J. David Heller, immediate past board chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, was chosen to chair the next phase of the Jewish Federations of North America’s emergency campaign for Ukraine aid.

The Cleveland Jewish community welcomed six Teenshinim from the Israeli community of Beit Shean/Valley of Springs in early July – the first delegation from Israel to Cleveland in more than two years. The Teenshinim is a program for high school juniors interested in applying for a year of service in North America or Israel.

Our community heard a briefing on the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel from Jeffrey J. Wild, Federation vice chair, and Erika B. Rudin-Luria, Federation president.

As many were enjoying time off with their families over Memorial Day weekend, dozens of leaders from Jewish federations across North America, including Jewish Federation of Cleveland President Erika Rudin-Luria and vice chair Jeffrey Wild, embarked on a mission to Ethiopia to join a group of 180 Ethiopian Jews making aliyah.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland held another community briefing with its overseas partners, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and The Jewish Agency for Israel, June 8 as the war in Ukraine passes the 100-day mark.

I am writing this on a plane from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Israel. Jewish Cleveland community leader, Jeffrey Wild, and I traveled to Ethiopia with the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI). The trip was designed to teach us more about the Ethiopian Jewish community’s history and current reality; and allow us to accompany 180 Ethiopians as they made Aliyah as part of Operation Tzur Yisrael Chapter Two to be reunified with family in Israel.

This month, we're welcoming summer with our 118th annual meeting, a do-good volunteer opportunity for all ages, an important community briefing on Ukraine, and more.

When I was asked to write this blog post about Yom Hazikaron and my reflections about it as an Israeli, I was very hesitant. How can I put in words a custom you grow up with since childhood? Will I be able to do justice to the many layers and rituals of Yom Hazikaron? I will try to explain it and paint a picture from my own eyes growing up in Israel.

This May, we're celebrating Israel with an outdoor carnival, cleaning up Cleveland's Jewish cemeteries, experiencing camp with hands-on service projects, and more.

It is our responsibility to learn from history lest it will repeat itself. This is a lesson that we take very seriously, and that we act on.