May 14, 2018: It’s so good to be back at work

By Michael Regenstreif

I ’m thrilled to be back to work at the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. My first day back was April 23 – just in time to work on this edition – after being away on a medical leave since February 5.

My medical adventure began last September when my family doctor sent me for an echocardiogram after she heard a heart murmur that had never been detected before during a routine exam. The echocardiogram – ultrasound imaging of the heart – showed severe stenosis (narrowing) of my aortic valve. When she phoned to tell me the results of the test, the doctor told me she was referring me to a cardiologist but that surgery to correct the problem appeared likely.

The cardiologist confirmed that I would need surgery.

“Are we talking about sooner or later; months or years from now?” I asked him. The last time I’d had surgery was to have my tonsils out in 1961.

“Probably months,” he said. He strongly suggested cancelling the Florida vacation that Sylvie and I had scheduled for December.

He said he wanted to watch me for a while and scheduled another echocardiogram for March – but said to call him right away if I started noticing such symptoms as fatigue, shortness of breath or angina. A few weeks later, I realized I was having symptoms and called him.

My cardiologist immediately repeated the echocardiogram and then referred me to a surgeon at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. In December I had an angiogram at the Heart Institute which showed I had no blockages in any of my arteries – so replacing my aortic valve would be the only focus of the surgery.

I also had a consultation with my surgeon. He explained the surgery and discussed the option of whether to replace my aortic valve with a mechanical valve or one made from animal tissue – each has advantages and disadvantages and it was up to me to choose. I opted for the tissue valve tissue but I wouldn’t know until after the surgery if my new valve would be from porcine or bovine tissue.

More than one person asked me asked me if it’s “kosher” to use porcine tissue. I knew the answer to that question was yes even before Rabbi Reuven Bulka assured me of that during a conversation in January at the SJCC. Ultimately, my surgeon used a valve made from bovine tissue.

My surgery was originally scheduled for February 6. That day I got a call from the Heart Institute postponing the procedure until February 21.

I did have the surgery on the 21st and everything went well. I spent two nights in the ICU and four more nights in a regular room before going home.

I can’t say enough good things about the Ottawa Heart Institute. It’s an amazing place and everyone I encountered there – doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, orderlies, technicians, clerks, cleaners, volunteers, you name it – is highly skilled, kind and compassionate. We are incredibly lucky to have this world-class facility in our city. I’m currently back at the Heart Institute on Tuesday and Thursday mornings doing the eight-week cardiac rehab program.

Most of my recovery time was spent at home and I also can’t say enough about the loving care I received from Sylvie. Recovery was hard work and I couldn’t have done it without her. I think I made measurable progress every day and I felt my strength and stamina increase with my prescribed daily walks which started at six minutes twice per day and increased by one minute each day until I reached 30 minutes twice per day.

Although complete recovery from the surgery takes up to six months, I was able to resume most of my regular activities – including work – after two months. And although both my cardiologist and surgeon explained that the stenosis in my aortic valve had nothing to do with lifestyle choices over the years, I have committed myself to maintaining the heart-healthy lifestyle I’ve followed over the past several months.

I feel very grateful that I live near the Ottawa Heart Institute. The care I received there – and the continuing follow-up – has been outstanding. And I’m very grateful to be living under the Canadian healthcare system where I received this world-class care simply because I needed it.

I’m also grateful for all the support I’ve received from family, friends and colleagues from near and far. And special thanks to interim editor Laura Robin and Jewish Federation of Ottawa colleagues Pauline Colwin and Andrea Freedman for taking care of my Bulletin duties while I was away. As I said, I’m thrilled to be back at work.

February 5, 2018: New Democrats to debate pro-BDS resolution at Ottawa convention

By Michael Regenstreif

The New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) will be holding its national convention here in Ottawa from February 16 to 18 and one of the items on the agenda is a resolution encouraging support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.

There have long been anti-Israel sentiments among some members of the NDP – voiced particularly by such former MPs as Libby Davies and Svend Robinson – but recent NDP leaders like the late Jack Layton and Thomas Mulcair ensured that Canada’s social democratic party maintained a balanced approach to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians that supports a negotiated two-state solution.

“New Democrats believe in… Working with partners for peace in Israel and Palestine, respecting UN resolutions and international law, supporting peaceful coexistence in viable, independent states with agreed-upon borders, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and an end to violence targeting civilians,” states the current NDP policy book.

The resolution to be debated at the NDP convention would replace that policy with one that calls for “banning settlement products from Canadian markets, and using other forms of diplomatic and economic pressure to end the occupation” and “opposing parliamentary efforts to undermine non-violent movements seeking a just resolution.”

That last clause is undoubtedly a reference to the resolution passed in the House of Commons on February 22, 2016 condemning the BDS movement against Israel – as well as similar resolutions that have been passed by several provincial legislatures.

That 2016 anti-BDS resolution was supported by the Liberal and Conservative parties and opposed by the NDP as an attack on freedom of speech and dissent. At the same time, though, the NDP stressed its opposition to BDS and its support for a two-state solution.

