Joy Jacobs’ new R Bar leads West Bottoms revival

A Jewish entrepreneur has transformed the old Sutera’s restaurant, across from The Golden Ox and Kemper Arena in KC’s West Bottoms, into the stunning, new R Bar that is winning rave reviews from local foodies.

Joy Jacobs, former proprietor of the Yako Gallery in Westport and midtown’s Nutty Girl juice bar, called on some of her art-world friends, including John O’Brien of the nearby Dolphin Gallery, to help her transform the well-worn, family-owned shotgun bar into something that is both contemporary and timeless. For instance, O’Brien, who is an expert framer, used bits of salvaged wood to construct what bartender Shawn Moriarty calls KC’s longest bar at 37 feet. And artist Archie Scott Gobber helped out with the décor, which includes several large representations of the place’s namesake letter, some salvaged from outdoor signage.

Jacobs explained that the name R Bar is an abbreviation of her first idea of a name for the place — the Royal Bar, after the nearby American Royal livestock and horse, etc., show.

“It’s also kind of a play on the words Our Bar,” Jacob said.

She bought the building at 1617 Genessee St. from the Sutera family back in January, and spent most of 2009 tearing down the 30-plus-year-old interior and building it back up.

The idea for R Bar came from Jacobs’ sojourn in the San Francisco area, where food culture is raised to high art. She came home and began to think about opening her own upscale casual restaurant. She hired Alex Pope, a veteran of the American Restaurant kitchen staff, to be her executive chef and City Tavern veteran Moriarty to tend bar.

Pope’s version of American cuisine tends to employ seasonal ingredients, sometimes in unusual combinations. For instance, his sweet potato bisque comes with pickled figs and dollop of cinnamon crème fraiche. The chicken pot pie is made with meat from the Campo Lindo Farms in Lathrop, Mo. But not everything is regional. There are seafood dishes, after all, like octopus and crab cakes.

Pitch restaurant reviewer Charles Ferruzza e-mailed his thoughts on R Bar:

“I’ve only eaten there once, but it was great,” Ferruzza wrote. “My comment would be that Joy has done an unbelievable job turning the old Sutera’s restaurant into a magnificent space that looks as if it had been there since the heyday of the Stockyards. It’s sophisticated and laid-back at once.”

For her part, Jacobs wants to help lead the gentrification of the West Bottoms.

“That’s why I came down here,” she said. “It was an affordable building.”

Since R Bar opened a few weeks ago, Jacobs has been arriving at 9 in the morning and working until the wee hours. She’s the scheduler, buyer, hostess, waitress and, when need be, bottle washer, if not chief cook. She also books the bands R Bar has been hosting on Thursday and Saturday nights.

“It’s the hardest thing I have ever done,” Jacobs said. “It’s more exciting and fun, but it makes retail look easy.”

Jacobs has gotten satisfaction as word of mouth on R Bar has spread, drawing increasingly large crowds. Last Friday at lunchtime, almost every seat in the place was full.

R Bar, 1617 Genessee St., is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday. For reservations, call (816) 471-1777. For more information, visit RBarKC.com.

HBHA 11th grader publishes first book

Apparently, the old adage “Write what you know” isn’t the only way a novelist can go.

Eleventh-grade Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy student Veronika A. Yatskevich has just self-published a very dark, disturbing book about mental illness that runs in a family. “The Epiphany & The Finish Line” deals with depression, a schizophrenic father, a mother who appears to be in denial, family secrets — basically, the ultimate dysfunctional family.

The book is actually two novellas that tie in together, but we don’t want to give away anymore information than that; it might spoil the ending.

One writer’s process
Evangeline, the main character in the first novella, has become a successful writer in her 20s. Then her life starts to fall apart, and she begins to question her own sanity as she discovers family secrets from the past.

After reading the book, one wonders how a 17-year-old could evoke such understanding and insight into these broken people unless she had some firsthand knowledge. Fortunately, that is not the case.

“Actually, I know no one (like these characters), but in ninth or eighth grade, I got interested in psychology,” Veronika said. “I took a class, and this year I’m taking another psychology class. So that’s how I knew quite a little bit about it.”

Amazingly, this is not Veronika’s first book. She says she has written a number of books, just for herself, and worked on this one for a year and a half. It was conceived as a book for young adults.

