The Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, the flagship of the region's Jewish community, is looking for a new headquarters and that could mean leaving the city for the suburbs, The Plain Dealer reported on Oct. 17.

About one third of Northeast Ohio's Jewish community, estimated at 82,000, now lives in Beachwood or suburbs farther east, according to a 2005 federation survey. JCF is considering building a new center in Beachwood.

Cleveland, once known as "a city of synagogues," is down to its last full-time temple, Beth Israel-The West Temple, whose members have voted to leave the Kamm's Corners neighborhood for the western suburbs.

Despite the Jewish exodus from the city, some Jewish civic leaders say the headquarters should stay.

The future of JCF's home, has raised a number of interesting points about how to reinvigorate the connection between ethnic groups and the city where generations of immigrants called home and helped shape Cleveland's fortunes. Will retelling the history and stories of how the Jewish community defined Cleveland neighborhoods around once-vibrant streetcar commercial centers on Kinsman, Woodland, and Glenville around E. 105th (themselves destinations for Jews migrating east from downtown) during the first half of the 20th century rekindle an interest in Cleveland?

An interesting side note, the JCF headquarters building was designed in 1965 by famous Modern architect Edward D. Stone, who also designed Radio City Music Hall, The Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Even though the building is only 43 years old and not yet eligible for the National Register, it's an example from Stone's later career when he departed from the strict International Style and developed a more eclectic Modern style with ornamental flourishes. The building's importance raises questions about how service organizations view their own historic and cultural resources?