The Dayton Jewish Observer, August 2021

How to Moss involve virtualGrace guests in a Meals ‘hybrid’ or book Bat Mitzvah 21 David designs After in Bar comic form p.p.22

THE DAYTON Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

August 2021 Av/Elul 5781 Vol. 25, No. 12

OBSERVER

Celebrating

25 Years

The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly • daytonjewishobserver.org

Digging into our lost history

Israeli tech companies leverage UD

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NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID DAYTON, OHIO PERMIT NO. 59

Rally in D.C. against antisemitism

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Ron Kampeas/JTA

Highlights of new Pew study

Address Service Requested

Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton 525 Versailles Drive Dayton, OH 45459

15

Grace Yagel

DAYTON University of Dayton Prof. of Law Erica Goldberg joined the rally against antisemitism outside the west front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., July 11. Billed as No Fear: A Rally in Solidarity with the Jewish People, presenting sponsors included the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, B’nai B’rith International, Hadassah, Jewish Democratic Council of America, Jewish Federations of North America, Orthodox Union, Republican Jewish Coalition, Union for Reform Judaism, and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

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Jewish Family Services Senior Director Tara Feiner leads a tzedakah-oriented art project with younger campers at the JCC’s Camp Shalom, held on the campus of Temple Beth Or in Washington Township. It was part of JFS’ latest Mitzvah Mission project. Older campers made macaroni and cheese casseroles for St. Vincent de Paul, and several campers brought donations for Hannah’s Treasure Chest. Older campers learned about mitzvot (commandments), tzedakah (righteous giving), and gemilut chasidim

(acts of kindness), and factors that contribute to families and individuals needing help. Younger campers learned about how to create communities of kindness. JFS treated all the campers to Graeter’s.

Along with the campers’ contributions, grownups in the Dayton Jewish community dropped off macaroni and cheese casseroles for St. Vincent de Paul and items for Hannah’s Treasure Chest at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education in Centerville on Sunday, June 27.

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PAGE 2

Congregants with Temple Anshe Emeth in Piqua cleaned up the inside and outside of the building to prepare for the return of in-person services for the High Holy Days. Shown here in the sanctuary of their building, which dates to 1923, are (L to R): Jason Schmidt and Mike Feinstein in the doorway, Renni Livingston seated in a pew, Marcia Stayer, Anshe Emeth President Steve Shuchat, and Judy Feinstein.

On the cover: The book cover for Stories of Jewish Dayton, published by The History Press in July. Pictured are (L to R) Rabbi David Lefkowitz, Josephine Schwarz, and Rabbi Samuel Burick.

Calendar.............................20 Family Education......................22

Obituaries...............................23 O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 8

Re l i g i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 9 Wo r l d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

DAYTON Dayton Metro Library

Digging into our lost history

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Stories of Jewish Dayton recovers long-buried episodes of life in the Miami Valley

A view of Dayton’s South Park neighborhood — home to Eastern European Jews in the early 20th century — looking toward NCR and Oakwood

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer tales I had heard about Jewish Dayton in order to On July 12, The History Press published my find out which were true, which were false, and second book, Stories of Jewish Dayton. It’s a thank- which were somewhere in between. you to the Jewish community of my adoptive This was how I stumbled onto long-forgotten home. Stories of Jewish Dayton honors 25 years of episodes that kept pulling me back to find out Jewish journalism here in the form of The Dayton more. After Jewish Community of Dayton came Jewish Observer, which the Jewish Federation has out, the Jewish Federation offered me the opentrusted to my care since I was hired to create portunity to manage the Dayton Jewish Geneaa Jewish newspaper for the Miami logical Society as a project of the Valley in January 1996. It’s been Federation.

‘I stumbled quite a ride.

I proposed to Jewish FederaIn short order, I fell in love with onto longtion CEO Cathy Gardner and to Dayton, its Jewish community, the the Jewish Genealogy Society’s forgotten history of both, and how they interthen-president Molly Blumer that, twine. Dayton has been very good episodes that along with running the society’s to me and my family. operations, we could expand it to kept pulling Stories of Jewish Dayton grew out encompass the historical research of my first book, Jewish Community me back to and writing I love so much. That of Dayton (Arcadia, 2018), a visual the beginning of Miami Valley find out more.’ was history of Jewish life here, with an Jewish Genealogy and History and emphasis on what set Jewish Dayour well-followed Facebook page, ton apart: for example, Arthur Welsh, the firstGrowing Up Jewish In Miami Valley, Ohio. known Jewish airplane pilot in America; the first To continue with this work is a joy. Eight of National Workshop on Catholic-Jewish Relations, the 12 chapters in Stories of Jewish Dayton came held here in 1971; and opera star Jan Peerce givout of the research I’ve pursued since 2018. All of ing the final performance of his career with the the chapters have been published in some form acclaimed Beth Abraham Youth Chorale in 1982. in the pages of The Observer. I’ve significantly exFor that book, I composed a list of all the tall Continued on next page

Bark Mitzvah Boy

You can’t live in the past, but it’s nice to visit.

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Have you ever noticed that two people rarely if ever remember the same event the same exact way? Is it because certain aspects of an experience resonate more for some, and other aspects are more important for others? Individuals never truly share the Marshall same exact experience even when present at Weiss the same event. We all process experiences differently. When I interview people for news stories or about the history of our community, this plays out time and again. According to the Talmud, in Midrash Exodus Rabbah 5:9, “Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘When God’s voice came forth at Mt. Sinai, it divided itself into 70 human languages, so that the whole world might understand it. All at Mt. Sinai, young and old, women, children, and infants heard according to their ability to understand.’” Also in the Talmud, in Numbers Rabbah 13:15-16, we learn the rabbis say, “There are 70 faces (facets) to the Torah,” which shows us the numerous ways we may understand and interpret Torah. With students returning to school later this month, we know the best teachers take to heart the message in Proverbs 22:6, “Train a child according to his way; even when he grows old, he will not turn away from it.”

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PAGE 3

DAYTON

l a z a M Tov! To Marshall Weiss, on the publication of

Stories of Jewish Dayton The AJA is proud to have provided images for this informative publication!

From your friends at THE JACOB RADER MARCUS CENTER OF THE

AMERICAN JEWISH ARCHIVES DR. GARY P. ZOLA, Executive Director

Dayton Metro Library

THE DAYTON

OBSERVER daytonjewishobserver.org Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss MWeiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Contributors Candace R. Kwiatek Rabbi Tina Sobo Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, plhc69@gmail.com Proofreader Rachel Haug Gilbert

The Oakwood And Dayton View Trolley

Lost history

Continued from previous page panded and updated them with more details and my latest finds for Stories of Jewish Dayton.

Several people weave their way in and out of multiple chapters of the new book. One who is present almost throughout is Rabbi David Lefkowitz, the greatest leader of Dayton’s Jewish community of his time, also one of the most important leaders in DayTemple Emanu-El Archives, Dallas ton’s general community in those days. Over his 20 years in Dayton, the rabbi had his hand in virtually every cause to improve the quality of life for all in the Gem City. In Stories of Jewish Dayton, he almost takes on the role of a familiar guide.

Those who read the book will notice that two chapters in particular comprise half its length. Both Temple Israel’s Rabbi are about racial hatred and David Lefkowitz appears throughout race relations: the first is from the beginning of the Stories of Jewish Dayton 20th century, the second from the century’s end.

Much of this history has been forgotten or misunderstood — or possibly never learned at all. Now, as communities across the United States attempt to reckon with and dismantle racism once again, maybe this time we can learn from what went wrong in the past.

In several ways, the challenges our Jewish community faces today are not so different from those we stared down a century ago.

Even amid fearful setbacks, I believe the American dream lives. For those in America who haven’t yet fully tasted the American dream, it is our responsibility to help that happen to the best of our ability, as Jews and as Americans.

Dayton Metro Library

The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives was established in 1947 in order to collect, preserve, and make available for research, materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere including data of a political, economic, social, cultural, and religious nature.

Billing Sheila Myers, SMyers@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Observer Advisor Martin Gottlieb Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Dr. Heath Gilbert President Bruce Feldman Immediate Past Pres.

Mary Rita Weissman Pres. Elect/VP, Personnel/Foundation Chair Beverly Louis Secretary Neil Friedman Treasurer Dan Sweeny VP, Resource Development Cathy Gardner CEO The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 25, No. 12. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Acceptance of advertising neither endorses advertisers nor guarantees kashrut.

The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by providing a forum and resource for Jewish community interests.

Goals • To encourage affiliation, involvement and communication.

• To provide announcements, news, opinions and analysis of local, national and international activities and issues affecting Jews and the Jewish community.

• To build community across institutional, organizational and denominational lines.

• To advance causes important to the strength of our Jewish community including support of Federation agencies, its annual campaign, synagogue affiliation, Jewish education and participation in Jewish and general community affairs.

• To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life.

The Dayton Jewish Observer

AmericanJewishArchives.org 3101 Clifton Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45220 A domestic worker with a child on Dayton’s North Robert Boulevard, where affluent German Jews lived before the Great Flood of 1913 devastated the area.

