Yom Huledet Sameach

Israel & Technion Partners In Innovation

Since the day it opened its doors in 1924, the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology has been the cornerstone of Israel’s remarkable advancements in science, technology, and education.

Together, the Technion and Israel have forged a partnership to advance the nation’s global prominence and thriving high-tech economy.

As we approach the Technion Centennial next year, we honor Israel’s 75th anniversary today, and celebrate the bright future we are creating together through groundbreaking collaboration.

CONTENTS

6 An extraordinary Jewish state is born

12 Clevelanders have played a vital role in Israel’s success

20 Mandel Foundation training Israeli leaders to build ‘stronger system’

24 Northeast Ohio organizations that benefit Israel

28

SISTER CITIES - Cleveland, Beit Shean connect on similar challenges, opportunities for change

30 Early connections drove Cleveland-Israeli business deals

32 Cleveland Israel Arts Connection puts spotlight on culture

34 Cleveland opens doors for Israeli shin shinim

36 Birthright trip offers gift of life-changing experience

38 Whether it’s your first trip or your 10th trip, the message is the same

have fun, enjoy Israel

Celebrating Israel’s first 75 years

75 years!

When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, Jews around the world danced in the streets with joy. Now, 75 years later, the country has grown from a edgling nation into a thriving country in the Middle East.

The successes the country has achieved are too numerous to list. Its innovations can be seen making an impact in virtually all walks of life, from athletics to education to science to medicine to religion and so on. Israel has achieved so much in its “short,” 75-year existence.

And Israel’s connection with the Cleveland Jewish community has been a special one from the beginning, which is why we at the Cleveland Jewish News were excited to create this special, keepsake magazine celebrating the Jewish state’s 75-year statehood.

In this special supplement magazine of the Cleveland Jewish News, we walk you

through the unique connection between our community and Eretz Yisrael.

In these pages, you will read about:

• How Israel was created and why

• The incredible people who supported the founding of Israel, and those who have played an integral part in keeping

Israel prosperous

• The organizations that support and thrive from their partnership with Israel

• The Mandel Foundation and what it does for Israel

• The arts connection between Cleveland and Israel

• Cleveland’s sister city, Beit Shean

• The lure of Israeli businesses to the Cleveland area

• Why so many young adults embark on a trip to Israel through the Birthright Israel Foundation

• Tips from experts for planning a visit to Israel.

As Israel prepares for its diamond anniversary on May 14, 2023 – Israel’s Independence Day – one can only look back with pride and look ahead with optimism for the next 75 years!

Yom huledet sameach!

Bob Jacob

Cleveland Jewish News Editor

CJN Editor Bob Jacob, right, at the Western Wall with a Chabad rabbi in 2019 during his inaugural visit to Israel.

EDITORIAL

Editor

Bob Jacob

Lifestyles Editor

Amanda Koehn

Columbus Bureau Chief

Stephen Langel

Staff Reporters

Courtney Byrnes, Sherry Gavanditti, Becky Raspe, Meghan Walsh

Columnists

Andy Baskin, Hal Becker, Douglas Bloomfield, Regina Brett, Ben Cohen, Sheri Gross, Les Levine*, Monica Robins, Cliff Savren, Harold Ticktin, Jonathan S. Tobin

ADVERTISING

Vice President of Sales

Adam Mandell

Custom Publishing Manager

Paul Bram

Events Manager

Gina Lloyd

Sales & Marketing Manager

Andy Isaacs

Senior Account Executives

Ron Greenbaum, Adam Jacob, Nell V. Kirman

Custom Publishing Coordinator

Marilyn Evans

Office Coordinator & Sales Assistant

Sherry Tilson

DIGITAL

Digital Marketing Manager

Cheryl Sadler

Digital Content Producers

DeAnna MacKeigan

Megan Roth

BUSINESS & CIRCULATION

CFO

Tracy DiDomenico

Office Administrator

Abby Royer

Accounting Assistants

Amanda LaLonde

Latesha McCaffety

Subscription Coordinator

Julie Palkovitz

DESIGN

Design Manager

Stephen Valentine

Senior Designer

Jessica Simon

Designers

Bella Bendo

Ricki Urban

*of blessed memory

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Vice Chairs: Rabbi Rosette Barron Haim, Dennis A. Linden, Harvey Siegel, Becky Watts

Treasurer: Lawrence M. Hirsh

Assistant Treasurer: Susan D. Krantz

Secretary: David Minc

Directors: Joshua Berggrun, Ilene Butensky Brehm, Michael Broidy, Leora Cohen, Shari Loveman Goldberg, Meredith Hillman, Kate Hubben, Jackie Jacobs, Ari H. Jaffe, Sharon Sobol Jordan, Kate Kaput, Ethan Karp, Michele Krantz, Emily Lebowitz, Gregg A. Levine, Greg Marcus, Adam Miller,

Board Chair: Paul J. Singerman

President: Kevin S. Adelstein

Vice President of Sales: Adam Mandell

Aaron Minc, Earl Pike, Lauren B. Rock, David J. Sherriff, Scott Simon, Dr. Mark Stovsky, James A. Strassman, Ronald J. Teplitzky (ex officio), Nancy B. Udelson, Arthur A. Weisman, Susan Paley Zak

Past Chairs/Honorary Life Directors: Max Axelrod*, Barry R. Chesler, Donald K. Freedheim, Marc W. Freimuth, Peggy Garson, victor gelb*, Bruce M. Hennes, David R. Hertz II, Martin Marcus, Michael A. Ritter, Lloyd Schwenger*, Gary Shamis, Wilton S. Sogg*, Harold S. Stern*, Norman Wain*, James M. Yasinow*, Ben D. Zevin*

CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION

Board Chair: Ronald J. Teplitzky

Vice Chairs: Mark Bogomolny, Larry Friedman, Marcy Young

Secretary: Clifford Wolf

Treasurer: Bruce Friedman

Directors: Aaron Evenchik, Barry Feldman, Debra Rothschild,

*of blessed memory

Meredith Glazer, David Gottlieb, Estra Grant, David Kroh, Kenneth Liffman, Paul J. Singerman (ex officio)

Emeritus Directors: Barry R. Chesler, David Kaufman, Susan C. Levine, Martin H. Marcus, Paul J. Singerman, Norman Wain*, Chuck Whitehill

Affiliations: The CJN is an independent newspaper serving the community since 1964. It is a member of the American Jewish Press Association, Press Club of Cleveland and Ohio SPJ. The CJN is a member of The Associated Press, and a subscriber to JTA and JNS.org

*of blessed memory

PUBLISHER AND CEO

Kevin S. Adelstein

23880 Commerce Park Blvd. Suite 1 Beachwood, OH 44122 CJN.ORG | 216-454-8300 | INFO@CJN.ORG

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation’s mission is to contribute to the flourishing of the United States and Israel as just, inclusive, compassionate and democratic societies and to improve the quality of life of all citizens in both countries.

Best wishes from all of us on Israel’s 75th anniversary.

MAY

An extraordinary Jewish state is born

BY: CLIFF SAVREN CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS COLUMNIST

Initially, Theodor Herzl’s plans for the creation of a Jewish state and for bringing the Jewish people back to their ancient homeland must have seemed entirely unrealistic. But following the convening of the First Zionist Congress in the Swiss city of Basel, Herzl wrote the following: “In

Basel, I founded the Jewish state,” he wrote in his diary on Sept. 3, 1897. “If I said this out loud today, l would be greeted by universal laughter. In ve years perhaps, and certainly in 50 years, everyone will perceive it.”

Just over 50 years later, on May 14, 1948, as the British withdrew from the country, the state of Israel was proclaimed by the country’s rst prime

minister, David Ben-Gurion. There is no historical parallel of a persecuted people scattered around the world returning to their ancient homeland.

Zionism took several forms, which complemented one another. Herzl, who died in 1904 at the age of 44 and never lived to witness the major strides of the Zionist movement, was the personi cation of political Zionism.

In this May 14, 1948 photo, an unidentified official shows the signed document which proclaims the establishment of the new Jewish state of Israel declared by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv.

| AP Photo

The rst milestone in the e ort came in 1917 when the British foreign secretary, Lord Balfour, issued a very British-sounding letter stating that “his Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” That was of importance because Britain was a major power, but it became key after World War I, when the League of Nations gave Britain a mandate to govern Palestine in 1920.

A second aspect of Zionism was practical Zionism – the idea that if a Jewish state were to be established, it required the presence of a signi cant

Jewish population in the country and the development of all the hallmarks of a country, including institutions of governance, agriculture, industry, towns and cities and infrastructure. The rst wave of immigration began in the 1880s, prior to the First Zionist Congress, but there were new waves of immigrants in the subsequent decades. And in the years since Israel’s establishment in 1948, the country has taken in an astounding 3.3 million immigrants.

There was also cultural Zionism, the most miraculous achievement of which was the revival of Hebrew as the spoken language of the Jews of the country in

the making. Herzl, by the way, sco ed at such a prospect. In his landmark pamphlet “The Jewish State,” he claimed that it would be impossible to buy a train ticket in Hebrew.

Today, Israel has a modern train network selling tickets in Hebrew via smartphone apps. And thanks to a generation that worked tirelessly to revive Hebrew, and to the Hebrew Language Academy, which still helps guide the language’s development, Israelis can not only buy a train ticket in Hebrew, but can also talk about complex technology in the language, with vocabulary based on ancient Hebrew roots.

Golda Meir (Goldie Meyerson) of the political department of The Jewish Agency, signs the Declaration of Establishment of the new Jewish state in Palestine during ceremonies outside the Tel Aviv Museum on May 14, 1948. Eliezer Kaplan, center, treasurer in the new cabinet of the independent Jewish state and Moshe Sharett (Shertok), member of the political section of The Jewish Agency and designated Minister of Foreign Affairs, right, look on. | AP Photo

IN THE BEGINNING

Despite the early support from Britain for a Jewish homeland, the British later limited Jewish immigration at a tragically fateful time for the Jewish people, just prior to the extermination of European Jewry in the Holocaust – under pressure from Arabs living in the country. Amid continuing Arab-Jewish tensions in Palestine after World War II, the British announced that they would withdraw from the country.

The future of Palestine shifted to the United Nations and a special committee that studied the issue. It recommended partitioning the country into a Jewish state and an Arab state (and the temporary internationalization of Jerusalem). This was the most critical period for political Zionism as efforts were made to get the U.N. General Assembly to vote in favor of the resolution.

