Fighting Antisemitism, Encouraging Inclusion: Big Wins

Your Gift Helps Make the Menorah Part of City Hall’s Public Year-End Displays

Hate crime statistics released by the FBI in December 2022 continue to show that the largest percentage of religiously motivated hate crimes are those targeting the Jewish community. Through your gift to the Federation, you fight antisemitism and hate. Rabbi Ari Ballaban, the director of the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), coordinated the inclusion of a menorah next to the Giving Tree (formerly the Holiday Tree), in City Hall, to help Jewish employees and all Jewish Cincinnatians feel welcomed in our city. “The menorah lighting is important literally and metaphorically because now when Jews walk into City Hall they will feel symbolically represented,” said Ballaban. Twenty rabbis, Mayor Aftab Pureval, and many members of the public attended the dedication.

In coordination with Ohio Jewish Communities, which you also fund, JCRC helped pass House Bill 540, in December, which increased the penalty for disturbing a religious meeting, online or in person. In addition, the two organizations helped pass a bill that mandates all state colleges and universities provide three religious exemption days, with no questions asked, for all students. “These are both big wins,” said Ballaban.

The Best Birthday Party Ever You Strengthen Community for Holocaust Survivors

“To enjoy life, we need community.” —Faina Morozov (via translator)

Your support helps Holocaust survivors and participants in Jewish Family Service’s Russian Jewish Cultural Center live with dignity and independence.

A Holocaust survivor, born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Faina and her husband immigrated to Cincinnati in 1993. When she turned 90 this summer, Faina celebrated with a birthday party at a park shelter. Faina’s husband has passed, and though she has two supportive children, she lives on her own. Her health is problematic and she needs a wheelchair or rollator after numerous falls. To talk with her doctors, she needs a translator. Donors to the Federation make Faina’s life better with wrap-around care, including thoughtful ways to avoid social isolation. She has a care manager, food vouchers, hearing help, and daily home care.

Since Faina is part of the Center’s Song Lovers Club, and loves music, her friends from the Club and her granddaughter sang to her in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Russian. Her 12-year-old grandson played keyboards. It was truly a joyous affair.