Activists support Springfield's Haitians 2 p. 22 David Moss designs Grace After Meals in comic book p. form
THE DAYTON Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton
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October 2026 Tishri/Cheshvan 5787 Vol. 31, No. 2
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B Activists support Springfield's Haitians DAYTON
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By Marshall Weiss The Observer Yellow Springs resident Ellis Jacobs says he became aware of the plight of Springfield's Haitians the same way as people across the United States. "Trump and Vance decided to demonize them and scapegoat them in a shocking, appalling, and all-too-familiar way. And you know, it's hard to ignore it when you see stuff like that going on right up the road from you." 43 S. Main Street 43 S. Main Street Three years ago, Jacobs Centerville, Ohio 45458 • 937-433-9598 Centerville, Ohio 45458 • 937-433-9598 retired from the Dayton office of Advocates for Basic Legal Equality (ABLE), capping 47 Representing Temple Israel at the Aug. 30 rally in Springfield to support years as an attorney, during Haitians targeted and detained by ICE (L to R): Amy Margolin, Nancy and which he fought for fair housRich Cohen, Vicki Minor, and Juanita Wehrle-Einhorn. ing, voting rights, and environmental protection. Jacobs says. So they're delivering the food ABLE has handled immigraAccording to the Dayton directly to the people." tion law since the 1970s. "They Daily News, U.S. Department of When Hurwitz was in have a squad of folks there that Homeland Security Secretary Springfield, rally organizers are highly skilled immigration Markwayne Mullin said Sept. 4 urged participants to contact lawyers," he says. "So in Lebanon, Ohio that their representatives in Conthey've gotten very inICE had arrested 380 gress, U.S. Senators, and Gov. volved in helping out Haitians in Springfield Mike DeWine. in Springfield. And since Haitian Tempo"I created a text message and there's a lot of work to rary Protected Status sent my email list this message," be done." was cancelled in July. Hurwitz says. "It's just a matJacobs says he "I know there are a ter of trying to keep pressure didn't handle immisignificant number of on the legislators, to get that gration cases when he Haitians still there," protective status back on, or at worked for ABLE. He Jacobs, born and least let them remove the ankle does now. raised in Dayton, says bracelets." "I offered to come of Springfield. Nancy Cohen, who with her Ellis Jacobs back and help them An estimated husband, Rich, leads Temple Isout as best I'm able. I still have 330,000 Haitians in the United rael's efforts to support Springa legal license, and I'm doing a States were on field's Haitian 43 S. Main Street 43 S. Main Street little pro bono work related to TPS until July. community, says Centerville, Ohio 45458 • 937-433-9598 Springfield these days," he says.Centerville, Ohio 45458 • 937-433-9598 "As Jews, we've it's an important His focus is on two legal arbeen the victim cause to her. She eas to help Haitians facing ICE of this kind of takes seriously detainment and deportation. thing before, and the Torah's mitz"One is to provide informait's our duty to vot (commandtion to people who want to sup- step up and help ments): "Love the port the Haitian out," he says. stranger, for you community, so "That's the were strangers in they feel comfortway I look the land of Egypt able that they at it. No ifs, (Deut. 10:19)," have the legal ands, or buts. If Jews don't and "The stranger who resides and constitutional get this, why would anywith you shall be to you as your right to do what body else get what's going citizen; you shall love him as they're trying on there?" yourself, for you were strangto do: to be of Dave Hurwitz, who lives ers in the land of Egypt (Lev. assistance and to in Dayton's St. Anne's Hill 19:34)." document ICE ac- Dave Hurwitz district, joined rallies in "We have a community just tivity in the area. Springfield, Aug. 27 and down the road looking for a Formerly Formerly We want to make sure people 28. He says Jacobs keeps him safe place to live and raise a understand their rights so they informed about how to help family," Cohen says. "And they can exercise their rights." Springfield's Haitians. are asking not to be sent back to He also represents Haitians "The whole situation is a country that is, to any objecFormerly in Springfield. sad, with ankle bracelets and tive observer, an unsafe place Formerly "Unfortunately, very reall," Hurwitz says. "They are to be. Unfortunately, current cently, ICE has been very active, so afraid to come out of their policy has left these families kind of grabbing people and houses, they're not even going very vulnerable and unable to detaining numerous Haitians," Continued on Page Seven to the food bank to get food.
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THE THE DAYTON DAYTON JEWISH JEWISH OBSERVER OBSERVER • OCTOBER • •OCTOBER 2026 THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER AUGUST 2026 THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • MAY2026
DAYTON Marshall Weiss
Beth Abraham's business director is retiring. Really.
Beth Abraham Synagogue will honor Business Director Elaine Arnovitz on her upcoming retirement, Sunday, Nov. 1, 1 p.m., 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. RSVP by Oct. 19 to 937-293-9520.
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She beams when she recalls her work on Beth Abraham's 125th anniversary celebration in 2019, packed with a year full of events. "We were thinking really big, but we had the volunteers and the dedication, the people to do it, to make it happen. It was fulfilling for those people who participated. It brought a lot of people together. It was nice, too, for people to learn more about our history that they really didn't know." The sisterhood's Women of Valor luncheon was another favorite. "It was very enjoyable year after year, bringing people outside of the Jewish community to honor women who had participated not just in the Jewish community, but were giving in the general community." Elaine says her greatest fulfillment has been working with congregants and volunteers. "If somebody wants to come and talk, I'll drop everything to meet with people and make sure I'm connecting with our volunteers and whatever they're doing, or trying to bring new people who maybe aren't connected yet into the fold, finding what interests them. I'll always be here if somebody has questions. That's just who I am." — Marshall Weiss
From the editor’s desk
I'm having much fun reading Michael Kimmel's new book, Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America. He opens the JCC's Cultural Arts & Book Series Oct. Marshall 25. What strikes me most is his palpable Weiss reminder that until the beginning of the 20th century, few kids in America had the luxury of just being kids. And parenting experts of the day didn't see play as healthy or necessary. My grandmother, born in 1901 in Philadelphia to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, would tell me she dropped out of school at eighth grade to work in a sweatshop doing piecework, that "if you didn't work, you didn't eat." Here in Dayton in that era, Temple Israel's Rabbi David Lefkowitz chaired Dayton's Playground Committee, to install playgrounds in neighborhoods across the city. Imagine — a time when the playground was an innovation. May all kids have all of their needs met, and the space in their lives to be just kids.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
Pr em ier RETIREMENT LIVING AT ONE LINCOLN PARK
ON
Elaine Arnovitz grew up at Beth Abraham Synagogue.
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COLN LIN PA RK
Elaine Arnovitz sat for an interview with The Observer on Feb. 17, three days before she was to retire. The evening prior to her final day — after 14 years as Beth Abraham's business director — a fire suppression system valve broke, flooding the second and first floors of the building at full force for more than 30 minutes. "I couldn't just walk out the door," she says. "A lot had to be done." Since then, her husband, Matt, chair of the Oakwood synagogue's building committee, has worked with the remediation specialists and contractors while Elaine has handled the day-to-day tasks, "following up with contractors or working with Susan Schear on interior design and helping on the ground here daily." With the congregation's return to the secondfloor sanctuary level of the building Aug. 23 and the social hall and kitchen expected to be completed over the coming weeks, Elaine says her goal is to retire by the end of September. "I don't have an official date. Everything is a moving target around here." Beth Abraham will honor Elaine for her years of service at 11 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 1. "It's not like I'm moving away or walking out the door," she says. "I'm still here." Elaine grew up in the congregation and sang with its famed youth chorale, led by Cantor Jerome Kopmar. "I don't have any official plans, but I'm looking forward to not waking up in the middle of the night thinking, 'Oh, I have to do this,' or 'I forgot to do that,' or making decisions about things." Relaxing may not come naturally. "I'm a doer, so I'll find things to do, volunteer, get things done in my house." And she and Matt will have more time with their two grandchildren in Cincinnati.
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DAYTON
Beth Abraham Synagogue comes home With the refurbishment of the sanctuary level of its building complete, Beth Abraham Synagogue returned home on Aug. 23, six months after a sprinkler pipe break flooded the facility.
THE DAYTON Photos: Marshall Weiss
OBSERVER daytonjewishobserver.org Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Contributor Candace R. Kwiatek Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, jewishobserver@jfgd.net Administrative Assistant Samantha Daniel, sdaniel@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Billing Sheila Myers, smyers@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Proofreaders Leslie Buerki, Kylee Dickinson, Claire Gaglione, Rachel Haug Gilbert, Steven H. Solomon
Before Beth Abraham congregants bring their Torah scrolls out from Temple Israel, a young Beth Abraham member sounds the shofar, as Beth Abraham's Rabbi Aubrey Glazer and Temple Israel's Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz watch. Temple Israel hosted Beth Abraham's worship services since a week after the flooding.
Observer Advisor Dr. Elaine Knoll Gaglione Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Marni Flagel President Bill Doner Secretary Teddy Goldenberg Treasurer Ben Mazer VP Personnel Josh Atkin VP Resource Development Neil Friedman Officer at Large Dan Sweeny Immediate Past President Cathy Gardner CEO The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 31, No. 2. 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.
Men's Club President Irwin Dumtschin sounds the shofar as the Torah procession arrives at the entrance to Beth Abraham Synagogue in Oakwood.
Synagogue President Julie Liss-Katz (L) and Susan Toher carry Torahs in the refurbished main sanctuary as Steve Carne watches.
The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by providing a forum and resource for Jewish community interests. Goals • To encourage affiliation, involvement and communication. • To provide announcements, news, opinions and analysis of local, national and international activities and issues affecting Jews and the Jewish community. • To build community across institutional, organizational and denominational lines. • To advance causes important to the strength of our Jewish community including support of Federation agencies, its annual campaign, synagogue affiliation, Jewish education and participation in Jewish and general community affairs. • To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life. The Dayton Jewish Observer
Congregants who brought the Torah scrolls into Beth Abraham's main sanctuary to be returned to the ark (L to R): Bonnie Beaman Rice, Susan Toher, Julie Liss-Katz, Renate Frydman, Steven Fraim, and Allan Spetter with Andrew Schwartz.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
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Survivor Felix Garfunkel, 95 Marc Katz Dr. Felix Garfunkel, who survived the Soviet and Nazi invasions of Czernowitz, Romania, ghettos, concentration camps, and a death march, died Sept. 6. He was 95. Garfunkel received his medical training in Ecuador, one of the few nations to accept displaced Jews during and after World War II. He established the radiology department at Greene Memorial Hospital in Xenia and served as its director for 27 years. He retired from the Dayton VA in 2010. He spoke to student groups and at Holocaust remembrance programs in his later years but chose not to detail the suffering he had endured. “I had repeated, repeated traumas,” Garfunkel told The Observer in a 2015 interview. “We had terrible conditions. We were starved, we were emaciated, we were obviously going to Dr. Felix Garfunkel at his home in 2015 with a miniature die. They (the Nazis) wanted us Torah scroll he received as a boy. to die. I knew all the two-andthere at night. And then we walked, a-half years before we were liberated hiding between the cornstalks for a long — every moment — I knew that I was time, back to the city of Mogilev ghetto supposed to die, was going to die.” Garfunkel’s mother and aunt found a where we came from.” He said his approach when he spoke way for the family to escape the Skaziin public was to emphasize “more of the nets death camp. triumph, the good, what you can do, “There were sometimes peasants and not dwell on the problem.” going through there on the outside Garfunkel added that he and his wife, of the barbed wire in their fields,” he Erika, also a survivor (she died in 2020), explained. didn’t talk with each other about their “And sometimes we can exchange a Holocaust experiences. They shared piece of clothing for some food. I don’t little more than bits and pieces with know what they gave them (the peastheir children and grandchildren. ants), but they cut a hole in the barbed “I did not want to get the kids wire for us to escape and we got out Marshall Weiss involved in those stories,” he said. Their daughter, Rabbi Janice Garfunkel, who served Temple Sholom in Springfield from 2004 to 2010, died in 2013 following a long battle with breast cancer. At the urging of his oldest son, Garfunkel wrote his memoir, From Czernowitz: A Life in Three Continents, which was published in 2015. Garfunkel also documented his story in a 1981 video interview with Renate Frydman as part of Wright State University’s Faces Of The Holocaust series, and in 1993 for Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Visual History Foundation. Earlier this year, Garfunkel's portrait was included in photojournalist Madeleine Hordinski’s exhibit Holding Hope: Stories of Survival During the Holocaust, at Cincinnati’s Union Terminal, Dr. Felix Garfunkel answers questions at a panel discus- under the auspices of the Wolf sion of Holocaust survivors, April 19, at Temple Israel as Holocaust & Humanity Center. part of the Greater Dayton Yom Hashoah Observance. — Marshall Weiss
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
OCTOBER 6-11 Schuster Center
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DAYTON
Comedian Joel Chasnoff headlines Hillel Academy fundraiser Oct. 18
Stand-up comedian, former Israel Defense Forces "lone soldier," and National Jewish Book Award-winning author Joel Chasnoff will present a benefit performance for Hillel Academy Jewish day school at 6:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 18. A native of Evanston, Ill. who now lives in Ra'anana, Israel, Chasnoff is the author of The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah, a 2010 memoir of his 1997-98 service in the IDF. With Benji Lovitt, he cowrote Israel 201: Your Next-Level Guide to the Magic, Mystery, and Chaos of Life in the Holy Land, which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2023. The fundraiser will be held at Hillel Academy, 5275 Marshall Road, Washington Township, on the campus of Temple Beth Or. Tickets are $36 for general admission, $72 for priority seating and are available at daytonhillel. org. Joel Chasnoff
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Hadassah national president will keynote Dayton chapter's centennial Hadassah National President Carol Ann Schwartz, who lives in Cincinnati, will deliver the keynote address for Hadassah Dayton's 100th Birthday Grand Centennial Celebration Party, 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 11. "The event will be a tribute to past and current Dayton Hadassah members and it is open to the community," said chapter President Julie Bloom. With a mission to advance women’s health, Zionism, and to support Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, Hadassah has ap- Hadassah Nat'l Pres. Carol Ann Schwartz proximately 300,000 members in chapters across America. Speakers on the program will also include Jewish Federation CEO Cathy Gardner and Hadassah Great Plains Region President Sharon Star of Springfield, Ill. Program chairperson Paula Gessiness said the chapter is interviewing members about what Hadassah means to them. "We're going to compile them into a booklet that everybody there will be able to take home." Those present will be asked to share their responses during the party. "We'll have afternoon appetizers and desserts catered by Rochel Simon," Gessiness added. "It's a
Mediterranean menu and we're going to have a big birthday cake and ice cream." The cost is $36. Out-of-towners are invited to join virtually for $18. The location will be provided upon registration with Gessiness, at 937-430-5059. Hadassah Dayton Recording Secretary Bev Farnbacher said the chapter's Centennial Fundraiser Campaign has reached half of its $10,000 goal to aid Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem.
