September 19, 2011: We are a community of great diversity

 By Michael Regenstreif

Ottawa’s Jewish community, like most Jewish communities of significant size in North America, is highly diverse.

We’re religiously diverse. Individuals and families in the community range from the fervently observant to the completely secular, and our congregations are part of each of the major movements of contemporary Judaism.

We’re politically diverse. Each of Canada’s, and Ontario’s, major political parties has supporters and activists from among our community.

And while Israel enjoys overwhelming support from the community, our opinions reflect the diversity of Israel’s democratic politics and its multi-party system. And, as in Israel, there is a great diversity of opinion in our community vis-à-vis particular policy issues.

All this is to say the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin strives to reflect the diversity of our community. The Bulletin is open to all segments of our community in our news reporting, in the submissions we receive and publish, and in our opinion columns.

None of our opinion columnists – from the congregational rabbis who share From the Pulpit, to Alan Echenberg, Mira Sucharov, Oliver Javanpour, our many guest columnists, to me – has a monopoly on the truth. You might agree with some things our columnists write and disagree with others. I’m the editor and I don’t agree with everything.

If you want to dispute or applaud something you read in the Bulletin, please do so. If what you have to say is relatively short, write a letter-to-the-editor. If you need more than brief, letter-length space, a guest column is possible. A case in point is Bob Dale’s guest column on page 10, a response to Mira Sucharov’s Values, Ethics, Community in our September 5 issue.

September 5, 2011: The Bulletin gets some attention

By Michael Regenstreif

As a small community newspaper, we’re always pleased to see the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin get some attention. We got some recently in two lengthy posts on the Ottawashtetl blog – ottawashtetl.wordpress.com – written by “Ottawayenta.”

There were also some interesting responses in the ‘Comments’ section of each of the posts.

I thank Ottawayenta for taking time to think and write about the Bulletin. Like so many people in this community, the blogger obviously cares about our community newspaper.

I would like to comment on a couple of things raised in the blog.

There was a stated assumption that the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin is financially supported by the Jewish Federation of Ottawa. A natural assumption, I suppose, because many Jewish newspapers in North America are subsidized by federations.

The Bulletin, though, is not. We are a self-sufficient enterprise supported entirely by advertising and subscription revenue. Our modest profits, in fact, support the work of the Federation.

By the way, the cost of a Bulletin subscription has not risen in many years. At $30 per year, an annual subscription costs about half what I pay every month for my home Internet account.

Ottawayenta suggests the Bulletin should be available online for free as many people, particularly young adults, don’t read print newspapers and rely on the Internet for news and information. I wish we could just do that.

The problem is that few, if any, newspapers have been able to break even in their online operations. Many, including the New York Times, are scaling back or beginning to charge for access to their online content.

We hope soon to give the Bulletin a greater online presence in a way that is financially viable and that makes sense for our subscribers and advertisers.

The Bulletin always welcomes feedback, suggestions and questions from anyone in the community. I’m easily accessible at the Bulletin office, on the phone, and via email. My door is open.

And we always welcome articles, letters-to-the-editor and guest columns on issues of concern from our readers. We are, after all, your community newspaper.

CIJA

As we’ve reported in past issues, the various Jewish advocacy agencies formerly under the umbrella of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA) – the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada-Israel Committee, the Quebec-Israel Committee, the University Outreach Committee and National Jewish Campus Life – were merged, as of July 1, into a single agency that was temporarily called “CIJA 2.0” until a permanent name was chosen.

There were many people across Canada who hoped the new agency would be called “Canadian Jewish Congress” and maintain the continuity of an organization that was the major voice of Canada’s national Jewish community for almost a century.

Alas, CIJA 2.0 will not be called Canadian Jewish Congress. After several months of behind-closed-doors discussion, the merged agency will be called the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, or CIJA.

Jack Layton

Seldom have Canadians – of all political stripes – been as united in grief and mourning as we were with the untimely passing, August 22, of Opposition Leader Jack Layton.

In the election campaign last spring, Jack – it seems so natural to call him Jack – appeared to be getting stronger every day, to be recovering from cancer, as he led the NDP to unprecedented success in the May 2 vote.

Although fiercely partisan, Jack earned, and kept, the respect and affection of political friend and foe alike.

Almost immediately after his death, CIJA announced it would establish in his memory the Jack Layton Scholarship for Social Justice, “to be awarded annually to a Canadian student who demonstrates a meaningful commitment to enhancing Canada’s quality of life.”

CIJA chair David Koschitzky said Jack fought for “many causes dear to Canada’s Jewish community … We join with all Canadians in honouring the passing of a passionate advocate and pillar of our Parliament.”

In a last letter to Canadians, written just before his death, Jack continued to inspire.

“My friends,” he wrote, “love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”