The Rev. Jesse Jackson and a North Side rabbi met Sunday in a show of solidarity after packages containing explosives bound for different Jewish houses of worship in Chicago were intercepted overseas.

“The fact is that while synagogues here in Chicago were targeted, the reality is that when a house of worship is under threat in this country, all houses of worship are threatened,” said Anshe Emet’s Rabbi Michael Siegel. “This is a time for solidarity.”

The rabbi said federal agents came by the Lakeview neighborhood’s Conservative Jewish synagogue Friday night, though he didn’t know if his synagogue was one of the targets.

On Sunday morning, Jackson stopped at the synagogue and spoke to the congregation.

Jackson said he chose to visit Siegel’s synagogue because it may have been targeted by the terrorists.

The gathering, Jackson pointed out, could have been a “mourning service” instead.

“We cannot be casual about the fact that somebody planned to kill some people,” Jackson said. “They got caught, but they planned to kill some people. They planned to kill some Jews.”

The rabbi said he appreciated Jackson’s visit.

“I thought it was exactly the kind of gesture we hope others would take,” Siegel said of Jackson’s visit. “It was really very kind.”

Later Sunday, the rabbi joined Jackson at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s Kenwood headquarters.

Both men said that although the relationship between the black community and the Jewish community sometimes has been strained, the two communities will work together now as they have in the past.

“At this time we intend to re-engage the black-Jewish dialogue,” Siegel said.

Jackson’s relationship with the Jewish community hasn’t always been without tension. During his bid for president in 1984, Jackson apologized after referring to New York City as “Hymietown” while talking with a Washington Post reporter.

“We went by the temple just to share our concern (and) the sense of anxiety, driven by the fact there was a bomb headed this way,” Jackson said.

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(Source: Chicago Tribune)