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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE Pride Guide 2004

Chevrei Tikva celebrates their 20th anniversary

by Paul Zeitzew

Cleveland-Chevrei Tikva, northeast Ohio's Reform synagogue with an outreach to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered community and their friends, is celebrating their 20th year.

The original idea of a GLBT synagogue started when three Clevelanders attended the International Conference of Gay and Lesbian Jews in Los Angeles in the summer of 1982. When they returned to Cleveland, they found another, then another and another, until enough people were interested to form Chevrei Tikva, which means Friends of Hope in English.

Though still primarily GLBT, Chevrei Tikva's outreach now includes all who feel disenfranchised and all who seek a safe, Jewish space to worship and make friends. In the early days name tags at events were first name and last initial only. Today full names are used for those that are comfortable with doing

so, which is 95% of the congregation.

In the fall of 2001, the congregation hired its first ordained rabbi. Rabbi Rachel Rembrandt not only brought her exceptional spiritual ambiance to the synagogue, but her husband and three young children.

Her first service was Rosh Hoshona (Jewish New Year), which took place exactly one week after September 11, 2001. It was a difficult task for her to get the congregation in the mood for the most important week of the year with the cloud of terrorism looming all around us. She succeeded.

The rabbi conducts services with a Torah reading on the first Friday of each month. A synagogue member leads the congregation on the third Friday of the month. Each service is different. Rabbi Rembrandt brings a new perspective on her Fridays, while the member-led service is another perspective depending on who is leading. It makes for interesting and different first and third Fridays.

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Each year Chevrei Tikva has Second Night Seder to observe the Passover holidays. This past April, 45 people attended. The synagogue also observes all major Jewish holidays and many of the minor ones. Services are open to anyone who cares to attend. Most are

held at the Unitarian Society at 2728 Lancashire Rd in Cleveland Heights, between Coventry and Euclid Hts. Blvd. For more information, call 216-932-5551.

Paul Zeitzew is a longtime member of Chevrei Tikva.

Hispanic outreach agency includes HIV prevention

by Ismael Flores

Cleveland-The MSM prevention specialist at Hispanic Urban Minority Alcohol and Drug Abuse Outreach Program (HUMADAOP) serves the Latino/Hispanic gay community with health education and risk reduction services.

Through Hispanic men who have sex with men, HUMADAOP will reinforce safe sexual behaviors and increase the knowledge of HIV transmission, with the ultimate goal of slowing the spread of the disease.

HUMADAOP's MSM prevention specialist performs outreach in the Latino/Hispanic community, distributing condoms to straight and gay bars as well as condoms, safe sex kits and pamphlets to key shops and barbershops throughout the Cleveland community. The MSM prevention specialist performs phone counseling as well as taking care of internet hits. Agency flyers are distributed to community organizations such as Men of Color Concerned about AIDS. Referrals and preand post-testing and counseling are offered free of charge.

The MSM program offers support groups like Para Nosotros, which includes five 90minute sessions each to be held for approximately five men in each session. Times for the session will be scheduled based on participant convenience.

All services provided by HUMADAOP's

ANTHONY GLASSMAN

Ismael Flores

MSM prevention specialist, Ismael J. Flores, are kept strictly confidential.

For any questions or more information, please e-mail ismaelfls@aol.com or call the direct office phone number at 216258-0149.

Ismael J. Flores is the MSM prevention specialist for HUMADAOP.

Every person has the potential to be exceptional. And that's something we all have in common.

When you're open to different points of view, you never know what you might learn. At Huntington, we recognize the value of each person's unique perspective—which is why we support diversity in our community, and actively cultivate it within our own company. And we're always proud to partner with organizations that share that same vision, and are working hard to make it a reality.

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