Jewish Family Services starts grief support group
Dayton's Jewish Family Services will offer the community a grief and loss support group on Thursdays from 3:30 to 5 p.m., beginning Sept. 24. JFS Mental Health Clinician Bonnie Parish will facilitate the group, which she describes as a "caring, confidential, and supportive environment where individuals experiencing the loss of a loved one can find comfort, understanding, and connection with others on a similar journey." For more information and to register, contact Parish at 937- JFS Mental Health 401-1542 or bparish@jfgd.net. Clinician Bonnie Parish
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
DAYTON
Swift response to antisemitic incident at Centerville's Watts Middle School
Support for Springfield's Haitians
the Haitian community, includContinued from Page Two provide for their basic requireing himself. ments. Furthermore, they are "I've been in contact with now afraid because of the leadership and made a donacruelty of our government's tion," he writes. actions. I love that our faith "That said, some of our asks us to live our values and members have expressed protect these vulnerable people concern that while attention is among us." given to the Haitians — particCohen urges her fellow ularly this boy who committed congregants to bring muchsuicide — there are other kids, needed items for the Haitians Black and White, in Springfield to Temple Israel. She and Rich, who need attention too — and who live in Beaverresources are now creek, transport the more scarce." items to Springfield The rabbi's referand distribute them to ence is to 20-year-old the Haitian CommuHaitian Pierre Damas nity Support Center Bel, a Wright State and St. Vincent de University student Paul there. who died by suicide Beth Abraham Aug. 31 after ICE had Synagogue has also fitted him with a GPS collected items for ankle monitor. Temple Israel's drive. Rabbi Cary Kozberg Kozberg adds that She also encourages while some of his monetary donations to support members help the Haitians, the Haitian community. "others are not so keen on "It doesn't feel like a lot, associating with the 'helping given the gravity of the situagencies.' It's not the Haitians. ation for the Haitians right It's the kumbaya folks helping now, but every donation helps. them." Many in the community are no As Temple Sholom navigates longer able to work and don't the High Holidays, he says the even feel safe in their homes. congregation's focus right now The needs of the community "is on keeping ourselves safe." are enormous!" "In the three years since Oct. Jacobs says it's important to 7, there have been two churchfollow the leadership of people es reaching out to us and those in Springfield, those who live were earlier on," Kozberg says. there and are "responsible for "With all of the assistance the community and accountSpringfield Jews have given able to the community." others over the years, there's Rabbi Cary Kozberg, who been little reciprocity — I have leads Springfield's only Jewish received zero calls from clergy, congregation, Temple Sholom, not to mention having to retells The Observer via email that spond to anti-Israel programs many Jews in Springfield assist at Wittenberg (University)."
A student at Centerville's more serious consequence was Watts Middle School deliberneeded. He certainly apoloately drew a swastika on his gized and made it clear to me arm in front of two Jewish that type of behavior was not students on the playgoing to be tolerated at ground at recess Sept. 2. his school." "Right when I was Miller said that for made aware, I pulled him, it was a standard that kid from class, and response. (the student) did not go "Anything dealing back to class until I had with hate, possible worked with the family, violence, anything like and (the student) had that, we respond imWatts Middle the consequence, and mediately by removing School Principal had education," Watts any individual, and Brian Miller Middle School Principal certainly education is Brian Miller told The Observer. part of that, but also, there has A parent of one of the Jewish to be a consequence." students told The Observer a The principal said that student came over to his son several diverse groups and and the son's friend, asked the subgroups of children comfriend for a pen, and then drew prise the 800+ student body at a swastika on his own arm. Watts. "The kid didn't say anything "Students are made aware or do anything else, he just drew it matter-of-fact in front of them," the parent said. Wishing you a The parent asked his son if the perpetrator knew that both new year of boys were Jewish. "And he health, happiness, said yes. That was something and peace towards the two of them." The parent said the principal handled it very well. Miller responded immediately after the parent emailed him and indicated he was aware. "We said how disturbed we were by what happened and focused the lens on it being a learning opportunity," the parent said. "He (Miller) said that while he agreed it needs to be a learning experience, he also Sue & Joe Gruenberg felt it was so offensive that a
that any hate speech, anything like that against any group — religious, cultural — there always has to be a consequence. Even if it's just one child, we don't want anyone to think that's ever OK. "It's a pretty heavy-handed response, but I think it's important that that's how I've always responded. I wish we had zero incidents, but I handle those quickly, responsibly." Miller said he thinks this was a case of ignorance on the student's part. "Any family I've worked with in these types of situations has always been shocked, upset, disappointed in their child's choice. I've never had any parent respond any differently." — Marshall Weiss
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PAGE 7
THE NATION
Case pitting Indiana Jews against an abortion ban heads back to court The state seeks to overturn a court ruling that its abortion ban violates Jewish religious freedom.
Screenshot
By Andrew Lapin, JTA A landmark legal battle to determine whether Jewish women have a religious right to an abortion entered a critical new stage in Indiana. The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments Sept. 10 in a case that began with a local Jewish group’s 2022 religious freedom challenge to Indiana’s near-total abortion ban. The state is appealing a permanent blocking of the ban that a lower court imposed in March. The arguments, held in Indianapolis, explored a legal theory that the state’s abortion ban impedes Jews’ religious freedom because many interpretations of Jewish law priori- Kenneth Falk, legal director of American Civil Liberties Union tize the life of the mother of Indiana, delivers oral arguments before the state Supreme Court, Sept. 10. over that of the fetus. The case, one of the formed explicitly to challenge the state’s recent major challenges based on Jewabortion law, as well as two anonymous ish law to an abortion ban, could carry plaintiffs. significant ramifications for how the While liberal Jewish movements American legal system weighs Jewish are generally permissive of abortion, religious rights against conservative Orthodox scholars offer more mixed Christian doctrine, which strongly opinterpretations. poses abortion. In response to a question by Chief Indiana was one of several states to Justice Loretta Rush about what the pass severe abortion restrictions follow- state should do “further along in a preging the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling nancy,” Falk said, “I don’t think anyone overturning its 1972 is going to be advocatRoe v. Wade decision ing for abortions of a guaranteeing the right viable fetus.” to an abortion. In his arguments, Separately, ChrisFalk compared the tian groups and busiJewish women’s standnesses have prevailed ing to what he called in national religious “secular” exceptions freedom cases deterto the abortion ban in mining whether they cases of rape or incest. can be compelled to “What is the reason pay for contraception for allowing these secthat can be used to ular exceptions, but not perform abortions, ara religious exception?” guing doing so violates Falk asked the justices. their religious views. He also referred to permitted religious But Kenneth Falk, legal director of exceptions to healthcare laws in other the American Civil Liberties Union of cases, including vaccine mandates. Indiana, argued before the court Sept. In March, a judge in the Marion 10 that it was the abortion bans that County Superior Court ruled in favor of curtailed the free exercise of religion. Hoosier Jews for Choice, permanently “Under Jewish law, the human life blocking the state’s near-total abortion does not begin until the first breath,” ban in cases where it would “substansaid Falk, who argued the case on betially burden their religious exercise.” half of Hoosier Jews for Choice, a group That ruling prompted the appeal
While liberal Jewish movements are generally permissive of abortion, Orthodox scholars offer more mixed interpretations.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
THE NATION from the state now under consideration, as well as conservative backlash, with Republican Indiana Sen. Jim Banks calling for the judge’s impeachment. “Our nation’s long tradition of respect for religious exercise has never been understood to encompass a right to intentionally destroy human life, any more than a right to abusively punish children,” Indiana Solicitor General James Barta argued before the state Supreme Court Sept. 10. Barta otherwise largely sidestepped the Jewish group’s religious arguments in his own presentation. Instead, he insisted that the plaintiffs did not have proper standing because they were not actively seeking abortions themselves, though one is hoping to get pregnant but worried about getting proper care if an abortion were required. Their case, Barta insisted, was “purely hypothetical.” A similar argument briefly prevailed in Kentucky in 2024, when a judge threw out a religious freedom lawsuit
brought by three Jewish mothers against that state’s abortion law. The plaintiffs, the judge said in that case, lacked standing because none of them were currently pregnant. One of the plaintiffs, who was considering a pregnancy via in vitro fertilization, was allowed to appeal the case, which resulted in a partial victory this May when a judge struck down part of Kentucky’s abortion ban — related to a definition of when human life begins — as unconstitutional. Many mainstream and progressive-leaning Jewish organizations, including the National Council of Jewish Women, the Anti-Defamation League and representatives of the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements, are supporting Hoosier Jews for Choice and have signed onto briefs on the group’s behalf in court. In a statement to JTA, the NCJW noted that questioning from the justices Sept. 10 “ap-
There are also Jews on the other side of the debate.
peared to focus on more procedural matters” rather than “the merits of the case.” Yet Darcy Hirsh, the group’s vice president of government relations and advocacy, said she was “hopeful” the court would rule in the Jewish groups’ favor. “No individual should be forced to abandon their religious beliefs in order to comply with a narrow, Christian belief of when life begins,” Hirsh said. A representative for the state of Indiana did not return a JTA request for comment following the oral arguments. There are also Jews on the other side of the debate. The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, a legal advocacy group, has filed amicus briefs in support of the state. “From a theological perspective, it’s hard to say what is the single Jewish teaching on abortion,” Josh Blackman, an attorney with the coalition and professor at the South Texas College of Law, told JTA following the oral arguments. Blackman added that, of all major religions, Judaism has “the strongest basis for the
Supported Every Step Of The Way
right to terminate a pregnancy.” But, he said, Jewish groups should be mindful of advocating for a system “where Jews in Indiana can have an abortion but Catholics cannot.” “At a time when there’s growing hostility between people on the right and Jews, I'm not sure this is the best use of Jewish resources,” Blackman said. “This could actually backfire in significant ways.” There is no timeline for when the state Supreme Court might issue a decision on the case.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
PAGE 9
THE NATION
‘Long overdue’: Henry Ford home to confront his antisemitism Fair Lane, the historic home of Henry and Clara Ford, says it will discuss the Dearborn Independent in 2027.
