June 3, 2020: We cannot and must not be silent or indifferent

By Michael Regenstreif

Nothing was published yesterday – June 2, 2020 – on the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin website and the only thing posted on our Facebook and Twitter accounts was an empty black box with the hashtag #BlackOutTuesday.

The Bulletin – along with the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, the Ottawa Jewish Community Foundation, the Ottawa Jewish Archives, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and many other organizations and individuals – was participating in a day of solidarity, reflection and symbolic protest against racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, by white police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25; a murder that was captured by multiple bystanders on video.

Floyd had been arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill in a convenience store and, as shown on video, was in handcuffs and lying face down on the ground when a veteran police officer – who was fired and later charged with third degree murder and manslaughter – knelt on Floyd’s neck with his full weight on the knee and maintained the pressure for almost nine minutes as Floyd gasped for air and repeatedly said that he couldn’t breathe. A brutal scene to see. The officer continued to kneel on Floyd’s neck for about three minutes after he lost consciousness. Meanwhile, two other Minneapolis police officers knelt on lower parts of Floyd’s body as a third officer stood by. Those three other policemen were also fired but are yet to be charged in the case.

Floyd was just the latest of many persons of colour who have died unjustly at the hands of police over the years in the United States (and we Canadians must not be complacent about this as it has also happened here too many times) but his death sparked protests around the United States the extent of which have not been seen since the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. As I write, more than week after Floyd’s murder, the protests continue. And while the overwhelming majority of protesters have been peaceful, regretfully, some of the protests, particularly under the cover of darkness, have also been coopted by destructive looters and violent provocateurs whose actions have been counterproductive to the noble intentions of those demanding an end to police brutality and racial oppression.

After the horror of seeing the Floyd murder videos on television, I saw a selfie posted by my friend Vance Gilbert to his Facebook page that affected me deeply.

Vance, who lives in the Boston area, is an African American singer and songwriter and one of the cleverest and most entertaining stage performers I know. He’s been here in Ottawa a couple of times over the years to play at the folk festival. This is the caption to the photo that Vance posted on Facebook on May 27:

Friend: “Cool mask!”
‪Me:“Stoppin’ droplets, baby! I love airplanes so I’m stylin’. I’m over 60, so I’m in a high-risk group.”
‪Friend: “What’s that around your neck?”
‪Me: “It’s a knee brace.”
‪Friend: “Whaaa..?”
‪Me: “Protects my neck from knees. I’m in that *other* high-risk group.”

Vance was brilliantly using humour and satire to make a point.

“Don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the knee brace,” I wrote to him in the Facebook comments. “I guess I can laugh at how clever it is but cry over the truth that it tells.”

The murder of George Floyd has focussed attention on the deeply rooted racism in American society. And although much progress has been made over the years, the past few years have seen regression under a U.S. president whose modus operandi has been to stoke division, to sew a politics of resentment and who has, on too many occasions, employed both veiled and not-so-veiled racist rhetoric. I cannot forget that in 2017, when Colin Kaepernick and some other Black football players were protesting police brutality against African Americans by quietly and respectfully kneeling during pre-game singing of the “Star Spangled Banner,” this American president said they should be kicked out of the country.

I recall the Civil Rights Movement adage that “freedom is a constant struggle” and I am gratified to see that our Jewish community in North America – from major and grassroots organizations to the full spectrum of denominations – is acting in solidarity with the African American community. Here is a small sampling of statements from Jewish organizations:

“This week has reminded us yet again that we have a long way to go in our work towards a more just society for all. We will not stop fighting for a world free of racism and bigotry in all of its forms,” said a tweet released by The Jewish Federations of North America.

“Anti-Black racism is a scourge to which we are not immune in Canada. We stand with our friends in the Black community, to whom we say: with great anger & broken hearts, we denounce this hate, we recommit to working with you to combat & eliminate it,” said a tweet from CIJA, the advocacy agent for Jewish federations in Canada, including the Jewish Federation of Ottawa.