PAGE 4

Please recycle this newspaper.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

DAYTON

Israeli tech companies leverage UD’s MBA program for U.S. market studies

University of Dayton

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Tal Fishbhin, Lehavot

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Teaneck, N.J. because Gevasol insurance brokerage, served as

By Marshall Weiss acquired a company there, said capstone advisor for Lehavot’s The Observer that since Gevasol doesn’t have MBA team. She said the MBA Two Israeli tech companies marketing capabilities, the capprogram has attracted “every looking to expand their reach stone project looked like a good top talent of organizations in the United States turned to way to understand what’s gowho are looking to continue to students with the University grow their experience and their ing on in the United States, look of Dayton’s MBA capstone toward the future of the market, credentials.” program for comprehensive “So many of these folks have and come up with a strategy. market studies this year.

“We got some good insights,” The studies, for Lehavot and regular jobs, full-time jobs, he said. “We understood that are professionals in their own Gevasol, marked the first time the ventilators in the hospital space,” she added. “We’ve got UD’s MBA capstone projects are going to be less desirable a good, strong team of folks, have engaged companies outbut the ones that are more side the United States as clients. some who are bent more toIt came together through the wards finance, some more bent mobile — ambulances, helicopters and so on — this desire and efforts of Tel Aviv-based Hadas towards operations.” need will continue to rise.”

What Fishbhin received, Bar-Or, representative of the Brandon Wandell, operations according to Singleton, was Dayton Region-Israel Trade manager of Dana Incorporated, a business plan he can Alliance; Erik Collins, a drive chain manufacturer in execute.

Montgomery County’s Maumee, Ohio, completed his Yuval Makover, director of commuMBA with the Gevasol capstone CEO of Gevasol USA, nity and economic project, which also ran virtually, said he connected with development; Scott DRITA’s Bar-Or through from January through March.

MacDonald, director He said as part of Gevasol’s Gevasol’s director of of UD’s MBA program; market study, his team looked operations in Emek and Stan R. Dyck, Hama’ayanot, located in at what their competitors were UD’s MBA capstone doing so Gevasol could better Israel’s north. manager.

UD MBA understand what changes they Founded in the NethTal Fishbhin, sales Dir. Scott would have to make erlands, Gevasol and marketing manMacDonald to be successful in the fluid and motion ager of Lehavot — a United States. fire protection systems provider control industrial group “I was the customer also has R&D and based at Lehavot Habashan, contact throughout the manufacturing facilities a kibbutz in northern Israel entire project,” Wanin Switzerland, Israel, — said he had first attempted dell said, “so I would India, and the United to contact companies in the have weekly calls with States.

United States to expand into Yuval.”

Gevasol makes blowthe market here and met with Wandell said all the er technology compomuch difficulty. Eventually, he feedback his team renents for ventilators, a UD MBA did identify a company to disCapstone ceived was positive. tribute his system and along the market that exploded Advisor Anne “Working with an inwith the Covid panway, met with Bar-Or in Israel Singleton ternational organization demic. who suggested he use UD’s Bar-Or encouraged Makover is something that I had done MBA program for his market previously, so understanding to consider a market study research. differences in business practices Six MBA students worked on through UD’s MBA capstone and go-to-market strategies in Lehavot’s project virtually, from project. different regions of the world “We invested a lot in develJanuary through March. was pretty helpful,” he said. oping new (ventilator-related) “It provided us with a wide “It’s a wonderful opportuprojects and trying to penetrate picture of the market, of the nity for the students to look at suppression market, firefighting the market,” Makover said, a complex business problem market, the main competitors,” “and we did, but we wanted and understand how to solve to understand what’s going to Fishbhin said. “They analyzed come next. Is it going to bounce it, giving the company some all the business models and hopefully valuable advice or back? Will it still be there, now ensured us that our plan was strategic opportunities to be that the market is flooded with good moving forward.” successful.” ventilators?”

Anne Singleton, director of Lisa Shockley, a lecturer in Makover, who was based in growth and a shareholder with Continued on Page 23 Atlanta and is now moving to McGohan Brabender health

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

PAGE 5

DAYTON

Jacob returns to lead JCC

Jewish Federation CEO Cathy Gardner announced July 7 that Marc Jacob has been hired as senior director of the Jewish Community Center.

Jacob previously served as director of Dayton’s JCC from Marc Jacob 2006 to 2008, where he began working as teen and day camp director in 2001.

A native of London, England, Jacob has served as associate executive director of the JCC of Northern Virginia and most recently as chief operating officer of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Jacob begins his work with Dayton’s JCC — based at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education in Centerville — in mid-August. He takes over from Jane Hochstein, who retires in August.

Eric Brockman/DAI

Sandy Mendelson dies at 77

Sandy Mendelson, owner of the iconic, quirky liquidation outlet around which the Dayton Dragons franchise, upscale bars, restaurants, and housing now flourish, died July 3, five days shy of turning 78.

One of Downtown Dayton’s foremost cheerleaders, Mendelson was also one of the original investors — along with Lee Schear and the late Allan Rinzler — who made it possible for Beth Abraham Synagogue to move from Salem Avenue to Sugar Camp in Oakwood in 2008.

Sandy Mendelson’s father, Harry Mendelson, started Mendelson’s Electronics on Linden Avenue in 1960. In 1981, Sandy Mendelson and his siblings Bruce Mendelson and Marlene Pinsky purchased 340 E. First St., one of the old Delco Products buildings, from Virginia Kettering and transformed it into Dayton Art Institute Lead Educator Casey Goldman at DAI’s Lange Family Mendelson’s Liquidation Outlet, Experiencenter, which reopened July 9 after 16 months of closure. Goldman, who which Sandy Mendelson owned curated the revamped exhibition, leads DAI’s book club programs in August. and operated in later years until he Goldman will present a free Zoom sold the property to a ColumbusDayton Art Institute Lead EducaSandy Mendelson version of the program at noon, tor Casey Goldman will host two based developer in 2020.

Language of Art book club programs Thursday, Aug. 19.

Mendelson’s Liquidation Outlet’s original concept Piercy’s liturgical poems are — one in person and one via Zoom was to echo the factory outlet stores in Reading, Pa. But — on themes from The Art of Blessing recited at Shabbat services, on Jewish its inventory would become legendary for its seemthe Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme by holy days, and at Jewish lifecycle ingly infinite expanse and esoterica: from baby clothes events. The Art of Blessing the Day Marge Piercy. buyouts to retail fixtures to computer parts to cereal.

The in-person interactive tour and is organized in sections for family, Last spring, in the middle of the Covid pandemic, marriage, repair of the world, history Mendelson gave away his inventory of personal prodiscussion will be held at noon, Saturday, Aug. 14 at the DAI, and is free and interpretation, prayer, and the tective equipment to local police, firefighters, and first year. with admission to the museum. The responders. He told the Dayton Daily News, “Dayton Register for either program at day- has been great to the Mendelson family and I want to DAI is located at 456 Belmonte Park tonartinstitute.org/bookclub.

North, Dayton. give back.”

— Marshall Weiss

DAI presents Jewishthemed book club programs

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

THE WORLD

On Capitol Hill, rally-goers agree antisemitism is un-American.

But when Israel is involved, it gets complicated.

Assisted Living Memory Care at Bethany Village Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, who was stabbed in Boston, speaks to a rally against antisemitism at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., July 11

Story & Photos By Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — Several thousand people spent a sweltering afternoon in front of the U.S. Capitol at a rally July 11 that denounced antisemitism as un-American and made the case that Jewish identity and support for Israel are inextricable.

Those were the unifying messages of the No Fear rally, which drew about 2,000 people, but there were differences among the speakers and in the crowd on how precisely Israel figures in the fight against antisemitism.

Some of the most searing messages came from people who have suffered antisemitic attacks in recent years. A recurring theme among these speakers was that they never expected to suffer such attacks in the United States.

Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, who sustained stab wounds in a July 1 attack in Boston, appeared with his arm still in a sling, and in evident pain.

“I was born in the Soviet Union in the city of St. Petersburg,” Noginski said in Hebrew, having explained that he was still too pained to speak fluently in English. “I remember how even as a young child, I experienced terrible antisemitism. Never in my darkest dreams did I imagine that I would feel the same way here in the United States, the land of freedom and endless possibilities.”

The crowd shouted “hero!” as Noginski spoke. He had held the attacker at bay outside a Chabad facility where about a hundred children were in summer camp.

Another speaker hailed as a hero was Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who described saying the Viduy, the Jewish prayer before death, as a gunman shot 11 worshipers dead in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October 2018. Myers was the first to alert the police of the attack. “‘We hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created equal, that they are all endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,’” Myers said, quoting the Declaration of Independence. “To be an antisemite means you do not accept that pact of being an American.”

The rally drew a broad array of sponsor organizations, covering the religious spectrum and many right-wing and central pro-Israel mainstream Jewish organizations.

Notably absent were representatives of more left-wing groups that were asked to join but opted out of attending because some of the sponsoring groups adhere to a definition of antisemitism that encompasses harsh criticism of Israel, including the movement to boycott, divest and sanction Israel.

Groups like J Street and Americans for Peace Now oppose BDS, but object to defining it as antisemitic.

Melissa Landa, who leads the Alliance for Israel, a relatively new group that has as a central tenet that BDS is antisemitic, set the tone at the outset of the event. She had launched plans for the rally after antisemitism spiked during the Israel-Gaza conflict in May. Continued on Page Eight

A recurring theme among these speakers was that they never expected to suffer such attacks in the U.S.

