MAYBE THE WORLD ISN’T REMEMBERING YOM HA’SHOAH – BUT I AM:
They Murdered Us Because We Were Jews.
In Hebrew . . . It Is Yom HaShoah, Better Described In English As “Holocaust Remembrance Day”, Marking the Day When Jews of Conscience and an Understanding of History, Take a Moment to Reflect & Remember the Worst Genocide Ever Inflicted Upon Humanity.
But In All Fairness To Other Religions & People Who Are Not Religious, Yom HaShoah Bears a Message the Whole World Should Understand, Given that the Holocaust was a One-Of at that Point in History . . . But Is Not Necessarily A One-Of Tomorrow, Reflecting the Worst Depravity Humanity is Capable of Committing.
I AM JEWISH – MY ENTIRE HERITAGE IS JEWISH . . .
I Was Raised As A Person In The Jewish Faith. I Went to a Protestant Public School During the Day and to a Jewish School During the Afternoon. I Even Attended an Ultra-Religious Yeshiva (Rabbinical College) that Focused Entirely on Torah Learning (Five Books Of Moses).
My Parents Were Not Religious People . . . But Never Missed an Opportunity to Hammer Home Jewish Values & Jewish Integrity to Me & My Two Sisters. We are Not Kosher, and Even though we Mostly Lived in Jewish Communities in and Around Montreal, We Always Had Many Non-Jewish Friends.
With Our Christian Friends . . . We Celebrated Christmas & Easter. And for the Jewish Holidays which we Celebrated with Feasts and all Manner of Jewish Cuisine, There Were Always Christian Friends & Neighbors At Our Supper Table.
One Of My Fondest Passover Seder (Feast) Memories, was When we Had my Very Good Friend, Father Joe Sullivan & Peter – Father Joe’s Priestly Partner at our Seder Table, Wearing their Priestly Garb & Jewish Yarmulkes, as they Participated in the English Reading of the “Haggadah” . . . The Story Of The Exodus Of Jews From Bondage In Egypt.
During Christmas, I Used My Radio Show to Raise as Much Awareness, Money & Food-Stuffs to Support Less Fortunate Christians. During Passover, I Did the Same for the Less Fortunate in the Jewish Community.
And Remarkably . . . As I did the Best I Could to Help Christians During Christmas, I Did-It with Plenty of Jews who also Participated. And During Passover, there were No Shortage of Christians who Helped Me Deliver Passover Baskets to Poor Jewish Families, Including My Close & Good Friend, Commander Michel Legault Of The Montreal Police Department.
During The Early Mid 1990’s . . . I Agreed to Raise a Huge Profile, Money & Practical Relief in Defense of Battered Women in Montreal for B’Nai Brith Women, a Jewish Organization . . . Only On The Condition That All Women Of All Faiths Would Be Included.
MONTREAL JEWS GAVE EVERYTHING WHILE ASKING FOR NOTHING:
When The Montreal Alouette Football Team Was Teetering On Bankruptcy, it Took a Jewish Businessman from Ottawa (Sam Berger) to Save the Day, which Happened as well to the Storied Montreal Canadian Hockey Team During their Dark Years, Also Saved By Jews.
When The National Baseball League Decided To Expand North To Canada, it was the Jewish Bronfman Family which Bought & Paid for the Montreal Expos to Come to Montreal.
It Was Always Believed – If You Wanted The Best Doctors, Lawyers & Accountants . . . Hire A Jew. Even the Garment Industry, which was Famous in Montreal, On A Par With New York, London & Paris . . . Was Known As The Schmata (Rag) Trade . . . Virtually Owned by the Montreal Jewish Community with Large & Small Factories, which Gave Work & Prestige to Hundreds of Thousands of People . . . Young, Older, Jewish, Christian, Immigrants & Home Grown Canadians.
Even Amongst The Trades . . . Plumbers, Electricians, Contractors, Developers, Trans National Shippers (Trucking) – Etc, There Was A Jewish Mark Everywhere In Montreal.
HERE IS WHAT WAS NOT THERE – VIOLENCE & UNSAFE COMMUNITIES:
All Jewish Communities Were Open & Welcoming To All.
We (Jews) Were Discriminated Against Throughout Canada. Just Before, During & After World War Two, When the Holocaust was No Longer a Secret, the Liberal Government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King’s Official Jewish Immigration Policy was – NONE IS TOO MANY!
Perhaps Most Specifically In Montreal (Quebec), Jews were Restricted from Living in Many Communities, Including – Becoming Members of Social Groups like Golf Courses & Yacht Clubs.
Until 1960, Jews Weren’t Permitted to Sit on Public School Boards in Montreal, and in Certain Universities like McGill, there were Quotas on How Many Jews Could be Admitted. And Even At That – Jews Had to Have a Higher Entrance Score (10%-More) Than All Others If They Wanted To Get-In.
Imagine This . . . As A Jew, You Could Have Had A 90% Average, but, if you were the One Short of Beating the Quota, you would be Excluded, which is Why so Many Jewish University Students Studied & Graduated from Prestigious American Universities.
