The Dayton Jewish Observer, October 2022

Marshall

Facade of the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge,

Mia Harvey, 5, daughter of Toria and Jonathan Harvey, learns about the Jewish new year and the letter alef at Chabad Hebrew School's first session of the year

Dayton BBYO kicked off the season Aug. 28 at Kings Island with 150 Jewish teens from across the KentuckyIndiana-Ohio region. Shown here with BBYO Advisor Josh Alpert (L to R): Cate Becker, Seth Schwartz, Sam Jacob, Avi Gilbert, Asher Pachman, Alli Becker, Yiyi Li Kudera, Hannah Dritz, Bri Becker, and Ava Bressler.

The JCC's new Boomers Group held its first event, a kosher cookout around the campfire with sing-alongs, at Possum Creek MetroPark on Aug. 28.

Hillel Academy & PJ Library's Shabbat in the Park dinner at Iron Horse Park on Aug. 26 brought 120 community members together including these kids celebrating Shabbat in the round

New Shabbat dinner programs for young adults to launch Oct. 1

National nonprofit OneTable and Federation bring project here

By Abigail Klein Leichman, Jewish Standard

Young Jewish adults seek out the weekly ritual of Friday night Shabbat dinners to build social connections, mitigate loneliness, and deepen ties to their community and Jewish identity.

That is the conclusion of a study from One Table, a national nonprofit founded to support people in the 21-to-39 age range who want to find, share, and enjoy Shabbat dinners as a way of slowing down, meeting peers, unplugging from the week, creating intention in their lives, and building meaningful communities.

From Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, OneTable will bring its Shabbat dinner project to the Miami Valley, with a 50-percent funding match provid ed by the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

The nondenominational OneTable doesn’t tell hosts what kind of experience to offer — it can be anything from a traditional dinner to a casual affair or an evening for specific populations, such as LGBTQ Jews.

Potential hosts fill out an application and once they are approved, work with OneTable’s field team to plan and publicize their dinner using OneTable’s social dining plat form and step-by-step guide.

Hosts can get “nourishment credits” of $15 per guest (or a maximum of $150 per dinner) to spend on groceries, decor, and more.

"Dayton's Jewish Federation will also provide Shabbat in the Bag, some special items to en hance the Shabbat experience for our OneTable participants, such as kosher challahs, Shabbat candles, Tell & Kvell cards, and a bottle of Kosher wine," said Lidia Zambilovici, the Federation's development

To learn more or sign up to host OneTable Shabbat dinners in the Miami Valley for people ages 21 to 39, go to onetable.org.

director. "It's open to any young adults inter ested in hosting Shabbat in their homes, parks, or favorite hangout spots."

“I got involved with OneTable in my mid-20s when I stumbled across it at a dinner party in Washington, D.C.,” said Ari Rubin, 30, One Table’s Cincinnati community ambassador; he is coordinating OneTable's expansion to the Miami Valley. Rubin has hosted OneTable dinners in Charlotte and Philadelphia as well as in Cincin nati.

“OneTable has allowed me to give other young professionals a place to call home on Shabbat,” he said.

He said OneTable provides “awesome finan cial nourishment, detailed Shabbat guides, and great recommendations to help elevate program ming and bring dinners to the next level.”

Rubin said he hopes that guests who attend Continued on Page Four

When James Cameron's Titanic came out in 1997, I remember wondering if kosher food had been served on the ocean liner. I wondered if there would've been enough Eastern European Jews immigrating to America from England to warrant it. I contacted the known Titanic experts in North America. Swamped with press inquiries, they didn't get back to me.

About four months before the April 2012 centen nial of the Titanic's sinking, I remembered those questions and decided to try again. This time, they got back to me. That's how I began piecing together a true story long forgotten, or barely known: Midway through the great wave of Eastern European Jew ish immigration to America, major passenger lines crossing the Atlantic instituted kosher food service for their Jewish passengers in third-class steerage. And that some Eastern European Jews had fled to England first, because they couldn’t afford the full ocean pas sage; some tried to make lives for themselves there. Most were required by law to keep moving.

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OneTable's Ari Rubin

The Jewish Federation will provide OneTable hosts with a Shabbat in the Bag kit

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Intro. to Judaism course enrolling Hadassah's Tea for Two, Oct. 23

The Synagogue Forum of Greater Dayton will present its 14-session Introduction to Judaism course on Tuesdays from 7 to 8:30 p.m. begin ning Nov. 1 and running through Feb. 28. The annual class is open to anyone interested in Jewish learning, dialogue, and exploration.

The course offers an in-depth look at Judaism from Conservative, Orthodox, Traditional, and Reform perspectives. Instructors are rab bis from Dayton’s synagogues. The registration fee is $36 for a single or couple. For more information or to enroll, email Rabbi Judy Chessin at jchessin@aol.com.

Beverly Mussari of Gazebo Tea Garden in Blue Ash will be the speaker for Dayton Hadassah's Tea for Two event at 2 p.m., Sun., Oct. 23 at Gleneagles Clubhouse, 560 Eagle Circle in Kettering.

Participants at the afternoon tea will create a teacup planter with mint. Raffle tickets will be available for purchase to win gift baskets.

As per national Hadassah guide lines, Covid waivers may be required and will be available at the event. The cost, $18, includes a raffle ticket. RSVP by Oct. 19 to Hindy Gruber, hgruber@ameritech.net or 937-6813433.

Young adult Shabbat dinners

Continued from Page Three

his dinners will want to become hosts themselves. “Hosts mention that Friday night Shabbats with OneTable have reincorporated Friday night Shabbat back into their practice,” he said. “Many hosts would never or rarely celebrate Shabbat and now they make an effort to do it at least once or twice a month.

“Additionally, hosts tell me they’ve met many friends through OneTable dinners or met friends through work, sports leagues, and so on, and those friends have mentioned they’re inter ested in getting more involved with their Judaism and finding a commu nity to celebrate Shabbat.”

The research study, Craving Con nection: Researching OneTable’s Impact, conducted by Benenson Strategy Group, provided data and insights about why young adults host and engage in Shabbat dinners and what keeps them coming back.

In November and December 2021, BSG fielded a quantitative study on attitudes and behaviors. It gathered 1,938 responses from three cohorts of OneTable participants — active hosts, active guests, and respondents who hadn’t been to a dinner in more than a year — and a comparison group of 814 Jewish young adults who never participated in OneTable. Among the key findings of the report:

• People come for the connections and stay for the intention.

Participants are looking for social connections within Jewish experienc es, regardless of whether they grew up with such experiences.

• Big issues of the day bring young people to Shabbat dinner.

While OneTable Shabbat partici pants and other young adults express concern over antisemitism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they consider climate change, racism, and Covid as more pressing issues for them, and these concerns increase their desire to attend a social Friday night dinner.

• Young adults experiencing Shabbat dinners with peers feel less lonely.

Most OneTable hosts (86 percent) and guests (79 percent) say that they’ve become closer with people and “felt less lonely” at their One Table dinner. About one in three guests met up again with someone they met at a OneTable dinner.

OneTable participants also report feeling less lonely than the compari son group and are much less likely to hold feelings and attitudes associated with social loneliness than are other Jewish young adults.

• Shabbat dinners can lead to more Jewish engagement.

About one in four participants said they’ve adopted new Jewish rituals or practices since their first dinner. Nearly one in three have sought out new Jewish organizations or commu nities in which to be involved.

• 75 percent of OneTable partici pants are celebrating Shabbat when they wouldn’t have otherwise.

That’s especially true of par ticipants who did not have a regular Shabbat practice growing up.

Aliza Kline, a co-founder and the CEO of OneTable, said that while the pandemic exacerbated mental health challenges and feelings of loneliness, “the ancient Jewish ritual of Shabbat dinner is as relevant as ever."

“Young adults in particular want the powerful social and emotional components of a peer Shabbat dinner and the Jewish experiences. To many participants, they are intrinsically tied together.”

David Siegel, founder and CEO of Meetup — the largest platform for finding and building local communi ties – commented on the findings in the report.

“By leveraging technology to help build connections, OneTable is tack ling the crises of loneliness and dis sociation from Judaism head-on,” he said. “It’s exciting to see the impact of OneTable’s strategy.”

THE DAYTON

OBSERVER

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

Contributors

Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz, Candace R. Kwiatek, Hannah Kasper Levinson

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

Proofreader Rachel Haug Gilbert

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. 27, No. 2. The Dayton Jewish Observer is published monthly by the Jewish Fed eration 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 advertis ing neither endorses advertisers nor guarantees kashrut.

The Dayton Jewish Observer Mission Statement

To support, strengthen and champion the Dayton Jewish community by provid ing 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 com munity.

• To build community across institution al, organizational and denominational lines.

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

• To provide an historic record of Dayton Jewish life.

The Dayton Jewish Observer

Late cantor's memoir published by daughter

'I want people to know her story'

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer

Two days before Cantor Joyce Ury Dumtschin died from pneumonia as a result of myelodysplastic syn drome in 2013, she finished writing her memoir, My Trip to Cancer-land. Her intention was to have it published. This August, her daughter, Rachel Dumtschin Evans, was able to honor her mother's wishes with its publica tion via Amazon.

"It's her story," Rachel tells The Observer. "It tells what happened when she got diagnosed with cancer, what she went through with her whole can cer diagnosis — she ended up losing her insurance — and then also what she did to try to get resources to help pay for treatment, for different medications."

Joyce, who served as cantor at Temple Beth Or from 1998 to 2011, received her diagnosis in 2009, when her daughter was in her first semester at Loyola University in Chicago.

"She ended up passing away my second semester senior year," Rachel says.

Publishing her mother's book, Rachel says, is a relief.

"It's a weight off of my shoulders not to have it hanging over me anymore. I'm excited to share it with people who knew her and people who helped support her during that time. I want people to know her story. She wanted this book out there."

Rachel also wanted to finally publish the book so

that her grandparents — Joyce's parents — could see it in print.

Joyce originally gave the manuscript to local author Martha Moody Jacobs, a friend of the family, who handled the first round of editing. Rachel took over the book project in 2017.

"It was emotional for me to get through the process," Rachel says. "And every time you're reading it and just edit ing for spaces and commas, you get pulled back into what happened, where I was when all of this was happening."

From Joyce's memoir, Ra chel learned there was much her mother didn't share with her or her brother, Nate, who is five years her senior.

"She was always very strong for us. We never saw her cry. She was so resilient. And reading how much she wanted to live. The first thing she thought when she got diagnosed is, 'Am I going to make it to Rachel's college graduation?' It's knowing that she wanted that so, so much."

Myelodysplastic syndrome is a form of cancer in which bone marrow doesn’t make enough healthy blood cells; it causes infections, anemia, and easy bleeding. Joyce underwent an unsuccessful bone mar row transplant in September 2011.

A Chicago native, Joyce moved to Dayton with her husband, Irwin, in 1986. Shortly after they joined Tem ple Beth Or’s choir in 1987, she was asked to become

the temple’s volunteer choir director. In 1988, it became a paid position. A decade later, she was invested as a cantor by the American Conference of Cantors and the Cantors Assembly.

As reported in The Observer at the time, two months before Joyce's bone marrow transplant, Temple Beth Or's board eliminated her po sition as full-time cantor, citing "fiduciary responsibilities to the congregation." She was offered and accepted the part-time job of music specialist, which initially allowed her to continue to receive health insurance. In her memoir, Joyce included some articles from The Observer's coverage of her story.

With the August publication of My Trip to Cancer-land, Temple Beth Or issued a statement to The Observer:

"Cantor Dumtschin was a gifted musi cian and educator who provided invaluable contributions to Temple Beth Or over the course of 24 years of service. She pioneered the congregation's choir program and helped guide numerous pupils on their paths to becoming b'nai mitzvah. We are saddened to read her firsthand account of the difficulties she faced in her fight against cancer. Her memoir demonstrates the grace and strength she displayed in the face of hardship. May her memory be for a blessing."

Rachel and her husband, Andy, named their son Jacob in memory of Joyce when he was born in 2020. Publishing her mother's memoir, Rachel says, "is the last thing that I can really do for her other than living my life and raising my family in a way that she would have wanted."

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In London, a special needs school is rare meeting point for Haredi Orthodox & secular Jews

LONDON — When her son was diagnosed with autism, Ali Sultman was faced with a difficult choice.

To give him the Jewish education her family believed in, she could either enroll him at a regular day school that wasn’t set up to accommodate his needs, or she could put him in what was then London’s only Jewish school for chil dren with special needs. But the latter, Kisharon, catered mostly to children with more severe disabilities than her son faced.

“Like many others, we needed a middle option that just didn’t exist at the time,” said Sultman, a 45-year-old mother of three and for mer insurance executive.

So she and another Modern Orthodox mom whom she had met on a playground in 2013 set about opening a new Jew ish school called Gesher, Hebrew for bridge. Since its opening in 2017, the school has filled a gap in London’s otherwise robust array of Jewish education options — and in doing so, it has emerged as a rare hub of interaction among Jewish families of vastly different religious observance.

Gesher has students from insular Haredi Orthodox communities who normally never consider non-Haredi ye shivas, and it also enrolls children from secular homes. The school aims to make everyone comfortable by committing to a Modern Orthodox approach.

“Haredi communities are very protec tive of outside influences. You wouldn’t find Haredi Jews with other Jews,” said

Josh Aaronson, a Manchester-based Jew ish journalist and activist for people with disabilities who comes from a Haredi home and has an autism spectrum dis order. “Maybe at restaurants they’ll be sitting at separate tables but the children especially don’t mix. So a place like Gesher is very, very rare.”

A boutique school of about 50 stu dents ages 4-12 in northwest London, Gesher is in some ways a testament to the shortcomings of London’s Jew ish day schools. Many of them cannot adequately serve students with autism, attention disorders, and other learning disabilities.

But the school also adds to an increas ing number of programs that suggest the Jewish education sector is taking special education more seriously. Like Shefa, a Jewish school founded in 2014 in New York City that serves children with language disorders, Gesher aims to ensure that chil dren don’t have to give up Jewish education to have their disabilities addressed.

Housed on the grounds of the recently closed Moriah Jewish Day School, Gesher has inherited a spacious location complete with play rooms and a large auditorium, as well as a formidable security arrangement that is character istic of Jewish schools in much of the world amid rising reports of antisemitic crimes.

The new building to which the school moved in 2020 is a major upgrade to the small, one-story building where the school first opened.

“It’s roomy but it looks like a normal school, which helps create a feeling of

normalcy that many of our students need,” said Tamaryn Yartu, the school’s South African-born principal who, like many of the educators on staff, is not Jewish. One of her students, she recalled, recently said proudly that Gesher “looks just like my brother’s school” after the move into the new building.

But there are some special adapta tions at Gesher’s classrooms. Wobble cushions, for example, are never too far away, and chairs have rubber bands on their legs — a setup developed at the school to accommodate fidgeting and to help children with ADHD and similar issues sit through classes. There is also often some animal at Gesher — usually a dog — that volunteers and staff bring for the children to interact with as a form of therapy. The school’s website lists one canine staffer: a trainee therapy cocka poo named Puplinda Gurney.

During a recent show, The Emperor’s New Clothes, a production that’s part of the Spoek Ivrit theatre festival for Brit ish Jewish school organized the United Kingdom branch of the Jewish National Fund, children who found it difficult to sit through a play were allowed to “chill out,” as one teacher termed it, in a seat ing area until they were ready to return.

When a child was being too disruptive, a teacher escorted the stu dent out to one of the school’s multiple play corners. One girl was wearing “ear de fenders,” or muting headphones meant to alleviate her sensitivity to noises.

The Israeli actors in the show were made aware that Gesher is a special needs school and adapted the show so that children in the audience would be engaged — they were encouraged to shout out answers to the question raised by the actors — but not put on the spot.

Shows and other special class events are an opportunity to find middle ground “between children of different

backgrounds, like the ones at Gesher,” Samuel Hayek, the chairman of JNF-UK, said. “These events are inclusive, empowering, and having Gesher take part was a must for us,” Hayek said.

The school has made a dif ference in the life of many of its students and their parents, including Ali Durban, the cofounder whose chance encounter with Sultman on a London playground resulted in Gesher’s creation.

Durban’s son was “miser able” at the Jewish school that he had at tended before Gesher’s creation in 2017, she said. “He was isolated socially” in his class, where there was only one other child with special needs.

“He was bullied because he was dif ferent and the experience left a mark on him,” Durban added. She calls her son’s time in school before Gesher “the dark years.”

Gesher is a private school and charges about $45,000 a year in tuition. But many of the parents have arranged for the tuition to be reimbursed or to be paid directly by their local council, which in the United Kingdom provides subsidies for special education to those eligible.

The school’s pro gram combines a curriculum required by the English education ministry, known as Ofsted; Jewish and Hebrew-language studies; and therapy sessions designed to help the children develop their own techniques for overcoming learning and other disabilities, Yartu said.

“Many of the parents are very inter ested in preparing the children to be able to come to synagogue without being disruptive,” she said. “But being spoken at for an hour is asking a lot from a child with attention issues. It takes a lot of

work and preparation.”

Gesher’s approach, small classes and abundance of staff — there are almost as many staff as there are students — are appealing to parents beyond the Modern Orthodox community.

One such couple is the Feldmans, Haredi parents from northern London whose 8-year-old son enrolled at Gesher last January. The child was unhappy at his Haredi school, said the mother, who agreed to be identified only by her last name, citing privacy concerns. The couple was paying thousands of dollars for therapy sessions that seemed to only slightly help, she added.

But the couple was still reluctant about sending the boy to Gesher, which they felt fell short of meeting their com munity’s religious standards.

“It’s less strictly Orthodox. It wasn’t like how I was brought up, and it was overwhelming for us,” she said. The Haredi school where the Feldmans initially enrolled their son recommended moving him to Gesher and the couple’s rabbi approved the switch, she said. But leaving the Haredi education system took some getting used to, she added.

“Once we got over that, we realized, like it’s not for us, it’s for our child,” the mother said. “This is what we need to do for the school to be right for him to be happy and confident and you know, be a

member of society.”

They experienced almost instant relief. “From the first week at Gesher, he’s sudden ly become happy. He’s blos somed like I’ve never seen before. He’s so confident, he’s in the classroom, he’s got friends for the first time. Finally he’s in an environ ment that understands him,” Feldman said.

Now, for the first time in their lives, the Feldmans have made friends who are not Haredi — a Modern Ortho dox couple whose child also goes to Gesher who live near them. “It’s kind of inevitable because it’s a small school and there’s a community of parents around it that we belong to now,“ she said.

On the other end of the observance spectrum, Pamela Sneader, a Glasgowborn Jewish mother of two, said her daughter, Daisy, is going to Gesher “because it’s an excellent special needs school, not because it’s Jewish. That’s just a bonus.”

Sneader arrived at Gesher after multiple schools told her they were not equipped to teach her daughter, who is autistic.

“I came to Gesher and it was like, ‘no problem, we can totally handle it,’ which was a huge relief. My daughter has blossomed there, mostly in terms of confidence and having friends and playdates for the first time in her life,” Sneader said.

After visiting Gesher for the first time this year, Aronson, 36, came away wish ing such a school had existed when he was growing up.

“I was bullied by teachers and stu dents at the regular Haredi school I went to,” said Aronson, who has 13 siblings and whose father is a rabbi. “Nobody knew what I had and I desperately needed the kind of support you see at Gesher.”

Students at the Gesher School in London watch a theatre show

'Finally he's in an environment that understands him.'

In Bucha & other decimated towns near Kyiv, Jewish group distributes sorelyneeded supplies

Story and Photos By Jacob Judah, JTA

HOSTOMEL, Ukraine — Bustling around with grandmotherly anxiety, Zhanetta Butenko apologized for the mess in her home — a rocket strike had par tially destroyed it in early March.

“What on earth will you think of your host,” she said as she walked past walls pockmarked by machine gun fire. She picked up a mangled picture frame in what was once her bedroom.

“They were firing over the house, through the

windows, they destroyed everything,” she said with a sigh, “but that’s life.” Her neighbors’ homes were flat tened, and a burned-out car sits down the road.

Hours after Ukraine was peppered with missile strikes in the opening salvo of the Russian invasion Feb. 24, Russian paratroopers made a brazen attempt to capture a nearby airfield in the western Kyiv suburb of Hostomel. The Russians were initially beaten back but they occupied the town in early March.

Butenko is one of the 100 or so Jews that lived in

Hostomel and the nearby towns of Irpin and Bu cha, both of which were the sites of bitter fighting as Russian troops tried to punch their way down from Belarus towards the Ukrainian capital.

“There were so many explosions, I can’t even begin to describe it,” said Butenko, who is 83.

Along the nearby main road toward Kyiv, which had been the target of the initial overly-ambitious Rus sian plan, a destroyed Ukrainian tank with its turret popped off peeked out of an alleyway, symbolizing the ferocity of the fighting that raged around Butenko’s one-story home.

“I am already worried just thinking about it,” she said, touching her hand to her cheek.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, a group linked to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement that is Ukraine’s largest Jewish umbrella network, has been supporting Jews around Kyiv through monthly deliveries of food and supplies since the Russians completed a humiliating withdrawal from northern Ukraine in April.

As Butenko spoke, two men from the Federation of Jewish Communities carried four large boxes of sup plies into her living room. Each box contained supplies worth up to $150 and the set of four can keep a small family going for up to a month. The federation says it is supporting some 37,000 Jewish households across Ukraine with such packages, at a cost of some $3 mil lion a month.

The Federation, with its network of mainly Chabad rabbis across Ukraine, has played an important role in supporting Jewish Ukrainians across the country since the war started. It has also helped by organizing buses to evacuate Jews abroad and by facilitating temporary shelter for refugees in safe areas of Ukraine.

As the winter approaches, many Jewish households

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Zhanetta Butenko's house was partially destroyed when a rocket crashed through its roof in March, in Hostemel, Ukraine

— especially the mainly elderly Jews supported by the Federation — are becoming increasingly nervous about how to cover basic costs as prices and energy prices rise across Ukraine. Butenko still lacks heating and busies herself by collect ing documents that would allow her to claim support from the Ukrainian government before the frost arrives.

The initial rush of private donations has also begun to wane, and the Federation is becom ing increasingly concerned about its long-term financial needs.

“The shortfall is already about $20 million that we are missing,” said Rabbi Meir Stambler, who heads the group, which is being supported by the European Union and the American UJA organization.

When the Ukrainians liberated Hostomel and the neighboring towns of Bucha and Irpin, they found bodies littering the streets, buildings, and basements. Many carried signs of execution or of having been killed indiscriminately.

In Bucha, a town where the scale of the kill ings has etched its name forever into the nar ratives of the war, Sergei Soloviev clutched his kipah as he remembered the weeks that the town spent under Russian occupation.

He pointed at a group of houses obliterated

by a missile strike that blew out his door and windows. Then he gestured off down the road. “Three houses down, one of my neighbors ran out into the street, and the Russians shot his head off.”

The body lay in the middle of the street, a quiet middle-class drag, for days until the man’s family was able to retrieve his body and bury him in the front yard. Sergei, 48, shuffled un comfortably. “Dogs came,” he recalled.

These stories are not uncommon, but the fact that even the tiny Jewish population has its horror stories is an indication of how wide spread the crimes that took place in the dozens of towns and villages in northern Ukraine were early on in the war.

Over 1,300 bodies have already been recov ered from the towns liberated by Ukrainian soldiers in the Kyiv region alone. Figures within the Federation of Jewish Communities said that it is almost certain that Jews were among the civilians killed, but that they have not yet done a full accounting.

“It’s war,” said Rabbi Raphael Rotman, a Brit ish-born rabbi who has been in Ukraine since the 1990s, with a shrug. “It is not something far away, it is real, it is people that we have worked with.”

Struggling to heave herself up from her sofa, Sveta Azarkh, 85, wiped away tears as she described how helicopters were shot out the sky above the home where she lived with her sickly husband, Yuri.

“When the Russians started going house to house, they were so aggressive,” she recalled. When her son opened the gate to a squad that had come to search their home, “they put a machine gun to his back and marched him back inside. They forced him to strip down complete ly to check for tattoos and bruises from wearing armor.”

As the fighting in Kyiv began to drag on longer than the Russians had expected and Ukrainian resistance picked up steam, Russian soldiers became increasingly paranoid that local civilians were sharing their locations with the Ukrainian military.

“They looked through every door, every cupboard,” Sveta explains. Other households in Bucha and Irpin said that Russian soldiers had searched their homes looking for mobile

Wishing

Rabbis Raphael Rotman (L) and Meir Stambler, both from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, deliver boxes to an elderly non-Jewish Ukrainian woman in Bucha who has been receiving their aid for months

Evgenia Yakolevna (R) with her longtime non-Jewish friend, Masha. Each receives aid from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine at Yakolevna’s request

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

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

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

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

We investigated New York City’s Chasidic yeshivas in 2015. The real story now is about inaction.

By Amy Sara Clark and Hella Winston New York Jewish Week

On Sept. 11, the New York Times reported on the dismal state of secular education at many Chasidic yeshivas. For us, to quote a famous New York Yan kee, it felt like déjà vu all over again. The Times’ investigation found that despite being subject to regulations mandating an education “substantially equivalent” to that offered by public schools and over $1 billion dollars in government funding in the past four years alone, these boys’ schools were teaching hardly any English or math, and no other socalled “secular” subjects.

We found the same thing, back in 2015, when we undertook a six-month investigation into the issue, which ran concurrently in the New York Jewish Week and on WNYC as a four-part series.

Apparently, nothing has changed in the interven ing seven years. It’s hardly surprising. This has been going on for decades. In fact, one of us (Winston), began doing Ph.D. research in 2003 on people leaving Chasidic communities, and learned then how little in struction Chasidic boys received in basic English and math — and none at all in history, civics or science — and what that meant in particular for those seeking to make lives outside the Chasidic community.

She also learned that most relevant government officials and bureaucrats knew this to be the case but had no interest in acknowledging it publicly, let alone advocating for change.

The media were similarly quiet on the issue, with editors and producers privately citing fears that re porting on it would draw accusations of antisemitism. Also, back then it was harder to find insiders who would go on the record about their experiences.

That changed in 2012, when a formerly Chasidic man named Naftuli Moster began making some noise, founding Yaffed, a nonprofit that advocates for improved secular education in Chasidic and Haredi yeshivas.

Moster’s work both educated and gave the media a way to cover the issue: He filed Freedom of In formation Act requests and gath ered statistics; badgered public officials in person and in writing; spoke out at public hearings; filed lawsuits and generated reports.

He made himself a thorn in the side of Mayor Bill de Blasio and ultimately forced the city to do its own investigation into these schools, launched in July 2015.

For our story, we interviewed dozens of people who had been through Chasidic schools or had taught in them, experts in the field of education, and lawyers whose work focuses on civil rights and the separation of church and state.

