With Rachel Haug Gilbert, The Dayton Jewish Observer

Jack Jacobs, son of Martin and Martha Moody Jacobs, was awarded his Eagle badge in an honor court held Jan. 11. Jack was a member of Troop 516 in Centerville. For his Eagle project, he oversaw the building of a bridge on a walking path at Hills and Dales Park in Kettering. Two of Jack’s brothers, Eli and Michael, came back to town to be with him for the celebration. Eli, also an Eagle Scout, escorted Jack to the ceremony. Also joining in the celebration were Jack’s grandparents, Maurine and Jack Scott, from Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Maurine presented the invocation to begin the evening. Jack is currently a freshman in the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University. He participates in the cycling club and just pledged to Theta Chi.

Camp Livingston in Bennington, Ind. recently hired Brett Schwartz as its new executive director. Brett comes to the Jewish overnight camp from Washington & Lee University Hillel in Virginia where he served as executive director for three years. He’s also served as youth director at Adath Israel in Cincinnati for three years.

In February, Levin Family Foundation Executive Director Karen Levin and Trustee Peter Wells observed open heart surgery on a 2-month-old Palestinian boy, at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel. The procedure was funded through Israel’s Save A Child’s Heart, a beneficiary of The Levin Family Foundation. SACH’s mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries. “This year, we funded an Ethiopian surgeon to receive training at the Holon hospital,” Karen, a former physician assistant, explained. “After this training, he will return to Ethiopia and perform pediatric heart surgeries in his country. The one that we funded was assisting on this surgery.”

On Feb. 23, former Daytonian Florence Katz was honored by the men’s club of Temple Beth Israel in Sarasota. Florence, 98, is the founder and first director of the temple’s choir. A volunteer with Jewish Family and Children’s Services in Sarasota, Florence is the recipient of the 2013 Florida Salute to Seniors Award from Home Instead Senior Care. A multitude of Daytonians and former Daytonians attended the tribute, including her daughter and son-in-law Judy Katz Vigder and Bob Vigder, granddaughters Karen Vigder Bokor and Cheryl Vigder Brause, and friends Marc and Ronni Loundy, Maxine Rubin and Renee Rubin Handel, Phil and Sis Office, Celia and Jeff Shulman, and Susan and Rand Mallitz. The event included a musical tribute from the temple’s choir.

Cantor Jerome B. Kopmar postponed his March 2 recital because of snow, but it’s now rescheduled it for Sunday, April 28 at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church at Fifth and Ludlow. The recital will feature works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Beethoven, Verdi, and selections in Yiddish and Hebrew. Assisting Cantor Kopmar will be pianist Bernadette O’Connor, mezzo Brigid McCabe, and soprano Julie Davis.

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To read the complete April 2014 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.