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Ingrid Levitz: ‘What have I done today to make a difference?’

By Cynthia Nyman Engel Every night before she goes to sleep, Ingrid Levitz asks herself: “What have I done today to make a difference?

“It doesn’t matter whether the difference was big or small,” she says, “as long as it was meaningful.”

Levitz has spent the past 17 years making a meaningful difference to the community she loves.

She began as a parent volunteer at Hillel Academy in 1992 and went on to occupy major positions in the UJA Annual Campaign, Jewish Family Services, the Jewish Federation of Ottawa (Vaad Ha’Ir), the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation, the Bess and Moe Green-

berg Family Hillel Lodge and the Hillel Lodge Long Term Care Foundation.

In recognition of her tireless commitment to the Ottawa Jewish community, Ingrid Levitz has been chosen to receive the 2009 Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award, the highest tribute the Ottawa Jewish community bestows on an individual for exceptional service over the course of many years.

Initiated in 1980, it bears the name of the late Vaad Ha’Ir past president who exemplified the qualities of leadership that the award seeks to recognize each year. The award will be presented at the annual general meeting of the Jewish Federation of (Continued on page 2)

Estelle Gunner’s volunteer efforts felt across the community

By Cynthia Nyman Engel Looking for Estelle Gunner?

Today she may be the pleasant voice on the other end of the phone at the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge. She also sits on the Lodge’s board and Executive Committee and chairs its Human Resources Committee.

Tomorrow, check the Ottawa Jewish Archives where she pops in

volume 73, no. 15

may 25, 2009

weekly to help with sorting records and collections. The next day, it’s off to Agudath Israel Synagogue to attend a meeting of the Malca Pass Library Committee – she also assists with administrative duties for its book discussion group. Two days later, she’s on her way to a meeting of Tamir’s 25th Anniversary Committee.

(Continued on page 2)

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Publisher: Mitchell Bellman

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sivan 2, 5769

Editor: Michael Regenstreif $2.00

2009 Community Award recipients

Ingrid Levitz Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award

Jennifer Kardash Freiman Family Young Leadership Award

Estelle Gunner Shem Tov Community Volunteer Award

Jennifer Kardash brought Choices event to Ottawa

By Cynthia Nyman Engel In keeping with its mandate, Ottawa’s first-ever Choices event featured Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble with Islam Today: a Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith.

An odd choice for a Jewish group? Not so. Irshad Manji typifies Choices and the kind of woman Choices aims to reach.

That first evening, Choices Chair Jennifer Kardash explained, “Life is all about choices. How you live and give of your time and energy to your family and your community is a choice. Our intent is to engage more women in our community to set an example of compassion and commitment for their children, grandchildren and others.”

And then she introduced the speaker.

“Irshad Manji is the quintessential 21st century woman,” Kardash said. “She has made a clear choice about who she is and the path she will take in life. She was exactly the type of individual we wanted for this event.”

Choices is an outreach initiative of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s Women’s Campaign geared to women of all ages. Judging from the reception it received at its November 2007 launch, Choices is right on the mark. That evening, 265 women gathered for dinner and Manji’s speech left them enlightened, enthralled and engaged.

Last year, almost 298 women

turned out to dine and hear keynoter Ruth Andrew Ellenson, editor of The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt. Kardash, who also chaired that event, will chair the 2009 Choices evening as well and has already lined up Brigitte Gabriel, author of Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America as guest speaker.

Jennifer Kardash is the 2009 recipient of the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award. The award, established in 1988, recognizes a member of the Ottawa Jewish Community under the age of 40 who has rendered exceptional service to the community. It will be presented June 3 at the annual general meeting of (Continued on page 2)

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Page 2 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Ingrid Levitz plays pivotal role at Hillel Lodge (Continued from page 1)

Ottawa on June 3.

“Winning this award is very special for me,” says the 2009 recipient. “We lived across the street from the Greenbergs in the ‘50s. I used to babysit the children.

“Gilbert Greenberg had a vision for this community, a commitment and passion for it that was awe-inspiring. I’m privileged to have played a small part in making his dream come true and tremendously honoured to be receiving the award that carries his name.”

Levitz was the third of Leon and the late Ann Gluzman’s four children and was born in 1946, when the Gluzmans lived on Cobourg

Street, in an apartment building that housed several Jewish families.

Levitz remembers how her mother, and the other Jewish mothers, would start cooking as soon as Shabbat was over and how, on Sunday morning, someone would materialize to take the food away. And, she remembers how her father would put some money into the outstretched hand of the volunteer who’d knock on their door later the same morning collecting tzedakah.

“No one had much, but whatever they had they shared with the less fortunate in the community,” she says.

“We children didn’t know who got the food or who received the tzedakah, but we

observed the weekly ritual. It was the Jewish community taking care of one another.

That has always stayed with me. It really was the forerunner to Jewish Family Services.

“I have really strong, really wonderful memories of those years and the decade that followed. Growing up Jewish in Ottawa in the ‘40s and ‘50s is deeply etched in my mind and my heart … how all the Jews lived downtown … how all the Jewish stores closed for the High Holidays. We all had such a strong Jewish identity. Those memories very much shaped me into who I am.”

Levitz earned her bachelor of science degree at Emerson

College in Boston and her master’s at Adelphi University in New York. She returned home in 1970 and embarked on a successful career as a speech and language pathologist at the Ottawa Civic Hospital.

Not long afterward, she met her husband-to-be, Gerry Levitz, at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC).

“We knew each other at Camp B’nai Brith, but found each other at the JCC,” she smiles. Gerry, who rose through the ranks to become president of the Vaad Ha’Ir, was awarded the Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award in 2006.

Levitz volunteered at Hillel Academy all through her

Gunner: ‘Very hard to say no’ (Continued from page 1)

And, guaranteed, every Tuesday when her “special baby,” the AJA 50+ Creative Connections Program, is in session, Gunner’s fine hand is in the works.

Creative Connections, a joint program of AJA 50+ and the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC), brings older seniors to the SJCC for a full day of activities once a week. Since its inception, Gunner has continued to give it her full attention.

Whatever volunteer role Gunner is playing, whether lead or supporting, she plays with a smile, an ‘it’s no trouble’ attitude, and with her whole heart. For her unerring devotion to the community, Estelle Gunner has been chosen to receive the 2009 Shem Tov Community Volunteer Award presented by the Ottawa Citizen. The award will be presented June 3 at the annual general meeting of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

Gunner, who enjoys working with seniors, is justifiably proud of Creative Connections.

“Every Tuesday, about 25 to 30 people in their 80s and 90s, who might otherwise be sitting at home alone, come to the SJCC to participate in Creative Connections regardless of the weather,” she says. “It’s absolutely wonderful.”

Gunner, 70, was one of the four

founding members of Active Jewish Adults 50+. The highly successful program was founded in 2000 and has grown to 550 members. Gunner served as secretary for two-and-a-half years, as membership and communications chair, and as president and past president.

The Ottawa native has devoted many hours to the community for much of her adult life. Retired from her positions as translator (Government of Canada), Agudath Israel (office staff), Talmud Torah Afternoon School (principal), Hillel Academy (executive assistant to the director of education) and the Carleton School Board of Education/Ottawa Carleton District School Board (committee co-ordinator in the Board Secretariat), her volunteer commitments – past and present – are impressive.

Gunner is a past member of the Talmud Torah Afternoon School Committee, served for 11 years as secretary of the Agudath Israel Congregation Board and is a past secretary and past chair of the Malca Pass Library, where she is still very active.

She was a member of the Agudath Israel Social Action Committee and, in conjunction with Jewish Family Services (JFS), recruited volunteers for the Gutten Tog Project, which involved visiting residents in non-Jewish long-term

care facilities as well as Hillel Lodge. As a member of two support groups assisting Kosovar refugees (JFS and Agudath Israel), Gunner ensured that the children were enrolled in appropriate schools and that the family received instruction in English as a second language.

She served on the JFS board for two years, was secretary of the JFS Seniors’ Task Force and was a member of the writing team for the first three reports issued by the task force on programming, transportation and housing for seniors.

She also made time to be a driver for Meals on Wheels.

Gunner assisted with the Hillel Lodge Bat Mitzvah program, served on the Vaad’s Human Resources Development Committee and, for six years, organized an annual music appreciation series.

Why does she do it?

“Because it’s lots of fun and I get a lot of joy out of it,” says Gunner. “You meet lots of nice people, you get a great sense of accomplishment and you’re building your community.

“It’s very hard for me to just sit and not do anything for my community,” she adds. “It’s very hard to say no.”

Married to Sol Gunner, the couple has three children – Neil, Mara and Michael – and one grandson, Gabriel.

daughters’ elementary school years. Then, one day, volunteer extraordinaire Zelaine Shinder called to invite her to lunch and the die was cast.

“It turned out to be a UJA Women’s Division lunch and the next thing I knew, I was involved with UJA,” laughs Ingrid. She started as a canvasser and wound up serving two terms as chair of the Women’s Campaign.

When Ingrid stopped working, she realized her skills set could be put to good use in the community. She was right. Her c.v. tells the tale. She served on the Jewish Family Services Tikvah Committee, sat on the Federation’s Human Resources Committee, mentored the Young Women’s Leadership Development Program, chaired the Jewish Federation of Ottawa Partnership 2000 committee.

She currently sits on the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation Board and chairs its marketing committee, and is a member of the board of the Hillel Lodge Long Term Care Foundation.

Levitz’s continuing love affair with the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge began in 1998 when she joined the board. All her skills came to the fore in her

efforts on behalf of the Lodge, its residents and staff.

She quickly moved up the executive ladder and assumed the board presidency in 2006.

Lodge executive director Stephen Schneiderman is an unabashed fan.

“Ingrid has always played a pivotal role in the success of the organization, in terms of its planning, its relationship with the provincial government and the Ottawa Jewish community,” he says.

“Her wealth of experience working in the Ottawa Jewish community and in the field of health care really served the Lodge well in terms of its desire to enhance its services and expand its programs.

“She is,” he says admiringly, “an unceasing proponent of the Lodge and has continued to champion its cause at every turn.”

Levitz is “overwhelmed” to be receiving the coveted award. “But,” she chuckles, “one of the things that bothered me about winning this award is, I thought, ‘Hey, I’m not through yet!’”

That’s mighty good news for the community.

Ingrid and Gerry Levitz have two daughters: Stephanie, married to Allan Shefrin, and Naomi.

Kardash: ‘Life is all about choices’ (Continued from page 1)

the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

“I’m totally committed to Choices,” says the 37-yearold mother of two. “Choices is an outreach program which is trying to get different age groups involved in Federation at the price of an evening affordable to all.

“I’ve never been one who wanted to go out for a meaningless evening,” she says.

“What we wanted to accomplish with Choices was a quality evening, with a quality dinner and a quality speaker, an evening that was over by 9 pm.”

Kardash grew up in Vancouver where her parents were involved in the community. After she married and settled in Ottawa she became

aware that many in her peer group were disconnected from the Federation and from donating to the community.

“My mother had learned of Choices from a Montrealer and had introduced it in Vancouver with great success,” says Kardash. “Choices raises awareness and is an outreach both to those who presently are involved and those who are not involved. We hope, through Choices, the latter group will choose to become involved.”

Choices is succeeding.

“It’s astounding the number of people who have come out of the woodwork since choosing Choices,” Kardash marvels.

Jennifer and Jonathan Kardash have two daughters, Noa, 12, and Haley, nine.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 3

Page 4 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Davina Finn to receive George Joseph Cooper Scholarship When Finn stopped by the Bulletin office on May 12, just before her departure for the March of Remembrance and Hope, we talked about the article she had written for the Bulletin – MDA volunteer reports from Ambulance 45, August 25, 2008 – about her experiences as a Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance volunteer in Israel last summer. “I wanted to experience Israel as more than a tourist,� said Finn.

She went to Israel on a Birthright trip and stayed on for the summer with MDA, living and working in a suburb of Tel Aviv. “It was a way of giving back to the country.�

Keeping busy giving back seems to be something that comes naturally for Finn. “Volunteering plays a huge role in my life,� she said.

While studying theatre – and all the requisite academic subjects – at Ottawa’s Canterbury High School, Finn was simultaneously president of the student’s council, minister of leadership development of the Ontario Secondary School Student’s Association and

co-chair of the United Way

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Ottawa Youth Action

Panel.

By Michael Regenstreif Davina Finn will be the 2009 recipient of the George Joseph Cooper Scholarship from the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation.

The award, valued this year at $13,912, is given to a person between 18 and 30 “who has displayed leadership qualities, academic excellence, and an interest in the Jewish community.�

Finn, who grew up in Ottawa and completed her second year at Queen’s University in Kingston this spring, is currently in Jerusalem on a Hasbara Fellowship receiving training in pro-Israel activism.

She journeyed to Israel after participating in the March of Remembrance and Hope in Poland earlier this month and plans to remain in Israel for the summer after completing the Hasbara program at the end of June.

Jewish War Veterans of Canada, Ottawa Post, is offering four $1,000 AND one $500 cash awards/ scholarship to deserving students a) The Jewish War Veterans of Canada Ottawa Post Student Award ($1000) b) The Abe Carlofsky Student Scholarship ($1000) c) The Saul and Edna Goldfarb Award (2 x $1000) d) The Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Student Award ($500)

Queen’s University student Davina Finn (OJB Photo: Michael Regenstreif)

And she’s been just as busy, if not busier, since moving on to her university studies in Kingston.

In her first year at Queen’s, Finn worked on the school’s Heart and Stroke Committee organizing fundraising events and spent her spring break in Nicaragua helping doctors and nurses with immunization programs and leading recreational programs at an orphanage and elementary school. She also became co-ordinator of the Queen’s Millennium Scholarship Foundation Chapter, a position she still holds.

Finn’s second year at Queen’s was even busier than her first.

As society affairs deputy commissioner of the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society, Finn was responsible for the social issues portfolio, overseeing the fundraising events and operations of 17 charity com-

mittees on campus.

She was also president of the Queen’s chapter of SHOUT (Students Helping Others Understand Tolerance), an organization dedicated to Holocaust awareness and to using the lessons of the Holocaust to stop genocide in today’s world.

Finn’s work with SHOUT also led her back to her passion for theatre. “I produced and directed The Diary of Anne Frank at the Wellington Street Theatre in Kingston,� she said. “It turned out better than I could have expected. We did four shows and got very good reviews.�

When she returns to Queen’s in the fall, Finn plans to use theatre again by developing a program called BETA (Bullying Education Through Arts), which will create theatre productions using high school-age actors and Queen’s students as workshop facilitators to help educate elementary school children about bullying.

She’ll also be on the Queen’s Hillel executive and will return to the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society as society affairs commissioner.

Despite a schedule that would seem to leave little time for anything else, Finn has maintained a level of academic achievement that saw her reach the Dean’s Honour List at Queen’s after completing her first year studies with a 91 per cent average.

Clearly, the leadership, academic excellence and volunteer activism displayed by Finn make her a most fitting recipient of the Cooper Scholarship.

With Davina in Israel, her father, Paul Finn, will accept the scholarship cheque on her behalf at the annual general meeting of the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation on Wednesday, June 10, 7:30 pm, in the Zelikovitz Family Social Hall of the Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building, 21 Nadolny Sachs Private. A dessert reception will follow the meeting.

For information, contact Francine Paulin at 613-798-4696, ext. 252 or fpaulin@jewishottawa.com.

Prerequisites 1) the student must live in the Ottawa/National Capital Region, be graduating high school in 2009 and pursuing a post secondary education 2) the student must provide a copy of his/her’s academic transcript 3) the student must show evidence of superior qualities of leadership, citizenship,sportsmanship and voluntary work at school, within the Jewish community and the community at large 4) the student is eligible for any of these awards but can only receive one 5) the student must send in their application for this award no later than June 30/09

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 5

Impact of financial crisis discussed at Federation members meeting

By Michael Regenstreif The financial challenges being faced by the Jewish Federation of Ottawa during the current recession and world financial crisis was the main topic of discussion at the Federation’s members meeting, May 13, at the Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building.

After Federation Chair Jonathan Freedman called the meeting to order, Mitchell Bellman, president and CEO, presented a brief review of the Federation’s current strategic objectives, calling attention to the goal of increasing engagement and participation in the community of all age groups with a special focus on young people.

Bellman pointed to the survey and focus group work being done with the emerging generation of young adults and to the Federation’s facilitation of the amalgamation of Hillel Academy and Yitzhak Rabin High School, which will create a Jewish community school covering kindergarten to Grade 12.

In turning to the financial challenges, Bellman pointed to a number of measures the Federation has taken to address the $300,000 shortfall that has resulted from the economic crisis.

Bellman explained that the Federation operating budget has been reduced and that most allocations envelopes have been reduced by four to five per cent. The Outreach and Innovations envelopes have been suspended and allocations for religious outreach programs have been reduced by 50 per cent. A moratorium has been placed on new programs and funding has been discontinued to two small afternoon schools: Ottawa Modern Jewish School and Star of David Hebrew School.

The cuts to the Star of David Hebrew School were the most contentious issue when the floor was opened up to discussion. Morty Bubis, the school’s board president, pointed to Star of David’s 33year history in Ottawa’s south end and questioned the fair-

Federation Chair Jonathan Freedman speaks May 13 at the Federation members meeting.

(OJB Photo: Michael Regenstreif)

ness of the cut. Bubis also said elimination of the school’s funding could result in the alienation of its families from the Jewish community.

Bellman responded by pointing to the small number of children served by the two afternoon schools whose funding was cut and said that priority had to be given to larger institutions with poten-

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tial for growth.

Federation board member Debbie Weiss added that Federation, despite having to cut funding, was open to working with Star of David in helping it find a way to continue operating [perhaps in a merger with other afternoon schools].

Others speaking at the meeting included Arnie Vered, Soloway Jewish Community Centre chair, who pointed out that the various agencies facing cuts to their Federation allocations would have to make up the shortfalls via their own fundraising efforts and would likely be approaching the same corporate sources as Federation; and Harvey Goldberg, representing Jewish Family Services,

who said that less funding to agencies that serve the most vulnerable has the effect of creating more need.

Rabbi Zischa Shaps of JET (Jewish Education through Torah), one of the religious outreach programs whose allocation is being cut by 50 per cent, said that the growth of programs like JET should be rewarded. The funding cut to JET, he added, would be difficult to fill without dropping core programming.

Rabbi Shaps also said that Torah Academy of Ottawa was not being funded at the same level as other day schools in the city.

The members approved the Jewish Federation of Ottawa Nominating Committee report, which will see Donna Dolansky begin a two-year term as Federation chair and

Debbie Weiss begin a twoyear term as vice-chair at the Federation’s annual general meeting on June 3.

Also beginning two-year terms on the Federation Board of Directors will be Steven Kimmel and Lisa Rosenkrantz. Two other board members are to be appointed by Dolansky after she takes office. Four board members – Bonnie Merovitz, Allan Moscovitch, Jeff Polowin and Ian Sherman – elected to two-year terms in 2008 will continue to serve until 2010.

Ex-officio members of the board are Jonathan Freedman, who will become immediate past-chair after Dolansky takes office; Neil Zaret, Jewish Community Campus chair; and Mitchell Bellman, Federation president and CEO.

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Page 6 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

As a volunteer, I have received far more than I gave In late-September 2000, I sat in my battalion headquarters on the Dead Sea beach, tying up loose ends from a threeweek reserve rotation patrolling Israel’s borders.

As battalion commander, I had little other to do than watch my soldiers race around trying to transfer responsibilities. As this was my last day as commander, I had time to reflect on 18 years of service to the army.

I sat my senior staff down and thanked them for our years together and asked them to continue serving. I told them that I had received far more than I had given during my years of service. I had started in the army as a young, immature 18-year-old, and was leaving as a senior officer, with years of leadership training, motivating people from all walks of life.

I now sit at the end of my term as chair of the Federation and I am having similar thoughts. I have had to put time and effort into my years serving the needs of the

Federation Report Jonathan Freedman Chair Federation, but, here too, the rewards have been far greater.

I had served the Federation under three previous chairs. Each brought his own unique leadership style, but all had the same singular goal of building a strong Jewish community in Ottawa and ensuring that our grandchildren will be Jewish.

I have had the honour of chairing a board of phenomenal volunteers who brought their own perspectives and experiences to their positions. We had our disagreements, but all were the result of passionate beliefs and the desire to make a difference. They opened my eyes to different points of view on

Jewish life. To all of you, I am indebted.

And I believe that the best way to repay that debt is to continue to offer my services as a volunteer in our great community.

People have asked me whether being chair was onerous. The answer is no. I dealt with a wide variety of strategic and philosophical issues, all of which would impact the community in one way or another. The experience was invigorating.

One of the more time-consuming duties is bringing greetings from the Federation.

This was most enjoyable as it introduced me to new areas of the community and allowed me to see the fruits of our investments firsthand.

I met agency volunteers that give me great confidence that our agencies are in good hands.

I have locked horns with agency professionals – mainly due to their dedication and commitment to their agency’s mission.

I have worked with a group of people at

Federation who are owed a debt of gratitude by all of us for their professionalism.

As a volunteer, I have received far more than I gave. I have been able to live my passions and hone my leadership and management skills while observing other leaders working hard to achieve their goals.

It strikes me that we need to find ways to foster a new generation of volunteers who will support Federation and our agencies’ needs.

To anyone even remotely considering getting involved, consider no further. Call now. Call Benita Siemiatycki, the coordinator of the Jewish Ottawa InfoCentre at 613-798-4696, ext. 227. Tell us what you are passionate about and how you would like to help and we will find a place for you.

I guarantee that you will receive far more than you give.

Donna Dolansky, the new chair taking the helm of the Federation, is one of the most passionate and caring people I know. I leave you in good hands.

A capital campaign with no glitches I write this article sitting in the new Ottawa Torah Center offices on our site at 111 Lamplighters Drive in Barrhaven. I sit here and reflect at what has transpired during the last six months while going through the many steps needed to allow me to sit here today. From satisfying the city for approvals and co-ordinating the engineers and trades to dealing with frozen water lines and everything in between. I would probably describe it as ‘whatever could have gone wrong went wrong,’ although my land developer friends tell me this is normal.

What puzzles me is that, when I read the account of the building of the first shul built in the desert after the exodus, the Torah presents the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) as a smooth capital project that had no hiccups. God commands Moses, Moses presents the people with the plans, the people respond over-enthusiastically, donating more than necessary (for the first and last time in Jewish history), until Moses has to say “we have enough.” The construction goes ahead according to plan and, in no time at all, the Mishkan is up and ready to function.

However, when we look in the Midrash we become aware of the challenges, both political and technical, behind the project. It was anything but smooth and simple. There were those who suspected Moses of pocketing funds and they demanded Moses make an accounting for every ounce of every item. Moses humbly presents a detailed account of every ‘dollar’ collected for the ‘building campaign.’

There were times – the Midrash tells us – when Moses struggled with understanding God’s directions and plans. God then had to show him a detailed vision of what He wanted. When the Menorah was formed, Moses completely gives up and God has to

From the pulpit Rabbi Menachem Blum OTC Chabad make the Menorah Himself. When the time came for the actual erection of the Mishkan, they again ran into a glitch: no one could succeed in lifting those walls. Even collectively, it was just impossible. At the end, Moses miraculously lifted the beams alone.

Yet, all of these parts of the story are completely ignored in the biblical text itself.

There are a few hints, but, overall, the story presented in the Torah is one of a holistic, pure and ideal experience. No glitches, no politics, no accusations, no problems: a perfectly smooth ride.

Is the Torah trying to brush over the disturbing details? Is the Torah teaching us to repress uncomfortable facts, to ignore the real story, to make believe everything is perfect when in fact it’s far from it? And, if so, why did the rabbis in the Midrash ‘ruin the party’ and ‘spill the beans?’

Beneath this story is an important lesson in life. The Torah is not trying to hide anything and that is why the sages felt comfortable exposing all the details. Rather, the Torah is telling us that when one looks with a proper perspective at his or her life’s mission, the problems do not deserve to be mentioned. Not because they don’t exist, but because they don’t define the story of our lives and, therefore, we can decide not to make them part of the story.

The building of the Mishkan was all about allowing man to connect with God by God’s ‘squeezing’ his omnipotence and

omnipresence into a sanctuary of a few square cubits, into a building of stone, into the heart of mortal man. This is the story.

This is what happened. The bumps on the road, true as they may be, do not constitute the story. Not because they didn’t happen, but because they are not what really happened. They should not, they cannot, obscure or even dampen the majestic power and beauty of the events.

With this, the Torah is teaching us how to live. Life is tough and many things will not work out as we hoped they would.

Inevitably, there are times of pain and heartbreak, moments of anger and setback.

But we have the choice not to make them the story of our lives. We must look at our lives and ask what is the real story happening here? Is my life a story of hardship and struggle? Or am I part of

something incredible? I am building a home for God. I am building a Jewish family, a loving marriage. I am helping people. I have the privilege of doing a mitzvah. This is my story, this is my life. The other parts are, of course, also true and deserve to be acknowledged as such, much as the Midrash acknowledges the other side of the story with the Mishkan. I must deal with every challenge and attempt to repair it, but I cannot allow it to become the story.

Staying focused on the real story, I can only conclude that the story of our project in Barrhaven was smooth sailing. And that is how we will deal with the next phase of our project of putting up the building for our Mishkan and outreach centre.

And that is how we should live our lives as we navigate through life’s many, often difficult, challenges.

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 7

Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children is on the way to Ottawa Over the past few weeks, a number of Bulletin readers have been mentioning Seven Jewish Children: a play for Gaza by British playwright Caryl Churchill to me.

The very short play, which takes about 10 minutes to perform, turned up in the news several times this month when productions ran in Montreal and Toronto. And it received a high profile airing, May 3, on CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning.

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), the group that sponsored the Montreal production of Seven Jewish Children is bringing the play to Ottawa on Saturday, June 13.

IJV is a small group of Jewish activists who often act in solidarity with Palestinian groups opposed to Israel’s existence. IJV sent a delegation to the United Nations Durban Review Conference – the so-called Durban II Conference – last month in Geneva that was boycotted by Canada, the United States, Israel and a number of European democracies.

Despite years of build-up, Durban II pretty much fizzled out because so many of the world’s democracies stayed away out of concern that it would degenerate into the blatant anti-Semitism that marked the original Durban Conference in 2001.

Many of the rest of the world’s democracies got up and walked out of the conference centre when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began to invoke exact-

Editor Michael Regenstreif ly the kind of rhetoric that turned Durban I into a sad farce.

Among the IJV delegates to Durban II was Diana Ralph, its Ottawa-based co-ordinator. After the conference, Ralph circulated an article about Ahmadinejad’s speech.

“I heard much with which I agreed,” wrote Ralph, who went on to describe Ahmadinejad’s one-sided interpretation of Zionist history as “an accurate statement.”

For the trouble and expense of IJV’s sending a delegation to the Durban II Conference, Ralph was given the floor for almost three minutes in which she read a prepared statement.

“We denounce the campaign by pro-Israeli groups to destroy the DRC [Durban Review Conference] through disrespectful intimidation and fear tactics,” she said.

Almost comically, watching the video of Ralph’s speech, you can see the woman sitting directly behind her start to pack up her things as soon as Ralph begins to speak.

The woman walks out about 20 seconds later.

Ralph condemned labelling any criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic, saying that such labelling is just a tactic to deflect attention from Israeli war crimes, “particularly in light of this country’s assault on the people of Gaza.”

In a presentation that was as one-sided as Ahmadinejad’s, Ralph went on to describe the Palestinians as “victims of apartheid, racism and crimes against humanity.”

And did IJV’s Ralph have any words of condemnation for Hamas terrorists or compassion for Israeli victims of terror in her statement?

Not a one.

Similarly, Caryl Churchill’s interpretation of Zionist history in Seven Jewish Children is one-sided. There are videos of the play to be found on the Internet and the script is available for downloading.

In seven brief scenes, adult voices debate what Jewish children should be told – “Tell her ...” “Don’t tell her ...” – as the vignettes evoke Europe just before and just after the Holocaust, Israel just before and just after independence in 1948, just after the Six Day War in 1967, during the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and during the recent war in Gaza.

Churchill never explicitly mentions the word “Israel” in her play, but she names it Seven Jewish Children. This leaves no

doubt about her implications. It is Jews who go from being Holocaust victims to European colonists who displace an indigenous population, to occupiers, to killers who rule with “the iron fist,” all the while indoctrinating their children with propaganda that dehumanizes the helpless Palestinian victims.

When the play was produced in Montreal, the Quebec Jewish Congress – the recently rebranded Quebec Region of Canadian Jewish Congress – labelled it “anti-Semitic and full of hatred.”

In Toronto, B’nai Brith Canada unsuccessfully lobbied Mayor David Miller to have the production thrown out of Theatre Passe Muraille, a venue owned by the city.

Someone whose outspoken opinions on many subjects I frequently agree with, posted a Facebook message recently that she’d read Seven Jewish Children and didn’t see it as anti-Semitic. I’ve now read the play three times and watched online videos of two different performances. This time, I can’t agree with her.

The most astute analysis I’ve read of Seven Jewish Children, and about when and how criticism of Israel crosses the line into anti-Semitism, is in a February column in the Independent by British novelist Howard Jacobson. That column, well worth your attention, is available online at tinyurl.com/cy6sdg.

The eternal conundrum for the NDP In the alternate bizarro universe of Canadian politics, we are into the fifth month in power of the current coalition government, led by that most unexpected of prime ministers, Stéphane Dion.

The reviews are mixed. The controversial way the government took power has divided Canadians along geographic and partisan lines. It’s also still unclear how well its fiscal plan will help alleviate the country’s economic crisis. But on the foreign affairs front, Dion’s good relationship with like-minded American President Barack Obama has had a positive effect on our country’s relations with the United States, with new bilateral agreements in the works.

Of course, the government has been helped immensely by the complete chaos on the opposition benches. Conservative leader Stephen Harper is facing open internal revolt over his leadership, after letting power slip from his hands into those of Dion, mere weeks after the Tory election victory. The official Opposition has been giving the government a much freer ride than expected, as it sorts through its own divisions and ponders its newly shaky future.

For their part, Bloc Québécois MPs have been absolute pussycats, content to bask in the glow of their success in helping to bring this new government into being, and show-

Alan Echenberg ing no sign of breaking the agreement that will keep the coalition in power – and the Bloc in its influential kingmaker role – for many months to come.

As for New Democrats, they have never been in a better political position, experiencing Parliament from the government benches for the first time in party history.

NDP leader Jack Layton, Dion’s prominent industry minister, is up every day in the House of Commons answering questions about his sweeping auto industry bailout.

Layton is enjoying unprecedented influence in Canadian politics and heightened attention from news media, while the NDP learns lessons about the discipline of power that will serve it well in election campaigns to come.

OK, it’s not the ‘alternate bizarro universe’ of Canadian politics for nothing.

Back here in our own dimension, things have unfolded quite differently over the past few months. Stephen Harper remains prime

minister and maintains a firm grip on the Conservative Party, despite that party’s precipitous drop in the polls.

Stéphane Dion is long gone, replaced as Liberal leader by Michael Ignatieff, who put the kibosh to the coalition and saw his party’s popularity rise above the Tories’.

As for Jack Layton, well, what happened to Layton anyhow?

To some extent, every party leader rolled the dice somewhat during the coalition drama last fall. But it was the New Democrats who arguably had the most to gain – a place in government for the first time ever – and who also took the biggest risks in pushing for a coalition.

The idea, in fact, was hatched by the NDP, and Layton was its most emphatic proponent.

“Prime Minister, your government has lost the confidence of the House,” Layton said on the day the coalition agreement was signed, “and it is going to be defeated at the earliest opportunity.”

That, of course, wasn’t to be.

In the fallout from the coalition’s collapse, some observers say the NDP has become somewhat marginalized in national politics. It is down in the polls, with a diminished role in Parliament despite the fact that Ignatieff has moved the Liberals further to the right, theoretically leaving more room

for New Democrats on the left side of the political spectrum.

“The New Democrat caucus tried to do a big thing – tried to replace the government.

And it didn’t happen,” said NDP strategist Brian Topp in a recent interview with the Globe and Mail. “Undertakings that don’t succeed don’t build support.”

So what will rebuild support for the New Democrats? Some suggest a return to the party’s more traditional role as a principled opposition voice from the left. The eternal conundrum for NDPers, of course, is to what extent they should play the political game at the expense of compromising their principles. In the last election, Layton played power politics, explicitly running for prime minister.

But, despite Layton’s modest electoral success in comparison to his predecessors, some think the party has been more influential as a kind of pressure group from the opposition benches, rather than as a pretender to the throne. There are even some whisperings that, for the party to move forward, Layton may have to step down.

It’s a far cry from the alternate universe that might have been, where flowers grow high, the sun always shines and New Democrats sit in cabinet.

Alan Echenberg is TVOntario’s Parliamentary bureau chief.

Page 8 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

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Weizmann Science event on food trends and nutrition

By Lorie Blumer Weizmann Science Canada Weizmann Science Canada will present Food Trends and Nutrition…from Plant Science to Palate Pleasers on Monday, June 8, 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Agudath Israel Synagogue. Gad Galili will discuss the science of plants and their nutritional values while award-winning sommelier and restaurateur Stephen Beckta will talk about the pleasures of dining.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel is world renowned as a multidisciplinary centre of excellence for cutting-edge research and innovation for the benefit of humanity. Galili, head of the Center for Nutritional Research at the Weizmann Institute, will help to demystify current topics such as organic foods, genetically modified foods and the general science of food.

Beckta has two highly

successful restaurants in the Ottawa area: Beckta Dining & Wine and Play Food & Wine. Beckta Dining & Wine was recently featured in the New York Times in the Frommer’s Review feature in the Travel section highlighting Ottawa restaurants.

Beckta will discuss food trends and the pleasures of dining.

Funds raised at this event will contribute to the special Women in Science Awards Program recently launched by the Weizmann Institute to assist highly talented young women pursue a career in science. The special award provides $20,000 per year for two years to help a PhD student meet the costs associated with attaining his or her degree abroad, a crucial step for a young scientist.

For reservations or sponsorship opportunities, call Lorie Blumer at 613-2363391.

Professor Gad Galili of the Weizmann Institute will discuss nutritional science, June 8, at Agudath Israel.

New president for Ottawa Chapter Norman Barwin, president of the Ottawa Chapter of Weizmann Science Canada for many years, has announced that Graham Sher, chief executive officer of Canadian Blood Services, will become the new president of the Ottawa Chapter. Sher is a recognized expert in transfusion medicine and science, and is a widely sought after speaker nationally and internationally.

Weizmann Science Canada is confident that Sher will build on the chapter’s successes and help position the organization for a strong and prosperous future. The Ottawa chapter is growing and exciting programs and events are being planned.

Visit weizmann.ca to learn more about Weizmann Science Canada or call 613-236-3391 for more information.

Graham Sher to become president of Ottawa Chapter of Weizmann Science Canada.

Letters welcome

Letters to the Editor are welcome if they are brief, signed, timely and of interest to our readership.

The Bulletin reserves the right to refuse, edit or condense letters.

The Mailbag column will be published as space permits.

Send your letters to Michael Regenstreif, 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1R9; or by e-mail to: mregenstreif@ottawa jewishbulletin.com.

Sommelier and restaurateur Stephen Beckta will discuss the pleasures of dining.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 9

Masorti movement seeks mainstream acceptance in Israel

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JEWISH NATIONAL FUND More than trees 613.798.2411

Brian Pearl president

A Blue Box for all ages Last month at the Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebrations at Landsdowne Park, while sitting at the JNF table with our Ottawa co-ordinator, Susan Schwartzman, and my wife Rochelle, I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with members of the Ottawa Jewish community about the various activities of JNF in Ottawa.

I was struck most of all by how often we were approached by people who wanted a JNF Blue Box to take home, and by the fact that they were from all age groups, from young students to seniors.

I wrote earlier this year about the renewed program

by JNF to place Blue Boxes in schools and homes across Canada, just like it was when our parents and grandparents were growing up. That program, I am glad to say, is meeting with great success, here in Ottawa and in many Jewish communities, for a number of very important reasons.

First, because in a real way, the Blue Box represents the best of both worlds, JNF does important work both in Canada and in Israel.

Second, for many older people, the Blue Box is a special reminder of the hard work and dedication of the generations of Jews who lived before and during the creation of the modern State of Israel, and is thus a link between ourselves, our parents, their own parents and the present, where the work of building Israel still goes on.

And, finally, for the student, the Blue Box is a reminder of both their personal link to Israel and the particular mission of KKL-JNF to “make Israel green,” a phrase that used to be just about forests, but has come to mean very much more.

In the ongoing saga of the small Blue Box and the ‘Big’ Jewish dream, the Blue Box has its honoured place, a proud symbol of Jewish identity. Found in homes, synagogues and schools, it remains the most visible symbol of Jewish National Fund. Its symbolic importance and educational value remains firm and reaffirms our partnership with the land of Israel.

Blue Boxes are available for pick-up from the JNF Office at 205-11 Nadolny Sachs Private (the office building beside the Soloway JCC) or call us at 613798-2411 and we will be happy to drop one off at your home (and even happier to pick it up when it’s full!). If you have a full Blue Box, you can also drop it off at the front desk of the Soloway JCC.

By Frances Kraft Canadian Jewish News For most of his life, Yizhar Hess, the 42-year-old executive director and CEO of the Masorti movement in Israel for the past two years, considered himself a secular Israeli.

That began to change almost a decade ago, when he attended a Conservative Bat Mitzvah in Tucson, Arizona, where he was serving as a shaliach for the Jewish Agency.

Hess – recalling his own Bar Mitzvah at a Jerusalem synagogue, where his grandmother could barely see him from the women’s balcony – was astounded to see that the celebrant’s grandmother not only held hands with her on the bimah, but was honoured with an aliyah.

Speaking at Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Synagogue during a recent visit to Toronto, Hess said, “It was in North America, thousands of miles from Jerusalem, that I experienced my first significant Shabbat. How absurd.”

As executive director of the Masorti movement, as Conservative Judaism is known in Israel, Hess says one of his main goals is to steer Masorti, which has grown to 53 congregations in Israel, toward becoming “a mainstream player in the arena of Jewish identity in Israel.”

Citing the dichotomy in Israel between the religious and secular segments of society, Hess – a 10th generation Jerusalemite on his mother’s side – noted in an interview the day after he

spoke at Beth David that secular Jews are not necessarily atheists.

“The majority are quite open to religion,” he said.

Hess, a lawyer by training who also studied political science and Hebrew literature, would like to see Masorti recognized by the State of Israel, so that, among other things, its rabbis would have the authority to officiate at weddings in Israel and to oversee conversions that would be accepted as legitimate by the state.

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Hess said that many Israelis are “disgusted” with the status quo. But he added that, in the long run, he is optimistic about the future.

“I’m encouraged by the fact that 20 per cent [of couples who are marrying] decide not to go along with the system.

It means we are not that far from the point where Israelis will say, ‘Enough already. There’s more than one way to be Jewish.’”

However, he noted that the Haredi-

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Page 10 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Ottawa’s Jewish agencies will be at Walkathon checkpoints

By Pamela Rosenberg for Soloway JCC The Walkathon brings families and people of all ages and backgrounds together and involves many local Jewish agencies working and walking together for one common and important goal: to raise funds that help ensure the future of our Jewish community.

As Sunday, June 7 quickly approaches and walkers, runners and bikers begin to collect their pledges, many of Ottawa’s Jewish agencies are getting ready to get in on the fun.

State of Israel Bonds, Soloway JCC Summer Camps, Tamir, JET, BBYO and Jewish Family Services will all be taking part in the event, manning checkpoint stations, passing out cold water, giving directions and telling Walkathon partici-

pants about the crucial roles their agencies play in the community.

“The Walkathon is a great opportunity for local agencies to self-promote and showcase the importance of what they do within the local Jewish community,” says Patrice Berdowski, Soloway JCC membership manager and one of the Walkathon organizers. “It’s really great when our community comes together and we really appreciate all their help.”

Walkathon takes place Sunday, June 7, at 9:30 am. For much more on Walkathon, see the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin (May 11, page 10), visit tinyurl.com/q7mnv3 or contact Patrice Berdowski at 613-7989818, ext. 233.

Pick up registration packages at the Soloway JCC or register on-line at jccottawa.com or jewishottawa.com.

Shir Chadash: A unique way to celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat

By Caren Weinstein for Shir Chadash Searching for a unique worship experience? Love to worship through music? Then come and participate in a creative Kabbalat Shabbat service where you can enjoy a sampling of the wonderful liturgical repertoire from classical to modern renditions of standard Shabbat prayer.

Shir Chadash is a chavurah, led by well-known cantorial soloist Ellie Glantz, who brings her warmth, beautiful voice and spiritual essence to her role as service leader. Glantz has been sharing her voice in the Jewish community for many years. The past few years have taken her to congregations in Canada and the U.S. for High Holidays, chaggim and lifecycle events.

The Shir Chadash service follows the inclusive Reform tradition using the new Mishkan T’Filah siddur published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Services are generally held biweekly at 119 Beechwood Avenue, 2nd floor, and are free of charge. The next service dates are June 5 and June 26 at 7:30 pm. Kiddush always follows the service. Come and experience the warmth of worshipping with new and old friends. For more information, visit ellieglantz.com/shirchadash.html or call 613-851-4988.

Cantorial soloist Ellie Glantz leads biweekly Kabbalat Shabbat services.

Golf tournament to benefit Soloway JCC and Hillel Academy

By Pamela Rosenberg for Soloway JCC The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and it’s finally time to dust off your golf shoes, grab the clubs and assemble your foursome for the Soloway JCC/Hillel Academy Desert Classic Golf Tournament.

The annual event, now in its eighth year, takes to the greens on Thursday, June 18 at

the Loch March Golf and Country Club in Kanata. It is a great excuse to take a day off, play 18 holes and raise some money for two worthwhile organizations.

Golf Tournament Chair Michael Landau says that, with the help of sponsors, last year’s event raised approximately $60,000, and he is hoping to provide the Soloway JCC

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and Hillel Academy with more than, or at least as much as, last year.

“The current world economic crisis has made fundraising in general difficult right across the board and we are really appreciative of those putting themselves forward in these tough times,” says Landau.

“We are going in very positive, we depend on fundraising. As the economy moves back, we have to move forward and we are thankful for everyone who is playing, volunteering and sponsoring.”

The goal is to fill the tournament with 144 golfers and for everyone on the greens, whether they are the next Tiger Woods or a novice, to enjoy the day and go home saying ‘that was a great tournament!’

Landau, a big proponent of a Jewish future for our city, believes it’s important to help

raise funds for the Soloway JCC and Hillel Academy as they are both key to the continuity of our local community.

“Hillel Academy is a big part of Jewish education in Ottawa, and Jewish education in Ottawa is a big part of the Jewish future in Ottawa. The Soloway JCC is a big part of community involvement, athletic-wise, activity-wise and those items are a big part of the Jewish future in Ottawa,” says Landau.

“Put it all together and that is your Jewish future. If we don’t have that, we don’t have a Jewish population in Ottawa.”

For more information on the Soloway JCC/Hillel Academy Desert Classic Golf Tournament contact Una Folkson Singh, Soloway JCC manager of events and fundraising, at 613-798-9818, ext. 225, or ufolksonsingh@jccottawa.com.

Teens for the Community AGUDATH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE requires a full time

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Hours: 8:30-4:30 pm DUTIES: Answering membership inquires, scheduling shul activities, receiving donations and all related duties.

Individual must be computer literate, able to multi-task, work well under pressure and interact with a diverse client base.

Apply in confidence to Anita Bloom, Executive Director at anita@agudathisrael.net

The Teens for the Community (TFC) program of the Chabad Student Network of Ottawa recently launched a campaign to send gifts to the parents of all Canadian soldiers who have died during the war in Afghanistan. In this photo, Michael Rosenbloom (left) and Zachary Kershman address envelopes to the parents. The TFC program is geared to high school students and meets weekly to work on community service projects.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 11

Michal Rovner Particles of Reality May 21 - September 27 2009 free admission

© Michal Rovner Courtesy of PaceWildenstein, New York.

Page 12 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

In support of the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge In the Joseph and Inez Zelikovitz Long Term Care Centre Card Donations Card donations go a long way to improving the quality of life for our residents. Thank you for considering their needs and contributing to their wellbeing.

On behalf of the residents and their families, we extend sincere appreciation to the following individuals and families who made card donations to the Hillel Lodge Long-Term Care Foundation between April 23 and May 6, 2009 inclusive.

HONOUR FUNDS Unlike a bequest or gift of life insurance, which are realized some time in the future, a named Honour Fund (i.e., endowment fund) is established during your lifetime. By making a contribution of $1,000 or more, you can create a permanent remembrance for a loved one, honour a family member, declare what the Lodge has meant to you and/or support a cause that you believe in.

A Hillel Lodge Honour Fund is a permanent pool of capital that earns interest or income each year. This income then supports the priorities designated by you, the donor.

Bill and Leona Adler Memorial Fund In Memory of: Eric Bahar by Marilyn Adler, Neil and Daniel Blacher Fania Ingber by Marilyn Adler Sally Maser by Marilyn Adler Ruth Pencer by Marilyn Adler Auxiliary of Hillel Lodge Fund In Memory of: Fania Ingber by Carolyn and Sid Katz R’fuah Shlema: Naomi Cracower by Carolyn and Sid Katz Fred and Esther Ballon Family Fund R’fuah Shlema: Nelu Moses by Esther and Freddie Ballon Boris and Dolly Blacher Family Fund In Memory of: Jack Smith by the Blacher family

Dorothy and Maurie Karp Endowment Fund In Memory of: Jack Smith by Dorothy Karp In Honour of: Etta Karp Mazal tov on your 90th birthday! May you enjoy many more years of good health by Dorothy Karp Morris and Lillian Kimmel Family Fund In Memory of: Eric Bahar by the Kimmel, Kaiman and Levine families Beloved mother of Devora Litenatsky by Morris Kimmel and the Kimmel, Kaiman and Levine families In Honour of: Janet Kaiman and the Kimmel family A delayed thank you for your Passover donation with best wishes by Anna Heilman Sally Weltman Wishing you a happy and healthy special birthday by Brenda, Nathan, Jesse and Daniel Levine Joan and Russell Kronick Family Fund In Memory of: Rachel Gould by Sara and Hugh Shabsove Zelda Greenberg by Joan and Russell Kronick In Honour of: Lilyan Philipp Best wishes for a happy belated birthday

by Joan and Russell Kronick Sarah Swedler We are thinking of you by Joan and Russell Kronick Bill and Phyllis Leith Family Endowment Fund R’fuah Shlema: Ketty Samel by Arlene and Seymour Isenberg Levenson-Polowin Feeding Fund In Honour of: Ruth Aaron Congratulations and best wishes on your 80th birthday and may you enjoy many more happy and healthy years by Inez Zelikovitz Max Lieff Endowment Fund In Memory of: Henry Bloom by Dorothy Lieff Elliot and Helen Marshall Family Endowment Fund In Memory of: Helen Marshall by Joyce and Milton Kimmel

Friedberg and Dale Families Fund In Memory of: Nellie Engel by Elaine Friedberg and Bob Dale In Honour of: The Kerzner family Mazal tov on the birth of your first child, grandchild and nephew by Elaine Friedberg, Bob and Jonathan Dale Lauren and Rabbi Zischa Shaps Mazal tov on the birth of your granddaughter by Elaine Friedberg and Bob Dale Nell Gluck Memorial Fund In Memory of: Henry Bloom by Manny Gluck and Cheryle

Abe and Bertha Palmer Endowment Fund In Memory of: Bertha Palmer by Evelyn and Joe Lieff; and Alyce and Allan Baker and family Pencer Family Fund In Memory of: Ruth Pencer by Ingrid and Gerry Levitz; Faigy and Zachary Muroff and family; Helen Chirnomas; Sharon and Harvey Segal; the Avery family; Ruth and Perry Coodin and family; Anna and Sam Wex; the Klesmer family; Barbara and David Kates; Cary and Ed Lander; Alexandra and James Howard; Rima and Stephen Maislin; Julian Kotler; Pauline

and David Modlinsky; Elena and Roger Keen; and Joanna and Ira Abrams and family Shirley and Maurice Rose Memorial Fund In Memory of: Jack Smith by Mavis and Simon Wasserberger In Honour of: Sheila and Sidney Coplevitch Congratulations and best wishes on your 60th wedding anniversary by Mavis and Simon Wasserberger Rosenthal/McCormick Family Fund In Memory of: Fania Ingber by Helen Rosenthal Irma and Harold Sachs Family Fund In Memory of: Fania Ingber by Irma Sachs In Honour of: Ricki and Barry Baker Mazal tov and best wishes on the birth of your new grandchild by Irma and Harold Sachs Schachter-Ingber Family Fund In Memory of: Fania Ingber by Carol and Laurie Pascoe; Anne Nadler; Carol and Larry Gradus; Joanna and Ira Abrams and family; Margie and Ruby Reisler; Carolyn Stitt; Faigy and Zachary Muroff and family; and Pat Guthrie Stephen and Debra Schneiderman Family Fund In Memory of: Fern Bybelezer by Debra and Stephen Schneiderman Fania Ingber by Debra and Stephen Schneiderman Ruth Pencer by Debra and Stephen Schneiderman In Honour of: Maura and Harvey Cooperberg Mazal tov on Lorne and Lauren’s upcoming wedding! All the best to you and the whole family with love by Bessie and David Waxman Chava and Ingie Respitz Mazal tov on the upcoming wedding of Lorne and Lauren! We are looking forward to celebrating with you by Debbie and Stephen Schneiderman Harold and Lillian Shoihet Memorial Fund In Memory of: Nellie Engel by Dovid Shoihet and Miriam Sabo Jack Smith by Dovid Shoihet and family Label and Leona Silver Family Fund In Memory of: Cornelia Engel by Leona and Label Silver Jack Smith by Leona and Label Silver In Honour of: Joe Osterer Mazal tov on your second Bar Mitzvah by Leona and Label Silver Ralph and Anne Sternberg Memorial Fund In Memory of: Jack Smith by Laya and Ted Jacobsen Kurt Waldele by Laya and Ted Jacobsen In Honour of: Stephanie Dancey Mazal tov to our daughter Stephanie on her birthday with love by Laya and Ted Jacobsen Mendy Taller Mazal tov on the imminent wedding of your son Jason to Nina Elkin and may their marriage provide a myriad of ‘naches’ to you and all of your family with warmest wishes by Laya and Ted Jacobsen Eric Weiner and Arlene Godfrey Family Fund In Memory of: Fania Ingber by Arlene Godfrey and Eric Weiner and family

Carole and Norman Zagerman Family Fund In Memory of: Martin Wolfish by Carole and Norman Zagerman Feeding Program In Memory of: Martin Wolfish by Irma and Harold Sachs Sally Maser by Mara and Isaac Muzikansky; and Maureen and Jeffrey Katz In Honour of: Elana and Adam Aptowitzer Wishing you a hearty mazal tov on the birth of your daughter Mia (Maayan Hadassah) by Mara and Isaac Muzikansky Pat Guthrie Wishing you a very happy 60th birthday by Kaila Mintz; and Maureen and Jeffrey Katz Sara and Leonard Kerzner Mazal tov on the birth of your first grandchild, a boy to Devorah Sarah and Shimon Yitzhak Kerzner by Mara and Isaac Muzikansky and family Fara and Ian Horowitz Mazal tov and best wishes on Shane’s safe arrival by Carol and Larry Gradus Barbara and Jeff Rosenberg Mazal tov and best wishes on the safe arrival of your grandson Shane by Carol and Larry Gradus Eleanor and Paul Weiner Mazal tov and best wishes on the safe arrival of your great grandson Shane by Carol and Larry Gradu *********************

IN MEMORY OF: Eric Bahar by the Residents, Board and Staff of Hillel Lodge; and Debi and David Shore Henry Bloom by Queenie and Ben Teichman; and Sara and Hugh Shabsove Fania Ingber by the Residents, Board and Staff of Hillel Lodge; and Rhonda, Danny, Samuel, Zachary and Shelby Levine Beloved brother of Irwin Itzkovitch by Annette Millstone Sally Maser by the Residents, Board and Staff of Hillel Lodge; Ethel and David Malek; Ingrid and Gerry Levitz; Edie Landau; Bina and Joel Maser and family; Carol and Laurie Pascoe; and Ossie and Harry Hanauer Ruth Pencer by the Residents, Board and Staff of Hillel Lodge; and Rhonda and Danny Levine Jack Smith by Rabbi and Mrs. Teitlebaum; and Mark Shore and Adam Tanner Philip Wexberg by Cary and Ed Lander

IN OBSERVANCE OF: The Yahrzeit of Jacob Aaron Bruner a dear father and grandfather by Al and Elly Bruner and daughters

IN HONOUR OF: Sophie Kaminsky Mazal tov on your retirement by Lynn Gillman and Bobby and Kira Kaminsky Mara and Isaac Muzikansky Mazal tov on the birth of your grandchildren Jonah and Sophie by Nadia and Peter Gelbman Queenie Teichman With best wishes on your special birthday by Mr. and Mrs. S. Lyon Sachs

R’FUAH SHLEMA: Gail Stern by Lynn Gillman and Bobby and Kira Kaminsky

The Foundation would like to thank and welcome our new Endowment Fund holders: Ruth and Irving Aaron for establishing ‘The Ruth and Irving Aaron Family Fund’ Irma and Harold Sachs for establishing ‘The Irma and Harold Sachs Family Fund’

THE LODGE EXPRESSES ITS SINCERE APPRECIATION FOR YOUR KIND SUPPORT AND APOLOGIZES FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS. DUE TO SPACE LIMITATIONS, THE WORDING APPEARING IN THE BULLETIN IS NOT NECESSARILY THE WORDING WHICH APPEARED ON THE CARD. GIVING IS RECEIVING – ATTRACTIVE CARDS AVAILABLE FOR ALL OCCASIONS Here’s a good opportunity to recognize an event or convey the appropriate sentiment to someone important to you and at the same time support the Lodge. Card orders may be given to Debra or Rhonda at 613-728-3900, extension 111, 9:30 am to 3:30 pm Monday to Thursday, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm Friday. You may also e-mail your orders to donations@hillel-ltc.com. E-mail orders must include name, address, postal code, and any message to person receiving the card; and, amount of donation, name, address and postal code of the person making the donation. Cards may be paid for by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Cheque or Cash. Contributions are tax deductible.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 13

Rabbi Judah Loew never did create a golem

By Dinah Spritzer PRAGUE (JTA) – Just don’t mention the golem.

According to legend, Prague’s most famous rabbi, the 16th century Judah Loew ben Bezalel, magically made a mute clay being who alternately protected and rampaged through the Prague ghetto where Jews were required to live.

But ask Czech Jews about the golem and you most likely will be met with eye rolling and heavy sighs, especially if you’re asking about plans for the upcoming 400th anniversary of the death of Rabbi Loew (pronounced Lev).

“Everyone hates the golem,” said Peter Gyori, a Prague Jew. “Loew was one of Europe’s most famous teachers and, sadly, people come here and ask about a creature he never made.”

Annoyance at the tale of Rabbi Loew’s golem – unsubstantiated and attributed to the rabbi 200 years after his death – reflects the desire of Czech Jews to refocus attention away from the soulless automaton who has so captivated artists, mystics and even writers for The Simpsons television show.

Instead, on the occasion of the 400th Yahrzeit of Rabbi Loew – known as the Maharal of Prague for the Hebrew acronym Moreinu Ha-Rav Loew (Our Teacher the Rabbi Loew) – many in Prague hope outsiders will come to appreciate the man whom Professor Byron Sherwin, a scholar on Jewish philosophy and mysticism, calls “the greatest and most comprehensive Jewish thinker ever produced by Ashkenazic Jewry, and certainly one of the most prolific and influential.”

To celebrate Rabbi Loew’s Yahrzeit, which falls on September 7, the Prague Jewish community is hosting a conference of scholars on the Maharal, and the Jewish Museum will be putting on an exhibit at the Prague Castle on Rabbi Loew’s life. The exhibition runs from August 5 to November 8.

The show, at Prague’s most popular tourist site, will examine Rabbi Loew and his

Golem figurines are sold at the tourist market in Prague's Jewish Quarter.

(JTA Photo: Dinah Spritzer)

legacy. One part of the exhibit will trace the development of the Prague ghetto and the Jewish cemetery during the rabbi’s lifetime. An interactive installation, Golem, by the artist Petr Nikl, will be on view at the Jewish Museum’s Robert Guttmann Gallery from June 3 to October 4.

Earlier this year, an institution dedicated to training rabbinical students in Rabbi Loew’s teachings, the Maharal Institute, was opened by the Chabad Lubavitch movement in Prague’s Jewish Quarter.

Born in the Polish city of Poznan, circa 1517, Rabbi Loew was a brilliant and unconventional scholar whose

prolific writings on Jewish philosophy and Jewish mysticism are still studied today.

He wrote some 27 books, was an inspiration for the founders of Chasidism and was an ancestor of the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Rabbi Loew is also perhaps the only European rabbi to become a national folk hero; a statue of him stands in front of Prague City Hall.

His grave is the main attraction of Prague’s Old Jewish Cemetery. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama recently left a prayer note there.

The decision this summer to showcase an exhibit about

a rabbi at what is arguably the Czech Republic’s most prominent symbol, the Prague Castle, is highly unusual.

Rabbi Loew rose to prominence in non-Jewish Czech lore as a magical wise man in Old Bohemian Legends, by the late-19th century author Alois Jirasek. The legends, which include tales of Rabbi Loew meeting magicloving Emperor Rudolf II, are still required reading for Czech schoolchildren.

One tale holds that Rabbi Loew asked the emperor to recant the expulsion of Prague’s Jews, stopping Rudolf’s horse and carriage on the Charles Bridge.

There are still many mysteries about Rabbi Loew, but the biggest is why he is credited with inventing the golem.

One of the first stories connecting Rabbi Loew to a golem appears in Galerie der Sippurim, an 1847 collection of Jewish tales published in Prague.

In the book, Rabbi Loew creates a clay servant using a piece of paper on which one of God’s names is written.

The rabbi forgets to remove the paper on the Sabbath, and the golem becomes violent until Rabbi Loew removes it and the golem collapses into a clay heap. Rabbi Loew puts the golem’s remains in the

attic of the 10th century OldNew Synagogue – where tourists are told he remains until today.

The story was adopted in 1909 by Poland’s Rabbi Yudl Rosenberg, who cited Jewish records that historians later learned did not exist. In Rabbi Rosenberg’s telling, Rabbi Loew and the golem fight off accusations of blood libels – a dangerous problem for Jews in Eastern Europe during Rosenberg’s time.

The word golem is used in the Mishnah to refer to an uncultivated person or lunk, and in the Talmud to refer to the shapeless mass from which Adam was created.

The term is derived from the Hebrew word gelem, which means raw material. The first creation of a golem-like figure in Jewish lore appears in the Talmud Sanhedrin.

The first written record associating Rabbi Loew with a golem comes in the mid19th century.

Sherwin, director of doctoral studies at Chicago’s Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, says Rabbi Loew was identified as the golem’s creator because of his greatness, even though other rabbis of his era existed who actually were documented as trying to animate golems.

“Loew’s portrait in Czech and Jewish legends as a wonder worker made him a natural candidate for being linked with the legend of the golem,” Sherwin wrote in the catalogue for the Prague Castle exhibition.

SAVE THE DATE Monday, June 8th, 2009

Food Trends and Nutrition… from Plant Science to Palate Pleasers!

Dr. Graham Sher, President, Ottawa Chapter Susan Stern, Executive Director, Eastern Region Weizmann Science Canada

A Weizmann Science Canada event, featuring guest speakers who will take us on a journey from the science of plants and their nutritional value to food trends and the pleasure of dining.

Proceeds will fund a special Women in Science award.

Guest speakers: Professor Gad Galili, head of the Mel Dobrin Centre for Nutrition at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel) Stephen Beckta, award winning sommelier and owner of the very popular Beckta Dining & Wine and Play Food & Wine

Monday, June 8th, 2009 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., Agudath Israel Synagogue, 1400 Coldrey Ave, Ottawa, Couvert $50 Dietary Laws Observed For reservations and/or sponsorship opportunities, please call Lorie at 613-236-3391 or email lorie@weizmann.ca

Page 14 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Ottawa celebrates Israel’s 61st Yom Ha’Atzmaut

By Liana Shlien Israeli music, food and fun filled the Ottawa Civic Centre April 29, as the Ottawa Jewish community gathered to mark the 61st Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. A special feature of this year’s event was a tribute to the centennial of the founding of the city of Tel Aviv at the festivities organized by the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (JCC) and the Vered Israel Cultural and Educational Program.

Beginning at five in the afternoon, and continuing well into the evening, hundreds of families and people of all ages streamed into the large hall decked in Mediterranean décor with palm trees and signage in Hebrew and English evoking well-known Tel Aviv landmarks.

With costumed stilt-walkers and roaming entertainers, this year’s Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration stayed true to its roots as a familyfocused holiday. A circus troupe from Mini Cirque Circus School kept young ones happy, along with balloon creations and face painting.

At the Dizengoff Café Casino, visitors received chits to gamble with. As for food, an assortment of kosher meals ranging from sushi to hot dogs to an Israeli buffet was offered.

On the main stage, Yosi Levy and the Sabras, a Los Angelesbased Israeli band made a repeat appearance in Ottawa, playing a lively mix of familiar Jewish songs and newer Israeli tunes that brought many attendees to their feet.

In contrast to the festive atmosphere inside, supporters of the Ottawa Palestinian Solidarity Net-

work were outside on Bank Street lining the entrance to the site with Palestinian flags. A group of about 30 protesters stood holding posters stating “Independence or Catastrophe?” and chanted slogans such as, “There should be no celebration, end Israeli occupation.”

Meanwhile, inside the Civic Centre, representatives of numerous Jewish organizations set up information tables, including Canadian Magen David Adom, Canadian Hadassah-WIZO, Maccabi Canada and the Jewish National Fund of Canada.

Chairing the Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebrations, for the third consecutive year, was Penny Torontow.

Ambassador Miriam Ziv brought official greetings from the State of Israel.

Jonathan Freedman, chair of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, addressed the crowd: “It’s great to see so many generations here, so many families coming together as one.”

He expressed pride at marking the 61st birthday of “the only thriving democracy in the Middle East, sharing our Canadian values.”

Andrew Percy, 20, a Carleton University student who is active in the Chabad Student Network, said: “Tonight’s about Jews returning to their original homeland, which they’ve been living in for 3,000 years. That’s worth celebrating.”

In response to the recent surge in anti-Israel activity, he said, “It’s more important that we all come together to say ‘you can’t defeat us.’”

For another university student, Jonathan Brownstein, who sported an Israeli soccer jersey, coming to

Ottawa Post Jewish War Veterans of Canada March on the Colours at the Civic Centre on Yom Ha’Atzmaut.

(Photo: Peter Waiser)

the Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration over the years has become a family tradition.

“Every year, the celebration gets better. It’s definitely an event I would not miss,” said Brownstein, who has visited Israel three times.

Also coming out with his family to celebrate for several years now, Aklilu Afowerk, who moved to Canada 20 years ago from Ethiopia, said, “If there is no Israel, there is no life for the Jewish people.”

He says he has about 100 relatives living in Israel and plans to move there with his family sometime in the next few years.

“Every Jew is going to go there.”

Hillel Academy Choir sings at the Yom Ha’Atzmaut flag-raising ceremony.

(OJB photo: Michael Regenstreif)

Yom Ha’Atzmaut flag-raising

Yosi Levy and the Sabras had the Yom Ha’Atzmaut crowds up and dancing at the Civic Centre.

(Photo: Peter Waiser)

Earlier, about 200 people gathered in front of the Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building on the Jewish Community Campus at 11:00 am for a flag-raising ceremony.

The Israeli and Canadian flags in front of the building had been lowered to half-staff to mark Yom Hazikaron, the day preceding Yom Ha’Atzmaut, which honours the memory of Israeli soldiers who have given their lives defending the country as well as Israel’s victims of terrorist attacks.

The flags were raised by students from Yitzhak Rabin High School.

The ceremony, MCed by Maxine Miska, Soloway JCC interim president, also included greetings from Amit Gil-Bayaz, deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Israel; Arnie Vered, Soloway JCC chair; and Jonathan Freedman, Jewish Federation of Ottawa chair.

The ceremony also included the March on the Colours by the Ottawa Post Jewish War Veterans of Canada and songs performed by the Tamir and Hillel Academy Choirs and by the children of the Early Beginnings Multicultural Child Development Centre and Ganon Preschool.

– Michael Regenstreif

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 15

Photo caption correction

There was a mistake in the caption to this photograph of seven of the Volunteer Award recipients featured in the special section published May 11 celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

The correct caption is: left to right: Chuck Merovitz, Mark Thaw, Roslyn Kimmel, Linda Nadolny-Cogan, Jeffrey Miller, Elissa Iny and Jonathan Calof.

(Photo: Howard Sandler)

Singing at the flag-raising

Mitzvah Knitters celebrate birthdays

The Mitzvah Knitters took a break from their regular Wednesday afternoon session, May 6, to mark the birthdays of knitters Rose Stein, 94, and Eve Jason, 90. Seated (left to right): Beverley Weiner, Elsa Lutzow and birthday girls Rose Stein and Eve Jason. Standing: Joy Elkin, Shirley Weiner, Liz Kronick, Phyllis Sadowski, Elaine (OJB Photo: Michael Regenstreif) Singer, Patricia Bell, Lisa Levitt and Lisa Sandell.

Hillel Academy soccer players visit Charles H. Hulse Public School

Students from Hillel Academy visited Charles H. Hulse Public School, a school with a predominantly Muslim population, May 7, for a friendly game of indoor soccer.

“All the kids seemed to have fun and all played with much respect,” said Patrick Mascoe, a Grade 6 teacher at Hulse who has worked to establish good relations between Hillel and Hulse students over the past several years. “When one of the Hillel girls got hit with a ball, started to cry and went into the change-room, two of the Hulse girls went in to see that she was OK.” The teams played to a 3-3 tie. The schools hope to play again in June, this time outside.

Men’s basketball champs

In addition to the Hillel Academy Choir (pictured on page 14), songs were performed at the Yom Ha’Atzmaut flag-raising ceremony by the Tamir Choir (top) and by children from the Early Beginnings Multicultural Child Development Centre (middle) and the (OJB Photos: Michael Regenstreif) Soloway JCC Ganon Preschool.

The score was 75-71 as Team Black defeated Team Blue on April 29 to win the 2008-2009 JCC Men’s Basketball Championship. Celebrating their victory are (standing, left to right) David Lyman, Adam Sadinsky, Mitchell Huberman, Zev Kershman, Ashley Potter, Kobie Oded, Ian Sadinsky; (kneeling) final game MVP Manny Olszynko and Hart Wener.

Page 16 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Tragedy, pain and empathy across the Israeli-Palestinian divide

By Ben Harris NEW YORK (JTA) – Nomika Zion and Izzeldin Abuelaish first encountered one another near the end of Israel’s three-week military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Both had been invited to share their thoughts on the conflict with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh via Internet hookup.

Zion, a mother from the besieged Israeli border town of Sderot, had gained national attention in Israel after publishing an essay warning that fervent support for the war was undermining the ability of Israelis “to see the other side, to feel, to be horrified, to show empathy.”

The next day Abuelaish, a Gaza obstetrician who for years had worked with Israeli hospitals, also would become a household name in Israel.

During a live TV broadcast in Israel, Abuelaish called one of the journalists on the air to report that Israeli forces had just fired on his Gaza home and killed three of his daughters and a niece. As a teary Israeli television journalist held his cell phone aloft, Abuelaish can be heard screaming for help.

“Suddenly, the Palestinian pain, which the majority of Israeli society doesn’t want to see, had a voice, had a face,” Zion said in New York, where she and Abuelaish shared a stage April 29 to receive the Niarchos Prize for Sur-

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish (left) from Gaza and Nomika Zion from Sderot received the Niarchos Prize for Survivorship on April 29, 2009 in New York.

