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Alexandria Fanjoy Silver

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Apr 25, 2024, 8:59 PM

Global leaders, the world over, have been (understandably) focused on the question of the “day after” for Gaza for months. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence and compassion understands that Israel cannot possibly allow Hamas to stay in power,...

Apr 18, 2024, 7:33 AM

From the Water to the Water

Oh, to be a university president these days. What struggle. What drama! Having to go in front of congress and answer questions about whether or not antisemitic phrases are antisemitic or not. This week’s hearing from Columbia president “Minouche”...

Apr 16, 2024, 12:42 AM

Next Year in Jerusalem

For 2000 years, there was one sounding call for Jews around the world: l’shaba haba b’yerushalayim — next year in Jerusalem. Jerusalem has long been the centre of the Jewish people’s religious and political life, and centred in a...

Mar 25, 2024, 6:15 PM

To AOC: You keep using that word

Starvation can indeed be a feature of genocide – I just think you've forgotten who is the one generating that famine

Mar 20, 2024, 7:08 PM

The existential sadness of hamentashen

I learned recently that there’s a Norwegian phrase, oppe og ikke gråte, that roughly translates to “up and not crying,” and for many Canadian Jews who are continuing to go about their lives in the last couple of weeks,...

Mar 12, 2024, 8:37 PM

#OscarsSoAntisemitic

"People love dead Jews. Living Jews, not so much." This is the first line from Chapter 1 of Dara Horn's aptly named book, People Love Dead Jews, which traces stories of contemporary Jews, including one that prompted this title. In...

Mar 10, 2024, 3:23 PM

Crying with a Palestinian Stranger

I attended a dialogue group called Bridging the Gap recently, one focused on reducing tribalism on campus at York University. At such a volatile school, groups like this are more important than ever. The professor who moderated the discussion...

Mar 8, 2024, 6:41 AM

Fighting the War on Campus

The evening starts with an opening question: why are fewer than 20% of the people who show up to on-campus dialogue groups Arab? This is the beginning of an event at York University, designed to engineer conversation. From the...

Mar 2, 2024, 9:24 AM

The Jewish Enemy

One of the defining qualities of human civilization is need for a common enemy. It is against the ‘other’ that we define ourselves. Western civilization has always had one ‘other’ since time immemorial: the ‘Jew.’ The reason that the...

Feb 23, 2024, 12:06 AM

A convert in times of crisis

We happened to be away from home the weekend of October 7th — in Orlando, at Disney of all places. My husband has some work there. We returned to Orlando this weekend for the first time since 10.7 and...

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About Me

Dr. Alexandria Fanjoy Silver has a B.A. from Queen's University, an MA/ MA from Brandeis and a PhD from the University of Toronto (all in history and education). She lives in Toronto with her husband and three children, and works at TanenbaumCHAT as a Jewish history teacher.