Tishri / Heshvan / Kislev / Tevet 5777 Vol. 27. No. 2 November / December 2016

THE BULLETIN

Congregation Agudas Israel 715 McKinnon Ave, Saskatoon S7H 2G2 (306) 343-7023 Fax: (306) 343-1244 Rabbi Claudio Jodorkovsky Website: www.agudasisrael.org President: Harold Shiffman B’nai Brith 62nd Silver Plate Dinner Tuesday,November 8th, 2016

TCU • Cocktails 5:30 pm • Dinner 6:30 pm • $225 / ticket

• Dinner Chairman: David Katzman • Audiovisual: Bryce Sasko • Ticket Chairman: Arnie Shaw • We’re Proud of You Award • The We’re Proud of You • Display: Steven Simpson Award: Randy Katzman • The Master Of Ceremonies: • Silent and Live Auction: Ron Gitlin Michael Shaw

This page is sponsored by Gladys Rose of Toronto Deadline for the next Bulletin is December 15th, 2016 A Yom Kippur Message from our new Shlichim (From their Yom Kippur address) by Yaniv and Sapir Atiya

We are Yaniv ated from the academy of music and dance and see if you can fix it yourself.” He was and Sapir Atiya, a high school in Jerusalem, as a singer. I served confident the child would take many days, newly-wed couple as a ‘Mashakit Tash’, somewhat of a social if at all, to assemble the map, but only a from Israel, and are worker and as a commander and staff Sargent few hours later, he heard the voice of his happy and proud to in the social workers training later on. Before son calling him “Dad, I’m done, I put ev- be part of this amazing community for the coming here, I worked in the Intel factory in erything back together.” last two months. Jerusalem, and also as a tour guide for reform At first, he did not believe it: “It isn’t We came all the way from Israel to see some North American youth, in NFTY. possible at the age of nine to reconstruct a snow, and also to engage the community, using We would like to share our thoughts and map of the world he had never seen before!” our skills, bringing our ‘own’ insight of Israel feelings about Yom Kippur, using stories His curiosity made him put down his notes, and Judaism. and metaphors, and mainly to present what it and go to his son, while he was sure he was Yaniv – I’m 27 years old, the firstborn child means to us! Here is a little story to begin with: going to see a mess. To his surprise, the to Iris and Oded, and the older brother to map was perfect and all the pieces were Mor (26), and Gal (21). I graduated from the A scientist sat and worked, when sud- in place! “How did you DO that??” The academy of music and dance high school in denly approached by his 9-year-old son, scientist asked his son “how did you put Jerusalem, as a guitar and drum player. I did a determined to help him in his work. The sci- the world back together?”. “Well, dad,” the year of service before the army, and served as entist, who would rather not be interrupted, boy answered, “I don’t know the world, but a Tank commander and a staff sergeant in the tried to ask his son to go somewhere else for when you tore the page from the magazine, armored corps. I have one semester left to get a while, but when he saw that he would not, I saw on the other side a picture of a man. my law degree from the college of manage- he started looking for something that can When you gave me the world to fix, I tried ment in Israel. keep a child busy. He grabbed and tore a but couldn’t. Then I flipped all the pieces Sapir – I’m 23 years old, the second born page from a booklet with a world map, cut and started to fix the person. And when I child to Revital and Yoram Yazdi. I have an it into small pieces, and gave it to the child fixed the man, I turned it over and saw the older brother Maayan (24), and two younger with a roll of tape. “Do you like puzzles?” world had been fixed as well...” siblings, Lihi (22), and Shaked (17). I gradu- he said, “Take this dismantled world map continued on page 16 Martha Blum (1913-2007) Her Legacy by Carol Arcus Martha Guttmann Blum, a resident of Saskatoon for 52 years, left the world a rich legacy in the form of literature and memoir. Having survived the Holocaust in Romania, she and her brilliant math- ematician husband, Richard, arrived on the Prairies in 1955 with the promise of a new start. Richard had secured a teaching job at the University, and they had two young children to raise. In the ensuing years, Martha established herself quickly as one of the bright lights of Saskatoon’s arts and culture scene. She became a mentor and coach to the city’s musicians, singers, artists, and the theatre community. But she would have told you that her most important work was educating young people in the history of the Holocaust. At the age of 80 she began continued on page 16

THE BULLETIN Editor-in-Chief...... Steven Goluboff Advertising Manager...... Ron Gitlin Circulation Manager...... Myla Deptuch Layout & Graphic Design...... Janet Eklund Proof Reading...... Bruce Cameron Cost of this issue with mailing...... $1200 Advertisements...... $30/issue Page Sponsorship...... $25/issue or $130/year Issues Published...... 158 Issues/Year...... 6 If you are happy with the Bulletin and enjoy reading it, please consider sponsoring a page ($25/issue or $130/year). Contact Steven Goluboff or Ron Gitlin. E-Mail Address: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] website: http://agudasisrael.org This page is sponsored by Dr. Syd z'l & Miriam z’l Gelmon of Vancouver 2 Editorial FROM OUR CONGREGATIONAL FAMILY by Steven Goluboff The Mission Statement of Congregation Agudas Israel Congregation Agudas Israel is a spiritual, religious, educational and social home committed to deepening the quality of Jewish life in Saskatoon and district. We are an evolving link in the historical traditions of After the rigours of the Jewish people. We are a progressive, democratic and sensitive congregation responding to the widest the High Holidays, we spectrum of Jewish thought and practice. are settling into a much Written at the 2002 Kallah by the members of Congregation Agudas Israel too early winter. One MAZEL TOV AND CONGRATULATIONS TO: election has passed; we Steven and Rebecca Simpson and Arnie and Linda Shaw on the Bar Mitzvah of their have a new mayor, and son and grandson, Noah on November 5th, 2016. a council with many new faces, lots of women Zara Gurstein, whose Nephew David Wippman will be inaugurated as the 20th President and a Jewish counsellor – Sarina Gersher, th of Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and whose granddaughter Kimberly Glassman has mazel tov to her. After November 8 , we will been invited to present a paper at a University in Russia. be spared the pain of listening and follow- ing the American political drama and have Malvina Rapko and family on the election of her sister Serena Gersher to Saskatoon City a new American President. Our own small Council. community faces challenges of synagogue Jim and Jan Scharfstein on the graduation of their daughter Jillian from the School of services and attendance, no different than Social Work at the University of Regina. any other congregation. On the one hand, our Friday night services have been reinvigorated CONDOLENCES TO: by our new Shlichim, Yaniv and Sapir, with Rabbi Claudio and Rosy Jodorkovsky on the recent death of Rosy’s father musical enhancement and renewed energy. In Mario Kreindel in Argentina. this issue of The Bulletin, Rabbi Claudio ad- dresses the reality of synagogue attendance, particularly on Shabbat morning, the appar- REFUAH SHLEMA - GET WELL WISHES TO: ent lack of interest in traditional services, June Avivi and the lack of familiarity with Hebrew and the pace and flow of the services. He and the Synagogue and Ritual Committee are open- WELCOME NEW MEMBERS: minded and welcoming of new approaches Malvina and Kelly Rapko and children Charlie and Layla. to make services interesting, attractive and even spiritually beneficial, regardless of the THANK YOU TO: intensity of one’s belief in God or traditional Josh, Nicky and Levi Gitlin for the donation of five copies Jewish prayer. I would encourage all of us to of Siddur Lev Shalem to our Synagogue. respond to the challenge and occasionally in the next few weeks come to Synagogue and If you are looking for opportunities to honour the memory of a participate in what will undoubtedly be an relative or commemorate an important occasion, please consider interested and impactful discussion while we donating copies of our our new Siddur to our Synagogue. For more share a meal together. information please contact our Gift Shop or Rabbi Claudio. Yet again there is a myriad of activities in the next two months, from Lunch and Learn OF HISTORICAL INTEREST: to Movie nights (instead of the Sunday morn- Rabbi Rudolf Adler who was our Rabbi in the 1950’s and was a leading Rabbi in Florida ing Breakfast Club), Rabbi Claudio’s series from the 1960’s to 1990, passed away at the age of 96. He was considered by his successor on Jewish Prayer 101, and Hanukkah festivi- Rabbi Aaron Rubinger in Greater Orlando, to have been “a Rabbi to all Rabbis of Central ties. Look through The Bulletin and choose Florida.” an activity which you may be interested in being part of. Of course, on November 8th is which should exceed 900 tickets sold. Hope- During November and December we will be the Annual B’nai Brith Silver Plate Dinner fully most of our men will attend or volunteer actively working on our UIA campaign, the that night. It is a major fund raiser for our proceeds of which are integral to supporting Synagogue as well as portraying our small our Shlichim program. Although the focus on LeilaMember Goluboff of REMAX Jewish community as a significant player in Israel may have changed over the years and Chairman Club Saskatoon, contributing to worthy causes and with a new generation who may not be as Lifetime Achievement Award 2006 Tikkun Olam. With the reality of the rise of committed to Israel, remember that there are anti-Semitism particularly in Europe, we have tangible benefits and recipients of your gifts. chosen to share with you an erudite lecture by Patsy Landa, formerly of Saskatoon, writes For former Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Rabbi in this issue of The Bulletin about the small RESULTS, Lord Jonathon Sacks. This is an educational program in Ness Ziona which works and sup- SERVICE & and intelligent piece that may help us all ports disadvantaged children and families. It EXPERIENCE understand the complicated dynamics of anti- is truly a mitzvah for us to participate in that call me today. I look forward to working with you! Semitism. And if you wish a further challenge, worthy endeavor. Please consider being a part spend a few moments reading the academic of our campaign at whatever financial level Saskatoon wisdom of our late Rabbi Roger Pavey who you are comfortable with. Bus: (306) 242-6000 Cell: 241-1900 continues his dissertation on the Berahkah. This page is sponsored by Steven, Leila, Sarah & Shaina Goluboff 3 From the President by Harold Shiffman, President, CAI

The following is the “What’s gelilah?” well as managed to raise tens of thousands of D’var Torah presented “It’s easy,” replied the rabbi, “you just dollars for a new playground for Sutherland to the community on come up after the Torah is lifted, and when School. These, however, are all things for Rosh Hashanah Day 2, the cover is put on, you put on the breastplate which I’ve become accustomed to, and while October 3rd 2016 and the crown and then sit down. You can’t being President of a synagogue does require A very Conserva- go wrong.” some of those types of skills, there are also tive shul once had a President who, while he Relieved, the President accepted the hon- many other facets for which I have had to do was a nice businessman, was quite “ritually- our. my own research and learning. challenged.” On Rosh Hashanah the rabbi And so, right after hagbah, the President Like that poor President in my joke, there offered him an aliyah. came up, put on the breastplate and the crown, are ritual obligations that come with being a The President responded, “You know I’m and went back to his seat. member of our board, for which not all of us not very knowledgeable; besides, I wouldn’t The rabbi came running over and said, “Not have the prerequisite skills or experience to want to take the honour from someone else.” on you, on the Torah, on the Torah!!” successfully navigate. I know for myself and The rabbi demurred, “You’re our President; Being President of a Jewish Community has others, these things can be quite intimidating. everyone wants to see you honoured.” been an interesting experience for me. It’s not Just a few years ago I don’t think I had the The President was now panic-stricken. “No, my first time being a community President expertise to confidently participate in a reli- no, no, I can’t read the Hebrew blessings; I’ll – I was President of the Sutherland-Forest gious service, but I made it a point to build embarrass myself.” Grove Community Association for several a body of knowledge by attending services “You must take this honour, you’re the years and was quite proud of what our small regularly. At first I would fake it so as not to President!” group accomplished: We ran the most indoor make a fool of myself, but eventually I gained The President considered this. “Isn’t there programs of any community association in an understanding of how the process went anything where I don’t have to talk?” the city, organized several successful ‘day in and now I feel relatively comfortable with “How about doing gelilah?” offered the the park’ and ‘multicultural day’ events, as the whole thing. rabbi. continued on page 12 Divrei Harav – Rabbi Claudio’s Message Changes in Services by Rabbi Claudio Jodorkovsky

