Jewish summer camps are pivoting to virtual visitors day—as yet another wave of COVID hits
As the seventh wave of COVID, this one driven by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, rampages through Canada, Jewish summer camps across the country have had to adjust their plans. For many camps, that meant moving their visitors day to the phone or online. Some camps, such as Camp Manitou near Parry Sound, Ont., elected to […]
Latest wave of COVID takes a toll on Toronto long-term care homes again
Toronto retirement homes are once again being battered by COVID, although far fewer deaths have been reported in this most recent wave of infections. At Kensington Place Retirement Home, a kosher home on Sheppard Avenue West, as of Jan. 13, there are 29 residents and 5 staff with COVID, in an outbreak that began last […]
Quebec Hasidic schools that defy closure order risk legal consequences: Education Minister Jean-François Roberge
The Quebec government is in a standoff with some Hasidic communities as they continue to defy the order that all schools in the province remain closed at least until Jan. 17. Several Hasidic schools, including those of the larger Belz and Skver communities, have continued to operate, apparently without interruption, since the government instituted the […]
Quebec’s lockdown rules darken shuls, schools, shows and more at the dawn of 2022
The Quebec government’s closure of all places of worship in the province as of Dec. 31 is an “overreach” and “epidemiologically indefensible,” according to Rabbi Reuben Poupko, who represents the Jewish community on the inter-religious committee that acts as a consultative body to officials. “Nowhere else in North America or Europe, with the possible exception […]
Quebec orders synagogues (and all places of worship) to enforce vaccination mandates
Synagogues, like all places of worship in Quebec, will have to require proof of vaccination from anyone attending services as of Dec. 20. They will also have to limit capacity to 50 percent, up to a maximum of 250 people in the building and they must be masked, even when seated. On Dec. 16, the […]
Ottawa’s Machzikei Hadas synagogue has suddenly shut down for a week due to COVID in December 2021
Ottawa’s large Orthodox Jewish congregation, Machzikei Hadas, has notified its members that it is closing the building for a week, after a child who had attended Saturday programming on Dec. 11 tested positive for COVID-19. In an email Monday, the president of the congregation, Bonnie Boretsky, said the child had attended youth programming on the […]
A pair of Toronto-area Jewish day schools temporarily closed due to December 2021 COVID outbreaks
Eitz Chaim School, Springfarm branch, and Netivot HaTorah Day School, Jewish day schools just north of Toronto, will be temporarily closed due to COVID outbreaks, York Region Public Health announced Dec. 9. Eitz Chaim had recorded 26 COVID cases (23 students and three staff) as of Dec. 8. Students who receive a negative PCR test […]
Eitz Chaim School temporarily closed by Toronto Public Health for COVID outbreak
Eitz Chaim Girls’ School, in the Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue area, has been temporarily closed by Toronto Public Health, starting Dec. 6 due to a COVID outbreak in the school. “We are recommending a whole school dismissal as a precautionary measure to protect staff, students and the community from further COVID-19 transmission within the […]
Cabinet minister Karina Gould talks about the pandemic challenges of distributing vaccines, becoming a new parent and rising antisemitism
Being a new mother during a pandemic is a difficult feat for anyone, but it’s especially so when you’re also the youngest female cabinet minister in Canadian history. With such a label comes tremendous responsibility, but Karina Gould, the first federal cabinet minister to give birth while holding office, seems not to be bothered by […]
Montreal’s YM-YWHA is rebuilding after a long COVID closure
After being shuttered for 15 months, the Sylvan Adams YM-YWHA in Montreal is on the path to resuming full operations and a renewed sense of purpose, its officials reported at the organization’s 111th annual general meeting on Nov. 17. The Y, like all gyms, was forced to close in March 2020 under the Quebec government’s […]
