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“Anti-Zionist” Jews Disgrace Themselves
By HENRY SREBRNIK Is so-called “anti-Zionism” antisemitic? It was not always so. Prior to the Holocaust and the creation of a Jewish state, many Jews did consider Zionism – a return to the Land of Israel — unworkable, unnecessary, even wrong-headed. In the United States, prior to the Holocaust, Reform Jews in the American Council for Judaism were committed to the proposition that Jews are not a national but a religious group. Jewish socialists and others on the political left, including the influential Jewish Labour Bund, were opposed to what they thought was an ideological “bourgeois” error.
But these were internal debates in the Diaspora, and in any case most non-Jewish people had little say about them — if they even bothered to pay any attention to these internal arguments within Jewish circles. Nor, obviously, did those politically against the Zionist movement ally with pogromists who slaughtered Jews.
All of that is history, really part of a vanished Jewish world. Yes, there are remnants of that past, in sectors of the haredi world. The Satmar Hasidim are the most visible. They are theologically committed to a reading of Jewish history that considers that the recreation of a Jewish nation must await the Messiah. They are “anti-Zionists” in the legitimate sense of the word, but no one thinks they want to kill the Jews in Israel or elsewhere.
That’s a different matter than today’s Jewish anti-Zionists, who are largely uninformed about Judaism, Jewish history and culture. They are a fringe group, allied with states and ideologies that want to eliminate the existing Jewish state of Israel and perhaps even murder most of its Jewish population and expel the remainder. Today’s version has more to do with pre-war German Nazi eliminationism than with long-forgotten intra-Jewish disputes.
Assimilated into left-wing movements and doctrines, these Jews are in most cases little more than Jews through genealogy, “Jews in name only,” making political use of that on behalf of those wishing to destroy Israel. Their “anti-Zionism” is part of the larger antisemitic movements arrayed against us, and they serve, to use a well-known term, “useful idiots.” They make use of general slogans, identity politics and symbolic statements like wearing a keffiyeh, with minimal complexity and knowledge.
They are producing vast amounts of simplistic one-sided literature and media. One example is the film “Israelism,” the story of two young American Jews “raised to defend the state of Israel at all costs” who “join the movement battling the old guard over Israel’s centrality in American Judaism, and demanding freedom for the Palestinian people.” Call them “Jewish shields” for the pro-Palestinian left that is glorifying the post-October 7 pogrom by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“Antisemitism in Canada and abroad is primarily presenting itself through the prism of anti-Zionism, which, in my opinion, is the most pervasive form of antisemitism, and the most perverse in a number of ways,” remarked Casey Babb, a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Institute for National Security Studies. I guess our Jewish “anti-Zionists,” wilfully blinded by the company they keep, refuse to see what’s in front of our eyes.
Fortunately, here in Canada, despite the noise they make, such anti-Zionist Jews are a tiny and marginalized group. Professor Robert Brym of the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto and probably Canada’s most eminent Jewish academic, on May 30 released an addition to his lengthy “Jews and Israel Survey 2024” published in the spring 2024 issue of the journal Canadian Jewish Studies.
To his question “Do you believe Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state?” 91 per cent of his Canadian Jewish respondents answered in the affirmative, six per cent said they don’t know, and only three percent said no.
We know the difference between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. The belief that the Jews, alone among the people of the world, do not have a right to self-determination, or that the Jewish people’s religious and historical connection to Israel is invalid, is inherently bigoted. When Jews are verbally or physically harassed or Jewish institutions and houses of worship are vandalized in response to actions of the State of Israel, it is antisemitism.
Expressions of anti-Zionism include downplaying or negating the historic and spiritual Jewish connection to the land of Israel, and the insistence on holding Israel to unreasonable standards when viewing its response to threats in comparison to the actions of other members of the international community.
Now many of these Jewish anti-Zionists don’t necessarily agree with everything listed above. But by associating and collaborating with those who do, they are at the very least, to use an old-fashioned phrase, “fellow travellers” allied to these antisemitic movements. And they can be paraded before the media as Jews who have seen the evil that Israel causes. What better evidence?
Some of Canada’s most disruptive actions and blockades have been coordinated by groups with U.S. funding and organizational links. For example, the Tides Foundation, a San Francisco-based “social justice” non-profit has supported Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow, among others, in the United States. Both have been perennial organizers of anti-Israel rallies and blockades.
