Spring may be off to a chilly start. But inside, we've created some of the warmest rooms I can remember.
Two days ago, a ballroom at Music Hall had no empty seats. Every Lion of Judah in Cincinnati who could be there was there. I've never felt more appreciative to be part of it.
We were there to welcome eleven new women into the Lions of Judah, the international women's leadership society sustaining Jewish life in Cincinnati and around the world, and to thank our Lions who have been doing this work for years.
And we were there to listen to Sarah Hurwitz.
Sarah is the author of As a Jew. She has visited more than thirty college campuses since October 7. Her conversation with Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch, CEO of Women of Reform Judaism, moved from college campuses to Jewish wisdom to where we go next. Rabbi Liz named a key question I've been carrying: what are we doing about antisemitism? Sarah's answer wasn't about defense. It was about identity.
"If you do not have a strong Jewish story, you will believe the stories other people are telling about us."
Then she told us about her grandmother. Born in 1912, she watched her European relatives be murdered with no Israel to flee to. And as Sarah concluded her remarks, she looked out at the room in Music Hall and said, "This is insane. Our ancestors could not have imagined a room like this." That gave me so much pride in our Jewish community.
Jewish women of Cincinnati, choosing to be together. As family.
This follows a trend I am grateful to be part of. We want to be in the room, together.
Cincinnati Jews came together earlier this spring for the Yoms. Three days from candles to silence to song. Commemoration to resilience to celebration. The full arc, held together.
Then we widened the room.
For decades, Israelis built the country, and we sent the checks. Z3 says that's no longer enough. We're equal partners now, and we must figure out how to talk to each other, across our differences, not around them.
The Mayerson JCC and Federation hosted Z3@Cincinnati. More than 250 of us spent half a day inside it. What that room held was rare.
Zach Bodner has been building the Z3 Project for ten years. He opened our day with a charge: "When we come together, we can accomplish anything."
Omer Shem Tov closed. Omer was held by Hamas for 505 days. Every night in his cell, he prayed. Not to ask for anything, but to say thank you. "Thank you for the air that I have in my lungs. Thank you for the food that I have on my plate. Thank you for that piece of bread."
This spring, the same lesson has kept repeating. Zach said it as a charge. Omer phrased it as survival. Sarah said it most clearly: our ancestors could not have imagined a room like this.
The room is how we keep choosing each other.
Last week, more than 100 law enforcement leaders came to learn about the threats facing American Jews. They spent a half-day at our JCC for a seminar on violent Islamist extremism, hosted by our security arm SAFE Cincinnati.
Ohio's Director of Public Safety, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and the FBI Special Agent in Charge for Cincinnati were all in the room. All three are committed to protecting our Jewish community.
We are not in this alone.
Cincinnati Jews have done this since 1896. We keep showing up. We keep building. We keep choosing each other.
The next warm room is two weeks away.
On Wednesday, May 20, at 7:00 p.m., we’ll gather in the Amberley Room at the Mayerson JCC for our 130th Annual Meeting.
RSVP at jewishcincinnati.org/130years
We'll honor three people who have spent decades holding this room together. Anne Goldstein, who walks through Auschwitz every year with Cincinnati teenagers on the March of the Living because the kids need someone steady next to them, will receive the Weston Junior Avodah Award. Linda Kean, who leads the annual Dr. Samuel S. Rockwern Passover Delivery Project, oversees the current JFS strategic plan, runs day-to-day operations, and still finds time to teach chair yoga at JFS Adult Day Services, will receive the Weston Senior Avodah Award as COO of Jewish Family Service. Jim Heldman has spent forty years gathering people—on Federation's Executive Board, as President of Rockdale Temple, on Hebrew Union College's board, on most every Jewish institution that needed him. He still does it every Monday morning, leading a walking group of dozens of friends. He'll receive the Goldstein Volunteer of the Year Award. And we'll welcome our new board.
This Sunday is Mother's Day. These rooms have been warm in part because of the women in them—the ones I named in this email, the ones I didn't, and the ones we carry with us.
I hope to see you there.
Shabbat Shalom,
Danielle V. Minson
CEO, Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
jewishcincinnati.org/give
P.S. If what I shared about Sarah stayed with you, listen to her on 18Forty Podcast, a show about finding meaning through Jewish thought and ideas. And our friends at Z3 host The Long Path Podcast on Jewish peoplehood and where we go next: youtube.com/@TheLongPathPod.