freelancer – Page 120

A call for toughness

Rabbi Dr. Michael Berenbaum spoke at Congregation Schara Tzedeck on Nov. 5. He said: “We can’t raise a generation that is scared of being Jewish.” (photo from kolotmanagement.com)

The mood at Congregation Schara Tzedeck was solemn Sunday night, Nov. 5, when parents, grandparents and students from the Jewish community gathered to listen to Rabbi Dr. Michael Berenbaum, an American professor who is considered one of the world’s preeminent Holocaust scholars. Berenbaum came to discuss the importance of campus conversations, and specifically how to handle the critics of Israel who are voicing their support of Palestinians vociferously on college campuses throughout Canada and the United States.

Until the Oct. 7 terror attacks, Berenbaum said, our children had never known serious difficulty as Jews. “They’ve had the privilege of living in the greatest time to be Jewish, maybe in the history of the Jewish people,” he said. “Now, we’re asking our kids to toughen up, because they’re now going to face difficulty, pain, anguish and danger – physical or intellectual – for being Jews. This is our test of the hour, and it comes with the shattering of easily held assumptions about Jewish life.”

The Oct. 7 pogrom, he said, was worse than the 1906 Kishinev pogrom and worse than Kristallnacht in 1938 in terms of the number of Jews killed and the vehemence with which they were killed. “We believed Israel was founded to protect its people from these pogroms, and yet we were not safe.”

Berenbaum said it is crucial for Jewish students to be armed with accurate knowledge so they can counter the anti-Israel rhetoric they hear on campus. That means refuting claims that Israel is committing genocide. “Understand that this is war, and it has both direct and collateral consequences,” he said. “You cannot deal with war at this point without significant civilian casualties. While Israel is taking significant steps to avoid that, it’s unavoidable.” He noted that, since March 2011, the conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of 500,000 people – “and the rest of the world has heard nothing about this.”

On the claim that Israel is “occupying Gaza,” he clarified that Israel left Gaza in 2005, displacing 8,000 settlers so that Gazans would take control of their lives. “Israel is the only country in the world who has sacrificed land for normalization. We gave up Sinai for normalization with Egypt, and the reason the invasion happened now was because it appeared Saudi Arabia would establish a certain kind of peace with Israel,” he said. “Normalization represented a danger to the lateral forces in the region and that’s why this broke out now.”

On the claim that “Jews are colonizers,” he noted that Jews have never forsaken their connection to the land of Israel, and that there have been five cities with a permanent Jewish settlement in Israel. “When they came to Israel, they settled and worked the land, which is the opposite of colonization,” he said. “They didn’t take its resources and export it elsewhere.”

He noted that Palestinians were offered a state in 2000 and again in 2006, and they turned both opportunities down. “The Palestinians have never lost an opportunity to lose an opportunity, because their leadership is weak and corrupt,” he said.

There are a few things we can do now to ensure we are strong, he continued. One is to educate ourselves on the history of the state of Israel and Zionism. Another is to ensure we have solidarity by reaching out to one another.

“These are not easy times and we need Jewish toughness and resilience,” said Berenbaum. “We can’t raise a generation that is scared of being Jewish. I want our Jewish students to be proud, tough and confident enough to accept the animus that will come their way, but to have the human capacity to respond to it.”

He ended his talk by calling Jews the “canary in the coalmine. You want to know if a society is healthy? See how it treats its Jews. We’re living in a world that’s fundamentally unhealthy, but it’s important to remember that we have many friends, we are not alone. We have to cultivate and respect those friendships, and not take them for granted.”

The events of Oct. 7 precipitated an earthquake, he added, “and the ground won’t settle for awhile. But earthquakes give the opportunity to build in a different way. We are in for a tough and difficult time, which will demand the best of us. But I fundamentally believe we have it in us to rise to the occasion.”

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.

Efforts to reduce fake news

People can report misinformation and hateful material at FakeReporter.net.

In a world where misinformation and disinformation are coming at us in unprecedented volumes, an Israeli organization is working literally around-the-clock to flag, correct and eliminate online falsehoods – and they depend on ordinary people to inform them of lies that need addressing.

Achiya Schatz, co-founder and chief executive officer of the group FakeReporter, spoke virtually at a Nov. 2 event organized by Canadian Friends of Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Congregation Beth Israel.

“We try to leverage crowd wisdom in order to make the internet a safer place,” said Schatz.

The challenge goes far beyond reducing misleading information online, he said. The very survival of democratic societies is at stake.

“If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false,” he said, “then, by definition, the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work and, by definition, our democracy doesn’t work.”

FakeReporter’s work is painstaking. An on-call team of thousands of volunteers are connected by WhatsApp and other communication tools. When a report of unverified information comes in, it is channeled to an appropriate individual or team to investigate. They will contact government officials, military spokespeople or others who might be able to confirm or debunk the information. They post their findings on social media, disseminate it to conventional media outlets, especially those that may have spread the falsehoods, and report it to the social media or other platforms where it appears.

While the “fog of war” around the conflict between Israel and Gaza is an obvious source of fake news that keeps FakeReporter teams hopping, equally insidious efforts are fomenting internal strife in Israel.

“Arab citizens of Israel have been heavily attacked,” Schatz said of anti-Arab propaganda targeting citizens of Israel online. Posts have aimed to make Jewish Israelis believe that Arab Israelis are a threat. Photos of Arabs allegedly stalking Jewish homes and businesses turned out to be, after investigations by FakeReporter, tradespeople scoping a roofing project and municipal workers going about their business, for example. The messages, from unidentified sources, have the potential to create civil unrest inside the country amid ongoing conflicts with external terrorist groups on multiple fronts.

On the global level, FakeReporter is responding to a barrage of war-related and more routine anti-Israel material online. In response, taking the nomenclature and vision of Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system, Schatz said, his group is creating what strives to be an invincible defence against online incitement.

“We created a Digital Dome,” he said. “It’s an operation that, in one place, anyone can report hate speech, [content] glorifying terror, Hamas supporters and, generally, violence online on Meta, Google, LinkedIn and TikTok.”

The form for people to fill out is at DigitalDome.io, and the organization’s website is FakeReporter.net.

While there is an unlimited number of comparatively minor falsehoods, Schatz said his group is dedicated to confronting some specific and convoluted conspiracy theories that are going viral. Like the fantastical theories that emerged after the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, the Oct. 7 attacks have spawned what Schatz calls the “traitors among us” conspiracies, in which Israeli security agencies are alleged to have masterminded, or at least participated in, the attacks, as a cover to attack Gaza.

While his organization is busy assessing and confronting the mass of misinformation and disinformation, individuals can do their part by consuming information critically, Schatz said.

To spot fake news, he said, several questions can narrow the field.

“Can I trust the person who wrote and distributed the news?” he said. “Is what I’m reading an opinion or a fact? Does what I’m reading make me feel rage? This question will help you understand that you are seeing something that maybe you should question.” If the “news” you saw in one place is not reported anywhere else, be very suspicious, he said.

The spread of false information is exacerbated by unwitting individuals who share what they find online.

“Before you spread anything forward, you should just breathe for a moment, look at it again with critical thinking and that would do half the job,” he said. “Don’t just spread news through WhatsApp groups and Telegram groups.”

If you find something that glorifies or promotes violence, that is racist, antisemitic or likely untrue, don’t send it to friends, send it DigitalDome.io, he said.

There are other things to consider in determining whether an item might be fake news.

“Many times, information is real but it’s not in the context,” said Schatz. A photo of a bombed building may be real, as opposed to Photoshopped. But what is purported to be in Gaza is often discovered to be from wars in Syria, Ukraine or elsewhere.

The FakeReporter team uses multiple strategies to assess the veracity of photos.

“We can recognize the vehicle,” he said, “we can geo-locate the area, understanding where it is in the world, and we can look for the information online and see, [was it] maybe published before?”

The problem is global and Schatz said governments and social media platforms must work together – or, as in the case of European legislation, governments can impose severe financial penalties on companies that do not speedily react to reports of false or dangerous information on their sites.

The European Union’s Digital Services Act makes it the responsibility of large online information companies to police and remove hate speech, disinformation and cyberbullying, as well as unsafe or illegal retail products, such as sham or life-threatening pharmaceuticals. Other countries could replicate Europe’s legislation, said Schatz.

“What is beautiful about the EU is that they have had a few countries come together and they used their power against big tech [in ways] small countries cannot,” he said. “Israel cannot do anything about it.… Even if we do pass a law, why would Facebook or Twitter care about the law that we passed? They don’t care. That’s a huge problem. What I think Canada and other countries should do is adopt what is happening in the Digital Services Act in Europe and then it’s much easier for the tech companies and for the country, because it’s just replicating what they already can do.”

All the examples Schatz used to this point were addressing the source of misinformation and disinformation. Societies also must sensitize the targets of this content by giving individuals the tools to assess what they see and hear.

“Finland, for example, understood the disinformation coming from Russia is a national threat to them,” he said. “So, they created programs, first for kids and then grown-ups, in digital literacy and information literacy and they are teaching … how to consume information.”

Dina Wachtel, Western region executive director of Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, opened the online event. Rabbi Jonathan Infeld of Congregation Beth Israel introduced Schatz and offered reflections on the topic.

Schatz warned that disinformation is at an inflection point, likely headed for an exponential increase thanks to artificial intelligence, while global responses to the problem are embryonic.

“We’re still learning,” he said. “We’re still adapting. Digital and information literacy is something that is still in its baby steps.”

Under the bed, in the closet

If you’ve ever seen the movie Monsters, Inc. or its sequels, you may have an immediate visual image of what the craziest monsters look like when kids imagine what’s under the bed or in the closet. A few weeks ago, I started approaching this when we essentially moved. To clarify, we moved into our “new” house, built in 1913, more than a year ago. However, we’d all camped out in temporary spaces on the third floor while there were renovations done to the first and second floors.

We weren’t making cosmetic updates, these were basic needs like bathrooms that worked, a kitchen with heat, and other essentials. Turns out that, after more than 100 years and some poorly done, decades-old renovation choices along the way, it’s a good idea to have things fixed and updated – insulation and asbestos removal, new plumbing and safe wiring, too. We had scheduled our big “move” to the renovated second floor bedrooms for the Simchat Torah/Thanksgiving weekend. We would have had three days to manage the chaos. Little did we know that Hamas scheduled its horrific Israeli invasion and massacre for the same weekend.

Fueled by anxiety and a looming school and work deadline, we moved all four of us and dog beds downstairs. We set up kids’ clothes areas and adults’ nightstands, while we parents furtively looked at increasingly upsetting news online. I’ll probably always remember this moment in our Canadian character home renovation as when this massacre and the war against Hamas started.

We cleaned up the nearly vacated third floor, then set it up sufficiently to host another family who was visiting town the very next weekend. During the visit, we walked them over to see the Manitoba Legislature grounds while monitoring when each pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel rally might occur. There have been several now in Winnipeg, complete with pro-Israel counter-protests, with conflicts that required police intervention. We kept plowing forward amid the nightmare of the news.

Like many other places, Winnipeg has experienced acts of antisemitism. Some of it hit us personally. There was graffiti that my kids reported at middle school, and some of the bigger incidents have happened nearby or to people we know.

Like many other people have experienced, there are times when I have felt paralyzed and isolated by the overwhelming nature of the conflict. I am miserable about the loss of life, the impossibility of Israel’s situation, the fear for the hostages amid the knowledge that Hamas broke a ceasefire when it attacked Oct. 7, and that a ceasefire alone will not resolve this situation. I cannot bear the news. I also cannot look away.

The hardest task of this latest move has been the one where we open any closet door. I am still cleaning up boxes of belongings we have stored for more than a year. Things fall on me and surprise me. The worst part is the fear, the moment when the unknown jumps out at us and causes panic. Even if the box is labeled or the animated monster is in a movie, our startle instincts still cause fear when the unexpected and awful occurs.

When my kids told me about the hateful words on the test-taking dividers in math class, I didn’t feel afraid, but purposeful and angry. I wrote the teachers to report the situation and acted promptly. Within a few hours, the physical issue was addressed. The graffiti may be gone, but out there, some kid is still capable of writing more hate or worse.

Making lists, doing constructive activities – whether they are our daily obligations, additional volunteer efforts, or taking on new mitzvot (commandments) or prayers – may make us feel stronger. Also, in Mr. Rogers’ words, we can “look for the helpers.” We can ask for support from friends, neighbours, teachers, and others. We stay alert to the dangers and also strengthen ourselves with steps to make change during an incredibly difficult time.

There are lists on social media of how to protect our mental health and warnings for how to be proactive about protecting ourselves further. While this feels like new territory for us, it is, in fact, an ancient path. The prayer we use is the most compassionate call to free captives, and it begins with “Acheinu,” “our brothers.” Old-fashioned translations call it our “brethren.” We pray for Israel, for those in captivity, and for the soldiers, too. For those who feel this leaves something out, remember that our tradition is one of shalom, peace. We pray for peace at every turn in our religious services. We’re not praying for any innocent person’s death.

I can’t say we’re all tidied up at our house and that everything has found its proper place. Daily, I discover items that we put away and then lost during this renovation and life transition. The metaphor extends to this difficult period as Jews in Israel and the diaspora. We’re not in a good place. We need to manage a truly dangerous situation. We’re losing things. Scary things surprise us. The unknown at the back of the closet is terrifying and is a living nightmare for many.

Let’s pray, if you’re the praying sort – or hope, if you’re not – for peace, for safety, for the return of captives and for the strength of those who fight on our behalf, in Israel and elsewhere in the world. Also, make yourself a list. Figure out how you’re going to get through this time. Try and focus on the light. I’m going to keep emptying moving boxes, too.

Joanne Seiff has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com.

We are not here, there

These past weeks have been nothing we diaspora Jews have known for generations. We feel pain, anguish and horror. If our hearts are not just broken, but shattered, how can we begin to imagine theirs, in Israel, when we are here and not there?

As citizens of the world, we fail to comprehend how human beings can be filled with a type of venom so potent to allow themselves to commit acts of such savagery. We want to turn our eyes away from the pictures that serve as testament to the Hamas terrorists’ brutality, but we are forced to look, we must look.

We try to capture in our minds snapshots of the land we love; the rich and wonderful places we have visited on times spent there and the vitality of the strong, diverse and beautiful people that crowd Israel’s usually bustling streets.

We WhatsApp, email and call family and friends to check on their safety. We are without words. We don’t have the vocabulary. It is hard to put together sentences or know what to ask. We type and erase, erase and then type again. Of course, they are not OK, we know they are not, but grasping the depth of their despair we cannot know for we are here: we are not there.

We turn to the media to tell us what they know, or what they think they know. We scroll at an accelerated pace through social media and, if brave enough, we post our thoughts and then we wait; we wait for response.

We try not to judge, but we do judge those people we thought could understand our anguish. Why haven’t they reached out? Why haven’t they written? Do they find it harder to find the words than we do?

We go to gatherings and rallies thinking how can we even begin to feel afraid? We are not in harm’s way, for we are here and not there, and, yet, we catch glimpses of the helicopter hovering above and the uniformed police and security guards stationed outside our community institutions. Some debate going to classes on university campuses, sending precious children to school and attending synagogue services. We measure the size of the protests that take place on the streets of our home.

As the days go by, we try to go back to some sort of normal, feeling guilty that we actually can, because we are here and not there. This time, however, something feels eerily different. Things are not the same. Until now, perhaps we lived under the illusion that we are safe, protected and fully accepted because we are here and not there. We have tricked ourselves into believing that double standards do not exist, that under-the-surface bias toward us cannot lurk. But we know better now that it can, and it does, and it is painful and lonely and real.

We must not be complacent, as we cannot fade into the masses. We must put on our own armour of pride, strength and morality and endure all that lies ahead. And, while we go on, we do so having to sit with the uncomfortable truth that, while we are not there, we are not really here either.

Danita Dubinsky Aziza is a member of the Winnipeg Jewish community and wrote a book about her experiences as a third-generation Canadian living in Israel from 2008 to 2012, Finding Home: A Journey of Life Lessons in the Land of Israel. This article was originally published in the Winnipeg Jewish Review.

