By Howie Silbiger
Did Canadian Jews even know it was Jewish Heritage Month?
I’m asking seriously.
Not because Jews forgot, we remember everything, most of the time too much. We remember dates, names, speeches, old betrayals, who said what, who stayed quiet and who suddenly discovered the need for “context” the second Jews started getting attacked. So no, the problem is not that Jews forgot to check the calendar.
The problem is that Jewish Heritage Month in Canada feels a little disconnected.
May rolls around and suddenly everybody remembers Jews exist. Politicians post their nice statements, government accounts put up the usual soft little paragraphs about contributions, resilience, diversity, community and all the other words that get thrown into the official blender when nobody wants to say anything with teeth. Jews helped build Canada. Jews contributed to Canada. Jews enriched Canada. Jews strengthened Canada.
All true, by the way, they did.
But then you step outside the press release and into the actual country, and things look a little different.
In real Canada, Jews are living behind security guards, synagogues need police cars. Jewish schools need cameras, locked doors and parents who read every message from administration with one eye on the news. Jewish students walk onto campuses and need to decide how Jewish they feel like looking that day. Because a kippa is not just a kippa, a Magen David is not just a necklace and Hebrew on a sweatshirt is not just Hebrew on a sweatshirt…It is a calculation.
Can I wear this? Should I tuck it in? Is this going to start something? Is today the day some lunatic decides I represent everything he hates about the Middle East?
That is the ugly truth in Canada right now.
This is the same Canada that will happily celebrate Jewish Heritage Month in May, then spend the rest of the year asking Jews to be patient while the garbage piles up. A synagogue gets targeted and we get a statement, a Jewish school gets shot at and we get a statement, Jewish students get harassed and we are told there is a process, protesters scream for our death in the streets and suddenly everyone becomes a constitutional lawyer. Politicians who can usually find a microphone from three blocks away start mumbling into their sleeves. Everyone condemns hate, of course, anti-Jewish hate and Islamophobia. Always paired, like they came as a package deal from Costco.
Wonderful.
Except Jews are not being attacked by “hate” in the abstract. Jews are being attacked because they are Jews. Jewish buildings are not being targeted because Canada has a vague kindness problem and Jewish students are not being harassed because society needs a better tone.
This is anti-Jewish hatred. It has a name, it has a target, it has slogans, it has crowds, it has excuses, it has people who know exactly what they are doing and people in authority pretending they don’t. And no, it is not the same thing as hatred against Muslims. It is not connected just because some communications intern needed a safer, more balanced sentence.
That is what makes Jewish Heritage Month feel so empty.
To be clear, Jewish Heritage Month itself is not the problem, Jews have been here for generations. They built communities, opened businesses, taught in schools, worked in hospitals, served in public life and created institutions that helped shape this country. Jewish families came here with accents, suitcases, trauma, ambition, faith and a work ethic that could power a small city. They built lives here, they gave back, they helped make Canada a great country. That deserves more than a tweet and a lukewarm paragraph on a government website.
But Jewish heritage is not just nostalgia. It is not only old Montreal photos, bagels, smoked meat, Leonard Cohen, Holocaust panels and safe stories about immigrants who overcame adversity. Those things are part of the story, but they are not the whole story.
Jewish heritage also means Jews get to live as Jews.
Openly, loudly, quietly, religiously, culturally, traditionally, Zionist, anti Zionist, whatever kind of Jew they happen to be. Being able to live freely without having to explain themselves to every angry activist with a poster or having to apologize for being visibly Jewish. Without having to prove they are one of the “good Jews” before being allowed into polite company.
A Jewish kid should be able to wear a kippa in Canada without it becoming a security issue, a Jewish student should be able to go to class without being treated like a war criminal, a Jewish parent should not have to wonder whether the school building is safe, and a shul should not need a security plan that looks like it was written for an airport.
Yet here we are.
Canada loves Jewish heritage when it is tidy, when it can be packaged, celebrated, framed and put on a poster. Canada is very comfortable with Jewish history once the danger has passed and the lessons can be made universal enough that nobody in the room feels accused.
Dead Jews are very useful that way, they teach tolerance, inspire solemn speeches, let everyone say never again without having to do much when the again starts clearing its throat.
Living Jews are more annoying, they ask for things that other people take for granted. Things like protection. clarity. Consequences and honesty. They notice when leaders hide behind “both sides.” They notice when universities suddenly become helpless. They notice when police watch mobs take over streets and then ask the Jewish community to stay calm. They notice when public officials who were very brave and vocal during every other cause suddenly discover nuance when it comes to Jewish causes.
Canadian Jews notice all of it.
So, the question is not really whether Jews know it is Jewish Heritage Month, the question is whether Canada knows what Jewish Heritage Month is supposed to mean. Because if it is just a month for nice words, that is very touching, but nice words do not pay the security invoice. If it is supposed to mean that Jewish life is part of Canada, not just Jewish history, then the country has work to do.
Real work.
Not another roundtable or another statement. Not another patronage appointment of an MP because they happen to be Jewish. Not another photo of an elected official standing beside a menorah or another speech where some disconnected Jewish politician assures Jewish Canadians that Canada is the best country in the world for Jews, as Jewish students are being attacked in universities, Jewish schools are being shot at and synagogues bombed.
Jews helped build this country, they are not guests here, they are not a temporary diversity feature, they are not here on probation until the next international crisis makes everyone uncomfortable again. They are Canadians. And right now, too many Canadian Jews are living like they still need to prove it.
So yes, it is Jewish Heritage Month.
Maybe someone should tell Canada…
Howie Silbiger is the host of The Howie Silbiger Show on truetalkradio.com and Political Hitman on israelnewstalkradio.com. He is the Editor in Chief of The Montreal Jewish News.