Dayton Metro Library supports digital equity. Our 17 branches and website offer loanable laptops, public desktop computers, wireless hotspots, streaming services, adaptive technology, and more. Learn more at
DaytonMetroLibrary.org or by calling the Ask Me Desk at 937.463.2665.
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By Andrew Lapin, JTA DEARBORN, Mich. — The bust of Henry Ford looked on sternly as hundreds of Jewish professionals flooded his pool room. The visitors admired the views of the Rouge River from Ford’s windows and strolled through his immaculately maintained garden. They studied a mock-up for a Navajo rug in his basement woven with a pattern that resembled a Nazi swastika. The staff at Fair Lane, the historic Dearborn home of Henry and his wife, Clara, welcomed the educators, historians, and museum staff. Why they did became clear at a panel discussion. When the home reopens to the public in June 2027, after a 17-year closure for restoration, staff will teach visitors about Ford’s antisemitism. This facet of the pioneering industrialist’s life wasn't incidental. The onetime richest man in America published venomous conspiracy theories in his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, for years. Hitler was a professed admirer, and Nazi Germany awarded him a medal. Leaders of Jewish groups greeted the news that the home would address Ford’s antisemitism with optimism. “We applaud Fair Lane’s commitment to addressing Henry Ford’s antisemitism publicly,” Catherine Cangany, CEO of the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan, told JTA in a statement. “This history happened, it caused harm, and it continues to have consequences we all must confront.” Cangany, who has research expertise on the Dearborn Independent, sat on the June panel with Fair Lane’s curators but is not involved in the antisemitism initiative itself. Local Jewish groups including hers have been pushing for Ford’s enterprises to acknowledge his antisemitism for years. “The reckoning is long overdue, and we all will be better for it,” she said. The curators did not broach specifics of their plan with their Jewish audience in June. For the rest of the summer, as Fair Lane proceeded with its renovations, most of the Detroit area’s Jewish leaders were kept in the dark. More than two months after the conference, top staffers Austin Eighmey and Hannah McCready met with JTA in Ford’s library to outline their educational plans in more detail. Surrounded by replicas of books on German race science that helped inform Ford’s attitude toward Jews, they explained that they viewed discussions of antisemitism as core to the revitalized Fair Lane’s statement of purpose. Such information would sit, they said, alongside other unflattering aspects of Ford’s character, such as his union-busting activities. “Our mission is to illuminate the lives and legacy of Henry and Clara Ford,” Eighmey, senior director of historic resources, said. Part of that legacy, he said, was noting that “he was an ignorant man, fed a lot of poor information that he himself sought out.” “It’s our job to tell a more full picture and give people a lens with which to view history,” added McCready, the site’s director of interpretation and education. In the Detroit area, where Ford’s name still looms large nearly 80 years after his death, such a commitment is notable. In 2023, the former president of the Ford Foundation, the family’s charitable arm, acknowledged and condemned its namesake’s antisemitism. Other local institutions devoted to historic
Andrew Lapin/JTA
Statues of Henry and Clara Ford look over the garden at their historic Fair Lane home in Dearborn, Mich.
purveyors of antisemitism have reckoned with their own legacies in recent years, including the church founded by demagogic “radio priest” Father Charles Coughlin. But as Ford the man continues to be heavily mythologized today by new generations of entrepreneurs and gearheads — and White supremacists — the museums and educational institutions in the region that bear Ford’s name and have connections to his family largely have not broached his antisemitism. Those include The Henry Ford, a museum built around his personal collections; Greenfield Village, a historic reenactment village that includes a restoration of the mogul’s childhood home; and the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, a Detroit heritage site where Ford’s Model Ts were built. For a long time Fair Lane, too, didn’t touch the subject. After Ford’s widow, Clara, died in 1950, the property was turned over to the Ford Motor Company, which brokered a deal with the University of Michigan to build a Dearborn satellite campus on the site. Eighmey said the plan to teach about antisemitism had been the goal since the restoration’s early days. The staff met with representatives from the Zekelman Holocaust Center, the state’s flagship Holocaust museum, to discuss how such a project would look. “They were straightforward about Henry Ford’s antisemitism and hope that it will be incorporated into the interpretive narrative where appropriate but, at the same time, they respectfully acknowledged many of Henry Ford’s strengths and expressed a deep regard for Fair Lane’s stories, physical spaces, and current restoration work,” reads one executive summary of the focus group that a consultant shared with JTA.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
THE NATION A spokesperson for the Zekelman least not at The Henry Ford, which has declined to comment for this article. a separate ownership structure from Local controversies in the interim Fair Lane. Today, no mention of Ford’s called such educational commitments antisemitism can be found in The Henry into question. In 2019 the city of DearFord’s physical museum space, despite born — where the Ford Motor Compaefforts from Braden and others to add ny is the largest employer — quashed a such material. Some pages of its website planned historical magazine that would now include brief words on the subject. have discussed Ford’s antisemitism, tied Amid new efforts to push Ford’s to the 100th anniversary of his acquisifamily on the subject, Watts returned to tion of the Dearborn Independent. Dearborn in 2024, partially to address In what Eighmey today refers to as Fair Lane at Braden’s invitation. “the whole fiasco here in Dearborn,” the “I hope that they will move forward city’s then-mayor, John “Jack” O’Reilly, to bring Henry Ford’s antisemitism to fired the magazine’s editor, promptthe public,” he said, of both Fair Lane ing outcry. O’Reilly died last year. His and The Henry Ford. “I got the idea son, Devon O’Reilly, now serves as Fair when I was there that they were thinkLane’s CEO. ing strongly about a more frank and Despite this history, the younger open approach to all of this, and I guess O’Reilly is supportive of the plan to I would hope that is the approach that teach Ford’s antisemitism on the site, they take, and not the ‘sweep it under the curators said. “We have not talked the rug’ maneuver.” about his personal life, really, and his He said Ford’s antisemitism became familial connections at all,” Eighmey most pronounced in the 1920s, shortly said of O’Reilly. after the height of his business success. The team has developed talking Watts traces Ford’s antisemitism not points about Ford’s antisemitism as to any one specific root cause, but to a part of their “nonnegotiables,” museum confluence of factors, including the moterminology for facets of history that gul’s economic populism; his failed efevery visitor will forts to send a “peace Andrew Lapin/JTA encounter. Donna ship” of dignitaries Braden, a museums to Europe during consultant who forWorld War I, which merly worked with he came to blame on The Henry Ford and a “Jewish financial who is Jewish herself, interest" in Europe; was hired to give her and his embrace of feedback on the plan conservative cultural and drafted her own signifiers, including proposed nonnegosquare dancing. tiables for the subject. “He basically “Explaining the begins to argue that Austin Eighmey and Hannah McCready, true story of Henry curators at Henry and Clara Ford’s historic Jews lay behind the Ford’s antisemitism Fair Lane residence. corruption of that to non-Jewish people old-fashioned kind will help them understand why it is so of rural, WASP cultural virtue, that Jews important to the Jewish community,” were behind jazz music, Jews were beBraden told the Fair Lane team in a hind Hollywood movies, and that there report on their efforts. was a kind of moral degradation that In a summary she shared with JTA, was at work,” Watts said. Braden also advised the team to “be Fair Lane has a separate ownership aware of many people who are unaware structure from The Henry Ford and of Henry Ford’s antisemitism, and it Greenfield Village, both of which are will surprise them.” largely built around other subjects Ford Braden drew from The People’s was passionate about, such as AmeriTycoon: Henry Ford and the American can innovation, rather than the mogul Century, an acclaimed 2006 biography himself. by Steven Watts. Unlike other Ford Fair Lane, its curators say, is the natubiographers before him, Watts tackled ral place for visitors to learn about the his subject’s antisemitism head-on. His Fords’ personal lives and beliefs. approach would later find surprising Ford descendants still weigh heavily admirers within the Ford dynasty, lead- on Fair Lane’s board — including chair ing him to present on the subject in 2018 Edsel Ford II, Henry Ford’s greatto a room full of The Henry Ford staff grandson, whom Eighmey refers to as and Ford family members. “the Deuce.” “It was, I must say, quite an experiThe family was onboard for this reapence, because I spoke pretty frankly praisal, the curators said. Fair Lane’s about all of this,” Watts, an emeritus models in the museum space include history professor at the University of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s plantaMissouri, said about his 2018 talk. tion in Virginia that has taught visitors “Most of the staff that talked to me about his slaveholding; and the Frick about it actually indicated that they museum in Pittsburgh, where induswere a little relieved, I think, to have trialist Henry Clay Frick comes under this brought out into the open in a fairly scrutiny for his fierce anti-union stance. frank way.” The talk, co-presented Visitors to Fair Lane, Eighmey promwith the Jewish Historical Society of ised, will “never leave here thinking, Michigan, did not lead to change — at Continued on Page 12
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
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Ford home
OPINION
Continued from Page 11 ‘Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal.’” The Fair Lane team chose to restore the house to its condition in 1919 — in part because the home was photographed for an architectural magazine that year, allowing the curators to use it as a visual reference. The date is significant for another reason. 1919 was also the year that Ford acquired the Dearborn Independent, which he would soon use to publish a series of antisemitic conspiracies called The International Jew as well as the Russian forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which purported to outline secret Jewish plans for world domination. Ford would require his dealerships to distribute copies of the paper with every automobile purchase, making the Independent, for a brief time, one of the country’s highest-circulated newspapers. Ford’s role as newspaper publisher was, in Watts’ estimation, the most notorious and seismic way the mogul’s antisemitism manifested in his lifetime. The choice to reset his home to the year he launched the paper “is further bringing all of this together as a narrative throughline,” McCready said. After the paper shut down in 1927, owing in part to a libel suit brought against Ford by Jewish attorney and labor activist Aaron Sapiro, Ford — with the help of Jewish community figures — publicly apologized for spreading antisemitism. Around the same time, the celebrated Jewish architect Albert Kahn helped renovate Fair Lane. The planned 90-minute Fair Lane tour, which is currently being workshopped, touches on the peace ship and Ford’s wielding of the Dearborn Independent. McCready described the tour’s intended arc: “He fails with the peace ship. He decides that there is a hostile press that’s controlled by financiers that’s against him. He purchases this failing local newspaper and starts getting really obsessed with his image in the media, and we kind of take it from there.” It does not get into the Sapiro trial, though tour guides will discuss the topic if visitors bring it up. They also don’t plan to discuss the medal Ford received from Nazi Germany in the late 1930s when Hitler publicly expressed admiration for him, noting that it falls nearly two decades after the time period represented by the house’s restoration. Watts, the Ford historian, said Ford had suffered two strokes at the time he received the medal, and “was in very bad shape” — possibly impairing his judgment. “I think Ford’s got a lot to answer for, but I don’t think he was a Nazi,” Watts said. “I think things kind of went off the rails there.” By 1942, Ford was again publicly renouncing antisemitism, calling it “a distinct disservice to our country.” At the Jewish museums conference, Cangany, the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan CEO, suggested the Fair Lane team should display copies of the Dearborn Independent around the house to demonstrate the effects of Ford’s worldview. That’s not part of the plan, Eighmey said: “It’s not on the site, and it never was.” In August in Dearborn, which today has a large Arab/Muslim community, neo-Nazi activists wearing swastika armbands staged an anti-Muslim rally. Their choice of venue carried historical echoes: They organized outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library. The Fair Lane team is aware of the modern significance of Ford’s antisemitism, they said. “Populist movements, they always end up using antisemitism as some sort of way to recruit people to their cause,” Eighmey said. “And it’s a reality that I hope, after people leave their experience here, they do reflect on it and see, ‘Wow, wait a minute. Is this happening right now around me?’”
So, what do you think? PAGE 12
Haiti saved Jewish lives then. Our silence is not an option now. As the U.S. government begins deporting Haitians back to danger, Jews must remember when Haiti did not turn its back.
By Henryka Manès In the late 1930s, as Nazi Germany intensified its persecution of Jewish people and the warning signs of a far darker future became increasingly clear, Jewish families searched desperately for countries willing to receive them. While many nations turned their backs, Haiti did not. It issued life-saving visas and offered them safe haven. Nearly 90 years later, history has come full circle. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians who have lived and worked lawfully in the United States under Temporary Protected Status now face forcible deportation to a country engulfed in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. This moment is deeply personal. My mother survived a Nazi forced-labor camp, where she was forced to manufacture explosives. My father and three of his nephews survived Auschwitz. The rest of my family perished. I grew up with that history and with a profound awareness of what it means to be uprooted, persecuted, and abandoned by the world. That history shaped not only who I am, but the course of my life. I began my career as an art historian, but eventually felt called toward a different path: working alongside communities confronting abject poverty, famine, conflict, and disaster. My humanitarian career began in 1988 at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, under the mentorship of Aryeh Cooperstock, who in the spirit of tikun olam — repairing the world — led JDC’s international development work with non-Jewish communities around the globe. Aryeh fundamentally influenced my professional practice by instilling the conviction that true development starts with humility and listening to local partners who know their own challenges best. While at JDC, its archive revealed a truth I never forgot. In the late 1930s, Haiti said yes to desperate Jewish refugees while bigger nations said no. My family wasn’t among those saved, but the grace of that gesture stayed with me forever. Thus, in 2009, after working extensively across 24 countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and South America, I founded EcoWorks International to work in Haiti, as an enduring expression of profound gratitude. For the past 17 years, we have worked shoulder-toshoulder with Haitian professionals and communities in a broad range of sectors. Following the devastating 2010 earthquake, and with a generous grant from JDC, we built and equipped a physical rehabilitation center at Bernard Mevs Hospital, Haiti’s leading trauma center, restoring mobility and hope to thousands of victims. Near the capital of Port-Au-Prince, we helped local farmers establish the first regional agricultural cooperatives that they own and manage. After the 2021 earthquake, we worked with coastal fishing communities to rebuild the underwater systems that their livelihoods depend on. Today, in Haiti’s northern region, we work with 2,500 rice farm-
ers to adopt a sustainable farming method that uses significantly less water, relies on organic fertilizer, and can nearly double yields. Yet, in nearly two decades of standing with Haiti through natural disasters and socio-political upheaval, I have never witnessed such a level of unchecked violence, widespread displacement, and profound despair as now. Armed gangs control almost all of Port-au-Prince, key regions, and major transit routes. Murder, kidnapping, rape, extortion, and arson are daily instruments of terror. More than 1.5 million people are displaced and 5.7 million face severe hunger. Hospitals and clinics have been attacked, burned or forced to close. Recently, Bernard Mevs Hospital, where we worked following the earthquake, was attacked and burned. In Ganthier, where our organization worked for years, the 400 Mawozo gang drove some 20,000 people from their homes. Their victims now live homeless and in hiding and our friends, partners and colleagues are still unable to return. Today, Haiti has not one elected official. Basic institutions and services have collapsed. Parents struggle to feed their children. Pregnant women may have nowhere to give birth safely. Simply traveling to work, school, a market, or a hospital puts people at risk of kidnapping, rape or death. This is the abyss to which some 300,000-plus Haitians in the United States now face forcible deportation, a process that has already begun. The Haitians who lost their TPS are our neighbors, coworkers, healthcare professionals, teachers, business owners, taxpayers and friends. They built dignified lives and raised families here under a legal humanitarian program created to protect people from precisely the nightmare Haiti is experiencing today. In this sacred season of the High Holidays, of cheshbon hanefesh, a call to reflection and duty, moral fortitude, and a choice of who we choose to be, we are commanded not to stand idly by while our neighbors suffer. In the past, Haiti chose compassion over indifference toward the Jewish people. Today, the moral choice is ours. Write to your senators and representatives demanding the extension of TPS for Haitian people. Ask your rabbi, synagogue, Jewish Federation, and community leaders to issue public statements and take action. Share Haiti’s historical connection to our people. Yesterday, Haiti opened its doors to save Jewish lives. Today, Haitians desperately need our voices. May history remember that when they needed us most, we did not remain silent.
In the past, Haiti chose compassion over indifference toward the Jewish people. Today, the moral choice is ours.
Henryka Manès is the founder and executive director of Ecoworks International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the well-being of Haiti and its people. Distributed by the Forward.
Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion Send letters (350 words max.) to The Dayton Jewish Observer, pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
October 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES
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UPCOMING EVENTS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 5:30 – 7:30PM PJ Library Down on the Farm
MONDAY, OCTOBER 12, 4 – 8PM & TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 5:30 – 8PM JCC Youth Theatre Auditions
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2 – 4PM
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CABS Opening Event – Michael Kimmel, Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15 & THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 6 – 8PM Theatre Writer's Workshop
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One Dinner at a Time Building Jewish Community Join fellow Jewish young adults (ages 18 - 36) for great food, meaningful conversations, and new connections. A volunteer-led initiative supported by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Initial one-time WhatsApp group registration is required. Contact Lidia Zambilovici at lzambilovici@jfgd.net or 937-610-1778 to be added to the group.
Connect with us! Check out our events. For more information, check out our calendar at jewishdayton.org.
E INSTITUT T R A N O DAYT D LUNCH N A R U TO Wednesday, November 18, 12 – 3PM The Dayton Art Institute 456 Belmonte Park North, Dayton, 45405 Join the JCC Boomers at 2PM for a docent-led one-hour tour at the Dayton Art Institute of the special exhibition Wall Power! Spectacular Quilts from the American Folk Art Museum. Before the tour, we will meet at 12PM for lunch at Old Scratch Pizza (812 S Patterson Blvd, Dayton, 45402). Cost: $10 per person for exhibit tour; lunch cost on your own. Space is limited. Must register by Monday, November 9. For more information about the exhibit and to register, visit jewishdayton.org/events. Questions? contact Stacy Emoff at semoff@jfgd.net or 937-610-5513.
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October 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES
Down on the Farm Sunday, October 11, 5:30 – 7:30PM Lucas Brothers Farm 3229 Ferry Road, Bellbrook, 45305 Join us for our annual evening of fun on the farm! No cost. RSVP at jewishdayton.org/events by October 9.
Questions? Please contact Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net
AUDITIONS
Monday, October 12, 4– 8PM & Tuesday, October 13, 5:30– 8PM The Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, 45459
Youth in grades 3–12 should prepare 16–32 bars of a song from any musical, except Into the Woods, as well as a short joke. Please wear comfortable clothing, as participants will learn a basic dance routine and participate in cold readings from the show. Everyone who auditions will be cast in a role! Show dates: Saturday, February 20 & Sunday, February, 21, 2027 Program fee: $230 Visit jewishdayton.org/events to schedule an audition. Questions? Contact Jennifer Holman at 937-401-1550 or jholman@jfgd.net.
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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 ice skating, museums, and entertainment centers. Every day brings something new: cooking projects, arts and crafts, STEM explorations, and fun indoor sports.
Winter Camp Schedule
December 21 - 24 December 28 - 31 Closed December 25 and January 1
Hours:
Camp day 9AM - 4PM Rise & Shine 8 - 9AM Stay & Play 4 - 5:30PM
Cost:
$400 for all 8 amazing days of Camp or $80 a day Rise & Shine $5 per day Stay & Play $7 per day
For more information, please contact Jennifer Holman at jholman@jfgd.net or 937-401-1550.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
October 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES
OPENING EVENT
A Poetry & Music Café
Sunday, October 25 at 2PM Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459
JG&H Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History
In partnership with Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History In lieu of an admission fee, we kindly ask each attendee to bring a new toy for donation to FLOC – For Love of Children to be distributed in the community this holiday season.
Michael Kimmel, Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America Discover the untold story of first-generation Jewish American toymakers who helped manufacture “the century of the child.” In 1902, Morris and Rose Michtom stitched together the first Teddy Bear in the back room of their Brooklyn candy store, sparking the Ideal Toy Corporation and a booming toy world created by fellow immigrant pioneers like Hasbro, Mattel, and Lionel Trains. In Playmakers, Michael Kimmel traces how Jewish founders, designers, and storytellers shaped an idealized American childhood—from Barbie and G.I. Joe to Superman and Mr. Potato Head. He reveals how outsider tenement life fueled a culture of imagination, acceptance, and endless fantasy.
Sunday, November 15 at 9:45AM Temple Israel 130 Riverside Drive, Dayton, 45405 In partnership with Temple Israel Brotherhood’s Ryterband Lecture Series
Calling all Jewish Poets We’d love to hear from you. Please consider submitting some of your poetry to be included in our upcoming program - Hear Us! A Poetry and Music Café on Saturday, November 7 at 7:30PM. Submissions from all Jewish poets in the Miami Valley (over 18 years of age) will be considered. A Jewish theme is not required. For information on how to submit your poetry, visit jewishdayton.org/events. Deadline for submissions is Monday, October 5.
Save the date! Saturday, November 7 7:30 – 9:30PM
Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459
Cost: $10 Includes brunch Liz Hirsh Naftali, Saving Abigail: The True Story of the Abduction and Rescue of a Three-Year-Old Hostage Saving Abigail is a gripping true story of courage, resilience, and the extraordinary power of family in the face of unimaginable tragedy. On October 7, 2023, threeyear-old Abigail Mor Edan’s world was shattered when Hamas terrorists attacked her Israeli community, murdering her parents and abducting her into Gaza. Alone, vulnerable, and held hostage amid a rapidly escalating conflict, Abigail became one of the many innocent victims caught in a devastating geopolitical crisis. Refusing to accept the unthinkable, Abigail’s great-aunt, Liz Hirsh Naftali, launched an urgent and relentless campaign to bring her home. With no diplomatic training, political influence, or blueprint to follow, Liz navigated the highest levels of government, rallied bipartisan support, and captured international attention with Abigail’s heartbreaking story.
Join us for a unique evening of poetry and music at the “CJCE Café.” Immerse yourself in the beatnik world, where we will delight your senses with performances by local Jewish poets and musicians. $18 per person, includes food and one drink ticket. Registration required at jewishdayton.org/events by October 30. Hear Us Committee: Wendy Gray • Ruth Schumacher • Elyssa Wortzman Poetry Consultant: Rabbi Debrah Shenefelt
Register online at jewishdayton.org/events starting September 18.
Jewish Federation: Cathy Gardner, CEO
Jewish Community Center OF GREATER DAYTON
THE CULTURAL ARTS AND BOOK SERIES IS THE RECIPIENT OF A MONTGOMERY COUNTY ARTS AND CULTURAL DISTRICT SPECIAL PROJECTS GRANT. THIS SERIES IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
In partnership with the Cultural Arts & Book Series PAGE 15
October 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES
Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials FEDERATION
SECURITY CAMPAIGN FUND In honor of Bob Goldenberg’s special birthday Ellie and Bob Bernstein Sally and Richard Broock Linda Silverberg and Jerry Speigel In honor of Lynn and David Goldenberg’s special birthdays Sally and Richard Broock JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND In honor of Clemintine Combs’ bat mitzvah Claire Long
JCC
JOAN AND PETER WELLS AND REBECCA LINVILLE FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND In memory of Peter Wells Judy Lipton Howard Rieger Miriam Reines In honor of Marni Flagel being elected JFGD President Joan Wells
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 call 937-610-1555.
JEWISH CEMETERIES In honor of Lynn and David Goldenberg’s special birthdays Andi Rabiner and Steve Harlan HOLOCAUST PROGRAMMING FUND In memory of Morris Pavlofsky Kathy and Mark Gordon
Life can be challenging, and you don’t have to face it alone. Jewish Family Services now offers individual counseling, a grief support group, and a caregiver support group for those caring for a loved one, partner, parent, or friend. Our services provide a safe, compassionate space for healing, connection, and personal growth. Please contact Bonnie Parish at 937-401-1542 or bparish@jfgd.net for more information. Space is limited.
