November 12, 2018: Jewish communities everywhere were devastated

By Michael Regenstreif

The calm of Shabbat morning services was shattered on October 27 when a man burst into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh shouting, “All these Jews need to die!” He opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle and three Glock .357 handguns killing 11 worshippers – ranging in age from 54 to 97 – and wounding two others; and also wounding four of the police officers who responded to 911 calls from the scene.

The tragedy – which the Anti-Defamation League said was the worst antisemitic attack in American history – devastated both the local Jewish community in Pittsburgh and every Jewish community around the world.

In the days following the massacre, vigils and memorial gatherings were held in almost every Jewish community – large and small. Here in Ottawa, a quickly-arranged memorial gathering the next evening filled the Soloway Jewish Community Centre to capacity. The anguish felt by all us present that Sunday night was palpable – and it was no different in other Jewish communities far and near.

The grief that virtually all of us feel over this incident is very personal. Although the murders took place in Pittsburgh, and although most of us didn’t know any of the 11 victims personally, it really could have happened almost anywhere. All of us know people like Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger.

Or we understand that there are rarely as many as six degrees of separation in the Jewish world. Dena Libman, who spoke poignantly at the Ottawa gathering was a cousin of Joyce Fienberg – who grew up in Toronto. And Leslie Kaufman, vice-president of corporate services for the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood of Pittsburgh, within walking distance of Tree of Life, and knew or knew of some of the victims – or, in some cases, knew their children.

Yes, this horrible incident could have happened almost anywhere – not just in the United States where so much of the political discourse has become so hateful and where there is such easy and unfettered access to guns.

Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, speaking in Israel on November 1, just five days after the Pittsburgh massacre, told the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, “I am sad to say that Jewish people are the religious group in Canada most likely to be targeted for hate crimes – whether vandalism, graffiti, hate propaganda or racist online commentary. Last year, in my own constituency of University-Rosedale in Toronto, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre faced a bomb threat.”

Here in Ottawa, the memories of the antisemitic graffiti spree that targeted several synagogues, the Jewish Community Campus, and a home in the Glebe used by a Jewish prayer and study group, two years ago this month, are still strong. And on November 1, less than a week after the Pittsburgh attack, posters reading “It’s okay to be white,” celebrating the racist and antisemitic white nationalist movement, were put up in downtown Ottawa.

And in Montreal, police charged a man with making death threats after allegedly writing (in French) that he would “eliminate Jews by killing a whole Jewish girls’ school. That’s not a threat, it’s a promise!” That threat was made on the Facebook page of the Journal de Montréal, the largest-circulation French-language newspaper in Canada, and it remained on the Facebook page for 24 hours before it was removed.

And deadly violence against religious minorities has happened recently in Canada. Last year a gunman entered a mosque, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, where he murdered six worshippers and injured 19 more.

Although Ottawa Police Services Chief Charles Bordeleau, speaking at the Ottawa gathering, reassured the community that there was currently no heightened threat of antisemitic violence in the city, the Pittsburgh tragedy and other recent events mentioned here are reminders that all of us must always be vigilant as we go about our daily lives.

Of course, antisemitism is not a new phenomenon. November is Holocaust Education Month in Ottawa and there are numerous remembrance and educational events that already have and will take place this month marking the Shoah, when six million Jews were murdered, a period that ended only 73 years ago.

During Holocaust Education Month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to rise in the House of Commons on November 7 – a date that falls in between when this issue of the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin goes to press and when it arrives in subscribers’ homes, and a date that falls just before the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht – to offer the government’s apology for Canada’s refusal to admit 937 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany on board the MS St. Louis in 1939 (Cuba and the United States also refused to admit the refugees). The ship – the so-called “voyage of the damned” – was forced to return to Europe where 254 of the passengers were ultimately murdered in Nazi death camps.

While the 11 antisemitic murders in Pittsburgh broke the hearts of all Jews everywhere, they also brought us together. “We are all members of the same family,” Dena Libman reminded us at the Ottawa gathering, where rabbis from all of the Jewish denominations stood and prayed together.

And the murders also showed us we are not alone as we saw support and love expressed by so many other communities. In Pittsburgh, for example, Muslim groups quickly raised the funds needed to pay for the funerals of the Jewish victims.

Yes, as Leslie Kaufman wrote, this has been a time “to mourn, to remember, to take comfort in the kindness of friends and neighbours.”

October 29, 2018: The financial cost of Jewish life

By Michael Regenstreif

The financial cost of participating in Jewish life is always a concern. But a recent survey undertaken by reporter Michael Fraiman, and published in the October 4 edition of the Canadian Jewish News, showed that costs varied depending on location.

Fraiman chose a variety of categories and compared average costs in Jewish communities across the country. In his introduction, Fraiman stressed that the numbers he presents “are all designed to be broadly representative,” that they are averages and that “almost none are literal.”

I looked at Fraiman’s report to see how our community fared in the various categories. Ottawa is a medium-sized Jewish community – the fourth largest of the 12 communities examined. Toronto is Canada’s largest Jewish community followed by Montreal and Vancouver. The other communities by size are Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Regina, Saskatoon, Moncton and St. John’s.

In most categories, Ottawa was a relatively economic place to lead a Jewish life.

Challah – The average price for a loaf of challah in Ottawa was $5.10. That’s a little below the national average of $5.29 but more expensive than Toronto ($4.75) or Montreal ($3.60), where challah was cheapest.