“Usually, I can just randomly be thinking of ideas, and I drop them all down in the computer. I hadn’t written anything about problems with families, so I just thought it through, and this one seemed to be the best idea, and it all came together in the end,” she said.

Don’t expect a happy ending; these characters have some serious problems. Veronika said she herself wasn’t sure at first how to tie it all up. She wrote the first part and didn’t like the way it ended, so she wanted to write a second part, but wasn’t sure how to connect the two.

“And then it just came together,” she said. “I wanted people to learn that if something bad happens, they can’t deny it because … it’s just going to get worse. That’s the main idea I was trying to hint at.”

For someone so young, Veronika has a tremendous amount of maturity and insight into human behavior. In addition, she shows a natural talent for plotting a story.

“Quite a lot of people tell me that I am mature for my age,” she says. “I think being around my mother especially … I think I learned from her.”

It also doesn’t hurt that Veronika has been writing stories since she was 7 years old.

“I write each day for about 30 minutes, just for practice,” she says. “But English class helps, too.”

She says in English class, they write a lot of essays, which “really makes your brain think.”

Veronika wants to be a writer some day, but also an English teacher.

What’s next?
Veronika said she learned about the self-publishing company CreateSpace from a customer of her father, who owns a small taxi company. The cost to publish her book was very reasonable, about $30. The publisher sells books only through Amazon.com, and most of the profits of every book sold go to CreateSpace. Veronika’s book is 150 pages and sells for $9.99.

She now has another novel nearly ready for publication, which she plans to submit to publishers, rather than going the self-publishing route.

“It’s basically from two points of view: one is this 18-year-old girl who was murdered, and the other is about the detective who is part of her case,” Veronika said. “They sort of intertwine and begin to understand how they relate to each other.

“And this one has a happy ending.”

Veronika said she has worked hard on the new book and thinks it’s better than her first.

“I think it has a lot better plot. My last book, I didn’t get help on anything, and it was really difficult. But this time I asked a few people to help me and I have people who can support me, and I know that my book can be really good, so I can send it to a publisher,” she said.

Veronika is the daughter of Arik and Galina Yatskevich, who emigrated from Uzbekistan with Veronika when she was just 6 months old. She has an older brother, Aleks, who is attending the University of Kansas.

Was anti-Semitism factor in college prexy’s exit?

WARRENSBURG, Mo. — When Aaron Podolefsky arrived on campus in 2004 for a visit that would lead to him becoming president of the University of Central Missouri, he immediately noticed the 80-foot-tall Maastricht Friendship Tower with its Talmudic dictum — Who is wise? He who learns from all people. — inscribed in four languages, including Hebrew.

Podolefsky said the inscription — along with the Bill of Rights on bronze plaques at the base of the flag pole on the campus quad — made him, a Jew originally from New York City — feel welcome.

But now, a month after UCM’s Board of Governors voted not to renew his contract, even as it acclaimed his many successes, Podolefsky wonders whether that initially welcoming feeling was as whole-hearted as it seemed.

And others, including a Jewish music professor-turned-blogger and the Jewish donor of the tower, are asking whether anti-Semitism had anything to do with Podolefsky’s non-retention. His contract expires in June.

Podolefsky’s supporters say he ran afoul of a small-town, old-boy network whose social lives revolve around UCM sporting events.

After weeks of speculation, including a supporting petition drive that quickly got more than half of UCM’s tenured faculty to sign on, a motion to retain Podolefsky failed on a 4-3 vote in a closed meeting of the Board of Governors Oct. 2. The move was not announced until Oct. 13.

It was the “Christmas tree” comments, with their implication of anti-Americanism, made the following day on KOKO-AM radio by talk show host, sports director and part owner Greg Hassler that gave rise to allegations of anti-Semitism. A transcript of Hassler’s remarks was posted at Show Me Progress, a left-leaning blog with which UCM music professor Michael Bersin is associated. (See below for remarks) The question was also raised in an Oct. 29 Associated Press story on the situation.

KOKO and sister station KWKJ-FM have a contract to the broadcast the football and basketball games of Central Missouri — a traditional NCAA Division II power — and Hassler works as a sideline reporter, too.

“It’s not appropriate for me to speculate about Mr. Hassler’s motives,” said Podolefsky. “But I have been asked repeatedly what he has against me and Ronnie, because this has been going on for two and a half years.”