A spoof on true crime

Left to right: Sophia Paskalidis, David Underhill, Drew Ogle and Mai Stone (seated) co-star in Tragedy, Slander & Wine. (photo by Sarah Cherin)

When a community theatre production ends with an actor dying on stage, the media descends on the small B.C. town. Conspiracy theories flourish and no one is above suspicion.

This is the plot of Tragedy, Slander & Wine by Jewish community member David Volpov, which premières at the NEST on Granville Island Nov. 13-19. The mystery/comedy explores, among other things, media literacy.

“My goal in writing Tragedy, Slander & Wine is to bring awareness about the issue and to invite audience members to think more critically about the media they consume. So, that’s where the idea of true crime entered the play,” said Volpov, executive director of Promethean Theatre, which is presenting the work. “I see true crime lovers popularize a lot of sensationalistic interpretations of well-known deaths. I think people tend to want to believe wild hypotheses instead of the cut-and-dried truth simply because it’s more entertaining. This conspiratorial thinking can become dangerous if it impedes on innocent people’s lives, which is what happened in real life to the town of Moscow, Idaho, after several infamous deaths.”

On Nov. 13, 2022, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were stabbed to death in the young women’s off-campus (University of Idaho) house. False accusations and other misinformation proliferated, causing much harm to the community. Eventually, suspect Bryan Kohberger was charged with their murders, and his trial continues.

In Volpov’s fictional story, the play’s description notes, “The finger-pointing grows so rampant that the victim’s sister, Shannon (Mai Stone), can’t even have a healthy relationship with her own mother. Shannon’s longtime friend Alec (Drew Ogle) promises to help Shannon replenish her image in the public eye and shed her status as a pariah. But they find out that manipulating the media is harder than they anticipated. They have to get past power-hungry reporter Penelope (Sophia Paskalidis) and gatekeeping publicist Colin (David Underhill). Soon, Shannon uncovers a secret plot that upends everything she thought she knew about the tragedy.”

The play features four actors on stage and seven performers who act only on screen.

“I knew that I needed a multimedia film component in the production to spoof true crime,” Volpov told the Independent. “We filmed interviews with the townsfolk, who give the audience information about the circumstances of the mystery of the play. The film is played on TVs, which are onstage during the entire performance.”

This approach was new to many working on the production and Volpov said he appreciated the help of a few film artists who offered their guidance. In particular, he noted, “Our videographer, Bruna Xavier, and our film editor, Ian Tan, are both godsends. I’m really excited for audiences to see what this collaboration created because it’s not something that Vancouver audiences have seen before.”

Tragedy, Slander & Wine is Promethean Theatre’s sixth production. Formed in 2018, the company’s mandate is “to create work opportunities for emerging artists,” said Volpov. “There are some apprenticeships open to emerging artists in Vancouver theatre companies, but I keep hearing from my peers that these positions only take them so far. They feel stuck in what they consider a trainee limbo before they can get a shot at a role they want. That’s why Promethean puts emerging artists directly in positions of creative leadership. In that sense, we act as a launchpad for artists who want to continue expanding their practices.” (For more information, visit prometheantheatre.ca.)

photo - With Tragedy, Slander & Wine, playwright David Volpov invites audience members to think more critically about the media they consume — With Tragedy, Slander & Wine, playwright David Volpov invites audience members to think more critically about the media they consume. *(photo from Promethean Theatre)*

Volpov joined the producing team after having acted in Promethean’s first production, Saint Joan. He graduated from the bachelor of fine arts acting program at the University of British Columbia in 2020.

“Like many people who graduated then, my final play at UBC was cut short after just three performances due to COVID,” he said. “This experience really opened my eyes…. I always knew acting is a difficult profession, but to see virtually every theatre and movie set shut down spiked my existential worries a lot. There’s a silver lining, though. I returned to playwriting during the lull period in 2020 because I realized that writing was a way I could create art while social distancing. I learned that I didn’t have to wait for theatre work to come to me; I could generate work myself. In hindsight, I didn’t actually know what art I wanted to make when I graduated UBC. It wasn’t until I began writing plays that I found my voice and had something to say about the world.”

Tragedy, Slander & Wine is one of the works Volpov began writing during the pandemic. “I felt troubled by how quickly conspiracy theories spread,” he says in the press release for the play. “I saw this cycle repeat after each major world event. Our abilities to engage in meaningful discourse eroded while our reliance on bias-confirming news increased. With so much misinformation online nowadays, how is anyone supposed to parse through what’s fact and what’s fiction?”

“Research shows that feelings of anxiety, disenfranchisement and isolation cause people to think more conspiratorially,” Volpov told the Independent. “People feel comforted by believing that their enemies cause their bad fortune (as opposed to random chance). One of the reasons conspiracy theories endure is because they have a backfire effect: when someone confronts a conspiracy theorist about their beliefs, it is interpreted as confirmation. Theorists think ‘of course, the higher powers want to convince me I’m wrong, that’s part of their plan.’ I don’t think conspiracy theories will ever go away, unfortunately.”

Nonetheless, Volpov is doing what he can to improve the situation, in addition to writing about it.

“Promethean Theatre partnered with a media literacy platform to provide education about the topic,” he said. “They are called Ground News and are a Canadian company based out of Kingston, Ont.

“I believe that there are many ways that people can combat their confirmation biases and to have a well-rounded knowledge about current events,” he continued. “The number one thing people can do is to read multiple sources about one story. I know it probably feels like a chore, but reading different perspectives can mitigate our political blindspots.

