By Brian Fishbach, Jewish Journal (Los Angeles) On Oct. 7, 2023, Jonah Platt was rehearsing for the West Coast premiere of the play The Engagement Party at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. It’s a play about a friendly gathering that devolves into a slew of accusations over a missing engagement

(even if Hitchens thought it’s all hogwash) By Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer, Beth Abraham Synagogue Everybody regales how Christopher Hitchens never met a sacred cow he didn’t try to turn into brisket. In God Is Not Great, he famously declared that “religion poisons everything,” a line he delivered with the

In the News Series Jewish Family Education with Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer ‘Death by doctor’ goes global in 2026. Canada set to surpass 100,000 assisted suicides — more than the country’s WWII death toll. Assisted Dying Rises Over Time in States With Oldest ‘Medical Aid in Dying’

Beth Jacob’s Sixth Jewish Women Inspiring Jewish Women luncheon will be held at 11 a.m., Sunday, June 14 with speakers Sandy Sloane-Brenner, Renate Frydman, Judy Heller, Lori Lipp, Cantor Andrea Raizen, and Mary ‘Mahira’ Rogers. The cost is $26. Beth Jacob is located at 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Township.

Temple Israel will host its annual Jewish Cultural Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, May 31. This year’s food vendors are Smoked on Chai Kosher BBQ from Columbus, Graeter’s Ice Cream, and Temple Israel’s bakery. Temple Israel volunteers will also sell hot dogs. The festival brings members of

The League of Women Voters of the Greater Dayton Area’s Julie Grunwald will be the guest speaker at Jewish War Veterans Post 587’s brunch at 10:30 a.m., Sunday, May 17 at Temple Beth Or. She’ll talk about the league’s history and the legacy of suffragists. The cost is $10; JWV

Look for Bark Mitzvah Boy each month in The Dayton Jewish Observer and at this site!   To read the complete May 2026 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.

A day after members of the Wright State University community saw the message “KILL BIBI” painted on the campus rock, the administration painted over it. Bibi is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname. One Wright State student emailed a photo of the rock with that message to The Observer after

William Harvey Fenberg, April 18, 1948 – April 7, 2026. William Harvey Fenberg, known as Bill to many, passed away at the age of 77 in Dayton. Born on April 18, 1948, in Findlay, Ohio, he grew up in northwest Ohio and spent much of his life in Toledo and

Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History, a project of the Jewish Federation, will cohost two programs to help Jewish genealogy researchers at all levels. In partnership with the newly revived Greater Cincinnati Jewish Genealogical Society, Miami Valley JG&H will cosponsor its inaugural event, Ancestry Meets AI: Tracing Your Roots Using