The eight-day celebration of Hanukkah, which begins this Sunday evening (Dec. 6) will be brighter for more than 80 families in financial need through a special program directed by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

BEACHWOOD, OHIO – (December 2, 2015) – Students at Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School (formerly The Agnon School) recently raised $1,427.06 by waging a one week charity Penny Challenge by grade to support the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Annual Campaign for Jewish Needs. This amount represents an increase from last year’s donation. The Federation will use this money to address the diverse needs of the Jewish community, both locally and worldwide.

We recently met a young woman named Yafit, an Ethiopian Jew whose family made Aliyah more than 30 years ago. She is just one of nearly 100,000 Ethiopian Jews who completed the journey – an effort that Cleveland’s own Federation President Steve Hoffman helped initiate. Now, Yafit is paying it forward as a Youth Futures Mentor, a Federation-supported program that provides community-based mentoring for youth in Israel. Read Yafit’s inspiring story here:

Thirteen years ago last Shabbat my best friend’s brother was murdered by Palestinian terrorists while providing reinforcement to IDF soldiers who had been ambushed outside the Cave of the Patriarchs. He left behind a wife and six children.

CLEVELAND – The Jewish Federation of Cleveland has joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities and organizations to encourage philanthropy and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Coinciding with Thanksgiving, the holiday shopping season, and the Federation’s 2016 Campaign for Jewish Needs, #GivingTuesday will inspire community members to take action to improve Cleveland’s Jewish and general communities. Together, on December 1, 2015, we will help create a better world.

Though he’s been in Israel for less than a year and is far from his family, Thibault already feels more at home there than he ever did in his native France.

This Thanksgiving, an American tradition made its way to Israel. The Jewish Federation of Cleveland and Masa Israel Journey sent Cleveland young adults a taste of home.

Hedy Milgrom has been with The Cleveland Women’s Orchestra since she moved to Cleveland three and a half decades ago. Her first day at the Great Lakes Arts Alliance, she arrived at work to find a news clipping on her desk about the orchestra. The rest was history.

The blurring of individual and locale – and their symbiosis – are central to “Israel: Land and Identity,” a provocative exhibition of 46 works in various media on view at the Roe Green Gallery in the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Building in Beachwood.

The Saltzman Youth Panel educates Jewish Cleveland high school students like me about philanthropy. Together, this year’s cohort of 40 high school juniors and seniors will make decisions about allocating $50,000 to worthy organizations in the Jewish and general communities.