Chicago’s Jewish museum, the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, is currently showing an exhibit called Imaginary Coordinates that focuses on maps of Israel and the Middle East. The Spertus website has this to say about Imaginary Coordinates:

Imaginary Coordinates is inspired by antique maps of the Holy Land in Spertus' collection. The exhibition juxtaposes these maps with modern and contemporary maps of this region, all of which assert boundaries. It brings these together with objects of material culture and artworks that question national borders, as a way of charting new spaces, fostering conversation, and imagining new communities.

Imaginary Coordinates: real controversy
Included in the exhibit are antique maps, a two-minute video-loop of a naked Israeli woman hula hooping with barbed wire, and video of a woman in Jerusalem asking people for directions to Ramallah.

Imaginary Coordinates opened on May 2nd, and closed after a week for “building maintenance.” Since the Spertus museum is a brand new facility opened in December after a $55 million renovation project, it seems unlikely that maintenance was really the issue. The exhibit reopened on May 15th, but now you can only be admitted to the exhibit as part of a guided tour every hour. The exhibit has also been rearranged, in order to “shift fragile items away from harsh light” according to the Chicago Tribune.

The exhibit presents both Israeli and Palestinian ideas about land ownership, cultural capital, and borders of all kinds. Predictably, there are elements of the Jewish community that are upset by the inclusion of Palestinian artifacts and art. These elements are pushing the Spertus to close the exhibit again, and are threatening to withhold funding if Imaginary Coordinates remains open.

I’ve been on one of the guided tours of the exhibit, and didn’t find the material to be particularly upsetting. Yes, there are pieces that imply that Palestinians feel a strong connection to Israeli land, and even a sense of ownership over land in Israel, but so what? In the immortal words of Marriage Encounter ‘Feelings aren’t right or wrong, they just are.’ What would be the point of denying that Palestinians feel strongly about land, that they miss the towns they used to live in, or that they don’t think Israelis have proper respect for their land? You can still think their political ideology is bad or wrong, you can hate their methods and call them stupid, but failing to acknowledge how they feel about the situation is just willful ignorance.

If you live in Chicago or are planning a visit soon, I encourage you to plan a trip to Imaginary Coordinates, and to leave your hopefully positive feedback for the Spertus curatorial staff. Admission is free on Tuesdays from 10 am-12 noon and Thursdays from 3-7 pm. At other times general admission is only $7, and $5 for students and seniors.

If you don’t live near Chicago, and don’t plan on seeing the exhibit, please email Rhoda Rosen, the museum’s curator, and give her your support. Here’s a sample email:

Dear Ms. Rosen,

Thank you so much for reopening Imaginary Coordinates. I’m glad to hear that Spertus is tackling issues of land ownership, mapping, and patriotism is such a balanced and thoughtful way. I know that you worked on this assembling this exhibit for three years, and I applaud your efforts.

I hope that you will keep the exhibit open to the public for its full run, through September 7th so that the community has plenty of opportunity to see these important pieces.

Sincerely,
Your name

Read reviews for Imaginary Coordinates here, here and here.

 

*** Update: Spertus seems to have closed the exhibit on the same day this post went up on the blog.  I encourage you to still email Rhoda Rosen, as it shouldn't be too late for it to be reopened. 

Some people are awfully concerned that Barack Obama's predecessor in the IllinoisWilliam Ayers: If you know anyone who knows anyone, it's time to reject and denounce yourself. state senate once introduced Obama to ex-Weatherman, lousy bomb maker, and current University of Illinois-Chicago education professor William Ayers at a party in 1995, that Ayers donated a (whopping!) $200 to Obama's state senate campaign in 2001, and Obama and Ayers were colleagues for three years on the Board of Trustees of the Woods Fund, a Chicago urban reform and anti-poverty organization. Maybe, these nuanced and perspicuous thinkers concede, none of these facts in any way imply that Obama harbors secret sympathy for terroristic Communism (though maybe they do!), but they demonstrate at the least an unsettling willingness on Obama's part to associate with scoundrels to advance his career, and represent a betrayal of his avowed commitment to a new kind of politics. Don't they?

