A lack of understanding

I’m responding to Marc Birnbaum’s views in his letter in the Aug. 23 issue of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle.

First, I would like to address Mr. Birnbaum’s response to why he would be voting for the Romney/Ryan ticket. I can well see why he would be attracted to candidate Romney. Mr. Birnbaum obviously has little respect for women, and would rather support a candidate who will “prostitute” himself to say and do anything to get elected.

If Mr. Birnbaum gauges Gloria Schlossenberg’s opinion as being one that is full of hate, I wonder how he would define love? He demonstrates an example of someone lacking clear understanding and compassion. He truly owes Mrs. Schloessenberg an apology.

Regarding Mr. Birnbaum’s appreciation for the Koch Brothers, and their supposed support of cancer research facilities, I wonder if Mr. Birnbaum ever considered the huge tax write-off they realize when they make such donations? Their “generous” donations are no more than additional deductions on their taxes. I don’t believe the Koch Brothers do anything out of the “goodness of their hearts.” Everything is done to facilitate their own good. It’s rather ironic they would support cancer research, in view of the vast amounts of carcinogens their many industries pump into the environment.

Mr. Birnbaum is either foolish, naive, greedy, lacking any humanity or any or all of the aforementioned words I have used to describe him.

Carole Plesser
Prairie Village, Kan.

Great day!

I just participated in my first “Day of Discovery” at the Jewish Community Campus. The only way I could figure out how to properly thank the many organizations, volunteers, lay-leaders and presenters who put forth such a fantastic program was through the Jewish Chronicle!

They offered such an extensive variety of wonderful programs and a well-organized and delicious lunch. The layout of the Jewish Community Campus’ building seemed to easily accommodate everyone’s needs. I loved seeing folks of all ages walking around with smiling faces and eager to hear the next speaker. The time went so fast (8:45 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.).

Thank you one and all. I’ve never felt more proud and I look forward to next years’ program. And for the first time in my life, I got to make and take home two small challahs! A job well-done!

Marilyn Hoffman
Overland Park, Kan.

Todah rabah

Thank you for your coverage of the 7th Annual Bike 4 the Brain, an event for mental health. I want thank those in our community who have provided ongoing and generous support over these past seven years. They have helped B4B in the effort to increase awareness that mental illness is real, common  and treatable when it is recognized and addressed. I hope others will join in solidarity at Bike 4 the Brain by registering online at bike4thebrain.org or from 7 to 8 a.m. on Labor Day, Sept. 3, at 6000 Lamar.

Ken Sonnenschein, M.D.
Bike 4 the Brain Founder and Chair

Dear Mr. Akin:

I want to thank you.

A few days ago, during a television interview, you presented your views regarding abortion. I hope I quote you correctly when you said: “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare ... If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

I find your words abhorrent and offensive. They suggest two things: first, that somehow a woman’s body has a mechanism by which to fight pregnancies resulting from rape; and second, that an inseminated egg is somehow more important than the physical and emotional health of the woman involved.  In both instances, I say unequivocally: Shame on you!

So, why do I thank you?

Because I believe that you were honest in your statements. Despite the backtracking and apologies that you have offered, you remain clear in your belief that abortion is not legitimate in almost every situation.

Now, I want to be clear. I am 100 percent opposed to your position. I believe — and I believe that my Jewish faith tradition supports the view — that a fetus, while clearly potential life, is NOT a child, nor does it have the same rights as the woman, who is carrying it. In the book of Exodus, chapter 21, it states this fact rather simply ... you do believe in the Bible, don’t you?

But let me be even clearer. While Jewish tradition does have a range of beliefs regarding abortion, it is my understanding based on reading many rabbinic texts and commentaries, that the primary responsibility is toward the woman — and not to any potential life. Rape is never permitted. There is no such thing as “legitimate” or “illegitimate” rape. Rape is rape. And it is a complete violation of human dignity and human rights. Everything must be done to allow a woman to become whole again.

So, let me go back to thanking you.

