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"The Basketball Game" is a graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning National Film Board of Canada animated short of the same name – intended for audiences aged 12 years and up. It's a poignant tale of the power of community as a means to rise above hatred and bigotry. In the end, as is recognized by the kids playing the basketball game, we're all in this together.

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Byline: Paul Lungen CJN

A special anniversary

A special anniversary

Children who lost family members fighting for Israel are seen attending a camp at Wizo’s Hadassim Youth Village, which was founded in 1947 to support the influx of refugees fleeing from Europe. (photo from Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, L.10472)

Rabbi Shawn Zell remembers his Grade 10 experience vividly, even though it took place 50 years ago.

Zell, a native of Winnipeg, spent the year in Israel attending a boarding school called the Hadassim Children and Youth Village, along with 18 other Canadian and American young people. It was 1968, one year after Israel’s victory over the combined armies of its Arab neighbours, and the mood in the country was euphoric. There was unbridled optimism in the air, the feeling that anything was possible, Zell recalled.

For Zell and his Canadian contemporaries, it was a time to embrace their Judaism and create greater bonds with the state of Israel, all while getting credits towards their Canadian high school diplomas.

Zell and the others were among the first young Diaspora Jews to spend a year in Israel on a sponsored program – in their case, one organized by Canadian Hadassah-WIZO. Although decades have passed, he still keeps in touch with some of the other participants and, on June 27, most of the group, along with their spouses, children and other family members, will gather in Israel for a 50th reunion.

They will meet at Hadassim, which is located near Netanya, to have dinner, reminisce and see if they can still recognize one another after the passage of so much time.

“I think it’ll be a bunch of alter-kackers looking at each other, saying, ‘I wouldn’t recognize you,’” he said.

photo - Rabbi Shawn Zell
Rabbi Shawn Zell (photo from cjnews.com)

Zell, who serves as the spiritual leader of Tiferet Israel Congregation in Dallas, said his experience in Israel left indelible marks on him. Although he came from a proudly Zionist family, being in the country reinforced those feelings and strengthened his attachment to Judaism.

“I came back with Israel fever,” he said, “more knowledgeable, even more Jewish.”

A few years after his return, he took advantage of an offer to study at a new school for educators in New York and was later ordained as a rabbi. All the while, he has remained in touch with a few of his buddies from the trip. Of the 16 Canadians who were there with him, seven were fellow Winnipeggers, although he did not know any of them before he left. They were joined in Israel by three Americans.

While in Israel, the group was housed in dormitories, with two Canadians and two Israelis per room. It was a great way to meet Israelis and see the country, Zell said, adding that he still keeps in touch with his roommate from Halifax, Lance Webber, and an American, David Klein, among others.

With no parents to monitor them, the boys took advantage of the situation.

“We were doing a lot of horsing around,” Zell recalled, and their schoolwork suffered as a result. But, being on their own in a new country provided plenty of opportunity to develop their independence – they thought nothing of taking a bus into nearby Tel Aviv to wander around. On Shabbat, the Canadian kids organized their own services on campus, without adult supervision.

Zell has lots of memories of that experience, including the time the group was called to attend a Hadassah event that was headlined by former Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion. Zell still has the photo, cut out of a magazine he found back in Winnipeg, of he and the others posing with Ben-Gurion.

When Zell got the idea to organize a reunion a year ago, he wasn’t sure how it would turn out. But the response “has been much better than I thought. I didn’t think I’d be successful contacting people after 50 years,” he said.

Zell expects 13 of the original group of 16, along with their family members, to attend the reunion, bringing the total number to more than 30 people.

“We will view Hadassim through mature eyes,” said Zell. “We will see one another, rekindle friendships and share memories. Most of all, we will introspect as we ask ourselves how our year in Hadassim played a role in our lives.”

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com

Format ImagePosted on June 1, 2018May 30, 2018Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories IsraelTags CHW, Hadassah-WIZO, Hadassim, Shawn Zell

Bill S-201 passes 220 to 60

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) lauded the House of Commons’ March 8 passage of a private member’s bill to prevent genetic discrimination, which survived a last-minute push by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to oppose it on jurisdictional grounds.

Bill S-201, which was put to a free vote, passed 220-60, with dozens of Liberals joining the Conservatives, NDP and Green Party in support of the legislation. It now goes to the Senate for technical amendments and is expected to become law by the spring.

The bill was introduced by former senator James Cowan and spearheaded through the House by Liberal MP Rob Oliphant. It is designed to prevent insurance companies and employers from denying coverage and employment to people who have a genetic predisposition to various illnesses. It also prohibits any person from requiring an individual to undergo a genetic test or to disclose the results of a genetic test as a condition of providing goods or services or entering into or continuing a contract. The enactment amends the Canada Labour Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act.

The Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness (CCGF), which had been lobbying for a change to the law for six years, applauded its passage. “It’s a good day because of the vote. It’s been a long time coming,” said Bev Heim-Myers, chair of the 18-member CCGF and chief executive officer of the Huntington Society of Canada.

People have been denied rental accommodations, insurance coverage and have been let go from jobs because of concerns they might one day contract serious diseases. “Many people are refusing to get a genetic test for fear of discrimination,” but the benefits of testing can be substantial, leading to early diagnosis, prevention in some cases and early, targeted treatment, she said.

CIJA, a member of CCGF, also applauded the vote. The bill’s passage is “a milestone in protecting the health and well-being of all Canadians,” said CIJA chair David Cape. “Everyone should feel comfortable to take potentially lifesaving genetic tests without fear of punitive consequences.

“As this is an issue of overlapping federal-provincial responsibility, we encourage the provinces to bring forward complementary legislation to provide full protection against genetic discrimination for all Canadians,” he added.

Trudeau opposed the bill on constitutional grounds, arguing that, by regulating insurance companies, the bill was intruding into areas that come under provincial jurisdiction.

Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault introduced motions to remove several of the bill’s sections that arguably were areas of interest to the provinces, but those amendments were rejected. Prior to the vote, he told the House that the federal government had received letters from the governments of Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia voicing concern that the bill infringed on provincial jurisdiction on regulating contracts and on the provision of goods and services. However, a House committee that studied the bill heard from constitutional lawyers who said it did not intrude on provincial jurisdiction.

