I grew up in Cleveland with a sense of pride in being Jewish. I was a part of a very special B’nai Mitzvah with my cousin; being able to do that with her was amazing. I’m also a third generation Holocaust survivor on my father’s side. I never met my grandfather, who I’m named after – I was born to keep his legacy alive.

This year’s Community Relations Committee Annual Meeting and Sidney Z. Vincent Memorial Lecture focuses on the role of Women in STEM. Please join us on March 20 at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History at 7:00 pm for an exciting panel discussion and update about the critical work of the Community Relations Committee this last year.

The Cleveland Israel Arts Connection (CIAC) celebrates experiences that deepen our Jewish identity and share the beauty of Israel with everyone in our community through dance, film, music, literature, theater and the visual arts.

Eleven years ago, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Jewish Agency for Israel, a beneficiary agency of Federation, helped to establish Youth Futures – a mentoring program in Israel for at-risk youth. “The essence of Youth Futures is an in-depth mentorship between mentors and at-risk youth,” said Ya’ara Leitner Yagen, Regional Manager of Youth Futures in Israel.

There are two things in my life that define me – my Jewishness and baseball. I was born and raised in Jewish Cleveland and the values of Judaism were instilled in me from a very young age – from synagogue, Sunday School, Jewish Day Camps, BBYO, and activities at the Mandel JCC. Jewish Cleveland is everything to me – as is playing baseball. I’ve put so much into being able to play my entire life, including in college.

Israel's Channel 2 News meets the Beit Shean Masa Israel Teaching Fellows! MITF is on a 10-month post-college volunteer program where exemplary college grads teach English to Israeli students.

Rachel Kraus of Solon has been named the 2017-2018 Roslyn Z. Wolf Cleveland-JDC International Fellow. Established in 2003 by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the JDC Entwine Global Jewish Service Corps, the Roslyn Z. Wolf Cleveland-JDC International Fellowship is part of a cohort of 23 young JDC Entwine Global Jewish Service Corps Fellows deployed around the world.

Two years ago, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland began a partnership with the local St. Clair-Superior neighborhood to share successful community development models through entrepreneurship, demographic growth, youth engagement, and more from Cleveland’s sister city - Beit Shean, Israel and the Valley of Springs, the region surrounding Beit Shean.

Cleveland plays a big part in a new exhibit at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Roe Green Gallery.

Although Ben Miller, 13, has studied Israel while attending the Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School in Beachwood, and anticipated visiting, he likely didn’t imagine his first trip would include his family playing a basketball game with about 10 soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces.