Members vote for synagogue to become Modern Orthodox and to affiliate with Orthodox Union
By Marshall Weiss The Observer
As of Nov. 10, Beth Jacob Congregation now identifies as a Modern Orthodox synagogue, with separate seating for men and women on either side of a mechitzah (physical divider).
That was the day its members voted for the synagogue to affiliate with the Orthodox Union, an umbrella organization that supports a network of more than 400 synagogues in the United States.
Since Beth Jacob moved to its current building at 7020 N. Main St. in Harrison Township in 1980, men and women have been able to sit next to each other, although congregational services have always been led by men only.
in the Dayton area.
Beth Jacob is now the second Orthodox Jewish organization here to offer worship services with a mechitzah, along with Chabad of Greater Dayton in Oakwood.
In a letter to congregants after the Nov. 10 vote, Beth Jacob's board wrote that "an overwhelming majority of those present and mailin ballots voted to make this change to reactivate our OU membership."
2000s, the synagogue offered some separate seating on opposite sides in the rear of the main sanctuary, and a mechitzah in a second service held in Beth Jacob's library.
Beth Jacob began the process of long-term planning, including consulting the OU, about a year ago.
From that point until this fall, Beth Jacob called itself a "Traditional" synagogue.
In the mid-1990s and into the
A mechitzah would also be set up in the main sanctuary and small chapel when Orthodox guest speakers visited the shul.
Occasionally, Beth Jacob in that era would hold a separate service for women only, led by women.
The congregational vote sets Beth Jacob apart as the only Modern Orthodox synagogue
Llama Must I spell it out for you?
Beth Jacob Vice President Lisa Harlan, Secretary Helen Halcomb, and board member Jese Shell wrote in a statement for The Observer that the change will provide Beth Jacob with the greatest opportunity for growth and expansion.
"The board, and now the members have spoken as well, and agree that our best future direction would be to become Modern Orthodox to attract those looking for an Ashkenazi, Modern Orthodox congregation."
My Jewish Learning describes Modern Orthodoxy as attempting "to harmonize traditional observance of Jewish law within modern life," and that it endorses secular academic studies.
According to Harlan, Halcomb, and Shell's statement, Continued on Page Four
Even in Hebrew, there's more than one acceptable way to spell Chanukah.
Why should we expect just one standard phonetic spelling for the festival in English? At The Observer, we adhere to Associated Press style, mostly. We do make exceptions. A major one: we call terrorists just that. A minor one: AP goes with the spelling Hanukkah. So does Merriam-Webster, AP's first reference dictionary. More than a few years ago, JTA, our main service for global Jewish news, switched to Hanukkah, too. I hold fast to my Ch. Yes, the H ensures people can't mispronounce the Ch as in cha-cha. But as long as English speakers can handle challah and Chabad, I'll stick with Chanukah. Other spellings of Chanukah pop up on our pages now and then, if it's spelled another way in the title of a book, movie, TV show or work of music. Advertisers are welcome to use their favorite spellings. Most important is the meaning of the word: dedication or rededication, in this case, of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 164 B.C.E. However you like to spell it, may the festival bring you much happiness.
Continued from Page Three
Beth Jacob began the process of longterm planning, including consulting the OU, about a year ago.
"In order to take advantage of OU resources, we determined that we needed to become a Modern Orthodox congregation with any changes it would entail."
The statement goes on to say that other than separated mechitzah seating for men and women, the OU requires no other changes to the shul.
Back to its roots
Beth Jacob membership's decision to become Orthodox is a return to the nearly 150-year-old synagogue's roots.
In 1875, two years after Dayton's first and only Jewish congregation (now Temple Israel) formally identified with the Reform movement, it also switched to egalitarian seating and an egalitarian choir.
This was the year three of Dayton's Jews — Leonard Boutelege, Jacob Wolf, and Julius Wolf — formed House of Jacob Synagogue.
With the great wave of Eastern European Jewish immigration to America beginning in 1881, Beth Jacob would become the synagogue of Dayton's Orthodox Jews, who had fled persecution across the Russian Empire.
The statement from Beth Jacob leaders to The Observer also noted that the synagogue has always maintained its OU membership, but "didn't continue to utilize or seek out OU services and programming."
Beth Jacob's part-time rabbi, Leibel Agar, is not required to receive OU approval to continue in his role.
Agar, who has served Beth Jacob for five years, received his Orthodox rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Shomrei Tzedek in England under the auspices of Rabbi Yitzchak Aldman.
Beth Jacob will receive numerous benefits from the OU as a Modern Orthodox congregation: relocation services for new synagogue members, a pipeline to hire a cantor for the High Holidays, workshops, Shabbatons, and leadership assistance.
The Beth Jacob statement added that the OU works with small congregations on board and volunteer training, growth initiatives, member engagement programs, member outreach, OU Women's Initiative, and programming for teenagers and Jews with special needs.
A second Orthodox synagogue, Beth Abraham, formed in 1894 for Jews from Lithuania. It's now the Dayton area's only Conservative synagogue.
In the 1880s and 1890s, terms such as "Orthodox," "Traditionalist," and "Conservative" were used interchangeably for what is now called Orthodox Judaism.
The leaders of these "non-Reform" Jews in the United States established the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in 1886 and the Orthodox Union, also in New York, in 1898.
JTS and the OU parted ways in the years after Rabbi Solomon Schechter arrived from England to lead JTS in 1902. JTS would become the flagship institution of the Conservative Jewish movement, which would eliminate mechitzah use in the 1920s. By the 1940s, the Conservative movement officially allowed egalitarian seating.
Beth Jacob Congregation permitted egalitarian seating in its worship services as far back as 1974, in its previous location on Kumler Avenue in Dayton View.
Prior to that, men and women sat separately there, divided by a middle aisle. As was common among Orthodox synagogues in the Midwest going back to the 1950s, there was no mechitzah separating the sexes.
Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555
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Beth Jacob currently has 41 primary in-town memberships, approximately 6% of in-town memberships of all seven Jewish congregations across the Dayton area. In 2015, Beth Jacob had 86 primary in-town memberships, 9.4% of the area total.
Overall, primary in-town Jewish congregation memberships across the Dayton area decreased 14.8% from 2015 to 2023.
"Our membership has spoken and indicated that they are willing to make the move to become a Modern Orthodox congregation and be affiliated with OU in order to bring the resources that they have to offer to the Beth Jacob Congregation and our Dayton Jewish community," the leadership statement to The Observer said.
"While change can be difficult and emotional, our family of congregants recognized this and voted to make a change that will positively impact the future of Beth Jacob and its continued presence in the Dayton area. This change also opens new possibilities to connect our members to the greater Orthodox Jewish community and allows Beth Jacob an opportunity to network with and engage with new partners in the Jewish world.
"Although our congregation is Modern Orthodox, we welcome all Jews regardless of their affiliation. Our congregation is inclusive and non-judgmental and warmly welcomes anyone wishing to observe, learn, and enjoy Judaism regardless of background or personal level of observance."
The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 29, No. 3. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.
Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Acceptance of advertising neither endorses advertisers nor guarantees kashrut.
The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement
To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by providing a forum and resource for Jewish community interests.
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• To encourage affiliation, involvement and communication.
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• To build community across institutional, organizational and denominational lines.
• To advance causes important to the strength of our Jewish community including support of Federation agencies, its annual campaign, synagogue affiliation, Jewish education and participation in Jewish and general community affairs.
• To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life.
Henry Guggenheimer
Henry Guggenheimer, who escaped Nazi Germany at age 12 in 1940 with his widowed mother, died Nov. 7. He was 96. Born in Stuttgart, he and his mother traveled through Eastern Europe and ultimately by freighter from Japan to San Francisco. He attended high school in Lima, Ohio, was drafted into the U.S. Army, served in Japan with the occupation force, and saw combat in Korea.
Guggenheimer had managed seven Shoe Corporation of America retail stores, then worked for Elder-Beerman department stores, managing several of its shoe departments.
In Dayton, he was an active member of Jewish War Veterans Post #587 and a docent for Prejudice and Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit, on permanent display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
“Whenever they need me, I come over and lead the tours around,” Guggenheimer told The Observer in a 2017 interview.
“I give them a talk, we lead them around through the exhibit, and we give them our own story, what happened to us, and they ask questions. They always thank me for giving the talk."
In 2022, his video testimony was added to the Faces of the Holocaust series produced by Renate Frydman, the Dayton Holocaust Resource Center, and Wright State University.
Temple Beth Or will host its Annual Artisan Fair and Brisket Lunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 8.
Along with artisan crafts available for purchase, the congregation will sell eat-in and take-home brisket sandwiches and combo platters.
Brisket by the pound and half-pound containers of chopped chicken liver will also be available for purchase.
Temple Beth Or is located at 5275 Marshall Rd., Washington Township. For more information and to preorder, go to templebethor.com.
West Carrollton Talk, a private Facebook group, pulled down this post the day it was posted, Nov. 7, and suspended the group member who posted it.
An administrator of the private Facebook group, West Carrollton Talk, confirmed with The Observer that he pulled down an anti-gay, anti-Jewish post hours after it was posted on the morning of Nov. 7, and that he suspended the group member who had posted it.
The former group member, Matt Bingham, had posted, "What time do we start rounding up the gays and jews and is anyone bringing potato salad yet?"
The private group was created in August 2016; it has 15,371 members. Over the past month, members posted 1,932 times.
Its "About this group" section states: "This page was established and is managed the way it is. Nobody’s opinion of how it’s ran is going to change that. If you don’t like it, you can leave the group the same way you came in. There’s also the option of creating your own group and
running it however you see fit."
Adding confusion to the Nov. 7 hate post at the private West Carrollton Talk group, is the presence of a public Facebook group with the same name. It has no connection to the private group.
Anti-Defamation League Regional Board Member Sam Dorf, who represents the Dayton area, shared the post with ADL's regional office. ADL Regional Director Kelly Fishman told The Observer she shared the post with the ADL Center on Extremism and the Ohio Regional Intelligence Center (ORIC).
The Cleveland Jewish News describes ORIC as "a statewide strategic program designed to seek out pertinent security-related information and provide timely and relevant alerts, warnings, and notifications to Jewish community leaders throughout Ohio." — Marshall Weiss
Join Beth Jacob as we celebrate Hanukkah together on Saturday, December 28th, 6:30-8:30 PM
Our evening will begin with Havdalah and lighting the menorah (please bring your own menorah and candles) followed by Jewish Dancing with Jennifer Mollenhauer, dance instructor of 20 years. She will teach us some Hanukkah and popular Jewish-themed dances.
An alternative activity will be making cards for the IDF soldiers and local Jewish Veterans.
Light refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP by Monday, December 23.
By Marshall Weiss
The Observer
Boston-based attorney Doug Hauer says he and his spouse of 30 years, Jack, were "100-percent destroyed" when Jack's family in Israel called them at 4 in the morning, Oct. 7, 2023.
