Over the Hannukah holiday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper took time out to engage with the Jewish community on a serious matter... the famous dreidel spin.
Yes, the PM and his wife, Laureen, spent a few moments with kids at the Calgary Jewish Community Centre on the third night of Hannukah to play a game of dreidel. No word on how much money he put down on the famous Jewish game of chance, but rumour has it he's working on a new spin technique for next year because he got smoked by that kid with the white kippah on the right.
Stephen Harper, second from left, demonstrates his deftness with a dreidel last week in Calgary. [Photo courtesy of the PMO]
After writing a story, specifically covering charitable events, it's always a bit humbling when someone tells the reporter that as a result of their article many people contributed to a charity that will help others.
Usually, in the course of reporting, one doesn't think about the long-term impact of a specific story. It's all about getting the facts, presenting them to the reader in as unbiased a way as possible, and then moving on to the next assignment.
But occasionally, a reporter pauses in his or her tracks when confronted with how their story added some tikkun olam to society.
Last week, I had the honour of being invited to attend the Canadian Friends of Meir Medical Center's annual awards gala in Toronto. After writing an advance story on how this Israeli hospital is in need of funds to complete a children's wing, the organizers of the event contacted me to thank me for the story and tell me that it had led directly to an influx of donations from Canadian donors and philanthropists.
This was terrific news.
But there was another element to this story in The CJN.
The gala organizers also were honouring the Florence family of Toronto with a humanitarian award. Why? Because Dana and Jared Florence have been blessed with miraculous triplets, all of whom have Cerebral Palsy.
Since just after their birth, the Florence children, diagnosed with the impairment to their motor functions, have undergone various surgeries, therapies and protocols to help them progress physically as much as possible. And despite being told not to expect too much by doctors, the Florences have never given up on their children. Quite the opposite. They decided to wage war on CP in the form of their foundation "ThreeToBe".
Having had the pleasure of interviewing Dana and Jared and listening to their story, and having been told by the Canadian Friends of Meir Medical Center executive that my story had brought much-needed funding to their cause as well, I was reminded that one can and does make a difference through their work.
Here's a small video from ThreeToBe's website that tells you all you need to know.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The theme of The CJN's 2010 Rosh Hashanah supplement will be "Which Jewish Women Top The List?"
It will be highlighting the lives and contributions of 16 Jewish women, all of them prominent, but not all of them well-known today - who have made significant contributions to Jewish life and Jewish history.
The list of 16 will sweep across the wide swath of Jewish history over the last 500 years.
The women selected will have left marks in the world on the Arts, Literature, Academia, Scholarship, Politics and Social Action. This supplement will aim to inform and instruct The CJN's readers about the lives of these women and hopefully inspire readers through the awareness of the rich, resplendent history of which readers may only have scant knowledge.
We here at The Shmooze invite you, our dedicated followers and all CJN readers, to submit your Top 4 picks in our comments section below.
Thank you and we look forward to comparing and contrasting your picks with ours.
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