The Dayton Jewish Observer, February 2023

A Jewish checklist p. 20book form p. 22 David Moss designs Gracewedding After Meals in comic

THE DAYTON Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

February 2023 Shevat/Adar 5783 Vol. 27, No. 6

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The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly • daytonjewishobserver.org LOC

Righteous Among the Nations dies

Keeping histories of Ohio's small-town Jewish communities alive

6

Marshall Weiss

Longtime Tipp City resident Marinus Bosma

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New Israeli govt.'s controversial proposed judicial reforms

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Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton 525 Versailles Drive Dayton, OH 45459

Temple Anshe Emeth, Piqua, established 1858.

Rodger Kamenetz on ChatGPT and the golem Austin Reid, author of 15 histories of small-town Jewish communities in Ohio, including the Upper Miami Valley and Greene County.

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The Dayton Jewish Chorale conducted by Anna Vinnitsky will perform a musical Shabbat service in honor of Shabbat Shira at 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3 at Temple Israel. The chorale is faBUILDING THE HEART OF BUSINESS cilitated by Temple Israel Music Director Courtney Cummings and Beth Abraham Synagogue Jeff Noble • 937-228-8271 Cantor Andrea Raizen. mridayton.com • info@mridayton.com Temple Israel is located at 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. To join the potluck dinner following the service, RSVP to info@tidayton.org. The cost is $5 adult, $3 ages 4 to 12, free 3 and under.

Shabbat Shira is the Sabbath when the Torah reading includes the song the Israelites sang after So is our Jewish community. the splitting of the sea in the Exodus narrative.

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Arts & Culture.........................26 Calendar..................................17

Beth Abraham Synagogue Religious School students — (L to R) Lana Dorf, Benjamin Goorskey, Jonah Dorf, Jackson Berry, and Lucien Gabbe — wear prayer shawls they designed themselves for their prayer studies with Cantor Andrea Raizen. The students studied the commandment of tzitzit (fringes) and learned to tie them. The cantor took them on a field trip to a fabric store where each selected fabric for their prayer shawls.

'They decorated pieces that would be attached as the atara (collar) and the four corners where the tzitzit would be tied,' Raizen said. Younger children in the religious school received pillowcases to decorate that had the Shema printed on them as a reminder to recite the prayer as they go to sleep.

Tu B'Shevat celebrations

Temple Anshe Emeth will join Beth Jacob Congregation for Kabalat Shabbat and a Tu B'Shevat/ Shabbat dinner at 6 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3 at Beth Jacob, 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Township. The cost of the dinner is $18. RSVP to bethjacob1@aol. com.

Beth Abraham Synagogue will hold a Tu B'Shevat Seder during kiddush lunch at noon, Saturday, Feb. 4. Beth Abraham is located at 305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood.

At 9:45 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 5, Temple Israel's Ryterband Brunch Series will present speaker Tara Poling, program director of the Marianist Environmental Education Center. She'll talk about the Jewish Bible's connections to today's environmental challenges. The cost for brunch is $7. After Poling's talk, Temple Israel's Adult Education Committee will host a Community Tu B'Shevat Seder at 11:30 a.m. Temple Israel is located at 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP for the brunch and seder at 937-496-0050.

Tu B'Shevat, the New Year of the Trees, marks springtime in Israel.

Chabad Shabbat dinner

Chabad of Greater Dayton will host an Israelithemed community Shabbat dinner at 5:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3. The cost is $25 adult, $10 child or student. Chabad is located at 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. RSVP to chabaddayton.com.

Family Education....................24 Obituaries........................... 27

O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 1 R e l i g i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 8

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

DAYTON

Keeping histories of Ohio's small Jewish communities alive Upper Miami Valley & Greene Co. included in volunteer's chronicles

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer Austin Reid, 26, grew up in Lancaster, about 30 miles southeast of Columbus, in Fairfield County. The Jewish congregation there, B'nai Israel, had closed a few years before he was born.

"Like many smaller cities and towns, there was a Jewish community there at one point," he says. "But there were still some signs of the community when I was growing up. The building was still there. It had been converted to a private residence, but you could tell it had a religious purpose at one time. There was a war memorial downtown with a Magen David (Star of David) on it in addition to a cross."

Reid, who wasn't born Jewish, remembers wondering what happened to the congregation, and why a Star of David would be engraved on the war memorial.

As an undergraduate history and political science major at Capital University — and a Jew by choice — he decided to find out. For his history capstone project, he researched the history of Fairfield County's Jewish community.

When he dug into that history, he discovered there were several other Jewish communities in small Ohio towns with histories that had never been written about.

Reid is now writing his 14th and 15th histories

of small Jewish communities in Ohio.

Among those he's completed are the Upper Miami Valley and Greene County, here in the Dayton area.

From the beginning, he learned how to go about this research from The Columbus Jewish Historical Society.

After he graduated Austin Reid Capital University and moved to Ithaca, N.Y. — where he worked for the Hillel at Ithaca College and earned his master's degree in public administration from Cornell University — Reid continued writing about these small Ohio Jewish communities as a volunteer project to stay connected to his home state.

"It really kicked up again during the Covid pandemic because I found myself with a lot more free time," he says. "Some of the volunteer organizations that I would keep myself busy with weren't really functioning, and I needed Continued on Page Four

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Temple Anshe Emeth

Temple Anshe Emeth in Piqua dates to 1858

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(L to R) Theodore Arnovitz, Beverly Saeks, and Sara Arnovitz at Sol's Store in Xenia, in business from 1931 to 1998.

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When I meet with classes, I often start out with a question: What does it take to have a Jewish community? The answers are usually "a rabbi" or "a building for prayer." Sometimes it's "kosher food" or "a Torah scroll."

These are extremely important to maintain a Marshall Jewish community. But when Jewish comWeiss munities first came together in Ohio in the early to mid-1800s, you could count the ordained rabbis in the United States on one hand (maybe two). Few Jewish communities in their first decades could afford to buy or erect a building. They'd meet in homes or rent a room or two somewhere to pray. Maybe someone might know how to ritually slaughter cattle and fowl. Probably very few.

Then, a student will answer, "To have a Jewish community, you need Jews." My next question: "How many?" True to halacha (Jewish law) and tradition, so many Jewish communities organized here when they reached a minyan, a quorum of 10 men. Sometimes it was eight or nine; local Jews could rely on Jewish peddlers crossing Ohio's roads to pull their wagons off for rest and prayer. Jews forming new synagogues would write to established synagogues around the world to raise funds for or to receive Torahs.

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DAYTON

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OBSERVER daytonjewishobserver.org Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Contributors Candace R. Kwiatek Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, plhc69@gmail.com Administrative Assistant Samantha Daniel, sdaniel@jfgd.net 937-610-1555

Austin Reid says Greene County has a long tradition of Jewish academics, particularly connected to Antioch College in Yellow Springs.

Histories

Continued from Page Three something to keep my mind off the news, and so I really picked up the project more intensely."

The Upper Miami Valley

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and St. Mary's had some families that would come down occasionally. It's really always been a regional congregation. And even today, I think only one member lives in Piqua."

He admires Anshe Emeth's generations of hard work and leadership to maintain itself.

"I'm sure it would have just been easier to not really spend the resources to have a Jewish community, and especially now, it's so easy to travel to Dayton from Piqua," he says. "And in some of these communities, that's what happened."

He learned about Piqua and the Jewish community of the Upper Miami Valley through his research on Chillicothe, because of historical family ties between the two Jewish communities.

"Piqua is a fascinating community to me because it is among the older Greene County Jewish communities in Ohio and Reid came to research Greene has had a continuous presence there since 1858," he says. "Jewish families County after he saw an article in Cincinnati's American Israelite newspaper were living in the Piqua area before 1858, but 1858 is when the congrega- in 2017 about the Arnovitz family and their store in Xenia, Sol's Store, which tion was founded." was in business from 1931 to 1998.

Through Temple Anshe Emeth in He says Greene County has a Piqua, Reid connected with longtime congregant, Greenville resident long tradition of Jewish academics, Eileen Litchfield.

LOC particularly connected to Antioch College.

"She was really "Even in the 1920s, enthusiastic about the Antioch College had project and helped me some prominent Jewish connect with other faculty members. There local people to polish was Rudolph Broda, a up the history and social sciences professor have that buy-in from starting around 1928. the local community, And his wife, Erna, which was exciting." she was professor of Litchfield describes German. And William Reid's work for Anshe Leiserson, an economics Emeth as a true gift. professor from 1926 to "There aren't 1933. His work on labor enough adjectives to Antioch College Prof. William Leiserson was a labor mediator relations is still infludescribe my delight ential today, because in in getting this accom- and arbitrator. plished for temple," she says. "I have 1933, the Roosevelt administration been collecting history, randomly, for asked him to come to D.C. One of the things he worked on was the Railway 20 years, and his research blew that out of the water in a minute. I cannot Labor Act of 1934, and that still governs some of the labor relations and tell you how ecstatic I am for his airlines and railroads today." volunteering to do this."

In his history of Greene County, Litchfield added she was amazed Reid identifies the earliest known Jew to learn there were Jews living in there as Benjamin Bruel of England, Greenville in the 1850s. who was living in Xenia by 1870. He "It was never a very large community," Reid says of Piqua. "But it's operated a clothing store there until 1873. always drawn from several comReid's history of Jewish Greene munities for its members. So Troy, but also Greenville and Wapakoneta County comes up to the present, with

Billing Sheila Myers, smyers@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Proofreaders Rachel Haug Gilbert, Pamela Schwartz Observer Advisor Martin Gottlieb Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Mary Rita Weissman President Dan Sweeny President Elect Marni Flagel Secretary Neil Friedman Treasurer Ben Mazer VP Personnel Teddy Goldenberg VP Resource Dev. Dr. Heath Gilbert Immediate Past Pres.

Cathy Gardner CEO The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 27, No. 6. 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.

Goals • To encourage affiliation, involvement and communication.

• To provide announcements, news, opinions and analysis of local, national and international activities and issues affecting Jews and the Jewish community.

• 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.

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

DAYTON was just the laypeoOutsized ple." contributions He's now finishHe was surprised ing up his histories Eastern European Jews to find that in a lot of Mansfield and took the lead of these small towns, Massillon, Ohio. Reid In all the small Jewish comJews served in public started writing about munities in Ohio that Reid has office well before 1900.

Mansfield because he researched, he says, German "You had examples Jewish families lived there early heard its one Jewish of playing imporon, but it was the great wave of congregation is movtant roles in secular Jews of Eastern Europe — who ing from its 44-yearorganizations like the Austin Reid old building. "There, began arriving in America in Masons or veterans' it was nice for some of the the early 1880s — who providgroups, societies." congregants to reflect on their ed the numbers to start viable He highlights those contribumemories."

Jewish organizations. tions to economic, social, and The largest of the Ohio "Xenia is an example of civil life in his histories.

Jewish communities he's writthat. We do have early Ger"While the Jewish population man Jewish families. Xenia just ten about was Steubenville/ of these communities has never Weirton, which at one time had been more than 1 percent or 1.5 barely got to the size of having about 1,000 Jews. in the 1910s a local percent, it's an outsized influThe oldest he's community that ence on hospitals in the areas, 'I think the written about is was formal," Reid the charitable societies in the Chillicothe; its first- areas, helping to organize fire says. "But at least in mitzvah of known Jews date to departments, to raise money for Xenia, it was never honoring the the 1830s. quite large enough orphanages."

With most to be sustainable." deceased is an Reid says he took on this he's The full list of project for two reasons. important one.' communities written about, he Reid's histories of "One, I think the mitzvah of knows of at least small Ohio Jewhonoring the deceased is an one Jewish family still living ish communities comprises important one. I volunteer with there.

Ashtabula County, Athens a burial society, a chevra kadisha, "But some of the places, County, Chillicothe, Coshocton, so this is probably a related indeed, have not had organized value that informs why I volFremont, Greene County, LanJewish life there in several decaster, Newark, New Philadelunteer with the chevra kadisha phia, Portsmouth, Steubenville/ cades," he says. "One example and why I do these stories." is New Philadelphia, Ohio. The Weirton, the Upper Miami He also believes small-town Valley, and Zanesville. He's also congregation there closed in the Jewish communities played '60s, but there are still Jewish written a history of the Jews of an important role in Judaism families there."

West Virginia. becoming a more mainstream "You had these layleaders with maybe just a little more Austin Reid's A History of Jewish Life in the Upper Miami Val— compared with their peers, ley is posted at columbusjewishhistory.org/histories/history-jewishperhaps — knowledge of the life-upper-miami-valley. religious laws and they really just carried these communities.

Greene County's Jewish Heritage, also by Reid, is posted at They'd have occasional itinercolumbusjewishhistory.org/histories/greene-countys-jewish-heritage. ant rabbis who would come Nine of his other local Ohio Jewish histories are also posted at columthrough and maybe do more busjewishhistory.org/research/central-ohio-histories. formal instruction, but it really the Yellow Springs Havurah, which is active to this day.

religion in the United States.

"I think after World War II, we really saw that," he says.