"His entire family is in Israel," says Doug, who was born and raised in Dayton. "And we lived in Israel at different points. We had a home in Israel and we're very tied to Israel. I also happen to be Israeli. I'm American Israeli."
Hamas terrorists from Gaza had infiltrated Israel, murdered more than 1,200 people there, and took 254 people hostage through its vast network of underground tunnels.
Israel estimates 97 of those abducted — living and dead — remain in captivity.
"I was pulled in by multiple forces in Israel to assist families with legal issues they were facing in the United States, specifically families of hostages or people presumed to have been taken on Oct. 7," Doug says.
The corporate, government affairs, and crisis management lawyer led the project to bring a Gaza tunnel simulation exhibit to Washington, D.C.'s National Mall, first from March 16 to 21, and most recently, Nov. 10 to
13. By coincidence, the exhibit coincided with the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly, also in Washington, Nov. 10 to 12.
The Hamas tunnel simulation in a repurposed shipping container is a duplicate of one that hostages' families had set up in front of the United Nations Office in Geneva in February.
Doug played an integral role with that project, too. "I led a hunger strike for 36 hours in Geneva with a group of rabbis — liberal rabbis — who came from Israel and the United States. And we were there with the families of the women hostages."
He says families of the hostages who were released in November 2023 weighed in on creative aspects of the tunnel simulation.
"This exhibit gives you a glimpse for 30 seconds or so of what hostages may experience. It is jarring to be in the dark space. The sound is taken from Hamas body cameras that were recovered.
"And I think the message, unfortunately — release the hostages — is still relevant, and people need to know and understand."
Doug notes that the Inter-
national Committee of the Red Cross headquarters is located near the U.N.'s Geneva office.
Israel's government has lambasted the ICRC since October 2023 for its inability to meet with the hostages from Israel and to provide them with medicine. This includes hostages who aren't Jewish and hostages from other countries.
In September, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Hamas for not allowing the ICRC to visit the hostages in Gaza.
"The International Red Cross
visited every single American hostage in Iran," Doug says.
"By April 1980, there was an effort made by the Red Cross to bend their own rules to meet the demands of the Iranian students to visit and speak physically in person with each hostage."
He's spoken with Israeli hostages' parents who have taken medication to Geneva to deliver to the ICRC for their children.
"They have been ignored. To say that they're sick with worry is an understatement. It's been
a shattering experience for Israelis and for these families."
From Geneva, the tunnel simulation was exhibited across Europe: in Budapest, Bucharest, Paris, in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, and in several locations across Germany.
Doug knew he wanted to duplicate the exhibit in the United States. He worked with a group of Israelis from Maryland to make it happen.
It was also on display Aug. 18 to 20 at Boston's City Hall Continued on Page Eight
Continued from Page Seven
Plaza. "There was tremendous pressure on me by the police in Boston and the city to take the exhibit and put it in a Jewish space. I refused to allow this exhibit to go to a synagogue parking lot or to the JCC or Combined Jewish Philanthropies. We spent four months on the permitting."
The cost for around-the-clock security for the exhibit in Boston was about $50,000.
"We had city officials, state officials, leaders from industry, universities go through. And the most common response to us was, 'I didn't realize how terrible the situation really is.'"
The tunnel simulation was also on display at the Israeli Embassy in Washington this Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas massacre. "We took Pentagon and military as well as diplomatic staff through the exhibit," Doug says.
Israelis Ruby and Hagit Chen visited the tunnel simulation at the National Mall on Nov. 11. Hamas abducted their 19-year-old son, Itay, on Oct. 7, 2023. He was serving in the Israel Defense Forces tanks division.
"He was at a base on the border of Gaza, protecting the
civilians, the kibbutz on the border," Ruby tells The Observer. "We listened to the black box of that tank, and they went into battle and they saved many, many, many lives of the Jewish people. And at the end, they were basically outnumbered. And we've been living in this hell for over 400 days."
In March, the IDF and CIA told Ruby and Hagit that Hamas had killed Itay — a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen — on Oct. 7, 2023 and holds his body in Gaza.
"But we actually question that," Ruby says. "And nobody knows for sure what his status is, or the others. And he's one of the seven U.S. citizens."
An international businessman who is frequently in the United States, Ruby heads the U.S. bureau of the Nongovernmental organization he and other parents of hostages established to advocate on their children's behalf.
Along with a legal team, the NGO has a psychological support team.
Hagit says that for the hostages' family members, no coping mechanisms lessen the agony. "We just do what we have to, to survive," she says.
The Chens have relationships with the White House, the Senate, the House, media outlets, and Jewish and non-Jewish organizations. "We have always kept this a bipartisan issue," Ruby says. They met with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on
Nov. 13 and then gave CNN an interview. The next day, they returned to the White House for their third meeting with President Joe Biden, along with the other families of Americans who are still held hostage.
Ruby says the leading Jewish organizations in the United States don't advocate for the hostages to the U.S. government as much as he believes they should, "but even more so to the Israeli government, and explain to the Israeli government that this is a top priority for the U.S. Jewish community."
"I would hope your community would also be able to advocate that — even inside of the AIPACs and the JFNAs — as well as those that have relationships with the Israeli government, saying that is unacceptable: 400 days Jewish brothers and sisters are being held against their
will in dungeons in Gaza."
Ruby doesn't think most people in the United States know that Hamas murdered 46 U.S. citizens on Oct. 7, 2023.
Doug Hauer says hostage fatigue has set in with the major Jewish organizations here.
"The biggest problem I see is that Jewish leadership needs to take risks and centralize this issue, even if it makes people uncomfortable, even if it makes the Israeli government uncomfortable, even it if makes certain organizations or political leaders uncomfortable."
He says he'll leave the law next year to become a Reform rabbi at Hebrew Union College in New York. "Oct. 7 certainly shaped a lot of my thinking because the anti-Zionism and the antisemitism that we've seen has been nothing short of shocking to me."
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Wishing You A Happy Chanukah
Before Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly in Washington, D.C., the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton hosted a mini mission to the nation's capital, Nov. 8-10. Participants visited the new Capital Jewish Museum, attended the Friday night Shabbat service at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, toured the Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Collection on exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library, visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and attended the Stand Together pro-Israel rally at Nationals Park sponsored by JFNA and the Conference of Presi-
dents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Shown here in front of the Rose Exhibition Hall at the Folger (L to R): JFS Exec. Dir. Tara Feiner, Federation Past Pres. Dr. Gary Youra and Mary Youra, Federation Marketing Mgr. Jordan Farkane, community members Natalia and Michael Futoryansky, Federation Pres. Dan Sweeny and Federation Exec. Dir. of Dev. & Strategy Janese Sweeny, JCC Exec. Dir. Marc Jacob, Federation Dev. Dir. Lidia Zambilovici, Federation CEO Cathy Gardner, and Dayton Jewish Observer Editor & Publisher Marshall Weiss.
Enrollment for pre-K through 6th grade for the 2025-26 school year opens January 1! Schedule a private tour to learn about our STEAM-based curriculum and focus on educating and nurturing the whole child through Jewish
A dozen people marched in the display, one week after a similar neo-Nazi march in Michigan.
By Andrew Lapin, JTA
Around a dozen masked individuals marched in Columbus' Short North neighborhood on Saturday, Nov. 16 carrying Nazi flags and hurling antisemitic and racist rhetoric, earning condemnation from a broad range of officials including the White House and Gov. Mike DeWine.
The display came only a week after another neo-Nazi gathering in Michigan outside a community theatre production of The Diary of Anne Frank
The marches exacerbated fears among Jewish groups and others that the reelection of President Donald Trump may trigger an increase in White supremacist activity.
“I’m sorry the Presidentelect has emboldened these
Why neo-Nazis march almost every weekend in the U.S. ..........................Page 14
creeps,” tweeted Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, a Democrat.
“This community rejects their pathetic efforts to promote fear and hate.”
A White House spokesperson condemned the march as a “sickening display” and said President Joe Biden “abhors the hateful poison of Nazism, antisemitism, and racism.”
“We will not tolerate hate in Ohio,” DeWine said in a statement published on social
media. “Neo-Nazis — their faces hidden behind red masks — roamed streets in Columbus today, carrying Nazi flags and spewing vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews.”
Referring to what he said were reports that the group was “also espousing White power sentiments,” DeWine continued, “There is no place in this state for hate, bigotry, antisemitism, or violence, and Continued on Page 12
We have the catering, delivery & delicious food to make your holiday celebration easy!
Continued from Page 11
we must denounce it wherever we see it.”
Some members of the group were armed, and at least one member sprayed pepper spray at spectators, according to the Columbus Dispatch
Police detained several people on the scene in response to reports of a physical altercation but later told reporters they “determined that an assault did not take place and all of the individuals were released.”
Police had separately told the Columbus Jewish News that physical altercations “broke out, stopped and then broke out again.”
National Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee condemned the march, with AJC regional director Lee Shapiro calling it “another sad example of the
bigotry that we have witnessed across the country.”
The Columbus Jewish federation and Jewish Community Relations Council also condemned the march, telling the Jewish News they were “disgusted by the reprehensible display of hate.”
The rally was also condemned by the city’s Democratic mayor and by its Democratic city attorney, Zach Klein.
“Columbus embraces diversity of opinions, religions, backgrounds and everything that makes us special, but we will never embrace hate. Take your flags and the masks you hide behind and go home and never come back. Your hate isn’t welcome in our city,” Klein said in a statement. “I stand with our Jewish friends and all those who continue to be targeted by bias and hate. I’ll always have your back.”
Also over that weekend, hundreds of people in a Philadelphia suburb turned
up outside a public library to protest a Nazi flag that had been flown briefly outside a private residence in Whitpain Township.
Following media attention, the homeowners replaced the swastika flag with an American flag, according to CBS News.
A similar, though much smaller, rally had taken place in the state capital of Harrisburg, in August, following a neo-Nazi demonstration there.
“The thing that scared me about this is that someone was willing, in their neighborhood, to put out a Nazi flag because that says something about them,” Lynne Krause, president of the newly formed non-denominational synagogue Darchei Noam in nearby Ambler, told CBS about the Whitpain Nazi flag. “They felt so at comfort to let people know, ‘This is what I believe.’ ...White supremacy, Nazi stuff, it’s on the rise, and I think it’s unfortunate.”
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Neo-Nazis with swastika flags have marched in Ohio, outside a Michigan production of The Diary of Anne Frank and at Disney World in Florida.
By Benyamin Cohen, The Forward
About a dozen neo-Nazis marched Nov. 16 through Columbus' Short North neighborhood, waving swastika flags. The march was just the latest of hundreds of such rallies held across the nation in the past two years.
“Almost every single weekend, White supremacists are rallying in some neighborhood,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the AntiDefamation League’s Center on Extremism.