One of the leading figures in that effort was a Cleveland rabbi – Abba Hillel Silver. Following the United Nations’ acceptance of the partition plan on Nov. 29, 1947, allout fighting broke out between Jewish and Arab forces in Palestine, even before the British withdrawal in May of the following year.

It was the armistice lines set in 1949 at the end of the War of Independence that shaped Israel’s initial boundaries. The war had displaced hundreds of thousands of Arabs and also coincided with a flood of Jewish immigrants to the country, mainly from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Dire housing shortages meant that many of the Jewish newcomers lived in transit camps.

The Arab world initially refused to recognize Israel’s existence and the presence of Arab refugees in surrounding Arab countries reinforced that stance. The Arabs vowed to destroy Israel and in 1956, after mounting attacks on Israel and the disruption of Israeli navigation, Israel went to war with Egypt. Israel

was ultimately forced to withdraw from Egyptian territory, but secured arrangements that strengthened its military posture.

In 1967, after Egypt ordered peacekeeping forces out of the area and again declared a blockade of Israeli shipping, Israel launched a preemptive strike. Jordan and Syria joined the fighting on Egypt’s side. Israel emerged victorious in less than a week in what became known as the Six-Day War. It captured the entire Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. Israel reunited Jerusalem, the eastern half of which, where the Temple Mount and the Western Wall are, had been under Jordanian control.

YOM KIPPUR WAR

There was another round of fighting in 1973, in which Arab forces launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur. Following heavy losses, Israel finally gained the upper hand.

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made a breakthrough visit to Israel in 1977 and the two countries signed a peace agreement two years later, when Menachem Begin was prime minister. The 1990s saw the establishment of a self-governing Palestinian Authority in portions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which was seen as a precursor to an independent Palestinian state. In 1994, Jordan also signed a peace treaty with Israel.

The following year, the Israeli architect of the controversial peace process with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was gunned down at a peace rally in Tel Aviv. The country in many ways is still suffering from the trauma and division that preceded and followed the assassination.

It was only in 2020, with the signing of the Abraham Accords that the next major breakthrough came in relations

with the Arab world, with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalizing relations with the Jewish state. Morocco would follow.

PALESTINIAN RELATIONSHIPS

Relations with the Palestinians have been much more complex. After the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel began building Jewish neighborhoods in the eastern half of Jerusalem to make it difficult or impossible to redivide the city. For their part, the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

In the years since the Six-Day War, Israeli governments – some grudgingly and some enthusiastically – have permitted the establishment of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The Palestinians view the West Bank, along with Gaza, as part of a future Palestinian state, but complicating matters further, in 2007, the Islamist Hamas movement took over Gaza, ousting the Palestinian Authority and turning the territory into a terrorist base.

Israel effectively annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 and the Syrian Golan Heights in 1981, but it has never annexed the West Bank, which is now home to hundreds of thousands of Israelis as well as millions of Palestinians. The future of the territory remains a matter of dispute not only between Israel and the Palestinians, but also among Israelis themselves.

Despite the challenges and disagreements, Israel is one of the most spectacular successes of nation-building in the post-World War II period. From a Jewish population of roughly 600,000 Jews and 100,000 Arabs, it is now home to more than 9 million people, around 80% of whom are Jewish. It has also welcomed more than 3 million immigrants, including more than 70,000 last year alone. Theodor Herzl would be amazed.

love sharing a birthday with you! Our commitment to you is as strong today as it was in 1947.

In tribute to:

THE CLASS OF 2022 who are currently studying in Israel;

THE CLASS OF 2023 who will continue their education in Israel;

AND TO THE HUNDREDS OF ACADEMY ALUMNI who have chosen to make Eretz Yisrael their permanent home and contribute to every facet of life there.

(yom huledet sameach),

So would Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who led the e ort to revive the Hebrew language. A major Israeli cultural milestone was achieved in 1966 when Hebrew writer S.Y. Agnon received the Nobel Prize for Literature. In the years since, a number of Israeli authors have achieved major international recognition, including David Grossman and the late Amos Oz.

A THRIVING NATION

Theater, the plastic arts and music have thrived in the new Jewish state and several Israeli universities are also top-ranked. Since 2002, nine Israeli academics have won Nobel Prizes in economics or chemistry.

In contrast to Israel’s early years, when notable among its exports was oranges, over the past two decades, it has become an economic powerhouse that has attracted billions of dollars of investment to its high-tech sector.

Astoundingly, high-tech products now account for half of Israel’s exports.

The dominant gure in Israeli politics over the past two decades has been Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has even bested the record of Israel’s rst prime minister, David BenGurion, as the country’s longest-serving prime minister. Following a stint in the 1990s, and his electoral defeat in 1999, he managed to regain the post of prime minister in 2009.

Israel’s proportional representation system of parliamentary government in many ways suits a new country in which contentious issues such as the country’s borders and the role of religion are unsettled, but in recent years, the elections have led to inconclusive outcomes or unstable coalition governments. The political situation was further complicated when Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 while

prime minister on corruption charges. His trial is ongoing.

Netanyahu was ousted from power following an election in 2021. For the rst time, Israel had a coalition government that included an Arab party, the United Arab List. The common denominator in that government was opposition to Netanyahu, but di erences within the coalition led to its losing its majority in 2022. Another election was held in November 2022, which brought Netanyahu back into power at the helm of the most right-wing government in the country’s history.

His government has a stable majority in parliament, but its legislative plans, which would give the government dominance over the selection of Supreme Court justices and give parliament the right to overturn Supreme Court decisions, has sparked weekly protests that have attracted upwards of 200,000 people in Tel Aviv alone. At the end of March, amid the demonstrations and his plunge in public opinion polls, Netanyahu agreed to pause the legislation until after Israel celebrates its 75th anniversary (according to the Hebrew calendar) on April 26.

Even the most dispassionate observer of the sweep of history since the First Zionist Congress in 1897 would have to admit that Israel’s story is extraordinary in every respect. What Theodor Herzl started ultimately transformed the Jewish people from a persecuted and poor minority nearly everywhere that Jews lived into a people with a sovereign homeland that has taken its place among the family of nations. The Zionist movement has also created a strong and con dent country of 9 million Israelis rooted in their past,but with an eye toward the future. If the past is any guide, one can only imagine the successes that the country will be celebrating on its 100th anniversary in 25 years.

An Israeli soldier, armed with a sten gun, picks her way through the shattered walls of Sulimans Way, in the old city of Jerusalem, Palestine, July 20, 1948, which forms a front line between the Arabs inside and Jewish forces outside the walls. Fierce fighting happened between the two forces following the expiry of a two-day truce. | AP Photo / Jim Pringle

May 14, 1948 - The independent country of Israel is declared. The first prime minister is David Ben-Gurion.

Happy Birthday, Israel!

Clevelanders have played a vital role in Israel’s success

BY: COURTNEY BYRNES CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Since before Israel declared its independence in 1948 through contemporary times, Clevelanders have played crucial roles in the founding and prosperity of the Jewish state. The late Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver is the most prominent Clevelander involved in the creation of the Jewish homeland.

But others, too, played a central role in its establishment and success today. Some of these people appeared in the Cleveland Jewish News’ Israel 60th special publication, with many more Clevelanders playing crucial roles in the next 15 years.

They are presented here in alphabetical order. There are others who may not be featured here but who may too, have played an equally important role.

Robert Goldberg

Robert “Bobby” Goldberg has owned an apartment in Israel since 1970, and he spends seven or eight weeks there a year. Over the years, he has gotten personal calls from four Israeli leaders: Ariel Sharon, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and Nathan Sharansky.

As a past chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, Goldberg devoted much of his time to the Jewish state. A top priority has been development of Israel, notably the town of Beit Shean through the Partnerships 2000 program that he helped establish.

As a former president of AmTrust Bank, formerly Ohio Savings, Goldberg said his favorite project in Israel had been helping Ethiopian Jews settle in the Jewish state. Parents and Children Together, rst established in Be’er-Sheva in the Negev and now expanded to other Ethiopian communities, helps Ethiopian youngsters and their parents navigate cultural and economic barriers to keep pace with other Israelis.

Stephen Ho man

As president emeritus of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Stephen H. Ho man’s leadership took him to many places, meeting countless important o cials and mentoring future leaders, during his 35-year tenure. He retired at the end of 2018, but continues to be involved in the community as chairman of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation’s board of trustees.

Arriving in Cleveland from Philadelphia in 1974 to serve as director of social planning and research at the Federation, Ho man moved his way up to becoming CEO and president in 1983. His time at the Federation was broken up by a short stint when he was on “loan” to serve as the president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America from 2001 to 2004.

May 15, 1948 - Israel is attacked by a coalition of Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon in the first Arab-Israeli War. The Israelis win the war.

Very early on in his presidency in Cleveland, he learned of the plight of the Ethiopian Jews and mobilized, along with other federations, to raise funds to settle them in Israel, and later founded Parents and Children Together, an educational support program that helps Ethiopian children pass pre-kindergarten and kindergarten today. Ho man was also the founding director of the Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education and founder and past co-chair of the Secure Community Network.

He serves on Israel-focused boards, including the Jewish People Policy Institute in Israel and The Jewish Agency for Israel.

While being honored at JFNA’s 2018 General Assembly in Tel Aviv, Ho man said, “Cleveland is special to me. We are Zionists who live the concept of Kol Israel arevim ze lazeh, or all Jews are responsible for each other. That really drives me. I can’t think of any better way to have spent my life.”

Mendy Klein

Just how far his philanthropy reached became apparent when Robert “Mendy” Klein died May 3, 2018, at age 65, and his loss was felt by mourners from Cleveland to New York and Israel. Among the causes Klein cherished were education, mental health, abuse prevention, security, cemeteries and the state of Israel.

Born to Holocaust survivors in Hungary, Klein came to the United States in 1956 and became a successful businessman.

A pillar of the Orthodox community, Klein was a huge donor to Hebrew Academy of Cleveland, Yeshiva Derech HaTorah, Fuchs Mizrachi and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, and instrumental in bringing The Shabbos Project to Cleveland.

In Israel, Klein was instrumental in the restoration of Kever Rochel, the Tomb of Rachel, and championed initiatives throughout the Jewish state, including Amudim Israel, a con dential resource center providing clinical case management and crisis intervention for individuals and families impacted by abuse, trauma and addiction.

