THE JACOB RADER MARCUS CENTER OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH ARCHIVES

The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) prides itself on safeguarding the history of the Jewish experience in America from its beginnings over 350 years ago to today. As a national repository of millions of primary source documents, photographs, and other material, the AJA not only preserves the past, but it strives to bring the past to light in order to better understand the present. For us, the past and present are in constant dialogue or conversation.

About The Panel

2019 marks the centennial anniversary of the 19th amendment granting women the constitutional right to vote. Ernestine Rose (1810-1892), a Polish Jewish immigrant to America, was—in her day—one of the most outspoken champions of woman’s suffrage, abolition, and education. A radical free thinker, she served as a mentor to well-known suffragists, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Her efforts and her words still speak to us today—to encourage the rise of radical reformers in our own time.

Our panel seeks to educate, to spark curiosity and interest, and to start a conversation with viewers. Ernestine Rose was highly influential in the Woman’s Suffrage movement, yet is not often given her full due. The portrait of Rose is based on a photograph in the AJA’s collection. We took creative license and had her posing with one hand on her hip to give a more active movement to her pose while her left hand is holding a sheaf of papers imagined to contain one of her many impassioned speeches. The quotes are from two separate speeches she delivered in 1852 and 1853, which convey the humanitarian and universalist message to which Rose dedicated her life’s work.

JEEP: CINCINNATI JEWISH RECOVERY

JEEP’s mission is to help local individuals with challenges or disabilities access Jewish education and connections to empower them to better overcome their life challenges. Cincinnati Jewish Recovery helps people in recovery from addictions use Jewish spiritual tools to strengthen and deepen their recovery, and provides recovery-oriented Jewish holiday celebrations and community.

About The Panel

Cincinnati Jewish Recovery (CJR) knows that successful recovery is built on honest, heartfelt communication and support. Six CJR members got together to brainstorm, after deciding to base the panel on the verse from the Talmud that expresses this idea, “Words that come from the heart enter the heart.” As they worked, different ideas spontaneously arose, and the artists developed several different expressions on parts of the panel about love, acceptance and recovery.

Jewish Cemeteries Of Greater Cincinnati

JCGC administers and preserves over two dozen Jewish cemeteries in and around Greater Cincinnati – more than 27,000 burials since 1821, including over 2500 U.S. Veterans. We also foster community engagement with these important links to our past, through outreach, education, and genealogy.

About The Panel

Cemeteries are rich in communication and art, both verbal and visual, literal and abstract. The panel focuses on the many messages conveyed in memorials. From information about the people being memorialized, to messages from the living to those they have lost, as well as the occasional parting words from the long departed. Over time, visitors leave their own gestures of love and respect for whomever they’re visiting and the people they left behind. These messages transcend time and generation. If we work to preserve them, they will continue to enrich the lives of many generations to come.

All of the photographs are of memorials from local Jewish cemeteries. They were taken by JCGC Executive Director David Harris; Office Manager Alter Raubvogel; and volunteers

Karen & Jess Zanger.

Jewish Family Service

- CARE MANAGEMENT AND COUNSELING

Jewish Family Service of Cincinnati strengthens lives and our community by providing professional social services to individuals and families in times of need.

About The Panel

The Care Management and Counseling Program provides in-home counseling to seniors, one of whom wrote the featured poem. Despite Sukkot being a happy holiday, she spoke of loneliness and feeling disconnected and overlooked. This is often the challenge we face in our program, seniors having limited ability and/or resources to be able to connect to the larger Jewish community. She gave permission for her name to be used in its entirety and will hopefully feel seen and connected by this endeavor.

Jewish Family Servicevital Support Center

Jewish Family Service of Cincinnati strengthens lives and our community by providing professional social services to families and individuals in times of need.

About The Panel

The Vital Support Center brings clients facing many different challenges together under one roof. “The Art of Conversation” theme brought to mind all of our clients sitting around a table, sharing a meal and conversation – something we do often. Our panel represents the many different people we serve here at Jewish Family Service and how they all come together under one roof, at one table. Bringing together people of many different backgrounds who experience different challenges creates a space where people can be their authentic selves. For many clients, the Vital Support Center provides a familial support for people who do not have many other sources of support in their lives.

JEWISH FEDERATION OF CINCINNATI - WOMEN’S PHILANTHROPY

We strive to educate, empower and engage women in our community, fostering a culture of social action, nurturing leadership and inspiring a commitment to philanthropy. Inspired and guided by our tradition of tzedakah (justice/charity), chesed (acts of loving kindness) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), Women’s Philanthropy of Jewish Federation Cincinnati is dedicated to the continuity, connectivity and thriving future of our local Cincinnati community, Israel and the Jewish people. Our women are bound by a shared belief that all Jews are responsible for each other and for the world.

About The Panel

This panel highlights our support of the Adopt-a-Class mentoring program, which partners with schools in which over 65% of students rely on the free lunch program. Once a month, a team of 10 Jewish women create educational activities that provide opportunities to write and perform STEM activities, and bring snacks to Mrs. Pryor’s first grade class at Woodford Paideia Academy. We start each year asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a crucial conversation that studies show can make a big impact on a child’s future. Our panel records their responses and will hang in their classroom.

We were inspired by the quote about brave conversations by Meg Wheatley, an American writer and management consultant who proposes that “real social change comes from the ageless process of people thinking together in conversation.” She is known for working with widely diverse communities, and has published nine award-winning books. Several people who saw the panel being carried into the JCC remarked that she had changed their life, or written “the best book I read in college!” Meg’s grandmother was Irma Lindheim, the first Jewish woman in the Army Corps during World War I.

JEWISH FEDERATION OF CINCINNATI - YOUNG ADULT DIVISION

YAD serves as a connector for all things young and Jewish in Cincinnati. We help native Cincinnatians and newcomers find meaning and build relationships in all facets of life, from professional and religious to cultural and communal. We host events of all shapes and sizes to appeal to young adults (21-45) in different stages of life and those who are looking for different kinds of programs. We also meet people one-on-one to help them get more connected and involved in the community.

About The Panel

Young adults came together at Camp Livingston to build community and share a weekend at camp away from the busy-ness of the city. The tie dye look of the panel connects to the tie dye that young adults created, sharing techniques, colors, and ideas for how to make a unique design. Using stencils, stickers, paint, and a variety of other supplies, young adults added phrases to the panel. In conversations together, they shared expressions that are important to them, connect them to Judaism, or are words they live by.