The group’s data found 282 such events in 2023. Last summer alone, there were 64 White supremacist events across 25 states.
The regularity with which they happen can both numb and instill fear in Jewish communities.
Segal said they are not part of a rising trend of antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, but have been occurring since 2016, “around the time of the first Trump administration.”
August 2017 in Charlottesville, Va. Called the “Unite the Right” rally, it was organized to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general. Among the hundreds of attendees were a who’s who of extremists, including far-right militias, Klansmen, neo-Nazis and Richard Spencer, a supporter of then-President Donald Trump and a college friend of Trump adviser and incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
The following day turned violent when rallygoers clashed with counterprotesters.
group marching with assault rifles across from Springfield Police headquarters on N. Fountain Ave., Aug. 10 was posted at numerous social media sites and at stopantisemitism.org.
He said these rallies are usually organized by small groups hoping to get attention online, where they can attract new recruits.
Additionally, the marches are sometimes the result of a turf war, almost a “soap opera” between competing White supremacist groups, as likely happened in Columbus.
Antisemitic neoNazi marches happen all the time.
Dozens were injured and a White supremacist rammed his car into counterprotesters, killing one.
In a news conference afterwards, Trump famously said, “you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”
Last summer alone, there were 64 White supremacist events across 25 states.
While White supremacist rallies are frequent, “that doesn’t mean it’s not a concern,” Segal said. “But having small groups of White supremacists show up in a community, march through town with swastikas and other hateful symbols is actually quite normal in this country.”
The neo-Nazi march that had the most lasting impact was the one in
These marches are mostly organized by small groups.
Marches similar to the one in Columbus — led by a small group hoping to cause a big ruckus — are what the ADL sees on a regular basis. For example: on Saturday Nov. 9, outside a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank in Michigan; outside the Broadway theatre housing the Tony-winning Parade, a musical about antisemitism; and multiple times in front of Disney World in Orlando.
JTA reported that the Nazi group protesting at the site of The Diary of Anne Frank play in Michigan wore masks emblazoned with the White su-
premacist symbol “1488.” They then left and protested in the nearby village of Fowlerville, Mich., waving American flags alongside swastikas. In Fowlerville, a witness told local reporters he heard them chanting, “Heil Hitler and Heil Trump.”
Videos of the events are shared quickly online. 'This is what they want.'
“I don’t think these groups are cooperating in
Sometimes these marches are held to start a turf war.
The dozen or so marchers in Columbus Nov. 16 belong to a newly formed White supremacist group based out of St. Louis, Segal said. A rival group is based in Ohio.
“Essentially, this was perhaps part of a turf war,” Segal said. He called it a “soap opera amongst White supremacists,” where one group “is trying to antagonize another by showing up in their area.”
The marches tend to co-opt current events.
During the height of the presidential election cam-
paign this summer, the focus turned to Springfield, Ohio, after vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance, a senator from the state, repeated a debunked claim that Haitian immigrants there were eating pets.
During a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump repeated the claim and shortly afterwards, five different White supremacist groups — all sharing an anti-immigration ideology — descended on Springfield, Segal said.
“These groups take their cues from the public discussion,” he said. “We’ve also seen, since Oct. 7, White supremacists adopt anti-Israel slogans as well. They’re always going to try to exploit the news and a crisis in
Continued on Page 16
Working together to bene t our community, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton was formed to preserve the dignity of our three Jewish cemeteries in perpetuity. But consolidating the administration and operations of these properties is more than a good business strategy. It’s the ultimate act of tzedakah.
of Transformational and Inclusive Excellence wishes Jewish community members and friends Chag Sameach during this time of celebration.
at’s why we created an endowment organization to maintain the sanctity, integrity, and perpetuity of Beth Abraham, Beth Jacob, and Temple Israel cemeteries.
Judaism teaches us that honoring, respecting, and caring for a person who has died is one of our greatest mitzvot.
Visiting a cemetery expresses respect for the departed, reinforces our connections with them, and shows that their memory has not been forgotten. Join us in this sacred e ort to preserve the eternal homes of the generations that came before us, care for our hometown Jewish community, and look out for future generations who will need our care.
Donations can be made to Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton 525 Versailles Drive, Dayton, OH 45459 or scan the QR Code below to donate on our website.
Continued from Page 15
order to get attention.”
The events are meant to be quick and newsy.
The rallies are usually not announced in advance; a spontaneous gathering is less likely to draw local authorities or counterprotesters.
“They’re quick: get people in and out,” Segal said. “It’s to create imagery and propaganda that then has an impact well beyond the community that they target.”
Videos of the events are quickly shared online. “This is what they want,” he said. “One of their ultimate goals is to get this attention. If there was no social media, we would not probably see as many of these rallies.”
Segal said news organizations should consider whether or not to publish the names of the small groups behind the marches because it could “potentially give oxygen” to them.
For its part, the ADL has sections on its website devoted to each of these groups, because it believes that “sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Segal said, even though some of these groups may see it as a badge of honor to be profiled by the ADL.
These groups are all “very similar in terms of not only their beliefs, but their tactics,” Segal said. “But we don’t really have the luxury to call them rinky dink.”
He explained that these small marches are used to recruit people online.
daytonjewishcemeteries.org Preserving Our Past Ensuring Our Future
“You never know who online is going to see what they do and say, ‘Oh, I need to not only be part of this, but take it to the next level.’”
He said this is what led to the mass shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh (2018) and Poway, Calif. (2019), and at supermarkets in El Paso (2019) and Buffalo (2022).
None of the shooters “were card-carrying members of any of these alphabet soup of groups, but they subscribed to the exact same ideology,” Segal said.
“Hundreds of these types of events, even as small as they are, are just normalizing the hatred of Jews and other minority communities. And there are consequences to that.”
Benyamin Cohen is news director at the Forward.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2 - 4PM
CABS – Julie Satow, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue – Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 8:45 - 11AM Jewish Dayton at the Foodbank
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 10AM - 12PM
JFS Mitzvah Mission – IN PERSON!
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29, 11:30AM - 1PM JCC Chanukah Brunch
Connect with us! Check out our events. For more information, check out our calendar at jewishdayton.org.
Congratulations to Lidia Zambilovici, Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton External Relations Director for her acceptance to the 2025 JFNA Executive Accelerator program. This is a huge honor for both Lidia and the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.
Jewish Federations of North America proudly announces the second cohort of the Jewish Federations’ Executive Accelerator, a year-long selective program designed to equip high-potential professional leaders in the Jewish Federation system with the resources, network and coaching to competently and confidently grow toward their first or their next executive role.
Thanks to a generous investment from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, Executive Accelerator participants will grow their leadership presence and capacities. The program combines monthly professional development opportunities, applied learning within their local Federations, site visits to other Federations to study best practices in their desired areas of focus, Jewish learning, and coaching. Upon completion of the program, participants join the Accelerator Alumni network, a ording them access to ongoing resources and continued learning and skill building.
Sunday, December 29
11:30AM – 1PM at the Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, 45459
Join the JCC, Jewish War Veterans Post 587 and Hadassah to celebrate Chanukah! There will be Chanukah songs, door prizes, and musical entertainment by Steve Wyke and Marc Gilbert.
$20 includes entertainment and kosher lunch: fresh salad with dressing, tuna salad, egg salad, potato latkes, sour cream and applesauce, bagels, cream cheese, fresh fruit salad, donuts, co ee, and tea.
Register online by December 20 at jewishdayton.org/events or call 937-610-1555.
Questions? Contact Stacy Emo at 937-610-5513 or semo @jfgd.net.
Jewish Community Center OF
Ready for the holiday? PJ has you covered. Candles, dreidels, gelt, and more!
Reserve your bag at jewishdayton.org/events
One bag per family. Pick up the week of December 16.
Questions? Contact Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net.
Sunday, December 8 at 2PM
In partnership with Wright Memorial Public Library & Hadassah
Wright Memorial Public Library (1776 Far Hills Avenue, Oakwood 45419)
No Cost
Books available for purchase and book signing at event
Julie Satow, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion
When Women Ran Fifth Avenue by Julie Satow explores the dynamic and transformative period of the early 20th century when women began to assert their influence on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. The book delves into the lives of pioneering women who challenged societal norms, shaped fashion, and left an indelible mark on one of the world’s most famous streets. Through rich historical detail and vivid storytelling, Satow brings to life the social, cultural, and economic impact these trailblazing women had on the heart of Manhattan.
Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 7 PM via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home!
No Cost
Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate
Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath’s book, #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate, delves into the alarming rise of antisemitism in contemporary society. Through a compelling blend of personal narrative, historical context, and social analysis, Meinrath explores how this age-old hatred has reemerged in new forms, particularly in the digital age. The book sheds light on the pervasive impact of antisemitism on Jewish youth, examining how they navigate their identities and safety in a world increasingly marked by intolerance. Meinrath’s work is both a poignant memoir and a critical examination of a pressing social issue, providing a crucial perspective on the challenges facing the Jewish community today.
Thursday, January 30, 2025 at 7 PM via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! No Cost
David S. Tatel, VISION: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice
David Tatel is an American judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit deciding many landmark cases. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, Tatel has a reputation for his expertise in administrative law and his commitment to civil rights, voting rights, and environmental law. Before his judicial appointment, he was a law professor and also worked in various legal and public service roles. For 50 of his over 80 years, he has been blind as a result of retinitis pigmentosa. Through the miracle of technology and, lately his canine companion Vixen, he has been able to navigate his blindness and accept it.
A Women’s Freedom
Save the date!
OUR JOURNEY FROM SLAVERY TO STRENGTH
Thurday, March 27, 2025
6 - 9PM at Beth Abraham Synagogue (350 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood) $54 per person. RSVP online by March 6 at jewishdayton.org/events or contact Stacy Emo at semo @jfgd.net
The Jewish Community Center is proud to collaborate with the women from Beth Abraham Synagogue, Beth Jacob Synagogue, Hadassah, Temple Beth Or, and Temple Israel.
Wednesday, December 25, 10AM - 12:00PM
The Boonshoft CJCE (525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, 45459)
Join us for mitzvot for all ages! Have fun with friends old and new while making warm hats and scarves, no-sew rag dolls, and sack lunches for the guests at St. Vincent de Paul’s shelters. Light noshes will be served.
JFS is collecting donations of new children’s winter hats for Crayons to Classrooms.
If you have any questions, please call Jacquelyn Archie, 937-610-1555. No cost. RSVP by December 24 at jewishdayton.org/events.
As we celebrate the Festival of Lights, honor the spirit of Chanukah by making a legacy commitment and leave a lasting impact on generations to come. If you are interested in learning more about leaving your legacy, contact Janese R. Sweeny at jsweeny@jfgd.net or 937-401-1542.
