The CJN Magazine: Rosh Hashanah 2021

thecjnmagazine Rosh Hashanah 2021 | Tishrei 5782

FROM FRIENDS OF SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER!

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

Subscribe today: fswc.ca/subscribe

Shana Tova Happy New Year ‫שנה טובה‬ September 2021 – 5782 ‫תשפ"ב‬

It has been too long since we have been able to see our friends and family from around the world.

As we look ahead to a new year, we believe that better days are ahead and that we will welcome you, THIS year in Jerusalem

The Canada Pathway – make your mark in Jerusalem The Canada Community and Culture Fund for Relief and Recovery

The Jerusalem Foundation of Canada 250 Consumers Road, Suite #301 Toronto, Ontario M2J 4V6 Tel: 416 922 0000 Toll Free: 1 877 484 1289 For more information: Nomi Yeshua, Chief Operating Officer: nomiy@jfjlm.org www.jerusalemfoundation.org

Editor’s Note

What’s inside 06 Greetings from Yehupetzville R ALPH BENMERGUI

I

don’t know how I could have gotten through the past 18 months without my family.

That might seem odd to say after spending so much time stuck together at home, two working parents and two often-homeschooling children. Maybe if you’d asked me back in the dead of February, two months into (the return of) online schooling, I’d have hesitated. But probably not. During my most anxious lockdown moments, family connections — at home, on FaceTime, at freezing outdoor visits with parents — provided a foundation that I could have faith in.

This second issue of The CJN Magazine wasn’t supposed to be about family, parenting and intergenerational relationships.

Reading through the articles in the pages ahead, I was struck by how often those themes came up, and in such varied ways, among our contributors. I guess I’m not the only one whose attention to family has been sharpened by the pandemic.

Ron Csillag’s report on a new trend in tattooing and Michael Ignatieff’s essay on Primo Levi and Auschwitz offer fascinating insights into how children — and grandchildren — chose to carry on their family histories. Ralph Benmergui, who hosts the CJN podcast Yehupetzville, spent the past six months speaking to Jews in small towns across Canada, while David Matlow

10 devotes his time to collecting Zionist memorabilia for our Treasure Trove. Each one’s adventures emphasize just how vast our family is, here in Canada and abroad.

The manager and the rabbi AV I FINEGOLD

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Why I started Canada’s only daily Jewish podcast ELLIN BES SNER

Meanwhile, Bonnie Stern and Anna Rupert’s insightful conversation explores why food became such a familial connector over the past year and a half. And Laura Leibow searches for a new family of sorts in Won’t You Be My Rabbi? (which is also an upcoming CJN podcast series). Finally, a series of personal essays offer a glimpse into how educators — and given the responsibility parents place on them, they are undoubtedly an essential part of our family system — used love, passion and creativity to teach kids during a difficult school year.

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Won’t you be my rabbi?

L AUR A LEIBOW

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Talkin’ Jews, talkin’ sports JAMES HIRSH AND G ABE PULV ER

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Being Jewish on the Periphery

24 Treasure Trove DAV ID MAT LOW

28 Their skin says ‘never forget’ RON C SILL AG

Here at The CJN, we are also hoping you will join our family this year, as we embark on a new membership drive. Your membership includes a subscription to this magazine, as well as access to exclusive events and content — and we’ve made it easier than ever to gift The CJN to family members.

You can find more details elsewhere in this magazine and at thecjn.ca/membership. We look forward to welcoming you into The CJN family.

Shanah Tovah, yoni

34 « Les assassinats ciblés d’Israël se sont avérés une stratégie très efficace » ELIAS LE V Y

40 New kids on the block: Are they doing what communal organizations can’t — or won’t?

LIL A SARIC K

48 On Consolation MIC HAEL IGN AT IEFF

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The family that cooks together, stays together BONNIE S T ERN AND ANN A RUPER T

The Canadian Jewish News

60 Yiddish Corner GERR Y K ANE

Yoni Goldstein CEO and Editor-in-Chief Marc Weisblott Managing Editor Lila Sarick News Editor Joseph Serge Copy Editor Ron Csillag Staff Reporter Michael Fraiman Podcast Editor Etery Podolsky Art Director Sarah Zahavi Design Intern Grace Zweig Sales Director Kathy Meitz General Manager

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Board of Directors: Bryan Borzykowski President Sam Reitman Treasurer and Secretary Ira Gluskin Alanna Handelman Elizabeth Wolfe

For all inquiries info@thecjn.ca

64 The missing year HEIDI CROWLE Y CAROL K L ARMAN EMILY CARUSO PARNELL A ARON P OLOWIN

Cover Illustration: Etery Podolsky Inside Photos: Shutterstock, Wikimedia Commons Printed in Winnipeg by Kromar Printing Ltd.

Happy Rosh Hashana ‫שנה טובה ומתוקה‬

The Centre for Jewish Studies offers vibrant and broad-based programs in Jewish studies.

Our internationally renowned faculty members are dedicated to teaching, research, and community service, shaping the state of knowledge in Jewish Studies and offering stimulating public programming relevant to your lives.

Visit us at yorku.ca/cjs to find out more

What’s it like being Jewish in a Canadian place with relatively few Jews? Yehupetzville is a podcast from The CJN whose name was inspired by Yiddish writer Sholom Aleichem. But while his idea of Yehupetz referred to the large Ukrainian city of Kiev, the modern use of Yehupetzville refers to a small town. This map points to just some of the places with far-flung Jewish communities, as virtually visited by veteran broadcaster Ralph Benmergui. Subscribe to the podcast to hear them all.

SALT SPRING STAND-UP So you’re a Canadian comedian, writer and producer living the dream in L.A. But then you get fed up with the whole thing and decide you have a better idea: head to the beautiful island of Salt Spring, B.C., and start carving up briskets and smoking your own Montreal-style deli meat. Howard Busgang could have written that sitcom in Hollywood, but decided to live it himself.

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TWO WOMEN, ONE SHUL AND LOTS OF WINE Kelowna is known for being nestled in the heart of B.C.’s wine country. It’s less known for being home to a small but mighty Jewish community. The Okanagan Jewish Community Centre and Beth Shalom Synagogue provide the valley’s Jews a place to come together.

Bonus: the wine at their seder rocks.

IF THE MOUNTAIN WON’T COME TO GAVRIEL… Nelson, B.C., is picturesque, hip and home to a handful of Jews. One such Jew who calls it home took the long way there: he settled by way of Rhode Island, Berkeley and Guelph, Ont., finally finding happiness hosting Jewish celebrations and offering spiritual counseling in the mountain town.

ALL ABOARD THE TRAIN TO JASPER While his old Forest Hill buddies stuck around in Toronto, Warren Waxer decided to hop on a train and ride out to Jasper, Alta. He ended up enjoying the train so much, he decided to ride the rails for about 30 more years, and hasn’t looked back yet.

A ROSEN BY ANY OTHER NAME Living in the woods isn’t exactly every Jewish parent’s dream for their kids.

But Mike Rosen went for it. Thankfully, in Cantley, Que., a rural town north of Gatineau, a Jew can live in the forest but still drive his kid to weekly bar mitzvah lessons.

To hear these episodes and more, visit thecjn.ca/yehupetzville

60 FAMILIES, NO KOSHER FOOD AND A CHANGING CONGREGATION Moncton, N.B., is home to Tiferes Israel Synagogue.

Whether it’s Orthodox or Conservatve, however, is up for grabs. Regardless of denomination, all are welcome. You can go to shul in the morning before popping by the Dieppe Market and ending your day watching the sunset at Parlee Beach. Not a bad life for a small-town Jew.

FROM HUMBLE ROOTS The last bar mitzvah honours in the old House of Israel Synagogue in Moose Jaw, Sask., went to Toronto-based radio legend “Humble” Howard Glassman, of Humble and Fred fame. Today, all that’s left are sweet memories of the old shul, which stands empty, except for the occasional dance school rental.

THE OTHER LONDON She has the voice of an angel and the heart of a spiritual leader: Aviva Chernick grew up wrapped in the 2,000 strong arms of the Jewish community of London, Ont. Three synagogues, lots of Hebrew education and a thriving community ensured that Aviva would become an exceptional Jewish voice in the world.

A GREAT PLACE TO COME HOME Sudbury, Ont.’s once-thriving community is today powered by a mix of newcomers and returnees. Two of those returnees left Sudbury as Christians and returned as wholehearted Jewish converts. Well, one is wholehearted at least: Emily Caruso Parnell, who sought out a quieter life (and an affordable house), came back to Sudbury and wound up being synagogue president for the last decade.

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Embracing Jewish traditions together W

hile the pandemic has been difficult for many individuals, seniors have been especially impacted by increased social isolation resulting from physical distancing requirements.

Thanks to some creative thinking and hard work by the team at V!VA Thornhill Woods Retirement Community, neither the pandemic nor physical distancing prevented their Community Members from enjoying the many cultural traditions they cherish.

“Jewish identity is very important for our Community Members. We have always provided robust Jewish programming, but during the pandemic, those traditions also helped to provide a sense of normalcy and comfort,” shares Merav Jacobson, V!VA Thornhill Woods’ Community Director.

“The pandemic challenged us to safely deliver these programs, but our team was so committed to making them happen for our Community Members and other seniors in the area. For Chanukah, our executive chef hosted a virtual lat-

ke-making demonstration. We also held holiday poetry readings by our Community Members, as well as a special Rosh Hashanah concert with Cantor David Edwards. It was so moving to see how appreciative our Community Members were,” remarks Jacobson.

Naturally, food is a big part of any culture, and V!VA ensures Community Members can enjoy their favourite dishes. For Passover, V!VA Team Members from different cultures and departments joined forces to make chopped liver and charoset. “Not only did we get to see the executive chef’s special secret ingredients, but a good time was had by all, and our Community Members thought everything was delicious!” says Jacobson.

Another highlight of Jewish life at V!VA Thornhill Woods is its Yiddish Café, a regular program featuring entertainers, musicians and education rooted in Yiddish culture. During the pandemic, the Café went virtual with events hosted on Zoom and shared with both Community Members and seniors throughout

Vaughan and Toronto.

Ellyn’s mother lives at V!VA Thornhill Woods. “My mother absolutely loves the Yiddish programs and the many singers they have had, as she enjoys singing along,” she says. “Also, the lectures involving Jewish themes and Israel are true highlights in her week. I can’t thank the V!VA team enough for their thoughtful inclusion of Jewish life for her.”

“The Yiddish word ‘haimish’ means having qualities associated with a homelike atmosphere; simple, warm, relaxed, and cozy. This is how Community Members feel when stepping into V!VA Thornhill Woods,” says Wendy Teperman, V!VA Thornhill Woods’ Community Relations Manager. “They sense that we are a community with people who have similar pasts, memories and stories. It is like becoming one huge family - spending time laughing and enjoying life together.”

That notion of enjoying life together even extends to family members themselves, some of whom volunteer in the Community. Neil started volunteering there just after his parents moved. “I run a whisky tasting club,” he shares, “and my son runs a monthly movie night here, too.

We always have a blast with the Community Members, hearing their stories and spending time with them. The V!VA team really puts their all into making it such a nice place to live for the Community Members.”

With strong Jewish values and traditions and a ‘haimish’ culture, it is no wonder Community Members are so happy to call V!VA Thornhill Woods home.

Offering Independent Living, Assisted Living and respite options, V!VA Thornhill Woods Retirement Community is located at 9700 Bathurst St., in Vaughan, Ontario, across from the Schwartz/ Reisman Community Centre. To learn more or schedule an in-person or virtual tour, please call 905-417-8585, email thornhillwoods@vivalife.ca, or visit www.vivalife.ca.

Thornhill’s finest retirement community.

Home to Thornhill’s finest.

Meet Joyce and Leon, two of Thornhill’s finest.

Married for 66 years, they proudly raised a family of three children in Toronto. Long-time members of Beth Tikvah Synagogue, Joyce and Leon continue to lead an active lifestyle, enjoying time with their grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, along with exercise programs, interactive presentations, and plenty of entertainment within V!VA Thornhill Woods’ vibrant community.

It’s folks like Joyce and Leon who inspire us to fulfil our simple purpose: Making Today Great! With our caring Team, delicious and healthy dining, breathtaking design, modern amenities, inspiring activities and so much more, we look forward to becoming home to more of Thornhill’s finest.

SHANA TOVAH Wishing everyone a sweet, healthy, and happy new year from your friends at V!VA Thornhill Woods.

Book your in-person or virtual tour with Wendy at (905) 417–8585 or email thornhillwoods@vivalife.ca

9700 Bathurst Street, Vaughan, ON L6A 4V2 Across from the Schwartz/Reisman Centre vivalife.ca | (905) 417–8585 INDEPENDENT & ASSISTED LIVING | JEWISH CUISINE

The manager and the rabbi Jake Gold is best known for managing the Tragically Hip from 1986 to 2003, and again from 2020 on. But he’s also worked with prominent Canadian acts — many of which happen to be Jewish, including the Watchmen and Adam Cohen — and many who aren’t, like the Pursuit of Happiness and Sass Jordan. He’s won the Canadian Music Industry’s Manager of the Year award three times and was a judge on Canadian Idol for six seasons.

Gold sat down with Rabbi Avi Finegold, host of The CJN’s Bonjour Chai podcast, to share stories from the road, dissect the Hip’s spiritual side and explain how being Jewish has affected his career — and also how it hasn’t. Listen to the full episode at thecjn.ca/jake-gold

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The Tragically Hip Universal Music Group photo

Did your Jewishness affect any of the work you were doing?

for what they already did. So is that spiritual? Or is it just being good people?

No. In the American music industry, it’s predominantly Jews and Italians. But in Canada, it wasn’t always like that. There’s maybe a handful of Jewish guys at the upper levels of the industry, and hardly any at record companies. Canada was a different thing for Jews. But let’s just say we punched well above our weight. Sam Feldman, Bernie Finkelstein — forget about the concert promoters, Michael Cohl, Arthur Fogel, Norman Perry, all of those are Jewish guys.

I think there’s something fundamentally spiritual about wanting to do good in this world.

The Tragically Hip was your big break.

Their spirituality, their activist streak really resonated with me as a Jew — what was their spiritual life like?

It’s never talked about. We just act, just do.

They just got the Humanitarian Award at the Junos, one of the reasons they got it was because we always had a rule: no press conferences, no presentations of cheques.

We would never announce how much we gave or anything, because that wasn’t the whole point. It wasn’t that they did it anonymously, but they didn’t want the spotlight

It’s two sides of the same coin. You can say it’s spiritual — I’ll let you call it spiritual if you want. Or is it just being a good person?

It’s funny, because people would say that seeing the Hip was a “religious experience”.

Because it affected them spiritually.

I would add to that, the fact that you were in a room with — there were no casual Hip fans. You were in the room and everybody knew every single lyric to every single song. I’m a huge Springsteen fan — it’s the same sort of idea.

I had a talk with a guy from New Jersey about the exact same thing. He’s a giant Springsteen and Hip fan. We had the exact same conversation — when you try to explain to Americans what The Hip means to Canadians, I always say, the closest thing — and it still doesn’t even come close — but the closest thing is what Springsteen

means to New Jersey.

What is your most Canadian Jewish moment? Is there a moment that encapsulates the Canadian Jewish experience for you?

I never thought of it that way. As I said, there weren’t a lot of Jews in the industry. Although, when I managed [Leonard Cohen’s son] Adam, I always stayed at Leonard’s house on [Rue] Vallières. I was there a lot. Adam and I furnished the place, because we had the whole band stay with us. He and I went shopping along St-Laurent to all those furniture stores to buy beds — we made it nice. Leonard liked it austere, you know, he didn’t want anything in there.

But there was always this one picture of Leonard’s great-grandfather and his grandfather, the rabbis, sitting around this room.

