The Dayton Jewish Observer, November 2025

Above: screen capture via X Below images: IDF Spokesperson

Bar Kuperstein, one of 20 hostages released from Hamas' captivity Oct. 13, reunites with his parents, Tal and Julie Kuperstein.

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Temple Anshe Emeth, Piqua congregants celebrate Sukkot at the home of members.

Beth Abraham Synagogue Sisterhood Pres. Irene Fishbein (L) leads (L to R) Theda Wagner, Paula Gessiness, and Leslie Buerki in waving the lulavs and etrogs at sisterhood's Sunset in the Sukkah event.

Above: After Beth Jacob congregants built and decorated the synagogue's sukkah, they sat down for breakfast and made cards for IDF soldiers.

Right: Hillel Academy Principal Anna Smith shows student Meredith Hoffheimer how to shake the lulav and etrog in Chabad's sukkah as part of the Jewish day school's sukkah hop.

Retired pastor's religion columns take anti-Jewish turn in Greene Co. newspapers

CEO — son of Holocaust survivors and a member of Dallas, Texas Jewish community — stands behind former editor's decision to run columns

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer

Isaac Weintraub has lived in Beavercreek for a decade. While furloughed from his work as an electrical engineer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base because of the federal government shutdown, he had more time on his hands than usual. He decided to read through the whole Beavercreek News-Current, delivered free to his home each week. "I generally peruse it, but I don't read it in depth," he says.

What he read Oct. 17 prompted him to email the editor that day to demand a retraction and public apology to the Jewish community.

In the newspaper's religion section, he saw a column by Pastor Robert Forsberg, retired for a decade from Light of Christ Lutheran Church in Fairborn.

With the headline A rage to kill, Forsberg commented on a passage from the Book of Acts (23:12-13) in the Christian Bible, a narrative about "some Jews," "more than 40 men," who plotted to kill the apostle Paul.

"The religious Jews could not stand to hear anything counter to their own beliefs about God," Forsberg wrote. "They had no tolerance for free speech on the subject of faith...the Jews would not allow their beliefs in God challenged or just be another one of the gods. What was happening was not new for the Jews. They had persecuted and kills prophets of God in the past when they disagreed with them. Certainly, they

A religion column with anti-Jewish expressions written by retired Pastor Robert Forsberg, published in the Oct. 18, 2025 Beavercreek News-Current.

disagreed with Jesus being the Savior of the world. Debate was not an option for them. They felt their only recourse was to kill Him, and thus Paul. Today, the option of debate is being challenged by another group that chooses violence when their beliefs are questioned."

Forsberg did not specify what current group he refered to in his column.

Weintraub went back to read some of Forsberg's previous columns, also published in the Beavercreek News-Current and its sister publications, the Fairborn Daily Herald and Xenia Gazette

In his Sept. 28, 2025 column, Violence raises its ugly head, Forsberg weighed in on Acts 22:21-22, in which Paul tells a crowd of Jews that God will send him to preach "far away to the Gentiles."

The narrative continues: "Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!"

Forsberg wrote: "This was the breaking point for the Jews. Their faith was an exclusive possession. They didn’t easily share it with anyone else. This act of mercy to the non-Jews was unacceptable to the religious Jews. These words were enough to invite the death penalty. They were 'fighting words.' These Jews were so off base, however. They could not accept that their God

Continued on Page Four

Last month, we wrote about the Jewish Federation's fundraiser to aid the family of Bar Kuperstein, a 22-year-old medic and security guard who was taken hostage from the Nova music festival Oct. 7, 2023 while he helped wounded victims. His family lives in Holon, Israel, a Dayton Sister City. Since he was 17, Kuperstein was the main provider for his mother and four younger siblings. His father, Tal, was in a severe car accident five years ago when he was volunteering as a medic. Tal suffered through multiple surgeries and a stroke. He was unable to walk or speak. A month after Bar was in captivity, Tal decided he would walk and talk again when he welcomed his son home. This spring, he could speak again. After Passover, the Times of Israel reported, Tal sat in his wheelchair at Israel's border with Gaza near Kibbutz Nir Oz. "Shaking with emotion, (he) yelled, 'Bar! I am speaking again! You can come back!'" On Oct. 13, Bar reunited with his family. And his father stood up from his wheelchair to cry with him.

DAYTON

Anti-Jewish columns

Continued from Page Three

would show mercy to non-Jews and invite them into His Kingdom. Here begins the true persecution of the followers of Jesus. Here we see that words led to violence, even calling for death. Sound familiar? It is the reality of human history that words can lead to violence."

In Weintraub's letter to the editor, he wrote he was outraged and disappointed.

"The foundation of a civilized society is mutual respect, not the propagation of ancient divisive tropes," Weintraub wrote. "Mr. Forsberg’s column actively reinforces the harmful and historically discredited narrative that Jewish people are inherently hostile to mercy and are the primary agents of persecution. This narrative is responsible for centuries of violence and is deeply offensive in its inaccuracy and lack of context. By publishing this, the Beavercreek News risks normalizing prejudice and contributes to an environment that breeds further intolerance.

"I urge you to overhaul your editorial standards immediately to ensure all future religious content is vetted for sensitivity and does not promote such egregious intolerance."

'It's a valid opinion'

In a phone interview with The Observer, Halbreich says he stands by the decision of the former Greene County newspapers editor to run Forsberg's columns, though he regrets that the editor didn't reach out to the Jewish community and ask for a companion piece to run alongside them.

"It's a valid opinion," Halbreich says of the Forsberg columns. "I'm not saying I agree with it. I think we need to bend over backwards to use our pages to allow diverse opinions to be stated."

When asked if the former Greene County editor's departure from AIM was connected in any way to the Forsberg columns, Halbreich said it was not.

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Jeremy L. Halbreich

The three Greene County newspapers are owned by AIM Media Midwest, an affiliate of AIM Media Texas and AIM Media Indiana. All are managed by AIM Media Management of Dallas.

The founder, chairman, and CEO of the AIM Media group is Jeremy L. Halbreich of Dallas, Texas. He is the son of Holocaust survivors Ruth and Siegfried Halbreich, and a member of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas.

Full disclosure: AIM Media Midwest prints The Dayton Jewish Observer at its Greenfield, Ind. print site.

When The Observer contacted the Greene County newspapers on Oct. 23, General Manager Barbara VandeVenter said the editor who published Forsberg's Sept. 28 and Oct. 18 columns, Steven Wright, was no longer an AIM Media employee.

She declined to be interviewed, citing a deadline, and referred The Observer to the new editor, who started after those columns ran, on Oct. 20.

The new editor, Jacob Espinosa, didn't reply back. The Observer then attempted to contact AIM Media Midwest Regional VP and Group Publisher Lane Moon via email and phone; his office staff in Urbana said he was on vacation through the following week.

After The Observer contacted AIM Media Management in Dallas, Halbreich responded.

"Any opinion piece that we publish certainly does not reflect the opinion of the newspaper or newspapers' owners or management," Halbreich says. "It's an opinion piece. I'm obviously not in a position to review everything we publish in advance. We leave that to our local editors, as I think is appropriate. "Is it appropriate now to invite a column or letters such as Isaac Weintraub's to be published in the newspaper in response to these pieces? Certainly it is. I just wish in this case we had, prior to publication, invited letters or columns expressing a different point of view. I'm just sorry we weren't able to get that done at the beginning."

According to the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, there are 197 known Jewish households in Beavercreek, Fairborn, and Xenia.

Halbreich adds that he understands why members of any Jewish community would be offended by Forsberg's columns.

Weintraub says he doesn't hold Halbreich or the staff around him responsible. "It's the ones who have the power to publish a paper in Beavercreek," says Weintraub, who himself is an associate editor of multiple journals in his field.

"The editor that was there, I hold that person responsible because that's their responsibility as editor. I respect the freedom of press to offer opinion pieces. But at the same time, I feel that the editorial staff of the Beavercreek paper could have done a better job. They need to think about how it will affect the community that they represent."

Deicide narratives in Christian Scripture

American Jewish Committee Regional Director Justin Kirschner explains that the pastor's columns focus on the narrative of deicide in Christian Scripture, the antisemitic trope that Jews bear eternal responsiContinued on Page Five

The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 30, No. 3. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Acceptance of advertising neither endorses advertisers nor guarantees kashrut.

The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement

To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by providing a forum and resource for Jewish community interests.

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.

DAYTON

Continued from Page Four

bility for the death of Jesus.

"Holding Jewish people collectively responsible is simply a historical and theological error," Kirschner, who is based in Cincinnati, says.

"It doesn't mean that it's aligned with current church thinking within his (Forsberg's) denomination."

Kirschner says in general, reconciliation efforts have taken place since the 1960s between Jews and Christians, "which largely has been about rejecting this deicide charge, fixing historical and theological errors that further antisemitic tropes and dehumanize Jews."

He says deicide was first refuted by the Catholic Church 60 years ago with its Nostra Aetate document that rejected collective Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus.

"Many other Christian denominations reflect its call," Kirschner notes, including major Lutheran churches.

ADL: presume good intent first Kelly Fishman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, cautions it's important to first presume the good intent of the columnist.

"Freedom of the press is such an important piece of what we have in the United States. We want to be able to read a lot of different perspectives from different folks," Fishman, who is based in Cleveland, says.

"There are still, in 2025, people that are using these kind of tropes — the idea that the Jews killed Jesus — to harm Jews in 2025. It's also important to say...this is a person who feels very connected to his faith and studying the Bible, and being able to also say this is really hurtful to me and my identity.

"We don't say, 'You didn't mean to create harm, I'm going to let it go.' But we can say, 'I know you didn't intend to create harm, but this is the impact it had on me.' And it creates an opportunity for dialogue instead of starting from a place of anger or defensiveness, which puts another person on edge as well. We have to also use systems like op-eds or reach out to our publications and share those different opinions in ways that create different perspectives."

Greene County newspapers' new editor, Jacob Espinosa, informed Weintraub Oct. 28 via email that his letter would be published in that week's issues.

Weintraub says that if the Greene County newspapers continue to publish articles that disparage Jews, he'll continue to write letters to the editor.

"I'm not going to stop taking a stance. I had to deal with a lot of this in my life. I think it's right to take a stand for the things you believe in. Freedom of speech is protected here in the United States. I'm able to communicate my opinion lawfully and peacefully. And that's what I intend to do."

Felix Weil, 97, fled Nazi Germany via Kindertransport

Felix Weil, who at the age of 11 in 1939 was rescued from Nazi Germany with the Kindertransport program, died Oct. 14. He was 97. Born in Frankfurt, Weil lived in England with a host family for the duration of the war in Europe.

After his arrival in London, he learned that his life had been saved because of a clerical error. The seat on the Kindertransport he received was intended for a girl named Felicia Weil.

He never saw his immediate family again; Weil's mother, father, and sister were deported from Germany to Lodz Ghetto and then to Auschwitz, where they perished. After the war, Weil lived with an aunt and uncle in the United States. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1946 and sent to Germany with the occupation forces.

Weil graduated from Kent State University and with his wife, Fran, made Dayton his home: first as an accountant and then in the commercial art business.

For years, Weil shared his story with students, at Holocaust-related programs, for college-level courses in the Dayton area, and as a docent for Prejudice and Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit, at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. He also recorded his testimony with the USC Shoah Foundation.

Later in life, when he moved to the Chicago area to be closer to his children and grandchildren, he was a speaker for the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie.

In a 2006 essay in The Observer, Weil wrote after a return visit to Frankfurt: "We realized how lucky we were to survive — to live our lives to the fullest, and to raise new families. We must be grateful to the Almighty for allowing us to take our place in society and carry on our ancient traditions which almost were destroyed and extinguished forever."

Panel with local rabbis on Israel

The Jewish Federation's Jewish Community Relations Council will host the panel discussion Israel — What's Next? at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 5 at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education. Moderated by JCRC Chair Bonnie Beaman Rice, the panel will feature area rabbis talking about the release from captivity in Gaza of the last 20 living hostages, the hurdles Israel and Jews across the world still face, and hopes for the future.

Panelists are Rabbi Leibel Agar, Beth Jacob Congregation; Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz, Temple Israel; Rabbi Judy Chessin, Temple Beth Or; Rabbi Aubrey Glazer, Beth Abraham Synagogue; and Rabbi Nochum Mangel, Chabad.

The Boonshoft CJCE is located at 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. Registration for this free event is required jewishdayton.org/event.

THE REGION

Appeals court orders Butler Co. to pay $1M verdict to fired Jewish magistrate

A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered Butler County, Ohio to pay the $1 million jury verdict to a former Butler County Common Pleas Court magistrate who claimed she was fired because she's Jewish, the Hamilton Journal-News reported Oct. 8. A U.S. District Court jury in Cincinnati sided with Kimberly Edelstein in the case against Common Pleas Court Judge Greg Stephens in February 2023.

Neo-Nazi flyers found in Richmond, Ind. area

Residents of Richmond, Ind. and neighboring Centerville, Ind. have reported seeing leaflets distributed in transparent plastic bags printed with "Aryan Freedom Network" on them, according to the Palladium-Item Sept. 23. The neo-Nazi group, Aryan Freedom Network, based in Texas, has a chapter in Indiana.

Hillel Academy fundraiser with Guinness-record holding magician

Magician Joshua Jay will perform two benefits for Hillel Academy, 2 and 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 2 at the University of Dayton Roger Glass Center for the Arts, 29 Creative Way, Dayton. Jay holds the Guinness World Record for the most selected cards found from a shuffled deck in one minute — 21. He's fooled Penn and Teller on their magic competition television series, Penn & Teller: Fool Us, and he's been named Magician of the Year by the Society of American Magicians. Tickets are $33-$78 and are available at daytonhillel.org/ events.

Felix Weil

Joshua Jay

Hadassah membership drive targets unaffiliated Jews, non-Jewish supporters of Israel

Through Dec. 31, Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, is in the midst of what Hadassah Dayton

Membership VP Louise Tincher calls an unprecedented membership drive.

Chapters across the country are reaching out to Jews who aren't affiliated with the Jewish community and to non-Jewish supporters of Israel.

"Historically, Hadassah grew organically, through friends and family of existing members," Tincher says. "That strategy no longer suffices."

The national membership drive features a social media campaign, #HadassahistheONE.

With a mission to advance women's health, Zionism, and to support Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, Hadassah has approximately 300,000 members in chapters across America.

In September, Newsweek named Hadassah Medical Organization one of the World's Best Specialized Hospitals in cardiology for the sixth consecutive year, and for the fifth consecutive year in oncology. Newsweek also recognized it in September as a World's Best Specialized Hospital for its use

before and during the Holocaust.

More than 300,000 students across the world have graduated from Hadassah-supported Youth Aliyah villages, a program that continues today.

Hadassah Dayton was founded 100 years ago, in 1925. Membership is open to women — with associate memberships for men — of all religions, ethnicities, and nationalities.

of smart technologies including AI, automation, robotics, and digital health tools.

"Just as has happened in the previous waves of hostage releases and care, Hadassah is poised and ready to assist the specialists at Sheba Medical Center...as the (final 20 living) hostages gently begin the process of healing and rehabilitation," Hadassah Dayton Health and Medicine VP Motyka Johnson notes.

American Jew Henrietta Szold founded Hadassah in 1912 after she saw starvation and disease among Jews living in Palestine. Its initial focus was on nursing.

In 1933, Szold established Hadassah's Youth Aliyah, to bring Jewish children from Nazi Germany to resettle in Palestine

The Dayton chapter's November event offers potential members the opportunity to meet current members.

As part of the JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series, the JCC Book Club, Hadassah, and Washington-Centerville Public Library will partner for a talk by bestselling novelist Barbara Josselsohn at the Woodbourne Library, 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 9. Josselsohn will discuss the third and final book in her Sisters of War series, The Forgotten Italian Restaurant.

Registration for the free program is required at jewishdayton.org/events. Woodbourne Library is located at 6060 Far Hills Ave., Centerville.

For more information about Hadassah Dayton, email hadassahdayton@gmail.com.

— Marshall Weiss

Freed hostage Bar Kuperstein: Captors beat us and ‘said it was because of Ben Gvir’

Says he resents that far-right national security minister bragged about harsh conditions imposed on Palestinian security prisoners; Ben Gvir claims press siding with Hamas.

By Times of Israel Staff

Former hostage Bar Kuperstein, who was released from captivity on Oct. 13 as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, said his Hamas captors beat him so severely he couldn’t walk for a month as an “eye for an eye” reaction to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s treatment of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails.

In a clip aired Oct. 26 of a

full interview broadcast by the Kan public broadcaster on Oct. 28, Kuperstein said he resented how the ultranationalist Ben Gvir touted the Palestinian prisoners’ worsened living conditions, as the minister’s bragging had made life harder for the hostages.

“How did you let them abuse us? You’re a government minister…you’re supposed to care for us. Why aren’t you caring for us?” asked Kuperstein of Holon, who was abducted

from the Nova music festival during the Hamas onslaught of Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Ben Gvir, who has consistently opposed any ceasefire and hostage release deals with Hamas, released a video statement in response to Kuperstein’s remarks in which he accused the Israeli press of siding with Hamas.

“I embrace Bar Kuperstein and all the returning hostages, but the Israeli media is adopting Hamas’s narrative,” said the minister, whose comments on Palestinian prisoners have, according to testimonies from other freed hostages upon their return, led to other cases of the captives being beaten.

“Hamas did not need an excuse on Oct. 7 to come in, murder, rape, abuse, burn babies,” said Ben Gvir. “All these things happened long before the changes in the jails.”

Ben Gvir said he had wanted to make the changes to the treatment of Palestinian prisoners prior to Oct. 7, but that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prevented him from doing so.

Furthermore, he claimed that the Shin Bet security agency has since said that his decision to publicize the harsh treatment of Palestin-

ian security prisoners in Israeli prisons resulted in “a decrease in terror attacks and Hamas being deterred.”

Contrary to his claim, Shin Bet statistics have shown that Ben Gvir’s time in office has been marred by a significant rise in terror attacks.

‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’

Kuperstein, in the clip released by Kan, said his captors would intentionally withhold food from him for days at a time, despite having enough food to keep themselves satiated.

said. “There was a guy, who we called Shchorzik — his job, and he also said this, ‘I’m here to see you’re not treated too well.”

Around the 270th day of his two-year captivity, Kuperstein said, “they came to us and just…rained blows on us. They stood us against the wall and really beat us up.”

'They broke several bones in my feet, and I couldn't walk on them for a month or something.'

“We didn’t see them eating. They were in their own room. But you could see it on their bodyweight — you get smaller and they’re getting bigger,” he

“They said, it’s because of Ben Gvir — you’ll get what he does to our prisoners, ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’” he said. “They repeated that a bunch more times, came and beat us up.”

“About a week later, I remember they took me to their room — eyes blindfolded, of course — and the moment I came in I got two blows like this, right to the face, cymbals, really,” he said, miming a pair of cymbals being crashed together. “I fell to the floor from the force.”

“They pulled me by the legs the entire length of the room, and they’re stepping (on me) and really humiliating (me) as much as they could,” Kuperstein said.

He said his captors then tied him by his legs to a pole, at which point one of them addressed him in Hebrew, saying: “Until now we haven’t done anything. Now you’ll feel on your flesh what our prisoners feel (in Israel).”

“When (my) knees were being tied I said… ‘What are they going to do? Chop off my legs?…Could this be the end?’ My life started flashing before my eyes,” said Kuperstein. Then, he said, his captors beat

Released hostage Bar Kuperstein speaks to the Kan public broadcaster in an except released Oct. 26, 2025.

Former hostage Bar Kuperstein, draped in Israeli flag, reunites with his father, Tal (in wheelchair), and mother, Julie (sunglasses), following his release from captivity, Oct. 13.

GPO

his legs and feet.

“I remember I even put my right leg on my left so that they would only hit one leg, so that I’d at least have one leg left,” Kuperstein said.

“They broke several bones in my feet, and I couldn’t walk on them for a month or something,” he says.

Asked if he was angry at Ben Gvir, Kuperstein said he was angry that the harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israel was done so publicly.

“I was angry about the fact that it went out to the press. How things like that — even if they happen, I don’t know if it’s screw-ups or not — why it goes out to the press when you know we’re in their hands,” Kuperstein said.

Kuperstein was among the last 20 living hostages who were released on Oct. 13 as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The remains of 13 slain hostages, including a soldier killed fighting in the 2014 Gaza war, are still in Gaza.

Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Prison Service in his

capacity as national security minister, has repeatedly railed against what he describes as luxury items provided to Palestinian security prisoners.

Early in his tenure, he moved to ban fresh pita from being served behind bars and limited shower times for inmates. In the wake of the Oct. 7 assault, he ordered new restrictions, including overcrowding

and the removal of beds.

In September, in what was seen as a clear rebuke of Ben Gvir, the High Court of Justice found in a two-to-one vote that the state has failed to fulfill its legal obligations to adequately feed Palestinian security prisoners, and ordered it to take steps to provide such prisoners with enough food “to enable a basic existence.”

Released hostage Bar Kuperstein after he was handed over to the IDF after over two years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, Oct. 13.

THE NATION

Ted Cruz calls on Christians to confront right-wing antisemitism as it flares among Republicans

Flurry of conservative voices urges the right to police its own.

By Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA

Sen. Ted Cruz used his keynote address at a major gathering for Christian supporters of Israel Oct. 21 to warn of “a growing cancer” of antisemitism on the right, which he said church leaders are failing to address.

“I’m here to tell you, in the last six months, I have seen antisemitism rising on the right in a way I have never seen in my entire life,” Cruz said, speaking at a megachurch in San Antonio, led by John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, which claims to have more than 10 million members.

He continued, “The work that CUFI does is desperately, desperately needed, but I’m here to tell you, the church is asleep right now.”

In the days around Cruz’s speech at Hagee’s 45th annual Night to Honor Israel, a cluster of conservative voices made similar appeals, arguing that antisemtism inside parts of the right can no longer be waved away as fringe. Essays

in The Free Press and Tablet mapped how extremist figures and ideas have been normalized and the Jewish educational center and think tank Tikvah warned of a “clear faction” hostile to Israel and Judaism.

In The Free Press, conservative columnist Eli Lake published an essay titled How Nick Fuentes Went Mainstream, arguing that the far-right activist — long shunned for racist and antisemitic rhetoric — has lately been welcomed by a roster of popular podcasts and livestreams. In Lake’s telling, the “stigma” around Fuentes has “melted away,” an index of how the Overton window has shifted inside parts of the online right.

