Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

Most South Haven residents know where Lakeview Cemetery is located. But few may realize theres another cemetery right next to it; one that observes the burial rituals of the Jewish faith.

The First Hebrew Congregation Cemetery was born out of the Jewish population that flourished in South Haven during the first half of the 20th century. Jewish people from the Chicago area came to South Haven during the summer months to vacation, and others decided to locate full time in South Haven, establishing the First Hebrew Congregation synagogue, along with summer resorts and downtown businesses.

With the dwindling of the 20th century resorts, the full-time Jewish population has also dwindled over the years, but the cemetery and synagogue remain.

Barry Fidelman, whose parents owned the popular Fidelman Resort on Phoenix Road during the heyday of Jewish summer resorts, is one longtime Jewish resident of South Haven who wants to make sure that the Jewish history in South Haven is preserved, especially in the cemetery.

These people who are buried here need to be honored, he said. We donated the cemetery property to the city. But other than the mowing the city does, theres not much other maintenance. I feel its my generations responsibility to beautify it.

Thats why he and other members of the First Hebrew Congregation synagogue board of directors decided to pay for a new archway leading to the cemetery and make several other improvements.

They approached city officials earlier this month to spend $2,150 to construct a new 12-foot arch, made of cedar and painted white, to serve as an entrance to the cemetery, off of Bailey Avenue.

When the city made maintenance upgrades to Lakeview Cemetery two years ago, the stone wall configurations were changed to prevent against erosion. One of those walls displayed a small sign leading to the Hebrew cemetery. But with the maintenance changes, the sign leading to the Jewish cemetery is more difficult to see from the roadway.

Members of the First Hebrew Congregation want to make sure that the entrance of the Jewish cemetery is more visible.

The arch, whose bottom and top portion will be enclosed in fiberglass to prevent rot, will showcase a Star of David made of steel, and the faces of lions, displayed on either side of the archway symbols of the Jewish faith.

This wooden structure will house a memorial to the past members who served in foreign wars, said Remey Rubin, president of the First Hebrew Congregation board of directors.

South Haven City Council members gave their approval on June 20 for the arch to be erected. Their approval was needed due to the citys ownership of the cemetery. The archway will be erected later this summer.

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New archway brings recognition to Jewish cemetery in South Haven - Herald Palladium

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) In Tripolis Old City, young Libyans weave delicate patterns with threads of silver and gold to create traditional filigree jewelry reviving an art almost lost through decades of dictatorship and war.

Abdelmajid Zeglam is just 12 years old, but his minutely detailed creations are already selling fast in the streets around a Roman-era archway dedicated to emperor Marcus Aurelius.

I hesitated at first for fear of failing because Im young, but my mum encouraged me, Zeglam said.

He is the youngest of 20 or so students, around half of them female, studying at the Libyan Academy for Traditional Gold and Silver Crafts, in a building that once served as a French consulate to the Ottoman Empire.

Trainees learn about precious metal alloys before studying the art of filigree, in which beads and threads of the precious materials are woven into intricate designs and then soldered together to create jewellery.

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I love it, Zeglam said. I want to become a petroleum engineer in the mornings and a jeweler in the afternoons.

A Libyan man displays a piece of traditional hand-crafted filigree jewelry at a workshop in the capital Tripoli, June 8, 2022. (Mahmud Turkia / AFP)

Mohamed al-Miloudi, a 22-year-old civil engineering student in a baseball cap, said he had not missed a class since signing up in September.

Its a hobby, but Id like to make it into my trade, he said.

The institutes founder, Abdelnasser Aboughress, said filigree jewelry was an ancient tradition in the North African country.

Craftsmen in the medina of Tripoli were trained by Jewish masters and later by Arabs, at the prestigious School of Arts and Trades founded in the late 19th century, he said.

But generations of tradition were abruptly halted after Muammar Gaddafi took power in a 1969 coup.

The capricious ruler scrapped the constitution and established his jamahiriya a medley of socialism, Arab nationalism and tribal patronage.

Illustrative: An undated photo taken in the Jewish quarter of a Libyan city. (Courtesy of JIMENA)

He also scrapped the private sector, seizing companies and confiscating their assets.

Overnight, self-employed artisans lost everything: their workshops, their livelihoods and their students.

The state reduced Libyan crafts to nothing and forced a generation of young apprentices, who should have taken up the baton, to instead leave the traditional crafts and join the army or become civil servants, said Aboughress.

