The Dayton Jewish Observer, August 2026

Jewish Family Services to clinical David Moss designs Gracereturns After Meals in comiccounseling book form p.p. 225

THE DAYTON Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly

August 2026 Av/Elul 5786 Vol. 30, No. 12

OBSERVER Celebrating 30 Years

daytonjewishobserver.org

2017

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

2023

After 78 years, Dayton's Jewish War Veterans post disbands.

Address Service Requested

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

1955

DAYTON Beth Jacob's Women Inspiring Women State of higher ed. focus of Hadassah Centennial Tea Beth Jacob

Speakers for Beth Jacob Congregaton's Sixth Jewish Women Inspiring Jewish Women luncheon, held June 14, were (L to R) Lori Lipp, Sandy Sloane-Brenner, Judy Heller, Mary 'Mahira' Rogers, Renate Frydman, and Cantor Andrea Raizen.

Dayton will host a tea in honor of Federation annual meeting its Hadassah centennial, 2 p.m., Sunday, Dayton native Andrew Flagel, president and CEO of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, will present the keynote, A Jewish Perspective on Higher Education in the U.S., at the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton and its agencies annual meeting, 11:30 a.m., Sunday, Aug. 16 at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education. Flagel previously served as vice president for advancement at the Association of American Colleges and Universities; senior vice president, chief of student affairs and chief enrollment officer at Brandeis University; and dean of enrollment Andrew Flagel at George Mason University. He is the son of Jewish Federation PresidentElect Marni Flagel and the late Richard Flagel. The annual meeting kosher brunch program is free and open to the public. The Federation will install new officers and board members and recognize those retiring from the board and agencies. Linda Novak will receive the Federation's Past Presidents Award and Alan Chesen will receive the Robert A. Shapiro Award at the meeting. Registration is required by Aug. 14 at jewishdayton.org/events. The Boonshoft CJCE is located at 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. For more information, contact Alisa Thomas at athomas@ jfgd.net.

Aug. 9. Guest speaker Natalie Silverman of Springfield, Ill. will discuss the history of youth in Hadassah and roles/ programs today and in the future; she is a Youth Aliyah Team member. The event is $18 and open to the community. The location will be given upon registraNatalie Silverman tion. For more information, email hadassahdayton@gmail.com. JCC

**Correction**

An article about Deborah A. Feldman in the July issue incorrectly stated she had previously served as a Montgomery County commissioner; Feldman had previously served as Montgomery County's administrator.

Mister Popcorn himself, Alan Chesen, greets Paula Gessiness and Jay Holland at The Neon for JCC Film Fest's screening of Pink Lady, June 11.

Contact Patty Caruso at jewishobserver@jfgd.net to advertise in The Observer. PAGE 2

THE JEWISH OBSERVER • •AUGUST THEDAYTON DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER AUGUST 2026 THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MAY2026

DAYTON

After 78 years, JWV Post 587 disbands

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The four World War II Jewish veterans who attended — twin brothers Al and Lou Levin, Dr. Mort Levine, and Holocaust survivor Bob Kahn — have since died, as have Markman and his successor as post commander, Neil Kahn. Other post members who attended the celebration have since died. "We're not the only veteran organization that's hurting. Go to the VFW — they're all hurting," said post executive board member Gina Kahn, Neil Kahn's wife. "Because there are so many other things that people are getting involved in." The Kahns met and married when they were in the Air Force. "He was going here to Wright-Patt, and they were going to send me to LA, so I got out and came here," she said. "They had the Voluntary Separation Incentive, so they paid me to get out so I could come with him." Kahn said she and her husband started attending JWV's Continued on Page Four

From the editor’s desk

It's been an honor to cover JWV Post 587's service to area veterans and the community over the years. Even without a local post, it's possible to have a JWV membership: as a memberat-large on the national level, or via Marshall JWV's national Online Post 77. For Weiss information, go to jwv.org/membership or onlinepost77.jwv.org. On the cover Top left — At JWV Dayton Post 587's 75th Anniversary Brunch, Temple Beth Or, May 28, 2023: (L to R) Kim Dinsmore and Dave London, Caryl and Don Weckstein. Top right — Post members volunteer at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, 2017: (L to R): Ira Segalewitz, Steve Markman, Leslie Buerki. Bottom — Post and ladies auxiliary members dedicate the waiting room of the domiciliary clinic at Dayton's VA hospital, 1955. The auxiliary funded its renovation. At left are Commander Irving Neiman and Auxiliary Hospital Chair Pearl Rittner. Do you know the names of the others in the photo? If so, let us know.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

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By Marshall Weiss War II. The Observer Pearl said approximately At Jewish War Veterans 20 JWV members were on the Dayton Post 587's brunch on post's roster in May. May 17, Commander Alex Pearl The post's executive board announced the executive board began thinking about disbandhad decided to disband the ing in January, he said. post. The gathering marked its "We reached out to all the final program. members, telling them what we "The next generation isn't were thinking and asking them coming along," Pearl to contribute their explained to The time, come forward, Observer. "And those be the next generation. of us veterans are But the individuals aging." weren't able to, for The Jewish War whatever reason. We Veterans, founded didn't get the response in 1896, is the oldest we would have liked. continuing veteran And so, that's what service organization brought it on. We canin the United States. not continue physically Dayton’s JWV post and mentally." was established April JWV Post 587's Pearl, who soon final commander, 11, 1948. Dayton turns 80, was the post's Mayor Edward Breen Alex Pearl third commander in attended the certhree years. emony. When Commander Steve Its first commander was J.L. Markman presided over the Cunix. At the time, Dayton’s post's 75th anniversary brunch Jewish Federation documented in 2023, organizers made a that more than 400 Jewish Day- point to honor their few remaintonians had served in World ing World War II veterans.

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The late Steve Markman, then commander of JWV Post 587, leads the post's 75th anniversary brunch at Temple Beth Or, May 28, 2023. Post executive board member Gina Kahn stands at right.

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DAYTON JWV post disbands

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PAGE 4

Marshall Weiss

Continued from Page Three brunches when they were held at the Dayton Marriott. When it was his time to serve as post commander, he was proud to do so. "But due to health issues, he turned it over to Alex," she said. "He really looked forward to the brunches and to being with other people who were Jewish. It meant a lot to him." Kahn noted that Dayton's JWV JWV Post 587's Joe Bettman (L) and Henry post had absorbed Cincinnati's into Guggenheimer, now both deceased, give copies of the Bill of Rights to new U.S. citizens at its membership about a decade a naturalization ceremony in 2014. ago. sented new U.S. citizens with copies Pearl said the post has reached of the Bill of Rights at naturalizaout "on a number of occasions and tion ceremonies and have served as in a variety of ways" to active-duty volunteers and docents at the Namilitary. tional Museum of the U.S. Air Force "We've had some contact with the and Prejudice & Memory: A Holocaust base, and it just hasn't been fruitful Exhibit on display there. for us." One long-standing tradition — "Certainly, there are Jewish activeduty across all the branches," said ex- leading volunteers to place U.S. ecutive board member Leslie Buerki. flags at the graves of veterans in the "How they assemble, my assumption Dayton area's Jewish cemeteries for Memorial Day — will now fall on is, if somebody wants to (Jewishly) each congregation to organize. connect, they'll go to the respective Pearl said he even got himself a synagogues that give them comfort." bugle, found a music Buerki had several teacher, and learned assignments on active to play taps for the duty at Wright-Patt. cemetery flag placeWhen she retired, she ments. settled here. "A number of "I sought out the years ago, when I post and began atretired, before Covid, tending, becoming I wanted to learn. It's more active, enjoying exceedingly moving the brunches and the when it's done well." speakers," she said. In the absence of "We got to hear a local JWV post, everyone's very inindividual Jewish teresting life journey. veterans will continue to volunteer as Serving in the military, you meet so many people and you keep that curi- they are able, Buerki said. Pearl added that he and the execuosity to want to know people. It adds to our life experience, just hearing the tive board of the now defunct post want to find a way for future generastories." Pearl said he became involved with tions to know about 587's legacy of service to the community. JWV in his later years for the social"Our plans right now are still being izing. formulated to be able to leave some "I was drafted back in the '60s, artifacts displayed," he said. "We'd and I did not stay in," he said. It was like to leave some sort of legacy that Markman who got Pearl involved. Jewish War Veterans, for nearly 80 "He asked me to help out: 'Hey, come along and meet some other vet- years, were an active participant in Jewish life here in Dayton, Ohio." erans and solders.' And I did. There were a number of projects at the VA, and one of them was bingo. My wife, Jane, and I were among the cadre. "As a group, up until Covid, we did a lot of things. We had scholarships, we visited at bedsides at the VA. We did get back to the VA this December. We visited with veterans." Dayton's JWV members have welcomed and pre- Detail of JWV Dayton Post 587's charter, April 11, 1948.

In the absence of a local JWV post, individual Jewish veterans will continue to volunteer as they are able

THE DAYTON

OBSERVER daytonjewishobserver.org Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Contributors Candace R. Kwiatek, Rabbi Levi Simon Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, jewishobserver@jfgd.net Administrative Assistant Samantha Daniel, sdaniel@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Billing Sheila Myers, smyers@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Proofreaders Linda M. Brotkin, Claire Gaglione, Rachel Haug Gilbert, Steven H. Solomon Observer Advisor Dr. Elaine Knoll Gaglione Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Dan Sweeny President Marni Flagel President Elect Meredith Levinson Secretary Neil Friedman Treasurer Ben Mazer VP Personnel Teddy Goldenberg VP Resource Dev. Mary Rita Weissman Immed. Past Pres. Cathy Gardner CEO The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 30, No. 12. 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 • AUGUST 2026

DAYTON

Jewish Family Services returns to clinical counseling

Newly retired after 25 years as head of Family Services, Dayton, Bonnie Parish now accepting appointments. When Bonnie Parish retired in June from Family Services, Dayton, Ohio after 25 years as its executive director, she wanted to return to her roots in clinical counseling. She's now Jewish Family Services' mental health clinician. "I want to do what I've been trained to do," Bonnie says. "I got too much into the thick of administration. I like to do the counseling piece. I just want to help people and counsel people." Bonnie's work with JFS marks the Jewish Federation agency's return to clinical counseling services after an absence of more than a decade. It's also a homecoming for Bonnie. "This is my third time with a Jewish Family Services. I worked twice at Jewish Family Services in Columbus, so I'm familiar with the environment and the mission," she says. "I worked there shortly after I graduated, and then when they were working with HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) on Russian Jewish immigration." A native of Barberton, a suburb of Akron, Bonnie received her bachelor's degree in social work from Ohio State and her master's degree in social work from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt. She's a licensed independent social worker and licensed professional clinical counselor in Ohio, with supervision designations.

She brings a lifetime of experience in the field and has taught at Capital University, Clark State Community College, Columbus State Community College, Miami University, Ohio State, and Sinclair Community College. Bonnie currently serves on the ethics committee of Graceworks and is past chair of both the Family Service Council of Ohio and CountyCorp in Montgomery County. "We are so excited to have Bonnie join our team," JFS Executive Director Brian Kerstine says. "Adding mental health services to our JFS programming allows us to better meet the needs of our community."

is important." While she is on a part-time schedule, Bonnie emphasizes that her hours are flexible to ensure there won't be a waiting list. "I don't want to have to turn anybody away if they get to the point that they want to ask for help. I want to be there. I'll see them right away." She adds that JFS won't turn anyone away who can't afford to pay. This fall, Bonnie will also offer support groups, "a grief group and maybe a divorce group or something that's been missing in the community for some time." Bonnie joins the JFS team with Brian, who specializes in vocational services; Social Worker Kate Scarpero, who handles case management; JFS Mental Health Clinician Ready to see clients Administrative Assistant Jacquelyn Bonnie Parish Bonnie says she offers any kind of Archie; and Transportation Service clinical intervention in her counseling Driver Nate Lyons. that people feel they need. "It's going to take time to build counseling up "It can be support for transitions in life, grief work, again," Bonnie says. "It's part of the tradition of Jewish anything somebody would want to seek outside coun- Family Services." — Marshall Weiss seling or outside help for — I want to do that. I know from my years in Columbus at Jewish Family Services To schedule an appointment with JFS Mental Health Clinithat oftentimes, counseling with a Jewish perspective cian Bonnie Parish, call 937-401-1542.

'Oftentimes, counseling with a Jewish perspective is important.'

