The Dayton Jewish Observer, November 2023

'Stand in support Israel's security' Davidunited Moss designs Grace of After Mealssafety in comicand book form p. p.

223.

THE DAYTON Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton

November 2023 Cheshvan/Kislev 5784 Vol. 28, No. 3

OBSERVER

The Miami Valley’s Jewish Monthly • daytonjewishobserver.org Peter Wine

'Almost too much to bear'

17

Former Daytonian Shel Bassel

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

The State of Israel & the state of academia

18

UD Law Professor Erica Goldberg

What this war is about

Address Service Requested

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

19 At the Stand With Israel Community Solidarity Gathering Oct. 10, memorial candles for the 1,400 Israelis massacred

by Hamas Oct. 7.

Shalom Hartman Institute's Yossi Klein Halevi

DAYTON

Focus On What Matters Most.

JFGD

Jewish community members came together at the Dayton Foodbank on Sept. 27 and distributed food to more than 1,000 families for the Jewish Community Relations Council's Spread the LuLove event.

Marshall Weiss

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PAGE 2

Students, faculty, and staff at the University of Dayton gathered for a prayer service for peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people, Oct. 12.

Marc Jacob

Bourbon tasting to benefit Hillel

Hillel Academy of Greater Dayton will host a bourbon tasting, 7:30 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 18 at Top of the Market as a fundraiser for the Jewish day school. Cincinnati's Rabbi Drew Kaplan, founder and publisher of jewishdrinking.com, will talk about drinking in Jewish wisdom, history, and tradition. The cost is $100 per person, $180 per couple, and includes hors d'oeuvres and dessert.

Top of the Market is located at 32 Webster St., Dayton. Tickets are available at daytonhillel.org or 937-277-8966 through Nov. 10.

UD Kristallnacht observance Nov. 9

University of Dayton English Prof. Miriamne Krummel will present remarks on the Language of Loss as part of the university's annual Kristallnacht Remembrance, 5 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 9 at the Immaculate Conception Chapel. Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass — Nov. 9 and 10, 1938 in Nazi Germany — is considered the start of the Holocaust. Prof. Sharon Gratto will conduct UD’s World Music Choir and members of the Dayton Jewish Chorale in musical reflections. The program will also be livestreamed.

For more information, contact UD Executive Director of Campus Ministry Crystal Sullivan at csullivan1@udayton.edu.

Calendar..................................23 Family Education....................24

JCC preschooler Peyton Harvey, daughter of Toria and Jon Harvey, shakes the lulav and etrog in the sukkah at the Boonshoft CJCE.

Food................................25 Obituaries........................... 26

O p i n i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 7 Religion.......................... 22

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

DAYTON

'Stand united in support of Israel's safety and security' Federation president urges local Jews to help the Jewish state through the crisis of Hamas' massacre and war

By Marshall Weiss The Observer Three days after the brutal Hamas massacre that left 1,400 mostly civilian Israelis dead, thousands wounded, and more than 220 captive, members of the Miami Valley's Jewish community came together to mourn, pray, find strength, and show their support for Israel.

"At dawn on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the terrorists of Hamas sent thousands of rockets into Israel and launched unthinkable attacks," Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton President Mary Rita Weissman told the 250 participants at the Stand With Israel Community Solidarity Gathering, at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education on the evening of Oct. 10.

The State of Israel has confirmed that approximately 30 of the hostages are children and up to 20 are elderly. More than a dozen are American citizens.

Hamas' Oct. 7 invasion of Israel marks the deadliest day Jewish Federations of North America have opened a fund to support Israel. Donations will support victims of terror, help rebuild damaged infrastructure, and address the unprecedented levels of trauma caused by Hamas’ brutal attacks. To donate, go to jewishdayton.org.

for Jews since the Holocaust.

It was a day, Weissman said, of terror, death, and unbounded grief.

"Striking revelers dancing through the night at a music festival, killing babies, some of them by beheading.

Slitting open the bellies of pregnant women and pulling the fetuses out Jewish Federation Pres. Mary Rita Weissman addresses the Stand With Israel Community of their uteruses."

She urged Jews in the Solidarity Gathering, Oct. 10.

Dayton area to advoones, for the welfare of Israel, cate on Israel's behalf. "and for the nearly superhu"In your community, classman strength and wisdom that rooms or social media platthis terrible hour necessitates in forms, let the world know that their leaders. Pray also for the you stand with Israel. Shout at multitudes of Gaza citizens who your employers and any unicondemn the versities that terrorists and you support 'Pray also for the their inhuman to stand with Israel. Most of multitudes of Gaza attacks."

Weissman's those who have citizens who call to action been quick to included a call support other condemn the beleaguered terrorists and their to unity.

"As difficult communities as this may be, in their time of inhuman attacks.' put politics need have been aside," she said. "Our communotably silent in supporting Israel and the Jewish community. nity has diverse political views, both in America and in Israel.

Do not let them be silent."

She called on those present to Now is the time to set our differences aside and stand united pray for the safety of the Israel Defense Forces, for the comfort in support of Israel's safety and Continued on Page Four of those who grieve for loved

Bark Mitzvah Boy

No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock fetters of wickedness, And untie the cords of the yoke, To let the oppressed go free; To break off every yoke.

— Isaiah 58:6

kidnappedfromisrael.com

Peter Wine

From the editor’s desk

A few weeks ago, I was working on a Jewish history talk I'll present at the University of Dayton in November.

At one point in the talk, I mention pogroms. It seemed to me I should Marshall explain the meaning of pogrom for Weiss those present.

I went over to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website, ushmm.org, for guidance and precision. The Holocaust Encyclopedia at that site offers this definition: " A Russian word meaning 'to wreak havoc, to demolish violently.' Historically, the term refers to violent attacks by local non-Jewish populations on Jews in the Russian Empire and in other countries."

I included this language in my talk, in the past tense: "a pogrom was..." When The Observer's administrative assistant, Samantha Daniel, proofed my notes, she corrected it to read, "a pogrom is." How right she was. Oct. 7 was only days away.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

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THE DAYTON

OBSERVER daytonjewishobserver.org Editor and Publisher Marshall Weiss mweiss@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Contributors Rabbi Leibel Agar Candace R. Kwiatek Advertising Sales Executive Patty Caruso, plhc69@gmail.com Administrative Assistant Samantha Daniel, sdaniel@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Billing Sheila Myers, smyers@jfgd.net 937-610-1555 Proofreaders Rachel Haug Gilbert, Steven H. Solomon

Rabbi Judy Chessin shares a message of hope at the Stand With Israel Community Solidarity Gathering Oct. 10. Also on stage is Jewish Federation CEO Cathy Gardner

Stand united

DaytonMetroLibrary.org PAGE 4

Continued from Page Three security."

Cathy Gardner, the Jewish Federation's CEO, emphasized that the Hamas terror organization, which perpetrated the unprecedented attacks, wants to see Israel and Jews "wiped off the face of the earth forever."

"Tonight, we reaffirm that the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton and our community partners will do all that we can to stand with At the Stand With Israel Community Solidarity Israel and help our fellow Gathering Oct. 10, representatives of local Jewish Jews who have been affected organizations light memorial candles for the Israelis massacred by Hamas on Oct. 7. Shown here (L to R): by this horrific war."

Vicki Kemmerer, Hadassah; Amy Bloom, Chabad; Before he recited Psalms and Andy Schwartz, Hillel Academy. and prayers for healing, who struggle with God and nation.

Chabad's Rabbi Nochum Mangel noted that the "battle against And we will wrestle once again. We will prevail. And we will give birth evil" can take place on multiple to a new Middle East that is closer to fronts. our dreams and our hopes for peace."

"The physical war is fought with Chessin invited Israelis at the bullets, tanks, planes, and missiles," gathering to join the Dayton Jewish he said. "And the spiritual one, to Chorale on stage to sing Hatikvah, destroy or eradicate evil forever, is Israel's national anthem. Hatikvah fought with prayers, Torah study, means The Hope. and good deeds."

Weissman, the Jewish Federation's When Temple Beth Or's Rabbi president, echoed Chessin's message Judy Chessin recited the Mourner's of hope.

Kaddish, she noted that in Hebrew, "Perhaps most difficult and imthe word crisis, mashber, also means portant of all, resist succumbing to childbirth chair. despair. Continue to hold fast to the "Written into the language of the belief that a better future is possible.

Jewish consciousness is the idea that Even if the path is unclear. Israel is the pain of hard times is akin to the contractions of a woman giving birth: our family. The Talmud teaches us that all of Israel is responsible for one something new is about to be born out of the crisis. And today, we make another. In crisis, family steps up.

"Even if there is discord among us, history. In an age in which people may we all step up in this difficult of violence are committing acts of brutality in the name of God without hour. May God save Israel from this compassion for us, we gird ourselves unbearable tragedy and help each of us to find a way to support and uplift for yet another battle. one another."

"But we are Yisrael. We are those

Observer Advisor Martin Gottlieb Published by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton Mary Rita Weissman President Dan Sweeny President Elect Marni Flagel Secretary Neil Friedman Treasurer Ben Mazer VP Personnel Teddy Goldenberg VP Resource Dev. Dr. Heath Gilbert Immediate Past Pres.

Cathy Gardner CEO The Dayton Jewish Observer, Vol. 28, No. 3. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, a nonprofit corporation, 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459.

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

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

Goals • To encourage affiliation, involvement and communication.

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

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

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

• To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life.

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THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

DAYTON

Withstanding horrors of war The Observer has heard from area residents who have been affected by the Israel-Hamas War and from Israelis with close ties to the Miami Valley.

We share some of those stories here.

Business Services and the Dayton Development Coalition. As she attempted to write this update, she had to seek shelter from rockets three times: "Most of all, I can't believe the slaughter that went on in Israel near the border with Gaza.

Through a child's eyes Extensive areas, villages and towns, were conJust a few Jewish families have children quered by Hamas. They hold kids and youngenrolled at a public elementary school in Miami sters as hostages. They handcuffed them and County. In one of those households, the parents then shot or cut off their heads in front of their don't allow their 8-year-old son to have a smartparents. They slit the throats of babies, kids, phone. women, and old people.

After Hamas invaded Israel Oct. 7, the parents "Not only did they record the horrors, but at of this 8-year-old Jewish boy talked to him in times, took the person’s mobile phone and sent age-appropriate terms about what was going on. the videos out to their families on WhatsApp. When news outlets reported that a former At times they posted the video on the person’s Hamas leader had designated Friday, Oct. 13 Facebook profile. They made sure people were as the "Day of Jihad," a "global day of protest completely burned alive in their own homes against Israel," some parents across the region — and/or in the cars. Girls were raped next to their Jewish and non-Jewish — chose not to send their dead friends. Body parts cut off of living people. children to school that day.

Entire villages looted and burned to the ground.

But at this school, Jewish families did send Hamas wiped out entire families. They even shot their children. On the school bus that morning, their dogs. a 9-year-old boy sitting behind the 8-year-old "(Montgomery County) ComJewish boy showed him graphic videos of the missioner Rice wrote me that war. The 9-year-old and two of his friends they are lighting the Montgomery told the 8-year-old Jewish boy that "Hamas County Administration Buildwas coming to the U.S.A. and was roaming ing blue and white, a sign to the streets and killing kids." thousands of cars that pass by "Everyone was just talking about the war on the highway that you are in that's been going on," the 8-year-old shared solidarity with Israel. I’m deeply with The Observer. moved by the gesture. Knowing "I got sucked into the conversation and the U.S. is backing us is tremenHadas Bar-Or I tried to get out. And they kept saying my dous. We are very grateful. name. And I was trying to mind my own "I was asked if this will have business. I was scared. Like school's going to an impact on trade and business be on full lockdown. That's what I thought." relationships between Israel and The 8-year-old also said he got in trouble the U.S., specifically the Dayton with his teacher later that day for talking to region. I believe the answer is no. kids about it in class, "because it's scary."

Israel has been through many He said he told his teacher, "It's hard for me wars throughout its 75 years of having a Muslim friend because their family existence and still managed to lives there and I just feel bad for them. My strive, innovate, collaborate and teacher yelled at me. She didn't let me finish develop extensive business relaDr. Masad Barhoum tionships with the U.S. — to the my sentence."

After those incidents, the boy told his great benefit of all — even during mother he didn't want to go to school and times of war." wanted to move. "He said he feels like he can't trust anyone," his mother added.

From Western Galilee Hospital, His mother said she talked with the teacher on in Dayton's Partnership region Monday and let her know what was going on.

Israel's Western Galilee region is connected She also talked that day with the principal, who to Dayton's Jewish community and 16 other boarded the bus Tuesday morning and addressed Jewish communities across the central United the three 9-year-old boys directly. The principal States through the Partnership2Gether program told them they can't watch videos on the bus. of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Western Galilee "I don't know that there's really much that the Hospital, a key participant in the program, has school can do," the mother said. She acknowlreceived more than 170 injured combat soldiers edged it was possible there was no antisemitism in the north since the beginning of the war. or malicious intent on the part of those 9-yearUnder the direction of Dr. Masad Barhoum, olds. "I feel better that the principal was willing it's the largest hospital near Israel's northern to hear me and seemed to understand." border and the only one in Israel that can fully For her part, the mother explained to her son operate in bombproof facilities, located underthat those videos are hard for even grown-ups to ground. watch, "that I really needed him not to be look"This is a very difficult time for the country, ing at videos that any of the kids are showing maybe the worst scenario that has ever been," him. And that if he had questions, that he could Barhoum said in a video message Oct. 10 from talk to me, and of course, the rabbis. And just re- the hospital. "Our hospital stood strong in previiterating that he is safe at home, that they're not ous wars and emergencies, and we stand strong coming here, that I felt that we were safe." in the hard days ahead."

As reported in the Jerusalem Post Oct. 21, WestKnowing U.S. backs us 'is tremendous.' ern Galilee Hospital has temporarily suspended Hadas Bar-Or lives in Tel Aviv. She is the con- the British BBC network from the site until fursultant for the Dayton Region Israel Trade Allither notice, citing BBC's "biased coverage of the ance, a partnership with Montgomery County war."

— Marshall Weiss

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

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THE REGION

‘The past influences your decisions for the future.’

A

— Myron Stayman

lthough he has spent most of his adult life outside of the Dayton area, Myron Stayman still has a strong, emotional connection to Beth Abraham Synagogue and the Jewish community in which he grew up.

“My family moved to Troy when I was 6 months old,” explained Myron. “And then to Dayton because of its larger Jewish community when I was 5. The synagogue was always important to us,” he said. “I can close my eyes and still visualize the yahrzeit plaques, social hall, and beautiful stained-glass windows. The rabbis and cantors all went out of their way to be nice to me.”

Those memories were a catalyst in deciding to purchase a burial plot in Beth Abraham’s cemetery. “It’s a gorgeous cemetery,” Myron commented. Knowing that his eternal home would be alongside multiple generations of family and friends, he also chose to support the Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton campaign.

“It’s an additional insurance policy,” Myron continued. “My future home will be cared for and so will the home of my extended family. I’ve had a blessed life. How could I not participate?”

Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Dayton is an endowment organization created to maintain our three Jewish cemeteries in perpetuity.

Please join us as we strive to maintain the sanctity, care, and integrity of these sacred burial grounds.

Preserving our Past Ensuring Our Future

daytonjewishcemeteries.org 525 Versailles Drive • Centerville, OH 45459 PAGE 6

Anti-Israel graffiti removed at Case Western Reserve dental clinic

Man arrested after antisemitic remarks at synagogue, Bexley homes

By Courtney Byrnes, Columbus Jewish News Bexley police arrested a man who made antisemitic remarks at two Bexley homes Oct. 15 and at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Columbus Oct. 7.

Bexley Police Department responded to two calls shortly after 2:30 p.m. Oct. 15 reporting a man, now identified as Jacob Thomas Reidy, causing a disturbance and yelling antisemitic remarks at residents in their homes, according to Bexley police.

They arrested Reidy, 39, at his home Oct. 16, on two charges of criminal trespassing. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Franklin County jail, the police said.

JewishColumbus sent out a community newsletter Oct. 15 regarding the Bexley incidents, and the organization X StopAntisemites shared Ring doorbell camera footage of one of the incidents on X, the social media platform formerly Screenshot from a Ring doorbell camera known as Twit- video that StopAntisemites shared on X of ter. a man who made antisemitic remarks at two Bexley homes Oct. 15.

According to the Ring footage, Reidy rang the doorbell at a home and said, “You Zionist pigs are f---ing disgusting.” Both Bexley homes he approached were flying Israeli flags.

Reidy left after being asked to do so, and neither incident escalated or included assault, vandalism or a threat, JewishColumbus said in its newsletter.

In a statement, Bexley police wrote that they continue to work with state and federal authorities which may impact the community, and encouraged residents to report suspicious activity.

The JewishColumbus email said there have been no credible threats to the United States Jewish community arising from the events in Israel.

Joanne Strasser, chief marketing officer at JewishColumbus, told the Columbus Jewish News that “‘credible threats’ are threats with intention and ability to harm someone and threaten their safety.”

JewishColumbus urged the community to “stay vigilant and aware of your surroundings as situations can change rapidly, and individuals may be motivated to engage in harmful actions without warning,” according to the email.

In addition to being physically aware, JewishColumbus emphasized the importance of caution online.

“Not every message or link you receive may be accurate, and it’s essential to be discerning about the sources you trust,” JewishColumbus wrote.

Additionally, Senior Rabbi Hillel Skolnik of Congregation Tifereth Israel told the CJN that Reidy said something antisemitic to a congregant Oct. 7 as Reidy was approaching a car in the synagogue’s parking lot.

A local officer on duty as security at the time was unable to detain Reidy, but recorded his license plate number, which led to him being identified.

By Courtney Byrnes, Cleveland Jewish News Graffiti with an anti-Israel message was found on Case Western Reserve University’s Dental Clinic building in Cleveland Oct. 18 and covered with tarps as the university worked to remove it.

In photographs and videos provided by witnesses, the graffiti on the Chester Avenue building read: “Collective punishment is a war crime! End Israeli apartheid.”

The university shared a statement Oct. 19, outlining its response to finding the graffiti.

“Early in the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 18, antiIsrael graffiti was found on the facade of Case Western Reserve University’s Dental Clinic building. By 7:25 a.m., the graffiti was covered with tarps,” the statement reads.

“The white brick wall was pressure-washed throughout the day, removing most of the graffiti.

While we work to fully remove the graffiti, we have covered the affected area with white tarps. Through several offices, the university is providing resources to its campus community,” the statement continued.

A Case medical student told the CJN she walks by the building every day on her way to her first class.

On Oct. 18, she first noticed police cars and only noticed the message on the wall as she got closer.

“It was really upsetting to see right before class and have to deal with something like that in the beginning of the day,” said the student, who is Israeli and requested that her name not be used because of concerns for her security.

She said the university appeared to begin to cover and remove it pretty quickly; after her two-hour class she noticed the tarps, and by the evening there was just an outline Contributed of what was scrubbed off.

Still, as an Israeli student with family back home, the events in Israel and now this incident have affected her and other Jewish students, she said.

“I think if I Anti-Israel graffiti on Case Western wasn’t surround- Reserve University's Dental Clinic on ed by friends, I Chester Avenue in Cleveland, Oct. 18. would have cried – I cried later on the phone talking with my mom,” she said. “I think it’s been an issue that I’ve felt that daily, but it’s never really reached me in my community. But seeing it there, it was like ‘Wow, it’s gotten all the way here to my school,’ and I don’t know who might be thinking what and what people might be thinking of me. I feel very isolated about what’s going on.”

The student said she has not received an email from the university specifically regarding the graffiti, but CWRU previously sent two emails “showing compassion” and sharing mental health resources for students following the terrorist attacks in Israel. She also received an email from the Case Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Engagement to students of the Jewish Medical Student Association offering support.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

THE WORLD Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

From grief to rage, American Jews struggle with how to feel about the conflict in Israel

By Andrew Lapin, JTA small way, about her.

Not knowing what else to do, Julia She shared photos of herself with her Starikovsky posted some pictures of friends and fiance in Israel, hoping to herself in Israel on social media. provide a more human face to the ongoLike other American Jews, ing tragedy.

Starikovsky, a 25-year-old psycholShe didn’t know at the time that the ogy doctoral student at Northwestern prompt had been a coordinated effort University, was shocked and horrified

by Birthright Israel to promote proby the devastation wrought by Hamas’ Israel sentiment on social media amid Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. concerns about critiShe is planning to cism stemming from IsThe relatively quiet get married in Israel rael’s military response middle is seared by next fall, and has close in Gaza. grief, worried about friends who moved One Israel-based to Israel. Yet she still Birthright marketing what comes next, and thought to herself, executive, Noa Bauer, “What does this have to not quite sure how to described the social do with me?” media push as a publicreconcile the two.

It was only when ity campaign that Israel she saw a prompt on would need “in the Instagram that called for young Jews coming days and weeks when there’s to share photos of themselves in Israel probably going to be more casualties.” for “solidarity” that Starikovsky felt Bauer added, referring to Birthright’s she had permission to make it, in some American alumni, “I think that they

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

Members of the left-wing Jewish advocacy group IfNotNow offer a Jewish prayer at a protest outside the Los Angeles home of Vice President Kamala Harris, Oct. 19.

Supporters of Israel rally near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Oct. 13.

owe us as Jews, and as human beings, to give their thoughts.”

Yet Starikovsky, a Birthright alum, didn’t see her support as transactional.

She’s also trying to hold space in her heart for other forms of grief.

“You can support Israel; you can also support Palestinian children. The two are not exclusive of one another,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve been hesitant in posting about Israel, but I’m also making sure that I recognize the other innocent civilian lives that are lost in this whole entire war.”

Within a deeply polarized discourse

about Israel among American Jews, Starikovsky joins many in the relatively quiet middle: seared by grief, worried about what comes next, and not quite sure how to reconcile the two.

Prominent Jewish voices occupy the headlines calling, on one side, for Gaza to be flattened into a “parking lot” (Rep. Max Miller, the Jewish Republican from Ohio) and, and on the other side, for a total ceasefire (the left-wing groups Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, which staged several mass protests, including at the U.S. Capitol).

Continued on Page Eight

PAGE 7

THE WORLD small country. They only want American Josh Berkovitz, a American peace. They don’t want to atformer Israeli soldier and protack and kill innocent lives.

But activist, in a speech to Jews struggle they don’t have a choice but to Israel Temple Israel in West Bloom-

Continued from Page Seven But between those poles lie many more people in Starikovsky’s shoes, just trying to make sense of a moment that seems to defy it — and potentially more difficult moments on the horizon.

“It’s terrible that Israelis are being killed. It’s also terrible that civilian Palestinians are being killed,” said Lisa Young, a self-described “Conservadox” Jew who spoke to JTA at a Chabad-Lubavitch pro-Israel event in New York City.

Young said she has friends who used to live in Gush Katif, Israeli settlements in Gaza that were evacuated, along with all of Israel’s troops, in 2005.

“Unfortunately, Israel has to defend itself,” she said. “It’s a

respond to what’s happening amongst their people.”

The wrestling took center stage on Shabbat Oct. 13-14 as congregations across the country were packed with Jews bucking social media rumors of a “day of jihad” and seeking spiritual guidance for the long road ahead.

Rabbis are expected to continue addressing the crisis from their pulpits in the weeks ahead.

Some liberal rabbis spoke of the need for a looming, difficult, but necessary, war to safeguard the Jewish state, or ceded their sermon times to Israelis who made similar points.

“From my experience there are no winners at war. All sides are losers,” said Israeli-

She also urged her congregation to “not equate Hamas with the Palestinian people” and to “mourn the death of all innocent lives.” field, Mich., the largest Reform Some have gone further. congregation in the country.

“But this time, this war is about “Killing thousands of Palestinthe very existence of the Jewish ian civilians will not bring back the Israeli civilians who are homeland, Israel. We have to bitterly and win. There is no Rabbis are expected so excruciatingly alternative.” mourned,” ConOthers to continue Beth pressed their addressing the crisis gregation Elohim’s Rabbi congregants to Rachel Timunderstand Isra- from their pulpits in oner said during el’s motivations the weeks ahead. her sermon in for military acBrooklyn. tion while also As some American Jews cite maintaining empathy for the feelings of personal connection human toll. to the Hamas attacks as justiRabbi Angela Buchdahl of fication for supporting Israel’s New York City’s Central Synaactions, others who have direct gogue, a Reform congregation, called Israel’s campaign against connections to them are calling for the opposite.

