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Engagement of Rachel Bovit and Yerachmiel Kaganoff (both Chicago). Mazel Tov!

Mazel Tov to Dr. Amy & Elliot on the birth of their daughter Gabrielle!

Mazel Tov to Dr. Amy & Elliot Weiss on the birth of their daughter Gabrielle. Mazel Tov to grandparents Betty & Andy , Debbie & Joe , great grandma Newman.

Engagement of Menucha Glenner and Coby Kamish (Chicago)

Engagement of Chanoch Kenzer (Chicago) to Toby Goldberg (Lakewood)

Engagement of Mimi Montrose (Chicago) to Gad Azra (Greatneck)

Mazel Tov to Eidel Perkelvald of Brooklyn, NY and Yonah Klein of Chicago, IL on their engagement. #Onlysimchas

#onlysimchas

Engagement of Shoshana Altman-Shafer of Milwaukee, WI and Geffen Moser of Chicago, IL!

#onlysimchas

Engagement of Rachel Liebling of Spring Valley, NY and Joseph Rubin of Chicago, IL! #Onlysimchas

#onlysimchas

Engagement of Becca Kahn (Chicago) and Jonathan Goldstein (LA)! #Onlysimchas

#onlysimchas

Engagement of Betty Cohn (Merrick) and Daniel Gabel (Chicago) #Onlysimchas

#onlysimchas

Engagement of Perel Baral (Chicago) and Max Spitalnick (New York)

Engagement of Moshe Baral (Chicago) and Emma Peiser (Memphis)

Engagement of Brooke Wasserman (Chicago) and Parker Nichols (Chicago)

Engagement of Yitzchak Nadoff (Chicago) and Batsheva Gubin (Chicago)

Engagement of Miriam Behar (Chicago/Houston/San Diego/ Dallas) and Yoseif Feldman (Chicago)

Engagement of Renee Wietschner (Woodmere) and Jason Cutler (Chicago)

Engagement of Renee Wietschner (Woodmere) and Jason Cutler (Chicago)

Engagement of Devi Braun (Chicago) and Gabe Rosenfeld (Teaneck)

Engagement of Devi Braun (Chicago) and Gabe Rosenfeld (Teaneck)

Engagement of Chaim Spero (Baltimore) and Tova Levovitz (Chicago)

Wedding of Perry Eckman (West Hempstead) & Avi Skidelsky (Chicago) #onlysimchas

Wedding of Perry Eckman (West Hempstead) & Avi Skidelsky (Chicago) # onlysimchas

Mazal tov to meir sigel (los Angeles) miri hochberg (chicago) #onlysimchas

Mazal tov to meir sigel (los Angeles) miri hochberg (chicago) # onlysimchas

Engagement of Renee Wietschner (Woodmere) and Jason Cutler (Chicago) #onlysimchas

Engagement of Renee Wietschner (Woodmere) and Jason Cutler (Chicago) # onlysimchas

Engagement of Tali Weisinger (NJ/ Israel) and Nirel Kakon (Chicago/ Israel) #onlysimchas

Engagement of Tali Weisinger (NJ/ Israel) and Nirel Kakon (Chicago/ Israel) # onlysimchas

Engagement of Tali Weisinger (NJ/ Israel) and Nirel Kakon (Chicago/ Israel) #onlysimchas

Engagement of Tali Weisinger (NJ/ Israel) and Nirel Kakon (Chicago/ Israel) # onlysimchas

Engagement of Daniela Kluk (Skokie) and Noam Domsky (Chicago) #onlysimchas

Engagement of Daniela Kluk (Skokie) and Noam Domsky (Chicago) # onlysimchas

Engagement of Kayla Jacob's to Zev Schuman

Engagement of Kayla Jacob's (Monsey) to Zev Schuman (Chicago) # onlysimchas

Engagement of Dov Aronson to Sarah Leah lerman

Engagement of Dov Aronson (chicago) to Sarah Leah lerman (South Bend) # onlysimchas

Engagement of Avigayil Keiserto Noam Skidelsky

Engagement of Avigayil Keiser (Teaneck) to Noam Skidelsky (Chicago) #onlysimchas

Engagement of Dovid Margolis and Oshrat FaratciChasdei Hashem

Engagement of Dovid Margolis (Monsey) and Oshrat Faratci (Chicago)!!! Chasdei Hashem! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Benny Rudansky and Estee Levitansky

Engagement of Benny Rudansky ( #Huntington ) and Estee Levitansky ( #Chicago )!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Ezra Soleymani and Zahava Roth

Engagement of Ezra Soleymani ( #Chicago ) and Zahava Roth (#Chicago)!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Ezra Soleymani and Zahava Roth

Engagement of Ezra Soleymani ( #Chicago ) and Zahava Roth (#Chicago)!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Dovie Levinson and Allie Segal

Engagement of Dovie Levinson ( #Chicago ) and Allie Segal ( #Queens )!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Rochel Gertsberg and Shua Friedman

Engagement of Rochel Gertsberg ( #Chicago / #Israel ) and Shua Friedman ( #Memphis / #Denver /#Israel)!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Marnina Harris and Eli Frankel

Engagement of Marnina Harris ( #Chicago , #Jerusalem ) and Eli Frankel ( #Manchester , #Jerusalem)!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Jacob Best (#Chicago) and Rachel Gindi (#LA)!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Jacob Best ( #Chicago ) and Rachel Gindi ( #LA )!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Chiel Berger to Shoshana Roberts

Engagement of Chiel Berger (#Chicago) to Shoshana Roberts (#Cleveland)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Chiel Berger to Shoshana Roberts

Engagement of Chiel Berger (#Chicago) to Shoshana Roberts (#Cleveland)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Sydney Novetsky and James Weiss

Engagement of Sydney Novetsky (#Chicago) and James Weiss (#Englewood)!! #onlysimchas

Engnament of Yaki Gedanian (#Jerusalem) and Meira Margulis (#Chicago /Jerusalem) #onlysimchas #Israel

Engnament of Yaki Gedanian ( #Jerusalem ) and Meira Margulis ( #Chicago /Jerusalem) #onlysimchas #Israel

Engagement of Avi Levin (Chicago) and Kayla Bayever (Chicago)

Mazel Tov to Dini Bialestock of Chicago, IL  and Gavriel Johnston of Chicago on their engadgment!

Engagement of Sara Bitton (Chicago) and Yakov Zerbib (queens)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Emma Bellows (Chicago) and Noah Best (Chicago)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Dovy Sussman and Devorah Romirowsky (chicago)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Ori Borochov (Chicago) and Shira Jedian (LA)!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Yehudis Stern (Chicago) & Yakkov Krasny (lkwd)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Lori Joseph (Cedarhurst) and Meir Friedman (Chicago)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Yitzi Chaim Buchi (Israel) and Chava Rosenbaum (Chicago)! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Yoel Lax (London) and Batsheva Blaustein (Chicago)!! #onlysimchas

Engagement of Yoel Lax (London) and Batsheva Blaustein (Chicago)!

Engagement of Kinneret Braun (Chicago) and Alex Kupchik (chicago)!!

Engagement of Yossi Cohen (Chicago) to Esther sussman (Chicago)!

Engagement of Atara Klein (West Hempstead) and Ami Atkin (Chicago)

Engagement of Tali Redlich (Chicago) and Max Hoffman (Teaneck)

Engagement of Rebecca Roffe (Chicago, Il) to Jonathan Falk (East Brunswick, NJ)

Engagement of Isabella Yampol (stl) and Akiva Garfinkel ( Chicago)

Engagement of Max Gordon (Chicago) and Tami Liebman (West Hempstead)

Engagement of Chana Kulek (Chicago IL) and Yudi Gerber (Philadelphia)

Engagement of Basia Ebel (chicago) and Yonah Taurog (Dallas)!

Engagement of Naftali Stern (Flatbush) to Meira Krauss (Chicago)!!

Wedding of Tracy Miller and Uri Dissin (both chicago)!!

