Are you an adult ready to study for your bar or bat mitzvah? Beth Torah
is offering a class for adults who would like a group experience in
being called to read from the Torah for the first time. The ceremony
will be part of Shabbat morning worship on Saturday, May 26, 2012
(Memorial Day weekend). Students will learn to read Hebrew and Torah
along with committing to other topics of Jewish study and a year of
congregational participation. The class will be taught primarily by
Sherrill Parkhurst, with Rabbi Levin and Rabbi Harris regularly
contributing. The class will meet Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning
September 14th. For more information contact Maureen Salz at
mosalz@kc.rr.com. This 35-week course of study costs $200, which includes all books, materials and fees.
Tikkun Olam – Focus on: Adult B’nai Mitzvah
Take eight adult students; mix various backgrounds and experiences, assign them the project of developing and executing a group social justice project while studying to become a b’nai mitzvah. For the eight of us, the decision to help Yachad, Kansas City’s Kosher Food Pantry was a given. Inspired by Sherrill Parkhurst, our Hebrew teacher and the head worker bee of Yachad, we embarked on a mission to make a difference in our community. Unlike other local food pantries, Yachad has no income guidelines and is open to anyone regardless of their religious affiliation. Through a generous gift card from Hy-Vee, 135th and Antioch, we were able to purchase 20 boxes of cereal. In addition Price Chopper-Watts Mill donated all left over Passover food to the pantry. Thanks to the members of our congregation we were able to sort and deliver a large amount of food through the Manischewitz Rock Can Roll food drive to the pantry. Furthermore, Manischewitz promised to match what was donated can for can to Yachad. A wonderful surprise and extraordinary donation in the amount of $350 was presented to Yachad by group member Sherry Abramowitz. Sherry won the money in a drawing sponsored by the Beth Torah gift shop and selected Yachad as the charity of her choice. Taking our project one step further, we asked family and friends to help us celebrate this very special simcha in our lives by bringing donations of coffee/tea, cookies or crackers for the pantry. We want to thank everyone for their help in making a difference in the lives of many others within our community. Yachad is a registered member of Harvesters-The Community Food Network and is located at 6201 Indian Creek Parkway, Overland Park, Kansas.