From 1945 to 2025: Why Does the World Still Hate Us
Approximately 180 people attended Kol Israel Foundation's panel discussion, "From 1945 to 2025: Why Does the World Still Hate Us?" The January 27, 2025 program commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Kol Israel Foundation, which was founded in 1959 by Holocaust Survivors who settled in Cleveland, is now run by the direct descendants of Survivors. The nonprofit organization maintains the Kol Israel Foundation Holocaust National Memorial at Zion Memorial Park in Bedford Heights. It also provides valuable programs, such as Face to Face®, which uses the lessons of the Holocaust to educate students on the consequences of antisemitism, bigotry, and all forms of prejudice and hate.
Below is a photo of Panelists, left to right: Stuart Spiegel, the son of a Holocaust Survivor and the uncle of a fallen IDF soldier; Louise Gips, a Survivor who was just four years old when the war broke out; and Cathy Lesser Mansfield, a law professor and composer who runs a foundation addressing the Holocaust, genocide, and tolerance.
Large crowd at the Kol Israel Foundation panel discussion
(text and photos by Nina Light)
2024
Hebrew Cultural Garden on One World Day 2024
The Hebrew Cultural Garden was very busy on One World Day in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. One World Day has been the official event of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation since 1946. First, the Hebrew Garden participated in the Parade of Flags which had 1500 people from over 53 countries.
Hebrew Cultural Garden in Parade of Flags on One World Day
They then hosted visitors at the site of their Cultural Garden on both East Blvd. and MLK.
Hebrew Cultural Garden preparing for One World Day
Volunteers spruced up the Hebrew Garden on Sunday August 20 in preparation for One World Day on Sunday August 27.
2022
Kol Israel 2022 Holocaust Memorial
Kol Israel Foundation is an organization of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, their families, and supporters. Each year they hold an annual Memorial Service "in memory of the six million innocent Jewish men, women and children who perished by the hands of the Nazis. Though their bodies have perished, their souls and their spirit will forever remain immortal." The annual Memorial Service was held at Zion Memorial Park in Bedford Heights on Sunday October 2, 2022. It was co-sponsored by Kol Israel Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
After the ceremony, Holocaust survivors in attendance gathered for a group photo.
Candlelighters Miriam Steinfeld and Tova Baron and family members
Kol Israel Foundation is an organization of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, their families, and supporters. Each year they hold an annual Memorial Service "in memory of the six million innocent Jewish men, women and children who perished by the hands of the Nazis. Though their bodies have perished, their souls and their spirit will forever remain immortal." The annual Memorial Service was held at Zion Memorial Park in Bedford Heights on Sunday October 6, 2019. It was co-sponsored by Kol Israel Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
After the ceremony, Holocaust survivors in attendance gathered for a group photo.
ShulBoys Motorcycle Club - an official affiliate club of the Jewish Motorcycle Alliance (JMA)
Shul Boys is a casual unisex motorcycle riding club comprised of Jews who ride all brands of motorcycles at different levels of competence. They believe in, and are proud of, their Jewish heritage and ride motorcycles. Shul Boys is located in northeastern Ohio, mainly in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. ShulBoys is an official affiliate club under the umbrella of the Jewish Motorcycle Alliance (JMA).
Ian Abrams, President and Founder of the Shul Boys attended the Kol Israel Memorial on his 1937 Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Shul Boys founder Ian Abrams and his 1937 Harley Davidson
Cleveland and Beit Shean/Valley of Springs, Israel Become Official Sister Cities
The City of Cleveland, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and Global Cleveland announced that Israeli city Beit Shean/Valley of Springs will become an official Cleveland Sister City. A celebratory ceremony occured Thursday, May 2 at 9 a.m. at Cleveland Public Library Louis Stokes Wing located at 525 Superior Ave.
“Cleveland’s strong international presence continues to be enhanced through educational, economic and cultural exchange with our sister cities,” said Mayor Frank G. Jackson. “We continue to build on our city’s tradition of cultural interchange and welcome Beit Shean as our newest sister city.”
As a result of Cleveland’s partnership with Beit Shean, the Cleveland Public Library is adapting a student-run model based on what its leadership has learned from the Beit Shean library. Similarly, Cleveland Community Development Corporations have shared their Place making methodologies to support the efforts of Beit Shean’s city center. In the last year alone, more than 500 Clevelanders have visited Beit Shean/Valley of Springs.
“For nearly 25 years, the Federation has worked closely with residents and civic leaders in Beit Shean/Valley of Springs to address a wide range of social and cultural issues confronting that region,” said Lynne Cohen, Federation’s Overseas Connections Committee Chair. “Through this work, we have been able to positively impact thousands of lives in Beit Shean/Valley of Springs and Cleveland. We are thrilled to see this relationship with the City of Cleveland take this significant step and look forward to the continued mutual-rewarding benefits that come from it.”
