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A pop-up art gallery celebrating Shabbat transcends the fight over defining Zionism
When discussing the anthology On Being Jewish Now—and anti-antisemitic outreach more generally—I have expressed skepticism of the term, “Jewish joy.” (Akin to Black joy, queer joy, etc.) It comes across as a way of saying, see, it’s not all bad!, where the effect is reminding of just how bad the speaker thinks it is. I can’t entirely articulate why it doesn’t sit right, but it doesn’t.
Then I was picking my kids up from school on Friday, in Toronto, and heard a small airplane overhead. It was flying—what else?—a big Palestinian flag. I tried to photograph this, but let’s just say there’s a reason the great photojournalists do not multitask in this manner. The best I could get was a picture where it looks like it’s a tiny flag hanging from a power line, which would have been far less dramatic and really par for the course.
I did some feeling of feelings that would not have been out of place in a book like the one edited by Zibby Owens. I thought about how to explain this to my children, before remembering that they are not at a point in childhood where there’s anything registering beyond, look, a plane. I thought about my own anxiety, and also about what a joke that was compared to parents of young children in Gaza—or in Israel for that matter—with far more substantive worries about what’s overhead.
Whatever the case, I was put in a mindset where I became determined to attend a photography exhibition slash Shabbat candle lighting happening down the street from me. I had known about this and thought it seemed… very much the sort of thing I’m happy to know exists, but is for people who don’t have all-hands-on-deck childcare situations. But my desire to get out of my own head led to my entire household getting out of our own home in the evening and seeing what this was about.
Petrina Blander’s photography exhibit Shabbat Shalom Toronto turned out to be like nothing I’ve ever seen. She Said Gallery is a pop-up-type space in a space that’s otherwise a laundromat. But there was a big spread with such items as cured ham (if you want Orthodox services on Roncesvalles, mes excuses) and wrapped confections with Cyrillic writing and drinks and more. Some of the photographs have obviously Jewish content, and an artist bio explains the artist’s Israeli background.
And the space was absolutely packed with what my square self would describe as an art crowd. Jews and non-Jews—I think? While I identified myself as being at The Canadian Jewish News, I was not there reporting-reporting, I was more trying to assess whether a specific Russian (?) chocolate had alcohol in it and intercepting a three-year-old who’d have otherwise put it in her mouth.
For obvious reasons, I wasn’t able to stay that long, but was there long enough for a Shabbat candle-lighting ceremony, involving a cameo by none other than one-time Bonjour Chai guest Elise Kayfetz aka Vintage Schmatta. Then some magnificent, enormous challahs came out.
It was powerful to see this big group assembled to do something Jewish, in a neighbourhood not exactly famed as go-to destination for Jewish joy—or Jewish anything for that matter. The event wasn’t pretending to be anything other than Jewish, wasn’t doing any kind of pro-Diaspora erasure of the existence of Israeli Jews. It wasn’t doom and gloom, it wasn’t draped in flags. It was quite simply orthogonal to the omnicause.
If the event felt refreshing, it was as much because “Jewish joy” was a contrast to whatever exactly has been happening in Roncesvalles Village since Oct. 7, 2023, as because the pandemic lockdown era still feels so recent, and there’s something a bit novel (to me, at least) about such festivity IRL. Something that would have struck me as normal to the point of unworthy of remark in, say, circa 2006 Brooklyn, seemed frankly a bit awe-inspiring.
***
“Fuck Zionists” So read some early-2024 graffiti several blocks from where the above action took place, a huge spray-painted message on a local overpass. Whoever put it there presumably has an idea, in their head, of who Zionists are. From the context, this was not someone crudely expressing a bog-standard fantasy about Gal Gadot, but rather an expression of ill will towards Zionists. But who do they mean by Zionists?
A new survey commissioned by the New Israel Fund, JSpaceCanada, and Canadian Friends of Peace Now asked 588 Jewish Canadians where they stood on various not at all contentious topics like Israel and antisemitism and such. The blockbuster finding was that while 94 percent believe Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, and 84% are emotionally attached to that state, a paltry 51 percent identify as Zionists.
Our latest survey, in partnership with @JSpaceCanada
and @peacenowcan is out!Read the full report here: https://t.co/UVZ8l1azT7 https://t.co/9dcba8A2l7 pic.twitter.com/lVhWleAphs
— New Israel Fund of Canada (@nifcan) December 10, 2024
Rabbi Avi Finegold and I spoke with Ben Murane of the New Israel Fund and Maytal Kowalski of JSpaceCanada to learn more, a conversation you can hear on Bonjour Chai. And they confirmed that the survey offers the what, but not the why. The “Zionism” question is ultimately a bit of a red herring, as no survey had ever asked this of Jewish Canadians previously. So, as Murane pointed out when we spoke to him, for all we know, the 51 percent figure was an increase.