It’s a famous picture and it was always in the front hall when you walked in, on this little table below the mirror. It was always a reminder of where you were This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full, unedited conversation visit thecjn.ca/jake-gold.

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Why I started Canada’s only daily Jewish podcast W

hen I was 10 years old, growing up in Montreal, I thought I was Harriet the Spy. You may have read that book by the same name, published in 1964. It’s about a young girl who carried around a notebook filled with her scribbled observations about the goings-on in her neighbourhood.

After I read Harriet the Spy, I used to do that too. Especially when my parents invited friends over to our house to play cards.

Sometimes her observations were true — but not nice.

Then some school kids found Harriet’s notebook. And all hell broke loose.

It was great training for a budding journalist.

I was supposed to be a lawyer.

My father and grandmother were lawyers. My grandfather was the first Jewish judge to serve on Ontario’s Superior Court.

I didn’t get into law school.

And then, CBC Television News hired me as an intern, right out of journalism school at Carleton University. The rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve spent four decades as a globe-trotting journalist and foreign correspondent. I worked for CBC and CTV, mainly, but also freelanced for all major print outlets. I’ve taught journalism, particularly radio and interviewing, for nearly 20 years at Centennial College in Toronto.

During these years, I’ve interviewed a lot of fascinating people, including Prince Philip and the Dalai Lama.

I was a member of the Vatican press corps in Rome; which was strange to be a Jewish girl in the corridors of the headquarters of the Catholic Church. Ask me what I did when I received a gift of a rosary that was blessed by Pope John Paul ll!

(Hint: I gave it to my former Italian in-laws, who appreciated it more than I could.)

I grew up in a proudly Jewish family, where we kept kosher at home, and we attended Talmud Torah and Herzliah High School (St. Laurent branch — the one that got firebombed) and Jewish camp (Hagshama and B’nai Brith of Ottawa). I was the first girl to have a bat mitzvah in my grade (although I wasn’t allowed to have my own aliyah).

And my sister and I followed in our parents’ path of deep involvement with the community, be it Canadian Jewish Congress, Federation CJA, the March to Jerusalem, and multiple trips to Israel.

But being a journalist has always meant that I try to keep my personal biases and my religion out of my reporting, even though I am one of those people who hears a plane crash on the news and wonders, “Is there anyone Jewish on board?”

In recent years, I’ve been moving towards being more vocal about Jewish issues, as I am a sought-after speaker and author about war veterans from Canada.

In my other life, I wrote a book called Double Threat (published by University of Toronto Press) which is the first comprehensive look at the stories of the 17,000 Canadian Jews who fought Hitler and rescued the survivors of the Holocaust in the Second World War. A chapter on those who served in the First World War and the 1948 Israel War of Independence appeared in Northern Lights, the book published by The CJN in 2020.

I had long been thinking about doing a podcast. So, it was beshert when I was invited to launch The CJN Daily, the first podcast of its kind in Canada. (Or in the world, for that matter.)

It’s a bite-sized look — 10 minutes, give or take — at news important to Canadian Jews, wherever they may be: at home, in Israel or during winters in Arizona and Florida. Cool interviews and breaking news, but published Mondays to Thursdays in a conversational way.

It’s truly a dream opportunity. Finally, I can put my journalism experience to use to tell stories about topics I care deeply about, in and from my own community.

In hindsight, I would have been a terrible lawyer. I probably couldn’t have kept my mouth shut with my client’s secrets.

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THE TEENAGER TELLING HIS FAMILY’S HOLOCAUST STORY THROUGH ANIMATION. Max Shoham of Toronto animated the short film Sophie and Jacob, based on the true story of his great-grandparents’ escape from Romania in 1939 and their perilous voyage to Palestine.

THE SHEPHERD WHO FOUND PEACE AND QUIET ON A WEST BANK FARM. Jenna Lewinsky, formerly of Abbotsford, B.C., brought her flock of Canadian Jacobs sheep to Israel five years ago, where she’s continued to live in Efrat thanks in large part to her friendly Arab neighbours.

THE FAMOUS TRUMPET PLAYER FOR THE MONTREAL CANADIENS. Kid Mercury made a comeback during the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the pseudonymous kid from Côte-SaintLuc — who got his first trumpet as a bar mitzvah present — revealed that he also blows a mean shofar.

Eyal Izhar/Globes Magazine photo

THE PHILANTHROPIST WHO KEEPS ON GIVING. Charles Bronfman, who turned 90 on June 27, talked about his new venture, Enter: The Jewish Peoplehood Alliance, along with his views on Israeli politics, Donald Trump, and negotiations to bring Major League Baseball back to Montreal.

Photo courtesy Kid Mercury

LISTEN TO THESE STORIES AND MORE AT THECJN.CA/DAILY 14 |

CIJA

Canadian.

Jewish.

Advocacy.

SIX FEET APART BUT CLOSER THAN EVER This has been a challenging year.

At the same time the pandemic distanced us from our loved ones, a dangerous rise in antisemitism struck at the heart of our community.

The New Year is an opportunity for renewal – a time to recommit to the advocacy effort, to one another, and to building a better tomorrow for our Jewish community.

Despite this, Jewish Canadians – united in shared history, in diversity, and in strength – stood strong.

As we look ahead and plan for the New Year, we want to hear from you. Which issues are most important to you? What do you want to tell elected officials about antisemitism in Canada? How would you strengthen our community’s advocacy efforts? Please visit www.cija.ca/you and tell us what you think.

Over the last year, with the support of our community – which included hundreds of thousands of actions taken by people just like you – we achieved significant gains, including: Securing emergency funding for Jewish institutions to help them continue serving the community during the pandemic.

Successfully advocating for an Emergency Summit on Antisemitism so our elected officials could hear about our lived experience.

Effectively lobbying for the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and in many municipalities across Canada.

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We wish you and your loved ones a sweet and happy 5782.

L’Shana Tova!

For more information visit cija.ca/you

2021-07-13 2:21 PM

Won’t you be my rabbi?

Laura Leibow is a comedian, foster-dog parent and CJN podcaster. But she isn’t spiritually satisfied. Despite a rich Jewish upbringing, after struggling with issues of addiction and aimlessness, she turned to five Jewish leaders from five different parts of the religious landscape for answers in a new podcast series with The CJN.

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz — Temple Sholom, Vancouver — Reform I was a very bullheaded teenager. Atheism was a really deep part of my identity, to the point that even when I did start recently to move towards some conception of higher power, I had a really hard time admitting it to myself, or to my peers and family.

I think we get confused between religion and spirituality. If spirituality is God on your own terms, then religion is spirituality on God’s terms. “You’ve got to find meaning in this way.” And that is in direct conflict with the freedom and autonomy that teenagers and young adults are seeking. But — and I learned this from the 12 Steps world—one of the definitions I use for God is, “God is an acronym: Good Orderly Direction.” When you’re looking for the way to live your life with more meaning, then Good Orderly Direction, living with purpose, that’s part of maturity.

I’m curious what your relationship with the 12 Steps world is.

I’ve done a lot of work with congregants in it. If you really want to find spirituality, go look for people who are trying to heal themselves — you’ll find not the religion of Saturday morning services, with a bunch of old people in the back of the room kibitzing. You’ll find religion at work.

When I had conversations with friends about my fellow addicts, I would say, “These people who are the most successful, they’re the people who have a strong sense of higher power.” And I’ve had people say, “Oh, that’s just because they have to.” And it’s like — yeah. They have to. And so they did.

And don’t we all have things that we “have to”? So many of us are walking around with unidentified brokenness, isolation, even fear inside of us that we’re not dealing with. Or we’re self-medicating in other ways, whether it’s yoga, food, material things. We’ve all got our stuff. I’ve been a rabbi for 20-plus years, and the one thing I’ve learned is everybody’s got something. Everybody’s got their stuff.

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Rabbi Matthew Leibl —former rabbi of Shaarey Zedek, Winnipeg — Conservative So the shul that you grew up in was a Conservative shul.

In name, yep. The issue that was happening in the early 2000s was that our synagogue was far more left-leaning with things that they wanted to do. We’re talking about same-sex marriages, creating a special section of our cemetery that’s interfaith, bringing in live music on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. I don’t know how many Conservative synagogues are still “true,” because I think that’s the movement that’s got the most trouble. Because they’re not Orthodox. They’re not as extreme, if we can use that word, as Reform. They’re trying to hold the middle ground. But these days, the middle, often in all kinds of different jobs and whatever, disappears. People want extreme observance, or they want extreme liberal. Conservative feels caught in the middle.

So in your identity as a rabbi, is Conservatism an integral part of it?

No, my whole philosophy is to understand the context. The spirit of the law versus the letter of the law. And that’s what a lot of work as a rabbi is — it’s to ask, “Why do we do this?” To me, if the whole idea behind Passover, for example, is to take a week out of your life and try and think about freedom, our ancestors and something that’s thousands of years old, that’s great. If someone’s packaging up everything, looking for little crumbs, burning chametz in the street — for some people, that has meaning, but if that doesn’t have meaning for you, I don’t think it’s integral to part of the Passover experience.

Rabbi Boris Dolin — Congregation Dorshei Emet, Montreal — Reconstructionist I find, personally, the closest connection I ever get to a religious experience — or even a slightly transcendental experience — is usually through music.

One of the things that we can get into is the different ways, especially in the Reconstructionist movement, people find that sense of godliness, of holiness. Music is something that allows me to connect more deeply with the words on the page with ideas with ways of seeing Judaism and ritual. Sometimes, during services on a Saturday morning, when I’m singing a song — pre-pandemic times — with the congregation in front of me, I don’t necessarily find myself consciously thinking of the words, but I’m thinking beyond the melody, and just that experience of being together.

While we’re here, give me a little brief overview of what it means to be a Reconstructionist.

Reconstructionism was the first of the four major denominations that was created outside of Europe. The founder moved to New York City from Lithuania and saw their Judaism of old simply couldn’t work in the new world. Reconstructionism tries to find a way to deeply respect and honour the tradition, the rituals, the language, the culture, everything that goes along with that — and also not give up on the reality of how we live our lives.

This is very appealing to me. I would say that I identify as a cultural Jew very deeply — maybe it’s between Jew, woman and comedian for the top three things that I would identify as most strongly. And to be honest, the older I get, the more I move a little bit toward the religious element. Do you think that the culture of Judaism is completely tied to the religion?

Reconstructionism sees that as a core of what it means to be Jewish. Religion means that we’re constantly searching for something beyond ourselves that we don’t necessarily understand. But civilization, culture in all aspects — the food, the music, the language — all of this is important. And as I like to say, the more doorways there are into Jewish life, the better.

Ellie Bass — Director of the Yetta Nashman Jewish Family Institute — Modern Orthodox How do you identify as a Jew? To make a long story short, I did an Orthodox conversion here in Toronto, under the beit din, over 16 years ago. I have worked in the Orthodox community for many, many years and taught in lots of different spaces. I identify as modern Orthodox. I am fully committed to a daily Jewish practice.

Can you point to why you converted to Judaism — and why Orthodox Judaism?

It’s a bit like asking somebody, “Why did you marry that person?”

Well, one answer is you fell in love. It felt like home. And I would say, also, I wanted to talk about God. I grew up in a home where that wasn’t a conversation — not that it was shunned, but it just wasn’t important. The conversation that Judaism is having about God was the closest fit I could find.

I like the analogy to marriage or falling in love. I’m early in my journey to finding God — if I even want to call it God — but I am curious about, as a woman, what your relationship is with women not being able to become rabbis within orthodoxy—that it’s not a precedent in certain communities.

Just like it is with Israel, it’s very hard to understand what’s happening in Israel through the eyes of someone who lives in North America. It’s hard to think about Orthodox Judaism and its relationship with women through a modern feminist lens. You’re asking centuries to speak to each other. Certainly if we look into the Torah, women are given extraordinary leadership roles. Not in the political sphere, but in the ability to influence the outcomes of almost every story.

Rabba Rachel Kohl Finegold — Director of education and spiritual enrichment, Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, Montreal — Modern Orthodox Under which denomination do you identify?

I am a modern Orthodox Jew, a rabba — a feminized version of the

word “rabbi”. There are those who would call me “liberal Orthodox,” or I’m holding up like the liberal end of the spectrum of the modern Orthodox community; there are those toward the traditionalist camp who might call themselves “normative Orthodox” — that’s already a judgment call on me. Modern Orthodoxy lives in complexities. It lives in this tension, a space of discomfort, where our values meet and sometimes clash, and we have to embrace the conversations and be okay with some questions still brewing. Modern Orthodox Jews make things complicated, which is richness.

I’m new to spirituality. I like to pretend one of my hopes is to find peace, so I have projected onto people who pursue this professionally that they have peace. And you’re not telling me that.

I’m not telling you that. Judaism embraces struggle; it treasures grappling as holy in itself. Some of the things I tell people in the context of life cycles, for example, which are times of joy and stress — religion and rituals give us scaffolds. I find that traditional Judaism gives me the deepest level of tools.

There’s this feeling I get — I want to call it envy, but it’s not envy, because envy has negative connotations. It’s more of just a deep wish that I could have what someone else has… OK, that’s envy. Basically, you’re talking about this scaffolding we all have — people who were raised with this scaffolding of ideas and themes and rituals that give you a little bit of a sense of spiritual comfort and purpose.

What you’re describing is envy for the scaffolding. I’ve asked myself throughout my teens and early 20s, am I doing this just because I’ve always done it? I had to find small ways to step back, regain my autonomy and find my way of staying in Orthodoxy, because there was so much in it that I could see was beautiful and meaningful.

But I still crave airplane food that other people are eating when I’ve gotten that frozen, disgusting kosher dinner.

The most trite way of saying this is that the grass is always greener. But I will say, my Jewish guilt is kicking in. My parents raised me in a house full of tradition and ritual and Jewish culture — But there’s a reason you are doing this podcast.

For sure. They raised me with the religion of intellectualism and philosophy and all kinds of other really enjoyable things.

So shout out to my parents — you guys did great. And it’s funny, I would have never guessed that in my 30s, I would suddenly be looking for this. But here we are. 

To hear the full podcast series, visit thecjn.ca/be-my-rabbi. To hear Laura’s other CJN podcast, A Few of My Favourite Jews, visit thecjn.ca/my-favourite-jews

THEC J N. CA | 1 7

Jews and sports: just mentioning the two in the same sentence feels like the setup to a punchline. But why? As in any field, Jews have excelled in athletics — despite facing prejudice and low expectations. That’s why James Hirsh and Gabe Pulver host a podcast called Menschwarmers, celebrating Jews and sports in Canada and beyond.

T

Julian Edelman, three-time Super Bowl winner and Super Bowl MVP with the New England Patriots.

Alexander Jonesi / Wikimedia

Talkin’ Jews, talkin’ sports 18 |

here are only 15 million Jews in the world. Of that relatively small number, an even smaller group has distinguished themselves in sports. That makes Jewish athletes something of a punchline. Anyone who’s seen Airplane! might recall the moment where an elderly passenger asks for some light reading. The flight attendant pauses and fishes out a piece of paper: “How about this leaflet, Famous Jewish Sports Legends?”

Demographically speaking, Jews are well represented among the top athletes in the world. Yet these numbers pale in comparison to the way Jews have distinguished themselves in the arts, sciences and politics. Twenty per cent of the 900-odd Nobel laureates in history have been Jews — meanwhile, there has only been one Sandy Koufax.

With so many exceptional Jews to be proud of, why are we also fascinated by Jews who can putt, dunk, homer, bodycheck or serve a tennis ball 216 kilometres per hour (as Jewish Canadian Denis Shapovalov has been known to do)? 

