FRIEDA’S HEAVENLY CHALLAHS — One of the things you’ll find at the Jewish Arts Festival this Sunday, Oct. 6, is Frieda’s Heavenly Challahs. Ray Davidson, who makes the challahs to benefit different synagogues and organizations, has added an assistant — Bill Shapiro.
Shapiro retired in December 2010 and was looking for something to keep him busy. Last year, Shapiro took a three-hour class at Village Shalom University, where he learned to make challahs from scratch.
“It tasted OK, but not great,” Shapiro said.
Then last October, his cousin, Patsy Shanberg, suggested he help Davidson bake challahs every Wednesday. He contacted Davidson and soon “I started my education on ‘How to make really good challah.’ ”
“I became interested in the attention to detail that Ray was teaching me,” Shapiro continued. “This October I will start my second year and if Ray lets me hang around, I might learn how to make a really ‘great’ challah.”
Sales from the challah they are selling at the Jewish Arts Fesitval will benefit SAFEHOME’s Jewish Outreach Program, the only program in the city for Jewish victims of domestic violence.
HALLOWEEN FOOD DRIVE — A few months ago we featured Lissa Leibson after she earned a congressional medal. She is now leading the charge for a big fundraising effort to benefit Operation Breakthrough, a not-for-profit corporation that provides quality child care and programs for children in the innercity, and Harvesters. A senior at Pembroke Hill, she is leading a student-led Halloween food drive at Pembroke that also includes students from the following schools: Barstow, Blue Valley Northwest, Blue Valley Southwest, Rockhurst and St. Thomas Aquinas — Trick or Treat so Kids Can Eat! The food drive will be held Saturday morning, Oct. 12, at Hen House locations in Leawood, Overland Park, Prairie Village and Olathe. Miriam Swartz is also helping to organize this effort.
“GOD LOVES UGANDA” — There’s a lot happening on Sunday, Oct. 6, including the Kansas International Film Festival at the Glenwood Arts Theatre. “God Loves Uganda” will be shown at 2:30 p.m. Lynne Melcher served as a production assistant for the film by Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams. The movie was filmed extensively in our own backyard, at Kansas City’s International House of Prayer, also known as IHOP, and documents the evangelical campaign to infuse African culture with the values of America’s Christian Right. The campaign’s focus is specific to the criminalization of homosexuality. What emerges is a self-appointed American and Ugandan union, fighting their notion of immorality and sending missionaries to convince Ugandans to follow biblical law. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at www.kansasfilm.com. Some emails have circulated calling this film controversial. You be the judge.
HOBBY LOBBY CONTROVERSY — The hot topic among Jewish Facebook followers the past few days has been a blog about craft store Hobby Lobby. The store, known for being closed on Sunday so its employees can attend church, has fought the Affordable Care Act in court and its ownership is not quiet about its Christian beliefs. Most recently an employee at a new store in New Jersey, which is located in a highly populated Jewish area, told an inquiring customer that it doesn’t carry Chanukah decorations because, “We don’t cater to you people.” It’s causing quite a stir. Read the entire blog at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/30/1242615/-No-menorahs-at-Hobby-Lobby?detail=facebook.
