Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
Scott Joseph
Submitted by Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
Scott Joseph has a problem. It’s not medical — though as a retired physician who treated patients at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center for more than 20 years, he’d probably know. It’s not familial — his wife Trish still tolerates his hobbies, and their child, Ducky, is thriving in Oregon with baby Sylvan. No, Scott Joseph’s problem is much simpler and infinitely more endearing: he just cannot say no.
“Quite frequently I say yes before I know what I’m getting into,” Scott admits, with the resigned chuckle of a man who just received the 2025 Mesel Wieder Mensch Award. “And once you’ve made a commitment, well, you’ve made a commitment.”
The Spark That Started It All
When Scott was eleven years old, his maternal grandfather Nathan Goldstone z”l passed away. A condolence letter from New York Senator Robert Kennedy mentioned Goldstone’s “philanthropic activities.” Young Scott had to look up the word philanthropic, and when he discovered its meaning, something clicked. “It just seemed to reverberate with me,” he recalls.
The Cincinnati Transformation
When the Joseph family moved to Cincinnati, they faced a challenge: making friends fast enough to have people to invite to their child’s bar mitzvah in three years.
First, was Rockdale Temple, where Joseph quickly found himself on the Board of Trustees and chairing the religious school committee. Eventually, the Josephs moved to Isaac M. Wise Temple, where Scott intended to “lay low.”
That plan lasted one year.
“At Wise Temple, on a routine Friday night, somebody walked up to me and says, ‘You look like a nice guy! Why don’t you come to a Brotherhood meeting?’ And before I knew it, I was the vice president and then president of the Wise Temple Brotherhood.”
The Brotherhood became Joseph’s re-entry into community involvement. Under his leadership, the organization became so active that Rabbi Lewis Kamrass eventually said, “You’re doing too much. You’ve got to cut back.”
Scott jokes that his list of volunteer activities with the Brotherhood “spans three or four pages, single spaced.” So much for cutting back. And as for the bar mitzvah? Let’s just say, they had plenty of people to invite.
The Israel Connection
A family trip to Israel in 1998 proved transformative: “There is a feeling, and I can’t describe this any better, that when you step off the airplane, you feel as if you’re at home.”
This connection led Scott to co-chair the Partnership2Gether (P2G) committee, which builds relationships between Cincinnati and Netanya. For thirteen years, six and a half as co-chair, Joseph helped create what he calls “enduring people to people relationships.”
“The friends we have in Netanya are as close as family,” Joseph explains. So close, in fact, that he and Trish are returning to Israel in October for the second wedding of two brothers, both of whom had stayed with them years earlier.
The Mensch Defined
What makes Joseph deserving of the Mensch Award is not any single grand gesture — it is the accumulation of thousands of small acts of service; each performed without fanfare or expectation of recognition.
His current volunteer portfolio includes driving for Mayerson JCC’s Meals on Wheels program, mentoring through Big Brother Big Sister, visiting homebound seniors through Shalom Corps and Jewish Family Service’s K’Vod Connect program, and serving on boards including the American Jewish Committee Cincinnati, Jewish National Fund and Cincinnati Hillel.
When asked what advice he would give others about community service, Scott’s answer is characteristically humble: “I think it’s time. That is our most valuable asset. There simply are not enough hours in the day.
“To be a mensch is to do the right thing,” Joseph says simply.
Whether helping Hillel students feel supported, organizing a Scout Shabbat dinner or arranging “Burgers and Beer with the Rabbis,” Scott’s legacy is in the lives he has touched. It’s no wonder he’s this year’s Mensch Award recipient. For Scott, “yes” isn’t just his favorite word — it’s a way of life.
