Students remain unaware of a anti-Semitic incident 11 days after gravestones and monuments were defaced with swastikas at a Chicago cemetery 17 miles south of campus.
Swastikas and other neo-Nazi hate-group symbols were painted on 57 headstones and 11 monuments during the weekend of Jan. 5at the Westlawn Jewish Cemetery, said Westlawn General Manager Vickie Pulido.
.Rabbi Dov Klein, the leader of NU’s Lubavitch Chabad House, said he was unfamiliar with the crime.
“I actually haven’t heard about that incident,” said Klein, who said he has grandparents, great-aunts and uncles buried in the cemetery.
The rabbi at Hillel, Josh Feigelson, said he had heard about the vandalism and was surprised students hadn’t approached him to talk about the incident.
The desecration is particularly offensive to Jews because of their heritage, Feigelson said.
“It makes me really sad and it makes me also angry that somebody would do this,” he said. “Desecrating a grave to anybody is offensive and to Jews in particular because of our history.”
When told about what happened, McCormick sophomore Robbie Pickering said they didn’t understand what motivated the criminals.
“I find it hard to understand how some people can be outward and aggressive and mean and hate people for no reason, just because they’re Jewish ” Pickering said.
The reaction of the Jewish community in Evanston and Skokie has been one of shock and support for the cemetery, where 46,000 people are buried, including poet Shel Silverstein and film critic Gene Siskel, Pulido said.
We’ve received support from our colleagues in the industry and people wanting to help physically and monetarily,” Pulido said.
Represenatives from synagogues in the Evanston area said they were disturbed by the incident were not planning any event in relation to it.
No events are currently planned at NU, Feigelson said.
Klein, from Chabad, estimates that about 13-14 percent of the student body is Jewish. He that there have been problems on campus in the past with anti-Semitism.
“At least once a year, if not more, there’s a biased incident that takes place against the Jewish community,” Klein said. “They kind of blend together after a while.”
One of these incidents happened fall quarter at the McCulloch dormitory.
“Someone had drawn a swastika on someone’s dorm-room door,” said Medill sophomore Andrew Gothelf, who lives in McCulloch. “You’d think at a school like NU, where people are generally open-minded, that wouldn’t happen.”
The North Chicago area has historically been a hot spot for anti-Semitic activity, said Lisa Klein of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago.
In Feb. 2006, a North Shore synagogue was vandalized with swastikas. The next month, buildings at DePaul University were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.
These types of incidents will decrease only with cultural education, Klein said.
“Education is the best defense,” he said.
But Feigelson said Jews should focus on being accepted in society as a whole.
“The question isn’t necessarily how to prevent (incidents) in future because as long as there are Jews, there will be people who hate Jews,” he said. “The question we have to struggle with is how do we make sure that we continue to be valued and accepted and welcome in society.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at
