Who the Folk?! Cincinnati is Cincy Jewfolk’s new podcast spotlighting the diverse voices shaping Jewish life in the Queen City. 

Hosted by Cincy Jewfolk’s editor Sam Fisher, the series features conversations with notable and fascinating Cincinnati Jews—from artists and entrepreneurs to community leaders and culture-shapers. 

Each episode dives into personal stories, passions, and perspectives, showing that Jewish life here is anything but one-size-fits-all. The Who the Folk?! Cincinnati podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network and a product of Jewfolk, Inc. 

If you have suggestions for Who the Folk?! Cincinnati podcast guests, please fill out this form.

Be sure to check out the entire series and follow along as Sam interviews and features notable Cincy Jews & Jews doing interesting things in the Queen City!

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Introducing this week’s WTF?! Cincinnati’s guest

Rick Lefton is currently the Director of Development at the Mayerson JCC and a Development Officer with the Jewish Federation in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Prior to joining the JCC and Federation in 2013, Rick had a career as a Realtor for five years, but spent most of his professional career as an owner/operator of a family business, Provident Camera Shop in Downtown Cincinnati, from 1997 until the business was sold in 2009. 

Rick has three brothers, David, Jimmy, & Ben Lefton, and was raised in Amberley Village, where he attended the JCC Pre-School, Losantiville Elementary School, and Walnut Hills High School! 

Rick went on to graduate from The Ohio State University, where he met his wife, Betsy Singer-Lefton. Rick and Betsy have five children … the youngest of which are triplets born in 2001! 

Rick enjoys playing golf and softball, attending concerts and sporting events, traveling, and hanging out with friends and family!

Listen to this podcast episode

A note for you

Below, you’ll find a full transcript of this interview. We provide these so that you can read along, catch anything you might have missed, or revisit your favorite moments. 

We do our best to make sure everything’s accurate, but if you spot a typo or mistake, that’s on us. We hope you’ll enjoy listening — and reading — along!

Show transcript

Sam: So first, I want to thank you for taking the time to sit and talk with me today.

Rick: My pleasure.

Sam: We’re going to start with the easiest question, where are you from?

Rick: Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, born a Jewish Hospital, and grew up my first home was an apartment on Vera Avenue in golf banner, where many of us probably spent some time. And when I was a small child, a couple of years old, my parents built a house on elbrook in Amberly village, and that’s where I grew up. Went to Sanibel elementary school, and then Walnut Hills High School Class of 83 and then on to the Ohio State University, where I graduated in 1987 so that makes me old.

Sam: When you were growing up, you sort of have been around for many changes within the Cincinnati Jewish community. And you know, I think one of the things that’s interesting is interesting is, when you grew up, you know, people don’t know this, Vera Avenue and Albert Avenue are connected via a cut through sidewalk that goes through the two of them. So it’s kind of like you moved from your front yard to your backyard. 

Rick: Yes, yes.

Sam: When you built that house and had that house over in elbroken instead.

Rick: We just moved on down the seat the street a little bit. That’s right.

Sam: And with everything sort of changing, the juice can be kind of shifted a lot from Roselawn, the Gulf Manor area, to Amberly village that going farther out to Blue Ash. What is one of the things that’s kind of been your constant kind of touchstone as you’ve grown up and seen Cincinnati grow change?

Rick: I have literally spent my entire life at the JCC, starting at in preschool, and probably even before that. You know, before I was preschool age, as a little little one, my parents would take me to the J I’m sure, but preschool at the JCC, Toby Samit was my teacher. She’s now a colleague of mine at the JCC, which is kind of wild.

Sam: Which is amazing that she has taught multiple generations of the Cincinnati Jewish community.

Rick: Yes, she not only that, she was also a teacher of mine at Edith Israel. So growing up, I went to we were members of Edith Israel, and once I got married, my wife and I chose wise temple, and we’ve been members of wise temple for many years. So kind of interesting that I’ve been a member and had experiences at the two largest area congregations, and they’re both great, but currently members at wise. But getting back to your question, growing up, and even to this day, active at the JCC, now professionally, but over the years, I was a camper. I was on the board as a young adult in the 90s, a board member at the JCC. I served as a as a commissioner to the JCC softball league in the 90s, and have been active at the JCC my entire life.

Sam: And the softball league is something we will come back to, because, yes, you have been the unofficial Commissioner since joining, and still and still are, but when you were growing up, what did your family do in Cincinnati? Their family business? Did you guys have …

Rick: Yes? So my my family owned and operated provident camera shop, which was a photo retail store located in downtown Cincinnati, on Seventh Street. I would work there in high school, weekends, summers, and decided that I’d like to pursue that for my own professional career. And when I went to Ohio State, I was a business marketing major, and thought that would be useful in the retail world. And upon graduation from Ohio State, I joined the family business with my father and his brother and some other cousins and a crew of folks that worked at the camera shop.