The 55-year-old was born just a few streets away in the medina, and despite Gaddafis ban, he took up the craft at the age of 15.

Along with his father, for decades he worked in secret on jewelry for trusted clients.

Now, he hopes to pass the craft on to younger generations, as well as fight back against a tide of lower-quality jewelry imported from Egypt and China [which] has flooded the market.

Aboughress is working on a project to document and preserve as much of this cultural heritage as possible.

Student Fatima Boussoua hit out at the practice of selling old Libyan silver jewelry at cheap prices to be exported and then melted down.

Its part of Libyas artisanal heritage thats disappearing! she said.

A dentist in her 40s who also teaches at the University of Tripoli, Boussoua has been training at the center for the past year, hoping to master the craft.

We should be training artists to preserve our heritage, she said. All it needs is people with passion.

While becoming a true expert takes years of training, Aboughresss students are already producing works for sale online or at the center itself.

A Libyan woman crafts traditional filigree jewelry at a workshop in the capital Tripoli, March 29, 2022. (Mahmud Turkia/AFP)

That said, he admits the project needs financial help to buy the expensive raw materials as well as moral support.

He hopes that with enough resources, he will one day be able to set up a string of other workshops across Libya.

Its time to bring this craft back to life, he said.

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

(JTA) Agudath Israel of America, the national Orthodox Jewish organization for which I work, welcomed the U.S. Supreme Courts reversal of Roe v. Wade. Predictably, we were immediately cast into an enemy or ally box, depending on who was doing the casting.

The first group assumed that we dont care about women; the second, that we were embracing the Christian evangelical agenda.

Neither is remotely the case. We care about Judaism and embrace only it.

From a Jewish perspective, to be sure, the contention that there can be entirely proper reasons for a woman to seek an abortion is not arguable.

RELATED: Leading Orthodox groups cheered the end of Roe v. Wade. Many Orthodox women are panicking.

There are cases in which, according to Jewish tradition, the option of abortion needs to be available such as when a pregnancys progression threatens the life of the potential mother. Moreover, in cases where a fetus has genetic abnormalities or will face a fatal disease after birth, there are Jewish decisors who would sanction abortion, at least up to a point.

Nor can anyone claim that American women, including Jewish ones, havent suffered, or even died, as a result of pre-Roe abortion restrictions. The stories are many, and they are rightly wrenching.

But no one can claim, at least not with the support of facts, that the Jewish religious tradition considers abortion to be a mere matter of a womans (or, for that matter, a mans) personal choice, the abiding mantra of so many Americans today. The most common reasons in 92% of cases, according to a 2004 Guttmacher Institute study that women give for having an abortion have to do with economic, timing or partner-related concerns.

While such motivations may be endorsed by many Americans as worthy, legitimate reasons to opt for abortion, Judaism rejects them as entirely inappropriate factors to be weighted in a decision of such gravity as the decision to end a developing life.

Abortion is a topic dealt with in detail by a wealth of both time-honored and contemporary Jewish religious law responsa. While various Jewish legal opinions may take different approaches to the nature of the issue, the decisors of Jewish law who guide us indisputably hold that, absent extraordinary circumstances, terminating a pregnancy is a grave sin.

And so, the fact that a number of Jewish groups have wholeheartedly joined the womans choice chorus, no less in the name of Judaism, compelled us to speak up, if only to clear the Jewish record.

However, because of the exceptions, rare though they blessedly are, that allow abortions under certain circumstances, Agudath Israel of America has never supported, and cannot support, any state legislation that would outlaw abortion unqualifiedly or give a fetus the status of a person. Abortion-limiting laws must preserve a right to terminate a pregnancy in cases like those mentioned above, both as a matter of constitutional free exercise of religion and of moral principle.

But the bottom line for us is Jewish religious laws indisputable judgment about fetal life: It is entitled to our protection. And no one should be allowed to misrepresent as a Jewish view anything other than that well-established truth.

Now, of course, there is no reason that American law need reflect Jewish values. But even without looking to Judaism for guidance, a civil society, through its laws, should want to promote a social ethic that affirms the supreme value of life. Allowing abortion at will does the opposite. It behooves Jews and non-Jews alike to be deeply concerned by the millions of potential lives Jewish and non-Jewish alike yearly snuffed out because fetuses were not protected.

RELATED: Overturning Roe would be an unconscionable infringement on the religious freedom of Orthodox Jews

In this post-Roe world, citizens in each state are charged with, through their elected officials, crafting laws to govern abortion. Our goal as Jews should be to promote laws that treat developing life with reverence, even while accommodating the protection of womens lives according to our religious concerns.

The ready availability of safe at-home abortifacients that can be mailed across state lines, and the ability of women to travel, at no expense, due to various groups offers, to other states where abortion is unfettered, would allow women to undergo an abortion in the rare circumstances sanctioned by Jewish law. Nevertheless, outlawing abortion without allowing for exceptions, including sincere religious convictions, is unacceptable arguably, unconstitutional.

And so, in the end, some of the laws that the pro-choice movement will oppose will be opposed as well by observant Orthodox Jews.

Not, though, because we embrace the idea of abortion as a choice to be made by anyone for any reason. But, rather, because of what our faith requires of us.

What it also requires, however, is that we and all people do all we can to greatly decrease the number of developing lives that some would, without the requisite contemplation, destroy. To embrace, in other words, a culture that celebrates life.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

Yesterday I posted a new reason to love William Shatner. But it turns out there has been another reason hiding in plain sight on Twitter for quite a while.

Last year, for reasons it is hard for me to ascertain, a bunch of wokesters piled up on Bill. It seems to do with something he may have said about a character on Supernatural.

Those wokesters included some with a Star of David in their profile, which signifies as-a-Jewness in this context.

One of those to join the pile-on was none other than cyberbully and Israel-hater Anna Rajagopal, who recently called Zionists unattractive. And Bill was not having any of it, calling her out for as-a-Jewing, as well as for trolling and generally despicable tweets:

A month later, and Bill mentioned Rajagopal, albeit not by name:

prompting a fresh outburst from her:

He is fine, Anna. It is you I would be worried about, since you are clearly still bent out of shape over a year later:

At least she admits she enjoys slander, which is probably the only true thing she has ever tweeted.

A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media

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That Time William Shatner Took On As-a-Jew Cyberbully Anna Rajagopal

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

The lives of LGBTQ young people on the Palestinian streets, and especially in Gaza, are hell, Ahmad, a 27-year-old from Gaza, a gay man who conceals his orientation and any sign that might identify him, told TPS.

Ahmed, a resident of a neighborhood near Gaza City, told TPS in a phone call, after promising to hide his identity, that here in Gaza under Hamas rule, it is better for you to convert to Judaism and leave Islam and even better to be perceived as a spy for the Israeli Shin Bet and not declare your gay. Hamas may hang you from the lower part of your body.

Young members of the PA Arab LGBTQ community testified that many of them are subjected to severe punishment even within their families. One of the shocking phenomena is damage to the various organs of the body, as a step of threatening to damage their genitals as well, all with the aim of redeeming them from the disease that has infected them.

The Palestinian Authority has not passed legislation for or against gay rights, but the chairman of the Palestinian Authority issued an order on May 20, 1994, stipulating that legislation and laws that were in force before June 5, 1967, in the West Bank under Jordanian rule and the Gaza Strip will remain in force. Under the old legislation, homosexuality is legal in the PA but is illegal in the Gaza Strip.

However, gay rights are not protected in either the PA or the Gaza Strip, and there is no specific civil rights legislation in the PA that protects LGBTQ people from discrimination or harassment.

In Gaza, under Hamas, which has already introduced Muslim Sharia law into the judiciary, the situation of young gay people is even more difficult. In 2016, members of the Hamas military wing killed one of their comrades, Muhammad Shtiwi, after it was discovered that he was gay.

In Arab society, according to data published by the Arab LGBTQ community in eastern Jerusalem, there is a very high suicide rate among young LGBTQ people, compared to western societies.

The Al Kos (The Rainbow) Club for Gay people in eastern Jerusalem also reported that young LGBT people are being subjected to cybercrime, which, among other things, harms children and adolescents.

A number of LGBTQ Palestinian Arab Facebook pages operate openly. Many young people write on these Facebook pages under a false identity and hide behind various nicknames and Israeli names to conceal their identities.

Many young PA Arab members of the LGBTQ community have moved abroad or to Israel for fear of their lives in the PA or the Gaza Strip.

Anwar, whose full name is withheld due to safety concerns, was a resident of Hebron who recently moved to Canada due to the fear of terrorism against gays in PA Arab society. Two years ago, when he was only 17, Anwar was forced to leave his home after his family learned that he was gay. A laptop left on his desk revealed his secrets.