We live in a country today where politicians of all stripes say whatever is expedient. If the audience requires a certain response, politicians will modulate their message to match their listeners’ views. And so, it is hard — from our presidential candidates on down — to truly understand where these men and women stand on various important issues.

You, sir, did not equivocate in that television interview. You were clear and concise and stated exactly what you believed. Thank you for your honesty. If only ALL of the other candidates would be as refreshingly open and true to their beliefs as you! Then, we — as voters — could more honestly and faithfully cast our ballots ...  because we would KNOW WITH CERTAINTY where our candidates stand. (And not by how they are portrayed by campaign ads or super-PAC media blitzes.) So, I thank you for setting the bar toward which all candidates should aspire: to say what they truly believe and then allow the electorate to decide.

I live in Kansas. Therefore, I am unable to vote and help decide who will become the next United States Senator from Missouri — you or Sen. Claire McCaskill. I know how I would vote because you have told me what you believe.

I respect your right to believe as you do. I believe that a woman controls her body and no man (or other woman) should have a right to tell her what to do with that body. Abortion is a divisive issue in this country. While I wish it wasn’t so, sadly, we have permitted our government to determine this issue — to mediate between your belief and mine. If all of our current or aspiring elected officials would be as honest as you, then our choices at the ballot box would be much easier to make.

Rabbi Arthur P. Nemitoff is the senior rabbi of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah. This article originally appeared in Bisseleh Bytes, the congregation’s weekly email to members.

Using military force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is the only option left for Israel but it is not in its best interest to strike before the U.S. elections. Now it is more important for Israel that Barack Obama be defeated. An Israeli attack in the next two months would greatly aid the president’s re-election prospects by providing him with the greatest possible diversion from the failed U.S. economy. Politically he would have no choice but to support Israel and the American people will galvanize around their president as is always the case during a foreign crisis. Israel cannot afford another four years of Obama’s policies.

Despite the fact that the U.S. unemployment rate has been higher than 8 percent for the last 42 months,  and there has been slow economic growth, a hike in the federal debt and an increased poverty rate, most national polls suggest that the race between Obama and Romney is dead even. Even though no president has ever been re-elected with such high unemployment, Obama is still competitive because he has been using successful diversion tactics of negative ads and talking about anything other than the economy. His strategy has consisted of talking about social issues such as contraceptives, abortion, war on women and personal attacks on Romney‘s wealth, tax returns, gaffes and his dog.

But in all national polls the economy remains the most important problem for 65 percent of American voters. In a Gallup poll just released Aug. 20 where voters were asked if they are better off now than they were four years ago, 55 percent to 42 percent nationwide say they aren’t. Nationwide 72 percent say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States.

In order for Romney to have a chance to win the election, the economy must stay the central issue in the minds of voters.

If Israel strikes Iran in the next two months President Obama would have to support Israel, not wanting to alienate Jewish voters and donors. But much worse, Iran would certainly retaliate. Israel’s outgoing Home Defense Minister Matan Vilnai estimated that Israel airstrikes would be followed by a 30-day Iran-Israel war that would cost 500 Israeli lives, mostly due to Iranian missile strikes. Daily, minute-by-minute coverage by the media of the war for over a month would consume the U.S. public, especially if U.S. bases and its forces were threatened, pushing aside any divisiveness over the economy.

Obama’s image as commander in chief would also increase as well as his approval rating. Two days after Bin Laden was killed in 2011, Obama’s job approval ratings rose by 9 percent to their highest level since 2009 despite the stagnant economy.

If he is re-elected, after supporting the Israeli strike, President Obama, not needing the Jewish votes for reelection, will make Israel pay a heavy price for forcing his hand in attacking an Islamic state and embroiling the United States in another war.

