Cleveland Jewish Publication Company

The Cleveland Jewish News is turning 60! Join the Cleveland Jewish News Foundation on Oct. 30 for an extravagant birthday celebration featuring a silent auction, exquisite cocktail reception and sit-down dinner with a performance by special guest, Yaron Kohlberg, President of Piano Cleveland. The party will continue after dinner with music from the past six decades performed by Bluewater Kings Band! Kosher dietary laws observed. https://cjn.org/60

JEWISHAKRON celebrated its “biggest success” in a small community at its June 5 annual meeting at the Schultz Campus for Jewish Life in Akron, with about 100 attendees present. The annual campaign raised $1,501,007 and the Israel Emergency Fund raised $1,938,922, for a grand total of $3,439,929. JewishAkron board chair Stuart Glauberman highlighted the importance of the community’s unity and resilience at the event, and provided a “meaningful wrap-up” of past achievements and visions for the future.

Beachwood High School students had the chance to view various aspects of the medical field through a two-day Medical Academy Camp June 20 and June 21 at University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood. The camp allowed 25 high school students, mostly incoming freshmen, to meet experts and explore what it’s like to work in health care. Students engaged in seminars, live demonstrations and hands-on activities including dissections. “Hopefully, they learn something,” Dr. David Rosenberg, medical director of the University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center’s Lung Center in Beachwood, told the Cleveland Jewish News. “But the idea is not necessarily the actual educational content, but just being excited.”

The depths of cancer researcher Dr. Nathan Allen Berger’s kindness went beyond words, members of his family recall. From 1993 to 2002, Berger was the dean of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, and a clinical and research mentor to students of all levels and faculty. He died June 15 at age 83. He was the Hanna Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine at the university, with a reputation for leadership and research, the Cleveland Jewish News previously reported. Berger was also the founding director of Case Cancer Research Center, currently the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, and founder and director of the Scientific Enrichment and Opportunity program which gave underrepresented minority students from high schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District opportunities in cutting-edge laboratory research.

The Coventry People Enhancing a Child’s Environment Park held a groundbreaking event the afternoon of July 7, at the site of its current complete renovation, next to the Coventry Village Branch of Heights Libraries in Cleveland Heights. The PEACE Park has been a staple in the community since 1993, when it was created through volunteer efforts, the Cleveland Jewish News previously reported. The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library purchased the 6 acres, which included the former Coventry Elementary School. “The PEACE Park was a beloved space long before the library took it on in 2018,” Vikas Turakhia, president of the Cleveland Heights University Heights Library board of trustees, said to almost 100 event attendees. “The playground that was here was unique … its big slide served as a rite of passage, its castle-like turrets fueled the imagination of countless kids over the decades. But at 30 years old, it needed to be replaced, and the precedent set by those parents and volunteers who built that amazing playground meant that whatever came in its place had to be something special as well.”

Construction on new Bryden and Hilltop elementary schools in Beachwood has started. Students, staff and community members gathered at the schools to participate in the groundbreaking May 7. City of Beachwood Mayor Justin Berns, Beachwood Board Of Education members, and employees of the construction and design teams spoke to attendees at separate groundbreaking events at Bryden and Hilltop elementary schools. After the Pledge of Allegiance and guided by their music teachers, students from each school performed songs to kick off the dirt turning ceremony. The groundbreaking comes after Beachwood residents voted in favor of a bond issue in 2023, granting an initial $3.25 million for the project with plans to raise a total of $65 million over 37 years to fund the construction. “All of these students, all of the staff here, you deserve a new building,” Robert Hardis, superintendent of Beachwood schools, said. “You deserve a new building with modern classrooms. Building a safe and secure building that is energy efficient, and is filled with light, every color to inspire all of you, our youngest students, our elementary school students.”

Described as having a warm personality, businessman and accomplished athlete Michael Schumann also had a radiant energy that captivated those around him. He spent 65 years at his family-owned scrap metal and alloy manufacturing business, I. Schumann & Company in Bedford, serving as an owner, chairman and CEO. His involvement created a bridge connecting the fourth generation of his family to the company that began in 1917. Schumann died June 15 at Daughters of Miriam of King David Healthcare Center in Beachwood. He was 86. “His most enduring quality was how he connected with others and made friends so easily,” Scott Schumann, his eldest son, told the Cleveland Jewish News June 25. “To maintain friendships the way he did was something to behold.”

The City of Beachwood will implement a same-gender swimming trial program at its Family Aquatic Center on Fairmount Boulevard, according to a news release. Two sessions for males and two sessions for females will be offered in July, according to the release. Based on their outcome, additional opportunities will be evaluated for 2025.

A sold-out crowd gathered June 11 at Beechmont Country Club in Orange for the second annual American Friends of Magen David Adom’s Women’s Gameday. They played mahjong and canasta while raising money for a Magen David Adom ambulance, which will be sponsored by Cleveland women.

Following a historic merger, Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple and The Temple-Tifereth Israel’s first day as a unified Reform congregation, Congregation Mishkan Or, was filled with hope, Julianna Johnston Senturia, inaugural executive director for the new congregation, told the Cleveland Jewish News on July 2. “Former Fairmount Temple staff started the day in their old offices, packing up a few things,” she said of the July 1 activities. “Then, staff drove in a caravan to 26000 Shaker Blvd. (in Beachwood) to be greeted by new colleagues with cheers and beautiful welcome messages on the sidewalk. No doubt that we are better together.”