For more than 300 days, we have been praying for the safe and immediate release of the hostages taken by Hamas last October. “Bring Them Home Now” is not just some slogan – it’s a plea for humanity.

Just 48 hours after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel by Hamas, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland gathered more than 2,000 Jewish and non-Jewish individuals to pray and support Israel outside of its Beachwood offices.

On October 7, 2023, more than 250 innocent civilians were taken hostage by the terrorist group Hamas. These individuals are as old as 85 and as young as 9-months; they are men, women, and children; they are Israeli, American, Russian, Argentinian, and Thai. They have missed birthdays, anniversaries, and so many more milestones while being subjected to unimaginable horrors.

When it launched some 20 years ago, no one could have predicted how desperately needed this program of @akiva High School – a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland – would be today.

Participants on the Cleveland Young Professional Volunteer Mission to Israel spent eight days volunteering across the country, met with Israeli contemporaries to learn more about their lives, and experienced life in Israel post-October 7. Read about some of the participants' experience below:

After the devastation that occurred on October 7, Cleveland immediately stepped up to help the communities impacted by the attacks. Cleveland has since established a partnership with Kibbutz Kissufim, a community in the Gaza envelope that suffered a great deal of damage on October 7. In April, several volunteers from Cleveland traveled to Israel and spent two days helping rebuild Kibbutz Kissufim. Cleveland and Israeli volunteers from our sister community of Beit Shean/Valley of Springs were able to exchange stories, laugh together, and build hope while gardening and cleaning the Kissufim community.

To allow more people to engage in Jewish life and learn more about the current state of Israel, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland took business and civic leaders in Cleveland of various religious faiths to Israel from April 13 through April 16.

We hope to see you at our July events. This month, we are hosting fun and free events for Jewish Cleveland-area college students, two gallery open houses of our current art exhibit from photographer Michal Chelbin, and a community-wide security training on situational awareness.

Last summer, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Cleveland Israel Arts Connection started planning a Roe Green Gallery show of Israeli photographer Michal Chelbin’s works.

Rabbi David Wolpe, Max Webb Rabbi Emeritus of Sinai Temple, recently spoke to our Cleveland community at Federation’s 120th Annual Meeting. During our one-on-one interview with him, he answered questions about being a proud Jew during these difficult times and gave advice about standing up to hate, while providing a message of hope and optimism.