The Dayton Jewish Observer, January 2023

Federation to subsidize programs for Jewish children & form teens p.

David Moss designs Grace After Meals in comic book p. 222

THE DAYTON Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

January 2023 Tevet/Shevat 5783 Vol. 27, No. 5

OBSERVER

The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly • daytonjewishobserver.org Marshall Weiss

Daytonian named Seattle Mariners' new GM

7

Seattle Mariners

Justin Hollander

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID DAYTON, OHIO PERMIT NO. 59

How an Israeli became a Reds pitching coach

8

Kazuhiro Fujihara/ AFP via Getty Images

(L to R) Abraham Rubin (Univ. of Dayton), Elliot Ratzman (Earlham College), Jenny Caplan (Univ. of Cincinnati).

Address Service Requested

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

Alon Leichman of Kibbutz Gezer, Israel

Meet three Judaic scholars now teaching in our region

Riverside pastor: 'The Jews hate us'

5

YouTube screenshot

Anchor Baptist Church Pastor Mike Elliott

DAYTON

Federation to subsidize programs for Jewish children & teens

families to immerse pen before. For their children in some of those famiJewish learning lies where the kids and social experiare converting too, ences. they haven't neces"The input we've sarily been saving

By Marshall Weiss received is that it's up for Jewish camp. religious school, day school, The Observer expensive to raise They didn't know day camp, overnight camp, Beginning Jan. 3, the Jewish children Jewishly," Cathy Gardner it existed. That's youth and teen programs and Dr. Heath Gilbert Rabbi Tina Sobo Federation of Greater Dayton where this money trips, and may be used for mul- Gardner says. "And will offer each Jewish student we can serve as the power of will also come in. It will make tiple programs. program. in the Miami Valley from kinthe collective in philanthropy to Jewish Federation CEO "I am confident it will reduce it a little bit easier for those kids dergarten through 12th grade put our money where it's most who are newer to try something Cathy Gardner says the new the number of financial-need a $500 annual subsidy toward needed." when it's not going to make or program — Seeds: A Jewish reductions we make in tuition, Jewish programs locally or Gardner said Seeds is a direct which affects the temple budbreak the parents' budget."

Youth Experience — reflects anywhere in the world. the high priority the Federation outcome of the Federation's get."

The subsidy may be used for places on encouraging Jewish Jewish Dayton Dreams Big Funding sources She notes that although visioning project, which identi- Seeds subsidy is not needGardner says the Federafied Jewish youth experiences tion is funding Seeds primarily based, it will help families that as a high priority. live paycheck to paycheck. And through its annual campaign Federation Immediate Past and with interest income from it will ease the financial jugPresident Dr. Heath Gilbert a bequest it received last year gling for Jewish families with played a key role to make Seeds several children. from the estate of the late a reality.

Thelma Harbor. She estimates "It's progressively more "The costs of Jewish proabout 160 Jewish students will expensive when you've got gramming for children add up," multiple kids," Sobo says. "That participate in the first year. says. "For example, Jewish The Federation aims to $500 won't necessarily make or We all make financial decisions differently he overnight summer camp for establish an endowed fund to break one kid being able to go four weeks for one kid is $6,000 to camp, but when you combine cover Seeds' expenses in the to $7,000. The Seeds funding it with need-based scholarships, long term.

Our complimentary could be used for camp, but "Will this increase enrollthen it does make a difference." ® MoneyMind report also for so many other experiment in our religious schools?

She tells parents that since helps you understand ences. And it's not based on It's a very exciting possibility," they've already paid religious need. school tuition for the year, they Gardner says. how you prioritize your "It's available to all Jewish Seeds applications will be have an automatic $500 to use financial choices so families who would want to tap for camp through Seeds. open throughout the year.

Everyone makes financial decisions differently that you can optimize into it. It's positive, it's simple, a "Or use it for a Our complimentary MoneyMind® report helps you 'We can serve as we"Applications future decisions. one-page application that takes Jewish youth rereceive by the understand how you prioritize your financial choices so five minutes to fill out." treat or something the power of the 15th of each month that you can optimize future decisions. Scan this QR will be processed that comes up that collective in Everyone makes financial decisions differently Eligibility requirements code and get your report: by the first of the your kid wants to Our complimentary MoneyMind® report helps you To receive Seeds subsidy, following month," do that you didn't philanthropy to understand how you prioritize your financial choices so a student must be raised in she says. "Money necessarily budget put our money a Jewish household and, if will go directly to for. This is where that you can optimize future decisions. Scan this QR where it's most the programs, and between kindergarten and sixth that money is goArtifex Financial is your a independent fee-only Artifex Financial Group isGroup aand fee-only wealth wealth code get report:independent grade, must be signed up for PJ ing to be clutch. By needed.' we'll notify the management firm headquartered in Oakwood since 2007. management firm headquartered in Oakwood since 2007.

Library; the program sends free making it a little families that the Weaprovide a comprehensive solution for our clients We provide comprehensive solution for our clients books about Judaism to families more affordable, ideally it will money has been sent." all of aspects of financial planning, personal tax, includingincluding all aspects financial planning, personal tax, with Jewish children from birth increase participation for the Gardner adds that other Artifex Financial Group is a fee-only independent wealth to 12 years old in the United Jewish Federations across the kids who are already participatestate and business planning, and investment estate and business planning, and investment management firm headquartered in Oakwood sinceStates 2007.and Canada.

United States and Canada have ing to potentially do more.

And management.We provide a comprehensive solution for our clients management.

Students in grades seven similar subsidies, but she's not for kids whose families are on including all aspects of financial planning, tax, 12 must be a member the fence because of the costs, it aware of any that subsidize this As an independent Goldman Sachs Personal Financialpersonal through As an independent Goldman Sachs Personal Financial of one of the Miami Valley's lowers the bar to engagement to broad a spectrum of Jewish proand business planning, and investment Management firm, we bring advanced solutions Management firm, we estate bring advanced solutions directly todirectly to Jewish youth groups, a student grams for children and teens. get them in." management. ourand clients and provide an objective, interactive process to our clients provide an objective, interactive process to or student teacher with a Miami "The statement the FedJewish families in the process youyour create “One Best Financial Life®.” Personal Financial Valley Jewish religious school, eration makes in ensuring help you help create “One Financial Life®.” Sachs of joining a Miami Valley JewAs your anBest independent Goldman or a participant in a Jewish high ish program and families in this money exists is that we're Management firm, we bring advanced solutions directly to we can liveyou the want. life you want.

Find outFind howout we how can help youhelp live you the life school program. investing in our youth," Sobo the process of converting to our clients and provide an objective, interactive process to "For any of our families who Judaism are also encouraged to says. "To have this money to CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE help you create your “One Best Financial Life®.” have kids enrolled in our reliuse for identity formation, it's apply for Seeds subsidy. ® ® Doug Kinsey, CFP®, CIMA® gious school who aren't doing great. I'm proud to see that our Since the Covid pandemic Doug Kinsey,Find CFPout , CIMA how we can help you live the life you want. outside Jewish things, I'm absoJewish community is making first hit, Sobo has seen an Managing Partner,Partner, Oakwood Office Managing Oakwood Office CONTACT US TO LEARN MORE lutely going to encourage them increase in individuals and that happen." artifexfinancial.com artifexfinancial.com to use the subsidy for religious families seeking conversion to Doug Kinsey, CFP®, CIMA® 855-752-6644 855-752-6644 school tuition," says Rabbi Tina Judaism.

Seeds program applications are Managing Partner, Oakwood Office doug.kinsey@artifexfinancial.com Sobo, Temple Israel's director of available beginning Jan. 3 at "I've had three kids join in doug.kinsey@artifexfinancial.com artifexfinancial.com education. The rabbi is among jewishdayton.org. For more inforour third-to-fifth-grade class 2305 Far 2305 Hills Avenue, 206Suite | Oakwood, OH | 45419 Far Hills Suite Avenue, 206 | Oakwood, OH | 45419 United Capital Financial Advisers, LLC d/b/a Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management ("GS PFM") is a registered investment adviser leaders from area Jewish orgamation, contact Alisa Thomas at after the High Holidays," she 855-752-6644 and an affiliate of Goldman Co. LLC Advisers, and subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group,Financial Inc., a worldwide, full-service investment United Sachs Capital&Financial LLC d/b/a Goldman Sachs Personal Management ("GS PFM") is a registered investment adviser banking, broker-dealer, management, andSachs financial services organization. logos, Sachs and slogans United Capital and investment banking, andasset an affiliate of Goldman & Co. LLC and subsidiaryAll of names, The Goldman Group,identifying Inc., a worldwide, full-service nizations who shaped the Seeds 937-610-1796. says.

"I've never had that hap, MoneyMind , Finlife , Financial Control United Capital and United United Capital's products and services without HonestConversations broker-dealer, asset(including, management, andlimitation, financial services organization. All names, logos, and slogans identifying doug.kinsey@artifexfinancial.com ,We Help You and live Richly Helping People livelimitation, Richly ,HonestConversations One Best Financial Life , Ideal Life Index , GuideCenter , Scorecard , live Richly , MoneyMind , Finlife , Financial Control Scorecard , Capital's products services, (including, without United ,We Capital Financial Management ,People and Financial Years of Freedom are trademarks and service marks or lnvestment-Viewfinder Help You liveLife Richly , Helping live Richly , One Best Financial Life , Ideal Life Index , GuideCenter , lnvestmentlive ,Richly 2305 Far Hills Avenue, Suiteare206 | Oakwood, OH | 45419 registered trademarks and service, United marks Capital of United Capital Life or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. © 2022 United Capital marks or registered Financial Management , and Financial Years of Freedom trademarks and service Viewfinder

Seeds project offers $500 a year for K-12 Jewish student experiences

your What'sWhat’s your MoneyMind®?

MoneyMind®?

What's your MoneyMind®?

Scan this QR code and get your report.

®

®

SM

SM

SM

SM

SM

SM

SM

®

®

®

®

SM

®

®

®

SM

®

SM

® ®

®

®

®

®

Arts & Culture.........................22 Calendar..................................18

Financial Advisers, LLC, a Goldman d/b/a Sachs Personal Financial All Rights Reserved. trademarks and Sachs serviceCompany marks of United UnitedGoldman CapitalFinancial or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. © 2022 United Capital Capital Advisers, LLC d/b/aManagement.

Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management ("GS Financial PFM") is a registered investment adviser Advisers, LLC, a Goldman Sachsand Company d/b/a Personal Management.

All Rights Reserved. an affiliate of Goldman Goldman Sachs Sachs & Co. LLCFinancial and subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., a worldwide, full-service investment banking, broker-dealer, asset management, and financial services organization. All names, logos, and slogans identifying United Capital and United Capital's products and services (including, without limitation, HonestConversations®, MoneyMind®, Finlife®, Financial Control Scorecard®, live RichlySM,We Help You live RichlySM, Helping People live RichlySM, One Best Financial Life®, Ideal Life Index®, GuideCenter®, lnvestment-ViewfinderSM, United Capital Financial Life Management®, and Financial Years of FreedomSM are trademarks and service marks or registered trademarks and service marks of United Capital or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. © 2022 United Capital Financial Advisers, LLC, a Goldman Sachs Company d/b/a Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. All Rights Reserved.

PAGE 2

Family Education....................20 Obituaries........................... 23

O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 7 R e l i g i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 9

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

DAYTON

Meet 3 Judaic scholars now teaching in our region Marshall Weiss

Abraham: I focus on German

By Marshall Weiss the Jewish 20th cenThe Observer tury. But originally my Jewish literature, culture, and thought. Most recently, I’ve With the recent hiring of claim to fame was in been working on conversion three Judaic scholars in our contemporary Jewish narratives, the autobiographical region, we introduce you to thought and Jewish writings of Central European them here. They are Jenny philosophy.

Jews who converted out of Caplan, Jewish Foundation I’m working on Judaism to Islam and Christianof Cincinnati Chair in Judaic a book on Jewish Studies at University of Cinity and their ongoing dialogue anti-racism and who with the background that they cinnati; Elliot Ratzman, chair knows when that will rejected. in Jewish studies and visiting be finished. And then I try to look at how these assistant professor of Jewish I have another project stories can be understood in the studies at Earlham College in on undercover passcontext of modern Jewish histoRichmond, Ind.; and Abraing projects, where ry as growing out of the options ham Rubin, assistant profeswriters pretend to be that Jews faced in the modern sor of religious studies at the members of another era. I have a manuscript that is University of Dayton. group, sometimes Judaic scholars (L to R): Abraham Rubin (Univ. of Dayton), Elliot Ratzman (Earlham currently under review.

Ratzman received his Ph.D. College), and Jenny Caplan (Univ. of Cincinnati).

Jews pretending to be from Princeton University non-Jews, sometimes Americanists tend to pick some wealthy people pretending to What classes are you teaching? and began teaching at Earlham Synagogue, and on to Ohio University for college. I live in sort of corner of that to focus on be poor people, White people Abraham: Intro. to Judaism in August 2021. Caplan reand Intro. to Religious Studies. ceived her Ph.D. from Syracuse Richmond, but I’m always here. and so mine is American Judapretending to be Black. That’s ism. I mostly do contemporary Elliot: Science, Medicine, and University, and Rubin received I hang here and in Cincinnati another project I’m hoping to because I was very involved American Judaism and popular dust off soon. his Ph.D. from City University Continued on Page Four culture. A lot of stuff about film of New York. Caplan and Rubin with BBYO and Camp Livingston. I have a lot of Dayton and television. started their new positions in and CincinMy first book is coming August 2022. nati friends still out in a couple of months on This interview 'We have a wonderful here.

Jewish humor and my second has been edited Premier Retirement Living Abraham: book, that I just got a yearlong for clarity and convergence of great I was born in fellowship to write, will be length. scholars now here Chicago. My on comic books: Jewish comic in the region to add parents made book characters and the story Jenny, you of how these Jewish comic book have major ties to the already existing aliyah when I was 10 months creators made characters that to Dayton. weren’t Jewish, and then when Jenny: Yeah. Jewish studies faculty old. I grew up in Haifa, Israel. they got taken over by non-JewMy dad is from the region is dotted I lived there ish writers, the characters got Dayton, my with.' until I was 27. turned into Jewish characters. family. And I was at the Elliot: I think of myself as we moved up here (from Florida) the summer Hebrew University of Jerusalem a social ethicist, working with for the past four years. modern religious materials. before my sophomore year of Everything I teach, everything college, which was ‘98.

What are your specialties?

I write, is all in the service of Jenny: I’m trained in repolitical ethics. If I’m known Elliot, you're originally from ligious studies, not Jewish for anything, it’s around quesCincinnati? studies. My area of expertise Elliot: I went to Finneytown tions of race, racial identity, is in American religion. But High School, Northern Hills and solidarity in the history of

MAKE THE MOVE TO CAREFREE LIVING IN 2023!

Bark Mitzvah Boy What will the new year bring?

Shingles shots.

It’s time.

OK

c O Menachem

From the editor’s desk

While I was writing the above article about area Judaic scholars, and the story on Page Two about subsidies for Jewish kids' programs, I was reminded of three price-conscious learning experiences for Marshall older adults here in the area. Adults ages 60 and over may audit courses at Wright Weiss State University for free. For details, go to wright.edu/raiderconnect/registration/specialprograms. Spring semester begins Jan. 9. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Dayton is open to adults ages 50 and over. Its winter program, which begins Jan. 17, offers 80 seminars with no exams, grades, or formal education required.

The registration fee of $80 allows you to enroll in as many seminars as you like (scholarships are available). All the information is at go.udayton.edu/ udolli. And Sinclair College for Lifelong Learning offers numerous non-credit courses each semester at $30 per course. Classes begin Jan. 9. Just go to sinclair.edu, click on register, and search for non-credit courses. Get out there and try something new!

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

1 & 2 BEDROOMS AVAILABLE NOW! Step into modern luxury! Our 1 & 2 bedroom apartment homes include custom cabinets, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and premium finishes to enhance your perfect dream home.

It’s worry-free retirement living with premium amenities, freedom from cooking, cleaning, and running errands... all for one reasonable monthly fee.

CALL NOW, AVAILABILITY IS LIMITED!

Please call Jonathan at 937-298-0594 to schedule your personal

TOUR AND A PRIVATE LUNCH 590 Isaac Prugh Way — Kettering LincolnParkSeniors.com

follow us on

PAGE 3

DAYTON

Judaic scholars

Continued from Page Three Religion, a course on the Bible and Politics, and my signature course on Race and Judaism.

Jenny: Intro. to the Study of Religion, and Jews in American Film.

They get very curious about the Jewish context of the early Christian movement, and they were very surprised about some of the things that they learned. I think there’s still some room for a Part II of this class.

The students were writing about their midterm reflections, they learned about how Jesus is a committed Jew, so their question was, "Why don’t the Jews believe in Jesus then?" They were curious about it because it related to their own faith commitment.

Jenny: My evangelical students are really my favorites.

They’re so interested. They frequently come at it with very little self-conscious self-censorship. They’re willing to ask questions that most students will be like, "Oh, I don’t want to ask, maybe it’ll be offensive, maybe everybody already knows that." I love those students.

Abraham: To go back to the issue of the students’ backgrounds and what they know or don’t from their own religious traditions, they’re surprised to learn about some of the very anti-Jewish statements in the New Testament, like Jesus calling the Jews "children of (your father) the devil."

Or again, the "synagogue of Satan." Things like that. They’re shocked to learn that those things exist in their scriptures.

'The cultural baggage students are bringing from their own faith commitments is actually a great opportunity for them to reexamine their own commitments when they study Intro. to Judaism.'

THE DAYTON I also have a project on Martin Luther King Jr.'s intellectual influences, which was a class, which I’m hoping to turn into something like a book.

What else would you like to share?

Elliot: We have a wonderful convergence of great scholars now here in the region to add Do your non-Jewish students to the already existing Jewish come with any prior knowlstudies faculty the region is dotedge of Judaism? ted with. I’m really glad to have Abraham: No. my colleagues here.

Jenny: Mostly with my Abraham: I’ve only been here classes, it’s a subset who are Palestine conflict: Jews are obvi- three months now, but it’s been interested in whatever is after ously White because they’re such an enriching experience to the “and” of "Jews and..." They dominating Palestinians. be teaching Jewish studies at a usually know more about the And so they were not very Catholic, Marianist institution. second half of the course title generous in understanding the I really have this comparative than the Jewish part. history of Jewish ambivalence cross-cultural experience here Elliot: Teaching Bible courses about whiteness and gestures of that I don’t think I would have to mostly non-Jewish students, solidarity with African Amerihad anywhere else. they are fascinated and repelled cans.

Elliot: But we’re also not here by what they discover in the just to be ambassadors for the Hebrew Bible. It seems like Were some eventually able to Jewish world to the non-Jews. most of them have never read process that?

We’re here doing serious pedathe Bible. This semester, all of Elliot: Some. The head of gogy and we teach serious stuff. my students are international the Palestinian students took We’re not here to promote students, too. my class, Race and Judaism.

Judaism. And a lot of parents He’s learning a lot about Jewish and students think, "I’m going Elliot, how much of the internal handwringing around to take a Judaism class to get student body at Earlham is impressions of power and race. what I didn’t get in terrible Quaker?

So that’s important.

Sunday schools." And that’s just Elliot: Very little. Earlham not part of the bag. used to be about 10-15 percent What projects would you like Jenny: Or "I want my kid to Jewish. But not anymore. Not at to pursue that you haven’t yet? take it for the Judaism so that all. So I don’t have any Jewish Jenny: I want to get back to they stay Jewish." students really. What I have contextualizing American JudaElliot: "Marry a Jewish perbeen delightfully unexpectedly ism within a larger religious son." pleased with is introducing the context.

Jenny: They are much more students to medieval rabbinic Abraham: In terms of exlikely to come out of my class commentaries on the Bible, So you have students with zero periential learning, my dream slightly disenchanted. because Sefaria, the website, is to get my Intro. to Judaism frame of reference for what Elliot: I’ve met with parents has provided a one-stop shop students to Beth Abraham for you teach? of prospective students who for going down a rabbit hole Purim. I think that a lot of the Jenny: That’s most of the are wanting to see if Earlham of how the Jewish tradition inthings that worked for me five students these days. will offer a sort of wrap-around terprets this material. And I’m or 10 years ago in the classElliot: Well, yeah. Some of Jewish life experience for them. learning a lot, too. my more activist students were room need to be rethought and In some ways, I’m also the Abraham: The cultural bagreworked to connect students Hillel director. We have five gage students are bringing from very angry at me last spring to the material. Covid and the students who reside in the Jewtheir own faith commitments is for talking about how White changes to students’ learning ish Cultural Center, which was actually a great opportunity for American Jews are very amhabits have really required me dedicated by Elie Wiesel in the bivalent about their whiteness. them to reexamine their own to adapt. late ‘80s. commitments when they study And when I announced that I Elliot: I’ve gotten much more There are theme houses at and other people I know someIntro. to Judaism. involved with the organized Earlham. But there’s no Hillel Elliot encouraged me to teach times check the “other” racial pacifist community in the last building. It doesn’t make any box, they were aghast. a segment on Jewish-Christian few years. So I’m hoping to do sense. Small liberal arts schools They couldn’t understand differences and Jewish-Chrissome actual archival work on do not have the same resources the complicated politics of tian relations, which was actuas a UC or even a UD. whiteness because they see it all some of the American Jewish ally one of the most positive history of pacifism.

So talking to prospective through the lens of the Israelparts of the course.

Jewish parents, I said, "Look, your student’s going to come here and have a really enriching experience with international students and an incredibly Mark Verman has served as professor of religion and Larry and Leonore engaged intellectual experience.

Zusman Chair of Judaic Studies at Wright State University since 1999. With But there’s not a Hillel house a Ph.D. from Harvard University, he specializes in biblical and post-biblical with Shabbat dinners every FriJewish literature, comparative mysticism, and Holocaust and film studies. day like other schools." There’s He is the author of The Circle of Contemplation: Medieval Jewish Mystical Shabbats every few weeks for Sources and The History and Varieties of Jewish Meditation. the whole community. We have Verman teaches the Bible, Koran, World Religions, and various aspects of a lot of non-Jews who come to Jewish thought. He facilitates the Annual Ryterband Symposium in Judaic the Shabbats.

Studies, co-sponsored by the University of Dayton, United Theological Seminary, and Wright State.

— Marshall Weiss Mark Verman

Nearly a quarter century at Wright State for Judaic Studies Chair Mark Verman

PAGE 4

OBSERVER daytonjewishobserver.org Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Contributors Marc Katz, Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Candace R. Kwiatek Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, plhc69@gmail.com Administrative Assistant Samantha Daniel, sdaniel@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 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. 5. 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.

• To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life.

The Dayton Jewish Observer

Please recycle this newspaper.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

DAYTON

'The Jews hate us,' Riverside pastor says from pulpit American Jewish Committee: ‘This type of incendiary language makes Jews less safe’

YouTube screenshot

“Equally important, it is dangerous, particularly at this moment of resurgent antisemitism, to generalize or stereotype Jews. This type of incendiary language makes Jews less safe and feeds preexisting bias that can lead to violence.”

By Marshall Weiss Kirschner said the pastor’s The Observer contradictory views about Ten minutes into his Sunday, Jews are in line with a strain of Nov. 27 morning sermon at antisemitism called “philosemiAnchor Baptist Church in Rivertism.” side, the congregation’s pastor, AJC defines philosemitism Anchor Baptist Church Pastor Mike Mike Elliott, told churchgoers, Elliott delivers the morning sermon, as a disproportionate focus on “The Jews hate us. You do know Sunday, Nov. 27, in which he told Jews, which, even if positive, that, right? They hate Chris“may hint at underlying prejuchurchgoers, 'The Jews hate us.' tians.” dice, if not nefarious intent.”

Pointing at his congregation, liott said, “Because religion.

“In his belief that our faiths he continued, “You are against are at war with one another, Religion. It has to do with everything they have, since they religion. It has nothing to do this individual is standing alone think we’re against their God with a person. It has to do with in the wilderness,” Kirschner when we’re actually for it.” said of the pastor. “The reality religion. Religion were at odds Anchor Baptist Church, because of Jesus Christ. There’s is that our faiths have decades which Elliott founded in 2005, of friendship amid their chalan issue in what we believe distributes videos of its sermons as far as religion goes. That is lenges, but we’re working via YouTube. going to be where the rubber together for a more just and “Since they don’t believe that meets the road, more unified (Jesus Christ is their messiah), or the roughness The pastor's community and they think we are at odds with is. I believe in contradictory views society.” them.”

Jesus Christ as In his interabout Jews are in Elliott made these proyour messiah, view with The nouncements after telling his but I believe he’s line with a strain of Observer, the congregation, “I’m all for the mine too. He’s said he antisemitism called pastor Jew, man,” and that “If you my savior. If you didn’t know 'philosemitism.' look over at Israel, you see evdon’t believe why his stateerybody who goes against that that, there’s goment, “the Jews nation usually get tore up.” ing to be an issue there between hate Christians” could be unCiting God’s blessing to the what you believe as a religion derstood as antisemitic.

Jewish people in Genesis 12:3, and what I believe. The rub “I just don’t understand that.

Elliott added, “If you want to would come right there.”

That’s insane,” Elliott said. “I end the wars on this planet, Justin Kirschner, regional do not hate Jews. I love the Jewwhat you need to do is turn all director of the American Jewish ish nation.” your armies over to Israel, let Committee’s Cincinnati ofKirschner said he hoped Israel have total control of the the pastor might be able to fice, said the pastor’s language whole thing, and there will be from the pulpit on Nov. 27 was lean into “the challenges of his peace on earth.” words” and find a way to build “incendiary.”

To conclude that portion of bridges with the Jewish com“While we appreciate the his sermon, he said, pastor’s affection for munity.

“Israel is what it is tothe Jewish people and “I hope this is a learning opday because the United support for the State portunity where we can further States got involved in of Israel, we wish he deepen our relationship that helping them get there, would be more careful seems to have a sense of misunbut they just hate us and not say outrageous derstanding at its heart, at least for some reason.” things like ‘Jews hate in this situation.”

The Observer asked Christians,’” Kirschner Under the doctrine heading Elliott if he stood by his told The Observer. of Anchor Baptist Church’s words from the Nov. AJC is a global JewWhat We Believe page at its 27 sermon. He said he website, it states, “We hold the ish advocacy organizaAJC Regional Dir. was “for the Jewish Biblical position along with tion with a long history Justin Kirschner nation 100 percent,” the Reformers that the Roman of building interrelibut insisted that the Christian Catholic Church is the great gious relations.

Bible says that the Jews hate whore of Revelation 17, and are “It is not true that ‘Jews hate Christians. against the falsehoods taught in Christians.’ The overwhelming “Yes, you get it in the New the major seminaries across the majority of the Jewish people Testament,” he said. When country: the lies of higher and respect Christians as fellow asked how he could square lower criticism of the word of members of an Abrahamic what he described as his love religion and, more importantly, God.” of the Jewish nation with his Elliott told The Observer he as fellow human beings created statement from the pulpit that in the image of God,” Kirschner was born and raised a Roman the Jews hate Christians, ElCatholic. said.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

Wright Brothers Home Asphalt Restoration

Make the “Wright Choice” Our 51st Year

Houser Asphalt & Concrete Paving, Repairs, Sealcoating, Concrete, Walks, Patios, Drainage, Curbs, Approaches • Residential & Commercial

937-223-9207 • 800-319-1114 • www.houserasphalt.com

KICK OFF 2023 WITH DPAA JAN UARY 20 –21 AT 7:30 PM | SCH USTE R CE NTE R

Join the Dayton Philharmonic as they pay homage to one of Broadway’s greats, Stephen Sondheim, with students from Wright State University’s Musical Theatre Department performing selections from Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Company, A Little Night Music and more!

FE B RUARY 10 –12 | VIC TORIA THE ATRE

Dayton Ballet celebrates its 85th anniversary in a glittering diamond celebration that showcases the physicality and virtuosity of the full company.

TICKETS: (937) 228-3630 | DAYTONPERFORMINGARTS.ORG

Contact Patty Caruso at plhc69@gmail.com to advertise in The Observer.

PAGE 5

Bring in this ad and receive $10 off your next in-store purchase of $60 or more*

DAYTON Temple Israel

Expires 4.30.2023. *Some exclusions apply. Not valid on wine, candy, or delivery.

1306 Troy Street • Dayton, Ohio 45404 937-223-1213 • furstflorist.com

Staffing Needs? Call The Professionals!

MANAGEMENT RECRUITERS

OF DAYTON

BUILDING THE HEART OF BUSINESS Jeff Noble • 937-228-8271 mridayton.com • info@mridayton.com Moms and kids at Temple Israel Religious School's Chanukah Happening show off their favorite Chanukah outfits. Front (L to R): Danielle Sobo, Kate Shatzkin, Stephanie Sobo, Elijah Shtilman, Isabella Shtilman, Paul Shatzkin. Back (L to R): Rabbi Tina Sobo, Meryl Goldman, Music & Communications Director Courtney Cummings, Danielle Zeisloft, and Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz.

R&C Firearms Training Ron Wynne, Instructor

Curtis Estep, Instructor

Learn to properly and safely handle firearms.

Bring this ad and save $15 per lesson, $60 each (reg. $75)

Call 937-529-9076

CJ CHAN A Healthy Alternative We Use The Best Ingredients Prepared Fresh Daily

www.mycjchan.com 536 Wilmington Ave. Dayton, OH 45420 937-259-9866

Between Holocaust & Jewish state's birth topic of Hadassah talk

Dayton Hadassah will host a virtual talk with David Yogev from Israel at 1 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 22. Yogev was born in 1947 in a detention camp in Cyprus for Jewish refugees. His parents were Holocaust survivors. On their voyage to Britishcontrolled Palestine, they were turned away and sent to Cyprus; the British put a limit on the number of Jews allowed into Palestine, which led to a struggle between British naval ships and refugee ships. Register at hadassahdayton@ gmail.com or 937-275-0227.

Chabad Kosher Deli Night Chabad of Greater Dayton will present its Kosher Deli Night at 7 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 7. The menu includes deli sandwiches, knishes, matzah ball soup, babka, and rugelach. The cost is $30.

Chabad is located at 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. RSVP to chabaddayton.com.

Dayton Jewish history talk at UD

2ND LOCATION! 2747 W. Alex Bell Rd. Moraine, OH 45459 * Hot Pot Available * 937-259-8882 Mon-Thu: 10:30 am-10 pm Fri-Sat: 10:30 am-10:30 pm Sun: 11:30 a.m-10 pm

JFGD

MSG

Dayton Jewish Observer Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss will present the public lecture John H. Patterson, NCR, Oakwood, and the Jewish Community at 5 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 26 in Sears Recital Hall, Jesse Philips Humanities Center, University of Dayton. Weiss is also project director of Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History and the author of two books about Dayton Jewish history. The public is welcome; visitor parking is available at Lot C.

Cole Elder, son of Kate and Jake Elder, looks at the night sky with help from Miami Valley Astronomical Society's Steve Hildenbrandt at Chabad & PJ Library's Havdalah Glow, Games, and Star Gaze program.

Weekly podcast

The Jewish News Hour with The Dayton Jewish Observer’s Marshall Weiss

Contact Patty Caruso at plhc69@gmail.com to advertise in The Observer.

PAGE 6

Search for The Dayton Jewish Observer in Spotify podcasts & subscribe THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

DAYTON Seattle Mariners

Dayton native named Seattle Mariners' new GM

‘We recognize how much he cared.’

— Andrew, Becky & Ben Weprin with their father, Bart

I

n the ultimate act of tzedakah, Bart Weprin, of blessed memory, co-chaired the project to create the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton while dying.

Justin Hollander became a bar mitzvah at Beth Jacob Congregation and graduated Northmont High School.

By Marc Katz, Special To The Observer Native Daytonian Justin Hollander was already 29 years old in 2008 and three-plus years into a law career when he took a tedious, low-paying, entry-level job as a “stat stringer” at San Diego Padres games.

During home games, he sat next to the official scorer, coding in every play to be sent to ESPN in New York.

“I made it a condition of every day job I had that certain days, certain times, I had to be at the park. If there was work (in the law office) to be done, I would go back late at night.

“When I was scheduled to go to a Padres game, I had to go work, which seems insane to tell your boss when you’re a lawyer. But it was something that was important to me.”

It worked out. In October, Hollander was named general manager of the Seattle Mariners, recently named the best organization in the majors by Baseball America. The Mariners had a very successful year, starting out with its minor league system ranked No. 1, also by Baseball America.

The Mariners garnered more headlines last summer as Hollander, an assistant GM at the time, helped extend pitcher Luis Castillo’s contract following a trade with the Reds. In mid-November, Hollander traded with Toronto for 2021 All-Star outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, his first deal in his new position.

Hollander became a bar mitzvah at Beth Jacob Congregation and graduated from Northmont High School. He is believed to be the first Daytonian to hold a major league GM position, certainly the first from Beth Jacob.

“I was a no-talent athlete,” Hollander said. “I knew playing wasn’t an option.”

Once, in high school, he participated in a job shadow program, following a lawyer for a day. One of his friends was able to shadow Dayton Daily News Hall of Fame sportswriter Hal McCoy, who covered the Reds.

“My friend had more fun than I did,” said Hollander, who eventually made it to the fun side.

Justin finished Northmont a year early to attend Ohio State, where his brother Jonathan was a senior.

Then he graduated from University of San Diego School of Law and was working as an insurance and employment litigation lawyer when he accepted the stat job.

“I was sort of kicking the can down the road for three years hoping something would fall in my lap,”

Hollander said.

The can landed when an Angels employee friend in his fantasy baseball league told him of an opening with the team.

“It was as an (operations) assistant,” Hollander said. “I asked the guy if I would be a fit. He said yes, if I wanted to do it. It didn’t pay much money and I’d have to work crazy hours, get coffee when people wanted it, pass out meal money, write advance scouting reports, prepare notes for the draft room, and all that stuff. It sounded amazing.”

Another person turned down the job. Hollander, next in line, did not. Even though the pay was a hefty cut from his work as a lawyer, he justified the move by noting he wasn’t yet married, didn’t own a house, and his brother gave him his old car.

“I bought a TV at one point,” Justin said. “But I didn’t buy anything (else). I was just saving, sharing a three-bedroom apartment with two other guys. My room was the size of a bed, basically.

“Whenever there was food in the GM suite or in the clubhouse, I made sure I grabbed a plate. You just made it work. I don’t want to make it dramatic. It wasn’t like I was living in a homeless shelter. I was just living modestly.”

Hollander graduated to more livable-paying jobs, married Whitney (through JDate), an anthropologist, has two young children, and stayed nine seasons with the Angels, moving to Seattle in 2016 to reunite with his old boss, Jerry Dipoto.

He and Dipoto helped lift the Mariners into a playoff team following 20 years of being shut out of the post-season. While they didn’t win, the eventual champion Houston Astros had a rough time beating the Mariners, including 1-0 in a memorable 18-inning game.

It wasn’t enough for Hollander.

“I was disappointed this year when we didn’t win the World Series,” Hollander said. “I thought we had a chance. We want to win the World Series. That absolutely is our goal next year. We’re not doing this for participation trophies.”

In 2022, the Mariners won almost all their series with playoff teams — except, notably, with the Astros.

“We have one of the younger rosters in the American League, and while the Astros are in our division and never seem to get worse, we have to find ways to close the gap,” Hollander said.

He’s in a position to try that.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

Always looking out for future generations of his family and community, he created an organization to preserve the dignity of our cemeteries in perpetuity. Consolidating the three Jewish cemeteries made sense to him practically. More importantly, it was a way to honor the memory of his adored parents and grandparents.

Leading by example, he showed his children, Ben, Andrew and Becky, the importance of caring for their hometown Jewish community.

Now living out-of-town, they all contributed to the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton campaign to honor their father and to preserve the dignity of his eternal home. And they hope their participation will inspire generations of Daytonians living around the country.

When Bart’s children visit Temple Israel’s beautiful cemetery, they feel a sense of connection with the generations that came before them which they now share with all of Bart’s grandchildren.

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 7

THE WORLD

By Elli Wohlgelernter, JTA Kibbutz Gezer, Israel — Bill James, the influential baseball writer, historian and statistician, once described the great Yankee first baseman Don Mattingly in only four words: “100 percent ballplayer, 0 percent bulls—.”

The same can be said of Alon Leichman, the first athlete born in Israel to make it to the major leagues, having just been named assistant pitching coach of the Cincinnati Reds.

Under manager David Bell, Leichman will help instruct the team’s pitchers — including Chase Anderson, Luis Cessa, Fernando Cruz, Alexis Díaz and Hunter Greene — on mechanics, pitch selection, preparation, concentration and execution.

His journey has been unlikely, verging on preposterous: How could someone from Israel, where baseball is barely an afterthought, step out of the wheat fields of a kibbutz to the highest level of baseball in the world?

The 33-year-old Leichman is the product of Kibbutz Gezer, the youngest child born to two idealists who grew up in Zionist youth groups and helped found this kibbutz in central Israel in the 1970s together with other Anglo — that is, English-speaking — Zionists.

But David, Alon’s father, couldn’t leave it all behind in Queens, N.Y. He was a baseball fan, a big baseball fan — “I always knew that if, God forbid, there’s a fire in my house, I know where

Kazuhiro Fujihara/AFP via Getty Images

How an Israeli kibbutznik became a Reds pitching coach Alon Leichman, recently hired as a pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds, pitches for Team Israel during the the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.

my baseball glove is” — and one day, he and his fellow kibbutz residents had an idea: Why don’t we cut off a slice of the wheat crop and construct a regulation-sized field in the southwest corner of the kibbutz, where we can all go play when we get off work?

That was 1983, and there wasn’t a single baseball or softball field in all of Israel. So David, who was in charge of construction on the kibbutz (Alon’s mother, Miri, is the kibbutz rabbi), built his field of dreams, just 450 yards from his front door and in the shadow of the

SUNBELT® Business Advisors of Southwest Ohio

WHETHER SELLING

YOUR BUSINESS NOW OR

4,000-year-old archaeological site that gives Gezer its name.

And that’s where Alon Leichman grew up, first brought to the field by his father for the 1989 Maccabiah Games, five weeks after Alon was born on May 29.

“I never related to that field as the place my dad built,” Leichman said.

“It was a field that was on the kibbutz.

Growing up, everyone around me played — my older brother played, and all my friends, a little older than me, played.

“I remember — I was 4, in gan (prekindergarten), and I would walk to the baseball field and practice. I vividly remember being in the gan and going to practice. But baseball on the kibbutz is just something that I grew into. Everyone did it; I was not special, just another kid who played. I happened to love it a lot.”

So he played and played and got better and better. By age 10, he was on the team representing Israel at a tournament in the Netherlands. But baseball in Israel back then was in its infancy, and there was not enough money to pay for the team to travel. So Leichman had to work extra hours to get the kibbutz to fly him over.

Not that he wasn’t used to working. Like all kibbutz members, he was already contributing by third grade. But now he had to put in extra hours, picking olives or milking cows to make the extra money.

“I liked milking cows,” he recalled.

“Sometimes it’s hard work, but I got more of a kick out of it than hitting an olive tree” to shake loose the olives.

Leichman remembers well that tournament in Holland, the first time he wore the Israeli uniform representing his country abroad.

