1944: What Was Known? What Was Reported? What Was Done? What Could Have Been Done?

It is appropriate, thirty-six years after the publication of None Is Too Many, to reconsider 1944 from the perspective of Canadian Jewry. As Canadians, they were swept up in the war effort, at home and in combat. As Jews, they were frantic about the destruction of Jewish life. In consideration of the questions raised in the title of this paper, we present, somewhat in contrast to Abella and Troper, the following assessment. First, the organized Jewish community, in the context of Canadian ethno-cultural minorities, had a voice. Second that information about the Holocaust, while often inaccurate, was widely published, especially in the Yiddish press. Third, that despite Canada’s complete abdication of political will in providing opportunities for Jews to flee Europe and find a refuge in Canada, the reality of the war, the absence of historical precedent, and the impossibility of foreseeing the calamity, ensured that a comprehensive plan of meaningful rescue could not have been attempted, let alone considered

Neurolinguistic relativity How language flexes human perception and cognition

Time has come, perhaps, to go beyond acknowledging that language is a core manifestation of the workings of the human mind and that it relates interactively to all aspects of thinking. The issue, thus, is not to decide whether language and human thought may be ineluctably linked (they just are) but rather to determine what the characteristics of this relationship may be and to understand how language influences �and may be influenced by� nonverbal information processing. Here I review neurolinguistic studies from our group that have shown a link between linguistic distinctions and perception or conceptualization in an attempt to demystify linguistic relativity. On the basis of empirical evidence showing effects of terminology on perception, language-idiosyncratic relationships in semantic memory, grammatical skewing of event conceptualisation, and unconscious modulation of executive functioning by verbal input, I advocate a neurofunctional approach through which we can systematically explore how languages shape human though

Néo-Nazis à Toronto: L’Émeute à Allan Gardens

In the early 1960s, after fifteen years of relative quietude, Canadian Jews once again came under attack by antisemites. Unlike the interwar years, when antisemitism leached down from some politicians and bureaucrats to society in general, this new strain was propagated by a tiny group of self-styled neo- Nazis. It was most virulent in Toronto. The Jewish community there was divided over how to respond. Traditional leaders stressed law and order, while others, led by a few militant survivors, demanded exposure and confrontation. Matters reached a head with a riot that erupted in Allan Gardens when the leader of the neo-Nazis attempted to hold a rally. In the ensuing weeks, the gap in the community widened. Consequently, as part of the healing process, survivors were grudgingly accepted into corridors of power in the Jewish community. For this reason, the riot was the seminal event in the post-war history of the community.Au début des années 60, après quinze années de tranquilité plus ou moins assidue, les Juifs canadiens ont encore une fois été la cible des antisémites. Contrairement aux années de l’entre deux-guerres, lorsque l’antisémitisme découlait de certains politiciens et bureaucrates vers la société en général, cette nouvelle tension était propagée par un petit groupe de soi-disant néo-Nazis. Elle était des plus prononcées à Toronto. La communauté juive de la ville était divisée quant à la réaction à adopter envers cette tension. Les chefs traditionnels insistaient sur l’ordre public, tandis que d’autres, encouragés par quelques survivants militants, exigeaient la dénonciation et la confrontation. Les choses sont arrivées au point critique quand à Allan Gardens, le chef des néo-Nazis tentant de tenir un rassemblement, une émeute éclata. Dans les jours qui s’ensuivirent, un écart encore plus grand se fit sentir parmi la communauté. Par conséquent, afin de calmer tous et chacun, les survivants furent admis à contre-coeur parmi les cercles dirigeants de la communauté juive. Pour cette raison, l’émeute servit d’événement séminal à l’histoire d’après-guerre de la communauté

Music makes the world go round: The impact of musical training on non-musical cognitive functions—A Review

Musical training is becoming increasingly popular as a topic for scientific research. Here we review the available studies investigating whether and to which degree musical experience generalizes to cognitive functions unrelated to music abilities in healthy humans. In general, it seems that musical training is associated with enhancing effects, even if sometimes only restricted to the auditory domain, on various cognitive functions spanning from executive control to creativity. We conclude that musical engagement may be a useful cognitive training to promote cognitive enhancement, but more research using longitudinal studies and taking into account individual differences is necessary to determine actual benefits