Bernice Berkenfield, age 96 of Kettering, passed away on Feb. 25 at The Suites at Walnut Creek, Kettering. “Barney” was born June 28, 1915 in Pittsburgh, Pa. to the late Benjamin and Rhea (Klineman) Steinberg. She was preceded in death by her husband of 40 years, Morton R. Dworken of

By Michael Fox Special To The Observer The pioneering Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem was born in a shtetl in the middle of the 19th century. Even today his name is synonymous with the Old Country and a vanished way of life. Blame Fiddler on the Roof, which was adapted from

By Rabbi Haviva Horvitz Temple Beth Sholom Middletown With so many holidays on the Jewish calendar, even during the month of May, it might seem odd for me to write about Memorial Day. And yet, I hope that after reading this article, the importance of this day and the lesson

In The Mix By Julie Wiener Forget those 50 rabbis Newsweek has been fussing over. Journalist/author Peter Beinart may well be the most famous American Jew these days, at least among the New York Times-New York Review of Books-New Yorker-reading intelligentsia. Lost in all the debate about his views on

By Jennie Szink, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer When Ira Segalewitz attended a Yiddish conference last spring, he didn’t expect to be enveloped by songs about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed more than 145 workers in New York in 1911. He didn’t think he’d be so connected

  By Jennie Szink, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Well into her adult life, Karin Hirschkatz had only seen one picture of her father before he was in his 20s. She had rarely talked to her elder family members about their escape from Germany during the Nazi era. All

The Jewish Family Identity Forum Rituals in Jewish life series By Candace R. Kwiatek In the midst of my annual whirlwind cleaning spree in preparation for Passover, I managed to pause for a few moments to reminisce over my decades-old wedding album. The momentary calm of the indoor bedeken (veiling)

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

By Michael Fox Special To The Observer The late Avery Brundage, the autocratic president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 72, believed that sports and politics should be kept separate. At least that was one argument that supporters used to defend his decision to resume the 1972 Munich

By Sheldon Kirshner The Canadian Jewish News The screwball comedy, a staple of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood, has finally reached the shores of Israel. Yohanan Weller’s Salsa Tel Aviv is frothy and light-hearted. It delves into a serious issue: the plight of illegal foreign workers in Israel. The foreigners in