"Judaism didn't always have that insider status and perhaps now we're seeing an increase in antisemitism. The existence of these small-town Jewish communities and the fact that Jewish life had a visible presence in so many places was important for people's understanding of Jewish life.

"And with that absence, there aren't these ways for people who aren't Jewish to connect

with this community, and in that absence, it's a loss for these communities to not have that."

Reid now lives in Pittsburgh.

He says once he completes the two Ohio Jewish community histories he's writing, he'll work on filling in gaps on small Jewish communities in western Pennsylvania.

When asked if he has plans to compile his Ohio histories into a book, he says, "Perhaps someday I'll try to tie together all the pieces. It will be a project for down the road."

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PAGE 5

DAYTON Marshall Weiss

Righteous Among the Nations, Marinus Bosma dies at 97

In the Netherlands, he and his family rescued Jews from the Holocaust Longtime Tipp City resident Marinus Bosma — a recipient of the title Righteous Among the Nations from Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Israel — died Nov. 4 at the age of 97.

Natives of Arnhem in the Netherlands, he, his parents, and his sister found shelter for at least 30 Jews and they themselves housed at least 12 during the Holocaust. In 1943, Bosma and his father brought the last group of Jews to Amsterdam where they were handed over to another group that helped them escape to Belgium. Between 1943 and 1945, the Bosmas were in hiding as members of the Dutch underground.

Yad Vashem honored Bosma with the medal and Righteous Among the Nations title in a ceremony at the Dayton Art Institute in 2005. The event also honored his parents and sister posthumously.

“That’s the way we honor and respect and love the people who saved the Jews,” Uriel Palti, consul general of Israel to the Mid-Atlantic Region in the United States, told Bosma at the ceremony.

As Bosma accepted the medal, he cried. Before the ceremony, Bosma told The Observer he wasn't sure he could handle the emotions behind the award. He spoke of his mother, who insisted that his family could not look away.

It was his mother who placed more than 30 Jews seeking safety and housed and fed first a family of four and then another group of eight for more than a year before the Bosmas were caught.

To make room for everyone to sleep, the Bosmas constructed Murphy-style beds throughout the house that folded up to resemble bookcases.

The bottom drawer of the buffet was removed, and molding was added to conceal a trap door leading to a hidden crawl space.

The family concealed evidence police might find, such as open books, extra clothing, unexplained warm chairs.

Bosma's mother and sister were visiting a relative when the Gestapo knocked on the door in the summer of 1943.

A well-practiced plan went into action. His father pretended to be upstairs changing while Marinus Bosma (R) received the Yad Vashem medal and title Righteous Among the Nations in Dayton, June 29, 2005, from Mid-Atlantic Bosma yelled that he couldn't find the key to States Israeli Consul Gen. Uriel Palti. unlock the door. his capture. Then, while the Gestapo watched the front The Jews in hiding opened the buffet’s trap door of the house for her husband's return, she led the door, dropped to the floor, and rolled into the crawl family out the back. space. It took seconds and left no evidence for the The family endured nearly two years of separation Gestapo.

Father and son convinced the Gestapo they had the while living underground. Bosma lived in the countryside with a sympathetic family and another refugee. wrong house. The next day, the two divided the hidIn the resistance, he blew up rail lines supplying the den Jews and took them on separate trains to AmsterGermans. dam; all were lucky enough to avoid ID checks.

In 1945 he joined the Dutch army, helping to liberBosma returned home to find his mother and sister ate the Indonesian colonies from the Japanese. There, interrogated by the Gestapo.

Bosma met his wife, Nelly Marie Bosma. She died 25 While police questioned Bosma, his mother asked to walk her daughter to school. While she was out, she days after her husband, Nov. 29, at the age of 96. They were married 73 years.

— Marshall Weiss asked a friend to intercept her husband and prevent

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

THE REGION

ADL report ‘should be wake-up call to all of us’ the respondents indicated they

By Becky Raspe believed Jews are more loyal to Cleveland Jewish News The Anti-Defamation League Israel than the United States; 20 percent indicated Jews have released new survey results “too much power” in the UnitJan. 12, which suggests the ed States; 21 percent agreed number of Americans harborJews “don’t care” about anyone ing antisemitic prejudice has other than themselves; and 53 nearly doubled since a 2019 percent indicated Jews go out study on a similar topic.

Conducted online in Septem- of their way to hire other Jews ber and October 2022, the study in the workplace.

ADL Regional Director surveyed a weighted, repreJames Pasch said sentative sample of that as someone “on 4,007 respondents the front lines” of from the NORC fighting antisemiAmeriSpeak panel. tism, nothing in the This is the first of report’s findings several reports ADL shocked him. Based plans to release in Cleveland, ADL's based on this surregion office covers vey. The results also Ohio, Kentucky, West included in-depth, Virginia, and western hour-long, onePennsylvania. on-one interviews “We’ve been with more than 100 ADL Regional Director responding to record Americans in adlevels of antisemitic dition to the online James Pasch incidents in the region over survey. the last several years,” he ADL has regularly conductsaid, adding that in 2022, the ed nationally representative regional office saw the highest surveys about attitudes toward number of antisemitic incidents Jews. In partnership with in Ohio since it began tracking NORC and the One8 Foundain 1979. tion, the survey was updated “So, while disturbing and to examine antisemitism more sobering, it’s another indication holistically, and also evaluof the rising tide of antisemiated sentiment toward Israel, tism in the nation.” according to an ADL news As numbers increase, so release. does the frequency of antiseAdditionally, 39 percent of

Shabbat Angels in America Israel Goldfarb, Shalom Aleichem, and the Search for Nusach America

mitic and anti-Zionist violence, Pasch said.

“This survey should be a wake-up call to all of us that we need to do more,” he said.

“The growth in antisemitic beliefs and attitudes leads to violence. The questions we asked are some of the most dangerous about Jews that have historically led to violence.”

Pasch said it's also important to note the survey was conducted before American rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, triggered a series of controversies in October 2022, including sharing antisemitic remarks on social media.

But the influence of celebrities and media personalities like Ye is just one of the many reasons why the ADL is seeing an increase in antisemitic sentiments, he explained.

“From the growing polarization of America, the dysfunction of the right and left in our political word, to the growth of conspiracy theories and misinformation in our online world, it all creates a perfect storm for the growth of antisemitism,”

Pasch said. “And that inevitably leads to the growth of all hate. What starts with Jews never ends with Jews.”

A major benefit of the survey is now ADL offices across the country can use it as a guide to determine what is driving the growth of antisemitism and design interventions as a response, Pasch said.

“Once we have a key sense of what drives antisemitism, we can better target interventions towards those specific drivers,” he said. “It’s going to take a whole-of-society approach to

'Every single one of us has a role to play, and what this study shows is we can't wait any longer for everyone to get involved.'

combat the rise in antisemitic beliefs, attitudes and incidents.

Every single one of us has a role to play, and what this study shows is we can’t wait any longer for everyone to get involved.”

And while organizations play a large part in advocating on the statewide and national level, Pasch said the role individuals play in their communities is just as important.

“Whether it is uncomfortable conversations with friends, colleagues, neighbors or elected officials, we can no longer let antisemitic comments get by,” he said. “We can’t ignore it anymore. Those uncomfortable conversations are necessary to stop this in its tracks. We can all do our part in our communities.”

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PAGE 7

THE WORLD

NY Federation CEO offers rare criticism of Israel’s right-wing government

By Andrew Silow-Carroll New York Jewish Week The head of North America’s largest Jewish Federation made the rare step of criticizing proposed legislation by Israel’s government and “imploring” its prime minister to shelve it.

In an email sent Jan. 20 to supporters of the UJA-Federation of New York, its CEO, Eric Goldstein, wrote that he is “alarmed” by recent judicial reforms introduced by Israel’s newly installed justice minister. The reforms, a priority of what has been described as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, would allow Israel’s parliament to override decisions by the Supreme Court and further politicize the selection of its justices.

“The current proposed legislation raises dramatic concerns,” wrote Goldstein, an attorney who was named to head UJA-Federation in 2014. “It eviscerates the role of the judiciary by allowing Supreme Court decisions to be struck down by the barest majority of the Knesset — undermining the very

immigrated to Israel and now live in Tel Aviv, including one serving in the Israeli military. And after acknowledging complaints on Israel’s right that the Supreme Court had grown less accountable to the Israeli public, Goldstein wrote, “Judicial reform can be achieved without threatening the fundamental democratic character of Israel.” foundations of Israel’s democracy and Israel’s new right-wing government subjecting all minority groups to the has sent waves of anxiety through the tyranny of the majority.” leadership of America’s largest Jewish “I respectfully implore” Prime Minorganizations, who worry that liberalister Benjamin Netanyahu to leaning rank-and-file Jews make good on previous pledges will become alienated from that he would block laws that an Israeli government that threatened the independence includes far-right ideologues of Israel’s justice system, wrote like Finance Minister Bezalel Goldstein.

Smotrich and National Jewish Federations — umSecurity Minister Itamar Ben brella philanthropies that are set Gvir. In December, Rabbi up to serve the range of Jewish Rick Jacobs, president of the denominations and political Union for Reform Judaism expressions — seldom publicly Eric Goldstein — representing American criticize the Israeli government, Judaism’s largest denominawhose social service sector is among tion— wrote that the “extremist polititheir biggest beneficiaries. Goldstein cal agenda of this new government is acknowledged as much in his letter, profoundly distressing, representing writing that “many insiders advised radical policy shifts that are antithetical that off-the-record conversations with to the core values of liberal Jews.” senior government officials would be Goldstein addressed concerns over more productive than strident public alienation in his letter. “(T)here’s an pronouncements.” instinct among some in our community In his message, Goldstein was careto turn their back on Israel in moments ful to note his pro-Israel bona fides, of serious disagreement. But cutting noting that two of his four children ties or support for Israel is precisely

RETIREMENT, REIMAGINED.

the wrong response,” he wrote. “To the contrary, this is the moment to engage even more, using all the means at our disposal to help sustain a Jewish and democratic Israel.”

To that end, Goldstein wrote that UJA’s Israel office and the Forum of Foundations in Israel are meeting with “dozens” of Israeli philanthropies “to think together about shared strategies for addressing the current moment... and to discuss joint funding initiatives to counter the impact of potential new governmental policies and legislation.”

Representing often fractious communities, especially on Israeli domestic affairs, Federations try to avoid political statements or positions. One of the few exceptions has been a decades-long, often public disagreement over policies in Israel that appear to discriminate against the non-Orthodox religious denominations, which represent a majority of affiliated American Jews.

But Goldstein said his concerns over the judicial reforms are consistent with the Federations’ support for various causes that some think will be undermined by the new Israeli government’s policies. “We’ve long invested in programs and nonprofits that amplify diverse voices and work to build bridges of understanding, helping to create spaces for all the tribes of Israel — Secular, Haredi, Arab, LGBTQ+, Ethiopian, and more,” he wrote.

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

THE WORLD Kobi Gideon/GPO

Netanyahu fires top Shas ally from cabinet after High Court nixes convicted minister government, when it was clear to all that you would serve in the cabinet as a senior minister.”

“I reasoned that it was important that you serve the State of Israel as a member of the security cabinet in my government, where you could be of influence, given your years of experience as a member of cabinet in the governments of the late prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin — rich experience that contributed to Israel’s security and resilience,” Netanyahu continued, reading to Deri, seated immediately to his right, from a prepared letter.

The prime minister will be hardpressed to solve the problems caused by Deri’s ouster, barely three weeks after swearing in a hardline coalition that promised political stability, and just three months after winning Israel’s fifth national election in under four years.

It’s unclear who will replace Deri in the interior and health ministries. Normally, when a minister quits, his portfolios automatically revert to the prime minister for a temporary period until a new minister is appointed. But since Netanyahu is under criminal indictment in connection to a separate corruption investigation, he is blocked by law from holding any cabinet seat sans the premiership.

As unsourced reports swirled about various potential outside candidates and temporary Shas leaders filling in for Deri, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid called on Netanyahu to make an immediate appointment to fill the vacancies.

“What we see is not a government, it’s a circus. Netanyahu is weak, but he needs to appoint a full-time health minister and interior minister today,” Lapid said in a statement shortly after the cabinet meeting.

Deri was given oversight over two of Israel’s most powerful and well-funded ministries despite his financial crimes.

Although Netanyahu did not refer to Deri’s imminent ouster at the outset of the cabinet meeting, he dedicated the bulk of his remarks to “congratulate Vice Prime Minister and Health Minister Aryeh Deri” for expanding health services covered by the country’s national health insurance.

The premier fired Deri four days after the High Court issued its bombshell ruling that the decision to appoint the Shas leader as interior and health minister was “unreasonable in the extreme” in light of Deri’s criminal convictions,

Deri was given oversight over two of Israel’s most powerful and well-funded ministries despite his financial crimes.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

PM Benjamin Netanyahu (R) reads a letter to Shas Chair Aryeh Deri, informing Deri he must remove him from ministerial office, at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Jan. 22.

most recently in January 2022.

