• News
    • Business
    • Canada
    • Health
    • International
    • Israel
  • Perspectives
    • Ask Ella
    • Ask The Love Rabbi
    • Features
    • Jewish Parenting Wisdom
    • Opinions
    • Ideas
    • Letters
    • Personal Essays
  • Food
  • Culture
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • The Arts
    • Books & Authors
    • Canada 150
    • Jewish Learning
    • June 1967
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Events
    • Contests
  • Supplements
    • Spotlights
  • Other Communities
    • En Français
    • Russian
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre
  • Log Out
Search
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre (eCJN)
  • Log Out
  • Newsletter
  • FaceBook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
CJN - Canada’s largest Jewish newspaper
April 23, 2018 - 8 Iyar 5778
CJN - Canada’s largest Jewish newspaper
  • News
    • Miles Nadal donates $11 million to Mount Sinai heart centre

      Federal politicians honour victims of the Holocaust

      Thousands celebrate Yom Ha-Atzmaut in Montreal

      Jews again head the list of groups targeted by hate crimes in Toronto

      Toronto public school responds to anti-Semitic incident

      AllBusinessCanadaHealthInternationalIsrael
  • Perspectives
    • Israel & the Internet: Circa 1948 – April 19, 2018

      Tales from the fascist book club

      The 70 faces Of Israel

      Documenting Israel’s birth

      Liba Augenfeld – the survivor who brought her love of Yiddish with her

      AllAsk EllaAsk The Love RabbiFeaturesJewish Parenting WisdomOpinionsIdeasLettersPersonal Essays
  • Food
    • The Shabbat Table: Happy 70th birthday Israel

      The Shabbat Table: A special post-Passover garlic shlissel challah

      Everyone gets gooey at downtown matzah bake

      Making matzah balls unites a modern Jewish family, says Phyllis Feldman

      The easy way out of Passover

      Bannock and matzah: our breads of affliction

  • Culture
    • Pound’s support of fascism didn’t deter his appeal to American poets

      Blending Caribbean sun and Jewish history in Curacao

      Novella splendidly blends math and literature

      Segal Centre features more Jewish content in 2018-19 season

      Popular Israeli podcast comes to the stage

      AllArts & EntertainmentThe ArtsBooks & AuthorsCanada 150Jewish LearningJune 1967SportsTravel
  • Events
    • Chai Lifeline’s Restoring Hope contest (Closed)

      The CJN Prize (CLOSED)

      BRITISH YIDDISH AND KIDDUSH CONTEST (closed)

      The CJN Prize for Young Writers Contest (closed)

      JEWISH MUSIC WEEK 2016 (closed)

      AllContests
  • Supplements
    • Home Beautiful

      CJL Magazine

      Passover Greetings

      Passover Greetings

      MTL Celebrations

      AllSpotlights
  • Other Communities
    • Quel avenir pour les Juifs de France ?

      Israël dans la grande poudrière du Moyen-Orient

      Une entrevue avec Enrico Macias

      L’héritage de Shimon Peres: “Aucun rêve n’est impossible”

      L’intelligence artificielle au service de la robotique

      AllEn FrançaisRussian
  • Subscribe
  • Member Centre
  • Log Out
Home Perspectives Opinions Cream cheese and the Jewish future
  • Perspectives
  • Opinions

Cream cheese and the Jewish future

By
The CJN
-
July 7, 2014
380
0
SHARE
Facebook
Twitter
Avrum Rosensweig

Changes are upon us. 

Awhile back, Open Window Bakery closed its doors in Toronto. The Negev Bookstore no longer exists there. In June, a major Jewish gathering praying on behalf of the kidnapped Israeli teenagers was held up in Richmond Hill, Ont., north of the city. The new editor of Canada’s major Jewish newspaper was born in 1980, and the leaders of two of the country’s largest Jewish organizations, Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto/UJA and B’nai Brith Canada, are retiring. The State of Israel is now underwriting programming in the Diaspora, and more Jews live in Israel than outside of it. 

