C H I C A G O
I S S U E # 1 // S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6
Chag Sameach! CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 // י“ד תשרי
שבת/ ערב סוכות CANDLE LIGHTING: 6:21 PM // SHABBOS ENDS: 7:24 PM
PESACH 2 0 2 7
ALL OUR HOTELS FEATURE: Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach 5-Star Glatt Kosher Cuisine • Spacious Rooms & Family Suites World-Class Entertainment • Fantastic Sports and Recreation Amenities Fantastic Daily Kids Program & Infant Care • Inspiring Scholars & Lecturers HYATT REGENCY P E S ASADDLEBROOK CRESORT H 2 0 2CHESAPEAKE 7 BAY
HILTON PHOENIX TAPATIO RESORT P H O E N I X , A R I ZO N A
PGA NATIONAL RESORT PA L M B E AC H , F LO R I DA
TA M PA , F LO R I DA
CA M B R I D G E , M A RY LA N D
OCEAN PLACE RESORT & SPA
IMPERIALE PALACE HOTEL
LO N G B RA N C H , N E W J E R S E Y
S A N TA M A RG H E R I TA , PO RTO F I N O, I TA LY
ALL OUR HOTELS FEATURE:
LEISURE TIME TOURS Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach
www.leisuretimetours.com 718-528-0700 5-Star Glatt Kosher Cuisine • Spacious Rooms info@leisurett.com & Family Suites World-Class Entertainment • Fantastic Sports and Recreation Amenities Fantastic Daily Kids Program & Infant Care • Inspiring Scholars & Lecturers
H O L LY W O O D , F L O R I D A
PESACH 2 0 C O2 M M7 UNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
ALL OUR HOTELS FEATURE: Entire Hotel Kosher for Pesach 5-Star Glatt Kosher Cuisine • Spacious Rooms & Family Suites World-Class Entertainment • Fantastic Sports and Recreation Amenities Fantastic Daily Kids Program & Infant Care • Inspiring Scholars & Lecturers HILTON PHOENIX TAPATIO RESORT P H O E N I X , A R I ZO N A
PGA NATIONAL RESORT PA L M B E AC H , F LO R I DA
SADDLEBROOK RESORT
HYATT REGENCY CHESAPEAKE BAY
TA M PA , F LO R I DA
CA M B R I D G E , M A RY LA N D
OCEAN PLACE RESORT & SPA
IMPERIALE PALACE HOTEL
LO N G B RA N C H , N E W J E R S E Y
S A N TA M A RG H E R I TA , PO RTO F I N O, I TA LY
LEISURE TIME TOURS
P.2 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
www.leisuretimetours.com
718-528-0700
info@leisurett.com
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.3
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
Zmanim Friday, September 25, 2026 י״ד תשרי תשפ״ז ערב סוכות CANDLE LIGHTING 6:21PM SHABBOS ENDS 7:24PM
Sunday, September 27, 2026 ט״ז תשרי תשפ״ז סוכות NIGHTFALL 7:21PM
Friday, October 2, 2026 כ״א תשרי תשפ״ז הושענא רבה CANDLE LIGHTING 6:09PM SHABBOS ENDS 7:11PM
Shabbos, October 3, 2026 כ״ב תשרי תשפ״ז שמיני עצרת SHABBOS ENDS 7:11PM
Sunday, October 4, 2026 כ״ג תשרי תשפ״ז שמחת תורה NIGHTFALL 7:09PM
P.4 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.5
COMMUNITY NEWS
INSIDE THE COMMUNITY
12
NINETY SECONDS How one teenager’s determination to save lives grew into a global emergency response organization.
8
SIMPLY A SUKKAH By Sivan Rahav Meir
28
PUBLISHER, CEO RABBI ELIYAHU SEGAL
THE WORLD IS OPEN TO THE KOSHER TRAVELER
954.662.5054 info@tsfcommunityvoice.com
COO MOTTI KALLUS 954.910.8336 editor@tsfcommunityvoice.com
SALES & DISTRIBUTIONS YEHUDA PINSKY 773.848.6949
GRAPHICS AHUVA DESIGN
34
CHOL HAMOED SUKKOS GUIDE TO CHICAGO
© The Chicago Community Voice Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction in printed or digital form in whole or in part in any form without prior written permission is prohibited. The publisher reserves all right to edit all articles for clarity, space and editorial sensitivities. Submissions cannot be returned to sender. The Chicago Community Voice Magazine is not responsible for the cash flow of any advertised product or service that appears in these pages. The Chicago Community Voice Magazine assumes no responsibility for the content of articles or advertisements in this publication, nor for the content of books that are referred to or excerpted herein. The Chicago Community Voice Magazine is not responsible for the Kashrut or services provided by the advertisements. It is up to the consumer to verify the information. P.6 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.7
C O M M U N I T Y N E W S // B E YO N D T H E H E A D L I N E S
COMMUNITY NEWS
A WEEKLY GLIMPSE INTO THE ISRAEL YOU WON’T READ ABOUT IN THE NEWS
Simply a Sukkah By Sivan Rahav Meir
M
y friend Chani Lifshitz who served for 25 years as a Chabad emissary in Kathmandu, once remarked to me: “By now, everyone knows that people plan ahead and come to Chabad Houses for the holidays. But on Sukkot, we also take the sukkah out into the world, into the Himalayas. There is even a sukkah now along the Annapurna trek, probably one of the highest sukkahs in the world. “What amazes me is that there are also travelers in the middle of their journey who don’t always realize that it’s Sukkot. But the moment they see us and remember, they get excited. They step inside and immediately ask for a lulav and etrog. A moment earlier, they barely knew it was Sukkot — but once the soul remembers, it remembers in a big way.”
Simply a Sukkah Have you already sat in a sukkah this year? Don’t take it for granted. Three years ago, my friend Stephanie Sokol of New York excitedly sent me photos of all kinds of people sitting in sukkahs. At first, I didn’t understand what was so remarkable. Then she explained. Through an initiative of P.8 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
NCSY and TJJ in New York, Jewish families who had never built a sukkah before were given one of their own, together with a set of the Arba’ah Minim. “In Israel, children grow up knowing all about Sukkot,” Stephanie told me. “But here, we are talking about secondand third-generation American Jews who never had that childhood experience. Some simply don’t know what a sukkah is. We explain it to them, help them build one, and it is amazing to see adults become as excited as children.” She told me about men proudly building their first sukkah and posting pictures of it; families inviting friends and relatives to join them there for the first time; a 50-year-old woman making sukkah deco-
rations because she had never had the chance to make them as a child; and a grandmother inviting all her grandchildren over to experience something she herself had never experienced at their age. “For years, we invited people into our sukkah,” Stephanie said. “This turns the idea around. They receive a sukkah of their own, and suddenly they are the ones taking the initiative.” I thought about that story again this year when I heard about a new national organization called The Sukkah Foundation. It was founded by the family behind The Sukkah Project after 30 years of building sukkahs free of charge for Jewish families across the United States. In its first year, it hopes to reach 40 to 50 families, sending each of them not only a sukkah that can be used for years, but also simple materials to help them begin celebrating the holiday in their own homes. There is a great deal to say about American Jewry and the challenges it faces. We often discuss assimilation, Jewish identity, education and continuity — enormous issues with no simple solutions. But maybe there is also a lesson here about where to begin. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.9
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS Sometimes a Jewish family does not need another lecture about Jewish identity. It needs the experience of building something together. Of decorating it. Of inviting grandparents and grandchildren inside. Of making a blessing for the first time. Sometimes one positive Jewish experience can open a door. Or, in this case, build one: A sukkah.
A Story for Sukkot A tiny sukkah, just one meter by one meter, was set up before the holiday in a park in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood. David Michael Cohen, who built it, posted the story behind it inside the sukkah: “A little over two years ago, during summer vacation, my father was visiting in the US when he suffered a severe heart attack. I flew to be with him, thinking I would stay only a short time. Sadly, his condition did not improve, and I remained there for several months, including through the High Holidays. “On the final day of Sukkot, I was at his side. His condition was serious. I ate some of my meals next to him in the hospital, but it was important to me to eat in a sukkah as well. Late that evening, when things had calmed down a little, I left the hospital carrying some food and began searching the neighborhood for a sukkah I could use. “I searched and searched until I finally found a tiny suk-
“Once the soul remembers, it remembers in a big way” kah on the street, just one meter by one meter. It was exactly what I needed. “I knocked on the door of the house beside it and asked permission to use the sukkah. The woman who answered told me it belonged to them and that I was more than welcome to eat there. “I sat down to eat. I tried to sing a few holiday songs to myself, and to tell the truth, I also cried as I thought about my father’s condition. “Suddenly, I saw someone peering into the sukkah. Then he stepped inside. “It was the young husband of the woman who had given me permission to enter. He asked me why I was crying. I began telling him about my father in the hospital, about everything we were going through, and about the food I had saved because it mattered so much to me to eat it in a sukkah. “As I spoke, I could see him becoming more and more emotional. “When I finished, he said,
‘Now it’s my turn to tell you a story. “‘Before Sukkot, there was a flood in our neighborhood, and many homes were flooded. Every year I build a large sukkah that fills our entire yard, but this year it was impossible. There was nowhere to build it; everything was still flooded. So we have been spending most of the holiday at my wife’s parents’ home. “‘Still, I had this strange feeling that I absolutely had to build some kind of sukkah here. I managed to find just enough sechach for a one-meter-byone-meter sukkah. I built the walls on the sidewalk next to our front door. As the holiday approached, my wife kept urging me to leave already for her parents’ house. I couldn’t understand why it mattered so much to me that there should still be a sukkah here. But now I understand. I built it especially for you.’” David concludes: “This year, I built this tiny sukkah in Levona Park in Jerusalem’s Gilo Aleph neighborhood. It is there for anyone who finds himself stuck without a sukkah, or simply needs one. “May all the blessings recited and mitzvot performed there be in memory of my father, Ephraim ben Shlomo and Sultana.”
Translated by Yehoshua Siskin and Janine Muller Sherr Want to read more by Sivan Rahav Meir? Google The Daily Thought or visit sivanrahavmeir.com
HEY, CHICAGO!
START EARNING CASHBACK ON YOUR EVERGREEN DELIVERIES PLACE AN ORDER
www.shopevergreenkosher.com
SAVE WITH BONUS Download the Bonus App and browse great deals! Simply scan your Evergreen receipt to start saving!
Bonus is an app that gives you money back. Shop the usual, scan your receipt, and get your hard earned cash back. It’s that simple.
Contact Us
P.10 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.11 *Evergreen Kosher Supermarket is not affiliated or endorsed by Bonus Time Coupons
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
E
Ninety Seconds P.12 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
li Beer built the largest volunteer emergency service in the world out of two police scanners and a refusal to take no for an answer. The founder of United Hatzalah sat down with the Community Voice in Hollywood. The man was bleeding out on a Jerusalem sidewalk, a few meters from Eli Beer’s father’s bookshop, and the sixteenyear-old kneeling over him had nothing. No bandage. No kit. Nothing but the knowledge that the blood coming from the man’s neck had to stop. So he took the yarmulke off his own head — he wore a bigger one in those days — and stuck it into the wound and put pressure on it. About twenty minutes later an ambulance arrived and took the man away. Beer went home not knowing whether he had helped or watched someone die. Two days later the phone rang at his house. “Are you Eli Beer?” Yes. “My father woke up in Hadassah hospital this morning. He was treated by you, and you saved his life.” Beer went to visit him. The man was about seventy. He pulled Beer into a hug, and that was when Beer saw the number on his arm. “And that changed my life. That moment.” That was 1990 or thereabouts, and the organization Beer had started with a handful of friends was still an un-
“People could save people. So something needs to be built before an ambulance” derground operation run off stolen radio frequencies. Today United Hatzalah is the largest volunteer emergency medical service in the world, and Beer spends a good part of the year on the road for it. Last month that road ran through Hollywood, where he sat down with the Community Voice to talk about how the thing got built — and about the day it mattered most.
The kid at Yad Vashem Beer was born in Israel just before the Yom Kippur War, to American parents who had made aliyah right after 1967 — his father from the Lower East Side, his mother from Brooklyn. Six children, and he was the only Israeli among them. They ran a bookstore in Bayit Vegan and worked, he says, very hard.
Both have passed away; his mother’s yahrtzeit had fallen the day before we spoke. School did not take. “My father sent me to cheder and it wasn’t for me. Me and the cheder didn’t get along, and we had a big fight.” Around sixth grade, he and the rebbe decided to separate their ways. His brother got him into another school in town, where by his own account he was the most active kid in the building — arranging things, doing sports, everything except learning. “Not learning Torah.” A year later he was out of that school too, and went into his father’s business. When he ran out of school, he went to Yad Vashem. He went constantly. He learned the Holocaust the way other boys learn soccer statistics. “I knew everything about Hitler. I used to learn from Yad Vashem everything Hitler did.” And somewhere in there, at nine or ten years old, he turned the thing on its head. “One person was able to influence so many people to kill people, to kill Jews. Maybe somebody could influence people to save people. Do the opposite.” “I always said, when I grow up, I’m going to save six million Jews. It was always my dream.” There was a reason the subject had a grip on him. Before he turned six, a bus blew up close to where he was standing. “When I saw people injured and killed, it affected me a lot.” The question that stayed with him afterward was not about the S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.13
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS terrorists. It was about the victims. “I wondered whether they died or didn’t die. I said, “Maybe one day I’ll be able to save people’s lives.”
Twenty-one minutes At almost fifteen he went to volunteer on a Magen David Adom ambulance. “I took it very seriously because I wanted to save people’s lives. I didn’t go there for fun. I didn’t go there to hang out. I wanted to really save people.” What he found was arithmetic. “I used to write down when we received the call and when we arrived.” The average response time was seventeen minutes. Sometimes thirty. Jerusalem had nine or ten ambulances on call for the entire city, five overnight. If they were all busy, or the traffic was bad, or the call was across town, nobody was coming for a while. “Someone calls for help. My husband is choking. My son is choking. No random person is going to just show up, right? So we’d arrive after 20 minutes, see a person dead, and try to revive them. But after someone doesn’t have oxygen in their brain for a certain amount of time, you get brain damage, or death.” He is careful about this point, and repeats it. Israel was not uniquely bad. “This is how it works everywhere in the world. It’s not that Israel was worse than other places. Israel was normal. You have an emergency, you call an ambulance, and the ambulance shows up whenever it shows up. If the P.14 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
“If we have enough volunteers everywhere, we’ll have a 90-second response” ambulance is stuck in traffic, they don’t have wings. That’s how it is.” He kept noticing the pizza deliveries — a motorcycle slipping between stopped cars while the ambulance sat behind them. “I said to my friends, that motorcycle is going to get there while the pizza is hot. We’re going to get there when the patient is cold. Why don’t we
put the pizza guys in the ambulance and we’ll go on the motorcycle?” “I said to my friends, if I ever choke, call for a pizza.” Then came the seven-yearold. The boy choked on a hot dog at lunch. His mother called for an ambulance. Beer’s crew was the ambulance — and the only one available in the city. Had they been busy, the next one would have come from Ma’ale Adumim or Beit Shemesh. They came from Har HaTzofim to the other side of town and arrived twenty-one minutes after she made the call. “By the time we arrived, this kid was completely blue and cold.” A doctor ran into the house and said he was an emergency room doctor and wanted to help. They did CPR for forty-five minutes. A second ambulance came with more professional people. Eventually the doctor said there was nothing else to do, and asked for a sheet to cover him.