As we celebrate a sweet new year, we share this year’s new books: an anthology focused on people who risked it all to save the lives of others, a Holocaust survivor’s diary and love letters that uncover life in captivity, a young man on the run from the Gestapo who vows to never end up in a concentration camp, and an irrepressible boy with a vivid imagination who wrestles with his fears and his faith as he and his family flee the Nazis in the forests of Eastern Europe.

Dip into history this fall with these incredible true stories.

memoirs.azrielifoundation.org

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For the past two years, we have been podcasting every two weeks about Jews in sports for The CJN Podcast Network on our show, Menschwarmers. There’s been no shortage of content to discuss, from the success of the Israeli national baseball team to the conversion of NBA great Amar’e Stoudemire. We’ve interviewed famous athletes, like the NHL’s Nate Thompson and NFL’s Sage Rosenfels, and we’ve also — unfortunately — had to keep tabs on the anti-Semitic sports scandal. (It seems like for every Jewish pro athlete, there are two scandals.)

But the kernel of our interest in starting this podcast came from a simpler — and endlessly fascinating — game played by Jews everywhere. You’ve probably played this game yourself. It’s the impromptu round of trivia that arises anytime someone says, “Did you know so-and-so is Jewish?”

Simply put, knowing who is Jewish elevates the game for the Jewish spectator. Jewish pro athletes offer much-needed representa-

tion in a field where we are not expected to succeed. It’s not often that Jews get to play the underdogs these days, but in sports, that’s still very much the case. Plus, it’s an opportunity for us to brag to anybody nearby during a sporting event: “See that guy? Number 18? Jewish!”

No less fascinating than these modern-day politics is the history of Jews in sports.

Toward the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, as Jews in Europe and North America increasingly assimilated into mainstream society, success in sports became an important avenue for personal and public recognition. As any Jew today might expect, Jewish athletic relevance led to restricted clubs and teams. Yet as Jewish athletes emerged early on as among the best in fencing, distance running, boxing, basketball and baseball, there was no choice but for society to embrace Jews as competitors and teammates — even if American boxing great Barney Ross still had to hide his job from his mother until he became the world champ.

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What we did right

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nyone who has worked, lived, or had a loved one living in a senior care home would most likely agree that 2020 lent itself to being the year of the worst senior care crisis in Canadian history.

Thankfully, the pandemic is beginning to show some signs of slowing which we know is in part due to the availability of vaccines.

However, “letting our guard down” simply isn’t an option and should never be when it comes to the safety of our seniors.

While I can’t speak to the strategies deployed in other homes, I can to the strategies deployed in ours, and the steps we’ve taken to keep the residents and staff of One Kenton Place safe and COVID free. For starters, getting a head start on the pandemic was probably the most helpful thing we did. We locked down the facility and mandated a “one workplace” rule for our staff. Both measures were implemented well before the province mandated it. This quick action by our leadership team bought us the time we needed to prepare for what would inevitably become the second and third far more widespread waves of COVID-19.

Our early on moves were vital in abating the devastating outbreaks seen in other homes. Our collaboration with public health partners and early sourcing of PPE’s before there was ever a shortage were also contributing factors. Deploying proven infection control practices, audits, cohorting of staff, mandatory weekly PCR COVID testing and enhanced cleaning and disinfecting of high touch areas have all helped us keep COVID-19 outside our doors. Additionally, the investment in a facial recognition temperature scanner and online screening platform

Jewish athletes undoubtedly continue to face adversity based on their religion and ethnicity. We know this because they’ve told us personally on our podcast: pro baseball player Cody Decker told us that when he played for the San Antonio Missions, the team’s chaplain “tried to convert me every Sunday.

To the point that I yelled at him, ‘Get out of my locker room. Do not look at me one more time.’ I’m going to punch out a chaplain.”

On a broader level, a challenge that affects all of us is how to overcome the pervasive stereotype that Jews are necessarily bookish, scrawny and unathletic. We want to help create a world where every Jew feels there is as much dignity in being a linebacker or shortstop as there is in being a lawyer or a surgeon. After all, no little kid dreams of growing up and becoming the next Alejandro Mayorkas. Pro athletes are cultural icons — and we Jews deserve to celebrate ours. n Listen and subscribe to Menschwarmers at thecjn.ca/menschwarmers

Ruth Dayan, has almost two decades of experience working in the healthcare industry, with a special focus in Alzheimer’s and Dementia care. Her experience spans across all sectors of healthcare, including the management and day to day operations of two large Long Term Care homes. Ruth is a certified Long Term Care Administrator, she also holds certifications in Quality Improvement Facilitation, Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care (Montessori, GPA, Hush no Rush) and Lean principals.

eliminated unnecessary entry and exit touchpoints. However, one of our greatest achievements is the 100% vaccination rate we have amongst our staff and residents. Yes, you heard correctly, 100% of our staff and residents have been double vaccinated!

Some might say that we’ve been “lucky”, and in some sense we may have been. However, our real “luck” came by way of a strong leadership team and dedicated staff who took proactive steps early on. These successes were the result of hard work, collaboration and support from our employees, family members and healthcare agencies who stood by us every step of the way. However, this is not new territory for us. From embracing technology, to offering unparalleled activities, to being the only COR certified kosher memory care home, our track record ultimately speaks for itself, but so does this gift of history and lessons we’ve learned from it.

From our family to yours, we wish you a Shanah Tovah U’metuka!

Ruth Dayan Executive Director, One Kenton Place www.onekentonplace.ca

The Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto Wishes you and your family a year filled with health, happiness, peace, and learning learning!

We thank our Donors and Friends.

Together, we bring the world of Jewish studies to Toronto.

In 2020-2021, the ATCJS staged over thirty events, and hosted dozens of visiting speakers and artists. More than 3,300 people, from over sixteen countries, attended our events.

Our vibrant Granovsky-Gluskin Graduate Program continues to excel and grow.

We organize the annual Schwartz-Reisman Graduate Student Conference in Jewish Studies.

The Ray D. Wolfe postdoctoral fellowship promotes outstanding emerging scholars.

Shoshana Shier Distinguished Visiting Professorship Program and Gerstein Distinguished Visiting Professorship Program will return to bring top international stars to teach our students.

We continue to sponsor events through the Ed and Fran Sonshine Lecture in Holocaust Studies and the Elizabeth and Tony Comper Holocaust Education Fund.

Dr. Oded Oron will be the Israel Institute Teaching Fellow in Jewish Studies and Political Science at the University of Toronto.

The Joseph Lebovic Summer Experience invigorates our undergraduate curriculum.

Join us in the new year for our exciting ATCJS 2021/22 Public Lecture Series;

including Prof. Kenneth Hart Green’s Book Launch on November 29 & the Shoshana Shier Distinguished Visiting Professor Lecture Series on October 18, 20, 25!

Check our website at jewishstudies.utoronto.ca/events for the full calendar.

S H A N A TO VA !

Michael Rosenthal ATCJS Acting Director & Grafstein Professor of Jewish Philosophy Email: cjs.director@utoronto.ca

jewishstudies.utoronto.ca

Being Jewish on the Periphery No Silence on Race emerged in 2020 as a group calling for racial equity and inclusivity in Jewish spaces in Canada. Some of the resulting conversations are reflected in Periphery, a project partnership between No Silence on Race and the Ontario Jewish Archives (OJA). Photographs by Liat Aharoni and an accompanying film by filmmakers Sara Yacobi-Harris and Marcus Armstrong are on view at the Prosserman JCC Sheff Family Building in Toronto this fall. They will then be donated to the OJA to further expand its collection from multicultural and multi-ethnic community members. Here are a few of the featured faces — along with excerpts of the stories they have to tell. This project is funded by UJA’s Kultura initiative.

Maxine Lee Ewaschuk “My ethno-racial identity is Irish, Polish, Ukrainian and Korean. And my Jewishness is curious and persistent. I lived in France and Italy for a period of time pursuing a dance career, and during those times, and then also visiting other places in Europe as well, I was able to see a lot of different ways that Judaism gets lived… Really diving into the textual tradition is something that I love and have found really fulfilling.”

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Asha Allen-Silverstein and Sage Pearce “I want (my son) Sage to experience a similar childhood to mine, where we were exposed to Judaism and Christianity.

My sister is definitely one for tradition and she really likes celebrating High Holidays… I like that Sage has the experience of all these different cultures and that he can claim whatever feels right to him, you know, when he’s older.”

Daniel Sourani Nobu Adilman “I’m Jewpanese — Japanese and Jewish. I could have descended from Russian-Romanian Jews by way of Saskatoon and London, Ont. But, to me, being called Jewish is enough.

The positive side of ‘periphery’ is that it allows you to be part of whatever’s happening more in the centre but allows you the space to kind of move around it and decide to come into it when you want to come into it.”

“I didn’t necessarily see myself represented in the community until I went to this Iraqi synagogue in Toronto, which is awesome. Going to Jewish school was never, ‘Oh, OK, there is this group and that group.‘ There was no group that was like me, Iraqi Jews, maybe a couple of us. And there was certainly at the time no gay Jews and the mix of both… forget it, you’re not finding that, it was just me.”

Ariella Daniels “Ma parents were born in Mumbai in the 1950s. In Canada, they felt that a lot of times the door was shut in their face, and that they were silenced no matter how much they expressed themselves. Being an Indian Jew, or member of the Bene Israel in Canada as well as in Israel, I feel now that the door has slightly opened a little further. I have the opportunity to walk into that door, and really express myself.”

These interviews have been edited and condensed

THEC J N. CA | 2 3

David Matlow’s

TREASURE TROVE

THECJN.CA/TREASURES

THE 1972 SUMMIT SERIES The final game of the eight-game hockey series between Canada and the Soviet Union is famous for Paul Henderson’s winning goal, watched by a crowd that included 3,000 Canadians in Moscow — some of whom arrived with Jewish items to give to the refuseniks (Russian Jews applying to move to Israel) who were deprived of religious materials. But they were asked to stop after Russian police caught on.

THE KOVA TEMBEL “Dunce cap” is the exact translation of this symbol of Israeli pioneers worn from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1970s. Some think the word tembel is a derivation of Templar, a Christian sect active in Israel over a century ago, whose members wore similar hats. Tembel is also the Turkish word for lazy — although those pioneers were anything but.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK ISSUE #256 February 1981’s issue features a superhero named Sabra, whose alter ego, Ruth Bat-Seraph, is an Israeli police officer. Moved to a special kibbutz by the government after her powers were discovered, she wears a thick cape with paralyzing energy quills that she can fire.

The storyline deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “Hulk came looking for peace — but there is no peace here.”

24 |

“SURELY HE SHALL DELIVER THEE”

PUPIER TRADING CARDS

The above quote from Psalms 91 is on this medal commemorating Operation Thunderbolt, the daring rescue of 102 hostages on July 4, 1976, by 100 Israeli commandos at the Entebbe Airport, after an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked on June 27 by Palestinian and German terrorists.

The French chocolatier depicted scenes from Palestine in 1938, in a series that included the camp in Ben Shemen described as “a Jewish colony of children, located on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, where a number of young German Israelites are grouped together, having left Germany as a result of political events.” (No further elaboration was offered.)

CHAIM NACHMAN BIALIK’S 10 LIRA BANKNOTE The poet, who primarily wrote in Hebrew, described a future in which the Jewish people controlled their own destiny. Written after the 1903 Kishinev pogrom in which 47 Jews were murdered, “City of Slaughter” reflected Bialik’s bitterness about the absence of justice, while being critical of Jews who didn’t act to defend themselves. (The actress Mayim Bialik is a distant relative.)

THE BROADWAY DAYS OF MILK AND HONEY Theatre producer Gerard Oestreicher wanted to mount a production about Israel, and sent writer Don Appell and composer Jerry Herman there to find inspiration. The story centres on a busload of American widows touring a country struggling for recognition as an independent nation, as reflected in the song “Shalom”. Herman’s Broadway debut at age 30 was followed by Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage aux Folles.

WISHES FOR A VERY VINE YEAR The card depicts two members of a farming community in Palestine fulfilling the prophecy in Micah 4:4 — that every man shall sit under a fig tree, and none shall make them afraid. The biblical phrase was used more than 50 times by George Washington in correspondence, and cited in the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. Wishing everyone a New Year free from fear.

THE 1904 ST. LOUIS WORLD’S FAIR Several hundred Jerusalemites were brought to an 11-acre model of their city to live and work, dressed in colourful costumes, pretending to be at home among 22 streets and 300 structures — and accompanied by camels and donkeys for full effect.

Funded by mostly Christian investors, it was the closest the Old City came to having a Ferris wheel.

THEC JN.CA | 2 5

Rivka “Rivkush” Campbell, a Jew of Jamaican descent, is one of Canada’s most vocal Jews of colour. But something bothers her: too often, JOCs are pigeonholed into only speaking — or only being asked — about matters of race, racism and identity politics. In reality, JOCs have unique perspectives on issues that pertain to all of Jewry.

Rivkush interviews fascinating Jews of colour from all over the world, discussing more than just diversity and identity: they’ll discuss Israel, politics, food, culture and religion, opening dialogue with the mainstream Jewish community about their views and experiences.

LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE AT THECJN.CA/RIVKUSH 26 |

Pierce Goldman (left) and his brother Max (140856). Ron Csillag photos

Their skin says ‘never forget’

BY RON CSILL AG

“The tattooing has taken only seconds, but Lale’s shock makes time stand still. He grasps his arm, staring at the number. How can someone do this to another human being? He wonders if for the rest of his life, be it short or long, he will be defined by this moment, this irregular number: 32407.” ― HEATHER MORRIS, THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ

I

t’s short-sleeve weather at a North Toronto café, so the forearms of Pierce Goldman and his younger brother Max are visible. But something on them checks the eye: small markings in bluish ink; tattoos on closer examination. A closer look yields something unnervingly resembling the hastily incised numbers branded onto the arms of inmates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp to mark them as Nazi chattel.

Both Goldman brothers proudly, almost defiantly, wear the same number their maternal grandfather, Schmerel Cynamon, received at Auschwitz upon arrival from the Polish city of Lodz: 140856 — Pierce on his left arm, Max on his right. The inked digits are simple yet potent reminders of their heritage, and it’s clear both men have given this a lot of thought.

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“I did it because I feel what happened to my grandparents was because they were Jewish, and nothing else,” explained Max, 40, who owns a plumbing contracting business and got the tattoo in 2018, 30 years after his grandfather died. “Because of this, the tattoo has become an eternal mark or symbol no less important than (the Passover) haroset or maror. We remember this period vividly every year; the tattoo is an eternal tribute to what can and has happened to us.”

Pierce, who’s 43 and owns a Toronto eavestrough company, accepts that his tattoo, which he got in 2019, may not go over well with Holocaust survivors who might feel there are better ways to honour them, and who naturally associate Auschwitz tattoos with trauma.

“The problem is, if you don’t keep things relevant, they slip into obscurity,” said Pierce.

He got the tattoo mostly for his three young children. “It’s hard for them to really understand. It’s so much horror to understand what the extermination of a race means.

I don’t want to put that on them yet,” he said. “They’ll have the rest of their lives.”

Tattooing was introduced at Auschwitz in November 1941 for Soviet prisoners used as slave labour. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, the SS began systematically tattooing all incoming Jewish prisoners the following spring.

The film prompted a front-page article in the New York Times about Israeli-born children and grandchildren of Auschwitz survivors who were tattooing their bodies with the same number that had been branded on their parents and grandparents. Not everyone applauded the practice.

While the motives behind it seemed pure, “one cannot help but wonder at anyone embracing a practice whose purpose was to dehumanize captive Jews,” noted journalist Jonathan Tobin in Commentary in 2012.

“While survivors who lived long enough eventually saw that most considered those numbers to be a badge of honour rather than a mark of shame, the act of fetishizing this evidence of the Nazis’ crimes seems like something that said more about the current generation than it does about the experience of the survivors,” Tobin wrote.