We have welcomed planations to prayers, contemporary readings becomes essential. a new year in the Jew- and meditations which enhance the experience It’s not a surprise to affirm that most Jews ish calendar and now of prayer. With our new Siddur we have now don’t feel attracted to traditional Jewish that we resume our an incredible tool that offers many opportuni- prayer. With the exception of a minority of regular activities I ties to engage in services. It speaks to all Jews, Jews who were raised in what is usually called want to share with you some thoughts about from different backgrounds, generations and continued on page 17 our Religious Services and possible changes beliefs. Additionally, the plans for renovating that I hope we can implement in the coming our building also give us the possibility to months. think about a new design for our Sanctuary, During the past years we have made several with more dynamic spaces, more intimacy and changes in order to make services meaningful a warmer atmosphere. and more enjoyable. We created the “Shab- But although we have walked through a bat at Home” program which has brought path of renewal and growth in the last years, a special family atmosphere to Friday night I recognize there is still much to renovate services and has been very successful. The and enhance. Our presently stable Minyan incorporation of music and guitar has been can lead us to wrongly believe attendance at another change that has been well accepted services will remain unchanging, especially with much positive feedback received. Our considering generational changes and the Friday Night Minyanim have grown, both characteristics of our young members. As in quantity and quality, attracting new con- with everything in life, what doesn’t change gregants from different ages. Siddur Lev and adapt to the new circumstances simply Shalem brought more transliteration to ser- dies, and for Judaism and Jewish prayer the vices, full egalitarian prayers, gender neutral same rule applies. Our capacity of transforma- language and modifications that reflect the tion is the only possible explanation for the new composition of our families, like same- historical survival of the Jewish People. As sex couples and inter-faith families. Modern a congregation assuming the responsibility translations were incorporated as well as ex- for ensuring a Jewish future, that awareness This page is sponsored by Dr. Alan Rosenberg & Dr. Lesley-Ann Crone and family 4 From A Year In Saskatoon To A Month In The West Bank by Dan Vardi I wanted to share returning to being a soldier, particularly in the it won’t change the government’s agenda. with you an experi- West Bank. I know and see things differently Furthermore, recent stories from the West ence I had. Some of now, and I do not necessarily want to return to Bank are showing that soldiers’ morality is you knew that I got that complex and sometimes unjust situation. being worn down, with more obscene, racist summoned for re- It does not represent my life’s choices, my and dangerous actions being taken towards serves just three weeks after we returned to political opinions, and I am almost positive the local population. Israel this past summer. I’ll start with a few that although I may say to myself – “we are I chose to go. My company was assigned words about the IDF reserve core. all one people, it’s my job to protect the set- an area in “Gush Etzion”, 15 minutes south After serving three years in the army, and tlers and their life style even if I don’t agree of Jerusalem with about nine different set- on the day you get released, you are assigned with it”, I doubt they would say the same tlements, varying from 100 families in the to a reserve unit (especially combatant guys). about risking themselves to protect me and smaller ones to about 12,000 people in a small The unit is basically exactly the same as your my life-style. I could be wrong about that but town. We were stationed there with three jeeps regular unit, only it’s not as intensive. The unit that’s how I feel. and various on-foot missions, with the goal of gets together once or twice a year for training, I have a friend who is protecting the lives and every 2-3 years is assigned a 1 month further to the left than I of citizens in our guard duty, where we put on our uniforms and am that tells me every area and hoping go back to being full time soldiers for a month. time – “just say no, for no events or Of course there are the exceptions, like a refuse to go back to the attacks on either war or a big conflict where the reserve units army and take no part side. are called for (which have already happened in the occupation”. We Now, as a re- to me twice since I finished my service). The have interesting talks serve unit we reserve core is mandatory in Israel and you about it and can never know that the army have to be in it until you are 40 years old. reach an agreement. I never puts us in My unit consists of about 100 people, the do think I have a respon- “high-profile” mis- majority between the ages of 25-35. Some sibility to this country, sions, or places are unavailable due to heath reasons or dis- for better or worse, that us where highly covering the world, travelling to places like I am obligated to my skilled troops are South America and the Far East. I have been friends in my unit, that needed. Just the in my unit for over seven years, starting as a sometimes it’s impor- sight of a chubby regular soldier, then an NCO and currently a tant to see again “the middle-aged man platoon sergeant. occupation”. I would or a long-haired pi- Being called for reserves service never rather be there than rate type guy fresh comes at a convenient time. For me it was es- someone who’s much from India is not pecially bad because I had literally just landed faster on the trigger and the sort of soldier from a year away and was supposed to start wishes bad things for you would put in teaching at a new high-school on September the Palestinians. the tough places. 1st. My new school was understanding and Ishayahu Leibowitz said at one point dur- We came to this month with plans for making allowed me the time and support. For them ing the first Lebanon war that if the entire the most of it, reading books, watching sports, it sends an important message to the students Israeli population would refuse to serve there catching up with old friends and drinking tons about serving your country when called. As in the army the government would have no of coffee. Then everything changed. for me I asked for five days off in the middle choice but to get the message and reach an About a week into our mission, on a Satur- so I could have at least one week with my end to the conflict. I think the situation right day night at around 2 a.m., one of the settle- students during that period. now is different. Refusing to serve in certain ments cameras spotted a suspicious character The second issue I have with the reserves is places might ease your own conscience but walking into the settlement. The hour and locations immediately sounded off to our company commander and he immediately called all the relevant forces to get to that Premium kosher table wines place. I just finished a mission and was on-call available at Saskatoon Co-op so I was one of the first ones to get there. We from Wines & Spirits, Blairmore Centre. got to a quiet neighbourhood in the middle Find a wide selection of Galil of the night. Everybody was sound asleep in Mountain and Teperberg wines their homes and we were given assignments ISRAEL from Israel at attractive prices. by our commander. A scout found foot prints where the camera Imported by International Cellars Inc.Vancouver, BC spotted the suspicious character and said there Ad compliments of Norman Gladstone was positively someone entering. The night continued on page 17 This page is sponsored by Naomi Rose z’l and Stan Sinai of Toronto. This Page is Sponsored by Saskatoon Hadassah WIZO 5 From Linda’s Desk by Linda Kislowicz, President & CEO, Jewish Federations of Canada - UIA

In less than 10 - 32 Canadian and 23 Israeli professionals has been anticipated for years, with detailed days, I will be leaving and lay leaders - as they deliberate over and careful preparation required for major for Israel to attend program funding submissions and determine life changing events, the actual reality is far the Keren Hayesod how best to allocate resources. It brings me from anything one can imagine or anticipate. and Jewish Agency board of governors great pleasure and satisfaction to witness how, The Aliya experience for my family has been meeting. I am travelling with 16 Canadian year after year, 11 communities - 6 in Canada, an eye opener. delegates, professionals and 5 in Israel - My understanding of what it means to volunteers who will attend a work together uproot a family - to start anew, function in series of committee and board in such a a new language and culture, integrate into meetings, each of which is collaborative new schools and jobs and social circles - has aimed at advancing the work and positive deepened. Lost is a sense of the familiar of the Jewish Agency. environment. competence and comfort that was taken for The October board meeting It is truly granted. From the formal to the informal, typically focuses on passing an excellent the classroom to the school yard and the the annual budget, a budget example kitchen to the office, parents need to provide that has taken months of how our encouragement and support to their children of preparation, creativity, national while they themselves are figuring it all out prioritization, to be ready to and are not yet entirely pass at a supportable financial confident in the simple level. Updates and progress Linda visits Saskatoon daily routines and tasks. UIA Saskatoon Chair with Linda reports on Jewish Agency There are few activities are also provided, on the multiple system performs moments in life when areas of engagement and activity that range a pivotal role in the personal and the from the social housing project to the impact galvanizing the professional converge of the shlichim and shinshinim all over the energy and talent of seamlessly. This is truly world. small communities one of these moments. During my visit, I will also spend time in and creates There is no doubt that the JFC-UIA office in Jerusalem catching opportunities for the highlight of this trip up with our Israeli team, listening to their engagement that no will be the bar mitzvah ideas, issues and challenges and bringing single community Linda with Sapir and Yaniv of my eldest grandson. them up to date on our work in Canada. It’s could undertake on A moving milestone in very important that staff in Canada and Israel its own. We will pay tribute to outgoing Coast- any circumstance, it is all the more so for him understand the work being performed on both to-Coast Partnership chair Stephen Gaerber as a new oleh! sides of the ocean so that they appreciate the of Vancouver and welcome incoming chair Since I was a child, attending Camp Massad interconnectedness and mutuality of their Howard Conter of Halifax . and Solomon Schecter Academy in Montreal, work. While there will be challenges to solve, I have felt connected to Israel. Now as a In northern Israel, I will join the Coast-to- opportunities to cultivate, negotiations to seasoned Jewish community professional Coast Partnership joint steering committee navigate and decisions to make, the above with Israeli grandchildren who will grow activities are all standard within in the realm into adulthood in Ha’aretz, my appreciation of JFC-UIA’s role and responsibility in Israel. for the Canadian Jewish community’s efforts, On a personal level, however, this trip is achievements and investments in Israel is far from routine. significantly enhanced. It’s my first visit to Israel since my children This trip marks a new chapter in my life. and grandchildren made Aliya in early August. I am very proud and excited to board the I’m certainly no stranger to Aliya, having plane next week. I’m looking forward to Scharfstein I Gibbings I Walen I Fisher LLP visited absorption centres and met Olim at all what promises to be a fulfilling and rewarding BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS Grant J. Scharfstein, Q.C. stages of the process before, during and after experience - the first of many that will bring the actual immigration. I’ve been exposed to the personal and the professional closer P 306-653-2838 • F 306-652-47 47 E [email protected] many different circumstances culminating in together. Aliya, best characterized by either Aliya of Chag Sameach. 200 Princeton Tower • 123 -2nd Ave. S Saskatoon, SK S7K 7E6 rescue or choice. www.scharfstelnlaw.com While the Aliya of my son and his family

This Page is Sponsored by the United Israel Appeal of Canada 6 From Ness Ziona to Saskatoon by Patsy (Buckwold) Landa

