Opinions

Did you know that Jewish Family Services of Greater Kansas City is part of a robust network of Jewish social service providers across the United States and Canada?

Economic turbulence, inflation concerns and a general sense of financial instability have made 2025 a challenging time for donors and nonprofit organizations. In times like these, supporting the causes you care about may feel more complicated — but also more important than ever.

I find there are many joys and equally as many “oys” in Jewish parenting. At this time, the rapidly approaching end of the Sunday school year has me reflecting on what my children have learned, how we as parents go about Jewishly educating our children, and what we do outside of Jewish learning environments that reinforce or augment what children hear, do and process in those places of learning.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — a time to prioritize caring for our emotional and psychological wellbeing.

I’m not saying Lenny Zeskind prevented the Oklahoma City terror bombing of 1995 from taking place in Kansas City, Missouri. But he might have.

My first article in these pages was about “scruffy hospitality.” Dedicated readers of this esteemed column will recall that I encouraged us all to embrace the dust in the corners and the toys on the couch in the interest of welcoming more people into our home – and thus, our community. (I stand by that, by the way, even as I panicked about the literal dust in the corners only minutes before my Seder.)

Continual antisemitism and its significant recent rise poses the question: How do we personally respond to antisemitism in our daily lives? Do we each have enough knowledge and diplomacy to convince reasonable persons that they are misinformed about Jews? If not, what do we need to know? Are we going to be bystanders or upstanders?

As we approach Passover, we are reminded of the incredible journey of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to freedom. Passover is a time to reflect on the miracles that shaped our history and to renew our sense of hope and faith in the possibility of redemption.

It was a dark and quiet evening; we walked into a forest where we were confronted with a large grave. The grave contained 801 children who were brutally murdered for one reason and one reason only – they were Jewish.

Last year on Passover, the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace staged what they called an anti-Zionist Seder at the University of Southern California.

I was bewildered at how such a Seder can even be constructed. The following serves as my open letter to JVP, going through each of the Seder’s 14 steps and demonstrating how each and every step contains a connection to the Holy Land: