Living in Toronto, we are fortunate to have a wide variety of Jewish community events to choose from every week of the year.  From renowned speakers to top tier performers, political figures and inspirational personalities, the community calendar is full with meaningful and moving programs. But how many of them will we remember more than 50 years later?

It was April 28, 1975 when three of my 14-year-old buddies and I sat in the second row of the O’Keefe Centre (now Meridian Hall) for Buddy Hackett’s Salute to Israel.  It was the launch of that year’s Israel Bond Drive which was part of the continent wide Shomer Yisrael (Guardian of Israel) campaign designed to encourage each Jewish family to purchase a $1,000 bond that year.

Each $1,000 minimum bond pledge entitled the buyer to two reserved seats which were assigned in accordance with the date of the pledge and ticket request.  My parents must have purchased their bonds early as the four of us were in Row B as you can see from the ticket stub.

The event was organized by George A. Cohon (1937-2023) who founded McDonald’s Canada and helped open McDonald’s first franchise in Russia.  He founded Ronald McDonald House Charities and raised hundreds of millions of dollars for it,  and in 1982 helped to save Toronto’s Santa Claus Parade.

Mr. Cohon joined Rosedale Country Club in 1997, having been rejected when he applied earlier because the club had a rule against admitting Jewish members.  When he was later asked about it, Cohon said “The bigger picture that I see is that, if years ago they had a rule that was a bad rule and these people were enlightened enough to change it in this day and age, they should be complimented.  That’s what should happen in this day and age, and that’s my take on it.”

Cohon also served as the Canadian national campaign chair for Israel Bonds and in that capacity was a key figure in planning the Salute to Israel event and bringing to Toronto Buddy Hackett who was joined by singer Eddie Fisher.

Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker) was a stand up comedian, and movie and television actor who made the most guest appearances on Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show.  He also appeared on the game show Hollywood Squares in the 1960s and 70s.   In one episode when he was asked what country has the highest percentage of doctors to population he answered “The country with the most Jews” (which was Israel, the correct answer).   You can see that segment here:

Hackett was a regular performer in Las Vegas.  He may have had a clean act for his television appearances, but this is not the act he chose to perform at the Salute to Israel.   It was raunchy, filthy and we four 14 year olds loved it.  We learned words (and other things) we had never heard before.  On our way out, adults in attendance suggested that we not share the jokes with our parents.

And that is why I fondly remember Buddy Hackett’s Salute to Israel 51 years later.

To everyone in Israel, I know this is a difficult and stressful time. If you have read this far in the article, I hope it has given you a few minutes of distraction and maybe a chuckle.  Our hearts are with all of you. Be safe.

For more treasures from the Herzl and Zionism Collection of David Matlow, which has appeared weekly in the Treasure Trove column in the Canadian Jewish News (www.thecjn.ca) since February 2021, see https://herzlcollection.com/treasure-trove

Treasure Trove is a program of The Herzl Project.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)