The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah is expanding its Shabbat in the Park experience this year. Instead of just three Friday evening services in Gezer Park in Leawood during the summer, it is adding a fourth service and moving locations for it.
At 6 p.m. on Friday evening, May 20, the congregation will hold its first “Shabbat in the Park” at Jacob Loose Park, 5200 Wornall Road, just south of the Plaza. As it does for the services in June, July and August in Gezer Park, the evening will be filled with music, creating an inspiring and energetic Shabbat experience for all who attend. Preceding the service, the congregation will host its regular “Bisseleh Nosh” at 5:30 p.m., inviting all to come and have some food and socialize before the service.
Three years ago, B’nai Jehudah embarked on an experiment. What would happen if they moved Erev Shabbat services OUT of the building and INTO a park … specifically, Gezer Park, in Leawood?
Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff, senior rabbi of the congregation, had become familiar with Beit T’fillah Israeli, which holds Erev Shabbat services during the summer at the northern port of Tel Aviv, attracting hundreds of participants each Shabbat, as they watch the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea.
“The problem,” Rabbi Nemitoff observed, “is that we don’t have oceans — or mountains — or any interesting topography here in Kansas City. But we do have Gezer Park.”
Thus “Shabbat in the Park” was created.
Rabbi Nemitoff admitted that he was worried whether trying to replicate the energy experienced in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean could succeed in Kansas City.
“What we knew, though, is that the Tel Aviv experience tapped into a secular Jewish sensibility. And that same need existed here. So, even though the appeal to the outdoors wasn’t as spectacular, the need — we hoped — would be.”
And the services have been extraordinarily successful. Last summer, in the third season of this experiment, each service drew over 300 people, across a wide swath of Kansas City Jewish families. B’nai Jehudah hopes to build on that success this year, beginning with its first-ever midtown Shabbat in the Park.
Zach Bassin, a member of the congregation and of its Brotherhood, who lives in the midtown area and has been active in promoting more B’nai Jehudah events in the urban core, has been a key partner in bringing this service into being. When asked what he hoped this would achieve, his answer was outreach.
“I am excited that B’nai Jehudah is coming to the Plaza area and reaching out to those in midtown and downtown — both those who have lived in Kansas City for years and for those new to our community.”
B’nai Jehudah will be offering the rest of its summer series back in Leawood, at Gezer Park, closer to the center of the Jewish community. Those dates are Fridays June 17, July 15 and August 19. It recognizes, though, that a significant group of Jewish individuals and families live “intown” and this Shabbat in the Park at Loose Park will speak to them and engage them in more Jewish events.
This service on Friday, May 20 — as well as the three later this summer at Gezer Park — is open to the entire community.
Rabbi Nemitoff expressed gratitude to the congregation’s Brotherhood, which is underwriting the costs of the Shabbat in the Park at Loose Park, and the Sisterhood, which is underwriting the costs of the services at Gezer Park, for their commitment to these events and to expanding B’nai Jehudah’s reach beyond its walls.
“The good work of Brotherhood and Sisterhood permit us to do these types of activities. In the end, we all have one goal … to help folks discover meaning, connection and continuity in all their Jewish activities.”