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PAGE 5

THE REGION

DAYTON

Israeli Arabs' visit concludes 19-year volunteer project Pence denounces alleged Three 20-year-old arson of Israeli flag Israeli Arabs from the Galilee region visited in his Indiana hometown Dayton for a week Submitted

in June. It was the culmination of a program for Israeli Arab students in the Galilee that volunteers here have led. Dr. Marti Moody Jacobs began the summer English camp project there in 2007 and since 2012, has At the farewell dinner June 18 for the visiting students (L to R): volunteer Betsy Morse, Ayham, also facilitated 10 Israeli Arab student trips Amir, Dr. Marti Moody Jacobs, Mohammad, and volunteer Cajie D'Cunha. School in the Galilee. to Dayton — all through private donations. "This trip here was the final push of our committee, The young men took in the Dayton Air Show, met and me," Jacobs added. "I'm getting too old and tired regional SWAT team members, visited Carillon Park, to do this and now I have six grandchildren. But it's Huffman Prairie, the Air Force museum including been a great run and I'm proud of everyone participatPrejudice & Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit, toured Keting." tering Hospital's simulation lab and nuclear medicine Jacobs said she's heard over and over that the trips department, joined Sinclair Community College's Juneteenth celebration, and volunteered at the Dayton have opened up the world for the students. "The students have almost all been from small Foodbank. Each will begin engineering studies this fall: Ayham towns and close, big families. To learn that there are kind people of different nationalities and backgrounds at Ben-Gurion University and Amir at The Technion; and religions other than theirs who care about them Mohammad is finalizing his plans. and their future is a big deal. And the volunteers who "They arrived here on the fifth set of flights we'd have gone to help at the camp also feel their worlds purchased for them," Jacobs said. "The earlier flights have been enlarged in a hugely positive way. We're all were all cancelled." humans, after all." The three took part in the project's final English — Marshall Weiss summer camp, held in August 2023 at Kaokab High

PAGE 6

By Grace Gilson, JTA Former Vice President Mike Pence denounced antisemitism after officials in his Indiana town say a costly fire may have been caused by arson to an Israeli flag displayed on a local barn. The fire broke out early July 10, damaging a historic home in Zionsville, Ind., where Pence lives, and causing an estimated $150,000 in damages, according to the Zionsville Police Department. Zionsville Mayor John Stehr said July 10 that officials believed the fire began when an individual set fire to an Israeli flag that had been displayed outside the building alongside an American flag. The town later announced the FBI had joined the investigation and that officials were examining whether the arson “may have been motivated by bias” but said no determination had been made. “Absolutely despicable,” Pence tweeted July 12. “There can be no tolerance in America for Antisemitism or political acts of violence, and it is heartbreaking to see in our adopted hometown of Zionsville, Ind. We thank God no one was hurt and urge anyone with information to contact law enforcement.” Central Indiana's Jewish community held a rally July 12 condemning the alleged arson attack, chanting, “We will stand up,” according to local outlet Fox 59. While Zionsville doesn't have a large Jewish community, other suburbs of Indianapolis have significant Jewish populations. The town is also home to the Reform movement's Goldman Union Camp Institute, is in session now.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

THE REGION

University Heights barred him from hosting a home minyan. Now the Supreme Court will hear his case. By Hannah Feuer, Forward Who gets to decide when a home is considered a synagogue? A question fit for Talmudic scholars or, in this case, U.S. Supreme Court Justices. The nation’s High Court effectively agreed to consider that question in June, after University Heights, Ohio told an Orthodox Jewish man he needed a permit to host Shabbat prayers in his home. The dispute began in 2021, when the plaintiff, Daniel Grand, invited 15 friends to his home in University Heights to mark the Sabbath. Neighbors — including some Jewish residents — complained to the city that the proposed gathering would turn Grand’s home into a synagogue, violating residential zoning laws. The city quickly escalated the matter, sending Grand a cease-and-desist letter and telling him to apply for a special-use permit, according to court documents. Outraged by the idea that he would need the government’s permission to pray in his own home, Grand sued the city in federal court. The lower court declined to hear Grand’s case, saying he first had to exhaust the city’s permit process before asking the courts to intervene. An appellate court upheld that ruling, with the Supreme Court now set to hear his case in its next term. “This is not a Jewish issue. This is an American issue,” Grand said. “Next thing they’ll tell you is eight people sitting at a dining room table makes you an illegal restaurant.”

The case’s origins

When Grand moved into his home in 2019, he faced a recurring inconvenience: The nearest Orthodox synagogue was nearly a mile away. In keeping with Jewish law, Grand doesn’t drive on Shabbat. With prayers held in the morning, afternoon and evening, that meant a six-mile round trip on foot if he went back and forth from his home to the shul for each service. In bad weather, the shlep could be taxing, he said, especially since Orthodox Jews do not open umbrellas on Shabbat. In 2021, Grand, who lives with his wife and five

Alliance Defending Freedom

University Heights resident Daniel Grand

children, began to explore another option: Could he gather a minyan — the quorum of 10 Jewish men required for certain prayers — in his home? He emailed 15 of his friends. “You are cordially invited to join us this Shabbos for the inauguration of the Shomayah Tefillah Beis Hakeneset,” Grand wrote, using Hebrew that roughly translates to “house of prayer and assembly.” “You will see the shul entrance — keep a look out for the orange windows,” Grand continued. “And please spread the word to whomever you feel might be interested in coming.” Grand noted a rabbi would be in attendance and wrote that “the shul” would be a place “where people come to really, seriously daven to Hashem.” But before Grand had the chance to host, a neighbor thwarted his plans. Ben Feldman, who identified himself as “a supporter of the Jewish community in town” and “a member of one of the official zoned synagogues,” forwarded the invite via Facebook Messenger to then-University Heights Mayor Michael Brennan. Feldman expressed concern that “non-zoned makeshift synagogues” like Grand’s could harm “official

synagogues.” It being 2021, he also alleged “they are not practicing any Covid protocols.” “If there is anything you could do to put a stop to this, it would be greatly appreciated,” Feldman wrote to Brennan. Feldman did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment. That same day, Brennan personally called Grand and told him the city would be sending a cease-anddesist letter, court documents allege. Grand said he was shocked that the mayor would intervene in what seemed like a private matter, and he pushed back on the idea that his residence had become a house of worship. “I said, ‘You mean to tell me if 10 Jews come to my house, you classify that as a synagogue?’ And he says, ‘Essentially, yes,’” Grand said. “So I was taken aback.” Brennan, who decided not to run for reelection after completing his second term in office last year, referred all questions to a lawyer who did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment.

The fallout

At first, Grand was willing to go through with the city’s permit process. He submitted an application seeking permission to use his soundproof music room, where he played drums during the week, for “periodic religious gatherings.” A public hearing over the permit application followed, during which neighbors raised concerns about traffic and noise. Grand countered that those fears reflected a misunderstanding of Orthodox Jewish practice: Prohibited from driving on Shabbat, worshippers would walk to his home, so parking couldn’t possibly be an issue. And the Sabbath prohibits instrumental music and amplified sound. But some neighbors like Adrienne Yelsky, who had lived in her house across the street from Grand’s for 46 years at the time of the hearing, expressed their concerns about changing the residential character of the neighborhood. “We don’t want a bank on this block; we don’t want a car wash on this block,” Yelsky testified at the hearContinued on Page 26

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THE NATION

Tennessee GOP leaders denounce ‘No wars for Jews’ mailers bearing Young Republicans name The apparently fraudulent flyers sparked confrontation with state representative who said, 'I am a Jew.' By Andrew Lapin, JTA A rural Tennessee region was rocked at the end of June after thousands of homes received mailers encouraging them to join the local Young Republicans chapter with a campaign platform including “No wars for Jews.” The flyers led to a dramatic showdown at a local GOP meeting, including a state lawmaker’s cry of “I am a Jew!” and a rejoinder from Austin Lee, the young man behind the flyers: “We A mailer reading 'No wars for Jews,' among other messages, was sent to thousands of Tennessee households in June will not fight wars for you.” bearing the name of a local Young Republicans chapter. JTA Police escorted Lee out. has removed the QR code. “Let’s face it, we read chapter is currently inactive. about antisemitism and anti-Black or The county GOP chair strongly White nationalism, right?” the lawdenounced the content of the mailers. maker, State Rep. Scott Cepicky, said. “It’s appalling that somebody would “We hear about this stuff, and people send this out,” Jason Gilliam said of are like, ‘Well, you know, that’s over his reaction to the flyers. “This kind of there, or that’s in another state, that’s thing really disgusts me. I mean, I have not here.’ Let me tell you something. It an Israeli flag on my bumper — not that came to Maury County.” The mailers, which encouraged recip- that means anything.” Gilliam said he first became aware ients to “support” Lee, also said “Stop of the flyers June 21, after households the Great Replacement” (a reference began receiving them. At a local GOP to the antisemitic Great Replacement meeting the next day, Cepicky conTheory), “Ban Islam and Hinduism,” demned the flyers, invoking his own and “Men in charge.” Jewish ancestry. “Nonwhite foreigners have invaded “I’m a Jew, I’m an our country and are Ashkenazi Jew,” Cereplacing White Ameripicky told the crowd cans,” read the flyers, at the GOP meeting in viewed by JTA and rea video taken and later portedly sent to around posted by Lee himself. 2,000 households with “My family left Isyoung White men. “Efrael, moved to Central forts at mass deportaEurope. In the '30s, you tions have failed. No know what happened one is coming to save in Central Europe with Jews. My family us; we must solve this problem ourimmigrated to the United States.” selves.” After Cepicky threatened to “pursue The flyers were mailed mainly in the law on these individuals” who disMaury County, 50 miles south of tributed the mailer, Lee, who was also Nashville, as well as some surrounding in attendance at the meeting, identified counties. In addition to Lee’s name and himself. an invitation to join the Maury County Cepicky accused Lee of spreading Young Republicans, they contained rhetoric “espoused in Europe” in the the prominent logo of the Tennessee Young Republicans — invoking broader 1930s. Lee responded, “It was right then, and it is right now. We will not concerns that a younger generation of Republicans are trending toward antise- fight wars for you.” Lee was later escorted from the event by law enforcemitic and White nationalist ideas. ment. Lee has, on social media, cited However, local Republican leaders Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “war said the mailers were sent out without for Jews.” permission, that Lee holds no formal Cepicky said he felt compelled to leadership role in the county GOP, and denounce Lee’s antisemitism in part that the county’s Young Republicans

Local Republican leaders said the mailers were sent out without permission

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

THE NATION because he was standing in front of a publicans chapters across the country replica of the preamble to the U.S. Conhave become embroiled in antisemitism stitution at the meeting. controversies. “It was behind me, and it spurred Whether Lee has any more solid me to say, ‘That doesn’t say, “We the connection with local GOP officials was Christians,” or, “We the Jews,” or, “We a matter of dispute. Gilliam claimed he the Islamics,” or, “We the men, we the had first been introduced to Lee by Aarwomen.” It doesn’t say that,’” he said. on Miller, a local elected GOP county “It says, ‘We the people.’” commissioner with whom Gilliam has Cepicky said he is a practicing Chris- since had a falling-out over unrelated tian who discovered his Ashkenazi Jew- matters. Asked about his relationship ish ancestry on 23andMe. He said his to Miller on the radio, Lee declined to family arrived sometime after the 1917 comment. Russian Revolution. He made his first Reached by JTA June 26, Miller trip to Israel in 2024, to visit the kibbutdenied he had any connection to Lee zim attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, beyond that “we had beers a couple of and helped found the Tennessee Israel times.” Caucus in the state legislature shortly “I don’t agree with his politics. I thereafter. don’t agree with his apGilliam and Cepicky both proach,” Miller said. “I got described Lee as an infrea mailer and I was like, ‘Oh, quent attendee at county OK, this is interesting.’” GOP meetings who holds Lee did not respond to a no leadership role with the JTA request for comment. party, and said the county Miller did say that young Young Republicans chapter men, feeling unrepresented by was inactive. They added the current Republican Party, they would push for an are seeking out “alternatives investigation into what they to liberal democracy.” He said was his unauthorized has advocated for the county use of the county and state Tenn. state Rep. Scott GOP to reach out more to the Young Republicans name on Cepicky population, he said. his mailers. “Anything where you’re In social media posts and other inter- going to approach an entire group of views after the meeting, Lee continued people with a blanket mindset, I think to assert he was the president of Maury that’s wicked,” he said. “We’re all made County Young Republicans. He also in God’s image.” referred to Cepicky multiple times as Gilliam and Cepicky told JTA that, “Jewish Representative Scott Cepicky.” in addition to the antisemitism, they “I took over that chapter,” Lee said strongly objected to the mailers’ antiin an interview June 24 with a local immigrant rhetoric and misogyny. At radio station, claiming he had used a a time of Republican-led immigration “process” to reactivate the local Young crackdowns on the national level, and Republicans group. He declined to as national figures including Vice Presianswer questions about who funded his dent JD Vance have downplayed the mailers. rise of antisemitism within the party, In a statement to media, the statewide these local GOP leaders loudly insisted Tennessee Young Republicans said the such forces should be stamped out. use of their logo “was not authorized” “This kind of stuff is absolutely not and said the group “did not, and does going to be allowed. I will not stand for not authorize, endorse, or support the it,” Gilliam said. “If you don’t cut the recent communications published by head off the snake, it’s going to come the Maury County Young Republicans.” back, right? It’s not going to stop. It’s Efforts by JTA to contact the group’s only going to fester. It’s going to grow. statewide director were unsuccessful. And this kind of thing, the roots need to In recent months, official Young Rebe yanked out of the ground.”

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

Growing number of Federations ask Jews if they're Zionists — and grapple with results

Milwaukee Jewish Federation

Milwaukee Jews march in the community's annual Walk for Israel, part of the Jewish Federation's celebrations for Israel's Independence Day.

