CHICAGO — The University of Chicago’s new Hospital Pavilion is a $700 million, 10-story behemoth of a building that looms over the intersection of East 57th and Maryland.
“That thing is monstrous!” exclaimed one passerby upon seeing the Pavilion, which, set to open in 2013, currently consists of neatly placed iron beams, Tyvek commercial wrap, lustrous silver paneling, and glass windows that seem to have been shined and re-shined so much that they reflect a very clear image of something not quite as imposing—a decrepit old apartment building across the street.
This vacant tan brick relic—three stories high with boarded-up windows—is no match for the medical complex that towers above. Indeed, it would be just another inconsequential piece of Chicago real estate were it not for one of the building’s former residents: Ronald Reagan.
I was in Jerusalem last Wednesday when a bomb exploded at a nearby bus station. One woman was killed and nearly 40 others injured.
The following day, Qassam rockets and mortar shells were launched from the Gaza Strip, raining down upon the city of Ashdod. They were just several among the more than 70 missiles fired at Israeli cities in previous days.
This came on the heels of a sickening tragedy in the Israeli settlement of Itamar, where terrorists massacred five members of the Fogel family in their home one Saturday night. Three of the family’s six children – ranging in age from three months to 11 years – were butchered to death with a kitchen knife.
So it goes in the Jewish state. “What’s new?” was the response from my friend Josh, a 21-year-old commander in the Israeli army who last week was scouring Arab villages in search of the brutes who murdered the Fogels.
