About Celebrating Jewish Life
CJL's Founder
Rabbi Rosie Haim
Imagine entering a room filled with warm laughter, the aroma of festive dishes, and the melodies of Jewish songs - where every Jewish holiday gathering feels uplifting and meaningful. Whether you are seeking a memorable way to honor the holidays, or the chance to create new friendships, Celebrating Jewish Life invites you to rediscover the richness of Jewish tradition in a welcoming, spirited community. Celebrating Jewish Life is a unique subscription series for six Jewish holidays, offering engaging venues for celebration and connection. Each holiday experience becomes an inspiring occasion, combining meaningful rituals with delicious meals, uplifting music, and lively conversation.
With more than 150 subscribers, Celebrating Jewish Life creates opportunities for everyone – empty-nesters, full-lifers, millennials, baby boomers, retirees, even those interested in enhancing their current affiliations or those who just don’t want to cook – anyone eager to share holidays with others and embrace their Judaism in a joyful, supportive setting.
Guided by Rabbi Susan Stone, whose warmth, compassion, and commitment to Tikkun Olam have enriched the Cleveland Jewish and general communities for more than 40 years and continuing as cantorial soloist and song leader Chuck Fink, every celebration radiates with spirit, stunning melodies, and a sense of belonging. “The opportunity to carry on the beautiful community founded by my beloved colleague and friend, Rabbi Rosie Haim, z” l, is a humbling and exciting opportunity.
I am honored to lead the ninth year of the Celebrating Jewish Life series geared to serving the largest segment of the Cleveland Jewish community: adults seeking a meaningful way to deepen their identity, enrich their Jewish involvement and share holidays with others,” explains Rabbi Susan.
Susan remembers, “When Rosie interviewed for rabbinic school at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the Shabbat morning sermon she heard was my senior sermon. When Wayne and I got married, we asked Rosie to officiate. Thus, Rosie and I long walked this path of service to G-d and the Jewish community, both side by side and with one or the other taking the lead, caring not who was first, but about the people who stand with us. I am honored by her husband, Marshall and her daughter Shira’s trust and look forward, indeed, to Celebrating Jewish Life together.”
Rabbi Susan was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1983 and came to Cleveland as assistant and then associate rabbi at The Temple-Tifereth Israel (Mishkan Or), working with Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver, z” l, from 1983-1987. She was the first female rabbi in Cleveland.
Subscribe to Celebrating Jewish Life, and through these holiday gatherings, experience the warmth of connection, the power of tradition and the joy of celebration.
The subscription series is $650 per person and includes all six dinners, services, and experiences. Subscribers may purchase additional individual experiences for friends or family at $150 each, or $100 for guests ages 36 and under. Experiences are fully transferable but non-refundable. Subscribers are encouraged to transfer the opportunity to others if they are unable to attend.
ABOUT
CElEBRATING
JEWISH LIFE
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 CHUCK FINK
I have never underestimated the power of music to stir the soul, or its ability to connect people across generations, traditions, and life experiences. I see myself as a musical messenger, and it’s in that spirit that I created "Rauch on the Run" with its motto: “bringing the music of our People to you!” In truth, it’s simply an extension of the work I’ve been doing for decades: taking Jewish music on the road and sharing it with anyone who wants to listen.
My love of song was sparked early by my late parents, nurtured at the former UAHC Kutz Camp, and honed through years of song leading for youth organizations, summer camps, and religious schools. Along the way, I have held cantorial and educational posts with area congregations, where I am affectionately known as “Mr. Chuck,” especially at Tot Shabbat. I currently lead regular worship services and am a frequent guest cantorial soloist and entertainer at synagogues and simchas throughout the region.
Outside the synagogue, I have built a parallel life as a solo acoustic performer on the folk and festival circuit, as well as at senior living communities and celebratory gatherings. I take great joy in sharing classic American folk and pop songs, and in mentoring aspiring musicians and song leaders of all ages.
My professional and personal relationship with Rabbi Susan Stone, predates my history with Rabbi Rosie by a few lifetimes. In fact, it was Rabbi Susan, who gave me one of my very first song-leading opportunities, singing some uplifting songs for residents at the old Montefiore Home on Mayfield Road in the 1980s. In the intervening years, our work together at various temples, and for many other simchas and life-cycle events, has been most rewarding. Had it not been for the confidence Rabbi Susan instilled in me, I may not have known or worked with our dear beloved, Rabbi Rosie.
I was honored when Rabbi Rosie invited me to join this community and work alongside her once again. She has been a teacher, a friend, and an extraordinary resource, especially when it comes to obscure Hebrew tunes, I may never have learned without her.
In many ways, I see the perpetuation of Celebrating Jewish Life, as just that. The opportunity to both continue to celebrate the vision and framework created by Rabbi Rosie and now to grow it, with both familiar and new branches guided by Rabbi Susan.
I make my home in University Heights, not far from my younger (and wiser) sister, my brother-in-law, and my two brilliant nieces who keep me laughing and learning. I share my life with an extraordinary woman, fellow musician, and arts advocate, whose steady presence has been a quiet anchor through these recent chapters of my life. I'm grateful to be rooted in a vibrant community of musicians, and lifelong friends.
RABBI SUSAN STONE
Rabbi Susan Stone was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and graduated from Vassar College with an AB in history. She attended the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati and was ordained as a rabbi in 1983, one of the first 50 women rabbis in the United States and the first in Cleveland. After four years in Cleveland as assistant/associate rabbi at The Temple-Tifereth Israel (Mishkan Or), working with Rabbi Daniel Jeremy Silver, z” l, from 1983-1987, she returned to Vassar College as campus chaplain but returned once again to Cleveland in 1988 to marry John C. Stone, z” l.
Rabbi Susan served as rabbi at Beth Israel-The West Temple (1988-1994), and Temple Beth Shalom in Hudson (1994-2008). She was an interim rabbi at Suburban Temple-Kol Ami (2010-2011) and a rabbi at Temple Anshe Hesed in Erie, PA (2018-2019). She served on a part-time basis as rabbi at Temple Beth El in Bradford, PA (2015-2018), and most recently at Congregation B’nai Abraham in Portsmouth, OH (2018-2026).
In 2011, Rabbi Susan was accepted into the Chaplaincy Training Program at the Cleveland Clinic. After completing this year’s long residency, she was appointed director of spiritual care at Hillcrest Hospital and continues to hold that position. She is board-certified through Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC). In 2021, she received the Annual Ner Tamid Award for outstanding service by NAJC. Of particular note is the outreach she initiates to patients and families who are military veterans. This program is now a standard part of care throughout the Cleveland Clinic hospital system. She holds certificates in mental health fundamentals in spiritual care and in Reiki levels I and II.
Rabbi Susan has served as executive director of the Hebrew Free Loan Association, and as a board member of other non-profits, including Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, MetroHealth: Recovery Resources and Daughters of Miriam (formerly Montefiore). One of her most meaningful volunteer positions was serving as president of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County. Over the years, she has taught children, teens, and adults across the area in a variety of settings. Rabbi Stone served as president of the Greater Cleveland Board of Rabbis and as co-president of the Women’s Rabbinic Network of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. She is a proud alumna of the Leadership Cleveland class of 1993. Rabbi Susan has been involved with the interfaith community for decades through the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Eastside Interfaith Ministry, and other organizations.
Widowed in 2007, Rabbi Susan and Wayne Easthon married in 2014 and share in six adult children, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild, three dogs, and a cat.
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RABBI
Susan Stone
CHUCK
FINK