Hamas “a just and moral war Cliel Shdaimah’s grand— one we didn’t choose, but mother Ditzah Heyman, the now can’t avoid.”

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widow of a Holocaust survivor, was seen in a video being taken hostage by the terror group. Yet Shdaimah’s family has been advocating against further Israeli military action in the media.

“I cannot and will not stand with violence, let alone when it is done in my family’s and other’s name,” Shdaimah told JTA via email. In addition, she said, her family is concerned that a lack of intelligence around the hostages’ location and condition means their health and safety could be jeopardized by Israel’s military incursion.

Shdaimah urged American Jews “to not allow their love for Jews or Israel be poisoned by terror, not let Islamophobia or anti-Palestinian sentiments mar their compassion for human beings.”

Other progressive American Jews feel horrified simultaneously by the Hamas massacre, responses from the left blaming Israel for the crisis, and Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

Naomi Levison, 27, a social worker in Colorado who is active with a progressive Jewish collective called Denver Doikayt, is also still close with what she describes as the “very Zionist” community in Atlanta where she grew up and attended Jewish day school and summer camp.

Her social media feed, she estimates, is 80% from her Atlanta and Young Judaea Israel gap-year communities, and she’s distressed by what she sees there.

“It’s been really devastating, and I feel a lot of complex emotions,” she said. “I have a lot of loved ones in Israel. I lived in Israel. So I’m grieving what happened” Oct. 7.

Yet pushes from Jews, and Jewish organizations like Birthright to keep supporting Israel as a means of managing such grief are falling flat for her.

“It feels as though our grief is being weaponized,” she said.

“I’m also, at the same time, horrified how Israel is — I want to say ‘retaliating,’ I guess — and how a lot of my Jewish community is defending these actions and this violence.”

She specifically cited Israel’s decision early on to cut off food, electricity, fuel, and water to Gaza, which she said is “clearly targeting civilians.”

“I feel really isolated from within the Jewish community,” she said. “And isolated from people who aren’t in the Jewish community who don’t understand the grief we’re feeling.”

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

THE WORLD

Biden wins over new fans after standing by Israel in its war with Hamas

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U.S. President Joe Biden meets people affected by the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Oct. 18.

By Ron Kampeas, JTA WASHINGTON — Fred Zeidman is a longtime Republican Jewish Coalition leader who has been deeply critical of Joe Biden. He is backing Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations, in her bid to unseat him.

So it was uncharacteristic when he praised a speech Biden gave before flying to Israel Oct. 17.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to say one thing bad about this guy,’” Zeidman said. “I think this is probably the most genuine impassioned speech I have ever heard from a sitting American president.”

Zeidman was far from the only right-wing Jew to be won over by Biden in October, as the president has delivered unqualified support for Israel’s war against Hamas, launched in response to the terror group’s deadly invasion on Oct. 7.

“While I have been, and remain, deeply critical of the Biden Administration, the moral, tactical, diplomatic and military support that it has provided Israel over the past few days has been exceptional,” David Friedman, Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

In Israel, where Trump was popular, Biden’s approval

rating has shot up. A commentator on Israel’s Channel 14, a right-wing outlet that has lacerated Biden since his election, addressed him directly four days after the attack.

“Forgive us, for all that hard things that we said, and all that we thought,” said the commentator, Shay Golden. “Thank you, Mr. President, truly, thank you, thank you.”

For those who have long been on Biden’s side, his support for Israel comes as little surprise. His diplomatic ties to the country are longstand-

ing, his affection frequently expressed.

“He gets the DNA of Zionism,” David Makovsky, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy who was a staffer in the Obama administration working on IsraeliPalestinian peace. “He just gets the idea of Israel. He has said no Jew is safe if there’s no Israel and basically, that’s what Zionism says, which is that stateless Jews are defenseless.”

Yet in a polarized political climate, even Biden’s pro-Israel Continued on Page 10

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THE WORLD

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Continued from Page Nine bona fides have been dismissed by many on the right. The proIsrael community in the United States and Israeli officials disdained the Middle East policy of President Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as vice president; in particular, they felt that Obama’s deal with Iran put Israel at risk.

Many Republicans have mocked Biden’s age and foibles, saying they are evidence of his inability to serve at 80. And even those who might not have quarreled with Biden himself have worried that the Democratic Party is coming under the sway of progressives who are deeply critical of Israel.

Biden’s actions since Oct. 7 appear to have put all of those concerns to rest. Immediately after the attack, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and warned Israel’s enemies not to exploit its vulnerability. Two days later, he draped the White House in the blue and white colors of the Israeli flag, saying “this is not some distant tragedy.”

The next day, he addressed the nation, calling the attack “pure, unadulterated evil”.

Biden instructed his Jewish liaisons to brief the Jewish community, including on the

measures he was taking to pro- general demeanor… suggest tect American Jews. He person- he takes the inevitability of a ally dropped by a White House ground incursion for granted and is uninterested in saving briefing for Jewish leaders and Hamas,” Mandel said. said he was doing everything Rejecting widespread critihe could to release hostages.

He sent his secretary of state, cism of Israel, Biden said upon his arrival in Tel Aviv that he Antony Blinken, on an extendbelieved Israeli claims that an ed Middle East tour to show explosion at a Gaza City hossupport for Israel and garner pital was the fault of Islamist backing from regional allies. terrorists.

He also ordered two aircraft He repeated that insistence carriers to the region. during his Oval Office address “My message to any state or any other hostile actor thinking Oct. 19, a rare step signifying special concern. “I am about attacking Israel remains heartbroken by the tragic loss the same as it was a week ago: of Palestinian Don’t. Don’t.

Don’t,” Biden Yet in a polarized life, including the explosion said on Oct. 18. political climate, at a hospital in The comGaza — which ment came even Biden's was not done by during Biden’s pro-Israel bona the Israelis,” he lightning trip said. to Israel, where fides have been In his speech, in less than 24 he said athours he sat in dismissed by on Israel on a governmany on the right. tacks (and Ukraine) ment meeting, amounted to an met with and attack on democracy and aphugged survivors of the attack pealed to Congress for billions and delivered a searing speech in additional defense assistance in which he described the for Israel. stages of Jewish mourning.

“He has absolutely come The visit came amid surging through in the clutch,” Zeidcalls for Israel to cease bombman said. ing Gaza in its effort to quash A photo of Biden’s face, with Hamas. Seth Mandel, writing in the conservative Commentary the massive caption, “Thank magazine, praised Biden for re- you, Mr. President,” newly graces a billboard overlooking sisting those calls from within Tel Aviv’s Ayalon highway. his own party. “Everything in Moshe Lion, the mayor of Biden’s speech today and his

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THE WORLD Jerusalem and a member of the right-wing Likud Party, draped Jerusalem monuments with coupled Israeli and U.S. flags, and in a statement said the display was to honor Biden’s visit, although the president did not come to Jerusalem.

“From the beginning of the conflict, the president has stood with us firmly, assisting Israel and providing a powerful and meaningful voice against the terrible acts that have occurred in the South and against the threats from our enemies in the North,” Lion said. (Israeli troops are exchanging fire with Hezbollah, the Lebanonbased terrorist group that, like Hamas, is backed by Iran.)

The Israeli satirical show Eretz Nehederet aired a joke similar to the comments that crop up among Israelis on social media: Israelis need a leader, and it is Biden, not Netanyahu.

Biden’s lightning visit, his vivid empathy in his departure speech, and his visits with victims and heroes of the Oct. 7 attacks filled a leadership gap in Israel, said Tal Schneider, an Israeli political journalist who is closely watching the 2024

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“People are in such shock, but they were heartwarmed and they felt embraced and many people said to me, ‘This is the first time that we see a leader,’ because since the war began… they did not hear anything with empathy, “ she said.

“The government here, it seems like they don’t really

care,” she said, referring to widespread dissatisfaction with Netanyahu, and the perception that in addition to failing to prevent the attack, he has been absent since it occurred. “People thought that this is our father, you know, what I mean?” she said of Biden. “He came to the rescue, Continued on Page 12

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PAGE 12

directly identify Iran as a hostile actor behind the attack.

“If there’s one thing that might have Continued from Page 11 concerned me just a little bit, he has yet with all the American might.” to mention Iran,” he said. (Biden’s aides The display has rehabilitated Biden’s image in the country, according to Amir have said that Iran bears some blame to the extent that it funds and trains Tibon, a journalist for the liberal Israeli Hamas, but they have yet to see direct newspaper Haaretz whose father resevidence that Iran was involved in the cued his family on Oct. 7 and who was among the Israelis to meet with the U.S. Hamas invasion.)

Republicans have in the past sought president in Israel.

“Most Israelis heard over the last few fodder to attack Biden on Israel-related policy. One story that persistently crops years derogatory things about Biden up describes his encounter with the late due to his advanced age,” Tibon wrote in Haaretz. “Those who had the honor of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

According to the story, penned by a meeting him Wednesday afternoon saw Begin confidante just after the former his age from another perspective, one prime minister’s death in 1992, a decade of life experience and wisdom.” Tibon after the fact, Biden had yelled at Begin, called Biden “the most important Zionand threatened to cut aid to Israel if ist leader in the world.”

At home, too, the perception of Biden Begin did not stop settlement building.

“Don’t threaten us with slashing among many of his critics has shifted. aid,” Begin said in their 1982 meeting “In a world that pretends Israel has no right to exist, much less defend itself, in a room in the U.S, Capitol, according to that account. “Do you think that Biden has shown tremendous moral because the U.S. lends courage at a key moment, Jonathan Ernst - Pool/Getty Images us money it is entitled to despite criticism from his own impose on us what we party,” said a statement from must do? We are grateRabbi Avrohom Gordimer, the ful for the assistance we chairman of the Rabbinic Circle have received, but we of the Coalition for Jewish are not to be threatened.

Values, a right-wing Orthodox I am a proud Jew. Three group that has also consistently thousand years of culture criticized Democratic policies. are behind me, and you “The president’s actions will not frighten me with since the massacre reflect the threats.”

American people’s steadfast Except, according to support for the Jewish state U.S. President Joe Biden someone in the meeting, and underscore the shared addresses the nation from that’s not quite how it Western values that serve as the Oval Office, Oct. 19. happened: Biden, who the foundation for the U.S.was solidly pro-Israel, asked Begin how Israel relationship,” Shari Dollinger, he planned to explain controversial Isthe co-executive director of Christians raeli policies. The senator was not critiUnited for Israel, a group consistently cizing the policies, but Begin, famously critical of Democratic policies, said in a prickly, took it as criticism, said Mike text message.

Kraft, who at the time was a staffer on And a rabbi from the Orthodox the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. community in Woodmere, New York, “It wasn’t a hostile or critical thing, a redoubt of Jewish Trump supporters, but Begin just kind of let loose on him,” solicited and delivered 18,000 letters of Kraft recalled. “We’re just like, pretty thanks to Biden. neutral question,” Kraft said of the Non-Jewish right-wing voices have people in the room. “And Begin fired also been won over by Biden. “I think It back, and I remember a couple other may be remembered as one of the best, staff who were looking around saying if not the best, speeches of his presiwhat’s going on?” He chuckled at the dency,” Brit Hume, a commentator on recollection.

Fox News, said after the Oval Office The Republican Jewish Coalition over speech. “He was as strong as he has the years deployed the purported Begin been, particularly in recent days — beencounter against Biden, including in a fore he went to Israel and while he was Facebook post in 2019, just after Biden over there.” announced his intention to unseat DonSome Republicans remain skeptical ald Trump. if not hostile. Trump continues to say Yet its CEO, Matt Brooks, was praisthat he would do better than Biden at ing Biden to the New York Times — just protecting Israel (although he alientwo weeks before all the major Repubated Israelis by praising Hezbollah lican presidential candidates will speak and blaming Israel’s leadership for the to RJC donors at its annual conference Hamas incursion). Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, in Las Vegas. citing differences of policy with the “This will sound surprising, but by Biden administration over humanitarand large, the president has shown ian funding for the Palestinians, and an aid-for-hostages deal with Iran, accused tremendous support, unwavering Biden of helming the “most consistently support, for Israel at a critical time,” and virulently anti-Israel administration Brooks told the Times. “Can we quibble on aspects of policy differences, over America has ever seen.”

Iran’s complicity, for instance? Sure. But And even those Jewish conservatives praising Biden in the moment, including by and large, the American people and the international community have seen Zeidman, Friedman and Mandel, rea president who has stood shoulder to main in a watchful wait-and-see mode. shoulder with Israel.”