What Milwaukee’s new Jewish population survey reveals about broader Jewish opinion on Israel. By Andrew Lapin, JTA Yet another survey has found that fewer than half of Jews in an American city identify as Zionists — this time in Milwaukee, the childhood home of Golda Meir, the Zionist icon and former Israeli prime minister. The survey, released in July by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, found that 43% of Jewish adults said they identified as Zionist, while 42% said they did not. A much higher share — 69% — said they feel somewhat or very “emotionally attached to Israel.” At the same time, 52% of respondents agreed that “Israel regularly violates the human rights of the Palestinian people.” The results join a growing number of similar data points generated by Jewish groups that point to evolving, and at times seemingly contradictory, views about Israel among American Jews. A survey released in February by Jewish Federations of North America, an umbrella group, found that 37% of Jews identified as Zionist even as 88% be-

lieved that “Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish, Democratic state.” The findings cut across North American Jewish communities of different regions and sizes and are prompting Jewish leaders to reexamine their assumptions at a time when Israel is shedding support among Americans of all backgrounds. “A year ago I really would have had a knee-jerk reaction where I was stuck on the word, because I am a Zionist,” said Miryam Rosenzweig, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation's president and CEO, about her views on the survey. “What I needed to overcome and understand is that, as a brand, it’s tarnished.” The word, she said, “is tainted.” Yet, Rosenzweig insisted, for her Jewish community, “the values are still there.” The Milwaukee area is home to an estimated 27,500 Jews who attend more than a dozen synagogues and six Jewish schools. Its Jewish Federation operates Continued on Page 10

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THE NATION

Milwaukee

Continued from Page Nine a number of programs directly and supports a wide range of education, cultural, religious and security initiatives meant to strengthen the Jewish community. The local survey, completed by 980 families, was conducted between December 2024 and March 2025, at a time when criticism over Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza was sharply mounting. More than 100 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggering the war, were still in captivity at the survey’s start, while dozens were released during a temporary ceasefire midway through the survey period. Conducted by researchers at Brandeis University and the University of Chicago’s NORC

social research firm, the survey is the Jewish Federation’s first deep dive into its Jewish population since 2011. It was conducted by email, mail, and phone, with options to complete the survey online or over the phone, and has an overall margin of error of 6.5%. The survey asked about a wide range of topics and, Rosenzweig said, has illuminated unique local challenges, including the region’s aging Jewish population and its relatively lower average household income compared to similarly sized Jewish communities. The data also offered unique bright spots, such as high levels of what Rosenzweig classified as Jewish “participation.” Three-quarters of Jewish children in the area’s interfaith households are being raised Jewish, for example, and nearly one in four of all Jewish chil-

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dren in Milwaukee are enrolled For Rosenzweig, who came in a Jewish day school or yeto Milwaukee in 2019 after shiva, higher than the national years working with Jewish average. young professionals at Detroit’s But it is the Zionism question Jewish Federation, polling her that has seized public interest community about Zionism was — in part because it was asked a no-brainer even when they at all. were first conceiving the survey For decades, according to before Oct. 7. “We have to ask Matthew Boxer, a researcher the question,” she said. at Brandeis’s Cohen Center for “The demographic study is Jewish Studies who led the Mil- not meant to answer what we waukee study and has want to hear,” worked on many others, she said. “We local Jewish Federations need to know conducting population where they studies would ask about stand, where topics such as emotional do people agree attachment to Israel — and disagree?” but largely refrained While the from directly asking their survey found a communities if they idensplit on Zionist tified as Zionists. identification, That changed with the it found broad 2020 Chicago Jewish Fed- Milwaukee Jewish Fed. consensus on Pres. & CEO Miryam eration's survey, also led Rosenzweig other issues — by Boxer’s team, which sometimes ones found that 40% of the region’s that are in tension with each Jewish adults self-identified as other. Zionist while 80% agreed with For example, 84% of Milwauthe statement “It’s important kee Jews somewhat or strongly for Israel to be a Jewish state.” agreed with the statement, “I Since then, Boxer said, consider it important for Israel around a dozen Jewish Federato be a Jewish state.” At the tions have opted to ask some same time, 88% agreed that version of the Zionism question “Israel should be a democratic on their surveys. Recently restate for all of its citizens, released findings from the Jewish gardless of religious identity.” Federations in Boston and St. Rosenzweig said she believes Louis found similar results to the two ideas could coexist. Chicago’s and Milwaukee’s; “Our community can supnew survey results in Austin, port Israel and support Israel’s Texas, and Orange County, Caright to exist and be a Jewish lif., are expected later this year. state, and they’re concerned for Some have decided against the human dignity of Palestinincluding the question, too. ians. It’s not binary,” she said. The findings have functioned “And I think that’s really an as something of a Rorschach important message about who test for American Jews. Those American Jews are.” who are deeply critical of Israel Rabbi Noah Chertkoff, who say the fact that a minority of leads the Reform Congregation American Jews identify as ZiShalom in the suburb of Fox onists proves American Jewish Point, said he wasn’t surgroups should roll back supprised by the survey results on port for and engagement with Zionism but cautioned against Israel. Those who want to predrawing too many conclusions serve the historic relationship from them. urge looking beyond the label “I proudly identify as a Zionand focusing on the fact that ist, but I also recognize that a significant majority of Jews the word itself has been badly are aligned in their support for distorted and, at times, delibertraditional tenets of Zionism. ately defamed by people more In an essay for JTA pubinterested in vilifying Jews lished after the national Jewish than engaging seriously with Federations group released its Jewish history, Jewish belief survey, Mimi Kravetz, JFNA’s and the Jewish people’s own chief impact officer, concluded understanding of our story,” he that most Jews still believe in wrote in an email to JTA. the “historic definition” of ZiChertkoff added that his onism, while conceding that the own congregants have exterm has gone through “definipressed both “real anguish” tion creep.” She urged Jewish over Oct. 7, as well as concerns Federations to “open pathways for democracy in Israel and for learning and belonging,” “the suffering of civilians on all and avoid “responding with sides of the conflict.” He added anger when the moment calls that the survey should be read for steady leadership.” as a “mandate”: “If we want

the next generation to inherit a durable connection to Israel and Zionism, we cannot rely only on inherited labels.” Rabbi Lex Rofeberg, a Milwaukee native who runs the alternative Jewish engagement network Judaism Unbound from his current home in Rhode Island, said he believed the survey is surfacing more than mere confusion over the word Zionism. “As a person who would self-identify as ‘not a Zionist,’ I hope that Jewish organizations in Milwaukee — and beyond — would respond to this finding not by trying to shift my beliefs, or by insisting that I don’t really know what I’m opposing,” he wrote in an email. “I’d hope instead they’d recognize the reality that ‘I’m not a Zionist’ is a sincere, deeply-held belief for a lot of Jews all around the world — and that includes just over 40% of Jews in the greater Milwaukee area.” Jewish institutions, he suggested, “should respond to lower support for Zionism not with ‘how do we rebrand Zionism’ but rather ‘how can we create meaningful Jewish experiences for folks who are actively not Zionists?’” Jewish Milwaukee, which Rofeberg calls “awesome” and credits with having “shaped me as a person and a Jew,” could achieve this, he insists. What the Jewish Federation does with this new information is still to be determined. Rosenzweig is currently drafting “a very extensive strategic plan,” she said, but added it was too early for specifics. She does hope to focus on points of commonality, rather than trying to convince half of the local Jews they are or should be Zionists. For inspiration, Rosenzweig has been dusting off Milwaukee’s community survey from exactly a century ago. (Golda Meir had already moved to Palestine by way of Denver at the time.) Back then, she said, the community was roughly the same size it is now, and its Jewish funding arms were raising roughly the same amount of money, adjusted for inflation. “It was talking about the ‘Campaign for Palestine,’ in 1926, because the Jews of Eastern Europe had nowhere to go,” Rosenzweig said. “They were worried about it then. And so today, we’re responding to the moment. And yes, it looks dark. There were dark days, and we survived because we came together. We know how to do this.”

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

OPINION

Democratic Socialists built How to stop worrying a movement that speaks the about the Democratic Socialists of America language of a generation. Some candidates are winning primaries by fueling We need to pay attention. resentment of Israel — but in most districts success By Bucky Apisdorf, The Times of Israel Growing up in Jewish day school, one story always stayed with me. A man is trapped in the rising waters of a flood. The water fills the first floor of his home. A neighbor comes by in a boat and offers to rescue him. “Not necessary,” he says, “God will save me.” The water keeps rising, so he goes up another floor. Eventually, he finds himself standing on the roof. A helicopter arrives. A rope is lowered within arm’s reach. “Grab the rope,” his rescuer shouts. Again, he refuses. It’s OK, I’m waiting for God.” The waters continue to rise, and the poor man drowns. When he reaches Heaven, he asks God why He never saved him. God replies: “I sent you a boat. I sent you a helicopter. What more did you want?” Looking at the Jewish communal world today, I can’t stop thinking about that story. The water is rising, the rope has already been lowered, and we’re still praying for institutions built for a different era to solve problems they were never designed to address. That isn’t an insult. It’s just true.

tics delivered to them. Gen Z shows up to rallies and volunteers for campaigns at higher rates than older generations do. Gen Zers aren’t observers; they are participants. They seek hands-on involvement in search of hands-on impact. Much of the Jewish community is still living like it’s 1998. Meanwhile, the DSA built something that actually works. This spring, AIPAC-aligned super PACs poured nearly $10 million into New York primaries, trying to stop a slate of candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. It didn’t work. Nine of the 10 candidates on the NYC-DSA slate won. Then in June, a 29-year-old first-time candidate backed by the DSA unseated a 30-year congressional incumbent in Colorado. And she won big. Money couldn’t buy what field organizing did. Here’s the critical point, and it behooves us all to sit with this and consider the implications. The DSA didn’t out-fundraise anyone. It out-organized everyone. It built a movement, not an organization: local chapters, young leaders, a social-media-first presence that is the funnel that makes everything else possible. Real power is door knockers. Zohran Mamdani’s campaign fielded over 100,000 volunteers who knocked on 3 million doors. How many did AIPAC’s political apparatus have? Again, that’s not a knock, no pun intended, it’s just the reality we need to acknowledge and adjust to, yesterday.

Young people are hungry for meaningful experiences and authentic communities.

America has changed

The institutions that defined the remarkable journey and peak of Jewish communal accomplishment, impact, and influence were built for an America of newspapers, network television, and political parties that acted as gatekeepers. That America is gone. Gen Z is the least partisan generation in modern American history. 56% of my Gen Z demographic identify as independents, compared with just 33% of Baby Boomers. Concurrently, trust in institutions has collapsed: Only 15% of young Americans say they trust the federal government to do the right thing most of the time, the lowest number Harvard’s youth poll has ever recorded. Young people don’t get their politics from newspapers or the evening news anymore. TikTok alone has become the single most popular news source among young social-media users, jumping from 32% to 41% in just two years, according to Pew. And critically, they don’t want poli-

So, what do you think?

The DSA playbook

Social media comes first: Social media is not the mission, but it is the front door. It is how today’s generation discovers ideas, forms communities, and decides what deserves their attention. Too many organizations still treat digital media as a communications department whose job is to promote existing work. The opposite is true. Media should generate interest, attract talent, and create a broad cultural conversation that extends far beyond the traditional Jewish community. It is the top of the funnel. Everything else begins there. Continued on Page 12

lies in delivering for constituents, not demonizing

By Rob Eshman, Forward The question of why three candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America bested more mainstream Democrats in congressional primaries in New York and Colorado in June is being answered by pundits, not pollsters. There have been no exhaustive exit polls to explain why, in Colorado, Melat Kiros unseated incumbent Democrat Diana DeGette and New York voters chose Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez — not to mention DSA victories in a slew of state races. But there is an exhausting panic. American Jews are worried that the often virulent anti-Israel positions these candidates take show that opposition to Israel is now a litmus test for political viability in the Democratic Party, that describing Israel as “genocidal” and “apartheid” is the ante for any blue candidate. Given the nature of some of these races, it certainly looks that way. In Colorado, the policy differences between DeGette and Kiros were negligible. DeGette has one of the most progressive voting records in Congress. But she took AIPAC money and paid for it. And her opponent Kiros wasn’t just critical of Israel’s government’s policies. She, like many other DSA candidates, blamed Israel for the Oct. 7 attacks. Avila Chevalier attended the Oct. 8, 2023, DSApromoted rally that celebrated the attacks. Meanwhile, the panic among mainstream Democrats is that primary voters are putting forth candidates who will get clobbered in general elections. In a May New York Times/Siena poll, 47% of Democrats said they want the party to move center, while 28% said the party should move to the left. That means while DSA candidates may win in what some have called “cobalt blue,” or deeply Democratic districts, with a high number of young, White, educated voters, in crucial swing districts a DSA candidate will take the party down with them.

toxic: Israel and the Democratic Party. Type “Gaza” into TikTok, scroll for five minutes, and it’s easy to understand at least one reason why. The carnage Israel has wrought in Gaza plays on a visceral loop on social media. Israel as the aggressive colonialist oppressor is a given in much of academia. And Israel’s own actions at the hands of its most right-wing government in history — well, not helpful. DSA’s official platform on Israel — the first foreign policy position on its site — calls for an end to economic and military aid to Israel and “national sovereignty for the Palestinian people.” Its best-known members, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have helped popularize the notion that funds spent by the U.S. to arm Israel could instead have been used to fund domestic programs, such as healthcare for all. On this point, the DSA reflects the position of a plurality of American voters: Only 24% support maintaining current levels of aid, while 40% oppose it, according to an Economist/YouGov poll. But other DSA candidates don’t criticize Israel; they demonize it, and they hesitate to condemn terror even when it attacks Americans. Kiros unapologetically appeared at a rally condemning Israel and refused to call the 2025 firebomb attack on peaceful Jewish marchers in Boulder an antisemitic act. We are long past the post-Oct. 7 period when anti-Israel activists were challenged to condemn Hamas. For these candidates, pro-Palestinian means pro-Hamas. “Militant anti-Zionism became a wedge that the group’s more radical activists used to drive away critics of authoritarianism on the left,” wrote Jonathan Chait in The Atlantic. The other tarnished brand is the Democratic Party itself. At a time when President Donald Trump is sending ICE agents and troops into American cities, jacking tariffs, making billions of dollars in office and conducting full-scale wars without congressional approval, sitting Democrats look feckless. Even the most moderate Democrats — much less non-MAGA Republicans and independents — can see how Continued on Page 12

There is as much to learn in where the DSA candidates lost as where they won.

