By LORRAINE SWANSON
Editor
$20,000 reward offered for arrests in vandalism of synagogues and schools
At a Martin Luther King Day press conference, the Anti-Defamation League of Chicago and the Jewish Federation announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to arrests in hate crimes in West Ridge and Lake View. Standing with representatives from the Chicago police and the Commission on Human Relations at the commission's office at 740 N. Sedgewick, local Jewish leaders offered the reward for leads in the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at Temple Sholom in Lake View last month and spray-painting and brick throwing this month at two synagogues and two high schools in West Ridge.
On Dec. 29, a witness reported seeing someone throwing a Molotov cocktail from a car and shouting an ethnic slur at a passerby at Temple Sholom at 3840 N. Lake Shore Dr. around 2 a.m., according to a Chicago Police Department spokesman.
Shortly after midnight on Jan. 10, 24th District police discovered the words "Death to Israel" spray-painted on a sign in front of Hanna Sachs Bais Yaakov High School, an Orthodox girls' school at 3201 W. Devon.
Three more acts of vandalism and anti-Israel graffiti were also reported that same morning at Anshe Motele Congregation at 6520 N. California, Lubavitch Boys High School at 2756 W. Morse, and the Congregation of Young Israel of West Rogers Park, at 2706 W. Touhy.
Orange spray paint was used in each incident where anti-Israel graffiti was reported. All instances are being investigated as hate crimes by the Chicago Police Department's Area 3 detective division's hate crime unit at Belmont and Western.
At Lubavitch and Young Israel, bricks were thrown through the glass doors and windows. The incidents all occurred in West Ridge, where many of the neighborhood's Orthodox Jews reside.
The Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation in suburban Lincolnwood just outside the Chicago city limits also reported its glass windows and doors shattered by two men in ski masks early Saturday morning.
Jenna Benn, assistant director of the Anti-Defamation League of Chicago, said the five incidents may be related to increased tensions in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. She reported a similar trend in assaults against Jews and sacred places of worship in 2006 during Israel's war with Lebanon.
"Assaults against Jews and communities locally and worldwide are on the rise," Benn said. "In Europe, Jews have been threatened and beaten on the streets and synagogues have been fire-bombed."
Benn denounced the hate crimes, adding that "the intention of the reward fund is to provide law enforcement with the necessary leads to bring the perpetrators to justice in the five incidents that appear to be linked."
Area 3 Deputy Chief of Patrol Bruce Rottner said Chicago police are working with the FBI to investigate and monitor the incidents that occurred in the 24th Police District that covers Rogers Park and part of Edgewater.
"We're re-canvassing all these areas in Rogers Park where these crimes occurred," Rottner said. "We know there is someone out there who saw something or heard something who hasn't come forward yet."
Police still haven't determined if the Temple Sholom incident is related to the defacement of synagogues and schools in West Ridge.
"All are being investigated together by the detective division and our hate crime unit," Rottner added. "We're leaving no stone unturned."
Rottner would not comment on surveillance video that was said to capture one of the West Ridge incidents or the number of individuals that police are seeking to question about the crimes. According to 24th district police reports, a security camera at Lubavitch High School revealed three males - two wearing ski masks and a third acting as a lookout - throwing an object at the school's door.
"There was surveillance video. I'm not going to comment any further," the deputy chief said. "We're looking for several people. [The video] captures part of the incident taking place."
Benn said that the Anti-Defamation League's special investigator who monitors anti-Semitic incidents locally and internationally has been in constant touch with Area 3's hate crime unit. Until Monday, she was unaware that more than one person may be involved in defacing the West Ridge synagogues and schools.
Since the Jan. 10 vandalism, Jewish synagogues, schools and other institutions in Rogers Park have been placed on a special watch.
Meanwhile, Chicago police and the FBI will continue to work with the public to generate intelligence and alleviate fears and tension in both neighborhoods.
"We have strategies in place that I obviously can't share," he said. "Interestingly enough in two of [the West Ridge] incidents, two were discovered by police. We were proactive."
Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicago. Show all posts
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Chicago synagogues hit by hate crime spree
Vandals struck four Chicago-area synagogues early Saturday morning, shattering glass doors and windows with bricks and rocks and spray-painting anti-Israel graffiti.
The caretakers at Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation in the normally quiet village of Lincolnwood just outside Chicago woke up to the sound of shattering glass and saw two adults running through the synagogue's parking lot in ski masks. Four bricks were thrown through the building's front doors, but the vandals were unable to gain entry.
"Death to Israel Free Palestine," was the message left behind on the walls in bright orange spray paint.
Similar incidents occurred around the same time not far away at three synagogues and schools in Chicago's West Rogers Park, a neighborhood dominated by Orthodox Jews. Two windows were shattered at Young Israel of West Rogers Park, "Death to Israel" was spray-painted on the wall of Congregation Anshe Motele and rocks broke a glass window at the Lubavitch Mesivta school.
Lubavitch Mesivta's Rabbi Moshe Perlstein told the Chicago Sun-Times that cameras captured video of the men damaging his school at around 4:40 a.m. The footage shows one man spray-painting the side of the building while the other ran around to the front and threw rocks at the front door, breaking a glass window, he said. The video has been turned over to police.
Lincolnwood and Chicago police and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force will check whether there was a connection between Saturday's incidents and the December 29 throwing of a Molotov cocktail into Temple Sholom, one of Chicago's oldest and most ornate synagogues, in the Lakeview neighborhood.
The city's Ida Crown Jewish Academy high school received a mailed bomb threat two weeks ago that warned of attacks at other Chicago-area Jewish institutions, including day schools.
A pro-Israel rally was held at Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation on Sunday afternoon to respond to the spate of hate crimes and support Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The synagogue's rabbi, Joel Lehrfield, called the perpetrators of the hate crime "cowardly thugs who support Hamas."
"We're more worried about Israel than we are about ourselves," Lehrfield said.
Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago executive vice president Michael Kotzin said it was ironic that he was on a solidarity mission in southern Israel when he heard about the attacks back home.
"I wouldn't say that we're in the front lines in Chicago like here, but there are people who are hostile to and hate Jews here and there, and we have to address it," Kotzin said. "It's important that law enforcement takes it seriously. But we won't be frightened or intimidated, just like the people of Israel. Their behavior strengthens us."
The caretakers at Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation in the normally quiet village of Lincolnwood just outside Chicago woke up to the sound of shattering glass and saw two adults running through the synagogue's parking lot in ski masks. Four bricks were thrown through the building's front doors, but the vandals were unable to gain entry.
"Death to Israel Free Palestine," was the message left behind on the walls in bright orange spray paint.
Similar incidents occurred around the same time not far away at three synagogues and schools in Chicago's West Rogers Park, a neighborhood dominated by Orthodox Jews. Two windows were shattered at Young Israel of West Rogers Park, "Death to Israel" was spray-painted on the wall of Congregation Anshe Motele and rocks broke a glass window at the Lubavitch Mesivta school.
Lubavitch Mesivta's Rabbi Moshe Perlstein told the Chicago Sun-Times that cameras captured video of the men damaging his school at around 4:40 a.m. The footage shows one man spray-painting the side of the building while the other ran around to the front and threw rocks at the front door, breaking a glass window, he said. The video has been turned over to police.
Lincolnwood and Chicago police and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force will check whether there was a connection between Saturday's incidents and the December 29 throwing of a Molotov cocktail into Temple Sholom, one of Chicago's oldest and most ornate synagogues, in the Lakeview neighborhood.
The city's Ida Crown Jewish Academy high school received a mailed bomb threat two weeks ago that warned of attacks at other Chicago-area Jewish institutions, including day schools.
A pro-Israel rally was held at Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation on Sunday afternoon to respond to the spate of hate crimes and support Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The synagogue's rabbi, Joel Lehrfield, called the perpetrators of the hate crime "cowardly thugs who support Hamas."