Zeidman said he wants Biden to more

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

November 2023 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

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Let's do a KNITZVAH

UPCOMING EVENTS SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 7PM Cultural Arts & Book Series PJ Library & PJ Our Way Adventures in Parenting SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 5PM Cultural Arts & Book Series Chanie Apfelbaum THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 7PM Cultural Arts & Book Series Gioia Diliberto

mitzvah

mission

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

mitzvah

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Join us for mitzvot for all ages!

Calling all our crafty community members…

Let’s do a KNITZVAH! The KNITZVAH is already underway! JFS will welcome your hand-knitted, crocheted, or sewn donations of hats, scarves, lap blankets, socks, or gloves through Wednesday, November 22, to help make our Chanukah outreach extra special (and fuzzy).

Monday, December 25, 10AM - 12:00PM The Boonshoft CJCE (525 Versailles Dr., Centerville, 45459) Have fun with friends old and new while making warm hats and scarves, no-sew rag dolls, and sack lunches for the guests at St. Vincent de Paul’s shelters. Light noshes will be served.

JFS is collecting donations of new children’s winter hats in coordination with Crayons to Classrooms for those in need across the Miami Valley.

If you have any questions, please call Jacquelyn Archie, 937-610-1555.

No cost. RSVP at jewishdayton.org/events.

For questions or to schedule a drop-off,

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES of GREATER DAYTON

please contact Jacquelyn Archie at jarchie@jfgd.net or 937-610-1555.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

PAGE 13

November 2023 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

FUN Down on the Farm!

Over 200 community members came together for fall fun at PJ Library and Camp Shalom's Down on the Farm event. Families participated in a mitzvah activity to benefit FLOC (For Love of Children), and an activity to show our community support for Israel!

Adventures in Parenting

A special Cultural Arts & Book Series event Sunday, November 5 @ 7PM The Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education (525 Versailles Drive, Centerville, 45459), No Cost

Community moderators will lead small group conversations on topics on every parent’s mind, including getting involved in Jewish Dayton, Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah planning, bringing Shabbat into your home, managing stress, ways to approach difficult conversations, and an introduction to the Wendy Mogel books The Blessing of a Skinned Knee — Using Timeless Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children and The Blessing of a B Minus — Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Resilient Teenagers.

No charge. Attendees will leave with a copy of each book!

To register, visit jewishdayton.org/events.

Questions? Contact Kate Elder at kelder@jfgd.net.

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J CC

BOOK

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The JCC Book Club invites you to join us!

We meet every third Friday of the month at Temple Israel, 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton, 45405 from 10:30 - 11:30AM. For more information contact Stacy Emoff at 937-610-5513 or semoff@jfgd.net Friday, November 17 – The Road from Raqqa: A Story of Brotherhood, Borders, and Belonging By: Jordan Ritter Conn Friday, December 15 – Last Summer at the Golden Hotel By: Elyssa Friedland PAGE 14

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

November 2023 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

We stand as a united community to show our support for the people of Israel, to mourn the victims, and pray for those who have been injured or taken captive.

We come together to support Jews in Israel, in America, and around the world as we show our strength and pursue hope, peace, and healing.

For more information or to donate to the Israel Emergency Fund, go to jewishdayton.org/program/ standwithisrael

Sunday, December 10 11AM – 12:30PM

Join the JCC, Jewish War Veterans and Hadassah to celebrate Chanukah! There will be Chanukah songs, trivia, and entertainment by Rich Begel. $20 includes entertainment and kosher lunch: fresh salad with dressing, tuna salad, egg salad, potato latkes, sour cream and applesauce, bagels, cream cheese, fresh fruit salad, donuts, coffee, and tea.

Register online by December 5 at jewishdayton.org/events Questions? Contact Stacy Emoff at 937-610-5513 or semoff@jfgd.net.

Jewish Community Center OF GREATER DAYTON

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

PAGE 15

November 2023 JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Legacies, Tributes, & Memorials FEDERATION

JCC

JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DAYTON ENDOWMENT FUND In honor of Cathy Gardner’s Humanitarian Award from NCCJ Jane and Gary Hochstein

PJ LIBRARY In honor of Simon Katz’s Bar Mitzvah Marcia and Edward Kress

LINDA RUCHMAN PERPETUAL ANNUAL CAMPAIGN FUND In memory of Leonard Hochster Judy and Marshall Ruchman

FILM FESTIVAL In memory of Rochelle Goldstein Jane and Gary Hochstein Donna and Marshall Weiss In memory of Dave London Julie and Marc Katz

JEREMY BETTMAN B’NAI TZEDEK FUND In honor of Bob Kahn’s 100th birthday In memory of Al Fuchsman Elaine Bettman Jean and Todd Bettman In memory of Brenda Spector Jean and Todd Bettman

EDWARD R. HATTENBACH MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND In honor of Joseph Beringer and Meryl Hattenbach. We wish them many years of happiness together.

John and Beth Marshall In celebration of Meryl Hattenbach and Joseph Beringer Kevin Beringer JFS

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES In memory of Alexander Zilberman Rita Beckerman Carole and Zachary Mann

GRADES K-10 9AM - 4PM Camp hours

OPTIONAL ADD ONS: 8AM - 9AM Rise & Shine 4PM - 5:30PM Stay & Play December 21 - January 3 (closed December 25 and January 1) January 15, 2024 - MLK Day and February 19, 2024 - Presidents’ Day Cost: $50 per day or $425 for all 10 days Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Washington Township, 45429 Join us over the holiday break for camp fun including indoor and outdoor games, field trips, cooking and more!

PAGE 16

Register at app.campdoc.com/register/jccgreaterdayton For more information contact Marc Jacob at mjacob@jfgd.net or 937-401-1545

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

OPINION

'Almost too much to bear'

It is now day nine of the war.

The issue of the hostages haunts the country. The loss of those who were massacred is painful enough, but knowing that more than 220 people — including children, the elderly and the disabled — are cynically being held by these evil people is almost too much to bear.

Due to prior obligations in the U.S., I decided to tured are citizens, not soldiers in battle. The names leave Israel. Leaving at this time is painful. I feel as of the dead are broadcast on television and listed at though I am abandoning my people and my country. news sites. In a country Israel’s size, it is most likely I had a reservation from before the war. When that that anyone of us is at most one or two degrees away flight was cancelled, I rebooked for a few days later. from someone who was murdered. It is terrible to feel Also cancelled. I rebooked on another airline. When relief when I don’t spot the name of someone I know that, too, was cancelled, I took advantage of the U.S. personally, yet I know that each of the dead Embassy’s offer to take us out with charter flights. was someone’s son or daughter, wife or husOne of my daughters left with her child and husband, father or mother or even grandmother or band on one of those flights Oct. 13. She is pregnant grandfather. Whole families were slaughtered and due in December and they rightly felt it best to together. leave for now.

I am having a hard time writing this. In fact, The embassy did its best although it was not well I am having a hard time concentrating on anyorganized. They had sent me an email which I saw thing at all since the outbreak of the war. after Shabbat to simply come to the airport and be My children and grandchild in Jaffa are the placed on a flight. I arrived around midnight and saw closest to Gaza and have been under attack perhaps a couple hundred people lining up to get out. since the beginning. They hear sirens every After hanging around the airport for 16 hours, I was day, if not in their immediate area, but close on a flight to Athens. I had just enough time to book by. And booms that shake their windows. I am here in Jerusalem and helpless to ease their flights from there to the U.S. with a place to stay over the way. tension.

'We don't know yet along I have limited my intake of news I have found myself appalled by these past days but can’t keep from at some of the reactions I have seen to the what the toll of least looking at headlines. I made the massacre. People who blindly support Hamas as if they represent the Palestin- destroying so much mistake of opening Instagram to a mix of strong pro-Israel and pro-Jewish ians, and justify this merciless attack on to prevent future posts and frighteningly pro-Hamas unarmed civilians. They turn a blind posts. eye to the utter repression that Hamas massacres will do Once again, so many blame the has visited on its own people, deprivto our psyche or Jews (not just Israelis!) for the attacks ing them of a decent life and livelihood our soul.' they have suffered. What is worse and at the expense of arming as well as sickening is the delight so many have in enriching themselves.

Hamas has built hundreds of miles of tunnels under seeing Jews slaughtered.

No one I know in Israel, no Jewish person I know the Gaza strip to hide their weapons and be able to anywhere, delights in the death and suffering of Palmake their way into Israel to carry out attacks against estinian Arabs. But even some of my most left-wing civilians; yet they have not seen fit to build bomb shelters for their own people. The opposite is the case: friends, the ones actively advocating for peace with They use their own people, including women and chil- our neighbors, believe there is no choice but to destroy Hamas. dren, as human shields in the hope that Israel will kill Israel will surely be vilified for the destruction that them and thus score a media and diplomatic victory.

ZAKA we cause in Gaza, even if all actions are justified by international law. But the general consensus is that we can no longer tolerate the status quo.

Evil exists and it has found a home with Hamas. We cannot ignore it or downplay it any longer. It is impossible to tell, though, what toll this war will take on the Jewish people and Israel in particular.

Right now, the country is united in the call to wipe out Hamas. Right now, the shock, revulsion, and sadness from the massacre and the hostages keeps us together.

We don’t know yet what the toll of destroying so much to prevent future massacres will do to our psyche or our soul. Or to the soul of the soldiers who are tasked with carrying that out.

We can only pray that they are successful and that we are able to deal well with the fallout later. Pray for peace.

Former Daytonian who has made Israel his home for 40 years opens up about the Hamas-Israel war.

By Shel Bassel I awoke on Shabbat morning, Oct. 7 to the sound of sirens. Sirens in Jerusalem, our holiest of cities. Like nearly everyone else in the country, I had no idea what was going on but soon found out we were under unprecedented attack.

An all-clear came a few minutes later with sounds of booms nearby.

It was impossible to tell if the booms came from rockets landing or from Iron Dome taking them out.

We had three more sirens that morning. After Shabbat, I was glued to the news in a way that I am unaccustomed to, watching Hebrew news channels as well as some foreign ones to take in the reaction from other parts of the world.

I cannot describe the shock I felt Shel Bassel and continue to feel in light of the reports of horrific slaughter and taking of hostages. It was not lost on me that just a day earlier, we came out of our sukkot, the symbols of God’s protection of the Children of Israel in the wilderness, and we were attacked. Our protection was gone.

I have six children and 11 grandchildren here in Israel and my first concern was for their welfare. As of this writing on the fourth day of war, I can say they are all physically well even as we are all suffering the same mental anguish.

My son and his girlfriend, my son-in-law and many of his family members have been called up along with virtually anyone who can come for reserve duty. My concern is mainly for my son, who is now stationed in Kfar Aza near the Gaza border, a site of some of the worst horrors. I pray that he will not be sent into combat. He was thoughtful enough to message me this morning that he is fine, he is with the best people he knows, and not to worry.

Also, he said, not to watch too much news. He is right about that. On the Hebrew channels, they interview survivors of the attack along with stories of heroism of the people who sacrificed themselves to save them. It is almost too much to bear and I have to turn away at some point.

I was a 16-year-old yeshiva student when I first came to Israel in the summer of 1973. I can recall the shock of the country on Yom Kippur that year when war broke out. But at the time I was naive about much of what was going on, unfamiliar with the politics and "the way things work" here. I experienced, though, the somber mood of the country which lasted for months. The scars from that war are still with us today.

That mood is with us again now, but it is amplified. The vast ZAKA volunteers at Kibbutz Be'eri identifying the bodies of Israelis slain by Hamas terrorists, Oct. 11. majority of the dead and cap-

So, what do you think?

Former Daytonian Shel Bassel, a Jerusalembased sofer (ritual scribe), made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) in 1983.

