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Congregation Beth Torah has hired Rebecca Reice to fill the position of rabbi educator that is being vacated by Rabbi Vered Harris in June. Reice, who will be ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles at the end of May, will assume her duties at Beth Torah on July 1.

Rabbi Mark Levin said Reice is very immersed in her Judaism and comes with only the highest of recommendations.

“I’m very excited to be working with her. She is very talented,” Rabbi Levin said.

Reice was born and raised in Chapel Hill, N.C. She attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with special honors in Plan II (honors liberal arts) and psychology. After completing her undergraduate studies, she worked for the Hillel of Silicon Valley as a Hillel Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow.

She began her rabbinical studies with HUC-JIR in Jerusalem in 2006. Since then she has earned a Master of Arts degree in Hebrew letters (2009) and a Master of Arts degrees in Jewish education (2010), both from the HUC-JIR Los Angeles campus.
The rabbi-to-be said she is especially interested in music, storytelling, liturgy and the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). In addition she loves to cook and garden. Her husband, Asher Lazarus, is an engineer with IBM and a passionate triathlete.

Reice said when she first learned about the opening at Beth Torah, she consulted her hometown rabbi and personal friend, Rabbi John Friedman of Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, N.C. Coincidentally, Rabbi Friedman is close friends with Rabbi Levin and grew up in Kansas City, attending The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.

“He (Rabbi Friedman) said don’t miss this opportunity to meet with Rabbi Mark Levin,” Reice said.

She was also attracted to the way Beth Torah described the congregation and the position in the job posting, saying it used “visionary language.”

“There was a certain attitude about life-long learning and about how a community could function that was really exciting to me,” she continued.

Reice, who will be 29 when she joins the congregation’s clergy staff, said she had a fantastic initial conversation with Rabbi Levin and Michelle Cole, the congregation’s president, on the HUC-JIR Cincinnati campus.

“I felt it was a really clear and open community, which is something I value and was very exciting. At the end of my interview they handed me a giant bag of of Beth Torah things, including the citizen band, which I had learned about in my research from a great video that is on the home page of the Beth Torah website,” she said.

She said she has been telling her friends she’s already been embraced by the community.

“I come from the South and I talk to strangers. I’m just naturally friendly, that’s my attitude toward the world. Then I walked into a congregation where it seems like everybody talks to strangers. Everyone was friendly and open and sweet,” she said.

“That to me is an incredibly precious part of synagogue life that isn’t available everywhere. I’ve been to plenty of synagogues in this country where nobody talked to me at the oneg,” she continued.

Reice is excited to work with the staff at Beth Torah, who she already calls family.

“That’s the kind of commitment that I see the professional staff and the lay leadership have to each other," she said.
"I think that relationship between laity and clergy says so much about a congregational culture, and it’s a question that I kept asking congregations during my interviews this year and I was so moved to see what it looks like at Beth Torah.”

Reice and her husband plan to return to Kansas City to become more acquainted with the area the weekend of March 23.

Put down the guns and pick up a soccer ball.

That is one of the goals of the Let Children Play for Peace effort, an organization started in Kansas City by an Israeli Jew and an Egyptian Muslim. Let Children Play for Peace has collected hundreds of new toys and is delivering them in equal amounts to children in Sderot, Israel, and the Gaza Strip. Soccer balls, kites, stuffed animals and more were delivered to Israel last month and will be handed out to children who live in an area where simply playing can be hard to do when surrounded by violence.

“We want to bring attention to peaceful efforts by helping with children’s needs,” said Sam Nachum, the Jew in the partnership. “Most of the time these children have no toys, and we don’t think that is fair.”

Born in Israel, Nachum moved to Kansas City in 1978. He had met Dana, who he would eventually marry, a few years earlier while she was visiting Israel and she lived here. Nachum saw first-hand the effect violence can have on children and how damaging it can be.

“They can forget what it is like to be a child,” he said.

Work on this project began around three years ago during the conflict in Gaza. The reports of the fighting were so bad that Nachum, a member of Chabad House, knew he had to do something to help. One night at a gathering at the Jewish Community Center, a Muslim man, Ahmed El-Sherif, spoke up and Nachum was impressed with him.

“It was very courageous for Ahmed to show up and to speak,” Nachum said. “We began talking and together we came up with the idea of collecting the toys.”