“After that, I recommend cutting your social media use when engaging with current events. Traditional media isn’t perfect, and it’s rightfully facing scrutiny from the public, but social media can be especially pernicious because the algorithm can steer people to engage with content that already supports their beliefs. Also, the algorithm boosts sensationalistic content while ignoring nuance, which I think is necessary for every discussion.

“My next piece of advice is, be diligent about claims you read. If information can’t be traced back to a source,” he said, “it can’t be verified as true.”

Tragedy, Slander & Wine is recommended for audience members age 16+ because of its “mature content, including references to substance abuse, murder and suicide.” Among the performances is a matinée for high school students Nov. 15, and artist talkbacks after the Nov. 18 and 19 matinées. For tickets, visit plainstage.com/events/tragedy-slander-and-wine.

Culture Crawl starts Nov. 16

Suzy Birstein is one of the many Jewish community artists taking part in this year’s Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design & Craft Festival, which runs Nov. 16-19. (photo by Britt Kwasney)

The 27th annual Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design & Craft Festival takes place Nov. 16-19 and features almost 450 artists, including many from the Jewish community. Among the community members opening their studios to visitors are Suzy Birstein, Olga Campbell, Hope Forstenzer, penny eisenberg, Robert Friedman, Lori Goldberg, Lynna Goldhar Smith, Ideet Sharon, Stacey Lederman, Shevy Levy, Lauren Morris and Esther Rausenberg.

“We welcome the public to dive back into the Culture Crawl this fall to experience and be inspired by our artists’ growth and discovery. [The pandemic] has been a time of change for many of us and I believe art is a conduit for moving forward together,” says Rausenberg in the event’s press release. Rausenberg is a photo artist, as well as artistic and executive director of the Eastside Arts Society, which puts on the Crawl.

The Independent spoke with a few of the participating Jewish artists about what visitors to their studios can expect to see, and whether creativity is a place of refuge or if it is harder for them to create in times of conflict, including but not limited to the Israel-Hamas war and the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Visitors to Birstein’s studio will see her “figures from fired clay infused with aged and lustred surfaces, which inspire paintings in oil, cold wax and collage.”

The artist is currently working on two series, which will merge into the solo retrospective at Il Museo Gallery, curated by Dr. Angela Clarke for 2025.

“Both series evoke my art/travel adventures to Europe, Mexico and Cambodia,” said Birstein.

“‘Ladies-Not-Waiting’ reference the gazed-upon women by old master painters – Velasquez, Fouquet and Manet – alongside self-portraits painted by masterful female artists, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini,” she said, while Tsipora (her Hebrew name, meaning Bird) is a series of loose self-portraits, which “embrace an exotic earthiness living within my poetic imagination.”

Both bodies of work, she said, “speak to nesting and transcendence, the mirror and reflection and celebrate the individual and universal.”

For Birstein, in times of conflict, “be it COVID, warfare, personal challenges – the only thing that centres me, coming directly from within me, is the creative refuge of my studio and making art. As I say this, I must stress that the love and compassion I feel for and receive from my family, friends, students and peers is the other half of that equation. I can’t imagine one without the other and I am extremely grateful.”

Friedman describes himself as “a muralist-styled stained glass artist.” He has worked in stained glass for more than 40 years and has recently added a blown glass dimension to his work, according to his website, which is also a recent addition.

“My studio is a great place and haven for creative thought and output,” he told the Independent. “[T]hese troubled times just [add] more impetus for me to have it reflected even more so in my artwork.”

Goldberg also finds herself more driven.

“My work is about vitality, life, vibration forging connections and bringing two opposing energies together as a way to find potential for resolution,” she said. “I have a responsibility as an artist to respond. I am more motivated. Expressing ‘Heaven on Earth’ is one way I respond to pain and suffering.”

Goldberg had a three-month residency on the North Shore, which she spent painting the forest – work that studio visitors will see.

“I was recently reading the book Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroger about how the roots of the trees, the mycelium and plants and trees talk to each other,” said Goldberg. “By painting in the forest, I learnt how to listen, experience the tranquility, vitality and interconnectedness of the forest and to myself.”

Since the spring, Goldhar Smith has been “creating minimal colour-field style landscapes based on the idea of the shape of light and the colour of shadows,” she said. “The paintings are rendered in soft blues and pastels or deeper mysterious tones and suggest memories of places real and imagined.”

She acknowledged, “The conflict in Israel has, of course, been enormously upsetting and I find myself in despair for both sides of the conflict. My paintings do not yet reflect these emotions, but they will in coming months. I don’t yet know what I will be painting but I will be exploring more difficult terrain.”

For Forstenzer – a glass artist and director of the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery – creativity can be a place of refuge, but also more challenging in times of conflict.

“Making work when I’m feeling the stress of all that’s going on personally and globally is truly healing,” she explained, “but when I’m feeling overrun with those things, it can be a lot harder to fully concentrate at times.”

Lately, Forstenzer has been making glass clocks, something she describes as “incredibly fun.”

“I can experiment with colour and pattern in the glass, and I’ve learned a lot about clockwork mechanisms, which is also an exciting thing to dive into – I’ve been down many rabbit holes online about clockmakers,” she said. “I’ll have a bunch of clocks on display and for sale at the Crawl.