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion Send letters (350 words max.) to The Dayton Jewish Observer, pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

PAGE 17

OPINION

The State of Israel and the state of academia Lack of knowledge about these topics contributes to significant harm in both. witnessed the increasing antisemitism at U.S. and

By Erica Goldberg Canadian universities disguised as social justice for I am a First Amendment scholar, and I am a Jew. Palestine. Dozens of student groups at Harvard signed I teach at University of Dayton School of Law. I am a petition calling the attack entirely Israel’s fault. Stuhoping to offer a perspective on what it is like to be dent groups elsewhere were even more celebratory. a Jew in academia during a terrible crisis in Israel One at Tufts, where I went to undergrad, praised and Palestine. In doing this, I hope for you to learn the martyrs and called the attack creative. An instrucsomething about the State of Israel and the state of tor at Stanford, where I went to law school, was reacademia, because the lack of knowledge about these topics is contributing to significant harm in both Israel moved from teaching because she asked her students which of them were Jewish and then made the Jewish and academia. students stand in the corner of the classroom and told Hamas, the terrorist organization that seized conthe class something like, “this is what trol over the Gaza Strip in 2007, attacked Israel does to the Palestinians.”

Israel by surprise on Oct. 7. The PalestinA Yale professor tweeted about how ians in Gaza have been living in terrible there are no civilians in Israel because conditions, with burdensome security they are all “settlers.” A history profescheckpoints and insufficient resources. sor at Cornell told a crowd that he felt However, much of that is also the fault exhilarated by the change in the balance of Hamas for constantly attacking Israel of power after the attacks. College stuand for using its humanitarian aid to dents have pulled down posters of Israeli weaponize for war instead of building hostages. infrastructure. Some of the fault also lies My own university issued a tepid rewith Egypt, which generally does not alsponse; it did not conlow Palestinians to cross its border. Israel, Erica Goldberg demn terrorism but instead offered often due to unfair double standards, bears the brunt a vigil for all victims of violence, of the blame for the deep humanitarian concerns in Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The Palestine. university wanted to pray for peace, On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists killed people in Israel which is what we all want. indiscriminately, raped women next to the dead bodHowever, Hamas, the terrorist ies of their friends at a concert for peace, murdered babies, killed a grandmother and uploaded the killing organization that terrorizes both Israelis and many Palestinians, needs to her Facebook for her family to find. Hamas took to be removed. The United States, more than 220 hostages, including children and an after being fully briefed, issued its elderly Holocaust survivor, back to Gaza to torture, support for Israel and noted Israel’s kill, or use as collateral. right to defend itself. Many civilians We know a lot of this because Hamas, reveling in have died in Palestine and many its actions, took videos of this, including Palestinians Israelis have died defending their leading an Israeli woman by the hair, with her pants country. It is all incredibly sad because Hamas will covered in blood, likely from rape, while chanting "God is the greatest" in Arabic. By the end of this mas- not surrender.

I don’t think universities should comment on world sacre, around 1,400 people died, a large percentage for events: no institution can fairly represent the views of such a small country like Israel. its diverse professors. However, given that my univerWhole families were wiped out. Besides Jewish sity comments on so many other events, this refusal to Israelis, Arab Israelis were killed. Americans were condemn terrorism was striking. killed. Thai people were killed. Nepalese people were This was especially striking because many unikilled. People of many nationalities were killed. Dead versities profess to care so much about anti-racism, bodies were paraded around and desecrated. It was about protecting vulnerable minorities. It has become unthinkable. increasingly clear to me that in many cases, a univerJews are especially scared and saddened, because sity’s commitment to equity and inclusion does not Hamas explicitly has in its charter to kill all Jews, and extend to Jews. the world was shown that it will do that if it gets the Instead, in a lot of places, these equity and inclusion chance. Pro-Palestine rallies around the world, right programs have a tendency to ignore discrimination after this terrorist attack, involved people displaying against some minority groups, and their programswastikas. In Sydney, Australia they chanted “Gas the ming is either often explicitly antisemitic or has Jews.” antisemitic undertones. There are stories of this from No longer could the world think that anti-Israel sentiment was not, in large part, inspired by antisemi- around the country, of diversity administrators or speakers making stereotyped comments about Jews. tism. Indeed, the chant, "From the river to the sea, Whenever an institution pushes an agenda that is Palestine will be free," is a direct call to obliterate the separate from the search for truth and understanding State of Israel entirely.

I hoped real conversations would happen about this of the world, it is susceptible to becoming blind to the incoherence and unprincipled hypocrisy of its posinow. And they did, but mostly not in academia, the tions. place where we professors should most grapple with Even worse, many universities force their faculty principles, have coherent theories of justice, and strive to commit to inclusive excellence while refusing to to better understand the world. acknowledge the harm, specifically, to Jews — one of The response in academia to this horrific terrorthe world’s most vulnerable and smallest minority ist attack was a bitter surprise to me, although I have

populations — of both an attack on the Jewish state and the response from very populous student groups at major institutions across the country.

True diversity is allowing all students from different backgrounds a place to feel they can be safe and be themselves and be included in the conversations, which should be based on logic, not bias.

This is often not how Jews feel in academia, due to the hiring of professors who claim to teach their students social justice but have anti-intellectual views based on flimsy reasoning, like that everyone in Israel, including babies, are settlers and not civilians.

The implication there is that it is OK to target and torture and kill a baby, because that baby is a colonizer. This view does not belong in civilized society, let alone a place that supposedly is devoted to social justice and intellectual rigor.

To be clear, Jews differ in their views about Israel, and what its appropriate response should be. Culturally, Jews are taught to question our role in the world and whether we are good people.

When Hamas stores munitions in hospitals in order to make Israel look bad, there are a reasonable range of responses as to what Israel should do (and then there are situations where an Islamic Jihad rocket accidentally misfires and hits a Palestinian hospital, but Hamas blames Israel).

Israel is not above scrutiny, and I condemn some of its actions, but it faces a constant existential threat from many countries that hate Israel and hate Jews.

I don’t have a solution to the horrific situation in Israel or the situation in academia, which is becoming increasingly anti-intellectual in pursuit of ideological aims and increasingly hostile to Jews.

I wish universities would stop hiring professors based on ideology and instead hire professors based on the rigor of their thinking and research, with views that don’t comport with one highly politicized notion of social justice that makes it impossible to have important conversations and reach clarity.

I have felt this way for a long time. But now, in stark relief, due to such a shocking terrorist attack and the responses to it, universities have exposed exactly who they have hired. Universities have exposed how they have failed to truly educate their students to think well instead of confirming their political assumptions.

Once hired, I do not believe professors should be fired for their views unless they explicitly target students for unequal treatment.

I should also note that many truly open-minded students and professors still exist at universities, of all backgrounds and political persuasions. But academia is increasingly hostile to neutral, searching academic inquiry and increasingly hostile to Jews. And I am scared for the future on both counts.

I hope a reckoning is coming, a reckoning that consists of true, open-minded dialogue, not insulting or celebrating the deaths of our political enemies.

'It has become increasingly clear to me that in many cases, a university's commitment to equity and inclusion does not extend to Jews.'

So, what do you think?

PAGE 18

Erica Goldberg is a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law.

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion Send letters (350 words max.) to The Dayton Jewish Observer, pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

OPINION

What this war is about

need to make our case against Hamas not by seeking the world’s pity but its understanding.

We are not engaged with the Palestinians in a competition for victimhood. The Palestinians will always win that competition, and rightly so. In opting for power, the Jewish people opted out of the victimhood competition. There is a price to pay for the loss of innocence. We have no choice but to own it.

This is a war to restore the contract between the Israeli people and its state.

One of the most devastating moments for me in the aftermath of the massacre was a televised interview with the father of a murdered young woman. “The people of Israel is amazing,” he said. “But I’m finished with the state.”

Israelis have never gone to war so lacking in faith in their leaders. Israelis were bitterly divided during the This is a war to restore Israeli deterrence.

1982 Lebanon War. Yet no one seriously doubted that In recent days, I’ve received messages from friends Menachem Begin and Arik Sharon were doing what abroad, warning me that Israel is about to repeat the they believed was best for Israel, that they put Israel’s mistakes America made in Afghanistan and Iraq. You interests ahead of their own. are walking into a trap, they say, there is no quick fix; For a large part of the Israeli public, that is hardly Hamas is an idea, not just a movement. You need an the case today. We have never experienced anything end-game, a vision for Gaza the morning like this: a prime minister, in time of war, after, a vision for peace with the Palestinwho is afraid to mingle with the troops ians. because of the outrage he is likely to I fear they may be right. But those conencounter. cerns are irrelevant to Israel’s most urgent Astonishingly but not surprisingly, the need, which is the immediate restoration government’s abandonment of the south of our shattered deterrence. persisted even after the massacre. The At no time in Israeli history, including state has been criminally ineffective in the first catastrophic days of the Yom Kipdealing with the basic needs of the survipur War, has our military credibility been

By Yossi Klein Halevi, The Times of Israel vors. That incompetence is a direct result so undermined. Hamas' blow was devasof this government, which has systematitating precisely because it was the weakest Yossi Klein Halevi This is a war against the return cally replaced professional civil servants of our enemies — and because the army of Jewish helplessness. with political hacks, undoing decades of failed so miserably, not only to preempt the attack at Much of the world reacted to the massacre by callreform in the civil service. the border but to stop the atrocities as they were haping the atrocity scenes unbearable. When Israelis say Responsibility for the survivors was assumed by pening, effectively abandoning the towns and kibbutthose images are “unbearable,” we mean it literally. the activists of the democratic protest movement — zim to their fate.

We cannot bear this, cannot allow the massacre to those whom this government labeled as traitors.

To lose deterrence is to invite aggression on our redefine us as a nation. We are at war to erase the cataThis is the war of a leaderless people taking reother besieged borders. It is to convey to our enemies strophic perception of Israelis as victims. sponsibility for itself. Our great achievement in the Even more than the atrocities themselves, what was that Israel has lost its edge and no longer has what aftermath of the massacre was the way that Israeli it takes to survive as the only non-Arab and nonso – yes – unbearable to many of us was the helplesssociety, entirely motivated from the bottom up, effecMuslim state in one of the world’s most dangerous ness of our fellow Israelis. Nothing is more antithetitively mobilized itself. Many reservists didn’t wait to cal to the Israeli ethos than for Jews to be burned alive regions. That is what makes this an existential war for be called up; civilians overwhelmed the blood banks Israel — not in the short term, but not necessarily the with their hands bound behind their backs, with the with donations. long term either.

IDF nowhere in sight.

Dissonance is built into the Israeli reality, and no Those who caution against invading Gaza rarely In the days immediately following the massacre, moment is more dissonant than now. The paradox of offer Israel an alternative. (Would they prefer that we I received calls from several European journalists, this war is that, while the distrust and contempt for bomb Iran?) Not to react decisively carries potentially asking if I saw this as a “Holocaust moment.” They our leaders has never been higher, neither has our were sympathetic; they meant well. But I couldn’t give greater danger for Israel than military miscalculation. morale, our love of country, our readiness to sacrifice, If this war ends in another Hamas-Israeli stalemate, them the answer they were seeking. even our ability to unite. the Iranian front along our borders will become far I don’t need Auschwitz to motivate me to defend This is the moment of maturation of the Israeli more emboldened. myself against Hamas, I replied. The challenge for people. In taking responsibility for the country, we I live in the Middle East; the fate have created a new dynamic.

This is a war against outsiders to this conflict of the Yazidis is more relevant Still, the ability of citizens to step into the breach the Iranian axis. to me than Babyn Yar. Nor do created by an inept and corrupt government cannot be is to sympathize with This has never been the I trust European sympathy for taken for granted.

“Israeli-Palestinian” conflict Israel that is based on the Holo- the innocents suffering The basis of a citizen’s relationship with the state alone. For most of the last 75 caust. That support is unstable; is reciprocity. We sacrifice for the state, and the state years of Israel’s existence, it was today it is applied to dead Jews, on both sides, without protects our lives and commits to our basic welfare. the Arab-Israeli conflict. tomorrow to dead Palestinians. obscuring the difference The rupture between the state and its citizens must be In recent years, the Arab-IsThe support I seek is based repaired, by restoring our faith in our institutions. raeli conflict has been supplanton the understanding that Israel between Israel and Hamas.

The first is the IDF. In every poll over the years, the ed by the radical Shiite-Israeli faces a genocidal regime on its institution Israelis have trusted most is the army. This conflict. Like the Arab world a southern border, that that regime must be destroyed is a war to determine whether that trust will continue. generation ago, the radical Shiite axis is committed to not only for our sake but for the sake of the region, Without our confidence in the army’s ability to protect Israel’s destruction. To focus only on the fighting in and that the only way to destroy a terrorist infrastrucus, Israel will unravel.

Gaza is to misunderstand what is happening there. ture embedded in a civilian population is the way the On Oct. 7, Israel became the most dangerous This is war with Iran by proxy.

