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Grief is overwhelming

The Jewish community worldwide is experiencing pain and despair. Feelings of grief for the murdered, empathy for the injured, rage at the perpetrators and anguish and terror for the kidnapped are overwhelming. The deep heartbreak is palpable.

While events in the past have harmed Israelis’ sense of security and hopes for peace, these attacks seem to have shattered them. The invasion of Jewish homes, the seizing of Jewish people, young and old, reaching for their loves ones as they are dragged away – these are images hauntingly redolent of a stateless past, without a government capable of preventing large-scale, coordinated assaults on the dignity, human rights, freedom and lives of Jews. The magnitude of this terror, with the heart-rending images and videos that illustrate the dehumanization in a way impossible until recent technological advances, means this moment is uniquely affecting.

Israeli politicians and military strategists have largely aimed to “manage” the conflict. Now, there will be calls for a lasting resolution. Israelis will not tolerate a second experience like this. After a decade and a half of successive skirmishes and wars with Hamas, many, including top military officials, are warning this will be the last.

A resolution to the status quo is something everyone – even Hamas terrorists – agree on. What that resolution will look like is where differences emerge. The approach Israel takes will affect not only the reality there but, secondarily, the world’s attitudes and approaches to Israel … and to Jews, as is often the case. There is fear and anger and understandable calls for retribution – actions that, at press time, were partly being tempered by the presence in Gaza of an estimated hundred-plus hostages from Israeli villages and towns.

History has shown one thing to be sure of, and to brace for – the window of empathy for Israeli victims will inevitably close. The author Dara Horn wrote that “people love dead Jews.” What the world seems to welcome far less enthusiastically are Jews, and a Jewish state, that are very much alive, with agency in the world. As Israel’s response rolls out, we can expect much of the nascent public sympathy to evaporate.

We cannot predict the mayhem and pain that seems imminent for both Israelis and Palestinians in the coming days, weeks, months and possibly years as a result of this radically changed circumstance. However, the temptation to assert that “this changes everything” is almost certainly false. Some things will remain the same.

There is a core of intolerance and hatred at the heart of opposition to the Jewish presence in the region and to Jewish national self-determination. Peace has rarely seemed further away.

Not incidentally, some of the central values of Israeli society – providing affected individuals and families with support and resources in times of crisis – have been left to individuals and various networks of mutual aid. The governmental and political failure goes beyond not having been prepared for the terrorist attacks but extends to the aftermath. Families have been left by their government with little communication or intelligence on their lost, possibly dead, loved ones. Among all the sacred things left in ruins today, this may prove to be one of the most shattering remnants from this time. That, at least, was something that Israelis could rely on – and even that has been ripped away.

For Jewish Canadians, this conflict is at once so far away and so close and, for some of us – like the family and friends of Ben Mizrachi, the young Vancouver man murdered Saturday – so very close. Wherever we are, we must be there for one another, across all lines of geography, affiliation, background and, yes, politics. Right now, a resolution forced by military might be the preference of the most vocal people. The middle of a war can be a hard time to talk about peace. A moment of agony and outrage is a difficult moment to encourage reflection and restraint. And yet, lasting peace and justice depends on what happens next and how our institutions react. We cannot control the actions of others, as psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankel suggested, we can only control our responses to these events. This is the choice each of us makes as we assimilate the inhumanity around us and reflect on our deeply held values.

Finding awe & wonder again

As a kid, I remember sitting through High Holidays with my family at our Reform congregation. We’d hit a section in the services where the English responsive reading, inspired by the Hebrew, used words like “awe,” “awesome” and “supreme.” There were smirks and stifled giggles as we passed this yearly reading. Why? Our family had discussed it at a holiday meal, and we agreed this sounded like a really big pizza special. It was hard to concentrate after that, thinking about pizza.

