Actor Michael Rapaport speaks to Glencoe audience

Acclaimed actor and comedian Michael Rapaport was unable to get through security when a Batavia comedy club abruptly canceled the celebrity's shows in June due to safety concerns over potential protests.

But Glencoe fans rose above cancel culture to welcome Rapaport on June 27.

No protests were observed by pro-Palestinian groups supporting Hamas' invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023 at Am Shalom in Glencoe (840 Vernon Ave.) amid a heavy presence of Glencoe Public Safety and Cook County Sheriff's Police.

Karen Firsel of Northbrook, a television personality and Am Shalom member, interviewed Rapaport for the congregation’s program “A Conversation with Michael Rapaport.” Firsel secured Rapaport’s booking before the Fox River Valley shows were canceled.

“We reached our maximum registration capacity of over 1,000 people within 24 hours of the announcement,” Firsel said.

Michael Rapaport's X profile (formerly Twitter) at @MichaelRapaport identifies Rapaport as an actor/comedian/director/disruptor/podcaster at https://www.michaelrapaportcomedy.com/, “Making history on the weekly podcast @iamrapaport @rapaportreality WORLDWIDE.”

“It's the result of a request,” said Firsel, who “followed him (Rapaport) for years.

“The fact that he’s so frank and so raw and so real, he’s a hero to me,” Firsel said. “I was commenting on his social media posts trying to get his attention and one of my comments was, ‘You should come to Chicago.’”

“Eventually he wrote me back and put me in touch with his agent, and look where we are now,” Firsel said. “If you don’t ask for it, you might not get it, but if you ask for it, you might get it.”

Beyond the electronic security measures at the main entrance, Rapaport's “green room” was the clergy space of Am Shalom's Chief Rabbi Steven Stark Lowenstein.

“We have a lot of security, but we still do it,” Lowenstein said.

Lowenstein has been to Israel on courtesy trips. Rapaport has revealed his travel plans to Israel for June.

Lowenstein said of Rapaport's support for Israel that “there are very few people who are as public about it as he is and it's important to make those voices heard.”

Earlier Thursday, Rapaport toured the outdoor facility where 248 chairs have been placed on the Am Shalom corner lawn since last October to bring Israeli hostages home.

There is a chair for missing Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, who was abducted on October 7, 2023, at the Nova Music Festival.

The evening's special guest, Abby Polin of Evanston, is Hersh's aunt. Polin believes her nephew Hersh is alive.

“Because that’s all we could do was hope that he was still with us,” Polin said. “Hope is essential.”

“We have to continue to be present, we all have to, everyone who is here today, which is an incredible audience and crowd, we have to be present because all we could do here right now is advocate and keep the awareness going,” Polin said.

Rapaport briefly occupied a comfortable green chair in the office gardens among the 248 outdoor chairs that have together endured fall, winter, spring and now summer.

“I think the chairs outside are extremely important and I hope we can get rid of them tomorrow, today,” Rapaport told the Pioneer Press. “It’s just every emotion you can think of that’s not good, it’s just devastating.”

“I think it's extremely important that we don't forget,” Rapaport said.

“I knew I would be safe here,” Rapaport said of Glencoe, 50 miles from Batavia. “Having my show in Batavia canceled was very disappointing, not because I lost the show.

“What's disappointing and concerning is that for someone who's been as outspoken as I have been, to see a show canceled, people who are undecided or want to say something, I think it intimidates them, that's what I was afraid of.

“It was embarrassing for me because I didn't want anyone else to feel involved.

“I don't agree with Jerry Seinfeld, but if you're going to go after Jerry Seinfeld, who's been a clean, G-rated comedian for 40 years, and you're going to go after him, you try to aim for the top,” Rapaport said of Seinfeld, who is also Jewish.

“You're not going to intimidate him, he's shown that,” Rapaport said of Seinfeld.

“It’s not political, it’s not bombastic, it’s not in your face, but it’s like, ‘Okay, you want to go to the top, you want to try to shut us down from the top,’ so the rest of us fall into line.

“See?” Rapaport said.

On a night when Donald Trump and Joe Biden had their first presidential debate of 2024, Rapaport said: “I hope whoever wins wins hands down, because if they win hands down, there will be no doubt.”

Firsel's interview on a television talk show included questions from the audience.

Rapaport received applause after saying: “It seems that this idea of ​​a cease-fire before releasing the hostages is a mathematical error.

“Release the hostages and then we will discuss the ceasefire.”

On celebrity platforms, “When we went through this awards season from January to February, all the way through March,” Rapaport said, “not hearing one of these people, not hearing one person say, they might say, ‘Release the hostages’ and ‘Cease fire,’ they might say, ‘I want the hostages back, I want peace,’ but not hearing the word come out of any of these people’s mouths,” Rapaport was surprised.

At the end, Firsel asked the audience: “A question. Could you tell me as best you can and as loud as you can ‘F… Hamas’?” During the countdown, people shouted those two words.

Andrew Frankenthal of Chicago River North sat in an audience chair in the social hall, a short distance from the 248 chairs outside.

“This is the story of the Jewish people: it’s strength and resilience,” Frankenthal said.

“We are once again being tested, as we have been throughout our history.

“We come together and rise above all of this,” Frankenthal said. “I’m encouraged by this crowd and by people like Michael Rapaport.”

Karie Angell Luc is a freelance writer for Pioneer Press.