By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer ‘We feel you have our back’ “We had been in the restaurant — it was a Friday afternoon bar mitzvah. We work all together, and it was a nice party,” chef/restaurateur Uri Arnon told 150-plus community members after the Israeli dinner he prepared

    Daniel Kahn, son of Neil and Gina Kahn, has graduated from Sinclair College. He was awarded two Associate Degrees of Applied Science: one in automation and control technology with robotics, the other in electro-mechanical engineering technology. Daniel plans to use his degrees working for a manufacturing concern. Danielle

By Rabbi Cary Kozberg Temple Sholom, Springfield Jewish tradition teaches that Shavuot is z’man matan Torateynu—the time of the giving of our Torah. It commemorates the moment when, after bringing us out of Egypt to Sinai, God called us to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy people” and

Rabbi Samuel B. Press,who guided Beth Abraham Synagogue along Conservative Judaism’s path toward women’s full equality in worship, died April 29 at the age of 87. He served Beth Abraham, the Dayton area’s only Conservative Jewish congregation — then at Salem Avenue and Cornell Drive in Dayton View — from

By Stephen Silver, JTA When Mel Brooks was filming The Producers, he recalled an executive approaching him and saying, “The curly-haired guy—he’s funny looking. Fire him.” Brooks said he would fire the actor, but never intended to actually do it. And when The Producers came out, it became a classic

By Linda Buchwald, New York Jewish Week In the documentary Nathan-ism, Jewish artist Nathan Hilu is hardly ever without a Sharpie or crayon in his hand, drawing something from his memories. Hilu was a Lower East Side native who, as a U.S. soldier at 19, was assigned to guard Nazi

By PJ Grisar, Forward Enough time has passed, the Vatican decided in 2019, to examine the record of Pope Pius. The church unsealed papal archives long sought after by historians, and researchers have begun to paint a damning portrait. Pius XII, the head of the church through World War II,

Temple Israel will host its annual Jewish Cultural Festival from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday, June 9. This year’s food/drink vendors are Brock Masterson’s, Greek Street Food Truck, Graeter’s, Temple Israel’s bakery, Blue Bus Coffee Roasters, and The Dayton Beer Co. Entertainment includes The Flying Klezmerians, Mary “Mahira” Rogers

Look for The Adventures of Bark Mitzvah Boy each month in The Dayton Jewish Observer and at this site!     To read the complete June 2024 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.

Rabbi Dr. Samuel B. Press, age 87 of Dayton, passed away April 29. Rabbi Press was born in Middletown, Conn. in 1936 and raised in Springfield, Mass. He graduated from Yeshiva College with honors and received the Talmud Prize. After college, Rabbi Press served in the U.S. Air Force and