“Racism is not a thing of the past or simply a political issue. It is a real and present danger that must be met head on. … We call on all … to unite in the pursuit of justice and brotherly love and respect, regardless of race, creed or color. In this encounter, let us all seek greater understanding amongst our fellow men and women – all of whom are created in the image of God. Let us work in partnership toward eradicating all forms of bigotry and racism,” said a statement from the Orthodox Union.

“United in purpose, we will dismantle the systemic racism all too embedded still within American law enforcement and its justice system. The firing and we hope prosecution of the four Minneapolis police officers involved in this one egregious murder is a necessary step, but it cannot be the only action against structural injustices that have plagued generations and continue to this day. We must forever strive for a free and just society for all people,” said a statement released by The Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement.

“The national rage expressed about the murder of Mr. Floyd reflects the depth of pain over the injustice that People of Color – and particularly Black men – have been subjected to throughout the generations. In recent months we have seen, yet again, too many devastating examples of persistent systemic racism, leading to the deaths not only of Mr. Floyd but of other precious souls, including Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery,” said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

“We remember others before them: Eric Garner. Tamir Rice. Trayvon Martin. Sandra Bland. Oscar Grant. Philando Castile. Walter Scott. Terrence Crutcher. Samuel Dubose. Michael Brown. The list feels endless, and so too is our despair. But as we recite the Mourner’s Kaddish for them all, we say now, again: We will not sit idly by. Our country simply cannot achieve the values of ‘justice for all’ to which it aspires until we address ongoing racism in all sectors and at all levels of society. We remain in solidarity and action with the NAACP’s urgent #WeAreDoneDying campaign, whose policy demands cover areas of criminal justice, economic justice, health care, and voting, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disproportionately impact Black Americans,” added Rabbi Pesner.

“We must dismantle white supremacy now if we are to have any chance at building a more just and equitable world for all people. For all people – because we are committed to the core Jewish value that all people are created betzelem elokim – in the image of the divine – and are therefore equally deserving of full human dignity and safety. But also, specifically for our people – the Jews of Color within the Reconstructionist movement and beyond who face the oppression, pain, and fear of living under white supremacy every day. We must redouble our efforts to ensure that our Jewish communities provide a safe, supportive, loving and empowering haven for all of us, most especially Jews of Color,” said a statement posted by Reconstructing Judaism and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

From talking with Black friends over the years I am well aware that their reality differs from mine in many ways. And while many other African Americans have died unnecessarily and disproportionately at the hands of law enforcement officials, the murder of George Floyd during a pandemic that has brought death and economic hardship to so many seems to be a turning point. It is up to all of us to ensure that our societies and communities rise to the challenge epitomized in the principles of tikkun olam to repair our world. We cannot and must not be silent or indifferent.

May 14, 2020: Three people I knew have been lost to COVID-19

By Michael Regenstreif

The past two months have been difficult on all of us. Our regular day-to-day lives have blurred to memory as we endure social distance and isolation – what I’ve come to call “house arrest” – in our necessary efforts defeat, or at least flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So many of my regular activities – like going to work at the office, exercising in the Soloway Jewish Community Centre gym, seeing friends, attending concerts at the National Arts Centre, eating out at favourite restaurants, etc. – have been on hold these last 63 days with who-knows-how-long-still-to go.

As I mentioned in my April 24 column, it has been particularly hard for me not being able to visit my mother in Montreal. Aside from regular visits, we’ve already missed being with her on several special days – including Passover seder nights and Mother’s Day – and we’ll miss being with her next week to celebrate her 92nd birthday.

The sheer numbers of people we have lost to the pandemic have been devastating and nothing personalizes it more than learning of the death of someone you know. In my last column, I mentioned that three people I knew in the U.S. had died of the virus. These were vital, brilliant people who I knew through my lifelong involvement in the folk music scene. All were people I first met in the 1970s. I’d like to tell you a little bit about them.

