King Charles was absolutely correct when he described his late friend, guide and counsellor, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, as “unmistakably one in the tradition of the greatest teachers among the Jewish people.” Rabbi Sacks’ insights have often accompanied or, more…

Israel’s former Ambassador to Canada, Alan Baker, and currently the head of the international law programat the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, aptly expressed the frustration and anger of most Jews when he recently wrote: “On a daily…

In the summer of 2005, two remarkable individuals, Elizabeth and Tony Comper, founded Fighting Antisemitism Together. The organization was known by its acronym FAST. The Compers were outraged by a series of antisemitic incidents in Toronto and Montreal. Their shock…

Gary Rosenblatt, the former publisher and editor-in-chief of The Jewish Week of New York (and other leading Jewish weeklies in the U.S. prior accepting his duties in New York) was the very best of the editors and newsroom leaders of…

In one of the key climactic scenes toward the end of The Sound of Music currently playing in Toronto, before the von Trapp family singers emerge onto the imagined stage of the Kaltzberg Concert Hall, five floor to ceiling curtain…

Winter is now fully upon us. Cold winds blow across the wide, climatic landscape of 2025, causing us to buckle up against the chill. They also blow cold societally, causing Jews in particular, to do the same against a chill…

The fact that Chanukah is an eight-day festival allows us, in this weekly “update”, to convey an additional holiday-related reflection to that in the update last week. And because of the massacre at Bondi Beach, it is important not to…

As we have occasionally noted in this space, the various assaults against Jews and Jewish sensibilities since “October 7” have ignited new interest among many parents throughout North America to provide Jewish education for their children. At the same time,…

Adam Hummel is a thoughtful, articulate, bold firebrand on behalf of the Jewish people and just causes. He writes a regular column, Catch, on Substack. We have occasionally brought his ideas to the attention of readers of this weekly update.…

Last week, the Court of Appeal heard GAJE’s appeal of the September 2024 decision of the Divisional Court that threw our case out of court, reversing the decision of Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou the year before in August 2023, that had…