering the generous quantity of refugees we have already received.”

Perhaps if we as a nation would have spoken as one unit, our leaders would have not turned a deaf ear. The Holocaust can happen again. Ruthlessness and hatred still permeate the atmosphere. Awareness and action is our most potent and valued weapon. Silence and inaction is a way of life we dare not accept.

Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg is the child of Holocaust survivors, Jacob and Rachel Rosenberg. A Kansas City native, he serves as the spiritual leader of congregation Beth El in Edison New Jersey, and as chair of the New York Board of Rabbis Holocaust Education Committee. He recently wrote The Rosenberg Holocaust siddur which can be downloaded for free at www.jewishfreeware.org/downloads/YOM%20HASHOAH/FinalMASTER%203-7-%20ROSENBERGHOLOCAUST.pdf. He also wrote the Rosenberg Holocaust Haggadah which can be downloaded at Holocausthaggadah.com