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

Morris Jacob Heider, age 77 of Boca Raton, Fla., passed away May 27 at Baptist Health Boca Raton Hospital. After graduating from The Ohio State University, Morris spent his early years as a metals dealer in Dayton; moving to Florida, he focused on recycling management with Hollywood Scrap Recycling. Most

The American Jewish Press Association announced June 3 at its annual conference in Nashville that The Dayton Jewish Observer is the recipient of a first-place 2024 Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Journalism. An article by Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss in September, Tipp City Board of Ed member regrets

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Associate Prof. of Psychology and Department Chair Michael Anes is a beloved member of the faculty at Wittenberg University in Springfield. So beloved that the graduating class of 2024 named him an honorary member — the second time he’s received such an honor

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