The Dayton Jewish Observer, December 2022

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Panel on PBS' U.S. & Holocaust to bring documentary collaborators together with local survivors

ThinkTV and the Jewish Federation will pres ent a panel discussion about the documentary The U.S. and the Holocaust, with local survivors Renate Frydman and Eleanor Hambury Must in person, and film co-creator Sarah Botstein and film advisor Rebecca Erbelding virtually, at 7 p.m., Monday, Dec. 5 in the Carney Auditorium at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

Footage of Must's mother from 1931 in Ger many was included in the documentary, which premiered on PBS in September. In the footage, Must's mother was pregnant with her. Frydman is the curator of Prejudice & Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit, on permanent display at the Air Force Museum. She also chairs the Dayton Holocaust Education Committee.

Both will share how their families fled Nazi Germany and managed to enter the United States during a period of tight immigration restrictions.

Botstein co-directed and produced The U.S. and the Holocaust with Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. A producer with Burns and Novick for more than 20 years, Botstein made her directorial debut with this film.

Erbelding is the author of Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe, recipient of the 2018 National Jew ish Book Award for excellence in writing based on archival research. She is a historian, curator, and archivist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and served as the lead historian for the museum’s exhibition, Americans and the Holocaust

ThinkTV16 will rebroadcast The U.S. and the Holocaust Saturdays, Jan. 7-21, at 1 p.m.

The panel is free and open to the public. The Air Force Museum is located at 1100 Spaatz St., Fairborn. Registration is required and is available at thinktv.org/USATH-Event.

So is our Jewish community. Contact Patty Caruso at plhc69@gmail.com to advertise in The Observer.

Eleanor Hambury Must Renate Frydman

Sarah Botstein Rebecca Erbelding

Hillel Academy celebrates six decades

'Evolving with the times,' K-6 Jewish day school thrives with project-based learning

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer

When Hillel Academy opened as Dayton's first Jewish day school in September 1961 — with just a kindergarten — the little fanfare it garnered was in Dayton's daily papers. Nothing about it was included in the Jewish Community Council News, the monthly newsletter of what is now the Jewish Federation. Even Anne Hammerman, edi tor of the Dayton Jewish Chronicle, and a staunch advocate of Jewish education, had expressed her ambivalence toward the project at the beginning.

"The Jewish community of Dayton is all astir concerning the establishment of a Jewish day school this fall," she wrote in the June 30, 1961 Dayton Jewish Chronicle. "As can be expected, there is much to be said for and against such a project in this community...One thing for sure, one cannot be passive about this issue. You are either for or against it and thinking parents and individuals have valid arguments in both direc tions."

Earlier that month, Asher Bogin, Charles B. Fox, and Keith Saeks filed articles of incorporation for Hillel with the state of Ohio. Saeks would serve as Hillel's first president. Also on that first board was Herbert Jaffe, Lloyd Jaffe, Albert Kuhr, Beth Jacob Con gregation Rabbi Samuel Fox, and Beth Abraham Synagogue Rabbi Joseph Sternstein.

They hired a young husband and wife from New York, Rabbi Bertram A. Leff (26) and Gloria Leff (21), to oversee the school: the rabbi as its principal, his wife to teach kindergarten. Classes for the six students were first held at the old Beth Jacob on Kumler Avenue in Dayton View.

Bark Mitzvah Boy

No latkes were harmed in the making of this cartoon . . . Yet.

In a previous interview with The Observer, Rabbi Samuel Fox said he and his wife, Miriam, went house to house to recruit children for Hillel. Their son Joshua was a student in the first class.

"People wanted more for their children than just a smattering of knowledge," the rabbi said. "Then again, I can't say the community was in fa vor of it. Let's say the Jewish Community Council, they had their own vested interest. They realized that a day school would make more outlay of money. There were some that oppose day school altogether; they believe in public education on those grounds."

But the persistence of a small group of parents brought Hillel Academy into being. "We had meetings at our house and I remember some of them saying, ‘Rabbi, why didn’t you bring us through the front door?’" Fox recalled. "I said, ‘It wouldn’t have gotten through the front door.’ We did a lot of groundwork and got a lot of people interested in it, so the Federation went along.”

By December 1961, Hammerman proclaimed in the Dayton Jewish Chronicle that "the Hillel Acad emy is now an active force in the community and will surely be instrumental in the years to come in enriching Jewish life and culture in Dayton."

Across the ups and downs and cultural and religious changes of six decades, Hil lel Academy's staff and par ents, leaders and donors have brought to the current genera tion a Jewish day school that not only survives but thrives.

For the last 11 years, Hillel has been entrusted to the care of another husband-and-wife team, Co-Principals Kathy and Dan Mecoli. It's likely the Mecolis have been Hillel's longest serving admin istrators.

Their approach with Hillel's 47 current stu dents in grades K through six, Kathy Mecoli said, is to change structures in response to the chil dren's needs.

"We change it up and that has to happen here because we're such a small entity," she said. "If you don't change it up, it just doesn't work."

Dr. Michael Davidson, now 66, was in that first kindergarten class of 1961-62. "We had four girls and seven boys," he recalled of the years with

Continued on Page Four

I've been asked if I'm going to write an opinion piece about Yellow Springs resident Dave Chappelle's SNL monologue on Nov. 12. I don't have anything new to say beyond the piece I wrote little more than a year ago in these pages, Does Chappelle get a free pass on hate? (You can find it at daytonjewishobserv er.org.) Except that the answer to the headline is a strong yes. If we have allies in the Miami Valley, this would be a good time for them to speak up.

With the Festival of Lights, Chanukah, fast approaching, may we all give and receive the gift of light. The light of kindness, empathy, understanding, and love to banish the darkness of cruelty, indifference, ignorance, and hate.

Wishing our readers a happy, meaningful Chanukah.

Marshall Weiss

Premier Retirement Living

Hillel Academy fifth grader Michael Davidson studies Hebrew in 1966. He began in the Jewish day school's first class, the 1961-62 kindergarten.

Hillel Co-Principal Kathy Mecoli Hillel Co-Principal Dan Mecoli

DAYTON

IMMERSE YOURSELF

Hillel

Continued from Page Three

those in his grade. "Then Shel Bassel came and made it eight boys and four girls. That was the first class. The girls left at, like, sixth or seventh grade, because their parents were worried about the social life for the girls."

Now a cardiologist in Chicago, Davidson said his parents grew up in small towns and neither had any Jew ish education.

"They had a strong Jewish identity," he said. "They wanted to see their kids get a better Jewish education."

Some of his classmates' fathers were rabbis and some of the boys in that first class would become rabbis, Davidson said. But he added many were not from Orthodox homes. Two families belonged to Temple Israel, Dayton's only Reform congregation at the time.

By 1967, 118 children were en rolled at Hillel from pre-K through fifth grade. Bursting at the seams, the school's location rotated among classrooms at Beth Abraham and Beth Jacob, and even a Dayton View church.

Davidson's eighth-grade class graduated from Hillel in 1970.

"They had a really concerted effort to make us feel like we were pio neers," he said. "Even bringing us

back for the graduations and award ceremonies. We really felt proud about who we were, what we were doing, and what we were trying to accomplish for the Dayton Jewish community."

Parents presented their children with their graduation certificates, de signed by classmate Shel Bassel, now a Jerusalem-based sofer (ritual scribe).

Bassel said he learned how to use a calligraphic pen and started to teach himself Hebrew and English calligra phy at Hillel.

"Perhaps the biggest impact was a love for Jewish learning," Bassel recalled of Hillel. "I still remember Mr. Cziegler teaching me Rashi on Chumash for the first time and it opened a new world for me. I totally fell in love with learning Gemara and that has been an anchor to my Juda ism throughout my life."

Hillel moved to its own build ing on Woodbury Drive in Harrison Township in 1973 and opened its high school in 1977. Its student popula tion peaked in the early 1990s, at 190 students, with nearly 50 in the high school. But because of a shrinking Jewish community, declining enroll ment, and budgetary constraints, Hil lel discontinued its high school grades in 1999 and 2000.

With the population shift of Jewish

Continued on Page Five

THE DAYTON

OBSERVER

Editor and Publisher

Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555

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The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 27, No. 4. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Fed eration of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.

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Marshall Weiss

Hillel Academy moved into its own building on Woodbury Drive in Harrison Township in 1973. Four years later, it expanded to include a high school.

Bruce Huntsbarger goes over assignments with current students in Hillel's upper grades. Since 2010, Hillel has been based on the third floor of Beth Abraham Synagogue at Sugar Camp in Oakwood.

Continued from Page Four

households from the suburbs north of Dayton to the suburbs to the south, Hillel moved in 2010 to the third floor of Beth Abraham's new home at Sugar Camp in Oakwood.

Hillel's board hired the Me colis to run the school 11 years ago, with only 22 students en rolled in grades K to four. The school's goal was to increase enrollment to 50.

When the Mecolis arrived, the school had been through a "clean sweep." With the pre cipitous drop in enrollment, all teachers were made to reapply for their jobs the year before. Few had been rehired.

"They didn't think the aca demic component was as strong as it should be," Kathy Mecoli said. "It was kind of an awk ward time to come in because tensions were high. And then there were different attitudes about the Jewish component of Hillel: was it truly eclectic, was everybody welcome? We were at an advantage there because, not being Jewish, everybody would talk to us."

The Mecolis asked the par ents and local rabbis what they loved about Hillel, what they wouldn't want to see changed, and what they would like to see changed and developed.

The focus of the Mecolis' ap proach is project-based learning.

"We began to bring artists to the school as opposed to, here's the science class, here's the social studies class. And we got kids engaged in things," she said. "We did projects where maybe they'd leave school for half a day or a day, do research in the river, create songs about what they were doing. It was just getting them off of a tradi tional kind of school."

She said they make a point not to measure students against each other, but in terms of their own growth.

"We don't emphasize 'You're a first grader, you're a second grader.' You are who you are and we're taking you as far as we can take you. That's been a major change. They're analyzing their own work and coming up with goals and there are checks along the way. If their plan is not working, then we make a new plan. But the whole idea is they are taking ownership for it."

When asked what he likes about Hillel, fourth-grader Ga briel Cooper told The Observer, "Its creativity. And its positive attitude. And how the teach ers are trying to keep the kids

Hillel

Continued from Page Five

focused and not arguing."

Integrating Judaics across the secular curriculum has been a high priority for the Mecolis, too. "We were naive when we started," Kathy Mecoli said, "because everybody said, 'All you have to worry about are academics.' Mostly the Judaics were in the afternoon and so we were focused on the morning. Well, we soon learned that we would never have the school we wanted if we didn't integrate those two."

That, she said is the biggest strength of Hillel, and comes through the expertise of long time Hillel teachers, Rabbi Levi Simon, who has served as Hillel's director of Judaics for 12 years, and primary grade Judaics teacher Sandy SloaneBrenner, who holds Hillel's record as its longest-serving teacher.

"They are an essential part of the success of the school," Mecoli said. "They mod el Jewish values for students and staff alike."

Each year, Hillel selects a dif ferent theme based on a Jewish value.

"It permeates everything we do," Mecoli said. This year's theme, drawn from Ethics of the

Fathers, is: Who is wise? One who learns from everyone. She said the school makes an effort to welcome people across all streams of Jewish life.

"We invite every rabbi, and every rabbi comes through to be here for a Rosh Chodesh (new month) luncheon. They're presenting something each month. They see that we're a big tent and that ev eryone is participating from the community.

"We probably have more Reform children than Orthodox but everybody's under the same tent. We're instilling in our kids that you maintain your identity. You're proud of your identity. But you also reach out to meet someone where they are."

Some families, Mecoli said, enrolled their children at Hillel during the pandemic because they heard the school remained open and was careful about mask usage.

"They have frankly said they would not have considered it. They're still here. That has been

really positive. Because our best advertisement has been word of mouth from parents. All of the families were Reform. It just wasn't on their radar. They didn't have anything nega tive about it, it was just they wouldn't think about a Jewish day school. But their kids are still here after three years."

Sandy Sloane-Brenner, who began teaching at Hillel Acad emy 50 years ago, has seen more changes than anyone there. What hasn't changed, she said, is that children love learning about Judaism.