For the past three Ethiopian background. In the past year, Israel nor being understood. years, the Saskatoon experienced a wave of protests by the Ethio- The silence in the room, as everyone lis- Jewish Community pian community against the discrimination tened to these previously inhibited women, has been generously and racism they face, a reality that has been was beautiful. The excitement of the children supporting the parent- consistently ignored by the Israeli government witnessing their mothers confidently speaking child enrichment pro- and society in general. Within the group, this about their past was touching. For many it was gram facilitated by the ALMA organization, provided an opportunity to have open discus- a new experience feeling pride, not shame. of the afterschool clubs of Ness Ziona. The sions in a safe environment. The Ethiopian One of the mothers, who originally could achievements are the most heartwarming you women, at first reluctantly, began to expose not identify at all with the Ethiopian commu- can imagine. You’ve touched many people. the others to the richness and beauty of their nity, began to show genuine interest and sup- Let me share with you some of the high- culture, to give it its proper place from a sense port, giving the Ethiopian women the feeling lights of the activities you have supported. of pride and equality. This led, towards the that they had really succeeded in integrating Every week during the past school year, end of the year, to an evening dedicated to the group. twelve mothers joined their young children - Ethiopian culture and traditions. The evening culminated with traditional those who had been placed in the afterschool It was not an easy task to organize the event, dishes, music and dance. A tremendous feel- club program for children at risk - to improve the final one of the year. The desire to share ing of exhilaration filled the room, giving not their parenting skills, under the guidance of was sincere, but their initial enthusiasm turned only the mothers and the children the strength the dedicated counsellors. It was a diverse to doubt about their ability to pull it off. Could to continue working together, but also the group – from Thailand, from Russia, and from they really do it? Would the others accept their counsellors. Ethiopia. Most of the women, as it turned out, efforts? Dates were set and postponed. Fear The counsellors saw that these women, who had suffered the loss, at an early age, of their of humiliation and embarrassment dogged grew up without a mother’s love and presence, own mothers, or at least the loss of contact the planning. Communication faltered and without strong identities, could gradually take with them over sustained periods. threatened to shut down the initiative. But steps to become the women and mothers they In addition, as recent immigrants to Israel, the constant encouragement of all the women dreamt to be. Over the year, reports from the they suffered from culture shock and language and the counsellors, the children’s active school showed much improvement in the barriers. They found themselves with dysfunc- participation and excitement, gradually won behaviour and scholastic achievements of tional families, ill-equipped to nurture their the day. The club slowly filled with artifacts, the children. The program resumes “after the Israeli-born children whose emotional and clothing, colourful carpets and fabrics, kitchen holidays”, as we say in Israel. There’s still a scholastic development were extremely prob- and eating utensils, spices, a rich rainbow of long way to go… lematic. They hesitantly joined the program Ethiopian culture. There were also photo- Benny and I have been supporting the because, despite their lack of confidence, their graphs and newspaper clippings, stories of afterschool programs for many years. It’s es- fear of failure and rejection, they hoped to their Aliyah to Israel. pecially meaningful to me that the members of become stronger women, mothers who could That evening, the proud Ethiopian mothers the Saskatoon Jewish community, my beloved raise healthy, independent children. They and their children were the centre of attention. childhood home, are partners with us and oth- needed to acquire the skills to accept their They told stories of their Aliyah, as children ers in Ness Ziona to maintain this program, children’s individuality and special needs. walking at night, hiding in the day, some los- which is making such a difference. Months of activities slowly strengthened ing family members, finally getting to Addis On behalf of us all, and especially the the participants’ self-esteem and identity, Ababa and the thrill of flying to Israel. They ALMA children and their mothers, we thank as well as pride in their cultural heritage, conveyed the shock of finding themselves in you. especially fragile amongst the women of modern Israeli society, of not understanding SHERWOOD GMC RV GMC Medium Sales Heavy GMC Duty and Duty Trucks Service Trucks

SASKATOON'S Free Shuttle Service Body Shop Pick-up and Delivery The Body Shop provides ARTS & CONVENTION Free Loaners on all SGI or CENTRE 7:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. Retail Collision Claims #35 22nd Street E. Saskatoon, SK 1-800-667-5353 Tickets: www.tcutickets.ca Bucket Service Available Website: www.tcuplace.com New & Used Steel and Pipe CHEVROLET President: Mark Ditlove 550 Brand Road • Saskatoon (306) 975-7777 Saskatoon 374-6330 • Toll Free 1-877-374-6330 This page is sponsored by Leona Wasserman 7 Biography of the Month: Gene Wilder by Stan Schroeder Our congregation usually has an annual of his parents were that observant, but he had games. I got there and I was the only Jew—I event in the spring called Early Bird Movie a bar mitzvah. was 13—and they beat me up or insulted me and Dinner. In 2014 we featured the 1979 “I don’t know to please whom,” he says. “I every day that I was there.” film The Frisco Kid starring Gene Wilder practiced singing the maftir a year before my When he came home for Christmas vacation as Avram Belinski, a Polish rabbi travelling bar mitzvah,and I was so distraught—because his parents saw the bruises on his body and from Philadelphia to San Francisco to become I had a high soprano voice and no one could they took him out of the school. His mother a rabbi there in days of the Wild West. It is a hear me in the temple when I started to sing. had asked him to play the piano, and he played humorous and touching story brought to life So I said, ‘I’m not going to be bar mitzvah Nobody Knows the Troubles I’ve Seen very by Wilder’s acting and comedic genius. He if you don’t have microphones next year!’ badly. is helped along the way by Tommy Lillard, And they put the microphones in. And then, That wasn’t the last of his childhood a bank robber with a soft heart, played by of course, my voice hazing. He was Harrison Ford. Gene Wilder died this last changed.” mocked in junior August 29 after a long acting and writing His father high school, and career. switched the family he reproduces the Wilder was born Jerome Silberman on to a Conservative jeering so quickly, June 11, 1933, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, synagogue when [that the interviewer the son of Jeanne (Baer) and William J. they moved to a realizes it’s at the Silberman, a manufacturer and salesman of new neighborhood tip of his memory.] novelty items. His father was a Russian Jewish in Milwaukee, but “Hey, Jew Boy! immigrant, as were his maternal grandparents. Wilder jettisoned Why don’t you ask Wilder first became interested in acting at the temple visits the Jew Boy?’” age 8, when his mother was diagnosed with altogether when he When asked rheumatic fever and the doctor told him to was offended by the rabbi. about his experience in the film The Frisco “try and make her laugh.” “I went back to visit Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kid, Wilder recalls he hired a Conservative At the age of 11, he saw his sister, who was and heard the ignorant rabbi giving his views rabbi, a Reform rabbi, and a cantor to coach studying acting, performing onstage, and he on the Vietnam War, and I wanted to get up him for the part. The cantor recording prayers was enthralled by the experience. He asked and start hollering at him. But I thought, ‘My for him was the most helpful. “The idea of her teacher if he could become his student, mother and father will be embarrassed and singing in Hebrew on-screen was something I and the teacher said that if he were still their friends will say, Why did he do that?’ would have instinctively rejected—‘How am interested at age 13, he would take Wilder So I didn’t. But that’s the last time I went to I going to do that?’ But when I heard it on the on as a student. The day after Wilder turned a temple.” tape recorder and I could repeat it and I knew 13, he called the teacher, who accepted him; When asked whether he was conscious of what the words meant and the phrasing, and Wilder studied with him for two years. being in a minority growing up, Wilder tells I could make it my own, then I could do it.” In an interview for the 2005 book Stars a doleful story. “My mother was very ill and He wrote much of the dialogue for the film, of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being she had heard from distant relatives that there but it was Mel Brooks that came up with the Jewish, Wilder says his Jewish background was a military academy in Los Angeles [the Yiddish jibberish. When asked whether the consisted of attending an Orthodox temple Black-Foxe Military Institute]. And she talked role made him think of his Judaism, he said where his grandfather was president. His sister my father into sending me to the military he was just thinking of what would be funny and mother had to sit separately—“not being academy to stay there for a year. And I got for a rabbi to do. equal to men,” he jokes sardonically. Neither so excited—I thought we’d be playing war Wilder was raised Jewish, but he held only the Golden Rule as his philosophy. In a book published in 2005, he stated, “I have no other religion. I feel very Jewish and I feel very grateful to be Jewish. But I don’t believe in God or anything to do with the Jewish religion”.

Plumbing | Furnaces | Air Conditioning Quality Memorials approved Editor’s Note: Stan Schroeder is the Editor of Electrical | Renovations for Agudas Cemetery Congregation Shir Ami’s “Shir Notes” in Los Angeles which also won a Gold Medal for “Bul- 306.222.8466 210B - 33rd Street East letins.” He writes biographies of famous Jews Saskatoon, SK S7K 0S3 710 - 51st Street E and has offered to share them with us. This arti- centennial360.com cle was first published in the Shir Notes. Steven 306-652-5363 Goluboff and Stan met each other in Jerusalem www.remco-memorials.ca to discuss their community Bulletins.

This page is sponsored by Alan, Linda and Sam Goluboff of Toronto 8 Berakhah (continued from last issue) by Rabbi Roger V. Pavey (z”l)

The following is and expressions of a sense of the profound who requires from the human immediate and another excerpt mystery of being and becoming. There are unquestioning groveling on pain of fearful, from Moral and three aspects of the feminist critique: the infinite and eternal punishment. With such Spiritual Values language used in the traditional formula of imagery it is difficult to envisage any place of Judaism, an the berakhah; the imaging conveyed in the for freedom of the human will, and we unpublished manuscript written in 2000 by traditional formula, and the concept of God undercut immediately any system of real Rabbi Roger Pavey (z”l) that lies behind it. moral responsibility. No one confronting The Hebrew worrd, “Barukh atah Adonai enormous power capable of being exercised Despite its apparently all-inclusive nature eloheinu melekh ha olam asher kideshanu unpredictably and with total willfulness has in principle, in practical terms there are large be mitsvotav ve tsivanu” mean literally in any choice in decision making. To refuse to areas of human experience that are not covered English, “Praised are You, Lord our God, King do what one is told to do by someone holding by the blessings available in the traditional of the Universe, who had made us special by a gun in one’s ribs is suicidal. formulations in the Prayer Book. Specifically His commandments and commanded us to...” Whether the original author of the berakhah female experience - menarche, menstruation, The whole terminology is masculine, and not formula thought in those terms is unknowable. miscarriage, pregnancy, going into labour only because of the grammatical nature of the I think it quite likely that s/he assumed and breaking the waters, menopause - are Hebrew language. The whole terminology is the omnipotence and transcendence of a not included in the berakhah formula. There hierarchical and disempowering of the human. commanding God without consideration are areas of male experience that are missing The whole terminology is totally dependent of the ethical implications. It is certainly as well. There is an all-purpose berakhah, on a particular God concept that many modern the way in which most religious believers, thanking God for keeping us alive and in good people may find offensive. The whole result Christians and certainly Muslims as well health to reach a special time, but there are is to reinforce a patriarchal world view, as Jews, will have imaged God. It is only definite gaps, occasions in life that call out created by the nature of the language, but also the modern feminist critique that will have for specific marking, whether in celebration validated by the language and imagery. God is raised questions about what the language of or sorrow. Examples for both sexes could seen always as “He”, teaching and reinforcing the berakhah formula is actually imaging. be passing examinations, beginning a new the imaging of divinity as masculine, which In this case, the traditional language may job, moving house, becoming unemployed, goes beyond the linguistic resources to have become self-defeating in its purpose of losing a pet, experiencing sexual failure, and reflect masculinity as the norm of society raising the human consciousness of ultimate there are obviously many more. While there symbolized by masculinity as the norm of mystery. The traditional God imagery is part has been great modern creativity in this field ultimate reality. God is also seen as “He” and of the negative baggage that religion has in the of creating new blessings, there is still much “Lord” and “King”, imaging a hierarchical minds of so many. A capriciously judgmental more to be done to extend the traditional structure that places divinity and humanity God is anxious to punish. A peeping Tom God formula of the berakhah into all areas of in a clear superior-inferior relationship and is anxious to catch human beings in some human life. Especially is this important with disempowering the human. For if God is minor infringement of an irrational code. the loss in modern times of so much of the Lord and King of the whole universe, then A sadistic God willing to condemn human sense of wonder and amazement that that the the human response cannot be anything beings to eternal damnation for an infraction berakhah related to and reflected in the past. but abject obedience or futile resistance to of His will. This is the God imagery that There is another problem with the berakhah the divine fiat. There is a power balance turns people off religious tradition. Add to formulation, raised by feminist theologians built into the divine-human relationship, this the patriarchal and hierarchical language, like Marcia Falk. She has been led to break which inevitably becomes a relationship of and we have a prayer formula that becomes the formulaic mold while trying still to manipulation and even abuse, of power, shot totally negative and fails to do what it was retain what lies behind it, the stimulation through with violence. And God is also being originally intended to do. Obedience through imaged as an Oriental tyrant, all powerful and blackmail, the inculcation of fear and childish CUELENAERE, KENDALL all-knowing people, subject to all the frailties dependency, petty regulations that carry of personality, including temper tantrums, KATZMAN continued on page 14 RICHARDS & Premium kosher table wines Barristers, Solicitors and Mediators available at Saskatoon Co-op RANDY KATZMAN from Wines & Spirits, Blairmore Centre. B.Comm., LL.B. 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This page is sponsored by Susanne Kaplan 9 Sisterhood Notes by Zoe Litman, Vice-President, Agudas Israel Sisterhood

The fall brought new many more activities than much larger centres a Rosh Hashana musical evening and the enthusiasm and fresh and our volunteers are very dedicated. It was accompanying dinner was coordinated with ideas to our group. interesting to learn that we all face the same Sisterhood’s help. It was much appreciated With the New Year we challenges but we are managing with great and a great success. resumed our activities. success. Thank you to all the women who Sisterhood also participated in the Simchat In September, we were continue to contribute and welcome new faces Torah potluck and other holiday meals. fortunate to receive a visit from Ardis Wexler, who are joining us. In December we will be holding a latkes the Intra continental President of Women’s A fun potluck and meeting was held at a making bee for the upcoming Channuka ac- League. She was greatly impressed with our member’s home and our opening planning tivities. This is a fun activity and crucial to our lovely city and the substantial activities and meeting set things in motion for the upcom- tradition. Please join us and help strengthen commitment our community offers, especially ing year. This year for the High Holidays our bonds. considering our small numbers. We carry on our community was treated to a new activity, The Saskatoon Jewish Foundation gratefully acknowledges the following contributions: As my father planted To Greeting From for me before I was SASKATOON JEWISH FOUNDATION born, Andrea Scharfstein So do I plant for & Hayden Rubensohn In honour of your wedding Rabbi Claudio those who will come & Rosy Jodorkovsky after me. Daniel Katzman from the Talmud & Stacey Allen In honour of your wedding Rabbi Claudio & Rosy Jodorkovsky Amiel Jordokovsky In honour of your Bat Mitzvah The Shiffman Family Congregation Agudas Israel Thank you for sharing my Bat Mitzvah with me Amiel Jodorkovsky In memory of David & Harriett Kaplan Sarah, Jon & Ed Kaplan

GLADYS & GERRY ROSE FUND Scharfstein Family In memory of Jean Scharfstein Glady Rose

RABBI’S DISCRETIONARY FUND Amiel Jodorkovsky In honour of your Bat Mitzvah The Bernbaum Family Rabbi Claudio & Rosy Jodorkovsky In honour of Amiel’s Bat Mitzvah Alan Rosenberg & Lesley-Ann Crone Rosy Kreindel & Family In memory of your father, Mario Kreindel Elaine & Sherry Sharfe Rosy Kreindel & Family In memory of your father, Mario Kreindel Kayla Hock Rosy Kreindel & Family In memory of your father, Mario Kreindel Steven & Leila Goluboff Rosy Kreindel, Rabbi Claudio & Family In memory of your father, Mario Kreindel Alan Rosenberg & Lesley-Ann Crone Rosy Kreindel, Rabbi Claudio & Family In memory of your father, Mario Kreindel Wendy & Mark Ditlove & Family

MARSHA & GRANT SCHARFSTEIN CHILDREN’S SCHOLARSHIP FUND Scharfstein Family In memory of Jean Scharfstein Cindy Hanna Your contribution, Scharfstein Family In memory of Jean Scharfstein Linda Shynkaruk sent to: Scharfstein Family In memory of Jean Scharfstein Germain Dauk Saskatoon Jewish Scharfstein Family In memory of Jean Scharfstein Joe & Karen Dawson Foundation & Family Congregation Agudas Israel, Grant & Marsha Scharfstein 715 McKinnon Avenue, & Family In memory of Jean Scharfstein Wendy & Mark Ditlove Saskatoon S7H 2G2 will & Family be gratefully received JACK & CLARA MILAVSKY FUND and faithfully applied. Jean Bortnick In honour of your 90th birthday Miriam Milavsky

This page is sponsored by Anna Feldman of Toronto 10 Honouring Irwin: CIJA Sponsors Saskatoon Human Rights Conference by Matthew Godwin, Associate Director, University and Provincial Government Relations at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) CIJA was proud to Canadian Catholics support and be rep- and a number of di- (l-r) The Honourable Irwin Cotler, Matthew Godwin, Marina Nemat, Jerad Genser and resented at ‘Human verse communities. Professor Paul Finkelman Rights in the 21st The conference on Century: Honouring the Honourable Irwin human rights was Cotler’ at the University of Saskatchewan’s attended by schol- College of Law. For Professor Cotler, a former ars and practitioners Justice Minister and human rights activist, who discussed a wide his keynote speech on September 29th was range of subjects, an opportunity to celebrate the deliberative from the rights of process which led to the Canadian Charter those incarcerated in of Rights and Freedoms and to highlight the Canadian prisons, to work he is still undertaking to free political human trafficking, prisoners around the world. modern slavery and CIJA’s Heather Fenyes, at a reception fol- the rights of the dis- lowing the keynote address, praised Cotler for abled. CIJA’s Mat- his deep humility and commitment to social thew Godwin presented on a panel addressing and writer Marina Nemat and human rights justice. Fenyes highlighted the important hu- political prisoners, moderated by Mr. Cotler lawyer Jerad Genser. man rights work CIJA is undertaking in part- himself and joined by US academic Alan nership with Canada’s LGBTQ community, Dershowitz, former political prisoner, activist B’nai Brith Update by David Katzman, President of B’nai Brith Lodge 739 and Chairman of Silver Plate Dinner

We were very pleased to have 15 members future Jewish leaders, is undergoing huge most impressive and 2 guests (Yaniv and Sapir) attend our fall renovations and the financial support of all table program. meeting. Michael Shaw was elected to the of our members and our Lodge has been Arnie Shaw as position of secretary, joining Steve Simpson requested. We will look at the request at our our ticket mas- (treasurer), David Katzman (President) and next meeting. ter has done the Randy Katzman (Immediate Past President) Daniel Katzman requested and received heavy lifting, again. Every ticket we sell on the executive. more support for the Screamin’ Chickens soc- really matters so if you or anyone you know Joel Bernbaum, director of the hugely suc- cer club, always near and dear to our hearts. can support us, please have them contact cessful SUM Theatre, graciously presented All soccer playing Jews can contact Daniel Arnie asap. Ron Gitlin does a brilliant job his fourth large framed “Thank You” to B’nai Katzman to determine if there is room on with a very labour intensive Silent and the Brith. Joel also requested and received this year’s team or to make arrangements for Live Auction. Again, if you or someone you financial support for Youth on the Rise, a future play. If you did not get to watch the know would like to donate something to this program to bring drama lessons into the lives Jewish community’s Chickens soccer game year’s dinner, or future dinners, contact Ron. of the extremely marginalized populations of last spring, you missed something wonderful. Saskatoon. Rebecca Shaw requested and received B’nai Our next breakfast meeting is set for 11 Sarah Goluboff sent a very comprehensive Brith support for the Rosh Hashanah Dinner a.m., January 15 at Sherwood Chevrolet. All memo to the Lodge, explaining the frustra- by covering costs for students and others who Jewish men and men with Jewish partners tions experienced bringing a Syrian family to might not otherwise attend the event. Rabbi are warmly invited to attend. A big thanks to Saskatoon as part of the Children of Abraham Jodorkovsky requested and received support Susan Katzman for prepping the wonderful Refugee Support (CARS) project, a project to create a leadership training program for meal we enjoyed at our fall meeting! shared with representatives of the Muslim recent Hebrew school graduates. community. Yaniv and Sapir requested and Of course, the 62nd Silver Plate Dinner PS Are you a creative person who believes received financial support for programming will be held at TCU Place is the event that in the value of keeping a visual history? B’nai for university students, and they were con- makes all of the above possible. We are very B’rith invites an interested person to organize gratulated for their excellent outreach project pleased to have Michael Shaw returning as and label the photos from this year’s dinner on campus very shortly after their arrival. our MC. Bryce Sasko has very kindly and into a format that we can archive and share Camp B’nai Brith, undoubtedly a major competently moved us into using technology with others. If you might be interested please influence on many of our former, current and much more effectively and has produced a contact me.

This page is sponsored by the Saskatchewan Jewish Council 11 Hillel Report by Abby Holtslander, President

Over the course a great success. We met many students, both activities, Havdalah, and movie screenings. of my two years at Jewish and non-Jewish who enjoyed the hum- Regarding Hillel’s educational goals, Sapir the University of mus, pita and chocolate balls we made while and Yaniv will be teaching Hebrew lessons, Is- Saskatchewan, I learning about Hillel. Over twenty students raeli cooking lessons, and leading discussions. have noticed mini- signed up to join Hillel at the table, five to Not only will Hillel be hosting social events, mal Jewish repre- six of whom were Jewish. With this first step, but it will also strive to promote social justice sentation on campus. With the exception Hillel hopefully established its presence on through activities geared towards tikkun olam of occasional activities such as the Purim campus and made some of the Jewish stu- and tzedakah. For example, Hillel hopes to party, a movie night, and soccer, Hillel, the dents at the university aware of Hillel and do a canned food drive to build a Menorah representative group for Jewish students at encouraged them to join the group and at- on campus out of the cans. The Menorah will the university, has been mostly missing from tend Hillel’s upcoming events and activities. hopefully be lit during Hanukkah and then my experience of life on campus. This year, Although Hillel is the representative group taken apart and donated to the food bank. the new shlichim, Yaniv and Sapir, along with for Jewish students on campus, all Hillel Last but not least, Hillel hopes to nourish myself hope to revitalize the University of events and activities this year will be open to individual students’ enrichment of their own Saskatchewan’s Hillel. The most important both Jewish and non-Jewish students who are Jewish Identity through their involvement goal of Hillel this year will be to increase interested in Judaism and Jewish traditions. with the group and participation in Jewish the group’s presence on campus and increase Hillel’s other main objectives this year can activities. Evidentially, Hillel has ambitious students’ awareness of Hillel’s existence. As be summarized into four key areas of focus: plans for the year. However, we are confident a first step towards actualizing this goal, Hil- social events, education, Jewish enrichment that we will achieve our goals and rejuvenate lel set up a table on campus during welcome and social justice. Hillel is planning multiple Hillel into a vibrant entity on campus. week with music, Israeli food, prizes and large and small events this year including information about the group. The table was a Purim party, Hanukkah activities, Sukkot