IDF is proceeding. country in the world for Jews. Many Israelis are now In what may once have been a marriage of conThe outpouring of sympathy for Israel was good for quietly asking themselves whether they can raise venience, Hamas, the only Sunni component of the our souls, especially in those traumatic first days. But families here. In the early 1950s, when Israel was expeIranian alliance, has embraced the theological agenda we all knew that much of that sympathy would begin riencing a wave of terror attacks and the IDF seemed of the Iranian Revolution and its quest for regional to evaporate with the terrible scenes of devastation incapable of effective response, Prime Minister David hegemony. in Gaza. And we also knew that, given the choice, we Ben-Gurion declared that the state has an obligation to Iran has already won two historic victories against preferred to be condemned than pitied. reassure Jewish immigrants coming from around the Israel. Despite a decades-long Israeli campaign, Iran is world that they didn’t make a mistake in trusting the Necessarily, in the immediate aftermath of the now on the nuclear threshold. And it threatens us on massacre, we disseminated the atrocity photos and promise of Zionism to protect them. three of our borders — Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. brought foreign journalists to the scene of the slaughDestroying Hamas is a crucial step in restoring that The massacre marks a turning point in our war with broken promise. ter. But in the face of growing suffering in Gaza, the the radical Shiite axis. For now, Iran is winning.

Continued on Page 20 political effectiveness of those images is fading. We

On Oct. 7, Israel became the most dangerous country in the world for Jews. The atrocity Hamas inflicted was unbearable.

So, what do you think?

Views expressed by columnists, in readers’ letters, and in opinion Send letters (350 words max.) to The Dayton Jewish Observer, pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinion of staff or layleaders of 525 Versailles Dr., Dayton, OH 45459 • MWeiss@jfgd.net The Dayton Jewish Observer or the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

PAGE 19

you are fighting, for both practical and spiritual What this war is about evil reasons.

Practically, the way to win this war is by retaining our moral credibility among Diaspora Jews and among Israel’s non-Jewish friends. We don’t target innocents; This war is a test of the moral credibility we don’t dehumanize an entire people; we do what we of the international community. can, given the constraints of the situation and the goals The challenge for outsiders to this conflict is to sympathize with the innocents suffering on both sides, of the war, to minimize civilian deaths.

According to international law, proportionality without obscuring the difference between Israel and means taking into account both civilian lives and the Hamas. nature of the threat one is trying to contain. In an exFor the dead and the wounded among Gaza’s istential war against a genocidal enemy hiding behind civilians, it obviously makes no difference that Israel didn’t intend to harm them. But intent is the difference civilians, the boundaries of proportionality change.

But red lines remain and our political and military between war as tragedy and war as barbarism. leaders need to grapple with the moral imperative For Israeli policy-makers, the precedent for deof destroying Hamas and the moral imperative of stroying Hamas is the war on ISIS, which resulted in preserving life. There is no neat formula for navigating massive destruction, dislocation, and civilian deaths. these wrenching dilemmas; the basic requirement is Destroying Hamas is no less a moral imperative than that red lines remain part of the Israeli conversation. destroying ISIS. A war against evil is fought with fierce determinaMany around the world — and not only Israelhaters — are raising the argument that the occupation tion, but without blind hatred for an entire people, let alone an entire religion. Palestinian society, along with drives Palestinians to terrorism. But the reverse is no the Arab and Muslim worlds, have much to answer less true: Terrorism has reinforced the occupation, by for. But Hamas and the Palestinian people are not convincing Israelis that withdrawal from the West the same. There was widespread disaffection toward Bank would turn it into another Gaza.

Hamas before this war: A remarkable project, WhisThe fatal miscalculation of Israel’s enemies is that pered in Gaza, recording anonymous Palestinians exthey mistake Israel for a rootless colonial project that posing Hamas brutality and corruption was published will go the way of Rhodesia and White-ruled South last January in The Times of Israel.

Africa. Inflict enough atrocities and the Jews will flee What the Jewish far right doesn’t understand about “back to Poland.” (Palestinian apologists never say, Israel’s power is that it derives from the unity of the “back to Iraq, back to North Africa,” which is where a Jewish people, both here and in the Diaspora, on our majority of Israeli Jews come from.) shared belief in the justness of our cause. Over the A colonialist state would have long since become last year, large parts of the Israeli fatally demoralized and surrenpublic lost faith in the moral didered to the relentless terrorism rection of the country. The crisis and war and siege. But enmity threatened to unravel crucial has only made Israel stronger, parts of the military. because its people are home.

Israel’s power also depends Now our enemies have united on maintaining the trust of our us — this time, inducing in a friends. The contempt that leadsingle day the miraculous turning members of this government around of a nation so divided we were expressing only recently toseemed on the verge of civil war, ward President Biden is indicative to a nation defined once again by of the far right’s childish attitude shared purpose and effort. toward power.

Israelis have reacted as we We owe no accountability to always do to existential threat. the hypocrites who would turn Close to 200,000 Israelis have Israel into the criminal of nations, flown back home since the maslike those delegates at the UN sacre, many to join their reservist Human Rights Council, who two units. The demand has been so days after the massacre stood in solemn mourning for high that El Al has allowed passengers who couldn’t the “victims in Palestine and elsewhere” — this, while book seats to sit on the floor of returning flights. The we were still fighting terrorists holed up in Israeli failure of the Palestinian national movement, in all its homes along the Gaza border. But we do owe a moral factions, to understand that it is facing not a colonialreckoning to our friends. ist entity but a re-indigenized people whose story is The war against evil is ultimately a spiritual war. unique in history is the main reason why this conflict has been insoluble. Until that perception changes, even Divine protection for Israel, the Torah warns us, is conditional on our behavior. “You shall purge the evil Israelis like myself who see a two-state solution as from your midst,” it commands. an existential necessity for Israel will also see it as an There are those in our midst who have indiscrimiexistential threat. nately attacked innocent Palestinians. Most Israelis are This war is a chance for Israel and its friends to change the narrative of colonialist Israel that has taken repulsed by those acts. But by no means all. One Knesset member from the Jewish Power party, a part of the hold in much of the West, and to restore a measure of coalition, recently called an Israeli who burned alive complexity to the discourse on the conflict. a Palestinian family “holy,” and no one in her party disagreed. Especially during times of danger to Israel, This is a war against evil. those sentiments pose a grave danger to our spiritual There is a crucial distinction between committing protection. evil and becoming evil. There are acts of such proTo win this war against evil requires steadiness and found cruelty that the Divine image in which we are balance. Left-wing Jews need to understand that the created can be erased.

Jewish people cannot afford the purity of powerlessTikun olam is a commitment to simultaneously enness, while right-wing Jews need to understand that hance good and diminish evil. Tikun olam is not only power requires moral limits. As a people, we must not about social justice; defeating Nazi Germany and the be indifferent to the anguish of Gaza. And we must Soviet Union were ultimate expressions of repairing not allow that anguish to undermine our resolve to the world. Destroying Hamas is a tikun olam imperadestroy Hamas. tive.

At the same time, fighting evil doesn’t mean a Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman suspension of moral ground rules; the opposite is true. One must be careful not to become tainted by the Institute.

Continued from Page 19

A colonialist state would have long since become fatally demoralized and surrendered to the relentless terrorism and war and siege.

But enmity has only made Israel stronger, because its people are home.

PAGE 20

How Jewish parents can help kids deal with a flood of social media pain — beyond just looking away

By David Bryfman and Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath “Teenagers wake up in the morning. They get dressed, brush their teeth, and check their social media. But this technology is not just what they do, it is who they are.”

David wrote those sentences back in 2009. Now, almost 15 years later, this is more true than ever for teens and tweens. Particularly with the catalyst of the pandemic, their lives often take place and connections are built through screens.

Since Oct. 7, as social media filled up with unspeakable images of the Hamas attack on Israel, countless articles quoted educational leaders urging parents to delete social media applications from their children’s devices. But offering parents one solution right now — to delete apps and try and prevent their children from seeing these images — is way too simplistic and perhaps even misguided.

The goal of that advice is to spare children from viewing the horrific images emanating from Hamas, designed to instill fear in Israelis and all Jews around the world.

We support efforts to curtail the viewing and dissemination of these distressing posts; we now know that many of the videos are deliberately infected with falsehoods and malware to further intensify the terror, and we all need to safeguard our mental health and that of our loved ones. And we will be the first to recognize our own shortcomings as parents, especially in these challenging times.

So yes: As parents, our natural instinct is to protect our children. But as parents, and as a broader community, we can, and must do better than just telling people to look away from social media.

There has been violence and evil on these platforms before Oct. 7, and there will continue to be despicable content forevermore. Any Jewish educator involved with teaching the Holocaust has learned to navigate this.

Social media is also home to tremendous acts of kindness, philanthropy, compassion, and goodwill.

There are bonds and friendships formed and maintained on social media — and the distinction between virtual relationships and so-called “in-person” relationships is very blurry for tweens and teens. Many of our young people find social media, and the opportunity to express their authentic selves to their communities, to be a relief and a joy in a world that can be very lonely. To wholly disconnect children from social media is also to disconnect them from many of these positive attributes.

Parents at the very least should consider that the short-term need to protect their child might set up a confrontation that could pull them apart — at a moment when children may look to them for love, support and guidance.

Perhaps there is a middle ground. First, if parents gave permission to a child to install an app, they can also be responsible for ensuring the app is used in the right manner — much like parents will prepare a child to take public transportation for the first time or drive a car. The rules parents outline for social media also do not have to be static, and can change as rapidly as our understanding of the evolving situation changes.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

The rules parents outline for social media do not have to be static, and can change as rapidly as our understanding of the evolving situation changes.

Second, if parents believe they have the power of persuasion or coercion to delete social media from their child’s devices, parents also have the wherewithal to have a conversation with them. Talk about Israel right now, the power of social media, and the pain and confusion of distressing videos.

And finally, if parents want to raise children who connect with their Israeli brothers and sisters beyond images of violence and vulnerability, they should give their children an affirming Jewish education (this might come across as a shameless plug for Jewish education — it is).

We make no distinction between settings — day schools, congregational schools, Jewish summer camps, youth movements, or any other setting where Jewish learning takes place.

It is not enough to be a parent who reacts when fearful; parents must also be proactive and give children the competencies and confidence to be able to take pride in their Jewish being — in good times and in bad.

A Jewish identity that is formed in reaction to hatred is not sustainable. It is natural that in moments when there is distress amongst the Jewish people, we

will awaken to the depths of our innate bonds, and those instincts are beautiful. But without the building blocks of Jewish identity and joy to sustain our children throughout their lifelong Jewish journeys, affinity in moments of tragedy will not be enough.

Neither deleting apps nor sending children to a place of Jewish education absolves parents of their ultimate responsibility. The strength of all Jewish parents in the world combined cannot prevent these insidious images from entering a child’s device — even if it is stopped now, it is only a matter of time.

Parents must learn and know and talk to their children, answer their questions, and be there for them and hug them, and talk to them about all of the good and the evil in this world.

Please protect your children. Also please help them acquire the tools that they need not just to weather these extremely dark days, but to thrive on the other side of this war.

Talk about Israel right now, the power of social media, and the pain and confusion of distressing videos.

David Bryfman is the CEO of The Jewish Education Project. Samantha VinokorMeinrath is senior director of knowledge, ideas and learning at The Jewish Education Project.

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RELIGION

CONGREGATIONS

Together as one

By Rabbi Leibel Agar Beth Jacob Congregation For most of us, Oct. 7 started off like every other Saturday. Even though it was both Shabbat and Shemini Atzeret, my routine did not waiver a single iota. As with every other Shabbat, I got up, dressed, and settled down to play a bit of DC (a deck-building game based on the DC superheroes).

Perspectives When my wife got up, she served us both a slice of her famous Chocolate Chip Muffin Cake and a cup of coffee.

As usual, we ate breakfast in companionable silence, each one of us engrossed in a book.

A little after 9 a.m., I grabbed my jacket, downed the last bit of my coffee, and rushed out the door to go to shul. As I walked, I reviewed the sermon I had planned to give — the idea that while being happy is a mitzvah on every holiday, it is the special

mitzvah for Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

It was shortly after I entered the shul that I found out that this was not going to be an ordinary Shabbat and Shemini Atzeret; it would be one that changed our lives forever.