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PAGE 7

THE WORLD

D.C. rally

Continued from Page Seven She spoke of the “shared promise for our children, that they will be free to live as proud Jews, and exercise their religious liberties granted by the United States Constitution, free to wear their yarmulkes and Magen Davids (Stars of David) and free to speak their love of Israel without being attacked in the streets of New York or Los Angeles.”

Landa, like other speakers, named lawmakers on the left or the right that have in recent months incurred accusations of antisemitism. Mentions of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat whose criticism of Israel has been seen by Jewish groups as crossing into antisemitism, notably garnered much louder boos than those of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who has drawn fire for peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories and for likening coronavirus restrictions to Nazi laws.

Noa Tishby, an Israeli actor, appeared with conservative pundit Meghan McCain and Alma Hernandez, a Democratic state lawmaker in Arizona.

Each suggested that anti-Zionism was equivalent to antisemitism.

“So much of the antisemitism of today simply attributes all the evil tropes, lies and libels that have been used for centuries to justify the worst horrors

that dominated my field against Jewish people to the of vision, the fear that our Jewish state,” said Tishby, community was divided who is well known in Israel beyond repair. That fear and recently published a is our enemy’s dream. But book titled Israel: A Simple looking out at all of you Guide to the Most Misundertoday if it comes clear that stood Country on Earth. “As instead of dividing us, you will hear today, this hathe enemies of the Jewish tred is being used to attack people, whether from the our Jewish communities. It right or the left at home or is being used to impose a abroad, they have instead heavy cost on anyone who united us.” identifies as Jewish or even, Wiesel appeared to nod God forbid, Zionist.” to the concerns that some McCain has become an liberal groups had — that outspoken defender of Isracriticism of Israel and supel on the talk show The View port for the Palestinians — which she announced would be conflated with earlier in July that she is antisemitism at the rally. leaving — and elsewhere.

“We can disagree even “I’m Meghan McCain passionately, without beand I’m a Zionist because, ing divided. We can even apparently, this is now disagree on Israel,” he said. something that is controMeghan McCain speaks at the rally as Israeli actress Noa Tishby and “ We must not tolerate Arizona State Rep. Alma Hernandez look on, July 11 versial to say,” she said at calls for an end to the Jewthe rally. ish state of Israel, through a one-state Union and Reform and Conservative Elisha Wiesel, the son of the late Hosolution that once again leaves the Jews movements, signed on as sponsors, but locaust diarist and Nobel Peace Lauredefenseless. We must also not tolerfew of their representatives spoke. ate Elie Wiesel, had joined the planning ate denigration or hatred towards the Wiesel said he feared division but of the rally to bring in mainstream and aspiration for dignity and self-determiwas soothed by the unity he saw. liberal-leaning groups after Landa hit a nation of our Palestinian cousins. If we “The sages teach that it was our wall in bringing them in. hate, we will not win.” own hatred for each other that caused Major mainstream groups like the Just minutes after his own speech, the destruction of the first and second Anti-Defamation League, the AmeriWiesel jumped in to intervene and help temples,” he said. “And in the weeks can Jewish Committee and B’nai B’rith out a fellow speaker — Erika Morileading up to this rally, it was this fear International, as well as the Orthodox

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

DL_5x12.25_DJOad.pdf

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7/12/21

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THE WORLD tsugu, a deputy assistant to President Biden, who was representing the White House, and was booed. A cluster of supporters of former President Donald Trump shouted during her speech, particularly when she mentioned that President Joe Biden decided to run after the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville. Trump equivocated in condemning the marchers, which has become a sore point among his followers.

“Stolen election!” one man shouted.

“You pay money to terrorists!” said another. One held up a placard saying “Screw Kristen Clarke.” Clarke, who leads the civil rights division at the Department of Justice, came under fire during her confirmation hearings for having hosted an antisemitic speaker when at an event when she was a student at Harvard decades ago.

Moritsugu appeared flustered and others in the crowd shushed the booers.

After she finished speaking, Wiesel stepped in and said, to applause, “I’d like everybody to thank President Biden for the way that the White House stood with Israel during the Gaza war.”

Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, the director of the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness — the public advocacy wing of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church — invoked the Black Jewish alliance of the civil rights era, to cheers.

“I am here today to express my support for the Jewish community in the face of antisemitism, in the face of the shooting deaths and attempted murders in synagogues, stores and homes,” he said. “Now is a time of solidarity. Now there’s a time of unity.”

A couple from Kensington, Md., Bruce and Malka Kutnick, were unnerved by the presence of the far Jewish right at the rally. Malka Kutnick said she had been reassured by Wiesel’s claim before the rally that both people who don’t care about Israel’s existence and Kahanists — followers of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane — would not be welcome. She held a placard that read “No to occupation, No to antisemitism.”

“I was just accosted by someone in a Kahane shirt,” she said. “He said I should stand with the Netorei Karta.” A small cluster of that fringe group, which is both haredi Orthodox and anti-Zionist, gathered on a green across the street.

Marie Berlin-Fischler, a 28-year-old Washington, D.C. preschool teacher, stood with a poster reading, “My fellow progressives, you missed a spot: Stop antisemitism.”

She said she felt untethered from the progressive movement, which she otherwise supports.

“The issue is that in this country as of late, I don’t feel as though anyone like me can exist in a progressive space anymore without checking my intersectionality at the door,” she said. “When I am asked to be part of myself as I show up to these spaces, the gap is closing.

There’s nowhere for people who want to be American, the way I do.”

Survey: Quarter of U.S. Jews say Israel ‘is an apartheid state’

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Activists protest Israel’s military actions against Palestinians outside the Israeli Embassy, Washington, D.C., May 18

By Ron Kampeas, JTA A survey of U.S. Jewish voters taken after the Israel-Gaza conflict finds that a sizable minority believe some of the harshest criticisms of Israel, including that it is committing genocide and apartheid.

Among respondents to the survey commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prominent Jewish Democrats, 34 percent agreed that “Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States,” 25 percent agreed that “Israel is an apartheid state” and 22 percent agreed that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.”

Among younger voters included in the survey released July 13, agreement with those statements was higher, though still in the minority. The poll found that 9 percent of voters agreed with the statement, “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.” But among voters under 40, that proportion was 20 percent.

A third of younger voters agreed that Israel is committing genocide, a position that even human rights lawyers who are critical of Israel say is extreme; more than a third agreed that Israel is an apartheid state.

The findings are striking as mainstream pro-Israel organizations struggle to make the case that Israel is central to Jewish identity and that criticism of it often veers into antisemitism. They suggest that many American Jews agree with statements by some of Israel’s harshest critics on the left made during the Gaza-Israel conflict in May, including in some cases by a handful of Democratic members of Congress who were then criticized by their colleagues.

The survey of American Jewish political sentiment was wide-ranging, finding wide approval for President Joe Continued on Page 10

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THE WORLD

Survey

Continued from Page Nine Biden and deep concern about Republican efforts in Georgia and Florida to tighten access to the ballot booth. When it came to measuring criticism of Israel, the poll first asked respondents whether they thought each of the four critical statements was antisemitic; those who said a statement was not antisemitic were then asked if they agreed with it.

Of the four statements, only in one case, did a majority — 67 percent — agree that it was antisemitic to say, “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.” For the other three questions, more respondents disagreed that the statement was antisemitic than agreed.

The survey of 800 voters, conducted by GBAO Strategies from June 28 to July 1 online and via texts, has an overall margin of error of 3.5 percentage points; the replies of those under 40 have a margin of error of 6 percentage points. (The margin of error for the Orthodox subgroup was 11.6 percentage points.)

While the proportion of respondents agreeing with critical statements about Israel was higher than many pro-Israel advocates have characterized, at least one finding is in line with that of another recent survey.

Asked if they felt emotionally attached to Israel, 62 percent of respondents to the Jewish Electorate Institute survey said they did and 38 percent said they did not, numbers that matched those in the Pew study of 4,700 American Jews released in May. The new survey presents the latest challenge as the new Israeli government endeavors to repair ties with a U.S. Jewish community that to a degree became alienated from Israel during the 12 years Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister.

Surveys have found that Israeli and American Jews know little about one another.

One statement in the survey, echoing a claim by former President Donald Trump, that “Jews who vote Democratic are disloyal to Israel” was also put forward to respondents to assess whether it is antisemitic; mainstream Jewish organizations have suggested that it is.

However, while a vast majority

of respondents, 77 percent, disagreed with the statement, only 26 percent said they believed it is antisemitic.

Asked about the two-state solution, 61 percent of survey respondents said it was their preferred outcome. But 19 percent said they preferred annexation of the West Bank that would deny Palestinians the right to vote in national elections, while 20 percent said they preferred “establishing one state that is neither Jewish nor Palestinian” and encompassing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Gaza is currently controlled by the Hamas terrorist group.

The Democratic lawmakers who lashed out at Israel during the conflict, including Reps.

Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have also raised the prospect of cutting aid to Israel.

While a substantial majority of survey respondents, 71 percent, said it was “important” to provide financial assistance to Israel, a smaller majority, 58 percent, said it would be appropriate to restrict aid to Israel so it could not spend U.S. money on settlements.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

August JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

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Connect with us! Check out our events. For more information, check out our calendar at jewishdayton.org.

Tuesday, August 10 @ 7PM — Antisemitism on College Campuses Wednesday, August 18 @ 6PM — Jewish Dayton Annual Meeting

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SEPTEMBER 19: A virtual book event presented by the JCC and the JCRC: Suzanne Nossel, Dare to Speak OCTOBER 5 - CABS KICKOFF: Wayne Federman, The History of Stand-up: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle

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August JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Legacies, Tributes,

Tuesday, August 10 Community Conversation Antisemitism on College Campuses: Student Voices, Parent Concerns, Hillel Support 7 – 8PM, via Zoom No cost, RSVP required.

How is antisemitism impacting our college students in the classroom, among their friend groups, student organizations, walking around campus? Where do they go to feel safe? What concerns do our parents have when they know their students may be in vulnerable situations?

This JCRC Community Conversation will provide a space for students to have their voices heard, response from parents, and representatives from Hillel to provide information of support on campus.

& Memorials FEDERATION

DOROTHY B. MOYER YOUNG LEADERSHIP FUND IN YAHRZEIT MEMORY OF › Dorothy B. Moyer › Hyman Dennis The Richard Moyer Family LINDA RUCHMAN FUND IN MEMORY OF › Robert Hochman Judy and Marshall Ruchman PJ LIBRARY IN HONOR OF › The birth of Zeke Simon Kress, the grandson of Marcia and Ed Kress Marla and Steve Harlan Lynn Foster OBSERVER ENDOWMENT FUND IN MEMORY OF › A Lovely friend, Arthur Timmins Rosalyn and Sharon Mosrow JCC

DAY TO N

JCRC Jewish Community Relations Council

Visit /events for more information and to register!

A Biss'l Mamaloshen Krom

| KROM | Noun

A store, shop.

Expression using krom:

Cheyn un mazl koyft men nisht in krom.

One cannot buy favor or luck in a store.

PAGE 12

JANE HOCHSTEIN JCC PROGRAM FUND IN HONOR OF › Jane Hochstein Marti and Marty Jacobs Joan and Peter Wells Karen Jaffe Marcy Paul Beverly Louis Cheryl and Steven Hecht Wendy Lipp Ruthe Meadow Gayle and Irvin Moscowitz Cathy Gardner Judy Schwartzman Judy and Alan Chesen Harriet and Donald Klass Candy Kwiatek Marcia Cox Janice and Bob Kohn Neil Friedman

Beth Adelman Eva Clair Bernard Rabinowitz Rachel and Heath Gilbert Gary Hochstein Bonnie Beaman Rice Edie Pequignot Dena Briskin Stephen Renas Jan Maharam Karen Steiger Esther and DeNeal Feldman Lynn Foster JOAN & PETER WELLS CHILDREN & YOUTH FUND IN HONOR OF › Elaine and Joe Bettman's Anniversary › Joe Bettman's birthday › Cheryl Carne's Retirement Joan and Peter Wells › Special Birthday of Joan Wells Beverly Louis CAROLE RABINOWITZ CAMP FUND IN HONOR OF › Avi Gilbert's Bar Mitzvah Cathy Gardner JFS

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES IN HONOR OF › Susan and Marshall Kapp's 50th Anniversary Marsha and Stephen Goldberg

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

August JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

2021 ANNUAL MEETING

for the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton & its Agencies

Wednesday, August 18 @ 6PM For more information, contact Alisa Thomas at athomas@jfgd.net

Tune in for our Virtual Annual Meeting and be inspired by all the wonderful things our agencies are doing to support the Jewish Dayton community.

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Congratulations to our 2021 Award Winners Allan Wasserman Young Leadership Award • Joseph D. Saks Robert A. Shapiro Award • Marni Flagel Past Presidents Award • Mark Gordon JCC Volunteer of the Year Award • Neil Friedman JCRC Volunteer of the Year Award • Bonnie Beaman Rice JFS Volunteer of the Year Award • Melinda Doner

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

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August JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

R ET IREMENT PA R TY for Cheryl & Jane Sunday, August 29 11:30AM - 2 PM @ Polen Farm (5099 Bigger Rd, Dayton, OH 45440) No cost. Picnic lunch will be included, RSVP required.

Join us at beautiful Polen Farm for an afternoon of fun as we celebrate the retirement of Cheryl Carne and Jane Hochstein from the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Enjoy a delicious vegetarian lunch, take a walk down memory lane, and hear what Cheryl and Jane each have planned for the future.

This event is free.

Special thanks to our planning committee - Beverly Louis and Melissa Sweeny!

RSVP by August 23 online at jewishdayton.org. Questions? Contact Karen Steiger at ksteiger@jfgd.net, or by calling 937-610-1555.

PAGE 14

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

THE WORLD Grace Yagel

10 key conclusions from the new Pew survey of American Jews

By Ben Sales, JTA For example, the survey delves Meet America’s Jews: They’re older, more educated, much deeper into antisemitism, as richer and less religious, on average, than the rest of well as racial and ethnic diversity the country. among American Jews.

They’re overwhelmingly White, though Jews under If this year is anything like 30 are more diverse. Most of them care about Israel, 2013, the response will be reams though one in 10 support the movement to boycott written about what this Pew study it. Most of their young adults are marrying non-Jews, means. Meanwhile, its authors though the growing Orthodox community is not. have cautioned not to make direct Those are some of the many findings of a study comparisons between the data in the two surveys religion.” on Jewish Americans published in May by the Pew because of differences in methodology.

The 7.5 million figure is up from the 6.7 million Research Center. It’s the second edition of a landmark But here are the basics: The American Jewish comcounted in 2013, which included some 5.3 million 2013 study that changed the American Jewish convermunity is growing and increasingly diverse. It is adults and 1.3 million children. And the 2021 figure is a sation. largely educated, affluent and leans Democratic. Most bit larger than the Jewish population of Israel, which is The 2013 survey measured not of its young people are marrying non- around 6.9 million. Jews make up about 2.5 percent of The future of only the size and makeup of AmeriJews, though many of those families the American population. They are slightly older than can Jewry, but quantified what those are still raising their kids Jewish.

Americans overall, with a median age of 49 compared American Jewry Jews believed (or didn’t), how they Orthodox Jewry is growing and the to the overall median American age of 46. appears to be one Conservative movement is shrinking. practiced their religion (or didn’t), whom they married, how they raised of polarization.

The more traditionally observant Jews 2. Most young Jews are either Orthodox or their children and how they felt about are, the more likely they are to conunaffiliated.

The numbers of Israel. sume Jewish culture.

The future of American Jewry appears to be one of The “Pew study,” as it came to Orthodox and More than 4,700 Jews took part in polarization. The numbers of Orthodox and unaffilibe known in Jewish organizational the survey, which has a margin of erated Jews are growing. The Conservative and Reform unaffiliated Jews circles, reflected the current state of ror of 3 percent, with larger margins of movements, which once claimed the bulk of the are growing.

American Judaism and influenced error for subsets.

American Jewish community, are shrinking. what Jewish nonprofits did and how Questions pertaining to Orthodox Overall, the raw percentages belonging to each they spent their money. Jewish leaders and pundits respondents, for example, had a margin of error of 8.8 denomination haven’t changed much since 2013. But marshaled its data to buttress their arguments and percent. Here are some of the highlights. religious affiliation by age shows a changing commuadvance their vision of what the Jewish community 1. There are 7.5 million American Jews. nity. should look like.

The number includes approximately 5.8 million Among Jews ages 65 and older, 69 percent are The new edition asks many of the same questions, adults and 1.8 million children. About 4.2 million either Conservative or Reform, while just 3 percent and adds a few new ones based on the events and of the adults identify their religion as Jewish, while are Orthodox. But among adults under 30, 37 percent conversation of the past few years. the rest of the adults are what Pew calls “Jews of no Continued on Page 16

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THE WORLD

Pew survey

small sample sizes, the researchers emphasize that it’s unwise to compare results between the two surveys.

The 2021 study found that in the past decade, 61 percent of Jews married non-Jewish partners. And nearly three-quarters of non-Orthodox Jews who married since 2010 wed non-Jews. Intermarriage is quite rare among Orthodox Jews.

In total, 42 percent of married Jews have a spouse who is not Jewish.

Continued from Page 15 are Conservative and Reform and 17 percent are Orthodox. Just 8 percent of those young adults are Conservative, as opposed to 25 percent of Jews over 65.

And 41 percent of Jews under 30 are unaffiliated, compared to 22 percent over 65.

3. Some 15 percent of young Jewish adults are not White.

The survey adds to a discussion that the Jewish community has been having in recent years: What proportion of American Jews are Jews of color, and have Jews of color been undercounted as a result of institutional bias? That conversation grew more intense during and after the protests over racial injustice that began last year.

The survey did not ask about the term “Jews of color” specifically because of debates over its definition and researchers were concerned that respondents may not be familiar with it. But the survey aimed to measure the racial and ethnic diversity of American Jewry.

It found that the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community identifies primarily as White — 92 percent — but that young adults are significantly more diverse. Some 85 percent of adults under 30 identify primarily as White, while 7 percent identify as Hispanic, 2 percent as Black, 6 percent as multiracial, and less than 1 percent as Asian or Pacific Islander. By contrast, 97 percent of Jews over 65 identify primarily as White.

And while most American Jews were born in the U.S. and identify as Ashkenazi (with roots primarily in Eastern Europe), those numbers drop among young adults as well. Among those under 30, 28 percent are either not Ashkenazi, identify with at least one racial minority, or are the children of immigrants from countries with a largely nonwhite population.

Overall, two-thirds of Jews identify as Ashkenazi, while only 3 percent identify as Sephardic, or following the traditional religious Jewish customs

PAGE 16

of Spain, according to Pew. Another 1 percent identify as Mizrahi, a term primarily used in Israel that refers to Jews with roots in the Middle East and North Africa.

4. Some 10 percent of Jews support the boycott of Israel — but half of young adults haven’t heard much about it.

As in 2013, the survey asked American Jews how they feel about Israel, and the results provide fodder for Israel’s advocates as well as its critics. On one hand, more than 80 percent of Jews say that caring about Israel is an important or essential part of being Jewish. Nearly half of American Jews have been to Israel, and a quarter have been there more than once.

But the survey also found that the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, or BDS, has made inroads into the American Jewish community. One in 10 American Jews — and a slightly higher proportion of young adults — said they either “strongly support” or “somewhat support” the BDS movement. Some 43 percent of Jews oppose BDS, and another 43 percent haven’t heard much about it.

The survey did not define BDS — due

to debates over its scope and aims — but instead asked people how much they had heard about it. Only those who had heard “some” or “a lot” were then asked if they supported or opposed the movement.

In that vein, the survey found that college campuses appear to be far from the hotbeds of BDS support that some have warned. While Jewish organizations have fretted about BDS activism on campus for over a decade, the survey found that nearly half of Jewish adults under 30 had heard little or nothing about the boycott movement.

5. Most young Jews are still intermarrying.

For organizations that are invested in “Jewish continuity” (or, in plain English, urging Jews to marry Jews and have Jewish babies), the 2013 Pew study was a red flag. It found that the majority of Jews who married after 2000 wed nonJews. When it came to non-Orthodox Jews, the numbers were even higher.

The same is true of the 2021 study, though researchers say the numbers haven’t shown meaningful growth. In other words, plenty of young Jews are still intermarrying, but the number isn’t much bigger than it was in 2013.

Due to changes in methodology and

6. But among young adult children of intermarriage, nearly half are still Jewish.

Whether intermarried couples are raising their kids Jewish has been a perennial concern of Jewish communal planners and institutions worried about the vitality of the Jewish future.

The survey found that virtually all in-married couples are raising their children Jewish. In addition, most intermarried couples (57 percent) are raising their kids Jewish, with about half of that number saying they are raising their children to be Jewish by religion.

Another 12 percent of intermarried couples said their children were being raised “partly Jewish by religion,” meaning that overall, the survey found that more than two-thirds of children of intermarriages are being raised with some Jewish identity.

Among adult children of intermarriage, the study found that younger adults are more likely to be Jewish than older adults. Only 21 percent of adults over 50 with one Jewish parent identify as Jewish, as opposed to 47 percent of those under 50.

The finding led the researchers to conclude that “the share of the offspring of intermarriages who choose to be Jewish in adulthood seems to be rising.”

Across the survey’s respondents, preventing intermarriage is not a high priority. For every age group, the respondents said it was more important that their grandchildren share their political convictions than that they marry a Jewish partner.

7. Most Jews have experienced antisemitism in the past year.

Like a range of other recent surveys, this one asked Jews about antisemitism — something that was largely absent from the 2013 study. This one said that in the wake of antisemitic events from the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally in 2017 to the deadly attacks on Jews in Pittsburgh in 2018 and Poway, Calif. in

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

THE WORLD 2019, antisemitism appears to be a larger part of American Jewish life now than it was at that time.

Like other studies, the 2021 Pew survey found that most Jews believe antisemitism in America has increased in recent years and said they feel less safe now than they once did. Five percent of American Jews said they have stayed away from a Jewish event or observance because of safety concerns.

Over the past 12 months, the survey found, 51 percent of Jews have experienced antisemitism — either by seeing anti-Jewish graffiti, being harassed online, being physically attacked or through another form of discrimination.

15 percent of Jews said observing Jewish law is essential to being Jewish, and 33 percent said being part of a Jewish community was essential.

Among Orthodox respondents, though, the numbers were different: 83 percent called observing Jewish law essential, and 69 percent said the same about being part of a Jewish community.

Slightly over half of Orthodox Jews said remembering the Holocaust was essential to being Jewish.

Holocaust remembrance was also a lower priority among young adults — although it was still high. Sixty-one percent of respondents under 30 said it was essential to being Jewish.

8. Jews are wealthier and more 10. Covid hit Jews earlier than most educated than Americans overall.

Americans.

In line with other recent studies, this The survey was mainly conducted one found that American Jews are signif- prior to the pandemic, so its findings were not intended to reflect changes icantly more educated than Americans in practice or attitudes that were inoverall, and wealthier. The majority of Jews have a college troduced during Seventy-six percent or postgraduate it. But the report degree, as opposed included details of Jews believe to fewer than 30 from follow-up percent of Ameriinterviews that remembering the something cans overall.

Holocaust is essential quantify that is conventional Jews also have wisdom for many higher salaries. The to being Jewish. A Jews: Relative to majority of Jewsimilar number said Americans as a ish adults have a household income the same of leading an whole, Jews were hit early in the of more than pandemic. $100,000, including ethical and moral life.

Jewish areas 23 percent above of Westchester County, in suburban $200,000. Only 19 percent of Americans overall have a household income above New York City, were an early Covid-19 hotspot, and haredi Orthodox communi$100,000. Jews also report being satisfied with their lives and communities at ties in Brooklyn suffered painful losses higher rates than Americans as a whole. from the disease last spring. Pew’s numOrthodox Jews appear to have a bers bear this out: In August 2020, 10 tougher time financially. Among Ortho- percent of “Jews by religion” had tested positive for either Covid or antibodies, dox Jews, 45 percent reported having compared to 3 percent of Americans trouble paying bills over the past year, overall. And 57 percent of Jews knew compared to just 26 percent of Jews someone who was hospitalized or died overall. from Covid, as opposed to 39 percent of Americans overall.

9. More than three-quarters of But by February 2021, as the coronaAmerican Jews say remembering the Holocaust is essential to being Jewish. virus circulated widely in the United States, gaps between non-Jews and Jews While the survey highlighted differences across American Jewry, the survey had narrowed. “Jews by religion” were still about twice as likely to have tested found that the vast majority of Jews, positive as Americans overall — 23 76 percent, believe remembering the Holocaust is essential to being Jewish. A percent to 11 percent. But among both similar number said the same of leading groups, a little more than two-thirds knew someone who was hospitalized or an ethical and moral life.

At the other end of the spectrum, just died from Covid.

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PAGE 17

OPINION

We remain safe in the land that has been promised to us.

Reflections on a year in Israel

from the news we heard. I walked down the same road which I excitedly had walked up when I arrived

By Rikki Mangel for Lag B’Omer and then hours later, ran down as a Since August 2020, I have been in Israel for a gap scene of terror surrounded me. year in a women’s college in Jerusalem. I expected I thought back to the eerie feeling I had as thouchallenges to come up with the Covid-19 restrictions, sands of Jews walked down a road trying to get on a but I never imagined that I would go through all the bus, and the chaos there was as many were still trying events that have taken place this year. I always felt safe to find their family. knowing I was in Israel, in the land of the Jews and the Each time I saw another ambulance or stretcher land where God’s protection is clearly felt. pass by, I was reminded that people not far from me On May 10, I ran into a bomb shelter as sirens went had just lost their lives. Each of these 45 Jewish lives off around Jerusalem. At that moment, I didn't know holds so much value; each one a role that can never be how the conflict would continue or what it would replaced. mean for me.

As days went by, we were still in a state of confuWhile watching the news throughout the next week sion and shock, not processing how a night that was and a half, I saw how close to home this all was. meant to be pure joy had turned into despair.

Hamas terrorists were shooting rockets at Israel As I think about these events, I see sadness, hurt, indiscriminately with no regard for innocent civilians, and injustice. It would be easy to sit in sorrow and neither Jews nor the Arab citizens of Israel. dejection and feel lost by the craziness of the world Rockets were hitting cities throughout Israel, some around us. just minutes away from me.

But I can also see that God is there for us and gives Besides the threat from Hamas, local Arabs were us a purpose to fulfill. I see how God protects the Jews physically attacking Jews in places that I go to evand gives us the strength to continue on. eryday: some just a short walk from my dorm. These That 4,000-plus rockets can be fired at Israel and events resulted in many Jews injured and even killed. barely make a dent. Yes, each life lost is one too many, Meanwhile, the world’s reaction was to hold probut miraculously, the numbers are few. We remain safe Rikki Mangel in Hezekiah’s Tunnel below the City of David, Hamas and Palestinian riots. in the land that has been promised to us.

