Six months BethAfter Abraham Synagogue p. 3 Davidafter Mossflooding, designs Grace Meals in comic bookcomes form p.home 22
THE DAYTON Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton
The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly
September 2026 Elul 5786/Tishri 5787 Vol. 31, No. 1
OBSERVER Celebrating 30 Years
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DAYTON
Jewish Family Services brings back chore service
Under the name of Chai Life Services, Dayton's Jewish Family Services will begin offering help with chores in September to anyone who lives in Montgomery County and parts of nearby Greene County. "In speaking with members of our community, JFS saw a need to help people in areas that have become difficult for them to complete," JFS Executive Director Brian Kerstine said. Kerstine said Chai Life Services will help people complete
tasks, chores, and responsibilities "that may be difficult for them to complete for any reason, such as physical limitations, time constraints, or knowledge of how to do something." JFS Transportation Driver JFS Driver Nate Lyons will be the Chai JFS Exec. Dir. Brian Kerstine Nate Lyons Life service provider. reach out and discuss options," The cost to use the service is Kerstine added. $25 an hour. Clients can save To schedule Chai Life Service money with the purchase of 10 appointments, call JFS Adminhours in advance for $200. "For those who cannot afford istrative Assistant Jacquelyn that total, our social worker will Archie at 937-401-1551. Samantha Daniel
L’Shanah Tovah! These kids slid into the new school year with a PJ Library and Chabad Pre-Shabbat in the Park celebration at Kettering's Delco Park.
Beth Jacob Congregation invites and encourages the community to join us for Inspirational High Holiday services led by our Rabbi Leibel Agar and congregational volunteers.
Formerly
Formerly
Formerly Formerly
Happy New Year Rabbi Leibel Agar
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See our full holiday schedule at www.bethjacobcong.org
7020 North Main Street — Dayton, Ohio 45415 937-274-2149 — www.bethjacobcong.org
Columbus Jewish War Veterans welcomes members of former Dayton post Jewish War Veterans Columbus Post 122 Commander Steve Seeskin has invited former members of the defunct Jewish War Veterans Dayton Post 587 to transfer their post affiliation to the state capital's. "Post 122 is the closest active post to the Greater Dayton area," he wrote in an Aug. 10 letter to former Dayton JWV members. JWV Columbus Due to a Post Commander dwindling Steve Seeskin and aging membership roster, Dayton's 78-year-old post held its final event May 17 at Temple Beth Or. Those who would like to transfer to the Columbus JWV post should fill out JWV's post transfer form at jwv.org/wpcontent/uploads/JWV_Post_ Transfer_Form.pdf or contact the JWV Membership Department, at membership@jwv.org or 202-265-6280. Arts..............................32 Cale ndar............................. 2 1 F a m i l y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 5 Food.............................28 Mazel Tov.................................24 Obituaries ...........................34 O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 6 Religion.......................... 22
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
DAYTON
Wishing You A Happy New Year.
Six months after flooding, Beth Abraham comes home
Bark Mitzvah Boy So, what did the honey say to you, Lou?
‘Stick, stick, stick to me, Lou!’
Ü
c O Menachem
Lou the Apple
From the editor’s desk
Since it's natural to consider our hopes and wishes at Rosh Hashanah, this month's message comes from Rebbetzin Anita Agar's Toddler 2 Class at the JCC Preschool. Each Friday, before Shabbat, she asks the students to make wishes. To Marshall mark Tisha B'Av this summer, they drew Weiss their wishes that week on construction paper "stones" for a class Kotel, the Western Wall.
I wish . . .
Everyone has a dinosaur that wants to spend Shabbat with them. • Everyone gets a birthday card. Everybody had cotton candy. • Everyone has a unicorn. • Everyone has a Mama and DahDah to pray with them. • Everyone has grape juice to drink. Everyone has a queen. • Everybody has a rainbow Popsicle. • Everyone has candles to light. • Everyone could have a stuffed Minion. • Everybody had a computer. • Everybody had a dolphin. • Everybody had a birthday. • Everyone could have a Mommy. Everybody has a Mommy and Daddy to love them. Everybody had help. • Everyone has love.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
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Could it be bashert (intended) terhood and the men's club, and that Beth Abraham Synagogue the youth, and then we'll move returns to its building at the time into our sanctuary, and we'll when Jews begin the process of have some singing and dancing, teshuva leading up to the High and then some refreshments," Holidays? Liss-Katz said. Teshuva is the Hebrew word Temple Israel is located at 130 for repentance. Literally, it Riverside Drive, Dayton; Beth means return, to return to the Abraham is located at 305 Sugar right path. Camp Circle, Oakwood. The Conservative synagogue Liss-Katz added that Beth is set to return to the refurbished Abraham's $300,000 campaign to sanctuary level of its building in bridge the gap between insurOakwood, Sunday, Aug. 23 with Beth Abraham plans to reopen its ance coverage and restoration sanctuary level, Aug. 23. a Torah procession — six months needs has met its goal. after a sprinkler pipe break flooded the building. The synagogue will continue to raise funds at Repairs and renovations to the second floor Yom Kippur to cover additional building needs it of Beth Abraham's building, which includes discovered during renovations. its sanctuaries, rabbi's study, and gift shop, are When a fire suppression system valve broke expected to be complete by Aug. 23. Feb. 19, water flooded the second and first floors Finishing touches to the social hall and kitchof Beth Abraham at full force for more than 30 en, on the first floor of the building, continue. minutes. Oakwood Public Safety Department reThe celebration will begin at 1:30 p.m. at sponders carried the Torah scrolls out. Building Temple Israel, which has hosted Beth Abraham's Committee Chair Matt Arnovitz — who would worship services since a week oversee the repairs and renovations — brought after the flooding. the Torahs to Jewish Federation Security Director "We're going to have a brief John Davis for safekeeping and for the coming ceremony in their sanctuary Shabbat morning service, held at the Boonshoft reciting some Psalms," Beth Center for Jewish Culture and Education. Abraham President Julie LissCongregants scrambled to bring sacred ritual Katz said. "We will express objects and books out of the building in the hours our heartfelt gratitude to our after the water was shut off. Beth Jacob Congrefriends and hosts who have gation hosted Beth Abraham's Purim celebration provided a home for us durand dinner along with its own. ing these past six months, and Beth Abraham Pres. Collaborative selichot service Sept. 5 then we'll march out from Julie Liss-Katz their sanctuary to our cars." Beth Abraham will also host this year's colCongregants will drive to Beth Abraham and laborative selichot service with the Dayton form a ceremonial procession in the parking lot Jewish Chorale and congregants and clergy from to welcome the Torahs back to the sanctuary. Temple Beth Or and Temple Israel, Saturday, They'll parade the Torahs to seven stations in Sept. 5 beginning with a dessert reception at 8:30 the synagogue. At each station, they'll pass the p.m. and prayers at 9 p.m. Selichot are commuTorahs from one to another, to honor "the many nal prayers of forgiveness recited on Jewish fast hands and hearts that have carried Beth Abradays and in the period leading up to the High ham through challenge and toward renewal." Holidays. The service will be livestreamed via "We're going to represent, for example, the sis- bethabrahamdayton.org. — Marshall Weiss
L’SHANA TOVA This sacred time offers an
1 9 8 6 — 2 0 2 6
opportunity to engage in meaningful reflection, renew the spirit, and embrace the traditions that bring us together. As we welcome the High Holy Days, may 5787 bring you peace, joy, good health, and opportunities for growth, purpose, and meaningful connection. One Lincoln Park wishes you a sweet New Year!
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DAYTON
Marni Flagel elected new Federation president
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
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Marni Flagel, who founded County Corp and served as its president for 25 years, was installed as the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton's president at its annual meeting Aug. 16. Described by the Dayton Business Journal as a "local economic development pioneer," Flagel was also the first woman to hold a seat on Trotwood's city council. County Corp is a private nonprofit development corporation for Montgomery County. It provides affordable housing, and during Flagel's tenure, economic development programs. Flagel has also been a teacher, a real estate agent, a stay-at-home mom, and even wrote a column in the early 1970s for the Dayton Jewish Chronicle — Marni's Musings. A longtime member of Temple Beth Or's board, she just completed raising $1.1 million for the congregation's Future Fund. With her late husband, Richard, and Dr. Michael Albert, she led Temple Beth Or's campus expansion fundraising project nearly 20 years ago. "I grew up in Newton Falls, a small town in northeast Ohio," Flagel told the audience at the annual meeting. "I was the only Jewish person in my high school. I did go to Sunday school and was confirmed in Warren, but it wasn't until I moved to Cincinnati at 16 that I actually lived among Jews. And too, it was only when I married my husband and moved to Dayton that I really lived a Jewish life." Her highest priorities as Federation president are to foster a safe space for civil discourse among Jews, involve younger people and families, reinstitute young leadership and career training programs, and obtain a clear picture of Jewish community needs and wants. "We're now in the middle of a community survey to find out what people really want," she told The Observer. "I'd like to see real outreach to younger people and younger families to get them involved. "What I'm finding in the Jewish community is that there are people who have very different points of view, both about Jews in the United
OBSERVER daytonjewishobserver.org Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Contributors Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz 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 Observer Advisor Dr. Elaine Knoll Gaglione
Jewish Federation President Marni Flagel
States and about Israel." Flagel said she sees this especially with young people coming out of college. She aims to bring a program to the Federation that will train people to dialogue in a civil, nonthreatening environment. "We need an atmosphere here that is very welcoming and egalitarian, so Jews with diverse ideas can come here and talk to one another in a civilized discourse. I think that's really important, that people feel comfortable coming here." She said her parents would be shocked that the girl from "this little town with no Jewish anything" is now the president of a Jewish Federation. It's probably not a shock to anyone who knows Flagel. In one of her columns from 1972 in the Dayton Jewish Chronicle, she wrote, "Yet in spite of the many deterrents, I emerged into young womanhood with a sense of pride in being Jewish and a great respect for my religion...I have never regretted being so often the only Jew. This position forced me to question continually the concepts and ethics of my religion...Hopefully our children will grow up not only with a sense of pride in being Jewish, but also with warm feelings for the beauty of the Jewish family life." — Marshall Weiss
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THE DAYTON
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. 1. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459. Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Acceptance of advertising neither endorses advertisers nor guarantees kashrut. The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by providing a forum and resource for Jewish community interests. Goals • To encourage affiliation, involvement and communication. • To provide announcements, news, opinions and analysis of local, national and international activities and issues affecting Jews and the Jewish community. • To build community across institutional, organizational and denominational lines. • To advance causes important to the strength of our Jewish community including support of Federation agencies, its annual campaign, synagogue affiliation, Jewish education and participation in Jewish and general community affairs. • To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life. The Dayton Jewish Observer
Please recycle this newspaper.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
THE REGION
UC SJP on probation for actions after Israel event
By Sam Fisher Cincy Jewfolk The University of Cincinnati placed its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, an antiZionist student organization, on probation following SJP's hearing before the university's Conduct board, July 22. SJP announced it was on probation in a social media video Aug. 9. In the video, SJP called the decision another attempt to “repress their activism.” The chapter faced suspension after UC’s Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards recommended it following the group’s actions protesting the final day of Shifting Paradigms, New Horizons: the Abraham Accords, US-Israel relations, and the future of the Middle East, which ran April 19-21. The symposium was organized under UC History Prof. Mark Raider and supported by the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati, Academic Engagement Network, American Jewish Committee Cincinnati, the Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture, and the School of Public and International Affairs. Speakers included U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) and former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin. According to accounts of people in attendance, on April 21, student protesters interrupted the conference and were removed by police, while additional protesters gathered outside Tangeman University Center, where the event was held, shouting slogans and obscenities. The first people to leave Shifting Paradigms had to be escorted out. Other attendees waited out of sight from the protesters until university police cleared the exits. UC officials claimed SJP failed to comply with officials on the scene, blocked an exit, and harassed attendees as they left. SJP disputed those claims in an Instagram post in July. Also in its July post, SJP called UC’s response part of a wave of Islamophobia and racism against their majority Arab and Muslim board.
54th
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PAGE 5
May You Only See Happiness In The New Year.
