Breaking Ground: Erika Rudin-Luria on Leading with Intention
00:41
Mara Kamat
This podcast was recorded prior to October 2025, when the 20 remaining living hostages were released as part of the Gaza Peace Plan. Welcome back to In Her Land, the podcast where we celebrate women's journeys, voices, and the impact they create in their communities and beyond. I'm Mara.
01:22
Carrie Aguilar
And I'm Carrie. Today we are so honored to be joined by Erika Rudin-Luria, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. Erika is a powerhouse leader, a strategic thinker, and a deeply compassionate presence in the Jewish and greater Cleveland community. We are thrilled to have you here.
01:40
Mara Kamat
Erika, welcome to In Her Land.
01:42
Erika Rudin-Luria
Thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure to be here with both of you.
01:47
Carrie Aguilar
Thanks.
01:47
Mara Kamat
So let's start at the beginning. Can you share with us a little bit about your career journey and what led you to your role as the president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland? And I also want to highlight here, Erika is the first female CEO of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
02:06
Erika Rudin-Luria
So I moved to Cleveland almost 25 years ago. My husband and I were living in Manhattan. We were trying to figure out where we should move for three to five years. And we chose Cleveland over Palo Alto, Charlotte and Westchester. Well done. I think so. I think very well done. But for three to five years, you know, 25 years ago, and we moved to Cleveland because of the opportunities that each of us had professionally. And then we stayed in Cleveland because of the people, frankly. So my education background, I have a master's in social work from Columbia University and a master's in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. But. But I was working in New York at UJ Federation of New York, which is the New York City Boroughs Jewish Federation. We're each autonomous from each other.
03:03
Erika Rudin-Luria
And I had some other experiences in New York as well that, frankly, led me down this path, which I can go into. Very curious.
03:13
Carrie Aguilar
Yeah.
03:14
Mara Kamat
No, tell us about it.
03:15
Erika Rudin-Luria
Well, so I'll tell you the kind of the crowning, I think, story that set me on a path that. Where I knew that I needed to be doing something like I'm doing right now. I was a kid. I was in graduate school, and it was at Columbia. So at Columbia it was 1997. So the world wasn't as scary in 1997. And there was this big dial a thon that was going on. We. It's called Super Sunday. We still have it here, actually, they don't have it in New York anymore. And I was going to meet a friend for dinner before going to make cold calls to ask people for money for the campaign. And were going to dinner and then there was like a Young Leadership night or something, which I qualified for back then.
04:05
Erika Rudin-Luria
So I was walking towards the subway right in front of Barnard on the Upper west side, where there are Morningside Heights, there's always like 60 cabs. There's. And I mean, tons of cabs. And I decided, you know, I don't feel like taking the subway. And I held a cab and I got into the cab and I said to the. I gave the driver the address, which was around the corner from where we'd be making calls later that night. And the driver said to me, you know where you're going? It's near that Federation building now, two avenues and a few blocks away, in New York terms is not near the building. There are thousands of other things in between. And so I had been about to take a nap. Opened my eye. I kind of looked at the person's name.
04:50
Erika Rudin-Luria
I looked at the guy like, that's kind of funny. And he said, have you heard of those Federation people? Now I'm wide awake. I'm sitting up. I'm wondering if this is a joke, because I like. Yes, of course. Of course I have. Well, and I wasn't yet. Like, I wasn't even working at Federation yet, but I was gonna be interning there. They were very much a part of.
05:13
Carrie Aguilar
The dials later on that day.
05:16
Erika Rudin-Luria
Exactly, exactly. And so I was like, that's so weir. And I was like, there's no camera. And I said to the cab driver, I said, well, I've heard of them. And he said, those Federation people, they're such great people. Now I am sitting up and leaning forward. Really, why are they. Tell me. And he told me his story that those Federation people had brought him to this country, that they had given him a place to live. They had given him food to eat. They had taught him English.
05:47
Mara Kamat
They had.
05:47
Erika Rudin-Luria
They had given him his first job, introduced him to his wife, and he said, and today I'm a cab driver, and I can drive anywhere I want to go. He told me that his first grandchild. I don't remember whether he said they were going to be going to law school or to medical school. By the time we got to the restaurant, I am bawling in the backseat of the car. He was a Holocaust survivor who lost his entire family in the war. And those federation people became his family. And. And so I got to the restaurant, I paid him and thanked him for his story. And I met my friend, and I said to her, you're not gonna believe what happened on the way to this restaurant. And I told her his story.
06:31
Erika Rudin-Luria
And as I've gotten older and I've thought about his story, immediately, I knew that I wanted to be able to have that kind of impact on someone's life. And then as I've gotten older and I've thought about his story, I've thought about how many organizations needed to be involved to make his story possible. How many donors, how many volunteers, how many professionals. No one person, no matter how much money they have, could have made his story happen on their own.