Jerusalem During this time, I was scared by the fact that the My visit to Yad Vashem helped solidify my thoughts world could reach such a point. Jews started feeling Nazis attempt to rid the world of Jews. I saw how on the Meron tragedy and the current events in Israel. unsafe in places that we never would’ve imagined the world believed the false media and stood silent I am proud that my grandfather is a survivor of such a thing could happen. while the Jews were tortured and killed, how the Nazi the Holocaust and went on to establish generations Along with all the lies spread in the media, many soldiers were ruthless: treating people with cruelty to come of God-fearing Jews. My grandfather always Americans have been openly antisemitic and criticized beyond belief and no sympathy. tells us stories with such belief that God is there every a country protecting itself and its citizens.

Their goal was to strip the Jews of their humanity. step of the way. He is proof that only God can decide Social media was full of posts condemning and atI saw how generations of Jewish communities were what will be, and that one can always trust Him. tacking Israel. Celebrities were postripped apart and how the survivors I realized just how real everything was, and with ing false narratives to their millions had to start life anew. this message in mind, I can look at the recent events I of followers and supporting the As I walked through the museum, have gone through and know how to continue.

Palestinians. Yet they failed to menmy head kept going back to the curI know that though I may not understand God’s tion the terrorist attacks that Hamas rent situation in Israel and throughways or why the tragedy at Meron happened, I do committed or the innocent Israeli out the world. It pained me to see know that I am still here now, and there is more I can lives upended and at risk. how more than 75 years later, the do to make this world a better place. I know that God It angered me that people could world can be in such a similar place. gives each of us a mission, and it is up to us to live a blame Israel for being oppressors, Even after Nazi Germany was life of meaning. committing ethnic cleansing, and defeated and the Jews liberated from These events all show me that when tragedy hits, stealing land when, in reality, the labor and death camps, we are still in the Jewish Nation stands in unity, and we do all that’s opposite is true. Using these fabricated claims as a a position where so many in the world wish to see us in our power to add more light to this world. justification for the targeting of Jewish lives is wrong. gone.

A week later, I was thinking about these facts when Going to Yad Vashem clarified for me the imporA Dayton native, Rikki Mangel completed her year in Israel I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance tance of pointing out what was happening in Israel. on June 16. This summer, she’s working for Camp Gan Izzy museum in Israel.

The same mistakes of the world standing by and false at the Chabad Jewish Center of South Metro Denver. In I saw the propaganda that the Nazis made up and media spreading are being repeated. the fall, she’ll join the staff of the Early Learning Center at spread to the world to convince them that Jews were a Again they are trying to kick us out, and this time Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh. danger to humanity. from a country that rightfully belongs to the Jewish David Cohen/Flash90 I saw how many countries stood by and just let the Nation.

As I was processing the current situation, I thought Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90 back to another recent tragedy that I, and the Jewish people as a whole, have gone through: what took place in Meron, Israel on April 30.

My friends and I were there to participate in the holy celebration, an experience that was highly uplifting and inspirational. The joy and excitement were evident until the event took a turn for the worst.

Just a day after the Holocaust museum, I went back to Meron for the first time since being there on Lag B’Omer. I stood in the exact spot that 45 Jews tragically lost their lives in a stampede. I saw the place where I was standing while everything was going on but still Israeli rescue forces and police at the scene after a mass didn’t comprehend exactly what happened. I rememfatality during the celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer on Mt. Meron, in northern Israel, April 30 Rockets launched toward Israel from the Gaza Strip, May 12 bered the confusion of the moment and the sadness

I know that God gives each of us a mission, and it is up to us to live a life of meaning.

So, what do you think?

PAGE 18

Send letters (350 words max.) to The Dayton Jewish Observer, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

RELIGION

CONGREGATIONS Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative Interim Rabbi Melissa Crespy Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming Andrea Raizen Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

BethAbrahamDayton.org Beth Jacob Congregation Traditional Rabbi Leibel Agar Sundays & Wednesdays, 7:09 p.m. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

7020 N. Main St., Dayton.

937-274-2149. BethJacobCong. org Temple Anshe Emeth Reform 320 Caldwell St., Piqua.

Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, AnsheEmeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org Temple Beth Or Reform Rabbi Judy Chessin Asst. Rabbi/Educator Ben Azriel 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com Temple Beth Sholom Reform Rabbi Haviva Horvitz 610 Gladys Dr., Middletown.

513-422-8313. templebethsholom.net Temple Israel Reform Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fridays, 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.

In-person worship Sats. Aug. 7 & 21, 11 a.m. Registration required.

130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

937-496-0050. tidayton.org Temple Sholom Reform Rabbi Cary Kozberg 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com

ADDITIONAL SERVICES Chabad of Greater Dayton Rabbi Nochum Mangel Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon, Teen & Young Adult Prog.

Dir. Rabbi Elchonon Chaikin.

Beginner educational service Saturdays 9:30 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com Yellow Springs Havurah Independent Antioch College Rockford Chapel.

Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.

Beyond the letter of the law

By Rabbi Tina Sobo, Temple Israel Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach was a very poor but well-respected Torah scholar who worked diligently in the flax trade — notable for its difficult labor.

His students, concerned at how strenuous the work was for ben Shetach, and wishing to learn the most from their teacher, encouraged him to retire.

They decided to jointly purchase a donkey for their teacher, so that

whatever they want now. As the world begins to reopen, the importance of going beyond the letter of the law is ringing more important to me now.

We have vulnerable people in our communities who cannot, due to health or age, be vaccinated (or the vaccine will not take full effect).

I am feeling particularly protective of the youngest in our community who are not eligible for the vaccine.

As we shift our thinking of this pandemic from a public health problem to an individual’s responsibility for their own health in decision making, I urge you to weigh the risk he would not need to work so hard of your behavior to others beyond the to make a living. They happened to letter of the law. purchase this donkey from a gentile Shimon ben Shetach’s students, merchant, with the understanding who wanted to keep the gem, were that all that was with the donkey well within Jewish law for their time (saddle, reins, etc.) was purchased regarding purchasing items and lost with the donkey. articles.

The students returned to their One might be well teacher and proudly within the law now to presented him with the enter a grocery store donkey. As Shimon ben without a mask, to have Shetach removed the a birthday party with saddle from the donkey, multiple households, or he noticed a gem caught do any number of other in its ear. things.

The students rejoiced, Yet we also see exambut ben Shetach inples of people and places structed them to return going beyond the letter the gem. of the law: continuing They responded with to wear a mask despite the halachic (Jewish legal) being fully vaccinated to ruling that they had pur- Rabbi Tina Sobo protect the more vulnerchased the donkey “asable around them. is” and just because the seller didn’t I have been particularly surprised realize that meant with the gem, they at how many stores are still waiving were in their right to keep it. delivery or curbside pickup fees to Still, Shimon instructed them to encourage contactless purchases. return it, thus exemplifying that one We are antsy to get back to normal should act beyond the letter of the or our new normal (I’m not sure the law (embellished from Yerushalmi former exists anymore), but the virus 8a). is still among us. The mutations leave Throughout the Covid pandemic, our religious institutions have largely a lot unknown.

And we, as a Jewish people, know gone beyond the letter of the law of what it is like to be a vulnerable popthe CDC and governmental requirements, especially where legal restric- ulation, and use that shared history as the justification for the obligation to tions could not apply to a religious protect the vulnerable in our midst. institution.

What does it look like to act like I’ve heard people say that they are vaccinated, so they can do essentially Shimon ben Shetach today?

‘We owe it to our families to take care of them.’

— Gayle & Irvin Moscowitz with their parents, Milton & Harriet Moscowitz & Edward & Frieda Weisbrod

Perspectives

August • Av/Elul Shabbat Candle Lightings August 6: 8:26 p.m.

August 13: 8:17 p.m.

August 20: 8:07 p.m.

August 27: 7:57 p.m.

B

efore a vacation to New Orleans, Irvin Moscowitz researched Ancestry.com to find the cemetery where his great-grandparents were buried. “I have pictures and heard stories about my family, but standing by their graves from 1840 made me feel like I was right there with them. That’s when I knew we needed to maintain our cemeteries for future generations.”

Closer to home, Irvin and his wife, Gayle, visit their parents and his grandparents at Beth Jacob’s cemetery in Dayton. They contributed to the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton campaign to “guarantee that we can take care of the people who took care of us.”

As a Kohen, Irvin kept clear of cemeteries for a long time. “I’ve made peace with the ways in which I could get close to the people that mean the most to me,” he said. “I figured out a way not to trample on my heritage but to fulfill my need to be respectful and honor my family. When I walk through a well-kept cemetery, I get a feeling that I’m actually close to someone who’s no longer here. I’ll put a stone on the headstone to let them know I’m there. It always brings back a lot of warm memories.”

Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton is an endowment organization created to maintain our three Jewish cemeteries in perpetuity. Please join us as we strive to maintain the sanctity, care and integrity of these sacred burial grounds.

Preserving our Past Ensuring Our Future

Torah Portions August 7: Re’eh (Deut. 11:26-16:17) August 14: Shoftim (Deut. 16:18-21:9) August 21: Ki Tetze (Deut. 21:10-25:19) August 28: Ki Tavo (Deut. 26:1-29:8)

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

daytonjewishcemeteries.org Rgolden105@aol.com 525 Versailles Drive • Centerville, OH 45459

PAGE 19

CALENDAR

MAZEL TOV! An unexpected, pleasant Patty Caruso was elected surprise found its way to the board of Ohio to Renate Frydman in Jewish Communities June: a painting by her during its annual meeting, grandfather, the late Max held virtually, July 1.

May. The founder and OJC is the statewide director of the Dayton government advocacy, Holocaust Resource public affairs, and Center, Renate received an community relations email through the center voice of Ohio’s eight from a woman who said Jewish Federations. Patty she had purchased an serves as public policy oil painting at an art and chair of Dayton’s Jewish gift store in Middletown Renate Frydman was reunited with this painting Community Relations bearing Max May’s Council. Patty took over signature. The woman had had treated him. On the back of the Dayton slot on the OJC Googled the name Max May, the painting was a handwritten board from longtime OJC found the connection to board member and OJC Past message with the year 1954: Renate, and thought Renate President Rick Carne.

“Please accept this oil painting might like to have the painting. as a token of appreciation for Also during OJC’s annual Renate says she immediately your help during my recent illmeeting, Dayton JCRC Director recognized the painting in the Marcy Paul honored Jewish ness and the skillful operation email attachment. “It was my Federation of Greater Dayton you performed. Hoping this grandfather’s work. I had seen picture will find a place in your External Relations Director it at my grandparents’ apartCheryl Carne on her retirement home. I remain yours, respectment in Dayton so many years after 19 years of service to the fully, Max May.” ago.”

Renate met the woman, Mar- Federation.

Her grandfather had given cia, who took the 67-year-old the painting to a doctor who painting out of the trunk of her Retired Dayton Daily News sportswriter (and occasional car. As a thank-you to her new Dayton Jewish Observer friend, Renate gave Marcia contributor) Marc Katz was a copy of her book, Anschel’s inducted into the Greater Story, about her late husband’s Dayton Baseball Hall of Fame. survival during the Holocaust.

In June, Marc and lifelong “To say I am grateful is an baseball fan Judge Walter H. understatement. It’s hard to Rice participated in a panel imagine someone taking this discussion about the book The much time to find an artist’s Curve Ball: The History of the family,” Renate said. “Now it 2313 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood Negro Baseball Leagues, along is hanging in my home, and I 937-293-1196 love looking at it! My Grandfa- with the book’s author, Brian www.oakwoodflorist.com Reid, and Michael Carter, ther Max was my hero. A part family owned and operated military discount Sinclair Community College’s of him is back with me.”

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SENIOR LIVING CAMPUS

chief diversity officer. The program was a fundraiser for Children’s Historical Publishing, which distributes books to underserved youths.

Ian Micah Gossett received his master’s degree from Wright State University. He is the son of Judy Rosen Gossett and the late Randy Gossett, grandson of the late Gloria and Israel Rosen, and great-grandson of the late Bill and Mary Zappin.

Jonah Dorf, age 8, is a firstplace winner of the 2021 Dayton Metro Library Poetry Contest. His poem, The Morning Game, was among those featured in DML’s Mock Turtle Zine. Jonah, who attends Smith Elementary in Oakwood, is the son of Masha Kisel and Sam Dorf. And Sam, an associate professor of musicology at the University of Dayton, has been elected academic senate president and appointed associate director of research for the University Honors Program.

Former Daytonian Felix Weil, who survived the Holocaust through the Kindertransport, was featured in the Holocaustrelated documentary, Names, Not Numbers: A Movie in the Making, produced by the eighth-grade students at Hillel Torah North Suburban Day School in Skokie, Ill. Felix now lives in Northbrook, Ill. Among the eighth graders was Avi Meyer, son of Tami and Eddie Meyer, and grandson of former Daytonians Joan and Dr. David Marcus, who now live in Evanston, Ill. Avi’s at Camp Moshava in Wisconsin for the summer and will attend Ida Crown Jewish Academy high school in Skokie this fall.

The Jewish Federation will honor key volunteers at its annual meeting, to be held virtually at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 18. Honorees and their awards are Melinda Doner, the JFS Volunteer of the Year; Marni Flagel, the Robert A. Shapiro Award; Neil Friedman, the JCC Volunteer of the Year; Mark Gordon, the Past Presidents Award; Bonnie Beaman Rice, the JCRC Volunteer of the Year; and Joseph D. Saks, the Allan Wasserman Young Leadership Award.

— Marshall Weiss

Classes

Beth Jacob Virtual Classes: Sundays, 2 p.m.: Conversions w. Rabbi Agar. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Weekly Parsha w. Rabbi Agar. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Jewish Law w. Rabbi Agar.

Email Tammy at bethjacob1@ aol.com.

Temple Israel Virtual Classes: Wednesdays, noon: Talmud Study via Zoom. Saturdays, 9:15 a.m.: Torah Study via Zoom. For details, call 937-4960050.

Family

Temple Israel Prayer & Play: w. Rabbi Sobo. Sat., Aug. 14, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Orchardly Park, 343 Wonderly Ave., Oakwood.

Details at tidayton.org.

Children & Youths

Chabad Camp Gan Izzy: Mondays-Fridays through Aug. 13. Register at cgidayton.com.

Seniors

JCC Book Club: Fri., Aug. 20, 10:30 a.m. Register at jewishdayton.org/events.

Community Events

Jewish Federation Virtual Annual Meeting: Wed., Aug. 18, 6 p.m. Register at jewishdayton.org/events.

JCRC Community Conversation, Antisemitism On College Campuses - Student Voices, Parent Concerns, Hillel Support: Tues., Aug. 10, 7 p.m. Via Zoom. Free. Register at jewishdayton.org/events.

Dayton Art Institute Language of Art Book Club: The Art of Blessing The Day: Poems with a Jewish Theme

by Marge Piercy. Led by Casey Goldman. In person Sat., Aug. 14, noon. Free with museum admission. 456 Belmonte Park N., Dayton. Free virtual presentation Thurs., Aug. 19, noon. For both, register at daytonartinstitute.org/bookclub.

Jewish Federation/JCC Retirement Party for Cheryl Carne & Jane Hochstein: Sun., Aug. 29, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Polen Farm, 5099 Bigger Road., Kettering. Register by Aug. 23 at jewishdayton.org/ events or 937-610-1555.

Send your announcements to MWeiss@jfgd.net.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

Having a ‘hybrid’ Bar or Bat Mitzvah?

Here’s how to involve virtual guests.

For your Bar or Bat Mitzvah

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By Holly Lebowitz Rossi, JTA Fully virtual Bar and Bat Mitzvahs are, happily, no longer a necessity in many places.

Whether you are including a few people in an IRL (in real life) event, or even hosting a small crowd in, say, your backyard, most families are still likely to have guests who are only able to attend — or are only comfortable attending — a Bar or Bat Mitzvah via a virtual platform like Zoom.

Does this scenario have your head spinning? Fear not! You don’t need to plan two separate events. But you do want to include your on-screen guests in the ceremony and celebration so everyone can feel fully present on the day. Start with these tips to involve every guest in your family’s milestone day.

Include virtual guests in photo montages If you are showing a video montage of photos or video clips — or celebrating with a “virtual hora” — invite your online guests to send materials ahead of time. Try to share the finished products while the virtual guests are still “there” at the celebration. You can also ask guests to send photos of themselves attending the Bar or Bat Mitzvah virtually for an album afterward.

Send ‘mitzvah boxes’ Gather items from the event, and send or deliver them to the doorsteps of the virtual guests as care packages. You might include a kipah, a printed program or a prayer guide, candy or treats, plus any party favors you are giving in-person guests. You can even include a set of Shabbat candles so they can add their light to your family’s joy.

Protect everyone’s view Test-run your tech setup to know for sure that the virtual guests can see and hear the proceedings without blocking the view of your in-person guests (or vice-versa). Take into consideration camera locations as well as sound equipment like microphones and speakers when mapping out your ceremony and celebration plan.

If you have a complicated setup, you might want to hire an audiovisual company to help.

Assign honors to virtual guests There are many ways to honor guests at a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, from aliyah blessings before and after the Torah readings to English readings during the service to the blessings over the wine and challah (Kiddush and hamotzi).

Ask a combination of in-person and virtual guests to honor your family by participating in the service. Be sure you and your in-person guests can hear the Zoom participants through an adequate sound setup.

Think of Zoom as a ‘table’ to visit The time-honored tradition of table visits by the hosts and guests of honor can help your virtual guests feel seen and

included. Just as you’d stop by each table at an in-person celebration to visit with your guests, plan a specific time to “stop by” the Zoom room to greet and thank those who have dialed in.

Use the chat function as a virtual guest book Leave open the chat function in your virtual platform before and after the service to enable your virtual guests to leave messages of love and congratulations, share special memories with the Bar or Bat Mitzvah child, and otherwise mark their presence at the milestone moment. Let your guests know ahead of time that you’ll be saving the chat as a virtual “guest book” to print as a treasured keepsake.

Raiseforthe bar your

Bar or Bat Mitzvah celebration.

Set a clear time expectation Your celebration might last for several hours — but Zoom calls should not. While you can of course leave the meeting open for anyone who wants to hang out and watch the inperson fun, set an expectation with your virtual guests that you hope they will attend the service and stay for a greeting or any other special events early in the celebration, but that you are not asking them to spend the whole day in cyberspace.