“That moment was the worst moment of my life. I was 16 and a half years old. I had been a volunteer for a year and a half in an ambulance, and I never got to save anyone. I helped many people and never saved anyone.” The part that broke him came afterward. The doctor lived across the street. “The whole time he was home watching television, he did not know that this kid was suffocating to death. That whole time when we were fighting traffic, he could have run across the street and saved him.” “And I said to myself, the system is broken. Ambulances are not saving lives. People could save lives. Ambulances are good for transport, but not good for saving people. So something needs to be built before an ambulance.” The insight was heretical and it was correct. “An ambulance is a pre-hospital service, but nobody ever had a pre-ambulance service.”
Chutzpah, and two scanners from Radio Shack His friends were in. The system was not. Beer went to see the head of the ambulance service. “He said, no — if someone calls for help, they must get an ambulance. We can’t share the calls randomly with people.” Beer tried explaining that he wasn’t after their business — “I’m here to fill in the gap, from the second someone calls for help until
the ambulance arrives” — and got nowhere. They controlled the switchboard, which was the one thing he actually needed. They laughed at him. He is blunt about why, and about the fact that it is universal. “This is how it works in every ambulance system. In Venice, in Paris, in London — they have their system. Don’t interfere. What is it? Who are you? It’s my business. It was a monopoly.” “So I said, I’ll manage on my own. My friend said, how are you going to do that? I said, Israel is built on one very important thing — chutzpah. We don’t ask. We do. That’s how Israel is built. That’s how we do things.” There was a store in America called Radio Shack, and Radio Shack sold scanners. Beer bought two of them and fifteen pagers. His volunteers listened in on the ambulance and fire department radios, learned where the emergencies were, and arrived first. They bought a few old motorcycles and outfitted them. “Undercover. Everything was undercover.” They called it Hatzalah. Brooklyn already had one,
though Beer had no connection to it and built his own independently. The models were different, too. “Ours originally wasn’t an ambulance service at all. We only had an immediate response.” Everything else followed from the number he set as the target. Q: Why 90 seconds? Because that’s the brain damage. My whole goal was not only to save people, but to save brain damage. You can’t reverse brain damage. So I said, it’s all about the speed. Q: And people thought you were crazy. Our mission statement was a 90-second response. People thought I was crazy. I said, no, it’s going to happen. If we have enough volunteers everywhere, we’ll have a 90-second response. Ambulance crews worked out of a central station — “They had bedrooms. They had showers. They had barbecues. They had everything in one location” — and lost two or three minutes just climbing aboard. Beer wanted no station at all. Trained people spread everywhere, each with a pager, the closest ones alerted automatically, on motorcycles so they couldn’t be caught in traffic. He called them ambucycles. They were the first in Israel. He was sixteen and a half.
Opening the doors For nearly two decades Hatzalah grew inside the world it came from. “We were originally started by frum people. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.15
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS Our rabbi was Moshe Halberstam” — of the Eidah HaChareidis. That was also the ceiling. “It was very hard for us to grow outside of those communities, because we were concentrating on the frum communities.” Then, twenty years ago, missiles began falling on Haifa in the Second Lebanon War. “I said, let’s build Hatzalah for everyone. For the whole klal Yisrael.” Men and women. Religious and secular. Jewish and non-Jewish. Arab communities. Everywhere. The logic was the same ninety seconds. “If we want to get to a 90-second response time, we need to include everyone. We can’t say we’re 90 seconds only in this neighborhood. We’re 90 seconds everywhere.” It did not go over easily. “Some people were against it. They said, Hatzalah is only frum people, this and that. I said, no. I want men, women, religious, secular, Jewish, non-Jewish.” “During the war, we made a revolution. There was a lot of politics. It was very aggressive politics. A lot of people were fighting against me.” What carried it was rabbinic backing — he names Rav Elyashiv, Rav Ovadia Yosef, Rav Kanievsky and Rav Shteinman. “They all supported this. They said, this is the right thing to do.” The organization opened its doors and took a new name to match: United Hatzalah. “It was actually the hardest thing I ever did, but the best P.16 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
thing I ever did.”
The $18,000 check Ask about his first real donor and he goes straight to a name most readers won’t know: Mark Gerson, a young New Yorker just starting his business, introduced through a mutual contact. Beer wasn’t fundraising. He was just talking. Gerson offered $18,000 — twenty-five years ago, a serious sum. “I said, wow, that’s a lot of money.” Beer’s response was to ask him to chair the board. Gerson said no. “He said, no — I’m not famous. Nobody knows me. I just started my business. Take someone famous, someone known.” He’d be a member of the board, not the chairman. Why did Beer want him? “I have a feeling for people. I knew this guy was the right guy. And I said, I want you to be the chairman because you’re the only one on the board.” Gerson is the chairman to
this day. The Alan Dershowitz recruitment went much the same way. Beer met him in Israel, where Dershowitz was with Shimon Peres, complimented his advocacy, and got a polite thank-you and a man walking away. Beer asked him to join the board. “He turns around and says, “ I don’t join boards, thank you so much.” And keeps walking. “I said, Professor Dershowitz — if you join our board, I promise you that I’ll save more lives.” “So he stopped. He turned around, and he said, do you treat everyone equally? I said, yes, everyone is treated equally. He said, “I’m in.” Beer adds: “He’s the most honest person I’ve ever met.” The one that came back around was David Friedman, who joined the board a quarter century before he became ambassador, largely because his wife Tammy pushed him to. Friedman was Donald Trump’s lawyer at the time and, in Beer’s
phrase, “busy with his bankruptcies all day.” What appealed to him was that the organization wasn’t political. Years later, when Friedman was up for ambassador, Senator Bob Menendez — a Democrat who didn’t want to vote for him — asked for something positive, something neutral. Friedman told him about United Hatzalah. “Menendez said, really, what is that? Friedman told him all about it. And then in the Senate, in the hearing, the whole three-minute piece, he’s talking about United Hatzalah. Okay, I’m voting for you.” Friedman called afterward. “He said, Eli, I just gave you a plug — a million dollars of advertising. I’m advertising for United Hatzalah in the Senate.” “So I said, and because of me, you just got an embassy.”
The next generation Beer is unusually generous about the other organizations working the same problem, and he brings them up without being asked. Hatzalah of South Florida is “doing amazing — they’re growing every day, they’re unbelievable.” JVAC, Jewish Evacuation, operates in Broward and Palm Beach. United Hatzalah invites both to its galas. “I always mention it. Why do I care? I’m giving credit to others.” Dozens of organizations worldwide have started because of them. There is a United Rescue of Colombia now, which came out of the Jewish community there and its rabbi, and
which turned out in force after an earthquake. “A big kiddush Hashem.” Panama and other countries are copying the model too. Asked what South Florida families can actually do beyond writing checks, he goes straight to children. “One very nice thing I’ve seen is people getting the young generation involved. That’s amazing, because you have to keep that education going.” There is a program for it, and it was started by a local family. “There’s a family here called the Leight family — they spell it L-E-I-G-H-T, I’ll tell you how they spell it so you don’t make a mistake. They’re from here. They started a program called the Leight Legacy Heroes.” It now has three thousand children in it worldwide, from age six up. They fundraise. They take EMT courses as kids. “And they’re becoming the ambassadors of United Hatzalah.” There is a children’s book that goes with it, which is how most South Florida parents have encountered the program — handed to them at a dinner and read by their kids before they’ve read it themselves. The adult version is called 90 Seconds, published by ArtScroll. “It’s how I started and the whole story, and also the fundraising part of it. All the secrets of fundraising are in the book.” A third book is on the way. “The most important thing to me is getting children — your children — connected, so
they grow up to be proud Jews.” And then he makes the larger point, which he clearly enjoys making. “Hatzalah is the greatest Jewish innovation. The greatest. The Muslims don’t have it. They have Hezbollah killing people. We have Hatzalah saving people, no matter who it is. What do they have in Lebanon? Hezbollah. We have Hatzalah.” “Hatzalah’s idea is the essence of Judaism. It’s the essence of the whole Torah. There’s nothing more Jewish than going to help other people, even if they’re not Jewish.”
Three hundred screens The organization that started with two scanners now runs something Beer describes without much modesty. “The call center is like a NASA control and command room. We have 300 screens. We have satellites. We have connections with the police, connections with the army, connections with the prime minister’s office. We are one of the most innovative technological command centers in the world.” “And think about it — we started with two walkie talkies, scanners, and 15 pagers. Today we have AI technology that gives us indications of where the next emergencies are about to happen, and in which locations. We spend tens of millions of dollars on technology.” There is Uber-style dispatch that matches the closest volunteers to each call. There is their own emergency number, S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.17
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
1221. There is overflow work for dozens of ambulance services around the country who call United Hatzalah when they can’t cover something. And then there is the piece that would matter more than anyone knew. Q: If I call Hatzalah, will you connect to the camera on my phone? People can call us and within two seconds we know where they are. We see their cameras — their cameras open up so we can see what’s happening around them. And we can see what’s going on and hear what’s going on. We can also take that live stream video coming out of your phone and share it with the police. Q: Were you the first to do that? We’re the only ones who use it. Now more companies are using it, but this was the first organization in the world to use it.
6:45 in the morning P.18 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
“October 7th was, without a doubt, the most impactful day. If I had to build a United Hatzalah for almost 35 years for one reason only — for the day of October 7th — it was Dayenu, like they say.” He got up at 6:45 to word that one of his volunteers had been shot. The call came from Ofakim. They thought the man was dead. Beer jumped out of bed and was getting ready to go when missiles started coming toward Yerushalayim. “I said, something wrong is happening here.” He is reachable around the clock, Shabbos included. “24-7. I always have it on me.” What made that morning different was volume. “I was getting a hundred phone calls. It was an unusual morning.” He ran to the command center. “I never saw chaos like that. We had over 500 calls waiting.” The camera technology is how they found out what was actually happening at the Nova
festival. “We got dozens of calls from the Nova Festival early in the morning, before 6:30, 6:35, 6:40. People thought it was a car accident.” Dispatchers told them to press the link, and the cameras opened. “Within a second we see something’s wrong — cars are crashing one after another. They thought it was oil on the road, or whatever.” It was shooting at the drivers. In the background of the calls was a sound nobody could place, because it wasn’t like an M16. “A hollower sound.” Old Kalashnikovs. “People didn’t understand what was going on. People were half drunk or had been dancing all night.” Then the counting started. “Okay, we have 30 dead people. 30 dead people. Wow, that’s a massive attack. Then another 30. Then another 20. Another 30. Another 15.” When the total passed a hundred, they assumed they were counting the same bodies twice. “And they said, no, these are different areas. Ofakim, Netivot, Sderot, Kfar Aza. People were calling us from everywhere.” “We realized this was an invasion. We knew before everyone that we were dealing with a war.” Volunteers who had walked out of shul in their taluses sat down to answer phones because there weren’t enough hands. Most of the calls were the same call. “We’re running. People are chasing us, killing us. We’re not sure why. We’re not sure who it
is. Help us. We’re hiding under a tree. People are burning. Men and women are burning.” Asked whether the government was keeping him informed, his answer is flat. “They were getting updates from us. They don’t have Hatzalah. We have Hatzalah. The army fell apart. The ambulances all left the area. They had an ambulance driver who got killed.”
“So they took the ranks off his shoulders, ran inside and said, we have a general outside. You need to save him”
Going in anyway The first instruction to volunteers was to hold back. “We said, be careful, don’t go in. But then the volunteers didn’t want to listen to us. The volunteers were saying, we’re going in anyway.” Over a thousand went in that day — “in and out, in and out, in and out, getting patients out with cars, ambulances, helicopters, under fire.” Three of them, whom Beer describes as “three frum guys, Avi, Avi and Emanuel,” are the subject of an episode of the HBO series One Day in October. “They went in against the rules of the army. Everyone was told to leave because it was a closed area. Our volunteers said, no, we’re going in anyway.” The helicopters were a separate act of insubordination. The army had shut the airspace; United Hatzalah’s two helicopters flew regardless, the only civilian aircraft up that day. “We used the chutzpah.” At about one in the afternoon the Ministry of Health called Beer and started screaming. He called Yossi Shelly at
the prime minister’s office. “I said to him, what’s going on? They’re yelling at us. He said, do whatever you need to do to save lives. You have my permission.” “It was the biggest chaos I’ve ever seen in my life. But we were running our own show. We decided we’re not going to ask permission. We’re just going to do what we always do. Chutzpah.”
The wedding band Then he took out his phone. “And my wife, Giti. Look at this, I’ll show you something.” The video is Giti Beer describing her own October 7th. She went south early. “For the first time in my life, I encountered such horrific scenes. I could never have imagined that I would come across bodies scattered all over the streets, and in and outside of cars. Some of the cars were burning. Most of the people were shot point blank. There was nothing to be saved.” At about noon a jeep came rushing toward them with a severely wounded soldier inside.
“Looking at him, it was hard to imagine that we’d be able to save him.” What she noticed was his hand. “I noticed that he was wearing a wedding band on his finger. All I could think of was that this is a married man. He has children waiting for him at home. He has a wife waiting for him at home. So I decided to jump right in and just give it everything I have.” “All around us we heard gunshots, missiles exploding above our heads. We heard the sirens going off. But we were very, very invested. We intubated him and treated his traumatic injuries as best we could. His situation was very critical, and at any point we could have lost him.” He was flown to Tel Aviv by Hatzalah medevac helicopter. Here Beer interrupts his own video. “Wait a second, wait a second. So this soldier was in a coma for a few months. And then he woke up. And his wife sent my wife a video of this soldier who had been in a coma for months — when he walked for the first time, he went to visit his son at kindergarten.” S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.19
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS He holds out the phone. A room full of small children singing, and a soldier in the doorway. “This is him.”
