בראשית

The Sabbath reading, or Parsha, this week is Parsha Bereishis. In English it is Genesis 1.1-6.8. בראשית or "Bereishis," translates into English, in some renderings, as: "In the beginning ... ."

Tomorrow morning, in Synagogues all over the world, the sons and daughters of Israel will gather to hear the beginning of the תורה (or, TORAH), read again as if for the first time.

It is the beginning of the cycle that ended last week with the celebration of שםחת תורה (or, “Simchas TORAH”).

I see this as a time of great hope:

G-d said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

G-d saw that the light was good, …

It is time for a fresh start, a new beginning; not just for the sons and daughters of Israel—who, as part of G-d’s plan, are special—but for all.

As I descend into another dark and cold winter, let me wish all a very good Shabbos; Shabbat Shalom.

Origins

I grew up, and lived most of my life, in a place called Côte Saint-Luc, a suburb of Montreal, Canada.

Despite its name, it is, and was, neither French nor Catholic, (the translation from French to English is "Saint Luke's Side"). It is a majority English-speaking Jewish community, (the descendants of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenaz Jews). The English-speaking Jews have been fleeing this place for almost thirty years, and there has been an influx of French-speaking Jews, mostly from Morocco; who are, I'm afraid, mostly indistinguisable from their Arab former neighbors.

Perusing through the "edit history" of the Wikipedia article about Côte Saint-Luc, in a May 10, 2006, edit, I discovered a great description of this place, known to insiders as "THE LUKE," (but deleted from Wikipedia as "vandalism"):

Cote Saint-Luc is [the] largest place that Jews have gone to die since Auschwitz. It's the home of loudmouth, insecure yentas whose children are spoiled egomaniacs and whose grandchildren are even more insecure and needy. Sure, go to dinner in sweat pants, jog in the middle of the road, drive around aimlessly doped up on valium...everyone's on death's door anyway. It's like Boca, but colder and bleaker.

A fair, if harsh, comment; but also disturbing since Côte Saint-Luc is surrounded by rail-road tracks; (there are tunnels that provide access to the "city"). And, rail-roads, in light of the Holocaust, give me the creeps.

French-language laws, prohibiting the public use of the English language, and a long history of French-Canadian antisemitism in the province of Quebec, is diminishing the English-speaking Jewish population here (Canada's oldest Jewish community).

For the most part, only the old and the poor remain.

First Post

In the beginning...

And he said let there be a blog; and there was a blog.