I Could Keep On Going . . . But I Bet You Got The Message.
In Spite Of All The Anti-Semitism, Restrictions on Jews to Participate in Many Fields of Endeavor, even to Work in the Canadian Banking System where Jews were Persona-Non-Grata . . . We Jews Persevered.
Where We Were Disallowed Because Of Our Jewish Religion . . . We Built Our Own. We Built our Own Golf Courses, Yacht Clubs, and even One of the World’s Great Hospitals (Montreal Jewish General). And We Welcomed Everyone.
And Even Though We Jews Made Such An Incredible Contribution To Montreal . . . Three Quarters of a Century Later . . . The Jews Who Created One of the All-Time Greatest Cities in the World, Have Left Montreal Because of Draconian Quebec Language & Social Laws . . . And A Revival Of Anti-Semitism.
In Montreal, Like So Many Other Cities Worldwide, Jewish Institutions are Under Attack, whether Firebombed, Shot-At . . . And/Or Spray-Painted With Graffiti.
Mobs Routinely Gather In Jewish Places In Montreal, Toronto, New York City – Etc-Etc-Etc . . . To Chant Anti-Semitic Slogans While Showing their Bile Towards the Jewish People . . . Who Have Neither Earned Nor Deserve Any-Of-It.
The Old Canards & Threats Are Back Again . . . Dirty Jews, Kill The Jews. Jews Go Home – With A Whole New Blend Of Jew Hatred Rhetoric . . . Intifada Forever. Free-Free Palestine. From the River To The Sea . . .
Who Says The Holocaust Can’t Happen Again, just as Unbelieving People, Including LEFTIST Jews Can’t Wrap the Savagery of October 7, 2023 Around their Heads, while the Day After Oct 7, 2023, Global Bad Actors Blamed the Jews for their Own Slaughter.
TO FORGET IS TO REPEAT:
We Jews Cannot Forget The Holocaust & Pretend It Can’t Happen Again . . . It Can.
AM YISROEL CHAI . . . ISRAEL LIVES . . . NEVER AGAIN MUST MEAN NEVER AGAIN!
Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov
12 Comments
Great points. The strength of the Jews is that in spite of all those factors you enumerate – and more – we never saw ourselves as victims. We see ourselves – appropriately today – as SURVIVORS. Today I am saddened that Montreal, the city of my birth, is now suffering from the cancer of antisemitic Islamism, aided and abetted by the idiocy of liberalism. My family now lives in Florida where as Jews we have the right to bear arms and defend ourselves, our families, & communities. AM YISROEL CHAI!
Born and raised Jewish in Montreal, I felt the growing unfriendliness by the French. The first red flag was when the hockey team changed the spelling from Canadians to Canadiens. Next was when they began to change the English street names to French. E.g. Maplewood to Boulevard Eduard Monpetite. That’s when I was convinced my future was not in Montreal. So, I moved to Toronto and created a small empire.
I love Jews, especially Zionists. I admire their sense of history, tradition, allegiance and belonging. As luck would have it, next Tuesday I have an appointment at the Jewish General Hospital. Nothing but the best.
We are “one” !
The devils are still here, mainly the Islamists who are enabled by Trudeau/Carney of the Liberals and Singh of the NDP. We won’t let them destroy us as the stakes are high. Jews will continue to be a light unto nations.
The American Revolution might have been stillborn if not for a Jewish businessman.One Haym Salomon, friend of George Washington. Salomon loaned and raised money for the Continental Army and later helped save the nation from collapse His brother-in-law was a Lieutenant Colonel on Washington’s staff. Arrested twice by the British and sentenced to hang as a spy he somehow got away. While in captivity he encouraged others to escape and turned some of the German mercenaries against the British.
EXACTLY Howard! ISRAEL LIVES…NEVER AGAIN!!!
I can’t help but believe the reason for such hatred of the Jewish people is because they are God’s chosen people. Satan wants them, & Christians, outcast & destroyed for that alone. Before God created man, Satan battled Him in the heavens. Ever since he enticed Eve to disobey God, man has been under Satan’s manipulative ideas/thoughts to get us to behave his way — evil over good, despise God, his chosen people, & gentiles who accept Jesus’ blood to cover their sins. Satan=instigator of hate
A vote for any Liberal is a vote to continue the hatred and persecution of all the Jewish People. Canada really needs to change and this would just be a start.
Am Yisroel Chai! Od Avinu Chai! Wherever I stand, I stand w/Israel! Both, USA/Canada governments, have elements within that are dedicated to the eradication of the Hebrew people and those of Zionist followers of the Son of G-d. I pray that G-d will intervene by the defeat of Carney. There is a great number of Jews in Canada/USA whose goal is to destroy Israel, America, the Hebrew people, and those who are Zionist believers. May the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob turn their evil back upon them.
Stupid people are always going to feel threatened by exceptionalism. Unfortunately , there still is alot of stupidity circulating in this country. The liberals look like they’re on the verge of winning power. God help us all.
Excellent commentary, Howard.
Comments are closed.