Mobile tolerance museum brings its anti-hate, anti-Semitism lessons to Jewish Festival in Morton Grove: ‘We need more of this'

Chicago Tribune

3 hours ago

The Greater Chicago Jewish Festival drew big crowds to the St. Paul Woods forest preserve area in Morton Grove Sunday for a day filled with community and family entertainment, and an exhibition from the Los Angeles-based Mobile Museum of Tolerance.
The biennial festival included usual accoutrements of a summertime cultural festival, including dancing, live music, roasting food and crafts tables. But a standout was the security on hand. Signs near the entrance assured visitors undercover law enforcement would be patrolling, and uniformed officers from seven different agencies walked the grounds. The festival was fenced in and visitors had to pass through a security checkpoint.
The mobile exhibit, which was displayed on a bus, is described by its owners as 'a self-contained classroom on wheels' that offered festival goers an opportunity to explore anti-hate and antisemitic workshops and other activities.
The mobile museum arrived in the Cook County woods nearly two years after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. On May 21, two Israeli embassy staff workers were fatally shot in Washington, D. C. And more recently, an Egyptian man is facing attempted murder and federal hate crime charges, accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group of people in Boulder, Colorado June 1 who were holding their weekly demonstration for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
'Right now, it's a very tense time for the Jewish community,' Alliya Kazan said as she left the bus Sunday.
A regular visitor to libraries, schools and community events since it launched in 2021, the exhibit teaches visitors about two recent periods of injustice, the Holocaust and the pre-Civil Rights Movement era in the South. Videos showcase interviews with people who lived through these pivotal times. Modern voices are also featured alongside video and photos from those events.
Kazan said there's too much miscommunication across cultures and the exhibit's videos show how communities have in the past worked together during times of intolerance.
'We need more of this in the political discourse,' she said.
Videos featured as part of the mobile museum don't mention the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, much less the antisemitism that's happened since then, but visitors said that given all of the recent events, the exhibit's approach to history is welcoming.
'It was a very immersive experience,' Kazan said. 'It gives people the opportunity to have an immersive experience as opposed to just reading something and I think that's really great.'
Another visitor, a man who didn't want to give his name given the political climate, said he hopes the mobile exhibit can bring people together.
'I'm here to be part of this, and in light of all the horror and tragedy that happens in the Jewish community, the community needs to stand together,' he said.
The bus was accessible from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the festival. Elizabeth Blair, the mobile museum's education coordinator, said that after only a few hours of being open, hundreds of people had stopped by.
She said that while the video presentation hasn't changed to incorporate specific recent world events, the headlines trickle into conversations that guests have after they visit the exhibit.
'In terms of people's comments, we're hearing people say we need this [mobile exhibit],' Blair said. 'They've been very supportive. … I've been sort of encouraged by the lack of pushback over the last few years.'
The Mobile Museum of Tolerance will roll to the Grayslake Area Public Library June 19 the library's Juneteenth celebration.