"They love the Torah por tions, they embrace davening (praying)," she said. "It brings joy to my heart that they want to continue to learn Judaism and they ask a lot of questions about it. My goal is for them to embrace who they are. And it hasn't changed. I don't feel I'm teaching a course. I feel I'm teaching a lifestyle."

Andy Schwartz has been president of Hillel for a decade. When asked how Hillel has made it to 60, he answered, "Evolving with the times. We've evolved as the needs of the community have changed. We get good feedback from parents when kids go to another school after Hillel. We try to respect everyone's differ ences and try to talk about those differences. It helps kids see the commonalities more than the differences. It makes a huge difference if they see the Jew ish community as one people versus different segments. And that's really wonderful. We are thankful for all the teachers who have helped make Hillel a spe cial place in our community."

Marshall Weiss

Current fourth grader Gabriel Coo per with Co-Principal Kathy Mecoli

Hillel Academy

Hillel's eighth-grade class in 1974. Seated (L to R): Don Bialer, Sonny Saeks, Aaron Wahrman. Standing (L to R): Jeffrey Jacobson, Ellie Czigler, Loren Weil, Bob Kreitman

Contact Patty Caruso at plhc69@gmail.com to advertise in The Observer.

Sandy SloaneBrennner

Rabbi Levi Simon

Jingle Lights

Felony charges against 3 Miami U. students who vandalized Hillel's sukkah lowered to criminal damage

Oxford Police Department: 'No religious bias involved'

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer

Three Miami University students who turned themselves in six days after vandalizing Hillel at Miami's sukkah had their felony charges dropped down and were convicted of criminal damages, a second-degree misdemeanor, in Butler County Court on Nov. 17.

Butler County Area I Judge Robert H. Lyons fined each of the students $750 (a third of the cost of the damaged sukkah), court fees, and ordered them to stay away from the Hillel location. The judge also suspended each of their 90-day jail sentences.

On Oct. 21, the Hillel released security video of the three — Santiago Arenas, 19; Kevin J. Ladriere, 20; and Eli W. Lauger, 20 — intentionally overturning its suk kah just before 2 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.

Hours after the Hillel distributed the security video via email and social me dia, and minutes before Hillel's Family Weekend Shabbat Friday night dinner was about to begin, the three returned to the Hillel building and admitted to perpetrating the act.

"We were welcoming families and one of my student leaders walked out and said, 'So there's three guys upstairs. They look remarkably like the three guys from the video. They look really scared. They asked to talk to the manager,'" Whitney Fisch, Hillel at Miami's executive direc tor, told The Observer

"They apologized, they swore up and down they didn't know we were a Jew ish organization and they didn't know what it was," Fisch said. "It felt very much like they were just very terrified of going to jail, getting kicked out of school, all of the above. They wanted me to fix it and take away their fear and take away their anxiety. And I can't do that. There was no thought process. It was their anxiety making all their decisions for them."

During the five-minute conversa tion, she obtained their names, phone numbers, and email addresses, and

forwarded the information to the Oxford Police Department and administrators at Miami University who were running the school's investigation into the incident.

Fisch said she didn't have to press charges since the incident was caught on security video.

The three students asked Fisch if they could "volunteer to make up for it." She told them, "We can get there, we're not there yet. I need you to know that vio lence toward any minority or vulnerable community in southwest Ohio, it lands harder. It hurts deeper. So that's where we're coming from."

The Oxford Police Department released a statement Oct. 27 that it had charged Arenas, Ladriere, and Lauger each with a felony, and that its inves tigation had determined "there was no religious bias involved with the commis sion of the crime."

Oxford Police Chief John Jones told The Observer his department was not able "to find any evidence that those offend ers violated the ethnic intimidation law in Ohio."

"They brought these kids in, they did in-depth interviews with them, they looked at their background, they looked at their social media, and then looked at the types of crimes that occur in that area," he said.

The Hillel building, at 11 E. Walnut St., is situated off campus, in Oxford. The rear of the building — where Arenas, Ladriere, and Lauger jumped Hillel's fence and overturned its sukkah — is adjacent to a commonly traveled alley, Jones said.

"It's a very high-traffic alley. And they were walking home from a party. That's the evidence that's presenting itself and we've got nothing to contradict it."

In the security video, one of the van dals is seen wearing lederhosen, tradi tional German short leather breeches.

"He was at a costume party that was German-themed, the Oktoberfest stuff," Jones said. "Officers had actually seen people out in that type of costume that night. That caught my eye as adding insult to injury."

The police chief described the sukkah

The Oxford Police Department charged Miami University Students (L to R) Kevin J. Ladriere, Eli W. Lauger, and Santiago Arenas with felony for vandalizing Miami University Hillel's suk kah on Oct. 15

Oxford Police Dept.

vandalism as "essentially run-of-the mill property damage" that happens often in Oxford.

"I don't think people realize the van dalism and the thefts and the property damage we have in this square-mile area," Jones said. He added that the rabbi with the Chabad in Oxford who serves MU's Jewish students talked with Jones because a menorah was stolen from his porch.

"He's very familiar with the community and he agreed this was not a hate crime," the police chief said of Chabad's rabbi. "He's been the victim of different things like that, just based on where his house is.

"I've caught kids doing stuff to churches. We need to do a better job on our alcohol enforcement here. But because of their ignorance, they did it to a religious organization (Hillel) and didn't under stand the impact it was going to have on the community."

Fisch accepts the possibility that since Hillel's building isn't clearly identifiable from the alleyway, the students may not have known they were deliberately vandalizing a Jewish item on a Jewish property.

"I'm going to give them this one," she said. "Our building looks like a bank."

A week after the three confessed to

Fisch, the Hillel welcomed more than 100 people from across the MU commu nity for its Shabbat of Love and Honor in partnership with MU's Office for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion.

Hours after the Oxford Police Depart ment posted the names of the students charged with vandalizing the sukkah on Oct. 27, Miami University released a statement that “we empathize with the Jewish com munity at the distress the inci dent caused,” and that “We do hope that OPD’s actions today bring a level of peace and that the healing process can begin.”

A spokesperson for the uni versity confirmed that Arenas, Ladriere, and Lauger are still students at Miami University.

Fisch said there's massive relief among MU's approximately 1,000 Jewish students. "We're not sitting here today wondering who did this," she said. "Of course, it's traumatic."

And then on Nov. 11, The Miami Student newspaper reported that MU announced it found drawings of Swas tikas in permanent ink in the third-floor bathroom of the psychology building, and antisemitic posters in several loca tions on the campus. The Miami Student also reported that Hillel wasn't aware of the incidents until the newspaper re quested an interview with its president, Lauren Somers.

"If we're trying to represent the Jew ish students, we need to know what's going on,” Somers told The Miami Stu dent. “And we should be one of the first people that the university is contacting about antisemitism."

Now in her third year at Hillel at Miami, Fisch said her students have experienced antisemitism at MU before this year's incidents.

"Our (Jewish) students come from everywhere," she said. "The majority of Miami students come from small towns in Ohio, and what we hear from students is in two camps. One is the anti-Israel camp: Students of ours will go on Birthright, they'll post a picture, and then they'll just see it get blasted in social media. 'You're a Palestinian baby killer, you're a White colonialist. FU.'

"And the other side of it is they'll get a roommate who has never met a Jew in their life, and that roommate will say, 'Oh my god, you're nice. Where are your horns?' They're not being silly. They genuinely, truly believe that their Jew ish roommate is going to have horns. Or 'So, you're really rich, right? Oh my God, you own all of Hollywood.' Really classic antisemitism."

Fisch said that last year, a registered MU student organization drafted a con stitution that included an anti-Zionism clause. "They were a diverse registered student organization that had inclusion as their mission — unless you identified

as a Zionist. (If so,) You were not al lowed to be part of their organization."

Hillel, she said, empowered its stu dent leaders to navigate the situation quietly. The student group cut the antiZionist clause from its constitution.

"Through student leadership, work ing with that organization's student leadership and their faculty advisor, they were very successful," Fisch said. "Administratively, it was kind of a road block. We were nervous: How's Miami going to respond to the sukkah thing? But it's been nothing but support."

She noted that at the Shabbat of Love and Honor, MU Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Cristina Alcalde publicly announced the university has committed to partici pate in Hillel International's Campus Climate Initiative next year.

"It's an entire initiative involving a deep dive into how hospitable or inhospitable the campus is to Jewish students," Fisch said. "That is a major commitment."

Fisch and Hillel at Miami's board chair brought up the initiative when they met with MU President Gregory P. Crawford in August.

"Miami University is absolutely completely a wonderful place for Jew ish student life," Fisch said, "and I hope that community members are involved in our Jewish joy as vigorously as they are involved in our trauma."

MU Hillel Exec. Dir. Whitney Fisch

THE REGION

OSU leadership: ‘No room for hate in our home’

By Stephen Langel

Columbus

Jewish News

Ohio State University Presi dent Kristina M. Johnson and other members of the univer sity administration and student government roundly rejected antisemitism and racism in a Nov. 15 letter sent to students, faculty, and staff.

“There is no room for hate in our home,” the letter, signed by Johnson and 15 others, said.

The signatories included the co-leaders of the Wexner Medi cal Center, vice provost for in clusive excellence and various student government leaders, such as the president of the undergraduate student gov

ernment, chair of the senate council on student affairs, and secretary of the university senate.

“The university is where we work and live – and we will not tolerate violations of the values, principles, and behaviors that constitute the Shared Values we agree to uphold when we be come part of Ohio State.”

The letter comes amid in creasing incidents of antisemi tism and racism on campus, including just a few days ago, the letter said.

“This past weekend, an escalation occurred as van dalism in the form of hateful graffiti, including anti-Black and antisemitic phrases, was found in an academic building on the Columbus campus,” the letter said.

equity.

Anyone who is subject to or witness es acts of intimida tion or threats was urged to notify the school’s department of public safety or call the police at 911.

The school also offered counseling for anyone who was subjected to or wit nessed such actions.

“Our values demand that we support our fellow Buckeyes at all times, particularly during the most challenging mo ments,” the letter said.

Students should contact the office of student life’s counsel ing and consultation service. School employees should ac cess resources through OSU’s employee assistance program.

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The letter urged anyone who witnesses such acts to imme diately report it to the uni versity’s office of institutional

Happy Chanukah

“We understand that diver sity and inclusion are essential components of our excel lence,” the letter said. “We are dedicated to attending to the well-being of individuals and communities. We take seri ously our commitment to act responsibly and be accountable for our words and actions.”

On Nov. 17, The Columbus Dispatch reported that " a red Swastika, the words 'Heil Hit ler' ― with a crossed through Star of David below it ― and 'White Power Zone' had been spray painted on basement walls," according to a police report, and that "the words 'Whites Only' had been spray painted on stairs leading to an other floor, in addition to a ra cial slur on the stairwell's third floor landing" in a stairwell behind the main auditorium of Hitchcock Hall, which houses OSU's college of engineering and the department of civil, environmental and geodetic engineering.

OSU President Kristina M. Johnson

Birthright Israel scales back again, slashing free trips by up to a third

By Andrew Lapin, JTA

Birthright Israel is drastically cutting the number of free trips it plans to offer to Jewish young adults, scaling back its operations by up to a third, the organi zation announced Nov. 21.

The cuts come amid what the organi zation said is a mix of financial pres sures, chiefly inflation and heightened travel expenses in a post-Covid world. It plans to make added appeals to its top donors but still expects to heav ily reduce its Israel trips in 2023 to as few as 23,500 participants, down from 35,000 this year and 45,000 annually pre-pandemic.

“The significant cost increases of our program mean that we will not be able to accommodate as many applicants in the coming years,” Birthright CEO Gidi Mark said in a statement.

However, Birthright’s own fundrais ing has not been affected. A Birthright spokesperson said the organization actually expects its funding to increase from 2022 to 2023, but that the growth won’t be enough to compensate for the rise in expenses and inflation.

The group has shown other signs lately of scaled-back operations for its free 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish young adults. Earlier this year, Birth

right said it would lower the maximum age of participation back to 26, after five years of allowing Jews ages 27 to 32 to enroll. The group’s leadership said at the time that the increased age limit was backfiring by convincing younger Jews to keep delaying their trips. Birthright also merged with Onward Israel, an other Israel travel program for young adults, during the pandemic.

The program began in 1999 to encourage greater Israel engagement among younger generations of Jews, and studies commissioned in the two decades since have shown that Jews who participated in Birthright trips were more likely than peers who ap Continued on Page 34

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Birthright Israel

THE WORLD

Romania passes ‘landmark law’ guaranteeing right to kosher slaughter

By Marcel Gascon Barbera, JTA BUCHAREST,

Romania — Romanian authorities adopted a law that recog nizes and gives specific protection to shechitah, or kosher ritual slaughter of animals, the Conference of European Rabbis said in a statement, hailing the move as a “landmark” example for other countries in Europe.

The new legislation, which the Romanian parliament passed Nov. 15, comes roughly a year after the Court of the European Union upheld the bans of both the Muslim and Jewish traditional methods slaughter of animals for food in two Belgian states.

Jewish leaders and organizations decried the ruling, which the Israeli am bassador in Belgium called “catastroph ic and a blow to Jewish life in Europe.” They have worked to lobby the EU for protections and were heartened in October after the EU convened Muslim and Jewish leaders for the first time to discuss ritual meat production.

“I hope that other leaders across Europe will follow the initiative of the Romanian Parliament, valuing and pro tecting the continued future of Jewish life on the European continent,” said the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, who attended the signing ceremony

in Bucharest. (Goldschmidt was until recently the chief rabbi of Moscow.)

Many European countries ban the slaughter of animals without stunning them first, a move that animal-rights activists say is more humane but which is not permitted under Jewish law. Many countries grant exceptions for shechitah, according to the Conference of European Rabbis, and Romania had previously allowed such an exception. But the new law enshrines the right to shechitah more formally.

Animal rights activists historically were most vehement advocates of the bans, but in recent years, European anti-immigration right-wing parties have joined the campaigns against ritual slaughter, mostly due to their opposi tion to Muslim immigrants.

In the rest of the EU, ritual slaughter is illegal in countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Slovenia and parts of Belgium. The Netherlands and Poland joined the list years ago but later reversed the bans.

Silviu Vexler, president of the Federa tion of Jewish Communities in Romania and the Jewish minority’s representative in Romania’s parliament, was present at the bill-signing. He called the law “a shining symbol to other countries throughout the world.”

helped me reach my desired goal. You can trust them with your company.” B. C., Recent Seller

Netanyahu to Republican Jews: My controversial 2015 speech in Congress led to Abraham Accords

By Ron Kampeas, JTA

LAS

VEGAS

— Benjamin Netanya hu’s acceptance of a Republican invita tion to speak to Congress in 2015 to decry the Obama administration’s Iran policy notoriously helped bring about a rupture between the once and future Israeli prime minister and Democrats.

Now Netanyahu says the decision helped cement secret ties with Arab countries that led five years later to the Abraham Accords, the 2020 agreements brokered by the Trump administration that normalized ties between Israel and four Arab countries.

“We got phone calls in real time from Gulf States, who were saying we cannot believe what your prime minister is doing, and he’s facing, admittedly, a great leader, the most powerful man in the world, the American presi dent, but if he’s willing to do that, we’d like to cement the ties a lot further, and that led to the secret meetings. between myself in 2015 and Gulf leaders,” Ne tanyahu said Nov. 19. “That led to the laying the foundations for the Abraham Accords.”

Netanyahu was speaking about the benefits of one speech seemed designed to inflame partisan tensions in the United States during another talk to a partisan U.S. audience, addressing the annual Republican Jewish Coalition con ference. His speech, delivered via video from Israel, made him the first Israeli prime minister, elected or otherwise, to address a partisan Jewish group in the United States.

Netanyahu said he could not describe the contacts from the Gulf States further. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s sonin-law and special advisor, wrote in his book that Netanyahu came close to derailing the deals multiple times.

The Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015, John Boehner, who invited Netanyahu, broke protocol by keeping the invitation secret until the last minute from the White House and from Democrats in Con gress. Netanyahu and his ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, agreed to keep the secret until Boehner issued the formal invitation.

Keeping Boehner’s secret led to a perception among Democrats that Netanyahu was playing partisan politics and was a major factor in Democratic disaffection with Netanyahu, from which he has never fully recovered. The Israeli government that ended Netanya hu’s 12-year stint in office last year, led by Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid, had as a central platform repairing ties with Democrats. Netanyahu was reelected in Nov. 1 elections and will soon form a government. He told the RJC it was a

difficult decision. “I can assure you that wasn’t a simple decision to go to the joint session of Congress and challenge the the policy of a sitting president, whom I respected but I disagree with,” he said. He said the Iran nuclear deal President Barack Obama was negotiat ing endangered Israel. The deal cleared Congress despite Netanyahu’s speech. “I made that decision because I believe that...this agreement endangered the very existence of the State of Israel,” he said.

Netanyahu said he was relieved when Obama’s successor, Trump, pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018. “I was tremendously fortunate to have finally an American administra tion under President Trump who agreed with this policy,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said in the talk that he was close to President Joe Biden, saying that they had “an easy relationship, a friendship” dating back to 1982 when Netanyahu was deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy in Washington and Biden was a senator from Delaware. He also praised Obama for setting U.S. defense assistance at $3.8 billion a year.

CHANUKAH!

Benjamin Netanyahu

THE WORLD

As Kyrie Irving offers ‘deep apologies’ & returns to Nets, Black Hebrew Israelites rally in Brooklyn

By Jacob Gurvis, JTA

Kyrie Irving returned Nov. 20 from an eight-game suspension after again apologizing for promoting an antise mitic film on Twitter.

“I just want to offer my deep apolo gies to all those who were impacted over these last few weeks, specifically my Jewish relatives, my Black relatives, all races and cultures,” Irving said prior to the Nov. 20 game between his Brook lyn Nets and the Memphis Grizzlies. “Feel like we all felt an impact and I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech or antisemitism or anything that is ‘anti,’ going against the human race.”

Irving also seemed to reflect on the way he handled the now monthlong saga, which included his repeated refusal to apologize for his tweet and his insistence that he “cannot be antisemitic.”

Irving continued: “I feel like we all should have an opportunity to speak

for ourselves when things are assumed about us and I feel it was nec essary for me to stand in this place and take accountability for my actions, because there was a way I should have handled all this and as I look back and reflect when I had the opportunity to offer my deep regrets to anyone that felt threat ened or felt hurt by what I posted, that wasn’t my intent at all.”

Irving had ultimately apologized Nov. 3, hours after his suspen sion was announced. “To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize,” Irving wrote in an Instagram post.

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Kyrie Irving

Dustin Satloff/Getty Images

Irving also seemed to reflect on the way he handled the now monthlong saga

Critics of Kyrie’s decision to tweet a link to the film, Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black Amer ica, noted that it boosted sales of the film and a related book that promotes the idea that Jews were heavily involved in the Atlantic slave trade, denies the Holocaust, and says Black people are the real Jews.

Followers of a group that as cribes to such theories gathered at the Grand Army Plaza, a half mile from the Nets’ arena Nov. 20, chanting “it’s time to wake up. I’ve got good news for you, we are the real Jews.”

The group included dozens of people from Israel United in Christ, a New York-based group associated with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. The movement — not to be confused with the International Israelite Board of Rabbis, which embraces mainstream Jewish beliefs — has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The group then convened di rectly outside Barclays Center, distributing antisemitic flyers titled The Truth About Anti-Semi

tism and The Truth about Slavery

When asked about the demonstration after the game, Irving first said he was unaware of what had happened. When given more information by a reporter, Irving declined to comment.

“I think that’s a conversation for another day. I’m just here to

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focus on the game,” he said.

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who, along with Irving, is a vice president of the NBA Players Association, retweeted a video of the group with the caption “Energy.”

He later clarified that he “was not aware of what specific Continued on Page 16

Members of the Israel United in Christ hate group gathered outside Bar clays Center, Nov. 20

group” was in the video, and was “celebrating the unification of our people welcoming the return of Kyrie to the court.”

Irving scored 14 points in 26 minutes in the Nov. 20 game, saying afterward that “it felt good” to be back. “Now we can move forward with the rest of the season,” he added. When asked if he planned to file a grievance for his suspension, Irving did not directly answer.

“I have some strong people, men and women, around me that are going to do everything possible to make sure that I’m protected and my fam ily’s protected and we protect one another, so I’m sure some things will be done in the fu ture,” Irving said. “There’s no timetable on that right now.”

Irving was suspended for at least five games Nov. 3, days after he shared the film on Twitter and after considerable pressure from Jewish groups and others around sports. Nike also severed ties with Irving.

The Nets had laid out a slate of “remedial steps” the star point guard would need to take in order to be reinstated.

Among them was meeting with Jewish leaders, including the Anti-Defamation League, which has been advising the Nets throughout the controversy.

According to NBC News, the Nets praised Irving for his actions since the suspension. “Kyrie took ownership of this journey and had conversations with several members of the Jewish community,” the team said in a statement. “We are pleased that he is going about the process in a meaningful way.”

OPINION

Comedians are just as capable of antisemitic incitement as political figures.

So let’s take Dave Chappelle seriously.

By MaNishtana

Dave Chappelle delivered a brilliant monologue Nov. 12 on Saturday Night Live addressing the antisemitism controversies surrounding Kanye West and Kyrie Irving.

Unfortunately, brilliant doesn’t inherently mean moral or good. Chappelle’s mono logue was a master class in how to normalize and embolden antisemitic discourse, delivered in plain sight and with just enough “wink wink, nudge nudge” plausible deniability — mixed in with a sprinkle of real commentary — that one would easily almost not realize that... wait, did Chappelle denounce anything exactly?

He opened the monologue by pretending to read from the kind of apology being demanded of Kanye West, the rapper who in recent weeks had exposed various antisemitic tropes. “I denounce antisemi tism in all its forms, and I stand with my friends in the Jewish community,” Chappelle read, mocking the boilerplate apolo gies that often arise in these moments. At face value, it’s a great piece of satire. But then he follows up with the punchline: “And that, Kanye, is how you buy yourself some time.”

He isn’t holding West to account. He’s clearing the way and setting the stage for the fin est bout of antisemitic dogwhis tling probably ever featured on SNL

There is legitimate com mentary to be made about the often disproportionate and racialized vitriol directed at Black Americans who engage in antisemitism, coming from a society that revels in Black pain and punishment. Jews of color, and especially Black Jews like me, have been addressing this reality across social media for decades, noting the lack of in tensity and accountability when the shoe is on the other foot — when Jewish figures espouse anti-blackness.

But this monologue by a Black comedian is making no such argument. And it comes as more bold and brazen bad-faith actors are acting out in more

and more violent ways. Co medians are just as capable of incitement as political figures.

Chappelle is wildly adept at structuring complex jokes. For years, he deftly delivered biting, raw, and real socio-racial commentary, from his standup routines to The Chappelle Show, and since the 2000s has po sitioned himself as an astute teller of hard truths. If you doubt the man’s intelligence, watch what he does late in the SNL routine when he talks about Donald Trump.

With backhanded praise, Chappelle attributes Trump’s popularity and ap peal to his skill at be ing an “honest liar.” Never before, said Chappelle, had vot ers seen a billionaire “come from inside the house and tell the commoners, ‘In side that house we’re doing everything you think we’re doing.’ And then he went right back inside the house and started playing the game again.”

Chappelle took notes on Trump’s knack for saying ex actly what he means and telling people exactly what he planned to do.

When Chappelle says there are two words you should never say together — “the” and “Jews” — he’s not speak ing against antisemitic con spiracy theories that treat Jews as a scheming monolith. He’s insinuating instead that there is a “The Jews” that should never be challenged. (Chappelle goes on to repeatedly use the phrase “The Jews” in his monologue.) The one time he uses “the Jew ish community” is to introduce the straw man argument that Black Americans should not be blamed for the terrible things that have happened to “the Jewish community” all over the world — a declaration so baf fling that only one person in the audience responds.

