+41
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion graduation

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion graduation

  • The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion held its graduation May 31 in the Scheuer Chapel on campus in Clifton. Speaker for the ceremony was Deborah H. Lipstadt, the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory. She was awarded with the Sherut La’Am award by HUC-JIR president Andrew Rehfeld for service to the nation. Receiving a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa degree was Andrew R. Berger, the immediate past chairman of the HUC-JIR board of governors. HUC-JIR graduated 16 with various degrees.
+14
JCRC Annual Meeting

JCRC Annual Meeting

  • At the Jewish Community Relations Council’s annual meeting in June, Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet Magazine, spoke about modern anti-Semitism. Under the theme “The Oldest Hatred in a New World,” the JCRC showcased its efforts to combat contemporary manifestations of anti-Semitism and highlighted how anti-Semitism intersects with other forms of hate. 
+46
Adath Israel bids farewell to Rabbi Irvin and Kathy Wise after 27 years

Adath Israel bids farewell to Rabbi Irvin and Kathy Wise after 27 years

  • Congregants and friends gathered June 2 to bid a farewell to Adath Israel Congregation’s longtime rabbi and his wife. Rabbi Irvin Wise and Kathy Wise were honored during a gala featuring music, laughter and a nostalgic photo and video gallery. After serving as head rabbi for 27 years, Rabbi Wise is retiring.  The evening featured speakers including congregational president John Stillpass and members of the Wise family – including Rabbi and Kathy’s three children: Ora, Shalva, and T Wise. 
+23
Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s annual meeting

Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s annual meeting

  • The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati had its annual meeting May 15. Among the speakers were Federation CEO Shep Englander and Federation Board President Gary Greenberg. Several awards were presented honoring staff and volunteers, including Mary Hiudt who was awarded he inaugural Jay Price Leadership Award.
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The life of Rabbi Isaac M. Wise

The life of Rabbi Isaac M. Wise

  • In commemoration of Jewish American Heritage Month and the 200th birthday of HUC founder Isaac Mayer Wise, the Skirball Museum, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, and the Klau Library presented a talk on the life of Rabbi Isaac M. Wise. “They Will Think of Me for a Century: The lecture” was presented by Dr. Gary P. Zola, executive director of the American Jewish Archives and the Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor of The American Jewish Experience and Reform Judaism at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.  In his lecture, Zola discussed Rabbi Wise’s life, especially in Cincinnati, and how he founded the Hebrew Union College, was the first publisher of The American Israelite, and help start the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
+20
Yom HaShoah – Day of Holocaust Remembrance

Yom HaShoah – Day of Holocaust Remembrance

  • Yom HaShoah Day of Holocaust Remembrance was celebrated May 5, 2019, at the JCC. The Yom HaShoah commemoration is to remember the 6 million victims of the Holocaust and honor the survivors. The program included a moving candle-lighting ceremony by six survivor families, descendants of survivors lighting candles, music and prayer.
+22
Golf Manor's Mother Day

Golf Manor's Mother Day

  • Golf Manor Synagogue honored the mothers of its congregation during a celebration. Food and plenty of fun were had by all who attanded.
+22
JFS celebrates successful year at annual meeting

JFS celebrates successful year at annual meeting

  • The core strength of Jewish Family Services has always been responding and reaching out to the Jewish community. JFS CEO Liz Vogel said at the agency’s annual meeting May 1 that “it is harder (for those in need) to fall through the cracks in Greater Cincinnati.” “We can reach people no other agency can … and offer services no one else can,” she said. Vogel said the agency’s work was first focused on the needs of the Holocaust survivors. Speaking just days after a second attack on a synagogue in the past six months, she said, “We carry on because that’s what we have to do.” Dan Rapp is the new president of Jewish Family Service, taking over from Larry Juran.
+25
AJC Cincinnati celebrates its 75th anniversary

AJC Cincinnati celebrates its 75th anniversary

  • David Harris, AJC chief executive officer, told AJC Cincinnati, the chapter started 75 years ago in Cincinnati and is still going strong, should celebrate. He was speaking at the AJC Cincinnati 75th anniversary dinner May 2 at the Cincinnati Country Club. “Pat yourself deservedly on the back for an extraordinary 75 years of an office that we sometimes called the little office that could,” Harris said. “Quiet. Understated. Never chest thumping, but always consistently delivering. That’s AJC Cincinnati. My request to you though is tomorrow morning reach out to others. Bring them into the AJC Cincinnati.” Cicninnati was one of the first local AJC offices to open, 38 years after the American Jewish Committee was founded.
+10
Driving Out Darkness: 2019 Summit on anti-semitism and hate

Driving Out Darkness: 2019 Summit on anti-semitism and hate

  • More than 300 community leaders and members from the city’s civic, governmental, religious, and educational sectors joined together on April 9 at Cincinnati Union Terminal to understand the widespread threats of anti-semitism and hate in society today. Participants heard from expert speakers, learned practical tools to combat hate, engaged in critical conversations and cultivated new friendships.
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All dressed up and celebrating Purim at Adath Israel Congregation

All dressed up and celebrating Purim at Adath Israel Congregation

  • Submitted by: Adath Israel Congregation The holiday celebrations began with Purim Palooza, a giant carnival with lots of games, inflatables, prizes, food, and some great raffle baskets. Lerner Fisher Hall was full of people of all ages, coming to play games, earn tickets for prizes, and bid on some great raffle baskets. Children and adults enjoyed unlimited play and food, including homemade hamentashen. Then on Purim evening everyone came together again in costumes to hear the Megillah. Teens read from the Megillah with support from a few adults, while candy was tossed into the pews, and groggers were used to drown out Haman’s name. After the reading, Shir Ami played klezmer music and Idit Moss led Israeli dancing to an energetic crowd. The full Megillah was read a second time the following morning. Purim at Adath Israel is always a blast.
+19
Professors discuss ‘The Jewish American Paradox’

Professors discuss ‘The Jewish American Paradox’

  • Author Dr. Robert H. Mnookin and Dr. David Ellenson, professor of Jewish religious thought, ethics, and modern Jewish history and Chancellor of HUC-JIR, addressed “The Jewish American Paradox: Embracing Choice in a Changing World” Mach 25. Mnookin, the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and Ellenson discussed the topic at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives. Mnookin said the answers of the past no longer serve American Jews today. His book boldly promotes a radically inclusive American-Jewish community – one where being Jewish can depend on personal choice and public self-identification, not simply birth or formal religious conversion. Instead of preventing intermarriage or ostracizing those critical of Israel, he envisions a community that embraces diversity and debate, and in so doing, preserves and strengthens the Jewish identity into the next generation and beyond.
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Celebrating Purim at Sha’arei Torah

Celebrating Purim at Sha’arei Torah

  • Families turned out for Purin fun at Sha’arei Torah. Adults and kids came dressed in customs and played games, did crafts. The crowd was also entertained by jugglers. And there was food for everyone.
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Adath Israel Congregation spreads love and kindness on Mitzvah Day

Adath Israel Congregation spreads love and kindness on Mitzvah Day

  • On a cool Sunday morning in March, the congregation came together at Adath Israel to take part in their annual Mitzvah Day. Chairs Molli Monk and Pam Barnett organized the morning to be sure there was plenty to do for all ages. Project Captains and hundreds of volunteers worked hard to get as much done as possible. In the couple of months leading up to Mitzvah Day, the religious school classes organized collections of items to help 10 different non-profit organizations in the Cincinnati area. Projects on Mitzvah Day ranged from weaving plastic bags into sleeping mats, creating craft and snack bags, decorating pillowcases, super hero capes, and hula hoops, giving blood, making get well and Shabbat cards, homemade dog toys and treats, bagged lunches, knitting scarves, cooking meals for homes for those in need, to putting together power packs and personal hygiene bags.
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Students sing of the ‘Our Heavenly Jewish Stars’

Students sing of the ‘Our Heavenly Jewish Stars’

  • The final student Broadway concert of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion academic year was titled “Our Heavenly Broadway Jewish Stars.” The performance featured Rabbinical School and Pines School of Graduate Studies students with a program on what made the greatest songs, shows, and performers “Jewish” – their stories, themes, messages, upbringing, and ethnicity.
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HUC-JIR Founders’ Day honors Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise

HUC-JIR Founders’ Day honors Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise

  • The founder of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, was remembered during the school’s annual Founders’ Day April 4. Rabbi Wise, who founded the school in 1875, was the 50th Jewish leader to be inducted into the Jewish-American Hall of Fame. It is also the 200th anniversary of his birth. A medal was cast in in his honor and presented to Louise Bettman, the great-great-granddaughter of Rabbi Wise, in front of several other of the rabbi’s descendants. The college also honored two librarians for their service to Klau Library, Marilyn Krider and Allan Satin.  Nine honorees were awarded honorary doctor of divinity degrees: Rabbi Ruth Alpers, Rabbi David Ariel-Joel, Rabbi Lev Baesh, Rabbi Joshua Bennett, Rabbi Yossi Feintuch, Rabbi Laura H. Metzger, Rabbi Adam M. Morris, Rabbi Audrey S. Pollack, and Rabbi Debbie Stiel.
+22
Making calls during Super Sunday

Making calls during Super Sunday

  • Super Sunday – the annual  Jewish Federation Phone-a-Thon – was Sunday, March 10. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati hosted its annual phone-a-thon to raise money for Jewish programs and agencies in Cincinnati, in Israel, and around the world.  This is the Cincinnati Jewish community’s largest single-day fundraiser and volunteer opportunity for the year. In addition to making phone calls, volunteers will bring personal care items and paper goods to donate to the Jewish Family Service Vital Support Center, and they will make greeting cards for clients of the JCC’s Meals on Wheels program.
+10
Jewish Hospital auditorium dedicated to Dr. Ronald Fegelman

Jewish Hospital auditorium dedicated to Dr. Ronald Fegelman

  • The new 162-seat The Ronald H. Fegelman, MD, Memorial Auditorium was opened with a ribbon cutting at Jewish Hospital in Kenwood March 14. The auditorium is dedicated the late Dr. Fegelman, who served on the medical staff of The Jewish Hospital as a general and thoracic surgeon and had a lifelong love of learning. The new space will help increase the teaching capability in Kenwood. It is the latest construction project that also adds a new dining facility at the hospital campus. Dr. Fegelman’s wife, Alice, who cut the ribbon at the dedication, said, “It’s been a long 30 years, but I see progress and (the hospital is) moving on that progress. There is so much to be thankful for.” Dr. Fegelman dedicated his life to teaching and the future of medicine, said Jonathan Laabe, president of the Mercy Health Foundation-Greater Cincinnati at Mercy Health.  With Dr. Fegeleman’s wife Alice and her partner Dr. Leo Munich at the ribbon cutting were her sons Todd and his wife Karen, Dr. Elliot and his wife Hannah, and David and his guest Robin Jordan, and two of his three grandchildren, Isaac and Julia. Another grandchild, Joseph Ronald, was not able to attend.
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The Big Event learn about ‘Love, Gilda’

The Big Event learn about ‘Love, Gilda’

  • Women in support of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati’s annual campaign gathered for The Big Event Laughter and Legacy on March 7 at the JCC. The gathering heard form Meryl Goldsmith, producer of the film “Love, Gilda,” a documentary about the life and legacy of comedian Gilda Radner. Goldsmith spoke about her journey in the film industry, women in comedy, and talk about her Jewish experience and what she learned about legacy and women’s empowerment while working on “Love, Gilda.”