We’re not taking a family member with Alzheimer’s off your hands. We’re taking them into our arms. Call now to reserve one of the limited spaces still available 647-932-7913 S E R V I N G Y O U P R O F E S S I O N A L L Y A N D C O M P A S S I O N A T E L Y W I T H A M E A S U R E O F H U M I L I T Y A N D A G R E A T S E N S E O F R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y Steeles Memorial Chapel Steeles Memorial Chapel SERVING OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1927 905-881-6003 • www.steeles.org ZAHAVY A I R C A B L I M O U S I N E S AAROPORT Airport Limousine Services Ltd. The Way a Family Should Travel 416.225.1555 www.aaroportlimo.ca MCINTOSH ISSUE 84 jewishtribune.ca December 12, 2013 ◆ 9 Tevet 5774 Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau stopped by B’nai Brith HQ to dis- cuss issue of interest Page 4 Norwegian Christians apologize at Knesset for their country’s an- tisemitism Page 6 Doris Grinspun is healing the world both inside and outside hospitals Page 7 Feature Special News Canada’s ‘naked CEO’ leads early birthright revolution Elie Klein Special to the Tribune After a brush with death, Canadian Hadas Brajtman de- cided to dedicate her life to Jewish education and Israel advocacy. Though it’s been a long road, one that has in- cluded taking orders, waiting tables and pouring Goldstar beer for tourists in a little restaurant in Beer Sheva, Brajt- man finally slipped into her dream job last month: Director of Lapid, the coalition for high school age programs in Israel. She hasn’t wasted any time and is already the leader of an Israel programming revolution that is looking to solidify strong Jewish identities by providing meaning- ful, pre-university Israel experi- ences. Brajtman, who was raised on Kibbutz Kfar Blum, ‘returned’ to Ottawa with her family at 16 to reconnect with her roots. But when she reached adult- hood, Israel beckoned and she felt compelled to answer the call. During her first trip back to Israel, Brajtman’s life was changed forever by an act of terror. In April 2006, Brajtman and two American friends took a vacation to Sinai, Egypt. While passing through the city of Dahab, they stopped for lunch at a cafe. Moments after they sat down, they were run- ning for their lives, narrowly escaping the carnage of a triple suicide bombing. “My first thought was that I needed to find a way to get to a safe place and I always felt safest in Israel,” said Brajtman. She escaped the incident with minor injuries, including shards of glass embedded in her skin and several burns. Years later, her ears are still ringing from the blast. “That day, I decided that I was going to make it in life no matter what. I was on a quest to find my calling, one that would positively alter the Jew- ish future.” After earning a degree in hos- pitality business and marrying an Israeli soldier, Brajtman de- voted her energies to bridging the gap between Israel and Di- aspora Jews. Seeing the great potential in innovative Israel programming for teens, she in- terviewed for a position as a counsellor at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel. Brajtman quickly moved up the ranks at AMHSI and made quite an impression on Gideon Shavit, the program’s CEO at the time. A few years later, Shavit is throwing all of his weight behind Lapid and brought Brajtman on to lead the charge. At 27, she is the youngest person to ever hold the position. See NAKED, page 2. Canadian Hadas Brajtman (inset), who likes to call herself ‘the naked CEO,’ heads Alexander Muss High School in Israel. She now leads with innovative programming for Diaspora Jewish youth.
Transcript
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Elie KleinSpecial to the TribuneAfter a brush with death,Canadian Hadas Brajtman de-cided to dedicate her life toJewish education and Israeladvocacy. Though it’s been along road, one that has in-cluded taking orders, waitingtables and pouring Goldstarbeer for tourists in a littlerestaurant in Beer Sheva, Brajt-man finally slipped into herdream job last month: Directorof Lapid, the coalition for highschool age programs in Israel.
She hasn’t wasted any time andis already the leader of an Israelprogramming revolution that islooking to solidify strong Jewishidentities by providing meaning-ful, pre-university Israel experi-ences.
Brajtman, who was raised onKibbutz Kfar Blum, ‘returned’to Ottawa with her family at16 to reconnect with her roots.But when she reached adult-
hood, Israel beckoned and shefelt compelled to answer thecall. During her first trip backto Israel, Brajtman’s life waschanged forever by an act of
terror. In April 2006, Brajtman and
two American friends took avacation to Sinai, Egypt.While passing through the
city of Dahab, they stopped forlunch at a cafe. Moments afterthey sat down, they were run-ning for their lives, narrowlyescaping the carnage of a triplesuicide bombing.
“My first thought was that Ineeded to find a way to get toa safe place and I always feltsafest in Israel,” said Brajtman.She escaped the incident withminor injuries, including
shards of glass embedded inher skin and several burns.Years later, her ears are still
ringing from the blast. “That day, I decided that I
was going to make it in life nomatter what. I was on a questto find my calling, one thatwould positively alter the Jew-ish future.”
After earning a degree in hos-pitality business and marryingan Israeli soldier, Brajtman de-voted her energies to bridgingthe gap between Israel and Di-aspora Jews. Seeing the greatpotential in innovative Israel
programming for teens, she in-terviewed for a position as acounsellor at the AlexanderMuss High School in Israel.
Brajtman quickly moved upthe ranks at AMHSI and madequite an impression on GideonShavit, the program’s CEO atthe time. A few years later,Shavit is throwing all of hisweight behind Lapid andbrought Brajtman on to leadthe charge. At 27, she is theyoungest person to ever holdthe position.
See NAKED, page 2.
Canadian Hadas Brajtman (inset), who likes to call herself ‘the naked CEO,’ heads Alexander Muss High School in Israel. She now leads with innovative programming for Diaspora Jewish youth.
2- The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
Frank Dimant, CEO, B'nai Brith Canada andJustin Trudeau, leader, Liberal Party ofCanada, engage in a discussion on Canada-Israel issues.
Photos: Joanne Hill
News
Programs offer optionsfor Diaspora Jewish youth
NAKED cont. from page 1.
“I like to refer to myself as the ‘naked CEO,’” explains Bra-jtman. “Aside from having absolutely nothing to hide, I be-lieve that if I was stripped of my fancy title and whateverresources I have, I would still be able to steer this ship on rawenergy and ambition.”
And Brajtman has set a very positive tone in her first fewweeks at the helm, charming Lapid member organizations tobecome more engaged, developing the coalition’s relationshipwith the Jewish Agency and attracting new coalition mem-bers, like Camp Kimama.
“We are knee-deep in new collaborations and exciting proj-ects,” she said.
Promoting an ‘Early Birthright Revolution,’ Brajtman isworking on many new initiatives to help raise awareness andsignificantly increase participation in quality high schoolage Israel programs.
“Lapid’s community of high school age Israel programs of-fers numerous educational, cultural and social options for Di-aspora Jewish youth from every background. If we can bringmore Jewish youth to Israel earlier on, we will be able to de-velop many more strong and involved communal leaders andwell-versed advocates for the Jewish state and the Jewish peo-ple.”
With a live wire like Brajtman at the wheel, the future looksbright for Lapid and very promising for Jewish youth en-gagement.
B’nai Brith Canada’s leadership wel-comed Liberal Party Leader JustinTrudeau to B’nai Brith headquarters inToronto on Monday.
Trudeau congratulated everyone presentfor their work with B’nai Brith and said that
“over the years, over more than a century,your dedication to community, to compas-sion, and to advocacy has obviously shonethrough.”
Trudeau spoke frankly as he engagedwith the leadership in a free-flowing
question and answer period covering awide range of topics of interest to theJewish community including Israel, Bill60 in Quebec, affordable housing, com-munity sports programs and Alzheimer’sresearch.
Justin Trudeau visits B’nai Brithheadquarters
The Jewish Tribune - December 5, 2013 -3Jewishtribune.ca
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Mike CohenQuebec Bureau ChiefHundreds of people gatheredoutside Côte Saint-Luc CityHall last week for a morale lift-ing rally for religious freedom,preceded by a Christmas treelighting and followed by thelighting of the Chabad Lubav-itch’s giant Chanukah meno-rah.
This was a “feel good event”as guest speakers spoke outloudly against draft Bill 60, theproposed Charter of QuebecValues, which would restrictreligious symbols, headgear,jewellery and clothing for em-ployees of virtually all state in-stitutions.
Côte Saint-Luc Mayor An-thony Housefather, RabbiReuben J. Poupko of Congre-gation Beth Israel Beth Aaron,Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz ofTifereth Beth David JerusalemCongregation and neighbour-ing Hampstead Mayor WilliamSteinberg were among thespeakers.
Housfather called Bill 60 “anodious law,” and then put hisown spin on former CanadianPrime Minister Pierre ElliottTrudeau’s famous quote thatthe state has no business in thebedrooms of Canadians, not-ing how Quebec “has no place
in the wardrobe of the nation.”Mount Royal Liberal MP
Irwin Cotler was unable to at-tend the rally, but he sent amessage calling Bill 60 “thecharter of shame.”
Added Housefather: “If G-dforbid this law is ever adoptedwe will go the courts. We willnever discipline anyone be-cause they wear a hijab, akippa or a crucifix.”
Hampstead’s Steinberg de-
clared this his town will notenforce the charter, if it is everadopted.
“Immigrants from all overthe world have fled tyranny
and racial strife to come toQuebec,” he said. “They camehere for freedom and democ-racy. They came to a placewhere they could express their
religious beliefs without fear ofpersecution or discrimination.If Bill 60 – the charter ofshame – becomes law, Quebecwill no longer be that place.
This odious bill contains pro-visions to eliminate minorityrights, to restrict freedom ofreligion and freedom of ex-pression.
The Charter of HumanRights and Freedoms will beamended so that these basicfreedoms can be removed. Wecannot allow that to happen.We must stand up and say no.”
Rabbi Steinmetz referred tothe charter of darkness. “It isdestructive and divisive,” hesaid. “It is stirring up an awfullot of animosity in our com-munity. It is a solution to aproblem that does not exist.This is cheap demagoguery; aploy to get better results at theballot box.”
Rabbi Poupko said that thecharter is a repudiation ofQuebec history. He accusedthe PQ government of tryingto divert attention from theeconomy.
“The definition of a democ-racy is when minority rightsare protected by law,” hesaid.
News
(JNS.org) – Hezbollah blamedIsrael for an attack in Beirutlast Wednesday that killed oneof its commanders, Hassan al-Laqqis, despite the fact that ajihadist group claimed respon-sibility for the assassination.
A group called The Free Sun-nis of Baalbek Battalion postedon Twitter that it “officiallyclaims the heroic jihadist op-eration of assassinating theleading member in the party ofthe devil Hassan Houlo al-
Laqqis in [Hezbollah’s] homeground.”
Yet a Hezbollah statementsaid, “The Israeli enemy tried tokill Laqqis many times… but itsattempts have failed until thisfoul assassination overnight….The Israeli enemy is naturallydirectly to blame.”
Yigal Palmor, an Israeli for-eign ministry spokesman,noted that Hezbollah often re-flexively blames Israel for suchincidents.
“[The killing of Laqqis] hasstrictly nothing to do with Is-rael. Hezbollah has made afool of itself in the past withthese automatic and ground-less accusations against Is-rael…. If they are looking forexplanations as to what is hap-pening to them, they shouldexamine their own actions,”Palmor said.
Laqqis was believed to havebeen the head of Hezbollah’sweapons program.
Montreal
Religious freedom rally attacks proposed ‘charter of shame’
Hundreds rally outside Côte Saint-Luc City Hall to protest Quebec’s proposed Charter of Values and to celebrate religious freedom at a “feel good event.”
Israel did it, says Hezbollah, despite jihadist groupclaiming responsibility
The Hezbollah Flag. (Photo: WikimediaCommons)
Alan Gross asksfor Obama’s helpto get out ofCuban prison
(JNS.org) – Alan Gross, whois serving a 15-year prisonterm in Cuba for helping theCuban Jewish communityaccess the Internet while hewas a subcontractor for theUnited States Agency for In-ternational Development,asked for President BarackObama’s “personal involve-ment” in helping to securehis release.
4- The Jewish Tribune - December 12,, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
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Joanne HillStaff WriterThe United Church of Canada(UCC) has entered phase twoof its attempt to spearhead aboycott against three Israelicompanies that operate inJudea and Samaria.
The boycott plan officiallysanctioned by the church inMay consisted of three phases.First, the UCC would tell
Keter Plastic, SodaStream andAhava to “cease all productionin the settlements” or face“economic action against theirproducts,” according to a state-ment on the UCC website. Itwould also ask retailers “suchas Canadian Tire, HomeDepot, Rona, Future Shop,The Bay, Walmart, Sears andCostco” to stop selling prod-ucts by those three manufac-turers.
Phase one was evidently notsuccessful, and therefore,phase two was launched lastmonth with a letter from UCCModerator Gary Paterson.
Calling for “positive actions forpeace with justice,” Patersonasked church members to “[j]oinin worship, prayer and study;economic action focused on set-tlement goods and support fortrust-building programs be-tween Palestinians and Israelis.”
To that end, about 20 peopleheld a protest last Thursday atthe Canadian Tire store at Bayand Dundas in Toronto. Akippa-wearing vice-president ofB’nai Brith Canada, who pur-chased SodaStream productsduring the protest, told the Jew-ish Tribune about his experienceson condition of anonymity forfear of reprisals by anti-Zionists.
When protesters near the storesaw his purchases, one womanbecame verbally abusive.
