(screenshot of IDF Twitter page via israel21c.org)
Smugglers of drugs and illegal migrants using tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border may want to keep an eye on Israel. The American government, after all, is co-sponsoring the tunnel-detection technology now being developed by Israeli engineers.
Described by the Hebrew media as the underground equivalent of Iron Dome anti-missile defence system, this latest innovation made world headlines upon the announcement that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) uncovered a two-kilometre-long, concrete-lined tunnel on Israel’s Gaza border.
While the Israeli government has been funding its development for five years, few details about the new system have been reported until now. News reports say that up to 100 companies – including Iron Dome’s developers, Elbit Systems and Rafael Advanced Defence Systems – are involved in assembling the detection system. Military units, Shin Bet security agency officers, civilian engineering, infrastructure contractors and tunnel construction experts are also credited with helping.
“The search for tunnels is at the top of our priority list … and we will not spare any efforts,” said Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, following the IDF announcement that it found a tunnel extending from southern Gaza into Israeli territory.
The fine details about how the anti-tunnel technology works are still under wraps but, according to Yedioth Ahronoth, dozens of Israeli-developed sensors gather information from the field and transmit it to a control system for analysis using advanced algorithms. The system, says the report, can identify the length of the tunnel and its exact location without false alarms.
“We do whatever we can to find a technological solution,” Maj. Gen. Nitsan Alon, head of the IDF operations directorate, said at a briefing. “Dealing with the phenomenon of tunnels is very complex, and the state of Israel is a world leader in this field. This battle demands from us persistence, creativity, and also responsibility and good judgment.”
According to a report in Defence News, Israel’s Ministry of Defence has invested more than $60 million in anti-tunnel technologies. In February of this year, the Financial Times reported that the United States will provide $120 million over the next three years to help develop complementary technologies.
An Israel Today report says Israel is building a counter-tunnel barrier along its Gaza border that “will also feature a state-of-the-art fence, complete with sensors, observation balloons, see-shoot systems and intelligence gathering measures, as well as an underground wall.”
Israel21Cis a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org.
Shapira began piloting JFiix in Israel a couple of years ago and it was launched recently in the United States and Canada with an English version. (screenshot)
In 1996, at a time when not everyone had a home computer, Joe Shapira started a dating website – JDate. Today, very few people in the Jewish community have not heard of it. Since its inception, it has been embraced by Jews around the world.
“When I started in the online dating business, I was one of the pioneers of this business on the internet,” Shapira told the Independent. “And I never anticipated it would become such a big business.
“There were a few other dating sites when I started. I hired the programmer and we launched the very first dating site where you could define your preferences. We started marketing and it took off like a fire.”
Shapira was living in Los Angeles at the time. From a conversation with a friend about the difficulty of meeting other Jews in a place where the majority of people are not Jewish came the idea of JDate. Shapira wanted to help Jews meet other Jews, reduce the rate of intermarriage and help ensure Jewish continuity.
Born in Tel Aviv, Shapira went to a technical high school before serving in the army. After he finished his army service, he became an entrepreneur. Four years later, he moved to Los Angeles, where he stayed for some 30 years before moving back to Israel several years ago to spend more time with his kids.
“I think that people, in general, adapted well to the internet dating world,” said Shapira. “It’s a very highly used internet service. I think, in the Jewish community, the need was there. You live in a certain community and, pretty much by the time you’re 25, your connection – whether it’s your mother, grandmother or through mutual friends – we’re expected to meet a Jewish mate there. It’s ingrained in us. But, sometimes, you just exhaust your ability.
“The internet became more and more [popular and] … the style of work that most people do [changed]. You used to meet more people at work and talk to people on the phone. Now, you don’t even go out to the stores to a certain extent. Instead of telephones, we use email or texting. The lifestyle of people created less interaction with others and the Jewish community had a distinct need.”
Although, technically, Shapira launched JDate in Los Angeles, he was quick to point out that it has always been accessible around the world. In fact, the first marriage through a JDate interaction was in Caracas, Venezuela.
“If you are single and looking and you found JDate somehow, you’re going to tell your friends,” said Shapira. “We Jews are a close-knit community. I loved JDate, because of my concern for Jewish continuity, but I left the company in 2006, before smartphones and Facebook.”
Over the last few years, Shapira has been noticing a gap in communication that computer-based sites are still struggling with – that younger people do all their communication via smartphones, not on laptops or in front of computer screens.
“Millennials use the smartphone more than desktop computers,” said Shapira. “You go to work and you have a desktop computer. You work on your laptop at home. Unless you are in your 20s … then, you use your iPhone for everything.”
Internet dating is “a lifestyle thing,” he said. For someone in their 20s, “online dating is like emailing or texting – very natural. When I started JDate 20 years ago, it was not completely natural. In Israel, it took awhile before it caught on.”
Because Jewish online dating sites were not adapting well to mobile phones, Shapira found that millennial Jews were going to non-Jewish sites and this raised again his concern for Jewish continuity. Hence, he started JFiix.
“If you look at the landscape, you have Tinder on one end of the spectrum and the hookup app,” said Shapira. “And then you have apps like JDate or Match.com that are just a smaller [version] of a website.
“One of the big advantages of having an app is you’re always available. You remember JDate – if you wanted to contact someone, you sent them a message and then it took them two to five days to reply. With a mobile, if a woman contacts you, you decide in seconds.”
Shapira began piloting JFiix in Israel a couple of years ago and it now has about 250,000 users. It was launched only recently in the United States and Canada with an English version.
“We are at the stage of acquiring the user base and marketing,” said Shapira. “I think it will be another four months before [we reach] a critical mass of users.”
Shapira promises to wow users with the app’s complex technology, which includes a matchmaker feature. “The matches we select for you are based on the people that you’ve had good communication or chats with,” he said. “We also do a deep learning of photos you submit, so we know your type. People are usually attracted to the same type.”
With JFiix, no nudity or provocative clothing is allowed. The software monitors what people write in their profiles and analyzes the chats, removing any inappropriate content in a manner that is several notches above the competition.
“The purpose of this is to maintain a very positive community, a positive customer experience,” said Shapira. “We can’t prevent non-Jews from being a part of it, as it would be illegal to discriminate based on religion, just as a synagogue can’t prevent non-Jews from joining. However, we provide certain features, especially for women. For instance, women can define who can see them – age, distance, religion – as, when you register, one of the data collected is if you’re Jewish or not. A woman can say she wants only Jews.”
JFiix communities in Canada, so far, include Toronto and Montreal, with only a few individuals in Vancouver, a community he’d like to see grow to allow JFiix to work best.
“I think we provide a very good solution for millennial Jews,” said Shapira. “With the continuity of the Jewish community so important to the Jewish people, I hope I will be able to make a dent in intermarriage’s growing numbers. I think most Jews want to marry a Jew to continue the tradition. In saying that, I hope to, at the very least, help some Jews find Jewish soulmates.”
Israeli ration cards, which were distributed to all citizens, had to be presented at the neighborhood grocery to which a person was registered. (photo from National Library of Israel)
If Rip Van Winkle – or his Jewish equivalent, Honi the Circle Drawer, a first-century BCE scholar who, according to rabbinic tradition, slept for 70 years – had fallen asleep in Israel of the early 1950s only to awaken today, he would be stunned by the consumerism that has taken over the country. Israel has quite literally gone from a country of tremendous shortages to one of plenty. While one should not overlook that a significant part of the population lives in poverty, as they do in other countries, the availability of products and the ability to purchase has radically changed since early statehood.
Shortly after Israel gained independence in 1948, thousands of destitute Jews from Europe and Africa began arriving. These people needed to be settled quickly, as hostilities continuously loomed on Israel’s borders. The new state had low foreign currency reserves, making it hard to acquire the materials necessary for “firing up industry.” To cope with the dual costs of absorption and defence, the financially strapped Israeli government initiated an austerity plan, referred to in Hebrew as mishtar ha-tzena. As hated as the British Mandate had been, according to Prof. Guy Seidman, the newly independent Israeli government chose an austerity plan remarkably similar to the one the British had run in pre-state Israel and in its other colonies.
The tzena officially lasted from mid-1949 until 1959. Israel’s then-socialist-oriented administration wanted all citizens (new and veteran) to have the same basic necessities, so the government instituted both price control and rationing. It gave ration coupons for food staples, furniture and clothing. The emphasis was on using local produce while building up foreign reserves.
Water, which in many places had been distributed by water trucks during the War of Independence, continued to be rationed. One poster from this period shows how, with a 10-litre water bucket, a person could quench their thirst, bathe, rinse fruits and vegetables, cook, wash dishes, mop floors, launder clothes and flush toilets. In maabarot (transitional housing facilities for new immigrants), water ran from central faucets, but it had to be boiled before drinking. Public showers and washrooms were generally inadequate and often broken.
All citizens had to register with a makolet (local grocer). Israelis shopped at their neighborhood store using their government-issued purchasing cards. Prices for all products were translated into a fixed points system.
The government set an average daily calorie allotment of 2,700-2,800 calories. Children and older people received a higher daily calorie allowance. Here is a sampling of an average person’s daily quantities of rationed dry staples: 360 grams bread, 60 grams corn flour, 60 grams white flour, 17 grams white rice and 58 grams white sugar. Monthly, individuals had this imposed ceiling on proteins: 750 grams meat, 12 grams eggs and 200 grams low-fat cheese. “Fillers” such as potatoes had a monthly limit of 3,500 grams.
To counter the shortages, many started their own small gardens or built chicken coops. During the first year of the program, Lilian Cornfeld’s cookbook Ani Mevashelet (I Am Cooking) appeared to guide people in preparing meals based on the allowed rations. (Born in Montreal, Cornfeld was one of the first Canadian women to move to Palestine, doing so in 1922.) Ironically, the eggplant recipe for making ersatz chopped liver has become a staple Israeli dish at catered affairs, eateries and take-out facilities. Back then, most Israelis did not have refrigerators and ovens – people cooked and even baked complete meals on gas burners using an aluminum pot, a sir peleh, or “wonder pot.”
A poster from the austerity period: “End the black market, before it finishes you off.” (photo from National Library of Israel)
In the first year of the program, Israelis as a whole agreed with the government’s approach to the emergency. But, by the second year, some citizens were finding it hard to cope with the food lines and the food points. A thriving black market appeared. In response, the government set up a special unit in 1950 to root out the black market. Hundreds of inspectors were enlisted and special courts judged arrested profiteers.
How did people dodge the restrictions? Zeev Galili, who served as Yedioth Ahronoth’s city editor and deputy chief editor, recalled how his father disobeyed the imposed food ban. His father took him to a relative’s Petah Tikva farmstead and they stashed into a suitcase carefully wrapped eggs, tomatoes, olives and carrots, covering everything with clothes. His father warned him not to reveal what was in the case. When they reached Tel Aviv and food inspectors stopped the bus, passengers fearfully descended, everyone tense about being caught red-handed breaking the law. As “luck” would have it, Galili’s father’s suitcase was at the bottom of the pile of bags strapped to the roof and the inspectors did not open his case.
Other children, however, objected to their parents’ illegal dealings. Media personality Yaron London recalled that his mother bought 10 eggs from a black marketeer who mysteriously appeared at their door. Young London threw the eggs into the garbage. For this, he said, his mother “smacked me across the face. Then she covered her face with her hands and wept. After that, she came to her senses and threw her arms around me. I hugged her back. It was a moment of great joy.”
The austerity plan led to public criticism and outright accusations. Avshalom Cohen, for example, composed a satirical song about the black market; the minister of rationing and supply and minister of agriculture, former Canadian Dov Yosef, was frequently vilified.
According to historian Dr. Mordechai Naor, while the Mapai coalition (National Religious, Sephardim and Progressives) supported the plan, both sides of the opposition objected to it. Leftist Mapam felt the plan did not consider laborers’ voices, especially as the government refused to increase workers’ salaries, while rightist General Zionists and Herut claimed the program interfered with both private initiative and the middle class.
Although Yosef felt the time was premature, beginning in 1952, then-prime minister David Ben-Gurion gradually repealed the austerity plan. By 1959, the program had ended.
According to Seidman, the results of Israel’s mishtar ha-tzena paralleled the outcome of the English austerity program: “an initial success in curbing price and demand during wartime, followed by gradual erosion in the policy’s effectiveness and public compliance, futile criminal measures carried out by the police and the court and, finally, the formal dissolution of the legal edifice of the austerity regime.” While not a huge success, the program did manage to provide its growing population with a modicum of food and other basic necessities.
Today’s Israel is vastly different from the Israel of the 1950s. In the 57 years that have passed since the tzena ended, Israel has changed radically, beginning with a seven percent increase in calorie consumption every 10 years. Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, Israel’s current minister of health, recently launched a program encouraging healthy eating and discouraging the intake of high-fat, high-sugar and salt-filled junk food.
On the one hand, Israel now exports goods and services, and has earned an international reputation as a start-up nation. On the other hand, with its open market policy, it has seen the rise of numerous shopping malls that offer imported products. Like other Westerners, Israelis have become big online shoppers.
Nonetheless, many Israelis have been “left behind,” unable to make ends meet. Hopefully, the still-young state will close the gap between the haves and the have-nots and continue to manage its economy well into the 21st century.
Deborah Rubin Fields is an Israel-based features writer. She is also the author of Take a Peek Inside: A Child’s Guide to Radiology Exams, published in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
There are those who envision a future without Israel in it. No one knows what the future holds, yet there are some who, in their enthusiasm for a future without a Jewish state, are reinventing the past.
Last week, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, passed a resolution that effectively negates millennia of Jewish history at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The holiest site in Judaism and the physical centre of the Jewish world, is the place where the first and second temples stood. The remnants of the Second Temple, the Western Wall, is the place on earth toward which Jews have prayed for 2,000 years when they have not been able to pray at the Wall itself.
The land is contested because, in the eighth century, Al-Aqsa Mosque was constructed on the site of the temples’ ruins. To be generous, the Jews may have been there first, but it is nevertheless a holy site for Muslims as well. Tell that to UNESCO. According to the wildly ahistorical resolution last week, Jewish claims of ancient connection to the place are bogus.
The resolution, which repeatedly refers to Israel as the “Occupying Power,” includes a litany of offenses allegedly perpetrated by Israel and Israelis, including “storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif by the Israeli right-wing extremists and uniformed forces,” and accuses Israel of “planting Jewish fake graves.”
In addition to pages of condemnations of Israel, the resolution repeats familiar accusations that deny any Jewish connection to Judaism’s holiest site.
The resolution was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, countries that each have their own unique challenges that nevertheless do not detract from their obsession with imagined Jewish slights against Islam.
But the resolution was supported by numerous ostensible allies of Israel, including France, Spain and Sweden, as well as Russia. The United States, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom voted against. (Canada is not on UNESCO’s executive board.)
This sort of nonsense spewed up from agencies of the UN, to say nothing of the General Assembly, further undermines the legitimacy of what could be the world’s most valuable international forum and makes a mockery of the vision of the UN’s founders. None of this matters, of course, to the inmates who are running the asylum.
Ballet BC dancer Gilbert Small is among those who will perform Program 3. (photo by Michael Slobodian)
Ballet BC finishes this season with Program 3, which features the remount of artistic director Emily Molnar’s 16+ a room and of Finnish-born choreographer Jorma Elo’s I and I am You – as well as the Canadian première of Israeli choreographer Sharon Eyal’s Bill.
Already in Vancouver setting Eyal’s work for Ballet BC is Osnat Kelner, who has been choreographing since 2001. In addition to her own creations, Kelner is an assistant choreographer for Eyal and American-Israel choreographer Barak Marshall.
“I met both Sharon and Barak for the first time when I was dancing in the ensemble Batsheva in 2000 and they created pieces for the company,” Kelner told the Independent.
“I started setting Sharon’s pieces in 2005 after working with her again, this time as the rehearsal director of ensemble Batsheva, where she created another piece.
“I started working with Barak as his assistant in 2008. A year earlier, I met him in Israel, after his long absence. He discussed the option of coming to create a new piece, said he still remembered how great it was to work with me, and that he’d like me on his team.”
