NEWSLETTER – October 2007

Mark Schrager, President
Allen Mendelsohn & Dorith Toledano, Editor(s)

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Mark Schrager

Dear Colleagues and Honorable Judges:

There was excellent attendance at our first event. Shimon Fogel delivered the Alan B. Gold Memorial Advocacy Lecture on the topic of “Feeling Good or Doing Good: Successfully Navigating the Pro-Israel Advocacy Challenge”. Mr. Fogel succeeded in explaining the strategy of advocating the case for Israel in a clear and entertaining manner.

Our next programme will be held on October 30th, 2007 when Mr. Larry Smith, the CEO of the Montreal Alouetttes Football Club will be delivering the Henry Steinberg Memorial Lecture on the subject of “Leadership, Balance, and Values.” You can download the Dinner Invitation here.

The Board of Directors of the Society has decided that the celebration for the Society’s 60th anniversary will be held in September 2008. A special sub-committee under the chairmanship of Ian Solloway, one of our Past Presidents, has been formed. The sub-committee has already met and planning for this special event has commenced. We should all continue to be proud of the vibrancy and longevity of the Lord Reading Law Society and we intend to celebrate this with great enthusiasm.

I look forward to seeing you on October 30th.

Sincerely,

Mark Schrager
President

REVIEW OF THE ALAN B. GOLD MEMORIAL ADVOCACY LECTURE

Allen Mendelsohn

On September 24th, Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Canada-Israel Committee brought an important discussion of advocacy to the Society with a lecture entitled “Feeeling Good or Doing Good: Successfully navigating the Pro-Israel Challenge.” His talk was both entertaining and informative.

Jason Caron beautifully introduced Mr. Fogel with some great stories arising from his personal relationship with him. He described Mr. Fogel as “our community’s secret weapon.”

Mr Fogel began with a nice story about Alan B. Gold, who taught him innumerable life lessons. One of the highlights was the lesson, told to him in shul, that “if you don’t behave, you’ll learn your bar mitzvah in jail.”

The focus of his talk was a discussion of three approaches to advocacy. These were feeling good, the righteous narrative, and the shared values strategy. He found that the third approach with resepct to Israel was almost too successful, requiring the advocates to go beyond the politicians now and straight to the people.

After concluding with a nice parable about the lion and the gazelle (moral of the story: “run like hell!”), a spirited Q and A followed. The questions touched on one-state solutions, conflict management and resolution, and Israeli vs. Jewish politics.

UPCOMING DINNER-MEETINGS

October 30, 2007
Henry Steinberg Memorial Lecture
Guest: Mr. Larry Smith, President & CEO, Montreal Allouettes
Topic: Leadership, Balance and Values

November 26, 2007
Annual Human Rights Lecture
Guests: Madame Justice Carol Cohen, Me Julius Grey, Professor Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens, Mr. Jack Jedwab of the Association for Canadian Studies
Topic: A Panel Discussion on Reasonable Accomodation

Special Events

The Lord Reading Young Bar Commitee is pleased to present its 6th annual young bar cocktail which will be held on November 15th at 6 pm at Decca 77 (1077 Drummond). We encourage all young lawyers, students and stagiaires to attend this informal, fun evening of networking with your peers. Please RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)= 0){out += unescape(l[i].replace(/^ss*/, ‘&#’));}while (–j >= 0){/**/if (el[j].getAttribute(‘eeEncEmail_wayEzocJee’)){el[j].innerHTML = out;}}/*]]]]>*/]]>.

Other Announcements

A special invitation to our members aged 20-40:

“Remembrance alone is not enough. We must remember, educate, and act” reads the Marcher’s Declaration, written by participants of the March of the Living. The March of the Living takes place on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, when thousands of Jews will gather in Auschwitz and march to Birkenau. Shortly after, you will travel to Israel for Yom HaZikaron, Israel Memorial Day, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. The March symbolizes the will and resilience of the Jewish people; we survived the Holocaust and forever vow, “Never Again.”

March of the Living is typically open to Grade 11 students. Given that 2008 will mark the Israel’s 60th anniversary, Montreal will take a Young Adult delegation to Poland and Israel for this very special commemoration. BE A PART OF THE JOURNEY!

For more information, please visit biec.ca.

Society Humour

NEWS FROM THE MISHPAUCHAH

MAZEL TOV

To Jason Caron on his receipt of the Gertrude and Henry Plotnick Young Leadership Award from Federation CJA

THANK YOU

To Heenan Blaikie for their sponsorship of the October 30th dinner-meeting.