Noah Shack, CIJA’s director of policy, said the Jewish community in particular should benefit from the new law. Once enacted, “It’s something that will save lives,” he said.

Ashkenazi Jewish women have a greater chance of carrying a mutated BRCA gene than women in the general population, giving them an increased risk of developing breast cancer or cervical cancer; men carrying the gene have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. Because of concerns they might be turned down for insurance, people refrain from getting tested for the mutation, increasing the chances they won’t take preventive measures to address the disease, Shack said. “It creates a disincentive for getting tested in the first place.”

Heim-Myers said that, after the bill passes, CCGF’s efforts will turn to the provinces, which will be urged to amend their human rights laws to prevent genetic discrimination.

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com

Posted on March 17, 2017March 14, 2017Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories NationalTags Bill S-201, CIJA, discrimination, genetic testing
Academics reject boycott

Academics reject boycott

Prof. Cary Nelson, an opponent of the academic boycott of Israel, teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (photo from cjnews.com)

Opponents of an academic boycott of Israel scored back-to-back victories at a conference of the Modern Language Association (MLA) earlier this month, defeating a pro-boycott resolution while gaining sufficient votes to pass a resolution that calls on the organization to specifically refrain from endorsing a boycott.

The second of the resolutions at the Jan. 5-8 event, which passed by a 101-93 margin, stated that the Palestinian campaign for an academic and cultural boycott of Israel “contradicts the MLA’s purpose to promote teaching and research” and would curtail debates with Israeli academics, “thereby blocking possible dialogue and scholarly exchange.”

The first, pro-boycott resolution, which accused Israeli universities of perpetuating violations of international law while denying academic freedom and educational rights to Palestinians, was defeated by a vote of 113 to 79.

A third resolution, which refers to attacks on Palestinian scholars and students by Palestinian political organizations, was shelved after the first two successful votes, according to Prof. Cary Nelson, an opponent of the academic boycott of Israel.

“We got everything we asked for,” said Nelson, who teaches modern poetry and literary theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “We weren’t so confident going in.”

According to the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, about a dozen academic organizations have endorsed the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, including the African Literature Association, the American Studies Association, the Association for Humanist Sociology, the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies Annual Conference, and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.

The MLA was founded in 1883 to strengthen the study and teaching of languages and literatures.

Nelson, author of The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel, said he has been fighting boycott-related resolutions at the MLA for 10 years, and he expects similar motions attacking Israel will continue at the next delegate assembly in 2018.

Boycott advocacy at the MLA has been trending up among younger faculty members in the last three years, Nelson said, but opponents also have been recruiting support from younger academics. Most MLA members are agnostic about the issue and would rather the organization stick to matters that concern them, he added.

Nelson said opponents of the boycott resolution worked hard on the floor at the convention in Philadelphia to convince delegates to oppose a boycott. “We tried to convince members it’s none of the MLA’s business. It doesn’t need a foreign policy,” he said.

Opponents circulated a 10,000-word report on the issue, outlining the case against boycott and noting factual misrepresentations in the case being presented by its proponents.

Rebecca Comay, a professor of philosophy and comparative literature at the University of Toronto, was one of two co-sponsors of the pro-boycott resolution at the MLA conference.

“After five decades of a brutal military occupation, with the situation only deteriorating, it is time for the international community to act,” she said, explaining why she pushed the boycott resolution. “Given that there is no prospect of significant change happening from within (and as the Israeli leadership moves ever rightward), BDS is the most effective means – at this point the only means – of intervening on behalf of Palestinian human rights.

“Boycott is a non-violent, legal tactic that has historically proved effective in seemingly intractable situations. South Africa is a pertinent example,” she told the CJN via email. Comay said Palestinians have been “dispossessed, disenfranchised and stripped of the fundamental human rights that we take for granted. These rights include a basic right to education and academic freedom.”

Asked why Israel should be singled out, Comay responded, “Israel is susceptible to boycott in a way that other countries (Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, etc.) simply are not. As the so-called ‘only democracy in the Middle East,’ Israel is actually susceptible to global public opinion, as the panicked reaction to the BDS movement clearly demonstrates. Israel has in any case already been ‘singled out’: it receives an unprecedented amount of U.S. military and economic aid (to the tune of $38 billion over the next 10 years) – [former president Barack] Obama’s parting gift to Israel – that’s more than to all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined.”

Nelson said the BDS movement is growing within the humanities and social sciences, but less so in the hard sciences. However, much of the propaganda it advances is inaccurate, he said, noting that Israel has doubled the number of Palestinian and Arab students in Israeli universities in just the last 10 years. The student body at some schools, like the Technion and the University of Haifa, where he’s an affiliated professor, is more than 25% Arab, he said.

Yael Halevi-Wise, an associate professor in the English department at McGill University, said a small but influential group of leftist academics – “the radical caucus” – has been pushing the boycott proposal for several years.

“If you look at the BDS strategy, it’s a form of bullying. Omar Barghouti takes credit for the BDS and he says he would like to help Israel euthanize itself,” she said.

Halevi-Wise said the boycott effort “is an attempt to isolate and demonize our fellow colleagues in Israel.” Most of those colleagues, she said, are pro-peace and support a two-state solution, and some of the professors who would be affected are Arabs, she said.

“We had to work very hard to get through, because Israel is being maligned so frequently,” she added.

The resolution urging the MLA to refrain from boycotts now goes to the group’s executive council, which will determine if there are legal or constitutional issues posed by its language. From there, it will be forwarded to the organization’s membership for ratification.

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com

Format ImagePosted on January 20, 2017January 17, 2017Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories WorldTags anti-Israel, BDS, boycott
Canadian tributes to Peres

Canadian tributes to Peres

The Nobel Peace Prize laureates for 1994 in Oslo, from left to right: Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. (photo by Saar Yaacov, GPO)

A towering figure, one among the founding generation of Israelis, Shimon Peres served as president, prime minister and in various key cabinet posts. He died Sept. 28 at the age of 93. Canadians joined in the international chorus of leaders mourning his death.