"We're more worried about Israel than we are about ourselves," Lehrfield said.
Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago executive vice president Michael Kotzin said it was ironic that he was on a solidarity mission in southern Israel when he heard about the attacks back home.
"I wouldn't say that we're in the front lines in Chicago like here, but there are people who are hostile to and hate Jews here and there, and we have to address it," Kotzin said. "It's important that law enforcement takes it seriously. But we won't be frightened or intimidated, just like the people of Israel. Their behavior strengthens us."
Monday, December 22, 2008
Chicago's largest Hanukkah parade hits the streets
Chicago's largest Hanukkah parade hit the streets Sunday, and this year, the parade, organized by the Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, is paying tribute to the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks.
One hundred one cars adorned with illuminated menorahs on their roofs lined up at Daley Plaza and then headed north Sunday afternoon. It was a public demonstration showing the ability to transform darkness into light.
Sunday night was the first night of Hanukkah.
One hundred one cars adorned with illuminated menorahs on their roofs lined up at Daley Plaza and then headed north Sunday afternoon. It was a public demonstration showing the ability to transform darkness into light.
Sunday night was the first night of Hanukkah.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Chicago Jews mourn Mumbai victims
For many Jewish travelers, it is a beacon of hospitality in a foreign land. But on the evening of Nov. 26 in Mumbai, the Chabad House became the scene of horrific crimes that reminded many Jews of a darker time decades ago when they were targeted and tortured just for being Jewish.
On Wednesday, the Chicago Jewish community will pay tribute to six lives lost inside the Chabad Lubavitch Center in Mumbai and remind each other of his or her responsibility to bring light into darkness and repair the world.
“In the Jewish tradition, we know the world is not perfect,” said Steve Nasatir, president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. “It’s no question they were targeted here. It’s selection to a certain extent. The word selection [of the terrorists] goes back to the ‘40s and the Nazi death camps. There’s a haunting connection.”
More than 170 lives were lost in the gunfire and explosions that rocked Mumbai last week. Media reports indicate that Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife, Rivkah, and their guests Rav Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum, Rabbi Bentzion Chroman, Yocheved Orpaz and Norma Schwartzblat-Rabinovitch were tortured and killed by the militant Islamists who seized the Chabad House and two luxury hotels.
Chabad-Lubavitch is one of the largest Hasidic movements in Orthodox Judaism, and is based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. The Hebrew letters that spell Chabad are a Hebrew acronym for Chochmah, Binah, Da’at meaning wisdom, understanding and knowledge, respectively.
With the goal of encouraging Jews to learn more about their heritage and to practice Judaism, emissaries are dispatched around the world to reach out to their own, giving Jews a place to find kosher food, pray and reconnect with their faith. Though ultra-orthodox in their own practice, Chabad Houses welcome Jews of all branches--Reform, Reconstruction, Conservative, and modern Orthodox.
There are 31 Chabad Houses in Illinois. For financial reasons, plans to build a 32nd in downtown Chicago were placed on hold earlier this year.
Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, regional director of Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, said the plan for a memorial service came from people who had encountered the Holtzbergs in Mumbai who he said “took care of every person like their own brother and sister.”
He hopes the memorial service demonstrates the importance of finding unity and common ground despite ideological and theological differences. He also hopes it awakens people to the reality that the attacks in Mumbai could happen in Britain, Beirut or our back yard.
“This was an event that shook the Jewish people and Chabad to its core,” he said. “This is 9/11 happening all over again.”
The memorial service is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn North Shore, 5300 W. Touhy Ave., Skokie.
On Wednesday, the Chicago Jewish community will pay tribute to six lives lost inside the Chabad Lubavitch Center in Mumbai and remind each other of his or her responsibility to bring light into darkness and repair the world.
“In the Jewish tradition, we know the world is not perfect,” said Steve Nasatir, president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. “It’s no question they were targeted here. It’s selection to a certain extent. The word selection [of the terrorists] goes back to the ‘40s and the Nazi death camps. There’s a haunting connection.”