Deri struck a plea bargain at that time with the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court, which let him quit Knesset before his sentencing and thus avoid a hearing on whether his tax fraud conviction carried moral turpitude — a designation that would have barred him from holding public office for seven years.

The court at the time believed that Deri was retiring from public life. However, he continued to lead Shas from outside the Knesset and was quickly reinstated as a lawmaker in the Nov. 1 election. Deri then demanded that Netanyahu ensure his way back to the

cabinet table, despite the Basic Law: The Government requiring the Central Elections Committee to determine whether his crime carried moral turpitude before he could be appointed a minister.

The coalition rushed through a fix to allow Deri to be sworn in with the rest of the cabinet on Dec. 29.

Deri doubled down Jan. 22 on his claim that he never gave the court the impression that he was quitting politics, despite the judge’s comments from the time confirming exactly that impression. The High Court in its Jan. 18 ruling partially relied on the concept of Continued on Page 10

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By Carrie Keller-Lynn, Times of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed top ally Aryeh Deri from the cabinet Jan. 22, in a move expected to trigger political uncertainty despite being mandated by the High Court of Justice and advocated by the attorney general.

Netanyahu said that he was “compelled, with a heavy heart” to comply with the Jan. 18 court ruling — which cited Deri’s multiple convictions and recent apparent deception of a lower court — and terminate Deri’s dual appointment as interior and health minister.

Deri’s Shas party has pushed for Netanyahu to find a path for him to rejoin the cabinet, and the prime minister pledged to find “any legal way whereby you can continue to contribute to the State of Israel.”

Responding to his dismissal, Deri said that after the court decision “it was clear” to both himself and Netanyahu that he would leave the government, but that he would not be withdrawing from political life. “No judicial decision will prevent me from serving and representing” the 400,000-odd Shas voters who gave his ultra-Orthodox party 11 Knesset seats in November’s elections, he said.

Deri promised to continue to lead Shas as a lawmaker in the Knesset, chairing its faction meetings, and to attend meetings of coalition party chiefs. Indeed, Deri participated in a meeting of coalition chiefs convened by Netanyahu soon after the cabinet meeting at which he was fired.

A spokesman for Deri said the Shas chief will also retain his vice prime minister title, which is largely honorific and carries no official authority. It is unclear whether it will permit Deri to keep an observer seat at the cabinet table, but the spokesman said it was likely that the government would continue to invite Deri to its meetings as an observer.

Briefly, during the Jan. 22 cabinet meeting, Netanyahu temporarily exited the room and left the meeting in Deri’s charge. Earlier in January, Deri briefly filled in for Netanyahu when the prime minister underwent a routine colonoscopy.

In his comments Jan. 22, the premier slammed the court’s “unfortunate decision” to disqualify Deri from ministerial office, saying it ignored “the will of the people, as shown by the considerable trust that the public placed in the elected representatives who sit in my

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THE WORLD

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Convicted minister

Continued from Page Nine judicial estoppel, arguing that Deri could not benefit from a lenient plea deal based on the assumption that he would leave public life, and then

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quickly return to public life.

In addition to employing estoppel, the court struck down Deri’s appointment as failing the test of reasonableness, a judicial yardstick that Netanyahu’s government has vowed to eliminate amid its efforts to pass sweeping changes to the system of checks and balances.

“I can tell my friends in the government and the public that it was clear to the prosecution and it was clear to the previous attorney general, Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, that I had no intention and that I never had an intention and did not commit to quitting political life. Things were clear and on the table from the beginning of the discussions to the end,” Deri said during the cabinet meeting.

The push by Netanyahu’s government to remake the judiciary would also include transferring the appointment of judges to political control and creating a mechanism to protect Basic Laws from court

interference and to re-legislate other laws struck down by the court.

His government says it is necessary to correct the balance of power between the political and judicial branches, but critics, including more than 100,000 Israelis who took to the streets on the night of Jan. 21 to protest the reform plan, say it threatens democratic institutions and endangers civil liberties by giving virtually all power to the governing coalition.

Following the cabinet meeting, key coalition leaders met with Netanyahu. A Likud spokesman said that the meeting was conducted in “good spirits” and with “warmth.”

Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich attended, despite having boycotted the cabinet meeting along with two fellow party ministers in protest over the government’s decision to override his protection of an illegal settlement on Jan. 20.

Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

JG&H Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History

In Tel Aviv's Habima Square, 80,000 Israelis protest the Netanyahu government’s plan to weaken the Supreme Court, Jan 14.

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

OPINION

U.S., Israel have much in common

By Martin Gottlieb This season feels like a turning point in Jewish American history. It feels like two turning points. They are related.

One involves the connection between American Jews and Israel. The other involves the connection between American Jews and America.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu tries desperately to create and sustain a government by reaching out to extreme elements. Thomas Friedman, The New York Times veteran foreign affairs columnist, calls the result “a rowdy alliance of ultra-Orthodox leaders and ultranationalist politicians, including some outright racist, anti-Arab Jewish extremists once deemed completely outside the norms and boundaries of Israeli politics.” Many secular Jews in Israel feel that they and modernity and democracy itself are under attack.

The world press speculates about the impact of all this on Israel’s relationship with non-Israeli Jews.

American Jews have become used to some level of division among themselves over Israeli policy toward the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

But the issue now is in Israel itself, within its accepted boundaries. What kind of society can American Jews identify with?

Meanwhile, in this country a new wave of antisemitism has materialized, the other turning point. Whether we are talking about violent incidents, about online hatefulness, about public figures going hateful or about surveys showing spikes in the number of people buying into Jewish stereotypes, or the combination of all, the phenomenon is real.

How are the two turning points related? A non-Jewish friend asked me recently if I agreed with the alarm being raised about antisemitism in this country or whether I thought the alarm was overblown.

I responded that I agreed with it. I told her that I have always believed that American baby boomers like me have lived in perhaps the best time and place ever to be a Jew. But this is real.

And it’s a surprise. I knew that antisemitism never dies, that it just goes into remission. But I didn’t think it would come back this strong in our time and place.

My friend agreed that it’s real, and she mentioned Jewish friends of hers who are very Israel oriented. She said they are particularly glad right now that they have dual citizenships. Having now thought about that, I’m guessing that, what with events in Israel, they’re not finding the timing ideal to make aliyah.

So, what do you think?

There’s another connection between events in Israel and antisemitism in this country.

A conference last fall in Washington focused on online antisemitism. After a series of speakers lamented that the big social media companies are doing too little to control hate speech against Jews and others, a representative of the Israeli government said this: Let’s understand that what’s at the heart of the surge in antisemitism is anti-Israel sentiment, specifically the desire to see Israel destroyed. She offered numbers about how many antisemitic posts can be traced to that desire.

In fact, though, the Israel factor isn’t needed to explain antisemitism in this country. Hatred is having its day in all manner of ways. People are being attacked on the street for looking Asian. Gay venues are having to beef up security, just as Jewish events and institutions are, just as schools are, just as Congress is, just as local governmental bodies are.

Whether the force fostering hatred is social media or Trump-era politics or media polarization or lunar cycles, the phenomenon is best understood as general intolerance, generalized hatred.

In such a period, Jews are vulnerable, of course.

The striking connection between the turning points in Israel and the U.S. is simply their similarity. They seem to be part of the same international phenomenon: a difficult passage for liberal democracy, tolerance, and moderation.

In this country, we see White nationalism; in Israel, we hear about ultranationalism. Here, we see antisemitism and other hatreds; there, we see antiArab racism coming to power. Here, we hear alarms – justified, realistic – about threats to democracy itself. There, too.

Here, we see extremists gaining a foothold in elective politics, indeed becoming a decisive force in some Washington events, not unlike in Israel.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu and Donald Trump are both in trouble with the law and both say it’s all politics, that they are innocent victims of partisanship.

Some voters seem to buy it. And the legal situations of the political leaders become central parts of the politics of their countries.

Meanwhile, the electorates in both countries remain in something like a 50-50 standoff. There, indecisive elections bring new elections; here, we get election denial and hatefully divided government. Either way, the hatreds in society thrive, fester, motivate.

So, if now we find ourselves suddenly thinking somewhat differently than we used to about two different countries, it’s not a coincidence. The two countries have a lot in common.

Retired Dayton Daily News editorial writer Martin Gottlieb is the advisor to The Dayton Jewish Observer.

Death of Israeli democracy?

By Rabbi Dov Fischer It seems that every free and democratic vote that results in a victory for conservatives marks the “death of democracy.” If you Google “death of democracy in America,” you get 54.8 million results. No social media “influencer” can match that. Among the first 10 results is Al Jazeera’s prediction of doom: “Unless that simple, yet hard realization is embraced by folks now, America’s dark days will only become dimmer.”

Meanwhile, a Google search for “death of democracy in Israel” is more reassuring, returning only 29.5 million results. At the top of the list? Yes, Al Jazeera: “Many left-wing Israelis are concerned that anti-democratic legislation is pushing Israel towards fascism.”

It’s fortunate that Qatar’s state-owned mouthpiece is there to carry the torch of civilization. Of course, in Qatar, alcohol consumption is punishable by 40 whippings. Proselytizing? Ten years in prison. No Pride Parades, naturally.

And then there is stoning.

Yes, Israel’s democracy differs from the American system. But Israel is not America and that may not be so bad.

Not only Israel’s but most European democracies differ from the American system. For example, the British monarch is the supreme governor of the Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury is designated by the reigning monarch on the advice of the prime minister.

Measures passed by the General Synod of the Church of England, the church’s legislative body, must be approved by Parliament. Does that entanglement of religion and state, so different from America’s strict separation, make England a theocracy?

Like the U.K., Israel enjoys a robust Western democratic structure while maintaining a historic bond with the religious identity that underlies its existence. There is a Chief Rabbinate, a Ministry of Religion, and other symbols of a Jewish country. However, Israel’s core commitment to democracy has never been challenged, with even Labor Party secularists like David Ben-Gurion honoring the country’s unique cultural and religious heritage.

Israel has held five national elections in slightly more than three years, proving that democracy is thriving. Moreover, Israel’s elections are conducted differently from those in America. Only a few groups are permitted to vote by mail: diplomats posted abroad, soldiers stationed away from home, sailors, women in shelters, prisoners and patients confined to hospitals and nursing homes. Election day is only one day, not a month or a fortnight. There is no ballot harvesting and no drop boxes. Voting is by paper ballot and results are tallied manually.

Parties of every sort compete freely: Communists, socialists, Russian and Ukrainian anti-communists, Arabs devoted to ending Zionism, the Pirate Party, followers of Rabbi Nachman, TikTok “influencers,” liberals, libertarians, pensioners, conservatives, Ashkenazi Chasidic Haredim, Ashkenazi anti-Chasidic Haredim, Sephardic religionists and so on. Most recently, the You and Me Party transcended its name, accruing 746 votes (0.02 percent), while the We Party won 334 votes. This is Israeli democracy in all its robustness and, yes, madness. None of that will change because of the initiatives and reforms proposed by the new democratically elected government.

Moreover, in each of Israel’s last five elections—held on April 19, 2019; Sept.

17, 2019; March 2, 2020; March 23, 2021; and Nov. 1, 2022—an alliance of conservative and religious parties repeatedly won a plurality of the vote over alternative parties of Jewish leftists, liberals, and secularists.

In the first election, the right-religious alliance won 60 seats and could have won several additional seats had votes not been siphoned off by minor rightwing religious parties. Arab parties won four seats and the remaining center-left Jewish parties won 56.

In the second election, the rightreligious parties scored 55 seats and the center-left Jewish parties won 52.

In the third, the right-religious alliance scored 58 seats and the center-left Jewish parties won 47.

In the fourth election, the results for the Jewish parties were similar—59 for the right-religious alliance and 51 for the center-left. This time, however, the center-left formed a government with the Arab Ra’am Party and Naftali Bennett’s conservative Yamina Party abandoned the right-wing agenda it campaigned on. Thus, Bennett emerged as prime minister in exchange for his seven seats and the country was led by someone who won only 6.21 percent of the vote.

The last round, however, resulted in a solid win for the right-religious parties: 64 seats versus 46 for the Jewish centerleft. Thus, over five consecutive elections, Israel’s Jewish voters repeatedly opted for the right-religious bloc.

The Israeli left and their cheerleaders at The New York Times and Washington Post describe the new government as the “death of democracy.” In reality, one might call their proclamations the death of reason. And one certainly should call them sore losers.

Rabbi Dov Fischer, a law professor and vice president and senior rabbinic fellow at the Coalition for Jewish Values, is a senior contributing editor at The American Spectator.

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion Send letters (350 words max.) to The Dayton Jewish Observer, pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

PAGE 11

OPINION

LETTER Former President Donald Trump has said, “No president has done more for Israel than I have," that "U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel before it is too late!" and that Jewish leaders "lack loyalty" and "should be ashamed of themselves.”

Trump’s frustration over his reception among American Jews was an obsession for him during his presidency. Depending on the exit survey, Trump scored between 21 and 30 percent of the Jewish vote in 2020, but found significant support among ultra-Orthodox Jews. But he also drew revulsion in Jewish quarters because of his willingness to accept the backing of antisemitic extremists.