“Every so often, our lives are graced by the presence of truly remarkable individuals. They teach us invaluable lessons about compassion, fairness and generosity. They give us innumerable memories and a life of service that changes societies for the better,” said Gov. Gen. David Johnston.

“Shimon Peres meant so much to Israel, to Jewish people in Canada and around the world, and to the friendship between our nations. He called Canada an extraordinary friend during his state visit to our country in 2012, and I remember quite clearly the impression he left on me as a socially conscious man, driven by his love of Israel,” Johnston stated. “Though he is no longer with us, I hope that the legacy he left – as former president and prime minister of Israel and as a Nobel Peace Prize recipient – will let us strive for a better, more peaceful world. He will be missed and remembered by all those whose lives he has touched.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement saying, “Shimon Peres was, above all, a man of peace and a man dedicated to the well-being of the Jewish people.

“Over the course of his long and distinguished life, Mr. Peres made enormous contributions to the founding and building of the state of Israel. He was devoted to promoting understanding between his country and its neighbors, and shared a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to create peace in the Middle East.

“Mr. Peres was an internationally respected statesman and a great friend to Canada. He visited our country often, and helped build relations that remain strong to this day.

“On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Peres – and to the people of Israel. His legacy as a tireless advocate for peace will not be forgotten.”

Rona Ambrose, leader of the Official Opposition Conservative party, stated, “Few have accomplished more for the advancement of Israel and the Jewish people than Shimon Peres. His legacy spanned more than six decades in public service and as a political figure. He was a man who was the architect of Israel’s robust defence strategy, and someone who also won the Nobel Peace Prize in an attempt to find peace with the Palestinian people.

“Israel today is a steadfast ally to the West and all those who cherish democracy and pluralism. Israel’s strength is due in no small part to Shimon Peres and his foresight in advocating for peace while ensuring the nation he loved had the means to protect itself and its citizens in a turbulent world.

“Shimon Peres’ relationship with Canada was strong and lasting. In the 1950s, he visited Canada to secure assistance for the fledgling state. This soon cemented the special relationship between Canada and Israel, and he paid tribute to Canada on his 2012 visit when he said Canada is ‘an extraordinary friend’ and ‘never indifferent, never neutral.’”

Businessperson and former diplomat Arie Raif knew Peres well. He considered the Israeli leader his mentor and first met him as a teenager in the Israeli Knesset. Peres was a visionary, an elegant individual who never lost the common touch, who felt just as home with cooks and workers as with prime ministers and diplomats, he said.

Raif recalled an incident as a youth, when Peres visited the staff at the Knesset before Passover. He greeted them all with a warm embrace and wished them a happy holiday. Raif was able to meet the future prime minister, president and cabinet minister because his mother was the sous-chef in the Knesset at the time. Later, he would go on to work with Peres, and he opened the Canadian Peres Centre for Peace Foundation in Toronto.

Peres’ like will never be found again in Israel, Raif said. He possessed unique qualities that can’t be duplicated. As someone born in Europe, he brought something to Israel that the do-it-quick Israelis are lacking – a long-term vision for the country and the region.

Raif credited Peres with promoting peace and convincing his colleague, then-Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, to agree to the Oslo accords and shake Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s hand. That was something Rabin resisted for a long time.

Raif noted that, while a committed advocate for peace, in his earlier years, Peres played a key role in ensuring Israel possessed the means for its defence. In the 1950s, as director of the Ministry of Defence, “he made sure Israeli security forces got the best available weaponry and, according to the foreign press, he was the one who negotiated with the French for unconventional weapons” – Israel’s nuclear plant.

Canadian Jewish organizations also paid tribute to Peres.

“President Shimon Peres was a visionary, statesman, philanthropist and a giant of Israeli life whose private and professional accomplishments over seven decades read like the history of the modern state of Israel,” said David Cape, chair of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “As a strong proponent of conflict resolution who earned a Nobel Prize for his efforts, Peres embodied the timeless aspiration of the Israeli people for a future in which their children will live in peace and security.”

“Shimon Peres was a vital force in shaping Israel,” said Julia Berger Reitman, chair of Jewish Federations of Canada-United Israel Appeal. “His contributions in the political and security fields are unparalleled. He was one of modern Israel’s defining figures.”

Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre issued a statement offering its condolences and JSpaceCanada, a progressive Zionist organization, issued a statement saying it “mourns the passing of Shimon Peres, a source of optimism and inspiration for Israel and for the worldwide Jewish community…. He is mourned not only by Israel’s allies throughout the world but also by members in the Palestinian leadership who seek real peace.”

Meanwhile, Montreal MP Anthony Housefather addressed Parliament, noting that, “rarely does a man embody a country, but Shimon Peres was indeed such a man. He was a part of every bit of Israeli history, big or small, since before the nation was founded.

“Israel and the rest of the world lost an exceptional human being … a great statesman who dedicated his life to promoting peace and dialogue. He was a source of inspiration to many people all over the globe, myself included. Through his enduring commitment to the principles of justice and human dignity, he always worked in the best interest of his people.”

Also addressing Parliament, Toronto MP Michael Levitt said, “the international community has lost a giant.

“Shimon Peres was a peace builder, a public servant who embodied the boundless energy, optimism and desire of Israelis to seek peace in a region fraught with immense challenges.

“In his 66 years in public life, President Peres dedicated himself to fostering peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as exemplified in his leadership role in forging the Oslo accords.

“President Peres’ contributions extend far beyond peace and diplomacy. He was a driving force for innovation, inspiring Israelis to dream and think big. Unquestionably, his influence contributed in no small part to the rise of the ‘start-up nation.’… Israelis have lost a founding father, but his legacy will continue to shine.”