Hassler returned The Chronicle’s request for comment via e-mail, saying:

“First of all let me say that I am not anti-Semitic, I love all people of all religions. I have never stated anything about anyone’s religion on or off the air. People have taken a comment out of context and have spun it for their purpose. All I have done is question the leadership and decisions that were made by the President of UCM … It is unfortunate that people that have never met or talked to me can draw incorrect conclusions about the type of person I am.”

A town divided

Hassler has been a player in another thread in the Podolefsky story — the sex-and race-discrimination and sexual-abuse lawsuit filed by Aaron Podolefsky’s wife, attorney Ronnie Podolefsky, on behalf of six former players against the now-former Warrensburg High School girls’ basketball coach Russell Hough. Although a grand jury eventually decided Hough should be charged with two felony counts in connection with the incidents, the Johnson County, Mo., District Attorney dropped the charges in August in return for Hough’s agreement to resign as coach and teacher in the school district. The civil suit is ongoing.

And yet when the issue first became public, Hassler attacked Ronnie Podolefsky on his radio station.

On Jan. 18, 2008, AP Writer Alan Scher Zagier filed a story headlined “Abuse claims divide small town,” saying Ronnie Podolefsky “has been a particular target in a town long-accustomed to cordial relations with the Central Missouri campus.” He wrote that Hassler’s “on-air broadsides against Podolefsky have fueled the criticism.”

“She’s the first lady of education,” Zagier quoted Hassler as saying. “She’s supposed to be a community leader.”

Zagier reported that some of Hough’s supporters reacted by seeking the dismissal of Aaron Podolefsky from the UCM presidency: “A letter-writing campaign asks the university’s …. Board of Governors to ‘rectify this unjust situation immediately,’ noting that Hough’s allies ‘are beginning to have no choice but to turn our backs’ on the university.”

Successes cited

Aaron Podolefsky’s impact on the UCM campus is apparent. A $36 million “green” retrofitting of the campus is under way, as are other building renovations and the addition of a $20 million wellness center.

When he accepted the job here after 15 years at the University of Northern Iowa, the last eight as provost, it was with Central Missouri State University. The legislature had approved the name change to University of Central Missouri, but Aaron Podolefsky led its implementation on campus, including the creation of a new seal.

Since then, enrollment and student-satisfaction scores are up, he said.

The Princeton Review named UCM among the top 161 Best Midwestern Colleges for 2008. The survey of 654 colleges nationwide also listed UCM as “one of the nation’s best value undergraduate institutions.” U.S. News & World Report ranked UCM 15th among all public master’s-degree institutions in the Midwest and one of “America’s Best Colleges” overall.

UCM Board of Governors President Richard Phillips cited all those successes in a written statement issued upon Aaron Podolefsky’s non-renewal. But his refusal to offer any explanation has angered and frustrated Professor Bersin and other supporters.

Phillips responded to The Chronicle’s e-mailed inquiry about the matter with this:

“As you should know, discussions with regard to personnel matters of the University are not appropriate for public disclosure. Contrary to the tone and implications of your questions, the University does not discriminate as to anyone on any basis.

“I was appointed to the UCM Board of Governors in February of 2005, a few weeks after Aaron was selected to serve as president. Not once has Aaron’s religion been mentioned in any Board discussion.”

Blog rolling

Bersin was so upset by what he took to be the thrust of Hassler’s “Christmas tree” comments that he placed a photocopy of a Nazi-mandated Star of David patch on his office door.

He and his anonymous blogging partner, “Blue Girl,” have posted over two dozen items on the Podolefsky case. Many of their blog posts have been based on requests for public records relating to the case made possible by Missouri’s “Sunshine Law.” It was one of those requests that turned up a letter to Phillips from Benoit Wesly, the Dutch Holocaust survivor whose family donated the tower to UCM in 1998.

According to Blue Girl’s Oct. 29 blog post, Wesly wrote Oct. 22, saying he had “received several times the text of a radio interview between Mr. Greg Hassler and Mrs. Marion Woods. I read the text carefully and I came to my personal conclusion, that this text has a anti-Semitic undertone. …

“I did understand that the radio station has an intensive business relation with the University of Central Missouri, an institution which had and still has my full support. It was a complete shock and still is, that a radio station makes such a horrible statement. I also found out, that the Christmas tree already disappeared during the time Mr. and Mrs. Patton (Ed. note: the previous president and his wife) did stay at Selmo Park.

