The Next LIVE Festival will be on JUNE 12, 2022 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. See You There - It Will Be Great To Come Together Again!

2022 GCJF

We are excited to bring the community together again on June 12, 2022 for the largest Jewish cultural event in Chicagoland and the longest running Jewish Festival in America!
Plan on joining in with family and friends from 11:00 am until 6:00 pm at our outdoor site in the Cook County Forest Preserve on Oakton St. west of Lehigh with free parking available from Oakton.  $5 suggested donation.  Call to arrange bus parking.

It will be great to be together again in song, to see and purchase art, to enjoy Kosher food, see all of the Organizations of Chicago and to enjoy family activities from the Jewish day schools of our community.

In addition to the performances for which the Festival is renowned including our Israeli music on the stages, this year we will have a “Moment for Ukraine.” We will reach out to support those who face atrocities, whose human dignity is in jeopardy and who choose to defend themselves. Cantor Pavel Roytman will lead a set of Ukrainian music with Ukrainian musicians and the Consul General of Ukraine will join us.  We will also raise donations for the JUF Humanitarian Relief for Ukraine. Add your voice in their support.

We are also honored to host the Wiesenthal Mobil Electronic Classroom for Tolerance.

See you at the Festival!

Michael M. Lorge
Founder & Chair

Greater Chicago Jewish Festival 2022
Final Stage Schedule

Crain Maling Stage

11:00 am Family Concert
Featuring Joel Frankel, Marilyn Price, and Rabbi Joe Black
12:15 pm Kol Sasson – The Festival “House Band” since 1980
Featuring Rob Weinberg, Susie Fox Lorge, Michael Heimlich and Don Rossoff. With special guests Judy Director, Cantor Riki Lippitz, Nadav Simon, and Shelley Yoelin.
1:00 pm Six13
2:00 pm The Internationals
3:00 pm Tracy Friend and Kyra Goldman
3:30 pm Community Sing*
4:00 pm Shakshuka
4:45 pm Jay Rapoport
5:00 pm Israeli Dancing

JUF Stage

12:00 pm Ovadya
1:00 pm Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, with Lori Lippitz
2:00 pm Rabbi Joe Black
3:00 pm A Moment for Ukraine: Cantor Pavel Roytman and Sofi Fraser
We reach out to support those who face atrocities, whose human dignity is in jeopardy and who choose to defend themselves.
3:30 pm Community Sing on the Crain Maling Stage*
4:00 pm Six13
5:00 pm Jewbiquity featuring the Roots Rock Society

Community Sing – 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
*Please join with many of our performers as we create an inspirational and fun sing-a-long experience at the Crain Maling Stage.  Hiney Ma-tov u mah naim shevet achim gam yachad!

 

 

Archived Tribute to Debbie Friedman (z"l)
Some of those who have appeared on our stages since 1980 include:

  • Theodore Bikel
Crain-Maling Foundation
Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago
Israeli American Counsel
MeTV
Chicago Jewish Day School
NorthShore University Health System
Double Tree by Hilton
Spertus
Evanston Subaru
Sherman Group
Bass Foundation

Maurice S. Surlow Memorial Fund

Joseph & Helene Lachman Foundation

SB Wolf Foundation

The Festival’s budget is raised through foundation grants, corporate sponsorship; private donations, entrance donations and co-sponsoring organizations.  We appreciate donations of all amounts.  Please help.

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The Festival is a community event, not a commercial event.  It is produced by the Jewish Production Organization for Cultural Events and Theater (Jewish P.O.C.E.T.)  The Jewish P.O.C.E.T. is run by an all-volunteer Steering Committee which consists of individuals in all fields necessary to produce the Festival.  All of these funds are treated as “community funds” and are exclusively to produce the Festival and other Jewish music events.