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THE REGION
In Cincy burbs, kosher café purchases kosher bakery By Sam Fisher, Cincy Jewfolk Popular brunch spot Café Alma is expanding and has purchased Sweet Butter Bakery. The opportunity to take over the beloved bakery was bashert (intended) according to Café Alma owners Yair and Lainey Richler. “It really kind of just fell in our laps as a perfect complement to what we’re already doing,” Lainey Richler Lainey Richler said. Erika Hecht, founder and owner of Sweet Butter Bakery in Lockland, had been looking to sell the bakery for close to a year before the Richlers came along. The Mediterranean themed Café Alma will now have Sweet Butter Bakery goods at its café in Pleasant Ridge and at its location at the Blue Ash Rec Center. Café Alma has an in-house bakery, but it has been at max capacity, taking care of the restaurant’s basic baking needs. “We are not a bakery,” Yair said. “While we have an in-house bakery…I prioritize my bakery to make things that are high priority for the restaurant, which is first and foremost catering orders.” The couple sees taking over Sweet Butter Bakery as a way not just to expand their offerings but to give much-needed breathing room to their staff at Café Alma. “Now having the opportunity to get into more specialty baking…that’s a cool opportunity,” Lainey said. They also see an opportunity to expand their business to fill a community need.
“There is a need for pareve baked goods… that’s one of our biggest goals, like from now until the end of the year, is to expand a line of pareve,” Lainey said. The Richlers also hope to expand beyond catering and have Yair Richler Sweet Butter Bakery goods in large retail stores in the coming years. “I would love to get into Kroger and have a kosher bakery section at Kroger,” Lainey said. “That’s my number-one goal right now.” Both Café Alma and Sweet Butter Bakery are certified kosher, but by different institutions. The plan is to keep the two brands and kosher certifications separate. “Café Alma is still going to be certified by IKC (International Kosher Council), and Sweet Butter Bakery is still going to be certified by Cincinnati Kosher (Vaad Hoier of Cincinnati),” Yair said. For now, the Richlers are focused on the transition itself. Yair has been training daily alongside Hecht, learning the bakery’s recipes, costs, and client list ahead of the expected August handoff. “Sweet Butter Bakery sells to various markets and delis and at the JCC. It’s a chance for the business to expand, and we plan on expanding it here,” Yair said. “Café Alma now has some of those offerings, and they complement one another.” Café Alma and Sweet Butter Bakery will each have catering options for the High Holidays.
Wishing You and Your Family a Happy New Year Montgomery County Commissioners Carolyn Rice and Judy Dodge
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Paid for by: Committee to Elect Carolyn Rice and Re-Elect Dodge for Commissioner
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
THE NATION Wikimedia Commons
Jewish watchdog urges NYPD to increase officers in hot spots after Central Synagogue attack Central Synagogue, New York City.
Community training helped guards respond quickly to apprehend assailant, group says. By Joseph Strauss, New York Jewish Week A Jewish security watchdog is doubling down on safety measures in the wake of an Aug. 14 night attack against worshipers at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, calling on police to identify hot spots for potential hate crimes and to place more officers in those areas. But Mitchell Silber, CEO of the Community Security Initiative, acknowledged that preventing situations like that one is not straightforward. “It’s difficult, because you’re trying to balance being open for the public for worship, and at the same time, keeping our sanctuary safe,” Silber said. On Friday night, Aug. 14, Larry Montes, 46, was able to make his way into Central Synagogue’s main sanctuary before he disrupted the service with antisemitic slurs and was apprehended by a security guard. Silber said he’s been in contact
Doing more together.
with Central Synagogue security leadership about the incident and understood that Montes had not initially raised any red flags when he entered the building. “There wasn’t something so out of place that it required them to pull him aside, but they noticed him as not someone they were familiar with,” he said. According to CSI, the synagogue’s team was able to quickly defuse the situation anyway due to the training it had received. In the wake of the incident, Silber said the CSI is sending a bulletin to synagogues about steps to improve synagogue safety, a copy of which was shown to the New York Jewish Week. The CSI has begun discussions with the NYPD about using tools like “data mining, crime cluster mapping and pre-emptively deploying against hot spots” in order to prevent hate crimes before they can happen. The CSI coordinates security for Jewish institutions and communities in the New York area, and is funded by the UJA-Federation of New York and a number of independent Jewish philanthropists. (70 Faces Media, the parent company Continued on Page Eight
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THE NATION
Synagogue attack
within one minute of him disrupting the service. Secure Community Network, a North American Jewish security nonprofit, has similarly Continued from Page Seven recommended pairing hired guards with volunof JTA and the Jewish Week, receives UJA fundteer members who know the community more ing.) intimately. The CSI bulletin is also encouraging other Ahead of High Holiday services, the SCN is synagogues to partner with the Community offering a series of webinars that emphasize situSecurity Service, another Jewish nonprofit that ational awareness and how to respond to active trains congregants to volunteer as greeters who threats. can provide more personalized discernment of “Knowing what to do during a disruption, let possible threats. alone a physical attack, is a necessity — not just “Central Synagogue isn’t Park East, Park East for our organizations, but for each member of isn’t KJ, KJ isn’t Congregation Beth Elohim — the community,” said Michael Masters, SCN’s they’re all so different, and national director and CEO. that’s why having members Montes has three previous Debate has swirled of the synagogue trained can arrests in New York City, each this year over whether for a robbery between 2019 and really be a force multiplier,” Silber said, listing some of the North American 2023, according to police. city’s most prominent congre- synagogues need He was arrested at the scene gations. and arraigned in criminal to step up their In the incident on Friday court immediately that night, night, Aug. 14, Montes yelled security in the mold where, according to police, he during the service, disrupting was charged with four counts of European it, and then struck a 63-yearof assault as a hate crime, old congregant and headbut- congregations two counts of assault, crimited a member of security nal mischief as a hate crime, personnel who was escorting criminal mischief, disruption of him out. a religious service, criminal trespassing as a hate Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, the congregation’s crime, two counts of aggravated harassment and senior rabbi, was away for a family event when two counts of harassment. the incident occurred, according to The New York The District Attorney’s office requested bail at Times. But she wrote on Instagram that the secu- $50,000 cash with $150,000 bond and the judge rity director “heroically restrained and escorted” set bail at $10,000 cash with $30,000 bond. Montes out of the synagogue, which occurred Montes’ next court date was scheduled for
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
THE NATION Michael Horowitz
Central Synagogue, New York City.
Aug. 20, according to the DA’s office. The attack comes as antisemitic hate crimes against Jews in New York City have risen by 8.5% compared to 2025, as of the end of July. Debate has swirled this year over whether North American synagogues need to step up their security in the mold of European congregations in the wake of attacks like the attempted one in West Bloomfield, Mich., in which a man drove a fireworks-laden truck into a synagogue. A number of politicians have weighed in to condemn Friday’s attack. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the highestranking Jewish official in the U.S., wrote, “When American Jews say they feel unsafe, this is why. Antisemitism is real and it’s increasing by the day.” Some have ascribed a lack of safety to rhetoric used by the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, a longtime Israel critic who turned heads with
his recent video panning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York, called the attack “a direct result of Mayor Mamdani’s sustained campaign of incitement” in a post on X. Meanwhile, some of Mamdani’s Jewish allies have pointed out that a Facebook profile that appears to belong to Montes has shared a number of posts criticizing the mayor. Mamdani wrote that he was “horrified by the assault” at the synagogue, and that all New Yorkers “must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence.” Montes’ social media posts include sharing a video of a Prager U commentator taking down Israel critics and multiple photos that suggest support for Israel, including a hand shaded with the Puerto Rican flag shaking another hand shaded with the Israeli flag. His aunt, who lives in Puerto Rico, told the New York Post that her nephew “might not have been in his right mind,” and that he has expressed a desire to become Jewish. “I told him he had to be careful with that because those things are sacred — you have to approach them seriously,” she told The Post in Spanish. A woman named Michele Anenberg-Poma posted a photo of herself on Instagram with wounds on her lip and arm, and wrote, “I am the woman who was assaulted last night at Central Synagogue.” She added, “You will not punch out our Jewish light. You will not stand and cause harm to our eternal light."
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THE NATION
Some young Jews are pulling back from Jewish life over Israel discourse, study finds The survey also found that three-quarters of young Jewish adults in the U.S. regularly do something Jewish.
Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images “The research gives us By Grace Gilson, JTA a much fuller and accurate Nearly four in 10 Jewish understanding of where, young adults say events how, and why Jewish affecting Jews in recent young adults seek out and years have led them to pull experience Jewish life,” back from Jewish spaces or said Stacie Cherner, the become more selective about director of research and where they participate, with learning at the Jim Joseph disagreements over how Foundation, in a statement. Israel and the Palestinians “Now, importantly, we are discussed as a leading can begin to translate these reason, according to a new insights to action.” survey. The Jim Joseph FoundaThe survey, which was tion, which commissioned conducted by Sense Worldthe survey, is a funder of wide and commissioned Emergency Solidarity Shabbat, Washington 70 Faces Media, JTA’s parby the Jim Joseph FoundaSquare Park, New York, May 3, 2024. ent company. tion, found that 39% of clearest negative theme among Another study of Jewish respondents have engaged those respondents was disilengagement across generations less, engaged more selectively lusionment around Israel and by the Jewish Federations of or disengaged entirely from Zionism and the way it was North America in March found Jewish spaces due to “events presented in Jewish education that 40% of Jewish American affecting Jewish people in the or community spaces. adults describe themselves as last few years.” “A negative legacy I have engaged with their local Jewish Among those, 42% of responbeen reflecting on is what I community, while 60% were dents said it was because their now understand to be a biased unengaged. “views don’t align with how education/perspective on IsWhen asked how often they Israel/Palestine is discussed, rael,” one respondent wrote. take part in “anything that feels and I don’t feel there’s room The study surveyed 2,071 Jewish,” 20% of respondents for nuance,” and 40% said they Jewish adults ages 22 to 40 said very often or often, while engaged less because they did 24% said sometimes, 33% said not want to “experience biased, from December 2025 through April 2026. rarely, and 22% said never, the one-sided messaging.” Respondents were sampled new survey found. Forty-eight percent said it from panels created by NORC Those without earlier Jewish was because “conversations and GenLabs, and the margin experiences were much less often feel hostile, toxic, or unof error was +/- 3.4%. likely to participate at all. productive.” The survey found that 75% Among those who rarely or And among all respondents, of Jewish young adults say never participate in Jewish life, when asked what would make they regularly do something 52% said it was because they Jewish experiences more apJewish in their lives, with 45% “don’t feel a strong connection pealing to them, 30% said they saying their only form of parto Jewish life,” while 38% said would be attracted to experiticipation was informally, often it “feels too religious” and 36% ences that were more cultural and less religious, and 26% said at home with family or friends. said it “doesn’t feel relevant to Just 30% said they regularly my life right now,” the survey “spaces where non-Zionist and participate formally in Jewish found. anti-Zionist views can be exlife, including through instituAmong the 11% who have pressed without being labelled tions or organizations. engaged more with Jewish antisemitic.” That divide was also reflectspaces in recent years, the most At the same time, the study ed in where respondents said common reason was wanting to found that young Jews have they most often feel a sense of feel a stronger sense of solidarhardly abandoned Jewish life. Jewish connection. ity with the Jewish community, Three-quarters of Jewish Fifty-five percent cited cited by 71%. young adults in the United family and 44% cited Jewish And of that 11%, 61% said States say they regularly do they wanted to “be around something Jewish, though most friends, compared with 19% who cited Jewish community people who understand what are finding their connections organizations or groups. I’m feeling,” and 54% said outside of synagogues and Sixteen percent said they Jewish spaces felt safer or more traditional Jewish institutions, found connection through sosupportive than other spaces. according to the study. cial or political causes connectEight percent said they A small group of particied to Jewish identity, and 13% sought spaces where nonpants, 4%, also offered an exsaid they felt most connected Zionist and anti-Zionist views planation of the lasting impact through experiences related to can be expressed without being that Jewish experiences had on labelled antisemitic. them. The study found that the Israel.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
THE WORLD
B''H
Archaeologists uncover treasures of Vilnius’ Great Synagogue as Lithuanian Jews dispute its future
Celebrate the High Holidays with
Chabad of Greater Dayton CWC ROSH HASHANA MARKET Wednesday, September 9 | 5:00-7:30pm
Plans for the recovered ruins have sparked a debate over what should be built on the site, and who gets to decide.
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HIGH HOLIDAY PRAYERS Workers excavate the central floor and bima of the Great Synagogue, Vilnius, July 22.