– A longer version of this article and more national Jewish news can be found at cjnews.com

Format ImagePosted on October 7, 2016October 5, 2016Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories Israel, NationalTags Canada, diplomacy, Israel, Peres
Six Jewish MPs part of Parliament

Six Jewish MPs part of Parliament

New Canadian MPs, clockwise from top left: Jim Carr, Michael Levitt, Karina Gould, Anthony Housefather, Julie Dabrusin and David Graham. (photos from cjnews.com)

The Liberal tide that swept away the Conservative government of Stephen Harper brought in what is believed to be a record six MPs of Jewish lineage – one of whom was appointed to cabinet.

Winnipeg South Centre MP Jim Carr was named minister of natural resources and will have responsibility for overseeing hot-button issues such as the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as Northern Gateway, which the Liberals opposed prior to the election, and Energy East.

Carr, 64, is a former provincial politician in Manitoba and served as president of the Business Council of Manitoba. He was also a founding board member of the Canada West Foundation, a public policy and research nongovernmental organization.

Of the incoming MPs, two hail from Quebec, three reside in and around Toronto, while Carr is the sole Westerner.

At the same time, a handful of prominent Jewish MPs departed the scene. Longtime Mount Royal Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, who served as justice minister and attorney general in earlier Liberal governments, announced his retirement prior to the election. He was first elected in the Montreal riding in 1999.

Conservative MP Joe Oliver, who served as finance minister in the outgoing government – the first Jew to ever hold the position – was defeated in Eglinton-Lawrence, while his Tory colleague, Mark Adler, was similarly ousted in York Centre. Both ridings run along Toronto’s Bathurst Street corridor and are home to thousands of Jewish voters.

In interviews with the CJN, the incoming MPs described their background, their ties to the Jewish community and how their Jewish heritage and being the children or grandchildren of immigrants helped inform their political views.

***

Jim Carr is well aware of the immigrant experience. His family’s experience in Canada dates back to czarist times. Carr is the grandson of immigrants who fled Russian pogroms in 1906.

“They came with nothing – no skills, no money – just a thirst for freedom for their children and grandchildren,” he said in an interview prior to being selected to cabinet.

Carr grew up in a middle-class household in the River Heights neighborhood of Winnipeg. He had his bar mitzvah in 1964 at Congregation Shaarey Zedek.

“I’ve been part of the community all my life,” he said.

He’s also had a rather eclectic career, playing oboe in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, working as a journalist for the Winnipeg Free Press and the CBC, and he was the founding chief executive officer of the Business Council of Manitoba. He also served in the provincial legislature as a critic in the areas of energy, education, urban affairs and constitutional matters.

Outside of politics, he was a founding member of Arab-Jewish Dialogue of Winnipeg, and he calls himself, “a passionate supporter of the state of Israel, which I have visited many times.”

Those life experiences shaped the values that he will bring to Ottawa.

“I can’t separate my values and political views from my identity as a Canadian and as a member of the Jewish community,” he said.

***

Michael Levitt had a traditional Jewish upbringing, just not in a traditional Jewish setting. The incoming MP for York Centre, Levitt attended synagogue and participated in youth groups in his native Scotland, where the Jewish community was small, tight-knit and traditional. It wasn’t until his family moved to Canada when he was a teenager that he was able to partake in the full array of communal activities.

And partake he did. His resumé listing his involvement in things Jewish is extensive. Among the most impactful was his participation in a leadership training program under the auspices of the United Jewish Appeal. “I found it absolutely fascinating,” he said.

He went on to serve as chair of the young adult division of the United Jewish Appeal and assisted in the UJA fundraising campaign, which raises money for a variety of Jewish agencies and for Israel.

He is a founding member of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee and he co-chaired Liberal Friends of Israel.

For Levitt, a partner and vice-president of business development for the Benjamin Group in Toronto, his Jewish heritage “absolutely” shaped the values he brings with him to Ottawa. Imbued with the spirit of tikkun olam, or repairing the world, he has particular empathy for seniors on fixed incomes, refugees and young people looking for jobs.

Levitt has visited Israel three times in recent years and expects his knowledge of the country will put him in a good position to inform his caucus colleagues about the challenges it faces.

***

Karina Gould calls herself “a fresh voice for Burlington,” her hometown. Although she is “not an active practitioner of Judaism,” she maintains her heritage through the celebration of Chanukah, Purim and Yom Kippur.

Gould is Jewish on her father’s side. Her paternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors from Czechoslovakia. Her grandfather was deported to Theresienstadt, then to Dachau and Auschwitz. Though separated during the war, her paternal grandparents were reunited afterward.

Her father met her mother, who is from Germany, while both were in Israel volunteering on Kibbutz Naot, where the sandals are made. While in Israel, her father visited her grandfather’s lifelong friend, a man who had been left for dead in a pile of corpses, but who had been rescued by her grandfather.

Gould visited Israel on a Birthright trip and stayed longer for a personal visit. Although she doesn’t consider herself a Zionist – “it’s not something that I thought about” – Gould admires the Jewish state.

“Israel is a beautiful country. It’s unique in the world. It has difficult challenges.” She particularly admires the country’s diversity and hopes for a solution that will allow it to peacefully coexist with its neighbors.

Gould believes her family heritage plays a big role in shaping her political values. “My family was accepted and welcomed into Canada after a difficult experience,” she said. “Canadian values of tolerance and diversity were not just important for my family, but for others. Canada provided the opportunity to grow and to thrive.”

***

Before incoming Jewish MPs can play Jewish geography with their colleague David Graham, they might well be better off studying the science of geography, as in maps and charts. That way they’ll be able to find the riding the Quebec MP represents. Graham was elected to represent Laurentides-Labelle, northwest of Montreal in the middle of cottage country and en route to the skiing venue Mont-Tremblant.

His family has lived in small-town Quebec for many years, he said, and his grandmother was an Olympic-level skier in her day. His great-grandfather, Hersh Wolofsky (Wolowski), was founder of Keneder Adler, a Yiddish-language newspaper that served the largely Jewish immigrant population of Montreal in the early 1900s.

Graham, 34, attended weekend Hebrew school as a young boy and today considers himself “a Reconstructionist Jew … culturally very Jewish.”

“I happen to be a Jew who happens to be in politics,” he said. “Jewish culture is a very community-oriented culture by nature. It had an enormous impact on my values,” he said, with the feeling that “community comes first.”

That has led him to champion a number of community initiatives, from promoting free software and calling for better public transportation.

Advocating for his community will be job one when he gets to Ottawa, he said. “My priority is my community.”

Laurentides-Labelle is “a poor riding” with an older population that lacks internet and cellphone connectivity, he said. Getting government to provide infrastructure support is necessary for the future of the area. “How are you going to keep youth if they can’t get the internet?” Graham asked.

As for the Middle East, he said, “I absolutely believe in Israel’s right to exist,” adding that the region is a very complicated place and he would defer to the government leadership in crafting policy in the area. “I have great faith that [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau knows who to turn to for the best advice.”

***

Julie Dabrusin grew up in Montreal, but moved to Toronto to attend law school. She met a guy, got married and never moved back. Today, she lives in the Danforth area of Toronto and will represent Toronto-Danforth in Parliament.

Growing up, she attended Hebrew school regularly and remembers it as “an important part of my week.”

Her Jewish identity is an important part of her life, as is her feeling of being part of a larger multicultural community.

“What I take from my Jewish background is a lot of study and learning, debate and advocacy,” she said. “That ties into being involved in politics.”

Dabrusin has visited Israel twice, first as part of a CEGEP (a publicly funded post-secondary, pre-university college) program that included volunteer work on a kibbutz and, later, while attending McGill University, on an archeological dig that unearthed a Byzantine church.

“Israel is a beautiful country with a strong and resilient population…. As a mother [of two], I understand Israelis wanting to be safe and secure,” she said.

***

The origins of the family name Housefather are lost in the mists of time but, according to family lore, there was probably an innkeeper or someone who ran an orphanage somewhere in Bukovina, Romania, who adopted the name, or at least the pre-anglicized version of it. But that connection to the Austro-Hungarian Empire is way in the past – all of Anthony Housefather’s grandparents were born in Montreal, as was he. Housefather, who has served as mayor of Cote-St.-Luc since 2005, was recently elected MP in the Liberal bastion of Mount Royal, the seat vacated by Irwin Cotler. The riding has a higher proportion of Jews than any in Canada, he said.

Like his predecessor, Housefather has substantial links to the Jewish community. He attended Herzliah High School and is fluent in Hebrew. He served on the executive of Canadian Jewish Congress’ Quebec region and was part of a group tasked with finding ways to retain young Jewish Montrealers who were leaving for greener pastures.

He also has longstanding ties to the Maccabi movement, with his first exposure to the Jewish sports organization as a teenager attending youth games in Memphis. At the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel, he won seven medals, two silver and five bronze, in a variety of masters swimming events.

“Being involved in the community, Jewish and non-Jewish, is an important part of our [family] values,” he said.

Given his role in local government, he sees himself as an advocate for municipal interests at the federal level.

He also considers himself as someone who will speak up for the Jewish community and reflect their concerns over the well-being of the state of Israel.

“I’m passionate about the state of Israel, and I certainly [understand] the security issues [it] faces, given its borders and the narrowness of the country…. I’m pretty well attuned to the policy issues on Israel. We committed in the election that we’d have Israel’s back, and support for Israel is a Canadian value,” he said.

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com.

Format ImagePosted on November 20, 2015November 17, 2015Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories NationalTags Anthony Housefather, David Graham, Jim Carr, Julie Dabrusin, Karina Gould, Liberals, Michael Levitt
Adler amends bio, posters

Adler amends bio, posters

The photo tweeted Aug. 16 by Walrus editor Jonathan Kay of Mark Adler’s original campaign office sign. (photo from @jonkay)

Conservative MP Mark Adler has removed a reference in his online biography in which he described himself as the first child of a Holocaust survivor to be elected to Parliament.

The move came after an Aug. 17 Canadian Jewish News story revealed that Raymonde Folco, a Liberal who served as a Montreal-area MP from 1997 to 2011, preceded Adler in that distinction, and that Folco was herself a child survivor of the Holocaust.

The Adler campaign also changed a large building sign outside his campaign office that contained a reference to the candidate being the son of a Holocaust survivor, which was removed and replaced with a message about “keeping our taxes low.”

The York Centre MP found himself at the centre of controversy after Walrus editor Jonathan Kay tweeted a picture Aug. 16 of Adler’s original campaign office sign containing his claim about being the son of a survivor. “And who needs Yad Vashem when Holocaust awareness is now being promoted on partisan Conservative signage?” Kay tweeted with the photo.

Adler’s current online biography continues to describe him as “a child of a Holocaust survivor … [who] has passionately dedicated his time to raise awareness about discrimination and antisemitism throughout the world.”

In a prepared statement, Adler said, “Throughout my life, I have advocated for Holocaust remembrance – so that all Canadians will remember the great evil of the Second World War and never forget. My father came to Canada after surviving the horrors of a Nazi death camp, and chose Canada based on the values that continue to unite us: democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law.

“I am proud to serve our country and deliver on the priorities of residents in York Centre – including advocacy for the security of the state of Israel and the promotion of democratic values abroad. I share the concern of many residents who are alarmed by the global campaign to isolate and denounce Israel, and the moral relativism that was embraced by past governments who equivocated on the defence of the Jewish state.”

Adler’s NDP opponent, Hal Berman, a palliative care physician, criticized the MP on his own Twitter feed, saying, “Shame on you using #Holocaust for political gain. #yorkcentre deserves better – I am in this for voters.”

Ironically, Berman is also the child of Holocaust survivors. In his own web bio, the Montreal-born Berman points out his “grandparents and mother arrived to start a new life after the Holocaust.”

Meanwhile, Folco said she found it “disgusting” for Adler “to use the Holocaust in this way, for personal ends.” As an MP, she never publicized her status as a child of Holocaust survivors, while Adler is “profiting” from it.

“Whether he is the first or 15th, I should think it is your record that matters: what you’ve done and what you intend to do for Canadians, when elected,” she told the CJN.

Adler is far from the first politician to draw attention to unique circumstances in their personal background.