After all, no one was blaming West or Irving, the NBA star who shared on Twitter a link to a wildly antisemitic film, for the terrible things that happened to Jews. They were just being asked not to promote the ideas

of people who had done those terrible things.

Also on full display is Chap pelle’s deft, almost 1984-esque doublespeak. Chappelle notes that when he first saw the controversy building around West’s antisemitism, he thought “Let me see what’s going to happen first” — a strange and telling equivocation. Chappelle diminishes the significance of the film shared by Irving, He brews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, by describing it as “ap parently having some antise mitic tropes or something,” but then jokes that Irving probably doesn’t think the Holocaust hap pened — a trope presented in said movie.

Chappelle is reluctant to call Kanye “crazy” but acknowledges he is “possibly not well,” but has no problem referring to Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker as “observably stupid.”

Ultimately and persistently, Chappelle suggests that Kanye erred not in being antisemitic, but in being antisemitic out loud.

Most insidious in this regard was his seeming rejection of the notion, promoted by West, that Jews control Hollywood. Said Chappelle: “It’s a lot of Jews (in Hollywood). Like a lot. But that doesn’t mean anything, you know what I mean? There’s a lot of Black people in Ferguson, Missouri. It doesn’t mean we run the place.” He refers to the idea that Jews control Holly wood as a "delusion.”

And then, rather than let this necessary distinction set in, he undercuts it, saying, “It’s not a crazy thing to think. But it’s a crazy thing to say out loud in a climate like this.”

The problem, Chappelle is suggesting, is not harboring dangerous delusions, but say ing them in public and risking being called on it. The “climate” is not one of dangerous anti semitism, but the danger of speaking one’s mind.

Chappelle telegraphed this sentiment with an earlier quip: West, he said “had broken

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the show business rules. You know, the rules of perception. If they’re Black, then it’s a gang. If they’re Italian, it’s a mob, but if they’re Jewish, it’s a coincidence and you should never speak about it.”

The “perception” is that only Jews can’t be spoken of in derogatory terms. Kanye wasn’t wrong for thinking antisemitic thoughts, Chappelle suggests, but, again, speaking about them.

There are lots of jokes made in Hollywood at the expense of Jews. This, however, was not a case of Jews being unable to laugh at ourselves. There’s a difference between laughing at ourselves and having someone who isn’t Jewish use “wink wink” antisemitic tropes.

It’s not that Chappelle’s monologue wasn’t funny on its face, it’s that it was harmful.

This isn’t happening in a vac uum: It’s happening in a spe cific context, particularly one in which antisemitism has already been riled up and emboldened by Kanye and Irving. (Hebrews to Negroes became a bestseller on Amazon after Irving tweeted about it.)

It just takes the wrong kind of person to hear this mono logue for us to experience, God forbid, another Tree of Life shooting.

I didn’t particularly relish the wake of the first shooting when, as the rabbi of a congregation in Rockland County, N.Y., I met with county officials, negotiated police presences, and discussed mass-shooter evasion tactics to ensure the safety of my congre gants.

For anyone who thinks Chappelle’s monologue was “just jokes” or that I am reading too much into it, consider his last line — a bravura complaint about cancel culture and the unspoken forces behind it: “I’ll be honest with you. I’m getting sick of talking to a crowd like this. I love you to death and I thank you for your support. And I hope they don’t take any thing away from me. (ominous voice) Whoever ‘they’ are.”

MaNishtana is the pen name of Shais Rishon, an African American Orthodox rabbi, activist, speaker, and writer. His current project is B'Esh Sh'chorah/In Black Fire: A Commentary and Anthology on the Torah.

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.

JTA-Gili Getz

MaNishtana

UPCOMING EVENTS

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

Thursday, December 1, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. –CABS: Jen Maxfield

Saturday, December 3, 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.PJ Library and Chabad Havdalah Glow, Games and Star Gaze

Sunday, December 4, 2:00 p.m.CABS: Tom Dugan

Thursday, December 15, 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. –Chanukah Luncheon

Sunday, December 18, 6:15 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. –JCC Chanukah on Ice

Thursday, December 22, 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. –Winter Camp Shalom Begins

Monday, December 26, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. –JFS Mitzvah Mission

CHANUKAH

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18

6:15 P.M. - 8:30 P.M.

South Metro Sports

(an indoor facility) 10561 Success Lane Centerville, OH 45458

Come celebrate the first night of Chanukah with the community! We will light the menorah together and enjoy that special Chanukah treat - sufganiyot (donuts). There will be plenty of exciting activities including ice skating, basketball, volleyball, ping-pong, pickleball and cornhole. Come dressed to skate and play! The snack bar at South Metro Sports will be open for additional food and drink sales.

$12 adult / $8 child ages 4-12 Free 3 and under

RSVP by Thursday, December 15 at jewishdayton.org/events. The first 50 families to RSVP will receive a Chanukah gift bag!

Join the JCC, Jewish War Veterans and Hadassah to celebrate Chanukah! There will be Chanukah songs, trivia, and sharing of family stories.

$18.00 includes entertainment and kosher lunch: fresh salad with dressing, tuna salad, egg salad, potato latkes, sour cream and applesauce, bagels, cream cheese, fresh fruit salad, donuts, co ee, and tea.

Participants will be required to sign a Covid waiver to attend the event. Register online at jewishdayton.org/events Questions? Contact Marc Jacob at 937-610-1555 or at mjacob@jfgd.net.

December 22 - January 3 (closed Dec. 26 and Jan. 2) January 16 - MLK Day and February 20 - Presidents’ Day Session and daily rates are available Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd. 45429 Register at app.campdoc.com/register/jccgreaterdayton For more information contact Meryl Hattenbach at mhattenbach@jfgd.net or 937-401-1550

Thursday, December 1, 7:00 p.m.

Livestream at the Wright Library 1776 Far HIlls Ave., Oakwood, OH 45419

Jen Maxfield, “More After the Break; A Reporter Returns to Ten Unforgettable News Stories”

Sunday, December 4, 2:00 p.m.

Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, OH 45459 Cost: $5 adults, students free Tom Dugan, “Wiesenthal”

Wednesday, January 18, 2023, 7:00 p.m. Livestream at the Woodbourne Library 6060 Far Hills Ave., Centerville, OH 45459

Ronald Balson, “An A air of Spies”

Sunday, March 5, 7:00 p.m. Carillon Brewery 1000 Carillon Blvd., Dayton, OH 45409

Cost: $10 person

Dan Grunfeld, “By the Grace of the Game”

Go to jewishdayton.org/events to purchase tickets for in-person events or to register for Zoom events. Contact Marc Jacob at 937-610-1555 or at mjacob@jfgd.net

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 6:30 PM - 8:00 p.m. CHABAD OF GREATER DAYTON (2001 FAR HILLS AVENUE, OAKWOOD 45419)

Boonshoft CJCE 525 Versailles Dr. Dayton, OH 45459 Join us for pizza and hear about the JCC Maccabi experience for Jewish teen athletes! For more information, please contact Meryl Hattenbach at 937-401-1550 or mhattenbach@jfgd.net RSVP by Monday, December 5 at jewishdayton.org/events.

Join Chabad and PJ Library for Havdalah! Gaze at the stars through telescopes, then head inside for Havdalah blessings, interactive games, and a giant popcorn bar! RSVP by Tuesday, November 29 Questions? Contact Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net

Legacies, Tributes, &

IN MEMORY OF › Maxine Rubin

Elaine Bettman

TALA ARNOVITZ FUND

IN HONOR OF

› Matt and Elaine Arnovitz’s first grandchild Joan Isaacson

UKRAINE EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND

IN HONOR OF

› Sue Zulanch’s 80th birthday

Debby and Bob Goldenberg

Ellie and Bob Bernstein

IN HONOR OF

› Randyll Levine’s 62nd birthday

› David Levine’s 26th birthday Saul and Bernice Levine

JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Mona Goodman

John and Tammy Whitt

BETH ABRAHAM FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Susan Schear’s sister-in-law Gail and Stuart Weprin

JOE BETTMAN MEMORIAL TZADIK AWARD

IN MEMORY OF

› Richard “Dick” Moyer

› Rabbi Sheldon Switkin

Todd and Jean Bettman Elaine Bettman

Memorials

IN MEMORY OF › Richard “Rick” Pinsky Todd and Jean Bettman

IN MEMORY OF › Rabbi Shelly Switkin

Mel Caplan

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES DISCRETIONARY FUND

IN MEMORY OF › Maxine Rubin

Je rey and Beverly Kantor Susie and Eddie Katz Melinda Doner

IN MEMORY OF › Rick Pinsky Je rey and Beverly Kantor IN MEMORY OF › Debra Saidel

Susan and Joe Gruenberg IN MEMORY OF › Rabbi Shelly Switkin Mark Mitzman

THE MOYER YOUNG LEADERSHIP AWARD

IN MEMORY OF › Richard “Dick” Moyer

Mr. & Mrs. Stanley J. Katz Marilyn and Larry Klaben Frank and Cathie Dodson

JOAN AND PETER WELLS AND REBECCA

LINVILLE FAMILY, CHILDREN AND YOUTH FUND

IN MEMORY OF › Rick Pinsky

IN HONOR OF › Al and Lou Levin’s birthday Joan and Peter Wells

IN MEMORY OF › Rick Pinsky Barbara Hollander

EARLY CHILDHOOD FUND

IN MEMORY OF › Richard Moyer Joanie Cleary

BEN AND DOROTHY HARLAN CHILDREN’S FUND IN MEMORY OF › Rick Pinsky

A SPEEDY RECOVERY TO › Bruce Feldman Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Harlan

CAROLE RABINOWITZ CAMP FUND IN MEMORY OF › Fred Weber › Rick Pinksky › Stan Brod Bernard Rabinowitz

Classes

Beth Abraham Classes: 10 Mondays, noon, beginning Dec. 5 via Zoom: Kabbalah as Jewish Mystical Experience w. Rabbi Glazer. RSVP. Saturdays, following noon kiddush lunch: Pilgrimage Through the Psalms w. Rabbi Glazer. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Beth Jacob Classes: Sundays, 2 p.m.: Conversion Class w. Rabbi Agar. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Weekly Parsha w. Rabbi Agar. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Jewish Law w. Rabbi Agar. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. bethjacobcong. org. 937-274-2149.

Temple Beth Or Adult Classes: Sundays, 12:30 p.m.: Adult Hebrew. Sat., Dec. 3, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study w. Rabbi Chessin. Thurs., Dec. 8, 7 p.m.: Chai Mitzvah via Zoom. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. temple bethor.com. 937-435-3400.

Temple Israel Classes: Tues days, noon: Talmud Study. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. Wed., Dec. 7, 14, 10 a.m.: Social Justice Torah Commentary w. Rabbi BodneyHalasz. Dorothy Lane Market, Washington Sq., 6177 Far Hills Ave., Wash. Twp. Saturdays,

9:30 a.m., Virtual Torah Study. Sat., Dec. 10, 9:15 a.m.: Hybrid Torah Study. tidayton.org, 937496-0050.

Children & Teens

JCC Winter Camp Shalom: Dec. 22-Jan. 3. Grades K-10. At Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash Twp. For info., contact Meryl Hattenbach, mhatten bach@jfgd.net, 937-401-1550.

Family

PJ Library & Chabad Havdalah Glow, Games & Star Gaze: Sat., Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m. Free. At Chabad, 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. RSVP to jewishday ton.org/events. For info, contact Kate Elder, kelder@jfgd.net.

Maccabi Games Informational Meeting: Wed., Dec. 7, 6 p.m. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. RSVP to Meryl Hattenbach, 937-401-1550.

Temple Israel Prayer & Play: Sat., Dec. 17, 4 p.m. At home of Rabbi Sobo. For info., call 937496-0050.

JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series See Page 19 for schedule.

CALENDAR

Community

Beth Abraham Men’s Club Sun day Brunch Speaker Series: Sundays, 10 a.m. $7. Dec. 4: Earlham College Jewish Studies Chair Elliot Ratzman, Zipporah’s Knife: The Ways of Jewish Anti racism. Dec. 11: Dayton VA Psy chologist Adam Feiner, Exploring Our Innate Need for Connection. RSVP. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Temple Beth Or Artisan Fair & Brisket Lunch: Sun., Dec. 4, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Preorder brisket to go & lunch at templebethor.com. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400.

U.S. & the Holocaust Panel Discussion: Mon., Dec. 5, 7 p.m. Free. Nat'l Museum of the U.S. Air Force, 1100 Spaatz St., Fairborn. Registration required at thinktv.org/USATH-Event.

Temple Israel Ryterband Brunch & Lecture Series: Sun., Dec. 11, 9:45 a.m. $7. Faheem Dawud Curtis-Khidr, Intersec tionality of Jewish History and Other Groups within Inner-City Dayton. 130 Riverside Dr., Day ton. 937-496-0050.

JCRC Volunteer @ The Foodbank: Wed., Dec. 21, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. 56 Armor Pl., Dayton. Sign up at jewishdayton.org/events.

Jewish Family Services Mitz vah Mission: Mon., Dec. 26, 10 a.m. Make scarves, no-sew rag dolls & sack lunches for St. Vin cent de Paul shelters. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Cen terville. For info., call Jacquelyn Archie, 937-610-1555.

Chanukah

Temple Israel Religious School Chanukah Happening: Sun., Dec. 11, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Lunch for purchase. RSVP to educator@ tidayton.org by Dec. 5. 130 River side Dr., Dayton.

Chabad CKids Tie-Dye Chanukah: Sun., Dec. 11, 4 p.m. Free. For kids 5-11. W. dinner. RSVP to rabbilevi@chabaddayton.com. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood.

JCC, Jewish War Veterans & Hadassah Chanukah Lun cheon: Thurs., Dec. 15, 11:30 a.m. $18. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. RSVP to jewishdayton.org/events or 937-610-1555.

Temple Beth Or Chanukah Party: Sun., Dec. 18, noon. Food trucks. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com.

JCC Chanukah on Ice: Sun., Dec. 18, 6:15 p.m. Children 3 & under free, Children 4-12 $8, Adults $12. South Metro Sports, 10561 Success Ln., Centerville. RSVP jewishdayton.org/events.

Chabad Grand Chanukah Community Event: Tues., Dec. 20, 6 p.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. RSVP chabaddayton. com. 937-643-0770.

Chabad Women’s Circle Chanukah Party & Craft Night: Thurs., Dec. 22, 6 p.m. $36. RSVP to dlmdayton@gmail.com. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood.

Beth Jacob Chanukah Program: Sat., Dec. 24, 7 p.m. Free. RSVP by Dec. 23, bethjacob1@ aol.com. 7020 N. Main St., Har rison Twp. 937-274-2149.

Beth Abraham Synagogue Wok N' Roll Chanukah Dinner: Sun., Dec. 25, 5-7 p.m. Adults $10, Children $7. RSVP by Dec. 19 to 937-293-9520. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

RELIGION

U.S. Postal Service unveils Chanukah forever stamp in Ohio

Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative

Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer

Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming

Andrea Raizen

Fridays, Dec. 2, 9, 16, 5 p.m. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 305 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood. 937-293-9520. bethabrahamdayton.org

Beth Jacob Congregation Traditional

Rabbi Leibel Agar

Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. Evening minyans upon request. 7020 N. Main St., Dayton. 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org

Temple Anshe Emeth Reform

As a child of a Holocaust survivor, Helen Ostreicher Halcomb always thought about the millions of European Jews who weren’t afforded a proper funeral or burial. It compelled her to dedicate her life to preparing people for their eternal rest and protecting our cemeteries for generations to come.

Even without having anyone buried in one of our local Jewish cemeteries, Helen got involved with the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton campaign because she believed we needed to take care of our own. “I saw the need, not only in Dayton, but throughout the country in other small Jewish communities. It’s wonderful that Dayton is being proactive and preparing for our future,” said Helen.

“The thought that our cemeteries would go unattended was frightening,” continued Helen. “I wanted to guarantee that I’ve done all that I could to help people find their perfect peace.”

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.

By Howard Blas, JNS

American Judaica artist Jeanette Kuvin Oren is well-known for her work in many media. She designs Torah mantles, ark curtains, wed ding canopies, marriage contracts, papercuts, stained glass, and nearly any ritual object or decoration a synagogue, Jewish home or family would ever need.

On Oct. 20, Kuvin Oren added “designer of a U.S. Postal Service stamp” to her impressive résumé. The Hanukkah Forever postage stamp is based on one of Kuvin Oren’s works.

“Jeanette’s art came to my attention several years ago and I am very happy to be able to bring her work to a very wide audience,” Ethel Kessler of Kessler Design, who serves as art director for stamps at the USPS, said. “Her work has a glowing and joyful spirit and that’s what I wanted to add to our U.S. Chanukah series.”

A first-day-of-issue dedication cer emony for the stamp was held Oct. 20 at Temple Emanu El in Orange Village, an eastern suburb of Cleve land. This year, Chanukah begins on the evening of Dec. 18.

“Stamps are a joy for me to art di rect," Kessler added. "What it entails is getting familiar with people across the country who are making inter esting art that can be used at stamp size.”

According to the USPS, “The stamp art features the design from an original wall-hanging. The fiber art was hand-dyed, appliquéed and quilted to form an abstract image of a Chanukiah (Chanukah menorah).”

The stamp is being issued in panes of 20. It will always be equal in value to the current First Class Mail oneounce price (currently 60 cents).

“First class mail may have dropped off in the past decade," Kessler said. "But we still print over 10 million Chanukah celebration stamps.”

Kuvin Oren has now received an education in stamp collecting and stamp releases. She said the firstday-of-issue dedication ceremony took place in Cleveland because the USPS wanted it to be in the Midwest. And Emanu El was enthu siastic to host.

She has also learned that the stamp date and location will appear on every 63/4-inch envelope with the state and date of issue and location. Stamp collectors traditionally go to the post office to buy new stamps, put them on a white blank envelope, and mail them for a first-day-of-issue cancellation. These are known as first-day covers. Many aficionados also collect cachets, an illustration usually on the left side of the enve lope.

“The USPS doesn’t create a cachet so it is up to the artist or a dealer to create one. It is a nice souvenir for the first day of issue, so I created my own,” Kuvin Oren said.

She lives in Woodbridge, Conn. and Jerusalem. “I sent a piece 30 years ago to the USPS and always had a dream of being on a stamp— this is the culmination of a lifelong dream," Kuvin Oren says. "I am very honored and it is very emotional to see my artwork there. It is something Continued on Page 23

Sat., Dec. 17, 10 a.m. w. Rabbinic Intern Anna Burke 320 Caldwell St., Piqua. Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, ansheemeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org

Temple Beth Or Reform

Fridays, 6:30 p.m. 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 Fri., Dec. 2, 6 p.m. Fridays, Dec. 9, 16, 23, 30, 6:30 p.m. Sat., Dec. 10, 10:30 a.m. 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. 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.

‘I don’t want our cemeteries to be like the cemeteries of Europe.’

— Helen Ostreicher Halcomb

Preserving our Past Ensuring Our Future

Jeanette Kuvin Oren presents her Hanukkah Forever postage stamp at Temple Emanu El in Orange Village, Ohio, Oct. 20

'This is the culmination of a lifelong dream.'

RELIGION

so historical.”

Kuvin Oren explains that a small wall hanging of her stamp will hang in the National Postal Museum in Washing ton. “It will be Chanukah forever!”

The artist, a graduate of Princeton and Yale universities, has also complet ed a master’s degree in public health and most of her doctorate in epidemiol ogy.

Since deciding in 1984 to work on commissioned art and graphic design full time, she has created installation pieces for more than 400 houses of wor ship, schools, community centers, and camps worldwide.

She specializes in large installations of glass, mosaic, metal, fiber art, callig raphy, paper-cutting, and painting. Her

Torah covers, ark covers, ark curtains and wall hangings may be seen in homes and Jewish institutions around the world.

Kuvin Oren shares with great ex citement a donor recognition art wall project she recently worked on for a synagogue in Miami. She has also shared her talents close to home—at her synagogue, Congregation B’nai Jacob in Woodbridge. During the Covid pan demic, she helped create a video of de parted members of the synagogue; the faces of each person were incorporated into the video, which was shown as part of the Yizkor memorial service.

Kuvin Oren plans to use the Chanu kah postage stamps on the invitations to the wedding of one of her daughters, which will take place in March 2023.

Temple Israel launches support group for new Jews by choice

Temple Israel invites those in the Mi ami Valley who are new Jews by choice to join its new support group, New-ish to Being Jewish. It's also open to those who would like to learn more about Jewish customs and traditions.

New-ish to Being Jewish is led by Temple Israel congregant Tom Bain bridge and the temple's adult education committee. Its first program, Making Chanukah Happen, was held Nov. 16.

"It takes a long time for someone to become fully comfortable with Jew ish tradition and culture, especially for someone raised in another faith," Temple Israel Senior Rabbi Karen

Bodney-Halasz noted.

"This series of discussions will support a wide range of community members: those who are curious about Judaism, returning to Judaism, convert ing to Judaism, raising Jewish children, or sharing Judaism with loved ones," she added. "Our upcoming 'how-to' classes will serve as an introduction to the celebration of Jewish life and pro vide support and guidance for those in interfaith relationships."

For information about attending upcoming events, contact Bainbridge at 937-620-4466 or thomasbain bridge5751@gmail.com.

December

Kislev/Tevet

Shabbat Candle Lightings

December 2, 4:55 p.m.

December 9, 4:54 p.m.

December 16, 4:55 p.m.

December 23, 4:59 p.m.

December 30, 5:03 p.m.

Torah Portions

December 3: Vayetze (Gen. 28:10-32:3)

December 10

Vayishlach (Gen. 32:4-36:43)

December 17

Vayeshev (Gen. 37:1-40:23)

December 24: Miketz (Gen. 41:1-44:17; Num. 28:9-15; Num. 7:42-47)

December 31

Vayigash (Gen. 44:18-47:27)

Chanukah • Dec. 19-26, 25 Kislev-2 Tevet

Eight-day holiday commemorating Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks and the miracle of the rededication of the Temple. One day’s oil for the Temple Menorah lasted eight days. A chanukiah (menorah) is lit for eight nights, and latkes (potato pancakes) are fried in oil to commemorate the story.

Children play with dreidels, and gifts are exchanged.

Beth Abraham, Dayton’s only Conservative synagogue, is enthusiastically egalitarian and is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

For a complete schedule of our programs, go to bethabrahamdayton.org.

Our New Kabbalat Shabbat Services

Something for Everyone • Fridays, 5 p.m.

Our popular Kabba-Lotsa-Fun-Shabbat on Zoom, Dec. 23

At the 2012 Diamond Jubilee celebration of Queen Elizabeth II, one ceremonial address was given by a representative of the Jewish community, Viv ian Wineman. He included the traditional Jewish bless ing, wishing her majesty well "until 120." Amused, the queen

optimistically looking to the future and fully engaging in the world of the moment.

Perhaps l'chaim is also why every year we reread the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac. By ritualizing death, we are spurred to embrace life, sug gests Rabbi Joel Sisenwine.

After all, who has ever had a brush with death and not returned to life with renewed vigor and sense of purpose?

In this spirit, Victor Frankl advises, “So live as if you were living already for the second time.”

olam), divine judgment, and a future Messianic Age are the explicit objectives of looking to the future.

Presence evokes family and community, meaningful en deavors, and opportunities to make a difference, all elements of life addressed by the biblical commandments and engage ment in Jewish living.

Early in the book of Num bers, the 12 wealthy tribal princes of Israel squeeze all of their tribes’ donations to the Tabernacle into just six wag ons. It would have been easier with 12, but there’s a message here. Life isn’t about ease; it’s about purpose.

looked quizzically at Prince Philip, observed Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, neither having ever heard that expression.

While the number first appears in Genesis as the limit of a human lifetime, the queen later learned, its status as a blessing originates with Moses about whom the To rah remarks, “Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyes were undimmed and his strength undiminished.”

“L’chaim! It’s the quintes sential Jewish greeting, Jew ish toast, Jewish hope, Jewish saying,” writes Rabbi Amy Perlin. And it embodies the two essential qualities of Moses with which Jews bless others:

Modern psychology has un covered some interesting paral lels with the Jewish perspective. Research shows that looking to the future creates an emotional target, a destination that gives us purpose, notes Wharton psychologist Adam Grant.

Research also reveals the psychological benefits of being in the moment: greater happi ness and excitement about life as well as feelings of security and a sense of self.

As Medium's Kylie Fuller writes, “Presence anchors us to the now.”

Thousands of years ago, Judaism developed around those same themes. The notions of repairing the world (tikun

Young or old, each of us must live life to the fullest by giving of ourselves, sharing our unique talents, making every moment count in order to justify the gift that is life. That’s the message of these stories.

Thursdays with Chaim. For decades, as his kids were born and his job grew, Yaa kov would busily nod to his neighbor Chaim, calling out “Good morning!” One day, Yaakov decided to ask Chaim to be his study partner. “Of course! That’s a wonderful idea,” Chaim said. “When shall we start?”

And so it began. Every Thursday, Chaim arrived promptly on Yaakov’s door step, and as they studied together, a strong friendship

developed. Thursday became their favorite day of the week.

Then Yaakov heard Chaim was in the hospital. The next day, he headed over. “Chaim, what on earth are you doing here?” “Me? What are you doing here?” “Chaim…it’s Thursday.” And they picked up where they’d left off. The next evening Chaim passed away.

As Yaakov returned home after the funeral, he looked over at Chaim’s house, images of their times together making him smile. But there could have been so many more.

Red ribbon-blue ribbon. When Daniel visited his moth er, they naturally gravitated to the care facility’s large, welllit social hall. Surrounded by silent, unsmiling, fading people with thousand-yard stares, Daniel wondered how he could make a difference.

“Ahem… Ladies… I am desperate for advice,” Daniel called out one day—in Yiddish. “It has to do with keeping an evil eye away from a child.” Heads popped up and turned toward him, eyes alight. “My mother suggests it’s neces sary to pin a colored ribbon on the child’s undergarment.

But she doesn’t remember the color, so I have selected a blue one. Is this correct?”

One ancient woman ap proached, squinting and purs ing her lips. “Vos has du gezukt? A blaue bandl fur an ahora? S’iz ganz meshiga. Nur a rote bandl!” she said disdainfully, loosely translated as “Moron! Are you for real? What kind of an idiot would use a blue ribbon against the evil eye? That’s ridiculous! It’s absolutely man datory to use red ribbons.”

The room of 23 women all began to talk at once, anima tedly arguing ribbon colors and then moving on to more efficient evil-eye techniques — all from asking for a bit of advice. After that, every time he walked into the social hall, they all waited expectantly for Daniel to ask them for their help. And he never disappoint ed them.

Epilogue. Routine tests un expectedly revealed a spot on Melvin’s lung. Possibly cancer. Scheduled for a more defini tive test in a few weeks, Melvin began to plan.

First, he quit his job, and then began traveling to places he’d always wanted to visit, especially Israel.

He scheduled frequent trips to visit the children and grand children, set up lunch dates with friends, and set to writing an ethical will as his legacy.

When the results came back showing the spot was benign scar tissue, Melvin was elated. And yet, having made plans for a last year filled with passion and joy and creativity, he was just a bit disappointed.

And an unsettling question continued to haunt him: What’s stopping me from doing all those things I was going to do if I was going to die? Why do I have to wait? L’chaim!

An Affair of Spies by Ronald Balson. The son of a prominent German scientist, Nathan Silverman is sent to America in the aftermath of Kristallnacht. Hoping for a chance to fight the Nazis, he enlists in the military and is quickly selected for a special project. Together with a brilliant Frenchspeaking scientist, he is to smuggle a German physicist out of Europe to give America an edge in the race to develop a nuclear weapon. A tale of love, heroism, and action-packed espionage, this historical thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat.

A Snake, A Flood, A Hidden Baby: Bible Stories for Children by Meir Shalev. From the whimsical illustrations to the in viting and humorous narrative, this retelling of six popular tales from the Bible is sure to appeal to children and adults alike. Values of gratitude, honesty, hospitality, kindness and more come to life, as do the consequences of choices both good and bad. An absolute winner, and highly recom mended especially for the primary ages.

Wedding Ceremony by Issachar Ber Ryback

Dan Phillips was elected Butler County Juvenile Court Judge. Dan grew up in the Englewood/Clayton area and is the son of Stan and Sue Phillips. Dan has been with the Butler County Prosecutor's Office since 2006. Currently, he lives in West Chester with his wife, Sarah, a pediatric psy chologist at Dayton Children's Hospital, and their daughters Ellie and Sophie. Dan's term begins in January 2023. Dr. Martin Jacobs received the Radiologist Excellence Award at the 13th Annual Greater Dayton Imaging Professionals Recognition Event, Nov. 10 at the Sinclair Ponitz Center. Marty is a nuclear medicine physician with more than 40 years in the field.

Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@jfgd.net.

Happy Chanukah

DAYTON HADASSAH

937-275-0227

P.O.Box 292815 Dayton, OH 45429

Hadassahdayton@gmail.com

This fried Filipino delicacy is perfect for Chanukah

By Abby Ricarte, The Nosher

There's no question that the most delicious, comforting reci pes are the simplest, especially if they come with a bushel of history and soul. My Jewish husband Miki’s grandmother, Grandma Esta, made the best brisket I’ve ever tasted. I know that these might be fighting words, but hear me out. It was complex, sweet and tender — everything that Grandma Esta embodied. I was honored that she passed down her recipe to me, but also surprised that the world’s best brisket could pretty much be made only with carrots and onions.

My own Filipina mother makes the best lumpia. Hands

down. World’s best, even.

Lumpia is a Filipino spring roll filled with meat or veg etables, rolled skillfully and fried to golden perfection. My earliest food memories include platters of lumpia at family par ties with relatives raving while inhaling as my mom basked in the compliments. Prepar ing for parties typically meant that my mom would make the filling ahead of time. Eventu ally, I would lose many of my weekend mornings to hours of rolling lumpia for her in front of that never-ending bowl of filling. I had no idea what was in the filling. It wasn’t until I was an adult, throwing my own parties, that I was able to pull back the curtain on the mysteri ous, world’s best lumpia recipe and call my mom to just ask.

When I have leftover brisket in my fridge and guests coming over, my first thought is: let’s turn this into lumpia! Lumpia is always a crowd-pleaser and easy to fry ahead and serve at room temperature.

My brisket lumpia was merely a quick Filipinx/Jew ish experiment, but it tasted so wonderfully familiar. I had for gotten that my mom’s lumpia recipe is really mostly carrots and onions just like Grandma Esta’s brisket. As I look forward to creating my own special Jew ish home with my husband, I’m comforted by these unexpected connections between his family and my own.

Note: You can find spring roll pastry for this recipe in the freezer aisle at Asian food markets. It is similar to phyllo dough, but not the same as egg roll wrappers.

1 lb. ground beef

1 cup raw walnuts

2 yellow onions, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped 1 tsp. of salt (plus more to taste)

1 packet spring roll pastry (found in the freezer aisle at Asian grocery stores—simi lar to phyllo dough)

2 Tbsp. neutral oil (i.e., avo cado, grapeseed, vegetable) plus about ½ cup more for shallow frying Store-bought sweet chili sauce for dipping

1. In a food processor, add walnuts, onions, and carrot. Pulse until finely minced.

2. In a large wok or sauté pan on medium high heat, heat two tablespoons of oil. Add vegetable mixture and sauté for two minutes.

3. Add ground beef to the pan and combine thoroughly. Cook until beef is just about brown and there is no more red. Add salt to taste. Remove the filling from the pan and set aside to cool.

4. Roll the lumpia. Place a single pastry sheet onto a cut ting board or clean counter. Point one corner toward you so that the sheet is positioned like a diamond. Add about two teaspoons of the cooled filling to the lower triangle that is clos est to you.

Use your fingers to shape the filling into a log. Pull the bottom corner up and over the filling and roll tightly, tucking in the sides like a burrito.

5. Use a dab of water on your finger to seal the final edge. Repeat and roll the rest of the lumpia.

6. Add enough oil to a large wok or pan on medium high heat so that it reaches about a half inch from the bottom of the pan. Gently heat the oil and fry the lumpia until golden brown.

Serve lumpia with a side of sweet chili sauce for dipping.

Brisket lumpia

Apple Piroshki for dessert

Airy fried buns with an apple-caramel filling

By Sonya Sanford

The Nosher

Piroshki are a popular pastry in Eastern Europe. It's a catch-all term for a variety of stuffed pastries, often oval in shape. You’ll find piroshki that are fried or baked, made with yeast-leavened dough, puff pastry, or shortcrust pastry. They can be savory or sweet, and common fillings include sautéed cabbage, mashed potato with caramelized onion, and sweet apple.

When piroshki are made with fried yeasted dough, they are akin to a donut. Chanukah is my favorite time of year to make apple piroshki.

This dough recipe is similar in its ingredients and methods to sufganiyot. What makes piro shki different is that the filling is added before the dough is fried. Like sufganiyot, piroshki benefit from a generous shower of pow dered sugar before serving.

Note: You can use this recipe to make a baked version (in structions below).

For the dough:

1¼ cup warm milk

2¼ tsp. (1 packet) active dry yeast

2 Tbsp. sugar

4 Tbsp. (½ stick) butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp. kosher salt

3¾ -4 cups all-purpose flour, start with less and add more flour if needed

1 liter neutral oil for frying (e.g., sunflower, canola, or vegetable)

For the filling:

2½ lbs. (about 6-7) apples (Crimson, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or any baking apple)

½ cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon big pinch of salt

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Start by making the dough. Warm the milk so that it is warm to the touch, but not sim mering (between 90-110 de grees). Combine the warm milk with the yeast and sugar. Allow the yeast to activate and become foamy for five to 10 minutes.

Add the flour to a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, or to a large bowl if making the dough by hand.

Start with 3¾ cups of flour; if you later find the dough too sticky as you are kneading, add more flour one spoonful at a time. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add the melted cooled butter, egg, egg yolk, and salt to the well in the flour. Then add the milk and yeast mixture. Combine the wet and the dry in gredients on the mixer’s lowest setting, or gently by hand.

Once the ingredients are combined and start to form a ball, increase the speed on the mixer to medium, or transfer the dough to a flat surface and begin to knead the dough. The dough will be very sticky, espe cially at first, but as you knead it will become smoother. Knead the dough until silky, soft, and smooth, about 5-6 minutes in the mixer, or 10 minutes by hand. The dough will slightly stick to the sides of the bowl, but will easily form a smooth, soft ball in your hands. Once the dough is kneaded, transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and place in a warm part of the kitchen; allow the dough to rise for 1-1½ hours or until doubled in size. While the dough is rising, make your filling.

To make the filling, start by peeling and coring the apples. Dice them small, and add them to a bowl. Combine them with sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Add them to a deep skillet or large pot, and cook them on medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until soft ened and most of the liquid has evaporated. The mixture will start to look like apple pie fill ing, the liquid will thicken and become syrupy, and the apples will be golden brown. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.

Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it into 16 equal-sized pieces. To do so, form the dough into a rectangle, divide it into four equal parts, and then divide each section

into four again. For uni formity, weigh each piece. Form each piece into a ball, and cover with a clean kitchen towel so they do not dry out as you work.

On a lightly floured sur face, form the piroshki by rolling each ball into a thin circle, about 4 to 5 inches in diameter. Add 1½ table spoons of filling into the center of the circle of dough. Fold the dough upward toward the center, equally on each side, and pinch the piroshki firmly closed along the top forming them into a sealed oval shape.

Place the formed piroshki onto the parchment-lined bak ing sheets seam-side down, eight per sheet with 2 to 3 inches between each pastry. Cover the piroshki with loose plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise again, for 30 minutes.

While the dough is rising for the second time, preheat your oil for frying (if baking, see instructions below). Fill a heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven with 2 to 3 inches of oil. Use a candy thermometer to make sure the oil is at 350 degrees. If you do not have a thermometer, you will know the oil is ready when you place the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil and small bubbles form around the spoon; if the dough is brown ing too quickly, lower the oil slightly as needed.

Once the piroshki have risen a second time you can begin frying or baking. Fry the piroshki in batches of two to three at a time; be careful not to crowd them. Place the piroshki seam-side down into the oil and fry for 40 to 50 seconds on each side, until they are golden brown all over. Transfer to a paper towel-lined rack or sheet pan. Once they are done, allow to cool 10 to 15 minutes. Sprin kle with powdered sugar just before serving.

For baked piroshki, after the piroshki have risen a second time, beat an egg with a splash of water. Brush the piroshki with the egg wash, and then bake them for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, rotate the baking sheets and bake for another eight to 10 minutes, or until the piroshki are evenly golden brown on all sides. Transfer to a rack to cool slightly, and serve warm or at room temperature. These are best eaten fresh, but can last two to three days if warmed up before serving.

The Beth Or Brisketeers are back.

perature, just to heat it through. And that's when it gets really tender and the sauce is embed ded into it."

By Marshall Weiss The Observer

It began with their entry in Chabad's Kosher Brisket Cook-Off in April 2013.

Members of Temple Beth Or decided to put together a team.

"Heath Gilbert contacted a couple of us and said, 'Hey, you want to do this?'

Scott Segalewitz says. "It was Heath, David Char, and me."

Scott thought their team should have a name. He had custom aprons made up proclaiming themselves the Beth Or Brisketeers. They also won first place in the cook-off.

And since December 2014, their prize-winning recipe has lured carnivorous customers to Temple Beth Or's Chanukah Bazaar — so much so that the annual event was renamed Temple Beth Or's Artisan Fair and Brisket Lunch.

That first year, head Bris keteer Scott says, his team prepared about 60 pounds of brisket.

"Today, we're doing 300 pounds. It always sells out."

Even in the middle of Covid, the Brisketeers of fered drive-up takeout.

Scott's pro tip: preorder at templebethor.com. "If you want to be sure that you get it, do that. A lot of people are ordering by the pound. We have one person that gets eight pounds, and they hold it for the family for Chanu

kah."

This year's Temple Beth Or Artisan Fair and Brisket Lunch will be held Sunday, Dec. 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Scott says they'll sell nearly half of their brisket by the pound. That's in addition to those who will buy brisket sandwiches and combo platters at the event, which will feature more than 30 vendors. The sandwiches and platters may be preordered too.

"We'll close the kitchen about 2 o'clock or when the brisket sells out, whichever comes first.

We've had years when we've sold out by 1 o'clock, 12:30."

The Brisketeers' recipe is based on Kansas City Barbe cued Brisket, which Jewish food maven Joan Nathan included in her seminal 1998 cookbook, Jewish Cooking in America

The recipe — along with all recipes in Nathan's cookbooks — is kosher. Temple Beth Or's kitchen and the food available at its Artisan Fair and Brisket Lunch are not.

Nathan gives credit for the recipe to Marsha Pinson of Kansas. Scott says he has adapted and continues to develop the recipe.

As Jews across the Miami Valley start thinking about their Chanukah menus, Scott shares some Brisketeer insider tips:

• "Brisket is such a tough meat that you have to cook it low and slow."

• "Trim off as much of the fat as possible. The fat

doesn't add much flavor and it just prevents the seasonings from getting into the meat."

• "When you're trimming the fat, we also separate the point and the flat. (We use whole packers that include the flat and the point.) With the point, you have the grain going in one direction and with the flat, it's going in another direction. If you don't separate it, when you're cutting through it, half you're going with the grain, half you're going against the grain. You always want to cut against the grain."

• "When we pull the briskets out after five hours, we'll get rid of all the liquid that's in there, slice it up, and add the sauce at that point. Then we'll wrap it back up, put it in the trays and in the fridge. It's a cooked brisket, still a little bit on the tough side. It stays over night in the fridge and the next day, we'll pull it out and put it back in the oven at a low tem

• "You've got to use a really sharp slicing knife, 16-inch, 18-inch knives for slicing meat. Some people try to use an electric slicer, and that just shreds it."

Along with the brisket, Temple Beth Or also sells homemade chopped chicken liver prepared by congregants Ellen Lauber, Helen Mark man, and Ellen Holroyd.

Ellen Holroyd says she preps the onions, and Ellen Lauber and Helen Markman prepare the liver and combine the ingredients. The chicken livers are sourced from a local poultry farm.

"We have a lot of fun," she says, though the chopped liv er team hasn't come up with a name. Last year, they sold 23 pounds of chopped liver, by the half pound.

In the spirit of Chanukah — but without giving away Brisketeer trade secrets — here is the Kansas City Barbecued Brisket recipe from Joan Na than's Jewish Cooking in America (Knopf).

1 5-to-6-lb. brisket of beef ¼ cup liquid smoke

3 medium chopped onions

1 garlic clove, peeled and halved Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 16-oz. bottle ketchup

½ cup water

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. dry mustard or 1½ Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 tsp. celery seasoning (optional)

6 Tbsp. pareve margarine

1. Wash and dry the brisket and sprinkle with two table spoons of the liquid smoke. Wrap in heavy duty aluminum foil and marinate overnight.

2. The next day, open the foil, sprinkle on the chopped onions, garlic, and pepper. Re wrap everything in the foil and bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for five hours.

3. Meanwhile, combine the remaining two tablespoons liquid smoke, the brown sugar, ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, celery season ing, margarine, and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes.

4. Remove the foil, slice the brisket thinly, and pour the sauce over all. Raise the oven to 350 degrees and reheat, cov ered, for 30 minutes. Yields 10 servings.

Scott Segalewitz

The Brisketeers' Kansas City Barbecued Brisket

Temple Beth Or

Temple Beth Or Brisketeers' 2019 lineup in the temple kitchen (L to R): Scot Denmark, Marc Siegel, Scott Segalewitz, Jake Elder, Gregory Geiser, Ed Wolf, Dave London, Bill Fried, Neil Kahn. Not pictured: Mark Gruenberg, Corky Katz, Dr. Mike Halasz.

Some insider hacks ahead of their big day, Dec. 4

Playwright/actor brings Wiesenthal back to life

By Ari L. Noonan Jewish Journal (Los Angeles)

Simon Wiesenthal — histo ry’s most successful pursuer of Nazis,who brought almost 1,100 criminals to justice — lives again in playwright and actor Tom Dugan’s talented hands. Dugan has been per forming his one-person play, Wiesenthal, around the world since 2009. And last year, he published a book based on the play. He'll bring Wiesen thal the play and the book to Dayton on Dec. 4 as part of the JCC's Cultural Arts and Book Series.

To quote the book: “Wiesen thal was a Polish Jewish Holo caust survivor, Nazi hunter and writer. After World War II, he dedicated his life to the search for and legal prosecution of Nazi criminals, and to the pro motion of Holocaust memory and education.”

Wiesenthal died at the age of 96 in 2005; Dugan polishes the Nazi hunter's unprecedented accomplishments to a brilliant gloss.

The JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series presents Tom Dugan in Wiesenthal, 2 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 4 at the Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. $5 adults, students free. Register at jewishdayton.org/events.

How a nice Irish Catholic boy from New Jersey came to bring a broad, intense focus to a modern-day Jewish hero is also fascinating.

“Writing about Wiesenthal resonated with me,” Dugan said, “because of the impor tant lessons my father taught me and also because my wife, Amy, and our two boys, Eli and Miles, are Jewish.

“My father’s generation did a great job of passing down to my generation the valuable lessons of the Holocaust. It was incumbent on me to pass those lessons to later genera tions. Writing and performing Wiesenthal is my way of doing that.”

Dugan’s father, a World War II veteran, “was a liberator,” the author said. “I have always had

the idea of honoring his par ticipation in the war. When Wiesenthal passed away in 2005, I immediately started asking people, ‘Would you see a play about Simon Wiesenthal?’ The answer was ‘yes’ in every case. So I figured I had something.”

Dugan writes that “toler ance plays a big part in my life. Teaching the value of tolerance was, I believe, Simon Wiesenthal’s greatest achievement.”

Wiesenthal the book is a photo-laden volume en hanced by a study guide and questions that can serve as educational tools for teachers and students.

Not that this happened overnight. Two years of re search and one year of writing built the script. The book was published by Deborah Herman of Bashert Books, Stockbridge, Mass.

Herman, Dugan’s collabora tor, said she fell in love with Wiesenthal the play shortly after it debuted off-Broadway in No vember 2014. “After the play, I told Tom ‘If you ever want to do a book, call me,’” she said. “Hopped right on it,” Dugan cracked. “Called her five years later,” in 2019, not long before Covid-19 exploded. Through out the pandemic, Herman and Dugan spent their southern

California-to-Massachusetts days on Zoom. “I am so impressed by his attention to detail,” Herman said.

“His entire career was about the future, not the past,” Dugan added, “how the lessons we have learned from the Holo caust must be applied today. The most important message is that people cannot understand the evil that the Nazis repre sented until they can recognize the potential for evil in them selves. That is tough for people to swallow.”

Dugan said teaching was a crucial Wiesenthal contribution to society. “Nazi hunting was heroic and necessary,” he ac knowledged. “But as a teacher of the psychology of man, and of sociology, that was Wiesen thal’s most valuable legacy. He

broke down how these things could have happened in an un derstandable, human way that the masses can wrap their head around in present times.”

Wiesenthal talked about “the human savage,” Dugan said.

“When Wiesenthal said we must recognize the human sav age in ourselves, that’s a tough pill to swallow. People get very offended. ‘There is nothing in me that would be in a Nazi,’ they say. ‘Nazis are monsters.’

My answer is, ‘Monsters are make-believe. Nazis were real. They were human beings.’

People don’t like to hear that. The danger is that if you make the Nazis like vampires, there is no danger there. The savage inside of us is very real. Unless you look at it and understand it, you might be moved by it.”

Tom Dugan in his play, Wiesenthal

Spielberg’s very Jewish memoir film The Fabelmans one of his career's best

By Jordan Hoffman, Times of Israel

In a recent interview with The Hol lywood Reporter, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Tony Kushner explained how the Fabelmans, the central family in Steven Spielberg’s new film, got their name.

“Spielberg means play-mountain,” Kushner said. “Spieler is an actor in Yid dish, and a spiel can be speech or can be a play. I’ve always thought how wild that this guy is this great once-in-acentury storyteller who would be called Spielberg, play-mountain.”

Continuing this thought, he swapped spiel with fabel, the German word for fable, which perfectly describes how this memoir film from Steven Spielberg isn’t strict autobiography. It’s highly unlikely that a high school-aged genius promised someone that he’d forever keep something secret “unless I make a movie about it someday.” That would just be too perfect.

The Fabelmans represents Kushner’s fourth collaboration with Spielberg — but the first time that the legendary director has taken a co-writing credit.

Indeed, throughout his vast career, Spielberg has almost always delegated the business of getting the words on the page to someone else. But this time he isn’t focusing his camera outward to be nign space aliens or an adventuresome archeologist, or even toward Normandy Beach or Nazi concentration camps, but inward — not only to the peculiar history of his own family, but also to his growth as an artist and a person. It is a remarkable work of cinema, one of the best movies of the year, and unlike anything else in this innovator’s incom parable career.

The two-and-a-half-hour picture zooms by, misdirecting at first to ap pear like a collection of remembered childhood episodes in the spirit of Federico Fellini’s Amarcord or Woody Allen’s Radio Days. It emerges out the other end not just an examination of storytelling, or even a celebration of it, but a solemnization.

The film’s climax, a pretzel of conflicted emotion, positions young Sammy Fabelman becoming aware of his superpower: knowing how to think

cinematically, to express himself in im ages and editing. But he is still utterly perplexed, even daunted, by this talent. And he is unable to predict how people will react to the magnitude of his work. Mind you, at this stage in his ca reer he is only making home movies. But there’s a lot going on in his home. The older brother to three sisters, Sam (played at first as a wide-eyed boy by Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, then as a more self-assured and sharp teen by the terrific Gabriel LaBelle), is first to discover that there is discord in his parents’ marriage.

His movie camera is a microscope, and by examining the edges of the frame, he puts together that his mother (an astoundingly good Michelle Wil liams) and his “Uncle” Benny (Seth Rogen) are very much in love. More over, his father (Paul Dano) remains unaware.

