Chicago Jewish Star
Encyclopedia
The Chicago Jewish Star is an independent twice-monthly general interest Jewish newspaper based in Skokie, Illinois
. It provides news analysis and opinion on local, national and international events of relevance to the Jewish community, with a focus on literature and arts, politics, and the Middle East. It is a continuation of The Jewish Star (Alberta)
, a Canadian newspaper operated by the same principals from 1980-90.
The Chicago Jewish Star was founded in 1990 by Douglas Wertheimer, Editor and President of Star Media Group Inc., and Gila Wertheimer, Associate Editor, with its first issue appearing February 22, 1991. It entered a Chicago Jewish newspaper field dominated by a Jewish Federation-run, controlled-circulation JUF News, and the long-running independent weekly, The Sentinel. The Jewish Star was thought to be the first new English-language Jewish newspaper published in the Chicago area in some 50 years. Since 2000, it has been the sole independent, for-profit Chicago Jewish newspaper, the only one not associated with a charity.
The Jewish Star was the first Jewish newspaper in Metro Chicago to receive news by fax or electronically; the first to be distributed for free at locations throughout Metro Chicago; the first to be distributed via street corner news boxes; and the principals were the first to publish Jewish newspapers in both Canada and the United States.
in Washington in 1993, for example, the paper remained cautiously optimistic about Mideast peace even in the face of Palestinian violence against Israel. But by 2007, it was in the camp of those who question the two-state solution.
A tabloid-sized newspaper ranging from 12 to 36 pages, it had a circulation at its launching of 10,000 copies, rising to 24,500 by 1996. The paper is available free for pick-up at locations throughout Metro Chicago, by mail subscription and in an email PDF edition (since December 2008). Its masthead was designed in 1990 by Chicago graphic artist Gerry Kalvelage of BBDO
, and includes the newspaper’s motto "Useful Information Faithfully Recorded" (a loose translation from the Hebrew of Ecclesiastes
XII:10).
Awards for Exemplary Journalism competition, the Jewish Star was a winner in both the Best Arts Reporting and Criticism, and Best Design categories, covering 2010. It was a Lisagor Awards Finalist for Best Editorial Writing (covering 2009), and for Best Editorial Writing, Best Arts Reporting and Criticism, and Best In-Depth Reporting (covering 2010).
s, honor boxes or vending machines) in March 1991, the only Chicago Jewish newspaper ever to do so.
In January 1992, the administration of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
began a program to have newspaper publishers voluntarily re-align their news boxes along North Michigan Avenue; at the time, Chicago was typical in having no permit or licensing requirements concerning the placement of news boxes on the public way. A few months after the Chicago beautification program was launched, the Jewish Star complained to the city about mysterious damage to its news boxes. "If you have any evidence that this damage was caused by an employee of the City of Chicago," the city advised, "the City Department of Law would be happy to review it." The news box "clean up" soon expanded to other downtown Chicago areas, and the Jewish Star continued to encounter unauthorized movement of its news boxes. The Jewish Star maintained a surveillance of its news boxes, and on the night of June 22, 1994, photographed a City of Chicago Streets and Sanitation employee using bolt cutters to slice through the chain on a legally positioned Jewish Star news box at Michigan Avenue and Adams Street, and then moving it.
The Jewish Star enlisted the support of local city aldermen, an Illinois state senator, the Illinois Press Association and the American Civil Liberties Union
in protesting what it termed "a blatantly illegal act." The city claimed that "no City employee has removed or destroyed any Chicago Jewish Star boxes or newspapers." Writing on behalf of the Jewish Star, the ACLU responded: "For your information, the Star has a photograph of a City employee, who was driving a Streets and Sanitation truck, in the process of removing the box in question."
In September 1994, a Jewish Star news box on the near north side of Chicago was blown up; a few days later, the Jewish Star and two politicians met with a top city official, and shortly thereafter resolved the dispute. After the refusal of its offer of a cash settlement for damages to Jewish Star news boxes, the city paid the requested amount of $1,600 to the Jewish Star in the form of a cashier’s check.
