08/29/2024
For 120 Years, Federation Leaves Lasting Impact
KRISTEN BEARD | CJN
As the Jewish Federation of Cleveland celebrates its 120th anniversary, it reflects on a long legacy of support and positive influence in the community and efforts that have touched countless lives through different organizations and programs such as the Cleveland Chesed Center, Jewish Family Service Association, Bellefaire JCB and jHUB.
The Federation, founded in 1903, is among the oldest organizations in Greater Cleveland. Its mission is to promote the well-being of the community, its members and Jews throughout the world, according to its website.
In 2011, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland conducted a population study identifying areas that needed to be addressed within the Cleveland Jewish community, which led to the development of programs and organizations designed to help the community feel more connected.
Adler
The Cleveland Chesed Center in Cleveland Heights was established after the study showed 20% of the Jewish community in the Greater Cleveland area was living at or below the poverty level and people were willing to seek help, Rabbi Avrohom Adler, the executive director of the Chesed Center, told the Cleveland Jewish News. He said the Federation’s task force then began the search for a place to help address the need for access to kosher food while maintaining people’s pride and dignity.
“They wanted a place where people could feel that ‘shopping’ experience without paying to go in nice aisles and create a choice pantry where they can choose whatever they want and with an abundance of kosher food,” Adler, a resident of Beachwood, said.
The Cleveland Chesed Center opened its doors in 2016 with the initiative to provide kosher food to families on a monthly basis and help them maintain their pride and dignity. The center partnered with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and the Federation was a fiscal sponsor for the first three years until it became independent. The Federation still offers its full support and continues to help the center in any way it can, Adler said.
“You know that you can count on their support, whether it’s financial (or) political connections – the Federation will be there with us and will be leading the forefront,” Adler said. “They really got us off the ground, and they (Federation) helped us with spreadsheets, data collecting, recording and budgeting and so on.”
Adler said the relationship between the Cleveland Chesed Center and the Federation has been smooth and seamless. According to Alder, people often believe he is part of the Federation because of their close relationship. Adler has been involved every step of the way with the Cleveland Chesed Center and the Federation since 2014 and before, during its development.
“It’s really seamless, I mean, the connection is smooth and it’s efficient. We always know that we have their support,” he said. “They have our back, so it’s a different type of running an organization when you know that the big guns are behind you.”
In recent years, the Jewish Family Service Association bought the Cleveland Chesed Center’s building on South Taylor Road and will renovate it to remain the Chesed Center, but to also include the Jewish Family Service Association’s services. Adler said the renovations are about 90% to 95% completed and will include medical services for vaccines, diabetes screenings, physicals and also mental health services.
“We look forward to being able to provide these services in the Cleveland Heights community (and) we look forward to celebrating our own 150th together with the Federation,” Adler said. “There is nothing that the JFSA could have accomplished without the Federation being at our side and providing our support.”
The Jewish Family Service Association in Pepper Pike is another organization the Federation has impacted. It is celebrating its 150th anniversary alongside the Federation’s 120th anniversary this year. The association opened its doors as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in 1875 to help address the needs of Jewish immigrant families arriving in America, helping them adapt to their new life, Susan Bichsel, the Jewish Family Service Association president for the last 15 years and a member of the agency for the past 30 years, told the CJN.
Bichsel
The agency transitioned from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society to the Jewish Family Service Association in 1943, according to Western Reserve Historical Society’s records.
Bichsel said depending on the needs of the community, the organization adapts to meet those needs and helps provide opportunities for the community to build a better connection to itself and to their faith. It currently focuses on providing services and support for families, older adults, those with special needs/mental disabilities, teens and young adults. The Federation’s planning component helps the Jewish Family Service Association meet people’s needs and create programs throughout the different eras of needs over the years.
“When I talk about who we are and what we do evolve as the needs of the community also evolve, the Federation is always right there with us, side by side,” Bichsel, a resident of Shaker Heights, said.
She said the Jewish Family Service Association’s popular services and programs include its domestic violence services and the food bank, the Cleveland Chesed Center. The services encapsulate its initiative to strengthen families and connections within the community, and the Federation has been there through every step.