S. Lee Kohrman

Over the 24 years he served as president of the David and Inez Myers Foundation, S. Lee Kohrman led the foundation in contributing $150 million to organizations in Cleveland, Israel and beyond. Many of those investments went to Israeli universities for research in the life sciences, including the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute in Jerusalem of which he served as a chair.

Kohrman’s Zionist beliefs stem from his father and have led him to visit Israel close to 100 times. For a time, he found himself traveling to the Jewish homeland four times a year, partly due to his work with the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

His rst time in Israel was in 1950, shortly after the War of Independence and his graduation from Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass.

“I was young. The country was young,” Kohrman told the CJN in 2020. “We used to go out at night, catch sh, ship them to Tel Aviv in the morning. That’s forever in my memory.”

As a past chair of the Bureau for Jewish Education, the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland created the S. Lee Kohrman Award in Jewish Experiential Education in 2020 to be awarded annually to one outstanding “Beyond the Classroom” Jewish educator in Cleveland.

January 25, 1949 - The first Knesset is held. Israel becomes a member of the United Nations. Israel’s first national election; David Ben-Gurion elected prime minister.

Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld

As spiritual leader of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple and leader of some of the country’s major Jewish organizations, Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld is best remembered for his social activism, particularly in the area of civil rights.

But as a young rabbi, he urged President Harry S. Truman to recognize the state of Israel. Two years before Israel’s birth, as executive director of the Committee of Unity for Palestine in the Zionist Organization of America, Lelyveld met with Truman in the White House. He helped make the case for a Jewish state at a time when the State Department was hostile to the idea, The New York Times said in the rabbi’s obituary.

Following his ordination as a Reform rabbi and positions with two small synagogues, Lelyveld went to New York in 1944 to devote himself full time to the Zionist cause. He campaigned across the country in support of a Jewish state, challenging those Jews with opposing views. Later, he served as president of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Lelyveld died April 15, 1996.

Morton Mandel

Morton Mandel, whose name appears on a number of Jewish and Cleveland institutions due to his family’s large philanthropic gifts, rst visited Israel in 1967, after the Six-Day War. Since then, he had visited the country four times a year, donated money and invested in businesses there.

In 1940, Mandel – and his brothers and partners, Joseph and Jack – established Premier Automotive Supply Company, a small business that sold spare auto parts. It became Premier Industrial Corporation, a distributor of auto parts and electronic components, which was bought in 1996 by Parnell Electronics PLC, a British rm.

In 1998, the family foundation established the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem to train and cultivate leaders in education, societal administration, government and the military. In 2005, another Mandel leadership center was started in the Negev to train young people to work in nonpro t organizations there. Mandel, who holds honorary doctorates from Hebrew and Ben-Gurion universities, joined with others to found Israel Equity Ltd. in 2003. IEL invests in Israeli companies, such as Phoenicia Glass Works, a bottle factory, and Bikur-Rofe, a chain of urgent care clinics. Philanthropy and creating jobs are equally important in developing the Negev, Mort Mandel told Globes, an online Israeli magazine. He sees his work in Israel as a partnership with the government, which has “to do the right thing. ... The government has to create conditions to attract the business entrepreneur.” Mort Mandel died Oct. 16, 2019. He was 98. Jack Mandel died May 12, 2011 at 99, and Joe Mandel died March 22, 2016 at 102.

Sam Miller

While Sam Miller’s o ce walls inside Terminal Tower in downtown Cleveland were once covered with photographs of him with celebrities, world dignitaries, religious leaders and politicians, his true dedication was to regular people. Born to poor Jewish immigrants from Russia and Poland, he always remembered his humble beginnings as he climbed the ranks to become co-chairman emeritus of Forest City Realty Trust and had a seat at the table with Israeli prime ministers and Pope John Paul II.

As he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cleveland Jewish News 18 Di erence Makers in 2016, Miller shared a story from his time in the U.S. Navy after the Golan Heights fell and his close friend, Golda Meir, Israel’s rst and only female prime minister, invited him along with her to see President Richard Nixon.

October 29, 1956 - The Suez Crisis occurs when Egypt takes control of the Suez Canal.

Due to his philanthropy and leadership, his name graces the Maria and Sam Miller Emergency Services Building at Cleveland Clinic and The Samuel H. Miller Keeping our Words Alive Digital Archive of the CJN through grants from the Samuel H. and Maria Miller Foundation, as well as the Sam Miller Goodness Award given during Values in Action Foundation’s Celebration of Goodness event, which Miller started in 2000.

Miller was a lifetime honorary trustee of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the National Conference of Christians and Jews; honorary trustee of Case Western Reserve University; chair of Israel Bonds and Cleveland Jewish Welfare Fund; and board member

He also campaigned on behalf of United Jewish Appeal across the United States. Miller was awarded the American Red Cross National Humanitarian Award, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award and the Distinguished Service Award of Medical Hall of Fame. In 2022, the CJN renamed its Lifetime Achievement Award to honor Miller, now known as the Sam Miller Lifetime Achievement

David N. Myers

Philanthropist, self-made businessman and civic activist, David N. Myers made enormous contributions to Israel. Through the David and Inez Myers Foundation established at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, he and his wife, Inez, disbursed millions of dollars to Jewish and secular causes. He helped establish Cleveland’s Israel Bonds e ort and was a founder of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. There, he endowed a laboratory for skin biochemistry and biology. One specialization was growing human skin to treat burn patients.

He and Inez established a scholarship fund for seven universities in Israel to help send 500 young people a year to college. Myers also oversaw the investment of the college-scholarship endowment.

Since his death at the age of 99 in 1999, Myers’ legacy has continued through his foundation. A grant from the David and Inez Myers Foundation created a $15 million endowment for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Brookdale Institute in Jerusalem, a nonpro t organization that operates in partnership with the government of Israel.

The independent nonpro t researches social, health and educational challenges facing Israel, often in uencing government policy. Major projects include Parents and Children Together to acculturate Ethiopian immigrants, the Israel Defense Forces’ Havat HaShomer Program to enable disadvantaged youth to integrate into the army, and a program improving women’s health care in Israel.

Arthur Neparstek

From 1998 to 2002, the late Arthur Naparstek was chair of the Partnership 2000 program in Beit Shean, Cleveland’s sister city in Israel. He attempted to build a strong community out of the disparate, often con icting elements of the town’s Sephardi and Ashkenazi residents. In 2000, Naparstek was named an honorary citizen of Beit Shean, the rst American to receive the award.

As senior vice president of the Israel and overseas pillar of the Jewish Federations of North America from 2001 to 2002, Naparstek also helped create the Beit Shean Valley Community Foundation.

Later, he worked on activating the Ethiopian National Project to help speed the acculturation of the Ethiopian Israeli community.

A professor of social work and former dean of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland with urban development experience in Cleveland, Naparstek laid out the strategy to help the absorption eventually of 86,000 Ethiopian immigrants into Israel society. Under Naparstek’s watch, JFNA and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland developed an information-based system of overseas needs assessment and allocation. Neparstek died April 24, 2004.

May 31, 1962 - Adolf Eichmann tried and executed in Israel for his part in the Holocaust

Albert Ratner

While Albert Ratner is well-known locally as the former CEO and chairman of Forest City Enterprises, where he was instrumental in the development of Tower City in downtown Cleveland in the 1990s, his impact has spanned across the nation and overseas.

In 1996, Ratner and a number of other local businessmen formed Ohio-Israel Chamber of Commerce to facilitate business between Ohio and Israel. He is also the founder of Global Cleveland, an initiative launched to attract, welcome and integrate immigrants, refugees and international students to revitalize and diversify the city.

As a past board chair, Ratner now serves the Jewish Federation of Cleveland as a lifetime trustee. He is also a member of the International Council of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and founder of Shoes and Clothes for Kids.

Charles Horowitz Ratner

With citizenship and residences in both the U.S. and Israel, Charles Horowitz Ratner is a selfproclaimed committed Zionist. Upon beginning his three-year term as board chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland in 2000, he told the board of trustees he hoped to “rede ne our relationship with Israel.”

Ratner began serving on the board of The Jewish Agency for Israel in 2002, where he served as chair of the budget and nance committee and the education committee until becoming the chairman of the board of governors from 2014 to 2017. In 2013 as the budget and nance chair, Ratner was one of two Cleveland leaders to sit in on a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

With community, volunteer work and philanthropy centered around Jewish day school and Israel education, the former board chair at Forest City Enterprises was the founding chair of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. He has served on the board of the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation and The David and Inez Myers

Leonard and Max Ratner

Longtime supporters of Israel, the late Max and Leonard Ratner, two of nine siblings who emigrated with their parents from Poland in 1920, were part of Cleveland’s a uent real estate development family.

Leonard rst established the Ratner family as major philanthropists and was active in Zionist politics. He was a leader in state of Israel Bonds and served on the board of American Friends of The Hebrew University, among other Jewish nonpro t organizations. Israel’s rst prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, and its rst and only female prime minister, Golda Meir, were among Leonard’s personal friends.

Max, who rst visited Israel at its establishment in 1948 and subsequently more than 150 times, was a founder and later president of the New York-based American-Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was active in the Israel-U.S. Business Council. Economic development of Israel was his passion.

Increasing trade between the U.S. and Israel and making the Jewish state self-reliant were among Max’s goals. He invested in

June 5-10, 1967 - The Six-Day War is fought between Israel and a group of Arab nations including Egypt, Syria Jordan, and Iraq. Israel won the war and took control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights.

enterprises in Israel and founded an organization to encourage Americans with scienti c and technological expertise to move there.

American Jews often found it easier to give to charities in Israel, rather than “involving themselves personally and more directly through helping create jobs,” he told the CJN in 1984. Leonard Ratner died in December 1974 and Max Ratner died in May 1995.

Michael D. Siegal

The Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor is an award few can claim to have received, but among those with such a claim to fame is Michael D. Siegal. The honor is bestowed to Israeli citizens and foreign nationals for outstanding contributions to the state of Israel or to humanity, and is the highest civil medal given by the president of the state of Israel.

Upon receiving the medal, Siegal told the CJN in 2022, “Going to Israel is not a big deal for me because I go four times a year, but visiting the President’s House to get an award that is given for contributions to Israel’s society and the Jewish people is pretty profound any way you look at it.”

His contributions to the state of Israel come through his leadership as Siegal served as chairman of The Jewish Agency for Israel from 2017 to 2022, chair of Israel Bonds from 2007 to 2010, chair of JFNA from 2012 to 2015 and board chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland from 2010 to 2013.