Well, since those hot on the scent of the dessicated remnants of a forty-year-old subprime revolutionary front are undoubtedly sincere in their concerns and not just nakedly cynical hacks, they might be interested to learn that the Weather Underground's reach is extended far enough in space and time to poison the New York Times in April 2008. On his Times blog, Hillary Clinton supporter Stanley Fish brazenly confesses his own links to domestic terrorism:

I too have eaten dinner at Bill Ayers’s house (more than once), and have served with him on a committee, and he was one of those who recruited my wife and me at a reception when we were considering positions at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Moreover, I have had Bill and his wife Bernardine Dohrn to my apartment, was a guest lecturer in a course he taught and joined in a (successful) effort to persuade him to stay at UIC and say no to an offer from Harvard.

Shocking stuff, no? Some of us have criticized Fish in the past for wrecking humanities education at several universities and promulgating the notion that philosophy is nothing but bullshit reflections on bullshit, but never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that "Interpreting the Variorum" was actually a subliminal call for the violent overthrow of the US government. Yet there it is in black and white. Rather than initiate a citizens' arrest of Ayers upon sight and seek out the nearest house of worship for absolution, as any upstanding patriotic citizen would have done, and rather even than ship Ayers off to that den of sedition on the Charles River, Fish actually campaigned to keep Ayers at UIC. Sounds like Stanley Fish has some serious explaining to do to the FBI, the editorial staffs of National Review and the Weekly Standard, and the Chappaqua chapter of the Branch Davidians Hillary Clinton campaign, in no particular.

If only that were all to report. But William Ayers' treasonous tentacles of terrible terrorism stretch throughout Chicago and environs. Richard Daley, the doyen of a political dynasty renowned for cosseting pinko commie hippie freaks (especially the violent ones), hired Ayers to direct a citywide education reform program. The Woods Fund Board of Trustees --- which is rumored to meet in a windowless bunker accessible only through a secret portal impeccably camouflaged by the rusty, crumbling tenements of Hyde Park, where a thousand schemes for instigating Red Revolution are diabolically hatched --- can name among its members:

• An endowed professor at DePaul University
  
• The executive director of another Chicago urban development program (we're starting to see what "urban development" is code for, aren't we?)
• One endowed professor at UIllinois-Chicago and another UIC department chair (naturally)
• The media and governmental affairs director of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, a huge international architectural firm
• A manager for BP North America (but of course any company that does so much business in the middle East is likely a seditious fifth column --- now see why the charges that Obama is a furtive Muslim and a godless commie aren't self-evidently contradictory?)
• The Executive Director for Public Affairs of UBS, one of the largest investment banks in the world
• and, The President of Sahara Enterprises, which purports to be a Chicago-based coal mining company (but with a name like that must be an al-Qaeda affiliate)

And get this: Some current Woods Fund Trustees are Republicans, which logically means that there are active Weatherman cells even in God's Own Party. That's still not all. Without any fear of legal repercussions, the Chicago Tribune editorial board nonchalantly admits that "[W]e know Ayers too. And his wife, Bernardine Dohrn. If you know people in Chicago academic circles, chances are you know Ayers and Dohrn." Though of course the traitorous swine won't give detailed lists of names.

Which brings me to my own confession --- though I promise, unlike Fish, the mayor of Chicago, and the CT editorial board, I treat this matter with the gravity it deserves. The full, shocking size and scope of the Weather Underground's fifth column within the academic, business, political, and journalistic institutions of Chicago impels me to go public with something weighing on my conscience. I once had lunch with Chesa Boudin, whom William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn took in as an infant and raised as their own son when his parents, Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, were given life sentences in prison for their role as accessories in the Brinks Robbery. Granted, once having a brief meal with William Ayers' adoptive son says less about my character than, say being introduced to Ayers himself at a party, but that's hardly an excuse. Chesa Boudin neither rejects nor denounces William Ayers, and what's worse, he served on the staff of Hugo Chavez. Clearly the only thing for me to do is turn myself in to the FBI.

