Before he started writing, novelist and journalist Tom Rachman had a peculiar visual image: A child being led into a room with a couple of adults who pay no special attention to her. The person who brings her there leaves, and the child sits quietly in a corner. As the hours pass, it becomes clear…
The Jewish Defense League of Canada wants to set up a chapter in Montreal, citing an increase in attacks on Jews. The national director of the Toronto-based JDL, Meir Weinstein, told local media he has been contacted by Montreal residents who would like to see a chapter set up in the city. In interviews, Weinstein…
A Canadian review board cleared of “sexual motive” a doctor who practiced “metzitzah b’peh,” a controversial circumcision practice. The Ontario Health Professions Appeal and Review Board said in its conclusion published Tuesday that there was no evidence supporting the accusation of anti-circumcision activists that Aaron Jesin acted out of sexual motive in carrying out the…
It may not have built a brand as big as Schwartz’s, but Bens Delicatessen looms large in the history of Jewish Montreal — and in the city’s cultural lore. Once a working-class hangout, Bens grew to serve smoked meat and soups to celebs from Michael Jackson to Leonard Cohen to Catherine Deneuve in its ‘60s-‘70s…
Members of the haredi Orthodox sect Lev Tahor are slowly leaving Canada for Guatemala, effectively ending the group’s tumultuous situation in Quebec and Ontario. All phone numbers for Lev Tahor leaders have been disconnected, according to BlackburnNews.com. The landlord at the location in southwestern Ontario to where sect members fled last fall from Quebec also…
Copyright Mark Blinch The Toronto Star headline seemed almost comically anachronistic: “Holy Blossom Temple official appoints a female as senior rabbi”. But that was the news in Toronto last month as Canada’s largest reform temple named Rabbi Yael Splansky, 43, as its spiritual leader — a first for a major congregation in Canada’s largest city….
Frank Dimant, the longtime head of B’nai Brith Canada who is well known in the country’s Jewish community, is stepping down. Dimant, 68, will retire as CEO of the organization on Dec. 31 after 36 years as its leader, B’nai Brith announced in its newspaper, the Jewish Tribune. “Canada’s longest-serving and highest profile Canadian Jewish…
Zane Caplansky shows off his new beer in his eponymous Toronto deli./Renee Ghert-Zand Forget the lime wedge or orange slice. This beer comes with a pickle garnish. Caplansky’s Delicatessen in Toronto has introduced its own brew, called Deli King Spiced Dark Rye Lager, and it really does taste better accompanied by a sour dill. This…
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