If there’s a common thread among the people and programs that will be honored at the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s 2011 Annual Meeting on Sept. 7 at Oakwood Country Club, it’s transformation.
Transformation at the board level will occur when, after two years, Bill Carr passes the president’s gavel to Miriam Scharf. Also included in the evening will be the formal election of a new slate of Federation officers and board members.
Jewish Federation incoming board officers are: Miriam Scharf, president; Bill Carr, immediate past president; Sarah Beren, secretary; Bari Freiden, vice president; David Gale, vice president; Ward A. Katz, vice president; Polly Kramer, vice president; Shanny Morgenstern, vice president; Steve Ruben, treasurer; and Patricia Werthan Uhlmann, vice president. Incoming board members are: Stacey Belzer, Lisa Bernard, Stanley J. Bushman, Seth Freiden, Paul Himmelstein, John Isenberg, Trudy Jacobson, Amanda K. Morgan, James M. Klein, Beth Kaplan Liss, Myra R. Litman, Linda Lyon, Karen D. Pack, Robert Palan, Amy Shapiro, Joshua Sosland and Ira Stolzer.
Carr will be recognized for his accomplishments, including the development of a new strategic plan and task forces on Financial Resource Development, Education and Identity, Engagement and Leadership, and Israel and Overseas. Scharf will build on the task forces’ work, while her commitment to engaging the next generation in philanthropic endeavors and doing more to welcome interfaith families promises to touch many lives.
Award-Winning Programs
Also touching and changing lives are the congregation and agency programs that will receive Program of the Year Awards at the Annual Meeting. This year’s winners are The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah’s Individualized Jewish Path and KU Hillel’s Israel Leadership Mission.
Individualized Jewish Path (IJP) invites members of the congregation to explore where they see themselves in their Jewish life and, through the process of sharing conversations, develop a personal program for Jewish growth.
“It is really less of a program and more of a congregational transformation,” says Amy Ravis Furey, Shared Vision/Individualized Jewish Path coordinator at B’nai Jehudah. “We call it our ‘Big Holy Awesome Goal’ or BHAG — that every member will create their own IJP and, in doing so, the individual, community and world will become better. We know that most congregants are traveling on their own journeys already — our work is to help them discover the resources to take that next step and connect them to a community where they can discover meaning and purpose.”
To date, more than 265 people have connected with IJP through one-on-one meetings or group workshops.
The KU Hillel Israel Leadership Mission is a 10-day Israel experience. Since 2007, 53 top student leaders have participated in the program and, upon their return, used what they learned on the trip to bring new ideas and initiatives to the Lawrence and Kansas City community.
Examples of programs created by mission alums include Israel Week, a video documenting their experience, Israel Shabbat, and Levaire, which is an eight-week program exploring the concept of “Complex Israel.”
“KU Hillel’s Israel Leadership Mission is in elite company,” said Malinda Kimmel, Hillel’s assistant director for Jewish student life.“Harvard is the only other Hillel in the country to offer such a high-level intensive Israel experience.”
Leaders and Educators 
Winners of the Dan Fingersh Young Leadership Award and the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Religious Educator of the Year Award provide yet another reminder about how bright the future of our Jewish community is as the next generation takes over.
Neal Schwartz, who will receive the Dan Fingersh Award, considers himself a case study in Jewish transformation. In Shaker Heights where Schwartz grew up, his family celebrated Jewish holidays, but that was about it. A leadership development course he took at William Jewell College inspired him to start the Federation’s Emerging Jewish Leaders program, and he has also chaired the Jewish Federation’s Business & Professionals series. He and his wife, Dana, are also members of the Ben Gurion Society of young adults who support the Federation with annual gifts of $1,000 or more.
“There’s a model for success that for me includes leadership, ambition, honesty, reliability, resourcefulness and faith,” says Schwartz, who works for Cerner Corporation. “I feel I am more of these things because of my connection to Judaism and to the Federation.”
Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education (selected locally by CAJE: The educational arm of the Jewish Federation) recipient Dayna Gershon has worked in Jewish education for 20 years, the past six of which have been spent at Congregation Beth Shalom, where she currently teaches fifth grade Hebrew School and is an assistant teacher in the pre-K classroom in Rose Family Early Childhood Education Center.
“Dayna’s love of the students is apparent as she leads them through the weekly Torah portion,” says Patti Kroll, school director. “When I teach these same students in seventh grade, I will often ask them where they learned a particular piece of information, and they happily respond, ‘from Morah Dayna.’ ”
“I do not feel like a complete person unless I am teaching,” says Gershon. “My favorite part of teaching is that amazing moment when the light bulb goes on and you see the excitement in a student’s eyes.”
Todd Stettner, executive director of the Federation, said the umbrella organization is fortunate and grateful to have board leaders like Bill Carr and Miriam Scharf, up and comers like Schwartz, congregation and agency programs like IJP and the Israel Leadership Mission, and educators like Gershon engaged in its mission to sustain and enhance Jewish life at home and around the world.
“To see them all recognized at the Annual Meeting instills confidence that the transformation of our Jewish community is in good hands,” he said.
The Jewish Federation’s 78th Annual Meeting is at 6:45 p.m. Sept. 7 at Oakwood Country Club, 9800 Grandview Road, Kansas City, Mo. The $15 couvert includes a Vaad-supervised dessert reception. The Annual Meeting is open to the community. RSVP by Aug. 31 at www.jewishkansascity.org, or contact Marjean Cox at 913-327-8103.