07:03
Mara Kamat
That's so true and so beautiful to think about. The power and the impact of bringing community together to really make a difference.
07:12
Erika Rudin-Luria
Exactly. So that I feel like was the moment where. Where I said, something is here that's really special. I need to figure out how to do this.
07:22
Mara Kamat
So how did you do it? So you go to New York?
07:25
Erika Rudin-Luria
So I worked at UJ Federation of New York, and then I had an opportunity here in Cleveland, and I was told, and this is a. Like, within the world of Jewish professionals. You know, if you want to learn, you go to Cleveland, because that's where great leaders come from. And so I figured I would go to Cleveland for three to five years. And I was so blown away by the reputation of the Jewish community of the city of Cleveland, how people care about each other here. I didn't know it personally, not being from here, but that's certainly what we found when we arrived. We found that this is a community that when someone has an idea and they want to accomplish something, they put it out there and people gather together and they do it. And that, like.
08:17
Erika Rudin-Luria
Kind of like, you know, determination really appealed to the New Yorker in me.
08:24
Carrie Aguilar
What was the. So you got to Cleveland. Was there some sort of defining moment here in Cleveland in terms of being. In terms of the leadership here in Cleveland, where you were like, I know that, you know, three to five years, make that 10 to 20, make that 25, make that 30.
08:44
Erika Rudin-Luria
So it was really getting to know people. I have had phenomenal mentors. Sally Wertheim is by far at. Is by far at the top of that list. And Sally would always say to me, well, Erika, why haven't you thought about this? Or, Erika, you should apply for that. Well, you should do that. You could do it. I mean, sometimes even if you're confident in your career, you need someone to tap you and say, what about that over there? Have you considered that? So I was hired. I started in the foundations area, and the planning director position came open. And Sally said to me, you know, why haven't you applied for that yet? And in my head, I'm thinking, well, three to five years. I've got a year and a half left of that three to five years. Am I qualified for a position?
09:37
Erika Rudin-Luria
That's her big job. That's looking at what all the needs are in the Jewish community. You know, building partnerships to meet those needs, having partners with United Way and others outside. I knew that was a big job. And Sally said, well, why wouldn't you apply for it? And having other people who are pushing you and demanding more of you, I think is a large piece of it. So Steve Hoffman was the president of the Federation who hired me and then was the person who promoted me to be the planning director and really was my mentor for. Continues to be my mentor, actually. But really, for the 18 years that I was at Federation prior to becoming the exec and watching how decisions were made and being a part of those was really what led today, I'll say one defining moment, though, in.
10:39
Erika Rudin-Luria
In our community, I think, was certainly the economic recession and what 0809 did to. I mean, to Cleveland and how it is we all, as Cleveland and then within the Jewish community, navigated through that recession. You know, there were so many people during it who had never seen themselves as people who needed anything. They saw themselves in a position of, you know, they were donors and they were only donors and not recipients. They were helpers. They were helpers. Exactly. And in 0809, everybody became a recipient because whether it was because of anxiety and nervousness about the economy and what's happening around you, or whether their situations themselves dramatically changed, which so many did in such dramatic ways, how we organized around that recession, that was a big growth moment for me as a leader, there's no question.
11:46
Mara Kamat
So what's really interesting about what you've shared with us is this Importance of mentorship throughout your career, both male and female presence. You know, for our listeners as they're thinking about mentorship for themselves, what is some advice that you have that's really carried you through to be able to rise into these positions of leadership?
12:06
Erika Rudin-Luria
Sure. Well, I'll say first, a mentor isn't someone who always agrees with you.
12:10
Carrie Aguilar
I love that.
12:11
Erika Rudin-Luria
If anything, a mentor is someone who pushes you and who sees things in you that you don't necessarily see in yourself. And you can have someone who's a mentor in some spaces, but not in other spaces. So to me, it's all about being a continuous learner and being curious. If you're curious about everything and you're asking questions of people, that in and of itself is recognition that you don't know everything.
12:39
Carrie Aguilar
Right.
12:40
Erika Rudin-Luria
And I think so much about becoming, about being a leader is about recognizing that you don't know everything and that you always need to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you or can add more and know more about whether it's different subjects or who have different backgrounds and experiences. And so I really think that's what I've learned from my mentors. None of them, and I mean, Sally and Steve as two great examples, they're the first people that would say, call that person, see what they think.
13:14
Carrie Aguilar
Right.
13:14
Erika Rudin-Luria
You know, have you thought about speaking to so and so they had an interesting experience that might be applicable here.
13:20
Mara Kamat
And.