“I have the following questions:

“Did you or the President of the university started an investigation to clarify the intentions of Mr. Greg Hassler and did you suspend the relationship with this radio station during the investigation. In case the answer is yes, when do you expect the outcome of this investigation and if no, why you have not started this investigation.

“The fine reputation of your university is badly damaged by this radio interview. I am awaiting a positive answer, so I do not need to reconsider my relationship which was established 25 years ago with the University of Central Missouri.”

According to the blog, Phillips responded Oct. 23, saying, in part, “We have a Board meeting next week on October 29 and I will bring this matter to the attention of our Board and will get back to you on any action taken. Please be assured our University will not tolerate discriminatory acts against any group and I will personally look into this matter.”

“Blue Girl,” however, concludes by writing that she attended the Oct. 29 meeting, where “There was no discussion of the ‘matter,’ the subject was not broached, let alone any action taken. … The public silence is deafening.”

The case of the Christmas tree

According to the blog Show Me Progress, the following is the transcript of a conversation Oct. 14 on KOKO-AM 1450 Radio in Warrensburg between Greg Hassler, part owner and sports director, and a man named Marion Woods. This was the day after Podolefsky’s non-retention was announced by the Board of Governors.

Selmo Park is the on-campus president’s residence. The Podolefskys say that after Hassler’s comments became a cause celebre, they checked and found that there had been a cedar tree in the front yard that was decorated with lights in years past at Christmas time, but that it was removed five years before they arrived. The AP’s Oct. 29 story quoted Ronnie Podolefsky as saying that “Christmas trees remain on display in the student union and in the main quadrangle in front of the administration building.”

It is the implication of anti-Americanism that rankles those who support the Podolefskys.

Or as Ronnie Podolefsky told AP, “Until Jews lived in that house, he didn’t pay attention to what decorations were in there.”

The transcript
Greg Hassler: ...The University of Central Missouri. End of an era.

Marion Woods: Uh, huh.

Greg Hassler: Aaron Podolefsky. Out. We’ve talked about it for a long time. ...

The, the thing that really upset me, that kind of got [garbled] going originally was, for years there was a Christmas tree lit at Selmo Park. Remember that?
Marion Woods: Yep.

Greg Hassler: Drive by. He stopped that. I mean I think every religion should be able to celebrate, uh, in their own way, but, I mean we do live in Warrensburg, Missouri. This is America. You know. Let’s bring that back. How ’bout that?

Marion Woods: Wasn’t that the Christmas tree at the quadrangle?

Greg Hassler: No, there was also one at Selmo Park.

Marion Woods: Oh, okay.

Gregg Hassler: In the, in the yard, area there, so. I mean, I don’t know, it’s just ... It was a bad fit from the get go. It’s, it’s over.”

KC Symphony to play concerto’s world premiere

Three Jewish classical musicians at the height of their powers will come together here next weekend for the world premiere of a new work commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony.

Music Director Michael Stern will conduct, Israeli-born pianist Alon Goldstein will be the featured soloist and Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman will be in the house as Dorman’s new work, “Lost Souls — A Piano Concerto” has its world premiere. (See below for details.)

In fact, they will be in town all week, rehearsing.

Dorman, just 34, is said to be one of the classical music world’s hottest young composers right now, with two of his other recent works having been debuted last season by the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. Incidentally, Dorman is married to a Kansas City-area native, Jenny Sherman.

Having spoken to Dorman, Stern and Goldstein, it’s still hard to tell exactly which came first — the chicken or the egg, as it were. Dorman said that Goldstein’s playing inspired him, and that they decided to collaborate on the piece. Dorman indicated that only later did they seek an entity to commission the work, and that Stern was the first to jump at the chance on behalf of the KC Symphony. In any case, next weekend’s premiere is a product of the trio’s mutual-admiration society.

“He (Stern) essentially wanted the piece very much,” Dorman said, “so he got the Kansas City Symphony to sponsor a big chunk of commission fee. He also brought in the Seattle Commissioning Fund. But as for the person who lit the first match, Alon (Goldstein) would be guilty.”

Dorman — like many of the nation’s critics — loves Goldstein’s playing.

“He seems like he is from a different era — the way he carries himself, his mannerisms — it seems like he was born and lived in the 19th century,” Dorman said.