El-Sherif was born in Egypt and, like Nachum, had seen violence before relocating to Kansas City. He and Nachum started the Let the Children Play for Peace organization so that other children might have some relief from the stresses associated with the conflicts in the area.

“Children are the ones that suffer the most, both on the battle field and at home,” El-Sherif said. “Children are innocent yet they still suffer. I think we were inspired to do this because both Sam and I lost a lot of our childhood. People don’t realize how damaging that can be. We want to help kids today, on both sides, try to avoid the same things that happened to us.”

Some could consider toys as luxury items; however El-Sherif and Nachum see them as more than that.

“Most of the time, people send medicine or food during these times,” Nachum said. “The needs of children are often forgotten. But to see their faces light up when they get these new toys, you realize how much they mean to them."

What started as a two-man effort quickly morphed into a large-scale organization with volunteers from a variety of groups and faiths joining.

“We really knew that something had to be done, and to send something that would benefit children, who have no part in the fighting, made sense,” said Nick Awad, a volunteer with Let Children Play for Peace. Awad is a Palestinian Christian, a minority where he is from, and also wants an end to the fighting. “What everyone involved wants is for the shipments to lead to more efforts where people reach out to both sides.”

Awad says that helping children has been a cause that so many different people can support, and the more people that volunteer and donate, the more children that can benefit. Nachum agrees.

“Everyone has come together and been so supportive,” Nachum said “No one has heard the idea, and said they didn’t like it. No matter what side you are one, everyone has been able to remember what the important thing is and that is helping children.”

The help included raising more than $9,000 to pay for the scosts, taxes and other red tape involved with shipping the toys to the Middle East. Nachum and a group of 16 volunteers from Let Children Play for Peace all personally flew out to area to help with the delivery. While there the volunteers received considerable media attention, appearing on television, radio and in newspapers.

“We want to make sure the toys go where they are supposed to go,” Nachum said. “That is everyone’s concern now.”
The deliveries have gone well so far, but the shipment to the children in Gaza is still waiting on final approval. The organizers know they must be diligent when dealing with so much conflict. However, they hope the potential rewards will be more than worth it.

“This help can open the door for dialogue and communication between the two sides,” Sherif said. “Maybe people will think twice before they will do action that will damage a child’s life.”

“Our main goal is that one day, the children of Gaza and the children of Israel can come together and play,” Nachum said. “We want to build a soccer field in-between the two where they can play. That is a dream of Ahmed and me. For these kids to meet on that field instead of the field of battle.”

For more information on this organization or to donate, visit www.letthechildrenplayfor peace.org.

TWINKLE TOES — For the second year in a row the Kansas City Jewish community has had a representative invited to perform in KU Student Union Activities’ “Dancing with the Stars.” KU Hillel Executive Director Jay Lewis was paired with Bridget Qandil, the owner of Camelot Ballroom in Overland Park, in the event held earlier this month. Lewis and his partner did a Broadway routine to “Oh What a Night,” a Frankie Valli hit from the musical “Jersey Boys.” Lewis said he had a blast. “I was nominated to participate by a large group of Hillel students so I was happy to represent them and KU Hillel in this event. There were over 500 people in the Kansas Union Ballroom. It was fun to do something completely outside of my comfort zone and I really enjoyed how much the students and my family enjoyed that I was doing it.” Publicity before the event noted that Lewis’ prior dancing experience was limited to watching “So You Think You Can Dance” and dancing in his living room with his wife and two kids, Keaton and Mckenna. On the night of the competition, Lewis had a large group of supporters sitting in the audience. Many of KU Hillel’s student leaders showed up with signs and banners to cheer him on. Lewis danced exceedingly well and received all “8s” from the judges. While Lewis unfortunately lost to KU football player Daymond Patterson, he gave KU Hillel great exposure to the KU community.

ENVOY HAS TIES TO KC — The JTA has reported that Israel has appointed its first Ethiopia-born ambassador to Ethiopia, Belaynesh Zevadia. What it didn’t report is that while working in the Israeli Consul General’s office in Chicago, she got to know several members of the local Jewish community including Jewish Federation Executive Vice President and CEO Todd Stettner and Marvin Szneler, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau|American Jewish Committee. Zevadia was the first Ethiopian Foreign Ministry cadet. She made aliyah at the age of 17 and studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and African studies and a master’s degree in African studies. Here she also worked as a diplomat in Houston.
“This is proof that in Israel, opportunity is available to everyone — native Israelis and new immigrants alike,” Zevadia said.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that Zevadia’s appointment “conveys an important message to Israeli society, which is currently dealing with the issue of racism towards Ethiopians in Israel.”

