The Dayton Jewish Observer, January 2025

Rabbi Judy Chessin has led the congregation since its founding.

Jewish Cemeteries project gets big boost with $450K matching gift

Thanks to an anonymous donor's matching gift of $450,000, the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton project has the potential to raise $900,000 over the next two and a half years.

With the $3 million Jewish Cemeteries has already raised, that would easily put it across its threshold of $3.5 million to become operational.

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This means that Beth Abraham Synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation, and Temple Israel will be able to combine their cemetery operations into a single nonprofit entity, separate from the congregations' operating budgets.

The matching gift has brought new momentum to the Jewish Cemeteries campaign, which had stalled since the Covid pandemic. A behindthe-scenes announcement of the match has already brought in $150,000 in new and increased gifts to the project since November.

"This generous anonymous donor understands the profound importance of preserving our cemeteries," said Bruce Feldman, co-chair of Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton's fundraising committee. "This philanthropist's donation, combined with the matching structure, will undoubtedly help us achieve our goal. Every contribution is vital, and if this matching gift inspires others to contribute to this sacred cause, it will have an even greater impact."

According to the anonymous donor's attorney, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton will receive matching fund checks in June 2025, 2026, and 2027. Jewish Cemeteries will provide the donor with a list of funds it raises by June each of those years; the donor will then cut a check for each match.

new nonprofit had to be fully funded in perpetuity through an endowment.

The idea to consolidate the cemeteries into one organization came from the late Bart Weprin when he served as president of Temple Israel. Feldman initially cochaired the project's steering committee with Dr. Robert Goldenberg, who then served as Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton's first president. Its current president is Mark Feuer. The project's aim is to save money on the operations of the three cemeteries, which have become financial drains for each of the congregations.

Cincinnati's Jewish community had already combined 24 of its 27 Jewish cemeteries into Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati in 2008.

Nearly 175 years of Dayton Jewish history

Beth Jacob Cemetery, located on Old Troy Pike in Dayton, opened in 1875. Temple Israel's Riverview Cemetery on West Schantz Avenue dates to 1889. Its Founders Circle comprises remains of those who had been buried in its first cemetery, which dated to 1851 and went out of use when Riverview Cemetery opened.

'The energy it has brought to our campaign is palpable.'

"The beauty and integrity of these cemeteries cannot be understated," the donor told The Observer in an email interview facilitated by the individual's attorney. "They must be maintained in perpetuity just as the individuals within their grounds must be remembered."

Adjacent to Riverview Cemetery is Beth Abraham Synagogue Cemetery, which opened in 1894.

Temple Beth Or, now 40 years old, has its own section of more than 100 plots at David's Cemetery in Kettering.

"The design of this matching gift is not only remarkably generous, but true to the essence of tzedakah (righteous giving)," said Julie Liss-Katz, cochair of Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton's fundraising committee.

The donor had considered this gift for a while; the passing of immediate family members, the recent surge of antisemitism, and overall concern about the Dayton Jewish community played parts in the decision to move forward.

The donor's family has a plot in one of Dayton's Jewish cemeteries. "Within these cemetery grounds lie Holocaust survivors, including members of my own family," the donor explained. "Their survivals are a testament to the strength of the Jewish people. We too need to be remembered and our places in history maintained."

The boards of Beth Abraham Synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation, and Temple Israel agreed in December 2017 to initiate the Jewish Cemeteries project. Their agreement stipulated that before any formal consolidation could take place, the

"The energy it has brought to our campaign is palpable. It has inspired our fundraisers and donors alike and made the dream of creating an endowment to care for the eternal homes of generations of Jewish Daytonians a reality. We will be forever grateful."

The anonymous donor challenges all members of the Dayton area Jewish community to contribute to the matching campaign. "The adage 'You can't take it with you' is appropriate here," this individual said. "If you are going to be among the dead in one of these cemeteries, you might as well maintain your permanent home."

To make a donation to Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton that will be matched dollar for dollar, contact Administrative Manager Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net or 937-401-1544.

— Marshall Weiss

Fundraising CoChair Bruce Feldman

Fundraising CoChair Julie LissKatz

Administrative Mgr. Kate Elder

Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton Pres. Mark Feuer

'We were all young, we all grew up together'

Temple Beth Or celebrates 40 years

By Marshall Weiss The Observer

"Oh, I remember it vividly,"

Rabbi Judy Chessin says of Temple Beth Or's first Friday night Shabbat service, Jan. 25, 1985. In the worst snowstorm of that winter, more than 100 people came out to the new Reform congregation's first service and board installation.

"We set up the social hall, we had chairs in the round," says Chessin, who had only received her rabbinic ordination seven months before. "We had a little card table, little flowers and candles. I told the story of the Holocaust scroll, because we had a Holocaust scroll at the time."

The young new rabbi is now the longest serving rabbi of the Dayton area's Jewish congregations.

Since that first service, she's been a regular commuter from Cincinnati to the same building, which the temple has owned for most of its years. She and her congregation have matured together.

"It is just breathtaking for me to still officiate where I did their parents', their grandparents' events," she says. "Very few rabbis have that opportunity."

A month before Chessin was ordained as a rabbi in 1984 at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, two couples — Caryl and Don Weckstein and Sherry and Daryl McKenney — met to consider starting a Reform congregation in the suburbs south of Dayton.

She remembers the enthusiasm at the Oneg Shabbat afterward. "So many of these families were young and excited. Just the whole idea of being able to build something — a new thing."

A congregation of several firsts

Temple Beth Or (House of Light) was the first Jewish congregation in Dayton's south suburbs. Its rabbi was the first woman to lead a synagogue in the Dayton area.

She would also become the first congregational rabbi in the Dayton area to officiate at interfaith weddings — for couples who committed to keep Jewish households (not an option for Orthodox or Conservative clergy).

It's been 40 years since that night of beginnings in space rented at the old Fairhaven Church at Marshall and Rahn Roads in Washington Township.

"They wanted something more," Chessin recalls. "They wanted something close, closer to home. And they wanted an all-inclusive place, not only of worship, but school and learning."

The demographic shift southward

After World War II, virtually all of Dayton's Jews lived in the Dayton View neighborhood. In the 1960s and '70s, they tended to migrate to the suburbs northwest of Dayton.

In 1975, Jews new to the area who had moved south of Dayton established the Jewish Association of South Dayton to connect their families through social, cultural, and educational events.

By the mid-1980s, 18 percent of the area's Jewish population lived in the suburbs south of Dayton. With more than 300 members in the 1980s, JASD ran preschool and middle school programs and led monthly Shabbat services at what was

Continued on Page Four

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Only two years into her rabbinate with Temple Beth Or, Rabbi Judy Chessin proposed an idea that's set Jewish Dayton apart since. With blessings from Beth Abraham Synagogue's Rabbi Samuel Press, Beth Jacob Congregation's Rabbi Samuel Fox, and Temple Israel's Rabbi P. Irving Bloom, Chessin initiated and came up with the curriculum for a communitywide Introduction to Judaism course to rotate among their congregations, taught by rabbis from each one. Rather than one or another congregation leading its own intro course — filtered through the lens of its own Jewish movement — people interested in learning about Judaism would meet with rabbis from each of the movements here, would experience each Jewish house of worship for themselves. Those who thought they might become Jewish, and those who were Jewish and wanted to learn more could immerse in all our community offers. "The students could see everybody," Chessin said. "The hands-on approach, I think even to this day, means something to people because they can take ownership and create their own Jewish experiences."

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Marshall Weiss

Rabbi Judy Chessin is the longest serving rabbi of the Dayton area's Jewish congregations.

Marshall Weiss

Bark Mitzvah Boy

DAYTON

Temple

Or

marking the end and beginning of the annual

the congregation's home, the

Temple Beth Or

Continued from Page Three

then Temple Israel's south facility.

The Wecksteins and McKenneys were JASD members. Don Weckstein says JASD was probably the main factor that led Temple Beth Or to form. "And Rabbi Chessin is, I would say, the primary factor that enabled us to grow," he adds.

Along with JASD members, Chessin says several of the 40 original Temple Beth Or member families were previously unaffiliated.

"There were families from Beavercreek, folks from mostly south of town, southern suburbs, kids who went to Centerville schools."

Weckstein served as the congregation's first president. He says one precept that set Temple Beth Or apart at that time was that it established its own Hebrew and religious school.

An issue for Jewish families that lived south then was that children's Jewish education was run by the Jewish Federation's Bureau of Jewish Education, not the synagogues.

soul of the place."

A member of Temple Beth Or's steering committee, Alan Steinharter, had asked Hebrew Union College faculty member Rabbi Michael Cook to recommend a rabbi who might serve the new congregation.

Cook suggested his soon-to-be wife, the newly ordained Rabbi Judy Chessin. An integral member of the congregation, Cook died in 2021 at age 79.

Nelson was on the rabbinic search committee. Chessin, originally from Orlando, Fla., was the only rabbi they interviewed. "When she talked about her work at Camp GUCI," Nelson says, "I was like, yeah, this is the person we want, because you especially want a rabbi who likes being with kids."

An educator by trade, Nelson was involved with Temple Beth Or's religious school for its first years. Her daughter and grandchildren are active members of the congregation.

Nelson notes that Chessin was the first female rabbi to lead a Dayton area synagogue.

Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555

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"The rabbis weren't involved at all," Sue Nelson, one of Temple Beth Or's first congregants, recalls of the BJE's approach — and preparations for bar and bat mitzvahs.

"And then when it came time for actual direct preparation, Temple Beth Or involved Rabbi Chessin and whoever the music person was at the time," she says. "She is the heart and

Temple Beth Or invites the community to attend its 40th Anniversary Kickoff Weekend events.

40th Anniversary Shabbat and celebration with Cantor Rosalie Will leading the service followed by a gala Oneg Shabbat, 7 p.m., Friday, Jan. 31. Who Knows One? Live games & stories with Micah Hart, 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1. $25, $20 early bird by Jan. 17. Includes dinner and one drink. Additional drinks $5 each. RSVP at templebethor.com or 937435-3400. Temple Beth Or is located at 5275 Marshall Rd., Washington Twp.

"For some people in the Jewish community and at Temple Beth Or, including myself, that was a very big departure from what we were accustomed to."

Chessin says gender has never been a centerpiece of her rabbinate.

"It's just not. And maybe it's just an old-school thing. Yes, I'm a woman, but I didn't really push that. I never talked about feminism. It's just not relevant to me."

Marsha and Stephen Goldberg were also at that first Shabbat service. They were already members.

"Our kids were getting ready to start Sunday school in Hebrew," he says. "We were looking for something closer to the south area. The more we learned about it, we jumped right in. Judy was so young when she started. We were all young, we all grew up together. We were all about the same age. We were determined to get this temple off the ground, and Judy made it easy."

The rabbi recalls that in Temple Beth Or's beginning months, she

The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 29, No. 4. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.

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Simchat Torah, 1985:

Beth

congregants hold an unraveled Torah scroll,

Torah reading cycle, in the sanctuary of

former Fairhaven Church building at Rahn and Marshall.

Temple Beth Or

DAYTON

would lead a monthly service.

"We were getting 100 people, lots of kids, which was exciting."

Stephen Goldberg admits he was a little skeptical of Chessin as the spiritual leader of the new congregation. And then he met her.

"Here is this young rabbi who just came out of school," he says. "But the more we got to interact with her, the more we found out that she was an incredible person. In the very beginning and until today, she knows you and she relates to you very quickly."

'You're always growing into a new place'

Chessin doesn't believe seminaries make rabbis. "They make pre-rabbis and then you work for 10 years and figure out how to be a rabbi," she says.

"You're always growing into a new place. Judaism itself is changing. I think the movements are changing, the demographics are changing, so there's always something to explore."

She says the newest generation of Temple Beth Or parents has its own way of navigating Judaism distinct from previous generations in her rabbinate.

"I don't see as many of them finding their singular place and owning it. I see them more as a consumer generation where they can find great stuff at the JCC, great stuff here, great stuff at Chabad, and they have loyalty to all of those. In the founding days of Temple Beth Or, people found one place, and that's where they did Judaism: that's my community, that's where I learn, where I study, where I socialize and everything else. They now want a bit from every column."

This consumer mentality, she says, will lead to more coop-

MLK weekend programs

eration and build more bridges among the Dayton area's Jews.

"We need more kinds of things that bring us together rather than divide us."

Why has she stayed with the temple for as long as Moses led the Israelites?

"There is something wonderful about just being in a place where families are for their whole lives and for generations," she says.

"I didn't have to break into a new culture. It just was created around me. And so I don't have to deal with having to change how I want to do things. It's a blessing."

How does she keep it fresh?

"Kids are always excited about something. You just know what excites them or interests them. You meet them where they are."

Kids are pretty much the same as they've always been, she says. But social media has brought about more complex times for high schoolers.

"They have a lot more anxiety issues. And it's been hard to get them excited and passionate about Israel so we can get them there. It's a lot more difficult."

The rabbi says parents rightfully fear the antisemitism their kids experience in school.

"It's always the jackass, you know, some stupid person making some stupid joke or just being in-your-face political. I teach the high school (at the temple), and we talk about that every single week — to try to get facts and figures and a sense of knowing what to say, how to answer the questions."

She has no plans to slow down anytime soon. Parents ask her, "You'll be there to do all my kids' bar and bat mitzvahs?"

"People need that affirmation," Chessin says. "And I can make that promise. I have no expiration date."

Temple Israel and Omega Baptist Church will hold their 30th pulpit exchange over MLK weekend. The tradition began in 1994 with Rabbi P. Irving Bloom and Pastor Daryl Ward when Omega Baptist purchased Temple Israel's building on Emerson Avenue and Temple Israel moved to Riverside Drive.

Pastor Joshua Ward will deliver the sermon at Temple Israel's Shabbat service, 6:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 17. An Oneg reception will follow the service.

Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz will deliver the sermon at Omega Baptist Church's 11 a.m. service, Sunday, Jan. 19.

Temple Israel is located at 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. Omega Baptist is located at 1821 Emerson Ave., Dayton. For more information, call Temple Israel at 937-496-0050 or Omega Baptist at 937-278-1006.

Members of Beth Abraham Synagogue and The Potter's House will come together at Beth Abraham for a Martin Luther King Jr. Shabbat service, 10 a.m., Saturday, Jan. 18.

Pastor Ken Moss will join Rabbi Aubrey Glazer for a bima dialogue about King's enduring teachings. A kiddush lunch will follow services. Youths with both congregations will take part in a sacred choreography workshop led by Beth Abraham Synagogue Religious School Director Elyssa Wortzman and Potter's House sacred dancers.

Beth Abraham Synagogue is located at 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. For more information, call the synagogue at 937293-9520.

Pastor Joshua D. Ward

Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz

Pastor Ken Moss

Rabbi Aubrey Glazer

Simchat Torah, 2024: Senior Rabbi Judy Chessin reads the end of an unraveled Torah scroll as Asst. Rabbi/Educator Ben Azriel (R) looks on.

Mary "Mahira" Rogers

WSU Muslim Student Assoc. speakers: Hamas' massacre & aim of destroying Israel justified on religious grounds

By Marshall Weiss The Observer

With two Wright State University uniformed security officers standing visibly at the entrance of the Student Union's Apollo Room, about 50 students attended the Palestine Diaspora Movement's Resistance 101 Community Teach-In, Nov. 20, hosted by the university's Muslim Student Association.

The Palestine Diaspora Movement describes itself as a "Muslim youth-led nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to Palestinian liberation."

"Our goal is that you leave here today, and you'll have a clear understanding of what Palestinian resistance truly is, beyond headlines and misconceptions," a member of the Palestine Diaspora Movement told participants.

The underlying message of the evening — albeit in euphemisms — was that the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 people in Israel and the terror organization's goal of eliminating the Jewish state are justified within the religious precepts of Islam.

Guest speaker Thuraya Zeidan, a high school English teacher and adjunct college professor from New Jersey who runs an Instagram account called Decolonize the Classroom, set the tone via livestream with her thoughts on the meaning of Palestinian demands.

"The first one is liberation from the river to the sea," Zeidan said, "and this is an important one, because this refers to the borders according to 1948. And oftentime, we hear the false misconception around, you know, business referred to 1967 borders. But when we say from the river to the sea, we mean all Palestine."

She described the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, as not representing the Palestinian people, but rather as a political faction "put into place by the West."

"Oftentimes, we refer to them as the arm of the Zionist regime and they serve Western interests and the interest of the settler Zionist regime. And they do this by arresting Palestinians (who are) organizing and resisting and handing them over to the settler Zionist regime in exchange for some monetary

Submitted

A flyer on a Wright State University bulletin board promoting the Palestine Diaspora Movement's Nov. 20 on-campus event with Wright State's Muslim Student Association.

gain."

Zeidan said the majority of predominantly Muslim nations in the world have "chosen the path of betrayal when it comes to Palestine," and that Palestinians have "the right to resist and the right to revolution."

"And so, resistance, although this might be uncomfortable for some of us, that's OK. This is part of the learning process, this is necessary. People have a right to protect their land and their people."

She also emphasized to the audience that most Palestinians are Muslim, that Islam is ingrained in Palestinian life, and that "the martyrs and the prisoners sacrifice the most towards the liberation movement."

Islam."

'As a general rule, the space is available to all, regardless of the content of their opinions or the manner of their self-expression.'

Leaders with the Palestine Diaspora Movement provided attendees with an overview of its Resistance 101 course, which it offers at palestinediasporamovement.com.

Palestine Diaspora Movement's Resistance 101 course states: "Martyrdom is a cornerstone of Palestinian resistance, especially in Gaza. It represents the ultimate act of bravery, honor, and personal sacrifice in the fight for Palestinian liberation, deeply intertwined with

Thuraya Zeidan's livestreamed remarks for the Palestine Diaspora Movement's Nov. 20 event with Wright State's Muslim Student Association, held in the Student Union, justified on religious grounds the Hamas terror movements' Oct. 7, 2023 massacre of more than 1,200 people in Israel — and its goal of eliminating the Jewish state.

The coursework adds that "Zionists have weaponized Islamophobia by creating a negative connotation around the word 'martyr,' associating it with terrorism and extremism due to their anti-Muslim agenda. They propagate the notion that Palestinian martyrs, who are revered for their ultimate sacrifice in the struggle for liberation, are instead part of a broader, sinister agenda against 'Western civilization,' thus undermining their genuine acts of bravery and resistance."

At the Wright State program, the Palestine Diaspora Movement distributed pamphlets, including one with phonetic Arabic chants and their English translations. Among them were "Palestine is Arab — from the river to the sea," and "With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for Palestine."

StopAntisemitism.org, an American nonprofit watchdog organization that combats Jew hatred, named Thuraya Zeidan an Antisemite of the Week in 2022.

The organization noted that Zeidan's social media account, Decolonize the Classroom, "reveals her mission to indoc-

trinate youth with antisemitic bias by diminishing the identity and history of the Jewish people and spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories."

StopAntisemitism.org added that Zeidan is on a mission to deliberately strip Jews of their identity. "Although there are millions of Brown and Black Jews, she repeatedly identifies Jews as 'White' and accuses them of 'White supremacy.'"

Kelly Fishman, director of the Anti-Defamation League's regional office, told The Observer that the Palestine Diaspora Movement's efforts to address Palestinian displacement and oppression should not come at the expense of denying Israel's right to exist or perpetuating harmful antisemitic tropes.

"True justice requires building bridges, rejecting divisive rhetoric, and ensuring that advocacy uplifts all voices without erasing the suffering of others," Fishman said.

"As the ADL has consistently highlighted, combating systemic injustice requires recognizing the interconnected struggles of all marginalized communities, including Jewish people who have faced centuries of discrimination and violence."

Wright State University Interim Director of Communications Bob Mihalek told The Observer via email that the university's president, Susan Edwards, was unavailable to be

interviewed.

He provided a statement as the university's response:

"As a public institution, Wright State University is subject to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and analogous provisions in the Ohio Constitution, regarding self-expression. The University supports freedom of speech and assembly. Because assemblies and demonstrations can constitute valuable experiences and opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and members of the public, Wright State makes on-campus space available for those activities. As a general rule, the space is available to all, regardless of the content of their opinions or the manner of their self-expression. The University does not necessarily endorse or oppose the speech of persons or organizations who choose to utilize that space, and no endorsement should be presumed from the fact that an individual or group is expressing their opinions on campus. Assemblies and demonstrations are subject to the requirements in Policy No. 1260: Expressive Activity; Free Speech."

That university policy states that "speech may be constitutionally protected even though it is (or may be) considered by some to be extreme, indecent, offensive (including 'hate speech'), controversial, 'wrong,' sexual, or even shocking."

Marshall Weiss

UC ‘repeatedly misapplied’ law addressing campus bigotry

The U.S. Department of Education announced on Dec. 20 that the University of Cincinnati had agreed to resolve a complaint that the school had failed to follow its obligations under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

An investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights reviewed approximately two dozen reports and found that the public research university did not properly respond to alleged harassment based on shared Jewish ancestry, as well as Palestinian ancestry, during the 2023-24 academic year.

“It appears that the university repeatedly misapplied applicable law when responding, or more routinely declining to respond, to reports of shared ancestry harassment it received,” the Education Department stated.

One example reviewed included a registered student organization’s social media advertisement of a “Spooky Zionist”-themed meeting. The university chose not to take action on the grounds of a free speech policy.

“While the university may not discipline speakers for protected speech, Title VI requires that recipients take other steps as necessary to ensure that no hostile environment based on shared ancestry persists,” the department stated.

The review also found that the university received multiple vandalism reports targeted at a Jewish student, who told authorities his door had been “defaced because of his Jewish faith and identity,” his home egged, and feces smeared around the home.

University records showed that no further assessment was made of whether a hostile environment existed for the student or any other student affected. Other incidents reviewed included antisemitic comments at a student senate meeting and death threats against a Palestinian student, neither of which received responsive or investigative action from the university.

The Education Department said its investigation “raised concerns that university practices did not appear designed to remedy any hostile environment resulting from shared ancestrybased harassment.” To resolve the complaint, the University of Cincinnati agreed to review all discrimination reports from the past two school years and submit new incidents to the Education Department for the next two years.

The school will also provide staff training and conduct a climate assessment to determine the extent of campus hate. “The commitments the University of Cincinnati made today position the university to turn an important corner in effectively protecting civil rights for students who have suffered some egregious harms,” said Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights for the Department of Education. — JNS

Congressional report on campus antisemitism recommends cutting funds to universities that boycott Israel

By Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON — A report on campus antisemitism by the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives recommended cutting government funding to universities that boycott Israel.

The report released Dec. 19 detailed the findings of seven congressional committees and painted a dire picture of antisemitism in the United States while specifying that it concerned “antisemitism on college campuses and in government.”

“Across the nation, Jewish Americans have been harassed, assaulted, intimidated, and subjected to hostile environments — violations that stand in stark contrast to America’s fundamental values, including a foundational commitment to religious freedom for all,” the report said.

“The Committees’ findings are alarming,” it said. “For instance, some of our most prominent American universities refused to crack down on antisemitism.”

The Education Committee, chaired by North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, has gained attention over the past year-plus for a series of hearings on campus antisemitism — one of which led to the resignation of the leaders of two Ivy League schools. The committee recommended that Congress pass a law to cut federal financial aid for students, under Title IV of the 1965 Higher Education Act, at universities that boycott Israel.

“A significant amount of campus unrest resulted from anti-Israel radicals’ efforts to coerce institutions to divest from and boycott Israel,” said the report. “Congress can help stop this madness by passing legislation so any institution of higher education that contravenes U.S. foreign policy by boycotting or divesting from Israel will become ineligible for federal student aid under Title IV.”

The report focused on a handful of universities where reports of pro-Palestinian protesters harassing and intimidating Jewish and Israeli students have been most prominent, among them Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and Columbia University.

It said efforts by the administrators of those universities to address antisemitism on campus were inadequate or nonexistent. It singled out Northwestern and Columbia for not clearing out pro-Palestinian encampments last spring that, the report said, intimidated Jewish students. Northwestern’s Jewish president took flak this year for the agreement the school struck with encampment protesters, and defended the deal in a contentious congressional hearing.

“These encampments frequently generated substantial harassment – and in some cases physical assaults – of Jewish students, created hostile environments, and disrupted campus operations,” the report said. “In a dereliction of their responsibilities, many school officials

Continued on Page 26

University Hall, University of Cincinnati.

Warren LeMay/Wikimedia Commons

Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, and the groundswell of anti-Israel criticism from progressive groups that followed, made it seem like a political change could be afoot. Donald Trump predicted that he could net 40% of the Jewish vote — and famously said that Jews would be to blame if he lost.

Jewish Democrats, meanwhile, pointed to polls showing that their Jewish base was solid. In the days before the vote, however, anxieties surfaced about whether that support was eroding.

The big picture

ish voters, that advantage is slipping a little.

“The overwhelming majority of American Jews voted for Harris,” said Mellman, who also founded the advocacy group Democratic Majority for Israel. “There probably was some amount of erosion, and some amount of that erosion was clearly related to Israel issues.”

In the weeks since Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris, several polls have measured Jewish support. And while their numbers differ, they all tell the same story.

According to a poll by Mark Mellman, a Democratic Jewish pollster, Harris won the Jewish vote 71% to 26%. Mellman did not conduct a similar poll in 2020, but he noted that a few other organizations did poll Jews in both elections. All show that while Democrats still command a large majority of Jew-

That change comes in a year that also saw shifts toward Trump from other traditionally Democratic constituencies, including Black and Latino men. Analyses have also found that the national shift in the electorate was due mostly to Harris losing large numbers of Democratic votes, rather than Trump gaining large numbers of Republican votes.

The numbers

The three polls reviewed by Mellman all used, in his words, the “same sponsor, same surveyor” in both 2020 and 2024. Here’s what they found:

A survey conducted by GBAO strategies for J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East lobby, found that this year,

Harris beat Trump among Jews 71% to 26%, a 45-point margin. That’s 11 points less than the Democratic margin in 2020, when Jews chose Joe Biden by 56 points over Trump, 77% to 21%.

The Cooperative Election Study out of Harvard University found that this year, Harris beat Trump among Jews 63% to 36%, a 27-point spread. In 2020, the poll found that Jews voted for Biden over Trump 69% to 30%, a 39-point difference.

The Associated Press/Fox analysis of online polling, conducted by the University of Chicago, found that Jews voted for Harris over Trump 66% to 32%, a 34-point spread.

In 2020, the same pollsters found that Biden won American Jews 69% to 30%, a 39-point margin.

Mellman’s poll, commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute, was conducted from Oct. 31-to Nov. 8; the election was Nov. 5. The poll reached 1,093 voters online through YouGov and has a margin of error of 3%.

He also surveyed Jewish voters’ opinions of the candidates’ Israel policies, which he said may explain Trump’s gains. While 48% of Jewish voters thought Trump would be more

pro-Israel than Biden, only 7% said the same of Harris. And while 23% of Jewish Trump voters said they had a high attachment to Israel, 9% of Harris voters said the same.

Trump scored far lower among voters on other issues Jewish voters prioritized, the poll said. Harris was seen as “most identified with abortion rights, protecting Social Security and Medicare, addressing climate change and protecting democracy,” a JEI release said.

Harris had a 68% favorable and 32% unfavorable rating among the Jewish voters surveyed, while Trump’s ratings were 24% favorable and 76% unfavorable.

The JEI release also dug down into the identity of voters, finding that 74% of Jews over the age of 60 voted for Harris, compared to 70% of Jews 18-39. There was also a gap associated with synagogue attendance: “81 percent of Jews never attending services selected Harris, while 61 percent of those going more than once a month did so.”

Those figures would be consistent with actual voting results in heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, as opposed to polls, that showed a marked preference for Trump in places like Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Teaneck, N.J.

Dr.

Dr.

Dr. Anna Smith, Principal 937.277.8966 asmith@daytonhillel.org

President-elect Donald Trump

Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images

The Jewish leader taking on Christian nationalism

Rachel Laser, the first non-Christian leader of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, redefines the group’s focus in a polarized era.

By Asaf Elia-Shalev, JTA

For decades, Americans United for Separation of Church and State called its adversaries “religious extremists.” Today, the group has a more specific target: fighting Christian nationalism.

The decision to sharpen the language was made by Rachel Laser, the group’s president for the last six years. A Jew and the first religious minority to lead Americans United since its founding in 1947, Laser wanted the group to be more clear-eyed about what she sees as a growing threat to religious pluralism in the United States: the belief that American laws should favor Christian values over those of other religions.

But it was not an easy decision for her to make. “On some deep level, I worry about alienating Christians, as many Jews do,” Laser wrote last year in the group’s magazine. “When you are part of a mere 2% of the population, it can feel perilous to risk fostering adversity with 65% of the population.”

That anxiety about the optics of her leadership surfaced even before she took the job. Laser recounted to JTA that during her interview for the position, she asked the board outright:

“Why aren’t you hiring Christian clergy?”

Americans United had always been led by pastors, but Barry Lynn, who served as the organization’s previous leader, from 1992 to 2018, said he welcomes a departure. If there were any concerns about having a Jew lead a fight against Christian nationalism, Laser has proven it’s possible to do so, he said.

“I’ve thought about that a lot, but I just don’t think it’s a burden or a problem because she works very collaboratively with board members who are themselves Christians and she works in coalitions,” Lynn said. “She understands the depths of the danger that Christian nationalism presents to both Christianity and to religious minorities.”

Jewish concerns,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, who led the Religious Action Center during Laser’s time there. “She fit very comfortably into the Reform movement’s view that social justice was a central part of what it means to be a Jew.”

He said he hired her because she was already a proven bridge builder, and it was important for the organization to work across political and ideological lines in Washington. It’s a skill that would be critical when Americans United tapped her in 2018, tasking her with adapting the group for a polarized era.

She took the helm during the second year of Donald Trump’s first presidency, as debates over religion in public life were intensifying. Laser commissioned research to gauge public attitudes and test Americans United’s messaging.

The results were mixed.

“Religious extremism” resonated with most audiences, but “Christian nationalism” was less familiar — and even sounded positive to some people. “We didn’t want people to think we were insulting Christianity or patriotism,” Laser said, so she decided against emphasizing the term.

Chicago, where she grew up with Jewish activist parents who didn’t prioritize religious life. But when she followed a friend to Sunday school, she encountered Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, a progressive Reform Jewish leader who was deeply involved in civil rights and other social justice causes.

“I was a very curious kid, and he encouraged me to ask questions,” Laser said, fighting back tears as she recalled Wolf, who passed away in 2008. “The more questions I asked, the more he appreciated me. That’s why I value being Jewish.”

'She understands the depths of the danger that Christian nationalism presents to both Christianity and to religious minorities.'

Laser, 55, is married to intellectual property lawyer Mark Davies. They have three children and the family belongs to Adas Israel, a Conservative congregation in Washington, D.C.

She began her journey in

Laser (her name is pronounced LAZZer) carried those values into a career focused on public service. After earning a law degree, she held senior roles in organizations advocating for reproductive rights, LGBTQ equality, and interfaith dialogue, including as the deputy director of the Religious Action Center, the advocacy arm of Reform Judaism.

“She’s a knowledgeable Jew who cares deeply about

raise awareness about Project 2025, a detailed conservative proposal for Trump’s second term from the Heritage Foundation.

Donors have responded to these efforts. In 2023, the organization reported $17.9 million in revenue — almost triple what it was raising before Laser took over.

But Laser’s tenure hasn’t been without controversy. The organization’s employee union and some former board members have accused her of fostering a toxic work environment and prioritizing publicity over policy and legal work. After commissioning an outside investigation of the organization’s work culture, the board said Laser has its full support.

Laser’s efforts to counter Christian nationalism reflect broader tensions in American Continued on Page 10

Then came the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Laser saw the insurrection as a wake-up call. In the rioters’ biblical rhetoric and religious rituals, she recognized Christian nationalism as a potent and underappreciated threat.

She soon hired Andrew Seidel, a prominent critic of Christian nationalism. On his first day as the new vice president of strategic communications at Americans United, Seidel testified before Congress about the role of Christian nationalism in the Capitol insurrection.

Americans United began using the term regularly, aiming to educate the public while highlighting church-state separation as a critical countermeasure.

“The antidote to Christian nationalism is church-state separation,” Laser said in an interview. “It’s the kryptonite that prevents Christian nationalists from codifying their views into our laws.”

Under Laser’s leadership, Americans United has taken high-profile legal actions, such as suing Oklahoma over its proposed religious charter school and representing a Tennessee Jewish couple rejected by an adoption agency due to their faith. The group also helped

Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, speaks at an event the organization held at St John's Episcopal Cathedral in Los Angeles, Nov. 21.

Evan Clark, Atheists United

THE NATION

Taking on Christian nationalism

Continued from Page Nine

society. While religious affiliation is declining, Trump’s political alliance with the Christian right has energized a vocal minority.

“I love you, Christians,” he said on the campaign trail. “In four years, you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not going to have to vote.” And the vast majority of them did vote for him.

Since the election, Trump has put together for his next administration a slate of deputies that reflects his strong political alliance with the Christian right, from his nominee for White House budget director Russell Vought to his preferred candidate for defense secretary, Pete Hesgeth.

But while giving Republicans a resounding victory, American voters also rejected many of the specific policies promoted by conservative Christians.

In seven states, including four won by Trump, voters approved measures to protect abortion rights. All three state proposals to allow public funding to flow to private and religious schools were defeated. Laser calls these outcomes a rejection of Christian nationalism and a continued endorsement of the principle of church-state separation.

In saying that a solid majority of Americans agree with her worldview, Laser relies on surveys like those from the Public Religion Research Institute. “We find that by a margin of about two to one, most Americans reject Christian nationalism,” said PRRI’s president, Robert Jones.

He said he’s confident in the results because the statements the surveys test against are ”fairly unambiguous.”

“They’re things like, ‘U.S. law should be based on the Bible,’ ‘To be truly American, you must be Christian,’ and ‘Christians should take dominion over all areas of American society,’” he said.

As the term Christian nationalism has come into play in recent years, Jones’ group has been studying how people respond not only to the underlying attitudes, but also to the term itself.

“We are finding people who qualify as Christian nationalists based on our criteria have a positive view of the term, and people who are rejecting that worldview have a negative view of the term,” Jones said. “So it’s not just a term used by one side to smear the other.”

The phenomena can be seen in the strong sales of a 2022 book called The Case for Christian Nationalism, by conservative political theorist Stephen Wolfe, and in prominent politicians, like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sen. Josh Hawley, who have embraced the moniker.

But even as one term has become more common, the question of what language to use is far from settled. Advocates on either side of the debate over the place of religion in public life make various choices for strategic or other reasons.

Sorting through the rhetoric has required substantial attention from Ruth Braunstein, a professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut.

That’s because earlier this year, she was awarded a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to map out the individuals and groups fighting Christian nationalism. Many of the 100 groups added to the list so far don’t use the term Christian nationalism.

“Some, for example, talk about defending or promoting pluralistic democracy,” Braunstein said. “Others talk about creating a more inclusive vision of American identity.”

A growing bunch, including Americans United, do. And for Braunstein, it was easy to figure out how Laser’s group fit into her project.

“They have a high profile, historical gravitas, and respect, and the resources to be able to provide support to other organizations,” she said. “So I think of them as an important node in this broad network.”

A few weeks ago, Laser went on CNN to be briefly interviewed about her opposition to plans in Oklahoma and Texas to bring Christianity into the classroom. She didn’t mention anything about her identity. She simply delivered Americans United talking points: Parents, not politicians, should decide when and if children are exposed to religion; state mandates sully rather than enhance religion; mixing church and state goes against the country’s founding ideals.

But one viewer who contacted CNN to complain about Laser’s statements discovered through Google, or correctly assumed, that Laser is a Jew. He made her identity the center of a lengthy tirade, which he ended with a broad threat.

“When Jews go into the public square to attack Christianity, then we have a problem,” the angry viewer wrote. “Stop abusing the people that treat you kindly because, eventually, the patience will run out.”

Asked if this kind of threat gives her anxiety about the place of Jews in the United States, she said, “Firstly, I’m Jewish. There’s always anxiety. So, fair question.”

But then she went on to emphasize that she’s never felt alone in her activism. She’s always surrounded by Christian allies. As soon as she took the helm, for example, she set up a faith advisory committee for Americans United and packed it with pastors (as well as other faith leaders). When her group files lawsuits against policies it opposes, it always includes Christian plaintiffs.

“It’s more important to make it clear that Christians are leaders in this cause,” she said. “In any case, however, I don’t plan to go anywhere. This country has given so much to Jews and I feel gratitude for that. I want to ensure that my kids and my kids’ kids can enjoy and be proud of the same America.”

Biden signs law that could lead to U.S. Jewish history museum joining the Smithsonian

By Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that could bring the country’s premiere Jewish history museum under the Smithsonian umbrella, a measure that may help ensure the survival of an institution that faced bankruptcy just a few years ago.

Biden announced Dec. 11 the enactment of the “Commission to Study the Potential Transfer of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History to the Smithsonian Institution Act.” The act establishes a body that will examine whether the Philadelphia museum, known as the Weitzman, can join the Smithsonian Institution.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the bill, authored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Jewish Democrat, in September and the Senate followed suit on Dec. 4. Both votes were unanimous. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH-10), was one of the three original cosponsors of the bill in the House.

“There is broad bipartisan, bicameral support in preserving and promoting the contributions of Jewish Americans via The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History,” Turner

noted. The bill had the support of 36 Jewish groups.

If the commission created by the bill transfers the museum to the control of the Smithsonian trust, it would join a collection of Smithsonian museums dedicated to other minority groups including African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos.

In floor speeches, lawmakers cited the spike in antisemitism since Hamas launched its war against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as a spur. But the effort to bring the museum under the umbrella of a system that includes federal government support predated the attacks.