Unless, that is, there is a more parsimonious explanation of the fact that William Ayers' acquaintances constitute an ersatz Who's Who in Chicago. And come to think of it, there just might be.

Sometimes, when someone does something terrible and escapes criminal sanction, civilized society ostracizes that person, and has good justification for doing so. Like O.J. Simpson and Michael Skakel. Other times, despite having justification for ostracism, society elects by convention to overlook some individual's misdeeds. Like William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Also like Oliver North, whose felony convictions were overturned thanks to limited Congressional immunity, and instead of being shunned by all good folk, was able to pivot to a Republican nomination for election to the Senate in 1994, and then a lucrative career as a right-wing pundit and fundraiser. And like Elliot Abrams, another Iran-contra crook, who escaped incarceration through plea-bargaining and then a pardon from President George H.W. Bush, only to be appointed to the National Security Council by President George W. Bush. Come to think of it, George W. Bush didn't hesitate to staff his administration by means of an Iran-Contra reunion tour.

Then there's Henry Kissinger, who successfully parleyed his responsibility "for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, and for offenses against common or customary or international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture" (as Christopher Hitchens aptly put it), into a permanent position as a darling of the talk show circuit, a confidant of Charlie Rose and Ted Koppel, as many reserved column inches in as many prominent American newspapers as he would like, and an informal advisory role to every president since he left government --- sort of a German-Jewish secular war criminal Billy Graham. There's also Billy Graham, whose anti-Semitic ramblings with Richard Nixon never for a moment jeopardized his quasi-official job as Oval Office chaplain.

In like fashion, there's the Dixiecrat remnant faction of the Republican party. Though most of the racist scumbags have by now slipped off the moral coil, it wasn't long ago that Republican Congressional majorities were made possible by the support of some of the most virulent segregationists in American history --- not the ideological heirs of segregation, but the segregationists themselves --- who are personally culpable not only for extending the shelf-life of a horrific system of state-sanctioned persecution, but also, through their perversions of the judicial system, for enabling far-flung campaigns of racist murder and domestic terrorism. (Compare that to the piddling tally of the Weather Underground.) Strom Thurmond is of course the most prominent example, and also an instructive one. It was simply too awful for many political and media elites to acknowledge the presence in the US Senate of an unrepentant champion of Jim Crow, so they simply pretended that Thurmond had repented. Trent Lott eventually lost his Senate leadership position for bumblingly praising segregation in a botched effort to pay tribute to Thurmond, thereby reminding the larger political culture of the gruesomeness of its willful blindspot on Thurmond, but the upshot is that Lott never would have gotten into any trouble if all he had done was attend Strom Thurmond's birthday dinner without giving any speech.

Needless to say, proving a damning relationship between Thurmond and any recent Republican senator, on the standards of evidence the anti-Obama McCarthyite mania has enshrined, is simple enough a kindergartner could do it; and also so transparently idiotic a kindergartner could call bullshit on it. 

Let's not forget the more recently-minted criminals of the Bush administration. We could start with Lewis Libby, convicted of felony perjury, two separate counts of felony obstruction of justice, and felony provision of false statements to federal investigators. But, then, the very same crowd that thinks Barack Obama owes the American people an explanation of his relationship with William Ayers will be quick to remind us that Libby was the victim of a hack partisan (Republican) inquisitor, and besides, it's okay to break laws in the name of a higher principle just in case that higher principle is neoconservative. So never mind Libby.

