ARZA Canada

09/03/2026

09/01/2026

We believe everyone has a right to religious freedom and equality in our Homeland. This is what we work so hard to secure and ensure. Believe it too? Join us! Find out more at arzacanada.org

During COVID, when only a limited number of people could gather for prayer, our annual shofar workshop moved online.

After the holidays, Dana wrote to us:

"I knew that if I went to synagogue, I would get uncomfortable looks, as if I were taking someone else's place. So I prayed at home. Thanks to your Zoom workshop, I was able to blow the shofar for myself, my mother, and a few neighbors. Thank you for the opportunity."

Women are technically exempt from the mitzvah of hearing the shofar - but that doesn’t stop us from doing everything we can to hear it.

So why not learn to blow it ourselves?
Join our Shofar Blowing Workshop
Sunday, September 6 | 4:30 PM
Park HaMesila, the corner of Masaryk Street, Jerusalem

Women and men are welcome to come learn, practice, and blow the shofar for themselves, their families, and their communities.

08/28/2026

For many Arab citizens of Israel, the upcoming national elections are about far more than party politics. They are about personal safety, the devastating toll of crime and violence, and whether political participation can bring meaningful change.

In a recent interview with Kan 11 radio, “In the Knesset Election: Arab Israelis Will Vote to Fight the Violence,” TAI's Director of Public Policy, Lama Yassin, discusses the concerns shaping Arab voters’ decisions ahead of the October elections. She examines the issues most likely to mobilize them and the growing demand for political leadership that places the fight against violence at the top of the national agenda.

Listen to the full interview here: https://bit.ly/4qeb6SN

08/28/2026

Everything You Want to Know About the Israeli Elections from the IPF and URJ: Israeli Elections 101
Wednesday, September 9 | 2pm ET

Join the URJ and Israel Policy Forum for a webinar breaking down the process and key issues for the October 27 Israeli election. Shanie Reichman, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Director of IPF Atid at Israel Policy Forum and Rabbi Josh Weinberg, Executive Director of ARZA and VIce President of Israel and Reform Zionism at Union for Reform Judaism, will discuss the procedures for the election, the major stakeholders, and issues most pertinent to Israeli voters. This webinar is part of a series of joint discussions between the URJ and IPF to educate North American Jews on the Israeli election.

urj.tfaforms.net/901?id=701UG00000lLR2F

08/28/2026

Agglomeration Council today unanimously passed a resolution addressing public safety, social cohesion, and rising antisemitism.

The island-wide agglomeration council includes Montreal and surrounding suburbs.

The City of Côte Saint-Luc, backed by Westmount, presented the resolution

This comes amidst a now revised resolution by Projét Montréal, delayed by Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada from June to the Aug. 24 meeting, accusing Israel of genocide and apartheid and demanding that Montreal cut institutional ties with Israel. The resolution passed Aug. 24 omits those accusations and the call to cut ties. There had been concerns in recent days about possible pressure being applied on some councillors to vote for the original PM resolution

CSL Mayor David Tordjman pointed out that the resolution CSL is presenting with Westmount says that the anti-Israel hate and protests taking place in Montreal is linked to the rise of antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

The resolution says that the City of Montreal and the 15 demerged municipalities "have the fundamental responsibility of ensuring public security, preserving social cohesion, fostering equal participation in civic life, and safeguarding the dignity, security, and freedoms of every person residing in the territory," and that it is "neither responsible for the resolution of international conflicts nor in a position to resolve them," and should instead focus on local issues.

The CSL-Westmount resolution also lists the many incidents of antisemitic hate that have taken place locally in the last three years, and calls on the agglomeration to "reaffirm its commitment to preserving a territory where all residents can fully participate in public life without fear of hate, intimidation, harassment, or violence."

The resolution also calls on the agglomeration to:

• "Declare that the current rise in antisemitism is unacceptable and that it threatens the security of all residents of the Island of Montreal, particularly that of the members of Montréal’s Jewish community."

• "Condemn all forms of antisemitism, racism, religious hatred, and identity-based intimidation, and recognize that such acts harm not only their direct victims but also the Montreal social fabric as a whole."

• "Reaffirm unequivocally that every resident of the Island of Montreal has the right to attend their school, higher education institution, workplace, place of worship, community institutions, businesses, and public events without being subjected to intimidation, harassment, obstruction, or violence."

• "Express its support for the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal as well as all public security partners in the coherent, impartial and non-selective application of the laws and municipal by-laws in force, in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, as well as the dignity and constitutional rights of every resident."

“Prioritize matters falling within their jurisdiction as well as the concrete local consequences of their decisions by favouring public security, equal treatment, verifiable facts, and peaceful coexistence, in the interest of social cohesion."

08/28/2026

In this National Post op-ed, Professor Robert Brym writes that Jewish statehood is a core element of Jewish identity for the overwhelming majority of Jews in Canada.

The data is clear: 92% of Canadian Jews support the existence of a Jewish state in Israel, while 86% say supporting Israel is an important or essential part of their Jewish identity.

Zionism, at its most basic, is the belief that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland. But the demonization of Zionism is increasingly being used as cover to discriminate against and target Jewish Canadians.

And that nexus is now well documented.

The federal government’s recent campus antisemitism report found that 81% of Jewish student respondents reported hateful or discriminatory treatment of Zionists on campus often or occasionally.

Justice Mary Lou Benotto’s independent review at TMU reached a closely related conclusion: institutions must recognize that discrimination against Jews can manifest through opposition to Zionism.

Understanding that distinction is essential to recognizing and confronting the tidal wave of antisemitism in Canada.

You can read the full article in our bio.