The museum was on the cusp of closure four years ago. In early March 2020, right as Covid hit, the museum filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of a $30 million construction debt. It was rescued the following year by a donation from footwear entrepreneur Stuart Weitzman, giving the museum its current name, and was in good financial health when the bill was first proposed earlier this year.

In November, the museum named Dan Tadmor its new CEO; he's an Israeli who oversaw the $100 million trans-

formation of a Tel Aviv museum called Beit Hatfutsot, which reopened in 2021 as ANU-Museum of the Jewish People. The Weitzman regained its financial footing under Tadmor’s predecessor, Misha Galperin.

The Smithsonian, a trust, runs its museums with a combination of fundraising and federal appropriations, with percentages varying among its many institutions. Most Smithsonian museums are in Washington, D.C. and have free admission, although several

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are farther away, including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in Manhattan. The Weitzman already offers free admission through philanthropic support.

The commission of eight people studying the feasibility of the move will include eight voting members appointed by leaders of both chambers of Congress. Their report to Congress on the feasibility of the museum joining the Smithsonian would come within two years of the commission’s launch.

A view of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia.

Toronto Jewish girls’ school targeted by gunfire for 3rd time since May

By Joseph Strauss, JTA

For the third time since May, Toronto Police are investigating evidence of gunshots fired overnight at Bais Chaya, a Jewish girls’ school.

Martin Luther King Jr. Shabbat

As in the previous shootings, no one was injured in the incident.

Join us for a bima dialogue with Pastor Ken Moss from The Potter’s House and Rav Aubrey Glazer on the enduring teachings of MLK today.

Kiddush lunch to follow.

Youth from both communities will join together in a workshop of sacred choreography led by Dr. Elyssa Wortzman and Potter’s House sacred dancers.

Police said they were notified of the shooting at around 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 20. The department’s Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force is investigating, with support from the Hate Crime Unit.

The building sustained property damage, according to the Toronto Jewish federation’s Jewish Security Network, but students were ultimately able to attend school that day.

Bais Chaya Mushka is part of a network of Chabad-Lubavitch schools. All three shootings at the school took place overnight, when the building was closed.

The first shooting occurred on a Shabbat in May at around 4 a.m. Then, in October, on Yom Kippur, gunshots were fired at the school from a vehicle. About a week later, two suspects — a 20-yearold man and 17-year-old boy — were arrested on firearm charges for that shooting.

concerns.”

She added, “Toronto Police acted swiftly and arrested two individuals connected to the Oct. 12 firearm discharge incident. I trust the police will do everything they can again.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted, “I’m sickened by reports of shots fired at a Jewish elementary school in North York. This is a hateful, antisemitic attack on Toronto’s Jewish community.”

The shooting comes just days after a Montrealarea synagogue was firebombed.

“Enough is enough. Antisemitism and antisemitic attacks have no place in Toronto,” Mayor Olivia Chow said in a statement Dec. 20.

“The latest shooting at the Bais Chaya Mushka Elementary School is unacceptable. Once again students, families, and neighbors are waking up to safety

The shooting comes just days after a Montrealarea synagogue was firebombed, and is the latest in a series of attacks on Canadian Jewish institutions since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, which launched the war in Gaza and has sparked a global spike in antisemitism.

In November 2023, assailants tossed a firebomb at the same synagogue, Congregation Beth Tikvah. The same month, shots were fired at two Orthodox Jewish schools in Montreal. In March, a venue postponed a Jewish film festival in Hamilton, Ontario due to “security and safety concerns,” despite objections from the local Jewish federation, which said that the concerns centered on opposition to Israeli films. In August, bomb threats were sent to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada.

“When houses of worship are being firebombed and schools are being shot at simply because they’re Jewish,” said Noah Shack, interim president of Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, an advocacy group.

“That is unacceptable anywhere in Canada, whether it’s here or anywhere else. And the time for action is now.”

Bais Chaya Mushka, a Jewish girls' school in Toronto, was hit with gunfire for the third time since May.

Screenshot

Damage caused by a firebomb at Beth Tikvah synagogue, Montreal, Dec. 18.

B'nai Brith Canada

UPCOMING EVENTS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 7 - 9PM CABS – Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 9AM - 4PM JCC Kids’ MLK Day of Service

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 6 - 7PM

PJ & PLAY: Bedtime Shema at Hillel Academy

THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 7 - 9PM CABS – David Tatel, VISION: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice

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

PJ & PLAY: Bedtime Shema at Hillel Academy

Sunday, January 26, 6 – 7PM Hillel Academy 305 Sugar Camp Circle – 3rd Floor, Oakwood, 45409

Children 7 and under and their parents are invited to join us for an evening of learning about the beautiful ritual of saying the Shema at bedtime. We’ll do a craft, have a snack, yoga, and a bedtime story. Older siblings are welcome too! Come in your pajamas!

No cost. RSVP by January 22.

January 2025

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

JANUARY & FEBRUARY EVENTS

Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate

Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath’s book, #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate, delves into the alarming rise of antisemitism in contemporary society. Through a compelling blend of personal narrative, historical context, and social analysis, Vinokor-Meinrath explores how this age-old hatred has reemerged in new forms, particularly in the digital age. The book sheds light on the pervasive impact of antisemitism on Jewish youth, examining how they navigate their identities and safety in a world increasingly marked by intolerance. Vinokor-Meinrath’s work is both a poignant memoir and a critical examination of a pressing social issue, providing a crucial perspective on the challenges facing the Jewish community today.

David S. Tatel, VISION: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice

David S. Tatel is an American judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit deciding many landmark cases. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, Tatel has a reputation for his expertise in administrative law and his commitment to civil rights, voting rights, and environmental law. Before his judicial appointment, he was a law professor and also worked in various legal and public service roles. For 50 of his over 80 years, he has been blind as a result of retinitis pigmentosa. Through the miracle of technology and, lately his canine companion Vixen, he has been able to navigate his blindness and accept it.

Sara Glass, Kissing Girls on Shabbat

Sara Glass, who grew up in the Chasidic community of Borough Park, Brooklyn, was well aware of what her community’s expectations of her were. She acquiesced to an arranged marriage in which she felt no love and then realized she had an attraction to women. She was forced to battle for custody of her children, married again, and su ered a tragic sexual assault. She survived these horrific experiences, earned a Ph.D., and now writes, speaks, and counsels many who have su ered various traumas in their lives. All of these life experiences finally gave her the courage to live her true life.

Jewish Family Services

In partnership with the Greater Dayton LGBT Center & Jewish Family Services of Greater Dayton

To purchase tickets for in-person events or to register for free events, please visit jewishdayton.org/events or call

Wednesday, April 2, 7:30 PM

Camelot (Small Cast Version)

The Loft Theatre 126 N. Main Street, Dayton, 45402 Meet at the theatre

The JCC Culture Club is at it again! Do you love live theater? Join us as we journey to attend exciting live performances at Dayton area theaters. Come with friends or make new ones as we sit together and enjoy Dayton’s finest live entertainment.

$44 for center seating (no booking fee required). Limited seating available. Must register by February 24.

To purchase tickets, visit jewishdayton.org/events or call 937-610-1555.

Questions? Contact Stacy Emo at semo @jfgd.net.

A Women’s Freedom Seder

Thursday, March 27

OUR JOURNEY FROM SLAVERY TO STRENGTH

6 - 9PM at Beth Abraham Synagogue (350 Sugar Camp Circle, Oakwood) $54 per person. RSVP online by March 6 at jewishdayton.org/events or contact Stacy Emo at semo @jfgd.net

The Jewish Community Center is proud to collaborate with the women from Beth Abraham Synagogue, Beth Jacob Congregation, Hadassah, Temple Beth Or, and Temple Israel.

Tuesday, January 14 at 7 PM via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! No Cost.

Thursday, January 30 at 7 PM via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! No Cost.

Sunday, February 2 at 7 PM via Zoom — enjoy from the comfort of your home! No Cost.

Enjoy an exciting JCC Youth Theatre performance of Disney’s Descendants!

Saturday, February 15 at 8PM & Sunday, February 16 at 2PM and 6PM

PNC Arts Annex (46 W 2nd St, Dayton, 45402)

Tickets will be available at daytonlive.org.

JOIN TEAM OHIO!

Join Jewish teen athletes from across the globe for an Olympic-style sports experience. Be part of the magic!

Monday, January 20, 9AM – 4PM Temple Beth Or 5275 Marshall Rd, Dayton, 45429

MLK Day may be a day o of school, but it’s a day ON for Camp Shalom! Join us for a day full of fun service projects to help our community, just like Dr. King did. From cooking to crafts, kids will stay busy all day and feel good about making a di erence. Pack a lunch; snacks are provided. In partnership with JFS. $67 per child ($75 for extended care 8AM – 5:30PM)

by January 13 to Suzzy Nandrasy

January 2025

JEWISH

FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS

AGENCIES

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials

FEDERATION

LINDA RUCHMAN MEMORIAL FUND

In memory of Alfred Zacher

Marshall Ruchman

JEWISH CEMETERIES OF GREATER DAYTON FUND

In memory of Joan Isaacson

Ellen Weprin

EDWARD R. HATTENBACH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND

In memory of Fred Fiedler

Shelley Hattenbach

JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND

In memory of Joan Isaacson

Debby and Bob Goldenberg

Cincinnati Chaverah

CAROL J. PAVLOFSKY LEADERSHIP FUND

In honor of Clara Hochstein’s 100th birthday

Marlene and David Miller

HOLOCAUST PROGRAMMING FUND

In memory of Henry Guggenheimer

Helene Gordon

Melinda and Bill Doner

Cathy Gardner

JOE BETTMAN MEMORIAL TZADIK FUND

In memory of Judith Raphael

In memory of Joan Isaacson

Elaine Bettman

Jean and Todd Bettman

In memory of Henry Guggenheimer

Jean and Todd Bettman

PJ LIBRARY FUND

In memory of Dee Dee Weisbrod

Marcia and Edward Kress

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

In memory of Joan Isaacson for her many contributions to our community

Marni Flagel

JANE HOCHSTEIN JCC PROGRAMMING FUND

In memory of Joan Isaacson

Cathy Gardner

JFS

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES

In memory of Judith Raphael

Susan and Jonas Gruenberg

In memory of Bea Ballas

Je rey Kantor

In memory of Joseph Litvin

Cathy Gardner

In memory of Joan Isaacson

Donna Holt and Charles Fox

Susan and Jonas Gruenberg

Did you know you can honor a friend or family member through a Legacy, Tribute or Memorial?

A donation to one of the Jewish Foundation's many endowments benefits our Jewish community while honoring a loved one. For more information, please contact Janese R. Sweeny, Esq. CFRE, at 937-401-1542.

SCHOLARSHIPS & STUDENT LOANS

Heuman Scholarship & Interest-free Student Loans

Applications are now available. Completed applications are due Friday, March 28.

Are you a member of the Dayton Jewish community who will be enrolled at a two- or four-year college, technical program, or graduate school in the academic year 2025-2026? If so, you may be eligible to apply for a college scholarship and/or interest-free student loan through the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. It is easy to apply for both incredible opportunities at the same time on a single, unified application.

To request the application and to learn more about the Heuman Scholarship, please contact Alisa Thomas, executive assistant, at 937-610-1796 or athomas@jfgd.net.

If you have questions specific to interest-free student loans, please contact Tara Feiner, executive director of Jewish Family Services, at 937-401-1546 or tfeiner@jfgd.net

INNOVATION GRANTS

Do you have an innovative idea for a collaborative program that will engage and bring together the Greater Dayton Jewish community? Apply for a Jewish Federation Innovation Grant!

Contact Tara Feiner at tfeiner@jfgd.net or 937-401-1546 to request an application packet. Completed applications are due by noon on Friday, March 28. The application packet includes:

• Innovation Grant application (Adobe PDF) signed by the senior o cer of the organization(s)

• Innovation Grant budget application (Microsoft Excel)

• First-time applicants must supply a copy of the organization’s IRS tax exempt certificate 501(c)(3) for all groups involved if there is a collaboration. Prior Innovation Grant awardees do not need to resubmit their tax-exempt status.

For more information visit, jewishdayton.org

JCC

The Jewish vote

By Martin Gottlieb

There are many exit polls, wherein voters are confronted at the polling place about how they voted. Any organization that wants to do such a poll can. But there's one big one. It's done by a group of major news outlets. After this election, it showed that Kamala Harris had won 79% of the Jewish vote. Jewish Telegraphic Agency began its report on this finding by saying, “The first rule of exit polls is to be careful about interpreting early exit polls.”

But the number was very widely reported, especially in Jewish and Israeli publications.

To many experienced observers of these things — otherwise known as Jewish political junkies — the number didn't feel right. It would have been easily the best showing for the Democrats in a very long time. Really? In 2024? Even as the country as whole was trending a few points to the Republicans?