Open to K-7th graders 9AM - 4PM: $67 per day • 8AM - 5:30PM: $75 per day
Snacks will be provided. Sibling discount of 5% will be applied at registration.
Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images
By Ron Kampeas, JTA
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant based on allegations that they starved Palestinian civilians in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas.
The court on Nov. 21 also issued an arrest warrant against Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military chief whose death has been reported but is not confirmed.
The Hague-based court’s pre-trial chamber decided to issue the warrants based on a recommendation in May by its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.
The court said in a statement that it “found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare.”
The court added, “There are reasonable grounds to believe that the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies, created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza, which resulted in the death of civilians, including children due to malnutrition and dehydration.”
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office called the prosecutions antisemitic and likened them to the Dreyfus affair, the late-19th-century prosecution of a French Jewish officer that was revealed to be an antisemitic plot. The affair spurred the modern Zionist movement.
“There is no war more just” than the war Israel has conducted since Hamas launched the war on Oct. 7, 2023, when it massacred some 1,200 people in Israel, Netanyahu’s statement said. “The decision was made by a corrupt chief prosecutor trying to save his skin from serious sexual harassment allegations,” the statement said. Netanyahu was referring to an investigation of Khan on charges of sexual misconduct.
they travel. The United States, like Israel, is not a signatory to the 1998 treaty that founded the ICC, and even those countries signed to the treaty are notoriously lax in whom they choose to arrest based on the court’s warrants. Still, an arrest warrant has caused even the most powerful of leaders to limit their travel; Russian President Vladimir Putin has traveled only to friendly countries since being place under warrant in March 2023 due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The warrants will require Netanyahu and Gallant to take care regarding where they travel.
The Biden administration, which has provided Israel with military aid, has also criticized the warrants.
“Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” President Joe Biden said in a statement in May, when Khan sought the warrants. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
The warrants will require Netanyahu and Gallant to take care regarding where
Gallant will no longer be travelling internationally as defense minister: Netanyahu recently fired him over differences regarding how to conduct the war.
The last time President-elect Trump was in power, he sanctioned ICC officials over plans to charge Americans with war crimes. President Joe Biden has lifted those sanctions, but Republicans in Congress are calling on Trump to reintroduce them when he returns to office, in part because of the actions against Netanyahu and Gallant.
“You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January.” Trump’s incoming National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, said in a tweet.
A separate statement from the ICC noted that Khan had sought the arrest of Deif and other Hamas leaders. Two other Hamas leaders have since been killed, and Deif is believed to be dead, but because his death has not yet been conclusively determined, the court issued the warrant, the statement said.
In a political moment that stunned many and left few without strong feelings, we asked leaders of a range of Jewish groups, each associated with a signature issue or specific community, to describe their top priority under a new administration that in myriad and perhaps radical ways will represent a break with the Biden administration.
The range of reactions reflects the ideological diversity among Jewish nonprofits that largely focus on a distinct policy area. Most U.S. Jewish organizations tend to be liberal, and their domestic agendas reflect that. A vocal minority leans right.
Answers reflect a Jewish policy community bracing for difficult battles and anticipating new opportunities under a historic changing of the guard.
— Andy Silow-Carroll, JTA
Amy Spitalnick is CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
President Trump’s agenda — from mass deportations and immigration bans, to rollbacks of voting and other civil rights — is often rooted in dangerous conspiracy theories that pit communities against one another, sow distrust in our democratic institutions, and fuel extremist violence targeting Jews, Latinos, Black Americans and others.
This should be a reminder: Our communities’ futures are intertwined. Countering anti-immigrant, White supremacist, anti-LGBTQ, and other forms of hate requires countering the antisemitic conspiracy theories often at their core. And so too as communities are dehumanized and democratic norms erode, antisemitism worsens.
This challenge also presents an opportunity to build broad coalitions that recognize this fundamental truth: We can’t protect democracy or any community’s rights and safety unless we confront antisemitism and we cannot protect Jewish safety unless we advance inclusive democracy that protects all communities.
That is precisely what we’ll be focused on at JCPA, through our Action Networks, work with Jewish Community Relations Councils and other partners, and broader public engagement. The only path forward is one in which Jews mobilize to protect democracy and counter hate in deep partnership with
others, and can do so without checking our Jewish identity at the door — because our partners understand Jewish safety is inherent to their own.
Naomi Steinberg is vice president, U.S. Policy and Advocacy, for HIAS, a humanitarian aid and advocacy organization for refugees and asylum seekers.
HIAS’ top priority under the next Trump administration will be to do everything we can to uphold the U.S. legacy as a country that welcomes refugees, and that values the contributions of immigrants.
The first Trump administration gutted the U.S. refugee resettlement program and also made it nearly impossible for desperate people seeking safety to exercise their legal right to seek asylum. We are deeply concerned that this will happen again, in a moment that there are very high numbers of global displacement due to conflict and violence. The Trump campaign stated their intention to “temporarily” suspend refugee arrivals and then drastically reduce refugee admissions to the lowest level in the decades-long history of the program.
HIAS will fight to keep the resettlement program alive; oppose draconian policies at the border as well as mass deportations that will tear our communities and economy apart; and advocate for an overhaul of the U.S. asylum system that balances security as well as ensuring that people can access a system that is humane and effective.
Rabbi Abba Cohen is vice president for government affairs and Washington director and counsel at Agudath Israel of America, a voice for haredi Orthodox Jewry.
We are living at a moment when the existential threat against Israel and virulent antisemitism have opened our eyes to a terrifying reality. A reality that demands action from the incoming administration and Congress.
We will encourage the strengthening of Israel’s defenses and the provision of strategic assistance, without conditions. And continue to call for the president and legislature to do all they can to get the hostages in Gaza released, and to dismantle and defund Iranian-backed terror networks. No pay-to-slay. No U.N. deceptions. No tolerance for BDS.
And we will encourage expansion of the historic Abraham Accords.
As to Jew-hatred at home, federal security grants funding must meet the needs of our at-risk institutions. We will press the Departments of Justice and Education to provide the resources needed to effectively prosecute hate crimes and Title VI violations. Universities that tolerate antisemitic intimidation must face stiffer penalties. And we will advocate for expanding the federal effort to counter antisemitism and for
passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
Religious freedom is the jewel in the American crown. We must reject the hostility toward religion and faith communities that has crept into our national discourse, and work for proper accommodation of religious rights in both the law and society.
Sheila Katz is the CEO of National Council of Jewish Women.
These are fraught times. For women, children, and families everywhere – our rights and our lives are on the line.
While we celebrate expanded protections for abortion access in seven states, we reel from setbacks that continue to bar our mothers, sisters, and daughters from their right to reproductive health care.
On the most human level, we fear for our right to live. Bans don’t only impact those seeking to terminate a pregnancy, they affect all facets of contraception, pregnancy and miscarriage care. Families, friends and partners will be forced to sit idly by while their loved ones suffer because they are unable to access the care they desperately need. We don’t need to look further than the senseless deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman, Candi Miller, Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain due to these egregious bans.
This fear is our fuel: fuel for a world in which women are treated with respect and autonomy.
Reproductive freedom is a Jewish value, and we will not stop advocating for it. We will come together in community after inauguration for our national Repro Shabbat to teach about Judaism and reproductive freedom. And we will work in partnership with Jewish organizations and civil rights organizations to build a better world. We will not be deterred.
Jonathan Jacoby is the national director of the Nexus Project, an organization that aims to combat antisemitism while “striving to prevent the misuse of antisemitism as a political weapon.”
We expect the incoming Trump administration to aggressively exploit real concerns about Jewish safety for political gain. The administration and its Republican congressional allies will use October’s House Education Committee report on campus antisemitism as a platform to target federal funding for higher education and academic freedom. The Nexus Project will continue to advocate for robust funding for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The Nexus Task Force will differentiate between antisemitic behavior and legitimate political activity, and demonstrate how using existing civil rights laws is the best way to protect Jewish students.
The focus on campuses is part of an effort to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition as the sole definition of antisemitism through legislation and executive action. This strategy creates divisions among Democrats and Jewish Americans, while suppressing legitimate criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. We will mount an education campaign to prevent Congressional action on IHRA, highlighting both the constitutional vulnerabilities — as demonstrated by a recent Texas court decision on the First Amendment rights of pro-Palestinian groups — and the dangers of elevating any single definition of antisemitism. We will emphasize how this approach impedes effective enforcement while threatening academic freedom and protected speech. We’ll advance bipartisan support for approaches that protect both Jewish security and democratic values.
Abby J. Leibman is president and CEO at Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. More than 47 million Americans currently live with hunger, and Mazon has very real reason to be concerned that the policies of the next administration and leaders in the incoming Congress will greatly increase that number. Mazon and our partners in the antihunger movement will fight to protect access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and other nutrition safety net programs, and to make sure that benefit levels can adequately address the needs of people of all faiths and backgrounds. As the first Trump administration did, there is a strong likelihood that the White House will try to restrict access to SNAP benefits wherever possible and to cap support at inadequate levels, plunging more working Americans into poverty. We are and will be prepared to meet this challenge, just as we have done for four decades.
We are committed to doing everything in our power to support those living with food insecurity. Every person deserves the right to feed themselves and their loved ones in dignity, and we will defend that right.
Nathan Diament is executive director for public policy at the Orthodox Union. We see a number of critical opportunities to work with the incoming Trump Administration — as well as allies in the next Congress — to advance the values and interests of our community. First and foremost is the opportunity to mount a more effective response to the surge of antisemitism in the United States. Clearly, the efforts of the Biden Administration were insufficient as we saw on too many university campuses and city streets. A new effort to combat
Continued on Page 28
Classes
Beth Jacob Classes: W. Rabbi Agar. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Torah Tuesdays on Zoom. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought on Zoom. Call to register, 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org/beth-jacobhappenings.
Chabad Classes: Tuesdays, noon: Lunch & Learn. Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.: Talmud Class in person & Zoom. Call for Zoom link. Call for class locations. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.
Temple Beth Or Classes: Sun., Dec. 1, 15, 22, 29, 10 a.m.: Adult Hebrew. Sat., Dec. 7, 21, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study in person & Zoom. templebethor.com/events. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937435-3400.
Temple Israel Classes: Tues., Dec. 3, 10,17, noon: Talmud Study in person & Zoom. Wed., Dec. 4, 11, 18, 10 a.m.: Weekly Torah Commentary w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz, in person. Sat., Dec. 7, 14, 9:15 a.m.: Multi access Torah Study, in person & Zoom. Fri., Dec. 13, 11 a.m.: Living w. loss w. Rabbi BodneyHalasz. Thurs., Dec. 19, 3:30 p.m.: Living w. Ambiguous Loss w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. Sat., Dec. 21, 28, 9:15 a.m.: Vir
gmail.com. tidayton.org/calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-496-0050.