At Tablet, a first-person essay by a libertarian insider headlined Hitler Is Back in Style, traced what the author describes as a libertarian-to-alt-right pipeline that, over the past decade, normalized conspiratorial thinking about Jews and open flirtations with Hitler apologetics. The piece is both confessional and diagnostic, naming podcast ecosystems and ideological crosscurrents that, the author argues, have turned “antiwar” rhetoric into reflexive

anti-Israel sentiment and a broader hostility to Jews.

Meanwhile, Tikvah, one of the most prominent right-wing groups in the Jewish world, noted in an email to supporters Oct. 23 that it has tracked the same trend.

“Today, there is a clear faction of the right that is overtly hostile to Israel and to Judaism. And though small, it is no

longer marginal or possible to ignore,” wrote Avi Snyder, a senior director at Tikvah

The organization pointed to a body of essays it began publishing in 2023, warning that some on the right were reviving old suspicions about Jewish loyalty, casting the U.S.-Israel alliance as a trap, and disputing the moral superiority of the Allied fight in World War II.

In the background is the aftershock of Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, which unleashed a torrent of conspiracies that quickly turned antisemitic in parts of the right’s online ecosystem. Fact-checkers documented a flood of false claims, while some influencers toyed with theories about Israeli or “Mossad” involvement — rhetoric with enough popular traction that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, felt compelled to issue a rebuttal. The swirl reinforced how fast fringe ideas migrate in today’s media sphere, even as prosecutors in Utah have charged a suspect and outlined a motive that has nothing to do with Israel.

In his speech, Cruz noted he has talked to Netanyahu about declining

RYTERBAND LECTURE SERIESS

NOVEMBER 2

BRIAN HAYS

Acting Director, Dayton VA Medical Center

Past, Present, and Future of the Dayton VA

NOVEMBER 9

FRED KROME

Professor of History, University of Cincinnati Clermont College

‘The past is never dead. It is not even past:’ The Contemporary Relevance of the Dreyfus Affair.

NOVEMBER 23

DR. SAM DORF

Alumni Endowed Chair in the Humanities & Professor of Music,UD

Stepping Down to Stand Up: Fighting Antisemitism and Hate on College Campuses, at the ADL, and Beyond

Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio during the Night to Honor Israel, Oct. 21.

Screenshot

support for Israel on the right — and that the two men see the issue differently.

He recounted a recent conversation with the Israeli prime minister, saying that Netanyahu’s first instinct was to chalk much of it up to foreign amplification from places like Qatar and Iran — bots and paid misinformation networks.

Cruz pushed back: “I said, ‘Mr. Prime Minister, yes, but no. Yes, Qatar and Iran are clearly paying for it, and there are bots, and they are putting real money behind it, but I am telling you, this is real, it is organic, these are real human beings, and it is spreading.’”

Later in his address, Cruz highlighted the drift’s theological dimension. He warned of a resurgence of replacement theology, which he characterized as a “lie that the promises God made to Israel and the people of Israel are somehow no longer good, they are no longer valid.”

According to replacement theology, the Israelites were supplanted as God’s chosen people once the Christian church was founded.

Cruz didn’t blame anyone by name, but his comments come as figures with long records of inflammatory commentary toward Jews or Israel have continued to gain oxygen. Fuentes has rebounded from ostracism to highvisibility bookings; Tucker Carlson draws millions of viewers amplifying

THE NATION

narratives that edge into Jew-baiting; and Candace Owens’ conspiratorial comments about Israel continue to pull audiences.

Together they form a feedback loop in which algorithmic reach and controversy reward edgier takes — and make it harder for party actors to draw lines.

Adding to the fray is the Young Republicans leak, a Politico exposé of a Telegram chat where early-career GOP activists traded racist slurs, joked about gas chambers, and praised Hitler. The episode prompted firings, the shutdown of state Young Republican chapters and bipartisan condemnation.

But Vice President J.D. Vance downplayed the messages as immature “jokes” and urged critics to “grow up,” a stance that itself has become part of the debate over whether the right will police its own.

Soon after Kirk’s assassination, Rich Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a veteran of Republican politics, urged more policing on the right. In a post on X, he called on conservatives to stop booking Carlson, calling the former Fox News host’s posture toward Jews and Israel “a disease that is poisoning the Republican Party.”

He added, “It needs to be met with a decision by those we call ‘leaders’ to stop platforming him (and those who echo such vile sentiments).”

Bernie Sanders downplays Graham Platner’s

Nazi tattoo: ‘There might be one or two more important issues'

By Andrew Lapin, JTA

After Graham Platner, the progressive Senate hopeful running in Maine’s Democratic primary, revealed that he had had a Nazi-inspired tattoo on his chest for nearly two decades, several of his allies on the left cut him loose.

One who hasn’t: Vermont’s Jewish senator, Bernie Sanders.

“Between you and me, there might be one or two more important issues,” the elder statesman of the progressive movement told Axios

That popularity was shaken following the recent revelation of Platner’s old Reddit posts, in which he made comments disparaging various groups.

Sanders also said he “absolutely” stood by his endorsement of Platner. Sanders has backed Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer, since soon after the latter announced his Senate bid this August.

Platner’s anti-establishment platform, which includes embracing many progressive policies Sanders helped popularize, had made him a rising star despite his lack of any political experience. Platner has also taken a hard line against Israel.

Opening October 18, 2025 | Union Terminal

Presented by Cincinnati Museum Center and the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. brings more than 500 original artifacts and 400 photographs to Cincinnati’s Union Terminal. The groundbreaking exhibition traces the history of Auschwitz, exploring how an ordinary town became the site of one of the greatest atrocities in human history. Personal belongings of victims and survivors, architectural remnants from the camp, and rare historical objects reveal the human stories behind this global tragedy.

In an effort to get ahead of the opposition, Platner then himself revealed that he sported a skull-and-crossbones chest tattoo resembling an S.S. Totenkopf.

He said he paid for it in 2007 while “inebriated” with fellow Marines in Croatia, and claimed he hadn’t known it was affiliated with Nazis (though subsequent reporting has suggested he knew it was a Totenkopf).

“I’m not a secret Nazi,” Platner said Oct. 20. He initially did not apologize for or suggest he would remove the tattoo.

“He went through some very difficult experiences in the military as a machine gunner, seeing his friends killed," Sanders told Axios. "I suspect that Graham Platner is not the only American to have gone through a dark period.”

Following pushback, Platner did cover up the tattoo with a different design he referred to as a “Celtic knot with some imagery around dogs.”

Just steps away from the exhibition Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away, the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center takes the experience further, connecting the history of Auschwitz to powerful, personal stories of Holocaust survivors who rebuilt their lives in Cincinnati.

Located within Union Terminal, we are the only Holocaust museum in the country with an authentic connection to our historic space, the very place where local survivors began their new lives in freedom.

Sen. Bernie Sanders

LETTERS

Which Israel?

The "truckloads" of money Qatar delivered Hamas with Netanyahu's blessing before Oct. 7, 2023 was used by Hamas to buy rockets, munitions, pay its fighters, buy tons of raw materials imported through Egypt’s Sinai peninsula to build a complicated labyrinth of tunnels in which our hostages were held.

Had Netanyahu realized that Hamas wasn’t going to spend all that money to buy cigarettes, he wouldn’t have gambled to extend his fruitless political life in the Jewish state. His miscalculations gave us the brutal massacre of Jews on Oct. 7.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton's CEO says (October Observer): “As a Jewish Federation, we stand with Israel, with the right for Israel to exist and to defend...”

Which Israel? The once democratic Israel or the Israel that Netanyahu now leads blindly with his unseen Orthodox Jews who would rather die than serve in the Israeli Defense Forces?

We lost our pride, our valor. By stressing civility, learning, and dialogue, I stress that Netanyahu and his pariah government damaged the Israeli esteem.

— Victor Goldstein, Dayton

'City upon a hill' no longer shines

We have forgotten what is really important and are failing each other so miserably it is beyond belief. We still have time to save the world if only we care. We are at war with each other on so many fronts. Climate change is very real. Floods, fires, wind, storms, and more hurricanes wreck our world. People die in wars. Everybody wants something, no matter the outcomes. Always, people climb over each other. Politicians don't recognize what we do to each other. They only care about getting their own way — destroying people as we go from day to day.

Where have our morals gone? What happened to watching out for our children? Nobody really cares anymore. We are a society that is all for me and nothing for anyone else.

Where are the politicians who used to work toward a better good? We don't have the health care we relied upon to keep us healthy. Now, we have people in high places that have disputed all we hold dear.

I am so fearful that over the next few years this "Shining city upon a hill" we used to believe in will disappear. There will always be people who break the laws. They need to be judged and adjudicated by the laws that we have respected in the past.

People that came to this country and believed in a better life should not be afraid to walk down the street only to be picked up by masked men with no real identification. Our Democratic-run cities are attacked because the leaders of those cities are perceived to be enemies of the leader of our country. When did we become so afraid, so militaristic that the citizens of these United States are terrified of being taken away?

My grandparents came to the United States and lived productive lives. They escaped the pogroms in Russia, and we are still terrorized by the same country. We need to be in prayer for all the leaders and people of this country and the world, because the "city upon the hill" no longer shines.

Leah Patiala,

Beavercreek

So, what do you think?

OPINION

My Jewish studies students aren’t talking about Israel or antisemitism. They told me why.

A professor at Tulane unpacks her surprising discovery.

By Ilana M. Horwitz

I first noticed something was off on the first day of class. I had given my students in my Sociology of American Jewish life course at Tulane University blank index cards, asking them to write five words they associate with American Jews.

The word antisemitism didn’t appear once, and neither did Israel.

Last week, it happened again. When I asked students to choose topics from the 2020 Pew report on American Jews for small group discussions, no one chose antisemitism or Israel.

What was going on? Antisemitism dominates conversations among layleaders, philanthropists and academics. Universities are launching new antisemitism studies centers.

Yet here were 20 Jewish studies students avoiding the subject. The Hillel director confirmed he’d seen the same pattern: low attendance at events on these topics.

So I turned to my students — almost all Jewish themselves — and asked them to write anonymous reflections on this pattern. I wanted them to help me understand what felt like a significant shift from previous years, when these topics dominated classroom discussions.

Here is what I learned:

My students are exhausted. Not physically tired, but soul-weary from the constant barrage of antisemitism they encounter online.

“Seeing constant antisemitism and anti-Zionism has just made me so tired of it that it’s easier to ignore,” one wrote. “When I’m in Jewish spaces, I prefer to focus on the positive things… because it feels like antisemitism is a battle we’re already losing.”

so contentious that it’s “a very sensitive time period because of Oct. 7,” making people hesitant to speak up even in Jewish spaces.

One student noted that discussing Israel has become “a dividing point even within the Jewish community,” creating rifts with family members and friends.

The pressure to be perfectly informed weighs heavily on them. ‘I don’t feel as educated on that, and in most contexts, I don’t want to bring it up because I don’t want to say the wrong thing by accident,’ one student confessed. They feel caught between the expectation to have authoritative opinions as Jews and their honest uncertainty about complex issues.

Another described finding it ‘hard to delve into’ topics when unsure if they’re conveying accurate information. This burden of representation — the unspoken expectation that every Jewish student must be an articulate defender of their people — has become another silencing force.

I don’t take this silence as apathy, but rather about self-preservation. My students are keenly aware that even among close friends, there might be hidden antisemitism. They’ve learned to perform constant risk assessments about when and where it’s safe to express their views.

What struck me most was their desire to reclaim Jewish identity from being primarily defined by hatred against Jews.

