Jewish Community Relations Council of Cincinnati

06/19/2026

Today is Juneteenth, when we commemorate emancipation finally reaching the last enslaved community in Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Along with millions of Americans across the nation, we celebrate freedom and the new chapter in the American story that began 161 years ago.

Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom from bo***ge. Our tradition teaches that every person is created with inherent dignity and worth, and it calls on us to pursue a more just society.

As written in the Torah, "tzedek, tzedek tirdof" ("justice, justice shall you pursue"). This Jewish value guides our work every day and reinforces our commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with the African American community in the ongoing pursuit of equality and justice.

06/17/2026

Every Jewish institution deserves to be safe. That belief has a name: pikuach nefesh, ("the duty to protect life"). It's one of the highest values in our tradition.

That value guides our advocacy. We work with lawmakers to strengthen security for synagogues, Jewish day schools, and community institutions, so people can gather and worship without fear.

Congress is deciding how to fund that security now. Your voice matters.

Add your name: urge Congress to strengthen security for Jewish institutions.

06/08/2026

Tzach, there are not enough words. But we'll try.

For two years you showed up for JCRC in ways that went far beyond any job description. You brought Israel into living rooms across Cincinnati, and created a comfortable space, where everyone felt they could ask what was on their mind.

The conversations you started, the relationships you built, and the bridge you reinforced between this community and Israel will outlast your time here.

You sat with us through hard moments. You celebrated with us through joyful ones. You brought your full self, your family, your honesty, all to help strengthen our Jewish community.

Cincinnati is closer to Israel because you were here. JCRC is stronger because you were part of this work.

Thank you, Tzach!

06/04/2026

These are the people who lived through the Jewish people's darkest chapter and chose to build again. New homes. New families. New lives, many of them in cities like ours.

That generation is now in its final years. With every survivor we lose, we lose a firsthand voice and a story only they can tell.

On Holocaust Survivor Day, we remember what was taken, and we celebrate the lives rebuilt after devastation. They leave us a gift and a responsibility: learn the stories and carry them forward.

Bearing witness is how we keep "never again" real. As long as these stories are told, they are never forgotten.

Honor a survivor today. Learn one story and share it with someone who hasn't heard it.

06/01/2026

Pride Month is here, and we are celebrating the LGBTQ+ people that make our community more vibrant. 🌈✡️

On June 27th we're marching in the Cincinnati Pride Parade. LGBTQ+ Jews, allies, families, and everyone is welcome to walk alongside us.

The first 75 people to register by Friday, June 10th will receive a Jewish Cincinnati Pride t-shirt, featuring an all-new design!

RSVP in the comments 👇

05/24/2026

Antisemitism is rising. A bipartisan response is on the table.

The Jewish American Security Act would take real steps to protect Jewish communities from rising antisemitism. Here's what it does:

On college campuses, it requires schools to name coordinators to create non-discrimination policies and establish and publish processes for reporting antisemitic conduct.

On security, it raises the ceiling on security grant funding to $1 billion for nonprofits facing threats of violence to protect their buildings and people. And it makes sure those grants can't be awarded or denied based on religion or politics.

On social media, it requires companies to report on whether they're enforcing their own moderation standards on antisemitism.

This is practical. It's bipartisan. And it needs your voice behind it.

Contact your representatives today and urge them to support the Jewish American Security Act.

Link in the comments!

05/22/2026

Shavuot is one of the three major Jewish pilgrimage festivals and marks the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai. Here are nine things you might not know about this holiday:

Along with Passover and Sukkot, Shavuot is one of the three major Jewish pilgrimage festivals. It falls out precisely 49 ...

05/19/2026

Hate against any minority community is a threat to every minority community. We will keep saying so, and we will keep showing up for our neighbors when they are targeted.

Our hearts are with the Islamic Center of San Diego and everyone grieving after Monday's shooting. Three people—a security guard and two school staff members—were killed simply for being where they gathered to learn, work, and pray.

No one should feel unsafe in their house of worship. We know that fear—our community has carried it too—and we know it does not stay with one community. It reaches all of us.

This week, more than 400 Jewish Federation leaders are in Washington asking lawmakers to fund security for houses of worship across the country. Synagogue, mosque, church, temple. The threat does not stop at any one door, and neither does our resolve to keep one another safe.

To our Muslim neighbors in Cincinnati and beyond: we see you, we stand with you, and we grieve with you.

Photo Credit: Islamic Center of San Diego

05/18/2026

In 1866, at the end of the Civil War, a congregation of 200 Jewish families in Cincinnati decided to build something magnificent. They believed Jewish life in America deserved a permanent, visible, extraordinary home.

They were right.

The Plum Street Temple was designed in the Byzantine-Moorish style, inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, a breathtaking declaration that Jewish Cincinnati was here to stay.

From that building Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise spent the next three decades building American Reform Judaism itself.

He believed Jewish tradition and American democracy didn't just coexist, they demanded each other. That a religious Jew could be a full citizen of a free country. That Jewish values belonged in the public square.

Tradition and progress. In the same building. In Cincinnati.

05/14/2026

Advocacy isn’t just for policy professionals! It’s for anyone who cares about their community. Here’s how you can help advance Jewish causes and make your voice heard: ow.ly/Wwfe30sVxzF