What everyone else is aware of, however, is that Mom (Mitzi) is one of those larger-than-life people — a center of gravity who commands atten tion in whatever room (or around any campfire) she is in. It is a special type of woman that can inspire a child, later

‘A little bit of light pushes away a lot of darkness.’ Happy Chanukah

Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy Fabelman in The Fabelmans, co-written, produced, and directed by Steven Spielberg.

in life, to create a cinematic love let ter even when, let’s get down to it, she did abandon her family to follow her dreams. It is also indicative of the level of maturity and nuance in this elegantly observed story.

Writing teachers often speak of creat ing something universal by highlighting the specific. For many North Ameri can Jews, however, the details in The Fabelmans will jump out. Beyond noting theirs is the only “dark” house on Christmas, aside from Mitzi referring to herself as mamelah or calling her chil dren “dahlink” in a half-kidding way — or by ignoring her mother-in-law’s “this is brisket?” chides — there’s the un spoken, mostly benign us-against-them defense a Jewish family takes on in a non-Jewish environment. “Let’s leave the family mishegas (craziness) at home” the kids decide as they prep for a new day among antisemitic bullies.

There’s also the one proudly Christian girl at school who feels she can save Sam’s soul through necking, which the hor monal teen is not above leaning into. Her bed room wall is plastered with pictures of the pop music and film stars of the day alongside images of Jesus. There’s also the young Bob Dylan, but back then very few knew the earnest folkie was actually named Zimmerman.

There aren’t any bar mitzvah scenes (though certainly some opening of Chanukah gifts), but Judaism saturates this movie. I’d need to consult Lenny Bruce’s legendary Jewish/Goyish rou tine, but Mitzi setting out dinner on pa per plates on a giant paper tablecloth so she can wrap it all up in a ball and have a clean dining room in 15 seconds is just using some sechel (common sense). The official excuse is that she is a pianist, and needs to watch after her fingers.

Mitzi’s gift at music is an only-hint ed-at tragedy in the story, one of her roads not taken. She gave up play ing for family — a family she adores, including her husband, whom she

recognizes is unbearably kind. She con fesses that when she is at times cruel to him “he buys me a dress.” After a beat, “from Saks,” she adds, reminding us, again, that details are everything.

This may sound like an enormous therapy session for Spielberg, and while that no doubt is part of it, for us in the audience it’s also a tremendous amount of fun.

Much of the movie is racing around, making 8mm adventure films (or col lecting the Arizona scorpions to trade in for cash to buy the film). There’s also plenty that shows the tactile way in which movies were once made. Kids with their iPhones will be amazed to see the razor blades and glue. There are plenty of laughs, because that’s part of growing up, even with (or maybe espe cially with) all the tears.

Judd Hirsch appears in a key scene as Yiddish sage, Great Uncle Boris, to lay out some hard truths about art and sacrifice, and while there’s nothing in his speech you haven’t heard a hundred times before, there is a declara tive significance in hear ing it told in this setting. Spielberg’s Version of the Gospel of Art. Hirsch, Jeannie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, and, oddly, David Lynch, are some of the voices who come in during clutch sequences.

I’ve seen The Fabelmans twice now and the thing I can’t get over is just how cleverly it all snaps into place. What’s also impressive is what it doesn’t do. There’s no corny foreshadowing of fu ture Spielberg tropes — nothing about a shark at the beach, or interplanetary lights in the sky, or the crack of a whip. There is, however, an abundant respect for the power of images.

It took Spielberg 50 years to make this movie. He’s instinctively known where to put his camera and how to draw out performances this whole time. It turns out one of the best stories he had to tell was by shooting what was in the mirror.

A Local Perspective on The U.S. and the Holocaust

We are honored to welcome the Co-Director who will discuss the making of the documentary, one of the documentary’s key scholars, and two local Daytonians who will share their families’ stories of the Holocaust.

Virtual Panelists: Sarah Botstein, Co-Director, Florentine Films

Rebecca Erbelding, Author, “Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe”

Local Panelists: Renate Frydman, Ph.D. Curator, Prejudice & Memory: A Holocaust Exhibit National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

Eleanor Hambury Must Holocaust Survivor Moderator: Marshall Weiss Editor & Publisher, The Dayton Jewish Observer Project Director, Miami Valley Jewish Genealogy & History

One of the best movies of the year, and unlike anything else in this innovator's incomparable career.

From left: Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams), Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano), Natalie Fabelman (Keeley Karsten), Reggie Fabelman (Julia Butters), and Lisa Fabelman (Sophia Kopera) in The Fabelmans.

Sarah Botstein

Rebecca Erbelding

Eleanor Hambury Must Renate Frydman, Ph.D.

Arts&Culture

1930s Philadelphia setting of Rothman-Zecher's 2nd novel

By Hannah Kasper Levinson Special To The Observer

Days after the final edits on his first novel, Sadness is a White Bird, Israeli American author Moriel Rothman-Zecher set out to create his next work of fiction. The discovery of a Yiddish poetry collection led to his new novel, Before All the World, which was six years in the making and released in November.

Rothman-Zecher, who as a child moved to Yellow Springs from Je rusalem and has lived on and off in both places, is now based in Philadel phia. He is a National Book Award 5-Under-35 recipient and a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Here, he talks about his research, the beauty of translation, and “falling in love with the world despite history.”

Yiddish and its translation into English are essential to the storytelling in Before All the World. What was your experience with Yiddish before you wrote the novel?

I was a MacDowell fellow on residency in New Hampshire and they have this gorgeous library, the James Baldwin Memorial Library. I don’t remember how this book popped out to me but I saw it on the shelf, this little book called Bilingual Anthology of Modern Yiddish Poetry, se lected and translated by Ruth Whitman. As soon as I cracked it open, I felt like I had stumbled across family members, in the sense that my great-grandparents were native Yiddish speakers and this was the language that coursed through generations of my family. I also thought that this was really phenomenal poetry. But I was reading the book only on its right side.

What do you mean by that?

The English translation on the right side and the Yiddish on the left. There was something of a heartbreak to my inability to even sound out the Yiddish words. I’d had the experience of reading modern Arabic poetry in its original language and in transla tion and it was pretty transformative.

I started writing in this frenzied, joyous way. I was leaning on Yiddish syntax and memory, but not being sure that I was leaning on it right. I decided to take a pause for a year and learn Yiddish. I took an intensive course at Tel Aviv University, and traveled to Belarus and Lithuania through the fellowship Yiddishkayt Helix Proj ect. The idea wasn’t that I would become perfect ly fluent, but at least that I would go and learn the grammar and if the syntactical experiment I was doing was valid. It was exciting for me to see how the language is still alive in literary, spoken, cultural, and political spheres.

Do you think the reader needs some under standing of Yiddish to follow the story? Decidedly not. The novelist Arundhati Roy talked about writing novels in English that include non-English language transliteration sections. She imagines her novels as an ocean, and the reader like a fish. Some readers will have knowledge of these languages, cultural referenc

es, and religious significances of certain words, and those readers will be swimming closer to the ocean floor. Other readers will enter the novel without that same knowledge, and those read ers will be swimming closer to the surface of the ocean. There’s not a better or worse place for a fish to swim in an ocean.

Can you talk about your research into queer Jewish life in Philadel phia in the early 1900s?

Research was such an exhilarating part of this book. In researching Jew ish queer history, there were a few books that were central to my under standing. One is George Chauncey’s Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. This book totally trans formed how I understood gay male history in this country. In some ways it was safer to be a queer man in 1920 America than it was in 1940. Speakeasies were places of sanctuary from the scrutiny of mainstream America. The frenzy of anti-queer panic that swept America happened as Prohibition ended and a lot of these spaces came above ground. Come the ‘30s, police raids and officers pretend ing to be members of the community and arrest ing and torturing people who they had contact with were real practices.

Another source I loved was an article called Talking About Feygelekh: A Queer Male Representa tion in Jewish American Speech by Michael J. Sweet.

Were there reasons you chose Philadelphia as the setting?

For my grandparents, who I was very close to growing up. Their parents came straight to Philadelphia. There’s a family story that is another genesis of this novel. Growing up, I had thought that my grandmother was one of two sisters. Only in my late teenage years I found out that my grandmother had a third sister who had a child with a Black man in Philadelphia and was shortly after institutionalized for the remainder of her life. Did she actu ally need institutionalization? It’s not so far-fetched to imagine that the very fact of having a romantic affair with a Black man as a White-adjacent Jewish woman in America in that era could have been ren dered a kind of psychosis. No one could tell us what happened to the child.

The novel is heart wrenching and its characters have undergone deep traumas, but at the core is the phrase, “I can not believe that the world is only darkness.” Do you think Before All the World is ultimately an optimistic story?

I came across a gorgeous quote recently by the poet Derek Walcott: “For every poet it is always morning in the world; history a forgotten, insomniac night. The fate of poetry is to fall in love with the world in spite of history.” For me, this book is exactly that. It’s not optimistic in the sense that the “lessons” of these eras have been internalized and metabolized for the better. But it is a book that very much stands against despair. Even in the most excruciating circumstances, there is still this human capacity for decency and love.

Moriel Rothman-Zecher

Andy Snow

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Birthright

plied but did not go to marry somebody Jewish and to feel a deeper connection to Israel.

“Without a major immedi ate increase in fundraising, we will be hard-pressed to have the positive effect we’ve had on many individuals,” Mark said.

The Birthright Israel Foun dation, its fundraising arm, is making a large appeal to donors this year for increased funding.

Though it receives large portions of its estimated $150 million annual budget from the Israeli government and large donors such as the Adelson Family Foundation, the foun dation’s CEO, Izzy Tapoohi, said it is a myth that “just a few large donors” fund Birthright.

It’s been a difficult period for several of Birthright’s most stalwart funders, from vari ous legal troubles for founder Michael Steinhardt to potential sanctions for Russian Jewish philanthropists in the wake of Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Young American Jews have also indicated in demographic studies that they feel less culturally and politically con nected to Israel than previous generations, and the group IfNotNow, which aims to end American Jewish support for Israel’s occupation of Palestin ian territories, urged a boycott and other protests of Birth right.

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OBITUARIES

Michael Fishbein, age 69, died peacefully in his sleep Nov. 9 at home in Franklin, Mass. Michael was born and grew up in Queens, N.Y. He gradu ated from Stuyvesant High School, Bernard Baruch Col lege of the City University of New York, and received his Ph.D. from Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Michael’s love of learning drew him to a career in academia. He served several colleges and universities as a teacher and administrator, spending time in Albany and Syracuse, N.Y.; Lyndonville, Vt.; Nashua, N.H.; Dayton, Ohio; and New London, Conn. His career brought him to Franklin as vice president, academic af fairs, at Dean College in 2014. He retired from Dean at the end of 2019. Friends and family will remember Michael for his sharp wit, his work ethic, his kindness, and his love of good bourbon. Michael was predeceased by his parents, Irving and Lila Fishbein. He is survived by his beloved wife of 30 years, Mary Ann Oppenheimer, his sister Phyllis Sandler, nephew Matthew Sandler, niece Shelby Sandler Kempler, three great nieces, a great nephew, and many, many cousins. Interment was at Temple Israel Cemetery, Guilderland, N.Y.

Phyllis F. Morris, age 84, of Dayton, passed away Oct. 29 at Brookhaven Assisted Living. Phyllis was born in New York City in 1938, was a 1960 gradu ate of City College of New York, and a lifelong avid baseball fan of her beloved New York Yankees. She was an early child hood special education teacher for 47 years, working with Dayton Public Schools for 33 years. In the 1980s, she assisted in the design of the individual ized education plan for children with special needs and was a member of Beth Abraham Syna gogue. Phyllis was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Donald J.; parents, Murray and Margie Struhl and sister, Renee Otis. She is survived by her daughters, Paula Esterline of Brookville, Jessica Simko of Mason; son, Herbert Morris of Centerville; grandchildren, Melanie Esterline, Jason and Rachel Simko; dear friend, Mary Willenborg; other relatives and friends. Interment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research or Hospice of Dayton in Phyllis' memory.

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