Two babies in Kfar Aza “We had a lot of traumatic stories.” Soldiers went into Kfar Aza at eight in the evening and found two babies alive in their cribs. The parents had been killed that morning. Beer’s account of why the children were left alive is difficult to repeat, and he does not soften it: “They left the babies alive as bait — so they would cry, and more Jews would come to rescue them, and everyone who came they would kill. They left the babies crying all day just to bring more Jews to save them.” United Hatzalah volunteers spent the whole day outside the gate. “There was no more dangerous place in the world than that place. Kfar Aza was the worst. It was the worst. 300 terrorists there. And our volunteers were there all day in Kfar Aza, in and out, in and out, going to get people.” The babies were ten-monthold twins. They were carried out and brought to a hospital. “Thanks to the soldiers and the volunteers of United Hatzalah, these kids are alive now.” He tells a second story from that day. Two volunteers, Moshe Weissman and Elyashiv, reached a general who had been fighting terrorists and was dying — losing all his blood, going into shock. Soldiers had P.20 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
“October 7th was a wake-up call to millions of people who were Jewish and didn’t feel it” tried to stop the bleeding and couldn’t control it. The volunteers got him into a United Hatzalah ambulance, put tourniquets on him and held pressure the whole way. The hospital was packed. “So they took the ranks off his shoulders, ran inside and said, we have a general outside. You need to save him.” He went straight into an operating room. “That general is now the head of Mossad. Roman Gofman.” “We saved hundreds of people who otherwise would have been added to the number. We’re talking about a day when 1,250 people were killed. It could have been hundreds more if it wasn’t for these heroes.” And then the line about the color, which is not a throwaway. “People who were waiting for help, all of a sudden they saw
the angels in orange coming to save them. It’s not a coincidence. Gush Katif, the orange. And orange coming to save them.”
The Jews who were waiting Fundraising, he says, has gotten harder rather than easier since. “Right after October 7th, people were waiting in line to donate. Now we have to wait in line for them. We have to work harder — a lot harder.” But the change he wants to talk about is a different one. “Jews who never knew they were Jewish decided and realized that they have to be part of the Jewish nation. I think October 7th was a wake-up call to millions of people who were Jewish and didn’t feel it, didn’t know it.” The historical logic wasn’t lost on them. “October 7th reminded them what happened in the Holocaust, that Hitler sent everyone to the gas chambers no matter how unaffiliated they were, no matter how assimilated they were. Hitler took people three generations back.” He tells one story. A man he met was engaged to a woman who was not Jewish — and not merely not Jewish. “Not only was she not Jewish — she hated Judaism. She was not a lover of Jews. But he was engaged to her and he loved her.” After October 7th the man told Beer he had decided not to marry her. “I love this girl, and
I decided to separate from her and not marry her, because I want my kids to be Jewish.” “All of a sudden I met the Jews who had been hiding in a closet for many years. And they were just waiting to come out. Because people thought, okay, being Jewish is just Chanukah, a latke maybe, and that’s it.”
What he’s fighting for now The thing that worries Eli Beer at the moment is not Hamas. “One of the things I’m really focused on now is bringing achdut in Eretz Yisrael. We have a big machlokes in Israel. Very big hatred between religious and secular.” Worse than before October 7th, he says — worse than during the judicial reform fight. “A lot worse. And the hatred on both sides is terrible.” He uses the words civil war. His proposed contribution is characteristically direct: let chareidi men do their army service through United Hatzalah. “We want to take 10,000 chareidi people. We need to find a solution that’s not going to split the Jewish people into this kind of machlokes and hatred.” On the war of opinion, he is fatalistic. Support from people who already disliked Israel never materialized — “the ones who liked us, liked us more,” and nobody new came over. The reason, he says, is repetition. “If you say genocide
a million times, you believe it’s true. People start believing it. It’s all about how many times you say the lie.” “We’re winning in the war. They’re winning in the PR. And I’d rather win the war and lose the PR, than win the PR like they are and lose the war. You can’t win both wars. If the PR is so strong by them, that means we’re winning the war.” Then he says the thing he warns you in advance that you may not like. “I’m not worried about anti-Semitism. This might sound scary, what I’m saying, because people get upset when I say it — but there was never a better time for Jews in America than now, in the history of the Jewish people.” Not since Bavel. Yes, there is antisemitism. We only have social media now, which gives it more of a platform, so people are more aware that there is anti-Semitism.” Ninety years ago the papers ran against the Jews daily, and not only Der Stürmer. “Every newspaper wrote against Jews. It was the sexiest thing in the world to talk against Jews. That’s what they do now on social media. Then it was in the newspapers.” His own father came home from yeshiva on the Lower East Side and got beaten up by Irish kids; in Brooklyn it was the Italians, all day long. “You don’t see that today. Once in a while you have a case here and there. The Jews are in the best position.” Florida, he thinks, is probably the best state in America for a Jew to live in. And he wants
the wider ledger read out loud. “We have to be thankful to Hashem that we’re living in the best times the Jews ever lived in. I know it’s hard to see that after October 7th, after the wars. But we have a country. We have an army. We have yeshivas. We have talmidei chachamim. We have businesses.” “So stop complaining. We’re in a great situation. We need to work on our achdus in Eretz Yisrael.” Q: Any thoughts of going into politics? So I actually used to be the head of the va’ad bayit in my building. I had 11 tenants and I won the elections. And I made the decision to change the light bulbs in the building. And I had fights over it, because some people said they should be yellow and some said white. So I resigned after one month, and I said, enough with politics. Q: Has Bibi ever asked you? He came to visit us twice. Bibi said, maybe you want to come to the Knesset. And I said, I think I want to go into politics — but if I run, I run only for president of the United States of America. Not less. I’m not going to the Knesset, not to prime minister. He is not going to run. He has a different job, and he named it himself decades ago, as a kid at Yad Vashem doing the arithmetic on six million. “The name of the organization is Hatzalah, but we added United. And I think we need to fight for uniting the Jewish people more than ever.” S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.21
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
From South Bend to Wall Street: MOISHE GUBIN’S RELENTLESS DRIVE
Before he built a billion-dollar healthcare empire and took the helm of a NYSE-listed bank, his path ran straight through the Midwest Orthodox world Chicago knows well. Ninety minutes down the interstate from Chicago, in South Bend, Indiana, sits the headquarters of a billion-and-a-halfdollar healthcare REIT most Chicagoans have never heard of — built by a man whose story started with a nickel bag of candy in a Queens schoolyard. Moishe Gubin’s path since then has run through Indiana nursing homes, a shul he built with his own money in South Bend, and now the chairmanship of OptimumBank, a NYSE-listed community bank in Fort Lauderdale. For a Chicago readership that knows the Midwest frum world firsthand, Gubin’s story hits close to home, even if his bank sits thirteen hundred miles south. At the center of his work today is OptimumBank. For Gubin, the bank represents more than balance sheets and loan portfolios. It’s a place where relationships matter, where community comes before bureaucracy, and where clients know they’ll be heard. “Every entrepreneur I meet has a story,” he says. “When Optimum helps them succeed, I become a small part of that story too.”
P.22 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
Early Hustle: From Candy to Catering
Gubin’s business instincts appeared early. As a first grader in Queens, he’d take his allowance, head to the local candy shop, and buy bulk bags for a nickel apiece. Back at school, he resold the sweets to classmates for ten cents each. “I built up a nice little nest egg by the time I was in second and third grade,” he recalls with a laugh. It was less about the money than the thrill of success — the discovery that effort and creativity could create opportunity. By his teens, Gubin had graduated from candy to catering. He worked long hours in Jewish hotels in the Catskills and spent
weekends serving bar mitzvahs in tuxedos. “I’d work Friday setting up, serve through Shabbos, sleep in the shul if I had to, then break everything down Saturday night,” he says. At just sixteen, he was managing forty employees in a Queens deli-style takeout operation. His family wasn’t wealthy. “We were poor,” he says bluntly. “We got hand-me-downs, we got donations, we got whatever we could. But my father taught us that boys had to work. That was the philosophy. Grades and behavior mattered, but so did earning your keep.” What began as necessity soon became habit, and then passion. Success became addictive.
First Big Step: Nursing Homes
The pivotal shift from worker to owner came in Indiana, where Gubin relocated after marrying. At the time, South Bend had only a few dozen observant families — a small, tight-knit world not unlike the one many Chicago families know from their own smaller satellite communities. Gubin took a job in nursing home management and quickly climbed the ranks. But when he asked his employer for a $5,000 raise after generating millions in profits, he was turned down. That refusal became the catalyst. “If he had paid me more and treated me better, I might never have left,” Gubin admits. Instead, he struck out on his own, acquiring his first nursing home. “Suddenly I had 150 employees,” he says. “The pressure of making payroll every week was enormous. I didn’t have credit lines; I kept a small cushion of a couple hundred thousand dollars and prayed it would be enough. For ten years, I worked straight through Thursday nights into Friday, just to keep everything on track.” His partner focused on clinical operations; Gubin obsessed over the numbers. Together, they expanded steadily, acquiring more homes while maintaining a reputation for paying bills on time and never bouncing payroll. “In all the hundreds of companies we’ve bought, nobody has ever lost a penny with us,” he says with pride.
Building an Empire:
for the eventual U.S. listing.
“It’s not just Vertical Integration and about making Side Ventures money. It’s about strengthening the fabric of the community” Strawberry Fields
Those nursing homes became the foundation for Strawberry Fields REIT — now a billion-and-a-half-dollar portfolio spanning 11 states, generating $140 million in revenue and $80 million in free cash flow annually. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker STRW, Strawberry Fields is one of the largest healthcare real estate investment trusts in the sector. Its headquarters never left the Midwest — the company still runs out of South Bend today. Its origins were humble. Gubin had invested in a multifamily project that issued Israeli bonds, and when he read through the loan documents, he saw potential. “I realized if we consolidated our properties and built the right structure, we could access public markets in Israel.” That initial exposure paved the way
Gubin’s business model has always been guided by vertical integration. “If I’m already spending $400,000 a year on therapy services, why not own the therapy company?” he explains. “If I can provide the same service in-house, I save money, and any outside business becomes pure profit.” That philosophy led him into pharmacies, therapy groups, and even urgent care centers. Not all ventures were smooth — a construction partnership went sideways, costing him money and friendships. But even those missteps reinforced his approach: conservative growth, careful selection of partners, and loyalty to obligations. “We’ve never stiffed a vendor, never defaulted on a deal,” he says. “That matters.”
Faith, Community, and Responsibility
If money were the only goal, Gubin might have retired long ago. But for him, wealth has always been a tool for impact. Early in his career, while still living in Indiana, he founded the Midwest Torah Center, funding it from his own pocket. He watched secular Jews light Shabbos candles for the first time, heard congregants express gratitude, and saw how his giving sparked others to give. “Every time I gave more, I made more,” he reflects. “And I could see the results in real lives. That kept me going.” It’s a piece of his story that S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.23
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
will land differently for a Chicago audience than for one in South Florida — the Midwest Torah Center wasn’t built in a major hub with existing infrastructure. It was built in a small outpost community, the kind Chicago’s own kiruv organizations and shuls have long supported and fed. The sense of responsibility — to employees, to investors, to the community — drives Gubin still. “If I quit tomorrow, how many checks stop going out? How many organizations suffer?” he asks. That burden, heavy as it is, remains his motivation.
The Optimum Bank Story
If Strawberry Fields is Gubin’s empire, OptimumBank is his passion project. Sixteen years ago, the small Fort Lauderdale bank was struggling. Capital was thin, regulators were circling, and skeptics saw little hope. But when Gubin joined the board, things began to change. He helped bring in new investors, stabilize operations, and was eventually elected Chairman by his peers. “It was the only business where I didn’t just buy control,” he recalls. “They chose me. That meant something.” Competing against giants like Chase and Wells Fargo, the bank had to find its niche. Technology was one challenge; relationships were the solution. “At big banks, you’re a number. At Optimum, you’re a person,” Gubin says. “If you need something, you pick up the phone and someone who
P.24 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
“They chose me. That meant something” knows you answers.” That ethos has attracted clients across Florida and beyond, including Israelis, South Americans, and small business owners who value personal service over digital flash. It also explains why, after years of struggle, Optimum is now one of the top-performing small banks in the country. “We turned something that was on the brink of collapse into one of the best,” Gubin says with evident pride.
Leadership and Loyalty
Gubin speaks candidly about the challenges Jewish businesses face in Florida, particularly the lack of communal loyalty there compared to what he grew up around. “In New York or New Jersey, you call the Jewish plumber, the Jewish insurance guy. Here, that loyalty is weaker. That’s a problem,” he says of the South Florida market specifically. It’s the same dynamic longtime members of Chicago’s frum business community will recognize as the exception rather than the rule — Chicago has long held onto that same NY/ NJ-style loyalty within its own frum-owned businesses, from
West Rogers Park to the suburbs. Notably, the bank’s own board carries a Chicago thread: director Avi Zwelling, whose law firm keeps offices in both Boca Raton and Chicago, has advised OptimumBank on commercial and banking matters since 2012. Gubin sees Optimum Bank as part of the solution: a hub where business owners can support each other, circulate capital within the community, and build a culture of mutual responsibility. “It’s not just about making money,” he insists. “It’s about strengthening the fabric of the community.”
Looking Ahead
For all his successes, Gubin remains restless. There are always more businesses to stabilize, more communities to support, more opportunities to seize. “My goal is to be the best I can be at everything I do,” he says simply. Whether it’s growing Strawberry Fields, guiding Optimum, or mentoring the next generation, he shows no sign of slowing. And he’s quick to share credit. “Optimum’s success isn’t just mine,” he emphasizes. “It’s also about people like David Siegel, who meet with clients every day, build those relationships, and make sure the bank delivers on its promises. That’s what makes us different.” For a community that stretches from South Bend to Skokie, it’s a reminder that a Midwest work ethic can still build something that trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.25
COMMUNITY NEWS
C O M M U N I T Y N E W S // O P E R AT I O N I N S P I R AT I O N
Made in the Shade By Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz
When a cousin through marriage lost his mother, I flew to their city to pay a shiva call. It’s funny that we phrase it like that, that we’re “paying” a visit or call, but in a sense that’s an appropriate phrase because it’s an obligation we must rise to whether we like it or not. Not so much the actual visit, as what it represents. In the words of Shlomo HaMelech, “Better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living should take it to heart.” (Koheles 7:2) When we go to a shiva house, we’re not just doing a kindness for those mourning a loved one, nor merely honoring the life that was lived. Instead, we are giving ourselves a reality check about life (and death) so that we remain focused on living properly. Going to a wedding may be lots of fun, but going to a shiva house reminds us that at the end, the fun we’ve had won’t add up to a life well-lived. It centers us and refocuses our purpose on this planet. That is why the wisest of men, King Solomon, suggests the visit to the mourners is preferable to rejoicing with a bride and groom. This is certainly an appropriate message for Sukkos, when Koheles is read by many communities on Shabbos Chol P.26 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
HaMoed, and when we head outside for the ability to take stock of our lives and blessings unencumbered by the trappings of our “permanent” homes. We sit in the shade of the Sukkah, which represents the shadow of Hashem’s protection, and we reflect. Certainly, we have a mitzva to rejoice, and to be “only happy,” but it’s a happiness born of a keen awareness of where we are succeeding and where we need to change things up. But let’s go back to my shiva call, and let me share with you the idea I had. I flew into the airport that morning, and rented a car for the day. Entering the address in my GPS, I drove to
the home. As I slowly proceeded down the block, I looked for a place to park. Baruch Hashem, I wasn’t the only visitor, and as I looked for a good spot, I saw someone leaving. I waited for him to pull away and slipped into the parking space he’d had. I was especially pleased because it was a warm summer day, and the sun would make the interior of the car so hot. This spot was under a tree, which provided nice shade. I knew that when I returned, the car would be cooler and more pleasant to be in. At least, that’s how I planned it. But of course, when we have our ideas and our brilliant flashes of insight, Hashem often says, as if with an apologetic smile, “Yeah, sorry, no.” When I walked out of the home some 90 minutes later, the sun had moved, and while the cars ahead of me were in the shade, bright sunshine flooded the windows of my rental car. I couldn’t help but smile to myself that I’d calculated so incorrectly, and Hashem had His way anyway. Some people would have been mad or frustrated to have miscalculated like that, but I’ve learned to laugh it off and appreciate the fact that I don’t have the omniscience of my Creator. I trust Him to have the right plan, so if I thought I wanted one thing, but got another, it’s
“We can try all we want, but the results aren’t in our power to control” how it was meant to be. On Sukkos, we recall the fact that Hashem provided us with shade and shelter in the desert. It wasn’t in the form of stately homes or even broad tents. It was some sort of Heavenly cloud according to R’ Eliezer, or actual little huts according to R’ Akiva. (Sukkah 11b) The point is, if it were up to us, we would have wanted the security of the well-constructed house. Hashem had a different plan. He wanted us to dwell in something where we couldn’t depend on man-made stability. Instead, Hashem wanted us to leave the planning to Him. He led us through the desert with a cloud by day and a fire at night, thus obscuring our forward vision and teaching us to rely on Him, not ourselves. While we can think we know what we’re doing, like I did when I parked my car and thought I was protecting myself, we need to keep in mind that only Hashem is able to protect us. He knows what’s best for us better than we do, and maintains His plans for us. We can try all we want, but the results aren’t in our power to control. When we can understand that – and be OK with it – then we’ll have it made in the shade. 2026 – All Rights Reserved Did you enjoy this column? Feedback is welcome and appreciated. E-mail info@JewishSpeechWriter.com to share your thoughts. I doubt anyone actually reads this. Prove me wrong.
Yehuda (773) 848-6949 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.27
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
The World Is Open to the Kosher Traveler There was a time when planning a kosher vacation often began with a short list of limitations. Which cities had kosher restaurants? How much food could be packed into a suitcase? Would there be a synagogue within walking distance of the hotel? Could a family enjoy an ambitious itinerary without spending half the trip worrying about the next meal? Today, the better question is not where a kosher traveler can go, but where the traveler wants to go. The modern kosher vacation can include a safari in South Africa, a drive along California’s Pacific coast, a yacht excursion among Croatia’s islands, or a journey from Sydney to the Great Barrier Reef. The possibilities have expanded because travel planning has become more creative, connected and personalized. A destination does not need a kosher restaurant on every corner to become accessible. It needs careful preparation, dependable local relationships and a plan designed around the traveler’s standards. That planning begins long before the flight. A truly tailor-made itinerary considers far more than hotels and attractions. It asks what level of kashrut the traveler requires, P.28 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
whether anyone has allergies or mobility needs, how energetic the family wants each day to be, and where the group should be for Shabbat. Flights, transfers, touring, meals and downtime must work together. The best itinerary should feel natural once the vacation begins, even if considerable coordination took place behind the scenes. Food is central, but it is only one piece. Reliable kosher meals may come from certified local caterers, trusted restaurants, advance deliveries or arrangements coordinated with a hotel. Day trips require portable meals that travel well. Remote destinations may need coolers, reheating equipment
or detailed instructions for hotel staff. Shabbat may require a hotel within walking distance of a synagogue, traditional keys instead of electronic access, prearranged meals and enough time on Friday to settle in without rushing. This is the philosophy behind Bespoke Kosher Travel, a London-based specialist that creates individualized kosher trips around the world. Its team handles complete travel planning—not only food— including accommodations, transportation, private guides and experiences. According to the company, meals are prepared under reliable local kosher supervision, with cer-
tified kosher caterers used at each destination. Travelers also receive practical information about local kosher facilities, synagogues and Shabbat times before departure, with support continuing during the trip. Personalization matters because no two kosher travelers are identical. A couple celebrating an anniversary may want beautiful hotels, private touring and slow evenings. A family with young children may need adjoining rooms, shorter drives and attractions that hold everyone’s attention. Grandparents traveling with several generations may prioritize comfort, accessibility and unhurried meals. Business travelers may need efficiency and dependable food delivered around a demanding schedule. Over the next nine installments, Kosher Journeys will explore some of the world’s most exciting possibilities— from Australia and China to Morocco, Croatia and Sri Lanka. Each destination presents its own combination of culture, landscape, Jewish connection and logistical challenge. Yet the larger lesson remains constant: keeping kosher does not have to make the world smaller. With knowledgeable planning, it can become part of a richer and more meaningful way to see it. A useful way to understand this change is to separate ac-
cess from infrastructure. A place may have very little permanent kosher infrastructure and still be workable when meals, transportation and accommodations are coordinated in advance. The reverse is also true: a city with several kosher restaurants may produce a difficult trip if the hotel is far from the community, Friday transportation is uncertain or daily touring leaves no realistic time to eat. Successful planning therefore begins with the complete rhythm of each day, not with a restaurant search. Travelers should also distinguish between preferences and requirements. A preferred hotel view can be changed; a serious allergy protocol, mobility limitation or specific kosher standard cannot. Writing those requirements down early allows guides, hotels and food providers to respond clearly. It also exposes weak points before deposits are paid. If a remote excursion cannot safely accommodate a traveler, the itinerary can be redesigned around an equally meaningful experience instead of forcing a bad fit.
For some, memorable kosher journeys may include Jewish connection without making it the only subject of the trip. A historic synagogue, a local family, a cemetery or a small community can deepen a destination that is already compelling for its landscape and culture. That balance matters. Jewish travellers do not need to choose between seeing the wider world and maintaining Jewish practice. Thoughtful preparation makes it possible to do both with confidence, curiosity and enough flexibility to enjoy the unexpected.
WHY BESPOKE KOSHER TRAVEL MAKES THIS TRIP WORK Bespoke Kosher Travel’s advantage is that it connects every moving part. The company builds each itinerary from scratch, coordinating flights, hotels, transfers, touring, kosher meals and Shabbat needs, then remains available during the journey. Travelers receive one coherent plan instead of having to manage several disconnected providers themselves. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.29
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
FROM MAXWELL STREET TO TOUHY AVENUE
The Story of Jewish Chicago How waves of immigration, a great migration west, and a return to tradition built one of America’s most vibrant Orthodox communities Ask someone at a trivia night in West Rogers Park how many shuls sit on a single stretch of Touhy Avenue, and they might actually know the answer: 13. It’s the kind of fact that sounds like an exaggeration until you walk the block yourself and count the mechitzos through the windows. Today’s West Rogers Park — kippot and black hats on California Avenue, sheitels at the Devon Avenue bakeries, an eruv stretching from the Yellow Line tracks to the North Shore Channel — is one of the most concentrated Orthodox communities in the country. But it didn’t start there. Jewish Chicago’s story runs through the Near West Side, the “Great Vest Side” of Lawndale, and a decades-long migration north before it ever reached Touhy Avenue, and it’s a story of a community that got less religious before it got more religious again.
The first arrivals Jewish settlement in Chicago dates back almost to the city’s founding. The first Jewish residents arrived in the frontier town by 1841, just eight years after Chicago incorporated as P.30 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
a village, and by 1847 the community had grown enough to establish Chicago’s first synagogue, Kehilath Anshe Mayriv — KAM, still active today as a Reform congregation. Those earliest Chicago Jews were largely immigrants from Germany and Central Europe who settled on the South Side, and while many had come from traditionally observant backgrounds, the Reform movement was already making inroads among them by the late 1800s. The community Orthodox Chicago actually descends from arrived later, and from a different direction. Starting in the 1870s and accelerating through the 1880s, waves of Eastern European Jews — fleeing pogroms and grinding poverty in Poland
and Russia — began arriving by the tens of thousands. They settled first in the Maxwell Street area on the Near West Side, one of the poorest immigrant neighborhoods in the city, where pushcart peddlers crowded the streets and Yiddish was the language of commerce as much as of home. At its peak, Chicago’s Jewish population was the third-largest of any city in the world, trailing only New York and Warsaw.
The Great Vest Side As Maxwell Street families found their economic footing, they moved west — and the neighborhood they built, North Lawndale, became something extraordinary. For nearly half a century, in the first decades of
the 20th century, Lawndale was home to as much as 40 percent of all Jews in Chicago. Locals called it the “Great Vest Side,” and the numbers back up the nickname: more than 70 synagogues packed into one neighborhood, along with the Jewish People’s Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, and dozens of Jewish bookstores, kosher butchers, and Yiddish theaters lining Roosevelt Road. On warm summer nights, families without air conditioning would take their pillows to Douglas Park and sleep outside rather than swelter indoors. A young Golda Meir lived there before she made aliyah to British Mandate Palestine. So did the journalist Irv Kupcinet and federal judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz. Lawndale wasn’t just residential density — it was institutional infrastructure that still shapes Chicago Jewish life a century later. In 1919, a small beis medrash for training rabbis opened with ten students; by 1921 it had formally become Hebrew Theological College, known ever since as the “Skokie Yeshiva” even though it didn’t move to Skokie for another 37 years. And in 1932, Chicago’s Orthodox rabbis organized the Chicago Rabbinical Council — the cRc — which would go on to become the largest regional Orthodox rabbinical body in North America and one of the world’s most recognized kosher certification agencies. But Lawndale’s Jewish chapter closed almost as fast as it opened. Beginning in the
1940s and accelerating sharply through the 1950s, the neighborhood’s demographics shifted; by 1960, a community that had been overwhelmingly Jewish a decade earlier had transformed entirely. Almost the entire Jewish population relocated within a few years, scattering north and northwest — to Albany Park, to the lakefront neighborhoods of Rogers Park and Uptown, and, as the postwar GI Bill put homeownership within reach of a new generation, into a quiet neighborhood called West Ridge.
The turn away — and back Here’s where the story gets interesting for anyone trying to understand today’s Orthodox Chicago: West Ridge, now known as West Rogers Park, wasn’t always the observant stronghold it is today. Families started buying homes there in the 1950s and ‘60s, and while it had a large Jewish population from the start, it was Jewish in the broadest sense — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and plenty of families for whom lox and bagels were the extent of religious practice. Rabbi Leonard Matanky, longtime rabbi of Congregation K.I.N.S. of West Rogers Park and dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy, has described a neighborhood where sunflower fields still stood where Winston Towers now rises, and where even many of the community’s Orthodox shuls had adopted mixed seating as a compromise with the Conser-
vative and Reform movements gaining ground nationally. The shift back began gradually in the 1960s, as a small core of committed Orthodox families was joined by young baalei teshuva — people raised in secular homes who were searching for a deeper connection to Torah observance. K.I.N.S. itself reinstituted a mechitza in 1994. By the 1990s, as the original generation of West Ridge homeowners passed on or moved to warmer climates, the families buying their houses were overwhelmingly young, growing, and religiously committed — and the neighborhood’s character transformed accordingly. Today’s eruv, built roughly three decades ago and bordered by the CTA Yellow Line and the North Shore Channel, both reflects and reinforces that transformation: Orthodox families specifically seek out communities where one exists. Meanwhile, just north of the city line, Skokie was living a parallel story. A German-Luxembourger farming village through the early 1900s, Skokie exploded with Jewish residents after World War II and peaked in the mid-1960s at 58 percent Jewish — the highest share of any Chicago suburb, and a haven for a significant population of Holocaust survivors. Hebrew Theological College relocated there from Lawndale in 1958, hoping a new Jewish neighborhood would rise around it the way one had around its original Douglas Boulevard building. That specific hope didn’t S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.31
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
fully materialize — but Skokie became, and remains, a major hub of Chicago Jewish life, home to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and, alongside West Rogers Park, to Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Chicago’s oldest Jewish day school.
Yehuda Appel, M.S., CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathologist
Building the institutions Ida Crown’s own history traces this same westward-then-northward arc. Founded in 1942 by leaders of the Associated Talmud Torahs and Hebrew Theological College, it opened on the West Side as Chicago Jewish Academy with just 42 students — the first Jewish day school established outside of New York. Its founders wanted something that didn’t yet exist in American Jewish education: a rigorous dual curriculum of Judaic and general studies that would let graduates be fully observant Jews and fully engaged Americans at once. More than 4,000 students have graduated since, and today the school — like Hebrew Theological College and so many of the institutions built in Lawndale — anchors itself in the northern corridor its founders’ children and grandchildren settled. The Chicago Rabbinical Council followed a similar path from local necessity to national institution. What began in 1932 as Chicago’s rabbis organizing to serve their own congregations’ kashrus needs has grown into a certification agency whose symbol appears on P.32 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
products worldwide, alongside a beis din that handles gittin, conversions, and halachic arbitration not just for Chicago but for much of the Midwest and beyond.
Chicago Jewry today The most recent comprehensive count, the 2020 Metropolitan Chicago Jewish Population Study, put the number at 319,600 Jewish adults and children across roughly 175,800 households — a modest increase from a decade earlier, with about 120,000 living within Chicago’s city limits and the remainder spread across the suburbs. The Orthodox share of that population is concentrated overwhelmingly in West Rogers Park and Skokie, with smaller pockets in neighboring
suburbs like Lincolnwood and Northbrook, but the density and institutional depth in those two communities alone — dozens of shuls, day schools from preschool through yeshiva gedolah, kosher establishments up and down Devon and Dempster — rivals far larger Jewish population centers. It’s a community that has now spent a century moving west, then north, shedding some of its observance along the way and then, remarkably, rebuilding it stronger than before. The families davening this Sukkos in the shuls of West Rogers Park and Skokie are, in a very real sense, the great-grandchildren of the peddlers who worked Maxwell Street with a pushcart and a prayer. The neighborhood changed four times over. The mesorah didn’t.
VOICE THERAPY
ARTICULATION THERAPY
Is your voice hoarse, tired, strained, or unreliable?
Is your child hard to understand, or still unclear despite previous therapy?
We specialize in helping you develop a healthier, easier voice.
We specialize in persistent articulation challenges.