If Israel claims that it cannot take risks by giving away the West Bank territories in the post Arab Spring unstable Middle East, Israel and its supporters will be repeatedly reminded that he “had Israel’s back ”during the Iranian conflict. His foreign policy agenda for the first three years of his term of establishing a Palestinian state in the1967 borders, dividing Jerusalem and establishing a closer relationship with the Muslim world by distancing the United States from Israel, will be reasserted. Israel after many public confrontations and threats will end up surrounded by a Hamastan state in Gaza as well as the West Bank, and by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Jihadists bent on destroying it.

It is true that Israel is taking a chance if it does not attack now and Obama is still re-elected, but Israel will be able to stand his pressures for concessions because the Iranian nuclear issue will present an even greater strategic priority for Israel and the United States. If he is re-elected, President Obama will re-adopt his “containment policy” leading eventually to a nuclear armed Iran. By then, the Middle East will be an explosive powder keg, waiting for the Iranian trigger.

Israel’s only remaining hope is that Obama loses the election and Romney, who is a longtime friend of Netanyahu, becomes president. The only time that the extremist Iranian leadership decided to suspend its nuclear program was in 2003, after the United States invaded Iraq because it truly believed a Republican president‘s warning that they would be attacked next.

If deterrence fails, President Romney will let Israel attack and will support Israel afterward from retaliation from Iran and its proxies.

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

Overwhelming response

To the thousands — yes, thousands — of you who joined us at the First Annual Kansas City Kosher BBQ Festival, we want to offer a genuine, meaty thank you on behalf of the Vaad HaKashruth and the entire volunteer committee. The response from the community was overwhelming. There is no other word for it.

We are incredibly grateful to Temple B’nai Jehudah, the Torah Learning Center, Kehilath Israel Synagogue, our sponsors, to the dedicated teams who tended their smokers all night long, and to all the supporters who came to cheer them on and, yes, wait in line for delicious kosher brisket, ribs and burnt ends. We look forward to learning from the experience of this first-ever event, honing the details, building on this amazing outpouring of enthusiasm, and growing the festival into a Kansas City tradition — like BBQ itself.

Rabbi Mendel Segal
Executive Director/Rabbinic Coordinator
Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City

Dr. Jason Aaron Sokol
Chair, Kansas City Kosher BBQ Competition and Festival
Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City

Debbie Sosland-Edelman
President, Board of Directors
Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City

Don’t discount Koch

In response to Gloria Schlossenberg’s virulently hate-filled letter, your readers should know that David H. Koch is a founder of a charitable institute — the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. The Koch Institute emphasizes basic research into how cancer is caused, progresses and responds to treatment. The Koch Institute has identified five areas of research that it believes are critical for controlling cancer: developing nanotechnology-based cancer therapeutics, creating novel devices for cancer detection and monitoring, exploring the molecular and cellular basis of metastasis, advancing personalized medicine through analysis of cancer pathways and drug resistance and engineering the immune system to fight cancer. This is tikkun olam, i.e., repairing the world.

As to Mitt Romney, I regard him as a decent man and I am happy he chose Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate. He’s got my vote.

Marc Birnbaum
Overland Park, Kan.

Be careful

The real problem is not the presidential candidate but rather the do-nothing Congress. We keep electing the same incumbents over and over again. It is time to enforce term limits and to make provisions for non-multi-millionaires to have an equal and fair chance to run for office.

All the negative campaign tactics you will see are designed to push your buttons. Insist on a campaign of substance. This week both sides are playing the race game while thousands more lose their jobs and homes.

Seems like anything goes. Whites for Romney would be racist. Jews for Romney would be interesting although there are not too many of us. In the meantime people in the United States are starving, losing their jobs and homes, people remain unemployed and the people in Congress are counting their millions.

Our leadership does not understand that gas prices are now back to high levels, the climate has changed, rivers are at all-time lows, glaciers are melting and genocides are occurring throughout the world, especially in Syria, on a daily basis. Both sides are to blame.

This message is not meant to be part of the continuing propaganda circus but rather a stern warning that our planet is in danger.

Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Edison, N.J.

QUESTION: I understand that at this time of year the shofar is blown every day at weekday morning services. I thought the shofar was just blown on Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur. Can you explain this tradition?

ANSWER: There has been a tradition that is at least a thousand years old that the shofar is blown very briefly in daily weekday morning services for the entire month prior to Rosh Hashanah. The purpose of the shofar being blown is to remind people that the High Holy Days are approaching and that one should start thinking about repentance, spiritual repair of our souls and all that this holy season is all about.

Obviously we do not blow the shofar on Shabbat — even when it is Rosh Hashanah — so we do not blow the shofar on Shabbat during this month of Elul that precedes Rosh Hashanah. There is an additional tradition that even though we blow the shofar every weekday during this month, we do not do so on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. There are several reasons for this custom. One is that on Rosh Hashanah morning we recite the prayer thanking G-d for letting us reach this season, the Shecheyanu blessing, and if we had blown the shofar every single day, why is one thanking G-d for reaching this season to blow the shofar since we did it the day before? So, the rabbis decided that there should be at least a one-day gap when the shofar is not blown so that that the blessing has some meaning. One is not even supposed to practice blowing the shofar on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.

There are different traditions between the Ashkenazic and Sefardic world as to how many notes and which notes of the shofar are blown during this month. The Ashkenazic version is the shortest, it is just four notes. The Chassidic and Sefardic world blow generally speaking 10 to 12 notes daily.

For many years when I taught the laws of shofar and the laws of the month of Elul in my synagogue or elsewhere in the community, I always made reference to the fact that the Code of Jewish Law that discusses the tradition of blowing the shofar during this time of year stated that there are congregations that blow in the evening during the month of Elul. I have been in hundreds of synagogues over the years and never have seen that and it seemed rather odd. We never blow the shofar at night. The only time we even come close to that is at the end of Yom Kippur as the day is drawing to a close and the fast is ending and it is the last second of twilight when we blow the one blast ending the fast.

A number of years ago one of my congregants who was saying Kaddish had asked me for synagogues to attend during business travels. He was going to be in New York where it is obviously easy to find a synagogue. Knowing where his meetings were going to be, I sent him to the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue. When he returned he told me that he saw something really strange. He then explained that at the end of Ma’ariv service the shofar was blown. So apparently that tradition is being kept at least in the Spanish and Portuguese community.

There are so many areas of Jewish law where local traditions and customs prevail. For example, unless one is vegan, observant Jews eat meat or fish at every Shabbat or festival meal. The blowing of the shofar during the month of Elul for the 29 days prior to Rosh Hashanah certainly falls into this area and a variety of customs prevail as to how and where in the services the shofar is blown. However, every Traditional, Orthodox and Conservative synagogue around the world does blow the shofar daily during this period of time.

“Thin Threads: Real Stories of Hadassah Life Changing Moments” edited and compiled by Stacey K. Battat and Ellin Yassky (Kiwi Publishing, August 2012)

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Hadassah, the organization solicited “Hadassah life changing moments” — true, inspirational stories from its members on how the organization touched their lives — and chose 100 to include in a centennial book.

Each story, according to editor Stacey K. Battat, was chosen because it “wove an original and colorful thread into the tapestry of Hadassah women.”

The foreword is by journalist and long-time friend of Hadassah Ruth Gruber. She writes that she, too, is celebrating her centennial year and she recalls writing about Hadassah nurse Raquela Prywes for an article that later became her book, “Raquela, Woman of Israel.”

All of the stories reflect “a powerful life change.” Stories were included from a wide crosssection of women from across the country. The book is illustrated with archival and contemporary photographs that portray Hadassah’s positive impact on the lives of the Jewish people and the organization’s important role in Israel, including through the Hadassah Medical Organization, which includes two university hospital campuses in Jerusalem.

Among the contributors is Marian Kaplan from Overland Park, the current president of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Hadassah who will attend the Centennial National convention with others from the chapter in October. She writes about how her life changed at the age of 57 after reading an article in Hadassah magazine about a St. Louis nurse and how Hadassah subsequently entered and impacted her life in many ways.

In addition to the book, a special web edition of a Centennial Storybook of quick videos of additional stories not in the book, is available live by accessing http://www.hadassah.org/site/c.keJNIWOvEIH/b.7914503/ and scrolling horizontally to Storybook. 
(Editor’s note: This reviewer has an entry that will be included on the online version.)

The book showcases the many ways women have connected to Hadassah through the years. Those include hospital or medical stories; Israel, Zionism and aliyah stories; philanthropy stories; and Young Judaea stories.

And what stories they are! Of special interest are personal stories related to Youth Aliyah — the Jewish organiztion founded in Berlin in 1933 initially to rescue Jewish youth by sending them to Palestine. Henrietta Szold supervised the activities in Palestine and it subsequently became a project of Hadassah. There are also memories of Holocaust survivors; many young women relating how they were taken to Hadassah meetings as youngsters by their mothers; a woman who met Henrietta Szold; the role of Young Judaea in their lives; women who became nurses; first trips to Israel; personal connections to the hospital; Jews by choice and their connections to Hadassah and reflections of a number of “senior” senior citizens.

Whether or not you are a member of Hadassah or are acquainted with any of the contributors, this inspirational book should be a must read before or during the High Holy Day season.

Sybil Kaplan, who now lives and works in Jerusalem, has been an active member of Hadassah for 25 years. She has served as president of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Hadassah, president of the Great Plains Region and was a member of the National Board of Hadassah for six years. She is now active in Hadassah-Israel.

Alternative opinions needed

I would like to thank Harold Sader and Sandra Levin for their comments on the “special report” on President Obama published in the Aug. 2  issue of The Jewish Chronicle on behalf of the Kansas Heartland Chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition. It would behoove this newspaper not to pander to Republican demagoguery or at the very least publish a corresponding article stating an alternative opinion whenever the newspaper engages in election politics. For the record, I will be voting for President Obama.

American foreign policy is no different today than it has been post the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel recaptured, by a war it did not choose, Judea and Samaria. I would like to remind my Republican soul-mates that in the waning days of the Clinton administration, Israel was prepared to abandon most of our ancestral home land, to include dividing our capital, Jerusalem, for the sake of peace. Only the foolishness of what is now referred to as “Palestinians” stopped this from occurring. Lest we forget, the majority of us approved of this plan (yes, we were holding our noses) in the name of peace. The fact remains that whatever cold peace occurs between Israel and her hostile neighbors, that peace will resemble, in some fashion, the plan that was proposed by then President Clinton and Prime Minister Ehud Barack.

There are many other issues that need to be examined in regards to the upcoming presidential election, the economy and healthcare   for all being two of them. Hopefully, The Jewish Chronicle will publish alternative opinions side by side with those promulgated by the local chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

Charles Megerman
Overland Park, Kan.

Stick with Obama

So Mitt Romney went overseas for a week and visited three countries. Now he calls himself a statesman. What a fraud and what a joke.
Let us be careful who we vote for in the next election. We don’t want the ultra right wingers heavily financed by the Koch brothers to run our country.
As for me I’m sticking with Obama.

Gloria Schlossenberg
Overland Park, Kan.

Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories (Lookout Books, 2011)

Edith Pearlman’s collection of short stories, “Binocular Vision,” was selected as the best work of fiction of 2012 by the National Book Critics Circle. Although this 76-year-old author has been winning awards for her fiction since the beginning of her career, she is virtually unknown to the general reading public. This is truly a shame.

“Binocular Vision” consists of 34 short stories, each of which is a small masterpiece, and many of which have won individual prizes. Many of the stories are set in the fictional Boston suburb of Godolphin, a community reminiscent of Brookline where Pearlman makes her home. However, there are also stories set in Latin America, in middle Europe and three particularly moving stories that follow a middle-aged American Jewish woman. In the first story, set in London, she works with a Jewish agency, assisting with the resettlement of refugees from Europe and children from the kindertransport. In the second story, she is in a European DP camp for Jewish survivors after the war; and in the final story, she is living in New York, now married to the man who recruited her for all these acts of charity.

