Greetings! The High Holy Days have passed and the days have shortened, which means Jewish Cemeteries is working hard on projects before the winter and on opportunities to connect with you in the community in the coming months, both in person and online! Our next Genealogy program, Preserving Family History through Storytelling, will be held . . . Read More
Earlier this calendar year, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati hosted the program, “Traditions that Comfort: Jewish Customs of Mourning.” We are following up in this newsletter with a brief history and overview of the customs of kri’ah ((קְרַ֖ע, also spelled Keriah, kriah, and k’riah), or rending of cloth. This is the most visible sign of . . . Read More
JCGC has enjoyed the unique opportunity to work with The Filson Historical Society this year to highlight the very special history of Chestnut Street Cemetery. The Filson Society is the publisher of several periodicals, including Ohio Valley History Journal, a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the history and culture of the Ohio Valley and the Upper . . . Read More
The Cincinnati Jewish community—both formally and informally—has been an integral and meaningful part of my life since the day I arrived here. My husband, Bernie Lenchitz and I are both transplants from northern New Jersey and Manhattan. We moved to Greater Cincinnati in the late 1980’s.Cincinnati is blessed with dozens of Jewish organizations and agencies . . . Read More
On September 18, 2022, Rockdale Temple, in partnership with Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati, celebrated the dedication of a memorial cenotaph honoring Joseph Jonas, placed at Cincinnati’s historic Chestnut Street Cemetery. Jonas is widely considered to have been the first Jewish resident of Cincinnati, having arrived in 1817, and is among the founders of both . . . Read More
Situation: You are charged with safeguarding precious community records collected over 200 years. You learn that the digital platform which supports your antiquated data software will go out of existence on a date not far in the future. Your funds are already stretched. What’s at stake: Your basic business functions, but more importantly, your data: . . . Read More
Jewish Community Prepares for its Bicentennial To prepare for the bicentennial of Cincinnati’s Jewish community, Jewish Cemeteries of Greater Cincinnati and Ohio History Service Corps teamed up to clean headstones at the oldest Jewish cemetery west of the Allegheny Mountains. Volunteers spent a few hours at Chestnut Street Cemetery, removing air pollutants and organic materials . . . Read More
By Marlene A. Ostrow, M.A. 2021 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Chestnut Street Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery west of the Allegheny Mountains. The handful of earliest Jewish settlers in Cincinnati had met on a few occasions for services, but they did not even have an official congregation. When the need . . . Read More
For over 170 years, a set of graceful wrought-iron gates has welcomed visitors to the sacred grounds of the UJC-Walnut Hills Cemetery. Thanks to a generous gift from the family of Jacob K. Stein, a lawyer and community leader who is buried in the cemetery, the gates have been restored to their original beauty. “We . . . Read More
On a beautiful Sunday morning, September 26, 2021, Jewish Cemeteries rededicated the Chestnut Street Cemetery and dedicated a new educational plaza. We partnered with Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial and the ish Festival to have the 200-year-old cemetery rededication serve as the formal launch of the bicentennial year, which will include programs throughout the Jewish community and . . . Read More