The CJN Magazine Summer 2023

The Canadian Jewish News Summer 2023 | Kayitz 5783

SAVE The DATE November 30, 2023 Park Hyatt Hotel – Toronto Honourary Patrons the Koschitzky Family Event Co-Chairs Warren and Debbie Kimel / Lewis Mitz and Wendy Posluns Dinner Chairs Elliott and Wendy Eisen

Join the Jerusalem Foundation of Canada In continued support of the Community and Culture Fund Dedication of the Canada Pathway and Inauguration of the Youth Leadership Prize

Honouring the memory of Julia Koschitzky z”l The Jerusalem Foundation of Canada / nomiy@jerusalemfoundation.ca / Tel: 416-922-0000 w w w . j er us a lem fo un dat ion .or g 2

W h a t w o u l d l i fe l o o k l i k e i f y o u c o u l d n’ t g o t o s c h o o l ?

a digital exhibit AVA I L A B L E N O W

memoirs.azrielifoundation.org THECJN.CA 3

What’s inside 10

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THE FRONT PAGES

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Considering the ‘Moshiach Energy’ of comedian Modi AV I F I N E G O L D

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The CJN Daily’s top stories from Spring 2023

Ariel Schalit/AP/Canadian Press; Courtesy of The Wayne Family/Bygone Theatre; Daniel Seung Lee; Michael Brooke

ELLIN BESSNER

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Wayne & Shuster get a live revival of radio shows

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The arts across Canada explored on Culturally Jewish DAV I D S K L A R A N D I L A N A Z AC K O N

FEATURES 26

COVER STORY: Seymour Epstein on his Israel experience

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What recent novels teach us about modern Israeli life H A N N A H S R O U R-Z AC K O N

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Vivian Bercovici’s view from the streets of Israel at 75

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The CJN reader stories about memories of the Jewish state

Contributors

THE BACK PAGES 54

The musical road from Morocco to Montreal in the 1950s C H R I ST O P H E R S I LV E R

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William Kurelek’s classic paintings of Jewish Life in Canada S A R A H M I L R OY

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Srulik from the Treasure Trove collection of David Matlow

Photograph Kevin Viner Elevator/Toronto

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Christopher Silver is the Segal Family Assistant Professor in Jewish History and Culture in the Department of Jewish Studies at McGill University.

He’s also the founder and curator of Gharamophone. com, a digital archive of North African recordings from the first half of the 20th century.

Vivian Bercovici is a Toronto lawyer turned Tel Avivian, and Canada’s ambassador to Israel from January 2014 to July 2016.

She’s the founder and editor-inchief of State of Tel Aviv, a digital newsletter and weekly podcast, and a regular contributor to the Jerusalem Post, the National Post and The Hub.

Hannah Srour-Zackon is a Jewish community archivist in Montreal, who currently works at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. She regularly writes about books for The CJN, along with historical topics like Queen Esther beauty contests, and a trademark scandal concerning Tam Tam crackers.

THECJN.CA 5

The The Canadian Canadian Jewish Jewish News News Yoni Goldstein Yoni and Goldstein CEO Editor-in-Chief CEO and Editor-in-Chief Marc MarcWeisblott Weisblott Managing ManagingEditor Editor PhoebeMaltz MaltzBovy Bovy Phoebe SeniorEditor Editor Senior Ronit Novak Ronit Novak Art Director Art Director Etery Podolsky Etery Podolsky Designer Designer Sarah Zahavi Design Associate Sarah Zahavi

Design Associate Lila Sarick News Editor Lila Sarick Michael Fraiman News Editor Podcast Director Michael Fraiman Grace Zweig Podcast Director Sales Director Grace KathyZweig Meitz Sales Director General Manager Kathy Meitz BoardManager of Directors: General Bryan Borzykowski President Sam Reitman Treasurer and Secretary Ira Gluskin Board of Directors: Jacob Smolack Bryan Borzykowski President Elizabeth Wolfe Sam Reitman Treasurer and Secretary

A matter of trust in the media...

Of What the flags have all the iconic Jewish images evoked annually by the Passover haggadah, the parting of the Red Sea sticks with me most. The 10 plagues, the burning bush, even the Egyptian exodus were prophesized and enacted, we read, from high above.

There wasn’t much for the Jewish nation to do but go along with the plan, and eventually wo years ago, Canadian flags were get ready to leave for the promised land. lowered in the wake of news regarding the discovery of potential unmarked graves When they got to the sea, with Pharaoh’s of Indigenous residential school children. army in hot pursuit, it was the people themFederal buildings had theirs at half-mast, selves who had to initiate the next chapter. as well as many non-governmental locations Most understandably hesitated to dip their across the country. And they stayed that way toes in. But that’s when—according to the for quite some time.

Talmud—a Judean prince named Nachshon Calls to cancel July 1 celebrations were ben Aminadav, stepped forward and walked plentiful in 2021, and many Canadians obright into the water. Seeing this, God ordered liged—or at least curtailed fireworks for that Moses plunge his staff into the sea, which CanadatoDay. then parted… andyou youagreed know the Whether or not withrest. this perspective, it was hard not to notice that Younational might call Nachshon’s a leap of our pride took a hit. actions And, in some faith, but to me they signify something sectors of society, it has yet to recover. else.

By contrast, watching recent protests Trust is fundamental to the success of any across Israel over the current government community, and of course society in general, and its policies—including the protracted debut has been eroded in recentbeen yearsstruck by bateit over judicial overhaul—I’ve abyvariety of forces, some well-meaning how flags emphasize a different toneand from many that apparent are more reckoning insidious in nature.

Canada’s with history.

The efforts by political, social Asongoing the citizenry demonstrates againstand the religious leaders to target and blame the Netanyahu government (and, it must be media are mostly misplaced. mentioned, many—if evidentlyJournalism not as many— outlets, beset by cutbacks in the digital are concurrently rallying in support of it) age, the haven’t inspired confidence reporting one thing I haven’t seen is awith flag of Israel bethat’s shoddydisfigured and slanted.

On top ofdistorted it all, ing lowered, or otherwise social media has guttered to make a political point. any meaningful

taught us…

T

conversation or exchange of ideas, while spreading misinformation quicker and wider than verifiable facts.

That’s why we rebuilt The Canadian Jewish News the way we did. We wanted to prove that The CJN is different by investing in stories that speak to you. We’ve built a roster of Rather, anti-government protesters are Jewish personalities you can trust, because proudly flying the blue-and-white Star of they are just like you in many ways.

David. And they’re doing it in droves.

The evocative images of these gatherWe believe that our community—and every ings are an awesome sight that gives me community, for that matter—requires and degreat hope for Israel’s future. This does not serves no less. Without reliable and dependappear to be a country hiding from or emable media, trust can wane, and we know barrassed by its own image, but rather one where that road leads better than most. grappling with where it goes from here.

For a bit of levity, consider what took place If you’re reading this, I think you probably in an Israeli group chat: an anti-government agree.

And if that’s the case, the good protester who asked to borrow a flag for a news is that you acan help by investing in a protest received positive response from media you can trust.

As the growth of The neighbour… so long as they returned it in CJN continues in 2023, we’re accepting time for a pro-government protest a few days charitable donations through the Canada later.

Revenue Agency.

Your annual contribution To me, this seems natural—not to mentionof $100 and up will help us continue our vital healthy—and very Israeli. No one in the work of rebuilding in a sustainable manner.

Jewish state is shying away from current and We’ll make sure you keep receiving our their print difficult debates. And no one is hanging magazines along with yearly tax receipts. head in shame.

It’s hard to think of a more appropriate Fortomore way markinformation, 75 years of check Israeli out statehood— thecjn.ca/support or write to And as is hearts ablaze and flags waving. support@thecjn.ca, and you’ll be often the case, it offers a lesson forinvesting Diasin something we can all place a little faith in, pora Jews, as well as democracies across for this Passover beyond. the globe, to take and to heart.

— Yoni Yoni Goldstein Goldstein —

Ira Gluskin Mark Sherman Jacob Smolack Elizabeth Wolfe

For all inquiries info@thecjn.ca

Cover photo: Naomi Harris For all inquiries Printed in Winnipeg by Kromar Printing Ltd. info@thecjn.ca With the participation of the Government of Canada.

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Modi stands up for ‘Moshiach Energy’

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Avi Finegold I on how America’s hottest Jewish comic played it just for laughs in Montreal

once had a college professor say there’s no such thing as a joke that isn’t making fun of someone in some way. I’m not sure that was ever true—but there’s definitely some truth to the fact that humour often seeks to undercut others.

History is lousy with controversial comedians telling jokes that run a 5K across the line of decency. The best ones, however, recognize that their line-crossing serves some kind of greater purpose. George Carlin and Richard Pryor are two of the greats who called out hypocrisy by talking about what they saw around them. And then there’s Sarah Sliverman cutting down the good intentions of a generation with a button-pushing joke, “I was raped by a doctor… which is kind of a mixed feeling for a Jewish girl.”

And so we get to Modi Rosenfeld, a veteran stand-up comedian billed only by his first name, in increasingly brighter lights and bigger rooms thanks to videos he made during the pandemic lockdowns.

When he returned to live shows, demand for his stand-up act expanded from Orthodox Jewish events—where some jokes featured a fictional wife named “Stacy”—to feeling free to tell his audiences that he’s actually married to a man.

Modi, to be clear, is not one of the comedy pantheon. He’s not legendary enough—yet.

But he has what to say about the community he comes from (a community that uses the phrase “what to say”), which I found to have a serious truth that lies just below a pretty funny surface. We need a comic who’s willing to say that community dinner honourees are just the schmucks who got their friends to donate. It just takes Modi to say it out loud, in a moment of nudging the emperor and letting him know there’s a sale on suits.

I was among the online followers who bought a ticket to Modi’s show at Montreal’s Rialto Theatre in March, which was followed by a couple nights at the Royal Theatre in Toronto. The appeal of this 53-year-old owes much to his backstory: born in Tel Aviv and raised in the Five Towns of Long Island, New York, he went from public school and a psychology degree to a deeper Torah education, which included cantorial studies at Yeshiva University. While working as a banker for Merrill Lynch on Wall Street, he began moonlighting in comedy clubs, without changing the clothes he wore at his day job.

Nowadays, the riffing on topics like how Sephardim love their rabbis while Ashkenazim are blasé about them—if not disdainful—draws big laughs from a crowd that can relate to what he’s talking about. Knowing his audience is how he makes it work, although part of the act is spotting a person in the room who isn’t Jewish, then focusing on them to deliver explanatory asides that help to make the material more accessible for everyone.

The formula isn’t complicated: find Jews who spend all day thinking about being Jewish, deliver observational humour, and get them all howling with laughter.

Laughter is also at the core of what he refers to as “Moshiach Energy.” It’s a term which he’s started promoting at his live shows, on social media, and the weekly podcast And Here’s Modi—on which husband/manager Lou Veiga, who was raised Catholic, shows off his Jewish literacy, unless Modi is teasing him about a mispronunciation.

Buy someone a coffee today? Moshiach Energy. Call your mother? Moshiach Energy.

Get a million bucks donated to your shul’s annual dinner? He’ll make fun of you at the gala, but that’s still Moshiach Energy. Live performances by Modi are therefore peak Moshiach Energy, because they unite audiences based on joy. And this positive energy is what will bring the redeemer of the world in a fashion that praying won’t do alone.

Well, if this seems a little facile, that’s because it is. Doing good is easy—and so is laughing at someone else’s expense. But the real work of ushering in a messianic age for the Jews is the beginning of a deeper unity, one that accepts that we are all flawed, and works-in-progress. Reaching that level through stand-up comedy takes real work.

Modi might know what his audience wants.

What he doesn’t seem as keen about is trying to figure out what they need. The irony is that there’s not much difference between the two. But the distinction is also what separates the entertainers from the legends. The greatest comics, similar to their court-jester predecessors, knew how to speak truth to power with great wit, and with their heads still attached to their bodies.

Modi Rosenfeld has been speaking some great truths, too. He just needs to realize he’s no George Carlin. At least not yet. n

THECJN.CA 11

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The CJN Daily A few of the recent news stories reported by Ellin Bessner

When the producers of Netflix’s Jewish Matchmaking reached out to Jerusalem resident Cindy Seni, she had just come out of a three-yearlong relationship—and she was back to swiping away on dating apps.

But the idea of using a matchmaker appealed to her because the producers would propose carefully vetted candidates for the show starring Aleeza Ben Shalom, who claims to have arranged 200 successful marriages.

The lingering also played a role in 28-year-old Seni’s on-screen social life last summer, because two of the three men she was supposed to be fixed up with tested positive for COVID. They had to drop out—and she never saw them or even learned their identities.

She did go out on two dates with a 34-year-old technology worker: Daniel from Tel Aviv. He took her to an art gallery but didn’t seem to be enjoying himself. But when Daniel showed up late for their second round and didn’t give her enough of an explanation for why, she was “#CindyOut”, as she likes to call breaking it off with men.

Seni’s family has roots in Tunisia, Italy and in France, where she was born and spent her first six years. But by 2000, her parents felt they could no longer live openly as Jews there, and the family of six 14

moved to Toronto. After a stint working in public diplomacy for the Israel Consulate, she chose to make aliyah in 2018.

At first, her parents weren’t keen on the idea, as she told the matchmaker when they first met.

“My dad told me, ‘If you want to move to Israel, you need either a job, a husband or money.’ I said, ‘Listen, I don’t have any, I’m going anyway.’”

Netflix

Canada’s plucky contribution

Rosalie Abella’s big-screen treatment The first Jewish woman—and first refugee—to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada has entered the cinematic spotlight in Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella. The film follows some of the seminal social-justice court rulings she participated in from 2004 until her retirement in 2021—from same-sex marriage to workplace rights, from job opportunities for minorities to ensuring the right to strike—while diving into her fiercework ethic and her courage to take unpopular positions on public policy.

We also see her private side, including a home and office where every surface is covered in colourful folk art, collectibles and figurines. While she initially didn’t want any role in a film about her life, Rosalie’s husband Irving Abella, who died in 2022, encouraged her to work with director Barry Avrich. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor attended the premiere at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto on May 1, and Abella took a few jabs at the politics of the ruling colleagues south of the border.

Holocaust poems score Juno Award

Courtesy of The Wayne Family/Bygone Theatre; Melbar Entertainment Group; CARAS

Two comedy legends come alive again Wayne & Shuster reluctantly moved their comedy act from radio to television in 1954— then they became fixtures of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the next 36 years. Frank Shuster hosted retrospectives after Johnny Wayne died in 1990, until Shuster himself died in 2002. But you can’t officially access their video catalogue today. The lack of permission for the music and background performers has kept that material locked in the CBC vault. Instead, the children of the duo—Michael and Brian Wayne, and Rosie Shuster—have exercised the rights to earlier scripts: Wayne & Shuster Live debuted onstage at the University of Toronto’s Hart House in May, featuring a cast of young local comics. The most famous W&S sketch of all, “Rinse the Blood off My Toga,” inspired by William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, was originally on radio.

Lenka Lichtenberg didn’t learn she was Jewish until age nine, around the time she became an actor in Prague. Most of her mother’s Czech family was murdered in the Holocaust, and she took a particular interest in survivor stories after moving to Canada to pursue ethnomusicology studies and continue a performing career. Later, she encountered 65 poems written by her grandmother, who was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. While it was strictly forbidden to write anything down, Anna Hana Friesová managed to preserve the poetry in notebooks discovered

by Lichtenberg in her late mother’s apartment. Setting those verses to music led to producing Thieves of Dreams, which won the 2023 Juno for Global Music Album.

thecjn.ca/daily THECJN.CA 15

The CJN Daily

Canada’s Jewish population in 2021 was 404,015 (up 5% from 2011)

Ottawa 2011: 13,850 2021: 15,000 +8% Halifax 2011: 2,080 2021: 2,735 +31.5%

Victoria 2011: 2,630 2021: 4,385 +67% Vancouver 2011: 25,740 2021: 28,030 +5.1%

Calgary 2011: 8,200 2021: 9,300 +13%

Winnipeg 2011: 13,260 2021: 13,940 +5.1%

Charles Shahar analyzed data from the 2021 Canadian census for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and Jewish federations across the country.

While the number who reported their religion as Jewish was 335,295, the number who cited Jewish as their ethnicity boosted the conclusion.

Shahar shared his observations on the data with Ellin Bessner.

Toronto 2011: 186,010 2021: 186,900 +0.5%

Montreal 2011: 89,665 2021: 90,255 +1%

•

Canada remains the fourth-largest Jewish centre in the world, after Israel, the United States and France

•

Growth in Montreal follows a half-century in decline, while Winnipeg’s population increase reverses a 40-year trend

•

Montreal’s increase is credited to immigration from France, along with higher birth rates in the ultra-Orthodox community

•

The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg successfully reached out to newcomers from Israel, Turkey and South America

•

Newcomers from the former Soviet Union continue to arrive—if not in the numbers of the 1980s and ‘90s

•

Toronto has seen its population plateau due to cheaper housing elsewhere, including residents moving to smaller towns

More specific data will follow on interprovincial migration, intermarriage rates, economic status, the number of Holocaust survivors, mortality rates, and how many people in Canada self-identify as Sephardic Jews. The breakdowns help Jewish leaders from coast-to-coast plan their programs and services. Stay tuned for more about these demographic trends on The CJN Daily.

Listen to the entire conversation at thecjn.ca/population 16

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The CJN Daily

The girl who got a ‘Golden Buzzer’ Four years after her family moved from Tel Aviv to Richmond Hill, Ont., 15-year-old Maya Gamzu appeared on the third season of Canada’s Got Talent. For her audition, she wore a red string bracelet around her left wrist, which she brought from the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Kardinal Offishall, the rapper on the panel of judges (alongside Howie Mandel, Lilly Singh and Trish Stratus) put the Westmount Collegiate Institute student directly to the semi-finals after a performance of Christina Aguilera’s “Something’s Got a Hold On Me.” Maya, who started performing at age four, learned to sing in English before her family spoke the language. And while Maya didn’t reach the finals—to the dismay of her champion, Kardinal—she subsequently wowed the Toronto crowd at the Consulate General of Israel’s party for Yom ha-Atzmaut.

King David High School in Vancouver won the BC School Sports 1A Boys Basketball Provincial Tournament on March 11 with a 72-68 victory over the defending provincial champions, Unity Christian School. The game capped a successful five-year run for three star players: point guard Jesse Millman, shooting guard Ezra Heayie and centre Joseph Gabay, who wondered if they’d ever shoot hoops together again. But in playing for the province’s only Jewish high school, the King David Lions boasted something its rivals didn’t: rabbinical prayers of support in the stands.

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When rabbis cheer for your team

...‫הא ֶ ּלה‬ ֵ ‫לדים‬ ִ ְ‫”וְ ַהי‬ ׂ ְ ‫האל ֹ ִהים ַמדּ ע וְ ַה‬ ַ ֵ ‫ש ֵ ּכל ְ ּב ׇכ‬ ֱ ‫להם‬ ֶ ‫נתן‬ “...‫ל־ס ֶפר וְ ׇח ְכמה‬ (‫)דניאל א‘ י“ז‬

“And these youths... God gave them knowledge and understanding in every book and wisdom...”

(Daniel 1:17)

On behalf of the Board and staff at Associated Hebrew schools, Mazal Tov to all our Class of ‘23 graduates! ‫אפרים צבי אדם‬ ‫מאירה אסתר אדם‬ Benjamin Cole Adam ‫משה בּ נימין אדם‬ Jonah Ruben Anidjar ‫יונה ראובן אנידגר‬ Avishai Artom ‫אבישי הרטום‬ Aryeh Bahar ‫אריהו אילן בכר‬ Isaac Star Barazani ‫יצחק סטאר ברזאני‬ Lauren Samantha Bell ‫לאה אלנה בל‬ Benjamin Avery Bergel ‫בּ נימין אבּ א בּ רגל‬ Jonah Marcus Bergel ‫יונה מרדכי בּ רגל‬ Eitan Bernstein ‫איתן ברנשטיין‬ Matthew Aaron Berzin ‫משה אהרון ברזין‬ Miya Elle Beyo ‫מזל אסתר ביאו‬ Shane Jacob Bitton ‫יעקב שאנן ביטון‬ Emily Ruth Black ‫רחל בּ לק‬ Eytan Alexander Black ‫איתן שאול בּ לק‬ Orli Miriam Bouganim ‫אורלי מרים בוגנים‬ ‫אהרון יעקב‬ Aaron Jacob Braunstein ‫ברונשטיין‬ ׂ ‫אלי‬ Ellie Sarah Brock ‫שרה בּ רוק‬ Orly Brooker ‫אורלי ברוקר‬ Rebecca Ashley Carolin ‫חוה פייגי קרולין‬ Abby Lauren Cohen ‫אביה כהן‬ Judah Morris Davidson ‫יהושע דוידסון‬ Joshua Daniel Derfel ‫יהושוע דניאל דרפל‬ Gwen Leona Deutsch ‫ברכה דייטש‬ Esther Bella Dunec ‫אסתר בּ לה דונק‬ Jared Benjamin Elamleh ‫שלום בארל אלמליה‬ Emma Sadie Farache ‫רחל סימא פרש‬ Shoshana Farber ‫שושנה פרבר‬ ‫עליזה בת־שבע‬ Aliza Batsheva Fisher ‫פישר‬ Rachel Miriam Gabay ‫רחל גבּ אי‬ ׁ Max Lucas Kohn Geist ‫משה גיסט‬ Aaron Gabriel Gertler ‫יוסף גרטלר‬ Nathan Solomon Glazer ‫נתן שלום גליזר‬ Isabelle Lilly Goldenberg ‫בּ ילה לאה גולדנבּ רג‬ Marlee Ella Goldstein ‫אלה גולדשטיין‬ ‫ׁשלמה בּ חור‬ Samuel Corey Goldstein ׁ ‫גולדשטיין‬ Theodore Bernard Grad ‫טוביה בנימין גרד‬ Noa Brielle Green ‫נעה רות גרין‬ Connor Matthew Adam Ashley Morgan Adam

MAZAL TOV TO NETIVOT HATORAH’S GRADUATING CLASS OF 2023!

LIA ALLAL ∙ ELLIYA AMOUYAL∙ NOA BAR-DAVID ∙ ADINA BENARROCH DARIA JACQUELINE BENAYON ∙ NAOMI SARAH BERLIN MAJLIS YAEL BERLINER ∙ NAOMI FRIEDMAN ∙ ELLA HASS ∙ ALEGRIA HAVER ORLI KATCHEN ∙ JAIME KOBROSSI ∙ ATARA MICHAL LAUTERPACHT NAOMI MALKA MENDELOVITZ ∙ NOA YASMIN NACHIM KIRA HANNAH NEUFELD ∙ SHELI PALVANOV ∙ MICHAELA SAPIRMAN RUTHIE SCHACHTER ∙ TEHILLA KINNERET SCHERER ∙ ALISHA SILVER YAEL SILVER ∙ TOVA MAZAL STOLOVITSKY ∙ REBECCA SUISSA ELEANA WEINBERGER ∙ LILY WEITZNER

Asher Jerome Greenwald Samuel Isaac Grossman Noah Gurfinkel Noa Claire Heller Aaron Ryan Herr Shira Lily Horowitz Jessica Isakov Eliana Bracha Kadoch Mattie Helen Kahn

NAVE YEDIDYA BEN SHMUEL ∙ NEHORAI BENSADOUN ∙ NOAH JOSEPH BRODT SETH CARPINO ∙ SHAMI FISCH ∙ ISSER HILLEL GETE ∙ EZRA GRYN ZECHARIAH HOROWITZ ∙ MATISYAHU BORUCH HURYNOVICH AVI KADOCH ∙ JEREMY KANNER ∙ ZEV MICHAEL KARAKOWSKY YEHUDA KESLASSY ∙ GAVRIEL KONSKER ∙ SETH KRASMAN ∙ ADIR LEVOVSKI NOAM SHLOMO LEVY ∙ ARIEL LIPETZ ∙ AIDEN HARRY MAGDER BENJAMIN JOSEPH AARON PERLMUTAR ∙ DANIEL ZEV ROMBERG CHANIEL MORDECHAI ROTMAN ∙ YONATAN CHAIM WEILL ZACHARY WOZNICA ∙ GAVRIEL MOSHE YUNGER

Eleni Anne Kahn Seth Lazer Kates Jason Daniel Kauffman Liat Keren Naomi Hannah Kipper Jillian Hope Kivenko Shia Dean Klein Tobias Micah Kohan Yossi Eitan Kopyto Daniel Yaakov Kovari

‫אשר ירון גרינוואלד‬ ‫שמואל יצחק‬ ‫גרוסמן‬ ‫נח גורפינקל‬ ‫נעה שמחה הלר‬ ‫אהרון רונ׳ הרר‬ ‫מלכה הורביץ‬ ‫שרה איסקוב‬ ‫אליענה ברכה קדוש‬ ‫מעין חביבה קאהן‬ ‫אליענה אביב קאהן‬ ‫שת אליעזר קייטס‬ ‫אילן קופמן‬ ‫ליאת קרן‬ ‫קיפר‬ ּ ‫נעמי חנה‬ ‫ׁש ׁושנה מיה קיבנקו‬ ‫ׁשיה דין קליין‬ ‫טוביאס מיכה קהן‬ ‫יוסף איתן קופיטו‬ ‫דניאל יעקב קובארי‬

‫אליענה שרה פניכל‬ ‫קריינדלר‬ Leah Hannah Langburt ‫לאה חנה לנגברט‬ ‫חסידה אליענה‬ Celia Eliana Laski ‫לסקי‬ Noah Asher Levine ‫אשר זליג לוין‬ Cara Eliana Levstein ‫אליענה לווסטיין‬ ‫ׁשמואל אהרון‬ Samuel Aaron Lichtblau ‫ליכתבלאו‬ Aaron Leib Litovsky ‫אהרן ליבּ ליטובסקי‬ ׂ Sarah Lyuba Litovsky ‫שרה לובּ א ליטובסקי‬ Harry Mandel ‫יעקוב מנדל‬ Jacob Daniel Mandlsohn ‫איתן שי מנדלסון‬ Or Avraham Mari ‫אור אברהם מארי‬ Harris Jake Meirovitz ‫יעקבּ צבי מאירובּ יץ‬ Emily Sophia Melnick ‫סופיה מלניק‬ ‫רחל‬-‫אריאלה‬ Ariella Thandi Minsker ‫מינסקר‬ Yasmin Leah Mizrahi ‫לאה מיזרהי‬ Rebecca Nerian ‫רבקה נריאן‬ ‫חנה שיינה‬ Anne Shayna Oppenheimer ‫אופנהיימר‬ Jacob Oziel ‫יעקב עוזיאל‬ ‫עתניאל יהונתן‬ Otniel Yehonatan Oziel ‫עוזיאל‬ Harley Max Pearl ‫חיים אריה פרל‬ Eliana Sara Fenichel Kreindler

