Chicago City Wire

An 11th-hour pre-primary letter from Chicago-area ultra-orthodox rabbis to shore up the flagging race of state Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) was ill-advised, the anti-abuse advocate who claims Silverstein sexually harassed her said during a recent interview.

Mothers on a Mission to Stop Violence founder Denise Rotheimer said she was especially shocked by the reference to Silverstein as "a good man" in the letter, which she said she knew nothing about until the Chicago City Wire shared it with her. 

After reflection, Rotheimer said that she thought the signers of the letter were focused on their own issues, including state support for Israel and concerns for the Jewish community in Illinois, and were "so dependent" on Silverstein's advocacy that they were willing to overlook just how "good" he really was.

Denise Rotheimer

While Silverstein long has provided Illinois' Jewish community with a legislative voice, Rotheimer said there are better advocates and that "there is a higher issue."

"And that's how a person behaves," she said. "Do you really want to support someone like that in office, with that kind of authority, who behaves that way?"

Silverstein has, for the better part of two decades, represented the 8th Senate District, which includes parts of Chicago's North Side, Skokie, Morton Grove and Park Ridge. In March, following the sexual abuse scandal in the General Assembly that cost him his majority caucus whip position, Silverstein was soundly defeated in his bid for another term when he lost the Democrat primary to union lobbyist Ram Villivalam. Silverstein took only about 30 percent of the vote.  

Villivalam faces no Republican challenger in the November election.

Silverstein's re-election bid clearly was on the ropes heading into the primary. After almost losing the race by default over a paucity of signatures on his nominating petitions, sexual harassment allegations continued to dog him, enough for questions to be raised about why the Democrat Party continued to support him.

In January, a report by the state's hastily hired legislative inspector general on Rotheimer's allegations found that Silverstein had not sexually harassed Rotheimer but, instead, concluded he "did behave in a manner unbecoming of a legislator." 

The following month, Rotheimer issued an appeal to voters in the 8th District to do what Silverstein and the General Assembly had refused to do, remove him from the Senate, saying "Justice now can only be served with your vote"

Silverstein received support from rabbis in a letter dated March 12, a little more than a week before the primary, titled "An Important Message From Your Local Rabbis" and addressed to "Dear Friends."

"Our state senator, Ira Silverstein, is up for re-election," the open letter continued. "We know Ira and he is a good man and a leader in our neighborhood. Ira has done so much for our community by sponsoring various bills that have positively affected us."

The letter included five bullet points of legislation Silverstein championed, including support for Israel and protection for synagogues "from vandalism and hate crimes."

"Senator Ira Silverstein has worked hard for our community, to make it a better and safer place to live," the letter concluded. "Please punch 42 on March 20 in the Democrat primary, and support Ira Silverstein for re-election to the Senate."

The letter was signed by Rabbi Zvi Engel of Congregation Or Torah in Skokie; Rabbi Moshe Francis, co-founder and Rosh Kollel of the Chicago Community Kollel; Rabbi Zev Cohen of Congregation Adas Yeshurun in Chicago; Rabbi Reuven Gross, who teaches Talmud, Halacha, Chumash, oral law, and Jewish thought at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie and is rabbi of Congregation Sha’arei Tzedek Mishkan Yair in Chicago; Rabbie Joel Gutstein, who teaches Talmud at Ida Crown Jewish Academy and is rabbi of Congregation Yehuda Moshe of Lincolnwood; Rabbi Aaron Leibtag of Kehilath Jacob Beth Samuel Congregation in Chicago; Rabbi Leonard Matanky, dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie and rabbi of Congregation KINS of West Rogers Park; Rabbi Chaim Twerski, a Rosh Yeshiva and head of the semichah program at Hebrew Theological College in Skokie; Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst, Dayan for Agudath Israel of Illinois; Rabbi Boruch Hertz (whose name is misspelled on the letter), executive director of Lubavitch Girls High School in Chicago and director at Congregation B'nei Ruven in Chicago; Rabbi Yaakov Robinson of Beis Medrash Mikor Hachaim in Chicago; Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik of congregation Beth Shalom Ahavas Achim in Chicago; and Rabbi Efraim Twerski of Congregation Khal Chasidim in the West Rogers Park.

Chicago City Wire reached out to the letter's signatories, as well as the Chicago Board of Rabbis, Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and the Chicago Rabbinical Council, but received no replies.

Rotheimer cautioned that too much should not be read into the letter or to assume how much influence it could have had on the outcome of the Silverstein-Villivalam primary race. 

"Just because those individuals signed that letter doesn't mean that people in their community would agree," she said. "These were just the 13 individuals who put their names to this biased, unethical and immoral letter – and I would say misjudged – in support of Silverstein's re-election."

As a victims' rights advocate who regularly lobbies legislators, Rotheimer said she can readily understand the need for legislators who will provide a voice in government for various causes. 

"He gave them a voice on issues that are of concern to them, based on the bullet points that are laid out in this letter," she said.

However, lobbyists don't have to turn a blind eye to a legislator's character, Rotheimer said. 

"If your candidate is someone like Silverstein, you don't have to say that he's a good man," she said.

And lobbyists don't have to depend on legislators who are not good people, Rotheimer said. 

"If you know somebody is capable of that kind of awful behavior, who is found to be in violation of the Ethics Act, why do you need them to get your message out?" she said. "You can go scout out other candidates who will take up your cause. You don't have to submit to the behavior of a pervert just because he speaks for your cause. And I call him (Silverstein) a 'pervert' because he is a pervert."