The evidence is clear and decisive that Jay Bybee, William Haynes, David Addington, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, and John Yoo (to mention only a few names) are all complicit in a wave of --- what would Hitchens call it? --- war crimes, crimes against humanity, and offenses against common and customary and international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture. Despite that, or perhaps partly because of it, they can shortly expect to settle down to sinecures at conservative foundations and thinktanks, or assume spots on investment banks' boards of directors, or move on to jobs in the next Republican administration. They'll be celebrated guests on talk shows, commissioned by the New York Times and Washington Post to savage President Obama's resolution of the Iraq War (here's hoping), and in general treated by the connected set of Washington, D.C. and beyond just as if they were venerable statesmen rather than war criminals. Unless one of them is foolish enough to attend a dinner party at Baltasar Garzon's house, none of them will ever experience a minute of the life sentences they deserve.

And current and future Republican politicians will be (or already have been) introduced to them at parties, receive $200 or more campaign donations from them (or already have), and serve on boards of charitable trusts and business ventures with them (or already do). Would anyone care to set an over/under on how long it takes, in minutes, to establish connections, within, say, three degrees of separation or less, between John McCain and every living prominent Republican current or former politician or cabinet official whose offenses against the law and common decency merit permanent ostracism from civilized company? What do such connections tell us about John McCain's sympathy for (say) the Bush administration's project of whiting out various amendments to the Constitution? Unless he endorses such projects himself, they tell us nothing, nor do they tell us anything about his character, nor do they "raise legitimate questions" (because the questions are illegitimate), nor do they warrant McCarthyite public spectacles because "these issues are on the minds of voters."

The phenomenon of people doing loathsome things, never expressing remorse, and being rehabilitated and reincorporated in polite society is pervasive and inescapable. If it implicates anyone, it implicates everyone. Private individual decisions to shun such people may be praiseworthy under some circumstances, and amount to empty ineffectual posturing in others, but no one --- not Barack Obama, not anyone else --- has an individual obligation to brand anyone with a scarlet letter, make a scene at a party, or turn down perfectly respectable business or charitable enterprises.

This election year, the US is engaged in two costly and arguably counterproductive foreign occupations and a quasi-war against assorted non-state actors, a recession is looming if not already underway, our budget deficit continually balloons to (even inflation-adjusted) staggering record highs, and the long-term solvency of our major social welfare programs is soon to face extreme demographic pressures. Against that backdrop, arguing even implicitly that voters should make their decisions on the basis of friendships and associations of candidates that have no bearing whatsoever on their substantive views, agenda, or approach to governance is a rather straightforward confession of intellectual bankruptcy. It's time for two-bit inquisitors with warped moral faculties and priorities to shut the fuck up.

UPDATE: And there you have it: Hillary Clinton's new top strategist, Geoff Garin, called for the violent overthrow of the US government...35 years ago, when he was in college. That doesn't mean he's a bad person (it makes him a typical wannabe proletarian Harvard student in 1973), it doesn't mean Hillary Clinton's a bad person, and it doesn't mean there is any more or less reason to vote for Hillary Clinton now than before this came out; but it does mean a bunch of McCarthyite hacks need to find something to gag on next time they want to open their mouths.

Right next to Crackpipe National Park: Richard Bong's namesakeYou might assume that the 454.7 mile drive from Cleveland to Milwaukee is boring. And if, as a result of that assumption, you failed to pay attention, then you would not notice the world’s largest fireworks warehouse in Fremont, Indiana, or the Recreational Vehicle Hall of Fame in nearby Elkhart. And you would completely overlook my favorite Wisconsin landmark, the Bong Recreation Area on Route 94W. We’d like to tour the RV displays, and the Bong seems like a great spot to unwind for a few hours. But David Fagin and I need to move along and make it to Milwaukee for the second night of our thirteen-city Good For The Jews “Putting The Ha! In Hanukkah” tour.

Bill Stace, who runs the Miramar Theatre, a former silent-movie house, tells us the Milwaukee weather has turned “unseasonably cold” today, which sucks, because “seasonably cold” is fucking freezing. Golda Meir grew up in Milwaukee, but at least she had the common sense to leave for somewhere warmer. We draw an even larger crowd here than we did last year, and the Young Jewish Milwaukee Federation has planned their annual “Latke Vodka” event around our show. It’s perfect: The more vodka they drink, the better we sound.

