Barack Obama may have a deadlock on at least one segment of the Jewish community: his neighbors. KAM Isaiah Israel, the oldest synagogue in Chicago, is directly across the street from Obama’s house.

Members of KAM, a large Reform synagogue, report having seen the Illinois senator engaged in mundane activities around their Hyde Park neighborhood, like buying toothbrushes at Walgreens with his daughters.

But Obama’s Secret Service agents spend more time at the synagogue than Obama himself — especially when they need to use the bathroom.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“They came in to introduce themselves and to apologize in advance for any disruption that their presence might have,” said Sandy Lieberman, KAM’s executive director. Lieberman, in turn, offered to let them use the synagogue’s restrooms.

The bathroom-sharing deal led to unexpected hi-jinks: At the outset of Obama’s presidential campaign, Secret Service agents would sometimes attempt to use KAM’s bathrooms at night, only to trip the synagogue’s alarm.

“But they’ve gotten the knack of it,” Lieberman said. She added that the agents have been “extremely nice,” even doing programs with the synagogue’s nursery school students.

According to Grace Wolf, a Hyde Park resident who is married to the rabbi emeritus of KAM, Obama is backed by a solid swath of the congregation’s members.

“We had been to his fundraisers and met him” when he was an Illinois state senator, said Wolf, who supported Obama in the Illinois primary. “When I would see him at our local supermarket, I would go up to him and say, ‘Hi Senator Obama, I’m Grace Wolf,’ and he would say, ‘How’s the rabbi?’”

And he didn’t even need to use the bathroom.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount