Tagged Chicago

Rahm Emanuel will leave a city — and Jewish community — divided about his legacy as mayor

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with wife Amy, announces that he will not seek a third term at a City Hall news conference, Sept. 4, 2018. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images)
September 6, 2018 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — As Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel prepares to exit City Hall after eight years in office, his Jewish supporters tout his commitment to helping people and his record of economic development in the city. His Jewish detractors, meanwhile, call out his closing of dozens of Chicago public schools… Read more »

I celebrate Hanukkah — but here’s why I love Christmas
December 14, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — All I want for Hanukkah is Christmas. I grew up in suburban Chicago surrounded by my fellow Jews — at school, at camp, on the weekends, at my parents’ friends’ houses, in the streets and parks of my neighborhood. Even then, I knew that Jews made up less… Read more »

Black rabbinical student leads ‘Army of Moms’ in fighting Chicago gun violence

'I was always taught that Jews were survivors,' says Tamar Manasseh. 'Black people were never taught that we were survivors.' (Courtesy of Manasseh)
October 26, 2016 / Ben Sales, JTA

CHICAGO (JTA) — The same week Tamar Manasseh’s African-American son was going to become a bar mitzvah, gang violence killed two 13-year-old black boys who were also from Chicago’s South Side. As she picked out the bar mitzvah suit for her son, Manasseh couldn’t shake the image of the slain boys’… Read more »