Editor’s note: The author is a member of the Cleveland Jewish Collective.
Cleveland Jewish Collective, or CJC, a young and inclusive Jewish congregation, is gearing up for its largest Chanukah celebration yet. December 9th marks CJC’s fourth Chanukah celebration and is the anniversary of its first event.
“We’re going to have a big gay festival of color and light,” explained Rabbi Miriam Geronimus, CJC’s founder. Geronimus, who graduated from rabbinical school in 2021, felt called to pursue formal religious training after she started a queer Jewish group at her college.
“I had this gut feeling of, ‘This is really cool, I want to do this, to create space for folks where they can find healing and acceptance, and wrestle with the big questions of what it means to be human,’” she said.
The first part of the Chanukah party will be a special unveiling. Any CJC member that wanted to contribute was invited to create an individual square that was then quilted together to form the Torah’s cover, which is called a Torah mantle. The deadline to sign up for the event is Dec. 6.
“We realized that Chanukah coincides with the first Torah portion in the story of Joseph…with the technicolor dream coat, and we were like, ‘Oh wow, we’re creating a technicolor dream Torah mantle,’’’ said Geronimus. “For a couple decades now, first gay men and then non-binary and gender bending and trans folks have claimed Joseph as a Torah ancestor.”
Celebrating diversity
CJC, which now has 44 adult members and 10–15 kids between 3 months and 13 years, first began in 2020 with conversations between Geronimus and folks she knew that had yet to find a Jewish home in Cleveland. Geronimus graduated from Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in May 2021 and previously worked for several synagogues. She also received training from Beloved, a group that helps to nourish new spiritual communities, as well as the Center for Rabbinic Innovation and SVARA.
“I think that what exists already in Cleveland serves a lot of people’s needs and it doesn’t serve everyone’s needs. So, I was trying to get a sense of what people were looking for and not finding. And it grew from there,” recalled Geronimus.
Geronimus could tell a space was needed for a younger crowd with progressive politics and various marginalized identities. She envisioned CJC as a space where they could explore their spirituality and interest in Judaism using a range of methods, such as finding spirituality in nature.
“From the beginning it’s been people in the queer community, neurodivergent people, a lot of people in their twenties and thirties, people with progressive politics, some Jews of color, and in general, people who have, for one reason or another, felt like they didn’t have their Jewish home yet,” she said.
To increase accessibility, CJC typically alternates between the west and east sides of Cleveland for their events, which occur almost every week. When they sign up for events, people are asked whether they need a ride to attend.
Hope Wondowsky, a CJC member who is part of the Planning and Visioning Teams, first got involved in Spring 2021. “It’s exciting being part of a community where I am an active part of deciding what it looks like,” said Wondowsky.
As part of the Visioning Team, Wondowsky was involved in the membership model, which was launched in March 2023. “Our membership model is the most accessible I’ve ever seen,” she said. “It’s all suggested, it’s all giving what you can, with the assumption that some people are gonna say, ‘I can’t give that much’ and some people are gonna say, ‘I can give a little bit more.’”
Kassi Drayer, who is in the process of converting to Judaism, became involved with CJC in March 2023. “CJC has been amazing,” explains Drayer when asked how CJC has supported them in their conversion journey. “I felt instantly both accepted by the community and still felt like it’s a learning process, like it’s something that I’m striving to be a part of, in my conversion. I feel like I’m able to take my time with that process while still being accepted in the community.”
This year, Drayer was able to participate in CJC’s celebration of the High Holidays, which begins with the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, and ends with Simchat Torah. “In that span of like two weeks, I felt my Jewish identity had grown and developed more than it had in the last six or seven months up to that point. Just in those few weeks, just by being around, I felt my feelings get stronger,” Drayer said.
For Geronimus, one event that has stood out as especially meaningful are CJC’s Grief Circles. “This past spring we did one that was specifically for trans and non-binary folks … I felt like if part of the purpose of community is to help people access the things they’re struggling with, and feel witnessed, there’s not a lot of space for grief in our society,” she said. “I think part of what I care about at CJC is both that it’s a place where people with various identities can show up authentically, but also that it’s a space where we can show up without the masks that we often feel like we have to wear.”
Community building through faith
Shabbat, which starts sundown Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday, is an opportunity to experience what CJC has to offer. In order for participants to build or deepen relationships with each other, CJC offers multiple ways to celebrate the sabbath. For example, the second Saturday of each month is usually a hike and the third is something fun and social. “We’ve done a bonfire or a craft night…some kind of social activity with about 15 minutes of ritual, transitioning us out of Shabbat into the regular week,” she said.
Interested in seeing what CJC is all about for yourself? Wondowsky recommends just coming out to an event. “If anybody feels like they want a community or want to come to an event, don’t even think about membership,” said Wondowsky, “Just come out to an event and see what it’s like. Everybody’s really cool and it’s good to have more people and see new faces.”
December 9th is the perfect time to come to a CJC event. After unveiling the new torah mantle, Geronimus explains, “We’re going to transition into Chanukah and have all kinds of rainbow-themed Chanukah crafts. We’ll have latkes and lots and lots of rainbow Chanukah candles so everyone can light their menorah. We’re asking people to come dressed in their technicolor best. We’re hoping for lots of rainbows and sequins and boas and, you know, just the works.”
For more information about the Cleveland Jewish Collective, visit its website, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for CJC’s Big Gay Festival of Light and Colors on December 9th here (the deadline is Dec. 6).
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