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To Remember • To Congratulate • To Honour • To Say “I Care” •

Miri Eisin, Choices

page 23

www.ottawajewishbulletin.com Ottawa Jewish Bulletin Publishing Co. Ltd. •

volume 76, no. 1

october 3, 2011

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Editor: Michael Regenstreif $2.00

Paul Shapiro of U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to speak in Ottawa

By Benita Baker Imagine you are a Holocaust survivor trying to determine the fate of your loved ones, and an archive containing 50 million documents relating to Nazi victims existed and could provide you with answers – but – the documents were locked away and completely inaccessible to anyone.

It’s hard to believe but, until recently, that was the case.

Finally, in 2007, after six decades of being sealed, the documents became available to the public. Paul A. Shapiro, director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, was instrumental in making this happen.

Shapiro will be in Ottawa, November 3, to speak at a special Holocaust Education Month event.

The documents were discovered

by the Allies when they liberated the concentration camps and include scraps of paper, transport lists, registration books, labour documents, medical records and death registers, which note the arrest, transportation and extermination of the victims.

Also included is the famous “Schindler’s List,” with the names of the more than 1,000 Jews saved by factory owner Oskar Schindler; the records of Anne Frank’s journey from Amsterdam to BergenBelsen; 111,444 prisoner registration documents from the Ravensbrück women’s camp; 101,063 Gestapo arrest records from the city of Koblenz; and the Mauthausen concentration camp’s Totenbuch (Death Book), which details how, beginning on April 20, 1942, a prisoner was shot in the (Continued on page 2)

Provincial election round tables The Jewish Federation of Ottawa held round table discussions, September 14 and 15, with local provincial election candidates representing the Liberal, Progressive Conservative, New Democratic and Green Parties.

The same three questions on dealing with the growth of antSemitism, serving the vulnerable, and equity in funding religious education in Ontario were posed to all four parties. Bulletin editor Michael Regenstreif reports on pages 10 to 13.

Joan Rivers seemingly holds the audience in the palm of her hand at the Federation Campaign kickoff.

(Photo: Peter Waiser)

Joan Rivers keynote speaker at Federation Campaign kickoff

By Michael Regenstreif A couple of her one-liners hit the wall with a thud, but Joan Rivers had enough zingers to keep the full house at the National Arts Centre Theatre laughing hard through much of her 40 minutes on stage, September 12, at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s 2012 Campaign kickoff.

The 78-year-old comedian’s presentation was partly her familiar stand-up routine – Rivers’ victims ranged from the late singer Amy

Winehouse to her friend Barbra Streisand to herself – and partly a motivational speech detailing her ascent to stardom and how she was able to overcome such adversities and tragedies in her life as the suicide of her husband, estrangement from her daughter and a show business career that went through periods of faltering.

Rivers talked about her early days in show business starting out with such contemporaries as Streisand and Woody Allen and

eventually finding success on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Rivers was picked by Carson to be his permanent guest-host.

Among the career setbacks she mentioned was a falling-out with Carson when she was given her own show, the Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, on the new Fox Network in 1986.

Rivers’ show was produced by her husband, Edgar Rosenberg, who, she said, was not capable of (Continued on page 2)

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Page 2 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Joan Rivers with (from left) Campaign kickoff Co-chairs Jeff, Michael and Stephen Polowin.

(Photo: Peter Waiser)

Joan Rivers greets Belle Taft at a reception at the National Arts Centre prior to the Jewish Federation of Ottawa Annual Campaign Kickoff.

(Photo: Peter Waiser)

Annual Campaign helps build ‘a better community for all’ (Continued from page 1)

the task. The network wanted to fire Rosenberg, but Rivers stood by him and the show was cancelled. Three months later, Rosenberg took his own life.

Rivers said it was their daughter Melissa, still a teenager, who received the notification of Rosenberg’s suicide “because I was off having liposuction.”

Melissa, she said, blamed Rivers for her father’s death, which led to a long period of estrangement (the

two reconciled long ago and now work together on television projects).

Rivers attributed her recovery, and her ongoing well-being, to taking time to nurture relationships (particularly with her daughter and grandson), taking care of herself (she’s an unapologetic advocate for plastic surgery) and the rewards of volunteerism and charity work (among her charitable activities, she said, is delivering holiday meals to poor shut-ins).

The event co-chairs for the Campaign kickoff were brothers Jeff, Stephen and Michael Polowin.

Jeff Polowin acted as MC for the evening and spoke about the importance of the Federation’s Annual Campaign.

“Donations to the Annual Campaign support a powerful local and global network of aid, care, relief, advocacy, education, protection and emergency assistance. Your gift to the 2012 Annual Campaign will help strengthen our Jewish identity,

provide the much-needed support to those in need, inspire the next generation of community leaders and, ultimately, will build a better community for all of us.”

Polowin also introduced the 2012 Campaign video, narrated by Max Keeping, and a series of short speeches.

Student Alexandra Izso spoke about youth engagement and Federation support for Hillel Ottawa.

Lawyer Miryam Gorelashvili talked about the crucial help she received

from the Jewish community as an immigrant from Azerbaijan in 1994.

Event Co-chair Michael Polowin discussed the importance of Jewish education, including Jewish summer camp experiences, and Federation Chair Debbie Halton-Weiss spoke about volunteerism and the importance of the Campaign.

Campaign Chair Michael Landau and Women’s Campaign Chair Susan Viner-Vered ended the evening thanking everyone for their support for the Campaign.

Gaining access to documents ‘was a battle, not a process’ (Continued from page 1)

back of the head every two minutes for 90 hours as a birthday present for Hitler.

The documents were taken to the German town of Bad Arolsen, where they were housed in six buildings on more than 25 km of shelves, and put in the charge of the International Tracing Service (ITS), an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Bonn Agreement of 1955 established an International Commission of 11 countries to supervise the work of the ITS. The agreement also stated that no data that could harm the former Nazi victims or their families should be published. That is why the files were closed to the public, despite their vital importance to Holocaust survivors and researchers.

Here is where the story becomes a pawn of politics and indifference. Even though the ITS announced in 1998 that it was in favour of opening up the records, and even began scanning them into digital form, amending the Bonn Agreement required unanimous assent of all 11 signatories. Germany did not agree, and the remaining countries did very little to change its policy. Only four countries ratified the agreement.

“There wasn’t a great deal of interest in any of the governments to deal with this issue, including Israel,” said Shapiro in a tele-

Paul A. Shapiro, director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, will speak at a special Holocaust Education Month event, November 3, at Agudath Israel.

phone interview with the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. “It sends a strong message that we need to always be aware of how easy it is for good governments and good institutions to not pay sufficient attention to the needs and interests of people perceived to have no power, no in-

fluence.”

It is shocking to think that humanitarian and democratic organizations would not see the value of this archive to survivors, researchers and educators.

“If this was a story about 1,000 multi-millionaires, it would have been resolved much faster,” Shapiro said in a blunt assessment of the situation.

“The millions of pages of documentation from concentration camps across Europe open a window on the daily fate of those who were targeted by the Nazis and their allies,” Shapiro told the U.S Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs in March 2007. “This was not grand strategy, as history is so often written, but the grinding routine of man’s inhumanity to man, of prisoners’ efforts to survive one more day, of perpetrator calculations of how to reap the most benefit from the disposable human assets consigned to their control.”

His passionate appeal convinced Congress to act. Along with the long-term commitment of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to safeguard, catalogue and grant access to the archives, the documents finally became accessible to the public in November 2007.

“It was a battle, not a process,” said Shapiro.

But that was not the end of the story.

Since there was never an expectation the documents would be made public, they were never properly organized. While they are now available, it is extremely difficult to navigate through them to find specific information.

A joint cataloguing effort by ITS, Yad Vashem and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is currently underway. In addition, the museum has trained staff to help the public search the database.

Shapiro regularly speaks to groups about the significance of the archives. Now, because so many people have benefited from the opening of the documents, there is a growing understanding of their value for families, educators and researchers.

“The most powerful tool to generate interest is a good story,” said Shapiro. “And there are the stories of 17,500 people in these documents.”

Holocaust Education Month takes place October 23 to November 20 in Ottawa.

Paul Shapiro will speak Thursday, November 3, 7:00 pm at Agudath Israel Congregation, 1400 Coldrey Avenue. Tickets are $10 (free for students).

Contact Sarah Beutel at 613-798-4696, ext. 253, or sbeutel@jewishottawa.com for more information.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 3

Page 4 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

High Holidays feature

The surprising appeal of Kol Nidre

By Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman (JTA) – On his way to converting to Christianity, philosopher Franz Rosenzweig attended Yom Kippur services and was so moved that he decided to remain Jewish. One look at the most famous prayer for the occasion makes it hard to believe that he did not abandon Judaism all the quicker.

Kol Nidre actually is no prayer at all. Rather it is a legal formula in Aramaic that delineates obscure categories of vows and oaths known to the Bible and the rabbis, and then solemnly proclaims that we are free of them.

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The origin of this concern was our ancestors’ anxiety over reneging on promises sworn in God’s name.

The Talmud permitted such oaths to be canceled, but only one by one and in the presence of a Talmudic sage. The idea of a blanket nullification was an anathema to rabbis who first heard of it in the eighth and ninth centuries and denounced it as “a foolish custom.” But no one listened.

The prayer had emerged alongside a parallel practice of smashing clay pottery on which a formula to annul vows had been engraved, the idea being that your enemy might have conjured evil spirits and forced them magically to promise you harm. Breaking the bowl would free them from their promise.

Here, then, is a superstition-laden prayer that was condemned by rabbinic authorities but stuck anyway.

Its final version reflects a 12th-century substitution of “vows made in the future” for “vows made in the past,” so as to do away with its obvious disregard for Talmudic law.

Even so, it hardly represented Judaism at its moral best. In the 19th century it fueled German anti-Semitism to the point where Jews were hauled into court and forced to swear that they would be held answerable for the truth of any oath they took there.

Despite all this, Kol Nidre persisted, eventually supplied with unforgettable music and the choreography of a courtroom trial held before God. Jews were chanting it is as far back as 11th century France and 14th century German cantors were prolonging the melody to make sure latecomers got to hear it.

Polish Rabbi Mordecai Jaffe (1530–1612) sought in vain to change the text because cantors resisted coupling the age-old melody to new lyrics. Nineteenth and 20th century rabbis tried to substitute Psalms or write a new prayer altogether.

A more successful subterfuge was to play Kol Nidre on a musical instrument without words or to chant the prayer but omit the words (especially in translation) from the prayer book.

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What attracts us to this strangely haunting ritual of Kol Nidre?

Is it the music? Surely.

Is it also the high drama of the occasion – Torah scrolls dressed in white and held stunningly in full view of the congregation throughout the chant? Yes, it is that as well.

But it is more.

All These Vows: Kol Nidre (Jewish Lights) assembles the thoughtful and moving answers of more than 30 people – rabbis and cantors, artists and thinkers – the world over. My own view is that Kol Nidre connects us with the sacred.

Since the 19th century we have been on a road toward greater secularity – not necessarily a bad thing, if by ‘secular’ we mean the discovery that the world is

devoid of magical forces and that everything runs by an immutable set of scientific laws.

But, we have paid a price.

Secularization is the process of yanking at the curtain of the universe and

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discovering there is no wizard micromanaging it. But a universe that operates by natural law can still have mystery.

We pilgrims on the yellow brick road strive to be secular, scientific and savvy without giving up on God and the certainty that life still matters. On Kol Nidre eve, it is as if nothing has eroded that certainty because energy runs high, memories go deep and some things seem not to have changed in a thousand years or more.

People mistakenly think that they cannot pray because they cannot believe. The reverse is true. Prayer compels belief, not the other way around. For a very brief moment, as Kol Nidre is chanted, we are in touch with the sacred and with our finitude; with those we love and with the broader human universe; with our own better selves and with the God we are not even sure we believe in.

Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, a professor of liturgy, worship and ritual at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, is the editor All These Vows: Kol Nidre (Jewish Lights).

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October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 5

Guest Column

A call for reflection in Jewish community service

By Ilan Liebner Israel Advocacy Co-ordinator Hillel Ottawa The beginning of the academic year is an exciting time for our college and university students. They will come home from their journeys with new perspectives on identity and having arrived at new questions. Moreover, they’ll embark on new academic discoveries, meet new friends, creating bonds that will last a lifetime, and take upon themselves new causes – cultural, political and social.

For these reasons, the Jewish community must recognize the importance of engaging students on a positive level, offering meaningful experiences in the community that inspire confidence in one’s identity and empower engagement in learning and social justice. It was the great Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who recognized the importance of encouraging and instilling positive exploration when he famously said, “Wonder rather than doubt is the root of all knowledge.” Such activities – rooted in discovery – draw our link to something beyond ourselves, give us a greater cause, not only in the moment but in history, and so lead us to solidify our peoplehood.

Our students seek such experiences and it is these that inspire greater future engagement. What we must pursue, however, is the tying of service to community causes – civic engagement and social change – together with a deeper Jewish context for that commitment. Our tradition demands this, for our values are the rock for the activities we pursue.

This means offering creative opportunities for exploring the foundations and questions underpinning that commitment.

These activities can take various forms.

One form is discussions on important ques-

tions related to work that students have completed on campus. We can raise questions on how we view the relationship between Jewish community service and our notion of community, religion, peoplehood, memory and history, and even citizenship, justice and human rights. What do we strive toward when we stand against anti-Semitism and hate? What underpins our struggle for justice? How do our activities contribute to a more meaningful and respectful discourse? How do our community activities fit within a Torah context, and there from, what is the meaning of that context as a contributor to our lofty pursuits?

As advocacy comprises much of the work in our current campus environment, we would do well to explore the connection of Jewish identity to Israel. Ottawa’s Israel Awareness Committee President Hashem Hamdy contributed in this way by leading a discussion on this subject with fellow students at the beginning of September. It is this type of activity that I would like our students to pursue more frequently: reflective activities that draw our link to a cause beyond ourselves, that link us to peoplehood and to the need for a more reflective, respectful discourse on our campuses and in society.

We always want the Jewish community to be welcoming of students on our campuses.

We also seek to challenge our students to strive for greater goals and ultimately inspire them to affirm a commitment to Jewish values and community for many years ahead.

It is also a mission of mine to have members of our community take a student out for lunch or dinner over the coming months.

Meet with them, learn about them and their work on campus, and tell them about yourselves. Get in touch with me at israelaffairs@hillelottawa.ca and I’ll arrange the details.

Holocaust Monument to be discussed at Jewish War Veterans AGM

By Phil Pinkus Ottawa Post Jewish War Veterans of Canada The Ottawa Post of the Jewish War Veterans of Canada will hold our annual general meeting at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre on Sunday, October 23, 1:00 pm.

Part of the program will deal with the National Holocaust Monument, which Parliament has authorized to be built in Ottawa.

A fundraising campaign to finance the costs of planning, construction and maintenance of the monument will be held and the federal government will match the funds raised.

Laura Grosman, who spearheaded the campaign to create the monument while she was student at the University of Ottawa, and David Cooper, director of government relations for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, will speak about the monument at the AGM and answer questions about it.

This program will be of special interest to our community, particularly to Holocaust survivors and their families.

The event will include a catered reception. Tickets are $12.00 and must be purchased in advance by calling Kenneth Kavanat at 613-820-4282. Tickets will not be available at the door.

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Page 6 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Choices celebrates its fifth year in Ottawa!

Choices was introduced to Ottawa five years ago by Jennifer Kardash who was inspired by the Choices event in Vancouver, her hometown. Since the inception of Choices in Ottawa, 300 women come together each year to celebrate the important impact they have in our community.

Our goal is twofold: to reach out to new participants and to encourage those who have attended in the past to come together for a common cause.

As the main fundraising event for the Women’s Campaign, each woman who attends agrees to pay $36 for their dinner and to donate at least $150 to the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s Annual Campaign, which she has more than a year to pay.

We encourage students to attend by reducing the level of their commitment to $54.

The event is run by volunteers, with much-appreciated support from Federation staff. Table captains are recruited to invite friends, family and colleagues to join them at their tables. Another group of volunteers seeks sponsors for each of the

Federation Report Sandra Zagon Choices tables ($180) and to underwrite key costs of the dinner, all in an effort to make sure that every dollar donated by the participating women goes to the various agencies supported by the Federation.

To date, Choices has inspired 231 new women donors to attend and these new donors have given more than $83,000 to the Annual Campaigns. We want to make sure that this year adds to this most impressive record.

Choices, this year, takes place Tuesday, October 25 at Agudath Israel Congregation.

The evening starts at 6:00 pm with fabulous cocktails, followed by a delicious, three-course, sit-down dinner at el-

egantly set tables, all provided by Creative Kosher Catering (David Smith will be celebrating his fifth Choices dinner with us!).

Choices features a guest speaker whose address highlights the many choices she has made throughout her life to become the inspiration to women she is today.

This year’s Choices speaker will be Miri Eisin, a retired colonel who served in the Israeli intelligence community for more than 20 years.

Miri speaks on a variety of subjects including the Israeli/Arab conflict, Israeli decision-making, women in Israeli society, the Israeli intelligence community and more. She teaches in the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya and works extensively with media, student groups and diplomats.

And she is the mother of three children. Imagine the choices she has had to make!

And that is what Choices is all about: the choices we have to make about what

we do professionally and personally, and the balance between the two; how we bring up our children; how we interact with our grandchildren; how we support our friends, family and community.

In short, how we choose to live our lives to the fullest – helping those who need our help and accepting help when we need it. And we make these choices actively, passively, deliberately or not at all.

Regardless of how we come to decide on the myriad choices we are faced with in life, there is no doubt that we all have choices to make and we alone make them.

I urge you to choose to become part of this year’s Choices event. You can be part of this stimulating women’s-only networking evening by contacting Erin Bolling at 613-798-4696, ext. 232, or ebolling@jewishottawa.com.

I look forward to seeing you at Choices on October 25. In the meantime, I wish you and your families a happy and healthy New Year.

Despite predictions, Judaism has survived and prospered In 1907, Rabbi Israel Friedlander wrote about the Jews of North America: “The more emancipated, prosperous, successful Jews become, the more impoverished, defenceless and threatened becomes Judaism. … Of what use is it then to boast of the achievements of Jewish advancement in society, if purchased at the expense of the Jewish soul? Of what avail is prosperity and material success if they destroy the soul of the Jewish people?”

He was, of course, mistaken. Jews, and Judaism, did not disappear. Judaism responded to changing circumstances and survived and prospered.

In 1957, one year before Leon Uris’ bestseller Exodus appeared, U.S. scholar Nathan Glaser argued how slight the effect Israel was on “the inner life of North American Jewry.”

However, once again Jews surprised the experts. To the surprise of many, Exodus was an instant success, appearing for 19 consecutive weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

In 2002, Professor Stephen Whitfield wrote, “Exodus tapped a subterranean Jewish nationalism when the path toward full assimilation seemed unobstructed.” He quotes Uris as saying, “I have received thousands of letters in the last quartercentury telling me that Exodus has substantially changed the lives of many Jews, particularly in regard to young people finding pride in their Jewishness.”

We and our children do not live in the 1950s or ‘60s, or even in the 20th century.

Today, our children are most often taught about Tikkun Olam, a values concept that

From the pulpit Rabbi Steven Garten Temple Israel teaches our children that Jews are particularly concerned with the well-being of other human beings, the environment, and anything else that is ethically important for the times. Most often, our children learn there are few, if any, differences between themselves and their non-Jewish neighbours who may be equally interested in social justice, but call it by another name.

Today, Jews have few features that distinguish us culturally or politically from our neighbours. When Tim Hortons and McDonald’s serve bagels, when most people believe smoked salmon belongs in sushi, when as many Jews vote Conservative as NDP or Liberal, when Kabbalah is more associated with Madonna, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson than with Rabbi Isaac Luria, cultural integration seems complete.

Yet, in spite of doom and gloom, in spite of shrinking school enrolment, shrinking synagogue membership, Jewish institutional financial concerns, and Israel’s precarious situation in the world, we are thriving. We are thriving because we have shifted from counting Jews to focusing on Jews who count.

We Jews reinvent ourselves with dexterity. There are more Jewish-oriented

websites than ever before and they connect thousands of Jews to each other.

Online magazines like Tablet, online Jewish videos, online Jewish music, and online Jewish comic books are all reflections of Jews seeking out new ways to deepen our commitment to each other and our tradition.

It is impossible to list in a short article the myriad Jewish apps that allow you to pray, study Torah, find Midrashim, locate Jewish food, locate Jewish study groups and keep up with the latest news and opinion from Israel.

If there is concern about our future, it is expressed by those seeking to firmly hold on to the old and very old and who are un-

willing to let our innate sense of creativity blossom. How many exciting Jewish websites emanate from Ottawa? How creative are our synagogues and schools? How offbeat are our communal initiatives?

These are more important questions to ask than why more Jews don’t give to the Federation.

Yom Kippur is around the corner and we shall be asking for forgiveness for our personal sins. Perhaps, instead of beating our breasts in gloom and doom, we should say “Al Chet” for our lack of faith in our people’s ability to survive and say “Al Chet” for all the new and exciting ventures we did not explore this past year.

G’Mar Chatimah Tova.

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October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 7

York University incident demonstrates need to understand context York University in Toronto, like Carleton University here in Ottawa, and any number of other universities in Canada and around the world, has been at the centre of anti-Israel activism in recent years.

Too often, such activism has been seen to degenerate into anti-Semitism. Jewish students rightly have become sensitive to issues of anti-Semitism and have learned how to respond when its ugly head is reared on their campuses.

It’s important, though, when responding to an incident that it’s not a matter of jumping too quickly to conclusions – particularly a wrong conclusion. That’s what happened at York last month when a veteran social sciences professor was delivering his introductory lecture to a course called Self, Culture and Society and was misunderstood by one of the nearly 500 students in the class.

While this cautionary tale happened at York, it could just as easily have been at Carleton, the University of Ottawa, or almost any other university campus.

The professor was telling the students that personal opinions were not relevant in this course and went on to challenge the very idea that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

And he offered an example of what he

Editor Michael Regenstreif deemed an unacceptable opinion.

“All Jews should be sterilized,” he said, is just such an unacceptable opinion.

A fourth-year student attending the firstyear class apparently missed or misunderstood the context of the professor’s statement and concluded he was an anti-Semite saying all Jews should be sterilized.

Rather than challenge the statement, or ask for clarification on the professor’s intent in making it, the student immediately left the class and enlisted Hasbara at York – a Zionist organization on campus – in contacting the media, the blogosphere and Jewish community groups to attack what she perceived to be an anti-Semitic opinion expressed by an anti-Semitic professor.

The class in question took place on the afternoon of Monday, September 12. The student’s report of the ‘anti-Semitic incident’ quickly went viral on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and B’nai

“This event is an appropriate reminder that great caution must be exercised before concluding a statement or action is anti-Semitic.”

Brith Canada took up her case.

However, by the time the story made the Wednesday edition of the Toronto Star and two columns in Thursday’s National Post, the context of the professor’s remark was clear.

In a statement circulated by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), he said it was an example “of the fact that opinions can be dangerous and that none of us really do believe that all opinions are acceptable.

“For the record, I am also Jewish, which undoubtedly influenced my choice of this example of a reprehensible opinion.”

CIJA released a statement describing the incident as “a very unfortunate misunderstanding.” The professor’s “use of an abhorrent statement was intended to demonstrate that some opinions are simply not legitimate. This point was, without ill intentions, taken out of context and circulated in the Jewish community. … This event is an appropriate reminder that great caution must be exercised before concluding a statement or action is anti-Semitic.”

Indeed, context is important. Too often, we see words taken out of context, misinterpreted and twisted from their intent.

This, of course, does not mean we should stop being vigilant or stop standing up when anti-Semitism and other expressions of prejudice or hatred do rear their ugly heads.

Yom Kippur and Sukkot We finished production of this issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin just before Rosh Hashanah and it was scheduled to arrive in your home in between the start of the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, the most solemn day on our calendar. Then, just a few days later, the celebrations of Sukkot and Simchat Torah will be upon us.

May all of the holidays be meaningful ones for you.

Mickey, Bugs, SpongeBob and Caillou When I was a kid, I used to watch cartoons. Lots and lots of cartoons.

You too? Small world.

As in many of life’s domains, when it came to cartoon watching, there were choices to be made and rules to be followed.

Just as you can’t be a fan of both the Red Sox and the Yankees, or of both Coke and Pepsi, or of both boxers and briefs, so too did animation aficionados of my generation have a central conundrum to sort out: Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny.

The classic Walt Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons were created in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. By the time I had grown into full cartoon craziness, those classic animated shorts had been repackaged into TV anthology series.

There was the Wonderful World of Disney, home to Mickey Mouse and other examples of anthropomorphic sweetness and light.

And then there was the Bugs Bunny/ Road Runner Hour featuring Warner’s misanthropic nastiness and bite.

Today, of course, they’re just two sides of the same lunchbox – part of a multi-billion-dollar, multi-media, multi-logo industry.

But, back then, they were two conflicting halves of an unbridgeable psychosocial divide.

Well – something like that.

Alan Echenberg As a kid, my loyalties resolutely fell on one side of the divide: Bugs Bunny and his co-conspirators Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, et al.

While the typical Disney cartoon plot would see Mickey and his pals getting themselves into and out of sugary situations, the Warner Brothers cartoons displayed a darker, nastier, more risqué and more broadly comical edge.

The Warner Brothers cartoons were full of crazy slapstick, hilarious wordplay, winking double-entendres and comedic violence.

In fact, the typical Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck or Elmer Fudd cartoon would consist of two characters attempting to murder, consume or, at the very least, completely humiliate each other.