There’s also been disapproving chatter about young people voluntarily replicating the death camp tattoos of their grandparents, who were forcibly branded.

On the other hand, as more and more survivors pass away, “we are moving from lived memory to historical memory,” Michael Berenbaum, a professor at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles who is among

the foremost scholars of the memorialization of the Holocaust, was quoted as telling the New York Times. He called the practice of younger people getting Auschwitz tattoos “a sort of a brazen, in-your-face way of bridging” the transition. Besides, “it sure beats some of the other tattoos that young people are drawing on their skin.”

Among Oded Ravek’s loved ones, reproducing an Auschwitz tattoo is a family affair. Ravek, 65, an Ottawa glass artist, wears the number his mother, Livia Ravek, received at the camp on arriving from Slovakia: 4559. Oded’s son, Ariel, 30, who lives in Israel, has the same number. So does his daughter, Ariela, 27, an Ottawa student (though in Roman numerals). So does Oded’s nephew in Israel. It’s all the more poignant given that Livia Ravek is now 95 years old and lives in Rehovot, Israel.

Oded did it following an emotional visit to the site of Auschwitz with his parents about eight years ago. “Whatever we read about Auschwitz-Birkenau, it’s no comparison to when you walk with your mom and dad in those places. You’re living a nightmare (of) what they went through.” After that, “I couldn’t think of a better way to remember what happened, and to honour my mother.” 

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the only camp to employ the practice. More than 400,000 numbers were assigned, but only those prisoners selected for work received them; arrivals sent directly to the gas chambers were not registered or tattooed. For some survivors, the numbers were indelible reminders of hell, a scar to be concealed.

Others wore it as a badge of survival.

Auschwitz tattoos were spotlighted in 2012 with the release of the Israeli documentary Numbered. The film followed a middle-aged woman who put her father’s number on her ankle after his death, and also told the story of a 28-year-old man and his grandfather, both of whom bore the same camp number on their arms.

(L to R) Amir Ravek, Oded Ravek, Livia Ravek, and Daniel Philosoph (4559) THEC J N. CA | 2 9

“I was very close to my grandmother. She raised me for the first four years of my life. She was like my mother. I always wanted to go to Poland with her but she passed away before I could. This was a way to remember her” Marsha Shelson-Zweig (A-15697)

She loved everybody. She didn’t want any race, any person to go through what she did. She spoke about the war, all over, all the time. That was her passion, to tell her story. It gave her purpose, to make the world a better place, to stop hate, and

Meantime, the next book from Heather Morris, author of the bestselling historical novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz, is titled Three Sisters, and will trace the wartime exploits of Livia Ravek and her sisters Cibi and Magda. It’s due in October.

As with the Goldman brothers, two Toronto-area women received Holocaust-era tattoos simply to be intimately, eternally bound to their survivor forebears.

Marsha Shelson-Zweig, who lives in Richmond Hill, sports the tattooed number A-15697 and the Hebrew words “Remember Never Again” on the back of her neck to pay tribute to her grandmother, Helen Schwartz, a Polish survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen who died three years ago at the age of 93. The markings are easy to conceal with her long hair.

“It was to honour her,” said Shelson-Zweig, who’s 42 and is a general manager of an electrical company. “The Holocaust and what she went through gave her drive.

Galya Hoffer (A-14100) 30 |

Mostly, reaction has been positive, Shelson-Zweig said, though she understands why some would not view it that way. Her own mother was initially against it. “When she saw it, she cried,” Shelson-Zweig recalls. “She said it was beautiful.”

It’s much the same for Galya Hoffer, a 55-year-old Toronto homemaker and mother of three, who got the sequence A-14100 and a butterfly tattooed on her left shoulder blade in tribute to her late grandmother, Regina Langer.

- GALYA HOFFER

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He recalls unveiling the numbers, which he got from a “disbelieving” tattoo artist in Israel, to his mother. It was a Friday night, and he had brought her flowers for Shabbat. “It was a mixed bag. It was a shock.

She thought I was crazy. But I explained to her why I did it. We hugged and cried a bit, and that was it.”

bring back the love and acceptance of everyone.”

“I was very close to my grandmother. She raised me for the first four years of my life.

She was like my mother. I always wanted to go to Poland with her but she passed away before I could. This was a way to remember her,” Hoffer explains. “It was just a way to remember my grandmother, on me, on my body, so she’s always part of me, and just carry her with me.”

And “everybody absolutely loves it. I’ve never had any negative feedback.” Her grandmother would be “elated. She always talked about the Holocaust. She would have just smiled and said, ‘Good for you.’”

The Goldman brothers recall that their grandfather, who died in 1988, hated his tattoo — he “carried it with trauma,” Max said — and probably would not have approved of his grandsons’ actions. But before the Holocaust, “I’m sure many Jews couldn’t believe what happened before it ensued,” Max offers. “Let my grandfather’s mark remind us all where we were a short time ago.” He feels that if his grandfather could see his grandsons’ tattoos now, “he would understand the need.”

No one interviewed for this article seemed too concerned that there is a biblical prohibition against tattoos. Leviticus 19:28 seems clear enough: “You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, nor incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.”

In a 1997 ruling, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly found that regardless of the exact limits of this prohibition, such as whether tattooing was only part of pagan and idolatrous practices, the rabbis have “clearly extended” the prohibition, which is “explicit,” to include all forms of tattooing, regardless of their intent.

While she agrees tattooing is forbidden by Jewish law because of its connection to ancient pagan practices, Rabba Rachel Kohl Finegold, director of education and spiritual enrichment at Montreal’s Orthodox Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, believes that the idea of “embodying our memories is very Jewish.”

“As Jews, we remember not only with our minds, but also with our bodies, whether we are eating matzah on Passover or lighting candles on Chanukah, we make our collective memories more concretized by involving the body. We even immerse our entire bodies with Jewish ritual when we are surrounded by the walls of a sukkah or the waters of a mikvah. These may not be permanent markings, but they are certainly

The arms of Jenny Choleva (top) and Marnie Pettle (49560)

ways in which we physically experience our Jewish narrative or collective memory,” she said.

Rabba Finegold feels that even those whose survivor grandparents did not have numbers on their arms — this includes her — “bear the responsibility of their scars and their experiences. Perhaps we can find a plethora of ways to express their memories in our bodies.”

Others believe historical context is key.

When Leviticus was written, tattooing was largely a pagan practice, done to mark slaves or to show devotion to a deity, Mar-

shal Klaven, then a U.S. rabbinical student, said in a 2008 interview. Since tattooing has evolved, he thought the rule may be outdated.

The Bible has both positive and negative references to markings on the body, pointed out Rabbi Lawrence Englander, rabbi emeritus at Solel Congregation, a Reform synagogue in Mississauga, Ont. The passage in Leviticus and the “mark of Cain” in Genesis are negative, but a positive one is seen in the book of Ezekiel, where it appears that prophets were marked with the Hebrew letter tav on their foreheads to distinguish them.  THEC J N. CA | 3 1

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Rabbi Englander concedes that in Jewish law, tattoos have been frowned upon as a desecration of the body. However, views can change. For example, he noted, ear piercing by men is now considered routine and is supported by a biblical precedent: in Exodus, Aaron removes earrings from both women and men to fashion the Golden Calf.

As for tattooing Auschwitz numbers on one’s arm, “I find that somewhat bizarre but I’m not one to judge how they wish to honour their survivor relatives. At the very least, it would be decent for them to ask permission of the survivor before copying their number.”

Which is what Marnie Pettle did. She weighed replicating her grandmother’s tattoo for a long time, then approached her 15 years ago “to make sure that what I was doing wouldn’t be painful for her. I asked her, ‘How do you feel about that?’ She said, ‘It would be an honour.’”

Both Pettle, a 40-year-old Toronto woodworker, and Jenny Choleva, a Warsaw-born survivor of Auschwitz, bear the number 49560 on their forearms, only Pettle’s has the added words “never forget” in Yiddish.

Her bubbie, now 94, is still proud. “Every time I used to see her (before COVID) she would always show people my tattoo, and hers.”

Pettle uses it for education and discussion, especially among her non-Jewish friends. “I say it’s not a happy tattoo. It’s not going to put you in a good mood.” She’s received no negative comments.

A common myth surrounding tattooed Jews is that they may not be buried in a Jewish cemetery. It’s acquired near-urban legend status, with one American rabbi dismissing the adage as “a load of rubbish.” Rabba Finegold said it’s just not true. “If we excluded Jews who violated even one Torah commandment from being buried in a Jewish cemetery, can

you imagine anyone who would pass that test and get through the gates?” she wondered.

Nate Leipciger, a powerhouse on the Toronto Holocaust education scene, instantly recalls his own Auschwitz number, 133628, and the date he got it, Aug. 1, 1943. Over the decades, he considered having it removed, but kept it. “To me, it was a sign of life,” he reasoned. “It meant hope. It meant all the positive aspects of life.”

That’s because only the inmates who received tattoos had a chance to live. “It was a gift of life. Once you had the number, you had the chance to survive.”

He has no problem with survivors’ descendants receiving matching tattoos. “It’s a method of remembering, not only that they had grandparents who were survivors, but also commemorating them,” Leipciger said.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.

I’m a positive guy.” n

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« Les assassinats ciblés d’Israël se sont avérés une stratégie très efficace »

Entrevue avec le journaliste d’investigation israélien Ronen Bergman PAR ELIAS LEV Y

L

ève-toi et tue le premier. L’histoire secrète des assassinats ciblés commandités par Israël (Éditions Grasset), best-seller international, traduit en 25 langues, dont la version en anglais est parue sous le titre Rise and Kill First : The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted assassinations (Random House Publisher), est un livre choc et sidérant qui se lit comme un thriller.

Un ouvrage passionnant.

de Tsahal ayant exécuté des opérations secrètes visant à réduire au silence les ennemis les plus acharnés d’Israël.

Ronen Bergman nous a accordé une entrevue depuis son bureau, à Tel-Aviv.

Le titre de votre livre est percutant et étonnant.

Son auteur, le journaliste d’investigation israélien renommé Ronen Bergman, retrace soixante-dix ans d’opérations spéciales menées par les services de renseignement du Mossad, du Shin Beth et de Tsahal. Un volet tabou de l’histoire d’Israël.

Docteur en histoire de la prestigieuse université britannique de Cambridge, diplômé en droit de l’Université de Haïfa, avocat et journaliste, Ronen Bergman est considéré comme l’un des meilleurs spécialistes mondiaux du renseignement. Éditorialiste au Yediot Ahronot, le quotidien le plus lu en Israël, et collaborateur du New York Times Magazine, il est l’auteur de plusieurs livres remarqués sur les services secrets israéliens.

Pour écrire ce livre très fouillé de quelque 1000 pages, Ronen Bergman a colligé des milliers de documents, dont un bon nombre classés « Top secret », et mené des entrevues avec les principaux dirigeants du Mossad, plusieurs anciens Premiers ministres d’Israël et des membres de commandos 34 |

« Face à celui qui vient te tuer, lève-toi et tue le premier ». Tous les Israéliens connaissent cette phrase du Talmud de Babylone.

- RONEN BERGMAN

« Face à celui qui vient te tuer, lève-toi et tue le premier ». Tous les Israéliens connaissent cette phrase du Talmud de Babylone. La raison pour laquelle je l’ai utilisée pour titrer mon livre, c’est que la plupart des dirigeants du Mossad et des anciens Premiers ministres d’Israël que j’ai interviewés l’ont citée pour définir leur état d’esprit au moment où ils ont donné leur aval à des opérations spéciales. Obsédés par la sécurité d’Israël, ces derniers n’ont jamais émis le moindre regret d’avoir planifié les assassinats d’ennemis redoutables d’Israël. Dans le bureau de feu Meir Dagan, ancien chef du Mossad, trônait la photo d’un vieux juif pieux avec ses papillotes agenouillé au bord d’une fosse commune devant des soldats de la Wehrmacht. C’était son grand-père. « Nous ferons ce que nous avons à faire pour que ce genre de tuerie ne se reproduise plus. Pendant la Shoah, mon grandpère, et les Juifs en général, ne se sont pas battus. Nous, Israéliens, serons différents», m’a lancé tout à trac Meir Dagan. Cette catastrophe indicible qu’a été la Shoah semblait justifier toutes les actions, même les moins morales, de ces hauts responsables de la sécurité d’Israël.

Cette politique s’est-elle avérée efficace?

Après huit années d’investigations intensives pour l’écriture de ce livre, je peux vous affirmer que oui. Quand les assassinats ciblés de terroristes palestiniens font partie intégrante d’une politique globale et stratégique, et n’ont pas pour unique but d’apaiser les angoisses de la population israélienne en lui prouvant que le gouvernement ne demeure pas impavide face au terrorisme, l’efficacité de cette mesure radicale n’est plus à démontrer. L’expérience israélienne dans ce domaine en est la preuve la plus patente. En 2001, alors que la seconde Intifada palestinienne battait son plein, le Hamas et le Djihad islamique palestinien ont déclenché une effroyable campagne d’attentats-suicides contre Israël: des bus bondés étaient pulvérisés, des terroristes se faisaient exploser dans des centres d’achat, des discothèques, aux abords des écoles… Des douzaines de civils israéliens étaient assassinés sauvagement chaque jour. Le pays, totalement désemparé, était en train de sombrer dans un abîme.

Israël fut donc contraint de mettre en œuvre une stratégie de défense implacable.

Ronen Bergman Alesia Kodish Photo

La politique des assassinats ciblés ne pose-t-elle pas un grand dilemme à Israël?

Oui. C’est un énorme dilemme auquel les responsables des renseignements et de la sécurité d’Israël sont confrontés quotidiennement. Plusieurs enjeux se chevauchent: moral, éthique, légaux, le besoin de défendre une démocratie. Les assassinats ciblés sont-ils légalement et moralement justifiables ? Ceux-ci ne sont-ils pas contradictoires avec les valeurs fondamentales d’une démocratie: le respect des libertés

individuelles, l’interdiction d’assassiner, de torturer…? Les juges de la Cour suprême d’Israël ont dû se prononcer sur ce grand dilemme. Ces derniers ont conclu que les éliminations ciblées de terroristes s’apprêtant à assassiner des civils israéliens étaient un acte de légitime défense. La jurisprudence sur cette question très épineuse établie par le plus haut tribunal d’Israël a été adoptée depuis par plusieurs pays, notamment les États-Unis. L’expérience d’Israël en matière d’assassinats ciblés sert de modèle au monde.

La riposte d’Israël à ces attentats très meurtriers ne se fit pas attendre. La cible privilégiée des services de renseignement et militaires israéliens ne fut pas les futurs kamikazes, mais le sommet de la hiérarchie du Hamas et du Djihad islamique palestinien: les concepteurs de bombes, les endoctrineurs, les recruteurs, les commandants régionaux, les principaux dirigeants politiques.

Tous n’ont pas été tués, mais suffisamment pour mettre le Hamas à genoux et le contraindre à implorer Israël de décréter un cessez-le-feu. Ce fut la fin des attentats-suicides palestiniens en Israël. Cette stratégie, qui s’avéra très efficace, est la preuve que lorsqu’on combine savamment l’expertise des services de renseignement israéliens et le ciblage du haut commandement des principales organisations terroristes palestiniennes, la latitude d’action de celles-ci est sérieusement entravée.  THEC J N. CA | 3 5

Yossi Cohen (à droite), ancien chef du Mossad, en compagnie du Premier ministre sortant d’Israël, Benyamin Netanyahou. Office de Presse d’israël et Haïm Zach Photo

On a l’impression que vous êtes dubitatif par rapport aux assassinats ciblés de dirigeants palestiniens?



L’une des révélations les plus surprenantes de votre livre est que le roi Hassan du Maroc aurait facilité la victoire d’Israël lors de la guerre des Six Jours de 1967.