We spoke with community activists and regular Chasidic people who believed in the Chasidic educa tion system and felt that the government should butt out.

We also reached out to numerous public officials, hoping to get their views on what we believed was an important local story: a private school system that seemed to flout regulations while receiving large

amounts of government funding.

We made multiple requests for interviews to de Bla sio’s office, as well as city and state education regula tors; Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and New York City’s then Public Advocate Letitia James.

We also sought interviews from relevant City Coun cil members Chaim Deutsch (Midwood), chair of the education subcommittee on non-public schools; Mark Levine (Upper West Side), chair of the Jewish Caucus; Daniel Dromm (Jackson Heights), the education com mittee chair; Stephen Levin (representing Williams burg) and Brad Lander (representing Borough Park).

At the time, de Blasio sent the New York Jewish Week a statement vowing “zero tolerance” for subpar secu lar education at Chasidic yeshivas. Levin defended the schools, saying he’s “seen secular education taking place firsthand” at yeshivas in his district.

The rest either declined to comment or did not return repeated messages.

Except for Daniel Dromm. A longtime educator, the Queens councilman called for a more stringent yeshiva investigation and appeared with Moster at Yaffed news conferences.

“We can’t have students leaving schools in New York City that can’t speak English, that have no idea of science or history or social studies,” Dromm told us. “That is not al lowed by the state and we cannot continue to allow that to happen.”

Seven years later, we are seeing the same mix of silence and lip service. In New York magazine, Ross Barkan inventories political leaders’ responses to the New York Times investigation, with most either ignoring or obfuscating the article and a few calling for change.

Gov. Kathy Hochul went with passing the buck, saying: “We believe that every child in the state of New York deserves to have a very high quality of education. People understand that this is outside the purview of the governor. There is a regulatory process in place, but the governor’s office has nothing to do with this.”

Rep. Jerry Nadler, whose Manhattan-Brooklyn dis trict includes most of Borough Park, told the New York Times, “It is a paramount duty of government to make sure that all children — whether it’s those educated in parochial, private or public schools — are provided a quality education. It is our duty to all New York stu

Continued on Page

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

— Gayle & Irvin Moscowitz Milton & Harriet Moscowitz Edward & Weisbrod Our Future

Seven years later, we are seeing the same mix of silence and lip service.

A yeshiva school bus drives through Borough Park, Brooklyn, Sept. 12

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Titanic Museums' tribute to Jewish passengers & crew draws direct line to immigration restrictions & the Holocaust

Touring exhibits planned for Jewish/Holocaust museums across America

Story and Photos By Marshall Weiss, The Observer Below the Smoky Mountains, not far from Dol lywood and neighboring Gatlinburg, drivers on the Parkway in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. see outsized, bizarre architecture luring them and their kids to the attrac tions inside.

A few blocks from a life-size King Kong on top of a truncated Empire State Building, across a parking lot from the Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show is a replica of the front half of the Titanic at the moment it struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Built at 50 percent of the size of the original ship, it's still colossal.

While it's designed to appeal to visitors of all ages, the Titanic Museum is a serious, carefully curated experience, a tribute to the 1,512 passengers and crew who perished and the 713 who survived its only voyage. With 400 Titanic arti facts, it's also an educational resource to school districts in 18 counties across the region.

Through mid-February, visitors to the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge — and its sister Titanic Museum in Branson, Mo. — will also see the Titanic Jewish Experience, a tribute to the ship's estimated 67 Jewish passengers and two Jewish crew members.

"Did you know Titanic had a kosher kitchen and a kosher chef on board?" a sign announces at the entrance to the Titanic Museum.

I did. I brought that to the world's attention in April 2012, the centennial of the ocean liner's sinking. The clues were hiding in plain sight. I connected the dots, wrote, and distributed a series of articles about Jewish connections to the Titanic. Kosher food service in third class on the Titanic shed light on Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe at

that time period.

Two years later, Israeli Eli Moskowitz asked me if he could incorporate my findings into a book he was writ ing about Jewish connections to the Titanic. I gave him my blessing. Published in English in 2018, Moskowitz's The Jews of Titanic is the definitive, comprehensive, and only book on the subject.

Paul Burns, curator of Titanic Museum Attractions and the Titanic Jewish Experience, consulted Mos kowitz and me about artifacts he might include in the Jewish exhibits. Because of Covid, the exhibits' planned openings in Pigeon Forge and Branson were delayed from early 2020 until July 2021. I toured the Pigeon Forge museum in August.

The Titanic Jewish Experience is integrated across

the museums' galleries; each Jewish element includes a blue Star of David on its title card.

Near the beginning of the exhibit is a reproduction of a White Star Line third-class menu from the Titanic era with a notation at the bottom, "Kosher Meat sup plied and Cooked for Jewish Passengers as desired," along with an image from the White Star Line ledger that Titanic crew signed to work on the ship. The page includes the signature of Charles Kennel, who signed on as Titanic's "Hebrew Cook."

A few steps away is a display of White Star Line kosher utensils: a dish marked "meat" (and "kosher flei shik" in Yiddish) and forks and knives stamped "milk" ("kosher milchik").

These give a sense of how Titanic kosher food service might have looked. No kosher kitchenware has yet been found from the Titanic or its sister ship, Olympic, which was scrapped in 1935. The White Star Line kosher dishes and utensils here date to 1919-20.

"The earliest piece we have (of White Star Line kosher utensils) is 1913," Burns says. "The 1913 piece is in our storage vaults. I just acquired it recently. I'm in total search now (for kosher utensils). We've got collectors across the world, the historians, we've got a couple of auc tion houses looking for us to find it."

No kosher dishes or utensils have been salvaged from Titanic or its debris field to date, Burns says, because the kosher kitchen, located down on F deck, was in the back half of the ship, which split from the front during the sinking and fully collapsed when it hit the ocean floor.

"One of our collectors suggested the reason we don't see a lot of third class

The facade of the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. replicates the front half of Titanic's exterior at 50 percent of the actual size, as does the Titanic Museum in Branson, Mo.

A kosher plate used for meat, and forks and knives used for dairy on the White Star Line dating to 1919-20 are on display at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge. Kosher kitchen utensils from the Titanic, which sank in 1912, have not been found to date.

Continued from Page 11 (artifacts) from the Titanic era is these folks in this time period were not fo cused on taking souvenirs," Burns says. "These people were focused on transfer ring their lives. These were immigration ships. A third-class passenger would not have taken a saucer or spoon or anything to put in their pocket for fear that they would get caught. The things we have from Titanic that are actual dishes and those kinds of things were carried off in second and first class."

According to the Titanic Museum's count, 69 known Jews were aboard the Titanic. Of those, 39 died in the sinking (14 first class, 10 second class, 13 third class, two crew), and 30 survived (17 first class, three second class, 10 third class, no crew).

Burns and Moskowitz agree that no one knows for certain how many Jews were aboard the Titanic. The museum used two factors to identify who was Jewish: if a person's mother was Jewish (the standard of Halacha, Jewish law), and for those who survived, if the person practiced Judaism after the sinking.

On prominent display in a gallery focused on second class is the pocket watch of Titanic victim Sinai Kantor, 34, who was traveling to America from Vitebsk, Russia with his wife, Miriam. The pocket watch, recovered from his body and returned to his wife, features Hebrew letters on its face and an em bossed image of Moses and the Ten Commandments on its back. Its expo sure to seawater rusted its movement and is visible on the watch face.

In an area dedicated to the first class is a replica of a Titanic first-class parlor suite, dedicated for this special exhibit to the memory of Ida and Isidor Straus, who both went down with the ship. On display here is the gold and onyx monogrammed pocket watch fob recovered from the body of Isidor Straus. This marks the first time Straus' greatgrandson, Paul Kurzman, has allowed the artifact to be exhibited.

"He's brought it to us one other time and allowed the press to take a photo when he's done talks for us here, but he's never allowed it out of his possession," Burns said. "When we told him what we

were doing, our Jewish tribute, he really wanted to do this. His son brought it out. We had a ceremony."

Isidor Straus' wedding band, also found when his body was recovered, is on display at the Branson Titanic Museum.

When asked how he decides which artifacts to display in the two museums, Burns says some decisions are geared toward the visitor bases at the sites, but also to staff at each museum.

"Certain staff members gravitate to certain things," he says. "We study this intently because we want people to have the best experience they can. We play with it a little bit."

The Straus family story is the bridge to an un expected direction for the Titanic Jewish Experience: Titanic's connections to the Holocaust.

Isidor Straus' nephew, Nathan Straus Jr., was roommates and best friends with Otto Frank (later the father of Margot and Anne Frank) when they both at tended the University of Heidelberg, Germany in 1908. Otto Frank even went to work in New York for the Straus fam ily at Macy's in 1909 to get a better sense of international commerce. Years later, Nathan Straus Jr. would encourage his friend, Eleanor Roosevelt, to write the introduction to The Diary of Anne Frank when it was published in America in 1952.

But what historians didn't know until 2007 — when a cache of letters between Otto Frank and Na than Straus Jr. from 1941 was discovered — was how urgently Frank tried to get his family out of the Netherlands and to the United States, how he turned to Nathan Straus Jr. for help, and how both were thwarted at every turn by the

State Department and its ever-changing, ever-tightening obstacles to immigration.

The scenario forms a core narrative in Ken Burns' new PBS documentary, The U.S. and the Holocaust

"Nothing could go right for them: the timing and what it took to get govern ment consulates to move on the issue," Curator Paul Burns says of attempts to rescue the Frank family.

In the museum's music room — where Yiddish sheet music from 1912, The Ti tanic's Disaster, is displayed with Titanic violinist Wallace Hartley's music port folio case — a wall-sized display points out the Straus-Frank/Titanic-Holocaust connections.

Next to it, in a darkened area behind glass, is the rear of a Violin of Hope, hung between concentration camp uniforms: one from a woman in Ravens brück, the other from a man in Aus chwitz.

Since 1996, Israeli Amnon Weinstein has restored violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Fourhundred members of his own family perished in the Holocaust.

In addition to a wall with the names and available images of Jewish Titanic pas sengers and crew, the remain ing galleries teach about the Holocaust and Anne Frank's story.

The Holocaust artifacts come from collector Steven Cassidy, formerly of Cincin nati, now of north Florida.

Mary Kellogg-Joslyn, who with her husband, John Joslyn, owns Titanic Museum Attractions, said the StrausFrank connection convinced her to include Holocaust edu cation in the Titanic Jewish Experience.

"You've got to know your history before you can move forward," Kellogg-Joslyn says. "We always say our theme is courage, hope, and resilience: those who didn't survive as well as those who did. And we established that

12 years ago when we started working with the schools."

When the Jewish exhibit opened, with Covid still at its height, she wrote a tagline for its panels: "Intolerance is a virus too."

"I don't do anything in a vacuum. With intolerance is a virus, I went to teachers. And they debated. There was a big debate whether it should be on show cards and part of the promotion cam paign. I only had one teacher who said, 'I'm not sure you should do that.' Out of the 12 teachers, 11 agreed."

Because the Pigeon Forge and Branson museums attract much repeat business, they change out items each year, and also present special exhibits such as the Titanic Jewish Experience.

"We have always paid tribute to differ ent passengers on the ship: the Irish, the children, the musicians," Kellogg-Joslyn says. "There have been at least 12 differ ent categories that we've acknowledged."

Burns says they haven't marketed or promoted the Jewish Experience to Jews specifically.

"We picked these markets (Pigeon

Titanic Museum Attractions Curator Paul Burns with Sinai Kantor's pocket watch

Detail of Sinai Kantor's pocket watch

Pocket watch fob belonging to Isidor Straus, found on his body Isidor Straus

LOC

'Immigration is what caused the Titanic. And the lack of immigration is one of the things that made the Holocaust what it was.'

Anne Frank display at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge

Forge and Branson) for a reason, obviously, because they're visitor-based markets," he says. "But we are seeing Jew ish people come in, individual families, couples. When we were installing this, we had several folks come up and identify themselves as Jewish and say, 'Thank you for tell ing the story.'"

"But they would always do it in a whisper," Mary adds. "From the Jewish community, they would say, 'You're so brave to do this.' I was kind of taken back. I said, 'I'm not afraid.' And I did get pushback from some people who said, 'I came to here to see the Titanic, not the Holocaust.' When that hap pens, I know the crew didn't talk to that person. Because we're very clear how each relates to the other."

Immigration was the first function of the great ocean liners of Titanic's era, Burns says. "We do tell the story of immigration. Because people come to us believing, they think of it (Ti tanic) in terms of a cruise ship."

"Immigration is what caused the Titanic," says Jews of the Titanic author Eli Moskowitz, who made the trip from Nir Galim, Israel to Pigeon Forge in July. "And the lack of immigration is one of the things that made the Holocaust what it was."

Burns was shocked to learn from talking to teens in the exhibit that they thought Anne Frank survived the Holo caust. "We have a docent tell the story of the diary in the music room."

Despite setbacks during Covid, including closure of the museum for three months, tourism in Pigeon Forge bounced back this summer. Approximately 100,000 people a month visited the Titanic Museum in June, July, and Au gust, according to Kellogg-Joslyn. Branson has recovered, too.

She brought members of Knoxville's Jewish community — at 30 miles away, the nearest Jewish community to Pi geon Forge — to the museum for a kosher dinner and tour. She also brought Straus Historical Society Executive Direc tor Joan Adler to give a talk at Knoxville's JCC. Moskowitz gave a talk there too.

Kellogg-Joslyn and Burns say they're now prepar ing to bring the Titanic Jewish Experience to Jewish and Holocaust museums across America. It will be the Titanic Museum Attractions' first touring exhibit.

