Month: July 2024

Thanks to an article by Mr. Josie Desmarais published today in La Presse, Bambi learned the following facts: “For several months, a list of Jewish Montreal restaurants has been circulating on social networks, calling for them to be boycotted because of the “links” they allegedly have with Israel. Negative ratings, hate messages and calls for violence have since multiplied against restaurateurs. One of them found projectile impacts in the window of one of his restaurants” (https://shorturl.at/gQ7qY).

After reading this French article, she searched for English information about the topic to be able able to share it with you on this blog. She found and article in the Montreal City News entitled “Mile End restaurant targeted, owner believes it’s because of his Jewish heritage“, published two weeks ago (https://shorturl.at/yJgRM), and a video shared below. This place is located near Bambi’s old college.

If there is anything amazing about restaurants in Canada’s cities, it is the richness and the beauty of their diversity. For instance, in Toronto, we often come across fusion restaurants or multi-ethnic or cross-cultural restaurants. An example may be a Lebanese cuisine with Indonesian food at the same restaurant or a place serving both Korean and Mexican cuisines, etc. In Montreal, we have the choices of eating at the delicious Schwartz’ deli (https://shorturl.at/tJFiM). Yes, it is Jewish and delicious, or enjoying a mouthwatering Québec poutine (https://shorturl.at/KugSV) or a tasty Shawarma at the Lebanese Basha restaurant (https://shorturl.at/Ouocc).

The above example is now making Bambi recall how, when she was a student in Montreal working long hours at her lab located downtown, she used to call the Basha restaurant sometimes. She used to inquire about the daily homemade Lebanese meal to take back home with her. Kindly, and more than once, the owner told her on the phone: “oh sorry, we do not have it, but if you give me extra time, I can see what I can do”. Can you imagine the generosity and kindness of this service? This is the hospitality of Montreal restaurants, regardless of its type of food or place of birth of the owner.

Bearing the above in mind, why are we using conflicts at the other side of the planet as an excuse to intimidate restaurant owners and harm their businesses and reputations? The pandemic was not enough to affect small businesses and family-owned restaurants? Let them earn a living and let people eat wherever they want and whatever they wish.

You personally want to boycott a business for whatever noble reason, you are absolutely free. Go ahead, but please do not impose it on the rest of your fellow residents or harm family businesses. Bambi is saying so for all and any restaurant owner’s background: Malaysian, Russian, Iranian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Israeli or simply Jewish without any family ties to Israel. Who cares? What matters is the fun of eating out, the taste of food, the good times with friends, the costs, etc.

Let Montreal, Québec, and Canada remain what they have always been: a welcoming and loving place to live and dine in with peace. May open-mindedness find its way again to our society. May only love have the final word, regardless of any political view or conflict-related emotional scar or trigger.

Last week, in a large metropolitan Canadian city, Bambi and her spouse took a taxi whose sweet driver was of Algerian heritage. They chatted about the Maritimes and food, etc. Of course, the conversation naturally diverted to the lovely Arabic language and culture.

Bambi told this Algerian-Canadian fellow how much she likes an Algeria-born French singer called, Mr. Enrico Macias. She mentioned his beautiful song about Beirut where she was born. He shared the same feelings about him and told her about another Jewish-Algerian female singer. A diva whose name he could not recall. Bambi was curious since that chat. Today, she decided to act on her curiosity by taking the time to search the internet. This is how she discovered Ms. Alice Fitoussi.

From her Wikipedia page, she learned the following: “Ms. Alice Fitoussi is an Algerian Jewish singer, having lived all her life in Algeria, born May 9, 1916 in Bordj Bou Arreridj and died in 1978 in El Biar” (https://shorturl.at/swnia).

Of note, “her father, Rahmim Fitoussi is a renowned singer and violinist. It was from him that she learned to sing and recorded her first record at the age of thirteen, she was the only Jewish singer who performed al-Madih (Muslim religious song to the glory of the Prophet Muhammad). After independence, she decided to stay and live in Algeria, only going to France to spend the winter” (https://shorturl.at/swnia)”.

Bambi is grateful to this charming cab driver (to whom she said in French while leaving his car: “please Sir keep your beautiful smile on your face“): the chat with him was enriching and he made her discover singer Alice Fitoussi. Who knows? Maybe some of you already knew the latter, especially those of you are familiar with Arabic music in general or Algerian songs in particular.

Of note, Bambi tried to find el-Madih Muslim chant performed by Ms. Fitoussi to share it with you, but there was nothing on YouTube (unless she missed it). She will thus only share three Algerian traditional songs performed by this late singer and end with Mr. Enrico Macias’ eternal Beirut song.

Long live the mix of cultures. Long live arts, music, languages, and… may the memory of Ms. Fitoussi be eternal.

Bambi is thrilled! She just finished interviewing a highly accomplished guest, namely Montreal-based Mr. Patrick Georgevitch. She is eager to share this enriching chat with all of you in this post.

First of all, what can Bambi tell you about Patrick in only a few words? He began his professional journey with a degree in physiotherapy. He has since refined his academic and professional skills with numerous postgraduate certifications, particularly in mechanical and manual therapy.

Not only is Patrick a fitness expert, having become a personal trainer, fitness therapist, and a sports and strength conditioning specialist with various sub-certifications, but he also specializes in performance nutrition.

In addition to these impressive credentials, Patrick pursued a certification in hypnotherapy out of personal curiosity and studied professional photography.

After relocating to Canada, he registered as a kinesitherapist, took additional certifications in manual therapy, and earned a graduate degree in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from HEC Montréal. As of May 2024, Patrick is also a certified genetics-based program designer.

❤️❤️❤️

Following the informative interview entitled “Health Matters: Bambi’s chat with Pat” shared below and on Rima Azar’s personal website (https://shorturl.at/AOsNO), you may wish to watch three of Patrick’s brief yet highly educational Youtube videos entitled 360 with PAT (https://shorturl.at/Xhh1i).

Of note, Patrick’s videos are largely produced in English with some in French. Regardless of the language, they are outstanding. He is also active on other social media platforms, including Instagram (https://shorturl.at/niHUr) and Facebook (https://shorturl.at/lcqgu).

Thank you for your time, Patrick. Your generosity in sharing your scientific and clinical knowledge as well as your uplifting philosophical insights is much appreciated. Please keep up your multi-talent and impressive productivity!

This brief post is meant to honour the memory of Mr. Louis Armstrong, on the eve of his death anniversary, while sharing with you a magical moment from today’s early morning.

While driving on the Trans-Canada highway from the town of Sackville to the city of Moncton, Bambi was delighted to see a deer on the side of the road on the grass near the trees. It seemed to be carefully observing the cars. Was it cleverly waiting for the cars and trucks to pass before crossing the road?

Regardless of its intention, this animal was very cute. Bumping into a fellow deer on the side of the road (thankfully not in front of the car), was a pure magical moment for Bambi. Indeed, without much thought, she found herself waving hello to the wild animal while saying out loud: “Hello, deer“. Yes, we can act quite silly when we bump into a loved one unexpectedly.

Reflecting on her long day before going to sleep, Bambi cannot help not to think of her wild friend [or maybe relative :)?] who embellished it. What “a wonderful world” indeed, just like Mr. Armstrong’s timely song.

This brief post is meant to express the following wishes:

May everyone who will be celebrating the 4th of July tomorrow have peace of mind, be safe, and as joyful as possible.

May the year ahead be filled with hope and happiness.

May wisdom, unity, freedom, peace, and prosperity prevail not just in the United States of America, but also in the neighbouring Canada and the entire world, including the Middle East.

Happy 4th of July to all wherever they are at home and abroad ❤️!

As many of you know, Bambi adores Mr. Kendji Girac whose songs are often featured on this blog.

On April 22nd, 2024, he and his family went through an ordeal that could have ended his life (https://shorturl.at/0OI9D). Thank Goodness, he has recovered. Indeed, he is on a healing journey and he wants to live, move forward, love, be loved, and sing again.

This post, which is meant to send this young and HIGHLY talented French singer/songwriter positive vibes across the ocean, will share his own heartfelt message while ending with his uplifting music.

Because Mr. Girac’s message is expressed in French, it will be followed by a quick English translation (thank you, Mr. Google Translate).

As for you Mr. Kendji Girac, please keep on taking good care… and BRAVO for your inspiring courage!

“I am so stressed and happy at the same time to address all of you.

Since my message of May 10, I have not given you any news because I had to take care of myself and think about what had happened to understand how I got to this point and, above all, make the right decisions for the future.

I also wanted to let justice do its work. Now that this is the case, I am keen, since I am better, to speak out. I am reaching out to you with my words to tell you how much I truly regret everything that happened.

Before the accident and for some time, I had developed bad habits. I had entered a spiral that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Despite the advice of those around me, I was not aware of it at all and unfortunately, I got lost.

All that is not part of me, I’m not a boy like that, that’s why I’m telling you that I got lost and that I want to apologize to you today.

I almost lost my life, the love of my family, my audience, my friends.

My daughter almost lost her father.

I don’t know what happened. So I don’t plan on doing all these things again, obviously. I want to go back to being the boy I am deep inside.

The most important thing is to learn from our mistakes. We can always get back up in life. The most important thing is to understand it. To get the needed help so we don’t start again. That’s actually what I’m doing today.

I also understood that there are a lot of people who love me: my family, my friends, my daughter, my wife, my audience. All of this is the centre of my life, this is why I want to apologize to those I have hurt, to whom I have caused pain. I never wanted that.

God gave me this second chance. And it’s not for nothing. It’s to make things more beautiful. Now it’s all behind me”.

From the bottom of her heart, Bambi thanks Dr. Gábor Lukács for giving her the permission to share with you all his very thoughtful article, which was published today on LinkedIn (https://shorturl.at/hmoin). July 1st is not over yet :). Happy Canada Day again and enjoy the rest of the week everyone ❤️!

—

“A plea for restoring tolerance and ending division

For the past sixteen years, I have been fortunate to be able to keep my advocacy work and personal political views separate, and have deluded myself that I can keep doing so. 

My wake-up call came on Canada Day 2024 in the seemingly benign signature line of an interview request, identifying the reporter as a “settler” in Canada. The reporter, whose work and intellect I greatly respect, seemed utterly oblivious that some people may find this terminology and the related identity politics offensive and divisive, and that it may make others feel unwelcome in Canada.

Perhaps it is my fault and the fault of other like-minded Canadians that we have remained silent for too long, and have allowed a vocal ideological fringe group to create the illusion that they are the majority and their views are what average Canadians believe. It is time to speak up.

I am an immigrant to Canada. I was born in Hungary, lived in Israel from age 8 to 16, and came to Canada by myself before my 17th birthday as an international student to do my PhD in mathematics at York University in Toronto. Back in 1999, York University was an amazing place that truly celebrated multiculturalism and diversity, provided spaces and venues for a wide range of political views, and had a large variety of student groups and clubs reflecting these values. In those days, students’ racial, ethnic, cultural, or national origins just did not matter at York. The unwritten rule was not to bring “political baggage” from our “old home” but to debate every topic, including sensitive ones, as academics.

Typical of those times, one of my non-academic mentors turned out to be the late Father Massey Lombardi, a Roman Catholic priest who kindly allowed me to practice my meager keyboard skills on the organ at his church. Father Lombardi’s best friend was a Jewish rabbi, and both of them accepted me as an atheist. 

It was this culture of tolerance and acceptance, the urging of my amazing professors at York and of Father Lombardi, that persuaded me to apply for permanent residence in Canada. It is thanks to them that in 2005 I became a permanent resident, choosing Canada as my home, and that in 2009 I became a Canadian citizen. My intent was to be an equal among equals, nothing more and nothing less.

It is this culture of tolerance, acceptance, and equality that I am being robbed of gradually, over the past few years, and I am feeling increasingly unwelcome in Canada.

The reporter’s signature as a “settler” was the last straw. How ironic that it came on Canada Day.

If a person born and raised in Canada is a “settler,” a kind of second-class citizen,  then what am I in Canada? A “newcomer”? A “hunky”? A third-class citizen? What happened to “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”?

Like any other country, Canada too is built on the ruins of injustices; but two wrongs do not make a right. Turning one group of Canadians into scapegoats and unwelcome second-class citizens is not the cure for the countless historic injustices committed against other groups; rather, it is bound to alienate allies, and ultimately members of marginalized groups will end up paying the price for being used as pawns on the political chessboard.

It is high time to restore the culture of tolerance, acceptance, and equality that used to nourish Canada, and to end the division and the pitting of Canadians against each other under the guise of identity politics.

Those who seek to “decolonize” Canada may wish to consider exercising their right under s. 6(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with particular emphasis on its last two words.

We, the silent majority, however, prefer to live in peace with our fellow Canadians, and have no interest in importing any culture war into our lives, workplaces, and cities.”