“She became extremely angry,”he said. “The other people werejust handing out cards...but thiswoman was quite aggressive inconfronting me.”
When he told the woman itwas important to support Israelibusinesses that employ Jews,Arabs and Palestinians, “that’swhen she told me I was stupidand a religious fanatic and steal-ing her people’s land.”
Frank Dimant, CEO, B’naiBrith Canada, said the woman’saccusations suggest that anti-semitism may be an underlyingcause of anti-Israel boycotts.
“Adding harassment to theprotesters’ ever-present litanyof unqualified accusationsmakes it all too clear that thesesame groups’ efforts to delegit-imize the Jewish state speakdirectly to their truest inten-tions,” said Dimant.
SodaStream, Dimant added,“employs 500 Palestinians aswell as 400 additional Arabs liv-ing in eastern Jerusalem at itsMa’ale Adumim manufacturingfacility alone. If individuals and
groups such as the UnitedChurch who promote boycottsof Israeli products would onlytake the time to examine thefacts, they would realize whothey are really hurting.”
News
Palash GhoshMarian Kotleba, whose or-ganization has long agitatedagainst Slovakia’s Roma(Gypsy) minority, brandingthem as “parasites,” once be-longed to the now-outlawedneo-Nazi Slovenská Pospoli-tost (Slovak Community)movement that praised theNazi puppet government thatruled the country duringWorld War II. He has beenelected a governor in Slova-kia.
Bloomberg reported thatKotleba openly admires JozefTiso, president of the Nazisatellite state in Slovakia dur-ing World War II, which dis-
patched thousands of Jews toNazi concentration camps.
Kotleba, a 36-year-old for-mer high school teacher, hasbeen notorious for sportingNazi-style uniforms in publicand also repeatedly arrestedand sued for spreadingracism and hate (no suchcharges have ever stuck, how-ever).
BBC reported that, with re-spect to foreign policy, Kotlebahas called for Slovakia to cancelits membership in NATO,which his party considers a“terrorist” organization, gainmore independence from theEU and establish a national cur-rency. PressEuropa also notedthat Kotleba once vowed to
“end the unfair preferentialtreatment accorded to parasitesand not just the gypsies.”
According to Bloomberg, Slo-vakia’s Roma community,which account for about 7 percent of the population, has be-come a scapegoat for an eco-nomic slowdown and thelikelihood of increased govern-ment austerity measures to sat-isfy the EU’s deficit targets.SME, a Slovak daily newspaper,said Kotleba’s triumph wassparked by “a mixture of ha-tred, powerlessness and out-rage against the elites.”
Pavol Freso, the SDKU candi-date who won in Bratislava,characterized Kotleba’s victoryas “a huge blow for democracy.”
Toronto
Kippa-wearing customer faces verbal abuse during UCC protest
Slovakia’s new neo-Nazi governor only latest ofextremists emerging in Eastern Europe
The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 -5Jewishtribune.ca
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About 40 Norwegian Christianleaders and clerics held a spe-cial ceremony in the Knessetlast Wednesday to formallyapologize on Norway’s behalffor their role during the Holo-caust and the 1993 Oslo Ac-cords.
The delegation featured rep-resentatives from 21 differentorganizations, who weregreeted by Knesset ChristianCaucus members, MKs RabbiDov Lipman (Yesh Atid) andGila Gamliel (Likud). The rep-resentatives then delivered a
speech expressing support forIsrael, as well as reservationsabout the Oslo Accords, whichthey claimed “rips apart theLand of Israel.”
The 1993 Oslo Accords werethe meetings first held to facil-itate peace talks, which failed,between Israel and the Pales-tine Liberation Organization(PLO), which is the power be-hind the Palestinian Authority.Instead of ushering in peace,the accords, which gave thePLO/PA control over large por-tions of Judea and Samaria, as
well as weapons and militarytraining to “enforce law andorder” there – are widely seenas having enabled a wave ofterrorist attacks that killedscores of Israeli civilians, cul-minating in the so-called Sec-ond Intifada, which killedmore than 1,000 Israelis –most of them civilians.
It is also seen as havinggranted the PA the interna-tional legitimacy to embark ona campaign to isolate the Jew-ish state diplomatically.
The representatives hailed
from across Norway, and in-cluded a delegation from theindigenous Lapp (Sami) popu-lation. The meeting was or-ganized by the InternationalChristian Embassy inJerusalem (ICEJ).
Doug Aoibind Juliussen,chair of the InternationalChristian Embassy in Norway,said, “We Christian leaders inNorway, want to apologize andask for forgiveness from theJewish people for Norway’s at-titude toward you from theHolocaust through Oslo Ac-cords and until this day.”
Josh Reinstein, chair of theKnesset caucus to promote re-lations with Christian commu-nities around the world, toldArutz Sheva at the end of thevisit that “the Christian leadersapologize forantisemitism...the Oslo agree-ment and the boycott Norwaysupports [against Israel].”
He said that the process ofasking for forgiveness “is justand there are many morecountries that need to ask forforgiveness” and emphasizedthat the point is not just toapologize “but to work for thebenefit of the state of Israel.”
Gamliel said at the end of theevent, “As chair of the caucus,I see at all kinds of interna-tional conferences much lovefrom Christians who love Is-rael. Leaders in Norway cometoday for the first time to theIsraeli Knesset asking forgive-
ness for a long list of Norwe-gian involvements against Is-rael, ranging from theHolocaust through the Osloaccords and donations to ter-rorist organizations, whichsupport the boycott against Is-rael.”
Gamliel added, “I believe itcomes from the bottom, andthat it will continue in theleadership (on upward). Weare on the right path.”
Reprinted with permission fromArutz-7.
News
Shimon Peres: ‘We don’tconsider Iran as anenemy’(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) – “We don’t consider Iran asan enemy,” Israeli President Shimon Peres told CNN’s RichardQuest on Sunday at the Globes Israel Business Conference in TelAviv.
Asked whether he would be willing to meet with Iranian Pres-ident Hassan Rouhani, Peres replied, “Why not? I don’t have en-emies.
“It’s not a matter of a person but of a policy,” Peres said. “The[goal] is to convert enemies into friends.”
In August, Rouhani reportedly said of Israel, “After all, in ourregion there has been a wound for years on the body of the Mus-lim world under the shadow of the occupation of the holy landof Palestine and the beloved al-Quds (Jerusalem).”
Obama opposes Israel’s requestto halt all Iranian enrichment(JNS.org) – President Barack Obama said he believes Iran can stillhave a peaceful nuclear program with “modest enrichment,” while re-jecting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s requests for acomplete stop to enrichment.
“You’ll hear arguments, including potentially from the [Israeli]prime minister, that we can’t accept any enrichment on Iranian soil.Period. Full stop. End of conversation,” Obama said in an address atthe Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, DC.
Obama said of Netanyahu’s approach, “We have to be more realis-tic. There are times where I, as president of the United States, amgoing to have different tactical perspectives than the prime ministerof Israel – and that is understandable, because Israel cannot con-tract out its security,” Obama said.
Jerusalem
Norwegian Christians apologize for antisemitism, Oslo Accords
Norway delegation at Israel’s Knesset asks for forgiveness (Photo: Israel National TV screenshot)
6- The Jewish Tribune -December 12,, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
Jack BorensteinCorrespondentDoris Grinspun – RN, MSN,PhD, LLD (hon), andO.ONT. – brings a passionfor caring about the humancondition, the Canadianpublic health care systemand nurses.
Grinspun, 60, CEO of theRegistered Nursing Associa-tion of Ontario (RNAO), isproud of her Jewish heritageand takes tikkun olam (healingthe world) as the mantra in herrole and daily work activities.The East York resident wasborn and raised in Santiago,Chile.
“I grew up in a typical Jewishhome and the most importantlearning came from my par-ents,” she said. “They insistedwe were to be first and fore-most decent human beingscaring for others, not just forourselves. I went to a Jewishschool (Instituto Hebreo), aJewish synagogue where I hadmy bat mitzvah (Circulo Is-raelita) and [belonged to] aJewish youth movement (Bar-cai).”
Grinspun, wo wanted to be anurse since she was seven,began her dream career byearning her RN diploma fromthe Hadassah School of Nurs-ing in Jerusalem and a bac-calaureate degree from Tel AvivUniversity. She worked atHadassah Hospital, Meir Med-ical Centre in Kfar Saba, andLevinstein Rehabilitation Hos-
pital in Raanana. “I always wanted to study
nursing in Israel and livingthere for 12 years was an ex-traordinary experience.”
Grinspun underwent an ad-justment period in Israel fromsocial, culture and behaviouralstandpoints.
“Then came the 1973 YomKippur war and I was a 20-year-old student at Hadassahnursing burned soldiers andyou can imagine how difficultthat was.”
From 1983 to 1989 at theUniversity of Michigan sheearned a master of science innursing to expand her hugepassion for clinical nursingwork.
Grinspun subsequently cameto Canada with her husbandand children and earned aPhD in sociology from YorkUniversity.
Being director of nursing atMount Sinai Hospital inToronto from 1990-1996 wasa tremendous experience, saidGrinspun.
“Management and staffnurses made very big im-provements over the years interms of model of care deliveryand providing evidence-basedprofessional nursing with anall RN staff.”
Grinspun became RNAO’SCEO in 1996 “because I’ve al-ways been attracted to chal-lenges. We had 11,000members in the associationwhen I came in and today wehave 36,000 members, over
80 magnificent staff and robustprograms that touch every pa-tient in Ontario, Canada andabroad.”
RNAO evidence-based prac-tice guidelines are used bynurses in more than 360worldwide sites including lo-cally: Mount Sinai Hospital. St.Michael’s Hospital, UniversityHealth Network, Saint Eliza-beth Home Health Care andToronto Public Health Unit.
Grinspun has inspired RNAOmembers to not only deliver ex-cellence in patient care, but alsoto mobilize as a lobbyist groupto promote healthy nutrition,decent affordable housing and
other social determinants ofhealth for those affected bypoverty.
“There are 200,000 homelesspeople in Canada, which isshocking and embarrassinggiven Canada is the 11th rich-est country (GDP Per Capita)in the world; 60,000 peopleare on the waiting list for sub-sidized housing in Ontariowith the average wait time 38months. The aboriginal home-less wait time is about 10years. The Jewish communityshould become more aware ofthe world around us and theneed for basic necessities oflife, like shelter for people,
which will help decrease thechances for an individual tobecome ill.”
Grinspun and about 60
nurses and students partici-pated in a Nov. 22 rally tocommemorate National Hous-ing Day in Toronto.
“Having a home and a roof isa basic necessity for beinghealthy. As a member of theOraynu Congregation for Hu-manistic Judaism, I’m proudbeing part of the wonderfulwork they do helping those inneed.”
For the past two decadesGrinspun has worked exten-sively on many internationalprojects and has publishedand spoken extensively inCanada and abroad.
Her awards and investituresinclude the Order of Ontario(2003), an honorary doctoratein law from University of On-tario Institute of Technology(2011), and the Queen Eliza-beth II Diamond Jubilee Medal(2013).
In November she was electedto the board of directors of theHonour Society of Nursing,Sigma Theta Tau International.
Profile
OECD lauds Israel’s economic growth
(JNS.org) – The Organization for Economic Cooperationand Development (OECD) praised Israel’s economic growthin 2013 and predicted that its economy will continue togrow in 2014 and 2015 at a rate that exceeds growth pro-jections for the OECD’s other 33 member nations, IsraelHayom reported.
“Israel’s output growth remains relatively strong, unem-ployment is at historically low levels, its high-tech sector con-tinues to attract international admiration and new off-shoregas fields have come on stream,” the OECD said in the exec-utive summary of its 2013 Israel Economic Survey.
Toronto
Healing the world, inside and outside hospitals
Doris Grinspu, CEO of the Registered Nursing Association of Ontario, participates in a rally last month to commemorate National Hous-ing Day. (Photo: Melissa Di Costanzo/RNAO)
The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 -7Jewishtribune.ca
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Suri EpsteinCorrespondent“The relationship betweenIndia and Israel is one of heartsand minds and goes beyond
what can be described inwords.”
Indian Consul GeneralAkhilesh Mishra’s sentiments,expressed at a recent briefingfor business leaders in
Markham, explain the explo-sion of ties connecting the twocountries. Since the establish-ment of diplomatic relations in1992, trade between Israel andIndia has increased from $180
million a year to an astonish-ing $6.5 billion.
“It’s a relationship based onvalues of democracy, plural-ism, and profound mutual ad-miration,” said keynotespeaker Noam Ben-Ozer. “It’samazing to see how similar thecharacteristics are betweenboth nationalities.”
Ben-Ozer is the CEO and co-founder of Focal Energy, an Is-rael-India renewable energypartnership that has achievedremarkable success since itsformation in 2008.
Focal Energy manages 61megawatts of energy via 11clean energy plants acrossIndia using biomass, hydro-electric and solar technology.
“Focal Energy is just one ex-ample of a new breed of Is-raeli-Indian partnerships thatoffer new opportunities forshared success – both localand global,” said Israeli ConsulGeneral DJ Schneeweiss.
In three of their biomass fa-cilities, leftover mustard seedsare converted into fuel.
“We buy material from farm-ers that would have been lefton the ground or burned,”Ben-Ozer said. “It sounds al-truistic, but in reality we’repaying the farmers a signifi-cant amount, but still less thanwhat you’d pay for coal.”