In Vancouver, Liberal candidate Harjit Sajjan, who served in the Canadian Armed Forces and received the Order of Military Merit, noted in his web biography that he “is the first Sikh to receive this award and continues to be a role model for youth across the country as he prepares to serve his country in new ways.”

Retired senator Vivienne Poy, a Liberal, is described on the parliamentary website as the “First Canadian of Chinese origin appointed to the Senate.” She notes on her own website that she “was the first Canadian of Asian descent to be appointed to the Senate of Canada.”

High-profile NDP candidate Olivia Chow mentions her unique circumstances in her online biography, as well: “Olivia was born in Hong Kong and moved to Toronto with her parents when she was 13. In 1991, Olivia became the first Asian-born woman elected as a Metro Toronto councilor.”

And, south of the border, Hillary Clinton, the front-running Democratic Party presidential candidate, in a statement designed to appeal to new Americans, said during the campaign that her grandparents had immigrated to the United States. However, that comment was inaccurate. Three of her grandparents were born in the United States and the fourth immigrated to the country as a young child.

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com.

Format ImagePosted on August 28, 2015August 27, 2015Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories NationalTags Conservatives, federal election, Holocaust, Mark Adler, Raymonde Folco

Resignation, apology

Ala Buzreba, the 21-year-old Liberal candidate in Calgary Nose Hill, has withdrawn from the federal election campaign after vicious tweets attacking readers were revealed.

Buzreba apologized on Aug. 18 for the tweets, saying they were “made a long time ago, as a teenager, but that is no excuse.”

“They do not reflect my views, who I am as a person or my deep respect for all communities in our country,” she stated on her Twitter page.

The University of Calgary student announced her withdrawal later that evening, on the same day she tweeted how proud she was to be part of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s team promoting real change.

“After the unfolding of today’s events, I have decided to step down as the Liberal candidate for Calgary Nose Hill,” she stated.

Speaking during a campaign appearance in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Trudeau said, “When someone makes a mistake, it’s important that they own up to it and they apologize.

“Ala has unreservedly apologized for her comments and I think it’s important to point out that she was a teenager and that we all make mistakes.”

The tweets that prompted Buzreba’s apology and withdrawal employ vicious language to attack a variety of targets. One is a supporter of Israel, who in a 2011 tweet is told his mother should have used a coat hanger for an abortion. Another insults gay women, when Buzreba said her new haircut made her look like “a flipping lesbian.” And, in a third, she wrote, “Go blow your brains out you waste of sperm.”

Responding to critics, Buzreba tweeted that “young people, myself included, have learned a lot of lessons about social media. Those 2009-2012 tweets reflect a much younger person.”

Ironically, earlier this month Buzreba retweeted a tweet from Jerome James, Liberal candidate for Calgary Shepard, who spoke at an anti-bullying rally. It is, he stated, “An important cause to support.”

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com.

Posted on August 28, 2015August 27, 2015Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories NationalTags Ala Buzreba, federal election, Israel, Liberals

Canadians pray for teens

As three abducted Israeli teens ended their first week of captivity, communities from across Canada and around the world held vigils, gathered in solidarity and said prayers for their safe return; prayers that continue.

From Halifax to Vancouver, Jews gathered in support of Gilad Shaar, 16, Naftali Frenkel, 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, who were kidnapped by suspected Hamas terrorists while hitchhiking near Hebron June 12.

The largest of the events was held June 19 in the Toronto area, where as many as 1,000 people came together at the Schwartz/Reisman Centre at the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus. The rally was sponsored by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto in conjunction with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler spoke. He was in Israel when news of the teens’ abduction broke. Reports in Israeli newspapers were dominated “by a sense of angst and anguish,” he said.

Cotler attributed the kidnapping to Hamas, pointing out that the Islamic terrorist group is pledged to destroy Israel and kill Jews. He noted that, even before the kidnappings, Israeli media had reported that security forces had foiled 44 attempts to kidnap Israelis in the last year alone.

He said former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky, whom he met during his visit, stressed how important it was for his family and for him to know that Jews from around the world were rallying to his cause when he was in a Soviet prison.

Cotler said the operation to locate the teens is code-named “Brother’s Keeper,” and Israelis of all denominations are united in praying for the boys’ safe return.

Demonstrating support for the families of the three victims was a key motivation for many of those at the rally. “Those kids could have been any of ours,” Roz Lofsky said. “We all feel for those boys and we want to show solidarity with them.”

“We’re here to say that we are in support of those parents so they know they are not alone,” added Gladys Isenberg.

Conservative MP Mark Adler brought a message from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and drew a loud round of applause when he said, “Canada will stand with Israel through fire and water.” He called on the Palestinian Authority to disarm Hamas, take control of smuggling tunnels in Gaza and demonstrate its commitment to peace by reuniting the boys with their families.

Consul General D.J. Schneeweiss spoke and, in addition to members of the Jewish community, the event was attended by Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, vice-president of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, Ontario Region. Messages of support were received from the United Macedonians Organization of Canada and from Dominic Campione, past national president of the National Congress of Italian Canadians.

In Halifax, Rabbi Ari Isenberg, spiritual leader of Shaar Shalom Congregation, in conjunction with CIJA, officiated at a community-wide vigil of hope for the boys’ safe return. At the same time, Rabbi Amram Maccabi of Beth Israel Synagogue said special prayers for the teens.

In Montreal, about 400 people attended a June 15 prayer vigil at Congregation Beth Israel-Beth Aaron in Côte St. Luc. The vigil was sponsored by Israeli Consul General Joel Lion in cooperation with CIJA. Chana Landau, a relative living in Montreal, relayed the thanks of the Frenkel family to Jews around the world for their expressions of solidarity. Chaviva Lifson read a message of gratitude from the Shaar family, who live a block from her sister in Israel.

In Hamilton, Temple Anshe Sholom, in conjunction with the Hamilton Jewish Federation, hosted a community gathering “in solidarity with the families of the three Israeli students.”

In Winnipeg, congregations Shaarey Zedek, Etz Chayim, Herzlia-Adas Yeshurun, Chevra Mishnayes and Temple Shalom co-sponsored a prayer vigil in conjunction with the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.