They see antisemitism everywhere on social media — on Instagram, TikTok, even in comment sections barely related to Jewish topics. It’s become so normalized that one student admitted they “don’t even get surprised anymore when I see crazy antisemitism.”

Another described it as being talked about “on the news so much as well as talked about in everyday life” that bringing it down further in class feels redundant.

But perhaps most revealing was this: They want their Jewish studies classroom to be different. “When I am in class, I enjoy learning about new topics and not about topics that I already talk about and experience every single day,” one student explained.

Another put it more bluntly: “I don’t want the thing I bring up when talking about Judaism to be antisemitism in a class setting, where it is something we deal with all the time outside of it.”

The Israel conversation has become even more fraught. Students described being paralyzed by the fear of “saying the wrong thing by accident.” The topic has become

As one observed, people are either intensely engaged with these topics or “have little to no interest talking about it…and don’t feel comfortable sharing their opinions.”

What struck me most was their desire to reclaim Jewish identity from being primarily defined by hatred against Jews. These young Jews want to explore their heritage, culture, and traditions without every conversation circling back to those who despise them.

They’re not in denial — they know antisemitism exists. They’re just tired of it taking up so much space in their Jewish lives.

This generational shift matters. While Jewish institutions pour resources into combating antisemitism and defending Israel — crucial work, to be clear — our young people are signaling they need something more. They need spaces where being Jewish isn’t synonymous with being embattled. They need opportunities to engage with Jewish life, learning, and culture on its own terms.

My classroom revelation taught me this: If we want to engage the next generation, we need to balance necessary vigilance with joyful exploration of what makes Jewish life meaningful. Our students aren’t abandoning the fight — they’re asking for the chance to remember what we’re fighting for.

Ilana M. Horwitz is assistant professor of Jewish studies and sociology and Fields-Rayant Chair in Contemporary Jewish Life at Tulane University. Her 2022 book, God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success, won the ASA Sociology of Religion Distinguished Book Award. Distributed by JTA.

November 2025

Hillel Academy Tiny Tinkerers STEAM Kitchen

Sunday, November 9, 10 – 11:30AM

Hillel Academy 305 Sugar Camp Circle, 3rd floor Dayton, Ohio 45409

Cooking and science through a Jewish lens with stories and art sprinkled on top … all designed for little hands and little minds!

FOR TOTS AGES 2-4 & AN ADULT

UPCOMING EVENTS

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 6:30 - 8:30PM

Junior Youth Group Goes to Scene75

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2 - 4PM

CABS – Barbara Josselsohn, The Forgotten Italian Restaurant

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 9AM - 1PM

Medicare Check-up Day with OSHIIP

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 9:15AM - 12:15PM

Community Religious School

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 3:30 - 7PM

JCC Boomers Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's Westcott House

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1 - 2PM

CABS – JBC Zoom Event with Angela Buchdahl

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 6:30 - 9PM

CABS – Bill Rabinowitz, Buckeye Brotherhood

In partnership with Jewish Federation’s Men’s Philanthropy

Connect with us! Check out our events. For

Community Religious School

Sunday, November 16, 9:15AM – 12:15PM Temple Israel 130 Riverside Drive, Dayton, 45405

Join our community for a morning of Jewish education for children in preschool through eighth grade as we explore Israeli culture. Students will choose sessions that explore a variety of personal connections to the land and people of Israel. A kosher snack will be provided.

RSVP through your synagogue religious school or by email to Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net for families not currently enrolled in religious school. RSVP online at jewishdayton.org/events

November 2025

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Goes to Scene75

Saturday, November 8, 6:30 – 8:30PM at Scene75 • 6196 Poe Avenue, Dayton, 45414

Get ready for an epic night at Scene75! Your ticket scores you 2 hours of unlimited attractions and a $10 game card to spend on your favorite games. The fun starts at 6:30PM – so don’t forget to eat dinner first because you’ll want all your energy for laser tag battles, racing go-karts, and hanging out with awesome new friends!

The Junior Youth Group is open to all Jewish youth in 5th through 7th grade. Chaperones will be on hand to ensure your youth are safe and supported.

Tickets are $30 per person. Contact Jennifer Holman at jholman@jfgd.net to RSVP.

Dayton Chapter/KIO Region

FALL CALENDAR

Friendsgiving November 2, 6-7:30PM

BBYO Bake Sale November 4, 3-5PM

Global Shabbat Dinner December 12, 6-7:30PM

Chanukah Pajama Party December 21, 6-7:30PM

BBYO is looking for advisors 21 years and older. If you are interested in becoming an advisor or would like more information about BBYO, please contact Jennifer Holman at jholman@jfgd.net or 937-401-1550.

Kentucky Indiana Ohio Region Email: kio@bbyo.org Instagram: @kiobbyo

At Camp Shalom, we warmly nurture the qualities that create lasting friendships: kindness, empathy, bravery, trust, and communication. Winter Camp Shalom is packed with adventures, from exciting field trips that include The IMAX Theatre and Newport Aquarium. Every day brings something new: cooking projects, arts and crafts, STEM explorations, and fun indoor sports.

Winter Camp Schedule

December 22-26

December 29 - January 2, 2026

Closed December 25 and January 1

Hours:

Camp day 9AM - 4PM

Rise & Shine 8 - 9AM

Stay & Play 4 - 5:30PM

Cost:

$200 per 4-day week or $75 a day

Rise & Shine $5 per day

Stay & Play $7 per day

For more information or enrollment, please contact Jennifer Holman at jholman@jfgd.net or 937-401-1550.

Monday, December 22 • Chanukah Heroes

Join us for a festive day filled with sports, creative crafts, dreidel games, and the delicious tradition of cooking (and tasting!) latkes.

Tuesday, December 23 • Newport Aquarium Field Trip

Your camper will dive into an underwater world, meet thousands of amazing aquatic animals, and get hands-on as they touch stingrays, sharks, crabs, and more.

Wednesday, December 24 • Arctic Adventures

Campers will dive into a frosty day of fun—making their own ice cream in a bag, competing in exciting “icy” sports, and creating frozen-themed crafts.

Thursday, December 25 • Closed

Friday, December 26 • Pajama Jam under the Stars

Wear your favorite PJs and get ready for a cosmic adventure!

Monday, December 29 • Mad Science Day

Awaken your inner mad scientist with a day full of hands-on experiments and wacky STEM-inspired games.

Tuesday, December 30 • USAF Museum and IMAX Theatre Field Trip

Campers will enjoy a thrilling IMAX screening followed by exciting team scavenger hunts throughout the museum.

Wednesday, December 31 • Shine Bright Party

Close out 2025 by showing o your brightest, truest self! Come dressed in your most colorful clothes and let your wacky side shine with crazy hair.

Thursday, January 1 • Closed

Friday, January 2 • Mitzvah Marathon

Campers will spend the day doing good deeds while having fund and enjoying a traditional camp experience.

November 2025

JEWISH

For Jewish athletes representing their communities

JOIN TEAM OHIO IN KANSAS CITY, KS!

August 2 - 7, 2026 for ages 13-17 must be 13 by August 1, 2026

SPORTS SPECIALTIES

Boys 3x3 Baseball Basketball Dance Soccer Softball Star Reporter Swimming Tennis Track Girls Volleyball

Join Jewish teen athletes from across the globe for an Olympic-style sports experience. Be part of the magic!

TOUR OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S WESTCOTT HOUSE

Sunday, November 16, 3:30 – 7PM

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House 85 South Greenmount Ave, Springfield, 45505

Docent-led tour from 3:30 – 5:00PM and then dinner at Casa Centro Modern Mexican (14 E. Main St, Springfield, 45502 ~ cost for dinner is on your own).

The Westcott House is a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Prairie style house in Springfield. The house was built in 1908 for Burton J. Westcott, his wife Orpha, and their family. The Westcott property is the only Prairie style house designed by Wright in the state of Ohio.

$18 per person. RSVP by November 7. Register online at jewishdayton/events or contact Stacy Emo at semo @jfgd.net or 937-610-5513.

LOOKING FOR A GREAT PRESCHOOL EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR CHILD?

The Jewish Community Center Preschool may be the place for you.

Our school provides:

• An eclectic curriculum that meets and exceeds The Ohio Learning and Developmental Standards.

• A warm and nurturing environment with low student/teacher ratios.

• Trained teachers that surpass required OCCRRA training hours.

• We are part of the SHEVA Learning Community, which is based on the Reggio Emilia Philosophy.

• Specialty instruction including movement, music, and art.

• Transportation to and from PVS & PVN for kindergarteners.

JCC Preschool enrollment is now open.

Please reach out to our director, Katie Lagasse, with questions or to schedule a tour at klagasse@jfgd.net or 937-610-1794.

Limited spaces are available in various classrooms.

JCC Preschool

Sunday, December 14 11:30AM – 1PM

Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459

Adults ~ Join the JCC, Jewish War Veterans Post 587, and Hadassah to celebrate Chanukah! There will be door prizes, Chanukah songs, and musical entertainment by Steve Wyke, Marc Gilbert, and Jese Shell.

Includes Kosher lunch of fresh salad with dressing, tuna salad, egg salad, potato latkes, sour cream, applesauce, bagels, cream cheese, fresh fruit salad, assortment of donuts and cookies, co ee, tea, and juice.

In the spirit of holiday giving, please bring canned goods for donation to the local food bank.

$20 per person. Register online by Monday, December 8 at jewishdayton.org/events

Questions? Contact Stacy Emo at 937-610-5513 or semo @jfgd.net

Jewish Community Center

November 2025

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials

JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND

In memory of Alvin Charme

Larry Charme

In memory of Judith Perlman

Lynn Foster

In memory of our dear friend, Lawrence Wagenfeld

James and Diane Duberstein

JOE BETTMAN MEMORIAL TZADIK AWARD

In memory of Joe Bettman’s sister, Elaine Pockrose

Elaine Bettman

Jean and Todd Bettman

CAROLE RABINOWITZ CAMP FUND

In honor of Cathy Gardner and Stacy Emo for a full and speedy recovery

Gary Holstine

In honor of Helen Markman for receiving the Jewish Family Services Volunteer of the Year award

Diane and Ralph Williams

In memory of Sandy Zipperstein

Phil and Louisa Dreety

JANE HOCHSTEIN JCC PROGRAMMING FUND

In honor of Connie Blum’s induction into the State of Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame

Judy Schwartzman and Mike Ja e

Let's do a

KNITZVAH

Calling all our crafty community members…Let’s do a KNITZVAH!

Monday, November 3 to Wednesday, November 26, JFS will welcome your hand-knitted, crocheted, or sewn donations of hats, scarves, lap blankets, socks, or gloves to help make our Chanukah outreach extra special (and fuzzy).

For questions or to schedule a drop-o , please contact Jacquelyn Archie, JFS administrative assistant, at jarchie@jfgd.net or 937-610-1555

TALA ARNOVITZ FUND

In honor of Beverly Saeks’ 90th birthday

Sherman and Nancy Kahn

Mark and Sharon Natarus

Debra and Michael Steinbuch

In honor of Beverly Saeks’ 90th birthday

and Bat Mitzvah

Dedra Perlmutter

Did you know you can honor a friend or family member through a Legacy, Tribute or Memorial?

A donation to one of the Jewish Foundation's many endowment funds benefits our Jewish community while honoring a loved one. For more information, please contact Janese R. Sweeny, Esq. CFRE, at 937-401-1542.