When I was a kid, there was much handwringing over the violent content of Bugs Bunny cartoons, which, at the time, were already two to four decades old and originally created for more mature audiences.

Elmer Fudd would fire his rifle straight

at Daffy Duck’s face, causing Daffy’s bill to spin around to the back of his head. Wile E. Coyote would accidentally blow himself up trying to catch Road Runner. Yosemite Sam, dressed as Lawrence of Arabia, would beat an uncooperative camel into unconsciousness.

You don’t see that level of violence anymore in kids’ cartoons. On the other hand, contemporary kids do have much more ready access to media images that are far more explicit and violent than anything dreamed up by animators half a century ago.

Yet, despite all of the handwringing, there is no compelling evidence that my childhood exposure to the “wascally wabbit” did any lasting damage to my psyche or negatively affected my social development, or that of fellow members of my generation.

Just the opposite, I’d argue. At worst, Bugs Bunny was a benign time-waster. At best, it contributed to my cultural education in the same way as the books I read, the films I watched and the music I listened to growing up.

This brings me to one of Bugs Bunny’s 21st century spiritual descendants: SpongeBob SquarePants.

On the off chance you are unfamiliar with the ubiquitous cartoon character, SpongeBob is a cheerful sponge with, yes, square pants. As his theme song recounts,

he “lives in a pineapple under the sea” in the underwater community of Bikini Bottom.

The cartoon, aside from being wildly popular on TV screens and lunchboxes of kids around the world, has all of the fast pace, wild slapstick and inspired lunacy of the old Warner Brothers cartoons, but without nearly as much of the violence.

Recently SpongeBob, too, has been the object of some grownup handwringing. An article in the latest issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, says the cartoon has a negative impact on the concentration levels of young children, as measured right after watching it.

Researchers compared children’s cognitive abilities after watching SpongeBob to those same abilities after watching Caillou, a notably slower-paced cartoon character.

Those who watched SpongeBob scored lower on measurements of focus and concentration.

The measurements came immediately after the viewing. The study did not test for long-term effects.

As a Bugs Bunny veteran and a parent who happily has watched SpongeBob with his children since they were very young, I have some skeptical questions about these findings: Are kids distracted because the cartoon is harmful? Or are kids distracted because the cartoon is just plain interesting?

Page 8 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Mailbag

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cilitate a balanced dialogue.

Keep up the good work and yasher koach to Mira.

Shana Tova.

Barbara Levine

Letters welcome Letters to the Editor are welcome if they are brief, signed, timely and of interest to our readership. The Bulletin reserves the right to refuse, edit or condense letters. The Mailbag column will be published as space permits. Send your letters to Michael Regenstreif, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1R9; or by e-mail to bulletin@ottawajewishbulletin.com.

Isaac Muzikansky launches CD of Yiddish songs at Soloway JCC

By Esther Williams Ottawa-based folk singer Isaac Muzikansky launched his new CD, My Parents’ Favourite Yiddish Songs, on September 15 at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (JCC).

The evening, said Muzikansky, was a tribute to his parents and a celebration of Yiddish culture.

Accompanied by Larry Tarof on keyboard, Ian Schwartz on clarinet and Steve Shapransky on drums, he performed songs from the CD. For two of the songs he was joined by singer Shaina Lipsey.

The crowded room was filled with warmth, good spirit, enthusiasm and smiling faces.

Muzikansky spoke movingly about his family and their experiences of being separated during the Second World War and being miraculously reunited just before the end of the war.

He also spoke of the good feelings he remembered when the family sang Yiddish songs at the end of almost every day.

It was obvious others in the audience had their own happy memories of the songs.

Copies My Parents’ Favourite Yiddish Songs are available for sale at Ottawa synagogue gift shops and at the Greenberg Families Library at the Soloway JCC. For booking information, or to purchase the CD directly, contact Isaac Muzikansky at muzmarisa@rogers.com or 613-225-0203.

Samples of some of the songs can be heard on his website at isaacmuzikansky.com.

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Values, Ethics, Community As a long-time reader of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you and your team for making space for a diversity of views and perspectives in the Bulletin.

Mira Sucharov’s column, Values, Ethics, Community, is an especially important addition to the paper. It is the first column that I turn to when the Bulletin arrives in our home.

It is always thoughtful, provocative and grounded in the columnist’s own personal and political experience as a Canadian Jew with strong ties to Israel.

At this time in history, when Israel increasingly risks being isolated in the region, as well as in the world, it is terribly important there be a space for us to explore the many options that face Israeli politicians and citizens, and to fa-

bulletin@ottawajewishbulletin.com

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 9

Canada becomes first country to sign the Ottawa Protocol

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND More than trees 613.798.2411

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Help provide Israel with more and more good news A dear friend once told me, “Look at the front page of the newspapers in Canada and then look at the front page of newspapers from Israel and around the world. You are very lucky to have the news you have.”

Indeed, we are very lucky to know less political strife and insecurity than many parts of the world. Even as I write this on the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I feel that our crises are easier to deal with in many ways than the crises that face Israel every day. As Canadians, we want to work to keep our news leaning towards the positive. As Jews, we want to help Israelis open their newspapers to more and more good news.

JNF’s efforts to strengthen Israel’s ability to provide the water, food, air and ambiance needed to sustain both the bodies and the spirits of its vibrant population are good news. We have the honour in Ottawa to have our contribution to the Jerusalem Post be a picture of Sara Vered at the opening of the upgraded educational compound at David Ben-Gurion’s desert home in Kibbutz Sde Boker. JNF, through Israel’s large extended family, has contributed a lot of good news, from fire trucks to support for families affected by rocket attacks, from water reservoirs to fields of carrots.

JNF Ottawa is deeply committed to supporting the country we have worked so hard to make self-sufficient in water and green enough to support plant, animals and people. On behalf of our JNF Ottawa Board and the Negev Dinner Campaign Cabinet, we ask you to support JNF’s efforts by sponsoring a table at the Negev Dinner, contributing to our upcoming Tu B’Shevat Tree-A-Thon, or donating a tree to commemorate significant events in your life.

This year’s Negev Dinner Campaign Cabinet includes Norman Barwin, Alan Blostein, Lisa Cogan, Barbara Crook, Jane Gordon, Martin Gordon, Brian Pearl and Harvey Slack – Friends of Israel, all. A very special thank you to the Campaign Cabinet and the tireless team of volunteers for the tremendous effort they are putting into organizing the Negev Dinner and raising the funds in support of this year’s project: Sderot Recycled Water Reservoir.

I urge you to help our JNF team, including the Campaign Cabinet, the committed canvassers, and Vera Klein, our tireless Dinner Chair, in their work by supporting Ottawa’s Negev Dinner through sponsorships, advertisements, tributes, and the purchase of tables.

Most importantly, we hope you, as a Friend of Israel, will join us at this extraordinary event we will share with Barbara Walters.

For tickets or corporate sponsorship, please call Susan Schwartzman at 613-798-2411 or Gail Grief, Executive Director, Eastern Canada at 1-514-934-0313.

Sefer Bar/Bat Mitzvah Inscriptions Matthew Lloyd Garber, by his proud parents, Richard Garber and Nathalie Thibault; Emma Khazzam, by her proud parents, Marie Carmen Berlie and Charles Khazzam.

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).

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird signed the Ottawa Protocol on Combating Antisemitism on September 19.

Canada is the first country to officially sign the Protocol, an action plan developed during the second annual conference of the Interparliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism, which took place in Ottawa in November 2010. Signing it, said the ministers, demonstrates the Government of Canada’s support for it and a commitment to its goals.

“The Government of Canada is a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism,” said Kenney. “The Ottawa Protocol complements what Canada is already doing to combat hatred and discrimination, including anti-Semitism.

“We are a member of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. Here at home, we have launched programs to promote integration and social cohesion of Canadians from all backgrounds.”

The Protocol will help nations to measure and articulate their progress in com-

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney with the Ottawa Protocol on Combating Antisemitism, September 19.

bating anti-Semitism. It calls for leaders of faith groups to combat hatred and discrimination, including anti-Semitism; governments to reaffirm and implement the United Nations’ 1948 Genocide Convention; the establishment of an international task force to identify and monitor hate on the Internet and the development of a comprehensive system to record all hate crimes, in-

cluding anti-Semitic ones.

“Signing the Ottawa Protocol signals our continued commitment to leading a co-ordinated global effort to

fight anti-Semitism,” said Baird.

“Just as Canada is moving ahead to develop and build a National Holocaust Monument in the National Capital Region, we also plan to take our commitment to parliamentarians around the world and suggest that they join us in signing the Protocol.”

The ministers added that the Government of Canada’s commitment to combating anti-Semitism is why Canada would not participate in the events commemorating 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action, sometimes called Durban III. “Our government has lost faith in the Durban process and will not take part in this event, which commemorates events that have promoted racism rather than combat it,” noted Kenney.

The Durban III events took place September 22 in New York City.

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Page 10 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Green Party would abolish all faith-based school funding

By Michael Regenstreif Local candidates running for the Green Party of Ontario in the October 6 provincial election say Ontario’s system of providing public funding for Catholic schools but not other faithbased schools is unfair and should be replaced by a single school system for all.

Ontario remains the only province in Canada that provides public funding for one faith-based school system to the exclusion of all others.

The Jewish Federation of Ottawa regards the exclusion of other faiths from school funding in Ontario to

be an “historical injustice” and raised the issue when the Federation’s Communications and Community Relations Committee met with candidates representing the Liberal, Progressive Conservative, New Democratic and Green Parties in roundtable meetings, September 14 and 15.

The Green Party was represented by candidates Dave Bagler, running in Ottawa Vanier; Alex Hill, running in Ottawa West-Nepean; and Kevin O’Donnell, running in Ottawa Centre.

“The current system [of school funding] is wrong,” said Bagler. “It is not just

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and is discriminatory. There should be one high-quality system for all.”

Bagler added that, although he is not Catholic, he attended the Catholic high school in his neighbourhood because he felt it was a better school than the public one.

Hill, a political science student at the University of Ottawa, said space for diversity should be created in the public school system and cited the Africentric Alternative School in Toronto as a model.

Funding for private, faith-based schools should remain “as is,” said Hill. If the Jewish community’s schools receive funding, he said, other communities will also want it. “[The] education [system] should integrate communities,” added Hill.

Hill’s comments at the discussion were in contrast with the possible interpretation of a targeted fundraising letter he sent to Jewish voters in Ottawa West-

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(Left to right) Federation CEO Mitchell Bellman; Green Party candidates Alex Hill, Dave Bagler and Kevin O’Donnell; Federation representatives Jonathan Freedman and Jonathan Calof.

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Nepean citing his “exemplary Jewish education at Hillel Academy and …

Yitzhak Rabin High School.”

In the letter, Hill wrote, “My parents had to give up too much so that my siblings and I could be afforded a thorough Jewish education,” before going on to describe Ontario’s “discriminatory educational system that entitles Catholic children to a state-funded religious education while denying nonCatholics the same right.”

The Green Party, wrote Hill, is “committed to levelling the playing field in Ontario when it comes to education. As your member of Provincial Parliament, I would fight for fairness in education on a daily basis.”

Nowhere in the letter does Hill say the Green Party policy is to abolish funding

for all faith-based schools.

On the question of growing anti-Semitism in the community, including campus incidents surrounding polarizing events such as Israel Apartheid Week, Hill said attempts to silence critics of Israel backfire. Dialogue, he said, should be fostered and hate speech condemned.

“The rhetoric must be toned down,” added Bagler.

“All students should be able

to express themselves safely and comfortably.”

The third issue addressed in the meetings was assistance to vulnerable communities.

O’Donnell said the Green Party would increase budgets for health and education and would bring in minimum targets for affordable housing. Affordable units, he added, should be included in condo developments.

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October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 11

NDP would seek equity in school funding issue

By Michael Regenstreif Ottawa area New Democratic Party (NDP) candidates running in the October 6 Ontario election agreed with candidates from other parties who suggested the public is not prepared to address the issue of public funding for non-Catholic faith-based schools.

However, the NDP candidates also agreed it was unacceptable for Ontario to remain the only province in Canada that provides public funding for one faith-based school system to the exclusion of all others.

The Jewish Federation of Ottawa of Ottawa regards the exclusion of other faiths from school funding in Ontario to be an “historical injustice” and raised the issue when the Federation’s Communications and Community Relations Committee met with candidates representing the Liberal, Progressive Conservative, New Democratic and Green Parties in roundtable meetings,

September 14 and 15.

The NDP was represented by candidates Wendy Byrne, running in Ottawa WestNepean; Ric Dagenais, running in Nepean-Carleton; Wali Farah, running in Ottawa South; Paul Étienne Laliberté-Tipple, running in Ottawa Vanier; Douglas McKercher, running in Ottawa Orleans; and Anil Naidoo, running in Ottawa Centre.

Public funding of faithbased schools “is an issue for many groups,” said Byrne.

“There has to be equal funding for all groups, or for none.”

There should be a movement to equity, she added.

“The structure has to change.”

Farah said school funding was also an issue in the Muslim community and that a wider consensus must be built within society-at-large. “The NDP will support equity,” he added.

When asked about problems engendered by growing anti-Semitism, the candidates

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(Left to right) Federation representatives Jonathan Calof, Jason Moscovitz and Jonathan Freedman; NDP candidates Douglas McKercher and Wendy Byrne; Federation CEO Mitchell Bellman; NDP candidates Anil Naidoo, Paul Étienne Laliberté-Tipple, Ric Dagenais and Wali Farah.

(Photo: Michael Regenstreif)

pointed to the party as a “community-builder.”

“The NDP has always been strong on combating hate crimes and bullying,” said Byrne.

“Violence is not legitimate,” she added. “Safety and security take precedence.”

Farah recalled the antiracism policy introduced to Ontario under Bob Rae’s NDP government and pointed to two community-building initiatives that should be encouraged and expanded upon.

Farah said his children were students at Charles H. Hulse Public School and participated in the Grade 6 pen pal exchange with Hillel Academy students in which children from the predominately Muslim public school developed friendships with counterparts from the Jewish community school.

He also pointed to the Jewish-Somali mentorship program developed by Jewish Family Services.

Farah said he would en-

courage the expansion of such programs.

“Tolerance and inclusion are fundamental,” added Naidoo, “but are only the beginning.” Political leaders, he said, need to be pro-active in community engagement. “Society is fragile – work must be done every day.”

The third issue addressed with the candidates was assistance to vulnerable communities such as the developmentally disabled. The Federation question cited the two-year funding freeze faced by Tamir and other such organizations in Ontario.

Laliberté-Tipple said the freeze demonstrated “bad management or bad plan-

ning,” while Byrne said there should have been more foresight in its application. “You can’t put a freeze on in a vacuum.”

Dagenais added that, as board president of the Causeway Work Centre, an organization that serves clients with

mental health and disability issues, he fully understands the precarious position organizations like Tamir and the Causeway Work Centre are put in by funding freezes.

“Our clients have faces and we have our success stories,” he said.

What’s happening at

Congregation Beth Shalom Sunday, October 9

Sukkah Decorating Party

12:00-3:00 pm

Thursday, October 20

Simchat Torah Dinner

8:00 pm

Wednesday, October 26

Annual General Meeting

7:00 pm

Sunday, October 30

Film and Discussion

3:30 pm

Brighton Beach Memoirs

Saturday, November 5 Limmud and Sunday, November 6 Adult Education Lecture Series

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For more information, please contact the synagogue at 613-789-3501 or info@bethshalom.ca www.bethshalom.ca

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Page 12 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Progressive Conservatives: public not prepared to address school funding

By Michael Regenstreif Local Progressive Conservative Party candidates held out little hope the party would revisit the issue of public funding for non-Catholic faith-based schools should party leader Tim Hudak be successful in his bid to become Ontario’s next premier following the October 6 election.

Although Ontario remains the only province in Canada that provides public funding for one faithbased school system to the exclusion of all others, the Tories remember the beating they took when they campaigned on the issue in the 2007 election.

The Jewish Federation of Ottawa regards the exclusion of other faiths from school funding in Ontario to be an “historical injustice” and raised the issue when the Federation’s Communications and Community Relations Committee met with candidates representing the Liberal, Progressive Conservative, New Democratic and Green Parties in roundtable meetings, September 14 and 15.

The Progressive Conservative Party was represented by candidates Robert Dekker, running in Ottawa Centre; Randall Denley, run-

(Left to right) Federation representatives Jason Moscovitz, Jonathan Calof, Jonathan Freedman and Mitchell Bellman with Progressive Conservative candidates Andrew Lister, Fred Sherman, Robert (Photo: Michael Regenstreif) Dekker, Randall Denley and Jason MacDonald.

ning in Ottawa West-Nepean; Andrew Lister, running in Ottawa Orleans; Jason MacDonald, running in Ottawa South; and Fred Sherman, running in Ottawa Vanier.

Denley, an Ottawa Citizen columnist currently on leave from the newspaper, said that although he favours school choice, the “public was not prepared to endorse” public funding for schools of nonCatholic faiths.

“It would be difficult for the party to champion the issue now,” said Denley, pointing out the issue was not in the Progressive Conservative platform for this election.

When asked about growing anti-

Semitism in the community and on university campuses, the candidates condemned all manifestations of hatred and said they would stand against them.

The candidates were particularly vociferous in condemning events like Israel Apartheid Week that have marginalized Jewish and proIsrael students on university campuses.

“It is unacceptable when one side silences the other,” said Lister.

Israel Apartheid Week “crosses the line,” added Dekker, who said he would go to Carleton University as an elected MPP to stand against manifestations of anti-Semitism.

MacDonald, who is director of communications at Carleton, pointed out the university did act in 2009 when it banned an Israel Apartheid Week poster depicting an Israeli helicopter gunship targeting children in the Gaza Strip.

MacDonald also pointed out the problem of anti-Semitism was not unique to Carleton. “It’s a problem at all universities,” he said.

MacDonald added that anti-Israel campaigns at universities don’t necessarily originate with students.

“They are funded from outside the universities,” he said, “possibly from outside Canada.”

Denley added that he was puz-

zled by the endurance of anti-Semitism. “We can’t seem to stop it,” he said.

The third issue addressed in the meetings was assistance to vulnerable communities such as the developmentally disabled. The Federation question cited the two-year funding freeze faced by Tamir and other such organizations in Ontario.

Denley said the Progressive Conservatives do not have a specific platform position on the provincial funding freeze to organizations such as Tamir, but said these types of agencies “are partners to government.”

Denley said it was the job of MPPs to advocate on behalf of organizations like Tamir doing important work and a Tory government would “cut waste to spend on things that matter.”

“Ontario does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem,” said Sherman. “Our priorities are health care and education and we value community organizations [like Tamir].”

“We won’t throw money at anyone who asks,” added MacDonald.

“But our commitment is to frontline services.”

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October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 13

Liberals won’t revisit public funding for faith-based schools

By Michael Regenstreif The Liberal Party of Ontario running for its third consecutive mandate under Premier Dalton McGuinty – the MPP for Ottawa South – will not change its policy on public funding for non-Catholic faith-based schools. Ontario remains the only province in Canada that provides public funding for one faith-based school system to the exclusion of all others.

The Jewish Federation of Ottawa regards the exclusion of other faiths from school funding in Ontario to be an “historical injustice” and raised the issue when the Federation’s Communications and Community Relations Committee met with candidates representing the Liberal, Progressive Conservative, New Democratic and Green Parties in roundtable meetings, September 14 and 15.

The Liberal Party was represented by MPP Yasir Naqvi, running for re-election in Ottawa Centre, and Megan Cornell, the candidate in Carleton-Mississippi Mills. Min-

ister of Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli, running for re-election in Ottawa West-Nepean, arrived at the end of the meeting citing a family health issue for his delayed arrival.

Naqvi was emphatic in stating the Liberals had no plans to change their policy.

“The issue is not unique to the Jewish community,” Naqvi said, acknowledging that he has also had similar representations from the Muslim and Hindu communities about school funding.

Naqvi said the Liberal focus would be on ensuring that services for children, such as after-school recreation programs, would be available to all.

The school funding issue “would be a tough discussion to have again,” said Cornell.

“It was not a healthy debate,” when the issue was central to the 2007 election campaign.

However, despite Naqvi’s categorical rejection of faithbased school funding as an agenda item for another Liberal government, Cornell said she would be “personally

(Left to right) Federation representatives Jonathan Freedman, Mitchell Bellman and Debbie Halton-Weiss; Liberal candidates Megan Cornell, Bob Chiarelli and Yasir Naqvi; and Federation representatives Jason Moscovitz and Jonathan Calof.

(Photo: Michael Regenstreif)

open to discussion” on the issue.

On the question of growing anti-Semitism in the community, including campus incidents surrounding polarizing events such as Israel Apartheid Week, Naqvi said anti-Semitic incidents were hurtful to all people.

“It is a Canadian value,” he said, “that we talk to each other,” and, as a political leader, he strives to ensure dialogue.

Naqvi said that, while freedom of speech is an important value, hurtful speech is not.

It’s important, he said, “that people check their prejudices at the door” when coming to Canada, and cited government-funded programs at Jewish Family Services of Ottawa combating anti-Semitism as an example of ways the Liberal government has been proactive on the issue.

Naqvi added that “because

of my name and my faith, people try to solicit me” [in anti-Israel campaigns], but he has rebuffed all such approaches.

He said he’s learned much from talking with Holocaust survivors and would champion programs to bring them and their stories to public schools.

Cornell also said more should be done at the public school level to promote dialogue between communities,

that leadership from government and political parties was important in combating antiSemitism and other prejudices. She also expressed support for the role of the Ontario Human Rights Commission in addressing certain specific complaints.

The third issue addressed in the meetings was assistance to vulnerable communities such as the developmentally disabled. The Federation question cited the two-year funding freeze faced by Tamir and other such organizations in Ontario.

Naqvi defended the Liberal government record on social services, but admitted “the last couple of years have been tough.” The funding freeze, he said, was a temporary measure.

Naqvi added that some social service funding, downloaded from the province to municipalities under earlier Progressive Conservative governments, are being uploaded back to the province by the current Liberal government.

Page 14 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

DJ who mixes Jewish and Israeli music with hip-hop to play Ottawa

By Yaelle Gang for Hillel Ottawa Not just anybody can mix “Lecha Dodi” with Akon and make it sound good. But Diwon, a Brooklyn-based DJ who mixes hip-hop with Middle Eastern and Jewish music, can.

Diwon, whose real name is Erez Safar, is going to be spinning at Babylon Nightclub in Ottawa on October 6. The show is called Sabra Sessions.

Diwon started creating music as a child while growing up in a Jewish neighbourhood.

“Since most of my friends went to Hebrew school, they would be in school until 6:00 pm and I was getting out around 2:00. So I would just do music when I came home,” Diwon said.

But, it was after he graduated college that he started taking music more seriously and learning it as a professional skill.

Music, he said, is about “crosscultural dialogue and community, unifying people through cultural exchanges in music and poetry.”

Diwon says he does not have one particular message he tries to convey, but he avoids making music about drugs and degrading women, like many hip-hop artists do.

“I’m not really contributing anything positive by doing that kind of music,” he explained.

Both Judaism and Israel influence Diwon’s music.

“I’m passionate about both Judaism and Israel. So, hopefully, when I’m mixing, that passion comes out,” he said.

Mixing music, he added, is an effective way of introducing people to what Israel has to offer because people get into the beat of the music and then hear and enjoy Israeli music along with it.

Ross Diamond, executive director of Hillel Ottawa, organized the concert.

Diamond said he decided to organize the concert after attending a Skrillex concert at Bluesfest.

“I saw a lot of Jewish university students that were there and really loved electronic music that is

unique and interesting,” he said. “I figured, what better way to get students engaged in Hillel and Israel than by bringing what they love most to them?”

Diamond said he hopes that, when people see Diwon, they will realize how being Jewish can be expressed in different ways, like with really cool and interesting music. He hopes the concert will bring “a new sound and new look to Ottawa that students don’t typically get in a non-Jewish environment with a Jewish subtext.”

The event was made possible by sponsorships from the Vered Israel Cultural and Educational Program, the Embassy of Israel in Canada, the Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv and the Canadian Friends of Hebrew University.

Sabra Sessions with Diwon takes place Thursday, October 6, 10:00 pm, at Babylon, 317 Bank Street. Advance tickets are $5.00 and available by e-mailing info@hillelottawa.ca. Tickets at the door are $7.00. For more information, visit hillelottawa.ca.

Hillel Ottawa presents Diwon at Babylon, October 6.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 15

Back to class for Chabad Hebrew School

Ottawa Torah Centre’s Chabad Hebrew School has started the new school year with 80 students enrolled.

The Grade 5 and 6 students seen here are happy to be back.

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Page 16 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Avigdor Lieberman:

‘Arab Spring’ turning into ‘Arab Winter’

By Michael Regenstreif The result of upheavals in the Arab world may be worse than the regimes Arabs are revolting against, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman told an invited group of Jewish community leaders during a visit to Ottawa.

Lieberman was in Ottawa, September 19, in advance of the United Nations General Assembly, for meetings with Canadian cabinet ministers – including Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird – and with interim Opposition Leader Nycole Turmel and interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae. While here, Lieberman – typically regarded to be the most controversial figure in Israel’s government – gave an hour-long briefing to Jewish community leaders from Ottawa and Montreal at the Rideau Club.

The briefing was organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

“It was important [for me] to visit Canada before going to the UN,” Lieberman said at the briefing, “to thank the Canadian government for being Israel’s most reliable and friendly ally.”

Lieberman added that the understanding of Israel among all of Canada’s main political parties was “very unusual.”

The Israeli minister began the briefing

by dismissing suggestions the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has anything to do with the uprisings seen this year in several Arab countries.

The revolutions, particularly the one begun in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, “created many expectations,” but the results “may be worse than before.”

The so-called “Arab Spring,” he said, “is turning into Arab Winter, a winter that will be ‘colder than Canada.’ I am not optimistic.”

The absence of a middle class, Lieberman said, is a significant problem in the Arab nations.

“Their values are completely different from the West,” he said. “It is impossible to impose democracy in countries like Yemen.”

Israel, he added, represents the front line of Western civilization in the region.

Turning to the peace process, Lieberman dismissed the concept of giving up land for peace.

“We’ve given up territory three times the size of Israel,” he said, “and we see no peace and security.”

Lieberman recalled being fired from the cabinet of then-prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2004 due his opposition to Israel’s disengagement from Gaza.

Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird welcomes Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman to Ottawa, September 19.

(Photo: Peter Waiser)

“Giving up Gaza was an insane policy of Sharon,” he said. “Every gesture of goodwill they see as weakness.”

In any case, Lieberman said he – as foreign minister – had more pressing priorities than the Palestinians’ gambit for statehood recognition or Israel’s peace process with them.

The biggest challenge, he said, is the situation with Iran and its quest for nuclear weaponry. The second most important challenge is posed by the situations in Egypt and Syria. The third is the changed relationship with Turkey and with Turkey’s emergence as an oppositional power to Israel.

The situation with the Palestinians, said Lieberman, ranks below those challenges on his list of priorities.

In a question period following his remarks, Lieberman expanded on Israel’s relationships with Turkey, the United States, and the Palestinians.

The current situation with Turkey, he said, is a result of a strategic decision of the Turkish government, “which wants to be the leader of the Muslim world. Any confrontation with Israel is a win-win situation for Turkey.”

The United States, he said, remains Israel’s “biggest ally and friend. We have so many common ties and issues.”

There are “no tensions” between the

U.S. and Israel, Lieberman said, pointing to the U.S. assistance in evacuating the Israeli Embassy when it was recently under attack in Cairo, and to the U.S. support for Israel at the United Nations.

Lieberman referred to the Palestinians’ bid for statehood recognition at the United Nations as “the private project of Mahmoud Abbas.”

The Palestinians, he said, “are de facto divided between Fatahland in Judea and Samaria and Hamasistan in Gaza.

“Abbas asked ‘What do you want from me?’ when Israel was under attack by rockets from Gaza, but now claims to represent all Palestinians at the UN.” Abbas, he added, has repeatedly postponed Palestinian elections because he knows he’ll lose.

Stressing that he was expressing his personal opinion, and not the official position of the Israeli government, Lieberman said his response to the Palestinian’s statehood bid at the UN would be to cut all ties to the Palestinian Authority, including the transfer of money.

“They must pay a price” for their actions, he said.

Lieberman said he saw no hope for peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

“Land for peace doesn’t work. We need new concepts,” he said.

Letters welcome Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman briefs a group of Jewish com(Photo: Peter Waiser) munity leaders in Ottawa as Ambassdor Miriam Ziv looks on.

Letters to the Editor are welcome if they are brief, signed, timely and of interest to our readership. The Bulletin reserves the right to refuse, edit or condense letters. The Mailbag column will be published as space permits. Send your letters to Michael Regenstreif, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, 21 Nadolny Sachs Private, Ottawa, Ontario K2A 1R9; or by e-mail to bulletin@ottawajewishbulletin.com.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 17

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Page 18 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Montreal Yiddish Theatre Singers to entertain at Yiddish award presentation

By Roslyn Wollock Soloway JCC The creative, rich and heartfelt music of New York’s Second Avenue Yiddish theatre district will come to life on stage at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (JCC) as part of the second annual Yiddish Studies Award of Excellence celebration.

In conjunction with the Soloway JCC, the University of Ottawa’s Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program will present the Ethel Cooper Yiddish Studies Award of Excellence to Sarah Anne Gisele on Sunday, October 30, at 2:00 pm.

A freilach afternoon of entertainment by Montreal’s Yiddish Theatre Singers will follow the award presentation.

The group, all veteran performers with Montreal’s Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, will perform

Aron Gonshor

Lisa Rubin

songs that first came to life in the many Yiddish theatres that once dotted Second Avenue on New York’s Lower East Side.

They’ll also perform several

Broadway selections. The songs will be performed in Yiddish and English.

The four singers – Aron Gonshor, Lisa Rubin, Karen Karpman

Karen Karpman

Sam Stein

and Sam Stein – have performed in such Yiddish Theatre productions as On Second Avenue, Those Were the Days, The Great Houdini, Fiddler on the Roof, The Jazz Singer and The Wise Men of Chelm.

Earlier this year, Stein and

Rubin starred alongside Theodore Bikel in Lies My Father Told Me. Tickets are $10 (free for students with ID) and will be available at the door.

For more information, call 613798-9818, ext. 254, or e-mail rwollock@jccottawa.com.

With JET’s assistance you too can build a sukkah

By Ilana Albert-Novick for JET Once Yom Kippur break-the-fasts are cleared away and cleaned up, Jewish homes will start getting ready for the next major celebration, Sukkot, this year beginning on the evening of Wednesday, October 12.

I had learned about Sukkot, I had visit-

ed other people’s sukkahs, but I had never had my own.

Last year, with JET’s assistance, our family built our first sukkah. Our four children were involved in decorating our sukkah and our family enjoyed many meals together in this temporary abode. It had even more significance for us last year as our kids had entered their first year at

the Ottawa Jewish Community School.

This year, we hope we can remember how all the pieces fit together.

JET (Jewish Education through Torah) is known for its classes, programs and events for Jews of all backgrounds, levels of knowledge and practice. But many may not know that JET also helps people get started in adding Judaism to their lives and homes.

Rabbi Yisroel Meir Butrimovitz helps Mitchell Novick build his family’s first sukkah.

From koshering your kitchen for the first time, preparing for Jewish marriage and teaching parenting classes, to helping build your first sukkah, JET is there for you.

If you dream of having your very own sukkah this year, make it a reality by contacting JET at 613-798-9818 ext. 247 or jet@jccottawa.com.

Sarah Novick enjoys her family’s new sukkah.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 19

Page 20 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Sukkot feature

Taking seven steps to ‘Sukkot happiness’

By Dasee Berkowitz (JTA) – But are you happy?

No, this isn’t your mother wanting another update on your life. It’s not Dr. Phil’s provocative question through your TV/computer screen as you sit (safely) on your couch. And it isn’t someone reading you the American Declaration of Independence wondering if you have really pursued this inalienable right enough.

It’s the holiday of Sukkot speaking.

The rabbis nicknamed the harvest festival Zman Simchateinu (the time of our happiness). What, exactly, does a holiday that invites us to eat all of our meals in a small hut al fresco – often in the chilly, windy days of fall – have to do with being happy?

‘Sukkot happy’ is a bit different from the kind of happy that our post-modern culture espouses. A quick search on Amazon.com reveals scores of books that aim to help readers embody this elusive ideal. The Buddhist variety extols striving for inner peace.

Positive psychologists understand attaining happiness as a key component to mental health. And happiness in the self-help movement embraces happiness ‘plans’ like Seven Steps to Being Happy.

The happiness that Sukkot encourages can be found when one peruses the pages of a book buried deep within the Amazon website. It is Ecclesiastes, which we read during

Waving the lulav and etrog, symbols of the fall harvest, is one way to Sukkot pleasure – especially for the kids.

(Photo: Dasee Berkowitz)

Sukkot. The festival begins this year on the evening of October 12.

Ecclesiastes wouldn’t strike you as a get-happy-quick piece of literature. It is pessimistic and cynical – just count the number of times the word ‘vanity’ is used.

Nor is it the most popular book in the Bible.

In fact, the Talmud relates that the rabbis

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wanted to hide the work, in part because of how some statements contradict the Torah itself.

It does, however, contain deep wisdom about what gets in the way of true happiness. Ecclesiastes offers us perspective and manages our expectations. To the question “Am I rich enough?” Ecclesiastes answers, “A lover of money never has his fill of money, nor a lover of wealth his fill of income, that too is futile. As his substance increases, so do those who consume it. This also is vanity.”

To the question “Am I smart/wise enough?” it comments, “Much study is a weariness of the flesh.”

And to the issue “Am I popular enough?” Ecclesiastes responds, “A good name is better than precious oil.”

The book of Ecclesiastes is keenly aware that death will come in the end for all mortals, so it trumpets robust relationships, saying that “Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun. …

For that alone is what you can get out of life.”

Ecclesiastes ends by offering an even greater perspective. What’s most important is to “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

While all pursuits under the sun might be short-lived, the one thing that is enduring, according to Ecclesiastes, is that which exists above the sun. The book speaks about cultivating a relationship with God, but, more generally, it is the cultivation of relationships that lie beyond the self, which endures and leads to happiness.

According to Ecclesiastes, being in service to God – and interpreted more broadly, being of service to others – might be a key to what leads us to joy.

I think to myself, when am I really happy? While I do love kicking back on the

beach and reading a good book, I find this kind of activity relaxing – but I’m not sure it leads to deep happiness. A sense of joy surfaces when I reflect on ways that my life is in service to others, whether it is by nursing my child, teaching others, or volunteering my time and skills to an organization in the community.

For this Sukkot, consider what makes you happy. Try out this plan: Seven Steps to True Happiness: Sukkot Style.

• Build a sukkah. Even if you don’t have a backyard or garden, ask about the roof of your building. Or find someone who has one and have a meal there. Does the food taste any different to you outside? How does eating in a temporary structure make you appreciate the permanence of your home? What other new perspectives do you gain?

• Invite wisdom into your sukkah. In the spirit of ushpizin, inviting guests into your sukkah, invite the wisdom of friends and relatives (living or dead) who cannot join you this Sukkot. Write down a saying or phrase from them that inspires you and turn it into a piece that can decorate your sukkah, or share it aloud at your next meal.

• Invite a guest to your table. In the spirit of repairing relationships – something we focus on greatly during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – make time to share a meal together with a friend you haven’t seen in awhile or from whom you have grown distant.

• Enjoy the harvest. Wave the lulav and etrog (especially fun to do with kids!), symbols of the fall harvest. Learn about what produce is harvested in your area and even go to a farm stand or a farm. Speak to the farmers and ask them about when they are the most ‘happy’ in the work they do.

• Read the book of Ecclesiastes. Pick one or two phrases that strike you and consider how they might relate to your own life.

• Learn about homelessness in your community. While a sukkah is a makeshift dwelling place that will last seven days for us, there are others in our community, without homes, who live outdoors in makeshift dwellings year round.

• Help others. Think about a way that you can serve one person inside your intimate circle and one person outside it, including a stranger.

The holiday of Sukkot falls immediately after the long process of introspection we engage in during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We move from the conceptual world of fasting and prayer to the practical one of harvested fruits and sukkah building.

We have time to think about how to live a life of service – to God, Torah, friends, family and our communities.

If there is a “season set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven,” then let this season be one of genuine rejoicing.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 21

New Year’s message to the Jewish communities of the Diaspora

By Shimon Peres President of Israel Hopefully, this New Year will herald the realization of our aspirations for peace, greater security and economic growth, as we continue to strive to safeguard the future of the Jewish people and strengthen the ties between Israel and our Jewish brethren in the Diaspora.

Dramatic changes have swept across our region in the past year, changing the face of the Middle East forever. It has been generated by a young generation that bravely fought to free themselves of the shackles of the oppressive regimes that governed them, putting their lives at risk as they resolutely demanded their basic rights for freedom, democracy, dignity and jobs. Until the dust settles, it is hard to forecast what lies ahead, but, along with the risks, the coming year could offer tremendous opportunities and possibilities, and we must have the courage and foresight to seize this window of opportunity to secure a better future. A trend towards democracy and freedom in the region will benefit Israel as well, and we shall closely watch its progress.

Changes have also occurred in Israel. The grassroots social justice movement that has sprouted up across the country has demonstrated that the people of Israel are engaged and socially aware, denoting a spirit of solidarity for each other and their society. They are prepared to fight for a better future for themselves and their children, and it has been an uplifting experience to witness the sight of hundreds of thousands of people peacefully raising their voice in unison for their rights.

Here too an opportunity for change exists and must not be wasted.

Jews in Israel and Jews in the Diaspora share a common bond and destiny; they are responsible for one another. These bonds must never weaken, but always strengthen, and, to this end, educating Jewish youth about Israel, while cultivating their engagement to Israel, is of paramount importance. No less important is the education of Israeli youth about their brothers and sisters in the Diaspo-

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ra, making it clear to young and old, in Israel and abroad, that Israel belongs to all of the Jewish people, and that a strong Israel-Diaspora relationship constitutes the bridge that connects us. Together we can develop a vision for the future of the Jewish people based on the Jewish values of Tikkun Olam and peace.

This year will be a critical period for Israel, the entire region, and the world, with complex challenges ahead. Standing united while facing existential threats will give us the strength to prevail. But it will also be a period of opportunities, and I hope we shall take advantage of these opportunities to create a year of promise, growth and security.

As we look towards a better tomorrow, from Jerusalem I extend my warm and best wishes to the Jewish people around the world for a year of peace, joy, good health and prosperity.

Shana Tova.

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Page 22 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

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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 August 29 and September 13, 2011 inclusive.

HONOUR FUNDS

Tania Firestone Family Fund In Honour of: Ida Firestone Happy birthday by Sharon Weinstein Malcolm and Vera Glube Endowment Fund In Honour of: Nanie Abrams Congratulations on your 90th birthday by Vera and Malcolm Glube

Ruth and Irving Aaron Family Fund In Honour of: Robin Mader Mazal tov on David’s wedding with love by Ruth and Irving Aaron

Nell Gluck Memorial Fund In Honour of: Drs. Charles and Aviva Freedman Mazal tov your 45th wedding anniversary by Henry and Maureen Molot and family Ken Ainsworth In honour of your milestone birthday by Julia Gluck, Ted Overton and Jess Maureen Molot Mazal tov on your milestone birthday with love by Julia Gluck, Ted Overton and Jess Mr. and Mrs. Ian Glen Best wishes on your big move by Julia Gluck and Ted Overton Dr. Mira Shuman Mazal tov on your recent accomplishments and your big move by Julia Gluck and Ted Overton In Memory of: Mother of Linda Kamerman by Henry and Maureen Molot and family

Fred and Esther Ballon Family Fund In Honour of’ Lorne Rachlis Happy birthday by Fred and Esther Ballon

Gunner Family Fund In Honour of: Rose Kostiner Happy 90th birthday by Sol and Estelle Gunner

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.

Morris and Lillian Kimmel Family Fund In Honour of: Harvey and Judith Slipacoff Mazal tov on your anniversary by Morris Kimmel Steven and Shelli Kimmel Mazal tov on your 30th wedding anniversary by Brenda Levine and Janet Kaiman and families Stephen and Debra Schneiderman Family Fund In Honour of: Schneur Zalman Teitlebaum Mazal tov on your upsherin by Stephen and Debra Schneiderman Harold and Lillian Shoihet Family Fund In Memory of: Mother of Rabbi Eliezer Ben-Porat by Dovid Shoihet and family Toby and Joel Yan Family Fund In Honour of: Maureen and Henry Molot Mazal tov on the birth of your twin granddaughters with love

by Toby and Joel Yan Carole and Norman Zagerman Family Fund In Honour of: Ruth and Manny Shacter Mazal tov on your special anniversary by Carole and Norman Zagerman

*************** IN HONOUR OF: Brenda and Marvin Segal Mazal tov on becoming grandparents by Bev and Bryan Glube Miriam Szabadi Happy special birthday by Bela Gelbman Aaron Lerer Happy 90th birthday by Carol and Larry Gradus Maureen Molot by Miriam Bloom Schneur Zalman Teitlebaum Mazal tov on your upsherin by Esty Bybelezer Howard and Carol Lithwick Mazal tov on the marriage of Jonathan and Elana and Shana Tova by Maureen and Jeff Katz Ingrid Levitz by Stephanie Levitz Morris Kimmel Shana Tova by Lily Feig Janet and Stephen Kaiman and family Shana Tova by Lily Feig Brenda and Nathan Levine and family Shana Tova by Lily Feig Steven and Shelli Kimmel and family Shana Tova by Lily Feig Malka Feig Shana Tova by Lily Feig Zahava and Barry Farber and family Shana Tova by Lily Feig Leslie and Sara Breiner and family Shana Tova by Lily Feig IN MEMORY OF: Philip Teitelbaum by Danny and Rhonda Levine Elizabeth Milk by Ursula and Andrei Grushman

*************** Ritual Supplies Fund In Honour of: Issie Scarowsky and the Shul Leadership In appreciation for the weekly Sabbath services and Shana Tova to your families by Morris Schachnow

IN OBSERVANCE OF THE YAHRZEIT OF: Pearl Stoke by Golda Feig-Steinman, Ned, Noam, Adina and Yona Steinman R’FUAH SHLEMA: Debi Shore by Marion Silver and Alan Brass

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.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 23

Miri Eisin: veteran Israeli intelligence officer and government spokesperson on making her choices

By Louise Rachlis Miri Eisin says she represents “a working mom’s dilemma – a little to the extreme.”

The retired colonel, who served for 20 years in the Israeli intelligence community, is the keynote speaker at Choices, an event of the Women’s Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa. The evening for women will be held October 25 at Agudath Israel Congregation.

Choices brings women together to be inspired and motivated to become involved in the greater good of their community.

“I believe each one of us needs to find her own comfort zone,” Eisin told the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin from her home in Israel.

“More work, less work. More family, less involved – whatever works for each one of us.”

Eisin served in combat units at the brigade and division level, in the research department at general headquarters and in the northern regional command, and as assistant to the director of Military Intelligence.

She was the Israeli government spokesperson during the Second Lebanon war in July 2006 and continued in the position of the prime minister’s foreign media adviser until the end of 2007.

As well, she served as a special spokesperson during Operation Defensive Shield in April-May 2002, and also as a government spokesperson in Operation Cast Lead in December 2008-January 2009.

As a spokesperson for the Israeli government, prioritization and organization were key factors.

“The challenges facing Israel

‘The challenge for Israel is how to realign itself in the changing Middle East’ Miri Eisen comments on Israel’s current situation with Turkey and Iran: “The Middle East as a region is in the midst of a major change. There are three regional powers in the Middle East – Turkey, Israel and Iran. All three are watching the upheaval; Turkey and Iran are more directly involved.

“One aspect of the regional turmoil is religious – Turkey is Sunni while Iran is Shiite. A different aspect of the unrest is the domestic woes of each country and especially the lack of representation in their countries’ decision-making process over decades.

“Turkey presents a clear Muslim secular model – the state rules, not the Muslim law, yet with great respect to the Muslim background. Iran, of course, represents a completely

different model – a Muslim religious law state, no secular laws with all the implications.

“As such the Israeli-Turkish relationship has been evolving for the last decade and has reached a tipping point over the last year.

“Turkey is a regional power and a growing world influence.

The present Turkish government views Israel as a regional challenge and not asset. Both sides are still trying to understand the new environment, which is mainly unstable at the moment.

“Israel, in this case, is perceived again as the outsider – not Muslim – and also as oppressing Muslims.

“The challenge for Israel is how to realign itself in the changing Middle East when we still don’t know what the end result will be.”

in the public arena are many, so the first was then – and still is – choosing both what you do and also what you do not do,” she said.

“The task of prime minister’s media adviser has two parts – advising the PM and co-ordinating media time for him, and presenting the PM’s positions to the media.

“The PM does not meet the media all the time. The press adviser talks with the media 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

She chose to focus on prioritizing the different media outlets, delegating the responsibility to talk to all the media representatives between the members of the team.

“The international media stationed in Israel get immediate responses to their questions,” she said. “This is all still in response to their agenda without the Israeli side refining the agenda.

“I was more frustrated by the fact that we seldom defined the agenda than by our lack of capability to respond.”

Married with three children, Eisin holds a BA from Tel Aviv University in Middle Eastern studies and a master’s degree in security studies from Haifa University.

She is also a graduate of Israel’s National Defense College.

She has been a public servant her entire adult life, serving in the Israel Defense Forces for 20 years, and, after retiring from active duty, was requested to serve in the Prime Minister’s Office.

“I feel privileged that I was able to do so,” Eisin said, attributing part of her willingness to serve the State of Israel to her background as an immigrant.

“My parents made aliyah to Israel when I was eight years old.

Part of it is the sense that we need to continue to serve to have this country and to make it flourish. At the end, a lot of it has to do with the quality of people you meet along the way.”

She felt she had skills that were used to their utmost in the Prime Minister’s Office, and there was a growing section of people and or-

Miri Eisin to speak at the Choices event, October 25.

ganizations willing to help out “with a guiding hand.”

But the real challenge is to have a family life as well as an important career, she said.

“I am married, we have three children, and the balance between our careers and family life is the one which still follows me all the time.

“I feel each person needs to find their own personal balance which makes them comfortable.

“For example, the only reason I finally left the PM’s Office was my lack of capability to strike a comfortable balance for me – either I felt I was not doing the job properly, but mostly I felt that I was missing every event, small and large, in my children’s and family life.

“Each person handles this enormous challenge in a different way.”

Eisin said a career in the security realm is not an easy one.

“I have been stationed in positions where I came home once a week, but I did that before having children.

“I am a military person that has taken her security background, and in my second or third career, I am using my knowledge to assist others understand the complex challenges we face on our side of the ocean.”

These days, she feels she has struck a comfortable balance.

“I both work extensively, lecturing and teaching, and I am home with the kids enough to feel I have an impact on their upbringing.”

As a teacher and lecturer on contemporary Middle East and security issues, she gets the opportunity to “brief in-depth visiting diplomats, leaders, journalists, students – and to define the subject, as opposed to responding to events.”

Eisin teaches an honours course on the narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, investing much of her time to research on the narratives and to expanding the knowledge of the implications to the conflict in the region.

She hopes some day to write a book on it.

“For now, I am gathering material and using it as a teaching base for my extensive lecture series,” she said.

“I am sure that women can do it all,” said Eisin, “each one in her own way! Doing it all means making choices – and that is the hard part.”

Choices takes place Tuesday, October 25, 6:00 pm, at Agudath Israel Congregation, 1400 Coldrey Avenue. For more information, contact Erin Bolling at 613-798-4696, ext. 274, or ebolling@jewishottawa.com.

Page 24 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 25

Honouring tradition in light of compassion and empathy I walked into shul on Friday, September 9 and walked out, on Sunday, September 11, feeling like a transformed person emerging from a transformed community. The institutional bricks were the same, but the gaps had been filled with a new mortar, a mortar of hope.

From an institutional culture where I worried complacency might be taking hold, as is often the case with large institutions whose positive legacies cast a long shadow on change, I discovered a culture of grappling, a creative and exciting vulnerability – never before had I openly wept around a board table – and an openness to reconsidering what was possible.

In short, my synagogue had become both a beit midrash (house of study) and a beit knesset (a house of prayer; also a house of gathering and entry). And, for that Shabbat at least, it was a true kehilla kedosha (sacred community).

As an academic and active Jewish community member, much of my life is devoted to teaching, learning, speaking, and the transfer of ideas. But I was totally unprepared for the searing emotional punch Rabbi Steven Greenberg delivered over three days of teaching, listening and engaging as a scholar-in-residence at Agudath Israel Congregation.

The major theme of the weekend was GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered) inclusion, but it was so much more.

Being gay and Orthodox, Rabbi Greenberg struggles daily with opposition from his own community. He’s the only rabbi I know of who visits congregations, inspires them and leaves them saddened by his departure, but whose own movement would never hire him as a pulpit rabbi.

The weekend was also about how we confront difference

in our own lives and as communities. It was about what frightens us and why that might be the case. It was about empathy – not pity. And, for me, it was about examining how our own sense of insecurity and fear of being judged by others can engender closed and unwelcoming stances. Being secure, being healthy within one’s own four walls, having a solid culture of care, is what leads to open and inclusive communities.

How often do we stop to introduce ourselves to someone new or at least new to us? Maybe we don’t because we assume we’re the one who is new; we are the one who is Other.

But, in that I-Thou encounter, we are always new to each other; there is always more to understand and to learn, and experiences with which to empathize.

During the weekend, people came to Agudath who had not been there before. Many members of Keshet, Ottawa’s group for LGBT Jews, participated. Individuals encountered one another in a new way.

On Saturday night, following a screening of the documentary Hineini, about a lesbian coming out in her Boston Jewish day school, there was important dialogue about how Ottawa’s Jewish community can make our gay teens feel safe, loved and accepted. To that end, I would like to help start a Jewish community GSA (gay-straight alliance), something already popular at many high schools.

I would like to identify key individuals at an array of Jewish community institutions – not only schools – who would volunteer to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Jewish youth, a number of whom must be hurting from the many negative messages they have encountered from rigid Judaic textual readings regarding their emerging sexual identity.

Values, Ethics, Community Mira Sucharov The beauty of a GSA is that its membership is not only for gays and lesbians; it’s for anyone who wants to see a healthier community relationship to GLBT issues.

Contact me at OttawaJewishGSA@gmail.com if you would like to be involved.

In a most Judaic and scholarly fashion, Rabbi Greenberg, a lover of Torah, taught us how tradition can be honoured while being interpreted in light of compassion and empathy. GLBT Jews need not renounce their relationship to Judaism, even to halachic Judaism. And Jewish communal institutions need not, and, indeed should not, treat gays and lesbians as somehow less deserving of a place at the evolving Judaic table.

How can we, as a community, ride the wave of support that this Shabbaton spurred? How can we make sure our doors are open – truly open, not in name only – to all who wish to experience their Jewish identity in a communal context?

How can we make sure we are honouring all members of our community and helping sanctify the life-cycle events of not only straight Jews, but of gay Jews too, even if that means taking a second look at our existing texts and prayers to tease new truths out of them?

We are a people of the book, but we don’t keep those books in closets. We hold them high for all to read, and talk about, and to engage with, together.

Mira Sucharov, an associate professor of political science at Carleton University, blogs at Haaretz.com.

Jewish genealogists gather for annual conference The 31st annual conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies took place August 14 to 19 in Washington D.C. and was attended by 1,200 family researchers. This was my seventh conference since 2002 and I was joined by friend and fellow Ottawa genealogist Hymie Reichstein. Attendees hailed from across the United States, Canada, Israel, Europe and Australia.

People ask me what takes place at these conferences. Of course, the main objective of doing genealogy is to discover more about one’s roots, and spending almost a full week with so many fellow researchers provides several ways to advance this goal, the first being the series of lectures and meetings scheduled over the six days.

Each day was set up like a school timetable. There were three periods in the morning and three in the afternoon.

There were also events taking place over breakfast, over lunch and in the evenings. In total, almost 250 sessions were scheduled and attendees were able to pick and choose which lectures and meetings to go to. Sometimes, that involved tough choices when several sessions of interest took place at the same time.

About half the sessions were geographic in nature dealing with researching particular regions such as Galicia or Hungary. Most of the others fell into categories including cemeteries, genetics, the Holocaust, Internet and software, maps, publishing, research and genealogical society management. The presenters were experts in their fields and most sessions were 75 minutes, allowing time for questions and answers. Discussions often continued in the hallways long after the allotted time had elapsed.

Regional sessions I attended related to Galicia and Bessarabia, two areas where my ancestors once lived. At one of the Galician lectures, an 1875 map was displayed of

Connecting the branches John Diener the market square of the town of Grzymalow, where my father was born. I was excited to find the Diener name in the fine print on several of the shops in the town square. Obviously, these 19th century merchants were related to me.

I don’t have space to describe all the lectures that I attended, but they were quite varied in both content and style.

One very interesting and entertaining session was presented by a criminal investigator who explained how the techniques he uses to track down criminals and witnesses can be used to find long lost relatives. Other sessions I went to dealt with Israeli databases, searching for information on people who were in Displaced Persons camps, and a very informative and humorous two-part lecture on the 1940 U.S. census.

These conferences are also about networking. At registration, everyone is issued a badge displaying their name, and the towns and surnames they are researching. At my first conference in 2002, I was at a session, and noticed that the woman from California sitting next to me was also researching Grzymalow. We compared notes, have been good friends ever since, and have collaborated on many projects over the years. I have come to know many of the important people in Jewish genealogy and have used these friendships

to further my research and to get answers for others. For the past several years, several of us with roots from a town named Zhvanets have got together over lunch one day of the conference. While we catch up on what we have discovered individually over the past year, we also imagine that our great-great-grandparents may have known each other in the shtetl almost two centuries ago.

Attending these conferences, which are held in different cities each year, provides me with another reason to travel and meet more relatives. As my family tree has grown, I have discovered that my cousins are distributed all over the map. In Washington, I went out four separate evenings with different family members who live in the area. Two of these were close cousins I had discovered through my research and never met before. While my days at the conference were spent learning about how to discover more about those who had lived before us, I was thrilled to spend my evenings listening to great stories about branches of my own family who are alive and well.

After these intense days of learning and talking with fellow genealogists, I always find myself with renewed enthusiasm, which encourages me to dive back into my personal research using what I have discovered at the conference.

The 2012 conference will be held next July in Paris and many North Americans who attend will use it as jumpingoff point to visit their ancestral towns in Eastern Europe. I may do the same, and, as in Washington, I have discovered relatives in both Paris and Versailles, so I’ll be sure to connect with them.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa has resumed our monthly meetings.

Let us know at jgsottawa@gmail.com if you’d like to be on our mailing list and be notified of meetings

Page 26 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

Kibbutz life through a child’s eye The Last Rain

By Edeet Ravel Penguin Canada 231 pages The kibbutz movement is in deep transition. What once were socialist beacons embodying a collectivist spirit and pioneering dream are now mostly being privatized, and seniors who devoted their youth to building the kibbutz now see their pensions in jeopardy.

Along comes Edeet Ravel’s slight but layered novel to help anchor us in the collective bedrock on which kibbutz dreams were built. Author of a gripping trilogy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – Ten Thousand Lovers, Look for Me, and A Wall of Light – Israeli-Canadian author Ravel gives us a more studied, and much less plot-driven, meditation of kibbutz life in the early decades of the state.

At the heart of the novel is six-year old Dori, who has recently returned to the fictional Kibbutz Eldar in Northern Galilee with her family after two years away in Canada.

Ravel modelled Eldar on Sasa, the kibbutz where she spent the first seven years of her childhood.

Children’s voices narrating adult novels are often an effective conceit, but Ravel doesn’t keep us glued to Dori’s voice alone. Along with vintage photographs dotting the text, Ravel intersperses the narrative with various historical

Book Review Mira Sucharov fragments, including journal entries from the founder of a kibbutz in the 1920s.

The historical fragments focus on the experience of pioneering life as centring on the vagaries and beauty of nature, against the background of a subtle awareness of those the Zionist dream displaced.

“1 February 1949. Not rain but snow, snow! Twelve inches deep in places and still falling. The whole appearance of the place is transformed. The ruins of the village look like reclining polar bears and the terraces and familiar paths are hidden. The pipes are frozen and a few people have twisted their ankles in bad falls.”

The narrative centres on Dori’s experience in the Children’s House, that utopian experiment in inculcating Israeli children with the collectivist ethic. (Kibbutzim did away with Children’s Houses as early as the 1960s, a process that continued into the 1980s, but their legacy remains strong in the Israeli imagination.)

Dori’s difficulty readjusting to the kibbutz bedtime routine grants her the unique privilege of having her parents tuck her in each night. There are jealousies among the children regarding private property (particularly gifts from grandparents who live outside the kibbutz or even abroad), there is secret and inappropriate sexual experimentation, and the narrative is punctured by episodes of violent childcare verging on abuse.

Still, Dori owns this world as one would a delicate nest egg, and describes her surroundings with a sense of childlike wonder and sentiment.

Dori makes it clear her passion for the kibbutz resides largely outside of the confines of the Children’s House.

Outdoors, nature presents a sort of paradise. “This is the best hike of my life. Everything is beautiful. There’s a whole field of red anemones! Shiny red with black in the middle. Maybe if we’re lucky we’ll even see a cyclamen under a rock.”

Also spotlighted is the philosophical tension between serving the needs of the micro-community and pursuing grander goals such as Eldar’s experiment in bringing in distressed and neglected youth from around the country, an experiment that yields mixed, and sometimes frightening, results.

Most unique about the novel is Ravel’s use of extensive

endnotes, including mentions of doctoral dissertations, transcripts of Internet chat conversations, newspaper clippings and historical elaborations of episodes such as the doomed Israeli hikers’ infiltration to Petra in the 1950s. It’s a creative concept that lends a contemporary and even postmodern flair to a book anchored in the past.

While the obsessive academic in me didn’t want to miss a note – many of them do fill in interesting historical blanks and Hebrew-English wordplay for the uninitiated – I felt mildly frustrated by being taken away from the rhythm of the prose.

But, pondering it further, perhaps Ravel is using the form as a metaphor for the frustration that children often feel when their voices are interrupted.

The novel suggests a longing for an earlier time of heady, self-sacrificing pioneering days. But, in its complexity of form, and in its rendering of challenging moments in the life of a kibbutz child, the novel does manage to present kibbutz life in much of its complexity.

Fans of Ravel’s earlier trilogy (as I am) won’t get the same breathless plot and emotional immersion, but they will get a taste of the inner world of one Israeli child in the 1960s, and, by extension, the longings of a nation.

Readers and advertisers are advised the next edition of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin will be published on Monday, October 31, 2011.

Deadline: Wednesday, October 5, 2011.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 27

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Page 28 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

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In appreciation to: Carole and Norman Zagerman for receiving the Machzikei Hadas-Zagerman Nursing Award

by Lise and Mark Thaw.

Rabbi Bulka for receiving the Machzikei Hadas-Zagerman Nursing Award by Lise and Mark Thaw.

HENRY (HANK) TORONTOW 39TH BOY SCOUTS Birthday wishes to: Alan Torontow by Jean Naemark.

STEPHEN AND GAIL VICTOR ENDOWMENT FUND Speedy Recovery to: Ruth Freiman by Gail and Stephen Victor.

Rich Page by Gail and Stephen Victor.

Mazal Tov to: Ingrid Levitz on Naomi’s most recent accomplishment by Gail and Stephen Victor.

MIRIAM AND LOUIS WEINER ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Louis Weiner by Ronnie, Marilyn and Ethan Goldberg.

HALTON/WEISS FAMILY FUND R’fuah Sh’lemah to: Mark Thaw by Debbie and Ron Weiss.

Mazal Tov to: Howard Fremeth and Melanie Teplinsky on their marriage by Ron and Debbie Weiss.

In appreciation to: Stephen Victor by Debbie Weiss.

ROBERT WENER AND LYNNE ORECK WENER FAMILY FUND Birthday wishes to: Kenny Goldstein by Lynne, Bobby, Taryn, Eleni, and Hart.

Mazal Tov to: Kenny Goldstein on the birth of his grandson

by Lynne, Bobby, Taryn, Eleni, and Hart.

R ESPECT. T RADITION.

NATHAN, DAVID AND MAX ZELIKOVITZ FAMILIES FUND Best wishes to: Marlene Burack in her new home by Norma and Phil Lazear.

Kelly Funeral Homes has a long tradition of respecting your traditions.

ZIPES KARANOFSKY FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND Condolences to: Nicole Paquette and family on the loss of a beloved father by Rick and Helen Zipes.

THE WOMEN’S PHILANTHROPY PROGRAM Providing support for services and programs that directly benefit women and children.

WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE ENDOWMENT FUND In memory of: Gdalyah Rosenfeld by Diane Koven.

Birthday wishes to: Shelley Berezin by Diane Koven.

THE SAUL AND EDNA GOLDFARB B’NAI MITZVAH PROGRAM RYAN JEREMY BAKER B’NAI MITZVAH FUND Anniversary wishes to: Saul and Harriette Brottman by Beatrice Lesser and family.

NOAH ZELIKOVITZ B’NAI MITZVAH FUND In memory of: Irving Nemiroff by Lenora, Evan, Noah and Arielle Zelikovitz.

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.

Our dedicated professionals are proud to help local families uphold a rich heritage. Learn how advance planning can ensure those traditions are carried out as they should be.

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Page 30 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

A troika of wings recipes A chicken wing craving is a strange thing. It can sneak up when you least expect it. You will be minding your own business for weeks, munching your way through sensible breakfasts of plain fat-free Greek yogurt and berries packed with enough antioxidants to ward of the Plague and virtuous lunches of humus and carrot sticks when, suddenly, like a tsunami, the urge for something sweet or spicy, but undeniably crispy and finger-licking yummy takes over your brain.

You must give into this craving for wings. If you don’t, you end up sneaking chocolate chips from the baking drawer, Cheetos from the kids’ snack cupboard, and Peanut

M&M’s from your spouse’s secret candy drawer (not such a secret, Rog!), none of which will satisfy the wing craving, but will leave you with feelings of shame, guilt and queasiness. (Not that I speak from personal experience, but I have heard this does happen to some people.)

So, for the sake of good mental health, it’s best to go directly for the wings. I will not address physical health here.

This is a column about chicken wings, after all. And, every once in a while, it’s OK to give into that craving.

The first recipe is a classic: Honey Garlic Wings. I have been making this recipe for years. I can’t even remember where I learned how to make these. Maybe it was in the food section of the Ottawa Citizen in the early ‘90s. They were a staple when my kids were little.

The second wing recipe, Smokin’ Wings with Chipotle Marinade, is for when you need a little heat to temper all that fat. These are not painfully hot, make-you-sweat chicken wings. They are just pleasantly spicy, make-you-faintlyglow hot.

The final wings recipe rounding out my troika is Uncle Earl’s Wings. Uncle Earl is my friend Edward’s uncle. Edward made these for us as a cocktail snack while we were at the cottage this summer. He brought out a huge heaping platter of these crispy wings and it was reduced to a pile of bones in minutes. When I asked him for the recipe, he smiled sheepishly and brought out a jar of Montreal Steak

Honey Garlic Chicken Wings 3 pounds chicken wings (about 24 whole wings), trimmed and separated 1/3 cup VH Honey Garlic Sauce 1/3 cup Diana Honey Garlic Sauce 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup brown sugar Preheat oven to 375 F. Line the bottom of a broiler pan with several layers of foil. Spray the top of the broiler pan with Pam (this makes clean up easier). Spread wings out in a single layer on the top rack of the broiler pan and bake for about 15 minutes.

While wings are cooking, combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Set aside about 1/2 cup of sauce. Brush sauce on wings and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Turn wings over, brush again and bake for a final 15 minutes.

Recipe can be prepared several hours ahead of time to this point. Let wings cool slightly and refrigerate if you are going to do this in advance.

Just before serving, brush wings with the 1/2 cup of reserved sauce and broil until the glaze becomes like candy and wings are well browned and heated through.

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Made with Love Cindy Feingold Spice. Seriously, that’s it! Just rub a ton of Montreal Steak Spice on to a bowlful of wings and bake in a hot (425 F) oven until crispy! You will be deemed a culinary god or goddess. People will beg you for the recipe and you can either be gracious, like Edward, and pass on the secret, or just smile and say you lost the recipe. Entirely up to you!

Smokin’ Wings with Chipotle Marinade This recipe hails from Cottage Life’s Summer Weekend Cookbook.

24 whole chicken wings (about 3 pounds) 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, finely chopped (remove seeds if you like it less hot) 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup lime juice 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried basil Cut off and discard tips from wings and cut wings in two at the joint.

Mix together remaining ingredients for marinade.

Toss wings with marinade and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line the bottom of a broiler pan with several sheets of foil. Remove wings from marinade, spread out in a single layer on rack of broiler pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Depending on how big the wings are, you may need to do this in two batches.

Boil leftover marinade in small pot for about 5 minutes to kill off any bacteria from raw chicken. Preheat gas grill on high for 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and grill wings, brushing with marinade, for about 5-10 minutes until brown and crispy. If you don’t want to finish the wings off outside on the grill, you can also preheat the broiler for about 5 minutes and broil wings, brushing with marinade and turning until both sides are mahogany brown and crispy.

Uncle Earl’s Chicken Wings 3 pounds chicken wings (about 24 whole wings) 1/2 cup Montreal Steak Spice Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut off and discard tips from wings and cut wings in two at the joint.

Place wings in a large mixing bowl and gently massage in the Montreal Steak Spice.

Line the bottom of a broiler pan with several sheets of foil. Spread out wings in a single layer on rack of broiler pan and bake for about 45 minutes.

Depending on how big the wings are, you may need to do this in two batches.

Preheat the broiler for about 5 minutes and broil wings, turning over once until both sides are deeply brown and crispy.

October 3, 2011 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – Page 31

Eighteen things you may not know about Gail Lieff If you grew up in Ottawa over the past 20 years, or you currently have school-aged children, chances are you have met Gail Lieff. Gail has been an employee of the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) and now the Soloway JCC for 20 years. Before that, she was a JCC camp counsellor over her summers.

Gail is the Soloway JCC children and teen programming manager, which encompasses the after-school programs, Sunday youth workshops, Soloway JCC birthday parties and Jewish family programs. The job also includes being B’nai Brith Youth Organization city director and JCC specialty camps co-ordinator.

Previously, Gail taught at the Soloway JCC Ganon Preschool and claims to have never forgotten a child she has met.

I always think of Gail running around the Soloway JCC with a clipboard in one hand, a walkie-talkie in the other and a smile on her face. I was able to catch up with her for a few minutes – which is not an easy feat – to learn more

about this energetic and very creative lady.

Here are 18 things you may not know about Gail Lieff …

1. I love to host birthday parties, but cannot light a match when it comes to lighting candles.

2. I love egg rolls and mint chocolate chip ice cream, but not necessarily together.

3. I am a huge and long-time Habs fan, and I’m confident they will bring home the Stanley Cup this year!

4. People are surprised to learn that, away from work, when not surrounded by a ton of children, I am actually shy and quiet.

5. I am not really an avid reader, but am currently reading The Black Dagger Brotherhood, the seventh book in J.R. Ward’s vampire series. It is fantastic.

6. I collect Disney Videos on VHS. My most-prized video is Dumbo.

7. I am related to the Rideau Bakery Kardish family through my father. I absolutely love their onion pletzels and multi-grain bread.

Preparing to visit Florida during hurricane season From: Lynda Reid To: Zeus Sent: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 7:18:39 PM Subject: Headin’ South We’re off to Florida for a few days. Visiting our son and going to a college football game, including our first ever tailgating party. No hurricanes please. LR Dear Ms. Reid, Zeus has received your prayer, dated September 7 and asked me to reply on his behalf.

As you know, he is currently preoccupied with keeping the forces of chaos at bay. I am pleased to inform you that he is fully committed to following a policy of peace with respect to the use of lightning and thunder during your visit, but you might also wish to consider sacrificing a virgin of some kind. Please note that we have also passed your request on to Poseidon, as hurricanes originate in his domain.

Thank you for drawing our attention to this crucial matter.

Sincerely, Zeus’s deputy minister cc: Poseidon Dear Ms. Reid, I am in receipt of your request for no hurricanes during your visit to Florida and would be pleased to help you, but, as you are aware, I require the assistance and support of other departments, specifically of Aeolus, master of the winds. This requires much more co-ordination than Zeus, my brother, fully realized. So I have passed your request on to Aeolus to ensure that maximum effort is extended on your behalf. A young female virgin sacrifice would be helpful. Do you know anyone named Andromache?

I am sure you appreciate the time and work all of this requires and hope you will be patient as you await the final result of our deliberations, which should be carried out before your visit begins.

Please accept, Ms. Reid, this expression of my respect, Poseidon, god of the sea cc: Zeus, Aeolus

Humour me, please Rubin Friedman Dear Ms. Reid, I have just received a missive from my one time father, Poseidon, god of the sea, passing on your request for no hurricanes.

With due respect, I must note that I have no authority to carry out such requests without proper consultation with all the forces of nature involved, including nymphs and other divine creatures.

To that end, I am proposing that we form a joint task force with representatives of Zeus, Poseidon and the other creatures, as well as my own department to ensure that your request is given prompt attention.

As this process is likely to take some time, I am not sure we will be able to provide you with a final answer before you leave. But I am pleased to report the result of our joint co-operation will be made clear to you before you arrive home from your journey. A sacrifice of some burnt extravirgin olive oil from Greece will suffice.

I am sure you understand the complexities of managing winds everywhere in the world and assuring appropriate weather for everyone. You can be confident that we are indeed doing our very best.

Believing the news we will provide you will be of the kind you want to hear, I remain a loyal servant to the gods and to you.

Your servant, Aeolus cc: Zeus, Poseidon, various nymphs and supernatural beings

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18 things ...

Sarah Silverstein 8. I have an elderly cat named Raffi who thinks he is a dog.

9. My Hebrew names are Golda Etta and I was named after my great-grandmothers.

10. I am a self-identified obsessive-compulsive neat freak and need everything to be in order and in its rightful place.

11. When I was 10, I won “best costume” at the Agudath Israel Purim Parade. I was a nice little Jewish girl dressed up as the Little Drummer Boy! 12. My favourite place in Israel is the Kotel on Shabbat as the yeshiva bochers (boys) arrive, singing and excited for Shabbat to begin.

13. The messiest art project I have ever done with children is papier mâché. I continue to do it, despite the mess, because it is so much fun!

14. I enjoy a wide variety of music, but two of my favourite bands are Blue Rodeo, whom I have seen in concert at least three times, and the Beatles. My favourite Beatles song is “Blackbird.”

15. I am completely tone deaf.

16. If I won the opportunity to travel anywhere and leave tomorrow, I would choose to go to Western Canada and Dallas, Texas. No particular reason for either of these choices – they’re just places I would love to visit!

17. I was born and raised in Ottawa and have always lived in the west end. I attended Fisher Park when it had a high school, and Algonquin College where I earned my ECE. I briefly lived in Toronto when I attended George Brown College.

18. I love to go shoe shopping! My most recent purchase was a pair of comfy black Crocs, which saw me through another fantastic summer of JCC summer camps.

Gail Lieff on the Jewish Community Campus playground with a clipboard in one hand, a walkie-talkie in the other and a smile on her face.

Page 32 – Ottawa Jewish Bulletin – October 3, 2011

WHAT’S GOING ON October 3 to 30, 2011 WEEKLY EVENTS MONDAYS Motorin Munchkins for children 5 and under, sponsored by the Family Life Centre. Must be accompanied by an adult, 9:00 am to noon. Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 294.

CANDLELIGHTING BEFORE EREV YOM KIPPUR Oct 7 ✡ 6:14 pm EREV SUKKOT Oct 12 ✡ 6:05 pm First Day SUKKOT Oct 13 ✡ after 7:05 pm Oct 14 ✡ 6:01 pm HOSHANAH RABBAH Oct 19 ✡ 5:53 pm SHEMINI ATZERET Oct 20 ✡ after 6:53 pm Oct 21 ✡ 5:49 pm Oct 28 ✡ 5:38 pm

TUESDAYS Israeli Folk Dancing, no partner necessary, Ottawa Jewish Community School, 31 Nadolny Sachs Private, 7:00 pm. Info: judy@ottawaisraelidance.ca.

WEDNESDAYS Playgroup for babies and toddlers, sponsored by the Family Life Centre. Must be accompanied by an adult, 9:00 to 11:30 am. Info: 613-798-9818, ext 294.

FRIDAYS Shabbat Shalom for children 5 and under, sponsored by the Family Life Centre. Must be accompanied by an adult, 9:30 to 11:00 am.

Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 294.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4 Jewish Cabaret in Exile, sponsored by SJCC: Lecture and performances of Jewish cabaret songs from the 1930s and 1940s with music expert Jean-Jacques Van Vlassalaer and vocalist/pianist

Sylvia Larrass, 7:30 pm. Info: 613798-9818, ext. 263.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18 Power Breakfast: “Philanthropy: Enriching our Community; Maximizing Your Estate Objectives and Optimizing Tax Planning” with Richard Kluska, founder of IP Strategies, an independent private family office at Canaccord Wealth Management. Sponsored by Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation. Breakfast at 7:30 am. Reservations required: 613-798-4696, ext. 252.

Malca Pass Book Discussion Group: “To the End of the Land,”

by David Grossman, reviewed by Sophie Kohn Kaminsky, Agudath Israel, 1400 Coldrey Avenue, 7:30 pm. Info: 613-829-2455.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24 14th Annual Ottawa Celebrity Sports Dinner, in support of the SJCC and Citizen Advocacy, with Super Bowl legend Joe Montana,

Happy Sukkot from the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin!

Hampton Inn and Conference Centre, 100 Coventry Road. Cocktails at 5:45; dinner at 7:00 pm. Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 242.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25 CHOICES, a women’s event sponsored by Jewish Federation of Ottawa: dinner and talk by retired Col. Miri Eisin, who served 20 years in Israeli intelligence, Agudath Israel Congregation, 1400 Coldrey Avenue, 6:00 pm. Info: 613-7984696, ext. 274.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27 AJA 50+ Bridge and MahJongg Fundraiser: All welcome.

Other board games available, Agudath Israel, 1400 Coldrey Avenue, 11:15 am. Info: 613-422-6766.

Systems Biology Lecture, with Prof. Pilpel from Weizmann Institute of Science, looks at how the many parts of the body function together, Canadian Blood Services, 1800 Alta Vista Drive, 5:30 pm. Info: 514-342-0777.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30 Yiddish Award Presentation and Concert: In conjunction with the SJCC, the uOttawa Vered Jewish Canadian Studies Program presents Sarah Anne Gisele with the Ethel Cooper Yiddish Studies Award of Excellence. Montreal’s Yiddish Theatre Singers will sing/act songs from New York’s 2nd Avenue Yiddish Theatre and from Broadway, 2:00 pm. Info: 613798-9818, ext. 254.

Hillel Lodge Auxiliary Tea, cel-

ebrating the Lodge’s soon-to-be 121 residents with a “21 bed salute” and entertainment to mark the expected end-of-the-year opening. The tea is a major Auxiliary fundraiser, which brings many extra comforts to the residents. 10 Nadolny Sachs Private, 2:00 pm.

Info: 613-829-9911.

Gala Evening to mark Rabbi Howard Finkelstein’s 20 years with Congregation Beit Tikvah, 15 Chartwell Avenue, 6:00 pm. Info: 613-723-1800.

COMING SOON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 Holocaust Education Month speaker: Paul Shapiro, director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Agudath Israel Congregation, 1400 Coldrey Avenue, 7:00 pm.

Info: 613-798-9818, ext. 253.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8 JNF Negev Dinner: keynote speaker broadcaster Barbara Walters, Fairmont Château Laurier, 1 Rideau Street, 6:00 pm.

Info: 613-798-2411.

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: Lilian Hockman Claire Kevanstein Annetta (Anita) Leighton Esther Spiegelman 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 OCTOBER 5 FOR OCTOBER 31 OCTOBER 26 FOR NOVEMBER 14 NOVEMBER 9 FOR NOVEMBER 28

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