A ghost from the grave
Goldstein said he has been playing another Dorman piece —– his Second Sonata — for a couple of years now as an encore.

“I joke with him ‘Avner, this is dangerous music,’ ” Goldstein said. “It’s extremely intricate, very complex. And yet it comes across when you hear it; you want to swing, to dance. People say to me, ‘This is really cool,’ which is not normally a word we associate with classical music, which is why Avner has so young people in his audiences.”

Goldstein said “Lost Souls” recalls other great piano concerti of the past.

Goldstein said he and Dorman discussed the fact that “the piano concerto is a 19th-century phenomenon, even late 18th century, instead of the 20th or 21st century.”

“The whole concept — of Brahms and Schumann and Chopin and Liszt — this is all 19th century. I said I would like to do a concerto … to bring a ghost from the grave to make a musical séance; to bring a ghost from the past into the future and bring to life this whole genre,” Goldstein said.

“If you think about it, the last piano concerto we can consider part of the repertoire is Bartok No. 3. Many were written in the last 50 years, but you cannot consider them repertoire — at least not yet.

“There were so many great composers, but maybe there is something about the genre that does not belong anymore. This piece asks can there be another piano concerto, or is this dead? So they bring the ghost — how, I am not telling you — but the ghost is gonna come from the past … he is going to enjoy the present, go to the mall, flip channels on TV. So through the course of the piece, there is a realization that this ghost that they brought, they don’t want it anymore. So there is an exorcism, this huge tour to de force, trying to drive away the ghost. ….

“As I am telling you the story, I have a huge smile on my face. …  I don’t want to give away the incredible surprises that are there. But it’s something we can all immediately identify with.

“It’s part of Avner’s natural understanding of the time we live in and the immediacy there is in this world today. He is getting his results on this level of, on the one hand, immediacy, and, on the other hand, incredible artistry. It’s masterful in the way it’s conceived and how it unfolds. The orchestra will have a blast.”
Stern thinks so, too.

“It’s a very exciting thing to help bring a new piece of art into the world,” Stern said. “When you have an artist who has a singular point of view — a statement to make — it’s exciting to partner with that. After all, a score is only alive when it’s being played.”

Stern said the commissioning of new works is an important role for the Symphony to play.

“Our caretaking status, in terms of keeping the art form alive and making sure we are good ambassadors for the great music of the past, is informed by our service to music of our times,” Stern said. “It makes us better musicians, more relevant musicians, today.”

New work debuts next weekend
Michael Stern will lead the Kansas City Symphony in concert at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21, at the Lyric Theatre, 1029 Central St., and again at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, at Yardley Hall on the Johnson County Community College campus. In addition to Avner Dorman’s piano concerto, the program features works by Sibelius and Bartok. “Concert Comments,” a pre-concert discussion led by Stern, will take place one hour before concert time at each location.

Tickets are available by calling the Symphony Box Office, (816) 471-0400, or online at www.kcsymphony.org.

Lawrence JCC decides to renovate

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The members of the Lawrence Jewish Community Center decided Sunday to embark on a fundraising campaign of up to $2 million to renovate its building at 917 Highland Drive.

President David Berkowitz led a discussion of several options Sunday, ranging from doing nothing to selling the building and starting over in a new location. Berkowitz said Monday that members decided to take a middle path — raise up to $2 million to extensively renovate the building to be better looking, more useful and, most importantly, handicap-accessible.

“We decided to begin a fund drive with the idea to raise enough to do a major renovation of the building,” said Berkowitz, an attorney.

The JCC — built in two stages 50 and 30 years ago — is near the busy commercial intersection of Ninth and Iowa streets, and the land is zoned for multi-family residential use. So a 24-unit apartment building could easily be erected in its place.

Berkowitz said JCC leaders sought the opinions of some local real estate brokers as to the ultimate value of the land — the JCC owns it free and clear — should members decide to sell. Those numbers were discussed Sunday. But Berkowitz said with the depressed economy, now is not an opportune time to maximize the land’s value. Thus, the decision was made to renovate.

An architectural consultant presented plans at the meeting Sunday, outlining the range of renovation options. The congregation chose the most extensive option, which includes the installation of an elevator and other additions.

Berkowitz said the JCC, which has 134 adult members, would probably borrow part of the money needed renovate, in effect taking out a mortgage on the building, and raise the rest.

