BAYT finds its new voice

In the coming months, Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto Congregation will welcome its new senior rabbi, Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, the first of the three recently screened rabbinical candidates.

The decision recently made by BAYT's Board of Governors, was based on the strong recommendations from the Senior Rabbi search committee and also resulted from the membership survey.

While Rabbi Korobkin remains in a transitional state making preparations to leave his present pulpit at Kehillat Yavneh in Los Angeles, the congregants of BAYT very much look forward to his first official sermon, as their new senior rabbinical voice come September.

Passover Parodies - Among the Best we Found

With all the parody groups out there from the Maccabeats to The Ein Prat Fountainheads, (graduates and students of Midreshet Ein Prat, Israel) it's refreshing to find original ideas on what to do with all that leftover Matzah at the end of Passover.



Performed by Michelle Citrin and William Levin

Chag Kasher v’Samayach from all of us @TheCJN and The CJ Shmooze

Na'amat Canada Toronto presents Israel Day Festival

Did you know: Na'amat supports 250 day care centres in Israel? Pictured left is one of them where we provide 3 meals a day for children as well as 2 snacks.

Join us at our 16th annual FREE Israel Day Festival, June 5th, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Mel Lastman Square.

It's a cultural event featuring both Hebrew and English entertainment, Hebrew Day School children's choirs, Middle Eastern and Canadian food, vendor's market, live auction and the best part is the money raised goes to support social services and enhance the lives of women and children in Israel.

Exploring Passover's Traditions...

The Seder so nice, we do it twice! But why??

Read Rabbi Michael Stavsky's latest holiday article:

http://bit.ly/pesachStory

Canada Votes 2011 - CJPACers Blog (Part II)

The hardworking team over at the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC) continue to provide terrific insight into the minds of young, Jewish, Canadian federal party volunteers as they campaign towards the May 2 vote.

The following are four more blogs from the CJPAC members – Julien Newman, Sarah Kitai, Zach Paikin and Aaron Silver – each reveal more about their experiences with their chosen parties this election. Read on and enjoy. Oh, and don't forget to go to the polls on May 2. 

Your vote counts. 

- The Shmooze Team.

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Julien Newman – My first time:

The first time I volunteered in a large-scale political campaign was to elect Ed Broadbent in 2004. Mr Broadbent was a former leader of the NDP. He had delivered the party’s most successful electoral results and he was returning to federal politics to support of our promising new leader – Jack Layton. We had thousands of volunteers throughout the campaign and we managed to win the seat from the Liberals.

Read more at Julien's www.itsup2you.ca  blog

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Sarah Kitai – Lessons Learned:

Sometimes, it’s the unpleasant experiences in life that teach us the best lessons.

This was certainly true of my early encounters with political organizations. As a high school student, concerned about environmental issues and eager to get involved, I naively decided to volunteer with a certain left-wing environmental advocacy group which shall henceforth remain unnamed.

Read more at Sarah's www.itsup2you.ca blog

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Zach Paikin – My First Political Campaign:

This week’s topic is about our very first political campaign and what we wished we had known at that age.

My first political campaign was when I was 13 years old, and funnily enough it was working for John Tory in his race to become leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in 2004. (I have only been a partisan since 2008, when I decided to join the Liberal Party.)

Read more at Zach's www.itsup2you.ca blog

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Aaron Silver – My First Time:

Thinking about when I was first involved in a campaign takes me back to September 2008.  I was a junior CJPAC fellow and hungry to get involved in politics.  I lived in Toronto at that time, in the riding of Eglinton-Lawrence and wanted to get involved in a Conservative campaign.  My desire to work on a campaign led me to the nomination campaign of Joe Oliver.

Read more at Aaron's www.itsup2you.ca blog

Technion Goes for Gold

Through the doors of the Park Hyatt hotel in midtown Toronto, on March 31, 250 young professionals assembled for the inaugural event from Generation Next.

Born out of a call to action by the The Canadian Technion Society young leadership division - specifically by Hershel Recht its National Development Director and Cheryl Koperwas, National Executive Director - the event As Good As Gold was a tremendous success. Its purpose was simply to deliver a message to all in attendance: Now more than ever it is imperative that each one of us give, if not in vast amounts our treasure to the Jewish cause of our choice then at least a part of our time and talent, to raise awareness of the organization or cause's good works.

The Technion, Israel's institute of technology is a leading Israeli educational institution. It stands at the forefront of the global network in the field of science an technology, playing a key role in advancing the country's infrastructure and its crucial defense.

The draw for the night was the opportunity to hear from one of Canada's leading philanthropists, businessmen and all around mensch, Seymour Schulich C.M. Schulich discussed his personal story and why he believes the future of Israel is dependent upon the graduates of the Technion. It is because of the Technion's aforementioned role on the world stage that Schulich chooses to give of his time, talent and once it was fully realized, a significant portion of his financial holdings.

Here is a little taste of how the keynote started off...





For more information on Canadian Friends of Technion University, Generation Next and how you can get involved click here.

Canada Votes 2011 - CJPACers blog their party allegiances!

In case you hadn't noticed, Canada is smack-dab in the middle of an election campaign.

And what better way to honour our democratic system than to give voice to Jewish community youth taking an active part in shaping our country's next political landscape.

The Shmooze is proud to present four takes from volunteers working with the major Canadian political parties, telling you to get out and vote.

The Canadian Jewish Shmooze wishes to thank Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC) for its kind permission in reprinting and posting these four blogs from their members: Aaron Silver, Zach Paikin, Sarah Kitai and Julien Newman. We're sure you'll figure out where their party allegiances are as you read their posts.

- The Shmooze Team 

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By Aaron Silver

My vote doesn’t matter. What can one person possibly change? Elections are just hype and spin, nothing changes. My life won’t change one way or another.

Ever felt like this? Keep reading.

Read more...                 

http://www.itsup2you.ca/en/2011/03/aaron-silver-introduction/



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By Zach Paikin

Hi everyone! Zach Paikin here. I’m a student at McGill University pursuing a B.A. in Middle East Studies with a minor in Political Science, and am a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Read more...

http://www.itsup2you.ca/en/2011/03/zach-paikin-introduction/

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By Sarah Kitai

I’ll let you in on a little secret… I’m really not cut out for politics. I can’t regurgitate talking points, I hate spin, and I find every issue so incredibly nuanced that I tend to question my own opinions at least five times a day. Yet, here I am volunteering on a Green Party campaign (yes, you heard that right) when I should probably be focused on my upcoming exams.

Read more...                 

http://www.itsup2you.ca/en/2011/03/sarah-kitai-go-green/

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By Julien Newman

I have been an active member of the NDP since the ripe age of 14 and I worked in many campaigns in my home ridding of Hull-Aylmer. Like everywhere else in Quebec at the time, the NDP didn’t have very bright electoral prospects. Over the years our results gradually improved and after Thomas Mulcair was elected in Montreal it became extremely exciting to be involved.            

Read more...

http://www.itsup2you.ca/en/2011/03/election-2011-making-gains/