“It was really cool,” he recalled. “A sense of pride. That’s the first time I think I felt like: ‘You’re not just Alon, you’re not just representing the kibbutz anymore — you’re representing a whole

W r i g h t S t a t e U n i v e rs i t y snow globes are here.

Order yours TODAY!

IN THE FUTURE, YOU NEED

EXPERTISE YOU CAN

TRUST

Selling a business is often the most important financial decision in an owner’s life, which is why you need experienced business brokers you can trust. Sunbelt Business Advisors of Southwest Ohio will assist you every step of the way with exceptional integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality, to build value and allow you to exit at the right time and with the Call today for right price.

“Sunbelt Business Advisors helped me reach my desired goal. You can trust them with your company.”

B. C., Recent Seller

a confidential, no-cost, no-obligation consultation and to receive your free Broker Opinion of Value, a custom evaluation of your company’s value—the most important starting point for any owner thinking of selling.

Understand what you have today to secure a better tomorrow.

PAGE 8

(937) 866-4611

sunbeltnetwork.com/dayton-oh

dayton@sunbeltnetwork.com

1129 Miamisburg Centerville Rd, Ste 200 Dayton, OH 45449

Share memories or support a student in the Fine and Performing Arts. All proceeds go to

scholarships for

Art, Dance, Motion Picture, Music, and Theatre students! wright.edu/Snowglobes

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

THE WORLD Elli Wohlgelernter

country.’

2021 in Tokyo. Along the way, he also earned a black And then, in my first game, I did re“I knew back then that Israel belt in jujitsu. ally well for two and a third innings, was not on the best terms (with) But coaching was his future, and after being given a four strikeouts. No one got on. It was the world. So it was something chance in 2017 to instruct in the Seattle Mariners farm 1-2-3, 1-2-3, and then I got the first that I was aware of: that part of system, Leichman kept moving up, from Single A to guy out in the ninth. And on a oneour job of playing baseball is also Double AA to Triple AAA, before being grabbed by two fastball, my elbow popped. So it making sure that these guys get the Reds to join their major league staff this season. was like, ‘OK, I can do this here.’” to know Israelis other than what His father is overwhelmed. “It’s unbelievable,” His love for the game never left they hear on the news and show David Leichman said. “I’m still shaking and crying to him, and Leichman grew into an them that, you know, we’re good myself about how wonderful this has been. It’s really insightful and intuitive coach. His people.” amazing.” expertise and aptitude were selfThe 5’-8” right-hander kept Alon is no less shell-shocked, having agreed to sign evident. playing, kept improving, and kept a contract with the Reds on the same day the New “Alon will be a big-league coach representing Israel at tournaments. one day,” pitcher and teammate Alex York Mets asked to interview him about a potential He played in the one-season Israel job.

Katz said three years ago. “It’s hard Baseball League in 2007 as the “It’s not really sinking in yet, to be honest,” he said to get a coaching job in affiliate ball second-youngest player, served in while in Israel recently to visit his family on Gezer. without professional experience, let the Israeli army from 2007 to 2010, David Leichman behind the backstop at alone non-affiliated experience. But “But it’s definitely a dream come true, something the baseball field he helped build at Kiband then headed to the states to I’ve been dreaming about since I’m a little kid. Obvihe’s just one of the most intelligent butz Gezer in Israel, where his son Alon play college ball at two schools, ously, I wanted to be there as a player, baseball minds I’ve ever learned the game that's brought him to Elli Wohlgelernter Cypress College and the Univerbut once I got hurt and realized that been around. And he’s the major leagues. sity of California, San Diego. playing was not an option anymore, young.”

In his first appearance at Cypress, his elbow blew I started pursuing coaching. I wanted Leichman said his strength is “helping out and he needed what’s known as “Tommy John to do it at the highest level. The dream guys get better. Communicating with them. surgery” to repair a torn ulnar ligament inside the remained; it just took a different route.

Being able to relate to them. Getting on their elbow. Then he got hurt again and had a second But it’s still as exciting.” level. Simplifying it for them. And being Tommy John surgery. But when he got hurt a third Leichman is still undecided on creative and finding ways to throw more time and the doctor said he needed to go under the whether to join Team Israel’s coachstrikes.” knife yet again, Leichman knew that his hopes for a Despite the surgeries, Leichman could still ing staff in Florida for the WBC in professional playing career were over. pitch if he did it sparingly. He joined Israel’s March before heading back to GoodBut not before proving to himself that he had what World Baseball Classic teams of 2012, 2016 year, Ariz. to rejoin the Reds in spring it takes. and 2017 as a player or coach; pitched for training. But this product of the wheat “I know I was good in Israel. I knew that. But I the European Baseball Championship team fields of Gezer won’t ever forget from had no idea how I would fare coming to the States. in 2019; threw in the Olympic qualifying where he’s come: His uniform numerI thought I could fare (well) there, but I really never tournaments in 2019; and hurled one perfect al, 29, is a constant reminder. It’s his knew because I had never faced those types of hitters. inning against Team USA at the Olympics in Alon Leichman laundry tag number at the kibbutz.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

PAGE 9

THE REGION

Temple Israel & Omega Baptist

‘Zoombombing’ a religious service in Ohio can now net jail time, thanks to advocacy by Jewish groups

By Ron Kampeas, JTA In its closing session, Ohio’s legislature passed a law imposing penalties of up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for “zoombombing” religious services, a practice that antisemites have used to intimidate Jews.

The law, Increasing Penalties for Disturbing a Religious Service, passed unanimously in the state Senate. It had previously passed in the state House, 95-1.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sought the law after discovering that disrupting a religious service was only considered a class four misdemeanor, incurring penalties of up to 30 days in jail and $250 fines.

A Republican who was elected in 2018, Yost has sought legal action against abortion-rights activists who have targeted anti-abortion clinics since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion rights last summer.

While anti-abortion protesters have for decades targeted abortion clinics, sometimes with deadly violence, some pro-abortion protesters have more recently sought to disrupt church services as part of their activism.

In formally endorsing the bill in November, Yost described the impetus: A Catholic church in Columbus in January was conducting an annual “memorial service for the unborn” when protesters raided the church, shouting “This church teaches hate!”

“Last January, a group of protestors entered St. Joseph Cathedral in downtown Columbus, Ohio carrying signs and loudly chanting. The chaotic scene that unfolded included a protestor rushing toward the pulpit and protestors resisting removal by law enforcement,” Yost wrote.

“The service was ultimately halted and unable to resume until all protestors were removed from the premises.”

Yost wanted to make the offense a first-degree misdemeanor, which incurs harsher penalties. The Republican legislators Yost asked to advance the legislation, consulted with religious communities, and as a result of talks with Jewish groups, added into the legislation zoombombing, which antisemites used multiple times to target Jewish services

OJC

Ohio Jewish Communities Executive Director Howie Beigelman

that went online because of the Covid pandemic.

Howie Beigelman, the executive director of Ohio Jewish Communities, which represents the state’s Jewish organizations on the state level, worked closely with the sponsors on the bill and credited the state’s Jewish Federations, its Jewish Community Relations Councils, its Jewish community security directors, and the state offices of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee for lobbying for the bill.

“They wanted to do the bill,” Beigelman said of the sponsoring legislators.

“And then they talked to us and we said generally the bill is important, but we also want you to be very specific about zoombombing.

And they’re like, what’s that? I was like, Well, let me tell you, it’s happening a lot to our community.'”

The Ohio legislature also passed unanimously the Testing Your Faith Act which requires public colleges and universities to accommodate religious observance when it conflicts with exams and assignments.

Ohio Jewish communities advocated for this legislation as well, and credited Convergence on Campus, a chaplaincy group, as well as Jewish groups working on and off campus for their advocacy.

It imposes penalties of up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine

Joining together on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend for our annual pulpit exchange to inspire, unite, sing, and pray.

January 13 at 6:30pm - Temple Israel January 15 at 11:00am - Omega Baptist 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 10

Weekly podcast

The Jewish News Hour with The Dayton Jewish Observer’s Marshall Weiss

Search for The Dayton Jewish Observer in Spotify podcasts & subscribe THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

January JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

SUN

MON

1

2

8

9

TUE

3 10

WED

4

THU

5

11

12

FRI

6 13

SAT

7

UPCOMING EVENTS

14

Connect with us! Check out our events. For more information, see our calendar at jewishdayton.org.

Monday, January 16, 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Winter Camp Shalom

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

1

2

3

4

Wednesday, January 18, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. CABS – Ronald Balson, An Affair of Spies: A Novel Saturday, January 28, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. JCC Boomer Event: Matt Klickstein and Stephen Levinson

A Women’s Freedom Seder

HEALING OUR BODIES, HEALING OUR SOULS

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18 7:00 p.m. Livestream at the Woodbourne Library 6060 Far Hills Ave., Centerville No cost to attend. RSVP through our website at jewishdayton.org/events

RONALD BALSON

An Affair of Spies: A Novel While attending an evening course at Columbia in 1941 Nathan Silverman, born in Berlin and who fled after his uncle was arrested on Kristallnacht, notices a recruitment poster on a university wall and decides to enlist in the military to help fight the Nazi regime. To his surprise, he is quickly selected for a special assignment; the Allies are racing to develop a nuclear weapon before the Nazis, and a German theoretical physicist is hoping to defect. The physicist was a friend of his father, and Nathan’s mission is to return to Berlin via France and smuggle him out of Europe.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

Save the date

­

PAGE 11

January JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

AN AFTERNOON AT

THE MUSEUM Sunday, January 8, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Dayton Art Institute 456 Belmonte Park North, Dayton 45405 The Dayton Art Institute welcomes PJ Library and Hillel Academy for an afternoon of art and exploration!

Ages 8+ and parents will join Hannah Levinson, Hillel Academy Art Educator, in the studio, creating art inspired by Jewish artist David Levinthal.

Ages 7 and under will discover the Lange Family Experience Center, an interactive art gallery , and learn about Tu B’Shevat.

Space is limited. RSVP by Wednesday, January 4 at jewishdayton.org/events to secure your spot! No cost!

&

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 $50 registration fee.

Register at: app.campdoc.com/register/jccgreaterdayton

Winter Camp

Don't let your child miss out on Camp Shalom fun when school is out! Camp Shalom is open on MLK Day (Monday, January 16) and Presidents’ Day (Monday, February 20) Before and aftercare is available.

Register at: app.campdoc.com/register/jccgreaterdayton

PAGE 12

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

January JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Saturday, January 28 7:00 p.m. @ Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville

Join local author Matt Klickstein and former Tonight Show writer Stephen Levinson as they discuss writing styles, pop culture and “FANDOM” from the mid century.

Test your trivia knowledge of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s after discussion with pop culture trivia! Free to attend. Registration required by Wednesday, January 25 at jewishdayton.org/events.

SAVE THE DATE:

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

Wear your best Vegas attire!

TO A

NIGHT

IN

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

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

PRIZES

Grand Prize: Dragon’s Box 5-20 people admission and $500 towards food ($1,200 value)

2nd Prize: Roomba Vacuum 3rd Prize: Oakley Sunglasses THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

PAGE 13

January JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials SENDING WISHES FOR A SPEEDY RECOVERY TO › Sue Ducker Bev and Jeff Kantor

CAROLE RABINOWITZ CAMP FUND CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR 75TH BIRTHDAY AND YOUR RETIREMENT › Dr. Marc Sternberg Sue and Don Zulanch JOAN AND PETER WELLS AND REBECCA LINVILLE FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND IN MEMORY OF › Herta Wells SENDING SPECIAL BIRTHDAY WISHES TO › Ted Weinreich WISHING A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY TO › Mike Goldstein Joan and Peter Wells

“The Jewish Federation has always been very important for our community and for our family. We are especially grateful for the Jewish Family Services’ attention and care for our late daughter Debra.

The crisis in Ukraine moved us deeply and the opportunity to send assistance directly touched us. Thank you for everything you do.”

- Alice Saidel

Alice Saidel drops off suitcase filled with special items for Ukrainian refugees to Lidia Zambilovici to take on her trip to Poland.

One of the refugees receives some much needed items from the suitcase that were donated in Debra Saidel’s memory.

Thank You! Because of your generous donations to the 2022 Annual Campaign, our Jewish community is thriving! Your donations allow us to engage our community in meaningful ways, care for those in need, and strengthen Jewish life!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

PAGE 14

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

THE WORLD

British comedian David Baddiel takes his Jews Don’t Count argument to TV

Channel 4

By Jacob Judah, JTA LONDON — David Baddiel, a comedian-turned-activist against antisemitism who calls himself “one of the U.K.’s very few famous Jews,” was holding court in the basement of one of Britain’s best-known television studios.

As a reporter headed hurriedly for the exit, Baddiel slouched into his chair, seemingly exhausted by the interview he had just completed about the forthcoming documentary based on his 2021 bestseller, Jews Don’t Count.

“I am speaking to many people like the last journalist who had not thought about any of this in their life,” he said.