(Photo: Survivors Corps)

vivorship – an award presented annually by a Washington-based group called Survivor Corps that helps victims of war recover and rebuild their lives.

“The invisible became visible,” Zion said. “For one moment, it wasn’t just the enemy – an enormous dark demon who is so easy and convenient to hate. There was one man, one story, one tragedy,

and so much pain.”

Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide have experienced much tragedy and pain. Yet, while those on the front lines of the conflict often are the most strident, both Zion and Abuelaish have bucked the prevailing views of their surroundings.

Amid overwhelming support in Israel for the army’s Gaza opera-

tion in late December and January, Zion helped found Other Voice, a coalition of Israelis living in communities near the Gaza Strip who back a cessation of violence and greater co-operation with Palestinians. She calls herself “a lonely voice in the dark.”

And while some Palestinian leaders in Gaza called for Jewish blood following the Israeli operation, Abuelaish declined to join them even after the deaths of his daughters.

“Is it going to help me? Is it going to return my daughters? It will worsen the situation,” he told JTA after the awards ceremony.

“We have to look forward.”

Abuelaish says he doesn’t know why he reacts so differently than many of his compatriots who have been hurt directly by Israeli firepower, but he suspects it may have something to do with his mother’s influence.

It is time for Middle Eastern women to “take the upper hand” in decision-making, he says, and Abuelaish is laying the groundwork for Three Sisters Foundation, a new organization to empower women by supporting their health and education.

“If you train a man for fishing, he will eat alone,” Abuelaish said.

“But, if you train a mother or a woman, she will feed first the children, the husband. And, if she has excess, she will give to the neigh-

bours and to the community.”

A native of the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, where he still lives, Abuelaish was educated at Gaza University, the University of London and Harvard, where he earned a master’s degree in public health.

His view of the world is refracted through his medical training, which he says leads him to see all human beings as essentially the same.

“Revenge is a disease,” he said.

“No one wants to be a disease. All of the people, I think, want to be healthy and be in good shape.”

Abuelaish’s views stand in stark contrast to that of another famous Gaza doctor, the late Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a pediatrician and top-ranking Hamas official who was killed by Israel in 2004.

Rantisi once told a reporter he wouldn’t help an injured Jewish child.

I am “not in a position to judge,” Abuelaish said when asked about the differences between him and Rantisi.

Despite the loss of his three daughters and niece, Abuelaish refuses to abandon his coexistence work. Zion feels the same way, even as rockets continue to fall in Sderot.

“It’s our obligation to make our leaders talk, to compel them to tell us for a change a different story,” Zion said. “Maybe, one day, our voice will be heard.”

Writing autobiography was ‘therapy’ for Arlene Ben-Zur

By Liana Shlien By any stretch, Arlene Ben-Zur has been through more hardships in life than most could imagine. The Montreal native endured an abusive father, two divorces, serious illness and family estrangement. Yet, with inner strength, she sought refuge in helping others in need.

Now in her 50s, Ben-Zur has reached peace with her past by putting her turbulent life story into print.

With the launch last December of her autobiography, Cancer of my Soul: A Personal Battle for Survival Against the Odds, Ben-Zur hopes that the story of her own traumas, and her triumph over them, will resonate with others and help them better their own lives.

Feeling constant rejection from an uncaring father following her mother’s death, Ben-Zur married young, but the relationship with her wealthy American husband was marred by emotional and physical abuse. She and her two young children fled to Israel, where she lived for 28 years. There she remarried, but,

once again, cruelty, betrayal and feelings of isolation endured, as her marriage crumbled and her health deteriorated.

As a single mother of three, she found personal salvation by teaching English, and eventually founded her own private school in Be’er Sheva with 200 children in Grades 3 to 12 attending her classes each week.

Besides running her school, BenZur devoted herself to needy families at children’s centres such as the Shabtai Levi Home in Haifa, where many of the children, like her, came from backgrounds of abuse. Knowing how much she was helping these children and her English pupils helped give her strength during difficult times.

“Kids are my greatest inspiration,” Ben-Zur says.

Though the book discusses some gritty subject matter, Ben-Zur admits that some incidents from her life were simply too difficult to relive in writing.

“People all throughout my life have been telling me to write a book,” says

Ben-Zur, who moved to Ottawa with her current partner two years ago to be close to one of her daughters and to her lifelong best friend.

Going public with her painful story became her way of overcoming her troubled past, she says.

“It wasn’t to hurt anyone, just to relieve myself.”

The nearly three years it took her to write the book was not easy emotionally, she admits.

“I cried through every page. I never went to therapy or a psychiatrist. The book was my therapy.”

Besides unburdening herself, her other goal was to reach out to others and help people see the beauty of life in all its adversity.

“There’s no reason to be bitter,” says Ben-Zur, who hopes that those who read about her experiences “will pass hard things and find a positive way.”

For more information about BenZur, or to order her book, visit cancerofmysoul.com.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 17

Volunteer spotlight

High school student invaluable at Tamir

By Benita Siemiatycki Eighteen-year-old Aaron Woznica already has his future planned, thanks to his volunteer work experience at Tamir, which houses and provides support to Jewish individuals with developmental disabilities.

As part of his Bar Mitzvah obligations, Aaron had to volunteer for a community agency. Having seen Tamir residents at weekly Shabbat services at Congregation Agudath Israel, Aaron was drawn to working with the Tamir clients. That introduction in his Bar Mitzvah year led Aaron to continue volunteering at Tamir and to identify working with individuals with special needs as his career path. Eventually, he hopes to complete a college diploma in social services and a degree in social work, which will enable him to work with seniors, youth at risk or persons with developmental disabilities.

At the age of 13, Aaron started by helping with Tamir’s Judaica program, explaining holidays and rituals to the participants.

Having gone through Hillel Academy, he had a strong knowledge base to share. As he got older, he volunteered with Keshet for Kids, which integrates Jewish special needs children into mainstream summer camps.

They partake in camp activities with the assistance of an aide. Aaron was a camp shadow, working to ensure the kids had a posi-

Aaron Woznica, 18, has been a Tamir volunteer since his Bar Mitzvah year.

(OJB Photo: Benita Siemiatycki)

tive camp experience. He helped maintain the children’s interest in whatever they were doing.

The Keshet program demonstrated to Aaron how accepting children are.

“Most of the time, I’m just amazed at how accepting some of the kids can be, and at the personal relationships they form with

‘Israel cannot be a fundamentalist country’ (Continued from page 9)

based Shas party has grown in power, indicating challenges for Masorti, at least in the near future.

Masorti, which was established in Israel 31 years ago, receives virtually no funding from the Israeli government, aside from “a token” that is earmarked for education only, not for religious services such as mikvahs that are funded if they are under Orthodox auspices, Hess said.

He noted that Conservative rabbis are not allowed to use Orthodox mikvahs for conversions.

Hess added that the Masorti movement has had to cut about 30 per cent of its budget in Israel because of the economic situation in the United States.

Among the programs affected by the cuts is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah program for special needs children, which Hess said is the only one of its kind in Israel. Although it has not been eliminated, cutbacks mean that between 70 and 100 youngsters will not be able to participate in it, he said.

In addition to seeking financial support here, Hess is asking North American Jews for political support. He suggests that when they have the opportunity to meet an Israeli politician, they should “express their frustra-

tion in a very severe way over the treatment of the [non-Orthodox] streams [of Judaism] in Israel. “[Politicians] need to understand that the majority of North American Jews think that the fact we are not treated equally in Israel is a big challenge for the future of the State of Israel.

“If the differences in how to celebrate your Judaism continue to grow, we will have problems connecting the young generations here and there. Israel cannot be a fundamentalist country.”

But, according to Hess, more and more Israelis are identifying as Masorti Jews.

He said that a survey last year indicated that 22 per cent of Israelis – more than half a million people – who planned to go to synagogue for the High Holidays, said they would go to Reform or Masorti congregations.

Although such a large number did not show up for services – the total at Masorti congregations was tens of thousands, mainly Sabras, Hess said – “the fact that so many Israelis said the shul they don’t go to is Masorti represents a big change in Israel.”

For many Israelis, he said, “if Orthodoxy is the only option, then there is no option.

This is not where they want to be.”

our kids who they might otherwise have nothing in common with,” he says.

As part of his co-op program at Nepean High School, Aaron has continued volunteering at Tamir by assisting in the activities of the day program. He really enjoys the one-on-one interaction and helping each participant reach his or her full potential.

Another co-op placement Aaron completed was working for the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services. He visited and played with a boy who has Tourette’s syndrome so that his parents could have a much-needed break.

Aaron recently returned from three months in Puvirnituq, an Inuit settlement on Hudson Bay (1,800 km north of Montreal), where he did a placement working with developmentally challenged children in a remote school. He accompanied his mother, music teacher Leslie Bricker, who temporarily taught there. Aaron worked with three disabled children and was impressed with how that community treated its members with disabilities. Aaron’s father, Sid, works for the federal Department of Human Resources and Skills Development, and his older brother, Alex, studies history and political science at the University of Ottawa.

Lisa Giffin, Tamir program manager, believes Aaron has made a huge difference to Tamir’s clientele.

“Considering Aaron is so young, it certainly seems like he has been around Tamir a long time,” she says. “Aaron has built some meaningful, long-lasting relationships with Tamir participants, in both the Day Program and with the children and youth in our camp. Participants are always happy to see Aaron arriving to share an outing, whether it’s to Fulton’s Sugar Bush, swimming at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre or just going to Andrew Haydon Park to feed the ducks.”

As grateful as Tamir is to have Aaron, he is just as grateful for the bonds and relationships that he’s developed with the Tamir participants.

“They make me feel good about myself too. It’s of mutual benefit,” he explains.

Aaron especially wants to encourage youth to keep looking for the volunteer job that really inspires them. And he urges adults to not underestimate the power of young people.

“There are a lot of amazing youth out there volunteering and we’re often given the short end of the stick in terms of credibility.”

Benita Siemiatycki of the Jewish Ottawa InfoCentre profiles community volunteers in the Bulletin. Many organizations are in desperate need of volunteers. Call the InfoCentre at 613-798-4644 for information.

Hillel Academy of Ottawa Yitzhak Rabin High School Hillel Academy of Ottawa and Yitzhak Rabin High School, soon to be Ottawa’s combined Kindergarten to Grade 12 Jewish community school, are seeking new members for the School’s Board of Directors to begin serving with the 2009-2010 school year.

We are committed to the pursuit of excellence in General, Judaic, Hebrew and French studies, educating children from across the spectrum of Jewish life. The Board meets as frequently as is required, and at least six times each year.

To find out more about the School, please visit www.hillelacademy.ca and www.yrhs.ca.

Attributes and knowledge are required in areas such as decision making, interpersonal skills, change management, governance, relationship building and fundraising as well as strong leadership and a commitment to the School. In addition to previous board experience, specific skills would be an advantage in one or more of the following areas: finance and accounting, law, education, outreach, marketing and communications, human resources (including labour relations) and organizational development.

How to apply: Please send your CV and cover letter, expressing why your skills and experience make you a suitable candidate for the Board, to: Mrs. Ellie Kamil, Registrar, Hillel Academy of Ottawa, 31 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1R9 Tel: 613.722.0020 ext. 333, Fax: 613.722.7346 Email: registrar@hillelacademy.ca.

Page 18 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Shiru Lach Choir to present A Musical Mosaic

By Pamela Rosenberg for Soloway JCC Members of Ottawa’s largest Jewish folk choir are busy tuning up their voices and practising their four-part harmonies in preparation for their final concert of the season.

The Shiru Lach Choir, with more than 30 singers, takes to the stage Tuesday, May 26, 7:30 pm, in the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (JCC) Social Hall for A Musical Mosaic with Aviva Lightstone at the piano and guest

soloist Barbara Okun.

The Shiru Lach (Sing for You) Choir is the result of a merger between the former Soloway JCC Shira Ottawa Choir and the Zemer Lach Choir. A Musical Mosaic will showcase some of the pieces they have learned over their inaugural year and features Hebrew, Yiddish and English songs including Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

Shiru Lach conductor Ellen Asherman directed the Temple Israel liturgical choir for more

Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad

Ringleader Susannah Perlman is bringing her New York-based comedy troupe, Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad, to Ottawa for one night only.

Perlman describes the show, which has played all over North America, as “the Borsht Belt reinvented” with its “mix of comedy, music and show-stopping burlesque.”

Definitely not for the easily-offended, the performance is Sunday, June 14, 8:00 pm, at Zaphod Beeblebrox, 27 York Street. Tickets are $15 (advance) and $20 (at the door). Call 613(Photo: Dan King) 562-1010.

than 20 years and now sings as part of that choir. She is a longtime member of the Orpheus Choral group, has performed in Orpheus musicals, sings tenor with Musica Hebraica and was the driving force behind the birth of the Zemer Lach Choir in 2007.

Despite her years of experience in front of a choir, Asherman makes no bones about the fact that she is an untrained conductor.

“I conduct from the heart.

Music is in my blood,” she says.

The Shiru Lach Choir has performed at Central Park Lodge and Hillel Lodge, and recently sang at the Soloway JCC’s Yom Hazikaron service. The singers made their television debut this winter when they appeared on A Channel’s morning show singing Chanukah songs.

“I think performing is wonderful, and bringing Jewish music to the community is a great thing to do,” says Asherman.

“This has been our first year and, hopefully, the choir will

grow from here. You don’t have to be Jewish to be in the choir. We want people who love music and singing, who want to enjoy themselves and smile when they sing.”

Tickets for A Musical Mosaic are $10 (general public) and $5 (students) and are available at the Soloway JCC front desk.

For information, contact Roslyn Brozovsky Wollock, Soloway JCC manager of adult programming, at 613-798-9818, ext. 254, or rwollock@jccottawa.com.

Amy Salloway is returning to Soloway JCC stage

By Roslyn Brozovsky Wollock SJCC Adult Program Manager Known for her one-woman shows, Amy Salloway, creator of So Kiss Me Already Herschel Gertz!, will be back at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC), June 16, to entertain with a new collection of comic stories in her latest production, Heebs and Dweebs.

According to Salloway’s listing at mnartists.org, the Minneapolis resident “breaks her solo-showwith-a-plotline tradition” this time around “to offer up Heebs and Dweebs, a casual and eclectic batch of Jewish, true-ish stories.” You don’t have to be Jewish to relate to these reflections on life at the Math Boys lunch table or “a meditation on the sacred intersection of Guilt and Food,” or a session about Linda, the psychic cleaning lady.

If you were fortunate enough to have seen Salloway’s first show at the SJCC in 2007, you know we’re in for another treat. If you missed that show, let this be your initiation into the smart, hilarious world of a most talented and candid writer-performer.

Note: Salloway’s material is suitable for ages 14 and over.

Amy Salloway performs Heebs and Dweebs at the SJCC on Tuesday, June 16, 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at the SJCC front desk or by phone at 613798-9818. For more information, call me at 613798-9818, ext. 254.

Amy Salloway brings her latest show to the (Photo: mnartists.org) Soloway JCC June 16.

Readers and advertisers are advised the next edition of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin will be published on Monday, June 15, 2009.

The deadline date is Wednesday, May 27, 2009.

Would you like to advertise in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin?

Contact Rhoda Saslove-Miller • 613-798-4696, ext. 256 Email: rsaslovemiller@ottawajewishbulletin.com

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 19

Values, Ethics, Community

Jewish magazines that provoke, stimulate and entertain For Jewish readers with limited time, or attention spans, there’s probably never been a better time to be Jewish.

More than 112 years after the launch of the Forward newspaper – initially a Yiddish daily now in both Yiddish and English versions – magazines, journals, blogs and podcasts are sprouting up to provoke, stimulate and entertain.

What better way to gear up for a Jewish summer than by engaging with Jewish politics, culture and lifestyle?

Here is a rundown of several magazines – one virtual – worth checking out. Some take a more highbrow approach than others, but all contain currents of cleverness.

Heeb (heebmagazine.com) Perhaps the most talked-about of the lot, the quarterly Heeb magazine, launched in 2001, bills itself as a “take-noprisoners zine for the plugged in and preached out.” Issue subtitles have included the “food issue,” the “money issue,” the “Hollywood issue” and the “wasted issue.”

The magazine is cheeky and irreverent. With in-houseads initially created as parodies of popular Jewish food products (such as one for Streit’s almond macaroons calling them “the perfect cure for the munchies” and depicting a stoned hipster), Heeb has created a built-in ad agency of sorts.

The magazine has received some negative response, though. In a 2004 letter, the Anti-Defamation League expressed “outrage” at the magazine’s “deeply offensive” parody of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ film.

Guilt & Pleasure (guiltandpleasure.com) More intellectual than Heeb, the quarterly Guilt & Pleasure, launched in 2005, tags itself as “making Jews talk more.”

A mix of art, culture, history and criticism, the graphics are beautiful and the writing is provocative and intelligent.

Issues have included “the fight issue,” “the magic issue” and “the sound issue.” The “death issue” featured an essay about Jewish pulp fiction and a haunting and fascinating photographic installation of embalmed corpses from a Harlem church, in which the artist wondered whether this experiment would be able to portray the “complexities of the character of the person.”