THERAPY BUILT AROUND YOU
✓ Individualized treatment ✓ In-home & teletherapy options ✓ BCBS PPO & Cigna PPO in-network CALL FOR A
FREE CONSULTATION
773-505-1113 info@appelstsolutions.com
appelstsolutions.com S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.33
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
Your Chol Hamoed Sukkos Guide to Chicago Orchards, museums, kosher eats, and free-admission days for the whole family — timed exactly to this year’s calendar Sukkos in Chicago means one thing every parent already knows: five days of Chol Hamoed with kids who have zero interest in sitting still. The good news is that this year’s calendar lines up almost perfectly with peak Midwest fall — apple trees are loaded, orchards are open, and two major attractions happen to offer free admission on Chol Hamoed days themselves. Here’s where to take the family, from Erev Sukkos on September 25 through Chol Hamoed running Monday, September 28 through Thursday, October 1.
Kosher Eats in West Rogers Park and Skokie Start any Chol Hamoed itinerary with the food corridor the community already knows well. Devon Avenue in West Rogers Park remains the anchor, with Taboun Grill’s kebabs a longtime neighborhood favorite, and the Devon strip carrying multiple cRc-certified pizza and bakery options for a quick lunch between stops. North in Lincolnwood and Skokie, the options multiply. Nuovo Chicago serves Italian dairy in Lincolnwood, Dairy Star and Ta’boun Grill sit a few blocks apart in Skokie, and Great Chicago Food & Beverage on Devon covers meat. Families heading up to Highland Park for the day can stop at Mizrahi Grill on Skokie Valley Road — a good option for keeping a Highland Park outing anchored to a real sit-down meal rather than a packed lunch.
P.34 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
Apple Picking and Fall Farm Days This is the part of the guide where the calendar does you a favor. Peak apple season in Chicagoland runs right through Chol Hamoed, and several working orchards are within a manageable drive of the city’s Orthodox neighborhoods. All Seasons Orchard in Woodstock, about an hour northwest of the city, has over 15,000 apple trees, a wagon ride out to the orchard, a pumpkin patch, and a corn maze. County Line Orchard in Hobart, Indiana, about an hour southeast, adds a U-pick sunflower patch, a large corn maze, and a kids’ farm with animals to the apple picking. Kuipers Family Farm in Maple Park grows a dozen-plus apple varieties. Note that strollers and wagons aren’t allowed in Kuipers’ orchard rows, which matters for families with younger kids. Sundays tend to be the busiest picking day at all three farms — a Tuesday or Wednesday Chol Hamoed visit will mean a much calmer trip and shorter lines for the wagon rides.
Two Free-Admission Days That Land on Chol Hamoed Worth building a day around: the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe has Illinois resident free-admission days on September 29 and October 1 this year — both fall squarely inside Chol Hamoed. Non-members need to preregister online since the garden caps capacity, but general admission itself is free. The 385-acre grounds have enough paths, bridges, and islands to fill a full morning, and it’s an easy walk rather than a heavy-duty outing, which makes it a good option for families with a range of ages. The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park, home to the Judy Istock Butterfly Haven and hands-on nature exhibits, offers suggested-donation admission every Thursday for Illinois residents — which lines up with Chol Hamoed’s last day, October 1. It’s a small museum, walkable in two or three hours, and works well paired with the zoo next door.
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.35
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
Museums and Indoor Options The Lincoln Park Zoo is free every day, year-round — a reliable fallback for any afternoon that needs filling, rain or shine on the walkways. Pair it with Peggy Notebaert directly across the park for a full day without spending a dollar on admission. The Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park is open daily and remains the highest-payoff single destination in the city for kids who like hands-on science — the coal mine tour and the giant model train layout are still the exhibits kids talk about years later. Expect a full day if you go, and buy tickets online in advance during peak fall weeks. The Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier is geared toward the toddler-through-10 crowd, with a dinosaur dig, a water play area, and a climbing schooner. It’s a good rainy-day option, though Navy Pier itself gets crowded on weekends, so a weekday Chol Hamoed visit is the better move. The Adler Planetarium on the Museum Campus rounds out the trio — full-size theater shows, hands-on space exhibits, and views of the skyline from the lakefront that are worth the stop on their own. It pairs naturally with a Museum Campus day if the family wants to make a full outing of the lakefront rather than splitting the day between neighborhoods.
Parks, Playgrounds, and Lower-Key Options Not every Chol Hamoed day needs a destination trip. Skokie Sports Park on Oakton Street has mini golf, a driving range, and batting cages — a solid hour or two without much planning required. Closer to the community itself, the parks scattered through West Rogers Park and Skokie make for an easy afternoon between bigger outings, especially on a day when the family already has a sukkah lunch on the calendar and just needs somewhere for the kids to run afterward. For families staying local, this is also the week to lean on the neighborhood itself — a walk down Devon, an ice cream stop, a visit to a friend’s sukkah. Not every day of Chol Hamoed has to be a production, and after five days of touring orchards and museums, the low-key afternoons are often the ones the kids remember just as fondly. Whatever the itinerary ends up being, the goal is the same one it’s always been on Chol Hamoed: get the kids outside, keep the simcha of the Yom Tov going, and build the kind of memories that make them ask about next year’s trip before this one is even over. P.36 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
We put your business first on Google and AI search and turn your website into a sales engine that brings in calls while you sleep.
Izzy FOUNDER, RANK LOGIC CEO Talk to me directly. Not a sales rep.
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.37
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
Israel’s Tourism Industry Earns 13 Honors in 2026 World Travel Awards Awards recognize Israeli hotels, resorts, tour operators, travel agencies, and other tourism businesses ATLANTA — Israel’s tourism industry has earned 13 honors in the 2026 World Travel Awards, recognizing businesses across the country’s hospitality, travel, tour, and tourism services sectors. The annual awards, announced following the World Travel Awards Middle East ceremony in Dubai, include recognition for Israeli hotels and resorts as well as tour operators, travel agencies, destination management, car rental and online travel services. Among this year’s Israeli honorees are Carlton Tel Aviv, named Israel’s Leading Hotel; The American Colony Hotel, named Israel’s Leading Boutique Hotel; The David Kempinski, named Israel’s Leading Business Hotel; and InterContinental David Tel Aviv, named Israel’s Leading Conference Hotel. Six Senses Shaharut was named Israel’s Leading Resort, while The Ritz-Carlton Suite at The Ritz-Carlton, Herzliya received the award for Israel’s Leading Hotel Suite. The awards also recognized a broad range of tourism professionals and businesses. P.38 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
You dream it. We plan it. Luxury, ease, and personal service, every step of the way.
Kenes Tours was named Israel’s Leading Tour Operator; Diesenhaus Group received Israel’s Leading Travel Agency award; Ofakim – FCM was named Israel’s Leading Travel Management Company; Eshet Incentives & Conferences was named Israel’s Leading Destination Management Company; Issta was recognized as Israel’s Leading Online Travel Agency; and Avis received Israel’s Leading Car Rental Company award. Lorin Maugery, Consul Director for the Israel Ministry of Tourism, United States Southern Region, said: “Congratulations to all of this year’s winners. Their recognition reflects the incredible people and busi-
Carlton Tel Aviv
nesses that welcome visitors to Israel every day. And with U.S. airlines returning, now is a great time for American travelers to come experience Israel for themselves.” Delta resumed daily nonstop service between New York and Tel Aviv on September 6, followed by United Airlines’ return to Newark–Tel Aviv service on September 8. Additional U.S. service is planned for w the coming months, including non-stop service out of Atlanta in December. The World Travel Awards, now in its 33rd year, recognizes organizations and destinations across the global travel and tourism industry.
From five-star kosher cruises to custom getaways and family adventures, we bring your travel dreams to life with exceptional service at unmatched value. We handle every detail so you can focus on creating memories.
Let’s plan your next journey.
Adam & Rivki Elkins 872-203-4314 ElkinsTravel1@gmail.com ElkinsTravel.com S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.39
COMMUNITY NEWS
C O M M U N I T Y N E W S // E D U C AT I O N M AT T E R S
AI and the Future of Jewish Education By Dr. Chaim Botwinick
In 1440, when Gutenberg invented the printing press, many rabbinic leaders and scholars were very skeptical, worried and concerned. They felt that if anyone could print a book, what would happen to the scribe and to the careful mesora (transmission) of the Torah? But within 50 years, the printing press gave us the first printed Shas, and the Shulchan Aruch in every home, and a revolution in Jewish learning that led directly to the flourishing of the modern yeshiva. Friends, in a sense, artificial intelligence can be viewed as the “Gutenberg press of our generation”. Jewish day schools and yeshivot have a choice: They can be concerned about AI, ban it, or harness it to do what we have always dreamed of doing — educating every child as if he or she were an only child. Here is what the future may be holding out, whether we are ready for it or not.
The End of One-SizeFits-All Judaics This is the most profound change. Today, in a typical 5th grade Chumash class, you have 22 students. Three can leyn beautifully, five P.40 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
“We have waited 2,000 years for a tool that can help us teach every child like an only child” struggle to decode, seven can translate but do not understand Rashi, and seven are bored because they already learned this parsha in camp. The teacher teaches to the middle, and unfortunately almost no one gets what they need. As envisioned, within 3 years, AI will make this model completely obsolete.
Imagine this instead….. Chumash with an AI Chavruta. Each child opens his Chumash on a tablet. The AI knows his reading level, his past quizzes, and his inter-
ests. For the struggling reader, it reads the pasuk aloud and highlights the shorashim. For the advanced student, it immediately asks: “how does Rashi’s answer here contradict what he said in Parshat Bereishit?” It is infinitely patient, and never embarrassed to be asked the same question 10 times.
Gemara with Instant Background A 9th grader hits the words “kal v’Chomer.” Instead of waiting for the teacher or Rebbe to explain while 15 other kids lose focus, he asks his AI tutor “explain kal v’Chomer to me like I’m 12, and give me 2 examples from a Gemara.” In seconds he has it, with sources. The Rebbe is now free to do what only a Rebbe can do — teach lomdus, inspire, and ask the deep question that AI cannot. In an AI educational environment the teacher is never replaced. In fact, the teacher is elevated. Not unlike other professions, the fear that many teachers think about is whether AI will replace them. But in reality, a teacher using AI will replace a teacher not using AI. AI will take away 40% of what frustrates and exhausts teachers today such as writ-
ing lesson plans from scratch, making 3 versions of the same worksheet, grading spelling quizzes, writing first drafts of report cards, and answering “what did I miss yesterday?” What will be left is the work that only a human can do Another use of AI can be seen through being a dugma ishit which is a living example of a Torah observant Jew. AI can explain what chesed is. But, only a teacher can show it by how he treats the sad, frustrated or lonely child at recess. As we know, a student doesn’t approach his Rebbe because the Rebbe knows Tosfos. He comes because he is struggling with faith, or with his parents’ divorce, or with anxiety. AI can give information. A Rebbe offers empathy and a kind heart. Finally, no child ever falls in love with Torah through ahavat torah because of a perfect worksheet. They do however fall in love because a teacher’s eyes light up when he learns. The best day schools and yeshivot will eventually use AI to automate the paperwork so that teachers can focus on the core of their jobs, namely the centerpiece or neshama of their work.
What Becomes More Important, Not Less In a world where any child can ask AI to write a beautiful comprehensive essay on the topic of Yetziat Mitzrayim,
translate a page of Gemara, or summarize Ramban’s view — what is left to be taught? The answer is… everything that AI cannot do. Artificial intelligence can give you information from the internet. It cannot give you a mesorah. Who did your rabbe learn from? What does your community believe? Why does your family adhere to a particular minhag? In a world of instant answers, who you learn from matters more than ever. Day schools and yeshivot will need to double down on connecting students to living rabbis and teachers, not just texts. As we know, AI has no conscience, no yetzer hara and no free will. It can write an essay about honesty, but it cannot choose to be honest when lying is easier. Our schools must move from grading only knowledge to also cultivating and measuring integrity, empathy, resilience, and yirat shamayim. Those are the un-automatable skills. Another important AI man-
ifestation is critical thinking and truth-seeking. More often than not, AI hallucinates. As such, it can up sources. It says things confidently that may be false. In a world of deepfakes and AI-generated midrashim, the most important skill we can teach a Jewish child is how do you know if something is true? How do you check a source and how do you ask a shaila to a real posek? The Gemara’s critical thinking — “Mai nafka mina? — what is the difference?” — becomes a survival skill. With regard to Israel, Jewish Identity and Jewish Peoplehood it is important to note that AI can translate Hebrew into English and visa versa, but it cannot cause you to have goose bumps when you stand at the Kotel. It cannot explain why you are emotionally moved or cry when you hear Hatikvah after October 7th or when you reach the peak of Masada. Jewish peoplehood, connections to Israel, and collecS E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.41
C O M M U N I T Y N E W S // E D U C AT I O N M AT T E R S
tive memory become the core curriculum, because they are things you must experience together, in a community, and as a community.
The Real Dangers We Must Confront Now As we can imagine, when talking about the impact of AI, all is not rosy and day schools that ignore the dangers and pitfalls of AI will eventually pay a very heavy price. Today, our society as a whole is experiencing a “cheating crisis” of monumental proportion. . To be sure, if we give a take-home essay on “what does the Akedah teach us about faith?” AI can write a better essay than a 10th grader in 8 seconds. If we keep assessing the same way, we are teaching dishonesty. We must shift from assessing product to assessing process — oral exams, in-class writing, chavruta learning where the struggle is visible. This “loss of struggle” is probably the greatest part of learning. Gemara is the struggle — the ameilus (determination). The hour you stare at a Tosfos and suddenly it clicks. If AI instantly gives the answer, we rob our students of the joy of discovery and curiosity. Excellent schools will need to create “AI-free zones” and times — just like we have phone-free times. Sometimes you need to wrestle with the text yourself in order for it to make sense or be meaningful. P.42 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
COMMUNITY NEWS
“AI can give information. A Rebbe offers empathy and a kind heart” Halachic and Hashkafic Questions Is it lashon hara to ask AI to summarize what people say about someone? Can you use AI to write a dvar Torah and present it as your own? Is an AI-generated image of a rabbi disrespectful? In light of these challenges, our poskim will need to lead this conversation, and our schools will eventually need to teach digital halacha and ethics from 5th grade. Moving Carefully into the Future In the future, we will witness the evolution of smaller schools with deeper and more human characteristics. For example, we will be using fewer worksheets and more chavrutot. Fewer lectures and more Socratic discussions. AI will handle personalization, practice, and background knowledge at home, so class time can be used for what matters most, namely debate, inspiration, tefillah together, and real human connection. The school that thrives will not be the school that bans AI and pretends it’s 2026. And it will not be the school that lets
AI do all the teaching and fires teachers. It will be the school that says we have waited 2,000 years for a tool that can help us teach every child like an only child. Now that HaShem has given it to us, we must use it wisely — not to replace Torah, but to bring more children deeper into Torah than ever before. Remember - the printing press did not replace our rabbis or master teachers. It did however make their Torah spread to every home in our community, AI will do the same — if we have the willingness and wisdom to use it. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Chaim Botwinick is a senior executive coach and an organizational consultant . He served as president and CEO of the central agency for Jewish education in Baltimore and in Miami; in addition to head of school and principal for several Jewish day schools and yeshivot. As an educator, Influencer and prolific writer, he has published and lectured extensively on topics relating to education, school change, strategic planning and leadership development. Dr. Botwinick is the cofounder of LEV Consulting Associates and host of the Chinuch Horizons podcast series. He is Author of “Think Excellence: Harnessing Your Power to Succeed Beyond Greatness”, Brown Books, 2011 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.43
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
THE GOLAN AT 60:
lenge as neighboring areas trying to bring evacuated families home. “We are not in a competition,” Selavan said. He sees the Golan’s stability as a responsibility to help northern communities facing a more difficult recovery.