The “this” Baddiel was refer- Sarah Silverman is one of several Jewish stars who feature in David Baddiel's documenring to was to the idea, outlined tary, which discusses whether Jews lack allies in progressive spaces. in his book, that progressive anti-racists are guilty of hypocrisy toward Jews by Baddiel said he cares less about specific arguments not viewing them as worthy of similar protection or under the umbrella of his broader argument. Regardchampioning as other minorities because they are ing the “Jewface” debate, for example, over whether seen as White, privileged, and wealthy. or not Jewish actors should play Jewish characters on When the book came out last year, it received rave screen, Baddiel claims he is “not really interested” reviews, and Baddiel has since become seen by some either way — even though the topic takes up a large as a “voice for Britain’s Jews.” He often litigates the portion of his documentary, coming up in conversafiner points of contemporary antisemitism as a guest tions with actors such as Silverman, Miriam Margolyon radio and television, and he has been quick to es, and David Schwimmer. square off with trolls and critics on Twitter.

“What I am interested in is that it is empirically the Now, with the premiere of an hour-long documencase that in casting directors’ offices they are saying tary also called Jews Don’t Count on Britain’s public that ‘this is an autistic role, so we have to get an autisChannel 4 network, Baddiel gets a primetime slot to tic actor.’ Or that ‘this is a gay role, so we have to get a make his case to a bigger audience. Featuring Badgay actor,’” he continued. diel’s interviews with Jewish stars of pop culture in “Whether it is right or not is not the point,” he both Britain and the United States — ranging from added. “They are not saying that ‘it is a Jewish role, so comedian Sarah Silverman to novelist Jonathan Safran we have to get a Jewish actor.’”

Foer to actor Stephen Fry — the film argues that “in Perhaps controversially, Baddiel — while recoga culture where all forms of racism are being moninizing that there is a certain privilege in being able tored, called out, and held accountable, one form is to “pass” as White — has argued that being White apparently invisible.” is more about being “protected because you are a “With the intensification of identity politics and member of the majority culture” than it is about skin concerns about minorities, and offense and inclusion color. He says antisemitism is racism, and not about and representation, all that stuff seemed not to be “religious intolerance.” tracking for Jews,” Baddiel explained In the documentary, Schwimmer as the general point of his work. “We says, “I have never felt White.” seemed to not be part of that conver“I am highly aware that I pass as sation. There seemed to be less offense White and I enjoy a lot of the priviabout antisemitism and less inclusion leges of being a straight, White man, and representation of Jews.” able bodied, I get it, I understand, Baddiel, who shot to fame in the and I am very aware of my privilege,” 1990s when he collaborated with felSchwimmer says before mentionlow comedian Frank Skinner for a BBC sketch show ing the murder of two Jewish civil rights activists by on soccer, is also known as the co-author of Three the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in 1964. “I never felt Lions, which has become the de facto anthem for the White, because for me, White means safe.”

English national soccer team and has recently enjoyed Schwimmer, who recently spoke at the Anti-Defaa revival during England’s tournament runs. He has mation League’s conference in New York City, goes also appeared on several television shows and has on to say that while Friends, the sitcom he starred in, published several children’s books. has been criticized for its lack of diversity, it did inHe became a more prominent voice as a campaignclude a minority presence. There were multiple Jews, er against antisemitism during Jeremy Corbyn’s scanin the form of Schwimmer’s Ross Geller character and dal-plagued tenure as Labour Party leader from 2015 his sister Monica, along with Jennifer Aniston’s charto 2020 — though he is keen to stress that neither the acter, Rachel Green. documentary nor his book are about “Jeremy f—ing “You know what would happen if you said that,” Corbyn.” His move into documentary making follows Baddiel says in response. “People would get aggreshis appearance in a well-received BBC documentary, sive about it.”

Continued on Page 16 Confronting Holocaust Denial, that aired last year.

Get Your Dayton Metro Library Card Today!

INFORMING. INSPIRING. EMPOWERING.

Baddiel hardly speaks for all British Jews.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

ASK ME

9 3 7. 4 6 3 . 2 6 6 5

DaytonMetroLibrary.org PAGE 15

If you love what we do, help us continue!

We can’t do it without you!

Ad sales and Jewish Federation support only cover a portion of our expenses to bring you The Observer.

BMB

Observer mascot Bark Mitzvah Boy

Printing costs and postage go up.

We need your help to ensure the depth of our coverage doesn’t go down.

Please consider a Voluntary Subscription to The Dayton Jewish Observer.

Yes! I will support

The Dayton Jewish Observer. $18 Subscriber

One-year subscription to The Observer and acknowledgment in The Observer ($18 value)

$36 Double Chai

$100 Angel

One-year subscription, One-year subscription, acknowledgment in acknowledgment in The Observer and one The Observer and one free one-column holiday free three-column holiday greeting ($30 value) greeting ($54 value)

$250 Guardian Angel

One-year subscription, one-year acknowledgment in The Observer and three free three-column holiday greetings ($126 value)

$1,000 Champion

All listed in Guardian Angel, plus the gratitude of knowing how much you help support Jewish journalism in the Miami Valley ($126 value)

Fill out your name exactly as you wish it to appear in The Observer Name Address City

Phone

State

Zip

E-mail

(check one) I currently receive The Observer via mail: yes

no

Make checks payable to The Dayton Jewish Observer

Return with payment to: The Dayton Jewish Observer, 525 Versailles Drive, Dayton, OH 45459 PAGE 16

THE WORLD

Jews Don’t Count

Continued from Page 15 Schwimmer responds: “You’re right, people would just be like: ‘not a real minority.’”

Baddiel hardly speaks for all British Jews. One case in his book and documentary involves the fact that British Jews are not offered “Jew” as an option on the census when asked to select their ethnicity. (The same issue has been debated in the United States, where White respondents were asked in the 2020 census to write in their racial “origins.”)

“It is othering and alienating” that Jews do not have a distinct option box, Baddiel said.

But the view that Jews should not have an ethnicity option has historically and continues to be the position of the main representative body for British Jews, the Board of Deputies, as well as the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, a think tank that studies the demographics of British and European Jews.

The Office for National Statistics, which administers the census, investigated the possibility of adding a Jewish ethnicity option ahead of the 2021 census in England and Wales. The ONS consulted with the Jewish groups and, in cooperation with polling firm Kantar, concluded that Jews in Britain viewed it “highly unacceptable” given historical concerns about discrimination and “the racialization of religious groups.”

The ONS and Kantar found that most Jews “did not identify as an ethnicity” and that adding an ethnic option would be counterproductive, as “its inclusion may cause participants to question whether they wanted to complete the census.”

Baddiel questioned the conclusion, arguing that the most recent research was “a long time ago” and that such views were “massively out-of-date notions of what representation and inclusion looks like.” He said he had “certainly” felt demand for a Jewish option “from the people who speak to me.”

Baddiel’s book garnered mostly positive reviews, but Josh Glancy, a British-Jewish journalist, wrote in the Jewish Chronicle that he Baddiel’s ideas implied “emphasizing and amplifying every aspect of Jewish victimhood” to a point that would require “a level of self-imposed martyrdom that simply doesn’t align with most contemporary Jewish lives.”

Stephen Bush — a prominent Black and Jewish journalist who conducted a landmark racial inclusivity report for the Board of Deputies last year, and who is interviewed for a few seconds in the documentary — argued in The Times that Baddiel was “so concerned with

asserting his own lack of privilege that he forgets his obligations to others: not least to talk and to listen to them.”

Baddiel’s idea that “progressives turn a blind eye to and dabble in just one form of racism, and that the experiences that he grapples with would not occur if he were Black, Asian, or from another ethnic minority” would “struggle to survive a conversation with more than three people from any other minority,” Bush argued.

Baddiel said he is “sort of not that interested” in people’s responses, adding, “Glancy is wrong. He doesn’t understand the book.”

In response to Bush, Baddiel said: “That is not something that most minorities are asked to do. I think that most minorities, particularly now, when they present testimony of their lived experience of racism, it would feel racist to say to most of them, ‘why should I listen to this, because you don’t seem to talk about any other minorities.’

“That’s a Jew’s Don’t Count phenomenon, what you are talking about,” he continued, “that it is incumbent upon Jews to have to make more space.”

Among the portions of the documentary that have attracted the most interest in Britain is an apology that Baddiel offers to Jason Lee, a former professional soccer player whom Baddiel mocked in blackface for a sketch in the 1990s. Many feel that Lee’s career was negatively affected by Baddiel’s sketch, even though he pushed back on that idea in a recent interview with the Guardian. Baddiel has accepted that his portrayal of Lee was racist.

Lee, who has since gone on to campaign against racism in soccer, was also interviewed in The Times, opening up about how he had felt “violated on so many levels” by Baddiel’s sketch.

For his fellow Jews, Baddiel is less conciliatory. He claimed to not be aware of criticism from within the Jewish community over his theses. “Literally no one” had come to him with any concerns, he said. He often feels “whatever the Jewish equivalent of the Bat Signal is” and recalled how a senior Labour Party politician “came up to me yesterday and said: How does it feel to be the person saving the Jews?”

At one point during his interview, Baddiel interrupted a question about why he had not chosen to speak to any visibly Orthodox Jews — despite their presence in the background of several shots in the documentary — by repeatedly asking: “What’s your problem?

What’s your problem?”

“I am not really interested in understanding Jews,” he said. “I am interested in the ways that our present way of seeing racism fails Jews.”

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

OPINION

My time in the military gave In fighting antisemitism, me a new love for Judaism Jews can be our own worst enemies. We shouldn’t be. iar, but many of the melodies did.

By Steve Markman And as I sat there, and I can’t explain I think each veteran chose military why, I felt something comforting, like service for a different reason. For some my first visit home after being away at it was patriotism, for some to learn a skill, and some just needed a job. Going college. I felt the presence of my parents and my grandparents. I started to feel back earlier, some of us were drafted. at home. I attended the service again on But each of us gained something from several more Sundays and always left that experience, along with memories, with a feeling of calm. both good and maybe not so good. In I then moved on to my operational my case, my military service brought base at Grand Forks, N.D to be a mainme to loving Judaism.

When I was a kid back in the '50s and tenance officer for Minuteman nuclear missiles. This time, I sought out the '60s, Hebrew school was no pleasure. small Jewish congregation on the base The teachers did nothing to make it fun and again found familiarity, or even interesting. I think and also instant friendship, the most Hebrew I learned so far from home. was “sheket, yeladim, quiet, We didn’t have our own children,” always yelled, Jewish chaplain, but the never spoken. After my bar rabbi from Fargo came up mitzvah, I refused to go to once each month for a Shabtemple anymore or to postbat service. Everyone got an bar mitzvah classes. aliyah. I stumbled through I grew up in a kosher the English transliteration home. My parents were the first few times, but soon moderately observant, but relearned the prayers we do usually went to synagogue for each Torah reading, and only on the High Holidays. looked forward to my turn.

I usually got dragged with Steve Markman Everyone was far from them each year. That was home, but we were a family. the extent of my religious I was happy to be with them. For Passactivity for many years. over, I was invited to someone’s house My high school was maybe a quarter for a Seder. For Rosh Hashanah, I drove Jewish. I had my little circle of Jewish all the way to Fargo to attend the serfriends, but I found most of the Jewish vice. No one had to drag me this time! kids to be incredibly snobbish. I never When I got out of the Air Force a few fit in with any of the organizations that years later, we settled here in Dayton. claimed to be there to bring Jewish My wife and I joined Temple Israel, teens together. then Beth Abraham, and eventually When I attended Ohio State, there Temple Beth Or. When Chabad came was a Hillel and a Chabad, both within to Dayton, we were invited to come easy walking distance, but who needed to services. I was hesitant at first, but them? Not me. I found my future wife, found them very warm Helen, through a mutual and welcoming. friend, the spring of my After seeing memlast year in Columbus. bers of the congregation After graduating, I chanting portions of the joined the Air Force in service, I said to myself, June 1970, and went to “I can do that.” I started officer training school with my bar mitzvah at Lackland AFB in San Haftorah in 2000. Over Antonio. Anyone who the years, I learned a half has served in the military dozen or so additional Haftorahs that I can tell you that you’re thrown into a do there. Now, here’s the twist: When completely new life and environment my dad used to come here to visit, and expected to adapt quickly. Nothguess who got taken to Chabad with us! ing from your old lifestyle remains: not When we return to civilian life, we your daily routine, not your clothes, not take with us not just the skills and even your hair style. confidence we learned, but also our call We trained hard for six days a week to service, and some new outlook about but got Sunday off. After spending four ourselves and our way of thinking. In or five Sundays doing nothing but getmy case, it gave me a new love for Judating caught up on lost sleep, I decided ism. to go to the Jewish service just to see something different for a few hours.

Steve Markman is a past Ohio department I walked into the designated multicommander of Jewish War Veterans and purpose chapel, grabbed a prayer book and kipah from the Jewish shelf, and sat past commander of JWV Post 587 in Dayton. He lives in Washington Township. down. The prayers didn’t sound famil-

I felt the presence of my parents and my grandparents.

I started to feel at home.

So, what do you think?

By Jonathan A. Greenblatt riven by politics. We do not see eye to Unless you have been living under a eye when it comes to the State of Israel, rock for the past few weeks, and even and at times we can’t even agree on the if you’re not Jewish, you can’t miss the definition of antisemitism itself. fact that antisemitism is back in the At times, absurdly, some Jewish news again: Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, leaders seek to tear down other Jewish Nick Fuentes; extremists returning leaders even as it tears apart the comin droves to Twitter; President Donmunity, as Steven Windmuller, a retired ald Trump kowtowing to antisemites professor at Hebrew Union College in over dinner at Mar-A-Lago; Saturday Los Angeles, recently documented.