In the ensuing years, the city adopted an ordinance restricting news box placement. At that time, the Jewish Star criticized the Daley administration for considering news boxes no more than "visual clutter," and fellow newspaper publishers for failing to fight the city on First Amendment grounds.
(AJPA) that two member publications "are engaging in questionable journalistic practices, and have been doing so for a considerable period of time." The allegations were made against the Chicago Jewish News and The Sentinel, weekly Chicago Jewish newspapers, in a five page letter with 98 pages of documentation, subsequent additions and an oral presentation by Wertheimer before the Ethics Committee. In August, the AJPA Ethics Committee issued a four page report upholding the Jewish Star claims. Concerning the Chicago Jewish News, the AJPA stated, "We censure the apparent violations that have taken place to date," noting that "there is substantial credible documented evidence of a pattern of neglect on the part of the Chicago Jewish News of failure to obtain advance permission and/or to properly credit the source of various items used since it began publication." Concerning The Sentinel, the report stated, "There is substantial credible documentation of the use of circulation figures claimed by The Sentinel which are substantially in excess of the publication’s official figures." The report characterized Wertheimer’s allegations against the two newspapers as "made in good faith." In response, Chicago Jewish News editor and publisher Joseph Aaron accused Wertheimer of "immoral, underhanded, and anti-Jewish actions" and claimed the charges "were absurd." Sentinel editor and publisher Jack Fishbein said, "Why don’t you just sell your own ads and worry about your own product?"
In June 1995, Wertheimer complained to the Consumer Fraud Bureau of the Office of the Attorney General, State of Illinois, about what he alleged were The Sentinel’s "fraudulent circulation figures." On December 1, 1995, The Sentinel entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with the State of Illinois over the newspaper’s alleged violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and paid the state $1,000 to "cover investigative costs."
As a result of the Jewish Star complaint, in December 1995 AJPA amended its by-laws "to make clear the various violations we dealt with in the recent Chicago matter."
on a doorpost became an act increasingly likely in Chicago to come in conflict with the rules of condominium associations, as that city typified a country which "has been condo crazy the past few years." In May 2004, two Jewish condo owners at Shoreline Towers
Condominium in Chicago protested the association’s instruction that all exterior objects, including mezuzot, be removed. Later, other condo associations in Illinois, Florida and Texas were revealed to have adopted a similar restriction. In Chicago, unable to successfully resolve the matter by bringing pressure on the condo associations to allow Jewish residents to fulfill their religious obligations, litigation followed beginning in 2005.
Detailed reporting on the controversy by the Jewish Star resulted in city and state legislation prohibiting mezuzah banning. After reading the first media coverage of the dispute, by the Jewish Star in July 2005, Chicago Alderman Burton Natarus
composed in 10 minutes an ordinance amending Chicago’s Municipal Code to legally prohibit condo associations from banning mezuzah placement on exterior unit doorposts. Four months later, the ordinance was adopted. Meanwhile, though there were signs that the condo boards would resolve the legal dispute, Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein
, having read the same Jewish Star report as Natarus, was likewise appalled and introduced a bill in the Illinois Senate to prevent such rules by condo boards. The law was passed and came into effect in January 2007.
Notwithstanding this legislation, lawsuits involving Shoreline Towers Condominium Association proceeded. At one point, the Jewish Star successfully fended off an attempt to subpoena its records; at another, an Illinois law barring expensive, intimidating lawsuits to prevent challenges to unjust conduct was applied for the first time; and in yet another instance, a Federal Appeals Court in Chicago overruled an earlier decision, and determined that the Fair Housing Act can prohibit discrimination that occurs after homeowners occupy a dwelling.
; the Chicago Jewish Federation pursuit of the estate of Sol Goldstein for an unpaid pledge; an Edgar Degas
painting looted by the Nazis housed at the Art Institute of Chicago
; reader outrage when the Jewish Star published a paid ad inviting Jews to a feast on Yom Kippur
; Jewish surgeon Raymond Pollak’s whistleblower lawsuit against prominent Chicago-area hospitals; coverage of the controversy surrounding Jewel-Osco food stores’ aggressive move into the kosher food business; the city of Chicago’s sponsorship of anti-Israel activity during Arab Heritage Month and Chicago Arabesque; and an exhibit at the Spertus Museum which compared the plight of Palestinians and Jews.
Skokie, Illinois
Skokie is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Its name comes from a Native American word for "fire". A Chicago suburb, for many years Skokie promoted itself as "The World's Largest Village". Its population, per the 2000 census, was 63,348...
. It provides news analysis and opinion on local, national and international events of relevance to the Jewish community, with a focus on literature and arts, politics, and the Middle East. It is a continuation of The Jewish Star (Alberta)
The Jewish Star (Alberta)
The Jewish Star was an independent fortnightly newspaper based in Calgary, Alberta, which began in 1980 to publish separate editions first in Calgary and then in the provincial capital of Edmonton...
, a Canadian newspaper operated by the same principals from 1980-90.
The Chicago Jewish Star was founded in 1990 by Douglas Wertheimer, Editor and President of Star Media Group Inc., and Gila Wertheimer, Associate Editor, with its first issue appearing February 22, 1991. It entered a Chicago Jewish newspaper field dominated by a Jewish Federation-run, controlled-circulation JUF News, and the long-running independent weekly, The Sentinel. The Jewish Star was thought to be the first new English-language Jewish newspaper published in the Chicago area in some 50 years. Since 2000, it has been the sole independent, for-profit Chicago Jewish newspaper, the only one not associated with a charity.
The Jewish Star was the first Jewish newspaper in Metro Chicago to receive news by fax or electronically; the first to be distributed for free at locations throughout Metro Chicago; the first to be distributed via street corner news boxes; and the principals were the first to publish Jewish newspapers in both Canada and the United States.
Editorial, Advertising, Circulation, Design
Local news, editorial, advertising and design is generated mainly in-house, with additional news and feature contributions from syndicated columnists, news services and occasionally freelance writers. The editorial position has been consistently independent; politically, its stance has changed on some issues. Following the signing of the Oslo AccordsOslo Accords
The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles , was an attempt to resolve the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict...
in Washington in 1993, for example, the paper remained cautiously optimistic about Mideast peace even in the face of Palestinian violence against Israel. But by 2007, it was in the camp of those who question the two-state solution.
A tabloid-sized newspaper ranging from 12 to 36 pages, it had a circulation at its launching of 10,000 copies, rising to 24,500 by 1996. The paper is available free for pick-up at locations throughout Metro Chicago, by mail subscription and in an email PDF edition (since December 2008). Its masthead was designed in 1990 by Chicago graphic artist Gerry Kalvelage of BBDO
BBDO
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency began in 1891 with George Batten's Batten Company, and later in 1928, through a merger of BDO and Batten Co. the agency became BBDO...
, and includes the newspaper’s motto "Useful Information Faithfully Recorded" (a loose translation from the Hebrew of Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes, called , is a book of the Hebrew Bible. The English name derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title.The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth , introduces himself as "son of David, king in Jerusalem." The work consists of personal...
XII:10).
Awards
In the annual Chicago Headline Club-sponsored Peter LisagorPeter Lisagor
Peter Lisagor was Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Daily News from 1959 to 1976 and was one of the most respected and best-known journalists in the United States...
Awards for Exemplary Journalism competition, the Jewish Star was a winner in both the Best Arts Reporting and Criticism, and Best Design categories, covering 2010. It was a Lisagor Awards Finalist for Best Editorial Writing (covering 2009), and for Best Editorial Writing, Best Arts Reporting and Criticism, and Best In-Depth Reporting (covering 2010).
First Amendment rights and newspaper distribution
After World War II, newspapers had increasingly relied on distribution of single copies from news boxes on public streets across America (a right recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988 in City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co.). Nonetheless, publishers were urged to remain vigilant about a practice which was challenged by some municipalities. The Jewish Star began distributing its free newspaper in its own street-corner news boxes (also referred to as news rackNewspaper vending machine
A newspaper vending machine or newspaper rack is a vending machine designed to distribute newspapers. Newspaper vending machines are used worldwide, and they are often one of the main distribution methods for newspaper publishers.-History:...
s, honor boxes or vending machines) in March 1991, the only Chicago Jewish newspaper ever to do so.
In January 1992, the administration of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
began a program to have newspaper publishers voluntarily re-align their news boxes along North Michigan Avenue; at the time, Chicago was typical in having no permit or licensing requirements concerning the placement of news boxes on the public way. A few months after the Chicago beautification program was launched, the Jewish Star complained to the city about mysterious damage to its news boxes. "If you have any evidence that this damage was caused by an employee of the City of Chicago," the city advised, "the City Department of Law would be happy to review it." The news box "clean up" soon expanded to other downtown Chicago areas, and the Jewish Star continued to encounter unauthorized movement of its news boxes. The Jewish Star maintained a surveillance of its news boxes, and on the night of June 22, 1994, photographed a City of Chicago Streets and Sanitation employee using bolt cutters to slice through the chain on a legally positioned Jewish Star news box at Michigan Avenue and Adams Street, and then moving it.
The Jewish Star enlisted the support of local city aldermen, an Illinois state senator, the Illinois Press Association and the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
in protesting what it termed "a blatantly illegal act." The city claimed that "no City employee has removed or destroyed any Chicago Jewish Star boxes or newspapers." Writing on behalf of the Jewish Star, the ACLU responded: "For your information, the Star has a photograph of a City employee, who was driving a Streets and Sanitation truck, in the process of removing the box in question."
In September 1994, a Jewish Star news box on the near north side of Chicago was blown up; a few days later, the Jewish Star and two politicians met with a top city official, and shortly thereafter resolved the dispute. After the refusal of its offer of a cash settlement for damages to Jewish Star news boxes, the city paid the requested amount of $1,600 to the Jewish Star in the form of a cashier’s check.
In the ensuing years, the city adopted an ordinance restricting news box placement. At that time, the Jewish Star criticized the Daley administration for considering news boxes no more than "visual clutter," and fellow newspaper publishers for failing to fight the city on First Amendment grounds.
Journalistic ethics
Plagiarism and circulation falsification have long been problems in the journalistic profession, and continued to be apparent during the 1990s. In March 1995, Jewish Star Editor Douglas Wertheimer asserted to the Ethics Committee of the American Jewish Press AssociationAmerican Jewish Press Association
The American Jewish Press Association is an organization of Jewish newspapers, magazines, journalists, and affiliated organizations in North America...
(AJPA) that two member publications "are engaging in questionable journalistic practices, and have been doing so for a considerable period of time." The allegations were made against the Chicago Jewish News and The Sentinel, weekly Chicago Jewish newspapers, in a five page letter with 98 pages of documentation, subsequent additions and an oral presentation by Wertheimer before the Ethics Committee. In August, the AJPA Ethics Committee issued a four page report upholding the Jewish Star claims. Concerning the Chicago Jewish News, the AJPA stated, "We censure the apparent violations that have taken place to date," noting that "there is substantial credible documented evidence of a pattern of neglect on the part of the Chicago Jewish News of failure to obtain advance permission and/or to properly credit the source of various items used since it began publication." Concerning The Sentinel, the report stated, "There is substantial credible documentation of the use of circulation figures claimed by The Sentinel which are substantially in excess of the publication’s official figures." The report characterized Wertheimer’s allegations against the two newspapers as "made in good faith." In response, Chicago Jewish News editor and publisher Joseph Aaron accused Wertheimer of "immoral, underhanded, and anti-Jewish actions" and claimed the charges "were absurd." Sentinel editor and publisher Jack Fishbein said, "Why don’t you just sell your own ads and worry about your own product?"
In June 1995, Wertheimer complained to the Consumer Fraud Bureau of the Office of the Attorney General, State of Illinois, about what he alleged were The Sentinel’s "fraudulent circulation figures." On December 1, 1995, The Sentinel entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with the State of Illinois over the newspaper’s alleged violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, and paid the state $1,000 to "cover investigative costs."