The terror attack by Hamas on our sacred holiday of Shemini Atzeret conjured up images of the horrible attack which took place on Yom Kippur 50 years earlier.

The joy of Yom Tov was shattered by the sounds of warfare. Even now, days after the initial assault, we cannot begin to fathom the sadness and horror which our people are facing.

Yet, there is a light in the darkness. As we join together, whether we are Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Orthodox, Conservative or Reform, the light from our souls burns ever brighter.

We are unified, ish echad b’lev echad—one people with one heart—bringing strength to each other in these troubled

Peter Wine

Beth Abraham Synagogue

Conservative Rabbi Aubrey L. Glazer Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming Andrea Raizen Fridays, 5 p.m.

Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

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

Beth Jacob Congregation

Traditional Rabbi Leibel Agar Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. Evening minyans upon request.

7020 N. Main St., Dayton.

937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org

Temple Anshe Emeth Rabbi Leibel Agar at Stand With Israel: A Community Solidarity Gathering, Oct. 10 at the Boonshoft CJCE.

times.

However, there is another light, one which some of us may not have seen. It is the light brought by our non-Jewish friends and neighbors who have offered prayers in their own houses of worship. It is the kindness and compassion shown by random strangers expressing their sorrow and sympathy at the tragic loss of so many lives.

MAZEL TOV! A very happy birthday to Bob Kahn, who celebrated his 100th in September. To a generation of Dayton-area schoolchildren, Bob is known as the boy the Nazis forced to play the violin on Kristallnacht in Mannheim, Germany while they beat his father, ransacked the family's apartment, and burned their pos- Bob Kahn sessions. After Bob arrived in the United States, he fought in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Forces in the South Pacific. He also went on to work for Operation Paper Clip — the secret U.S. intelligence and military program that brought German scientists to work for the U.S. government at the end of World

War II. Jewish War Veterans Post #587 honored his 100th birthday at a recent brunch.

In September, family from all over came here to celebrate their patriarch.

Former Daytonian Steven Wasserman, son of the late Ronnie Wasserman Harlan and Dr. Allan Wasserman, has written a second book about his family's history. America's Jewish Violin Sensation: The Life of Joyce Renée is the story of an aunt on his father's side. "She had a brilliant career as a solo violinist in the 1930s-1950s playing at Carnegie Hall, Radio City, Town Hall, and hundreds of other venues across the United States at a time when

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women soloists were few and far between," Steven says. "She also played hundreds of concerts for wounded and returning servicemen and women during and after World War II. Ms. Renée had an extraordinary career until a tragic accident cut it short."

Pop culture vulture Mathew Klickstein has returned to the Miami Valley. He now lives in Tipp City and is a writer with Central State University's marketing/publicity department.

He's written a scholarly essay for the book Power Up: Leadership, Character, and Conflict Beyond the Superhero Multiverse, which was published Oct. 15.

Mahj mavens take note: Dayton Hadassah tells us that when you renew or become a member of the National Mah Jongg League, your fee includes a 2024 Mah Jongg card. National Mah Jongg League memberships for 2024 are available through Hadassah until Dec. 28. Prices are $14 for a standard card, $15 for a large card. Orders may be placed at events.hadassah.org/mahjonggcards or locally through Maryann Bernstein at 937-269-5097.

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

I have seen these lights from people I work with, from people who live in my neighborhood, and from strangers on the street. I have seen dozens upon dozens of people loudly proclaiming the same message: “Israel, you are not alone!”

May our Merciful Father in Heaven answer our prayers and protect all Israel.

November

Cheshvan/Kislev

Reform Rabbinic Intern Gretchen Johnson Fri., Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m.

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, 6:30 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

Shabbat Candle Lightings November 3: 6:15 p.m.

November 10: 5:07 p.m.

November 17: 5:02 p.m.

November 24: 4:57 p.m.

Reform Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo Fri., Nov. 3, 6 p.m.

Fridays, Nov. 10, 17, 24, 6:30 p.m.

Sat., Nov. 11, 10:30 a.m.

130 Riverside Dr., Dayton.

937-496-0050. tidayton.org

Temple Sholom

Reform Rabbi Cary Kozberg 2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com

ADDITIONAL SERVICES Chabad of Greater Dayton

Torah Portions

November 4: Vayera (Gen. 18:1-22:24) November 11: Chaye Sarah (Gen. 23:1-25:18) November 18: Toledot (Gen. 25:19-28:9) November 25: Vayetze (Gen. 28:10-32:3)

Rabbi Nochum Mangel Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin Youth & Prog. Dir. Rabbi Levi Simon. Beginner educational service Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com

Yellow Springs Havurah

Independent Antioch College Rockford Chapel.

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

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

CALENDAR Classes

Beth Abraham Classes: Mondays, noon: Free. Lunch & Learn on Zoom. Who’s Afraid of Chasidism & Why Does it Still Matter? W. Rabbi Glazer.

Preregistration required at 937293-9520.

Beth Jacob Classes: W. Rabbi Agar. Sundays In Person, 10 a.m. & Wednesdays On Zoom, 6 p.m.: Beginner Hebrew Class, $100. Sundays In Person, 11 a.m. & Wednesdays On Zoom, 7 p.m.: Intermediate Hebrew Class.

Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Torah Tuesdays on Zoom. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Thursdays of Thought on Zoom. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. Register at 937274-2149.

Chabad Classes: Tuesdays, 8 p.m.: Code of Jewish Law. Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m.: Talmud. Thursdays, noon: Parsha. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937-643-0770. chabaddayton.com.

Temple Beth Or Classes: Sundays, 12:30 p.m.: Adult

Nov. 3-19

Hebrew. Thurs., Nov. 9, 7 p.m.: Chai Mitzvah on Zoom.

5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor. com/events.

Temple Israel Classes: Sat., 9:15 a.m., Nov. 4, 18, 25: Virtual Torah Study. Sat., Nov. 11, 9:15 a.m.: Hybrid Torah Study.

Tues., Nov. 7, 14, 28, noon: Hybrid Talmud Study. Wednesdays, 10 a.m.: Torah Queeries w. Rabbinic Intern Kit Brewer at home of Ann and Skip Becker.

Thurs., Nov. 2, 3:30 p.m.: Fri., Nov. 3, 17, 11 a.m.: Living w.

Loss w. Rabbi Bodney-Halasz.

RSVPs requested. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960500. tidayton.org.

Parents

JCC CABS w. PJ Library & PJ Our Way, Adventures in Parenting: Sun., Nov. 5, 7 p.m. Free. Register at jewishdayton.org/event. 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937610-1555.

Family

Chabad Kids Make Shabbat: Thurs., Nov. 2, 4 p.m. Free.

Kids 3-13. Family Shabbat Dinner: Fri., Nov. 3, 5:30 p.m. $20 per adult, kids free. RSVP at chabaddayton.com. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. 937643-0770.

Temple Beth Or Pre-K-2nd Grade Consecration Shabbat & Dinner: Fri., Nov. 10, 5:30 p.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash Twp. templebethor.com/events.

Temple Israel Prayer & Play: Fri., Nov. 17, 5:30 p.m.

Infants-2nd grade. Contact Rabbi Sobo. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0500. tidayton.org.

JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series See schedule, Page 28.

Adults

Beth Abraham Rick Pinsky Brunch Series: Sundays, 10 a.m. $8. Nov. 5: Franklin Lewis, The Jewish Comedians (in partnership w. Temple Israel).

Nov. 12: Ret. Brig. Gen. Paul Cooper, Birth of the Israeli Air Force (in partnership w. Temple Israel). Nov. 19: Jim Charters,

Dayton Inventions. RSVP to 937-293-9520. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood.

Temple Israel Brotherhood Ryterband Lecture & Brunch Series: Sundays. Nov. 5, 10 a.m.: Franklin Lewis, The Jewish Comedians. At Beth Abraham Synagogue, $8. Nov. 12, 10 a.m.: Ret. Brig. Gen. Paul Cooper, Birth of the Israeli Air Force. At Beth Abraham Synagogue, $8. Nov. 19, 9:45 a.m.: Myla Cardona-Jones, $7. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960050. tidayton.org.

JCC's Open Canasta: Wednesdays, 12:30-3:30 p.m.

Free. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. 937610-1555. jewishdayton.org.

Temple Beth Or Adult Ed. Trip to Underground Railroad Center: Mon., Nov. 13, 8 a.m.

Free. For info., 937-435-3400.

RSVP at templebethor.com/ events.

Hillel Academy Bourbon Tasting Event: Sat., Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m. $100. W. Rabbi

Drew Kaplan. Top of the Market, 32 Webster St., Dayton.

RSVP by Nov. 10. 937-2778966. daytonhillel.org.

Temple Beth Or Exploration of the Jewish Short Story: Wed., Nov. 22, 7 p.m. Zoom only. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com/events.

Community

Univ. of Dayton Annual Kristallnacht Remembrance: Thurs., Nov. 9, 5 p.m. Immaculate Conception Chapel.

Prof. Miriamne Krummel, the Language of Loss. For info., csullivan1@udayton.edu.

Temple Israel Veterans Day Shabbat Service & Kiddush Lunch: Sat., Nov. 11, 10:30 a.m. Lunch sponsored by All the Best Delicatessen. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP to 937-496-0050. tidayton.org.

36th Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service: Mon., Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m. At Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com/events.

Book by Joe Masteroff Music by John Kander Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Purchase tickets: wright.edu/BoxOffice WEDDINGS, SOCIAL & CORPORATE EVENTS

Festival Playhouse, Creative Arts Center

2 S. MAIN ST. MIDDLETOWN, OH THEWINDAMERE.COM 513-818-5174

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

PAGE 23

JEWISH FAMILY EDUCATION

Celebrate life or embrace death?

The transcendent nature of human life has never been a universal value. The ancients regarded human life as valuable only when it fulfilled some useful purpose. Almost all ancient civilizations practiced infanticide for population control, sex Just a few weeks ago, two selection, and physical qualities. ing population comprised of teenagers were arrested for the minority religions, the unaffiliHuman sacrifice was an acfatal hit-and-run of a cyclist. cepted practice, as was brutalated, and nones (the 30% who The car’s passenger recorded izing, torturing, and killing indicate they have no religion the teens laughing and chanting or do not belong to any particu- people for entertainment. It “Bump him!” as the driver delar religion) suggests little more may be hard to believe, but liberately entered the bike lane than a third of the American these attitudes and practices and rammed into the bicycle’s population believes human life continue in isolated cases across rear tire, sending the rider soar- should be held in reverence. the world. ing before hitting the ground.

Three millennia ago, the Attitudes in Western Europe After fleeing the scene, the Bible of nascent Judaism prosuggest similar trends.

The hideous endpoint of such claimed a radically different view of human life. The first a trajectory was recently laid bare. In a single day, a murder- chapters of Genesis describe Candace R. ous assault by Hamas resulted haadam, the human, as the pinnacle of Crein at least 1,400 Israelis dead, Kwiatek thousands wounded, and more ation, uniquely formed in God’s than 220 abducted. image and Most were civilians, from teens posted the disturbing infused with infants to seniors—brutalized video online. divine breath. and desecrated, executed and While these teens’ irreverIt introduced beheaded, displayed and celent attitude toward human life to the world the ebrated via online media. is shocking, it shouldn’t have notion of “the Anecdotal evidence reveals been unanticipated. According sanctity of life,” affirming that that neither Americans nor to a 2020 survey of America’s humans are uniquely set apart Western Europeans uniformly wide-ranging Christian comfrom other living beings and and wholeheartedly conmunity — representing about embody an intangible essence demned the deliberate mas64% of the U.S. population of absolute, transcendent value sacre, although government — only four in 10 believe that and dignity such that innocent leaders have mostly done so. human life has unconditional human life shouldn’t be vioBritish journalist Sasha intrinsic worth. lated.

Abramsky rightly refers to this Extrapolating from limited Over time, this concept influlack of solidarity as “The Catadata on the religious and spiristrophic Moral Failing of Those enced other religions, as well as tual attitudes of the remainWho Won’t Condemn Hamas.” the fields of philosophy, moral

Judaism's Worldview Series

psychology, and even humanism.

In the Jewish worldview, not only is the human being sanctified by divine breath, but so too is life itself elevated. As Rabbi Bradley Artson explains, “To refrain from enjoying life is… to rebel against God’s judgment on such a fundamental issue as the magnificence of being itself.”

Thus the foremost obligation in Judaism is to value and love life.

