COATS FOR SUKKOT — Sukkot may be over, but The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah’s “Su-coat Drive” continues through Nov. 4. The congregation is collecting coats for JVS refugee clients. Refugees come to America with what they can carry. Many refugees are from warmer climates and have never experienced cold weather. Gently used coats can be dropped off Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at B’nai Jehudah.
AJC GOVERNORS AGAINST BDS — Missouri Gov. Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon recently signed the AJC Governors Against BDS letter. Almost 30 governors have joined this campaign, which AJC hopes will eventually include all the nation’s governors. The local Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish committee invites Missouri residents to join the organization in thanking Gov. Nixon “for his efforts to defend Israel’s rights, and his efforts to build bridges between Missouri and Israel.” This year Gov. Nixon led a trade mission to Israel and in 2014, the governor signed legislation establishing a Missouri Trade Office in Israel. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed the letter earlier this year.
CANDLESTICKS NEEDED— Do you have a pair of candlesticks you no longer use? KU Hillel wants them!
Five years ago, KU Hillel Rabbi Neal Schuster started collecting candlesticks he would find at estate sales and thrift shops. Every pair he encountered was unique and made differently in different parts of the world. This caught his attention so he started buying them to provide candlesticks to students at KU.
Once he started providing students with candlesticks to make Shabbat wherever they were on campus, Schuster started what he refers to as his “candlestick adoption program,” allowing students to choose their favorite pair from the shelf of candlesticks at KU Hillel. In doing so, Schuster wants to give students the opportunity to continue lighting candles once they graduate.
The candlestick adoption program has been very successful over the past five years and KU Hillel is always looking to collect more candlesticks.
If you have some candlesticks to donate, take them to Rock Chalk Shabbat on Friday, Nov. 11. Do you have a story that goes with the candlesticks? Include that also. If you are not going to Rock Chalk Shabbat but have candlesticks to donate, contact Amy Sandler at or 785-749-5397 and see if the candlesticks can find another way to Lawrence.
ARLAN EXHIBIT — Local artist/designer Zach Arlan is having another showing of his work at the Leawood Fine Art Gallery, located at 10709 A Roe Avenue in Leawood’s Camelot Court. He will be there to discuss his art — typically multicolored and geometric paintings — from 6 to 9 p.m. tomorrow night, Friday, Oct. 28. His art is expected to be on display through January. A HBHA graduate, Arlan has more exhibits scheduled for early 2017. He was also featured in the Oct. 19 edition of The Kansas City Star Ink. Stay tuned for more info.
KANSAS FILM FESTIVAL FEATURES DOCUMENTARY ABOUT SLOVAKIAN JEWISH COMMUNITIES — The film “Last Folio,” a documentary portrait of the works of Canadian photographer Yuri Dojc about the once-vibrant Jewish communities of Slovakia, will be shown at 5:25 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4, at the Glenwood Arts at Ranch Mart South Shopping Center as part of the Kansas International Film Festival.
The documentary, directed and produced by Katya Krausova, “chronicles the story of the remnants of Jewish life in Slovakia (the former Czechoslovakia) through the eyes of a renowned Canadian Jewish photographer,” Krausova said.
According to the film’s website, www.lastfolio.com, “serendipity” led Dojc, Krausova and their documentary film team “to an abandoned Jewish school in Eastern Slovakia, where time had stood still since the day in 1942 when all those attending it were deported to the concentration camps.”
“The school books were there still, essay notebooks with corrections, school reports, birth certificates, school accounts, even sugar still in the kitchen cupboard … all decaying on dusty shelves, the final witnesses to a once thriving culture. These abandoned, disintegrating books are treated by Yuri Dojc like the survivors that they each are — every one captured as a portrait, preserved in their final beauty, pictures speaking a thousand words. Now, years later, his own search, which started with portraits of survivors following his father’s death, is transformed into a remarkable photographic narrative.”
“Last Folio” is in Slovak with English subtitles. It is rated PG and runs 81 minutes.
The Glenwood Arts is at 3707 W. 95th St. in Overland Park. The Kansas International Film Festival (www.kansasfilm.com) runs Nov. 4 through Nov. 10.
LOOKING FOR SUKKAH PICS AND HOLIDAY FOODS — I know we just finished the High Holidays, but I’m always thinking about the stories we should be doing next year. Some of the ideas being considered for the 2017 new year are beautiful sukkahs in our area and traditional holiday recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation through the years. So, if you have some pretty photos of your sukkah from this year, preferably with people in it, or some photos of yummy food (or would consider letting us take some), let me know and we may be interested in featuring you in next year’s special Rosh Hashanah magazine!