Sam: And how did your family get into the camera business?

Rick: Kind of an interesting story. So the business was started by my mother’s father, Nathan Berkowitz, who was an artist and a photographer, and he had a photo studio in the provident building in downtown Cincinnati. So his business was called provident because of the location, and he was an artist and a portrait photographer, and right around the time that he really was getting established as a photographer, Kodak started to manufacture and distribute the brownie, the Kodak Brownie camera, which was really the first camera that was made for home consumer use that was. A very big, large, complicated camera that you needed training and lots of equipment. It was a self contained, you know, twin lens, small camera that people could carry around. And he was getting more requests from people to buy equipment than to come in and have portraits done, and he could kind of see the handwriting on the wall, and decided he would rather be in retail than to be a portrait photographer. And made the transition and started, you know, a retail store.

Sam: Yeah, and that’s how many your father joined the business. And then …

Rick: Correct. So my father and mother got married. My father was, you know, went to work there, and my grandfather, Nathan Berkowitz, handed the business off to my father. And for many years, you know, he was, he was in charge, large and in charge, as we like to say.

Sam: And you know, you were growing up, not only up here in Camberley village, you’re also growing up working at this camera store. Yes, downtown Cincinnati, which also has gone through major shifts from when you were younger to adulthood to even now, when it’s changing still.

Rick: Yeah, a lot of changes in downtown. And you know, when I can remember when I first started the city, it just felt different, right? There was a lot of there was a lot of action downtown during the day, and it seemed like at night there wasn’t anything going on. And now it seems like it’s kind of flipped. It seems like there’s a lot of nightlife, entertainment and restaurants and things going on, and during the day, it’s a little quiet downtown. 

Sam: Interesting. Yeah, and was growing up, you were working at a photographer store. Was get rid of a camera store. Was photography an important part of your life growing up? Or was it something that was like, well, it’s the business, so I dabbled in it, because it’s the business?

Rick: I enjoy. I still enjoy photography, and even in high school, I was the staff photographer for the Walnut Hills chatterbox publication, which was our school newspaper, student newspaper. And I was a staff photographer for the REM for our yearbook. And I had a dark room in the in our home. So I would do dark room works. I was getting into it. I seriously, I enjoyed it. I think once I got really started to work day to day in the camera business and the photography business, I probably wasn’t as active doing my own photography and art, until I started to have kids, you know, and then, you know, I went at it, you know. We tons and tons of pictures. And really, once we made the transition to digital photography, when you know, you’re just using up memory on a memory card, tons of photos. Yeah.

Sam: And you know, were you also doing photography when you went to the Ohio State University, as you call it, where you also did your photography expand to there, or was it sort of just a kind of, I’m in college, doing my own thing.

Rick: I did take a camera with me to college. I had a Canon AE one program, 35 millimeter SLR camera with me at college, and I used it, and I got involved a little bit in my fraternity. I was a Sammy at Ohio State, and I can remember maybe my freshman and sophomore year, I was in charge of putting together the slide show for Parents Weekend, which was done on a carousel, Kodak carousel projector and slide 35 millimeter slide film, and it would sync to music that was on a cassette tape. So I would have to go over to, there was a resource on campus at the time for students, where you could borrow AV equipment, yeah, and I would, I would get a projector, and I would get the dissolve unit, which is what it was called. A dissolve unit is where you you have music on a cassette tape, and you could time the change of picture the slide to sync with the music. So it was, it’s kind of cool. But anyway, for a couple of years, I was in charge of that, so it was kind of like, you know, my creative photography side, getting exercise a little bit being being in charge of the slideshow. 

Sam: And then you came back to Cincinnati, after, after, right after college?

Rick: Yes, graduated and moved home and took a few weeks off. That was it. And then boom, started back at it, you know, right at it. Right in the retail business. Loved working in the retail business, long hours, weekends, you know, things like that are kind of tough, but I really enjoyed the relationships with our customers and our sales reps. So the people that sold to us, but also the people that we took care of, and we had pretty broad base of customers because we also catered to. To professional customers as well as amateurs. So we had commercial accounts with hospitals and schools and newspapers, and their needs were totally different than the needs of someone who was coming in because they’re they’re going on vacation and they need supplies, a new camera or new lens or some new accessories, totally different needs, but enjoyed working, you know, all across those, those ranges.

Sam: And how long did you end up working at proven camera?

Rick: I started full time, full time, yeah, yeah, not the high school and suburbs, really, from June of 1987 when I graduated college, until, really, when we sold the business and kind of closed it down in the spring of 2009 on time. 

Sam: What was it like, kind of transitioning from working in that space to then you transition to working in the Jewish nonprofit space?