JCC Winter Camp Shalom: Mon., Dec. 23-Fri., Jan. 3. (Closed Dec. 25 & Jan. 1.) Grades K-7. For info. & to register, contact Suzzy Nandrasy, 937-401-1550 or snandrasy@ jfgd.net. jewishdayton.org/ events. At Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp.
Beth Abraham Rhythm ‘N’ Ruach: Fri., Dec. 13, 5:306:15 p.m. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.
Temple Israel Sacred Stitching: Tues., Dec. 10, 24, 11 a.m. Make items for donations w. JCRC’s Upstander initiative. For info., email Alexandria King, garyuzzking@hotmail.com. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960050.
Jewish Dayton Volunteers at The Foodbank: Thurs., Dec. 12, 8:45-11 a.m. RSVP by Dec. 5 at jewishdayton.org/events. For info., contact Jeff Blumer, jblumer@jfgd.net. The Dayton Foodbank, 56 Armor Pl., Dayton.
Beth Abraham’s Rick Pinsky
Mean About Our Families. RSVP to 937-293-9520. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.
Complete schedule on Page 19.
Temple Israel Chanukah Happening: Sun., Dec. 15, 11 a.m. $6 adults, $4 kids, free under 3. RSVP at tidayton. wispform.com/2948d558 or 937-496-0050. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.
Chabad Ckids Chanukah Block Party: Sun., Dec. 15, 4 p.m. Free. Optional dinner. Ages 5-12. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/ckids. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-6430770.
Chabad Women’s Circle
Pre-Chanukah Craft Night & Party: Sun., Dec. 22, 6:30 p.m. $36. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/cwc. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.
Beth Abraham Eat, Play, Light: Wed., Dec. 25, 5 p.m. $15 adults, $10 kids 3-12. RSVP by Dec. 18, 937-2939520. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.
Chabad Menorah Lighting
Kettering. Info. at chabaddayton.com.
Beth Jacob Chanukah Party: Sat., Dec. 28, 6:30 p.m. Free. Contact Tammy Evans for info. and to RSVP, 937-274-2149. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp.
JCC Chanukah Brunch: Sun., Dec. 29, 11:30 a.m. W. Hadassah & JWV. $20. RSVP by Dec. 20 at jewishdayton.org/events. For info. contact Stacy Emoff, semoff@jfgd.net. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr, Centerville. 937-610-1555.
Chabad Grand Chanukah Celebration at The Greene: Sun., Dec. 29, 5 p.m. Fire
show & decorate a candy menorah. Free. At the Plaza at the Greene. Info. at chabaddayton. com.
Community
Temple Beth Or Artisan Fair & Brisket Lunch: Sun., Dec. 8, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Preorder at templebethor.com/events. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937435-3400.
JFS Mitzvah Mission: Wed., Dec. 25, 10 a.m.-noon. RSVP by Dec. 24 at jewishdayton. org/events. For info., contact Jacquelyn Archie at jarchie@ jfgd.net. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937610-1555.
Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP 40 North Main Street, Suite 1700 Dayton, Ohio 45423-1029 937-641-1735 mfeuer@taftlaw.com • www.taftlaw.com
December 6, 4:54 p.m.
December 13, 4:55 p.m.
December 20, 4:57 p.m.
December 27, 5:01 p.m.
December 7: Vayetze (Gen. 28:10-32:3)
December 14
Vayishlach (Gen. 32:4-36:43)
December 21
Vayeshev (Gen. 37:1-40:23)
December 28: Miketz (Gen. 41:1-44:17)
Chanukah
Dec. 26-Jan. 2
25 Kislev-2 Tevet Eight-day holiday commemorating Jewish victory over the SyrianGreeks and the miracle of the rededication of the Temple. One day’s oil for the Temple Menorah lasted eight days. A chanukiah (menorah) is lit for eight nights, and latkes (potato pancakes) are fried in oil to commemorate the story. Children play with dreidels, and gifts are exchanged.
By Leila Sales
Hey Alma
My 77-year-old mother does not like stuff. She abhors clutter. She reuses everything.
If you were to buy her a bottle of nice olive oil as a hostess gift, it would sit unopened in her pantry for the next 20 to 40 years.
When I ask what she wants for Chanukah, the answer is always the same: nothing.
But last December, my mother came to me with a specific request: She wanted eight lists of cultural recommendations, one per night. It turned out to
be the best present I’ve ever given her.
The eight categories I selected were books, movies, TV shows, podcasts, musical albums, recipes, websites, and longform articles.
I listed eight items per category, and I annotated them, explaining why I thought my mom might like each one.
This project required a deep dive into my own consumption habits. For example, I read plenty of longform articles, but I don’t have a system for tracking them.
I vaguely recalled reading a piece about bagel vendors once taking on the mafia, but who wrote it, and for what publica-
tion? The answer turned out to be Jason Turbow, for New York Magazine
More importantly, these eight nights of lists made me think carefully about my mother.
What does she like? What media had she already consumed? How did she feel about it?
I didn’t want to recommend The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to her because I knew she’d already watched it. What else was like that? Maybe Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, another witty comedy starring a Jewish female lead, which I had loved?
Maybe Hacks, which is also about female comedians? I hadn’t seen that one yet, but trusted sources (aka my friend Sarah, who watches a lot of TV) had vouched for it.
I ended up including all three of those on the TV list. Only Murders was the big winner for my mom. Broad City, on the other hand, did not make the cut — I’d absolutely adored it, but ultimately I decided not to include it on my mom’s TV list; I thought the humor might be too millennial for her.
I realized in doing this project that I could make eight lists for anyone in my life, and they would all be different.
The point of gift-giving isn’t just to give your loved ones stuff that you like. If it were, Chanukah, would be easy — I’d just buy everyone eight nights of single-origin chocolates and be done with it.
At their very best, gifts feel personal.
The point is to give people stuff you like that you have reason to believe they will also like.
Maybe Only Murders in the Building, which also has a great old-school Manhattan vibe? I felt so-so about that show when I watched it, but I could imagine my mom liking it more.
Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer Fridays, 5 p.m. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 937-293-9520. bethabrahamdayton.org
Beth Jacob Congregation
Modern Orthodox Rabbi Leibel Agar Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. Evening minyans upon request. 7020 N. Main St., Dayton. 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org
Temple Anshe Emeth Reform
Rabbinic Intern Jonathan Benzion Sat., Dec. 7, 10 a.m. 320 Caldwell St., Piqua. Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, ansheemeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org
Temple Beth Or Reform
Rabbi Judy Chessin
Asst. Rabbi/Educator Ben Azriel Fridays, 6:15 p.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com
Temple Beth Sholom Reform
Rabbi Haviva Horvitz 610 Gladys Dr., Middletown. 513-422-8313. facebook.com/ templebethsholommiddletown
Temple Israel Reform
At their very best, gifts feel personal: I am the only person who would have gotten this for you, and you are the only person I would have gotten it for.
That’s a high standard to maintain for every gift. If you Continued on next page
Hospice of Dayton is proud to be accredited by the National Institute for Jewish Hospice
Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fri., Dec. 6, 6 p.m. Fridays, Dec. 20, 27, 6:30 p.m. Saturdays, Dec. 7, 14, 10:30 a.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. tidayton.org
Temple Sholom Reform
Rabbi Cary Kozberg Fridays, 6 p.m. 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com
Chabad of Greater Dayton
Rabbi Nochum Mangel
Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin
Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon. Beginner educational service Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com
Yellow Springs Havurah
Independent
Antioch College Rockford Chapel. 1st & 3rd Saturday each month. Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.
Continued from previous page at. The list for potential lists is endless.
need to find something for all your colleagues or cousins, it’s reasonable to get them some nice soaps on the theory that most people, sooner or later, will wash their hands.
But for those few special people where you want to get them something truly personal, a personalized list of recommendations says I pay attention to you. I notice what you do and don’t like.
I respect your preferences. I have taken the time to look at this piece of media through your eyes.
My mother has spent the past 12 months happily working her way through her lists.
She still has plenty of untouched items (figuring out how to listen to podcasts has proven elusive), but she always tells me when she engages with something I recommended.
The list for potential lists is endless.
I am happy to work within the overlap between you and me, the segment of Venn diagram where our tastes align.
At a time when more and more people want intangible media or experiences, giving a list can be far better than giving a physical item.
If you try this out for your own loved ones, feel free to use the eight categories that I gave to my mom, or create others more suited to the recipient: mobile games to play, cities to visit, local restaurants to eat
She wound up liking The Good Place once she figured out how to watch the episodes in order rather than at random.
And she loved the Moosewood Baked Tofu recipe.
She has shared her eight lists with her friends, and she tells me that they now all think she’s an extremely cool, fingeron-the-pulse sort of person.
“They’ve never even heard of Haim,” my mother tells me with deep satisfaction, referring to one of the recommendations on the music list.
As Chanukah approaches once again, I asked my mom what she wants this year. “I don’t want anything,” she said, like always. “Just add to my lists.”
By Jackie Hajdenberg, JTA
In 2013, there was the Menurkey, a turkeyshaped menorah, for the highly unusual overlap of Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Now, 11 years later, a new holiday-mashup menorah makes its appearance. The Happy Jew Year Chanukiah features a spinning disco ball to mark the rare overlap of Chanukah and New Year’s.
It's the brainchild of Justin and Michelle Esgar, a New Jersey couple who have made a habit of throwing shticky Chanukah parties tailored to annual themes.
“When we realized that Chanukah this year was going to be over New Year’s, I was like, ‘There’s something there we can do,’” Justin Esgar said. “So then we came up with the idea of Happy Jew Year, and then this menorah concept where it’s representative of the New Year’s Eve ball drop from New York City.”
Chanukah merchandise offerings have exploded in recent years, as corporations have realized the size of the marketplace created by an eight-day celebration occurring during the winter holiday season in a society where more and more families include people of multiple faiths.
New Year’s is usually not a prime time for
Judaica mashups, according to Rabbi Yael Buechler, a creator and self-appointed watchdog of mass-market Jewish products who scours big-box stores’ Chanukah offerings. “New Years is a time when more families are away or just returning from vacation. The grownups might have plans, but they are not as synced with kidbased experiences,” she wrote in an email.
The Esgars’ menorah is nickel-plated and made by hand. It’s priced at $54 — three times $18, a number that signifies life in Jewish tradition.
Chanukah overlaps with New Year’s Eve again in 2027, 2035, and 2043.
Beth Abraham, Dayton’s only Conservative synagogue, is enthusiastically egalitarian and is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
For a complete schedule of our programs, go to
Wednesday, Dec. 25, 5-8 p.m.
It’ll be one crazy night filled with fun for all ages, Chinese food, latkes, lighting our Chanukah menorahs, and a HOT CHOCOLATE BAR!
Bring your own menorah & candles for the first night as we welcome Chanukah together!
