20 | MAY 16 • 2024 
J
N

C

ongregation Beth 
Shalom members and 
residents who live 
nearby were recently shaken 
by an antisemitic incident 
in front of their building on 
Lincoln Drive in Oak Park.
At around 9 a.m. on 
Thursday, May 2, Alicia 
Nelson drove into the parking 
lot at the synagogue, where 
she and her husband, Rabbi 
Emeritus David Nelson, were 
planning to drop something 
off at his office. 
They parked near the 
school entrance on the 
east side of the building, 
which was locked. The 
rabbi remained in the car 
and, as Alicia walked to the 
synagogue’s main entrance, a 
dark-colored Chevy Traverse 
pulled up next to her.
The driver yelled, “How 
you doing, baby killer?” He 
then drove away yelling, 
“F-ing bitch!” The man drove 
across Lincoln Drive to the 
parking lot of the Building 
Blocks Early Childhood 
Center (formerly Avery 
Elementary School).
Soon after, a Beth Shalom 
employee drove into the 
synagogue’s lot and pulled 
up next to Nelson’s car. The 
man in the Chevy Traverse 
drove back to Beth Shalom 
and started yelling obscenities 
about Gaza and Palestinians; 
he identified himself as a 
“Jew-hater.”
He threw a wrapped plastic 
block resembling a rolled-
up sock at the employee 
and then sped off before she 
could take a picture of his 
car. The object was soft, and 
the employee was not injured 
although it hit her on her 
shoulder. She left the object 
on the ground, where Oak 
Park public safety officers 

picked it up with gloves and 
bagged it so they could test it 
for fingerprints.
Oak Park Public Safety and 
Jewish Community Security 
personnel reviewed security 
camera footage from Beth 
Shalom and from the public 
school building across the 
street. Although they were 
unable to get the license 
number of the vehicle, other 
information may help them 
identify the driver.
“We’re looking for a 2008 
to 2012 Chevy Traverse, black 
or really dark blue,” said Lt. 
Ryan Bolton of the Oak Park 
Public Safety Department. 
The vehicle has a large dent 
on the family passenger 
door and a newer Michigan 
license plate (blue with yellow 
numbers), he added.

From camera footage and 
the eyewitnesses, the police 
know the man was Caucasian, 
had thick dark hair and a 
long dark beard, and throws 
with his right hand.
Anyone with additional 
information is urged to call 
Detective P.J. Laskaska of 
the Oak Park Public Safety 
Department at (248) 691-
07513.
“The cameras did their job,” 
said the synagogue employee. 
“All our security procedures 
worked.”
The wing of the synagogue 
building closest to where 
the Nelsons parked houses 
the entrance to the Chaya 
Mushka Girls’ High School, a 
Chabad-Lubavitch institution 
that rents space from Beth 
Shalom. The school was still 

on its Passover break when 
the incident occurred.
In addition to the Oak Park 
Public Safety Department, 
Beth Shalom personnel 
notified Jewish Community 
Security, the Anti-Defamation 
League and the FBI about the 
incident.
Synagogue leaders are 
trying not to make too much 
of it.
“We have been trying to 
keep this from becoming 
more than it is, which is 
basically some nut in a car 
screaming out of his window,” 
said Howard Fridson, Beth 
Shalom president. “It’s 
unfortunate that the situation 
in the world has given rise 
to these sentiments, but we 
know they are out there. I 
hope this is the end of it.” 

Antisemitic Incident 
at Beth Shalom

Verbal abuse hurled out a car window at synagogue visitors.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

The exterior of 
Congregation 
Beth Shalom

NATHAN VICAR/JN