13:21
Erika Rudin-Luria
And the.
13:22
Carrie Aguilar
Gosh, I bet that's so invaluable, too, because it's just. It widens your understanding and it gets you out of, you know, just staring straight ahead and pulling from your own experience. And it brings in other people's, like, diversity and their diversity of thought, diversity of their backgrounds. I think that's really interesting.
13:44
Mara Kamat
And as somebody who knows Erika, she's really good at that. She's very curious and asks questions, sometimes really hard questions and sometimes questions that just enable you to relate to people, which I think is really beautiful in a leadership role, that it doesn't matter if you're talking to somebody like were talking before she came onto the podcast. She was talking to a child or somebody that is a fellow executive or somebody that is 93 years old and looking at life very differently. I think you bring a very curious approach.
14:18
Erika Rudin-Luria
Thank you. We all can learn so much from really anybody. Right. I mean, and I think that's such the world, the way it's evolved. We've all dealt with things in the last several years that we had never dealt with before. And if you Deal with everything by yourself, like, that's very lonely and that's very isolating. But if you have this wealth of wisdom and knowledge to draw from, which frankly, all of us have that around us, and you bring people in to be part of the conversation. And we're very. At the Jewish Federation, we are very into consensus building.
15:00
Erika Rudin-Luria
And it's not actually group think like they're very different from each other, but having people come around a table to struggle with an issue or a problem because we know that where we will land is better than if one of us or two of us did it in a room by ourselves and then it's not an issue. Isn't a me problem. Everything is a we problem, a we issue.
15:25
Mara Kamat
Well, thank you for sharing. As the first woman to lead the Jewish Federation of Cleveland as a president, that's a remarkable milestone. Your leadership reflects a broader challenge and opportunity in the world of women executives. In fact, while women make up nearly 50% of the US workforce, they only hold 10.4% of Fortune 500 CEO positions. And in the nonprofit sector, where women can comprise around 75% of the workforce, only about 21% of large nonprofit CEOs are women. It's a reminder of just how significant your leadership is, not just within the Jewish community, but also for women. So as you navigate this, how did you prepare for this role and have you faced any particular barriers as a woman in this position?
16:14
Erika Rudin-Luria
So I haven't actually face barriers as a woman in terms of preparation, though there are leaders within Cleveland that I look to as I was applying for this job. Certainly Beth Mooney, Barbara Snyder. Those are phenomenal role models. Jerry Sue Thornton, Phenomenal role models. I mean, I also looked towards mal role models that. But I remember as Steve Hoffman and I would speak about my leadership trajectory, he would recommend and connect me to women leaders. He'd say, look, I only know what my experience is. You should talk to them and see if there's something I'm missing in what I'm sharing with you. But I haven't had a lot of opportunity to actually think about being a woman in the position. You know, a few months before I took over as exact was when the Tree of Life synagogue shooting happened in Pittsburgh.
17:22
Erika Rudin-Luria
A switch flipped that day I was sitting in synagogue and I don't back then, I didn't carry a phone on Shabbat on the Jewish Sabbath. And someone came over to me and whispered in my ear and they said, there's an active shooter at a synagogue in Squirrel Hill. And I knew Steve was still the exec, but I knew that he was in Israel and not back yet. And I looked at the friend sitting next to me and I said, do you have your phone? And do you have Jim Hartnett's phone number on it? Jim is our director of security for the Jewish community. And I took her phone, and it was like in that moment, things. Things shifted. And so I never.
18:09
Erika Rudin-Luria
I haven't actually thought about it other than the fact that nationally, it's frequent that I'm the only woman in a room or one of very few women in a room. But between the increased security needs and then Covid. Soon after that, the war in Ukraine and then the October 7th massacres, we. There's been so much going on that actually hasn't been something that I've actually analyzed about it. I'll say, though, I've found that if you're smart, if you don't put up with. Can I swear?
18:48
Mara Kamat
Yes, yes, please do.
18:50
Carrie Aguilar
We do.
18:53
Erika Rudin-Luria
I'm not someone who's a bullshitter, and I don't grew up with bullshit from others. You know, I develop respect the same way anyone else does. And I don't know it any other way other than to be, like, you know, straight with people. And I've found that, you know, there has been. There's been no one. On occasion, you know, someone at synagogue will say, oh, you know, that's a really big job. And, okay, I hold back from saying, no, I didn't really notice. You don't say that was news.
19:28
Mara Kamat
When you're, like, traveling around the world exhausted and managing crisis after cris. After crisis.
19:33
Carrie Aguilar
Please tell me how my job is big.
19:35
Erika Rudin-Luria
But, you know, people are funny. People are funny, and they don't know what to say. And by the way, I have actually heard people say that to my male colleagues, too. So I do think that's a. People not knowing what to say. You know, the. My kids think it's cool.