In addition to his leadership, Siegal, along with his wife, Anita, established the Michael and Anita Siegal One Happy Camper Scholarship Fund with the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver

Without the tireless e orts of Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, spiritual leader of The Temple-Tifereth Israel for 46 years, there might not be the state of Israel. His brilliant oratory at the United Nations as chairman of the American section of The Jewish Agency for Israel and his persistent lobbying of key political gures were crucial to the UN passing a measure in November 1947 to partition Palestine and establish a Jewish state.

Silver’s deep Zionist convictions dated from his boyhood on the Lower East Side of New York, when he and his brother founded a Zionist club. Later, he not only rejected the anti-Zionism in Reform Judaism, he impressed his views upon the entire movement. In 1935, speaking before the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Silver successfully urged his Reform colleagues to abandon their anti-Zionist principles.

A Jewish state, he told a 1943 Zionist conference in New York, “would be the ultimate rescue achievement and the only convincing response to the millennial tragedy of Jewish persecution.” As chairman of the Zionist Organization of America, he was the dominant spokesman for American Jewry.

Raphael Silver told the CJN in 1997 that his father, a registered Republican, was committed to social justice and supported labor unions and child labor laws. But when it came to Israel, he was “opportunistic politically. He switched his support to those he thought could do the most for a state for Jews. He supported Eisenhower because he thought he could do good things for Israel.”

Silver did not trust President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom he visited in the White House during World War II to urge help for Jews trapped in Europe, biographers say. The tall, imposing rabbi with his piercing dark eyes and full head of white hair also argued with President Harry S. Truman, who ultimately was key to the creation of Israel. Silver died Nov. 28, 1963. He was 70.

Amb. Milton A. Wolf

U.S. ambassador to Austria from 1977 to 1980 during the Carter administration, where he hosted the SALT II talks and conferred with world leaders, the late Amb. Milton A. Wolf once told the CJN that he learned his most important lesson, tzedakah, as a boy in Cleveland. Giving to others became a lifelong habit.

After making his fortune in the construction business, he served in top positions at The Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In memory of his wife, Roslyn Zehman Wolf, he started the Roz Wolf Cleveland-JDC Fellowship program, which sends a young college graduate abroad for a year to help develop Jewish life in struggling or re-emerging Jewish communities. He died May 19, 2005 at age 80.

Mandel Foundation training Israeli leaders to build ‘stronger system’

BY: STEPHEN LANGEL CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation was founded in Cleveland in 1953 and has worked in Israel for 33 of Israel’s 75 year history. The foundation’s focus on Israel is the result of the Mandel brothers’ love of the country and its people, Stephen H. Ho man, the foundation’s board of trustees chairman and president emeritus of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, said.

“They all remember when there wasn’t an Israel,” he told the Cleveland Jewish News. “They know what the state of the Jewish people was like before Israel and the change in the image and ourishing of the Jewish people since the creation of the state of Israel and they wanted to be part of building that society. And that’s what we do through the work of the foundation. We’re building a stronger system.”

The foundation’s work in Israel began in 1991 when Israel’s minister of education approached Morton Mandel with a challenge: he needed more highlyquali ed professionals to sta key positions within the Ministry of Education. This led to the establishment of the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem. Currently, the foundation runs several other programs, including the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, Mandel Leadership Center in the North and the Mandel Graduate Unit.

Ho man said, on the occasion of Israel’s 75th anniversary, the foundation’s focus remains on training the kind of leadership that can carry the country through the next 75 years and beyond.

“Mort Mandel had a philosophy, that it’s all about who leads,” he said. “And our job is to prepare leaders to search and create answers to the problems and challenges that they encounter in their journeys. We’ve been doing this now for about 25 years

and we think we’ve helped solve some of the challenges. But there’s more to come as you can see from the current events. And we’re trying to equip people to be productive citizens in building their society for the next 75 years and more.”

The Mandel Foundation’s work touches all populations across Israel, regardless of religion, political beliefs, lifestyle or location, Ho man said.

“We believe that Israel should be a Democratic and Jewish state for all of its citizens,” Ho man said. “To that end, we have educational programs to train leaders in education, leaders in community service, leaders in social activism to the north and in the south, in the area of Jewish culture, in the area of promoting civic activism in the haredi community, separate for men and for women. We work with the Bedouin community in the Negev, with the entire population in Israel’s north and we also occasionally do programs to train civil servants at the request of the government.”

Jehuda Reinharz, the foundation’s president and CEO, said the foundation is able to engage individuals from very di erent backgrounds due, in great part, to the foundation’s refusal to engage in politics.

“One thing we don’t do is don’t get involved in politics ... which is why everybody in the Israeli landscape feels

Hoffman Reinharz

Joseph Mandel, Morton Mandel and Jack Mandel in an undated photo. | Photo / Mandel Foundation

October 6-24, 1973 - The Yom Kippur War takes place when Egypt and Syria attack Israel on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Israel was able to push back the Egyptian army.

comfortable coming to us,” he told the Cleveland Jewish News. “We don’t ask somebody, what is his or her political views, what do they think? We just expect that they be of high intellectual caliber and that their aim like our aim is going to improve Israeli society when they leave our programs.”

Reinharz said the goal of these

programs is for the participants to be stronger leaders with a focus on bettering Israel. The hope is also that learning and working closely together for two years will help build understanding and bonds between individuals who may otherwise not interact.

“Here they get to know (their

classmates as) people they get to appreciate them as people, try to understand what motivates them, why they have the kinds of views that they have and it’s all done without yelling and screaming but in the context of a class where they sit literally for morning until late in the afternoon,” he said. “And I can see them, they socialize together, they sometimes become friends, visit each other. So, I think that has an enormous impact on their lives and on the way they think.”

One such program is the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, which takes 20 or so candidates a year out of a pool of hundreds of people. Participants are leaders in their 30s and 40s from various sectors and walks of life who attend the school full time for two years. During that time, the Mandel Foundation pays them a salary and takes care of any other needs they might have, so participants can focus on their studies.

The goal is to have stronger, more well-rounded leaders, through, among other things, the study of humanities, Ho man and Reinharz both said.

Ho man said studying humanities provides “the ability to have a deeper appreciation of how social interactions and sociological trends can impact their ambition as leaders.”

For example, the Mandel School for Educational Leadership includes coursework in “Humanities and Jewish Studies,” which addresses issues such as: “plurality and pluralism; the worthy human being; political philosophy and Israel; foundations of poetry; the individual and the community in literature,” according to the program’s website.

Ho man said the Mandel Foundation also recently started introducing humanities into science, technology, engineering and mathematics studies at

March 26, 1979 - Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty signed. Prime Minister

Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

Joseph C. Mandel, Morton L. Mandel and Jack N. Mandel, at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland in 2007. | Photo / Nannette Bedway

universities to improve the way participants from the high tech and engineering sectors think and also interact with others.

He said, as a result of studying the humanities, students will “have a broader appreciation of how the world works, not just the technical world, but the world they’re trying to impact through their technology. We believe it (also) gives them a more incisive way of doing analysis . ...”

Reinharz said the humanities are important because it allows individuals to “think in broader terms about society, about values,” he said. “These are really values programs. ... They read philosophy and poetry and history and sociology. It broadens their point of view, it makes them more knowledgeable about di erent aspects of life.”

Reinharz said over the more than three decades Mandel has operated in Israel, it has trained between 2,300 and 2,400 individuals in the Mandel School for Educational Leadership alone. These are graduates who have gone on to be leaders in

politics, education, technology and other elds.

“We believe that after two years … They are imbued with that sense of trying to improve Israeli society as leaders because the overall concept is leadership,” he said. “We believe that leaders who graduate will train and instruct the next generation of leaders.”

Graduates have told him the program “has changed their way of thinking ... certainly the way they think about society and what their role in Israeli society is about,” Reinharz said.

Ho man said the Mandel Foundation’s impact in Israel can be understood through the work the graduates do in the community. Those graduates include former speaker of the Knesset Yuli-Yoel Edelstein who served in that role from 2013 to 2020, high-ranking o cials in the Ministry of Education, leaders of various schools in Israel and others.

Program participants “are having an impact as leaders,” he said.

November 21, 1984 to January 5, 1985 - Operation Moses airlifts

7,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel

Beersheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich, from left, Morton Mandel and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev President Rivka Carmi stand outside the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Institute for Social Leadership in Israel in 2016. | Photo / Mandel Foundation

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Northeast Ohio organizations that benefit Israel

BY: BECKY RASPE CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Northeast Ohio’s Jewish community has no shortage of ways to support Israel through its numerous organizations dedicated to ensuring the country’s viability, health, safety and prosperity.

As the country prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary, these organizations, both national and locally based, focus their efforts to make sure Israel can celebrate the next 75 years – and beyond. The Cleveland Jewish News has complied a list of some of those organizations, including their mission statements from their website.

The Anti-Defamation League

The leading anti-hate organization in the world, the Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913. Its mission remains “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, the ADL continues in its fight to combat all forms of antisemitism and bias by using innovation and partnerships to drive its impact. Its values revolve around courage, inclusion, respect, collaboration, integrity, credibility and accountability. On the national level, the ADL is led by Ben Sax, chair of its board of directors, and Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director.

Locally, the ADL Cleveland chapter serves Ohio, Kentucky, West Virgina and western Pennsylvania. It is led by interim director Kelly Fishman, who also is the educational director of the organization.

• To learn more, visit adl.org.

American Friends of Magen David Adom/Magen David Adom

American Friends of Magen David Adom, or AFMDA, supports the efforts of Magen David Adom, Israel’s only governmentmandated ambulance and emergency medical responder. Referred to as its Red Cross, Magen David Adom was founded in June 1930 in Tel Aviv by seven Israeli doctors who set up a one-room emergency medical service in a hut.

Magen David Adom’s mission is to alleviate human suffering wherever it is found and to protect the lives and health of every individual. For that purpose, it will provide medical aid services, promote tolerance, friendship cooperation and true peace among all people, and promote community well being throughout Israel.

With 200 stations throughout Israel and 17 in Judea and Samaria, Magen David Adom has a staff of more than 30,000 EMTs and paramedics, with 27,000 of them being volunteers.

Magen David Adom has friend societies throughout the world similar to AFMDA in many countries across five continents.

AFMDA itself has four regional offices – Northeast, which includes Ohio, led by Cindy Cutler; Southeast, led by Tamara Karu; Midwest, , led by Richard Zelin; and Western, led by Janet Morgan.