“I also have spent a lot of the last year generally playing with colour and pattern,” she added. “I’ve made vessels – vases, bowls, cups – that experiment with a particular colour or look or pattern or stripe in glass. Once I have a colour process in place, I often go on to use those colours, patterns and processes in sculptural pieces. Since I’ve done so much experimenting this year, there will be a lot of pieces on display and for sale at the Crawl as well.”

In addition to opening their studios, Forstenzer and Birstein are part of the Crawl’s juried exhibition, which has the theme “Out of Control.”

“At a time when we start to celebrate our freedom from pandemic restrictions, it’s an opportunity to reclaim experiences that were denied for so long, a chance to think outside of the box and just let go,” says Rausenberg in the press release.

The exhibition features the work of 80-plus Eastside artists and takes place at multiple venues: Alternative Creations Gallery and Strange Fellows Gallery (both until Nov. 19), the Pendulum Gallery (until Nov. 24) and the Cultch (until Nov. 25).

For more information, visit culturecrawl.ca.

Improving mental wellness

Adrianne Fitch is project coordinator for the Vancouver Disability Solutions Network, which is hosting the Mental Wellness for People with Disabilities Forum on Nov. 28 at Heritage Hall in Vancouver. (photo by Adrianne Fitch)

Adrianne Fitch has turned her disabilities into assets. Suffering from severe-to-profound hearing loss and episodes of anxiety and depression throughout her life, she understands firsthand the barriers that people with disabilities face and what could help make life better.

Fitch is project coordinator for the Vancouver Disability Solutions Network, or VDSN, a group of 200 nonprofit organizations and other providers serving people with visible and invisible disabilities. This includes people with physical disabilities, people with a mental health diagnosis, and people suffering from anxiety and depression in a post-COVID world. The network is hosting the Mental Wellness for People with Disabilities Forum on Nov. 28 at Heritage Hall in Vancouver.

“I don’t think the mental health needs of people with disabilities are any different than those of people without disabilities,” said Fitch.

However, depending on the nature of the disability, accessibility can be an issue.

“As someone with a severe-profound hearing loss,” she said, “I would have a really hard time taking part in a group therapy session unless captioning services were available.”

Fitch said many people in British Columbia have faced problems within the mental health system, such as limited access to services, long waiting times, insufficient resources, inadequate service coordination and continuity, and shortages of qualified mental health professionals.

“I think most of us can agree that the COVID pandemic and lockdown resulted in a great deal of isolation and a general decline in mental wellness all over the world.… [W]hen you’re also living with a disability, accessing quality mental health care can be even harder,” she said.

“At the forum, we hope to develop collaborative initiatives to promote mental wellness in our community,” she told the Independent.

Last year’s VDSN forum was on Newcomers with Disabilities. It resulted in a collaborative partnership between MOSAIC and Disability Alliance BC to support immigrants with disabilities receive provincial disability assistance.

At this year’s gathering, Fitch is hoping participants will collaborate to create new mental wellness programming adapted to people with disabilities; extend the reach and impact of what is currently being provided and what could be provided by organizations working together; raise awareness of existing programs geared to mental wellness; and educate families, friends and peer groups on how to support their loved ones to promote mental wellness.

Fitch likes the term “mental wellness” because the term “mental health” is sometimes perceived as medicalizing or stigmatizing something that is universal.

“Our focus for the forum is on improving mental wellness rather than fighting an illness or condition. Whether or not we have an actual diagnosis,” she said, “we can all benefit from practices, strategies and information related to managing our mental wellness.”

In a recent focus group that Fitch led, the people with disabilities participating felt that their mental wellness would be enhanced by exercise and fitness; a place to go to experience spirituality; financial stability; better access to psychiatrists; a compilation of existing services; and education for their families about how to support them.

“I would like to encourage your readers to check in with their friends and family, especially if they show signs that they are struggling with mental wellness,” said Fitch. “Sometimes just knowing you have people in your life who care about you and are ready to lend a hand or a sympathetic ear can make a world of difference.”

Fitch acknowledged that the pandemic was a tragedy, but said it revolutionized her professional life because, for the first time, she could take part in online meetings and events where captioning was provided.

Fitch is a past executive director of the West Coast Mental Health Network, the province’s only completely peer-run organization for people with a mental health diagnosis.

“On a community level, the network allowed me to meet some of the most interesting, compassionate, talented and dedicated people I have ever known,” she said.

The province cut the network’s funding years ago, she said. Today, there are occasional events listed on its Facebook page.

Fitch said she struggles with depression and anxiety but is helped by having many diverse interests, including playing Scrabble, especially with players that are higher ranked than her, and attending folk music festivals.

“On special occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries, I pay tribute to people in my life by writing personalized poetry,” she said, “and I also bake them customized birthday cakes based on their favourite flavours.”

Her other creative hobbies include bead weaving and pottery. She has exhibited her “Creepy Head Menorahs” at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. And, once a year, she likes to write Passover song parodies based on her favourite music, especially songs by the Beatles.

Anyone interested in participating in the Mental Wellness for People with Disabilities Forum on Nov. 28, should contact Fitch at afitch@disabilityfoundation.org or go to eventbrite.ca/e/mental-wellness-for-people-with-disabilities-forum-tickets-723149328107. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Cassandra Freeman is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.

Online dialogue on housing

Alexandra Flynn, left, and Dr. Kaitlin Schwan join Lavern Kelly at this year’s Simces & Rabkin Family Dialogue. (photos from Canadian Museum for Human Rights)

Housing is recognized as a human right in Canada – so why do 25,000+ people sleep on the street, in encampments or in shelters every night? How can we address issues of discrimination, affordability, inadequate housing, insufficient supply and homelessness? Join a Zoom discussion Nov. 29, at noon, with leaders who are breaking new ground to realize the right to housing across Canada.