MEDICARE CHECK-UP DAYS

Learn ways to: Stay Informed. Stay Healthy. Save Money.

Friday, November 14, 9AM – 1PM

Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education (525 Versailles Drive, 45459) By appointment only.

Free Medicare Check-Up Day with the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP) in partnership with Jewish Family Services at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education Schedule an appointment by calling 937-610-1555.

Medicare counselors from the Ohio Department of Insurance will be on hand to sit down with you individually.

The Annual Medicare Enrollment Period is October 15 – December 7. Get tips on how to enroll for 2026 coverage in a Medicare prescription drug plan (Part D) and/or a Medicare health plan.

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES

In memory of Sandy Zipperstein

Je Kantor

CALENDAR

Classes

Beth Abraham Classes: Mon., Nov. 3, 6 p.m. Virtual class, Is Sacrifice Still Binding: Reimagining Israel through the Kaleidoscope of Post-10/7 Poetry w. Rabbi Glazer. Tues., Nov. 4, 11, 18, 25, 10 a.m.: Virtual course, Making of a Mensch: Jewish Virtue Ethics & Wise Living in Eyshet Chayil w. Rabbi Glazer & Rabbi Martin Cohen. Register at bethabrahamdayton.org/learn-study. 937-2939520.

Beth Jacob Classes: Call to register for classes, 937-2742149. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Torah Tuesdays w. Rabbi Agar on Zoom. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought w. Rabbi Agar on Zoom. Tuesdays, Nov. 4-Dec. 9, 10:30 a.m.: Hebrew Reading Crash Course w. Chaya Vidal in person. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp.

Chabad Classes: Mondays, Nov. 3-Dec. 1, 7 p.m.: $72. JLI-The Kabalah of Meaning, in person & Zoom. Register at chabaddayton.com/jli. 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., Nov. 8, 22, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study in person & Zoom. Thurs., Nov. 20, 6 p.m.: Navigating Loss w. Andy Chaet. Wed., Nov. 26, 7 p.m.: The Jewish Short Story, on Zoom w. Ruth Schumacher & Rebecca Carlson. Register at templebethor.com/calendar. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400.

Temple Israel Classes: Tuesdays, 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. Tues., Nov. 4, 18, 3 p.m.: Rabbi David Sofian Fall Lecture Series. RSVP. Wed., Nov. 5, 12, 19, 10 a.m.: Torah Study Commentary in person & Zoom. For Zoom info., email info@ tidayton.org. Fri., Nov. 7, 11 a.m.: Living w. Loss. Thurs., Nov. 13, 3:30: Living w. Ambiguous Loss. Sat., Nov. 15, 9:15

a.m.: Multi access Torah Study in person and Zoom. tidayton. org/calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-4960050.

Family

Chabad CKids Make Shabbat: Thurs., Nov. 6, 4 p.m. Free. Kids 3-13. Family Shabbat Dinner: Fri., Nov. 7, 5 p.m. $25 adults, kids free. RSVP for each at chabaddayton.com/rsvp. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

Hillel Academy Tiny Tinkerers STEAM Kitchen: Sun., Nov. 9, 10 a.m. Free. Ages 2-5 w. an adult. For more info., email Meryl Hattenbach, mhattenbach@daytonhillel.org. Register at jewishdayton.org/events. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

Beth Abraham Rhythm ‘N’ Ruach: Fri., Nov. 14, 5:30-6:15 p.m. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Youths

Junior Youth Group Goes to Scene75: Sat., Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m. $30. Grades 5-7. For more info. & RSVP, email Jennifer Holman, jholman@jfgd. net. Scene75, 6196 Poe Ave., Dayton.

Adults

Temple Israel’s Ryterband Lecture Series & Brunch: Sundays, 9:45 a.m. $10. Nov. 2: Brian Hayes, Past, Present & Future of the Dayton VA. Nov. 9: Fred Krome, The Contemporary Relevance of the Dreyfus Affair. Nov. 23: Samuel Dorf, Stepping Down to Stand Up: Fighting Antisemitism & Hate on College Campuses, at the ADL & Beyond. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.

Beth Abraham Rick Pinsky Brunch Speaker Series: Sponsored by Men's Club. Sundays, 10 a.m. $9. Nov. 2: Shaun Yu, Dayton Public Radio, Classical Music & Public Broadcasting. Nov. 9: Rabbi Aubrey Glazer, Writing an Ethical Will. Nov. 16: In Honor of Veterans Day. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. RSVP to 937-293-9520.

Intro. to Judaism: Tuesdays, Nov. 4-Feb. 24, 7 p.m. $36 for individuals & couples. In person & Zoom. Register at

jewishdayton.org/event/intro-tojudaism. For more info., email Rabbi Chessin, rabbichessin@ templbethor.com.

Community Conversations: Israel-What’s Next: Wed., Nov. 5, 6:30 p.m. Free. Moderated by Bonnie Beaman Rice. Panel discussion w. local rabbis. Registration required at jewishdayton.org/events. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937-610-1555.

Temple Israel Sacred Stitching: Tues., Nov. 11, 25, 11 a.m. Make items for donation w. JCRC’s Upstander initiative. For info. email Alexandria King, garyuzzking@hotmail.com. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960050.

UD Kristallnacht Observance: Wed., Nov. 12, 5 p.m. Speaker Renate Frydman. W. UD World Music Choir & members of Dayton Jewish Chorale. For more info., email Crystal Sullivan, csullivan1@udayton.edu. Immaculate Conception Chapel, 300 College Park Dr., Dayton.

Temple Israel's So a Rabbi Walks into a Bar: Thurs., Nov. 13, 5:30 p.m. W. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. Van Buren Room, 122 Van Buren St., Dayton.

Women

Chabad Women’s Circle Tea Party: Sun., Nov. 23, 9:45 a.m. $36. Followed by Rosh Codesh Society JLI Class, Lift Your Life. Register at chabaddayton.com/ cwc. 2001 Far Hills Ave, Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

Men

Temple Beth Or Men’s CircleGame Night: Wed., Nov. 12, 6 p.m. Free. RSVP at templebethor.com/calendar. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937435-3400.

Seniors

JFS Medicare Check-Up Day w. OSHIIP: Fri., Nov. 14, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. By appointment only. To RSVP call, 937-6101555. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville.

JCC Boomers Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House: Sun., Nov. 16, 3:30 p.m. $18, RSVP by Nov. 7 at jewishdayton.org/events. For

more info., email Stacy Emoff, semoff@jfgd.net. After tour, dinner at Casa Centro Modern Mexican at own cost. Westcott House, 85 South Greenmount Ave, Springfield. Casa Centro, 14 E. Main St., Springfield.

JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series

Full schedule on Page 28

Community

Temple Israel joins MultiFaith Service: Sat., Nov. 1, 3 p.m. Jews, Christians, Muslims, & Latter-day Saints. Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church, 3939 Stonebridge Rd., Kettering. 5:45 p.m.: Potluck dinner

at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 901 E Whipp Rd., Kettering. For info., call Temple Israel 937-4960050.

Hillel Academy Magic w. Joshua Jay: Sun., Nov. 2, 2 & 7 p.m. $34-$78. Register at daytonhillel.org/events. Roger Glass Center for the Arts, 29 Creative Way, Dayton.

Temple Israel Matzah Ball Soup Cook-Off: Sat., Nov. 15, after 10:30 a.m. Shabbat service. Pot-luck Shabbat lunch. For info., call 937-496-0050. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

Levant Music Studio

Classical & Irish Fiddle Lessons 937-361-8520 (text is best) levantmusicstudio.com

levantmusicstudio2020@gmail.com

All ages & levels

It is with great pleasure that Susan and David Joffe announce the engagement of their daughter Becky to Josh Friedberg. The couple resides in Scottsdale, Ariz. Becky started her own business in fashion consulting, Be Styled By Becky, and Josh works as a senior sales engineer for a large commercial HVAC company. Josh’s mother, Cyndi Dallas, also lives in the Phoenix area. The wedding will take place Aug. 30, 2026 at the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek, Colo.

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

The play Anschel by Michael London, based on the book Anschel’s Story by Renate Frydman, had its premiere at the JCC of Greater Columbus on Oct. 21.

MAZEL TOV!

The Dayton Holocaust Resource Center’s founder and director, Renate published the book in 2017. It’s her late husband’s story of survival in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Told in the first person, it relates how Anschel “Charlie” Frydman stayed alive as a slave laborer and then as a partisan fighter, when he was only a youth, after his parents and two sisters were murdered.

London, a member of the Ohio Playwrights Circle, adapted the book into a one-person play with grants from the Leon Norman and Mildred Miriam Nizny Memorial Fund and the Eleanor and John Kautz Fund of The Dayton Foundation.

The Dayton Holocaust Resource Center partnered with the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton on a series of three readings here last year.

Funding for the Columbus production came from the Frydman family, the

Ticho Fund, and the Ohio Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission. Students attended the 90-minute play for free — Renate's goal for all future productions.

“I realize more and more as the years pass how strong he was as a young man," Renate told The Columbus Jewish News. "Young people today can feel like they have no power. But I hope after they see this story, they can see that even a young person can have resilience. They can find it in themselves. There is so much resilience in the human spirit.”

She plans to bring Anshel to Dayton in March 2026.

Attorney David Pierce, shareholder and chair of the litigation/labor and employment departments at Coolidge Wall, has been selected as Lawyer of the Year for Dayton by his peers in The Best Lawyers in America 2026. The honor is awarded to the lawyer with the high-

est overall peer feedback in a specific region each year.

Danielle Zeisloft, senior program coordinator in the Division of Prevention & Early Intervention Services at the Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services Board, co-led the presentation, The PROTECT Initiative: A Collaborative Approach to Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences, at the Ohio Society for Public Health Education 2025 Health Educator's Institute. PROTECT is a program of Montgomery County ADAMHS and the county's Childhood Trauma Advisory Council.

Allyson Jacob is directing Dayton Playhouse's next production, the 1982 backstage British farce Noises Off, onstage Nov. 7-16.

Allyson Jacob

Renate Frydman

David Pierce

Danielle Zeisloft

WORSHIP SERVICES

Beth Abraham Synagogue

Conservative

Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer

Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 937-293-9520. bethabrahamdayton.org

Beth Boruk Temple 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., Dayton. 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org

Chabad of Greater Dayton Rabbi Nochum Mangel

Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon. Beginner educational service Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com

Temple Anshe Emeth Reform

Worship led by Jese Shell Sat., Nov. 1, 10 a.m. Fri., Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. 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. templebethsholom.net

Temple Israel Reform

Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fri., Nov. 7, 6 p.m. Fridays, Nov. 21, 28, 6:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 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.

RELIGION

Intro to Judaism

The Synagogue Forum of Greater Dayton presents its 14-session Introduction to Judaism course on Tuesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. beginning Nov. 4 and running through Feb. 24.

The annual class is open to anyone interested in Jewish learning, dialogue, and exploration. Some sessions are held at local synagogues and temples, some via Zoom; all sessions are available online. It offers an in-depth look at Judaism from Conservative, Orthodox, and Reform perspectives.

Instructors are Beth Abraham Synagogue's Rabbi Aubrey Glazer, Beth Jacob Congregation's Rabbi Leibel Agar, Temple Beth Or's Rabbi Judy Chessin, and Temple Israel's Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz.

Topics include God and theology, theodicy (the problem of evil in the world), sacred texts, peoplehood, Zionism, Jewish history, personal observance, life cycles, Shabbat, community, holidays, prayer and liturgy, antisemitism, and the Holocaust.

Registration is $36 for an individual or couple. For more information or to enroll, email Chessin at rabbichessin@templebethor.com.

UD Kristallnacht observance

The University of Dayton will hold its annual Kristallnacht Remembrance, 5 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 12 at the Immaculate Conception Chapel.

Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass — Nov. 9 and 10, 1938 in Nazi Germany — is considered the start of the Holocaust.

Dayton Holocaust Resource Center Director Renate Frydman will share her reflections as part of the program.

Assistant Prof. Ryu-Kung Kim will conduct UD’s World Music Choir and members of the Dayton Jewish Chorale. For more information, contact UD Executive Director of Campus Ministry Crystal Sullivan at csullivan1@udayton.edu.

Beth Abraham Making of a Mensch class

Beth Abraham Synagogue's Rabbi Aubrey Glazer will join in conversation with Rabbi Martin Cohen (emeritus of Shelter Rock Jewish Center, Roslyn, N.Y.) for the interactive fourweek virtual course Making of a Mensch: Jewish Virtue Ethics & Wise Living in Eyshet Chayil, 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, Nov. 4-25.

The culmination of the Book of Proverbs, Eyshet Chayil (Woman of Valor, 31:10-31) presents a model of virtue ethics. This course explores integrating these virtues into work, family, community, and spirituality.

The cost is $48 nonmembers, $36 members. Register at bethabrahamdayton.org/learn-study.

Temple Israel Matzah Ball Soup Cook-Off

Following its 10:30 a.m. Shabbat service on Saturday, Nov. 15, Temple Israel will present its potluck Matzah Ball Soup Cook-Off. Those who wish to compete should bring a pot of matzah ball soup; everyone else is asked to bring a side dish. For more information, call the temple at 937-496-0050.

Temple Beth Or Future Fund

Honoring Rabbi Judy Chessin

For November Shabbat candlelighting times and Torah portions, see Page 27

For four decades, Rabbi Judy Chessin has been the heart and soul of Temple Beth Or. As our founding and Dayton’s longestserving rabbi since 1985, she has guided our congregation with wisdom, warmth, and unwavering dedication.

SUPPORTING OUR FUTURE NEEDS & GROWTH

Help to ensure Rabbi Chessin’s vision continues to shape and uplift generations to come through four key pillars:

CLERGY & STAFFING EDUCATION PROGRAMS

SECURITY, BUILDING & GROUNDS

SCAN THE QR CODE TO MAKE A ONE-TIME GIFT OR TO PLEDGE A RECURRING GIFT Give at any level to support our future. Contact Temple Beth Or to learn more.

TO MAKE YOUR PLEDGE, please complete our PLEDGE FORM online at templebethor.com/futurefund or return the form to the Temple Office.

5275 Marshall Rd, Dayton, OH 45429 (937) 435-3400 | templebethor.com

TBODayton / @templebethor3795

What, if not golems?

In the news — a new series

“AI-Powered Echocardiography Revolutionizes Cardiovascular Disease Care.”

"Concerns grow as AI-generated videos spread hate, racism online: ‘No safety rules.’”

“Purdue’s AI and Imaging Breakthrough: A New Era for Flawless Semiconductor Chips.”

“Nearly a third of Americans have had a ‘romantic relationship’ with an AI bot, new survey says.”

“AI glasses foster independence for visually-impaired people.”

“Experimental PromptLock ransomware uses AI to encrypt, steal data.”

These headlines from recent weeks are a sample of the everexpanding news coverage of artificial intelligence.

Formerly a low-profile specialized technology, AI became a global topic of discussion in 2022 with the public release of AI-powered ChatGPT.

Its revolutionary ability to engage in coherent, conversational dialogue allows even non-tech-savvy users to interact with AI on their digital devices simply by giving clear instructions — prompts — for

specific tasks including creative writing, problem-solving, skills development, business planning, and research assistance.

Since its launch, ChatGPT’s abilities have skyrocketed, inspiring other equally stunning advances in AI, from voice-based communication to advanced reasoning and learning from experience, to taking action autonomously to achieve complex, multistep goals.

It’s clear from headlines and recent developments that this rapidly expanding technology offers endless benefits and also raises serious concerns.

But the interest and issues generated by today’s AI aren’t new. They were already evident in Isaac Asimov’s 1950s science fiction short story collection and the 2004 silver screen blockbuster it inspired, I, Robot.

Both creative works reflected a growing preoccupation with the increasingly complex relationship between humans, robots, and AI, and escalating concerns about the moral, ethical, political, and practical implications of creating ever more complex and capable machines.

a single sentence, “What are the computers and robots of our time if not golems?”

“Golems, it must be admitted, do not play a prominent role in Jewish thought generally,” philosopher and writer Charles Rubin notes, “and even in Jewish mystical thought specifically their role is small.”

In the entire Bible there’s only a single golem reference, where it means an unformed or incomplete substance.

This scarcity is notable in rabbinic literature as well, where a golem is described in Ethics of the Fathers as “a clod lacking the defining characteristics of the wise man.”

Centuries later, Rabbi Yochanan bar Nappacha chronicled the first hours of the biblical Adam from his creation as a golem to his expulsion from the Garden as a human, a series that emphasizes the potential for calamitous failure as Adam becomes independent and exercises his free will.

We would be wise to glean the wisdom of the golem stories.

In that same era, the Babylonian scholar Rava suggested that a righteous person could create a human and proceeded to do so using his mystical abilities.

In an interview with The New York Times in 1984, the Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer expressed these preoccupations and concerns in

But when spoken to, it was unable to reply, so the golem was returned to the dust, illustrating the potential and limitations of human power.

Golem legends multiplied during the Middle Ages and beyond, evolving into tales of wise men and mystics creating human-like clay figures and bringing them to life using sacred words.

The most widely-known of the legends involves the Talmudic scholar Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal, of 16th-century Prague. A master of the mystical knowledge of Kabalah, the Maharal fashioned a golem from river mud, bringing it to life by placing a parchment with the Divine Name in its mouth (or in other versions, inscribing the word emet, truth, on its forehead.)

During the day, the Golem did chores at the rabbi’s command, for it only obeyed its creator.

At night, it walked the Jewish ghetto’s streets, guarding against pogroms and other threats to the community.

One Shabbat, Rabbi Loew forgot to deactivate the Golem and, without direction, it began a destructive rampage.

Distraught, the rabbi removed the Name from the Golem’s mouth, (or alternately, erased the first letter of emet to create the word met, dead), and the creature reverted back into clay, later hidden in the

Literature to share

Eat Small Plates by Ben and Zikki Siman-Tov. If you’re looking for colorful, delicious, healthy, make-ahead dishes for family or large gatherings, Eat Small Plates is a real find. It’s packed with over 100 recipes from around the world, all curated for the home cook, illustrated with gorgeous photos, and includes suggestions for food pairings and presentation. Whether you’re looking for breads and spreads or veggies and bites or sweets with little or no sugar, you’ll find multiple unique, tasty recipes here.

A Dragon for Hanukkah by Sarah Mlynowski. Playful, brightly-colored illustrations in this picture book turn the eight nights of the Festival of Lights into a magical, celebration that only begins with a dragon. Each night features a fantastical gift that awakens the imagination and ultimately leads to a surprise ending. And along the way, the joyous messages of giving and receiving, sharing, celebrating, and family jump off the page.

synagogue attic.

The story warns about the dangers of unchecked power and the consequences of good intentions without foresight.

Woven deeper into golem stories are two principles that are particularly relevant today.

“We should not fool ourselves into thinking that our otherwise acceptable imitation of divine creativity extends to making something out of nothing,” cautions Charles Rubin, emeritus professor of political science at Duquesne University.

Humans are not and never will be God, only cocreators of the world with God, limited by its natural resources and human imagination, talent, and will.

And while cocreating, Rabbi Byron Sherwin suggests we should emulate the wisdom of the golem’s creators that “resides most of all in ‘knowing when to stop,’ just as God knew when to stop creating and rest. Knowing when to stop is how our golems can be kept under our control.”

“The Golem…has long been evoked as a metaphor for artificial intelligence by scientists, philosophers, writers, and artists,” writes curator and scholar Emily Bilski.

“The motivations and methods for creating a golem, as well as the golem’s actions once it has been brought to life, have provided powerful analogies for the potential risks and benefits of creating artificial intelligence.”

Today, more than ever, we would be wise to glean the wisdom of the golem stories so we aren't faced with having to learn it though experience. At that point, it might be too late.

At the 1965 dedication ceremony of the Weizmann Institute’s new computer, librarian Ro Oranim recounts, the renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem, explained why he suggested it be named Golem Aleph (Golem Number One).

He pointed out “what he felt was an obvious comparison between the classic tale of the Golem and the brand new computer,” Oranim noted, closing his remarks with “‘So I…say to the Golem and its creator: develop peacefully and don’t destroy the world…’” Next month, Part Two: The tipping point between peace and destruction.

Candace R. Kwiatek

A Golem figurine for sale in Prague.

Prague Judaica

It's time to bring back Kasha Varnishkes

Buckwheat with bowtie noodles is the ultimate Ashkenazi comfort food.

By Tova Friedman The Nosher

My late husband’s favorite food was tzimmes, but he also shared his family’s recipe for kasha varnishkes. From the time I had my own family and children, we always prepared each. This is the old-fashioned way to make kasha varnishkes: with lots of mushrooms.

Reprinted with permission from Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors.

Total time: 35-55 minutes. Serves four.

4 cups of water

1 cup kasha (buckwheat groats)

1 extra-large egg, beaten salt

1 cup bowtie (farfalle) pasta

3 Tbsp. butter or vegetable oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

12 oz. white mushrooms, sliced about ¼-inch thick

3 cloves garlic, minced ¼ cup soy sauce

Bring four cups of water to a boil and have it ready.

Put the kasha in a medium bowl. Add the beaten egg to the dry kasha.

Mix thoroughly so all the grains are uniformly coated. Heat a heavy-bottom 8-quart pot over medium-high heat until it is very hot.

Add the kasha-egg mixture and stir continuously, breaking up clumps so that the kasha is very hot.

Slowly pour the boiling water onto the hot kasha and add a pinch of salt. The kasha will explode and froth (this is the fun part).

After all the water has been added and the pot settles down, skim any schmutz that might be floating on top. Reduce the heat to low,

cover and cook until the water is absorbed, about 30 minutes.

While the kasha is cooking, prepare the bowtie pasta according to package instructions (cook in salted water for about 12 minutes).

While bowties are cooking, heat the butter or oil in a wide saucepan. Add the onion and cook until slightly softened, about five minutes.

Add the mushrooms and then the garlic and cook until the mushrooms and onions are tender. Add the cooked kasha to the mushroom mixture, then add the soy sauce and toss gently to coat. Add the bowties just before serving. Serve hot.

Kasha Varnishkes

Arts&Culture

Neon manager: Nuremberg a 'gut punch' of a film

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer

One striking aspect of the World War II Gallery at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Fairborn is how Nazi artifacts are on display in ways that intentionally don't glorify them.

A gilt bronze Nazi eagle from the entrance to Hitler's Reich Chancellery office in Berlin is displayed toppled over a pile of blown-out bricks. Next to it, also on its side, is a bust of Hitler — riddled with bullet holes — found at a Nazi general's headquarters in France.