Focal Energy also uses run-of-the-river technology in sixfacilities with plans to greatlyexpand that number.
and lower risk than traditionaldam-based hydro projects,”said Ben-Ozer.
Ben-Ozer grew up on an Is-raeli Kibbutz and attendedbusiness school at Harvard Uni-versity. Although the companyis now international in scope,the intrepid nature of the Israeliinvestment community pro-vided ideal opportunities forpartnering and raising capital.
“Our business is built on notjust doing good, but trying to getgood financial returns,” he said.
Focal Energy hopes to eventu-ally expand its clean energy
model beyond India to otherareas of the world. “If you canmake it in India,” said Ben-Ozer.“You can make it anywhere.”
Markham Mayor FrankScarpitti and Anchit Gupta, di-rector of business develop-ment at Focal Energy, alsoaddressed the gathering whichwas sponsored by The Indo-Canada Chamber of Com-merce, the Canada IsraelChamber of Commerce, theCentre for Israel and JewishAffairs, the City of Markhamand Walter Arbib and SurjitBabra of Skylink Group.
News
Israel has been accepted to jointhe United Nations HumanRights Council (UNHRC),Ma’ariv recently reported. Theinternational body infamous forcondemning the Jewish statewill now add it to the list ofnine Western states.
The move is a completeabout-face for the UNHRC,which in its five-year historyhas condemned Israel morethan 46 times – more than anyother nation in the world.
The US and other Westernpowers have already publiclydeclared that the UNHRC is inthe wrong for condemning Is-rael. In October, Israeli diplo-mats demanded that theUNHRC stop harassing Israel
in light of more pressing con-flicts, like a nuclear Iran and theSyrian Civil War, which haveremained largely ignored by theinternational rights group. Thedemand followed an 18-monthboycott of the council after itdemanded that Israel uncondi-tionally retreat to 1949Armistice lines.
Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-tanyahu and his national secu-rity advisor Yaakov Amidrorhave set two requirements aspreconditions for the resump-tion of cooperation with thecouncil.
The first is that EuropeanUnion states agree to boycottthe council meetings, which areheld under the anti-Israel
Agenda Item 7 mandate, along-side the US, Canada and Aus-tralia.
Agenda Item 7 states that theUNHRC must discuss Israel’salleged human rights violationseach and every time the councilconvenes, regardless on what isoccuring in other countries inthe Middle East or around theworld.
The EU has agreed to boycottthe meetings at the next twoUNHRC conventions. In thefuture, it could only participatein Agenda Item 7 discussions ifthere is a complete consensusover the issues at stake amongevery EU member state. Reprinted with the permission ofArutz-7.
Markham
Israeli initiative generating clean energy in India
Anchit Gupta (left), director, business development and Noam Ben-Ozer, founder and CEOof Focal Energy, an Israeli-Indian energy partnership, at a recent briefing in Markham.(Photo: Suri Epstein)
Jerusalem
Israel to join UN Human Rights Council
8- The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
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Cheryl Katz is the Itanu com-mittee chair for the Beth DavidB’nai Israel Beth Am Syna-gogue. The goal of the com-mittee is to make Beth Davidbarrier free, so that membersand visitors alike have unre-stricted access to the syna-gogue and its many facilities.
The Itanu committee first de-fined what special needs ex-isted and what could be doneto facilitate full participation.Katz contacted Eddie Rice,chair of the Ontarians withDisabilities Subcommittee ofthe League for Human Rightsof B’nai Brith Canada.
Katz is a “strong individualwith great ideas,” said Rice.She is very easy to work withand combined with Rice’s rec-ommendations and her com-mittee’s findings, establishedsolutions that would work toimprove accessibility.
One on the most pressingneeds was an elevator. Thevery old, existing elevator ac-commodates no more thanone person using a wheelchair.Even a single scooter, depend-ing on its size, was extremelydifficult. One of Rice’s recom-mendations was to install alarger elevator. Phase one ofthe renovations/retrofits wasinstallation of a new elevator.
“This is part of a major proj-
ect to renovate the shul,” saidKatz, “so that it truly does be-come a Jewish centre for theentire community.”
The elevator doors can openfrom either side at differentlevels. A new elevator lobbywas constructed, which allowsfor the ergonomic flow of con-gregants coming out of thebusy sanctuary. Katz men-tioned that this feature was amajor improvement duringShabbat, holidays and otherevents at the synagogue.
The second phase of thisambitious project was instal-lation of emergency evacua-tion ramps. The ramps werechallenging as they had be toinstalled from the sanctuaryand banquet hall that are onthe second floor of the build-ing.
The expertise and open-mindedness of architect andcontractor Ron Pansino fromHIYC Inc. are credited withthe unique design of theramps. They extend from thesecond floor to the street fromemergency exits at the front ofthe sanctuary and rear of thebanquet hall. Barry Lubek wasproject manager for the rampinstallation and a member ofthe Itanu committee. WeldedTube of Canada Inc. gener-ously donated the structural
steel for the ramps.This was just part of what
Beth David Synagogue has ac-complished. For the last twoyears, Beth David had sign lan-guage interpreters for the HighHolidays. The shul also in-stalled an accessible wash-room. This is all part of adesire to be inclusive and ac-cessible to the entire commu-nity, said Katz. She added thatother improvements are, “onthe drawing board and there isstill more to do.”
Katz credits Rabbi PhilScheim and the executive andboard for envisioning a shulthat is accessible and welcom-ing to all. She particularlythanks Barry Sonshine for em-bracing the vision and en-abling this goal.
The funds needed were theresult of a concerted effort bythe shul through fundraisingand donations.
In addition, Katz and Lubek,with Rice’s support, were in-strumental in applying for andobtaining funds throughHRDSC, a federal governmentgrant supporting accessibility.
Rice is proud that his B’naiBrith committee was able toassist and congratulates therenovation accomplishmentsof Beth David and its Itanucommittee.
NewsToronto
Beth David embarks on ambitious program of accessibility
10- The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
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Mike CohenQuebec Bureau ChiefWhile Kosher Jokes for the Halal-adays is now in its fourth year ofbringing Jews and Muslims to-gether under one roof to laughin unison during the holidayseason, in Quebec the proposedCharter of Values is giving newmeaning to the event.
“This is an extra special yearfor the Montreal show, withthe release of the charter,which has actually united boththe Jewish and Muslim com-munities in protest of notbeing allowed to wear religiousgarbs in certain public places,”says organizer Jeff Schouela.“Now Montreal’s top Jewishand Muslim standup comicsare joining forces in an attemptto further unite both groups tolaugh and be very merry.”
Kosher Jokes for the Halala-
days has already completed itsDecember 2013 shows in Ot-tawa and Toronto. The nextstop is the Comedy Nest at theForum, 2313 St. Catherine St.W. for shows Dec. 19-21 at 8p.m. Tickets are $15 each.
The performers includeSchouela, Eman (CTV ComedyNow!), Dave Acer (ABC’s MysteryHunters), Abdul Butt (CBC’s ThisHour Has 22 Minutes), Jess Sa-lomon (CBC’s George Strombo)and Toby Muresianu (Real Timewith Bill Maher).
Salomon recently unveiledher own Charter of MontrealValues, calling it Bill 60.2. Oneof its purposes, she said, wasto recall that religion is notcontagious. She adds that theprovincial government is re-quired to identify an actualproblem before legislating asolution.
“Parti Québécois policy willbe accommodated when it is
reasonable, that is when it isnot formulated on the basis ofparanoid delusions or for cyn-ical political gain,” she noted.“Despite what Bill 60 seems tosuggest, our only options arenot pork at the cabane à sucreor being ruled by Sharia Law.”
Salomon said reaction to hercharter has been extraordinary.
“My favourite reaction was afriend of mine texting me froma conservative Muslim wed-ding in the West Island to tellme people were quoting somelines!” she said.”I think laugh-ing is always important andthere can be humour in almostanything. When the govern-
ment is being ridiculous theydeserve to be ridiculed as wellas criticized seriously.”
Muresianu, a Boston-bornJew who now resides in LA,said he never heard about theCharter of Values.
“I will do my best to avoidlearning about it so I can pleadignorance after I violate it re-peatedly,” he said.
About the show’s concept? “I think it's great,” he re-
sponded. “People are basicallythe same and the more you areexposed to other cultures themore you realize how much youhave in common. My roommateis a Palestinian comedian and it’s
great fun to do shows and pokefun at each other and show peo-ple you don’t have to take thingsso seriously.”
For more information, call(514) 932-6378 or visitwww.comedynest.com.
News
Christian tourists flocking to IsraelJERUSALEM – Christians are flocking to the Holy Land in in-creasing numbers and an estimated 2 million are expected tohave visited Bethlehem by the end of this year, according to Is-rael’s Ministry of Tourism.
That number is almost double the 1.18 million Christians whovisited Bethlehem in 2012, according to a statement on Israel’sforeign affairs ministry website.
Between January and October of this year, 1.85 million touristsvisited Bethlehem and that number will swell during the Christ-mas season, as 25,000 of the 75,000 anticipated visitors to Is-rael will be Christian.
Last year was a record-setter for tourism to Israel and 56 per cent ofthe 2.88 million visitors that year were Christians whose top destina-tion was Jerusalem, the statement showed. The most popular sites forChristian pilgrims were the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Via Do-lorosa, Western Wall, Mount of Olives, Jewish Quarter, Church of theAnnunciation, Capernaum and the Yardenit baptism site.
The Israeli government has invested heavily in improving theinfrastructure of Christian holy sites and its tourism ministryworks with churches to facilitate visits to those sites. During theChristmas season it will offer free bus trips between Jerusalemand Bethlehem.
Annual holidaycomedy show forJews andMuslims takes on new meaningthanks to proposed charter
Montreal
Kosher Jokes for the Halaladays: timely comedy show to hit Montreal
At last year’s show (from back left) are: Bilal Mammah, Jeff Schouela, Jess Salomon, Ali Mohammadi, Dan Laxer, Ryan Wilner and Eman.
Jewishtribune.ca The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 -11
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Michael DiamondSpecial to the TribuneI would never have imaginedmyself sitting in the darkenedcarriage of a late-night Haifa-bound train, peering excitedly atold photographs. But there wewere, Significant Other and my-self (two ex-Glaswegians) poringover faces and places, looking forsomething familiar, or a familylikeness among the crowds.
We had just attended thelaunch, in the Diaspora Mu-
seum, of Jewish Glasgow – an Il-lustrated History published bythe Scottish Jewish ArchiveCentre in Glasgow.
Sitting amongst the livelybuzz of the attending 250 Is-raeli-Glaswegians, I realizedwe were there as much to re-connect with old friends as forthe launch of the book.
I've seen volumes beforeabout Jewish communities.They seem written by academ-ics for academics, and not ofgreat interest to the averagereader. But this book is differ-ent. It is large format, beauti-fully presented and exquisitelyreadable. It overflows withphotos, documents and vi-gnettes, and is hugely enter-taining if you’ve been part ofthe Glasgow community. It’sclearly meant for the masses.
So there we were, on thetrain, speeding toward Haifa.
When you’re holding1,000 photos of your distanthome community, what’smore natural than searchingfor familiar faces? SignificantOther (S.O.) and I jostledfor position, vying to seewho could identify the mostpeople – but secretly search-ing for ourselves. I was be-ginning to despair. We’dexamined by now about 500faces and none of them were
ours.Then I turned to page 105
and there I was, aged seven,first row, 1965. I then joyouslynamed everyone in the pic-ture, in awe at the humanbrain’s capacity to retain suchinformation unaccessed fornearly 50 years.
Then I thought of my dad –he'd been active in the com-munity for decades. Surelyhe’d be mentioned? I’d just ex-
pressed this thought to S.O.when I turned the page andsaw him staring at me from hisvery own half-page, wearingthat hideous shirt of newspa-per clippings he’d worn manytimes – much to the family’scollective embarrassment.
Reading about his achieve-ments brought tears to myeyes. He’s 87 now, his memoryfading. Later, examining theindex, I noticed his autobiog-
raphy, Can You Get My Name inthe Papers?, is quoted severaltimes throughout.
Coincidentally, immediatelyopposite my dad are a coupleof photos of the Glasgow Jew-ish Choral Society. There,peering cheekily over some-one’s head, is my mum, longsince passed.
I take comfort in the knowl-edge that when the book is inits natural closed state, myparents are side by side onceagain.
Despite its producers’ inten-tions, I suspect there will bemore interest in this bookamong ex-pats than the cur-rent Glasgow community. Forus, it’s a link to our heritagethat I fear they won’t value asstrongly.
If anyone has an ex-Glaswe-gian Jewish relative or friendliving somewhere in theworld, you must gift them thisbook. It’s a record of their ori-gins and will remain on theirfamily bookshelves for genera-tions to come. Trust me, they’lllove you for it.
To read more about it, see myblog at http://www.michaeldia-mond.biz/my-community-of-jews-in-kilts/.
It can be acquired here:http://www.sjac.org.uk/book.html.
In Their Own Words � News
(JNS.org) – Israel’s ChiefRabbinate will allow womento become Kashrut supervi-sors for the first time in thewake of a petition filed bythe Emuhah women’s rightsgroup to the High Court ofJustice.
Ashkenazi Chief RabbiDavid Lau has decided to re-move stipulations from theguidelines preventingwomen from applying for thejob.