The American Jewish Committee responded: “Support for the Jewish state never gives one license to lecture American Jews, nor does it ever give the right to draw baseless judgments about the ties between U.S. Jews and Israel.” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said, “We don’t need the former president, who curries favor with extremists and antisemites, to lecture us about the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Antisemitic acts reached a shocking number in 2021 and continue to rise. Sadly, they are no mere coincidence, but are fueled by hateful rhetoric, increasing polarization and the justifying of using violence — all promoted during the Trump administration. He is unapologetic about associating with overt neo-Nazis and unwilling to issue denunciations of antisemitism.

While Jews are not a homogenous people, Judaism embraces compassion and respect, promotes tikun olam (repair of the world), and practicing the Golden Rule.

How can Jews forget Trump’s cavalier comment regarding Charlottesville where White supremacists were marching? That there were “very fine people on both sides.” How can Jews tolerate Trump when he dines with antisemites and White nationalists at Mar-a-Lago, embraces QAnon supporters, endorses election deniers, bribed and bullied election officials, demonized minority groups, spearheaded the Jan. 6th insurrection at the Capitol, and professes to be the messiah of MAGA and the Republican Party? Trump is the pernicious paragon of hate and hypocrisy.

— Cherie Rosenstein, Beachwood

The Christian right, dispensational premillennialism, and antisemitism

By William Trollinger A few years ago, I was interviewed by a reporter for a national Jewish publication who wanted my take on the fact that White evangelicals – more than any other group of Americans (including Jews) – wholeheartedly support the State of Israel.

I noted that one big reason for this is dispensational premillennialism, the prophetic schema developed by John Nelson Darby in the 19th century and used by many evangelicals to understand the books of Revelation and Daniel.

According to Darby’s formula, the return of Jews to the Holy Land would be one indicator that we are living in the “last days,” just before the “rapture” (when Jesus will “return in the air” to retrieve true Christians from the earth while leaving the rest to the mercies of the Antichrist.)

As I told him, the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 is proof positive for many evangelicals and fundamentalists that Jesus’ return to Earth is imminent. To go against Israel is to go against God’s divine plan – and those who do, will pay.

But it turns out that the reporter already had some knowledge of this, and he expressed pleasure over the fact that evangelicals’ wacky ideas about biblical prophecy translated into political support for Israel.

I responded by pointing out that — according to dispensational premillennialism — the

So, what do you think?

PAGE 12

The rise in antisemitic incidents in the United States: 20122021. Source: ADL.

Antichrist’s seven-year reign in the wings somewhere in (the “tribulation”) will end Europe who will make Adolf with the return of Jesus and Hitler and Joseph Stalin look the saints, who will slaughter like choirboys.” all those who have not ac• Jerry Falwell: “The Jews cepted Jesus as savior. Jews are returning to their land of included. unbelief. They are spiritually He laughed: “Until I see and desperately in need of Jesus coming over the hill, I their Messiah and Savior.” Acwon’t worry about it.” cording to biblical prophecy, It is a clever phrase. Unthere will soon be an Israelbeknownst to me, it was not inspired “nuclear holocaust,” coined by my journalistic a holocaust that will coincide interlocutor. As I learned with Christ’s return to Earth: from Eric Alter“WHAT A DAY man’s recent THAT WILL BE!” Over the past Nation article on Antisemitism American Jewish few decades, has been present leaders and the Christian right in American funChristian right, from leaders have — for damentalism it was invented the movement’s by an American all their support beginnings in Israel Public 1919. For example, of Israel — Affairs Commitand as I document repeatedly voiced in God’s Empire, tee researcher in the late 20th William Bell Riley antisemitic century.

– in many ways In this excel- sentiments. the father of the lent article American funda(marred only by the erroneous mentalist movement – was a claim that William Blackstone passionate promoter of dispenwas the creator of dispensasational premillennialism and tional premillennialism), the (related) a tireless purveyor of author documents how over the worst sort of antisemitic the past few decades, Chrisconspiratorialism. tian right leaders have — for Convinced that there was all their support of Israel — a global Jewish conspiracy repeatedly voiced antisemitic seeking to oppress the gentile sentiments. From Alterman’s masses, in the 1930s Riley – article: who repeatedly claimed he • John Hagee: Hitler was was not an antisemite – was a a “hunter” who God sent to fan of Adolf Hitler, whom he convince “the Jewish people... praised for rescuing Germany to come back to Israel.” from the Jewish-Communist • Tim LaHaye: The Jews menace. will be “destroyed by the As Riley saw it: Antichrist in the time of the If Hitler’s anticommunism seven years of tribulation; a involved oppression of the potential dictator (is) waiting Jews, so be it...The fact was, as Hitler correctly recognized, the Jews had earned their opprobrium: “Jewry, from the day that she crucified Jesus Christ until the present time, has given many occasions for her own rejection and for that opposition which she has politically pronounced persecution.

Hear Hitler, who speaks from first-hand knowledge: ‘The Jew is the cause and beneficiary of our slavery. The Jew has caused our misery, and today he lives on our troubles...He has ruined our race, rotted our morals, corrupted our traditions, and broken our power.’”

(God’s Empire, 71-72)

Of course, such antisemitism did and does make its way down to (some) dispensational premillennialists at the local level.

Take, for example, Mike Elliott. A graduate of Pensacola Bible Institute, Elliott started the Anchor Baptist Church here in Dayton, which he has pastored for the past 18 years.

According to their statement of beliefs, Elliott preaches a classic dispensational premillennialism (rapture, tribulation, and the violent end of history).

As reported by The Dayton Jewish Observer (January 2023), in his Nov. 27 sermon, Elliott asserted that: "The Jews hate us. You do know that, right? They hate Christians. You are against everything they have, since they think we’re against their God when we’re actually for it...Israel is what it is today because the United States got involved in helping them get there, but they just hate us for some reason."

In a follow-up interview with The Observer, Elliott expressed frustration that his comments could be understood as antisemitic: “I just don’t understand that. That’s insane. I do not hate Jews. I love the Jewish nation.”

In his brilliant Nation article, Eric Alterman laments the fact that ”American Jewish leaders have spent so long genuflecting before the Christian right that even the most blatant antisemitism finds them unable to stand up or speak out.”

Right. And this is frightening. Contra Mike Elliott, one can “love the Jewish nation” and be an antisemite.

As the past and present suggest, such a possibility is baked into dispensational premillennialism.

William Trollinger is a professor of history and religious studies at the University of Dayton.

He is also associate editor of American Baptist Quarterly.

Reprinted with permission from Righting America: A forum for scholarly conversation about Christianity, culture, and politics in the U.S.

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion Send letters (350 words max.) to The Dayton Jewish Observer, pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

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Sunday, February 5, 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. — JG&H- Jewish Connections to the Titanic Saturday, February 11, 7:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. — JYG Ice Skating at Riverscape Saturday, February 18, 7:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. — JCC A Night In Vegas Monday, February 20, 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. — Winter Camp Shalom

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Saturday, February 25, 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Sunday, February 26, 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. — JCC Youth Theatre Presents Disney’s Newsies Jr. Sunday, February 26, 2023, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. — JFS Drive-Thru Mitzvah Mission

Are you a member of the Dayton Jewish community who plans on attending a two- or four-year college, technical program, or graduate school in the academic year 2023-2024? If so, you may be eligible to apply for a college scholarship and/or interest-free student loan through the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

It is easy to apply for both incredible opportunities at the same time on a single, unified application.

HEUMAN SCHOLARSHIP

INTEREST-FREE STUDENT LOANS

applications are now available! Completed applications due Friday, March 31.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

To request the application and to learn more about the Heuman Scholarship, please contact Alisa Thomas, Executive Assistant, at 937-610-1796 or athomas@jfgd.net.

If you have questions specific to interest-free student loans, please contact Tara Feiner, Senior Director of Jewish Family Services, at 937-401-1546 or tfeiner@jfgd.net.

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February JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18 7:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. @ The Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459

Music | Karaoke | Poker Tournament Appetizers & Dessert | Blackjack | Silent Auction Raffle Drawing | Card Games and more!

TO A

NIGHT

Help support the program by purchasing a raffle ticket! 1 ticket for $10 or 3 tickets for $20

IN

GRAND PRIZE: Dragon’s Box

5-20 people admission and $500 towards food ($1,200 value)

GENERAL ADMISSION: $36 in advance/$50 at the door. One drink ticket and one door prize ticket included for advance purchases only.

TOURNAMENT: Tournament starts promptly at 8:00 p.m. Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior. Limited seating.

TEXAS HOLD’EM: Tournament starts promptly at

8:00 p.m. Please arrive at least 10 minutes prior. Limited seating. $75 in advance/ $100 at the door, includes general admission.

A Women’s Freedom Seder

HEALING OUR BODIES, HEALING OUR SOULS

Sunday, February 26 From 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Back by popular demand, JFS is hosting another Drive-Thru Mitzvah Mission!

Help us feed guests at St. Vincent de Paul’s shelters and provide high-need items for People and Paws: dry cat food (open or sealed), gallon-sized food storage bags, and black permanent markers. Prepare frozen, unbaked macaroni and cheese casseroles following the required recipe and directions below.

Save the date

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JFS will take your donations and provide you with a sweet treat in return. If you have questions, please contact Jacquelyn Archie, JFS Administrative Assistant, at jarchie@jfgd.net or at 937-610-1555.

RECIPE: 1-1/2 lbs (24 oz) elbow macaroni 2 lbs cheese, melted 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of celery soup 2-1/2 cups milk

Cook macaroni and drain. Melt cheese separately and add to macaroni. Add milk and soup. Mix well. Pour into sprayed pan. Cover loosely and place in refrigerator until completely cooled. Then cover tightly with sturdy foil lid and freeze. Casserole should be frozen for 36 hours.

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES of GREATER DAYTON THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

February JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25 8:00 P.M.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26 2:00 P.M., 4:00 P.M.

LOCATION: PNC Arts Annex, 46 W. 2nd St., Dayton 45402 Seating is limited! $18 adults | $12 children (4-11) | Children 3 and under FREE Purchase tickets at daytonlive.org/venues/arts-annex/ *Ticketing fees may apply Parking is available in the Arts Garage, 121 W. 2nd St.

Early registration for Summer 2023 is open!

Register by Wednesday, February 15 and your camper will receive a free long sleeve Camp Shalom T-shirt and we will waive the $75 registration fee. Register at: app.campdoc.com/ register/jccgreaterdayton

SUNDAY, MARCH 5 @ 7:00 P.M. Carillon Brewery

1000 Carillon Blvd, Dayton, 45409 $5 per person. RSVP at jewishdayton.org/events

DAN GRUNFELD

By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy and an Unprecedented American Dream Interviewed by longtime Dayton Daily News sportswriter Marc Katz.

Winter Camp

Don't let your child miss out on Camp Shalom fun when school is out! Camp Shalom is open on Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 20. Before and aftercare is available. Register at: app.campdoc.com/register/ jccgreaterdayton

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

When Lily and Alex entered a packed gymnasium in Queens, New York in 1972, they barely recognized their son. The boy who escaped to America with them, who was bullied as he struggled to learn English and cope with family tragedy, was now a young man who had discovered and secretly honed his basketball talent on the outdoor courts of New York City. That young man was Ernie Grunfeld, who would go on to win an Olympic gold medal and reach previously unimaginable heights as an NBA player and executive. In By the Grace of the Game, Dan Grunfeld, once a basketball standout himself at Stanford University, shares the remarkable story of his family, a delicately interwoven narrative that doesn’t lack in heartbreak yet remains as deeply nourishing as his grandmother’s Hungarian cooking, so lovingly described.

