We have a very stimulating two evening event coming up later this month!
I’m a real fan of the Irish American author Colum McCann who will be joining us, via Zoom, on January 28th. McCann is the author of seven novels, including the National Book Award-winning, Let the Great World Spin.
The Holy Blossom Centre for Contemporary Jewish Literature and our Israel Committee are welcoming Colum to talk about his most recent novel, the masterpiece, Apeirogon. It takes its inspiration from the real-life friendship between a Palestinian, and an Israeli: “An Israeli, against the occupation. A Palestinian, studying the Holocaust.” The men are united in their grief – they lost their daughters to terrorist attacks.
The novel is the moving and inspiring story of the two men, Rami and Bassam, and it employs a fascinating method to tell the story – the novel is divided into 1001 sections, like the Arabian Nights.
On January 27th, the night before Colum’s live appearance, we will discuss another way of telling the story – through the award-winning documentary, Within the Eye of the Storm. Guided by Dr. Gillian Helfield we will discuss the form and content of the film, and show Gillian’s interview with the director.
These two nights give us the opportunity to consider important issues around Israeli/Palestinian relations, and how these matters can be presented in two different, compelling art forms.
Colum McCann will be interviewed by the Globe and Mail Arts Reporter Marsha Lederman, and he will also read from Apeirogon and answer your questions. I encourage you to join us for these two nights of thoughtful discussion exploring the true stories of inspiring men.
“…Apeirogon is a masterpiece, a novel that will change the world.” – The Observer
“Colum McCann loves a high-wire act, and Apeirogon is a powerful, political tightrope walk of a novel. It’s the story of modern Israel and the story of modern Palestine. This beautiful, deeply felt book is first and foremost an extraordinary act of listening.”—Nathan Englander
We are making charitable contributions to Combatants for Peace, an organization one of the men helped to found, the goal of which was to bring Israeli and Palestinian soldiers together in the hope of finding common ground and putting an end to the violence. And to Narrative 4, Colum’s charity for sharing important stories around the world.
Please register at https://holyblossom.org/colum-mccann/
I look forward to seeing you on January 27 and January 28 at 7:30 pm!
Cynthia Good
By: Pam Albert
I want to share my perspective on what it means to tour and experience Israel at this point in time with our Holy Blossom community. Be it via our zoom interactive webinars or on the ground in Israel this coming fall.
When we thought of what that could look like, we thought of connecting with the land and the people. We thought of walking away with new, unique and creative ways of being in Israel. If it is through joining us for our Virtual Israel Tour, we wanted you to feel like you were there, following our guide Ishai from Fig Trips as he takes us to off the beaten track places so you can actually imagine what life was like through different generations, with people from different countries and different walks of life who brought alive, our Israel. We wanted you to feel like you could taste and smell the flavours and scenes as if you were walking with Ishai as our explorations of Israel became alive. The feedback from the 60 participants who attended our last Virtual Israel tour was just that. In addition, after attending our Virtual Israel Tour past President Judy Winberg shared the following,
I love to travel and I love Israel. And while the Corona virus imposed restrictions I was able to pursue both of these interests as a participant on a virtual visit for five days in 2020. Ishai, our tour guide, live in realtime on ZOOM and pre-recorded video in Israel led our group of …?… through a week of thoughtful, stimulating and unique tours. Like so many of the professional tour guides in Israel Ishai was knowledgeable, engaging and day by day we came to know and appreciate his love for the country.
There are many in the congregation who’ve told me that they’d love to travel to Israel but have never been able to make the trip. This is the perfect first trip to Israel! No packing, no flights, no hotels, no special clothing, no tour buses and your family won’t even notice you’re gone other than for two hours a day for a week. What could be better?
L’hitarot,
Judy
And since you asked for more, we are creating new journeys that walk beside Ishai in Israel. Our next experience, accompanied with wine and treats from Israel begins Monday, February 8th. To register by our extended cut-off date click this link.
And if this has enticed you to join us on the ground in Israel, we are optimistic that we can meet in Jaffa on Sunday, October 24. After reading the book, “City of Oranges” by Adam Lebor, I had numerous questions about the roots of and the routes to the land of Israel, where for centuries travellers passed through Jaffa, or arrived in the port in Jaffa and settled. This book sparked my curiosity and I wanted to learn more. We will explore Israel together through the lens of Jaffa. I was curious about different immigrant populations and religious groups. Where they settled and where their routes led them after Jaffa. I was curious about how they interacted and lived together. About how their lives were intertwined and how that affected their co-existence, their friendships, their beliefs and even what they ate each day. Imagine for example the spice store that only sold spices local to the area, that kept adding spices for groups of new immigrants that settled in Jaffa from Morocco and Lybia and Ethiopia and other Arab countries and Russia and Germany. All of a sudden this small spice store evolved into an experience where flavours and people emerged from all walks of life. We will explore Israel through the lenses of Jaffa, including socio-economically, culturally, co-existence, poverty, religion, culinary, the start-up scene in Jaffa, and much more. Would you like to join us? Stay tuned for more information once we feel really optimistic about the possibility of travel in October.
Please feel free to share your thoughts around what exploring Israel would look like to you, be it via our virtual engagements or on the ground. Contact [email protected]
“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
This past Wednesday night, I couldn’t sleep, as blood was spilled over the sacred halls where I, as an American, have made pilgrimage. As Insurgent loyalists, encouraged by their sovereign, tried to disrupt the peaceful transition of power in the heart of modern democracy. As police reacted differently to this protest than to peaceful protests of black and brown Americans. As police fell back again and again before the crowd mixed with white supremacist, Antisemitic, and neo-fascist messaging, playing at patriotism until they caused chaos and symbolically threatened democracy.
In the proceedings which followed, some lawmakers threw in their lot with the insurrectionists, seeking to disenfranchise voters and claim the Republic for themselves. Other lawmakers, who had previously flirted with sedition, seemed frightened enough to withdraw their entreat with treason. They looked into themselves and remembered the Constitution.
That document, written on yellowed paper and signed as a negotiated wish for prosperous posterity, enshrined many of the values which became models of good government around the world. It is not perfect (see the 3/5th Compromise). But it points to something higher, and ideal bigger than any of our ambitions – that all humanity are B’tzelem Elohim– created equal.
While not all American ideals are Canadian ideals, and not all Canadian ideals are Jewish ideals, we can all align over the idea that individuals over the age of majority have a duty – a sacred obligation – to participate in the life of our communities. Any who stand in the way of the performance of this duty are committing a reprehensible act – one that is seen as against the foundational principles enshrined in our sacred documents.
I pray that as the blood is bleached, the statues of state repaired, the image of liberty and justice slowly refocused – that mournful memory does not soon fade. The shock and the terror, the images of flags and shirts meant to cause pain being paraded – the broken glass and feet on desks. That these rekindle within us the lamp which seeks to spread light into the darkness. That we can seek out the silenced voices and ask them to speak louder. That ideals enshrined in sacred documents need us to come to life.
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Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.