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[email protected] 613.798.2411 Call 613-798-4696, Ext. 256 Ottawa Jewish Bulletin JANUARY 27, 2020 | SHEVAT 1, 5780 ESTABLISHED 1937 OTTAWAJEWISHBULLETIN.COM | $2 We’ve seen far too much antisemitism in recent years BY MICHAEL REGENSTREIF Thinking of those incidents just before and during Orlando in 2016 that killed 49. EDITOR Chanukah – as well as the antisemitic murders Although, as already mentioned, there were a cou- y wife, Sylvie, and I were on vacation in earlier last year at Chabad of Poway in California ple of police officers present at the Chanukah event Clearwater Beach, Florida in December. and at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 on Clearwater Beach, there was no security screening. On December 23, the second night of Cha- – made me stop and think about whether we were Anyone and everyone had unfettered access to the nukah, we joined several hundred other safe attending a Jewish event in an accessible public event. What would have happened if someone like the Mpeople – locals and tourists alike – at the Chanukah space in Florida, a state where it is easy to acquire attackers from Jersey City or Monsey or Poway or Pitts- party and giant menorah lighting organized by Chabad weapons and a state with a history of mass shootings burgh had been there that night? (By contrast, when of Clearwater. – including the high school massacre in Parkland in we attended a couple of concerts in December at Held outdoors on the main drag on Clearwater 2018 that killed 17, and the nightclub massacre in See From the Editor on page 7 Beach, less than a five-minute walk from where we were staying, it was a typical Chabad Chanukah event with speeches, songs, a magic show, latkes and sufgani- yot.