By Marcy Oster, JTA A Huber Heights man was convicted Dec. 17 of a hate crime for attacking a man he thought was Jewish. Izmir Koch, 33, was found guilty by a judge for his part in the assault of a man smoking a cigarette outside a local restaurant on Feb. 4, 2017.

Edwin Harold Gessel, age 94 formerly of Dayton, died in Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Newton, Mass. on Nov. 14. He was born in Philadelphia on May 20, 1924 to Cecelia and Jacob Gessel. He is survived by children Ira Gessel (Abigail Bordeaux), Louise Gessel (Martin Larson), and Michael Gessel (Marcy Gessel); grandchildren

With Rachel Haug Gilbert, The Dayton Jewish Observer At the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Ohio conference in October, Hallie Greenfield was honored as the 2018 Outstanding Ohio Orientation and Mobility Specialist. In addition, she was awarded the biannual J. Kenneth Cozier Memorial

By Walter H. Rice Senior U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Ohio Walter H. Rice delivered this keynote address on Oct. 30 at the Dayton area Jewish community’s memorial for the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. I am neither a rabbi nor a faith-based leader; nor

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer More than 1,300 people from a mosaic of religious, cultural, and ethnic communities across the Miami Valley came together at Temple Israel on the evening of Oct. 30 to remember the 11 Jews murdered in a Pittsburgh synagogue by an antisemitic gunman three

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Two days after its 41st Annual Friendship Dinner, The National Conference For Community and Justice of Greater Dayton issued an apology “to our guests and especially members of the Jewish community in attendance for the prayer offered before dinner.” In her Oct. 31

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer “You know what I’ve always wanted to do?” I said to Motti Seligson and Chaim Landa of Chabad.org when I caught up with them at a conference this summer. “I’ve always wanted to attend the Chabad emissaries annual dinner.” “Let’s do it!” they

Folksbiene’s Yiddish Fiddler raises the roof in New York Theatre Review By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer When the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene opened its production of Fiddler On The Roof In Yiddish in July, few would have guessed it would be running five months later — and on

By Sonya Sanford, The Nosher The Japanese word okonomiyaki is derived from two words: okonomi, “how you like it,” and yaki, “grill.” Okonomiyaki is a customizable Japanese savory vegetable pancake. Like a latke, it gets cooked in oil in a fritter formation. Unlike a latke, it’s usually made into a

By Rabbi Ari Ballaban, Temple Beth Or Like many Jews, I have a little bit of family in Israel. The Israeli side of my family (cousins, aunts and uncles) moved there in the wake of the Holocaust, around the same time that the rest of my family who survived the