One of the reasons the shock of “October 7” hurt so deeply was because of the sense of abandonment that Jews felt throughout the Western World in its aftermath. The very next day after October 7, the rage and the protests registered on the streets of the democratic world – to our disbelieving dismay – were expressions of support for Hamas, not for Israel. The organizers rolled out the signs and shared the slogans all around the world.

The inversion of morality and the twisting of truth did not begin that day. They were seeded into Western society and normative civil discourse some decades earlier. But, on October 8, 2023, we saw their full sinister bloom.

The silence and pro forma equivocations of so many elected officials in the face of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish intimidation, fostered our first sense of having been abandoned. The silence or hostile responses of the leaders and/or members of the organizations whose causes Jews had long supported, also contributed.

Indeed, we are justified in still feeling that way: betrayed and on our own in the fight for Israel, Jews and democratic values. But it would be wrong and unfortunate not to notice that the Jewish community and supporters of Israel are not alone in this fight. For example, GAJE has brought readers’ attention to the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA), a coalition of widely-based, diverse, community organizations and individuals “combatting antisemitism through awareness, advocacy, education, training, and respectful dialogue.” ALCCA members respond publicly respond boldly, with openly-expressed precision to the malign efforts of the haters. 

Other actors as well, have stepped forward to stand with the Jewish community. Last week, a new initiative was launched by Cardus, a non-partisan think tank “dedicated to clarifying and strengthening the ways in which society’s institutions can work together for the common good.” GAJE has often featured Cardus’ research and writings about education and educational funding.

At a two-day conference in Toronto, Cardus launched a multi-year initiative, called Simeon, which was described as “a call-to-action for Canadian Christians and Jews to stand together against hatred and work toward a more just society.” The conference – or Summit, as it was called – was organized by Cardus in partnership with CIJA, Rick Ekstein and Phaze 3 Associates, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

Father Deacon Andrew Bennett, one of the driving forces behind the conference and the Simeon initiative, succinctly explained the purpose of the combined project. “We are launching a new movement in this country… coming together as Christians and Jews to combat the scourge of antisemitism for the sake of Canada.” (Our emphasis)

Thus, in merely a handful of words, Father Bennett pointedly explained why it is vital that we fight antisemitism. Not only is the fight important for its own sake – to vanquish hatred – but equally, if not more importantly, to protect and to secure the democratic norms and principles of the society that we cherish. And for the purposes of this update, there is another essential component to Father Bennett’s capsule declaration: We are “coming together as Christians and Jews.” The emphasis falls on “together”.

Father Bennett plainly states that Jews are not alone in the fight against antisemitism. In the framework of the values and the purposes he champions, Christians and Jews work together. After all, this is Canada. (That this update was written on Canada Day, lends it heightened relevance and urgency.)

Partnering with CIJA, Rick Ekstein and Phaze 3 Associates, and UJA Federation of Greater Toronto,

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

July 4, 2025

As spring gives way, green and golden, to hot summer, it is our deep privilege and happy obligation to congratulate our children and grandchildren for having completed another year at school. Each year, at this time, we say to the younger ones in all grades: “Well done.” “Excellent.” “Enjoy your vacation and break from school”.  And, “Thank you very much.”

This year – this summer – our congratulations and blessings envelope our children against the backdrop of Israel’s survivalist military campaign fighting the theocratic regime in Iran. The Supreme Leader of Iran and his followers have disfigured theology by making the destruction of the only Jewish state on earth, the pre-eminent obsession of their country’s foreign policy.

Of course, Israel refuses to be destroyed. It chooses to live and to defend its people and its future.

Thus, the special circumstances of this year’s end-of-school moment, warrants revisiting last year’s, post “October 7” congratulatory message to students.

•••

After October 7, the combined efforts of the Jewish educators and their students amount to more than the completion of an arduous, annual, teaching/learning cycle. They are also a steel-hard, uncompromising response to the aggression against Jewish communities around the world. Families and the Jewish schools their children attend, affirm with the clear-eyed resolve of the ancient Hebrew prophets, the inviolability of our promise to our forebears and to God, that we will live Jewish lives.