David won’t eat within four hours of a show, which means he always needs a midnight snack. Tonight, after we cruise a downtown that’s overloaded with drunk college kids in t-shirts, he grabs a drive-through McDonald’s feast: two cheeseburgers, small fries, six-piece chicken nuggets.

Then it’s back to our Best Western hotel. Next door, in room 708, there’s a party going on. “What kind of a party is so loud it even keeps a rock band awake?” David grumbles, perhaps dizzy from all the sodium and cow eyelids. Around 2 a.m., through the thin walls, we hear a screech: “I am so drunk!” When we wake up in the morning, I dial room 708. “Urlloh?” a groggy voice stumbles. “Oh! Sorry!” I say. “I must’ve dialed the wrong number!” On our way to the lobby, we pass 708, and I flip their DO NOT DISTURB sign to the PLEASE CLEAN THIS ROOM side. While we’re still at the elevator, a maid uses her pass key to walk in, and we hear confused yelling as the elevator door closes.

Santa's favorite: Sushi on the roadIn Chicago, our car keeps slipping around on black ice, and the weather forecast is for “black fog,” a plague unknown even in the Old Testament. Why can’t Hannukah happen in June? Every station in town is playing Styx songs: Annoying. David knows every word to the Styx songs: Even more annoying.

We’re playing the Double Door, in the Wicker Park area, and our opening act is a local comic, Hannibal Buress, who’s been on the Craig Ferguson Show. Hannibal does a joke about seeing Orthodox Jews for the first time: “I couldn’t believe they weren’t even stopping to say hi to one another. If I saw somebody dressed exactly like me, I’d at least be like, yo, nice hat.” And he talks about a Jewish girl he knows, whose parents disapprove of her being a comedian. “I told her, ‘I know one way you could distract them from that,’” he says. “’Date me.’” Hannibal’s black.

You know what smells really nice? Every place except New York City. Seattle seems like paradise to us: the Triple Door, a gleaming dinner theater, is sold out and we’re fed wonderfully at their Wild Ginger restaurant next door. “I don’t ever want to play in any other club,” David says through a mouthful of sashimi. Fed Ex has misplaced two boxes of merchandise which we’d shipped ahead to Chicago, which means that for four nights we don’t have CDs or t-shirts to sell. But a night like this makes every tour obstacle and boredom seem minor: our improvised bits with the audience work perfectly, my Christian Scientist shtick causes roars and 270 people adore even the stuff we don’t think is so funny. Afterward, a slurry Jewish girl celebrating her birthday makes it clear she’d like to continue to party with us in more intimate circumstances. I give her a chaste kiss and wish her a happy birthday. “Oh,” she frowns. “You’re gay?”

[Read the entire Good for the Jews Tour Diary here.]

Spertus: Brand-spankin'-new facility for a really great organization.Here in Chicago, the community is rather chatty about the new Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies opening a new $55M facility on Michigan Avenue. This building is, I have to admit, really quite stunning and Friday, it opens to the public, finally. For those of you not familiar with Spertus, allow me to introduce you. It started in 1924 as Chicago's College of Jewish Studies and currently boasts a 15,000-piece collection of Jewish art and artifacts, a library and graduate school. The new ten-floor building adds a Wolfgang Puck kosher cafe (as you know already because you read it over on Jewcy's Pickled blog), areas to rent for events (someone please hold a simcha there and invite me, please, please, please), a 400-seat theater, a really fantastic Judaica gift shop, and a children's center is set of open in a few months. It's a lot. And, it's really great. It's not a terrible idea, either, to get yourself on the mailing list of events, as I can personally attest to how wonderful their lectures and other public events are.

And, if you happen to be in Chicago with kids on Christmas Day, when everything is closed but movie theaters and Chinese restaurants, Spertus can save the day with family events all day long featuring the music of Rav Shmuel, a chess tournament, and all sorts of crafts and activities. No need for reservations and it's totally free (thought they encourage you to bring a few nonperishables for their EZRA food drive). Not too shabby.

