Our Story

The Chicago Jewish Alliance was born out of defiance. In the days after October 7, when grief turned to clarity, a few Jews in Chicago decided they would not sit quietly while others shouted them down.

The spark came when the City Council tried to pass a Gaza ceasefire resolution. Daniel Schwartz—who would become the Alliance’s founder—walked into City Hall with an Israeli flag and asked who would stand beside him. Four answered. Five Jews in a chamber of thousands. They were mocked as baby killers, cursed with slurs, jeered and drowned out. But they did not leave. They stood. That day proved that Jewish Chicago needed more than comfort. It needed a movement.

Drawing on the legacy of partisans and survivors who refused to surrender to history, the Alliance took shape. Daniel filed the papers, but the strength came from the community that rallied with him: Natan Otro, Josh Weiner, Anna Steinberg, Angela Vander Pluym, and countless others who turned conversation into action.

From that moment forward, the Chicago Jewish Alliance has been unapologetic about who we are and what we stand for. We are grassroots. We are fearless. We are political because Jewish survival has always been political. We stand for Western values because without them there is no freedom, no dignity, no life worth living. And we stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel, because her fight is our fight.

This is not simply an organization. It is a declaration. Jewish life in Chicago will not be meek, it will not be hidden, and it will not apologize for existing. It will be strong, proud, and unshakable. That is our story. That is our conviction. And that is our promise