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February JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials FEDERATION ANNUAL CAMPAIGN IN RECOGNITION OF › Debbie Feldman’s leadership, with Dayton Children’s ranked #1 on Forbes’ list of Best Employers in Ohio Mary Rita and Norm Weissman IN HONOR OF › Cathy Gardner’s 10 years with the Jewish Federation Donna and Marshall Weiss IN MEMORY OF › Sonna Tuck Harvey Tuck UKRAINE EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND GET WELL SOON › Mark Dlott Sarah Moore Leventhal ROBERT AND MOLLIE FITTERMAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND IN LOVING MEMORY OF › Mollie and Robert Fitterman Susan and Allan Witte ISRAEL SUPPORT FUND IN MEMORY OF › Beverly Kantor Jeffrey Kleinman DOROTHY B. MOYER YOUNG LEADERSHIP FUND IN MEMORY OF › My father, Richard Moyer Scott Moyer JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND IN HONOR OF › Dr. Marc Sternberg’s retirement Susie and Eddie Katz IN HONOR OF › Debbie and Bruce Feldman Carol Wolf BLESSINGS TO › Barrie Denmark. May your mother’s memory be eternal Michael Roediger

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LINDA W. RUCHMAN PERPETUAL ANNUAL CAMPAIGN FUND IN MEMORY OF › Beverly Kantor IN HONOR OF › Mr. and Mrs. Ralph P. Schwartz’s 40th wedding anniversary Marshall Ruchman RESILIENCE SCHOLARSHIP FUND IN HONOR OF › Kellie Weckstein, for all the things we do to give wings to the people and ideas creating opportunity in your community David Strouse IN MEMORY OF › Dan Weckstein Jerold Weckstein PJ LIBRARY IN HONOR OF › Marcia and Eddie Kress’ new grandson, Jude Cheryl and Rick Carne JOE BETTMAN MEMORIAL TZADIK AWARD IN MEMORY OF › Susan Davis › Carol Matusoff Jean and Todd Bettman IN MEMORY OF › Carol Matusoff Elaine Bettman

JFS IN MEMORY OF › Beverly Kantor Andrea Rabiner Mark Scher Jodie and Gary Scher FRIENDS DRIVE IN MEMORY OF › Nicole Monique Frilot Michele and Jay Dritz IN MEMORY OF › Shep Rosen Amy and Ed Boyle

IN LOVING MEMORY OF › Debra Saidel Alice and Burt Saidel

JCC CANTOR DJCC FUND WISHING A HAPPY CHANUKAH TO › Sylvia Blum Debbie Brenner CAROLE RABINOWITZ CAMP FUND IN MEMORY OF › Jim Brisk › Robert Froning › Susan Davis › Tom Borcher Sr. › Michael Fishbein Bernard Rabinowitz

JOAN AND PETER WELLS AND REBECCA LINVILLE FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND IN MEMORY OF › Beverly Kantor Joan and Peter Wells JANE HOCHSTEIN JCC PROGRAMMING FUND IN MEMORY OF › Beverly Kantor Gayle and Irvin Moscowitz

EARLY CHILDHOOD FUND IN MEMORY OF › Susan Davis Sarah Moore Leventhal

INNOVATION GRANTS Contact Tara Feiner at tfeiner@jfgd.net or 937-401-1546 to request an application packet. Completed applications should be emailed to Tara Feiner by noon on Friday, March 31. The application packet includes: • Innovation Grant application (Adobe PDF) signed by the organization(s) senior officer.

• Innovation Grant Budget application (Microsoft Excel) • First-time applicants must supply a copy of the organization’s IRS tax exempt ruling (501(c)(3)) for all groups involved if there is a collaboration. Prior Innovation Grant awardees do not need to resubmit their tax-exempt status.

For more information, visit jewishdayton.org THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

CALENDAR Classes

Beth Jacob Congregation Zoom Classes: W. Rabbi Agar. Sundays, 2 p.m.: Conversion Class. Tuesdays, 7 p.m:. Weekly Parsha Class. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought-Jewish Law. Sign up at 937-274-2149.

Chabad Classes: Wednesdays, 7 p.m.: Talmud Class in person. Thursdays, noon: Zoom Lunch & Learn. Fridays, 9:30 a.m.: Women’s Class in person.

2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. Register at chabaddayton.com.

Temple Beth Or Classes: Sun., Feb. 5, 12, 26, 12:30 p.m.: Adult Hebrew.

Thurs., Feb. 9, 7 p.m.: Chai Mitzvah on Zoom. Fri., Feb. 3, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study on Zoom. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. templebethor.com. 937-4353400.

Temple Israel Classes: Tuesdays, noon: Talmud Study. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.: Social Justice Torah Commentary w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. Dorothy Lane Market, 6177 Far Hills Ave., Wash. Twp. Saturdays, 9:15 a.m.: Virtual Torah Study. Sat., Feb. 11, 9:15 a.m.: Hybrid Torah Study. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. tidayton.org, 937-496-0050.

Family

Temple Israel Prayer & Play: Fri., Feb. 17, 10 a.m. Infants-2nd grade. Contact Rabbi Sobo, educator@tidayton.org. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.

Children & Teens

Chabad Kids Club Tu B’Shevat Spa: Mon., Feb. 6, 4 p.m. Free. Ages 5-11. W. dinner. chabaddayton.com/ckids. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

Jewish Youth Group Ice Skating @ RiverScape: Sat., Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. $10 includes skate rental. Grades 6-8. jewishdayton.org/events. 237 E. Monument Ave., Dayton.

JCC Winter Camp Shalom: Mon., Feb. 20, 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Grades K-10.

Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Contact Meryl Hattenbach, mhattenbach@jfgd.net, 937-401-1550.

Adults

JCC's A Night in Vegas: Sat., Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m. $36 in advance, $50 at door.

RSVP to jewishdayton.org/events. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937-610-1555.

Tu B'Shevat

Temple Anshe Emeth & Beth Jacob Congregation Kabalat Shabbat & Tu B'Shevat/Shabbat Dinner: Fri., Feb. 3, 6 p.m. $18. At Beth Jacob, 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. RSVP to bethjacob1@ aol.com.

Beth Abraham Synagogue Tu B'Shevat Seder: Sat., Feb. 4, noon. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

Temple Israel Tu B'Shevat Celebration: Sun., Feb. 5, 9:45 a.m.: Ryterband Series presents Marianist Environmental Ed. Ctr.'s Tara Poling, Jewish Bible & Links to the Role of Trees. 11:30 p.m.: Community Tu B'Shevat Seder. Free.

RSVP to tidayton.org or 937-496-0050.

SHABBAT SHIRAH with the

Chabad Women’s Circle Tu B’Shevat Dinner: Sun., Feb. 5, 6:30 p.m. $36.

RSVP to dlmdayton@gmail.com. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood.

Community

Beth Abraham Synagogue Zoom w.

Ethnomusicologist Rachel Adelstein: Thurs., Feb. 2, 7 p.m. Israel Goldfarb, Shalom Aleichem, & the Search for Nusach America. Link at bethabrahamdayton.org.

Chabad Israeli Shabbat Dinner: Fri., Feb. 3, 5:30 p.m. $25 adult, $10 child or student. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. chabaddayton.com/rsvp. 937-643-0770.

Dayton Jewish Chorale Shabbat Shira Service: Fri., Feb. 3, 6 p.m. Potluck dinner to follow. $5 adult, $3 4 - 12, free 3 & under. RSVP to info@attidayton.org. At Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

Temple Israel Ryterband Brunch & Lecture Series: Sundays, 9:45 a.m. $7. Feb. 5: Marianist Environ. Ed. Ctr.'s Tara Poling, Jewish Bible Links to the Role of Trees. Feb. 12: Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo, Progressive Halacha. Feb. 26: Dayton Holocaust Committee Chair Renate Frydman, A Reason for Survival - To Understand, To Educate, To Heal (in partnership w. Beth Abraham). 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.

Beth Abraham Men’s Club Rick Pinsky Brunch Speaker Series: Sundays. $7.

Feb. 5, 10 a.m.: Dayton Jewish Observer's Marshall Weiss, Jewish Connections to the Titanic. Feb. 19, 10 a.m.: Attorney Larry Burick, Religious Freedom in the Roberts Court - Good or Bad for the Jews? Feb. 26, 9:45 a.m. at Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton: Dayton Holocaust Committee Chair Renate Frydman, A Reason for Survival - To Understand, To Educate, To Heal. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Temple Beth Or Friends & Family CPR/First Aid & Stop the Bleed Courses: Sun., Feb. 19, 10 a.m., CPR/ First Aid. Noon, Stop the Bleed Course.

Both courses free. RSVP at templebethor.org. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. JCC Youth Theatre’s Newsies Jr.: Sat., Feb. 25, 8 p.m. Sun., Feb. 26, 2 p.m. & 6 p.m. Adults $18, children 4-13 $15. daytonlive.org/venues/arts-annex. PNC Arts Annex, 46 W 2nd St, Dayton.

Friday, February 3 at 6:00PM Join the Dayton Jewish Chorale at Temple Israel for Shabbat Shirah – the Sabbath of Song!

This musical Shabbat service celebrates the continued return of the Dayton Jewish Chorale.

No reservations are required for the service.

To stay for the potluck dinner following, RSVP by Feb. 1 to info@tidayton.org.

Cost is $5/adult, $3/child ages 4-12, and free for children 3 and younger.

Join us on Sunday, February 5 for a special Tu B’Shevat Celebration!

9:45AM - Tara Poling, Program Director of the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC), will share reflections on wisdom from the Tanakh that can inform our response to contemporary environmental challenges.

This presentation is part of the Ryterband Series.

11:30AM - Community Tu B’Shevat Seder Join us for a FREE seder sponsored by the Adult Education Committee. RSVP to Temple by Feb. 1

JFS Drive-Thru Mitzvah Mission: Sun., Feb. 26, 10 a.m.-noon. For info., call Jacquelyn Archie, 937-610-1555. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

Temple Israel • www.tidayton.org • 937.496.0050 130 Riverside Drive, Dayton, OH 45405 A Reform Synagogue open to all who are interested in Judaism

PAGE 17

RELIGION

CONGREGATIONS

Queer artists reimagine Jewish ritual garments ‘We feel a strong connection to our Jewish friends and family in Dayton.’

— Nat & Susan Ritter A native Daytonian now living in Bonita Springs, Fla., Nat Ritter lovingly calls his plots in Temple Israel’s cemetery the “only real estate I own in Dayton.”

When Nat’s first wife, Wendy, died in 2008, both he and Wendy’s family wanted her to be buried in Dayton, where they found the cemetery to be peaceful and serene. Along with that came a commitment that she wouldn’t be left alone.

But it was more than this commitment that motivated Nat to contribute to the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton campaign. With both of his parents buried in Beth Abraham’s cemetery, he felt it was his turn to care for the generations that came before him.

As a child of Holocaust survivors, Nat knew how precious his family was. Etched on the back of his parents’ tombstone is a remembrance “for all our family lost in the Holocaust.” “No one knows when they died or where they are buried. For my family, Dayton’s Jewish cemeteries act as their final resting place. We need to make sure that they are taken care of properly.”

Now married for 11 years to Susan, they feel “a strong connection to their Jewish friends and family in Dayton.” Even though they now live in Florida, they thoughtfully care for their Jewish heritage in Dayton.

Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton is an endowment organization created to maintain our three Jewish cemeteries in perpetuity.

Please join us as we strive to maintain the sanctity, care, and integrity of these sacred burial grounds.

Preserving our Past Ensuring Our Future

daytonjewishcemeteries.org 525 Versailles Drive • Centerville, OH 45459 PAGE 18

By Jackie Hajdenberg, JTA represent the 613 commandments Binya Kóatz remembers the of the Torah, and it is customary to first time she saw a woman wearhold them and kiss them at certain ing tzitzit. While attending Friday points while reciting the Shema night services at a Jewish Renewal prayer. synagogue in Berkeley, she noticed “They just remind me of my oblithe long ritual fringes worn by some gations, my mitzvot, and my inherobservant Jews — historically men ent holiness,” Kóatz said. “That’s the — dangling below a friend’s short point, you see your tzitzit and you shorts. remember everything that it means “That was the first time I really — all the obligations and beauty of realized how feminine just having being a Jew in this world.” tassels dangling off you can look The California-based artists beand be,” recalled Kóatz, an artist hind the Tzitzit Project had a hunch and activist in the Bay Area. “That is the ritual garment could appeal to a both deeply reverent and irreverent more diverse set of observant Jews all at once, and there’s a deep holithan the Orthodox men to whom ness of what’s happening here.” the mass-produced options are Since that moment about seven marketed. Julie Weitz and Jill Specyears ago, Kóatz has been inspired tor had previously collaborated on to wear tzitzit every day. But she the costumes for Weitz’s 2019 My has been less inspired by The Tzitzit Project the offerings available in online and brick-and-mortar Judaica shops, where the fringes are typically attached to shapeless white tunics meant to be worn under men’s clothing.

So in 2022, when she was asked to test new prototypes for the Tzitzit Project, an art initiative to create tzitzit and their associated garment for a variety of bodies, genders and religious denominations, Kóatz jumped at the chance. Artist Julie Weitz ties the knots of the tzitzit, fringes attached to the corners of a prayer shawl or the The project’s first products everyday garment known as a tallit katan. went on sale in December.

“This is a beautiful example of Golem performance art project that queers making stuff for ourselves,” uses the mythical Jewish creature to Kóatz said. “I think it’s amazing explore contemporary issues. In one that queers are making halachically installment of the project focused sound garments that are also ones on nature, Prayer for Burnt Forests, that we want to wear and that align Weitz’s character ties a tallit katan with our culture and style and around a fallen tree and wraps the vibrancy.” tzitzit around its branches.

