Jewish Community Relations Council of Cincinnati

08/11/2026

As a new school year begins, we're preparing to meet with educators across Greater Cincinnati to provide practical tools to recognize antisemitism and respond to it with confidence!

When educators know what to look for and how to act, students are safer and schools are stronger.

This is work we return to every year: answering the call against hate and helping build classrooms where every student can learn without fear.

Educators, if you'd like to bring this training to your school, we'd love to connect. Send us a DM!

08/07/2026

The Jewish Community Relations Council condemns in the strongest terms the vile targeting of the Cincinnati Islamic Community Center/CICC. Let us be clear: this must be investigated as an Islamophobic hate crime. No faith community should have to fear for its freedom to worship. The threatening language left behind is particularly offensive and speaks to the rising extremism we are seeing across this country. As Jews, we carry the painful knowledge of what happens when a community's sacred space is violated, and we stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have been impacted. Hate has no home in Cincinnati.

An Islamic center in Westwood is working to rebuild trust after burglars broke in and vandalized its main hall with a hateful message.

08/06/2026

Good food, good company, and a good cause. Our Director, Chandler Waite, was glad to attend this year's Cincinnati Kosher Dinner, their annual fundraiser.

Their kosher supervision helps make Jewish life in Greater Cincinnati possible, keeping kosher food accessible for families across our community.

Showing up for the organizations that sustain Jewish life is part of our work, and it was a pleasure to be in the room. Thank you for a wonderful evening, and for all you do year-round!

08/04/2026

Sunday was a reminder that our region's greatest strength is the many different people who make it home.

At Cincinnati Festival of Faiths, neighbors from every corner of Greater Cincinnati gathered to learn and be in community. It was a picture of the city at its best.

We believe strong interfaith relationships are the foundation of a strong community. Trust is built through the steady work of showing up to listen, learn, and share.

That is the work we're committed to, all year long.

Thank you to everyone who made this year's Festival of Faiths a day to remember!

07/29/2026

Long ago, as the grape harvest began, the young women of Jerusalem went out to the vineyards to dance. They wore white, and every dress was borrowed.

The wealthy borrowed from the poor, and the poor from the wealthy, until no one watching could tell who had much and who had little. For one day, status fell away. There was simply the dance, and a place for everyone in it.

That day was Tu B'Av, the ancient Jewish celebration of love, and it begins tonight.

The custom still has something to teach. A community is at its strongest when dignity does not depend on what you own, and belonging is never a question of means. That is the community we work toward.

Centuries later, the lesson still holds: when we set status aside, there is room for everyone. Happy Tu B'Av!

07/28/2026

Cincinnati's largest interfaith celebration is almost here.

The Ninth Annual Festival of Faiths returns on Sunday, August 2, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Cintas Center.

Bring the kids. Bring your curiosity. Bring the whole family. It's an afternoon of learning and connection, with booths and activities from faith communities across our region. Walk through, ask questions, and see what makes our city's unity in diversity so special.

We have been part of this celebration since its inception, and we'll be there again, waving hello from the Jewish community's booth. Come find us.

07/22/2026

Tonight begins Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av and the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. For more than two thousand years, it has been a day of mourning and memory.

The date carries some of the heaviest losses in Jewish history:

The destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, in 586 BCE.

The destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, in 70 CE, on the same Hebrew date centuries later.

The crushing of the Bar Kokhba revolt and the fall of Betar, in 135 CE.

Over the centuries, Jews have gathered other sorrows into this day as well, from the expulsion from Spain in 1492 to the tragedies of the modern era.

On Tisha B'Av, we fast. We sit low to the ground. We read the Book of Lamentations aloud. And we remember.

This is the sanctity of memory. A people that remembers their history carries its hard lessons forward.

We are committed to building on those hard lessons to create a brighter Jewish future for everyone.

07/19/2026

Everyone on our team had something to drop off for the food drive this week!

Our friends at Jewish Family Service - Cincinnati are hosting their summer food drive through July 31st. Non-perishables can be dropped at the barrel by the JCC entrance, or purchased online.

Judaism has a name for this: Lo Ta'amod, "you shall not stand idly by." It's a simple instruction, and this week our team is practicing this value by giving back to our neighbors.

The link to give virtually is in the comments below.

07/15/2026

This year's staff retreat took us underground, into Cincinnati's hidden caverns. Fitting for a team looking to spend the next year going deeper!

The caverns were the afternoon fun, but the morning was for reflection: what we accomplished this past year, the connections we made, and where we go next.

The year ahead is about connections. We're focused on deepening relationships inside and beyond our Jewish community, strengthening understanding of Israel, and communicating clearly about how we respond to antisemitism and work to prevent it.

Cincinnatians hand-dug these tunnels more than 170 years ago, and they're still standing. A good reminder that the things we build with care are the ones that last.

07/09/2026

Jewish well-being depends on a just society for all. Showing up for community happens in city hall, in schools, in interfaith spaces, and sometimes in the streets. This is why we continue to march with Pride!

We are committed to a Cincinnati where every community is respected,

Visible, and most importantly, safe. That commitment requires presence. We were proud to be there!