Suburban Jews inspired by unity, support at March for Israel

While it is often said that Israelis live in a dangerous neighborhood, for many suburban Jews, the United States lately has felt dangerous as well.

With incidents of antisemitism on the rise on college campuses and elsewhere, Jewish suburbanites joined tens of thousands of others Tuesday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the "March for Israel."

"The Jewish community has never felt threatened in America the way it has now," said Marah Altenberg, a Lake County Board member from Buffalo Grove who took part in the march. "The Jewish community is looking for some support and assurance that hate and antisemitism are not going to be tolerated."

Rabbi David Eber of Congregation Beth Shalom in Naperville said he was inspired by the diverse coalition of Jews at the event, which drew a crowd estimated at nearly 300,000.

"You had ultraorthodox people there (and) totally secular people," he said. "That tells you something about the importance of this event, in the face of rising antisemitism, that Jews who agree on pretty much nothing came together to stand together today."

He also found it significant that many non-Jews, including Christians and Hindus, were there to stand with Israel.

"We felt very safe. And I think that was our biggest fear," said Karyn Gitler of Buffalo Grove. "I just had to be here to support Israel,"

Former Buffalo Grove Village President Elliott Hartstein flew in for the event and met his son, Joey Hartstein, who took in a train from Philadelphia.

"It was just so gratifying to see so many people from all over the country," he said. "I was hoping it would be a huge crowd, because I thought it was important for people to be here, and I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the estimates that 290,000 were there."

Hartstein said it was special to hear Israeli President Isaac Herzog speak of the crowd as a "mishpacha" - Hebrew for family.

He also appreciated the show of bipartisan support from the nation's leaders and expressed his admiration for speaker Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department's special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.

"There is nobody better to represent our country in terms of fighting antisemitism around the world," he said.

"I think Deborah Lipstadt's words were incredibly powerful and eloquent, and as always she was sharp and to the point," added Richard Prass, rabbi educator at Congregation Beth Am in Buffalo Grove.

"It was so wonderful to hear speakers from the non-Jewish communities say they stand with Israel in such a public place and with that backdrop of the Capitol and the monuments in the Mall," Prass said.

Prass said the rally provided some valuable lessons.

"We need to keep teaching people some of the facts of what's happening there. That war is ugly, but that Israel is waging a moral and just war," he said. "And, number two, this Jew hatred is very real and we need to keep educating people that it has lived in the shadows and it is not afraid to come out now, and we have to stand in lockstep."