Young adults in the Kansas City Jewish Community will come together from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 5, to celebrate Shabbat in the Crossroads District as part of the Good Shabbos KC initiative. The goal of the event, presented by Jewish Federation’s Young Business and Professionals in partnership with KU Hillel and Moishe House of KC, is to build a connected community of young Jews in a fun and exciting environment. The event will be hosted on the rooftop terrace at Barkley, a local advertising agency. Attendees are encouraged to bring their friends to celebrate in this pre-Shabbat program.
The Good Shabbos KC initiative was launched earlier this year as a way to share the impact Jewish Federation makes in our community at home and abroad through personal stories and individual connections. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}Every month, Good Shabbos KC tells a new story and encourages community members with a connection to that story to share their experiences with their close network of friends.
For example Stephanie Pollack, a member of Moishe House KC and alumnus of the Eastern European Leadership Mission (a KU Hillel international program sponsored by Jewish Federation), hosted a February Shabbat dinner at Moishe House in February. She shared her experience working with Jewish Federation’s partners in Sophia, Bulgaria, and their work to sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world.
“I think the Good Shabbos KC initiative is a great way to share our stories,” said Pollack. “It makes the work Federation does actually come to life because we are hearing about the experiences and impact our friends had through Federation.”
The Good Shabbos KC story for June highlights the work Federation does with Moishe House KC and KU Hillel and the impact both programs have on young adults in our community. Instead of hosting smaller Shabbat dinners to share stories about the organization individually, Good Shabbos KC in the Crossroads will be a joint effort by these programs to share a collective story about the young adult Jewish communities in Lawrence and Kansas City.
For Jay Lewis, director of KU Hillel, the event will be an opportunity to share the KU Hillel story and connect Jewish students with a growing young adult Jewish community in Kansas City.
“It is so important for KU Hillel to connect our students and alumni to Moishe House KC and the Kansas City Jewish Federation as great ‘next steps’ in their connection to the Jewish community,” said Lewis.
KU Hillel has built an extremely active community of Jewish adults in Lawrence and many students are making the decision to stay in Kansas City as a result of their close connections with the Jewish Community.
“Our decision to partner with KU Hillel was easy,” said Alyssa Dinberg, Jewish Federation’s outreach and engagement associate. “We get a lot of questions from students about what the Jewish community is like for young adults in Kansas City. Good Shabbos KC is a great way to show them.”
More than 400 young adults in the Jewish community have been invited to Good Shabbos KC in the Crossroads event and attendance is expected to be high. For the Business and Professionals group, Good Shabbos KC in the Crossroads will be a great way to network, connect with each other and unwind before Shabbat.
With the goal of creating a vibrant and meaningful home for young Jews of every age in Kansas City, the Business and Professionals group has become the go-to programming body for young adults.
“We want young adults in KC to experience this special time together and understand the connection between Jewish Federation, KU Hillel and Moishe House,” said Dinberg. “There are so many amazing programs for young adults in Kansas City and this is a great way for anyone to experience that.”
Jewish Federation has had young adult programming since 2005. Business and Professionals was created in 2008 with the goal of connecting Jewish professionals to each other and the community around them. Previous events include whisky tastings, seminars, speaking events and casual happy hours. With networking in mind, Business and Professionals has created an environment of openness and accessibility for young Jewish professionals in the Kansas City Jewish community.
“Our goal is simple,” said Dinberg, “Transformation. We want to create programs that connect with Jewish adults from every facet of life, from professional to social, religious to cultural and more.”
With the average attendance at young adult events this year around 100 and growing, Jewish Federation is excited to harness the passion and enthusiasm young adults have for our Jewish community. There are new program innovations in the works and many more opportunities on the way to get young adults connected to each other and to Federation.
“I graduated from KU last year and moved to Kansas City right away instead of going back home to St. Louis,” said Jessica Joffe, resident of Moishe House KC. “Living in Moishe house, I have worked with the Federation, hosted a Good Shabbos KC dinner for young adults and helped to coordinate many large scale events like Bagel Bash. I am constantly blown away by how excited community members are about Jewish programming specifically for young adults.”
For more information about Good Shabbos KC in the Crossroads, visit the Facebook event page or purchase tickets directly from goodshabboskc.eventbrite.com. For more questions, contact Alyssa Dinberg by phone at 913-327-8019 or by email at .{/mprestriction}