By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS Rabbi Mordechai M. Kaplan would have been proud if he had witnessed the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ Face It, Fight It antisemitism conference last week, October 16–17, 2023, in Ottawa, Ontario. The conference had all the main elements that Kaplan envisioned in…

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS Yesterday morning, October 9, 2023, two days after Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel, I was shocked as I listened to my local radio station, CJAD 800, in Montreal, Canada. They had a pro-Palestinian academic on air interviewed by morning show replacement host Ken Connors…

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS There is a long history of great civilizations, empires, and nations sleeping when they could have avoided an attack; “Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned,” Winston Churchill chided England in his book, “While England Slept; A Survey of World Affairs, 1932–1938,” and John F. Kennedy…

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS While the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported antisemitism by student groups on campus, faculty members are equally involved in anti-Israel activity. A group of 10 anti-Israel academics and BDS activists and the movement for the academic boycott of Israel founded the Institute for the Critical…

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS The Love statue on the University of Pennsylvania campus is rather ironic considering the antisemitic and anti-Zionist attacks and events this past week. Source: Creative Commons We are barely a month into the new academic year, and anti-Zionism activities on university campuses are in…

Incidents doubled in the last academic year and seem on track for the same this year. — By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS We are barely a month into the new academic year, and anti-Zionism activities on university campuses are in full force. Over the weekend before Yom Kippur, from Friday, September 22, to the afternoon of Sunday, September 24, the University of Pennsylvania is hosting a…

Both young teachers and their students do not know Holocaust facts — By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS As we commence yet another school year, the Holocaust, the subject that once monopolized the Jewish day school experience, needs to be rejuvenated to reach young teachers and their students. Holocaust education dominated the Jewish day school curriculum in the seventies through the nineties. However, looking through the articles in…

From my experience, Jewish organizations are not treating those in need with dignity — Tzedekeh is supposed to treat those in need with dignity and help them stand independently as equals. Still, today’s Jewish communal intuitions never let those in financial perils forget where they stand on the social ladder. By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS

By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS This morning, May 4, 2023, at 7:30 AM, a bucket truck came to my home in Cote Saint-Luc, Quebec. They started cutting down the beautiful blooming Norway maple tree from the top branches. Hydro-Quebec had cut the branches closest to the wires last fall…