PUPPY LOVE — Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy third-grader Brianna Katz is concerned about puppy mills. She has learned that Missouri is a national hot spot for puppy mills and got Kansas City Mayor Sly James to sign her petition to stop them when James visited HBHA in February. Brianna’s passionate drive against puppy mills also got her a cute photo and story in the most recent edition of 435 South magazine. She is the daughter of Vicki and Gary Katz and belongs to Congregation Beth Shalom.

COMMUNITY VOICES — Another member of the Jewish community was well featured in the March edition of 435 South. Congregation Beth Torah President Michelle Reznik Cole was described as an energetic mother of two, wife, entrepreneur, lay leader and school volunteer. She shared her secret with readers for balancing her activities with a two-minute rule, in her own words.

OU GUIDE TO PASSOVER — The 2012 OU Guide to Passover is out, providing new and interesting features addressing commonly asked questions fielded through the social media, to the extensive lists of food and other products that are certified kosher for Passover by the OU. The guide, with a press run of more than 60,000 copies, will be directly available through the mail to all OU members and Jewish Action subscribers. Individual copies can be ordered on the OU Passover website, www.ou.org/passover-guide.

“It’s not your grandfather’s seder,” says Rabbi Arthur Nemitoff when describing the Community Second Night of Passover Seder sponsored by the Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City, Jewish Family Services and supported by congregations. It takes place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7, at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah.

Reservations are currently being accepted for the seder and must be received by Wednesday, March 28. After that date, reservations will be accepted on a space-available basis. Reservation forms are available at area congregations and at the Rabbinical Association’s website, www.kcrabbis.org. For information, or to inquire about confidential financial assistance, contact Annette Fish, administrator/program director for the Rabbinical Association by email, or call 913-327-4622.

The food will be kosher-for-Passover and prepared under supervision of the Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City. The meal will be served under Rabbi Nemitoff’s supervision.

As in year’s past, this contemporary seder will be multi-denominational, noted Congregation Ohev Sholom’s Rabbi Scott White. Rabbi Nemitoff, senior rabbi of the host Congregation B’nai Jehudah, is once again the lead organizer for the spiritual portion of this event. He said this year’s service features the participation of more local clergy from Reform and Conservative congregations than ever before. Besides Rabbis Nemitoff and White, participating clergy include Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner and Cantor Sharon Kohn of B’nai Jehudah; Rabbi Alan Cohen and Hazzan Rob Menes of Congregation Beth Shalom and Doug Alpert, spiritual leader of Congregation Kol Ami.

This seder will be family-friendly and include traditions and customs of the Passover seder while incorporating meaningful events of our day into an interactive and hands-on seder experience. Modern day readings and additions will focus on maggid, the telling of the Exodus.

For the last several years this seder has been an experiential seder. That is what sets the evening apart from what one might remember as “your grandfather’s seder,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

“This is not sitting at a table, either small or large and having Uncle Sammy sleep during half the seder and having Aunt Bertha talk through it all and having your grandpa shush everybody,” Rabbi Nemitoff explained.

The plans for the evening are not yet totally complete, but Rabbi Nemitoff expects it will begin as it has the past couple of years with the participants being in Mitzrayim, the land of Egypt.

“We will experience what it meant to be slaves in Egypt. We will experience the first part of our seder in a sense of closeness and discomfort and without any sort of what I would call lavish relaxation,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

That’s an aspect of the seder that’s made an impact on participants.

“I enjoyed the entire evening from the moment I arrived,” wrote one participant who is self-described as of advanced age.

“The initial gathering place consisting of the long sparsely adorned tables set the stage for the feeling that we were indeed still slaves in Egypt and it seemed so right that we did what we did there and then began our trek to the Promised Land and the feast that followed.”

As the evening progresses participants will hear the maggid (the telling of the Passover story) and rotate through creative stations. If there are enough families to warrant it, Rabbi Nemitoff said a special family section may be created for the telling of the maggid.

One seder participant from the past noted that the creative telling of the story was “awesome!”

“I invited a friend who is a non-Jew; she was overwhelmed by the experience and enjoyed the informative way the rabbi told the Passover story.”

