The Vaad HaKashruth of Greater Kansas City has hired Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi as its new executive director. He is expected to move to the area in August and begin work with the Vaad soon after.
For the past six years Rabbi Mizrahi has been the rabbi of the Wellington Jewish Community Centre (WJCC) in Wellington, New Zealand. In his current position he is responsible for kashrut of the WJCC facility and serves as rabbinic administrator and field agent of the Wellington office of Kosher Kiwi Licensing Authority, serving companies around New Zealand. He also conducts all religious events and services; serves as principal of WJCC Hebrew School and educator for adult lectures and programs; officiates lifecycle events; and provides pastoral care and counseling.
The Vaad has been without an executive director since Rabbi Mendel Segal left in June 2017. Rabbi Q, as he is known, now owns and operates Backyard BBQ & Brew in Surfside, Florida.
Vaad Board President Jeff Goldenberg said the search committee interviewed many qualified candidates over the past year and the Vaad is lucky to have found Rabbi Mizrahi.
“To find an individual who not only has the kind of experience that we are looking for and someone that is seeking a community like ours, that should be the perfect fit,” Goldenberg said.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Rabbi Mizrahi is no stranger to the Midwest and was looking to move to a Midwestern community. In an email from his home in New Zealand, he wrote that his family made aliyah when he was 12 and Jerusalem was his home for the next 16 years. “During this I was almost exclusively either studying or serving in the IDF,” said Rabbi Mizrahi, who was a sharpshooter, trained sniper and war room control operator in the IDF.
He was introduced to his future wife, Talia, by mutual friends and they were married in 2007. Within a year the Mizrahis moved to Omaha, where he started his career as an associate rabbi at Beth Israel Synagogue. Five years later the family moved to New Zealand.
“We have enjoyed living somewhat off the grid in a beautiful country where many Jews visit but very few stay,” he explained. “Our kids remember no other home, as our oldest was just 2 years old when we arrived in New Zealand. We knew from the start that we could not stay forever despite many wonderful benefits of living Down Under.”
Rabbi Mizrahi was searching for a position where his children could live in a more Jewish environment. He also was ready for a position that wasn’t pastoral.
“After a decade serving in the pulpit and loving it, it is time to give my family some respite from the public nature of my role,” he said.
The Kansas City location was a plus for Rabbi Mizrahi.
“I am drawn to smaller communities where everyone counts, everyone makes a difference,” he said. “KC has a solid Jewish infrastructure including the diversity we love, but it is small enough to enable unity between the diverse factions.”
He is also excited about being able to apply his rabbinic experience in a focused area while interacting with the wider community.
“Kashrut is an extremely important part of any Jewish community, and it is especially vital in facilitating events in which all parts of the community can come together and share occasions,” Rabbi Mizrahi said.
He believes he gained a great deal of experience in kashrut during his years in New Zealand. “With an economy heavily dependent on agriculture, New Zealand enjoys a fine reputation for the pristine quality of its produce, which is exported to many parts of the globe. In a crowded export marketplace, manufacturers need every advantage they can get, and kosher certification enables companies to penetrate wider markets. I administered the Wellington office of the Kosher Kiwi licensing authority, raising its profile and building its reputation and credibility through networking and fostering trust. The area in which I have less experience is business administration, and I am looking forward to support from the wider community as I up-skill in that area.”
The Mizrahis have four children, an 8-year-old girl and three younger boys.
The Vaad’s Goldenberg said the organization is excited to have the Mizrahis in our community.
“I think they are going to bring a lot to the community and I think the community is going to embrace them. That’s a real positive for everybody,” Goldenberg said.
Goldenberg said the Vaad staff, led in the interim by Yosef Silver, has had to work extra hard during the year it has taken to find Rabbi Mizrahi.
“Our mashgichim have been doing a top-notch job. Bruce Daniels, who is our senior mashgiach, really had to step up his game and really flex his muscles as the senior mashgiach, and his expertise really shows,” said Goldenberg, noting the Vaad had not had to rely on Daniels in such a way in the past.
“Rabbi Rockoff as rav hamachshir is really a halachic authority and has been a lot more involved in the day to day (operations of the Vaad) out of necessity, and Yosef Silver has done a fantastic job as interim director in getting our systems online and managing the search with our personnel committee. Alisa Kartch in the office has been a huge asset as well,” he continued.
Will there be a barbecue competition this year as has been the tradition for the past several years? That is yet to be determined.
“Our priority is supervised kashrut in the community,” Goldenberg said. “It’s not going to be in August. There’s no reason it couldn’t be in October or November. We have a committee that is still exploring the possibilities and looking at different dates, but we don’t have a date on the calendar at this point.”