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PAGE 21

JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION

Of Cain and Eden Considering Creation

You might be surprised to learn that Cain was a spiritual genius, the inventor of an idea practiced by billions of people across time and place, as described by Rabbi Aryeh Fohrman.

That’s certainly not the first image of Cain that comes to most people’s minds. And yet, a careful reading of the text implies just that: Cain was the

Candace R. Kwiatek first human to bring an offering to God. Which makes his story all that more tragic.

Banished from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel.

“Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the soil. In the course of time, Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil; and Abel, for his part, brought the choicest of the firstlings of his flock. The Lord paid heed to Abel and his offering, but to Cain and to his offering He paid no heed. Cain was much distressed and his face fell. And

the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you distressed, and why is your face fallen? Surely, if you do right, there is uplift. But if you do not do right, sin is the demon at the door, whose urge is toward you, yet you can be its master.’…Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him.

The Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’” (Gen. 4:2-9, abbreviated) How did Cain degenerate from spiritual genius to exiled wanderer? What was his sin?

The most obvious answer is that he killed his brother.

Less obvious but more significant are his earlier transgressions that led to this tragedy, and from which there is the most to learn.

As second-century scholar Simeon Ben Azzai cautions, “Averah goreret averah, transgression leads to another transgression.”

Cain’s downfall begins with the offerings. To Abel’s choice offering, God responds positively, but to Cain’s basic offering, God doesn’t respond at all, with no explanation. But also no criticism.

God’s stance is admittedly a bit of an enigma. After all, Cain

invented the concept and brought the first offering, while his brother was only a copycat. It hardly seems an unadorned offering could be a transgression.

Or is something else going on?

Despite God’s apparent slight, Cain could have responded gracefully, offering his brother a simple “Good job,” “Proud of you,” or “Wish I’d thought of those details.”

Instead, the text implies, he only focuses on himself and sees the negative: his own disappointment, how he’s been wronged, and how he’d wanted — even deserved — the acknowledgement and approval The Death of Abel by Gustave Doré, 1866 that his brother received. brother Anochi (God)?”

God’s leading question about In a related midrash, Cain Cain’s downhearted demeanor argues, “You, Anochi, are the falls on deaf ears. Is a negative one who killed him, for if you mind-set a sin? had accepted my sacrifice as Everything that Cain wants, you did his, I wouldn’t have Abel has; he is the only obbeen jealous of him.” stacle. God’s counsel to pursue Unwilling to take respongood and avoid evil by mastersibility for his thoughts or ing his thoughts and emotions likewise falls on deaf ears. Cain actions, Cain compounds his rejects self-control with predict- sin by reassigning blame elsewhere. able — and sinful — conseOne sin leads to another. quences.

What is the underlying force Cain may even go so far as that propels Cain’s trajecto blame God for the missing tory from one transgression Abel. His famous question, to another? It’s a mind-set of “Hashomer achi anochi, Am I my covetousness. brother’s keeper?” can also be There are clues in the text. read, “Isn’t the keeper of my One is Cain’s very name, from the Hebrew root meaning “acquire.”

Another is the unusual use of Anochi, linking the last word in Cain’s question about his brother’s keeper to the first word in the Decalogue, Anochi, God, where the final command

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is,“You shall not covet.”

Cain’s whole story is about coveting what Abel has and conspiring to acquire it.

Cravings and covetousness also led to the downfall of Adam and Eve in the previous story of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.

The linkage of the two stories is highlighted by textual echoes.

Both Adam and Cain are faced with the Divine question, “Where?” In both tales, the characters play the blame game: Adam blames God and Eve, who in turn blames the snake, while Cain blames God. And the characters in both stories are exiled, expelled from the garden, or doomed to a life of wandering. And just as Cain’s story is linked to the Decalogue, vocabulary also links Eve’s experience at the tree to the 10th Commandment, “Do not covet or crave.”

Cain and Abel and the tree in the garden are cautionary tales, warnings about the power of our thoughts and emotions to direct our actions for good or evil.

Whether we allow them to rule without constraint or choose to assert mastery over them has far-reaching consequences.

“There is nothing theoretical, abstract, or academic about philosophy (thinking, mindset),” author Mark Gerson writes.“Our performance in our job as a philosopher will determine the quality of our relationships, our decisions, and ultimately our lives.”

Literature to share The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art by Cynthia Levinson. Known as “the people’s painter,” 20th-century artist Ben Shahn rejected the classic and modern traditions of the European greats of his era and painted real-life stories of the world. Committed to inspiring social change, his works featured eye-catching images of modern urban life, organized labor, immigration, and injustice. The arresting bold-hued illustrations that accompany the text highlight Shahn’s early training in lithography and graphic design. This gorgeous illustrated children’s book is highly recommended for children and adults alike.

Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland. The time is 1934 and Florence, a champion swimmer, wants to spend her summer at the Atlantic City beach training to swim the English Channel. Meanwhile, her sister is on hospital bed rest during a difficult pregnancy, and the girls’ father — oddly — invites a young German émigré to stay with the family. And then tragedy strikes. A 2020 National Book Award winner and Hadassah Book Club selection for 2021, this complex but fast-paced novel filled with twists and turns, historical events, and family secrets is an inviting late summer read.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • AUGUST 2021

Model of a Lehavot kitchen fire suppression system

Israeli tech/UD

Lehavot’s Fishbhin told The Observer they had no expenses conContinued on Page Five nected to the capstone research the UD MBA program’s Market- and presentations they received. ing and Management Depart“The normal way, “ Fishbment, served as instructor to the hin said, “is that you pay lots Gevasol team. She said her stu- of money, tens of thousands of dents presented Makover with dollars to consultant companies three key recommendations. to make the research and try to “They gave him a really good provide you with some access to view of how that market was customers, to end users.” tiered between really “It was a win-win,” big players down to Makover said. smaller niche playScott MacDonald, ers. And the really big director of UD’s MBA players are locked into program, estimates the supply base. The the dollar value each smaller players, not so company receives from much. So they identicapstone project serfied the part of the vices is approximately market they thought he $50,000.

UD MBA Lecturer had the most ability to Lisa Shockley “The research alone get into.” is $30,000,” he says.

Shockley said the niche mar- “Because of the resources our ket is also the part of the market students have available to them that’s focused on technological through the library, if you were improvements, which is where to go purchase that — if you Gevasol is focused. were an independent consultant The students provided Mak- and wanted to get the same inover with a look at the players formation — it would cost you he should go after. $30,000 just to buy the reports.”

“And then they gave him a Fishbhin said he thought three-tiered marketing plan on working with the students how to go after those customers. might be demanding, but it He hadn’t had any marketing ended up “really nice and plan of any kind before that.” smooth and interesting.”

The team also gave him their “I just had to wake up twice perspective on what pricing at 2 o’clock nighttime and would probably level out. prepare for the Zoom,” he said.

Gevasol’s Makover and “Great questions, great answers.

Montgomery County’s director Each one of them (the six of community and economic destudents) got part of the velopment. “And there’s value job. And in that way, you to the University of Dayton becan think that six people cause it’s helping students with are working only for you international business. That’s for three months, looking for information, gathering the concept we had when the all the information. It was partners decided, let’s try this.”

DRITA’s Hadas Bar-Or isn’t lovely. Really. I’m very shy about her next steps with serious.”

Lehavot and Gevasol.

UD’s MBA students “We want to lure them to the complete approximately Dayton region. Gevasol does 30 capstone projects each work for the IDF (Israel Defense year, MacDonald said.

Forces) and they need to spend He added that 85 percent of capstone clients say U.S. dollars buying components.

We want to introduce them to the project exceeds their local manufacturers Lehavot expectations and here.

100 percent say it “We want to lure meets them.

Lehavot to Dayton MacDonald said he because they are a wellwould like to continue established company. working with Israeli They want to expand to companies. For now, the U.S., and they will he’s hitting the pause need to manufacture button to reevaluate once their sales grow.” and improve the proMont. Co. Econ.

Bar-Or said each gram.

Dev. Dir. Erik company told her in He“We’re going to brew how amazed and tweak it and then figure Collins out when it’s appropriate to roll impressed they were with the UD project. it out again.”

“And Israelis, they don’t go “This whole initiative is a around and compliment,” she win-win for the businesses in added. “It made them appreciIsrael because there’s value to ate and value Dayton more than it if they choose to take advanbefore.” tage of it,” said Erik Collins,

OBITUARY Sanford “Sandy” Mendelson, age 77 of Dayton, passed away unexpectedly July 3. Mr. Mendelson was a graduate of Meadowdale High School and served in the U.S. Army. He enjoyed boating, travel, and spending time in Florida. His life’s passion was his business, Mendelson’s, and his devotion to the city of Dayton. Mr. Mendelson was preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Ida Mendelson. He is survived by his loving wife, Bonnie; son, Harlan Mendelson; daughter, Heather (Robin Lensch) Goodrich; grandchildren, Zach, Sofie and Cate; twin brother, Barry (Anne) Mendelson; sister, Marlene (Terry) Pinsky; brother, Bruce (Rita) Mendelson; brotherin-law, Ben (Ellen) Neiman; in-laws, Tom and Darlene Lensch; many nieces, nephews, and friends, and his four legged “girlfriend” Fifi. Interment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery.

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