Recent Opinions

One of Eliana’s current favorite activities is to cut colored construction paper into pieces and then glue those pieces back together. The first time she did it, I was very confused. I almost stopped her. Then I realized she was taking something plain and turning it into something even more beautiful. After watching her do this a few times, she reminded me that sometimes we need to break something apart before we can make it whole again. This action is exactly what we are all doing as we prepare to enter the High Holy Days.

Achrayut… Responsibility…

I decided to write about the middah of taking responsibility after reading and listening to reports on the rise in the number of cases of the Delta variant. This news has been, and continues to be, alarming and frightening.

I was a writer before I became a rabbi and High Holiday sermons usually come easily to me. Some years I have so many ideas and teachings and hopes to share that I accidentally write more sermons than I need to give.

I was born at the old St. Joseph’s Hospital on Linwood Boulevard and was fortunate to have been reared in an Orthodox Jewish family. When my parents brought me home from the hospital, I stopped breathing eight times and would have died had my father not instinctively thrown me into the air to catch my breath. Who would have thought I’d live this long?

Ben Mondry is the winner of the 2021 KC Lodge #184, B’nai Brith essay contest, which encompassed more than 50 area schools, churches, synagogues, and youth groups. The Blue Valley North graduating senior received $2,000 and will be attending the University of Kansas in the fall. His essay is below:

As smallpox ravaged Europe in the 16th century, Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz, a prominent rabbi and famed kabbalist, grew exasperated with his community’s unwillingness to show sufficient caution in the face of the disease.

I cannot sleep. One thought passes throughout the night. I, a 2G (second generation), am only a few years younger than the youngest Holocaust survivors. Who will be the voices of the Holocaust when we are gone?

It is very surprising that Dean Henry Abramson, a much respected historian, especially of Jewish history, could be so utterly wrong in his article in the Chronicle of July 15 advocating Critical Race Theory (CRT). His misreading of Jewish law and tradition cannot be attributed to lack of knowledge.

When Nazi tanks surrounded Warsaw, my father related in a rare moment of frustration, the Jews were in shul arguing over who should get “shishi” (the honor of being called up third to the Torah).

Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s local allocations process is an intensive, deep dive into our local programs that are requesting financial support. The financial contributions made to the annual campaign support this venture.