At the different stations, participants will have the opportunity to sing songs led by Cantor Kohn and Hazzan Menes. They will also help prepare a meal for the homeless.

“One of the key statements in the Passover Haggadah is let all who are hungry come and eat. We take that seriously in our community with all of our various food collection programs and food serving programs. So one of the things that our participants will do is prepare a kosher for Passover meal that will be served to the hungry in our community during the following week,” Rabbi Nemitoff said.

This mitzvah project has proven to be a very popular part of the evening recently.

“One theme my family found most interesting is that we take care of feeding all who are hungry. I loved that and thought it was the best message for my kids and for me,” was written on a post-seder comment card.

Rabbi Nemitoff said the seder will be concluded in lavish style, with tables with table cloths and fine food. He expects it will end by 9:30 p.m.

“We will have a wonderful community experience,” he said. “We really do hope the community will consider joining us. It’s not B’nai Jehudah’s seder. This is not Beth Shalom’s seder. This is not New Reform’s seder. This is the community seder and it’s really meant to allow everybody in the community to come together and celebrate,” he said.

The food, and the entire evening, has gotten rave reviews in the past.

“Very enjoyable! Very creative! Food was very good. The idea of different groups breaking up and rotating to experience different things was great!”

If you are a fan of children’s books, cholent or books written by people with Kansas City ties, you’ll want to seek out “The Cholent Man,” written by Danny Zeldin.

Zeldin grew up in Kansas City and is the son of Stan and Joyce Zeldin. He taught Judaic studies in the upper school at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy for two years, leaving the school in 2007.

He still teaches Jewish and general studies, but he now lives and teaches in San Diego. He moved there in July 2011 from New England.

The book explains why we eat cholent on Shabbat. It’s main character, Avrumy, meets a friendly stranger one Friday afternoon. As explained on the book cover, “After a journey together into the past, Avrumy discovers the reasons behind this long surviving Shabbat tradition. As dream blends into reality and reality fades back into dream, Avrumy grows to realize that cholent is much more than just a tasty food; it is a tradition whose observance helps keep us spiritually healthy and permanently united — and it’s yummy.”

The 24-page book was published last April by AuthorHouse. It can be purchased on the publisher’s website as well as amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

Zeldin said he came up with the idea for “The Cholent Man,” as he searched for a subject that had not yet been addressed in other Jewish children’s books. He also wanted to make sure he wrote a book with an educational component.

“My first thought was food. Kreplach, gefilte fish, charoset, hamantaschen, sufganiyot, sheep’s heads … if you’re outside looking in, you’d be right to think that Jews eat some pretty strange stuff,” Zeldin said.

He pointed out that next to sheep’s heads, cholent may be the strangest food Jews eat.

“I was unable to discover any children’s literature on the subject,” he said. “After researching cholent’s history, I decided there was definitely a story to tell.”

He believes the book is geared toward older elementary school students.

“I did a book signing at an Orthodox elementary school in Brooklyn. The fourth and fifth graders were a great audience. They responded very well to it and asked more questions than we had time for,” Zeldin said.

He knows that the book is aimed toward a small audience.

“It was written for the family that regularly makes cholent on Shabbat, but that also lives the lifestyle represented by the characters in the book. I have had some non-Orthodox parents tell me that their kids like the book, but more consistent appreciation for the book has come from mainstream Orthodox families,” he said.

“The Cholent Man” features illustrations by Jade Fang, an artist from Malaysia who studied in the United States and now lives in Singapore. Zeldin searched for the illustrator himself and Fang was his first choice.

“I had an idea what I wanted the characters to look like and I narrowed it down to three artists whose work seemed to best represent the images I had in my head,” he explained. “After Jade sent me her first pencil drawings it was clear that the book found its illustrator.”

He thinks Fang’s drawings are “truly amazing.”

“Jade spent several months researching Jewish villages and dress from the book’s setting, and it is her artwork that truly brought the book alive. As a bonus she learned some new words like dreydl, boychikl, and tati,” he said.

Zeldin has considered writing more books.

“I have some drafts of other works, including a novel, but those dusty pages know they have to wait until summer break in order to get my full attention,” he said.

“Hemingway once said, and I’m paraphrasing, that discussing one’s work before it is finished is like stripping the stuff off of a butterfly’s wings. I’d hate to mess with such beauty,” he continued.

