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Well FED
ABOVE: Jewish Federation’s Young Adults Division recently hosted its annual FED event at 28 Event Space in downtown Kansas City. The event, which combines food and philanthropy, featured a three-course meal from Chef Nick Martinkovic of Noah’s Cupboard and live music from the Jacob Schwartzberg Trio.
SevenDays
ABOVE: During a recent meeting, SevenDays Youth Engagement Director Jill Andersen (right) met with Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy Upper School Principal Todd Clauer to share educational resources the nonprofit has available for students. SevenDays aims to teach kindness and promote understanding among the Kansas City community through education and dialogue.
Scholarship Winners
ABOVE: The Jewish War Veterans Post 605 scholarship committee recently announced the winners for this year’s Gertrude Panmasik scholarships chosen by the Post. They are Laura Martasin, Noah Lindenlaub, Haille Cooper, Jerod Gordon, and Daniella Quinn. These young adults will utilize the funds towards furthering their collegiate aspirations. Pictured are (from left) Howard Noah, Mark Slatkin, Deb Lindenlaub, scholarship winner Noah Lindenlaub, and Commander Bill Greenberg.
Show Us Your Sukkah!
Take a picture of your sukkah and send it to laceys@jewishkc.org for the chance to be featured in a special Spotlight page in the October 27 issue of the Chronicle.
When sending your photo, please include your name, city and a brief description of your Sukkot celebration. Photos must be submitted by noon on Thursday, October 20.
Impact 100
ABOVE: Jewish Family Services is one of the United Way’s inaugural Impact 100, a group of community partners addressing the most vital health and human needs in Kansas City. JFS staff who attended United Way’s Campaign Kickoff at Kauffman Stadium were (from left) Debbie Bass, Chief Development Officer; Rachel Ohlhausen, Director of Program Operations; Melanie Hayden, Director of Foundation Relations and JFS Board Member Courtney Landy.
Hazzan Ben-Yehuda and Hazzan Hayoun value tradition, congregational inclusion
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After decades of leading services, Hazzan Hayoun joined Kehilath Israel Synagogue as cantor in April of 2022 and teaches the congregation’s b’nai mitzvah students.
Preparation for the High Holidays
Both hazzanim prepare for the High Holidays months in advance. Hazzan Ben-Yehuda said that around the 17th of Tammuz (usually mid-July), she stops listening to music on the radio and starts studying the melodies for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers. Hazzan Hayoun has been working with a small choir at K.I. while revisiting eastern European hazzanut (cantorial singing and melodies) that he learned in Jerusalem.
Both hazzanim also physically prepare for the High Holidays, preparing their bodies like an athlete. Leading services and belting out prayers for the majority of Yom Kippur while fasting is, as both hazzanim said, “very, very difficult.”
Hazzan Ben-Yehuda’s preparations include increased water intake, eight hours of sleep a night, special care of her respiratory system and a healthy diet. Hazzan Hayoun said he had to develop a technique to deal with not drinking while singing all day. However, despite the hazzanim’s physical duties on Yom Kippur, both said that by the end, they feel a sense of intense spirituality.
“[Once services are over], I’m riding this incredible spiritual wave, and I’m praying everyone is on it with me,” Hazzan Ben-Yehuda said.
“[By the end of services], you’re in a special excitation if you’re a guy who loves Hashem,” Hazzan Hayoun said. “[A hazzan who loves Hashem] has the power to do it. I don’t know where this power is from, but he has the power.”
Both hazzanim openly admit to being nervous before High Holiday services; Hazzan Hayoun said that all cantors get nervous beforehand, and some work themselves up to the point of becoming ill.
“Nobody is coming in like Elvis Presley,” Hazzan Hayoun said. “The [nervousness] is also bringing you sensibility.” Kol Nidre and tradition
Singing Kol Nidre, perhaps one of the most recognizable High Holiday prayers, is a high point in a hazzan’s work (and often one of the most wellattended services of the year). When asked about the Kol Nidre melody, both hazzanim shared the same sentiment — it is not to be messed with.
