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Veteran askanim Rabbi Shia Markowitz and Rabbi Shmuel Bloom join forces for shemittah   Before Shia Markowitz, a decades-long communal activist whose stamp is on some of the most important communal initiatives in recent years, took over the international shemittah umbrella, he admits that he didn’t have much emotional connection to Eretz Yisrael. Today, joining forces with former Agudah executive Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, the two American askanim are working tirelessly so that the Holy Land can have its rest Reb Shia Markowitz might just be the most famous askan you never heard of. Although he�...

Remembering Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz ztz”l When putting pen to paper, I am challenged to properly express the greatness of Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, longtime rosh beis din at the Chicago Rabbinical Council (the cRc, where I am kashrus administrator) as well as at the Beth Din of America. In interactions with him, he gave the impression of a European-born gadol, steeped in the great Lithuanian yeshivos. But the truth was that he finished public high school in Newark and graduated from RIETS with a French Prize. So where did he come from, and how did he become a major talmid chacham who was i...