And practically at the gallery's ceiling, in a place of no prominence, is a sizeable oil painting of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) general staff circa 1941. It was brought to the United States at the end of the war.

In the center of the painting is Luftwaffe Commander-inChief Hermann Göring, who was second only to Hitler. In charge of Nazi Germany's Jewish policies, it was Göring who ordered the development of the Final Solution.

Göring was the highestranking Nazi to stand trial at Nuremberg after World War II.

Neon movies in Downtown Dayton for more than two decades, screened Nuremberg a few months before he attended TIFF.

"Sony Classics decided to give exhibitors an opportunity to see the films before Toronto," he says.

"It's going to be a gut punch of a film that really speaks to today in a lot of ways. It is 100% the type of film our regulars here at The Neon would support and embrace."

Rami Malek, who won an Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody, plays Kelley, who navigates a psychological cat-andmouse game with Russell Crowe as Göring.

But before Göring faced the first of the 13 Nuremberg trials, it fell to U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps Chief Psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley to determine if Göring and the other high-ranking Nazis were mentally fit to stand trial. Kelley also studied their motivations, "to take steps to prevent the recurrence of such evil."

This narrative forms the basis of writer, producer, director James Vanderbilt's historical drama film Nuremberg, which opens Nov. 7.

Nuremberg had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 7, where it received a four-minute standing ovation according to deadline. com, which described the TIFF ovation as "quite rare."

Jonathan McNeal, manager of The

"Göring doesn't want to reveal certain things, and Kelley is trying to get underneath the surface before they start this unprecedented trial," McNeal says.

Michael Shannon plays U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson, appointed by President Harry S. Truman to serve as U.S. Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg.

"Michael Shannon is incredible. And then behind the scenes the period detail is going to be there and the production design that people come to expect of the higher-caliber films that we play here. It's beautifully done for as horrifying as some of the moments are. It does show some of the atrocities of the Holocaust."

Though the critical response prior to Nuremberg's opening has been middling, McNeal says he came out of it feeling that it was an important film. Critical responses don't stop his audiences from embracing something they feel is valuable.

"I think the audience score will be high on this one. It's a cautionary tale for today's climate, for any climate that deals with politics that are going unchecked by the people."

Neon Manager Jonathan McNeal

Sony Pictures Classics

Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in the historical drama film Nuremberg, opening Nov. 7.

Arts&Culture

Rabinowitz chronicles OSU's 2024 national championship season

'Nobody has ever told Ryan Day's story the way that this book does'

By Andy Baskin Cleveland Jewish News

If there is one clear message in college football, Ohio State shows no signs of letting anybody knock them off the top of the mountain.

The Buckeyes remain the No. 1 team in the country after knocking off Wisconsin. They play Penn State at noon on Nov. 1 at Ohio Stadium.

They are off to a 7-0 start. Riding an 11-game win streak dating back to last year, they have beaten eight straight top-25 teams, seven in the top 10. Under new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, they have allowed four touchdowns this season. Ohio State is outscoring opponents 36-to-5.

Heisman trophy hopeful Jeremiah Smith told CBS Sports, "I feel like this team is better than last year's team."

Coach's remarkable journey

In Buckeye Brotherhood, Rabinowitz digs into the heart of Head Coach Ryan Day.

"Nobody has ever told Ryan Day's story the way that this book does," Rabinowitz told me via phone.

"I asked him about one point: has anyone even done a magazine profile on you, and he said no. His story is that his father died by suicide at age 8, which made him the man of the house. He had two younger brothers. His journey is really remarkable."

We all know the pressure that comes with being the head coach at Ohio State. There are endless stories about how former Head Coach John Cooper would have "For Sale" signs in front of his house after losing to Michigan.

The book also examines how Day's family questioned the future after the Michigan loss.

It's a bold statement for a team coming off a National Championship. Last year's team made history.

Bill Rabinowitz covered the Ohio sports scene for The Columbus Dispatch for the past 26 years.

Like many great Central Ohio sportswriters, Rabinowitz has moved on to writing and podcasting for a new platform these days; the Dayton native has taken his talent to Substack.

But his love for writing books is still rolling strong. He has already penned Buckeye Rebirth: Urban Meyer, an Inspired Team, and a New Era at Ohio State (2013), The Chase: How Ohio State Captured the First College Football Playoff (2015), and Cardale Jones (2023).

His new book, Buckeye Brotherhood: How Ohio State Navigated a New World to Win a National Championship, was released Oct. 21.

He'll sit down for a conversation with bucknuts.com creator Lee Schear on Nov. 20 with a kosher tailgate supper on the Dayton JCC's Cultural Arts & Book Series.

Rabinowitz went the extra mile to explore the journey of Ohio State's National Championship last season. It was an improbable run for the Buckeyes after suffering one of the most significant defeats in school history, losing to Michigan in the last regularseason game of the year.

down that made history in the College Football Playoff semifinal between Ohio State and Texas.

This book takes you through the journey that ultimately ends with the Buckeyes pulling off the most incredible run to win the college football championship in college football history.

one that entered it."

Day opens up about the Connor Stalions Michigan cheating scandal, something the head coach hasn't really talked much about.

It doesn't matter who the coach is; the heat is always on. Players getting paid and the transfer portal have made the job like working in an inferno.

The book also examines how Day's family questioned the future after the Michigan loss.

"Growing up in New Hampshire, he didn't really have any connection to big-time sports. He was Chip Kelly's player and then protégé," Rabinowitz explained.

'Is this worth it?'

"There are multiple times during his career where he and (his wife) Nina just said, is this worth it? It really came to a head after the Michigan game when they lost. (After) that game, they were one foot out the door in Columbus. He wasn't gonna get fired, but they were thinking this is just not worth it anymore."

Buckeye Brotherhood highlights the Michigan game from the words of placekicker Jayden Fielding, who missed two field goals against the Wolverines. He also spotlights the now famous Jack Sawyer "scoop and score," the 83-yard fumble return for a touch-

Sportswriter Bill Rabinowitz, author of Buckeye Brotherhood, will be interviewed by bucknuts.com creator Lee Schear at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 20 at the Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville as part of the JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series. The program, which includes a kosher tailgate supper, is presented in partnership with Jewish Federation's Men's Philanthropy. $10. Register at jewishdayton.org/events.

"(Beating) Tennessee was really the turning point because they had a team meeting after the Michigan game," Rabinowitz added. "(It) was a makeor-break meeting. They got everything off their chest. The team that left that meeting was a different team from the

When asked about his motivation for writing the book, Rabinowitz told me, "Sports are about first downs and touchdowns, but they're not. (It's) about people and how they get to that point, how they endure inevitable hardship and adversity. I think it's a fun read."

Sounds like a must-read for Ohio State fans looking for a keepsake of an incredible story.

Bill Rabinowitz

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Arts&Culture

What Nobody Wants This Season 2 gets right — and very wrong — about Judaism

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Review by Mira Fox, The Forward Spoilers ensue for the second season of Nobody Wants This, streaming on Netflix.

Despite the name, apparently everybody wanted a new season of Nobody Wants This; the first season of the comedy instantly became one of Netflix’s most-watched shows. Adam Brody charmed as Noah, a young, hot, menschy rabbi. Kristen Bell brought spunk and controversy as Joanne, his blonde, non-Jewish girlfriend. The pair had great onscreen chemistry. The writing was witty. The half-hour episodes made for an easy binge-watch.

Jews, however — myself included — had some sharper criticisms of season one, which we hoped season two might address. The Jewish women in the show were either vapid or harpies, and underdeveloped as characters to boot. And the depiction of Judaism itself wasn’t particularly enticing. Noah may have been a cool, young rabbi who smoked weed and had sex, but the show made it clear he was the exception to the rule.

wondered whether the second season would take some of these complaints to heart and add some depth to the conversations around interfaith relationships, conversion, Jewish women, and Judaism in general. And in a promising move, two Jews — Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, both of Girls fame — took over the showrunner role from its original creator, Erin Foster.

On the surface, the new season is a carbon copy of the first. Again, it is framed around the question of conversion. Noah, who has lost his promotion to senior rabbi because Joanne isn’t Jewish, admits their relationship probably can’t progress if Joanne doesn’t convert.

We're off to the races, with a baby naming, a Purim party, a Shabbat dinner, a conversion class.

Joanne, who thought the question had been put to bed — as many of us did after the final episode of the last season in which she declared rather clearly that she would not convert for Noah — is taken aback, but decides to see if she can find a reason to fall in love with Judaism.

(For the record, I know many rabbis who smoke weed. Actually, the stereotype should go the other way; a recent study on psychedelics and spirituality that gave psilocybin to spiritual leaders couldn’t source enough rabbis who had not already tried a hallucinogen.)

Many — again, myself included —

And so we’re off to the races, with a baby naming, a Purim party, a Shabbat dinner, a conversion class.

This gives the show numerous chances to offer nuggets of Jewish learning. In the Purim episode, Noah goes beyond the usual “Purim is about getting drunk” tagline and gives a nice shpiel, explaining that the holiday is a

Continued on Page 26

Adam Brody as Rabbi Noah, Kristen Bell as Joanne.

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Jeffrey Abrahams

Beth Adelman

Karen & Steve Arkin

Donald Arnett

Dr. Joshua & Julie Atkin

K.W. Baker & Assoc., LLC

The Barrett Family

Skip & Ann Becker

Jack & Maryann Bernstein

Frieda Blum

Tara & Dan Brodbeck

Judith & Steven Carne

Mr. & Mrs. Matt Carper

Roger Chudde

Natalie R. Cohn

Thomas Cruse

Scot & Linda Denmark

Judge Susan Dlott

Phil & Louisa Dreety

Howard & Sue Ducker

Irwin Dumtschin

Phyllis A. Finkelstein

Lynn Foster

Jeff Froelich, Cindy Pretekin &

Families

Renate Frydman Ph.D

Dr. Felix Garfunkel

Mr. Roger J. Gebhart

Donna D. Gibson

Mrs. Jack Goldberg

Kim & Shelley Goldenberg

Lynn & David Goldenberg

Judi & George Grampp

Art & Joan Greenfield

Sydney & Lois Gross

Harold & Melissa Guadalupe

Sharon & Izzy Guterman

Dr. & Mrs. Stephen Harlan

Ralph E. & Sylvia S. Heyman

Rachel Jacobs

Michael Jaffe

David & Susan Joffe

Joseph & Marsha Johnston

Linda Ohlmann Kahn & Dennis

Kahn

Jeffrey Kantor

Susan & Stanley Katz

Harriet Klass

Debbie & Norbert Klopsch

Edye Leuin

Todd & Gabriele Leventhal

Iris Levi

Meredith Moss Levinson

Levy Family

Ellie Lewis

Beverly A. Louis

Helen Markman

Marvin & Susan Mason

Scott & Brenda Meadow

Suzi & Jeff Mikutis

Robin & Tim Moore

Irvin & Gayle Moscowitz

William L. Moser

Bobbie & Jack Myers

Nora & Bob Newsock

Lori Ohlmann

Ann Paddock

Roberta & Richard Prigozen

Cherie Rosenstein

Alice & Burt Saidel

Barbara Sanderow

Les Sandler

Linda Schoonover

Diane Schultz

Annie & Craig Self

Katherine Sher & Jared Serota

Michael & Marcie Sherman

Diane Lieberman Slovin

Sue & Bruce Soifer

Susan Spiegel & Lisa Hanauer

Jeff & Cathy Startzman

Myron Stayman

Maggie Stein

Marc & Maureen Sternberg

Rina Thau & Col. Jeffrey Thau, USAF, (Ret)

Bob & Suzanne Thum

Rex & Louise Tincher

The Waldman Family

Judith Weber

Donald & Caryl Weckstein

Mr. Michael & Mrs. Karen Weprin

Ronald Bernard & Judy Woll

Season 2

Continued from Page 24

time when expectations are turned upside down. True!

