Celebrating Jewish Life
ABOUT
CELEBRATING
JEWISH LIFE
RABBI
ROSIE HAIM
CHUCK FINK
ABOUT CELEBRATING JEWISH LIFE
Celebrating Jewish Life is a subscription series of six festive holiday experiences engaging adults in ways that revitalize the Jewish spirit and reconnect them to the Jewish community.
Each experience is centered around building community and honoring our Jewish heritage in its season by enjoying a lovely dinner together and celebrating the holiday festivities.
Celebrating Jewish Life was created to engage adults seeking ways to find greater meaning, identity, and purpose in their Jewish experiences. It’s for people who are unaffiliated or who wish to enrich their other Jewish involvements. Celebrating Jewish Life creates an opportunity for anyone to be involved in Jewish holiday experiences, especially empty-nesters, full-lifers, millennials, boomers, and retirees.
In these dynamic communal gatherings, participants can interact, meet new friends and network, and feel bound to Jewish culture and deepen their spiritual engagement all while celebrating the various Jewish holidays in elegant and exciting venues around Cleveland.
Celebrating Jewish Life seeks to identify, recapture and create Jewish leaders for their families and to engage with Jewish organizations as it expands relationships and partnerships with other community and nationally-based organizations such as Jewish Federation of Cleveland, AIPAC, Israel Bonds and Jewish National Fund.
The Celebrating Jewish Life subscription series is $625 per person and includes all six services, programs, and dinners. Meals are kosher style; vegetarian options are available. If subscribers want to invite a friend or guest, additional experiences are available at $125 each, or $100 each for guests ages 36 and under.
Celebrating Jewish Life subscribers are encouraged to offer the opportunity to join in the holiday experience to a family member or friend if unable to attend. Experiences are fully transferable but non-refundable.
ABOUT RABBI ROSIE
Imagine each Jewish holiday experience as an inspiring occasion, combining meaningful rituals with delicious meals, uplifting Jewish songs, and lively conversation. In 2018, fueled by a passion to reach beyond the boundaries of traditional institutions, I launched Celebrating Jewish Life—to ignite our Jewish spirit in vibrant, unexpected places! Together, we are building bonds that reach far beyond the walls of any building, connecting deeply with each other, with God, with Israel, and with our own sense of Jewish identity. Every gathering sparks the joy of rediscovering what makes being Jewish unique and meaningful. My hope is that you’ll feel inspired to share that magic with others, bringing greater possibilities for Jewish connection to our community.
My love of Judaism developed through my parents, my involvement in Jewish camping, living in Israel for a couple years and enjoying the Jewish community wherever I’ve been. As a rabbi in the Cleveland community for over thirty-five years, and as an ordained rabbi from the Hebrew Union College in 1988, I am committed to social change that strengthens our Jewish identity and responds to the idea that we are responsible for one another. I believe that nurturing bold, visionary Jewish leadership—within families and across the community—is not just vital, but exhilarating! I’m excited to share my journey—both locally and nationally—with you, so we can work together to energize our Cleveland Jewish community, support Israel, and make a lasting impact together. A national and local leader of Israel Bonds, a founding member of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition and national board member of AIPAC, I envision our greater engagement with Israel--the people and the land—to strengthen the Jewish community, Israel, and the U.S.-Israel relationship.
I am passionate about creating meaningful and memorable opportunities to revitalize each person’s Jewish identity by engaging in spiritual, cultural, and communal experiences that enable a deeper connection to the tradition and to each other. Through powerful and positive opportunities that involve celebrating our Jewish life, I believe we can enrich our lives and reinvigorate the Jewish future.
Celebrating Jewish Life for me is not just a subscription series, but a way of life. I’ve sought to instill a sense of Jewish pride, confidence, and connectedness in people of all ages by celebrating Jewish life together.
On a personal note, I share this vibrant Jewish life with my wonderful husband, Cleveland native Marshall Barron, our daughter Shira Barron, her husband Adam Seltzer, our two delightful grandchildren, and with our ever-extending Cleveland family—with YOU!
ABOUT CHUCK FINK
I never underestimate the power of music to penetrate the soul, or its capacity to engage and impact, communicate and connect people and hearts. I see myself as a catalyst or musical messenger. So in this spirit, I created “Ruach on the Run!” with its slogan—“bringing the music of our People to you!” Really, though, it’s an extension of the work I’ve done all along, in terms of “taking it on the road” and sharing it with anyone who cares to listen.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an affinity for music and song. I was introduced to music early by my late parents (z”l). This lifelong appreciation of words and melody has become my calling and my pulpit.
I cut my musical teeth at the former UAHC Kutz Camp and as a song leader for various youth organizations, and as the music specialist for summer camps. As a cantorial soloist and song leader, I’ve been fortunate to have worked with several area congregations and religious schools, which has afforded me a unique perspective into the many ways Jews observe. I’ve assumed several “Tot Shabbat” posts over the years and have come to be known affectionately as “Mr. Chuck”.
Additionally, I have developed a following as a solo acoustic performer on the club and festival circuits, at celebrations, and in retirement and nursing communities, sharing my repertoire of American folk and pop music. Pleasingly, I’ve inspired a number of people, young and mature, to take up the guitar, even giving lessons to several, as well as mentoring aspiring song leaders.
How delighted I was when Rabbi Rosie reached out offering me the opportunity to worship and work alongside her once again—this time with you and the wonderful community she has created here. I’m proud to count Rosie as one of “my rabbis”— as a mentor, teacher, and friend, and a great resource for obscure Hebrew songs, I might not have learned were it not for her!
And, finally—because I’m sure inquiring minds will want to know, I’m sure… I am unmarried, but I remain “still hopeful”, as ever. I do, however, have a terrific family, which includes my younger and wiser sister, my brother-in-law, and my two amazing and beautiful nieces. Chuck Fink 216-410-8111.