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| Chicago Public Schools board member Ellen Rosenfeld. |
With the state of Israel being continually mugged in the court of public opinion, I decided to check out Monday's celebration of the nation's 78th birthday, held by the Consulate General of Israel in Chicago. See how they are holding up.
The location was kept secret, as is the Israel practice, a reminder that, for all the menace assigned to Jews, they're still the ones who have to lurk in the shadows, worrying about being killed, which anyone who has visited Europe must notice. Church doors are wide open for anyone to walk in off the street, while with synagogues, you find yourself being buzzed through one of those 90 degree security pens after being sniffed for explosives.
Plus the prospect of disruptive protesting. The We Love Bunnies of Israel Club at Northwestern, should one exist, couldn't hold "Pet a Soft Bunny Day" at Deering Meadow without being shouted at by passersby, if not organized mobs.
Expecting something fancy, I put on my blue blazer and khakis.
"These are Israelis, right?" said my wife, whose point of reference is when you could take a taxi from Israel to Egypt and sleep on the beach. But I read the room in advance correctly. Some of the 500 guests actually wore neckties.
Security had to be cleared. "You want to hear my Torah portion?" I asked the stern man giving me the once over, referring to the passages read at my bar mitzvah. "Yes," he said, and I began to rattle off the beginning of Leviticus 25, in Hebrew. He waved me through.
"All these kids think Israel is Palestine because that's what they're being taught," said Mendoza. "It's everywhere."
I asked her if she felt strongly about Israel.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't," she said. "Everyone should feel safe in this city. It's scarier for Jewish people."
I suppose. Contemplating that map, I'd be tempted to say, with a brisk wave of the hand, "Well, look at that! They have their country, right there. So what are you bitching about?"
But that's callous, and there's enough callousness going around without adding more. Harshness is the rule of the day. One way to understand Israel now is the former deep bench of peaceniks have been swept away by years of frustration, not to forget the Oct. 7 massacre. Now they've got the same rigid nationalists that are plaguing this country, busy blowing Gaza to smithereens, a gift to anti-Zionists everywhere. Strange times indeed, when the Mayor of New York is a more vocal enemy of Israel than the king of Saudi Arabia.
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Yes, they need to have tight security, esp. if Muslim terrorists might hit.
ReplyDeleteor right wingers
DeleteTight security, sometimes to the point of sheer paranoia, is nothing new.
DeleteYears ago (10? 15? 20?) the Jewish Federation of Cleveland still had their offices downtown. They sealed off an entire block with fences and metal detectors and checkpoints and probably barbed wire. And the surrounding streets and alleys were patrolled by armed guards.
All that...so that a street fair could be held. The main purpose of which was so that Jewish parents could visit booths and stands and choose which summer camp their Miriam or Noah would attend that year.
An armed compound, with a little klezmer music on the side.
And a nosh at one end, of course. Festive? Not so much.
Welp, I'm a Clevelander. The liberals caused this. And it's still the Indians!
DeleteA shame about anti Israeli teachings in the schools.
ReplyDeleteWas there at least a take-home souvenir?
ReplyDeleteA trio of lovely cookies.
DeleteJoe Weicher
ReplyDeleteNot sure it's fair to refer to Mamdani as an "enemy" of Israel. "Critic" OK?
ReplyDeleteA critic who automatically backs the people who want to destroy the nation sounds like an enemy to me.
DeleteI don't trust that NY mayor when it comes to his thoughts on Jewish folks
ReplyDeleteAsk Brad Lander
DeleteLander is the classic self-hating Jew!
DeleteI don't know anything about Lander. But the the term self hating jew gets tossed around much too easily. I am Jewish. I hate what the govrerment is doing. I think it is terrible that most of Congress is controlled by AIPAC. And most of them are supporting the genocide. Maybe quietly they are not supporting it but they are not speaking out. The Christian evangelists are probabl ok with it. They think the rapture will occur in Israel.
DeleteMy decades-long stance on Israel has led to my being labeled as a slef-hating Jew...and a lot more than once. or twice. My reply is always the same--that I'm okay with that, because I do hate the Slefs..
