MAZEL TOV!

Jonah Ian Dritz, son of Michele and Jay Dritz, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Feb. 11 at Temple Israel. He is the brother of Hannah Dritz, grandson of Phyllis and Robert Dritz, and Cindy and Rod Frilot, and the great-grandson of Sophie Smith as well as Jeannette Dritz of blessed memory and Irwin Dritz of blessed memory. He is also loved by countless aunts, uncles, cousins, and family throughout the country and around the world. Jonah is in seventh grade at The Miami Valley School and is involved in soccer and other sports, Quiz Bowl, and spending time with friends. He enjoys participating in various Jewish youth programs with the temple, JCC and Jewish Federation, and during the summer always looks forward to his time at Camp GUCI in Indiana. Jonah also loves animals — including his 3 cats — and he chose a bar mitzvah project working with animals at 4 Paws for Ability, a local organization that trains and places service dogs

Beth Abraham Synagogue will celebrate women who provide spiritual leadership in the Dayton area at this year's Women of Valor luncheon, May 10. Honorees are Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz, Rabbi Judy Chessin, Courtney Cummings, Cantor Andrea Raizen, Mary 'Mahira' Rogers, and Rabbi Tina Sobo. Event chairs are Mindy Greene and Janice Krochmal.

Among the artists participating in Women Strong Art Project's What ABOUT Hair exhibit at the Dayton Metro Library's Main Library is Elyssa Wortzman. The exhibit runs through Feb. 25 on the library's second floor. Elyssa arrived in Dayton in September with her husband, Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer, now Beth Abraham Synagogue's rabbi.

Renate Frydman's book, Anschel's Story, is now available via Amazon as an audiobook. The Dayton Holocaust Resource Center's founder and director, Renate published Anschel's Story in 2017. It's her late husband's story of survival in Nazi-occupied Poland. Told in the first person, the book relates how Anschel “Charlie” Frydman stayed alive as a slave laborer and then as a partisan fighter, when he was only a youth, after his parents and two sisters

National Conference for Community and Justice Executive Director Adriane Miller tells us registration is open for its spring and summer Anytown programs. The Anytown Spring Retreat, March 3-5, is a free, weekend-long, overnight program for high school students in the Miami Valley, focused on leadership and allyship through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Anytown's Summer Institute, June 11-16, is a free, week-long, overnight program for area high school students to engage in conversations, education, and activities about diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. Participants engage in activities around race, gender, ability/disability, class, and allyship. "If you know of any high school students who are looking to join a life-changing, eye-opening experience, Anytown is just that," Adriane says. For details or to register, go to nccjgreaterdayton.org/anytown.

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