So, if you are here in Chicago, or plan to be sometime soon, hit the website, plan your visit, and, maybe just maybe, I'll see you there.

 

 

 

 

Wolfgang Puck: Happy veggie chopperKosher Chicagoans will soon be able to go out for lunch downtown like everyone else. Wolfgang Puck, a big fan of Jewish cooking, is opening a new kosher cafe and catering company at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.

Puck's company already provides kosher catering in L.A. and Atlanta, and this is his first venture in Chicago.

The Spertus Cafe will serve sushi and hot aged beef alongside sandwiches and salads, and will be grab-and-go style.

Executive Chef Laura Frankel says:

There’s no sacrificing anything. I think people have a stereotype of kosher food that it’s all matzo ball soup. If you keep kosher 365 days a year, you’re not going to eat matzo ball soup every day.

Hell, I would certainly hope not. Can you imagine? That would be like living with bricks in your stomach. Then again, you'd probably never catch a cold.

She also says:

The kind of food we're doing is very modern and edgy. The kosher part is important, but it's almost the last thing. Unless someone tells you it's kosher, you're not going to know.

Ahh, the goal of all kosher food: to not taste like kosher food. It must be hard trying to constantly pretend to be something you're not. Having to disguise your true self with a trendy exterior in order to fit in...

Well, I wish the Spertus Cafe the best of luck. Apparently, it is going to be the only kosher cafe in downtown Chicago, so it won't have much competition. It's scheduled to open on Nov. 30 at 610 S. Michigan Ave.

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Mystical reflections of Yom Kippur When: Saturday, September 22, 3:45 PM Where: Quadrangle Club, 1155 E. 57th St Why: Explore the oneness of time, space and consciousness with a totally far-out discussion by Rabbi Yossi Brackman on the mystical dimensions of Yom Kippur.        

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Yom Kippur meditation and break-fast When: Saturday, September 22, 9 AM Where: 1404 Greenfield Ave #1 Why: Mix up your Yom Kippur experience with a day of dharma talks, meditation, and inspirational readings. 30-45 minute sitting sessions will be interspersed with walking meditations and discussions. Participants are welcomed to bring a piece of poetry or other appropriate, inspirational readings to share. Break the fast afterwards with a potluck meal starting at 6:30 PM. It's free, but remember to register on the site.  

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Yom Kippur services with special speaker Cindy Sheehan, followed by vegetarian potluck break-fast When: Saturday, September 22, 9 AM Where: St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 1111 O'Farell St. Why: This might just be the ultimate hippie Yom Kippur set-up: Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun, leads a service featuring anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan. Part of an emerging movement of Jewish Renewal, Congregation Beyt Tikkun believes in equality regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or religious faith. The service will focus on being spiritually alive and experiencing the transformative power of the ...

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Interactive Yom Kippur services When: Friday, September 21, Kol Nidre 7:30 PM; Saturday, September 22, Morning Service & Yizkor, 10 AM; Neilah, 4 PM Where: The Lincoln Theater, 541 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Why: The Mosaic club’s goal is to bring Jews together and promote environmental awareness through worship and outdoor activities. They’ll all be at these services in the front few rows, so take a seat with them and prepare to schmooze afterwards. You might just come away with ten new Frisbee buddies. (Services are free for both members and non-members, but sign up quickly—advance RSVP is required.)

The Hippie: Dreadlocks and Bagels What: Maayan Tikvah's Yom Kippur services and break-fast When: Saturday, September 22, 4 PM Where: Rabbi Allen's home (email for address: rabbikza@verizon.net) Why: Like you, Maayan Tikvah is deeply rooted in the natural world and makes a conscious effort to minimize the impact of their activities on the environment. Join them for Yizkor and a participatory study group, moving on to Neilah afterwards, and then break the fast together with a pot-luck vegetarian meal. If the weather is nice, you'll spend some or all of the afternoon at the Greenways Conservation Area.