The CJN goes one-on-one with Kol Israel Foundation president Robert Zelwin

Robert Zelwin was recently elected president of the Kol Israel Foundation in Beachwood. He succeeded Mark Frank.

According to the Kol Israel Foundation website, it is an organization forged by Holocaust survivors who settled in Cleveland after World War II. Putting their history of unbearable losses of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives, husbands, children aside, they found themselves alone, strangers in a strange land. Because of the strength and vibrancy of the Cleveland community, many survivors settled here.

Zelwin was born and raised in Cleveland, the son of Holocaust survivors Ida and Sam Zelwin. He lives in Solon and is the founder of janitorial service business Adjer Industries. His parents were involved with Kol Israel since its founding in 1959. Zelwin said he became more involved less than a decade ago and gladly accepted the position of president knowing the obligation he had to his family and every other Holocaust survivor “to continue educating people and to tell the stories.”

Zelwin, 71, who is a member of B’nai Jeshurun Congregation in Pepper Pike, spoke to the Cleveland Jewish News June 16 about plans for his presidency at Kol Israel.

CJN: What are your personal goals for the organization?

Zelwin: It’s basically to do what has to be done and that means educating not only school-aged kids, but adults as well. One of my goals is to create a speakers forum so companies who want us to come speak to a group of individuals can do that. I feel obligated to continue to make sure that people get a firsthand account. We’ve got to make sure we tell other people these stories. … Everybody’s got a story.

CJN: How is the Kol Israel Foundation addressing rising antisemitism?

Zelwin: We do it through our educational programs. We have things like Face to Face, where we have accounts from survivors – video accounts – that talk about what happened. We have Holocaust survivors, second-generation people, third-generation people, talking to predominantly non-Jewish school-aged kids and telling them the stories and situations like my family’s. For second-generation people like myself, I tell the story, because my parents are no longer with us. I repeat the stories and educate young people, but beyond the education of the young, there’s plenty of adults that don’t know what happened and that are now becoming interested and with what’s going on in the world with antisemitism. A lot of antisemitism is ignorance and lack of knowledge, and if you educate them, sometimes they will have a different point of view afterwards.

CJN: How will the organization continue to grow?

Zelwin: We’re trying to do things to expand our focus. We’re diversifying our board. We’ve asked three people that are not Jewish to join our board. We are trying to fundraise. We’re putting younger people on our board.

We’re also in the process of trying to make our monument at Zion Cemetery, which is an Ohio state monument, a national monument. And, as a matter of fact, one of our new board members who’s not Jewish is helping us with that. We’re hoping that will be designated as a national historical site, and it would mean a lot that we are recognized nationally throughout the whole country, because there aren’t that many Holocaust monuments that are recognized that way.

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Compiled by Sammi Fremont, Clifford and Linda Wolf Editorial Intern.

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