JCC is something of a misnomer, as the Lawrence group acts more like a small-town synagogue than a big-city community center. It was founded in 1954. Its mission statement is “To be an inclusive and thriving center of Jewish spiritual, cultural and social life for the Lawrence area.” It offers Shabbat services — Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist style, depending on the lay leader — and a religious school. It owns B’nai Israel Cemetery in Eudora, Kan. At times, over the years, it has employed a part-time rabbi, but the most recent of those, Rabbi Linda Steigman, has not been replaced since she left in June.

Historical novels provide fascinating insights into Torah

“Rashi’s Daughters, Book III, Rachel,” by Maggie Anton. (Penguin, 2009) $15; “Rashi’s Daughters, Book II: Miriam,” by Maggie Anton. (Penguin, 2007) $15. “Rashi’s Daughters, Book I, Joheved,” Maggie Anton. (Penguin, 2007) $15.

Maggie Anton studied Talmud and Medieval history and self published her first work of this trilogy on Rashi’s daughter, Joheved. After 25,000 copies were sold, publishers woke up, and Penguin offered to do volume II and then volumes I and III. Anton will talk about her books at Kehilath Israel Synagogue for the Jewish Book Fair. (See below for details.)

Salomon ben Isaac (Rashi), the great Talmudic scholar, lived in 11th century France and had three daughters. He started his own yeshiva in Troyes, France, in 1068 when he returned to take over the family winemaking business and write what was the first Talmud commentary. The tales of his family life are almost as extraordinary. He taught Talmud to his three daughters at a time when even educating women at all was not the norm.

“Rachel” is the third book in the trilogy of historical novels, subtitled “A novel of love and the Talmud in Medieval France.” Once again Anton inspires readers with an enthralling work.

Rachel was Rashi’s youngest, and favorite, daughter. She was born when her sister Jocheved was 12 and her sister Miriam was 7.

At the time of this novel, the family lived in Troyes, where they had a vineyard. Rachel managed the vineyard as an adult. She married Eliezer and had two children. She also loaned money to women. In this work, Jocheved is married with four children and manages an estate. Miriam, a midwife, is also married with four children.

Conflicts begin in Rachel’s marriage when Eliezer decides to go to Spain to study astronomy. When marauders of the First Crusade massacre the Jews of Germany and Rashi suffers a stroke, Rachel’s marriage and ideal life is threatened.

As in the earlier two novels, Anton brings to life a woman and the life she led in mind-boggling details. Most interesting is the afterword in which she answers the questions we ask in her novels. In the case of “Rachel,” she created a plot involving the divorce that Rachel executed, for which there was evidence. The travels of Rachel and Eliezer in this novel, their occupations, Eliezer in Spain and a few other incidents are her creations.

In the book of “Miriam,” this exceptionally well-researched historical novel opens when her betrothed is tragically killed, and she decides to assist the Troyes Jewish community by becoming a midwife.

The plot is engrossing. The characters are very realistic and, most importantly, the continuous insights into the Torah are fascinating. Here is an intriguing look into all aspects of daily life through a historical novel.

In the book of “Joheved,” the title character is the oldest daughter and 12 years old. Conflict arises between Rashi and his wife when she discovers he is teaching Talmud to his daughters. Life goes on, Joheved grows up and her passion for Jewish learning is barely quenched when she starts to lay tefillin. Eventually she is betrothed to Meir ben Samuel, whose family owned vineyards and sheep; they marry and have a family and interact with her sisters and family.

The book is a well-written, enthralling work of classic historical fiction of an exceptional woman.

Regardless of what is based on solid evidence and what she created, Anton is a genius in all three of her novels. As Anton says, the legacy of Rashi’s daughters is that they recognized the value of Torah study in the Jewish world, wanted an education for themselves as well as their husbands and sons and performed the rituals reserved for men. These novels would make a fantastic collection for any woman’s study group, book reading group or discussion group.

Jewish Book Fair continues

• This year’s Jewish Book Fair continues as Benyamin Cohen, author of “My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt In Search of His Own Faith,” headlines the annual continental breakfast at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, at the Campus.

• Veteran broadcast journalist Martin Fletcher, author of the memoir “Breaking News,” will give the Milton Firestone & Bea Firestone Flam Memorial Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Campus.

• “Rashi’s Daughters” author Maggie Anton will appear at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, at Kehilath Israel Synagogue.

