Browse Interviews

Brynna Fish (b. 1957) grew up in Youngstown and studied social work at Yeshiva University before moving to Cleveland Heights in 1979. In this interview, she discusses her involvement at the intersection of Cleveland's Jewish and lesbian communities, as well as her work with coordinating the annual Womyn's Variety Show and music festivals with Oven Productions and her founding of Chevrei Tikvah, a gay and lesbian synagogue, in 1983. She reflects on various gay and lesbian bars in Cleveland, and…

Dave Woldman recalls his experiences in the Heights during the 1960s through the 1970s. He grew up in a conservative Jewish home, but later embraced the counterculture movement and the alternative lifestyles particular to Coventry Village.

This interview was conducted for the purpose of gaining insight to the organization East Side Inter-faith Ministries (ESIM) of Cleveland, Ohio. Although information regarding this topic was discussed, the interview also encompassed other topics. The common thread in the interview was the Presbyterian mission of social justice and activism. Karen Ault's life story was told through this interview. She explained how the Presbyterian faith was a constant and important factor in the trajectory of her…

Zeta Swaggard was born in 1914 and migrated to Cleveland from southern Ohio during World War II. She quickly found work in a factory and found a place to live in a rooming house. Swaggard vividly describes riding the streetcars and notes their importance. She describes the atmosphere and the culture of Downtown Cleveland, including the shops, department stores, restaurants, and theatres. Swaggard notes the change in downtown as the department stores moved to the suburbs and they started to…

Interview with Mitchell Balk, the President of the Mt Sinai Healthcare Foundation. Balk discusses the history of Mt Sinai hospital, including the kinds of research and innovative procedures it pioneered. He also describes several philanthropic programs the hospital is involved in. Balk also touches on the challenges the healthcare system faces. He also briefly includes his impressions of Jewish history in Cleveland.

Eugenia Vainberg, originally from Kiev, Ukraine, arrived in Cleveland as a Russian Jewish refugee in 1977. She starts by explaining the persecution she and other Jews had to face while living in communist Russia. For Vainberg, mathematical and scientific achievements were the common threads that wove throughout her life. Once she arrived in Cleveland, Vainberg explains that the Jewish community was strong and supportive. She and her family found great success in Cleveland and elsewhere in the…

Carolyn Peskin grew up in Cleveland Heights and was a dedicated student. She holds numerous graduate degrees ranging from chemistry to music therapy. She describes the integration of Shaker Heights. She briefly discusses how the role women played in society changed and developed. After having a short career as a teacher, Peskin devoted much of her adult life to the care of her children and traveling with her environmentalist husband. She touches on some of the environmental issues the Great…

George Rose, originally from the Bronx in New York City, explains what it was like to live in a working-class neighborhood growing up. He vividly describes marches on Union Square and unionization. He was drafted in World War II, but he still completed college. He entered the oil industry and worked for decades at Standard Oil of Ohio in the Midland Building. He lived with his family in Shaker Heights. During the interview, the changes he observed in the neighborhood were detailed. Although born…

Marilyn B. Bialosky, Shaker Heights native, describes her well traveled life. She recalls what it was like growing up during the Great Depression and World War 2. She met her husband at Forest Hills Park, and at 16 years old she knew she was going to marry him. After 65 years of marriage, her feelings for him are still strong. Living in Shaker Heights around Shaker Square, Bialosky describes what it was like growing up with anti-semitism, and then what it was like teaching at Ludlow during…

In this November 2009 interview, Paula Fishman discusses the Hebrew Cultural Garden, one of the first gardens added to the Cleveland Cultural Gardens in the 1920s. Ms. Fishman, a Cleveland native, became involved with the Hebrew Garden in 1997. She describes the process of cleaning up the long-neglected garden, generating interest about it throughout Cleveland's Jewish community, and working with the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland to initiate a long-term plan to take care of the Hebrew…

Phil Hart was born in Jewish Glenville in the 1920s. His mother and father's families were both in the community and he talks about growing up in the Glenville area, going to School at Patrick Henry and Glenville High School. After high school he started college at Ohio State, then going to Western Reserve University, then to Oberlin under the V-12 program with the Navy. Upon returning from the Navy he returned to Western Reserve and met his friend Robert Madison. He was politically involved in…

Larry Beam reflects on his eight years as president of the Coventry Neighbors Incorporated, particularly the ending of the Coventry street fair. He also recalls the Jewish organized crime in the area around the 1970s.

Lorence Hyler recalls what Coventry Village was like in the 1970s and 80s. He particularly remembers his work with the Food Project and Coventry Books and what remained of the Jewish community in the area.

Loree Resnik is a life-long Cleveland resident and is the executive director of Suburban Temple. In this 2005 interview she discusses Lake View Cemetery and the Temple's involvement with the cemetery. She describes the Jewish death rituals and some of the temple's work in the community as well.

The Park East Synagogue is located in Pepper Pike on Shaker Boulevard on land originally purchased for the congregation's school. With a growing population, the facility was built to accommodate the congregation moving southeastward from its Park Main site in Cleveland Heights. Both facilities remain in use today. Park East is home for worship, a thriving summer camp program, a religious school with 32 classrooms, meeting facilities and administrative offices for the congregation. The site also…

The Park Main Synagogue by architect Eric Mendolson was the congregations first move from its origins in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood. Park School facility and land was purchased in the 1940's and the temple and school and meeting facilities were built on the grounds in Cleveland Heights between Mayfield Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard in a wooded setting. Additional facilities ware added in the 1960's making it one of the largest complexes in the area. Continued growth and movement of…

Mr. Arnold tells of the Anshe Chesed congregation in Cleveland from its' beginnings in the 1800's and original temple in the Market District (Progressive Field). Later, the congregation built a temple on Scovill Avenue and later at Euclid Avenue and East 82nd Street (the current Liberty Hill Baptist Church). By the 1950's much of Cleveland's Jewish population moved to the heights and congregations sought new temple locations near their home. The Anshe Chesed congregation purchased land in…

In this 2006 interview, Nina Gibans, a poet, author, and active leader in Cleveland's art community discusses her early life and the work of her husband, architect Jim Gibans. Growing up in Cleveland and Shaker Heights, Ohio in the 1930s and 40s, Gibans was the only Jewish girl in Laurel School. Her father was the head of surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Later on, as editor of the Sara Laurence College newspaper, Gibans had to deal with the censorship of the McCarthy era. Gibans met her husband on…