Israel, demonized

However the general election turns out, primary results show that among not all but a significant group of Democratic voters, two brands have become

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 • AUGUST 2026

PAGE 11

OPINION RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images

How to stop worrying

Continued from Page 11 Democrats have failed to build housing or address affordability. One way to punish the mainstream is to vote for the extremes.

The DSA’s Zionist founder

All of this is especially ironic considering the history of the DSA, whose founder, Michael Harrington, was both a Zionist and a pragmatic if radical political thinker. Harrington founded the DSA in 1982 to create a movement for social change free from authoritarian pro-Stalinist groups. He was, in the words of the historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr., America’s “only responsible radical.” And yes, the founder of the DSA identified as a Zionist. In a 1975 interview with a Jewish journalist, Harrington, who died in 1989, said, “I support Israel as an internationalist. Israel is a democratic country whose people are passionately defending its selfdetermination.” After the United Nations voted to condemn Zionism as racism, Harrington wrote, “If one preposterously charges that Zionism is racist, then so are all nationalisms which joined to condemn it at the U.N. And that is to drain the concept of racism of any serious meaning.” Clearly, Harrington has left the building. After Sanders’ presidential campaign inspired a membership surge a decade ago, the current national DSA swelled with more radical membership, including from struggling far-left and communist groups. “Having dismantled the guardrails that Harrington built to exclude communists,” wrote Chait, “the group established new guardrails to exclude anybody opposed to Israel’s destruction.” DSA’s first iteration included Jewish activists who worked toward coexistence and a two-state solution, wrote Jo-Ann Mort, a DSA cofounder. Now, she writes, “its socialism is more concerned with ‘anti-imperialism’ than the democratic socialism that inspired the founders.”

Extremism feeds extremism

The Jewish fears that a Zohran Mamdani mayoralty will lead to pogroms in Manhattan have not been realized. But after Ocasio-Cortez, another DSA candidate, drew the wrath of the group for initially supporting defensive weapons transfers to Israel, she has now come out against them. One can imagine a DSA that struggle-sessions Sanders, the man most responsible for its revival, subjecting him to a humiliating show trial for being insufficiently anti-Israel. Far-fetched as that seems, it’s unclear how DSA will address the clear schism between its liberal Zionists and its increasingly hardcore anti-Israel wing. Meanwhile, the ascendant DSA is a boon to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose own brand of extremism thrives on creating an Israelagainst-the-world mentality. On a visit to Israel in June, I found Israelis and the Israeli media obsessed with Mamdani. One woman told me she wouldn’t dare set foot in New York City as long as the putative leader of the DSA was still mayor. Extremism feeds extremism. And if the DSA specter leads American Jews to think the Republican Party is a safe haven, think again. Young Republican voters are shifting against Israel in the same way young Democrats are. And Tucker Carlson, a confidant of the vice president, the right’s

So, what do you think? PAGE 12

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros, who called Oct. 7 ‘inevitable,’ beat 15-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette in the Colorado Democratic primary, June 30.

most popular media personality and a vicious Israel critic, has said, “I officially don’t care about Hamas.”

An Israel-less ‘Promise to America’

Democratic leaders have struggled with ways to recapture the young voters lured away by the DSA. The group Promise to America, founded in July, asks representatives and candidates to sign on to six “pledges” that seem focus-group-tested to appeal to 18- to 26-year-olds: free speech, “government that works,” fiscal discipline, fair capitalism, just national security, and “national renewal.” “Democrats that hold these values do well in the party,” Felix Frisch, the group’s 20-year-old founding director, told me in a phone interview. Frisch, who took a leave of absence from the University of Chicago to run the organization, pointed out that two of the pledge’s signers — Rep. Tom Suozzi in New York and Rep. Adam Gray in California’s Central Valley — were the only two Democrats to flip a district that Trump won in the 2024 cycle. How did he explain the DSA’s success? “They’re a lot more organized,” he said. “The reason I got so fired up to do this was because we need some organization around our core principles.” The website, I pointed out, doesn’t mention Israel, which for many young voters is a defining issue. Frisch suggested I speak to the pledge’s signers, which I took to mean: Where Democrats can win, it may be in spite of their support for Israel, not because of it.

Where the DSA lost

Aside from online pledges, what hope is there for moderate Democrats who don’t put Hamas or Israelbashing first? I didn’t have to look far for an answer. In my Los Angeles City Council district, CD 11, a charismatic and accomplished DSA candidate, Faizah Malik, challenged incumbent Traci Park. In the early June election, Malik got trounced, 64% to 35%, in a district that teems with the same progressive, White voters who backed winning DSA candidates elsewhere. The difference? Since taking office in 2022, Park has greatly reduced homeless encampments and, according to the Los Angeles Times, “became the face” of recovery after the Palisades fires. She pushed to bring 2028 Olympic events, Hollywood film shoots like Baywatch, several large affordable housing projects, and a much-needed marine mammal recovery station to the area. Nothing sexy — well, except the Baywatch reboot — but noticeable. Malik didn’t mention Israel or Gaza in her campaign materials, and it’s unclear whether doing so would have helped or hurt her. She did have the back-

ing of Engage Action, the Muslim American lobbying group that considers Israel an occupier of Palestinian lands since 1948. Park won because her record gave the district’s 284,000 residents plenty of reasons to vote for her, embodying what The New York Times columnist Ezra Klein called “a liberalism that builds.” The same, by the way, could be said about Brad Lander, a liberal Zionist who beat Rep. Dan Goldman by running to his left on Israel but parted ways with DSA after Oct. 7. While the Israel issue helped tank his opponent, it was Lander’s record of delivering for his constituents as a City Council member and then city comptroller — including pushing through affordable housing initiatives and paid sick leave — that accounted for much of his popularity. There is as much to learn in where the DSA candidates lost as where they won. When Democrats stand up articulate, social-media-savvy candidates who can galvanize voters around effective solutions to the problems they care about — and then make those solutions happen — they win. Rob Eshman is a Forward senior columnist.

We need to pay attention

Continued from Page 11 Build chapters, not just audiences: Online attention means very little if it never becomes real-world relationships. Chapters transform viewers into participants. They create local communities where young people can debate ideas, build friendships, develop skills, and take ownership of a mission. Young people are hungry for meaningful experiences and authentic communities. Strong local infrastructure gives them both. Invest relentlessly in leaders: Institutions do not change history, people do. Every generation needs its own voices who understand its language, its platforms, and its challenges. The next generation will not be inspired by leaders who simply repeat the strategies of the last. We need to identify exceptional young people early, invest in them aggressively, and give them the resources to build audiences, institutions, and movements of their own. Each of these pillars requires its own long-term strategy, from funding and organizational design to leadership development and local chapter support. Together, they offer something more powerful than trying to modernize large institutions built for another era. They offer the opportunity to build a new generation of institutions native to the way the world actually works today.

We’re standing on the roof

The boat has arrived. The helicopter is overhead. The rope is dangling, and the next generation is telling us exactly how it wants to engage. The question is no longer whether the world has changed. The question is whether we’re willing to build new institutions from the ground up, institutions that work seamlessly in the dynamic and ever-shifting context of our new world. It’s time to say “If not now, when?” and to mean it. It’s time to grab the rope. Because if we don’t, God will soon be asking us the same question he asked that poor guy in the flood. Baruch "Bucky" Apisdorf is the CEO and cofounder of Let's Do Something, a new model for civic engagement combining campus organizing, social media, and leadership development to strengthen the American center.

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.

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Sunday, August 16 11:30AM – 1PM at the Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, 45459 Join us for our Annual Meeting, where we will enjoy a brunch, install new board officers and members, recognize outgoing board officers and members, and present awards.

Linda Novak • Past Presidents Award Recipient Alan Chesen • Robert A. Shapiro Award Recipient Dayton native Andrew Flagel, president and CEO of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, will present the keynote, A Jewish Perspective on Higher Education in the U.S. Dan Sweeny • Outgoing JFGD Board President Marni Flagel • Incoming JFGD Board President No charge. RSVP by August 14 at jewishdayton.org/events.

Jewish Community Center Jewish Federation Jewish Services Foundation Jewish Family Kosher dietary laws will be observed. ®

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Don’t miss the chance to have your voice heard! You will have the opportunity to participate in an important survey about the future of Jewish Dayton. More details will be announced at the Annual Meeting! THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

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August 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

One Dinner at a Time Building Jewish Community Join fellow Jewish young adults (ages 18 - 36) for great food, meaningful conversations, and new connections. A volunteer-led initiative supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Initial one-time WhatsApp group registration is required. Contact Lidia Zambilovici at lzambilovici@jfgd.net or 937-610-1778 to be added to the group.

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®

OF GREATER DAYTON

The preschool that nurtures and grows with your child The JCC Preschool specializes in childcare between 10 weeks and 5 years old, providing a warm, nurturing environment where children can learn, play, and grow at every stage of early development.

Friday, September 4 - Sunday, September 6 Camp Livingston • 4998 Nell Lee Rd., Bennington, IN, 47011 We are so excited to welcome you to a special family camp weekend!

To book a guided tour today, contact Rebecca Levi, preschool director, at 937-610-1794 or rlevi@jfgd.net. Come see the difference for yourself !

The weekend will begin with a magical, Jewish-camp-style Shabbat dinner and memorable service held under the stars. Throughout the event, family campers can enjoy lakefront activities like kayaking, canoeing, and tubing. You can also tackle the high ropes course and climbing wall, choose from a wide variety of sports, and make Jewish-themed crafts to take home to remember the weekend. Family campers will also enjoy campfires with s’mores and Jewish storytelling and will sleep in cabins. At bedtime, parents can enjoy special grown-up programming while supervision is provided for kids in the sleeping areas. Cost starts at $189. Registration will close Friday August 28. RSVP at Jlive.app/events/15299 Questions? Contact Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net.

PAGE 14

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

August 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Upcoming Events with BBYO Kings Island Adventure Sunday, August 30, 8AM Start the year with an unforgettable day at Kings Island! Join your friends for roller coasters, laughs, and a full day of thrills as we celebrate the beginning of an exciting BBYO year. Whether you're a returning member or thinking about joining BBYO for the first time, this is the perfect event to meet new friends and make amazing memories before the school year gets into full swing.

BOOGIE

More details and registration coming soon!

Thursday, September 3, 6:30 – 9PM Levitt Pavillion • 134 S. Main Street, Dayton, 45402 Join the JCC Boomers at Levitt Pavillion for an End of Summer Evening, featuring DCDC “Taking it to the Streets.” This energetic evening of music and movement will celebrate community, rhythm, and connection. Show starts at 7PM. Look for your Boomer friends! Bring your own chairs, blankets, food, and drinks (NO GLASS).

BBYO City Kickoff with Cincinnati BBYO Saturday, September 19, 4PM Connect with Jewish teens from across the region as we launch the new BBYO year together with exciting activities, new friendships, and tons of fun. This is an epic event you won't want to miss! More information coming soon! Jewish teens in grades 8–12 are welcome to join the fun! Get ready for an amazing year filled with friendships, leadership opportunities, travel, service projects, and unforgettable experiences. We can't wait to kick off another incredible BBYO year with you!

No cost. Some food and drinks are available for purchase at the venue. Or get carryout to support nearby restaurants! RSVP at jewishdayton.org/events. Questions? contact Stacy Emoff at semoff@jfgd.net or 937-610-5513.

For more information, contact Jennifer Holman at jholman@jfgd.net.

BEGINNERS MAH-JONGG LESSONS Tuesday, August 4, 11, 18, and 25, 5:30 – 6:30PM at the Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459 The JCC is offering Beginners Mah-Jongg Lessons for people who have never played or think they are beginners! Taught by our very own Cathy Gardner, the classes will run for four consecutive weeks.

WORKSHOPS Thursday, August 6, 13, and 20, 6 – 8PM; Sunday, August 23, 2 – 4PM Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459

Cost: $36 - Includes a 2026 Mah-Jongg card and the book: A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg: How to Play the Game & Win. Please Register by July 30 at jewishdayton.org/events. Questions? Contact Jordan Smith at jsmith@jfgd.net.

Get stage-ready with our interactive workshop rehearsals! Open to participants of all levels, this program helps build confidence, strengthen stage presence, and explore vocal performance. No cost. Sign up by July 31 at jewishdayton.org/events. Signing up for the workshop series also signs you up to perform on Aug. 23.

QUESTIONS?

Contact Marc Jacob, JCC Executive Director, at mjacob@jfgd.net.

