JEWS AT THE SUPER BOWL — I don’t know for sure if any of the New York Giants or the New England Patriots are Jewish, but I do know one Jewish Kansas Citian will be a starter in Super Bowl XLVI. Avi Sonnenschein, who is in his first year of studies at Indiana University, will be playing alto saxophone with the IU marching band, “The Marching Hundred” to open Super Bowl XLVI. The band was selected from among several Indiana colleges and universities for this opportunity. Avi will be just left of the 45 yard line in the opening musical set, “Rock in the USA.” Following his graduation from Blue Valley North High School in 2010, Avi spent a gap year in Israel. He is the son of Sheila and Ken Sonnenschein and a former Chronicle Salute to Youth honoree.
JEWS PERFORMING WITH THE SYMPHONY — Several Jewish musicians will come to Kansas City to perform with Kansas City Symphony over the next year. The first is pianist Yefim Bronfman, the son of Holocaust survivors who was born in Tashkent in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to Israel when he was 14. He will be here Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31, and Sunday, April 1. At that time the Symphony, under the direction of Michael Stern, will present the second of its world premieres this season with Daniel Kellogg’s new work celebrating our City of Fountains, and Mozart’s glorious final symphony. Bronfman returns for a work that has won him great acclaim, Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Critics have described Bronfman’s playing as “exquisite” and described “a finely spun whir of notes that verged on the unbelievable” (Los Angeles Times). Sponsors include the Sosland Foundation. For ticket information call 816-471-0400 or visit www.kcsymphony.org.
ANOTHER WIN FOR SPIN! — SPIN! Neapolitan Pizza’s margherita pizza was crowned one of the nation’s best dishes of the year by Restaurant Business magazine. A panel of food experts from around the country selected the top dishes of the year from restaurants throughout the U.S. “When folks in the restaurant business are asked to name their favorite dishes, it’s not easy to narrow down the choices,” notes the magazine in its article announcing the 2011 Clean Plate Award winners. Co-owner Gail Lozoff said SPIN! is “truly honored to have our pizza included among the nation’s best restaurant dishes.” Besides being award-winning, the margherita pizza is also waistline friendly at just 189 calories in a slice taken from a full-size pizza. A different panel of respected food experts at TheDailyMeal.com, one of the most heavily visited “foodie” websites in the country, recently named SPIN! one of the “Rest of the 101 Best Restaurants” in the nation. In addition, SPIN!’s architecture won Best of Show at the Mid America Design Awards.
GREAT JEWISH BOOKS — Community Editor Marcia Montgomery contributes this mini review about “One Hundred Great Jewish Books” by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman:
This is a fantastic book that will give any reader many hours of reading pleasure. What a daunting task to come up with only 100 great Jewish books! Rabbi Hoffman suggests books in several categories: biography, spirituality, theology, poetry, fiction, history and political theory. Readers will love diving into the book to see just who Rabbi Hoffman’s choices are in order to find books you’ve already read, ones that may have escaped your attention or ones that you always intended to read but never got around to. Rabbi Hoffman gives a brief synopsis of each pick and his reasons for that particular selection. In the realm of fiction, he includes Isaac Bashevis Singer, Philip Roth, Chaim Potok and Bernard Malamud. But one wonders where are Saul Bellow, Henry Roth, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Safron Foer? Perhaps Rabbi Hoffman will write a sequel! “One Hundred Great Jewish Books” is a paperback and is available at bookstores and online.