From the President... from page 4 I know that the meaning of the phrase “prac- of our world or what will happen to me when But, you may ask, if I’m judging myself, ticing Jew” is not meant to reflect skill, but I die than I had before, but I do know that why do I have to be here? Why can’t I judge in a lot of ways I am definitely practicing to now I can read the Amidah (partly in Hebrew myself in the quiet of my own home? The be a Jew. Always practicing, always making and partly in English since I’m not THAT simple answer is that most people are not mistakes, and hopefully learning from those knowledgeable) and actually get something disciplined enough to actually judge them- mistakes. out of it. Whether the words remind me to selves regularly or at appropriate times. It’s Part of my personal journey was to attempt be thankful for the people in my life, or to like the question of why you should have a to participate in each service I attended. Of be kind and thoughtful to our planet, or even gym membership: Maybe you intend to do 50 course nothing against those of you who just as a reminder that I’m a Jew and that we sit ups and 50 push ups every morning before have no interest in participating, and I don’t all struggle with troubles from time-to-time; you go to work, but likely you don’t. Having a mean doing anything public or performance the important thing to take home in the end place to go to workout as a group helps make oriented; but for me I didn’t want to sit for is that we are all a family. the task easier: There you will find people of two hours weekly and daydream. Here I had As heretical as this may sound, I don’t think different fitness levels all struggling with a an opportunity to practice my Hebrew, learn belief in God should be a restriction toward common goal. Being here together, remem- the music and enjoy myself. Lo and behold, enjoying or finding meaning in our services. I bering our trespasses as a group and promising the time began to fly by and eventually things know many of us struggle with our place and to do better next year is the same thing. It’s started to sink in. If you had asked me two wonder “if I’m not a religious person, what a workout for the soul, or our conscience, or years ago what Hallel was, I’d have had no do these words mean to me?” For which I both – depending on your perspective. idea – now I look forward to holidays or each simply have to point to some of what we have, Of course, this reminds me of a story: Rosh Chodesh because I know it comes with and will recite today: Prayers about judging At another shul some time ago a man came Hallel. Sure, it makes the service a bit longer, our character, our behaviour, and our actions. to the door to deliver a message to one of the but I get to hum the tunes throughout the rest Like the philosophical argument of the “invis- congregants. of Shabbat so it’s worthwhile. ible gardener” which asks the question as to It was Rosh Hashanah and tickets were Some of you are probably thinking: Here we whether there is any difference between an required to attend the high holiday services. go, our President has gotten all religiousy on immaculately kept garden that is tended by an As the man approached the entrance, he was me, for which I’d probably not have a straight invisible gardener, or no gardener at all? We told that he could not enter without a ticket. answer. Belief is a complex issue and we are shouldn’t need a belief in God to do good and “But I need to deliver an emergency mes- limited by our terminology for spirituality, act justly; we are wholly capable of judging sage,” he said. “All I want to do is go in to observance, or even what it means to be alive ourselves and our actions in this season with- deliver it – and then I’ll be right back out.” to really come to any agreement. I don’t feel out an observer – the important thing is that “Okay” the usher replied. “You can go in… like a different person, and I certainly don’t we all know we can improve upon ourselves but remember. No Praying!” believe anything different about the creation for the next year. Shanah Tovah

This page is sponsored by Arnold z’l & Claire Golumbia of Vancouver 12 The Mutating Virus: Understanding Antisemitism Morality & Ethics Religion & Spirituality Society & Community the Jewish People & Israel submitted by Lisa Raber, FAST, Regional Director of Educational Programs - Alberta Below is a transcript of a speech by Rabbi we don’t like. That’s OK; that’s human; it European Union Agency for Fundamental Lord Jonathan Sacks at “The Future of the isn’t dangerous. Second, criticizing Israel is Rights found that almost a third of Europe’s Jewish Communities in Europe” Conference at not antisemitism. I was recently talking to Jews were considering emigrating because of The European Parliament on 27th September, some schoolchildren and they asked me: is anti-Semitism. In France the figure was 46 2016 in Brussels. criticizing Israel antisemitism? I said No and percent; in Hungary 48 percent. I explained the difference. I asked them: Do Let me ask you this. Whether you are Jewish The hate that begins with Jews never ends you believe you have a right to criticize the or Christian, or Muslim: would you stay in a with Jews. That is what I want us to understand British government? They all put up their country where you need armed police to guard today. It wasn’t Jews alone who suffered under hands. Then I asked, Which of you believes you while you prayed? Where your children Hitler. It wasn’t Jews alone who suffered under that Britain has no right to exist? No one put need armed guards to protect them at school? Stalin. It isn’t Jews alone who suffer under ISIS up their hands. Now you know the difference, Where, if you wear a sign of your faith in or Al Qaeda or Islamic Jihad. We make a great I said, and they all did. public, you risk being abused or attacked? mistake if we think antisemitism is a threat Antisemitism means denying the right of Where, when your children go to university, only to Jews. It is a threat, first and foremost, Jews to exist collectively as Jews with the they are insulted and intimidated because of to Europe and to the freedoms it took centuries same rights as everyone else. It takes different what is happening in some other part of the to achieve. forms in different ages. In the Middle Ages, world? Where, when they present their own Antisemitism is not about Jews. It is about Jews were hated because of their religion. In view of the situation they are howled down anti-Semites. It is about people who cannot the nineteenth and early twentieth century they and silenced? accept responsibility for their own failures were hated because of their race. Today they This is happening to Jews throughout and have instead to blame someone else. are hated because of their nation state, the state Europe. In every single country of Europe, Historically, if you were a Christian at the of Israel. It takes different forms but it remains without exception, Jews are fearful for their or time of the Crusades, or a German after the the same thing: the view that Jews have no their children’s future. If this continues, Jews First World War, and saw that the world right to exist as free and equal human beings. will continue to leave Europe, until, barring the hadn’t turned out the way you believed it If there is one thing I and my contemporaries frail and the elderly, Europe will finally have would, you blamed the Jews. That is what is did not expect, it was that antisemitism would become Judenrein. happening today. And I cannot begin to say reappear in Europe within living memory of How did this happen? It happened the how dangerous it is. Not just to Jews but to the Holocaust. The reason we did not expect way viruses always defeat the human everyone who values freedom, compassion it was that Europe had undertaken the greatest immune system, namely, by mutating. The and humanity. collective effort in all of history to ensure that new antisemitism is different from the old The appearance of antisemitism in a culture the virus of antisemitism would never again antisemitism, in three ways. I’ve already is the first symptom of a disease, the early infect the body politic. It was a magnificent mentioned one. Once Jews were hated because warning sign of collective breakdown. If effort of antiracist legislation, Holocaust of their religion. Then they were hated because Europe allows antisemitism to flourish, that education and interfaith dialogue. Yet of their race. Now they are hated because of will be the beginning of the end of Europe. antisemitism has returned despite everything. their nation state. The second difference is And what I want to do in these brief remarks On 27 January 2000, representatives of that the epicenter of the old antisemitism was is simply to analyze a phenomenon full 46 governments from around the world Europe. Today it’s the Middle East and it is of vagueness and ambiguity, because we gathered in Stockholm to issue a collective communicated globally by the new electronic need precision and understanding to know declaration of Holocaust remembrance and the media. what antisemitism is, why it happens, why continuing fight against antisemitism, racism The third is particularly disturbing. Let me antisemites are convinced that they are not and prejudice. Then came 9/11, and within explain. It is easy to hate, but difficult publicly antisemitic. days conspiracy theories were flooding the to justify hate. Throughout history, when First let me define antisemitism. Not liking internet claiming it was the work of Israel and people have sought to justify anti-Semitism, Jews is not antisemitism. We all have people its secret service, the Mossad. In April 2002, they have done so by recourse to the highest on Passover, I was in Florence with a Jewish source of authority available within the couple from Paris when they received a phone culture. In the Middle Ages, it was religion. call from their son, saying, “Mum, Dad, it’s So we had religious anti-Judaism. In post- time to leave France. It’s not safe for us here Enlightenment Europe it was science. So we anymore.” had the twin foundations of Nazi ideology, In May 2007, in a private meeting here in Social Darwinism and the so-called Scientific Brussels, I told the three leaders of Europe Study of Race. Today the highest source of at the time, Angela Merkel, President of the authority worldwide is human rights. That 500, 123 - 2nd Avenue South European Council, Jose Manuel Barroso, is why Israel—the only fully functioning Saskatoon Sk Canada S7K 7E6 President of the European Commission, and democracy in the Middle East with a free Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European press and independent judiciary—is regularly Michael R. Scharfstein, B.Comm., J.D. Parliament, that the Jews of Europe were accused of the five cardinal sins against human [email protected] beginning to ask whether there was a future rights: racism, apartheid, crimes against for Jews in Europe. humanity, ethnic cleansing and attempted Ph: 306.244.0132 Fax: 306.653.1118 That was more than nine years ago. Since genocide. www.SHTB-law.com then, things have become worse. Already in continued on page 15 2013, before some of the worst incidents, the This Page is sponsored by Toby Rose, Les Klein, Jonathon, Solomon and Benjamin of Toronto 13 Berakhah... from page 9 infinite punishments, this is a real image of and also to embody them in forms that are Hebrew verbal root HYH, meaning “to be”. religion. If we are honest, it is the reality both authentic and grow out of tradition and Therefore, we could translate the word YHVH of the way in which religious organizations that also speak to the modern heart and mind. more fittingly as “Eternal” or, possibly, as the have tended to function and present faith and We have to re-word the berakhah, but we must causative, “Creator”. This would indeed be practice through history. also retain it in any Judaism of the future. more correct than inserting the vowels of an There are two very radically different First we need to continue to proclaim in entirely different word. Similarly, Elohim, understandings of religion available to human experience the encounter with mystery. a generic term for God, could be related to humankind. There is the view that religion is But we also, second, need to ensure that the the Midrashic reading of this divine name a set of rules and regulations that bring reward expression of that encounter shall be open as referring to God as judge. So El Shaddai, and punishment, highly judgmental, basically to both male and female and neither shall normally translated as God Almighty, is more pessimistic and condemnatory. One must impose their specific experience on the other likely to be read as the God of the fields, that obey without question and hope to mollify and as a universal norm for an abstract humanity. is, God, source of fertility, or even as the buy off the wrath of a God who is by definition We need to ensure, too, that the human many-breasted God, God as the nurturing one. unappeasable. Those rules are the revealed response to the encounter experience shall not Ha Makkom is a traditional periphrasis that will of the omnipotent and omniscient God, be disempowering but impel human beings avoids the use of the name YHVH, forbidden sometimes rationally moral but more likely to struggle to transcend their limitations and in the Third Commandment. It means “the totally arbitrary, even whimsical. They grow into full partnership with the, divine. Place”, that is God as the Tillichian Ground of may require particular acts to be done, they Fourth, we must express in our berakhah Being. As makkomm also means the female may require particular forms of words to be formulation our commitment to the second genitals in Rabbinic Hebrew, ha Makkom is believed. In no case are they to be questioned style of religion, an openness to the potential a feminine aspect of divinity. Ha rahaman except in order to determine more exactly of growing toward infinity, the possibility of means the compassionate one, and derives how things are to be done. The God of such making life a journey into sacredness. But, from the root RHM meaning the womb. It religion will be male, disempowering of fifth, we need to ensure that the vocabulary is another feminine aspect of divinity that His human partner, and prepared to use His and imagery of any Jewish prayer shall remain refers us to God as a mother clinging to her ultimate power as a deterrent to any form of fully Jewish, that is it shall grow out of the child. Ha Shem, literally the name, is the deviation. On the other hand, there is the view traditional sources of Judaism. We can not usual Hebraic periphrasis for God. Here there that religion is an open and eternal quest, a use words and images that offend the Jewish is clear reference to the abstract nature of journey of discovery that is unending. Rules heart and soul, because to do so will destroy divinity, God as the all-inclusive. In addition, and regulations may be instrumentally useful the whole purpose of Jews coming together shem, name in Hebrew, connotes more. It along the way but they do not and can not in community. means the whole personality and nature of the represent the reality of God and revelation of The attempt to deal with these problems person. And he Shekhinah, the Presence, also the divine will. The very essence of religion has been a mark of the Reconstructionist a feminine term in Hebrew, images God as must therefore be relationship an the creation movement and is reflected in its new liturgical the empowering presence that human beings of love and justice and healing. The God of creations, the Kol ha Neshamah Prayer Books. can encounter. Other names for God in the this approach will be both male and female, Based on Maria Falk’s work, they have tried sources include Hokhmah, wisdom, also a loving, enriching, meeting the human in a to go beyond it so as to accommodate both feminine term, which moves into Christianity mutually empowering I-Thou encounter. the more secular humanist style of Falk and through Greek as Sophia, hence the Cathedral The berakhah remains a fundamental value also the more religious humanist style of the of Ayia Sophia, “Holy Wisdom”, in Istanbul, of Judaism because ideally it represents this movement. There are many images of divinity now a mosque. second type of religion. It is a means to available to us in the traditional Jewish We can also side step the traditional open the heart and soul to ultimate mystery sources that can open up for us the process of formulation that refers to God as King of the and a sense of empowering presence, a re-writing the berakhah formula, images that universe. There is a formula in the Prayer means therefore to sensitize the individual are male, female, abstract, and gender neutral. Book, hey ha olamim, the source of life and community to the possibilities of life at There is, for example, scope to experiment for all worlds/time and space. And this is its best and richest. However, it has been with the “names” of God in traditional Jewish surely acceptable to a traditionalist, at least incorporated into the basic human need to sources. There is the standard YHVH, read in principle. create organizations that embody values and as Adonai; there is Elohim, El Shaddai, ha There are resources in traditional Jewish hopefully preserve them and hand them on Makkom, ha Rahaman, ha Shem, Shekhinah. texts that are available to us in reconstructing to future generations. That incorporation YHVH was written without vowels and in the the berakhah formula. Considering the of values often tends to cause them to be early Middle Ages the Masoretic tradition that importance of the berakhah, it is essential that expressed in terms that more readily typify voweled the Hebrew text of the Bible inserted we continue the task of finding them and using that first, more negative, style of religion. the vowels from the word Adonai, Lord, them to recreate this basic tool of Judaism to There is an ongoing need for Jews to work leading to the normal translation of YHVH express and stimulate the encounter with the and re-work the balance between values and as Lord. This was obviously quite an early numinous. the ritual and vocabulary and imagery in tradition because the Greek translation renders which those values have come to be couched. YHVH by the Greek word kurios, Lord. We It is essential to retain both the wonderful do not have to continue to do this. It is clear possibilities and joyous openness of living, that the letters YHVH probably reflect the