I met Hal Willner, the son of a Holocaust survivor, backstage at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1977. We knew a lot of the same people and quickly became friends over shared musical interests. Hal was just beginning his career as a record producer and he would eventually earn a well-deserved reputation for conceiving and producing a series of brilliant multi-artist concept albums as “Stay Awake,” featuring artists like Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt and Ringo Starr performing sometimes strange but wonderful versions of songs from old Walt Disney movies; “Rogues Gallery,” featuring equally strange but wonderful versions of traditional sea chanteys by famous and obscure rock stars and folk singers; and wonderful tribute albums to the likes of Fellini film composer Nino Rota, jazz pianist Thelonious Monk, folk music collector Harry Smith, and Leonard Cohen, among others.

Hal also worked at Saturday Night Live producing the background music used on the show’s comedy sketches, a job he’s had since 1980. Hal died on April 7 in New York City, the day after he turned 64.

As some may know, I host a folk music program once every four weeks on CKCU, the community radio station based at Carleton University. For many years, before I moved to Ottawa, I hosted a similar weekly show in Montreal on CKUT, the community station at McGill. It was on visits to Gene Shay’s folk radio program in Philadelphia in the 1970s that the seeds of my wanting to do my own show were planted.

I spent quite a bit of time in Philadelphia between 1977 and 1982 and one of the first people I met there was Ivan Shaner – better known as Gene Shay – an advertising executive who had begun hosting a weekly folk music show on Philadelphia radio in the early-1960s. Also, in the early-‘60s, he co-founded the Philadelphia Folk Festival, still one of the most important folk festivals in the U.S., and was its main-stage MC.

I became reacquainted with Gene in the 1990s. By then I was also hosting folk music radio programs and we would see each other often at folk music conferences. In fact, Gene and I were on several panels together at conferences and also kept in touch via email. Until he retired in 2015, Gene was one of the deans of folk music radio in North America and a mentor to me and to many other folk music radio hosts around the world.

“Everybody focuses on Gene Shay, but I would love it if somebody would focus on Ivan Shaner, the man. Because he was the most wonderful, supporting, loving father who was always, always there for me,” one of his daughters told the Jewish Exponent, Philadelphia’s Jewish newspaper. Gene was 85 when he died on April 17.

Finally, there was John Prine, a legendary singer-songwriter who began performing in Chicago folk clubs while still working as a mailman in the late-1960s.

I only met John a few times over the years. I got to hang out with him a couple of times and saw him do a few concerts. I also interviewed him a couple of times – once for radio and once for the Montreal Gazette.

I was introduced to John backstage when he came to perform in Montreal for the first time in 2001 and mentioned that we’d met once before, about 25 years earlier. John looked me up and down and said something like, “Oh yeah, Steve Goodman introduced us at Mariposa.” He was absolutely correct. (I already knew Steve, another legendary folk singer from Chicago, who was John’s closest friend. Steve died of leukemia at age 36 in 1984.)

When my wife Sylvie and I were on vacation in Florida in December, John was doing a concert nearby at Ruth Ekerd Hall in Clearwater and we went to see him. It was a fabulous show but I didn’t try and go backstage to say hello because I knew that John was scheduled to be at the National Arts Centre here in Ottawa this coming July, that it would be easier to connect then. But that was before this horrible pandemic hit. John – who had survived two bouts with cancer – was 73 when he died on April 7.

Many thousands of people have been lost to COVID-19 – but knowing even just one of them personalizes the terrible toll this disease has taken. Condolences to all who have lost family or friends.

April 24, 2020: Observations from these strange days

By Michael Regenstreif

 Just over six weeks ago, on Thursday, March 12, I left the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin office at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC), knowing I’d be working from home the next day but hoping I’d be back on my desk at the beginning of the following week.

The SJCC was closing temporarily because of suspicion that a member who had been at the centre had been exposed to COVID-19. The person was being tested and we expected to return to the office quickly if the person did not have the virus. And while that person’s test was negative, by that Monday, March 16, everything had changed – virtually everywhere.

