by Deborah Shatz
(AJNews) – Yasher Koach to Friends of JNF Canada for bringing educator Charlotte Korchak to Alberta. She was the right speaker at the right time for our community.
With her casual but teacherly demeanour she was able to uplift the audience by providing some valuable tools to reinforce our Jewish pride. For those of us who are experiencing emotional fatigue over the war, the devastation, the propaganda, the politics and the hasbara, she demonstrated that we can have a proud Jewish identity while maintaining our Jewish values and respect for human rights. We can be proud Zionists and still hold onto our Jewish ethics and beliefs. Her message was to arm yourself with knowledge, both historical and current. Keep calm and be patient. Be proudly Jewish but don’t defend the indefensible, don’t defend lawlessness. Be empathetic but be proudly Jewish and lean into our Jewish culture.
On February 8 in Calgary and 9 in Edmonton, Jerusalem Institute educator Charlotte Korchak gave masterclass presentations that modeled some of the conversations we could have with our friends, family members or even strangers who express hatred for Jews, Israel and or Zionists.
Korchak, an energetic, charismatic educator, loves to teach and she is happy to share the knowledge base needed to understand the very complicated situation between Israel and her neighbours. Korchak demonstrated how this information can be used to calmly dispel confrontations – or even just to engage in meaningful conversations – with misinformed, apathetic, uninformed, or curious people – or those with whom we disagree.
She reminded us that one of the beautiful aspects of Judaism is that we are not uniform in our beliefs, we are on a spectrum. We live in a a world today that if you disagree with me, it’s ok for me to reject you and push you away. Judaism, however, does not reject differences in perspective; it embraces the spectrum and encourages debate and conversation.
Thank you to Friends of JNF of Canada for bringing Korchak to Alberta with the knowledge and the tools to encourage this conversation in a positive and meaningful way. We can all benefit from her nuance.
Jay Cairns, the executive director of the Alberta chapter of Friends of JNF Canada, said those who attended Korchak’s presentations were impressed and empowered by the knowledge, experience, balance and positivity she brings to the discussion. He expressed appreciation to Korchak and everyone who attended as well as to the event sponsors. He said, “Friends of JNF Canada thanks our partners at the Calgary Jewish Federation and the Calgary Jewish Foundation (private donation) and thank you to National Council of Jewish Women (Edmonton chapter), Na’amat (Edmonton), and Jewish Federation of Edmonton for cosponsoring.”
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