This page is sponsored by Mirka Pollak 14 The Mutating Virus... from page 13 The new antisemitism has mutated so that academic circles, unions, and even some great crimes begin. any practitioner of it can deny that he or she is churches. Having cured itself of the virus of Jews were hated because they were different. an antisemite. After all, they’ll say, I’m not a antisemitism, Europe is being reinfected by They were the most conspicuous non-Christian racist. I have no problem with Jews or Judaism. parts of the world that never went through the minority in a Christian Europe. Today they are I only have a problem with the State of Israel. self-reckoning that Europe undertook once the the most conspicuous non-Muslim presence But in a world of 56 Muslim nations and 103 facts of the Holocaust became known. in an Islamic Middle East. Anti-Semitism has Christian ones, there is only one Jewish state, How do such absurdities come to be always been about the inability of a group Israel, which constitutes one-quarter of one per believed? This is a vast and complex subject, to make space for difference. No group that cent of the land mass of the Middle East. Israel and I have written a book about it, but the adopts it will ever, can ever, create a free is the only one of the 193 member nations of simplest explanation is this. When bad things society. the United Nations that has its right to exist happen to a group, its members can ask one So I end where I began. The hate that begins regularly challenged, with one state, Iran, and of two questions: “What did we do wrong?” with Jews never ends with Jews. Antisemitism many, many other groups, committed to its or “Who did this to us?” The entire fate of the is only secondarily about Jews. Primarily destruction. group will depend on which it chooses. it is about the failure of groups to accept Antisemitism means denying the right of If it asks, “What did we do wrong?” it has responsibility for their own failures, and to Jews to exist as Jews with the same rights as begun the self-criticism essential to a free build their own future by their own endeavours. everyone else. The form this takes today is society. If it asks, “Who did this to us?” it No society that has fostered antisemitism has anti-Zionism. Of course, there is a difference has defined itself as a victim. It will then seek ever sustained liberty or human rights or between Zionism and Judaism, and between a scapegoat to blame for all its problems. religious freedom. Every society driven by Jews and Israelis, but this difference does not Classically this has been the Jews. hate begins by seeking to destroy its enemies, exist for the new antisemites themselves. It Anti-Semitism is a form of cognitive failure, but ends by destroying itself. was Jews not Israelis who were murdered in and it happens when groups feel that their Europe today is not fundamentally terrorist attacks in Toulouse, Paris, Brussels and world is spinning out of control. It began antisemitic. But it has allowed antisemitism Copenhagen. Anti-Zionism is the antisemitism in the Middle Ages, when Christians saw to enter via the new electronic media. It has of our time. that Islam had defeated them in places they failed to recognize that the new antisemitism In the Middle Ages Jews were accused regarded as their own, especially Jerusalem. is different from the old. We are not today of poisoning wells, spreading the plague, That was when, in 1096, on their way to the back in the 1930s. But we are coming close to and killing Christian children to use their Holy Land, the Crusaders stopped first to 1879, when Wilhelm Marr founded the League blood. In Nazi Germany they were accused massacre Jewish communities in Northern of Anti-Semites in Germany; to 1886 when of controlling both capitalist America and Europe. It was born in the Middle East in Édouard Drumont published La France Juive; communist Russia. Today they are accused of the 1920s with the collapse of the Ottoman and 1897 when Karl Lueger became Mayor of running ISIS as well as America. All the old Empire. Antisemitism re-emerged in Europe Vienna. These were key moments in the spread myths have been recycled, from the Blood in the 1870s during a period of economic of antisemitism, and all we have to do today Libel to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. recession and resurgent nationalism. And it is to remember that what was said then about The cartoons that flood the Middle East are is re-appearing in Europe now for the same Jews is being said today about the Jewish state. clones of those published in Der Sturmer one reasons: recession, nationalism, and a backlash The history of Jews in Europe has not of the primary vehicles of Nazi propaganda against immigrants and other minorities. always been a happy one. Europe’s treatment between 1923 and 1945. Antisemitism happens when the politics of of the Jews added certain words to the human The ultimate weapon of the new antisemitism hope gives way to the politics of fear, which vocabulary: disputation, forced conversion, is dazzling in its simplicity. It goes like this. quickly becomes the politics of hate. inquisition, expulsion, auto da fe, ghetto, The Holocaust must never happen again. But This then reduces complex problems to pogrom and Holocaust, words written in Israelis are the new Nazis; the Palestinians simplicities. It divides the world into black Jewish tears and Jewish blood. Yet for all that, are the new Jews; all Jews are Zionists. and white, seeing all the fault on one side and Jews loved Europe and contributed to it some Therefore the real antisemites of our time all the victimhood on the other. It singles out of its greatest scientists, writers, academics, are none other than the Jews themselves. one group among a hundred offenders for the musicians, shapers of the modern mind. And these are not marginal views. They are blame. The argument is always the same. We If Europe lets itself be dragged down that widespread throughout the Muslim world, are innocent; they are guilty. It follows that if road again, this will be the story told in times including communities in Europe, and they we are to be free, they, the Jews or the state to come. First they came for the Jews. Then are slowly infecting the far left, the far right, of Israel, must be destroyed. That is how the for the Christians. Then for the gays. Then for the atheists. Until there was nothing left of we design and print... Europe’s soul but a distant, fading memory. Brochures Today I have tried to give voice to those Newsletters who have no voice. I have spoken on behalf Flyers of the murdered Roma, Sinti, gays, dissidents, Posters the mentally and physically handicapped, and Presentation Folders a million and a half Jewish children murdered Laser Cheques Accounting & Auditing Financial Planning Stationery because of their grandparents’ religion. In their Estate Planning Mergers & Acquisitions Annual reports name, I say to you: You know where the road Management Consulting Income Tax Returns Business Forms ends. Don’t go down there again. Business Valuations Corporate Tax Returns Textbooks Carbonless Forms Family History Books You are the leaders of Europe. Its future is in your hands. If you do nothing, Jews will leave, Saskatoon Regina ... to your specifications and satisfaction European liberty will die, and there will be a Tel: (306) 653-6100 Tel: (306) 522-6500 moral stain on Europe’s name that all eternity Website www.virtusgroup.ca Tel. 306.955.3373 • Fax. 306.955.5739 will not erase. 217 Jessop Avenue • Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 1Y3 Stop it now while there is still time. This page is sponsored by Effie (Brook) & Harry Gordon of Vancouver

