On an exquisite spring day on Chicago’s lakefront, at least 12,000 members of Chicago’s Jewish community showed their enthusiastic support for Israel May 4.
Israel Solidarity Day rally, which kicked off the Walk With Israel, focused on passing the torch of championing Israel to new generations.
“I know I’m one of the luckiest generations in Jewish history because I’ve never known a world without Israel,” said Skip Schrayer, chairman of Israel Solidarity Day. “Now it’s up to me and you to assure all future generations of Jews will be able to say the same thing. Today we pledge never to take the Jewish state for granted. We pledge our solidarity and support to Israel, now and forever.” (Read the full text of Schrayer's remarks.)
The rally struck a balance between the joy and celebration of Israel’s 60th anniversary of independence, tempered with solidarity for the extended Israeli family, which has been forced to defend its home throughout its existence.
“Our Israeli brothers and sisters deserve more than the status quo, and our celebration today must not be misunderstood as satisfaction with the reality on the ground in Israel,” said Dr. Steven B. Nasatir, JUF/JF President. “Theodore Herzl, the visionary who laid the ideological cornerstone for the modern state of Israel, said, ‘If you will it, it is no dream.’ We have some dreams for Israel, too. Today the United Nations condemns Israel for self-defense. We dream of the day when the UN praises Israel for taking military risks to preserve civilian lives…We dream that some day the worries of constant attack and war will be over and we are able to celebrate decades of Independence Days in tranquility and peace.” (Read the full text of Nasatir's remarks.)
After serving 11 states of the Midwest, including Illinois, for the past three years, Barukh Binah, Consul General of Israel to the Midwest, will return home to Israel with his family this summer to a new position in the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the rally, he pointed to the indelible bond he and his family now share with the Chicago-area Jewish community.
“We will always be part of this community and this community will always be part of us in Israel,” he said. “When I came here three years ago, I knew what I was looking for—I was looking to find my brethren and I found them [in] all of you. I will take you to Israel at least in my heart.”
Also showing solidarity with Israel were U.S. Representatives Mark Steven Kirk and Jan Schakowsky, who recalled her own early memories of Israel’s birth.
“I am just a few years older than the State of Israel and I remember as a little Jewish girl, the pride and joy my family felt that the Jewish state was a reality,” Schakowsky said. “My parents expressed tremendous relief that there was now a place in the world safe for Holocaust survivors and a haven for Jewish people wherever we may live… We all stood a bit taller at every Passover because Israel wasn’t just a longing of our people but a real country on the map.”
“I see these two little twins in front of me. And to all of the young people here, we have a mission,” Kirk said. “Yes, we are here to celebrate but we are also here to look into the eyes of all the young people here and say, ‘Now it’s your turn.’ Our grandparents accomplished a great feat. Our parents did a good thing, but now it’s your turn to guide this little country through the 21st century. I hope and pray that these two little twins are here to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Israel.”
Many leading area elected officials (past and present)—staunch advocates for Israel in the state and nation’s capitols many of whom have visited Israel numerous times over the years—also attended the rally including: Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, through whom the state of Illinois recently purchased $10 million more in Israeli bonds; State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg; State Sen. Ira I. Silverstein; State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz; State Rep. Julie Hamos; State. Rep. Lou Lang; State Rep. Karen May; and State Rep. Elaine Nekritz.
Last week state representatives co-sponsored House Joint Resolution 92, sending the state of Illinois’ congratulations to Israeli citizens on its 60th anniversary. A similar resolution was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, with support of the Illinois delegation.
Elliot Hartstein, mayor of Buffalo Grove, and former state senators Art Berman and Howie Carroll, active members of JUF/JF, also attended the rally.
JUF leaders appearing at the rally included Harvey Barnett, chairman of the JUF/JF Board of Directors; Andy Hochberg, JUF’s 2008 General Campaign Chairman; and Midge Perlman Shafton, chairman of JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Chicago (JCRC).
Jane Lederman, chair of JUF’s academic scholarship committee at JUF/JF, presented the Community Teen Leadership Awards—made possible by a Priority Grant from the Jewish Federation—which recognizes three outstanding high school juniors in the community who have demonstrated leadership at school, in their synagogues, as well as other venues throughout the community. This year’s winners are Joanna Greenberg, Samuel Hamer, and Adam Weisz. Each will receive $1800 toward any Jewish educational experience they choose and they will serve as ambassadors to the Jewish community throughout their senior years of high school.
During the rally, the Chicagoland Jewish High School choir led participants in the Israeli and U.S. national anthems.
Watch a brief video clip of Israel Solidarity Day on YouTube.
