Dear Friends,
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Dear Friends,
There is a particular feeling that comes with the High Holidays. It is the sound of a room filling up, the familiar faces, the seat that has always been yours. For all the reflection this season asks of us, what we love most is the simple warmth of being together again.
Belonging is the heart of Jewish life. We gather to reflect, to connect, to celebrate and in doing so we remind one another that we are not alone. This year, we want us all to lean fully into that warmth. We want our sanctuaries and social halls to feel full, our tables crowded, our children growing up knowing the joy of a community that shows up for them.
And we want us to feel safe while we do it.
In a time of rising antisemitism, the freedom to sing a little louder, to linger a little longer, to bring a friend who has never come before, all of it depends on knowing that someone has thought carefully about our safety. This year, that is exactly what we have been building together.
Our security program is designed so that your safety never depends on a single point of protection. State of the art technology forms one layer. Trained, armed security forms another. Deep coordination with our law enforcement partners forms a third. Woven together, these layers give us multi-level, integrated coverage across our community’s institutions.
This summer, we brought those layers under one roof. In June, we launched our Security Operations Center (SOC), a hub staffed by trained professionals who monitor our systems, share intelligence with regional and national partners, and stand ready to coordinate a response the moment one is needed. If a serious threat ever emerges, the SOC can reach the whole community in minutes. It is, quite simply, the nerve center of how we keep one another safe.
But security is not only cameras and operators. It is people who know what to do. Before this school year began, all of our community schools completed Active Shooter Response training. Two hundred and sixty-four members of our community have been trained in Stop the Bleed, learning skills that save lives in the moments before help arrives. We have led emergency management, crisis management, and emergency communications training, supported security planning at 11 community events, and presented to the boards of six partner organizations, so that shared knowledge becomes shared strength.
These numbers matter, but not for their own sake. They matter because behind each one is a child in a classroom, a family at services, a newcomer who walked through our doors and felt welcome. Every training, every partnership, every hour in that operations center exists so that you can do the most Jewish thing of all: gather, without fear.
Here is where you come in. A safe Jewish community is a safe Columbus community. When we come together, protect our own, and live proud, vibrant lives—we strengthen the whole city we call home.
So this year, come in. Take your seat. Bring someone with you. Let the room fill up. We will take care of the rest.
Wishing you and your loved ones a sweet, healthy, and meaningful new year.
Shabbat Shalom.
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Dear Friends,
This week, Lori Ann and I took our youngest son, Julius, back to Clemson for his junior year. I loved having him home this summer. The house felt fuller when he was here, and it certainly feels a lot emptier now.
I know many families in our community are experiencing their own version of that feeling right now. Some are sending a child off to college. Others are walking a preschooler into a classroom for the first time, watching a teenager start high school, or simply adjusting to another school year and another reminder of how quickly our children grow.
And after a wonderful summer, there is something comforting about knowing that wherever our kids are headed, there can be places waiting for them where they belong.
We saw that all summer long. At camp, friendships picked up right where they left off. On Birthright, young adults who began as strangers came home connected by something much larger than themselves. Our children experienced what it feels like to be surrounded by other Jewish kids, to celebrate who they are, and to know, these are my people.
Now summer gives way to school, but that sense of belonging does not have to end.
For some children, it continues in our preschools and day schools. For others, it is synagogue religious school, BBYO, or a teen program. And for our college students, it may be walking into Hillel hundreds of miles from home and finding a Shabbat dinner, a familiar tradition, and people who understand a part of them that needs no explanation.
That is why we invest in these places and experiences. We are building spaces where Jewish connection can happen at every age and every stage. We are helping our children develop friendships, confidence, identity, and pride that they can carry wherever life takes them.
As a parent, I find myself appreciating that more this week.
I cannot make our house feel quite as full with Julius back at Clemson. That is part of watching our children grow up. We raise them, love them, give them roots, and eventually watch them make their own way in the world.
As a Jewish community, we have a similar responsibility. We cannot know exactly where life will take the next generation. But we can make sure we have given them strong roots, meaningful connections, and a community they will always know is theirs.
Our children will grow up. They will leave our classrooms, our camps, and eventually our homes.
Our job is to build a Jewish community they will always want to come home to.
Shabbat Shalom.
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Dear Friends,
As we welcome Shabbat, I find myself reflecting on the extraordinary gift that this past week has been. For the third consecutive year, we welcomed a delegation of Israeli cyclists who traveled thousands of miles to ride in Pelotonia alongside our Columbus community. What began three years ago as an opportunity to support Israelis post October 7 has become something much deeper.
We have learned that supporting Israel is not simply about dollars or programs. It is about people. It is about opening our homes, sharing our stories, celebrating one another’s joys, carrying one another’s burdens, and discovering that although an ocean separates us, we are truly one family.
Pelotonia itself is one of the great expressions of our city’s character. For eighteen years, thousands of riders have gathered in Columbus to raise millions of dollars in the fight against cancer, each mile affirming that every life is precious and every breakthrough is worth pursuing.
For our Israeli friends, however, this year’s ride carried an even deeper meaning. Many come from communities forever changed by the horrors of October 7. Getting back on a bicycle was an act of resilience. It was choosing hope over despair, purpose over paralysis, and life over fear. Riding beside them as members of Team Bexley reminded us that healing often begins with taking the next step, or the next pedal stroke, together.
Perhaps the most beautiful part of this week was not the ride itself, but the relationships it continues to create. This year’s delegation included riders from the Gaza Envelope and, for the first time, riders from our long-standing Partnership2Gether community of Kfar Saba and from Kibbutz Carmia, the community our Columbus Jewish community embraced following October 7.
These are not just places on a map. They are people we know, families we have welcomed, and friends we have come to love. A special thank you to the nine host families who lovingly opened their homes to our guests, and the community members who supported this incredible week. One friendship even inspired the creation of a therapeutic cycling program in Kibbutz Urim, using the healing power of cycling to help survivors recover from trauma. Such is the power of genuine human connection.
One of our Israeli riders, Pato from Kibbutz Carmia, who was warmly welcomed into the home of my sister and brother-in-law, Julie and Randy Friedlander, offered words that none of us will soon forget: “I came to say thank you. You gave us hope when we had lost it. You gave us support. You were there for us. You mean more to us than you will ever know. I am so grateful to be here to say thank you.” We were fortunate that Julie and Randy brought Pato and several of their other guests to our home one afternoon. There was plenty of conversation, lots of laughter, and, naturally, a toast. We learned something that probably will not surprise anyone: Israelis are more than happy to toast l’chaim with a glass of bourbon. It was a lighthearted moment, but one that perfectly captured the week.
As Shabbat begins, may we celebrate not only the miles that were ridden or the funds that were raised, but the friendships that were deepened, the hope that was restored, and the enduring truth that has sustained the Jewish people throughout every generation: life is sacred, life is worth fighting for, and together we help one another choose life.
לחיים — L’Chaim.
Shabbat Shalom.
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We asked our community how they’ve been spending their summer.
The answer?
Making memories with family, friends, and community:
on mountaintops, around campfires, at the lake, and visiting
destinations around the world.
Enjoy our Summer Photo Gallery!
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Dear Friends,
We did it again!
Another year of setting bold, audacious goals, and another year our community rose to meet them. That’s not luck. It’s who we are. Agencies, synagogues, and schools that show up in partnership with JewishColumbus every single day, keeping this a place where we can live, work, and play with pride. And you, the donors who lean in, who say yes, who care so deeply that you turn generosity into action.
What matters most isn’t the number on a page. It’s what that number becomes: dignity for an older adult at Wexner Heritage Village, a Jewish student who walks through the world proud of who she is, a family in Israel who feels less alone because Columbus showed up for them. Your yes reaches further than you know, from our neighborhoods here at home to communities we may never meet around the world.
Thank you for being part of something bigger than any one of us.
Enjoy this video and see what we built together!
Thank you to the generous donors who made this achievement possible and whose impact will be felt across the community, Israel, and the world thanks to the tremendous investments we can now make where it matters most.
Click below to view our honor roll of the generosity that fuels our community.