The months roll by, and at the end of the school calendar, schools and parent associations hold their respective celebrations to publicly acknowledge that something remarkably good and important has been achieved by everyone.

In truth, even as we congratulate and celebrate our children for reaching the next formal educational marker along the path of their lives, we ought also to thank them for completing the ten-month grind. For some children, it is not easy. Nor for most, is it generally a great deal of fun.

Few messages are as sweet as “thank you” conveyed from the heart. At the end of the school year, such important expressions of gratitude usually flow over the rim of our happiness. We acknowledge the goodness that the schools have conferred upon our children. Teachers, school administrators, volunteers, community professionals and philanthropists are to be thanked individually and collectively for trying to enable our children to learn and to grow toward their respective potentials.

•••

One Head of School at a Graduation Ceremony this past week, described the students under her charge as being “very young, with bright eyes and big hearts.” Confirming her depiction of the youngsters graduating, one of the principals at the school added that the world needs them exactly as they are.” 

Dear graduates of all ages: Congratulations and thank you very much.

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

June 27, 2025

The events unfolding in Israel and in Iran since last Friday are “biblical” in nature and in import. That is how scholar and teacher, Mijal Bitton, describes them in her Dvar Torah on this week’s Torah portion, Shelach. She does not exaggerate, especially when she assesses the Israelis’ response in the context of the history of the Jewish people.

“[W]hat we’re witnessing is not just a historical moment—it’s a biblical one. A time when divine greatness moves openly through the world, and human greatness rises to meet it. When miracles unfold and people step forward, even when they’re afraid.  When they choose to live like lions.”

Shelach holds an especially strong message for us whenever we confront enormous challenges.  (Indeed, that message and the inspiration that it generates, have been incorporated into these weekly updates in the past.)

Ten of the twelve scouts whom Moshe had sent ahead to peruse the land of Canaan delivered a near hysterically negative report of what they had seen. The land was good, they averred. But they were completely intimidated by the “giant” people whom they encountered. They cringed in fear and considered themselves inferior and incapable of any, let alone meaningful, action to gain the land. Their report disheartened a large number of the people recently liberated from their enslavement in Egypt.

More than the sense of hopelessness the ten spies fostered, perhaps the most egregious, most egregious aspect of the report was the psychological havoc they wrought upon themselves and the people who adopted their harshly negative views. When compared to the “giants”, and in the face of what they viewed as an impossible task they shrunk in their own self-esteem. “In our own eyes, we seemed like grasshoppers; and that is how we appeared to them.” (Numbers 13:33)

They saw themselves as grasshoppers! They saw themselves as insignificant and insubstantial against a larger force. They surrendered completely to their self-doubts and fears. And thus, alas, Moshe understood they were ill suited and incapable of accepting the large responsibilities that lay ahead of them.

Mijal Bitton seizes upon the unfortunate reactions of the ten frightened scouts.

“They utter a line that echoes across generations: “We were like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we were in theirs.” Panic spreads. The people cry, rebel, and plead to return to Egypt.”

“When they [the ten negative scouts] saw giants, they could have been inspired to grow taller. Instead, they chose to become grasshoppers.

“The tragedy of Shelach isn’t fear—it’s smallness. It’s the refusal to step into a kind of life that demands everything of us—and, in doing so, can elevate us.

“Biblical times don’t demand fearlessness. They demand the courage to step forward anyway.”

The effort to win justice and fairness in educational funding in Ontario is not an event of biblical proportions. But the effort to bring as many children to Jewish education is part of the overall response needed by Jews to enable us to stand tall against the haters of Judaism and of Israel.

Trying to help ensure the affordability of Jewish education is a daunting task. We are still, essentially, at the beginning. We await a hearing date to try to persuade the Court of Appeal to allow GAJE to proceed to argue our case on its merits. Despite the enormity of the task ahead of us, we are up to it. We will not back away. We acknowledge the difficulties ahead. They may even be giant difficulties. But we will go forward until there is no longer any path forward.

