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Community service is in Ian Sherman’s DNA

By Cynthia Nyman Engel The remarkable Ian Sherman is in the headlines again.

In 1999 it was as recipient of the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award. This time, it’s because he is the 2011 recipient of the Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award, the highest tribute the Ottawa Jewish community can bestow on an individual for exceptional service over the course of many years.

Initiated in 1980, the award bears the name of Gilbert Greenberg, the late past president of the Jewish Community Council of Ottawa/Vaad Ha’Ir, who exemplified the qualities of leadership the award seeks to recognize each year. The award will be presented on Wednesday, June 1 at the annual general meeting of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

Ottawa’s Jewish community

knows a winner when it sees one, and Ian is a definite winner. For two decades, he has devoted extraordinary amounts of time, energy and strength to making the community the best it can be. And, at age 52, he’s still got plenty of commitment to be tapped.

“My whole Jewish community journey started in the early ‘90s with the Soloway JCC when Ron Prehogan and several other people asked me to get involved with the Finance Committee,” Ian said.

He accepted because there was a significant community need, he enjoyed being involved and he was hooked.

“My mom wasn’t surprised,” he chuckled. “As a kid I lived at the JCC.” It was a propitious fit for the (Continued on page 2)

Morris Kimmel: a volunteer and leader over many years

By Cynthia Nyman Engel Morris Kimmel will receive the Shem Tov Community Volunteer Award (presented by the Ottawa Citizen) for 2011. Created in 2003, the award recognizes an outstanding volunteer within the Jewish community who, through many years of service, has contributed to the enrichment of Jewish life in Ottawa.

The award will be presented on

volume 75, no. 14

may 16, 2011

Wednesday, June 1 at the annual general meeting of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

When the 23-year-old Morris, and his wife, Lillian, moved to Ottawa in 1953, their first order-ofbusiness was to search out the Jewish community’s central gathering spot.

“I was used to going to the (Continued on page 2)

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2011 Community Award recipients

Ian Sherman Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Service Award

Lisa Miller Freiman Family Young Leadership Award

Morris Kimmel Shem Tov Community Volunteer Award

Leadership a passion for Lisa Miller

By Cynthia Nyman Engel Lisa Miller has been named recipient of the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award for 2011. Established in 1988, the award recognizes a member of the Ottawa Jewish community under the age of 40 who has rendered exceptional service to the community.

The award will be presented on Wednesday, June 1 at the annual general meeting of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

Like many who grow up in a large Jewish community, Lisa had to adjust to her new surroundings after she married and settled in Ottawa.

“Coming from Montreal where there are lots of choices to become involved in Jewish life, it quickly became clear to me that in a smaller community setting you don’t have the same options,” Lisa told the Bul-

letin. “In Ottawa, it was so easy to become an active member of the community.”

And, fortunately for the community, she decided to do just that.

“My initial integration into Jewish communal involvement was through membership in the Young Women’s Leadership Council (YWLC),” says the 37-year-old. “It was an absolutely invaluable experience.”

At YWLC she met, and befriended, like-minded contemporaries, learned the composition, workings and needs of the community, and identified the areas where her particular skills set could best be utilized.

She was so impressed with the YWLC that, after completing the program, she agreed to serve a term as council co-chair and today continues to conduct workshops for, and make presentations to, the group.

Lisa currently chairs the Ottawa Jewish Community School Board, which comprises Hillel Academy and Yitzhak Rabin High School. She served a three-year term on the Soloway Jewish Community Centre Board and was a table captain in 2009 at Choices, the Women’s Campaign event.

Lisa is president of DMHS Group, a management consulting firm, and the fact that she specializes in the area of industrial psychology has proven extremely beneficial to the community. The Federation called on her expertise when creating the Jewish Leadership Development Institute (JLDI), a program funded by the Federation and geared to developing lay leadership. Lisa developed the program and is continually revamping and improving it.

(Continued on page 2)

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Page 2 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Ian Sherman to receive Gilbert Greenberg Award (Continued from page 1)

young chartered accountant and for the community. Ian assisted with both a substantial deficit reduction program as well as the community’s plan to relocate the facilities from 151 Chapel Street to the new Jewish Community Campus. He subsequently sat on the Soloway JCC Board of Directors and on its executive. In 2000, he became chair of the board.

Ian’s interest in Jewish community centres continued and he became involved in the leadership of the Jewish Community Centers of North America Association (JCCA), a network of more than 350 JCCs in the U.S. and Canada. Since 2000, he has served on the JCCA Board of Directors and on several committees and task forces. He also served as vicepresident of the association, only the second Canadian to occupy the position.

Since 1994, Ian has held senior portfolios for the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and for several of its beneficiary agencies. He served on the Federation’s Board and Executive Committee and on the Community Endowment Campaign Committee.

He co-chaired the major donors division of UJA Ottawa, served on the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation audit committee, and on numerous task forces and committees.

In 1997, he restructured the Financial Services Group for the Jewish Community of Ottawa to ensure the installation of an experienced chartered accountant as the senior finance officer for the community.

Ian joined the board of Congregation Beth Shalom 10 years ago, moved on to the executive committee and is now serving his second

term as president. From the beginning of his affiliation, his primary focus was the revitalization of the synagogue.

Since its founding, Beth Shalom had functioned as an Orthodox congregation. In 2009, after years of discussions and negotiations, the synagogue board eschewed Orthodoxy in favour of traditional Conservative Judaism and joined the Canadian Council of Conservative Synagogues (CCCS). During that period, Ian faced significant challenges. He met each of them head-on with his characteristic intelligence, calm and open demeanour. Beth Shalom is now enjoying resurgence in its membership.

“We needed to give the shul some real definition,” said Ian. “By joining the CCCS, we have defined the kind of traditional shul we are and want to be.”

Through his synagogue position, Ian also serves on the Jewish Memorial Gardens Board of Directors and is working to help establish a better operational mandate and vision for Ottawa’s Jewish cemeteries.

Ian readily admits that he’s passionate about giving back to the community.

“But then,” he said with a smile, “I’ve got great blood lines and great role models to follow and how can I go wrong with that?”

Giving back to community is in Ian’s DNA. His maternal grandparents, Sylvia and Harry Shinder, set high standards for their children and grandchildren in the area of community service and Ian has proven to be a chip off the old block.

“How could I not learn from such great role models? Now it’s my turn to live up to them.”

Ian also gives of his time and energy to worthy causes in the general community. He’s involved with the Ottawa Senators Foundation and was a founder and co-chair of Bell Sens Soiree, which supports numerous local charities. He served on Silver Sticks, a committee struck and chaired by the mayor to address policy and government advocacy matters on behalf of the Ottawa Senators Foundation.

Ian was the founder and one of the former organizers of the Ottawa Celebrity Sports Dinner, which honours local Olympic, junior and professional athletes. The annual dinner, which attracts 1,000 guests, has benefited many local charities in addi-

tion to the Soloway JCC. Ian, a tax partner and the Ottawa office tax practice market leader with Ernst & Young LLP, recently celebrated 25 years in public accounting.

Ian co-ordinates and facilitates tax services to several of Ernst & Young’s local and multinational clients and advises on issues and opportunities related to tax compliance and planning.

In September 2006, in recognition of his professional achievements and community involvement, he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (ICAO). Election to Fellowship is the highest designation the ICAO confers on a member. There are cur-

rently 918 Fellows of the ICAO out of about 35,000 CAs in Ontario.

Ian is also chair of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) Tax Courses Committee and is currently chairing the CICA’s Tax Education Task Force. Ian was an instructor for the CICA In-Depth Tax Course for more than 10 years and is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

In 2009, Ian received the distinction of Ottawa Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year.

Ian and his wife, Randi Goldstein Sherman are the proud parents of three sons, Jonathan, 21, Matthew, 19, and Adam, 17.

Lisa Miller to receive Freiman Family Young Leadership Award (Continued from page 1)

To date, JLDI has enjoyed a highly successful three-year run.

In addition, she facilitates training sessions and strategic training sessions for various community agencies, including Federation, the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation and Hillel Lodge, among others.

“Leadership is one of my passions,” says the busy mother of two.

“What is so wonderful for me about this community is that there are so many people to work with and learn from. I am happy to take things on, but my caveat is that there must be a challenge for me and there must be something for me to learn.”

It is not unusual for Lisa to be occupied with community commitments two nights per week.

“I’m especially busy with school board business,” she said with a smile. “But Mitch and I have worked out a balancing act to make sure there is always one of us at home in the evening.”

Husband Mitch Miller is no slouch either when it comes to community involvement. He was the Freiman Family Award recipient in 2007.

“Mitch was always a huge role model for me; I followed his lead,” said Lisa. “Community involvement was one of the strong connections between Mitch and me. Both of his parents have been involved in community and my late parents, too, instilled strong Jewish values in my siblings and me. It is a value that I want to pass on to our girls.”

Lisa has made – and is making – a significant difference in the Ottawa Jewish community.

“You know, if this is where we’re going to grow our roots, it makes sense to make them as strong as we can,” she said.

Lisa and Mitch have two daughters, Dalia, 10 and Haley, eight.

The recipient of the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award also receives the Lawrence Greenberg Young Leadership Development Award.

This award allows the recipient to attend the General Assembly of United Jewish Communities (GA) where young leaders from across North America are honoured. The GA will be held this year from November 6 to 9 in Denver.

Morris Kimmel to receive Shem Tov Community Volunteer Award (Continued from page 1)

YMHA in Montreal,” he said. “So, in Ottawa, I naturally found my way to the Jewish Community Centre (JCC).”

Happily, for the young couple, the doors of the community’s firstever JCC had recently opened at 151 Chapel Street. The brand new facility was a hive of activity and the newcomers were made to feel welcome.

“We came here knowing almost no one and we met a lot of people through the JCC,” Morris said.

Montreal’s loss was Ottawa’s gain as Morris readily stepped up to take his place in the community.

Soon after the Kimmels had settled into life in Ottawa, Morris was out and about doing collections for UJA. “I collected UJA donations for a

lot of years,” he smiled, “and I’m still doing it.”

Morris quickly became involved with several community organizations, among them B’nai Brith Lodge 885, which led to a long association with Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa. His tireless dedication to the camp earned him the honour of lifetime membership on its board. He has also been a member of the Ottawa Vaad HaKashrut for many years and today, at 80, presides as chair.

In the 1960s, Morris was in the vanguard of a movement to establish an Orthodox synagogue in the city’s west end.

“I had come from an Orthodox background and I became one of the founding members of the Young Israel Congregation,” he explained.

The synagogue opened on Kirk-

wood Avenue in 1966. Morris has served as president of the congregation and also as its representative on the Jewish Memorial Gardens Board of Directors.

In 1962, Morris opened a successful carpet business, which flourishes today as Westboro Flooring and Décor.

It was in the early 1970s, when Morris brought his widowed mother from Montreal to live at Hillel Lodge, that he and Lillian enjoyed a shared cause célèbre: the Ottawa Jewish Home for the Aged.

“Lillian got involved in Hillel Lodge after my mother came,” said Morris, “and then I got involved.”

That he did; and his involvement has never stopped.

First Lillian, and later Morris, assumed the presidency of the Hillel

Lodge Board of Directors. His support of the facility is unwavering. He has distinguished himself countless times, both as a leader with the Hillel Lodge Community Campaign to build the Jewish Community Campus facility, and as a frontline volunteer, cooking burgers and serving drinks to residents, volunteers and families.

After his beloved Lillian passed away in 2006, Morris continued devoting his time and energy to the facility.

“Morris is that rare combination of no-nonsense individual who does everything in his power to get things done, quickly, correctly and completely. For Hillel Lodge he has been a godsend,” said Executive Director Stephen Schneiderman.

In recognition of his efforts on

behalf of the lodge, Morris received the Thelma Steinman Direct Service Award, as well as the Shalom Perel President’s Award. On both occasions he was accorded a resounding standing ovation.

“I enjoyed watching Hillel Lodge being built,” said Morris. “And, after it was completed, I was there all the time seeing that the food was right and being served properly.”

How does he feel about being involved in the Ottawa Jewish community?

“It’s where I’m supposed to be,” he answered without skipping a beat.

Morris has three children – son Steven, married to Shelli; daughter Janet, married to Stephen Kaiman; and, daughter Brenda, married to Nathan Levine – and seven grandchildren.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 3

Page 4 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Jewish community opposes naming Ottawa’s new archives and library building for Charlotte Whitton

By Michael Regenstreif Despite strenuous objections from organizations and individuals from the Jewish and francophone communities, and from the Friends of the City of Ottawa Archives, the city’s Finance and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Mayor Jim Watson, approved the mayor’s recommendation that the city’s new central archives and public library technical services facility be named the Charlotte Whitton Archives and Library Building.

Whitton, who died in 1975, served two terms as mayor of Ottawa from 1951

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to 1956 and from 1960 to 1964. She was the first female mayor of a major Canadian city.

However, it was because of her actions as director of the Canadian Council on Child Welfare prior to and during the Second World War that Jewish organizations and individuals say Whitton should not be honoured.

In her presentation to the committee, Vera Gara, a Holocaust survivor and a past chair of the Shoah Committee of Ottawa, pointed out that Whitton prevented Canada from accepting 500 Jewish refugee orphans who were “sent back and gassed at Auschwitz.”

Another heartfelt objection to honouring Whitton was made by David Gladstone, who said he was given his middle name, Herschel, in memory of a relative who was murdered in the Holocaust.

Mitchell Bellman, president and CEO of the Jewish

Federation of Ottawa, pointed out Whitton’s critical role “in preventing Jews fleeing the atrocities of Nazi Germany to find refuge in Canada. She campaigned coast-to-coast to ensure that welfare agencies did not accept non-British refugees. The positions that she took were based on her dislike of Jews and they had grave consequences for the thousands of Jews who could have otherwise been saved from the death camps.”

Eric Vernon, director of government relations and international affairs for Canadian Jewish Congress, added that Whitton “never publicly recanted her anti-Semitism and sought no atonement for the dire consequences of her actions that helped close Canada’s door to Jewish refugee orphans, dooming them to their fate in the Holocaust.”

Other objections to naming the new facility for Whitton came from Louis Patry, an

activist in Ottawa’s francophone community, who drew the committee’s attention to Whitton’s prejudice and history of discrimination against French Canadians; and from Jean-Yves Pelletier, representing the Friends of the City of Ottawa Archives, who acknowledged the concerns expressed about Whitton and pointed out that his organization had submitted a brief suggesting the building be named for W.P. Lett, an early City of Ottawa clerk, who pioneered the city’s archives.

Bellman also said the Federation believes the process being used to name the building violates Ottawa’s commemorative naming policy, which mandates “a 60-day public consultation phase to ensure that there is community support for the proposal.”

Watson justified the fasttrack process by saying the city was transferring Whitton’s name from a former archives facility in the coun-

cil chambers in Ottawa’s old city hall, a building now owned by the federal government. The council chambers had been named Whitton Hall in 1973 and later housed Ottawa’s archives from 1998 to 2003.

Bellman argued that, in 1973, the city council had not intended to name the city’s archives for Whitton and that Watson’s proposal was thus a “new naming opportunity for a new building” and “that due process should be followed.”

There were no presentations from any individuals or organizations speaking in favour of the mayor’s proposal to name the building for Whitton.

In the committee discussion that followed the presentations, Councillor Marianne Wilkinson argued that Whitton was a “product of her time” and that today’s standards cannot be applied to her.

Wilkinson added that she

considered Whitton’s actions in keeping Jewish orphans out of Canada to be a “national issue” and that the city should only consider “civic issues.”

Several other councillors also spoke in favour of the proposal. Only Councillor Keith Egli spoke against.

“Our job is to listen to our constituents,” said Egli.

“With the Jewish, French Canadian and historical communities all opposed [to naming the building for Whitton], I must vote against.”

Egli also said he agreed with Bellman that there should have been a 60-day consultation process.

The committee voted 8-1 to approve the mayor’s recommendation that the building be named in Whitton’s honour.

The proposal was scheduled to go to the full city council on May 11 (after this issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin had gone to press).

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 5

YRHS students participate in Moot Beit Din in San Francisco

By Nicola Hamer for Ottawa Jewish Community School Yitzhak Rabin High School (YRHS) students in Rabbi Howard Finkelstein’s classes are used to studying how Jewish law is applicable in the modern world.

Last month, four students put that experience to the test when they attended the 2011 Moot Beit Din hosted

by RAVSAK, the Jewish Community Day School Network, in San Francisco.

This was the first time YRHS participated in RAVSAK’s annual Shabbaton and Moot Beit Din for teams of high school students from the United States and Canada. The team comprised Grade 10 student Jordon Molot, Grade 11 student Michaela Sadinsky, and two Grade 12 students, Sammy Diamanstein and Elishua BenChoreen. The team prepared for months for the competition.

At the beginning of the school year, RAVSAK re-

leases a case to be examined and ruled on at the Moot Beit Din. This year’s looked at the issue of cloning. The teams can go into one of two tiers and have the choice of either having the sources provided to them or researching them on their own. Despite not having done this before, the students at YRHS took the more strenuous option and researched their own sources.

“It was a lot of work finding all the sources because we had to look at scientific, ethical and religious sources,” said Elishua. “But it wasn’t that hard. We talked to our science teacher and we found out about a rabbi in California who had looked into cloning, so he had a lot of good information too. We ended up finding a lot of the same sources that they gave the other group.”

Having come to a decision and written it up, the students had to present it to a Beit Din of three rabbis –

one Orthodox, one Conservative and one Reform.

They then had to answer questions from the judges.

All the students admitted they only got nervous once they got up and faced the judges’ questions. But Rabbi Finkelstein said they appeared confident and knowledgeable.

“I was incredibly proud of my students,” said Rabbi Finkelstein. “They all clearly understood the issues and were comfortable with their sources. It was obvious that they knew what they were talking about.”

It wasn’t all work for the YRHS team. They also toured San Francisco and had opportunities to interact with students from Jewish high schools in other cities.

“There were lots of activities all weekend,” said Michaela. “It wasn’t just about the Beit Din. It was about making a connection with other teenagers from Jewish high schools.”

When asked if they

The YRHS Moot Beit Din team touring in San Francisco (front, from left): Elishua BenChoreen, Michaela Sadinsky, Rabbi Howard Finkelstein; (back) Jordon Molot, Sammy Diamanstein.

learned anything through that connection, they laugh.

“Yeah,” said Jordan.

“We are really small! But that didn’t stop us from being a lot better than a lot of the other schools!”

He added, while Sammy and Elishua are graduating this year, he and Michaela are already looking forward to next year’s Beit Din.

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Page 6 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Holocaust remembrance keeps alive the flame of memory Our community’s recent commemoration of Yom HaShoah reminded us that there have been things in Jewish history too horrible to be believed, but not too horrible to have happened. Despite the eloquent remarks of the speakers, we rediscovered that our vocabulary, as rich and expressive as it is, can scarcely keep up with what the mind can scarcely grasp. In the end, it comes down to the exhortation of “zachor.” And so we remember, and hallow and work toward a future of peace and justice.

While the best resources for this task are the survivors themselves – for nothing can approximate their eyewitness testimony – there will be a day when those who personally suffered through the Shoah will not be here to tell their stories. As such, we must pursue efforts to keep alive the flame of memory for all generations to come.

Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) has been actively involved in two national initiatives that will help this important cause.

The first, a private member’s bill, Bill C442, mandates the government to provide land through the National Capital Commission to establish a Holocaust monument in Ottawa. Both houses of Parliament unanimously passed the bill last month and it was

Federation Report Eric Vernon CJC among the pieces of legislation that received royal assent just before Parliament was dissolved.

Appearing before the Senate, we said that the monument would accomplish a number of important objectives: to provide a fitting tribute to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust; to honour Canada’s role and sacrifice in the Second World War and its contribution to the defeat of Nazism; and to preserve the sacred memory of the Righteous Among the Nations, those heroic individuals who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

A Holocaust monument in the National Capital Region would serve to remind all Canadians and tourists alike of the need to combat racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination in all of its manifestations in Canada and around the world.

The legislation sets up a council to oversee fundraising for the construction of the monument, so stay tuned for your opportunity to contribute.

The second, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR), is scheduled to open in Winnipeg next year. In CJC’s written and oral submissions to the CMHR’s content advisory committee, we urged the museum to provide appropriate, permanent space for exhibiting the Shoah.

We argued that the Holocaust, as the seminal point of departure for understanding the redefined potential of humankind for inhumanity, provides a lens through which subsequent human rights developments, both positive and negative, must be viewed.

There is a direct link between the Holocaust and the contemporary culture and infrastructure of human rights. The line from the post-Holocaust international human rights agreements and treaties also flows directly to the notion of enforceable human rights in Canada. The manifestation of those rights is rooted in our federal and provincial human rights codes, civil and criminal antihate legislation, a body of relevant jurisprudence, and, ultimately, in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Beyond that, we suggested that the Holocaust has had a profound impact on all aspects of human understanding and knowledge, including theology, philosophy, sociology, the arts, literature and psychology.

The museum will help the public better grasp how the Holocaust has so profoundly affected not just the Jewish community but the world at large.

To its credit, the CMHR has announced that its plans include a permanent hall dedicated to the Shoah. This has engendered an unseemly campaign by certain other ethnic groups who feel their historical injustices have been slighted. We are dealing with this along the lines of the arguments spelled out above.

CJC will continue our long-standing efforts on behalf of Shoah commemoration in conjunction with our ongoing work with the diplomatic community and the Material Claims Conference regarding property restitution and financial compensation and our push for justice against the perpetrators and enablers of the Final Solution. This is our solemn obligation and duty.

Eric Vernon is director of government relations and international affairs of Canadian Jewish Congress.

Telling kids the truth will promote Jewish continuity I have been offered the opportunity to share some thoughts with you and since this issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin is not being delivered just before a Jewish holiday, and because events in the Middle East defy an easy analysis, I want to chat a bit about my favourite topic: Jewish continuity.

Most Jewish professionals, most Jewish parents and most rabbis are worried about whither we are going. What will the future hold for the Jewish people? Will there be a Jewish future?

We hold meetings to discuss the future.

We take surveys to understand trends. We convene think tanks to wrestle with the issues. All of these approaches have their place in determining whither we are going.

Yet, I want to offer a more direct approach concerning our future as a Jewish people: Tell your kids the truth!

So many of our problems with Judaism began when we were children and someone lovingly taught us a lie. We asked an innocent, but difficult question, and our teacher or parent panicked. Instead of

From the pulpit Rabbi Steven Garten Temple Israel telling us the truth, which was that he or she did not have a clue, we were given an answer that was safe and that was enough to satisfy our childhood curiosity. But, just as our teacher, parent, or even rabbi, didn’t believe it then, we don’t believe it now.

Who could possibly know with certainty answers to such questions as: “What happens when you die?” “Why do good people suffer?” “Why didn’t God do anything during the Shoah?” “What does God look like?”

To make matters worse, we Jews don’t really have any institutional mechanisms for deciding what all Jews do, or should, believe. When it comes to what Jews do, or should, believe, the real truth is that no

one knows for sure. Even our sages, of blessed memory, who thought about these questions for all time, rarely hold the same opinion for more than a few weeks running.

Unique to spiritual education, indeed, perhaps its defining characteristic is that great, Jewish unanswerable questions are simultaneously relevant to both adults and children.

Some sages say that is why we pray every day. As the people who pray change, so, too, do the meanings of the spiritual truths found within each prayer.

So, what can you teach your children, if spiritual truths are fluid?

Tell them the truth, especially if it is only that you don’t know the answer.

The next time your child asks you a real spiritual question, try saying, “I don’t know the answer. I’ve been wondering about it since I was your age. It is a holy question.”

I’m confident your child can handle the truth and, just maybe, as an adult he or she will pass on spiritual truths to his or her children. That strikes me as real Jewish continuity.

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 7

Charlotte Whitton’s name should not be on new archives and library building Since moving to Ottawa in 2007 to work at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I’ve met Mayor Jim Watson on a number of occasions – first, in his earlier role as an Ontario cabinet minister and MPP and, more recently, as a candidate for the mayoralty and as mayor.

He has always struck me as a friendly and very astute politician. He has always been well briefed and understanding of issues of concern when I’ve seen him talk to Jewish groups, and he has proven himself to be a friend of Ottawa’s Jewish community.

He even says nice things about the Bulletin.

That’s why it’s hard to fathom why Watson is pushing so hard to have the City of Ottawa’s new archives and library building named in honour of Charlotte Whitton.

What is to be gained by honouring Whitton now – some 36 years after her death?

Yes, she made history by being the first woman to be mayor of Ottawa. But that notable achievement looks small in comparison to her ensuring that 500 Jewish refugee orphans ended up in Auschwitz instead of Canada during the Holocaust, to her efforts in helping to ensure that Canada not be a haven for Jews seeking to escape the Nazis.

Whitton’s role in that shameful of chapter of Canadian history is well documented

Editor Michael Regenstreif in None Is Too Many by Irving Abella and Harold Troper, and in Open Your Hearts: The Story of the Jewish War Orphans in Canada by Fraidie Martz. (The Jewish war orphans that Martz wrote about were only allowed into Canada beginning in 1947.)

Whitton was deeply anti-Semitic. She also hated French Canadians, Armenians, Ukrainians … the list goes on.

I attended the committee meeting at City Hall on May 3 (see my news report on page 4) when the mayor’s recommendation to name the building for Whitton was given preliminary approval. There were six presentations – including representations from the Jewish Federation of Ottawa and Canadian Jewish Congress – that argued compellingly against honouring Whitton. Not one citizen or organization came forward in her favour.

And, yet, with the notable exception of

Councillor Keith Egli, the mayor and the rest of the councillors on the committee voted in favour of naming the building for Whitton.

To be blunt, I was appalled at some of the things I heard the councillors say in their discussion. Councillor Marianne Wilkinson said she didn’t consider Whitton’s anti-Semitism or her actions to be a “civic issue.” Councillor Doug Thompson reduced Whitton’s actions during the Holocaust to the level of “comments.” Councillor Diane Deans suggested we had to recognize the time Whitton was living in.

The fact is Whitton was not just a product of her time – she was one of the leaders who shaped that time, who ensured that “none is too many.”

Surely, in today’s multicultural Ottawa, there are many better examples of persons deserving of honour than Charlotte Whitton.

Thanks Deanna You may have noticed that Deanna Silverman’s Kid Lit column – a regular feature in almost every issue of the Bulletin over the past 20 years – has been missing from several issues of late. Unfortunately, Deanna has been having some health issues and has now decided to retire from writing

the column.

I would like to thank Deanna for her contributions to the Bulletin over so many years. So many Jewish kids in Ottawa have had their childhoods enriched thanks to the hundreds of books she’s reviewed and recommended over the past two decades.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with her.

Bulletin staffing change On behalf of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I’m pleased to welcome Cindy ManorKennedy, our new business manager, to the staff.

Cindy comes to us from the Ottawa Citizen and has assumed responsibility for our advertising and subscriptions. She can often be found in the Bulletin office – we’re on the second floor of the Soloway Jewish Community Centre – and can be reached at 613-798-4696, ext. 256, or cmanor@ottawajewishbulletin.com.

I will also take this opportunity to thank our former business manager, Rhoda Saslove-Miller, for her five-plus years of dedication to the Bulletin and for graciously staying on these past few months as we searched for just the right person to fill her shoes.

Federal election:‘I predicted all of these things. I really did.’

Do you remember, just before the recent federal election, when I predicted – in this very column – the following scenarios?

• I predicted that Prime Minister Stephen Harper would run a plodding, repetitive, bubble-like campaign, highlighted by an almost daily parade of negative news headlines and mini-scandals, in which he would answer almost every question posed to him with a rote warning that the country faced dire consequences unless voters elected a stable, secure, national, majority Conservative government.

I wrote that, on election day, Canadians would give his party exactly what he asked for, thanks mostly to voters in the Greater Toronto Area.

• I predicted that NDP Leader Jack Layton, fresh from hip surgery and a bout with cancer, would fire up the imaginations of voters with the sheer force of his personality and with campaign speeches that spoke of the “winds of change.” I foretold that those winds would carry him right into the office of the leader of the opposition, thanks mostly to the province of Quebec, which would elect almost 60 neophyte NDP MPs to the next Parliament – more than half of the NDP’s new caucus, and more seats than they had ever won before.

Alan Echenberg • I predicted that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff would run a high-energy, but, ultimately fruitless, campaign that would lead his party to its worst-ever electoral result, that it would be reduced to third-party status in the House of Commons for the first time in Canadian history, and that Ignatieff would lose his own Toronto-area seat and resign as leader the morning after the election. In fact, I predicted that the Liberal Party would lose most of the Toronto-area ridings it held for six election campaigns and almost two decades.

• I predicted that after two decades dominating federal politics in Quebec, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe would run an increasingly desperate campaign that would lead his party into political oblivion, that the Bloc would be reduced to a rump of four seats, lose official party status in the House of Commons, and that Duceppe would also lose his own

seat and announce the end of his political career on election night. I also noted that the Bloc’s historic defeat would likely come at the hands of the New Democratic Party, which had never had more than a single Quebec MP in the House of Commons at any one time, and whose successful candidates would include a 19-year-old university student and an anglophone Ottawa bartender who spent more of the campaign in Las Vegas than in her rural francophone riding.

• Finally, I predicted that, although her party would earn a smaller percentage of the popular vote than it did in the last election and, although she would be excluded from the televised leaders’ debates, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May would make history by becoming the first-ever member of that party to win a seat in the House of Commons, that she would unseat a veteran cabinet minister, and that she would be returning to Ottawa as the MP for SaanichGulf Islands in British Columbia.

I predicted all of these things. I really did.

You saved that old column of mine, didn’t you? If not, you’ll just have to take my word that I saw everything coming all along.

Or, maybe you should take note of the short sentence that opened up John

Duffy’s 2002 book, Fights of Our Lives: Elections, Leadership and the Making of Canada.

“Elections matter,” Duffy wrote.

When the 2011 federal election campaign began, nobody could have foreseen what the results would be, even though many people – myself included – figured the most likely outcome would be roughly the status quo: a Conservative minority government, a Liberal official opposition, a few dozen NDP MPs, the Bloc continuing its hold on most Quebec ridings, and the resumption of what had been almost seven years of volatile minority political wrangling, machinations and brinkmanship.

What happened instead was the biggest sea change in Canadian federal politics in recent memory. In one night, for better or worse, Canadian voters put Stephen Harper into the history books as one of the most successful and longest-serving Conservative prime ministers in history (assuming he serves out his full mandate), gave the NDP an unprecedented influence, probably destroyed the Bloc Québécois entirely, and put in grave doubt the future of the Liberal Party of Canada – the most successful 20th century political party in the Western democratic world.

Elections matter indeed.

Page 8 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Yom HaShoah marked with solemn commemoration

By Ilana Belfer Holocaust victims and survivors, and heroes from among the Righteous Among the Nations, were commemorated, May 1, at Ottawa’s annual Yom HaShoah ceremony.

“Today, Yom HaShoah, we remember the six million Jews who were brutally murdered by the Nazis … while the world remained silent,” said Mina Cohn, chair of the Shoah Committee of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, to a packed room at the Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building.

The evening began with a reading of names of children who perished in the Holocaust and whose relatives live in Ottawa, followed by the singing of “O Canada” and “Hatikvah” led by the Ottawa Children’s Choir.

“We are unable to comprehend the death of even one child, how can we grasp the death of six million people?” asked Cohn, quoting Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld.

Cohn explained that “the Righteous Among the Nations” refers to non-Jews who risked their lives, and the lives of their families, to help save Jewish people during the Holocaust. “Bystanders and collaborators were the rule, rescuers were

the exception,” she said.

As of 2010, Yad Vashem has recognized 23,788 people as Righteous Among the Nations.

Six Ottawa-based Holocaust survivors – Nester Hobe, Elly Bollegraaf, Erwin Koranyi, Joel Diena, Josephine Fiksel and Tova (Gittel) Clark – each lit a memorial candle in memory of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust as Shoah Committee member Howard Strauss narrated their stories. Each one of these survivors was impacted by a Righteous Among the Nations in some way.

The candles were placed atop the new Art Glass Memorial Light commissioned by the Shoah Committee and created by local glass artist Oded Ravek. The Israeli-born artist was, himself, a child of Holocaust survivors. (See article on page 17.)

Keynote speaker Ada Wynston, a Holocaust survivor who lost 72 members of her extended family, and her mother, at the hands of the Nazis, discussed her experience as a child living in the Netherlands during the Second World War. After being rescued from a Jewish day care centre by the Dutch underground, she and her two siblings

stayed safe by hiding separately with three different Dutch-Reform Christian families.

“I celebrated my 70th birthday in the Netherlands five years ago,” said Wynston, who lives in Toronto, noting that she still keeps in touch with her “war families” and the member of the Dutch underground who rescued her by bicycle.

“All my war sisters could say was, ‘How could our parents have done what they did and endanger our lives?’ and I had only one answer for them: if they hadn’t taken care of me, I would have possibly not have ever reached the age of 70,” said Wynston who has been knighted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for her efforts in Holocaust education and Jewish-Christian dialogue.