Wear your favorite best (or worst) Chanukah gear & bring your favorite board/card game
All welcome! RSVP by Dec. 18. $15 adults • $10 ages 3-12 Family max $50
Linda Ohlmann Kahn and Lori Ohlmann sold the 75-year-old Ohlmann Group marketing/communications agency in October to David Bowman and Jenny Michael, who are now its co-CEOs. Linda and Lori stay on as members of the Ohlmann Group board: Linda as board chair and vice president of media services, Lori as executive vice president. Their late father, Walter Ohlmann, became a partner in the agency in 1964. It's now the oldest existing fullservice ad agency in Dayton.
Electric violinist Noah Gruenberg performed the world premiere of Will Davenport's Concerto for Electric Violin
Nov. 12 with the EChO Electric Chamber Orchestra conducted by Brian Junttila. Noah also released the single Vile, an electronic dance music/metal fusion song, in October. He's also performed with the Helena Symphony Orchestra. Cheering him on are his parents, Angela and Mark Gruenberg
All The Best Delicatessen was featured in October on an America's Best Restaurants Roadshow video segment. Owner Lee Schear, cofounder Carin Solganik, and General Manager Dennis Sommers were on camera with host Danyel Detomo for the program.
Economy Linen and Towel President Bruce Feldman has received Dayton Business Journal's Diversity Champion Award.
Jewish Family Services Executive Director Tara Feiner has joined the board of South Community Behavioral Health, a private not-for-profit corporation providing mental health and substance use care in the greater Miami Valley.
Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.
On her 80th birthday, a feisty Jewish woman makes out her last will and testament, then visits her rabbi to discuss two final wishes. The first is that she be cremated. Knowing that argument is useless, the rabbi asks, “So what’s your second request?”
“I want my ashes scattered over Bloomingdale’s.”
“Why Bloomingdale’s?”
Candace R. Kwiatek
“That way, I‘ll be sure my daughters visit me twice a week!”
Criticism has been a conspicuous feature in Jewish culture throughout the ages. One might suspect its source is the Talmud. This compilation of Jewish theology, law, tradition, and legend comprises 2,711 doublesided pages of tightly-packed commentary interwoven with countless arguments, reproofs, and criticism by generations of scholars, sages, and rabbis.
Criticism’s source could be biblical role models. Abraham called out God over Sodom’s impending destruction. Jethro criticized Moses’ process for solving disputes. Deborah reproved the clans of Reuben for their indecisiveness over joining Barak in battle.
Nathan rebuked King David for his dalliance with Bathsheba and orchestration of her husband’s death. The Prophets excoriated Israel for its idolatry and other iniquities.
In the final analysis, however, the Jewish proclivity for criticism was established at Sinai: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor and you shall incur no guilt because of him.”
Simply put, “Don’t silently resent or hate a person who engages in unscrupulous behavior. Speak up, or you become complicit in their wrongdoing, but don’t sin while rebuking them.”
This pair of commandments highlights the importance of mutual responsibility in building and maintaining a righteous society, Rabbi Avraham
Fischer explains. Each person depends on everyone aspiring to elevated behavior, which sometimes requires criticism.
A Yiddish proverb: He who acquires knowledge without imparting it to others is like a flower in the desert where there is no one to enjoy it.
The Jewish notion of criticism or rebuke, tochecha in Hebrew, is “unsolicited advice; a spoken frankness that reveals a fixable flaw,” Rabbi Eli Freedman explains.
Yet the flaw itself isn’t the primary reason for tochecha; its motivation is “genuine concern for another human being.” But most recipients don’t recognize the heartfelt concern in a rebuke, perceiving it as an attack or rejection and responding with defensiveness or hostility.
in this generation who knows how to rebuke correctly.”
So exactly what are the qualities of tochecha, criticism that is both truly constructive and genuinely caring?
Motive. Tochecha is most effective when one first remembers the other person’s essential goodness, and even voices their respect and appreciation, psychotherapist Estelle Frankel notes. Pointing out a shortcoming or misdeed then becomes an expression of care and concern rather than a negative critique or arm-twisting. The purpose of tochecha isn’t to force change, but to raise awareness and create the desire for change. “If properly intended and given,” Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson writes, rebuke becomes “an affirmation that the person is worth the effort in the first place, and...that he or she remains capable of improvement.”
So exactly what are the qualities of criticism that is both truly constructive and genuinely caring?
The thought of rebuking someone can be unnerving, resulting in a tendency to say nothing and allowing one’s concerns and feelings to fester.
The Talmudic sages acknowledged these challenges. “I would be surprised if there is anyone in this generation who can receive rebuke,” Rabbi Tarphon observed. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria replied, “I would be surprised if there is anyone
Approach. The foundations of tochecha are forthrightness and consideration for the other person’s integrity and temperament. Rebuke is given with humility and empathy, gently, privately, and when critique is most likely to be heard. It involves listening in order to understand and respond to the other person’s way of looking at things, and requires giving the other person the benefit of the doubt. Constructive by nature, tochecha also addresses solutions for change or improvement.
Implementation. From the
repetition in the verse, “you shall surely rebuke,” the Talmudic sages infer an obligation to reprove at least twice, even as many as 100 times! That is, by breaking up criticism into 100 small parts, a person can incrementally assimilate another point of view, recognize his shortcoming, and effect a change, Rabbi Eli Scheller explains.
Humor, often built around exposing a moral flaw, can also be a powerful tactic for moral criticism. Research at Rutgers has shown that "precisely because it’s funny and entertaining, humor is capable of engaging and motivating people.” Most other storytelling genres can be equally effective.
During a visit with Rabbi Kook in prestate Israel, the philanthropist Nathan Strauss donated 100 pounds to improve the conditions of the Jews in Jerusalem. The rabbi responded
with a story. A prince lost his way in the woods. He stumbled upon a peasant’s hut where he was fed a simple meal of bread and hard boiled eggs. When the prince asked what he owed, the peasant answered, “One thousand pieces of silver.” Astonished, the prince asked, “Why so much? After all, you only served an ordinary meal.”
“True,” the peasant agreed, “but you are special, so the price should be special.”
Strauss got the point and donated a much larger sum.
According to Torah commentator Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, “One should thank an individual who offers genuine constructive criticism, regarding him or her as a friend and not an enemy."
After all, Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav noted, “If you won’t be better tomorrow than you were today, then what need do you have for tomorrow?”
We Are Not Strangers by Josh Tuininga. When a number of unfamiliar Japanese American families show up at the funeral of his beloved Sephardic American grandfather, Papoo, Marco Calvo is surprised. He soon hears an astonishing story about Papoo and his friend, Sam Akiyama, who was forced into a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Inspired by real events, this fictional tale of friendship, responsibility, and what it means to be an American, is brilliantly retold as a graphic novel for mature readers and adults.
Rivka's Presents by Laurie Wallmark. With her father sick from the flu and her mother working at the shirtwaist factory, Rivka must stay home from school to care for her little sister. Undeterred, she devises a clever plan to continue learning by involving her neighbors on the Lower East Side. Whimsical illustrations and simple, engaging text targeted to preschool and early elementary ages offer a simple introduction to the immigrant era of the early 1900s while highlighting the qualities of resilience and creativity and the importance of learning and community.
The perfect centerpiece dish for a festival of lights observance, DLM Natural Beef Brisket is humanely raised, antibiotic free, and has no added hormones. Perfect for braising recipes!
Continued from Page 22
antisemitism must include imposing actual penalties (ie: withholding federal funds) upon universities that fail to protect the rights of their Jewish students, and federal prosecutions of perpetrators of antisemitic acts — including the obstruction of Jews at our synagogues (as the “FACE Act” provides).
Second, we need a more robust U.S. policy to confront Iran and its proxies and bring security and stability to Israel and the Mideast. If a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not struck in the waning days of the Biden Administration, it should be a high priority for President Trump.
Third, next year the Administration and Congress will be working on major revisions to federal tax laws. The OU has successfully worked in many states — both “blue” and “red” — to enact education tax credits and other programs that support parents in making the best K-12 education choices for their children. Some measures supporting school choice were included in the 2017 tax legislation, at the beginning of President Trump’s first term. His second term will be a critical opportunity to expand this policy at the federal level.
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn is founder and CEO of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action Together with partners across the climate movement and the American Jewish community, Dayenu will fight attempts to gut the Inflation Reduction Act, the hard-earned climate legislation passed in 2022. The law has delivered historic investments, created over 330,000 jobs, saved families over $8 billion on energy upgrades, and moved our country toward a livable future. Notably, it grants nonprofits, including faith-based groups, a reimbursement of up to 30% of the cost of a clean energy or transportation project.
We’ll challenge efforts to expedite giveaways to the fossil fuel industry, dismantle environmental protections, and strip the American people of our rights to raise our voice for our communities and collective future. Everyone — regardless of their race, income or zip code — deserves clean air and water, and a safe environment in which to live, learn, work, play and pray.
We will advance real climate solutions on the state and local level, prioritizing resourcing underserved communities. We will show up in strength with our allies — in solidarity for genuine democracy, justice, and equity. And through this all, we will stay rooted in our wisdom, history, spirit and song — sustaining ourselves in hard times.
Idit Klein is president and CEO of Keshet, a national organization that works for LGBTQ+ equality in Jewish life.
At Keshet, we know our freedoms, as LGBTQ+ people and as Jews, are in jeopardy, along with the rights of so many other Americans.
The new administration has clearly
outlined its plans: a country where only some people are entitled to rights, and everyone else is vulnerable — including LGBTQ+ people, including Jews. Keshet is concerned about escalated attacks on transgender people, especially trans youth. We will fight prohibitions on gender-affirming care and “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bills.
These challenges are not new to Keshet; they are why we exist. We will continue to mobilize the Jewish community and invest in cross-communal and multi-faith partnerships. We will continue to train Jewish leaders to protect against hateful rhetoric and policies and to foster places of affirmation and belonging for all Jews.
As LGBTQ+ people and Jews, we have been here before. Our people’s long history of survival and resilience has taught us that choosing hope is the only way forward. Keshet’s community members will do what we have done for generations: care for one another, build coalitions, and stay focused on making possible the just and equitable world we all deserve.
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin is director of Amcha Initiative, a non-profit that combats campus antisemitism, and a faculty member at the University of California for nearly two decades.
In the 10 months following Oct. 7, our database shows there were 77 physical assaults on Jewish students and 129 incidents of violent threats, representing surges of 2,500% and 900%, respectively, over the same period the prior year.
While attention has focused on students and student-led groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, it is faculty who are, on many campuses, at the root of the Jew-hatred, fomenting anti-Israel activity and escalating antisemitic incidents. Amcha Initiative just completed research that found at schools with Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapters, whose members are committed to academic boycotts of Israel, Jewish students were more likely to be subjected to physical assault and to be targeted with violent threats; on these campuses, anti-Israel protests and encampments lasted longer.
The recent report of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce about antisemitism on college campuses focused on the antisemitic behavior of anti-Zionist students and student groups and the woefully inadequate administrative responses to their behavior. This was hugely valuable and important work.
The next step is for Congress and the administration to turn their attention to the pivotal role of faculty.
We would like to see more Congressional hearings focused squarely on faculty and their contribution to campus antisemitism. We would also like to see the new administration tackle the problem of academic boycotts of Israel both through legislation and DOE policy. While students are transient and administrators can be fired, tenured faculty abuse has lasting implications.
By Joanna Nissim, The Nosher
I'm a Bagdadi Jew from Bombay and Calcutta, and we have wonderful culinary traditions from Iraq and India for every Jewish holiday. However, I am always on the lookout for something new to add to my repertoire.
My Aunty Ruby, who grew up in Calcutta, India, recalls being taken as a child by her parents to KC Dass, a sweet shop close to where they lived, after Passover to have gulab jamun. It's a small, milky donut deepfried and soaked in cardamom and saffron syrup.
She said they would dream about the little creamy treats all Passover, and would count down the minutes until they could eat them.
This got me thinking they would make an amazing addition to our Chanukah table: They’re fried, to symbolize the oil lasting eight days; they contain dairy, to celebrate the heroism of Judith, slayer of the general Holofernes; and they’re soaked in syrup. Well, there doesn’t need to be a reason to eat anything soaked in syrup!
Gulab jamun is one of India’s most famous deserts, though it was introduced by the Persians around 500 B.C.E.
The word gulab is derived from the Persian words gol (flower) and ab (water), which refer to the sweet’s rosewaterscented syrup.
Interestingly, gulab jamun is commonly served at Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, which, much like our own festival of lights, Chanukah, celebrates bringing light into the world and good triumphing over evil.
Prep time: 15 minutes, plus two hours soaking time Cook time: 30 minutes Yields 15 balls
For the syrup:
4 green cardamom pods, bashed with a mortar and pestle
21/2 cups caster sugar
2 tsp. rosewater
¼ tsp. saffron strands
For the gulab jamun:
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp. caster sugar
1/2 cup milk powder
1/3 cup plain flour
½ tsp. baking powder
31/2 Tbsp. softened unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 Tbsp. natural yogurt
a squeeze of lemon juice
3 Tbsp. whole milk sunflower oil (or any other neutral oil), for frying
1. Make the syrup by gently heating the sugar and cardamom in two cups of water in a saucepan. Once it comes to a boil, lower the temperature and simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, add the rosewater and a pinch of saffron, and leave to infuse. Set aside.
2. To make the gulab jamun, sift ground cardamom, sugar, milk powder, flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
3. Rub in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Add the yogurt, lemon juice, and milk. Mix to form a soft dough, taking care not to overwork the mixture.
5. Oil your hands with a
little sunflower oil and shape small portions of the dough into walnut-sized balls, about an inch in diameter. Make sure the dumplings are smooth and have no cracks or folds.
6. Reheat the syrup until it comes to a boil, then turn off the heat and cover with a lid.
7. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan. Once the top is shimmering, the oil is hot enough for frying. Test the oil with a piece of bread to ensure that it sizzles. Fry the balls in batches over medium heat for five to seven minutes.
As soon as you drop one in, move it around immediately with a spoon to ensure it doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.
8. Once the balls are even and dark golden brown, remove them from the oil and let them drain on a paper towel.
9. Once cooled, add to the balls warm syrup and leave to soak at room temperature for at least two to three hours, if not overnight.
10. Eat warm or at room temperature, and garnish with slivered almonds, crushed pistachios and/or silver leaf for a special decoration.
By Rachel Ringler, JTA
For most of Jewish culinary history, anyone seeking to make matzah balls faced one major choice: sinkers or floaters?
In the 20th century, with the advent of home-cooking conveniences, another decision joined the one about density: from scratch or from a box?
Now, in an era of niche food products, home cooks have a new set of matzah ball options: freeze-dried, flash-frozen, and flecked with furikake, the Japanese seasoning mix including seaweed and sesame seeds.
As soup season descends, a growing number of new efforts are underway to remake Jewish culture’s most iconic comfort food for the harried home cook.
Nooish, which hit shelves in September, is a just-add-hot-water option that comes in a paper ramen container, emblazoned with iconography and lettering that its designer says subtly reflect American Jewish visual culture.
Shalom Japan, the Brooklyn Jewish Japanese fusion restaurant, has recently launched a mail-order matzah ball ramen kit that allows home cooks to replicate its signature dish.
Both legacy brands and new startups are getting into the matzah ball game, aiming to simplify production so that a bowl of steaming, tasty soup can always be just minutes away.
And even Manischewitz, the vaunted kosher brand that launched in 1888 as a matzah producer, has innovated on its longstanding line of box mixes. Now, Manischewitz matzah balls can be found in many supermarkets’ freezer sections.
“I don’t know if everyone is ready to make a matzah ball or is able to, especially the younger demographic,” said Shani Seidman, chief marketing officer of Kayco, the owner and distributor of Manischewitz. “But if you have it readily available in the freezer, you can plop
it into any soup.”
The trend has prompted debate among Jewish food icons, many of whom have their own recipes and traditions for the soup that is a mainstay of Shabbat and holiday tables from the onset of cozy season until Passover in the spring.
Calling matzah balls “the supreme Jewish comfort food,” Joan Nathan, the matriarch of the Jewish food world, said she believed the readymade options are unnecessary and likely subpar.
Her own recipe calls for fresh ginger and nutmeg and results in balls that are neither overly dense nor especially light.
“Matzah balls are so easy to make. They don’t take any time at all,” she
said. “It probably takes less time to make them than to buy them.”
But Adeena Sussman, author of the cookbooks Sababa and Shabbat, said she understands why some cooks would turn to readymade options.
Her own family is divided: Her mom, Steffi, was firmly planted in the box-mix camp as she prepared food for 60 people at two Passover Seders every year.
As an adult, Sussman has taken to making her own family’s matzah balls from scratch, sharing a recipe in her collaborator Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook that calls for seltzer and black pepper.
“Not everyone has a great matzah ball recipe or the wherewithal to make matzah balls,” Sussman said. “It’s a
hard time to be a Jew. Even a little Jewish comfort, by adding hot water to a matzah ball mix, I am all for it. I think it’s great.”
Some of the new products offer a spin on the classic dish.
Shalom Japan’s mail-order kit includes two soup packets that come with matzah balls, packets of noodles, scallions, soup mandels, and a spicy sauce.
Consumers need only to boil water, stick in the packets of soup to heat them, remove the packets and put the noodles into the same boiling water to generate their own version of matzah ball ramen.
(Add your own furikake.)
Japan, the Brooklyn Jewish Japanese fusion res-
launched a mail-order
“That dish is the dish people think of the most when they think of our restaurant,” said Aaron Israel, Shalom Japan’s cofounder with his wife, Sawako Okochi. “It helps define us.”
Sarah Nathan, the creator of Nooish, meanwhile, touts the “clean” ingredients in her product — no MSG, less salt than other instant soups on the market, and high-end flavorings from Burlap and Barrel, the Jewish spice startup.
As a busy executive at food brands such as Chobani and Just Date, Nathan, 37, often found herself turning to instant soup when she didn’t have time to cook from scratch.
But after helping plan a virtual Jewish food festival during the pandemic, she realized that none of her go-to brands reflected her own culture.
“Why can’t I get matzah ball soup instantly? Why does it have to take over an hour?”
ball
kit.
water.
“They are like space food, freeze dried. When you look at it, it is dry and powdery with flecks of dried herbs. Until it is rehydrated, you have no idea what is going to happen,” she said.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the matzah ball. It was better than I thought it would be.”
In the first week after Nooish launched, Nathan said she sold mostly to friends and family. In the second, she said, orders poured in from around the world, including from places where cooking is impractical or impossible — including on a naval ship.
'A convenience food that ties into super great comfort food memories and associations can fill a hole for people.'
Nathan recalls thinking. “It’s so hard to make, hard to get, and it’s expensive. But it is also a love language.”
This fall, after years of testing and product development, she brought Nooish to the market. The vegetarian, certified kosher soups come in packages of four for $40 or 18 for $125. Its name is a mashup of “new,” “Jewish,” and a dose of advice from a successful entrepreneur.
“Gwyneth Paltrow said brands with two Os — like Goop — sell better,” said Nathan, who worked at American Jewish University early in her career and now lives in Chicago.
Sussman sampled the soup and said she was initially skeptical because of its appearance — until she added hot
Now, she’s touting its utility for organizations that want to send soup to their constituents but want to avoid ordering pricey restaurant delivery or setting up temporary distribution centers from their own kitchens.
The company’s social media is highlighting a comment from a Hillel employee who wrote, “Our Hillel sends soup to students who are not feeling well. Nooish has revolutionized how we do it — no more freezers, no more defrosting, no more complicated requests from campus dining.”
For Sussman, that type of experience is perhaps the greatest appeal of at-home matzah innovations such as Nooish.
“A convenience food that ties into super great comfort food memories and associations can fill a hole for people,” Sussman said. “Can’t you see every mom sending it to their kid in their college dorms? I would want to.”
Happy Chanukah
The Sweeny Family
A sweet and joyous Chanukah
Sondra Kulback
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Alan & Becky Elovitz
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Among the extinct department stores of Manhattan, a mystique surrounds the names of a few: Bonwit Teller, Lord & Taylor, Henri Bendel.
Bonwit Teller, established in 1895, went bankrupt in 2000. It closed that year.
Beth Adelman
Dear Dayton Friends, Thank you for bringing light to the world.
Wishing all of Dayton Happy Chanukah
Jon & Jeannette Horwitz
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Barbara Hollander
Warm Chanukah greetings from Linda Novak
Warm Chanukah greetings from The Roden Family
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Joel & Judi Guggenheimer
Happy Chanukah
Sis Litvin
A sweet and joyous Chanukah
Dena Briskin
Our warmest wishes for a joyous Chanukah
Ed & Marcia Kress
Cindy & Marc Fox
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Felice Shane & Family
Wishing all of Dayton Happy Chanukah
The Gaglione Family
Lord & Taylor filed for bankruptcy in 2020. When it closed all its stores in 2021, it was then the longest-surviving department store chain in the United States, at 195 years.
Henri Bendel sold women's clothing and accessories from 1895 until 2019, when it closed all its stores and took down its website.
Their prestige came about from the tastes and tenacity of the women who ran those department stores in the mid-20th century: Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller, Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor, and Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel.
Julie Satow will share these three indomitable women's overlooked stories when she
Warm Chanukah greetings from
Steve, Shara, Rachel & Natalie Taylor
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Joan Knoll
talks about her New York Times Bestselling book, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion, Dec. 8 at Wright Memorial Public Library in Oakwood.
It's a program of the JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series.
