7/30/2019 Rosh Hashana Op Ed 5774
1/2
The Canadian Jewish news
T Page B25September 4, 2013 cj news.com
Continued from page B24
I ound this incident thought pro-voking, dynamic and exciting.
Isra-el is a very warm country, and Im not
just reerring to the weather. Peopledo not hesitate to openly
express theirthoughts, eelings and opinions. Otherpeoples business
becomes their ownbusiness. Just earlier that morning, I
was going to cross a busy street to get toa coee shop; I looked
let and right oroncoming trafc but was a ew metersrom a crosswalk.
A grey-haired man
with a newspaper walking by paused
or a second and with his ree hand, heshook his fnger at me as
though I was achild and said this is dangerous.
In North America, people oten cen-sor their emotions and
opinions which,at times, creates a civil and cool distancebetween
people. I would be remiss tosay that North American society is
notcaring, but it tends to be experienced asan individualistically
driven society andthis level o exposure can be very chal-lenging.
However, because o the pro-ound human need or a person to eel
noticed, valued and cared or, we havecreated institutions, like
synagogues,that have become our amilies and sec-ond homes. In
essence, we have tried to
create a stationary Jerusalem bus where
people can eel ree to express howmuch they care. It is both
wonderuland difcult to live in a light where what
you do as a person, and particular ly asa Jew, matters to
others. It is equally asrewarding to know that what other Jewsdo,
matters to you as well.
Despite our initial discomort withthis level o caring rankly, it
is im-portant that we learn that everything wedo matters; our
decisions and our be-haviour has an impact on us and thosearound
us.
All people o Israel are responsibleor one another was not a new
teach-ing or me. It was, however, taught ina new, striking way on a
mundane buson the narrow streets o Jerusalem. I
wanted to share this story with youbecause it will inluence the
way I ex-perience 5774 and I hope it will do thesame or you. Have a
healthy, vibrantand meaningul year.
Tina Grimberg is a rabbi at Congrega-
tion Darchei Noam. She shares her love
of Jewish tradition through the mediumof story telling, art and
literature. Sheshares her life with her husband MosheShizgal and
their son David Avracham.
What you do matters to others
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A winters day in Jerusalem
7/30/2019 Rosh Hashana Op Ed 5774
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Page B26 T cjnews.com September 4, 2013
Canadian Jewish advocacy beganin the early part o the 20th
cen-tury as the Canadian Jewish Alli-
ance which was an amalgam o 13 Jew-ish organizations anked by
the work-ing-class Poale Zion and Arbeiter Ring.
Indeed there was much oppositionto the orming o an
organization,democratic in nature that would beboth Canadian and
Jewish.
Nonetheless this was an idea whosetime had come; the issue at
hand, what
to name this new Jewish advocacygroup. Jewish Peoples o Canada,
Jew-ish Canadian Council, the Congresso Jewish Canadians, the
Jewish Can-adian Council were some o the namesthat were being
bandied about.
In the end, in March 1919 dozens o Jewish groupsand
philanthropists came together in Montreal andvoted or delegates to
their new Jewish voice in Can-ada; the Canadian Jewish Congress
(CJC). The namewas hotly debated and its meaning became pivotal;it
told Canada that Jews were frst Canadian and withthat emphasis we
married our Jewish heritage to our
belie in this wonderul country.That 1919 initial Congress made
two important
decisions, the frst was to declare its loyalty to Canadaand the
second, which oretold much o the advocacywork to this very day, was
to establish a Jewish Immi-grant Aid Society. Its aim was to assist
Jewish immi-grants and reugees coming into Canada.
In the early part o the 20th century, while theUnited States was
seen as the Goldineh Medina,Canada became very oten the most
desired secondchoice; not America but close enough. Yet with
sadechoes o immigration policy today against Roma,there was a
wholesale determination by Canadian
government authorities to keep Jews out o Canada.Warned
Frederick J. Blair, the Director o Immigra-tion in the years beore
the Second World War, unlesssaeguards are developed Canada is at
risk o being
ooded with Jewish people.And in the end Blair was tragically
successul. Canada had arguably theworst record when it came to
allowingor Jewish immigrants or reugees justprior to the outbreak o
the Holocaust.Whereas the Dominican Republic o-ered to take in
thousands o desper-ate Jews escaping Nazi madness, Can-ada was
nailing its doors shut; truly ashameul period in our history.
Flash orward almost 90 years. Sadly
CJC is no more. Indeed many elt thatwe have come a long way
since theearly part o the last century so Jew-ish advocacy in
Canada needed a re-write. Others were less sure pointingto our
history that demonstrated there
was always a need or Jews to be keenly aware o
theirsurroundings. Canadian Jewish academic icon IrvingAbella noted
last month in The CJN, How sad. Howunnecessary. The two most
muscular, most respectedvoices o Canadian Jewry [here Abella was
reerring toboth the CJC and The CJNwhich thankully seems tohave
been saved] have been stilled with no evidence
that they can be replaced.Nonetheless changes came. Today Jewish
advocacy
in Canada ocuses on Israel; to be sure a strong em-brace o
support or the Jewish state is paramount.Domestic issues not solely
identifed as Jewish orunrelated to Israel advocacy seems to have
becomeless o a priority.
One decision reached in 1919 at the frst Congresso Canadian Jews
however remains strong and inplace; the need to show our support or
reugees whoare targeted by less enlightened states or humilia-tion,
degradation and even death. And a key voicewhich has arisen rom our
community has been the
organization established by writ o the frst Congresso Canadian
Jews, the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society(JIAS).
Continued on page B27
Making 5774 meaningfulby speaking up for refugees
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