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Cleveland Jewish History Resources  
 

This list of virtual resources does not include links to the history pages of Cleveland's Jewish social service, educational, and religious institutions. To see those links, click here. Suggestions for this list are welcome. Please contact us.


The History of Jewish Life in Cleveland
This long, informative page on the website of Cleveland's Jewish Community Federation is the best place to start learning about Cleveland's Jewish history. The same page can be found on The Jewish Virtual Library.

It is odd that 'Federation's history page links to only one organization. We plan for this website to have a fully hyperlinked version of the Federation page.

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
This site, on the web since 1998, is a pioneer in putting history on the internet. Its huge index of articles, all of them cross-indexed to other articles, gives generous coverage to leading Jewish men, women, and organizations. The logical staring point for an overview is its JEWS & JUDAISM page, which has many links to supporting pages so interested visitors can "click and learn more."

Cleveland Jewish Archives
"The Cleveland Jewish Archives [of the Western Reserve Historical Society] collects and makes available for research print and non-print material that documents the history of the Jewish community of Greater Cleveland." Unfortunately almost no WRHS holdings are online.

Merging Traditions
Judah Rubenstein, the historian of our Jewish community, whose work was supported by Federation for many years, wrote Merging Traditions (revised edition) with Jane Avner, published posthumously in 2004. (The original edition, co-authored with Sidney Vincent, had been published in 1978). The link above displays many pages, perhaps half of the book, on the web in Google books. Some of the book's images are available on the WRHS site (click here). 

Jewish Encyclopedia
The complete 1901-1906 edition of the Jewish Encyclopedia is on the web. We link to the article "Cleveland", written by Cyrus Adler (president of Dropsie College) and Samuel Wolfenstein (a European-trained rabbi and PhD who ran the Jewish Orphanage from 1878-1914).

Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland
Now celebrating its 25th year, this group fosters Jewish family history and genealogical research. It maintains its own research library. Meets monthly. For help in tracing your family history, this is the place to start.

American Jewish History Resources [PDF]
An inventory of Cleveland library resources published in 2004. Scope is American Jewish History resources, but has a valuable page on Cleveland history.

The Jewish Community of Cleveland by Rabbi Moses Gries
Written in 1910 by Moses Gries, then rabbi of The Temple, this 19 page essay says much about the early, interwoven history of Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple and The Temple - Tifereth Israel.

Abba Hillel Silver
Rabbi of The Temple - Tifereth Israel for 46 years, Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963) was one of America's leading rabbis. He is best known for leading the mobilization of American and world support for the founding of the State of Israel.
 


Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage

If you are interested in Jewish history and live near Cleveland or will be visiting near Cleveland, the Maltz Museum is a "must see" place. Then why isn't its website, which is attractive, lively, and always up-to-date, listed above?

  • First, like many other museum websites, it focuses on getting you to visit, join, volunteer or donate, but has almost no content for virtual learning.
     

  • Second, this site's unusual integrated design prevents linking to interior pages.  Even if it had pages to link to, I could not use the usual click to learn more. (Museums on the Web made a similar comment in 2005.)

 

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