By Michael Regenstreif
One of the stories on the front page of this issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin is Cynthia Nyman Engel’s report on the keynote speech Brigitte Gabriel delivered, November 5, at the third annual Choices event presented by the Women’s Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.
Drawing on her personal story, as well as contemporary events, particularly 9/11, Gabriel forcefully attacked the radical Islamist movement. The problem, though, was that she couched her attacks in ways that led some in the audience to conclude that she was attacking all Muslims and Arabs. Others didn’t think so. Two different women in attendance have told me that, when Gabriel attacked Muslims and Arabs, “everyone knew she didn’t mean all Muslims and Arabs, she meant radical Muslims and Arabs.”
Bulletin columnist Mira Sucharov was one of the women in attendance who took exception to the way Gabriel depicted Muslims and Arabs and Mira devotes her Values, Ethics, Community column to a discussion of Gabriel and to her suggestions about criteria that should be used in selecting speakers.
There was also a group of women at the Choices event who were inspired by Gabriel. In a letter to the Bulletin, Susan Weisman points to an online petition that was launched in support of Gabriel.
What’s being overshadowed in the controversy that erupted over Gabriel is the Choices event itself. In the three years since it was conceived by committee chair Jennifer Kardash, Choices has quickly become the Federation Annual Campaign’s most successful program for recruiting new, previously unaffiliated donors to the Jewish community of Ottawa. This year alone, 106 new donors became involved in the community via Choices.
The success of Choices as an event, and particularly as an event that involves so many people previously unaffiliated with the community, needs to be celebrated. Jennifer, the committee members, and the table captains who do so much to recruit women to the event – and, thus, to the community – are to be congratulated for the excellent work that they do.
In a column earlier this year, I pointed out that the new chair and vice-chair of the Federation were both women, that all three of the community’s major award recipients were women, and even that a significant majority of the volunteers honoured on the occasion of the Federation’s 75th anniversary were women. Women have become a driving force in the Jewish community of Ottawa. The success of the annual Choices event is another indication of that.
As illustrated by the Gabriel controversy – there is a wide diversity of opinion in the community on any number of issues. If you feel strongly about an issue of concern, if you disagree with an opinion expressed by one of our columnists or with a featured speaker at an event we cover, we welcome your letters to the editor. Your opinions are important and we want to hear from you.
Gil Levine
Gilbert Levine, a legendary figure in the Canadian labour movement, passed away, November 16, at age 85, just days after he was diagnosed with leukemia.
In 2007, when I moved to Ottawa to work at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, Gil was the first Bulletin reader to call and welcome me to the city. Not long after, he came and met me for lunch at the Soloway JCC and I enjoyed the first of several fascinating, stimulating discussions I would have with him about the labour movement, Canadian, Israeli and Jewish community politics, and our shared passion for folk music. Gil added me to his personal email list and I got a steady stream of articles from various publications that he wanted to share with his friends, and an equally steady stream of Jewish jokes.
As I came to find out over the past couple of years, Gil was a mensch of the highest degree and a leading voice of conscience in the Canadian, Ottawa and Jewish communities. I’d like to express my sincere condolences to Gil’s wife, Helen, and their family.