When I saw the disparity, my first thought was that this was all a bit silly. Who are the people making up the difference, who think Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, but reject the term that is shorthand for precisely that belief? (Presumably no one is saying they are a Zionist but they don’t think Israel has a right to exist.) A kind of, who are they kidding? Obviously you’re a Zionist to the people mad at “Zionists,” whether you want to call yourself one or not. Because I don’t think “Zionist,” when sneered, is necessarily always a euphemism for “Jewish.” It is, however, a euphemism for “Jewish and supports Israel” and yes, I am aware of the far greater ranks of non-Jewish Zionists. Given the locations where protests cluster, it rather seems Jewish Zionists are the ones of antizionist interest.
And… given that nearly all Jewish Canadians support Israel’s right to exist, I suppose I do think that if you’re a Canadian Jew who believes Israel should exist, but doesn’t self-id as a Zionist, and you think “Fuck Zionists” graffiti isn’t about the likes of you, you’re fooling yourself. I also think it’s possible I have just invented a person to be mad at, because I sort of think however we
I also knew, even before I knew, that the 49 percent figure was going to be trotted out as evidence that see see see antizionism isn’t antisemitism! Which is true in a literal sense, but not if you let your mind be nimble enough to realize that someone who hates Zionism with all their might is almost certainly someone who objects to the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. There’s other language to convey that someone dislikes the current Israeli government, or opposes the occupation of the West Bank, or the war in Gaza. No good shorthand, perhaps—the term critical of Israel conflates criticisms of Israel with critiques of its very existence—but at any rate, I have never known “antizionism” to refer to the belief that instead of one Israeli politician being prime minister, it ought to be a different one.
Or have I? I suppose there is also, within the Jewish community, a subset of people who think of liberal or progressive Zionists as antizionists, so in a sense who could blame such people for saying, you’re right, I’m not a Zionist. This appears to be the hope from the survey’s organizers: to show the multiplicity of the Canadian Jewish community. To show that contrary to what certain self-appointed community leaders would have you believe, rah-rah, uncritical sorts who want Israel to annex whatever’s at arm’s reach represent only a fraction.
By some definitions, virtually no one alive today is a Zionist. Modern political Zionism was the belief that a Jewish nation-state should exist in Palestine. I say “was” because such a state has existed in that location since 1948. The thoughts of someone living in 2024 about whether this ought to have happened are the stuff of dorm-room musings but nothing more. There are Israeli nationalists, and supporters of Israel who are not Israeli themselves, but Zionism itself, well, it’s complicated. A deeper exploration can be found in a recent essay by Rabbi Avi Finegold.
I took a class in college, Zionism and its Critics, and both wish I remembered more about the early history of modern Zionism and… am not sure how much any of it has to do with what’s up for discussion today. The antizionism of let’s not do that thing is such a different entity than the antizionism of let’s dismantle what exists.
Zionism is used these days to mean support for Israel. Sometimes it suggests enthusiastic or uncritical support, other times just support in the sense of, wishing Israelis well, and not wanting the state itself obliterated. ‘I’m not a Zionist, but I believe in Israel’s right to exist’ is—as came up recently on Bluesky—similar to ‘I’m not a feminist, but I believe in equal rights for women.’ It is—among other things—a way of distancing yourself from an identity label that you anticipate will lead people to stop listening to you (on the topic at hand, or in general) before you’ve had a moment to say what it is you actually think.
I’m not much of a joiner, but nor am I someone who strives to transcend labels. I call myself a feminist and a Zionist because this is the most effective way of conveying that I believe women are people and that Israel is a country. I’m also in the privileged position of someone who opines for a living, so what I specifically think about a range of issues is no great mystery, and not something that must be inferred from single-word summations. I don’t need to put emojis in bio because people can read absolute reams of my holdings-forth, not to mention listen to the podcasts.
And I don’t get out much, but am 100 percent in favour of there being fun Jewish stuff going on in Roncesvalles, and would hope that 100 percent of the Jewish Canadian population is with me on this.
The CJN’s opinion editor Phoebe Maltz Bovy can be reached at pbovy@thecjn.ca, not to mention @phoebebovy on Bluesky, and @bovymaltz on X. She is also on The CJN’s weekly podcast Bonjour Chai. For more opinions about Jewish culture wars, subscribe to the free Bonjour Chai newsletter on Substack.
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Harvard Faculty Oppose Deal With Trump, Distancing From Hamas Apologists: Crimson Poll
Harvard University president Alan Garber attending the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
A recently published Harvard Crimson poll of over 1,400 Harvard faculty revealed sweeping opposition to interim university President Alan Garber’s efforts to strike a deal with the federal government to restore $3 billion in research grants and contracts it froze during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration.
In the survey, conducted from April 23 to May 12, 71 percent of arts and sciences faculty oppose negotiating a settlement with the administration, which may include concessions conservatives have long sought from elite higher education, such as meritocratic admissions, viewpoint diversity, and severe disciplinary sanctions imposed on students who stage unauthorized protests that disrupt academic life.
Additionally, 64 percent “strongly disagree” with shuttering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, 73 percent oppose rejecting foreign applicants who hold anti-American beliefs which are “hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence,” and 70 percent strongly disagree with revoking school recognition from pro-Hamas groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC).
“More than 98 percent of faculty who responded to the survey supported the university’s decision to sue the White House,” The Crimson reported. “The same percentage backed Harvard’s public rejection of the sweeping conditions that the administration set for maintaining the funds — terms that included external audits of Harvard’s hiring practices and the disciplining of student protesters.”
Alyza Lewin of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law told The Algemeiner that the poll results indicate that Harvard University will continue to struggle to address campus antisemitism on campus, as there is now data showing that its faculty reject the notion of excising intellectualized antisemitism from the university.
“If you, for example, have faculty teaching courses that are regularly denying that the Jews are a people and erasing the Jewish people’s history in the land of Israel, that’s going to undermine your efforts to address the antisemitism on your campus,” Lewin explained. “When Israel is being treated as the ‘collective Jew,’ when the conversation is not about Israel’s policies, when the criticism is not what the [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism] would call criticism of Israel similar to that against any other country, they have to understand that it is the demonization, delegitimization, and applying a double standard to Jews as individuals or to Israel.”
She added, “Faculty must recognize … the demonization, vilification, the shunning, and the marginalizing of Israelis, Jews, and Zionists, when it happens, as violations of the anti-discrimination policies they are legally and contractually obligated to observe.”
The Crimson survey results were published amid reports that Garber was working to reach a deal with the Trump administration that is palatable to all interested parties, including the university’s left-wing social milieu.
According to a June 26 report published by The Crimson, Garber held a phone call with major donors in which he “confirmed in response to a question from [Harvard Corporation Fellow David M. Rubenstein] that talks had resumed” but “declined to share specifics of how Harvard expected to settle with the White House.”
On June 30, the Trump administration issued Harvard a “notice of violation” of civil rights law following an investigation which examined how it responded to dozens of antisemitic incidents reported by Jewish students since the 2023-2024 academic year.
The correspondence, sent by the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, charged that Harvard willfully exposed Jewish students to a torrent of racist and antisemitic abuse following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, which precipitated a surge in anti-Zionist activity on the campus, both in the classroom and out of it.
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” wrote the four federal officials comprising the multiagency Task Force. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Harvard again on Wednesday, reporting the institution to its accreditor for alleged civil rights violations resulting from its weak response to reports of antisemitic bullying, discrimination, and harassment following the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
Citing Harvard’s failure to treat antisemitism as seriously as it treated other forms of hatred in the past, The US Department of Educationthe called on the New England Commission of Higher Education to review and, potentially, revoke its accreditation — a designation which qualifies Harvard for federal funding and attests to the quality of the educational services its provides.
“Accrediting bodies play a significant role in preserving academic integrity and a campus culture conducive to truth seeking and learning,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Part of that is ensuring students are safe on campus and abiding by federal laws that guarantee educational opportunities to all students. By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Balancing Act: Lebanese President Aoun Affirms Hope for Peace with Israel, Balks At Normalization
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun attends a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Friday carefully affirmed his country’s desire for peace with Israel while cautioning that Beirut is not ready to normalize relations with its southern neighbor.
Aoun called for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory, according to a statement from his office, while reaffirming his government’s efforts to uphold a state monopoly on arms amid mounting international pressure on the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah to disarm.
“The decision to restrict arms is final and there is no turning back on it,” Aoun said.
The Lebanese leader drew a clear distinction between pursuing peace and establishing formal normalization in his country’s relationship with the Jewish state.
“Peace is the lack of a state of war, and this is what matters to us in Lebanon at the moment,” Aoun said in a statement. “As for the issue of normalization, it is not currently part of Lebanese foreign policy.”
Aoun’s latest comments come after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar expressed interest last month in normalizing ties with Lebanon and Syria — an effort Jerusalem says cannot proceed until Hezbollah is fully disarmed.
Earlier this week, Aoun sent his government’s response to a US-backed disarmament proposal as Washington and Jerusalem increased pressure on Lebanon to neutralize the terror group.
While the details remain confidential, US Special Envoy Thomas Barrack said he was “unbelievably satisfied” with their response.