Story and Photos by Shira Li Bartov, JTA VILNIUS, Lithuania — Archaeologists have uncovered the full floor of Lithuania’s historic Great Synagogue, revealing treasures nearly erased by Nazi and Soviet occupations — and exposing rifts between Lithuanian Jews over how to preserve and interpret what survived. Locals walking through the center of Vilnius now pass a hole in the ground, a portal to the rich Jewish past of a city once called the “Jerusalem of the North.” For the first time since 1940, they can see the polished, colorful floor and entire prayer platform of the Great Synagogue of Vilna, built in the 17th century, which became one the most important religious, cultural and intellectual hubs for Diaspora Jews. In Lithuania’s remaining Jewish community of fewer than 3,000 people, there is no debate that the site must be preserved. But discussions about how to protect the past — and what to build over it — have triggered pain over one of the last pillars of identity left standing for Lithuanian Jews. The community’s main representative body plans to build a new Jewish community center over the excavation, where visitors could view the Great Synagogue floor through a glass layer or a basement-level exhibit. Above, the center would celebrate current-day Jewish life through cultural, social, and educational events. Some Orthodox Jews and their supporters oppose that project, saying the synagogue should be rebuilt as a house of worship or preserved as a purely ar-
chaeological exhibit. Other residents say the mission of a new building should be broadened beyond Lithuanian Jews, offering a center that promotes tolerance, human rights, and understanding of Jewish history among all Lithuanians. On the eve of World War II, the massive Great Synagogue stood among more than 100 synagogues and Jewish prayer houses in Vilnius, where about 40% of people were Jewish. Over 90% of Lithuanian Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and from 1944 until 1990, Vilnius was remade as the capital of the Soviet Lithuanian Republic. The synagogue was burned and largely destroyed by the Nazis, then razed by the Soviets to build a school in its place. “This is the place that half the population would have identified their city with,” Jon Seligman, the archaeologist leading the excavation, said. “So this city at the moment is missing half its identity, and because it’s such a long time since it happened, they don’t even know they’re missing half their identity.” The excavation is over a decade in the making. Seligman, an Israel-based archaeologist whose Jewish grandparents lived in Lithuania before World War II, first proposed unearthing the synagogue’s remains in 2013 after a visit to discover his family roots. His team of archaeologists has worked there since 2015. Last year, the former Soviet school building over the site was demolished. In an accident of history, the synagogue’s main floor was constructed below ground and spared from total erasure. Continued on Page 12
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
Sunday, September 20
Shabbat, September 12 Sunday, September 13
Kol Nidrei
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PAGE 11
THE WORLD
SEPTEMBER 2026
HIGH HOLIDAYS 5787 / 2026
Gather • Reflect • Begin Again Services led by Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz, Rabbi Tina Sobo, Courtney Cummings, and the High Holiday Choir
ROSH HASHANAH Friday, Sept. 11 • Erev Rosh Hashanah Saturday, Sept. 12 • Rosh Hashanah 9:00 a.m. • Family Service 10:30 a.m. • Congregational Service followed by Tashlich at the river
YOM KIPPUR Sunday, Sept. 20 • Kol Nidre 8:00 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 21 • Yom Kippur 9:00 a.m. • Family Service 10:30 a.m. • Morning Service 3:00 p.m. • Creative Lay-Led Service Yizkor & Neilah • Approx. 4:30 p.m. Gerald A. Greene Memorial Break-the-Fast • Approx. 6:15 p.m.
SUKKOT & SIMCHAT TORAH Friday, Sept. 25 • Sukkot Pizza in the Hut • Sukkot Service follows
Friday, Oct. 2 • Simchat Torah Musical Shabbat Service & Consecration Potluck dinner follows
SUKKOT UNDER THE STARS WITH DAN NICHOLS Weds. September 30 • 6:30 p.m. Jewish music, storytelling, hot drinks and s’mores around the fire—plus a nosh in the sukkah and a chance to shake the lulav! Sponsored by the Esther and DeNeal Feldman Jewish Experience Fund.
BEING HUMAN with Rabbi David Sofian Wednesdays in October 3:00 p.m. • Live-Streamed Class Series
Everyone is welcome. No tickets required.
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PAGE 12
Jon Seligman, the archaeologist leading the excavation of the Great Synagogue, stands on the bima of what had been, before its destruction by the Nazis and Soviets, one of the most important religious, cultural, and intellectual hubs for Lithuanian Jews.
Vilnius
Faina Kukliansky, who has since 2013 chaired the umbrella organization known as the Lithuanian Jewish Community, spearheaded the initiative to Continued from Page 11 “When the building was constructed construct a community center over the in the 17th century, part of the restricsynagogue. tions that were placed on the Jewish Kukliansky grew up as the child of community was that they were not Holocaust survivors in Lithuania under allowed to build their synagogue higher the Soviets. She said the new space than any of the churches in the surwill replace the community’s current roundings,” Seligman said. “So to create headquarters, hosted in a nearby buildthe internal majesty, if you don’t want ing that is more than a century old and to have a low, two-story building, what struggles with heating and water system you do is you drop the floor level one issues. story below ground surface — and that’s Kukliansky said the new center will what they did.” honor both the past and the present of The latest installment of Seligman’s Lithuanian Jews, featuring a YIVO exproject, completed in July, fully exposed hibition alongside concerts, social clubs, this main hall and the bima, or prayer and Jewish learning events. After the platform, covered in red, white, green, Holocaust and decades of Soviet restricand black geometric designs. Archaeolo- tions on Jewish life, those who remain gists also found traces of the Shulhoyf, a are mostly secular and distant from busy complex that formed the heartbeat Jewish traditions. Kukliansky said the of Jewish life. center’s construction over the remains of Vilnius was a major center of Jewish the Great Synagogue will inspire Jews to thought, famed for its religious tradition trace the threads of their heritage. and modern secular Jewish culture. “It’s very meaningful that in the place It was home to the 18th-century Vilna where the synagogue rose, Jewish life Gaon, one of the most influential Jewish will be intensive because our Jewish sages — and also the birthplace of the community center is there,” said KukJewish Labor Bund, a secular, socialist liansky. and anti-Zionist organization. Schools But her plans have met sharp oppotaught literature and the sciences in Yid- nents from other corners of Lithuania’s dish and Hebrew, and Zionists shared Jewish world. Among the most vocal is ideas alongside anti-Zionists. Rabbi Sholom Ber Krinsky, an emissary Before World War II, the Shulhoyf for the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox hosted 12 prayer houses, a bathhouse, movement who was born in Boston and kosher butcher stalls, the first public toi- has lived in Vilnius since 1994. lets in Vilnius, the prestigious Strashun Krinsky said that according to JewLibrary and the first headquarters of the ish tradition, the Great Synagogue site Yiddish Scientific Institute, or YIVO. should not be covered by a building for That institute, now in New York City, secular cultural activities, but remain a continues to preserve the Yiddish lan“living Jewish religious center that conguage and cultural heritage of Eastern tinues the learning and the prayer.” European Jews. “If a site was used as a synagogue —
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
THE WORLD for centuries, in this case — the holiness retains its holiness, and it’s proper to respect that holiness,” said Krinsky. “A Jewish community center might be nice, but it certainly doesn’t represent the holiness of that site.” Krinsky has for years demanded more money for Chabad projects, which he says would be used for religious services, Jewish education and social welfare programs. He accuses Kukliansky of monopolizing funds granted to Jews by the Lithuanian government as compensation for property stolen during the Holocaust. The Good Will Foundation, an international body created through the World Jewish Restitution Organization and the Lithuanian Jewish Community, has been authorized to distribute this restitution money. Since legislation passed by the Lithuanian parliament in 2022, the Good Will Foundation has disbursed about $9 million to compensate individual Holocaust survivors and their heirs for private property claims. Given that most Jewish property was left without any heirs, another $40 million is being allocated to support Jewish communal life, including projects like the new community center. The archaeological excavation is funded largely by the Good Will Foundation, together with support from the Israel Antiquities Authority and some private donations. Krinsky said restitution funds have not been sufficiently used to nourish religious life. Kukliansky countered that her organization supports the Choral Synagogue, the only synagogue still active in Lithuania, where Krinsky leads the small group of Jews who usually scrape together a minyan — the minimum of 10 men it requires for public prayers. Compared with other Eastern European communities, Chabad’s footprint is small in Vilnius, where the Vilna Gaon led a tradition of opposing Chasidism that became central to the identity of many Lithuanian Jews.
Kukliansky also claims that Krinsky has refused to provide her with financial reports. His wife, Nechama Dina Krinsky, was indicted for tax fraud in 2023. Kukliansky faces further criticism from Dovid Katz, an American-born, Vilnius-based scholar of Yiddish and the Holocaust. Katz advocated for rebuilding the Great Synagogue or preserving its remnants as a religious site, which he said would draw Orthodox pilgrims from around the world. “A synagogue is a religious place, and religious leaders today — and everyday religious Jews — need to be consulted on what’s going to replace the Great Synagogue,” said Katz. “It is a place either for a replacement synagogue or for archeological remains.” Still other critics say the Jewish representative body has split the site from a broader mission that would attract non-Jewish Lithuanians and Jews from around the world. Anna Avidan, who founded a nonprofit called Jerusalem of the North to celebrate Jewish history in Lithuania, led a conference in 2017 that invited historians, architects, and students to discuss the future of a space commemorating the Great Synagogue. Avidan said attendees proposed a cultural center that would host forums about tolerance, drawing international visitors and educating Lithuanians about the Jewish past of their country. She argued it would be “selfish” to build a center exclusively for the Lithuanian Jewish community, since such spaces are closed to the public, partly for security reasons. The proposals emerging from Avidan’s conference were shut down after Kukliansky’s opposition. “We are still working on how to include Jewish history in Lithuanian history,” said Avidan. “Approaching the site as a site of Lithuanian history, that would promote this harmony and understanding.” At the excavation site, Seligman’s Continued on Page 15
Volunteers at the Great Synagogue excavation site sift through soil for artifacts.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
PAGE 13
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PAGE 14
Apple pays $150k to settle federal antisemitism lawsuit
Employee turned to the courts after manager insisted he work on the Sabbath.
ANTIQUE TRADER WEST
John McManus Montgomery County Treasurer
THE NATION
By Grace Gilson, JTA Apple has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that the company failed to accommodate a Jewish employee’s observance of Shabbat, and later fired him after he complained of religious discrimination. The lawsuit, which was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September 2025, accused Apple of discriminating against Tyler Steele, a longtime employee of one of its stores in Reston, Va. Steele converted to Judaism in the spring of 2023, and while his manager initially approved his request not to be scheduled on Fridays and Saturdays due to his observance of Shabbat, another manager that replaced the previous one later rescinded the accommodation. According to the complaint, Steele’s new manager, Anthony Dosch, denied his requests to have the days off in September 2023, allegedly telling him that month that he “could become a rules Nazi with regards to our policies.” Days after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, Dosch also warned Steele not to get into politics or debates about the conflict at work, and a month later issued him a misconduct warning claiming that Steele had body odor that violated the store’s policies. The EEOC alleged that Steele later complained to Ap-
ple officials in November 2023 about antisemitic behavior and the denial of his religious accommodation. Steele was fired from the store in January 2024, after reminding Dosch that he could not work on a Friday the following month for religious reasons. “Employees should not have to violate their religious beliefs to keep their jobs or live in fear of retribution because they requested an accommodation,” EEOC Philadelphia Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence said in a statement at the time the lawsuit was filed. In its lawsuit, the EEOC accused Apple of religious discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Apple and the EEOC unveiled the settlement in an Aug. 7 filing in federal court in Virginia, nearly a year after the initial complaint. The settlement is awaiting court approval. Apple denied the allegations and did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which required the company to award Steele $80,000 in back pay and $70,000 in compensatory damages and interest. Under the settlement, the company will also be required to update its religious accommodation policies and conduct trainings with some employees in its Virginia operations within 90 days.
We wish the Dayton Jewish community a very happy new year
Happy Challah Days!
The Montgomery County Treasurer’s Office is able to provide easy and convenient ways to help taxpayers remain current on their property taxes. Sign up for our prepayment option by going to the QR code:
Steve, Shara, Rachel & Natalie Taylor
The Weiss Family
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
E
COLN LIN PA
RK
Pr em ier RETIREMENT LIVING
ON
THE WORLD
AT ONE LINCOLN PARK
ONE LINCOLN PARK
IS BETTER THAN EVER AT 40!