Shabbat Shalom.
Shabbat Message is sent to our email database. Join the JewishColumbus mailing list.
Dear Friends,
This week, as we prepare to close the JewishColumbus Annual Campaign, I find myself reflecting on what an extraordinary year it has been. Serving as Chair has given me a front-row seat to the heart of this community. I have seen generosity, compassion, courage, and pride. I have seen agencies, synagogues, schools, donors, allies, lay leaders, and professionals step forward together.
I know I often talk about my parents and my family, but that is because they held community as something sacred. They taught me that giving and showing up were not optional. They were how you demonstrated responsibility, gratitude, and love for the community that helped shape you.
To everyone who has already made a gift, thank you. Your generosity is the reason a child went to camp, a senior was not alone, a family felt connected to Israel, and our community had the resources to live Jewishly with confidence.
With just four days left until our Annual Campaign closes, we are only a few hundred thousand dollars away from our $15 million goal. If you have not yet given, please give now. Every gift matters. Every gift moves us closer to ensuring that our community can continue to live Jewish joy safely, proudly, and with excitement.
I am especially grateful to our Campaign Co-Chairs, Terri Meldrum and Josh Barkan, who have worked tirelessly toward this goal.
As you watch this short video message from Terri and Josh, I hope you will reflect on and be proud of the way you have shown up for our community in your own unique way.
Shabbat Shalom.
Shabbat Message is sent to our email database. Join the JewishColumbus mailing list.
Dear Friends,
What I want most for every person in the Columbus Jewish community is simple: to feel welcomed, invited, and connected in whatever way is meaningful to you.
Not because someone tells you that you should. But because you feel it. Because you walk into a room, a synagogue, a program, a school, a camp, or a community gathering and know there is a place for you, even if that place looks different than it does for someone else. We celebrate that difference. Diversity of thought and experience is one of our greatest strengths, and it creates entry points for people to find their own way in.
As summer begins, so many of our children and young adults are heading into experiences that make that connection real. Day camp. Overnight camp. Teen programs. Birthright Israel. These are not just summer activities. They are moments when young people look around and feel, often for the first time in a powerful way, these are my people. Those moments come home with them. They shape pride, identity, and how they see themselves as Jews for years to come.
I felt that kind of connection deeply this past year on the JewishColumbus Israel 614 Mission. Traveling with 190 members of our community, standing together in Israel, spending time with our partners in Kfar Saba, and sharing moments of grief, resilience, and even joy changed me. What made it so powerful was not only where we went, but that we went together. The conversations, the bonds, the shared purpose—all of it made me feel more connected to this community and to the Jewish people than ever before. That is the kind of experience JewishColumbus is building and growing.
And now, a question worth sitting with: How do I connect? What would it take for me to feel that sense of connection in my Jewish community? We don’t have one answer, because there isn’t one. But we hope you’ll let us be part of finding yours.
Because everything I am talking about, connection, Jewish pride, shared experience, does not happen on its own. It happens because people choose to step in. In 15 days our Annual Campaign closes, and we are within reach of our bold $15 million goal. Last year, we doubled our campaign, and because of that, every synagogue, school, agency, and program received double the investment from the year before. Reaching this year’s goal means we can sustain that progress and build on it.
To everyone who has already given, thank you. And to those who have not yet participated, I hope you will make your gift now. Your gift is not just a number. It is one of your ways of saying: I am here. I care. I am part of this.
Let today be the day you step in. jewishcolumbus.org/donate.
Shabbat Shalom.
Shabbat Message is sent to our email database. Join the JewishColumbus mailing list.
Dear Friends,
This time of year always causes me to pause a bit.
Across our community, families are marking milestones that feel both joyful and emotional. One day your child is walking into preschool with a backpack almost bigger than they are, and somehow, seemingly overnight, they are graduating from high school, college, or beginning a life of their own. I have three children and no graduates this year, and yet these moments remind us how quickly time moves and how much it matters what surrounds our children as they grow.
Across Central Ohio, Jewish families are celebrating those moments right now. Each photo, each cap and gown, each proud parent tells a bigger story: this community is helping raise the next generation.
