vital information: Fwd: Kosher and Halal Food in Illinois

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The Agudah <news@agudah.org>
Date: Mon, May 29, 2023, 8:05 PM
Subject: Kosher and Halal Food in Illinois
To: <agentemes4@gmail.com>

May 29, 2023 - 9 Sivan 5783

Statement of Agudath Israel Welcoming Historic Initiative on Antisemitism

Erev Shavuos the Biden Administration released its National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. It is a historic, comprehensive, "all-of-government," initiative that seeks to fight Jew-hatred and its various ugly manifestations. Equally important, it sends a clear message that the United States – in its fundamental values, laws, and policies – finds antisemitism an unmitigated evil that is repugnant and intolerable and must be rooted out of the mindset and actions of American society.

Click here or see below to read the full statement.

Agudath Israel of Illinois successfully advocated for the passage of HB3643. This bill, which now heads to the governor's desk, requires schools, correctional facilities & state hospitals to provide kosher & halal food options upon request. Notably, it also amends the Kosher Food Act, which prohibits the sale of food wrongly labeled as certified kosher but has been unenforceable, as it does not contain a legal definition of kosher. HB3643 provides a definition, which should enable the enforcement of the Kosher Food Act. AIOI thanks the bill's chief sponsors, Senator Ram Villivalam (D - Chicago) and Representative Abdelnasser Rashid (D - Berwyn).

Yahalom Chicago hosted an evening for Yahalom mothers at Nuovo. Close to 30 women attended this relaxing and meaningful event. In the words of a mother who attended, "I came away from the evening feeling nourished- physically, emotionally and spiritually."

It is with great sorrow that we inform you of the petirah of Mr. Manny Sadwin, Menachem Yitzchok ben Moshe Yehuda Leib z'l, father of our dear chaver and colleague Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, executive director of Agudath Israel Maryland - Mid-Atlantic. We wish the Sadwin family nechamos, b'soch shaar aveilei Tziyon v'Yerushalayim.

In our email on May 25 we accidentally referred to the Imrei Emes as Rav Avrohom Menachem Alter, ztvk"l in the headline. His correct name, as was written in the paragraph below, was Rav Avrohom Mordechai Alter, ztvk"l. We apologize for the error.

In honor of the shloshim of Rav Meir Hershkowitz, zt"l, Rosh Yeshiva of Bais Binyamin of Stamford, we would like to share with you a shiur he gave at the Agudah Convention in 2015 on the topic of Kilayim B'Tzitis.

Click here to listen.

Please say Tehillim for the zkan Roshei HaYeshiva in Eretz Yisroel, Rav Gershon Edelstein shlita, Rosh HaYeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva, Yerachmiel Gershon ben Miriam, who needs a refuah shelaima, b'soch she'ar cholei amo Yisroel.

May we share besoros tovos.

Upcoming Events:

Yahalom NJ Mother's Event

When: May 31 at 7:30 PM

Where: Circa, 415 Cedarbridge Ave., Lakewood, NJ 08701

RSVP: YahalomNJ@agudah.org

Zahav Lakewood Inaugural Event

When: Tuesday, June 13 at 6:30 PM EST

Where: Estreia, 978 River Ave, Lakewood, NJ 08701

RSVP: agudah.org/zahavevents/, 732-540-1898

Statement of Agudath Israel Welcoming Historic Initiative on Antisemitism continued.

It is a historic, comprehensive, "all-of-government," initiative that seeks to fight Jew-hatred and its various ugly manifestations. Equally important, it sends a clear message that the United States – in its fundamental values, laws, and policies – finds antisemitism an unmitigated evil that is repugnant and intolerable and must be rooted out of the mindset and actions of American society.

As we approach the Jewish holiday of Shavuos, there is little time to review in detail all the pillars of the strategy, and we will have to delay that analysis until after the festival. We are pleased to note, however, that in it many Agudath Israel priorities are addressed – boosting the security of our people and institutions; the teaching of the Holocaust and its hate-filled horrors; combatting antisemitic discrimination and violence, so much of which is directed toward the Orthodox Jewish community; accommodating Jewish and other religious needs in federal programs run by the USDA, HHS, ED and other agencies; and many other areas in which we have worked for decades.

Finally, Agudath Israel expresses its deep personal appreciation to President Joe Biden, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Ambassador Susan Rice, Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall, and Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, among so many, for their vision, commitment, and extraordinarily hard work in undertaking and completing this initiative. We are proud to have been a contributing partner in this endeavor, invited to participate in several sessions at the White House and federal agencies with these and other officials to offer our thoughts and perspectives, and to engage in in-depth discussions, regarding the nature of the dangers facing the Jewish community in general and the unique threats to our Orthodox constituency in particular.

We remain committed to this outstanding initiative and to working with the Biden Administration in helping it live up to its great promise.