With Charlotte Golden, The Dayton Jewish Observer

Brent Gutmann has been named the new rabbi of Beth Sholom Progressive Jewish Congregation of Auckland, New Zealand. Brent will be ordained as a rabbi on June 8 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. Brent and his wife, Jill, and their daughter, Daria, will arrive in Auckland in July. Proud parents are Bev and Jay Gutmann, proud in-laws are Judy and Dr. Howard Abromowitz.

Jeremy Katz is now an archivist at the Cuba Family Archives, part of the William Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum in Atlanta. His job includes working with its collections to help aid exhibits, programs, and scholarly research. An undergraduate history major at Ohio State, Jeremy received his master’s degree in public history from Wright State last year. While in graduate school, he served as an archives intern for the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, and more recently as an intern at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati. Jeremy’s parents are Linda and Allan Katz.

Sara Fishbein has received an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy for the Class of 2017. She received nominations for the academy from U.S. Rep. Mike Turner and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman. Sara enters the academy on June 27, her mother Cassie’s birthday. Cassie and Donn, who recently celebrated their 25th anniversary, ran and walked the “Goofy Race and a half Challenge” to commemorate their milestone. “We have known each other for 26 years now, so during every mile we discussed what we did that year…starting with 1986,” Cassie said.

Columbus’ South Campus Gateway now has its own Fusian fast-casual sushi restaurant. Opened by OSU grads and Daytonians Zach and Josh Weprin, along with their partner, Stephan Harman, they launched their first Fusian location in Cincinnati in 2010 and then opened one near the University of Dayton.

Rachel Wilson’s next role will be Sis in Dayton Theatre Guild’s production of Leaving Iowa by Tim Clue and Spike Manton, running April 5-21. Leaving Iowa is a sentimental comedy about a family’s memories of past vacations.

Two Hillel Academy students have had art work accepted into state-level, juried art exhibits. Fourth grader Devorah Schwartz, daughter of Pam and Andy Schwartz, had artwork accepted in the 2013 Ohio Art Education Association’s Youth Art Month Exhibition. The art exhibition by Ohio students in grades kindergarten through eight was on display in March at the State Teacher’s Retirement System Building in Columbus. Third grader Benny Caruso, son of Patty and Mike Caruso, had his artwork displayed at the State Office Tower in March as part of the Ohio Young People’s Art Exhibit. Devorah and Benny’s artwork was submitted for the show by Hillel Art Educator Sue Ayers. Devorah and Benny’s works were two of 124 pieces of art selected from the nine Ohio Art Education Association regions in the state. A reception and awards ceremony was held March 16 for the young artists, their parents, teachers and guests. Both students’ work will also be on display at the OAEA Fall Conference to be held in November in Toledo.

Cedar Village Retirement Community in Mason was honored for its 2012 interfaith mission to Israel. The Association of Jewish Aging Services presented its Jewish Programming Award to Cedar Village for its 10-day trip with Otterbein Lebanon Senior Lifestyle Community. Cedar Village initiated the trip, the first time American retirement communities made an interfaith mission to Israel. Cedar Village is affiliated with the Jewish community; Otterbein with the United Methodist Church. The group included eight Cedar Village residents and five from Otterbein, ages 63 to 89, with staff from both retirement communities. They visited sites significant to Christianity and Judaism, including the Western Wall in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Cedar Village received the award in March at the AJAS conference in Los Angeles. At the conference, Carol Silver Elliott, Cedar Village’s CEO and president, and Sally Korkin, executive director of the Cedar Village Foundation, led a presentation about the interfaith mission. Carol also participated on a panel about elder abuse shelters; Cedar Village is only one of six facilities in the United States to have an elder abuse shelter. Also at the conference, Marcia Westcott, director of independent and assisted living, and Rachel Festenstein, director of marketing and community outreach, gave a presentation about creative marketing approaches for retirement communities. Carol was also elected chair of AJAS at the conference.

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