Schools, most businesses, libraries, community centres and houses of worship – any place where people normally gather – all closed their doors that week. All cultural and sporting events were postponed or cancelled and everyone was asked to remain at home as much as possible and to observe physical distancing from other people in an attempt to “flatten the curve” of the spread of this novel coronavirus.

I expect it will still be some time before life begins to return to normal – or to whatever will be the “new normal.”

And while it has been inspiring to see our community come together in solidarity to take care of each other while remaining physically distant (documented in numerous Bulletin stories and columns), the loss of our way of life – even if temporary – has been difficult.

For me, it has been hard not being able to zip into Montreal for regular visits with my mother (who turns 92 next month) – although we talk daily on the phone. This Passover was the first time that we weren’t together as a family on seder nights.

But much more difficult has been witnessing the staggering loss of life to COVID-19 – here in Ottawa, across the country and around the world. It became personal when three people I knew in the U.S. died from it. Much closer to home, Norma Moscovitz, the mother of my friend and fellow Bulletin columnist Jason Moscovitz, was one of numerous residents of the Maimonides Geriatric Centre, the largest historically-Jewish long-term care home in Montreal, who died from COVID-19 this week. To Jason and his family, and to all families who have lost loved ones to this pandemic, I send my deepest condolences – and know that I speak for virtually all Bulletin readers in doing so.

Long-term homes have been particularly hard-hit by COVID-19 with more than half the deaths in Ontario and Quebec, and in may other locations, occurring in such centres. Thankfully, there have not been cases at Hillel Lodge, the Jewish community’s long-term care home in Ottawa. Strict measures, introduced early on at the Lodge, seem to have kept the disease at bay there.

The COVID-19 crisis and the economic uncertainty that came with it has taken a heavy toll on so many enterprises and Jewish community newspapers – struggling to remain viable in the digital age – have not been immune. As I announced in my previous column, the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin has had to temporarily suspend our print edition until we can return to some semblance of normal activity. We continue, though, to use our website as a forum for columns and news reports. Please visit the site regularly for new content or follow us on Facebook or Twitter for updates and links when new content is posted.

Although we are maintaining our online presence and plan to return in print as soon as possible, the Canadian Jewish News (CJN), which had editions serving Toronto and Montreal, Canada’s two largest Jewish communities, was not so lucky.Elizabeth Wolfe,

“Unfortunately, we too have become a victim of COVID-19,” wrote Elizabeth Wolfe, president of the CJN board,” in an announcement online on April 2 (and published in its final edition, April 9). “Already struggling, we are not able to sustain the enterprise in an environment of almost complete economic shut down. It is with deep sadness that we announce the closure of our beloved CJN, both in print and online.”

This was actually the second time the CJN has announced it was shutting down. The paper previously announced its closure in 2013, but found a way to restructure and move forward following an outcry from the community. But while the paper was able to hang on for almost seven more years, “The CJN suffered from a pre-existing condition and has been felled by COVID-19,” wrote Wolfe.

While I started in journalism as a music critic at the Montreal Gazette, my career in Jewish community journalism began as a freelance CJN reporter and feature writer in Montreal about 30 years ago. Even after moving to Ottawa to work at the Bulletin, I remained a weekly reader of the Montreal edition – and an occasional reader of the Toronto edition as well. So, my connection to the paper runs deep and as both a reader and a Jewish community journalist, it pains me greatly to see Canada’s two largest Jewish communities be without a newspaper.

I’ve seen some speculation from several writers connected to the CJN that “a new CJN” may be launched in the months ahead – perhaps as an online publication. I hope that’s the case. Jewish community newspapers have a long and rich tradition – the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, for example has been serving our community for almost 83 years – and are vital to our communities.

As we continue to navigate through this pandemic and these strange days, please stay safe and stay well.

Shabbat Shalom.