19:54
Mara Kamat
It is cool.
19:55
Erika Rudin-Luria
My kids think it's cool. And my youngest, when I first became president and when it was first announced, his big concern was, will, is Steve gonna take the sofa in his office with him? I was like, no, Ari, like, the sofa.
20:11
Carrie Aguilar
The sofa was staying. He's like, oh, good, you.
20:14
Erika Rudin-Luria
But, you know, like, from the mouths.
20:16
Carrie Aguilar
Of, like, babes, you know, it's the important things.
20:19
Erika Rudin-Luria
Right, Right.
20:20
Carrie Aguilar
The comfortable sofa.
20:21
Mara Kamat
In teasing that out a little bit, you said a couple things that are interesting. One, coming into this leadership role, you didn't have a phone on Shabbat. And, you know, you also came in, you know, kind of talked about that perfectly into crisis. Right, right. And the crisis journey for you hasn't really paused in terms of all these moments in your leadership. So first I'd love to hear about like you made a different choice now to carry a cell phone on Shabbat, I think.
20:52
Erika Rudin-Luria
I don't know.
20:52
Mara Kamat
Yes, because security. Yeah. So talk to us a little bit about that.
20:57
Erika Rudin-Luria
Sure. So, you know, Tree of Life shooting was an awakening for many in the Jewish community about the real threats that exist. And we made a decision really basically on that day that we did not want to leave any Jewish organization in the community unsecured. They call it target hardening. It makes someone a bad target. And we very quickly made decisions that where there weren't security officers would be added. That we would be adding cameras and license plate readers and frankly utilizing the best minds not only in Cleveland, but in the world to influence and evolve how it is we secure the Jewish community. And in order to keep it safe and welcoming and open. I'll fast forward. We're in a place right now where we have around 70 full time staff of JFC Security LLC.
22:06
Erika Rudin-Luria
It's a separate corporation from us that we purchase services from. There are another hundred and something off duty police officers we work with.
22:17
Carrie Aguilar
And so do they protect the synagogues and around the people.
22:21
Erika Rudin-Luria
Right. So it's not for empty buildings, obviously. It's to protect people so that they are. So that people are able to safely gather and send their kids to school and send their kids to camp. We've also done a lot more training of community members on. It started with if you see something, say something.
22:39
Carrie Aguilar
Right.
22:39
Erika Rudin-Luria
But it evolved from there and we recognized over time that. And we've seen in the last few weeks that words matter and people are feeling emboldened and able to put their hate out.
22:55
Carrie Aguilar
As someone who is not Jewish, how would you recommend someone like myself, someone who is not Jewish show up for and support in cases like this? Because I sometimes feel very powerless, if that's. What's the word.
23:15
Erika Rudin-Luria
Well, so first, I think everyone feels powerless right now.
23:17
Carrie Aguilar
Okay.
23:17
Erika Rudin-Luria
I think that's why there's so much screaming, you know, and nobody's really certain of anything. We, none of us should believe most of what we read in the media, by the way. Any media.
23:27
Mara Kamat
Right.
23:28
Erika Rudin-Luria
Anywhere in the world.
23:29
Carrie Aguilar
No, I mean, like, to be totally transparent, I was sitting at the Beachwood Library yesterday. We were, we have to renew our passports. And my. And my daughter was getting one and my. Whether this is good, bad, or anything. We do not expose my 9 year old to lots of news. And there was a woman who was watching lots of news about what's happening in Israel and Gaza and the area. And this woman was just. I mean, she was right on the computer next to my daughter, my 9 year old, and her name's Penelope. And she was just staring at it and I couldn't stop her.
24:08
Mara Kamat
And.
24:09
Carrie Aguilar
And she was just staring and it's just like literally the titles were just getting worse and I was like, okay, Penelope, let's go over here. And I don't know even how to not start the conversation because we've talked about what's happening, but I'm very close to lots of Jewish people and I'm also very close to people who are not. And so I feel, sometimes feel very. I don't know how to support and I don't know how to find words to like, ameliorate or even if, like, that's my place. As someone who is not Jewish, how would you recommend I, or anyone like myself show up for and support my Jewish friends at this really tough and awful time?
24:59
Erika Rudin-Luria
So I think first, I so appreciate the question. I really appreciate the question. I would say that as someone who's not Jewish, you're probably privy to conversations that I'm not privy to. And things are happening around you. And so right now, being aware of what people are saying around you and responding to those things, even if the response is to say, you know, when you say that, it makes me uncomfortable. I see we have an issue in the Jewish community. People don't want to respond to anything unless they know all the facts. You don't need to have any perfect words when you're showing up. Sometimes it's just calling and saying, look, like, I love you, I'm here for you. I'm here for your family. Or saying, how does this affect you? Like, does this, how does this affect you?