Each of Pearlman’s stories creates real characters, people you know and care about. Often her protagonists are lonely individuals seeking some small relationship with a fellow human being. “How to Fall” introduces the second banana in a newly popular TV comedy revue. He has one fan, but that is enough to give him a reason to continue.

Another story features a retired gastroenterologist dealing with her own diagnosis of cancer. In another, a little girl, given a pair of binoculars, spies on her neighbors but gets their story entirely wrong. In what may have been, inadvertently the funniest story — and Pearlman’s stories are not funny, but insightful and moving — a weekly congregation get-together called “Torah study” is actually a weekly poker game.

Perhaps one of the most memorable stories is “Vaquitqa” about the Jewish Minister of Health in an unnamed Latin American country. The Minister survived the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia, hiding in a barn with only a cow for companionship. She knows the regime in her country is getting dangerous and she expects to be arrested any day — hoping she will only be deported, not executed. In the meantime she continues to run her ministry and worry about the health of the citizens of the country.

In sum, this exquisitely written collection of stories is like a necklace of beautiful jewels. Each story reflects the light in a different way. Each story radiates different colors. Each character the reader encounters reminds you of someone you may have known slightly and wished to know better. Reading these stories gives you an opportunity to get to know characters worth knowing.

Andrea Kempf is a retired librarian who speaks throughout the community on various topics related to books and reading.

No ‘buyer’s remorse’ for voting for Obama

David Seldner and Margie Robinow, representing the Kansas Heartland Chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition, recently forwarded a “special” report to The Chronicle in opposition to the re-election of President Obama. The thrust of their “report” was that President Obama was not a strong supporter of the State of Israel. I, as a moderate Jewish democrat, believe that not so “special” report deserves a response .That response is most clearly delivered through a letter authored by Alan Dershowitz which was recently published in the Jerusalem Post.

Dershowitz quotes Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak that he could “hardly remember a better period of American support and cooperation and similar strategic understanding than what we have right now.” Dershowitz goes on to emphasize that, under Obama, the U.S. has worked “hand in hand with Israel in developing the Iron Dome, David’s Sting and Arrow Defense capabilities.” The president also has approved the sale of F-35 stealth fighters to the Israeli Air Force as well as the U.S. conducting large military exercises with Israel and coordinated intelligence operations with Israeli Secret Service. And, of course, American foreign aid to Israel has continued at record high levels.

President Obama visited Israel during his last campaign and stood in Sderot while lethal rockets were being hurled from Gaza by Hamas. He understands the peril that Israel lives with every day and that the first duty of every government is to protect its citizens. He has said that he expects Israel to do just that and supports its right to do so. Clearly the greatest threat that Israel faces today is from Iran and its plans to develop a nuclear arms capability. President Obama’s policy is clear — we will not permit Iran to develop nuclear weapons even if military action by the United States is required should ratcheted up sanctions and diplomatic pressures not be sufficient.

Beyond President Obama’s unadulterated support for Israel, Dershowitz points out the many accomplishments of President Obama that advocate for his re-election. He has brought us the first meaningful healthcare legislation in recent decades; he has appointed excellent judges to the Supreme Court; he has upheld and advocated for women’s and minority rights; he has eliminated the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy; and he has maintained the wall of separation between church and state. Further he has saved the automobile industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs and he killed Bin Laden. He has continued to successfully wage war against terrorism while ending the war in Iraq and winding down the war in Afghanistan.

These are only some of the reasons, along with his unending strong support of the State of Israel, why rational thinking Jews should vote to re-elect President Obama.

Harold Sader
Prairie Village, Kan.

Disgusted with Chronicle

I no longer subscribe to The Chronicle but have been reading it online. I am disgusted by the recent diatribes you have been publishing about President Obama and his administration. I never see anything on the left as hateful as what the right wing of the Republican Party puts out there.
You should know that there are many view points and I disagree with those you have been publishing. I certainly would not renew the subscription I had for more than 40 years.

