A rally against antisemitism draws hundreds in Chicago

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, t...