By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Hillel Academy, the Dayton area’s Jewish day school, began its year with 13 new students from 11 families for a total of 38 students enrolled in grades kindergarten through six. When Hillel’s board hired Co-Principals Dan and Dr. Kathy Mecoli to reboot the

Cast off the old to put on the new By Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz, Temple Israel I’d like to share one of my favorite short stories with you. It is based on the custom that when one Jewish person sees another Jewish person with something new, such as a new piece

  Look for The Adventures of Bark Mitzvah Boy each month in The Observer and at this site

The Jewish Internet with Mark Mietkiewicz Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Passover has matzah. Purim has hamantashen. Even Shavuot has blintzes. But what about Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah? No special foods may spring to mind. The seventh and final day of Sukkot is called Hoshana Rabbah, which comes

Jesuit university inspired Chicago native to enter the rabbinate By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer When Rabbi Joshua Ginsberg was an undergraduate at Loyola University in Chicago, a priest who taught his early modern history class asked him what he was doing Jewishly. Up to that point, he says,

By Rabbi Levi Simon Chabad of Greater Dayton A story is told about Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760), the founder of the Chasidic movement. One day as Rabbi Yisrael was walking through the forest with his students, he pointed out a leaf that had just blown off of a

Dayton Jewish Observer Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss received two first-place awards from the American Jewish Press Association at its annual conference. AJPA announced the winners of its 2013 Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism in  Seattle on June 26. Weiss received the first-place award for Excellence in

A look at the Holy Book: A new series The Jewish Family Identity Forum with Candace R. Kwiatek The Dayton Jewish Observer In May 2012, U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski proposed eliminating the first four of the Ten Commandments when displayed on government property in response to an ACLU lawsuit

With Charlotte Golden, The Dayton Jewish Observer Rob Buerki, son of Bob and Leslie Buerki and grandson of the late Lester and Pearl Stein and Gail and Robert Buerki, graduated from the Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. Rob will begin a residency in neurology at the University of Chicago.

By Alisa Thomas, Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Children in grades K to six saw a new face this summer at the DJCC’s Camp Shalom and learned more about life in the Jewish state along the way. Shahaf Zur joined the camp staff as a shaliach (the Hebrew word for