Some delve into Cleveland's Jewish history for family or genealogical research. Others do it because they are active in a "shul" or other Jewish organization, For me, newpaper stories help build history pages like these:

• 1917 The Temple announces that Abba Hillel Silver will be its new rabbi
• 1963 Federation receives a gift to build a new downtown home. 
• 1965 First large rally for Soviet Jews, at Heights High

Until now, you could search the Cleveland Jewish News two ways: 1) by using the very limited free search on the CJN home page (it goes back only two years), or 2) by reading microfilm. For me, using microfilm has meant much time and cost: go to the Western Reserve Historical Society; pay to park; pay a membership fee or per-visit admission charge; crank through reels of film; pay for copies of what you find; then scan the copies at home.

Now you'll be able to use this new tool from your own computer for all issues of the Cleveland Jewish News - back to 1965. A search that would have taken hours can now be done in minutes! Of course pre-1965 means the Jewish Review & Observer, The Jewish Independent, and Die Yiddishe Velt. And (sigh) microfilm.

The CJN Archive is already helping this website. It went online Friday July 2, 2010 and in just three days it has helped make two pages more informative:

• Abba Hillel Silver's grave site helped by a CJN story written in 1997
• Cleveland's Jewish City Councilmen helped by Harry Jaffe's obituary (1999)

Try it. It's easy to use, powerful and low in cost. (If you're already a CJN subscriber, you can use the Archive for pennies a month.) To learn more, just click here.

Arnie Berger
July 5, 2010