‘Becoming Big’ is the story of how Maya Sinclair overcame disabilities to celebrate her bat mitzvah in Montreal
If anyone had told Maya Sinclair’s mother five years ago that her then seven-year-old daughter would eagerly be looking forward to her bat mitzvah, meticulously preparing her speech and the celebration afterward, she would not have believed it. “I would have thought they were from another planet,” says Jana Popliger. She was no less astonished […]
A trip retracing the journey from Ethiopia to Israel aims to raise $10-million for scholarships for the Beta Israel community
One year from now, Montreal entrepreneur Jonathan Goodman plans to be in Ethiopia symbolically retracing the journey thousands of Jews braved to fulfill their dream of reaching Israel. Goodman hopes at least 50 to 100 Jews from the Diaspora and Israel—philanthropists and activists—join him in this homage to the refugees airlifted in the 1991 rescue […]
These two Montrealers are spearheading a million-dollar contest for the best Israeli solution to the climate crisis
Two Montreal businessmen have a vision that Israel can become a global leader in the fight against climate change. Friends Jeff Hart and Jonathan Goodman are the initiators of an annual US$1-million prize to be awarded to a not-for-profit Israeli researcher or organization with the most promising idea for reversing what the two men believe […]
Montreal museum’s exhibit on Israeli-made Pegasus spyware is criticized by HonestReporting Canada
An exhibition about a controversial Israeli manufacturer of cyber-surveillance technology at one of Montreal’s leading art museums is being criticized for spreading biased and unfounded claims about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Terror Contagion, which opened at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) last month, is an indictment of the NSO Group whose Pegasus malware […]
‘Pandemish’ is comedic YidLife Crisis’s sendup of that other crisis
Last summer when the comedy duo YidLife Crisis conceived Pandemish they hoped its premiere in the new year would be a joyous victory lap as the world saw COVID’s finish line. In September, Montreal’s Segal Centre for Performing Arts likewise bravely wagered that it could banish the darkness that had enveloped its stage since March […]
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 […]
Gerald Rimer and sons’ donation to McGill will create a new Indigenous research institute; Leacock name to disappear from the Montreal campus
The Stephen Leacock Building, a landmark on the McGill University campus for more than a half-century memorializing the famous Canadian humorist and academic, is to be renamed for a Jewish family in recognition of their major donation. Pioneering venture capitalist Gerald Rimer, who graduated from McGill in 1956 with a bachelor of commerce degree, and […]
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 […]
The South Shore Jewish Community in suburban Montreal closes due to aging, dwindling membership
The organization that brought together the small Jewish population on the South Shore of the Montreal suburbs for nearly three decades is disbanding, a casualty of not only the pandemic but an inability to attract younger people. The board of directors of the South Shore Jewish Community (SSJC), founded in 1994 and which at its […]
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 […]