“There are some hazzanim today that try to change [Kol Nidre], and I think that is very sad,” Hazzan Hayoun said. “You have to respect the rules… Who am I to change Kol Nidre? Who am I to change Unetaneh Tokef?”
“If you want to be fired really quickly, if you want to be let go from your pulpit really fast, change the tune to Kol Nidre,” Hazzan Ben-Yehuda said.
Like the tune of Kol Nidre, both hazzanim are adamant in their belief that although some things can be changed or even updated, there are certain prayers, melodies and traditions that should not be changed.
“Cantors and service leaders need to understand that there are melodies that are so integral to the experience of the holiday that when you change them, it doesn’t feel right anymore,” Hazzan Ben-Yehuda said. She also said that she is deeply grateful that the Beth Shalom congregation embraces the traditional prayers in Hebrew.
Cantorial philosophies
The two hazzanim both mentioned the importance of including the congregation in prayer.
“If you want to be a hazzan, work well and have the people be happy to have you, give the feeling that they are with you in tefilah,” Hazzan Hayoun said. “Don’t forget that behind you, you have people who want to sing with you, who love to sing with you, and listen to the melodies they’re used to.”
“I want to be able to reach out spiritually and lovingly, and musically touch every person in the room,” Hazzan Ben-Yehuda said. “It’s an insane goal, but it’s what I long for.”
“Synagogue is not an opera,” Hazzan Hayoun said. “Tefilah is not a show.”
Yom Kippur begins at 6:38 p.m. on Oct. 4.
Did you know 1 in 4 healthcare residents at Village Shalom have exhausted their financial resources, or have come to the community with no resources, and rely on the Financial Assistance Program for vital care and services?
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Village Shalom has never asked a resident to leave due to the inability to pay for the cost of their care.
The Village Shalom Financial Assistance Program can trace its origins back to a benevolent society formed in 1912. Today, thanks in part to charitable gifts and grant funding, Village Shalom provides $1.8 million annually in unfunded care. The annual Ages of Excellence campaign raises funds to make this care possible. All gifts, regardless of size, make an impact in the lives of Village Shalom residents.
1 in 4 of our healthcare residents experience peace of mind because of your generosity.
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Seth and Rachel Katz, Donna Gould Cohen, and Evan Luskin Ages 2022 Campaign Co-Chairs
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After working with two Hillels, Ben Novorr now oversees KCUSY, youth programs at Beth Shalom
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as he studied and became a bar mitzvah. Shortly after his bar mitzvah, the family moved from Lawrence to Burke, Virginia, where he was exposed to a large community of Jews. There he had his confirmation, joined youth groups, and worked as a madrich (youth leader) at religious school.
“[Working as a madrich] not only connected me with Judaism, but it also gave me the opportunity to teach, which always ended up being the highlight of my week,” he said. “I would say that without a doubt, Jewish programs that I was a part of were the part of my high school experience that made the biggest impact on me.”
Novorr cites his grandfather, Larry Gelb, as “the person who really instilled the importance of being a part of Jewish life.” Gelb served terms as president at B’nai Jehudah, Congregation Kol Ami and Temple Sinai. In 2016, he was awarded a Presidential Citation by President Barack Obama for a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his 10,000 hours of community volunteer work. Gelb passed away in June, but his impact on Novorr’s Jewish identity is evident.
“I had never seen anyone as dedicated to Jewish life as he was, and it made me place an extra emphasis on it as well,” he said.
Novorr taught religious school while he was attending Johnson County Community College and set his sights on becoming a Jewish professional. When he transferred to the University of Kansas, he became heavily involved with KU Hillel. Having been told when he was young that he should “contribute more than you consume,” he volunteered and interned in various roles at KU Hillel that addressed Israel programming, freshman engagement and strategic planning.
“Some of my closest friends in the world were ones that I met through Hillel,” he said, “and I can say without a doubt that my college experience would not have been anywhere close to as amazing as it was without KU Hillel.”
After graduation, his experience at KU Hillel led him to a job at Indiana University Hillel. There, he learned more about mentor-student relationships on the job. One of his most meaningful takeaways from his time there was learning to be as authentic as possible.