Eyal, who is based in Tel Aviv, is former resident choreographer of the Batsheva Dance Company. She currently is artistic director of L-E-V, a company she and Gai Behar formed. For Bill, she again collaborated with Behar and musician, drummer and DJ Ori Lichtik. In the work, notes Ballet BC, “Eyal combines dance, music and design into an instantly recognizable whole of raw, unexpected beauty created with equal parts ebb and flow. Premièred by Batsheva Dance Company, Bill showcases Eyal’s trademark shifts from large group to smaller ensemble, which, in turn, morph into breathtaking solos.”
“In order to set another choreographer’s pieces,” explained Kelner about her role in the production, “you firstly need their trust, you need a really good memory, the ability to see the big picture and the smallest details, and a way with people. It means you are responsible for passing information to dancers who have never worked with this choreographer before, and you try to stay as honest to that person’s vision as you understand it.”
Kelner also has her creative vision, which she focuses on more than one artistic endeavor.
“As a freelancer,” she said, “I do many different things. I choreograph, I stage other choreographers’ pieces, I work as rehearsal director for independent projects, I make costumes for dance and theatre, I sometimes perform myself and I’m the mother of a 19-month-old boy. I can’t imagine it any other way. I love being involved in many different projects, in different roles, and sometimes at the same time. I only grow and learn from it, as an artist and a person.”
Audiences at Program 3 will also see Molnar’s 16+ a room, set to music by Dirk Haubrich and inspired by the work of writers Jeanette Winterson and Emily Dickinson. According to the press material, it “displays Molnar’s unique choreographic language through a complex study of time, transition and stillness, where the space between is as important as the space occupied, where one is left with the feeling of both liberty and disappearance.”
Finally, Elo’s I and I am You, first performed by Ballet BC in 2013, features “Elo’s signature virtuosic vocabulary and lightning-fast musicality interspersed with moments of enormous intimacy and tenderness.”
Program 3 is at Queen Elizabeth Theatre May 12-14, 8 p.m. Tickets, which range from $30 to $90, can be purchased at 1-855-985-2787 or ticketmaster.ca.
At the Jewish National Fund, Pacific Region, Negev Dinner on April 10, left to right, are Ruth Rasnic, dinner honoree Shirley Barnett and B.C. Premier Christy Clark. (photo from JNF Pacific Region)
When many people think of feminism, it’s likely they connect it with the second half of the last century – names like Germaine Greer and Betty Friedan, who garnered followers in the 1970s for their discussion of equality and freedom.
Some will think of the suffrage movement at the beginning of the past century, which struggled to get women the vote.
But feminism for Ruth Rasnic means safety from harm, respect at home.
Rasnic is a much-decorated social activist recognized in her home of Israel for the work she started in the 1970s creating the organization No to Violence Against Women. She was also a founding member of Ratz, a political party that focused on human and civil rights, and, in 2008, she was appointed by former prime minister Ehud Olmert to his advisory council for women’s stature. She was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement in 2009, joining the ranks of Golda Meir, Abba Eban and Amos Oz.
Established by Rasnic in 1978, No to Violence Against Women provides emergency housing for victims of physical or psychological abuse. It also runs a 24-hour hotline and advocates for women’s rights.
Rasnic was in Vancouver recently to promote the collaboration between No to Violence Against Women and the Jewish National Fund, Pacific Region (JNF) to raise funds to rebuild a shelter in Rishon Le Zion. The goal is $1.5 million Cdn.
“By building shelters like the Rishon Le Zion shelter, giving women and children a safe haven, support, empowerment, legal aid, we enable them to carve a different future for themselves and their children,” Rasnic said.
The shelters provide victims of domestic violence with a safe environment in which to get a fresh start. They are provided with clothing, access to therapy, employment and assistance in finding new housing. A 24-hour housemother ensures that someone is with the women all the time. To ensure security for the women and their children, they are housed in a shelter that is not within their own city.
“Most women are in shock when they come to the shelter,” said Rasnic. “They have nothing. They may be haggard, malnourished, suffering from PTSD. Within a week, they are physically changed.”
Israel particularly faces challenges servicing victims of domestic violence because many women are new immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan, and don’t speak common languages. Many have no national status and are not medically insured.
“These are some of the harrowing things we have in the shelters,” she said. “Seven to eight percent of our residents are women, with children often, who are stateless and have no status in Israel. We are now working with the government to ensure that while these women are at the shelter, they can get medical aid.”
Rasnic said that legislation around this problem should be passed after Passover.
Rasnic was a guest of honor at the JNF Negev Dinner on April 10, and the next day visited King David High School to speak to the students. She is adamant that education has to be a key factor in making any difference in abuse toward women.
“No male baby is born a violent man. No female baby is born a victim,” she told the audience at the Negev Dinner. “These are societal norms learned in the home, school and army.”
She has even produced a book, The Shelter is My Home, which is written looking at life in a shelter through a child’s eyes.
“Nobody can take out an insurance policy for their daughters,” Rasnic said. “This is our joint responsibility.”
Beyond the issues for which she’s best known, Rasnic also feels strongly about other social issues in her hometown of Herzliya. She has worked on no-smoking campaigns, which included a free course for those wanting to quit; she has worked to get better access for people with disabilities to public areas in city; and she helped transform a kindergarten space into a drop-in health centre for teens.
At a national level, Rasnic is troubled by laws still on the books that require a woman to get her husband’s signed agreement in the case of abortion or a get (Jewish divorce document).
“Oh, talk about the get,” Rasnic said, her whole body seeming to stiffen at the thought. “Rabbis have to find a solution to the get. They must do it. My own daughter’s husband wouldn’t give her a get for three years.”
While in Vancouver, Rasnic remarked on the federal government’s new cabinet, which comprises 50% women, and Christy Clark being British Columbia’s premier.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “I think it will make a better society. I don’t think women are cleverer than men – I think we’re sensitized to different issues that men have simply ignored.”
No to Violence Against Women has three shelters in Israel, in Hadera, Herzliya and Rishon Le Zion. The fundraising efforts spearheaded by Rasnic are to rebuild the shelter in Rishon Le Zion, to be renamed the Vancouver Shelter. The cause was chosen as the beneficiary of the Negev Dinner by this year’s honoree, Shirley Barnett. To donate to the campaign, visit jnf.ca/index.php/vancouver/campaigns/negev-campaign.
Baila Lazarusis a freelance writer and media trainer in Vancouver. Her consulting work can be seen at phase2coaching.com.
The Hon. Jody Wilson-Raybould, minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, centre, addressed Project Tikkun participants at Hillel BC on March 13. (photo from Hillel BC)
As the academic year winds down on university campuses across the province and students gear up for exams and summer jobs, 15 student leaders from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University are also preparing for a totally different experience: a 16-day experiential learning and service trip to Rwanda and Israel.
Project Tikkun was developed by Hillel BC to challenge students to “understand the essence of hate by breaking down stereotypical thinking.” It is a yearlong program of learning that allows participants to explore the root causes of racism and antisemitism, culminating in a service trip to Rwanda and Israel between May 3 and 18.
The overseas component will enable participants to bear witness to how the diverse citizenry of two relatively young nation-states have grappled with a legacy of genocide. It will provide a firsthand examination of conflict resolution and reconciliation through the humanitarian work and activism pursued in each country to build durable and bonded communities.
According to its website, Project Tikkun brings together “undergraduate students of different ethnic backgrounds, religious practices, sexual orientation and personal beliefs to establish a caring and committed community of change-makers.”
Rebecca Recant, program director at Hillel BC, noted that the intent of the project is also to “build a local community of allies that can support each other when a [hateful] incident comes up, no matter which community.”
Student interest in the program exceeded the limited number of spaces and, last fall, a diverse group of 15 participants was selected. The group includes students of Chinese, Taiwanese, Indian, Korean, Persian and Rwandan backgrounds and a mix of the Jewish, Sikh, Baha’i and Christian faiths. The religious affiliation of the Jewish students varies – some come from secular homes whereas others were raised Orthodox; some have visited Israel and, for others, this will be their first trip to Eretz Yisrael.
Over the course of the year, the participants have been getting to know each other and examining their biases through intensive group learning sessions in which they have explored the history of Canada, Rwanda and Israel. A number of guest speakers, ranging from academics to community activists, have facilitated discussions. Of note, Dr. Andrew Baron, an assistant professor of psychology at UBC whose research examines the cultural and cognitive origins of unconscious bias, structured tests for Project Tikkun participants based on the Harvard Implicit Bias Test that he helped create. Jordana Shani, managing director of Hillel BC, explained that the testing of participants’ level of bias takes place at three different intervals: at the outset of the program, prior to departure and one to two months after return to Canada. The testing provides a way “to measure what we’ve done and how effective the program has been,” she said.
Certainly, much time, effort and money has been channeled into the program, especially the service trip. The journey begins in the capital city of Rwanda, Kigali, where local guides will accompany the students on a tour that will highlight the many landmarks and memorials of the 1994 genocide. The students will then travel to the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV), where they will spend the bulk of their time. Established in 2008 as a residential community-home to protect and nurture Rwandan children who were orphaned during and after the genocide, ASYV now cares for approximately 500 of Rwanda’s most vulnerable high school-aged students. It is modeled after Yemin Orde, an Israeli youth village founded in 1953 to care for orphans of the Holocaust, and it provides a family-like environment for at-risk youth.
The Rwandan students “grow up in this youth village hearing about the youth aliyah village in Israel that [ASYV] was based on,” said Recant. “It’s an Israeli model that is part of the connection between the two countries. They even know Hebrew words, like tikkun olam.”
At the youth village, Project Tikkun participants will learn and live side by side with the ASYV students and volunteer in the classrooms, on the farm and in the kitchen. They will accompany the ASYV students during their foray into town to fulfil a weekly community service commitment.
Libia Niyodusenga, a second-year UBC economics and geography student who was raised at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, is looking forward to returning to Rwanda as part of Project Tikkun. “I think the country itself has the best ways and methods of teaching people through so many organizations that are based in Rwanda and so many history-based sites that you can learn from,” he said.
From Rwanda, Project Tikkun participants will travel to Israel, arriving on Yom Ha’atzmaut, where they will celebrate Israel’s independence in Jerusalem. Later, they will commemorate the victims of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, tour the Old City and observe Shabbat before moving on to explore other parts of the country, including the Yemin Orde Youth Village. All the while, participants will learn from and volunteer with Israelis who are committed to combating intolerance and inequality – political, religious, ethno-cultural and socio-economic – to effect positive change within Israeli society.
The Israel portion of the trip will demonstrate that complex issues – both regional and domestic – defy the simplistic characterizations often portrayed by the media and that “you can love the country and be critical of it at the same time,” said Shani. The participants, she added, “will meet with people who believe in the right of Israel to exist and who are engaged to make it a better place.”
