Who will be the next big-name Jewish MP?
Last week, we examined four “Jewish” battleground ridings, including two – York Centre in Toronto and Mount Royal in Montreal – where, one way or another, a Jewish candidate is likely to win. This week, we look at Jews running for all four major parties across...
The PQ is embarrassing itself
It’s been an inauspicious month for Premier Pauline Marois’ minority government. First it tabled its so-called charter of Quebec values. Bill 60 – whose full, Orwellian name is the “Charter affirming the values of state secularism and religious neutrality and of equality between women and men, and...
Preparing for the unlikely
As a new Jewish year begins, renewed U.S.-led peace talks continue between Israel and the Palestinians. Much has been written about the low expectations surrounding these negotiations on both sides. Certainly, Israelis and Jews have good reason to be skeptical. The resumption of Palestinian violence at the...
Slicing through ignorant anti-circumcision rhetoric
Every once in a while, the subject of circumcising male newborns and boys rears its ugly head – no pun intended – and the discussion rarely takes long to veer into ethnocentrism, if not outright intolerance. With the best of intentions, and without realizing it, many...
Church settlement boycott becomes interfaith train wreck
This past August, the General Council of the United Church of Canada, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, adopted a motion urging its members to boycott goods produced in West Bank settlements. The proposal was part of a larger, rather one-sided report prepared by the church’s Working Group...
Why seek validation from the IOC? Instead, flip it the bird
I love the Olympics, but not for the reasons you might think. It can be truly inspiring to watch the best athletes in the world – and the best Canada has to offer – compete against one another at the highest levels of sport. And I’m...
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...