Islamic State and its 34 affiliates have launched terrorist attacks in countries ranging from France to Turkey, but the Sunni jihadist organization has yet to strike one of its arch enemies, Israel. It seems strange that IS, based in Iraq and Syria, has not targeted Israel, the object of hatred and revulsion in the Muslim world. […]
The spirit of Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza, the great 17th century Dutch-Jewish philosopher, hovers over Holland’s capital, The Hague. Spinoza (1632-1677), the scion of Portuguese Jews, lived here during his last seven years, earning a livelihood as a lens grinder after having been excommunicated by the Jewish community in 1656. A rationalist credited with having laid […]
This year’s edition of House of Cards, the Netflix political drama now in its fourth season, largely lives up to expectations. The 13-part series, based on a book by Michael Dobbs and developed for television by Beau Willimon, gets off to a lumbering and disappointing start, but gathers strength as it moves along. By the […]
From 1947 to 1957, approximately 35,000 Holocaust survivors immigrated to Canada, bringing with them a fierce desire to begin their lives anew. Among the arrivals were my parents, David and Genya, who landed in Canada in February of 1948. Fresh from a displaced persons camp in southern Germany, they arrived in Halifax by ship from […]
Bryan Buckley’s dark comedy, The Bronze, which opens in Canada on March 18, is a rollercoaster of a ride, rife with emotions and replete with an engaging cast of characters. At its center is Hope Ann Greggory (Melissa Rauch), an American gymnast who lives on her laurels and can’t adjust to her mundane life after […]
It is sickening and disheartening that European governments and individuals collaborated with Nazi Germany in the mass murder of Jews during the Holocaust. But it is downright revolting that collaborators with blood on their hands are still being honored by their native lands. This adds insult to injury. The problem is exemplified by two recent incidents. […]
Why is Canada Post, a Canadian government agency, delivering a newspaper that defames Jews and denies the Holocaust? I asked myself that troubling question yesterday after the postman delivered a batch of mail. Among the letters and flyers stuffed into my mailbox was Your Ward News, a quarterly which claims to be “the world’s largest […]
Medically-assisted suicide finally may be legalized in Canada, following a unanimous Supreme Court ruling last September that Canadian adults have a right to end their lives with the help of physicians. With this historic verdict, Canada’s parliament may yet enact legislation allowing terminally ill Canadians to end their lives in dignity. Kathy Wardle, I’m certain, would […]
Though generally supportive of Israel, Jews in the United States are distancing themselves from it, claims American scholar Michael Barnett. “American Jews are losing their love for Israel,” he said in a speech yesterday at the University of Toronto’s Monk School of Global Affairs. “It’s palpable and everybody is talking about it.” As American Jews […]
University professors enjoy the benefits of academic freedom and free speech. These cherished concepts are essential ingredients in the unhindered exchange and flow of ideas. Joy Karega, a non-tenured assistant professor of rhetoric and composition at Oberlin College, a liberal arts institution in the state of Ohio, made an utter mockery of these hallowed principles […]