Satow, a regular contributor to The New York Times, has found a niche writing about stylish gems of New York history.
Her first book, The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel, was an NPR Favorite Book of 2019.
the men who founded them," she notes in the 2024 book's introduction.
"But these establishments were truly female-centric worlds, where women were freed from many of the societal constraints they faced outside the store."
In the last century, department stores flourished not only in major metropolitan cities, but in smaller cities such as Dayton. Several department stores here were founded and run by Jewish men.
One that was run by a Jewish woman for a time was Donenfeld's.
Jacob A. Donenfeld, a native of Austria, worked his way up at Rike-Kumler's for 13 years before he opened his own store for women in 1924 at 35-37 N. Main St.
In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, Satow points out that for much of the 20th century, women were employed in department stores, but very few rose to management or executive positions.
"Department stores have long been overshadowed by
When he died of a heart attack at age 50 in 1936, his wife, Sadie, ran the store. At the time, their sons, Ralph and Stanley, were still teenagers. Sadie was also an early president of Dayton's Hadassah chapter. After Ralph and Stanley returned from their service in World War II, they led Donenfeld's, ultimately expanding to the suburbs, in the Dayton and Salem malls. Women and the workforce were top of mind when Satow started on When Women Ran Fifth Avenue. It was the height of the Covid pandemic. The writer had two young children at home; childcare wasn't available.
"While there is undoubtedly a mountain of obstacles women in the workforce must overcome," she writes in the book, "I have more options than these pioneering women ever did, and I am optimistic that my daughter will have even more choices than I've had."
— Marshall Weiss
The JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series in partnership with Wright Memorial Public Library and Hadassah presents author Julie Satow, 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 8 at the library, 1776 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. Register for the free program at jewishdayton.org/event.
By Jon Kalish, New York Jewish Week
A collection of documents described as a treasure trove of Jewish music has been acquired by the New York Public Library, after being hidden in a cantor’s basement in Yonkers for 40 years.
Sheet music, manuscripts, and orchestral arrangements for more than 3,000 works — including cantorial music, Chasidic melodies, Yiddish theatre, klezmer and opera — that were performed live on radio station WEVD between 1927 and 1995 are now part of NYPL’s Dorot Jewish Division, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2022.
Before it went off the air for good in 2001, WEVD — which billed itself as “the station that speaks your language” — was owned by The Forward Association, publisher of the Yiddish newspaper Forverts as well as its English-language counterpart, The Forward For much of the station’s 70-year history, it was known for its Jewish programming. Among the composers and arrangers who worked at WEVD over the decades were the “big four” of Yiddish theatre: Abraham Ellstein, Alexander Olshanetsky, Joseph Rumshinsky, and Sholom Secunda.
Midchester Jewish Center in Yonkers for nearly 50 years. Shiff began working at the station somewhere around 1953 and had a 15-minute show on the station on Friday afternoons. There, he began the tradition of announcing the Shabbat candlelighting times.
In the early 1980s, when the station was preparing to move from Broadway and 53rd St. in Midtown to Broadway and Wanamaker Place in the East Village, Shiff learned of plans to throw away the documents, so he began taking cartons of material home.
His then-teenage son Gary helped with the schlepping, and his daughter, Toby, organized the material in filing cabinets and plastic tubs. The collection — now named the David and Ina Shiff WEVD Music Collection — then sat in Shiff’s basement for four decades.
The collection sat in Cantor David Shiff's basement for four decades.
Hankus Netsky, the Boston-based klezmer band leader and educator, learned of the existence of the WEVD collection in 2019 from David Reinhold, a Bobover Chasid in Borough Park who collects Jewish music. Netsky, in turn, tried to interest the Yiddish Book Center and the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, but said they declined. Netsky then alerted Sholokhova.
of the acquisition. It featured a panel discussion with Yiddish music experts including Netsky, Barbara KirshenblattGimblett, and Henry Sapoznik.
A vocal quartet and cantorial soloists accompanied by a seven-piece band led by Zalmen Mlotek, the artistic director of the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, performed musical works from the archive.
“The sound of radio is very important but (this collection) is no less important,” said Sholokhova. “And in a way (the documents) are more detailed.”
Among the treasures in the archive
is original music composed by Sholem Secunda, a giant of Yiddish popular music, that is based on the poem Fun farsheydene yorn (From various years) by postwar Yiddish poet Yosef Kerler. Secunda, who penned the Yiddish classics Bei Mir Bist Du Schon and Dona, Dona, wrote the music in a WEVD studio. It’s believed to be the last piece he wrote.
Another gem is a Yiddish translation and musical notation for the Un di felice eterea aria in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata. According to the station’s records, the aria was performed on WEVD in 1963, 1964, and 1965.
“The radio station, in a way, is a history of Jewish music and the Jewish people in the United States,” said Lyudmila Sholokhova, a musicologist who is the curator at the NYPL’s Dorot Jewish Division. “WEVD had its own community, and this collection shows that it spoke to all tastes and all generations of that community.”
Items that would eventually fill 38 boxes were preserved by David Shiff, a retired cantor who served at the
In April 2022, Sholokhova came up to Yonkers with her colleague MeryemKhaye Siegel to see the collection and the two scholars immediately realized the scope and historical significance of the material. In October 2022, the library decided to acquire it. The library did not spend anything to acquire the collection, but it is expected to be costly to process.
At the NYPL’s main branch on Nov. 13, there was an hour-long celebration
From the David and Ina Shiff
an
sheet music for a 1942 song, To
Happy Chanukah
Warm Chanukah greetings from The Weiss Family
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
A sweet and joyous Chanukah
Judy Lipton
Happy Chanukah to our friends
Dr. Gary Pacernick & Peg Weller
Our warmest wishes for a joyous Chanukah
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Beverly Saeks & Family
Warm Chanukah greetings from
Susan & Nat Ritter
Warm Chanukah greetings from
Debby, Bob, Alicia, Teddy, & William Goldenberg Happy Chanukah
Our warmest wishes for a joyous Chanukah
& Tara Feiner
Sylvia Blum & Family
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
&
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Josh, Julie, Stella, Avi, Aaro & Mayim Atkin
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Flagel & Family
A sweet and joyous Chanukah
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
The Gruenberg Family
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
Robert & Vicky Heuman
Best wishes to all for a Happy Chanukah
A sweet and joyous Chanukah
Have a latke fun this Chanukah!
Your
Eleanor (Elly) Chaet of Las Vegas, Nev. passed away peacefully Aug. 23. Born Jan. 1, 1933 in Brooklyn, N.Y. to Morris and Rose Resnick, she resided in Dayton 42 years until retiring to Las Vegas in 1999. Elly worked primarily as a residential Realtor in Dayton until moving to Las Vegas. Elly was predeceased by her husband of 51 years, Robert (Bob) Chaet, in 2009. Elly is survived by her three children, Jonathan of San Francisco, Joshua (Tracy) of Highland Park, Ill., and Emily of Las Vegas. To the end, Elly was an adoring grandmother to her beloved grandchildren Hannah (fiancé Steven Astrachan) of Chicago, Andrew of Los Angeles, and Samuel of Chicago. Eleanor was a member of Beth Abraham Synagogue and Meadowbrook Country Club. Elly was also active in Dayton with many civic organizations and boards. Services were held privately in Las Vegas where Elly rests next to dad. Donations may be made to the charity of your choice.
Henry J. Guggenheimer, age 96 of Dayton, passed away Nov. 7 at The Carlyle House. Henry was a retired store manager for Shoe Corp. of America and a proud U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. He was an active member and volunteer for several institutions, including Beth Abraham Synagogue, Jewish War Veterans, and the U.S. Air Force Museum-Holocaust Exhibit. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Barbara, and his parents, Julius and Margarethe. Henry is survived by his daughter, Leslee McCloskey; sons and daughters-in-law, Joel and Judi, Barry and Chris; grandchildren, Leila, Lauren and Lindsey McCloskey, Samuel (Frances), Marla (Jack McDonald) and Aaron Guggenheimer; and many other relatives and friends. Interment was at Shaare Zedek Cemetery in Lima. Memorial contributions may be made to Beth Abraham Synagogue or the Holocaust Foundation, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2126 in Henry’s memory.
Joan Isaacson, 89, passed away Nov. 10 with her daughters at her side. She was born July 19, 1935 in Indianapolis to the late Mary and Joseph Koor. She was a member of the Deb-ettes at Shortridge High School, where she graduated in the Class of 1953 and studied at Ohio State and Wright State University
thereafter. Active in multiple volunteer activities while raising her family, she was supportive of Dayton Children’s, the Miami Valley School, Planned Parenthood, as well as a multitude of Jewish charities including the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, Temple Israel, and Hadassah. She began working outside of the home in 1973 as a travel agent, a profession which she loved, and continued into the 2000s. Her career afforded her the opportunity to travel the world, which she thoroughly enjoyed. A skilled bridge player, she was just six points shy of becoming a Life Master. She was also a talented needleworker, making blankets for all of her children and grandchildren. Additionally, Joan was frequently victorious in her weekly mah jongg games that she enjoyed with her friends. She was predeceased by her husband of 58 years, Milton “Jim” Isaacson, in 2013. She is survived by her daughters, Julie Isaacson, Jill Isaacson and Jan Jay, and sons-in-law, Michael Wolszon and Gregory Jay. Joan is also survived by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Max and Marilyn Wolszon and their daughter Olivia; Stevie King, Danielle and Sean Hubbard and their daughter Jordyn; Zoe Wolszon, Jared Jay and Rachel Jay. Joan is also survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Judy Koor, and several nieces and nephews whom she adored and who adored her. Our special thanks go to the amazing administration and staff at Berman Commons Assisted Living and Memory Care, who provided unending care and love to our
mom until her last day. Donations in her memory may be made to the Staff Holiday Fund for the employees of Berman Commons, 2026 Womack Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338 (lminer@ JewishHomeLife.org) or the charity of your choice.
Jerome J. Krochmal, age 93 of Dayton, passed away Nov. 8 at Fairmont Senior Living. “Jerry” was born in Brooklyn and raised in Brighton Beach, N.Y. by the late Milton and Frances Krochmal. Jerry graduated from Georgia Tech as a ceramic engineer and he and his bride, Gina, moved to Dayton so that Jerry could start his new assignment as a second lieutenant at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. This was the start of a 37-year Air Force military, then Air Force civilian career that included a Stanford-Sloan Fellowship and ended with retirement in December 1988. Jerry was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Gina. Jerry is survived by his three children, Ken (Janice) Krochmal, Frances Moskowitz (Jeff Studebaker), and Linda Pitarys (Thomas Liberio); grandchildren Josh (Natasha), Seth (Alisa), Ethan (Brooke) Krochmal, Brandon and Becca Moskowitz, Grant (Sarah) Pitarys, and six greatgrandchildren. As per Jerry’s request, no funeral service was held.
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