High school students Rebecca Silver and Elishua Ben-Choreen, who participated in the March of the Living last year, spoke about their two-week trip to Poland and Israel, which involved a three km march from Auschwitz to Birkenau with hundreds of other Jewish teenagers.

Ben-Choreen read a poem she wrote about the experience. (See page 15.)

Keynote speaker Ada Wynston, a child survivor of the Holocaust, addresses Ottawa’s Yom HaShoah ceremony.

(Photo: Natalie Heath/Howard Sandler Photography)

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 9 Advertorial

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND More than trees 613.798.2411

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Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund World Leadership Conference

By Oliver Javanpour Vice-President – JNF Ottawa I headed to Israel on March 21 to attend the KKL/JNF World Leadership Conference (WLC) 2011. I had eagerly registered for the pre-conference tours and project visits for the week of the 23rd. The pre-conference tours were critical to understanding how JNF puts its resources to work by visiting critical projects around the country and seeing some of the leading-edge science projects funded by JNF chapters in various countries.

On Sunday, March 27, the KKL-JNF World Leadership Conference opened in Jerusalem with 200 delegates from Israel and abroad in attendance. The WLC continued until April 1, ending in the beautiful seaside city of Eilat. Honoured guests at the WLC included the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Speaker of the Knesset, ministers, Knesset members, mayors, heads of Regional Councils, ambassadors from Israel and abroad, Chief Rabbi of Israel Yonah Metzger, and eminent donors and academics. During the WLC, participants got to know Israel and JNF better through various trips and activities.

While the whole WLC was a memorable event, there were two sites that had a major impact on me personally.

The WLC opened with a visit to the charred Carmel Forest, and we participated in a symbolic olive tree planting ceremony with local council leaders from the region.

“This was the worst ecological disaster Israel has experienced since the establishment of the State,” said KKL-JNF World Chairman Efi Stenzler.

I took a special tour through the forest and was saddened to see the devastation. The only bright point of travelling through the rough forest terrain was to see the new shoots already rising from the charred roots in the forest floor.

The second emotionally moving event was visiting the three new communities being built in the sands of Halutza for the Gush Katif evacuees of Gaza. After evacuating Gaza, they are rebuilding their lives in the middle of the Negev sands with pioneering spirit and determination, and with the help of KKL/JNF. Our contribution is helping to build a brand new organic farming community, including new housing, a community centre, roads, schools, and a synagogue funded by Canada in the Negev sands.

With the help of KKL/JNF, these pioneers are literally greening the desert and are doing it well enough to be able to export their farm produce to Europe and Russia.

The most important part of the WLC, however, was the fraternity we felt and the friendships we formed, with Israelis and with JNF colleagues from all over the world.

On a related note, I would like to thank the Hillel Academy students who chose JNF and the Carmel Forest fire appeal for their “dress down Friday” project earlier this year. As a result, we have received a cheque in the amount of $294.28 to help with our campaign.

On a daily basis you can plant trees for all occasions. An attractive card is sent to the recipient.

To order, call the JNF office (613.798.2411).

For Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hamas’ pen likely mightier than bullet ending bin Laden’s life

By Ron Kampeas (JTA) – The pen that launched the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas is likely to have more of an impact on U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than the bullet that ended Osama bin Laden’s life.

In at least one respect, the May 1 raid in Pakistan could have an indirect consequence on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to experts: U.S. President Barack Obama could try to capitalize on the boost he’s getting from bin Laden’s death to advance a peace process that Israelis and Palestinians have left fallow.

“These kinds of things always affect calculations of presidents,” said Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center who worked as a negotiator for the Clinton and both Bush administrations. “He’s thinking I’ve got a moment of unity, I feel good.”

But, ultimately, the experts say, the killing of America’s Public Enemy No. 1 may matter less to peacemaking than the willingness of the two sides to start talking again.

“The only problem for the president, who doubtless remains as obsessed with the peace process as he always has been, is that the HamasFatah deal will seriously complicate matters,” said Danielle Pletka, a vice-president at the American Enterprise Institute and a former top U.S. Senate aide who dealt with foreign policy.

The new Palestinian unity government makes it harder for Obama to use any additional leverage he has from bin Laden’s killing to push for Israeli-Palestinian peace, she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already was planning a major announcement on the Israeli-Palestinian issue in his address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on May

23, Netanyahu aides have said.

But, after news broke of the unity deal between Fatah, the party controlling the Palestinian Authority (PA), and Hamas, the terrorist group that governs the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu warned PA President Mahmoud Abbas that Israel won’t deal with a government that includes Hamas.

Netanyahu has the support of a long list of U.S. Congress members.

With the inking of the Hamas-Fatah deal in Cairo, all pressure is off, said David Makovsky, a senior analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“What Abbas has done in a stroke of the pen has helped win domestic peace, but he’s also helped Netanyahu,” Makovsky told JTA. “It will be hard to pressure Netanyahu when there’s a power-sharing deal with Hamas. He’s extricated Netanyahu from the pressure.”

Obama has indicated his displeasure with the FatahHamas deal, which kicked in May 4, but he has not committed to cutting off U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority.

If Obama was contem-

plating releasing his own parameters for Israeli-Palestinian peace ahead of Netanyahu’s speech, as has been reported, he is more likely to do so now given the success with bin Laden, Miller said.

“It would not surprise me if the administration gave a much more forward-leading speech, although it will be tough to rationalize in light of Hamas-Fatah,” Miller said. “Abbas has given Netanyahu a gift that will not stop giving.”

If the bin Laden killing has any effect on Netanyahu come May 23, when he delivers his speech in Con-

gress, it will be to reinforce his claim that Israel and the United States are in the same boat when it comes to terrorism, Makovsky said.

“There’s no doubt that Netanyahu will try to associate Israel with Hamas like America is associated with al-Qaida,” he said.

That’s a view that would garner sympathy in Congress and with the American public, Miller said.

“It’s not the right time for a fight with the Israelis,” Miller said. “Running a counterterrorism operation against Enemy No. 1 is a far cry from bringing pressure on a close American ally.”

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Page 10 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

JET to celebrate Jewish Unity Live at National Gallery, May 31

By Rachel Sheffrin Gray for JET If someone were to ask what my idea of a great night out might be, Jewish Unity Live would come pretty close to a picture perfect evening for me. There’s mu-

sical entertainment, a celebrity speaker with a fascinating story that is both amusing and uplifting, lots of great people to schmooze with afterwards and plenty of delicious desserts.

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Guest speaker David Weiss – whose screenwriting credits include Shrek 2, The Rugrats Movie, Are We There Yet? and All Dogs Go to Heaven – shares the story of his soul-searching journey from nice Jewish boy to dynamic Christian youth worker to finding Yiddishkeit in Hollywood. From showbiz to Shabbos, his presentation promises to be hilarious and inspiring.

The evening’s honourees are Eric and Claire Wilner, and Rabbi Yehuda and Shaindel Simes. The Wilners are long-time JET supporters who have also played significant roles in several other Jewish organizations in Ottawa. The Simes are both beloved Judaic studies teachers whose dedication to their students over the years has earned them the admiration and respect of students, parents and colleagues across the community. Since his car accident last June, Rabbi Simes, with the support of his family, has been a tremendous inspiration for the unification of

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The Maccabeats perform May 31 at JET’s Jewish Unity Live event.

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Now in its seventh year, JET’s annual Jewish Unity Live event is a celebration of a city-wide Torah study project. This year, appropriately, participants have been studying the significance of the number seven in Judaism: seven days of the week, seven blessing under the wedding canopy, seven lights on the temple menorah, etc.

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 11

JTA launches online archive with a quarter-million articles New York (JTA) – JTA has launched a digital archive containing 250,000 articles dating from 1923.

The JTA Jewish News Archive – archive.jta.org – is searchable and free for the public to use. It was launched on May 3.

Highlights of the archive include extensive reporting from Europe in the 1930s and 1940s – including perhaps the first article on what has become known as the Babi Yar massacre – JTA’s reportage on the founding of the State of Israel, close and sustained coverage of the Soviet Jewry movement, and decades of articles chronicling the changing roles and responsibilities of Jewish women.

“The JTA Jewish News Archive has the potential to spark an interest in the past that will transform the future,” said Jonathan Sarna, a professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University.

Sarna, a member of JTA’s board of di-

Nations’ archives launch Nazi-era property portal

rectors, spearheaded the effort to digitally preserve the news agency’s reporting.

JTA’s coverage of the Holocaust may be of particular interest to historians.

“There was and still is a lot of conventional wisdom that Americans didn’t know about the Holocaust while it was happening, and couldn’t have known about the Holocaust while it was happening,” said Northeastern University journalism professor Laurel Leff.

“One of the values of this archive is that people can actually look at the bulletins that JTA sent out during this period and see what information was, in fact, available.”

The archive was created with the help of Digital Divide Data, a nonprofit organization that provides jobs to disadvantaged youth in Southeast Asia. Young Cambodians digitized JTA’s files, thereby completing a circle – a vital journalistic record of the Holocaust is being preserved by the next generation in a country racked by its own genocide.

A video about the JTA Jewish News Archive can be found at tinyurl.com/jta-archive.

Washington (JTA) – A coalition of documentation preservation groups, including national archives from six nations, is launching a portal that accesses records on stolen Nazi-era cultural property.

The portal, called Holocaust International Resources, was launched on May 5 at the National Archives in Washington and is available online at tinyurl.com/holocaust-resources. It accesses material in the archives of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Ukraine.

Other participating bodies include the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and the Commission for Looted Art in Europe.

Tel Aviv named a top party spot (JTA) – Tel Aviv is one of the world’s top 10 summer party destinations, according to a popular travel website.

HotelsCombined.com named Tel Aviv to its 2011 list of cities where the summer fun never lets up.

The “city that never stops” is “home to some of the hottest nightclubs in the Middle East,” the review raves. The Israeli hot spot boasts a “steamy nocturnal playground” that is “not for the faint of heart.”

Israel’s showcase on the Mediterranean comes ninth on the site’s list, behind Ibiza, Berlin, London, New York, Las Vegas, Miami, Amsterdam and the Greek isle of Ios.

Cindy Manor-Kennedy

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin appointment The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin has announced the appointment of Cindy Manor-Kennedy to the position of Business Manager. A veteran of the newspaper industry, she has assumed responsibility for advertising sales and subscriptions.

Cindy can be reached at cmanor@ottawajewishbulletin.com or 613-798-4696, ext. 256.

Page 12 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Experts on autism to speak at SJCC, May 30

By Maxine Miska Soloway JCC Autism is a neurological disorder that affects the brain and results in impaired social interaction and communication. While the causes of autism are unknown, researchers have found that early diagnosis leading to intensive intervention provides a means to improving the skills needed to live independently in society.

On Monday, May 30, 7:30 pm, at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (JCC), Weizmann Canada will present Demystifying Autism, a program featuring two experts on autism, a neurobiologist and a clinician, who will discuss early diagnosis, assessments and intervention: Dr. Ilan Dinstein of the Department of Neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute of

Science in Rehovot, Israel, and Dr. Yolanda Korneluk, clinical director at Emerging Minds, a treatment centre in Ottawa for autism and other conditions. The program will be moderated by Dr. Mark Freedman, a professor of medicine (neurology) at the University of Ottawa and senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

As noted by Burkhard Bilger in the New Yorker (“The Possibilian, April 25, 2011), neuroscientists often settle into their professions after a series of detours through the arts. Dinstein almost became a musician before becoming entranced by the functioning of the brain.

“It wasn’t something premeditated,” he explained in an interview concerning his work to Weizmann Canada.

“As I learned more about the

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brain, it seemed the most captivating subject of study.”

Dinstein’s cousin is autistic, and the personal and scientific dovetailed in his research goals.

“I know the great needs parents of autistic children have and the frustration they endure and I thought this work was something good for me to devote myself towards accomplishing.”

Dinstein’s current research, at the new Autism Research Unit at Weizmann, involves using a functional MRI (an MRI that can record the brain in action) to understand autism. At present, physicians rely on observation of a child’s behaviour to diagnose autism. Observation can lead to inaccurate diagnosis, since delayed speech and communication problems can have many causes. With a functional MRI, Dinstein can directly compare the brain activity of autistic and non-autistic children, and search for a distinctive signature of autism that would improve the accuracy of diagnosis and make it possible to diagnosis autism at an earlier age and begin treatment when it is more likely to be effective.

Dinstein discovered that some autistic children showed a lack of communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. The human brain is divided into two hemispheres, and some

Dr. Ilan Dinstein of the Weizmann Institute in Israel is a leader in the search to understand autism.

human abilities such as speech and visual processing have functions in one hemisphere. In order for effective processing of information, the two hemispheres must communicate and co-operate, which is known as synchronization. Dinstein measured the degree of synchronization and found that levels below a certain threshold resulted in problems of communication. These predictions correlated to the later diagnosis of autism in a percentage of the experimental subjects.

Korneluk is a psycholo-

gist who treats and oversees therapy for autistic children at Emerging Minds in Ottawa. At her clinic, children receive intensive therapy for between 18 and 35 hours per week. The key to success in treating autism is early intervention and days spent with therapists. They are instructed in basic skills and learn to experience the world through structured outings to public

spaces. They also receive occupational therapy and speech therapy. At the same time, parents are coached in how they can manage their child’s behavior, engage them in social play, and encourage their communication skills.

Jean Myers, an employee in the Financial Services department at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, has two autistic sons who have benefitted from Korneluk’s expertise.

“Dr. Korneluk has been a valuable assert to our entire family through her guidance, support and understanding of the challenges we face everyday with raising these very unique children,” said Myers.

The event is part of a project by Weizmann Canada to promote support for the Weizmann Institute in the Jewish community through the presentation of cutting edge research by Weizmann research faculty.

The program is co-sponsored by AJA 50+ and the Soloway JCC. Admission is $18 and there will be a dessert reception following the program. For information, call 613-236-3391 or email jan@weizmann.ca.

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 13

How should Jews respond to bin Laden’s death?

By Sue Fishkoff (JTA) – When the news of Osama bin Laden’s death at U.S. hands hit the airwaves May 1, America and much of the Western world breathed a collective sigh of relief. Spontaneous celebrations broke out in front of the White House, as crowds gathered to wave the Stars and Stripes and chant their delight.

But how should Jews respond when an evil-doer meets his end?

There is no easy answer, leading rabbis say.

Even asking the question is very Jewish, writes Rabbi Tzvi Freeman on Chabad.org.

“It’s so typically Jewish to feel guilty about rejoicing,” he opined.

A number of prominent rabbis spoke to JTA on the subject, sharing their conflicted reactions borne of a tension within Jewish teaching itself.

“As the president said, justice was done,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “Bin Laden was an

evil man. He preyed on the weak. He killed in the name of God.” “But,” the rabbi continued, “I was not comfortable with the celebrations.

Thoughtful discussion and thoughtful remembrance of recent events are to be preferred to dancing in the streets.”

There are examples within Jewish tradition of celebrating an enemy’s death, of asking God for their destruction.

Consider the Purim story, where the Jews feasted after slaying those who were, admittedly, arming to slay them. Or God’s command to King Saul to obliterate the entire house of Amalek for its wicked ways: “Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (I Samuel 15: 2-3).

Conversely, one of the best-known rituals of the Passover seder is spilling 10 drops of wine when mentioning the 10 Plagues to symbolize a lessening of our own joy in the face of

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“I don’t think we ‘celebrate’ a death,” explained Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the professional association of Conservative clergy.

In the case of bin Laden there is, she said, “a sense of relief, an affirmation of God’s justice has been carried out.” Such an event, however, “is a time for sobriety, not celebration.”

Nevertheless, Rabbi Schonfeld added, one needs to distinguish between an ideal, religiously inspired response and the reality of human nature.

“September 11 was a day of tremendous trauma,” she said, and the raucous street celebrations can be viewed as a kind of catharsis.

“What we’re seeing is a reminder of how personally people were affected. It’s an understandable human response that we as Jews are blessed to elevate to a Jewish response.”

Rabbi Basil Herring, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Council of America, the professional association for Orthodox clergy, also distinguished between the ideal and the real.

“In an ideal world, we

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serve God because we want to do His will, not because he rewards us or we fear punishment,” he said. “But we’re human, we’re not angels. We live in a world where people need reinforcement, need a sense that it’s all worth it in the end.”

The Jewish way is not to gloat, Rabbi Herring said. It is appropriate to rejoice when evil doers get their just reward, but the rejoicing should be because we are witnessing God’s power and justice. It shouldn’t come, he said, from “a selfsatisfied smug sense of ‘Yes, I’ve been proven right.’

“It’s an affirmation that God is not just an abstract idea, a Creator, but part of our lives,” Rabbi Herring continued. “God cares. God loves us. That’s an essential article of our faith, that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. We rejoice because our faith is borne out.”

