April 23, 2012: A day to celebrate the remarkable Jewish state

By Michael Regenstreif

These are very busy weeks in Ottawa’s Jewish community – indeed, in Jewish communities everywhere.

By the time you read this, both Passover and Yom HaShoah will be behind us.

But coming up quickly will be the National Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony, rescheduled this year to Monday, April 23, 3:30 pm, at the Canadian War Museum, and Yom Hazikaron, to be marked Tuesday April 24, 7:00 pm, at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre, and, then, Yom Ha’Atzmaut.

While Yom HaShoah and Yom Hazikaron are solemn days, their sadness will quickly turn to great joy as we mark the 64th Yom Ha’Atzmaut, the anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel in 1948, this year on April 26.

Ottawa will mark the day with two special events: the raising of Israel’s flag in front of City Hall at 11:30 am, and a community-wide party at the CE Centre beginning at 5 pm.

Two years ago, just before Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Rabbi Steven Garten wrote in these pages about the significance of Yom Ha’Atzmaut for all of us in the Jewish community – no matter where we might fall on the political or religious spectrum (From the Pulpit, April 5, 2010).

“Yom Ha’Atzmaut should be our community’s Olympics,” wrote Rabbi Garten.

“It should be our opportunity to celebrate the survival of the Jewish people manifest in the miracle of Eretz Yisrael.

“Yom Ha’Atzmaut should be the one time of the year when those who want to cede land for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and those who want to hold on to captured land, can sing ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ together. “Yom Ha’Atzmaut should be when we recite ‘Tefilat L’Medinat Yisrael’ together and it should not matter … how we choose to be Jewish …

“On Yom Ha’Atzmaut, we should be able to say ‘I am a lover of Israel,’ regardless of whether we belong to Peace Now or Betar …

“When one celebrates a birthday, it is a time to acknowledge achievements ... [It] is a moment to reflect on how far one has come, not how far one has to go to reach perfection.

“Israel’s birthday is such an occasion. Israel has taught the world how to make the desert bloom and has shared that knowledge with the world.

“Israel has absorbed people of many nationalities and has helped them learn to accept a shared identity. It offers that model, though not perfect, to nations still struggling with disparate immigrant groups.

“Israel has built an educational system, a health care system, an economic infrastructure that started with nothing and now is producing Nobel Prize-winning scientists, world renowned authors, skilled workers and even a few Olympic medal winners …

“We … have one heck of an achievement to be proud of. I hope that you’ll be there … for the Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration … and join in one heck of a birthday party.”

In keeping with what Rabbi Garten had to say about Yom Ha’Atzmaut being an inclusive day for all Jewish people, I’d like to call your attention to Daniel Gordis’ guest column on pages 1 and 2, the first of six columns by Gordis, which we’ll be featuring in the Bulletin over the next several months in advance of his visit here to speak at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa Annual Campaign kickoff on September 9.

A central point to Gordis’ column is that to truly love Israel is to both accept the country for what it realistically is and to strive to make it what it can be – that to criticize the sitting government or specific policies is not an act of disloyalty to Israel; it is, often, an act of love and a duty of citizenship.

I was reminded of that in recent days reading about legendary 60 Minutes interviewer Mike Wallace following his death at age 93.

Attacked by some over the years as a “self-hating Jew” for reports critical of Israel, Wallace maintained his support for the “ideal of Israel” while also claiming the duty, as a journalist, to report accurately and “let the chips fall where they may.”

So, to everyone, have a joyous Yom Ha’Atzmaut. I’m looking forward to seeing you at City Hall and the CE Centre.

April 2, 2012: Your opinion is just as important as our columnists

By Michael Regenstreif

There are primarily three different kinds of articles that we publish in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. There is a different approach applied to each of these kinds of articles.

The first are news stories, which are usually written by Bulletin staff or assigned to freelance reporters, or taken from JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency), the wire service to which almost all mainstream Jewish newspapers in the Diaspora subscribe.

We strive for measured objectivity in our news stories. The personal opinion of the reporters and editors should be irrelevant. When we cover a speaker at an event, we report on what the speaker has to say in the news story, not what our personal feelings happen to be about what the speaker has to say.

For example, I disagreed with much of what the well-known American commentator Daniel Pipes had to say when he spoke in Ottawa in 2008. But my news article was about what he said, not what I felt about what he said. Rereading the article more than three years later, I can confirm that my personal opinions were, indeed, irrelevant to the story I wrote.

The second kind of article we run are submissions that come from the various agencies and organizations in our community. The byline for such a submission will generally include the name of the organization that submitted the article, along with the name of the author. These articles might include news about the organization or its programs, or previews and reviews of its events. We edit such articles for space and newspaper style and fact-check the accuracy of what is said to the best of our ability. But, essentially, such articles reflect the message of the organizations that submit them.

The third kind of article we publish in the Bulletin are opinion-driven and include all of our various columns, guest columns and letters-to-the-editor. These pieces generally reflect the opinion of the individual, or, in some cases, the organization they represent. Such submissions are also edited for space, newspaper style and, when appropriate, fact-checked.

But we do not censor our columnists’ opinions. Within the mandate of their column, they are free to say what they want to say.

In a diverse community, and in a community newspaper that welcomes diversity of opinion, not everyone will agree with everything written in our opinion columns. Nor should they, and nor should a columnist generally refrain from expressing an opinion because someone will disagree or because someone with a vested interest will take offence.

Last issue, one of our columnists expressed a critical opinion that made some people angry – and that some people applauded in agreement. By press time, one person wrote a reasoned response, which is published in our Mailbag on page 8.

As I noted in a column last year when another columnist expressed an opinion that made some people angry, none of our opinion columnists, including me, has a monopoly on truth. You might agree with some things our columnists write and disagree with others. I’m the editor and I don’t agree with every opinion expressed in our pages.

If you want to dispute or applaud something you read in the Bulletin, please do so. Write a letter-to-the-editor or submit a guest column. While personal attacks are unacceptable, feel free to argue with opinions.

Yours is just as important.

East of Berlin

The night before this issue went to press, I attended the opening of Hannah Moscovitch’s East of Berlin at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC). I read the play a few weeks ago in preparation for an interview with Moscovitch published last issue so I knew it was a very strong work. But reading it on the page and seeing it come to life on stage are two different things.

In East of Berlin, Moscovitch explores the effect of the Holocaust on the son of a Nazi war criminal wracked by the guilt never felt by his father.

There are strong themes, language and sexuality, which make the play inappropriate for children, but the GCTC production, well acted by an all-local cast, is the most powerful play I’ve seen recently. It continues at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre until April 8.

Passover

Passover, which I’ve always found to be the most inspiring of Jewish holidays, is almost upon us. As we sit down at our seder tables to retell the story of Moses leading the Children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt thousands of years ago, we should not forget the continuing relevance of the story in our own time in a world that still knows too much repression and even slavery. Until freedom reigns in every corner of the world, the journey begun by Moses continues.

On behalf of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, I wish all a Chag Sameach.