Nathaniel Benjamin Pearl Isaac Zev Pogrin

‫דב ברל פרל‬

‫יצחק זאב פוגרין‬ Hannah Aliyah Press ‫חנה עליה ּפרס‬ Jake Samuel Rabinowitz ‫יונה זיינוול רבינוביץ‬ ֹ ‫י�מין‬ Ari Benyamin Rewega ‫רוֶ ֲגה‬ ִ ‫ֲא ִרי ִ ּב ְנ‬ Tanya Agam Richulsky ‫תניה אגם ריצ‘ולסקי‬ Samantha Rogowski ‫חנה רוגובסקי‬ ‫בּ נימין יוסף‬ Benjamin Joseph ׁ Rosenstein ‫רוזנשטיין‬ ‫דניאל דוד מתן‬ Daniel David Matan Rotenberg ‫רוטנברג‬ Ely Meir Dylan Rothman ‫אילי מאיר דיין רותמן‬ Julian Benjamin Sadikov Mia Avigayil Saiet Ameryn Dara Samson Eitan Zalman Sheinbach Elizabeth Madelyn Shapira Natalie Devora Shlesinger Jonah Silverman Carter Avery Sonshine Aurelia Eve Spiro Paige Sophie Steinberg Talya Mira Storger Adira Rachel Swartz Sophie Hannah Tick Ethan Joseph Uretsky Moriya Uzani Maya Rose Vidal Emily Allison Weinstein Eitan Yoel Weintraub Roey Meir Weisman Alyssa Rachel Werger Rachel Biba Willinger Dina Wise

‫בנימין סדיקוב‬ ‫אביגיל מיה סייט‬ ‫מרים סמסון‬ ‫סמסון זלמן ׁשיינבּ ך‬ ‫שפירא‬ ּ ‫אלישבע‬ ‫נטלי דבורה‬ ‫שלזינגר‬ ‫יוחנן סילברמן‬ ‫הלל בנימן סונשין‬ ‫חיה ּפערל ׁש ּפירא‬ ‫פנינה שפרה‬ ‫שטיינברג‬ ‫טליה מירה סטורגר‬ ‫אדירה רחל שוורץ‬ ‫צופיה חנה תיק‬ ‫איתן יוסף יורצקי‬ ‫מוריה אוזני‬ ‫מיה מרגלית וידל‬ ‫אליענה אביבה‬ ‫וינשטין‬ ‫איתן וינטרוב‬ ‫רואי מאיר ויסמן‬ ‫אידה דבורה וורגר‬ ‫רחל ביבה ווילינגר‬ ‫דינה ׁשיינדל ויז‬

!‫עלו והצליחו‬ WWW.ASSOCIATEDHEBREWSCHOOLS.COM

THECJN.CA 19

‫ב”ה‬

The Board of Directors, Administration and Staff Congratulate Robbins Hebrew Academy’s 2023 Graduates!

Mazal Tov! !‫מזל טוב‬

CLASS OF 2023

Lexie Burke Jacob Cooperman Samuel Danechrad Lily Diament Mya Eisenstat Eva Farovitch Lyla Frisch Emma Fruitman Noah Galet Mia Hayeems Hannah Hershfield Charlotte Kanee Noal Kazman Jack Kimmel Jonathan Kraft Sophie Lander Cole Lapedus

‫לאה‬-‫מיה‬ ‫ציון‬-‫יעקב‬ ‫שמואל‬ ‫מלכה‬ ‫שילו‬ ‫צביה‬ ‫ישראלה‬ ‫מרים‬ ‫נח‬ ‫מלכה‬ ‫חנה‬ ‫שושנה‬ ‫טביה‬ ‫זאב‬ ‫יונתן‬ ‫סופי‬ ‫שי‬

Oliver Lasry Charley Lazarus Sam Levy Abigail Ptak Hannah Ptak Chloe Rapoport Itamar Ravia Eden Selchen Jenna Star Evan Starkman Mara Stern Abigail Strasser Ruby Teplitsky Tsabar Vaday Austin Warren Jacob Weinstock Ethan Wiener

‫נתנאל‬ ‫גבריאלה‬ ‫ליבול‬ ‫אביאל‬ ‫טליה‬ ‫שרה‬ ‫איתמר‬ ‫עדן‬ ‫ינה‬ ‫הללה‬ ‫מרה‬ ‫חיה‬ ‫מרים‬ ‫צבר‬ ‫הרשל‬ ‫יעקב‬ ‫דניאל‬

WHERE EXTRAORDINARY THINGS HAPPEN.

‫מזל טוב‬ Mazal Tov to the Graduating Class of 2023

20

Neeve Abraham ‫ניב‬ Mika Agid ‫מיקה‬ Liam Altman ‫ליעמ‬ Ella Amir ‫אלה‬ Massey Applebaum ‫משה‬ Max Backstein ‫אהרונ‬ Abigail Baker ‫א תר‬ Emma Baron ‫אמה‬ Etai Ben-Moshe ‫איתי‬ Chloe Benchitrit ‫מאיה‬ Jillian Bensky ‫אליה‬ Milly Bernamoff ‫מרימ‬ Brooklyn Berns ‫רחל בינה‬ Lily Betsalel ‫זהבה‬ Jacob Biback ‫משה‬ Mia Blum ‫יעל‬ Ryan Braverman ‫איתנ‬ Noah Breido ‫נח‬ Max Brodskiy ‫דוד‬ Aaron Bronizer ‫אהרונ ברוכ‬ Lily Brown ‫פנינה‬ Aubrey Cappel ‫ברוכ‬ Jonah Carnevale ‫יונה‬ Benjamin Carnevale ‫בנימינ‬ Addison Cohen ‫עדי‬ Gracie Cohen ‫ברכה‬ Maya Croitoru ‫מיה‬ Neta Croitoru ‫נטע‬ Aidan Daniels ‫איידנ‬ Ethan Diamond ‫משה צבי‬ Sadie Dudkiewicz ‫שרה‬ Samantha Ellison ‫א תר‬ Jacob Elman ‫יעקב‬ Hannah Elyasian ‫חנה‬ Logan Epstein ‫חייקה‬ Gabriella Farbman ‫רחל‬ Joseph Feferman ‫יו פ‬ Ryan Feifer ‫חיימ‬ Cole Feldbloom ‫חיימ‬ Ava Foucault ‫אריאל‬

Joshua Freed ‫משה‬ Talia Friedman ‫טליה‬ Samuel Friedman ‫ישראל‬ Ryan Geller-Benmergui ‫אייל נתנ‬ Leah Ginzburg ‫לאה‬ Maddy Glick-Cale ‫מיכל‬ Thomas Green ‫תומר‬ Ryan Grevler ‫רעננ‬ Miya Gurevich ‫מיה‬ Eva Guterman ‫אוה‬ Samuel Haidenblit ‫שמואל‬ Amy Hartmann ‫חיה‬ Sabrina Hausman ‫טובה‬ Rivka Helberg ‫רבקה‬ Sammy Herczeg ‫מאירה‬ Jack Hershenfield ‫יצחק‬ Evan Holland ‫משה‬ Joseph Kaplan ‫רוננ יו פ‬ Noah Kats ‫נח‬ Aiden Kaufman ‫ארי‬ Yael Kernerman ‫יעל‬ Ariel Konopny ‫אריאל‬ Coby Leder ‫שאול‬ Leora Lefton ‫ליאורה‬ Madison Leonoff ‫מאיה‬ Jacob Levin-Gitman ‫יעקב‬ Zach Levy ‫זאב אהרונ‬ Jordana Levy ‫רבקה‬ Daisy Lieberman ‫חיה‬ Dylan Luftspring ‫נח‬ Benjamin Mandel ‫יוחננ‬ Zach Mandelcorn ‫זליג‬ Rachael Mann ‫רחל‬ Reid Mawas ‫יואב‬ Rafe Meloff ‫רפאל‬ Ryan Merker ‫יו פ‬ Etye Metser-Friedman ‫איתי‬ Leia Metser-Friedman ‫ליה‬ Ethan Mocon ‫מיכאל‬ James Moskowitz ‫רפאל‬

Benjamin Mostyn ‫יהודה לב ברוכ‬ Samantha Nisan ‫טובה‬ Ely Nudel ‫אלי‬ Dylan Orzech ‫זליג‬ Jacob Perlon ‫יעקב‬ Elle Propst ‫שיינה‬ Joshua Robinson ‫יהושע‬ Ryanne Rolnick ‫שושנה‬ Jack Rose ‫יו פ‬ Isaac Ross ‫יצחק‬ Warren Roth ‫חיימ‬ Ethan Sager ‫משה‬ Noah Schneiderman ‫נח‬ Mia Schwartz ‫רחל‬ Alexandra Selby ‫לאה‬ Daniel Serebryany ‫דניאל‬ Matthew Shore ‫עמיחי‬ Jacob Shwarzman ‫יעקב‬ Dylan Siegel ‫דֹב‬ Leo Soer ‫פרצ‬ Victoria Sokoloff ‫חנה פייגה‬ Ethan Steen ‫איתנ‬ Ellis Steinberg ‫רבקה בת חיימ‬ Faith Talsky ‫זהבה‬ Orielle Taylor ‫אוריאל‬ Nathan Tenenbaum ‫אהרונ‬ Harley Tsherna ‫יקירה‬ Emily Waks ‫חוה‬ Maya Waxman ‫מאיה‬ Ela Weinreich ‫אלה‬ Eden Wilson ‫עדנ‬ Katie Wise ‫איילת‬ Mia Wolfe ‫מיה‬ Max Wood ‫משה‬ Janna Zarek ‫ירדנ‬ Meera Zarek ‫לאה‬ Lexie Zeitz ‫שושנה‬ Gabriella Zisckind ‫גבריאלה‬

Pulling back the curtain on the Canadian Jewish arts world

Avi Finegold

E

ver since the inception of The CJN Podcast Network, a multitude of audience members have written in with one specific request: that we start a Jewish arts show. So we listened. This spring, we debuted Culturally Jewish, a new bimonthly podcast covering Jewish artists around the country, pulling the curtain back on brand-new theatre productions, art exhibits, films, TV shows and more. Join hosts Ilana Zackon and David Sklar as they sit down with creators of all backgrounds for honest and immersive insight into the reality of life as a Jewish artist in Canada. Listen and subscribe: thecjn.ca/culture THECJN.CA 21

Stereotypes on strings Years ago, Joseph Shragge was reading the news and found an article about an antisemitic ice sculpture—a bearded man with a hooked nose and a bag of shekels—at a winter festival in his home province of Quebec. It later came to light that the antisemitic image was, in fact, a popular character from Eastern European tradition, and the non-Jewish sculptors didn’t see what the big deal was.

That inspired Vertip, a new play by Shragge and Alison Darcy, co-art-

istic directors of the Montreal theatre company Scapegoat Carnivale.

In their challenging show, a puppeteer who uses these stereotypical puppets is shocked when Zyhd, his money-grubbing Jewish loan shark puppet, comes to life—and starts demanding money.

It’s a different approach to tackling antisemitism, and not one all audiences have been comfortable with. At its core, it asks a fundamental question: how can we preserve cultural heritage without embracing its problematic elements?

When Lisa Rubin, artistic and executive director of the Segal Centre for Performing Arts in Montreal, caught Prayer for the French Republic in New York City last year, she walked out of the theatre certain of one thing: she had to put this show on.

She knew it wouldn’t get a long run on Broadway, overshadowed by Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt next door, and few other theatre companies would pick up a three-hour-long drama with a large cast and heavy Jewish content. But for her and the Segal, it was the perfect fit.

In this podcast episode, hosts Ilana and David take listeners literally behind the scenes during rehearsals for this epic Jewish family drama, speaking with Rubin, her actors, subject-matter experts and audience members who caught a sneak peak.

22

Leslie Schachter; Helena Vallès

Making a living on a prayer

The site of the first mass killing in Nazi-occupied Europe, Babyn Yar has been a dormant field in Ukraine for years. In 2021, a new monument was erected on the ghastly site: a stunning synagogue, colourful and magical, like something out of a fairy tale, literally unfolding like a pop-up book using gears and tracks.

The man behind it is Manuel Herz, a Jewish architect based in

Switzerland who has spent many years researching and contemplating what defines Jewish architecture. His conclusion could be said to be the Babyn Yar Synagogue itself: with no homeland for so many years, rather than develop an architectural style, Jews became known as the “People of the Book”. It’s that literary tradition that inspired the pop-up book style of his incredible monument, which pays tribute to the surviving spirit, optimism and creativity of the Jewish people.

Jokes that bomb Jeff Rothpan recently worked on Roast Battle Canada, which was nominated for several Canadian Screen Awards. But before that, the Montreal native—who moved to Los Angeles at a young age to pursue his dream of being a comedian and writer—made a career writing jokes for the likes of Steve Martin, John Cleese and Pamela Anderson.

Things really took off once he started working with Jeff Dunham, the comic ventriloquist whose dummy characters include hicks, weirdos, grumps and a dumb dead terrorist named Achmed, who prematurely blew himself up by accident. Rothpan travelled around the world with Dunham and his supporting puppets as he performed in Iceland, South Africa and the Middle East—including Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Subscribe to Culturally Jewish to hear how Achmed (and Rothpan’s jokes) were received in those countries, where suicide bombers aren’t just a throwaway gag.

THECJN.CA 23

Mike Carano: Iwan Baan

The beauty of Babyn Yar

Ontario Jewish Archives

TRIBUTE TO ISRAEL

Israel Independence Day Parade, Toronto, May 16, 1948. Photo by Dr. John E. Ackerman.

We are grateful to represent a part of Israel’s legacy and look forward to being by your side for another 75+ years,

saving lives, delivering lives, and changing lives.

The Board of Directors and staff of The Canadian Shaare Zedek Hospital Foundation

24

THECJN.CA 25

The year that shaped me What I learned by spending the mid-1960s in Israel An essay by Seymour Epstein PHOTOGRAPHY BY NAOMI HARRIS

I

n 1965-’66, at the age of 19, I spent a year studying in Israel, a time that transformed me deeply. What follows is a recollection of how that groundbreaking year shaped my future.

Borrowing from my memoir, From Couscous to Kasha: Reporting From the Field of Jewish Community Work, about my 18 years spent with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee: “I was born one year after the Holocaust ended in Europe and two years before the establishment of the State of Israel, and spent much of my youth mourning and celebrating those two events. I had the sense that the great moments of 20th century Jewish history had passed me by, and that my life would be lived as a passive object of that history, not as one of its writers.