1 9 8 6 — 2 0 2 6
JOIN US ON SEPT 24TH, 2-4 PM Our 40th is the perfect opportunity to mingle and celebrate the vibrant community we’ve built over the past four decades. Fragments of a gefilte fish dish and a Passover plate that were found at the Great Synagogue excavation site.
Vilnius
Continued from Page 13 team has dug up pieces of life in the synagogue, which seated about 500 people, with some 500 more squeezing in for High Holidays. The latest artifacts to emerge from the ground include a Passover plate, a dish for gefilte fish, a plaque engraved with the Ten Commandments, and several seating plaques with the names of people who donated to the synagogue, assuring their spots inside. These name plaques left clues about families who vanished from Vilnius. One marked a seat for Gitel Klachek,
identified as the “wife of the late Yechezkel, Shamash d’Mata” — the city sexton. Their wealthy, influential family owned several businesses around the Great Synagogue. On the uncovered synagogue floor and the surrounding Jewish neighborhoods, there walked people who disputed religion, Jewish identity, Zionism and other ideas. “There would have been a large contingent who would have been ultraOrthodox. There also would have been a large contingent who were completely secular,” said Seligman. “So the city was very, very much a very mixed community.”
Enjoy an afternoon filled with live music, delicious birthday cake & refreshments as residents, families, friends, and guests come together to commemorate this special milestone. Featuring Different and the Same, a Dayton-based band that performs a mix of hits from across the decades.
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
PAGE 15
OPINION
Jewish orgs are asking whether the word Zionism still clarifies what they believe about Israel — or makes it harder to explain By Andrew Silow-Carroll A communications consultant was let go by the Jewish Federations of North America Aug. 5 for saying something that a number of Jewish leaders and thinkers have been saying for years: Maybe Jews and supporters of Israel should be more tactical about using, and not using, the word Zionism. Matthew Berger, who had been hired by the umbrella group to head a new strategic communications project, was speaking to members of JFNA’s Young Leadership Cabinet Aug. 4 in Minneapolis about effective messaging about Israel. Among his recommendations, according to a slide he showed during the presentation, were “showcase diversity,” “focus on the common enemy” and “avoid ‘Zionism.’” (Quotes around Zionism included.) The slide, shared with the conservative Jewish news service JNS by an unnamed attendee, was the focus of a JNS article on Aug. 5. In response, a JFNA spokesperson reaffirmed that the umbrella group is “proudly Zionist.” “This slide was part of a discussion about what data shows to be effective messaging in today’s polarized political environment and should not be taken to imply anything else,” Niv Elis, JFNA’s associate vice president for external communications, told JNS. Within hours of its publication, after the JNS story was shared on social media by various pro-Israel users, JFNA ended its contract with Berger, who had been hired to head Project Halo, a JFNA effort to help Federation leaders “counter antisemitism and anti-Zionism” in their communications. “The presentation at our National Young Leadership Cabinet Retreat was not prepared by Jewish Federations of North America, but by a Project Halo consultant, and does not represent our approach to Zionism.” according to a statement by JFNA Aug. 5. Elis declined to comment to JTA beyond sharing the statement. In an interview with JTA on Aug. 4, Berger, who worked as a reporter for JTA from 20002006, declined to comment on
either JFNA or the presentation in Minnesota. But he did share his thoughts on the use, and misunderstandings surrounding the word Zionism. “My purpose as a communicator is to use messaging to advance a goal. If the goal is to raise awareness of antisemitism and build allyship, then we have to understand the word Zionism is being misconstrued,” said Berger, the former executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. “And we can either spend our energy trying to define it and fix that or use language that people are going to understand to open doors to engagement.” The controversy might suggest that Berger had somehow violated a Jewish communal taboo, when in fact numerous Jewish organizations and commentators who are emphatically Zionist are noting how the term itself is sowing confusion. Like Berger, they are not questioning the tenets of Zionism — the right of the Jewish people to selfdetermination in their historic homeland — but its rhetorical weight. The Anti-Defamation League regularly tracks how Zionist is deployed as an antisemitic slur. The American Jewish Committee’s Translate Hate glossary notes how using Zionism and Judaism interchangeably “blames Jewish people for the actions and policies of the State of Israel.” “Zionist is increasingly used as a defamatory code word for Jews, in order to disguise antisemitic narratives,” according to Reclaim Zionism, a website launched by German-based Jewish NGO WerteInitiative. “This deliberate or unconscious distortion fuels hostility and creates a social climate in which Jewish life is questioned or threatened.” The distortion of the words by Israel’s enemies is not the only challenge organizations are seeing. JFNA’s own polling suggests that a Jewish majority that nonetheless wholeheart-
So, what do you think? PAGE 16
edly supports Israel avoids using the term to describe their own beliefs. A February JFNA poll found that only 37% of American Jews describe themselves as Zionists. Yet 88% said Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state. Only a relatively small percentage of respondents identified as anti-Zionist. The study, a JFNA official explained at the time, suggested reasons why Jews might hesitate to use the term Zionist: They are unclear on its definition, or they think it implies blanket support for Israeli government policies and actions they don’t agree with. “If we misread the trend about Zionism to mean that large numbers of Jews, especially young Jews, are turning against the existence of Israel itself, we will draw the wrong conclusions and take the wrong actions,” Mimi Kravetz, JFNA’s chief impact officer, wrote in a JTA essay timed to the poll’s release. In the same essay, she acknowledged that the word has undergone “definition creep.” A similar interpretation of the poll results was also included in a Project Halo backgrounder in February, providing communications guidance for Jewish organization staff when speaking with Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. “The term Zionism is often used to mean different things depending on the speaker, fueling confusion and misunderstanding,” according to the backgrounder. As Berger did in Minneapolis, Project Halo recommended that Jewish professionals “focus on using terms that have broader appeal among Jewish audiences.” When using Zionism, meanwhile, the backgrounder recommended that speakers define it — as a movement for self-determination, a Jewish democratic state and Israel’s right to exist that does not imply support for the sitting government. Beyond confusion over the
Like Zionism itself, attitudes toward the word defy easy political pigeon-holing.
meaning of Zionism, some academics and activists suggest that the word itself has outlived its usefulness. It’s not just that Israel’s enemies use the term Zionist as a slur; rather, as Judaica scholars Alanna E. Cooper and Sharona Hoffman argued in a JTA essay, the word confuses a historic and political movement with the undeniable fact that Israel is an established country. “(B)y continuing to use the terms Zionist and Zionism, we undermine Israel’s normalization,” the two wrote in 2024. Outside of the academy, the performer and pro-Israel influencer Jonah Platt — whose mother Julie Platt chaired JFNA’s board of trustees from 2022 to 2025 — has also suggested that “it’s time to retire the word Zionist.” The Zionist movement succeeded, he wrote in the Forward in April 2025. Israel exists. Why continue to use an aspirational term from the 19th-century to describe Israel’s 21st-century reality, when it is too often defined by Israel’s detractors as “a racist, destructive ‘ideology’”? “We no longer need a term to describe someone who believes a state of Israel should exist as the Jewish homeland,” he wrote. “Because a state of Israel, as the Jewish homeland, already exists. And it is not going anywhere.” Defenders of the term, meanwhile, see suggestions for retiring or even de-emphasizing terms like Zionism as a capitulation to the enemies of Jews and Israel. Responding to Cooper and Hoffman in a JTA essay, Zack Bodner, a founder of the proIsrael Z3 Project, called retirement of the word “a mistake of epic proportions.” “If we allow our enemies to turn Zionism into a dirty word, then that will pave the way for them to turn the entire Zionist enterprise into a dirty movement,” Bodner wrote. Like Zionism itself, attitudes toward the word defy easy political pigeon-holing. The bestselling Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, a fierce critic of the current Israeli government, is nonetheless an unapologetic defender of the
words Zionism and Zionist. “It’s important to emphasize and reclaim this word, which has been vilified,” he told The Atlantic on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. His definition: Jews are a people; Jews have a right to self-determination; and Jews have a deep historical, cultural, and spiritual connection to the land of Israel. None of those propositions, he argues, requires denying Palestinian peoplehood or Palestinian self-determination. Like Harari, many defenders of the term are eager to suggest that Zionism is not monolithic, and can contain a number of political ideologies and Jewish identities, from liberal supporters of a two-state solution to a nationalist proponent of the settler movement. In an essay earlier this year explaining why he embraces the Zionist label, Kenneth L. Marcus, who litigates against antisemitism as head of the Louis D. Brandeis Center, explained that the word doesn’t have only one meaning. He described the various ways he considered himself a Zionist, including religious, cultural, and political. If that is the case, many have concluded, a term with so many competing meanings has lost its usefulness. That appeared to be the communications problem Berger was trying to solve, in the face of some Jewish leaders who see any attempt to downplay Zionism as an abdication of Jewish identity or a surrender to the left. “My perspective is not to shy away from supporting Israel as a Jewish democracy or the Jewish right to self-determination,” Berger told JTA. “Instead, I recommend people define Zionism in context and talk about their ‘support of Israel as a Jewish democratic state’ and the ‘right to self-determination’ – use those terms instead of relying on a shorthand that might mean something to you but might be heard differently than intended.” Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor at large of the New York Jewish Week and managing editor for Ideas for JTA.
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Connect with us! Check out our events. For more information, check out our calendar at jewishdayton.org.
TO-DO LIS T
SERVICES
Tackling your To-Do List one task at a time Sometimes life’s everyday tasks aren’t so simple. Whether you’re short on time, dealing with physical challenges, or just need help figuring out your technology, JFS is here to help. Chai Life Services will help take care of the items on your to-do list that may have become difficult to manage on your own. For more information, contact Jacquelyn Archie at jarchie@jfgd.net or 937-401-1551. Jewish Family Services
more on back...
OF GREATER DAYTON
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
Change li ght bulbs in the kitchen Bring up boxes from th e basement Put totes in storage unit Move furn iture to the oth er room Figure out how to use th is #&%@ remote control Learn new features on m y email Go to the g rocery store & post office Pick up d ry cleaning Put togeth er new furnit ure Organize closets
PAGE 17
September 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES
Guest speaker (and Dayton native) Andrew Flagel, president and CEO of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area, addresses the crowd
2026 ANNUAL MEETING
of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton & its Agencies
Congratulations to our 2026 Honorees!
Dayton Jewish Observer Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss (right) honors Martin Gottlieb for his 12 years of service as Observer advisor
JFGD CEO Cathy Gardner with Immediate Past President Dan Sweeny
PAGE 18
Past Presidents Award recipient Linda Novak (left) with community volunteer Helene Gordon
New JFGD President Marni Flagel giving her remarks
Robert A. Shapiro Award recipient Alan Chesen (left) with JCC Executive Director Marc Jacob
Past JFGD President Heath Gilbert introducing guest speaker Andrew Flagel
Gayle Moscowitz (right) accepting on behalf of Beth Adelman the Joe and Elaine Bettman Tzadik Award from Elaine Bettman and Todd Bettman
Attendees socializing before the start of the annual meeting
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
September 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES
OPENING EVENT 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.
Register online at jewishdayton.org/events starting September 18.
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 preschool that nurtures and grows with your child The JCC Preschool specializes in childcare between 10 weeks and 5 years old, providing a warm, nurturing environment where children can learn, play, and grow at every stage of early development.
BOOGIE Thursday, September 3, 6:30 – 9PM Levitt Pavillion • 134 S. Main Street, Dayton, 45402 Join the JCC Boomers at Levitt Pavillion for an End of Summer Evening, featuring DCDC Taking it to the Streets. This energetic evening of music and movement will celebrate community, rhythm, and connection. Show starts at 7PM. Look for your Boomer friends! Bring your own chairs, blankets, food, and drinks (NO GLASS). No cost. Some food and drinks are available for purchase at the venue. Or get carryout to support nearby restaurants!
To book a guided tour today, contact Rebecca Levi, preschool director, at 937-610-1794 or rlevi@jfgd.net. Come see the difference for yourself !
