A mezuzah is a small sort of box, which is placed on the right doorpost of Jewish homes or of apartments where a Jewish person lives. The mezuzah includes a tiny parchment scroll with verses from the Torah. This piece of spirituality on houses and apartments means the world to Jewish people as it is a form of blessing of their safe and cozy place of living.
Well, imagine, that the “Toronto police’s Hate Crime Unit is investigating after multiple Jewish prayer scrolls were removed from the doorways of units in a TCHC apartment building in North York” (https://tinyurl.com/ycxhaana). Is there anything more shocking, and totally unacceptable, as this act of hateful vandalism meant to intimidate Jewish Torontonians?
Bearing the above in mind, another shocking story of discrimination also occurred in Toronto recently. This ordeal happened to a top model, called Ms. Miriam Mattova, who was kicked out of an Uber taxi for being Jewish. It seems that she had mentioned to a friend with whom she chatted on FaceTime a recent trip she made to Israel (https://tinyurl.com/y5jducwd; https://tinyurl.com/ymsb8j4t). According to this 33-year-old model, the driver stopped the car and kicked her out, pretending not feeling comfortable driving her and adding that “they do not drive Jewish people“. Disgusting, isn’t it?
Put yourself in the shoes of this passenger for seconds, dear readers, would this be acceptable for you? How would you feel if you have been treated in this way? Put yourself in the shoes of the Uber company, would the service of your employee be acceptable? And what about us as a society, collectively: where are we heading with such stories of intolerance, discrimination, or social violence against our fellow citizens? Is this the Canada that we want to live in today, in 5, 10, and 25 years?
