By Rabbi Haviva Horvitz Temple Beth Sholom Middletown With so many holidays on the Jewish calendar, even during the month of May, it might seem odd for me to write about Memorial Day. And yet, I hope that after reading this article, the importance of this day and the lesson

The Jewish Family Identity Forum Rituals in Jewish life series By Candace R. Kwiatek In the midst of my annual whirlwind cleaning spree in preparation for Passover, I managed to pause for a few moments to reminisce over my decades-old wedding album. The momentary calm of the indoor bedeken (veiling)

Look for The Adventures of Bark Mitzvah Boy each month in The Dayton Jewish Observer and at this site!

By Jack Forman San Diego Jewish World Joel Fendelman is a young independent film producer and director whose feature-length documentary film Needle Through Brick — about the development of Kung Fu —  recently won the Silver Palm award at the Mexico International Film Festival. In making David, his first feature

By Michael Fox Special To The Observer The late Avery Brundage, the autocratic president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 72, believed that sports and politics should be kept separate. At least that was one argument that supporters used to defend his decision to resume the 1972 Munich

By Michael Fox Special To The Observer The pioneering Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem was born in a shtetl in the middle of the 19th century. Even today his name is synonymous with the Old Country and a vanished way of life. Blame Fiddler on the Roof, which was adapted from

By Sheldon Kirshner The Canadian Jewish News The screwball comedy, a staple of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood, has finally reached the shores of Israel. Yohanan Weller’s Salsa Tel Aviv is frothy and light-hearted. It delves into a serious issue: the plight of illegal foreign workers in Israel. The foreigners in

In The Mix By Julie Wiener Forget those 50 rabbis Newsweek has been fussing over. Journalist/author Peter Beinart may well be the most famous American Jew these days, at least among the New York Times-New York Review of Books-New Yorker-reading intelligentsia. Lost in all the debate about his views on

The Jewish Internet With Mark Mietkiewicz Traditionally, fewer weddings are held between Passover and Shavuot, a period of semi-mourning. But after Shavuot, the Jewish wedding dam bursts. That means that right now, there are countless couples counting down the days as they plan their special ceremony. And that means choosing

With Charlotte Golden Can we kvell! Rachel Wynne, daughter of Ron and Mindi Wynne and granddaughter of Rochelle Wynne, will intern this summer as a technical apprentice at the Hangar Theater in Ithaca, N.Y. Rachel is an active freshman in the Theatre Arts Department at Wright State University. She is