Every home needs a kitchen, especially a Jewish home. The kitchen might serve as a back-end facility while the entertaining and festivities occur in the dining area, but no one disputes the centrality of a well-appointed kitchen to a functioning home.
A successful Jewish community, especially one as diverse as greater Kansas City, needs lubricants to facilitate cohesion and inclusivity. More than a quarter century ago, the Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City was founded as an organization that would provide the expertise necessary to guide and provide certification for kosher production in the region. Over the years, the Vaad developed a client base that necessitated professional dedication. Just over a decade ago, the Vaad hired its first executive director, and the professionalism and credibility of the Vaad has grown considerably since.
While the Vaad of KC is a small organization, and is one of some 1500 kosher agencies around the world, our Vaad is in the minority of agencies recognized nationally as a trusted organization, delivering credible oversight to manufacturers and food establishments. More importantly, the Vaad functions as a community organization, serving the community and providing guidance and supervision so that we can eat, drink and be merry together in a kosher environment.
It’s nice to grab a kosher lunch, enjoy a donut or some ice cream, but the impact of the Vaad reaches much further than the individual consumer. Gala dinners, lifecycle celebrations – any event geared toward bringing people together – is enhanced by inclusivity in catering to the needs of all guests. Banquet halls and ballrooms are served from commercial kitchens that are typically not used for kosher events. The Vaad is a pillar of our community that allows us to continue our growth and promotion of Jewish tradition while pursuing harmony and inclusivity for our entire community.
The Vaad is committed to continue serving as a resource for the community. Over the last few years, the Vaad has absorbed the expenses of working with local establishments when it benefited the community. In that time, with support from organizations like the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, the Vaad also has subsidized the cost of kosher supervision for nonprofit events, and we wish to extend these subsidies to all kosher supervision services in the community.
Families celebrating simchas should be able to enjoy the services of the Vaad without carrying the full financial burden such services entail. Our intent is that the Vaad will subsidize these costs as our way to give back to the community that invests in our work. We seek your partnership to continue to build on the foundation set forth nearly three decades ago, so that we can achieve our goal of providing accessibility to kosher services for the entire community.
Last year, during the upheaval of the early stages of the pandemic, we chose to forgo our plans to raise funds so that community money could be directed to the dire needs of the time. We are now conducting a campaign to enable your participation in our work. Please join our campaign, and share the opportunity with friends. From November 11th through the 15th our fundraising link will be live: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/vaad-hakashruth/kc-vaad-2021-campaign
Alternatively, checks can be made out to Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City, and mailed to Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City, 5801 W 115th Street, Ste., 201, Overland Park, KS 66211.
We are grateful to have the opportunity to work together, enriching and strengthening our community.
Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi is executive director of the Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City.