Jewish law, or halacha, requires “I was so moved by how that garthat people who wear four-cornered ment transformed my performance,” garments — say, a tunic worn by Weitz said, adding that she wanted an ancient shepherd — must attach to find more ways to incorporate the fringes to each corner. The comgarment into her life. mandment is biblical: “Speak to the The Tzitzit Project joins other iniIsraelite people and instruct them to tiatives meant to explore and expand make for themselves fringes on the the use of tzitzit. A 2020 podcast corners of their garments throughcalled Fringes featured interviews out the ages” (Numbers 15:37-41) with a dozen trans and gender nonWhen garments that lack corners conforming Jews about their expericame into fashion, many Jews reences with Jewish ritual garments. sponded by using tzitzit only when Kóatz was a guest. Meanwhile, an wearing a tallit, or prayer shawl, online store, Netzitzot, has since 2014 which has four corners. sold tzitzit designed for women’s But more observant Jews adopted bodies, made from modified H&M the practice of wearing an additional undershirts. four-cornered garment for the sole The Tzitzit Project goes beyond purpose of fulfilling the mitzvah and sells complete garments that (commandment) to tie fringes to take into account the feedback of one’s clothes. Called a tallit katan, or testers including Kóatz — in three small prayer shawl, it's designed to colors and two lengths, full and be worn under one’s clothes and can cropped, as well as other customizabe purchased at Judaica stores or tion options related to a wearer’s Continued on Page 27 online for less than $15. The fringes

Beth Abraham Synagogue

Conservative Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming Andrea Raizen Fridays, 5 p.m.

Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 937-293-9520. bethabrahamdayton.org

Beth Jacob Congregation

Traditional 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 Anna Burke 320 Caldwell St., Piqua.

Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, ansheemeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org

Temple Beth Or

Reform Fridays, 6:30 p.m.

Rabbi Judy Chessin Asst. Rabbi/Educator Ben Azriel 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com

Temple Beth Sholom

Reform Rabbi Haviva Horvitz 610 Gladys Dr., Middletown.

513-422-8313. templebethsholom.net

Temple Israel

Reform Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fri., Feb. 3, 6 p.m.

Fridays, Feb. 10, 17, 24, 6:30 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 11, 10:30 a.m.

130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

937-496-0050. tidayton.org

Temple Sholom

Reform Rabbi Cary Kozberg 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com

ADDITIONAL SERVICES 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.

Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

MAZEL TOV! Jonah Ian Dritz, son of Michele and Jay Dritz, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Feb. 11 at Temple Israel. He is the brother of Hannah Dritz, grandson of Phyllis and Robert Dritz, and Cindy and Rod Frilot, and the great-grandson of Sophie Smith as well as Jeannette Dritz of blessed memory and Irwin Dritz of blessed memory. He is also loved by countless aunts, uncles, cousins, and family throughout the country and around the world. Jonah is in seventh grade at The Miami Valley School and is involved in soccer and other sports, Quiz Bowl, and spending time with friends. He enjoys participating in various Jewish youth programs with the temple, JCC and Jewish Federation, and during the summer always looks forward to his time at Camp GUCI in Indiana. Jonah also loves animals — including his 3 cats — and he chose a bar mitzvah project working with animals at 4 Paws for Ability, a local organization that trains and places service dogs Beth Abraham Synagogue will celebrate women who provide spiritual leadership in the Dayton area at this year's Women of Valor luncheon, May 10.

Honorees are Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz, Rabbi Judy Chessin, Courtney Cummings, Cantor Andrea Raizen, Mary 'Mahira' Rogers, and Rabbi Tina Sobo. Event chairs are Mindy Greene and Janice Krochmal.

Among the artists participating in Women Strong Art Project's What ABOUT Hair exhibit at the Dayton Metro Library's Main Library is Elyssa Wortzman. The exhibit runs through Feb. 25 on the library's second floor.

Elyssa arrived in Dayton in September with her husband, Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer, now Beth Abraham Synagogue's rabbi.

Renate Frydman's book, Anschel's Story, is now available via Amazon as an audiobook. The Dayton Holocaust Resource Center's founder and director, Renate published Anschel's Story in 2017. It's her late husband's story of survival in Nazi-occupied Poland. Told in the first person, the book relates how Anschel “Charlie” Frydman stayed

Jonah Ian Dritz

with children, veterans, and adults with disabilities who wish to have extra love, companionship, and independence. alive as a slave laborer and then as a partisan fighter, when he was only a youth, after his parents and two sisters were murdered.

National Conference for Community and Justice Executive Director Adriane Miller tells us registration is open for its spring and summer Anytown programs. The Anytown Spring Retreat, March 3-5, is a free, weekend-long, overnight program for high school students in the Miami Valley, focused on leadership and allyship through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Anytown's Summer Institute, June 11-16, is a free, week-long, overnight program for area high school students to engage in conversations, education, and activities about diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. Participants engage in activities around race, gender, ability/disability, class, and allyship. "If you know of any high school students who are looking to join a life-changing, eye-opening experience, Anytown is just that," Adriane says. For details or to register, go to nccjgreaterdayton.org/anytown.

Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.

February

Shevat/Adar Shabbat Candle Lightings February 3: 5:41 p.m.

February 10: 5:49 p.m.

February 17: 5:57 p.m.

February 24: 6:05 p.m.

Torah Portions February 4: Beshalach (Ex. 13:17-17:16)

Tu B’Shevat

New Year for Trees

February 6/15 Shevat Marks springtime in Israel.

Celebrated with picnics, fruit and planting trees.

February 11: Yitro (Ex. 18:1-20:23) February 18: Mishpatim (Ex. 21:1-24:18) February 25: Terumah (Ex. 25:1-27:19)

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

PAGE 19

A Jewish wedding checklist FengLong Photography/Flickr

By Gabrielle Kaplan-Mayer myjewishlearning.com If you or someone close to you is planning a Jewish wedding, you are in the midst of an exciting — and at times stressinducing — experience. Besides the many wedding details that all couples need to plan, Jewish brides and grooms have several other important factors connected to their ceremony to consider. Whether you are Jewishly knowledgeable or relatively new to Judaism, this checklist will help you plan a meaningful Jewish wedding.

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1. Choosing a date Jewish weddings are traditionally prohibited on Shabbat and most holidays — including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot — and the fast days Tisha B’Av, the 10th of Tevet, the 17th of Tammuz, the Fast of Gedaliah, and the Fast of Esther. Traditionally, Jewish weddings are not held during the counting of the Omer between Passover and Shavuot, although customs differ as to whether that entire seven-week stretch or just part of it is a problem.

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weeks between the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha B’Av is also prohibited in traditional Jewish practice. Because many of these dates fall during prime wedding season (spring-summer), it’s important to check a Jewish calendar before you select a date.

Although Shabbat weddings are out, many couples choose to wed on Saturday after sundown, so that they can begin their ceremony with Havdalah, marking both the end of Shabbat and the end of the time that came before their public commitment to one another.

Some couples choose to wed on Tuesdays, believing it to be an especially blessed day, since in the Torah narrative of creation, the phrase “God saw that it was good” appears twice on the third day.

2. Selecting an officiant For some couples, this is an easy one. They may be active members of a congregation or have a rabbi from their col-

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lege Hillel or Chabad that they are close to. But for engaged couples who are not affiliated with a Jewish community in a formal way, finding a rabbi to lead their wedding ceremony can seem a daunting task.

Parents may suggest using a rabbi from their congregation, whether or not the couple knows them.

It’s important to know that a rabbi is not the only person who can lead a Jewish wedding. A cantor can officiate too.

You may want to begin the search for your officiant by visiting local congregations and observing how different rabbis and cantors lead services.

Rabbis' and cantors' schedules fill up quickly, so if you have a particular clergy member in mind, clear the date with him or her as soon as possible.

Interfaith couples who encounter difficulties finding a rabbi can contact 18doors.org, which works with interfaith couples and can help them to find a rabbi.

When you meet with officiants you are considering, be sure to ask them their philosophy about leading weddings, if they are open to adapting rituals, and what kind of ketubah (marriage contract) text they prefer that couples use. Make sure that you are on the same page about major issues from the start.

3. Planning the ceremony Even couples who grew up in a Jewish home with years of Jewish education may find themselves surprised when it comes to examining traditional Jewish wedding rituals.

For example, in a traditional ceremony, only the groom gives the bride a ring, an act which is thought to symbolize kinyan (acquisition).

Egalitarian couples find this

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

ritual not in keeping with their values and choose to do a double-ring ceremony. Some Orthodox rabbis will allow a modified form of this. While working with a rabbi or cantor can help you learn about the wedding rituals, you will probably get more out of the experience by doing a bit of research, so you can bring ideas to your meetings with the rabbi.

4. Choosing a ketubah Just as county governments issue marriage licenses, Jewish law has historically used a ketubah to sanction a marriage. Ketubah means writing or written and refers to the document that is signed by witnesses before and often read during a Jewish wedding.

Traditionally, a ketubah served as a kind of premarital contract, outlining a bride’s ongoing rights: food, clothing, and even sex should be provided during the course of the marriage. The ketubah also specified her rights in the case of her husband’s death or their divorce.

Couples that veer away from the traditional ketubah text and its implications choose a text that expresses their hopes and commitments for their marriage. Some couples write their own text, while others search for a text that speaks to their vision.

The ketubah is not only a legal document, but also an artistic one. Ketubot (plural of ketubah) have long been — and continue to be— an expression of Jewish creativity. So couples not only can have decisions to make about the text, but also the kind of art they want for their ketubah. Some couples shop together for a lithograph; others hire an artist to create an original design.

Couples should also think about who they want to invite to sign their ketubah. Traditionally, a witness must be a religiously observant Jewish male, unre-

lated to the bride or groom. Reform and Reconstructionist and some Conservative rabbis accept women as witnesses, though most still prefer that the witness be Jewish.

5. Selecting a chupah The chupah is the canopy that covers the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony, creating a sacred space that is both open for all to see and private and intimate for the couple beneath it. It symbolizes their new home together, and is said to be open on all sides, as was the tent of Abraham and Sarah, who were always ready to receive visitors.

In planning your wedding, think about what kind of chupah would be special for you. Some are covered in flowers, others are made of fabric squares that friends and family decorate for the couple. The chupah is attached to four poles, which can be freestanding or held by four people. It is considered a great honor to hold a chupah pole, so this should be given to people very close to the bride or groom.

6. Including ritual objects Jewish weddings call for some objects that, with a little thought, can be enhanced to create special meaning for your wedding. For example, at most Jewish weddings, kipot (skullcaps) are provided for guests.

Many couples have them imprinted with their name and wedding date; others knit original kipot or paint or decorate satin or felt ones to match wedding decor.

Couples also need a Kiddush cup for under the chupah. Some couples create a new tradition, using one heirloom cup from each family. And no Jewish wedding is complete without the glass for breaking at the end of the ceremony. Today’s couples sometimes save the pieces of their broken glass to be transformed

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

into a new piece of Judaica, such as a mezuzah or candlesticks.

7. Pre-wedding choices One of the greatest things about Jewish weddings is that the celebration is spread out over time, giving you maximum opportunities to honor the bride and groom.

The celebration may begin with an aufruf, when bride and groom (in traditional circles, only groom) are called for an aliyah to the Torah. They receive a misheberach blessing, which invokes God’s blessing for the bride and groom, and then they are showered with candy, a symbol of the sweetness to come in their life together.

Many couples host a kiddush lunch following services. This can be an ideal time to include the entire community in your wedding joy.

You and your partner should also discuss whether you want to include various traditional pre-wedding rituals such as going to the mikvah (ritual bath), separating from one another during the week before your wedding, and fasting on your wedding day. These rituals can help the couple prepare spiritually for the seriousness of the day to come.

While a Jewish wedding is full of joy, it is also like a personal Yom Kippur for the bride and groom, who want to enter their marriage with a pure heart. Some couples choose to follow an altered version of some of these traditions, such as eating something light before the ceremony to protect against fainting.

Give yourselves ample time to talk through these steps and to use the wedding-planning process as an opportunity to learn more about Jewish traditions and the way each of you envisions your life together once you step out from under the chupah, hand in hand.

PAGE 21

Ugly Chanukah sweaters brought this D.C. power couple together

By Alix Wall, JTA Years before they were a couple, Shelley Greenspan and Reuben SmithVaughan were just two Amazon employees wearing ugly Chanukah sweaters to a company holiday party.

Both were working in Amazon’s Washington, D.C. office in 2017 when they each donned their sweaters — Greenspan in a hot pink number with a sparkly blue and gold dreidel; SmithVaughan with a blue and neon green Star of David emblazoned across his chest — for the annual holiday party.

As they remember it, they were the only two attendees in Chanukah sweaters.

But while they shared their amusement with each other, any sparks remained confined to Greenspan’s sweater.

“It did give her the knowledge that I was Jewish,” Smith-Vaughan said, noting that his ethnicity is not obvious from his name.

“And not someone just Jewish, but proud enough about it to wear a sweater to a holiday party,” Greenspan added.

Five years later, Greenspan helped to plan Chanukah gatherings of her own, as the White House liaison to the Jewish community. And she and SmithVaughan are married. But the path to

Emily Blumberg Photography

both roles was hardly straightforward.

The year after the Amazon Chanukah, Greenspan took a job with the State Department and lost touch with her sweater buddy. That lasted until April 2020, when, isolated at home at the start of the pandemic, the pair matched on the dating app Bumble.

For their first date, which happened over Zoom, SmithVaughan asked about her cocktail preference in advance, then dropped two small bottles of gin and tonic at her building’s lobby by bike. Back at home, he poured himself a bourbon, and they video-chatted over drinks.