A member of the Jewish community, 17-year-old Sonia Larbi-Aissa, competed among the world’s best and brightest during an international debate in South Africa this January.

Sonia is a junior at The Barstow School and at one time attended Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. She represented the United States at the tournament with two other teammates and an alternate teammate.

Sonia has participated in debate at Barstow since eighth grade and attends a debate camp for girls each summer in Minnesota. Last summer coaches from the United States World Scholars Debating Championships team held auditions for the team at debate camps throughout the country. Sonia decided to try out.

“I applied because it really appealed to me,” Sonia said. “Especially the international part.”

The audition included a debate round with a partner as well as individual speeches.

“It ended up being a really good debate,” Sonia said. “It was really fun.”

Sonia was invited to a more selective round of auditions, but team USA coach Kate Shuster said she knew Sonia would be on the team before her second audition even started.

“We knew right away when we auditioned her that she was a great candidate for the team,” Shuster said. “Within 30 seconds we had agreed.”

Shuster said coaches don’t usually agree on candidates that quickly, but Sonia stood out above the rest.

“She had sterling recommendations and academic credentials but what really stood out to us is that she had unusual poise for someone her age,” Shuster said. “She was a special case and we knew in our guts immediately that she would make the team.”

Sonia was the only Midwesterner on this year’s team. All her other teammates live in California.

“We are really happy that she’s on the team,” Shuster said. “Sonia was a great ambassador, not only from the United States but from the Midwest.”

Sonia found out that she had made the team in the fall and began preparing for the world tournament with her teammates and coaches.

Shuster said the team used technology, such as Skype, to have practice debates and coaching sessions.

“Students were given topics and then asked to deliver speeches,” Shuster said.

Sonia spent at least two hours a week in preparation for the tournament.

International debate differs from the policy style of debate in which United States students participate. In U.S. policy debate students research a topic that they debate throughout the year in pairs of two.

In international debate, the topics vary from round to round and three students participate on each team every round, instead of two.

“Each person gives a speech and then one person gives a reply,” Sonia said.

Sonia gave the reply speeches for the U.S. team during the tournament.

“It’s the most challenging speech of the debate,” she said.

In international debate, participants are given a list of potential debate topics before the tournament to research, but some topics are not revealed to the students until the tournament.

“Half of the rounds are impromptu and half of the rounds are prepared,” Sonia said.

Sonia and her teammates participated in eight preliminary rounds at the tournament. Their topics ranged from racial profiling to foster care reform.

Participants are judged on style, presentation, organization and strategy.

The U.S. team went 2-6 in the tournament.

“A lot of losses were split,” Sonia said. “We would consider that a success.”

Shuster described the international competition as fierce.

“It’s much harder than anything that is available to high school debaters in this country,” Shuster said. “The students we compete against speak four or five languages. ...We are talking about the very brightest students in the world.”

Sonia’s trip to South Africa was as cultural as it was academic.

She said she made friends with debaters from other countries. And during downtime Sonia and other students visited historical sites in South Africa.

Sonia said one of her favorite parts of the trip was a visit to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held captive.

“It was kind of over powering,” Sonia said.

Sonia will continue to compete with the U.S debate team at other international tournaments this year.

“When you are on the team, you don’t just go to this tournament,” Shuster said.

Sonia and her teammates are slated to compete in the Pan-American Debate Championship in July in Chili.

“I definitely plan to continue this style of international debating,” Sonia said.

Sonia’s mother, Nancy Larbi, supports Sonia’s international endeavors.

“It’s really preparing her for the future and preparing her to be a contributor in the future,” Larbi said. “Your communication skills are very important no matter what role you play in society.”

The lawsuit between Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn and The New Reform Temple has been terminated. On Wednesday, Feb. 29, Johnson County District Court Judge David W. Hauber granted NRT’s motion to compel arbitration.

“With that, the next step is for the plaintiff (Rabbi Cukierkorn) to submit a demand for arbitration, if he intends to proceed, which we assume he does,” stated NRT President Michael Grossman in a statement to The Chronicle.

Rabbi Cukiekorn said he does expect to move forward with arbitration.

Rabbi Cukierkorn filed the lawsuit in late September, claiming NRT breached the separation agreement the two parties mutually agreed to in March 2011. That was precipitated by a decision made in December 2010 by NRT’s board of directors not to renew the rabbi’s contract, which was to last through June of this year. Payments, as agreed to in the separation agreement, began April 1, 2011, and were to continue through June 14, 2012.