Another time, he points out that Judaism is about “analyzing things from every direction,” not just following rigid rules — a concept that deeply appeals to Joanne. (“A religion that encourages you to argue? Love that,” she says.)

The Jewish women are also better this year. The word shiksa, a pejorative that season one deployed very, very liberally, always in the mouths of Jewish women, has been erased.

And Esther, Noah’s sister-in-law, has some actual plotline — we dive into her marriage to Sasha and her dreams for the future. And her snark feels more like fond ribbing than cruel jabs this season.

The show is still far from perfect. Bina, Noah’s stereotypically overbearing Jewish mother, remains a miserable, meanspirited hag. And the show’s popularity has also led to several clunky product placements and ads for Netflix. (At one point we vicariously watch a whole scene of Love Is Blind, one of the streaming platform’s reality shows, on Joanne’s laptop.)

Perhaps the show’s strongest answer to criticism of last season comes in the form of Temple Ahava, a new, very open-minded synagogue that hires Noah and immediately shows itself to be more focused on vibes than Judaism. It’s a clever, inside-baseball kind of joke; most Jews know this kind of synagogue, where ritual and text are downplayed in favor of broad, easy-toswallow messaging. Last season, Judaism was portrayed as close-minded and rigid, unwilling to accept Joanne. Ahava is open-minded, sure — but it has lost its depth as a result.

The head rabbi — played by Seth Rogen — encourages Noah to take off his kipah. (“I’m raw-dogging the world!” he says.) Teens are encouraged to skip Shabbat in favor of movie premieres. The synagogue speedruns their conversion classes, offering a six-month version because no one wanted to sign up for a full year. Noah is skeptical; isn’t Judaism supposed to require learning and commitment? He keeps his kipah on.

It’s a powerful lesson about what makes Judaism truly meaningful. But the show undoes this exact lesson in its final scene. Joanne has been waiting all season to feel like she wants to convert. And even though she loves Shabbat and she’s picked up Jewish expressions, she doesn’t.

But Esther thinks she’s focusing on the wrong things. “I feel like you have this idea of being Jewish that’s so much more complicated than it actually is. I mean, you feel Jewish to me. You’re warm and cozy, you always want to

chat about everything,” she tells Joanne. “You’re funny — that’s Jewish. You love to overshare. No matter how much I resisted, you literally forced me to be friends with you — forced. You’re a true kibbitzer. You’re always getting in everyone’s business. Ever heard of a yente, Joanne? You’re a yente.”

Joanne, she concludes, is already Jewish. But that’s not true. Noah was right that six months is too fast for a conversion, because there’s more to Judaism than a list of facts or rules; it’s a millennia-old tradition of rich thought, text, and discourse. Joanne may align with cultural stereotypes of Jews, but those are considered stereotypes for a reason — they’re shallow and incomplete. Being neurotic or anxious does not make someone a Jew anymore than being funny does.

This ending shouldn’t be surprising, however. The show’s creator, Erin Foster — who herself converted to marry her husband — rejected the critiques of the first season’s stereotypes.

“With the heaviness of what’s going on in the world around the Jewish faith,” she said in an interview with Vanity Fair about the new season, “to have a lighthearted, sweet, happy show that reminds people how beautiful Judaism is — don’t find something wrong with it! Take the win, you know?”

In response to any criticism about its reliance on Jewish tropes, the new season seems to answer that those tropes are actually core to Jewishness.

Sure, season two of Nobody Wants This gets rid of the term shiksa and has a few nice Jewish moments. But it comes to the same conclusion as the first: Judaism is about vibes, not ritual or learning or commitment. It’s the same message Ahava offers — and like Noah realized, it’s not satisfying.

In many ways, this ending is a carbon copy of the first season’s; in fact, the closing scenes are almost shot-to-shot identical.

Last season, Joanne decided she couldn’t convert and Noah decided it didn’t matter — if Judaism was limiting them, then he’d reject Judaism. In this ending, Joanne embraces Judaism, but only because she’s decided it doesn’t actually mean that much.

Seth Rogen and Kate Berlant as the leaders of Temple Ahava.

OBITUARIES

Nathan Spencer Arnold, age 17 of Centerville, passed away peacefully in his sleep on Oct. 15. Nate was born in Houston, Texas to David and Michele Arnold. From the very beginning, Nate had a unique and powerful purpose: to educate the world — not through words, but through the way he lived his life. Born with Down syndrome and facing other challenges, Nate never let anything stand in the way of his joy, curiosity, and love for life. He taught those around him that the small things matter — like how floor vents make excellent hiding spots, that nonverbal communication speaks volumes, and that ketchup is most definitely a food group. Nate’s lighthearted mischief, warmth, and silent wisdom touched everyone lucky enough to know him. Nate is survived by his loving mother, Michele Serotkin Arnold; his father, David Jay Arnold (Avigayl Young); and his brother, Charles Andrew Arnold. He is also survived by his Grammy, Haana Serotkin (the late Barry); his uncles, Kenneth Serotkin and Michael Serotkin (Helen); and his cousin, Gavin, whom he deeply adored. Nate also had a loving extended family in Houston, including his grandparents, John and Lori Crider, and Ken and Ruth Arnold, as well as many aunts, uncles, and cousins across the country. Never underestimate the power of presence. Nate will be dearly missed and forever remembered. Interment was at Beth Jacob Cemetery. Donations may be made to A Special Wish Foundation or a charity of your choice.

Felix Weil, age 97 of Dayton, passed away Oct. 14. Felix was a retired accountant and art dealer, a mem-

ber of Beth Abraham Synagogue, and on the boards of many Jewish organizations in Dayton. He was preceded in death by Frances, his wife of 53 years. He is survived by and was a devoted father to Linda Weil Foster (Michael) and Loren Weil (Diane); an admired grandfather of Ethan, Emily, Noah and Hannah; and cousins, other relatives, and friends. Felix was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and was sent to England on the Kindertransport in 1939, leaving behind his parents and sister, who perished in the Holocaust. He spent much of his adult life telling "his story" by speaking to students throughout the Dayton area, recording a testimony with the Shoah Foundation, teaching classes on the Holocaust at the University of Dayton and Wright State University, among others, and volunteering at Wright-Patterson AFB. Interment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to The Kindertransport Association or Beth Abraham Synagogue in Felix's memory.

A DOUBLE MITZVAH.

Raymond L. Weinstein, age 94 of Dayton, passed away Oct. 7 at Miami Valley Hospital. Throughout his life, Ray was very kind and considerate to everyone he met. Ray worked at Sylvia’s Market, retiring after many years of service. He was preceded in death by his parents, Jacob and Sylvia Weinstein; brothers, Benjamin and Simon Weinstein; niece, Joyce; and sister-inlaw, Geraldine; his furry friends, Butch, Tommy, and Sunny. He is survived by his special friends, Brian (Phyllis) Hewitt, Dan Shaffer, and Chris Jagierski; and many other relatives and friends.

November • Cheshvan/Kislev

Shabbat Candle Lightings

November 7: 5:10 p.m.

November 14: 5:03 p.m.

November 21: 4:59 p.m.

November 28: 4:55 p.m.

Torah Portions

November 1: Lech Lecha (Gen. 12:1-17:27)

November 8: Vayera (Gen. 18:1-22:24)

November 15: Chaye Sarah (Gen. 23:1-25:18)

November 22: Toledot (Gen. 25:19-28:9)

November 29: Vayetze (Gen. 28:10-32:3)

• anks to a generous anonymous donor, your gi — or additional gi — to Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton will be matched, dollar for dollar.

• It’s a double mitzvah: the cemeteries of Beth Abraham Synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation, and Temple Israel will combine into a single nonpro t. is ensures their sanctity in perpetuity, and strengthens each congregation’s nancial security.

• Contact Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net now for details and to make your pledge.

From Generation To Generation.

From Generation To Generation.

Larry S. Glickler, Director

Larry S. Glickler, Director

Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director

Larry S. Glickler, Director

Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com

1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com

Dayton’s ONLY Jewish Funeral Director 1849 Salem Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45406-4927 (937) 278-4287 lgfuneralhome@gmail.com

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER EVENTS

Sunday, November 9 at 2PM

In Partnership with Washington-Centerville Public Library, Hadassah, and JCC Book Club

Woodbourne Library (6060 Far Hills Avenue, Centerville, 45459)

No Cost, preregistration required due to limited seating.

Barbara Josselsohn, The Forgotten Italian Restaurant: A breathtaking and absolutely gripping World War Two historical romance

The Forgotten Italian Restaurant is the third and concluding book in author and teacher Barbara Josselsohn’s series, Sisters of War. The story alternates between World War II and the present day. When her sister died, Callie went back to her family home in Connecticut where she found an old, faded menu that sheds light on her grandmother’s secret life in Caccipulia, Italy. This intergenerational story ties Callie to her grandmother and sheds light on the reason her grandmother left Italy. When Callie arrives in the village of Caccipulia with the faded menu she found in Connecticut, she meets a café owner who helps expose the secret that will change everything. The novel explores themes of family, identity, forgiveness, and the courage to heal while vividly depicting Italian wartime life and later-day village life.

Thursday, November 20 at 6:30PM

In partnership with Jewish Federation’s Men’s Philanthropy

Bill Rabinowitz in conversation with Lee Schear, creator of The Ohio State sports site Bucknuts.com

The Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education

(525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459)

Cost: $10

Includes tailgate party supper with hot dogs, chips, dessert, pop and beer – vegetarian option available

Bill Rabinowitz, Buckeye Brotherhood: How Ohio State Navigated A New World To Win A National Championship with foreword by Urban Meyer

Bill Rabinowitz was the Columbus Dispatch’s longtime Ohio State beat writer, covering the Buckeyes since 2011. He is also the author of Buckeye Rebirth, written about the team’s 2012 undefeated season, and The Chase. In his current work, Buckeye Brotherhood, Bill takes readers inside the Ohio State Buckeyes' run to their first national championship in a decade. Much had changed in the ten years since the last championship. OSU was able to place losses to Michigan and Oregon behind them and build their own brand of football. In doing so, they brought glory back to OSU.

Sunday, December 7 at 2PM

In partnership with Beth Abraham Sisterhood and Men’s Club

Beth Abraham Synagogue

(305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood, 45409) Cost: $10

FEATURING a sampling of the author’s recipes

Beejhy Barhany, Gursha: Timeless Recipes for Modern Kitchens from Ethiopia, Israel, Harlem, and Beyond

Gursha, which loosely translates as the act of “feeding one another,” is the debut cookbook by Ethiopian Israeli chef and restaurateur Beejhy Barhany, cowritten with food writer Elisa Ung. Barhany traces her life from childhood in Tigray, Ethiopia, to exile in Sudan, then on to Israel, and ultimately settling in Harlem, New York, where she founded Tsion Café. Through personal essays and stories, she frames her recipes in the context of Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) history and identity. Her work includes over 100 recipes, including legamat (Sudanese doughnuts), and shakshuka, as well as hybrids like Berbere Fried Fish, Injera, and Queen of Sheba Chocolate Cake.