26

“As a student of Hebrew literature in my early 20s, I was much influenced

by Chaim Hazaz’s short story, ‘The Sermon’ (haDrasha), in which the anti-hero, Yudka, bemoans the fact that Jewish history is done to us. In his Zionist fervour, Yudka yearns to be a subject but believes we have become objects of history.”

My chosen career as a Jewish educator was my humble attempt to do Jewish history by teaching a new generation of Jewish youth about their rich heritage of languages, literature, values, and spirituality.

In the mid-1960s, I was a student in the joint program of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University. The Teachers’ Institute at JTS, as it was then known, was an academic program designed to train Jewish Studies teachers for Jewish educational institutions. As at similar schools in

Epstein at his home in Toronto, April 2023 Photographed exclusively for The Canadian Jewish News

THECJN.CA 27

other American cities, undergraduates at JTS were offered the option of a year’s study at Mechon Greenberg in Jerusalem, a teacher training program sponsored by the Jewish Agency and named after Chaim Greenberg (1889-1953), an early Zionist activist and ideologue.

At the time, the Jewish Agency ran three such programs for Diaspora teachers and informal educators: Greenberg, Mechon Gold for religious women, and Machon l’Madrichei Chutz for youth leaders. I had not yet been to Israel, but had attended Zionist schools and camps. The Greenberg program was for me.

Arriving in Israel With limited financial resources, I funded the trip by working on a tour of Israel and Europe under the leadership of Rabbi Eugene Weiner and his wife, Anita. It was a luxury tour for students that involved two Mediterranean cruises, which meant that I arrived in Israel by boat. I have a very clear memory of my last night on that Zim boat before the morning arrival in the port of Haifa. I thought of my mother, of blessed and wonderful memories, who died a young woman just five years before. She was a First World War orphan from Koretz, Ukraine who always spoke (and sometimes sang) lovingly about Israel. Some of my earliest memories are her conversations with me about the new state.

I felt I was making this trip for her, and openly cried on deck thinking about how much she would have wanted to see this place I was about to experience. Some Yiddish song about “What will you do in Palestina?” kept rolling through my head.

That summer of 1965 was a mix of new experiences, Israeli touring, some great cities of Europe, a close bond with Rabbi Weiner and his wife, and a variety of strange, young Jews on the trip. I was in charge of daily prayers and taking special care of a few of the stranger students. At times, my two duties were in perfect sync. The one moment I remember best was linked to the gap between my Diaspora Hebrew (I attended a Jewish elementary school, and most of the courses at JTS were conducted in Hebrew at the time), and modern Israeli Hebrew. I had been hospitalized near Tiberias for minor surgery and developed some heartburn from all the medication. Not knowing the word for heartburn or indigestion, I exclaimed, “bo’er li ha’lev” (“my heart is burning”). That got a rise out of the nurses and a doctor, and it took some tricky gesticulations to calm them down.

It may have been this moment in my Hebrew education that inspired the zeal 28

with which I pursued my studies that year.

Mechon Greenberg was spread over three locations in the Baka and Talpiot neighbourhoods of 1965 Jerusalem. We studied on Rechov Shimshon, we ate on Rechov Reuven, and we slept in Pension Carmi on Rechov Ein Gedi. Our dormitory was the last house on the border of the no-man’s-land that separated it from Jordanian Jerusalem. If your laundry blew across the fence, you didn’t venture out to retrieve it.

The students from North America arrived in September, the middle of the academic year for the South American students who were attending what they spelled Mejon Greenberg. They studied all day at the Machon.

We spent half the day there and the other half at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University.

There was some culture shock. The room

“The cook would bake a cake for every birthday and it seemed that each Argentine had three or four of them every year.

We all learned ‘Happy Birthday to You’ in Castellano... ” I shared with an American student was so small that only one of us could get out of bed at a time. Hot water for showers was available only for a few hours on Friday; a weekly shower before Shabbat was deemed sufficient. In the Jerusalem winter, taking a cold shower every day, as was our custom, was a challenge. Some of us learned to do it less, while others devised complicated rituals involving kerosene heaters.

Eating Jewish Agency food was yet another challenge. The cook was a former dishwasher who replaced the original cook, who we believed died eating her own fare. The food was austere, bland, and in short supply. We North Americans who studied at Hebrew University had vouchers for the student cafeteria, where we made the most of much better cuisine. The South Americans had a trick of their own. The cook would bake a cake for every birthday and it seemed that each Argentine had three or four of them every year. We all learned “Happy Birthday to You” in their Castellano variety of Spanish.

I had a Lambretta scooter I’d purchased in Naples and brought over on my last boat

trip of the summer. This gave me the mobility to properly tour the small, divided city that Jerusalem was in 1965. It also permitted me the odd road trip to Tel Aviv to visit a couple who had adopted me on that boat from Naples to Haifa. I had no family in the country, and that couple became my link to Israeli life, since most of my time was spent with other transient students.

Studying with Israel’s best minds Of all the exciting experiences, it was the high quality of teaching by the very best instructors in Jerusalem which made the year for me. My studies at Hebrew University included a Bible course with Nechama Leibowitz. She refused to teach at Mechon Greenberg for religious reasons, but did teach at Mechon Gold, run by the Torani (religious) division of the Jewish Agency, and at Hebrew University, a secular institution.

One can imagine how much sense that made to us North American students.

Her approach to text was based on close reading and profound respect for traditional interpretation, along with an emotional attachment to sacred text. It was so different from the highly rational, scientific study at JTS, which I also valued for its intellectual integrity. It was Prof. Leibowitz who taught me that both were possible and that, indeed, the mix of cognitive analysis and emotional identification was a holistic perspective I could best identify with.

There were some dramatic moments in her class, as when a passage from Exodus had some exceptional contemporary meaning for her and she would reveal her innermost feelings. I remember so well her teaching of the passage in which God tells Moses how He will deliver the Jews from their Egyptian enslavement and bring them to the land of Israel. When she arrived at verse nine —“And Moshe spoke thus to the Israelites, but they did not heed Moshe out of shortness of breath and hard bondage”—she was visibly shaken by the fact that the children of Israel could not listen to the lofty words of God because of their hard work and their shortness of breath. She emphasized that kotzer ruach is not “impatience,” as in modern Hebrew, but literally shortness of breath or even emphysema, the disease of slaves. To this day, I love teaching that text to Israelis so that they can see the brutal origin of a term they use so differently today. Over the years, I have found several new meanings in that text as I teach it again and again.

It was Prof. Leibowitz’s passion for the text itself and her innate pedagogic skills

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that inspired me in later years to search for ways in which children could connect to the emotional content of the biblical narrative, and not merely with the rational study of text.

Years later, while composing that part of my doctoral work I called “Midrashic Drama,” I could still see my professor’s teaching, with all her passion.

She took a special interest in some of her students, invited us to her home, and eventually arranged some private tutoring in Talmud from her neighbour, Yona Ben-Sasson, the father of Menachem Ben-Sasson, a former president of Hebrew University. I think she was convinced that as both JTS and Mechon Greenberg students, we needed more exposure to Talmud. Even though I was a Talmud major at JTS and we had a full course in Talmud at the Machon, she was right.

Prof. Zvi Werblowsky taught comparative religion at Hebrew University and was the dean of the humanities faculty by 1965. He taught a seminar on Jewish mysticism. I was 19 years old and had a total of only three semesters of college behind me, but I craved that advanced course. The other students were older and had some background in the subject. When it was my turn to lead the seminar on an assigned topic, I asked permission to do so in English. Since all the readings were in English and my spoken Hebrew was still elementary, it seemed like a reasonable request. At the next session, Werblowsky asked the class for permission to have “Mr. Epstein speak to us in a language other than our holy tongue”! Despite that remark, I could still appreciate the breadth and depth of his scholarship and was especially grateful for a field trip on Easter eve to Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion to see a traditional Easter Vigil service in Latin. Werblowsky pointed out the chanting of Shirat haYam (Exodus 15:1-19) in Latin as Catholics came out of the mourning of Holy Week to the joy of Easter Sunday.

Quite the motzei Shabbat for a young Jew from Toronto.

Pilgrimages to the reading room Before I recount other inspiring teachers from that year, I must mention a specific room that also had a lasting effect on my abilities as a student. The Jewish Studies reading room at the National Library on the Givat Ram campus was where I became a real learner. I was not a natural reader and did not come from a family of readers. In both high school and my first years at college, I found it quite difficult to concentrate on assigned readings, and I showed little 30

interest in novels. It was in that reading room, inspired as I was by the content of my courses, the pedagogy of my instructors, the obvious devotion to research I witnessed around me, and the help that I could get from scholars in the next seat where I came to see myself as a student capable of real research. My Talmud teacher from Mechon Greenberg was usually at the back of the room, working on his own doctoral research, but always willing to help. Nechama Leibowitz would enter, smile, and offer assistance. A few times, she recommended articles she hoped would broaden my scholarly perspective. That reading room became sacred to me, and I have visited it since with some degree of reverence. Several years ago, when I requested a meeting with Talmud scholar Dr. David Weiss Halivni, I was pleased to do so in the reading room, at his customary seat. It was like a pilgrimage.

Gabriel Haim Cohen was my Tanach teacher at the Machon. Gabi, as he was known by all, taught us some megillot and the Book of Jonah. He had mastered New Criticism, a literary approach to the Hebrew Bible that had us analyzing the intricacies of biblical diction and grammar. In his Swiss-accented Hebrew, he was a teacher par excellence. I have been using his techniques ever since and recently completed a radical commentary on Esther that was originally inspired by his insights.

I came to know Gabi and his wife, Nechama, and, in later years, as country director in Morocco for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, I sent North African students to Mechon Gold, which Gabi then directed. I even brought him to North Africa to lecture to local teachers in a training seminar.

Yehuda Amichai taught poetry at Mechon Greenberg. When I tell people that Israel’s greatest poet of the last years of the 20th century was my poetry teacher, there is some disbelief. But in 1965, Amichai was still struggling to earn a living from writing, so he taught. We surveyed a great deal of early Zionist poetry, the poetry of his contemporaries, and some of his own. We were fortunate

to hear his poems read by their author and we came to appreciate his views on literature, religion, and politics. We also noted his obvious appreciation of beautiful women.

He taught us that modernity’s rejection of religion was, at least, a recognition of religion as a force, but that an indifference to religion or an ignorance of its power was not feasible for him: Every night God takes his glittering merchandise out of his showcaseholy chariots, tables of law, fancy beads, crosses and bellsand puts them back into dark boxes inside and pulls down the shutters: “Again, not one prophet has come to buy.”

(From Poems of Jerusalem, translated by Yehuda Amichai and Ted Hughes).

Years later when I stayed at the Inbal Hotel where Amichai swam daily, we renewed our relationship. I invited him to speak to my colleagues at the Joint Distribution Committee but by then, his bitterness about certain aspects of Israeli society was overwhelming.

I prefer to remember the young writer and his passion for all that was poetic.

Will I surprise you some more by saying that Aharon Appelfeld was our prose teacher?

berg was sponsored by the Jewish Agency, not once during that time were we ever subject to any form of propaganda, nor were we encouraged to make aliyah. What convinced me to link my life to Israel and eventually to make aliyah were two moments during that year.

The first was a walk on Mount Zion, where I saw a Yemenite Jew working in a pit. We began to talk, both of us in halting Hebrew, and he asked me who I was. I explained, in the negative, that I was not Israeli as an excuse for the state of my Hebrew.

And he said: “And am I an Israeli?” I realized right then that my passport had little to do with who I really could be.

The second incident was at Yad Vashem on Yom haShoah, 1966. We had been given tickets for the annual memorial ceremony, and in the midst of the proceedings, Epstein presnts photos from his time in Israel 1965-66, with his Lambretta scooter a contingent of soldiers from different units converged on a floor map of Europe, When I used to encounter him at his favourite taking up armed positions on the sites of concentration camps. I was initially offended, café in Jerusalem, I still saw the young thinking that such militarism had no place Appelfeld, so different from Amichai. His horin such a solemn ceremony. But in looking rendous Holocaust years were etched in his face and on his soul. He was quiet, reserved, around me at other faces, some of which were surely those of survivors, I soon realized and shy. Already married to one of his South the significance of an army and a state that American Machon students, he invited us was formed too late to save millions of Jews. to his modest apartment for tea. He was 35 These two moments, together with the deep years old and had survived the Shoah, but study of many forms of Jewish creativity, have he was already writing the masterpieces that linked me forever to both the Jewish people made him one of Israel’s most accomplished and its state. authors. We had no idea who this shy teacher really was.

Meshulam Tochner, an expert on the auLessons for the next generation Among the programs that can replicate thor Shmuel (S.Y.) Agnon, among the central that state of mind is Birthright, which figures in modern Hebrew literature, taught offers college-age Jews around the world us a course on Agnon, who lived around the a free 10-day trip to Israel. It’s been a corner from our dormitory. While we saw the resounding success. Hundreds of thouwriter at the local grocery store, we never had the nerve to introduce ourselves. We sands of young Jews have taken the trip once asked Tochner about Agnon’s story, and studies show that the experience does “The Handkerchief” and misunderstanding strengthen Jewish identity. Despite the us, he quoted every reference to a handfact that much of that identity will remain shallow for those participants who have kerchief in all of Agnon’s work. It was sad to not coupled the experience with some learn that Tochner died before Agnon won degree of Jewish knowledge, the Birthright the Nobel Prize for literature in 1966. team can be proud of their contribution to Diaspora Jewish identity.

Am I Israeli?

The modern fear is that if young Jews While the year of study at Mechon Green-

cease to identify as Jews, our numbers will decrease rapidly through assimilation, intermarriage, indifference, and disaffection.

These are the fears of those who are mostly concerned with “Jewish Continuity,” a slogan of the United Jewish Appeal of past years.

While identity is necessary, it is clearly not sufficient, and “continuity” speaks lamely of “more of the same.” Creative growth—a blossoming of the Jewish spirit—will not come from the “just Jewish” crowd. Deep literacy, a knowledgeable identification with our literature, history, and values—these are what is critical to the continuation of the creative aspects of Jewish civilization.

