Special Report From Israel
MERCAZ-Canada President Stan Greenspan and VP Rabbi Steve Wernick joined the Masorti Movement Special Mission to Israel which took place from November 5 to 9.
The report can be found here: https://mercaz.ca/crisis1-mission/
SPECIAL REPORT: The Unspeakable Terror - Gender Based Violence on October 7
Presented by the Maimonides Society Harvard Medical School and HSDM
Warning: Contains graphic descriptions of Gender-Based Violence, beginning at 16:50
Experts speak about the women and girl victims of gender-based violence in the 10/7 Hamas terror attacks against Israel. What are the impacts of captivity on GBV victims taken hostage? Why are global women’s rights organizations staying silent?
Event organized by the Maimonides Society (Harvard Medical School and Dental School Jewish Organization), Harvard Jewish Law Students Association, and the Harvard Business School Jewish Students Association. This event is independent of Harvard University and its constituent schools.
Press Inquiries: press.gbv.event@gmail.com
CRISIS IN ISRAEL
Information page: https://mercaz.ca/crisis/
Isru Hag 5784
The Jewish community entered the closing days of the High Holy Day season flush with the joy and solemnity of the holidays, only to wake up to a horror, the magnitude of which no one could imagine. As we mourn our dead, we must stand united and resolute as a Jewish community, as lovers of Israel, and as human beings in support of Israel.
The support coming from world leadership is consistent and emphatic. On behalf of MERCAZ-Canada and Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism, Stan, Charles, and I would like to thank all those who have voiced that support.
Those statements of support have consistently emphasized Israel’s right to self-defence. No nation has a right to self-defence. It is an obligation. When terrorists sneak across Israel’s border, murder families, and kidnap people from the security of their homes, to state a right to self-defence is lazy and duplicitous. To surrender that right shatters the social contract between a government and its citizens.
We unreservedly condemn this attack. We unreservedly condemn the murder of civilians, of families, of children, and of innocents. We unreservedly condemn the kidnapping of Israelis from their beds. We unreservedly condemn those who should be our neighbours and friends, standing in the streets of our Canadian cities and blaming Israel for this atrocity.
We close with a quotation from Psalm 122:
שַׁ֭אֲלוּ שְׁל֣וֹם יְרוּשָׁלָ֑͏ִם יִ֝שְׁלָ֗יוּ אֹהֲבָֽיִךְ׃
Seek the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love her find solace.
Stan Greenspan
President
MERCAZ-Canada
Rav Sean Gorman
Executive Director
Charles Wrock
President
Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism
Watch this space for information on how you can help during the current crisis in Israel.
Letters from the Chairman of the World Zionist Congres, Yakov HaGoel
Connecting the Canadian Jewish Community with Israel
Lier la communauté juive canadienne à l’Israël
מחברים את הקהילה היהודית בקנדה לישראל
MERCAZ-Canada members may use our discount code, MERCAZ-MEMBERS for an automatic discount of $100
New MERCAZ-Canada membership plan!
NEW from the David Matlow Collection
75 TREASURES - CELEBRATING ISRAEL AT SEVENTY-FIVE
To celebrate Israel’s 75th birthday, our member, David Matlow of Toronto, Canada has selected 75 artifacts from his personal collection of Zionist and Herzl memorabilia and shared them in a new book, 75 Treasures: Celebrating Israel at Seventy-Five. The pages of the book are filled with photos and stories of these inspiring items, and the book challenges each of us to add our own page to Israel’s continuing story.
This 48-page publication contains many pieces from the world-renowned Matlow Collection that will help add context to the story of Israel's miraculous journey from concept to country.
The download is free.
https://herzlcollection.com/75-treasures
Introducing the Terumah Fund of the Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism
The “Terumah,” endowment's mission is to create a long-term resource to meet the challenges and needs of our Jewish community both at home and in Israel. Visit the page for details by clicking here!
Connecting the Canadian Jewish Community with Israel
Lier la communauté juive canadienne à l’Israël
מחברים את הקהילה היהודית בקנדה לישראל
Masorti Videos
The Masorti Movement is a pluralistic, religious movement in Israel, affiliated with Conservative Judaism. Its philosophy combines commitment to Jewish tradition and halachah (law) with an open and positive approach to the modern world, to democratic culture and to Zionism.
Visit the Masorti Video page on YouTube!
We have commissioned a limited edition commemorative "challenge coin" to mark this important event!
Reports on the 125th Zionist Congress may be found here.
2022 MERCAZ-Canada / FJMC Anshai Zafon Weekend Conference
We were joined by Dr. Yizhar Hess, Vice-Chair, WZO, and Shiran Yahav, Jewish Peoplehood & Israel-Diaspora relations at the World Zionist Organization.
MERCAZ-Canada and Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism work in cooperation to foster and strengthen Masorti/Conservative Judaism in Israel and create engagement opportunities Jews living in Israel and the Diaspora, based on the ideals of tradition and tolerance, study and spirituality, and social action and love of Israel.
MERCAZ represents Masorti Judaism within the World Zionist Organization and Congress, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and Jewish National Fund. We advocate for funding of pluralistic streams of Judaism in Israel crucial to our movement’s growth in Israel and around the world.
YOUR Voice in Israel
MERCAZ: the Movement to Reaffirm Conservative Zionism, is the Zionist voice of Conservative Judaism in Canada. A grassroots membership organization, we promote and support Israel education and programs, and represent the interests of Masorti/Conservative Judaism in the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency for Israel.
Together
MERCAZ-Canada and Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism work in cooperation to foster and strengthen Masorti/Conservative Judaism in Israel, based on the ideals of tradition and tolerance, study and spirituality, and social action and love of Israel. Encourage your youth to experience Israel through MERCAZ-Canada, USY and Ramah scholarships for Israel travel.
Masorti supports our movement
Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism supports our movement directly. CFMJ is committed to halakhah and history, combining Jewish law and tradition with an open approach to Jewish life. CFMJ supports the work of the Masorti Movement, raising funds to enable the Movement to further its educational and outreach activities in Israel.
Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism - Make a donation
The Masorti Movement in Israel is a pluralistic, religious movement in Israel affiliated with Masorti/ Conservative Judaism around the world. The Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism supports the work of the Masorti Movement in Israel which promotes scholarship, Zionism and religious tolerance and pluralism within the context of modern Israeli society. The Foundation raises funds to support Masorti programmes in Israel through the Movement and in its synagogue centres. Your donation helps to ensure that our work may continue.
If you would like to make a donation, please use this button:
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