Unwelcome greetings

Editorial

A minor tempest in a kumkum occurred recently, when news reports and letters to the editors of national papers raised the issue of Rosh Hashanah cards sent (by the Conservative Party of Canada, mind you, not the government of Canada) from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

While official representatives of Jewish organizations, namely Canadian Jewish Congress and B'nai Brith, expressed gratitude for the greetings, a number of interviewees and letter writers complained that the Tories' identifying of them as Jews was, in some way, offensive to them.

Among the complainants is one who claims that she does not appear on any Jewish community lists. Given historical precedents, it may be disconcerting to find oneself ferreted out and identified as a Jew by apparent snitches, after having seemingly covered one's tracks so vigilantly. Under the circumstances, this degree of concern seems unnecessarily exaggerated. Yes, the governing party made a list of Jews, which sounds more ominous than it is, given that (a) this is Canada, (b) it was for the purposes of sending a Rosh Hashanah card and (c) it was done by a party that has shown greater sensitivity to Jewish concerns than any government in recent Canadian history.

Amassing lists is something political parties and other marketing practitioners do every day. For all we know, this may have been as simple as opening the white pages and noting all the Cohens and Goldbergs. There are, indeed, historical reasons for nervousness around this sort of categorization. But in contemporary, practical Canadian terms, this unchaimish backlash probably less reflects the storied Jewish hypersensitivity to such things than it does plain old partisan sniping.

Enough kvetching. Shana tovah, already.

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