Look for The Adventures of Bark Mitzvah Boy each month in The Dayton Jewish Observer and at this site!     To read the complete December 2022 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.

Michael Fishbein, age 69, died peacefully in his sleep Nov. 9 at home in Franklin, Mass. Michael was born and grew up in Queens, N.Y. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School, Bernard Baruch College of the City University of New York, and received his Ph.D. from Clark University in Worcester,

This afternoon, the Oxford, Ohio Police Department released a statement that it has charged three Miami University students — Santiago Arenas, 19; Kevin J. Ladriere, 20; and Eli W. Lauger, 20 — with vandalism, a felony, for overturning MU Hillel’s sukkah on Oct. 15. The statement added that Oxford police

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer The call came Wednesday, Sept. 21, four days before the beginning of Rosh Hashanah. “Can you cross on Thursday?” Beth Abraham Synagogue President Scott Liberman asked Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer. “We’re packing up right now,” the rabbi said. He and his wife, Elyssa

An interview with Mathew Klickstein By Marshall Weiss, The Observer If you’re working on your Chanukah gift-giving list, all-around pop culture vulture Mathew Klickstein might suggest adding two books: See You at San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and The Triumph of Geek Culture, published by Fantagraphics in

Surprising spiritual advice from Lou Reed’s American-Jewish songbook By Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer, Beth Abraham Synagogue “You can’t depend on your family you can’t depend on your friends You can’t depend on a beginning you can’t depend on an end” — Lou Reed, Busload of Faith (New York, 1989) Life

The Power of Stories Series Jewish Family Education with Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer At this year’s Rosh Hashanah party, soldiers at one Israeli army base were excited to learn there would be a raffle. As hundreds of soldiers each contributed 50 shekels and put their names into

The photography and written narratives of 31 Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the United States, Hungary, and Israel ranging in ages from high school students to older adults are on exhibit at Dayton’s International Peace Museum, Nov. 3 through Dec. 17. Entitled Coming-of-Age: Photographs and Stories from Teens to Lifelong

Jonah Sandler, founder and CEO of Scene75 Entertainment, has received Wright State University’s Honorary Alumni Award. Jonah has served on the Dean’s Corporate Advisory Board of the Raj Soin College of Business. He also serves as chair of the Student Experience Committee, and has helped the college develop several programs,

Stories of Jewish Dayton by Dayton Jewish Observer Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss has received Religion News Association’s 2022 second-place award for Excellence in Nonfiction Religion Books. An RNA Awards competition judge commented on the book, “In telling the stories of Jewish Dayton, Ohio, Marshall Weiss twists the old canard