We emphatically do not see ourselves as grasshoppers in this cause. Nor will we allow others to see us grasshoppers. This statement is not only descriptive of how GAJE sees itself in the struggle for fairness and justice. It is also prescriptive – a promise: We will not give up or give in. In Mijal Bitton’s words, we are stepping forward anyway. It is the only course consistent with Jewish history. It is our course.

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

June 20, 2025

In response to the question, “how are you?”, a Jew today, in Toronto or Tulsa or Turin, will likely offer a variation of the following response: “Good. And not so good.” If the person who asked the question is also Jewish, she or he, will understand the response without further inquiry. (Individually, things are good. Collectively, as a people, things could be better.)

The vile, shameless, aggressive nature of the hatred expressed toward Jews and Israel is increasingly alarming. And the frequency of the manifestations of that hatred, equally so. The situation is upsetting and jarring. And as we noted last week in this space, through Adam Hummel’s observations, feelings of anger by Jews in June of 2025, are wholly justified.

But our feelings of anger, though righteous, are also wholly inadequate and insufficient prescriptions as the “next step” in protecting ourselves and our society from the haters and from their destructive odium. Anger must lead to concrete individual and collective remedial action.

These days, community activists, educators, policy planners and a great number of “ordinary” Jews agree, that the best response to the loud, threatening malefactors who are bothered by Judaism and by Israel is fostering strong Jewish identity in ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.

Filling this “fighting-back-appropriately” prescription leads Jewish individuals and Jewish communities directly to expanded access to meaningful Jewish education, and if possible, to Jewish day school. GAJE hastens to add that meaningful Jewish education is an answer, in its own right, for discovering and leading a meaning Jewish life and not only as a response to anti-Jewish menacing crawling through western societies.

It is as the pathway to an engagingly moral, fulfilling Jewish life that we bring an article about Jewish education to readers’ attention. Specifically, we shall excerpt from an opinion piece written by Mikhala Stein Kotlyar.

Kotlyar is a grants manager at Reut USA’s Tikkun Olam Makers, an Israeli American nonprofit advancing assistive technology through frugal innovation.

In an article entitled, The Cost of Continuity for the Jewish Middle Class, published two weeks ago by eJP, Kotlyar pleads with community leaders to steer Jewish philanthropy towards making Jewish education truly affordable for middle class families. The fact that she works within the community and identifies with the community – our causes, purposes, past and future – makes her column even more poignant. She seeks Jewish education for the sake of her children. But as the times in which we live teach us, it is equally for the sake of the society in which our children will one day play a sustaining and contributing role as knowledgeable, proud Jews.

•••

“Imagine a world where every Jewish child could attend day school. Where Jewish values and leadership, Hebrew language and connection to Israel were guaranteed and not gated by income. Where Jewish identity, community and pride were built every single day.

“Now imagine what we are risking by failing to make that world a reality. For many middle-class families, the barriers to day school education aren’t just tuition costs. They include unpredictable aid, mounting fees and year-to-year uncertainty. The result is a cycle of stress and instability that makes planning for Jewish education nearly impossible.

“Jewish day schools are the most powerful continuity tool we have. As Jehuda Reinharz, president and CEO of the Mandel Foundation, noted in a recent interview in these pages, day schools are essential to fostering resilience for young Jews. That kind of resilience isn’t theoretical; it’s formed in classrooms and lunchrooms, in Jewish spaces that affirm our children’s Jewish identities.

“And yet, middle-class families are being priced out of all this. Too often, they earn just enough to be ineligible for aid but not enough to cover full tuition plus fees. This leaves even current day school parents in a precarious state, unsure from year to year whether they can remain in the very schools that fostered their children’s Jewish identity, community and connection.

“I know this because I am one of them….

“This is the call to conscience. The money exists. The question is whether we have the will to reprioritize and place Jewish day school affordability and continuity at the center of our philanthropic agenda. It’s time to treat day school affordability and predictability not as fringe concerns, but as core investments in the Jewish future.”

