Supporting Israel and world Jewry isn’t just about where we give.
It’s about who we stand with.

Over winter break, JewishColumbus CEO Naomi Lamb, Rabbi Aaron Portnoy, and 19 Ohio State Hillel students traveled to Poland for a powerful immersive experience made possible through the JewishColumbus Innovation Fund.

Throughout the journey, students confronted the immense tragedy and loss of the Holocaust by bearing witness at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka, walking through the remnants of the ghettos in Krakow and Warsaw, and exploring the 1,000-year history of Jewish life in Poland.

The experience also connected students with peers from Hillels in Krakow and Warsaw, offering a meaningful window into Jewish life in Poland today. Together, these moments helped students understand both the depth of Jewish loss and the resilience of Jewish life across generations.

As one student shared, “I know I am no longer the same person I was before the trip; I am transformed.”

Immersive travel experiences like this are among the most powerful tools for Jewish engagement and continuity. Through this investment, JewishColumbus is helping young people deepen their Jewish identity, strengthen their connection to the global Jewish story, and carry that connection forward.

The Columbus Jewish community is excited to have our first delegation of Shinshinim, Israeli teen emissaries who volunteer in Jewish communities around the world for a year before beginning their army service, this year.

In August, Ofri and Amit will immerse themselves in our organizations while sharing their Israeli experiences: personal stories, Israeli culture, and the energy that makes this program so powerful across North America.

The highly regarded Shinshinim program selects exceptional young adults from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants each year. Each emissary brings enthusiasm, cultural insight, and personal narrative to the communities they serve, strengthening Jewish identity, deepening connections with Israel, and engaging participants from early childhood through senior adults.

Through opportunities like this, JewishColumbus helps bring Israel closer to home, creating meaningful connections that strengthen our community’s relationship with the global Jewish story.

Through Partnership2Gether, JewishColumbus and our sister communities in Kfar Saba and Kibbutz Karmiya are building deep, lasting connections between Columbus and Israel.

These relationships come to life through student remembrance projects, joint delegations, Pelotonia rides, and community missions that bring people together across distance and experience. Each shared moment helps strengthen the bond between our communities and reminds us that Jewish connection is both local and global.

Last year, 190 community members visited Kfar Saba to share stories, make connections, and form meaningful bonds. Every visit, conversation, and experience brought Columbus and Israel closer together.

Through Partnership2Gether, JewishColumbus is helping our community understand what it means to be part of one global Jewish family.