Rabbi Ronnie Cahana dies

Rabbi Cahana was known in the past 15 years for persevering despite experiencing a devastating stroke at the age of 57 in 2011. He fought bravely to regain the ability to speak after first just being able to blink his eyes.

Rabbi Cahana was a resident of the Maimonides Geriatric Centre in Côte Saint-Luc for the past several years. Before his stroke, he was a constant presence at weekly pro-Israel counter-demonstrations at the corner of Peel and René-Lévesque in the early 2000s.

According to a bio at the Shaare Zion Beth-El Synagogue website, Rabbi Cahana came from a long rabbinic line, was born in Sweden, and was raised in the United States. 

Rabbi Cahana was also a Rabbinical Assembly member, and "enjoyed an international rabbinate.

"He held pulpits in Bolivia, Sweden, the USA, and Canada before becoming Congregation Beth-El’s rabbi in 2001 and serving as the SZBE Rabbi Emeritus. A lifelong activist, Rabbi Cahana earned a Swedish Peace Prize for co-founding the Nordic Center for Inter-religious Dialogue and for his peace mission during the Bosnian War. He was also a 2012 recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 'for significant contribution to Canada.'"

The synagogue pointed out that after his stroke in 2011, Rabbi Cahana "devoted his free-time to writing Divrei Torah for the Amen Institute, poetry for his blog, and [he worked] on a series called Locked-Down Poetry, for which he received a Canada Council Arts Grant.

There were numerous tributes to Rabbi Cahana following news of his passing.

Former CSL councillor Dida Berku wrote, "I saw the Rabbi at Maimonides over the past six years. Throughout COVID, we built up our Maimonides Family Advocacy group. We became like family and so now we have lost one of ours. And even after the pandemic, he was truly an inspiration, admired by patients and staff alike. We last saw him at the Chevra concert with [wife] Karen where even the very awkward ramp was no obstacle for his will to be a part of the celebration. He left a lasting legacy."

Ella, a caregiver at Maimonides, wrote to the family, "We all loved Ronnie. The staff, workers and the community around him. We saw daily the love and devotion you gave Ronnie. Your entire family at Maimonides is thinking about you today and always. May his memory forever be a blessing."

François Bugino wrote that Rabbi Cahana "made me believe that a miracle is not always that suffering is spared us, but that sometimes, in the very heart of what should destroy us, a light stubbornly refuses to go out. His light will not go out."

Rabbi Cahana's obituary points out that "soon after his stroke, he blinked out letter by letter: 'I am in a broken place, but there is holy work to do.' He spent the next 15 years doing that work."