From Resilience to Renewal Deputy Mayor Yaakov Selavan discusses rebuilding Northern Israel, border security, PTSD, and the Golan’s relationship with Jewish communities worldwide. As the Golan Heights prepares to mark 60 years since its liberation and the renewal of Jewish settlement, its leaders are looking beyond celebration. They want to use the milestone to help rebuild Northern Israel and address urgent national challenges. The Community Voice sat down with Yaakov Selavan, Deputy Mayor of the Golan Heights, to discuss the region’s resilience and its role in the North’s future.
A Birthday Gift to Israel For Selavan, the anniversary is not merely an occasion to
look back. It is an opportunity to ask what the Golan can contribute to Israel’s future. “In different regions in Israel, they celebrate major anniversaries with huge festivals and parties,” he said. “We decided that we want to give a gift to the State of Israel in honor of our 60th anniversary.” That gift has two components: helping Northern Israel move from rebuilding to thriving, and confronting the expanding PTSD crisis among soldiers, reservists, and civilians. Selavan believes the Golan can lead because it has spent decades building a strong community. Although known for its scenery, agriculture, and wineries, its greatest resource is its people.
“The last three years have taught us that we need each other” Unity as a Way of Life The Golan’s strength, Selavan explained, is rooted in its earliest years. Its original secular, liberal pioneers deliberately built a region that included Israelis across the religious and political spectrum. Religious communities—many political-
ly conservative—were established with their support. From the beginning, diverse residents learned to live together. “There are arguments, but there is always a joint purpose,” Selavan said. “There is always a joint mission, and there is unity here.” Despite today’s tense political climate, the Golan treats unity as a strategic necessity rather than a slogan.
A Community That Stayed Under Fire That unity was tested following October 7. According to Selavan, more than 2,500 rockets P.44 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
and explosive drones targeted the region, tens of thousands of acres were burned, and 18 Israelis were killed in the area, including Golan Regional Council residents. Yet the Golan became the only region along Israel’s northern border whose residents did not evacuate. “Not one resident left the Golan,” Selavan said. “We are very proud that we stood our ground.” Residents endured attacks, disruption, loss, and trauma. But because their communities remained intact, the region does not face the same chal-
Turning Unity Into Government Action That approach helped the Golan secure major government investment. It became the first northern region to receive its own resolution under Israel’s rebuilding program: approximately one billion shekels for the Golan Regional Council and Katzrin. The two municipalities succeeded by presenting one strategy and dividing the budget equally, although the regional council covers more territory and serves more residents. Katzrin has approximately 8,000 residents and is expected to grow significantly. A stronger Katzrin, he said, means better services throughout the Golan. “We understood that growing a real capital city is in our interest,” Selavan said. By approaching the government together, the councils avoided municipal rivalries that often delay major projects. Security Beyond the Syrian Border Security remains central to the Golan’s future. Shortly before the interview, Selavan joined the region’s local leaders for an IDF-led tour inside Syria. The tour showed them the S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.45
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS buffer zone established after the Assad regime’s collapse. Israeli forces entered in December 2024, Selavan said, to prevent hostile forces from reaching Israeli communities. “I sleep well at night knowing that I am not the front line,” he said. “There are soldiers in front of me, beyond the border.” Selavan described Syria as perhaps the region’s most unpredictable security arena. He cited its new Islamist leadership, remaining ISIS cells, Iranian-linked operatives, and growing Turkish influence. Even with Iran’s regional network weakened, he said, local contacts remain and can be paid to gather intelligence or assist attacks. The tour also highlighted the vulnerability of Syria’s Druze, Christian, Kurdish, Alawite, and Circassian minorities. Selavan said the IDF is protecting some border communities and providing humanitarian and medical assistance. Israel has a special obligation toward southern Syria’s Druze, he explained, who are relatives of Druze citizens comprising roughly half of the Golan’s population. Protecting them is both a moral and strategic interest.
Civilian Partnerships as Defense Selavan described several layers of defense: local emergency teams, IDF positions along the border, the buffer zone inside Syria, and stable Druze communities farther east. P.46 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
the same way,” he said. “Their support was felt in every home in the Golan.” The Golan is now seeking recognition from additional countries and promoting partnerships in agriculture, water management, renewable energy, and technology. Recognition, Selavan explained, can remove barriers to business, research, and philanthropy.
hostile groups from operating nearby. “This is a strategic and security issue, but it is also a moral issue,” Selavan said.
That final layer requires more than military power. Economic cooperation, agriculture, employment, and civilian relationships can stabilize the border while improving daily life. The Golan’s research centers could share agricultural technology with Druze farmers in southern Syria, improving productivity, food security, and income. Permitting some Syrian Druze to work in Israel could also have a dramatic impact: a day’s Israeli wages, Selavan said, may equal a month’s income in Syria. Economic stability would give local communities a greater interest in preventing Iranian agents, ISIS cells, or other
Why International Recognition Matters The United States’ 2019 recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan was far more than symbolic, Selavan said. It opened doors previously closed to the region. He cited the Shamir Research Institute, whose location once obstructed American partnerships and grants. Recognition made those relationships more accessible. It also helped expand philanthropic support. Since October 7, Selavan said, more than $15 million has been invested in the Golan by philanthropic organizations, primarily from the United States. “Without our American brothers and sisters—from the Jewish federations and other organizations—I do not think pioneering life in Northern Israel could have continued in
Confronting the PTSD Crisis The second part of the Golan’s “gift” to Israel addresses a crisis that will continue long after the fighting ends. Selavan cited projections that tens of thousands of wounded soldiers will require long-term support, with many experiencing PTSD or emotional distress. In the Golan alone, he said, more than 300 residents have been formally recognized with PTSD, with hundreds more seeking recognition or care. The region believes its natural environment and agriculture can become part of the response. Approximately 30 percent of the Golan is protected natural land, alongside farms producing fruit, cattle, and wine. The Golan is developing farms where soldiers, reservists, and others experiencing trauma can participate in structured rehabilitation with trained professionals. The flexible model can provide occasional, weekly, or extended support.
The program is now being developed as a national initiative, with interest from government ministries and nonprofit organizations. Selavan believes it represents what the Golan can offer Israel: healing through nature, purposeful work, and a resilient community.
Strengthening the Diaspora Connection The war also transformed the Golan’s relationship with Jewish communities abroad. Before October 7, Selavan acknowledged, many residents did not fully appreciate the importance of that connection. That changed when Jewish communities worldwide mobilized to support the region. The response sparked an effort to build lasting relationships rather than connections based only on emergencies. One organization helping turn that vision into action is Friends of the Golan Heights (FGH), a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the relationship between the Golan and communities throughout the United States. Working in coordination with the Golan Regional Council and Katzrin, FGH helps connect American supporters with projects focused on resilience, education, community development, agriculture, and long-term regional growth. Rather than responding only during times of crisis, the organization seeks to build permanent partnerships between American communities and
the people of the Golan. Its goal is to give supporters a direct and meaningful role in the region’s future while creating lasting relationships between families, institutions, and community leaders on both sides of the ocean. The Golan is now launching its first formal partnership with the Jewish community of Greater Tucson and Southern Arizona. A delegation plans to visit in November, beginning what both communities hope will become a deep, two-way relationship. Selavan stressed that Golan residents are not simply coming to teach Diaspora Jews. They also want to learn about Jewish life outside Israel. “The last three years have taught us that we need each other,” he said. “We share the same faith, and if we work together properly, we can also build a shared destiny.” From rebuilding Northern Israel and strengthening border security to treating PTSD and deepening ties with world Jewry, the Golan is building a model for what determined communities can accomplish when they act with unity and purpose. Through partnerships with organizations such as Friends of the Golan Heights, that mission can now be shared with communities across the United States. To learn more about the Golan or get involved Reach out to Motti - 9549108336 Friendsofgolanheights@gmail.com
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.47
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
Building Proud Jewish Leaders: INSIDE THE GROWTH OF MIDWEST NCSY IN CHICAGO For generations, the Chicago chapter of Midwest NCSY has been part of the fabric of Jewish life in the city—helping teenagers find their place in the Jewish community and, in many cases, watching those same teenagers grow into the parents and leaders shaping it today. Rabbi Micah Greenland has seen that impact from a unique vantage point. As International Director of NCSY, he oversees the organization’s work across the world. But Chicago is also home, giving him a firsthand view of what NCSY’s impact can look like over generations. “Living in this community, I can look around and see people who grew up through NCSY who are now leading our shuls, schools and communal organizations,” Greenland said. “You see teenagers become parents, professionals and community leaders, and you realize that the impact of reaching a teen doesn’t end when they graduate. In many ways, that’s where it begins.” That multigenerational impact is part of what makes Chicago’s story distinctive. NCSY has been active here since its earliest years, creating a legacy that today’s Chicago chapter of Midwest NCSY is continuing with a new generation of teenP.48 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
Rabbi Micah Greenland leading Havdalah on a shabbaton
agers. Today, Chicago operates through two main geographic chapters. Its North Shore chapter serves communities including Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Northbrook, and Highland Park, while its Chicago chapter reaches young people in Chicago, Skokie, Lincolnwood, Peterson Park, and surrounding neighborhoods. Its programming is designed to meet teenagers wherever they are. Some initiatives focus on Jewish students attending public schools, while others bring together teenagers from both public schools and Jewish day schools. There are also specialized programs such as 4G, a girls-only initiative primarily
serving students from Jewish high schools. Several hundred girls participate in 4G events throughout the year, while hundreds of additional teenagers attend NCSY-branded Shabbatonim and other regional gatherings. Through Jewish Student Union clubs, better known as JSU, NCSY Chicago also reaches nearly 1,000 students inside public schools.Junior NCSY, designed for students in sixth through eighth grades, has also experienced significant growth. The reason for that growth is simple: young people are searching for meaningful experiences. Teenagers may already have
access to sports, clubs, and other extracurricular activities, but NCSY offers something different—an opportunity to explore Yiddishkeit, develop Jewish pride, find inspiration, and become part of something larger than themselves.
A Generation Ready to Take Action Today’s teenagers do not want to remain on the sidelines. They want to participate, contribute, and make a difference. In recent years, the organization has expanded its chesed initiatives and assigned a staff member to identify meaningful volunteer opportunities throughout the community. Those opportunities may involve partnering with organizations such as The ARK or supporting other local causes where teenagers can make a tangible impact. The desire to serve became especially noticeable after the COVID-19 pandemic. After years of isolation and canceled activities, teenagers were eager to leave their homes and do something purposeful. Moshe Isenberg, NCSY’s National Director of Strategic Partnerships and a member of the Chicago Jewish community, remembers seeing that desire to contribute firsthand during one of NCSY’s relief missions. These missions bring participants to communities such as New Orleans or Puerto Rico, where hurricanes and other disasters have left homes and
“These teens weren’t looking for another activity. They wanted the chance to do something meaningful” neighborhoods in need of repair. The teenagers spend several days painting, rebuilding, and assisting local residents while also sharing a meaningful Shabbos experience. On one particularly hot day, Isenberg remembers the teens covered in paint after hours of physical work. He asked why they had chosen to spend their time working instead of relaxing at home. “We relaxed for years during COVID,” one of the teens told him. “Now we have to do something.” “That answer really stayed with me,” Isenberg said. “These teens weren’t looking for another activity. They wanted the chance to do something mean-
ingful, to help someone else and to put their Jewish values into action.”
A Lifeline for Jewish Students in Public Schools For many Jewish students in public schools, a JSU club provides something increasingly important: a place inside their own school where they can connect with other Jewish teens, ask difficult questions and feel comfortable expressing pride in who they are. Jeremy Schaechter, City Director for NCSY Chicago, has watched that need become even more pronounced since October 7. “We’ve had students walk into a club and essentially say, ‘I didn’t know there were this many other Jewish kids in my school,’” Schaechter said. “Especially since October 7, just finding one another can be incredibly powerful. They realize they have people here. They belong here, and they don’t have to hide who they are.” The clubs are open to Jewish and non-Jewish students, making them an important vehicle for bridge-building and education. But for the Jewish teens who attend, Schaechter says the impact can start with something much more basic: simply knowing they are not alone. “The club may start with pizza at lunchtime, but what we’re really building is a place where a Jewish teenager can feel comfortable being Jewish and S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.49
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS begin to understand what that means to them personally,” he said. Since October 7, the demand for that support has increased dramatically. Before the attacks, JSU operated approximately 360 clubs nationwide. Today, that number has grown to roughly 515. The organization’s national reach has expanded from approximately 15,000 students to more than 26,000. That expansion has been made possible through donors and community partners who understand the urgency of providing Jewish teenagers with the support, connection, and inspiration they need. Yet NCSY’s role is not limited to public-school students. Jewish day schools provide a strong educational foundation, but teenagers can still benefit from informal Jewish experiences outside the classroom. At Shabbatonim and 4G events, students explore meaningful questions alongside their peers. During the Yamim Noraim, for example, they may discuss what Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur truly mean and how to make their tefillos more personal and sincere. These programs introduce students to rabbis, educators, and lay leaders from across the community. In an informal environment, teenagers can engage in honest conversations, participate in projects, hear different perspectives, and encounter role models who make Jewish life P.50 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
feel relevant and inspiring. Whether a student attends public school or day school, the goal remains the same: to help each teenager grow closer to Hashem, strengthen their Yiddishkeit, and develop into the person they are capable of becoming.
Strengthening the Entire Family The impact often extends far beyond the individual teenager. A young person who returns home inspired can influence parents, siblings, and eventually an entire family. That family-centered ap-
proach is reflected in the Jewish Family Experience, a unique Chicago-area program that recently partnered with Heritage. The program reaches grade-school children and families on the North Shore, including many from Eastern European backgrounds who are seeking greater Jewish learning and connection. JFE reimagines the traditional Sunday-school model. Instead of educating children alone, it creates a learning experience for the entire family. While the children attend age-appropriate classes, their parents participate in learning
of their own. Both generations may explore the same general subject at different levels. If children and parents each learn about Rosh Hashanah, they leave with a shared topic to discuss on the drive home and around the family table. Families have described those conversations as deeply meaningful. The model demonstrates how supplementary Jewish education can become more than a weekly class—it can become the beginning of an ongoing family journey. Summers That Transform Teenagers NCSY’s summer programs are among its most powerful tools for creating lasting change. Nearly 2,000 teenagers nationwide traveled to Israel with NCSY during the most recent summer, more than with any other group. From Chicago alone, well over 100 teenagers participated in a range of summer experiences. The offerings include NCSY Kollel, TJJ—The Jerusalem Journey—for public-school students, and girls-only programs such as Michlelet and GIVE. Each program offers a different experience, but they share a common goal: giving teenagers an unforgettable summer that changes the way they see Judaism and themselves. The travel and activities may initially attract participants, but the deeper value becomes clear when they return home. Teenagers often come back with a stronger Jewish identity,
a greater sense of purpose, and the confidence to take on leadership roles. That leadership can already be seen in Chicago. Teenagers are proposing their own events, requesting opportunities to study specific Jewish topics, and helping shape programming within their schools and communities. They are no longer simply attending; they are taking ownership. This development is central to NCSY Chicago’s mission: to inspire and empower Jewish teenagers to grow toward their individual potential as Jews and as members of their communities.
Meeting a Growing Need NCSY and JSU continue to grow because the need continues to grow. More teenagers are seeking programming, more schools are requesting support, and more families are looking for opportunities to build a meaningful connection to Jewish life. At the same time, antisemitism has moved into the open. Jewish teenagers must be prepared to stand with confidence and pride, regardless of the hostility they may encounter. That requires knowledge, community, role models, and a strong sense of belonging. NCSY’s Chicago chapter aims to provide all four. The organization wants every teenager to feel proud of being Jewish, comfortable in their Judaism, and capable of
becoming a contributing member of the community. Its programs are not only about creating meaningful moments; they are about shaping a lifetime of Jewish identity and leadership. Community members can help expand that work by supporting programs in additional schools and providing the financial resources needed to reach more young people. As the demand increases, so does the opportunity to strengthen the next generation of Jewish life in Chicago. The results can already be seen in teenagers who enter an NCSY or JSU program uncertain of their place and emerge with a new outlook on Judaism, on their community, and on themselves. For Shosh Friedman, Regional Director of Midwest NCSY, that transformation is ultimately more important than any individual program or event. “We want every teen who comes through NCSY to understand that Judaism belongs to them—that they have a place in this community and something meaningful to contribute to it,” Friedman said. “Our job is to give them the experiences, relationships and confidence to discover that for themselves, and then to give them opportunities to lead.” It is a cycle Chicago has seen play out for generations: teenagers finding their Jewish footing, becoming participants and then leaders, and eventually helping shape the community for those who come after them. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.51
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
What My Peddler Ancestors Knew About Business By Shaul Wasserman
About four months ago, I started working on my family tree. I come from a small family. As a family that became observant about a decade ago, I had always wondered whether, many generations ago, maybe I was related to some type of rabbi. So I started going through the records - birth and death certificates, Ellis Island papers, census records. Census records tell you quite a bit: name, age, address, language spoken at home, occupation. I kept looking for some Wasserman relative whose occupation said rabbi. Instead, I kept finding the same things: toy peddler. Fish peddler. Fruit salesman. Tailor. At first, I was disappointed. Then I realized those records were telling me something else. Today, I’m the managing partner of a boutique accounting firm, after beginning my career at one of the largest accounting firms in the country. A few hundred businesses and a few thousand tax returns later, I’ve had the chance to see the same financial patterns repeat across industries and across the country. P.52 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
Looking back, I realize I first started noticing those patterns much earlier. My first “job” was a summer internship at the SBAC, the Small Business Advocacy Council. My father helped me get an internship downtown, where my main assignment was putting together a weekly newsletter for its small-business members. I decided to interview some of them. I wanted to understand how they thought about business, what they worried about, and what advice they would give someone just starting out. The first person I interviewed was a partner at a small law firm. His advice was simple: know your numbers. The second ran a digital marketing agency. She told me
accounting was the backbone of any business. A real estate investor, an office leasing manager, and a patent attorney all told me some version of the same thing: you have to know the numbers. At the time, I wrote it down. I didn’t yet understand how right they were. Years later, when I started my career at a large accounting firm, I learned plenty about accounting. But I also learned something about service. I saw what real service looked like when a client was important enough to get it. And I noticed who often wasn’t getting it: the small-business owner, the family operation, the person with nine employees and nearly everything he owns tied up in the business. Ironically, those are often the people who need attention the most. That experience is part of what eventually pushed me toward a boutique model: the same caliber of work, but with a relationship attached to it. You call, someone knows who you are. Someone understands the business behind the numbers. Aside from the firm, I also run a Jewish teen youth group in Boca Raton. I love working S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.53
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS with teens because you can see life very clearly with them: enormous energy, big highs, occasional lows. Business has waves too. When things are good, an owner can say, “Who cares about the numbers? I know I’m making money.” The problem is that every wave eventually comes to shore. And when the water settles, the question is whether you have enough footing to walk back out. Numbers are that footing. Twenty years after that first summer internship - and a few thousand tax returns later - I understand what those business owners were trying to tell me. It comes down to six things. 1. Know what it costs just to open the door. Before profit, before growth, know what the month costs you whether you sell a single thing or not: rent, insurance, payroll, software, vehicles, debt payments. Almost every owner can tell me what their best month looked like. Far fewer can tell me this number. Yet this is the number that tells you whether a slow week is a real problem or just a Tuesday. 2. Profit and cash are not the same animal. You can have a great year on paper and still sweat payroll on Friday. Profit tells you whether the business worked on paper. Cash tells you whether you can P.54 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
and you may discover that a relatively small group is carrying most of the business. The biggest name on your client list is not always the one paying your mortgage. The businesses that look busiest are not always the businesses that are healthiest.
make payroll on Friday. Inventory, money customers owe you, and principal payments on debt can all consume cash without showing up the way owners expect on a profit-and-loss statement. Watch cash with the same attention you give profit. 3. Your money and the business’s money are not the same money. One account and one card for the business. If everything is mixed together, you cannot tell whether the business is feeding you or whether you are quietly feeding the business. A lot of owners think they have a bookkeeping problem. Sometimes they really have what I call a cholent problem: everything is mixed together. 4. Not every dollar of revenue is worth the same. Revenue is loud. Margin is quiet. Break your sales down by job, service, or customer,
5. April is too late. A tax return is a rearview mirror. It tells you where you have been, often long after you were there. Good accounting is not about explaining last year better. It is about seeing this year early enough to do something about it. Close the books every month. Even if it takes an hour on a Sunday night, the point is to know what is happening while you can still do something about it. 6. Keep three months of footing. Keep two accounts you do not casually touch. The first is for taxes. A set percentage goes there when the money comes in. The second is your operating reserve: ideally around three months of the fixed-cost number from lesson one. That sounds conservative until you look at how thin the cushion is for many businesses. A JPMorgan Chase Institute analysis of 597,000 small businesses found that the median business held just 27 days of cash buffer, while a quarter had 13 days or less. The wave is going to come to shore. It always does. The S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.55
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
reserve is the footing that lets you walk back into the water. None of this is especially complicated. That is the part people miss. It is not complicated. It is just unglamorous. And unglamorous is often what keeps a business alive through a difficult season. Which brings me back to the family tree. Sometimes I sit at my desk with one screen open to tax work and another open to old family records. And I think about those peddlers. A fruit peddler on Maxwell Street in 1912 did not have a CFO dashboard. He had a
notebook, perhaps a spouse who was better at arithmetic than he was, and absolutely no margin for a bad guess. He knew what the crate of fruit cost him, what it had to sell for, and how much had to remain at the end of the week so he could buy the next crate. He may never have used words like margin, cash flow, or working capital. But he understood them. That arithmetic carried him through a new country, a new language, and more than one difficult season. That was his footing. The lawyer, marketer, and real estate investor I inter-
viewed when I was young were ultimately telling me the same thing my great-grandparents could have taught from a pushcart: know your numbers. I never did find the rabbi. But the word rabbi means teacher. And it turns out I may come from a long line of them after all. They just taught with a notebook and a crate of fruit. Shaul Wasserman is Managing Partner of Real Deal Accounting, a boutique accounting and advisory firm serving businesses across the country. He also runs a Jewish teen youth group in West Boca Raton, Florida. He can be reached at swasserman@realdealaccounting. com.
SwipeSaving MERCHANT PROCESSING
SAVE UP TO
100
%
on Processing Fees
Call for a FREE cost savings analysis Zero Processing Fees
Same-Day Approval
Free Equipment Included
QuickBooks Integration
No Hidden Fees
White Glove Service
Michael Abikzer SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER
☎ (917) 977-0307 ✉ Michael@swipesaving.com
Michael.SwipeSaving.com APPLY TODAY · STOP OVERPAYING
P.56 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.57
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
The Cost of Always Trying to Save Money By Joe Sharp I’ve always taken pride in finding ways to save money. I’ve renegotiated contracts, challenged assumptions, found efficiencies, eliminated unnecessary expenses, and looked for savings both large and small. Particularly in mission-driven organizations, where every dollar saved can be put toward something else that matters, that discipline is important. But experience has also taught me something that may sound strange coming from a CFO: Sometimes trying too hard to save money gets very expensive. I’ve watched the old expression “penny wise and pound foolish” come to life more than a few times. At one organization, we moved to a lower-cost payroll processor that promised both savings and better service. We got neither. Paychecks were routinely released late. There were mistakes on virtually every payroll. Turnover at the payroll company was extraordinarily high, so our business office was constantly dealing with new representatives who didn’t know our account or its history. The real cost went well beyond correcting payroll errors. Our employees had to wonder whether their paychecks would be right and arrive on time. Our business office had to spend time troubleshooting problems it hadn’t created instead of doing the work it was actually P.58 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
there to do. And confidence in something as fundamental as payroll began to erode. Eventually, it affected morale. The invoice from the payroll company may have been lower. The cost to the organization wasn’t. I’ve seen the same mistake in a completely different environment. Years ago, a factory producing products for a company where I worked found an opportunity to shave a penny or two from the cost of each unit by switching to a less expensive cardboard carton. Multiply those pennies across thousands of units, and the savings looked perfectly rational. Then the products started arriving damaged. Whatever we had saved on cardboard was overwhelmed by damaged inventory, returns, replacements, additional shipping, customer-service time, and unhappy customers. We had successfully reduced the cost of the box. We had increased the cost of delivering
the product. I’ve seen it with service contracts, too. Award a janitorial contract to the lowest bidder and the savings are easy to calculate. What’s harder to see is whether that price depends on lower wages, weaker employees, inadequate supervision, or constant turnover. Eventually, the organization experiences those choices through inconsistent staffing, poor-quality work, and the time its own employees spend dealing with problems the contractor was hired to solve. Some consequences are even harder to quantify. A poorly maintained facility communicates something to employees, students, families, donors, and visitors. Constant turnover creates its own issues with security, relationships, and institutional knowledge. Those costs won’t necessarily appear on the line labeled “janitorial services.” They’re still costs. Sometimes Spending More Costs Less I’ve experienced the reverse as well. During the planning of a major construction project, we were evaluating security systems, including surveillance cameras and access control. There were established vendors the contractors and consultants knew and had worked with before. I wanted to go in a different direction. The company I preferred
was more expensive. Changing direction wasn’t particularly convenient, either. We were already well into the process, the implementation timeline was getting tight, and I had to work through a difficult negotiation rather than simply accepting the vendors with whom others already had relationships. But I didn’t think installation price was the right measure. The system I preferred offered superior technology and, more importantly, a platform we could continue building upon. The hardware received ongoing over-the-air updates, allowing its capabilities to expand as the technology evolved. The less expensive alternatives were at risk of becoming obsolete almost as soon as we installed them. So we spent more upfront, and that decision paid dividends for years. The higher-priced option wasn’t a departure from financial discipline. It was financial discipline applied over a longer horizon. Instead of asking only what the system would cost to install, we considered what we would own, how long it would remain useful, how it could evolve, and what replacing an inferior system later might cost. Sometimes the more expensive proposal is the less expensive decision. The Costs That Don’t Appear in the Proposal It’s tempting to think of financial decisions as relatively simple equations. Option A costs $100,000. Option B costs $85,000. Choose Option B and save $15,000. But that only works if every-
thing else is equal. Often it isn’t. Maintenance, replacement, reliability, staff time, turnover, morale, burnout, risk, aesthetics, and stakeholder experience all have economic consequences, even when we can’t assign each of them a precise dollar amount. There’s also opportunity cost. Every hour a finance team spends correcting a payroll provider’s mistakes is an hour it isn’t spending improving financial reporting, supporting employees, analyzing the budget, or working on something else that could move the organization forward. Every hour an operations team spends chasing a poorly performing contractor is an hour it isn’t spending improving operations. And every dollar spent replacing something we bought primarily because it was inexpensive is a dollar we don’t have for something else. The question, then, isn’t simply: Which option costs less? It’s: What are all of the costs associated with each option— and where will we ultimately experience them? Some of those costs belong in a spreadsheet. Others require judgment. Both belong in the decision. Save Where It Doesn’t Hurt. Spend Where It Matters. None of this has made me less interested in saving money. If anything, it has made me more deliberate about where I save it. I want to reduce costs anywhere we can achieve the same—or better—result for less. If quality isn’t diminished, risk isn’t meaningfully increased, and employees or
other stakeholders won’t experience a negative difference, I’ll happily take the savings. I’ve spent much of my career finding those opportunities. But there’s a second benefit to doing that work well: Thoughtful savings create the capacity for thoughtful spending. The money saved on things that don’t matter gives an organization more flexibility to spend on the things that do. Sometimes that’s better technology. Sometimes it’s better people. Sometimes it’s maintaining a facility at a standard that communicates pride in the institution. Sometimes it’s preventing burnout or improving someone’s experience. And sometimes it’s investing in something whose value may never be particularly visible to the people we serve. Not every higher-priced option is better, of course. Spending more isn’t inherently strategic any more than spending less is inherently responsible. That’s where judgment comes in. Cost discipline asks whether we can spend less. Financial leadership asks the harder question: What will spending less actually cost us?