Jasmeet Khosa, a fourth-year student of international relations at UBC whose Sikh parents immigrated to Canada from Punjab, India, said: “I know that this project focuses on Rwanda and Israel as case studies [for conflict resolution and activism], but what I’ve learned so far is that this extends far beyond – [the message] is universal.”
By all accounts, Hillel BC is pleased with the results of the project thus far. Participants are inspired to help create positive change both at home and abroad and have developed a profound sense of strength through their diversity. As Khosa observed, “… the great thing is that we come from such different backgrounds – academically, culturally, religiously – that everyone brings their own perspective and we get a really great mix in that everyone has something unique to contribute to discussion and friendships, in general.” Niyodusenga added that the connections between program participants are already “deep and intimate.”
In reflecting on the many experiential learning and service trips that she participated in during university and how integral they were to forming her identity, Recant said, “Trips like this are life-changing.”
Shani and Recant are grateful for a grant from the Diamond Foundation that made Project Tikkun possible. While participants will pay a fee, the cost of the program is heavily subsidized to ensure that finances do not pose any obstacles. However, because of the decrease in the value of the Canadian dollar, Hillel BC is continuing to seek financial support for the program. For more information about Project Tikkun, visit projecttikkun.hillelbc.com; to make a donation, call 604-224-4748.
Alexis Pavlichis a Vancouver-based freelance reporter.
Raphael Hoult, winner of the inaugural Barry Rubin Prize Essay Competition. (photo from Raphael Hoult)
“A Game of Clocks: An Analysis of the Situation in the Middle East and Its Effects on Israel” by Winnipeg’s Raphael Hoult is the winner of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ inaugural Barry Rubin Prize Essay Competition.
Hoult, a physics major at the University of Winnipeg in his second year of studies, conjured up a mind-bending theory about the stability of Middle East security and consulted expert sources for his essay.
In physics, Hoult’s interests lie in the field of quantum gravitation, which attempts to combine two major theories – those of general relativity and quantum mechanics.
“These two theories don’t play well together,” said Hoult. “They conflict in places. The biggest place they conflict is in that every force in the universe has been quantized, meaning that we’ve found a very small, discrete package of it in the universe. For example, electromagnetism is delivered by something called a photon. The other forces have something that delivers them, as well. But, with gravity, we’ve found no such thing yet. What we say is we haven’t been able to quantify it, though there are a lot of theories out there for how to solve that problem. There’s string theory. Another is loop quantum gravity, that attempts to bring some parts together.
“I want to help look for a theory of quantum gravity, so we can finally resolve this dilemma … combine the two theories into one bigger theory, a more complete theory. And, hopefully, that will give us a lot more insight into the way gravity works and allow us to do more with our understanding of gravity – to utilize it more, similar to the way our deeper understanding of electricity and magnetism has allowed us to do more intricate electronics in the past couple years.”
According to Hoult, this reconciliation of quantum mechanics and general relativity has been the Holy Grail of physics for the past 50-some years, and solving it will be huge for physicists and the world as we know it.
“The proposed theoretical messenger particle for gravity is the graviton, which is something we’ve not yet observed at all,” he said. “Quantum mechanics requires there to be a graviton…. General relativity in no way makes reference to a graviton.
“The main thing is quantum mechanics works really well with very small things, general relativity works really well for really big things. Things with a lot of mass are usually very large. The problem comes when you have things that are very massive and also very small, such as neutron stars or black holes. These are very dense, have a lot of mass and exert a lot of gravitational force, but they are also very small. In the case of a black hole, they are actually on the atomic level. So, quantum mechanics is very important to the way they work, but general relativity also is in play. When our two theories don’t work and they are supposed to be working at the same time, that’s a problem and something we want to fix.”
In addition to his knowledge of physics, Hoult is also well-versed in Israeli politics. “I’ve actually never taken a political science course at university,” he acknowledged, “but I went to Gray Academy [of Jewish Education in Winnipeg], so I had a very strong basis in knowledge about Israel. I had a good grounding there. I also read the Times of Israel and Haaretz every day.”
When Hoult saw an advertisement for the Barry Rubin Essay Competition on Facebook, it piqued his interest. The contest topic was, “What does the current regional turmoil in the Middle East mean for Israel?”
In his essay, Hoult said, “The three main critical points I talked about were the constancy of Hezbollah, Hamas and Daesh (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS]). I wrote about the fact that Hezbollah is involved in the war in Syria, specifically as affiliates of Bashar Al-Assad. They support him and are fighting on behalf of him. On the flipside, a branch of ISIS, called Al-Wilayat Sinai, is operating in the Sinai Peninsula desert against the Egyptians, making their lives very difficult. They’ve also struck up an alliance with Hamas.”
According to Hoult, the main three players in regards to Israel involve Hezbollah in the north, Hamas in Gaza and Al-Wilayat Sinai (Daesh) in the south. Hoult does not delve into the Iranian threat in his essay, apart from Iran’s role in supporting these groups.
“My hypothesis was that these three forces are connected to one another,” he said. “And, because of the ongoing campaign against ISIS, my hypothesis is that, as soon as that campaign succeeds and breaks down ISIS, all hell will break loose for Israel.”
Hoult explained that this theory takes into account Hezbollah’s huge military arsenal, which is estimated at around 100,000 rockets, and their ability to hit every point in Israel from Metula to Eilat, combined with the southern threat from Hamas and from the Al-Wilayat Sinai, which, so far, has been mainly fighting the Egyptians.
“Once ISIS collapses in the north, the Al-Wilayat Sinai … will suddenly be like a tentacle that has been cut off from the squid,” he said. “It will have no control and will be in desperate throes to stay alive, making it likely that it will involve at least a couple cross-border raids. If those involve any Israeli deaths, it will force Israel to respond, which is an issue, due to the fact that Israel can’t cross the border without Egyptian permission.
“There is also the fact that Hamas is having another military build-up,” he added.
Hoult predicts this will likely lead to another war in 2017 and, once that war is over, he said Hezbollah would have had ample time to gather its troops and possibly attack Israel from the north. “This is not a good thing for Israel, as Hezbollah is dead set on destroying Israel if they can,” he said.
As to why Hoult thinks his essay was selected as the winner, he said he is not sure, although he imagines it may have “had something to do with all the sources cited, creating a compelling likelihood of my hypotheses coming true.”
One of his many concerns is that “the primary backer of Hezbollah and Hamas is Iran. Iran has just had billions of dollars unlocked, due to the nuclear deal … which I’m not going to condemn or support, though I’m a little bit skeptical of whether or not unlocking those funds was a good thing.”
When speaking to Jewish audiences about advocacy, I often refer to my own background as a Jewish convert in making the point that we sometimes have to apply a fresh perspective – and have a collective “out-of-body” experience – to understand the reality of our own circumstances. Sometimes, we are too close to the situation to evaluate it with clear eyes and objectivity.
Among the many things that make me proud of my father is the fact that, early in his career, he chose to serve the public as a police officer. I have heard it said that police disproportionately interact with the most challenging and marginal elements of society, perhaps just five percent of the public, on a regular basis. Just as one in such a role knows their daily encounters are not representative of broader society, we as Jews – who understandably take notice of antisemitism and anti-Zionism – must be cautious not to attribute these toxic manifestations to the majority of Canadians.
I could write an entire series of columns on how we as a community have far more allies in the non-Jewish world than we often appreciate. Instead, I’ll offer two factors internal to the Jewish world that suggest pro-Israel advocates should be optimistic.
1. There is far greater unity of purpose – and welcoming of diversity – in the Jewish world these days. In the past, there was significant disagreement between Jews on the best means to secure the future of the Jewish people in an often hostile world. The community was split along various lines: between Zionists and non-Zionists, assimilationists and Orthodox Jews, socialists and capitalists.
Today, post-Shoah and post-1948, the overwhelming majority of Jews are Zionists in that they believe the state of Israel should exist and thrive as a democratic Jewish homeland. Among Zionists, there is extraordinary diversity: we are Labor and Likud, religious and secular, social activist and academic alike.
There is ceaseless debate over how Israeli policies can best secure the ideals of Zionism and how Diaspora Jews can engage Israel in a meaningful way. This is all healthy. We wouldn’t be Jews if we didn’t subject these issues to serious thought and debate.
But this occurs within a strong consensus that Israel’s existence is fundamentally just, a blessing to the Jewish people and the entire world, and, ultimately, the centrepiece of our collective future just as it is our ancestral homeland. These aren’t just clichés; they are ideals brought to life every time a young Jewish Canadian boards a plane for Birthright, challenges anti-Zionism on Facebook, downloads the latest Israeli music, or volunteers for the Israel Defence Forces.
2. Despite facing serious challenges, Israelis are far more successful, happy and optimistic than we might think.
While Israelis have suffered in every generation from war and terrorism, none of this detracts from the fact that the IDF has proven its capacity to provide Israelis with secure borders and an astonishingly high level of public safety. This is no mean feat in the Middle East, let alone for a country smaller than Vancouver Island.
At the same time, Israel has seen remarkable economic and technological success. From 1992 to 2013, Israel-China trade skyrocketed from $50 million to $10 billion annually. Israeli exports to Europe have nearly doubled since the boycott-divestment-sanctions movement was launched in 2005. Trade with emerging markets like India has likewise increased. Outside Silicon Valley, Israel now has the highest concentration of high-tech firms on the planet.
Success at a macroeconomic level doesn’t mean there aren’t serious challenges. The cost-of-living, for example, continues to be a burden for many Israelis. But, with each passing generation, Israel grows stronger economically and Israelis are afforded greater opportunities to learn, work and engage the world.
Israelis also enjoy a remarkably high quality of life. Israelis have the same life expectancy as Canadians (81) and Israel boasts a universal health-care system that typically beats Canada in international performance rankings. According to the OECD’s 2015 Better Life Index, which measures various social and life factors, Israel is the fifth happiest country in the world – ahead of Canada, the United States and most of Europe.
What would early Zionist thinkers like Theodor Herzl and his contemporaries say if they could read these statistics and walk the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv today? How often do we forget how far we have come as a people?
I had the honor this February of leading a group of Canadian master’s-level students on a public policy study trip to Israel, one of many fact-finding missions we organize. (CIJA annually takes some 200 Canadians to Israel.) The students, all of whom are non-Jewish, were amazed at the innovation, diversity and vitality shown by Israelis despite living in the world’s most unstable neighborhood. They saw what we should never lose sight of: a country and a people from whom we can learn so much.
Indeed, Israel embodies so much of what’s right in the world today – and it is on this basis that we should share all that Israel has to offer with the world around us.
Steve McDonald is the deputy director of communications and public affairs, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
Participants in the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ annual convention, which took place in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in February. (photo from Dan Moskovitz)
Among the approximately 400 Reform rabbis who gathered in Israel in the last week of February for the 127th annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), which is the rabbinic leadership organization of Reform Judaism, were Temple Sholom’s Rabbi Dan Moskovitz and Rabbi Carey Brown.
