Tag Archives: Parliament

Jews of the Week: Houda & Ebrahim Nonoo

Houda Nonoo with former president George W. Bush

Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo (b. 1964) was born in the small Arabian kingdom of Bahrain, to Jewish parents of Iraqi ancestry. She spent a major part of her formative years in Britain, where she went to Jewish school. Nonoo earned her BA and MBA in England, and also married there. After her father died, she returned to Bahrain and took over the family business, growing it ever larger. She was soon a well-noted businesswoman, and the secretary-general of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society. From there, she was able to get a seat in Bahrain’s parliament, appointed by the King of Bahrain himself. For over three years, she sat on the Shura Council, which is the upper house of the Bahraini legislature. In 2008, Nonoo was appointed Bahrain’s ambassador to the U.S. This made her the first Jewish ambassador from any modern Arab country. She served in that post for the next five years.

Her cousin and fellow businessman, Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, also served in Bahrain’s parliament. He is the CEO of the Basma Company, which offers an array of services from security and IT solutions to travel, and custodial services. Meanwhile, he continues to direct the family’s foreign exchange and investment business, together with his siblings. Their Bahrain Stock Company now has 19 branches across the kingdom, and is the country’s main Western Union agent. In 2006, Ebrahim financed the reconstruction of Bahrain’s only remaining synagogue. Today, there are less than 50 Jews left in Bahrain.

Words of the Week

Better a sinful person who knows that he has sinned, than a righteous person who knows that he is righteous.
– Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz, The “Seer of Lublin”

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: Benjamin Disraeli

Prime Minister of the U.K.

Benjamin Disraeli

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) A descendant of Sephardic Jews from Portugal – which came to Britain by way of Italy – Disraeli was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1874 until 1880. His Conversative Party made great strides for Britain, and it was said he did “more for the working classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty.” Disraeli was a staunch imperialist, working hard to spread the borders of the British Empire. He purchased the Suez Canal, invaded Afghanistan, and made Queen Victoria the Empress of India. If that’s not impressive enough, he also wrote 18 novels and 8 non-fiction books. Despite being baptized by his father at a young age, Disraeli always identified as a Jew. On one occasion, while debating in Parliament, a fellow MP attacked him with an anti-Semitic remark, to which Disraeli replied: “Yes, I am a Jew, and when the ancestors of the Right Honourable Gentleman were brutal savages in an unknown island, mine were priests in the Temple of Solomon.”

Words of the Week

A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness.
– Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi