By Julie Wiener, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer What makes an interfaith (or, really, any) family decide to join or not join a synagogue? That’s the million-dollar question these days. And even though my family is part of this demographic — synagogue-affiliated interfaith family with two kids in Hebrew

In The Mix By Julie Wiener, The New York Jewish Week Remember the inreach-outreach debate that dominated much of American Jewish life communal discussions a decade ago? If you don’t, the basic gist was: Should the Jewish community focus on deepening the engagement of already committed and synagogue-affiliated Jews (and

By Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer Judy Grampp, a paramedic who works in the ER at Good Samaritan Hospital, lost her 31/2-year-old grandson, Joey Cross, to Tay-Sachs disease on Oct. 17, 2010. Grampp is now the driving force behind an educational panel for the community about Tay-Sachs and other

Non-Jews help bring music to temples on High Holy Days and Shabbat Non-Jews hired to perform liturgical music for liberal Jewish congregations is not unusual. But the stories of those who come to do it and why they continue are unique. By Renate Frydman, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

By Julie Wiener, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer A few weeks ago I attended a relatively small invitation-only gathering at the Upper West Side’s Congregation B’nai Jeshurun to discuss “Jewish identity, who is a Jew, membership in the Jewish community and outreach, in Israel and the Diaspora.” As you