La coopération entre le Maroc et Israël en matière de renseignements ne date pas d’hier. Celle-ci remonte au début des années 60. En échange de l’aide des Israéliens dans ce créneau névralgique, le roi Hassan II permit aux Juifs du Maroc d’émigrer et accorda au Mossad le droit d’établir une station permanente à Rabat, à partir de laquelle les pays arabes furent espionnés. Le point culminant de cette coopération fut atteint en septembre 1965, quand Hassan II autorisa une équipe du Mossad à truffer de micros les salles de réunion et les suites d’hôtel des dirigeants des pays arabes et de leurs chefs militaires, réunis à Casablanca à l’occasion d’un sommet de la Ligue arabe. Le principal point à l’ordre du jour de cette réunion: débattre de l’instauration d’un commandement arabe unifié en prévision des guerres futures contre l’État hébreu.

Les relations entre le roi Hassan II et plusieurs des dirigeants arabes présents à ce sommet de la Ligue arabe étaient plutôt houleuses.

Oui. Hassan II redoutait que certains chefs d’État arabes présents au sommet de Casablanca ne projettent de le renver36 |

se rapprocher des Palestiniens de Cisjordanie et de se présenter comme l’unique véritable défenseur de Jérusalem. Depuis 2014, année de l’opération « Bordure protectrice » lancée par Israël dans la bande de Gaza, les dirigeants des services du renseignement israéliens étaient persuadés que le potentiel militaire du Hamas s’était considérablement affaibli, écartant ainsi le scénario d’une nouvelle guerre. Ils n’ont cessé de clamer depuis que la vraie menace provient d’ailleurs : l’Iran et son programme nucléaire. C’est un mauvais calcul stratégique.

ser. Il demanda alors au Mossad de les placer sur écoute. Ce qui permit à Israël de recueillir des informations capitales sur les plans militaires de ses ennemis et sur l’état d’esprit des dirigeants arabes. Ces informations s’avérèrent déterminantes lors des préparatifs de l’attaque militaire préventive lancée par Israël contre les armées arabes en 1967. En contrepartie, les Marocains demandèrent aux Israéliens de leur prêter main-forte dans la planification de l’enlèvement et de l’assassinat à Paris du grand leader de l’opposition marocaine, Mehdi Ben Barka. Les Israéliens ne participèrent pas directement à cette opération, qui suscita l’ire du président français Charles de Gaulle et de son gouvernement, mais transmirent aux Marocains des informations cruciales sur les déplacements de Ben Barka et son réseau de contacts à Paris.

Ces dernières années, les services de renseignement israéliens n’ont-ils pas sous-estimé le potentiel militaire du Hamas et des autres organisations terroristes palestiniennes?

Indéniablement, le Hamas est aujourd’hui en position de force, pas seulement à Gaza mais aussi en Cisjordanie, où les habitants de ce territoire sont de plus en plus critiques à l’égard du président de l’Autorité palestinienne, Mahmoud Abbas. Ces dernières années, le Hamas a peaufiné sa stratégie politique globale.

Désormais, son principal objectif est de

En dépit des critiques que j’émets à leur égard dans mon livre, force est de reconnaître que les services de renseignement israéliens sont certainement parmi les meilleurs du monde, et peut-être même sont les meilleurs. C’est l’histoire d’une réussite, même si celle-ci a été jalonnée parfois de catastrophes. En effet, la réussite tactique incontestable des renseignements israéliens a mené aussi à des échecs stratégiques. Certains hauts responsables du Mossad étaient résolument convaincus qu’ils pouvaient changer radicalement l’Histoire en recourant à un outil puissant : les opérations spéciales, sous toutes leurs formes. Mais, en fin de compte, seules les vraies qualités d’un homme d’État peuvent changer le cours de l’Histoire. Ces dernières années, certains leaders politiques israéliens, ayant donné leur aval aux assassinats ciblés des chefs de file du Hamas et du Djihad islamique, sont parvenus à la dure conclusion que «l’occupation des territoires palestiniens ne mène à rien». Ce fut le cas d’Ariel Sharon qui, à la fin de sa vie, réalisa que la force ne pouvait tout résoudre. Une des raisons pour lesquelles j’ai écrit ce livre, c’est parce que je suis inquiet par l’absence de débats en Israël autour de cette question que je considère vitale. Douze ans de politique ultra-droitiste de Benyamin Netanyahou n’ont fait qu’accentuer l’indifférence d’une majorité d’Israéliens par rapport à cet enjeu. n

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New kids on the block:

Are they doing what communal organizations can’t — or won’t?

BY LIL A SARICK

Pro-Israel rally in Mel Lastman Square, May 2021. Ron Csillag photo 40 |

O

n a warm afternoon last May, the public square in north Toronto filled with people. Israeli pop music blared from loudspeakers and the crowd was a sea of Israeli flags, some slung around shoulders.

There was as much Hebrew heard as English; people yelling at their kids, greeting old friends and comparing COVID vaccination notes. Despite the numerous private security guards and police on horseback, the vibe was relaxed — more Tel Aviv than North York.

first time in his life to organize a rally. The city’s Jewish organizations were going to hold a virtual event, they told him and others on a Zoom call.

Asadurian felt strongly that a peaceful, visible presence was necessary to show that Israel and Jews were not the demons they were being portrayed as in the media.

“We’re not professionals. We’ve never done this before. We realized that nothing is going on, and we felt that we must show the

Canadian public there is not just one side to the story,” he said.

Asadurian and co-organizer Yan Vule put the information out on WhatsApp and then on Facebook, and initially expected about 25 people would come. Between 200 and 300 people showed up and peacefully marched from city hall to the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Many were former Israelis like Asadurian himself, but Canadian Jews came out too, he said. 

The ceasefire in the spring Hamas-Israel confrontation was about 10 days old and as the rally got underway, the speakers — a rabbi, a municipal politician and the event organizers — took to the stage to say that all Israel wanted was peace — for itself and its neighbours. The speeches invariably ended with a rousing rendition of Am Yisrael Chai (“The People of Israel Live.”)

The only thing missing was the official presence of the Jewish establishment — the powerhouses of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto or the national advocacy group, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

The rally, and a honking, flag-waving parade of cars up and down Bathurst Street a week earlier, had been organized by volunteers, not by the city’s Jewish paid professionals. While the city was still under COVID regulations, these events were hastily thrown together, promoted on social media, and unabashedly public and Jewish.

The demonstrations of pro-Israel sentiment in Toronto weren’t isolated occurrences.

The attacks by Hamas on Israel last spring highlighted tensions in the Diaspora as well, and across Canada, people frustrated by the Jewish establishment’s reluctance to confront the noisy pro-Palestinian marches began to organize by themselves. In Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, and elsewhere, they took to the streets, waving their Israeli flags defiantly.



In Vancouver, Marat Asadurian, the founder of a high-tech startup, stepped up for the Honking pro-Israel parade. Lila Sarick photo THEC JN.CA | 4 1

Pro-Palestinian protest in Montreal, May 2021. Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs photo



“I hoped to show that there are people who live here who are Canadian citizens, who are voters, who support Israel. We are not Arab-haters, we are not against Palestinians. We wish for peace for both of our people,” he said.

A nascent group, Vancouver Stands with Israel, was born, and is still active on social media. It’s keeping a close eye on what is happening in the city, including in schools where some pro-Palestinian supporters are pushing their narrative, Asadurian says.

On the other side of the country, in Ottawa, something similar happened. Bella Kravtzov, a Russian-Israeli esthetician, and a few friends were frustrated that support for Israel was limited to online events.

Kravtzov said she had seen rallies supporting Israel in Montreal and Toronto and felt it was important that Ottawa’s Jewish community be represented as well.

“I called my friend and said the JCC and formal Jewish organizations did not want to do any initiatives. (We said), ‘let’s go, just us.’ We put these announcements in the Russian-speaking group and the Jewish (Hebrew)-speaking group in Ottawa. We received a very major response from people that wanted to join us in the rally,” she recalled.

42 |

They organized a car rally, to comply with COVID regulations, and over 100 vehicles came, each carrying three or four people — twice what she had been expecting.

It was so informal that Kravtzov says they didn’t even have a name for the organizing group. But the rally was covered by the mainstream media and demonstrated that Ottawa’s Jews were standing with Israel, she said.

For Lauren Lieberman, who works in marketing for a fashion company in Montreal, turning to social media to organize a pro-Israel rally came naturally. A social media influencer with about 25,000 followers, she has been outspoken about her support for Israel and her opposition to anti-Semitism, especially on TikTok. Federation CJA had initially supported the idea of a public event, but backed away, she said.

“I understand that safety is their first priority but showing fear is not smart at this point,” she said. “You have to take chances.”

The rally turned violent, with Jewish participants chased and pelted with stones by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. “No one got hurt but it was very scary,” Lieberman said.

Since then, she has received numerous threats, some so disturbing that she has made her social media accounts private.

She is undaunted though, and says she hopes to work with Federation CJA and plan a trip to Israel for other Jewish social media influencers.

But it is in Toronto, where the first stirrings of activism — independent of the major communal institutions — began, and where it has rippled out to the rest of the country.

About a year ago, Agnes Imani says she began to see what she calls “warning signs.”

Imani, who was born in Budapest and grew up in Montreal before moving to Toronto about a dozen years ago, says rising anti-Semitism and growing calls to boycott Israel felt eerily similar to the stories her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, told her about prewar Europe.

“I just felt extremely frustrated that nothing was being done by our Jewish organizations. And if something was being done, then we weren’t aware of what they were doing,” Imani said. “We have to be louder and we have to be much stronger as a community and we have to be recognized. I feel like our community always shies away from this.” 

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Imani says the donor who paid for the costs associated with the rally in North York’s Mel Lastman Square in May, which included a private security company, wants to remain anonymous. The group raised $25,000 for the bus shelter ads through an online appeal.

Shai DeLuca, an interior designer and media personality, and member of the United Grassroots Movement’s volunteer team, disagrees that the group is right wing.

Participants in a pro-Israel rally in Ottawa. Bella Kravtzov photo

 Imani said she was accused of fear-mongering, but after the sharp spike in anti-Semitic attacks last spring, she feels vindicated. (In Toronto, UJA Federation said anti-Semitic incidents, including verbal harassment and online threats, increased five-fold, with about 50 events reported in May, the month of the Hamas-Israel fighting.)

“My dad left Hungary because we couldn’t openly be Jewish, because it was Communist,” Imani recalled. “I do this because I feel like I owe it to my parents who left everything we had behind to bring me to a place that can offer me a better life. When I see what’s happening right now, I don’t see a better life for my children in 20 or 30 years down the road if we don’t change things. I don’t want my children to have to escape from Canada because it’s not safe.”

About a year ago, she started to organize workshops and seminars about anti-Semitism. Recently, she has merged a number of groups and individuals doing similar advocacy work into a new organization, United Grassroots Movement, which planned the two rallies in Toronto. In June, the group purchased 86 advertising posters at Toronto bus shelters advocating “#NoHateAgainstJews.”

Her activism against anti-Semitism, which she says should more rightly be called “Jew-hatred,” is a volunteer effort. Imani doesn’t want her profession mentioned, 44 |

“My dad left Hungary because we couldn’t openly be Jewish...

I don’t want my children to have to escape from Canada because it’s not safe.”

“I consider myself certainly not to be right (wing). I am, and I embody what most would consider to be progressive. I am a gay, Sephardi Jew,” he said. It’s the same message he had at the rally in Mel Lastman Square, which he addressed.

He cautions that it’s dangerous to assume that one political party has a monopoly on combating or spreading hate.

- AGNES IMANI

“When we start to politicize hate, when we start to politicize anti-Semitism, saying it is on this side of the aisle, or that side of the aisle, we’re creating a problem.”

because she is afraid that anti-Semites will hurt her business.

But it’s not a coincidence, DeLuca noted, that many of the grassroots organizers are Israeli. DeLuca, who was born in Canada, served in the Israel Defense Forces and lived in Israel for a number of years before returning to Canada.

The organization bills itself as “a coalition of individuals across the professional, political and religious spectrum,” with the goal to “educate others about anti-Semitism, Israel and the Jewish people.” While it does not take any political position, its leadership tends to draw from the right wing of Canadian politics.

Among the group’s team at the end of June were a former campaign manager for the People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier who had jumped ship to the Tories; a recently retired columnist for the Toronto Sun; and people who had worked for Israel advocacy groups. A candidate for the federal Conservative party is listed as a “supporter.”

In Israel, he said, he was accustomed to being in the Jewish majority. “This idea of keeping your head down and ‘this too shall pass’ is a very Diaspora mentality. It’s not an Israeli mentality.”

Morton Weinfeld, a professor at McGill University in Montreal and a keen watcher of trends in Canadian Jewish communal life, said it’s not surprising that a disproportionate number of former Israelis and Russian-Jewish immigrants have been involved in the new grassroots groups.

“Historically and more recently in Israel, they have been more outspoken in taking a militant and hard-line (stance) against what they see as too liberal a position,” he said. 

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Pro-Israel rally in Mel Lastman Square, May 2021. Ron Csillag photo



The Jewish organizational scene may grow even more crowded soon with the emergence of a successor to the Canadian Jewish Congress, the national advocacy group that was subsumed by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs 10 years ago.

The new group, the Canadian Jewish Community Forum, headed by former members and staff of the CJC, is starting by taking the pulse of the country’s Jews. “There’s a sense that what may be missing is the consultative process with the grassroots, (something) the CJC really fundamentally fostered in Canada,” explained Les Scheininger, spokesperson for the group and a former president of the Jewish congress.

The CJC “brought a diversity of views together and tried to reach some sort of consensus on behalf of the community.

That seems to be something that is lacking over the last couple of years,” he said.

The CJCF is planning to survey Jewish Canadians to see what issues concern them.

But already it’s clear that certain groups, such as youth and immigrants, need to be heard, Scheininger said. “There may be differences of opinion, and (those) have to be 46 |

debated. Based upon our history, we have been able to reach consensus on some very fundamental issues.”

It’s not the first time in Canadian Jewish history there has been tension between grassroots groups and more established organizations, noted Weinfeld.

In the 1970s, for example, student groups advocating for Soviet Jewry took on a more militant position than communal agencies, and organized their own protests until eventually the establishment came on board.

The same dynamic may be happening again, he suggested.

And in some ways, that can be a positive thing for the community, with grassroots and establishment groups each playing to their strengths, Weinfeld said.

Despite the claims that the larger organizations have lost touch with the community, they can still bring out the crowds and, in large cities, raise millions of dollars. In Toronto, a virtual rally for Israel during the May Hamas-Israel conflict attracted more than 10,000 households. In pre-pandemic days, the 2019 Walk with Israel attracted 30,000

participants and raised over $1 million.

But the Jewish community may be at an inflection point, Weinfeld said. It will depend if anti-Semitism continues to rise, and if the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism becomes increasingly blurred.

“If this continues, this may lead to more of a fracture than we have now. There are some progressive elements in the Jewish community—they’re a minority—who have become energized. And even during and after Gaza, they seem to be very critical of Israel. But the mainstream now will be pushed to become more concerned with Israel’s welfare, more opposed to anti-Semitism.”

For her part, Imani is just getting started. If ever there was a time to get involved, this is it, she argued. “It’s not enough to just complain on social media… People need to actually get up and go attend a rally or join a webinar or donate, if that’s what they feel need to do.”

“They can’t just sit on the sidelines. We know what happened to us not so long ago when Jews sat on the sidelines and waited for things to get better. They won’t.” n

We would like to wish our clients and friends a Happy and Healthy New Year!

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Shana Tova!