“I found that I was able to form really strong and meaningful relationships with my students because I was my true and complete self with them,” he said. “I was fiercely loyal to them, but equally as vulnerable. Those relationships are ones that to this day are so strong, and I find myself talking to Indiana students on a daily basis because of this.”
Even though Novorr enjoyed his position at IU Hillel, after a year in Indiana he missed working with children, teenagers and families, and he missed Kansas City.
“When I first heard about the director of youth and family programming position that was open at Beth Shalom, I quite frankly was a bit shocked that such a perfect position was available, and immediately threw my hat in the ring because it truly checked every single one of the boxes that I was looking for,” he said.
Novorr’s vision and ideas regarding youth engagement “were in total alignment” with those of Beth Shalom’s Rabbi David Glickman and Executive Director Stefanie Misler Williams.
Since accepting the job, he has formed strong partnerships with KCUSY teen leaders. One of his early accomplishments was helping facilitate the teens’ newest initiative, “Second Saturdays,” which brings the USY youth together on the second Saturday of each month. September’s event was “S’mores and Sloach” and featured a livestreamed Havdalah, s’mores and a song session.
“To say that I am so incredibly proud of all their hard work would be such an understatement,” Novorr said.
Novorr is passionate about his community, and is excited to be back in Kansas City.
“The Kansas City Jewish community set me on the path to living a Jewish life and becoming a Jewish professional,” he said. “I find myself both honored and humbled to not just be working to help strengthen a great Jewish community, but to be working to help strengthen [specifically] my Jewish community. I sure hope to make the Kansas City Jewish community proud.”
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Over 75,000 immigrants later, aliyah organization is about a lot more than charter flights
By Larry Luxner
JTA
This article was sponsored by and produced in partnership with Nefesh B’Nefesh, which in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah, The Jewish Agency, KKL and JNF-USA is minimizing the professional, logistical and social obstacles of aliyah, and has brought over 70,000 olim from North America for two decades. This article was produced by JTA’s native content team.
Erica Weintraub, 18, long had dreamed of immigrating to Israel and joining the Israel Defense Forces. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Weintraub got hooked on Israel from her first visit, when she came for a few weeks as a 9-year-old for her sister’s bat mitzvah.
“I kept reminding myself what that summer was like. For years, I would tell everyone that someday I’d go and fight for Israel,” Weintraub said. “After you do the army, you are officially a part of Israel — sort of like marrying into the family.”
Batshevah Nagel runs an Orthodox Jewish survival camp in the forests of Vermont along with her husband, Ian. Born and raised in Monsey, New York, Nagel, 33, has four children and just moved to Efrat, a religious town in the West Bank near Jerusalem.
“I’ve always wanted to live here,” Nagel said. “It’s a spiritual thing — being part of the Jewish people and returning to this place after the Holocaust and all the history we’ve been through.”
The two New Yorkers, who don’t know each other, were among 225 new immigrants on a recent charter flight that marked a milestone for immigration to Israel, or aliyah, from North America.
The flight was the 63rd charter flight organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh — the agency that coordinates aliyah from North America in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah & Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL) and Jewish National Fund-USA — and on board was the 75,000th immigrant Nefesh B’Nefesh has helped bring to Israel.
In the 20 years since its founding in 2002 by Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and American Jewish businessman and philanthropist Tony Gelbart, Nefesh B’Nefesh has expanded from functioning as a prescreener and coordinator of aliyah flights to a full-service immigration and absorption assistance organization. That starts with helping prospective immigrants sort out their paperwork and get their free flight to Israel to helping them once they arrive find places to work, friends and the right community.
For doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, Nefesh B’Nefesh works directly with Israel’s Health Ministry to streamline the medical licensing process and job placement. For fresh high school graduates considering staying on in Israel after a gap year, Nefesh B’Nefesh helps them explore various options available for Israeli national service, university study, IDF service and other opportunities. Young women who choose to serve in Israel’s national service are served by a Nefesh program called Ori, which provides them with support programming and bureaucratic assistance. Nefesh also supports so-called Lone Soldiers, who serve in the IDF without the support of family in Israel.
