PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2023

COVER STORY

A RELIGION, A CULTURE, A ‘WAY OF LIFE’ Central Illinois has a small but energetic Jewish population, with two synagogues and a faith that provides a roadmap for how to act

BY STEVE STEIN PHOTOS BY RON JOHNSON

T he Peoria area’s small Jewish community, estimated in the hundreds, differentiates itself by being a diverse communi ty despite its size, with observant and non-observant Jews, mixed religion families, and college students who make Peoria and Bradley University their temporary home until they graduate. Susan Katz is the longtime executive director of the Jewish Federation of Peoria, which was created in 1933 and incorporated in 1947. The Federation serves the Peoria area Jewish communi ty with social, educational and cultural programming, and provides for those in need. Then there’s the Chabad Jewish Cen ter of Peoria and Bradley University, led by Rabbi Eli Langsam, whose daily goal is to get “one more Jew to do one more mitzvah (good deed or act of kindness), and make every Jew here feel like a part of the Peoria Jewish family.” Langsam is a representative of Chabad Lubavitch, a New York-based group that focuses on Jewish outreach. Bryna Milkow is the rabbi at Congre gation Anshai Emeth, which is affiliated with the Reform Judaism movement “but serves a broader audience,” she said. Anshai Emeth is the largest Jewish congregation in Peoria, with about 150

offered preschool through eighth-grade students a dual secular and Jewish edu cation for more than 50 years. Students at the school learn Hebrew and are taught Jewish morals, values, history and tradition. Meanwhile, Hillel, the Jewish campus organization at Bradley University, serves the 125 to 175 Jewish students who attend Bradley each school year. “We help Jewish college students at Bradley make the transition from high school to college and their life beyond college, and walk alongside them and guide them as they figure out how being a Jew plays a part in their lives,” said Matt Lorch, executive director of the Hillel chapter. Hillel serves the needs of Jewish college students by being a combina tion “synagogue, community center, federation, tutoring center, food bank, crisis center, youth group, camp, dining hall and anything and everything else the students need while they are on campus,” said Lorch. ‘PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW HOW THEY CAN LIVE A JEWISH LIFE HERE’ Peoria area Jewish leaders say there are advantages to living in a small Jew ish community.

The book on Rosh Hashanah

members, “but numbers aren’t import ant,” Milkow said. “If we put on a pro gram and two people participate, it’s important to them.” Congregation Agudas Achim, estab lished in 1886, is Peoria’s only traditional Jewish congregation and the largest traditional congregation in Illinois outside the Chicago area. It bills itself as offering a “unique blend of small-town warmth and big city Jewish identity for its members and visitors.” Adrianne Abrams is the director of Peoria Hebrew Day School, which has

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