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

Joell Alter (J.J.), son of Betty Alter and the late Sid Alter, passed away June 3. After graduating The Ohio State University, he began his career in Dayton working for the Dayton Jewish Center. He then moved to Philadelphia, beginning his 20-plus years in the medical industry. He is survived

Part One: Becoming Americans By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Even a week before the Jewish Federation for Social Services completed its June 26, 1922 purchase of the house at 59 Green St. to serve as Dayton’s first Jewish Community Center, the Dayton Daily News wrote of the Jewish

Here is another update from Centerville resident Maryna Braginsky about her immediate family’s situation since Russia invaded Ukraine. “Well, everybody’s alive,” she says. Her brothers fight in Ukraine’s army. Now that the army receives weapons from European countries and the United States, they slowly see improvement. “But there are still

With Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Lela Klein, co-founder and co-executive director of Co-op Dayton, has been named to the fourth cohort of the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York Collective. Established in 2019, the collective is an incubator for “Jewish women changemakers using a Jewish and gender lens

By Rabbi Cary Kozberg, Temple Sholom, Springfield I admit it. Since I first saw it as a kid, I have been a devotee of the 1956 film The Ten Commandments. Even as I came to realize the extreme liberties it takes with the biblical account (inaccuracies), what continues to recommend

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer When Hofesh Shechter agreed to update Jerome Robbins’ iconic Fiddler on the Roof choreography for Bartlett Sher’s 2016 Broadway revival, the Israeli native knew his friends and colleagues were nervous for him. “I have to say, I normally suffer when I make work,

The Power of Stories Series Jewish Family Education With Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer Jerusalem’s tzadik. Early in the 20th century, the young Lithuanian rabbi, Aryeh Levin, arrived in Jerusalem. There he studied and taught Torah, visited the sick, comforted the bereaved, and visited Jewish dissidents imprisoned by

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer The JCC’s 22nd Film Fest returns to its pre-Covid format of screening films in person, with the post-Covid addition of making each film available for viewing at home. Festival organizers have also returned to presenting the series over the course of a month,

By Michael Fox, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer It boggles the mind that fiction films that humanize Palestinians are still controversial in some circles. Or perhaps not, because those who see and define them solely and simply as enemies of Israel are rattled by any depiction of Palestinians as