Archive for category Health
Torontonians bike for charity in Israel
After five grueling days of riding across desert terrain in support of Alyn Hospital, Ruth Ekstein triumphantly entered Eilat on her mountain bike with 424 other riders amidst a cheering crowd. “It was the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done,” says the long-time UJA Federation volunteer. “We didn’t know if we should laugh or cry or yell and I think we did a little of all three.”
One of 50 Torontonians who completed this year’s Wheels of Love charity ride, in which participants biked from Jerusalem to Eilat to raise money for Israel’s only comprehensive pediatric and adolescent rehabilitation centre, Ekstein describes the experience with unbridled enthusiasm. “The scenery was spectacular, the weather was amazing, and there were 425 riders from ten countries so the opportunity to meet a bunch of crazy like-minded people was fantastic. I’d go again in a heartbeat.”
Earl Haltrecht, an orthodontist from Toronto and co-chair of UJA Federation’s Partners Circle raised US $5,500 on the charity ride. “I love riding, I love Israel, and it’s a fabulous cause, so I’d say it was win-win-win.”
Alyn Hospital, a world leader in rehabilitation of children with a broad range of physical disabilities, is the only facility of its kind in Israel.
“Any time there are children involved - whether it’s a congenital deformity or accident victims or victims of terror, your heart opens up and you’ll do anything for them,” says Haltrecht.
Although Ekstein has been supporting the Alyn ride for many years, this was the first year that the occupational therapist from Toronto put her feet where her money is.
From October 29 to November 2, she averaged 100 off-road kilometers each day, going “where roads don’t go, which was really exceptional,” and raising almost US $7,000 for Alyn, which is well on its way to reaching its $2.5 million goal for this year’s ride.
Ekstein first got involved with Wheels of Love five years ago, when her best friend participated in the ride and asked her to help fundraise. At the time, her husband - Alan Lechem - was co-chair of the Israel Action Committee at Beit Rayim Synagogue, and the synagogue took on fundraising for Alyn.
“My husband decided,‘why just fundraise when I can also ride,’ so in 2004 he went with four members of our synagogue and then last year he went again. But this year I and another woman from our synagogue said,‘well if the boys can do it, we can too,’so we went this year and my husband stayed home with the kids.”
http://www.jewishtoronto.com/page.aspx?id=6710
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO
Jewish groups call for changes at York University
Report about jewish donors’ thought reg. antisemitism in the University of York, ON
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO
By Giuseppe Valiante, National Post
York University teachers should be prohibited from expressing personal political views unrelated to the course they are teaching, according to a
report from a commission of Toronto-area Jewish groups on improving campus life for Jewish students.
The commission, composed of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto, Hillel of Greater Toronto, Hasbara at York and the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, compiled hundreds of submissions from students, faculty and Jewish community members after recent events at York “have left many members of our community shocked and shaken,” the report cited.
The final report cites episodes of “intimidation, harassment, ridicule and virulent anti-Israel sentiment” on the York campus over the past year.
Howard English, the UJA of Greater Toronto’s vice-president for communications, said the incidents have prompted Jewish donors to York to express concern to the administration. He added there is a history of anti-Israel expression at York.
“We’re talking about off-hand comments, or scurrilous comments … unwarranted or unjustified political personal opinion that is not based on fact or is unrelated to the course that an instructor is teaching,” said Mr. English.
“We had one case of a [teaching assistant] who told a student who was wearing a Israel Defence Forces T-shirt to never come into his class again with that T-shirt on,” said Mr. English.
The report asks York to establish a confidential hotline for students to report “abuse of the podium” incidents. It also recommends that York implement several other measures, including providing school security forces with “enhanced training in order to deal more effectively with disruptive events and individuals” and to “rigorously define the academic standards expected of all university-sponsored conferences.”
The report also recommends the university should no longer allow Vari Hall, a central meeting place for students, to be booked for political pusposes, for the universitiy to “increase the severity of sanctions for those who repeatedly violate the Code of Conduct,” and “empower York Security to issue reprimands … that would remain on a student’s academic transcript for a period of not less than two years.”
This list of recommendations was delivered to the York University Task Force on Student Life, Learning and Community, which was created in March by university president Mamdouh Shoukri to improve the atmosphere on campus.
Patrick Monahan, the dean of Osgoode Hall Law School and chair of the task force, was not available for comment yesterday. And the York University Faculty Association did not return calls as of press time.
It’s been a tough 50th anniversary for York University. Three of its unions went on strike for months last fall, delaying classes and final exams, the university’s endowment is down by 18% and recent reports cite that 7% fewer Ontario high-school students accepted a full-time, first year spot at York than last year.
Mr. English said York might feel a financial strain if Jewish students continue to feel intimidated.
“Well, we know that many Jewish donors to the university are very concerned … many Jewish donors have spoken in the most honest terms, in the most candid terms with [Mr. Shoukri] and other administration officials,” he said.
Mr. English said that he is not aware of a “mass withdrawl” of donations at this point, but said “the longer an atmosphere exists at York which is considered by many Jewish students to be intimidating or hostile, the greater the risk of donors withdrawing funds.”
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/06/16/report-calls-for-york-profs-to-keep-political-opinions-to-themselves.aspx
Tomorrow Campaign
The Tomorrow Campaign is the story of a community’s journey. Although this story is focused on the present and the future, neither could exist before understanding some of the history of Toronto’s Jewish community.
The Jewish community of Toronto can trace its roots back to the 1800s. As the Jews of Eastern Europe, living under oppression and persecution, fled their towns and villages, many arrived in Toronto seeking freedom and a brighter future.
Regardless of which shtetl the new Torontonians came from and any hardships they faced, they all shared one common vision: a city that could sustain a growing population and fulfill their need to live vibrant Jewish lives.
In 1917, Toronto’s first Jewish federation — the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies — was incorporated, replacing the unorganized collection of individual Jewish charities, each knocking on doors and raising funds for their own causes. The Federation’s primary responsibility was fundraising for what was to become United Jewish Appeal.
As Toronto’s Jews became an increasingly organized, unified force, so too did their dreams. Understanding that the Jewish community would continue to grow due to the waves of immigration flooding into Toronto, their dreams turned to building a city where Jews could flourish and succeed.
In 1930 the YMHA (Young Men’s Hebrew Association)was born, offering members various programming opportunities in rented rooms in the Brunswick Avenue and College Street area. By 1953 a new facility was built — the Bloor Street “Y” at Bloor and Spadina — today the Miles Nadal JCC, to house the growing membership of a burgeoning community.
As Jewish life began moving north up the Bathurst Street corridor, so too did the Jewish facilities and services. 1958 saw the groundbreaking of the North “Y,” the current Bathurst Jewish Community Centre.
Building for the
Next Generation
A tradition of one generation building Jewish infrastructure for the next was born. Many of the visionaries who worked tirelessly to ensure that the North “Y” was built, would never use the facility, live near it, or benefit personally from it. Nor would their own children. But these visionaries understood that a strong Jewish identity is fostered in a robust Jewish city, and the way to keep a community thriving is to keep meeting its needs.
UJA Federation’s Tomorrow Campaign is the next logical link in the chain that has connected Toronto’s Jewish community from one generation to the next. It is the Campaign that has worked to revolutionize Jewish Toronto, bringing our community to the forefront of innovation. It is the Campaign that will raise $350 million dollars to continue the tradition of building infrastructure to preserve and enrich Jewish identity and culture. It is the Campaign that will change the landscape of Jewish Toronto forever.
reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO
http://tomorrowcampaign.com/index.php?action=history&camp_id=2