DeleteWill never forget what they did to our people in 1915.
The Slefian Massacre is a forgotten page in history.
Never again!
glad you took off that waiting to get comments approved set up
ReplyDeletePalestine does not exist. End of discussion. No such place.
ReplyDeleteBut Palestinians certainly do. I try to never lose sight of that. Just because other people abandon their humanity doesn't mean we should rush to join them.
DeleteIsrael never existed either
DeleteBut it sure as hell exists now. Sorry if I'm the one to tell you.
DeleteExcellent point. The critics of Israel's right to exist certainly aren't banging a drum to give America back to the indigenous folks our ancestors displaced with violence and vigor.
ReplyDeletePerspectives such as those expressed by you are much coveted in these scary times.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was great you got to sit next to Shia. Everyone should follow her Politico column.
ReplyDeleteHave been re-reading Van Der Kolk's "The Body Keeps Score" on trauma. In our country's insanity I find myself looking at those in power and those with voices...
ReplyDeleteWho has a right not just to feel safe, but actually be safe without giving up a free life for security.
The Jewish Journal-- While antisemitic harassment and vandalism both declined from 2024 levels, from 6,552 to 4,003 incidents of harassment and 2,606 to 2,068 cases of vandalism, the ADL’s report found that incidents of assault rose from 196 to 203, a 4% increase from 2024 to 2025. At least 300 victims were targeted by incidents of assault, according to the report.
Then read Global Statistics.com/Violence-against-women-in-us just for 2025.
https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/violence-against-women-in-us/
Who is in greater danger?
Who should be mistrusting who?
https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/violence-against-women-in-us/
I'm not one to complain but you had a terrible seat as the press from the photo published. Bonus points for staying in a crowd of nobodies.
ReplyDeleteActually, I wasn't sitting at all, but standing in the back, as my plan was to bolt out before the rush. But so many people jumped the gun that it was no longer necessary, and when I suggested to Shia that we grab a couple empty chairs, she agreed.
DeleteI often complain of our societies inability to understand complexity and its gravitation towards simplistic solutions. Those "solutions" often fall apart upon examination, and not even tough examination.
ReplyDeleteThe "Make America Great Again" is a wonderful example. Simply ask how we can accomplish that (and yes we're going to ignore the obvious question of what is great and when were we great), and you are greeted with lies, sexism, hate, antisemitism, anti immigrant, and racist comments that are thrown together with the absence of fact, reality, or even ideas on how to make us "great" "again."
People glom onto the idea of becoming great without understanding that you have to do something to become great; and often times, that something is an awful lot of hard work.
As a Jew, I have a very hard time explaining and defending my stance on Israel. As you point out, Neil, there is a lot that is unsaid; A lot that used to be said that is no longer said; and a lot that public relations have really "cleaned up" to obfuscate everyone's reality.
Israel is in the wrong, at least her government and the right (not to mention the orthodox). Saying that isn't antisemitic or anti-Jew. In fact, I would make the argument that Netenyaho might be causing more antisemitism now than anyone else.
But most people don't understand the complexities. "Free Palestine" is easy to say, it ignores so much of the problems and realities. Everyone is in the wrong. But we sure as hell aren't going to solve anything if no one is willing to compromise and we know that the next regime (potentially on either side) will just rip up what came before and do what ever they want.
And I think that may be the biggest issue.
Very nice piece, Neil.
I am, of course, wildly impressed that you can still rattle off your Torah portion. I still remember what mine was about, but except for the first line of Hebrew, that begins half of the Torah portions, “God spoke to Moses, saying:“, I don’t remember a word.
ReplyDeleteI think that first line was what I said. "And God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai..."
DeleteI do remember the portion was the Jubilee Year. "Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to the inhabitants thereof."
Have no idea at all what mine was all about. It was on a phonograph record, and I played it and sang along, over and over and over, until I got it right. That was how I spent a good deal of the summer I turned 13..
DeleteHad two options in that summer of 1960...either a Bar Mitzvah or having both my legs broken and put into casts for a few months, in order to straighten them out. Which would have allowed me to no longer walk like a duck. Took the easier way out. Still walk like a duck.
