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A teacher for all seasons
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BY: VIOLET SPEVACK Columnist
“This was the most interesting and enjoyable tour of old Jewish Cleveland anyone could ever take,” effused many of the 50 Park Synagogue Senior Adults following their daylong tour conducted by knowledgeable Nate Arnold.
It was the sixth such tour of the old Jewish neighborhoods and early synagogues that the affable Arnold has conducted in the past six months for various organizations. They include the JCC, the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, and Beachwood Senior Adults.
“Nate brings his love for the various exhibits and respect for the Maltz Museum to every tour he leads, observes Martha Sivertson, director of museum volunteers.” Other docents look to him to enhance their knowledge of Judaism, Israel and Cleveland.”
With his ever-growing reputation as a savvy Jewish educator (he’s a former religious teacher at Anshe Chesed Fairmount temple) and his easy conversational style, Arnold is a natural as a tour leader. The tall, charismatic 70-year-old captivates tour groups with his ongoing commentary on Jewish life in early Cleveland as the bus makes it many stops: The old market area downtown. Scovil Ave. Woodland and East 55th. The former Euclid Avenue Temple (now Liberty Baptist Church) with its stunning Tiffany glass windows.
At The Temple-Tifereth Israel on Ansel Road and 105th, Arnold is often joined by Sue Koletsky, director of The Temple’s outstanding Jewish museum. Then it’s on to the Hebrew Cultural Garden, Cory Methodist Church (the old Jewish Center), and to the once-bustling Jewish atmosphere in the Kinsman-Mount Pleasant neighborhoods.
Tour participants also add anecdotes and meises (tales) of their own for this special journey.
Serving as a tour guide for these ever-popular tours is just one of Arnold’s diverse roles. He’s an astute businessman, the semi-retired head of the more-than-a-century-old Arnold’s Equipment Company, which his sons now run. Still active in the appraisal industry, he’s chair of the National Appraisal Foundation Advisory Council.
His other involvements include serving as docent at the Maltz Museum, a volunteer for Lifeline for the Old in Jerusalem (where he and his wife were as this article was being written), and on the board of Magen David Adom. He has been widely lauded for his impersonations of Rabbi Michaeli’s Machol, spiritual leader of Anshe Chesed from 1876-1909, and of Theodor Herzl.
His most enduring and endearing role is as proud husband to Suzanne for 47 years; she is also an award-wining teacher of Jewish subjects and a Maltz Museum docent. The couple has three sons and three grandchildren. The Arnolds have been to Israel 13 times since 1974, all of them with study groups.
“Our travels are all Jewish experiences,” says Arnold. “We did the Holocaust tour in Poland, Austria, Germany and Denmark. We traveled to Cuba on a humanitarian mission. We always travel with Jewish hearts.”
Arnold says he maintains fervor and enthusiasm for the exhibits at the Maltz Museum because he relates as a Jew, especially as a sixth-generation Cleveland Jew. When he first saw the photo in the Maltz Museum of the old shvitz and bathhouse on Orange Ave. (circa. 1890), he was filled with emotion, knowing that his great-great-grandfather Harry Sogolovitz was the manager of the building.
In addition, Arnold is an accomplished cartoonist and a writer. When Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple celebrated its 150th anniversary, he co-wrote the temple’s history with Rabbi David Gelfand.
Arnold is looking forward to conducting many more tours to old Jewish Cleveland, performing more one-man shows of Theodor Herzl, and, of course, boning up on the next exhibit at the Maltz Museum.
It was the sixth such tour of the old Jewish neighborhoods and early synagogues that the affable Arnold has conducted in the past six months for various organizations. They include the JCC, the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, and Beachwood Senior Adults.
“Nate brings his love for the various exhibits and respect for the Maltz Museum to every tour he leads, observes Martha Sivertson, director of museum volunteers.” Other docents look to him to enhance their knowledge of Judaism, Israel and Cleveland.”
With his ever-growing reputation as a savvy Jewish educator (he’s a former religious teacher at Anshe Chesed Fairmount temple) and his easy conversational style, Arnold is a natural as a tour leader. The tall, charismatic 70-year-old captivates tour groups with his ongoing commentary on Jewish life in early Cleveland as the bus makes it many stops: The old market area downtown. Scovil Ave. Woodland and East 55th. The former Euclid Avenue Temple (now Liberty Baptist Church) with its stunning Tiffany glass windows.
At The Temple-Tifereth Israel on Ansel Road and 105th, Arnold is often joined by Sue Koletsky, director of The Temple’s outstanding Jewish museum. Then it’s on to the Hebrew Cultural Garden, Cory Methodist Church (the old Jewish Center), and to the once-bustling Jewish atmosphere in the Kinsman-Mount Pleasant neighborhoods.
Tour participants also add anecdotes and meises (tales) of their own for this special journey.
Serving as a tour guide for these ever-popular tours is just one of Arnold’s diverse roles. He’s an astute businessman, the semi-retired head of the more-than-a-century-old Arnold’s Equipment Company, which his sons now run. Still active in the appraisal industry, he’s chair of the National Appraisal Foundation Advisory Council.
His other involvements include serving as docent at the Maltz Museum, a volunteer for Lifeline for the Old in Jerusalem (where he and his wife were as this article was being written), and on the board of Magen David Adom. He has been widely lauded for his impersonations of Rabbi Michaeli’s Machol, spiritual leader of Anshe Chesed from 1876-1909, and of Theodor Herzl.
His most enduring and endearing role is as proud husband to Suzanne for 47 years; she is also an award-wining teacher of Jewish subjects and a Maltz Museum docent. The couple has three sons and three grandchildren. The Arnolds have been to Israel 13 times since 1974, all of them with study groups.
“Our travels are all Jewish experiences,” says Arnold. “We did the Holocaust tour in Poland, Austria, Germany and Denmark. We traveled to Cuba on a humanitarian mission. We always travel with Jewish hearts.”
Arnold says he maintains fervor and enthusiasm for the exhibits at the Maltz Museum because he relates as a Jew, especially as a sixth-generation Cleveland Jew. When he first saw the photo in the Maltz Museum of the old shvitz and bathhouse on Orange Ave. (circa. 1890), he was filled with emotion, knowing that his great-great-grandfather Harry Sogolovitz was the manager of the building.
In addition, Arnold is an accomplished cartoonist and a writer. When Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple celebrated its 150th anniversary, he co-wrote the temple’s history with Rabbi David Gelfand.
Arnold is looking forward to conducting many more tours to old Jewish Cleveland, performing more one-man shows of Theodor Herzl, and, of course, boning up on the next exhibit at the Maltz Museum.
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