Synagogue membership dues – Fraiman qualified his figures in this category by noting that they are based on dues for a 50-year-old single person and that not all synagogues were willing to divulge fees. The quoted Ottawa average was $539, significantly lower than the national average of $893. In fact, Ottawa’s figure was the second-lowest in the country. Only St. John’s, at $400, was lower.

Real estate in Jewish neighbourhoods – Fraiman compared typical real estate prices in neighbourhoods with a city’s largest Jewish population (in Ottawa it was Centrepointe) with average costs in the entire city; and with each city in comparison to others in the survey. In all cases, “Jewish” neighbourhoods were more expensive than a city’s average but in Ottawa only slightly more so. While, real estate in Ottawa was slightly more expensive than in Montreal, it was significantly lower than Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax and also lower than Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton.

Tuition at Jewish day schools – Average Jewish day school tuition in Ottawa was $10,400, just slightly higher than the national average of $10,050 and much lower than Toronto’s $17,000. Interestingly, day school tuition in Ottawa was lower than in Montreal ($11,500) and Vancouver ($12,125) which are in provinces that provide subsidies to non-Catholic faith-based private schools. Ontario remains the only province not to do so. Fraiman also provided averages for tuition at non-Jewish private schools and Jewish schools were less expensive in every city. In Ottawa average tuition at a non-Jewish private school was $15,196.

A week at Jewish summer camp – In this category, Fraiman looked at the six provinces that have Jewish summer camps and found that Jewish camp fees in Ontario, at an average of $1,152 per week, were the highest in Canada. The national average for a week of Jewish summer camp was $896 with the lowest fees in Manitoba at an average of $633.

Jewish funerals – The average cost of a Jewish funeral varies greatly across the country. Fraiman’s figures for Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Regina, Saskatoon and Moncton include the cost of a cemetery plot while the figures for Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, and St. John’s do not. The average cost for a Jewish funeral in Ottawa was $6,900, well below the average of $9,175 for all cities that do not include a plot. Winnipeg, at an average of $15,000, was the most expensive for the cost of a Jewish funeral not including a plot followed by Toronto ($12,000), Vancouver ($9,500), Montreal ($8,000), Ottawa, and St. John’s ($3,650).

There are other areas that could be included in a more comprehensive survey – like JCC membership, a grocery basket of kosher food, etc. – but these figures are fascinating.

October 15, 2018: Solidarity from federal leaders

By Michael Regenstreif

How rare is it to see the leaders of the federal Liberal, Conservative, New Democratic, and Green parties come together quickly to take a common stand on an issue?

But that is what happened just before Rosh Hashanah when two Liberal MPs – Anthony Housefather (Mount Royal) and Michael Levitt (York Centre) – were subjected to an antisemitic tweet from prominent anti-Israel activist Dimitri Lascaris.

In his tweet, Lascaris, chair of the board of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, tweeted that Housefather and Levitt, who are both Jewish, “are more devoted to apartheid Israel than to their own Prime Minister and their own colleagues in the Liberal caucus.”

As Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel pointed out in a statement on September 9, Lascaris’ tweet suggests the two MPs are disloyal to Canada, “a textbook example of antisemitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA),” the definition of antisemitism that has been adopted by many governments and organizations in democratic countries.

Among the examples of antisemitism cited in the IHRA definition is, “Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.”

“Vile antisemitic smears like this are completely unacceptable, and should always be called out. Thank you @LevittMichael and @AHousefather for standing up to this and for everything you do for your communities and our country,” tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Official Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer tweeted: “It’s shameful to see two MPs subjected to such antisemitism, accused of dual loyalties, simply because they’re Jewish & support Israel. The entire [Conservative Party] caucus & I stand w/ our colleagues across the aisle, proudly supportive of all Jewish Canadians.”

“Antisemitism has no place in Canada. I know what it’s like to experience racism & discrimination, and to have my loyalty to Canada questioned. @LevittMichael and @AHousefather, I stand with you today,” tweeted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

And, from Green Party Leader Elizabeth May: “Just saw the attack on you both. So unacceptable. Your loyalty to Canada is unquestioned. See you soon. Sending love. @AHousefather @LevittMichael.”

I was particularly pleased to see May standing in solidarity with the other leaders, as Lascaris was a Green Party candidate and justice critic in the party’s shadow cabinet in the 2015 federal election. He also led the pro-BDS campaign within the party in 2016 – a campaign that led May to briefly consider her future as party leader.

As Fogel also pointed out, some of those seeking to demonize and delegitimize the State of Israel “through BDS and other toxic forms of advocacy, are becoming bolder and more aggressive. They are letting the veil slip on the false distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism … some of them openly seeking to undermine our rights as Jewish Canadians to be accepted as equals in Canadian politics, democracy, and civil society… It is a powerful statement to have federal party leaders unite, despite their many other differences, in defence of our community when we are targeted for antisemitism.”

As encouraged as I was to see the federal leaders come together in a united stance against antisemitism just before Rosh Hashanah, I was also concerned, at about the same time, to learn that Premier Doug Ford’s new Progressive Conservative government had ordered the dismantling of four sub-committees of Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate – including a sub-committee charged with developing provincial strategies to combat antisemitism – apparently as an austerity measure. The other affected sub-committees were charged with fighting racism directed at Blacks, Indigenous people and Muslims.