That is something worth celebrating.
JewishColumbus is proud to support Jewish journeys at every age and stage. Through preschools, day schools, synagogue religious schools, BBYO, teen engagement, leadership programs, Israel experiences, Hillels, campus life, and community security, we help create the conditions for Jewish children and young adults to feel rooted, connected, and proud.
This year, that support included $353,800 for 460 preschool children, $884,000 invested in day schools, $348,000 supporting religious schools at seven congregations, and $4 million dedicated specifically to security for our schools, synagogues, and camps.
These are not just investments in programs. They are investments in identity, belonging, safety, and future leadership.
And now, as we celebrate this season of milestones, we are approaching one of our own. We are about 30 days from the close of the JewishColumbus Annual Campaign and our $15 million goal.
Reaching that goal means we can continue and grow our support for the schools, synagogues, agencies, youth programs, Jewish experiences, and security efforts that shape the future of our Jewish community.
If you have already made your gift, thank you. If you have not yet participated, I hope you will join us and donate.
Graduation reminds us that the future is not something far away.
It is already here, standing right in front of us, smiling in a cap and gown.
Shabbat Shalom.
Shabbat Message is sent to our email database. Join the JewishColumbus mailing list.
Dear Friends,
There are moments when antisemitism is loud and unmistakable. And there are moments when it is quieter, revealed through hesitation, misunderstanding, discomfort, or the questioning of Jewish belonging itself.
Both are harmful. And both remind us why our work as a Jewish community remains so important.
May is Jewish American Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the history, culture, contributions, and resilience of Jewish Americans. It is also an opportunity to deepen understanding of Jewish identity itself. Judaism is not only a faith, but also a peoplehood, a culture, a heritage, and a shared story carried across generations.
That understanding feels especially important right now.
The City of Gahanna reminded us both how far we have come and how much work still remains.
After concerns were raised that Jewish American Heritage Month might not be formally recognized by Gahanna City Council, Gahanna Mayor Laurie Jadwin issued a proclamation recognizing Jewish American Heritage month. I was honored to join her alongside 50 members of our Jewish community to accept it.
At the same time, some moments surrounding the meeting were painful and disappointing for many in attendance. City Council itself refused to pass a similar resolution. They reminded us that there is still urgent work to do to build understanding about Jewish identity, Jewish peoplehood, and the concerns our community carries today. Three City Council members were not open to the proclamation or even refused to participate in a picture with Mayor Jadwin and Jewish community members.
I do not share this to create division or assign motives. I share it because ignoring these moments does not move us forward. Addressing them thoughtfully, honestly, and collectively does.
And importantly, these moments do not discourage us. They reinforce why this work is critical and why JewishColumbus continues to invest deeply in advocacy, education, and relationship building at every level.
In recent weeks, JewishColumbus leaders and community members have advocated at the Ohio Statehouse on issues related to antisemitism, hate crimes, and community safety. Others joined Jewish Federations of North America along with 500 faith leaders, both Christian and Jewish, in Washington, D.C., to strengthen interfaith partnerships, support Israel, and advocate for increased security for houses of worship.
One of the most meaningful parts of that work has been seeing allies stand beside us.
In reflecting on the Washington trip, Rabbi Hillel Skolnik shared: “Seeing the passion that these brothers and sisters of other faiths have for the support of the State of Israel is something we should not forget, and more importantly, should not forget to appreciate.”
His words are an important reminder that combating antisemitism cannot be the responsibility of Jews alone. Allyship matters. Relationships matter. When others stand with us and speak clearly against hate, it strengthens our community and expands understanding.
The story of this week is not only that we have a lot of work to do and misunderstanding still exists, but also that our community met the moment with dignity and pride. Civic leaders and allies stood with us. And JewishColumbus continues working every day to build a future rooted in understanding, partnership, safety, and belonging.
Do you want to join our efforts and advocate for Jewish causes? Contact Ori Katzav at [email protected].
We will keep showing up with clarity and conviction until Jewish belonging is not questioned, minimized, or misunderstood, but fully recognized.
Shabbat Shalom.