“Celebrating these incredible milestones, I think, speaks so much to the importance of history and legacy and, ya know, the value of the history that came before us and the importance of the foundation that carries us into the future,” Bichsel said.
Jacobs
Bellefaire JCB in University Heights was started by B’nai B’rith about 160 years ago to take care of Jewish orphans of the Civil War who fought on the side of the Union or non-aligned states, Adam Jacobs, president at Bellefaire JCB, told the CJN. After World War II, he said the organization continued to care for children, but instead of orphans, it transitioned into a residential treatment center for mental health.
Jacobs, a resident of Chagrin Falls, said the next big transition for the organization was around the mid-1990s when it became a community-based agency serving both families and children.
“We did two things,” he said. “We expanded our numbers in general and expanded our programs specifically for the Jewish community. We have counselors in all Jewish day schools and have counselors in the suburban schools with a heavy population of Jewish children like Beachwood, Orange and Solon.”
Working alongside the Federation, Bellefaire JCB was able to expand its services and partnerships in Israel and throughout the local area, Jacobs said. The organization now provides up to 30 different discrete services and programs, such as an anti-sex trafficking program working with law enforcement to stop sex trafficking, a homeless youth program, a crisis response team responding no matter what and the Monarch School at the Monarch Center for Autism in Shaker Heights, a chartered, non-public day school for students ages 5 to 21 with autism. Bellefaire JCB also opened Bluestone Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital in University Heights, increasing the number of psychiatric beds in Northeast Ohio by 50%, he said.
“Kids who are drawn the short straw in life – we (Bellefaire JCB) are there to help them, whether they are drawn the short straw because of nature or nurture, because they have been sexually and physically abused,” Jacobs said. “So, to the extent that (the) kids and families have drawn the short straw in life, we are there to help them or prevent them from pulling the short straw.”
Jacobs started at Bellefaire JCB in 1990 as clinical director and became the agency’s acting director in 1995. During his time with the agency, Jacobs said the Federation has created a network of friends and has allowed Bellefaire JCB to further connect to the communities and provide services in the Cleveland area, as well as in Columbus and Washington, D.C.
“It (Federation) has created a network of friends that we wouldn’t have had – from staff to the board members over there,” Jacobs said. “We have a network of friends, and I like having friends. We (Bellefaire JCB) are not out there alone like other social service agencies; we are part of a community. Think of it this way, when I started here as the acting director there were 12 agencies like Bellefaire and now we are down to really two or three – that’s because of the network that we are embedded in.”
Mersack
Rabbi Melinda Mersack, director of jHUB since its creation 10 years ago, said the program would not exist without the Federation.
“They (Federation) have been instrumental in jHUB’s creation and growth and successes,” Mersack, a resident of Solon, told the CJN. “We have always been completely supported by the Federation in so many ways. The vast majority of our funding comes through the Federation, and the Federation encourages us to grow, to scale, to add to our staff, and to build programs to better serve our families.”
JHUB was created after the Federation’s population study in 2011, which identified interfaith families who valued Jewish community but did not feel personally connected to one, Mersack said. It was a joint project of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. JHUB is not directly tied to a single synagogue or institution.
Mersack was responsible for creating jHUB’s infrastructure, marketing the project to Jewish communities and meeting with individuals and families seeking a Jewish connection. JHUB has grown to have full-time staff members, in addition to Mersack, who provide interfaith couples with guidance, support and connection to Jewish communities.
Mersack said the program’s initiatives are to help provide opportunities for interfaith couples and families to explore Jewish culture and values along with the programming to do so. She also said jHUB serves as a resource to other Jewish professionals and organizations that want to welcome and include interfaith families in their communities. She expressed her gratitude to the Federation for how it has helped the program grow and be able to help these different communities and organizations.
“We are grateful for the Federation’s continued support and how it focuses on the needs of the people in our community, and jHUB is really honored to be able to meet the needs of interfaith couples and families with the Federation’s assistance,” Mersack said.