About the Author Joe Sharp is the founder of Sharp Focus Consulting and a finance and operations executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience in schools, nonprofits, and businesses. He advises organizations and leaders on financial, operational, and organizational challenges and writes about the lessons that come from the decisions leaders make every day. Learn more at sharpfocusconsult.com. S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.59
COMMUNITY NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
The Flight That Started Before We Even Got to the Gate By Motti Kallus
A family’s trip through the Fattal Terminal at Ben Gurion Airport changed how I think about airport travel This past summer, traveling from Israel back to Florida with my family, we had the chance to experience the Fattal Terminal at Ben Gurion Airport. It changed the way I look at airport travel. What impressed me actually started before we even arrived. The customer service was exceptional from the first email. Any question we had was answered quickly — transportation, timing, our children, food allergies, how the whole process would even work. The team was responsive and attentive to every detail. When you’re traveling internationally with kids, that matters more than almost anything else. We drove our car directly to the entrance. Almost immediately, staff came out, unloaded our luggage, and took care of everything. From that moment on, we barely touched a bag again. We simply walked inside with the kids. No standing around with suitcases, no figuring out where to check in, no trying to keep track of everyone while navigating a crowded terminal. P.60 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
Inside, the lounge had a coffee station, a full buffet, and several different seating areas — not one big crowded room, but separate spaces where we could find our own corner and relax together as a family. We travel with food allergies, which usually adds a layer of stress to any trip. We’d let the team know
in advance, and they were extremely accommodating, making sure there were appropriate options waiting for us. But the biggest difference was what we didn’t have to do. We didn’t wait in lines. When we arrived, staff took our passports and essentially told us, “Go relax. We’ll take care of everything.” So that’s exactly what we did. While we sat down with coffee and the kids, a staff member assigned to our family handled the details behind the scenes — checking passports, confirming the flight, making sure everything was in order. We were technically going through the full airport process. It didn’t feel like it. The terminal has private
rooms, meeting spaces, showers, even a cigar lounge — space for anyone who needs to work or take a call before a flight. For us, the bigger win was how comfortable it was for the kids. There was an ice cream freezer, which became very popular very fast. More than that, the kids could move around and just be kids, without us constantly tracking a boarding line or a security line or rushing between terminals. Anyone who’s traveled with young children knows what airports usually demand. You’re working around the airport’s schedule — waiting for security, waiting for check-in, waiting for boarding, hoping the kids don’t hit tired or hungry at exactly the wrong moment. At the Fattal Terminal, it was the opposite. The experience was built around us. As departure got closer, staff kept us calmly updated — never a scramble, never a sudden announcement that we need-
ed to grab everything and run. They just let us know when to start getting ready. Then it got even better. When it was time to leave the lounge, staff took our carry-ons, helped us into a private vehicle, and drove us directly across the airport to a stop right beneath our gate. From there, they escorted us upstairs, handled the final check-in near the aircraft, and walked with us all the way to the plane — carrying our bags, helping us get everything onboard, and wishing us a pleasant flight. That was it. No rushing through a crowded terminal, no dragging children and bags through endless corridors,
no exhausting scramble before the flight even began. What surprised me most came after we landed. We still had roughly seven hours of driving ahead of us as part of the trip. Normally, after an airport process with kids and a five- or six-hour flight, everyone’s running on empty — you want the hotel, a bed, and nothing else. This time, we weren’t. The kids were doing great, we had energy, and we just kept going. That’s when it hit me: the Fattal Terminal hadn’t just made the airport nicer. It had changed the entire travel day. You can’t always control which airport you’re flying from, how crowded it is, or how long the lines run. What the Fattal Terminal gives you is the ability to take that uncertainty out of the equation. For families traveling with children, for business travelers, or for anyone who wants the trip to feel easier before they’ve even boarded, it’s a genuinely different way to travel. For our family, it turned what’s usually the most exhausting part of a trip into one of the easiest. And that made a real difference for everything that came after. Motti Kallus, Head of Operations, Community Voice Fattal Terminal is located at Ben Gurion Airport and offers private check-in, security, passport control, VIP lounge access, private rooms, and chauffeured transport to and from the aircraft, for both arriving and departing passengers. More information is available at fattalterminal.com.
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.61
COMMUNITY FOOD
COMMUNITY FOOD
2 | T H E C H I C AG O CO M M U N I T Y VO I C E
Overnight Brisket By Jamie Geller
• 10 HOURS COOK TIME • 15 MIN PREP TIME • 10 SERVINGS •
It’s 8 am and dinner is ready! Oh poor you, you worked so hard! NAH . . . you slept like a baby knowing that dinner was cooking itself while you slumbered. Low oven temp and a long slow cook session ensures that this brisket is tender and not dried out. Be sure to use a whole brisket with fat on it, or a second-cut brisket (also known as the deckel). This will guarantee a moist, juicy, and savory end result. A first cut brisket will just be stringy.
Ingredients
Preparation
• 3 large onions thinly sliced • 3 whole heads of garlic sliced in half to reveal the cloves • 1 whole brisket fat on or 2 second cut briskets, such as Grow and Behold brisket • Kosher salt • Freshly cracked black pepper • 1 cup dry red wine • 3 cups beef or chicken broth • 1 cup crushed tomatoes optional
1. Preheat oven to 225°F. 2. Layer sliced onions and garlic in a large roasting pan or Dutch oven. Season brisket with salt and pepper. 3. Place brisket on top of onions and garlic. Pour red wine, broth and tomatoes, if using, into pan. Cover food directly with a layer of parchment (foil will leech onto your food) and then seal tightly with foil. 4. Roast at 225°F for 10 hours. 5. Gently transfer brisket to a cutting board to cool before slicing. While brisket is cooling, strain onions and garlic from pan juices, being sure to press all juices out. Skim fat off of pan juices and reduce pan juices stove top until it coats the back of a spoon. 6. Slice brisket across the grain and transfer back to braising pan. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for 1 month (freeze reduced braising liquid separately). 7. Reheat brisket, covered in a low oven at 250°F, until hot. Serve with reduced pan juices.
Jamie Geller is the Chief Media and Marketing Officer at Aish. She is also a bestselling cookbook author, celebrity chef, television producer, and businesswoman. She’s the author of eight cookbooks and the founder of Kosher Media Network.
SEPTEMBER 2026 | P
10 FACTS ABOUT...
1
The s’chach covering a sukkah must be something that grew from the ground and is no longer attached to it — like bamboo, branches, or bamboo mats — but never anything manufactured, like metal or plastic.
2
The Four Species — lulav, esrog, hadassim, and aravos — are held together and waved in six directions during the naanuim.
3
Immediately after Sukkos comes Simchas Torah, the day we finish the entire Torah and begin reading it again from Bereishis without skipping a single day.
SUKKOS 4 7 There's a famous dispute in the Gemara about what the original desert "sukkos" even were — Rabbi Eliezer says they were the Ananei Hakavod, miraculous Clouds of Glory, while Rabbi Akiva says they were real, physical huts.
5
On Hoshana Rabbah, the seventh day of Sukkos, the shul is circled seven times with the Four Species — compared to just once on each of the other days.
6
Every esrog is checked carefully for blemishes and shape before Sukkos, since even small flaws can affect whether it's kosher for the mitzvah.
Sukkos is called Zman Simchaseinu, the "Time of Our Joy," in our tefillos.
8
The mitzvah of sukkah applies day and night for the full seven days — eating, relaxing, and even sleeping are meant to happen inside.
9
Hoshana Rabbah is sometimes called a "mini Yom Kippur," since the final judgment for the year's rainfall is said to be sealed on that day.
10
On Hoshana Rabbah, aravos are beaten on the ground as part of a unique custom that goes all the way back to the days of the Nevi'im.
COMMUNITY NEWS
mannsales.co | Trip out.
COMMUNITY NEWS
GO PLACES, NOT HUNGRY. When you find yourself in new places, make sure you’re able to feed all your happy faces, and keep your chol hamoed trip on track and on target with meal mart, always a hit, always available at a grocery store near you.
P.66 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | P.67
L
R E
A
•
H
KLA
’S
•
Unity doesn’t mean uniform
L
taff, AZ, Phoenix, AZ, Scottsdale, AZ, Sedona, AZ, Tucson, AZ, Agoura Hills, CA, Bell Canyon, CA nd, CA, Beverly Hills, CA, Calabasas, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Newport Beach, CA, San Diego, CA I S R O E Butte isco, CA, Santa Barbara, CA, Tarzana, CA, Thousand Oaks, CA, Breckenridge, CO, Crested Y OMMUN I T Y CO, N ENorwood, WS er, CO,C Greenwood Village, CO, Westminster, CO, Durham, CT, Fairfield, CT, New H orwalk, CT, Ridgefield, CT, Simsbury, CT, Stamford, CT, Waterbury, CT, West Hartford, CT, Westpo on, CT, Harbeson, DE, Altamonte Springs, FL, Aventura, FL, Bay Harbor Islands, FL, Boca Rato ay, FL, Boynton Beach, FL, Bradenton, FL, Coconut Creek, FL, Coral Springs, FL, Davie, FL, DeLan E H A T H S y Beach, FL, Dania Beach, FL, Dunedin, FL, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Hallandale Beach, FL,L Hialeah, FL od, FL, Jacksonville, FL, Lauderhill, FL, Miami, FL, Miami Beach, FL, Miami Gardens, FL, North Miam Miami Beach, FL, Orlando, FL, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Palm Harbor, FL, Parkland, FL, Pem FL, Plantation, FL, Santa Rosa Beach, FL, Sarasota, FL, St. Cloud, FL, Surfside, FL, Tamarac, FL n, FL, West Palm Beach, FL, Wimauma, FL, Athens, GA, Atlanta, GA, Dunwoody, GA, Marietta dstock, GA, Antioch, IL, Chicago, IL, Glenview, IL, Grayslake, IL, Lincolnwood, IL, Northbrook, IL, R Four different create IN, onePlymouth, completeIN, mitzvah, s, IL, Wilmette, IL, Bloomington, IN,minim Indianapolis, South Bend, IN, Leawood, KS, one adding own beauty purpose. Park, KS, Shawnee, each KS, Louisville, KY, its Baltimore, MD, and Pikesville, MD, Potomac, MD, Reisterstown ville, MD, Silver Spring, MD, Huntington Woods, MI, Oak Park, MI, Southfield, MI, West Bloomfiel eapolis, MN, St. Louis Park, MN, Chesterfield, MO, Columbia, MO, St. Louis, MO, Henderson, NV, La NV, Adelphia, NJ, Allenhurst, NJ, Bergenfield, NJ, Brick, NJ, Califon, NJ, Cherry Hill, NJ, Clifto kill, NJ, Deal, NJ, East Windsor, NJ, Eatontown, NJ, Edison, NJ, Elberon, NJ, Elizabeth, NJ, Englew air Lawn, NJ, Freehold, NJ, Green Brook, NJ, Hawthorne, NJ, Highland Park, NJ, Hillside, NJ, Hol owell, NJ, Jackson, NJ, Lakewood, NJ, Linden, NJ, Livingston, NJ, Long Branch, NJ, Manalapa hester, NJ, Manchester Township, NJ, Marlboro, NJ, Middletown, NJ, Millburn, NJ, Morganville, NJ wn, NJ, New Milford, NJ, Oakhurst, NJ, Ocean, NJ, Paramus, NJ, Passaic, NJ, Tinton Falls, NJ, Tom , Towaco, NJ, Union, NJ, Union City, NJ, West Long Branch, NJ, West Orange, NJ, Airmont, NY, As tlantic Beach, NY, Bedford-Stuyvesant, NY, Belle Harbor, NY, Bellmore, NY, Bloomingburg, NY, B Y, Cedarhurst, NY, Central Valley, NY, Chester, NY, Chestnut Ridge, NY, Dobbs Ferry, NY, East Mea ast Northport, NY, Fallsburg, NY, Far Rockaway, NY, Flushing, NY, Forest Hills, NY, Fresh Meadow erville, NY, Ghent, NY, Goshen, NY, Great Neck, NY, Greenvale, NY, Harriman, NY, Hewlett, NY, Hig NY, Hillburn, NY, Hollis, NY, Inwood, NY, Jamaica, NY, Kew Gardens, NY, Kew Gardens Hills, NY, K ake, NY, Kingston, NY, Kiryas Joel, NY, Lawrence, NY, Liberty, NY, Long Beach, NY, Lynbrook, NY, NY, Monsey, NY, Montebello, NY, Monticello, NY, Mount Ivy, NY, Nanuet, NY, New City, NY, New H , NY, New Paltz, NY, New Rochelle, NY, New Square, NY, New York, NY, North Woodmere nside, NY, Palm Tree, NY, Pearl River, NY, Plainview, NY, Pomona, NY, Queens, NY, Rego Park, NY, Hill, NY, Rochester, NY, Rockaway Park, NY, Roslyn Heights, NY, Sleepy Hollow, NY, Sloatsburg membership brings together members from 286 Stream, NY, Wesley g Valley,Our NY,United StatenRefuah Island, NY, Stony Point, NY, Suffern, NY, Thiells, NY, Valley different cities — likely even yours — representing communities, West Haverstraw, NY, West Hempstead, NY, White Plains, NY, Woodbury, NY, Woodmere, NY, Wood minhagim, and backgrounds asNC, diverse asMountain, Klal Yisroel itself. Woodstock, NY, Charlotte, NC, Durham, Green NC, Raleigh, NC, Beachwood, OH, , OH, Cincinnati, OH, Cleveland, OH, Cleveland Heights, OH, Columbus, OH, Shaker Heights, OH, S From so many different cities and communities, we come together with achdus and University Heights, OH, Wickliffe, OH, Norman, OK, Ardmore, PA, Bala Cynwyd, PA, Clarks Summ chessed. Together, we’ve saved Klal Yisroel an estimated $230 million in healthcare Park, PA, Jim Thorpe, PA, Kingston, PA, Lancaster, PA, Merion Station, PA, Philadelphia, PA, costs with each and every member making our community more complete. h, PA, Scranton, PA, Bluffton, SC, Myrtle Beach, SC, Austin, TX, Dallas, TX, Houston, TX, Katy, TX, , TX, Liberty Hill, TX, Plano, TX, Poolville, TX, San Antonio, TX, Spring, TX, Ashburn, VA, Leesbur ridge Island, WA, Seattle, WA, Wheeling, WV, Glendale, WI, Milwaukee, WI, Flagstaff, AZ, Phoeni sdale, AZ, Sedona, AZ, Tucson, AZ,Single: Agoura Hills, CA, Bell Canyon, CA, BenU-REFUAH Lomond, CA, Beverly $199/month (440) Couple: $349/month alabasas, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Newport Beach, CA, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA, Santa Ba www.unitedrefuah.org Family (3-6): CO, $499/month arzana, CA, Thousand Oaks, CA, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, CO, Denver, CO, Greenwood V $50 each additional member info@unitedrefuah.org orwood, CO, Westminster, CO, Durham, CT, Fairfield, CT, New Haven, CT, Norwalk, CT, Ridgefiel P.68 | T H E C H I C A G O C O M M U N I T Y V O I C E is a non-profit healthsharing organization. It is notCT, insurance and doesHartford, not offer insurance.CT, See Sharing Guidelines for fullCT, details.Weston, Application and annual fees apply. bury,United CT,Refuah Stamford, CT, Waterbury, West Westport, CT,renewal Harbeson, D nte Springs, FL, Aventura, FL, Bay Harbor Islands, FL, Boca Raton, FL, Bonifay, FL, Boynton Beac