By Rabbi Leibel Agar, Beth Jacob Congregation As we enter the month of March, our thoughts begin to turn to Purim. Even though the Jewish leap year’s extra month of Adar pushes Purim into mid-March this year, schools and synagogues all over the Jewish world are making plans for Purim

By Rabbi Leibel Agar, Beth Jacob Congregation Spring has always been my favorite time of the year, even when I was a young child. I grew up in upstate New York and the winters were always pretty nasty-biting cold, with ice and snow more often than not. Even after moving

By Rabbi Leibel Agar, Beth Jacob Congregation To me, the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe) have always been a time of both introspection and celebration. The dual nature of the season seems to stir something inside us. It redirects our thinking, causing us to look inside our own souls with

By Rabbi Leibel Agar, Beth Jacob Congregation Miami Valley rabbis share thoughts on unprecedented U.S. antisemitism “Times, they are a-changin.” While some of us are not old enough to remember the actual release of that famous Bob Dylan song, I would venture most of us have heard it at one

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer Beth Jacob Congregation announced Oct. 11 that it has hired Rabbi Leibel Agar on a part-time basis, and that he and his wife, Anita, moved to Dayton earlier that week. A native of Albany, N.Y., Agar arrived here from Staten Island, N.Y. for a one-year