{"id":53611,"date":"2017-03-02T02:25:16","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T08:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=53611"},"modified":"2017-03-02T11:10:34","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T17:10:34","slug":"anti-semitic-threats-and-vandalism-hit-chicago-jewish-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/anti-semitic-threats-and-vandalism-hit-chicago-jewish-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Anti-Semitic threats and vandalism hit Chicago Jewish centers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Eric Burgher<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Hostility toward Jewish community centers and day schools across the nation continued this week, with bomb threats to centers in 11 states, and approximately 100 headstones damaged at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia over the weekend. With no suspects in custody, concern continues to grow in the Jewish community.<\/p>\n<p>The latest wave of incidents raised the total to 100 at 81 locations in 33 U.S states and two Canadian provinces since the start of the year, according to the JCC Association of North America.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe real fear is that it\u2019ll escalate and it\u2019ll inspire [similar] behavior,\u201d said Rabbi David Wolkenfeld of Anshe Sholom B\u2019nai Israel Congregation in Lakeview. \u201cA lot of really dark stuff has bubbled up and is making itself seen and heard in a way I don\u2019t recall in any time of my life. And it\u2019s really unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jewish communities around Chicago have been targeted three times in the last four weeks, including bomb threats at the JCC in Lake Zurich on Jan.\u00a0 31 and the JCC in Hyde Park on Feb.\u00a0 20. Additionally, the Chicago Loop Synagogue, a congregation of about 800 people, had its windows smashed and was marked with swastikas on Feb.\u00a0 4.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s sickening,\u201d said Megan Katz, a JCC parent from Lake Zurich,\u00a0\u00a0adding that the threat came on her children\u2019s fourth day at the school.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s horrible that they are directing it toward children. Not just Jews, but helpless children and their caregivers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Katz, who recently moved from Chicago,\u00a0 said she was happy with the way the teachers handled the evacuation, but she still has safety concerns moving forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me, it\u2019s a fear of not being prepared if something is truly going to happen,\u201d Katz said. \u201cIt\u2019s making sure teachers and staff and the administration are really on their toes and making sure there is heightened security. There is not a ton of additional security from what I see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Jewish Community Center Association, or JCCA, and the JCC Chicago recently released statements.\u00a0 When questioned about increased security at JCC sites around Chicago,\u00a0 Elizabeth Abrams, the communications director, said\u00a0 that safety is always their number one priority and \u201cevery staff member knows what to do and how to handle the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor more than one hundred years, JCC Chicago has been here, offering connection, community, life-affirming programs and experiences in a safe and welcoming environment. Today is no different,\u201d Alan Sataloff, president and CEO, \u00a0said in a Feb. 23\u00a0 statement.<\/p>\n<p>Rabbi Wolkenfeld said he has talked with other congregations in the neighborhood to keep their security protocols up to code and update their policies to best prepare for such threats. Despite the overwhelming uptick of anti-Semitism, the rabbi said he still feels safe walking around the streets of Chicago, due in some part to ethnic and religious groups, including Muslims, that have reached out after the recent acts of prejudice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a silver lining,\u201d Wolkenfeld said. \u201cAs so many of our communities of different ethnic and religious backgrounds have felt threatened, we\u2019ve responded by showing up and supporting one another.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: The Chicago Loop Synagogue was vandalized in a wave of recent anti-Semitic activity. (Eric Burgher\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Eric Burgher Hostility toward Jewish community centers and day schools across the nation continued this week, with bomb threats to centers in 11 states, and approximately 100 headstones damaged at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia over the weekend. With no suspects in custody, concern continues to grow in the Jewish community. The latest wave [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":53620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3516],"tags":[3788,3786,3783,3784,3785,3787],"class_list":["post-53611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2017","tag-anti-semitism","tag-chicago-loop-synagogue","tag-jcc","tag-jcc-chicago","tag-jewish-community-center","tag-vandalsim"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Anti-Semitic threats and vandalism hit Chicago Jewish centers - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/anti-semitic-threats-and-vandalism-hit-chicago-jewish-centers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anti-Semitic threats and vandalism hit Chicago Jewish centers - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Eric Burgher Hostility toward Jewish community centers and day schools across the nation continued this week, with bomb threats to centers in 11 states, and approximately 100 headstones damaged at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia over the weekend. With no suspects in custody, concern continues to grow in the Jewish community. 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