The magazine’s website includes podcasts as well as an essay on how to “host a salon.” Invoking the European salon tradition of the 19th century, the magazine encourages Jews to gather in living rooms to discuss issues of the day. As my mom would say, “What are you serving?”

Nextbook (nextbook.org) Nextbook calls itself “a Jewish cultural organization that produces an online magazine, publishes a book series and presents events.”

With podcasts available for download, the site carries features about Israelis protesting the occupation, book reviews on such topics as the history of Jews through shoes and a memoir about genetic mutations.

The site also co-sponsors the excellent Nextbook/Schocken Jewish book series, and creates programs for Jewish libraries to promote events and discussion, including a recent one on Jewish graphic novels.

Moment (momentmag.com) Founded by Elie Wiesel and Leonard Fein in 1975, the bimonthly Moment continues to provide a non-partisan, non-ideological and non-denominational approach to politics, culture and history from a Jewish perspective.

The U.S. election issue asked whether the religious outlook of a judge has any impact on his or her U.S. Supreme

Court rulings, contained a feature on Kirk Douglas and included “Why a Jew Should Vote for Barack Obama” by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, and “Why a Jew Should Vote for John McCain” by Israeli novelist Naomi Ragen.

Commentary (commentarymagazine.com) Since 1945, Commentary has provided a monthly take on public affairs and culture from a Jewish perspective.

Describing itself as representing “the flagship of neoconservatism” since the 1970s (before that it was a leftleaning), the magazine, edited for most of its years by prominent Jewish neo-conservative Norman Podhoretz, seeks to challenge liberal opinion on public affairs and to support Israeli policies.

Tikkun (Tikkun.org) Founded in 1986, the bimonthly Tikkun magazine is in some ways a liberal response to Commentary.

Also focusing on issues of politics and religion, the magazine, headed by Rabbi Michael Lerner, seeks to critically analyze Israeli policies, promote a two-state solution and to

Mira Sucharov galvanize a multi-faith, spiritual vision for social justice in the United States and around the world.

Jewish Living – (alav ha’shalom –R.I.P.) This magazine launched to great fanfare in 2007, but has sadly – and surprisingly, given its reportedly large initial financial endowment – sealed its covers. I’ll mention it here in the hope that enough interest is generated to spur its rescue.

It was the Jewish answer to Martha Stewart, that consummate creator of Yuletide confections that make nonChristmas-celebrators drool. One issue included a feature called “How Gay is Your Shul?” And the high-holiday issue provided tips on how to dress to impress for synagogue services – cut of skirt dependent on denomination – and how to decorate a sukkah that would not be out of place in ‘House & Home: the Tabernacle edition.’

Postscript: Readers might also be interested in checking out Zeek, jcarrot.org and Eretz Acheret

Judaic Outreach Programs May - June 2009 Alison Caplan, Judaic Administrative Assistant • 613-725-3519 Adele Horwitz, Judaic Program Leader • 613-592-8365 Date

Program

Place

Time

Wednesday May 27

Advanced Judaic Studies Adele Horwitz

Day Program 11 Nadolny Sachs

5:45 – 6:45

Wednesday May 27

Joys of Judaism Adele Horwitz/Leo Lightstone

Day Program 11 Nadolny Sachs

6:45 – 7:45

May 28 & May 29

PROGRAM CLOSED FOR SHAVUOT

Wednesdays June 3, 10

Advanced Judaic Studies Adele Horwitz

Day Program 11 Nadolny Sachs

5:45 – 6:45

Wednesdays June 3, 10

Joys of Judaism Adele Horwitz/Leo Lightstone

Day Program 11 Nadolny Sachs

6:45 – 7:45

Thursdays June 4, 11

Tamir Choir Cantor Benlolo

Day Program 11 Nadolny Sachs

6:15 – 7:15

Thursdays June 4, 11

Sing and Play Along Adele Horwitz

842 Broadview

4:00 – 5:00

Thursdays June 4, 11

Yiddishkeit Delights Adele Horwitz

840 Broadview

5:00 – 5:30

Sunday June 7

Walkathon Contact Alison Caplan for details

Soloway JCC

Morning

Friday June 12

Community Shabbat RSVP Alison Caplan

Day Program 11 Nadolny Sachs

5:30 – 7:30

Tuesday June 16

Tamir Annual General Meeting RSVP Alison Caplan

Agudath Israel 1400 Coldrey Avenue

6:30 – 9:00

Wednesday June 17

End of Year Judaic Program Joint Program with Chabad

Day Program 11 Nadolny Sachs

TBD

Page 20 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 21

Page 22 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Film analyses through philosophical lenses Steven Spielberg and Philosophy: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Book Edited by Dean A. Kowalski University Press of Kentucky 2008 Hardcover 288 pages The question is often asked whether Jewish artists are ‘Jewish artists’ or simply artists who happen to be Jewish. That is, is their Jewish identity essential to their creative product? Steven Spielberg, through his vast contributions to contemporary cinema, has certainly captured the imagination of Jews worldwide.

Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, established in 1994 from his portion of the profits from Schindler’s List, and the Shoah Visual History Foundation, which, through video, has documented the stories of 52,000 Jewish and non-Jewish Holocaust survivors, underscore his role in contemporary Jewish life.

The essays in Steven Spielberg and Philosophy: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Book, edited by Dean A. Kowalski, don’t directly address the question of Spielberg’s Jewishness. But, reading through this engaging book, one realizes that Jewish themes have been a significant part of Spielberg’s oeuvre with Schindler’s List being the most prominent, but not only, example.

Through an in-depth discussion of at least a dozen of Spielberg’s films, the book serves

Book Review Mira Sucharov as an introduction to various philosophical concepts, including utilitarianism, aesthetics, the mind-body problem, the virtues and the ethics of care. (One could write a parallel book, of course, contemplating the films in the context of Jewish teachings, many of which would likely parallel those in Western philosophy.)

Each essay provides useful plot summaries of the given films, and explores questions as varied as why do we experience an emotional response to fiction on film (Jaws)?

What is the nature and purpose of cinematic realism (Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan)? What is the responsibility for one’s family (Saving Private Ryan, The Colour Purple and War of the Worlds)? Was Oskar Schindler a good man? How does Spielberg attempt to engage the ‘other’ (Schindler’s List and E.T.)? What is the nature of the mind-body problem (A.I.)? And what are ethics of counterterrorism (Munich)?

Two essays emphasize Spielberg’s concern for protecting one’s family, where the authors point to the ethics of utilitarianism

(implying the best possible outcome for the most beneficiaries) as a potential challenge to Spielberg’s implicit message that family comes first. One can think about this debate within the context of Jewish ethics, which also stresses the importance of the family, but within a broader communal context.

The by now well-known story of Nazi party member Oskar Schindler having saved more than 1,000 Jews by employing them in his factory generates an interesting discussion of what it means to be ‘good.’ Roger P. Ebertz argues that, according to a Kantian emphasis on good intentions, Schindler does not pass the ‘good person’ test. But, according to the principle of ‘moral exemplarity,’ which holds that people can be considered “morally exemplary “in a particular way,” the virtuous act he engaged in does qualify him as moral.

John W. Wright insightfully introduces the thinking of 20th century Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas in contemplating Spielberg’s relationship to the ‘other.’ While Levinas claimed the ‘other’ was unknowable, he urged face-to-face encounters with him or her.

And, while in Jaws, partly due to the unreliability of the mechanical shark during filming, viewers were kept at a distance from the great white for most of the movie, Spielberg’s subsequent films brought the ‘other’ much closer.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind cast Richard Dreyfuss as attempting to engage the visiting aliens; E.T. took this further; and,

through Schindler’s List, the audience empathizes with the victimized Jews. Wright points to this development as paralleling trends in filmmaking from the coldest moments of the Cold War through the detente of the 1970s.

On the question of counterterrorism operations as depicted in the controversial Munich, Joseph J. Foy discusses the important question of revenge, noting that, while vengeance can provide societal catharsis, it can also lead to a cycle of violence that impedes reconciliation. The parallels to the contemporary Middle East are obvious.

Some might wonder whether a formal philosophical discussion of Spielberg’s work somehow misses the point. To paraphrase apocryphal Freud, some might say that sometimes a film is just a film, and that going to the movies should be about popcorn, not Plato. Neither is it certain whether Spielberg intended all of these particular philosophical lessons to be drawn, a point that some of the authors concede.

But, for readers curious about new fields of knowledge, or wanting to revisit philosophical concepts once learned, the book provides an accessible way of thinking about metaphysics, ethics and the mind through the pleasurable and gripping work of one of American cinema’s greatest creative spirits.

Add to it the Jewish naches factor, and you’ve got yourself an intellectually stimulating and cozy read.

Jazz singer Jenna Glatt is making her mark at a tender age Almost as soon as I arrived in Ottawa to work at the Bulletin, I began running into Harvey Glatt quite regularly – at both Jewish community and music events.

I’ve known Harvey since the 1970s and was well aware of his history as the prime mover in the Ottawa music scene for many decades. Harvey owned record stores; produced concerts; was a co-owner of Le Hibou, a legendary Ottawa music club in the 1960s; and founded radio station CHEZ. Harvey knows music. So, when he said he wanted to tell me about a young jazz singer he was very exited about, I paid attention.

The singer was Jenna Glatt, Harvey’s 16-year-old, now 17year-old, granddaughter. He gave me a copy of Jenna’s sixsong CD, recorded when she was all of 15, and a homemade DVD that captured a performance she gave last July at the National Capital Commission’s Noon Under the Bridge outdoor concert series under the Plaza Bridge near the National Arts Centre.

Along with a couple of more contemporary songs, Jenna’s repertoire on the CD – and on the concert DVD – was drawn mostly from what’s commonly known as ‘the Great American Songbook,’ classic pop songs from the 1930s and ‘40s that have, by now, inspired generations of singers and musicians.

On numbers like Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” George and Ira Gershwin’s “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” and Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” Jenna was following in the footsteps of such legendary singers as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Judy Garland and so many others.

When a singer chooses to interpret songs like these, he or she had better have either a completely unique approach – Leon Redbone comes to mind – or be very good, because any performance of these songs invites comparison to the versions that made them famous. Jenna, I’m happy to report, is very good indeed.

Music Michael Regenstreif Earlier this month, she stopped by the Bulletin office for an interview. I was curious to know why someone of her generation was drawn to this kind of music.

“I listened to jazz and a lot of older music because of my grandfather,” Jenna quickly replied, indicating that Harvey Glatt, who has done so much to expose the Ottawa public to so much music over the years, was also responsible for opening up his granddaughter to musical genres that most high school students might not appreciate.

Jenna was quick to add that her musical tastes don’t begin and end with songs from half a century ago.

“I also love R&B, pop, Latin and world music,” she said.

And classical music too – she’s had extensive classical vocal training and has sung soprano in two operatic showcases.

When asked about the very different approaches to singing classical music and jazz, Jenna said the classical training strengthens the quality of her voice and helps with focus and discipline, while jazz allows her to explore her musicality.

“I’m really happy to be able to experience all these types of music,” she said, adding that learning about different kinds of music also helps her learn about different cultures – and about herself.

In addition to her grandfather, Jenna is also quick to give much credit to her music and voice teachers.

“Yoriko Tanno-Kimmons has been my voice teacher for

Jenna Glatt will perform at Westfest, June 14.

nine years,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to sing the way I do without her.

“Sandra Cooke, my music theory teacher, has helped me so much in writing songs and understanding music, and José Hernandez, my vocal coach for the past two years, has helped me to improve at a high speed.”

Jenna has one more year of high school and then plans to continue her music studies, perhaps in Boston at the Berklee College of Music or the New England Conservatory, two of North America’s most esteemed music schools.

Jenna’s next Ottawa performance is Sunday, June 14 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm at the Westboro Village Westfest. She’ll be singing on the main stage at the corner of Richmond Road and Golden Avenue.

This summer, Jenna also has a July 2 date at the Toronto Jazz Festival and will be working on two new CDs, one of jazz standards and another that will feature various genres including R&B, world music, rock, folk – and some of her own songs.

For more on Jenna Glatt, visit jennaglatt.com

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 23

FOUNDATION DONATIONS A gift forever

Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation Donations

The Board of Directors of the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation acknowledges with thanks contributions to the following funds as of May 5, 2009.

MARJORIE AND BEN ACHBAR COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Marjorie and Ben Achbar.

Birthday wishes to: Ben Achbar by Ruth Frank.

To make a donation and/or send a tribute card, call Carolene Preap (613-798-4696 ext. 232) e-mail: cpreap@jewishottawa.com • website: www.OJCF.ca

SAMUEL AND JEAN AKERMAN MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Larry and Sheila Hartman.

R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Sarah Swedler by Larry and Sheila Hartman.

Join us in building our community by supporting these local agencies

BELLA AND MAX ALTMAN E NDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Fania Ingber by Helen and Joe Hochberg.

SHIRLEY AND SHIER BERMAN FUND FOR OTTAWA JEWISH ARCHIVES In memory of: Jack Smith by Shirley and Shier Berman.

Henry Bloom by Shirley and Shier Berman.

Donna Dinberg by Shirley and Shier Berman.

HILLEL ACADEMY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Terry Schwarzfeld by Michelle and Richard Sachs.

Jack Smith by Michelle and Richard Sachs.

Henry Bloom by Michelle and Richard Sachs.

Gary Lackstein by Michelle and Richard Sachs.

HILLEL LODGE LEGACY FUND In memory of: Bertha Palmer by Adrienne and Charles Shabsove.

Henry Bloom by Adrienne and Charles Shabsove.

Caroline Baylin by Dorothy Nadolny.

Sally Maser by Shirley Steinberg.

JEWISH YOUTH LIBRARY OF OTTAWA ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Eleanor Dover.

OTTAWA POST JEWISH WAR VETERANS FUND In appreciation to: Shier Berman by Joyce and Seymour Bellman.

DORIS BRONSTEIN TALMUD TORAH AFTERNOON SCHOOL FUND Mazel Tov to: Leon Bronstein on receiving the 75th Anniversary Volunteer Award by Frema and Mark Routtenberg.

TORAH ACADEMY OF OTTAWA TORAH EDUCATION FUND Mazel Tov to: Charlie and Miriam Taub on the marriage of Avi to Kimberley by Mary MacLeod and Jonathan Stokes Esther Guiot and David Lenet on the birth of their son by Mary MacLeod and Jonathan Stokes.

AJA 50+ ENDOWMENT FUND AKIVA EVENING HIGH SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND GREENBERG FAMILIES LIBRARY ENDOWMENT FUND ROSE AND LOUIS ARCHBAR MEMORIAL FUND MENDEL AND VALERIE GOOD HOLOCAUST CONTINUING EDUCATION FUND HY HOCHBERG MEMORIAL LECTURE FUND JEWISH COMMUNITY CEMETERY HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL FUND JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES ENDOWMENT FUND JEWISH STUDENTS ASSOCIATION - HILLEL DAVID “THE BEAR” KARDASH CAMP B’NAI BRITH MEMORIAL FUND ADINA BEN PORAT MACHON SARAH TORAH EDUCATION FUND OTTAWA JEWISH CEMETERIES ZICHARON FUND OTTAWA JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY FUND OTTAWA MODERN JEWISH SCHOOL FUND OTTAWA TORAH INSTITUTE TORAH EDUCATION FUND MARTIN GLATT PARLIAMENT LODGE B’NAI BRITH PAST PRESIDENTS’ FUND RAMBAM MAIMONIDES JEWISH CONTINUITY FUND GABY SASSOON FOR VICTIMS OF TERROR IN ISRAEL MEMORIAL FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FUND JEWISH MEN’S SOFTBALL LEAGUE FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY SUMMER CAMP SCHOLARSHIP FUND SARA AND ZEEV VERED ISRAEL CULTURAL PROGRAM FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE ENDOWMENT FUND SOLOWAY JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE YOUTH SERVICES FUND YITZHAK RABIN HIGH SCHOOL FUND IN MEMORY OF EVA WINTHROP

IRVING AND BETTY ALTMAN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Sally Maser by Betty Altman.

Fania Ingber by Betty Altman.

ANNE AND LOUIS ARRON MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Daphne and Stanley Arron.

Mazel Tov to: Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey Rosenberg on the birth of their grandson Shane by Daphne and Stanley Arron.

Mr. & Mrs. Paul Weiner on the birth of their grandson Shane by Daphne and Stanley Arron.

RICKI AND BARRY BAKER ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Ricki and Barry Baker on the birth of their granddaughter Abigail Claire by Max and Rena Cohen; and

by Rick and Helen Zipes.

CAYLA AND MICHAEL BAYLIN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Caroline Baylin by Elinor Ritt; by Sandra and Norman Slover.

Jack Smith by Cayla and Michael Baylin.

Henry Bloom by Cayla and Michael Baylin.

Bertha Palmer by Cayla and Michael Baylin.

Mazel Tov to: Cayla and Michael Baylin on the birth of their granddaughter by Marilyn and Will Newman.

ISAAC AND HELEN BEILES ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Pam Beiles by Yvonne and Harvey Lithwick and family.