Still wish to hell my parents had made me go through with it. Could have simply told the rest of the world that I'd been hit by a bus. And the rest of my life would have been very different..
We are pretty much the same age. I also learned by listening to a record over and over again. Needled to say I have no idea what my torah portion was.
DeleteGreat column, Neil, and thanks for shedding further light and insight on the highly selective nature of the Free Palestine activists / protestors in terms of targeting in a very broad attack who they self-righteously deem as oppressors.
ReplyDeleteI do subscribe to the digital version of the Sun-Times and initially read today’s column on that site. Coming to the blog to view comments, I did notice that the second and third paragraphs published in the lead-in to the S-T link were removed from the column as it appears on the S-T site - I’’m assuming by your editor(s).
I know this sometimes occurs for various reasons, but I’m curious if the two paragraphs were trimmed for reasons of brevity or concern that the paragraphs might trigger an unstable individual(s) given the volatility of the topic? I also noticed the S-T ran the column under a different headline.
Jim
Thanks for mentioning the missing paragraphs, Jim. I read it in the e-edition and would not have seen them. The title and subtitle in the paper were very good; the title of the blog post is funny!
Delete"... our country to be given back to native Americans, with Chicago returned to the Potawatomi. The effort would be a refreshing change of pace, and the result would be the same." Yep.
I very rarely comment on this topic, because what is there to say? It's a vicious conundrum, has been so and will continue to be so. I do feel that, not just native Americans, but numerous folks all over the world have had their land stolen by "nations," but it happened so long ago that not that many bother to fight about it anymore, let alone engage in terrorism because of it.
78 years is a long time. Long enough that many are not aware of the events which *preceded* Israel coming into existence as a modern state. But not long enough that the plight of the Palestinians has become a moot point. I do feel like the nation of Israel lost a millennia-old game of musical chairs and they're left as the primary country that gets punished for existing on what was once somebody else's land. Uh, I'm afraid there's a pretty obvious, disturbing reason for that.
That being said, Netanyahu is not the person one would want trying to deal with the conundrum, that's for sure.
Given that Chicago Public Schools students are categorized legally as 10 percent, with 49.9 percent of the city population white, are Jews on the board overrepresented? Should we allow non-citizens to vote? Seems fair as I once worked in the city. I want to vote for the Board as a non-believer. We have rights, you know.
ReplyDeleteWho the hell are you to Neil the Holocaust never happened?
DeleteYou ignorant slut. White kids don't utilize the vote or Chicago Pubkic Schools. The mayor is Black, the governor is Jewish. That's not fair.
DeleteHow dare you. Hispanics get nothing. We have San Salvadorisns unrepresented. The gays took over. We need more Hispanic gays. We are scared and in fear.
DeleteThat is not the issue. We need more alderpersons who are not felons. REP. fORD was a felon and got a governor's pardon. Bow he writes for the Sun-Times.
DeleteSouth Side Rep. Ford was convicted and expelled by the Illinois House. This happens with a Blagojevich and Michael Madigan. We can't talk about that. We need more people of color on the Board. It is upsetting that whites are so racist. Most days, we try not think about the Madicagn rape gang. His employee did most of the covering up. Madiga. Sits in prison. All laws passed by felon Mike Madigan are legal.
DeleteJust two days ago, Mister S wrote:
Delete"Why make commentators wait? People are pretty behaved, and I figure I'll pluck out the inappropriate comments after they post, which will give you a sense of what they are, which you might enjoy."
Now I'm getting a sense of what they are, and what he is really dealing with every goddamn day. And are they all that enjoyable? Only if one enjoys the rantings of anonymous right-wing glassbowls and shmucks. Which I don't.
Jim, the GD fan
DeletePosting this as "Anonymous" only makes your comments appear even more antisemitic.
DeleteIt also appears that you might need to do a little bit more studying of actual data and less time in the "man o' sphere."
What percentage of elected officials -- across all elected positions -- are millionaires? What percentage of them are in the top 1%? how does that number compare to the average American?
If you do not feel your voice is being heard, run for something. If you don't like how the board is run and you don't even live in the area, then you should probably take a step back and think about what your voice matters.