Emunah, which has advo-cated for this change for twoyears, created a course to trainwomen to work as Kashrutsupervisors.
“This is without doubt a his-toric breakthrough and achieve-ment,” Emunah Chair LioraMinke said following the an-nouncement of the decision.
Yesh Atid MK Aliza Laviesaid the Chief Rabbinate“must continue to find waysto make itself more accom-
modating to reality in Israel.”
Haifa
Old photos come to life for ex-Glaswegians
Michael Diamond’s dad got his own half-page, wearing the hideous shirt of newspaper clippings that always embarrassed his family.
Jerusalem
Rabbinate to let women be kashrut supervisors
Women will be able to work as Kashrut supervisors in Israel for the first time. (Photo:Wikimedia Commons)
12- The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
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Joel BenjaminJust as Judaism is an ethicaland spiritual lighthouse – sotoo were The Beatles.
Most religions have theirroots in spiritual awakening.The Beatles had a powerful ap-peal to a generation in callingforth a spiritual bonding. Theysought out wonder, meaningand innocence in their livesand music. Similar to Judaism,the religious allure of The Bea-tles was a vital factor in allow-ing the group to endure.
They were spiritual apostlesthat evangelized a kind ofgospel that resonated withtens, if not hundreds, of mil-lions of people across a broadspectrum of the planet. Theirown personal search for ameaningful spirituality was amajor part of their attraction.
Joining the Beatle religionwas nothing more than a mat-ter of “belonging to the com-munity” of people likeyourself, who enjoyed theirmusic and definitely agreedwith the idea, tone, focus andmessage. They preached a fan-tastic gospel – and throughmusic – not lectures and shi-urim. Just as many secularJews benefit from belonging tothe Jewish community anddon’t go all the way into it, alarge global community be-came part of the Beatle com-munity by listening to theirsongs and loving what theystood for and to follow theirincredible lives. They inspiredus and left us in awe of them,just as the most orthodox Jewdoes for Hashem.
With no formal rituals, thegospel according to The Beat-les is a story of spiritual andpersonal exploration. The cen-tral concern of their simplemessage was their unfoldingphilosophy, which always piv-oted on freedom of one type oranother – political and spiri-tual. The human problem, intheir eyes, was one of limita-tions and constraint. We can’t
reach our full potential, if weare inhibited.
In the same way, the Jewishidea suggests that we need tofree ourselves from the limita-tion and entrapment of ourphysical world at least once aweek on Shabbat to free oursoul and our bodies from thetrappings of the physicalworld. This weekly time-hon-oured Jewish practice of ‘free-ing ourselves so we couldembark on a more spiritualpath is exactly what The Beat-les projected to the world.
The Beatles were present inour world for exactly sevenyears from August 1962 whenRingo joined the group untilAugust 1969 when they com-pleted the recording of AbbeyRoad. Exactly seven years tothe very month.
Seven is a key number in Ju-daism. G-d created the worldin seven days. It also repre-sents spiritual perfection andfullness or completion. TheSabbath meant that at least oneday out of seven would be re-served for spiritual matters –to enable a working person tohave one day of the week de-voted exclusively to the soul.The Sabbath year, also calledthe sabbatical year or sheviit, isthe seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle man-dated by the Torah for theLand of Israel.
The Beatles recorded 12 stu-dio albums. Twelve is a perfectnumber, also signifying perfec-tion in anything to do withrules. There are 12 divisions ofheaven called the Mazzaroth,which G-d uses for signs andseasons. Hence, the 12 sym-bols of the Zodiac.
Another way The Beatles andthe Jews are linked is that it isbelieved that the direction ofmusic changed on ThursdayJune 1, 1967 when the Sgt.Pepper’s Lonely Hearts ClubBand album was released. Sev-enty-two hours later on Mon-day June 5, 1967 the Six Daywar broke out. Just as Sgt. Pep-
per’s changed music and popu-lar culture, so too did The SixDay War change Israel and Di-aspora Jewry, as well as muchof the global economic andgeopolitical affairs. These twomajor events occurred in thespan of just 72 hours, which isfour times 18 (18 being thenumber for life).
The deeper meaning of TheBeatle legacy is based on anauthentic, basic Jewish con-cept of belonging to a com-munity.
The Beatles personified theconcept of unity, which pre-dates the coming together orjoining a community. Theypersonified the Hegelian ideathat the whole is worth morethan the separate parts and so-ciety should become closer to-gether. How Jewish is that?What’s more Jewish than com-munity?
With Jews a similar type ofunity is expressed as individu-als become unified and a per-fect whole, when they join theJewish community in eventsor spirit. Where would Jewishcivilization be without theconcept of community?
That is exactly what was atthe core of The Beatles’ mes-sage. The Beatles were a uni-fied community of four. Theywere also the majorfocus/component of a commu-nity of Beatle fans/lovers who
came together in a communityto celebrate their music andmessage. With The Beatles, allyou have to do is listen to oneof their songs and acknowl-edge their message and you area member of their community.
All that a Jew has to do to be-long to the community is tosing along in synagogue orbreak bread with other Jews.The various Jewish customsand liturgy provides the exactsame function that songs dofor members of The Beatles’community: to unify the com-munity. Although the functionof community in the world ofThe Beatles may be more su-perficial and less demandingthan a Jew’s responsibility to-ward the community, the con-cept is the same.
The Beatles legacy was pred-icated on them carrying outtikkun olam.
The phrase tikkun olammeans that as man shares apartnership with G-d, human-ity is instructed to take thesteps toward improving thestate of the world and helpingothers, which simultaneously
brings more honour to G-d’ssovereignty.
There is no doubt that TheBeatles reached the masseswith a message of love, peace,and personal fulfillment andhappiness. They were takingthe first step in implementingtikkun olam to elucidate the re-alization that there is a prob-lem with the way man is actingin the world and that it mustbe corrected.
The Beatles historical legacycertainly provided the back-drop for a “spiritual renewal”in the last half of the 20th cen-tury. Were they given sevenyears to help us to spiritually,free ourselves?
A former Israeli business andeconomics journalist, Joel Ben-jamin is the author of two re-search studies on the musical andhistorical legacy of The Beatles(www.ArjonPublishing.com). Toarrange for him to lecture in yourcommunity during his 2014 Lec-ture Tour, contact him at [email protected] orthrough his website, www.Beatl-eLectures.com
Features
Toronto Associated students donate to Sick Kids
Associated Hebrew Schools students Jory Gladman and Noa Gurevich, both in Grade 3 at the Kamen Campus, donated $200 to theHospital for Sick Children (Sick Kids). After many, many hours making and selling rainbow loom bracelets, their hard work paid off.With them is Emily Clark of the Sick Kids Foundation.
A Jewish perspective of The Beatles
The Beatles (from left): John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison
The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 -15Jewishtribune.ca
Mike CohenQuebec Bureau ChiefTwo Jewish women fromToronto are the architects be-hind a popular online birthdayparty website with a charitabletwist.
Reinventing the birthdayparty experience for the mod-ern-day family, ECHOage givesparents all the tools they needto plan and manage an effort-less birthday party, while
teaching their children aboutthe value of giving at the sametime.
Debbie Zinman and AlisonSmith, who actually met, fit-tingly, at a birthday partypickup, launched ECHOage in2008. The formula for the pro-gram is simple: guests con-tribute funds securely onlineto schools, charities and cul-tural institutions. Funds aresplit in two. Half goes towardthe charity of the child’s choiceand the other half toward thechild’s desired birthday gifts.
“We wanted to make it morerewarding for the kids and lesswork for the parents,” saidSmith, a former kids furniture
and clothing designer. Zinman, a former high
school teacher, insists “we alsoknew that no matter what, thegiving would have to be asso-ciated with a good feeling ver-sus sacrifice.”
Bonnie Levine of Montreal,who was recently brought onboard to oversee the easternregion out of Montreal, saidthat ECHOage has had close to$2.5 million directed to itsmore than 250 national andlocal charitable partners. Ifsomeone wants to donate to acharity not listed on their web-site, then the potential benefi-ciary must apply for apartnership with ECHOage.There is a link on theECHOage homepage(http://echoage.com/charity-sign-up) for charities andschools to apply for partner-ship and be considered.
Zinman and Smith both havedeep Jewish backgrounds.There have been trips to Israeland their children go to Jewishday school. Zinman was a vol-unteer at Mazon, Ve’ahavtaand Out of the Cold. A num-ber of Jewish charities are al-ready benefitting fromECHOage such as URJ CampGeorge, Camp B’nai Brith ofMontreal, Camp KadimahScholarship Fund, the HarryBronfman Y Country Camp,Ve’ahavta, Na’amat Canada,Mazon Canada, One FamilyFund Canada, Zareinu Educa-tional Centre, Montessori Jew-ish Day School, Kfar YeladimDavid, The Canadian ShaareZedek Hospital Foundation,
Jewish Family and Child,Oraynu Children’s School andORT Toronto.
“ECHOage is growing fastand we are launching anevents site soon,” said Zinman.“This means you canECHOage any celebration in-cluding Bar/Bat Mitzvah’s, an-niversary parties, showers,dinner parties and more.”
ECHOage is active in everyprovince in Canada and acrossthe USA.
“I am so happy to be helpingparents teach young childrenabout the great feelings thatcome with kindness and gen-erosity, while, at the sametime, supporting both nationaland local not-for-profit organ-izations with much neededfunding and awareness,” saidLevine.
Levine emphasizes how Gov-ernor General David Johnstonrecently announced a nationalcampaign called My GivingMoment to encourage Canadi-ans of all ages to discover andseize their “giving moments”and then act on them as partof an effort to foster Canadiangiving and build a smarter andmore caring nation.
“ECHOage aptly illustrateshow children can play a role ingiving back and can easilybegin learning about and en-gaging in philanthropy,” shesaid. “We put our youngestgeneration in the driver’s seathelping them to develop theirunderstanding and apprecia-tion of giving.
For more details visitwww.echoage.com.
Features
It has been a year since twinbrothers Jon and Marvin Gur-man assumed sole ownershipof the Yeh! Yogurt and Café(www.yehyogurt.com) chain,after having invested in theone and only original location
in Montreal just three yearsearlier. What has followed israpid expansion across Canadaand parts of the United States,with more than 20 expected tobe in operation by the end of
the calendar year.For the 54-year-old Gur-
mans, who made their for-tunes in the wholesale clothingbusiness, a sentimental choicefor a Yeh! location was theQuartier Cavendish (formerlyCavendish Mall) in the pre-dominantly Jewish suburb ofCôte Saint-Luc where theygrew up. From the time thestore opened last May, all ofthe products were kosher.However, the Gurmans de-cided to take the extra stepand sought certification ofMK-Canada’s Kosher Certifier.Cavendish will now serve asthe “flagship store” for kosherfranchises.
“It’s a natural merger of twogreat brands, MK and Yeh!,”said Marvin Gurman. “Ourgoal is to get MK hashgacha inall nine locations in Montrealand we hope it will lead tokosher franchises in othercities as well.”
As well as frozen yogurt, Yeh!also serves dessert crepes andis working on lunch crepes forthe kosher crowd as well.
The stores rotate throughseveral flavours, some ofwhich are pareve.
“You will always find parevechocolate, as well as at leastone of mango, grapefruit orlime sorbets,” said Jon Gur-man. “The standard dairyflavours are plain, chocolate,
and Greek honey, with five ad-ditional rotating flavours –cheesecake, peanut butter,strawberry, blueberry and pinacolada. Eventually no-sugarflavours will be added as well.”
Of course, self-serve yogurtis nothing without toppings.In addition to several kinds offresh fruit, there are otherhealthy options such as flax,granola and kashi. Patronslooking for something sweetercan choose sprinkles, cookiedough, Hershey’s chocolate,and Reese’s Pieces. In additionto the toppings, Yeh! providesGhirardelli syrup in threeflavours, as well as hot top-pings such as hot fudge. Theyogurts and toppings are allcholov stam (milk or dairyproducts that have been underconstant rabbinic supervisionfrom the time of milking thecows until the completion ofproduction and packaging theproduct).
With the advent of certifica-tion through MK, Yeh! hopesto add catering to its services.
“This would involve pre-packaged portions,” said Mar-vin Gurman. “We will even beintroducing pink kippot!”
The Gurmans foresee koshercertification possibly occurringin Toronto, where there aretwo stores and more on theway.
– Mike Cohen
‘More rewarding forkids, less workthe for parents’
– Alison Smith
Toronto-Montreal
Two Jewish moms reinvent the birthday party experience
Jon (left) and Marvin (right) Gurman are happy to show off their MK certification.
Debbie Zinman and Alison Smith have reinvented the birthday party in Toronto and are now doing the same thing in Montreal with thehelp of Bonnie Levine (not in picture), who was recently brought on board to oversee the eastern region out of Montreal.
Montreal
Growing Yeh! Yogurt and Café chainbegins process of kosher certification
‘Our goal is to getMK hashgachain all nine loca-tions in Montrealand we hope itwill lead tokosher franchisesin other cities aswell’
– Marvin Gurman
16- The Jewish Tribune -December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
Point of View
The Bourne Legacy teaches not to do wrong to do good deedI have beenblessed to workin Atlanta from1970 until 1998,first as a syna-gogue rabbi andthen as principalof Yeshiva HighSchool of At-lanta. My role atYeshiva was pri-marily that ofbuilder whose job it was to lay the foundationfor a Jewish day high school in Atlanta and toinsure that it would grow over time.