Anwar initially moved to Beer Sheva, where he stayed illegally with his friend, an IDF soldier. He later moved to Tel Aviv and found refuge in the Beit Dror LGBTQ shelter, but one of the family members located him in the shelter, and made threatening phone calls, which led the directors of Beit Dror to transfer Anwar to another shelter in Haifa. When the shelter closed, Anwar returned to Tel Aviv and recently moved to Canada.

Today I am happy in the new place but the connection with my family has been severed I have already started working and was even issued a drivers license and I am improving my life, Anwar said in a phone call from Canada with TPS.

Anwar says that already at the school in Hebron, his friends severed ties with him after he showed affection for other boys.

My whole past has been completely erased just because Im gay but in Haifa, I learned that Israelis are more comfortable and tolerant people and they also taught me to think positively. The social worker who volunteered to accompany me restored my trust in human beings, he shared, adding that unlike Israel, the lives of gays in Arab society are a real hell.

The LGBTQ PA Arabs do not always manage to escape the violence against them. A Pa Arab boy, who found refuge in one of the LGBT clubs in Tel Aviv, was stabbed two years ago by his cousin, who hunted him down to remove the shame and disgrace from the family.

The Israeli government informed the High Court of Justice on Sunday that the permit issued for welfare reasons, allowing residence in Israel due to threats, including for PA Arabs from the LGBTQ community, will now include the option of working in Israel. The permits will be temporary until a permanent solution is found in the region or in another country. The permit will not be limited to certain industries.

Similarly, the Knessets Special Committee on Foreign Workers discussed on Monday the need to issue work permits to PA Arab members of the LGBTQ community who have been persecuted in the PA.

A PA Arab who fled the PA to Israel told the committee that he was filmed in the act, and the footage was delivered to my family, which beat me and acted violently towards me. I was hospitalized for three months as a result. I became depressed and started drinking. I cant keep a job because I do not get a pay slip and work without any terms of employment.

Another PA Arab who fled to Israel shared that his family tried to kill me. When I arrived in Tel Aviv, I lived on the streets for a few days until I arrived at the Pink Roof shelter. I want to lead a normal life, but it is impossible to do without medical insurance, a bank account, or an official certificate. The new government decision changed this.

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Better to be a Jew Than Gay in Gaza, Says Gazan LGBTQ Man - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

LOS ANGELES Nate Looney is a Black man who grew up in Los Angeles, a descendant of enslaved people from generations ago. Hes also an observant, kippah-wearing Jew.

But he doesnt always feel welcome in Jewish spaces his skin color sometimes elicits questioning glances, suspicions and hurtful assumptions. Once, he walked into a synagogue dressed for Shabbat services in slacks and a buttoned-down shirt and was told to go to the kitchen.

The last thing you want to happen when you go to a synagogue to attend a service, Looney said, is to be treated like you dont belong.

Now Looney is in a position to do something about that, after being named to the new role of director of community, safety and belonging for the Jewish Equity Diversity and Inclusion team at the Jewish Federations of North America, or JFNA, in April. He believes he can channel his painful personal experiences into healing divisions and changing perceptions, and help make a trip to the synagogue a spiritual rather than a scarring encounter for Jews of color.

In this new role, Looney has been tackling the delicate task of producing guidelines on how to be more welcoming of Jews of color, even as synagogues and community centers strengthen security in the wake of recent attacks including mass shootings in Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif. The concern is that such boosted security increases the likelihood of racial profiling incidents affecting congregants of color.

Its a relatively small but growing demographic. A Pew Center survey in 2021 showed just 8 percent of U.S. Jews identify as Hispanic, Black or Asian, but that nearly doubled to 15 percent among respondents aged 18 to 29. The poll also found that 17 percent reported living in a nonwhite or multiracial household.

Looney, 37, has led a life that has taken several turns. He served in the military police as part of the Louisiana National Guard and spent nine months overseas training Iraqi police forces. He has worked in real estate and has even done urban farming, selling microgreens in local markets.

His spiritual journey began at 13 when a friend asked Looney, whose father was Baptist and mother was Episcopalian, about his own religion. Despite his familys Christian faith, Looney said he never felt connected to it.

I was obstinate that (Christianity) wasnt for me, he said. When I think about African enslavement in America and how religion was something that was forced, I believed that the religion I was practicing was not true to who my ancestors were.

