Advocacy @ HBT: Rabbi Splansky’s Remarks at the Mayor’s Pesach Celebration  

As you likely read yesterday, Rabbi Splansky represented the congregation at the City Hall Pesach Celebration on Monday night. We hope that you will take the time to read her remarks, which are presented here, and bring them to your friends and family in the coming days, including at your own seders. Rabbi’s message, that the government is responsible for protecting its Jewish citizens, is vital. As Rabbi wrote to the congregation yesterday, we are all very focused on protection right now. Physical protection, which is a key element of the work that we are doing here as your Advocacy Committee. Spiritual protection, like the important work of prayer and study at the Shul. Emotional protection, like the celebration of our holidays with friends, family and community.  

In the coming months, Holy Blossom Temple is redoubling its efforts in all these forms of protection. Our Advocacy work remains an important element of physical protection, one that needs the active involvement of our community and its allies. This will include new opportunities to engage elected officials and in conversation with thoughtful experts speaking to the moment. We appreciate your continued support.  

Tonight is Pesach. From our families to yours, we wish you a meaningful and joyful celebration of freedom and redemption.  

Learn more about Advocacy here.  

Advocacy @ HBT: Fighting the Disease, Not the Symptoms  

Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA) Chair, Mark Sandler, has recently authored an insightful and powerful article about the root causes of the antisemitic attacks against synagogues in Toronto. You can read what he has written here, and we strongly encourage you to share the article with your friends.  

Among Sandler’s arguments is that by underenforcing hate speech laws in Canada, our city and nation have empowered hateful speech to turn into violent action.  

“Thirty-six years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that hate speech marginalizes targeted communities and can lead to violence against them. For several years, I have warned about the consequences when incitement of hatred against Jews goes unchecked… we will not succeed in combatting violent antisemitism unless the police, prosecutors and governments correctly identify what contemporary antisemitism so often looks like and address the promotion and incitement of hatred through robust, consistent enforcement of criminal hate speech laws.” 

Sadly, it is on that note of hate speech that CIJA has forwarded a new action item related to the weekly protests at Bathurst and Sheppard. Many of you have seen images of the disturbing, nazi-inspired signs that protestors carried at the intersection. The people who displayed those signs were not arrested, nor did they face any enforcement of the law during the protest. While we are grateful to the TPS for their actions protecting our sacred spaces, it is important to demand action and investigation when hate speech is levelled against our community and is ignored.  

You can read more here and sign here. Warning: the reproduced images on this page are hateful and disturbing!  

Learn more about Advocacy here.  

Advocacy @HBT: Urge Action Against Iranian Agents Inside Canada

As the war between Iran and the United States, Israel, and its allies heats up across the Middle East, we want to bring your attention to one petition and one statement here at home in Canada.  

First, please see the statement from our own ARZA Canada/Canadian Reform Movement Statement. As Rabbi Splansky and others write, we ‘stand with the people of Israel and Iran in their common struggle against Iran’s tyrannical dictatorship… we support efforts to make the Middle East a safer place for all. We pray that this can be achieved quickly with the minimum possible harm to civilians.” Together we pray for a secure peace in Jerusalem and across the region. 

Second, CIJA has an action item where you can contact your MP and urge them to take action against Iranian agents inside of Canada.  CIJA provides news sources saying that there are up to 700 individuals linked to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) living in Canada today.  

After waking up to the news of the attack on Temple Emanu-El, our sister congregation here in Toronto, the need to confront those who seek the demise of Israel and who actively target Jews in the diaspora – including Iranian agents and supporters of the regime – is greater than ever. 

Contact your MP through the Actionhub portal by clicking here.  

Learn more about Advocacy here. 

Advocacy @HBT: Calling for an Apology for Canada’s Jewish Internees

You may have heard a recent Canadian Jewish News Podcast episode addressing the long-overlooked internment of Jewish refugees in Canada during the Second World War. Our congregant, Andrew Cassell, was interviewed for that conversation. He is now asking for our community’s help in ensuring this story is heard more widely.

Holy Blossom Temple has direct connections to this chapter of Canadian Jewish life. Rabbi Emil Fackenheim, who later taught at Holy Blossom, was himself interned. Among the internees were former Temple members, including the esteemed Heinz Richard Warschauer. We are certain there are other descendants of Jewish internees within our congregation as well.

Descendants across the country are now making a coordinated request to synagogues and organizations nationwide: to urge the Government of Canada to formally apologize for the internment of Jewish refugees and to support education and recognition efforts that confront antisemitism.

In 1940, more than 2,300 Jewish refugees were deported from Britain to Canada after being falsely labelled “enemy aliens.” Despite learning that these men included rabbis, students, and doctors fleeing Nazism, Canada classified them as prisoners of war. They were housed in harsh conditions behind barbed wire, compelled to work for minimal pay, including on Shabbat, while captured Nazi soldiers were treated far more humanely. Though Britain apologized within months and requested their release, Canada delayed freedom for years under an explicitly antisemitic immigration policy.

The Canadian government has since apologized to Japanese, Ukrainian, and Italian Canadian communities for similar wartime injustices. Jewish internees and their descendants are still waiting.

We encourage you to sign the official House of Commons petition calling for a formal apology and reparations, including funding for education and commemoration. The petition is sponsored by Anthony Housefather and will be tabled in the House of Commons.

Deadline to sign: February 27, 2026

We invite you to add your name, share the petition with your family and networks, and help lift the curtain of silence on this painful chapter of Canadian Jewish history.
Learn more and sign the petition here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7123

Learn more about Advocacy here.

 

Advocacy @ HBT: A Hands-On Project, Supported by a New App 

One of the things we have all seen over the last few years on the streets of Toronto is the rise in antisemitic graffiti. Whether it was the destruction or vandalization of hostage photos, swastikas and pro-Hamas imagery, red paint thrown across windows, stickers on traffic lights and stop signs, or phrases like “From the River to the Sea” scrawled on Jewish businesses – it’s been ubiquitous.  

Last year, TAFSIK released an app called “Graffiti Watch,” which you can download here. 

They write, “Use the app to identify and report graffiti in your local area by submitting a photo. Once approved, the graffiti will appear as an icon on the map for others to see. Take the next step by removing the graffiti and submitting a photo of the cleaned space. Together, we can restore the beauty of our cities, one wall at a time.”  

Often, we are asked about projects and programs that make a tangible difference. This is one such opportunity. Even if you can’t personally clean up offensive and antisemitic graffiti in Toronto, simply documenting and marking it helps us fight the sense that this is ‘normal.’   

The antisemitism we are experiencing in Toronto today is not normal. This surge in graphic hatred is not normal, and refusing to normalize these trends internally or within our community is an important action item in and of itself.  

Learn more about Advocacy here.