Beit-Shean and Cleveland delegations
Mayor Jackson and Ambassador Dani Dayan, Consul General of Israel in New York, provided remarks at the ceremony.
“Building connections with cities throughout the world is an important step toward sharing cultures and ideals with an understanding that we are all brothers and sisters united together,” said Council President Kevin J. Kelley. “I heartily welcome Valley of Springs, to our Cleveland community.”
With the addition of Beit Shean/Valley of Springs, Cleveland now has 23 sister cities around the world.
2018
Israeli community at International Cleveland Community Day
International Cleveland Community Day at the Cleveland Museum of Art is a celebration of the rich diversity of our region’s multiethnic communities, featuring traditional music and dance performances, cultural displays, and ingallery experiences. During this vibrant afternoon, visitors enjoyed presentations from more than 50 community groups expressing the continued vitality of the global cultures and arts that enliven our city.
The Israeli community was represented with a banner and a performance by Dance Israeli.
Dance Israeli banner at the Cleveland Museum of Art
2017
Kol Israel 2017 Holocaust Memorial
Kol Israel Foundation is an organization of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, their families, and supporters. Each year they hold an annual Memorial Service. The 56th annual Memorial Service was held at Zion Memorial Park in Bedford Heights on Sunday September 24, 2017. It was co-sponsored by Kol Israel Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. In 1961, Kol Israel built one of the first monuments in the United States dedicated to the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Ashes of the victims from concentration camps are buried beneath it and the names of deceased family members are engraved on its surrounding wall.
The ceremony included a special dedication of the Kol Israel Memorial Monument’s Historical Marker. The marker, granted by the Ohio History Connection, acknowledges the Monument as the first of its kind in the United States.
Jewish Federation of Cleveland president Gary Gross
In 1961, the Kol Israel Foundation built one of the first monuments in the United States dedicated to the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Ashes of the victims from concentration camps are buried beneath it and the names of deceased family members are engraved on its surrounding wall.
Ohio Historical Marker at Zion Memorial Park - Side 1
Dance Israeli! performed at the 2013 International Folk Festival at Wade Oval in University Circle in Cleveland. Dance Israeli! was established in 2006 by Stuart Meyer to bring the excitement and flavor of Israeli dance to live audiences.
Israeli Dance at Cleveland Folk Festival
Dance Israeli! performed at the 2013 International Folk Festival at Wade Oval in University Circle in Cleveland. Dance Israeli! was established in 2006 by Stuart Meyer to bring the excitement and flavor of Israeli dance to live audiences.
Tell us about the music, food, holidays, traditions, costumes, language and other qualities that make Israelis so special.
Israel
Following World War II, the British withdrew from their mandate of Palestine, and the UN partitioned the area into Arab and Jewish states, an arrangement rejected by the Arabs. Subsequently, the Israelis defeated the Arabs in a series of wars without ending the deep tensions between the two sides.
The territories Israel occupied since the 1967 war are not included in the Israel country profile, unless otherwise noted. On 25 April 1982, Israel withdrew from the Sinai pursuant to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. In keeping with the framework established at the Madrid Conference in October 1991, bilateral negotiations were conducted between Israel and Palestinian representatives and Syria to achieve a permanent settlement.
Israel and Palestinian officials signed on 13 September 1993 a Declaration of Principles (also known as the "Oslo Accords") guiding an interim period of Palestinian self-rule. Outstanding territorial and other disputes with Jordan were resolved in the 26 October 1994 Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.
In addition, on 25 May 2000, Israel withdrew unilaterally from southern Lebanon, which it had occupied since 1982. In April 2003, US President Bush, working in conjunction with the EU, UN, and Russia - the "Quartet" - took the lead in laying out a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005, based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine.
However, progress toward a permanent status agreement was undermined by Israeli-Palestinian violence between September 2003 and February 2005. An Israeli-Palestinian agreement reached at Sharm al-Sheikh in February 2005, along with an internally-brokered Palestinian ceasefire, significantly reduced the violence.
In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip, evacuating settlers and its military while retaining control over most points of entry into the Gaza Strip. The election of Hamas in January 2006 to head the Palestinian Legislative Council froze relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Ehud Olmert became prime minister in March 2006; he shelved plans to unilaterally evacuate from most of the West Bank following an Israeli military operation in Gaza in June-July 2006 and a 34-day conflict with Hizballah in Lebanon in June-August 2006.
Olmert in June 2007 resumed talks with the PA after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip and PA President Mahmoud Abbas formed a new government without Hamas.
Olmert in September 2008 resigned in the wake of several corruption allegations, but remains prime minister until a new government is formed after the general election in February 2009.