Of the rabbis who attended, about 100 of them were from Israel and Europe, the rest from North America. Moskovitz traveled from Vancouver, while Brown was in Israel at the time on her rabbinic sabbatical.
“It’s important for Reform rabbis to have a presence in Israel, to show that we are committed to an Israel that is based on our shared the values of democracy, pluralism, peace and inclusivity,” said Moskovitz in a press release before the convention. “This valuable on-the-ground experience in Israel, including with Israeli leaders, will enable me to share the insights I gained with my community and deepen our ongoing learning and relationship with Israel.”
“The highlight of our time there, for me, was the egalitarian Torah service at the new prayer space, Ezrat Israel, at the Western Wall,” Moskovitz told the Independent after his return. “We had the privilege of being present at the first official Torah service, which was officiated by Rabbi Ada Zavirov of Israel and Rabbi Zach Shapiro of Los Angeles.” That the Torah service was led by a woman and a gay man increased its poignancy for many. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the head of the Reform movement, addressed the crowd after the service.
Moskovitz also participated in a fact-finding mission about poverty and women’s rights in the Orthodox community. They met with Hamutal Guri, chief executive officer of the DAFNA Fund: Women Collaborating for Change, a group that works on a broad spectrum of issues facing women in Israel. They also met with Efrat Ben Shoshan Gazit and Liora Anat-Shafir, who are both leaders in the ultra-Orthodox community. Their contacts highlighted many of the unseen struggles that women face in order to succeed in Israeli society, and the many issues they face in the ultra-Orthodox world in particular.
Gazit led the successful No Voice, No Vote Campaign, which told Orthodox men that unless women can run in Orthodox political parties they will not vote for Orthodox political parties. Anat-Shafir was instrumental in banning tzniyut (modesty) squads, which policed how women dressed in her community of Beit Shemesh.
In Hebron, Moskovitz met with members of the Jewish community. Hebron, traditionally a spiritual destination for religious pilgrims, is now a divided city. Israel Defence Forces checkpoints, barbed wire and fences restrict Palestinian movement and protect the Jewish population and holy sites. The rabbis arrived minutes after a terror attack that killed one Israeli soldier at a checkpoint outside the city. “As our bus arrived, the carnage and crime scene were right before our eyes,” said Moscovitz.
On a more positive note, Brown met with representatives of the Israel Religious Action Centre to discuss racism and incitement in Israel, and studied an IRAC project that examines locations in Israel where there is a high level of coexistence between Arabs and Jews in order to find patterns of success for the future. “One particular area of focus is the health-care field,” she said, “one area which serves as a wonderful example of Arabs and Jews working together in Israel.”
Knesset members representing eight different political parties addressed more than 300 of the Reform rabbis at a special meeting of the Israeli-Diaspora Knesset Committee on Feb. 25. MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union and leader of the opposition) told those assembled: “I congratulate all of you for the recent decisions on the Kotel to create an egalitarian and pluralistic prayer space and the Supreme Court decision giving rights to Reform and Conservative converts to use state-sponsored mikvaot. The decisions of the Israeli government and the High Court of Justice are not acts of kindness. They are based in Jewish responsibility and democratic principles, which is what the state of Israel is meant to advocate. Religion in the state cannot be monopolized by the ultra-Orthodox. You in the Reform movement are our partners and will always be our partners.”
Similar statements came from MKs Tamar Zandburg (Labor), Tzipi Livni (Tenua), Amir Kohana (Likud), Rachel Azariah (Kulanu), Dov Khanin (Arab List), Michal Biran (Labor), Nachman Shai (Labor), Michal Michaeli (Meretz), Michael Oren (Kulanu) and others.
The convention wasn’t all meetings. To support Reform Judaism in Israel, CCAR rabbis participated in the Tel Aviv Marathon (running or walking five or 10 kilometres). Everywhere they went, they were warmly welcomed and cheered on, said Moskovitz, and the rabbis saw the marathon as a chance to promote the benefits of the Reform movement to Israeli society.
“The Reform Movement in Israel, which is growing daily, aims to create an Israel that is democratic, pluralistic and inclusive,” stressed Moskovitz. “Those are values which many Israelis strongly identify with.”
Both Moskovitz and Brown were impressed with the growing profile of Reform and Masorti (Conservative) Judaism in Israel, and the increasing strides being made for religious liberty and pluralism. Since the rabbis’ return to Vancouver, the agreement on the egalitarian prayer space has hit some roadblocks, but the momentum seems clear. The extreme statements coming from ultra-Orthodox politicians – such as Meir Porush of United Torah Judaism’s recent call to throw the Women of the Wall “to the dogs” – are likely an indication of a growing desperation in the face of a loss of power to dictate the course of Judaism in Israel.
“Every day we were there,” said Moskovitz, “we were vilified in the press by ultra-Orthodox rabbis and politicians. I was happy to see that: if they’re not talking about you, you’re irrelevant.”
Matthew Gindinis a writer, lecturer and holistic therapist. As well as teaching holistic medicine, Gindin regularly lectures on topics in Jewish and world spirituality, and has a particular passion for making ancient wisdom traditions relevant in the modern world. His work has been featured on Elephant Journal, the Zen Site and Wisdom Pills, and he blogs at Talis in Wonderland (mgindin.wordpress.com) and Voices (hashkata.com).
