Campus Report » Hillel of Greater Toronto

Students of Hillel of GTA join Dr. Abulaish in promoting peace and reconciliation

dhadad — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:17:17 +0000

Hillel of GTA had the opportunity to co-sponsor a community event held at Beth Zedek where Dr. Abulaish shared his personal story and hopes for Peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Dr. Abulaish is currently an associate Prof. at U of T, he is a Palestinian- Gazan physician who formerly practiced medicine in the Soroka Medical center in Beer Sheva and the Sheba medical center. He lost 3 of his daughters in an IDF response to attacks from Gaza. He received a common ground award at the Canadian Embassy in DC for his work to promote peace and reconciliation. About 25 students from the GTA campuses attended his talk and participated in the dialogue table discussions that followed. His talk was very emotional and inspiring and a personal connection between students and his two other daughters that are students at U of T was made.

Hillel of Greater Toronto, Toronto chapter Faiths Act Fellows host thirty prominent institutional leaders and Dr. Eboo Patel

dhadad — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:11:48 +0000

On Friday November 6th 2009, Hillel of the GTA along with the Toronto chapter Faiths Act Fellows hosted an exclusive meeting between thirty prominent institutional leaders and Dr. Eboo Patel.
Dr. Patel is the founder and Executive Director of the acclaimed Interfaith Youth Core based in Chicago and the author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. Dr. Partel was recently appointed to President Obama’s Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Dr. Patel was in Toronto to speak at the Union of Reform Judaism Biennial.

Dr. Patel also spoke with representatives from a range of institutions including university administrations, student organizations, school boards, provincial government, faith-based schools and organizations, as well as organizations focused on community cohesion. The meeting was highly relevant and informative, including an extensive Q & A session with attendees. The central ideas discussed were normalizing interfaith relations and leadership to the level of environmentalism or the civil rights movement, the balance between teaching practice and inspiring pluralistic interaction and social action in religious education, and overcoming the stagnation or conflict of interfaith relations resulting from the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The meeting was hosted by the Faiths Act Fellows, an initiative launched by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation in conjunction with the Interfaith Youth Core. The fellowship brings together 30 religiously diverse young people from across Canada, the US and the UK to mobilize faith communities towards the Millennium Development Goals, specifically the eradication of deaths from malaria.

The event enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of Hillel of Greater Toronto.

Students Celebrate Tel Aviv @ TIFF

dhadad — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:19:58 +0000

Students from Hillel of the GTA area decided to celebrate TIFF’s (Toronto International Film Festival) spotlight on TLV. Students patrolled the streets of Yorkville (the heart of the festival, where many people stand around hoping to catch a glimpse of the famous film industry attendants), students were wearing Tel Aviv T-shirts and handing out Israeli chocolates with stickers that said “take a sweet break enjoy TIFF Tel Aviv spotlight”. Students also handed out postcards (designed by UOC) with information about Tel Aviv and the schedule of the films in the series.From Yorkville the students went to the opening event. The message was clear : we applaud TIFF’s decision to highlight Tel Aviv.