Jewish Family Services OF GREATER DAYTON
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
CALENDAR Classes
Beth Jacob Classes: W. Rabbi Agar on Zoom. Call to register, 937-274-2149. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Torah Tuesdays. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought. Chabad Classes: Mondays, Oct. 26-Nov. 30, 7 p.m.: JLI, Kabalah & the Hidden Architecture of You. $72. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/calendar. Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.: Talmud 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., Oct. 10, 24, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study. Thurs., Oct. 15, 6 p.m.: Navigating Loss. Register at templebethor.com/ calendar. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. Temple Israel Classes: Wednesdays, 10 a.m.: Torah Study in person & Zoom. For Zoom info., email info@tidayton.org. Saturdays, 9:15 a.m.: Torah Study on Zoom w. Judy Heller. For Torah Study Zoom info., email Fran Rickenbach, franwr@gmail.com. Weds., Oct. 7-28, 3 p.m.: Being Human w. Rabbi Emeritus Sofian. RSVP at tidayton.wispform. com/681aaa09. Fri., Sept. 9, 11 a.m. Living w. Loss. Thurs., Oct. 15, 3:30 p.m.: Living w. Ambiguous Loss. tidayton.org/ calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.
Family
Beth Abraham Rhythm ‘N’ Ruach: Fri., Oct. 9, 5:30-6:15 p.m. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520. PJ Library Down on the Farm: Sun., Oct. 11, 5:30 p.m. Free. RSVP by Oct. 9 at jewishdayton.org/calendar. Lucas Bros. Farms, 3229 Ferry Rd., Bellbrook. 937-610-1555.
Kids & Teens
JCC Youth Theatre Auditions: Mon., Oct. 12 & Tues., Oct. 13, 4-8 p.m. $230. RSVP at jewishdayton.org/calendar. Email Jennifer Holman w. questions, jholman@jfgd. net. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937610-1555.
Adults
Temple Israel Every Voice, Every Vote Postcard & Pizza Party: Wed., Oct. 7, noon. RSVP to Nancy Cohen, nrc2622@gmail.com. Details
at tidayton.org/calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960050. Temple Israel Brotherhood Ryterband Brunch & Lecture Series: Sundays, 9:45 a.m. $10. $85 for series. Oct. 11: Rabbi Emeritus David Sofian, Life in Israel. Oct. 18 at Beth Abraham: JFS Exec. Dir. Brian Kerstine. Oct. 25: Pines School of Graduate Studies Dir. Rabbi Richard Sarason, Taste of Talmud. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 496-0050. Beth Abraham Rick Pinsky Brunch Speaker Series: Sundays, 10 a.m. $12. Oct. 11: Jewish Fed. Security Dir. John Davis. Oct. 18: JFS Exec. Dir. Brian Kerstine. Oct. 25: Comedy writer Stephen Levinson. RSVP to 937-293-9520. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. Hillel Academy Night of Comedy w. Joel Chasnoff: Sun., Oct. 18, 6:30 p.m. $36-$72. RSVP at daytonhillel.org. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series Opening Author Michael Kimmel: Sun., Oct. 25, 2 p.m. Free. In partnership w. Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History. RSVP at jewishdayton. org/event. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937-610-1555. Temple Israel Sacred Stitching: Wed., Oct. 14, 28, 11:30 a.m. Make items for donation w. JCRC’s Upstander initiative. For info., email Alexandria King, garyuzzking@hotmail. com. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.
Community
Hadassah Dayton's 100th Birthday Grand Centennial Celebration Party: Sun., Oct. 11, 2 p.m. Location w. registration to Paula Gessiness, 937430-5059.
Sukkot
Temple Israel Pizza in the Hut: Fri., Sept. 25, 5:45 p.m. $8 adults, $5 kids 4-12. RSVP to 937-496-0050. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. Anshe Emeth Sukkot Celebration & Campfire: Sun., Sept. 27, 4:30 p.m. At congregants' home. Ansheemeth@ gmail.com for details. Beth Jacob Congregational Clash: Sun., Sept. 27, 6 p.m. $18. BBQ dinner & Family Feud-style game. RSVP to
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
937-274-2149. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. Chabad Community Sukkot Dinner & Party: Mon., Sept. 28, 5:30 p.m. $20 adults, $7.50 kids. RSVP at chabaddayton. com/calendar. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770. Chabad Women’s Circle Steak in the Sukkah: Tues., Sept. 29, 6 p.m. $36. At Mangel family Sukkah. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/cwc. Chabad Men’s Night Out in the Sukkah: Tues., Sept. 29, 6 p.m. $59. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/calendar. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-6430770.
No one does fall better.
Corner of Far Hills & Dorothy Lane 2977 FAR HILLS AVE DAYTON OH 45419
937-224-7673 THEFLOWERSHOPPE.COM
Beth Abraham Sisterhood Sunset in the Sukkah: Wed., Sept. 30, 6 p.m. $10. RSVP to bas@bethabrahamdayton.org. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520. Temple Israel Sukkot Under the Stars: Wed., Sept. 30, 6:30 p.m. Music by Dan Nichols. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. Beth Abraham Men’s Club Bourbon & Brisket in the Sukkah: Thurs., Oct. 1, 6 p.m. $40-$50. Call or email to RSVP, 937-293-9520, bas@ bethabrahamdayton.org. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.
Simchat Torah
Temple Israel Simchat Torah Celebration: Fri., Oct. 2, 5:45 p.m. Potluck dinner & service. RSVP at tidayton.wispform. com/09de828a. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. Chabad Simchat Torah Celebration: Sat., Oct. 3, 7:30 p.m. RSVP at chabaddayton. com/calendar. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770. Beth Abraham Simchat Torah Celebration & Sundaes: Sun., Oct. 4, 9:30 a.m. RSVP to 937496-0050. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. Beth Jacob Simchat Torah Celebration: Sun., Oct. 4, 9:30 a.m. Call to RSVP, 937274-2149. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. Chabad CKids Simchat Torah Game Park: Sun., Oct. 4, 11 a.m. Free. chabaddayton.com/ ckids. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.
Contact Patty Caruso at jewishobserver@jfgd.net to advertise in The Observer. PAGE 17
October
Tishri/Cheshvan
RELIGION
WORSHIP SERVICES
‘We return changed’
Temple Israel/YouTube
Candle Lightings
Michigan temple reopens for Rosh Hashanah six months after gunman forced them out
Erev Simchat Torah Oct. 3: 7:56 p.m. Shabbat, Oct. 9: 6:48 p.m. Shabbat, Oct. 16: 6:38 p.m. Shabbat, Oct. 23: 6:28 p.m. Shabbat, Oct. 30: 6:19 p.m.
Torah Portions Oct. 10: Bereshit (Gen. 1:1-6:8)
Oct. 24: Lech Lecha (Gen. 12:1-17:27) Oct. 31: Vayera (Gen. 18:1-22:24)
Sukkot
Festival of Booths
Sept. 26-Oct. 2 15-21 Tishri Named after the huts the Jews lived in while wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Marked by building sukkot to eat meals in during the festival, and in the synagogue by processions with the lulav (palm branches with myrtle and willow) and etrog (citron fruit).
Shemini Atzeret
Eighth Day of Assembly
Oct. 3/22 Tishri Historically, it allowed an extra day in Jerusalem for Jewish pilgrims on their journey to the Temple. Tefillat Geshem (the prayer for rain), Hallel (Psalms of thanksgiving and joy), and Yizkor (memorial prayers) are recited.
Simchat Torah
Rejoicing of the Torah
Oct. 4/23 Tishri Annual cycle of reading the Torah is concluded and a new cycle begun. Celebrated in the synagogue with singing, dancing, and Torah processionals.
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Conservative Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 937-293-9520 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. bethabrahamdayton.org.
Beth Boruk Temple
Shabbat, Erev Shemini Atzeret Oct. 2: 6:59 p.m.
Oct. 17: Noach (Gen. 6:9-11:32)
Beth Abraham Synagogue
Rabbi Harold Loss at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich. on the first night of Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 11.
By Benyamin Cohen, Forward Six months after he was injured protecting his synagogue, Danny Phillips helped carry a Torah back into its sanctuary. The security director was still recovering. So was the congregation. On Friday evening Sept. 11, the Jews of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich. returned to celebrate Rosh Hashanah in the sanctuary they had been forced to leave after a gunman attacked their synagogue in March. The Torah scrolls came home to their ark. Familiar prayers filled the room again. And the High Holidays’ ancient invitation to return took on a meaning no one there could have anticipated a year earlier. “This room holds more than our services; it holds our memories,” Cantor Neil Michaels said in his welcome, recalling the weddings, comingof-age ceremonies, and farewells that had taken place there. Throughout the service, clergy and congregational leaders spoke openly about what it meant to enter a sacred space where their sense of safety had been shattered. They described gratitude alongside grief, and the effort of caring for others while still struggling themselves. Returning to the building was one step toward learning to feel at home again. The congregation’s copresidents, Debra Gordon and Jodi Neff, gave that work a plainspoken expression: “How do you lead others when you are trying to steady yourself?” Gordon asked. The answer, in the stories shared from the bima (stage), was that others helped carry the weight. The prayer books came from other congregations. Temple Israel’s Machzors (High Holiday prayer books) had been destroyed in the attack, and the edition it used was out of print. Synagogues around the country sent replacements.
Rabbi Harold Loss told worshippers that the book he picked up bore another congregation’s initials — a small reminder, held in his hands, of the community that had sustained them. The children had already made their own return. Earlier that week, students came back to the early childhood center and received teddy bears, marking the occasion with the Shehecheyanu, the blessing of gratitude upon reaching a significant moment. An educator recalled a parent saying that, after six months in which nothing had felt normal, the first day back finally did. Their neighbors had helped make the journey possible. On the day of the attack, the Chaldean Christian community’s Shenandoah Country Club across the street sheltered children and teachers. The following evening, it hosted the congregation for Shabbat. At the holiday service, Temple Israel’s leaders again thanked those neighbors, along with the staff, first responders, and restoration workers who helped sustain and rebuild their community. Coming home still required protection. The March 12 attacker drove a truck into the temple and exchanged gunfire with security personnel while preschoolers were inside. The reopening included additional security measures. Temple Israel’s Rabbi Josh Bennett has also spoken about the emotional and financial difficulty of making a synagogue secure while preserving its welcome — a challenge facing Jewish congregations far beyond Michigan. Near the end of their remarks, the copresidents described teshuva, the season’s work of return, as something that allowed room for everything the congregation had endured. “We return changed,” Neff said, “but still rooted.”
Returning to the building was one step toward learning to feel at home again.
Reform Cantor Andrea Raizen 2810 Southeast Pkwy., Richmond, Ind. bethboruk@yahoo.com. Friday night Shabbat service monthly, September through May. Service schedule at bethboruktemple.com.
Beth Jacob Congregation
Modern Orthodox Rabbi Leibel Agar Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. Evening minyans upon request. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org
Chabad of Greater Dayton
Orthodox Rabbi Nochum Mangel Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon. Beginner educational service Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com
Temple Anshe Emeth
Reform Worship led by Jese Shell 320 Caldwell St., Piqua. Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, ansheemeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org
Temple Beth Or
Reform Rabbi Judy Chessin Fridays, 6:15 p.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com
Temple Beth Sholom
Reform Rabbi Haviva Horvitz 610 Gladys Dr., Middletown. 513-422-8313. facebook.com/ templebethsholommiddletown
Temple Israel
Reform Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz, Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937496-0050. Service schedule at tidayton.org/calendar.
