Featuring Toba Feldman
Toba Feldman has always been guided by principle. She is a person who pauses before agreeing, who asks what lies beneath an assumption, and who is more interested in consequences than consensus. She values clarity over charm and substance over ease.
“You can do anything,” she said. “But the more important question is, should you do it?” For Toba, thinking carefully is not optional. It is a responsibility. “Another key element of that question is, can you accept the consequences?” she added. “Most people, particularly today, do not accept responsibility, accountability, or consequences.” That distinction — not what is allowed, but what is right — has shaped how she has lived her life.
Toba grew up in a household molded by intelligence and curiosity. Her family history carries the imprint of immigration and incomplete records. “My mother came over with her parents in 1921,” she explained. “She was maybe almost a year old, so I’m the first American citizen.” On her father’s side, the story stretches back to Eastern Europe, though some details were lost. “We have very little information about his father actually,” she said. From both what was known and what was missing came a household that cherished knowledge, questioning, and imagination.
The influence of Toba’s mother still lives on in her home, not only through family stories, but through the objects she passed down. An array of art pieces hang on the walls, chosen carefully and filled with meaning. They reflect attention to words, ideas, and wit. One piece showcases an Einstein quote: “Logic will get you from A to Z. Imagination will get you everywhere.” A cross-stitch piece displaying the Ten Commandments reads: “Rx Take two tablets daily.”
Toba followed her own path into newspaper reporting, law, and later into the classroom. Each demanded the same discipline. Words mattered. Precision mattered.
“Be concise and be precise with what you write,” she said. “Know who your audience is and write to them.” For her, legal thinking was not about memorizing rules, but about judgment. “In most cases, you’re working with gray areas,” she explained. What matters most is intent, and understanding what you’re trying to accomplish before deciding how to proceed.
Toba has never limited her thinking to a single field. She has written many articles and columns throughout her lifetime. She interviewed public figures and asked difficult questions. She has written letters to countless editors, continuing a lifelong habit of engaging the world through ideas, because when something needs to be said, she believes it should be said clearly.
That engagement extends beyond public discourse. Toba has long rejected the notion that science and faith exist in opposition. “I never thought there was a conflict between science and faith,” she wrote in an essay. “It is not faith versus science. It is faith and science. It is values and knowledge.” For her, science explains how the world works; faith explains how we should live within it.
Judaism, for Toba, is not performative. It is ethical, historical, and demanding. She notices patterns. She draws connections. She remembers. She kept a letter her mother wrote to a Dayton editor in 1973 defending Israel. At the time, her mother was responding to global criticism of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Toba still remembers her words. “Nobody’s talked about this,” while other countries had not been similarly criticized. Noticing what is missing from the conversation became part of how Toba learned to think.
She does not soften her edges. She does not apologize for thinking deeply or speaking plainly. She knows some failures are inevitable. That perspective has guided her as she has navigated life’s complexities, asking not just what is possible, but what responsibility demands.
Toba Feldman was interviewed on January 28, 2026 by Rabbi Rick Kellner and Hannah Karr
Written by Hannah Karr
Director of Marketing & Community Engagement
Congregation Beth Tikvah
The Carob Tree Project is an initiative at Congregation Beth Tikvah designed to preserve the life stories, wisdom, and experiences of longtime congregants so their voices continue to guide the community long into the future.
This project was started by Rabbi Rick Kellner and Hannah Karr, inspired by a story in the Talmud about Honi the Circle Maker. When asked why he is planting a tree that will take decades to bear fruit, he explains that just as others planted for him, he plants for the generations who will come after him. The lesson is about legacy, continuity, and responsibility across generations.
In that spirit, the Carob Tree Project focuses on members of the congregation whose lives hold deep experience, reflection, and perspective. Through recorded interviews, participants are invited to share memories, formative moments, values, and lessons learned.
These interviews are video or audio recorded and saved, ensuring that their stories become a lasting resource for the community. Written profiles are then created from the interviews so that the insights and voices of these individuals can be shared more widely within the congregation.
The goal is not simply to document history. It is to capture the human insight behind a life lived — the ideas, questions, and experiences that can nurture future generations. Just like the carob tree in the Talmudic story, the project recognizes that the fruits of a person’s life often extend far beyond their own lifetime.
In this way, the Carob Tree Project becomes both an archive and a teaching tool: a living collection of stories that remind the community how wisdom is passed forward — one voice, one memory, and one life at a time.