There is nothing subtle about these changes. Open Window had the finest cream cheese in the city, and Negev had the greatest selection of fine prayer shawls and Judaica. They are both gone. Rallies and prayer vigils in the past were generally held in central Toronto, but now our community’s larger assemblies are trekking northward. At 34, Yoni Goldstein, is likely the youngest editor of The Canadian Jewish News ever, and that has impacted the style and demographic of this publication. Community leaders Ted Sokolsky and Frank Dimant were born shortly after the Holocaust, around the time of the establishment of the State of Israel. They led when the Diaspora played a significant fundraising role in the development of Israel, when many major volunteers were survivors or individuals who had fought in World War II and Israel’s wars. 

What now?

Where do we go to find well-whipped cream cheese for less than a fin, and what do we do when we need a new kippah for less than a 10-spot? Are we to expect a further unfurling of the Jewish community northward? Or is it possible that lonely northerners will decide to return to their parents’ stomping grounds farther south? 

With the advent of younger publicists, writers and social media directors, will the Toronto Jewish community’s newspapers and social media sites deal less with anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, the State of Israel and security, and – the world allowing – increase intellectual, cultural and economic material such as pieces on alternative forms of Judaism, Jewish rap and symphonic compositions, debates on meditation versus prayer and kosher gourmet cuisine?

And what of our new leadership?

A recent media release stated that Frank Dimant’s major success was fighting anti-Semitism. Will B’nai Brith’s newest leader have the same agenda, or will he/she pursue the proliferation of community-based Alzheimer care buildings, something Dimant oversaw brilliantly? What of the newest iteration of the Toronto federation? Will it expand its cadre of agencies or create a different model whereby all local Jewish services and facilities find a soulful home on north Bathurst Street?

Is there a professional out there who has the skill and dexterity to fundraise as Sokolsky has done, or will the UJA machine require some subtle or not-so-delicate tzedakah adjustments?

Now that Israel is in the midst of reversing the financial relationship between them and us, where does the Diaspora fit? With our shrinking Jewish population and increase in intermarriage, as well as an uptake on aliyah from places like France, Mexico and the United States, where will our funds be spent and on what? 

Will our new Toronto leadership manage a closer relationship between us and Eretz Yisrael, or will it scramble to consistently remind our new generation of Jews that should they need Israel’s right of return, it is there for them tomorrow, and that we are blessed to be sending our 19-year-olds to university and not to battle.

We are staring through the proverbial window of time, watching the wheels of the clock spin round. Nothing rests. Everything changes. If only, however, we could be guaranteed of one thing – an affordable container of savoury cream cheese.

P.S. So long you old boxers. Thanks for a most absorbing match.

Avrum.rosensweig@veahavta.org 

SHARE
Facebook
Twitter
The CJN

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Pound’s support of fascism didn’t deter his appeal to American poets

Miles Nadal donates $11 million to Mount Sinai heart centre

Federal politicians honour victims of the Holocaust

  • Popular
  • Recent
Subscribe to the CJNSubscribe
RSS FeedView
5,521FansLike
856FollowersFollow
10,105FollowersFollow
197SubscribersSubscribe
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe / Member Centre (eCJN)
  • eCJN Archives
  • Supplements
  • Media Kit
  • Advertising Terms
  • Premiums

One on One at Comicon with Leo Leibelman

Purim 2018 on Toronto's streets

Baba Fira's CJN Prize Awards invite

  • News
  • Canada
  • Israel
  • International
  • Opinions
  • The Arts
The award-winning Canadian Jewish News (CJN) is Canada’s largest, weekly Jewish newspaper with an audited circulation of nearly 32,000 and read by more than 100,000 people each week.
© Copyright 2018 Canadian Jewish News
  • Comments Policy
  • Community Links
  • Contact Us
  • Media Kit
  • Privacy Policy
  • Subscribe
  • Admin

Week in Review...

Comes Right to You

Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter

X