"We're very comfortable knowing that this may be even '23-'24 or '24'25," Burns says. "We could make it as small as 500 square feet but could go to 2,000 to 3,000 square feet."

A few museums have already con tacted them, Kellogg-Joslyn adds.

Moskowitz says his visit to the museum was overwhelming. "It was very emotional for me when I was there. I was walking around with my yarmulke. There might be Jews in Pigeon Forge, but there's no Jewish community."

Every Titanic Museum visitor first receives a boarding pass with the profile of a passenger. There are boarding passes of each passenger. At the end of tour, visitors can look at the names to find out if their passenger died or sur vived. For the run of the Titanic Jewish Experience, Jewish passengers' boarding passes were printed with a blue Star of David at the top.

"A lot of the visitors got Jewish passengers," Moskowitz notes. "They have no connections to Judaism, and there they are, walking around with a Jewish name, and they're learning about the person and finding out that they sur vived or not. Maybe it can contribute to less hatred be tween groups of people. At least people get to learn a little bit about the Jews."

The Titanic Jewish Experience at the Titanic Museum Attrac tions in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. and Branson, Mo. is on display through mid-February. For information, go to titanicpigeonforge. com or titanicbranson.com.

Titanic Museum Attractions co-owner Mary Kellogg-Joslyn

TMA

Author Eli Moskowitz

Display at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. that connects the Titanic and the Holocaust

Display of known Jewish passengers and crew of the Titanic at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge. Titanic Museum At tractions used two factors to identify who was Jewish: if a person's mother was Jewish (the standard of Halacha, Jewish law), and for survivors, if the person practiced Judaism after the sinking.

Yeshivas

Continued from Page 10

dents to ensure that the law is enforced.” He didn’t, however, go into any specifics.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, whose Brooklyn district is near Cha sidic Crown Heights, called for “a rigorous inquiry in order to make sure that the health and well-being of all children is protected.”

He didn’t address the fact that an inquiry has already been done, with little effect.

Long Island congressman and Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin defended Chasidic schools, tweeting: “Yeshiva education teaches values that have their students living law-abiding, productive lives.”

Other New York Democratic officials either did not respond to New York Times inquiries or declined to comment on about the Chasidic schools, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, senate majority leader; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, chief of the House Democratic campaign committee.

As for New York’s current mayor, Eric Adams, a spokes man told the New York Times “that he believed schools should be culturally sensitive and meet high stan dards.”

He also said the administration would complete the investigation that stalled under de Blasio. To us, this sounds like more stalling.

In 2015 the Jewish Week/ WNYC investigation moved forward what resulted in an in complete investigation into the schools by the New York City Department of Education that essentially changed nothing.

Will the investigation by the New York Times, with its exponentially higher outlay of resources and readership, be able to spur an earnest push by lawmakers for oversight of these schools?

The New York Times has roughly 100 million registered users and 10 million paid subscribers, according to the paper.

By comparison, in 2015 the Jewish Week had roughly 50,000 print subscribers and 25,000 email newsletter subscribers; WNYC has roughly 1.6 million weekly radio listeners and 1.3

million monthly visitors to its website.)

Despite increased visibility for the problem, our guess is that after elected officials’ proc lamations and hand-wringing dies down, they and education officials will continue on their well-worn path of doing noth ing.

Meanwhile, another genera tion of Chasidic men will likely graduate high school with frag mented English and fourthgrade math, with essentially no knowledge of science and an understanding of history acquired primarily through religious texts, while another generation of politicians con tinues to choose campaign contributions and voting blocs over education oversight and a person’s ability to support themselves.

Another more hopeful scenario may be possible, however. Our reporting has led us to believe that there are not insignificant numbers of aver age Chasidic people who both love their way of life and also agree with Moster about the need for better secular educa tion for their children.

These folks see no conflict between the practice of Cha sidic Judaism and learning English, math and other subjects that can lead to better employ ment opportunities and fuller participa tion in civic life.

Most remain quiet, fearing ostracism or worse for appearing to be aligned with someone like Moster, who is routinely demonized by com munity activists as anti-Haredi.

But there is an albeit small possibility that the New York Times story may give such people courage to come out of the shadows and band together to demand more from their yeshivas.

And that kind of grassroots effort could do more to effect change than any politician or new government regulation ever could.

Amy Sara Clark is a freelance journalist living in Brooklyn. She is a former investigative reporter and deputy managing editor at The Jewish Week.

Hella Winston is a sociologist and investigative journalist. She is the author of Unchosen: The Hid den Lives of Hasidic Rebels and lives in New York City.

OPINION

Queen Elizabeth mattered. Civil religion explains why.

By Andrew Silow-Carroll

I am one of those people who gobble up films and television shows about the royal family almost as soon as they come out. And yet, watching The Crown, my thoughts would run like this: “This is great television,” I would say after nearly every episode. “But remind me again why I should care what happens to these people?”

I’ve heard that befud dlement from a lot of friends in the wake of the outpouring of love and sadness that fol lowed Queen Elizabeth’s death at 96 after a 70-year reign. A monarch with no power, a matriarch of a family with no real claim to fame other than their birthrights, she occupied a strange and unique position.

The media strategist Mik Moore captured that perplexity in a Facebook post.

“There seems to be a dis connect (between) those who see the queen as a ceremonial figure with no real power and those who see the queen as the head of a colonial empire who was complicit in oppression and genocide,” he wrote. “If she’s the latter she deserves to be held accountable and if she’s the former she (is) just a celebrity with a crown.

“If she’s just a celebrity... her death isn’t that important,” he continued. “If she had real power, her death IS important ...but also it means the anger at her is justified.”

A number of pundits and historians took a stab at ex plaining why Elizabeth, and the British monarchy, matter.

Historian Amanda Foreman Elizabeth said she “embodied what you might call the spirit of the nation” and “personified the essence and values of Great Britain.”

Similarly, the current chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, Ephraim Mirvis, eulogized the queen by saying she “embod ied the most noble values of British society.”

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Mir vis’ predecessor, had at one point praised Elizabeth as an interfaith champion, saying

her meetings with faith leaders led the U.K.’s transformation into “a multi-ethnic, multifaith society.”

Sacks, Foreman, and Mirvis suggest a few ways of thinking about Elizabeth beyond Mik’s dichotomy — as neither “cer emonial figure” nor culpable head of a colonial empire. As Sacks explained, Elizabeth wielded a kind of soft power by dint of her example, lever aging her ambiguous status to become “Defender of all Britain’s Faiths.”

Foreman and Mirvis, mean while, remind us that public figures can embody and per sonify values even when they aren’t elected or hold any real power.

Elie Wiesel comes to mind. Although he was a gifted writer, his most important role was as an articulate survivor and witness to the Holocaust. When Wiesel died in 2016, at age 87, the grief was not just over the loss of one man, but of a living connection to a monumental and devastating historical event.

With Wiesel’s death, Jewry also lost a unifying figure: When he died, JTA published an article asking if anyone could replace Wiesel as a “con sensus leader” among Ameri can Jews, or was the “American Jewish community too divided to unite under any one per son’s moral voice?”

Wiesel also wielded a degree of soft power, seen when he rebuked U.S. President Ron ald Reagan for a planned visit to an SS cemetery at Bitburg, Germany.

Elizabeth, too, was a liv ing link to World War II, and

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as such also personi fied everything Britain was and became in the ensuing eight decades. If indeed she embodied the nation’s values, she also deserved scrutiny for how she confronted its failings. In a Washington Post essay, foreign affairs columnist Ishaan Tharoor concedes that “Elizabeth was perhaps not privy to all the sordid details of the operations carried out to preserve her empire af ter the end of World War II and through the 1960s.” And yet, he suggests, “Elizabeth cast herself as the happy steward of the Commonwealth” whose “history was hardly benign.”

Wiesel too faced criticism that despite his devotion to hu man rights and dignity, he did not grapple publicly with the costs of Israel’s control of the West Bank and Gaza.

There is, however, another way to think about the queen’s significance: as a sort of reli gious figure. Not a religious leader, and not a god exactly, but as an intermediary between profane humans and divine aspirations.

In a prayer in memory of the queen, Mirvis wrote: “In an age of profound change, she signified order and justice; and in times of tension, she offered generosity of spirit.” That’s as good a definition as any for the function of religion.

Americans don’t have mon archs, but we do have what Robert Bellah calls the Ameri can civil religion, with “its own prophets and its own martyrs, its own sacred events and sacred places, its own solemn rituals and symbols.”

Such rituals and symbols represent the purposes and the meaning of a nation.

In our case, those symbols include the Stars and Stripes, the Statue of Liberty, the na tional parks, late leaders who stood for something bigger than themselves. We put bald eagles and dead presidents on our coins; in England, they put their queens and kings.

Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor in chief of the New York Jewish Week and senior editor of JTA.

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.

Another more hopeful scenario may be possible, however.

Queen Elizabeth II greets Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks at St James's Palace in London to mark the 350th anniversary of the reestablishment of Britain's Jewish community in 2006

Andrew Parsons/WPA ROTA/PA

UPCOMING EVENTS

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

October 2, 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m — Down on the Farm with Camp Shalom and PJ Library

October 19, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. — JCC Youth Theatre Auditions

October 20, 7:00 p.m. — CABS Opening Night: Rita Rudner

October 21, 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. — OSHIIP Free Medicare Check Up Day

October 23, 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. — JCC Youth Theatre Auditions

October 24, 7:00 p.m. — CABS: Wayne Hoffman

October 27, 7:00 p.m. — CABS: Brad Graber

October 30, 2:45 p.m. — CABS: Sharona Hoffman & Resource Fair JCC often overwhelming interdisciplinary many personal anecdotes, Sharona Hoffman develops recommendations building sustainable social, legal, medical, financial, and other support systems for aging caregiving.

JEWISH FEDERATION of GREATER DAYTON & ITS AGENCIES

Register for Zoom events and purchase tickets for in person events at Jewishdayton.org

Contact Helen Jones at 937-610-5513 or hjones@jfgd.net for more information.

Thursday, October 20, 7:00 p.m.

Opening Night

Livestream @ The Funny Bone, 88 Plum St., The Greene

Comedy show with special guest Karen Jaffe

Cost: $18 person, includes drink ticket

Rita Rudner “My Life In Dog Years”

Monday, October 24, 7:00 p.m.

Via Zoom

Special Guest: Holly Elkins-Lopez, Education Programs Manager, Alzheimer’s Association, Miami Valley Chapter.

Wayne Hoffman “The End of Her: Racing Against Alzheimer’s to Solve a Murder”

Thursday, October 27, 7:00 p.m.

Via Zoom

Brad Graber “Boca By Moonlight”

Sunday, October 30, 4:00 p.m.

Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville 2:45 p.m. JFS Aging Resource Fair

Learn about local area resources that can support your aging plan for you and your loved ones. Resources will include providers from a multitude of support systems –housing, social, medical, legal, financial and more!

Sharona Hoffman “Aging With a Plan: How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow”

Monday, November 7, 7:00 p.m.

Via Zoom

Ellen Frankel “The Deadly Scrolls: Book One in the Jerusalem Mysteries”

Wednesday, November 9, 7:00 p.m.

Livestream at The Torch Lounge, The Kennedy Union, University of Dayton

Special guest Dr. Dorian Borbonus, Associate Professor of History, will present background on archeology.

Cost: $6 person; free with a student ID

Andrew Lawler “Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City”

Sunday, November 13, 7:00 p.m.

The Dayton Woman’s Club, 225 N. Ludlow St., Dayton Evening begins with a short jazz concert.

Cost: $12

Debby Applegate

“Madame: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age”

Wednesday, November 16, 6:30 p.m.

The Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville

Enjoy an appetizing bagel nosh during this food-based presentation.

Cost: $18 person, includes a bagel supper

Cathy Barrow “Bagels, Schmears, and a Nice Piece of Fish”

Tuesday, November 29, 7:00 p.m.

Via Zoom

Liz Scheier “Never Simple”

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

Livestream at Wright Memorial Library, 1776 Far Hills Ave., Dayton

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

Sunday, December 4, 7:00 p.m.

Dayton Playhouse, 1301 E Siebenthaler Ave., Dayton

Cost: $10 adults; $5 students

Tom Dugan “Wiesenthal”

Wednesday, January 18, 2023, 7:00 p.m.

Livestream at Woodbourne Library, 6060 Far Hills Ave., Centerville

Ronald Balson “An Affair of Spies: A Novel”

Sunday, March 5, 2023, 7:00 p.m.

Carillon Brewing Company, 1000 Carillon Blvd., Dayton

Cost: $10 person

Dan Grunfeld “By the Grace of the Game: The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream”

Alliance ProgramsAlliance Programs

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. via Zoom

Come join pianist Ian Scarfe and special guest cellist James Jaffe, who will perform and discuss Beethoven's Cello Sonata. The first composer to bring the cello into a solo voice, Beethoven was one of the most dramatic and influential composers of chamber music. The duo will perform Beethoven's 3rd Cello Sonata in A Major, from the composer’s "heroic" period, and discuss details in the music, share stories of their own performances, and tell more history of the music and of Beethoven himself. Grab a warm beverage and enjoy a lovely fall afternoon concert! Contact Helen Jones at hjones@jfgd.net or 937-610-5513 for more details.

SAVE THE DATE!

JCC YOUTH THEATRE AUDITIONS

CJCE, 525 Versailles Drive, Centerville 45459

Wednesday, October 19, 5:45 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Or Sunday, October 23, 1:15 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.

This year’s performance is Newsies Jr. Performances are Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, February 26, 2023

For audition sign-up, please go to our website jewishdayton.org/events Please prepare to sing a one-minute segment of a song of your choice and bring accompanying soundtrack. Wear clothes that are comfortable for dancing.

Questions? Contact JCC Program Manager Meryl Hattenbach at mhattenbach@jfgd.net or 937-401-1550.

Enrollment is open for the 2022-2023 school year in the JCC Early Childhood Program

We would love to have your child join our Early Childhood Family! Contact us at 937-610-1555 for information and registration. Limited spaces available.

Join us over the holiday break for camp fun including indoor and outdoor games, field trips, cooking and talent shows!

GRADES K-10

9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Camp hours

OPTIONAL ADD ONS: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Rise & Shine 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Stay & Play

December 22 - January 3 (closed Dec. 26 and Jan. 2) January 16 - MLK Day and February 20 - President's Day

Session and daily rates are available

Temple Beth Or, 5275 Marshall Rd. 45429

For more information contact Meryl Hattenbach at mhattenbach@jfgd.net or 937-401-1550

UNITED JEWISH CAMPAIGN

IN MEMORY OF

› Ray Must Ellen and Alvin Stein

IN MEMORY OF

› Fred Weber Susan and Joe Gruenberg

LINDA RUCHMAN MEMORIAL FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Robert Borns Marshall Ruchman

JCCJFS

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES

IN HONOR OF

› Ruthe Meadow for receiving the Moss Creativity Award Beverly and Jeff Kantor

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES DISCRETIONARY FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Nicole Monique Frilot Cathy Gardner

JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES ENDOWMENT FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Debra Saidel

› Richard Levinson Susan and Joe Gruenberg

IN MEMORY OF

› Debra Saidel

› Joell Alter Margy and Otis Hurst

CAROLE RABINOWITZ CAMP FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Kelly Louis’ father, Donald Bernard Rabinowitz

JANE HOCHSTEIN FILM FUND

IN HONOR OF

› Ruthe Meadow for receiving the Moss Creativity Award

Judy Schwartzman and Mike Jaffe

EARLY CHILDHOOD FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Sarah Pauline Hochman

Cathy Gardner

RESILIENCE SCHOLARSHIP FUND

IN MEMORY OF

› Dan Weckstein Sherry McKenney

› Our son, Daniel K. Weckstein Donald and Caryl Weckstein

FEDERATION Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program (OSHIIP) in partnership with Jewish Family Services at the Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education. Annual Medicare Enrollment October 15, December 7, 2022. on how to enroll for 2023 Medicare (Part and/or Medicare if to SAVE an average of $5,100 make it to the Boonshoft CJCE on October 21, 2022? See the ad on page 28 for information about all the Medicare Check Up Days in Montgomery County. by calling 937-610-1555 Medicare counselors from the Ohio Department of Insurance be on hand to sit down with individually.

Classes

Beth Abraham Synagogue: Sundays, beginning Oct. 23, 9 a.m.: Beginners Hebrew. Reg ister by Oct. 7. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Beth Jacob Congregation: Sundays, 2 p.m.: Conversions w. Rabbi Agar. Tuesdays, 7 p.m.: Weekly Parsha w. Rabbi Agar. Thursdays, 7 p.m.: Jew ish Law w. Rabbi Agar. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. 937-2742149.

Temple Beth Or: Sundays, noon: Adult Hebrew. Mon., Oct. 3, 10 a.m.: Apocryphal Study via Zoom. Thurs., Oct. 6, 7 p.m.: Chai Mitzvah via Zoom. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937435-3400.

Temple Israel: Saturdays, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, 9:15 a.m.: Online Torah Study. Thurs., Oct. 13, 20, 27, 6 p.m.: Issues & Conflicts in Jewish Texts w. Rabbi Sofian.

Children & Teens

JCC Youth Theatre Auditions: Wed., Oct. 19, 6:30 p.m. & Sun., Oct. 23, 1:15 p.m. Grades 3-12. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Ver sailles Dr., Centerville. Register at jewishdayton.org/events.

Family Camp Shalom & PJ Library Down on the Farm: Sun., Oct. 2, 6 p.m. Free. Lucas Brothers Farm, 3229 Ferry Rd., Bellbrook. Register at jewishdayton.org/ events.

Temple Israel Prayer & Play: Fri., Oct. 14, 5:30 p.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-4960050.

Temple Beth Or S’More Fun: Sat., Oct. 22, 5:30 p.m. 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937435-3400.

Seniors

Ohio Senior Health Insurance Info. Prog. Medicare Checkup: Fri., Oct. 21, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Boonshoft CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Centerville. Register w. 937-

JFS Resource Fair: Sun., Oct. Followed by Aging with a Plan. Boonshoft

CALENDAR

CJCE, 525 Versailles Dr., Cen terville. Register at jewishday ton.org/events or 937-610-1555.

Women

Hadassah Tea for Two: Sun., Oct. 23, 2 p.m. Gleneagles Clubhouse, 560 Eagle Cir., Kettering. $18. RSVP to Hindy Gruber, hgruber@ameritech.net by Oct. 19.

Performances

Fiddler on the Roof National Tour: Fri., Oct 7, 8 p.m. Clark State Performing Arts Ctr., 300 S. Fountain Ave., Springfield. Etix.com or 937-328-3874.

Itzhak Perlman w. Springfield Symphony: Sat., Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m. Clark State Performing Arts Ctr., 300 S. Fountain Ave., Springfield. Springfieldsym.org or 937-328-3874.

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezin: Sun., Oct. 23, 6 p.m. Cincinnati Museum Ctr., 1301 Western Ave., Cincinnati. Defi antrequiem.brownpapertickets. com and at the door.

Handel's Israel in Egypt: Sun., Oct. 30, 4 p.m. Bach Soc. of Dayton. Kettering Adventist Church, 3939 Stonebridge Rd.,

Kettering. Bachsocietyofdayton. org/buy-tickets/oct.

Film Dayton LGBT Film Festival, Nelly & Nadine: Sun., Oct. 16, 1 p.m. The Neon, 130 E. 5th St., Dayton. $9. neonmovies.com.

JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series

See Page 16 for schedule.

Sukkot

Temple Israel Sukkot & Pizza in the Hut: Sun., Oct. 9, 6 p.m. $5 adults, $3 children 4-12. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP by Oct. 4. tidayton.org.

Chabad Young Professionals Sukkah Social: Sun., Oct. 9, 7 p.m. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oak wood. Email chabad@chabad dayton.com.

Chabad Men’s Night Out in the Sukkah: Wed., Oct. 12, 6:15 p.m. $59. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. RSVP at chabaddayyton.com/rsvp.

Chabad Soup & Salads in the Sukkah for the Family: Thurs., Oct. 13, 5:30 p.m. $18 adults, $7 children. Petting zoo, pony rides. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oak

wood. RSVP to chabaddayton. com/rsvp.

Beth Abraham Sushi in the Sukkah for Teens: Thurs., Oct. 13, 6:30 p.m. 305 Sugar Camp Cir., Oakwood. 937-293-9520.

Temple Beth Or Feast in the Sukkah: Fri., Oct. 14, 6:30 p.m. Followed by service. 5725 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937496-0050.

Chabad Women’s Circle Havdalah in the Sukkah: Sat., Oct. 15, 7:45 p.m. $36. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. RSVP to dlmdayton@gmail.com.

Beth Jacob Schmoozing in the Sukkah: Sun., Oct. 16, 11 a.m. Arts & crafts. 7020 N. Main St., Harrison Twp. RSVP by Oct. 2. 937-274-2149.

Simchat Torah

Temple Israel Simchat Torah Service & Dinner: Sun., Oct. 16, 6 p.m. $5 adults, $3 children 4-12. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. RSVP by Oct. 11. tidayton.org

Chabad Simchat Torah: Mon., Oct. 17, 7 p.m. Free. 2001 Far Hills Ave., Oakwood. RSVP to rabbilevi@chabaddayton.org.

Tabatha Wharton has been named development coordina tor for Dayton Live. She was promoted from the position of senior ticket agent in August.

Aliza Lambert has received her Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision from the Vir ginia Commonwealth Universi

ty. She begins her new career at Rutgers University this fall and will teach graduate students for the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions. Her dissertation focused on Jewish youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Aliza is the daugh ter of Ira and Karen Weiss of Solon, and the granddaughter of Robert Kahn of Kettering.

Let us know what's going on by you and yours. Send your Mazel Tov announcements to mweiss@ jfgd.net.

Marshall Weiss Troy Street Dayton, Ohio 45404 1.31.2023. wine, candy, delivery.

Jonah Elliott Halasz will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 29 at Temple Israel. He is the son of Scott Halasz and Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz, and the brother of Ethan Halasz. He is the grandson of Jerry and Maxine Halasz of Centerville, Martin and Lynn Pollman of Overland Park, Kan., and Howard and Beatrice Bodney of Overland

Park, Kan. Jonah is a seventhgrade student at Watts Middle School in Centerville. His interests are video games and sports, sports, and more sports. He loves everything Ohio State and roots for the Chicago Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, and Cubs. Jonah is on the Centerville 13U select baseball team and has also played soccer. He enjoys spending his summers at Gold man Union Camp Institute of Zionsville, Ind., where he spends every summer. For his mitzvah project, Jonah has been volunteering at 4 Paws for Abil ity in Xenia, a nonprofit that enriches the lives of children and adults with disabilities by the training and placement of quality, task-trained service dogs. He is also collecting base ball and softball equipment for Pitch in for Baseball and Soft ball, which provides equipment to under-resourced children in every state and 110 countries worldwide, including Israel.

Beth Abraham Synagogue Conservative Rabbi Aubrey Glazer

Cantor/Dir. of Ed. & Programming

Andrea Raizen

Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

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

Beth Jacob Congregation Traditional

Rabbi Leibel Agar

Sundays & Wednesdays, 7:15 p.m. Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.

7020 N. Main St., Dayton. 937-274-2149. bethjacobcong.org

Temple Anshe Emeth Reform

Fri., Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m.

w. Rabbinic Intern Anna Burke 320 Caldwell St., Piqua.

Contact Steve Shuchat, 937-7262116, ansheemeth@gmail.com. ansheemeth.org

Temple Beth Or Reform

Fridays, 6:30 p.m.

Rabbi Judy Chessin

Asst. Rabbi/Educator Ben Azriel 5275 Marshall Rd., Wash. Twp. 937-435-3400. templebethor.com

Temple Beth Sholom Reform

Rabbi Haviva Horvitz

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

Temple Israel Reform

Senior Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz. Rabbi/Educator Tina Sobo

Fri., Oct. 7, 6 p.m. Fridays, Oct. 14, 21 & 28, 6:30 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 29, 10 a.m. 130 Riverside Dr., Dayton. 937-496-0050. tidayton.org

Temple Sholom Reform

Rabbi Cary Kozberg

2424 N. Limestone St., Springfield. 937-399-1231. templesholomoh.com

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

Chabad of Greater Dayton Rabbi Nochum Mangel

Associate Rabbi Shmuel Klatzkin

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

Yellow Springs Havurah Independent

Antioch College Rockford Chapel. Contact Len Kramer, 937-5724840 or len2654@gmail.com.

Recognize the good

By Rabbi Karen BodneyHalasz, Temple Israel

As we move through the High Holy Days, we approach Yom Kippur with a sense of dread. We anticipate feelings of guilt and regret, in addition to hunger, because we know the time is upon us to look critically at ourselves. The task is pain ful, but appropriately so. We should expect to feel badly for the many times we missed the mark, having done something that we knew was wrong. These feelings of remorse are a part of our teshuva, repentance, in

Perspectives

which we must acknowledge our bad behavior, seek forgive ness, correct wrongs, and hope fully reach a place of healing. This is guilt at its best. It focuses on our bad behavior and pro pels us to do better.

It is a starting block. Once we experience it, we move toward teshuva, which not only brings healing to our relationships but helps to build our confidence that we can do better.

A healthy dose of guilt and humility is appropriate for this time of year. Through our vidui, confession, we put ourselves out there, baring it all. But sometimes it can be too much. Some of us surpass feeling guilty to a point where it is no longer healthy. Rather, we feel ashamed.

According to Dr. Brene Brown, an expert in shame and vulnerability, so long as we have the capacity for connection and empathy, we experience shame. Shame is feeling bad about who we are, not what we have done. It comes from a belief that we, ourselves, are flawed and unworthy. This is not helpful, but destructive.

Shame does not help us in our teshuva. It is highly cor related with self-destructive thoughts and behaviors. It is im

Candle Lightings

Erev Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 25: 7:11 p.m.

First Eve Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 26: 8:07 p.m.

Shabbat, Sept. 30: 7:03 p.m.

Erev Yom Kippur, Oct. 4: 6:56 p.m.

Shabbat, Oct. 7: 6:51 p.m.

portant that we temper our selfeffacement so that we remember we condemn the behavior and choices, not ourselves.

To avoid shame, we cannot only focus on our failures or we’ll lose the confidence that we can do better. Positive reinforce ment is important. There is a Jewish value known as hakarat hatov, recognizing the good. It helps keep shame at bay during the High Holy Days, reminding us that we are more than the mistakes we have made. It reminds us that the souls within us are pure and long to do good in the world. This resonates with the lesson of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. He taught that we can be led forth from darkness by looking for the good in ourselves.

For Every Act of Goodness:

Let us affirm the good we have done; let us acknowledge our acts of healing and repair...