The Canadian affiliate of JVP, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, calls itself a “grassroots organization in Canada grounded in Jewish tradition that opposes all forms of racism & advocates for justice and peace for all in Palestine-Israel.” It calls Zionism “the political ideology that has provided the basis for Israel’s settler-colonial project and unfolding genocide in Palestine.”
They are indeed “useful,” and antisemites know it. On May 27, for instance, a representative was on Parliament Hill holding a press conference insisting that the country’s network of pro-intifada campus encampments was not antisemitic.
On June 10 the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), one of Canada’s largest public sector unions, which is actively engaged in Pro-Palestinian activities, held a discussion “Addressing Islamophobia and antisemitism in the Workplace.” Of course no Jew supporting Israel was invited, not even Deborah Lyons, Canada’s Special Envoy on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, and a former ambassador to Israel.
The panelists were Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, and, on the Jewish side, Avi Lewis, a former Al Jazeera correspondent and now an associate professor of “social and political change” at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
However, Lewis, scion of a prominent family that has been for decades active in the New Democratic Party – grandfather David led the federal NDP and father Stephen was head of the Ontario party — is an active “anti-Zionist,” a member of the anti-Zionist Independent Jewish Voices Canada, and a co-founder of the UBC chapter of the Jewish Faculty Network.
Richard Marceau, vice president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said the union’s efforts at doing something about antisemitism were disappointing.
“Inviting someone like Avi Lewis — who is not an expert on antisemitism, who is a marginal figure in the Jewish community and who is viciously opposed to Israel — to train union members on antisemitism shows how unserious PSAC is about combatting Jew-hatred,” he stated.
Yes, Jews can be Jew-haters too. (The term “self-hating Jew” is silly; they hate other Jews, not themselves.) Such Jews now face anti-Israel sentiment of unprecedented ferocity, often couched in the language of social justice, critical race theory, and so-called intersectionality. It is sustained by the hegemonic hold of a theory of “settler colonialism,” now ubiquitous in Canada’s universities, and one which deems Israel an illegitimate colonial settler state.
And Palestinian academics known how to use this terminology to make their case. Typical is an article by Joseph Massad, a professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University, New York. In a May 30 oped, “Instead of Recognizing ‘Palestine,’ Countries Should Withdraw Recognition of Israel,” published on the website Middle East Eye, he uses all the correct buzzwords, referring to “Israel’s illegality as an institutionally Jewish supremacist racist state.” He considers the very establishment of this “settler-colonialist” state “an illegal act and in violation of the very UN resolutions that proposed its establishment.”
Massad therefore advocates the “dismantlement of Israel’s racist structures and laws” in favour of “one decolonised state, from the river to the sea, in which everyone living within it is equal before the law and does not benefit from any racial, ethnic, or religious privileges.” Only the end of the Israeli “settler-colonial state” will lead to a “decolonised anti-racist and democratic outcome.”
Massad’s analysis and prescription is the true bedrock Palestinian position, as presented for western ears. (Hamas’ creed is a different matter.) The theoretical construct behind it is one that fits completely within today’s liberal-progressive ideology espoused by the intellectual elites in western countries now. The “anti-Zionist” Jews reading them usually know far less about what the Jewish people have gone through historically. This makes them easy prey for our enemies.
Natan Sharansky, currently Chair of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), and McGill University history professor Gil Troy, in a June 16, 2021 Tablet article entitled “The Un-Jews,” asserted that these people “are trying to disentangle Judaism from Jewish nationalism, the sense of Jewish peoplehood.” And the voices of these “inflamed Jewish opponents of Israel and Zionism are in turn amplified by a militant progressive superstructure that now has an ideological lock on the discourse in American academia, publishing, media, and the professions.”
We hear it from progressives like the author Naomi Klein, who is professor of Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia (and married to Avi Lewis). Klein’s Passover message in the April 24 British Guardian newspaper was headlined “We Need an Exodus from Zionism.” She told readers that “we don’t need or want the false idol of Zionism. We want freedom from the project that commits genocide in our name.”
For Klein, Zionism “takes our most profound biblical stories of justice and emancipation from slavery– the story of Passover itself — and turns them into brutalist weapons of colonial land theft, roadmaps for ethnic cleansing and genocide.” The creation of the State of Israel, and the entire Zionist movement, was a ghastly mistake and Jewish life is best led in exile.
“Arguing for the purity of exile and powerlessness, and demanding abandonment of the now-impure Jewish State,” Elliott Abrams, currently a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, observes sadly that “we have indeed been watching the young American Jews who helped build those campus tent cities and joined the denunciations of the Jewish State.”
