Sometimes a sign is more than a sign. In 2019, the City of Chicago informed Robert’s Fish Market, the only kosher fish market in Chicago, that the permit for its iconic sign had expired. The city fined the shop’s owner, Arturo Venegas, and Venegas took it down. That made a tough business even tougher. But…
A public monument featuring Revolutionary War financier Haym Saloman, a Polish-Jewish American businessman, may be removed from where it stands in Chicago’s Heald Square. The monument, along with 40 others, is under review by the Chicago Monument Project as part of the city’s effort to “address the hard truths of Chicago’s racial history.” The project…
The moment that crystallized Howard Reich’s future in music, writing and Judaism occurred when, as a 16-year-old living in the largely Jewish Chicago suburb of Skokie, Ill., he found the 1951 Best-Picture winning musical “An American in Paris” showing on the family TV. George Gershwin, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, wrote the film’s music,…
Before becoming a rabbi, Benay Lappe wanted to be a Buddhist monk. While Jews have often been drawn to Eastern traditions, few dedicate nearly a decade to becoming a devout Buddhist in Japan. Lappe is hardcore. But before making her final commitment, she consulted with a rabbi in Tokyo who gave her a copy of…
It began with books. Rabbi Michael Siegel gave Pastor Chris Harris a copy of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s “The Sabbath,” and “Lovesong,” by Julius Lester. Harris sent Siegel Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow.” They had met, about 10 years ago, after Siegel, the longtime senior rabbi at the Conservative Anshe Emet synagogue on Chicago’s North…
Did Northwestern University student efforts to fight for Black student’s safety on campus take an ugly turn to antisemitism? That’s the contention raised in an open letter from the university’s president Morton Schapiro — though students who took part in the protests dispute it. In a letter to the campus community, Schapiro said some students…
What now? The protests following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd have been infused with hope and fraught with danger. They could result in increased justice, or more injustice. Craig Futterman and Adam Gross, two lawyers in Chicago’s Jewish community, are trying to tip the balance toward the brighter side as they tackle the…
(JTA) — About a dozen windows were smashed last week at a synagogue in Peoria, Illinois. The damage to Congregation Anshai Emeth, a Reform synagogue, took place between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, local CBS affiliate WMBD reported. Many of the smashed windows were in the part of the building that houses the Peoria Hebrew…
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