RSVP at jewishdayton.org/events. Questions? Contact Stacy Emoff at semoff@jfgd.net or 937-610-5513. THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
PAGE 19
September 2026 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES
Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials FEDERATION
JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of Julie Ruchman In memory of Laura Holzinger Nicki Caplan
JCC
JOAN AND PETER WELLS AND REBECCA LINVILLE FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND In memory of Peter Wells Marsha and Jim Spitz Gary Gersh Jane and Gary Hochstein Wendy and Jeffrey Horwitz Barbara and Ira Kushnir Dr. Elaine and Mr. John Gaglione Mrs. Joan Knoll Connie and Stanley Blum Barbara Sanderow Beverly Louis Michael R. Shuey
Did you know you can honor a friend or family member through a Legacy, Tribute or Memorial?
mitzvah
mission
mitzvah
mission
mitzvah
mission
mitzvah
mission WEEK
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.
Monday, September 14 – Friday, September 18, 9AM – 5PM The Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, 45459 JFS is holding a weeklong Mitzvah Mission donation drive to support The Foodbank and Crayons to Classrooms. From September 14-18, drop off high-need items from the list below. Questions? Contact Jacquelyn Archie at jarchie@jfgd.net. High-Need Items for The Foodbank Plastic Jars of Peanut Butter, Any non-perishable item that has a pop top lid (Canned Tuna, Canned Salmon, Vienna Sausages, Potted Meat, Canned Chili, Beef Stew, Fruit Cups, Canned Fruit, Canned Vegetables) High-Need Items for Crayons to Classrooms Dry Erase Markers, Markers, Colored Pencils, Crayons, Facial Tissue, Folders, Glue/Glue Sticks, 70ct Spiral Notebooks, Index Cards, Filler Paper, Pencils, Children’s Scissors, Construction Paper, Backpacks Please join us on Friday, September 18 from 9 - 11AM for Coffee, Donuts, and Dropoff so that we can thank you personally for your generous donations! Please RSVP with Jacquelyn Archie at jarchie@jfgd.net if you can make it.
Jewish Family Services OF GREATER DAYTON
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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
CALENDAR Classes
Beth Jacob Classes: W. Rabbi Agar on Zoom. Register at 937-274-2149. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Torah Tuesdays. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought. Chabad Classes: 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., Sept. 26, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study. Thurs., Sept. 17, 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 in person & Zoom. For Zoom info., email info@tidayton.org. Thursdays, noon: Talmud in person & Zoom. Sat., Sept. 5, 19, 26, 9:15 a.m.: Virtual Torah Study on Zoom. For Torah Study Zoom info., email Fran Rickenbach, franwr@gmail. com. tidayton.org/calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-496-0050.
Family
PJ Goes to Camp: Fri. Sept. 4, 1 p.m.-Sun., Sept. 6, 4 p.m. Starting at $189. More info. & RSVP by Aug. 28 at jewishdayton.org/events. Contact Kate Elder w. questions, kelder@ jfgd.net. Camp Livingston, 4998 Nell Lee Rd., Bennington, Ind.
Kids
Chabad CKids Rosh Hashanah Opening Day: Sun., Sept. 6, 4 p.m. Free. Ages 5-12. RSVP at chabaddayton. com/ckids. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.
drinks for purchase. More info., & RSVP at jewishdayton.org/ event. Email Stacy Emoff w. questions, semoff@jfgd.net. 134 S. Main St., Dayton.
Men
Chabad Bagels, Lox & Tefillin: Sun., Sept. 6, 9:30 a.m. 13+ welcome. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.
Community
Collaborative Selichot Service: Sat., Sept. 5, 8:30 p.m. At Beth Abraham, 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. W. Dayton Jewish Chorale, Temple Beth Or & Temple Israel. Dessert reception followed by service.
Rosh Hashanah
Chabad Rosh Hashanah Market: Wed., Sept. 9, 5-7:30 p.m. RSVP at chabaddayton. com/calendar. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770. Chabad Rosh Hashanah Dinner: Fri., Sept. 11, 7 p.m. $40 adult, $12.50 child. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/calendar. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770. Anshe Emeth Rosh Hashanah Dinner: Fri., Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m. Free. RSVP to ansheemeth@gmail.com. 320 Caldwell St., Piqua.
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 937-274-2149. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp.
From all of us at NCCJ, Shana Tova! May this new year be filled with From meaning, health allgood of us at and great joy.
NCCJ, Shana Tova!
May this new year be filled with meaning, good health and great joy.
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, 6:15 p.m. $59. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/calendar. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.
Temple Israel Tashlich: Sat., Sept. 12, 1 p.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-4960050.
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.
Chabad Tashlich & Shofar: Sun., Sept. 13, 4 p.m. Dogwood Pavilion, Hills & Dales MetroPark, 2740 S. Patterson Blvd., Kettering.
Temple Israel Sukkot Under the Stars: Wed., Sept. 30, 6:30 p.m. Music by Dan Nichols. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.
NCCJ's mission is to empower and educate communities to eliminate bias, bigotry and all forms of discrimination. For more information please visit our website at www.nccjgreaterdayton.org.
Contact Patty Caruso at jewishobserver@jfgd.net to advertise in The Observer.
Adults
Temple Israel Sacred Stitching: Wed., Sept. 2, 16, 30, 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. Temple Israel Postcards & Pizza: Wed., Sept. 2, noon. RSVP to Nancy Cohen, nrc2622@gmail.com. Details at tidayton.org/calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960050. JCC Boomers Boogie at Levitt Pavillion: Thurs., Sept. 3, 6:30 p.m. Free. Food &
Presented by:
SEPT. 20
Celebrating Pontiac’s 100th Anniversary and 50 years of the BMW 3 Series
10 :30 A .M . - 4 P.M .
Over 150 cars to admire! • Don’t Forget the Preview Party - Saturday, September 19, 2026 DAY T O N H I S T O RY. O R G
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
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DAY T O N C O N C O U R S . C O M
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RELIGION
From fake burps to reverse Tashlich, new kids' books bring the High Holidays to life Rabinowitz By Penny Schwartz, JTA noted with apA bumper crop of new preciation that kids’ books about the one of the books High Holidays is hitting was coming from shelves, surprising close a mainstream observers of Jewish chilsecular press, dren’s literature. rather than from “It is unusual for the smaller boumultiple Sukkot books to tique presses that be published in the same tend to release year, especially of consisBook of Life host books about Jewtently high quality. It’s Heidi Rabinowitz ish holidays. very exciting,” said Heidi She offered a possible explaRabinowitz, a Jewish librarian and host of the Book of Life pod- nation for the surging interest in the harvest holiday in parcast, which describes itself as ticular: “Sukkot is family- and “a podcast about Jewish kidlit environmentally friendly, and (mostly).” I think that is a big part of its appeal.” The new books showcase a wide range of Jewish traditions and values, from apologizing on Yom Kippur to engaging with Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah. They also feature communal celebrations, festive foods, and, well, fake burps. Here’s what's new on shelves for the season:
Congregation
Anshe Emeth
Rosh Hashanah: SquareCircle-Star!: A First Shapes Book
Reform Congregation Organized 1858 • All Are Welcome!
HIGH HOLIDAY SERVICES Shaliach Tzibur/ Service Leader Jese Shell
Fri., Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m. Erev Rosh Hashanah 6 p.m. Holiday Dinner
All invited, email RSVP, donations welcomed, Oneg to follow
Sat., Sept. 12, 10 a.m. Rosh Hashanah services Oneg to follow
Sun., Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m. Kol Nidre service
Mon., Sept. 21, 10 a.m. Yom Kippur 3:30 p.m. Discussion w. Jese 4:30 p.m. Afternoon, Yizkor services, Havdalah Break the Fast provided
320 Caldwell St. • Piqua ansheemeth.org ansheemeth@gmail.com Like us on Facebook PAGE 22
Joy Nelkin Wieder, pictures by Aura Lewis Abrams; Appleseed, ages birth to 3 Preschoolers will enjoy finding shapes in their favorite Rosh Hashanah traditions with this large-format board book — square bites of honey cake, a round swirl of challah, the curves of the shofar, and even apple-slice semicircles.
The Sweetest Rosh Hashanah: Festivals of the World
Mara Bergman, illustrated by Aura Lewis; Candlewick Press, ages 4-8 As Rosh Hashanah approaches, Ellie looks forward to a visit from her relatives and her favorite cousin, Lara. But last year, Lara was bossy and borrowed Ellie’s cherished paint set and didn’t return it. This year, Ellie decides to hide all of her favorite toys. When Lara arrives with a handmade Rosh Hashanah card, the cousins apologize for their misdeeds and embrace. Mara Bergman’s sweet story is accompanied by Aura Lewis’ large, bright illustrations that
include a multiracial family.
Stella’s Special Recipe: A Rosh Hashanah Story
Melissa Stoller, illustrated by Valerya Milovanova; Kar-Ben Publishing, ages 2-8 Stella is eager to help her mother prepare her family’s special stuffed cabbage for Rosh Hashanah — a time-honored recipe that includes extra touches from both her grandmothers and her mother. She and her mom gather the fresh veggies from their garden — cabbage and tomatoes and eggs from their chickens. What can Stella add? Her creative idea is perfect for a sweet new year.
In Chana Stiefel’s simply worded, lavishly illustrated book, young readers can experience awe, in perfect time for the Days of Awe — another term for the period from the start of Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur. Awe can be small or miraculous, according to the book, which features mesmerizing illustrations including a double-page spread that unfolds to reveal the waterfalls of Yosemite National Park.
Diving Deep on Rosh Hashanah: Reverse Tashlich for a Better World
I’m Sorry for the Bagel Burps: A Yom Kippur Apology
Rachelle Burk, illustrated by Craig Orback; Intergalactic Afikomen, ages 4-10 This children’s book illustrates a relatively new Jewish tradition that has gained wide traction in recent years: the reverse Tashlich. It recounts the story of Ed Rosenthal, who — years after watching The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and dreaming of one day seeing the wonders beneath the sea — snorkeled in the Red Sea after hiking in Israel. As a rabbi at a college in Florida, he created the Scubi Jew Club for his students to share his passion. At a service for Tashlich, the Rosh Hashanah tradition in which Jews cast symbols of their sins into bodies of water, a student suggested instead clearing the water of trash to make a cleaner, better world for the start of the Jewish year. Now, synagogues across the country and world include a reverse Tashlich in their High Holiday plans. The book comes from the team behind The Space Torah, an award-winning depiction of a Jewish astronaut’s journey with a miniature Torah.
Awe! It’s Everywhere
Chana Stiefel, illustrated by Susan Gal; Scholastic, ages 4-8
Jacob Sager Weinstein, illustrated by Jason Kirschner; Rocky Pond Books, ages 5-8 In this story optimized for children with a penchant for the gross, a young boy and his older brother have a spat when the older one calls him a baby because he’s not old enough to fast on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In turn, during synagogue services, the young boy teases back. By story’s end, they apologize for their hurtful words and are back to their playful ribbing — all involving fake burps. Jason Kirschner’s cartoon-style illustrations match the levity of the moment.
The Sukkah Hop
Barbara Lerman-Golomb, illustrated by Talia Drigues; Green Bean Books, birth to 4 Kids will have a hoot bopping along with a multi-generational procession of families and friends as they visit each others’ sukkahs in this book that illustrates the popular community tradition of the sukkah hop. Barbara Lerman-Golomb’s simple, rhyming verse comes alive in Talia Drigues’ colorful illustrations.
A Purr-Fect Sukkot
Jenna Waldman, illustrated by Erica J. Chen; Apples & Honey
Press, ages 3-7 The youngest kids will have fun along with a family of kittens who gather branches for the hut’s open roof, decorate their sukkah with paper chains, shake the lulav, and enjoy a festive holiday meal.
Build a Sukkah With Me
Katie Moss, illustrated by Orit Magia; Green Bean Books, ages 4-8 Katie Moss creates a delightful sukkah-building story around a catchy, simple rhyming verse, using only three words that are easy for kids to repeat. Orit Magia’s cartoonish illustrations bring the pages to life.
A House With No Door: A Sukkot Story
Amy Fellner Dominy, illustrated by Rotem Teplow; Kar-Ben Publishing, ages 2-8 Join a young boy and his kitty as he explores the simple outdoor hut his family is building for Sukkot. In a stunning pairing of Amy Fellner Dominy’s sparsely worded verse and Rotem Teplow’s beautiful illustrations, young children join in the boy’s wondrous observations of his sukkah. A lovely connection with the meaning of the holiday.
Our Spectacular Sukkah
Sidura Ludwig, illustrated by Sophia Vincent Guy; Candlewick Press, ages 4-8 In Sidura Ludwig’s heartwarming story, illuminated by Sophia Vincent Guy’s sparkling illustrations, a young girl and her family build a seasonally decorated sukkah. Drama builds when a storm knocks down their beloved structure. Neighbors of all backgrounds come to the rescue and return the scattered sukkah parts in parade-like fashion. They all pitch in to rebuild the sukkah, which becomes a truly welcoming space for all.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
WORSHIP SERVICES
RELIGION
Beth Abraham Synagogue
September 11 — 25 years later
Conservative Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 937-293-9520 Check website for location, bethabrahamdayton.org.
Beth Boruk Temple
Reform Cantor Andrea Raizen 2810 Southeast Pkwy., Richmond, Ind. bethboruk@yahoo.com. Friday night Shabbat service monthly, September through May. For schedule, go to bethboruktemple.com.
Beth Jacob Congregation
Modern Orthodox Rabbi Leibel Agar Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. Evening minyans upon request. 7020 N. Main St., 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.
By Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz, Temple Israel As we enter the High Holy Days, we are encouraged to engage in cheshbon hanefesh, an accounting of our souls. In doing so, we ask ourselves what needs to change. What do we want to do differently this year? We think about making teshuva, repentance. What do we need to repair? How will we heal the wounds of relationships that have been broken?
American flag reflect on what decals suddenly Sept. 11 meant to appearing on cars, me and the meanor people across ing we made from the political specit. trum wearing pins But that is still in solidarity. looking from my And they don't side out. I know remember the fear what I remember. and suspicion diI know what I rected toward our think changed, Muslim and Sikh and what I believe neighbors — or we held onto or the urgency many Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz lost. of us felt to stand My children beside them. can't tell me how Sept. 11 They also inherited a politichanged me. They didn't know But this year, I think the cal world shaped by Sept. 11. me before. But they may be able timing begs us to consider anTerrorism, national security, to tell me something about who other question. Rosh Hashanah and our relationship with the we've become. begins on Sept. 11, exactly 25 Middle East took on a differThat allows the conversayears after the attacks of 2001. ent place in American life. tion to flow in both directions. I This year, I am wondering: The wars in Afghanistan and can tell them what I remember What did we keep? Iraq, debates over changing, what I thought we There are mosurveillance and kept, what was lost, and what ments in our lives civil liberties, and once seemed possible. that clearly define the ways we came More importantly, I can ask a before and after. to understand what they see now. What have Yitzhak Rabin's threats at home they come to accept as normal? assassination was and abroad have What do they see in my generaone of those moshaped much of tion — or in me — that I may ments for me. Sept. the politics of their no longer notice? 11 was another. lifetimes. They That feels especially imporMore recently, we have talked know that world. They don't tant as we begin the work of about life before and after the remember its becoming. teshuva. Cheshbon hanefesh pandemic and, as Jews, before For them, these are stories asks us to take an honest look and after Oct. 7, 2023. about a world that changed. For at ourselves. We know who These experiences change those of us who lived through we have been, and we have a us. While we may remember it, they are memories of being sense of who we think we have exactly when that change hapchanged. become. But we don't always pened, eventually we become Twenty-five years later, I can know how we are experienced accustomed to living in U.S. Navy/Preston Keres by others. the world that followed. Sometimes we need Sometimes what gets someone else to hold up lost isn't something we the mirror. can easily name. SomeMaybe part of our times what gets lost is a cheshbon hanefesh this possibility. year can happen in conTwenty-five years versation. We can share later, I can see this most what we remember and clearly when I look at the lessons we believe my children. we carried forward. They will never know But then we also have what it was like to fly to listen. Did those leswithout the TSA or to sons actually become meet a loved one at the part of who we are? Are gate. they visible to anyone They will never besides us? Where have look at the New York we missed the mark? skyline and rememAnd what may have ber when something been lost in translation wasn't missing. They along the way? can hear Empty Sky, The This year, as we enter Rising, or Where Were 5787, I am still wonderYou (When the World ing: What did we keep? Stopped Turning), but Twenty-five years later, they cannot hear them perhaps the answer isn't with the memories that only found in what we gave those songs their What remained of the south tower of the World Trade remember. It may also meaning. be found in what others Center in New York City three days after the Sept. 11 They don't remember terrorist attacks. see reflected in us.
Perspectives
We don't always know how we are experienced by others.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
September Elul/Tishri Candle Lightings Shabbat, Sept. 4: 7:45 p.m. Shabbat, Erev Rosh Hashanah Sept. 11: 7:34 p.m. First Eve Rosh Hashanah Sept. 12: 8:30 p.m. Shabbat, Sept. 18: 7:22 p.m. Erev Yom Kippur Sept. 20: 7:19 p.m. Shabbat, Erev Sukkot Sept. 25: 7:11 p.m. First Eve Sukkot Sept. 26: 8:07 p.m.
Torah Portions Sept. 5: Nitzavim-Vayelech (Deut. 29:9-31:30) Sept. 19: Haazinu (Deut. 32:1-52)
Rosh Hashanah
Jewish New Year
Sept. 12-13/1-2 Tishri Celebration of the beginning of the Jewish calendar year. Begins the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of repentance and prayer that ends on Yom Kippur. Celebrated with festive meals, including apples dipped in honey.
Yom Kippur
Day of Atonement
Sept. 21/10 Tishri The holiest day on the Jewish calendar, marking the end of the Days of Awe, spent fasting and in prayer. The sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, signals the end of the holiday.
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).
PAGE 23
MAZEL TOV! Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh has named Grant Halasz director of Jewish student life at Carnegie Mellon University. Grant is the son of Teri and Dr. Mike Halasz.
Debbie Feldman
Bonnie Beaman Rice
NCCJ: Nurturing Community, Cultivating Justice will present Debbie Feldman with its Pat Meadows Lifetime Achievement Award and Bonnie Beaman Rice will receive an NCCJ Humanitarian Award at its Friendship Celebration Dinner, Oct. 20 at the Dayton Art Institute. The dinner provides operating funds to support NCCJ's diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; youth leadership development; and educational workshops aimed at stopping bias and bigotry in the Miami Valley. Grant Halasz
Father and daughter Saul Caplan and Jenny Caplan are each involved in popular Jewish-themed stage productions in our region. Jenny plays Yente in Merit Theatre Company's production of Fiddler on the Roof, Aug. 28-Sept. 5 at Anderson Center Theatre in Cincinnati. Saul is directing Brookville Community Theatre's production of Driving Miss Daisy, on stage there Sept. 11-20. Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.
Jenny Caplan
Saul Caplan
From witch hunt hysteria to soaring heights to transcendence through music, audiences will experience storytelling at its most thrilling. We look forward to seeing you at Wright State's Creative Arts Center—the home of the school of Fine and Performing Arts—for an outstanding season!
wright.edu/boxoffice
Announcing our Fall Season! The Crucible 09/25/26—10/04/26 10/09/26—10/18/26 Decision Height 11/12/26—11/22/26 Pippin Tickets on Sale Now! Weekly podcast
The Jewish News Hour
PAGE 24
Search for The Dayton Jewish Observer in Spotify podcasts & subscribe
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION
'Let my people go' America 250 — Part Three In the news series
The Hidden Jewish History Inside the American Revolution. How a Tiny Jewish Island Community Helped Win the American Revolution. The Jew Who Financed the American Revolution. The Forgotten Fighters: Jewish Soldiers of the American Revolution. The Maccabees of the American Revolution.
Candace R. Kwiatek Ask ordinary people to describe Jewish culture, and they will likely name traits like family-oriented, well-educated, charitable, or resilient. Revolutionary is unlikely to make the list. Yet this mainstream perspective overlooks a heritage of sweeping transformation driven by four major liberation movements in Jewish history. Each arose from a unique existential threat: ancient enslavement, forced religious and cultural erasure, the systemic denial of human rights, and industrial annihilation triggered by modern antisemitism. These watershed moments profoundly reshaped both Judaism and world history. The first revolution was biblical — a dual triumph that began with the momentous Exodus from Egypt that established history’s foundational narrative of liberation from tyranny. It culminated at Sinai, where radical concepts of ethical monotheism, human responsibility, and equality under the law sparked a moral shift that reshaped human civilization.
Literature to share The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots That Shook New York City by Scott D. Seligman. Outraged by a sudden 50% hike in kosher meat prices, thousands of workingclass Jewish housewives on Manhattan’s Lower East Side boycotted neighborhood butchers only to discover the true culprits:
In the second century B.C.E., the Maccabean revolt erupted when Judea’s beleaguered Jewish community took up arms. The rebels initially seized Jerusalem to purify the Holy Temple and restore traditional worship, which became a catalyst for ultimately overthrowing Seleucid rule. Beyond these victories, the uprising dismantled the entrenched aristocracy to forge a sovereign, populist-led kingdom that eventually expanded into a powerful regional empire. Long before the modern Zionist movement reestablished a sovereign nation in the Jewish ancestral homeland, that same revolutionary impulse targeted British tyranny across the Atlantic. In the American Revolution, early Jewish communities found a cause that merged their ancient yearning for liberty with the birth of a new nation. When America’s colonists framed their resistance as a divine duty to escape a modern “pharaonic” bondage, American Jews recognized their own foundational values in action. Eager to be included as full, equal partners in a new society, Jewish patriots stepped forward, risking their lives and fortunes for American independence. On the eve of the American Revolution, roughly 2,500 Jewish people lived in the colonies, just 0.1% of the population. Over half resided in key port cities (New York, Philadelphia, Newport, Savannah, and Charleston), working as international merchants, local shopkeepers, and artisans, professions that transitioned easily into wartime roles. While written records are the powerful Chicago-based “Beef Trust” cartel. Well-researched, this award-winner balances both sides of the dispute, and the incredible moment everyday citizens discovered their collective consumer power. The Peddler and the President by Ann D. Koffsky. An award-winning early chapter book for elementary ages, this biography explores the unlikely friend-
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
limited, individual biographinental Army. Managing vital cal vignettes reveal this tiny logistics in the South, Sheftall community’s wide-ranging used his own money and credit impact on American indepento feed and equip troops when dence. government funds failed. The rebellion. In 1765, over In the North, Lieut. Col. 400 Philadelphia merchants Solomon Bush served honboycotted British imports to orably in the Pennsylvania protest the Stamp Act. AccordMilitia. After being wounded ing to historian Jerry Klinger, and captured, Bush exposed prominent merchant Matha British spy operating inside ias Bush was the first to step Washington's headquarters. forward to sign the official The supporters. While 100 resolution, one of nine Jewish to 150 Jews saw active combat, signatories to the document. many more supported the Patriot forces. Barred from American Revolution through military service throughout finance, logistics, even spycraft. much of history, early Jewish Early in the conflict, the BritAmericans made ish arrested Haym especially notable Salomon for escontributions to pionage and forced the Revolution. him to act as an In 1774, South interpreter — a role Carolina's Francis he used to gather Salvador became intelligence, assist the first practicing prisoner escapes, Jew elected to a and encourage Hescolonial legislative sian desertions. assembly. Salomon later Equally became a successdedicated on the ful merchant and a battlefield, Salvaprimary financier dor famously rode of the war, securing through the night roughly $650,000 — Francis Salvador to rally a militia nearly $20 million against British-allied Cherokee today — in European loans and forces raiding frontier settlepersonal advances. ments. One month later, he was Meanwhile, Joseph Simon, killed in an ambush, becoming a prominent Lancaster merthe war’s first Jewish casualty. chant, partnered with colonial At the Battle of Bunker Hill, gunsmith William Henry. Aaron Solomon fought in the Through this relationship, Sifront rank alongside non-Jews. mon supplied the military with During the harsh winter at Val- vital munitions, including the ley Forge, Abraham Levy and highly accurate Pennsylvania Phillip Russell stood watch— flintlock rifle. protecting the army and the Gershom Mendes Seixas, nearby Continental Congress. known as the “Patriot Chazan In South Carolina, Manuel (cantor)," championed the Mordecai Noah fought under American cause from the pulGen. George Washington and pit. Although he detested war, donated substantial personal he saw the struggle for liberty funds to the revolutionary cause. Jewish officers also provided critical leadership and logistical support. Mordecai Sheftall rose from privateer to colonel, becoming the highest-ranking Jewish officer in the Contiship between future U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Jewish salesman Eddie Jacobson. Its traces how their deep, lifelong bond directly influenced the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. A unique intersection of American, Israeli, and Jewish history, it highlights themes of loyalty and moral courage. An excellent online reading guide by the author is available at the Ann Koffsky Book Page.
as a just cause, and he regularly used his sermons to pray for the success of Congress, the Revolution, and Washington. Supply chain. During the American Revolution, the tiny Dutch island of Sint Eustatius became a vital international trade hub. Its large, thriving Jewish merchant community leveraged extensive transatlantic family networks to coordinate complex wartime logistics. By bypassing British blockades, these merchants smuggled critical military assets — including firearms and gunpowder — from Europe, directly sustaining the American war effort. The impact of this maritime route was so profound that British Adm. George Rodney later remarked, “Had it not been for…this infamous island, the American Rebellion could not possibly have subsisted.” Both the Exodus and the American Revolution began with the demand, variously expressed, to “Let my people go!” In Exodus, the call was not just to escape from Pharaoh, but a summons to a higher purpose: a voluntary covenant to serve God. Similarly, historian Adam Jortner notes in A Promised Land, American Jews during the Revolution also fought — not to flee persecution, but for something greater. They sought liberty, civic rights, and a new republic. How these dual concepts of spiritual covenant and political liberty fused into the nation's blueprints is the focus of the final article in this series. Next month: The nation’s blueprints
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pieces 4 tsp. kosher salt, divided (or to taste) 3 Tbsp. oil (avocado, sunflower or any neutral oil) 4 large carrots 1 large yellow onion 1 large head of garlic 2–3 bay leaves 2 tsp. ground coriander 1 ½ tsp. turmeric 1 ½ tsp. ground cumin 5 ½ cups boiling water or stock ½ cup apricots, diced ¼ cup currants or barberries ½ cup pomegranate seeds, for garnish ⅓ cup chopped mint or cilantro, for garnish freshly ground pepper, to taste
Jeweled Rosh Hashanah
Plov
By Sonya Sanford, The Nosher As the child of Soviet refugees, I grew up eating many beloved dishes from Ukraine. Plov was a specialoccasion meal; it's an Uzbek rice pilaf that originated in the Bukharian Jewish community. While plov involves a few steps to prepare and some time in the oven, the dish satisfyingly comes together in a single pot to form a complete meal. If you prefer lamb, you can swap it for the beef in this recipe. Total Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes Yield: Serves six to eight 3 cups basmati or jasmine rice 1 ½ lbs. beef, cubed into 2-3-inch
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rinse the rice well, place it in a bowl of cold water to soak as you prepare the other ingredients, or for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour. This helps remove excess starch and makes for fluffy rice. Cut the beef into 2-3-inch pieces, and salt with 1 ½ teaspoons of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Reserve. Prepare the vegetables: Peel and cut
the carrots into large matchsticks, about ¼-inch thick and 2-3 inches long. Alternatively, you can use the medium holes of a box grater, or the shredder attachment on a food processor and grate the carrot. Bigger pieces of carrot hold their shape and texture, while grated carrot softens and almost melts into the rice once cooked. Dice the onions. Peel the outer layer of the garlic, and rinse off any dirt. Halve the garlic heads crosswise, leaving each half intact. On medium-high heat, add the oil to a large Dutch oven or a wide heavybottomed deep skillet or pot (at least 12-inches wide, and 3½-4 inches deep). Alternatively, you can brown the beef and vegetables in any large skillet, and then transfer everything to a deep roasting pan or baking dish. Once the oil is hot, brown the beef, about eight to nine minutes or until deeply browned and caramelized on all sides. Be careful not to overcrowd the pan or the beef will steam; cook in batches if needed. Lower the heat to medium, and into the same Dutch oven or skillet, add the onions and carrots. Season with 1½ teaspoons kosher salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, and sauté for five to six minutes or until slightly softened. Any brown bits on the bottom of the pot will get absorbed into the veggies, and will add flavor to the plov. Add the coriander, turmeric, and cumin to the onions and carrots and sauté for an additional minute until fra-
grant; this helps bloom the spices. Add the bay leaves to the pot. Add the boiling water or stock to the top, and the remaining one teaspoon salt. If using a heavily salted stock, use less salt. Cover the pot with a lid or tightly with foil for 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven, and stir in the apricots and currants. Drain the rice that has been soaking, and then add it to the pot by sprinkling it evenly over the top of the beef mixture. Do the best you can to add the rice in an even layer and fully submerged under the cooking liquid. If there is rice poking above the liquid, gently pat it down into the pot so that it is fully submerged, but do not mix the rice into the beef mixture. If the rice is still not submerged, add an additional quarter cup of boiling water to the pot. Nestle in the garlic halves. Cover and place back into the oven for 45 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven and peek on the rice. The rice should have absorbed all of the visible liquid; to make sure, gently fluff one edge of the pot with a fork. If the rice looks liquidy, return it to the oven for 10-15 minutes. Once your rice is cooked, leave the pot covered and allow it to rest for 1530 minutes before serving. Fluff the rice with a fork just before serving. There may be delicious browned crispy bits of rice on the edges of the pot. Garnish with freshly chopped mint or cilantro, and pomegranate seeds if desired.
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
Break the fast with this GlutenFree Apple-Pear-Cranberry Kugel By Elisheva Margulies, The Nosher This apple-pear-cranberry kugel features the best of fall produce in a twist on a traditional sweet kugel. Total Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes Yield: Serves four to six ¼ cup brown sugar ½ cup white wine or water ¾ cup currants or raisins (optional) 6 oz. cranberries (half a bag of frozen cranberries) 2 lbs. tart apples ½ lb. pears ¼ cup white sugar 6 eggs, separated Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel and core the apples and pears, and cut them in half. Put them in a pan with the cranberries, and the raisins, if you are using them.
Add the wine or water and cover. Cook on low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the apples fall apart. Mash the fruit into large chunks with a fork and add both sugars. Cook over medium-low heat for another five minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool. When the mixture has cooled a bit, add the egg yolks to the pan and stir well. Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl with an electric mixer until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the fruit mixture. Pour into an oiled or buttered baking dish and bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until the top browns. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Do make a tzimmes By Sheri Silver, The Nosher Tzimmes has always been a dish that feels like a hug from the past. It’s cozy, a little sweet, and full of nostalgia — the kind of food that instantly makes me think of family holidays and a table full of favorites. It's a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish made with a mix of root vegetables (usually big chunks of carrots and sweet potatoes), dried fruits like prunes and raisins, and sometimes a drizzle of honey or a pinch of warm spices. It shows up often at Rosh Hashanah, since the sweetness is meant to symbolize the hope for a sweet new year. Like so many traditional recipes, there are endless ways to make it. But the one I come back to again and again is simple and classic. And as a bonus, this version is natu-
Classic tzimmes
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rally vegetarian and dairy-free, which makes it easy to share with just about anyone at the table. Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Yield: Serves four to six 2 lbs. carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut into ½-inchthick slices 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 1 cup prunes (or dried apricots, or a mix) ½ cup golden raisins 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil 3 Tbsp. brown sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon ½ tsp. kosher salt ¼ tsp. black pepper 1 cup orange juice Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9×13 baking dish. Place the carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, and raisins in a large bowl. Drizzle with the oil, then add the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Pour in the orange juice and toss again to coat. Transfer to your prepared baking dish, cover tightly with foil and bake for one hour, 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. The vegetables should be tender and the sauce thickened into a glaze. Serve warm.
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Honey Pomegranate Mandelbrot By Leah Koenig, The Nosher Long before pomegranates became known as a healthy superfood — linked to everything from improving cardiovascular health and reducing cholesterol to preventing cancer — they were a mainstay of Jewish cuisine. Named in Deut. 8:8 as one of the seven agricultural species cultivated in ancient Israel and mythologized to contain 613 seeds in every fruit (the number of mitzvot/commandments given to the Israelites), pomegranates are one of Jewish tradition’s most celebrated foods. Pomegranates’ peak season generally falls somewhere in the autumn around the High Holidays, which makes them the perfect accompaniment to Rosh Hashanah or the harvest holiday of Sukkot. In that spirit, this mandelbrot recipe drizzles the traditional Ashkenazi almond cookies with a sweet-tart, bright pink pomegranate glaze. A generous pour of sweet, golden honey folded into the batter adds to these cookies’ appeal. Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Yield: Makes about 24 cookies
baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. In a stand mixer or using a handheld electric mixer and a large bowl, beat the butter and ¼ cup of the sugar together on medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until pale and creamy, two to three minutes. Add the honey, eggs, and vanilla and beat to combine. The mixture might look curdled at this point, but will smooth out when you add the flour. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in two stages, beating on low until just combined and a soft dough forms. Fold in the almonds with a spatula. Divide the batter into two equal mounds on the baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches of space in between the mounds. Using lightly floured hands, pat and press the batter into long, flat rectangles (about 9×4 inches and ½-inch thick). Bake until puffed and deep golden brown, about 20 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool for about
May you enjoy the fruits of a good new year.
one minute. Slice both of the rectangles vertically down their middles. Then, slice them horizontally into 1-inch-wide pieces. Turn the pieces on their sides and sprinkle evenly with one tablespoon of the remaining sugar. Bake for 10 more minutes, then remove the baking sheet again. Flip the pieces to the other side and sprinkle with the remaining one tablespoon sugar. Bake until the cookies are firm, five to 10 minutes more. (Be careful not to overbake them — they continue to crisp up as they cool.) Remove from the oven and set the baking sheet on a wire rack to cool for five minutes, then transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely. Make the glaze: Sift the confectioner’s sugar into a medium bowl. Add the pomegranate juice and stir to form a thick but pourable glaze. If the glaze is too thick to drizzle, stir in a little more pomegranate juice. (Likewise if it is too runny, stir in a little more sifted confectioner’s sugar.) Generously drizzle the tops of the cooled cookies with glaze and set cookies back on the racks to allow the glaze to set.
For the cookies 1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping ½ tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. baking soda ¼ tsp. kosher salt ½ cup unsalted butter or vegan butter, softened ¼ cup + 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar, divided ¼ cup mild honey 2 large eggs ¾ tsp. vanilla extract ¾ cup roasted, unsalted almonds, chopped
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For the glaze ¾ cup confectioner’s sugar, plus more if needed 1½ Tbsp. pomegranate juice, plus more if needed
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From J'lem’s Jewish Museum lending art across U.S. — Old City, book with one defies Israel’s condition media image Arts&Culture
The Jewish Museum
By Simone Saidmehr, Forward Stroll through the Cleveland Museum of Art. Look closely in the Korean art galleries, and you will find a Jewish ritual spice container. Among its collection of Italian Baroque art, you’ll stumble upon a marble Jewish marriage panel. In the Middle East galleries, 19th-century Torah finials from Tbilisi, Georgia blend seamlessly with the Islamic art that surrounds them. Until recently, none of those objects were there. Like many art and history museums across the U.S., Cleveland had almost no Jewish ceremonial art on display. The few that do often display it in separate galleries exclusively reserved for Jewish art. Now, Cleveland is one of about a dozen museums across the country participating in a quiet initiative led by New York’s Jewish Museum, which is lending works from its collection to institutions that have little or no Jewish works on view. The Jewish Museum has one condition: don’t put them in a Judaica gallery. “Jewish culture exists because for 3,500 years, it’s been wandering the global Diaspora,” said James Snyder, the director of the Jewish Museum, the art museum leading the initiative. “How it looks is a function of its engagement, not its disengagement.” An Iraqi menorah adorned with peacocks belongs in a Middle East gallery, he argues, where visitors can see that the peacock was a common decorative motif across the region’s art, regardless of religion. A German Torah crown belongs among European decorative arts to tell the story about how, for centuries, Jewish ceremonial silver was largely crafted by non-Jewish silversmiths after Jews were barred from joining silvermaking guilds.