26:00
Erika Rudin-Luria
How does this affect your kids? You know, one of the most horrific things as a parent years ago was when I told my kids, if you see someone with a gun, this is what you need to do. And I knew. And we have security at our synagogue and at all of the synagogues. But I had a conversation with my kids when they were really little because I knew that they running around were far more likely to see something than an adult was.
26:30
Carrie Aguilar
Wow.
26:30
Erika Rudin-Luria
And we. And I was. And I cried after I had that conversation with them. Fast forward where we're at today. The most horrific thing about today is actually to acknowledge reality because none of us want to ground ourselves in a reality where we say that the people, for me, the people that I am a part of is hated by. And by the way that it's perfectly acceptable with my air quotes for someone to, at a city council meeting or a county council meeting to call for the death of the Jewish people. Frankly, I thought, and like, I think were all raised at a time where were told that it's unacceptable to call for the death of any people. Right?
27:20
Mara Kamat
Anyone.
27:21
Erika Rudin-Luria
Anyone, Anyone. We, you know, we like, you know, we generally say, like, Jewish Federation's mission is very broad. What falls outside of it? Anyone who hates anyone, Right? Like hate is bad.
27:34
Carrie Aguilar
Right.
27:35
Erika Rudin-Luria
But today we're in a world where Deborah Lipstadt, who is just phenomenal, says that. I heard someone quoting her the other day who had this amazing quote about how the polarization is such with politics that people have what she called a Moshe Dayan problem when it comes to anti Semitism. Moshe Dayan had a patch over one eye and she says, like, you know, the right need to be fighting it in their party, the left needs to be fighting it in their party. And instead they've got a patch on. The right doesn't see the hate in their party. The left doesn't see the hate in their party. The hate isn't just words. And if we really believe that, then the problem is it forces our behavior to change.
28:23
Mara Kamat
With the rise of antisemitism in the United States, specifically, especially on college campuses, and you have two kids right now actively on college campuses, many parents are feeling anxious, unsure what you've just expressed, to be honest. And so what advice do you share with families navigating this?
28:44
Erika Rudin-Luria
So look at the universities where they actually follow the code of conduct. Codes of conduct. Not just universities, public schools, private schools as well. Codes of conduct are there actually to protect all students. And that is what, that's what like the extremists who are yelling things are doing. They're actually harming all students. Because as much as they'll say that it's because of free speech that they can say all of these things. We all, you know, and it's why you can't yell fire in a theater. Freedom of speech actually does have limitations. It's not allowed to create. If something is creating a clear and present danger to people around you, it is not covered by free speech. But what you want are heads of school, chancellors, presidents of university who enforce their codes of conduct.
29:35
Erika Rudin-Luria
That's probably the Number one thing that I would look at when looking at a school, how did they handle the encampments? How did they handle it? Did they let the protesters run wild on campus, scream horrible things, physically assault people on their campus? Or did they say, look, you can protest, but these are the rules in order to make campus.
30:02
Carrie Aguilar
These are the guidelines.
30:03
Erika Rudin-Luria
Right. In order to make. For everyone. Exactly.
30:05
Carrie Aguilar
For everyone.
30:06
Erika Rudin-Luria
Everyone. And the. For everyone is actually really important in this because this doesn't only impact Jewish students.
30:14
Carrie Aguilar
Right.
30:15
Erika Rudin-Luria
There's also a piece, though, where hatred of Jews is seen as a lesser evil. And that's actually a really important problem within all of this. So when hatred of Jews is seen as not as bad as already, you're setting up a dynamic that feeds into the very conspiracy theory that is antisemitism. So in Charlottesville, when the people who were marching were yelling, the Jews will not replace us, they weren't saying that the Jews themselves were going to replace them. They're talking about the conspiracy theory that Jews control the world. They were saying, the Jews will not replace us with black and brown people because they're saying the Jews as the ones that are in control of everything. And this is when I like. It's horrible humor, but, you know, if I were in control of the weather, we would have much better. Better weather.
31:11
Erika Rudin-Luria
Like, there are a whole host of things.
31:12
Carrie Aguilar
Cleveland would have a lot more living here.
31:14
Mara Kamat
Seriously, though, a lot more sun.
31:16
Erika Rudin-Luria
And a lot more sun. Exactly. But. But, you know, joking aside, bullstreams, like the haters right now, what they're doing is they're perpetuating conspiracy theory. And conspiracy theory doesn't help anyone. All conspiracy theory teaches, and this goes into all of even the, like, colonialist philosophy. So it doesn't matter whether you're talking about the Nazis or whether you're talking about the group that I'd say is woke but not awake. Actually, they're working from the same playbook here.
