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  • Shavuos LuncheonCome and join our celebratory milchig Kiddish and luncheon! Click Here to RSVP
  • Sunday Hebrew SchoolOur Hebrew School offers a friendly and stimulating environment, where children can embrace their Jewish roots and gain a true sense of Jewish pride. Register now
About
Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe (FREE), Inc., has been in existence since 1973. Our mission is to promote Jewish pride, identity and continuity among New American families in the greater Chicagoland area, by providing educational, religious, cultural and social services in a caring non-judgmental environment.

FREE’s programming and services focuses on Jewish family life cycle events and holidays and festivals in the Jewish calendar year. The FREE Hebrew schools, Bar and Bas Mitzvah preparation classes and youth clubs are an integral part of our youth education program. Adult Judaic classes and counseling and Family Shabat Services helps New Americans become proud members of the Jewish community. Our popular Memorial Yizkor and Kaddish programs are important and meaningful avenues that link generations and bridge continents. The widely acclaimed Shalom Magazine, a Russian language publication of FREE, features quality journalism and enjoys avid global readership. All of our programs are provided in the framework of a caring family environment.

At the present time FREE’s primary location is the Bellows Educational and Cultural Center in Chicago with three additional satellites located throughout the Chicago area and in the suburbs.
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Learning & Inspiration
  • How a Baptist Girl from the Deep South Became a Chabad RebbetzinIt took a trip to Germany and a lot of self-discovery for Eliana to find her place in the Jewish com... Read More
  • 5 Ways Shavuot This Year Is UniqueHere are some ways in which this Shavuot, celebrated from Thursday, May 21, to Shabbat, May 23, 2026... Read More
Shabbat & Holidays
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Weekly Torah Portion
Upcoming Holiday
May 21 - May 23
Daily Thought
What is an alef? A point above, a point below, and a line between. Whatever we may understand of Him is but an infinitesimal point above. The only way we can join with Him is as an infinitesmal point below. And what empowers us to become this zero-point below that resonates with the infinite-point above? Our awe of Him, a line that connects below to above. Hayom Yom, 8 Adar I; 10 Shevat 5716.
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