The vigil, held at the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue, included a candlelighting ceremony, the recitation of psalms, a prayer for captives, the singing of Hatikvah and cantorial renditions of “Acheinu Kol Beit Yisrael ” (“All Israel are Brothers”) and “Bring Back our Boys,” a song written in the last two weeks in Israel.

Rena Elbaze, Jewish engagement specialist at the Winnipeg Federation, said the participation of a range of community organizations spanning a variety of denominations shows “we pray as a community and we’re united as a community when faced with these problems.

“We prayed for the sake of the boys, but also to make people present feel they are not alone and to show the families of the people who were kidnapped that people care about them.”

The Rabbinical Association of Vancouver, with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and other community organizations, sponsored a community prayer service at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.

Valder Belgrave, a spokesperson for JFGV, said, “Our sympathies are with the families, and it’s sad that they are drawn into the larger issue. They’re innocent victims in the larger scheme of things.”

– With files from Janice Arnold in Montreal. A longer version of this article can be found at cjnews.com/node/126049.

Posted on June 27, 2014June 25, 2014Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories NationalTags Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, Hamas, Irwin Cotler, Israel, kidnapped teens, Naftali Frenkel

UNESCO finally runs “Holy Land” exhibit

Canadian participants in a meeting earlier this month with French President François Hollande came away impressed with the French leader’s sincerity and determination to address the terrorism and antisemitism that has France’s Jews on edge.

Avi Benlolo, president and chief executive officer of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, and Member of Parliament and former justice minister Irwin Cotler said Hollande was empathetic to the concerns of the country’s Jews and was forthright in discussing the threat posed by French-born jihadists returning from Syria.

“Hollande spoke about the barbaric attack on the Jewish museum in Belgium” and about the protection of Jewish schools, synagogues and other community buildings, Cotler said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.

Cotler and Benlolo were part of a 20-member delegation assembled by the Los Angeles-based

Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which met with Hollande prior to officially inaugurating an historic exhibition at UNESCO’s Paris offices. The exhibit, mounted by historian Robert Wistrich, is titled, People, Book, Land: The 3,500-Year Relationship of the Jewish People to the Holy Land.

The exhibit was sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre along with the governments of Canada, Israel, the United States and Montenegro, and it launched this month after pressure from Arab countries forced its cancellation in January.

Benlolo said the reception by French officials and Hollande at the Élysée Palace was warm and welcoming. The delegates were anxious to express their concerns about the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels by a French gunman, who killed four people.

“Hollande believes there are more than 1,000 French nationals who went to fight in Syria and joined radical groups,” Benlolo said. Three hundred remain. Many came back and he’s concerned about their radicalization and if they will take action against the Jewish community.

Mehdi Nemmouche, the man accused in the Brussels attack, is believed to have spent 2013 fighting with Islamic radicals in Syria.

Hollande assured the delegates that he is working closely with intelligence and security services to track returning jihadists and to ensure the safety of the country’s Jews.

“I believe Hollande was very sincere,” Benlolo said. “The Jewish community received substantial grants to secure their schools and synagogues,” he added.

Cotler, who has visited France three times in the last six months, said, “People spoke well of Hollande and his genuineness, his commitment to combat antisemitism, to bring perpetrators of antisemitism to justice and his appreciation of jihadist acts as threatening to French Jews and France alike. He took the position that it’s a joint struggle, a part of the protection of French democracy and all of France.”

During the meeting, Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Wiesenthal Centre, told the president, “We meet at a pivotal time in history, when the Jewish community and France’s democratic values are under unprecedented attack by the forces of extremism both from the far right and from extreme Islamist purveyors of religious intolerance and murder.”

He applauded Hollande and his predecessor, president Nicolas Sarkozy, for denouncing an earlier terrorist attack in Toulouse that claimed the life of a rabbi and four children, but he lamented the failure of Muslim religious leaders to condemn the attacks.

Meanwhile, Cotler was effusive in his description of the Wistrich exhibit, which he called “historic.”

“It is a remarkable dramatization of history and heritage, of people, book, land, memory and state,” said Cotler.

In 24 panels, the exhibit traces Jewish history back to the patriarch Abraham, through Moses, King David and all the way through to the struggle for Soviet Jewry, the birth of Zionism and the reconstitution of the state of Israel.

The nine-day exhibit had been scheduled to open last January. Pressure from 22 Arab countries, who argued it would prejudice the peace process, prompted UNESCO to cancel it.

Responding to that decision, Hier stated, “It is ironic that, while the Arab League was trying to kill this exhibition and all the attention was focused on Paris, the UN headquarters in New York [was] hosting an exhibit entitled, Palestine, based entirely on the Arab narrative, which was not criticized as an interference with Secretary [John] Kerry’s mission.”

Following public criticism from Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and U.S. envoy Samantha Power, the exhibit was rescheduled to open early this month, but with the name Israel removed from the title and replaced with “Holy Land.” UNESCO also required the removal of an image of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which had been part of the initial exhibit prepared by Wistrich, a professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com.

Posted on June 27, 2014June 25, 2014Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories WorldTags Avi Benlolo, Francois Hollande, Irwin Cotler, Marvin Hier, Robert Wistrich, Simon Wiesenthal Centre, UNESCO

Kosher certification changes

In his book Kosher: Private Regulation in the Age of Industrial Food, American author Timothy Lytton recounts an old rabbinic joke featuring two mythical creatures created by God at the dawn of time: the Behemoth, a giant ox, and the Leviathan, a giant fish. In the joke, a rabbi explains to his students that, at the End of Days, when the Messiah arrives, there will be a feast and God will slaughter the Behemoth to feed the entire world. The Leviathan will also be slaughtered at the same time, and it too will be used to feed the entire world.

“But rabbi,” one of his students asks, “if the Behemoth can feed the entire world, why also slaughter the Leviathan?”

“Because there will be those who won’t believe the Behemoth is kosher, so they will be able to eat fish,” the rabbi answers.

Clearly, disputes over kashrut go back a long way and, if there’s any truth to the joke, the Messiah’s arrival might not resolve the matter.