For the good we have done by acting with self-restraint and self-control;

For the good we have done through acts of generosity and compas sion;

For the good we have done by offering children our love and support;

For the good we have done by honoring our parents with care and respect;

For the good we have done through acts of friendship and hospitality;

For the good we have done through acts of forgiveness and reconciliation;

Tishri & Cheshvan

Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz

Despite how it may sound, recognizing our strengths can also be an important part of our High Holy Days. When we allow ourselves to acknowledge the love and goodness we have given and received, we open ourselves up to the idea that we can change the direction of our lives. We know positive rein forcement is a strong motiva tor. It can help us to strengthen ourselves and our character.

On Yom Kippur, when we come baring our souls, we pray that God will move from the throne of judgment, holding us accountable, to the throne of mercy, granting us pardon. Is it too much to ask that we offer ourselves the same?

Can we hold ourselves ac countable for our failings while also balancing being account able for our strengths? I believe we can, and we should. This too, is part of our teshuva.

With this in mind, I offer a prayer of hakarat hatov from Mishkan HaNefesh, the Reform High Holy Days prayer book.

Erev Sukkot, Oct. 9: 6:48 p.m.

First Eve Sukkot, Oct. 10: 7:45 p.m.

Shabbat, Oct. 14: 6:41 p.m.

Erev Shemini Atzeret, Oct. 16: 6:38 p.m.

Erev Simchat Torah, Oct. 17: 7:35 p.m.

Shabbat, Oct. 21: 6:31 p.m.

Shabbat, Oct. 28: 6:21 p.m.

Rosh Hashanah Jewish New Year

Sept. 26-27/1-2 Tishri Celebration of the beginning of the Jewish calendar year. Begins the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of repentance and prayer that ends on Yom Kippur. Celebrated with fes tive meals, including apples dipped in honey.

For the good we have done by keeping promises and honoring commitments;

For the good we have done through the work of our hands, and by serving others;

For the good we have done by car ing for the earth and sustaining its creatures;

For the good we have done by housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, and welcoming the stranger;

For the good we have done by act ing with integrity and honesty;

For the good we have done through thoughtful and encouraging words;

For the good we have done by car ing for our health and that of our loved ones;

For the good we have done by strengthening our Jewish com munity;

For the good we have done through acts of civic engagement and tikun olam;

All these have brought light and healing into the world. May these acts inspire us to renew our efforts in the year to come.

May we continue to move from strength to strength in this new year.

May we all be spurred on by both judgement and mercy to make this world a better place, filled with shalom.

Yom Kippur Day of Atonement

Oct. 5/10 Tishri

The holiest day on the Jew ish calendar, marking the end of the Days of Awe, spent fasting and in prayer. The sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, signals the end of the holiday.

Sukkot Festival of Booths

Oct. 10-16 15-21 Tishri

Named after the huts the Jews lived in while wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. Marked by building sukkot to eat meals in during the festival, and in the synagogue by processions with the lulav (palm branches with myrtle and willow) and etrog (citron fruit).

Shemini Atzeret

Eighth Day of Assembly

Oct. 17/22 Tishri

Historically, it allowed an extra day in Jerusalem for Jewish pilgrims on their journey to the Temple.

Torah Portions

Oct. 1, Vayelech (Deut. 31:1-30)

Oct. 8, Haazinu (Deut. 32:1-52)

Oct. 22, Bereshit (Gen. 1:1-6:8)

Oct. 29, Noach (Gen. 6:9-11:32)

Tefillat Geshem (the prayer for rain), Hallel (Psalms of thanksgiving and joy), and Yizkor (memorial prayers) are recited.

Simchat Torah Rejoicing of the Torah

Oct. 18/23 Tishri

Annual cycle of reading the Torah is concluded and a new cycle begun. Celebrat ed in the synagogue with singing, dancing, and Torah processionals.

Learning Together

Opportunities for Everyone

Twitter ‘Repentance Bot’ wants to teach how to apologize

By Jackie Hajdenberg, JTA

Move over, tashlich: Twitter is the new place to atone, thanks to a bot pro grammed by Jewish coders who want users to apologize better.

While the tradition of symbolically throwing bread, representing sins, into a body of water may be a more familiar High Holiday custom, a new Twitter bot aims to address “fauxpologies” on social media.

Jewish confessional booth, AtoneNet, that offered an early intersection of ancient Jewish practices and contempo rary digital tools.

“In the same way that on Chanu kah people will innovate menorahs or on Pesach people will innovate Seder plates, on Yom Kippur, they want to innovate liturgies,” Kalman said. “What else are you going to innovate? You literally can’t eat anything. So it’s this.”

Issues & Conflicts in Jewish Texts

Thursdays, September 29, October 13, 20, and 27

6:00PM with Rabbi Emeritus David Sofian

Join us on an exploration through four different texts including the story of David and Bathsheva, Jepthah’s daughter, the rules of war, and hierarchy of helping others. All text studies will also include rabbinic commentaries and each class will last 90 minutes. RSVP to the Temple office.

Diving Deep into the Jonah Story

Wednesday, October 5

1:30PM with Rabbi Bodney-Halasz

Our Yom Kippur afternoon educational session takes an in-depth look at the story of Jonah.

Simchat Torah with Consecration

Sunday, October 16

6:00PM Service followed by potluck dinner

Even our youngest congregants are getting in on the fun and joy of studying Torah. Join us for a Simchat Torah service that will also honor our young learners, and will be followed by a special potluck dinner. RSVP by Wednesday, Oct. 12.

“Repentance Bot” allows users to tag the account when they see an apology that they believe falls short. The bot then replies to the apology with encour agement to do better and a comic strip laying out five steps to take to do so.

The steps are those laid out in Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s new book, On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World. It uses the traditional Jew ish concepts taught by the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides to discuss contempo rary issues of surviving violence and lays out a framework for making amends in a meaningful way.

Repentance Bot is meant to distill some of the lessons from the book and make them visible, Ruttenberg said.

“We live in a culture where people do not have a roadmap when harm is caused,” she said. “This is basically an experi ment in public education, to try to see if we can move the culture towards show ing people what taking responsibility and making change looks like.”

In one example, Repentance Bot was tagged underneath a video of the athlet ic director of Brigham Young University addressing fans after a Duke University volleyball player and her other Black teammates were attacked with racial slurs during a game against BYU.

“You’re a 10, but you need some help doing the work of repentance and accountability,” reads the tweet, which references a recent meme and is fol lowed by the cartoon.

Reboot, the Jewish arts nonprofit, offers 10Q, an annual online question naire that stores responses securely for a year, then returns them by email the following year to facilitate respondents’ reflection on their personal growth.

And the Yom Kippur-themed eScape Goat (also known as @Apologybot) appeared on Twitter in 2013 and would “collect” users’ sins when tagged.

That bot was cre ated by Russel Neiss, a Jewish technologist and educator who coded Repentance Bot and worked with the Jewish digital consulting com pany Tiny Windows to produce it on Rutten berg’s behalf.

Repentance Bot, as with many similar bots, has a sense of humor. It is meant to be “fun and funny,” while also serv ing as an educational tool, said Ruttenberg, who has an nounced she will donate to the National Survivor Network to begin to make amends for personally benefiting from a Jewish foundation tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“People will engage with it to have a little fun with it as well as trying to do meaningful public education,” she added.

A Reform Synagogue to all interested in Judaism.

Unlike some Twitter bots that call out bad behavior on social media, includ ing @RacismDog and its now-defunct cousin, @AntisemitismCow, Repentance Bot aims to do more than name and shame. It launched on the first day of the Jewish month of Elul — the last month of the Jewish year and the begin ning of a period of reflection ahead of the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement — and is meant to help people improve themselves.

The ideas and prayers of Yom Kippur lend themselves to innovation, said Da vid Zvi Kalman, who created an online

Repentance Bot had published a tweet in a robotic font that was not compatible with ALT text, an HTML attribute that allows for verbal image descriptions. Visually impaired read ers may rely on a program that reads ALT text aloud, and if there’s no ALT text, they may not be able to interact with the text or image at all. Repentance Bot learned of the incompatibility and wrote an apology note, along with an updated version of the previous tweet and a promise to “teach other bots this important human factoid.”

Those vows reflect the to-do list in the bot’s comic strip, which begins with taking responsibility without making excuses and ends with making a differ ent choice in the future.

Repentance Bot is about “distilling (apologies) down to really oversimpli fied, easy steps,” Ruttenberg said. “And they’re not easy. None of those steps in real life are easy.”

The Repentance Bot is inspired by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg's new book, On Repentance and Repair

For Jews with eating disorders, new traditions aim to make Yom Kippur safer

By Ella Rockart, JTA

Shonna Levin is an Orthodox Jew, but she didn’t spend last Yom Kippur in a synagogue.

The Brooklyn activist had planned to set up camp in Prospect Park, where she was going to host an all-day gather ing for Jews with eating disorders for whom the holiday centered around fasting can be especially difficult.

Levin, who herself has struggled with disordered eating in the past, was forced to cancel, however, due to an injury.

Her event was to follow rules typical of recovery-focused spaces: no weight, calories or numbers talk. She also intended to bring along something that’s not typically part of Yom Kippur observances: the materials required for a seudah, or festive meal.

“I’d love to do it in future years,” she said. “Too many people feel so isolated in this experience.”

Levin’s idea reflected an increasing number of efforts to craft new rituals and offer new modes of observance for Jews with eating disorders.

Recognizing that the holiday’s traditional demand of a 25-hour fast could cause people with eating disorders to undertake dangerous behaviors, advocates across the Jewish world are developing alternatives and working to normalize Yom Kippur ob servances that do not preclude eating.

The Blue Dove Foundation, an orga nization that seeks to change how Jew ish communities handle mental health issues, has created a framework for reflecting on repentance that does not depend on fasting. Rather than asking for confessions of wrongdoing, which can be part of the pathology of eating disorders, the framework asks users to consider what they are already doing and want to do more of.

Many college Hillels are making food available in private spaces, so that students with eating disorders or other needs can eat while remaining set apart during the holiday from the rest of the student body.

Meanwhile, the National Council on Jewish Women is encouraging Jews to turn a ritual around smelling fragrant scents on Yom Kippur into an oppor tunity to set new intentions for the coming year — a move that the group’s promotional materials emphasize is ideal for people who are and are not fasting.

“And in terms of eating disorders, since that comes up every year, again: HEALTH COMES FIRST, ALWAYS,” the group’s rabbi in residence, Danya Ruttenberg, wrote last year on Twitter before promoting the scent ritual. “Take care of yourself, and if that means not fasting, do not fast.”

Efforts to support Jews with eating disorders have only grown more resonant since the Covid pandemic, which height ened the isolation and loneliness that those who struggle with the disorders are already prone to experiencing.

A study from the first 12 months of lockdowns and social distancing showed that a children’s hospital in Michigan admitted more than twice as many adolescents with eating disorders as it does in an average year.

The findings are no surprise to Temi mah Zucker, an Orthodox therapist and social worker in New York who treats many Jews and has seen a rise in both new and relapsed patients.

“People did not know what to do with their time, and there was so much emphasis around ‘this is the time to change your body’ and not at all focused on whether you’re taking care

Continued on Page 24

Monday, October 17

Monday, October 10 Tuesday, October 11

Morning Prayer Children’s Program 9:30am 10:30am

MEN’S NIGHT OUT IN THE SUKKAH

Wednesday, October 12 | 6:00pm

Morning Prayer Yizkor Dinner & Hakafot

Enjoy

CYP SUKKAH SOCIAL

Sunday, October 9

Tuesday, October 18

Morning Prayer

SUKKOT PRAYERS IN THE

Enjoy an evening of Steak, Scotch & Bourbon. Steak dinner the lechayims from a 9:30am 10:30am 9:30am

Thursday, October 13

Join young Jewish professionals for a Holiday dinner in the Sukkah. For more info chabad@chabaddayton

Dance 7:00pm

Monday, October 17 5:30pm 7:00pm

Jewish tradition is clear that people whose health would be jeopardized by fasting need not abstain from eating.

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

All are welcome to attend Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur services with us

Youth Services & Babysitting available, RSVP

All services are livestreamed

Rosh Hashanah

Sun., Sept. 25, Ma’ariv: 6 p.m. Mon., Sept. 26, Morning Service, 9 a.m. Youth Service, 10 a.m. Tashlich, Mincha/Ma’ariv at Island Park, 5:30 p.m. Tues., Sept. 27, Morning Service, 9 a.m. Youth Service, 10 a.m.

Yom Kippur

Tues., Oct. 4, Mincha, 6:30 p.m. Musical Interlude & Kol Nidre, 6:40 p.m.

Wed., Oct. 5, Morning Service, 9 a.m. Youth Service, 10 a.m. Yizkor, 11 a.m. Mincha, 5 p.m. Neilah, 6:30 p.m.

Concluding Shofar, 7:58 p.m. followed by Break-the-Fast

Sukkah Decorating & Dinner: Sun., Oct. 9, 5 p.m.

Make and hang decorations for the sukkah Enjoy a Sephardic Sukkot Supper. RSVP by Sept. 30

Sisterhood's Sunset in the Sukkah: Wed., Oct. 12, 6 p.m. An evening of socializing & learning, with hors d'oeuvres & dessert. RSVP by Oct. 3

Simchat Torah: Mon., Oct. 17 5:30 p.m.: Pasta dinner & Make a Sundae 6:30 p.m.: Singing & dancing with Torahs

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

New traditions

Continued from Page 23

RELIGION of yourself and your mental health,” Zucker said.

Yom Kippur serves up its own array of unhealthy messages, she said.