You seam like a peach
Well said, Grizz!
DeleteIt’s interesting how these pathetic individuals will post completely unrelated hateful screeds, and do so anonymously, as if any of the true fans of the blog want to view their nonsense.
It’s really a pitiful existence they must lead, consumed by such hatred and vitriol, yet so insecure and cowering in fear to identify themselves using even an anonymous pseudonym.
And then Mister S has to pluck them out and dispose of them, like a homeowner picking up dogshit from his well-trimmed and green lawn. A royal PITA, methinks.
DeleteNah, I think I'll leave them up. Take comfort that they seem to be the same guy. Some people like their remarks going up immediately. You're the dean of commentators, Grizz, I'll leave it up to you. When you say, "Time to muzzle the dog," I'll go back to the old way. It's easier for me not to vet them.
DeleteThanks for the honor. But it appears that it didn't work. Sorry.(See below).
DeleteNot sure what I was reading. Got distracted by the comment directed to the ignorant slut by thinking, that's gotta be a first on this blog
ReplyDeleteA first...and probably a last. Never before...and most likely never again.
DeleteMaybe time to resume curating the comments?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I suppose so...
DeleteBravissimo for trying, Mister S. Realize you must be very busy if you had to do this, but it looks like an experiment that didn't pan out. You will get dozens of comments every day and have to remove half of them. Kudos for the effort..
DeleteWhen I read about the change in commenting policy the other day, I thought: "Well, I wish it could be so, but NS has tried it a number of times before. It might be fine when the topic is chocolate cake, but I'm not sure it will go well the first time a controversial topic comes up." It was certainly worth a shot, though.
DeleteAlas, I missed my chance to see a comment go up immediately. D'oh!
Another time perhaps.
DeleteMaybe it is just me but you seem to make being an anti zionist a bad thing. I don't think it is anti semetic to be an anti zionist.. I have no idea what the break down woulJd have been but I have read that there were plenty of Je.ws that were anti zionist. Th.ere were certainly Jews who didn't believe that there should be a Jewish state. I have had this discussion with my brother that Jews had no where to go. That is probaby true. I suppose if there hadn't been a holocaust there might not be a Jewish state. It was certainly a bad move by FDR who ever decided to send a boat back to Germany. I am sure every Jew knows this story. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/voyage-of-the-st-louis I did not realize the ship went to Cuba first. 254 of the Jewish passengers did end up being killed. I also didn't know that this happened months before Germany attacked Poland. This country could have saved a lot of people if they let in every Jewish person who wanted to come here.
ReplyDeleteIt is a bad thing, for Jews. It's like feeling women should not work, or have control of their bodies. Hatred per se? No. Just a constricting philosophy denying the humanity of a group. Sure, some Jews didn't and don't believe Jews should have a state. And some Black people, no doubt, felt slavery was a-okay. Doesn't make 'em right.
DeleteWhat ever happened to 'there but for the grace of God go I'? Does anyone on either side look at the Israelis or Palestinians and think that could be my people? Did we ever look at each other as just human beings? Does God look at us and think we are something to be proud of?
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, John, though you must be a newcomer here, because I try to take a nuanced view, regarding both sides as human beings locked in a bad situation: https://www.everygoddamnday.com/2014/07/you-want-war-we-want-peace.html
DeleteRemember the speech you gave at the community college about knowing when to quit Russian?
ReplyDeleteHow many more Palestinians have to die for this "insurance policy" to be worth it. The world has changed and you, your wife, and children are never going to have to board a freighter for Israel because the population will turn on you like Germany.
Also, young Jewry in my interactions with them are 60/40 anti-Zionists. That leaves you with orthos and evangelicals and they are waning on Israel. This country has changed dramatically in the last 25 years and will continue to move to the Left (Thank G-d).
Israel will eventually face a BDS issue and there will be a 1 state binational solution with everyone living in harmony.
White South Africans thought there would be a genocide when democracy came, then when Mandela died (seriously they believed this bullshit) but now SA is a beautiful democracy. Rahm Emanuel went on his honeymoon to SA!
Let's stop the killing and choose peace.