Jewish Community Center

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

OF GREATER DAYTON

PAGE 15

August 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials JCC

FEDERATION

JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of Laura Holzinger Stephen Harlan

MIRIAM SIEGEL MARKS AND MILTON A. MARKS FUND In memory of Marilyn Moscowitz Judi Cohen

ROBERT AND MOLLIE FITTERMAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND In memory of Peter Wells Susan Fitterman Witte and Alan Witte

HOLOCAUST PROGRAMMING FUND Mazel tov to Sharon and Mark Natarus on the birth of their new grandbabies Kathy and Mark Gordon

PAST PRESIDENTS FUND In honor of David Pierce named president of Coolidge Wall Law Firm Cathy Gardner UNRESTRICTED FUND In memory of Peter Wells Renee and Les Sandler ISRAEL SUPPORT FUND In memory of Julie Ruchman Stephen Harlan JEWISH CEMETERIES OF GREATER DAYTON FUND In memory of Marilyn Moscowitz Renee and Franklin Handel Mr. and Mrs. Stanley J. Katz

JOE BETTMAN MEMORIAL TZADIK AWARD In memory of Laura Holzinger In memory of our dear friend and recipient of the 2025 Joe Bettman Tzedek Award, Peter Wells Jean and Todd Bettman Elaine Bettman In memory of Peter Wells In memory of Marilyn Moscowitz Melissa and Tim Sweeny

JOAN AND PETER WELLS AND REBECCA LINVILLE FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND In memory of Peter Wells Donna and Marshall Weiss Mary and Gary Youra Joseph Balaban Sheila Myers Beth Adelman Susan and David Joffe Lynn Levin Seth Harlan Sharon Lindquist-Skelley and Thomas Skelley Gayle and Irvin Moscowitz Meredith A. Cline Judy Schwartzman and Mike Jaffe Judy Woll Arthur Cohn Susan and Donald Zulanch Mark Freedman and Family Steven Edelstein Lynn and David Goldenberg Susan Fitterman Witte and Alan Witte In honor of Melanie and Ryan Shannon’s new baby, Daniel Cathy Gardner In memory of a wonderful friend and human being, Peter H. Wells Gregory R. Stark

FELDMAN FAMILY BBYO FUND In honor of Debbie Feldman’s retirement from Dayton Children’s Hospital Mary and Gary Youra BBYO LEADERSHIP FUND In memory of our friend and colleague, Peter Wells. May Peter’s life, deeds, and memory serve as an eternal source of Brachot and Mitzvot for his family, friends, and community Elliot Karp

We are pleased to announce that Bonnie Parish LISW-S, LPCC-S has joined the JFS team as a mental health specialist. With a commitment to helping individuals achieve emotional wellness, personal growth, and resilience, Bonnie brings valuable skills and a compassionate approach to care. Please join us in welcoming her to JFS! If you would like to set up an appointment with Bonnie, please call us at 937-610-1555.

Jewish Family Services OF GREATER DAYTON

PAGE 16

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

CALENDAR Classes

Beth Jacob Classes: W. Rabbi Agar on Zoom. Call to register, 937-274-2149. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Torah Tuesdays. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought. Chabad Classes: Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.: Talmud Class in person & Zoom. Call for Zoom link & location. Fridays, 9:30 a.m.: Women’s Class. Call for location. 2001 Far Hills Ave, Oakwood. 937-643-0770. Temple Beth Or Classes: Sat., Aug. 15, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study. Thurs., Aug. 20, 6 p.m.: Navigating Loss. Register at templebethor.com/calendar. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. Temple Israel Classes: Thursdays, noon: Talmud Study in person & Zoom. Saturdays, 9:15 a.m.: Virtual Torah Study on Zoom. For Torah Study Zoom info., email Fran Rickenbach, franwr@gmail. com. Wed., Aug. 5, 12, 26, 10 a.m.: Torah Study Commentary in person & Zoom. For Zoom info., email info@tidayton. org. Sat., Aug. 15, 9:15 a.m.:

Torah Study in person & Zoom. Thurs., Aug. 27, 3:30 p.m.: Living w. Ambiguous Loss. tidayton.org/calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-496-0050.

Family

PJ Library & Chabad PreShabbat in the Park: Fri., July 31, 5:30 p.m. Free. For more info., email Kate Elder, kelder@jfgd.net. RSVP by July 29 at jewishdayton.org/events. Delco Park, 1700 Delco Park, Kettering. 937-610-1555. Beth Abraham Rhythm ‘N’ Ruach: Fri., Aug. 14, 5:306:15 p.m. At Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-2939520. Hillel Academy & Temple Beth Or Makor Religious School Sunday Funday: Sun., Aug. 30, 9:30 a.m.noon. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. Call Hillel for details, 937-277-8966 or Temple Beth Or, 937-435-3400.

Youths & Teens

Chabad Camp Gan Israel: Mon., July 20-Fri., Aug. 7, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Ages 5-12.

Register at cgidayton.com/ register. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

Adults

Beginner Mah-Jongg Lessons: Tues., Aug. 4, 11, 18, 25, 5:30 p.m. $36. Led by Cathy Gardner. For more info., email Jordan Smith, jsmith@ jfgd.net. RSVP by July 30 at jewishdayton.org/events. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937-610-1555. Temple Israel Sacred Stitching: Wed., Aug. 5, 19, 11:30 a.m. Make items for donation w. JCRC’s Upstander initiative. For info. email Alexandria King, garyuzzking@hotmail.com. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. Jewish Federation & Agencies Annual Meeting: Sun., Aug. 16, 11:30 a.m. Free. W. Andrew Flagel. Kosher dietary laws observed. For more info., contact Alisa Thomas, athomas@jfgd.net. RSVP by Aug. 14 at jewishdayton.org/ events. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937610-1555.

Men

Chabad Bagels, Lox & Tefillin: Sun., Aug. 2, 9:30 a.m. 13+ welcome. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

Community

Beth Abraham Shabbat Under the Stars: Fri., July 31, 7:15 p.m. Beth Abraham patio, 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520. JCC's A Bisl Talent Workshops & Performance: Thurs., Aug. 6, 13, 20, 6 p.m. Final rehearsal: Sun., Aug. 23, 2 p.m. Performance: Sun., Aug. 23, 5 p.m. Free. Questions, email Marc Jacob, mjacob@jfgd.net. More info. & sign-up by July 31 at jewishdayton.org/events. Boonshoft

CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937-610-1555. Hadassah Centennial Tea: Sun., Aug. 9, 2 p.m. $18. W. speaker Natalie Silverman. For more info. & link to register, email hadassahdayton@gmail. com. Location on registration.

2313 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood 937-293-1196 oakwoodflorist.com family owned & operated military discount

ANTIQUE TRADER WEST Rebecca Wartell, Owner Registered Gemologist Appraiser • L’dor V’dor - 3rd gen. in the business • Jewelry appraisals for insurance, legal, estate planning • Buy & sell vintage jewelry, ethnic arts & collectibles Dayton & Miami Valley • Call 513-341-6180 for appointment. info@antiquetraderwest.com • antiquetraderwest.com

A Century of ServiNG. A Future of Impact. For 100 years, Graceworks has been a trusted partner in our community, supporting individuals and families through life’s transitions.

We invite you to be part of the next century of impact.

While Bethany Village is one of our most recognized communities, Graceworks extends far beyond a single service or program. Our organization provides senior living, home care, disability services, and so much more, working together to create stability and opportunity at every stage of life. As we mark 100 years, we remain

Get involved, volunteer, or donate at Graceworks.org 6430 Inner Mission Way Dayton, OH 45459

committed to meeting the evolving needs of our community. THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

PAGE 17

RELIGION

Adult b'nai mitzvah at Temple Israel

John Gaglione

Seven b'nai mitzvah will be called to the Torah at Temple Israel's Shabbat service, 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 15. Seated (L to R): Masada Warner, Felicia Barr, and Robin Kent. Standing: Marcia Cox, Megan Bullard, Sharon Lemmon, Dr. Elaine Knoll Gaglione, and b'nai mitzvah class instructor Rabbi Tina Sobo.

WORSHIP SERVICES

Elul — the journey home begins

Beth Abraham Synagogue

By Rabbi Levi Simon tant. But Elul Chabad of Greater Dayton exists precisely Picture this: A king who so that we don't is powerful, wise, and rules arrive at those over everything. Normally, days cold. The he is in his palace, surmonth of Elul rounded by walls, guards, is our runway, and ceremony. To get an our preparaaudience with him, you tion, a full 30 need the right connections, days of gradual, the right credentials, the gentle return. Rabbi Levi Simon right words. Most people The Hebrew never make it past the word teshuva is often translated gates. as repentance, but its literal But once a year, something meaning is return. It's like comremarkable happens. ing home after a long journey, The king leaves the palace. simply turning back in the He walks out beyond the city right direction. walls, into an open field, and And here is what makes Elul so extraordinary: even the motivation to return, the quiet feeling stirring somewhere he stands there, accessible to inside you that says maybe this everyone. No appointments. year could be different, isn't No gatekeepers. No judgment something you manufactured about who you are, where on your own. you've been, or how long it's The Rebbe teaches that even been since you last visited. our desire to come closer beHe receives each person with gins with God. He gives us the a warm and radiant countestrength and longing to reach nance. out, and then invites us to take Rabbi Schneur Zalman of the next step. Liadi, the founder of Chabad, The King doesn't simply used this image to describe wait in the field; He is the One Elul. During this month, God who first awakens the desire to steps out of the palace and walk toward Him. comes to us. All year long, apSo no one is starting from proaching God can feel like a zero. No one has been away too climb, something that requires long. No one needs to have the effort, preparation, worthiness. right words ready, or the right But in Elul, the distance colamount of Jewish knowledge, lapses. God takes the first step or a spotless record. Everyone toward us. who shows up is welcome. For many Jews, the apEach morning of Elul, the proach of the High Holiday shofar is sounded in synaseason carries a familiar gogues, that ancient call of the weight. Rosh Hashanah and ram's horn. It isn't a demand. Yom Kippur are serious days, It is an invitation. The King is days of judgment, of accounthere. In the field. Right now. ing, of standing before the Come. Almighty and taking stock of You don't need to have evwho we are and who we want erything figured out. The King to become. is already in the field, smiling, That is real, and it is imporwaiting to welcome you.

Beth Boruk Temple

Perspectives

FESTIVAL Free!

AUGUST 1 1-7 PM DowntownDayton.org

August • Av/Elul

Formerly Formerly Formerly Formerly

PAGE 18

Shabbat Candle Lightings

Torah Portions August 1: Ekev (Deut. 7:12-11:25)

August 7: 8:25 p.m.

August 8: Re'eh (Deut. 11:26-16:17)

August 14: 8:16 p.m.

August 15: Shoftim (Deut. 16:18-21:9)

August 21: 8:06 p.m.

August 22: Ki Tetze (Deut. 21:10-25:19)

August 28: 7:56 p.m.

August 29: Ki Tavo (Deut. 26:1-29:8)

Conservative Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 937-293-9520 Check website for location, bethabrahamdayton.org.

Reform Cantor Andrea Raizen 2810 Southeast Pkwy., Richmond, Ind. bethboruk@yahoo.com. Friday night Shabbat service monthly, September through May. For schedule, go to bethboruktemple.com.

Beth Jacob Congregation

Modern Orthodox Rabbi Leibel Agar Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. Evening minyans upon request. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org

Chabad of Greater Dayton

Orthodox 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., Oakwood. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com

Temple Anshe Emeth

Reform Worship led by Jese Shell 320 Caldwell St., Piqua. Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, ansheemeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org

Temple Beth Or

Reform Rabbi Judy Chessin Fridays, 6:15 p.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com

Temple Beth Sholom

Reform Rabbi Haviva Horvitz 610 Gladys Dr., Middletown. 513-422-8313. facebook.com/ templebethsholommiddletown

Temple Israel

Reform Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fri., Aug. 7, 6 p.m. Fridays, Aug. 21, 28, 6:30 p.m. Sat., Aug. 15, 10:30 a.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. tidayton.org

Temple Sholom

Reform Rabbi Cary Kozberg Fridays, 6 p.m. 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com

Yellow Springs Havurah

Independent Antioch College Rockford Chapel. 1st & 3rd Saturday each month. Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

MAZEL TOV! David Pierce is now president of Coolidge Wall Co., L.P.A., where he chairs its litigation and labor and employment departments. A shareholder and member of the firm's executive committee, David has more than 30 years of experience as an attorney, representing clients in business and employment disputes in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration. He's a past president of David Pierce the Dayton Bar Association, the Dayton Bar Foundation, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Dayton School of Law since 2004. University of Dayton English Prof. Miriamne Krummel delivered the keynote lecture — Making Jewish Temporality: Past Imperfect, Present (Re)Imagined, and Future Unknown — at the International Miriamne Krummel Medieval Congress in Leeds, England in July.

At the Ohio High School Athletic Association Track and Field State Championships in June, Oakwood High School's Mila Gelbart won the Division III pole vault championship with a jump of 12’10”. Her team also won the Girls Division III State Championship. At regionals, Mila jumped 13', an Oakwood High School record, which won her a gold before the state meet. Mila is the daughter of Dr. Michael and Dr. Wincha Gelbart.

Maureen Lynch has received Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio's inaugural Jan Rudd Advocacy Award, recognizing Maureen's decades of leadership and service Maureen Lynch advancing women’s rights, civil liberties, and community care throughout the Miami Valley.

In June, the 60-year-old Miriam Rosenthal Foundation for the Arts came under the auspices of The Dayton Foundation. Miriam Rosenthal was an impresario, master fundraiser, and publicist. She managed the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra from 1935 until her death in 1965. She also served as the first executive secretary of the Jewish Federation's annual campaign when it was established in 1934, and raised funds for Memorial Hall, the University of Dayton, Wright State University, Beth Abraham Synagogue, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, and Ketter-

Among the American Jewish Archives' 2026-27 Marcus Center Fellows are University of Cincinnati Associate Prof. and Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Chair in Judaic Studies Jenny Caplan and Earlham College Jewish Studies Chair and Assistant Prof. Rebecca Wartell. Jenny's area of research for the fellowship is Jewish Characters in the DC and Marvel Universe; Rebecca's is Conversas in Contrast: Reading Women in Mexican Inquisition Sources. The American Jewish Archives is a division of Hebrew Union College, located on its Cincinnati campus. Mila Gelbart

A NEW YEAR OF

JEWISH LEARNING BEGINS SOON

ing, Good Samaritan, St. Elizabeth's, and Miami Valley hospitals. Community members established the fund in her memory. “By joining The Dayton Foundation, we are strengthening our Miriam Rosenthal ability to support Dayton’s local arts and culture while honoring Miriam Rosenthal’s extraordinary legacy," noted Richard McCauley, chairman of the Miriam Rosenthal Foundation board. Local attorney Tamara Winkler has started a podcast on Spotify, Parsha to Purpose — A Weekly Devar, a fiveminute-or-so discussion of each week's Torah portion. She describes it as "an inspirational chizuk (strengthening) boost, a reminder that Hash- Tamara Winkler em loves you exactly the way you are and created you with a mission nobody else can accomplish." Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.

K E Y DATE S Before Aug. 1

Early Bird Registration Deadline

Aug. 16

Registration Deadline

Aug. 16 at 11 am

Welcome Back Picnic Pickleball Picnic & Meet the Teacher

RELIGIOUS SCHOOL REGISTRATION IS OPEN

Aug. 23

First Day of School

PreK - 10th Grade | 2026 - 2027 Learning, community, tradition, and connection for students and families at Temple Israel in the heart of Dayton.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

Aug. 30

Apple Picking

A sweet start to the New Year

130 Riverside Drive Dayton, OH 45405

educator@tidayton.org

937-496-0050

tidayton.org

PAGE 19

JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION

'Proclaim liberty throughout all the land' America 250 — Part Two In the news series

How Jews Advanced Freedom in Revolutionary America. Happy 250th, America! A Brief History of Jews and Religious Freedom in the USA. Jewish Values, American Ideals: A Shared Legacy of Liberty. One of America’s most iconic symbols of freedom, the Liberty Bell has unexpectedly deep Jewish roots. Long before it became a symbol of American independence, the Pennsylvania Assembly commissioned the

Candace R. Kwiatek bell to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges. Deeply influenced by the Hebrew Bible, this remarkably progressive constitutional document established revolutionary religious and civic freedoms, legal protections, and property rights that reflected a civic application of biblical ideas. Nearly a century later, this charter would serve as an ideological blueprint for America’s founding documents. Tasked with the bell project

was Isaac Norris, a Quaker who “loved Hebrew so deeply that he owned the largest collection of Hebrew books in the colonies,” writes Hebrew educator Inbal Amit. “When he searched for the words to ring out over a new land, he did not reach for Greek or Latin or even English. He reached back to the Hebrew Bible.” To honor the historic milestone, Norris turned to Leviticus 25:10, “And you shall hallow the 50th year,” a verse that introduces the biblical Jubilee — a sacred, 50-year cycle commanding the release of indentured servants and the restitution of property. For Norris, the core promise of the Jubilee perfectly mirrored the spirit of William Penn’s legacy: the abolishment of subjugation and elevation of human dignity. To capture these parallel visions, Norris selected the definitive command of the Jubilee to encircle the bell's bronze crown, forever linking Penn's 50-year accomplishment to the eternal biblical decree: “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Yet, the Liberty Bell is far more than a monument to a

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past event. Its inscription serves as an ongoing challenge to America and its people, evoking the foundational archetype of liberty: the Exodus. It calls our nation to measure its liberty against the biblical standard — a redemptive journey from physical liberation to psychological transformation and covenantal responsibility. This journey began when the enslaved Israelites were freed from their forced labor and subjugation to Egypt’s Pharaoh. After crossing the Sea of Reeds, they were free from their former constraints — a state of raw, unformed independence known as chofesh. Yet, while the Israelites were no longer enslaved, they lacked intrinsic purpose and direction, leaving them exposed to the risks of anarchy. Breaking external chains was just the beginning. The journey to true freedom required them to leave behind basic independence and embrace deeper dimensions of liberty found in the biblical concepts of dror and cherut. Rooted in the biblical Jubilee, dror represents structural emancipation — a state of true liberty where individuals are no longer subjugated and can reclaim their rightful place in society. Through the return of land to its original owners and the liberation of all debtbonded slaves, dror restored both ancestral heritage and personal dignity. This framework granted individuals the self-determined autonomy to live, work, and flourish without artificial boundaries or economic subjugation. Yet even structural liberty can decay into narrow self-interest without a moral compass. To address this, a third Hebrew concept of liberty emerges: cherut. While the word does not appear in the Bible, it be-

Literature to share The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton by Andrew Porwancher. This eyeopening biography and fast-paced detective thriller explores the possibility that Alexander Hamilton’s West Indies upbringing shaped his lifelong mission to champion Jewish civil rights in America. Determined to make the egalitarian rhetoric of the American Revolution a reality, Hamilton fought for Jewish equality in

LOC

Stereoscopic photo of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, 1899.

came a cornerstone of rabbinic Judaism to define ultimate freedom. Rather than viewing law as an external restraint imposed by societal forces, cherut represents a state in which the moral law is entirely internalized. The sages of the Talmud illustrated this idea through brilliant wordplay in the Mishnah. Discussing the Ten Commandments engraved (charut) on the stone tablets, they read the word not as charut, but as cherut (freedom). The sages concluded the only truly free person is one who internalizes moral and spiritual wisdom so deeply it becomes engraved upon their heart. True freedom is not merely the absence of external chains, but the internalization of moral and intellectual purpose. This profound truth was ultimately intuited by the Israelites at Mount Sinai. True liberation is neither the absence of a master nor the license to ignore rules, but a voluntary dedication to righteous principles. By willingly accepting the commandments, the Israelites discovered the path to authentic freedom: moral perspective, self-governance, and responsible action aimed at reaching humanity's highest potential. The Israelite journey from Egypt to Sinai serves as a timeless mirror for the American court and shattered barriers, revealing how deeply Jewish history is woven into the American founding. Based on extensive primary sources across the Caribbean and Europe, it's for history buffs and general readers. Saving Lady Liberty: Joseph Pulitzer's Fight for the Statue of Liberty by Claudia Friddell. This inspiring, engaging historical picture book for elementary ages brings a lesser-known chapter of U.S. history to life. Through vivid sto-

experiment, tracing a fragile evolution that continues to unfold today. America’s founding generation successfully secured chofesh — the vital but raw independence from a distant crown. But a nation left only with chofesh risks decaying into factionalism, where absolute license and self-interest replace the common good. To safeguard this fragile independence, the Founders constructed a constitutional architecture of dror. They built a structural framework of natural rights, checks and balances, and institutional protections designed to prevent tyranny and grant individuals the autonomy to flourish. Yet dror remains incomplete; American history proves systemic liberty requires constant moral willpower to defend and expand. Today, amid deep polarization, contemporary America confronts its ultimate biblical challenge: the realization of cherut. True freedom cannot be outsourced to courts, policed by external forces, or guaranteed by wealth. It requires cherut — the daily practice of internal moral self-mastery. In a modern democracy, cherut is the civic conscience that compels citizens to balance individual rights with communal responsibilities, proving that a free society cannot survive on the absence of restraint alone. The Liberty Bell’s inscription doesn't celebrate a static historical achievement. It issues an ongoing prophetic demand. It calls upon every generation of Americans to move beyond the raw independence of chofesh, continuously perfect the legal landscape of dror, and engrave the moral responsibility of cherut onto the fabric of their hearts. Only then does liberty cease to be a fragile political experiment and become an enduring spiritual reality. rytelling and captivating artwork, it chronicles how a famed immigrant newsman in the 1880s launched one of America’s first crowdfunding campaigns to underwrite the iconic monument's pedestal. Informative and inspiring, it beautifully highlights how ordinary citizens and schoolchildren, rich and poor alike, came together to save an American symbol of freedom. Featuring beautiful, vintagestyle artwork that brings the historical era to life, the book also includes extensive back matter.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

Bar & Bat Mitzvahs

The connection to our past, the bridge to our future By Melissa Cohen The Times of Israel My family and I just celebrated our middle daughter’s bat mitzvah, and throughout all the moments — the ceremonious, the silly, the profound — I couldn’t help but ponder this tradition. Growing up in suburban Houston in the late '80s, I was blessed to have my seventhgrade social calendar overflowing with bar and bat mitzvahs. Saturday mornings were spent chitchatting in synagogue pews and Saturday nights filled with parties with all my friends in hotel ballrooms. All the boys and girls danced amid ice sculptures, our taffeta balloon sleeves rivaled in height only by our hairsprayed perms. We lived out our dreams on the dance floor, sharing our secret crushes underneath the din of the DJ. As I slow-danced to Whitney Houston with Josh Schwartz, a space the size of a redwood tree trunk between us, I remember thinking this was bliss. Looking back, it was. But viewing this ritual through maternal eyes, I see it a bit differently. A solid 30 years after seventh grade, I went to a bat mitzvah service in preparation mode. As a mother about to embark on this journey for my eldest daughter, my first thought was, “Were our ancestors sadists? Requiring pimplyfaced 13-year-olds — at the precise moment that the boys’ voices are cracking and the girls are testing out training bras and high heels — to get up on the bima (stage) in front of everyone and sing? In Hebrew! But after I recalibrated to the bat mitzvah girl’s nervous energy in the spotlight she so desperately wanted to flee, I realized the scholars who created this tradition were geniuses. This ceremony — the hard work and preparation leading up to it — is the connection to our past, the bridge to our future, and the thing that brings meaning to three generations all in one fell swoop. Plus it often promises a killer party in the end. It grounds our children, con-

For your Bar or Bat Mitzvah

The author and her family in 1990 at her bat mitzvah at Congregation Brith Shalom in Houston, Texas.

necting them through time to their ancestors who learned to recite the same prayers in the same tunes and read the same Torah portions sung to the same trope. How comforting it is to know that in this constantly changing world, our sacred texts are constant. They are the source of our wisdom and values no matter what changes around us. Through this journey, our children begin to see themselves as a dot on a connectthe-dots puzzle, an essential piece of the greater picture. They matter beyond their success at baseball or piano or how popular they are this week. They are an indispensable part of our people — past, present, and future — for whom the sum of its parts is greater than the whole. Also, our children push themselves vigorously over the course of several years to study, learn, and then teach the community their findings. This is not perfunctory preparation. This is an enormous, oftentimes daunting lift. Our kids attend Hebrew classes and Sunday school; they meet with their rabbis and cantors. How do they make time for this in their oversched-

This hallowed custom is a beautiful reminder of everything we stand for.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

uled days shuttling between school and sports and music lessons? They just do, because we make it a priority. And throughout this process, or maybe even years later, but eventually, they internalize one of our greatest Jewish values: learning. From an early age, they are taught to question, debate, analyze, and reason. They learn to read text with a discerning eye, considering many interpretations to then deduce their own. Rashi says this, but Maimonides says that, and modern-day rabbis disagree with both of them. They then have to reconcile these diverse ideas to understand the lessons from the Torah and apply them to their own lives. And yes, they are distilled into their simplest forms. “When my mom asks me to clean my room, I should follow the Ten Commandments and clean my room.” “When my friend asks me to go to a party, but I’ve already made plans with someone else, I should honor my commitments.” Sometimes relating a parsha (Torah portion) about animal sacrifice and communal diseases to the student’s ability to live without the latest pair of Air Jordans is a real stretch. But it’s a start. This application of law and morality to our children’s lives teaches them Continued on Page 22

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Bar & Bat Mitzvahs

13 pieces of advice for the 'b'mitzvah' weekend By Miriam Steinberg-Egeth Cincy Jewfolk 1. Clarify your priorities. Knowing what really matters to you about your event will help dictate so many choices along the way. In the case of a "b’mitzvah," knowing what matters to your kid is crucial, and finding ways to discuss and understand each other’s priorities is arguably more important than what your final event actually looks like. 2. Make as many lists and schedules as far in advance as you can: guest lists, to-do items, questions for the rabbi, etc. Other people have done all of this before, so ask for their lists and schedules. No need to reinvent work that already exists. For the four or so weeks in advance, make a list of what needs to be done every day, so no one day feels too overwhelming and nothing falls through the cracks. 3. Accept help. When people offer, most of the time they actually mean it, and you can’t do this alone. 4. The other side of this is paying people to help you. If at all possible, include paid help in your budget. Use the moments where someone else is managing the logistics to be as fully present as possible. 5. Be as fully present as possible! Special events can pass in a flash, and grounding yourself in the moment will help those moments be more enjoyable

and more memorable. Pick a couple of key moments to highlight in your mind, which will help you to remember them long-term. 6. Wear what makes you feel your best, and support others in doing the same. In the case of a b’mitzvah, help your kid find an outfit that makes them feel their best. Embrace this occasion as an opportunity for your kid to express who they are in all kinds of ways, including through clothes. 7. More about clothes: Do a dress rehearsal of all the outfits that everyone in your family will wear for all the related events. You will discover socks or belts that need to be purchased, items that need to be washed and put to the side so you know where they are dayof, and, I promise, other things about clothes that will surprise you. A week before, those surprises are fine; the day of, they could cause a major panic. 8. Have a plan for leftovers. Even if you’ve ordered perfectly for your number of guests, you’re bound to have some food remaining. Bring takeout containers and/or freezer bags to pack things up. Make room in your fridge or freezer in advance, or ask to borrow space in a neighbor’s fridge. Offer leftovers to your friends, and know where you can donate food to a community shelter. 9. Build in downtime. You don’t need to program every minute of the week-

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end for you or for your guests. You need to know your kid and your family’s capacity for entertaining and plan accordingly, prioritizing the b’mitzvah kid’s needs over anyone else’s. 10. Ask for advice. Other people have planned these events before and there is a tremendous amount of collective wisdom out there, but you often need to ask for it to access what others have learned. 11. Honor the people who are important to you. There are many ways to involve family members and friends in these occasions, and it’s worth thinking expansively and creatively to make space for special people to have a role. This is especially important for younger siblings of b’mitzvah kids. 12. This one, I think, is vital, but it’s also something that has to start before

you even know when your simcha (celebration) is going to be, maybe even before you have kids or have met your significant other: Immerse yourself in community. Surround yourself with people you know will be there for you and your family no matter what, who can listen to your kid practice Haftorah when you need a break, who can help you figure out how many cookies you need for kiddush, who will offer you encouragement, and who will even offer you their son’s suit that will never be worn again otherwise. Know who your people are, both so they are there for you and so your children learn the value of community. Be that person for other people, too, whenever you possibly can. This doesn’t happen overnight, and I know it’s not possible for everyone everywhere, but if it’s within reach, grab it. 13. For this last one, I asked my kid for his top advice for parents planning a b’mitzvah. He says, “Don’t stress out. You have enough time.” His advice for kids getting ready for their b’mitzvah is “you’ve got this.” Miriam Steinberg-Egeth is the associate director of special projects for Hadar.

