It has often been said that if you have two Jews discussing one topic you are bound to have at least three different opinions. Some recent discussions among the Jewish community have brought home this point rather forcefully.

One was the Netanyahu Affair at Concordia University in Montreal and its aftermath Another, is the current debate over the Mel Gibson film: “The Passion of the Christ”.

Both events have caused a great deal of serious discussion within the Jewish community in Canada. The most obvious attribute of the discussion has not been agreement - as I said, ‘two Jews, three points of view’ - but rather the very wide spectrum of views that exists among Jews, and, as the most obvious explanation for this - the wide pluralistic character of contemporary Jewry.

Within one and the same community, Jews differ by degree of religious affiliation - some have no official religious affiliation at all and others are strongly committed to particular religious institutions. Among the latter there is a almost equally wide spectrum including orthodox, conservative, reform, reconstructionist plus a range of differences within these categories as well.

There are also major cultural differences - an attribute which has become more evident recently as the proportion of the Canadian population made up of immigrants and the geographic and cultural distances separating these immigrants from established communities continues to grow. There are Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. There are Ethiopian Jews. Within the first two of these and, perhaps, within the third as well, there are many sub-groups.

Continuing in the same vein, a majority of Canadian Jews can be classified as “Zionists” - at least in the sense that they support the concept of Israel that is both an independent state and a homeland for the Jewish nation as a whole. However, there is also a part, (albeit fairly small), of Canadian Jewry who oppose Zionism and the notion of a Jewish homeland, regarding, instead, the nationality as something carried by individual Jews and not requiring a collective, political expression.

Despite these numerous, and often very substantive, differences, when pushed, there still appears to be a general acceptance of the concept of a Jewish nationality and support for that nationality as a community, as a form of collective and individual identity.

Much of the above is probably more evident than new. The differences have always been there, although few of us may have appreciated the width of the spectrum. (I can still remember the difficulty I had as a first generation, English-speaking, Ashkenazi, Canadian Jew recognizing the Jewishness in French-speaking, Sephardic, North African Jews who knew no Yiddish, and couldn’t tell a gefilte fish from a Halopche.)

What is new and is becoming worrisome, is the tendency evidenced in many instances, for Jews to emphasize their differences rather than their shared nationality and, for these differences to become hardened by institutional divisions. Religious Jews often denigrate secular Jews or Jews whose particular religious affiliation is different from their own as being somehow “less Jewish”. Secular Jews often exhibit intolerance of believers as being less intellectually capable, non-reasoning people whose existence, dress, rituals, etc. diminish the rationality, modernity of the Jews and constitute a source of embarrassment.

More recently, divisions over policies of this or other particular governments of Israel have often degenerated into bitter disagreements with Jewish communities and, in some cases, even hesitation toward individual identification with the nation qua nation.

In all of this, what is worrisome, is not the difference of opinion but the threat to Jewish nationality caused by increasing mutual intolerance, reinforced by stronger social, cultural and institutional separation.

That is why the Jewish Community Centre of Ottawa, (known officially as the Soloway Jewish Community Centre - or SJCC), appeared to me as such a welcome step in the other direction, as a concerted effort to encourage Jews to view themselves, first and foremost as members of a single nation, and as a mechanism to strengthen that nationality by providing a place - both physical and psychological - where all parts of the Jewish community are encouraged to meet, in an atmosphere of mutual acceptance and respect to share that nationality.

The Centre has existed, in one form or another, since 1945 but, has recently adopted a new vision, mission statement and operational approach aimed at restoring and strengthening the sense of shared nationality and encouraging Jews to relate to each other and the surrounding world from that basis.

Having just recently become aware of this determination of the Centre I joined with a sense of gratitude and have now accepted a position on its Board of Directors with pleasure.

The following is a synopsis of the Centre’s vision, mission, and operational approach:

“The SJCC will strive to: be the heart of the (entire) Ottawa Jewish community... provide a place of connection for all community members; (act) as a gathering place for ... Jewish people, ... address (their) social, cultural, physical and intellectual needs... provide a spectrum of ... programs and services for Jews and non-Jews so as to build an environment of trust, respecting differences in each other and in (degrees and types) of communal and religious affiliation....and, (above all), will seek to be inclusive and provide a (genuine) sense of community.

At present, there are signs of a renewed sense of unity among Jews. Much of this has been “negative”, forced upon us by the resurgence of anti-Semitism. Recently, however, the government of Israel undertook to facilitate a viewing and deepen the public understanding of the Dead Sea scrolls - whose very existence constitutes an undeniable affirmation of Jewish nationality - by allowing the first foreign exhibition of the scrolls in the Canadian Museum of Civilization - here in Ottawa. The interest within the general community has been very strong. Among Jews, it has been beyond all expectation.

This is an example of a positive tendency towards that same sense of unity. It would, perhaps, be wise to adopt the spirit of the SJCC vision, mission and approach outlined above, to seize on this tendency and to encourage and sustain it on a somewhat more substantial foundation - one based on a sense of mutual responsibility and pride in a shared nationality.