JAMIE BEREZIN ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Jamie Berezin on his graduation from Dalhousie University and his acceptance to Oxford University by Diane Koven.

JACOB AND BERTHA BOOKMAN MEMORIAL FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: Jacob Bookman, a beloved father by Millie Weinstein and Abe Bookman.

SAM AND ANN BROZOVSKY ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Chick and Rose Taylor on the upcoming Bar and

Bat Mitzvah of their grandchildren Daniel and Alexandera Zaretsky by Ann Brozovsky.

TILLIE AND HARRY CHERM MEMORIAL FUND Birthday wishes to: Robert Lebans by Sol and Sylvia Kaiman.

DONALD AND LEAH CHODIKOFF ENDOWMENT FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: Donald Chodikoff, a beloved husband, father and grandfather by Leah Chodikoff.

JACK AND SARAH COGAN MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Anne Cohen by Rhona and Leonard Cogan.

Henry Bloom by Rhona and Leonard Cogan.

SID AND BARBARA COHEN COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Sid and Barbara Cohen.

Caroline Cohen by Sid and Barbara Cohen.

Bertha Palmer by Sid and Barbara Cohen.

SANDI AND EDDY COOK ENDOWMENT FUND Good health to: Lou Eisenberg by Sandi and Eddy Cook and family.

ABIGAIL GREENBERG MITZVAH FUND Mazel Tov to: Abigail Greenberg by Richard Tarasofsky; by Rachel Fischer; by Yaffa Greenbaum, Jack, Brian, Gideon and Jonah Shinder; and by Lee Greenberg.

DOLANSKY FAMILY FUND R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Jack Silverstein by Bernie and Donna Dolansky.

JOSEPH AND ESTHER EISENSTADT MEMORIAL FUND Birthday wishes to: Joan Sacksner by Fern Eisenstadt; by Shelley, Aaron and family, Jeffrey, Lynn and family, and Martin, Joelle and family; and by all of the grandchildren and great-granddaughters.

Randy Lebow by Joan Sacksner and Sid Lebow.

R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Gaston Marx by Joan Sacksner and Sid Lebow.

In memory of: Maurie Karp by Joan Sacksner.

In observance of the Yahrzeit of: David Sacksner, a beloved husband by Joan Sacksner.

ELLEN AND RAHAMIM FATHI ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Ellen and Ray Fathi and family.

SHARON AND PAUL FINN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Fania Ingber by Sharon and Paul Finn and family.

Sally Maser by Sharon and Paul Finn and family.

In appreciation to: Simon Fisher by Sharon and Paul Finn and family.

GEORGE AND MARY GOLDBERG ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Mary Goldberg by Jane and Robert Erskine.

Continued on page 24

Page 24 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

FOUNDATION DONATIONS VICTOR AND RACHEL GOULD ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Rachel Gould by Dorothy Nadolny; by Sid and Barbara Cohen.

MOE AND ESTHER KARDISH ENDOWMENT FUND Mazel Tov to: Chick and Rose Taylor on the upcoming Bar and Bat Mitzvah of their grandchildren by Moe Kardish.

BEATRICE AND SAMUEL GREENBERG FAMILY FUND In memory of: Caroline Baylin by Bea, Janice and Arlene Greenberg.

ARTHUR AND SARAH KIMMEL MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Rachel Gould by Isabel and Norman Lesh.

BEN (BERCHIK) AND IDA GREENBERG MEMORIAL FUND Condolences to: The Itzkovitch family on the loss of their brother Nathan by Max and Ellie Greenberg and family.

MICHAEL GREENBERG MEMORIAL FUND Congratulations to: Alex Soloway on getting a full ride in the U of T music program by Stephen, Jocelyne, Lee, Emma and Jessica Greenberg.

LARRY AND SHEILA HARTMAN ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Arnie Swedler by Larry and Sheila Hartman.

HY AND PAULINE HOCHBERG ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Pauline Hochberg.

SUSAN AND DAVID KRIGER ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Betty Miller by Susan and David Kriger.

ANNICE AND SYDNEY KRONICK FAMILY FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Debi and Neil Zaret and family; and by Ricky, Alice, Sam and Molly Kronick.

Mazel Tov to: Phylis and Marvin Silverman on the birth of their grandchildren by Debi and Neil Zaret and family.

ISSIE AND EDITH LANDAU ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Edie Landau.

BYRTHA LECKIE MEMORIAL FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: Byrtha Leckie, a beloved mother by Esther Leckie.

MAX AND DORA KARP KAPINSKY MEMORIAL FUND Birthday wishes to: Etta Karp by Ruth Karp and Arthur Max and by Arthur Karp and Deanna Sadinsky.

NORMAN AND ISABEL LESH ENDOWMENT FUND R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Lou Eisenberg by Norman and Isabel Lesh.

The Chair, Officers and Board of Directors of the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation cordially invites all fund holders and members of the Community to attend the

35th Annual General Meeting being held on

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 Doors Open: 7:00 pm

Call to Order: 7:30 pm

Dessert Reception to follow proceedings

G.J. Cooper Scholarship Award presentation to Davina Finn Zelikovitz Family Social Hall of The Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building 21 Nadolny Sachs Private Please RSVP prior to June 10th, 2009 to Francine Paulin at 613-798-4696 ext 252 or at fpaulin@jewishottawa.com A copy of the meeting materials and By-law amendment will be available on our website. www.OJCF.ca

“We Owe It To Our Future”

Sarah Swedler by Norman and Isabel Lesh.

In memory of: Jack Grossman by Norman and Isabel Lesh.

SALLY AND ELLIOTT LEVITAN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Sally and Elliott Levitan.

JOHN AND ESTELLE LIBERMAN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by John and Estelle Liberman.

JOSEPH AND EVELYN LIEFF ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Joseph and Evelyn Lieff.

ANNE (BLAIR) AND HYMAN MAYBERGER ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Karin Sprecher by Auntie Anne, the Mayberger and the Schachnow.

In memory of: Jack Smith by Shelley and Morris Schachnow and Anne Blair.

BONNIE AND CHUCK MEROVITZ FAMILY FUND In memory of: Mickey Levine by Bonnie, Chuck, Ryan, Lee, Debbie and Jack Merovitz.

Jack Smith by Chuck and Bonnie Merovitz.

Condolences to: Kathy O’Neil on the loss of her father by Chuck and Bonnie Merovitz.

JACK AND HONEY MONSON ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Sally Weltman by Cecilia Levitan.

DOROTHY AND HERBERT NADOLNY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Thorey Cherney by Dorothy Nadolny.

ABE AND BERTHA PALMER ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Bertha Palmer by Dorothy Nadolny; by Sandra and Norman Slover.

GERALD AND MARY-BELLE PULVERMACHER FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Gerry and Mary-Belle Pulver-macher.

Burke Amundson by Gerry and Mary-Belle Pulvermacher.

Mazel Tov to: Ellen and Ray Fathi on Tamara receiving her Masters in International Business by Gerry and MaryBelle Pulvermacher.

ALTI AND BEREL RODAL FAMILY FUND Mazel Tov to: Alzbeta Klein and Howard Isaac on Juliana’s Bat Mitzvah by Alti and Berel Rodal.

ROSSIE AND ISSIE ROSE ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Issie Rose by Dorothy Nadolny.

FLORENCE AND GDALYAH ROSENFELD ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Florence and Gdalyah Rosenfeld.

Ron Cole by Florence and Gdalyah Rosenfeld.

SHELLEY AND SID ROTHMAN FAMILY FUND In appreciation to: Shelley Rothman by Laura Rabinovitch, Rochelle Robbins and Lindsay Springer.

R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Jack Silverstein by Shelley Rothman.

HERMINA SCHACHNOW MEMORIAL FUND Anniversary wishes to: Rose and Chick Taylor by Shelley and Morris Schachnow.

HAROLD SHAFFER MEMORIAL FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: The Shaffer and the Lazear families by Sheldon and Sonia Shaffer.

YAFFA GREENBAUM AND JACK SHINDER COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Phyllis White by Yaffa Greenbaum and Jack Shinder.

Sidney White by Yaffa Greenbaum and Jack Shinder.

Continued on page 25

Bulk packages of Tribute Cards available at the OJCF! Bulk packages of 18 cards or more can be purchased for a donation of $15 per card.

This is a $3 savings per card!!

Ordering in bulk makes donating to your fund, to your family fund or to your favourite agency’s fund easy and cost effective Call today to purchase your cards in support of your Jewish community.

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 25

FOUNDATION DONATIONS Jack Smith by Yaffa Greenbaum and Jack Shinder.

Mazel Tov to: Manny and Paula Agulnik on the birth of their granddaughter Maya by Yaffa Greenbaum and Jack Shinder.

Dr. Gary Newton on his accomplishments by Yaffa Greenbaum and Jack Shinder.

Anniversary wishes to: Diane and Allen Abramson by Yaffa Greenbaum and Jack Shinder.

JACK AND SARAH SILVERSTEIN FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Jack Silverstein by Felice and Jeffrey Pleet; and by Felice and Solly Patrontasch.

LINDA SILVERMAN MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Henry Bloom by Phylis and Marvin Silverman.

JACK AND LINDA SMITH ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Alan and Barbara Goldrosen; by Natalie and Alvin Miller and family; by Adrienne and Charles Shabsove; by Allison Geffen and Michael Geist; by Neil Blacher and Marilyn Adler; by Joyce and Seymour Bellman; by Eleanor Dover; by Ben and Dorothy Greenberg; by Michelle and Richard Finkelstein; by Irving and Merle Gencher; by Myra, Sam, Justin and Joshua Krane; by BMO Capital Markets; by Bernie and Donna Dolansky; by Dundi and Lyon Sachs; by Cheryl and Richard Kizell; by

An unveiling in loving memory of

Steve Waserman will take place

Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 11:00 am Osgoode Jewish Cemetery (Agudath Israel section) Family and friends are invited to attend

Sandra and Norman Slover; by Antonina Chaudhry;

by Marilyn and Will Newman; by Debbie, Rob, Sasha and Megan McCulloch; by Kay Parent; by Sid and Barbara Cohen; by Carole and Norman Zagerman; by Howard and Barbara Geller; by Hyman Beck; by the Rappoport family; by Averell and Eileen Eisner; by Roger, Alan, Robert Greenberg and all the friends at Minto; by Carol Bell-Smith, Tracey and Mike, Amy and Terry, Bryan, Sarah, Tatum and Harrison; by Prime 360 Staff; by Andrew and Bonnie Matosich; by Sarah and Robert Abramowitz, Angie and Melvyn Fields; and by Roslyn and Arnie Kimmel.

LAURA AND GORDON SPERGEL ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Laura Spergel by Libby and Stan Katz; by Sally and Morton Taller; and by Rose and Morrie Konick VICTOR AND SHIRLEY STEINBERG ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Daniel Hornstein by Shirley Steinberg.

SAM AND HELENE ZARET MEMORIAL FUND Best wishes to: Debi and Neil Zaret in their new home by Adam Zaret.

R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Lou Eisenberg by Marilyn and Will Newman.

CHARLES AND RAE TAVEL MEMORIAL FUND Speedy recovery to: Lou Eisenberg by John and Sunny Tavel.

In memory of: Judy Burstein by Lilyan Philipp.

Annette Baranowicz by Rick and Helen Zipes.

PINCHAS ZUKERMAN MUSICAL EDUCATION FUND Anniversary wishes to: David and Josie Finestone by Ron and Ruth Levitan.

THE SAUL AND EDNA GOLDFARB B’NAI MITZVAH PROGRAM JORDAN SAMUEL FINN B’NAI MITZVAH FUND Condolences to: Andy Raven on the loss of his mother by Paul, Sharon, Joshua, Jordan and Davina Finn.

MILDRED AND PERCY WEINSTEIN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Bertha Palmer by Millie Weinstein.

Jack Smith by Millie Weinstein.

Henry Bloom by Millie Weinstein.

IRVING AND DIANE WEXLER FAMILY FUND In memory of: Adelyn Zacks by Diane Wexler and family.

RUTH TALLER MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Ethel Kerzner.

BRENT AND RISA TAYLOR ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Tom Trueman by Risa, Brent, Shira Taylor Kouza.

Joe Osterer by Risa, Brent, Shira Taylor Kouza.

Happy Mother’s Day to: Esther Froman by Risa, Brent, Shira Taylor Kouza.

Ethel Taylor by Risa, Brent, Shira Taylor Kouza.

SONIA AND ARTHUR VINER MEMORIAL FUND In appreciation to: Walter and Elaine Viner by John and Gladys Greenberg.

Safe trip to: Oded Ravek by John and Gladys Greenberg.

Happy Pesach to: Leona and Louis Silver by John and Gladys Greenberg.

Mildred Schaenfield by John and Gladys Greenberg.

Birthday wishes to: Pamela Ravek by John and Gladys Greenberg.

Continued success to: Pamela and Oded Ravek by John and Gladys Greenberg.

ZIPES KARANOFSKY FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Martha Linton by Rick and Helen Zipes.

ZACHARY SILBER B’NAI MITZVAH FUND In memory of: Phyllis and Sidney White by Shari, Lawrence, Zachary and Erin Silber.

Contributions may be made online at www.OJCF.ca or by contacting Carolene Preap at 613-798-4696 extension 232, Monday to Friday. We have voice mail. Our e-mail address is donation@ojcf.ca. Attractive cards are sent to convey the appropriate sentiments. All donations are acknowledged with an official receipt for income tax purposes.

We accept Visa, MasterCard and Amex.

and and

and and

STEPHEN AND GAIL VICTOR ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Jack Smith by Sandy Marchello.

Mazel Tov to: Sally and Curt Fried on their granddaughter’s engagement by Sandy Marchello.

With sincere appreciation The family of the late Maurie Karp z�l wishes to personally thank all of our dear family and dear friends for their tremendous outpouring of kindness in the form of donations, meals, cards and all other expressions of sympathy. Your genuine caring helped us to bear our grief through a very difficult time.

Dorothy, Jeff, Darrell, Deborah and Joanna and families

CARLSON WAGONLIT TRAVEL SPECIAL 2009 GROUP DEPARTURES June 29-July 13

BALTIC CRUISE ON OCEANIA REGATTA - 14 DAYS Starts in Stockholm, ends in Dover (London).

Special features: 2 days in Stockholm, 3 days in St. Petersburg and 7 other exciting ports of call.

October 3-17

VISIT WARSAW, BUDAPEST, VIENNA, PRAGUE

November 1-10

EXOTIC MOROCCO WITH CANTOR DANIEL BENLOLO

January 29, 2010 BRIDGE WITH LIZ on the RUBY PRINCESS January 29, 2010 GOLF WITH PAUL on the RUBY PRINCESS

Please call Chris Calder (ext. 2229) or Nancy Borer (ext. 2232) for further information.

Sandra Granatstein sgranatstein@carlsonwagonlit.com 130 Albert St. Suite 714, Ottawa, ON, K1P 5G4

613-238-4040

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Page 26 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

Let’s have breakfast for dinner Several weeks ago, my number one son returned home for the summer from his second year away at university.

When one child leaves home, your whole cooking repertoire changes. Their favourites fall off the radar and are replaced by other meal ideas. I asked him what he’d like for dinner for his first night back. He surprised me by answering “waffles.” I was expecting him to request steak or some other grilled meat.

When the kids were little, we’d often have breakfast items for dinner. Over the years, that pattern fell by the wayside and we’d eat more traditional evening food. But there is something a little bit indulgent and comforting about eating breakfast foods at night.

I reached for my favourite morning food cookbook, The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham (Knopf, 1987). Although written more than 20 years ago, it is still relevant and considered by many to be the bible of breakfast cookbooks. It is still available and can be found online at chapters.indigo.ca and amazon.ca.

I decided to try the recipe for Raised Waffles. In certain culinary circles, these are considered to be the gold standard for waffles. After reading through the recipe, I realized I had better get moving. This recipe requires the batter to sit overnight on the counter before preparing for breakfast.

Since I was making them for dinner, I thought an all-day rest on the counter would be fine.

The recipe recommends that you let the batter rest in a very large bowl, as the batter contains yeast and it will

grow. It was very cool to watch the mixture bubbling up and growing before our very eyes all day long. (OK, clearly I need a life!)

Just before dinner, I discovered that my waffle iron was missing. I realized I had left it at the cottage last summer. I had been meaning to buy a new one for quite a while as the old one was more than 25 years old and the Teflon coating was beginning to flake off. I rushed off to the grocery store and bought a new ‘Belgian’ waffle iron. It has a ‘ready’ light to let you know when the iron is hot enough and an adjustable temperature lever.

A word to the wise, if you have never made waffles before: the first one never turns out and it has to be discarded.

I think somebody once said, ‘Children should be like waffles – you should be able to throw the first one away.’ I’m not sure why this is, but every time I have made waffles, we always throw the first one out. But, after that, each and every waffle was amazing. They are crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

My daughter’s friend, who was over for dinner, nicknamed them ‘Heavenly Waffles’ as this is what she imagined waffles in heaven taste like.

We served them with a bowl of mixed berries, whipped cream and maple syrup. I made a double batch of batter and I stood at the waffle iron for a good 45 minutes making waffle after waffle as they were devoured.

If your regular waffle comes from a box in the freezer, give these a try. You won’t be disappointed.