Connection to past, bridge to future Continued from Page 21 reason, introspection, and ultimately an understanding of our values. They also learn how to give a d’var Torah (words of Torah) in front of tens and hundreds of people. It's Public Speaking 101. They learn how to work with adults and how to publicly thank those who have guided them, honoring their parents and teachers. And parents honor the child, showering her with praise for her commitment and character, celebrating the special person she is, and planting the seeds for her self-confidence and self-reliance as she grows into an adult. The ceremony is also strikingly brilliant at convening and honoring three generations at once. Parents, grandparents, and the whole community pass down a tradition while at the same time raising up a child to meet the responsibilities of that tradition. It is a spectacular blip in the arc of a family’s life, the convergence of three generations who appreciate the moment from uniquely different perspectives. Every time I witness the three generations standing on the bima and passing the Torah down one by one, it makes me think both how big and small our lives are, how short a time we have, and yet how long we’ve been telling our story. L’dor v’dor (from generation to generation). And all of this beauty and wisdom and connection culminate under the strobe lights and the giant balloon

installations at the bar mitzvah party. The word party is really insufficient to describe what these events have become in our culture. They can be more like the Met Gala, just customized to 13-year-olds’ tastes. The ice sculptures and chocolate fountains of yesteryear have been replaced with pyrotechnics and prizes. Our forefathers had no idea of the incentivizing value of Jellycats and lululemon gift cards to get the dance floor going. The cultural depictions of excess and materialism from Adam Sandler movies to Philip Roth novels are not unfounded and also not surprising. Somehow, humans have an amazingly consistent ability to take things too far. In a post-war America that enabled Jewish ascension in society, we savored our newfound material success and were not afraid to display it. And we deserve to enjoy the fruits of the labor that immigrant-minded striving bestowed upon us. But in all of this achievement, sometimes it can be hard to remember the sacred purpose of it all, the meaning behind the glittery dresses and custom Nikes. But I saw it with my own daughters, and I see it every time I attend a friend’s bar or bat mitzvah: This hallowed custom is a beautiful reminder of everything we stand for. It might even be part of the reason why we are still here. Melissa Freed Cohen is a former attorney who lives in the San Francisco area with her husband and three daughters.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

Bar & Bat Mitzvahs

For kids with disabilities, inclusion is most important

When planning a b’nai mitzvah or By Debra L. Eckerling any large gathering, she encourages Jewish Journal (Los Angeles) families to think beyond tradition. Inclusive celebrations are a mindset. “Each child is different; each person “To be inclusive is really natural; to be is different,” she said. “Tune in to what noninclusive is a learned attitude,” said that child wants and what makes them Elaine Hall, founder of The Miracle happy.” Project, a theater arts program for She added, “If the autistic kids, and a contributor to child loves french fries… the 2026 book A Different Spirit: even though that may not Creating Meaningful B'nai Mitzvah for be typical at a celebration, Children with Disabilities. “It takes make sure there’s french 60 seconds to be open, willing, and fries on that table.” curious rather than judgmental, In addition to the guest separate, and non-welcoming.” of honor, it’s important It’s as simple as looking at to make certain everyone someone with kindness when you feels like they belong. first meet, and seeing what you can Elaine Hall That means having lots create together, which could be as of choices: gluten-free, sugar-free, and simple as an encounter or a meal, as heart-healthy options; going nut-free in extensive as a celebration or an expericase someone has a peanut allergy. ence. “I would check in with the guest The Miracle Project is a fully inclulist,” Hall said. “On the invitation, I sive theater, film and social program would ask, ‘Are there any food sensifor neurodivergent, autistic, disabled tivities that we need to be aware of?’ I and non-disabled individuals, where would also ask, ‘Is there anything that they write, create, and develop original you would need so that you can particimusicals, music videos, and films, but pate most fully in this event?’” mainly create community. She is also Not just for b’nai mitzvah. Not just cofounder of 1in4Coalition, a Hollyfor parties. In any and every food or wood disability advocacy group. non-food situation, you want people to A Different Spirit addresses a similar feel comfortable, like they belong. but different type of community experiHall explains that in the neurodiverse ence, one that makes everyone — the world, some people are sensitive to guest of honor, as well as family and textures, while some prefer foods sepafriends of all abilities — feel like they rated rather than mixed together. belong. “I’m neurodivergent myself, so I The book was created by Howard have my particulars in Blas (the director of the how I eat my food,” National Ramah Tikvah she said. “I like having Network) and Ilana pretty much the same Trachtman (director of thing every day for the acclaimed docubreakfast and lunch; mentary Praying with it just makes my life Lior) after they recogsimple.” nized a need for guidThese routines are ance around celebrating rhythms that support b’nai mitzvah for kids well-being. who experience the An internationally world differently. The recognized leader in inbook brings together clusion and belonging educators, parents, and — and one of Hollyadvocates — including wood’s first access coHall — to share models ordinators for film and of ceremonies that are TV — Hall constantly creative, accessible, and juggles big projects. personal. She believes in finding “I had created one of harmony, since balance the first b’nai mitzvah is often unrealistic with her workload. programs for autistic youth a number “I could find special moments where of years ago, called Nes Gadol (Great my husband and I could go for a walk Miracle), through Vista Del Mar,” she and watch the sunset, I could connect to said, referring to a child and family my son — he loves going (for a) midservices nonprofit in Los Angeles. “My night mocha — and we can have that son, Neal, was the first bar mitzvah, so morning together,” she said. “That’s they asked me to share my ideas.” definitely not balance — it’s not equal Hall goes into Neal’s bar mitzvah to how much work I’m doing — but it is story in more depth in her book Now harmonious; sometimes it can just take I See the Moon: A Mother, a Son and the a few minutes to tune into your spouse Miracle of Autism. or your friends, check in and harmonize Celebrations are often built around with them, be with them, and still have food, but Hall believes they should also to do a whole lot of other things.” be built around awareness.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

Bar & Bat Mitzvah Preparation

A meaningful journey at Temple Beth Or Preparation Begins Early From Consecration in kindergarten through 12th grade, each class leads a Shabbat service every year - building familiarity, poise, and bima etiquette over time.

Learning by Leading Students grow comfortable with Hebrew prayers, songs, Torah study, and the rhythm of congregational worship through repeated, age-appropriate participation.

Personal Rabbinic Guidance In the year leading up to the service, students meet weekly one-on-one with Rabbi Chessin, who personally guides each student.

Prepared with Purpose Students learn blessings, prayers, and scriptural readings while exploring the deeper meaning of the texts and their place in the Jewish community.

Personalized Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Amazing Family Experience

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Penny De Los Santos

Sephardic Orange Chiffon Cake By Naama Shefi, The Nosher Pan d’Espanya (called pan esponjado in Ladino, a Judeo-Spanish language derived from Old Spanish) is the iconic orange chiffon cake that has been made for generations by the Jews of Spain. It’s traditionally made to break the Yom Kippur fast and as part of the sweets spread for Purim and lifecycle events. But there doesn’t need to be a special occasion to have it. You can serve it as a teatime snack or as a finale to a meal, with berries and lightly whipped cream.

The delicate, moist cake gets its light texture from whipped egg whites, so take care while you’re working with them: make sure to not get any yolk in the whites and don’t over whip them. An egg white will have maximum expansion potential if whipped just barely to the firm peak stage; going beyond that, to the point at which the whites are stiff, can mean less volume in your cake. Special equipment: 10-inch, 2-piece tube or angel food cake pan.

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Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes Yield: 10-inch cake 2 cups cake flour, sifted 2 heaping tsp. baking powder 1/8 tsp. kosher salt 8 large eggs 1 cup superfine sugar (sometimes called baker’s sugar) ½ cup vegetable or sunflower oil 2 tsp. finely grated orange zest ¾ cup fresh orange juice (from about 3 oranges) 1 tsp. orange blossom water ¾ tsp. cream of tartar (optional) confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional) Preheat the oven to 350. Set out a 10inch tube or angel food cake pan, but do not grease it. Put the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend; set aside. Separate the eggs, putting six of the yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a large bowl and a handheld electric mixer); discard the other two yolks (or reserve them for another use). Put all eight egg whites into a small bowl (or another large bowl if you will be using a handheld mixer) and cover with plastic wrap; set aside at room temperature. Add the superfine sugar to the egg yolks and beat at high speed until pale and creamy, about two minutes. Turn the mixer to low and beat in the oil, orange zest, orange juice, and orange blossom water. With the mixer still on low speed, add the flour mixture, beating only until the batter is combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and set aside. Put the egg whites in a clean mixer bowl, attach it to the mixer stand, and fit the mixer with the whisk attachment (or use the handheld mixer with clean beaters). Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the cream of tartar, if using, and continue to beat the egg whites until they hold firm peaks; take care that you don’t beat them to the point of becoming grainy. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand. With a large rubber spatula or a metal spoon, scoop up about one-third of the egg whites and gently fold them into the batter. Continue with the rest of the egg whites, a third at a time, folding gently until just combined with no white streaks remaining. Pour the batter into the ungreased tube pan and smooth the surface with a spoon. Bake until the cake is firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Immediately invert the cake pan onto a wire rack and let the cake cool completely, about 90 minutes. To remove the cake from the pan, loosen the edges of the cake by running a long, thin knife around the inside of the pan and the center tube. Gently ease the cake out onto a wire rack and separate the cake from the base of the pan. Flip the cake back upright and lightly dust the top with confectioners’ sugar, if using.

Arts&Culture

For Mel Brooks and generations of admirers, 100 years isn't enough On the Jewish filmmaker and comedian’s centenary, a look back at how a kid named Mel Kaminsky wound up conquering the world By Benjamin Ivry, Forward Of how many Jewish comedians can it be sincerely said that 100 years of life is not enough? Mel Brooks (born Kaminsky) who celebrated his centenary on June 28, has long been inspiring belly laughs with Yiddishkeit that has only recently been judged worthy of academic attention, as a volume of scholarly essays proved last year. Inspired by slapstick from Jewish vaudevillians like The Ritz Brothers and Moe Howard (born Moses Harry Horwitz) of The Three Stooges, Brooks is at times literary, but never intellectually glib. Brooks’ inclusion of the Jewish clown Harry Ritz in his 1976 Silent Movie was a gesture to traditional sight gags in what may be his most personal film in its revelations about his comedic roots. And as almost all his admirers are younger than he, as seen in Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!, the two-part HBO documentary film directed by Judd Apatow, a full perspective of his life and times is difficult to find. Brooks’ creativity derived from a Brooklyn upbringing of quaffing egg creams and spending summers at Camp Sussex, a New Jersey oasis for underprivileged Jewish children founded just before the Great Depression, as the Yiddishist Sandra Fox has explained. Deeply imbued with the Yiddish sensibility, Brooks told an interviewer for Playboy in 1975 that as a boy, he believed that upon reaching adulthood, all New York Jewish kids would suddenly know how to speak Yiddish, the language of family elders, at which point English could be discarded as a useless secondary means of communication. His early recreational experiences prepared him for a career as a tummler, amusing Jewish businesspeople on holiday. Yet even then, Brooks offered a tragicomic twist, prefiguring Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman by appear-

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

For Brooks, who worshipped Roosevelt, this ethnic stereotyping was all too credible. At 17, he enlisted in the military, and like Don Rickles, another diminutive Jewish comedian who survived combat during World War II, Brooks emerged with an explosive penchant for humor as violence. The savage ridicule of Springtime for Hitler in The Producers was authenticated by early experience against Nazi adversaries in The Battle of the Bulge. Rather than try to untangle such complexities, Brooks has tended to sum up life’s wisdom in bits of homespun wisdom attributed to his relatives, like “Never run for a bus; There’ll always be another” on the 2000 Year Old Man comedy album. As a young comedy writer for Sid Caesar, he worked with the head writer Mel Tolkin (born Shmuel Tolchinsky near Odessa, Ukraine) who advised him to read Russian literature; this acquaintance with Tolstoy, Turgenev, Gogol, and even the antisemitic Dostoyevsky

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

Flying Klezmerians' summer gigs If you can't get enough of klezmer music, you'll want to take in Dayton's Flying Klezmerians' August gigs. From 12:30 to 2 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 9, they'll play at the Hyde Park and Oakley Jewish Summer Cookout, hosted by Chabad Young Jewish Professionals, at Alms Park, 710 Tusculum Ave., Cincinnati. It's free. And 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 25 is the band's night at the Hidden Gem Music Club, 507 Miamisburg Centerville Road. The cover is $15 adults, $10 kids, free for "very small children."

