SECURING RELIGIOUS RIGHTS FOR ISRAEL’S LIBERAL JEWS — On Sunday, the Reform and Conservative movements, with the pioneering efforts of Women of the Wall, won — after 25 years — a place for liberal Jews to pray at The Wall (see related stories on page 6 and 22). This praying area will not be under the auspices of the Israeli Chief Rabbi, and as such constitutes government recognition of Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel for the first time.
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, Kansas City’s only Jewish day school, is marking a milestone this year. The school will celebrate its 50th anniversary — quite an accomplishment for an institution that started with only a handful of students in a small building.
Jewish comedian Danny Lobell doesn’t know much about Kansas City, except that the Royals won the World Series Championship and we’re famous for barbecue, but plans to bone up on it before he visits here in February. He will entertain at Congregation BIAV’s Purim Gala taking place from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
Nominations are now being accepted to identify Kansas City’s future Jewish leaders through 18 under 40, an initiative of Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. Jewish Federation is seeking nominations for innovative business professionals, academic thought leaders, community activists and thoughtful philanthropists who identify as Jewish and are between the ages of 21 and 39.
Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s grant cycle is open as part of the 2016 local allocations process. The process includes completion of the Jewish funders’ common grant request form as well as a program budget form, which can be found at www.jfedkc.org. Applications are due no later than Monday, Feb. 29. Contact Ellen Kort at Jewish Federation, at , with any questions prior to completion or submission of an application.
MAKING OUR WORLD A BETTER PLACE ONE TOOTHBRUSH AT A TIME — It’s awesome when the youngest members of our community feel the need to help repair the world. Drew Squire, an alum of the Beth Shalom Rose Family Early Childhood Education Center, started learning about tikkun olam while he was in preschool and he has continued living with strong Judaic values today. After a recent trip to the dentist Drew learned that orphanages in third world countries did not have proper dental care. It moved him and he started collecting brand new toothbrushes. Here’s what he said in a video posted on Facebook.
When Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s artistic director Eric Rosen heard about the three people gunned down here on Jewish campuses by a white supremacist in April 2014, he knew he had to bring “The Diary of Anne Frank” to the stage.
A donation from University of Kansas alum Harvey Bodker will allow the KU Jewish Studies Program to fund scholarships to help KU students study in Israel or to take Jewish Studies courses while they study abroad. These scholarships have been established to honor the memory of Rabbi Morris Margolies. Rabbi Margolies served as the senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom for 25 years and was a longtime professor of Jewish Studies at KU. He died at the age of 90 in 2012.
Barbara Unell traces her motivation for writing about parenting back to her favorite childhood song, “Little Wendy Why Why,” and two books, “The Little Engine That Could” and “Pollyanna.”
A CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON FOR FUNDRAISING — The Royals are the world champions for only the second time in franchise history. The Chiefs won their first playoff game in 22 years. Jewish Federation also had a milestone championship season in 2015, raising more than $5 million for the first time since economic hard times hit in 2007. In fact, this is the second year in a row that the community campaign has grown by more than $500,000.