Lytton, a professor of law at Albany Law School, told the CJN that the current certification system in North America, in which a handful of big players effectively dominates the market, developed as a result of widespread corruption and uncertainty in the kosher food market in the early days of the 20th century. Things then were so bad that people had no confidence that the food they might consume was actually kosher. Many kosher-observant Jews simply stopped eating meat, because they did not trust any certification.

Standards began improving 50 or 60 years ago and, today, industrial producers of all sorts of foods eagerly seek out kosher certification for entry into a desirable market. But rivalries among certification agencies can have a negative effect, Lytton writes.

“Personal animus and institutional rivalries can skew judgments about reliability. Information networks and supply-chain influence can be used to poach clients and stifle competition.

“Too many rivalries and accusations can spill over and create a public perception and a consumer response that is bad for both sides.”

“If the competition gets too bad or nasty, it tends to degrade the reputation of kosher supervision overall.”

Kosher certification agencies are “hostages of each other…. If the competition gets too bad or nasty, it tends to degrade the reputation of kosher supervision overall. If the nastiness gets bad enough, the history of kosher certification suggests that it will be bad for the public reputations of all the certifiers. There’s a long history in kosher certification of rabbis running each other down and, if they do it in public, the public won’t trust any of them,” he said.

One solution to infighting among certification agencies is being considered in Israel. Naftali Bennett, the country’s economy and trade minister, who also serves as minister for religious services, recently announced plans to introduce a three-tier system that aims to make certification easier for restaurants and their patrons. According to the Times of Israel, Bennett’s system would award food-producing establishments with one to three stars, indicating their level of adherence to Judaism’s dietary laws.

“Each business or company can decide how many stars it wants,” Bennett said.

The new approach would also revise the system of funding for certifications. Currently, food establishments pay for their own supervision, a practice that has drawn criticism for creating potential conflicts of interest for inspectors. The new reform proposes a third-party body that would handle the financial side of the kashrut supervision. However, the Times of Israel reported that there was plenty of criticism of the new government plan.

Shahar Ilan, deputy director of Hiddush, an Israeli nonprofit organization that promotes religious freedom and equality, said Bennett’s arrangement would maintain the state rabbinate’s monopoly over the kashrut system instead of opening it up to the free market. He called on authorities to encourage kashrut liberalization, including non-religious, Reform and Conservative kosher certifications, enabling consumers to choose to be kosher according to their own beliefs.

Lawrence Lax, a kosher consumer and an addiction counselor by profession, has his own suggestions about reforming kosher supervision in Toronto. He suggests that the Kashruth Council of Canada, which administers the COR hechsher and is known by that name, faces “a conflict of interest” in its operations – though different than the one centred on the way mashgichim are paid.

“On the one hand, they have to be of service to the people they work with in the food industry,” Lax said. “On the other hand, they have to make it possible for us to have kosher food at good prices.”

He suggested that COR use its market clout to negotiate better prices for meat. He also proposed that COR should transition into a community service organization; that it “age-out senior salaries” when older employees retire and turn over most mashgiach services to young men coming out of yeshivot, who wouldn’t command large salaries.

COR declined to answer the CJN’s questions. It published an open letter, in which it described itself as being “dedicated to serving our community.”

“COR is a not-for-profit organization and all fees collected go towards covering our operations and providing services to the community. In the food service division (i.e. restaurants and caterers) we actually operate at a financial deficit – our expenses are greater than our fees. We are able to marginally compensate for this loss from our other divisions. Customers choose COR because they know that we are reliable, we provide professional service and our prices are in line with the other major kosher certifiers,” the letter stated.

COR, however, has adopted the practice being criticized in Israel – it permits restaurants, caterers and suppliers to employ mashgichim directly, though they report to COR and are under the supervision of COR personnel.

Moti Bensalmon, a spokesman for Badatz Toronto, a kosher certification agency founded in 2008, said, “The conflict of interest whereby a mashgiach is paid directly by a business is finally going to end in Israel. Any agency allowing mashgichim to be paid by ownership loses its credibility in today’s world.”

Referring to other Israeli proposals for reform of its kashrut certification system, Bensalmon rejected the idea of a three-tiered approach.

“I believe a three-tiered system is bad here and in Israel. What we need to strive for is a solid one-tier system that is acceptable to everyone. This means that the Charedim and Modern Orthodox should negotiate unified minimum standards and apply them to everyone.

“What Bennett is trying to do is undermine the legitimate operations of the private hechshers and have the government be the sole certifier of kashrut.”

“If a restaurant or caterer wants a higher level of supervision, there are many reputable private hechsherim that can fill the void. What Bennett is trying to do is undermine the legitimate operations of the private hechshers and have the government be the sole certifier of kashrut.

“I believe the best way to move forward is for the Israeli Rabbanut to be more of a governing body for all hechshers. In order to provide kosher certification, the nongovernment hechshers would have to be accredited by the Rabbanut, meet certain standards, regulate their business practices and treat their mashgichim with fairness.

“This would also eliminate the back-room deals and put an end to agencies blocking each others’ products from entry into their establishments. This is the real solution, and it will open the hashgachah market up to more real and fair competition, which would eventually bring all prices down,” he said.

As to Badatz’s disputes with COR, Bensalmon said, “Everywhere there is a large Jewish community like Toronto, there are multiple kashrut agencies. It’s a fact of life that the COR must come to terms with. We harbor no ill will to the individuals running COR in any way. We would like to run our organization without interference from COR and vice versa.

“We have reached out to them multiple times and tried to have meaningful discussions centred on having two organizations operate by the same sets of rules in Toronto. Their position we were told is that the only solution is to join COR under their leadership and administration. As we see in other parts of the world, it’s difficult to reach an agreement with people who harbor those views.”

– For more national Jewish news, visit cjnews.com.

Posted on May 30, 2014February 24, 2016Author Paul Lungen CJNCategories WorldTags Badatz Toronto, COR, Hiddush, kashrut, Lawrence Lax, Moti Bensalmon, Naftali Bennett, Shahar Ilan, Timothy Lytton

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