This year, more than 350 women from across our diverse community came together to support each other and Jewish Cleveland at our annual Spring event. This tremendous turnout is further evidence of our shared commitment to making room for – and listening to – one another, no matter the topic.

Early on in my rabbinate, I decided I would officiate at weddings for interfaith couples if they agreed to have a Jewish family and raise Jewish children. I honestly hadn’t given the issue much thought and believed this was a typical position of many of my fellow Reform rabbinical colleagues. I remember one conversation in which the couple did not agree to these parameters and I refused to officiate at their wedding.

Youth Futures, Ruthi Shenfeld and regional director, Shlomit Abergel discuss how they're mentoring at-risk youth in Israel

Even though she grew up in East Lansing, Michigan – “enemy territory” as she calls it – Tamara Cofman Wittes headed south to Northeast Ohio to get her undergrad at Oberlin College. Her senior year, she wrote her thesis on the history of Jewish Cleveland, which sparked a successful career researching Jewish and Middle Eastern culture. Today, she serves as a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization in Washington, D.C.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland announced today that Judith Wolkoff, an active volunteer with the Transplant House of Cleveland, is the 2019 recipient of the Irene Zehman Award. Each year, the Federation recognizes an unsung Jewish woman or group of women who demonstrate the highest ideals and practices of volunteer service on behalf of the Jewish and/or general community. Wolkoff, a Pepper Pike resident, will be honored at the Federation’s Women’s Philanthropy Spring Brunch on June 2 at 11:45 am at Landerhaven (6111 Landerhaven Drive, Mayfield Heights).

Happy Mother's Day, Cleveland! We asked Federation professionals to share their favorite part about being a mom, and why they love their own mom!

A Cleveland Festival to Celebrate Art, Music, and Israel’s 71st Independence Day!

The 4-day inaugural BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival, featuring top-flight performers from abroad and world premiere collaborations between Cleveland-based and international theater artists, launches on July 24.

The city of Cleveland and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland celebrated the announcement that Cleveland and Beit Shean and Valley of Springs in Israel will become official Cleveland sister cities during a short ceremony at the Cleveland Public Library Louis Stokes Wing in Cleveland on May 2.

I moved to Cleveland – my husband’s hometown – in 1994 when I was pregnant with my first child. I was primarily a stay-at-home mom for many years while I raised my three children, and gradually added other jobs as my children entered grade school. At first, I started teaching religious school at Park Synagogue in 1996 just to get out of the house a little bit. I immediately fell in love with teaching the students and I continue to teach there to this day. From there, I added another role to my career as an educator, working as an after-school reading tutor. Today, the bulk of my work week is spent writing articles and managing social media for an Apple-focused tech and lifestyle website, iMore.