Tag Archives: Order of Canada

Jew of the Week: Judy Feld Carr

Saving Syria’s Jews

Judy Feld Carr

Judith Feld Carr (b. 1938) was born in Montreal and grew up in Sudbury. She earned a Master’s in musicology from the University of Toronto, and taught music in both high schools and universities, including Yeshiva University in New York and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In the early 70s, inspired by a neighbour who was a Holocaust survivor, and by an article in the Jerusalem Post about 12 young Syrian Jews who were badly hurt when attempting to flee the country, Carr undertook a mission, together with her then-husband Dr. Ronald Feld, to help disadvantaged Jews living in Arab lands. Following the establishment of Israel in 1948, the living conditions for over a million Jews living in Arab lands became intolerable. In the following years, around 900,000 Jews were forcibly expelled from their homes across the Arab world. While the global community focuses on the Palestinian refugee crisis, few have ever paid much attention to the plight of these Jews. In Syria, Jews were barred from leaving the country (in fact, they were forbidden from traveling more than three kilometres without a permit!) and were forced to remain under terrible circumstances. Carr made contact with Syrian Jews in Canada who could help her, and then with Rabbi Ibrahim Hamra in Damascus, with whom she worked to smuggle Jews out of Syria, as well as to ransom Jews trapped in Syrian prisons. They communicated in secret by highlighting phrases in Torah texts that would be sent back and forth. Carr soon received death threats for her efforts, but persevered, even after her husband passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. In 1973, a charity fund was established at Beth Tzedec Synagogue in Toronto to assist Carr in her work. All in all, over three thousand Jews were rescued from Syria – three quarters of the whole community. Carr was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the Order of Canada, as well as Israel’s Presidential Award of Distinction, among many others. A book about her story has been adapted to film.

Words of the Week

The three loves – love of God, love of Torah and love of one’s fellow – are all one. One cannot differentiate between them, for they are of a single essence… And since they are of a single essence, each one embodies all three.
– Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Jews of the Week: Zalman Posner and Herb Gray

In Memory of Two Great Jews

Herb Gray

Herbert Eser Gray (1931-2014) was born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of Belorussian-Jewish immigrants. He practiced as a lawyer after receiving a degree from Osgoode Hall, before being elected to parliament in 1962. He became the first Jewish cabinet minister in Canada’s history. He would go on to be re-elected a whopping twelve times, setting a record as the longest-serving Canadian parliamentarian in history. During this time, he served in multiple roles including Leader of the Opposition, Solicitor General, and even Deputy Prime Minister. After retiring from politics, he was the Chancellor of Carleton University. Awarded a great many honours, including the Order of Canada, he was just one of a few people to be granted the title “The Right Honourable”, and was nicknamed the “Godfather of Politics”. Beloved by his constituents and on Parliament Hill, Herb Gray sadly passed away last week.

Rabbi Zalman Posner

Just two days after came the sad news of the passing of Rabbi Zalman Posner (1927-2014). Born in Israel to parents who fled the Soviet Union, Posner’s family later immigrated to the U.S. to help in stimulating Jewish community life. After the Holocaust, Posner went to Europe to help survivors and refugees in DP camps. In 1949, he took up the post as Chabad rabbi of Nashville, Tennessee, and went on to serve as Nashville’s rabbi for 53 years. During this time, he helped open the community’s first Jewish schools, brought Jewish life onto university campuses, became renowned internationally as a profound lecturer, published eight popular books on Judaism, along with penning dozens of intriguing articles, and inspired countless people around the world. Rabbi Posner passed away last Wednesday, and is survived by his five children, and many more grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Words of the Week

A well from which you drank, cast not a stone into it.
– Midrash Rabbah, Bamidbar 22:4

Jew of the Week: Irwin Cotler

Irwin Cotler

Irwin Cotler (b. 1940) was born in Montreal and studied law at McGill University. After continuing his education at Yale, he returned to McGill as a law professor, and directed its Human Rights Program for over 25 years. As an expert on international and human rights law, Cotler served as a counsel for famous political prisoners like Nelson Mandela, Maher Arar, and Natan Sharansky. He has advised the Middle East peace process, and was involved in the Camp David Accords that brought peace between Israel and Egypt. In the 1980s, he served as President of the Canadian Jewish Congress, while also working to combat apartheid in South Africa. In 1999, he was elected as a Canadian Member of Parliament with a landslide victory that gave him 92% of the vote, described as “the most stunning electoral victory in this century.” Between 2003 and 2006, he served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and has been lauded for his work in ensuring human rights and citizen privacy, particularly in the face of increasingly restrictive anti-terrorism legislation. He has worked against discrimination, anti-Semitism, and racism, appointing two women to the Supreme Court (making Canada’s the most gender-representative in the world), and appointing the first aboriginals and visible minorities to appellate courts. He issued the first national initiative against racism, worked to bring justice to victims of the Rwanda massacres, and even to indict former Iranian President Ahmadinejad for inciting genocide. Cotler reverted more wrongful convictions than any other minister in history. Having been re-elected as MP no less than 5 times, Cotler recently announced that he will not seek further re-election, and is ready to retire, though he intends to remain very active in social justice and peace activism. Awarded ten honourary degrees and the Order of Canada, Irwin Cotler is described as a key global player “in the struggle for justice, peace and human rights.”

Words of the Week

And God said: “. . . Abraham shall be a great people . . . Because I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him that they shall keep the way of God, to do righteousness and justice.”
– Genesis 18:17–19