HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU AND YOU — This birthday was truly a family affair: Sarah Zeldin shared her 102nd birthday celebration Aug. 12 with her great-great-grandson, Eliyahu Eisenbach, who turned 1 year old on
July 30. The family enjoyed a birthday lunch in Rachel’s Café at Village Shalom, where Sarah is a resident.
Visiting Kansas City with his parents, Shalom and Tehila Eisenbach, from their home in Lakewood, N.J., Eliyahu met his great-great-grandmother for the first time. His father is one of Sarah’s 27 great-grandchildren; Eliyahu is the youngest of Sarah’s four great-great-grandchildren.
L’chaim!
TOYS FOR ASHDOD — Torah Learning Center is spearheading a campaign, “Delivering Smiles,” to bring the children of Ashdod much needed toys and games. Rabbi and Esther Friedman will IY”H (G-d willing) be traveling to Israel and will deliver the toys directly to them. They are leaving for Israel Sunday, so anyone wanting to help this cause needs to either deliver toys or games, or a make a monetary donation, to TLC no later than tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 22. TLC is located at 8800 W. 103rd Street in Overland Park. Rabbi Friedman has learned that they would love to have board games like Monopoly, dolls, cars and Legos. As Rabbi Friedman says, contribute to this mitzvah and “the kinderlach of Ashdod will thank you immensely!”
‘OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS’ — It may seem a bit early to be singing this tune, heck it’s not even Rosh Hashanah yet. But the Olathe Civic Theatre Association (OCTA) is presenting a production of “Over the River and Through the Woods,” and Irene Blend is in it. The play opens Sept. 5 and runs through Sept. 21. Tickets can be reserved by calling 913-782-2990. OCTA is located at 500 E. Loula Street in Olathe.
The play centers on Nick, played by Andy Massey, who is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. His parents retired and moved to Florida. His grandparents still live in New Jersey and he sees both sets every Sunday for dinner. Everyone is happy with this arrangement until one Sunday Nick has to break the news to his grandparents that he has been offered a job out of the state.
All four of Nick’s grandparents, including his grandmother Aida Gianelli played by Blend, come up with a plan to keep their only grandson from moving away. Blend says you “don’t have to be Italian to enjoy this warm and very humorous play.”
SET YOUR DVRs — Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman and celebrated cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot join forces for a musical exploration of liturgical and traditional works in new arrangements for both chamber orchestra and klezmer settings. The music of “Rejoice with Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot” showcases the confluences between the violinist’s famed classical technique and Helfgot’s magnificent voice. The program also features reminiscences by Elie Wiesel, Joel Grey, and Neil Sedaka; the program is directed by Joshua Waletzky, whose earlier collaboration with Perlman, “In the Fiddler’s House,” won a Primetime Emmy in 1995.
KCPT is airing this program at 1 a.m. Friday, Aug. 29, and again at 3 a.m. on Aug. 30 and 4 a.m. on Sept. 1.