(Author Edward Kritzler “Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean,” regrettably had to cancel his appearance due to illness.)

There is a charge for the Nov. 15 breakfast with Cohen. However, reservations are requested for all events. Tickets are available at the Jewish Community Center. For more information or to make a reservation, call (913) 327-8000 or visit www.jcckc.org.

Veteran war correspondent to share insights

Martin Fletcher is the dean of American network TV war correspondents. For more than 35 years, the British-born Fletcher has covered the world’s hot spots, mostly from his perch in Tel Aviv, but ranging far and wide, as the vivid accounts in his new memoir, “Breaking News,” make clear.

Fletcher will give the annual Milton Firestone & Bea Firestone Flam Memorial Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Jewish Community Campus. Admission is free, but reservations are requested. Tickets are available at the Jewish Community Center office. For more information or to RSVP, call (913) 327-8000 or visit www.jcckc.org.

Fletcher was born in London to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, which, he writes in “Breaking News,” gave rise in him to “a certain buried sadness, hatred for bullies and sympathy for their victims.”

Fletcher married an Israeli woman, and they have three sons together.

And yet, he said, he thinks his reporting has won him admirers and sources among both Arabs and Jews.

“I don’t get criticized that much,” Fletcher told The Chronicle in an interview this week from California, where he was kicking off an American tour to promote the paperback edition of “Breaking News.”

“Mostly, people say to me ‘You’re pretty fair.’ I think I have done a good job of staying on the fence, because I genuinely sympathize with both sides — not a terrorist trying to blow up my kid. But I know the families of some of these people, and I know what they have, which is no hope, nowhere to go and nothing to do.”

As he writes in the book, “While I shared the fear of the bombing victims, I also understood why Palestinians had been driven to such a ferocious and desperate tactic. What choice did they have? Nothing else had worked, and they weren’t going to submit to Israeli power.”

And yet, Fletcher said, the second intifada did burn itself out. With the Palestinians now split between Hamas rule in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank, peace with Israel seems far off.

“It has burned itself out, but that doesn’t mean it can’t pop up again immediately,” Fletcher said. “The reason it’s so peaceful in West Bank is that America has made a positive contribution there, training the Palestinian police, imposing on them through the training a sort of reluctance really to blow it too soon. They are making a genuine attempt to restore law and order on the West Bank, and that has contributed to the calm.”

Fletcher said he tends to believe recent reports of a drop in support for Hamas in Gaza.

“It’s always a matter of the economic situation,” he said. “The longer the quiet lasts, it becomes clear that life in the West Bank is good and life in Gaza is hell, so why support Hamas if they are not fighting and there is no economic benefit? Why are they there?”

Much the same goes for Hezbollah in Lebanon, which fought with Israel in 2006, Fletcher said.

“Hezbollah has had their asses kicked, really, and is keeping quiet,” he said. “And yet they are rearming significantly. There have been some strange moments, when you expected something to happen and it didn’t; For example when Israel bombed the nuclear reactor in Syria.”

Iran, Obama
As for the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, “I’ve always said Israel would be nuts to attack Iran,” Fletcher said. “However, I have almost always been wrong with my predictions. I wanted to take a different look at that, so when I was in Kenya last week, I met with some South Korean politicians. … I thought about how South Korea lives with North Korea on their border with nuclear weapons. And of course, they have the background of that terrible war. So I wondered what lessons they have learned.

“They said, ‘First of all, we have one big trump card, which is America.’ So, obviously, American support is critical. They live with an amazing level of threat. So does Israel really need to go to war to stop something that hasn’t happened?”

Fletcher said President Barack Obama has already had “a tremendously positive impact” on East-West relations. “And yet, within a half-hour of his Cairo speech, people were saying ‘It sounds great, but what are you going to do?’ Which is a fair reaction,” Fletcher said. “He hasn’t done much yet, but it’s not easy. Israel will go at its own pace with regard to settlements — as much as they can get away with. And the Palestinians will use that as an excuse not to begin serious talks. And each side can blame the other, which is the normal situation in the Middle East.”

What’s not status quo in the Middle East is the changing media landscape. Israel’s formerly huge foreign press pool has dwindled in the last year or two, Fletcher says.

“There are dramatically fewer (correspondents),” he said. “There have been huge cuts everywhere. Many major U.S. papers no longer have a correspondent. The American networks have cut back dramatically. CBS has not had a correspondent in Israel for many years, ABC has a bureau chief, and he fills in (as a reporter).