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, a Jewish Renewal rabbi and

director of Philadelphia’s Shalom Center, said he would have preferred that the Navy SEALS had brought bin Laden back to the United States to stand trial.

Just as Israeli agents didn’t kill Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann when they found him in Argentina a half-century ago, but tried him in Jerusalem to expose the true horror of the Holocaust and give its victims a chance to speak their truth, so would putting bin Laden on trial have been an opportunity to uncover the real face of al-Qaida, he said.

“That would have been

an extraordinary act in support of upholding the values we claim make us different,” Rabbi Waskow said.

Pointing to the story of Moses, Rabbi Waskow quotes the Midrash as saying that one reason Moses was not permitted to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land was because in his youth he killed an Egyptian overseer, taking justice into his own hands without bringing him to trial.

Trying bin Laden “would have been messy,” Rabbi Waskow acknowledged, “but in the long run I’m sure it would have been better.”

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Page 14 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Shalom Bayit Seder helps women in abusive relationships

By Cynthia Nyman Engel Yes, Virginia, domestic violence does happen in Jewish homes. Believe it.

Statistics show that three women in 10 – Jewish women among them – live in abusive relationships in quiet desperation.

“We find that Jewish women take five to seven years longer to come forward and seek help because they feel they’re breaking the code of their ethnic community,” said Lynne Oreck-Wener.

These disturbing facts were the impetus, a decade ago, for the introduction of Shalom Bayit, a Jewish Family Services program that deals specifically with domestic violence.

Three years later, in 2004, Oreck-Wener, Yaffa Greenbaum and Annette Werk, social workers whose profession exposed them to Jewish victims of domestic violence, decided to raise the bar. They gathered 15 women friends in Green-

baum’s dining room where their hostess conducted a seder based on the theme of women and violence. While she followed the prescribed order of the Passover seder, Greenbaum rewrote and adapted portions of the Haggadah to reflect the new theme. It was a very powerful evening.

Word of the “women’s seder” spread throughout the community. By the next year, there was sufficient interest for Jewish Family Services to hold the first community-wide event. The initial Shalom Bayit Women’s Seder took place at Agudath Israel Synagogue just days before Passover. It is now an annual event. More than 250 women participated in the Sixth Annual Shalom Bayit Seder – complete with singing, dancing and a delicious seder meal – at Agudath Israel Synagogue on April 10.

“Despite the serious nature of the text, it is also a

The Shalom Bayit Seder Committee (from left): Maggie Lederman, Sarah Caspi, Lynne Oreck-Wener, Diane Koven, Paula Agulnik, Yaffa Greenbaum, Irit Sterner, Anne Mozersky, Marcia Aronson.

lot of fun,” said Greenbaum.

The connection between Passover and domestic violence is explained in the Shalom Bayit Haggadah: “As we celebrate Passover, the Festival of Freedom, let us think for a moment about slavery. What does it mean to live your life at someone else’s mercy? To never be good enough, to always be subjugated, to live in fear.

The penalty for escaping is severe punishment or death.

The penalty for staying is loss of self.”

The evening brings together women from across the Judaic spectrum. While most are not in abusive relationships, some are. The purpose of the evening is to let women in abusive relationships know, through the words of the Haggadah, through the camaraderie of their table mates, there is support out there, that Jewish Family Services can help them put the pieces of their lives together so they can live a life of true shalom bayit.

“It’s a women’s seder,

but it really is a shalom bayit seder,” said Greenbaum, who has been working in the field of domestic violence for more than 30 years.

“It is primarily for women who know of someone they suspect may be going through this to go back and introduce it … or someone who does not realize their own relationship is abusive … or someone who simply wants to share in an evening of solidarity for those who are victims of violence.”

Jewish War Veterans of Canada, Ottawa Post, is offering a $1000.00 scholarship to a deserving Jewish student who are pursuing postsecondary education.

Applicants must be between the ages of 16 and 19 years on or before the 31st of May 2011 and a resident of the National Capital Region.

In the letter of application, candidates will provide evidence of superior qualities of leadership, good citizenship, scholarship and sportsmanship at school, within the Jewish Community and community-at-large.

All applicants should provide a letter stating why they think they are eligible. Enclose any support material that you may think relevant.

Must be received no later than June 15, 2011.

www.raymondjames.ca/brianaarenau

Send submissions to: David Cohen 1405-1480 Riverside Drive Ottawa, ON K1G 5H2

The Shalom Bayit Seder attracts a diverse group of participants, none of whom are ever singled out or identified as undergoing abuse.

Women rub shoulders with other women in oblivious of another’s personal problems. But, the message to anyone who needs to hear it, is “We’re here for you.

There is help for you. We’re all sisters under the skin, and we care.”

“Domestic abuse crosses all segments of our community,” said Oreck-Wener.

“The purpose of the Shalom Bayit Seder is to educate and create awareness of the fact that we have domestic abuse in the Jewish community right here in Ottawa and that there is help for it right here in Ottawa.”

To learn more about Shalom Bayit, contact Sarah Caspi of Jewish Family Services at 613-7222225.

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 15

Chaperones announced for March of the Living

By Benita Siemiatycki The Jewish Federation of Ottawa has announced that Karen Palayew and Evan Zelikovitz have been named as chaperones who will accompany the teens taking part in the 2012 March of the Living. The March is open to Jewish students in Grades 10, 11 and 12.

The Ottawa group, part of the Coast-toCoast contingent of the March, travels to Poland and Israel every two years. The next trip takes place after Passover in April 2012 when the participants will mark Yom HaShoah by marching the three km from Auschwitz to Birkenau and then witness the hope and exhilaration of being in Israel on Yom Ha’Atzmaut, an especially poignant experience after feeling the despair of the death camps. The trip lasts two weeks; the first week is spent in Poland and the second in Israel.

“We are delighted to have Karen and Evan as chaperones for the March of the Living,” said Mitchell Bellman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa. “They are both committed to Holocaust education and to making the March a deeply meaningful and educational experience for Ottawa youth.”

Both Karen and Evan were keen to be chaperones in order to enrich the students’ understanding of the Holocaust and Jewish history. With diminishing numbers of firsthand witnesses, the survivors, among us and able to speak about the Holocaust, Karen and Evan view it as crucial that younger generations pick up the torch of remembering the victims and of fighting hatred. They also see this trip as an important step in developing future community leaders.

Evan, a lawyer and public affairs consultant, knows this from personal experience.

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, he was an active youth leader in Young Judea and on the head staff of Camp Kadimah. He was part of the second March of the Living in 1984 which, at that time, only went to Poland.

“It [the trip] cemented my ongoing commitment to community involvement and helped me to understand the importance of educating all Jewish youth and adults about the Holocaust and what it means to us as Jews and human beings,” Evan said of the experience. “It is a trip that has stayed with me for more than a quarter of a century and makes my returning to the March of the Living as a chaperone that much more meaningful.”

Crediting his March of the Living experience, Evan is very active in local community work. For eight years, he served on the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (JCC) Board, chaired the 1994 and 1995 Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebrations, and, with his wife Lenora, chaired Mitzvah Day for three years.

He has also been a member of the Federa-

tion’s Resource Development Committee and currently sits on the board of Camp B’nai Brith of Ottawa. Evan has two children, aged 10 and 12.

Karen, originally from Montreal, is a pediatrician who works at CHEO in a sub-specialty clinic. For many years, she worked in the hospital’s emergency department, as well as spending time as a physician in the community setting. She feels compelled to go on the March as a chaperone in order to keep the memory of the atrocities alive. Her father lost family members in the Holocaust.

As the mother of three children aged between 15 and 20, and through her work, Karen is very familiar with the emotional highs and lows that teens face. Her focus will be the emotional well-being of the participants on the trip, knowing that it will likely be one of the most difficult trips they will ever take. She enjoys spending time with this age group, and is looking forward to engaging with them and to providing support from a different angle than the professional side of her life.

Since moving to Ottawa in 2000, Karen and her husband, Lorne Segal, have immersed themselves in community volunteer work. While her children attended Hillel

Karen Palayew

Evan Zelikovitz

Academy, Karen chaired the school’s health committee. For many years, she helped out in the annual Walkathon and with the fundraising activities of the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation.

“I am looking forward to sharing in an experience of personal growth through remembering our past, as well as strengthening ties to Israel and to the Jewish community,” Karen said, emphasizing the importance of

relaying stories in order to preserve the memories for future generations.

There will be an information meeting for the 2012 March of the Living on Tuesday, May 17, 7:00 pm at the Soloway JCC. Interested students who will be in Grades 10, 11 and 12 are encouraged to attend, along with their parents, to learn more about this oncein-a-lifetime experience. For information, call 613-798-4644.

I Remember

By Elishua Ben-Choreen Editor’s note: Elishua Ben-Choreen, a March of the Living participant in 2010, read her poem at the Yom HaShoah Commemoration on May 1.

I remember the knot in my stomach, a sense of dread and fear falling over me like an avalanche.

I remember wondering how my parents could send me on this trip, far off into the unknown.

How could I possibly begin to be prepared?

I remember looking out the window, knowing here they had looked out and wished to be free.

The hair and the possibility that my relatives’ hair was among it.

I remember the scratches on the concrete walls, the final show of human strength.

I remember looking around, questioning if anyone else was just as scared.

Their eager faces, the excitement in the air.

I remember the sea of blue, alive and marching.

I remember the first day, all a blur, with barely seven hours sleep to keep my head up.

I remember hitting the pillow, out for the night.

I remember the forests of Lopochow, the tangible fear of the dead clutching onto me, sending shivers up my spine.

Knowing then, this is the March of the Living.

I remember finding Treblinka destroyed, nothing there but monuments and trees, fog hanging in the air.

I thought “beautiful,” then reprimanded myself for using this word in a place where so much death and horror occurred.

I remember Auschwitz being surreal and the words of the tour guide never entering my head.

Being seized with tears, not being able to breathe.

The truth that struck me in the face; it had happened, right over there.

I remember the ruins of Birkenau, nut shells on the ledge.

This nut would have once been fought for, a source of nutrients.

I remember the numbness at Majdanek, my mind refusing to let in more.

The magnitude of the ashes, the number of people it represented.

I remember the funeral across the way.

Where was the rightful passing for the people whose ashes were before me?

I remember my break down the next day, when it all caught up to me.

I remember the weight of the responsibility of being a survivor.

The bravery of David, in sharing his stories.

The words of Alex, telling me there’s more to be grateful for ... because we’re here, not dead.

I remember the victims and all that was lost.

How could I possibly forget?

Page 16 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Ian Sadinsky is new OJHS president

The Soloway JCC Shiru Lach Choir will present its annual closing concert, May 31.

Shiru Lach Choir’s closing concert to include Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”

By Roslyn Wollock Soloway JCC A successful season of making beautiful music culminates Tuesday, May 31, 7:30 pm when the Soloway JCC Shiru Lach Choir presents its annual closing concert, A Musical Mosaic, at the Soloway JCC. Conductor Ellen Asherman and accompanist Aviva Lightstone have assembled an evening of songs from genres ranging from pop to liturgical to be sung in Hebrew, Yiddish, English and Ladino. The evening will be shared with a guest choir, the Orpheus

Choral Group, led by Anne Axworthy.

You’ll surely be tempted to sing along with such pieces as “Forever Everly,” a medley of songs popularized by the Everly Brothers, and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” the adaptation of Solomon Linda’s South African song, “Mbube,” that was a 1961 hit by the Tokens.

There will also be a poignant tribute to singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman, who died January 9, when Shiru Lach sings her song, “You Shall Love,” which is based on the “Shema.”

The highlight of the evening will come when the two choirs join together, 100 voices strong, to perform Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in four-part harmony.

Participation in the Shiru Lach Choir is open to both members and non-members of the Soloway JCC. To find out more about Ottawa’s largest Jewish folk choir, contact me at 613-798-9818, ext.

254, or rwollock@jccottawa.com.

Tickets are $10 (adults) and $5 (children 12 and under) and are available at the Soloway JCC front desk and at the door on May 31.

Passover at Merivale High School More than 70 students participated in the Merivale High School Jewish Culture Club’s annual Chocolate Seder just before Passover.

(Photo: Irv Osterer)

By Ilana Belfer The Ottawa Jewish Historical Society is looking to the future with a fresh vision from Ian Sadinsky, the society’s new president.

Founded in 1966, the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society works closely with the Ottawa Jewish Archives and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa to carry out its mission to “facilitate, publicize and support the study of Jewish historical subjects.”

Sadinsky assumed the society’s presidency in February following the death of the late John Holzman.

“People should know more about [the historical society],” said Sadinsky, describing it as a “hobbytype organization.”

“We don’t limit ourselves in what we can do as a society. We do what our members want,” he said, mentioning that board member Sylvia Kershman once led a Jewish tour of Lowertown.

Sadinsky listed “increasing brand awareness,” as one of his main objectives, especially to appeal to the younger generation.

“Getting more young people involved sounds almost counterintuitive, but it’s not,” said Sadinsky, noting that the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society gives a copy of its book, A Common Thread: A History of the Jews of Ottawa, to Ottawa youth on the occasion of their bar and bat mitzvahs.

The book, written under the chairmanship of Ottawa Jewish Historical Society Vice-President Anna Bilsky, is an anecdotal history of the Jewish community in Ottawa from the late-1800s until recent times.

“Young people are interested in all kinds of things: sports, drama, culture … We want to interest them, in any way we can, in the history of our community in any of those aspects,” he said.

As Sadinsky recalled his own Ottawa childhood, and the Jewish storefronts that once lined Rideau Street, he commented on how much you can learn about a city from looking at its businesses. He urged people to bring business records forward, as well as the stories of their lives, for an oral history project.

The papers, textiles, trophies and other materials that make up the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society’s collection are part of the Ottawa Jewish Archives but Sadinsky emphasized his dream of one day having a permanent and public space to

Ian Sadinsky

display the expanding collection.

“Now that the Jewish community has been in Ottawa for well over 100 years, there are a lot of artifacts [and] stories … that people want to keep to preserve the history of this community,” he said.

Sadinsky referred to this renewed interest in the past as “a renaissance.”

Although, there are displays at various shuls and at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre, he said it would be nice if everything was pulled together so that people could visit it.

Sadinsky admitted his role as president is very new, and laughed about the selection process – board members decided he should be president at a meeting he didn’t attend – but he brings certain qualities and experiences he said led him to the position.

One of the first paid writers for the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, Sadinsky has written thousands of speeches for politicians and is chief executive officer at Sadinsky & Associates, a public relations consulting firm, which soon celebrates its 25th anniversary.

He has also been active in synagogue life and was the president of Congregation Beth Shalom for four years.

“Every single Jew leaves a footprint and it’s important that we as a community ... capture those footprints, little ones and big ones … because that’s how you define a people,” Sadinsky said.

The Ottawa Jewish Historical Society encourages new members and is seeking new board members and technological help from paid and volunteer interns. Scholarships and bursaries are available for the study of Jewish historical material.

For more information, visit ojhs.ca.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 17

Glass artist creates stunning memorial light

By Benita Siemiatycki “Our hearts leapt at the idea of honouring those who perished, and those who survived,” said Pam Ravek, when describing her and her husband Oded’s reaction to being asked to create a glass memorial monument to be used during Ottawa’s annual Yom HaShoah commemoration. The Raveks own OR DESIGN Glassworks, a custom art glass company.

This stunning piece of art and symbolism, known as the Art Glass Memorial Light, was unveiled May 1 during the Yom HaShoah ceremony.

As six Holocaust survivors each lit a candle that was placed on the piece by March of the Living participants, Pam and Oded, sitting among hundreds in the audience, knew they’d achieved their goal.

Last year, Shoah Committee Chair Mina Cohn raised the possibility of creating a new and unique memorial light that would be a fitting tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. Oded, a child of

Glass artist Oded Ravek with his creation, the Art Glass Memorial Light, at the Yom (Photo: Natalie Heath/Howard Sandler Photography) HaShoah ceremony.

Holocaust survivors, was asked to create the piece and embraced the opportunity.

“It was probably the easiest decision I’ve ever made,” he said.

But, it was also the most challenging. How could he create a piece of art that depicts the horrors of the Holocaust while keeping it taste-

ful for display?

As he experimented, Oded’s vision became clear.

His design took about three months to construct and involved hand-cutting thousands of pieces of glass that are fused and formed into what looks like solid glass blocks. Six panels of different heights are in a zigzag

pattern and connected to one another.

On top of each panel is a candle holder, which holds a removable candle. The memorial light stands on a table that Oded built from hand-crafted tiles. The Hebrew word, Zachor (remember) is attached to the table.

Every element of the

memorial light was considered carefully for its symbolic value. The main components integrated into the artwork are ashes, flames and barbed wire.