According to court documents obtained by The Chronicle, NRT stopped making the agreed upon payments in mid-June of last year. At that time NRT sent Rabbi Cukierkorn a letter stating that unless he could provide documentation relating to monetary transfers from NRT’s discretionary fund, the congregation would cease payments agreed to under the separation agreement.

Rabbi Cukierkorn’s lawsuit asked the court to enter judgment against NRT, requiring it to comply with the terms of the separation agreement and provide full payment, as well as interest.

Rabbi Cukierkorn is now the rabbi of Temple Israel of Greater Kansas City, which recently celebrated hitting the 100-family member milestone.

NRT hired Rabbi Alan Londy to serve as interim rabbi last summer and offered him a three-year full-time contract earlier this month.

HOLY COINCIDENCES — It was a week of chance meetings for Devra Lerner when she recently travelled to Israel for her niece’s Bat Mitzvah. As she checked into Beit Shmuel in Jerusalem, the first person she ran into was Jonathan Edelman, who was just leaving Israel to return to Kansas City for his cousin Leah Sosland’s Bat Mitzvah.
Later Devra met with former HBHA teachers Ilana Dickman and Na’ama Nagar, and Wendy Claster, the mother of four HBHA graduates for a reunion. They were talking about HBHA as they enjoyed a hummus dinner in a small restaurant on Diezengoff, when a woman from another table approached them and asked if they were from Kansas City. “Yes,” was the response. “Were you talking about Hyman Brand?” was her follow-up question. “Yes. And who are you?” the group questioned. “I’m Diane Fields.” She is the wife of Rabbi Phil Fields, a past headmaster of HBHA. The women learned the former headmaster, his children and grandchildren all have made aliyah to Israel.
Finally, while at the King David Hotel, Devra and her brother-in-law, Dr. Speedy Zweiback, ran into the Hon. Daniel B. Shapiro, the American Ambassador to Israel. Hailing from Champaign, Ill., he recalled his days as a youth-grouper in MoVFTY.

GOVERNMENT BLESSINGS — Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life at KU believes we were blessed with an extra day last week on Feb. 29. He was determined to make that gift worth its value, so he accepted the honor of serving as Chaplain of the Day at the State of Kansas House of Representatives. At the invitation of Jewish Rep. Lana Gordon of Topeka, he gave the invocation as the legislators prepared to begin their day. It included in part, “Beloved G-d, bless the members of this House of Representatives and guide their deliberations, that they may govern this great state with wisdom and justice, grace and compassion, bringing honor to your name and your blessing to humankind.” Describing the experience, Rabbi Tiechtel told me, “As the State of Kansas boasts a vibrant and growing Jewish presence, there is no doubt that having a prayer recited by a representative of the Jewish faith is a great way of expressing our Jewish pride and presence in the Sunflower State.” Amen!

ROCKCANROLL FOOD DRIVE — During the month of March, “rockCANroll,” a non-profit hunger relief organization that collaborates with rock concerts, schools, corporations and individuals to collect healthy and nutritious non-perishable food for distribution to local food pantries, will be partnering with Manischewitz in a nationwide effort to collect food. Yachad: The Kosher Food Pantry and Congregation Beth Torah have signed on for this special project. During the month of March, you’ll see a food collection bin made to look like a Manischewitz soup can at Beth Torah. Deposit donations into these special bins and Manischewitz will match donations by sending kosher canned goods to Yachad! Visit www.rockCANroll.org for more information.

WOMEN IN THE ARTS — The exhibit “Vanguards and Visionaries: Kansas City Women in the Arts” will continue through April 21 at The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center (2012 Baltimore, Kansas City, Mo. 64108) in celebration of the UMKC Women’s Center’s 40th anniversary. This exhibit honors some of the local women artists who have been instrumental in shaping the visual arts landscape of Kansas City. Featured artists include two Jewish artists — Rita Blitt and Shea Gordon-Festoff — as well as Philomene Bennett and Janet Kuemmerlein. These four women have all made a strong impression on the visual arts in Kansas City for the past four decades. Each of these seasoned artists was asked to select another artist whose work she feels embodies the same artistic voice that she has. Exhibiting side-by-side with these artists will be Jane Booth, Cheryl Toh, Karen McCoy and Jessica Kincaid. In keeping with the Women’s Center’s 40th Anniversary theme, “Telling Our Stories for 40 Years,” the “Vanguards and Visionaries” exhibit celebrates the woman’s voice in the visual arts — its past, present and future.