Nefesh B’Nefesh runs free co-working space for young professionals in Tel Aviv; hosts an Israel job board that links Israeli employers with English-speaking immigrants seeking jobs; coordinates a special program to encourage and support immigrants who choose to move to Israel’s peripheral north or south; and runs summer camps to help immigrant children get used to Hebrew and Israeli culture in a fun environment with lots of field trips.
“There’s a lot more going on at Nefesh than just bringing people here on planes,” said Marc Rosenberg, vice-president of Diaspora partnerships at Nefesh B’Nefesh.
Nefesh’s Institute for Aliyah Policy and Strategy advances systemic changes related to aliyah and proposes relevant legislation. Its Initiative for Zionist Innovation offers mentorship and financial grants for projects by olim that strengthen and improve local communities throughout Israel. Since Nefesh B’Nefesh opened its new Aliyah Campus in Jerusalem several months ago, thousands of people have come to events there.
“We’re trying to accentuate this meeting point for new immigrants
See NEFESH, PAGE 14
L’Shanah Tovah
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Nefesh B’Nefesh helping olim from North America
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and native-born Israelis to make sure their integration is more successful,” Rosenberg said.
This summer, some 2,000 new immigrants from North America arrived in Israel. Ranging in age from 2 months to 101 years, they included 494 families, 315 single people, 205 retirees and 626 children. Their main destinations were the cities of Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Modiin, Tel Aviv, Ra’anana and Netanya.
Samuel Leeman, 26, of Bath, Maine, one of 27 medical professionals on board the mid-August charter flight, was awarded the distinction of being named the 75,000th immigrant. An aspiring ophthalmologist, Leeman just started his second year of medical school at Beersheva’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
“It was really nice of them to name me the 75,000th oleh,” he said. “Being here as an immigrant —finally — feels surreal.”
Leeman’s two sisters and his parents are now in the process of making aliyah together, so he won’t be leaving his family behind. Olim often say being far from family is the single-biggest challenge of aliyah.
“It’s hard being away from family,” Rosenberg said. “But people make aliyah for very practical reasons. They know the weather is hot and Israelis can be pushy. They also know that if they come to Israel, they’ll miss out on family gatherings back home. The question is do they want to pay that price?”
Increasingly, the answer is yes, Rosenberg says. Last year marked a record-breaking year for immigration from North America, with 4,478 new immigrants — up more than 50% over the average of the last 10 years and the largest single-year number since 1973. Israel is experiencing a surge in aliyah due to increased opportunities for remote work that the pandemic wrought, according to Rosenberg.
“For many people, a big obstacle to aliyah is their professional careers, and now that you can work from home, suddenly that’s opened a door for many people that wasn’t there before,” he said.
Officials at Nefesh B’Nefesh discount the notion that antisemitism is pushing American or Canadian Jews to move to Israel, saying immigrants rarely bring it up in surveys.
Nagel, who ended up in Efrat, left a 130-acre farm in rural Vermont, where for the last 12 years she and her husband, a former New Jersey yeshiva administrator, have been running a wilderness survival camp for Orthodox Jewish kids.
“I’ve been doing freelance graphic design and marketing during the year, then camp during the summer,” she said. “We hope to spend summers in Vermont, where we can keep running the camp, and hopefully one day to open a similar camp in Israel.”
The family chose Efrat mainly because Nagel’s brother lives there, and because it has a large English-speaking community.
“Knowing my children, they needed a cushy landing. Also, many kids on our block speak English, so they can communicate with people easily,” she said. “But our goal is for everyone in the family to eventually speak fluent Hebrew.”
Weintraub already knows some Hebrew and plans to live at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu south of Beit Shean during her army service.
“No one in my family has ever lived in Israel,” she said, adding that her parents have known for years that this was her lifelong dream. “Although it’s sad I’m not going to be with them for the next few years, they’re happy for me. And hopefully they’ll follow me here one day.”
This story was edited for length. Head to kcjc.com for the full story.
commentary
The end of an era
WWW.KCJC.COM
By Rabbi Yitzchak Mizrahi Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City
An infrared thermometer, a pair of arm-length heat resistant gloves, a water kettle and maybe a salad spinner. These are some of the tools Bruce Daniels might use on an average day on the kosher beat. It’s hard to imagine the Vaad without the sure presence of our long-time mashgiach, field representative, consultant and all-round professional.