• To learn more about AFMDA, visit afmda.org.

• To learn more about Magen David Adom, visit mdais.org.

American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Committee, commonly referred to as the AJC, was founded in 1906, and is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations. According to a New York Times article in 1990, the organization is widely regarded as “the dean of American Jewish organizations.”

AJC works to “shape a brighter future by taking on the toughest challenges and pursuing the most transformative opportunities,” its website states. Through its global network of offices, institutes and international partnerships, AJC engages with government leaders and civil society to counter antisemitism, bolster Israel and advance democratic values.

November 4, 1995 - Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin

assassinated

The issues it focuses on include defending Israel, combating antisemitism, countering radicalism and extremism, defeating the boycott, sanctions and divestment movement, building interreligious alliances and protecting human rights, according to its website. It does this work through global diplomacy, political advocacy, coalition-building and strategic communications.

The not-for-profit organization is led by CEO Ted Deutch and president Michael L. Tichnor. AJC Cleveland is led by Regional Director Lee C. Shapiro, who was appointed to the role in August 2007.

• To learn more, visit ajc.org.

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces

Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is a non-political, non-military organization that works with the Israel Defense Forces to provide for the well-being of its soldiers, veterans and their family members.

Founded in 1981 by a group of Holocaust survivors, FIDF is a not-for-profit corporation that operates 26 regional offices in the United States and is headquartered in New York City, according to its website. Its mission focuses on transforming the lives of young men and women in the IDF through empowering educational, financial, well-being and cultural initiatives, with a vision to secure the survival of Israel, providing a homeland for Jews worldwide.

National leadership consists of CEO Rabbi Steven Weil, who consults with its board of trustees to complete the FIDF’s work. Its Ohio chapter, which was founded in 1983, boasts 3,000 supporters throughout Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Youngstown and Toledo. It is led by director Lane Schlessel and development associate Jill Barron.

• To learn more, visit fidf.org.

Hadassah

Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organization of North America, was founded before Israel was even a state – operating for over 100 years and with a membership of 300,000 women, according to its website.

Its work is centralized in finding and implementing solutions to “some of the most pressing challenges facing each generation,” including advancing women’s health, supporting a strong Israel and instilling Jewish values in future generations.

According to its website, its mission statement is: “Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is a volunteer organization that inspires a passion for and commitment to the land, the people, and the future of Israel. Through education, advocacy, and youth development, and its support of medical care and research at Hadassah Medical Organization, Hadassah enhances the health and lives of people in Israel, the United States and worldwide.”

Its national president is Rhoda Smolow. Its CEO and executive director is Naomi Adler.

Hadassah’s Greater Cleveland chapter operated for over 100 years before it shuttered in 2015. Its programming was absorbed into the Midwest region of Hadassah since, which is led by president Francine Ephraim.

• For more information, visit hadassah.org.

Israel Bonds

Israel Bonds, also known as the Development Corporation for Israel, is one of the country’s most valued economic and strategic resources, according to its website.

With a proven record of success spanning over 70 years, the Bonds organization helps in building every sector of Israel’s economy. Worldwide sales have exceeded $48 billion since the first bonds were issues in 1951, according to its website, and proceeds from the sale of Israel bonds play a role in Israel’s evolution into a global leader in high-tech, green tech and bio-tech. Since its inception, Israel has maintained a perfect record of interest and principal payments.

Its national board of directors is led by chairman Howard L. Goldstein; its national campaign advisory council is led by Larry Olschwanger; and its international board of directors is also led by chairman Goldstein.

Israel Bonds has sales offices throughout the United States. Locally, Thomas Lockshin is executive director for Ohio and Kentucky.

• To learn more, visit israelbonds.com.

March 29, 2009 - John Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker from Seven Hills, is arrested on suspicion of assisting in the murder of at least 29,000 Jews at the Sobibor extermination center in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. He died in Germany March 17, 2012.

The Jewish Education Center of Cleveland

The Jewish Education Center of Cleveland is a nationally-recognized central agency “at the cutting edge of educational practice providing professional growth, organizational support and avenues for Jewish journeys,” according to its website.

Functioning as the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s educational arm, the JEC was created in 1993 as the result of a merger of the Federation’s Commission on Jewish Continuity and Cleveland’s Bureau of Jewish Education, which was founded in 1924. Its mission is to ensure Jewish continuity in Cleveland by fostering and strengthening lifelong Jewish learning and education across diverse settings, with its core values including Jewish traditions and values; pursuit of excellence; lifelong learning; education children and families in any and all settings; innovation and inspiration; capacity building; research and evaluation; centrality of Hebrew in Jewish life; and commitment to Israel, among others.

Marlyn Bloch Jaffe serves as its executive director.

• For more information, visit jecc.org.

Jewish Federation of North America/Jewish Federation of Cleveland

The Jewish Federations of North America, formerly the United Jewish Communities, is an American Jewish umbrella organization consisting of 146 Jewish Federations and 300 independent Jewish communities in the United States.

Led nationally by president and CEO Eric D. Fingerhut, a former Clevelander, JFNA’s community federations raise and distribute a combined over $3 billion annually. Through panned giving and endowment programs, it supports social welfare, social services and educational needs. According to its website, JFNA provides services that build the capacity of local Jewish communities. It helps Federations learn from one another, build affinity groups and provide training, collateral materials and seed funding for innovation; as well as partner with Israeli government and various agencies to secure the Jewish state; helps vulnerable groups like immigrants and Holocaust survivors; and lobbies in Washington, D.C. to secure funds to flow into Jewish communities.

Cleveland’s Federation, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, is led by President Erika B. Rudin-Luria. According to its website, its priorities are caring for one another, preparing for the future, sharing perspectives and repairing the world.

• To learn more, visit jewishfederations.org.

• To learn more about the local federation, visit jewishcleveland.org.

Jewish National Fund

A nonprofit organization and United Nations non-governmental office, Jewish National Fund was established in 1901 by Theodore Herzl with the goal to buy and develop land in Israel.

Since its inception, it has planted more than 250 million trees; built over 250 reservoirs and dams; developed over 250,000 acres of land; created more than 2,000 parks; provided infrastructure for over 1,000 communities; and connected thousands of children and young adults to Israel and their heritage, according to its website. Its work is focused on bringing an enhanced quality of life to all of Israel’s residents and translate those advancements to the world beyond.

“Greening” the desert with millions of trees, building parks, creating new communities, bolstering the country’s water supply; helping develop agriculture techniques; and educating all about the founding and importance of Israel and Zionism, JNF is the single largest provider of Zionist programs in the United States. It divides its work into seven areas - forestry and green innovations, water solutions, community building, Zionist education and advocacy, research and development, heritage sites, and disabilities and special needs, its website states.

JNF is led nationally by CEO Russell F. Robinson. Its Northern Ohio office is led by director Ari Milgrom.

• To learn more, visit jnf.org.

NA’AMAT

NA’AMAT, a Jewish women’s organization that supports Israel, has operated since 1925.

Self identifying as an Israel-focused organization dedicated to uplifting women and children, NA’AMAT provides resources and support to remove obstacles to health and happiness, according to its website. Driven by tikkun olam, women’s empowerment and helping provide new possibilities for diverse communities of women, children and families in Israel, its national president for 20222025 is Jan Gurvitch.

Its sister movement, NA’AMAT USA, has existed for more than 90 years, providing critical support to NA’AMAT Israel and its educational and social service programs for women and children. In the United States, NA’AMAT USA is a “vigorous advocate for progressive legislation advancing women’s rights, child welfare, and educational initiatives,” according to its website, and is inclusive in its membership.

Its Cleveland council is led by executive director Marci Curtis and board president Melanie Kutnick.

• For more information about NA’AMAT, visit naamat.org.

• For more information about the Cleveland council, visit naamatcle.org.

National Council of Jewish Women

Founded in 1893, the National Council of Jewish Women is the oldest Jewish grassroots organization in the country.

According to its website, the organization is “continually guided by Jewish values that call on us to improve the lives of the most vulnerable women, children and families,” working both in the United States and Israel to achieve this goal. With over 210,000 members, 60 sections across 30 states, a state policy advocacy network and seven advocacy teams, NCJW uses its “Theory of Change” to accomplish meaningful education, combined with progressive and feminist advocacy and dedicated community service, all to result in impactful transformation on the local, state and federal levels.

Nationally, NCJW is led by president Dana Gershon and CEO Sheila Katz.

Its Cleveland section, NCJW/Cleveland, has operated for 125 years. With more than 2,500 members and supporters, the organization initiates and contributes to local community service projects and social action initiatives. It is led by Executive Director Mindi Axner.

• To learn more about the local chapter, visit ncjwcleveland.org.

• To learn more about the national organization, visit ncjw.org.

ORT America

ORT America is the leading fundraising organization supporting ORT’s global network, transforming lives through education and training in 40 countries, according to its website.

Since 1880, ORT has been the only global Jewish educational network that provides “students with a premier education that prepares them for advancement and life-long success,” its website states. For more than 140 years, ORT has offered access to educational programs in under-resourced communities. Today, it also serves as a foundational Jewish institution in diaspora Jewish communities around the world.

Its website states that ORT original focused on teaching 19th century Russian Jews essential trades and professions, and has evolved to provide 21st century technology that empowers individuals and strengthens communities and Jewish life worldwide. Its mission states that it wishes to “transform lives through education driven by Jewish values and innovation that empowers people and strengthens communities.”

The ORT network has a presence in schools, universities and vocational training programs in over 40 countries, according to its website. ORT America consists of thousands of people throughout the United States, with a presence in eight regions across the country.

Nationally, it is led by president and CEO Barbara Birch. Regionally, Alyssa Giterman serves as the director of the Ohio Region.

• To learn more, visit ortamerica.org.

Cleveland, Beit Shean connect on similar challenges, opportunities for change

BY: AMANDA KOEHN CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS LIFESTYLES EDITOR

In northern Israel about 40 miles southeast of Haifa and 70 miles northeast of Tel Aviv sits the town of Beit Shean/Valley of Springs. As Cleveland’s sister city, it faces similar geographic and cultural challenges –among them public perception and weather.

Those familiar challenges were part of why Jewish Federation of Cleveland leaders decided to partner with the Israeli counterpart back in 1995.

Mark Holz, chair of the Beit Shean subcommittee with the overseas connections committee for the Federation in Beachwood, said the connection began when Beit Shean’s previous partner city, Los Angeles, left amid the struggles Beit Shean faced. Federation leaders saw it as the right kind of challenge.

