KEYNOTE SPEAKER — Rabbi Herbert Mandl, rabbi emeritus of Kehilath Israel Synagogue was the keynote speaker recently for Benedictine College’s annual Day of Discovery. Each year, the school cancels its classes and meetings to allow for student presentations and the special keynote event. Rabbi Mandl, who is an adjunct lecturer in Judaica in the Department of Theology at Rockhurst University, was invited to speak at the Catholic university because earlier this year he became the first rabbi ever to gain access to the heavily guarded, 500-year-old Apostolic Library inside the Vatican. His topic was “Secret of the Vatican Library.”
CONGRATS NORMAN THE ZEP MAN — It’s not often these days anyone works for one company for 50 years, but that’s exactly what Norman Baellow did. Earlier this month Norman the Zepman — yes, he is my father — celebrated his 50th anniversary as a salesman for Zep Manufacturing Co. selling industrial cleaning chemicals. He also celebrated his retirement after more than 60 years in the workforce. Mazel tov Dad on a career worth celebrating!
GOING TO THE NFL DRAFT — The Chiefs may not have a Jewish player on the roster anymore, but a local Jewish person will get to have an up close and personal NFL Draft experience. Chiefs’ season ticket holders are all part of the Chiefs Kingdom where they are given the opportunity to earn and redeem points for a variety of prizes, usually for such things as an autographed football or a private tour of Arrowhead Stadium. Recently The Chiefs held an auction for the opportunity to attend the NFL Draft in New York City as guests of the Chiefs. Gary Friedman, who has been a Chiefs season ticket holder since they came to town in 1963 — he was just a 16-year-old high school student at the time — has amassed 45,000 points and never used any. Long story short, Friedman decided at the very last minute to bid on this experience. But he was busy that morning attending a JFS volunteer breakfast, so he enlisted a friend in New York, former Kansas Citian Richard Katz, to help him bid. The price was at a little more than 40,000 points and it was going up by one or two points at a time. At 9:59 a.m., just before bids closed at 10 a.m., Katz put in one last bid at one point higher than the current high bid. Friedman actually called the Chiefs that day to see what the winning bid was, but was told it wasn’t going to be announced until the next day. Sure enough, Friedman got an email and a subsequent phone call from Chiefs GM John Dorsey. So Gary and his wife Patti will attend the draft courtesy of the Chiefs, walk the red carpet, meet NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the Chiefs first-round draft pick. Hopefully we’ll have a photo after the draft!
THE SUN IS OUT, BE PROTECTED! — Reid Waldman is concerned about skin cancer. A third year medical student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and a member of K.C.’s Jewish community, he is co-chairing a sunscreen collect drive with another student, Katherine Glaser, a member of the St. Louis Jewish community. They are doing this through the brand new group Society for Skin Health Awareness.
Waldman said the students began collecting sunscreen this month and plan to distribute samples via baskets at the front desk in all of the outpatient clinics at Truman Medical Center, Truman-Lakewood and St. Luke’s. “We are hoping to have literature about skin health, specifically related to skin cancer, accompanying the samples and information about the skin fair we plan to host during Melanoma Awareness Month,” he said recently.
Waldman and Glaser are hosting a skin fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 17 at the Tony Aguirre Community Center in Kansas City, Mo. Area doctors are partnering with UMKC School of Medicine students to give free skin cancer screenings to “improve the skin health of the city.” Screenings are open to all.
“Our end goal is to collect 5,000 samples of sunscreen and host a sunscreen fair with over 1,000 participants,” Waldman said.
For more information, contact .
CHUCKLE FOR THE WEEK — I was sitting at the table munching on a piece of Manischewitz matzah (the company spells it matzo!) late last week when I noticed a new logo on the box. Along with the phrase “L’Chaim! To Life!” matzah is touted as all natural with zero grams of trans fat per serving and fat free. Along the bottom it says “Healthy Body – Healthy Spirit.” Never in my life had I considered matzah a health food. Who knew?
FORT RILEY SOLDIERS LEARN ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST — Allen Lebovitz and his son Michael recently spoke about the Holocaust to about 200 soldiers, wives and civilians at Fort Riley, Kan., earlier this month. The Lebovitzes were invited to speak by Rabbi David Gingold. Rabbi Gingold is a chaplain at the base we hope you will read more about soon. According to Allen Lebovitz, the rabbi’s wife, Nili, claims to make the “best schnitzel in the world” and she proudly served it to their guest from Northeast Kansas. “It was a wonderful father and son experience and a very meaningful program,” he said. Allen is the son of Kate and the late Eugene, both Holocaust survivors. Eugene passed away in 2013 and Kate lives at Village Shalom.
RAV SHMULY PUBLISHES MORE BOOKS — A couple of weeks ago Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz published not one but two new books. He posted on FB that he felt “deeply blessed to finally announce that my newest book has just been published and is now available! ‘
SPIRITUAL COURAGE: Vignettes on Jewish Leadership for the 21st Century!’ is a new book that I was working on for some years.” He notes this is different from the book that came out last month, “The Soul of Jewish Social Justice,” “just fortuitous that the timing overlapped!” At just 207 pages, “Spiritual Courage,” is the shortest of his four books to date.
POKER ACE SKIPS PAIR OF MOM’S SEDERS, WINS $1 MILLION AT TOURNEY
(JTA) — A Montreal man who skipped both Seders at his mother’s home in Florida to play in a poker tournament took home the $1 million title.
Eric Afriat on April 16 won the World Poker Tour/Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in Hollywood, Fla., in a field of 1,795 participants.
Afriat told the Sun-Sentinel newspaper that he considered quitting the tournament even as he advanced to attend the Seders in West Boca Raton with his extended family.
“Here I was moving up the ladder in a big poker tournament, yet I kept getting more depressed,” he said. “I was so sad I thought about just leaving my chips at the table Monday night and going home. But I’m now delighted everyone was in town to see me win.”
Afriat, 45, is an importer from Montreal. He was the only amateur player in the final round of the poker tournament.
OECD PROJECTS 3.5 PERCENT GROWTH FOR ISRAELI ECONOMY IN 2015
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) —The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently projected that Israel’s economy will grow by 3.5 percent in 2015, a rate higher than the one attributed to the OECD’s other 33 member states.
A report by the organization’s economists pegged the Israeli economy’s growth rate at 3.4 percent for 2014, compared with projections averaging a 2.3-percent growth rate for its other members in the coming year. OECD economists believe the growth rate for most of its members in 2015 will average at 2.7 percent.