“There’s the theme of repenting where individuals who already experi ence high cognitive distortions around themselves and wrongness,” Zucker said. “Plus the pressure to connect to the day and whether that means fasting or not fasting.”

Jewish tradition is clear that people whose health would be jeopardized by fasting need not abstain from eating. That includes those who are ill, are pregnant or nursing and, many reli gious leaders have said, people with eating disorders.

Still, many of those in recovery strug gle when they attend services, where they are surrounded by hungry people and triggering associations between fasting and discipline or morality. Oth ers, driven by their disorder, ignore spiritual and medical advice.

“Expect the patient to come up with all sorts of ways to try to get out of eating,” said Levin.

“I knew a young man who told his psy chiatrist that his rabbi is insisting he not eat for religious reasons, then told the rabbi the psychiatrist OK’d him fasting,” she added — but neither case was true.

Hannah Davidson, a 23-year-old Brooklyn college student, said her fam ily’s rabbi had advised them that she should not fast because of her eating disorder. Davidson said that she, like many others with eating disorders, had embraced fasting because it dovetailed with her disorder.

“That’s why we don’t fast — because we shouldn’t look forward to it,” David son said. “That defeats the purpose.”

Esti Jacobs is the coordinator and co-founder of Ayelet Hashacher, a nonprofit organization in the Ortho dox community to help people access informed eating disorder treatment. She said that even with a rabbi’s instruc tions to eat on Yom Kippur, those with eating disorders can still struggle to

prioritize recovery.

“It’s like how in Covid people found it very hard to not go to synagogue. You’re raised to do anything to be in synagogue, to miss a flight or leave the house with a high fever,” she said. “So even though God wants us to stay home because of Covid’s risk to life, it just doesn’t feel right.”

Jacobs added, “It’s hard to realize that what God wants from you is differ ent from what God wants from others, that you’re keeping Yom Kippur by do ing what appears to be wrong.”

Many Jews with eating disorders do structure their lives to insulate them selves from the challenges presented by Yom Kippur. Davidson, for example, said she rarely travels home from college for the holiday.

But avoiding the holidays shouldn’t be the only option.

Yocheved Gourarie was a 24-year-old Orthodox woman who documented her struggles with anorexia and depression on Instagram until her death by suicide. Now her father has his own account honoring her memory and document ing her experiences, especially around special events such as holidays.

“She didn’t fast for nine years, and she didn’t attend services completely,” Avremi Gourarie said. “We made very certain that any time religion could have been a factor (in harming her recovery), it was taken out of the equation.”

Levin’s group had aimed to offer a middle ground: a space for those who do attend services and need a place to eat throughout the day. Her goal was to allow people with eating disorders to have a meaningful Yom Kippur, with out having to choose between isolation and risk of relapse, in an unstructured, supportive space.

That kind of setting — and other initiatives like Levin’s — is exactly what observant Jews with eating disorders need more of, Zucker said.

“It’s so beautiful that there are so many opportunities for more support like that,” she said. “I think that part of it, too, is greater community awareness so that there’s less judgment, so that it’s normalized to what is best for you in the effort of upholding Jewish law.”

Even with a rabbi's instructions to eat on Yom Kippur, those with eating disorders can still struggle to prioritize recovery

The best foods to eat before fasting on Yom Kippur

By Shannon Sarna

The Nosher

Fasting on Yom Kippur is not easy, nor is it for every one — some people cannot fast because they have a med ical condition. But for those who do choose to fast as a meaningful way to engage in Yom Kippur, there are actu ally foods to eat beforehand that can set you up for a more successful, less onerous fast.

Most people stick to a menu that is classic and delicious but not too crazy or spicy: chicken soup, chicken, rice or pasta, a vegetable, some challah, and water.

1. Avoid foods that are hard to digest. This might be different for everyone, but in general, stay away from heavy meat dishes, fried foods or lots of dairy.

2. Eat foods that have fiber and water. Foods with lots of fiber will keep you fuller longer, and foods with water, like fruits and vegetables, will keep you hydrated. Chickpeas or lentils are a great vegetarian protein source to eat. A hearty chicken soup with noodles or rice and lots of veggies is another safe bet.

3. Avoid salt. Olives, pickles, chips, canned soup or dishes made with those bouillon cubes will bloat you and make you even more thirsty. So stick to something a little more bland for that pre-fast meal.

4. Avoid sugar. Too much dessert before fasting may cause your blood sugar to spike up and then come crashing down, which can be unpleasant at its least and cause a headache or moodiness at its worst. Too much sugar will also make you thirsty, like salt, and will have you craving more sweets during your fast.

5. Drink water. Not only at the meal right before the fast begins, but during the days preceding as well.

6. Avoid eating too much. Eat a moderate-sized meal that leaves you satisfied, but not unbuttoning your pants. You will feel uncomfortable and it will be more difficult to digest a monstrous-sized meal.

Zimtsterne: German star cookies for the Yom Kippur break-fast

By Ronnie Fein, The Nosher

When people deny them selves food for an extended period of time, they’re usually ravenously hungry and find themselves thinking about con suming huge amounts of food. But it’s not a good idea to pack it in too quickly. It’s too hard on your digestive system.

So when Yom Kippur comes to a close, I offer my guests a light nibble as they come into my home after synagogue. I serve sliced apples and honey, hummus and pita wedges and, for those who prefer something sweet, zimtsterne cookies.

Zimtsterne translates as cinnamon stars. These cut-out cookies are actually a Ger man Christmas specialty. But for observant Jews, they are also traditional for Yom Kip pur, known as erste sternen or first stars, because they are a reminder that before you can break the fast, you must see the first evening stars that appear in the sky after sundown.

They are compellingly crispy at first bite, then ever-so-slight ly chewy; the cinnamon-clove fragrance is spellbinding. And they're gluten-free.

You can make these cookies as much as a week ahead. Keep them tightly sealed so they’ll

stay crispy.

21/2 cups finely ground almonds, approximately (or almond meal, see below) 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp. ground cloves 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. grated fresh lemon peel

2 large egg whites 1 tsp. lemon juice 11/2 cups confectioners’ sugar granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place the almonds, cin namon, cloves, salt, and lemon peel in a bowl, whisk to blend the ingredients and set aside.

3. Beat the egg whites in an electric mixer starting at low, then increasing the speed to medium-high for one to two minutes or until bubbly. Pour in the lemon juice and beat at medium-high for another two minutes or until soft peaks form. Gradually add the con fectioners’ sugar and beat at high speed for four to five min utes or until stiff and glossy.

4. Remove about a third of this mixture to a bowl and set aside.

5. Add the almond mixture to the remaining two-thirds mixture and stir to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least one hour.

6. Remove the dough. If it is still soft and sticky, work in some additional ground al monds. Sprinkle a pastry board with some granulated sugar. Place the dough on the board and top the dough with some parchment paper or waxed paper. Roll or press the almond dough to a quarter-inch thick ness.

7. Cut the dough with star-

shaped cookie cutters. Place the cookies on the parchmentlined cookie sheet. Spread the remaining one-third egg white mixture on top of the dough. (You can use a small spoon or a pastry brush.) Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes.

Note: if you use prepack aged almond meal, start with two cups; add more as needed to create dough that isn’t overly sticky. Makes about 15 large cookies.

Mon-Thu: 10:30 am-10 pm

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

A boy asked his mother for a third slice of cake. “No,” she an swered. “Please, Mom, just one more piece.” Again, his mother said no. The boy didn’t give up: “Please? Just one, I promise.”

Candace R. Kwiatek

Finally, the mother gave in. “OK, but that’s it. No more!” The boy grinned. “Honestly, Mom! You have no self-con trol.”

In the famous 1972 Stanford marshmallow experiment, individual children were seated in front of a single marshmal low and told they could eat it whenever they chose.

Or, they could get two if they waited until the researcher returned. As expected, most of the children tried to wait but eventually ate the treat.

While one follow-up study erroneously concluded child hood self-control is predic tive of later life success, every other related study to date has

proven self-control is a learn able skill, not an inborn trait.

Brain science concurs. Behav ior patterns are shaped primar ily by neural pathways connect ing competing brain centers for learning, memory, instinct, emotions, and reasoning.

The more repetitive a behav ior, the more its specific path way becomes myelinated, and the more rapid and automatic the behavior. By definition, self-control neural pathways connect brain centers in ways that foster thoughtful free-will decision-making unrestricted by other forces, inner or exter nal.

The more those pathways are used, the more self-control becomes natural. Ultimately, self-control is about freedom.

Millennia before the revela tions of marshmallows and myelin, the notion of self-con trol was already evident in the Torah. In Genesis, humans were created with free will, the abil ity to make choices and thereby determine personal character and destiny.

But as the Torah’s early sto ries reveal, choices were more often reflexive or emotional

rather than thoughtful.

Generations later came the Exodus. Not just a physical liberation from slavery under Pharaoh, Exodus symbolized the repudiation of enslavement of any kind: peer pressure, expectations, impulses, feelings. The best choices would rely on free-will decision-making.

Shortly thereafter came the Revelation at Sinai. There, the Jewish people received the mitz vot (commandments), a frame work for making choices.

Mitzvot are essentially a system of daily training exercis es designed to forge the neural pathways for self-control.

Mitzvot are also tacit acknowledge ments that selfcontrol is learned and therefore achievable by everyone.

Self-control has been de scribed as rational choice for transcendent values, an insight evident in the following stories. Integrity. The talmudic sage Shimon ben Shetach made his living working with linen. To make his life easier, his students purchased a donkey from an Arab in the marketplace. As he thanked his students, ben Shetach spied a small pouch tied around the animal’s neck. Inside was a valuable pearl.

His students were thrilled at their teacher’s unexpected good fortune, but ben Shetach told them to return it: “You pur chased a donkey, not a pearl.”

His students disagreed. “According to the law we don’t need to return it since the pearl was attached to the animal when we bought it.”

Ben Shetach countered, “Of what use is my learning if I don’t act in the right way?” The rabbi located the merchant and returned the pearl. The Arab was so shocked all he could say was, “Blessed be the God of Shimon ben Shetach.”

Commit ment. For Louis Brandeis, life at Harvard Law School was chal lenging. Daily he was pestered by fellow students encouraging him to discard his Judaism. He could have an ex traordinary legal career, they’d say, even become a Supreme Court justice if not for his Juda ism. Brandeis listened but said nothing.

By his final year of law school, Brandeis’ preeminence was undisputable. He was in vited — the first Jew ever — to join the school’s honor society. At his induction, Brandeis ap proached the lectern, paused, and said, “I am sorry that I was born a Jew.”

The room erupted into ap plause and cheers. When the

room quieted, Brandeis began again. “I am sorry that I was born a Jew, but only because I wish I had the privilege of choosing Judaism on my own.”

For a long moment there was stunned silence. And then, awed by Brandeis' convic tion and unequivocal choice, the members of the exclusive Harvard honor society gave the honoree a standing ovation.

Empowerment. In danger of being tossed out of yeshiva, a student approached his advi sor. “I really want to stay here, but I can’t seem to keep the rules. It’s like there’s someone inside pushing me to do things I know I shouldn’t do.” The advisor responded, “Work on your knuckle-cracking habit. Even the small act of stopping yourself from doing something you want to do will give your soul the feeling of what it’s like to exercise self-control. And then you’ll experience a differ ent sort of self-empowerment, not the type that says, ‘I can have whatever I want whenever I want it,’ but the empower ment that comes from saying, ‘I am in control, and I won’t let myself constantly fall prey to self-defeating acts that feel good momentarily but that end up destroying me in the long run.’”

“Self-control is like a mus cle,” psychology professor Roy Baumeister concludes. “The more you use it, the stronger it gets.” And the greater good you will accomplish for yourself and for others.

Literature to share

Aging with a Plan: How a Little Thought Today Can Vastly Improve Your Tomorrow by Sharona Hoffman. Caring for aging family members or planning for your own golden years? This book is a concise, comprehensive, and userfriendly planning resource with all the information you need to know — medical, financial, legal, and more — but have no time to research on your own. It includes practi cal advice alongside scholarly research, anecdotes and observations, planning outlines, chapter summaries and checklists to match your working or reading style. For the “sandwich generation” and seniors alike.

Boca by Moonlight by Brad Graber. You’ll see echoes of the Golden Girls in this delightfully humorous tale of widowers living out their retirement years at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. It weaves together all the elements of long lives welllived: complicated family relationships, friendships, sad ness and loss, and even mystery. It's witty, laugh-inducing, and thought-provoking.

How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tiny Blue Box by Linda Heller. If you’re looking for a picture book that encourages tzedakah (righteous giving) and self-control for primary ages, this one is the perfect choice. After creat ing her own tzedakah box, Dalia puts the coins she earns for chores into it each day, teaching her little brother all about sharing and caring for others along the way. And then the magic happens! Read this one as a family and make your own tzedakah box.

Mitzvot are tacit acknowledgements that self-control is learned and therefore achievable by everyone.

Myth & memory in photographer's toy dioramas

An interview with David Levinthal

By Hannah Kasper Levinson Special To The Observer

David Levinthal is a pho tographer based in New York whose exhibit, American Myth & Memory: David Levinthal Photo graphs, opens Oct. 15 at the Day ton Art Institute. The exhibit is on tour from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Levinthal works in series, inspired by historic events and American cultural icons. His signature style first emerged in graduate school at Yale in the 1970s. He captures familiar miniature toys — dolls and toy soldiers — set up in a diorama, with the camera very close to the subject. This creates a narrow depth of field — like looking through a peephole — giving the effect of peering into a realistic environ ment.