Rick: Yeah. So there was a there was a stop in between what I’m doing now and when we close down the shop. So for from 2009 until 2013 I was in real estate. I was a realtor, yeah, with Comey and shepherd, selling houses. You know, felt, it felt like sales, you know, was, was my career for so long in the retail business, that a transition into being a realtor felt like a natural transition still helping people, being a good listener and helping them solve problems, things like, You know. So it was very fulfilling, uh, professionally, but it really was not a career that was working well for my family structure. So being a realtor is a 24/7 365, job if you want to be successful at it, yeah, and I get that right, like, if I’m looking to buy a house and a new property pops up for sale. I want my realtor to be available in an hour to show it to me. And having five kids at the time, it was difficult for our family because I would have to constantly, you know, call my wife or text my wife and break plan. You know, I can’t pick up the kids. I can’t come to the school play. I can’t do this. I can’t do that. It was very stressful. So as much as I liked it, and you know, the money was good and I enjoyed that career, it was chaos for the family life. So I had, I had to find something else to do. So right around 2013 late 2012 actually, I was approached by Mark Fisher, actually, who is the current CEO of the JCC, and he was at the time. And full disclosure, he’s also related to myself and Sam.

Sam: That’s right. I, as you will all come to find out throughout this podcast, I’m related to many of the members of the Cincinnati Jewish community.

Rick: Yes, we have a big family. So Mark came to me because he was looking for someone to be a male chaperone for the march of the living trip that our community does every year, which is a usually a two week trip, Poland for a week, Israel for a week with our high school seniors. Holocaust education and very impactful, powerful program that I definitely recommend to anybody that has high school aged kids. It’s very impactful. Anyway, he approached me about being a chaperone. So I said, Sure, yeah. I heard about it. I had never been to Israel. Okay, so, yeah, my kids were starting, you know, or have all been there now, because of the generous grants through our community, through the Jewish Foundation Federation, the kids seem to go to Israel multiple times, you know, on grants, which is great. I had never been so I thought it’d be a great opportunity to do that at that same kind of time. So I’m going through like, you know, preparing to go on march of living. The Jewish Federation was expanding their development team, the fundraising team, and I was approached about that opportunity. And, you know, thought, Okay, this could be a nice, stable career, you know, normal hours, you know, and it still feels like a good fit for my skill set. Being in fundraising is kind of like being in sales, so I kind of pursued that a little bit. And I did talk to Mark about it, yeah, and other people that I knew that were involved with the Jewish Federation, and they endorsed the idea as well. So I kind of threw my hat in the ring and applied for that. And that was both of those things were happening at the same time, which I think was kind of Bucharest. I think it was kind of meant to be that way, because after going through all the interviews and. Uh, getting ready to leave for the march of living. Literally the day before I leave for March of the living. Danielle Minson, who, at the time was the chief development officer and was hiring this position, contacted me and said she wanted to get together to talk to me. I’m like, I’m leaving. I’m literally packing to leave town. She won’t take long. I just want to meet with you quickly. And we got together, and she made the job offer to me, and she knew I was going to leave town for a couple of weeks, so she said, I don’t want your answer right now. Just want you to think about it, and that’s why Danielle is a very smart person, yes, and she knew that I’d be standing in Auschwitz crying with this offer to join The Jewish Federation in my back pocket. How could I not say yes, which is exactly the feeling I got, you know, when I’m on this trip, yes, I’m doing this. So I gave her a quick yes once we got home and that started my career is as a professional Jewish nonprofit professional the first I joined the Federation staff in May of 2013 and really for the first year and a half, I was concentrating My efforts working on Federation work for our community. And about a year and a half into that, the opportunity came about to become the Development Director at the JCC. And like I explained, I am a JCC person from the birth to today, so the opportunity to fundraise for the J was very appealing to me, and I really seriously was considering, you know, making the jump and applying to that, but I was nervous because I was already employed at the Federation, and how would that look if I applied, you know, for the JCC job, and if I didn’t get it, where would that leave me with the Federation, at the same time, while I’m considering this and kind of standing on the sideline thinking about it, Mark Fisher and Danielle Minson had already been talking about filling that role and wanting to have a federation staff person in that role, and  mark as a past president the Jewish Federation, understood that the Federation really had the expertise in fundraising in our community, had the best relationships with the donors in our community, and it would benefit the J and the Federation to have a closer relationship with fundraising. So Danielle came to me one day and said, You, I assume you’re aware of the opening at the JCC, yes. I said, Of course. She said, I want you to apply. I think you would be great. And she saw the shock in my eyes and said, We’re not trying to get rid of you. This is going to be a federation staff person who will be the director of development at the JCC, which is why you’d be such a great fit, because we know you love the J and you’re on staff here already, and it would just, it would bring everything together so nicely. So I was so glad to hear that. And did apply, and did go through the interview process with the JCC leadership and and got the job and moved across the office from the Federation side to the JCC side of the office in October of 2014, yes.

Sam: And it’s kind of like another moment of, as you said, Bucha share it for you, where it’s another interesting opportunity where the stars just align, kind of, yes, after you started thinking about it, yeah. And you know, to me, as I, as I have always known you, you have been somebody who is like a connector. You like, you like talking to everybody, you know, everybody. You love being involved with the community. And, yeah, I was wondering, Where do you think that comes from? I know, growing up, you were involved at the j you were involved in, sure, doing other things within the Jewish community, but yeah, was there something that kind of instilled that value in you?

Rick: You know, my parents were very social. They had a large friend group that they traveled with and really spent a lot of time with their friends and as well as our large family. So thinking back on it, probably the fact that we had such a large family and my parents had such a big friend group, that they were my role models, right? So my parents were, you know, always in the middle of something, and, you know, they dragged their kids along. So we were always in the middle of something. And, you know, growing up, you know, in the 1970s you kind of had to make your own fun, right? It was you weren’t. You weren’t connected the way people are connected now, where you can just sit down and open your phone up and be entertained for i. As long as you’d like. So I was always active in sports leagues and, you know, Boy Scouts and just just about anything you could think of, which, you know, also kind of feeds my desire to be social and connector. And being around large groups of people give me energy. You know, it gives me energy. I like that. I kind of gravitate towards crowds. Some people run away from crowds. I kind of run into crowds.

Sam: And is there kind of something within your because now you work in the Jewish community, not just a part of it. You are one of the little driving programs through development work. Is there some aspect of community, or some aspect of your Jewish identity that you kind of rest on that kind of powers you through to do that, or is it just sort of the joy of being around people and being with people?

Rick: It’s a good question. Our Jewish community feels like just an extended family, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a small program here at the j where there are 15 people, or a large event like our J classic fundraiser that might have 400 people at it to me, I’m fulfilled by both, and it’s just nice to feel like I’m part of something bigger, and being able to take care of agencies, institutions that took care of me as a child, helped raise me being synagogue, JCC, camp. I went to Camp Livingston. I was a camper at Camp Livingston. So all of that has kind of put me in the seat that I’m in today. And I always say, you know, I’m a reflection of the people around me. So I always, you know, try to surround myself with people that you know are optimistic, care about the world, care about their community. So that works well.

Sam: And is there anything that you’ve been working on in your professional life that you are particularly proud of from, you know, when you kind of got hired on as this development role, you mentioned the Adams Classic, yep. What sort of things are there, any things that you have sort of built or helped build, that you’re particularly proud of within your professional role in the community?

Rick: Probably the two biggest initiatives in my time. The Golf Classic, the JCC Adams Classic, which is now called the J classic, that and our Jewish and Israeli film festival, two big community wide programs. One, the classic is a fundraiser that happens on one day, and the Film Festival, which is a program that happens over four weeks, which we’re in the middle of right now, in February. Really, both are programs that I’m proud to have been impactful in raising money for and helping grow when I started working in my role, the film festival was a good program, and most of the films were were here at the J, and it had a very small sponsorship campaign of a few $1,000 that, you know, kind of helped cover the overhead leadership at the J kind of noticed that it was getting kind of stale and wasn’t growing the film festival, and because all the films were at the J I think people in the broader community felt like it was a JCC program, and you had to be a member of the J and those are the only people that would attend. So the idea came about to take the film festival out of the J and take it to the community and show the films at professional theaters and other venues all around town, which has been a great thing for the film festival. It’s helped the film festival grow tremendously to this day. Now we have 80 to 90 sponsors, individuals and businesses that sponsor and help support the film festival. Those sponsorships are important because renting out theaters is a lot more expensive than just having the films here under our own roof. So to help the film festival grow and to be a more impactful program, we needed more dollars to do that, and I was really proud. I’m still proud to be part of that and to help raise money for the film festival and just see that program doing such great things. I mean, we’ll have 3000 people see a film this month, which is great, just way more impactful than it was when it was. Just here. That and the Golf Classic, the J classic, it was, yeah, it was only a Golf Classic. And to touch on that, we’re celebrating the 30th classic this year. Okay, the first classic was in 1995 it was called the Adams Classic because there was a member of our community named Steve Adams who was very active at the JCC, and he was an avid golfer, and unfortunately, in 1995 a brain tumor took took him out quickly, and we lost him. And his friends kind of came together with the people at the J at the time, and in his memory, decided to do a golf fundraiser called the Adams Classic, and the proceeds from that would support the fitness center at the J, which is a place that Steve would hang out that was his place. So for the first 25 years, it was called the Adams Classic, and it was strictly a golf a golf term, yeah. In order to grow it, we kind of moved the program, the fundraiser, to the Sanibel Country Club and rebranded it the J classic with the with the support of the Adams family, who are still around and still participate, because the golf tournament is still called the Adams. It’s still called the Adams golf tournament at the J classic. That’s right. By moving to the Sanibel Country Club, we were able to add tennis, and recently were able to add pickleball. And because of the location of the Sanibel Country Club being closer to our community, we have way more people that will come out, even just for the dinner, to participate in it, and it has helped us grow this important fundraiser is the JC sees largest fundraiser annually. Last year, we raised a little over $300,000 at the J classic, which is, that’s real money. That’s a lot of money. We have a very generous community of sponsors who love this event and people who love to just come out and golf and play tennis and pickleball and just volunteer and be there and build community. And one thing I really love about the J Classic is it really mirrors the mission of the J which is to connect people so they can live happier and fuller lives, building a stronger Jewish community. The J Classic is like the JCC rolled up in an event. People are connecting all day long. You’re seeing people who catching up with friends and cousins and just hanging out.

Sam: And in that way, not to a lot of people work on the J classic to make it successful, but it’s also a reflection of what you like to do, which is, you like to connect with people. You like to bring a lot of people together. So working on that event, and working on that, on the Jewish history Film Festival, kind of reflections of the things that you liked.

Rick: Yeah. Now that you mentioned it, yeah. Maybe that’s why I like them so much, is because they kind of taps into my natural personality, liking to be around people and connecting people and large events, things like that. So I’m very comfortable in those settings. And yeah, that’s that’s a good point.

Sam: And that kind of leads us to the next thing, which I’m sure you’ve been dying to talk about this whole time, which is JCC softball, which I would say you are the when I think of JCC softball, I think of, well, at first I think of my parent, yeah. I think of you. Because growing up, when I would go to the JCC softball games at the old J I would see you others, yeah, and then other family members, right? And that’s that’s something that I will always have ingrained in my mind. When I associate JCC softball, I associate it with you. And a couple years ago, we did an article on the league which is, I think you told me, one of the oldest leagues in the country.

Rick: Yep, yep. We just celebrated our 80th season of JCC softball. We believe it was established in 1945 from from the records that we have, Ken maylander has some of that history because his father, cardi may lander was involved in establishing the league, which, from my recollection, a lot of people who are getting out of the service, the military, when they came home, we’re looking for activities to do with guys, you know, and playing ball was, was one of them. And that’s really when the league was established. So 80 years, 80 plus years of JCC softball is at something, man. And how long have you been playing in the league? My first year in the league was 1983 I was a senior in high school. That’s a long time. That’s over 40 years of me playing in the league. I haven’t done anything for more than 40 years, other than being alive, you know, and being a brother or whatever. But. It is such a special League, it’s hard to describe to people until they’ve played in it. I think there are a few things that make our softball league very special. One is, every year we redraft the teams. So most softball leagues, and I’ve played in a lot of different leagues, a group of friends get together, 12, 1314, guys get together, and they join a league, and that their team joins that league, and each week, they play another team from that league, and they really don’t know who those other guys are. Not a lot of connection, right? Not, right. So you’re having fun because you’re playing on the same team with your buddies. But it’s, it’s, you know, it’s kind of a small group that you’re close to, because we redraft the captains of the league. Literally draft the teams in the spring. And once you’ve played in the league a few years, almost every player in the league has been a teammate already. And each week, when you come out to play, you’re either playing against or playing with on your team, people that are now your friends. So instead of only having 12 or 13 or 14 friends that are on your team, the entire league of 108 players are all your friends. So the camaraderie in the league is just off the charts crazy. It’s like, it’s like a large fraternity. It’s the best way to describe it. A lot of, a lot of the guys in the league hang out year round. There’s a fantasy football league that kind of formed Off, off of the softball league. Guys get together for for drinks and food all the time. Playing ball is just part of it. 

Sam: It’s just, it’s, it’s the one of the small parts of the league. And what was it that brought you to it? Was it just you were playing baseball growing up? And then the natural transition?

Rick: I did play baseball growing up, I played T ball, and not whole baseball played for the JCC is as a little kid, but my dad, my uncle and their buddies, played the men’s league JCC softball. So as a little kid, I would sit there and Rose along on the bench and watch my dad play, thinking to myself, Man, someday I’m gonna do that. Yeah. And once I got old enough, I signed up for the league. And, you know, it was interesting as a, as a 18 year old kid, really, in this men’s league, probably the first week or two, I was pretty intimidated, right? Like, these are, these are guys that have been playing together for a long time, and I’m just a kid.

Sam: Your dad’s age or your?

Rick: Yes, but these guys were very welcoming. And quickly, you know, I could see why it was such a special League, more than a league, right? It is, it is just, you know, a community. And after playing one season, I was hooked, you know, and I went on to be, you know, Captain in a league. And I was on the committee, the commission, served as the Commissioner, and have stayed active with the softball league since then.

Sam: And was part of the fun when you joined the league, was your dad still playing in the league at that time?

Rick: Actually, no, he had, he had retired from playing softball and was playing golf. He and his buddies and my uncle, yeah, yeah. So some of the, some of the guys he played with, were still playing, yeah, you know, Frank harkavi, for example. You know, he played forever, but I did not get to play with my dad, but my brothers all played. I have three brothers, and there were a few years where all four of us played on the same team, sometimes three of us, and sometimes my nephew Alex, played so three or four left ins on a team, which is really great. You know, that’s just, that’s another little thing that our league does that’s special. We have an accommodation for families, if your brother, your father, you know, is playing in the league, you can, you can be guaranteed to be put on their team, even though we draft teams so that we can keep families together if they want to. You can make a package deal. We can make a package deal.

Sam: And, you know, I remember growing up going and watching league play, and I remember when you were all on one team, and I remember people always whispering that they you were a tough team to play against, because all, all three of you are, all four of you were power hitters, essentially.

Rick: Yeah, especially my brothers. I was not much of a power I’m not much of a power hitter, but my brother Jimmy and my brother Ben wheezy, both cannot get out of the park. So yeah, yeah, we were we were tough. We were tough when we were younger. We’re still scrappy. Yeah, still scrappy.

Sam: Yeah. And you know now you are one of the elder statement, statement, one of the elder statesmen of the league. What? What has that kind of transition like been for you, going from like being one of the guys who were. Were kind of one of the active players, one of the better, better players. Yeah, played well, I’m sure, but now being kind of one of the older, elder statesman.

Rick: Yeah, I’m gonna, I’m gonna turn 60 in April, in a few months. So it’s true, I am now one of the older players in the league. And I still though, get a kick out of, you know, recruiting younger guys to join the League. And really, I see myself as an ambassador for the league. So, you know, when I see younger guys joining the League, and I see him out at the at the softball fields, I know how important it is, especially for guys who aren’t as connected as I was growing, you know, in this community, to make sure they feel welcome. And, you know, kind of, you know, put them under my wing if I can, and just, you know, integrate them into the league as well as possible. It’s kind of cool, you know, to see it now on the other side, where I’m seeing guys who are, you know, college age or right out of college, even high school, dipping their toe in to try our league out, to see, you know, what’s it all about, and and then seeing them, you know, through the season really, kind of blossoming and really becoming, you know, more vocal and, you know, having more confidence and Just enjoying it thoroughly.

Sam: And it’s another one of it’s another situation where it’s kind of your core playing out, which is you want to connect people and you want to bring people into the fun.

Rick: Yeah, it’s true.

Sam: Yeah, it’s true that it’s just another extension of that. 

Rick: Yeah. 

Sam: And now we’re going to kind of move on to our questionnaire section. Okay? So as you know, it’s a few questions we like to ask everybody, okay, when they’re on the when they’re on the on the hot seat, that’s right. And don’t worry, they’re all nothing. There’s no gotcha questions.

Rick: These are all Kosher for Passover.

Sam: They’re all KFP, that’s correct. They’re all made with potato starch instead of instead of grain. So do you have a favorite quote or saying something that you kind of hold in yourself that helps you get through tough times or even through good times?

Rick: I don’t think I have, like, a catchphrase or quote that I lean on a lot, I pull from, you know, lots of different experiences in my life, but I am, I am kind of known for using nicknames for people a lot like I really enjoy knowing people’s nicknames and using their nickname. I think it brings a little more intimacy to the relationship. When you know you kind of an insider, right, when you know someone’s nickname, and maybe even know the story behind the nickname. 

Sam: Do you have a nickname?

Rick: And, I mean, I’ve been called so many different things over the course of my …

Sam: Ones you could mention here, ones you could mention here, I’m sure some of them are unmentionable here. 

Rick: As a child, I was called Fleagle, which is a which is a chicken wing in in Yiddish, I believe, think, because as a little kid, I was a little bony, skinny, little dude running around and one of the neighbors, you know, look at that little Fleegle, you know, I think that’s how that started. So for a lot of people, I was legal growing up as a kid, when I, when I started to, you know, become a teenager and into college, lots of other different nicknames. Looper was one that has stuck with me, especially with my college buddies. Yeah. Where did that come? That comes from a Bill Murray line in the movie Caddy Shack, which was one of my favorite movies. And when I was in college, it’s a pledge in Sammy house, they caught wind that it was one of my favorite movies. So as as fraternities tend to do to pledges and trying to embarrass you and put you through a tough time, going through hell week and things like that. I was assigned the task of, you know, on demand, giving lines from the movie Caddy Shack to any active member of the House when they would see me. So I’d have to have some good lines memorized. There was a part of the movie where Bill Murray’s got one of the caddies, kind of pinned up against a wall with a with a pitchfork, and he’s telling him the story of Caddying for the Dalai Lama once, yeah. And he’s explaining to the like, I’m a looper. So a looper is kind of a slang term for a caddy, because you’re making a loop 18 holes, and you’re carrying somebody’s bag. So somebody grabbed a hold of that, and they called me Looper in college. And you know, that was probably my, my most well known nickname, you know, coming out of college.

Sam: Yeah. Okay, anything now, anything from softball, anything or. Just kind of looper and legal are the ones?

Rick: Actually my closest and oldest friends just call me Ricky. You know, it’s kind of funny to see, you know, a bald, 60 year old dude being called Ricky, like a lot of people, but I love it, you know. And you know my brother Jimmy, you know my brother Benji. So there’s a lot of lot of names ending in E that you know are kind of cool. So Ricky is probably what my oldest and closest friends call me today, and I like that. It’s okay, if you see me out on the streets, call me Ricky. It’s fine.

Sam: You got permission from the man himself.

Rick: Yes.

Sam: What’s your favorite way to celebrate or spend Shabbat?

Rick: Well, my wife, Betsy singer, is a singer, and she is one of the cantor soloists at wise temple. So one of my favorite things to do on Shabbat is to go to services at wise temple to hear my wife sing, which is beautiful. So she’ll sing, you know, once a month or so, on Friday nights. And then other than that, you know, just having family dinner, having a family over for dinner, you know, so spending family time, if I’m not at Temple, hearing my wife sing, having family time.

Sam: And you’re on, you’re in the Brotherhood. At Wise, right, yeah. What was the thing that kind of made you want to do that at wise? Was it just sort of another way of connecting to people and bringing people into the fun? Or was it something that maybe you wanted to set an example for your kids as they were growing?

Rick: It was that I wanted to set an example for my kids, but also it was a way to give back, because I knew that brotherhood supported things at wise temple like scholarships for kids to go to Jewish overnight camp, and my kids were beneficiaries of that funding. So to me, it was a way to give back. And a few of the guys and brother had kind of reached out to me and invited me to kind of come to stuff and start to get active and again, just like softball league, just like, you know, being in the fraternity at the Sammy house. Yeah, it’s like a fraternity wise temple brother. It’s, you know, core group of guys. There’s probably 20 of us that are really active, but there are, you know, way more members at wise temple that participate one way or another in a brotherhood activity. But it’s just nice to, like, have a group of guys that we get together and do good for the world. And sometimes it’s just for a small part of the world, like the wise temple community. Other times, we’re doing things for the broader community, but it’s really enjoyable, and it’s a give back, and it’s also a good example for my kids.

Sam: And it’s another example of you bringing people together, connecting, connected, and finding that purpose through connection. 

Rick: Yeah. 

Sam: What’s your favorite Jewish holiday?

Rick: My favorite Jewish holiday is Passover. I love the Passover Seder. Again, you’re probably going to point to large groups of people, connecting, getting together. It’s the food, it’s, you know, the ritual.

Sam: Is it also the story?

Rick: The story is the story, you know, yeah, I mean, the story’s fine, but that’s not, that’s not what that’s not getting me excited. 

Sam: I mentioned it because, you know, one of the ways I think of you, if I perceive you growing up, is you were someone who likes to tell a good story. Always have a good story. Whenever I see you.

Rick: I do like to tell stories. This story, I guess because it came to me through text as a young kid and now through an adult, it doesn’t really change much. You know, there’s not a lot of wiggle room in that story to kind of embellish and to put your own personal twist on it, which is kind of the way I tell stories. So, yeah, it’s, it’s the story is fine, but that’s not, I don’t get my juices going over the Passover, you know, the story of the Exodus. It’s more of being together as a family, as a group, and the ritual of, you know, the process of the Passover Seder, and all the elements of the Seder and enjoying the food. Yeah.

Sam: And your favorite thing to do in Cincinnati. It’s a day off. You don’t have to come to work. It’s not a Jewish holiday, so you go out kind of do whatever. Yeah, a perfect day off in Cincinnati. What would you be doing?

Rick: Well, I probably would do several things, because, you know me, I just can’t do one thing and be satisfied if it was baseball season, I certainly would want to go to a reds game. I grew up, you know, a huge reds fan and went to games. My parents had season tickets. So I’m very, you know, loyal to the reds. So even if that was it, that would be enough, you know. Just go down to the ballpark. Yeah, yeah. But I would also enjoy, you know, maybe a nice dinner, dinner out a cocktail or two. 

Sam: Where would you want to go for that dinner or cocktail? Do you have a favorite place you like to go?

Rick: Well, my, my all time favorite restaurant in this this is my death row meal. Okay, okay. Is Walt’s hitching post. And cover your ears if you keep kosher. But I there the ribs at Walt’s hitching post. That’s my death row meal. And I’ve told the owner of waltz that several times. So I go there enough that I know who the owner is, yeah, and yeah. So birthday dinner, special anniversaries, things like that. It seems like we’re at Walt’s. Yeah, so a slab of ribs at waltz, a reds game and and recently I’ve there’s a yogurt shop called rhinos. I know if you’re familiar with rhinos, I believe it is in a gas station. It isn’t, it’s gas station. Froyo is what we call it in our house, rhinos frozen yogurt. It’s, it’s really good frozen yogurt. But, you know, the fact that it’s in a gas station is just it’s part of the charm, right? And you know, they have a wide variety of flavors, they have wide variety of toppings, and they just weigh it, and you pay by how much you know you’re using, there were a bunch of yogurt stores around town like that years ago, Orange Leaf, TCB, what? They’re all gone. Yogurt. They’re gone. Boom, yeah. Rhinos is like the survivor. And it’s, it’s, it is kosher, by the way, the VOD has approved rhinos as a kosher outlet for yogurt. So I do see a lot of the members of the community there, which is probably part of the reason I like it, also because I always bump into somebody there that I know it’s close to where I live. You know you can portion it yourself. So if you’re feeling like you need more or less your own toppings, it’s delicious, the variety all of that just, you know, I love it, gas station fro yo.

Sam: And as we were kind of discussing before, and you kind of mentioned, you know, when you tell your stories, you like to change it, put your own spin on it. And yep, for you, what do you think is the next chapter in your story as it continues to unfold?

Rick: Well, you get to be my age. I’m going to be 60 soon. You do start to think about your next chapter and what you’re going to do. You know I love what I’m doing, so I see myself continuing in this role professionally, but my kids are now, you know, kind of grown up. I have one still in college. Grace is in law school at UC and she’s still living at home to save money and living at home. But the other four kids are, you know, independent living. You know, have careers and are out of the house. So you do start to think of the next chapter and what goes along with that, with the aging unfortunately, I lost my parents last year. So, you know, it’s a whole new part of my life now, not having parents and being, you know, the older generation in my family now. So there has been a lot of reflecting, um, I don’t have, like, one vision for how I see the rest of my life playing out. I see it as a continuation of what I’ve been doing and just enjoying it to the fullest. And, you know, there’s been a lot of loss in our family over the last five or six years, some close friends, and what it’s taught me and the people in my family is tomorrow is not guaranteed. For any of us. Don’t put off things that you can do today, because Tomorrow is not promised. So if you have an opportunity to travel to do something exciting. Do it take the leap? Because saying to yourself, you know, I’ll do that. Next time it’s offered to me, it might not be offered to you. Next time you might not be around to have it offered to you the next time. So live your life to the fullest. Enjoy life. You get one chance going around this globe. So live it to the fullest.

Sam: And if you were to title your story or give it a give it a title, what do you think it would be right now?

Rick: Like, if there was a movie or a book about my life, what it would be called?

Sam: Yeah, yeah. For titling your autobiography?

Rick: Wow, that’s a great question. You know, it’s funny. I do tell a lot of stories, like you’re saying but, but I don’t necessarily talk about myself a lot, so these are difficult times for me when I’m when I’m put on the spot to kind of like, describe yourself. You know, it’s just your way of saying you’ve been I can tell, I can tell you in a second, like, what? What’s important? At the JCC, or what my kids are up to, or what’s going on my family. And now you ask me about myself, and it’s like …

Sam: Oh, I hate to break it to you. I’ve been asking you about yourself for the last 45 minutes.

Rick: Man, you know, I’m an optimist, so it would have to be along those lines, like, you know, probably something like, somebody else has it worse. You know, I say that a lot. I say that a lot, right? Like, especially when people are down about something such a Jewish answer, yeah. Like, is as bad as this sounds to you, there’s somebody out there who has it worse. And I don’t know that usually brings people comfort to like, pause for a minute. Think you know what he is, right? Like, you know, this is a bad situation I’m in right now, but there are people out there that have it worse. So something along those lines, it could be worse. Maybe that’s, that’s a title for the, it could be worse.

Sam: I think that’s a perfect place to end if you want to find Rick Lipton, he’s always at the J Yes, or he is the men’s softball field. Yep, come the spring through the summer.

Rick: You find me playing JCC softball. You’ll find me at Wise Temple. You’ll find me at Rhinos frozen yogurt, or here at the J.

Sam: Perfect. Well, thanks so much for taking the time. And just to answer this question, are we related?

Rick: We are related. 

Sam: Thank you very much.