Night Live opening with a monologue I point this out not to diminish the trafficking in antisemitic value of debate and dissent tropes; members of the Black — these are fundamental Hebrew Israelites intimito our tradition. But we dating Jewish fans coming need to be mindful of to Barclays Center, and an when debate descends into endless feedback loop of division. antisemitism coursing across Indeed, when viewed social media. by those on the outside, Coming at a time when these internecine divisions antisemitic incidents already within our community can had reached the highest lead to misunderstandings point in recent memory, this and confusion. Why can’t is the kind of mainstreamJews agree on anything? ing of antisemitism that we At best, hostility makes us haven’t seen since the 1930s. ADL CEO Jonathan A. look petty, mean, and foolIf there’s one thing I’ve ish. At worst, it allows anGreenblatt learned as CEO of the Antitisemites to see within us Defamation League, it is that when whatever it is that they hate the most. it comes to the Jewish people, hatred Usually in the aftermath of antisemitdoesn’t discriminate. ic attacks such as we saw after the Tree When Kanye says Jews control the of Life shooting or the hostage situation music industry, he’s not talking about in Colleyville, Texas, Jews from across rich Jews or conservative Jews. He’s the political spectrum set aside our difnot singling those who may support ferences and come together in a show Likud or those who back Meretz, two of unity. We lock arms, proclaim we Israeli political parties. He’s not calling are one, call on our policymakers to do out Orthodox Jews versus more, put up our defenReform Jews. He’s talking sive shields and hope for about us all. the best.

Same with the White But at a time when a supremacists who are circelebrity with a cult-like culating Great Replacement following, Kanye West, conspiracy theories about or Ye as he now calls Jews conspiring to bring himself, is using his more people of color and platform of 38 millionimmigrants into America to plus social media fol“replace” White people. They don’t care lowers to spread hateful tropes about if you are a die-hard MAGA voter or a Jews — the kinds of unhinged and card-carrying member of Democratic hateful canards, such as Jewish control Socialists of America. It doesn’t matand power, that have led to antisemitic ter: If you’re Jewish, you are in their attacks throughout history — I would crosshairs. argue that the locking-arms response, Another unfortunate example is the while effective in the moment, does not Mapping Project, an insidious camhave the staying power that we could paign that ostensibly accused pro-Israel achieve if we had a more unified and Jews of conspiring together in Boston. close-knit Jewish community.

However, it didn’t target only Zionist What does have staying power? In organizations. They targeted all Jewish this uniquely fragile moment, we must organizations, from a nonprofit helping choose to embrace our differences, or at the disabled to a Jewish high school. least accept them and lean into ahavat And yet, while our enemies see us as Yisrael, the love for our fellow Jews. one, the Jewish community too often We ferociously can disagree internally seems riven by discord and infighting. while standing completely united to We are divided around religious external hate. practices and beliefs. We are deeply Continued on Page 23

We need to be mindful of when debate descends into division.

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 • JANUARY 2023

PAGE 17

MAZEL TOV!

CALENDAR Classes

Dayton Art Institute, 456 Belmonte Park N., Dayton. jewishdayton.org/events.

Beth Abraham: Saturdays, following noon kiddush lunch: Lunch & Learn w. Rabbi Glazer.

305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

937-293-9520.

Temple Israel Prayer & Play: Sat., Jan. 21, 10 a.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.

Beth Jacob: Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Weekly Parsha w. Rabbi Agar.

Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Jewish Law w. Rabbi Agar. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. bethjacobcong.org.

937-274-2149.

Chabad JLI, Book Smart: Six Mondays, Jan. 16-Feb. 20, 7 p.m.

Hybrid. $72. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. chabbaddayton.com.

Temple Beth Or: Sun., Jan. 8, 15, 22, 29, 12:30 p.m.: Adult Hebrew.

Tues., Jan. 3, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study via Zoom w. Rabbi Chessin. Thurs., Jan. 5, 7 p.m.: Chai Mitzvah via Zoom. Wed., Jan. 18, 7 p.m.: Exploration of the Jewish Short Story via Zoom.

5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. templebethor.com.

Temple Israel: Tues., Jan. 10, 17, 24, 31, noon: Hybrid Talmud Study. Wed., Jan. 4, 11, 10 a.m.: Social Justice Torah Commentary w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. Dorothy Lane Market, 6177 Far Hills Ave., Wash. Twp. Sat., Jan. 7, 14, 28, 9:15 a.m.: Virtual Torah Study.

Sat., Jan. 21, 9:15 a.m.: Hybrid Torah Study. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. tidayton.org.

Family

PJ Library & Hillel Academy at DAI: Sun., Jan. 8, 2 p.m. Free.

Children & Teens

JCC Winter Camp Shalom: Through Jan. 3. Also Mon., Jan. 16. Grades K-10. Contact Meryl Hattenbach, mhattenbach@jfgd. net, 937-401-1550.

JCC Snow Tubing at Perfect North Slopes, Lawrenceburg, Ind.: Mon., Jan. 16, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. $35. Grades 6-8. Drop off & pick up @ Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. jewishdayton.org/events.

Adults

JCC Boomers Night Out: Sat., Jan. 28, 7 p.m. Free. W. Matt Klickstein & Stephen Levinson.

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

JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series

Ronald Balson: An Affair of Spies. Livestream at Woodbourne Library, 6060 Far Hills Ave., Centerville. Wed., Jan. 18, 7 p.m. Free. jewishdayton.org/ events.

Community

Chabad Kosher Deli Night: Sat., Jan. 7, 7 p.m. $30. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. chabaddayton.com/rsvp. 937-643-0770.

Beth Abraham Men’s Club Sunday Brunch Speaker Series: Sundays, 10 a.m. $7. Jan. 8: Univ. of Cincinnati Jewish Studies Chair Jennifer Caplan, Jewish Identity & American Comic Books (at Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton). Jan. 22: Univ. of Dayton English Prof. Miriamne Krummel, 13th-Century Jewish Dates & Chaucer's Prioress's Tale. Jan. 29: Dr. Jack Bernstein, The Return of Flu & RSV in the Age of Covid. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Temple Israel Ryterband Brunch & Lecture Series: Sundays, 9:45 a.m. $7. Jan. 8: Univ. of Cincinnati Chair of Jewish Studies Jennifer Caplan, Jewish Identity & American Comic Books. Jan. 22: ARZA Exec. Dir. Rabbi Josh Weinberg, Israel - Living the Dream, Facing the Reality. Jan. 29: Hillel Academy Co-Principal Dr. Kathy Mecoli, Project-Based Learning & How Jewish Values are Woven Throughout Student Work. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960050.

Temple Israel/Omega Baptist Church Pulpit Exchange: Fri., Jan. 13, 6:30 p.m. at Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

Sun., Jan. 15, 11 a.m. at Omega Baptist, 1821 Emerson Ave., Dayton.

Hadassah Presents David Yogev: Virtually from Israel, Sun., Jan. 22, 1 p.m. Free. RSVP to Julie Bloom, buckeyejlb@aol. com.

The Rick Pinsky Brunch Speaker Series Sponsored by Men’s Club Sundays, 10 a.m. • $7 RSVP to 937-293-9520

Jan. 8: Jennifer Caplan, Ph.D.

Julie and Dr. Robert Bloom biking in the Negev, Israel

Julie and Dr. Robert Bloom participated in their third Friends of the Israel Defense Forces Annual Israel Bike Mission, an intensive six-day bicycle ride through Israel from Eilat to Jerusalem, Nov. 11 to 17. Along the way, they cycled near the Egyptian border on a private military road and visited an army base there. They rode through the Negev Desert to the Dead Sea and ended in Jerusalem where they visited a border police/ soldier training post. Joining FIDF supporters for the ride was a group of wounded Israeli combat veterans who have benefited from rehabilitative programs and prosthetic devices sponsored by FIDF. Julie is also president of Dayton Hadassah.

Wine Enthusiast magazine has named The Barrel House, owned by Sara and Gus Stathes, to its Best Beer Shops in the U.S. According to Pros list. No other beer shop in Ohio made this year's list. "We're honored, humbled, and downright geeked," Sara posted, announcing the honor. "We're gonna ride this high for awhile."

Joe D. Saks has joined Bieser, Greer & Landis as a senior associate attorney. Most recently he was a staff attorney with Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. Joe has joined the law firm's active litigation practice, with a concentration in medical malpractice defense.

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

Chair of Jewish Studies, University of Cincinnati Unmasking the Masked Jew: Jewish Identity & American Comic Books at Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton, part of Ryterband Lecture Series

Jan. 22: Miriamne Krummel, Ph.D. University of Dayton English Professor Thirteenth-Century Jewish Dates & Chaucer’s Prioress’s Tale

Jan. 29: Jack Bernstein, M.D.

Infectious disease specialist The Return of Flu & RSV in the Age of COVID Beth Abraham, Dayton’s only Conservative synagogue, is enthusiastically egalitarian and is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

PAGE 18

For our complete program schedule, go to bethabrahamdayton.org.

Corner of Far Hills & Dorothy Lane 2977 FAR HILLS AVE • DAYTON OH 45419

305 Sugar Camp Circle • Dayton, Ohio 45409 937•293•9520 • www.bethabrahamdayton.org

THEFLOWERSHOPPE.COM

937-224-7673

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

RELIGION

CONGREGATIONS

The nature of freedom

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Chabad of Greater Dayton Servants of time are slaves of slaves, The servant of God alone is free, Therefore, when each man makes his choice, My soul says, 'I choose God for me.'

This short poem, written by Yehuda HaLevi near a millennium ago, is about the nature of freedom.

Perspectives Freedom is central to the message of the Torah and the People of the Torah. Follow along the Torah readings this month as we read the story of the Exodus or consider what we are enjoined to remember every time we say Kiddush, "zecher yetziat Mitzrayim," calling to mind the Exodus from Egypt.

Freedom’s fundamental message is, as Jefferson put it, that “the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.” A powerful phrase, but not so powerful as to inspire Jefferson to stop breeding and selling slaves himself to keep Monticello afloat. More than powerful prose is needed to achieve true freedom.

Somehow, freedom and its opposite remained stuck together. We ponder that in America and are rightly troubled by it.

In HaLevi’s poem, we see that servitude and freedom are conjoined. The poem takes for

granted that we will all serve source of love and of joy, and something. The poet keeps it of meaning deep enough to simple – the choice, in the end, leap over time’s abyss. He beis between time and God. comes aware of God’s passionBy time, HaLevi means the ate desire for us and he is filled world subject to the endless with a passionate response of passing of time, which wears his own burning love. inevitably down Here he finds our highest ideals genuine choice. The and finally our very world does indeed selves. It is the great hem us in, and we machine that slowly are bound by its wears all down, the laws and rules, unstoppable increase about which we have of entropy, ending no choice. So the only when all is choice we do have is reduced to an equal not whether to serve grey emptiness. or not, but what or Devotion to that whom do we serve. world is nothing but In the world of slavery. What might Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin time, we will be gain a temporary slaves to fashion, high, but even at its highest servants to the latest fads of moments, is fraught with the thinking, of taste, of associafearful knowledge that it will tion. In obedience to the dicall come undone. Haval havalim tates of these masters, we will – all is insubstantial and vain, find our morals and principles passing like a breath, and then frightfully unable to help us. our breath stops.

Following this path, we no HaLevi knew that world longer have even the ability to well. He was talk to people born to such who have privilege as his identified with a time afforded, a different trend, time he celas we identify ourselves more ebrates in his with emblematic youthful poetry, affirmations of filled with praisthe trend we es of wine and have elected as of friendship, of our master than celebration and with anything else. of love.

Or one can choose to serve You can trace in his poetry the awakening of a deeper con- God. Only such a person is sciousness, as he begins to find free.

But how can that be so? the freedom that eluded him in The poet does not explain his earlier pursuits of success that here; he merely affirms it and happiness as the tempoand lets the power of his poetry ral world, the world of time, defined it. His passion remains, verify the message. But one might venture some explanabut it seeks a beloved ever more clearly understood, the tion that is harmonious with the feeling he writes here so

The choice we do have is not whether to serve or not, but what or whom do we serve.

MLK Weekend pulpit exchange Omega Baptist Church and Temple Israel will host their annual MLK Weekend pulpit exchange Jan. 13 and 15.

The Rev. Joshua D. Ward will deliver the sermon at Temple Israel's Shabbat service at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 13. Temple Israel is Rabbi Karen Bodney- The Rev. Joshua D. Halasz Ward located at 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz will deliver the sermon at Omega Baptist Church at the 11 a.m. worship service on Sunday, Jan. 15. Omega Baptist Church is located at 1821 Emerson Ave., Dayton. The community is invited to both services.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

powerfully.

The inevitable running down of our entropic, timebound world is only inevitable if it is viewed as a closed system.

But HaLevi tells us it is not a zero-sum game, not a closed system. The ground of its existence is energizing it continuously, investing it with love and concern and purpose.

True, we are bound to respond to that, to recognize our debt to our energizing source, so that we may live life in truth. But that is a bond of love, not of slavery.

Even as we freely choose to serve those whom we love, so too do we learn to realize we have the freedom to freely choose to love that which empowers us to love and who brings the beloved into being.