This latest proposal, presented to Lebanese officials during Barrack’s visit on June 19, calls for Hezbollah to be fully disarmed within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from its five occupied posts in southern Lebanon.
However, Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem vowed in a televised speech to keep the group’s weapons, rejecting Washington’s disarmament proposal.
“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” said Qassem, who succeeded longtime terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israel killed him last year.
“We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region,” the terrorist leader continued. “We will not accept normalization [with Israel].”
Last fall, Israel decimated Hezbollah’s leadership and military capabilities with an air and ground offensive, following the group’s attacks on Jerusalem — which they claimed were a show of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas amid the war in Gaza.
In November, Lebanon and Israel reached a US-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended a year of fighting between the Jewish state and Hezbollah.
Under the agreement, Israel was given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, allowing the Lebanese army and UN forces to take over security as Hezbollah disarms and moves away from Israel’s northern border.
However, Israel maintained troops at several posts in southern Lebanon beyond the ceasefire deadline, as its leaders aimed to reassure northern residents that it was safe to return home.
Jerusalem has continued carrying out strikes targeting remaining Hezbollah activity, with Israeli leaders accusing the group of maintaining combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers — calling this “blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
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Peace Meals: Chef José Andrés Says ‘Good People’ On Both Sides of Gaza Conflict Ill-Served By Leaders, Food Can Bridge Divide
Chef and head of World Central Kitchen Jose Andres attends the Milken Institute Global Conference 2025 in Beverly Hills, California, US, May 5, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Mike Blake.
Renowned Spanish chef and World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder José Andrés called the Oct. 7 attack “horrendous” in an interview Wednesday and shared his hopes for reconciliation between the “vast majority” on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide who are “good people that very often are not served well by their leaders”
WCK is a US-based, nonprofit organization that provides fresh meals to people in conflict zones around the world. The charity has been actively serving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since the Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel. Since the Hamas attack, WCK has served more than 133 million meals across Gaza, according to its website.
The restaurateur and humanitarian has been quoted saying in past interviews that “sometimes very big problems have very simple solutions.” On Wednesday’s episode of the Wall Street Journal podcast “Bold Names,” he was asked to elaborate on that thought. He responded by saying he believes good meals and good leaders can help resolve issues between Israelis and Palestinians, who, he believes, genuinely want to live harmoniously with each other.
“I had people in Gaza, mothers, women making bread,” he said. “Moments that you had of closeness they were telling you: ‘What Hamas did was wrong. I wouldn’t [want] anybody to do this to my children.’ And I had Israelis that even lost family members. They say, ‘I would love to go to Gaza to be next to the people to show them that we respect them …’ And this to me is very fascinating because it’s the reality.
“Maybe some people call me naive. [But] the vast majority of the people are good people that very often are not served well by their leaders. And the simple reality of recognizing that many truths can be true at the same time in the same phrase that what happened on October 7th was horrendous and was never supposed to happen. And that’s why World Central Kitchen was there next to the people in Israel feeding in the kibbutz from day one, and at the same time that I defended obviously the right of Israel to defend itself and to try to bring back the hostages. Equally, what is happening in Gaza is not supposed to be happening either.”
Andres noted that he supports Israel’s efforts to target Hamas terrorists but then seemingly accused Israel of “continuously” targeting children and civilians during its military operations against the terror group.
“We need leaders that believe in that, that believe in longer tables,” he concluded. “It’s so simple to invest in peace … It’s so simple to do good. It’s so simple to invest in a better tomorrow. Food is a solution to many of the issues we’re facing. Let’s hope that … one day in the Middle East it’ll be people just celebrating the cultures that sometimes if you look at what they eat, they seem all to eat exactly the same.”
In 2024, WCK fired at least 62 of its staff members in Gaza after Israel said they had ties to terrorist groups. In one case, Israel discovered that a WCK employee named Ahed Azmi Qdeih took part in the deadly Hamas rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Qdeih was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in November 2024.
In April 2024, the Israel Defense Forces received backlash for carrying out airstrikes on a WCK vehicle convoy which killed seven of the charity’s employees. Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the airstrikes were “a mistake that followed a misidentification,” and Israel dismissed two senior officers as a result of the mishandled military operation.
The strikes “were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war,” Andrés alleged.
“It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by” the Israeli military, he claimed in an op-ed published by Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. “It was also the direct result of [the Israeli] government’s policy to squeeze humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”
In a statement on X, Andres accused Israel of “indiscriminate killing,” saying the Jewish state “needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.”
The post Peace Meals: Chef José Andrés Says ‘Good People’ On Both Sides of Gaza Conflict Ill-Served By Leaders, Food Can Bridge Divide first appeared on Algemeiner.com.