31:49
Mara Kamat
In the spirit of our conversation, you've brought up a lot of moments that you've really had to navigate crisis as a leader for the community in Cleveland, but also the broader Jewish community. How have you kind of managed your own energy and mindset to make such difficult decisions during these moments of crisis?
32:10
Erika Rudin-Luria
So part of it is by not doing it alone. What I mentioned earlier, a piece of it is remembering what our values are, what my values are. So our organization, at the end of the day, is measured based on. Actually, I think society in general is measured based on how do we support those most vulnerable among us that to me is like, really like the North Star. And so when we enter a crisis, whether it's Covid or dealing with hate, that's who I keep in mind. Does any decision that I'm making negatively or positively impact the developmentally disabled man living in a group home who depends on us for everything? The 90 something year old Holocaust survivor who has no family? Does this decision help her or harm her? During COVID I, we painted a picture. And that's part of.
33:06
Erika Rudin-Luria
I'm a planner by nature and training. And so we put out a vision. You know, we said to ourselves, 20 years later, what do we want our kids to tell our grandchildren about this moment in time? And so I'll play that game with myself. What do we want? So during COVID frankly, it was clear. Our buildings are closed, our community is open. Nobody was forgotten, nobody was left alone. And we painted first broad and then narrower. A picture. What? When we are looking back on today, what do we want to be able to say? So right now, what is that? We were not silent. We spoke up. We're a community that so much of the time, when there's been something bad that's happened, has made phone calls, we've quietly organized. We can't be quiet anymore.
34:00
Erika Rudin-Luria
It can't just be that the Jewish leader is speaking to the university president. Everyone must use their voice. Every voice counts. Whether they're speaking from the same playbook I'm speaking from or not. Actually irrelevant. Every voice counts. And so I play out those things and then I bake and I have two golden doodles, and the dogs help a great deal.
34:21
Mara Kamat
And you host Shabbats all the time.
34:23
Erika Rudin-Luria
And I do, and I do. And I generally like people and, you know, and travel. And I look in you, I mean, and I think that's so much of what you, Mara and Carrie are doing. Like, you look for those points of inspiration and those people that are doing these amazing things. And when you look for them, there are so many of them.
34:48
Carrie Aguilar
It's true. Mm. Yeah. And even when we meet someone, they're like, oh, well, you should meet so and so and so. And have you talked to this person?
34:56
Erika Rudin-Luria
Right.
34:58
Carrie Aguilar
What are their names? Yes, absolutely. We will reach out to them.
35:01
Erika Rudin-Luria
Right, right.
35:02
Mara Kamat
In the spirit of that and inspiration, you've had the unique opportunity to meet so many amazing people in your role around the world. Can you maybe share one or two stories that have really impacted you and the people that you've had the opportunity to connect with in your life?
35:20
Erika Rudin-Luria
Sure. So Mara was there for this one in January, I was at a conference, a women's conference in Atlanta, and I was asked to moderate a panel with hostage families. So these are family members of people who either are currently being held hostage or people who were held hostage and murdered while in captivity, or people who, thank God, have now a few of them been released. And one person on the panel, Aviva Siegel herself, was a hostage. And at the time, her husband Keith was still being held hostage. He has been released since then. You know, we.
36:04
Mara Kamat
And is alive and living life again.
36:08
Erika Rudin-Luria
Exactly. And they, and the family, I mean, all of the families will say that their recovery can't truly begin until everyone is returned home. The. But first, let me just say, spending time with people who have gone through this kind of trauma I look at as a great privilege. And to me, those moments are all about them and trying to absorb information and emotion so that I can like, take that back.
36:49
Mara Kamat
I think something, Erika, you are passionate about and an advocate for is getting people to go to Israel. And I think there's also a lot of nervousness from people given the state of Israel. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?
37:05
Erika Rudin-Luria
Sure. So I go to Israel regularly. I'm going next week. I'll be back again in July. Actually, in July, I'm going to be with French Jews who. Because France is very dangerous right now. And so I'm going to France and flying on what's called an aliyah flight, on a flight of Jews that are leaving France for security reasons to Israel. And obviously I have a son there right now.
37:28
Mara Kamat
Like they're moving from France to Israel.
37:31
Erika Rudin-Luria
Right. Because of safety issues and the radicalization of French society. You know, travel is different depending on who you're going with and different people. When people travel with federation, our goal is not to traumatize someone. So I will tell you, I've only heard a siren go off once in all of my trips. I think I've been to Israel eight or nine times since October 7, 2023. Wow. So again, some of those are like 32 hour trips, some are longer. My son has been in a few shelters, not afraid in those shelters in Tel Aviv, like since he's been there this summer, we on the trips that I'm on, we do not go to places where there would be concern. Understand, like, that is not the goal. The goal actually of going to Israel is to get to know the people.
