Lest anyone think I am uncharitable as a Canadian, I want to wish Team USA  a sincere and hearty Mazel Tov from Canada on their Olympic gold medal hockey victories.  I am still as Canadian as the maple tree in my backyard, but I am proud of our Jewish hockey players everywhere, and proud of the many Jewish athletes who participated at the Olympics.  They inspire us.

If you haven’t been following the Olympics (and many of us are glad it’s finally over), I think the Olympics Opening Ceremony in which Team Israel flag bearers were booed is a little bit like the UN.  Or Europe.  Or Canada today.  They boo us and we continue to perform as champions and professionals.  Tell the anti-semites and their enablers.  They don’t matter.  Really.  Most of the time.  Let us take a breath and remind ourselves of this. Frequently.

From a fashion perspective, I loved the Team Israel uniforms and felt that their modest blue parkas and black snowpants with white hats for flag bearing were sufficiently stylish and practical for future use and modest enough to blend into a crowd for security purposes.  Great!

Lululemon designed the Team Canada brown ponchos and parkas worn at the Opening Ceremonies but I know I wouldn’t wear them.  I did like the steel grey / green down filled parkas Team Canada wore at the Closing Ceremonies and while they are expensive, they are available for ordinary folks to purchase online in the Lululemon Team Canada collection.

They look almost military!  Which is funny.  Because Canada couldn’t really defend its way out of a paper bag, and is now seeking to increase its military spending and recruitment to match our NATO targets.  Good luck with that.  Now they are thinking of recruiting foreign military personnel for enlistments.  How about Israelis! They love Canada and democracy and are far more disciplined and fit than most Canadians.  If only Canada could stop harassing them and Jewish Canadians for awhile.

We have been blessed to grow up in relative peace and prosperity and dissolute laziness.  The left and their media  think mass protest marches will change the world.  Or Iran.  I have a conspiracy theory that these Iranian ‘democracy’ protests are run and surveilled by factions of the anti-western Iranian Islamist regime to fend off the Americans.  I don’t trust these protests at all.  Or the Iranians.  Sorry.  I hope for their democracy one day and wish them well.

It would be sweet if Iran weren’t so sinister and dangerous to Jews and our national security.  And like most Israelis, I am watching the military build up in the Mideast and related developments with concern.  Watch for our ‘kumbaya – give peace a chance’ Canadian Global Affairs statement as soon as things get interesting.  Canada.  So irrelevant.  Oh.  Canaduh.  Who stands on guard for thee?  Apparently 7 part time RCMP officers, according to recent reports.  Oy.

Our Canadian Prime Minister has been looking for interesting new ways to build Canadian identity and culture to bring us together and I think these Team Canada Olympic parkas would be a great start.  Perhaps they could also be used for our new military recruits.  I hope they are made in Canada.  Perhaps we could get a government subsidy for buying them.  Will this winter ever end?

But, getting back to hockey (our national sport – we invented it), I liked the sportsmanship of our Team Canada hockey players when they shook hands with Team USA after their Olympic loss.  And the Toronto Maple Leafs captain played for Team USA.  So there’s that.  Even if our Canadian society and media really place too much emphasis on the game.  We’re still a great country.  Remember this.

It’s so much like Canada.  We know we don’t have the riches and power of the USA and its Olympic sports associations and college athletics to nurture future Olympic champions.  We’re Canadian.  We’re smaller.  We’re not a major world power.  It’s like we’re always Miss Congeniality at the Miss Universe pageant.  We got the silver medal.  And that’s okay with us.  Mostly.  See you next time!

As a Jewish Canadian, the fact that Team USA Men’s Hockey had several Jewish NHL players in its roster took away some of the sting of our Team Canada loss for me.  I am proud of the Hughes brothers and delighted that Team USA is including premier Jewish players in its roster.  If Canada did the same, perhaps we would be as successful, on and off the hockey rink.   Anti-semitism doesn’t pay.  Ok, Canaduh?

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-hockey-star-jack-hughes-clinches-gold-medal-for-team-usa-at-winter-olympics/

As well, I am delighted that both Team USA and Team Canada Women’s Hockey had Jewish female goalies in their team lineups, and think this bodes very well for the future of Jewish women in athletics.  Don’t mess with us Jewish girls!  We are smart, strong and scrappy and also very attractive.

Now that we can get back to our regular programming, we wish our American friends every success in digging out from a historic blizzard in the Northeast US and hope for their safety and wellbeing.  And we hope our trade disputes will be resolved soon.  We really like our American friends and relatives.

My name is Joanne Cohen.  And I. Am. Canadian.  Am Yisrael Chai.

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