Housing is a Human Right: New Actions to Solve Canada’s Ongoing Crisis is the topic of this year’s Annual Simces and Rabkin Family Dialogue on Human Rights, which is offered in partnership with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and Equitas: International Centre for Human Rights Education. It features three panelists.

Alexandra Flynn is an associate professor at Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. She is currently leading CMHC- and SSHRC-funded projects focused on Canada’s housing and homelessness crisis, including land-use practices and the financialization of housing. She is also working on projects related to human rights and tent encampments.

Dr. Kaitlin Schwan is executive director of the Women’s National Housing and Homelessness Network and a senior researcher at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. Her work focuses on homelessness prevention and human rights, particularly for women and youth. Previously, she was a senior researcher for the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing and director of research for the Shift.

Lavern Kelly, who runs the Youth Excelling & Attaining Housing (YEAH!) Parenting Program for Watari Counseling and Support Services, brings lived experience working with young people, especially single women and young mothers, in Vancouver’s East Side to advocate for their right to housing.

The dialogue will be moderated by Michael Redhead Champagne, a community leader from Winnipeg’s North End with family roots in Shamattawa First Nation. An author, on-screen personality and public speaker, Champagne is an activist and advocate working to eliminate poverty, end homelessness and increase supports for children, youth and families in pursuit of a more compassionate world.

Zena Simces and Dr. Simon Rabkin are working to enhance understanding and create ongoing dialogue on human rights issues in the Greater Vancouver community. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, in Winnipeg, is the first museum in the world solely dedicated to the evolution, celebration and future of human rights. Equitas is an international centre for human rights education.

To register for the Nov. 29 Simces and Rabkin Family Dialogue on Human Rights, go to humanrights.ca/housing-human-right.

– Courtesy Simces & Rabkin Family Dialogue on Human Rights

Help fund Gary documentary

The costs of completing the documentary A 20th Century Passion include editing time, colour correction and sound mix. (screenshot)

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to bring to the big screen a documentary about the late Peter Gary, a Hungarian-born composer, Holocaust survivor and resident of Victoria.

The online fundraising effort to complete A 20th Century Passion was started by filmmaker David Malysheff and Gary’s widow, Judith Estrin. Their goal is $35,000.

Gary passed away in 2016, the same year his oratorio A 20th Century Passion premièred in Jerusalem. The work spans the period from the First World War to the Nuremberg trials, including his experiences living in and surviving three years in three different concentration camps.

Gary had a message, the campaign organizers say, which was to stamp out hate. Over the years, he delivered this message to tens of thousands of students throughout Canada.

“The message of the oratorio is to remember history, that hate is ugly and brutal and should be stopped. It is a love piece in honour of Peter’s mother, who was brutally murdered by the Nazis while Peter spent three years in death camps,” Estrin said.

“Like all classical oratorios, it is tragic – this one deals not with the life of Jesus but with the six million murdered Jews. Because Peter had to deal with the murdered bodies of children, he dedicated the piece to the murdered 1.5 million Jewish children,” she said.

While Gary wrote the oratorio over a period of many years, revising it right up to time of his death, it was mostly written during 1970s and 1980s. Barak Tal, the conductor who led the work in Jerusalem, spent time with Gary at his home, going over every note.

The documentary explains how the oratorio came to fruition, using the Jerusalem performance as the score beneath the narrative. The film also shows Gary speaking to high school students about his experiences.

Malysheff, who has been a cinematographer for The Nature of Things, Us and Them and The Fifth Estate, described the film as a passion project – one for which he has not received any payment in the seven years since he began working on it. The costs of completing the film, including editing time, colour correction, sound mix and more, have led Estrin and him to appeal to the public for support.

The importance of A 20th Century Passion at this time cannot be overstated, Estrin said. “With antisemitic hate crimes and acts up just since Oct. 7, the message to stamp out hate, to go in peace, is more critical than ever,” she said. “The world has lost its moral compass, and this piece is about the hope that [people] will remember what horror the 20th century held for the world. We are facing an enemy who wants to annihilate all Jews. Once they are done with us, they will come for everyone else.”

screenshot - The documentary shows Peter Gary, a Holocaust survivor, speaking to high school students about his experiences — The documentary shows Peter Gary, a Holocaust survivor, speaking to high school students about his experiences. *(screenshot)*

The filmmakers also point out that a significant number of North Americans born after 1981 cannot name a single concentration camp or ghetto and think that fewer than six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. An alarming percentage of young people, they added, hold the opinion that the Jews caused the Holocaust.

Gary was born in 1924 into an artistic family that included famed Hungarian musicians, such as conductor Eugene Ormandy and pianist Lili Kraus. Through his mother’s encouragement, he began his musical training on the piano before the age of 5.

Deemed a musical “wunderkind,” Gary was admitted at the age of 9 to Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he studied advanced choral and orchestral composition, as well as conducting, under the tutelage of Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly and Leo Weiner.

In 1940, Gary’s education stopped when both he and his mother were arrested by the Nazis. His father was away on a business trip, which allowed him to escape into hiding. Gary spent the next years in concentration camps before he was liberated from Bergen-Belsen by the British on his 21st birthday.

Following the war, Gary moved to Paris to resume his musical studies at Sorbonne University. He received a doctorate in musicology there in 1949.