15 Yaniv & Sapir Atiya.. from page 2 From that story we can learn that it’s im- lieved the world was created with the say- a way to say sorry, and pray for forgiveness, possible for one person, or even one entity to ing “let there be light”, and understood but also a way to make this world a much fix the world, as it’s such a big, complicated that God put light into vessels, but there better place. world. But what one should do is work on him, was so much light in them that they broke. It doesn’t matter who you are, or how and fix himself. If everyone were to do just Now the pieces of the shattered vessels are important, and it doesn’t matter how much this, we could create a much better world to spread around the world and are encour- money you have in your bank account. It also live in. Only after doing this, could a person aging people to do bad deeds. Now God doesn’t matter what kind of a Jew you are or start helping others. depends on us! We must fix the situation, how much you even know about Judaism. It’s fix the vessels, and do so by fixing the world a very special day, for everyone, dedicated That brings us to our next story: with positive good deeds. This is what he just to look inside, and think of nothing else The man of pure thoughts- Rabbi Isaac called ‘Tikkun Olam’ – fixing the world. If but about who we are and who we want to be, Loriah was born in Jerusalem and lost we’ll manage to do that, the Messiah will and how we could make this change happen. his father at the age of eight. He moved come. He felt it was our job to repair the This is our first Yom Kippur away from to Egypt at a very young age and by the age world. Israel, from tradition, from friends and family, of 18, his teacher, one of the most respected Yom Kippur is ordered on us in the book and it is so much different than what we are rabbis at the time, Rabbi Bezalel Ashke- of Leviticus, ‘Vayikra’, and often referred as used to. But it is also our first Yom Kippur nazi, said he had nothing more to teach him the Day of Atonement, and Self-Examination. with our new loving, hugging, warm com- and he himself became a respected rabbi. We think about how we spent the last year, munity of Saskatoon, our new family. We see He was also known as the Great Ari. and how we acted. We say sorry and hope to this amazing adventure as a step in our journey Ari’s Creation theory – The Ari spent be forgiven by our friends and family, and by to make this world a better place, using the only two years in Tzfat but that sufficed to our God. We also suggest that this would be values of Judaism. change Judaism forever. The Ari believed, used to think how we could be better, what we We wish you and your families will be unlike many others of his time, that if the could change in ourselves and what we could inscribed and sealed in the book of life, Jew’s situation was so terrible, something contribute to the big Mitzvah of Tikkun Olam. Thank you for having us here! must be wrong on a Godly level. He be- In other words for us, this day is not only as

Martha Blum... from page 2 travelling exhaustively around the province, friendships were with journalist Anna Feld- as such, only direct written memoirs. So we telling her story and the story of millions, an man and former congregation member Gladys had a challenge. Over the next couple of “incomprehensible, horrid story”, as she called Rose. Fourteen years before in 1993, Anna and years, I edited and adapted the 100 pages to it. She was able to engage children absolutely, Gladys had sat down with Martha and Anna memoir form, with Gladys and Anna offering as Martha had the gift of an eloquent tongue recorded Martha’s words as she answered prodigious encouragement and creative com- and empathetic ear. Empathetic - because questions about her life before Canada. The mentary (for which I am eternally grateful). many of these children, Metis and Cree, knew resulting six hour interview is now archived This past January I sent it to the Holocaust the meaning of persecution themselves. She in the Provincial Saskatchewan Archives in Memoirs Program. Arielle Berger, the director, carried on this work for ten years, and was Regina and in the Museum of Civilization in was delighted to receive it, as well as the audio awarded a certificate of recognition from the Ottawa as part of Anna’s project on the history interview and several of Martha’s photos and Canadian government for her heroic efforts. of the Jewish population in Saskatchewan. documents which can be used around the final When she was 86, Martha published her first When I inherited Martha’s personal papers af- publication. In time, we shall see Martha’s novel, The Walnut Tree. It received immediate ter her daughter Irene’s death in 2009, I sought memories published, and for the first time, attention, and two major literary awards. Two out these two women for advice on several of people can understand how deeply her fiction more notable works quickly followed: Chil- Martha’s documents (fortunately for me they was intertwined with her life experiences. dren of Paper, and The Apothecary. When she both lived near me in Toronto). So we met for I thought that the placement of the memoir died in 2007 at 94, there were still hundreds of teas and lunches, reminisced about Martha, but and personal effects was going to be the end pages of unpublished poetry and prose fiction more importantly, we launched and completed of the journey, but I was recently delighted to in boxes, ready to be edited. an extension of the interview in the form of a receive an interesting letter from the Municipal The great majority of Martha’s papers – memoir to be published by Toronto’s Azrieli Library of Cernivtsi in the Ukraine. Cernivtsi manuscripts, photos, media clippings, audio Foundation. was Martha’s beloved Chernowitz, her home and video, personal documents – now reside The Azrieli Foundation is an organiza- town, and the setting of The Walnut Tree. It in the Saskatchewan Provincial Archives in tion that supports a wide range of initiatives seems there is a small but energetic movement Regina. They chronicle a lifetime of achieve- and programmes in the fields of education, to raise community awareness of the history of ment and deeply felt experience. They will be a architecture and design, Jewish community, the city. The librarian there had fallen in love rich source for anyone wishing to research her Holocaust commemoration and education, sci- with The Walnut Tree, and the letter requested life and writing. As Saskatchewan Archives entific and medical research, and the arts. But permission to translate the novel into Ukrai- has limited space and means to store objects, the principal mission is a dedication to educa- nian. Miraculously, the translator, Oleksandra a small number of historically significant tion. Their Memoirs Program archives and Budna, lives in Toronto and so a few weeks pieces, such as the yellow star hand sewn by publishes first person memoirs by survivors of ago we met over tea, accompanied by Gladys her mother Susi Guttmann, have been donated the Holocaust. These memoirs are distributed as well. Oleksandra now has an abundance of to the Memorial Holocaust Centre in Montreal free of charge to educational institutions across print, visual, and audio materials that I made as well as some key photographs and copies Canada, and are for sale at bookstores. available to her, so that she could more deeply of her writings (all with permission of the Gladys suggested I ask the Foundation if understand the environment of the novel, and Guttmann family in the Maritimes). they might be interested in Martha’s memories the mind and personality of Martha herself. Apart from her written work and cultural as recorded in the interview. They graciously And so The Walnut Tree will have come home, gifts to the community, she had developed rich, returned my request with interest, but with and I think all who knew Martha would agree abundant friendships. Two of those enduring the caveat that they do not collect interviews that she would be absolutely delighted. This page is spsonored by Ann & Debbie Diament (wife and daughter of former Rabbi Saul Diament), of Toronto 16 Divrei Harav... from page 4 “religious” families, most of the Jewish popu- ence to make other changes that can help us to Starting from Saturday November 12th lation didn’t grow up attending services and improve our religious services even more. We and for three weeks we will open a space for they feel alienated from the prayer experience, would like to offer all of you an opportunity to conversation around these subjects after ser- in many ways and forms. Most of them don’t engage with our ancient tradition and to grow vices, during the time of Kiddush and Lunch. know Hebrew and from those who are able as a congregation in numbers and in meaning. Together with our usual moment of socializa- to follow services in Hebrew, most of them Our rich tradition gives us enough room and tion we will dedicate a time to share our ideas don’t understand the meaning of the words. flexibility to allow changes that can enhance about services thinking on positive changes When reading the English translation they our prayer experience without compromising that can attract other members and make ser- don’t feel comfortable with the language or its authenticity and essence. For this reason, vices more meaningful for us. If you are or they disagree with some of its ideas and the- the Ritual Committee has already started have been a regular attendant of the Minyan, ology. Some don’t believe in God and they to study and discuss possible new changes, your experience and perspective will be very haven’t found in services any connection to but we strongly believe that a fundamental important for us. If you haven’t been part of their Jewish identity. Additionally, in the age part of this process is to have your input and services or feel they are not appealing to you, of text messages and short communication, feedback. We have been thinking of possibili- then your vision and thoughts are essential for it is hard to expect that someone can enjoy a ties like incorporating music also for parts of us in order to make a positive change. I really service that lasts for three or four hours. If you Shabbat morning services, shortening some hope you can come at least for one of these add to that a disconnection to the Siddur and prayers and readings so the entire service can meetings, and be a part of these exiting times the language, the explanation for the aliena- be shorter, preparing full transliterated book- of change, innovations and growth. tion is more than evident. lets, etc. But before deciding upon any change Bebirkat Shalom, Being aware of that, and after a few years we would like to know what you have to say With the blessing of peace, of trying different innovations and changes, I about your present experience in services, feel we have now the knowledge and experi- and what you would like to see in the future. Rabbi Claudio

Dan Vardi.. from page 5 and rocky terrain made it impossible for him About 10 minutes before sunrise, while our years old. His mother passed away about six to follow the exact path of the footprints. commander was sitting in his jeep, a terrorist months earlier and his father decided to relo- More forces were called and people from my surprised him and started stabbing him in the cate himself to Dubai, leaving him all alone. company just got into their own private cars side of his body. He jumped on the terrorist His plan really was to enter a house and stab and drove to the place. It was a unique sight. and struggled with him on the ground. His an entire family in their sleep, but the soldiers Every four to six soldiers were assigned a driver came out of the car and shot one bullet came before he made it into the neighbour- street to scan and look for anything suspicious. into the terrorist’s head that neutralized him. hood. He was afraid he’d be caught at sunrise Our concern was that a terrorist got into one All the forces jumped again to the spot and and he attacked before it could happen. of the houses and was on a silent killing spree. searched every corner and back yard to make The event shook all of us badly. First of all While we were scanning everywhere people sure no one else was hurt and that no one else our commander, who is a good friend of mine from the settlement’s security force told me was hiding until they declared the area safe was hurt. Being back in the army became real that every few weeks there’s a jogger running again. My commander was stabbed and in and dangerous all of a sudden. But mostly I in the middle of the night that gets everyone critical condition for a few hours. The knife felt proud that our quick actions prevented a on their feet, but there hasn’t been any terrorist lacerated his liver and punctured one of his true catastrophe from happening. We literally act there in the past seven years. lungs, causing it to collapse on the way to the saved human lives. It made me realize that Slowly we lowered our alert level, and the hospital. He is now better, resting and recover- I can truly trust my friends that are fighting feeling was that it was probably a jogger. My ing in his home. alongside side me and when needed people commander decided to start sending forces The terrorist didn’t die from the gunshot, would put aside their differences and personal back to the barracks because we needed to be and was questioned a week later when he comfort and do what needs to be done. fresh for the next day’s assignments, and kept regained consciousness. He came from great Most of all it reminded me of our life in this a small force with him to wait for day-break distress, which is almost always the case with country, that can never be taken for granted. and make sure everything was in order. terrorists, having nothing to lose. He’s 18 There are things we need to do in order to protect ourselves. The intensity it sometimes puts you in and the strong feelings of mis- sion and comradeship are sometimes hard to explain. It was quite a shock returning from C H A R T E R E D A C C O U N T A NTS a peaceful year in Saskatoon straight into that Keith Thomson B.Comm. CA situation, and not exactly the landing back I Brian Turnquist B.Comm. CA Michael Gorniak B.Comm. CA had in mind, but I think we have done our Rodney Trayhorne MPAcc. CA job and it made me feel proud of my life’s Amberly Chabot B.Comm. choices, glad to be in those tough places, and •Accounting & Auditing wish even more for an end to the conflict and •Personal & Corporate Tax Planning & Preparation • Computer Consulting, Training & Monthly Processing a sustainable peace in our area. •Financial Planning & Loan Proposals I didn’t like being in the West Bank. But •Estate Planning •Agristability I do know that as long as we are there I will •Business Plans •Litigation Support •Business Valuations report for duty when called, and do what I 244-4414 Fax: 244-1545 can to promote and educate towards a more 400 - 15 23rd St. East - Saskatoon peaceful and just times between both nations.

This page is sponsored by Jeffrey and Sherril Stein. 17 Yahrtzeits Geraldine Jaffe Nov 26 (25) Bernie Fingard Dec 13 (13) Nathan Buller Nov 27 (26) Eli Shapero Dec 13 (13) November 4/5 Heshvan 3/4 Samuel Sugarman Nov 27 (26) Annie Sklar Dec 13 (13) Pessie Chertkow Nov 4 (3) Reva Applebaum Nov 28 (27) Beatrice Hatklin Dec 14 (14) Ben Goldstein Nov 4 (3) Sam Fromson Nov 29 (28) Aida Soiffer Dec 14 (14) Abram Handelman Nov 4 (3) Molly Grobman Nov 29 (28) Mary-Ida Davidner Dec 15 (15) Rabbi Roger Pavey Nov 4 (3) Harry Zhivotovsky Nov 30 (29) Tanya Flikshteyn Dec 15 (15) Mary Sklar Nov 4 (3) Katie Claman Dec 1 (Kislev 1) Nathan Shaffer Dec 15 (15) Sarah Vogel Nov 4 (3) Allen Gonor Dec 1 (1) Ben Shore Dec 15 (15) Sylvia Caplan Nov 5 (4) Louise Gumprich Dec 1 (1) David Teplinsky Dec 15 (15) Oscar Mazer Nov 5 (4) Vina Silverman Dec 1 (1) Robert Miller Nov 7 (6) Jack Weitzman Dec 1 (1) December 16/17 Kislev 16/17 Louis Horlick Nov 8 (7) Morris Lubin Dec 16 (16) Melvin Laimon Nov 8 (7) December 2/3 Kislev 2/3 Anna T. Blank Dec 17 (17) Jack Milavsky Nov 8 (7) Samuel Claman Dec 2 (2) Yehudith Broudy Dec 17 (17) Leiser Singer Nov 8 (7) Moisha Gross Dec 2 (2) Rabbi Nomi Ehren-Lis Dec 17 (17) Michael Stier Nov 8 (7) Adolf Lehrer Dec 2 (2) Rebecca Green Dec 17 (17) Esar Katz Nov 10 (9) Zlotta Lertzman Dec 2 (2) Jacob Neumann Dec 17 (17) Asher Lehrer Nov 10 (9) Harry Minovitz Dec 2 (2) Mary Bender Dec 18 (18) Rose Mallin Nov 10 (9) Bella Spector Dec 2 (2) Samuel Lifshen Dec 18 (18) Jack Sugarman Dec 2 (2) Alexander Blum Dec 19 (19) November 11/12 Heshvan 10/11 Sam Goodman Dec 3 (3) Fannie Kahan Dec 21 (21) Labe Rapaport Nov 11 (10) Frank Miller Dec 3 (3) Haim Kolominsky Dec 21 (21) Clara Goldenberg Nov 12 (11) Julie Sarblut Dec 3 (3) Podhocer Dec 22 (22) Solomon Waiser Nov 12 (11) Eleanor Segal Dec 3 (3) Frank Arshawsky Nov 13 (12) Jack Hearn Dec 4 (4) December 23/24 Kislev 23/24 David Hamir Nov 14 (13) Sarah Hock Dec 4 (4) Pauline Laimon Dec 23 (23) Dina Teitelbaum Nov 14 (13) Samuel Laimon Dec 4 (4) Joseph Brant Dec 24 (24) Tassie Arshawsky Nov 15 (14) Louis Levy Dec 4 (4) Eva Miller Dec 24 (24) Irene Blum Nov 15 (14) Harold Pavey Dec 4 (4) Reisie Korber Dec 26 (26) Clara Hock Nov 15 (14) Hyman Richman Dec 4 (4) Anita Marcus Dec 27 (27) Phillip Horlick Nov 15 (14) Fanny Beaverman Dec 5 (5) Gertrude Goffman Dec 29 (29) M. Kavsky Nov 15 (14) Wolfe Bodovsky Dec 5 (5) Michael Goorovitch Dec 29 (29) Esther Landau Nov 15 (14) Harry Broudy Dec 5 (5) Sarah Korzen Dec 29 (29) Elsie Rose Nov 15 (14) Abraham Chorsky Dec 5 (5) Isaac Lubin Dec 29 (29) Sonia Ghitter Nov 16 (15) Alexander Fayerman Dec 5 (5) David MacKay Dec 29 (29) Karl Heubsch Nov 16 (15) Joseph Katz Dec 5 (5) Yosef Pollak Dec 29 (29) Miklos (Mike) Kanitz Nov 16 (15) Miriam Pavey Dec 5 (5) Harold Levington Nov 16 (15) Dorothy Steiger Dec 5 (5) December 30/31 Tevet 1/2 Morris Sass Nov 16 (15) Anette Sternberg Dec 5 (5) Freda Aaron Dec 30 (1) Abe Sonnenschein Nov 16 (15) Ytzchak Solsberg Dec 6 (6) Marjorie Cohen Dec 30 (1) Isaac Fogel Dec 7 (7) Alex Gimpel Dec 30 (1) November 18/19 Heshvan 17/18 Ann Katz Dec 7 (7) Hena Feiga Levitsky Dec 30 (1) Rudolph Altschul Nov 18 (17) Ethel Nulman Dec 7 (7) Rena Levitsky Dec 30 (1) Peter Brook Nov 18 (17) Mayer Padolsky Dec 8 (8) Marvin Aarons Dec 31 (2) Celia Reznick Nov 18 (17) Halevi Polatnic Dec 8 (8) Edith Caplan Dec 31 (2) Rose Davidner Nov 19 (18) Hyman Arlinsky Jan 1 (3) Bella Mondrus Nov 20 (19) December 9/10 Kislev 9/10 Martha Blum Jan 1 (3) Frank Schwartz Nov 20 (19) Richard Blum Dec 9 (9) Susanna Hillman Jan 1 (3) Michla Volansky Nov 20 (19) Rebecca Butler Dec 9 (9) Tom Kovish Jan 1 (3) Jack Avol Nov 21 (20) Samuel Friedman Dec 9 (9) Nathan Kornfeld Jan 2 (4) Nechi Shore Nov 21 (20) Sarah Sharzer Dec 9 (9) Charles Vickar Jan 2 (4) Mania Winocour Nov 21 (20) Zelda Dachis Dec 10 (10) Helen Levson Jan 3 (5) Baby Brook Nov 22 (21) Harry Friedman Dec 10 (10) Doris Mazer Jan 3 (5) Liba Newman Nov 22 (21) Joseph Segal Dec 10 (10) Leopold Edison Jan 4 (6) Sarah Pollock Nov 22 (21) Anne Shiffman Dec 10 (10) Israel Katzman Jan 4 (6) Esther Davidner Nov 23 (22) Ella Springman Dec 10 (10) Labe Katzman Jan 4 (6) Lily Swartz Nov 23 (22) Mina Flikshteyn Dec 11 (11) Velle Bernstein Jan 5 (7) Ray Crone Nov 24 (23) Grisha Gersher Dec 11 (11) Joseph Ditlove Jan 5 (7) Richard Ruskin Nov 24 (23) Isaac Goldenberg Dec 11 (11) Joseph Donen Jan 5 (7) Philip Golumbia Dec 11 (11) November 25/26 Heshvan 24/25 Sally Katz Dec 11 (11) Isaac Drabinsky Nov 25 (24) Malke Hamir Dec 12 (12) Bertholt Wormann Nov 24 (24) Bessie Waiser Dec 12 (12) Laurie Feldman Nov 26 (25) Chaya Avivi Dec 13 (13)

This page is sponsored by Lorna Bernbaum in memory of her parents Dr. Frank and Frances Bernbaum.

18 Hebrew School Fundraiser Community members are invited to donate gently used clothing and household items which will be sold to a local community group to raise funds for the CAI Hebrew School.

Drop off days are: January – 22nd, 1-4p.m. • January – 23rd, 1-5:45p.m. January – 24th, 1-4p.m. • January – 25th, 1-5:45p.m.

All items need to be in plastic bags – no paper bags or boxes, with the exception of small household appliances that can be put in boxes. Examples of accepted items: shoes, clothing, hats, scarves, jewelry, bedding, towels, bags and purses, toys, books, cd’s, dvd’s and small working household appliances such as toasters or coffee makers. Items that can not be accepted: weapons, hazardous materials, construction and auto parts, furniture, tv’s, encyclopedias, computer monitors, infant car and booster seats. We are paid by the pound, so please start collecting items now so we have lots in January! If you have questions regarding this fundraiser email: [email protected]

This page is sponsored by Lois & Walter Gumprich, with Susanne, Daniel, Michelle, Abigail and their families. 19 November 2016 • Tishri / Heshvan 5777 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 4 Heshvan 4 5 Heshvan 4 1 Tishri 30 2 Heshvan 1 3 Heshvan 2 6 pm Service - Musical Shabbat Hillel Cooking Class NOACH 5:00 pm Noah Simpson’s Bar Mitzvah

* *Perry Jacobson

6 Heshvan 5 7 Heshvan 6 8 Heshvan 7 9 Heshvan 8 10 Heshvan 9 11 Heshvan 10 12 Heshvan 11 LECH LECHA Silver Plate Dinner Office Closed Lunch and Learn Canadian Remembrance Day 12:00 pm

Teen Group JLD 6:00 pm 6:15-8:00 PM * *Heather Fenyes

13 Heshvan 12 14 Heshvan 13 15 Heshvan 14 16 Heshvan 15 17 Heshvan 16 18 Heshvan 17 19 Heshvan 18 VAYERA Lunch and Learn 12:00 pm Jewish Prayer 101 7:00 - 8:00 pm * * Matt Ditlove

20 Heshvan 19 21 Heshvan 20 22 Heshvan 21 23 Heshvan 22 24 Heshvan 23 25 Heshvan 24 26 Heshvan 25 Lunch and Learn 6:00pm Service - Musical CHAYE SARAH 12:00 pm Shabbat and Hillel Havdalah Service Rabin Memorial 8:30 pm Jewish Prayer 101 7:00 - 8:00 pm 6:00 pm * Steven Simpson

27 Heshvan 26 28 Heshvan 27 29 Heshvan 28 30 Heshvan 29 Lunch and Learn Board Meeting 12:00 pm 7:00 pm Jewish Prayer 101 7:00 - 8:00 pm

December 2016 • Kislev / Tevet 5777 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 2 Kislev 2 3 Kislev 3 1 Kislev 1 TOLDOT Hillel Hanukkah Fest and Tzedakah on Campus 11:00 am

*Zoe Litman

4 Kislev 4 5 Kislev 5 6 Kislev 6 7 Kislev 7 8 Kislev 8 9 Kislev 9 10 Kislev 10 6 pm Service - Musical Shabbat VAYETZE Lunch and Learn 12:00 pm Jewish Prayer 101 6:00 pm 7:00 - 8:00 pm *Michael Gertler

11 Kislev 11 12 Kislev 12 13 Kislev 13 14 Kislev 14 15 Kislev 15 16 Kislev 16 17 Kislev 17 VAYISHLACH Lunch and Learn 12:00 pm Hanukkah Party 6:00 pm Jewish Prayer 101 CAI 7:00 - 8:00 pm *Nicky Gitlin

18 Kislev 18 19 Kislev 19 20 Kislev 20 21 Kislev 21 22 Kislev 22 23 Kislev 23 24 Kislev 24 Lunch and Learn Board Meeting VAYESHEV 12:00 pm 7:00 pm EREV HANUKKAH Jewish Prayer 101 7:00 - 8:00 pm 6:00 pm *Harold Shiffman

25 Kislev 25 26 Kislev 26 27 Kislev 27 28 Kislev 28 29 Kislev 29 30 Tevet 1 31 Tevet 2 MIKETZ Hanukkah

*Kevin Sharfe This page is sponsored by B’nai Brith Lodge #739 * Bema Roster