Each year, 8th graders from Gross Schechter Day School and Mandel Jewish Day School – two of Federation’s beneficiary agencies, travel to Israel to experience in-person everything they’ve learned in the classroom about Israeli culture and history. They also have a chance to spend time with their peers in Beit Shean, Cleveland’s sister city.

They say a penny saved is a penny earned, but in this case, Mandel JDS students did a lot more than save their pennies - they donated 717 dollars worth to the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Campaign for Jewish Needs.

Holocaust survivors received free hearing aids at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Building in Beachwood on Jan. 25, thanks to a partnership between the nonprofit Hearing Missions Foundation and Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland.

On June 21, 2016, the Federation Board of Trustees voted unanimously to make the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage (2929 Richmond Road, Beachwood, OH 44122 I 216.593.0575 I maltzmuseum.org) a local beneficiary of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, solidifying a longstanding relationship between the two organizations. The Maltz Museum provides high quality programming and outreach to nearly 40,000 members of the Jewish and general community each year.

On the last Friday before Spring Break, the 8th grade class of Mandel JDS (along with their parents, and the entire school) stood proudly in front of the Israeli flag, singing Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem. This tradition, commemorating the eighth grade’s upcoming voyage to Israel, has been around for nearly as long as the annual pilgrimage itself.

The Cleveland Museum of Art had an additional 13 docents this weekend. On April 17, the eighth grade class of Mandel JDS was tasked with presenting the work of a master painter to an audience filled with parents, siblings, and community members.

At Gross Schechter Day School, the Eighth Grade Israel Trip is the culmination of the Schechter experience. After years of study that have helped Schechter students develop a deep love for Israel, provided them with the language skills to speak Hebrew with ease and have deeply rooted them in the history and cultural landscape of the Jewish homeland, Schechter students will bring their studies to life with this extraordinary three-week trip. On this trip, they will connect with other students in Cleveland’s sister city, Beit Shean, they will visit the sites that have been sources of study for years and truly immerse themselves in Israeli culture.

After a two-month celebration, Gross Schechter students concluded the Sveta Grinberg Read for Life program. This special program, kindly sponsored by Ida and Mikhail Grinberg in memory of their daughter, Sveta, took our students around the world through literature, tikkun olam (community service) and community programs. During this program, our students read 1,287 books and donated 128 books to the Head Start program.

Are you ready for your close up? Come back to school and experience a day in the life of a preschool student at Gross Schechter Day School!

Passover preparations are in full swing in our home. This entails cleaning the kitchen, meal planning, shopping and eventually cooking. What about the Seder service and rituals, do they need a bit of an update or refresher in the same spirit as our most central Passover question, why is this night different?