A longstanding absence
The initiative addresses a longstanding absence of Jewish ceremonial art in many of the country’s leading encyclopedic museums — institutions that showcase works from civilizations around the world and throughout history. Museum directors who spoke to the Forward admitted that before collaborating with the Jewish Museum, they lacked Jewish ritual art in their galleries. Bill Griswold, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, said that while the museum has had significant collections of Islamic, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu works, it “didn’t have a single important object of Jewish ceremonial art.” This, despite the fact that Cleveland has one of the country’s largest Jewish populations. At the Toledo Museum of Art, curator Robert Schindler said there was “exactly
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Journalist Sarah TuttleSinger’s new book, Fairy Lights in God’s Backyard, captures a fractured, tender Jerusalem since Oct. 7
Marriage Wall Panel or Table Top, Italy, 18th–early 19th century. Inlaid marble with cut stones.
zero Judaica” there until November 2025, when the museum purchased a rare 12th-century Afghan Kiddush cup for $4 million — a record price for Judaica. The Toledo museum also joined the Jewish Museum’s lending initiative; a 13th-century synagogue inscription from Cairo will be displayed in a gallery that will compare world religions. “It’s a gap in the collection, and it’s a gap in the stories and narratives that we’re telling,” Schindler said. Jewish Museum curator Danny Smith Salfati calls the partnerships “artistic interventions,” each one tailor-made. Staff from the Jewish Museum work alongside local curators to identify objects that naturally fit within existing galleries. They also train docents on the Jewish significance of the objects and how they fit into the historical narrative of the gallery where they are placed.
Surges in visitors
Museum directors say the response has been overwhelmingly positive. At the Detroit Institute of Arts, hundreds of visitors have shown up for events dedicated to viewing objects that include one of the oldest known Torah shields in the world and a casket from the 15th century adorned with zodiac symbols. Judith Dolkart, the museum’s deputy director, said the interest has prompted the museum to think seriously about adding Jewish ceremonial art to its permanent collection. Griswold said the Cleveland museum has welcomed more guests this calendar year than in recent history, a surge he attributes in large part to interest in the works on loan from the Jewish Museum. Snyder began his tenure at the Jewish Museum in October 2023, three weeks after the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. He navigated a moment of extraordinary tension. Museums across the country still wrestle with pressure to take a stance on the conflict, confronting challenges such as disputes over public-facing staff members wearing keffiyehs to
work and protests and vandalism tied to accusations that museum officials were providing support to Israel during the Gaza War. Jewish museums were not immune to that strife. According to a survey by the Council of American Jewish Museums, 81% of Jewish museums in North America and Europe reported antisemitic or anti-Israel harassment after Oct. 7. Snyder created a post-Oct. 7 action plan to help the Jewish Museum navigate the moment, which included a directors’ talk series and an educational program for staff on the Middle East, racism, and antisemitism, and exhibits about the traumas of the war. He thought hard about the museum’s approach to curation, seeking to explicitly draw connections between Jewish objects and the places and cultures in which they developed. “A culturally specific museum is segregating itself,” he explained. “What you need to do is show that Jewish culture has been in the global Diaspora longer than any other single culture for 3,500 years, demonstrating resilience and engagement worldwide.” Snyder began receiving calls from directors of encyclopedic museums across the country. How could they build a collection of Jewish art and artifacts in their spaces? His answer was blunt. “You really can’t today,” he told them. Most major Judaica already belongs to museums or private collectors, and when important objects do come to market, private buyers often outbid institutions, he said. Instead, he offered them another solution: borrow from the Jewish Museum. “Take a dozen from us and don’t put them in a room,” Snyder recalled telling museum directors. “Sprinkle them. Take something from the Italian Renaissance, German Baroque, British Imperial, American Colonial, Asian…We see part of our job as dispersing Jewish culture across the landscape of our own American diaspora.”
By Rob Eshman, Forward A few years ago, I followed the author and journalist Sarah Tuttle-Singer deep into Jerusalem’s Old City searching for the best za’atar. To be clear, I was searching. She knew exactly where to go. Sarah plunged through the crowded, narrow market streets of the Shuk Attarin, or Perfumers Market, whose vaulted ceilings and open stalls served Crusaders and Mamluks. She turned at signless intersections and slipped through nameless passageways, before stopping at a mad scrum of customers outside a small, open shop. “Here it is,” Sarah said. “The best.” An elderly man filled orders from barrels of spices and shelves of herbs, potions, and remedies. When we managed to grab his attention, Sarah used her surprisingly decent Arabic to order me a kilo. It tasted nothing like the spice mix I was stuck buying in L.A. The wild oregano that forms the floral, green base of the mixture carried notes of cumin, caraway, and dandelion. The sumac, salt, and ground sesame made it bright and earthy at once — a blend of disparate flavors that don’t obviously belong together but somehow do. “How did you find this place?” I asked Sarah. “I mean, I live here.” Sarah was raised in Venice Beach, Calif. and moved to Israel in 2011 with her two children and then-husband, an Israeli. She began writing for The Times of Israel and eventually moved into the Old City itself. We long ago bonded over our common love of Jerusalem, journalism — and Venice Beach. Her latest book, Fairy Lights in God’s Backyard, is her second nonfiction book about life inside those ancient walls. I loved her first, Jerusalem, Drawn and Quartered, but I wondered, how much more is there to say? The answer is: plenty. The Oct. 7 massacre. The destruction of Gaza. The Iran missile barrages. A new child. A near-death explosion. All of it filtered through a sharp, sensitive observer living among Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the most contested third of a square mile on Earth. I opened the book at 11 a.m. and finished it by 4 p.m., leaving behind
THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • SEPTEMBER 2026
Times of Israel
Sarah Tuttle-Singer was raised in Venice Beach, Calif. and moved to Israel in 2011.
circled passages, dog-eared pages, and margin notes.
‘The least political way to tell the truth’
Her passage on the local grocery is a good place to start. “There is a shelf in a corner market that doesn’t make sense,” begins one of the book’s many short chapters. Sarah describes a single shelf stocked haphazardly with Bulgarian jam, Italian pasta, Polish pickles, Armenian spice mix, and “tahina labeled in Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish.” She asked the shopkeeper why he kept such a jumble of far-flung ingredients in one place. “People keep asking for home,” he said. Shoppers stop in front of that shelf, she writes — sometimes with a nostalgic look, a lump in the throat; sometimes to argue over a recipe, pulling items out, putting them back, defying any order. The shopkeeper gave up trying to organize it. “Jerusalem, after all, does not behave politely or geographically,” Sarah writes. “It stacks centuries on top of each other and calls it a street. It builds apartments on Crusader arches and prays in languages that never learned to forgive each other. Why should a shelf obey borders that people themselves could not?” Sometimes, she writes, a conversation starts in front of that shelf. My mother used to make this. We ate this only on holidays. You can’t get the good kind anymore. The shopkeeper, she writes, “understands something important: that in Jerusalem, food is often the least political way to tell the truth. You can argue borders for hours, but you cannot argue the taste of something that raised you.”
An apartment on the seam
It’s the same lesson, I realized later, sitting behind that scrum in the Perfumers Market: My kilo of za’atar was itself a shelf of sorts — oregano, sumac, and sesame — none of it asking permission to belong together. The Old City is divided into four
quarters — Arab, Jewish, Armenian, and Christian. Sarah moved into her last apartment there in October 2025, on the seam between the Jewish and Armenian Quarters, where Armenian conversation mixed with church bells and the Hebrew songs of schoolchildren next door. The apartment itself crossed borders. It was built over a Byzantine well that connects to a system of Roman tunnels; the walls themselves were “much newer” — 17th century. She moved in with her toddler son and made it a home, decorating in bright colors and pastels, a style she calls “Mad Hatter in Ottoman Jerusalem,” and planted rosemary, lavender, mint, sage, and, yes, za’atar on the roof. Even her garden was a small act of layering something new onto something ancient.
people ask for. The well below holds whoever happens to be home when the sirens go off. Between the two, Sarah keeps finding the same unlikely arrangement: people who don’t agree on much, sharing space anyway because the ground gives them no other choice. There are other moments, too, when Sarah watches the divisions that outsiders think define Israel and Jerusalem melt away. When a fire breaks out and residents pour from their homes to help extinguish it. When she suffers an unexplained cardiac event one evening, and friends and neighbors show up to rush her to the ER. “The paramedics arrived and so did, apparently, half the neighborhood,” she writes. “I haven’t seen this many Jews and Arabs crammed into one small room since the Oslo Accords.” ‘A deep,
abiding care’
That’s what makes the book such a beautiful and important read. The hope it offers is earned. Sarah isn’t naïve about the violence, fear, and resentment tearing her society apart, but she also lives out something most of us, and most of the media, miss: a deep undercurrent of shared humanity running through that land as well. That became vividly clear when her own sweet apartment blew up — a
faulty propane tank burst, collapsing her home around her. The experience sent her through her own cycle of grief, exile, and return. Friends, neighbors, and strangers — Arab, Jewish, Armenian — rushed to her aid, literally dug her out of the wreckage, then helped her rebuild. “In the smoke — acrid and choking — there was also something else rising,” she writes. “A deep, abiding care for one another. The kind that lives here but doesn’t make headlines.” It took me more than a year, but I eventually worked my way through the little pillowcase of za’atar I’d carried home from the Old City that day — folded into turnovers, dusted over roasted vegetables, and, most often, the way it appears on nearly every Palestinian table: pooled in olive oil atop labne. On my last trip to Israel, I met Sarah for a drink at Hataklit, a neighborhood bar near Zion Square. She and her son have found a new place. She’s still at The Times of Israel, now writing a feature called Peoples of Israel, profiling an endlessly interesting cast of characters. And to share her love of Jerusalem’s people, cultures, and food, she’s even leading occasional tours through the Old City. If you go, I recommend the za’atar. It won’t taste like anywhere else — which, if Sarah’s book is right, is exactly the point.
The war in a stone well
From that sweet base, she recorded a particularly fraught stretch in an always-fraught city. Her downstairs neighbor, Claire, whom she greeted several times a day, kept asking Sarah to explain how it is that she, an old woman, outlived her young son. It’s a question Sarah has heard so many Israeli and Palestinian mothers ask since Oct. 7. “Every time I heard Claire ask why she was still here instead of her son, I heard echoes of mothers everywhere who have asked the same impossible question,” she writes. Then the Iran war began and the sirens wailed, and each time, Sarah and her neighbors rushed down into the 1,500-year-old Byzantine well to wait out the incoming missiles: the ancient Armenian priest, the chain-smoking French tourists, the Arab TV broadcaster and his extended family, children scared of ghosts, the pedantic American with his “32-minute breakdown of geopolitical implications,” Muslims, Christians, Jews, and a pit bull named Baku — all brought together hoping to survive the mullahs’ wrath, “a regional war compressed into a stone cylinder beneath the Old City.” The shelf upstairs holds whatever
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husband, Stuart; brother David Muse; children, Rabbi Mark Goldfarb (Deborah), Stacey Jahanfar, and Sandra Goldfarb (Tony); seven grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and many extended family members. She was predeceased by her brother Richard Muse. Donations may be made to SPARCC Rape Crisis Center Sarasota, Legal Aid of Manasota, or Women of Temple Sinai. May her memory bring comfort to all who knew her. Our beloved brother, Morris Jay Pavlofsky, passed away peacefully on Aug. 14 in Atlanta. Not only was Morris our brother, but he was a wonderful uncle to his nephews and niece, a cousin to many, and a dear friend to all who crossed his path. Morris was a "gentle giant" and gave teddy bear hugs to those he loved. Morris had quite the personality, too. He enjoyed doing impersonations of many, including Elvis Presley, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, and John Belushi. Morris was a gifted musician, a true bon vivant, and a passionate authority on every aspect of food — from its preparation to its production. Morris was an active brother of Sigma Alpha Mu at The Ohio State University, where he held several positions and met many of his lifelong friends that he still spoke with up until his recent illness. His fraternity brothers were real brothers to him. They called Morris a "rare breed," as he "always looked out for those he collected into his fold." They were correct in saying Morris had a heart of gold. Morris was a talented salesman and food and freight broker who took his job seriously. For many years, he ran his own business, MP Sales Co. He always had time and patience to take coworkers under his wing and teach them about the food industry. To this day, decades of coworkers still speak highly of Morris and their time working with him. Morris is survived by three sisters, Gayle Pavlofsky, Dee-Dee (David) Stein, and Kathy Pavlofsky; as well as his three nephews and niece, Avi Stein (Dr. Carly Sobol), Judah Stein, Mollie Newell (D.J. Newell), Seth Stein; and grandniece, Addison Stein; as well as countless cousins and dear friends. Interment at Beth Jacob Cemetery. Donations in Morris' memory can be made to a charity of your choice.
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