Each human life is an entire world, the Talmud teaches.

It therefore permits breaking almost any religious commandment to save a life.

At the same time, Judaism forbids deliberate actions that hasten death, including the pursuit of martyrdom. Jewish tradition even limits the time of mourning, ritually guiding the bereaved back into daily life.

The Jewish calendar, too, celebrates life: Rosh Hashanah trumpets the birth of Adam and Eve, the festivals acknowledge God’s presence as Israel’s lifesustaining force, the historical holidays commemorate the saving of Jewish life across time and place.

Life’s milestones are commemorated with special ceremonies — bris, naming, bar/ bat mitzvah, chupah — even during tragedy. Random life moments — recovering from illness, eating the season’s first apple, seeing an erupting volcano — are acknowledged with a shehecheyanu blessing: “…Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.”

The transcendent nature of human life has never been a universal value.

October 21– January 14, 2024 FOUNDING ELM Foundation BENEFACTOR Linda Black-Kurek Family Foundation The Berry Family Foundation / Elizabeth Gray Fund

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT Kim Dinsmore & David London Nora & Robert Newsock University of Dayton

PATRON Linda Lombard & Paul Marshall

Resources to share

DIRECTOR Carolyn Brethen

The Mexican Dreidel by Linda Elovitz Marshall and Ilan Stavans. When a group of Mexican friends begins playing with spinning tops, Danielito joins in with his dreidel. This delightful children’s story about a neighborhood adventure highlights Sephardic Jewish culture and a welcome message about friendship and sharing traditions. Informational notes are included.

SUPPORTING PNC PROMOTING Martha & Mark Shaker MEDIA PROMOTING SPONSOR ThinkTV PBS

Background Image: La Troupe de Mademoiselle Églantine, 1896, color lithograph. All works courtesy “The Firos collection.” Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: The Birth of Modern Paris is a single source exhibition provided by Pan Art Connections, with the support of The Museum Box.

23_DAI_Toulouse_JewishObserver_Ad_6x5 Folder.indd 2

PAGE 24

How do we think and act in ways that celebrate the sanctity of human life and life itself?

FaceTime bris. “One moment that has really stood out to me,” Rabbi Meir Soloveichik shared after the recent Hamas attacks, “was the IDF soldier attending his son’s Brit Milah over FaceTime. As soon as I saw it, I was so moved…There is no place a father wants to be more than there. And as he is going out to fight and in the midst of all that death, he says Shehecheyanu — ‘Thank you God for keeping us alive and to endure this moment.’ Right there you have…the Jewish love of life. Those who are going off to fight against those who love death.”

One more day. When we go to bed at night, dead tired, we are by no means guaranteed to wake up come dawn. When we do, our first awareness is that we are awake and alive. It seems only right to take a moment to express our gratitude for the gift of life, for another opportunity to live life one more day. In Judaism, we are supposed to recite the prayer, “Modeh ani / Thank you, God, for restoring my soul and giving me another day to live life.”

What if our first conscious moments were spent doing just that? How would that affect the way we live?

Creation teaches us to acknowledge the transcendent nature of human life and to value life itself. But at the edge of the wilderness overlooking the Promised Land, Moses imparts an additional lesson: “Choose life.”

In the words of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

9/28/23 5:02 PM

Jewish Values and Strategy in Wartime by Tikvah Learning Campaign. This month it seems most appropriate to recommend not a book but “living literature.” In response to the events in Israel, Tikvah Learning Center is offering 35 live, 30-minute classes led by scholars, rabbis, and other notables, every weekday evening and multiple times on Sundays through Nov. 19. Targeted to serious high-school students and adults, the classes —which include Q&As — are free and open to all. Registrants can select individual sessions or sign up for the entire series. Register at tikvahfund.org/toa/.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

FOOD

No one does fall better.

Cooking demo & dinner with kosher food maven Chanie Apfelbaum

By Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel Busy in Brooklyn blogger Chanie Apfelbaum, author of Totally Kosher and Millennial Kosher cookbooks, will lead a cooking demonstration at a dinner featuring her recipes on Nov. 12 as part of the JCC's Cultural Arts & Book Series, in partnership with Chabad Women's Circle.

When she began developing the more than 150 recipes for Totally Kosher, which was published in March, Apfelbaum thought about the kinds of recipes people crave, often the traditional foods their mothers or grandmothers made.

While Apfelbaum tends to offer modern spins on Jewish food, she’s found that readers want traditional recipes too, “potato kugel and cholent and gefilte fish, that’s what they want,” she said. “Why should they have to pull out another book for perfect chicken soup?”

So while she has Miso Matzah Ball Soup, Apfelbaum also offers The Rebbetzin’s Gefilte Fish, Ma’s Perfect Potato Kugel, Golden Chicken Soup, as well as Bubbie’s Stuffed Cabbage and World Peace Challah.

“I literally have non-Jewish followers who buy the book,” she said. “I have a lot of people who are not Orthodox, or unaffiliated but want to make brisket for Rosh Hashanah and challah for Shabbat.”

It’s been 12 years since she began Busy in Brooklyn as something of a lark that turned into a career, and five years since Apfelbaum’s first cookbook, Millennial Kosher.

In those early years, Apfelbaum said she learned what people like, but it’s always a surprise to see which recipes go viral.

“People want something a little bit different but things that are not too hard or time-consuming,” she said. “I get that, as a mom of five who has to put dinner on the table every night.

I get cooking fatigue.”

And so, Apfelbaum doesn’t offer recipes with “a million steps” but tries to remain true to who she is, with some recipes slightly more complex and others kept simple.

She has certain signature recipes that have become synonymous with the blog, including meat-stuffed arayes, now offered three ways in Totally Kosher.

The JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series and Chabad Women's Circle present dinner and a cooking demonstration with Chanie Apfelbaum, 5 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 12 at Chabad, 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. The cost is $36. Register at jewishdayton.org/events or 937-610-1555.

Corner of Far Hills & Dorothy Lane 2977 FAR HILLS AVE DAYTON OH 45419

937-224-7673 THEFLOWERSHOPPE.COM

Kosher cookbook author Chanie Apfelbaum

There’s also Build Your Own Boards, spreads of edibles laid out on trays, boards or kitchen counters, this time with a choice of 10 themes, including a Fish Board for a Shabbat lunch, and Sushi or Taco Boards for weekday dinners, which Apfelbaum loves to do with kids, as it gives them control over what they eat.

She’s also a self-taught food photographer. It’s the plating and artistry in food preparation that brought Apfelbaum to her food blog and recipe development, not the scientific rules of the kitchen.

Over the last 12 years, she’s developed a love for creating and developing recipes that reflect who she is and what she loves to eat. In Totally Kosher, one favorite dish is Pad Chai, because of her love for Thai and Middle Eastern foods, and “the name is so cute.”

She’s also partial to the Harvest Bundt Cake, a decorated Bundt cake that developed out of a honey cake failure, as well as Cauliflower Kasha Varnishkes, a spin on the Ashkenazi dish of buckwheat kasha traditionally made with bowtie pasta.

“So many people grew up on kasha varnishkes and I think it’s super smart to be able to make a recipe that’s different that still brings someone back to the nostalgia, and without pasta,” Apfelbaum said.

Like so many of the recipes in Totally Kosher, it’s familiar, fresh, and doesn’t take all that long to put together. It may just be what’s for dinner tonight.

THE DAYTON JEWISH OBSERVER • NOVEMBER 2023

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PAGE 25

Hamas killed her mother & niece. Her children are hostages in Gaza.

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By Deborah Danan, JTA TEL AVIV — Hadas Calderon flung a printed picture of her mother, Carmela Dan, an American-Israeli who was reported kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, to the floor.

“She’s dead. There’s nothing I can do about her anymore.

I don’t even have a minute to think about mourning,” Calderon said.

“But I can save the living. I can fight to save my children.”

Calderon’s comments came as she participated in a press conference in Tel Aviv organized as part of a sweeping, sustained effort to draw local and global attention to the more than 220 Israeli captives now held in Gaza. The Oct. 19 event focused on one subset of

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the group: the children.

Israel has confirmed that approximately 30 hostages are children. Videos shared by Hamas and pictures shared by their relatives have seared the faces of several into the international consciousness.

One to gain widespread attention is Calderon’s 12-yearold niece, Noya Dan, who had slept over at Carmela’s home on Kibbutz Nir Oz the night of the attack. A quarter of the kibbutz’s population is now dead or missing; her mother and sister are among the survivors.

A picture of Noya dressed as Harry Potter circulated widely on social media, even drawing amplification from the character’s creator, J.K. Rowling, after Israel asked the British author to publicize her disappearance.

On Oct. 18, Hadas Calderon celebrated her mother’s 80th birthday in her absence. She said the gathering was full of hope that Carmela would be soon released. The following day at 10 p.m. she received a phone call from the army telling her that Carmela’s and Noya’s bodies had been identified. She said she still does not know the circumstances surrounding their death — including on what side of the border they were killed. She wonders whether Noya’s autism might have played a role.

“We don’t know what happened. Maybe (Carmela) couldn’t walk with her anymore so they killed her,”

Calderon said. “Which makes sioned made her believe she us so worried for the others.” should be doing more to get The others include Caldeher family’s message across. ron’s own children, 16-year-old Zailer is advocating for her daughter Sahar and 12-year-old niece and nephew, Ariel and son Erez, also on the kibbutz Kfir Bibas, and their family that night with their father. members. Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 10 “I can hear every night my months, were taken with their son screaming to me, mom, mother Shiri, Zailer’s cousin; save me,” she said, their father Yarden; crying. and Shiri’s parents, She said the army Yossi and Margit Siltold her that they are verman. likely in Khan Younis, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir a southern Gazan city became some of the just six miles from earliest faces of the Nir Oz. With the hostage crisis, hisIsraeli army prepartoric in its scope, after ing for what it says footage of them aired could be an extended on Palestinian news ground invasion of and circulated online Gaza, she knows her Hadas Calderon within hours of the atfamily is at risk. tack. Shiri can be seen “Stop immediately any milicrying while carrying Kfir. tary action” until the hostages All are Argentinian citizens; are released, she said. “And the family received a picture then make the war. You can’t of Yarden being driven on a make a war at the expense of Hamas motorcycle, with an obchildren and babies.” vious severe head wound, and Some reports have emerged have also advertised that Marof back-channel negotiations git has advanced Parkinson’s around freeing the hostages, Disease and needs medication. but Calderon joins other fami“I can feel the Calderon lies of captives in believing that mother’s pain, and I think mayIsrael should be doing more. be I’m not fighting as much or She assailed Israeli Prime Minbeing as militant,” Zailer said. ister Benjamin Netanyahu for “Because I think my heart is saying that “bringing back the too broken, you know?” hostages was part of the goals” “The whole world has of Operation Iron Sword, the to scream,” Calderon said. army’s name for the war.

“Scream until the skies open, “It’s not ‘part of the goal,’” ‘Bring our children home.’ she said. “It’s the only goal.”

They are not soldiers. They Yifat Zailer said hearing have been picked up in their Calderon become so impaspajamas from their beds.”

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NOVEMBER

Sunday, November 12 @ 5PM FEATURING Dinner and a Cooking Demonstration In partnership with Chabad Women’s Circle Chabad of Greater Dayton (2001 Far Hills Avenue, Oakwood) Cost: $36 Chanie Apfelbaum Totally Kosher Contemporary and Uncomplicated • Known for bringing a trendy edge to kosher meals, Chanie’s recipes are approachable, playful, and tasty, and introduce exciting global flavors to the kosher canon of Jewish-inspired dishes. She shares her secrets here, from kitchen hacks to favorite pantry ingredients that will transform your kosher cooking.

Thursday, November 30 @ 7PM via Zoom No Cost Gioia Diliberto Coco at the Ritz Cocotte, Couturier, Collaborator • In late August of 1944, Coco Chanel is arrested on charges of treason to France, stemming from her romance with a Nazi spy. Her interrogation is gripping battle of wits between the famous couturier and a Resistance soldier. At its heart, this novel is about the choices of one woman and the perilous consequences to those around her.

To purchase tickets for in-person events or to register for free events, please visit jewishdayton.org/events or call 937-610-1555

Jewish Community Center OF GREATER DAYTON

JCC CULTURAL ARTS PROGRAMMING IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A GRANT FROM OUR COMMUNITY SUPPORTER OHIO ARTS COUNCIL IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL.