On Monday, October 7 at 9pm ET, VisionTV will present the world premiere of Forgotten Expulsion: Jews From Arab Lands, a new documentary from filmmaker Martin Himel specially commissioned by Executive Producer Moses Znaimer. 

To watch the show here, click on https://vimeo.com/video/1013612739 (Warning: The first segment of the show contains extremely graphic footage from October 7.)

Password: Zoomer2024

ABOUT FORGOTTEN EXPULSION: JEWS FROM ARAB LANDS

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 hostages in an invasion marked by methodically planned unprecedented levels of barbarism.

Not only was it the most extensive slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, it also sparked a wave of Pro Palestinian/Antisemitic protests worldwide. The protestors claim Israel should be destroyed because it is allegedly a colonial state artificially created by European and North American Zionists.

The documentary Forgotten Expulsion: Jews From Arab Lands shows that these Zionists are Jews, and that Jews have been indigenous to the Land of Israel and the Middle East for the past 3,500 years. Jews are, and have been an intrinsic part of the Middle East long before the Arabs conquered the region 1,400 years ago; 1,000 years before Christianity, 1,500 years before Islam.

In 1947/48, it was not only 700,000 Palestinians who were displaced during the Israel war of Independence, but 850,000 Jews were also expelled from their ancient homes in Arab countries by Islamic regimes + their murderous mobs.  The film argues that if Palestinians are to be repatriated and to receive compensation for their loss, then Jewish refugees from Arab Lands should also be repatriated + compensated.

Forgotten Expulsion also highlights the strange case of the Palestinians, the only refugee population in the world that never declines. That original refugee population of 700,000 now numbers 5 million. Some genocide!  

Featuring: 

Rabbi Elie Abadi, Senior Rabbi for the Jewish Council of the Emirates in Dubai, UAE, prominent Sephardic Judaism scholar

Avraham El Arar, President, Canadian Sephardi Association 

Judy Feld Carr, Rescuer of 3,228 Syrian Jews + Human RIghts Activist

Professor Henry Green, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami

Eylon Levi, Former Israeli Government Spokesman, Current Leader of the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office, prominent figure representing Israel internationally since the start of the October 7 War against Hamas

Simcha Jacobovici, Canadian-Israeli Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker 

Professor Shimon Ohayon, Head of the Dahan Center for Culture, Society & Education in the Sephardic Heritage, Bar Ilan University 

Ambassador Mark Regev, Chair Abba Eban Institute at Reichman University, Former Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs + International Communications

Eli Sadr, Former Jewish Refugee from Syria

Dr Stanley Urman, Executive Vice-President, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries

Levana Zamier, Former Jewish Refugee from Egypt

One narrative that has grown more dominant in the past few months is that which seeks to target, discredit, and harm “Zionists.”
I worry that many Canadians do not actually know what “Zionism” means, nor do they understand its origins, or how its sudden weaponization is concerning to Jews everywhere, and should be concerning to you, too. I write this piece with the hope that it may provide some clarity to those looking to delve more deeply into discussions they are seeing emerge online and in our public discourse on this topic.
This week, I made a post on social media that took exception to a group trying to garner support for the boycotting of “Zionist Restaurants” in Montreal. In my response, I said the following: “Don’t be fooled by what this means: it means don’t buy from Jews. Don’t associate with Jews. Don’t be near Jews. This is antisemitism. This is hate. Call it out for what it is.”
“Remember to ask yourself this”, I said: “Why should my Jewish friends, colleagues, neighbours and fellow Canadians be the subject of targeted attacks because of how some feel about Israel?”
Why do I believe the demand to boycott or target “Zionists”, whether that be businesses or individuals, is problematic? I’ll explain.
Those who suggest anti-Zionism is not antisemitism will point out that Judaism and Zionism are different. They are correct in that one is a religion, and I would argue, a people (or culture for some), and the other is simply a belief that Israel, as a Jewish homeland, should exist. By critiquing Zionism, they say, they are taking issue with the Israeli Government, and not Jews.
Here is the problem with that: the vast majority of Jews identify as Zionists. Again, this just means that they believe in a Jewish State or homeland. Some hold this belief because they see Israel as the ancestral homeland of Jews. For others, it is because they feel as though the treatment of Jews, as destructive as it has been over history, merits a safe place for them to live as a collective.
Whatever the reason one calls themselves a Zionist, the important thing to know is that the view pertains to the existence of the State as a homeland itself, not the way the state conducts its affairs.
Zionism has absolutely nothing to do with a predetermined set of views about what the Israeli Government of the day decides to do on any issue, whether that be about Gaza, or policies related to education, or the environment.

Zionism does not presuppose a singular position on the actions of the government of Israel or of the Jewish people. When the Zionist movement began in fact, there was no Government of Israel.
Some Zionists will support elements of Israeli Government policy, and others, such as the over 500,000 protesting in the streets of Israel itself, will have a different view. At any given moment, Zionists, just like anybody else, will hold a range of views on various topics to do with both Israel and beyond.
So, when one says “boycott Zionists”, presumably on the basis of some objection that they have to Israeli’s military campaign in Gaza, they make an assumption that all Zionists are supportive of those actions being undertaken by the Israeli government. As such, they say, the “Zionists” should be punished through boycotts and public shaming.
The main point here is that one can be a Zionist while at the same time disagree with the way Israel responds to conflict. So why treat all “Zionists” the same?
Therein lies the problem. If one wants to call out people who support the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, so be it – there is plenty to object to in my view – but don’t use the label of Zionism as the pretext that serves as the foundation of those criticisms. When one does that, they are crossing the line into antisemitism.
If one doesn’t believe Israel has a right to exist, they should say that instead. Do not universally categorize a group of people as being responsible for the actions of individuals or governments; that is what we call “prejudice.” Do not be prejudiced towards Jews by assuming they are all the same, that’s called antisemitism.
To call for the universal boycott and targeting of “Zionists” is really just a call to boycott those that believe Israel has a right to exist, and that, as it were, just so happens to include the overwhelming majority of Jews, too.
Ben Carr is the MP for Winnipeg South Centre

By MYRON LOVE About 25 years ago (or so), I took a class given by Rabbi Allan Green, then still the rabbi at the Beth Israel Synagogue –  delving into the meaning of the opening prayers that are recited daily during the morning service. It was one of the more interesting classes that I have taken.  Regrettably,  he didn’t follow up with more classes exploring the origins and meaning of the prayers we recite in shul.
After reading James Gershfield’s new biography of his father, the late Rabbi Rabbi Edward M. Gershfield, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 86, and his passion for the meanings of words and prayers, I think I would have enjoyed studying with him.
James Gershfield’s “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend: The Life, Thought, Humor, and Wisdom of Rabbi Edward M. Gershfield” is, in a sense, a sequel to “Rainy River Girl,” a memoir of his mother, Toby Gershfield, co-written and published by her son – a former computer  software developer who decided a couple of years ago to change direction and founded Scribal Scion Publishing LLC, a small publishing company dedicated to publishing – under the Scribal Scion imprint – Jewish books that inspire and comfort.
As reported a few weeks back in the pages of the Jewish Post, “Rainy River Girl” is the story of Toby Gershfield’s early years growing up in the small southwestern Ontario community where her father Dr. Nathan Helman served as the town dentist.  Her mother, Sophie, was the daughter of the esteemed Rabbi Israel Kahanovitch – Western Canada’s foremost rabbi in the interwar years and beyond.

While “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend” does have aspects of a biography – largely in the opening and closing chapters – the 180 page book is more an ode to a beloved and illustrious father.  
In his short introduction to “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend”, Gershfield observes that “every person is unique, which is a ‘truism,’ as my late father would say. However, some people have a very unusual combination of personal strengths, knowledge, insights and personality that make it worthwhile to get to know them and their life stories”.
He notes that his father combined a variety of qualities that made the elder Gershfield’s life, thought, humour, and wisdom worth studying.  His  father,  he writes, “was a rabbi, a scholar, a father, and a friend.  He was  also a beloved teacher, an innovative thinker, a gifted orator, a respected adviser to other rabbis, an expert on comparative Jewish and Roman law, a beautiful singer of Jewish prayers, and a talented Hebrew scribe who administered and wrote many Jewish divorce documents, known as Gittin.”
Ed Gershfield was born and grew up in Winnipeg.  “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend” chronicles his early years here.  The future rabbi actually had a largely secular education – having attended Machray Elementary School  and St John’s. 
While he did attend synagogue – the Tiferes Israel (aka the Mezhiricher shul) regularly with his father, it was at Talmud Torah (evening school) that his love of Judaism was inculcated.  The most important influences were his cheder teacher Mr. Klein and Rabbi Avraham Kravetz, the school’s principal.  It was Rabbi Kravetz who recognized promise in the young Gershfield and encouraged him to consider the rabbinical life.
Rabbi Kravetz encouraged his young protégé to enrol in the Jewish Theological Seminary with the idea that, according to James Gershfield, after he received his ordination he would return to Winnipeg to lead a new Jewish Studies Department that Rabbi Kravetz was hoping to establish at the University of Manitoba.  When that didn’t materialize, the newly ordained Rabbi Gershfield decided to remain in Manhattan.
Although he did serve as a congregational rabbi for a couple of years early in his career – and again in the early 1980s, his true passions was for teaching and scholarship.  In addition to his study at the JTS, he earned an MA in Latin from Columbia University and a PhDl in the study of Jewish law, as compared to Roman Law. 
He was one of America’s pre-eminent experts in the field. He also became a specialist in granting Jewish divorces (gittin).  His son devotes entire chapters to the subject  of gittin and his father’s study of Roman law.
Readers, I am sure, will also enjoy Rabbi Gershfield’s thoughts on Jews and Judaism, examples of his words and wisdom and humour, some of his stories and his analyses of the meanings of some Hebrew words, expressions and prayers in  the siddur.
“This book was written from my perspective as his son,” writes James Gershfield, “and is based on both my personal experiences and the knowledge that I have gained about his life from people who knew him, and from his writings and audio recordings.
“Once my father turned 80 years old, I felt that there were many times in my life when I had not paid enough attention to what he was saying, and I was sure that there were many things that he said that I didn’t remember. So, I made an extra effort during the next several years to listen carefully to any stories that he would tell, and to write them down so that I could remember them and preserve them. Many of those stories and thoughts are in this book.”
Rabbi Gershfield passed away in 2019 at the age of 86.
“While I worked as a software engineer for over forty years,” notes James in the book, “I gradually came to understand that you don’t need to be a pulpit rabbi to have a strong connection to Judaism and Jewish learning. As I got older, I gradually figured out a way to connect with my father in a way that we could both understand each other. That is the intended meaning behind the title of this book: “Rabbi Scholar Father Friend”. My relationship with him developed over time from him being my rabbi, which never changed, to a scholar, to my father and finally to being my friend.”

“Rabbi Scholar Father Friend” is available in both paperback and hard cover on Amazon.