08/27/2025
Jews, Israelis Celebrate at 79th One World Day
Around 50 Jewish and Israelis from the Cleveland community marched along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to celebrate their heritage as part of the 79th annual One World Day at the Cleveland Cultural Gardens on Aug. 24. CJN Photo / Jimmy Oswald
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
by Jimmy Oswald
A warm and sunny Aug. 24 resulted in thousands making their way to the Cleveland Cultural Gardens to come together and celebrate the different backgrounds that make up Cleveland, regardless of contrasting viewpoints or political tensions, for the 79th annual One World Day.
Over 50 cultures were represented with diverse groups of people from all around the globe sharing their culture through food, song, dance and art at the event hosted by the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation and presented by Cleveland City Councilman Kevin Conwell, Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell and Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb.
The Hebrew Cultural Garden’s march was represented by about 50 Jewish and Israeli community members, including those from the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland’s Horvitz YouthAbility and the 2025-26 shin shinim, teen emissaries from Israel.
“We’re always happy to be participating in One World Day,” Aviva Roland, managing director of the Jewish Volunteer Network of Federation, told the Cleveland Jewish News. “It’s always a nice celebration of multiculturalism in Cleveland, and it’s obviously important for the Jewish community to be represented as part of the fabric of what makes Cleveland such a beautiful tapestry of different cultures.”
The day kicked off at 11 a.m. with a naturalization ceremony at Centennial Peace Plaza on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where 25 new immigrants became United States’ citizens with a U.S. District Court Judge administrating the oath.
The Parade of Flags followed at noon with cultural groups of different ethnicities and backgrounds, from Brazilians to Italians to Pakistanis, marching with flags, playing music, dancing and donning clothing to honor their heritage and place as Northeast Ohioans.
Among the parade participants was Lawrence Hill of Cleveland, who was dressed up as Batman and carried a pair of orange teddy bears with him to represent the red-headed Bibas brothers, 4-year-old Ariel and 9-month-old Kfir, who were kidnapped and later killed along with their mother, Shiri, during the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel.
“I’m representing the little people’s voice,” Hill told the CJN. “Ariel loved Batman, so that became a symbol for him and his little brother. I represent them at a lot of different events, and I put a yellow and orange ribbon on my (Israel) flag today, orange for the Bibas boys and yellow for the hostages.”
Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland’s Horvitz YouthAbility’s ambassadors are young adults with special needs, and Roland said they came with “big smiles and good energy.”
“It was really wonderful to have them marching with our delegation and waving Israeli flags,” she said.
After the parade was finished, the Hebrew Cultural Garden, which sits in between the Syrian and Croatian Cultural Gardens, became a hodgepodge of activity with the Federation organizing music, dancing and art events to help those attending One World Day learn about Israeli and Jewish culture.
Attendees of the event walked around with passports that could be stamped at each cultural garden they visited.
“There’s been lots of people coming through,” Roland said. “And I have lots of volunteers helping out at the information tables. We’re giving away Jewish books and Israeli snacks. We have a henna artist and Israeli dancing.”
There was also a DJ, Teddy Eisenberg of Cleveland, playing music from different cultures across Israeli society. Roland said this allowed visitors to hear “not just Israeli pop music, but Jewish music from around the world.” Volunteers from the Federation helped lead dance sessions containing traditional Israeli and Jewish moves.
The shin shinim, taking a gap year in between school and military admission, were around mingling as part of their work in the community to represent Israel.
“It’s great to have all these communities come together, set politics and everything aside, to parade and walk and join together in happiness and enjoying Cleveland,” Bradley Schlang, a trustee with the Federation, told the CJN.
Sheila Allenick, a former director of fiscal operations and assistant treasurer at the Federation who is now a volunteer coordinator for the Hebrew Cultural Garden, was pleased to see so many coming and going through the green space.
“It it sometimes a challenge because the major part of our garden is on East Boulevard as opposed to Martin Luther King (Boulevard), which is where the parade and most of the activity is,” Allenick told the CJN. “We were hoping the ice truck and a few other things would bring people into the garden, and it seems to be successful.”
Allenick thanked her group of volunteers who work “very hard a couple times a month” to clean up and weed. There are also some new additions to the garden as the coordinator said they are always seeking to improve the area.
Adding boxwoods, an evergreen shrub, to the top of the steps near the center of the garden, adding plaques with sayings along the northern path and another that explains how a part of the garden, that used to be called the Musican’s Garden, uses the plants to make the area in the shape of a harp.
“I’m very proud of the way the garden looks,” she said. “We spent quite a bit of time power washing some of the brick and cement to bring it back to the way it looked when it was new.”