Looney embraced Judaism while still a teen because he viewed it as a faith that gives believers permission to ask difficult, uncomfortable questions, though he didnt formally convert until age 26.

It was after the police killing of George Floyd and the racial reckoning of summer 2020 that Looney began working with organizations to raise awareness about Jews of color. It was also during that time that JFNA launched its diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.

Looney said Jews of color are often subjected to questions about their Jewish origins. Even when well intentioned, those queries can be painful because they cast doubt on their identity right away and imply they dont belong, he said.

Add to that the increased security at synagogues, and theres even greater potential for people to feel othered or unwelcome.

How do you strike a balance? You dont want to exclude anyone, and yet you want to be discerning of who is coming in the door, Looney said. Cultural competency is important. Just the fact that someone who is Black is walking in shouldnt raise alarms.

He knows from personal experience. The morning of the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018, Looney was unaware it had taken place because he was not using his phone in observance of Shabbat. When he entered a synagogue, he got more questions and experienced deeper scrutiny from security guards, and it was painful.

If that were my first time entering that community, he said, I wouldve never come back.

The guidelines he is working on will be shared with Jewish federations across North America and, Looney hopes, implemented at the local level by synagogues and community centers. Just two months into his job, he says they are a work in progress but will continue to evolve over time.

One goal is to inculcate in security guards a deeper understanding of the diversity of the Jewish community, he said: Were starting to have these types of conversations and thats a great beginning.

Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, who founded the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative and serves as JFNAs public affairs advisor, said Looneys professional experience as a military policeman and his lived experience as a Jewish person of color make him uniquely qualified to boost inclusivity while being cognizant of the sensitive relationship between law enforcement and people of color.

Security and belonging dont have to be mutually exclusive, said Rothstein, who is the son of a white father and a Black mother and has seen his darker-skinned relatives being treated differently in synagogues. Nate is helping us bring an equity lens to make sure all our institutions are safe and secure while creating a culture of belonging for all Jews and our loved ones.

Sabrina Sojourner, an African American Jewish chaplain at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington who met Looney at a leadership seminar five years ago, said people of color are profiled consciously and unconsciously by white people and Looneys role at the JFNA is crucial to help transform assumptions about who is the threat and who is not.

If you look at attacks against Jewish people and synagogues, they are not perpetrated by people of color, Sojourner said. Nates work is so important because it tells me JFNA gets that if the most vulnerable people in our communities are not safe, our communities are not safe.

Looney said another challenge is that antisemitism and racism tend to be compartmentalized.

Its a tough job to make people understand that many of us have multiple identities and fit into both categories and that we are all fighting against white supremacy, he said.

Placing Jews of color in decision-making roles in Jewish spaces can help forge solidarity and bring the realization that marginalized communities are stronger when they come together, he added.

Rothstein believes Looney will make a big difference because he is also a healer. As an example, he cited a virtual JFNA event commemorating Martin Luther King Day in 2021 when Looney recited a prayer and sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, a hymn written by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900 and often referred to as the Black national anthem.

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Black Jewish leader works to boost inclusiveness - The Columbian

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

A book of essays captures the Jewish diaspora's experience of philo-Semitism in the country

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The relationship between India and Israel is often examined through a political lens, but it might be equally important to study it using a cultural and civilisational lens. This approach can expand our understanding of why these countries are on good terms with each other. The ideological affinities between Zionism and Hindutva offer only a partial view of the picture.

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

The FBI announced on Saturday that it was looking into a potential threat against an unidentified Texas synagogue months after a hostage situation took place at a synagogue in the state.

The FBI is investigating a potential threat targeting an unidentified synagogue in Texas. We are working to determine the credibility of the threat and sharing information with our law enforcement partners and our partners in the Jewish community, the FBI said in a statement.

We would like to remind members of the public that if they observe anything suspicious or have information about potential threats to report it to law enforcement immediately, call their local FBI field office, or submit a tip to tips.fbi.gov, the agency added.

The Jewish Federation of San Antonio said in a Facebook post on Saturday afternoon that the FBI had updated them that there is no known imminent threat in effect any longer for the San Antonio area Jewish community.

The organization advised that members of the community be aware of their environment and be vigilant.

The FBI said it had no additional updates to provide when asked about the post.

The CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Jonathan Greenblatt, said in a statement on Saturday that a Texas synagogue was the target of a slew of threats and that the ADL had been in communication with law enforcement agencies about the matter.

