Recent Opinions

Editor’s note: The following is reprinted from Adam Tilove’s April 23 weekly email to the HBHA community.

QUESTION: Can you tell me the difference between Jewish law and Custom?

ANSWER: Jewish law rules and regulations are either mandated by the Torah and/or Bible and regulations made by the rabbis of old in the period of the Mishna and the Talmud. Examples of Torah law are the dietary laws, many of the laws of Shabbat, etc. Laws from the rabbis include things like the second days of the festivals that are observed by Orthodox and Conservative Jews outside of Israel. Similarly, rules and regulations of not using the Shofar on Shabbat, etc. These are all from the Rabbis of old.

Editor’s note: Brian Platt, the new city manager in Kansas City, Missouri, is Jewish, and his wife has deep ties to the local Jewish community. The Chronicle asked Platt to reflect on his early days in his new position.

Like many of you, I don’t typically make healthcare decisions based on the cost of services.

Watching the Yom Hashoah service that was held on April 11, 2021, hosted by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education was a very special experience for me as my cousin Ida Kolkin was the keynote speaker. Her excellent presentation furnished me with information about her parents, Maria and Fred, that I was not aware of. I hope there will be many more such speakers that will investigate their Holocaust parents background. I was also touched by the fact that Rabbi Moshe Grussgott is the grandson of those who were in the Shoah; his parents are my very dear and close friends. I hope everyone noticed the list of survivors that was shown on YouTube, which included my parents, Jacob and Rachel Rosenberg, and those of the Holocaust community I so dearly loved.

According to the Torah (Lev.23:15) we are obligated to count the days between Passover and Shavu’ot. Every night, from the second night of Passover to the night before Shavu’ot, we recite a blessing and state the count of the Omer in both weeks and days.

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react that matters.” Epictetus, Greek Philosopher.

The Jewish War Veterans Post 605 would like to announce the March 15 commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America.

As we pass the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, I am in awe of the strength, resilience, creativity, and generosity of our community. The past year has brought challenges and hardships we’ve never seen before, but it has also brought new opportunities to care for one another and reconsider and, in some cases, reinvent the way we live and work.

 Orthodox, Traditional and Conservative Jews refrain from celebrating joyous occasions, including weddings, during certain days of the seven-week period between the second day of Passover and Shavuot known as the sefirat haomer or “the counting of the omer.”