The Vaad HaKashruth of Kansas City predates Bruce’s role as a senior inspector, but not by much. Some might remember the early days of the Vaad, when its activities were limited, and local community rabbis conducted routine inspections at some bakeries and nearby facilities. As demand for kosher certification grew it became apparent that a dedicated professional was needed to keep up with our accounts and provide kosher expertise at communal events. A former cop, Officer Daniels was no stranger to compliance, and he was a natural fit for the enforcement of kosher regulations.
In every field and every workplace there is acceptable and there is exceptional. When seeking an attorney, they say that a good lawyer knows the law, but a great lawyer knows the judge. This makes all the difference in court. In the certification business an inspector is much more successful when there is a relationship with the client. If you were a fly on the wall observing Bruce conduct a routine inspection you might wonder whether an inspection is taking place at all. Chances are you would see a lot of camaraderie and maybe some friendly teasing – going both directions.
On occasion you might see the owner or quality assurance manager excited to show off a new piece of equipment or an improvement to the inventory system. But throughout the visit Bruce keeps a sharp eye to note any changes that might affect the kosher program in the factory. A full review of ingredients that enter the plant, the flow of production, segregation of dairy and pareve on the lines, through to packaging and labeling, is a lot to take in during a visit. Bruce’s experienced eye and affable manner makes it look easy.
Over the years Bruce has worked with many event spaces, helping to enable kosher dinners, galas, BBQs, kosher restaurant nights and family simchas. Probably half the chefs in town have worked with Bruce at one time or another, and they enjoy reminiscing about the challenges of adjusting to kosher requirements under Bruce’s helpful and firm guidance.
Hazards come with any job, be it carpal tunnel, falling objects or burns from hot equipment. Vaad work magnanimously offers opportunities for all hazards. Bruce has been the Vaad’s go-to man for difficult kosherization of equipment. Some items can be kashered by sterilizing them in a kettle of boiling water. Try kashering flatware in a 50-gallon steam kettle for 650 guests while staying free of any burns. And the blowtorch. What could possibly go wrong when using a 20-pound propane tank and an industrial torch?
The effects of these hazards are not limited to human victims. The various kitchen facilities at The J bear witness to the gentle hands Bruce applied over the years while kashering for Passover. There is a great opportunity for a scavenger hunt on the campus, with the objective of identifying all the burn marks around the edges of equipment, semi melted rubber pipes and silicone sealant that became disfigured from Bruce’s torch. Some might call it pyromania, but come on, we know better…
Commercial kitchens have systems installed that are designed to suppress and contain fires. Mendel Segal, former director of the Vaad, recalls when Bruce tripped the sprinkler system while kashering at an event space in the P&L District. The BRGR that was under Vaad supervision was drenched. On another occasion, while kashering a warming cabinet at a downtown hotel, the heat melted the temperature gauge, prompting a $1,500 repair bill to the Vaad. Jeff Goldenberg, then president of the Vaad board, had a sage and philosophical reaction, noting, “this is the price of doing business.”
Professionalism? Well, usually Bruce is the consummate professional, but not when it impedes customer service. Vaad board member Greg Quin remembers a time when multiple families jointly ordered some meat. The meat arrived in one big piece, not divided in portions. Bruce took the box home, sliced the meat in his kitchen and schlepped it all to the old kosher Subway where he weighed out the meat, apportioning it equally for the families who participated in the order. Bruce doesn’t remember this specific story, but when it came up in a conversation he shrugged and replied with a grin, “sounds like something I would do.”
After more than two decades of service to the Vaad, Bruce is taking a welldeserved retirement. This doesn’t mean the end of his work with the Vaad. No doubt we will call upon Bruce, needing his expertise to assist us with an event, or to connect to a client with whom Bruce has the relationship and experience built over decades. However, the Vaad will have to learn to manage dayto-day without the constant presence of its most stalwart personnel.
This is an end of an era for the Vaad, and we wish to express gratitude for the many years of dedicated service during which the Vaad operated on Bruce’s broad and generous shoulders.
