Look for The Adventures of Bark Mitzvah Boy each month in The Dayton Jewish Observer and at this site. To read the complete September 2014 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.

Recipes and Photos by Shannon Sarna MyJewishLearning.com When the Jewish New Year comes around, many people stress for weeks leading up to the holiday and break out their most complicated recipes to impress guests. But when I entertain around the holidays, I prefer to rely on a few go-to dishes

Leshon Ima – Mother Tongue with Dr.Rachel Zohar Dulin, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Jewish history, from biblical times to the present, is marked by struggle and by the yearning for peace. It is not surprising that shalom is a key word in our language and our tradition. The

The Jewish Internet with Mark Mietkiewicz, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer What, no sheep’s head on your Rosh Hashanah table? How about the head of a carp? Or some black-eyed peas or gourds or carrots? If you think that festive New Year’s foods begin and end with apples and

Theodora (Toby) Blume, of Trotwood, died of emphysema July 1 after nearly a lifetime of smoking cigarettes (the “low tar and nicotine” kind, because they claimed to be healthier). Mrs. Blume was a New York girl. After her childhood in the Bronx, she married and spent several decades in Schenectady.

By Miriam Karp, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Like many of us, Ava Kuperman thought human trafficking only referred to sex trafficking, and just to people far away. An English class assignment changed that. “We read about an Egyptian girl. When she was about my age, her family sold her,”

One researcher explains how to protect our daughters during Bat Mitzvah By Dr. Beth Cooper Benjamin ejewishphilanthropy.com Today, outside of Orthodoxy, girls and boys participate in identical B’nai Mitzvah rituals celebrated with equal enthusiasm by families and communities. Given that ritual Bar Mitzvah has existed since the Middle Ages while

By Claire Gaglione, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer For 20 Dayton-area immigrants, May 29 marked their first day as American citizens. In a naturalization ceremony presided over by Judge Thomas Rose in U.S. District Court at Dayton’s Federal Building, men and women from as far away as Chad, Russia, and

Myths and misconceptions The Jewish Family Identity Forum with Candace R. Kwiatek When you hear the word devil, Satan or Lucifer, what images come to mind? A devious serpent wrapped around a tree branch? A red-clad troll-like figure with horns and tail holding a pitchfork? A beast with the face

The Jewish Internet with Mark Mietkiewicz Have you ever attended a MOOC? A MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is an online course that is available without charge to an unlimited number of people (bit.ly/jmooc1). Although distance learning is not new, MOOCs are different because they allow (some) interactivity between student,