By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, Hillel Academy of Greater Dayton will have a new home. In January, the Jewish day school signed a contract with Temple Beth Or in Washington Township to lease space in the Reform congregation’s building. Since 2010, Hillel

The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center will host the panel, Black-Jewish Reconciliation: (Re)Building the Bridge, 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 26, presented by the Jewish Community Relations Council. Panelists will be Wilberforce University Assoc. Prof. of History Godfrey Vincent and documentary filmmaker Avi Dresner, son of Civil Rights champion Rabbi

Shoham Cohen, who survived the Oct. 7, 2023 Nova massacre, will be the guest speaker for Chabad’s Community Shabbat Dinner, 5:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 6. For hours, Cohen was chased by terrorists and hid at the festival site. The cost is $30 adult, $10 child. Chabad is located at 2001

In the news series Jewish Family Education with Candace R. Kwiatek, The Dayton Jewish Observer The use of biotechnology and biomedical engineering for human benefit extends back at least 13,000 years, to physical evidence of rudimentary tooth cavity fillings made with a mixture of tar, hair, and plant fibers. Deliberate

Zoey Shiraz Lader will become a bat mitzvah on Shabbat, Feb. 28, as she reads from Parashat Tetzaveh (Ex. 27:20–30:10). Zoey is a sixth grader at Hillel Academy. She enjoys creative writing and spending time with friends, and she especially loves Shabbat—unplugging from the week, lighting candles, and sharing family

Look for Bark Mitzvah Boy each month in The Dayton Jewish Observer and at this site! To read the complete February 2026 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.

**Postponed due to weather** *To be rescheduled at a later date*   Jake Newsome, founder and president of the Pink Triangle Legacies Project, will be the guest speaker for University of Dayton’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day program, 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 27 at the Kennedy Union Boll Theater. A scholar

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Nearly every seat in Beth Boruk Temple’s 100-seat sanctuary was full: a rarity these days. It was the first bar mitzvah at the Richmond, Ind. congregation in more than a decade. The dozen or so congregants here in Wayne County just across the

Israeli journalist Lee Yaron spent months interviewing survivors and eyewitnesses. By Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTA Lee Yaron was in New York on Oct. 7, 2023 doing a fellowship at Columbia University, when news broke of an unimaginable attack on southern Israel by Hamas. Like many Israelis living abroad, she felt helpless

Opinion by Dan Sweeny The Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton and its Agencies care for those in need, strengthen Jewish life, and create connections among Jews — acting locally, in Israel, and around the world. There is no hiding it — our support for Israel is clear in the Jewish