•••

Kotlyar displayed considerable courage in writing this piece. GAJE recommends it. It can be accesses at: https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-cost-of-continuity-for-the-jewish-middle-class/?utm_source=cio

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

June 13, 2025

Readers of this weekly update know that GAJE is suing the Government of Ontario to compel it to treat each of Ontario’s children equally in relation to the funding of their education.

Last week, a young Middle School student filed a lawsuit against the Peel District

School Board (PDSB), administrators and a teacher at an elementary school in Peel, for failing to protect the young student from being harassed and bullied through physical assault, hate speech, and repeated targeting after “October 7”, solely on account of the student’s Jewishness.

If the Government of Ontario does not feel shame at the discrimination it perpetuates through its funding of education in the province, it should surely feel shame and disgust at the discrimination and abuse suffered by this young student at one of the province’s publicly funded schools.

The Legal Task Force of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs issued a public statement last week in which it brought to the public’s attention the horrific extent of the vilification aimed at the young student at her school by students and teachers. According to the statement, “Despite repeated complaints to teachers and school administrators, no meaningful steps were taken to ensure the Plaintiff’s safety.”

In one example of intimidation, “during a pro-Palestinian protest on school grounds during school hours, in the presence of faculty members, the student was identified as Jewish. Approximately 40 students subsequently surrounded the student and directed antisemitic chants at them, including “Jews must die” and “Jews are not worthy of living.”

When the student reported the awful behaviour to the school principal, he responded that the young student “didn’t exactly hide that [they were] Jewish.” The principal’s response was simply grotesque. As if cuffing the frightened student’s face with the back of his hand, the principal, dismissed the incident. He actually blamed the student for the abominable abuse hurled by the haters.

How can members of the PDSB, administrators and educators at the school, and Ministry of Education officials not feel profound shame at such openly brazen manifestations of hatred against Jews?

How can we – Jews, parents, grandparents, civic-minded, law-abiding Ontarians – not feel anger?

The lawsuit outlines how the defendants – the Peel District School Board, Superintendent of Education Soni Gill, Principal Michael Poole, and the Plaintiff’s teacher Matthew McIntosh – enabled a hostile, antisemitic environment through their repeated failure to intervene, uphold school policies, hold offenders accountable, and protect the Plaintiff. It alleges that they were negligent and breached their duties of care by violating Board policies, failing to meet their obligations under the Education Act, and discriminating against the Plaintiff in contravention of the Human Rights Code. In some cases, the Defendants are alleged to have directly contributed to or enabled the antisemitic conduct.

The student’s litigation guardian is quoted in the CIJA press release: “No child should be afraid to go to school because of who they are. My child was targeted, humiliated, and physically assaulted just for being Jewish – and the people who were supposed to protect them failed to take meaningful action to stop the abuse. We took this step not just for my child, but for every Jewish student who deserves to feel safe and supported in the classroom.”

We marvel at the student’s courage and resolve. We commend the student’s parents. Feelings of anger are but ultimate weakness if they remain only in the realm of emotional catharsis. But when they motivate, when they lead to action – such as in this case – they can help “change the world”. Injustice can be called out. Ill-treatment remedied. And perhaps too, hatred ultimately vanquished.

The press release should be read for a fuller background of the case. It can be found at: https://www.cija.ca/school_student_seeks_justice_over_antisemitic_bullying_and_assault

•••

On the subject of righteously felt anger as a launch pad for restorative, remedial action, we recommend last week’s posting by Adam Hummel of his latest article on Catch: Jewish Canadian Ideas. Entitled: Angry? You Should Be. Inspired by the molotov cocktail violence against Jews in Boulder, Colorado and by the murders of Sarah Milgrom and Yaron Lischinsky in Washington, D.C., it is a searing indictment of the morally inverted, topsy-turvy embrace of vile behaviour directed at the Jews and at Israel, by haters of Jews and of Israel, hardcore ideologues, and uninformed social activists.