That is a choice. And making that choice brings freedom into the world. Living that choice teaches by example that there is nothing in the world that has any final call of allegiance on us except God. And it also teaches that in God’s service, we become free to serve in love all those whom our Beloved loves, and so embrace the freeing of all the world.

In the darkness of January, and in a time when it may seem that the cause of freedom is hopelessly beset by misunderstanding, misprision, and even betrayal, HaLevi’s faith calls us to awake to the true freedom that is already within our grasp, that we should take hold of it and give it our all.

Think of this as we follow the Exodus story unfolding each week. Answer the Torah’s call to express true freedom in action, and become a true servant to the cause of freedom that is God’s own, and can be served in every person whom we meet, as all humanity is created in God’s image.

January • Tevet/Shevat

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 Sat., Jan. 7, 10 a.m. w. 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., Jan. 6, 6 p.m.

Fridays, Jan. 13, 20, 27, 6:30 p.m.

Sat., Jan. 21, 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

Torah Portions Shabbat Candle Lightings January 6: 5:09 p.m.

January 13: 5:16 p.m.

January 20: 5:24 p.m.

January 27: 5:32 p.m.

January 7: Vayechi (Gen. 47:28-50:26) January 14: Shemot (Ex. 1:1-6:1) January 21: Vaera (Ex. 6:2-9:35) January 28: Bo (Ex. 10:1-13:16)

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.

PAGE 19

JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION

Measure for measure

The Power of Stories Series Yakov joined a local Minchah (afternoon) service and sat a few rows behind a father and his four kids. The man in front of them drummed his fingers on the bench. The kids fidgeted.

The father whispered sharply.

Candace R. Kwiatek Behind them, the prayerful rocking of another attendee invaded the family’s space. The kids fretted. The father snapped crossly.

“What a jerk,” Yakov thought. “Your discontent is disturbing everyone. Do you have to scold your kids? If they get on your nerves, why not leave them home?”

At the conclusion of the service, the four kids—ages 12, 9, 8, and 6—stood and recited the Mourner’s Kaddish. Yakov sat, his face hot with shame.

The Mourner’s Kaddish is recited by children of any age when they have lost a parent during the previous 11 months.

Every day, we make judg-

ments about others based on their behavior. This airline’s check-in personnel are efficient.

That driver's weaving on the road is dangerous. Those business investors are far-sighted.

According to psychologist Elizabeth Hall, "Our brains are wired to judge automatically, allowing us to move through the world without spending too much time or energy on understanding everything we see.”

On the other hand, to make sense of why people behave the way they do, we engage in a more deliberate judgmental process, attributing behavior to either personality or situation.

Slow cashier? It’s because of incompetence (personality) or being new at the job (situation).

An acquaintance overlooks you? It’s because she’s thoughtless (personality) or he’s preoccupied (situation).

Behavioral science also observes that we favor excusable situational explanations for those we care about, but we tend toward hostile personality conclusions for those we don’t know well.

“Jewish tradition accepts that judging is built into human nature," educator Hanan Harchol

writes.

However, judging others involves moral and ethical concerns, so it’s no surprise that biblical texts and rabbinic writings spell out clear guidelines embraced by two overarching principles.

“In justice shall you judge your fellow man,” the Bible commands: don’t show favoritism or hatred, don’t take vengeance or bear a grudge, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Understood as obligatory in both legal and everyday circumstances, this command requires that we judge others realistically, logically, accurately, and fairly.

The great Talmudic sage Hillel adds, “Do not judge your fellow until you have (put yourself in) his place,” meaning that a person’s situation must also be taken into account when evaluating their behavior.

“Judge the whole of a person with the scale weighted in his favor,“ Joshua ben Perachia teaches in Pirkei Avot. That is, when judging, look not only at another’s behavior in the moment, but at the whole person, and begin with their virtues.

Interpret every situation in a way that yields the most favorable assessment of the person being judged. Give the benefit of the doubt.

We have been granted the beneficial and dangerous capacity for judgment. In order to

The Suites at Walnut Creek An Assisted Living Community

AVAILABL E NOW!

function, we judge automatically. But to understand others, we judge by choice. How do these stories illustrate the principles of pursuing justice and weighing favorably — or not?

The senator. In 1963, Daniel Inouye was sworn in as a U.S. senator for Hawaii, the first Japanese-American to serve in the upper chamber of Congress.

According to Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, a few days after featuring a photograph of the new senators taking the oath of office, “a newspaper received a caustic letter complaining that ‘the senator from Hawaii doesn’t know his right hand from his left.’”

The writer’s conclusion was unjust. An infantry officer during World War II and the recipient of several military decorations for acts of valor, Inouye lost his right arm to a grenade wound.

The survivor.

A Jerusalem wedding was surprisingly luxurious in the eyes of guests who knew the groom’s family. After all, they were far from wealthy and frequently requested financial help from the community.

Returning to the wedding hotel for the Sheva Brachot celebration, many guests began to gossip against this family who incurred such exorbitant expenses for their son’s wedding while living on others’ charity.

Overhearing the rumors, the rabbi shared the following story: Having no clue about the process or expense of renting event venues, catering meals, or

arranging wedding details, the groom’s father had simply entered the first hotel that caught his eye. Inquiring about prices he paused to introduce himself, at which point the hotel event planner burst into tears.

She explained, “Your father helped my family escape from Germany during the Second World War. It is the reason we are here today. I insist that your son’s wedding is celebrated in this hotel on my tab.”

The sofer. The new, young rabbi of an established, elderly Johannesburg shul, Rabbi Mendel Lipskar was leading his first Yom Kippur service when a young man walked in.

Wearing jeans and sandals and sporting long, frizzy hair, he looked very out of place.

Nonetheless, Rabbi Lipskar asked the gabbai (congregational functionary) to give their visitor the honor of opening the ark. The gabbai was horrified. Such an honor to this hippie? Unthinkable. But the rabbi insisted. The gabbai acquiesced, and the young man was honored. Inspired, he went on to become a well-respected American sofer (ritual scribe).

The sages of the Talmud taught: “One who judges another favorably is himself judged favorably.”

The opposite is also true.

Criticism or compassion? Faultfinding or fairness? How we judge others is ultimately how we will be judged, measure for measure. By others around us.

And by God.

The sages of the Talmud taught: 'One who judges another favorably is himself judged favorably.'

Literature to share

Comfort • Convenience • Safety

Rosalind Looked Closer: An Unsung Hero of Molecular Science by Lisa Gerin. A Jewish girl growing up in World War II England, Rosalind had a passion for science. Despite little encouragement and few female role models in scientific fields, she entered Cambridge to study chemistry and then molecular science. She was the first to capture an image of the DNA double helix, one of the most import findings of the 20th century, and then went on to research the molecular shape of viruses. A fascinating and inspiring book for primary grades.

• 24-Hour Care by Licensed Health Care Staff • Medication Management • Fine Dining with Specialized Diets • Alzheimer's/Dementia Care • Private Suites • Courtyard & Patios • Therapy Services • Daily Planned Events

Call Today! 937-299-0194 2501 Keystone Club Drive Dayton, OH 45439 • www.wcreekoh.com PAGE 20

Angel of Alta Langa by Suzanne Hoffman. Inspired by real-life events, this historical novel follows the epic stories of several families in Italy’s wine-growing region during the era of fascism and the Nazi occupation. It’s a complex tale of love and war filled with suspense and tragedy, resistance and despair, courage and friendship, richly embellished by the history and culture of Italy’s Piemonte region. Enjoy this novel during the long cold winter.

SENIOR LIVING CAMPUS

Contact Patty Caruso at plhc69@gmail.com to advertise in The Observer.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

Mafrum is the dish to eat on cold winter nights.

By Shimi Aaron, The Nosher Mafrum is a Jewish Libyan dish of potato stuffed with spiced ground beef, then simmered in a tomato sauce. It is traditionally eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

The Libyan kitchen is a mix of Arabic and Mediterranean food, with a strong Italian influence. But since the early 1950s, when the vast majority of Libyan Jews immigrated to Israel, mafrum has evolved. It quickly became very popular in Israel, where it has been interpreted by Jews from different countries, such as Tunisia, Morocco and even Egypt.

I grew up on this dish. My late grandmother used to make it for holidays and it’s one of my family’s favorite dishes for

Shabbat. My mom serves it over squeeze fresh lemon on top of it couscous with a side of tahini all, you’re basically in heaven. sauce and a finely chopped vegetable salad.

4 white medium-size potaMy interpretation of mafrum toes is a little bit different, mostly water because in the original recipe salt you only use tomato paste for the sauce. I love fresh tomatoes, For the stuffing: which is why I use them as a 3/4 lb. ground beef (80 perbase for my sauce. They make cent lean, but not more) the sauce a bit richer, and put a 1 bunch of parsley, washed new spin on it. and chopped Sometimes, to make the dish 1 medium onion, grated a little lighter, I replace the tra2 garlic cloves, grated ditional potato with eggplant, 1 egg yolk (save the white – which is my favorite vegetable. see below) But it is the potato version that salt and pepper I want to cook and eat on cold ½ tsp. ground cinnamon winter nights. I serve it the ½ tsp. ground nutmeg same way my mom does: the ½ tsp. ground cumin tahini sauce is perfect, the salad 1 Tbsp. breadcrumbs brings freshness, and if you 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

For the coating: 1½ cups all-purpose flour 3 eggs + the leftover egg white from the stuffing 1 Tbsp. tomato paste ½ tsp. salt oil for frying

Dip each potato pocket in flour, making sure each piece is fully coated, but tap off any excess flour. Then dip in the egg mixture and fry in batches until golden on all sides. Repeat with all the pockets and lay them on a plate or tray.

For the sauce: Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

2 large onions, sliced into Make the sauce in an ovenrings (super thin – on a man- proof, large, deep skillet. Add the oil and fry the onions dolin, if available) slowly until softened. Add the 2 medium tomatoes, grated tomato paste and mix. Add the 4 Tbsp. tomato paste salt and the rest of the spices 2 cups water and mix again. Then add the 1 tsp. sweet paprika fresh grated tomato, sugar, and 1 tsp. salt water.

1 tsp. sugar When the sauce comes to a pinch of ground nutmeg simmer, slowly place all the ⅓ cup oil for frying potato pockets into the skillet, Peel your potatoes. Slice each laying them side by side. Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook potato lengthwise into four for 10 minutes. slices. Then take each slice and Place the skillet in the oven make a cut lengthwise almost all the way through so you cre- for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the sauce has cooked down by ate a pocket. half and potatoes are soft. Serve Fill a bowl with room-temwith chopped herbs, a fresh perature water, add a pinch of salad, and tahini dressing. salt, and place the potato slices inside for about 45 minutes, while you continue with the recipe.

By hand, mix all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl. Divide them equally into 16 meatballs and place on a tray.

Drain the potatoes and dry them completely. Sprinkle some flour inside each potato pocket.

Take a meatball, smash it with the palm of your hand, and stuff the potato pockets with it. Make sure the meat doesn’t stick out too much.

In a separate bowl, mix the three eggs, the remaining egg white, salt, and tomato paste with a whisk.

Place all the flour for the coating on a large plate.

Using a large deep frying pan, heat 2 inches of oil on medium heat until it reaches 375 degrees.

Pasha Grill

Catering & Online Delivery Available

Greene Town Center

72 Plum Street Beavercreek, Ohio 937-429 9000 www.pashagrill.com THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

PAGE 21

In Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard shows the difference between a Jew of culture and a cultural Jew

Arts&Culture Joan Marcus

Brandon Uranowitz, Caissie Levey, Faye Castelow and David Krumholtz in the Broadway production of Leopoldstadt.

Yiddishkeit, but a Jew obsessed with culture and hisBy PJ Grisar, forward.com tory often to the detriment of feeling. Cerebral, StopThe first and strongest scene in Tom Stoppard’s pardian detachment strikes again, but it is more disapLeopoldstadt is abuzz with activity — and ideas. pointing given this play’s material and, in the end, its The play, now on Broadway at the Longacre Thedesire to confront familial alienation head on. atre, opens in 1899 in a wealthy, bourgeois apartment Leopoldstadt is in many ways grandly ambitious, off the Ringstrasse in Vienna. There’s a Christmas tree following the prosperous Merz family of garment bearing candles, soon to be claimed as interfaith by a manufacturers and the humbler Jacobovicz clan, who Star of David topper. The adults are looking at books: have relations back in Galicia, from the end of the 19th Herzl’s Judenstaat, Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, a racy, unpublished play by Arthur Schnitzler (La Ronde). century to Kristallnacht, with a small coda in the 1950s for Stoppard to self-flagellate over his earlier indifferThe Catholic wife of the master of the house mentions ence to the past. But too often it insists on letting us that she’ll be sitting for a portrait for Gustav Klimt.

There’s also a family photo album, a key prop that gets know what exactly is happening on the world stage, caring less for what else is affecting the large cast of lost in the shuffle. characters.

