For Remembrance Day 2026 – We Love Our Troops!
Today is November 11, observed as Remembrance Day in Canada and Armistice Day in much of the world and as Veterans Day in the US. It commemorates the end of the First World War, and the hope to end all wars. As well, it has become an occasion to honor our veterans of all wars and to pray for peace. Lest We Forget.
Fewer and fewer of our veterans of the First and Second World Wars are still alive, but some make their way to the Cenotaph in Ottawa for our national memorial services. They are almost regal in their berets and blue blazers and grey trousers, saluting smartly, often with tears in their steely gazed eyes, remembering old comrades and the many sacrifices they and others have made. Some are disabled. We honor them all.
The late Rabbi Reuven Bulka of Ottawa’s Machzikei Hadas Orthodox synagogue was a celebrated scholar, activist, and advocate for our Jewish community and for our veterans. He served as Co-President of the Canadian Jewish Congress and as Honorary Chaplain of the Dominion Command of the Royal Canadian Legion and was active on the Interfaith Chaplaincy Committee of our Canadian Armed Forces advocating for the return of Jewish chaplains to our military service branches.
Rabbi Bulka was often called upon to deliver ecumenical prayers and greetings at our televised national Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa. He is perhaps best remembered for a famous speech in which he repeated the refrain “We Love Our Troops!” which became a beloved Canadian cultural icon. He explained why our military men and women demonstrate the best that is in us as Canadians and show the greatest courage in their willingness to put their lives on the line and make the greatest of sacrifices to defend all of us.
Here is that speech and further evidence of Rabbi Bulka’s influence and the affection with which he has been regarded. The speech has become legendary in interfaith Legion communities in Canada.
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/about-vac/who-we-are/department-officials/minister/minister-veterans-affairs-commendation/rabbi-bulka-posthumous
As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who was liberated by Allied troops, it is often hard for me to get through Remembrance Day ceremonies without crying, and being amazed by the courage and conviction of our veterans who made the life of our family possible, and saved the lives of so many and lost so many lives in doing so.
In a way, for me Remembrance Day is like Holocaust Remembrance Day, and for Children of Holocaust Survivors, every day is Holocaust Remembrance Day and a day for which we are grateful. We do not take our lives or those who protect us lightly or for granted.
In Canada, members of the Jewish community served willingly and proudly in our armed forces in numbers far above their small proportions in the population. At Remembrance Day ceremonies at Beth Tzedec Synagogue in Toronto, our Jewish War Veterans were in attendance in numbers, marching smartly with proud postures, wearing their medals for distinguished service on their blazers, and inspiring us.
There are fewer of them alive today, and fewer still of our younger generation in Canada as willing to undertake the commitment to serve our country and take the risks our greater generation did to make our lives and freedoms possible. Wear a poppy. And honor our veterans of all faiths. They were truly a greater generation than ours that puts our self-indulgent current generation to shame.
To learn more about the history of our Jewish community in Canada, and particularly the service of Jewish Canadians in our armed forces, check out the engaging history A Coat of Many Colours: Two Centuries of Jewish Life In Canada, by the late Professor Irving Abella who himself served for a time as President of the Canadian Jewish Congress.
Around our dining room table at Jewish holiday celebrations, I had the pleasure to meet and know many dynamic Jewish Canadian veterans of our armed forces who were gentle and strong, family oriented, proudly Jewish and proudly Canadian. Our neighbor's grandfather Murray Rothberg (z'l) served in the Air Force, out of Brantford, and was promoted rapidly there, as were many Jewish Canadians. Many Jewish veterans of Canada's armed forces served in Israel to defend the nascent state of Israel in the war of 1948-49.
My late uncle Murray Hahn of Toronto (z'l) also served in our Canadian Armed Forces. He was very proud of his service and of his post-war achievements at the University of Toronto as a veteran studying accounting on the GI Bill when there were still quotas on the numbers of Jews admitted to professional faculties. My American cousins served proudly in the US Air Force during WW II and also served during the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Jewish Canadians like me were among the most ardent supporters of campaigns to support our Canadian troops in their deployments to Afghanistan, and to provide 'Tims For Our Troops' or gift cards and kiosks serving a well-known Canadian brand of coffee and donuts as a taste of home and a morale booster for our troops who were unable to be with their families at the holiday season.
We continue to advocate for our troops and veterans at home and abroad. Canada's Jewish Federations are now raising funds to support victims of the tragic fire at our Canadian Forces base in Wainwright, Alberta. Please check this CJN report and with your local Jewish Federation website for details.
I was especially moved by a story in the Jewish press by a US Navy pilot's wife who shipped her husband's Jewish prayer book to him when he was suddenly called up and shipped out. Here is that story:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/onward-jewish-soldiers
I have a large Judaica collection at home and have that same prayer book issued to Jewish Personnel In The US Armed Forces that was issued to US troops. I found mine at a second-hand bookshop. My copy was printed in 1958 and issued to US military personnel during the Vietnam War.
It is interesting to see the mix of Orthodox and Reform prayers and instructions for the organization of religious services and special prayers for troops far away from home and for those mourning the loss of comrades, those facing severe injury and those near to death. Here is an open-source PDF copy for the scholars among us. You might still find them for sale online. Here is a sample entry from eBay.
https://archive.org/details/prayer-book-for-jewish-personnel-in-the-armed-forces-of-the-united-states-1958
https://www.ebay.com/itm/298707835261
The Jewish Welfare Board and Association of Jewish Chaplains in the US Armed Forces is still advocating for the needs of American Jewish military service personnel and is now making available an updated copy of this same prayer book.
There are similar campaigns in Israel to provide prayer books to IDF soldiers. The Israeli publisher Koren Publishers, well known for a wide range of editions of the the Hebrew prayer book and Psalms, was also involved in making available prayer books for Israeli military personnel suddenly called up into service following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
https://korenpub.com/blogs/blog/siddurim-for-tzahal?srsltid=AYCX9vLh1kk4IdBKkLnLiDaTYCUwX6r1ATwgyFXIXY9SVxfb7G8_M-Bg
Here is a PDF open source copy of the original Israeli siddur issued to IDF soldiers edited by Israel's former IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren. Again you can find some of these available online in sales of Judaica collectibles, along with old IDF Passover Haggadahs and IDF tallit and tefillin sets.
https://archive.org/details/siddur-tefilot-lhayal-shlomo-goren-1963
Sadly, our present generation in Canada often does not understand the importance of defending against Islamist terrorism or even threats from within Canada.
Not far from here there is a dog park named for Hamilton's Corporal Nathan Cirillo, who was gunned down in Ottawa in 2014 by a militant Canadian Islamist terrorist, Michael Zihaf-Bibeau as Cirillo stood guard at our National War Memorial. The gunman then went on a rampage, shooting toward Parliament and entering our Parliamentary buildings (forcing Parliamentary MPs and staff to hide) until he was eliminated by the Parliamentary Sergeant at Arms. Lest we forget.
Notice how our official 2026 announcement by our Prime Minister omits to use the words domestic terrorism. Contemporary accounts at the time in Canadian publications such as Maclean's magazine noted the lack of preparedness among the RCMP security detachments deployed to Parliament Hill and their lack of coordination even on radio frequencies. One hopes they have rectified these problems since then.
https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/statements/2026/10/22/statement-prime-minister-carney-mark-12-years-attack-national-war
https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/parliament-hill-attack
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_shootings_at_Parliament_Hill
One of the standard poems we read on Remembrance Day in Canada is "In Flanders Fields", written by a Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. Most Canadian schoolchildren know it by heart.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields
There ought to be a common ground of understanding between veterans of all wars and soldiers who have served and defended their democratic countries. Israel commemorates its military veterans on Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day) immediately preceding Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Independence Day) in the spring. But because Israel is still under threat I share my prayers for their wellbeing today as well as a prayer for Canada.
https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/prayer-for-the-well-being-of-the-israel-defense-forces
https://opensiddur.org/prayers/collective-welfare/nations/canada/prayer-for-canada-by-victor-reinstein-1993/
Please join me in supporting your local Canadian Legion and services to Canadian military veterans. It is especially appropriate following the recent violent attack in Hamilton on Commander Ken Kunkel of the Canadian Air Force while he was supervising young air cadets selling poppies for Remembrance Day.
https://www.legion.ca/donations
I would also invite my fellow Canadians to support the Veterans Wing at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, where my aunt Marilyn was a dedicated volunteer.
For those in Israel or in support of the IDF, please join me in supporting Beit Halochem Canada, which offers state-of-the-art rehab services to IDF veterans and those affected by terrorism, including innovative current treatments for PTSD. Donations are tax deductible.
https://www.beithalochem.ca/
May the souls of all of those who perished in our defense and made our lives and freedoms possible be bound in the eternal bonds of life in heaven and may they rest in peace. May we be inspired by their examples and their service to live lives worthy of their memory and struggles.
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/category/prayers-for-mourners/
Am Yisrael Chai. We send our love from Canada