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Humor as violence

About Russian anti-Jewish pogroms, Brooks concurred with his friend Tolkin, who told the Los Angeles Times in 1992 that the violence “created the condition where humor becomes anger made acceptable with a joke.” This comic fury was expressed by Brooks to Jewish friends like Howard Morris, a Bronx-born fellow comedian working with Sid Caesar, who was repeatedly mugged by Brooks, once by tying him up and stealing his wallet on a Greenwich Village street, and again in a Central Park rowboat. These ludicrous, yet intensely realized and enacted pranks were part of his persona over the past century. And critics, Jews and non-Jews alike, whom he has long referred to as “crickets,” were other targets of aggression, as Brooks’ biographer Patrick McGilligan notes. The apotheosis of feedback deriding opinionated filmgoers is Brooks’ narration as a grumpy old Jew kvetching about avant-garde images in the Oscar-winning 1963 short film The Critic, directed by the American Jewish filmmaker Ernest Pintoff. As animated shapes form and reform, Brooks-as-Jewish-spectator concludes: “I don’t know much about psychoanalysis, but I’d say this is a dirty picture.” With each Jewish cinemagoer being an amateur Freud, the need for most critics is hilariously eliminated. Similarly, Brooks became his own songwriter in hit musicals, despite lacking any memorable melodic gift. So he borrowed from Brahms the tune for the theme song of Twelve Chairs. The song characteristically expresses a generous life philosophy with the lines “You could be Tolstoy, or Fannie Hurst/hope for the best, expect the worst.” Mentioning the sentimental bestselling American Jewish author Fannie Hurst was part of Brooks’ all-inclusive optic, writing leading roles for African American performers like Richard Pryor in Blazing Saddles, a part eventually played by Cleavon Little. And

from the 1975 Playboy interview. In an extended Dostoyevskian narration, Brooks recounts how at age 10, he chased after his “Yom Kippur sweater” that had been swept away by an automobile. Arriving in an antisemitic neighborhood, Brooks was obliged to run further until, mentioning a celebrated freeze-frame close-up on a fleeing boy at the end of the French Jewish director François Truffaut’s film The 400 Blows, little Mel arrived at the ocean in Coney Island, his Yom Kippur sweater safely recovered. This happy ending, as is proper in comedy, echoes the long, productive life and career of Mel Brooks, who deserves all our birthday thanks for his comedic gifts to audiences over the decades.

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ing circa 1940 shlepping two suitcases and leaping fully clothed into a swimming pool as a mock gesture of suicidal despair because business was purportedly bad. The young Brooks was flummoxed by school lessons portraying Jews as simultaneously plutocrats and their anarchistic enemies. His 1991 tragicomedy Life Stinks, echoing the Book of Job in the Bible, is perhaps part of his inner investigation of the place of Jews in American society. Complicating this understanding was antisemitic propaganda during Brooks’ youth. The German American Bund, a Nazi organization, filled Madison Square Garden in 1939 to denounce President Franklin Roosevelt as a Jew whose real name was “Frank D. Rosenfeld,” and scorn Roosevelt’s New Deal as the “Jew Deal.”

Comic fury

Brooks’ affectionate recognition, albeit mocking, of gay men in The Producers continued in 1983 with his remake of To Be or Not to Be, in which he interpolated a rescue of Sasha, a flamboyant dresser, from deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. Brooks’ equally wide-ranging literary sensibilities are evident in a series of films produced by his Brooksfilms company, a number of them with an Anglophile flavor. Of these, his 1987 production of Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road, an ode to bibliophilia, offered a plausible Jewish role for his wife, the actress Anne Bancroft. But ultimately, Brooks’ passion for Russian literature as a Jewish reader best coincides with cinema in a vignette

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Mel Brooks onstage at the LA premiere of Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Jan. 20 in Los Angeles.

made an indelible impression. Comedy in the latter two writers, born of absurd pain, transfixed Brooks, who would go on to adapt a novel by two Ukrainian Jews, Ilya Ilf (Ilya Arnoldovich Feinsilberg) and Yevgeny Petrov (Yevgeny Petrovich Katayev) in the 1970 film The Twelve Chairs. Although not a box office success, Twelve Chairs gave the English Jewish actor Ron Moody one of his few leading roles on film, after starring as the villainous Jew Fagin in the stage musical Oliver! and its screen adaptation in 1968.

STUDIOS | GALLERIES | SHOPS

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The Time Is Now. Several years ago, the community came together and created Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton to protect and preserve the eternal homes of our loved ones. Research showed the need to raise $5 million for an endowment fund. Thanks to the boards of Beth Abraham, Beth Jacob and Temple Israel, as well as hundreds of donations, we are now only $100,000 away from reaching our goal. Once completed, JCGD will ensure the sanctity of our cemeteries and financial security for each congregation. You can turn our dream into reality. Now is the time to make your pledge.

Make your pledge today with Kate Elder kelder@jfgd.net Preserving Our Past Ensuring Our Future

Home minyan

Continued from Page Seven ing. “We don’t want a grocery store on this block; we don’t want a church.” Some comments turned ugly. One neighbor sent a letter to the University Heights Planning Commission with the following statement: “I am not Jewish and I do not want our neighborhood labeled as Jewish.” “I felt very offended, and I felt very hurt,” Grand said. “I look at this as bigotry to me.” But Yelsky, who is Jewish, rejected the characterization of the dispute as antisemitic across the board. Suspicious of renovations at Grand’s home that made room for extra parking, Yelsky said she didn’t buy that Grand only planned to hold services on Shabbat. “Believe me, for us as Jews, it was very difficult to even participate in this, because you don’t want to look like you’re against your own people,” Yelsky said. “On the other hand, what’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong.” After the hearing, Grand said he discovered another problem: The special-use permit prohibited “sleeping or residential use” on any property covered by the permit. In other words, if Grand wanted to convert his home into a house of worship, he could no longer live there. Unwilling to move out of his home, Grand withdrew his application. But the matter was far from resolved. The city Planning Commission held another meeting, during which then-Mayor Brennan issued a warning. “To the community members who are here, let there be no question. There is no permission granted here to operate a house of assembly or conduct activities consistent with one,” he told the crowd on Zoom. “If you observe such activities — and I hope you do not — but if you do, you may report them to the city, and the city will enforce its laws, which exist for the benefit of the entire community, and we will seek all appropriate remedies in court.” Grand said the mayor’s directive kicked off a campaign of surveillance and harassment. According to the lawsuit, Grand’s neighbor installed surveillance cameras pointed at his house, and a police lieutenant instructed officers to “make frequent drive-bys” past Grand’s home and issue citations for any parking violations. The complaint also alleges police twice approached a driver wearing a yarmulke sitting in a parked car outside Grand’s home and asked, “Are you here for the shul?” “It was like all hell broke loose,” Grand said. “It was nightmarish. It was terrible.”

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The legal issues

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According to Michael Helfand, a professor at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law who studies the intersection of law and religion, this isn’t the first time zoning laws have clashed with religious practice. For instance, Chabad houses have run into trouble with local municipalities who have alleged that the centers of Jewish life are synagogues, not homes. In 2000, Congress responded to concerns that local governments were using zoning laws to restrict religious activities by passing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act., known as RLIUPA. The federal law prohibits zoning laws that substantially burden religious exercise. It also requires religious assemblies to be treated on equal terms with comparable secular ones. As Helfand put it, a city cannot prohibit 10 people from gathering for a minyan if it allows 10 people to gather for a yoga class. But in Grand’s case, Helfand said, the Supreme Court will not directly decide whether the city’s zoning code violated federal law. Instead, the justices will answer a procedural question: Did Grand have to exhaust the city’s permit process and receive a denial before he could bring his challenge to court? Or did the procedural hoops themselves constitute a violation of Grand’s religious liberty? “You can see how procedure in these circumstances can really undermine somebody’s religious rights,” Helfand said. “Being stuck in the Kafkaesque process of a zoning board that goes on for years and years before you can ever walk into court.” A lawyer for the City of University Heights did not respond to the Forward’s request for comment. In legal filings, the city has argued it never actually took an enforcement action against Grand because he abandoned his permit application before the city reached a final decision. But Grand’s lawyers argue the cease-and-desist letter and subsequent surveillance of Grand’s home created a chilling effect, deterring Grand from hosting the Shabbat gatherings and thus violating his religious liberty. Grand said he has been unable to observe Shabbat on several occasions since receiving the cease-anddesist letter. Even if he prevails at the Supreme Court, he said, he’s unsure whether he will resume inviting people over to pray because his friends are now “afraid of retaliation.” Five years later, Grand said he’s stunned that an invitation to Shabbat has turned into a case before the Supreme Court. “What was the city doing in my life at all? What did I ever do that they showed up at my door?” Grand said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

L’ dor V’dor. L’dor V’dor. From From Generation Generation To To Generation. Generation. From Generation To Generation.

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Since 1913 Larry LarryS. S.Glickler, Glickler,Director Director Larry S. Glickler, Director Dayton’s Dayton’s ONLY ONLY Jewish Jewish Funeral Funeral Director Director Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton,Ohio Ohio45406-4927 45406-4927 1849 (937) Salem278-4287 Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com lgfuneralhome@gmail.com (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com

For Both Locations Call 937-275-7434 THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

2026 THE 26TH ANNUAL DAYTON JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SINCERELY THANKS THE FOLLOWING FOR THEIR SUPPORT STUDIO EXECUTIVE ($2,500+) Sam Levin Foundation

PRODUCER ($1,800+) Terry & Marc Lieberman-Smith

DIRECTOR ($1,000+) Joe & Susan Gruenberg Joseph & Marsha Johnston Gayle & Irvin Moscowitz

SCREENWRITER ($500+) Renate Frydman Lisa Hanauer & Susan Spiegel Robert & Vicky Heuman Barbara Mendelson and Family Marlene Pinsky Cantor Andrea Raizen Stephen Renas Stifel Investments – Gary Holstine

ACTOR (250+) Alan & Cathy Brown Ruth & Enrique Ellenbogen Marni Flagel Irene & Gary Fishbein Dr. Felix Garfunkel Bob & Debby Goldenberg David & Lynn Goldenberg Michael Herrlein & Ann Schenking

Linda & Steve Horenstein Mike Jaffe & Judy Schwartzman Jewish War Veterans Veterans of America Post 587 Susan & David Joffe Mark & Helen Jones Edward & Marcia Kress Carole & Donald Marger Jim Nathanson Rubi Girls Joan & Peter (z"l) Wells Mary and Gary Youra Mary Rita & Norman Weissman

SUPPORTING ACTOR (100+) Beth Adelman Donald C. Arnett Matt & Elaine Arnovitz Doreen Baume Rosen Ann & Albert Becker Ken & Lisa Blum Stanley & Connie Blum Bella Freeman Lynn Foster Judi & George Grampp Kim & Shelley Goldenberg Franklin & Renee Rubin Handel Joanie Haverstick Gina & Neil (z"l) Kahn Beverly A. Louis

THANK-YOU TO OUR 2026 SPONSORS

Judy D. McCormick Meredith Moss Levinson Linda Novak Carolyn Rice Max Rubin, M.D. Alice & Burt Saidel Leslie Stein Buerki Ralph & Joni Watson Donald & Caryl Weckstein Dr. Warren Wingate

CREW ($36+) Dena Briskin Deborah Char Judy & Alan Chesen Phil & Louisa Dreety Alan & Becky Elovitz Paula Gessiness & Jay Holland Gold Family (Brian Gold) Helene Gordon Arlene Graham Kim & Candy Kwiatek Annette Raquel Nathan, MD, FACEP Helen Ostreicher Halcomb Joseph Saks & Tiffany Darr Nick Schmall & Bobbie Weaver Laura Smith Audrey P. Tuck

2026 FILM FESTIVAL COMMITTEE Michael Herrlein (Chair) • Kim Dinsmore (Vice Chair) Josh Alpert • Connie Blum • Michael Caruso • Alan Chesen Brad Combs • Enrique Ellenbogen • Ruth Ellenbogen Claudia Fried • Bill Fried • Renate Frydman Felix Garfunkel • Susan Joffe • Meredith Levinson Gayle Moscowitz • Andrea Raizen • Bernard Rabinowitz Stephen Renas • Doreen Rosen • Abraham Rubin • Joe Saks Kyra Smith • Marci Vandersluis Marc Jacob (JCC Executive Director)

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2026

PAGE 27

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