MENORAH PARK CENTER FOR THE AGING - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

MENORAH PARK CENTER FOR THE AGING, a residential home and care center for the elderly, was established in 1906 as the Hebrew Orthodox Old Age Home, Bet Moshav Zekenim, because MONTEFIORE HOME did not satisfy the religious needs of Orthodox JEWS & JUDAISM. Membership dues of $0.10 per month supported the home on Orange Avenue near East 40th Street. The five residents maintained a rigid schedule, including kitchen, laundry, and garden work. In 1911, under the leadership of the first president, Herman (Eschler) Peskind, the home constructed a forty-six-bed building at 59th and Scovill. The new structure soon proved inadequate, however, and in 1921 the home relocated to 736 Lakeview Avenue in GLENVILLE.

The new building accommodated eighty residents, providing medical facilities and a neighborhood synagogue seating 800. In 1928 the home added an eighty-bed wing, and in 1948 a fifty-five-bed wing with occupational, recreational, and physical therapy facilities, and a medical clinic. The name changed in 1950 to the Jewish Orthodox Home for the Aged. In 1961 a Women's Association formed; members volunteer for the gift and snack shops and special events. In 1993, renamed the Women's and Men's Assn., this association included over 2,000 members.

On April 9, 1968 the home moved to 27100 Cedar Road, BEACHWOOD, on thirty-seven acres, and adopted the name Menorah Park Jewish Home for the Aged. (The Lakeview home was sold to the National Health Care Center and renamed Forest Hills Nursing Home.) Along with full-service care, the home offers meals for the homebound, cosponsored with the JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSN. and the B'NAI B'RITH Women's Auxiliary, respite care, geriatric assessment, and Orthodox religious services. In June 1978 the home opened the R.H. Myers Apts., an independent-living center for more than 240 older persons, adjacent to Menorah Park. Five years later the home added an Applied Research Institute to study long-term care. In June 1994 Menorah Park dedicated the Dr. Marvin Schermer Community and Professional Services Building Stone Gardens, a three-level assisted-living facility with a capacity for sixty-six residents, opened in December 1994. In 1995 the entire center had a capacity for 350 residents and Steve Raichilson served as executive director. By 2006 teh Menorah Park Center for Senior Living included Menorah Park, a 356-bed skilled nursing facility made up exclusively of private rooms; Stone Gardens, a licensed residential care facility, offering a full range of catered and assisted living services with 116 apartments; The R.H. Myers Apartments, an independent, catered living building with 206 apartments; and Wiggins Place, a licensed residential care center, offering a full range of catered and assisted living services with 114 apartments. At that time Steven R. Raichilson, LNHA, continued to serve as executive, director.

Menorah Park Records, WRHS.

See also JEWS & JUDAISM; OLD AGE/NURSING HOMES.

Related Article(s)

• MEDICINE
• RELIGION

Related Link(s)

• Menorah Park's Website