Joe Weider and his younger sibling, Ben, were visionaries, the founders of the modern fitness movement. Drawing a connection between exercise, nutrition and good health, the Montreal-born Jewish brothers founded a business empire that sells gym equipment and nutritional supplements and publishes body building magazines. George Gallo’s movie, Bigger, which opens in Canada on October […]
Author: Sheldon Kirshner
The security barrier that seals off Israel almost hermetically from the West Bank is a source of immense angst and controversy. To most Israelis, it’s a “separation fence” that keeps Palestinian terrorists at bay and thereby saves lives. To the Palestinians, it’s a “racial segregation wall” that restricts their movements, cuts them off from their […]
Forty one years ago, I visited Poland, my parents’ birthplace, for the first time. My friend Henry Srebrnik, whose father and mother were born and raised in Poland as well, was my travelling companion. In accordance with our plan, we spent several days in Lodz and Czestochowa, the cities from which our parents’ hailed. In […]
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Free Solo: Conquering El Capitan
To seasoned rock climbers, El Capitan, a massive granite formation in California’s Yosemite National Park, is the ultimate challenge. More than 3,000 feet in height, this iconic monolith has been conquered by skillful enthusiasts using rope and protective equipment, but until Alex Honnold came along, no one had ever climbed it in free solo style. […]
When Polish-Jewish relations are discussed at any length, one of the topics that usually evokes heated debate revolves around the relationship between the Home Army (AK) and Jews. The largest resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe, the AK had an estimated membership of 350,000 and represented a cross-section of Polish society. In general accounts of modern […]
Martin Himel’s latest documentary, Follow the Money, provides an unsettling glimpse into the unholy alliance between Islamic militias and organized crime. It will be broadcast in Canada on Vision TV on Monday, October 8 at 9 p.m. A Canadian journalist based in Israel, Himel uses his investigative skills to unearth disturbing information. He delves into the […]
Much to the detriment of Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, the United States has frozen a most valuable program designed to promote mutual tolerance, trust and understanding, build relationships across ethnic, religious and political boundaries, and address common problems. These are crucially important concepts in a turbulent region like the Middle East, where intolerance and fanaticism […]
Israel’s honeymoon with Russia has definitely cooled since a deadly incident in the skies over Syria on September 17. On that day, Israeli jets bombed a weapons facility in the coastal city Latakia, prompting Syrian air defence units to accidentally shoot down a Russian Ilyushin reconnaissance plane with 15 servicemen abroad. The Russian government immediately blamed […]
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Gaza Ceasefire Talks Have Stalled
Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have been trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but without success so far. In line with its efforts to pacify the usually tense Gaza Strip border region, Egypt has also been striving to persuade the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to reconcile after years of mutual acrimony. […]
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The Catskills In The Jewish Imagination
A vast and incredibly beautiful preserve of mountains, forests, meadows, lakes and rivers northwest of New York City, the Catskills were the first great vacationland in the United States. Discovered in its pristine form by the British explorer Henry Hudson in 1609 and by tourists in its holiday mode about two centuries later, it was a […]