NEWS ABOUT GERMANY’S RABBI TEICHTAL — On July 25, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, president of Chabad Lubavitch in Berlin and the brother of KU Chabad’s Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel, was verbally abused and spat on by Arabic-speaking attackers. He was with one of his young children at the time of the incident.
According to JTA, the rabbi told the German newspaper Die Welt that it was especially shocking to be physically attacked, adding that he had never experienced anything similar in 23 years in Berlin, though he has frequently heard derogatory comments from passersby.
On Sunday, Aug. 4, KU Chabad’s Rabbi Tiechtel shared on Facebook that the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, had visited his brother at his home in Berlin to “discuss the importance of embracing the Jewish people and fight this darkness with light.”
“My brother and his wife had the opportunity to sit with the president for quite some time and talk about the message of our Rebbe to bring more light into this world with acts of goodness and kindness,” Rabbi Tiechtel wrote. “I am asking you my dear friends: Pause for a moment and reflect on this incredible moment!!! Who would’ve imagined 50 years ago that in Berlin Germany — once the seat of such hatred toward the Jewish people — should the president of this country visit the rabbi’s family in his home and share the wisdom and insight from our rich heritage? This my friends IS the ultimate transformation of darkness into light. This my friends is AM YISRAEL CHAI!”
In a statement to German media following the attack, Rabbi Teichtal said that despite such attacks in Berlin schoolyards and streets, he was convinced that “most people in Berlin want Jews to be able to live openly as Jews, without fear of being cursed at, spat on or beaten up.”
“Of course we won’t hide ourselves,” he wrote. “We will continue to build on a foundation of love, tolerance, dialogue and education.”
According to JTA, the Berlin-based Anti-Semitism Research and Information Center reported that the district in which Rabbi Teichtal lives and works, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, had 80 reported ant-Semitic incidents last year, the second highest level in Berlin, second only to the Mitte district with 146. In all, some 1,800 incidents were reported in the capital in 2018, an increase of nearly 20% from the previous year.
‘WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD’ — Chronicle readers may recognize two cast members in Theatre in the Park’s Wizard of Oz — well, one might be hard to recognize with all the face paint! Jacob Jackson, a rising senior at Blue Valley High, plays Tin Man. He became a Bar Mitzvah and was confirmed at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.
McKenna Lewis, a student at Blue Valley North and the daughter of Jay and Kim Lewis, sings and dances as part of the chorus. “The Wizard of Oz” closes the 50th anniversary season at Theatre in the Park. See Jacob and McKenna, along with Dorothy, Toto, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow, at 8:30 p.m. tonight
(Aug. 8), tomorrow and Saturday night at Shawnee Mission Park. For information regarding box office and parking, visit theatreinthepark.org.
BLESSING THE MAYOR — Rabbi Yitchak Itkin of Plaza Chabad was part of Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas’ first City Council Meeting on Aug. 1. He was chosen to give a special blessing to the young mayor. That day, Rabbi Itkin posted on Facebook:
“Honored to have been asked to be part of the new mayor’s first council meeting. Wishing Quinton and the entire city council much blessings and success in their quest to make this an even greater city!”
BIAV RABBI SEARCH UPDATE — Carol Katzman and Sam Arbesman are chairing BIAV’s search committee for a new rabbi. BIAV is working with Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future, and Rabbi Ron Schwarzberg, to assist with the search. The community’s Orthodox congregation’s goal is to have a new rabbi on board in the summer of 2020.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED — Kosher Meals on Wheels, now in its fifth year and run by Torah Learning Center, needs volunteers for Sunday deliveries. If you have time to do this mitzvah, call 913-710-1770 or email .
50 YEARS FOR CAMP SABRA — Camp Sabra will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2020. The camp is kicking off its birthday year at an event for adults only in St. Louis tonight, Thursday, Oct. 8. The camp is also in the midst of its second annual 24-hour day of giving campaign, All-in-for-Sabra Day, which runs from 2 p.m. to 2 p.m., today and tomorrow, Aug. 8-9. All gifts of any amount will open doors of opportunity through scholarship support, improved facilities and new equipment. Donate online at charidy.com/campsabra or call the main line at the St. Louis Jewish Community Center, 314-432-5700, and ask for the development department. The camp hopes to raise $100,000 in this 24-hour campaign.
RABBI Q’S BARBECUE SAUCE — Joe Pfefer contacted us this week to let us know that the barbecue sauce created and produced by Mendel Segal, also known as Rabbi Q, is getting hard to find at the Leawood Hen House where he regularly purchases it. Upon further research, he discovered that Segal, who now owns and operates a kosher barbecue restaurant, Backyard BBQ in Surfside, Florida, may not be planning to produce any further product.
Pfefer said, “If you are a BBQ aficionado and enjoy his fantastic sauces — he has two varieties, the regular and the pomegranate honey” — please contact him and tell him you want to continue purchasing it. The email for the sauce business is . You may also be able to reach him through the contact us section on the restaurant’s website, backyardbbqmiami.com.
SHANE LUTZK UPDATE — We told you in July that Shane Lutzk was about to travel to Savona, Italy, and have his ceramics exhibited at the Savona Ceramics Museum. His creation, “Mediterranean,” was chosen as the featured ceramic piece displayed in the foyer. Another of Lutzk’s ceramic pieces is featured in the foyer of the Nerman Museum at Johnson County Community College. He will teach again this fall at Eastern Illinois University, where he is head of the ceramics department.