Temple Sholom
Reform Rabbi Cary Kozberg Fridays, 6 p.m. 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com
Yellow Springs Havurah
Independent Antioch College Rockford Chapel. 1st & 3rd Saturday each month. Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
MAZEL TOV! After 46 years as a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio — seven of them as chief judge — Walter H. Rice retired from the federal bench Aug. 28. As reported by the Dayton Daily News, the 89-yearold judge will occasionally preside over reentry court cases and naturalization ceremonies. He plans to keep active with the University of Dayton School of Law and the Dayton Dialogue on Race Relations. Known for his decades of activism with reentry initiatives, he cochairs the Montgomery County Reentry Council with Walter H. Rice Debbie Lieberman. The council offers the Reentry Career Alliance Academy four-week program of workshops on career and job readiness, case management, and the opportunity to connect with community resources, service providers, and employers. In 1980, when Rice was appointed a federal judge by President Jimmy Carter, he inherited oversight of the implementation of the desegregation order for Dayton Public Schools. In 2002, he presided over the Dayton NAACP and Dayton Public Schools
B''H
settlement to end the failed desegregation program. "The civil rights issues of today aren't about where you can live, go to school or eat," the judge told The Observer in a previous interview looking back on Black-Jewish relations in Dayton. "It's the state of public education, it's the criminal justice system, it's housing, it's banking, it's social services, a thousand other things." Greenville Federal has promoted Scott Hochstein to the position of vice president/chief financial officer. "Scott brings banking experience and professionalism to the organization every day," Greenville Federal President/ CEO John Schipfer said in the announcement. "I am confident that he will continue to build on our strong foundation to lead Scott Hochstein the company into its next chapter of success." Established in 1883, Greenville Federal bank has branches in Greenville, Tipp City, and Troy. Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.
T Philosophy of Color The & the American Revolution
Celebrate Sukkot with
Chabad of Greater Dayton SUKKOT PRAYERS Shabbat, October 3
Shabbat, September 26 Sunday, September 27
Morning Prayer 9:30am Yizkor 11:00am Hakafot & Dinner 7:30pm
Morning Prayer 9:30am Children’s Program 10:30am
Sunday, October 4
Morning Prayer 9:30am CKids Program 10:00am
DINNER & PARTY IN THE SUKKAH Monday, September 28 | 5:30pm
Enjoy a full dinner featuring a full buffet dinner in the Sukkah and great entertainment!
MEN’S NIGHT OUT IN THE SUKKAH Tuesday, September 29 | 6:00pm Enjoy an evening of Steak, Cigars and Scotch & Bourbon. Steak dinner with all the trimmings, selection of fine cigars, lechayims from a selection of top-shelf spirits, all in the Sukkah.
LADIES’ NIGHT OUT IN THE SUKKAH Tuesday, September 29 | 6:00pm Indulge in a festive steak dinner, mixed drinks, and s’mores in the Sukkah. Vegetarian option available.
Thursday, October 15th 4:00-5:00 p.m.
SIMCHAT TORAH
Atrium, Student Union
Saturday night, October 3 | 7:30pm
reception will follow
Dance with the Torah, say Lechayim and enjoy a full buffet dinner (including kid friendly menu). Sing and dance the night away in celebration of the Torah. Outdoor dancing on Far Hills Avenue. Funky Flags - Holy Torahs - Rockin’ Hakafot.
Chabad of Greater Dayton 2001 Far Hills Ave. Oakwood, OH 45419 www.ChabadDayton.com | 937-643-0770
Revolutionary-era British spy Edward Bancroft also developed a new theory of color, compatible with modern elemental chemistry. Dr. Sean Silver of Rutgers University explores how.
Erik C. Banks Memorial Lecture in Philosophy THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
PAGE 19
JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION
A living blueprint America 250 — Part Four In the news series
The Relative Influence of European Thinkers and the Bible on American Political Thought. How the Bible influenced the Founding Fathers. Proclaim Liberty: How the Hebrew Bible Molded America. The Hebrew Bible in American History and Today’s Headlines. In 1450, German inventor Johannes Gutenberg introduced the mechanical movable-type printing press to Europe. Over the next five decades, European presses exploded with activity, churning out an estimated 10 to 20 million individual books across 40,000 distinct titles.
Candace R. Kwiatek Alongside classical Greek literature, humanist philosophy, and scientific treatises, religious texts dominated the market. Jewish entrepreneurs quickly seized on the new technology. By 1500, they had printed over 200 Hebrew titles, 10 including Hebrew Bibles, Hebrew dictionaries and grammar books, Talmudic tractates, Maimonides’ Mishnah Torah, and Rashi’s Commentary on the Torah — the first dated, stand-alone Hebrew book ever printed. For the first time, scholars, nobility, and wealthy professionals could buy and study identical, clear copies of ancient
C
Christian, Jewish, classical, and secular texts that had long been locked away in rare, handwritten manuscripts. This accessibility fundamentally transformed Europe's intellectual landscape. Driven by Renaissance humanism's emphasis on returning to original historical texts, Christian scholars began studying the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic literature, and classical Jewish commentaries. This movement, known as Christian Hebraism, aimed to bypass centuries of translation and copying errors to uncover the literal, historical meaning of the text. In doing so, these thinkers unlocked something unexpected: a revolutionary model of the "secular" civic and political principles of government in what they viewed as an ancient Hebrew republic: separation of powers (leader, courts, priesthood), decentralized leadership (independent tribes), the rule of law (Torah), and the consent of the governed (acceptance at Sinai). This intellectual revolution didn't stay confined to Europe; it sailed across the Atlantic with the first American settlers who brought with them a deep immersion in Christian Hebraism and their newly printed English Bibles that resulted from it. They did not view the Hebrew Bible as a relic of ancient history, but as a living blueprint for society, becoming
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PAGE 20
most prominent in the Puritan concept of America as the "New Israel.” America’s colonists used scriptures to construct their legal codes, structure their towns, and establish a foundational culture of literacy and selfgovernance, more aptly termed political Hebraism. Long before the American Revolution, the political soil of the New World was already deeply fertilized by the ideas of the ancient Hebrew text. Modern writings usually credit the European Enlightenment for America's founding documents. However, this narrative skips a crucial step: the Enlightenment itself grew directly out of Europe's deeply biblical soil. Long before Locke, Montesquieu, and Voltaire were celebrated as architects of secular modern politics, their ideas were cultivated in centuries of biblical, Jewish, and Christian religious thought. Ultimately, if the Enlightenment was the architect of the American experiment, the Hebrew Bible was its indispensable blueprint. The biblical roots of the Enlightenment. The political philosophy behind America's founding was deeply shaped by European thinkers who drew directly from biblical text. Foundational theorists like John Locke integrated scripture and extensive theological commentaries to justify core concepts like natural rights. Rather than discarding religious texts, these political philosophers looked to their conception of an ancient Hebrew republic as the model on which to build a constitutional republic, using it to champion a society governed by the rule of law instead of the whims of a monarch. The Covenant and the Constitution. America's reliance on written, binding documents to limit government power began long before the U.S. Consti-
Literature to share The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape from Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America by Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp. As the Taliban seized Kabul in 2021, The New York Times carried out a frantic, high-stakes operation to rescue Afghan colleagues and their families. Among them were four young women whose journeys
Interpretation of Benjamin Franklin's proposed design for the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States for Harper's Magazine, 1856.
tution, rooted in the biblical concept of a covenant brought by early settlers. This sacred agreement between God, rulers, and the people served as the direct predecessor to social contract theory. By signing the Mayflower Compact in 1620, the Pilgrims explicitly used this framework to establish a tradition of selfgovernance under a supreme law nearly 170 years before the Constitution was ratified. Human dignity and the law. The Declaration of Independence's proclamation that “all men are created equal” with inherent dignity and rights is a direct political application of the Bible’s concept of b’tzelem Elokim, that human beings are made in the image of God. Unlike ancient Roman and Greek democracies that restricted rights to citizens, wealthy males, or the ruling class, this radical American idea is a unique inheritance of the Hebrew Bible. Unlike ancient Roman and Greek democracies that restricted rights to citizens, wealthy males, or the ruling class, this radical American idea is a unique inheritance of JudeoChristian theology. Checks, balances, and human nature. The American government's structure is deliberately trifurcated to maintain a system of checks and balances. of flight from Afghanistan and reinvention in America form the heart of this riveting memoir. It's an essential reminder of the human lives behind the headlines — and the enduring power of hope. Three Pieces of Broken Glass: A Picture Book by Emily Barth Isler. “What if I told you…that it’s not only good luck to break glass sometimes, but it’s also tradition?”asks Great-
While inspired by the Enlightenment thinker Montesquieu, the Founders' primary motivation for this separation of powers stemmed from a biblical view of the fallibility of human nature. They maintained a deep skepticism of human authority, recognizing inherently flawed people are prone to corruption when given absolute power. The vocabulary of the Revolution. The colonists widely viewed their rebellion against King George III as a modernday Exodus. In this cultural narrative, America was the New Israel, the Atlantic was the Reed Sea, and King George was Pharaoh. This biblical imagery was so influential that when Benjamin Franklin designed the first proposal for the Great Seal of the United States, its reverse depicted the sea closing in on the Egyptians surrounded by the motto "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God." Ultimately, it was the printing-press revival of early Jewish texts that gave America’s Founders the philosophical framework for the new nation, political scientist Eric Nelson explains. By placing the blueprints of the Hebrew Bible —including ideas of covenantal law, checks on power, and resistance to tyranny — directly into the colonial mainstream, the printing press did more than massproduce books. It transmitted the ancient Jewish ideas that would, centuries later, directly inform the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The words of news blogger Elroie Agam best capture the real story of America 250: “A nation is not built only by those who write its philosophy. It is built by those who finance it, fight for it, pray for it, organize for it, and give it a moral language.” Ultimately, our nation is built — or not — by each of us every day. Grandmother Inge. Pointing to three glass shards on her windowsill, she gently tells their stories: a wedding, a Kristallnacht warning, a family’s unexpected reunification. Ideal for elementary ages and reading aloud, the tales emphasize the importance of keeping and sharing memories along with seeing the world in a hopeful light. An author’s note includes images and the family history that inspired this story.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
To purchase tickets for in-person events or to register for free events, please visit jewishdayton.org/events or call 937-610-1555.
Tuesday, January 12, 2027 at 12PM
Jewish Book Council Bonus Event
Via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home!
Tuesday, October 15 at 1PM Bruce Feiler in Conversation with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! No Cost
In partnership with Jewish Family Services of Greater Dayton and Bethany Village No Cost Jewish Family Services OF GREATER DAYTON
Samantha Ellis, Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture
Thursday, January 21, 2027 at 7PM
OPENING EVENT
via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! No Cost
Sunday, October 25 at 2PM The Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, Polarized: Why American Jews are Divided and What to Do about It
JG&H In partnership with Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History
Tuesday, February 9, 2027 at 7PM
No Cost. Please bring a new toy for donation to FLOC - For Love of Children to be distributed in the community this holiday season. Michael Kimmel, Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America
Via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! In partnership with Jewish Family Services of Greater Dayton and One Lincoln Park No Cost Jewish Family Services OF GREATER DAYTON
Saturday, November 7 at 7:30PM The Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture & Education 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459 A Poetry & Music Café
In Partnership with the Hear Us Committee Cost: $18
Rabbi Shira Stutman, The Jewish Way to a Good Life: Find Happiness, Build Community, and Embrace Lovingkindness
Thursday, February 25, 2027 at 7PM via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! No Cost
Includes food and one drink ticket Hear Us - A Poetry and Music Café
Rabbi Perry Raphael Rank, Two Minute Torah: Ancient Wisdom and Modern Thought For Every Day and Every Night
Sunday, November 15 at 9:45AM Temple Israel 130 Riverside Drive, Dayton, 45405
Sunday, March 14, 2027 at 2PM Beth Jacob Synagogue 7020 North Main Street, Harrison Township, 45415
In partnership with Temple Israel Brotherhood’s Ryterband Lecture Series Cost: $10 Includes brunch Liz Hirsh Naftali, Saving Abigail: The True Story of the Abduction and Rescue of a Three-Year-Old Hostage
In partnership with Wright Memorial Public Library and Hadassah Public Library
No Cost Rebecca Blumenstein and Diana Kapp, The Last Free Women: A Daring Escape From Afghanistan and Coming of Age in America
Merryl Goldberg, Notes of Deception: How a Quartet of American Musicians Outwitted the KGB
Sunday, April 11, 2027 at 2PM Centerville Public Library Community Room 111 West Spring Valley Road, Centerville, 45458 In partnership with Washington-Centerville Public Library No Cost Annabelle Gurwitz, The End of My Life Is Killing Me: The Unexpected Joys of a Cancer Slacker
THE CULTURAL ARTS AND BOOK SERIES IS THE RECIPIENT OF A MONTGOMERY COUNTY ARTS AND CULTURAL DISTRICT SPECIAL PROJECTS GRANT. THIS SERIES IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL.
