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March 2020

Letter from the Executive Director

As summer dawns, we hope for a season of profound change, in the trajectory of the pandemic and the hardships it places on many, in our country’s challenges with racial inequality, in the economy and more. Jewish Cemeteries has two Workum Interns this summer: Sam Ruskin and Brooke Goldwasser. Their summer project includes helping to . . . Read More

Standing Upright: Honoring our ancestors by repairing monuments

All of nature is springing back to life in every shade of green, pink, white and yellow, so it may be a stretch to grasp that this is also the beginning of monument repair season for Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati. And twelve years into the existence of this area’s unique, unified Jewish cemetery organization, . . . Read More

Marking Veterans’ Graves before Memorial Day 2020

U.S. Veteran medallions that now proudly mark the graves of every veteran in two of Cincinnati’s largest Jewish cemeteries, Montgomery’s United Jewish Cemetery and the Walnut Hills Cemetery, were further transformed on Sunday, May 17 with the addition of over 1000 new American flags. Dayton Scout Ethan Zied teamed up with Jewish Cemeteries of Greater . . . Read More

The Hebrew Free Burial Association Continued its Mission During the Pandemic

What has it been like to do the work of Jewish burial in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic? Through a professional acquaintance of David Harris, JCGC Executive Director, we took the opportunity to find out from someone who knows firsthand. Andrew Parver spared us a few precious phone minutes at home on a . . . Read More

History of Our Cemeteries

Rabbi Marcus Crystal, Staff Scholar, Cincinnati Community Kollel CINCINNATI IN 1820 With enthusiasm and a feeling of destiny in his step, Joseph Jonas, generally considered the first permanent Jew of Cincinnati, wrote in his memoirs of his decision to travel along the Ohio River: “The fiat had gone forth, that a new resting place for . . . Read More

Letter from the Executive Director

These are challenging times in which we all find ourselves. Our lives are changing moment to moment, and we don’t know what the next day will bring. A friend shared a letter from a rabbi the other day that sought to comfort by reminding us all that the certainty we thought we had a week . . . Read More

Update on Ethan’s and Jewish Cemeteries Veterans Project

There has been exciting news for Ethan Zied, the Dayton area Eagle Scout who has made it his job to get a veteran’s marker at the grave of every Cincinnati Jewish veteran and ready for flag decoration going forward. On February 8, 2020, his project was awarded the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National . . . Read More

Why Is It Important to Make Pre-Arrangements As Soon As Possible?

Q & A with Bill Kahn and Ben Lefton of Weil Kahn Funeral Home Our Marketing Committee Chair, Karen Zanger, reached out to Weil Kahn Funeral Home to discuss planning. Jewish Cemeteries and Weil Kahn both encourage community members to make arrangements in advance. Here’s the interview: Q: Remind us— What are the benefits of . . . Read More

Judah Touro Cemetery

For someone who was described by one who knew him as “not a man of brilliant mind; on the contrary, he was slow, and not given to bursts of enthusiasm,” Judah Touro had quite an eventful life. In 1797 at the age of twenty-two, he went on a voyage from his home in Boston to . . . Read More

Our Newest Guardians: Karen and Stuart Zanger

In the afternoon hours of New Year’s Eve 2019, my husband Stuart and I made a decision that felt like a satisfying way to start to 2020. We made the commitment to support Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati beyond the length of our own lives, through a pledge to Create Your Jewish Legacy. It was . . . Read More