The combination of identity and literacy will lead to pride and courage: pride in the past history, values, literature, culture, and enormous achievements of our tiny people; and courage to create a better future for the Jewish people and the wider world by continuing our track record of creative accomplishments.

We have always been innovative in our ability to adapt to new circumstances.

Our transition from slavery in Egypt to land-owners in Canaan was the first major adaptation, and it became a primal lesson for future life-critical and transformative shifts—from captivity in Babylon, to centuries of a full cultural and spiritual life in what is now Iraq; from a central faith based on a sacrificial cult in Jerusalem, to a de-centralized local religion flourishing in thousands of communities around the world; from a pre-Enlightenment isolated and insulated religion, to a modern string of secular achievements in all the disciplines and arts of Western civilization; and from a homeless nation suffering from the vilest forms of antisemitism and genocide, to a thriving “Start-up Nation,” the State of Israel.

Because I am convinced that young Diaspora Jews could be attracted to long-term programs in Israel that promote literacy, I decided to write this memoir of the year that changed my life. Thousands of young people are already taking advantage of such programs, but the challenge is both to increase the numbers dramatically and to offer quality experiences which couple a variety of approaches to Jewish identity and to profound Jewish literacy. n Seymour “Epi” Epstein has been involved in Jewish education for decades in Toronto, Montreal, and Casablanca, Morocco. From 1999 to 2009 he was director of Toronto’s Board of Jewish Education.

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Hannah Srour-Zackon on five recent novels that reflect the current state of Israel

W

hen Hebrew was revived as a modern spoken language, its authors had limited literary inspirations to draw upon. Of course, there was the Tanakh and the piyyutim (liturgical poetry). But for the most part, novelists like S. Y. Agnon and his contemporaries created the modern Hebrew novel, paving the way for the entire canon of Israeli literature.

Israeli literature has since flourished, gifting us with a wealth of wonderful and varied works. Discerning writers have offered their readers meaningful insights, shedding light on how life in Israel has taken shape as the country marks its 75th year.

As a predominantly English- and French-speaking population, Canadian Jews largely encounter Israeli novels in translation. We must therefore thank the passionate translators who take on the responsibility of translating not only words, but also poetics, nuances, and culture. Some of the most innovative work in Jewish literature today is happening in Hebrew; it is only through the methodical work of these artful translators that English and French readers are blessed to enter this world.

The following works, all published in the 21st century, showcase the diversity of Israeli experiences, shedding light on a modern Israel.

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Sarit Yishai-Levi, The Woman Beyond the Sea (2023, translated by Gilah Kahn-Hoffmann) Amazon Crossing The author of The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem recently released her much-anticipated second novel, which takes on the weighty subject of intergenerational trauma and familial rifts. Flipping between the perspectives of its main characters, the novel begins at a moment of intense crisis for its protagonist, Eliya, who has just been abandoned by her narcissistic, aspiring-novelist husband at a café in Paris.

Utterly shattered, Eliya reaches the depths of despair. As part of her path of healing following a suicide attempt, she sets out to repair her strained relationship with her emotionally distant mother Lily—an orphan who was left on the steps of a convent in Jerusalem as a newborn and has no knowledge of her origins other than being Jewish.

Another important component of this story is Eliya’s estrangement from her paternal grandparents. Both are survivors of an old Sephardic Jewish community in Monastir (present-day Bitola in Macedonia) that was largely decimated in the Holocaust. In this forced separation, Eliya is further removed from an important family heritage. Yet as Eliya embarks on her own self-healing, a domino effect of healing takes place, tracing back up the generations.

Set in the mid-1970s, in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, the characters’ suffering and internal struggles mirror those of a country that has been broken in spirit by the war.

Yishai-Levi’s writing is exquisite, and she captures the raw emotions of her characters with stunning clarity in a heart-wrenching novel.

Keep a box of tissues on hand when reading this book, as it is sure to move even the most stoic reader to tears.

Paper Boat Creative/Getty Images

The people of these books

Omer Friedlander, The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land (2022) Random House This effort stands apart from the rest of the books considered here for one particular reason: you can be sure that nothing is lost in translation, since it was written originally in English. Friedlander, an Israeli-Canadian writer, received the Association of Jewish Libraries 2023 Jewish Fiction Award for this remarkable debut collection of short stories.

Across its 11 stories Friedlander brings together stark vignettes from contemporary Israeli society. His characters are colourful and compelling, even when they sometimes have unappealing qualities, and come from all sectors of Israeli society. There is also an air of the fable to his literary style, each story imbued with a kind of dark humour, underscored by humanity.

Particular standouts in the collection include the opening story “Jaffa Oranges,” about an elderly man who made his living selling oranges, but who harbours a shameful secret about his business’ origins; “Checkpoint,” in which a left-wing activist and mother of a soldier who was killed in Gaza in 2014 films soldiers at checkpoints in the West Bank; and “The Sephardi Survivor,” where two boys recruit a stranger to pretend to be their grandfather for Holocaust Memorial Day at school.

Meir Shalev, A Pigeon and a Boy (2009, translated by Evan Fallenberg) Schocken Just weeks before Israel celebrated Yom ha-Atzmaut, we lost one of its greatest writers: a son of 1948 born in the wake of the War of Independence, just weeks after Israel became a country. That his life is bookended by milestone moments in Israel’s first 75 years feels somehow poetic. On a personal note, I have a particular soft spot for Shalev as this book was my entry point into Israeli literature as part of a course taught at McGill by Prof. Yael Halevi-Wise.

Shalev’s most acclaimed novel (it received both the National Jewish Book Award and Israel’s Brenner Award) takes its title from a line in Bialik’s poem At The Gate—an allusion to the book’s central theme of the quest for a home. The novel weaves together an enigmatic love story set in 1948 of a woman and a pigeon-handler, and a story set some 50 years later of Yair, an Israeli tour guide who specializes in bird-watching trips.

The interwoven narratives come together in a dazzling climax at novel’s end. Containing elements of magic realism, Shalev’s beautiful language and intricate storytelling create a thought-provoking and mesmerising read.

A. B. Yehoshua, The Only Daughter (2023, translated by Stuart Schoffman) HarperVia We lost another giant of Israeli literature in 2022. Yet, it seems, Yehoshua has not finished publishing yet. This year saw the release of his first posthumous novel, a poignant coming-of-age story set in Italy at the turn of the millennium, exploring themes of diasporic Jewish identity and Jewish-gentile relationships. It follows Rachele Luzzato,

the only daughter of a Jewish family with deep roots in Italy, as she prepares for her bat mitzvah while grappling with questions of identity, personal turmoil, and loneliness.

At the outset, Rachele’s father has been diagnosed with a brain tumour, and the precarity of his health looms over her world. Meanwhile, just before Christmas, Rachele is cast as the Madonna in a school play, in which her father forbids her from performing. As the story unfolds, Rachele is caught between clashing factions attempting to guide her understanding of herself.

The novel is beautifully written, and Yehoshua’s prose is vividly evocative. An interesting theme which Yehoshua examines throughout the book is that of “play-acting,” either as a member of another religion or as more religious, to explore the impact of living in a predominantly Christian country on one’s Jewish identity. Yehoshua once (in)famously criticized Judaism outside of Israel as inauthentic, stating that “if you do not live in Israel… your Jewish identity has no meaning at all.” With this in mind, that he sets his novel in a Catholic country acts as a complex thematic undercurrent to the novel.

Yehoshua weaves in several interesting subplots, such as Rachele’s ski trip on Christmas, her fascination with a book her former teacher wants her to read, her relationship with her bat mitzvah teacher Rabbi Azoulay—who has come from Israel to teach in the community—and the pregnancy of her dear pet dog. The Only Daughter is a beautifully layered work of fiction, reminding readers why Yehoshua has figured so importantly in Israeli literature.

David Grossman, More Than I Love My Life (2021, translated by Jessica Cohen) Knopf The recipient of the 2018 Israel Prize is among Israel’s most notable current writers. His latest novel is a masterful exploration of the complexity of familial relationships—especially between mothers and daughters—and legacy of trauma.

Grossman’s story centres around Gili, a 39-year-old filmmaker. Having been raised by her father (Rafael) and abandoned by her mother (Nina), at the novel’s beginning, the most meaningful maternal presence in Gili’s life is that of her grandmother Vera, Nina’s mother and Rafael’s stepmother (the family dynamic here is complicated). Vera came to Israel in the 1950s, a survivor of the notorious Yugoslav labour camp at Goli Otok, where she was tortured for some years. At Vera’s 90th birthday, Nina makes a surprising appearance and a shocking revelation. This leads the quartet of Vera, Rafael, Gili, and Nina on a trip to Croatia to visit Goli Otok and to confront the past.

Grossman’s writing style takes on a cinematic quality as the story unfolds, with line breaks acting as scene breaks and transitions as the ‘camera’ shifts between past and present. This narrative tool is a fascinating way of showing Gili’s wariness of getting too close to her own story. She acts as a film documentarian, preferring to remain at a distance to safely observe and protect herself from pain.

This is a deeply moving novel, and a compelling look at the ties which connect us to loved ones, even those who have hurt us in the past. n THECJN.CA 33

‘We are on the precipice’ Vivian Bercovici takes stock of Israel’s past and its uncertain future

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Independence Day, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Apr. 26, 2023.

Jack Guez/Getty Images

I write this in my living room in central Tel Aviv, where I have lived for almost seven years.

For two-and-a-half years before that I served as Canada’s Ambassador to Israel. And for 52 years leading up to that tremendous honour, I spent most of my life in Toronto.

I know both sides well; exile and redemption.

Seventy-five years of statehood is being celebrated here all day; primarily with disposable charcoal barbecues in parks and homes. In a few hours the air show will thunder overhead, stoking immense pride on beaches all along the Mediterranean coast.

But tomorrow, we will focus again on the reality of 75, which is quite dire. I’ve been taken aback by some of the treacly forecasts published in the last few days. They feel forced; curated to feed an insatiable appetite for a happy narrative in western culture. In recent days, Israel has been hosting tens of thousands of North American Jews participating in 75th celebratory missions. They want “happy.” As does the mega-gathering of Jewish Federations of North America, also in town for this moment. They came to celebrate.

But, based on my private discussions with many of these visitors—some in very senior leadership positions—the Israel they are seeing is not quite what they expected, even if they have been following the news.

I know. I was raised on the same Israel as them. The one that works for the Diaspora.

And I live in the real Israel today. They are very different countries.

Demonstrators light flares during a rally in Tel Aviv to protest the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul bill, as the country begins celebrations for its 75th anniversary, on Apr. 25, 2023.

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Demonstrators lift flags and placards during a rally to protest the Israeli government’s judicial overhaul bill in Tel Aviv, March 30, 2023.

impossible. Only he and Golda Meir—among all the pre-state leadership—insisted that there be no compromise. No UN-preferred half-measures. A sovereign, Jewish state must be declared, they said.

This boldness was spectacular, embodying the new, strong Jew who would take up arms and self-defend. Never again.

Ben Gurion considered that fundamental achievement, after 1,800 years in exile, to be the ultimate goal. “Culture wars,” as he referred to extraneous issues—like disagreements about religion and state—could be sorted out by others. But it is the culture wars that have never properly been addressed by the state and which now give rise to the extreme challenges with which Israel contends and which threaten its future as an economically viable, sovereign, Jewish, liberal democratic state.

As I spoke with visiting North Americans this past week so many asked questions, privately, with disbelief. They live in another reality, where they are focused on addressing assimilation, heightened antisemitism and the concerns of major donors, which are a hugely important driver of North American community life.

In Israel, we are preoccupied with our future as a liberal democracy. And, what is clear to me, after having spoken with so many North American visitors this week, is that they really do not comprehend how grave things are here. I’ve heard a lot of: “Oh, Israel. There’s always some crisis.”

True, we seem to thrive on drama. But this? This is next level.

What’s Really Going On In Israel The discussion regarding Israel’s current instability tends to focus on the “right-left” political paradigm. But, fact is, it has little to do with these more traditional categories and much more to do with the manner in which the state manifests its Jewish identity.

This is a long-deferred conflict over the degree to which matters of religion and state should be separate or intertwined.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have been drawn to the streets to protest the judicial reforms and the impact they will have on liberal democracy are not left-wing anarchists, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his colleagues prefer to brand them. Not by a long shot.

Among this cohort are former Bank of Israel governor and chairman of JPMorgan Chase International, Jacob Frenkel, all former living heads of Mossad, Shin Bet, Israeli Police, Bank of Israel, CEOs of major banks, technology CEOs, etc. The tsunami of support for this “camp—crossing every imaginable divide—is breathtaking. It is also a major slap in the face for Netanyahu.

Opponents of the reforms are heavily secular but include many traditional and some modern Orthodox Jews (in my anecdotal experience from western countries). They see this legislation as undermining, if not obliterating, liberal democracy in Israel. This population tend to serve in the army, work and pay taxes and also do reserve military duty into their 40s and 50s, well beyond the period required by law. They are fierce patriots and say that when they took their oath to

.Jack Guez/Getty Images

****** I recall having just returned to Toronto from a year in Israel as a student and being a guest at a late-summer garden party. 1982.

The First Lebanon War raged.

Two months earlier I had been writing final exams for my year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. One morning in June, we awoke to a campus with no young men. They had been called up for reserve army duty.

A few days later a simple chalkboard was set on the floor of the main entrance to the campus on Mt. Scopus. Each day, names were erased and new ones written; our peers who had fallen in Lebanon. This became my generation’s war. In Israel, it’s a thing. Every generation has “its war.” But Lebanon was different, because to this day, many see it as a reckless escapade, undertaken by the bullish General Ariel Sharon who had convinced Prime Minister Menachem Begin, against his better judgement, to go in. All the way to Beirut, if need be.

Lebanon is where Israel lost its innocence.

There are many Israelis across the political spectrum who see that conflict as a turning point, unlike previous wars, when the young nation initiated a war that was not existential. Begin was gutted by that realization and resigned from public life. There was an enormous human toll—in dead soldiers—as well as national cohesiveness.

I returned to Toronto that summer, and the disconnect was jarring.

At that Toronto garden party, a group of men held forth with great authority on just how amazing and important the Lebanon War was. I offered an alternate opinion. Even in 1982, politics was not a place for young women, and our opinions were not taken seriously. As a society, we were still straddling the mentality of the ‘50s and working on accepting women as intellectual equals—never mind betters.

I was told, by the men, that I really did not understand the situation. My gender aside, in those days, dissent on the matter of Israel simply was not an option. Not in the Canadian Jewish community. We needed Israel to align with our legends and myths, which were increasingly unrelated to the reality.

And now, at 75, both sides, exile and Israel, struggle with what they are, separate and together.

Seventy-five is an extraordinary achievement.

We exist. We have built a beautiful country with a flourishing economy founded on the principles of liberal democracy. David Ben Gurion, on May 14, 1948, managed the

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Israelis march with the Torah at a rally in support of the government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system, in Tel Aviv, April 22, 2023.

protect the state and its people—to risk their lives—they made that solemn commitment to a democratic country. They refuse to serve an autocracy or illiberal democracy.

This part of the population—much larger than you may think—says that a new contract must be made with the state. They refuse to look away and just accept the blanket exemption from military and national service accorded the ultra-Orthodox haredi population. Not only is it deeply unfair and wrong, it is simply not sustainable, economically or from a standpoint of social cohesion.

Haredim – The Wild Card At the moment, the haredi parties support the coalition government, but there is nothing right wing about their policies.

They support this government only because Netanyahu promised them the world: blanket IDF exemptions to be enshrined in law; a massive increase in kollel stipends for men with families studying full time rather than working; and full state support for haredi-run schools without the requirement that they teach core subjects, like English, mathematics or science.

This ensures that haredi men will continue, for generations to come, to lack any skills that are valued in the workplace.

What this arrangement does, in addition 38

to entrenching a permanent economic burden on the state, is to ensure that these communities remain poor and dependent in every way on their religious and political leaders. Nowhere in the world do haredi Jews demand such privilege, never mind receive it. This culture of entitlement furthermore flies in the face of the basic tenets of Judaism—that promote a balance between the holy and mundane, material and spiritual. There is no balance in haredi demands for living in the State of Israel.

Religious Zionist Camp As with all groups, there are factions within, and the Religious Zionist camp is no exception. In recent decades the Religious Zionist population has become more radical, with many adhering to a vision of Greater Israel which includes all territory of Judea and Samaria. Some of the more extreme supporters— including the party leaders Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir—are messianists who believe it is the Jewish birthright to control territory promised to the Jews by God. The vast majority of the 350,000 settlers living in the West Bank (not including an additional 150,000 residing in areas over the Green Line surrounding Jerusalem) are Religious Zionist in political orientation. They also serve in the army, value a well-rounded higher

Absolute Power of The Majority What has so many Israelis apoplectic is the position of the coalition government that when a majority “wins” they rule with absolute power. Elections and legislative chambers are one critical element of democracy but by no means the beginning and end.

Call them checks and balances or institutional constraints, but mature democracies have an upper chamber—like the Canadian Senate—or an independent judiciary, usually both. With the passage of these reforms Israel will have neither. The Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to review law will be subordinate to the will of the Knesset. All senior government justice advisers as well as judges at every level will become political appointees.

Dissent will be a quaint concept of the past.

Many Israelis believe that this is the most profound crisis the country has faced since 1948, because, unlike the early wars, we are not fighting external enemies determined to destroy us, we are battling our inner demons.

One very senior visiting Federation leader asked me, in a private chat: “Are people really thinking of leaving?”

“Absolutely,” I answered, telling him that I personally know of several families with young children who have recently pulled up stakes and moved to Europe. They’ve just had enough. They will not send their children to risk their lives for an illiberal, religiously oriented state.

What I did not ask him was: “Are people thinking of coming to live in Israel?”

Because I know the answer. No. But that is precisely what Israel needs at this moment.

A miraculous influx of liberal democratic Jews from the west; secular, traditional, religious. If the country is to continue to flourish economically and remain a liberal democracy, that is.

It’s a matter of time. We are on the precipice. n

Canadian Press

education and are engaged in the economic life of Israel. And they are, overwhelmingly, supporters of the divisive reform legislation.

This sector is committed to certain convictions which it believes to be based in fact: that the court system is biased against religious practice and settlement expansion; that the Supreme Court, in particular, is dominated by left-wing, Ashkenazi judges who are openly hostile to religious Zionism; and that the evisceration of court jurisdiction (as proposed in the reform legislation), while vesting absolute power in the Knesset, will strengthen democracy in Israel.

The Board of Directors of Canadian Friends of Herzog Hospital extends its warmest congratulations to

The State of Israel

Mazel Tov to the State of Israel On its 75th Anniversary

David Yabrov Jerry Dykopf Elias Benaim Howard Bergman Jeff Westreich Jay Feingold

Allan Jubenville Jay Benaim Colin Reitsma Justin Abrams Jason Simon Kelvin Lam

on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary.

Looking forward to the next 75 years!

Dr. Yehezkel Caine President, Herzog Hospital

3160 Steeles Avenue East, Suite 300, Markham, Ontario L3R 3Y2 Tel 905.475.2222 Fax 905.475.9360 Toll Free 1.888.563.6868 www.kbllp.ca accountants@kbllp.ca

The Foremost Family is proud to celebrate

Israel’s Milestone 75th Birthday

Dr. Jacob Haviv

Wendy Switzer Myles

CEO & Director-General, Chairman of the Board, Herzog Hospital Canadian Friends of Herzog Hospital

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The first time we fell in love with Israel Readers of The CJN share their initial interactions with the Holy Land

Courtesy of Gary Kapelus

T

o mark Israel’s 75th anniversary we asked readers to tell us their memories of the Jewish state. I was the one reading these emails and it was a joy. The stories start with the historic Partition vote (one of my favourites was from Philip Berger , about his father’s clandestine visit to the United Nations). I received emails about visits to Israel from the ‘60s, before and after the Six-Day War, right up until today ( Michael Brooke ’s story about teaching skateboarding is another memorable one). There were stories about falling in love and stories about visits to cemeteries.

A few readers sent me wonderful pictures and we’ve tried to include some here. There were black-and-white photos of family reunions and photos of teenagers hanging out with friends, celebrating their first taste of independence on a group trip to Israel.

While most of the submissions were nostalgic, a few readers looked at their fond early memories of Israel and asked where had the promise of Israel gone so far astray.

The stories brought back many memories for me as well. Like so many readers, I first visited Israel with my family, where we met extended family for the first time. I spent a formative year at Hebrew University and then later a sabbatical year with two little children, where I learned more than I ever want to know about lice and kindergarten classroom politics.

We didn’t have room to print all of these wonderful stories, but you can read more here, thecjn.ca/israelstories.

- By Lila Sarick

Gary Kapelus, Thornhill, Ont. In the spring of 1974, I took a year off from University of Toronto to explore the idea of making aliyah.

I landed in Israel with no luggage (thank you KLM), and no particular plan other than to visit some distant relatives and to volunteer on a kibbutz in the north. The Hashomer Hatzair office sent me to Kibbutz Shamir, on the Golan Heights.

I met young folks from all over the world, some Jewish, many not. About two weeks after my arrival, on June 13, 1974, the kibbutz suffered a terrorist attack, and among those killed were several kibbutz members working in the bee house and a young New Zealand volunteer.

I had been in the exact location (the pool) and time (around 8:30 a.m.) of the terrorists’ entry into the kibbutz the day before. Had they come that day instead, I would have been the first one killed.

This event marked my introduction to the realities of life on the Israeli border: death and my first funerals, firing flare guns and learning how to assemble an Uzi. As a volunteer, I joined in the nightly patrol around the kibbutz perimeter and spent the following Yom Kippur helping to guard the front entrance to the shul on neighbouring Kibbutz Kfar Blum.

On the other hand, I had the most Canadian of opportunities to dig tunnels and throw snowballs on Mount Hermon. I went on to spend the rest of the year at an ulpan in the neighbouring kibbutz, Amir, where I was the assistant to the beekeeper and loved every minute of it.

THECJN.CA 43

Philip Berger, Toronto.

My father Shimmy was born and raised in Estevan, Saskatchewan. He grew up physically fighting the local antisemites.

In 1947, he was a 28-year-old medical resident in New York City training under the renowned Jewish dermatologist Dr. Marion Sulzberger.

My father was aware of the pending UN General Assembly vote on partition.

He did not want to miss the moment. He created a false press pass showing that he was a reporter for the Estevan Times which of course he was not. On Nov. 29, 1947, he was granted entry to the UN General Assembly under cover of his press pass and witnessed the vote in favour of partition. He was ecstatic and joined thousands of others in Times Square after the vote, celebrating and dancing the night away.

Given his experience growing up, he needed no convincing about the need for a Jewish state. He always spoke about the more favourable attitude towards Diaspora Jews in the years following the founding of Israel. Though he was an ardent atheist who was contemptuous of religion, he remained a committed Zionist his entire life. And, he imparted his Zionism to his children, one of whom made aliyah and currently lives in Tel Aviv.

Esther Stone Sarick, Toronto.

Israel at 75 brings back memories of when I was at a student in the after-school Hebrew Institute in Pittsburgh.

We were brought down to the auditorium and asked to sit very quietly and listen to the radio. We learned this was a very important and momentous day. I was about 10 years old.

We were told that what we would hear was going to be the most important and memorable day of our lives. It was.

The radio was tuned to a broadcast from the United Nations. Suddenly the announcement was made that the United States of America votes ‘yes’. There was complete silence and then a burst of shouting, hugging, dancing, and crying.

We were dismissed early. I walked home to find my parents being very happy in a way that I had never seen before. Shortly after that, we heard that my mother’s cousin was able to leave Cyprus Displaced Person camp to arrive safely, at last, in Israel.

44

Simon Saul Berger c. 1950

Halley (Macklin) Girvitz, Calgary.

I live in Calgary. We are a small community and were even smaller in 1967, during the Six-Day War. The community was asked to meet at the Beth Israel Synagogue (now Beth Tzedec Synagogue). My father took my brother and me to the synagogue, where one wealthy gentleman said he would donate $2,000 to Israel. That was a lot of money then. My parents were not able to give that kind of money but my father went to the bank and borrowed some money. I never forgot that.

I am 68 now and have been fortunate to visit Israel, but it was more important for both my sons to visit Israel and love it too. They have been there a few times and I went after they visited.

That one event has stayed with me all these years. It made a huge impact on me.

David Shidlowsky, Kibbutz Gezer.

I started kindergarten at Associated Hebrew Day Schools in Toronto in 1958.

My connection with Israel starts from there. Both my parents had been in Zionist youth groups when they were teenagers and some of their friends came to Israel in 1948 and founded a number of kibbutzim. My father’s father was a member of Hashomer Hatzair in Poland (~1910-1913) before leaving with his family for Canada.

I went to a public high school and maintained membership in a Zionist youth group through high school as well as keeping up Hebrew lessons.

During the Yom Kippur war, in October 1973, one of my classmates who returned to Israel after Grade 9, was killed in the Sinai.

As soon as I heard this, I decided to go to Israel.

It took almost a month to sort out some paper work and I arrived in Israel in November 1973, became a kibbutz volunteer. I have been here since. I have been a kibbutz member since 1975.

Michael Brooke, Thornhill, Ont. My first time in Israel was 1987 and I was 22 years old. It was through this trip I wound up marrying a native-born Israeli in 1989.

But it was during the summer of 2012 when I felt a very deep sense of connection to Israel. It was a sense that even if you

Courtesy of Philp Berger; Michael Brooke; Joshua Katchen; Wilf Mandel

don’t live in Israel, you can make meaningful things happen there.

I had been publishing a magazine on skateboarding since 1999 (Concrete Wave) and in the spring of 2012, I came up with the idea of building a peace movement. I called it Longboarding for Peace and I decided to kick things off with having Israelis and Palestinians skateboard together in the name of peace.

We worked with the Peres Center for Peace and they arranged several workshops, including at the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem.

There were three members of my family along with about 10 Israelis on a bus.

When we approached the security gate, I realized that for most of these folks, they were well out of their comfort zone.

When we got to the school in Shuafat, the students were very excited by all the longboards. We took a number of photos that day—but this one by Yair Hasidof remains my favourite.

It’s all about balance and trust— two critical elements that seem to be in short supply when it comes to Israel and the Palestinian issue.

This photo shows pro skater Yoni Ettinger helping a young student who had never tried skateboarding before. Although she was a little intimidated at first, with Yoni’s help, she found her way.

This encapsulates what is possible if people work together for peace. Skateboarding has always been my way to centre myself.

If you go too far to the right, you wind up in a circle. Too far to the left, and the same thing happens.

The only way forward in life (and with the conflict in the Middle East) is a balanced approach—the radical paths of extreme left and right only keep us in circles. This photo reminds me that balance requires support.

Joshua Katchen, Toronto.

My connection with Israel started in Hebrew day school. I went to the Calgary Hebrew School in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Israeli shlichim would come for one or two years (some even stayed) and not only teach about Israel, but share their lived experiences —their time on kibbutz, or in the IDF, or on ar-

cheological digs. But mostly, they were happy to set up the reel-to-reel projector and show those JNF films: A kindly old British narrator going all over the country with a folk dancing troupe following him, shots of the walls of Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv coast, the fields of the Golan, the sands of the Negev.

Thanks to those teachers, I knew I had to go to Israel. And thanks to those films, when I got to Israel, I knew I had to try to fry an egg in the desert.

My first trip to Israel was in the summer of 1990 on a Young Judaea program—three weeks on Kibbutz Mevo Hama in the Golan Heights, five weeks touring north to south.

The program encompassed everything—Jewish and Israel history, modern and ancient architecture, hikes to waterfalls and swimming holes. Unfortunately, it also included a session on Israel’s struggles with a recorded presentation given by Bibi Netanyahu. (I still have the cassette).

William Fisher’s grave, Rehovot Military Cemetery

Wilf Mandel, Toronto.

Our most meaningful visit to Israel was in April, 2018.

A bit of background: My uncle, William Fisher, was an RCAF navigator during the Second World War. In 1948, Israel was in dire need of aviators, and he volunteered to serve. He was one of over 4,500 volunteers from 58 countries, known as MACHAL the Hebrew acronym for Mitnadvei Chutz La’aretz—volunteers from abroad.

On the night of Oct. 24, 1948, he, along with three other Machalniks, took off from Tel Aviv to bring supplies to Sdom. A few minutes after takeoff, the right engine exploded and the Dakota

Joshua Katchen with egg

spiraled into the ground near Kfar Yesodot, killing all aboard.

He was buried in the Rehovot military cemetery.

Fast forward to October 2017 when I received an unexpected call from Israel.

It turned out that 103 Squadron and Nevatim AFB had undertaken what they deemed a moral obligation to renew the ties with the families of the fallen. They had managed to find me and the daughter of the co-pilot, Fred Stevenson and we were invited to attend Nevatim AFB’s memorial service two days before Yom ha-Zikaron.

The memorial service was held in a large hangar, with over 1,000 people in attendance. We were seated in the front row, and part of the service included a video based on interviews with myself and Stevenson’s daughter. The service was, of course, in Hebrew and the names of the members of Nevatim who had died in service to Israel were read. It ended with the singing of Hatikvah.

On Yom ha-Zikaron, we were taken to the Air Force memorial service at Pilots’ Mountain. Our next stop was at the MACHAL memorial site in Sha’ar Hagai, just off the Tel Aviv to Jerusalem highway, and then, it was on to Rehovot military cemetery to visit my uncle’s grave. It was a moving, once-in-a-lifetime trip. n THECJN.CA 45

Jewish Community Organizations and Synagogues join our brothers and sisters in Israel in celebrating

ISRAEL’S 75 ANNIVERSARY TH

Adath Israel Congregation Beit Rayim Synagogue & School Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Beth Sholom Synagogue Beth Tikvah Synagogue Beth Tzedec Congregation Canadian Friends of Yad Sarah CHW (Canadian Hadassah-WIZO) Congregation Darchei Noam Congregation Habonim Hebrew Beach Institute, Synagogue & School Holy Blossom Temple Israel Bonds/Canada-Israel Securities, Limited Na’amat Canada Toronto Temple Kol Ami Temple Emanu-El Temple Har Zion Temple Sinai The Song Shul 46

Congratulations Isreal on Celebrating 75 Years of Independence!

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Congratulations to Israel at 75 and for its many achievements.

Israel’s remarkable resilience is a powerful symbol as Ukraine defends its very existence.

Visit ujetimeline.org Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, a Canadian charitable non-profit organization, was founded to deepen understanding of the breadth, complexity, and diversity of Ukrainian-Jewish relations over the centuries, with a view to the future.

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THECJN.CA 51

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When the Jewish sound of Montreal was Moroccan Remembering Samy Elmaghribi’s musical influence in a new book by Christopher Silver

Courtesy of Elmaghribi family

W

hen you think of Montreal Jewish culture, your mind may turn to smoked meat and that narrower, sweeter version of North American bagels. If you get more precise and think of Jews, music, and Montreal, your thoughts could drift to Leonard Cohen. But they might just as easily land on Samy Elmaghribi.

Born Salomon Amzallag, he became a musical legend in his native Morocco and beyond. After emigrating to Canada, he wound up the cantor at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, where, among other things, he officiated at my Bonjour Chai co-host Rabbi Avi Finegold’s parents’ wedding.

The Samy Elmaghribi story is a window into several broader ones: about Jews and music, about North African Jews and postcolonial independence movements, and—of particular interest to The CJN’s readers— about Jewish Montreal.

Elmaghribi is one of several captivating figures in Christopher Silver’s book, Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music across Twentieth-Century North Africa. Professor Silver is the Segal Family Assistant Professor in Jewish History and Culture at McGill, and was a guest on our podcast episode about Mimouna, the post-Passover celebration originated by Maghrebi Jews.

Recording History is both exciting new research on music itself, and an unexpected history of North African Jews and Jewish-Muslim relations, through the framework

54

of a shared musical heritage. As the author explained to Avi and me, Elmaghribi “was a Moroccan artist of few equals in the mid 20th century. He was the biggest thing in Morocco in his time, and not only in Morocco, in Algeria and Metropolitan France as well.” This was news to me; Rabbi Finegold, as it turns out, listened to “Samy” tapes on family road trips.

Prof. Silver did not initially set out to go into academia, but a happenstance 2009 encounter with Moroccan Jewish music at a Casablanca record shop piqued his curiosity, and ultimately allowed him to follow a “very untraditional” academic path. He explained, “I have a PhD in history and my primary source material were century old records, shellac records spinning at 78 RPM.” While the Montreal connection does not fully explain Silver’s presence at McGill—the academic job market also played a role—he told us that he has “quite a few students who come from the Moroccan Jewish community, who end up writing these incredible research papers on their family histories. The materials they’re working with are their family papers: photos, documents, and interviews.” This gives him hope that Montreal might become “a hub,” not just “of Moroccan Jewish history,” which it already is, but “a hub for scholarship on the Moroccan Jewish community.”

In the excerpt of Recording History that follows, Christopher Silver delves into Samy Elmaghribi’s glory days before he got to Montreal. - Phoebe Maltz Bovy

Samy’s Boys.

THECJN.CA 55

Revolutionary Music “Then came the congratulations of all the Muslim personalities, which touched me”.

B

56

Pathé promotional photo of Samy Elmaghribi, ca. 1951.

the world grabbed hold of him. And with reasonably priced tickets, Moroccan audiences could afford his revolution. That rebellion of “modern music and song” was true to form and included such styles as “Franco-Arab, flamenco, Egyptian, Algerian, Tunisian, [and] Moroccan.”

As his advertisements promised, Elmaghribi’s early set lists included music that ranged across North Africa and the Middle East, across styles, and across languages.

Emblematic were his breakout record “Luna lunera,” a bolero written by the Cuban composer Tony Fergo, which Elmaghribi translated into Arabic while maintaining whole verses in Spanish. But it was one disc

in particular that ingratiated Elmaghribi to a wide swath of the Moroccan public: “Lukan al-milayin” (If I had millions). Perhaps it was its aspirational quality that endeared the singer and the song so.

In “Lukan al-milayin,” Elmaghribi dared dream the impossible so long as French rule persisted in Morocco. In the song, Elmaghribi articulated the lengths he would go to pursue the love of his life.

Ay ay ay, if only I had millions I know what I would do with them at that time.

On boats—in planes I would cross oceans and traverse the skies To search for my love in every place.

Courtesy of Elmaghribi family

y the early 1950s, Moroccans had begun to imagine independence. For many, it may have sounded like Elmaghribi. In tandem with a national struggle waged by the Istiqlal political party in global forums like the United Nations, Elmaghribi was sating Moroccans back home with what he called his “sensational revolution in Oriental music.” And it could be heard nearly everywhere: from the concert hall to the radio and from the royal palace to the marketplace. His revolutionary music celebrated urban and rural, north and south, locations in the French protectorate and the Spanish one, while making no distinction between Arab or Berber nor Muslim or Jew. All were Moroccan. But if his nationalism was more capacious than that of the political parties it was no less nationalist. On the country’s largest stages and on its most symbolic ones, Elmaghribi donned the national colors, toured alongside Muslims, and sang of and for the nation. In each setting where his music was performed, Elmaghribi’s audiences learned to perform his inclusive brand of Moroccan nationalism as well.

“The echoes of your brilliant success,” Simon wrote to his brother from Marseilles on Feb. 17, 1950, “have reached me all the way up here.” By early 1950, Elmaghribi’s success was so compelling that Simon encouraged him to remain in Morocco instead of joining him on a permanent basis in Marseilles. In late summer 1950, Elmaghribi, whose music was already broadcast with regularity on Radio Maroc, embarked on his first concert tour of Morocco. “Les Samy’s Boys,” his six-piece orchestra, accompanied him on stops that included Rabat, Fez, and Mazagan.

In the promotional materials for his 1950 tour, Elmaghribi demonstrated the independent style, sartorial confidence, and musical modernism that helped set him apart. The poster for his Sept. 9, 1950, concert in Mazagan, for instance, which adorned kiosks throughout the city, first carried his slogan of a “revolution in Oriental music.” It also included a large photo of a dapper, perfectly coiffed Elmaghribi, bespoke in white suit at the microphone, surrounded by Les Samy’s Boys. With all eyes fixed on their bandleader, his orchestra practically swooned in admiration. “For the first time in Morocco,” the poster announced in French, “Samy Elmaghribi and his dynamic ensemble, ‘Les Samy Boys’ (before their departure for Paris),” were to appear. Catch him for a hometown show, the marketing suggested, before the rest of

Casablanca 1950s.

But if Moroccan audiences gravitated toward “Lukan al-milayin,” they would have also relished its folly. Traveling by boat and plane in order to reach “the East and Lebanon, India and Yemen” (fil-sharq wa-lubnan, fil-hind wa-l-yaman), as Elmaghribi crooned, would have been recognized as pure fantasy when considering that the majority of Moroccans needed permission to travel abroad. And yet, the realm of possibility that was part and parcel of the appeal of a song like “Lukan al-milayin” would also have suddenly seemed within grasp as the national struggle gained ground. Elmaghribi’s music was providing Moroccans with a taste of their possible future.

By 1951, Elmaghribi was increasingly in demand within an ever-widening circle of Moroccan fans, among them the political establishment, the well-heeled, and the working class. While his earliest concerts had already attracted a multiconfessional Moroccan audience, he actively cultivated Jewish-Muslim diversity in the years to come. Initially, he did so in a number of ways, including through the promotion of his shows with Arabic-language concert posters and by featuring highly regarded Muslim artists on the bill like Lahbib Kadmiri and Bouchaïb El Bidaoui. Thanks to a combination of factors—his look, his voice, his choice of song, his charisma, and the shows that he assembled—Elmaghribi could report the following to Simon: My success in Morocco is certainly immense and I am recognized and surrounded very quickly no matter which city I’m in, in Casa, [cities] small and big, everyone points out Samy with their finger, with a smile [ . . . ] the great success of the day remains the Song of

the Millions (my creation) in Arabic of which you have the record and which is hummed

by Arabs and Jews, young and old, men and women, in all the cities of Morocco.

He could hardly move in Morocco without drawing attention or being swarmed by fans.

The veneration of Elmaghribi by Moroccans even caused some Jews who had left the country to second-guess their decision, at least momentarily. “Moroccan Jews arriving in France are speaking about your success with pride and admiration,” Simon informed his brother on Aug. 14, 1951. “I would have paid dearly to find myself in Morocco these days,” he continued, “to be intoxicated by your rise to success; I miss this Morocco.”

In 1952, Elmaghribi started explicitly flying the colors of Moroccan nationalism—or at least wearing them. “I have ordered from a fine tailor six splendid outfits for the six best performers in Morocco, who will accompany me on my tour,” he wrote to his brother on Feb. 22, 1952. “These wool outfits are in the Moroccan colors: red vests with satin-lined lapels and green pants,” he added with pride. In the midst of composing, recording, performing, and preparing for yet another concert tour in April and May 1952, Elmaghribi had been contacted by the sultan.

“These [outfits] were designed,” he noted, “for our presentation to His Majesty the Sultan and then the Glaoui [Thami El Glaoui, the pasha of Marrakesh], which is going to give me a good helping hand in my climb to success.” The red-and-green outfits seem to have done just the trick.

Over the next year, the relationship between Elmaghribi and the sultan, the central symbol of Moroccan anticolonialism and its

attendant liberation movement, strengthened considerably. By the end of summer 1952, Elmaghribi had given his first of many private concerts for the royal family. He provided his brother Simon with sumptuous play-by-play. “Last Sunday, Prince Moulay Hassan, son of the Sultan, sent for me and I sang until the break of dawn,” he wrote on Aug. 22, 1952. This was no audition. Crown Prince Hassan was more than familiar with Elmaghribi and his music. “My hits were requested by His Highness himself,” he noted.

After having brought him to his Casablanca villa, the crown prince promised the artist an invitation to the most iconic venue of all.

On Nov. 17, 1952, just before midnight, Elmaghribi took the microphone at Dar al-Makhzan, the royal palace and offcial residency of the sultan in Rabat. For the occasion of Throne Day (ʿid al-arsh), a holiday invented by nationalists in 1933, the sultan himself had requested the presence of the Jewish artist. In the early hours of Nov. 18, 1952, Elmaghribi sang two patriotic compositions of his own creation as well as other songs “before some 2,000 Muslims and before Moulay el Hassan, who presided over the soirée where the best musical and theatrical troops of Morocco had passed through.”

If his relationship to the monarchy could once be considered private, his association with the royal family was now public. Again he communicated his triumph to his brother in Marseilles. “My success has exceeded the limits of my wildest dreams,” Elmaghribi proclaimed. “The ovation given to me by the public was nothing like the simple applause received by other artists,” he boasted. “Then came the congratulations of all the Muslim personalities, which touched me,” he added.

Elmaghribi’s “sensational revolution in Oriental music” was now firmly aligned with the royal family. n

Christopher Silver’s book, Recording History, was published by Stanford University Press in 2022.

THECJN.CA 57

Happy 75th Anniversary Israel

Hap p Ann y 75th iver Isra sary el

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THECJN.CA 59

William Kurelek’s ‘Jewish Life in Canada’ Sarah Milroy, chief curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., on the painter’s myriad contributions

Jewish Wedding, Calgary, 1975 60

W

ith his series of paintings, Jewish Life in Canada, William Kurelek created one of his most intriguing and paradoxical works. Intriguing because it was painted as a gesture of cross-cultural diplomacy between himself—a devout Roman Catholic convert of Ukrainian immigrant heritage—and his Jewish art dealer, Avrom Isaacs. How could someone of such extreme religious conviction, which blinkered him in so many areas, achieve such an empathetic leap?

An extremely influential figure on the Toronto cultural scene, Isaacs was born in Winnipeg and moved with his family to Toronto in 1941. He later studied political science and economics at the University of Toronto. Opening his Yonge Street gallery in 1961, he plucked Kurelek from obscurity, discovering his talent by accident while Kurelek was working as his picture framer.

(Kurelek had earlier apprenticed as a framer in London, England, following his art training in Toronto.) Ten successful exhibitions ensued at the Isaacs Gallery, as the artist worked through his themes with increasingly manic energy, developing a loyal following in the market. He even caught the eye of the estimable American art historian Alfred H. Barr Jr., founding director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, who acquired Kurelek’s Hailstorm in Alberta, 1961, while on a trip to Toronto. This series was, in a sense, payback.

The series is paradoxical, too, because it seems to articulate two visions of the immigrant experience at once: on the one hand, a sunny story of rejoicing brides, contented dairy farmers, cheerful children at their violin practice; and on the other hand, a darker story of abandoned farms, harassed street merchants, and forlorn new immigrants huddled on train platforms far from their homelands. Was Kurelek celebrating the success of Jewish settlers in Canada or grieving their struggle to belong?

Given his own rough start and his later success, it was likely a bit of both. Kurelek knew immigrant struggle as a first-generation Canadian. Growing up in rural Alberta and then Manitoba, he was often subjected in the schoolyard to random acts of cruelty at the hands of his peers, experiences that inspired later works such as Farm Children’s Games in Western Canada, 1952, and King of the Castle, 1958–59. Always the outsider’s outsider, Kurelek was mocked for his differences, his language, and his family’s

Yom Kippur, 1975

poverty. He suffered as well at the hands of his father, who belittled his sensitivity, no doubt contributing to his son’s lifelong mental illness.

Kurelek was also haunted by the stories of the old country that he heard from his parents, images that rear up in works such as Cross Section of Vinnitsia in the Ukraine, 1939, 1968, an early work in which the stacked bodies of corpses can be seen rotting below ground while festivities reign above. (The bifurcated scene is set behind bars.) Another work, Zaporozhian Cossacks, 1952, describes a violent rout of Ukrainians at the hands of Russian soldiers. The terrors of Europe were so close that he could almost touch them. No doubt it was these experiences that underpinned his sensitivity to immigrant stories. Over the course of his career, Kurelek made many suites of works on immigrant themes, attending also to other groups of Canadians often overlooked in the largely British dominant culture of the day: Polish immigrants, Irish immigrants, Ukrainian pioneer women of the Prairies, lumberjacks, and the rural people of Charlevoix, Quebec.

Jewish Life in Canada, though, has a distinctive back story, one rooted in shame and atonement. As Kurelek’s friend and collaborator on the project, Abe Arnold, reported in an article in the Winnipeg Free Press in 1976, a year after the completion of the Jewish Life in Canada series and a year before Kurelek’s death, the artist’s family had initially supported Germany’s efforts in the war, so aggrieved had they been by the prejudice and harassment they had faced from those of British heritage in their community. “We learned to our dismay,” Kurelek said, “what a bad mistake we’d made in the placing of our sympathies.” In fact, the earliest work by the artist that we can find record of is a series of pencil drawings that he made as a teenager, now held in Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, copying the harrowing photographs of Hitler’s concentration camps—images he was encountering in the popular press. With a jittery hand he traced the brutalized and emaciated bodies, and the menace of their captors, annotating the drawings with descriptions of the atrocities committed. One drawing in this series is a self-portrait, likely the artist’s first, catching THECJN.CA 61

himself in a moment of self-encounter. What kind of man would he be?

Completed during Kurelek’s stay at Lourdes, France, in 1975 (one of his several pilgrimages to Christian sites), Jewish Life in Canada was thus a long-gestating act of personal atonement, and one to which he brought special attention and care. “I wanted to do my bit in undoing some of the injustices Jews have suffered at the hands of Christians,” he told Arnold, adding that it constituted “some of the most intensive painting I have ever done… because of the

extraordinary amount of detail in these, compared to my usual things.”

This series can be understood, though, not just as a tribute to Isaacs and his community but to Canada itself, a Canada that had—in the end— served Kurelek well. Exhibitions of his art were proliferating from coast to coast, eleven books on his art had been published, and he had much to be thankful for. But it was, as well, a moment of buoyant optimism across the country. In the glowing aftermath of Expo 67, where Kurelek’s art had been displayed in the Ukrainian Pavilion, the late

Above: A Zionist Society in Montreal Honouring its University Grads, 1975

Left: Jewish Baker’s Sabbath, Edmonton, 1975 62

sixties and seventies saw the blossoming of multiculturalism as a Canadian ideal—one that extolled the Canadian mosaic versus the American melting pot. Every different newcomer culture was to be honoured and preserved for its distinct attributes and histories, a policy ultimately enshrined in Pierre Trudeau’s Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1971. Writing in his essay “The Development of Ethnic Consciousness in a Canadian Painter,” Kurelek asserts that “my experience has helped me to appreciate how fortunate I and other people of various

origins are to be living in Canada,” adding the caveat, “Although we cannot always share our heritage, we can at least express it in freedom.” He continues: “There is no longer any excuse for anyone in this country to be ashamed of his cultural background.

Canada has a multicultural society. The days of Anglo-Saxon domination are gone or nearly gone.”

As Patricia Morley relates in her essential biography of Kurelek, when his Ukrainian

Jewish Separate School in Winnipeg, 1975 .

$45

his measuring tape, the little boy in Montreal practising his violin before dinner, the lighting of candles for a family Shabbat in Edmonton. Visitors linger over these details and the eccentric frames that distinguish them, created by the artist himself, each one skilfully attuned to the image. They respond as well to the warmth of Kurelek’s imagination, his scenes of family life, of labour, of the rituals that bind, and his dream of a nation where all can belong. n

Milroy

McMichael | Goose Lane

identifying a blind spot in Trudeau’s vision of glittering cultural tesserae. The Winnipeg Art Gallery owns a work by Kurelek that is particularly striking in this regard, a tiny but powerful depiction of a prairie highway in a blizzard. At the side of the road, a tiny figure stands with his thumb outstretched, hoping for a ride. The title of the work today is Gotta Get Home, 1974, previously titled Indian Hitchhiking from Saskatchewan. Who among settler artists was thinking about Indigenous displacement and poverty in 1974? While Kurelek’s religious faith led him to hold some bizarre and on isissues Williamextreme Kurelek’s seriespositions Jewish Life in Canada paradoxicalof because it seems to articulate two visions of the immigrant the day experience such as abortion, sexual freedom at once: a sunny story of rejoicing brides, contented dairy farmers, and cheerful children at their violin practice; a darkerof story of abandoned farms, harassed and the and perils consumerism, hisstreet undermerchants, and forlorn new immigrants huddled on train platforms farwas from their homelands.

Was Kurelek celebrating lying message one of empathy and the success of Jewish settlers in Canada or grieving their struggle to belong? understanding.

—Sarah Milroy The work of multiculturalism is ongoing in our country. At the McMichael, we are delighted to have acquired Jewish Life in Canada, a series that contributes to this work.

The series has already established itself as a favourite with our visitors. Standing in front of these paintings, people stop and talk.

They find themselves in the scenes, identifying the places and the human experiences Kurelek sets before them: the woman beside a railway platform in Saskatchewan with her immigration papers held to her chest, an impossibly detailed brick wall under demolition in Toronto, the Winnipeg tailor with

Jewish Life in Canada: wiLLiam KureLeK

Pioneer series was unveiled in Parliament six years after his death, Mary Kurelek, the artist’s mother, was seated beside Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, in a moment of solidarity.

If the Group of Seven had been brilliant at promoting their ideal of Canada as a land of “wilderness” and manly adventure, Kurelek upheld a dream of tolerance, inclusivity, and opportunity that remains more unrealized than most Canadians care to admit. Notably, the implementation of the Multiculturalism Act has been critiqued for doing little to uphold the Indigenous cultures of Canada, focusing instead on the celebration of newcomers—an omission that Kurelek’s art seems to tease at in his works depicting Inuit life in the Canadian Arctic. Saccharine, anachronistic images permeate his book The Last of the Arctic, made to order as a commission for Christopher Ondaatje’s Pagurion Press, but the artist’s own take on life in the North in his series of 30 paintings called A Point of View: Cape Dorset N.W.T., 1968, is more nuanced and sensitive to contemporary realities. In these works, Kurelek includes telephone poles, trucks, skidoos, and the abandoned oil drums that littered the landscape—and even the local airport on a blistering bright winter day. These are not images of an Indigenous culture frozen in time but of living and evolving communities.

I see a rare prescience here, with Kurelek

Jewish Life in Canada William Kurelek William Kurelek, Jewish Life in Canada, published by Goose Lane Editions with McMichael Canadian Art Collection in 2023 THECJN.CA 63

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT RUDOLF ARLENE BRYNA HELEN MARK & SUSIE LAURA ARNOLD STEVE DAVID JEAN-PIERRE ALBERT JOHN BERNARD BRYAN S. SIDNEY TED GERALD SHARON SANDRA HOWARD PETER HOWARD MAX BARBARA LEONARD BENJAMIN ARI BERNIE ELLEN AND PETER EILEEN BRENT LISA MORDECHAI STEPHEN IRVIN NEIL MAURICE PHYLLIS NATHAN LIONEL HARVEY HARRY CINDY ROSALEE BARRY ROY AND NAOMI GAIL GERBRIG SHIRA BARBARA & LORNE ROKIE LYNETTE MYER MARIE KENDALL RONALD DAVID JACK MARVIN MICHAEL MURRAY CHERYL AND DAVID ANNA BEVERLY HARRY DAVID HARRIETTE ESTHER BRYAN JACK RACHEL MARVIN ADAM HY SHARON HARLEY ESTELLE AVA MARTIN GARY ILENE DANIEL VIVIEN DALIAH MARGO GLORIA ROBERT FRANCES ELLA MARNIE JOEL HOWARD FRAN NEIL MICHAEL ROSE SAM SOL JEFFREY EVELYN MORRIS

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ASPER FOUNDATION CANADIAN PAPER CONNECTION DAAT CHARITABLE FOUNDATION DARON FINANCIAL INC. DAVID J MATLOW PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION DEVERETT PROFESSIONAL CORP JARELL DEVELOPMENT INC JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL / BEN LIEBERMAN JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL / LORNE LIEBERMAN JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL / MARTIN LIEBERMAN JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL / BARRY RASHKOVAN, CPA JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL / BARRY SHAPIRO JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL / ROBERT VINEBERG JOEL S. MOLDAVER PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION MAZER MEDICINE PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION MITZVAH CHARITY FUND IRA GLUSKIN & MAXINE GRANOVSKY GLUSKIN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION PEGGY & JOHN LANFER FOUNDATION PHYLLIS & AB FLATT FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND AT THE JEWISH FOUNDATION OF GREATER TORONTO PIPE AND PILING SUPPLIES LTD. SEYGLOR CONSULTANTS INC SHIRLEY ANN LEWIS ENTERPRISES THE BINAH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION THE FINKLER-FRIEDLAND FAMILY FOUNDATION THE SHAWNA GOODMAN & TODD SONE FAMILY FOUNDATION TORONTO HEBREW BENEVOLENT SOCIETY ULTIMA DIAMONDS INC O/A DAFABASA REAL PROP. MGMT.

THECJN.CA 65

During a wave of terror attacks in Israel in the fall of 2000, David Matlow was among just 14 Torontonians who went on a United Jewish Appeal mission. He wanted to support stores on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, where tourist traffic had fallen silent.

And that’s when he spent $5 on this significant figurine.

Srulik was created by Kariel Gardosh (known by his pen name Dosh) in 1951 as a cartoon representative of the country.

The pioneering sabra sported a kova tembel (pioneer’s hat) along with khaki shorts and sandals. Israel’s youthful answer to America’s aging Uncle Sam captured a plucky optimism.

“It was a reminder that the difficult period would pass,” says Matlow of this addition to his personal museum of Zionist memorabilia.

“Srulik serves the same role for me in 2023. We need to be optimistic and believe in a better future. And, like him, we need to roll up our sleeves to make that so.”

When Dosh created Srulik, boys named ‘Yisrael’ often had that as a nickname. The character ultimately appeared on stamps honouring Israel’s 50th birthday.

The cartoonist was still actively drawing when he died at age 79, in early 2000.

Months later, Srulik took his place in Matlow’s collection, which now numbers over 6,000 items and counting—as featured in the Treasure Trove at The Canadian Jewish News. Am Yisrael Chai!

Download a free copy of David Matlow’s ebook 75 Treasures at herzlcollection.com

Photograph Kevin Viner Elevator/Toronto

SRULIK THE YOUNG SABRA

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CNJ_Passover2023_BackPage.indd 2

2023-05-18 6:18 PM

Happy

5th 7 Anniversary www.robapp.com

The Azrieli Institue of Israel Studies wishes Israel

HAPPY 75 th INDEPENDENCE DAY!

We are proud to launch a new summer course together with the The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archeology at Bar-Ilan University.

concordia.ca/azrieli

514-848-2424 ext. 8721 azrieli.institute@concordia.ca

@AIISConcordia @AzrieliInstitute

T24-85201

PHOTO: BY LISA KOMLOS

Learn more about our Summer in Israel Program 2023:

YOUR TURN

to continue the story 1960-1971

1971-2014

2014-2020

The Canadian Jewish News 68

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