Our community is suffering from laryngitis. We have a giant frog in our collective throat and refuse to gargle with a solution that will clear our trachea, allowing our voices to be heard.

This condition is not terribly new nor is it just local. It has been widespread and highlighted throughout the generations by Jewish sages such as Maimonides, who counselled the Jewish world not to remain silent while under siege.

 Today, a serious battle we are fighting from within is with fundamentalism, as haredi leaders set back progressive Orthodoxy and Jewish life, sensing it to be secular or goyish. Recently, the beit din of Israel decided an Orthodox conversion that happened three decades ago is null, as the person did not live a halachic life thereafter. This has terrifying ramifications, since it means thousands of conversions might be nullified, leaving many Jews and their children as non-Jews.

This shift is indeed a siege, however, an equal or perhaps greater one is the fact that few local rabbinical voices decried this damaging decree, as well as the continual rise of haredi influence on our community.  

So where are they? What of our rabbis while fundamentalism creeps up on us? Why are they so hushed when imams, bishops and ministers attack Israel on its dealings in Gaza? We desperately need them to fight for us.

(In the case of the haredi challenge, the truth is that many of our local rabbis are quiet because they fear being ostracized by this group that is imposing their fundamentalist views on the rest of us. Those fears are justified. There are numerous examples of compassionate rabbis around the world challenging haredi leadership and subsequently fearing for their futures. Strangely, we are critical of other religious groups for stymieing the views of their moderate members, but we rarely take a moment to consider religious bullying within our own ranks. Those people we often perceive as being the guardians of Jewish practice and tradition are often the stumbling blocks of rational Jewish expression and modernity.)

And where are our Jewish professors on campus to help deal with people like Canadian Union of Public Employees president Sid Ryan, a man of inflammatory, anti-Israel rhetoric. What has clogged the voice boxes of our academics who work alongside some of their sinister colleagues who attack Israel whenever a bell rings signalling the end of a class? Your silence leaves our Jewish students with the sense they are the sole protectors of Israel and the Jewish people on campus.

The loudest quiet, however, emanates from regular folk like Moshe and Rachel Jewish community member. We are in the midst of a global crisis that weighs heavily on the Jewish people, and the vast majority of our members remain soundless.

Granted, there are few opportunities for individuals to get involved in the fight, but that aside, why do we rarely hear a voice from the street calling out to our leadership to include us in the process of fighting fundamentalism and combating anti-Semites and haters of Israel right here at home in Toronto? Few get involved, but most of us claim we just didn’t hear the yelling.

I love the Jewish people and I love this community. I therefore feel compelled to be critical and question why we’re being so damned muted, so comfortable, when trouble has come our way once again. Get up and fight rabbis, professors and Moshe and Rachel. Laryngitis has a cure. It is called Jewish strength and eternal vigilance.

[email protected]   Sderot/Sudan?