Next week’s supplement

The CJN’s annual Community Focus supplement is done! But you’ll have to wait until next week to read it.

The special section will be part of our Aug. 25 issue, and will be downloadable online.

In my editorial for the supplement, I wrote that it offers a bit of a mixed bag – just like Toronto’s Jewish community – and that it reflects changes that have come about in recent years.
How are congregations dealing with diminishing appeal of synagogues to some men? What approaches are different denominations taking with intermarried couples? How are university students adjusting to living away from the community they grew up in?

There are also articles about Israeli and Russian Jews, deaf Jews and a program for bar mitzvah students with Asperger Syndrome.

Now that the supplement is done, I’m already thinking about what to include in it next year.

Previewing Baruchel's Goon

In a little less than a month, the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will present some of the best offerings of international and Canadian cinema.

Among those to be screened is Jay Baruchel's hockey film Goon.

Born in Ottawa and raised in Montreal, Baruchel had quite the year last year with three commercially successful films –  She's Out of My League, How to Train Your Dragon and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, along with the critically acclaimed independent film The Trotsky.

Baruchel co-wrote Goon, a comedy, with Superbad writer Evan Goldberg. Based on the real life story of a bouncer who overcomes great odds to rise through the ranks of the semi-professional hockey league, the script was adapted from the book Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey by Adam Frattasio and Doug Smith.

In a statement to FirstShowing.net Baruchel said "We like to think of it as a funnier 'Raging Bull.' It's real mean, and it's truthful, and it's everything hockey is without any of the 'bs' sports movie clichés, and it is dead funny. Lot of swears, that's a hard R. It's a very crass movie, there are something like 20 fights in it, but it's the badass movie that hockey fans have been waiting to see their whole lives. It will be by far the best hockey movie since 'Slapshot.' Hockey fans have needed one for a long time, it's a sport that movies never do well. Ours will be a f**ing movement."

The film is directed by Michael Dowse, and the cast includes, Sean William Scott, Liev Schreiber, Eugene Levy and Alison Pill, in addition to Baruchel . In an interview with The Canadian Press back in January, Baruchel claimed he and the 25 year old Pill, now his girlfriend, were drawn to each other almost as soon as they shot their first scenes of Goon in Winnipeg last October.

If all goes according to plan after the TIFF première in the weeks to come, the film is scheduled to hit theatres on February 3.

PopChips™ – Parve & Dairy @kosherreviews

Hello Shmooze readers. This was a quick fun read from Kosher Food Review, a blog that reviews kosher food for both taste and convenience.

This week one of their contributors reviewed Pop Chips. The snack food marketed as a super crunchy chip, that explodes with both potato flavor and seasoning, keeping out fake stuff and more than half the fat of fried chips.

The Canadian Jewish Shmooze and The CJN in no way endorse Pop Chips, however if you happen to walk down the snack aisle and your eye catches sight of a bag or two, knowing which flavour is best you can do well by your taste buds.

Kids’ feelings come first

Dear Ella,

My little girl, Emma, is off at overnight camp for the first time. It’s going to be a long summer without her, but she wanted to go so badly I didn’t have the heart to say no. She is only eight, and I thought she should wait at least another year before she attempted sleepover camp.

Visitors’ day is very important to me. The problem is, her dad and I are divorced and we don’t get along. Most of our communication about our daughter is through e-mail or lawyers. We do everything possible to avoid speaking to or seeing each other. He is going to want to see Emma too, and the thought of sharing her with him and his new girlfriend at camp is not something I fancy.

Emma is used to our doing things separately. We celebrate birthdays, holidays and any other special occasion separately, and she has accepted this as normal.

He let me take her to the bus when she left, because he had to work anyway, but we have not even discussed visitors’ day. I’m sure he could care less if I’m there and he will just go, with no regard to my feelings or my daughter’s. This should be a fun time for her, and I don’t want anything to spoil her memory of her first year at overnight camp. Should I take the high road and just let him go?

Lonely Mom

Dear Lonely Mom,

Overnight camp is a milestone in your daughter’s life. It’s a bittersweet time for you, but you put your feelings aside knowing Emma is going to have a wonderful time. At overnight camp she will build independence and social skills, and make new, lifelong friends. It’s a new experience for her, too, so it’s extremely important that her first experience without her parents is a positive one.

If there is the slightest chance that you and your ex will argue, or even give off negative energy, around Emma, then you can’t go to visitors’ day together. Kids pick up on fake smiles and tension in the air. This is her time and you must both put your needs aside.

Staying away on visitors’ day is not the answer. Emma will miss you and want to see her mom as much as her dad. I agree that visiting together may be uncomfortable for all. You are not the only divorced family at camp, and many camps have adjusted and added a second day. If Emma’s camp is not one of those, then speak to the camp director, and he/she will accommodate your situation.

The next hurdle is who gets the “real” visitors’ day and who gets the extra day that has been allocated for Emma. Visitors’ day is not always easy on kids, and some camps with a shorter duration have eliminated this tradition. Two days could cause emotional feelings twice. You might consider splitting up the day so that one of you is with her in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

You and your ex have some choices to make. Whatever you decide, remember you must do what’s best for Emma. Your priority must be to make sure your daughter is happy in this new life experience.