Let’s cut the Jewish indignation in Parliament
What’s next? A discussion of the weekly Torah portion? Or maybe a daily page of Talmud study? Perhaps morning and evening prayers? It seems that debate in Canada’s House of Commons has had a decidedly Jewish tone to it lately. There are an estimated 315,000 Jews in...
LeBron deserves to win a title
God help me, but I feel like I’m rooting for the devil himself. I’m hoping that LeBron James and his Miami Heat prevail in this year’s NBA Finals. The reason? I want LeBron to win a championship. He’s the best player in the game, bar none –...
What can we learn from the Eaton Centre shooting?
It’s a bit of a mug’s game to try to find meaning in the kind of shooting crime that occurred June 2 in a food court at Toronto’s Eaton Centre, in which one man was killed and two other people – including a 13-year-old boy eating dinner...
The Jewish community should fund its own schools
The fallout from the recent controversy over the creation of gay-straight alliance clubs (GSAs) in Ontario’s publicly funded Catholic school system should give pause to those seeking funding – in the name of fairness – for their own faith-based schools. It should, but it probably won’t....
Being a pulpit rabbi can be a cutthroat business
When Toronto Jews awoke last Saturday morning and collected their Globe and Mail newspapers from their doorsteps (those who still subscribe, that is), they discovered a front-page story detailing how Holy Blossom Temple, the city’s oldest synagogue – and the country’s largest Reform congregation, with some...
Things that make me go arghhh! Part 2
For your reading and pleasure, or perhaps frustration, I present the second installment of a semi-regular series dedicated to kvetching and carping about annoying stuff that’s been on my mind or in the news. • Police culture in the city of Toronto. Shortly after a report by Ontario’s...
Canada needs Conrad Black
In honour of Victoria Day, one presumes, Conrad Black, the former industrialist and onetime newspaper baron, he of the British peerage – his lordship, if you will – took part in what reportedly will be his one and only sit-down media interview, chatting with the CBC’s chief...