News Briefs: B’nai Brith Canada Holds Heartfelt Remembrance Day Observance Online

A virtual crowd gathered at 10:50 am EST on Remembrance Day for an online commemoration for our Jewish soldiers in the Canadian Armed Forces, both the fallen and those who survived. B’nai Brith Canada hosted the event, in conjunction with the Jewish War Veterans of Canada. The moment of silence was observed at 11 AM, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Prominent speakers from across Canada included Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, the Hon. Lawrence MacAuley, and Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole, himself a former member of the RCAF.

Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith, opened the broadcast and noted the unbroken and ongoing history of service of Jewish citizens in the defence of our country. Norman Gardner, Post Commander of the Toronto Jewish War veterans of Canada, noted that 39% of Jewish males served in the armed forces in WWll, “the highest one of any ethnic group at the time.” Four hundred perished in defence of our way of life.

Daniel Benlolo of Montreal’s Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue performed Oh Canada; Cantor Gordon Lindsay of Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto davened El Malei Rachamim; and Rabbi Anibal Mass of Winnipeg’s Shaarey Zedek Synagogue led the Mourner’s Kaddish.

The senior Jewish chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces, Captain (Rabbi) Bryan Bowley, remarked that “Remembrance Day, for me, is about honoring the memory of all military personnel who came before us. Thanks to their heroism and selflessness, we live in a free and democratic country. This year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War by paying homage to those valiant Canadians who fought and fell to defend the freedom and livelihood of our allies.” Prof. Ellin Bessner hosted a video report from the Jewish war memorial section of Mount Sinai Cemetery in Toronto, profiling many brave Jewish Canadians, from across the land, who “went to fight for King and Country, but also, to save their own people from Hitler’s Final Solution.”

Families posted their own tributes and personal stories online about their loved ones and the sacrifices made. Many of the WWll soldiers as described by Bessner were celebrated by their descendants, such as the family of the late Harry Furer. He enlisted at age 18 in Winnipeg in 1944, and was one of the youngest veterans of that campaign against the Nazis. Harry raised a family of five with wife Gertie in Windsor, Ontario, always carrying the flag on the November 11 march with his children to the cenotaph. Harry passed away in 2011. His youngest, Reah Bocknek, posted a photo of his beret on Facebook in tribute to his service, describing it as “one of my most treasured pieces from my dad’s life and history.”