Are the Jews exotic enough for you?

November 14, 2005; 09:52
Toronto

1.

It seems as if a new trend is emerging which some here think is nice, and some (but not as many, I would guess) find a little troubling: comparing the tribe of Israel to other small tribes around the world that are on the verge of extinction.

Irwin Cotler, Canada's Justice Minister (and one of the best Jewish speakers to be found) did it yesterday with the Aborigines of Canada, telling a story regarding an encounter he had with some lawyers in which he told them of the Jews "as an Aboriginal people."

Then, yesterday evening, you could see the same trend again, in the first video presentation of opening night. It stressed the similarities between the Jews and the Tibetans, showing photos of the (constantly) smiling Dalai Lama.

Is this Canadian multiculturalism taking hold of the Toronto GA? Is this a sign of openness and an ability of the community to look beyond its own people and its own culture? Is this - like the real attention and effort Jewish communities around America are now investing in the Darfur genocide - a sign of strength? Or is, as someone whispered in my ear yesterday, just a new, fashionable way, of saying: we are not just boring Jews, we are as interesting and unique and worth preserving, as those other, more exotic, tribes of the world.

2.

The language Canadian officials are now using against Iran is something to pay attention to. Both Cotler, but even more so the prime minister, Paul Martin, condemned the anti-Israel comments made by the Iranian president in the harshest words one can imagine. "We will not be tolerant with threats to Israel," said Martin. He said that "Canada will not stand" such comments, and that they were "a matter that the world could not ignore."

I asked five Canadians and five Israelis attending the GA if they could see any real action, military action, being taken in the future by Canada to stop Iran's nuclear program (other than declarations and maybe supporting UN sanctions). All Canadians said yes - all Israelis just laughed.

3.

Professor Stuart Schoenfeld of York University commented on my Toronto Jewish community piece "with some disappointment." He felt that I should have written more highly about the Jewish population in the downtown area, and maybe he's right. It has been, he writes, "growing faster than the Jewish population in the Toronto area as a whole. Downtown we now have over 20,000 Jews, 9 congregations, four Jewish schools, a renovated, packed JCC, Jewish themed cultural events and more. As in other North American cities, there is a significant part of the Jewish population that has chosen to be urban rather than suburban. The suburban to urban shift has momentum. Downtown Toronto is one of those places where we can see the Jewish life of the future taking shape."

It's worth commenting, in that respect, that during the meetings I had with Jewish operatives here, they all praised the downtown community, and emphasized its uniqueness. Ted Sokolsky, president and CEO of the Federation of Greater Toronto, did it again this morning, replying to the letter send by Schoenfeld: "Well said Stuart. Certainly the growth of Downtown Jewish life in Toronto is adding tremendous energy, diversity and depth to our community - one of the nicest and most promising trends of this generation in our city."