‘It feels so good': Toronto's Walk with Israel breaks record with 56,000 participants
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Toronto on Sunday for the annual Walk with Israel, breaking the event's attendance record for the second straight year.
Local law enforcement estimated there were roughly 56,000 participants, surpassing the previous benchmark set last year by 6,000.
A rally and concert held shortly before the walk in the parking lot of Temple Sinai, a synagogue bordering a major highway, was packed with Israeli and Canadian flags and people of all ages. The Magen Group, a prominent local entertainment company run by Persian Jewish brothers, emceed the event and Jewish rapper, Kosha Dillz, made a brief appearance on stage.
'It feels so good,' Sara Lefton, the chief development officer of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Toronto (UJA), the group that organized the event, told National Post minutes before it began. 'I think the Jewish community is really seeking togetherness. The more isolated we've been feeling, the more that we are seeking a moment like this to come together as the Jewish community, but also with our friends and allies.'
A contingent representing the Nova Music Festival Exhibition, an art installation honouring concert-goers massacred by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which is currently on display in Toronto, was also present. For Omri Kohavi, a survivor of the atrocities and co-founder of the Tribe of Nova Foundation, a group dedicated to helping other survivors of the attack, the public display of support for Israel was deeply moving. He echoed Lefton's feeling of positivity at the sight of so many Canadians showing their solidarity.
'It's a good feeling to see all of you guys. Very nice people,' he said with a heavy Israeli accent. 'We are brothers. We are from the same roots, so it's a great feeling.'
Kohavi was joined by Ilan Faktor, an organizer of the Nova exhibition and a prominent Israeli trance figure. Faktor spoke of the cultural inheritance Canadians and Israelis share and underscored the Walk's importance for Jews 'to be proud, stand for themselves and not hide or feel bad about themselves.'
'To stand for what we believe in, which is freedom, dance, (and) the love for people, we find it easy to relate to Canadians,' he said. 'We just want people to be sensitive to what happened to us as human beings.'
The air was crisp as patches of early morning clouds gave way to blue skies and sunshine warming marchers as they made their way north along Bathurst Street through the predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in northern Toronto.
Anti-Israel protesters were notably fewer in number compared with last year's event. The side streets lining the path were virtually absent except for a moderate-sized gathering of picketers at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue. Red, white and green smoke bombs, evoking the colours of the Palestinian flag, were ignited when the head of the column passed through the intersection but police quickly surrounded and isolated the incendiaries.
Several protesters carried posters showing Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov kissing a Hamas terrorist on a stage in Gaza prior to his release at a public ceremony. Another carried a handwritten sign proclaiming: 'The Torah was Noah's Ark, Israel is (the) Titanic for you.' The inverted red triangle, a symbol frequently used by Hamas in propaganda videos to denote Israeli combatants, was displayed on multiple occasions.
There was a heavy police presence lining the route, particularly at the Bathurst and Sheppard intersection, which slowed marchers down during the walk's final stretch, just south of its endpoint at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre (JCC). Tensions flared in the logjam as police did their best to distance the two camps from one another. No arrests were witnessed at the time.
The pro-Israel crowd was diverse and boasted many non-Jews. Several Iranian flags featuring a lion — an icon embraced by members of the diaspora critical of the current regime — were spotted often. Members of Allies for a Strong Canada, a group of non-Jewish advocates established after October 7 to combat antisemitism in the country, were also present.
'On the question of antisemitism, on the question of the rights and freedoms of the Jewish people, you need to stand up right away,' the chair of the organization's board, Tim Egan, said. His comments came just hours after Israel's National Security Council elevated its Canadian travel advisory level from 'no warning' to 'potential threat' posed to Jews and Israelis.
'As a Canadian, I've been horrified for a very long time about how antisemitism is on the rise,' Egan continued. 'I've always seen Israel as an ally, we should stand with our allies. Israel is an ally under attack and with the attack on Israel has come, I think, a disgusting attack on the Jewish people within Canada.'
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What was that transition like for you? Um, so, I mean, times have changed, but, you know, at the time it was important to go to Los Angeles and do pilot season. Um, and be there and, and, and go to the meetings and audition in in person. So I did move and, uh, you know, Didn't love it there. It wasn't my thing. Um, still pretty like still pretty introverted, didn't go out, didn't party, didn't do the whole LA thing, which is probably how I never got into trouble as a kid actor. But um, it just, you know, it's not necessary anymore. You, especially since COVID, actors can audition anywhere by self tape. There's pros and cons to that, and like that's a whole other discussion. Um, but you can be anywhere now. Uh, I did find though, the minute I moved to LA, all of my jobs were in Canada. So it was almost like Canada was like, oh, she left, we want her more, and I think that's kind of how it was back then, but that's definitely changed. 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It's more fun than being a Superhero because villains have this sort of like. You're not, you're not set into a box like I was with Kara, um, because there were certain expectations for that character, but with like Indigo, which was a made up character, I could just be very sneaky, and it was, it was a lot of fun. I know in terms of the shows that you've kind of been on and then laughter like been on for a period. period of time. I know Handmaid's Tale is one that you've kind of highlighted just like that was a particularly great experience for you to, I mean, you had a great arc when you were on that show. But, but also, I mean, the acting is so great and you know, the story is so great. Um, what was it like to step onto to that set? Being on a show that dealt with those topics that I was already a fan of. I mean, politically, I loved what they were doing. And Elizabeth Moss is just like, An idol for me. Um, so I was petrified to do, uh, my scenes with her and, uh, just kept quiet and watched her and watched how she handled the set and like, she was just a boss, and I was so impressed and it really inspired me to want to get more behind the camera. Um, And we did our scenes together and I, I was like, oh my God, I got through it and, you know, she was lovely and sent me a DM and