December 2015

• Calgary’s Jewish community of 8,500 begins to show signs of stress as oil prices fall and unemployment rises. “We’re counselling people who live in their homes, that have sentimental values, that they can’t afford to live there anymore,” says Marty Hornstein, executive director of Jewish Family Service Calgary.

• As a wave of Syrian refugees begins to enter Canada, synagogues in Vancouver, the Toronto area, Ottawa, Montreal and at least one Jewish day school, raise funds to sponsor some of the newcomers.

• Israel arrests several suspects in connection with a July firebombing in the West Bank town of Duma that killed three members of a Palestinian family, including an 18-month-old baby. The suspects later allege they were tortured by the Israeli security agency Shin Bet, which denies the claim. Weeks later, video emerges showing friends of the suspects celebrating the killings at a wedding in Jerusalem, drawing condemnations from across the political spectrum.

• The United Nations recognizes Yom Kippur as an official holiday. Starting this year, no official meetings will take place on the Jewish Day of Atonement at the international body’s New York headquarters, and Jewish employees there will be able to miss work without using vacation hours. Other religious holidays that enjoy the same status are Christmas, Good Friday, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

• Violinist Itzhak Perlman is named the third recipient of the Genesis Prize. The annual $1-million prize, dubbed the “Jewish Nobel,” is funded by a group of Russian philanthropists to honour individuals who have achieved international renown in their professional fields and serve as role models through their commitment to Jewish values.

January 2016

• Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital’s new $429-million wing is finally fully opened, almost six years after its construction was first announced. The new pavilion focuses on acute care, housing the intensive care, cardiovascular care and neonatal intensive care units, as well as the birthing centre and operating rooms.

• Media mogul Paul Bronfman withdraws his support for York University’s film program over a painting hanging in the school’s student centre that he says promotes violence against Israel.

• After decades of squabbling, the Israeli government approves a compromise to expand the non-Orthodox Jewish prayer section of the Western Wall. Under terms of the deal, the size of the non-Orthodox section of the Western Wall will double to nearly 10,000 square feet and both areas will be accessible by a single entrance.

• Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, an influential thinker in Reform Judaism, dies at 91. A longtime faculty member at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Borowitz was the author of 19 books and hundreds of articles on Jewish thought.

• The Mount Freedom Jewish Center in New Jersey announces it has hired a woman using the title “rabbi.” Canadian-born Lila Kagedan, a graduate of New York’s Yeshivat Maharat, was ordained in June as an Orthodox clergywoman. The school permits graduates to choose their title. Kagedan is the first to choose “rabbi.”

February 2016

• University of Waterloo students vote “No” in a referendum that called on the university to sever ties with Israeli academic institutions. After a two-week campaign, Waterloo’s Federation of Students says 4,216 students had voted, with 2,329 of them voting “No.” Waterloo has about 30,000 undergraduates.

• The Canadian Parliament formally condemns the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, saying it “promotes the demonization and delegitimization of the State of Israel.” Passed by a vote of 229-51, the motion was introduced by the opposition Conservatives but won support from the ruling Liberals as well.

• Victor Goldbloom, the first Jewish Quebec cabinet minister, as well as a public servant, interfaith dialogue pioneer and Jewish community leader, dies of a heart attack at age 92. Premier Philippe Couillard calls Goldbloom “a great politician.”

READ: 5776: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

• The Jewish National Fund of Canada withdraws its support for an upcoming Yom Ha’atzmaut performance in Vancouver by left-wing Israeli singer Noa, who is accused of supporting the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state. Noa – who has voiced support in the past for B’Tselem, a group that monitors human rights in the West Bank, and Breaking the Silence, which is critical of IDF actions in the territory – steadfastly denies supporting the BDS movement.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders wins the New Hampshire primary, becoming the first Jewish candidate in American history to win a presidential primary. The Vermont independent, seeking the Democratic nomination, handily beats Hillary Clinton, commanding 60 per cent of the vote to Clinton’s 38 per cent.

• The Hungarian Holocaust drama Son of Saul wins an Oscar for best foreign language film.

• The Jewish Theological Seminary announces the sale of $96 million (US) worth of real estate assets and its intention to use the funds to upgrade its New York facility. The seminary, considered the flagship institution of the Conservative movement, says it intends to build a state-of-the-art library, auditorium and conference facilities, and a new 150-bed residence hall on its main campus.

• McGill University undergraduates reject a boycott, divestment and sanctions  motion that had been approved at a general assembly of their student association, and the university administration issues an unequivocal repudiation of the anti-Israel campaign. It’s the third time in less than 1-1/2 years that pro-BDS students fail to have a BDS motion adopted.

• A onetime director of Leo Baeck Day School in Toronto is arrested in California on child pornography charges. David Prashker, 60, is charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and attempting to destroy evidence. Prashker served as director of Leo Baeck from 2004 to 2008, when he resigned over violent and sexually explicit poetry he wrote and posted online.

• Stephen Joseph Schacter, a former teacher at two Toronto-area Jewish day schools, is arrested in connection with several sexual offences. Schacter, 55, is charged with one count of gross indecency, one count of sexual interference, one count of sexual exploitation and two counts of sexual assault.

Police say the charges date to the 1980s and early 1990s. Schacter still faces a charge of possessing child pornography, for which he was arrested in December. Schacter was a teacher at Eitz Chaim Schools between 1986 and 2004, an office administrator and supply teacher at United Synagogue Day School (now Robbins Hebrew Academy) between 2005 and 2009, and a private tutor from 2009 until 2011.