At some point, the many children — some baptized After a contrived subplot featuring a dragoon and and with a Christian parent — scuttle off to see a nativity scene. In the lull, two brothers-in-law, the upwardly an affair, we’re whisked away to the 1920s. We know it’s the 1920s because someone is doing mobile and newly Christianized Hermann (David Krumholtz) and Ludwig Stoppard is a Jew the Charleston. But we also know because there’s a wounded veteran of the Great (Brandon Uranowitz), a Jewish mathemaof culture — not War, Hermann’s son, Jacob (Seth Numtician denied professorship by quotas, rich, doing too much), who we’re meetdiscuss the Jewish question. one raised with for the first time. He declaims about Hermann, having come of age durYiddishkeit, but ing the politics of the day alongside relatives ing the emancipation of Austria’s Jews, who range from a socialist to a Marxist believes assimilation will win out in the a Jew obsessed disposition. Offstage the family awaits new century. with culture and a mohel. It’s too broad and farcical, and “We worship culture!” Hermann inthat may be because Stoppard, having sists, listing the luminaries of the empire history often to no firsthand experience with a bris — at from Haydn to Brahms, and dismissing the detriment of least as an adult — apparently deferred the bygone pogroms and expulsions that to Fran Lebowitz for insight. will, in the course of two hours and four feeling.

Instead of developing relationships, generations, return to afflict the family.

Stoppard is intent on giving us a history lesson. (He Ludwig is less sanguine. “A Jew can be a great comis a sometimes spotty student, if I can nitpick. Would poser. He can be the toast of the town. But he can’t not Hermann really first be discovering Judenstaat nearly be a Jew,” he says. “In the end if it doesn’t catch up on four years after it was published and two years after him, it will catch up on his children.” the First Zionist Congress? How is a character just This ineradicable Jewishness seems to have finally returning from the Evian Conference in July 1938, just caught up with Stoppard, who, almost from short in time for Kristallnacht that November?) pants to middle-age, lived a life largely unaffected by Director Patrick Marber, who also helmed the West his Jewish background.

End production, marshals a large cast to great, efficient Of course there is a paradox: This most Anglophilic effect. The penultimate scene, when the Nazis arrive, is of writers only wound up in England by dint of his chilling, but not for its particulars. Though we’ve been Jewishness. He arrived there from India (by way of with the family for well over an hour, and seen the Singapore), having fled the Nazi invasion with his changes in some, we scarcely know who half of them family when he was around 18 months old. Stoppard now may call himself an “English playwright of Jewish are.

We may recall their views on Zionism or Jewish heritage,” but might I hazard another description? identity, but so much is packed in to make a point Stoppard is a Jew of culture — not one raised with

PAGE 22

of a grand reversal of fortune and the shifting political winds that there is no room left for much else. In a way, this is the point, illustrated by a matriarch’s remark that it’s “like a second death, to lose your name in a family album,” but dramatically this is little consolation.

When I learned that this play was two hours long, I wondered if this would be a speed-through of things Stoppard would rather not discuss. One can’t avoid the fact that, in his masterpiece Arcadia, he spent well over two hours meditating on past and present via Georgian-era landscaping and, in Coast of Utopia, devoted over nine hours to pre-revolutionary Russian radicals.

One would expect his own Jewish autobiography to warrant a bit more stage time. Though profiles have promoted the play as a final confrontation with a past Stoppard was ashamed not to have interrogated, is it in fact another dodge?

In a sense it’s not, as it is not much of an autobiography at all. Everything, down to the decision to set the drama in Austria rather than Czechoslovakia, appears guided more by Stoppard’s veneration of cultural figures and historical factors. That and a concern for the dramatic. It’s not simply that he may prefer Freud or Klimt or Schnitzler (who he’s adapted) as a touchstone over Kafka, but that it is richer to debate the status of Jews in the land that produced Hitler.

If assimilation, as well as the refugee crisis and the emergence of fascism, are meant to align with contemporary concerns, they are too granular in their renderings to carry much resonance for me. And, though this is likely the reason for the intermissionless runtime, the developments are too rushed. Yes, it happened fast, but not that fast.

In the play’s final movement, things slow down and do go somewhat deep with Stoppard’s psyche. The cast is whittled down to three, the set stripped bare.

We’re meant to feel the absence, but also the play’s reason for existing. Leo Chamberlain (formerly Leopold Rosenbaum, played by Arty Froushan), a self-satisfied young Brit with a bit of a literary career, turns up in Vienna to meet his surviving relatives. An undisguised self-insert, Leo has a case of foot-in-mouth disease, at one point telling his cousin who survived Auschwitz, “I’m sorry you had a rotten war.”

Leo, who escaped to Britain and led a charmed, lucky life, at last recalls a history he’d forgotten in a room where he once lived. And in a moment that may be drawn most fully from Stoppard’s own experience, a relative draws him a family tree, and tells him the fate of each branch.

Stoppard should be kinder to himself. Unlike Leo, he was too young to have forged a memory of his homeland and the people murdered miles from its borders. Should you know little of the playwright’s own history, Leo’s short time on the stage may feel out of place. It does, however, return to a central theme of assimilation and its limits.

In the opening scene, Ludwig lays it out for Hermann. “We worship culture,” he concedes. “But, Hermann, assimilation doesn’t mean to stop being a Jew.” For much of his life and career, Stoppard seemed to test this axiom. Leopoldstadt announces Stoppard’s arrival as a writer on Jewish themes, but a worshipper of culture above all.

Joan Marcus

A scene from the Broadway production of Leopoldstadt.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

Fighting antisemitism Continued from Page 17 We are our brother’s keeper, and any Jew suffering from antisemitism is ultimately our responsibility. We must come together, despite our differences, and fight those who hate our people.

How can Jews stand together against antisemitism while respecting our ideological divides?

First, this isn’t a moment to try to win each other over. This is a moment to declare that every Jew matters and is worth protecting. We may disagree on many things, but we can appreciate that difference doesn’t have to equal division. We cannot allow the toxic partisanship that has seeped into so much of our society to poison our communal spaces. There are no “tikun olam” Jews. There are no "Trump” Jews. There are only Jews, and we need to remember the dictum — you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Second, we should recognize that self-defense starts with self-love and self-knowledge.

Jewish literacy is essential to our long-term survival.

Many like to remark how Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel prayed with his feet — but he did so in part because he wrapped tefillin with his hands.

This is not to say that we all need to observe our faith in the same manner.

There are plenty of Jewish people who opt out of ritual entirely, and yet their connection to our peoplehood is as strong and as valid as those who daven, or pray, every day.

But shared values that emanate from Torah still bind us as a people — we need to redouble, not just our efforts to pass on these values to our children in ways that relate to the next generation, but we also must relearn these values ourselves.

Third, we must never allow our ideological blinders to gloss over or ignore antisemitism from those who are generally our political allies. We must be morally firm and call out antisemitism where we see it, and not just when it is convenient politically.

We must be equally fierce in the political circles where we belong, where we ultimately have more influence and clout, as in simply calling out hatred by pointing to those on the other side.

During his lifetime, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson shared his wisdom about the fact that while every Jewish person is a unique individual, as a people we share a “basic commonality that joins us into a single collective entity.”

The Lubavitcher Rebbe understood that this unity has sustained the Jewish people throughout history.

If we look to our ancestors, we can see examples of how holding together at times of strife has made our community stronger.

It’s quite possible that we may be living in one of those difficult periods again. I hope we can meet the moment.

Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO and national director of the ADL.

OBITUARIES Susan Nicole (Jacobs) Davis, age 50, of Dayton, passed away Dec. 13. Susan is survived by her beloved husband, Rich Davis; sons, Jake and Joey Davis; mother, Rachel Jacobs; brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Bradley Jacobs and Dr. Cassandra Milling Jacobs; sister and brother-in-law, Julie and Dr. Adam Waldman; and her dear nieces and nephews, Samantha, Lucie, and Ezra Jacobs, Noah, Zoe, and Oscar Waldman. She was preceded in death by her father, Steven Jacobs. Susan was a graduate of the University of Michigan and The Ohio State University – Moritz College of Law. She was an attorney for Sony Music and Warner Music Group in New York City for 12 years, where she met her husband, Rich. Interment was at Beth Jacob Cemetery.

Beverly Ann Kantor, age 83 of Englewood, passed away Dec. 12. Bev was preceded in death by her parents, Lois and Raymond Hamblin; sister, Sandra Kay Hamblin; brother, Norman Hamblin; and two nephews, Mark Hamblin and David Hamblin Jr.; and her mother-in-law and father-inlaw, Roberta and Gerald Kantor.

Bev is survived by her husband, Jeffrey Kantor; daughters, Beth (Valente) Abroms and Rachel (Mark) Abroms; granddaughter, Sasha Miranda; grandson, Jacob Heyne; brothers, David (Joyce) Hamblin, Henry (Linda) Hamblin; nieces, Laura Petterway, Dana (James) Faello; nephews, Daniel Hamblin, Jack (Anna Marie) Meadow and Sydney Meadow; sister-in-law, Brenda (Scott) Meadow; many great nieces and nephews, and

L’dor V’dor.

From Generation To Generation.

GLICKLER FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE Larry S. Glickler, Director Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com

many loving friends. Beverly was beautiful inside and out. An accomplished pianist who could play anything from a concerto to ragtime, she was Miss Louisville in the Ms. Kentucky beauty pageant. She loved watching Jeopardy and would blurt out the question while you were still processing the answer. She loved her many cats in her life: Odyssey, Cujo, Alex, Woody, and Sophie. She loved musicals.

But what brought her the most joy in life was being a mother and grandmother. Interment was at Riverview Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton or Temple Israel.

Our Family Serving Your Family For More Than 90 Years

Funeral Homes, Inc.

Pre-need Arrangements Pre-paid Funeral Trusts Cremation Services • Transfers North Main Chapel 1706 N. Main Street Huber Heights Chapel 5844 Old Troy Pike

For Both Locations Call 937-275-7434

The Dayton Jewish Observer New & Renewing Voluntary Subscribers, Nov. 9-Dec. 7 Renewing Angels Susan Dlott Kim & Shelley Goldenberg Diane Lieberman Slovin New Angels Anita Barrett & Family Eleanor Must Double Chai Michael Lieberman & Randi Abramson Richard Moyer Beverly Saeks Subscribers Phyllis A. Finkelstein Thelma K. Harlan Idele Ports Jim Winnegrad Current Observer Champions William Marwil Howard Michaels Milton Nathan

Andrea Scher Rabiner Current Guardian Angels Dr. Douglas & Mrs. Bethany Einstein Tara & Adam Feiner Marni Flagel Bella Freeman Elaine & John Gaglione Drs. Perry & Renata Lubens Marvin & Susan Mason Gary Pacernick Bernard Rabinowitz Brenda Rinzler Greg Schreck Zerla Stayman Steve & Shara Taylor Temple Anshe Emeth Current Angels Jeffrey Abrahams Elaine Abramson Ken Baker, K.W. Baker & Assoc.

Skip & Ann Becker Frieda Blum Sylvia Blum

Buck Run Doors & Hardware Inc. Natalie Cohn Betty Crouse Howard & Sue Ducker Bruce & Debbie Feldman Esther & DeNeal Feldman Lynn Foster Cathy Gardner Felix Garfunkel Mrs. Jack Goldberg Lynn & David Goldenberg Debby & Bob Goldenberg Rochelle & Michael Goldstein John Gower Carol Graff Harold & Melissa Guadalupe Dr. & Mrs. Stephen Harlan Robert & Vicky Heuman Ralph E. & Sylvia S. Heyman Linda & Steve Horenstein Rachel Jacobs Michael Jaffe Linda Jarvis David & Susan Joffe Dennis Kahn & Linda Ohlmann Kahn

Susan & Stanley Katz Allan & Linda Katz Don & Harriet Klass Debbie & Norbert Klopsch Cantor & Mrs. Jerome Kopmar Edye Leuin Laurie & Eddie Leventhal Todd & Gabriele Leventhal Norm & Kay Lewis Ellie Lewis Judy Lipton Sis & Joseph Litvin Beverly A. Louis Brenda & Scott Meadow Suzi & Jeff Mikutis Kristen Mitchem Irvin & Gayle Moscowitz Richard & Marcia Moyer Bobbie & Jack Myers Dr. Ronald & Susan Nelson Myrna Nelson In honor of Natalie M. Davis, RN NICU Neonatal, Cedar Sinai Hospital, L.A., grandaughter of Martin Nizny Phil Office

Cindy Pretekin & Jeff Froelich Sharyn Reger Susan & Nathaniel Ritter Helen Ross Dr. & Mrs. Gerald Rubin Sumner Saeks Burton & Alice Saidel Jeff & Cathy Startzman Maggie Stein Marc & Maureen Sternberg Col. Jeffrey Thau, USAF, (Ret.) & Rina Thau Bob & Suzanne Thum Louis & Doris Ullman The Waldman Family Judith Weber Donald & Caryl Weckstein Peter & Joan Wells Michael & Karen Weprin Ronald Bernard & Judy Woll

Thank you for your generosity

To make your Voluntary Subscription, go to daytonjewishobserver.org or see Page 16.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • JANUARY 2023

PAGE 23

$500

Receive for your child (grades K-12) to attend a Jewish program of their choice.

SUPPORT FOR CAMPS DAY SCHOOL

Applications Open January 3

RELIGIOUS SCHOOL

The application process is super easy and fast

YOUTH GROUPS

Money is paid directly to the program of your choice

ISRAEL PROGRAMS

Program can be located anywhere in the world

AND MORE!

Funding is available to all eligible children in your household Money can be split between programs Eligibility not based on income Learn more and apply at Jewishdayton.org

seed

future