//Comment This Out

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Going... Gone?

He has a flu. No, wait, he has gallstones. No... He's dying. How long will it be until someone pins it on Israel? I seem to recall that when one of his advisors (forgot the name) a few years back died of a heart attack, they tried to blame Israel's secret service for causing it.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Security in the Synagogue

While walking home from shul (synagogue) last night, I ran into a neighbour of mine. He told me that for the first time, he davened (prayed) elsewhere. Why? Well, our shul has had security guards guarding the place every Shabbos for a while now and also inspect everyone's bags before letting them in. My neighbour, on principle, refuses to let them search his talis bag. This time they refused to let him in. He was obviously quite upset saying it is an indignation that he, who has davened there for the past 18 years, should be refused entry into his own shul by some security guard. So, that brings me to the basic question and that is, does a shul in Toronto need security guards every Shabbos? What risk are they guarding against? A friend of mine commented on this a while ago and said that such security comes more from paranoia and not from valid security concerns. He also said that your basic security guard was someone who "couldn't cut it as a cop" and thus did not feel confident in their guarding abilities. (I'm sure that if a security guard is reading this he'll probably feel that that is an unfair generalization.) The standard reason given as to why the shul has security guards is that the increased tension in the Middle East and Israel and a general rise in anti semitism warrants it. But in Toronto, aside from a few incidents of anti semitic graffitti on houses, overturned tombstones, and broken windows in synagogues, everything has been relatively quiet. What would a security person be preventing exactly? At the very least, the security guards should not have to check bags.What are they expecting someone to bring in? A bomb? A gun? What are the chances of that happening? What are the chances of someone dressing up as an Orthodox Jew, carry a talis bag, and hide a bomb in it in the city of Toronto? Not very likely, I'd say. Update: Miriam of Bloghead weighs in on the issue of security in shul.

Friday, October 15, 2004

Birthday

Today is my birthday and I have reached a milestone. I'm now 30. It is my understanding that I'm not to be trusted anymore, or so they used to say in the 60s, a decade which I wasn't around for.

Saturday, October 9, 2004

Holidays Ended

Well, our marathon of "three day Yom Tov" over a period of a month has now concluded. The high point of the holidays: Food, all that food. The low point: Sitting in the sukka on the second day and hearing someone blast music outside during our meal. To make matters worse, it was Abba.