About Our Shul

Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky

Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky has served as the Rabbi of Congregation K.I.N.S. of West Rogers Park since 1994, and Dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy since 1995. A native Chicagoan, he was ordained and received a Masters degree in Religious Education in 1981 from the Hebrew Theological College, a Masters degree in Educational Administration from Loyola University in 1982, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, New York University, in 1989. 

Currently serving as co-president of the Religious Zionists of America, co-Chair of JUF’s Rabbinic Action Committee and Chairman of the Kashruth Commission of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, Rabbi Matanky is also a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America and the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Rabbi Matanky is the associate editor of the new RCA siddur, “Avodat HaLev,” (2018), the editor of a forthcoming Koren Siddur for the House of Mourning, and the author of numerous articles including his most recent “To Represent and to Inspire: The Role of a Sheliach Tzibbur,” in Ennoble and Enable: Essays in Honor of Richard M. Joel (2018).

Rabbi Matanky is married to Margaret (Novick), and the father of seven children, Yaakov, z”l, Chani (Rabbi Yehuda) Isenberg, Raanana (Reuven) Stein, Shoshana (Benjamin) Neikrug, Yitzchak (Aviva), Avi (Sarah) and Elisheva (Sammy) Gershon; and the grandfather of nineteen.

Rabbi Yechiel Bresler

Rabbi Yechiel Bresler grew up in St. Louis where he attended local day schools and yeshiva high school.

After high school he studied at Yeshivat Sha’alvim for two years and then was a student at Yeshiva University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and received semicha from its Rabbi Isaac Elchonon Theological Seminary (RIETS) and was awarded a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from the Ferkauf School of Psychology.

Prior to coming to Chicago, Rabbi Bresler was a rebbe and guidance counselor in both MTA (YUHSB) and TABC, two prominent Modern Orthodox boy's high schools in the New York area. Rabbi Bresler also served as  rabbinic intern at Congregation Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck, NJ and together with his wife, Davina, they were OU-JLIC fellows at Rutgers University, where they led programming for students and learned first-hand about Jewish life on campus. 

Rabbi Bresler and Davina are the proud parents of two sons Tani and Tzachi. The Breslers are honored and excited to join our K.I.N.S. community and hope to bring their enthusiasm for Jewish community and Jewish living to synagogue!

In addition to his devotion to family and Jewish community, Rabbi Bresler is a lifelong Cardinals fan - which should make for interesting "opportunities" in Chicago!