Raised Waffles This recipe comes from Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book. One recipe will make about eight waffles. The recipe doubles very well. Please note that the eggs and baking soda are added just before making the waffles. These waffles are delicious served with mixed berries, whipped cream and maple syrup.

1/2 cup warm water (about 115-120 degrees F) 1 teaspoon sugar 1 envelope (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) traditional dry yeast (not instant yeast) 2 cups 2-per cent or homogenized milk 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups all purpose flour 2 eggs 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Sensational Sandwiches

by Janis specializing in party sandwiches (minimum order 4 dozen pieces)

lunches, meetings, shivas, office parties, clubs, showers, conferences

Use a rather large mixing bowl – the batter will rise to double its original volume. Put water and sugar in a mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let stand to dissolve for 5 minutes.

Add the milk, melted butter, salt and flour to the yeast mixture and beat until smooth and well blended and all the lumps are gone. A hand-held electric mixer works well for this. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature if you are planning waffles for breakfast. If you are planning waffles for dinner, make the batter in the morning and let sit out on the counter all day.

Just before cooking the waffles, beat in the eggs, add the baking soda and stir until well mixed. The batter will be very thin. Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 cup batter into a very hot waffle iron. Bake the waffles until they are golden and crisp.

Any leftover batter will keep well in the fridge.

FOR SALE Dining Room Set (solid wood) Oval Table (approx. 109") Display hutch with glass shelves 6 cane-back chairs Valued at $15,000.00 Price to sell: $3,500.00 For more information: 613-727-8888 or carjacks@sympatico.ca

Janis King

(613) 237-9494

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Made with Love Cindy Feingold

Should you belong to a pancake loving family, I have also included a basic pancake recipe, which yields excellent results.

Plain Pancakes This is an excellent basic pancake recipe also from The Breakfast Book. It is very easy to prepare so you have no excuse for ever using the boxed mix again.

Makes 2 dozen 4-inch pancakes.

2 eggs 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup 2-per cent or homogenized milk 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1 tablespoon sugar 4 teaspoons baking powder 3/4 teaspoons salt Butter, for cooking pancakes Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl until they are well blended. Put butter and milk in a glass measuring cup and warm on a medium setting in the microwave until the butter has melted, about 1-2 minutes. Let cool slightly. Stir butter mixture into eggs and mix well.

Place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and mix with fork until well combined. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir only until the dry ingredients are well moistened. Don’t over mix. A few lumps are fine.

Heat large frying pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons butter to frying pan and allow to melt. Spread melted butter over entire pan surface with a small pastry brush. Drop 3 tablespoons of batter for each pancake (use a 1/4 cup measuring cup, filled 3/4 full for the perfect amount). In a 12 inch skillet you should be able to get 4 pancakes in at a time.

Cook pancakes until bubbles break on the surface.

Turn the pancake over and cook another 30 seconds, or until the bottom is lightly browned. Serve the pancakes hot.

If you want blueberry pancakes, do not mix the berries into the batter. Instead, sprinkle 3 tablespoons of berries on top of each pancake after the pancake has cooked to the point where the bubbles are breaking on the top, gently pressing the berries with a spatula. Turn the pancakes over and finish cooking for about 30 seconds, or until set.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009 – Page 27

Picture books for Shavuot There is general agreement among Jewish scholars that our third pilgrimage holiday, Shavuot, was originally an agricultural festival. It marked the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat and fruit harvests in ancient Israel. Hence, two of its alternate names are Hag haKazir (Harvest Festival) and Yom ha-Bikkurim (Day of the First Fruit).

It was the Talmudic rabbis of the second century who added a historic Biblical component to Shavuot by connecting it with Pesach. Since the Torah does not name a specific date for Shavuot, they instituted the counting of the Omer from the second day of Pesach and declared 50 days later to be Zeman Mattan Toratenu (The Time of Giving of Our Torah) on Mount Sinai. In effect, the rabbis were emphasizing that, along with freedom, our ancestors accepted spiritual and moral teachings that gave meaning to their lives and, by implication, to ours.

The following picture books about Shavuot pick up on the theme of being true to one’s self spiritually and morally while portraying and/or mentioning the holiday’s various laws and customs.

Sammy Spider’s First Shavuot

By Sylvia A. Rouss Illustrated by Katherine Janus Kahn Kar-Ben Publishing 2008 32 pages. Ages 3-8.

Although I’m not generally a Sammy Spider fan – probably because I go to great lengths to rid my home of spiders and their webs – I found Sammy Spider’s First Shavuot delightful.

Sammy’s childish curiosity rings true as his mother answers his questions and rescues him from one near miss after another with her usual refrain: “Spiders don’t [whatever]. Spiders spin webs.”

It all begins with Sammy and Mrs. Spider, who knows all about Jewish holidays, up in their web on the Shapiro family’s kitchen ceiling. Sammy spies Mrs. Shapiro measuring flour and wonders what she’s doing. His mother explains that Mrs. Shapiro is following a recipe, making blintzes for Shavuot.

Sammy asks many more questions as each member of the

Kid Lit Deanna Silverman

Shapiro family helps prepare for the holiday. His mother’s answers are both descriptive and slightly philosophical. For example, a recipe is a “list of instructions.” Sammy later picks up on that idea when he wonders if the Torah is a “recipe for living.”

During the story, Sammy learns how to make blintzes, just misses being splattered by a drop of hot oil, tastes a splash of strawberry topping, sees Josh’s small Torah, learns about God giving the Torah to the Jewish people, plops into a vase of flowers and, finally, as he’s about to go to bed, understands “a spider’s recipe for living.” I was tempted to add, “Little boy, you’ve had a busy day.”

Told in simple language enhanced by large, colourful, folklike illustrations, Sammy Spider’s First Shavuot captures both the holiday spirit and the mood of good parenting. Included are a few words about Shavuot and Mrs. Shapiro’s blintz recipe.

A Dozen Daisies for Raizy: A Shavuos Story

By Rebecca Klempner Illustrated by Chava Hachai Publishing 2008 30 pages. Ages 3-8.

A Dozen Daisies for Raizy is a charming story featuring a young Orthodox girl helping friends and neighbours by performing mitzvahs connected with the upcoming holiday of Shavuos. Along the way, readers learn some of the laws and customs associated with the holiday, as well as the many ways we wish each other a happy holiday.

By Sylvia A. Rouss; illustrated by Katherine Janus Kahn

For example, Raizy cheers up Naomi, a new girl in her class, by inviting Naomi and her mother over to help prepare cheesecakes for the big kiddush that Raizy’s family hosts after the men stay up all night studying Torah. She cheers up Mrs. Schwartz, who will be alone on Shavuos, by inviting her over for blintzes. She offers to help Mrs. Mizrachi look after her twins at shul so that Mrs. Mizrachi will be able to hear the Aseret Hadibrot (Ten Commandments) when they are read. As for her dozen daisies, Raizy happily shares them as well.

Bright sparkling colours, body language and facial expressions beautifully capture the tone and generosity that makes A Dozen Daisies for Raizy a winner.

From my family to yours: Chag Sameach. Good Yom Tov. A Gutten Yontif.

Who knows where the time goes?

I was trying to find the time to do my work, but the time seemed to be hiding. No matter where I looked I couldn’t find the time.

Apparently I had lost some time. This is something I do when I stand around chatting with others. I must have lost some time and had no clue where.

Fortunately, the week before, I had saved some time. It was in my time bank where I could withdraw it and use it.

This thought came to me just in time. So, happily, even though I had lost some time and couldn’t find the time, I still managed to complete my work on time because I had already saved time.

As anyone who has watched science fiction knows, time is a tricky business. The only thing you can’t do is go somewhere and arrive before you left. Although, when you have

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your family waiting in a car to go on an outing, it feels like everyone would like it to be possible. This feeling only intensifies when you’re sitting at the wheel and, at regular 15minute intervals, the children come out with versions of “Are we there yet?”

I sometimes drive alone to Toronto on business. The miles fly by, but, when I arrive, my watch tells me four or five hours have disappeared. How could that be? I was always in the present, which now, was already in the past.

This is so even when I make good time and my watch keeps good time. This, of course, suggests there is also bad time.

Is this the moral equivalent of the matter/antimatter distinction? I think if time is bad it should go sit in a corner.

Some of my friends claim, in making the same Toronto trip, they arrive ahead of time. Come on! That’s not possible! Time was already there before you walked in the door, wasn’t it? Or do things just start up when you reach your destination?

Actually, according to some scientists, time warps are possible. This is demonstrated by twisting long stringy balloons into the shape of a poodle. This is apparently an appropriate model for the universe. Although I shudder at imagining the guy doing the twisting with his fuzzy red wig, red nose and clown make up.

But one can also get the impression that time is infinitely expandable. So, when I ask my grandchildren to come to the table and they answer “in a minute,” I am always sur-

Humour me, please Rubin Friedman prised at how long a minute can actually last. It could just as easily be 300 seconds as 60.

Here is my theory of relativity: If you are waiting for your relatives, they will think they got ready in a flash, while, for you, it will feel more like waiting for Moshiach.

I think the fact that the relatives often do eventually get ready is a good sign the messianic era is ahead. Just show a little patience.

By the way, when Moshiach arrives, this will be, some say, the end of time and the end of history. What does Francis Fukuyama know that I don’t? Unfortunately, we only have a limited amount of time and I seem to be running out of what was allotted for writing this column. I have to go to the time station to fill up.

Until the next time then – wait a minute! I thought time was continuous – if you end up using time, please be sure to spend it wisely. There are no refunds

Page 28 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 25, 2009

WHAT’S GOING ON May 25 to June 14, 2009

WEEKLY EVENTS MONDAYS & THURSDAYS Motorin’ Munchkins, sponsored

by Ganon Preschool, for kids aged 5 and under. Parent/caregiver-supervised playtime in gymnasium with equipment, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 280.

FRIDAYS Shabbat Shalom, sponsored by Ganon Preschool, learn about Shabbat through crafts, stories, games and songs. Drop-in program for ages 5 and under. Parent/caregiver must accompany, 9:30 am. Info: 613-7989818, ext. 280.

TUESDAYS Israeli Folkdancing, learn dances, have fun, no experience necessary. Hillel Academy, 31 Nadolny Sachs Private, 6:30 pm. Info: 613722-9323.

MONDAY, MAY 25 1st Annual Comedy Night, “Big Laughs for Little People,” in support of the Soloway JCC and the CHEO Foundation, Centrepointe Theatre, 8:00 pm. Info: 613-798-9818, ext.

225.

CANDLELIGHTING BEFORE EREV SHAVUOT May 28 ✡ 8:22 May 29 ✡ 8:23 Jun 5 ✡ 8:28 Jun 12 ✡ 8:33 Jun 19 ✡ 8:36

pm pm pm pm pm

TUESDAY, MAY 26 Israeli Wine Evening includes a sommelière-led wine-tasting, cocktail reception and auction, hosted by Creative Kosher Catering in support of Maccabi Canada’s Team Ottawa; special guest speaker The Hon. Irwin Cotler, MP, Congregation Agudath Israel, 1400 Coldrey Avenue, 6:30 pm.

Info: 613-820-7714.

A Musical Mosaic by the Soloway JCC Shiru Lach Choir, directed by Ellen Asherman, accompanied by Aviva Lightstone, guest

soloist Barbara Okun, 7:30 pm. Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 254.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 Wonderful Wednesdays Seniors Lunch, sponsored by Jewish Family Services and Congregation Machzikei Hadas, “Brain Exercises” with memory maven Wendy Birkhan of Homewatch Caregivers, 2310 Virginia Drive, 12:00 pm. Info: 613-521-9700.

Annual General Meeting of the Bess and Moe Greenberg Family Hillel Lodge: Community is invited, 10 Nadolny Sachs Private, 7:00 pm.

Info: 613-728-3900, ext. 122.

THURSDAY, MAY 28 Lomir Reydn Yiddish, hosted by Jewish Family Services, Murray Citron shares his Yiddish translation of the classic American poem: Casey at the Bat, 2255 Carling Avenue, Suite 301, 10:00 am. Info: 613-722-2225, ext.

325.

Shalom Ottawa, our community program on Rogers 22, 6:00 pm (repeated May 30 at noon).

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3 Annual General Meeting of the

For more community listings, visit ottawa.planitjewish.com

Jewish Federation of Ottawa: Community is invited, 7:00 pm. Info: 613798-4696, ext. 236.

Israel’s New Government and Prospects for Peace, talk given by Col. Shaul Arieli who retired from the Israel Defense Forces in 2001, sponsored

by Canadian Friends of Peace Now and Temple Israel, 1301 Prince of Wales Drive, 7:30 pm. Info: 613-523-8969.

THURSDAY, JUNE 4 The Kibbitz Club, sponsored by Jewish Family Services and Congregation Beth Shalom, luncheon and program: The Klezmer Cruise with A.C. and Marc Dolgin, 151 Chapel Street, 12:00 pm. Info: 613-789-3501, ext. 223.

FRIDAY, JUNE 5 Shir Chadash Kabbalat Shabbat, led by Ellie Glantz, 119 Beechwood Avenue, 2nd floor, 7:30 pm.

Info: 613-851-4988.

SUNDAY, JUNE 7 Walkathon 2009 in support of the Soloway JCC and the Jewish Federation of Ottawa: Walk, run, bike or rollerblade along the route, food and entertainment afterward, registration

8:30 am, start 9:30 am. Info: 613-7899818, ext. 233.

Books and Bagels Series, sponsored by Temple Israel, Fateless by Imre Kertesz reviewed by Prof. Adele Reinhartz of uOttawa, Temple Israel, 1301 Prince of Wales Drive, 9:30 am.

Info: 613-594-4556.

Tamir Riddell House Grand Opening, 875 Riddell Avenue, 1:00 pm. Info: 613-725-3519, ext. 113.

A Celebration of Jewish Authors, sponsored by the Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation, featuring local Jewish authors or family members presenting their works. This second of two evenings, entitled “From Mystery to Diplomacy,” will focus on a medley of narratives, National Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, 7:00 pm. Info: 613-721-0615.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10 Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation: Community is invited, 7:30 pm. Info: 613-798-4696, ext.

252.

SUNDAY, JUNE 14 Musical Brunch with the NAC Orchestra, sponsored by AJA 50+ and Canada-Israel Cultural Foundation, National Arts Centre, 11:00 am.

Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 309.

Israeli Film Festival, sponsored

by Vered Israel Cultural Centre, Soloway JCC, Embassy of Israel and Jewish Federation of Ottawa, film: Aviva My Love, National Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, 7:00 pm. Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 243.

COMING SOON THURSDAY, JUNE 18 2009 Golf Tournament Desert Classic in support of Soloway JCC and Hillel Academy, Loch March Golf and Country Club, Kanata.

Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 225.

Unless otherwise noted, activities take place at The Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building, 21 Nadolny Sachs Private.

This information is taken from the community calendar maintained by the Jewish Ottawa InfoCentre. Organizations which would like their events to be listed, no matter where they are to be held, should send the information to InfoCentre coordinator Benita Siemiatycki via e-mail at bsiemiatycki@jewishottawa.com or fax at 613-798-4695. She can also be reached by telephone at 613-798-4644. Accurate details must be provided and all events must be open to the Jewish public.

Solid Returns in Good Times and Bad. The founding principals of Romspen Investment Corporation, Sheldon Esbin

10% 8%

and Arthur Resnick, have been managing first mortgages on behalf of

6%

investors for over 40 years including several economic downturns and

4%

recessions. Yet while stock markets crashed in 2008, the Romspen

2% 0%

Mortgage Investment Fund delivered another solid year yielding 9.9% to Q1

2006

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

2007

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

2008

Q2

Q3

Q4

Romspen Mortgage Investment Fund Performance Annualized Compounded Return at Quarter End Income distribution to investors is on the 15th of every month.

The Fund is RRSP and RRIF eligible and is audited by KPMG.

its 1800 investors. Solid, reliable returns are generated because of solid and reliable management. Find out why this $500,000,000 Fund has been consistently successful, month after month, year after year. Call us for an information package and/or visit our new website.

Condolences Condolences are extended to the families of: Edward Bindman Fernand Bybelezer Morris Cymbaluk Cornelia (Nelly) Engel Libby Glube Daniel Jacob Hornstein

Gloria Luxemburg Kaplan, Miami (mother of Sheryl Luxemburg) Trudy Kilburn, Kelowna (sister of Penny Leikin) Frieda Levitan Mel Ostroff

May their memory be a blessing always.

The CONDOLENCE COLUMN is offered as a public service to the community.

There is no charge.

For a listing in this column, please call Carolene Preap, 613-798-4696, ext. 232.

Voice mail is available.

162 Cumberland Street, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M5R 3N5 Tel: 416.966.1100 Toll Free: 1.800.494.0389 www.romspen.com

BULLETIN DEADLINES MAY 27 FOR JUNE 15 JUNE 30 FOR JULY 20 JULY 29 FOR AUGUST 17 AUGUST 12 FOR SEPTEMBER 7* SEPTEMBER 2 FOR SEPTEMBER 21 SEPTEMBER 16 FOR OCTOBER 5 SEPTEMBER 30 FOR OCTOBER 19 * Community-wide Issue (all dates subject to change)