Obituaries

Phyllis Blander

Phyllis Blander passed away peacefully at her home in Overland Park, Kansas, on Monday, Sept. 5, 2022.

She was born on July 21, 1941, to Louis and Lillian Levy in Brooklyn, New York, where she attended Samuel J. Tilden High School. There she met and married Robert Blander, to whom she was married to for 63 years. They moved to and raised their two children in Los Angeles, California. Later, they moved to Kansas City to be close to grandchildren.

Phyllis and Robert owned an interior design store, later retiring to spend time scrapbooking, shopping and spending time with her bird, Casper. Her greatest pleasure in life was spending time with her husband, kids, and grandkids.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her son, Jeffrey Blander, and is survived by her husband, Robert; daughter and son-in-law, Bonnie and Steven Dean; and grandchildren Anthony Blander, Leah Dean, and Alexander Dean.

Graveside services were held on Sept. 8, 2022, at Rose Hill Cemetery, 6900 Troost Ave., Kansas City, MO 64131. To share a tribute with the family, visit louismemorialchapel.com. A Shiva service was held at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8 at the home of Steven and Bonnie Dean.

Stacey Michelle Singer

Stacey Michelle Singer, of Overland Park, Kansas, peacefully passed away on Sept. 16, 2022, at the age of 48. Born on May 1, 1974, she followed her own path in life and enjoyed the time spent with friends, family, and most of all, her pets. She will be dearly missed by all who loved her and will live on through their memories. ing competition held each summer in North America representing the second largest organized sports program for Jewish teenagers in the world. The 1997 Maccabi Games were the only time that this event had been held in Kansas City. He also served as a board member for the Menorah Heritage Foundation for a period of years. Over the past year, Bob was instrumental in the creation of Maddie’s Mission, a nonprofit committed to supporting families in the Kansas City area with children living with Angelman Syndrome and other complex medical needs in honor of his granddaughter, Maddie. He was also a long-time member of Congregation Beth Torah.

Apart from his professional and civic contributions, Bob was a devoted family member and a trusted friend to many. He enjoyed a variety of passions. He was a life-long fan, and sometimes critic, of KU basketball, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals. He and wife, Jeanne, frequently attended performances at Starlight, Quality Hill Playhouse, The Theater League, The White Theatre and Van Wezel. Bob was an avid traveler, always looking forward to new adventures, both domestically and abroad. Bob cherished sunsets with friends and family either at Lake Lotawana, Missouri, or in Siesta Key, Florida. Through their morethan-48 years of marriage, Bob and Jeanne shared a love for golden retrievers, and Bob will be missed by their two dogs – Cooper and Charlie.

Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Morris and Edna, and his brother, Howard. He is survived by his wife, Jeanne; his children, Andrew Shaw (Laura Hall), Laura Sargent (Patrick Sargent), and Stacey Shaw; his brother, Irwin Shaw (Sara Shaw); Howard’s wife, Irene; his five grandchildren, Colin, Kellie, Maddie, Ethan and Hannah; and many loving members of the extended family.

A funeral service was held on Sept. 18 at Congregation Beth Torah.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Maddie’s Mission (themiraculousmissmaddie.com/) or a charity of one’s choice.

Stacey is survived by her mother, Sandy Curtis; father, Bruce (Frances) Singer; brother, Adam (Jessica) Singer; sister, Danielle Singer; uncles, Ross Singer and Scott (Barbara) Hecht; and aunt, Michelle (Neal) Deutch. Stacey will also be missed by her close friends Vincent and Gloria Amador and Howard Snitkoff.

The family requests no flowers or plants and asks that donations in Stacey’s memory be given to one of the following charities:

KC Pet Project (kcpetproject.org/donate/) or send to Kansas City Pet Project, 7077 Elmwood Ave, Kansas City, MO 64132.

Kansas City Hospice House (kchospice.org/donation/) or send to KCHPC, 9001 State Line Rd, Suite 300, Kansas City, MO 64114.

Robert G. Shaw

Robert G. Shaw (“Bob”) passed away on Sept. 10, 2022, at his home from complications related to pancreatic cancer. At the time of his passing, Bob was surrounded by his close family.

Bob was born on Oct. 26, 1950, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Morris and Edna Shaw. He graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in 1968. In 1972, Bob graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree, and in 1974, he received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Kansas.

Following college, Bob worked for Arthur Andersen for several years before joining Winning Ways, a small apparel company based out of Lenexa, Kansas, which later became Gear for Sports. Bob worked at Gear for Sports for over 25 years, eventually serving as the Chief Financial Officer, and helping the company grow from a small business to approximately 1,000 employees. After leaving Gear for Sports, Bob was the Chief Executive Officer of MC Flooring, based out of Mission, Kansas.

In addition to his professional life, Bob was active in the Kansas City community. Bob completed his term as President of the Jewish Community Campus board in August 2022. In addition to his tenure on the Campus board, Bob served on The J KC board for nine years and he was a current Board of Advisor for The J KC. In 1997, he chaired the Kansas City Maccabi Games, the Olympic-style sport-

First digital translation of Mishneh Torah interconnected with Jewish texts goes online

JNS

A complete English translation of the Mishneh Torah interconnected with other Jewish texts is being digitally offered for the first time ever by the nonprofit organization Sefaria, which digitizes and shares Jewish texts for free in Hebrew along with translations and commentaries.

“We are so excited for learners to dive into this rich text and share their reflections with each other and the world,” said Sara Wolkenfeld, Sefaria’s chief learning officer. “For the Jewish people, our texts are our collective inheritance. They belong to everyone and we want them to be available to everyone, in the public domain or with creative commons licenses.”

The Mishneh Torah, authored by the medieval Torah scholar Maimonides, commonly known as the Rambam, between 1170 and 1180, while he lived in Egypt, consists of 14 books and is a major code of Jewish religious law. Users can access it on Sefaria’s website and through the Sefaria app.

The translation provided by Sefaria was completed between 1986 and 2007 by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger. The text on the Sefaria website comes with Hebrew commentaries; interlinking to other religious texts, to help readers understand the work; and topic tagging so they can research related ideas that interest them.

The Sefaria website also allows users to create shareable source sheets that incorporate religious texts from Sefaria’s catalog with their own commentary.

Sefaria is used by more than 500,000 people each month, including students, educators and scholars.

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