“It just was too eerily similar to Cleveland’s challenges and too many similarities between the communities and the periphery,” Holz told the Cleveland Jewish News.

Holz’s connection to Beit Shean began on one of his children’s bar mitzvah trips to Israel in 2015. Doing a mitzvah project with Youth Futures, a youth mentorship program supported by the Federation, the family connected with the people of Beit Shean on an unexpected level. It led to more volunteer work and growing an

“extended family” there, he said.

“The experience was just so powerful that it changed the trajectory of my family’s life,” said Holz, a Beachwood resident who attends Solon Chabad.

Ilanit Gerblich Kalir, assistant vice president of external a airs at the Federation, has been working with Beit Shean since 2010 and has visited “some tens of times, she told the CJN. An overarching aim of the partnership is to create authentic, meaningful relationships between Israelis and Americans.

When the partnership began, it was a strategy of the Jewish Agency for Israel to have federations adopt communities in Israel, she added. Decades later, the partnership between Cleveland and Beit Shean became o cially recognized by the city of Cleveland in 2019.

Beit Shean is somewhat of a “microcosm of so many aspects of

Israel,” said Kalir, who resides in Pepper Pike and attends Congregation Shaarey Tikvah in Beachwood. It has kibbutzim and moshavim, or collective farms, a city portion and beautiful natural attractions.

The hardships Beit Shean faces are somewhat common for localities geographically far from central Israeli cities, she said.

“In general in Israel, the farther you are away from Tel Aviv or one of these major cities, the less job opportunities there are,” she said.

Like other municipalities on the periphery of Israel, Beit Shean was settled quickly by immigrants mainly in the 1950s without comprehensive city planning. This also led to societal challenges, in addition to the town being on an earthquake fault line and the weather being exceptionally hot, Kalir and Holz said.

These challenges are improving

Kalir

Mark Holz and his wife, Leslie, center, visit a Beit Shean school. | Photos / Jewish Federation of Cleveland

though. A new train station to Haifa has provided access to new job opportunities, helping remedy isolation a ecting Beit Shean for generations now, Holz said.

The Federation also supports programs that increase access to resources and upward mobility for residents. For example, Youth Futures connects at-risk youth in Beit Shean with mentors who work with them and their families. The Federation piloted it in Beit Shean in 2006, and it is now in 36 localities across Israel, Kalir said.

Another Federation-supported program, Conversation Partners, matches Clevelanders with Beit Shean residents to talk weekly for several months, with the goal of meeting and relating to a new friend. It also helps the Israelis practice English. More than 125 people have taken part, Holz said, and it has a waiting list for Beit Shean participants.

“It gives these two people – one in the diaspora, one in Israel – an opportunity to understand their life, their Jewish life, their family life, how they celebrate holidays, things like that,” Holz said.

Kalir added that Beit Shean is home to a strong population of Mizrachi and Sephardic Jews, who often have rich, di erent Jewish traditions than their American counterparts.

Some Cleveland conversation partners have traveled to Beit Shean to meet their new friends. This is important because in past generations, more Clevelanders had relatives in Israel. Today, those familial connections to the country are seemingly less common, Kalir said. Programs like Conversation Partners help establish family-like relationships to Beit Shean and Israel more broadly.

“... Conversations Partners is exactly like you’re going to visit that cousin, theoretically, in Beit Shean,” Kalir said.

STEM Israel, another Federationsupported program, works to propel

Israeli students from disadvantaged backgrounds to successful futures with skills in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Launched in 2007, “People in Israel are watching very closely what we’ve done with STEM in the region and are starting to implement their own programs, whereas Cleveland took a leadership role in that,” Holz said.

STEM in school is increasingly important as in Israel, career opportunities are often tied to where young adults are placed for their mandatory army service, Holz said. To serve in many top units, strong English and tech skills play a role.

“For some of these kids, they can be six, seven, eight years old and their future is already written because they’re not getting those skills,” Holz said.

The Federation is also building leadership opportunities in Beit Shean. Last fall, a young professionals delegation from the sister city visited Cleveland to learn from leaders here and help stimulate change in their own community. Delegations of groups like chefs, STEM leaders or social service providers have also visited Cleveland

over the years.

“The idea is that if you can build networks and cohorts of people who see the city and the city’s challenges in the same way, they can collectively come up with solutions to tackle them,” Kalir said.

And hundreds of Northeast Ohioans visit Beit Shean yearly – including local Jewish day schools, teen groups and di erent Federation delegations.

Through building connections between Clevelanders and Beit Shean residents, challenges and opportunities experienced by both are shaped by their sister city, Kalir and Holz said. As both Cleveland and Beit Shean tend to be family-oriented and historically don’t have the most positive reputations, the partnership has allowed for a better understanding of one’s homeland and how to improve it, while also bene ting a community across the world.

“We think a lot about similar challenges and how to change public perception about your place,” Kalir said. “And I think that has really enabled those partnerships to be so mutually bene cial.”

Fountain of Youth in Gan HaShlosha National Park, also known as Sahne, near Beit Shean.

Early connections drove Cleveland-Israeli business deals

BY: BECKY RASPE CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Before Israel was widely regarded as a country ripe with innovation, Cleveland’s business community was ahead of the curve – supporting start-up companies eager to enter the international market.

According to Tom Sudow, director of the Burton D. Morgan Center at Ashland University, and partner of NOVA Medics, a Cleveland-based consulting company, the Northeast Ohio in uence in Israel’s business successes dates back to the late 1970s. He told the Cleveland Jewish News that he and other like-minded Cleveland professionals with a passion for Israel noticed there was ample opportunity for Israeli tech to impact Ohio. The rst thing that the group did was develop a booth for the 1978 Ohio State Fair to show o Israeli agricultural innovations, as the country was commonly correlated with its farming industry at the time. The exhibit they developed was “widely well received,” leading it to travel for several years to other state fairs.

Through the late 1970s and 1980s, Sudow said he worked for the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and went on a mission trip to Israel. On the last day of the mission, with some time to spare, the group went on a tour of a factory that made pacemakers.

“Up until that point in time, if you thought about Israel, you thought of farmers and agriculture,” he said. “But, I suddenly saw this high-tech situation, and that led the Federation to adopt a Tel Aviv neighborhood called Neve Sharret for a time. We rebuilt it and put all these social services in. But Mel Allerhand (who passed away in April 2019) said the work was

“For a long time, we were front and center in the international dialogue. We were able to break through. Cleveland has a long history of being a place with very strong ties to Israel. Shifting over to the business side was not a large leap. With those connections, we were enriching lives and building community.”

great, but said we needed to also create business there. He said we couldn’t just throw money at social services.”

Against some “pretty sti opposition,” Sudow said they got a group together and created “a high-tech operation” creating computer circuit boards, planning to transfer ownership to the neighborhood after ve years. While the company thrived for some time, it later shuttered, he added.

By the late 1990s, the Ohio-Israel Chamber of Commerce was created, Sudow said. The group is a statewide non-pro t economic development organization created to facilitate business between Ohio and Israel. The chamber functions as an enterprise solutions provider that works to create collaborative relationships between companies seeking to commercialize their technologies, and helping those companies locate or expand their businesses into Ohio communities.

Around the same time, Sudow was named the executive director of the Beachwood Chamber of Commerce. He said part of that work was steeped in attracting international business, and he began recruiting companies into the community from Israel.

“That’s when the oodgates opened,” he said. “A few years prior, (former Cleveland Mayor and Ohio Gov. George Voinovich), who had a strong sense for Israel since his daughter was hit and killed by a car and the Jewish community planted a forest for her in Israel in her memory, had established the rst o ce for business in Israel (the Ohio Eastern Mediterranean Regional O ce) and it was run by Rick Schottenstein.”

Into the early 2000s, Sudow said there was a sudden growth in Israel-Cleveland business relations, with “a lot of it centered in Beachwood and the work we were doing.” With all of the attention on the Israel business scene, Sudow added many Cleveland and Akron leaders visited Israel to learn more. Some of the businesses that called Cleveland home during that time were Quark Biotech, which was housed on the grounds of the

Sudow

Tom Sudow

CELEBRATING JEWISH LIFE WISHES A HAPPY 75TH TO ISRAEL! MAY YOU GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH AS WE STRENGTHEN OUR COMMITMENT TO THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL.

Cleveland Clinic main campus, and Simbionix, Sudow said, noting they both “had long careers here” before being bought or moved out of the community.

“At one point, Simbionix had 30 or 40 people working for them in Cleveland,” he said. “In the early 2000s, Beachwood was successful in recruiting 14 Israeli companies to Northeast Ohio. Some were successful and others didn’t make it. Akron even had its own share. I just saw the opportunity to positively impact both Israel and Ohio.”

Sudow then worked for Cleveland Clinic and helped bring medical companies to work with the clinic throughout Ohio. As 2013/2014 approached, Sudow said a lot of collaboration between Israel and Northeast Ohio “began to wane,” as state leadership “didn’t have the same interests, people retired and passed away, or just retired and explored new areas.”

But what made Cleveland so attractive? Sudow said Northeast Ohio had a “natural challenge” of no one knowing where it was. Overshadowed by business communities like Boston, New York City and Silicon Valley in California, no one knew Cleveland, he said.

“From 2000 to 2019, I was in Israel about 35 times working on these relations,” he said. “But, Cleveland was a small enough area with a large Jewish and Israeli community where we could welcome them. They were welcomed here and they had a place to go. And other than being nice, there had to be a business reason for (businesses) to be here. It made sense for health care, manufacturing and agriculture businesses to come here. In the end, every state gured this out and it became highly competitive.”

Today, the agricultural connection remains in the Negev Foundation’s Ohio-Israel Ag & CleanTech Initiative, Sudow said. While that collaboration is not as widespread now, Sudow said the work he and his colleagues did make a di erence in both communities.

“Israel has become known as the start-up nation,” he said. “We learned from Israel about how to do that, and now we’re employing some of those things here too. Israel is a small country, 9 million people isn’t much of a market compared to the United States.

“And for the most part, Israel does not live in a friendly neighborhood. It needed the U.S. market, so we became a conduit. It was a good thing for both sides of the ocean. It grew jobs in Ohio. So, when you look at it, it became a win-win relationship all along the way. Hindsight being 20-20, if Ohio had kept up with what it was doing, we would be even more of a center now.”

Without that work, Sudow said many Israelis likely “couldn’t have identi ed Cleveland on a map, let alone Ohio.”