In “American Jewish Anti-Zionist Diasporism: A Critique,” in the May 2024 issue of the British periodical Fathom, he sees them following the lead of “the hundreds of Jewish professors who wish to proclaim their virtue by lining up against the Jewish State.”
Finally, there are the many Jews like Rabbi Elchanan Poupko, the president of EITAN–the American Israeli Jewish Network, whose anger at anti-Zionists is palpable. In “Anti-Zionist Jews, Have You Seen the Mirror?” a blog published on the Times of Israel website, May 28, 2024, he points out their hypocrisy.
“The people who were angry at Birthright for taking them on a free, all-expenses paid trip to Israel without taking them to Gaza, Ramallah, and Sheikh Jarrah were somehow unable to utter the words Kibbutz Be’eri, Sderot, Metula, Kiryat Shmona, or the massacre at Nova music festival. Those who were angry at their teachers for celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut with no mention of the Nakba were suddenly unable to speak about the Hamas charter calling for the killing of Jews worldwide.
“Yet perhaps worst of all, was not what anti-Zionist Jews said — or did not say — but rather the company anti-Zionist Jews have chosen to keep. Over the past few months, anti-Zionist Jews have stood shoulder to shoulder with masked and uniformed individuals in public places, physically blocking off ‘Zionists.’”
They exclude their fellow Jews from public spaces in universities, side with terrorist organizations that call for the annihilation of all Jews in the world and make partnerships “with what is objectively the most antisemitic movement since the Holocaust,” he writes.
Rabbi Poupko lives in New Haven, Connecticut. The region is home to Yale University, Quinnipiac University, Albertus Magnus College, the University of New Haven, and Southern Connecticut State University, making it a hub of higher education – and, of course, pro-Palestinian protests. “I got to see firsthand what anti-Zionism in Jewish spaces meant. A group of anti-Zionist Jews shared to their social media videos with cheers like ‘there is only one solution – intifada revolution,’ which is a call for deadly violence.”
As Iran began shooting ballistic missiles and drones carrying hundreds of tons of explosives at Israel’s civilian population, “many anti-Zionist Jews were there to explain why Iran was justified in its attacks on Israel. Jewish Voices for Peace posted a photo of Houthis in Yemen praising the pro-terror mobs on campus.”
He concludes by noting the irony of anti-Zionist Jews siding with the mobs behind the greatest push for Diasporic Jews to move to Israel. “Those who want you to believe Jewish safety should not depend on the State of Israel have helped make much of the diaspora unsafe for Jews and Jewish life.” When the people you march with “are the reason countless synagogues, JCCs, and day schools are hiring more security, you probably don’t get credit for making Jewish life in the Diaspora more appealing.”
Such Jews are betting their present and future will be outside the confines of the Jewish people, and they will do anything to gain the acceptance of the antisemitic circles in which they traffic. “When anti-Zionist Jews hold signs that say: ‘this Jew is against genocide,’ besides for defaming other Jews as being for genocide, they also often forget the truly genocidal company they keep, company that would like to eradicate the State of Israel. It is time for anti-Zionist Jews to take a look in the mirror.”
Bottom line: Whatever we call it, and however they can be distinguished, both terms, antisemitism and anti-Zionism, are in today’s context simply manifestations of Jew- hatred.
Henry Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Local News
Canadian produced kosher wine now available in Winnipeg
By BERNIE BELLAN With the imposition last February of a ban on the sale of American liquor in Manitoba, the only type of kosher wines that were available here were from Israel, specifically wines produced by the Galil winery.
Since the latter part of September, however, kosher wines produced by a Canadian winery are now available in Manitoba liquor marts, also the Kenaston Wine Market.
The wines – a red and a white, are produced by a winery known as Tzafona Cellars – located in the Niagara region of Ontario.
On Tuesday, December 2, Rabbi Avraham Gislason, who is a a rabbi in Thornhill, as well as a Tzafona Cellars winemaker, spoke to a large crowd at the Jewish Learning Centre, where he not only explained how kosher wine differs from non-kosher wine, he brought along bottles of five different wines produced by Tzafona Cellars for members of the audience to taste.
So – what makes a wine kosher? you might ask. According to the internet, “A wine is kosher if it is made according to Jewish dietary laws… with strict supervision and handling by Sabbath-observant Jews from the crushing of the grapes to the bottling of the finished product. The winemaking process must use only kosher-certified ingredients, such as yeast and fining agents, and rabbinically-approved equipment.
Rabbi Gislason himself started Tzafona Cellars in 2014. According to the Tzafona website, Rabbi Gislason saw that the “soil, air, and microclimate of the Niagara Peninsula all come together to create an up-and-coming world class wine region, yielding a unique experience that cannot be recreated anywhere else in the world.”
While he appreciated the quality of the wines being produced in the Niagara region, there was one problem: None of the wines were kosher.
According to the Tzafona website, “Starting with the 2014 vintage, Tzafona began to produce kosher wines using the same techniques and high-quality grapes used in producing other premium non-kosher wines. Since then, Tzafona has continued to produce a variety of different wines, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, and Chardonnay. We have produced award-winning Icewines in the Vidal, Riesling, and Gewurtzraminer varietals. Tzafona is the only kosher Icewine producer in North America. Their Cabernet Franc Icewine won a Gold Medal at the All Canadian Wine Championships in 2025.
In 2016 we began to produce a line of refreshing semi-sweet wines under our brand “Nava Blanc” and “Nava Ruby.” (It is the Nava Blanc and Nava Ruby wines that are now available in Manitoba). Both of these wines are Tzafona’s bestsellers here in Canada and the USA.
The process of getting Tzafona wines approved in Manitoba was set in motion by Winnipeg marketing specialist Marsha Friedman, who for many years has worked as a marketing consultant and sales agent for businesses looking to offer premium kosher foods to their customers.
Her business, Excellence & Kosher, focuses on identifying unmet needs in the market. “I see a need and I try to fill it,” Marsha says.
“We also ensure that the most needed Kosher food products for the stores that carry Kosher are available, including Canadian Kosher wine,” she adds.
Marsha explains that she approached Tzafona—the only truly Canadian kosher wine company—some time ago with the idea of opening the Manitoba market for them and introducing their wines to local consumers.
Afterward, she contacted tManitoba Liquor and Lotteries (MBLL), which agreed to begin carrying two Tzafona wines: Nava Ruby (Red) and Nava Blanc (White).
Since that initial success in making Tzafona wines available for purchase in Manitoba, Marsha says that she and her daughter Shira have been making similar progress in Alberta and hope to expand into the British Columbia market as well.
For more information about Tzafona Wines, including the addresses of stores in Winnipeg and throughout Manitoba that carry their products, please visit the MBLL Liquor Marts website:
https://www.liquormarts.ca/liquormarts
Go to “Find a Product” and type “Tzafona.” Both wines will appear. Select the wine you’re interested in, then click “Store Inventory.” A list of all MBLL Liquor Marts that carry that product will be displayed.
Marsha adds that “We are hoping to have more listings of Tzafona wines available for Pesach this year, and we will be presenting them to MBLL for their approval.
“L’Chaim!”
Local News
Thanks to a Grant from the Asper Foundation the Gwen Secter Centre will Soon Begin Offering Free Kosher Shabbat Meals to Jewish Seniors
By BERNIE BELLAN In these increasingly difficult times – when so many families are finding it difficult to make ends meet, one group in society in particular is being hard hit by escalating food prices: seniors.
As food prices continue to rise, many seniors are struggling to afford many food items that they had always enjoyed previously. And, when it comes to Jewish seniors who might want to continue to remain kosher, the struggle is even more difficult – as the price of kosher meat and chicken has gone up even faster than the price of nonkosher meat and chicken.
Now, in an attempt to provide a modicum of comfort to some of those Jewish seniors, the Gwen Secter Centre, with support from the Asper Foundation, is about to begin providing kosher Shabbat meals for up to 50 Jewish seniors on a weekly basis.
Here is how Becky Chisick, executive director of the Gwen Secter Centre, describes what is going to be called the “Mitzvah Meal Program” will work: “We will be launching a new food security program supported by The Asper Foundation. Food security is a going concern is our community, especially with seniors living on a fixed income. The Mitzvah Meal program will ensure no one in the Jewish community is unable to celebrate Shabbat and other important Jewish holidays throughout the year. This program will transform the lives of so many seniors.
“Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre will be working closely with Jewish Child and Family Services to identify those who qualify for the program. There are many seniors that are not able to access Kosher Meals on Wheels (which is already a subsidized program thanks to the Jewish Federation), due to financial restrictions. The Mitzvah Meal Program, Supported by The Asper Foundation, has different criteria than the Kosher Meals on Wheels program.
“During the pandemic, we quickly realized how many seniors were not able to celebrate Shabbat due to lack of resources and finances. The Mitzvah Meal program will provide up to 50 individual low-income seniors with a healthy and fresh Shabbat (meat) meal, including chicken soup, challah bun, full entree of chicken, starch and vegetables, and dessert. In addition, they will receive special holiday foods and tools, so everyone is able to celebrate Shabbat and other Jewish holidays. For example: latkes and sufganiyot for Chanukkah, hamantaschen for Purim, etc. Those that are able to light candles at their residence will also get Shabbat and Chanukkah candles.”
Becky added, however, that “We still require close to $10,000 to ensure we can accommodate the max for a year and I plan to apply to The Jewish Foundation for the support.”
We contacted Anita Wortzman, president of the Asper Foundation, to ask her how the Asper Foundation became involved in this program. Anita responded: “The Asper Foundation is thrilled to support Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre and their new Mitzvah Meal Program. We believe that seniors in our community should be treated with the dignity, comfort and connection that Shabbat and the Jewish holidays bring. The long-term work of Gwen Secter Living Centre in delivering kosher meals on wheels, makes this a wonderful extension of that service to the Jewish community.”
As to how recipients of the “Mitzvah Meals” are chosen, we received this response from Alexis Wenzowski, Chief Operating Officer of JCFS: “Our priority will be ensuring that low-income seniors, those experiencing social isolation, and those facing mobility or transportation challenges are referred into the Gwen Secter program in a timely and effective manner.
“We have shared information about the Gwen Secter Food Security for Seniors Program across our Mental Health and Addictions, Settlement and Integration, and Older Adult Services teams. These program areas collectively serve some of the most marginalized and isolated seniors in our community, many of whom face complex barriers to accessing nutritious kosher food. We foresee there to be many referrals from these JCFS (programs into the Gwen Secter initiative. We are grateful and excited there will now be a formalized cooked meal Shabbat program for food insecure seniors.”
Alexis added this note about the number of individuals within our Jewish community who seek assistance from JCFS as a result of financial pressures: “JCFS is keenly aware that financial stressors and the cost-of-living crisis is impacting everyone. Food insecurity continues to be a significant and growing concern across our community, as it is in all communities. In the past year alone, our Asper Empowerment Program supported 179 unique households, with 7,542 kg of food security supports. An additional 122 households received employment and financial supports — including interest-free loans, grants, gift cards, and budgeting guidance — underscoring the breadth of need we are seeing. People are struggling.”
As noted, however, while Becky Chisick stated that the Asper Foundation funding will help to get the program going, the Jewish Foundation is being approached to provide additional funding in order to guarantee that the program can continue for at least one year. In the meantime though, if you would be interested in making a donation to help fund the program, Becky encourages you to make your contribution to the Gwen Secter Centre, stipulating that you want the money to go to the Mitzvah Meal Program.
One more note: While there are already some volunteer drivers in place once the program begins, more are still needed. To volunteer as a driver, contact Vanessa Ordiz at the Gwen Secter Centre: vanessa@gwensecter.com or phone 204-339-1701. Volunteers will be provided quarterly tax receipts for their service.
At the same time, by volunteering as a driver, it will allow for meaningful connections between clients and volunteers. For many clients this may be the only person they connect with that day.
Local News
Community leader Sheldon Zamick role model of perseverance despite life’s vicissitudes
By MYRON LOVE For Sheldon Zamick, life is a marathon, not a sprint – and there is always more to learn. In a life marked by struggles, he has overcome adversity and written a story of success both in business and community leadership.
Over the years, he has given of his time and experience to a great variety of charitable organization – including the Jewish Federation, the CJA, the JNF, Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Canadian Magen David Adom, the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue (he is currently the Board’s finance chair), the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Mount Carmel Clinic, the Variety Club, Muscular Dystrophy, Habitat for Humanity, Siloam Mission, and the Canadian Institute for the Blind. The most recent charitable organization that has benefited from his leadership has been the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium.
He took on his most recent challenge as executive director of the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium last year after stepping away from a 40-year career in real estate sales. “This is a really big responsibility,” he says of taking the helm of the LWRC.
As noted on the LWRC webpage, the organization was founded in 1998 “to facilitate scientific research on Lake Winnipeg following evidence of water quality deterioration related to the 1997 Red River ‘Flood of the Century’. The LWRC was incorporated in Manitoba in 2001 and received charitable status in 2008”.
“Our organization does vital research in regard to Lake Winnipeg,” Zamick points out. “Our 328-ton, 110-foot-long ship, the MV Namao – which celebrated its 50th birthday this past August (during which over 1200 supporters toured the boat) in Gimli – is out regularly in the spring, summer and fall on Lake Winnipeg taking water samples. We provide the research platform for scientists to conduct research with regard to climate change and the state of the lake and fish population. We offer science education year round, group tours and summer camp programs for kids.”
He adds that the consortium works closely with many stakeholders, including the Universities of Manitoba and Winnipeg, and receives funding from the Winnipeg Foundation, the Canada Water Agency, Manitoba Hydro, the Manitoba Government, the City of Winnipeg, the town of Gimli, other municipalities and many individual donors.
“It has been great getting the opportunity to meet with various government officials, research partners and donors,” he says.
Sheldon Zamick is a role model demonstrating that an individual growing up in humble surroundings and having to deal with adverse circumstances can succeed in life. He recalls how he had to go to work early in life – at the age of 12 – to help support his family. “We moved around a lot when I was growing up in the North End because my parents could never afford to buy their own home,” he recounts. “That is what drew me to a career in real estate.”
His first job, he says, was peeling potatoes in the basement at Kelekis (a long gone North End Winnipeg restaurant which those of us of a certain age still fondly remember). “I had to learn at an early age to be self-sufficient,” he notes.
In his university days, he worked part time as a corrrections officer – taking as many shifts he could get – at the Winnipeg Remand Centre.
He also demonstrated his leadership capacity at an early age. At 17, he served as president of the USY chapter at the former Rosh Pina Synagogue (even though his parents couldn’t afford to be members of the shul).
After graduating from the University of Manitoba with degrees in Economics and Psychology, he founded TV Facts Magazine, a free weekly TV and shopping guide which some readers may remember. “TV Facts was part of an international chain of publications,” he recounts. “I had to travel to New York to learn how to run a magazine. At our peak, we were putting out 50,000 copies a week – which were available in over 500 locations.”
It was in 1985 that Zamick pursued his interest in becoming a realtor – a profession in which he excelled. Over 40 years as a realtor, he received numerous sales awards, also recognition for his leadership role in his profession and his numerous contributions to the wider community. In the former field, he served for five years as a member of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board, including a term as treasurer and chairing the Government Relations committee.
In 2013-14, he was elected as a director of the 120,000-member Canadian Real Estate Association.
Zamick was recruited into volunteering in the Jewish community, he notes, in the mid-1980s by Laurie Goldberg and the late Larry Rosenberg, who were co-chairs of the Federation’s Young Adult Division. Sheldon subsequently served as co-chair –with Sid Halpern – of the 1987-88 Combined Jewish Appeal’s New Gifts Division.
“We were responsible for contacting members of the community who hadn’t given for a long time,” he explains. “We were really successful in persuading many of them to contribute to the campaign and (by extension) the community.”
That year, he and current outgoing Federation president Paula Parks were nominated to receive our community’s Young Leadership award. Zamick was presented with the Harry Silverberg Young Leader of Distinction Award by Nora Kaufman, the late Harry Silverberg’s daughter.
He later served as the CJA’s campaign director from 1989 to 1992. “During the 1989-90 campaign – that included Operation Exodus (aimed to help Jews leave the dying Soviet Union) – we raised an extra $2 million- bringing in a total of $6-million that year.”
In 1992, Zamick was afflicted with a condition that might have derailed a lesser individual. He was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a condition that left him legally blind. The ever resilient Zamick however took the diagnosis in stride. In 2022, he told an online publication called “Slideshare” that, after the diagnosis, he chose to be thankful for what he had rather than focus on what he had lost.
He added that while legally blind, he still has some sight in certain lighting. “It is a unique way to live,” he told Slideshare, “but you have to adapt to it and I haven’t let it stop me.”
He has been helped immensely by his longtime, supportive wife, Florence.
Typically, following his diagnosis, he threw himself into volunteering with the Canadian National Institute of the Blind. He served on the board of the CNIB for 16 years and was a leader in raising the funds one year – when the CNIB was facing government cutbacks.
Zamick is planning to retire from his current position at the end of this month. He says that he and Florence are looking forward to spending more time with family and friends, travelling –a pasttime they both enjoy, and getting together with their children – Natalie in Toronto and Steven and his wife Ally, along with granddaughters Isabella and Mikayla in Montreal.
He is however, still open to new possibilities. “You never know who might call next,” he observes.