14 | JANUARY 9 • 2020 

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say something like, ‘
He Jewed 
me,
’
 I stop them and explain 
in a kind manner why that 
comment is anti-Semitic. 
“Often in my experience 
people haven’
t been called out 
or educated on anti-Semi-
tism and my hope is that by 
having a discussion in a calm 
manner it opens people’
s 
eyes and changes some of 
their stereotypes.”

RABBI MENDEL 
STEIN
 
“In recent years, 
we have increased 
our training of 
staff and stu-
dents, and taken advantage 
of Federation security assis-
tance, including visits by 
Gary Sikorski (Federation’
s 
community security direc-
tor),” said Rabbi Mendel 
Stein, development director 
of the Lubavitch Cheder & 

Yeshiva-International School 
for Chabad Leadership in Oak 
Park. 
 
In the wake of the Monsey 
attack, Stein sent an email let-
ter last week from the yeshivah 
seeking donations to upgrade 
security at the school, includ-
ing hiring a security guard.
Close to 90 teens attend-
ing the school are “Friday 
Boys,” taking to suburban 
streets each week to bring the 
Shabbat Torah portion and 
“Yiddishkeit” to Jewish work-
ers in businesses along their 
routes. They dress in black 
suits, tzitzit (a fringed under-
garment) and wear black hats; 
some are even old enough to 
have beards. They are easily 
identifiable as observant Jews. 
“We are not fearful on a 
practical level — thank God, 
ours is a safe community,” Stein 
said. “We upped our training to 
be better and smarter, but this 

makes us stronger, too. It is not 
at all about hiding our identi-
ties. The idea of anti-Semitism 
is to instill fear, but we respond 
with more Jewish pride and 
wanting to increase our Jewish 
identity even more.”

LOUIS FINKELMAN
Louis “Eli” 
Finkelman, a pro-
fessor at Lawrence 
Tech University 
and a rabbi at 
Congregation Or Chadash 
in Oak Park, looks visibly 
Jewish, but says he has a 
fatalist approach to the recent 
spate of violent anti-Semitic 
attacks in New York and New 
Jersey. “I think the chance 
of being injured in a terror-
ist attack is small compared 
to slipping on the ice and 
getting hurt, so I’
m not wor-
ried about it.”
Finkelman said he general-

“I think the chance 

of being injured in 

a terrorist attack 

is small compared 

to slipping on the 

ice and getting 

hurt, so I’m not 

worried about it.”

— RABBI ELI FINKELMAN

Jews in the D