For many teens summer provides the opportunity to relax and sleep in, but 17-year-old Jessica Mielke takes a different approach to the break from school.

Jessica, a senior at Free State High School in Lawrence and a member of Congregation Beth Torah, volunteers on Tuesday and Friday mornings at the Jubilee Café. The Jubilee Café provides hot breakfasts free of charge to Lawrence residents at 7 a.m. every Tuesday and Friday. She started volunteering at the café in 2006 as part of her mitzvah project prior to her Bat Mitzvah.

Her mitzvah project was the step that connected Jessica to a community that, she said, she looks forward to working with and serving every summer.

Jessica is one of many teens and projects featured by authors Diane Heiman and Liz Suneby in their book, “The Mitzvah Project Book: Making Mitzvah Part of Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah … and Your Life.” (For more information on “The Mitzvah Project Book,” visit the website online at www.mitzvahprojectbook.com.)

Heiman said she has noticed a trend in the last decade for youth to include a mitzvah project as part of their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. The mitzvah project can be any social action activity that helps others.

Heiman said she and her friend Suneby decided to join forces to create a book that would help students create mitzvah project ideas that fit each student’s personality.

The book includes examples of mitzvah projects from adolescents, such as Jessica, throughout the country.

“What is great about the book is it’s not prescriptive it’s aspirational,” Suneby said.

The book provides ideas for projects that students can use as a springboard to create their own unique mitzvah projects.Heiman said the idea for the book came from Suneby’s love of Mitzvah Day, an initiative where congregants partake in single-day mitzvah projects throughout the country.

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“We both really love Mitzvah Day,” Suneby said. “We just wanted to get more kids excited.”

Heiman said the concept of mitzvah goes beyond one day of service or one community project.

“I saw how volunteering for one day can inspire people to volunteer for more than one day,” Heiman said. “It’s about taking the first step.”

While working at Jubilee Café started out as a mitzvah project for Jessica, it has become a mitzvah lifestyle for her. She continues to serve at Jubilee Café in the summer, when many University of Kansas students are no longer in town. Jessica said she noticed a void of volunteers in the summer and was eager to help fill that need.

“I just do it in the summers and that’s when they really need people,” Jessica said.

Jessica arrives at the café, which is held in the basement of the First United Methodist Church, at 6 a.m. to help prepare the meal. Patrons are served from 7 to 8 a.m. Heiman said Jessica’s ongoing dedication stood out among the submissions for “The Mitzvah Project Book.”

“Her commitment to her charity wasvery mature, very admirable,” Heiman said. “She really made a difference.”

One of the unique things about the Jubilee Café is that, unlike many free meal programs, the café serves its patrons restaurant-style, as opposed to buffet-style, when there are enough volunteers.

The Jubilee Café has a full-service breakfast menu, which includes eggs, biscuits and gravy, hash browns and a variety of pancakes.

Jessica said working at the café gives her the opportunity to have conversations and really connect with the people she serves.

“It’s a really good time,” Jessica said.“You meet a lot of great people.”

Jessica’s family members have also volunteered at the café.

“It has been a wonderful experience for our family,” said Diane Mielke, Jessica’s mother. “Starting out I never would have imagined that she’d be doing this years later.”

Jessica will graduate high school this year, but she said she doesn’t plan to end her service at Jubilee Café.

“I’m hoping to continue doing it through the summers,” she said.

As for “The Mitzvah Project Book,” Jessica recommends the book to anyone looking for a mitzvah project of their own.

“It can definitely get ideas going,” Jessica said. “You should try to tie something to your project that you are passionate about.”

A new standing committee was established to bring together a select group of Jewish communal leaders from across the country to discuss the best ways to strengthen and build the Jewish community both nationally and throughout the world. The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City has been invited to join this conversation, and has now taken a seat at what is known as the Jewish Federations of North America’s (JFNA) Global Planning Table (GPT).

The GPT is an initiative that plans to strengthen the way the Jewish community prioritizes and takes collective action to address Jewish needs worldwide. When the discussions are over, it is hoped that the GPT will provide a new structure and process for Jewish Federations and their partners to analyze the needs of the Jewish people in Israel and 70 nations across the globe, determine priorities and assess the impact of philanthropic giving.

The discussions officially got underway earlier this year. Jerry Silverman, president and CEO of JFNA, has explained that the planners are charged with the enormous undertaking of building and establishing their Federation’s strategies on both a local and global level.

“Planning is increasingly essential to effective fundraising. The work that planners do makes a huge impact on their individual communities and across Jewish Federations,” Silverman said.

Kansas City’s record in support of overseas needs is probably one of the reasons it was invited to the GPT, said Todd Stettner, executive vice president and CEO of the local Federation.

“In addition to Kansas City’s long history of serving on the national allocations committee — first ONAD ((the predecessor to the GPT), and now with the Global Planning Table — I think JFNA recognizes how much time and effort has been put into creating a truly relevant system to allocate Kansas City dollars to our Israel and overseas partners. Our process is in line with the JFNA and Global Planning Table process, in that we have areas of excellence that provide guidelines for the programs that we fund,” said Miriam Scharf, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City.

As a member of GPT, Kansas City is a representative of the large intermediate Federations (Federations that raise between $4 million and $11 million annually). It qualified for an invitation to the GPT because it meets the requirement of giving at least 20 percent of the funds from its annual campaign to Israel and overseas needs.

“That requirement eliminated a large group of Federations,” Stettner said, “because the fashion these days has been to give lesser amounts overseas from the annual campaign than we did in the past.”

Kansas City raised $4.6 million through the annual campaign in 2011. Of that total, Stettner said Kansas City gave approximately 32 percent to Israel and overseas programs. An additional $1 million in supplemental campaigns was also raised in 2011 — that includes donations directed toward a specific special fund such as Joplin tornado relief or the PJ Library.
Like other communities, Kansas City has reduced the amount it has given to Israel and overseas needs over the years.

“Twenty years ago that figure was probably closer to 40 percent and 10 years ago it was about 34 percent,” Stettner said.

No decisions will be made this year. The various committees that make up the GPT will meet throughout 2012, sometimes in person and other times using technology such as video conferences and conference calls. New priorities are expected to be decided upon in 2013.

“The ultimate goal is to develop a system of how we look at — and address — the needs in the Jewish Federation system on a national level. But it obviously will not dictate what we do locally because that’s always going to ultimately be a local decision,” Stettner said.

Initial discussions will center on the dollars given to Israel and overseas programs and organizations. Stettner said this is not the first time the Federation system has attempted to come to a consensus in how it distributes funds to Israel and overseas concerns. That first effort, which came after the merger of United Jewish Appeal and Council of Jewish Federations, failed.

For the last couple of couple of years the two largest international Jewish organizations — Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) — have lobbied to save and/or increase their funding from local Jewish Federations. The current split nationally is about 75 percent of Israel and overseas funds go to JAFI while 25 percent of those funds go to JDC.

“There never has been a resolution of the split issue,” said Stettner, referring to the failure to come to a consensus years ago.

“However, there was a decision at that time that allowed Federations to begin to designate some monies to projects that they wanted to give to in Israel and overseas. We do that here.”

For many years, Kansas City has been funding specific projects in Bulgaria and Romania in Europe and Gezer and Ramla in Israel.

“What the Global Planning Table is going to do is allow us to continue that and also to broaden it,” Stettner said. “The key thing with the Global Planning Table is it will really look at all of the overseas needs, which you can compare to what we do locally both in terms of how we view our designated overseas dollars and what we give out locally.”

Stettner is referring to the process arrived at here in Kansas City several years ago when the Jewish Federation began funding programs instead of agencies.

“We look at the needs of the community and the programs that can meet those needs. We’re not looking at how much we can give one particular agency such as the Jewish Community Center or Jewish Family Services. We look at what is the need and what program is being done to meet that need and that’s how we fund. That’s what’s going to happen on the international level,” Stettner explained.

In other words, JAFI and JDC will have particular programs funded, with fewer dollars given to the agency itself for core purposes. Due to these expected changes, JAFI and JDC also have seats at the GPT so their opinions can be heard.

“We’re going to ask what are the needs in Israel and the former Soviet Union and South America, wherever there happens to be Jewish communities, and discuss how we are going to meet those needs. If JAFI has three programs that meet those needs and we think those are the most important, then we’re going to fund those. If JDC has several programs that meet other needs, we’re going to fund those programs,” Stettner explained.