The grass-roots movement to free Jews in the former Soviet Union, prevented from practicing their religion and barred from leaving, began in Cleveland, in Beth Israel - The West Temple.

Ohio Historical Markers are announced once each year by the Ohio History Connection, after a very selective process and rigorous fact-checking. In June 2019 Beth-Israel - The West Temple and two co-sponsors, the Western Reserve Historical Society and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, applied for a historical marker that would stand in front of the temple on Triskett Road in Cleveland.

The first side of the marker honors the human rights struggle to free Jews in the former Soviet Union. The second side recognizes the community effort to help resettle those who came to our region.

The application was one of only 27 accepted, state-wide. It is only the second Ohio marker at a synagogue. (The first, erected in 2003, is at the Plum Street Synagogue in Cincinnati, where Rabbi Isaac M Wise organized Reform Judaism.) 

After a delay due to the pandemic, the marker arrived in November, 2020. It was erected late in March 2021, just before Passover, which celebrates the Exodus from Egypt.