More than 170 lives were lost in the gunfire and explosions that rocked Mumbai last week. Media reports indicate that Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife, Rivkah, and their guests Rav Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum, Rabbi Bentzion Chroman, Yocheved Orpaz and Norma Schwartzblat-Rabinovitch were tortured and killed by the militant Islamists who seized the Chabad House and two luxury hotels.
Chabad-Lubavitch is one of the largest Hasidic movements in Orthodox Judaism, and is based in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. The Hebrew letters that spell Chabad are a Hebrew acronym for Chochmah, Binah, Da’at meaning wisdom, understanding and knowledge, respectively.
With the goal of encouraging Jews to learn more about their heritage and to practice Judaism, emissaries are dispatched around the world to reach out to their own, giving Jews a place to find kosher food, pray and reconnect with their faith. Though ultra-orthodox in their own practice, Chabad Houses welcome Jews of all branches--Reform, Reconstruction, Conservative, and modern Orthodox.
There are 31 Chabad Houses in Illinois. For financial reasons, plans to build a 32nd in downtown Chicago were placed on hold earlier this year.
Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, regional director of Lubavitch Chabad of Illinois, said the plan for a memorial service came from people who had encountered the Holtzbergs in Mumbai who he said “took care of every person like their own brother and sister.”
He hopes the memorial service demonstrates the importance of finding unity and common ground despite ideological and theological differences. He also hopes it awakens people to the reality that the attacks in Mumbai could happen in Britain, Beirut or our back yard.
“This was an event that shook the Jewish people and Chabad to its core,” he said. “This is 9/11 happening all over again.”
The memorial service is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn North Shore, 5300 W. Touhy Ave., Skokie.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
CHERUBS WANTED
A rarity in real estate is a developer who calls attention to his own project tanking. Such a developer is Lubavitch Chabad, an organization dedicated to Jewish counseling and teaching that has spent $6 million on a planned Center for Jewish Life at the southwest corner of Clark and Chestnut. Trouble is, the money has gotten them only a hole in the ground.
The group needs another $6 million to complete the spiritual sanctuary, complete with a place for mivkas, or ritual baths. Rabbi Meir Chai Benhiyoun, director of Chabad of the Loop, Gold Coast and Lincoln Park, said the group needs to find donors to complete the project or add a developer for a commercial and residential component.
That means, you guessed it, a zoning change would be needed for a structure larger that originally contemplated. A supporter of the center, Yehuda Sugar, said something in the 15-story range seems doable.
Ald. Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes the site, said he has an open mind about a rezoning but said the organization must first draw up specific plans and get support from the neighbors before asking for his commitment.
Another alternative is to sell the property, former site of the Chestnut Station theater. The rabbi said he has no "developer preference" if he has to go that route. He said developer Alter Group Ltd. and architect Dan Coffey have provided valuable help.
Why start a project without the money in hand? Benhiyoun said he trusted advice that once work started, the biggest donations would materialize.
The group needs another $6 million to complete the spiritual sanctuary, complete with a place for mivkas, or ritual baths. Rabbi Meir Chai Benhiyoun, director of Chabad of the Loop, Gold Coast and Lincoln Park, said the group needs to find donors to complete the project or add a developer for a commercial and residential component.
That means, you guessed it, a zoning change would be needed for a structure larger that originally contemplated. A supporter of the center, Yehuda Sugar, said something in the 15-story range seems doable.
Ald. Brendan Reilly, whose 42nd Ward includes the site, said he has an open mind about a rezoning but said the organization must first draw up specific plans and get support from the neighbors before asking for his commitment.
Another alternative is to sell the property, former site of the Chestnut Station theater. The rabbi said he has no "developer preference" if he has to go that route. He said developer Alter Group Ltd. and architect Dan Coffey have provided valuable help.
Why start a project without the money in hand? Benhiyoun said he trusted advice that once work started, the biggest donations would materialize.
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