38:25
Erika Rudin-Luria
By the way, all of the people. And not only the Jewish people, the Druze, the Bedouins, the Israeli Arabs. Like, there are diverse people, you know, within the country. It's a small country, like the size of New Jersey, so it's very easy to get around and go to different areas. The borders are not friendly. We know that. We've seen that in the last year with the war with Hezbollah. But next week when I'm there, I'll be able to go up north next to the border. Our work in Israel is humanitarian. It's focused overwhelmingly on populations at risk or like, in the periphery. So within that, we have STEM education programs with ultra Orthodox and with Israeli Arabs. We work in a town that's considered the periphery to deal with trauma and to raise education.
39:24
Erika Rudin-Luria
We do a lot with youth at risk across the country. And right now we do a lot with victims of terror and trauma, which is in the tens of thousands in terms of the people we're talking about. Actually, one program that Mara and I were talking about earlier is this Campers Together program that Mara's daughter is involved with raising some funds for too, where kids who have experienced great trauma, usually through the loss of a family member, come to summer camp in the United States, and it's for respite. And obviously they make sure that the kids are in a place where they're emotionally able to do this. A kid needs to be a kid, regardless of what they're going through. And she talks about being nervous about going to camp and about how they were just welcomed with open arms.
40:17
Erika Rudin-Luria
And she said, when I got to camp and I saw the lake, I started to breathe again. And she said that she realized that she had forgotten who she was. And when she was at camp, she started to remember who she was again. And I started and she said, and I started to live. Camp brought me back from the dad. Okay, now no 15 year old anywhere should ever have to be brought back from the dad. Never, never.
40:49
Carrie Aguilar
Never.
40:50
Erika Rudin-Luria
Girl from that experience learned that she was not alone, that she had this large community on the other side of the world that cared about her. And, you know, the power of knowing that someone cares about you in that situation. But meeting Omara was a moment for me this year because you do the work and it gets back to what Mara was asking about. You know, this is so intense and it's so heavy when you meet someone who is healing because of work that you are somehow involved in. You just want to do more with more of it. You just want other people to begin to heal and begin the recovery process. And so, you know, it's life giving.
41:43
Carrie Aguilar
For you, especially after the last five years, six years.
41:49
Erika Rudin-Luria
There's. There's no question that it is. Because, you see, I mean, you know, but it goes back to the, like. I think it's an African proverb. If you want to. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. And it works. And it might be countercultural to do things as a group today, but there is something that is so empowering and powerful about it that it feeds you, like, if it, like, feeds your system. So.
42:18
Mara Kamat
So in the spirit of that, as we close out here, before we get to our closeout questions, we talk about the power of community. And one thing that blows me away every year is how much money the Jewish Federation of Cleveland raises. Last year's Campaign for Jewish needs raised over $38 million. The record amount was created through over 9,200 gifts, representing over 12,200 donors. That's incredible work of the community and incredible work that you're leading, Erika. With that said, I always think it's helpful for people to understand that the impact of these gifts goes beyond the Jewish community, both in Israel and in Cleveland. Can you tell us a little bit about the impact of these gifts on the broader community?
43:13
Erika Rudin-Luria
Sure. Well, first of all, two of our agencies serve really huge populations within Greater Cleveland, more than two, but Jewish Family Services and Belfair jcb, both are focused on vulnerable populations like Full Stop, you know, and do tremendous work. Bellfair with at risk youth, children with autism, and Jewish Family Services with older adults with individuals with developmental disabilities, behavioral health challenges, as well as with families at risk with families that are dealing with domestic violence and other. And homelessness and other challenges. So there are a great many things that we do in Cleveland, frankly. We're also very proud partners with United Way and look for different opportunities to get involved in Greater Cleveland. Part of being a strong Jewish community member actually means that you must be involved and engaged in the broader society within which you're in.
44:23
Erika Rudin-Luria
And I love Cleveland, and we are very proud to be here in Cleveland, in Israel. Our work, as I said, is education and humanitarian in nature. Social services overwhelmingly and broad. So, yes, within all parts of Israeli society. Some of the things that might be less known about the role that Cleveland has played, though, is when the first it's called Moving to Israel, happens of Ethiopian Jews, the Jewish community from Ethiopia. Cleveland was both very involved in helping to make that happen. Actually, there's a crazy story back in the 1980s and 90s as to how this happened. There's a Netflix movie actually about the initial escaping and rescuing of Jews from Ethiopia that walked through Sudan. And there was a, like a sailing school that was set up. That wasn't real. That was actually a cover. It's a fascinating story.
