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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.

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.

The post A pop-up art gallery celebrating Shabbat transcends the fight over defining Zionism appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.

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Ukraine Condemns Russian FM Lavrov’s Comments Calling Zelensky a ‘Pure Nazi,’ ‘Traitor to Jews’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a press conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 18, 2025. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

Ukraine has lambasted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “pure Nazi” and a “traitor to the Jewish people,” describing his comments as antisemitic and urging Israel and Jewish organizations to condemn them.

Lavrov attacked Zelensky, who is Jewish, during a new interview published in Krasnaya Zvezda, the official publication of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“Zelensky made a 180-degree turn from a person who came to power with slogans of peace, with slogans like ‘leave the Russian language alone, it is our common language, our common culture’ and in six months turned into a pure Nazi and, as Russian President Vladimir Putin correctly said, a traitor to the Jewish people,” Lavrov said in remarks echoing the Kremlin’s propaganda that the Ukrainian president is “nazifying” Kyiv.

Lavrov’s comments resembled previous rhetoric from Putin in 2023, when he called Zelensky a “disgrace to Jewish people.”

In response, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced Lavrov’s remarks as “antisemitism,” noting the top Russian diplomat claimed in 2022 that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “had Jewish blood.”

“Such statements are not just insane. They must be called out for what they truly are: antisemitism,” Heorhii Tykhyi posted on X/Twitter. “We urge Israel and Jewish organizations worldwide to condemn Lavrov’s repeated and outrageous falsehoods.”

As part of its ongoing propaganda campaign to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, Russia has relied on such rhetoric and claims invoking the Nazis for decades, insisting that Kyiv has no distinct culture or state and has always been part of Moscow’s “own history, culture, and spiritual space.”

For example, in an attempt to justify the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin labeled its leaders as “neo-Nazis” and invoked World War II rhetoric, claiming that Russia’s so-called “special military operation” was meant to “de-nazify” the country.

Jewish community groups and the international community at large have repeatedly denounced Russia’s use of Holocaust and World War II terminology to justify its invasion of Ukraine, which Kyiv’s allies have condemned as an aggressive land grab.

Lavrov’s remarks came after a tense meeting between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump last week, as early steps for ceasefire negotiations remain fragile. The high-level White House talks on Friday added further uncertainty to a potential US-Ukraine deal on natural resources and peace efforts with Russia.

During the meeting, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance called on Kyiv to express greater gratitude for US support and accept a ceasefire with Russia, despite the lack of clear security guarantees from Washington.

Speaking with reporters in the room, Trump told Zelenskyy that he is not in a position to make any demands and accused him of “gambling with World War Three.”

“You don’t have the cards … You’ve allowed yourself to be put in a very bad position,” Trump said, referring to the ongoing war with Moscow.

After the meeting, Russian officials praised Trump for his “proper slap down” of Zelensky and dismissed the Ukrainian president’s claims that Russia illegally invaded the country in 2022.

Kremlin spokesperson Dimitri Peskov reportedly told reporters that Trump’s shift in foreign policy “largely coincides with our [Russia’s] vision.”

During the London Summit with European leaders last weekend, Turkey offered to host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. As a NATO member, Turkey had previously facilitated negotiations after Russia’s 2022 invasion and helped secure a grain export deal in the Black Sea. Ankara has emphasized that any future discussions must include both countries.

The post Ukraine Condemns Russian FM Lavrov’s Comments Calling Zelensky a ‘Pure Nazi,’ ‘Traitor to Jews’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Ivy League Schools Score Mediocre Grades in New ADL Campus Report Card

Pro-Hamas protesters at Columbia University on April 19, 2024. Photo: Melissa Bender via Reuters Connect

Ivy League institutions launched mediocre policy responses to rising anti-Jewish hatred during the 2023-2024 academic year, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Campus Antisemitism Report Card.

Released on Monday, halfway into spring term, the report lists grades that are based on two criteria, “what’s happening on campus” and “university policies and responsive action.” In total, the ADL assessed 135 colleges and universities across the US, only eight of which — Elon University, Vanderbilt University, University of Alabama, Florida International University, University of Miami, City University of New York’s (CUNY) Brooklyn College, CUNY Queens College, and Brandeis University — merited an “A” grade.

No Ivy League institution — save Dartmouth College, which notched a “B” grade — earned better than a “C,” a mark given to Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Princeton University, Yale University, and Columbia University rated lowest, scoring “D” grades.

“I said it last year, and I’ll say it again: every single campus should get an ‘A.’ This isn’t a high bar — this should be standard,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a press release announcing the report. “While many campuses have improved in ways that are encouraging and commendable, Jewish students still do not feel safe or included on too many campuses. The progress we’ve seen is evidence that change is possible — all university leaders should focus on addressing these very real challenges with real action.”

Harvard’s receiving a “C” comes amid a period described by observers as a low point in its history. The institution, America’s oldest and arguably most prestigious, recently settled a merged lawsuit in which two groups accused it of refusing to discipline an allegedly antisemitic professor and other perpetrators of anti-Jewish discrimination, hate speech, and harassment. For months, the university’s legal counsel strove to dismiss the complainant’s charges, arguing that they lacked legal standing. Meanwhile, its highly reputed Law School saw its student government issue a defamatory resolution which accused Israel of genocide; its students quoted terrorists during an “Apartheid Week” event held in April; and dozens of its students and faculty participated in an illegal pro-Hamas encampment attended by members of a group that had shared an antisemitic cartoon earlier that year.

Antisemitic outrages have continued into the 2024-2025 academic year. In November, Harvard’s Office of the Chaplain and Religious and Spiritual Life was criticized by rising Jewish civil rights activist Shabbos Kestenbaum for omitting any mention of antisemitism from a statement precipitated by antisemitic behavior. The sharp words followed the office’s response to a hateful demonstration on campus in which pro-Hamas students stood outside Harvard Hillel and called for it to banned from campus.

“We have noticed a trend of expression in which entire groups of students are told they ‘are not welcome here’ because of their religious, cultural, ethnic, or political commitments and identities, or are targeted through acts of vandalism,” the office said, seemingly circumventing the matter at hand. “We find this trend disturbing and anathema to the dialogue and connection across lines of difference that must be a central value and practice of a pluralistic institution of higher learning.”

In response, Kestenbaum, said: “Harvard Jews were told by masked students ‘Zionists aren’t welcome here’ outside of the Hillel, the Chaplain Office finally released a statement that did not include the words Jew, Zionism, Israel, or antisemitism. A total abdication of religious responsibility.”

Columbia University’s poor mark reflects a widely held view that its officials have failed to prevent anti-Zionist activists — both professors and students — from fostering a noxious campus environment in which denigrating Jews and advocating for the destruction of Israel is defended as the pursuit of social justice.

As The Algemeiner has previously reported, Columbia University remains one of the most hostile campuses for Jews employed by or enrolled in an institution of higher education. Since Oct. 7, 2023, it has produced some of the most indelible examples of campus antisemitism, including a student who proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself, brutal gang-assaults on Jewish students, and administrative officials who, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.

Amid these incidents, the university has struggled to contain members of the anti-Zionist group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), which just last month committed an act of infrastructural sabotage by flooding the toilets of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) with concrete. Numerous reports indicate the attack may be the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia were shared with students.

CUAD struck Columbia again on Wednesday, occupying the Milbank Hall administrative building at Barnard College to protest disciplinary sanctions imposed on student activists as punishment for a previous incident. During the demonstration, a staff member was so badly assaulted as to require medical attention, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Amid these issues, many schools did see their grades improve over the previous year, the ADL said, explaining that over 50 percent of the schools included in the Campus Report Card — including Vanderbilt University, which did not earn an “A” last year while Harvard was given an “F” — moved to improve the campus climate for Jewish students.

“The improvement on campus is largely due to new administrative initiatives implemented in response to the campus antisemitism crisis,” ADL vice president of advocacy, Shira Goodman, said on Monday. “We’re glad that improving the campus climate for Jewish students was a priority for many of these schools, and we hope all colleges and universities understand the importance of developing and enforcing strong policies and procedures to create a safe and welcoming environment for Jewish students and all students.”

Higher education institutions have an added incentive to address antisemitism, as the reelection of US President Donald Trump in November brought to Washington, DC a chief executive who has threatened to tax the endowments of those that do not.

Shortly after taking office in January, Trump issued an executive order which directed the federal government to employ “all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.” Additionally, the order initiated a full review of the explosion of campus antisemitism on US colleges across the country after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a convulsive moment in American history to which the previous administration struggled to respond during the final year and a half of its tenure.

“This failure is unacceptable,” Trump said. “It shall be the policy of the United States to combat antisemitism vigorously, using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post Ivy League Schools Score Mediocre Grades in New ADL Campus Report Card first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Leftist Internet Personality Confronts Ritchie Torres Over Israel Support, Unleashes Lewd and Antisemitic Tirade

US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

In a viral video which circulated over the weekend, a leftist social media influencer followed US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) on the streets of New York City, hurling antisemitic, sexually explicit, and racially charged rhetoric at the lawmaker over his support for Israel. 

The influencer, who goes by “Crackhead Barney,” confronted and grilled Torres about his stance on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The provocateur, whose real name has not been revealed to the public, taunted Torres as a “coon” and asked the lawmaker why he supports a so-called “genocide” in Gaza. 

“Why are you sucking Zionist c—k?” Barney asked. 

“You’re a coon. Why do you suck Zionist c—k? Is it the money?” the influencer asked. “Show us the money, Ritchie. Show us the money.”

When asked by Torres if she supports the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the influencer responded “of course.” She then claimed that Israel “is the biggest terrorist organization.” The social media personality lambasted Torres as a “terrorist” and stated that he “sucks [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s c—k.”

The leftist firebrand accused Torres of accepting “genocidal money” and asked him if he was “going to kill more babies?” She also admitted to interrupting Torres’s event at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan to protest the war in Gaza. 

The content creator attempted to coax Torres multiple times into saying “Free Palestine,” a phrase which many observers interpret as a call for the destruction of Israel. 

“Say ‘free Palestine’ and I will leave you alone,” Barney said. 

“There is no universe in which I will say that,” Torres responded. 

After finally relenting and allowing Torres to walk away, Barney shouted “free Palestine!” multiple times and said the lawmaker “supports the mass murder of babies.”

The internet personality has gained notoriety for ambushing celebrities and high-profile media figures in public, conducting impromptu interviews and engaging in provocative behavior. In the 16 months following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, slaughter of 1,200 people throughout southern Israel, Barney has started targeting and harassing public figures supportive of the Jewish state. In April 2024, she made headlines after she confronted actor Alec Baldwin and pressed him to say, “Free Palestine.” 

Torres, a self-described progressive, has established himself as a stalwart ally of the Jewish state. Torres has repeatedly defended Israel from unsubstantiated claims of committing “genocide” in Gaza. He has also consistently supported the continued shipment of American arms to help the Jewish state defend itself from Hamas terrorists. The lawmaker has directed sharp criticism toward university administrators for allowing Jewish students to be threatened on campus without consequence.

Warning: The video below contains lewd and explicit language.

The post Leftist Internet Personality Confronts Ritchie Torres Over Israel Support, Unleashes Lewd and Antisemitic Tirade first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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