So this new motion, should it pass, would be a marked change in NDP policy.

It remains to be seen whether or not the resolution will pass at the convention and whether or not it will be supported by Jagmeet Singh, the new NDP leader.

Singh has spoken in favour of Israel lifting the naval blockade of Gaza and he was an NDP member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario when it passed an anti-BDS resolution on December 1, 2016. Singh opposed the resolution on the same basis that the federal NDP had opposed the anti-BDS resolution in the House of Commons, noting in a tweet that “dissent, protest and freedom of speech are a fundamental part of democracy.”

After opposing Ontario’s anti-BDS resolution – which passed overwhelmingly with support from the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives – Singh participated in a delegation of Ontario MPPs that visited Israel on a trip organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

Like previous NDP leaders, Singh has not, to date, endorsed the anti-Israel BDS movement. It remains to be seen whether he will follow in the steps of Layton and Mulcair and maintain a balanced approach or whether he will align himself with those in the party who would take a stridently anti-Israel approach.

Singh won a first-ballot victory in the NDP leadership race last fall as a mainstream candidate – seemingly in the tradition of Layton and Mulcair. The party’s anti-Israel faction largely supported Manitoba MP Nikki Ashton who finished in third place with less than one-third of Singh’s support. Ashton has endorsed the resolution that will be debated this month at the NDP convention.

In a Canadian Jewish News article about the NDP resolution, CIJA CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel “praised both Layton and Mulcair for their leadership, when it came to ‘pushing back against marginal elements within the party that sought to advance an extreme agenda to the detriment of the NDP’s broader policy priorities,’ and said he hopes that Singh will do the same.”

I continue to believe the BDS movement, at best, is counterproductive to the cause of peace between Israel and the Palestinians and to a two-state solution to the conflict; that its true goal is simply to delegitimize the State of Israel. Hopefully the NDP will also continue to recognize that.

January 22, 2018: U.S. announcement was recognition of the obvious: Jerusalem is Israel’s capital

By Michael Regenstreif

The Ottawa Jewish Bulletin only publishes one print edition per month in December and January and the December issue comes out early in the month while the January issue comes late in the month. That production schedule was set up years ago to allow the Bulletin staff to take vacations in what is usually one of the quietest times of the year for news.

Perhaps the biggest news to break in the Jewish world during our production break was U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city and that the U.S. embassy in Israel would eventually be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In fact, a law recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and providing for the embassy to be moved to Jerusalem was passed by the United States Congress in 1995. So, Trump’s announcement was really an acknowledgement of what has been American law for more than two decades. By the way, the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support: 93-5 in the U.S. Senate and 374-37 in the House of Representatives.

One of the provisions in the law provides for a waiver to enable the president of the United States to delay moving the embassy to Jerusalem for six months. Since 1995, every U.S. president – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump – has signed the waiver every six months.

Indeed, after making the announcement, Trump signed a waiver keeping the embassy in Tel Aviv for another six months and it remains to be seen if or when he will stop signing them.

In many ways, Trump’s announcement was recognition of the obvious. Jerusalem has been the capital of the modern State of Israel for almost 70 years. The Knesset – Israel’s parliament – is in Jerusalem. So are the Israeli Supreme Court and other important institutions and offices of government.

And although no country currently locates its embassy in Jerusalem – ambassadors from all countries present their credentials at the Jerusalem residence of the Israeli president.

But the status of Jerusalem – a holy city for Judaism, Christianity and Islam – has been in dispute for as long as Israel has been a modern state. Recall that the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, passed in 1947, called for the creation of two states: one Jewish and one Arab. But partition was rejected by the Arabs and the new State of Israel was invaded by the surrounding Arab countries when the Jewish state declared independence in 1948. When the War of Independence ended, Israel held West Jerusalem and Jordan held East Jerusalem along with the West Bank.

Under Jordanian rule, Jews were not allowed to live in East Jerusalem or the West Bank, or to have access to such holy sites as the Western Wall. That was the status quo until 1967 when East Jerusalem and the West Bank were captured by Israel in the Six Day War. Jordan had renounced any claims it had to East Jerusalem and the West Bank long before signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Palestinians now claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state and the policy of the Canadian government, like that of many democracies, is that the final status of Jerusalem should be resolved in the context of settling Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians – a policy that has been long unchanged by both Conservative and Liberal federal governments.

Trump’s announcement, while recognizing the obvious fact that Jerusalem is, indeed, Israel’s capital, did not preclude an eventual shared sovereignty for the city (a shared sovereignty that Israel offered the Palestinians in peace negotiations as recently as 2008 – negotiations the Palestinians walked away from).

I believe that a two-state solution will be the best possible outcome for Israel’s future and for the future of the Palestinian people. But settling the conflict, and creating a Palestinian state, will take serious negotiations. While many – me included – question how serious Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about settling the conflict, at least he insists he’s ready to negotiate.

Unfortunately, the Palestinians continue to seize on any excuse – including Trump’s announcement – to refuse to even come to the table.