SKOKIE, Ill. (JTA) After a synagogue in this Chicago suburb was vandalized on May 16 in what police are calling a hate crime, local rabbis could not dwell on the damage: They had to prepare for Shavuot, the two-day Jewish holiday that began that evening.
A week later, though, the rabbis were the engine behind a 500-person rally in this heavily Jewish town against antisemitism.
Skokie perhaps is best known as the place town where, in 1977, free-speech advocates fought for neo-Nazis to be able to march, only to have the eventual rally be outnumbered by local Jews and their allies.
This time, too, Chicago-area Jews were joined by allies from other communities on Sunday, one week after pro-Palestinian protesters vandalized Skokie’s Persian Hebrew Congregation and left area Jews rattled and fearful for their safety.
In a heavily Jewish suburb of Chicago, a rally against antisemitism draws hundreds Hundreds gather in Skokie, Ill., in a demonstration against antisemitism, May 23, 2021. (Yvette Alt Miller)
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SKOKIE, Ill. (JTA) After a synagogue in this Chicago suburb was vandalized on May 16 in what police are calling a hate crime, local rabbis could not dwell on the damage: They had to prepare for Shavuot, the two-day Jewish holiday that began that evening.
A week later, though, the rabbis were the engine behind a 500-person rally in this heavily Jewish town against antisemitism.
Skokie perhaps is best known as the place town where, in 1977, free-speech advocates fought for neo-Nazis to be able to march, only to have the eventual rally be outnumbered by local Jews and their allies.
Assyrian activist Juliana Taimoorazy of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council meets with Iraqi Christian refugees in Amman, Jordan, during a trip there in January 2018. The organization distributed over 2,400 buckets of food to refugees in Jordan and Iraq. | (Photo: Iraqi Christian Relief Council)
Assyrians are one of the first nations to convert to Christianity and have played a massive role in the spreading of Christianity throughout the world. According to the Assyrian Church of the East, the Apostle Thomas converted Assyrians to Christianity within a generation after the death of Jesus.
To this day, Assyrians still speak a version of the language of Jesus, Aramaic. Aramaic was a broader family of languages, said Nicholas Al-Jeloo, a prominent expert of Assyrian and Middle East history. Jesus spoke Galilean Aramaic and Assyrians speak Assyrian Aramaic.
Like many of us, Pope Francis has been holed up at home for the past year, with travel plans canceled thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. But the pontiff, who has previously cited fears of his visits sparking superspreader events, broke his quarantine on Friday for a three-day tour of Iraq the first papal visit to the country. (Pope John Paul II cancelled a trip to Iraq in 2000.)
So, why in the world is Pope Francis going to Iraq now? Medical and theological experts are scratching their heads.
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For starters, it’s not a great time for Iraq. Just Wednesday, at least 10 rockets targeted an Iraqi military base. And the Iraqi government is reporting 4,000 new coronavirus infections a day, close to the highest the country has experienced so far though experts think it is undercounting cases. Vaccine rollout has been slow, and the country’s medical infrastructure isn’t strong enough to handle any surges.