Greenblatt noted that they became aware of a more specific and credible threat within the last 24 hours.

In this heightened threat environment and in the wake of the horrific act of domestic terror in Highland Park, IL we urge all communities to maintain a heightened sense of awareness and immediately report any suspicious activity to law enforcement, Greenblatt said, referencing the mass shooting at a July 4 parade in Highland Park that left seven dead and dozens more injured. We are grateful to the FBI, state and local law enforcement for their proactive work investigating these potential threats.

In January, four people, including a rabbi, were held hostage for hours at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, by British national Malik Faisal Akram before he was ultimately killed by officers.

President Biden labeled the incident an act of terror and an FBI special agent called it a hate crime and an act of terrorism.

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FBI investigates potential threat against Texas synagogue - The Hill

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

The suspect in the deadly Fourth of July mass shooting inHighland Park, Illinois, paid an alarming visit to the citys Chabad synagogue during Passover, said the congregations volunteer security director.

He was definitely sizing up the synagogue, Martin Blumenthal said Tuesday in an interview.

Robert E. Crimo III, whom police apprehended Monday evening and have described as both a suspect and person of interest in the shooting, showed up at Central Avenue Synagogue on the last day of Passover this year.

He stood out from the typicalChabadvisitor.

Crimo was wearing all black clothes in the goth style, according to Blumenthal, including black gloves.

He was also wearing a knapsack, which Blumenthal, after going over to introduce himself, squeezed to check for weapons. He didnt feel any.

He said his name was Bobby and he lived in the neighborhood, Blumenthal said, adding, I watched him the whole time.

After sitting in the sanctuary for about 45 minutes, Crimo, who is 22, left by bike, according to Blumenthal.

The Times of Israel Tuesdayreportedthat the synagogues rabbi, Yosef Schanowitz, also said that Crimo had visited his synagogue during Passover.

Authorities have not yet attributed a motive to the shooting that killed six and injured dozens at a Fourth of July parade. Highland Park has a significant Jewish population and is home to several other synagogues and Jewish institutions.

One of the two people killed in the shooting and identified by law enforcement and family is Jewish: Jacki Sundheim, 63, who coordinated events and used to teach preschool at North Shore Congregation Israel, a Reform synagogue in Highland Park. Those close to the incident said there may be other Jewish victims among the dead. The other victim identified was Nicholas Toledo, 73, a grandfather who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico in the 1980s and spent his last days fishing and swimming with family.

Though Blumenthal believed Crimo was scoping out the synagogue which he estimated had 125 people there that day he did not check the mans ID or report the incident to police. He said to the best of his knowledge Crimo had not broken any laws by coming into the synagogue, and that he had felt he had handled the situation appropriately.

I profiled him. I knew what he was up to, said Blumenthal. But he didnt cause a disturbance or anything. So I was just watching him.

The synagogue, which sits on Mondays Fourth of July parade route, Central Avenue, just a few blocks from the site of Mondays carnage, hires an armed off-duty police officer to protect the congregation on Shabbat and holidays, Schanowitz said in an interview.He also said there are armed people in the synagogue with a license to carry. Blumenthal declined to say whether he was armed when Crimo visited.

Blumenthal, who has been attending Central Avenue Synagogue since he came to town in 1985, was one of countless Highland Park residents who knew someone affected by the shooting.

He said the sister of a childhood friend had a graze wound, and her niece was in the hospital with a wounded leg.

In spite of the Passover incident, which Blumenthal said he reported to authorities as soon as he saw Crimos picture on the news, he did not want to speculate on the motive of the shooter.

A 2019 mass shooting atChabad of Poway, a synagogue near San Diego, which killed a congregant and injured three others, also occurred on the last day of Passover.

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Suspect in July 4 Highland Park shooting was 'sizing up' synagogue J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on July 10, 2022

CHICAGO (AP) Mourners on Friday remembered a woman who worked tirelessly at her synagogue and a gentle man who loved art in the first formal services to be held for the seven people killed by the gunman who opened fire on a July Fourth parade.

Synagogue members at North Shore Congregation Israel near the Chicago suburb of Highland Park described 63-year-old Jacquelyn Sundheim as a dedicated member of their community who coordinated events and taught preschool classes, smiling all along and constantly checking on other staff members.

We are horrified, Rabbi Wendi Geffen said. We are enraged, sickened, aggrieved, inconsolable for the terror that has befallen us and robbed us of Jacki.

But Geffen and other speakers urged the people filling the synagogue to focus on Sundheims life her commitment to her husband, Bruce, and daughter, Leah, the pleasure she took in knitting and her attention to detail when planning bat or bar mitzvahs, weddings or funerals.

Her daughter had another request: to use the pain, fear and rage caused by her mothers death to make the world better, in small thoughts and actions.

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I want you to laugh, she said, holding back tears. I want you to each and every day put a little more joy and kindness into this world. Do not let this sadness, this fear, rage turn you bitter towards our world. The world is darker without my mom in it, and its up to us now to fill it with a little extra laughter.

Jacki Sundheim, a North Shore Congregation Israel staffer, who was killed in the shooting attack on an Independence Day parade on July 4, 2022. (Courtesy: NSCI)

Mourners also filled the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston to support the family of 88-year-old Stephen Straus, who was eulogized as a funny father and grandfather who loved reading and art and still rode the train five days a week to the downtown Chicago office where he worked as a financial adviser.

Son Jonathan described Straus as truly to his core, just a sweet, generous person while his other son, Peter, thanked his dad for instilling a love of the zany including Mel Brooks.

Jonathan Straus said learning of his fathers death from a doctor at a hospital was the worst moment of my life.

Thinking about what a good, giving, loving person he was, it makes the cruelty and the horror of his death that much harder to take, he said. When I see pictures of him it really just sweeps over me, what weve lost, who I lost, my best friend ever.

A 2020 study by Brandeis University and the University of Chicago found Highland Park had among the Chicago regions highest concentrations of Jewish residents a fact reflected by the half-dozen or more synagogues in the suburb or just outside it. Many local restaurants offer kosher food options.

Neighboring Highwood is home to a large Hispanic population, and Mexican authorities have said two men killed at the parade were natives of the country.

One them was 78-year-old Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza of Waukegan, where family and friends gathered Friday for services.

During a private family viewing preceding public services, a granddaughter left the church in tears. Family members encircled Yesenia Hernandez, trying to comfort her as she sobbed.

Yesenia Hernandez, center, granddaughter to Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, who was killed during a Fourth of July parade earlier in the week in Highland Park., Ill., is comforted outside the Iglesia Emanuel Church during a private family viewing before the funeral service, July 8, 2022, in Waukegan, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Several attendees wore T-shirts with a cross and an image of Toledo-Zaragoza grinning, wearing a brimmed hat and suit. In Spanish, the shirts read: In memory of Nicolas Toledo, and included words from Psalms 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

Outside the church entryway, adorned with white and blue balloons, Toledo-Zaragozas sons, Alejo and Angel, spoke briefly about how they will miss their fathers love.

Services for 69-year-old Eduardo Uvaldo, also a native of Mexico, are scheduled for Saturday.

The family of 64-year-old Katherine Katie Goldstein issued a statement Friday that said her husband, Craig Goldstein, a hospital physician, has been touched by the number of people who have told him that she was their best friend. She devoted herself to motherhood and caring for her family.

In this undated family photo provided by friend Jenny Schade, Katie Goldstein poses for a photo (Goldstein Family Photo via AP)

Raising our daughters, enjoying adventures together I was living a fairy tale, Craig Goldstein said.

The statement said she also loved being outside, visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden and involving her family in her passion for bird watching.

She was the best mom in the world, daughters Cassie and Alana said in the statement.

Police have repeatedly said that victims were shot randomly and that the assailant had no racial or religious motivation.

Funeral details for the remaining victims have not been made public. Authorities have identified them as 35-year-old Irina McCarthy and 37-year-old Kevin McCarthy, who were attending the parade with their 2-year-old son.

The accused gunman, Robert E. Crimo III, has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors expect to bring more charges representing the more than 30 people were wounded in the assault.

Investigators have said the suspect, who lived in neighboring Highwood, legally purchased five weapons and planned the attack for weeks before he climbed to the roof of a business along the parade route and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle.

Investigators reported that Crimo fled the parade by blending in with the fleeing crowd, then drove to the Madison, Wisconsin, area, where he contemplated a second attack. He returned to the Highland Park area, and his car was spotted by police.

Questions remain about whether Crimo should have been able to legally purchase firearms in Illinois. Illinois State Police officials have defended the approval of his gun license in December 2019, months after police received reports that he had made suicidal and violent threats.

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Mourners say farewell to synagogue staffer, grandfather slain in July 4 shooting - The Times of Israel

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