After I left Atlanta, I assumed many principal-ships where my role was to improve the situa-tion or to solve a particular problem. I was Mr.Fix-it or Mr. Hatchet Man depending on yourperspective. In one school, I was told there wasa major problem with the librarian who was fo-cused on books, not people, and that she had togo. I was to be the agent of her removal.
Board members and other staff told me the
same story and I was mentally prepared to makethe change. But then I checked the evaluationsof the staff person over the past 10 years andthere was not one negative comment in her file.When I observed her, she was engaging her stu-dents and I was faced with a dilemma. Howcould I in good conscience fire her in the ab-sence of negative comments in her record andwhen her current behaviour was satisfactory?
I thought of this incident as I watched TheBourne Legacy, which details a far different crisis ofconscience, not one as mundane as the one Ifaced in dealing with a librarian who was targetedunjustly for firing. Rather, The Bourne Legacy ex-plores a grand crisis of conscience in the life ofAaron Cross, a special-ops soldier, who is givenassignments to assassinate people who are a dan-ger to democracy. He is charged with doing agood deed, but the means to accomplish it aremorally repugnant. As his superior tells him, “weare morally indefensible and absolutely neces-sary.” Brutal killing in the name of a worthy causerepulses him; and after fulfilling a number of as-signments, he feels morally adrift. Unwilling to
obey future orders, Aaron goes AWOL and tries tofind solace. But problems arise.
Aaron’s elite team of assassins has been pro-vided with meds that enhance physical andmental abilities. When his superiors realize thatthe program may be revealed to the public, theydecide to abort this clandestine program andkill all the remaining assets. When Aaron be-comes aware of this, he determines that his onlysalvation is to secure more of the drugs so thathis enhanced abilities will prevent him frombeing killed or captured. Alternatively, he learnsthat he can “viral off” the drugs and retain hisenhanced abilities for the rest of his life withouttaking any more pills. Thus begins an excitingchase with the government in pursuit of Crossas he tries to find a way to elude assassinationand preserve his mental and physical edge.
Aaron Cross’s moral dilemma parallels a fasci-nating Talmudic discussion about whether aperson who steals a palm branch to observe thefestival of Tabernacles gets credit for perform-ing the mitzvah/good deed. Simply put, can aperson do a good deed by committing a sin?
The overwhelming consensus of opinion is thatone cannot.
Implicit in this Talmudic debate is the notionthat in all areas of life, one should be careful notto commit a wrongdoing to do a good deed, forit places you on a slippery moral slope.
Many years ago, a donor anonymously sentlarge sums of money to the school of which Iwas principal to assuage his guilt for profiteer-ing from selling drugs. His charitable instinctswere laudable, but his nefarious way of sup-porting the school tainted the school and him.The Bourne Legacy reminds us to be mindful ofthe motives and manner of those who wouldencourage us to compromise our honesty forthe sake of a noble cause.
Rabbi Herbert Cohen, PhD is the author of KosherParenting: a Guide for Raising Kids in a Com-plex World; Walking in Two Worlds: VisioningTorah Concepts through Secular Studies; TexasTorah: the Interface of the Weekly Torah Por-tion with Everyday Life, and The One of Us: aLife in Jewish Education.
Rabbi Herbert Cohen Kosher Movies
This year Chanukahcame early, so wemiss much of itsusual collision withChristmas.
That collision hasresulted in this com-paratively minor hol-iday morphing intoone of the year’shighlights, with par-ties, presents, and in many homes, giant card-board dreidels and Happy Chanukah – ormaybe Happy Hanukkah – strips dancing alongwalls and from ceilings.
There’s no doubt the Christmas season comeswith an air of excitement and anticipation. It’skicked off by the Santa Claus parade, whicheveryone, Jewish or not, goes to watch. Christ-mas music rings out from mall speakers and ra-dios. Christmas trees materialize in apartmentlobbies, public squares, malls and peeking outfrom windows in houses. Christmas lights areeverywhere. Lawns sprout Santas and reindeer.People, laden with gift-wrapped packages, greeteach other with a cheery Merry Christmas. Mer-chants are ecstatic as cash registers ring.
As pervasive as this holiday is now, it was evenmore so when I was a child. At school we sangChristmas carols. The Christmas tree stood tall,bedecked with lights, silver foil and shiny or-naments. The class even went to a church serv-ice, from which I as a Jew could be exempted.
But at that time religion was part of our schooldays and not just at Christmas. We all said theLord’s Prayer every morning. We had indoctri-nation moments: my grandmother almostfainted when I came home from school singingJesus Loves Me.
The excitement surrounding the Christmasseason is hard to resist. I remember my mothertook me to Eaton’s to see Santa Claus. I sat onhis lap and he asked me what I wanted. I said
roller skates. My mother got a picture. My father drove us around town to see the
Christmas lights. The city looked like Fairyland.He also took us to see the animated displays inSimpsons’ windows. These were spectacular, achild’s delight.
Chanukah was much quieter. Each night welit the menorah. My grandfather gave me a cou-ple of coins – Chanukah gelt, he said – andmaybe a dreidel. We sang Chanukah songs to-gether. I was delighted.
We did pretty much the same with our kidsbut when the grandchildren came along thecompetition with Christmas became more in-tense. I began a new tradition: each year aChanukah party for my family, complete withlatkes and dreidels. Presents also, but only forthe children. And Chanukah gelt, but now itcomes in chocolate wrapped in gold and silverfoil. The children light the menorah. Christmaswas the spark plug, but what can be bad aboutan occasion that brings families together in afestive atmosphere?
In the spirit of multiculturalism, recent yearshave brought changes in terminology. Christmastrees became Holiday trees. The school ChristmasHolidays became the Winter Break. The schoolChristmas Concert became the Holiday Concertand actually includes some Chanukah songs. Ihave a little dreidel, I made it out of clay. The ap-proved greeting in social situations becameHappy Holidays. Only the legal aspect has notchanged: Christmas Day is still a statutory holiday.
From the Jewish point of view, these attempts atinclusion are welcome and appreciated. It’s nicewhen the schools acknowledge that others havetheir own celebrations at this time. It’s nice whenpeople try to be considerate and greet you withHappy Holidays, or sometimes even with HappyChanukah. It’s nice to see giant Chanukah meno-rahs and Christmas trees sharing space in our pub-lic spaces, twinkling a friendly welcome to eachother.
In both traditions this is a Festival of Light, sig-nifying freedom and hope. Let’s concentrate onthat.
’Tis the season
Irene Davis
I pledge…Citizenship Judge Ruth Klein, formerly national director of advocacy, B’nai Brith Canada, administers the oath of citizenship to attendeesof the Joe and Sarah Bogoroch Seniors Outreach Centre. For them it is was reaffirmation of their Canadian citizenship and most found itvery moving. Some had questions and wanted to talk to Judge Klein after the ceremony (below).
point of View
The painted ‘X,’on Elm Street inDealey Plaza Dal-las, marks the spotwhere a bulletfrom a sixth-floorwindow in theTexas School BookD e p o s i t o r yclaimed the life ofthe confident, eru-dite and reckless35th president of the United States.
In the 50 years that have passed since then,this mark has been scraped away several times,but it always came back, a powerfully simplesymbol of a legacy that has never faded – “amixed product of memory and hope, fact andmyth, love and hate, of the politician’s strategy,the patriot’s veneration and the scholar’s quest,”according to scholar Merrill Peterson.
JFK was a youthful man whose charismatic,telegenic image captivated the world. He sawthe need to be on the right side of change. Heinspired us with his message of what might be,what could be, in the world’s most powerfulcountry, consumed as it was by its own contra-dictions.
The deeply traumatic experience transfixed aworld as well asa nation. Whoamong us hasforgotten wherewe were whenwe heard thenews – or the in-delible momentas John Johnsaluted his fa-ther’s casket as itwas carried fromWashington’s St.M a t t h e w ’ sCathedral?
K e n n e d y ’ spresidency marked the beginning of the youthcounter-culture with its own music, styles,drugs and ideas. It was the same decade thatwitnessed: the music duo of Tom and Jerrymiraculously transforming itself into Simon andGarfunkel; Dylan shockingly embracing thesound of an electric guitar; the Beatles explo-sion; Dennis Hopper’s directorial debut in EasyRider; the most perilous moment in the 40-yearCold War; the civil rights movement acquiringa powerful and unstoppable momentum, andMax Yasgur’s dairy farm housing tens of thou-sands for an unforgettable August Woodstockconcert weekend.
Prophetically, in the Unspoken Speech thatJFK never delivered in Dallas, he wrote, “Therewill always be dissident voices heard in theland, expressing opposition without alterna-tives, finding fault but never favour, perceivinggloom on every side and seeking influencewithout responsibility. Those voices are in-evitable.”
• • •Shortly after the assassination, the seven-the-atre, 7,200-seat performing arts complex that
was planned for the banks of the Potomac Riverwas renamed The JFK Centre for the PerformingArts. Inscribed at the centre are these wordsfrom the papers of the president, 1962:
“The life of the arts, far from being an interrup-tion, a distraction in the life of the nation, is veryclose to the centre of a nation’s purpose – and itis the test of the quality of a nation’s civilization.”
In the past 50 years, there has been no leaderin the western world who has rivalled Kennedyin making culture and the arts a political prior-ity. Throughout his administration, Kennedywas lauded by cultural critics for welcoming theleading writers and scholars, artists and musi-cians to the White House. Since JFK, every suc-ceeding president has felt obliged to host thehighest echelon of entertainers.
In 1962, JFK engaged August Heckscher II asthe President’s Special Consultant on the Arts –the first White House Cultural Advisor. It wasthis high-brow approach to arts and culture thatunderpinned his administration’s emphasis onintellectualism without alienating the commonman. As the late Hollywood Producer DoreSchary believed: “When Kennedy endorsed bal-let, painting and theatre, the average man isbound to change his mind about such things asbeing effete.”
A high point of the Kennedy White House cul-tural legacy was the Pablo Casals concert hostedby JFK in 1961. The world renowned cellist re-sented US recognition of a fascist Spain and hadboycotted performances in America for 33 years.
At his Amhurst College speech less than onemonth before his assassination, as part of thegroundbreaking ceremony for the Robert FrostLibrary, Kennedy championed the artist and thearts as defining features of American life and lib-erty. He told his audience a nation needs to rep-resent itself not only through its political andmilitary strength but also through its art in “fullrecognition of the place of the artist.”
Imagine how artists around the world feltwhen the leader of the free world proclaimed:“When power leads man towards arrogance, po-etry reminds him of his limitations...of the rich-ness and diversity of his existence”?
At the Amhurst address JFK in his unmistak-able vocal cadence pronounced, “Art establishesthe basic human truth, which must serve as thetouchstone of our judgment.... I see little ofmore importance to the future of our countryand our civilization than full recognition of theplace of the artist.” Elsewhere, he said, “Theartist becomes the last champion of the indi-vidual mind and sensibility against an intrusivesociety.”
For at least the past four decades, I haveyearned for a Canadian leader to grasp the im-portance of JFK’s cultural sensibility – to notonly demonstrate an understanding of passionand the rhetoric of an enlightened philosopher– but to understand that rewarding and culti-vating the artist and the arts is not a niche issue,but fundamental to the nourishment of theroots of our society. Pierre Trudeau came close,but he stands alone.
Garth Drabinsky is Canada’s multi-Tony Award-winning musical producer.
‘The life of thearts…is veryclose to the centre of a nation’spurpose…’
–JFK
Political leadership and the artsJFK: a cultural legacy
Garth Drabinsky
The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 -17Jewishtribune.ca
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Mike CohenQuebec Bureau ChiefWhile Ben Matlin attendedJewish day school at the pri-mary and secondary levels, henever did go on the March ofthe Living.
“It is one of my deepest re-grets,” the 26-year-old char-tered accountant said lastweek. “I remember talking toall of my friends when they re-turned. Every year, there arekids who miss out on thisunique experience due to alack of sufficient funds.”
Matlin and his friendAmanda Silver have decided todo something that they hopemight help some kids in needof financial assistance go onthe life-changing trip toPoland and Israel.
On Sat., Dec. 14 at theSamuel Moskovitch Arena insuburban Côte Saint-Luc, theMarch of the Living Faceoffwill take place. Throughoutthe day, Silver will have one ofher company’s Sani-Sport ma-chines in the lobby of the
arena for people to sanitizetheir equipment in exchangefor a donation. A silent auctionwill take place with sportsmemorabilia such as signedsticks from the Montreal Cana-diens, Ottawa Senators andWashington Capitals andsigned jerseys from JonathanToews of the Chicago BlackHawks and Drew Doughty ofthe LA Kings.
The day will culminatewith a charity hockey gamewith past and current playersfrom the Côte Saint-LucYouth League from 5 p.m. to6:30 p.m. Matlin is a referee.Instead of getting a pregamepep talk from a coach, theplayers will actually hearfrom Holocaust survivor Sid-ney Zoltak who will share hisexperiences at the hands ofthe Nazis. Zoltak just re-cently published his mem-oirs. He will also be asked toperform the ceremonial puckdrop.
Zoltak’s new book is A SilentPledge, A Journey of Struggle,Survival and Remembrance.
Born in Poland, he waseight at the outbreak of WWII but survived with his fam-ily intact.
Following two years in Italyas a refugee, he and his mothercame to Montreal where he
finished school and began toexercise his natural inclinationas an entrepreneur, becoming
an insurance agent in 1965.Today he remains an activemember of the community, af-
filiated for years with the Yid-dish Theatre and the MontrealHolocaust Memorial Centre,and is dedicated to educatingyouth about the Holocaust.
“We honestly just came upwith the idea and ran with it,”said Matlin. “For this year wehope to raise from $3,000 to$5,000. It is not a whole lot,but it will definitely help somekids.
“We are developing our tem-plate and hopefully this canbecome an annual event and,with more advance planning,raise even more dollars. Seeingas every year there are fewerand fewer survivors who areable to travel overseas, it isvery important that we try toraise as much money as possi-ble to allow the maximumnumber of kids to go on thislife-changing trip.”
For more information,Matlin can be reached viaemail at [email protected].
News
Akiva School of Montreal Grade 1 and 2 students had a special treat when author Loris Lesynski and illustrator Michael Martchenko vis-ited to read and talk about their book Boy Soup. Their visit marked the Montreal stop of their cross-Canadian book tour as part of the an-nual TD Grade One Book Giveaway. TD Bank Group, with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, distributed 100,000 copies of this bookillustrated by Martchenko and published by Annick Press across the province of Quebec to celebrate the importance of children's liter-acy and encourage the joy of reading.
Montreal
Unique hockey fundraiser to help kids go on March of the Living trip
Sidney Zoltak talks to students during one of his frequent school visits (Photo: Mike Cohen)
Author, illustrator of Boy Soup visitAkiva School in Montreal
18- The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
The Jewish Tribune -December 12, 2013 -19Jewishtribune.ca
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The sports teams of Calgary Jew-ish Academy teams (CJA) haveachieved levels of success onmany levels in cross country, vol-leyball, wrestling, basketball,badminton and track.
CJA Athletics Director AlexKouperman said the school’sstrongest sports team over theyears has been badminton.
“For the past six years we havewon the regular season or fin-
ished second out of eight schools(in the Calgary Catholic JuniorHigh School Athletic Associa-tion),” he said. “We have numer-ous top two team finishes andhave had individual city cham-pions in girls doubles, boys sin-gles, girls singles and mixeddoubles.”
CJA’s 2013/14 sports seasonbegan with their cross-countryteam competing against 10Catholic Junior high schools.Kouperman said that all of his11 runners at the season endingmeet “finished under the 11-minute allowable time limit. FiveCJA runners finished in the top20 and many of our runners setpersonal bests.”
CJA boys and girls volleyballteams each lost only one gameduring their regular seasons,which concluded last month,with the boys team winning gold
and the girls team winning silverin an invitational year end tour-nament.
Kouperman said the grades 6to 9 composition of the girlsteam presented a challenge forthe two-teacher coaching staff“since there was such a large gapin age and experience.
“The coaches brought the girlstogether and developed a ‘teamfirst’ atmosphere. Older playersmentored younger players onand off the court.”
The school’s wrestling team isin its first year and are composedof seven boys and one girl, withpractices during school recess.
Kouperman said the focus “islearning specific skills and rulesinvolved with this sport with thegoal of finding one or twowrestling meets to compete in.At season’s end students willhave a chance to wrestle in our
school for a CJA title.” The girls and boys basketball
teams started in December andboth squads look to advancepast last year’s first playoff round.
Having a smaller junior highpopulation means many of thesame CJA students participatedon several teams, with notableindividual athletes coming to theforefront.
Kouperman said Chen David(born in Israel) came to CJA inGrade 1 and has been participat-ing on school teams since Grade6.
“Chen has shown leadershipand determination, especially inher final year in Grade 9, whereshe took the time mentoringGrade 6 girls. Coaches enjoycoaching Chen who listens andimplements everything on thecourt.”
He added that Chen takes on
athletes twice her size anddemonstrated grit playing inCJA’s 100-year anniversary 3 ver-sus 3 tournaments in 2012.
“She played against adults andhigh school students, helpingher team win a silver medal.Chen also won (CJA) FemaleAthlete of the Year in grades 7and 8 and looks poised to win itagain this year.
“While participating on schoolteams, Chen makes time to par-ticipate on student council andis the president this year. She isalso on the honour roll for bothJudaic and Alberta curriculums.”
Kouperman said Evan Gibneyparticipates on every CJA team.
“In Grade 7 he was asked toplay on the senior teams againststudents two years older thanhim and often three times as big.Evan takes on each challengewith quiet confidence and has
demonstrated leadership andmaturity beyond his years. InGrade 9 he was chosen as cap-tain to lead the volleyball team,with half the players being inGrade 7, which won gold at theend-of-year tournament.
“Evan joined our wrestlingteam this year without any pre-vious experience or knowledge.
“With a busy athletic scheduleEvan still manages to play socceror ultimate Frisbee outside ofschool. He is on the honour rollfor Alberta curriculum and Ju-daic studies and has also wonthe Male Athlete of the yearaward in grades 7 and 8. Evan isa leader and a citizen in theschool and his contribution tothe athletic program has been in-valuable for the last four years.”
Angie LeighCorrespondentWhen you think ‘army’ youthink strict and rigid, rules andconformity. That is not at allwhat Rabbi Lazer Danzingerthinks of when the word comesto mind for him – at least notanymore.
This Chanukah, CaptainRabbi Danzinger, assistant divi-sion chaplain and first rabbi inhis brigade since WWII – heldthe first Jewish event (a beautifulChanukah party) at the DenisonArmoury in Toronto.
The room, filled with WWIIwar veterans, soldiers and theirfamilies was literally glowing asthe Menorah burned bright.
There was live music,Chanukah games and treats andeven the first outdoor Menorahlighting at the army base. Themoment the outdoor menorahwas lit and the blessings weresung was truly something spe-cial.
Captain Rabbi Danzinger,overcome with joy, commentedon the meaning of the historicevent.
“This is one of the main pointsfor my joining the CanadianArmy,” he said. “Being an obser-vant Jew is not a contradictionto being a patriotic citizen of ourcountry – it is a complement toit.”
The rabbi explained how thevalues of the army actually en-
hance the message of Chanukahand the teachings of Judaism.
“People in the military have aspecial sense of value for theirheritage and the paths set bythose who came before them.Each one of us can dedicateourselves in this way to renewour connection with our her-itage, looking into it like Mac-cabees of old fighting against thedarkness. Doing that, will helpus realize that just a little bit oflight dispels a lot of darkness. Bydoing one good deed, one moremitzvah each day, we can cer-tainly hasten the coming of themessiah.”
One thing Danzinger was verytouched by was the impressiveamount of support from his
chain of command, who hailfrom many different religiousbackgrounds.
“I really want to show howmultifaith the Canadian Armyis. It is very important for sol-diers, whatever their religion, tofeel that their diversity is ac-knowledged. Unfortunately, insome countries today, especiallyin the army, people have to taketheir yamalkas off because theyare worried about antisemitism.An event like this promotes theopposite of that; diversity isbeing made an important valueinstead of a shortcoming.”
At the end of the night, guestswere left with the story ofChanukah and a message fromCaptain Rabbi Danzinger to
take home for themselves andtheir loved ones:
“We light the menorah topublicize the miracle that tookplace [in the Holy Temple]and to bring light to the out-
side world. The job of the Jewis to transform the world froma materialistic place to a placeinjected with humanity, withdivinity and godliness andwith light.”
Calgary Jewish school gives Catholic teams a challenge
Jack BorensteinSports
Toronto
A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness
Captain Rabbi Lazer Danzinger lighting the Denison Armoury’s first ever outdoor meno-rah. (Photo: Angie Leigh)
20- The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
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Commentary/Letters
As the year draws to aclose, the greater Mid-dle East, that im-mense region fromMorocco in the westto Afghanistan andPakistan in the east,remains to mostvolatile part of theworld. And Americanpresidents have forthe past 35 years been clueless about the region.
In 1979, Jimmy Carter, inept and indecisive,abandoned the Shah of Iran and allowed Aya-tollah Ruhollah Khomeini to outfox and run cir-cles around him. His botched attempt to rescuethe American embassy hostages only magnifiedhis failures. Those who want to get a fuller ac-count of how this transpired should watch thefirst installment of an excellent three-part BBCdocumentary on Iran and the West, The ManWho Changed the World, available on YouTube.
This regime change ushered in a new zeitgeistin the world, especially in the Middle East. By1982 the Islamic Republic was sowing terroraround the region and elsewhere, including thekilling of 241 US Marines in Beirut by its pro-tégé Hezbollah in 1983. It has gone fromstrength to strength.
In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan supported themujahideen in Afghanistan against the decay-ing Soviet empire, because in his tunnel vision‘religion’ was ‘good,’ Communism ‘bad.’ Ofcourse, the Islamist fighters later morphed intothe Taliban and America is still paying the price.
Bill Clinton was, let us say, ‘busy’ as al-Qaedabombed two American embassies in east Africain 1998, killed 19 US servicemen in Khobar,Saudi Arabia in 1996, and destroyed the USSCole in Aden in 2000. By the time he left office,al-Qaeda was no doubt planning the attacks of9/11.
George Bush fought the Taliban in Afghanistanand Baathist Iraq “on the cheap,” and knowingnothing about the culture of either country, de-clared them both safe for democracy afterAmerican forces “beat” Saddam and MullahOmar.
Actually, both wars had barely begun. The realvictor in the Iraq war when the Americans fi-nally left was actually Iran, as the Baghdad Shi’aregime of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki nowtakes its orders from Tehran.
As for Afghanistan, the Pashtun Khan HamidHarzai, chief of the Popalzai tribe – known tous as the “president of Afghanistan” – is negoti-ating with fellow Pashtuns in the Taliban, whoare mostly from the rival Ghilzai tribe, to savehis own neck once western forces depart thecountry. Already there are sources claiming that
he will reintroduce stoning as a punishment foradultery in the country’s penal code. How longbefore the Taliban regains control over largeparts of the country?
Barack Obama has been giving away the store.He looked away when Iranians protested in2009 against a fixed election; only reluctantlygot involved in the uprising against MoammarGadhafi in Libya in 2011 and did nothing whenBashar al-Assad used chemical weapons in Syriaearlier this year.
Obama has now declared a great diplomaticvictory in the attempt to prevent the Iraniansfrom developing a nuclear bomb. The ‘Plan ofAction’ signed by Iran, the United States, Rus-sia, Britain, France, Germany and the EuropeanUnion declares that Tehran can no longer en-rich uranium to 20 per cent and must neutral-ize its existing stockpiles of 20 per centenriched uranium. It also cannot increase itsstockpiles of 3.5 per cent enriched uranium.
And the sanctions relief, some $7 billion, isrelatively limited and theoretically reversible, ifthe Iranians break their promises. All the mainsanctions will stay in place until a final agree-ment has been signed, if it will be, six monthsfrom now.
But can Iran be trusted? Its record is far fromreassuring. Its leadership has not given up onwanting to wipe out what its leaders have calledthe “cancerous Zionist entity,” Israel. Supremeleader Ayatollah Ali Khameini recently re-marked that “Zionist officials cannot be calledhumans, they are like animals, some of them.”The Israeli regime “is doomed to failure and an-nihilation,” he added.
We seem to have come full circle from 1979 –once again Iran is the major problem, as it hasbeen for the last six US presidents.
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science atthe University of Prince Edward Island.
LetterwritersIf you would like to send a letter to the edi-tor of the Jewish Tribune, send it to [email protected]. Please include yourname, address and telephone number.
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Jonathan Usher wrote (JewishTribune, Nov. 28, 2013) thatSolomon would give the land toIsrael. There is no institution,government, the UN or anycoalition of governments thatcan give Judea and Samaria toany one country. This land wasgiven by Hashem to Jews.
For those who do not acceptthe Torah, then let us fast for-ward to the San Remo confer-ence when this land wasRETURNED to Jews for a Jew-ish Homeland. It was notgiven – it was designated or re-turned by a treaty. This treatycan never be revoked. Thisland belongs to every Jew nomatter where he/she lives.Even [Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin] Netanyahu com-bined with every member ofthe Knesset cannot legally turnthis land over to the Arabs.
I just read in the JerusalemPost: Netanyahu: “I will not
‘shut up’ when Israel’s interestsare at stake.” This has been ourproblem. We did shut up.
When Arafat first started thenarrative about Palestiniansand a Palestine homeland,why did we shut up? Wherewere our leaders to counterthis lie with authentic facts?Where were our Zionist organ-izations throughout the Jewishworld? They had the facts intheir hands in black and white.We allowed the Arabs to con-vince the world that the Jewswere stealing the land of thosepoor Arabs. They painted us asGoliath. And they even havethe chutzpah to claimJerusalem, and at the sametime, suggest that the Templenever existed.
Now is the time, and maybethe last chance to educate theworld about the land of Israeland who the true owners are.
Not a blitz campaign, but
over and over and over againthrough the Internet,newsprint, TV, speakers toservice clubs, especially theRotary and church groups.
Time is short and anti-semitism is spreading like anepidemic mainly because ofthe so-called ‘Palestinians.’Don't wait for miracles.
Rabbi David Spiro,Toronto, ON
• • •
Ignoring discriminationYou are concerned about theQuebec Charter of Values,while ignoring the fact that theOrthodox in Isreal have alwaysdiscriminated against secularJews.