In the run-up to the election, all manner of things were happening that seemed to raise the possibility of the Jewish vote moving to the right: the dramatic revelation of widespread antisemitism on the campus left; the divisions within the Democratic Party over Gaza and related Oct. 7 issues, even as Republicans seemed united in support of Israel; the reports of huge donations to the Trump campaign by wealthy Jews. And more.

True, there were indications pointing in the other direction, including — by some lights, anyway — Donald Trump's pugnacious approach to Jewish voters as a group. Another one, perhaps: that Harris's husband is Jewish.

But 79%?

Well, since those early postelection stories, a press consensus has developed that other polls were more accurate. The Associated Press and Fox combined on a poll that put Harris at 66%. (Fox has a respected polling operation.) Other polls ranged near there. So now the conventional wisdom is that, rather than having their best showing in decades among Jews, the Democrats lost ground compared to the last two elections, even if not much.

Specifically, the most widely reported set of stats is that Harris got 66%, compared to Biden's 69% in 2020 and Hillary Clinton's 71% in 2016.

Of course, it should be noted the numbers about 2020 and 2016 were also soft and debated in their time. Somehow these numbers harden with time, as “facts” get repeated and old uncertainties are forgotten.

But, OK, let's say Harris did 3 percentage points worse than Biden. What that says is the Democratic drop-off among Jews was about the same as the drop-off in the nation as a whole. Trump got 46.8% of the total popular vote in 2020 and 49.9% in 2024.

In the weeks after the election, political journalists churned out stories about how the Democrats lost voters in this place and that place, this demographic group and that one. But it was all pretty much one story: There was a small national tide in favor of the Republicans, as there generally is for one party or the other.

All reports about the Jewish votes are based on polls. People don't even have to be reminded these days about the dangers of polls. All manner of complexities are at play. One has to wonder, for example, if — in this day of rising antisemitism — the Jews confronted by exit pollsters weren't a little less likely to identify themselves as Jews than they might be under other circumstances.

But surely this much can be said: In the big picture, the stability of Jewish voting habits is remarkable. And it seems to suggest — this time more clearly than ever — that most Jews are not voting on Israeli matters (a point that apparently cannot be thumped into Trump's head). Another possibility, of course, is that a lot of Jews did vote on Israel and simply chose the Harris view over Trump's.

Some polling on that may be in order. But it would be tricky, because the kind of people who prefer her views on Israel are presumably predisposed to vote liberal anyway.

Retired

So, what do you think?

OPINION

Amid war, election, Jewish mainstream bends to right — not just on Israel

Jews feeling threatened by campus protests and the rise of antisemitism look to Jewish organizations and a new administration to crack down.

By Andrew Silow-Carroll, JTA

As head of the nonprofit Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Kenneth Marcus was early — critics would say premature — in using aggressive legal tactics to fight antisemitism on college campuses and other public spaces.

The former assistant secretary for civil rights in the first Trump administration, Marcus remembers when other Jewish organizations said his organization’s tactics — which include suing universities for not adequately addressing antisemitism and challenging educators and universities under the Education Department’s Title VI civil rights statute — was counterproductive and, in conflating anti-Israel rhetoric with antisemitism, targeted speech protected by the First Amendment.

The liberal Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which includes a number of Jewish groups, opposed his nomination to the administration post, saying he used the Title VI complaint process “to chill a particular political point of view.”

called an op-ed Marcus wrote about campus antisemitism in 2022 “inflammatory.”

Nowadays, more than a year into Israel’s war with Hamas and amid widespread complaints about anti-Israel activism on college campuses and antisemitism in the streets, he is seeing a shift.

the AJC — the very group that circulated an internal memo criticizing Marcus in 2022.

“It is my consistent sense that my approach to campus antisemitism is shared by a very wide swath of the Jewish community, including Jewish communal organizations from center right to center left,” he said in an interview. “There was a time some years ago where that wasn’t necessarily the case.”

A historically liberal Jewish community is increasingly embracing goals and tactics often seen at odds with historically liberal positions.

In a profile earlier this year, calling him The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Antisemitism, the New York Times wrote that “his tactics have been widely copied by other groups.”

Marcus isn’t alone in seeing a change in what American Jews see as ideologically mainstream. With the incoming Trump administration promising a crackdown on the kind of campus activism that left many students, parents and observers feeling alienated and isolated, a historically liberal Jewish community is increasingly embracing goals and tactics often seen at odds with historically liberal positions.

Others objected to the center’s tone. An American Jewish Committee official internally

Among the groups that in the past year have partnered with the Brandeis Center (which has no affiliation with Brandeis University) are the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel International, the Jewish Federations of North America and

“I think that we (Jews) became alarmed at some of the initiatives happening in universities, happening in other settings, and are moving to figure out a way to limit that movement,” said Steven Windmueller, emeritus professor of Jewish communal studies at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. “And in the process, it has also shifted the debate and context of where we are on free speech.”

Questions about joining coalitions

And it’s not just free speech, said Windmueller. Jews who felt burned by the left’s harsh criticism of Israel since the start of the war are questioning the wisdom of joining coalitions with groups with whom they have been traditionally aligned, on issues like civil rights, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights and abortion.

Jews who historically have embraced diversity at elite universities — in part owing to memories of having been excluded themselves — are joining longtime right-wing critics of campus DEI — or diversity, equity and inclusion – efforts. Continued on Page 18

Dayton Daily News editorial writer Martin Gottlieb is advisor to The Dayton Jewish Observer.

A Jewish student watches a protest in support of Palestinians and for free speech at New York’s Columbia University campus, Nov. 14, 2023.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Jewish mainstream bends to right

Continued from Page 17

“The failure of many of these DEI offices to effectively respond to the crisis right now is quite an indictment — it just is,” Jonathan Greenbatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, told Jewish Insider in December 2023.

Even though ADL supports the goals of DEI, it and other organizations are asking whether the offices adequately protect Jewish students and if they support an ideology of oppressed vs. oppressor that turns Israel and its supporters into pariahs.

Under a second Trump administration, Windmueller said, conservative Jewish groups are certainly going to enjoy increased influence and score policy successes.

But even beyond the most conservative Jewish voters, “I think it may happen with at least a cadre of Jews who will feel comfortable, or at least come to terms with, the new political realities,” said Windmueller. “And part of that is that they are looking for someone, and maybe that’s Donald Trump, who will protect their kids on campuses.”

Granted, as the sizable majority of Jews who voted for Kamala Harris in the presidential election showed, such shifts aren’t drastic or widespread. The largest liberal Jewish groups are not about to embrace a right-wing agenda.

Navigating subtle changes

But Jewish communal professionals must navigate even subtle changes in the political winds, in order to stay relevant and effective.

Pressures to partner with unconventional allies and keep a distance from many traditional ones are being felt by Jewish community relations professionals around the country, according to Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a support group for the local Jewish representative bodies known as community relations councils.

“Certainly in a number of communities, there are parents and other stakeholders who are rightfully concerned about what their kids are facing on campus or in K-12 schools and sometimes take a very reactive approach,” she said. “So how to balance that with the policies and solutions that we

know actually work is a challenge for many Jewish professionals right now.”

As an example of a reactive response, she offered the support that some Jews have offered to Trump’s pledge to expel or deport campus activists who are strident critics of Israel.

Spitalnick said Jewish safety isn’t assured by abandoning values like inclusivity, pluralism and democracy, but by doubling down on them. By the same token, she urges local leaders to resist some “very loud voices” saying Jews should walk away from coalitions that have been unsupportive of the Jewish community or deeply critical of Israel since the war.

“To me, and I think to many doing this work of community relations and coalitionbuilding, the pain and isolation some Jews are feeling is proof of the need to invest more deeply in coalition work…and to do the work of civil rights that is core to our values and safety,” she said.

Like Spitalnick’s Jewish Council for Public Affairs, other groups associated with liberal positions see no contradiction between assertive and even aggressive tactics in fighting antisemitism and sustaining their core issues, including civil rights, immigration, LGBT rights and abortion.

Each

and civil liberties along with defense and safety,” he said.

But while many groups strive for balance, each week brings another clash between what Jews might call defense and safety, and others consider an attack on free speech and academic freedom.

week brings another clash between what Jews might call defense and safety, and others consider an attack on free speech and academic freedom.

“I think most Jews care about free speech. I think most Jews care about the freedom to protest,” said Rabbi Jonah Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. “They know that Jews need those freedoms to be safe in America, while at the same time, they want there to be smart policies to keep all minorities safe, particularly for us, the Jewish minority.”

Pesner says the RAC has been in conversation with partners in the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, talking about keeping Jews and all students safe while protecting freedom of expression and protest.

“We try really hard to take a nuanced view, and we try to be with other partners to help people balance free speech

At Cornell University, the interim president is facing blowback from higher education groups after he appeared to endorse the views of a Jewish instructor who felt a course on Gaza being taught in the school’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies program was biased and inflammatory. No action was taken to shut down the course or censure the instructor, but higher education groups said the president had no business saying the course lacked “openness and objectivity,” and that his criticism would have a chilling effect on other faculty.

Menachem Rosensaft, the instructor who said the Gaza course amounted to “antisemitism on steroids,” said the controversy had nothing to do with academic freedom.

Instead, he blamed a “hypersensitivity and fragility on the part of those who don’t want to hear any criticism of courses” like the one on Gaza.

“No one is arguing that the course should be shut down,” he said in an interview. “However, I believe strongly that it is part of my academic freedom and my First Amendment right to express my views on the legitimacy of that course.”

Rosensaft, a former World Jewish Congress official who teaches classes on law, antisemitism, and the Holocaust at Cornell and Columbia University, can point to his liberal bona fides.

In 1988, he was part of a delegation of Jewish leaders who met in Stockholm with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, breaking a Jewish communal taboo when Israel itself refused to recognize what it considered a terrorist group.

Rosensaft said he finds it “amusing” that a group such as CAMERA, a right-wing Jewish media watchdog, agrees with him on the Cornell course. But at a time when Jews are being threatened on campuses, he said, “we find ourselves in need of allies — not for a political goal, not for a political purpose, but in order to keep (the campuses) from blowing up.

“I’m not a supporter of President Trump, but if, as a consequence of his election, the Department of Education will use Title VI to protect Jewish students on campus nationwide, that is a positive thing,” he said.

Even in the deep blue Bay Area of Northern California, Tyler Gregory, the executive director of the local Jewish Community Relations Council, senses a difference between Trump’s first term and his looming second.

“The first time Trump was elected, I think our community embraced the resistance mantra, like a lot of the country,” he said. “This time, I think our community wants to call balls and strikes. Where Trump stands up for the Jewish community, including in higher ed, we’re going to support that, and where he undermines our

community by aligning with certain problematic far-right groups, we’re going to call that out.”

Gregory also does not see a contradiction between calling out antisemitic or threatening speech on campus, and a belief in free speech.

In a recent essay in the San Francisco Chronicle, he criticized local public schools, writing, “That parents had to resort to filing civil rights complaints is not surprising given lackluster and slow responses to antisemitism by some school districts.”

“If free speech is a core value of the university, why aren’t (administrators) using it to call out antisemitism and isolate these bad actors?” Gregory told JTA. “If they’re not willing to do that, then how are we supposed to take this value seriously from the administrators?”

At the Brandeis Center, Marcus too says he believes very strongly in the importance of free speech and the First Amendment.

“And for that reason we frequently decline cases that we believe would require an encroachment upon constitutionally protected freedoms,” he said.

That being said, his organization is busier than ever, filing Title VI complaints, suing universities, and opening a K-12 antisemitism hotline.

“Our workload has increased exponentially, and our staff has increased arithmetically, and we have gotten very significantly increased (financial) support,” he said. “But this is related to the much, much greater increase in the number and complexity of the challenges that we’ve been asked to address.”

Graffiti on a wall when pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied the Millar Library on the campus of Portland State University, Portland, Ore., April 30, 2024.

John Rudoff/AFP via Getty Images

Classes

Beth Abraham Classes: Tues., Jan 21 & 28, 10 a.m.: The Making of a Mensch: Jewish Virtue Ethics w. Rabbis Glazer & Martin Cohen. Email to register, bas@bethabrahamdayton.org. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

Beth Jacob Classes: w. Rabbi Agar on Zoom. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Torah Tuesdays. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought. Call to register, 937274-2149. bethjacobcong.org/ beth-jacob-happenings.

Chabad Classes: Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.: Talmud Class in person & Zoom. Call for Zoom link. Tuesdays, noon: Lunch & Learn. Call for class locations. chabaddayton.com. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

Temple Beth Or Classes: Sun., Jan. 5, 12, 19, 26, 10 a.m.: Adult Hebrew. Sat., Jan. 4, 18, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study in person & Zoom. templebethor.com/events. 5275

days, noon: Talmud Study in person & Zoom. Saturdays, 9:15 a.m.: Virtual Torah Study on Zoom. For Torah Study Zoom info., email Fran Rickenbach, franwr@gmail.com. Wed., Jan. 8, 15, 22, 29, 10 a.m.: Weekly Torah Commentary w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz, in person. Fri., Jan. 10, 11 a.m.: Living w. Loss w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. Thurs., Jan. 16, 3:30 p.m.: Living w. Ambiguous Loss w. Rabbi BodneyHalasz. Sun., Jan. 26, noon: Stories for the Sake of Argument w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz. tidayton.org/calendar. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-496-0050.

Children/Youths

JCC Winter Camp Shalom: Through Fri., Jan. 3, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (Closed Jan. 1) Grades K-7. For info. & to register, contact Suzzy Nandrasy, 937401-1550 or snandrasy@jfgd. net. jewishdayton.org/events. At Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp.

JCC Camp Shalom's MLK

CALENDAR

net or 937-401-1550. RSVP by Jan. 13. At Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp.

Family

Beth Abraham Rhythm ‘N’ Ruach: Fri., Jan. 10, 5:30-6:15 p.m. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Temple Israel Prayer & Play: Fri., Jan 24, 5:30 p.m. Infants–2nd grade. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.

PJ & Play: Bedtime Shema at Hillel Academy: Sun., Jan. 26, 6 p.m. Free. Children 7 & under w. parents. RSVP by Jan. 22. For info. contact Kate Elder, kelder@jfgd.net. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

Adults

Temple Israel Ryterband Lecture Series: Sundays, 9:45 a.m. $7. Jan. 5, Richard Sarason, New-Old Sources for Reform Liturgical Creativity: Genizah Prayers from the Land of Israel. Jan. 12, Yolanda Savage-Narva, The Importance of Standing Strong Through Jan 26, Wendy Gray, Newish to Jewish. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-496-0050.

Temple Israel Sacred Stitching: Tues., Jan. 7, 21, 11 a.m. Make items for donations w. JCRC’s Upstander initiative. For info., email Alexandria King, garyuzzking@hotmail. com. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050.

Temple Beth Or’s You Too Can Take Great Photos: Sun., Jan. 12, 1 p.m. Free. W. Stephen Goldberg. Info. & RSVP at templebethor.com/ event. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400.

Temple Israel’s So a Rabbi Walks into a Bar: Thurs., Jan. 16, 5:30 p.m. First round on Rabbi Bodney-Halasz or Rabbi Sobo. Troll Pub at the Wheelhouse, 216 Wayne Ave., Dayton.

Hillel Academy Wine & Wonder Adult Open House & Tour: Wed., Jan. 22, 6 p.m. Questions & RSVP, contact Meryl Hattenbach, mhattenbach@daytonhillel.org. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

Who Knows One at Temple Beth Or: w. Micah Hart. Sat., Feb. 1, 6 p.m. $25, $20 early bird by Jan. 17. Includes dinner

& 1 drink. Addl. drinks $5 each. RSVP at templebethor.com, 937-435-3400. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp.

Women

Chabad Women’s Circle Tea Party: Sun., Jan. 12, 7 p.m. $36. RSVP at chabaddayton. com/cwc. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

Men

Chabad Bagels, Lox & Tefillin: Sun., Jan. 5, 9:30 a.m. 13+ welcome. chabaddayton. com. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770.

JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series

Complete schedule on Page 14.

Community

Temple Beth Or 40th Anniversary Shabbat Service: Fri., Jan. 31, 7 p.m. W. Cantor Rosalie Will & gala Oneg. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937435-3400.

Chabad Cholent Bowl: Sat., Feb. 1, 12:15 p.m. RSVP at chabaddayton.com/rsvp. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood.

Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative

Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer

Fridays, 5 p.m.

Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

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

Beth Jacob Congregation

Modern Orthodox 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

Rabbinic Intern Jonathan Benzion 320 Caldwell St., Piqua. Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, ansheemeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org

Temple Beth Or Reform

Rabbi Judy Chessin

Asst. Rabbi/Educator Ben Azriel

Fridays, 6:15 p.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com

Temple Beth Sholom Reform

Rabbi Haviva Horvitz 610 Gladys Dr., Middletown. 513-422-8313. templebethsholom.net

Temple Israel Reform

Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fridays, Jan. 3 & 10, 6 p.m. Fridays, Jan. 17, 24 & 31, 6:30 p.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. tidayton.org

Temple Sholom Reform

Rabbi Cary Kozberg Fridays, 6 p.m. 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. 1st & 3rd Saturday each month. Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.

The small act that brings completion

By Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Chabad of Greater Dayton

There is a striking verse in the Lecha Dodi, sung as we welcome Shabbat each Friday night. It sings of Shabbat as that which was:

"From the very beginning, from time primordial, chosen: Last in creation, first in thought."

Simply, Shabbat was the last of the seven days of creation, yet it is elevated above them all, indicating it has been from the start the goal to which all days lead.

There are many other views of time. Modern thought has contemplated a universe that progressively wears out, compelled by the second law of

Perspectives

thermodynamics to an eventual entropic grey-out.

Ancient thought, by contrast, in Greece, India, and many other places, looked at time as an endless cycle, tending toward nothing in particular.

But the way of seeing time that inspires the poetry of Lecha Dodi is among what Thomas Cahill called the gifts of the Jews. In Cahill's words:

"Time isn’t a circle; it’s linear, with a narrative that has a beginning, middle, and a triumphant end toward which mankind is destined. And every generation — every person — is contributing to writing and shaping the story, with the purpose of making the world an increasingly better place. We can progress and move forward, and everything we do matters."

The words of Lecha Dodi say this poetically — the first

January 3: 5:07 p.m.

January 10: 5:14 p.m.

January 17: 5:21 p.m.

January 24: 5:29 p.m.

January 31: 5:38 p.m.

week of creation moves toward its climax, the seventh day, in which all is brought to fullness and completion before God. The Hebrew word used to express this coming-to-fullness on Shabbat is vayechulu, derived from the same Hebrew root as the word kilayon, which is used by the mystics to describe the soul’s ecstasy in its embrace with God.

This was the goal of the first week, as described in Genesis, and the pattern of the first week repeats itself throughout time.

But these repetitions are not merely start-overs, à la Groundhog Day. For just as the goal of the first week was the Shabbat, so too did the rabbis of old speak of yom shekulo Shabbat—the day which will be entirely Shabbat and tranquility for the life of eternity.

In other words, each cycle marks the completion of another step in the journey to a wholeness which is more complete and more filled with delight than the one before.

relation with God, as now we focus on Shabbat as it is in the Torah given to us, and the Torah reading is at the center of our services and of the morning prayer.

This is revelation: God is no longer just the Creator behind the world, but the One who in love reveals His own self to us directly at Sinai.

Finally, in the afternoon prayer, we embrace redemption. We, the Jewish people, reflecting God’s own oneness, bring the divine redeeming message of Shabbat into the world through exemplifying the love of God in all we do.

It is at this peak that Shabbat ends. But with Havdalah and a set table Saturday night, with music and joy, we start the new week at that high point at which Shabbat ended, ready for another week that will go even higher.

Humility is not timidity. Where timidity paralyzes, humility empowers.

As well, there is a progression within Shabbat itself. The brilliant and original Jewish German thinker Franz Rosenzweig pointed out that on Friday night, Shabbat focuses on creation as we read the climax of the creation story in Kiddush and the night prayer.

Saturday morning, we move forward more deeply into our

January • Tevet/Shevat

Chanukah

So instead of a static circle, there is a spiraling upward, returning to the start but at a higher level.

This is the principle that determines the law of the Chanukah lights – that we begin with one light and add on each night, ma’alin bakodesh, always ascending in matters of holiness.

Not that there is no erosion. The rabbis said that if the earlier generations were angels, then we are merely human; if they were just human, then we are donkeys.

But this was taught to help

us avoid the chutzpah of taking for granted what our ancestors only achieved with great effort. Without their example and achievement, we have no reason to believe we would be able to duplicate their work, let alone exceed it.

We need not shy away from looking at ourselves as the very last and lowest, because that is precisely where the blessing is meant to be found. It is the last day of creation, the lowest of levels, that was first in God’s thought.

Humility is not timidity. Where timidity paralyzes, humility empowers. It is only when we can see ourselves humbly, the recipient of many gifts that we did not work for, that we can realize who we really are.

And the little choices that we make, the little story that we can write ourselves, is what the world was waiting for: the blessing that has waited from the very beginning of all things for us.

All the great people, all the great leaders, mystics, whether prophets, sages, tzadikim, or people of simple goodness, all are looking to us to do what we alone can do.

A mitzvah (commandment) is calling us – and the Day That is Entirely Shabbat is coming on its wings.

But, as El Al used to advertise, why wait till you arrive at Ben Gurion to begin your Israel experience?

Whether lighting the lights at home or making Kiddush, or whether joining the community at prayer and fellowship at shul, we can taste the peace and joy that awaits every week, and anticipate it each day.

Dec. 26-Jan. 2 • 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 (Chanukah 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.

Torah Portions

January 4: Vayigash (Gen. 44:18-47:27)

January 11: Vayechi (Gen. 47:28-50:26)

January 18: Shemot (Ex. 1:1-6:1)

January 25: Vaera (Ex. 6:2-9:35) Shabbat Candle Lightings

Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin

Happy Chanukah

Lawrence Wagenfeld

Submitted

Twins Eli and Ethan Greenberg, seniors on Centerville High School's varsity boys basketball team, both signed on Nov. 13 to play basketball at Division 1 schools on full athletic scholarships. Eli will play at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., a member of the Northeast Conference. Ethan will play at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, a member of the Mountain West Conference. Eli and Ethan were invited to play for the U.S.A. delegation to the 2025 World Maccabiah Games in Israel but had to decline because of scheduling conflicts with their schools. Eli and Ethan are grandsons of the late Stan Greenberg, who attended the University of Dayton on a full basketball scholarship. Stan was on the 1962 team, which won the National Invitation Tournament. Eli and Ethan are sons of Maribeth and Marc Greenberg and grandsons of Stanley Scott and Mary and Peter DiSalvo.

One of Our Greatest Mitzvot

Working together to bene t our community, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton was formed to preserve the dignity of our three Jewish cemeteries in perpetuity. But consolidating the administration and operations of these properties is more than a good business strategy. It’s the ultimate act of tzedakah.

at’s why we created an endowment organization to maintain the sanctity, integrity, and perpetuity of Beth Abraham, Beth Jacob, and Temple Israel cemeteries.

Judaism teaches us that honoring, respecting, and caring for a person who has died is one of our greatest mitzvot.

Native Daytonian Sara Klaben Avrahami, who now lives in Tel Aviv, has come up with a venture to connect Israeli artisans with customers from around the world. Sara launched Makers of Israel with nine female volunteers. "At the heart of Makers of Israel is the power of connection," Sara says. "Our artisans have each been affected by the current war in different ways, and their stories and creations reflect their resilience." Makers of Israel has curated a Chanukah collection featuring exclusive products such as handcrafted menorahs made of local salt threaded with indigo powder, 14-karat gold jewelry named for one of the rescued hostages, Noa Argamani, and Chanukah cards designed by displaced children. Makers of Israel customers are also able to make an optional donation to Citizen's Kitchen, which has provided 100,000 meals to soldiers and their families as well as displaced families across Israel since Oct. 7, 2023. Sara is the daughter of Marilyn and Larry Klaben

After five years of development and testing, Dayton native Rachel Bloom, now of the D.C. area, has launched her new business, a line of backpacks and purses with antitheft features. The idea came to her after someone opened her purse and stole her phone, ID, and credit

cards when she was at a bar with friends — and the purse was on her shoulder. "I searched the bar for my belongings, and even checked 'Find My iPhone' to locate my phone, but by then it was too late," she explained. "I approached various technology manufacturers and found Lockus, who got to work developing and testing our proprietary smart-antitheft technology. We offer innovative and functional wearable technology that represents a hugely important road towards the empowerment of women around the world in our rapidly advancing society." The name of Rachel's business is — what else? — Rachel Bloom. Rachel's parents are Julie and Dr. Rob Bloom

An essay by University of Cincinnati Judaic Studies Chair Jenny Caplan, Esther Friesner's Funny, Serious, and Seriously Funny Speculative Fiction, comprises a chapter in the anthology Jewish Women Science Fiction Writers Create Future Females: Gender, Temporality — and Yentas, to be published by Lexington Books Jan. 15. Edited by Marleen S. Barr, the book is the first essay collection devoted to Jewish women science fiction writers.

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

Visiting a cemetery expresses respect for the departed, reinforces our connections with them, and shows that their memory has not been forgotten.

Join us in this sacred e ort to preserve the eternal homes of the generations that came before us, care for our hometown Jewish community, and look out for future generations who will need our care.

Donations can be made to Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton 525 Versailles Drive, Dayton, OH 45459 or scan the QR Code below to donate on our website.

Centerville High School seniors Ethan (L) and Eli Greenberg

Sara Klaben Avrahami

Rachel Bloom with a purse from her collection.

rachelbloom.com

Dayton Jewish Observer’s Marshall Weiss

Words, wise or wicked

Sacred Speech Series

Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said to Tavi his servant, "Go out and purchase a good cut of meat for me from the market," so Tavi purchased tongue for him. Rabbi Shimon then said to him, "Go out and purchase a bad cut of meat," and again Tavi returned with tongue.

Puzzled, Rabbi Shimon asked, "What is this, that when

Candace R. Kwiatek

I said to purchase a good cut of meat, you bought tongue, but when I said to purchase a bad cut of meat, you also bought tongue?"

Tavi responded, "Good comes from it and bad comes from it. When it is good, there is nothing better than it. When it is bad, there is nothing worse than it."

The significance of speech as the agency of creation is established at the dawn of time: “In the beginning…God said, ‘Let there be…’ And it was so. And

God saw that (it) was good…”

Although the language of Creation itself is God’s alone, humans were also uniquely created with the divine power of language, according to Rashi.

Along with cattle and beasts, humans are called “a living soul,” nefesh chayah, the renowned biblical commentator explains, “but the nefesh of man is the most highly developed of all of them, because to him was granted understanding and speech.”

The Torah itself makes this point abundantly clear in its opening chapters. Without language, how would the first humans have made sense of God’s commands to "…fill the earth and master it…”? How could they have comprehended the prohibition, “…but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it…” or the consequence, “you shall die”?

Why would humans instinctively engage in naming existing creations? “God brought (the living creatures) to the human to see what he would call them…”, or dream up symbolic

names for new ones: “This one shall be called woman (isha), for from a human (ish) she was taken”?

In all of creation, only the human has the power of language.

Among the many lessons to be gleaned from the Creation narrative, the most profound is the preeminence of language itself.

“With words God created the universe…(and) through words He communicated with humankind,” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks observed. Therefore, in Judaism, "language itself is holy.”

Holy by design and holy in purpose, language is set apart, distinct from the rest of creation. They are God’s communications to humankind.

But what about language in the world, among people? The Bible is filled with myriad examples of the wise use of language.

Joseph forgave his brothers with words. The prophet Nathan spoke a parable that inspired King David to repent his evil actions. King Cyrus decreed that the Jews be allowed to return to Judah and rebuild the Temple.

isn’t just a minor wrongdoing, Sacks warns. “Taking something that is holy and using it for purposes that are unholy… is a kind of desecration.”

During Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Gregory Maguire noticed his “deeply held (pacifist) convictions were swayed by words like fascist and Hitler in describing the Iraqi leader."

"I was dismayed by my brain melt,” he explained in a 2008 interview. So he set out to examine how language, and built-in word associations in particular, can cause the formation of opinions such as perceived evil, create a mob mentality, and marshal brute force against individuals and groups.

His exploration led him to write the fantasy novel Wicked, a reimagined adult version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The idea that 'brain-melt' can be instigated by single-word associations and word context isn't so far-fetched.

“It explains how Elphaba, who was born with unnaturally green skin, came to be known, unjustly, as the Wicked Witch of the West,” notes culture commentator Olivia Haynie, a tale of persecution and discrimination that many writers have noted is particularly Jewish.

which is the objective data we need.”

For example, study participants who read short passages about city crime described as a “beast preying” on the city concluded it should be addressed through punishment, while those who read about crime described as a “virus infecting” the city were more likely to support criminal reform, regardless of attitudes about crime and punishment on pre-study surveys.

The German word fluchtlingswelle (wave of refugees), often used to describe Syrian refugees from civil war, led citizens to demand the building of dams and protective walls.

10:30 am-10

10:30 am-10:30 pm Sun: 11:30 a.m-10 pm

Despite its holy nature and purpose, however, language can be distorted and misused.

Korach and his band complained, boldly challenging Moses', Aaron’s, and God’s authority. Jephthah rashly vowed to offer a battle-victory sacrifice for which his daughter became the victim.

The idea that “brain-melt” can be instigated by singleword associations and word context isn’t so far-fetched.

Researchers Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky discovered that human reliance on mental shortcuts to speed up reasoning results in a remarkable sensitivity to how things are presented or framed, often overruling logic or rationality, Dr. Steve Rathje writes.

By framing modern Israel as “a model of settler colonialism,” the genocidal dispossession of a native people by a European people, the facts and nuances of Jewish and Middle East history are swept under the rug.

This mental shortcut has resulted in calls for the elimination of the Jewish state, particularly notable recently on college campuses.

Haman accused Shushan’s Jews of not obeying the king’s laws and suggested it wasn’t in the crown’s interest to tolerate them, nearly resulting in genocide.

The perversion of language

In a rare switch from books this month…

Wicked, the movie. The musical film is, in the words of Israeli writer Hen Mazzig, “not just a spectacle of song and dance; it is a profound allegory. Beneath its spellbinding melodies lies a narrative as old as humanity itself, the story of scapegoat-

“In other words,” Dr. Melissa Hughes adds, “focusing on how something is said — or framed — can result in overlooking what is being said,

ing, dehumanization, and the moral cost of branding someone as 'other'. It is, in essence, a deeply Jewish story.” Although rated PG, it is 2 hours, 40 minutes in length. The original novel Wicked was authored by Gregory Maguire, a reimagined version for adults of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Six13 - A Wicked Chanukah. A newly-released Chanukah

Never take language lightly,” Sacks cautions. Language is holy, and its wise use is a holy undertaking. Using it for unholy purposes is a desecration. One might even say it’s wicked.

parody video by the groundbreaking a cappella vocal band Six13 uses a Wicked medley to reenact the historical tale of the Maccabees, feature Chanukah traditions, and emphasize the commitment of the Jewish people. It’s an audiovisual treat that can be enjoyed by all ages! For additional commentary, see Lior Zaltzman’s Kveller article Six13’s Wicked Hanukkah Parody is Haunting but Uplifting

Pull-Apart Sufganiyot Cake

Tasty Chanukah donuts — without the smell of frying.

Harry Rubenstein, The Nosher

Now look, nothing — and I mean nothing — beats a perfectly fried sufganiya (Chanukah donut) fresh out of hot oil, dusted with powdered sugar, still warm enough to make the jam dangerously hot.

But if you’re feeding a crowd or just don’t want to smell your house up with hot oil, here’s a pretty fantastic baked version for you.

Fair warning: This is a rich dough that’s going to feel more like a very thick cake batter than bread dough when you first mix it.

You’re working with a seriously wet dough that’s going to test your patience and stick to everything it touches.

But this is exactly what you want. All that richness is going to give you tender, pillowy sufganiyot that pull apart like clouds.

Here’s how to deal with the sticky situation: First, resist the urge to add more flour. Instead, embrace the chill — a cold dough is easier to handle.

After the first rise, pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes. When shaping, keep your hands lightly oiled rather than floured. The oil prevents sticking without toughening the dough like extra flour would.

The payoff? Gorgeously golden, honeycomb-patterned pull-apart sufganiyot that look like they came from a high-end bakery.

They’re tender, rich, and perfect for filling with whatever your heart desires. Plus, since they’re baked, you can make a whole batch at once instead

of frying in little batches while your family hovers around you like hungry seagulls.

Total Time: 30 minutes + 2 hours rising/chilling time

Yield: Serves 8-12

For the dough:

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. instant yeast

⅓ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. fine salt

1 cup milk, room temperature

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract zest of 1 lemon (optional)

¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

2/3 cup unsalted butter, cubed and softened

For finishing:

1 large egg yolk whisked + 1 Tbsp. water (for egg wash) your favorite jam, for filling powdered sugar, for dusting

Take butter, milk, eggs out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before starting.

To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt.

Add milk, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and optional flavorings. Mix with dough hook on low speed until combined, about two minutes.

With the mixer running, gradually add softened butter, piece by piece, waiting for each addition to be incorporated before adding more.

Once all butter is added,

knead for eight to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Dough will be very soft and sticky — this is correct. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place (75 degrees) for 1-1.5 hours or until doubled. For easier handling, refrigerate dough for 30 minutes after rising.

To shape and arrange: First choose your pan setup: 12-by12- or 13-by-13-inch square cake pan (ideal), or half sheet pan with foil walls (you’ll need to create a 12-by-12-inch space by folding heavy-duty foil into 3-inch-high strips to form a square border inside your pan).

Line your pan with parchment paper. With lightly oiled hands, divide dough into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball. Arrange in a 4-by-4 grid with even spacing — they should be close enough to touch when fully risen. The foil walls or pan sides will help them rise upward instead of outward, creating perfectly fluffy, pull-apart sufganiyot.

Cover loosely and let rise for 45-60 minutes until puffy. The balls should be touching and fill the space completely.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Gently brush risen dough with egg wash. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and internal temperature reaches 190 degrees.

Let cool slightly for five minutes. Cut a small slit on each sufganiya, pipe in about one teaspoon of jam. Dust generously with powdered sugar. Best served warm.

How young Jews navigate Jew hatred

By Talia Doninger Special to The Observer

Samantha A. Vinokor-Meinrath never intended to become an expert on antisemitism.

“I wish we were talking about anything else,” she tells The Observer. “I wish for all of us that antisemitism would be the realm of historians and not of contemporary educators and those thinking of their contemporary Jewish identity.”

Yet the Jewish educator and author stands at the forefront of a critical conversation. In her book, #antisemitism: Coming of Age During the Resurgence of Hate, Vinokor-Meinrath parses the complexities of modern antisemitism, particularly as it impacts Jewish youths.

hostages has transformed what we prioritize, how we show up in the world, and what it means to make these Jewish choices.”

A finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, #antisemitism serves as a mirror and map to reflect the realities of our time.

She'll talk about her book Jan. 14 on Zoom as part of the JCC's Cultural Arts & Book Series.

“We’ve experienced existential loneliness as a people this year,” she says of the events beginning with the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre. "The sense of walking through the world holding and knowing the names of a hundred

Vinokor-Meinrath is the senior director of knowledge, ideas, and learning at the Jewish Education Project, a century-old venture that provides professional development and resources to educators in early childhood centers, congregations, day schools and yeshivas, youth programs, and emerging spaces.

She holds a Doctor of Education degree from Gratz College, a private Jewish studies institution in the Philadelphia area, where she also teaches.

Based in Westchester, N.Y., VinokorMeinrath wrote #antisemitism during what she calls a “cusp moment” in Jewish history.

The 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, and

the isolation of the Covid pandemic informed her work, she says. These events set the stage for the current climate, where antisemitism manifests both subtly and overtly.

Antisemitism takes on new forms in the digital age and rapidly spreads across social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, as well as gaming platforms and servers.

“It can manifest as microaggressions that may not even be recognized as antisemitism at the moment,” Vinokor-Meinrath notes.

According to the 2023 ADL Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, Ohio experienced 237 incidents that year, compared with 61 in 2022.

feel othered and uncomfortable.”

The Jerusalem Post reported in November that nearly one third of Jewish teens in the United States admitted to hiding their faith symbols including kipot, Stars of David, or other Jewish insignia while at school, according to a survey Mosaic United conducted with Israel's Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism Ministry.

Jill, a teen from Ohio whom VinokorMeinrath features in the book, expresses this reservation.

“We as a community are becoming unfortunately well-versed in blatant acts of antisemitism,” she explains. “But there’s still a lot of discussion around the things that someone wouldn’t necessarily report — but have made them

The JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series presents author Samantha A. Vinokor-Meinrath via Zoom, 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 14. Register for the free program at jewishdayton.org/event.

“I’ll see the news about all these attacks,” Jill said, “but then instead of calling it out, it’s almost like all these people are saying the Jews deserve it. I’m scared—it’s like, do they think that about me too?”

Vinokor-Meinrath says this kind of vulnerability among young Jews is deeply troubling; it’s also where she sees the greatest potential for change.

She says Jewish youths do want to talk. “They are eager to reflect on their own experiences. They are eager to see themselves as part of this bigger reality and to put their own personal experiences into this larger context.”

“We want proud Jews,” she emphasizes. “We want people who are connected to their Jewish identities, who see value added in it and aren’t going to be intimidated or frightened to express it.”

Samantha A. Vinokor-Meinrath

The first season of Nobody Wants This made its Jews pretty unlikeable — but

By Mira Fox, Forward

Apparently everybody wanted Netflix’s hot rabbi rom-com Nobody Wants This; it's been watched by millions and was renewed for a second season less than a month after its debut.

Viewers swooned over Adam Brody as the rabbi dating a nonJewish woman, and his chemistry with Kristen Bell, who plays the girlfriend, Joanne. Jews, however, had complaints.

The rabbi, though hot and charming, is framed as an anomaly in a religion otherwise portrayed as strange and off-putting. The Jewish women in the show are nagging shrews who serve as foils to set off the hot, fun, very blonde shiksas — a pejorative term the show deploys liberally — to whom the Jewish men are inexorably drawn. Just to name a few of the tropes at play.

When The Los Angeles Times asked the show’s creator, Erin Foster, about her unflattering portrayal of Jews, she said that, having already made her rabbi a hot guy who smokes weed — “that’s the antithesis of how people view a Jewish rabbi, right?”— she wanted to avoid criticism for inaccuracies.

I know plenty of rabbis who smoke weed. And as a fun (and blonde!) Jewish woman, I don’t think Foster’s heavily stereotyped Jewish women were very accurate. But since we are getting more of Nobody Wants This anyway, let me offer a few more suggestions for next season, which Foster has said she hopes will focus on the conversion process.

Let’s see Joanne put in some effort Joanne’s decision not to convert for Noah at the end of the first season is one of the better moments in the show; she explains that she doesn’t want to just convert to keep her relationship, because Judaism is more than a hobby to join because your boyfriend is into it. I agree!

But other than that insight, we see Joanne put very little effort into understanding Judaism — she still doesn’t know what shalom means, crosses herself at synagogue, and goes to Shabbat camp with Noah without Googling what Shabbat is.

So if Joanne indeed begins to consider conversion, let’s see her actually, you know, consider it. I’d love to see her, at least briefly, become more observant than Noah. It’s fairly common for converts to end up feeling closer to Judaism than those born into it, who can take it for granted.

I’d love to watch Joanne decide to stop driving on Shabbat in L.A., a famously unwalkable city. Maybe she ends up hiking along the edge of a highway to get to Noah’s house, or gets

lost in her own neighborhood without the assistance of Google Maps. Or she accidentally turns off a light switch by reflex and then, newly zealous about keeping Shabbat, staggers around in the dark for the rest of the night.

But I hope the show would also avoid cheap jokes about Shabbat elevators. Instead, this could be an opportunity to add nuance, like a conversation between Joanne and her sister about how practices others might find strange hold beauty in the way they force you to take a step outside the vicissitudes of modern life.

Tell us about Noah’s parents’ immigrant experience

There’s a lot of damage that’s already been done with the character of Rabbi Noah’s mother, played by Tovah Feldshuh as a cruel hypocrite who shames Joanne for bringing prosciutto to Shabbat lunch, then later eats cured pork out of the trash.

It’s next to impossible to totally walk that back, but the show could give us a deeper understanding of why the character is so prickly. Besides, Tovah Feldshuh is amazing; give her more to work with!

We already learned that Noah’s parents emigrated from the Soviet Union, where Jews often had to hide their Jewishness; Noah’s parents’ observance, and their desire for their children to marry Jewish women, is probably a reaction to their inability to practice freely in their own youth.

Let’s hear Feldshuh talk about her character’s upbringing, which could inform viewers about the trials of the Jewish Diaspora. And it could also tie in the prosciutto incident; many Soviet Jews ate pork. Perhaps she and Joanne can bond over their shared guilty pleasure: bacon.

maybe it’s fixable

Noah and Joanne’s interfaith relationship, including frequently remarking how it just couldn’t possibly work, a lot — and I mean a lot — of Jews are in successful interfaith relationships.

Reform rabbis, which Noah presumably is, are allowed to officiate interfaith marriages; several denominations allow their rabbis to be intermarried themselves.

It’s probably true that, as a rabbi, Noah might face some pushback about his relationship from older clergy and synagogue members. But the younger generation would probably feel really seen and included if their rabbi was in an interfaith relationship himself. I’d love to see some synagogue members come up to Noah and Joanne and get excited about being represented on the bima.

Let’s fix the Jewish women Esther, Noah’s sister-in-law, gets utterly shafted by the writing in the show. She’s sort of funny, but she’s also

a huge nag and openly nasty to Joanne, calling her “whore #1” and Joanne’s sister “whore #2.”

The only time we see her being truly caring is at her daughter Miriam’s bat mitzvah. In season two, I want to see more of Esther with her daughter, figuring out how to raise Miriam Jewish in a way she finds meaningful.

And, as far as Rebecca, Noah’s exgirlfriend, it’s not really clear why she’s in the show except to look crazy, but since she’s here, let’s work with it. In the first season, Rebecca talks about how much she wanted to be a rabbi’s wife — maybe in season two she realizes that what she really wanted was to be a rabbi herself!

Let’s see Rebecca go to rabbinical school and realize she doesn’t need a man to achieve her dreams.

Plus, she and Joanne can bond over all the Jewish fun facts they’re learning through their parallel Jewish journeys as Joanne converts and Rebecca pursues ordination.

Besides, the ex and the current girlfriend having an enemies-to-lovers arc is perfect romcom fodder.

See? Taking Judaism seriously doesn’t mean the show has to be a drag. Let’s hope Nobody Wants That realizes that in season two.

Get into the interfaith thing more

Though the first season of Nobody Wants This made a lot of drama over

Kristen Bell as Joanne & Adam Brody as Noah in Nobody Wants This

Stefania Rosini/Netflix

Frieda Borkan Gottesman Blum died peacefully on Dec. 14 at Ohio’s Hospice of Dayton, at age 94. She was born in Newark, N.J. on Jan. 30, 1930, and was the daughter of Maurice “Murray”and Helen Borkan. She was preceded in death by all five siblings, husbands Bernard Gottesman and Arnold Blum, and son-in law Richard Clowson. Frieda is survived by her children: Dr. Martin (Jenny) Gottesman, Rita Gottesman and Linda Gottesman; grandchildren Bethany (Michael) Bowen (nee Gottesman), Andrew (Jacqueline) Gottesman and Brian (Nia) Gottesman; and great-grandchildren Amelia Bowen, Zachary Bowen and Lennon Gottesman. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. A graduate of Fairview High School in Dayton, in her younger days, she was active in B’nai B’rith Women and B’nai B’rith Bowling, hav-

A Century of Trust.

ing served as president of both organizations. Frieda was a rabid mah jongg player and even in advanced age quickly memorized the hands on each annual card. Knitting was also a passion and she was very skilled at the craft. She made a baby blanket for each greatgrandchild and the one for Amelia ended up 7 feet long, a bit much for a baby. When asked what happened, she just stated that she got carried away and couldn’t stop. Despite her age and use of a walker for distances, she regularly spent quality time with Linda playing the slots at the local casino. She lived independently until her recent hospitalizations and was driving until the summer of 2024. Interment was at Beth Abraham Cemetery. The family requests donations to the charity of your choice in her name.

Vivienne Meisel Himmell, born June 1, 1930 in Philadelphia, died peacefully at home in Voorhees, N.J. on Dec. 1 at age 94. Active, vibrant and gregarious, she worked throughout her life to help people and to make the world a better place for those with disabilities. She received her master's degree from Wright State University and worked as a social worker throughout her career in Ohio for the Montgomery County Board of Developmental Disabilities. In the 1970s, she was instrumental in shutting down the institutions that provided terrible living conditions, relocating the residents into schools, resident homes, and workshop programs. She was an active member of the League of Women Voters for more than 65 years, serving a term as regional director in Dayton. Ms. Him-

OBITUARIES

mell was preceded in death by daughter Michelle in 2017 and husband Roger in 2021 and is survived by daughters Amy Himmell Lynch and Catherine Aharon (Michael), and grandchildren Max, Emily, Ian and Aidan. She will be missed by the many who knew and loved her. Donations can be made to autismnj.org in her name.

death by his parents, Ovadia and Nazima Levi; his son Ryan (2007); and his best friend, Paula (2016). He is survived by his son and daughter, Shawn (Andrea) Levi and Rachael (Ryan) Sutter; grandchildren, Jordan, Miles, and Elan Levi, and Landon and Audrey Sutter. He is also survived by his sis-

ter, Aviva Kothman; brothers, Yehezkel “Zeke” and Weitzman Levi; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. Interment was at Beth Jacob Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made in Zo’s memory to Guiding Grayson through his fight against CLN3 Batten Disease, guidinggrayson.com.

On Dec. 2, Zohar “Zo” Saed Levi passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his loved ones, who will continue to honor his legacy by living their lives to the fullest just as he wished for them. Zo was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he served as a half-track operator in the Israeli army and fought in the Six-Day War. In 1968, he met Paula Neeman on a kibbutz in Israel, and they moved to the United States in 1971. Zohar and Paula were a true American success story. For many years, Zo worked tirelessly as a diesel mechanic before opening his own shop and car dealership in 1985. With great kindness and generosity, he also helped his siblings get established in the U.S. after emigrating from Israel. Zohar leaves behind an amazing legacy of selfless love for others, putting their needs above his own. He spent much of his life sacrificing for those he loved. He devoted his time and energy to being the best provider and protector for his family. His children will always remember his loving presence in their lives. He also loved being a grandfather, and he lit up around his grandchildren, for whom he would do anything. All those who knew Zo considered him a wonderful friend with whom they shared many great times. Above all else in this life, Zo wanted to help people in any way he could. His kindness and generosity extended beyond his own family and friends to the community around him. He had a great knowledge and ability to fix anything, and it was his passion to share this gift with others. Until the very end, his thoughts were of what he could do for others. During his final weeks, he could still be found working at his shop whenever he was able and spending time with his beloved family. Zo was preceded in

Congressional report

Continued from Page Seven

failed to clear these encampments in a timely manner, often negotiating with encampment participants, and in some cases appeasing them with appalling concessions.”

The tax-writing Ways and Means Committee recommended removing the tax-exempt status of nonprofit groups that, it said, abet terrorism.

The Commerce Committee, which oversees the Department of Health and Human Services, recommended that the department more closely scrutinize whether educational institutions receiving its National Institutes of Health research grants are protecting Jewish students.

The report said that protections extended to Jewish students must apply when Zionists are named as the targets of exclusion or harassment.

NYU changed its bylaws to outlaw discrimination against “Zionists” last summer.

“Universities should make clear that discrimination against Zionists is an unacceptable violation of their conduct policies and must prevent hostile environments created by discrimination against ‘Zionists,'” it said. “Campus Jewish communities are often targeted through antisemitic discrimination and harassment on the purported basis of being ‘Zionists.’ While criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic, hatred against ‘Zionists’ is.”

comes amid reports that the incoming Trump administration plans on shutting down the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to track farright extremists.

The only allusion to rightwing antisemitism was when the report cited Claudine Gay, the former Harvard University president for “disparaging” New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as a “purveyor of hate” and “supporter of proudboys.”

Stefanik, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations, has echoed a version of “Replacement Theory,” a baseless claim whose original form says Jews are orchestrating the mass immigration of people of color to replace whites.

Stefanik’s campaign said in 2021 that Democrats want to “overthrow our current electorate” via undocumented immigration to the United States.

She has also used the term “hostages” to refer to people prosecuted for their involvement in the pro-Trump Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, which sought to overturn the 2020 election.

The report said that protections extended to Jewish students must apply when Zionists are named as the targets of exclusion or harassment.

A number of those defendants are members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group.

Stefanik’s questioning of Gay in Congress, in which Gay equivocated about whether she would penalize calls for the genocide of Jews at Harvard, led to Gay’s stepping down.

The Jewish Federations of North America welcomed the report.

When House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, launched the multipronged investigation in April, he made clear that its sole focus would be universities and groups often identified with the left that have backed the pro-Palestinian protests.

The report barely mentioned right-wing antisemitism, and

“We applaud House leadership for publishing this report, which sheds light on this critical issue,” said its vice president of government relations, Karen Paikin Barall. “To put a halt to this hatred, bipartisan collaboration along with public and private sector partners is essential. We look forward to working in the next Congress to confront this critical challenge.”

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Friday, January 31

7:00 p.m. at Temple Beth Or 40th Anniversary Shabbat Service and Celebration Join special guest visiting worship leader, consultant, and performer Cantor Rosalie Will for Shabbat service.

Celebration and toasts to follow in Levin Hall. No cost to attend, all are welcome!

Shabbat Service followed by Gala Oneg Shabbat

Saturday, February 1

6:00 p.m. at Temple Beth Or “Who Knows One?” Live It’s not who you know, it’s who [who you know] knows! It’s not just a show—it’s an experience! Join Micah Hart for his interactive sensation where Jewish Geography meets laugh-out-loud games and stories. Visit whoknows1.com for a sneak peek!

Tickets:

$25 per person... Early bird special: $20 by January 17 Your payment secures your reservation. Includes dinner and 1 drink. Additional drink tickets: $5