Hummel writes directly, commandingly: “We’re angry because our kids are being harassed in school, and when we speak up, we’re told we’re overreacting. We’re angry because our synagogues have police stationed outside, and yet it’s somehow our fault for “being political.” We’re angry because Jewish students on campus have to hide their identities and jewelry to be safe while the ones calling for intifada are handed microphones, megaphones, and scholarships.”

“We’re angry because Canada is our home. And in our home, we shouldn’t be treated like strangers, or worse, like enemies. We’ve bled for this country. Fought in its wars. Helped build it. Paid taxes. Hired workers. Donated to hospitals. Taught in its schools. And what do we get in return? Vandalized community centres. Hate-fests in downtown Toronto. Editorials equating Jewish safety with apartheid.”

Hummel’s posting should be read too. https://catchjcp.substack.com/p/angry

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Chag Shavuot Samayach. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

June 6, 2025

The festival of Shavuot begins on Sunday night.

Like all our holidays, it has its own ethno/culinary flare. But it is, truly, about more than cheesecake and blintzes. It is and has always been about Jewish education.

It is only through education that we can fulfill the obligation – the promise – from that epochal moment some three and a half thousand years ago, to begin to teach the laws, traditions, customs, history, ethics, and their underlying values – to our children.

It was on that first Shavuot ever that the imperative to teach our children to be lifelong learners was enshrined in the theology of the Jewish people. We thus understood from the very beginning of our existence as a distinct, law-and-learning-based people, that the forward sharing of our people’s story and traditions was the deeply engrained mechanism that will ensure our permanence from one generation to the next.

In language intended to penetrate the soul, the Torah tells us that all Jews were present at Mount Sinai for the Giving of the Torah (the origin of Shavuot). Unlocking the memory of that history-changing moment is, essentially, the purpose of Jewish education. With memory restored, just as we did some 3,500 years ago, we stand each day, at the foot of that small desert mountain in common purpose and shared peoplehood with other Jews.

That is why, irrespective of century or community, establishing schools for the education of our children was the first and highest priority for community elders. Teaching has been always sanctified. Teachers have been always revered for their indispensable role in helping perpetuate the permanence of who we are.

That only Catholic education is fully funded by the government of Ontario, in the year 2025, to the exclusion of all other religious groups, should be unacceptable. It should affront the consciences of the Premier and his cabinet. How can Ontario promote such discrimination in modern, civil society? Of course, it cannot. And that is why, as readers of this weekly update know, GAJE is asking the courts to declare unconstitutional this overt discrimination in educational funding.

In the post-October 7 world, we believe this objective is more vital than ever.

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Chag Shavuot Samayach. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

May 30, 2025

According to an article that appeared in The CJN last week, Jewish students comprise three and a half percent of the population at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), with 8,359 Jewish students enrolled out of a student population of 238,000. Since “October 7”, however, there are increasing reports the learning environment at TDSB schools has not been very welcoming to their Jewish students.

In that same article, Jewish parents were reportedly outraged at the TDSB for adopting a census survey about ethnic and cultural affiliation that excludes Jewish identity from any of the named categories. The survey was sent to families in accordance with the Ministry of Education directive that compels schools every two years “to assess bullying, harassment, safety, well-being and belonging” for students in K – 12.

In addition, Jewish parents were especially angered by the fact that the only example of bullying that was listed in the survey related to a potential incident of harassment aimed at a Muslim student for wearing a hijab or for praying. The possibility of a Jewish child being harassed for publicly identifying as a Jew did not appear on the survey, even though statistics indicate that the highest number of incidents of racism based upon creed or belief in the general population and at the TDSB are aimed at Jews.

Some Jewish parents have made their disappointment and anger known to the TDSB through an automated letter campaign directed to several TDSB trustees.

“Jewish students deserve to be acknowledged, protected, and heard—not erased,” parents wrote in the letter. “This survey was meant to foster belonging. Instead, it sends a devastating message: that Jewish identity and Jewish pain do not count.”

