Past Newsletters

My four years as President will end on June 17 when the new President is installed at the Annual Meeting. I have truly enjoyed being President and have found the leadership experience extremely rewarding both personally and professionally. I have learned a lot about our history and I have truly enjoyed the many personal relationships that have developed. I will assist the new President and plan to continue my active involvement with CJHS projects.

Reflecting on the difficulty of presiding over an active organization without the benefit of an executive director, I have to say that the presidency of CJHS can be an overwhelming task as I found out in my first year. My smartest move was to hire our part time archivist, Cindy McLaughlin. With Cindy working on exhibits, responding to requests, and cataloging new gifts, I got my life back. My parting advice is to make sure there is always room in the budget for sufficient manpower in the Archives.

When I became President, one of my first actions was to reestablish quarterly newsletters to the membership. I hope that you have enjoyed reading the newsletters as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

The 27^th Annual Meeting will be at Wexner Heritage House on Tuesday, June 17 at 7 p.m. Chairperson Susie Blair promises the best-ever annual meeting. The meeting will feature the premier of a video tribute to the B’nai B’rith Zion Lodge which was the largest lodge in the country. A special "Organization of the Year" award will be given to the Ohio Jewish Chronicle, in recognition of its publishers’ ninety years of chronicling our history.

The 2008 Ben Mandelkorn Outstanding Achievement Award will be presented to Skip Yassenoff. The Leon Schottenstein Memorial Award will be presented to B. Lee Skilken. The Harold and Regene Schottenstein and Family Volunteer of the Year Award will be presented to Harriet Kallenberg, The Ben Balshone Oral History Award will be presented to Rose Luttinger, and The Organization of the Year Award will be given to The Ohio Jewish Chronicle – Steve Pinsky.

Thanks to the Community Grants Fund and the Thelma and Fred Gerson Endowment of the Columbus Jewish Foundation, we received a $6,000 grant to fund our project to place, on the Internet, OJC issues from 1918 to 1994. We anticipate completion of the project by the end of May, 2008.

This exciting project is very important to the mission of CJHS. Half of our mission is to disseminate history to the community. Publishing the OJC issues puts 77 years of our history on the Internet where it is accessible anytime and from anywhere. Also, the issues will be searchable, a fabulous tool for those of us doing research. Just think of the possibilities.

One of our goals has been to develop short reports or "papers" about various aspects

of our community history. We are fortunate to be working with students of professor

Robin Judd, in the Jewish History Department at The Ohio State University. We have provided

research assistance to several of her students. Chelsea Walton recently wrote a

detailed history of Jewish Family Services and has given us permission to publish

it to our website, www.columbusjewishhistoricalsociety.org.

Professor Robin Judd of the Melton Center at the Ohio State University will speak about Jewish

migration in Eastern Europe on March 26, 2008, 7:30 pm at the Leo Yassenoff Jewish

Community Center.

CJHS members will travel to Temple Sholom on May 4, 2008, 10:00 am to 12 Noon, and meet

with interested members of the Jewish community of Springfield, Ohio to talk about what the

Columbus Jewish Historical Society does and to learn more about the Jewish community of

Springfield.

Any CJHS members with connections to Springfield, Ohio, please contact

Carol Shkolnik by phone (614-235-5257) or e-mail (carol86000@wowway.com)

Exhibits at JCC include photos from the Family Portrait Album, Jewish War Veterans, and Genealogy, showcasing materials from the Columbus Jewish Historical Society’s library. The exhibit at Agudas Achim is from our collection of Holocaust Survivor tapes and also includes items from our library.

Exhibits will be changing soon. We are developing an exhibit on B’nai B’rith Bowling. If anyone has any items or information that they would like to contribute to the Archives about B’nai B’rith Bowling over the years, now would be an excellent time to do so.

We are frequently asked what we have in our Archive. The staff got together and voted the

following as our Top 10 Holdings: The Herbert Topy photonegative collection containing

400,000 negatives, Zion Lodge Minute Books dating back to 1865, scrapbooks, photo albums,

stained glass from original Agudas Achim, Nathan Zelizer collection, Rabbi Greenwald

papers, Ben Mandelkorn collection, Voliner Society images, and the Columbus

Hebrew School collection.

We have recently received a number of items for our archives. The collection from Hadassah includes two tablecloths signed by many members of the Jewish community and used as a fund raiser in 1946. The Gordon Zacks family has given the Archives a collection of awards received by Florence Melton throughout her lifetime. These items are in the process of being accessioned and catalogued.

It’s that time of year again for the CJHS Annual Raffle! This is the Society’s one and only fund

raiser. Tickets will be mailed to the CJHS general membership during the month of April.

The cost of one ticket is $25 and five tickets is $100. The drawing for 1^st prize of $1,500,

2^nd prize of $1,000, and 3^rd prize of $500 will take place at the Annual Meeting, June 17^th.

You do not have to be present to win. The proceeds from the raffle support the operation

and various programs of the Society. Your continued support will be very much appreciated.

Thank you to new Benefactor - Life Member commitment: Carrie & Andrew Madison.

Welcome to the following new members of CJHS: Debby & Neal Applefeld,

Terri & Rick Barnett, Wendy & Dr. Jackie Berkowitz, Susan Bonowitz & David Kaye,

Vicky & Michael Cantor, Adrienne & Sidney Chafetz, Margery & Gary Cheses,

Debbie & Steven Cohen, Terri & Allan Conison, Viki & Jeff Dobkin, Lisa & Jason Dolin,

Barbara & James Dowell, Lori & Brian Feuer, June & Gerald Frankel,

Julie & Dr. Andrew Glassman, & Richard Wasserstrom

Many thanks to the CJHS Volunteers who play a vital role in helping to maintain the quality of the

Society and who give generously of their time in assisting with collecting and preserving the

Jewish history of Columbus and Central Ohio communities.

General Office Assistant: Gilda & Sam Abramson

Oral Histories: Helena Schlam, Honey Abramson, Jody Altschule, Toby Brief, Marvin Bonowitz,

Toba Feldman, Rhoda Gelles, Abby Goldbaum, Peggy Kaplan, Rose Luttinger, Cindy McLaughlin,

Naomi Schottenstein, Carol Shkolnik, Marcia Simon, Marion Cohen-Spitzner & Skip Yassenoff

Genealogy: Joe Cohen, Toby Brief, Jules Duga, Carol Shkolnik & Flo Gurwin

Movies at Creekside: Flo Gurwin

Fifty Years Ago This Month: Jody Altschule, Cantor Jack Chomsky, Harriet Kallenberg, and Carol Shkolnik

CJHS Web Master: Marc Polster

As we often say, "The treasure is in your attic!" Your family’s stories and keepsakes can be a

permanent link in the chain of Jewish history. Our staff will evaluate your donation for inclusion in

the collection, where it will be carefully processed and catalogued. Documents, photos, and

artifacts are stored in climate, controlled environments according to professional standards.

Our collection is used for research, exhibits, scholarly and commercial publishing and media

publications, insuring that Central Ohio Jewish ways of life will be captured today and for

generations to come.

Note to the printer: New Insert:

After the name & address add:

Telephone: 614-238-6977

E-mail: pkaplan@tcjf.org

Web Site: www.columbusjewishhistoricalsociety.org