Adult b’nai mitzvah at Temple Israel

Seven b’nai mitzvah will be called to the Torah at Temple Israel’s Shabbat service, 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 15. Seated (L to R): Masada Warner, Felicia Barr, and Robin Kent. Standing: Marcia Cox, Megan Bullard, Sharon Lemmon, Dr. Elaine Knoll Gaglione, and b’nai mitzvah class instructor Rabbi Tina Sobo.

David Pierce is now president of Coolidge Wall Co., L.P.A., where he chairs its litigation and labor and employment departments. A shareholder and member of the firm’s executive committee, David has more than 30 years of experience as an attorney, representing clients in business and employment disputes in state and federal courts, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration. He’s a past president of the Dayton Bar Association, the Dayton Bar Foundation, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Dayton School of Law since 2004.

University of Dayton English Prof. Miriamne Krummel delivered the keynote lecture — Making Jewish Temporality: Past Imperfect, Present (Re)Imagined, and Future Unknown — at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, England in July.

Maureen Lynch has received Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio’s inaugural Jan Rudd Advocacy Award, recognizing Maureen’s decades of leadership and service advancing women’s rights, civil liberties, and community care throughout the Miami Valley.

Among the American Jewish Archives’ 2026-27 Marcus Center Fellows are University of Cincinnati Associate Prof. and Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Chair in Judaic Studies Jenny Caplan and Earlham College Jewish Studies Chair and Assistant Prof. Rebecca Wartell. Jenny’s area of research for the fellowship is Jewish Characters in the DC and Marvel Universe; Rebecca’s is Conversas in Contrast: Reading Women in Mexican Inquisition Sources. The American Jewish Archives is a division of Hebrew Union College, located on its Cincinnati campus.

At the Ohio High School Athletic Association Track and Field State Championships in June, Oakwood High School’s Mila Gelbart won the Division III pole vault championship with a jump of 12’10”. Her team also won the Girls Division III State Championship. At regionals, Mila jumped 13′, an Oakwood High School record, which won her a gold before the state meet. Mila is the daughter of Dr. Michael and Dr. Wincha Gelbart.

In June, the 60-year-old Miriam Rosenthal Foundation for the Arts came under the auspices of The Dayton Foundation. Miriam Rosenthal was an impresario, master fundraiser, and publicist. She managed the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra from 1935 until her death in 1965. She also served as the first executive secretary of the Jewish Federation’s annual campaign when it was established in 1934, and raised funds for Memorial Hall, the University of Dayton, Wright State University, Beth Abraham Synagogue, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, and Kettering, Good Samaritan, St. Elizabeth’s, and Miami Valley hospitals. Community members established the fund in her memory. “By joining The Dayton Foundation, we are strengthening our ability to support Dayton’s local arts and culture while honoring Miriam Rosenthal’s extraordinary legacy,” noted Richard McCauley, chairman of the Miriam Rosenthal Foundation board.

Local attorney Tamara Winkler has started a podcast on Spotify, Parsha to Purpose — A Weekly Devar, a five-minute-or-so discussion of each week’s Torah portion. She describes it as “an inspirational chizuk (strengthening) boost, a reminder that Hashem loves you exactly the way you are and created you with a mission nobody else can accomplish.”

Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.

To read the complete August 2026 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.