The black table tiles are made of frits, small particles of broken glass, which Oded used to represent ashes.

Flames are etched in the tiles and creep up, along with the frits, into the glass panels.

The flames, in shades of red and orange, represent hopelessness, death and suffering. The etched flames reaching into the clear glass convey the Jewish souls rising into the sky. Lines of barbed wire are embedded in the glass and embraced by the flames. They run horizontally through the piece, representing the camps and the efficiency of the Nazis’ murder machine. The tallest panel on the far left has three faint blue horizontal lines near the top. These were inspired by Oded’s mother who said that, while she was imprisoned in Auschwitz, the blue sky on the horizon gave

her hope for freedom.

The shortest of the panels represents the children who perished. Oded placed it between taller panels to symbolize the adults who tried to protect the smallest victims.

The connectedness of the panels, he said, conveys that, no matter where they came from, or which camp they were in, the six million victims shared a similar fate, and tried to support one another. In keeping with the theme from the base to the top, Oded integrated a 3-D flame shape into the six candle holders.

From Israel, Oded’s parents watched the progress of the memorial light via Skype and photos. His greatest achievement, he said, is that they are very proud of the monument their son created to honour the victims.

The Art Glass Memorial Light is on permanent display in the Greenberg Families Library in the Soloway Jewish Community Centre and can also be viewed from the building’s lobby.

Page 18 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Lag Baomer carnival at the SJCC, May 22

By Helen Crawford for Chabad of Centrepointe Chabad of Centrepointe and the Soloway Jewish Community Centre have invited the community to participate in the annual La Baomer Festival of Unity carnival and fair on the Jewish Community Campus on Sunday, May 22, 1:00-4:00 pm.

The event will include the participation of Ottawa’s Jewish day schools – Cheder Rambam, the Ottawa Jewish Community School and Torah Academy – highlighting the beauty of unity and fraternity amongst members of Ottawa’s Jewish community.

Lag Baomer is a Jewish festival celebrating love and brotherhood. The Talmud

says that, in the weeks between Passover and Shavuot, a plague raged amongst the disciples of the great sage, Rabbi Akiva, “because they did not act respectfully towards each other.” These weeks, therefore, are observed as a period of mourning, with various joyous activities proscribed by law and custom. On Lag Baomer, the dying ceased. Thus Lag Baomer carries the theme of Ahavat Yisrael, the imperative to love and respect one’s fellow.

The celebration will focus on children and youth, the future of our community and will give our community, particularly our children, an opportunity to celebrate and interact with each other in a fun and relaxed environment.

The event will include a fun-filled fair with exhilarating rides and professional carnival games for the young and the young-at-heart, as well as animal rides, a petting zoo and face painters. The exciting main stage will showcase 45-minute shows from Lil John, the amazing clown; Circus Delights Super Circus Show; and, Junkyard Symphony.

There will also be a short ceremony with community leaders and dignitaries.

Admission is free (there will be a charge for some rides) and food will be on sale.

For more information, visit www.chabadcentrepointe.com or call 613224-7050.

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 5 and 27, 2011 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: Rachel Gewurz by Marilyn Adler, Neil and Daniel Blacher In Honour of: Gaby and Tamara Scarowsky Mazal tov on the birth of your son by Elayne Adler, Farley, Jordan and Benjamin Stenzler; and by Marilyn Adler, Neil and Daniel Blacher Issie and Leah Scarowsky Mazal tov on the birth of your grandchildren by Marilyn Adler

Friedberg and Dale Families Fund In Honour of: Elaine Friedberg and Bob Dale Toda Raba by Marv, Reta and Jonathan Avery Malcolm and Vera Glube Endowment Fund In Memory of: Sylvia Ruttenberg by Malcolm and Vera Glube Nell Gluck Memorial Fund In Honour of: Adam Eilath and Lauren Wilner Mazal tov on your engagement by Julia Gluck and Ted Overton, Jess Overton and Camille Natan Adam Joseph Mazal tov on being recognized for your volunteerism, leadership and commitment to the MAKOM program by Julia Gluck Mr. and Mrs. P. Hatfield Congratulations on your 40th wedding anniversary with love by Julia and Ted, Jess and Camille Gunner Family Fund R’fuah Shlema: Morton Baslaw by Sol and Estelle Gunner Morris and Lillian Kimmel Family Fund In Honour of: Morris Kimmel In recognition of being honour by Hillel Lodge by Anne Heilman Shirley and Maurice Rose Memorial Fund In Memory of: Sidney Coplevitch by Mavis and Simon Wasserberger Irma and Harold Sachs Family Fund In Memory of: Evelyn Elman by Irma Sachs Sal Diraimo by Irma Sachs In Honour of: Irma Sachs by Gary Zumar; by Sara Vered

Stephen and Debra Schneiderman Family Fund In Honour of: Issie and Leah Scarowsky A double Mazal tov on the birth of your grandchildren by Stephen and Debra Schneiderman Michael and Sylvia Caplan Mazal tov on winning the Thelma Steinman award by Stephen and Debra Schneiderman Maureen Molot Mazal tov on winning the Shalom Perel award by Stephen and Debra Schneiderman Harold and Lillian Shoihet Family Fund R’fuah Shlema: Irving Gencher by David and Jessica Shoihet Ralph and Anne Sternberg Memorial Fund In Memory of: Betty (Bagot) Wiens by Laya and Ted Jacobsen R’fuah Shlema: Parents of Michael Miloff by Ted and Laya Jacobsen Eric Weiner and Arlene Godfrey Family Fund In Honour of: Lou Weiner Happy special birthday by Shashie Mock; Warmest and best wishes to my husband on his 90th birthday by Miriam Weiner In Memory of: Heather Braverman by Arlene Godfrey and Eric, Melissa and Laura Weiner Milton and Mary (Terry) Viner Family Fund In Memory of: Gordon Viner a beloved brother by Millie Schaenfield and family David Schaenfield by Millie Schaenfield and family Carole and Norman Zagerman Family Fund In Memory of: Sister of Gordon Roston by Carole and Norman Zagerman

Junkyard Symphony Shalom Perel award by Chuck and Aviva Freedman Issie Scarowsky and family Wishing you a healthy and happy Pesach by Eva Minuk Malca Feig Best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover by Lily Feig Sara and Leslie Breiner and family Best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover by Lily Feig Zahava and Barry Farber and family Best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover by Lily Feig Morris Kimmel Best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover by Lily Feig Stephen and Janet Kaiman and family Best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover by Lily Feig Steven and Shelli Kimmel and family Best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover by Lily Feig Brenda and Nathan Levine and family Best wishes for a happy and healthy Passover by Lily Feig Issie Scarowsky Thank you for the beautiful pictures

by Anna Clarke Elizabeth Petigorsky Best wishes for a happy Passover by Mariel Griffith Rabbi Simcha Zev Baum A warm welcome to the Hillel Lodge Minyan by some members of the Ezrat Nashim Joel Cohen Happy birthday to a special uncle by Anna and Ronny Cantor Murray and Sandy Ages Congratulations on the engagement of your sons by Anna and Ronny Cantor IN MEMORY OF: Susan Fisher by Claire and Irving Bercovitch George Lesh by Debi and David Shore Helen Schwartz by Bev and Bryan Glube and family Sol Kaiman by Wilma and Philip Pinkus Evelyn Elman by Etta Karp and family Doris Edelstein by Arlene Lachapelle Rachel Gewurz by Helen Trachtenberg George Grushman by the Residents, Board and Staff of Hillel Lodge; by Allan Taylor, by Brian Lonsdale, by Lisa Kupe and David Dolson, CIBC Wood Gundy; and by Carol and Laurie Pascoe Lorna Anne Churchill by Kevin and Rose Kardash Tami Berezin by Anna and Ronny Cantor

********************* IN HONOUR OF: Irma Sachs Best wishes on your special birthday by Lyon Sachs Harry Weitz Best wishes on your special birthday by Antoinette Capelle Maureen Molot Congratulations on receiving the

A generous gift to the Therapy Program was made in honour of Lou Weiner’s special birthday by Eleanor and Paul Weiner, Barbara and Jeff Rosenberg, and Carla and Bruce Weiner.

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 Bev at 613-728-3900, extension 111, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Monday to Thursday, 8:30 am to 3:30 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 16, 2011 – Page 19

Visit our web site: www.hillellodge.ca

LL

ife at the odge

Recreation and Therapeutics at Hillel Lodge

By Arik Legeti Marilyn Adler has been running the recreations department at Hillel Lodge for 10 years, but insists it hasn’t felt that long.

“I love to get up in the morning and come to work,” Marilyn says.

In fact, she remembers going away for a twoweek vacation not too long ago and counting the days until she’d return. It’s this very attitude she brings every day that allows all of the Lodge’s activities to run smoothly.

“I look at what’s needed and I just get it done,” she says.

Getting it done means many things to the Lodge’s Manager of Recreation and Volunteer Programs, from intergenerational programs to mental aerobics and stimulation games.

Intergenerational programs involve two types

Marilyn Adler

of participants, “the young and young at heart,” Marilyn explains. Students from Hillel Academy and Broadview elementary come in monthly to volunteer or host programs for residents.

Students aren’t the only ones who take time out of their day to help out at the Lodge.

“We’re fortunate we have community support,” says Marilyn.

But more volunteers are always needed – especially

come wintertime. Volunteers or not, she stresses, “we make it happen.”

Making sure events run smoothly isn’t always easy. For example, sometimes it can be difficult to get residents to participate in activities.

“I wouldn’t call that challenging,” Marilyn says with a smile. “I call that fun – knocking on doors.”

How do they know residents are enjoying the programs?

“It’s the simple things: a smile or a thank you,” she says. “Then you know you’re on the right track.”

Everything comes down to making the residents happy.

“It’s a job where you want to provide residents with a quality of life and maximize their potential,” she emphasizes.

This means psychological stimulation, physical interaction and cultural

education to encourage independence.

And she quickly adds, “You never stop learning.”

That learning wouldn’t be possible without the help she gets from Hillel Lodge’s staff members and (as noted above) its volunteers.

“Everybody tries to help each other out,” she says.

“When you get the right program and the right people – that’s success.”

Sometimes, those programs involve volunteers running their own activities, like the book club.

Other times, it comes down to recreation planning where the department gets input from residents and their families.

“It’s very important that we celebrate the residents,” Marilyn says.

That’s why occasions like birthdays are so popular at the Lodge, with music and with some resi-

dents even getting up to dance.

“When I see them doing things that make them feel good, that makes me feel good,” Marilyn says.

“Nothing beats seeing the residents achieve their goals”, she adds.

“Get up and dance, sit and dance, listen to music – enjoying themselves, that’s what counts … You can offer so much when they smile,” Marilyn says with – you guessed it – a smile.

Photos: Residents take part in a physiotherapy session. “You want to provide residents with a quality of life and maximize their potential.”

If you want to make a difference in people’s lives (including your own), give volunteering at Hillel Lodge a try. The time commitment can range from a few hours per month to regular weekly or bi-weekly visits. To become a volunteer, please contact Marilyn Adler, our Manager of Recreation and Volunteer Programs.

Hillel Lodge is proud of the quality care we provide to our residents. Donations to the Lodge can be made in several ways: by going to our web site at www.hillellodge.ca; contacting the Long-Term Care Foundation at (613) 728-3900 extension 111; or e-mailing us at donations@hillel-ltc.ca

Page 20 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Guest column

Freedom of the press: Not in much of the Middle East

By Mike Fegelman HonestReporting Canada When reporting in the closed societies of the broader Middle East, journalists are being vigilantly watched, harassed and abused by authoritarian regimes, secret police and media manipulators.

Their work and their safety are always at risk. Constantly intimidated and censored from reporting the truth, reporters languish in prisons or are murdered to silence a story and to remove a vital witness to important events.

In 2003, then CNN news executive Eason Jordan revealed that CNN knew about scores of atrocities that Saddam Hussein’s regime had perpetrated but that “could not be reported because doing so would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly on our (CNN’s) Baghdad staff.”

As a result of state-sanctioned violence and threats against journalists by ruthless thugs, present-day media often repress a narrative for fear of persecution, detention or death. When the media ignore the growing intimidation of their own colleagues and don’t report it to the public, that silence becomes complicity.

According to the 2010 Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders, out of 178 countries ranked, the following Middle East, Arab and North African nations

saw journalists face what it described as “very serious” and “difficult situations” with Iran ranked as the 175th worst offender, Syria 173, Libya 160, Saudi Arabia 157, Palestinian territories 150, Afghanistan 147, Bahrain 144, Iraq 130, Egypt 127, Qatar 121 and Jordan 120.

In Libya, under Moammar Gadhafi’s ruthless thumb, Western and Arab journalists are regularly imprisoned. Sky News reporters were intentionally shot at and Washington Post journalists describe working under conditions of “luxury imprisonment.” Other media professionals are used as human shields and are subjected to mock executions by pro-Gadhafi soldiers. For decades, this regime and other Arab autocratic countries have reportedly bribed Arab journalists from documenting the lack of human rights in their own respective countries.

In Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian Authority and Hamas goons systematically intimidate and abuse Palestinian and Western journalists, confiscating and destroying their equipment. Gaza’s Hamas cops are reviled for using beatings and stun guns on female journalists. Hamas continued this trend of intimidation recently by telling a Gaza journalist they would kill her and her son if she reported on the national unity protests.

Not to be outdone, in 2007, Al-Qaeda(Continued on page 22)

Employment Opportunity Chief Development Officer Jewish Federation of Ottawa and Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, ON Canada K2A 1R9 The Jewish Federation of Ottawa and the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation are jointly seeking a Chief Development Officer (CDO) who can manage a fundraising team that will integrate all major fundraising aspects of the Jewish community of Ottawa As a strong and dynamic visionary, you have the ability, together with your team of professionals and volunteers, to make the Development department the driving force behind the implementation of the fundraising vision of the two organizations.

Position Summary Statement: Under the direction of the volunteer leadership, you will work to ensure the current and future financial security of the Jewish community and its agencies through effective management of the central fundraising functions of the Jewish community of Ottawa. The Chief Development Officer will report to the President of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

A minimal cost for some of the rides

Minimum Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have a university degree and a minimum of five years experience in a senior fundraising capacity. The candidate must have demonstrated superior leadership and strategic planning skills and the ability to manage effectively in a fast-paced environment. Knowledge of Jewish history, concerns and current events and a commitment to Jewish communal life would be an asset.

For more information about the JFO and the OJCF and further details on this position, go to www.jewishottawa.com and www.ojcf.ca.

Interested applicants should send their résumé and salary requirements no later than May 31, 2011 to: careers@jewishottawa.com

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 21

Hebrew language knowledge is neglected in Jewish communities There is much hand-wringing in communal circles over Jewish continuity, but less attention is being paid to cultivating serious Jewish literacy. One factor that is especially neglected – at our peril – is the centrality of Hebrew language knowledge.

In Toronto recently, I had dinner with Greg Beiles, a viceprincipal at the Toronto Heschel School, and the curriculum and training director at the Lola Stein Institute. He is succinct about Hebrew: the future of the Jewish people depends on it.

Beiles knows that language is a critical piece of transmitting collective identity. Whether through the “Judaism as civilization” idea that Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan put forth, or the sense of Jewish peoplehood that finds its expression in modern Israel, Hebrew serves as a communal anchor.

So many expressions of Hebrew culture, Beiles explains, such as the poetry of Chaim Nachman Bialik and Yehuda Amichai, rely on wordplay with Judaic textual references. The reader of these modern Hebrew poets is propelled backwards and forwards through the centuries.

Outside of Israel, Hebrew knowledge has become sadly lacking. There is something troublesome about a people that doesn’t understand the words in its own liturgy, or in the homeland’s national anthem; a people that can’t understand the proceedings of an Israeli Knesset session and who can’t translate a verse from Naomi Shemer’s popular “Jerusalem of Gold.” Jewish parents typically assign a Hebrew name to their babies, but I would guess that most would not have known the name’s meaning without the help of a dictionary.

Hillel Halkin, an American-Israeli writer and translator has lamented, “A Jewish culture in translation is a culture that has lost its flavour.”

At my childhood summer camp – Camp Massad in Winnipeg Beach – we instinctively understood what was at stake.

The entire camp program – every song, play, announcement, simulation, sports game, and bedtime kiss – was, and still is, conducted in Hebrew. There is something heady and intoxicating about speaking a language that links members of an ethnic group near and far, today and yesterday. And, when the language is not your native tongue, there’s a risk-taking element: there is, perhaps, less pressure to be as profound or as funny. Because of that, moments of wit and insight can spontaneously emerge. But, when we did recite our morning prayers, chant a leisurely Shabbat service or sing Hebrew folksongs, the words rolled off our tongue. At Camp Massad, Hebrew was not a foreign language. It was our language.

Unfortunately, many parents are gradually devaluing Hebrew knowledge as a central pillar of their children’s education. Parents are opting for fewer and fewer hours of Jewish education (if any Jewish schooling at all).

Part of how to get parental buy-in is to pitch Hebrew as an acquired cognitive skill like any second language.

“Hebrew’s root structure makes it particularly analytical,” Beiles adds.

Think about the letter combination “s, p/f, r.” From playing with those letters, almost by magic, you can tease out the Hebrew words for book, author, library, story, tell, count and number. (Arabic is structured similarly, as if to remind us that our fates are intertwined.)

How can we increase Hebrew knowledge in our communities? At the most basic, all Hebrew and Judaic instruction at any Jewish school (day or supplementary) should be a Hebrew immersive experience: Ivrit b’ivrit.

Values, Ethics, Community Mira Sucharov The use of Hebrew should be maximized in Jewish preschools, Jewish community centre programs, and all Jewish camps. Teens going on Israel trips could be offered the option of language classes while there, and certainly before going. Adults could get together to enjoy a Hebrew salon. Private donors and Federation planning arms might even consider rewarding programmatic Hebrew use through grants and allocations.

When my first child was nine months old, I made the decision to speak only Hebrew to my children. More than six years later, it’s been an exciting, though challenging, journey.

While I sometimes wonder if using a second language is a barrier to intimacy, I also revel in what sometimes feels like our secret code.

Modern lore has it that Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the founder of modern Hebrew, didn’t allow his son to be exposed to any other languages. Today, that sounds unduly doctrinaire. We now know that multilingualism – not unilingualism – is the key to language facility. But, for his time, Ben Yehuda was a visionary. Who will be the 21st century Hebrew visionaries within our communities?

At the Passover seder, we proclaimed “Avadim hayinu; ata b’nei horin.” How much sweeter it is to sing about our past enslavement and our modern freedom in the language that binds us as a people (even if modern Hebrew says achshav rather than ata, and herut rather than horin). The Hebrew chain is gleaming, calling out for its people to grasp it.

Uprising, revolution and democracy in the Middle East It is difficult to react to and digest recent events in the Middle East without a contextualizing discussion around cultural, religious and foreign influences on Middle Eastern politics and governance. There was one thing missing from the last couple of months of Middle East uprisings, revolutions and demonstrations, and that was Israel.

In fact, the Arab world tried very hard to stay on message and on target, not blaming Israel for their democratic deficit.

Although staying on message was very hard to do among that many factions in just one country, it was much harder to do so across the Arab world in several countries. What made it possible were the technological advances that allow most of these groups to talk with one another. In different countries, facing similar issues, populist movements could be more coordinated and connected than has been possible in the past.

While the regular protester on the street probably isn’t highly sophisticated, he or she is now plugged into local and international social media that allows well-organized oppositions to manage local actions as well as to see and understand similar protests in other countries.

This means two things. First, Islamists are becoming savvy in their politics and in their use of technology to manage political actions discreetly. They can focus on achieving the short-term goals of the protesters and will purposely avoid bringing their own longer-term anti-Zionist issues into the picture. They can watch and wait and make their move gradually when they have fully consolidated power.

Second, the highly educated younger generation of the Arab world has discovered that it is not Israel preventing them from experiencing democracy and freedom, but their own leadership. Having had some exposure to American and European culture and concepts of democracy, and being able to share their thinking through social networking, this generation may not think or act in the ways their

World Affairs Oliver Javanpour governments or some of the alternative leadership might expect.

While the rallying point is the unpopularity of the leadership in the Islamic world, even the zealots realize it can have nothing to do with Israel and Zionism – at least not for now.

In fact, even in the Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza), where some leaders encouraged a third Intifada to take advantage of the instability, they were quickly silenced from within.

When Islamic Jihadists in Gaza started to fire rockets across to Israel, there were great efforts by the Hamas authorities to stop them and not cause any harm to the fragile truce with Israel. The Arab leadership realizes their hold on power is very tenuous and there is an undercurrent of cultural shift that the older leadership hasn’t taken into consideration. The cultural shift is bubbling up in the highly educated and underemployed young people who show some degree of nationalism and have high expectations. They are both in tune with the current events and democratic ideals and rooted in the socioreligious militant behaviour that has shaped their society for many years.

The challenges in the Arab world, then, can be categorized as: • Internal social challenges;

• Social, economic and cultural isolation from the rest of the world; • National governance, legitimacy and democratic deficit; • Arab nationalist unity movement with Islamic undercurrent; and, • External influences caused by various actors (U.S, U.K., Russia, China) securing strategic natural resources.

As the reality of life settles in, both the populist protesters, and the Western world, will have to come to terms with the twofold Tinkerbell effect operating in the Middle East.

First, the man on the street believes, by taking to the street, he will gain relative freedom, which will consequently result in a better life for him and his family.

Second, the Western world believes these pro-democracy and revolutionary movements will lead to democratic governance. Needless to say both these fallacies could lead to further trouble down the line.

The Middle East and North Africa, a region of more than 500 million people, has benefited immensely from the wealth created by the sharp increase in oil prices since the 1970s. But many countries in the region remain on a slow growth path, effectively sidelined from globalization and the benefits of closer economic integration with the rest of the world. Given the natural resource endowment in the Middle East and Africa, it is rather difficult for most to explain the per capita GDP of resource-rich Saudi Arabia at $24,200 in contrast to Israel, which has absolutely no natural resources, at $29,500.

For Israel, the key is democracy, cultural reliance on human capital and intellectual property development, innovation, growing cultural diversity and, most importantly, being a global competitor integrated into the global economy.

The Arab world must come to terms with key cultural and social issues and Islamic militancy in order to deal with the important issue of governance and democracy.

Page 22 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Howard Jacobson’s Booker Prize-winning novel examines questions of Jewish identity The Finkler Question

By Howard Jacobson Bloomsbury 307 pages Samuel Finkler is a restless Jew. His wife, Tyler, became a Jew. His best friend, Julian Treslove, who shared a brief and illicit romance with Tyler, thought Tyler was born a Jew, and wishes he, himself, was Jewish. These issues of identity and desire animate Howard Jacobson’s funny, rich, intelligent, challenging, but, ultimately, somewhat plodding, meditation on the contemporary Jewish question.

The 2010 winner of the Booker Prize, The Finkler Question succeeds in skewering a wide range of cultural and political tropes.

There is Finkler himself who has joined a Jewish group protesting Israeli policies. They call themselves “ASHamed Jews.” There is discussion of the academic boycott of Israel, a topic central to the British debate over Israel. Other topics, including the origins and critiques of male circumcision, Holocaust denial, sexual insecurity, Jewish museum politics, anti-Semitism, the dining habits of extended Jewish families, love and loss, fatherhood, friendship, and fidelity, all get a bright line shone on them.

Treslove works – although not very hard – as a celebrity impersonator.

“Treslove didn’t look like anybody famous in particular, but looked like many famous people in general.”

Though Treslove is firmly British – he even worked at the BBC for a time – his impersonator job underscores a wandering identity: a clever inversion of the wandering Jew whose identity is firmly entrenched, but whose geography changes.

After leaving his grieving friend Libor’s apartment one night, Treslove is the victim of a mugging. He thinks he hears the mugger, a woman, whisper, “You Jew!” When Treslove reports the incident to Finkler, Finkler

Book Review Mira Sucharov accuses him of wanting to be “one of us.” Treslove protests that he is comfortable with who he is. “‘What are you?’ Finkler challenges him.

‘What am I?’ Treslove stared at the ceiling. It felt like a trick question.”

The relationship between Jewish identity and non-Jewish identity gets a fresh take here. Treslove frequently contemplates his friend’s Jewishness, and becomes a keen observer and, later, impersonator, of all things Jewish. His childhood friend is the lens through which he contemplates friendship, family and ethnicity. Thus he refers to all Jews, in his mind’s eye, as Finklers.

The “d’Jew know?” gag, executed by Woody Allen and others, gets reworked through Treslove and Finkler. “‘If I wrote Non-Jew don’t know what Jew know I’d be able to tell you what’s funny about it,’ Treslove tells Finkler. “‘There’s nothing funny about it,’ Finkler replies. “‘Exactly. Non-Jews don’t find it hilarious to see the word Non-Jew. We aren’t amazed by the written fact of our identity.’”

Whether non-Jews think of their identity as primarily “not Jewish” is a stretch, of course, made all the more hilarious by the fact of its not being questioned.

Finkler’s challenge to Treslove ultimately propels Treslove’s choices. Treslove attempts to reconnect – not very successfully – with his estranged sons, falls in love with a corpulent Jewish woman with the ornamentally biblical name Hephziba, and sets out to acquire Yiddish vocabulary.

On the subject of Israel, Jacobson carries the reader through the Diaspora anguish over Israeli occupation policies, coupled with struggles over ethnic loyalty. Libor and Finkler engage in endless debates over Israel. “‘When a member of your family acts erroneously, Libor, is it not your duty to tell him?’ Finkler asks. “‘Tell him, yes. Boycott him, no,’ Libor replies.”

Jacobson’s political dialogue is deftly executed, giving all sides an articulate airing.

The point of view shifts rapidly between Finkler and Treslove. I found myself confused at times as to who was narrating, so similar in voice does Jacobson portray their internal thoughts. The writing is clever – perhaps a little too clever at times so as to render the emotion hollow. For me, this was a thinking writer’s book, a salon discussion couched in satire, more than it was an intimate and personal connection with the reader.

But, in its sheer breadth and breathlessness, Jacobson manages to write a distinctly Jewish novel for our age. The book ends fairly abruptly. One character’s tragic ending leads to another character’s existential angst. Though politics peppers the narrative, this is no political treatise. It is more akin to watching great minds and flawed characters hash out ideas while muddling through life. There are more questions posed than there are answers offered, another sign that The Finkler Question, if a book can possibly have an ethno-religious identity, is so very Jewish

May 1-3 marked World Press Freedom Day (Continued from page 20)

linked terrorists kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston, holding him hostage for 114 days.

In Bahrain, reporters live under harrowing situations as their phones and emails are closely monitored. Meanwhile, three editors of Al-Wasat, Bahrain’s main opposition newspaper, will go on trial, facing charges of “publishing fabricated news,” “harming public safety” and “damaging national interests.”

In Syria, the top editor of the official Syrian newspaper, Tishrin, was fired for questioning official Syrian accounts about recent demonstrations that saw non-military gunmen open fire on protestors. Two Lebanese Reuters journalists were also recently detained and released by Syrian authorities.

In Egypt, security forces captured and then released Globe and Mail reporters Patrick Martin and Sonia Verma, CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper was punched by unknown assailants, and CBS News correspondent Lara Logan was brutally raped and assaulted by Egyptian protestors. Egyptian authorities have also throttled and shut down Internet access to suppress dissent and free speech. Recently, an Egyptian blogger

was sentenced to three years in jail for publishing a blog post critical of the government and army.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah minders manipulate the media by creating heavily orchestrated PR events where scenes are staged for foreign media to report on.

Journalists are taken on Hezbollahguided tours where their interview subjects are strictly managed and screened.

Hezbollah handlers intimidate reporters saying “we know who you are, we read everything you write, and we know where you live.”

And, last but not least, Iran, described as the “world’s worst jailer of the press” alongside China and Turkey, imprisoned 34 journalists in 2010.

Let us not forget about Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian-Iranian photojournalist who, in 2003, was arrested while taking photographs outside Iran’s notorious Evin prison. Kazemi died two days following her detention after being tortured and raped by her captors.

Then there’s the case of Maziar Bahari, a Canadian-Iranian journalist at Newsweek magazine, who was held in a Tehran jail for 118 days in 2009 for filming scenes of Iran’s militia shooting at protestors. Iran also sentenced Hossein Derakhshan, the

Iranian-Canadian blogfather of Tehran to 19 1/2 years in prison for writing dissenting opinions about the Iranian government and for training others to blog and podcast. Derakhshan was temporarily released on bail this past December.

And now, with the Arab Spring upon us, those that seek to hide the truth about the lack of fundamental human rights in their own borders target the very media who are tasked with covering the plight of the voiceless. Through the systematic use and abuse of “emergency rule” to suppress dissent, the plight of the proletariat has gone out of sight and out of mind.

On May 1-3, we marked World Press Freedom Day, an event that seeks to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments, specifically in the broader Middle East, the Arab world, and North Africa, of their duty to respect and protect the journalists, and not to target and intimidate the media.

Mike Fegelman, a graduate of Carleton University’s journalism program, is executive director of HonestReporting Canada (honestreporting.ca), a nonprofit organization that seeks to ensure fair and accurate Canadian news coverage of Israel and the Middle East.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 23

Singer-songwriter Mitch Gauzas to release first album, June 1 “If music be the food of love, play on,” wrote Shakespeare in Twelfth Night.

Play on, indeed!

This edition of 20/30 Scene is shining the spotlight on Ottawa singer-songwriter Mitch Gauzas, who will soon release his first full-length independent album, Good Man Bad Man. Gauzas, who is active in Ottawa’s Jewish community, served on the jnet planning committee for its December 2010 gala and performed in Tamir’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Now, Gauzas, who runs his own commercial real estate business, is intently focused on developing his music career.

Gauzas played classical music before moving on to singing in bands at the age of 15.

“Music was a part of the house; my family strongly encouraged it,” he said.

Over the years, Gauzas has completed various demo projects and played violin on other people’s albums, yet Good Man Bad Man is the first major project of his own.

“It was important for me to have a final full-length project to prove that I’m serious about what I like to do,” he said.

The 10-song album was not an overnight effort.

“The recording process was 18 months, start to finish,” he said. “The writing was several years in the making to have enough songs to choose from, and to make sure that each song had merit and a legitimate place on the album.”

Preferring not to classify his music in one particular genre, Gauzas describes it as possessing elements of rock, folk, pop and blues. The album explores a diverse array of topics from relationships to political commentaries on racism and intolerance.

“Lost and Found,” the first track on the album, and also the first single, focuses on religions and whether they only tell one point of view.

Mitch Gauzas launches his CD, Good Man Bad Man, with a June 12 concert at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, QC.

The song, he said, “starts off the album by admitting, in a way, that we’re all kind of lost and asks how we find ourselves.”

As multifaceted as the album is, Gauzas created it with a few distinct underlying messages.

“The common thread throughout the album is self-discovery and finding your way in the world,” he said. “One message is to question information and don’t just accept it at face value, to think analytically about what the motives are behind it.”

Gauzas’ dream is to have his music heard on a large scale. He plans to continue writing and to release albums every few years.

“The first step is that I’d love to have Good Man Bad Man heard by as many people as possible; to get people to support it, have it heard on the radio and have people go to shows,” he said. “I hope this can be a catalyst to a full-time career in music.”

Good Man Bad Man will be available in local stores and on iTunes on June 1 and there will be a CD release concert on Sunday, June 12, 4:00 pm, at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec. To purchase tickets for the Black Sheep Inn show, or to find out more about Gauzas’ music, visit mitchgauzasmusic.com.

I think it’s important to shine the spotlight on people in the community who are undertaking creative projects, de-

veloping innovative programs or making a difference in some way. I plan to continue highlighting other interesting young adults in future editions of 20/30 Scene.

If you have any suggestions for future columns, or if you know about an upcoming event for young adults in the community, you can drop me a line at 2030scene@ottawajewishbulletin.com.

Did you know Josh Rachlis is an eco-comedian?

• When not working at his Toronto day job as an awardwinning advertising copywriter, Ottawan Josh Rachlis spends his spare time as an eco-comedian, using creativity and comedy to send an environmental message.

His video, “An Inconvenient Ruth,” tied for first place in the third annual Eco-Comedy Video Competition. Sixty films were entered in the international competition, which was launched as a way to encourage the use of humour in the fight for conservation. Check out his video at bit.ly/RuthVid. • Mazal tov to Betina Kuzmarov, Ilana Prehogan, Lisa Levitt, Adria Minsky, Victoria Gelt, Julie Greenspoon, Sarah Lipski, Stephanie Appotive, Jessica Weiss, Adina Libin and Gillian Dolansky, the first graduating class of the revived Young Women’s Leadership Council of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

The highly successful program, designed to educate young Jewish women and groom them for leadership roles in the community, was resurrected by Gillian Dolansky in 2009 after a three-year hiatus and is off to an exciting new start.

• Fitness dynamo Tracey Kornblum can’t sit still when she comes home from Hamilton for a visit. To the delight of her loyal fans, the popular instructor taught four classes at the Soloway JCC when she was in Ottawa for Passover.

• How nice to see the smiling faces of community members featured so prominently in the Around Town column in the Ottawa Citizen. David Smith, Marcia Cantor, Avalee Prehogan and Barbara Crook played a key role in the Spring Bling and Fashion Fling fundraising event, which raised $23,000 for the Queensway Carleton Hospital.

Did you know?

Benita Baker Myrna Barwin, Lynne Oreck-Wener, Lisa Rosenkrantz and Debbie Weiss were photographed at the information session for the inaugural 2012 Dragon Boat Festival on the Sea of Galilee.

Former federal cabinet minister and current Carleton University Chancellor Herb Gray attended a reception at the Science and Technology Museum celebrating the Fenix capsule display at the museum. The capsule was used to rescue the 33 trapped Chilean miners.

• The fifth annual Heart of Glass, hosted by the Firestone family – Sam, Ida, Phil, Bob and Noah – at their Blue Cactus Restaurant, raised $84,000 for the Ottawa Heart Institute.

• The docweissband, headed by Ron Weiss, continues to make its presence felt in Ottawa’s music scene. They were guests recently on Rogers Daytime on cable-22 and played two songs from their recently released album.

If you know something we all should know, tell me, so I can tell the community. You can send e-mail to me at didyouknowottawa@gmail.com.

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Page 24 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 25

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Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 27

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JACK AND DORIS BAYLIN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Sol Stein by Jack and Honey Baylin.

ALEX AND MOLLIE BETCHERMAN MEMORIAL FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: Lena Michelson a beloved mother, sister and aunt by Joy Rosenstein, Bonnie Greenberg and Ronald Singer.

Happy Passover to: Mr and Mrs. T Beallor by Joy Rosenstein, Bonnie Greenberg and Ronald Singer.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Acher by Joy Rosenstein and family.

Dr. and Mrs. Leon Root by Joy Rosenstein, Bonnie Greenberg and Ronald Singer.

The Mollie Betcherman girls by Joy Rosenstein and Bonnie Greenberg.

RONALD BODNOFF MEMORIAL FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: Ronald Bodnoff by Rhoda Bodnoff and family.

PHILLIP COHEN MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Doris Edelstein by David and Judith Kalin.

SANDI AND EDDY COOK ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Markus Luft by Samamtha Cook.

DOLANSKY FAMILY FUND Mazal Tov to: Morris Kimmel on receiving the Shem Tov Community Volunteer Award by Donna and Bernie Dolansky.

Lisa Miller on receiving the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award by Donna and Bernie Dolansky.

JOSEPH AND JEAN DOVER ENDOWMENT FUND Congratulations to: Morris Kimmel on the work he has done for Hillel Lodge by Gerry Dover and Madeleine Murphy.

CYNTHIA AND ABE ENGEL ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Murray Grafstein by Cynthia Engel.

R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Barbara Goddard by Cynthia Engel.

SHARON AND PAUL FINN ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Susan Fisher by Joany and Andy Katz.

SAM AND SUSAN FIRESTONE ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Susan Fisher by Sam and Susan Firestone.

George Lesh by Sam and Susan Firestone.

FLORENCE FAMILY MEMORIAL FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: Freida Florence by A.L., Ann and Leanne Smith.

Speedy recovery to: Judith Slipacoff by A.L. and Ann Smith.

HOWARD HERZL GOLDBERG MEMORIAL FUND Mazal Tov to: Rhoda and Edward Weinberg on their Matthew’s Bar Mitzvah by Helene, Shawn, Chaim and Aaron Goldberg.

IBOLYA AND HOWARD GOLDBERG FAMILY FUND Mazal Tov to: Rhoda and Edward Weinberg on the Bar Mitzvah of their grandson Matthew by Joe and Ibolya and family.

Rosie and Mitchell Weinberg and family on Matthew’s Bar Mitzvah by Joe and Ibolya and family.

Happy Passover to: Eileen Goldberg by Helene, Shawn, Chaim and Aaron Goldberg.

HERB AND DENA GOSEWICH ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: George Lesh by Herb and Dena Gosewich.

LAURA AND MILTON GREENBERG FAMILY FOUNDATION Birthday wishes to: Evan Pleet by Laura Greenberg.

RHEA AND JEFF HOCHSTADTER FAMILY FUND In memory of: Akiva Kriger by Rhea, Jeff, Elane and Lorne Hochstadter.

Happy Passover to: John and Gladys Greenberg by Rhea, Jeff, Elane and Lorne Hochstadter.

Birthday wishes to: Evelyn Lieff by Rhea, Jeff, Elane and Lorne Hochstadter.

Continued on page 28

Page 28 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

FOUNDATION DONATIONS DOROTHY AND HY HYMES ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: George Lesh by Dorothy and Hy Hymes.

Ashley, Will and Berkley Silverman; by Marcy, Danny, David and Carly Baum; by Flora and Bill Silverman; by AMICA Westboro Park; and by Terry and Liliane Lalonde.

JEREMY KANTER MEMORIAL FUND Birthday wishes to: Sylvia Freeman Evelyn and Lou Eisenberg.

NORMAN AND ISABEL LESH ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: George Lesh by Roslyn and Lee Raskin; and

by Joyce Kimmel.

SHARON KOFFMAN ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP FUND In memory of: Ruth Margolian by Judi and Rubin Bodnoff.

SUSAN AND DAVID KRIGER ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Akiva Kriger by Even, Carol and Miriam Diamond.

Mazal Tov to: Sylvia and Michael Caplan on winning the Thelma Steinman Direct Service Award by Susan and David Kriger.

Ayala and Dan Sher on the birth of their grandchild by Susan and David Kriger.

ANNICE AND SYDNEY KRONICK FAMILY FUND Birthday wishes to: Evelyn Lieff by Debi and Neil Zaret and family.

Happy Passover to: Sol and Zelaine Shinder by Sydney Kronick and Barbara Sugarman.

GEORGE LESH MIRACLE FUND In memory of: George Lesh by Ida Lesh; by Shari, Todd,

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

Condolences to: Penny Cohen on the loss of a dear brother by Sally and Elliott Levitan.

Speedy recovery to: Andrea Arron by Sally and Elliott Levitan.

ERNEST AND IDA LEVITZ MEMORIAL FUND Happy Passover to: Jamie and Doreen Levitz by Ingrid Levitz and family.

JOSEPH AND EVELYN LIEFF ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Evelyn Lieff by Marilyn Waserman and family; by Sheila and Larry Hartman; and by Enid and Jeff Gould and family.

LOBEL FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: George Lesh by Goldie family.

Lobel

OJCF Annual General Meeting Thursday, June 16th, 2011 Call to Order: 7:30 pm

Dessert Reception to follow proceedings

G.J. Cooper Scholarship Award Presentation Tribute to Harold Feder, Outgoing Chair Zelikovitz Family Social Hall of The Joseph and Rose Ages Family Building 21 Nadolny Sachs Private RSVP prior to May 30th, 2011 is appreciated to Francine Paulin at 613-798-4696 ext 252 or at fpaulin@ojcf.ca A copy of the meeting materials will be available on our website prior to the AGM. www.OJCF.ca

“Our Future is in Your Hands”

PEARL AND DAVID MOSKOVIC ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Art Sussman by Joy, Michael, Josh and Rachel Moskovic.

PINKAS AND YEHUDIT NEWMAN MEMORIAL FUND In memory of: Edward Landis by Marilyn and William Newman.

NANCY AND LARRY PLEET ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Larry Pleet by Joe, Susan, Andrea and Stephanie Strug.

Howard Spungin by Joe, Susan, Andrea and Stephanie Strug.

SAMUEL AND RUTH ROTHMAN MEMORIAL FUND Condolences to: Zohar Barak on the loss of a dear mother by Sheldon and Corinne Taylor and family.

HAROLD AND IRMA SACHS COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT FUND Birthday wishes to: Irma Sachs by Sheila and Larry Hartman.

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

Doors Open: 7:00 pm

ABRAM AND EDITH MOLOT MEMORIAL FUND Mazal Tov to: Maureen Molot on receiving the Shalom Perel President’s Award of Merit from Hillel Lodge by Carol and Stuart Levine.

SOL AND ZELAINE SHINDER ENDOWMENT FUND Mazal Tov to: Sol and Zelaine Shinder on the B’nai Mitzvahs of their 2 grandsons by William and Marilyn Newman.

LINDA SILVERMAN MEMORIAL FUND Anniversary wishes to: Ruth and Joseph Viner by Phylis and Marvin Silverman.

IRVING AND HARRIET SLONE ENDOWMENT FUND Happy Passover to: Irving and Harriet Slone by Stuart and Carol Levine.

JACK AND LINDA SMITH ENDOWMENT FUND In observance of the Yahrzeit of: Jack Smith a beloved father by Leslie Smith.

DORIS AND RICHARD STERN FAMILY FUND In memory of: Simmie Burstyn by Doris and Richard Stern.

BARBARA AND GERALD THAW ENDOWMENT FUND Happy Passover to: Gail and Stan Hitzig by Barbara and Gerald Thaw.

Mark and Lise Thaw by Barbara and Gerald Thaw.

Continued on page 29

and RICKIE AND MARTIN SASLOVE FAMILY FUND In memory of: Sydney Feldman by Rickie and Martin Saslove.

R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Irving Gencher by Rickie and Martin Saslove.

ELAYNE AND WESLEY SCHACTER ENDOWMENT FUND Condolences to: Eddie Birnbaum and family on the loss of a dear mother and grandmother by Elayne and Wesley Schacter and family.

SYLVIA AND HARRY SHERMAN MEMORIAL FUND Mazal Tov to: Ian Sherman on receiving the Gilbert Greenberg Award by Julia and Jack Sherman.

An unveiling in memory of

Miriam Sussman will take place

Sunday, May 29, 2011 at 11:00 am

Osgoode Cemetery Agudath Israel Section Family and friends are welcome to attend.

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 29

FOUNDATION DONATIONS Joel and Susan Greenberg by Barbara and Gerald Thaw.

Dorothy Nadolny by Barbara and Gerald Thaw.

Evelyn Rivers by Barbara and Gerald Thaw.

LISE AND MARK THAW FAMILY FUND Happy Passover to: Barbara and Gerald Thaw by Lise, Mark, Alayna and Bryan Thaw.

Gail and Stan Hitzig by Lise, Mark, Alayna and Bryan Thaw.

Joany and Andy Katz and family by Lise, Mark, Alayna and Bryan Thaw.

Ellen and Jon Reider and family by Lise, Mark, Alayna and Bryan Thaw.

Elsa and Norman Swedko by by Lise, Mark, Alayna and Bryan Thaw.

Dorothy Nadolny by Lise, Mark, Alayna and Bryan Thaw.

STEPHEN AND GAIL VICTOR ENDOWMENT FUND Continued good health to: Arlene Schwey by Sandy Marchello.

Susan Livergant by Sandy Marchello.

HAZE WAINBERG FAMILY FUND In memory of: Alfred Rudin by Haze Wainberg.

HALTON/WEISS FAMILY FUND Mazal Tov to: Ian Sherman on receiving the Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Services Award by Donna and Bernie Dolansky.

Morris Kimmel on receiving the Shem Tov Community Volunteer Award by Donna and Bernie Dolansky.

Lisa Miller on receiving the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award by Donna and Bernie Dolansky.

IRVING AND DIANE WEXLER FAMILY FUND R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Diane Wexler by Sandy Marchello.

WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE ENDOWMENT FUND Mazal Tov to: Lisa Miller on receiving the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award by Lynne OreckWener and Bob Wener.

Speedy recovery to: Dorothy Ullman by the Lynne Oreck-Wener

and Bob, Taryn, Eleni and Hart Wener.

THE SAUL AND EDNA GOLDFARB B’NAI MITZVAH PROGRAM NOAM ARNON-McGREGOR MITZVAH FUND Mazal Tov to: Gavriel and Tamara Scarowsky and family on the birth of their son and brother by the Arnon/McGregor Family.

RYAN JEREMY BAKER B’NAI MITZVAH FUND Birthday wishes to: Susan Viner-Vered by Benita, Steven, Alexander and Ryan Baker.

ELIZABETH GREENBERG MITZVAH FUND Mazal Tov to: Elizabeth Greenberg on her Bat Mitzvah by Jackie, Kevin, Zack and Meredith Barwin.

STACEY SAMANTHA KATZ B’NAI MITZVAH FUND In memory of: Norman Epelbaum by Joany and Andy Katz.

MELANIE KLEINPLATZ B’NAI MITZVAH FUND Birthday wishes to: Melanie Kleinplatz by Peggy Kleinplatz.

DAHLIA AND ZACHARY SHABSOVE B’NAI MITZVAH FUND In memory of: Ruth Harrouch by Robert Horlick and Joni Swedlove.

JONATHAN, MATTHEW AND ADAM SHERMAN B’NAI MITZVAH FUND Mazal Tov to: Ian Sherman on receiving the Gilbert Greenberg Distinguished Services Award by Donna and Bernie Dolansky; and by Norma and Stanley Goldstein.

Contributions may be made online at www.OJCF.ca or by contacting Erin Bolling at 613-798-4696 extension 232, Monday to Friday or by email at donation@ojcf.ca. Attractive cards are sent to convey the appropriate sentiments. All donations are acknowledged with a charitable receipt. We accept Visa, MasterCard and Amex.

Notice to OJCF Members The OJCF will accept nominations in writing up to seven days (no later than June 9th, 2011) prior to the election of the Directors at the OJCF Annual General Meeting on June 16th, 2011.

To submit a nomination, please forward written correspondence to: Attn: Secretary of the OJCF c/o Francine Paulin 21 Nadolny Sachs Private Ottawa, ON K2A 1R9

Moshe Landau, Eichmann trial presiding judge, dies at 99

By Alan J. Abbey Jerusalem (JTA) – Moshe Landau, the Israeli Supreme Court justice who presided over the trial of Adolf Eichmann 50 years ago, has died.

Landau died May 1, on the eve of the country’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, at the age of 99.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of Landau, who remained a key player in historic Israeli events for decades after the Eichmann trial, that “the people bow their heads in expressing honour and deep appreciation for his life works and character.”

President Shimon Peres said Landau’s rulings “are the foundations of Israeli democracy.”

Landau, a Supreme Court justice from 1953 until his retirement in 1982, had been on the high court for eight years when he was selected to head the three-judge panel for the Eichmann trial. Time Magazine’s ongoing coverage of the trial frequently reported terse and testy exchanges between Landau and Eichmann.

“After an Eichmann foray into the minutiae of the Nazi bureaucracy’s workings, Judge Landau snapped: ‘You were not requested to give lectures. Asked a specific question, give a specific reply,’” Time wrote at the time.

Time described Landau’s similarly succinct delivery of the guilty verdict against the Nazi leader: “The crowd expected to hear first a detailed, legalistic defence of Israel’s right to try Eichmann. Instead, Presiding Judge Moshe Landau (like his two colleagues a refugee from Nazi Germany) ordered Eichmann to attention in his glass, bulletproof cage, and bluntly told the accused: ‘The court finds you guilty.’”

Former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak said that Landau was objective and stately in the Eichmann trial.

“Landau was one of our greatest judges,” Barak said. “He was among the founders of Israeli law.”

After the Eichmann trial, Landau served on the Agranat Commission, which investigated Israel’s lapses in the run-up to the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and later chaired a commission, originally kept secret, into the practices of Israeli security services. The Landau Commission’s findings in 1987 were that the security agencies not only used physical force while interrogating prisoners but routinely lied at subsequent trials.

At the same time, the commission approved the use of a “moderate measure of physical pressure” in cases of hostile terrorist activity – a finding that brought condemnation from international bodies and was rejected by the Israeli Supreme Court 12 years later.

Moshe Landau at Eichmann trial

The next year, in a rare interview, Landau denied that the commission had sanctioned torture and said even that Yitzhak Rabin had told him the procedures permitted by the commission would be insufficient. Landau said the security services continued to exceed his committee’s recommendations and exploited them.

“We saw how the twilight zone really corrupted the Shin Bet,” he said.

Landau went on to say that “There was the written code – the Landau Commission – and another oral code in the field. And this is a terrible thing. Because, within the security service, there must be an absolute truth. If this truth falls apart, woe be it to the service to whom the state has entrusted such a vital function and woe be it to all of us.”

In that same interview Landau, then 88, warned against overly enthusiastic efforts at peacemaking, and said he did not believe that Israel had any peace partners in the Arab world.

“We have fine, naive people who see Muslim officials as some kind of partners in dialogue. But from Islam’s point of view, the Jews are a nation whose sovereignty cannot be recognized in any part of the lands that Islam claims for itself,” he said. Landau added that “There may be rivalries between Arafat’s regime and Hamas and the other Islamic factions, but they’ll act in concert against Israel.”

He described himself as a moderate and as a Zionist.

“Zionism is the only one of the great ideologies of the 20th century that has proved its veracity,” Landau said. “That’s why I find it odd to see it now being pushed into a situation in which it must defend itself.”

Landau was born in Danzig, Germany (now Gdansk, Poland), where his father was a leading member of the Jewish community. He received his law degree in 1930 from the University of London School of Law and then moved to pre-state Palestine. Landau became a judge in 1940 and served the Israel Supreme Court from 1953 until his retirement in 1982.

Landau was a member of the International Court of Justice, and the chairman of the World Zionist Congress tribunal, the Commission for Recognition of Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem and the board of directors of the Technion. He received the Israel Prize in 1991.

Page 30 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

Eighteen things you may not know about Devora Caytak There is a good chance that you may have met Devora Caytak at some point. Maybe your child attended her incredible preschool, Westboro Jewish Montessori (formerly the Jewish Preschool of the Arts), or had a wonderful summer at Camp Gan Israel.

Perhaps you have borrowed books from the Jewish Youth Library or felt a connection with other parents of special needs children in the Friendship Circle.

You might have been welcomed at a beautiful Passover seder at the Caytak home or enjoyed a meal in their huge sukkah.

Or, maybe, you have driven by the large brown Caytak bus as it motors back and forth along Carling Avenue.

Devora is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. I am not sure if she actually sleeps! If you would like more information about any of the above programs, please feel free to contact Devora at 613-729-1619.

But, in the meantime, here are 18 things you may not know about Devora Caytak …

1. I was born and raised in Minnesota and my greatest fear was that, when I grew up, I would end up living in a cold climate!

2. Contrary to popular belief, I do not have 15 children.

However, I have been blessed with 12 children and five grandchildren (so far)!

3. Currently, my children are living in Ottawa, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Israel and London, England. I have a fantastic long-distance calling plan!

4. I have been to Israel twice so far and am currently planning a trip with my husband. We are hoping to go in two years and celebrate our 33rd wedding anniversary.

5. I attended Independent District 197 Public School in the St. Paul, Minnesota suburb of Mendota Heights from kindergarten through Grade 12. For Hebrew School, I studied at the Talmud Torah of St. Paul and the name still makes me laugh!

6. My favourite comfort foods are chocolate chips cookies with nuts, tabouleh salad, and falafel – but the falafel balls have to be very hot.

7. I have two brothers and one sister. Growing up, we had

a dog named ‘Fawn’ who loved my mother’s cooking.

8. I know that it sounds strange, but I love to clean for Passover. I put on my iPod and get to work, and love seeing the transformation of the house. But there is a still a level of stress associated with preparing for this holiday!

9. I love downhill skiing and going for bike rides. I am also an avid walker and my husband and I go for hour-long walks together at least twice per week.

10. My Shabbos dinner table must have beautiful china on it. I do not like to use paper. Currently, we are on our third set of good dishes and have found this Mikasa set to be very durable.

11. My husband and I received a blessing from the Lubavitcher Rebbe to come to Ottawa in the spring of 1981, and we have been here ever since, living on Switzer Avenue. The Jewish Youth Library began in our basement.

12. I love to splurge on gourmet chocolates and my favourite store is Chocolate Charm in Toronto. When travelling, I always seek out kosher chocolate shops.

13. My grandchildren call me ‘Bubby’ and my mother,

18 things ...

Sarah Silverstein who still lives in Minnesota, is known as ‘Bubby-Bubby.’

14. I would really love to visit the Swiss Alps. Aside from the natural beauty of the region, I think I would also enjoy the downhill skiing and chocolate!

15. I try to spend one-on-one time with each of my children. We go on dates either to Starbucks or the United Kosher Deli in the Soloway JCC. I really enjoy this special time with them.

16. One of my favourite sayings is “Don’t look at the forest, just look at one tree at a time.”

17. I met my husband while living in New York, through (head of Ottawa’s Vaad HaKashrut) Rabbi Levy Teitlebaum’s sister and mother.

18. Currently on my nightstand is a prayer book and The Blessing of a B Minus by Wendy Mogel, which I purchased after hearing her speak at the Soloway JCC in March.

Devora Caytak with her daughter-in-law, daughters and granddaughter at her daughter Bluma’s wedding (from left to right): daughter-in-law Aliza, Miriam Rochel, Esther Rus, Sora, Bluma, Devora, Chaya Mushka, Bracha Leah, granddaughter Chaya Mushka.

The present is really the very recent past The wise men of today’s television elite usually tell us to live in the present and enjoy it. However, this turns out to be impossible because we don’t experience the present. At best, we experience the very recent past, the time it takes for our senses to translate our experience into neuro-electro-chemical messages that our brain can interpret. By the time we experience what we call the present, it is already gone.

And how long does that experience last before it just becomes integrated into memory or gets discarded because there’s no more room on the hard drive or because it’s just not significant enough to get the attention of the brain’s organizer?

This happens all the time if you haven’t seen someone for a long time and there is a sudden jump from an older past to the one we just experienced when, with a shock of recognition, we see the teenaged girl from high school in the grayhaired woman in front of us. Thirty or 40 years are squeezed into a fraction of a second, and we realize the present has just completely changed.

I have been home for a while now and this has now happened several times in my neighbourhood. It is so odd to realize how everything around here has changed. There is a giant metal waste container in the driveway across the street. What? Where did that come from?

There’s a police car just kitty-corner from us at the house

Humour me, please Rubin Friedman across from the waste container on the street that joins ours, the stem of the ‘T’ that we are the top to. What?

I see my next door neighbour out shovelling snow, or what’s left of it after the rain. When did his hair turn all gray? We stop to talk.

It turns out that there is a huge waste container across the street because the owner of the house died and his wife had a disabling stroke!

When was that?

About a year ago, comes the response.

The penny drops. So, that is why I haven’t seen him blowing snow or mowing the lawn, why she never comes out and waves to me in the spring. Their sons are selling the house and are cleaning everything out. Hence, the giant container.

The police car is at the other house because there has

been a home invasion. I find out the cops think it is a domestic affair in the Chinese community, and others are not at risk.

Chinese?

What happened to the young couple with the red-headed boy who played with my son?

Moved away apparently. Sold the house. So that is why I haven’t seen them for so long, why we haven’t been invited to any of their backyard barbecues for ages.

Have I been living in some alternate universe that I haven’t noticed these things before?

It’s true that it’s been a long while since I’ve been sick with some ailment or other, since I’ve stopped jogging around the block saying hello to everyone. I just went to work in the morning and came home at night and didn’t go many places on the weekends. I was like the three brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypt.

So, now that I have slowed down, and the world around me is coming into focus, it is partly unrecognizable.

Everything is being bowled into the past like some giant ball that gathers memory and momentum as it goes.

On the other hand, the sun just came out. The cop car is gone. And I am still alive to see it all, to try something new, if it tempts me. Who needs the present? Are you ready to join me in the trek to tomorrow

Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011 – Page 31

‘All we are saying is give peas a chance’ They say, if you hold a conch shell up to your ear, you can hear the sound of the ocean. I brought one home from our recent trip to the Caribbean, not so much as a souvenir, but as a way of continuing the peace and bliss of my vacation. At our hotel, if you put your conch shell outside your hotel room door, you would not be disturbed. I did that and it was wonderful. The phone didn’t ring, no one knocked at our door and no one demanded anything from me.

When we got home, I placed my conch shell outside my bedroom and closed the door. Despite this “do not disturb” symbol, clearly left outside the door for anyone to see (or trip over), the phone rang, my blackberry dinged and my son called me for help with some inane iTunes request. Clearly, the shell’s magical powers only work in the Caribbean!

The conch shell was not the only wonderful keepsake from my trip to the Caribbean. I also brought home the recipe for an incredible coconut soup that I ate almost every day for lunch at our resort. I managed to coax the recipe out of the chef. I’d like to say that I won him over with my charming smile and sparkling personality, but, truthfully, I think I just wore him down. I asked him for this recipe every day. Finally, on the fifth day of our holiday, an envelope containing the recipe, neatly typed, appeared in our room.

Two of the ingredients listed in the recipe are frozen peas and iceberg lettuce. I felt like I was stepping back into time.

It reminded me of a ‘70s recipe. The food snob in me wanted to be horrified at using frozen vegetables – that’s so last century! But, then I thought about it. Peas are one of the few vegetables that are actually better frozen. Why is that?

Cook’s Illustrated (May 1, 2001) explains: “Throughout the tasting of our vegetable soup, we came to depend on frozen peas. Not only are they more convenient than their fresh, in-the-pod comrades, but they taste better. Test after test, we found frozen peas to be tender and sweet while fresh peas tasted starchy and bland. Trying to understand this curious finding, we looked to the frozen food industry for some answers.

“Green peas are one of the oldest vegetables known to humankind. Yet despite this long history, they are relatively delicate; fresh peas have little stamina. Green peas lose a substantial portion of their nutrients within 24 hours of being

picked. This rapid deterioration is the reason for the starchy, bland flavor of most ‘fresh’ peas found at the grocery store.

These not-so-fresh peas might be several days old, depending on where they came from and how long they were kept in the cooler. Frozen peas, on the other hand, are picked, cleaned, sorted, and frozen within several hours of harvest, which helps to preserve their delicate sugars and flavours …

So unless you grow your own or can stop by your local farm stand for fresh picked, you’re better off cruising up the frozen food aisle for a bag of frozen peas.”

A handful of frozen peas, cooked just until warmed through, can improve almost any pasta, rice or other grain dish. Their bright green colour and pop of flavour when you bite into one are unbeatable. Plus, they are a nutritional

Made with Love Cindy Feingold powerhouse. They are high in Vitamin K, which is great for fighting osteoporosis. They are high in protein. A mere 3/4 cup of peas contains more protein than 1/4 cup of almonds or a tablespoon of peanut butter. And they are also high in fibre. So give peas a chance!

Chilled Pea, Lettuce and Coconut Soup This recipe was created by Chef Pieter Fitz-Dreyer, of the Carlisle Bay Resort in Antigua. The recipe makes about three cups of soup.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 small onion, finely diced 1 leek, light green part, washed and finely diced 1 stock of celery, finely diced 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3/4 cup water 3/4 cup coconut milk 2 1/2 cups cup frozen peas 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, cut into julienne strips 1/3 cup 35% cream In a medium saucepan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add onion, leek and celery and sweat vegetables until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. If they seem to be getting brown, turn down heat to low. Season with salt and pepper.

Add water, bring up to a simmer and cook the vegetables until very soft, about another 5-6 minutes.

Add coconut milk and return to simmer.

Add frozen peas and continue simmering until the

peas are just cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and add lettuce and cream.

Pour soup into blender and puree until smooth.

Fill a large stainless steel bowl with about 3 cups of ice and 3 cups of water. Place an empty stainless steel bowl on top. Strain soup through a fine mesh sieve, into the stainless steel bowl set over the ice water bath. This will help keep the soup bright green in colour and chill it quickly.

Chill in fridge for at least an hour and then serve.

Correction: In the April 11 issue of the Bulletin, I posted a recipe for Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Ganache Filling. The recipe directions instructed you to leave the egg whites out on the counter overnight. A letter-to-the-editor from Margie Moscoe, published in the April 25 issue, noted Health Canada’s guideline says, “Eggs (whether raw or cooked) should not be kept at room temperature for more than two hours. Eggs that have been at room temperature for more than two hours should be thrown out.”

I have corrected the error in my directions. The corrected version of the recipe can now be found at tinyurl.com/saltandserenity-macarons.

Mazal Tov Getting married, celebrating a special birthday or anniversary, just had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah?

Is your subscription about to lapse?

Don’t miss one issue. You can renew on line at ottawajewishbulletin.com, by phone at 613-798-4696, ext. 242, or with a cheque to the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin at 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, ON K2A 1R9 The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin Publishing Co. Ltd. collects and uses your personal information primarily for the purpose of providing you with the products and services you have requested from us.

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Page 32 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – May 16, 2011

WHAT’S GOING ON May 16 to 29, 2011 WEEKLY EVENTS MONDAYS Motorin’ Munchkins Drop-In for ages 5 and under, sponsored by the SJCC Family Life Centre. All children must be accompanied and supervised by an adult, 9 am

to 12 pm. Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 294.

TUESDAYS Israeli Folkdancing, learn dances, have fun, no experience or partner necessary, Hillel Academy, 31 Nadolny Sachs Private, 7:00 pm. Info: 613-722-9323.

WEDNESDAYS Baby and Toddler Play Group, sponsored by JCC Family Life Centre, 9:00 am to 11 am. Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 294.

CANDLELIGHTING BEFORE May 20 May 27 Jun 3 Jun 10

✡ ✡ ✡ ✡

8:13 8:21 8:27 8:32

pm pm pm pm

FRIDAYS Shabbat Shalom Drop-In for ages 5 and under, sponsored by the JCC Family Life Centre, welcomes Shabbat through crafts, songs, stories and games. Bracha Bear will be there! All children must be accompanied by an adult, 9:30 am to 11:00 am.

TUESDAY, MAY 17 March of the Living Information Night: Learn about this incredible two-week experience in 2012. For students who will be in Grades 10-12 next year, and their parents, 7:00 pm. Info: 613-7984644.

For more community listings, visit ottawa.jewishottawa.com Select Calendar/Upcoming Events and Click to See More

ny Sachs Private, 7:00 pm.

Info: 613-728-3900.

SUNDAY, MAY 22 Shalom Ottawa, our community TV program on Rogers 22 at noon (repeats May 26 at 4:30 and May 28 at noon).

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25 Beit Tikvah Luncheon, in conjunction with Jewish Family Services, the Canadian Red Cross presents, “72 hour preparedness workshop”, 15 Chartwell Avenue, 12:00 pm. Info: 613-7222225, ext. 411.

AJA 50+ 10th Anniversary Gala “Bridging the Generations”: Dinner, music, silent auction, and more! Proceeds to support AJA 50+ and to establish a scholarship fund for the Ottawa Jewish Community Schools, Congregation Beth Shalom, 151 Chapel Street, 5:00 pm. Info: 613-226-5435.

TUESDAY, MAY 24 Hillel Lodge Annual General Meeting: Everyone welcome, Hillel Lodge, 10 Nadol-

SUNDAY, MAY 29 Tamir Chai Tea in honour of Pat and Morris Neuman for their exceptional work putting

THURSDAY, MAY 19 Yiddish Capers with Shirley Steinberg, sponsored

by Jewish Family Services, 2255 Carling Avenue, Suite 300, 10:00 am. Info: 613-7222225, ext. 411.

together the amazing “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” production, 13 Roselawn Court, 2:00 pm.

Info: 613-725-3519.

Live and Become, film presented by Congregation Beth Shalom. An Ethiopian

Christian boy, adopted by a Jewish woman, is airlifted to Israel during Operation Moses and grows up dealing with the secrets of not being Jewish and having left his birth mother, 151 Chapel Street, 4:00 pm. Info: 613-789-3501

COMING SOON TUESDAY, MAY 31 JET’s 7th Annual Jewish Unity Live 2011, featuring guest speaker David N. Weiss and YouTube sensations the Maccabeats.

The evening will honour Rabbi Yehuda and Shaindel Simes and Eric and Claire Wilner.

National Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Drive, 7:00 pm.

Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 247.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1 Jewish Federation of Ottawa Annual General Meeting: All community members are invited.

Presentation of awards to community members will take place, 7:00 pm.

Info: 613-798-4696, ext. 236.

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.

Condolences Condolences are extended to the families of: George Grushman Anna Heilman Morey Lesser Saul Popoch Alfred Rudin, Toronto (father of Jeremy Rudin) Beatrice Stein Morris Yale, Montreal (father of Janet Yale) 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 613-798-4696, ext. 232.

Voice mail is available.

BULLETIN DEADLINES MAY 25 FOR JUNE 13 JUNE 29 FOR JULY 18 JULY 27 FOR AUGUST 15 AUGUST 17 FOR SEPTEMBER 5 AUGUST 24 FOR SEPTEMBER 19* SEPTEMBER 14 FOR OCTOBER 3 OCTOBER 5 FOR OCTOBER 31 * Community-wide Issue (all dates subject to change)

Meet The Romspen Fund’s Second Largest Investor As one of the founders of the Romspen Mortgage Investment Fund, Arthur Resnick knows many, many investors. Arthur doesn’t just sell units in the Fund, he helps manage it. But perhaps most important to Arthur’s success and future is the large number of Fund units that he has personally purchased.

Arthur Resnick knows full well how important the monthly income distributed by the Fund is to its 2000 investors, including himself, his family and friends.

416.966.1100 1.800.494.0389 www.romspen.com

You’ve heard of the Romspen Mortgage Investment Fund. Isn’t it time you found out more? Call us to receive an information package or visit www.romspen.com.

162 Cumberland Street, Suite 300 Toronto, Ontario M5R 3N5