It warms the heart to hear that the government of Ontario will be instituting a rotation of opening prayers in the legislature as a token of respect for and appreciation of the various faith groups in this province (“Jewish prayer to be part of Queen’s Park rituals,” CJN, June 19). I propose that the Jewish prayer be as follows: “Dear Master of the Universe, open the hearts of the honourable members of this legislature who are entrusted with the governance of the province of Ontario. Allow them to understand that true equality and justice for faith-based groups rest not on mere tokenism, but rather on a solution to the longstanding unfairness in faith-based educational funding in this province – a situation that sets Ontario apart from all other democratic jurisdictions in the world. Grant the honourable members the insight and wisdom to remedy this situation speedily and in our day. Amen.”
Jerrold Landau
Toronto

Michael Helfield’s letter (“Ceding the Golan,” CJN, June 26) in response to my own letter, makes essentially moot points. Israel is talking to Syria and Hamas. Whether Helfield likes it or not, this is the case, and as far as many of us are concerned, this is a good thing. I find it to be beyond chutzpah that someone is criticizing me for criticizing Israel (which I regularly do on issues with which it transgresses moral boundaries), when, in this specific case, I am defending the actual policy of the Israeli state. I take serious issue with being called by implication, as it were, “anti-Semitic,” and am disturbed that The CJN, a publication that is supposed to represent the entire community, would publish this. As I say, I’m the one defending existing Israeli policy here.
Jordy Cummings
Toronto

Many CJN readers have family and friends living in the United States and enjoy taking holidays in a number of American cities now beset by gun violence, such as Washington, Chicago, Cleveland, Orlando or Phoenix, to name but a few. Every year, some 12,000 American civilians are shot.
After Chief Justice Antonin Scalia announced the U.S. Supreme Court’s ill-advised and closely contested (5-4) decision declaring that home ownership of handguns for self- defence is now an official constitutional right, an American Jew, California Senator Dianne Feinstein, immediately denounced this latest bit of American gun meshugas.
It is also salient that half of the dissenting judges were Jewish, namely Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Even though the National Rifle Association keeps funding chimera-like branches such as Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, most Jews are uncomfortable with heavily armed civilian populations, perhaps as an offshoot from the days of the pogroms. Many would agree that the heavily armed settler movement poses a unique threat to Israeli democracy, and that the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by an armed fanatic and the massacre of Muslims at prayer perpetrated by Baruch Goldstein were low points in Israel’s history. Most Jewish physicians and public health workers know that guns stored in a person’s home are far more likely to result in the suicidal death of the owner or his teenage son, a family homicide, or the death of an inquisitive child than they are to be used in one of those incredibly rare instances of a successful defence of the home or family members.
It is now open season on all jurisdictions in the United States that have sane gun control, and, not coincidentally, substantial Jewish populations, cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. America is now being gripped by an epidemic of violence, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. Regardless of what your readers think of Toronto’s Mayor David Miller, they should get online and sign his petition for a national handgun ban, at www.toronto.ca/handgunban.
Ron Charach
Toronto

I am trying to locate my “long-lost” family in Montreal. My late mother’s eldest brother, Lazarus Teitlebaum, immigrated to Canada, settling in Montreal, when he was a teenager. I am trying to find his descendants. I have copies of his three daughters’ marriage details from the synagogue records. Sarah married Oscar Soltanov in 1929, Tilly married Victor Marcus in 1930 and Ethel married Sam Segal in 1939. Tilly and Sarah had sons who would hopefully still be alive. I’m coming to Canada in July, and it would be so lovely to meet my Canadian family. If anyone has any information about them, I would be delighted.
Mandy Glancy
Manchester, England
[email protected]

Today’s Germans are dealing with their country’s horrible past in a constructive manner. Thousands of Germans have made extraordinary contributions to preserving vestiges of former Jewish life in their local communities, including historical records, cultural material, cemeteries and synagogues. They carry out such activities as volunteers because they feel it is the right thing to do. The preservation of Jewish material is one of the few ways in which they can respond constructively.
On Jan. 27, 2009, five Germans will receive Obermayer German-Jewish History Awards in the Plenary Chamber of the Berlin Parliament. They will be selected by a jury of seven eminent and knowledgeable individuals, based on nominations to be submitted by Sept. 23, 2008. The call for nominations and information about past awards and awardees can be found at the website www.obermayer.us/award. A hard copy of the call for nominations can be requested by sending a letter to the German-Jewish Community History Council, 239 Chestnut St., West Newton, Mass., 02465, or an e-mail to [email protected].
Arthur Obermayer
Chairman
German Jewish Community History Council
West Newton, Mass.