Gary then immigrated to the United States and, for a brief time, worked in the music department at MGM. In 1963, he took a year off to compose a ballet suite that was performed in France. During his life, he composed more than 20 orchestral pieces, which have been performed in the United States, Canada, Germany, Holland, France and Scotland.

The film runs approximately 90 minutes. Malysheff and Estrin would like it shown at Jewish film festivals and in schools. They have a curriculum for secondary schools that uses the libretto as text. To date, the oratorio has been translated into Hebrew, French and German.

The Jerusalem performance of A 20th Century Passion is available on YouTube. More on Gary can be found at jewishindependent.ca/help-passion-to-israel and jewishindependent.ca/holocaust-survivor-peter-garys-oratorio.

To donate to the documentary’s fundraising campaign, visit gofund.me/d335a5f8. All who send in a contribution will receive a screen credit for being part of the message of the film.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

AGM celebratory, sentimental

Jewish Seniors Alliance honoured volunteers Merle Linde, left, and Gyda Chud for their many years of service. (photo by Rita Propp)

Jewish Seniors Alliance celebrated its 20th anniversary at its Oct. 26 annual general meeting, which took place at Congregation Beth Israel. The meeting was followed by a reception honouring two volunteers, Merle Linde and Gyda Chud, and entertainment was provided by Brock House Big Band, with party sandwiches and dessert by Nava Creative Kosher Cuisine.

The AGM was called to order by JSA president Tammi Belfer, who paid tribute to Serge Haber, who had passed away the previous week. Haber’s family urged JSA to carry on with the proceedings, which included paying respect to all the JSA members who had died in the last year.

The 2022 minutes and the agenda for this year were approved. The president’s report followed and Chud presented a summary of committee reports. Larry Shapiro spoke about the financial position of JSA as of May 31 on behalf of treasurer Alan Marchant, who was unable to attend the meeting. Jerry Bleet gave an update on fundraising plans and the election of directors was presented for the nominating committee by Ken Levitt.

Once the formal part of the afternoon was completed, the 62 members of JSA assembled in the reception area, where tables had been set up and the band was already playing. Brock House Big Band is an 18-piece ensemble whose repertoire comprises a variety of jazz and popular music. Rabbi Adam Stein, a JSA board member, said Hamotzi, so lunch could begin.

photo - Brock House Big Band plays at Jewish Seniors Alliance’s annual general meeting Oct. 26, in celebration of JSA’s 20th anniversary — Brock House Big Band plays at Jewish Seniors Alliance’s annual general meeting Oct. 26, in celebration of JSA’s 20th anniversary. *(photo by Miguel Mendez)*

Levitt gave another tribute to Haber, emphasizing Haber’s work in creating JSA from scratch, his care and compassion for seniors, and his work with them. Levitt said Haber thrived on challenges. “How many people can say that they created an organization?” asked Levitt.

A video was shared in which Haber talked about the needs of seniors, the importance of dealing with loneliness and isolation, and the need for emotional support.

Michael Lee, MLA for Vancouver-Langara, said a few words. He had met Haber seven years ago at a seniors’ event and Lee praised the work Haber had done in Holocaust education and his efforts in building JSA to serve seniors in British Columbia. Lee thanked the board and staff for the work JSA has done.

Maurice Moses, a longtime personal friend of Haber’s, spoke about singing with Haber and with Saul “Pucky” Pellman and Arnold Selwyn at the Louis Brier Home and at Congregation Beth Israel for many years. He said Haber called him every Friday to say Shabbat Shalom. Moses made reference to “lech l’chah” – literally meaning “Go to yourself,” “go forth,” the essence of our lives and spiritually being within ourselves – and sang a song about it honouring Haber.

Then it was the time to honour the two volunteers.

Linde has been a peer support volunteer since 2005. She is inspired by the humanitarian ideals of tikkun olam(repairing the world) and chesed (acts of kindness) to ensure a safeguard for those who are at a disadvantage. This work is a natural progression for Linde, from her participation for many years in community organizations in both South Africa and Canada.

Charles Leibovitch, coordinator of peer support services, made the presentation to Linde, as Grace Hann, trainer and supervisor of peer support services, was away due to a death in her family. He presented Linde with a bouquet of flowers and a certificate, praising her for the many years of service to the seniors she has supported. Hann sent a note saying that Linde has been a role model for her.

Linde thanked Leibovitch and Hann. Apparently, all four of her clients had been artists and Linde used with them her own artistic skills and artwork. She said people eventually tell you their stories in such an environment and this enables her to offer emotional support.

Marilyn Berger made the presentation to Chud, calling Chud “our star.” She said Chud seems unable to say no and takes a lot on herself. Chud is a past co-president of JSA and presently chairs two committees – peer support, and programs. In her thanks to Berger and the committee, Chud spoke about the three Rs that are important in education and life: relationship, reflection, restorative practice. She ended with JSA’s motto: “Seniors Stronger Together.”

Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, addressed the group briefly. He said the JSA is important to the community and thanked the organization for their crucial work with seniors.

Entertained by the band, a few people danced. Dessert was served and people chatted with one another and listened to the music. This was the first of several upcoming events that will celebrate JSA’s 20th anniversary.

On Nov. 19, JSA’s fall symposium will present “Serge Haber, A Visionary.” Everyone is welcome to join in a tribute to Haber, whose vision of a kinder future helped shape the Jewish community. For more information, visit jsalliance.org.

Shanie Levin is a life governor of Jewish Seniors Alliance and on the editorial board of Senior Line magazine.