Wedding of Ariella Levie (teaneck) and Ezra Kapetansky (Chicago)!

Engagement of Nesanel Cohen and Shira Etzman (Chicago)! Via @Rel_productions

Engagement of Noam Feifel (Chicago) and Tali Laserson (Cleveland)!

Engagement of Yoni Friedman (Beit Shemesh) and Yonina Sakols (Chicago/Givat Shmuel)!

Engagement of Aaron Zimmerman (Chicago) and Ariella Bollag (Zurich)

Wedding of Mendel Hertz (Chicago) and Rikki Levertov (Austin)

Engagement of Michal Weissberg (Chicago/Israel) and Shmuel Somer (Memphis/Israel)!!

Engagement of Michoel Lebovics (LA/Chicago) and Baila Elbogen (Seagate)

Engagement of Avraham Nesanel Siegal and Chaykie Perlman (Chicago)!!

Engagement of Elie Armstrong (Milwaukee, WI) to Chana Begoun (Chicago, IL)!!

Engagement of Ariella Levie (NJ) to Ezra Kapetansky (Chicago)!!!

Kosher supermarkets hate cleaning for Pesach as much as you do

NEW YORK ( JTA ) — Pomegranate, a gourmet kosher supermarket in Brooklyn, spends $75,000 every year getting its kitchen ready for Passover. Hungarian Kosher Foods, a supermarket in Chicago, starts clearing its aisles for Passover eight weeks ahead of the holiday. The week before Passover, at Zabar’s, a Jewish favorite on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a staff of a dozen works for as long as 18 hours a day to pack a thousand food deliveries. If you thought your Passover prep was hard, you’ve got nothing on the managers of Jewish supermarkets. “We have no choice,” said Isaac Bernstein, the culinary director of Pomegranate. “We have to do Passover. We don’t lose money, it’s just that a ton of work goes into it. If you look at the effort required and the return, no one would [do it].” Passover,

Engagement of Nessie Vinitsky (Chicago) to Tzvi Schiff (Monsey)!!

Engagement of Ariel Gutnicki to Shana Garfinkel (Chicago)!!

Engagement of Eliezer Dusowitz (Brooklyn) to Esti Grinblatt (Chicago)!!!

Engagement of Elisha Rosenwasser (Chicago) to Robbie Lurie (L.A)!

Engagement of Doniel Vaccianna (Chicago) and Shoshana Butler (Chicago)

Engagement of Bruchie Weiss (Chicago) & Yitzy Herbst (Monsey)!!

At this Holocaust museum, you can speak with holograms of survivors

SKOKIE, Ill. ( JTA ) — In an otherwise darkened theater, viewers gasped when they saw what appeared to be a seated 83-year-old man wearing a light green button-down shirt and khaki pants. Aaron Elster of Chicago seemed to be answering questions about his unbelievable escape from the Sokolov ghetto in Poland as a 10-year-old. Elster was forced to hide in a dark, filthy attic for two years during World War II. “Why didn’t your sisters run away with you [from the ghetto]?” asked Suri Johnson, 11, of Wisconsin. A docent repeated the question into a microphone. “It was an impossibility,” Elster responded. “There were hundreds of people guarded by Ukrainian soldiers with rifles … There was no way they could have run. I crawled behind the people on my stomach. They didn’t see me.” The testimony w

Engagement of Julia Zeldovich (Chicago) to Avi Rosengard (Phoenix)!!

Engagement of Julia Zeldovich (Chicago) to Avi Rosengard (Phoenix)!!

Wedding of Shauli Pinsky (Milwaukee) and Devorah Vinitsky (Chicago)!!

Wedding of Shauli Pinsky (Milwaukee) and Devorah Vinitsky (Chicago)!!

Engagement of Nechama Chaya Knierim (Florida) and Aaron Gotkin (Chicago)!!

Wedding of Jordan Chiger (West Hempstead) and Ariana Maeir (Chicago)!!

Engagement of Daniella Merzel to Shalom Aryeh (Chicago)!!