“For a long time, we were front and center in the international dialogue,” he said. “We were able to break through. Cleveland has a long history of being a place with very strong ties to Israel. Shifting over to the business side was not a large leap. With those connections, we were enriching lives and building community.”

Cleveland Israel Arts Connection puts spotlight on culture

BY: BECKY RASPE CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Aprogram of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection is an initiative that brings Israeli arts and culture to Cleveland, working with local arts organizations and institutions to build cultural bridges between the Middle East and Northeast Ohio through a shared love of all things art.

Its origins date back to the 2008 celebration of Israel’s 60th anniversary, where then-Federation President Stephen H. Ho man arranged to bring the Cameri Theater of Tel Aviv to Cleveland for a production of “Hamlet” on the Bolton Theatre stage at the former home of The Cleveland Play House. The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland also showed “Hugging and Wrestling: Contemporary Israeli Video and Photography” as part of the festivities, and the Israeli hip-hop group HaDag Nachash headlined a community Yom Ha’aztmaut community celebration.

The o erings were well received, and soon after, the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection was born, with Roe Green and Erica Hartman-Horvitz being selected as co-chairs. The pair continue to serve in the role to this day, and told the Cleveland Jewish News their involvement stems from their interests in theatrical productions and contemporary art, respectively. Both said Ho man approached them directly, and “the rest is history,” Hartman-Horvitz said.

Today, its goal remains the same – to present Israeli art to the greater Cleveland community in theaters, galleries, festivals and concert halls. By partnering with numerous ne arts organizations, artists and performers, Hartman-Horvitz said the CIAC has “really made a di erence in terms of sharing

Israeli art with the Cleveland community.” The team now consists of an advisory group made up of community members. It also has its own sta – made up of senior development o cer Hedy P. Milgrom; Israeli arts and culture consultant Israel Wiener; and director Debra S. Yasinow. It also manages the Roe Green Gallery, housed within the Federation’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Building at 25701 Science Park Drive in Beachwood.

“And it doesn’t just go to the Cleveland Jewish community, all of the venues, besides the Roe Green Gallery, are well recognized in communities where the Jewish population is a small part of it,” said Hartman-Horvitz, who lives in Moreland Hills and attends Temple Emanu El in Orange. “It’s jointly bene cial, especially because artists then have a venue to come to here. If

they’re doing a show at Carnegie Hall in New York City, they could also stop in Cleveland and have opportunities to work with The Cleveland Orchestra or the Tri-C JazzFest.”

For Green, the bene t lies in a constantly shrinking world that only gets more and more connected by the day, she said.

“It’s important for us to support (Israel) any way we can because there is so much good stu there,” said Green, who lives in Jupiter, Fla. and Lyndhurst. When in Cleveland, she attends Suburban Temple-Kol Ami in Beachwood. “These artists are so good at what they do. Whether it be visual arts, their orchestra or museums, it’s nice having that connection.”

Over the years, CIAC has hosted artists from all disciplines. For HartmanHorvitz, it’s di cult to choose a

Erica Hartman-Horvitz, left, and Roe Green, are the co-chairs of the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection, a program through the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. Its origins date back to the celebration of Israel’s 60th birthday in 2008, the brainchild of the then-Federation President Stephen H. Hoffman. | Photo / Jewish Federation of Cleveland

favorite, but she said the 2015 “Violins of Hope” performances, education programs and major exhibition through several local organizations stands out to her. Green said choosing her favorite is even harder, as “all of it has been very interesting, even experimental. It’s hard to choose one because it’s all so good and so di erent.”

With the spring and summer 2023 season in full swing, Clevelanders have plenty to choose from – ranging from Yom Ha’atzmaut o erings, dance productions, author talks, musical performances and visual arts exhibitions. One of the highlights includes the “Surface Identities: Studio Works by Israeli Street Artists” exhibition by curator Sara Hurland and presented by CIAC. The exhibition runs through Dec. 20, featuring studio works by 16 Israeli street artists to give a sense of Israel through their eyes and hands, according to the season brochure. It is housed in the Federation’s Roe Green Gallery.

As Israel approaches its 75th anniversary, Hartman-Horvitz and Green said the relationships that culture sharing creates are priceless – making Israel stronger with every dance, song or painting.

“I believe arts and culture are probably the most important parts of building communities among people, especially those that are not homogeneous like Israel, and even Cleveland,” Hartman-Horvitz said. “We can all take in and enjoy an artist’s ability to communicate their emotions to us. And it’s important that it’s being done right here, in Cleveland’s venues. Not in temples or the JCC, but in venues that are seen by all of Cleveland.”

Green said, “The arts are what makes us human. What I’m seeing become a trend is schools cutting out arts from the rst go. I don’t like it. For me, the arts are so important. This is what makes us human and always has.”

To view a full list of community partners, artists and performers, visit cjn.org

To view Cleveland Israel Arts Connection’s 2023 spring/summer brochure, visit bit.ly/3oa9uO5

Kent State University and the Jewish Studies Program at Kent State

“We have never lost faith in the sovereignty and the ultimate triumph of great moral principles.”

– Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver

The Temple was there 75 years ago when Israel became a state and we are proud to see Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver’s vision continue into the future on this special anniversary.

“I believe arts and culture are probably the most important parts of building communities among people, especially those that are not homogeneous like Israel, and even Cleveland.”

Erica Hartman-Horvitz

Cleveland opens doors for Israeli shin shinim

BY: COURTNEY BYRNES CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Since 2011, the Cleveland Jewish community has welcomed a group of Israeli teens, known as shin shinim, to not only bring Israel, but mainly to increase the engagement of other teens in the community.

In Israel, shin shinim, which comes from “sh’net sherut” meaning “year of service,” are recent high school graduates who defer their army service for a year while they serve the community. The Jewish Agency for Israel expanded the model about 20 years ago to bring these community emissaries to serve outside of Israel, Amnon Ophir, director of @Akiva at the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, told the Cleveland Jewish News.

“The main goal, and this is very unique in America, their goal is to outreach to teens in our community and to bring them to a Cleveland community program,” Ophir said.

The Cleveland Shin Shinim, a project of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland and The Jewish Agency for Israel, has grown from two shin shinim in its rst year to now six in its 12th year. Over the years, there have been 50 shin shinim in Cleveland, and the relationships between them and the community extend far past the 10 months they are here, he said.

As an outreach program, the shin shinim are tasked with providing Israel and Hebrew education, while connecting with

Shin shinim comes from

means

Shin shinim are recent high school graduates from Israel who defer their army service for a year as they spend time serving the community.

teens, typically those after their b’nai mitzvah year through 12th grade, to engage with community programs, he said.

To do this, they are embedded into teen programs and schools, working with Jewish day school students at the Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School, Gross Schechter Day School and Fuchs Mizrachi School, and in Jewish and Hebrew programs at public and private schools, such as in Beachwood middle and high school, Laurel School and Hawken Middle School.

In the evenings and Sunday, the shin shinim take part in supplementary and communal programs with teens and meet with students one-on-one to increase participation.

“We instruct them to see who are the teens, and to see the teen’s needs,” Ophir said. “If the teen or the friends of the teen that they meet needs additional Jewish education, we have the shin shinim go and do one-on-ones with teens.”

The program brings the “best of the best” from Israel as he said the Israeli teens go through an intensive selection process

What is a shin shinim

“sh’net sherut” which

“year of service.”

The 2022-23 shin shinim: Tomer Blise, from left, Gil Geva Keinan, Mical Ortman, Yoav Manor, Michal Sela and Bnaya Michael Gavish Maor.

| Photos / @Akiva

Ophir

over six months, which include recruitment, applications and interviews with the Jewish Agency for Israel to narrow it down to 12 candidates.

From those 12, Cleveland representatives meet with former shin shinim in Israel to interview and select the six who will then go through training to prepare to come to Cleveland in August.

“We only take students from Israel that have a lot of background in doing activities for teens in the Israeli youth movement,” Ophir said. “The basic line is that they will be able to do programs for teens and for younger kids.”

He added that further, they look for people who can easily engage with others and start conversations with individuals.

While they are in the Cleveland community, the shin shinim each stay with a couple host families, typically spending at least three months with one family. Ophir added that they are always looking for families willing to host the shin shinim.

“This is probably one of the most rewarding thing that we can give to families in Cleveland,” Ophir said. “We know that every family that hosts a shin shinim becomes much more connected to Israel and attached to the shin shinim.”

Those who have been host families have continued to stay in touch over the years, often visiting their former shin shinim when they travel to Israel.

Holly and David Neumann said hosting the shin shinim was an “incredible experience” and they connected on a deeper level about their lives in Israel.

“We witnessed rsthand the bene ts of their work as Israeli ambassadors in Cleveland, working with Jewish teens and throughout the Jewish community,” the Neumann’s said in a statement. “Their enthusiasm and energy was infectious and as a host family we were proud of their commitment. Our life became bigger knowing the shin shinim.”

The 2021-22 shin shinim, clockwise from left, Eshkar Kates, Ofek Salter, Shir Zukerman, Ofri Cohen, Itay Adanya and Avigail Botnik.

Yom Huledat Sameach and M el Tov for Israel, our Jewish Homeland’s 75th Birthday. Linda and Clifford Wolf and Family in Cleveland and Israel

Birthright trip offers gift of life-changing experience

BY: SHERRY GAVANDITTI CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

An all-expense paid adventure of a lifetime and a chance to explore the landscape, culture and people of Israel can be within reach for 18- to 26-year-olds who apply and are accepted into the Birthright Israel program, Elle Helig, manager of international experiences at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland told the Cleveland Jewish News.

Through Birthright Israel Foundation, the program is funded through donors and Jewish Federations across the United States, including the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, which is a major funder of the Birthright Israel program as a whole. Helig said the program is also funded through the state of Israel.

“This is a long-running amazing opportunity to get Jewish adults to Israel,” Helig said. “The trips always run for 10 days and always include a basic tour around Israel with Jewish peers.”

According to Birthright’s website, the trips always include a visit to its partnership city in Beit Shean, Israel.

“As a cornerstone of these trips, there is always an added element, a group of Israelis join in for a portion of the trip to give American Jewish young adults an immersive encounter with their Jewish Israeli peers,” said Helig, adding the 10-day tour includes activities, meeting people, and getting to understand and know Israel.

Birthright’s rst trip was launched in 1999. Birthright Cleveland has been funding trips and sending groups since 2010, according to Helig.

Approximately 800,000 people have been given the opportunity to journey to Israel through the program. Helig said about 5,375 Clevelanders have taken advantage of the opportunity.

“That’s pretty monumental,” she said. “The eligibility requirements are that you do have to be Jewish and between the ages of 18 and 26, without having participated on an educational program to Israel since age 18. If you have gone on a di erent program as an adult, you lose your Birthright eligibility, so Birthright is the rst step in that journey as you want to explore Israel programs,”Helig said. “There are chaperones, for safety and guidance in general, and as a resource and a friend, and each trip has two American sta members who travel with the group. There is also a trained security person/medic, and a trained guide. There are four sta members for each trip, designated to that trip speci cally. They

take every precaution.”

Henig said about 40 people go on each trip and safety is paramount.

“Trained security professionals accompany every group, and every trip has it’s own designated bus, so that the participants are not traveling around on public transit or nding their own way from place to place,” she said. “You do travel as a group, and the trip starts at the departing airport, so from the ight to the United States or Canada to Israel, you are traveling as one cohesive group.”

Helig said safety is maintained as a top priority and every itinerary is approved in advance and con rmed daily with a situation monitoring room, and coordinated with the Israel Defense

Participants enjoy home hospitality in Cleveland’s sister city of Beit Shean on a 2019 Birthright trip. | Photos / Jewish Federation of Cleveland

Forces, so they know we’re there and we always maintain contact and safety protocols.

Henig said there are no restrictions on siblings going together. Each participant is viewed as an individual.

“Many times siblings travel together,” Helig said. “A lot of siblings wait for the youngest or oldest siblings to fall in to the same age category so they can go together. We also have a lot of people who do it as a solo trip and go out and experiment and meet new people and nd it is a great world experience. Often, we have friends form groups that will travel together. It’s a great way to reconnect with high school friends who went o to di erent colleges or bring college friends to get on the same bus, as long as all are within same age group, either 18 to 22 or 22 to 26 years of age.

“Jewish young adults are on the ground in the land of their heritage to experience life-changing Shabbatot, gorgeous mountain hikes, Israeli innovation, culinary adventures, Masada at sunrise and so much more. With experiences built for self-discovery, Birthright Israel is a high-impact, educational and experiential gift of a lifetime.”

“There are thousands upon thousands of applicants each year,” Helig said. “Applying sooner rather than later is always encouraged.”

She said applicants can choose a trip that works for them, by age groups and categories. Trips can be broken down in terms of universities, or they can be broken into single Orthodox Jewish young adults, themes, age groups or di erent aspects of the trip, so people can choose their own adventure.

“They’ve done a fantastic job accommodating people and making it easy to navigate,” Helig said. “Each trip is its own insulated experience.”

She said this year there’s a trip called the Cleveland Birthright trip for 18 to 22 year olds, and it was funded in addition to Birthright Israel, thanks to a major funder, leaving additional dollars to go toward other trips they are not running and have nothing to do with, other than

giving donations toward.

“Our trip will look di erent than the trip that’s running by, say, the University of Miami Hillel, and the trips have di erent itineraries and focus on di erent things, and may be more active or more spiritual. Each trip has a di erent avor, a di erent air.”

Helig said there are certain aspects of each Birthright trip that remain constant, such as spending time in Jerusalem, and visiting the Yad Vashem Memorial in Israel (Israel’s o cial memorial to the victims of the Holocaust).

“While certain elements are ‘baked into the framework,’ each trip is its own,” Helig said. “It’s important to remember Birthright is a one-time, take the opportunity while you can experience. You cannot go on Birthright twice.

“No matter how you slice it, it’s a incredible opportunity. People go to Israel for many reasons, some want a free trip, some want tourism or to experience the Israeli culture, we do it

because we believe strongly in providing young Jewish adults the opportunity to experience Israel rsthand.”

Helig said the program has an incredibly e ective strategy; they provide a platform like no other to enable young Jewish adults to enhance their connection to the Jewish people and gain exposure to contemporary Israel.

“We do this because it enables our global Jewish community of young adults to experience Israeli life, the culture and speak with people to formulate their own opinions, understanding and connections of what Israel means to them,” Helig said.

Birthright Israel registration for the winter 2023 will open soon.

“We’re incredibly proud to help fund Birthright Israel,” Helig said. “If one had to pay for it, it would be several thousand dollars. We do this because we want to give an opportunity that one might not otherwise be able to have. It’s really important to do this work.”org.

For more information about Birthright trips, visit jewishcleveland.org or birthrightisrael.com

Participants ride camels in 2018.

Whether it’s your first trip or your 10th trip, the message is the same – have fun, enjoy Israel

BY: MEGHAN WALSH CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Whether planning a rst trip to Israel or a 10th journey, there is always something new and exciting to look forward to.

Jack Gottlieb, founder of World Jewish Travel in Tel Aviv, and Shelley Marcus, assistant vice president of development at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland in Beachwood, o ered tips for rst timers and returning travelers going to Israel.

“There’s a lot of things in Jerusalem; the Kotel – the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter,” Gottlieb told the Cleveland Jewish News “I think the thing that’s most important is that Israel is basically a northern part, central and southern and each has its own climate and you have to dress accordingly; and each has interesting things to see.”

He suggested dressing in layers because climates vary between regions and times of the day.

“Extreme variability in temperatures is the norm at di erent times of the year,” he said. ““Up north, it snows, and down south, you’re past the desert, you’re on the equator so you have equatorial climate. Even in Tel Aviv, I could get up and it could be 50 degrees and then it could get up to 70 degrees, so you de nitely have to learn how to dress in layers.”

If someone wants to go during a warm time of the year, Gottlieb suggested visiting around April and May.

First-time travelers are usually busy trying to get an idea of the diversity and weather uctuations among the three regions while second time travelers can enjoy the food and culture more, he said.

Israel is made up of 80 ethnic groups, he said, so it has a rich and diverse food culture.

“With 80 di erent indigenous ethnic groups and all food farm to table, take advantage of the variety of Israeli food in various restaurants throughout the country,” Gottlieb said.

Because Israel is a small country, it is easy to take day trips and hotels can help guests plan this, he said.

“Be cognizant of the fact that public transportation ceases

from Friday afternoon until the end of Shabbat,” he said. When visiting holy places, some sense of decorum should be maintained, he said.

“When you go down to the Western Wall, you should be sensitive in terms of how you’re dressing,” Gottlieb said “Going into synagogues and museums or churches, because people visit churches in Jerusalem, you de nitely have to be a little bit modestly dressed.”

He suggested visitors be extra careful in areas like Mea Shearim, which is where all the religious people live.

“It’s not normally part of any trail or any kind of tourist situation, but certainly if you go into where the haredi – what we call the black hats – are, there you have to be especially careful,” he said. “For the most part, if you dress modestly in Jerusalem, you’ll be alright. Certainly, Jerusalem is the only place that you do have to have some consideration, depending on where exactly you’re going.”

First-time visitors tend not to spend too much time in Tel Aviv, Gottlieb said.

“You’re so busy traveling around from Jerusalem and down south in the desert or way up north,” he said. “But, the second time, travelers should explore Tel Aviv, especially the Independence Trail.”

Marcus said anyone planning to travel to Israel rst check their passport. It must be valid for six months after their return date.

“There are many airlines that y to Israel today,” she told the CJN. “I think in the olden days, people always thought it was El Al and then El Al and United. There’s El Al, there’s United, there’s Delta, there’s American, there’s Air Canada, so look for what works best for you.”

She recommended planning ahead by creating an itinerary, pre-booking tickets to certain sites and checking their hours, and being patient upon airport arrival and arriving at least three hours before the ight departs.

“Keep a change of clothes in your carry-on for the overseas ight because today, with delays and luggage, you should always be prepared,” she said.

Because traveling internationally may limit one’s ability to use their cell phone service, Marcus suggested travelers download the WhatsApp app, which allows them to make phone calls and send text messages in areas with Wi-Fi, which are abundant throughout Israel.

“If you go during the holidays – Christmas, New Year, Sukkot,

Gottlieb

Marcus

Simchat Torah, Rosh Hashanah – there may be a minimum night requirement at the hotels in Jerusalem,” she said. “It could also be more expensive. You may have to stay in the hotel room for ve nights or throughout the whole holiday.”

Transportation options include a train between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, taxi cabs, Uber and Gett, she said.

She pointed out that most shops close early on Fridays and many are not open on shabbat, but some are open late in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

In terms of ideal weather, visitors might consider planning their trips during the U.S.’s fall or spring seasons, she said.

There are options to hire private guides and drivers to take a person or their group around and show them the various sites, she mentioned. There are also group tours available.

Around certain holidays, such as Yom Ha’atzmaut, there are events to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, as well as private gatherings such as barbecues – similar to how people in he United States celebrate the Fourth of July, she said.

“There are some new or renovated or reimagined experiences,” she said. “The Museum of the Jewish People – The Diaspora Museum – just before the (COVID-19) pandemic, it reopened. They now call it the ANU Museum. There’s the Peres

COMING IN OCTOBER, 2023

Kevin S. Adelstein, Publisher & CEO of the Cleveland Jewish News and President of the Cleveland Jewish Publication Company, will be traveling to Israel for his rst time visit to the Holy Land. Follow Kevin's blog about his experiences at cjn.org.

Center for Peace and Innovation. Right now, they’re booked up.”

Although there are new museums, high demand means people may not be able to get tickets, which is why it is important to plan in advance, she said.

“When you travel, immerse yourself in the culture and the food and the experience and meeting people,” Marcus said. “Have a good time.”

“When you travel, immerse yourself in the culture and the food and the experience and meeting people. Have a good time.”

Shelley Marcus

Two Great Ways to Celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut

Celebrate 75 years of Israel’s independence with the community all year long – including two ways to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut.

A Concert for THE SHALVA BAND wi

YOM HA’ATZMAUT

Tuesday, May 9

Tuesday, May 9 · 7:30 pm

Mimi Ohio Theatre

1511 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland

Sunday, May 14 · 2-5 pm

Mandel JCC-Safran Park

26001 S. Woodland Road, Beachwood

Learn more about all upcoming events and ways to celebrate Cleveland's deep ties to Israel at jewishcleveland.org/Israel75.

IsraelFest! Co-Chairs: Shaina & David Leb and Jill & Adam Wallenstein

Israel at 75 Co-Chairs: Lynne Cohen and James Ratner

Board Chair: Daniel N. Zelman · President: Erika B. Rudin-Luria