Sid and Michael Gladstone and Families

Wish Our Customers and Friends a Happy & Healthy New Year

On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times A

uschwitz, summer 1944. On a hot Sunday afternoon, two young men in their 20s, one from northern Italy, the other from Strasbourg in Alsace, are walking through the camp to the kitchens to pick up a tureen of soup and carry it back to their barracks. They have both been in the camp for about six months and know its routines.

They do not trust each other because you cannot trust anybody here, but Jean has picked Primo for the soup detail. It is the one moment they can stretch out, a brief hour of grace in an infernal routine of exhausting and degrading labor in a place where the smoke from the crematoria colours the sky.

The camp is a babble of languages, with Hungarian and Yiddish being the most prominent, but these two are conversing in French and German. When Jean, the Frenchman, says he would like to learn Italian, Primo, to his own surprise, begins reciting a few fragments from canto 26 of Dante’s Inferno that he had memorized in high school. The canto tells the story of the Greek hero Ulysses who reaches the Gates of Hercules and exhorts his exhausted crew to go farther, to sail out beyond the gates into the wide-open sea.

As the verses return to the Italian’s memory, fragment by fragment, Jean becomes engaged in how to translate them best: mare aperto, should it be “open sea”? A Blockfuhrer passes by on a bicycle. They freeze and remove their caps. Once he passes, they resume. When Ulysses “sets out” into the open sea, they argue about whether Dante’s misi mi should be rendered as je me mis in French. Then, with a growing sense that they are sharing a text that contains a promise of freedom, Primo remembers the key lines — the exhortation delivered by Ulysses to convince his crew to set out beyond the Gates of Hercules, beyond the known world: Consider well the seed that gave you birth/ You were not born to live your lives as brutes,/ But to be followers of virtue and knowledge.

When these lines rise from the darkness of his memory, Primo feels as if he were hearing them for the first time, like the blast of a trumpet, like the voice of God. Jean begs him to repeat them and tell the rest, since they are approaching the kitchen. Primo struggles to remember the concluding lines. He closes his eyes, he bites his finger—it is no use. The cooks are shouting “soup and cabbage” in German and Hungarian, and behind them the men from the other barracks are clamouring to take their turn.

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In Primo Levi’s account of this scene, he does not tell us whether he managed to remember the ending. What matters is that the words reminded the two prisoners that they were not born to be brutes, and that there was another world, beyond the wire, where one day they might live as men. This is undoubtedly why he felt such a surge of exaltation, but we also need to remember how Dante’s tale actually ended. Ulysses and his crew did sail beyond the Gates of Hercules into the wide-open sea. Their mad journey continued into the darkness. They lost sight of the stars and the moon, then a storm struck and just as they saw an island looming up above them, their ship foundered, turned over, and they all drowned. The last line of Dante’s canto di Ulisse reads: Until the sea again closed over us.

For anyone born in the decade after the war’s end, as I was, Primo Levi — and other witnesses of the two 20th century tyrannies — became touchstones of moral judgment.

We turned to them to understand the history from which our parents came and from which our own world emerged. It was a past that put paid to any possibility, at least for me, that I could ever be consoled by faith in progress or faith in revolution.

What these survivors had endured gave them the authority once accorded to saints. Except, of course, that they didn’t want to be thought of as saints. Still, I could not help but think of them in this way, for they exercised the moral authority of saints. Like them, they had suffered for a faith, not a belief in paradise or salvation, but instead a resolute conviction that hell existed and that they had an obligation to chronicle it.

Their act of witness was not just a vindication of art but also an affirmation of allegiance to a tradition, stretching back in time, for example, to Dante, whose courage in exile 600 years before had been an inspiration to both the poet Anna Akhmatova and Levi. To write poetry was to assert their belonging to a fellowship of witness, across the centuries, that made sense of the human project as a whole, and if it did this, it was a fellowship they hoped would extend into the future.

Consolation was for them a form of political hope. They wanted to win the vital political battle of the future, over what meaning their nations and peoples would give to the horror they had endured.

They wanted victims to be remembered and to ensure that their once all-powerful Tormentors would be consigned to infamy. Their passionate belief that history would not forget the suffering they had chronicled was a consoling thought, and not just for them. We, their readers, also hope that history is given meaning by virtue of their exemplary courage. They had wrung poetry from extremity; they had preserved the memory of the persecuted; they had kept faith with writing, with lucidity, in the midst of terror. Their greatness of spirit, their determination to remember, consoled us for being members of a human family that had done this to them. We allowed ourselves to believe that their acts of witness could weigh in the balance against the horror they described. 

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THEC J N. CA | 4 9



In my generation’s way of thinking, or at least in mine, there was a hidden desire for absolution. In paying tribute to their greatness of spirit, we appropriated their greatness as if it were our own. They were saints, too, because they had faith in us, the generations who would come after them. They would have given in, surely, had they not held on to the conviction that their writings would survive and find readers who would take their truths to heart. They even hoped, as saints do, that our faith would move mountains, that once we had taken their truth to heart, such torments would never happen again.

We were their consolation. They were sustained by the hope that we—the succeeding generations—would ensure that they had not spoken truth in vain. They were consoled by the thought that we would remember them.

But have we?

The last survivors of the Holocaust and Stalin’s terror are dying, and what they endured is passing from memory into the contested domain of history, and from there, into the still more uncertain terrain of opinion. More and more people actually think they have a choice about whether to believe these things happened.

The ruler of contemporary Russia, whose father worked for Stalin’s killers, has made nostalgia for Stalin the official ideology of his regime. He has said the destruction of the Soviet empire was the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century.

Such faithless heirs—and they also include Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites, racists and hate-mongers—force us to ask whether the faith of these saints has been misplaced. Those of my own generation, who came to adulthood schooled in their unsparing testimony, may now feel something akin to shame. We have become unwilling witnesses to the creation of a new alternative reality in which what they witnessed and suffered is disbelieved.

If the meaning they stood for had won the battle, the once popular slogan—Never Again—would not now ring so hollow. New genocides would not have returned. This crime, it turned out, was not some elemental rupture with history, but the reenactment of a persistent historical temptation to create by force a world without enemies. Stalin and Hitler understood the appeal of this utopia, and it captivated millions of believers in the 20th century. The same demonic utopia is bound to remain a permanent temptation in politics in the 21st and beyond.

It is just as well, really, that none of these saints lived to see who their heirs might be and that none of us will live to see how the story of our own times turns out. History has no consolations to offer because it never ends and its meaning is never settled, not even by witnesses as heroic and courageous as these. History may have no consolation to offer, but it does leave us with duties. Since they had faith in us, we should keep faith with them and defend the truths they bequeathed to us.

At the end of his life, Primo Levi wrote an incomparable memoir, The Drowned and the Saved, about being a witness. He lived long enough to see many of his fellow survivors die and for the Holocaust to slowly transform from a lived memory to a historical fact, and then, more disturbingly, into a myth. He did not spare himself in the struggle against this tide of amnesia and wilful distortion.

He answered the letters from Germans who wrote him ignorant or 

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self-deceiving responses to his books. He showed up at schools and learned to listen patiently to children asking him, in small voices, why he hadn’t been able to escape.

One little boy could not believe that escape was impossible. So Levi drew him a map of the camp, with the barbed wire and the guard posts marked in.

The little boy was still not convinced. “This is how you should do it,” he said, and with a few energetic arrows and lines, the little boy tried to show Levi how.

In this and so many other encounters, Levi as witness had to struggle with the disbelief in evil that is the chief illusion of happy lives. He despised the moral kitsch that turned all Holocaust survivors into heroes. He knew otherwise. He chronicled the “grey zone,” the ambiguous world of compromise he inhabited as a scientist spared from the crematorium by virtue of his technical skills. He even admitted that his year in Auschwitz was when he felt most fiercely alive. He viewed his own survival as a privilege for which he felt ashamed. He became convinced that the best had drowned, while the worst had been saved.

He never stopped thinking through the responsibilities he had as a witness, never ceased to interrogate the role he had unwillingly embraced. When a fellow prisoner whom he met told him that Providence had saved him in order to be such a witness, Levi recalled bitterly, “Such an opinion seemed monstrous to me. It pained me as when one touches an exposed nerve and kindled the doubt I spoke of before: I might be alive in the place of another, at the

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LOSING MY RELIGION

Navigating Today’s Obstacles to Faith with Rabbi Michael Skobac We are living in a time of serious challenges to Emunah (faith). The following five-part lecture series explores some of the problem areas surrounding religion and faith and possible ways forward. Bi-weekly topics include: Oct 6 Oct 20 Nov 3 Nov 17 Dec 1 -

Why Are Many Jews Abandoning Their Heritage?

Is Belief In A Creator of The World Reasonable?

The Bible’s Compelling Case for Faith in God Dealing with Difficulties and Challenges to Faith What To Do If Your Adult Child Rejects Judaism

Oct 6 - Dec 1 • 8:00 PM ET 5 Bi-Weekly Wednesdays Donations welcome info@jewsforjudaism.ca 416-789-0020 To attend these virtual lectures, please go to www.jewsforjudaism.ca/losing21 & click link on or after program date.

52 |

expense of another.”

In 1988, exhausted and depressed by age, a recent prostate operation, and the unremitting burden of caring for both his aged mother and his mother-in-law, Levi took his own life, hurling himself down the stairwell of the apartment in Turin where he had lived most of his life. Many of his readers allowed themselves to be disappointed that he had given up, that his role as a witness no longer gave him a reason to go on. One such reader wrote at the time:

No one wants to believe it [that he committed suicide], not just for his sake, but for our own. It was as though Primo Levi held up a light for us — almost the only human being who did, in that worst place and time. It is as though…he helped us to regain our self-esteem. And if he laid down that light himself, was he not saying that he no longer believed in it — that he no longer believed in us?

He had carried so many burdens. He should not have been asked to carry that one as well. n Excerpted from On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times by Michael Ignatieff. Copyright ©2021 Michael Ignatieff. Published

by Random House Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher.

All rights reserved.

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The family that cooks together, stays together Food maven Yotam Ottolenghi once said, “Food can bring people together in a way nothing else could.” Amid the global pandemic, food quite literally fulfilled those words — and in a world of social distancing, sometimes in unexpected ways. The CJN asked motherdaughter team Bonnie Stern and Anna Rupert to reflect on how cooking through the generations can bring people and families closer, even when they can’t literally be together.

Anna Rupert: Food has always connected our family: trying out new restaurants, having meals at our parents’ house, testing recipes. My mom and I had just started to talk about writing a book together, and all of a sudden we were disconnected.

For me, the biggest family disruption during the pandemic was probably no longer being able to have Friday night dinner together. It was hard for all of us, but I think we could all see that it was having a really big impact on my mom. For her, it wasn’t bad enough not being able to see family and friends – not being able to cook for us all was an additional and significant hurdle.

54 |

So our Friday night dinners evolved. I’ll stop talking and let my mom explain…

Bonnie Stern: It’s true, I felt like I had lost purpose.

I hadn’t realized how much our family structure and schedule revolved around Friday night dinners and how much fulfilment I got from cooking for my family and my friends — the kids’ friends, visitors, new friends.

We started meeting on Zoom on Fridays, which in one way was wonderful because our daughter Fara and her husband Mark, who live in Ottawa, all of a sudden could be at Friday night dinner with us. And our friends in New York — why hadn’t we thought of that before?

But the cooking for others was still missing for me, so I started making dinner for Anna and our son, also named Mark, who live in Toronto, and my husband Ray would take it down to them. Then when we’d hop on Zoom, it felt much more like we were having Friday night dinner together. (And it helped that it wasn’t just me and Ray eating all the food I was making!)

CJN: Did your views on cooking change during the course of the pandemic?

I remember there were a lot of people doing sourdough for a hot minute, and then it kind of went away. Social media was very food-heavy in the early months of COVID — did either of you notice a change as the months wore on?

AR: I’m not sure if ours did, but I could see how it changed for others. Like you say, there have definitely been trends like sourdough, and that super frothy coffee everyone was making. So there’s the trend aspect to it, for sure.

But then, what also seemed to change for people during the pandemic was how they felt about cooking. I think how people have felt about cooking has had its ups and downs.

I mean, at first cooking was just a necessity, right? Everyone had to eat at home and cook. Some people found cooking to be a source of enjoyment right away, or – as time wore on and we settled into a new reality – it became a source of enjoyment or even experimentation. And as the pandemic and lockdowns went on for longer than any of us hoped I think everyone cycled through those feelings.

BS: The sourdough trend puzzled me because I’ve gone through many sourdough phases during my career, and every time I’ve come to realize that sourdough is a career on its own — keeping it, feeding it, using it, using the discard, perfecting it, finally eating it, and then feeling terrible wasting any. And then there started to be sourdough professionals and I decided to leave it up to them.

I think many people figured that out, too — still, I can see why it has been a great experience during forced indoor time. My best friend in New York, Mitchell Davis (“Kitchensense”on Instagram), and other friends are still making incredible sourdough loaves — much better than I ever did.

I agree with the ups and downs Anna described, but I do think the pandemic has connected – or re-connected – people to cooking at home. And one byproduct of that relationship I really love is that it’s made eating out or ordering takeout feel like a treat again. The pivot restaurants had to make is hard to even comprehend.

Restaurants worked so hard before the pandemic and to survive this and change themselves and how they operate blows me away. So takeout hasn’t just felt like a treat, it’s become such an important source of support for something I think we all started taking for granted.

Bonnie Stern teaching a cooking class over Zoom.

AR: Mom, did you take on any of the trends we were seeing or did you feel there was a trend to the cooking you were doing this past 18 months? 

THEC J N. CA | 5 5



BS: Well the biggest trend in my cooking during the pandemic has been comfort food — although I wouldn’t say that’s anything new. Food and cooking have always provided me a real sense of comfort. And along those lines I was also making a lot of desserts, especially at the beginning.

I probably participated in trends most by posting recipes and cooking virtually with people. People who had never really cooked at all before were doing it and realizing it doesn’t have to be hard. Watching cooking shows can be intimidating, because it makes you think that’s what cooking is — instead of understanding that while cooking can be complex and intricate, it can also be simple and straightforward.

So that’s why I posted recipes on Instagram for simple and accessible meals anyone could make, often with what they had on hand or could easily find, that would be delicious and successful. And eventually I started teaching Zoom cooking classes – demos but also cook-along classes where families or companies could connect, join me from wherever they were and ask lots of questions while we cooked together.

One thing I loved seeing was that with children being at home and parents needing to find them projects, cooking became a big one. I used to cook with my kids all the time. Knowing how to cook always comes in handy.

AR: The trend I participated in most was banana bread. I’m actually not sure if that’s a trend, but I made (and ate) more banana bread than I’d like to admit. Same goes for chocolate chip cookies.

Both have always provided comfort and stability for me, so I’m with my mom: what cooking and food have done for me this past year-and-a-half has provided a whole lot of comfort. And getting takeout as a way to support restaurants that I love instead of just to not cook, that has also felt more special and meaningful.

56 |

Anna and Bonnie on Zoom

BS: I’ve also been thinking a lot about what cooking will look like post-pandemic. I think it will be a mix of things — some people will have cemented their newfound love of cooking and keep doing it more than they used to. Others will be relieved not to have to cook as much, but hopefully will cook at least once in a while.

Probably though, for most people it will be somewhere in the middle, with the benefit of people cooking at home and knowing that they can, which to me is so important. I believe that cooking is truly a life skill and I think we all learned that during the pandemic.

I do hope people will keep thinking of eating out as a special treat. We’ve seen so many restaurants we love and have been around forever close, and I think we have a better appreciation for what it takes to operate restaurants and pay workers a fair wage. I

really do want to see the restaurant industry thrive again.

But for families — I think families are so excited to be able to get together again and share meals and events. We saw that when things started to safely open back up in the United States. Families could finally be together, and it was wonderful to see.

Something to look forward to here.