how it was nice to work with me, like she reached out. You don't have to do that. So that, that made it a very special. Moment for me. I kept that message. Before I go back to your acting role, I just want to talk about, um, my soul to take a little bit because, um, you jumped into kind of the director's chair, you kind of ran that project. Um, it's so brilliant. I love watching it. So, um, it's such an interesting style, such an interesting story, but can you tell me a little bit about, you know, what made you want to go in that direction for the story? What kind of inspired you to start that? So I wrote my soul to take during COVID, uh, I was working more than ever, which is odd, um, flying and shooting like Christmas movies or whatever it was, and so I was quarantining when it was what you had to do for 14 days in between each show. So I was alone a lot and um I had trouble sleeping. And so I downloaded a sleep app. That sort of just like walks you through a story and helps you fall asleep, and I just thought how disturbing it was for whatever reason. Um, I've always been into kind of darker M. Night Shyamalan, like, uh. Yeah, Hitchcock, um, and Tim Burton, but I think I was just Inspired and uh Yeah, I sent it off to a producer friend and I was like, do we have something here? And She said yes, and we got the team together. Um, I did an Indiegogo platform to raise all the funds for it and sold all of my Smallville merchandise, uh, to fund it and cast some incredible friends in the show, and then somehow got Col Fior to say yes. Um. So yeah, we shot it in 3 days and it was terrifying. But like million dollar question always is like funding these things and being able to actually have the resources to execute. What was it like just trying to navigate that element of it. It was scary, but I was determined and so was my team and like the fans again showed up. Um, you know, they, they made it happen, and once I had the team together and um I had my DP Kim Durko kind of walk me through cause I didn't think I could direct. I've been around it. I've watched it, but She helped me through it the whole time, um, helped me with my shot lists and, you know, I, I maybe couldn't tell her the lens that I wanted, but I could tell her visually what I saw in my head, and she, so she was the technical side of it, you know. So it was, there was the whole team, but yeah, it was a challenge and it was stressful and it was during COVID and Um, I think like if you look at any of the stills from shooting that and you see me, my eyes are just, I'm just wide-eyed with a mask because I was like my brain felt like it was on fire cause I couldn't believe what I'd written was happening with these actors. And then we submitted to a bunch of film festivals and uh luckily it did did quite well. When you were um writing it, was there something in particular about just like how we kind of present ourselves to the world that you were particularly inspired by? Social media is like, it's a double-edged sword. I use it, I'm guilty of it, you know, I play the game. But at that time and even now I. Really didn't love what it was doing to. My self-esteem and the thoughts I had about myself and my career, you know, you'd see other actors posting their announcements. They've been cast in this and like. You know, I think like anyone, you, you want to take a break from feeling like a failure or like comparing yourself to someone else. And so I think at that time, I was just, I was 14 days in an apartment, I couldn't leave. I was on social media and it was just making me miserable. So I think it stemmed from that. I'd also met an actor who made a living from social media, and I found that frustrating and it's just like this whole other world, and that's where like the Alice in Wonderland aspect of My Soul to Take came in. Um, with this fake worlds where it seems like. Everyone's doing well and happy when in reality people just aren't posting when they're in the fetal position crying in the shower, you know, like, life isn't cultivated, it's lived and why are we watching people live a fake version of it or like a highlight reel. So there was a lot going on in my my head at the time. For sure. There's always gonna be things that people know you for, um, but is there anything in your career, um, it can be something we spoken about, but that you say like, oh this is actually like a really great experience. I did a short film called Age of Dysphoria. And it's a short film, like it, no budget, um, but it was one of the best experiences for many reasons, but the top one being Gordon Pinson, who's who was an iconic Canadian actor, and so he's a relative of mine and um I was a relative of mine, and he was my mentor since I was a kid. So he came to my first real set on goosebumps, came into my trailer, gave me the spiel about how to behave, how to be respectful. And like, we, he would just mentor me for years after that, we wrote to one another, but I got to a point where I was like, I, I haven't worked with him yet. And so I came up with the story for Age of Dysphoria. Um, my good friend Jessica Patel produced and directed it, and uh Zoe Robin, who's blowing up right now as a, as a writer, wrote Age of Dysphoria, and we got Gordon to say yes. So, um, I again was in awe the whole time we were filming that just watching him and like it was surreal cause it had been how many years and we'd never been on camera together. And it meant so much to me. I don't know if you realized how much it meant to me, but I had trouble like keeping, you know, the tears from falling, just doing scenes with him. Um, and, you know, the full circle part of it is Age of Dysphoria was his last project, and he was on my first project, so. For whatever reason, it felt very serendipitous. When you kind of look at where you stand in your career now, what are the things that you look for in a role that makes you say like, yeah, you know what I'm really excited about this when you're taking something on as an actor specifically. I've always been hungry to play roles that are nothing like myself. Um, and I think, you know, with typecasting and being put in a box, it can be very frustrating. So if I'm giving an opportunity to. Look and just completely change who I am, um, just not just visually, uh, but Mentally, like if I can delve into a character, I hate to say like a serial killer or like someone who has psychological problems. Um, I find that so juicy and exciting. And, you know, It's hard to find roles like that right now, um, and so, you know, you, you find you're either creating them or you're trying to collaborate with other artists to create a project that doesn't exist for all of you to do. And to just change people's, you want to always change people's opinions about who you are and what you're capable of and challenge yourself, so. You know, a a prime example would be like Elizabeth Moss's character in Handmaid's Tale. She gets the the the array of things that she gets to do on that show and the types of scenes and and the heaviness. Like I really gravitate more to heavy, um, although I just did my first comedy movie, which was interesting, but Uh, that's usually what I try to look for, something that will start conversation, like my soul to take, get you thinking, like stay heavy with you when you're done watching.