As a result of the Jewish Star complaint, in December 1995 AJPA amended its by-laws "to make clear the various violations we dealt with in the recent Chicago matter."
Legislation affecting the Jewish community
Although a common custom among the vast majority of Jews, affixing a mezuzahMezuzah
A mezuzah is usually a metal or wooden rectangular object that is fastened to a doorpost of a Jewish house. Inside it is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah...
on a doorpost became an act increasingly likely in Chicago to come in conflict with the rules of condominium associations, as that city typified a country which "has been condo crazy the past few years." In May 2004, two Jewish condo owners at Shoreline Towers
Shoreline Towers
Shoreline Towers is residential high-rise building in Chicago, United States. It is 25 stories , with 378 units. The building is located at 6301 North Sheridan Road, at the intersection of Rosemont Avenue ....
Condominium in Chicago protested the association’s instruction that all exterior objects, including mezuzot, be removed. Later, other condo associations in Illinois, Florida and Texas were revealed to have adopted a similar restriction. In Chicago, unable to successfully resolve the matter by bringing pressure on the condo associations to allow Jewish residents to fulfill their religious obligations, litigation followed beginning in 2005.
Detailed reporting on the controversy by the Jewish Star resulted in city and state legislation prohibiting mezuzah banning. After reading the first media coverage of the dispute, by the Jewish Star in July 2005, Chicago Alderman Burton Natarus
Burton Natarus
Burton Natarus was Alderman of the 42nd Ward of Chicago from 1971 to 2007.-Early life:Natarus is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Later, he taught at Chicago’s Loyola University on the subject of local government. Natarus also served in the U.S. Army and the U.S...
composed in 10 minutes an ordinance amending Chicago’s Municipal Code to legally prohibit condo associations from banning mezuzah placement on exterior unit doorposts. Four months later, the ordinance was adopted. Meanwhile, though there were signs that the condo boards would resolve the legal dispute, Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein
Ira Silverstein
Ira I. Silverstein is a Democratic member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 8th district since 1999.- Early life :Silverstein attended Boone Elementary School and Mather High School and then earned his bachelor’s degree from Loyola University Chicago...
, having read the same Jewish Star report as Natarus, was likewise appalled and introduced a bill in the Illinois Senate to prevent such rules by condo boards. The law was passed and came into effect in January 2007.
Notwithstanding this legislation, lawsuits involving Shoreline Towers Condominium Association proceeded. At one point, the Jewish Star successfully fended off an attempt to subpoena its records; at another, an Illinois law barring expensive, intimidating lawsuits to prevent challenges to unjust conduct was applied for the first time; and in yet another instance, a Federal Appeals Court in Chicago overruled an earlier decision, and determined that the Fair Housing Act can prohibit discrimination that occurs after homeowners occupy a dwelling.
Other controversies
Among other controversial issues appearing in the Jewish Star are: coverage of the expulsion of five students at Chicago’s Ida Crown Jewish AcademyIda Crown Jewish Academy
Ida Crown Jewish Academy is a Modern Orthodox Jewish high school in West Ridge, Chicago, Illinois,Ida Crown Jewish Academy is a Modern Orthodox Jewish high school in West Ridge, Chicago, Illinois,...
; the Chicago Jewish Federation pursuit of the estate of Sol Goldstein for an unpaid pledge; an Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
painting looted by the Nazis housed at the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
; reader outrage when the Jewish Star published a paid ad inviting Jews to a feast on Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
; Jewish surgeon Raymond Pollak’s whistleblower lawsuit against prominent Chicago-area hospitals; coverage of the controversy surrounding Jewel-Osco food stores’ aggressive move into the kosher food business; the city of Chicago’s sponsorship of anti-Israel activity during Arab Heritage Month and Chicago Arabesque; and an exhibit at the Spertus Museum which compared the plight of Palestinians and Jews.
External links
- Library users may access back issues of the Chicago Jewish Star through Ethnic NewsWatch or through HighBeam Research (by subscription).