There was an immediate connection, despite their very Shelley Greenspan and Reuben Smith-Vaughan were married Sept. 18 at the Salamander Hotel in D.C. different Jewish upbringings. world and then politics, working on Greenspan, 32, is originally from Mirequired for mourners, he recalled. ami Beach. She attended a Reform syna- both Hillary Clinton’s presidential camHis bar mitzvah was held at the nearpaign and Jewish Women for Joe in the gogue, a Conservative overnight camp, est functioning synagogue, 250 miles Biden campaign. and an Orthodox day school growing away in San José, Costa Rica. His father, Smith-Vaughan, 34, grew up on a up before spending the year after high Arturo Vaughan, serves as the Israeli coffee farm in Nicaragua, in a Jewish school in Israel, through Young Judea’s honorary consulate in Managua, Nicacommunity so tiny “we were taken out gap year program. ragua.

After graduating from the University of school when someone passed away A graduate of American University, to make a minyan,” or prayer quorum of Florida, she entered the corporate he is still at Amazon, now the director

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of Latin America public which is co-owned by policy. a Jewish veteran, and Their courtship honored the groom’s followed the earlycoffee-farm upbringing. pandemic playbook, On Saturday, guests which Smith-Vaughan could attend a Nationsaid “speeded things als game — against up really aggressively.” the Miami Marlins, the On their second date, bride’s hometown team. they played tennis outThe group was allowed doors. On their third, onto the field before the he cooked dinner at her game. apartment, but they Their custom kipot remained far away from featured a print of the each other.

D.C. skyline in the linBy the fourth date, ing, and the groom and at her apartment, they men in the wedding broached the conversaparty all wore White tion about whether to House cufflinks with date exclusively — or, Biden’s signature (avail'Shelley is the most caring, loving, kind and elegant in the lingo of the moable at the White House ment, whether to “pod” human being I’ve ever met,' Smith-Vaughan said. 'She gift shop). Their custom is kind to a fault, always wanting to help people.' together. ketubah features coffee “No one knew how beans, the D.C. skyline, In November 2021, durto date during Covid — there and barbed wire, to honor the ing a Thanksgiving trip to was this ‘let’s all figure it out bride’s Holocaust-survivor North Carolina, where Smithtogether,’” Greenspan regrandparents.

Vaughan’s mother lives, he called. She added, “There was The reception didn’t only proposed on the tennis court. never any ‘What are you doing While wedding planning can feature toasts and dancing; tonight?’ because no one ever the bride offered a d’var Torah be all-consuming, Greenspan had any plans then.” (a word of Torah), and when said she had a particularly Road trips became a favorthe groom joined her to thank “absurd” few months when it ite way to spend time. It was everyone for coming, he overlapped with her new job. after a jaunt to Bar Harbor, surprised her by singing Eshet The position requires someMaine that Greenspan realized Chayil, A Woman of Valor, one knowledgeable about Jewshe didn’t want to see Smithwhich Jewish men traditionally ish communal life and able to Vaughan go home. sing to their wives before Shabrepresent the disparate viewMeanwhile, he said he knew points held by American Jews bat dinner. she was the one when he found to the White House, as well as “Reuben has a beautiful out that she always carries a voice and doesn’t really sing in represent the administration to Washington Nationals baseball American Jews. public very much,” Greenspan cap in her bag — he is a major said. “I wasn’t expecting it and “I’d be calling rental compafan. it was so meaningful to me, nies while going into briefings “Shelley is the most carthere wasn’t a dry eye in the in the White House," she said. ing, loving, kind and elegant house. He still sings it to me The couple were married human being I’ve ever met,” every Friday.”

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JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION

Morally prepared

when we see things differently, through the lens of moral sensitivity, then we begin to act differently.

The study of Torah, including the entire body of Jewish Just weeks ago in upstate You can train yourself morally teaching, develops judgment New York a deadly blizzard in advance of a test.” and reasoning. trapped many, among them According to psychologists “Real-life situations are often Jay Withey. Venturing out in and neuroscientists, moral his truck to rescue a friend, Jay behavior is a complex of at least complicated, making it unclear which values should shape picked up two stranded pedes- four distinct processes: moral our actions,” Rabbi Jeremy trians. Eventually, cemented sensitivity, judgment and reaSchwartz explains. in a snowbank with his fuel soning, motivation, and imple"Study accustoms us to lookdepleted, Jay sought shelter mentation, all of which develop ing for ultimate value, for right independently. and wrong, for godliness."

While Darwin argued that Study also challenges us to morality is innate, scientist DarCandace R. cia Narvaez notes that modern apply moral values whether we are motivated by aspiration or research disagrees. “It now Kwiatek obligation, by looking for the appears that the moral sense is positives and largely developportunities oped after birth or avoiding at nearby houses. Despite his and requires problems and pleas, every homeowner reparticular kinds seeking safety. fused. Desperate, he broke into of experience.”

In Judaism, a nearby school to shelter his In other moral action two passengers in the heated words, morality itself is both an building. He then went back has to be cultiobligation and a outside to collect those stuck vated. teacher. “Na’aseh in snowbound cars scattered Over three v’nishmah,” the nearby. For two days, 24 people millennia, JudaIsraelites said upon receiving and two dogs lodged safely in ism has established multiple the school. Before leaving, Jay approaches to the cultivation of the Torah at Sinai, “We will act and we will understand.” left a note apologizing for the morality, from stories to comHabitually acting in moral break-in. mandments to rituals and more.

In commenting on this draParticularly intriguing is that ways both inspires understanding and creates a pattern of matic episode, talk-show host they all are designed to target action not easily broken.

Dennis Prager noted the conthe very complex of processes It appears we can train ourtrasting responses of Jay and now identified by modern selves morally in advance of a the homeowners. “How would researchers. test. you or I have reacted?” Prager “Prayer sensitizes us to the Moral sensitivity. Rabbi mused. “While we can never world beyond the self,” Rabbi Jehuda Schimmel was known know for sure, I have a theory.

Jonathan Sacks observes, and

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One night, a Nazi began ranting in the street, stumbling drunkenly. Tension grew in the Schimmel home. Then there was silence. After a bit, the rabbi crept outside and found the man passed out on his front steps. He gathered a pillow and some blankets and tucked them around the man to keep him warm and somewhat comfortable. In the morning, the Nazi banged on the door. “Hey, Jewboy, why didn’t you call the police? Why’d you do all this for me?”

With a twinkle in his eye, Rabbi Schimmel responded, “If I had called the police, would they have treated you any better than I did?” Not knowing what to say, the man departed.

Judgment and reasoning.

At school, Aviva was learning about derech eretz: common decency and consideration for others.

That week, Nathan, one of her classmates, returned to school after a long absence because of cancer surgery and chemotherapy. When another student grabbed his baseball cap revealing Nathan’s bald head, Aviva retrieved it and sat next to Nathan, forcing the bully to back off.

After school, Aviva had her mother cut her waist-length hair for a wig for Nathan until his own hair grew back.

Motivation. It was three hours before Shabbat when Elisha, traveling to visit his family in northern Israel, stopped to refuel. He noticed a woman with children at the next pump,

noticeably upset. Asking if he could help, she explained that she’d accidentally filled her car with diesel fuel, and it wouldn’t run. Hearing her destination was nearly three hours away, Elisha handed her his car keys and cell phone number.

“The tank is full. Let’s get in touch after Shabbat to figure out how to return my car.” The woman thanked him profusely and took off. Elisha called his father, just an hour away, who promptly set out to pick him up. Everyone made it to their destinations in time for Shabbat. On Sunday, the woman returned the car.

Implementation. After making his first million, the famous Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch went to tell his father about his accomplishment. His father didn’t seem impressed.

Exasperated, Baruch asked, “Aren’t you happy? I am not even 30 and already I’ve made a million.”

His father answered, “No. What I really want to know is, how will you spend the money you’ve earned?”

Prager frequently poses the following question to his audiences: “If your dog and a stranger were drowning, which would you save first?” His audiences are diverse but consistent, with one-third voting for their dog, one-third for the stranger, and one-third unsure.

However, audiences guided by the Judeo-Christian moral code unhesitatingly answer “the stranger,” explaining that while they may love their pet, the stranger is made in God’s image. They are morally prepared for a test. Are you?

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Easy vegetarian Moroccan tangine

before the zucchini, and the whole or cut green beans after. Turnips and other squashes also work well.

• I have included a recipe to make your own simplified Ras el Hanout, a spice blend so important in North African cuisines that it means head of market. You can also buy it pre-made from Amazon.

Keep in mind that, like all store-bought spice mixes, the combinations, taste, and color can vary.

• This spice mix will freeze well for up to two months.

inch wide 2 medium zucchinis, cut into 1/2-inch half moons 1 large tomato 1/2 small green cabbage, cut into 6-8 thin wedges 2 cups hot vegetable stock or water 1/2-1 tsp. salt 1 cup green or black olives (optional) chopped cilantro or parsley (optional)

To make the spice blend: Whisk all the spices together in a bowl until well blended.

Store mix in an airtight glass or stainless-steel container in a cool, dry place.

For the Moroccan spice To make the tagine: In a blend: heavy-bottomed 6- or 7-quart 1 Tbsp. paprika pot or Dutch oven with a tight1 Tbsp. cumin fitting lid, heat one tablespoon

By Susan Barocas, The Nosher lift the lid as it will break the steam-condensation process.

2 tsp. ground ginger of oil over medium heat. Add A few years ago, I visited This recipe is inspired by 1 tsp. turmeric onions with a pinch of salt and friends who moved to Morocco.

Fatima’s cooking. Imitating the <1 tsp. cinnamon sauté, stirring occasionally, for They live in Rabat, Morocco’s tagine method, vegetables are 1 tsp. coriander about 10 minutes, until tender capital city, where they had added in layers, with the ones 1/2 tsp. allspice but not browned. Add gara housekeeper who was also needing the longest cooking 1/4 tsp. cloves lic and one tablespoon of the a good and generous cook. I time at the bottom. spice mixture. Cook, stirring, would sit at the kitchen table Serve it the traditional way For the tagine: for about two minutes, until or stand by her, taking notes with steamed couscous and 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided aromatic. as she worked her magic with 1 large onion, diced Add the liquid from the fresh ingredients from the local imagine you’re far away, enjoying the delights of Morocco.

3 large cloves garlic, minced chickpeas (aquafaba) and the market.

2 Tbsp. Moroccan spice squash cubes to the pot, and True to Moroccan cuisine, Cooking notes mixture or store-bought Ras stir.

Fatima was skilled at cooking • Usually only about a cup of el Hanout, divided Turn the heat as low as in a tagine, the North African broth or water is added to the 1 butternut squash or possible while you layer the earthenware pot with the conitagine, but I’ve doubled the liqpumpkin (2-21/2 lbs.), peeled, vegetables, building a domed cal lid that creates tender, flaseeded and cut into 1-inch shape as you go. Sprinkle about vorful dishes of the same name. uid as a bit of insurance against burning the bottom. If you want cubes (3-4 cups) a third of the preserved lemon Tagines involve lots of vegit to be more like a stew, add 1 can (15 oz.) chickpeas, or lemon zest over the squash etables, and sometimes meat. two additional cups of broth or drained with chickpeas and or pumpkin, then cover with The shape of the tight-fitting liquid (aquafaba) reserved potato slices. Add a layer of lid traps the rising steam as the water.

• Be sure to leave a couple separately carrots, a third more lemon. food cooks, which condenses inches between the top of the peel from 1 small preserved Layer the zucchini on top. Lean into drops of liquid flavor. vegetables and the lid of your lemon, diced or cut into very wedges of cabbage against the After returning from Mothin strips, or 2 tsp. grated sides of the vegetable mound. rocco, I discovered that a Dutch pot.

• There’s a lot of flexibility fresh lemon zest, divided In a small bowl, whisk oven or heavy-bottomed pot 2 medium sweet or yellow together the hot broth or water can work as a stand-in, provid- in the ingredients. No carrots in the house? No worries. potatoes (1-11/2 lbs.), unwith the remaining one tableed it has a tight-fitting lid.

Got green beans or eggplant peeled and cut into 1/2-inch spoon each of oil and spice mixMany enameled Dutch oven you want to use up? Add the slices ture. Pour over the vegetables. lids have condensation rings, eggplant, cut in half-inch cubes, 2 medium carrots, cut 1/2 Cover the pot and turn the heat which are helpful. Try not to

up to medium.

While the tagine heats, use a small knife to peel the skin from the bottom of the tomato. Holding onto the top or stem, grate the tomato flesh on the large holes of a box grater into a dish, discarding the skin. Add the grated tomato and juices to the pot, on top of the zucchini.

As soon as the tagine starts to simmer, reduce heat to low and let cook undisturbed until the vegetables are almost tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Add the chickpeas, olives and remaining lemon. Add a little more stock or hot water if the pot looks dry. Cover and continue to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve in the pot, or the vegetables can be carefully moved and arranged on a large serving platter, taking care with each layer of vegetables and serving on top of couscous or rice. Garnish generously with chopped cilantro or parsley if desired.