45:26
Erika Rudin-Luria
But then a decade or so later, there was an agreement with the Ethiopian government to allow these Ethiopian Jews to leave. And the government was in crisis. They were having a civil war. The government was about to fall and they said, we won't let them go unless you, the North AmErikan Jewish community, pay. They ransomed them unless you pay the equivalent of a round trip, first class ticket from Addis Ababa to Rome because of the shame of people wanting to leave. And this way they could say, oh, well, they're. They're going on vacation with a few thousand of them. And so the number was around $32 million. It had to be raised in 36 hours. It was raised. Cleveland was a part of that. And right before the government fell, there were huge airplanes where they cleared all of the seats out of them.
46:29
Erika Rudin-Luria
There were actually babies that were born on the plane on the way to Israel. It's actually that not long. It's not that long of a flight. I've gone to Ethiopia and been one of the flights to Israel with new immigrants and were part of the rescue. We also, by the way, do work in Ethiopia. Oh, so that was in the 1990s. The flight I was on from Ethiopia was just. Wow, that was just in 2021 was the flight that I was on from.
47:03
Carrie Aguilar
And when you say not long of a flight, are we talking like three hours?
47:06
Erika Rudin-Luria
Yeah, basically. Basically. So it's. But there are, you know, the Cleveland Jewish community was involved when the scientists at NASA on the west side realized that their counterparts in the Soviet Union wanted to leave and that the Soviet Union wasn't letting them out. The NASA scientists were the ones who petitioned the Jewish community and said, you've got to be part of this movement to help get the Soviet Jews out. And it was the Jackson Vanik amendment that was passed, which then opens the doors to the United States, to Soviet immigration. And there are so many different things.
47:52
Carrie Aguilar
When I told my mom last night that I was interviewing you, she was actually talking about this. She's like, you know, they've done so much in the community. You should ask about the Russians and NASA and getting the Jewish Soviets from Russia to Cleveland.
48:10
Erika Rudin-Luria
Right. It's a, you know, there are so many of those things. And I think part of it is the attitude, and it's so exemplified by Cleveland and I think this is why so many leaders in the national Jewish community and globally are from Cleveland. There is this attitude of, we see a problem, we want to fix it. Like, we want to solve it. We're gonna. And we're gonna bring people together and we're gonna convince other people outside of Cleveland that didn't even know they care that they too, should be involved and engaged in this, you know, in this work.
48:49
Carrie Aguilar
So, Erika, we always end our conversations with two questions. The first is, what is bringing you joy right now? And I know we've had a very heavy conversation, so I feel like this is a good question to ask.
49:04
Erika Rudin-Luria
Community, you knowing that we're making a difference. My dogs bring me joy, you know, also my kids, my family. But, but community.
49:15
Carrie Aguilar
I love that. And what is one piece of advice you would give your younger self?
49:21
Erika Rudin-Luria
Not to be so hard on myself. I think, you know, I don't believe in balance. I think I've always operated on a work life, integration. So I would tell my earlier self that whenever someone makes me. Wants you to draw a circle and say, what percentage of time should you be spending with your family exercising? Blah, blah. Tear up the damn piece of paper. Because all that circle does is tell you everything you are doing wrong. And we've gotta, you know, we've gotta be a little easier on ourselves about those things.
49:56
Carrie Aguilar
And you'll be able to fit it all in. It might not fit into perfect percentages of the 30, 20, whatever percentage.
50:05
Erika Rudin-Luria
But you bring your family along. I mean, the march in Washington where we had 300,000 Jews over 25 buses from Cleveland, we. I brought my son along. He experienced that historic moment with me. And I don't see that as, you know, only community time. You know, it's. It's that it's. We're like total people, all of us. Most of our lives don't fit into, like, neat, compartmentalized boxes. So I would just give that up from the beginning.
50:38
Carrie Aguilar
And it shouldn't for a full life.
50:40
Erika Rudin-Luria
No.
50:41
Mara Kamat
Erika, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for sharing your story and thank you for the leadership that you bring to the Cleveland community, to the Jewish people. I know it's not always easy, but you do it with such clarity and grace and thoughtfulness. And I'm so blessed to get to spend time knowing you and to see your work in action.
51:04
Erika Rudin-Luria
Thank you so much, Mara. And thank you, Carrie. It's been such a pleasure to be with you this morning. And I'm blessed because I love what I do, and that makes all the difference in the world. And I love that you're doing this podcast that lifts up women's voices. So thank you so much for what.
51:21
Carrie Aguilar
You're doing, and thank you to our listeners for joining us today. Until next time on In Her Land.