Aaron Kucharczuk, a Jewish father of three TDSB students, told The CJN that the exclusion aligns with what he described as the TDSB’s broader failure to address antisemitism meaningfully. He pointed to persistent misunderstandings of Jewish identity within the board. “They fail to recognize Judaism as an ethno-religion, alienating many who identify culturally rather than religiously,” he explained. “The board’s inability to capture this nuance reinforces exclusion. They don’t seem to understand or even attempt to understand the complexity of Jewish identity.”

As reported by The CJN, the letter sent to the trustees calls for explicit reforms to the language and content of the census survey: inclusion of “Jewish” in both religious and ethnic identity categories, examples reflecting Jewish experiences in questions about religious bullying, and ensuring the option to complete the survey anonymously. “A tool intended to address bullying and bias cannot itself marginalize a vulnerable community,” concludes the community letter. “Excluding a minority that experiences more hate crimes than any other religious group in Canada is not equity—it’s abandonment.”

The parents of the Jewish children who responded to the TDSB’s continued ambivalence towards its Jewish students are to be commended. We must unyieldingly point to the blind eye being turned to manifestations of antisemitism aimed at Jews. We must hold to account the individuals, elected to positions of responsibility, who prefer not to see and not to act, when they are called upon to protect Jewish children too from racism, harassment, bullying or hatred.

The CJN story can be reached at: https://thecjn.ca/news/toronto-school-board-census-angers-parents-for-erasing-jewish-identity/

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

May 23, 2025

Many readers of this weekly update are familiar with Dan Senor, the American scholar, author and host of the podcast, Call Me Back. It originated after “October 7” and has developed into what, arguably, is one of the most important podcasts on Jewish life.

Senor delivered remarks this week at the 92^nd Street Y in New York on the State of Israeli and American Jewry. He narrowed the focus of his address from the State of World Jewry, the subject for which he had been invited to speak. His presentation was immensely instructive, inspiring and even, important.

Senor artfully painted a comprehensive landscape of the present condition of the two largest Jewish communities in the world, i.e., Israel and the USA. With both broad and precise brush strokes, Senor combines Jewish history and current Jewish events to accurately and often movingly depict the valleys and the peaks of Jewish life in the U.S. (North America, really) and in Israel.

Senor’s essential message to American Jewry (One can also read this as North American Jewry), is that the community must evolve from being a “prominent but weak one, into a Jewish and strong one.” Of course, he defines his terms fully in the text of his remarks. And most important for his audience and for others who will subsequently read or view his remarks, after he meticulously describes the state of current Jewish life, he equally as meticulously provides prescriptions for the future.

Space permits reproducing merely a few of Senor’s key observations and conclusions. Not surprisingly, in light of GAJE’s mission, we excerpt some of the pieces that touch upon Jewish education and its place for the future thriving of North American Jewry.

The podcast is available at: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dan-senors-state-of-world-jewry-address-92ny/id1539292794?i=1000708538635&r=1428

•••

“My fear is that without something more lasting, a shift at the core of our approach to American Jewish life, we may drift back into that false sense of normal we were living on October 6th.

“The author Sarah Hurwitz put it this way when addressing a group of Hillel’s student leaders. ‘Jews don’t control anti-Semitism’, Sarah said, and I quote here. ‘We can fight it, and I think that’s great, but I think instead of trying to bail out a tsunami with buckets, we should also build an ark. Put differently, there’s one thing that is entirely within our control, and it’s the one thing that the anti-Semites want to disrupt.

“The one thing we can control is whether we choose to lead Jewish lives.”

“Not only is it within our control, but Jonathan Sacks said it best, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, non-Jews respect Jews who respect their Judaism. And it is exactly what has sustained Jewish life and Jewish lives in every century. And I want to talk tonight about some of the ways that could happen.

“How do we invest in Judaism, in Jewish peoplehood, in Jewish communal life, and in connection to Israel? There is really only one way. Immersion in Jewish tradition, rituals, ruach, and learning with other Jews.”

“Day school alumni are more than twice as likely to feel deeply connected to their Jewish identity compared to their peers. They are four times as likely to feel a strong connection to Israel.

“Rabbi Sachs again once said, to defend a country, you need an army. But to defend an identity, you need a school. Day schools strive to be living, breathing communities where students learn not just Jewish ideas, but how to think, how to debate respectfully across difference, and how to build community.

“They learn Hebrew and how to pray. They learn how to be a mensch. At Jewish day schools, practicing Judaism is normative.

“Studying Jewish texts, caring about Israel. It’s all the norm. It’s not weird.”

“There’s no baggage, no connotations, and no apologizing for it. Day schools build Jewish confidence and pride. They develop what I could only describe as Jewish muscle memory.”

“The beginning of a renaissance in Jewish education is already happening. So our question isn’t whether day Schools matter. The question is: what will it take to make them accessible, affordable, and even competitive with the best secular, independent private schools..?”

Senor also emphasizes the successful record of Jewish summer camps in building Jewish identity. “There’s only one environment in America that’s even more immersive than day schools, Jewish camps.”

We reiterate that the entire presentation – the entire podcast – is worthy and remarkably so.

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

May 16, 2025

Last week in this space, we reported that renowned Israeli scholar and author, Yossi Klein Halevi, counseled a large gathering in Toronto that however vulnerable we feel as a result of the events and the aftermath of “October 7”, Jews must not see ourselves as victims.

He urged us, rather, to tell the “unabashedly proud story” of the Jewish recovery from the open wound of the Shoah. “If we say our truth,” Klein Halevi predicted, “we will find our allies.”

An example of an individual who responded as an ally to the truth Jews – around the world – have been telling about “October 7” is Pastor David Larmour, primary teaching pastor and lead pastor at King Street Community Church in Oshawa. Pastor Larmour last month published an article in Substack entitled, Turning Up the Light, in which he unequivocally stated that the social climate of antisemitism was becoming so professionally and personally intolerable that he decided to advocate for his Jewish friends “and push back against hate and antisemitism.”

“This is not the Canada I grew up in, nor is it the Canada that I want for my children and future grandchildren. Watching the Pro-Hamas and anti-Zionist / antisemitic demonstrations and hearing their hate-filled rhetoric has been very unsettling. To see these hateful expressions go unaddressed by the Mayor of Toronto, and culturally affirmed, is nauseating to me. Looking away is what gives me some measure of peace, but joining the community of the indifferent is not acceptable to me!”

Pastor Larmour decided to take action. He established with rabbis in the community and has undertaken inter-communal programs with fellow Jewish and non-Jewish clergy to actually demonstrate his abhorrence for the anti-Jewish hatred that has newly found a way into Canada.

In the article, Pastor Larmour also announced “an inspiring initiative planned for June 2025, where 50 Rabbis and 50 Christian Clergy have made plans to meet for 36 hours in Toronto to seek mutual understanding and learn from one another”.

Pastor Larmour concluded his article with a strong statement of empathy and support for the Jewish community, entirely buoying to the Jewish sensibilities that have been battered for the past 18 months and more.  But it is also deeply supportive and protective of the Canadian values that we deeply cherish.

“We shouldn’t have to walk alone when faced with a dangerous path! Words of consolation, expressions of solidarity, and acknowledgment of pain are all important gestures that are offered by friends who care, but being present, walking together and speaking up on behalf of others demonstrates another level of advocacy and solidarity.”

Pastor Larmour is undoubtedly the sort of ally that Klein Halevi had in mind when Jews are unafraid to say the truth of who we are and what we have achieved. His article is available at: https://catchjcp.substack.com/p/turning-up-the-light?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=rvbar&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

May 9, 2025

Earlier this week in Toronto, renowned Israeli scholar, teacher, thinker, author, Yossi Klein Halevi, was in Toronto at the invitation of the Toronto Holocaust Museum to share his thoughts on the difficult subject of “how to navigate the post-Holocaust era.”

Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, spoke to the large gathering barely a week after Yom Hashoah v’Hagvurah, and on the “eve” of Yom Hazicaron and Yom Ha’aztma’ut.