To unravel David Levinthal's work is to question our universal fasci nation with minia tures. The minia ture takes us back to the ancient Egyp tians, who buried their dead with clay representations of everything they may have needed in the afterlife: tools, furniture, and servants all small enough to hold in one’s hand. The earliest evidence of the dollhouse, itself a miniature, was one made for a Bavarian duke in 1558.

The connection between min iature and imagination is based largely in relationship to child hood. To see detail in small things requires such attention that to experience it detaches you from the surrounding world.

The make-believe world of a child is much the same. Miniatures and childhood also bring associations of fairy tales.

In Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina, the protagonist is so miniscule that she experiences her own world within the real one. Like a fairy tale, the play

American Myth & Memory: David Levinthal Photographs on view Oct. 15-Jan. 15. at the Dayton Art Institute, 456 Belmonte Park N., Dayton. For more information, go to daytonartinstitute.org or call 937-223-4278.

fulness in Levinthal’s photos masks more complex themes rooted in adult subject matter.

Here, David Levinthal talks about his influences and the connections to Judaism in his work.

How did photography become your medium?

When I went to college in 1966, my intention was to be a poli-sci major and go to law school. That lasted pretty much one class. There was something at Stanford called The Free University. Anyone could teach a course on anything. Dwight, a friend who taught there, was the epitome of cool. He had really long hair and every time I saw him on campus there were beautiful women with him and I thought, "I want to be like that."

Dwight was teach ing a photography class and taught me how to develop film and make a print. I just became so fascinated by it. Stanford at the time did not offer photography, which I feel was a very positive thing for me because it meant that if I wanted to do it, I had to be selfmotivated.

What do you hope the viewer takes away from your work?

So much of my imagery draws upon everyone’s own vi

sual memories, film, television, paintings. When you look at my photographs, there’s often not a lot of detail, but the images in the photograph play off of one’s own visual memory bank. It’s like you’re filling in a lot of the space and creating a story about what had happened and what is about to happen.

The collection of the Dayton Art Institute includes epic paintings depicting battle scenes, landscapes, historical

figures. They make me think of your subject matter. What inspires you?

As a 13-year-old, my parents took my sister and I to Europe and I remember going to the Louvre every day and I loved the history paintings: those magnificent battles, the king on horseback in the foreground. Painting to this day is still a big influence. When I was doing the cowboys series, I referenced a lot of Remington and Rus sell, painters who depicted the

American West. If you were making toys in the ‘30s and ‘40s, your reference was prob ably those painters. Figures on horseback were sculpted from a painting and made into a toy, which I then photographed.

So much of my inspiration comes from film. I loved look ing at the John Wayne movie

The Searchers to get a sense of the background colors and tried to replicate it in my photo graph.

• Sunday, Sept. 25, 8 p.m. Erev Rosh Hashanah

• Monday, Sept. 26, 10 a.m. Rosh Hashanah services Tuesday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m. Kol Nidre service Wednesday, Oct. 5, 10 a.m. Yom Kippur p.m. Afternoon, Yizkor & Concluding 937-726-2116

Iwo Jima from the series History by David Levinthal

David Levinthal

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Levinthal

Continued from Page 27

That’s a lot of layers. Does being Jewish or your per sonal identity play into your work?

I think my Jewishness re ally impacted me when I was doing the Mein Kampf series. I would say probably most of the photographs I did in that series were related to the Holocaust, using documen tary photographs as a starting point.

I was in Graz, Austria for a gallery show. I found this store that had military memo rabilia and a Hitler toy figure. I was talking to the owner and he proceeded to tell me about someone who had the old toy molds from the '30s and ‘40s who was living in the Black Forest and still making these figures. I was able to get a number of the figures.

It says a lot that these toys are still being made.

I received a Guggenheim grant and a friend of mine who is a Holocaust scholar at UMass Amherst arranged for me to stay at the study center outside of Auschwitz. I was all alone in this large dormitory. I was literal ly right across the dirt road from Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was set up almost like an ex hibition, but Birkenau was just there, totally raw. There were very few people.

I remember walking up the tower under

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Please bring your medication list and current plan information to your appointment. In addition, help is available from the Kettering Connection, inside Town and Country Shopping Center. Call 937-296-3330 for an appointment. OSHIIP Medicare Counselor and JFS volunteer Connie Blum will also be counseling and helping with 2022 plan selection; she can be reached at 937-503-1979

which the trains came. It was about four stories high. I was up there by myself, looking down at the train tracks, and you could see people but they were so miniaturized. They almost seemed not human.

Almost like toys.

Yeah, which was a really strange feeling to have. I read a book that said at Birkenau there was a pond way at the back and that if you dip your hand into the water and pull out some mud, you’ll see bone frag ments. Which turned out to be absolutely true.

Did you do that?

I did that. Walking along those train tracks and thinking, this is where people were disembarked from the cars. It’s probably the same gravel that was there. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was very impactful. It gave me a much better sense of a lot of the Jewish stories of that time.

When I exhibited the work, I was always very conscious and hopeful that people would not be hurt or offended by my use of the toy figures. I had a number of survivors come over to tell me how touched they were by the work, and that meant so much to me.

I’m using toys, I’m trying to be as passion ate and creative as I can be but, it’s still toys. To hear that really made me feel great.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2022 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

@ The Boonshoft Center for Jewish Culture and Education 525 Versailles Dr., 45459

For an appointment, call 937-610-1555

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2022

9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

@ Huber Heights Senior Center 6428 Chambersburg Rd., 45424

For an appointment, call 937-233-9999

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@ Earl Heck Center

201 N. Main St., 45322

For an appointment, call 937-836-5929

Untitled from the series Barbie by David Levinthal

Untitled from the series Wild West by David Levinthal

An arts harvest for October

By Marshall Weiss, The Observer

This October brings rich arts offerings with Jewish connections to our region, and it begins in Springfield. Those who missed the national tour of Barlett Sher's production of Fiddler on the Roof in June at the Schuster Center can take it in at 8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 7 for one night at the Clark State Performing Arts Center. This is the production with Israeli Hofesh Shechter's updated choreography based on Jerome Robbins' original. Now in the role of Tevye is another Israeli, Jonathan Hashmonay, a descendant of Holocaust survivors. Tickets are available at etix. com or 937-328-3874.

Itzhak Perlman is the soloist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra con ducted by Music Director Peter Stafford Wilson at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15, also at the Clark State Perform ing Arts Center. The be loved violinist will perform

Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Perlman requests that audi ence members wear masks at the concert. For tickets, go to springfieldsym.org or call 937-328-3874.

The Dayton LGBT Film Festival will screen the 2022 Holocaust documentary Nelly & Nadine at 1 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 16 at The Neon. Directed by Magnus Gertten, Nelly & Nadine explores the love story of two prisoners at Ravensbrück concentra tion camp in 1944. After liberation, they reunited and stayed together for the rest of their lives. Gertten fol lows Nelly's granddaughter Sylvie as she learns about Nelly and Nadine's relationship.

Just prior to Nelly & Nadine, the festival will present the short subject Monsieur Le Butch, direct ed by Jude Dry, who unexpectedly ends up living back at home with their "lovingly opinionated Jewish mother, who doesn't quite get the whole 'trans thing.'" Tickets are available at daytonlgbt. com and at the door.

The JCC Cultural Arts & Book Series kicks off its season with vet eran comedian Rita Rudner talking about her memoir, My Life in Dog Years — virtually — but before a live audience at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 20 at The Funny Bone at The Greene. Opening for Rudner in person will be local comedian Kar en Jaffe at 6:45 p.m. To purchase tickets and for the complete CABS lineup, go to jewishdayton.org.

Union Terminal in Cincinnati will be the venue for the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center's presentation of Defiant Re quiem: Verdi at Terezin at 6 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 23.

This multimedia concert/drama presents the story of the Jewish prisoners in the Terezin con centration camp in 1944 who performed Verdi's Requiem there 16 times, including for SS officials from Berlin and an International Red Cross del egation. Their conductor, Rafael Schächter, told the choir, "We will sing to the Nazis what we cannot say to them."

With full orchestral accompaniment and the Northern Kentucky University Chamber Choir and Northern Kentucky Community Chorus, Defiant Requiem encompasses a full performance of Verdi's Requiem, video testimony of survivors from the original chorus, segments of the Nazi propa ganda film made at Terezin in 1944, and actors who move the story forward. Tickets are available at defi antrequiem.brownpapertickets.com and at the door.

The Bach Society of Dayton chorus, orchestra, and soloists will perform Handel's biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt conducted by David Crean at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 30 at Kettering Adventist Church.

With its libretto taken from the Book of Exodus and Psalms 105 and 106, Israel in Egypt sets the story of the Isra elites' deliverance in music and words that Handel sculpted to evoke each scene, particularly the plagues.

University of Dayton Prof. of English and Medieval Studies Miriamne Krummel will give the pre-concert talk, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available for the performance at bachsocietyofday ton.org/buy-tickets/oct.

Itzhak Perlman

Nelly & Nadine

Comedian Rita Rudner

Martin (Marty) Sampson Rob ins passed away peacefully in his home on Sept. 2 with his children at his side. He was born on April 11, 1934 in

Columbus to Sophie and Abe Robins, who preceded him in death. His sister, Claire preced ed him in death as well. Marty is survived by his longtime partner, Sheila Sokol; daugh ter Annie (Craig) Self, Jeffrey (Diana) Robins and Benjamin (Jennifer) Robins. Grandchil dren Joshua (Kayleigh), Anna Self, Kristin Robins (Kyle Min); Shannon (Shane) Shafer and their children Beckham and Josie. Richard (Brandy) and Storm Fuller and Noah, Sadie and Stella Robins. Marty at tended and graduated South High School in 1952, was an active member of his local AZA

Supplies

Continued from Page Nine phones, weapons and anything that might associate residents with Ukrainian security forces. At Azarkh’s, the Russians stole anything that looked valuable, like watches.

As Ukrainian and Russian

OBITUARIES

chapter, and proudly served in the Army, where he was stationed in Germany. He at tended The Ohio State Univer sity and Ohio Northern, where he graduated from the School of Pharmacy and was also a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi. Marty’s career in pharmacy began as an intern at Gray’s in Columbus. He later worked at Sloan’s Drugs in Columbus and was given the opportunity to work at Sloan’s in Fairborn, which later led him to purchas ing the business. He was the proprietor and pharmacist for 34 years where he took pride in serving his customers in the

artillery exchanged fire over their heads, Azarkh’s elderly husband began to die.

“Yuri turned to me and told me that he was dying,” she said. “I begged him: ‘Don’t die, Yuri.’ I told him that I would have to bury him in the drive way.”

Yuri was buried in a patch of earth beneath a fruit tree in Azarkh’s front garden, until the Russians withdrew, when he was reburied in the local cemetery.

Two men from the Federa tion of Jewish Communities carried another set of four large boxes of supplies into Azarkh’s home.

When the Federation dis patches its white van filled with food packages across Ukraine, wherever it goes, its volunteers and workers ask whether people know friends or neighbors — both Jewish and non-Jewish — that need help.

When asked at her home in Irpin, Evgenia Yakolevna, sprightly at 84, began making

community. Before retiring to Columbus, Marty was a longstanding member at Beth Abra ham Synagogue and a member of the Men’s Club. He was an active community member and leader in Fairborn, where he served on the Fairborn Cham ber of Commerce, Rotary Club, and a number of other com munity committees. He was a member of PACT (Public Assis tance Communications Team), where he enjoyed volunteering his time to help keep his com munity safe. Marty was also a member of the Ohio Pharmacy Association, an executive mem ber of the Fairborn YMCA,

frantic phone calls to neigh bors. “Are you home?” she shouted on the phone. “The Jewish community has arrived. We’re coming over.”

As she waited for answers to her phone calls, one of the Federation’s rabbis pointed to a Torah sitting on her side table with an appreciative nod. “I read it whenever I get the chance,” she said, smiling.

Yakolevna marched up and down the concrete staircases of her Soviet-era apartment complex with great confidence, knocking on doors and order ing the Ukrainian van driver to bring more boxes from the truck downstairs.

The building is home to families who have fallen on hard times and elderly couples whose pensions have shrunk in value as the wartime crisis bites.

In one dimly lit apartment, a sickly elderly woman who can barely move croaked and be gan to cry in her bed when Ya kolevna proudly declared that the “Jews have arrived.” The

and served a term as vice president of the Miami Valley Pharmaceutical Association. In Columbus, he was a member of Tifereth Israel and enjoyed volunteering with BREAD and the Jewish War Veterans. Marty will be remembered for his generous and kind heart and will be greatly missed by his family and friends. Donations may be made to the Jewish Historical Society, columbus jewishhistory.org; Jewish War Veterans, jwv.org; Mt. Carmel Hospice, mountcarmelhealth. com; or Tifereth Israel, tifere thisrael.org.

bedridden woman’s husband stood cautiously in a corridor. “Thanks, lads,” he said, trying to turn down the music from a Ukrainian police drama.

“We always ask if people have neighbors or friends who need support,” Rotman said. “This is an investment to help protect our Jewish brothers and sisters, because whoever their friends or neighbors are, they will be the first ones to help them when they are sick or in need of protection.”

Later, Yakolevna hitched a ride to the house of a friend, who emerged using the re mains of a Russian rocket that crashed through her home as a walking stick.

She had spent two months running down to her tiny cellar to shelter from bombings. More boxes are ferried from the wait ing van into the yard.

“If this helps her feel better and gives her more protection when she lives as the only Jew in the block, or in the local area,” Rotman said, “then we are happy.”

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