Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Izzy Ezagui, the famous IDF soldier who lost his left arm to a mortar shell in Gaza, yet returned to duty as a reservist. Author of the 2018 book, Disarmed: Unco...
Speaking to a Jewish group in Florida last month, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg produced this sly dig at rival Bernie Sanders: “Now, I know I am not the only Jewish candid...
On Dec. 30, the Toronto Star published a strange op-ed by CJN columnist Bernie Farber, titled Once Again, Jews Are Being Hunted. It concludes that, “By refusing to call out hatred, no matter its sou...
Last month, lured by the topics and a roster of brilliant speakers, I finally made it my business to attend the full-day Jewish Leadership Conference in New York that’s sponsored by Tikvah Fund, a c...
We recently commemorated Kristallnacht, history’s most consequential pogrom. The Night of Broken Glass swept Germany over Nov. 9-10, 1938, resulting in 91 deaths, countless other Jews abused and 1,0...
The international buzz surrounding teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s sojourn in North America offers a troubling glimpse into the West’s escalating love affair with climate alarmis...
Last month, Israa Gharib, a 21-year-old makeup artist from Bethlehem, was allegedly murdered by her father and brother – described as an “honour killing” – for posting a video of herself with ...
Janice Baryshnik of Toronto is a psychologist and an educator. Helping adolescents reach their potential has been the focus of her career for 30 years. A deeply committed Jew, Baryshnik found inspirat...
In 2008, a delegation from the Mossawa Center, an NGO that promotes equality for Arab-Israelis, came to Brussels to raise EU awareness about the socioeconomic gaps between Israel’s Muslim and Jewish...
A recent CJN cover story mourned the passing of Jewish TV’s “Golden Age” (“The end of the Golden Age of Jewish TV,” May 30). I’ve watched three of the series singled out for special praise...
One of my niche subjects is the epidemiology of dog bite-related injuries and deaths according to canine breed. Epidemiology, which Wikipedia defines as “the study and analysis of the distribution a...
Like it or not, Quebec is a “distinct society.” Anglophones and immigrants didn’t like it much in 1977 when Bill 101 came into effect (necessitating the use of the notwithstanding clause, since ...
For riveting entertainment, Israeli dramas rule. Several of them deal with the paradoxical realities of life in a flourishing, prosperous society where Jews, both secular and ultra-Orthodox, co-exist ...
In the past, on social occasions, it could be awkward when people ran out of topics for conversation, especially if one’s interlocutor was not bookish, thus preventing discussion about the latest go...
Bernie Farber devoted his latest column to concerns that a few Jews may have voted for Faith Goldy in Toronto’s recent mayoral election. Goldy is the former reporter for the Rebel Media, whose sympa...
Shir ha-Shirim (the Song of Songs) has lately been the focus of a weekly study group I attend at my shul. Most of the Shir is an explicitly sexual dialogue between two lovers. A few minutes into last ...
On Nov. 1, the illustrious historian Simon Schama was the honoured guest of Montreal’s Jewish Public Library, as the keynote speaker for Jewish Book Month. His topic was his latest book, Belonging:...
In 1939, the MS St. Louis departed Germany with 907 Jewish passengers, who were seeking haven from Nazi persecution. Cuba and the U.S. turned them away. Canada was their last hope. Yet Canada’s “n...
One of the most talked-about Jewish books of the season is Jonathan Neumann’s To Heal the World: How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel. The book’s tone, as one can tel...
As new members of a modern Orthodox congregation, the experience my husband and I had on the High Holidays this year was a striking departure from the previous 46 in a Reconstructionist synagogue. We&...