By Rabbi Judy Chessin, Temple Beth Or, Washington Township, Ohio Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Who doesn’t fondly recall those kiddie costume pageants and carnivals in celebration of the festival of Purim? Growing up, my religious school classmates and I relished dressing up as Queen Esther or King Ahashverus,

By Ethel G. Hofman, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Some say that hamantashen — the triangular, filled cookies we eat on Purim — remind us of the Purim villain Haman’s hat. Others say they call to mind his pockets or even his ears, symbolic of ancient times when it

With Charlotte Golden, The Dayton Jewish Observer Jennifer Lapine Aga has accepted a position as the foreign in-house attorney with Hitachi. This position will require her to travel to various countries to handle acquisitions, mergers, and contract negotiations. She and her husband, Hide, will move back to Japan when her

The Jewish Internet By Mark Mietkiewicz, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Purim is almost here and if you just can’t wait, you can carry a Megillah wherever you go — or at least a noisemaker or two — if you’ve got an iPhone (or iPod touch or iPad). A

Helen Goldman, age 93, passed away Feb. 4 peacefully at her home surrounded by her family. Mrs. Goldman was born to Rose and Tony Patterson in Dayton, where she would later marry Robert Goldman and raise a family. They moved to Phoenix in 1983 and were delighted to have their

Look for The Adventures of Bark Mitzvah boy each month in The Dayton Jewish Observer and at this site!

One of the great actors of the last century said that to play Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice gave him joy; it was one of the highest points of his career. Shylock, the hated Jewish moneylender, demands the contractual payment of a pound of flesh from Antonio when

By Ted Merwin, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer He’s been called the epitome of evil, a Dracula-like character who battens on human flesh. Yet others see him as a victim of horrible injustice, deserving of compassion and pity. Whether you love him or hate him, the Jewish moneylender at

Shakespeare digs deep in his rhetorical toolbox to construct the perfect anti-hero By Miriamne Krummel, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer The Theatre Department at Wright State University is staging William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (circa 1596) this month. Should this production be a topic of discussion for Dayton’s

By Joseph A. Lieberman, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer I first heard the term ghetto in a Jewish context back in the ‘60s, in a novel about the Warsaw Ghetto. For some reason, it never occurred to me that its origin was Italian, and more specifically, Venetian. I shouldn’t