Biographies

Rabbi Aron Rosenberg, Rosh Kollel
Raised in Highland Park, NJ, Rabbi Rosenberg moved with his wife, Ayelet, and their children to Skokie twelve years ago from Monsey, NY, where he studied in the Kollel of Rav Shmuel Faivelson. Rabbi Rosenberg has played many roles in the Skokie Kollel and has been Rosh Kollel since 2000. He produced the Kollel’s weekly publications Halacha On-Line, Perfection On-Line, Parsha Points to Ponder, and Torah, Avodah, Gemilas Chasadim, as well as the current weekly Torah bulletin: Kollel Connections.

Rabbi Yakov Kreisman, Director
Rabbi Kreisman joined the Kollel in 1997 and became its Director in 2000. He grew up in St. Louis and learned at the Denver Yeshiva and at Bais Medrash L’Torah in Monsey. It was during his years at Yeshivas Rabbainu Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn that he established a close relationship to Rav Aharon Schechter. Rabbi Kreisman holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Touro College and a master’s degree in education from Loyola University through the JELI Program. He and his wife, Adina, live in Skokie with their children.

Rabbi Dovid Sukenik, Program Coordinator
Rabbi Sukenik grew up in Cleveland, learned in yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel and has lived in the Chicago area since 1998. He studied for 10 years in Bais HaMidrash LaTorah (Skokie Yeshiva), eight of them as a married member of the Yeshiva’s Kollel, and received semicha in 2006. He joined the Skokie Community Kollel in 2008 to help coordinate and oversee the Kollel’s growing number of events and shiurim. He and his wife, Rusi, a teacher for the Chicago Public Schools, are the proud parents of Meir, Yaakov, Rafael Simcha and Elka Bracha.

Rabbi Kalman Worch, Educator
Rabbi Worch was born in Manchester, England, and grew up in Boro Park, NY. After studying in yeshivos in the United States he went to Israel to study in the Mirer Yeshiva. He then married and moved to Chicago, and then Skokie where he joined the Kollel as full-time Educator. His wife, Sara, is the Preschool Coordinator at Arie Crown Hebrew Day School and the Youth Director at Congregation Or Torah. They and their children live in Skokie.

Rabbi Mordechai Millunchick
Rabbi Millunchick grew up in Chicago and after high school studied in Yeshivas Ohr Yerushalyim, Yeshivas Bais Yisroel and at Moshav Mattityahu under Rav Zev Leff. He received semicha from Bais HaMidrash LaTorah (Skokie Yeshiva) in 2005 and holds a master’s degree in education from Loyola University. Rabbi Millunchick heads the night seder program at Congregation Adas Yeshurin. He has also published a pamphlet on the techumin (halachic city limits) of Chicago, and contributed to a biography of Rav Gedaliah Dov Schwartz. He and his wife Chavie, who works in Radiation/Oncology at Rush University, live in West Rogers Park in Chicago.

Rabbi Dovid Zirkin
Rabbi Zirkin grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and attended the Mirer Yeshiva high school. He continued his studies at Yeshivas Torah Ohr in Yerushalyim, under the guidance of Rav Chaim Pinchas Sheinberg. He joined the Skokie Kollel in 2002 after marrying his wife Rivkie (Siegal), a native Chicagoan and resource teacher at the Veitzener Cheder. Rabbi Zirkin and his wife and children live in West Rogers Park in Chicago.
 
Rabbi Yaakov Galster
Born and raised in Chicago, Rabbi Galster studied at Yeshivas Kerem B’Yavneh and received semicha from Bais HaMidrash LaTorah (Skokie Yeshiva). For the past seven years, his shiurim in many West Rogers Park shuls have attracted a loyal following. His wife, Ilana, is a registered occupational therapist and works at Beth Osten and Associates Pediatric Clinic. They and their children live in West Rogers Park.
 
Rabbi Donny Schwartz
Originally from Skokie, Rabbi Schwartz learned in Yeshivas HaKotel and Netiv Aryeh and received semicha from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Loyola University, the latter being in education administration through the JELI program. Rabbi Schwartz runs the Jewish Student Union program (JSU) in the Chicago suburbs, a venue that allows him to learn with and mentor Jewish teens that attend public high schools. Rabbi Schwartz, his wife, Rena, and their two boys, Chanan Yosef and Moshe Dovid, live in Skokie.
 
Rabbi Gershon Schaffel
Rabbi Schaffel is a Skokie native who attended Hillel Torah, Fasman Yeshiva High School and Hebrew Theological College. After receiving his semicha he became the Rav of Young Israel of Skokie.  He began teaching Daf Yomi in 1998 (Eiruvin) and has been teaching Daf Yomi at the Kollel since the summer of 2002 (Bava Basra).  He is regular contributor to Daf Digest, a national, daily publication for the purpose of enhancing and supplementing the study of Daf Yomi.
 
Rabbi Shlomo Pomerantz
Rabbi Pomerantz grew up in Brooklyn where he attended Yeshivas Torah Vodaath. He went on to learn in the Philadelphia Yeshiva and was a founding student at the South Bend Yeshiva. He also learned in the Lakewood Yeshivos of Israel and New Jersey and, after marrying Esther Weil, he learned the Chicago Community Kollel. Rabbi Pomerantz is a 14-year veteran Rebbe at Arie Crown and is the Director or Camp Oneg, a popular summer camp. At the Kollel, he applies his enthusiasm to Father and Son learning, the Tanach-Mishneh Siyum and other projects.
 
Rabbi Dovid Zitter
The life-path that Rabbi Zitter has traversed since growing up in Brooklyn, NY, has been a fascinating one. After learning in yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel, he spent two years in Hungary running a Jewish outreach program, eight years in Israel as Director of Moreshet, an organization that works with Hungarian immigrant youth, and two years in San Jose as the Rav of a shul. Since his arrival in Skokie with his family in 2007, he has made lasting impressions on the children and young adults he teaches in various schools and yeshivos in Skokie and Chicago. Rabbi Zitter teaches at the Kollel at nights, learning with Arie Crown students who come for mishmar (extra-curricular learning), and is also involved in the Persian Hebrew Congragation. His and his wife, Leah, have three children.

Rabbi Shaoul Hamaoui
Rabbi Hamaoui grew up in Flatbush, NY, and has attended yeshivos in the United States and Israel. In the fifteen years preceding his joining the Kollel he learned in Yeshivas Ner Israel, and also served as pulpit Rabbi for a Sefardic congregation in Baltimore. He holds a master’s degree in education from Johns Hopkins University. Rabbi Hamaoui uses his diverse background and training to positively influence both the Sefardic and Ashkenazic communities of Skokie, as the Rav of the Persian Hebrew Congregation and as a member of our Kollel. Rabbi Hamaoui, his wife, Shoshana, and their children, live in Skokie.