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PAGE 25

Arts&Culture

ChatGPT can write verse, but it is no more alive than the golem of Prague

By Rodger Kamenetz ChatGPT, an AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot with remarkable abilities to mimic human language, has been making big news. One stunt that’s gotten a lot of attention is ChatGPT’s alleged ability to write poetry. If true, this would mark a major advance. If an AI app can write real poetry, it has acquired a soul.

Have we crossed that threshold now with ChatGPT? The program is fun and swiftly generates remarkably lifelike responses to queries and prompts, in grammatically correct if somewhat dull and stuffy sentences. Still, the responses are often full of excellent information.

We’ve certainly made progress in building machines that think. The chess program Deep Blue can beat any grandmaster. Given a prompt like, “Draw me Donald Duck in the style of Rembrandt surfing on an ocean of macaroni” an art-generating AI like DALL-E can produce remarkable illustrations instantly.

“Write me a sonnet about e-bicycles in the style of Shakespeare “— presto, ChatGPT can spit out a sonnet.

For many, the difference between

these AI-generated products and the real deal is hard to discern — as it was for the congregants of the New York rabbi who delivered a sermon generated by AI on a Shabbat in January.

If ChatGPT is writing poetry, it has passed a most difficult version of the Turing test.

Alan Turing, the early computer scientist who helped crack the Nazis’ Enigma code in World War II, speculated on how to tell if a machine has acquired real intelligence: Can it fool a human being into believing it, too, is human?

Imagine yourself exchanging texts with an unseen source hidden behind a screen. If you can’t tell whether you are conversing with a machine or a person, the computer has passed the Turing test.

But I’ve found a loophole. What if the human judge is devolving at the same rate that AI is advancing? Perhaps people are becoming more like computer programs as computer programs become more human.

I often hear people say, “I am multitasking,” or “I need to recharge my

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An image generated by the AI text-to-image model Stable Diffusion from the prompt, 'a golem at a computer writing poetry.'

batteries.” They are emulating machines and even a little proud of it. What if ChatGPT seems to be writing poetry because so many people have become so mechanical in their thinking they can’t recognize the poetry of life?

Out of the wounded vanity of a merely human poet, I asked ChatGPT to “write me a poem about kabalah in the style of Rodger Kamenetz.” Here are the first four lines: Kabalah, the ancient wisdom of the Jews Enshrined in symbols, stories, and the Tree Of Life, a map to guide us through our dues And find the spark of divinity within To those who know and love poetry this isn’t poetry. It is verse — language written in a rough iambic pentameter that has zero felicity.

The verse offers some good clichés about kabalah because ChatGPT draws instantly from the whole internet. But ChatGPT has no idea what it is saying. It doesn’t care, or have access, to the kind of truths found in poetry.

It just cobbles words and phrases together in a plausible way.

Since I asked for a poem, it pours the content into a metrical form. But that doesn’t make it beautiful.

In skillful verse, line breaks and end rhymes create variety and emphasis.

But what emphasis is served by rhyming Jews and dues? What does dues even mean in this context — unless it’s a reminder to pay your synagogue dues?

Judging from the response to ChatGPT’s verse, many do think it writes poetry. But that’s where the loophole comes in. The Turing test depends on a human judge.

For a judge who has never spent time dwelling on what is beautiful in poetry, ChatGPT has passed the test. But that does not prove that ChatGPT is genuinely creative. It just proves that many people have little interest in poetry, and do not value primary imagination.

If I can’t tell whether I am talking

JTA

to a program or a person, maybe the problem is with me. I pity anyone who can’t distinguish verse written by a bot and a poem by Alicia Ostriker or Gerald Stern.

ChatGPT is no more alive than the legendary golem of Prague.

It is said that the Maharal — the great Rabbi Judah Loew of 16th-century Prague — fashioned a magical creature of river mud in order to (what else?) save the Jews. Using permutations of the names of God, the Maharal brought the golem to life by writing emet on the creature’s forehead — Hebrew for truth.

The legend is rooted in Talmudic discussions of the mystical Book of Formation (Sefer Yetzirah), and further back to Genesis 2:7 which describes a second version of Adam’s creation: Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Here we see the original transition from matter to life, from a mere golem — a heap of dirt — to an adam, a human being. And according to the 2nd-century translator Onkelos, what marks that transition is the human’s ability to speak poetic language.

When Onkelos translates Genesis 2:7, he renders the Hebrew nefesh haya — living soul — as the Aramaic ruach m’mamila — a speaking spirit.

Poetry is that spirit speaking. Poetry is the utterance of a living soul. And poetry inscribes truth, not on a forehead of mud, but on the human heart.

ChatGPT cannot tell — and doesn’t care — whether what it is writing is true or beautiful. But in the best poetry we hear that strong speaking spirit — what Wallace Stevens called “the voice that is great within us.” Poetry rings true — and makes us more beautifully human.

If an AI app can write real poetry, it has acquired a soul.

Rodger Kamenetz wrote The Jew in the Lotus and The History of Last Night's Dream. His latest book of poetry is The Missing Jew: Poems 1976-2022 from Ben Yehuda Press.

Distributed by JTA.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

Queer artists

Continued from Page 18 style and religious practices. The garments cost $100, but a sliding scale for people with financial constraints can bring the price as far down as $36.

Spector and Weitz found trial users were excited by the idea that the tzitzit could be available in bright colors, and loved how soft the fabric felt on their bodies, compared to how itchy and ill-fitting they found traditional ones. They also liked that each garment could be worn under other clothing or as a more daring top on its own.

To Weitz, those attributes are essential to her goal of “queering” tzitzit.

“Queering something also has to do with an embrace of how you wear things and how you move your body in space and being proud of that and not carrying any shame around that,” she said. “And I think that stylization is really distinct. All those gender-conventional tzitzit for men — they’re not about style, they’re not about reimagining how you can move your body.”

For Chelsea Mandell, a rabbinical student at the Academy of Jewish Religion in Los Angeles who is nonbinary, the Tzitzit Project is creating Jewish ritual objects of great power.

“It deepens the meaning and it just feels more radically spiritual to me, when it’s handmade by somebody I’ve met, aimed for somebody like me,” said Mandell, who was a product tester.

Whether the garments meet the requirements of Jewish law is a separate issue. Traditional interpretations of the law hold that the string must have been made specifically for tzitzit, for example — but it’s not clear on the project’s website whether the string it uses was sourced that way. The project’s Instagram page indicates that the wool is spun by a Jewish fiber artist who is also the brother of the alt-rocker Beck.

“It is not obvious from their website which options are halachically valid and which options are not,” said Avigayil Halpern, a rabbinical student who began wearing tzitzit and tefillin at her Modern Orthodox high school in 2013 when she was 16 and now is seen as a leader in the movement to widen their use.

“And I think it’s important that queer people in particular have as much access to knowledge about Torah and mitzvot as they’re embracing mitzvot.”

Weitz explained that there are multiple options for the strings — Tencel, cotton or hand-spun

wool — depending on what customers prefer, for their comfort and for their observance preferences.

“It comes down to interpretation,” she said. “For some, tzitzit tied with string not made for the purpose of tying, but with the prayer said, is kosher enough.

For others, the wool spun for the purpose of tying is important.”

Despite her concerns about its handling of Jewish law, Halpern said she saw the appeal of the Tzitzit Project, with which she has not been involved.

“For me and for a lot of other queer people, wearing something that is typically associated with Jewish masculinity — it has a gender element,” explained Halpern, a fourth-year student at Hadar, the egalitarian yeshiva in New York.

“If you take it out of the Jewish framework, there is something very femme and glamorous and kind of fun in the ways that dressing up and wearing things that are twirly is just really joyful for a lot of people,” she said.

For some, wearing tzitzit is just about halachic egalitarian practice, and not about queering Jewish ritual items.

Rachel Schwartz, a straight cisgender woman, first became drawn to tzitzit while studying at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem in 2018. There, young men who were engaging more intensively with Jewish law and tradition than they had in the past began to adopt the garments, and Schwartz found herself wondering why she had embraced egalitarian religious practices in all ways but this one.

“One night, I took one of my tank tops and I cut it up halfway to make the square that it needed. I found some cool bandanas at a store and I sewed on corners,” Schwartz recalled.

“And I bought the tzitzit at one of those shops on Ben Yehuda and I just did it and it was awesome.”

Schwartz’s experience encapsulates both the promise and the potential peril of donning tzitzit for people from groups that historically have not worn the fringes. Other women at the Conservative Yeshiva were so interested in her tzitzit that she ran a workshop where she taught them how to make the undergarment. But she drew so many critical comments from men on the streets of Jerusalem that she ultimately gave up wearing tzitzit publicly.

“I couldn’t just keep on walking around like that anymore.

I was tired of the comments,” Schwartz said. “I couldn’t handle it anymore.”

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • FEBRUARY 2023

OBITUARIES James Ross Levinson, age 80, of Harrison Township, passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 20.

Jim was a good man. He was smart, kind, sympathetic, ethical, Jewish, funny and more. He loved to cook, loved to hug, loved to play catch, loved to kvetch, loved to give, loved a game of Scrabble, loved to be there for others, loved his wife and kids, loved his books and loved his road trips. He was born, worked, lived, loved and died in the city of Dayton and he will be missed more than we can possibly say. Jim, the child of Jule and Rose Matusoff Levinson, was the youngest of three boys, all proud graduates of Fairview High School. His older brothers, Richard and Rabbi Stephen Levinson predeceased him.

Jim grew up slinging chickens at Tasty Bird, the family poultry business. He loved to reminisce about the years he spent driving a truck delivering chickens and eggs, selling wing-dings at the Tasty Bird stores and working at the Arcade stall. Jim studied political science at Brandeis University, received a master's degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and earned his law degree at the University of Cincinnati. He was a lifelong member of Temple Israel and an ardent supporter of the State of Israel. His in-depth study of the Holocaust inspired him to seek a career which would allow him to give voice to victims who could not speak for themselves. He served as the regional director for the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and found his true calling as an assistant Montgomery County prosecutor under Lee Falke and Mat Heck. As head of the Violent Crimes Division, he was respected for his dedication, his eloquence in the courtroom, his incredible moral compass, and his willingness to mentor

younger colleagues. As passionate as he was as a lawyer, nothing held more joy for Jim than his role as a father and grandfather. He was well-known for his sweet lullabies and imaginative bedtime stories. Jim is survived by his beloved wife, Meredith Moss Levinson (whom he met in kindergarten); his children Stephen (Hannah) of Oakwood, and Joel (Randi) Levinson of Loule, Portugal, his treasured grandchildren, Mortimer, Noah, Hubert, and Dahlia, his sistersin-law Rose Levinson and Phylis Walt and his nieces, nephews and cousins. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery. Please consider donations to the Dayton Chapter of Hadassah, P.O. Box 292815, Dayton, Ohio 45429.

May his memory be a blessing to all who knew him.

as any team one of his grandchildren played for — he was also known by any of his golf partners for making up his own rules of the game! Bob had a long history of caring for others, starting when he was young and served as a camp counselor for children with cerebral palsy and continuing through his dedication and care of the love of his life, Irene, as she battled early onset dementia. He was preceded in death by his brother, Daniel Seiden, his sister and brotherin-law, Harriet Seiden Brotter and Marvin Brotter, and his beloved wife of 39 years, Irene Kozichousky Seiden. Bob is survived by his children, Karen and Lee Levitt, Brad Seiden, Rachel and Ed Fagan; and his grandchildren, Maddie (Reece), Kyle, Sammie, Marla, Sophie, and Noah; in addition to his bonus Robert Seiden (aka Bob, Bobby) grandchildren, Trish, Connor, passed away surrounded by and Nick. He is also survived by love on Dec. 10 at the age of 82. his best friend and adventurer, Bob was born on May 1, 1940 in Jerry Greenberg. Bob had no Brooklyn to Fannie and Ben“in-laws,” he considered all of jamin Seiden. Bob graduated them “just family.” He was the from Samuel original “funcle,” always good J. Tilden High for a prank or a tickle. He will School before be greatly missed by his many serving as an nieces and nephews and their Army Ranger children. The family wishes to in Vietnam. extend a special thank-you to After returnhis caregivers at NHC Health ing from his Care who took wonderful care service, he of him throughout the last few began his ca- months and Caris Hospice, who reer in the sheet metal industry, took gentle care of him though eventually moving to Pittsburgh his last few days. Interment was to become the president of SSM at Wellwood Cemetery, where Industries, where he retired he will dance once again with in 2006. In his retirement, Bob Irene. Donations in his memory moved to Myrtle Beach where can be made through Carisma he started a small business, Hospice to one of many orgaBob’s Handyman Services, and nizations that Bob supported: played a lot of golf. It was in https://carishealthcare.com/doMyrtle Beach where he met his nations/. wife, Peggy Crawford Bowers, to whom he has been married for 12 years. A lifelong fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers — as well

L’dor V’dor.

From Generation To Generation.

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