Friday, January 16

A Jewish friend of mine recently told me about his 9-year-old son who attends a public school here in Toronto. The boy came home from school one day and revealed to his father that the other boys in his class were giving the Nazi salute and shouting at him, “Heil Hitler!” As any parent would be, this father was enraged, but the son begged him not to phone the school. “Please, Dad, it’ll be even worse for me if the kids know I complained.” (Heartbreaking, I know. Keep reading.) The father complied and didn’t notify the school. The end, or at least the next phase, of this story is that after a few more days of Nazi salutes, the boy lost his patience, attacked one of the Toronto Hitler Youth in the playground, beat him to a pulp, got in a lot of trouble, and the kids stopped their Heil Hitlers.  At least for now.

This story immediately made me think of Henry Zagdanski z”l, the father of three dear Toronto friends of mine. As a child in Poland, young Henry was taunted and attacked by his antisemitic Polish schoolmates, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Here we go again. 1930s Germany.  Or Poland. Where the Jews learned to suck it up and keep going while the behaviour, and laws, around them changed. Discrimination, acceptance of discrimination, complete intolerance, legal intolerance, abuse, Holocaust.

Some European Jews left for Canada, South Africa, South America, the USA, British Mandated Palestine, or any other corner of the world where they were accepted. Many others stayed because they couldn’t imagine that it would get worse. Besides, they were German. Or Polish. Or Hungarian. They were prominent citizens. Their families had been in the country for generations. They socialized with the local politicians and community leaders. This was their home.  And furthermore, how bad could it get? They just needed to ride out the storm. I hate to say it, but the pessimists left by planes and ships.The optimists left by cattle cars.

It seems a day doesn’t pass when I don’t come across another online discussion about leaving Canada. But where to go?  I read long descriptions of good life for Jews in Panama City. Debates about making aliyah and moving to Israel, our homeland, where we all belong. Petitioning President Donald Trump to accept Canadian Jews as refugees in the USA. There is no end to the ideas and dialogue about options.  Anything to get out of here before it’s too late. (Sadly, none of us has any idea what “too late” refers to.)

The surprising irony in all of this is that if you do an online search for “Best Places for Jewish People To Live” Toronto appears in more than one list.  And those are lists compiled since October 7, 2023. I think I know the reason why, and here it is:

In 2009, I was part of the historical Cantors Assembly Mission to Poland. Cantors from North America came to present concerts and religious services in Poland, and it seemed that every single event was sold out with the local Poles. The Friday night service in Cracow was held at the Tempel (not a typo) Synagogue. It was packed, standing room only. Behind me were two non-Jewish Poles in their early 20s.  I turned and asked them what they were doing here, as this was a religious service for the Jewish Sabbath. One replied, “My grandmother has always said that Poland was so much more exciting when the Jews were here. We came because we wanted to feel some of the excitement.”

And there you have it. That’s why it doesn’t matter where we live. Where Jews are, there is excitement. We bring enrichment to the community. We bring activity and commerce and literacy and art and success and LIFE to our surroundings. Let us pray for this dark antisemitic period to pass.  Let us do all we can to make it so. And let us be together to enjoy continued, glorious Jewish life in Toronto, Panama, Tel Aviv, or wherever our futures find us.
 

Am Yisrael Chai!