By Michele Alperin, JNS.org Worldwide performances of Fiddler on the Roof attest to its cultural power, as it evokes the yearning for tradition in a changing world. What is behind its staying power? According to Alisa Solomon, author of the new book, Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of

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By Adam Berman j. weekly SAN FRANCISCO — On the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 15, the holiday of Tu B’Shevat begins. It’s the time of year when my phone really starts to ring. During this one-day holiday, the de facto Jewish Earth Day, people want to hear what our tradition

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The Jewish Internet with Mark Mietkiewicz, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer Rabbis have long grappled with how to apply halacha (Jewish law) to modern situations. But sometimes questions come along that make our scholars scratch their heads. Here is a look at some Jewish digital conundrums — and possible

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Joan (Joni) Lustig, age 77 of Dayton, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Nov. 23. She was preceded in death by her husband of 45 years, Sanford (Sandy). She is survived by her sister, Phyllis Levin (Gearge) of Boynton Beach; her children, Steven Lustig (Nora), David Lustig (Dottie) and

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  By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Randy Glaser is the first to admit Jewish genetic testing is a frightening topic. “When you advertise a program about BRCA (hereditary breast and ovarian cancer), you’ll have full attendance a lot of times,” Glaser, chair of the national Jewish Genetic Disease

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Dayton

Ousted rabbi sues previous congregation in Pa. claiming interference with his contract at Dayton synagogue By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer In an Oct. 23 letter sent to members of Beth Jacob Congregation, President Dr. Herman Abromowitz wrote that he and the three other executive officers of the synagogue’s

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By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer With much fanfare, Haifa’s director-general arrived in Dayton in September 2009 and signed a memo of understanding with Montgomery County, Dayton Development Coalition and the City of Dayton to expand economic, business and research collaboration, including the opening of a Dayton region trade

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Dayton

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Rabbi Janice Garfunkel, who served as the rabbi of Temple Sholom in Springfield from 2004 to 2010, died on Oct. 26 in Cincinnati after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 54. Born in New Jersey, she and her family moved to

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From Nov. 29 through Feb. 23, lithographs of Marc Chagall’s Jerusalem Windows will be on exhibit in the South Gallery of the Dayton Art Institute, on loan from an anonymous local patron. In 1960, the Russian Jewish artist began the process of creating 12 stained glass windows for the Abbell

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By Rabbi Judith Chessin, Temple Beth Or I will never forget the insistence of my Classical Biblical Hebrew university professor that “the heroine of the book of Judith was not actually named Judith. This was merely an allusion to the fact that God used the agency of a mere woman

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