This Frum Guy Really Wants You to own Your Own Gun

Jonathan Burstyn, a Jewish gun instructor, at an NRA convention, August 2017. (Courtesy of Burstyn) CHICAGO ( JTA ) — Three days after a gunman killed 58 people in Las Vegas, a post in a Facebook group for Chicago Jews displayed a blurry photo of survivors fleeing the bullets. Next to it was a flier advertising ChiDefense Firearm Training with a Hebrew phrase underneath denoting that the company is closed for Shabbat. The post got a few “likes” — and plenty of hate. One commenter called it “vile and distasteful.” Another wrote sarcastically that it displayed “impeccable logic.” Another called for it to be taken down. It appears to have since been deleted. But on the day the post appeared, the man behind the ad stood by it. Jonathan Burstyn, an Orthodox gun safety instructor, apologized for

Engagement of Tali Wolfset (Cedarhurst) & Yossi Ruben (Chicago)!!

Dear Mark Zuckerberg, the Kiddush cup is lovely, but what about anti-Semitism on FB?

The following was written by Sarah Tuttle-Singer Dear Mark Zuckerberg, I was touched by your Shabbat Facebook post about your family kiddush cup, and how you’ve passed it on to your daughter, Max. It really moved me. We have this kiddush cup in my family, too … Ours is made of crystal, but it’s so, so strong. It survived a pogrom and a long voyage across the ocean, and a bumpy train ride from New York to Chicago. That kiddush cup made it from Fairfield Avenue and Devon, to Fort Worth, Texas, and then all the way to California, on a street lined with skinny palm trees… And now, that kiddush cup is home in Israel. It sits on our Sabbath table. One day, it’ll go to my children. It’s my family’s history in glass — and each refraction is perfect and true, and it has endured for over a century,

Engagement of Devo Vinitsky (chicago) to Shauli Pinsky (Milwakee)!!

Engagement of Yoel Wolper (Chicago) to Sara Kermanshahi (Los angeles)!!

Is Chicago Bears Running Back Tarik Cohen Jewish?

( JTA ) — Since Jewish star player Julian Edelman is out for the entire 2017-18 NFL season after tearing his ACL , Jewish football fans may be looking for a new player to root for. On Sunday, during the league’s first full slate of games, a possible candidate emerged: Chicago Bears running back Tarik Cohen. Cohen, a rookie who was drafted in the fourth round of the draft back in April (not exactly a high pick) and played in college at North Carolina A&T (not exactly a high-profile school), proved his doubters wrong with a strong debut performance. He notched 66 rushing yards and 47 receiving yards, leading his team in both categories, and scored a receiving touchdown. Along the way, he was involved in several plays that made highlight reels . Maybe fans shouldn’t have been so surprised. It

Ben Brafman Loves Shabbos Much More than Sean Combs (Puff Daddy) Does!

Ben Brafman, attorney for numerous high profile criminal defense cases, shares an inspiring Shabbat observance story during the trial of famous actor and rap star Sean Combs (Puff Daddy). Ben Brafman gave the keynote address at the National Conference for Jewish Lawyers and Jurists 2015 in Chicago. This is a few years old but well worth watching!

Mazal Tov! This Frum Woman is new Dean of University of Chicago School

( JTA ) — The University of Chicago Divinity School begins the school year with an Orthodox Jewish woman as its new dean. Laurie Zoloth, 67, a bioethicist and a scholar of religion and Judaic studies, became the school’s dean in July. Zoloth previously served on the faculty at Northwestern University, holding appointments in the department of religious studies and its school of medicine. Her research explores religion and ethics, and she has written books on Jewish social justice in health care and the Jewish perspective on genetics. The University of Chicago Divinity School offers master of divinity degrees in what it calls “a Christian context,” but accepts students from all faith traditions, according to its website. It offers courses and research opportunities across the range of relig

Engagement of Dafna Meyers (Chicago) and Adam Heimowitz (Teaneck)!!

Wedding of Doniel Vaccianna (Chicago) and Shoshana Butler (Chicago)!!

Engagement of Doniel Vaccianna (Chicago) and Shoshana Butler (Chicago)