Sandra Levin
Kansas City, Mo.

Knowledge is quite empowering. And it is an especially powerful and at the same time humbling feeling to have the responsibility to carry that knowledge home in hopes of relaying information for the greater good.

Last month we had a unique opportunity to visit Odessa, Ukraine, and Israel. Joining us on this trip and helping us bring the message back to the Kansas City Jewish community were Beverly Jacobson, Women’s Division director, and Gail Weinberg, director of Financial Resource Development at the Jewish Federation. We were also joined in Odessa by Trudy Jacobson, president-elect of Women’s Division, and her husband, John. The mission was designed for campaign chairs and directors of The Jewish Federations of North America.

We are excited to inspire our community by way of the information we have learned, and the great work we have witnessed from this mission.

One of our partner agencies, the JDC, has excelled at accomplishing so many programs in the way of rescue, relief and revitalization of Jewish life. In Ukraine, from feeding the hungry and helping the unemployed to supporting families with special needs and funding Jewish education, the Joint Distribution Committee has helped create meaning for their Jewish identity. Now, they have hope for a brighter Jewish future for their children. We were fortunate to experience all of these levels of support on the CCD Mission.

During our three days in Odessa, we supplied staples to the elderly and learned about the needs of families at risk through the Hesed welfare services. We learned through translators that numerous individuals are just now finding their Jewish roots. We learned of the World ORT schools, which teach Jewish children about cutting-edge technology, right alongside their Jewish studies.

We experienced the new Jewish Cultural Center where renewed Jewish life comes alive each day. Holocaust survivors and Righteous Gentiles shared their historic journeys. Poignantly, at Odessa’s Holocaust Memorial, our afternoon was ushered in by a rain storm and ended after the Yizkor ceremony. It was an afternoon we will never forget.

In Israel, our partner agency JAFI opened our eyes to the work they do in Israel to ensure that any Jew who comes to Israel from anywhere in the world can receive help to feel at home, once they arrive in Israel. With this support in acclimating to life in a new country, our fellow Jews have a great opportunity to be productive members of Israel, ensuring a strong future for the entire state.

The programs that our Jewish Federation and its partner agencies conduct to instill a love for Israel among our young adults is quite exhilarating. A number of programs are in place for such a task. For those of you who know a Birthright Israel participant, you may have heard about the life-changing experiences they experienced during their 10-day trip. We got to experience it first-hand, meeting up with some Birthright participants during their trip. We visited with this group of young Jewish travelers as they expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to unite and experience Israel. They were traveling through Israel alongside Jews from all over the globe, and their energy was contagious. We left our visit with them with a sense of hope for resurgence in our collective interest for our Jewish homeland.

It feels great to help others; it feels great to see others become successful and have new purpose for a positive and fulfilling Jewish life.

Though many needs in Kansas City are being tended to by the Jewish Federation — which sustain and enhance our own lives in many ways — our fellow Jews around the world are still seeking help for a new lease on life.

The job is daunting.

The job is rewarding.

The job is always going to be challenging.

As campaign co-chairs, we are hopeful because Jewish life in Kansas City is quite unique. We are a community that has come together in so many wonderful ways. And we believe we can come together for the 2013 campaign and accomplish our goal. We want to grow Kansas City’s commitment to sustaining and enhancing Jewish life at home and around the world, and we ask you to help.

Our campaign committee would love additional participation in the coming year. We would be thrilled to speak with anyone who is interested in volunteering their time or their resources to further the cause of Jewish community.

Please call the Jewish Federation office if you would like to speak to any of us about our travels and about how you can make a huge difference in the lives of others. You can reach us at 913-327-8100, or visit us online to learn more at jewishkansascity.org.

Polly Kramer is co-chair of the Jewish Federation General Annual Campaign. Sandy Passer is co-chair of the Women’s Division Annual Campaign.