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B’nai Brith releases 2022 audit of antisemitic incidents
By BERNIE BELLAN On April 17, 2023 B’nai Brith Canada released its annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in Canada. The audit determined that there were fewer actual incidents of antisemitism in Canada in 2022 than in 2021, but incidents of online hate toward Jews had increased at a more rapid rate than physical instances of antisemitism.
Following are some excerpts from B’nai Brith’s 2022 audit:
There was a slight decrease of 1.1% in antisemitic incidents in Canada in 2022.
The decline, however, is far from reassuring. As revealed in the latest edition of B’nai Brith Canada’s Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, the level of hate against Jewish Canadians continued to be unacceptably high.
In 2012, the Jewish community sounded the alarm when our Audit documented 1,345 antisemitic incidents, the highest since we first began auditing in 1982. A decade later, in 2022, the number was an alarming 105.9% higher than that reported in 2012, and the second-highest total since B’nai Brith started tracking antisemitic incidents in Canada 41 years ago.
Only in 2021 did the Audit record more antisemitic incidents in this country. There were 2,799 incidents in 2021 compared with 2,769 incidents in 2022.
“We are alarmed and disturbed by the figures in this Audit,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “Although there was an almost-insignificant decrease from last year, antisemitic incidents continue to occur at an unacceptable and dangerous pace. Frankly, the amount of hate directed at Jewish Canadians is shameful.
“B’nai Brith Canada vehemently opposes all forms of hate, racism and bigotry, but painfully recognizes that the elevated level of hate against Jews in this country remains constant.”
B’nai Brith’s Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, which tracks and monitors trends in antisemitic hatred, is the authoritative document on the state of anti-Jewish bigotry in Canada, cited regularly by media, law-enforcement agencies, government bodies and human-rights agencies worldwide.
The 2022 Audit found:
- A total of 2,769 antisemitic incidents, the second-highest recorded by B’nai Brith since it began auditing in Canada in 1982;
- Nearly eight antisemitic incidents daily;
- More than 74% of the incidents occurred online;
- A total of 404 acts of antisemitic vandalism, up from 264 incidents in 2021.
- A spike of 64.8% in antisemitic incidents in Ontario compared with 2021.
Ontario was the only province to experience an increase in antisemitism in 2022.
Some notable antisemitic incidents in Canada last year: - In Toronto, protestors called for the destruction of Israel, the world’s sole Jewish state;
- In Thornhill, Ont., Neo-Nazi graffiti, swastikas and “zieg heil” were spotted on signs at a park;
- In Calgary, a young Jewish hockey player was harassed by his teammates on three separate occasions. The incidents included the teammates asking, “Shouldn’t you have a star on your arm?” and saying, “The shower smells like Auschwitz.”;
- In Moncton, antisemitic graffiti was found in a school bathroom, reading: “No Jews – None at all.”;
- In Richmond, B.C., graffiti was found at a train station, reading: “Jewish communism is upon us” and “Covid is Jewish.”;
- In Vancouver, a therapist received a threatening email saying: “I hope the next time you visit Israel, a Hamas rocket flattens you like the Zionist pig you are.”;
- In Winnipeg, threatening graffiti was discovered at a college, reading: “Kill Jews” with a drawing of a swastika;
- In Montreal, a man leaving an Israel Day rally holding a folded Israeli flag was assaulted by two young men, who hit the man in the head with a stick and assaulted a bystander who attempted to intervene.
Notwithstanding the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions by most provinces and territories toward the end of 2021, in-person harassment continued to decline in 2022. In 2020, B’nai Brith registered 620 cases of in-person harassment, which dropped to 367 cases in 2021. In 2022, we tabulated just 284 such incidents, representing a 22.6% drop from 2021.
However, hate has increasingly moved online. In 2022, there were 2,056 cases of online hate directed at Jews, representing 74.3% of the total incidents recorded.
B’nai Brith’s data indicate that online hate has more than doubled over the past five years. Many of these incidents constitute open threats of violence, murder or genocide against Jews. Our work tracking online hate incidents in recent years has resulted in criminal charges being brought against several individuals.
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Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
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Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.