By Michael Regenstreif
Anticipation continues to mount in the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin office about the upcoming launch of our redesigned print edition and our new dynamic website scheduled to make their debut with the community-wide Chanukah edition to be published November 25.
The mock-ups we’ve been seeing from the team headed by award-winning designer David Berman are exiting and will revitalize the look of the newspaper.
It’s also very exciting that the Bulletin will be fully available online for the first time. For some years now, studies have shown that many readers have drifted away from traditional media in favour of online sources – particularly younger readers, in essence the emerging generation whose engagement has been prioritized by such organizations as the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.
The Bulletin has been an important presence in Ottawa’s Jewish community for 76 years, and we believe that this combination of a fresh look, the addition of a dynamic online edition, as well as engagement through various social media will help ensure our efficacy for many more years to come.
Plans are also coming together for a special launch event to celebrate the redesign of the print edition and new website. We’re inviting everyone – Bulletin readers and advertisers, representatives of community agencies and organizations, etc. – to join us at the Federation’s members meeting on Tuesday, November 26, 7 pm, at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre.
We’ll have a guided tour of the redesign and the website and we’ll hear from several speakers, including such noted Bulletin columnists as Jason Moscovitz, Mira Sucharov, Barbara Crook and me.
Speaking of columnists and the emerging generation, have a look at Ilana Belfer’s initial Emerging Gen column on page 21. Ilana begins a discussion in the column that we hope all – particularly members of the community in their 20s and 30s – will participate in.
Ottawa bus tragedy
The last production day before the Bulletin goes to press is always busy in our office and this issue – which we were hustling to finish two days earlier than usual due to the advent of Sukkot – was no exception. On final production days, we tie up loose ends, make final corrections, and I sit down to write the editor’s column – invariably the last thing that goes into each edition of the Bulletin.
Just as we were settling into the office on that morning – September 18 – breaking news came of a horrible and tragic bus and train collision in Ottawa that left at least six people dead and many more injured. We quickly learned that among the injured was at least one person who is active in the Jewish community.
The accident occurred near the Fallowfield transit station in Barrhaven, when a double-decker bus heading downtown on OC Transpo route 76 hit a Via Rail passenger train en route from Montreal to Ottawa and Toronto. Apparently, for a reason not yet determined as I write just a few short hours after the accident, the bus crashed through the lowered barrier at the railway crossing and struck the train.
While most of us routinely travel hither and yon in cars and on buses, trains and airplanes without incident throughout our lives, random events like this accident are a reminder of the delicate balance in which life always hangs. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by this tragic event.
