A VISIT WITH THE POPE — Last spring Rabbi Herbert Mandl was supposed to go to the Vatican to do research in its library, an honor in itself. But his wife Barbara was injured in an accident on the first leg of the trip, forcing the trip to Rome to be postponed so she could heal. As they say everything happens for a reason and now that the trip has been re-scheduled — he leaves this week for three weeks in the holy city — he has learned he will get an opportunity to have a personal meeting with Pope Francis. He’s very excited, and we’ll tell you about his meeting with the pope and his research in November after he returns.
MORE PEW INFO — KU Hillel’s Facebook page alerted us to what the campus organization called, a “fantastic article about the future of Jewish life,” in USA Today, “Jewish campus groups optimistic despite statistics.” It was written by Allison Hammond, a junior at KU who went to Israel last year on KU Hillel’s Birthright trip. KU Hillel’s Evan Traylor is one of the students interviewed in the article. Check it out here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/13/jewish-students-pew-study/2975387/.
ON THE STAGE AGAIN — Ruth Bigus is on the stage again, this time performing “Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits,” with the group she helped form, Mid-Life Players. It’s a non-profit group that does musicals in concert, using performers age 35 and up. She said, “It gives us an outlet to perform shows we might not be cast in at our ‘mature” state! This show parodies all the wonderful Broadway musicals we enjoy — including my favorite ‘West Side Story!’ ” Shows are Oct. 18-19, Oct. 25-26 at the Alcott Arts Center in Kansas City, Kan. She’s in all but the show on Oct. 25.
ISRAEL-BASED TEVA ANNOUNCES LAYOFFS — JERUSALEM (JTA) — Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, headquartered in Israel, said it was laying off 5,000 employees.
The layoffs, which were announced Oct. 10, will take place at Teva sites worldwide and amount to 10 percent of the company’s workforce, according to the Israeli business daily Globes.
Hundreds of employees in Israel are expected to lose their jobs, though most of the layoffs will take place outside of Israel, Teva President and CEO Jeremy Levin told Globes.
Cutbacks and restructuring expected to take place through 2017 are expected to save the company $1.5 billion to $2 billion, half of it in 2014.
Levin told Globes that the cost-cutting plan was due to global challenges, not financial distress.
The local Teva office just moved into a beautiful new building at College and Nall in Overland Park.
TECHY WITH LOCAL TIES — Yeshivat Noam, a Jewish day school in Paramus, N.J., was recently awarded a $1 million dollar multi-year grant to create the school’s Educational Technology and Innovation Program. What makes that relevant to us is that Seth Dimbert, a former student at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and a leader in the field of educational technology, innovation and 21st century learning, has been hired to lead the school in this new approach to learning. “We conducted a thorough search and all roads led to him,” said Rabbi Chaim Hagler, the school’s principal, in the New Jersey Jewish Standard.
Dimbert, who was also quoted in the Jewish Standard, said the program is still in the early stages but it will allow the introduction of new technology.
“Technology is the language our students speak, and utilizing this allows us to speak to them,” Dimbert said. His goal is to teach the students “the skills they will need to navigate a complicated world.”
Dimbert is the son of Ellen and Ron Dimbert.