Jewish Community Center OF GREATER DAYTON
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
No Cost
C LO S I N G E V E N T
Sunday, December 13 at 2PM Wright Memorial Public Library 1776 Far Hills Avenue, Oakwood, 45419
Wright Memorial
In partnership with Beth Jacob Synagogue and JCC Book Club
PAGE 21
Italian Honey-Walnut Cookies to break fast By Leah Koenig, The Nosher Sfratti – Italian honey and walnut cookies from the town of Pitigliano — will give a lift to your break-the-fast table. These sticky, chewy cookies texturally resemble sesame candies wrapped in dough. From the 15th through 19th centuries, Pitigliano was home to a significant Jewish community, enough so that it earned the nickname “little Jerusalem.” The cookie’s name, sfratto (sfratti is plural), comes from the Italian word that means eviction. According to The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews by Edda Servi Machlin, “There was a time when the law that prevailed was the ‘law of the stick.’ When landlords could not collect from poor tenants, they would evict them with the persuasive aid of a stick. The same treatment was applied to the Jews when they were no longer wanted in a community.” Sfratti are rolled into
stick-shaped logs before being baked, and then sliced into smaller pieces for serving. Like hamantashen at Purim or charoset at Passover, sfratti embody the phrase: “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat!” Notes: You can use a large, sharp knife and a cutting board to chop the walnuts, or pulse them in a food processor until finely chopped with a few slightly larger pieces. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days, in the fridge for a week, in the freezer for three months. Total Time: Three hours, five minutes. Yield: Makes about 30 cookies. For the dough 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup granulated sugar ¼ tsp. kosher salt ¼ cup sunflower oil (or other neutral vegetable oil)
¼ cup dry white wine, plus more as needed For the filling and assembly ¾ cup honey ½ tsp. ground cinnamon ⅛ tsp. ground cloves ⅛ tsp. freshly ground black pepper 2½ cups walnut halves, finely chopped zest of 1 medium lemon zest of 1 medium orange 1 large egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for the egg wash confectioner’s sugar, for dusting Make the dough: Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the
center of the flour mixture and add the oil and wine. Stir to bring the dough together, then knead with your hands (in the bowl or on a counter) until a smooth dough forms. If the dough is too dry to hold together when squeezed, add more wine, a little at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Gather the dough and divide it into four pieces. Wrap each well in parchment paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or up to overnight. Make the filling: In a medium, nonstick saucepan set over medium-high heat, combine the honey, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until the honey thickens (the bubbles will start to slow) and turns a few shades darker, about five minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the walnuts, lemon zest, and orange zest. Transfer mixture to a heat safe
bowl and let sit until just cool enough to handle. (Don’t let it sit too long or it will harden too much to work with.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Working with one piece of dough at a time on a floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle, about ⅛-inch thick. (Aim to get the dough as thin as possible without tearing.) Trim off any ragged edges and discard scraps. Spoon a quarter of the honey-nut mixture in a thick line along one of the long sides of the rectangle. Tightly roll the dough around the filling, then trim off both ends until the dough is flush with filling. Place the log on the baking sheet and repeat the process with remaining dough and filling. Brush the tops and sides of each log with the egg wash (you will not use all of it). Bake, rotating the pan front-to-back halfway through baking, until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the logs to wire racks to cool for 20 minutes. Use a sharp, serrated knife to slice the logs crosswise into 1-inchwide cookies.
FALL LEARNING
BEING HUMAN
A FOUR-PART SERIES WITH RABBI DAVID SOFIAN WEDNESDAYS IN OCTOBER 3:00 PM — 5:00 PM
JOIN THE CONVERSATION FREE REGISTRATION
What does Judaism teach us about being human— and therefore, about being a Jew? The last few years have raised difficult questions about how we understand one another, respond to conflict, and act in the world. Drawing on traditional Jewish sources, Rabbi David Sofian will lead four conversations exploring some of the moral and human questions of our time.
ANGER & COMPASSION
DEHUMANIZATION
BEING A MENSCH
AGENCY & EMPOWERMENT
OCTOBER 7
OCTOBER 14
OCTOBER 21
OCTOBER 28
RYTERBAND RETURNS The Dorothee and Louis Ryterband Lecture Series Spend Sunday mornings learning, discussing, and connecting. The Ryterband Lecture Series brings engaging speakers to Temple Israel for conversations about Judaism, Jewish life, history, culture, current issues, and more.
SELECT SUNDAYS • 9:45 AM • OCT. 11–APR. 18
PAGE 22
$10 PER SESSION OR $85 SERIES LECTURE • Q&A • BRUNCH FULL LINEUP + TICKETS SCAN TO EXPLORE THE 2026-27 SEASON
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
Saucy Seitan Vegetarian Brisket for Sukkot A savory dish that captures the nostalgic, slow-braised flavors of the Jewish holidays classic without the meat. By Leah Koenig, The Nosher Like many Ashkenazi Jews, I grew up believing that my mother made the best brisket in the world. (I still believe that today.) Fragrant, savory and unbelievably tender, it was and continues to be the stuff of holiday memories – and of sneaking back to the fridge at midnight, long after the guests had gone home. When I decided to become a vegetarian at 17, I did so with the acute and sorrowful understanding that I was saying goodbye to one of my favorite Jewish dishes. Brisket was such a sacred food to me, I never even considered trying to recreate it for my meat-free lifestyle, until a friend mentioned that he was trying to “perfect his vegetarian brisket.” Intrigued, I began fiddling with my own version, combining recipes I found online with the tastes I recalled from childhood. While the resulting dish is by no means an exact replica of my mother’s (and I am no longer a vegetarian), it definitely holds its own on Sukkot. Of course, vegetarian brisket is a blatant misnomer. The word brisket specifically refers to a cut of meat, the “flat, boneless, flavorful cut taken from the breast of a steer,” according to Matthew Goodman’s Jewish Food: The World at Table. But over time, the concept of brisket — at least “Jewish brisket” — has become almost interchangeable with its preparation: the searing over high heat and slow braise necessary to soften this tough kosher cut into a steamy pile of juice and meat. In that sense, “brisket” refers not to a particular ingredient, but rather to a method of cooking, and to the noble search for gastro-Jewish nirvana. Seitan, a meat substitute made from wheat, is inherently chewy and tender, so it does not need to stew for as long as traditional brisket. And since your taste buds will quickly become intoxicated by the smell of onions, garlic, and tomato wafting from the oven, the quicker cooking time is a blessing. Note: Store the seitan brisket covered, in the fridge for up to five days. Total Time: One hour, 20 minutes.
Yield: Serves six. ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. sunflower oil (or other neutral vegetable oil), divided 3 (8 oz.) packages unflavored seitan chunks, drained and cut into bite-size pieces if necessary 1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 12 wedges through the root 2 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise if thick and cut into ½-inch pieces 2 celery stalks, halved lengthwise if thick and cut into ½-inch pieces 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes 1½ cups vegetable broth 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 2 Tbsp. brown sugar 1 Tbsp. balsamic or red wine vinegar 1 ½ tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. sweet paprika 1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more as needed ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat a quarter cup of the oil in a Dutch oven or other large, wide-bottomed pot set over medium-high heat. Add the seitan chunks and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, eight to 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the seitan to a bowl. Add the remaining two tablespoons of oil to the Dutch oven. Add the onion, carrots and celery, lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and beginning to soften, eight to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring until fragrant, about one minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, broth, tomato paste, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, onion powder, paprika, salt and black pepper, and stir to combine. Stir in the browned seitan. Bring to a bubble then cover and transfer to the oven. Roast, stirring once or twice, until the vegetables are fully tender and the sauce has thickened, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven, taste and add more salt if needed. Let sit for 10 minutes, then transfer the seitan and veggies to a serving platter. Spoon the sauce over top and serve hot.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • OCTOBER 2026
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Arts&Culture
This American childhood was brought to you by Jewish toy makers Michael Kimmel’s new book traces how first-generation Jews created the dolls, games, comics and stories that shaped generations of children. By Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTA On Saturday mornings in the 1960s and ’70s, instead of going to synagogue, I watched cartoons. Like millions of other American kids, I binged on Fat Albert, The Pink Panther Show, and H.R. Pufnstuf, while absorbing endless commercial breaks for games, action figures, model kits, and other marvels that might, if I played my cards right, be mine on Chanukah. But even if my family didn’t spend Saturdays in shul, kids’ television immersed me in an unspoken Jewish culture, as Michael Kimmel explains in his new book Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America. It’s a study of the mostly first-generation American Jews who led the toy industry in the 20th century, as Michael Kimmel well as the Jewish child psychologists, children’s book authors, and comic book creators who, he asserts convincingly, invented the American idea of childhood. “They created the childhood that they themselves
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never had,” Kimmel told me in a recent public conversation, part of 250 Years of American Jewish Life in America, an online project of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History and 70 Faces Media, JTA’s parent company. The founders of iconic brands such as Ideal, Mattel, Marx, Hasbro, Kenner, Wham-O and Madame Alexander dolls shared roots in Yiddish-speaking Europe, and childhoods as the sons and daughters of immigrants. “They were born in poverty on the Lower East Side, and you have all these stories of the scraps that they picked up off the street that they made into things,” Kimmel said. “They had these ideas that children were basically National Museum of American History curious and creative, and that they should be nurtured.” A 1902 political cartoon in The Washington Post (below) spawned And commodified. Shut out of esthe 'Teddy bear' name. Above, a bear thought to be made by tablishment industries and professions, Morris and Rose Michtom in the early 1900s is on display at the Jewish entrepreneurs thrived in niches Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. of their own making, capitalizing on Clifford K. Berryman Cartoon Collection; Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and helping propel the consumer culture that exploded after World War I. German Jews ran some of the largest department stores, including Macy’s, Abraham & Straus and Gimbels, and Eastern European newcomers became the manufacturers, distributors, and sales force that stocked their shelves with dolls, games, and gadgets. The list of classic toys and Jews who developed them is almost comically long: Barbie (Ruth Handler), Lionel trains (Lionel Cowan), Mr. Potato Head (George Lerner), Yakity-Yak chattering teeth (Eddy Goldfarb), the pogo stick (George Hansburg), the Hula Hoop (Arthur Melin and Richard Knerr), G.I. Joe (Larry Reiner) and Play-Doh and the EasyBake Oven (the Steiner brothers: Albert, Philip and Joseph). Kimmel, a sociologist and retired professor at Stony Brook University, began the project as a family story. His great-great-uncle Morris Michtom, an immigrant from what is now Belarus, founded what would become the Ideal Toy Corporation with his wife, Rose. Michtom had studied to become a rabbi before fleeBut Kimmel’s argument isn’t simply that Jews were ing conscription in the Russian army. In Brooklyn, he good at selling toys. They helped invent the material and Rose opened a candy store and, after spotting a culture of American childhood. newspaper cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt refusing to At the beginning of the 20th century, the prevailing shoot a bear, began making plush bear cubs. wisdom about raising children could be remarkably They called it “Teddy’s bear,” and it became a grim. One early child-rearing manual, Emmett Holt’s sensation. The Care and Feeding of Children, advised parents to That story, Kimmel says, led him down a rabbit spank a crying baby. John Watson, the influential hole. What he found was startling: Virtually every psychologist, advised parents not to hug or kiss their major American toy company at the turn of the 20th children. century, with a few exceptions, had been founded by And yet with industrialization, urbanization, and first-generation Jews. the rise of household incomes, the 20th century would become what the Swedish writer Ellen Key called the Author Michael Kimmel will discuss Playmakers “century of the child.” at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 25 at the Boonshoft CJCE, Compulsory education was expanding. Child labor 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville to open the JCC was being abolished. Adolescence was being defined Cultural Arts & Book Series. This free program is as a distinct stage of life. And new ideas about child presented in partnership with Miami Valley Jewish development were taking hold. Genealogy & History. Register at jewishdayton. To this changing landscape came waves of Jewish org/events. Participants are asked to bring a new immigrants, with their own ideas about childhood. toy for donation to For Love of Children. Children, as Kimmel describes this immigrant