George GoldbergToronto, ON
For the past 35 years, Iran hasbeen the world’s major problem
We must educate the world about theland of Israel, reader says
Henry Srebrnik
The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 -21Jewishtribune.ca
Commentary
The Obama admin-istration is entitledto be furious withIsrael. Although theUS got braggingrights for its (one-sided-not-in-our-favour) deal withIran, Israeli PrimeMinister BenjaminNetanyahu remainsdetermined publiclyto say what the president wants to hide: Iran’snuclear program could not be negotiated away,rolled back significantly or inspected properly.The only means to a signed document was forthe US to abandon its principles and pressureits allies. The US has done that.
It was hard to oppose negotiations, it always ishard. Churchill said, “Its better to jaw, jaw thanwar, war” (you need the accent to make itwork). But a deal that is not a capitulation byone side requires two conditions: the partiesmust equally value the process and there has tobe a compatible endgame. The West investedthe process with much more value than didIran, providing the mullahs with instant lever-age, but most important, there was no agreed-upon end game.
The P5+1 wanted to negotiate the terms ofIran’s nuclear surrender; Iran was negotiatingthe conditions under which it will operate itsnuclear program.
We’re familiar with the rules of buying a rug inthe souk. The goals are compatible – he wants tosell, you want to buy. If you want the rug morethan he wants the deal, you will overpay; if hewants the deal more than you want the rug, youwin. But either way, money and rug will changehands. Alternatively, if you want to buy a rug andhe wants to sell a camel, no matter how ardentlyyou bargain there will be no deal. Unless youchange your mind and take the camel.
The White House took the camel.Here is how it happened. At the UN General
Assembly this year, President Obama put forwardhis theory of Iran’s bellicosity, ascribing motivesand goals to the Islamic regime that mirror Amer-ican motives and goals – starting with Americanmistakes. “Iranians have long complained of a his-tory of US interference in their affairs and ofAmerica’s role in overthrowing the Iranian gov-ernment during the Cold War.”
Since he asserted that the nuclear programstemmed from Iranian fear of American med-dling, he assuaged what he said were their con-cerns. “We are not seeking regime change andwe respect the right of the Iranian people to ac-cess peaceful nuclear energy.”
Then he promised what he called a better fu-ture. “I do believe that if we can resolve theissue of Iran’s nuclear program, that can serveas a major step down a long road toward a dif-ferent relationship based on mutual interestsand mutual respect.”
But what if Iran doesn’t believe we have “mu-tual interests” and seeks a future in which theIslamic Republic is the hegemonic Gulf powerand the United States is banished from the re-gion, leaving its Sunni allies and Israel withouta patron? (Russia is already taken.) What if Iranseeks religious hegemony over the world’s Mus-
lim population, which requires supporting Syriaand Hezbollah in the face of more numerousSunni adversaries?
In that case the nuclear program is not an“issue” to be “resolved,” but a means toward aconsidered end. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei– the only real power in Iran – believes, as didthe Ayatollah Khomeini before him, that theprogram is the determinant of Iran’s power andprestige, and necessary to resist political andeconomic domination by the West. A nuclear-
capable Iran would be a power with influencein the Muslim and the wider world, equal to thenuclear-armed United States and, as an oil-pro-ducing country, superior to Israel.
From that angle, the Administration’s beliefthat a mild easing of sanctions (a “tiny portion,”according to Secretary of State Kerry, and “verylimited, temporary and reversible,” according toPresident Obama) would induce Iran to beginthe process of de-nuclearizing or denuding it-self under the watchful, powerful and punitive
eye of the despised West was farfetched at best.Even large-scale bribery (the $20 billion or soMark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foun-dation for Defense of Democracies, estimatedmight become available to the regime) wouldbe unlikely to move the Iranians from their na-tional nuclear project.
That was the most important understandingin the development of international sanctions.Sanctions were not designed to force Iran tochoose between nuclear progress and “mutualrespect” with the West. Sanctions, rather, weredesigned to force Iran to negotiate with itself.To choose between two of its own nationalgoals: the nuclear project and economic stabil-ity. But at the very moment sanctions began towork and Iran began the internal conversation,the White House decided to buy the camel Iranwas selling – temporary, reversible paper prom-ises – for which the West would pay with easedsanctions and at least tacit acceptance of Iran’s“right” to uranium enrichment.
France (for itself, Israel, Saudi Arabia and theUS Congress) saved the Western position for aweek. Unable to acknowledge the fundamentalAmerican shift and having pulled France backinto the fold, the administration continues toblame Israel and, if reports are true, has warnedit not to consider military action against Iranwithout American “permission.” Somehow, theUS has become the guarantor of the security ofIran’s nuclear program and thus the guarantorof the Islamic Republic’s rotten regime.
The implications are staggering. Iran has sup-ported militias that killed American troops in Iraqand Afghanistan. It traffics in weapons and missiletechnology with North Korea, some of which itthen supplies, along with troops, to the gruesomelymurderous regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad andthe equally murderous Hezbollah. Iran shipsweapons through Somalia and across North Africato jihadists in Sinai and Hamas in Gaza. It stirstrouble for American allies in the Gulf and threat-ens Israel with genocide on a regular basis.
The election of the so-called ‘moderate’ Has-san Rouhani made no difference at all to theIranian people. In the first 100 days of his ad-ministration, 207 people have been executed,some publicly. Iranian-American pastor SaeedAbedani, in prison for more than a year forpractising Christianity, has been moved to the‘violent criminal’ ward and denied medicaltreatment for injuries suffered in prison. VeteranIran-watcher Michael Ledeen has chronicled theregime’s domestic violence, including the ston-ing deaths of four women and mass arrests ofKurds in Tehran in October.
Putting international priority on Iran’s nuclearprogram might have been reasonable given thestakes, but Iran presents a basket of issues forthe West, the Sunni Muslim world and Russia.The Administration’s willingness to underminethe allied position on the nuclear program hasleft no room to manoeuvre on the other points– if it wants to.
This article first appeared in Frontpage Magazineand is reprinted here with the permission of the au-thor, Shoshana Bryen who is with the Jewish PolicyCenter, a think tank in Washington, DC, founded in1985, which focuses on US domestic and foreignpolicy issues.
The [US] Administration’s willingness to undermine the alliedposition on the nuclear program has left no room to manoeuvre…
Secretary of State John Kerry: calls easing of sanctions “a tiny portion”President Barack Obama: doesn’t want Iranian regime change
The White House took the camel
Shoshana Bryen
President Hassan Rouhani: made no difference to Iranian peopleSupreme Leader Ali Khamenei: the only real power in Iran
22- The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 Jewishtribune.ca
Across1. Sort of bag5. Borscht ___9. Early Streisand number "Love Is ___"14. French human rights crusader Cassin15. "L. ___" (Steve Bochco TV show)16. Wore17. Hillel Levine's "Death ___ American Jewish Com-munity"18. Anthony Weiner's wife Huma Abedin, to HillaryClinton19. Igloo or sukkah20. Scandal-maker of 197123. "___ Sleep," Odets play24. Second person?25. ___ Finkle (protagonist in Bernard Malamud's"The Magic Barrel")27. "___ Gadol Haya..."28. "I'm thinking!"31. Part of Europe where Hasidism originated34. Klezmer instrument, sometimes36. Torah portion about Nazirites37. New York's ___ Convention Center40. Talmudic voice42. Game at Wynn's casinos43. Nebuchadnezzar's realm46. "___ Gotta Be Me" (Sammy Davis, Jr. tune)47. Rd. thru Malibu50. Post-apartheid party: Abbr.51. Tillie Olsen's home st.53. "Father" of all Torah commentaries55. Leading decisor of Jewish law of the last genera-tion in America60. Google competitor61. Painter Meidner62. "Portnoy's Complaint" subject63. "Awake and Sing!" playwright Clifford64. Pole, e.g.65. Chick's ending66. No Einstein67. Berlin's "Oh, How I ___ to Get Up in the Morning"68. Convinced
Down1. Acre2. 1. "Midnight Run" star Charles2. Repair the surface of3. Pineapple in French and Hebrew4. Neighbor of Niger and Nigeria5. God worshiped by Jezebel6. He wrote "Night" and "Dawn"7. It might serve cholent8. Tribes number9. King of Israel, ninth century BCE
10. Dylan's "It Ain't Me, ___"11. Lulav and willow, of the four Sukkot species12. Hammerstein's musical collaborator13. Suffix with Ess21. Felix Adler's "___ Culture"22. Red or Dead26. Kiryat ___29. Sound from a red heifer30. Hank Greenberg's org.32. They guard the Western Wall33. Skin designs, for short34. Fluctuate35. Jewish advocacy org. founded in 190637. Onetime mayor of Amsterdam38. "Being Jewish" by ___ L. Goldman39. In gematria, it's number six40. Dershowitz's org.41. Like Lake Nasser44. ___-liner (Henny Youngman specialty)45. Org. for Jewish mental health professionals47. ___-Messiah (Shabbetai Zvi, e.g.)48. "___ for yourself two tablets like the first ones..."(Ex. 34:1)49. Suggested52. "Kiss Me, Kate" co-writer Spewack54. Ayn Rand novel, "___ Shrugged"56. Barflies57. Water source58. "___ alone because of Thy hand..." (Jer. 15:17)59. ___ Tzedek (Tel Aviv district)60. Hebrew letter before Kaf
Crossword Puzzle
Answers to DECEMBER 5puzzle
Stuart Nulman
Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013
Employer Panel/Networking ForumJVS Toronto/Emet Employ-ment is holding an EmployerPanel and Networking Forumfor job seekers in the commu-nity at the Lebovic JewishCommunity Centre, 9600Bathurst St. in Vaughan at 5:30p.m. The panel will be moder-ated by Leach Eichler of theGlobe & Mail and include in-dustry leaders and experts. Forpreregistration, which is re-quired, contact [email protected]. For information,call (416) 661-3010.
Interview with author Lily Poritz MillerAuthor Lily Poritz Miller willdiscuss her newest book TheNewcomers on Rogers TV(Cable 10) at 6:30 p.m.. Thehalf-hour interview will beconducted by Gloria Valentine.For information about thebook, go to www.threeoclock-press.wordpress.com.
• • •
Friday, Dec. 13
Tot Shabbat programTemple Sinai Congregation ofToronto, 210 Wilson Ave., isholding a Tot Shabbat featur-ing a puppet show with TomVandenberg and his AmazingCats. Dinner begins at 6 p.m.;the Shabbat service begins at7:15 p.m. For reservations,call (416) 487-3281, or [email protected].
• • •
Sunday, Dec. 15
Annex Shul Book Club meetingThe first meeting of the AnnexShul Book Club takes place at6:30 p.m. at 105 SymingtonAve. in Toronto. The featuredbook is Letter in the Scroll byRabbi Jonathan Sacks. Formore information, [email protected].
David Gold: A Survivor’s StoryCongregation Ayin L’Tzion, 18
Atkinson Ave. in Thornhill,presents Holocaust survivorDavid Gold, who will give apersonal account of his expe-riences during the Holocaust.The presentation begins at7:30 p.m. Recommended foradults and children (Grade 3or higher). For information,visit www.ayinltzion.org.
• • •
Tuesday, Dec. 17
Chris Alexander at Beth TikvahAs part of its Visions forCanada series, Beth TikvahSynagogoue, 3080 BayviewAve., Toronto, presents ChrisAlexander, citizenship andimmigration minister. Thelecture begins at 7 p.m.Reservations are required asseating is limited. To RSVP,contact [email protected].
• • •
Wednesday, Dec. 18
Guitar lessons at Adath IsraelThe next session of free ‘begin-ner’ guitar lessons with PatrickMastey for anyone aged 13years and older, takes place atthe Adath Israel Poale Zedek
Anshei Ozeroff Synagogue,223 Harrow Cres., Montreal,at 7:30 p.m. You must bringyour own guitar. Register bycalling (514) 482-4252.
• • •
Odds & Ends
Join Prosserman JCC Shalom SingersThe Prosserman JCC ShalomSingers are always looking fornew singers to join their groupwho can sing in Hebrew, Yid-dish, English, French, Hun-garian, Italian or Russian. Thegroup meets every Thursdayfrom 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.and perform throughout theGTA. No auditions needed.For more information, call(416) 638-1881.
• • •If your group, organization,agency or synagogue in the Mon-treal and Toronto Jewish commu-nities have an event, happening,fundraiser or any item of interestthat you would like to have pub-licized in this column, please sendthe information (including or-ganization name, type of event,day, place, time, event details andcontact info) to me [email protected].
News
Jordan to back Israeli control ofJordan Valley in any peace deal(JNS.org) Jordan will back Israeli control of the Jordan Valleyin any peace deal with the Palestinians, according to ananonymous senior Israel official.
“They (Jordan) pressured the Americans to accept Israel’ssecurity demands that they also protect the kingdom of Jor-dan,” a senior Israeli source told Ma’ariv following US Secre-tary of State John Kerry’s visit to the region.
As part of any peace deal with the Palestinians, Netanyahuhas long insisted that Israel retain the Jordan Valley as a se-curity buffer on any attacks from the east, including Iranianmissiles. Palestinian negotiators have rejected the plan.
The senior Israeli official told Maariv that Netanyahu is de-termined to finish building the border fence between Israeland Jordan, a move that Jordan also sees as beneficial to its se-curity.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict talkswon’t lead to deal, Israelis say(JNS.org) A vast majority of Israeli Jews – 87.5 per cent – be-lieve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations will not leadto a peace agreement, according to a new Israel Hayom pollthat coincided with US Secretary of State John Kerry’s latestvisit to the region. The poll, conducted by New Wave Re-search, found that only 6 per cent of Israeli Jews think thenegotiations will lead to a deal. The respondents were a ran-dom pool of 500 Jewish Hebrew-speaking Israelis over theage of 18.
Toronto & Montreal
Community Calendar
I’ve been invited toa panel interviewwith five inter-viewers that in-clude the companyrecruiter, two proj-ect managers, abusiness analystand software de-veloper. This posi-tion will bereporting to thetwo project managers. The opportunity is fora quality assurance tester at a local IT com-pany. Thanks to the recruiter, I have been ad-vised as to the nature of the interview toprepare for a two-hour ordeal. I’m sweatingalready just thinking about the stress of thisinterview. What do I need to know to handlethis situation as effectively as possible so Ican get that job offer?Sweating to Succeed
Dear Sweating to SucceedI have often heard from human resource pro-fessionals that this type of interview with sev-eral people at one time, and in one room,enables the staff to look for different and spe-cific strengths, weaknesses and benefits in acandidate. For the company, it’s great for the keydecision makers. For you, it’s an exhausting andstressful event. It seems to me that the higherthe salary, the higher the expectations and stressrequired for the position. Here are some tipsthat might help you overcome your anxiety andfocus as well as you can on a successful inter-view presentation.
1. Research the panelists. If possible, findout from the recruiter who invited you thenames and positions of each of the participants.It would be great for you to research each per-son on LinkedIn, Twitter and the company web-site. Google is a great source of information, too.If you know someone working at the company,then approach the individual to see whetheryou can get some insider information. The moreinside information you can gather, the more youwill be able to prepare relevant responses to thequestions, especially the behavioural interviewquestions. Don’t try to be all things to all peo-ple. You still have to be yourself and the moreinformation you have before the ‘event,’ themore prepared you will be regarding the per-sonalities, needs and interests of each candidate.
2. Address each person in the room. Remem-ber to respond to each question by ensuring thatyou are making eye contact with each panelist, ei-ther individually or in a group scan as you answerthe question. Each participant must feel that youare treating them as the most important person thatday. Concentrate your focus on the person whoasks the question, but be careful not to over-con-centrate too much or too little. By the end of thesession, you should have engaged each person inthe room by listening, responding and eye contact.Take a few notes as you go along to help you re-member the names and important issues that arisein the conversation.
3. Follow-up. After the interview, request thebusiness cards of each participant or at least theirindividual emails. I would email each panelist acustomized and separate thank you email. Hope-
fully your notes will help you to address each pan-elists’ needs and interests in the email.
4. Understanding the differences. Each pan-elist has a different agenda, job to do and problemsat the company. If you can figure this out before orduring the interview, you can ask pertinent ques-tions to specific panelists such as ‘How do you de-fine a successful employee in yourdepartment/team?’ Try to find out what is impor-tant to each panelist when they are hiring. Each in-terviewer has his or her own style of interviewingand supervising, as well as working. Listen to theinterviewers and figure out their concerns andproblems. This is a great opportunity to respondwith how you can solve their problem(s) with asuitable and relevant response to a behavioural in-terview question.
5. Stay fresh and alert. With this challeng-ing and stressful interview, it is hard to remainin charge of your part of the interview game. Itis important to keep your energy and enthusi-asm alive during the entire interview. Don’t lookat your watch. Eat a healthy meal before the in-terview, and if caffeine helps, then drink it.
Many experts in the career field posit thatpanel interviews mean you’re doing a great in-terview job as the company has assigned fivecritical staff to take time out of their hectic anddeadline-driven schedules to meet with you.Good luck with the interview.Joanna
To submit your questions for this column inconfidence, email [email protected].
Joanna Samuels, B.A., B.Ed. (AE), M.Ed.,CMF is acertified Life Skills Coach, and Personality Dimen-sions Facilitator who is a job developer/job coach atJewish Vocational Services (JVS Toronto), and part-time instructor at George Brown College.
Holocaust survivor, rescuerreunited after 69 years
(JNS.org) The Jewish Foundation for theRighteous (JFR) has brought together Holo-caust survivor Dr. Leon Gersten with hisHolocaust rescuer from Poland, righteousgentile Czeslaw Polziec, for the first time in69 years.
For more than two years, the Polziec fam-ily hid Gersten from the Nazis, along withhis mother Frieda and the Wiesenfelds,Frieda’s sister and brother-in-law’s family.
Gersten lives in Cedarhurst, NY, and Czes-law Polziec lives in Mielec, Poland. ThePolziec family agreed to hide Gersten andhis relatives in their attic during the Holo-caust despite having five children of theirown.
Stanislaw Polziec, Czeslaw’s father, wasbeaten when the family was suspected ofhiding Jews, but did not send away Gerstenand his family.
The Jewish Tribune - December 12, 2013 -23Jewishtribune.ca
RECEPTIONISTAssociated Hebrew SchoolsPay: $37,000Job Description:Warm, friendly receptionist, withcalm demeanour, for very busy, fastpaced school officeRequirements:Strong interpersonal skillsAbility to multi-taskWell organized, flexibleComputer competentFluency in Hebrew and proficiencytyping in Hebrew an advantagePlease email Resume [email protected]
EXECUTIVE DIRECTORShaarei Tefillah Congregation, a wel-coming congregation with a dynamicmembership, is seeking an experi-enced professional for this newly cre-ated position.The ideal candidate will have a mini-mum of 5 years experience in a sen-ior management role with experiencein fiscal management, fundraising,operations, membership acquisitionand retention, and communications.The successful candidate will be awarm, collaborative, and drivenleader who will enable the syna-gogue to reach its potential.Please forward your cover letter andresume [email protected] byDecember 20, 2013.Only those applicants selected willbe contacted for an interview.
CASHIERS & WAITSTAFFLocation: Joseph & Wolf LebovicJewish Community Center at Para-dise Cafe & Leo & Sala Goldhar Con-ference and Celebration Center9600 Bathurst StreetPart time and Weekends.If you are motivated, energetic andwant to provide the highest standardsof performance in customer service.Please call us we want to hear fromyou.905-303-2353 ext 3202
TEMPORARY ACCOUNTS RECEIV-ABLE AND COLLECTIONS CLERK3-6 months. Immediate opening atNetivot HaTorah Day School. Report-ing to the Business Manager. Pleasereply by email [email protected] or mail your resume to:Ron SabanNetivot Hatorah Day School18 Atkinson AvenueThornhill, Ontario L4J 8C8Deadline for applications is Decem-ber 11, 2013
OPERATIONS MANAGEROur mid-town Toronto firm, one ofthe fastest growing providers of facil-ity maintenance services in the GTAand Southern Ontario.help managethis growing business.Reporting to the President, the Oper-ations Manager will oversee all oper-ational aspects of this growingbusiness. From personnel manage-ment, budgeting, scheduling & in-spections to customer interaction andprocurement, this position will play amajor role in the continued successof the business.The ideal candidate must be a moti-vated individual with exceptional op-erational, customer service,relationship building, team work,and time management skills. Youmust take personal accountability forresults, with a strong desire to suc-ceed. You must be diligent, honest,hardworking, have a positive attitudeand enjoy taking on new challenges.You are passionate about client serv-ices and able to build trusting rela-tionships within a positive,goal-oriented environment.Building maintenance, hotel and/orjanitorial industry experience pre-ferred.Responsibilities- Provide outstanding customer serv-ice, develop long term customer rela-
tionships- Manage supervisors and staff, con-duct employee performance ap-praisals- Manage and prepare operationalbudgets- Plan staff work schedules includingassigning specific duties- Manage/track inventory & equip-ment usage- Implement operational policies andprocedures, conduct site evalua-tions/audits- Hiring and training new employeesand ensuring that all team membersare compliant with all companyquality and safety mandates.- Develop action plans and assessopportunities for sales growth.Competencies- Customer focused with excellent re-lationship building skills.- Superior leadership skills and theability to manage change effectively.- Outstanding communication skills,both verbal and written.- Effective people skills and able towork with different stakeholders in-cluding staff and clients.- Proven analytical skills with theability to effectively execute solu-tions.- Efficient time management and or-ganizational skills.- Computer competency, proficient inthe use of MS Office, wireless com-munication devices and CRM soft-ware.- Valid class Ontario driver's license.- Clean criminal record and be bondable.CompensationThis is an exciting career opportunitywith a lot of growth potential.Competitive salary.Please email resumes to [email protected]
PROFESSIONAL MOVERResidential and commercial movingcompany is looking for a part timemover. Part time hours with the po-tential to be full time. Must have ex-perience moving, goodcommunication skills and flexiblehours. Straight truck driving experi-ence an asset but not required.Emailresume to [email protected]
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTPart TimeJob DescriptionBond Street Mercantile (BSM CapitalCorp) provides Canadian investorswith a variety of specialty invest-ments designed to capitalize onniche opportunities with high poten-tial returns. Our products feature ex-cellent growth potential while alwayskeeping a responsible eye towardsrisk management. Whether you are aconservative or aggressive investor,our specially designed Canadian andIsraeli-focused programs are an ex-cellent addition to your portfolio.The position is in Toronto and will bereporting to President.Responsibilities:This is a part time position. The posi-tion is primarily responsible assistingthe president of the company andhelping with booking appointments.The individual will work with spe-cific goals and responsibilities.The Administrative Assistant role willinclude:Use computer word process-ing, spreadsheet, and database soft-ware to prepare reports, memos, anddocuments; Book sales appointmentsvia email or phone. Purchase, re-ceive and store the office suppliesensuring that basic supplies are al-ways available; Conduct various ad-ministrative tasks for the President ofthe company. Answer the phone.QualificationsBachelor's Degree is an assetInterestin the Investment and trading indus-tryRequired ExperienceProficiency in the use of computerprograms for:Word processingData-basesSpreadsheetsBookkeepingE-mailInternetAdditional RequirementsMust be a Canadian citizen or be au-thorized to work in Canada; Detail-oriented and highly organized withthe ability to handle multiple-tasks si-multaneously; Ability to be assertive
and persuasive without being aggres-sive; Meet deadlines in fast pacedenvironment; Great verbal and writ-ten communication skills; Active lis-tening skills; Ability to learn quicklyand think quickly. Self-reliant and re-liable.How to Apply:Simply email us your resume toLeigh Solomon [email protected] or ZaleNewman at [email protected], in-cluding a description of your mainqualifications.
EXECUTIVE CHEFV!VA Thornhill WoodsAs the Executive Chef, you will as-sume full responsibility for the opera-tions of the Kitchen including,overseeing your Team as well as di-recting the preparation of all mealswithin the Community. Reporting tothe Community Director, you will beempowered to manage all aspects ofthe Kitchen, maintain a vibrant placeto live and work by continuallyworking to improve the dining andcustomer service experience and de-velop an innovative work environ-ment for the team.Qualifications:7 years of Kitchen/Culinary Manage-ment experienceRed Seal Certifica-tion requiredKosher kitchenmanagement and protocols experi-ence requiredPrevious experiencewith control food cost, menu devel-opment, and development of culi-nary team preferredThe ability tomanage in a diverse environmentwith focus on client and customerservicesStrong customer orientationto older adultsAbility to identifyproblems and resolve them quicklyand efficientlyMust possess solidleadership and communication skill-sPositive attitude, enthusiasm andenergyAble to bend, stretch, sit andstand for long periods. Able to lift amaximum of 50 lbs.Ability to workflexible hours and some weekends.If you are interested in joining theV!VA Team, please submit your coverletter, resume and portfolio to [email protected] are thankful for your interest inV!VA Retirement Communities, andregret that we cannot personally con-nect with every applicant. We assureyou that your resume will be re-viewed and considered for appropri-ate opportunities in the future thatcome up.
GENERAL STUDIES TEACHERfor Grade 6 in an Orthodox boys’ dayschool. Applicants are required tohave a B.Ed. or higher and must befamiliar with the current Ontarioministry guidelines. Teaching experi-ence is an asset.Please send resumes to [email protected] We will onlyrespond to your application if yourqualifications match our currentneeds.
TUTORS Tutors Required for Junior Students inNorth York (Dufferin/Steeles)Academy for Mathematics & Englishrequires energetic, enthusiastic andpatient tutors for our junior students.Must be able to tutor Math and Eng-lish from Sk – Grade 8.Hours: Monday to Thursday 3.45 –8.30pmSunday 9.30am – 4.00pm (to be dis-cussed)Email resumes to: [email protected] tutor openings; Qualifications:Degree in Math, English, Physicsand/or Chemistry or currently study-ing in these areas.1. Must be able to tutor Math from K– Grade 12 including AdvancedFunctions and Calculus and Vectors.2. Must be able to tutor Physics andor Chemistry.3. Must be fluent in English.4. Must be available Mondays –Thursday 3.45pm – 8.30pmEmail resumes to: [email protected]
Job Postings courtesy of Zev Zlotnick To submit a job opening,
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITYReena, a non-profit social service
agency that supports individuals withdevelopmental disabilities, is seeking
a female volunteer to assist a ladywho is accompanied by staff duringswim time at the Holland BloorviewChildren’s Rehabilitation Hospital
pool. The commitment calls for theperson to be available every secondMonday between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.for at least six months. If you are in-terested, contact Mille Chadwick at