The calendar-related emotional “weightiness” of the week, along with, no doubt, Klein Halevi’s reputation for thoughtful, insightful discourse, combined to create an atmosphere among the many who had assembled to hear the speaker from Israel, of anticipatory excitement.

As it unfolded, the event met the anticipation. And the sense of excitement at the possibility of learning, of actually being enlightened, was rewarded.

The following is an excerpted precis of only some of Klein Halevi’s remarks.

Klein Halevi stated pointedly, without equivocation, that the post-Holocaust era ended on October 7, 2023. He explained why. “October 7 upended the two main points that provided a security and comfort in the Jewish world.”

For Israel, it was the return of the worry over the existential threat to the country’s existence to a front-and-centre place by way of Iran’s open quest for offensive nuclear capability and its control and manipulation of the various hateful proxies determined to perpetrate their unique evil upon Israelis and upon Jews.

For Jews in the Diasporah, it was the betrayal by former friends and allies, and the resulting sense of vulnerability, if not also isolation, that erupted brazenly and publicly immediately after Israel was attacked by Hamas. In many quarters the feelings of isolation persist amid a worrisome hostility and openly-expressed antisemitism.

Klein Halevi noted that “the other side is trying to steal the Holocaust from the Jews.” The anti-Israel groups accuse Israel of behaviours that are reminiscent of or replicate Nazi behaviours. They use language in relation to Israel’s actions that is aimed at creating Holocaust-specific images as depictions of the IDF’s behaviour.

The favourite perversion of language aimed at Israel, of course, is the use of “genocide”. The haters of Israel have even cleverly appropriated the suffix, “cide”, from the term genocide, attached it other nouns to hurl new false accusations against Israel. For example, “domicide” for destroying Palestinians’ homes; “educationicide” for destroying schools that are empty or worse, schools that are in session.

“The Holocaust itself”, Klein Halevi said, “has become a principal weapon against Israel and the Jewish people.” He astutely explained that this tactic by Israel’s enemies “is a form of supercessionism – [i.e., the notion that Christianity had superceded Judaism] – being transformed from the realm of theology into the realm of politics. It is very much in the tradition of some 2,000 years of (theologically-based) western thought that had been used against the Jews.”

Despite this malign development unfolding on the streets, in the academies and institutions of Western life, Klein Halevi warned that we must not see ourselves as victims. Rather, he urged us to tell the story of the post-Holocaust return by Jews to active history, stepping out of and away from thousands of years of powerlessness as a people to a condition of “hard”, sovereign power through the creation of the State of Israel and to that of “soft” democratic power through the manifold energetic involvements by Jews in Western societies.

How the Jews of the world recovered from the open wound of the Shoah, Klein Halevi said, is a story that needs to be told. It is the story of “our Exodus from the Shoah.” “And”, he added, “it must be an unabashedly proud story of the reclamation of power.”

Klein Halevi further added that we must not worry in the telling of our story, about alienating those who are already unfriendly to Israel’s cause and/or to Jewish life outside of Israel. “All through history, Jews have always been counter-culture,” Klein Halevi pointed out. This will simply be a new form of the position we have assumed throughout our long past.

But this is the key “take-away” that Klein Halevi imparted: “If we say our truth…we will find our allies.”

This is the vital thought that brings us to the doorstep of Jewish education and into our schools. To teach our children the truth of the Jewish story – from ancient through modern times and especially, following Klein Halevi’s prescription, into the post-Holocaust days – we must ensure that our families have meaningful access for their children to intensive, excellent Jewish education. As we wrote last week, adapted to help convey Klein Halevi’s message, it is the role of our system of formal and informal Jewish education to reinforce and enhance the truth of the full Jewish story that our children may learn at home. It is GAJE’s role to do our utmost to try to help make formal Jewish education affordable for all the families that seek it for their children. That is our promise.

•••

GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.

If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com

•••

Shabbat shalom. Am Yisrael Chai

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)

May 2, 2025