AR: I cannot wait to have Friday night dinner inside my parents’ house, sitting around the table with everyone. I hope we all appreciate it more and find a way to hold onto how special it is. n Bonnie Stern and Anna Rupert’s new cookbook Don’t Worry, Just Cook: Delicious, Timeless Recipes for Comfort and Connection to be published in the fall of 2022 by Appetite by Random House.

Wishing Everyone

We wish you peace and prosperity in the New Year.

Shana Tova

a Happy and Healthy New Year

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S H A N A T OVA Chag Sameach from Amica On The Avenue and Amica Thornhill. We wish you and your family a Shana Tova.

12468AMI_OTA_TH_RoshHashanaAd_FA.indd 1

pub: Canadian Jewish News community: Corp insertion: September 6

2021-06-22 3:17 PM

INGREDIENTS  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or Cup4Cup gf flour)  2 tsp baking powder  1/2 tsp kosher salt  3 eggs  1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or unflavoured vegetable oil  3/4 cup white granulated sugar  2 tbsp orange juice  1 tsp pure vanilla extract or paste  1/4 tsp pure almond extract Filling:  1/4 cup white granulated sugar  1/4 tsp ground cinnamon  1/4 tsp ground cardamom  2 lbs ripe but firm pears (about 4), peeled, cored and cut into about 1/2” pieces, about 5 cups  2 tbsp coarse sugar, optional

METHOD

THE ACCIDENTAL PEAR AND CARDAMOM CAKE The “accidental” part happened when I was making Ruthie’s Apple Cake (the apple cake you probably all know already as I have been making it for years and Ruthie was my mom). I had peeled all the apples, and was planning to make it gluten free because Anna loved this cake but I accidentally added regular flour. Feeling terrible, I quickly remade the batter with gluten free flour (I like Cup4Cup). But I was left with a perfectly good regular-flour batter and not enough apples for a second cake. However, I did have pears. And just to make it a bit different I added a little almond extract and cardamom. It was delicious! This cake is great as is but it also tastes pretty good with caramel sauce and ice cream. – Bonnie 58 |

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9” springform pan or 9” square baking pan with parchment paper.

2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt about 30 seconds.

3. In another large bowl beat eggs until light with a whisk or hand mixer and slowly drip in olive oil until well combined. Slowly beat in sugar. Mix in orange juice, vanilla and almond extract.

4. With a wooden spoon stir flour into egg mixture just until combined and no flour is visible.

5. For the filling, combine 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. Toss with pears.

6. Spread about half the batter over the bottom of the pan. It will not seem like much. Don’t worry. Spoon in the pears. Top with remaining batter — don’t worry if it doesn’t look like there’s enough. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

7. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until browned and firm in the centre, or a cake tester comes out clean, or an instant read thermometer registers at least 185F when inserted into the centre.

Makes 8 to 10 servings

L’Shana Tova

The Schwarz families of Cooper’s Iron & Metal & Ingot Metal Company extend their best wishes to clients and friends for a

Happy and Healthy New Year

To all of our clients, friends, and business associates, we at Goldman Sloan Nash & Haber LLP extend our sincerest wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

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John & Danielle’s, 270 Wilson Avenue, North York|Anthony’s, 1054 Centre Street, Vaughan | Carlo’s, 6220 Yonge St, North York|Vince & Franca’s, 1631 Rutherford Rd., Vaughan |

‫גרױע ליכט פֿון פֿריער מאָרגן‪ ,‬זעט אַן אָרעמע שטוב‪,‬‬ ‫צעבראָכן‪ ,‬אָרעם ּכלי־בית‪...‬אין בעט ליגט ַא קראַנקע‬ ‫יידענע‪ֿ ,‬פאַרװיקלט מיט שמאַטעס‪ ,‬און זי זאָגט מיט‬ ‫ַא ביטער קול׃‬ ‫ קױפֿן? מיט װאָס זאָל איך קױפֿן? װי האָב איך‪,‬‬‫אָרעמע אַלמנה‪ ,‬געלט?‬ ‫ איך װעל דיר באָרגן!–ענטפֿערט דער ֿפאַרשטעלטער‬‫װאסיל‪ ,‬אין גאַנצן זעקס גראָשן!‬ ‫פֿון װאַנען װעל איך דיר באַצאָלן?‪...‬‬ ‫אַריש מענטש‪– ,‬מוסרט דער רבי‪...‬איך געטרױ דיר‬ ‫דאָס ביסל האָלץ‪ ,‬איך בין בטוח‪ ,‬אַז דו װעסט‬ ‫באַצאָלן׃ און דו האָסט אַז ַא שטאַרקן‪ ,‬גרױסן גאָט‪,‬‬ ‫און געטרױסט אים נישט‪...‬און האָט אױף נאַרישע‬ ‫זעקס גראָשן ֿפאַרן בינטל האָלץ‪ ,‬קײן ביטחון נישט!‬ ‫ און װער װעט מיר אײַנהיצן? איך האָב דען ּכוח‬‫אױפֿצושטײן?‬ ‫און אַרײַנלײגענדיק דאָס האָלץ אין אױװן‪ ,‬האָט דער‬ ‫רבי קרעכצנדיק‪ ,‬געזאָגט פֿון סליחות דעם ערשטן‬ ‫ּפיזמון‪...‬‬ ‫דער ליטװאַק‪ ,‬װאָס האָט דאָס אַלץ געזען‪ ,‬איז שױן‬ ‫געבליבן ַא נעמיראָװער חסיד‪.‬‬ ‫און שּפעטער‪ ,‬אױב ַא חסיד האָט אַמאָל דערצײלט‪,‬‬

‫אַז דער נעמיראָװער הױבט זיך אױף‪ ,‬סליחות צײט‪,‬‬ ‫יעדן פֿרימאָרגן‪ ,‬און פֿליט אַרױף אין הימל אַרײַן‪,‬‬ ‫פֿלעגט שױן דער ליטװאַק נישט לאַכן‪ ,‬נאָר צוגעבן‬ ‫שטילערהײט׃ אױב נישט נאָר העכער!‬ ‫שטעלט זיך די פֿראַגע – איז דער ליטװאַק‪ ,‬זעענדיק‬ ‫װאָס דער באַהאַלטענער רבי טוט אױף‪ּ ,‬פלוצעם‬ ‫געװאָרן ַא חסיד? איך מײן אַז ניט‪ .‬דער ליטװאַק‬ ‫ֿפאַרשטײט דעם רעבינס‪.‬‬ ‫באַהאַלטענע אַרבעט װי אַרבעט ֿפאַר דער װעלט‪ .‬ער‬ ‫זעט דעם נעמיראָװער װי ַא מאָראַלישן מענטשן װאָס‬ ‫אַרבעט צו ֿפאַרבעסערן די לאַגע פֿון אַלע מענטשן‬ ‫–נישט בלױז יי ִדן‪.‬‬ ‫ּפרץ ֿפאַרברײטערט אונדזער זעונג און נעמט אַרײַן די‬ ‫גאַנצע מענטשהײַט‪ ,‬די װעלט אין װעלכער יידן און‬ ‫אַנדער פֿעלקער געפֿינען זיך‪ .‬מיר זעען דאָס אין זײַן‬ ‫נוץ פֿון ַא גױ‪ַ ,‬א ּפױער װאָס רעדט ַא שּפראַך אַנדערש‬ ‫װי יידיש‪ ,‬אַלץ דער טרעגער פֿון גוטסקײַט און יושר‬ ‫װאָס איז דער שוּתף צו די סליחות ּתפֿילות װאָס‬ ‫ֿפאַראַנקערן די ימים נוראָים‪.‬‬ ‫ּפרץ איז געװען ַא משּכיל‪ .‬ער האָט נישט געשריבן‬ ‫מיט דעם גרינגן שמײכל און געלעכטער פֿון ַא‬ ‫מענדעלע אָדער שלום אַלײכעם‪ .‬ער האָט ֿפאַרשטאַנען‬ ‫די סאָציאַלע און עקאָנאָמישע דריקונגען װאָס‬

‫האָבן צערודערט דאָס שטעטל לעבן‪ .‬ער האָט‬ ‫ֿפאָרגעשטעלט ַא יידישע װערזיע פֿון דער ליבעראַלן‬ ‫הומאַניזם װאָס די אױסגעצײכנסטע דענקער פֿון זײַן‬ ‫דור האָבן געבראַכט צו דער װעלט – ַאפֿילו די יידישע‬ ‫װעלט‪.‬‬ ‫אָבער‪ ,‬כאָטש נישט ֿפאַרבונדן מיט חסידות‪ ,‬איז ּפרץ‬ ‫געװען ַא ייד װאָס האָט אַטאַקירט אַלע טענדענצן‬ ‫צו אַסימילאַציע צװישן יידן‪ .‬יידישע טראַדיציע‪,‬‬ ‫שּפראַך און קולטור האָט ער געהאַלטן‪ ,‬איז נישט‬ ‫װײניקער פֿון דעם װאָס געפֿינט זיך צװישן אַנדערע‪.‬‬ ‫דער קריטיקער‪ ,‬איטשע גאָלדבערג‪ ,‬האָט געשריבן‬ ‫״אַמתע טראַדיציע מײַנט אָּפהיטן די גאָלדענע פֿעדעם‬ ‫פֿון דעם ֿפאָלקס לאַנגער געשיכטע און געראַנגל‪ּ ,‬כדי‬ ‫שטאַרקן דעם איצט‪ּ ,‬כדי פֿעסטיקן דעם שּפעטער‪.‬‬ ‫דאָס זײַנען פֿעדעם פֿון דױער װאָס מען דאַרף זײ‬ ‫מיטן לעבן האָבן‪ּ ,‬כדי אױסװעבן פֿון זײ דעם גלױבן‬ ‫אין מאָרגן‪ ,‬װײַל ֿפאָלק איז המשך‪ ,‬קאָנטינוי ִטעט‪,‬‬ ‫דױער‪ .‬און ּפרץ איז דער שומר און װעבער פֿון‬ ‫ֿפאָלקישע דױער פֿעדעם – נעכטן ביז הײַנט‪ ,‬ביז‬ ‫מאָרגן"‪.‬‬ ‫אפשר‪ ,‬אין צײַט פֿון די ימים נוראָים‪ ,‬װעלן מיר‬ ‫אַלע נעמען אין אַמבאַטראַכט װאָס דער נעמיראָװער‬ ‫האָט אונדז געװיזן און אַרבעטן לטובת ַא שענערער‪,‬‬ ‫בעסערער װעלט–אױב נישט נאָך העכער‪.‬‬ ‫| ‪60‬‬

‫נאך העכער‬ ‫אױב נישט ָ‬ ‫דזשערי קעין‬

‫‪I. L Peretz‬‬

‫זינדט מיר שטײען אױפֿן שװעל פֿון ַא נ ַײ יאָר װיל‬ ‫איך אײַך דערמאָנען װעגן ַא קלײן מעשהלע פֿון‬ ‫י‪.‬ל‪ּ .‬פרץ‪ .‬ס'איז ַא מעשהלע‪ ,‬װאָס איך האַלט‪ ,‬איז‬ ‫אײנע פֿון די װיכטיקסטע אין אונדזער װעלטלעכער‬ ‫און רעליגיעזער ליטעראַטור‪ .‬ס'האָט צו טאָן מיט‬ ‫ַא משוגענעם ליטװאַק‪ַ ,‬א קראַנקע יידענע‪ ,‬דעם‬ ‫נעמיראָװער רבן און די ימים נוראָים‪.‬‬

‫ענדלעך‪ ,‬שטײט דער רבי‪ ,‬זאָל לעבן אױף‪...‬גײט ער‬ ‫צו צו דער‪ ...‬קלײדער־אַלמער און נעמט אַרױס ַא‬ ‫ּפעקל‪...‬עס באַװײַזן זיך ּפױערשע קלײדער׃ לײַװענטע‬ ‫ּפלודערן‪ ,‬גרױסע שטיװל‪ַ ,‬א סיערמיענע‪ַ ,‬א גרױס‬ ‫פֿוטער היטל מיט ַא ברײטן לאַנגן‪ ,‬לעדערנעם ּפאַס‪,‬‬ ‫אױסגעשלאָגן מיט מעשענע נעגעלעך‪ .‬דער רבי טוט‬ ‫עס אָן‪...‬‬

‫איך װײס אַז אונדזערע לײענער זײַנען צװישן די‬ ‫קלוגסטע יידן און האָבן גלײַך דערקענט אַז איך‬ ‫שרײַב דאָ װעגן ּפרצעס אױב נישט נאָך העכער‪.‬‬

‫פֿון דער קעשענע‪ ,‬פֿון דער מיענגע סטאַרטשעט ארױס‬ ‫אַן עק פֿון ַא גראָבן שטריק‪...‬פֿון ַא ּפױערשן שטריק!‬ ‫דער רבי גײט אַרױס; דער ליטװאַק – נאָך!‬

‫ֿפאַרװאָס גיב איך אַזױ פֿיל װאָג צו אַז ַא קלײן‬ ‫מעשהלע‪ .‬ערשטנס װײַל איך בין ַא ליטװאַק‪...‬‬ ‫צװײטנס װײַל איך בין ַא װעלטלעכער ייד‪ ...‬און‬ ‫דריטנס װײַל איך האַלט אַז יעדער אײנער מוז האָבן‬ ‫ַא צײַט װען ער שטעלט זיך אָּפ צו באַקוקן זיך‬ ‫אַלײן; צו ֿפאַרשטײן װּו דאָס ֿפאַרגאַנגענע יאָר האָט‬ ‫אונדז געבראַכט און װאָס מיר װילן דערגרײכן אין‬ ‫דעם נײַעם יאָר‪ .‬און װאָס ֿפאַר ַא בעסערע צײַט צו‬ ‫באַקוקן אונדזער לעבנס װעג װי סליחות־צײט‪ ,‬די‬ ‫ימים נוראָים‪ַ .‬אפֿילו ֿפאַר ַא ליטװאַק‪ַ ,‬א פֿרײַער נישט‬ ‫קײן פֿרומער‪ ,‬זײַנען די צען טעג װיכטיק‪.‬‬

‫הינטער דער שטאָט שטײט ַא װעלדל‪ .‬דער רבי‪ ,‬זאָל‬ ‫לעבן‪ ,‬נעמט זיך אין װעלדל אַרײַן‪...‬שטעלט זיך אָּפ‬ ‫ב ַײ ַא בױמל‪...‬דער רבי נעמט אַרױס פֿון ּפאַק די האַק‬ ‫און שלאָגט אין בױמל אַרײַן‪...‬און דאָס בױמל ֿפאַלט‪,‬‬ ‫און דער רבי שּפאַלט עס אױף ליּפעס –די ליּפעס אױף‬ ‫שײַטלעך און ער מאַכט זיך ַא בינטל האָלץ‪ ,‬נעמט‬ ‫עס אַרום מיטן שטריק‪...‬װאַרפֿט דאָס בינטל האָלץ‬ ‫איבער די ּפלײצעס‪...‬לאָזט זיך אַרױס פֿון װאַלד און‬ ‫גײט צורי ִק אין שטאָט אַרײַן‪.‬‬

