Shalom Klein’s Blog

50th Ward Aldermanic Forum

Posted on by Shalom Klein

The League of Women Voters, the Jewish Neighborhood Development Council, and the West Ridge Chamber of Commerce invite you to a forum featuring the candidates for the 50th Ward Aldermanic race. This forum will be held on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. at the Bernard Horwich JCC – 3003 W. Touhy Ave.
The candidates’ forum will focus on issues related to economic development in the West Ridge/West Rogers Park community. The moderator will present all the questions for the forum, however, the questions will be sourced from members of the community. Please send questions that you would like to have asked of the candidates to info@westridgechamber.org.
Note that the organizers reserve the right to omit any questions based on relevance to the theme or due to time constraints. We look forward to a robust conversation about the future of our community and hope that you can make it.
The forum will also be live streamed via Facebook Live. Access the WestRidge Chamber of Commerce Facebook page at 2:00 p.m. Chicago time on Sunday, February 10th.

Listen to the “Inside The Skev” podcast with Rabbi Ari Hart from Skokie Vallery Agudath Jacob hosted by Aaron Masliansky

Posted on by Shalom Klein

http://www.skevanston.com/season-1-episode-5-ari-hart

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In this episode, we sit down with Rabbi Ari Hart. Rabbi Ari is a local Skevanston resident, and a a true community builder. He leads the Skokie Valley Agudath Synagogue, which is a modern Orthodox Jewish Synagogue in Skokie, Illinois. Rabbi Ari grew up in Evanston, and now lives in Skevanston with his wife Becca, and has two young children.

The episode walks us through Rabbi Ari’s background which didn’t start in the traditional manner for an Orthodox Rabbi. Rabbi Ari discusses why he enjoys the dynamic role of being a pulpit Rabbi.

The conversation then turns toward Rabbi Ari’s push towards social justice. We discuss his role in co-founding Uri L’Tzedek, which is an Orthodox social justice organization. More information about them can be found here: http://utzedek.org/

The discussion then goes towards Skevanston, and what brought Rabbi Ari back home. He talks about his vision for Skokie Valley, the changes taking place, and why he finds communal life so important. He discusses how the synagogue is more than just a place for prayer. It is a building to bring the community together no matter your beliefs, sexual preference, gender identity or physical or mental abilities.

Rabbi Ari also discusses the events that he is leading including community shabbat dinners; daily prayer services; the green team in partnership with Kol Sasson Congregation (https://kolsassoncongregation.shulcloud.com/) to make the building more sustainable; the relationship with Rohingya Refugee Community including an ESL program with young Rohingya mothers and hiring a member of the community; “The Known and the New,” series on Jewish intellectual history; and many more programs.

If you want to find out more, come see Rabbi Ari at the synagogue located at 8825 E. Prairie Road, Skokie, IL 60076. They have weekly services Saturday at 9AM, and daily services as well. You can find them online at http://www.svag.org and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/svajsynagogue/ and you can find Rabbi Ari on Facebook @arihart.