The Kansas City Community Kollel said goodbye this summer to two of its veteran, eight-year employees this summer — Rabbis Elchanan Schulgasser and Binyomin Davis. The Kollel now operates with one part-time rabbi and his wife and several adjunct staff members.
Rabbi Ari and Chavie Adler moved here this past summer. Dr. Jay Robinow, president of the Kollel, said recruitment has been ongoing in order to recruit full-time staff to enhance and increase programming. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}It’s a matter of finding the right person.
“We are working to preserve the momentum we have had over the past eight years, while we’re still recruiting to expand the personnel,” Dr. Robinow said. “Rabbi Adler has been running evening classes and some one-on-one learning at the Beit Midrash (house of study). We don’t have the depth of the programming we’ve had in the past, but we will increase as the staff increases.”
Rabbi Adler said a new programming schedule is posted on the Kollel website, www.kckollel.org. The main classes are Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings and Monday evenings. On Thursday evenings there will be a one-on-one learning opportunity at the Beit Midrash at Congregation BIAV.
“People should be aware that the Kollel is fine even though we’re a little bit low on manpower,” Rabbi Adler said. “But there is going to be programming, which is going to be starting in the upcoming weeks and they should stay tuned.”
In addition to the Kollel, Rabbi Adler teaches third- and fourth-grade Judaics at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy.
He said weekends and evenings are dedicated to the Kollel, which has a lot to offer.
“It has really been an opportunity to meet a lot of different people, to be able to connect with them and teach them that Judaism is a very meaningful and powerful religion. We’ve already gotten tremendous feedback from people we’ve been in contact with. You really get to be involved with the whole spectrum of the Kansas City Jewish community, which is wonderful.”
Chavie Adler plans to expand women-focused programming and education at the Kollel.
“We are looking forward to providing programs that will address an array of topics in Judaism,” she said. “Classes will be designed to provide women with an opportunity to learn about Jewish values and philosophy. These classes will include creative and engaging activities to facilitate an environment that promotes wholesome interactions between members of the community.”
She also plans to continue some of the favorite programs begun by Gevura Davis and Bracha Schulgasser, such as challah baking and holiday preparations. Other anticipated projects include an annual women’s Shabbaton and hosting periodic guest speakers.
“In addition, the Kollel has scheduled a JWRP (Jewish Women’s Renaissance Program) trip to Israel over the summer,” she said. “The JWRP’s exciting free 10-day trip to Israel for mommies will open applications for our Kollel’s partner program in a few weeks. Information for the yearlong program with the free trip will be on the Kollel website soon. Dates of the trip are July 24- Aug. 2, 2016.
She anticipates having the class schedule up and running within the next few weeks.
Dr. Robinow said the Kollel would like to keep Rabbi Ari and Chavie Adler and hire two full-time rabbis. In the meantime, some of the teaching has been delegated to qualified people helping out, such as Rabbi Yitzchak Jaffe and Rabbi Meshulam Twersky. The once-a-month ahoovim program is taught by Rivka Kirsch and Nan Kanter. Administrative tasks have been covered by some part-time volunteer technology experts like new board member Fred Bloom and several others.
“We just had a program in my sukkah, in which Rabbi Adler spoke, which was in continuity with the Shabbos Live programming we’ve been doing, so we are preserving the programming as much as we can using part-timers,” Dr. Robinow said.
“We’ve had several people interview, we’ve had several people come into town,” Dr. Robinow continued. “We haven’t found the person we felt was enthusiastic with the right personality and the right interests to offer the job to. In truth, we offered the job to one rabbi who took a job as a teacher in Detroit, and we offered it to another rabbi who wanted to be in a bigger Kollel. We will look until we find a perfect fit for our wonderful Kansas Jewish community”
The recruitment process was put on hold during the holidays, but will now resume. Dr. Robinow said the process is “not a trivial enterprise.” Part of the problem is that Kansas City is not Chicago, Miami, New York or Atlanta — easy places to recruit young rabbis to because these communities have other young rabbis they can interact with.
Kansas City has a small community of young rabbis, he said, like Rabbi Adler, Rabbi Daniel Rockoff of BIAV, the Chabad rabbis and Rabbi Twersky, but the community is not as large as other cities.
“We’re optimistic that there’s interest from the community in recruiting because I keep hearing, ‘When are you getting more people?’ So the feedback is positive; the community wants us to continue our work,” Dr. Robinow said. “We have set the bar high. We want a candidate with a high level of enthusiasm and Jewish background as well as the capability that we had before. Our Kollel has a good track record and success, so recruiting high-quality replacements is not easy.”
“We’ve been told by advisers who have worked with us and other Kollels in the past that it’s better to recruit longer to get the right people than to settle on somebody that’s available that may not be your best choice. We’re taking that advice to heart. Thank you to all our supporters and participants. The Kollel is in operation and will continue to flourish and bloom.”{/mprestriction}