‫צו דער מעשה‪" .‬און דער נעמיראָװער פֿלעגט‬ ‫סליחות־צײַט יעדן פֿרימאָרגן נעלם װערן‪,‬‬ ‫ֿפאַרשװינדן!‬ ‫מע פֿלעגט אים נישט זען אין ערגעץ׃ נישט אין שול‪,‬‬ ‫נישט אין בײדע בּתי־מדרשים‪ ,‬נישט ב ַײ ַא מנין‪ ,‬און‬ ‫אין דער הײם אַװדאי און אַװאַדאי נישט‪...‬װּו זאָל ער‬ ‫זײַן? מן הסּתם אין הימל! װײניק געשעפֿטן האָט ַא‬ ‫רבי ֿפאַר ימים־נוראים צו ֿפאַרזאָרגן?‬ ‫מײַן דאגה – ענטפֿערט ער און ציט מיט די אַקסל‪,‬‬ ‫און ּתוך ּכדי דיבור‪( ...‬װאָס ַא ליטװאַק קען!) איז ער‬ ‫זיך מישב‪ ,‬צו דערגײן די זאַך‪.‬‬ ‫נאָך דעם זעלבן ֿפאַרנאַכט‪ ,‬באַלד נאָך מעריב‪ ,‬גנבעט‬ ‫זיך דער ליטװאַק צום רבין אין חדר אַרײַן‪ ,‬לײגט זיך‬ ‫אונטערן רבינס בעט און ליגט‪ .‬ער מוז אָּפװאַרטן די‬ ‫נאַכט און זען‪ ,‬װי דער רבי קומט אַהין‪ ,‬װאָס ער טוט‬ ‫סליחות צײַט‪.‬‬ ‫‪THEC JN.CA | 6 1‬‬

‫אין ַא הינטערגעסל שטעלט ער זיך אָּפ ב ַײ אַן‬ ‫אָרעם‪ ,‬האַלב אײַנגעבראָכן הײַזל און קלאַּפט אָן אין‬ ‫פֿענצטערל‪.‬‬ ‫װער איז? –פֿרעגט מען דערשראָקן פֿון שטוב אַרױס‪.‬‬ ‫ער דער ליטװאַק דערקענט‪ ,‬אַז עס איז ַא קול פֿון ַא‬ ‫יידענע‪ ,‬פֿון ַא קראַנקער יידענע‪.‬‬ ‫ יאָ! – ענטפֿערט דער רבי אױף ּפױעריש לשון‪.‬‬‫ קטאָ יא?– פֿרעגט מען װײַטער פֿון שטוב‪.‬‬‫און דער רבי ענטפֿערט װײַטער אױף מאַלאָרוסיש‬ ‫לשון׃ װאַסיל!‬ ‫װאָס ֿפאַר ַא װאַסיל און װאָס װילסטו‪ ,‬װאַסיל?‬ ‫האָלץ‪ – ,‬זאָגט דער ֿפאַרשטעלטער װאַסיל‪ – ,‬האָב‬ ‫איך צו ֿפאַרקױפֿן! זײער ביליק‪...‬בחצי חינם האָלץ!‬ ‫און ניט װאַרטנדיק אױף ַא ּתשובה‪ ,‬נעמט ער זיך אין‬ ‫שטוב אַרײַן‪.‬‬ ‫דער ליטװאַק גנבעט זיך אױך אַרײַן‪ ,‬און‪ ,‬בײַם‬

Jewish Community Organizations, Synagogues and Schools wish

A HAPPY & HEALTHY YEAR 5782

Shana Tova!

Adath Israel Congregation Beach Hebrew Institute Beit Rayim Synagogue & School Bernard Betel Center Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Beth Sholom Synagogue Beth Tikvah Synagogue Beth Tzedec Congregation Canadian Friends of Ezrath Nashim - Herzog Hospital Canadian Friends of Hebrew University Canadian Magen David Adom for Israel City Shul Congregation Beth Haminyan Congregation Habonim Holy Blossom Temple Israel Bonds/Canada-Israel Securities, Limited Na’amat Canada Toronto National Council of Jewish Women, Toronto Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue Temple Emanu-El Temple Har Zion Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto The Song Shul Toronto Board of Rabbis

‫שנה טובה‬

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The missing year This past school year was a roller-coaster for teachers, students and their families, with classes being online sometimes and in-person at other times.

The challenges of virtual learning and adapting to COVID procedures left many pining for their familiar school routines.

The CJN asked four educators from across the country to tell us about their unprecedented experiences in the classroom and their hopes for the new year.

64 |

Finding closeness amid the distance A

s a social studies teacher, I know that at times geography can be destiny; with the COVID restrictions on how students and I could move about the school and the classroom, never was this more true. I am lucky enough to work in a school with large rooms and space. This allowed us to have all students at school every day this year, apart from the two periods of provincially mandated remote learning. Down the street, at other schools, I knew students and teachers alike were having a different year, with one or two days at school and rotations, which were essential for health protocols but difficult to learn or teach in.

I had my students all there every day. The difference for me was that I did not have a room to call my own; I had a cart.

When I first started teaching 15 years ago, I had a cart and would rotate from room to room based on availability. I remember my joy at first sharing a classroom and then having my own space, a room to set up to support my students as we explored social studies together. I was the teacher who brought in local art and framed student work for our gallery wall, tried to minimize plastic so students would come into contact with both synthetic and natural materials throughout the day, and had a kettle ready for any students who felt sniffly.

I loved my classroom because it made me feel able to meet quietly with students after class when extra help was needed. It had a wall of windows that allowed me to rarely turn on the overhead lights. I worked hard to build a space in which students felt comfortable enough to dive into tough topics and free enough to be creative.

And now all of this needed to be on a cart.

I called my cart Phyllis. She was a no-nonsense taupe-coloured, three-shelf steel tank who had seen the ’70s and lived to tell the tale. Her wheels would fall off if you lifted her and she had very strong opinions about uneven surfaces of any kind. Together we were a team as we moved from floor to floor, going to where each student cohort had

Heidi Crowley

been stationed for their year. If I ever wondered if students had appreciated the classroom I had spent so much care creating, I found out that first week in September.

In a continuous stream, students would stop me to say how much they missed my room or check in to see how cart-life was treating me. By week three we had all discovered that the magic of a classroom, with discussions based on trust and vulnerability, is portable. It has limits. It does not seem to spring up as organically online without mindful nurturing and it can be tampered with by the exhaustion and stress the year brought.

My students came in each day with open hearts and minds in a time when there were a thousand extra tensions and reasons to shut down or just go through the motions. This year my students sometimes saw me in a flap. The days when the wheels had literally or figuratively come off; they had them too. They showed me deep understanding and patience when I had those moments and I tried to do the same for them.

One thing I did not like was being in or even going past my old classroom. My students had said it felt strangely like the soul had gone out of the room and I knew what they meant. It was like driving past a house you used to live in and knowing every inch of it but still feeling like an interloper.

I was given another unexpected gift; with no classrooms to work in, the school library was set up as a teacher work space. I had never had a communal space before, surrounded by teachers as they came, prepped, and left to teach. I suddenly had access to a dozen people all around me who would bounce ideas off one another, share resources, and more than anything show me a thousand times a day their passion for teaching, the students, and their humanity.

I went from feeling anchorless, a roaming cart woman with no place to call home, to a new arrival in a bustling community of educators. We had worked together for years but the pace of the workday and the distance between our rooms meant I rarely saw most people more than a handful of times outside of personal development days.

Next year I refuse to give up these relationships, even if I am back in my classroom.

I am scheduling lunch dates and summer book clubs because these connections have become essential for me to truly thrive at school. Phyllis is sticking close too. She will have a place of honour in the classroom, enjoying a well-deserved rest after a demanding career. n Heidi Crowley teaches at Gray Academy of Jewish Education in Winnipeg. For 15 years, Heidi has worked with students from grades 7 to 12, exploring civics, history, and geography.

THEC J N. CA | 6 5

Mr. Polansky’s 100th birthday, my kindergarten class and COVID T

he last two days — they are both my most and least favourite days of the school year. Where I stand on the precipice of what was and what will be. My last opportunity to be the daily educator of many of my students.

Those beautiful, happy, eager faces who invariably tell me that I am the best teacher ever — and I wonder: “What have you got to compare it to?”

Ultimately, my biggest hope is that I have made a difference in their lives. This very odd year, I tried my best to see the silver lining and hope that I got to make a difference in a few lives that would not have otherwise intersected.

Let me start this story by telling you that every year I teach my class to play the handbells for the winter holiday concert.

This year’s concert was pre-recorded and played to the whole school in their classrooms over Zoom.

In past years, we play one or two songs (Jingle Bells is a perennial favourite) and after the holidays the bells get put away for the next year. The students occasionally ask for the bells, but the educational life of a kindergartener is busy, busy, busy so we move on. This year we were so limited in what we could do that when the students asked to play, I thought it could be a good idea.

At the same time, we were starting to work on numbers in math and I wanted them to think about the magnitude of how big numbers could get. We were examining the number chart and saw that the numbers four and five (the students’ ages) are very close to the beginning of the chart and that the number 100 is very far away. There are so many numbers between four and 100.

One of the students commented on how many numbers you would have to live to get to 100 years old, and the seed was planted.

66 |

Carol Klarman

“I have a friend who is going to be 100 years old,” I said. “No, you don’t, Ms. Klarman,” was the response. “Yes, I do and I will show you a picture of him.”

Over the next weeks my class learned many things about Morris Polansky, my 99-year-old friend. We Googled him and saw pictures of him selling poppies at Eglinton subway station. We learned how poppies help raise money for charity; we saw a video of him talking about being a veteran of the Second World War; we learned what it means to be a veteran and how he helped to make Canada a safe country for us.

The students told me that they wanted to include his birthday on our calendar countdown and they wanted to wish him a happy birthday when he turned 100. We can play the bells, I thought. And so this idea morphed into a project and then into a celebration of Mo Polansky.

We wrote him a birthday letter and signed our names on it. We read a great book called I Wish You More and thought about

what we would wish for Mr. Polansky. As the pièce de résistance, we learned to play Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a song that came out when he was about 18 years old and of course, we played Happy Birthday on the bells as well.

Everything was put together into a video and sent to Mr. Polansky on that special day, which, of course, he enjoyed very much. Just today we had him as our special guest in our virtual classroom where the students got to ask him questions and tell him things.

I have cried more than a few tears thinking about how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to bring the young and the young-at-heart together for such an important occasion and during a time where Mr. Polansky could not be celebrated with the fanfare and appreciation that he deserves.

Maybe this would have happened without COVID, but then again, maybe not. I am forever grateful. n Carol Klarman is a teacher with the Toronto District School Board.

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Shana Tova

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Building a school from scratch I

t’s hard to write about a vortex from inside it. The noise, the chaos, and the constant demands make reflection almost impossible. Life becomes about getting the next thing done, then the next, then the next. Often, in the middle of the night, reflection creeps in to steal a few hours of precious sleep for second-guessing but when the sun comes up and the cell phone starts ringing again, the vortex roars.

That’s what the last 10 months have been like as the principal of one of the online schools in Ontario. Approximately 15 to 20 per cent of students attended an online school in 2020-2021 and those schools had to be set up at record speed. What began with a ministerial press conference on Aug. 13, 2020, was a fully functioning, online school less than a month later.

This past year has been both the most challenging and the most rewarding of my career in education. It is rare in public education that we get the opportunity to build things from scratch, without models, without years of history and tradition directing us. But no one had ever built an online public elementary school in a month so we had to make up the recipe, using the best of what we knew about kids and learning and hoping it would work.

Did it? Well, it definitely did for some students. Some students thrived. There were students who stayed online with their teachers on the last day, not wanting to leave, wishing for one more day of school.

Some students created strong bonds with their classmates and teachers, they came to my Google recess every week, they loved being at home while going to school. Some students had their best year of school, ever. For those students, the recipe worked.

For other students and families, it was an 68 |

Emily Caruso Parnell A Kaiser Photography

incredibly difficult year. There was disengagement, frustration and tears. Some students refused to attend their online classes. Some families struggled to help them. Having a child, especially a young child, attending school in the same space as other children or in your own workspace is very difficult (just ask my husband) and many families struggled with balancing the needs of the children and the adults.

We also had many students learning alongside grandparents who, prior to last September, didn’t know how to open an email, let alone use Google Classroom and Jamboard. The learning curve was steep and many grandparents struggled. Others became technical experts, surprising themselves and their families as they learned how to navigate all of the online platforms.

There are few things as adorable as a kindergarten student, sitting on the lap of their grandparent, as they both play an online game with a whole class of kindergarteners.

This year also gave us opportunities we would never have otherwise had. One of our classes got to have a question-and-answer session with the renowned primatologist, Jane Goodall. Other classes visited international art galleries, museums, wildlife sanctuaries and parks. Students were able to interact with experts in the trades, sciences, the arts and the environment. We ran an online recorder program. There were online talent shows. A community artist led a storytelling workshop. The world opened up to students even as they stayed home.

The possibilities were limited only by our imaginations.

Ontario geography is vast and our school board is roughly the size of Albania. Usually, students don’t get to interact with other students in the board other than those who live in the same town or neighbourhood.

In virtual school, however, they got to go to school with students from all over the board. Students who live in apartment buildings went to school every day with students who live on farms. We met their goats. We saw the view out their windows.

We watched the ice melt on their lakes.

Those relationships changed how students see the world. Their horizons broadened.

What will the impact of those experiences be as those children grow up?

And me? I’ve tried to make this year about service, about being available when my staff needed me, about listening more than I talk. I’ve been on call for 10 months and I’m looking forward to putting my cell phone on a shelf for a while and forgetting about it. But as challenging as this experience has been, I wouldn’t trade any of it for a minute. Leading a virtual school over the past year has been a joy, a privilege, and the professional experience of a lifetime.

And while we don’t yet know what next year will look like, I’m looking forward to whatever it has to offer. I know in my bones that we can handle it. n Emily Caruso Parnell is a principal in Sudbury, Ont.

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Looking forward to a new year, this time in the classroom T

he 2020-2021 school year came to a close with much more promise ahead for fall as students logged off Google Meetfor hopefully the final time, and prepared to go to day and overnight summer camps.

These past 16 months have been extremely challenging for everyone, especially for the students who have had their learning disrupted multiple times over these past two school years. Packed classrooms, circle-time activities and Smart Board games were replaced with COVID protocols, hand sanitizer and online breakout rooms.

Classrooms were closed for an indefinite period in March 2020 and the unprecedented shift to an online platform was nerve-wracking for teachers and students alike. The hope was that this would be a short, two-week shift and in-person learning would return in early April.

But as the weeks turned into months, the school year sadly ended in an online platform. There were many significant challenges, including a shortage of technology, homes where multiple siblings were learning at once and too many long hours spent in front of a computer. Students have been incredibly resilient throughout the pandemic and their shift to remote learning was no different.

As a primary teacher at the Ottawa Jewish Community School, I soon realized that I would need to change my teaching strategies and lessons to better meet the needs of students in their homes during our time online. I quickly understood that teaching would become more about maintenance and keeping students engaged rather than teaching complicated French grammar.

I tried to create entertaining games for my young classes, borrowing from television shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

I decided that I would mainly review our themes and units from our time together

70 |

Aaron Polowin

in person by playing these games online.

There were many educational websites that were soon shared by colleagues, ones that students would find fun and engaging.

I particularly enjoyed sharing my screen and reading Robert Munsch books in French to my classes and then discussing the story. By keeping the learning light and engaging, I found that it was more likely to lead to a higher percentage of students coming to our Google Meet classes.

Many had predicted that the school year would be interrupted very quickly with a return to online learning. We were fortunate to be able to teach in the classroom until the province mandated a one-month shutdown in early January. This time students and teachers were better equipped to pivot to an online platform.

Unfortunately, after a return to the classrooms in February, the rising COVID rates put students and teachers back online from mid-April to the end of the school year. Our school year would once again need to be ended online.

There is much promise that lies ahead for the new school year. The hope is that we can start the Jewish new year off with a return to the classroom and the normalcy of learning as we knew it two years ago.

Students and teachers are now better equipped to work digitally and can now implement the lessons and strategies learned over these past two school years. Classrooms will once again be filled with Shabbat songs and holiday crafts. n Aaron Polowin is a teacher at the Ottawa Jewish Community School.

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thecjnmagazine Rosh Hashanah 2021 | Tishrei 5782

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