“I’m the last of that breed. NBC News had 15 staff people in Israel. We are down to four. CBS is down from 15 or 16 people to two — all in the last 18 months.

“It’s a combination of the economic climate in America, a change in the media landscape, and not much going on in Israel. People have lost interest. But it’s the same thing worldwide. Instead of having a broadcast bureau, networks have a one-man band.”

Topeka temple gives gift to church

TOPEKA, Kan. — Temple Beth Sholom has given St. David’s Episcopal Church a token of its affection — a wooden lectern with Stars of David carved into the corners that will be dedicated this Sunday, Nov. 8, along with the rest of the new, $3 million church building.

That will be almost three years to the day after the old building was nearly destroyed by an arson fire — Nov. 10, 2006.  (See related story below.)

But for Rabbi Debbie Stiel of Beth Sholom, the date has another resonance, too — that of Kristallnacht, the Nazi-organized pogrom against German Jews and their synagogues on that day in 1938.

“The contrast could not be clearer,” she said, between the anti-Semitic persecution and fires of Kristallnacht and the mutual respect and cooperation the synagogue and church have evinced.

Rabbi Stiel noted that the fire at St. David’s occurred the night after its pastor, Rev. Don Davidson, took part in a panel discussion with Mikey Weinstein, who heads the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Rev. Davidson is also a U.S. Army chaplain, and he supports Weinstein’s group, which wages legal battles to keep overt proselytizing out of the military.

“Right away, we weren’t sure what the cause of the fire was,” Rabbi Stiel said. “Some people thought it might have been retaliation against Father Davidson for speaking out. They believe now that it was arson from somebody who might have been a vagrant, but it was never 100 percent established.

“We thought ‘What can we do to help? This church had a terrible fire.’ We said we don’t use our sanctuary on Sunday morning, and we could certainly offer them space to hold school and services. They gladly accepted, and we’ve had an incredibly warm relationship since then.”

Common concerns
The misanthropic Fred Phelps clan, whose Westboro Baptist Church compound is nearby, has picketed both St. David’s and Beth Sholom over the years. The church and the synagogue are one mile apart from each other along Gage Boulevard.

“We have a common concern for how to make the world a better place,” said Rabbi Stiel, “and a strong sense that we are all God’s children. Although we have different beliefs in some ways, we also have a lot values that bring us together.

“We thought ‘Is there something we could give to be a sign of friendship?’ The podium is from our old building, and they took a look and said they would like to have it as the main reading podium in their new sanctuary. They have had it refurbished. It has a handful of simple stars that decorate it, so it will be a reminder of that relationship.”

Rabbi Stiel said the podium had been in storage. It apparently was the original lectern used when two Jewish congregations came together in 1920 to form Beth Sholom and purchased the former home of former Kansas Gov. Samuel Crawford at 5th and Harrison streets. The synagogue was there until moving to 4200 S.W. Munson Ave. in stages during the 1960s. It joined the Reform movement in 1935.

Man gets probation in vandalism spree
Prosecutors in Topeka have reached plea bargains with at least three young men in connection with a series of recent vandalisms and fires in that city, including the 2006 arson fire at St. David’s Episcopal Church.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Sept. 19 that Trevor Powell Jones, now 20, received two years probation in return for pleas of “no contest” in connection with two crimes, not including the St. David’s fire.

C-J Staff Writer Steve Fry reported that “The arson at St. David’s bookended six months of destruction. In April, Hillside Community Church had burned, and in quick succession the Menninger clock tower was trashed and the Mount Calvary Cemetery desecrated. Then, St. David’s. Answers were scant and the justice process frustratingly long. ...

“A court affidavit shows that a Topeka Fire Department investigator implicated Jones in all four of the acts of destruction that year. But in return for Jones pleading no contest to charges stemming from two of the four big incidents that year — at Hillside and Mount Calvary — prosecutors agreed not to charge him in connection with the other two incidents.”

The story cites fire investigator Mike Martin, who called Jones the “ringleader” of a group of young men whose behavior demonstrated “a pattern of hatred and desecration of religious items.”

Jones was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution for the cemetery vandalism.

According to the Capital-Journal, two other young men, Mathew Evertson and Nicholas Jensen, avoided trial in the clock-tower case by entering diversion agreements earlier this year.