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Wikimedia Commons Dressed as a surgeon, astroethos, were curious and naut or athlete, he writes, Barbie creative. Childhood was a could be “anything you wanted distinct phase of life, not just her to be, because she was you.” nascent adulthood. Children’s Kimmel ends his book with imaginations and intellect Sesame Street, which he sees should be nurtured rather as a kind of culmination. The than broken. groundbreaking children’s The same immigrant culture show was developed by Joan also prized education, arguGanz Cooney, whose father was ment, ingenuity and, out of Jewish, with the assistance of necessity, the ability to make Gerald Lesser, a developmental something out of nothing. psychologist born to Jewish imThe Jewish entrepreneurs migrant parents. not only benefited from such The show was in some ways views of childhood, but an antidote to the world of Satunderstood how to turn them urday morning cartoons. It preinto a business model. pared preschoolers for success in They were also pushed kindergarten with the addictive, toward these new industries engaging style of commercial by a less uplifting force: antitelevision. semitism. Instead of advertisements for Kimmel said that many toys, its “commercials” offered comic-book artists originally lessons in letters, shapes, countwanted to work in advertising, ing, social skills and concepts but advertising agencies in the such as “near” and “far.” 1930s and ’40s were notoriJust as significant, in Kimously hostile to Jews. mel’s view, is the show’s setting. Like toy making, comic Instead of the manicured suburbooks became a Jewish Iconic American toys created by Jewish entrepreneurs include the Barbie doll, the brainchild of Ruth Handler, and ban lawn and white picket fence industry. Underpaid Jewish G.I. Joe, originally designed by Stanley Weston. that had come to represent idealartists and writers — includized American childhood, Sesame Street the classics sold over 100 million copies creatures who happily fulfill whatever ing Jack Kirby, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, was set on an inner-city block. Laundry humans wish for — one part golem, one and were distributed by 25,000 school Will Eisner, Stan Lee and Lily Renée hangs from fire escapes. A neighbor districts. part manna in the desert. — dreamed up Superman, Betty Boop, lives in a garbage can. Children grow Even the Barbie doll, while often de“Within a year of inception,” Kimmel the Spirit, Green Lantern, Aquaman, up amid the messiness of city life. rided for promoting an unhealthy body writes, “75 manufacturers had issued Spider-Man and The Thing, among “It’s a return,” he said, “basically to image for developing children, offered more than 100 Shmoo-related proddozens of others, often giving these girls a glimpse of a different future than those very Lower East Side tenements superheroes and comic characters coded ucts.” from which this world was created.” as a wife and mother, Kimmel argues. or actual Jewish backstories. Oys along with toys The same pattern appears in chilBut the Jewish contribution to dren’s literature. Kimmel counts 42 childhood wasn’t always benign. The titles on the New York Public Library’s list of the 100 most important children’s toy industry reinforced stereotypes, especially notions of gender. An effort books of the 20th century that were written by first-generation Jews, includ- to market a Black baby doll stalled after Ideal declined to put its marketing ing Sydney Taylor, Maurice Sendak, muscle behind it. Jack Ezra Keats, Jules Feiffer, Esphyr And Kimmel readily acknowledges Slobodkina and Norman Juster. that marketing to children often encourThe Jewish contribution extends aged “materialism in its worst form,” as to the people who studied children. Dorothy Singer, a child therapist, told a Kimmel points to a pantheon of JewHouse committee on children’s televiish developmental psychologists and sion in 1985. physicians — Erik Erikson, Abraham With television, toy companies could Maslow, Carol Gilligan, Richard Ferber advertise directly to children rather and others — who helped define our than to parents. Children became the modern understanding of childhood. sales force, pestering their parents for There was a Jewish element to this, the latest product. Kimmel argues, but also a distinctly “It’s the seamier side of the things American one: assimilation. that you create,” said Kimmel. “We The immigrant entrepreneurs often created, through television advertisoffered their families and young cusing, a generation of people who were tomers an idealized vision of American consumers. There’s always that critique life. Ideal Toy founder Morris Michtom named his son Benjamin Franklin Mich- of television that it made us more pastom, a name that could hardly announce sive, and when we were active, we were consuming.” his American ambitions more clearly. And yet, he insists, that same culture also made us curious, playful, and Jewish sensibility goes mainstream The irony is that in making an Ameri- clever. Many toys genuinely engaged the imagination. Games taught coopcan childhood, Jewish creators were eration and strategy. And some of the also injecting Jewish sensibility into the books and comics that came through mainstream. this consumer culture opened doors to That sensibility could be playful, something deeper. irreverent, and suspicious of authority. Kimmel said he was turned on to It could be clever and self-mocking. It literature at age 8 by reading the Clascould turn a Yiddish joke into a masssics Illustrated version of The Count of market product, like the Shmoo, a character in Al Capp’s wildly popular comic Monte Cristo. The brainchild of Albert LEARN MORE AT Kanter, the son of Russian Jewish imstrip Li’l Abner. Capp (born Alfred GerFRONTSTREET.ART @FRONTSTREETARTIST migrants, these comic-book versions of ald Caplin) drew bowling pin-shaped
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OBITUARIES Beth Sue Adelman, whose compassionate heart benefited the Dayton community in countless ways for many decades, died peacefully on Sept. 2. She was 75. As both a professional and a volunteer, Beth sought to help others in myriad ways, whether making nightly phone calls to check on an elderly friend, delivering groceries to the homebound, collecting warm winter clothing for needy students, baking cookies for her classmates at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Dayton or intermission at the Dayton Theatre Guild. She was active at both Beth Abraham Synagogue and Temple Israel. A board member of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and the League of Women Voters, Beth also served on the boards of The Contemporary Dayton, Beth Abraham Synagogue, and the popular dance group, Rhythm in Shoes. She was a judge for the Dayton Walk of Fame, helped select menus for the annual NCCJ Friendship Dinner, picked up and entertained visiting authors for the Jewish Community Center’s annual Cultural Arts and Book Series. She was past president of Dayton Family Services, active with the Ronald McDonald House Doors of Compassion fundraisers, helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity, and chaired the Dayton Jewish International Film Festival. If the raffle prizes at a community gathering looked enticing, chances are Beth had a hand in gathering them. She could
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also be counted on to bid on items for charity galas and, as a result, her home was filled with lovely artwork and accessories. “She was a small ball of energy with an enormous heart: warm, welcoming, generous, and almost always doing something for someone else,” said The Contemporary Dayton’s Eva Buttacavoli. “I will remember Beth for her tremendous generosity, her boundless energy, her wonderful sense of fun, and the way she made people feel cared for.” Professionally, Beth focused on helping others as well. She received her undergraduate degree in occupational therapy and her master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from The Ohio State University. She worked at the prestigious Dodd Hall Rehabilitation Hospital in Columbus, and after moving to Dayton, worked at St. Elizabeth Hospital and served on the board of directors of the local chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Later, she worked as the director of the Jewish Community Relations Council and as a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker. Beth was named a Woman of Influence by the YWCA of Dayton and a Woman of Valor by Beth Abraham Synagogue. In August, she received the Bettman Award from the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, which recognizes a righteous person, ”someone recognized for exceptional goodness, integrity, services, and concern for others.” She loved her friends and family, her three cats, the color purple, and every flavor of ice cream. Beth had recently fulfilled a dream and moved to Performance Place at
the Schuster Performing Arts Center. It was the perfect home for someone who dearly loved art, music, dance, and theater. Born in Akron to Evelyn and Sidney Adelman, the family then moved to Canton. She is survived by her brother Barry (Michelle); nephews Zach, Michael (Gioia Pacella), and Nathan (Abby) Adelman; niece Sarah (Thomas) Moyer, great-niece and nephew Penelope and Jack Moyer; and goddaughter Lauren Mulcare. Interment was at the Hebrew Cemetery in Canton. May her memory be a blessing. Dr. Felix Garfunkel, age 95, passed away Sept. 6. Felix was well known in our Dayton Jewish community. He was a member of several congregations and attended and participated in many programs and events. Felix was preceded in death by his wife, Dr. Erika Garfunkel; and his daughter, Rabbi Janice Garfunkel. Felix is survived by his two sons, David (Isabela) Garfunkel and Michael Garfunkel; six grandchildren, Marcus Garfunkel, Isaac (Netta) Garfunkel, Aliza Garfunkel, Eliana Garfunkel, Noah Garfunkel, Jack Garfunkel; and his two great-grandchildren, Koa Garfunkel and Elvin Garfunkel. Interment was at Beth Jacob Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton in his memory. Donald Marger, MD, age 82, of Dayton, passed away Sept. 11. Born in Miami, Donald attended Duke University for undergraduate and medical school and completed specialty training at Yale University. He
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served in the U.S. Air Force as a major during the Vietnam War. Subsequently, as a radiation oncologist, Donald served the greater Dayton community with compassion and care for over 40 years. Donald was an active member of Beth Abraham Synagogue. Donald had a passion for traveling with his wife, was a voracious reader, and, most of all, enjoyed spending time with his children and grandchildren. He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Carole; children, Richard and Erin Marger, Michelle (Marger) and Thomas Smith, and Brian and Victoria Marger; brother, Jeffrey Marger (Suzi); sister-in-law, Susan Prior; grandchildren, Elisha Friedel (Brandon), Jonah Marger, Jaydn Elliott, Ethan Marger, Benjamin Smith, Joshua Smith, Sammy Smith, Jordan Marger, and Lily Marger; greatgranddaughter, Mila Friedel; and many other relatives and friends. Interment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery. The family welcomes donations to Beth Abraham Synagogue or Ohio's Hospice of Dayton in Donald's memory. Rachel G. Winder, June 29, 1970-Aug. 10, 2026. Rachel Winder was funny, loving, and, above all, devoted to her family. She had an easy laugh and a genuine way of taking care of the people around her. She built a respected career as a lobbyist, and her greatest professional accomplishment was helping champion Braden’s Law, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2025. Named for Olentangy student Braden Markus, the law made sextortion a felony in Ohio and strengthened protections for victims and their families. Rachel also founded and led the Ohio Women’s Coalition, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and women-owned businesses across Ohio. Her life’s work reflected her unwavering belief that everyone deserved to be protected, heard, and given the opportunity to succeed. Rachel adored the team at Benesch Law, and her role as government relations manager, for over 13 years. Her leadership and impact were widely recognized, including as a 2025 Columbus Business First Women of Influence honoree and as the 2024 Ohio Auctioneers Legisla-
tive Champion. As meaningful as those recognitions are, they only begin to reflect the dedication, strength, and generosity Rachel brought to her work and to those around her. Rachel was a proud graduate of The Ohio State University and a lifelong Buckeyes fan. It was at Ohio State where she met two of her closest and dearest friends, Tina Lapp and Allison Maggiola, whom she loved so much. More than anything, Rachel loved being a mother to Emma and Grant, supporting her kids in everything they did, cheering on Emma’s performances in drama and vocals, supporting Grant in his athletics, and celebrating every milestone in their lives. Both are so talented and she was endlessly proud of them. She was also extremely dedicated to her nieces, Linda, Heather, and Haley; her nephew, Peter; and her great nieces, Evelyn, Sydney, and Eliza. Rachel was preceded in death by her mother, Linda D. Gross; and her stepmother, Mary Lou Gross. She is survived by her children, Emma and Grant Winder; her father, Sydney L. Gross Jr.; her stepmother, Lois Gross; her siblings, Emily (Thor) Sandvik, Syd (Ben) Gross, and Lauren Gross; her stepsiblings, Mick Heyman, Cindy (Peter) Eeg, Ginger (James) Pigott, Stephanie (Steve) Spetter, Pamela (Andy) Schwartz, Josh (Lily) Spetter; her nieces and nephew, Linda (Daniel) Walter, Peter (Leah) Sandvik, Heather Sandvik and Haley Sandvik; and her great-nieces, Evelyn, Sydney, and Eliza Walter; as well as many dear friends and family. Contributions can be made to any of the following charitable organizations: The Braden Markus Foundation (delawarecf.org/donations/ braden-markus-memorialscholarship), supporting the mission of Braden’s Law, which gives scholarships for higher education; Rico Pet Recovery Services (ricopetrecovery.org/donate), from which she adopted many of her beloved dogs; or The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (cancer.osu.edu/ giving).
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