This moment hit me again when I heard Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe, one of the rabbis at Temple Rodef Shalom in Virginia, give a Kol Nidre sermon about awe, gratitude and wonder. It was powerful. Before I get into the details, we chose to stream services again this year from home in Winnipeg. In part, it’s so we can be a part of two worlds – my parents’ congregation in Virginia, where I grew up, and our Winnipeg synagogue, too. After the holiday, I can discuss sermons with my mom as if I had been sitting beside her during services and this is meaningful. For many people who are apart from their families during holidays, using shared moments to bond is important.

Even though I knew our choice to stay home made sense, I felt pressured to “get back to normal” and “be together again,” especially when a synagogue publication suggested that those who chose to stream did so for “mobility reasons.” (Not all those who choose to stay home have the same challenges. There are multiple reasons to stay home.)

Back to Rabbi Saxe’s sermon, which touched on the ways that the rabbis created liturgy that helps us remain grateful, and even encourages experiences of awe and wonder. If you see a rainbow, there’s a prayer for that. There are specific prayer formulas for eating fruits, snacks, and there’s even, Rabbi Saxe mentioned, a prayer for after you’ve gone to the bathroom. At this, some in the congregation laughed.

I felt shame. Not only is the bathroom prayer something I’ve written about and, yes, recited, but it’s also something I might have laughed at as a kid. Without going into details, thanking G-d for the intricacies of how our bodies work, opening and closing appropriately at the right times, can be absolutely meaningful. If you doubt this, maybe you have been very lucky and never had food poisoning or a stomach virus. Yes, we smirk and laugh when we feel uncomfortable, sure. Also, it’s when we take things like being healthy for granted.

I also felt weird guilt about not being in a congregational community over the holidays, even though we had a holiday meal with another family, dressed up, streamed services and took time off together. I felt strange checking messages over Yom Kippur. Then something happened.

Within a short period of time, two of our close family friends ended up in the hospital. One is in his 80s, in ICU, with COVID. The other friend is 5 years old, and she has a sister who is a newborn.

During Yom Kippur, the 5-year-old was admitted to Children’s Hospital after being up all night in the emergency room.

In the middle of Yom Kippur services, I got up, went to the kitchen and gathered together food for the parents for this unexpected stay. This is why we make the second round challah, I thought, as I threw it in the bag. I left my family, hopped in the car while fasting, and navigated the hospital until I found the room with one dear-to-us child with her oxygen mask, her exhausted-looking parents and their infant. I handed them the food, it wasn’t time for a visit, and rushed out again.

Somewhere on the drive home, I processed what had happened. I felt a profound sense of awe. I had been in exactly the right place. If I’d gone to services in person, I wouldn’t have been online or known that our friends’ child had been admitted to the hospital. I wouldn’t have been able to rush out and offer food, a quick bikkur holim (visiting the sick), and support her family. Leaving the twilight of their windowless hospital room, I was blinded by sunlight as I left the garage. I parked in front of our house and took a moment to cry.

Our liturgy traditionally links daily gratitude with prayer. This is an automatic check-in with nature, our bodies and the world to see and wonder at what’s around us. However, we’re all too likely to get sarcastic, cynical and, frankly, depressed. Mental health experts recommend expressing gratitude and getting into nature to improve our health, but the rabbis, like other faith traditions, prescribed it a long time ago.

It’s easy to ignore the natural world or our bodily functions. I’ve become increasingly aware of the sensory overload in our society. Some people easily manage very stimulating environments, like a dance club or even a household with the TV and radio on, a dog barking and a phone ringing, all at once. Others cannot manage this much. Sometimes, it’s diagnosed as a sensory processing disorder, but this can mean different things. There’s a person who cannot manage too much input, and the person who needs fidget toys and constant stimulation to maintain equilibrium. Nature or the trendier “forest bathing” can sometimes help us find balance.

As I head into autumn, I’m seeking fewer big events or gatherings. Here’s to quiet moments of awe. One of my kids is a new band student. His enthusiasm about his instrument is contagious. I cannot wait to play sax duets and “honk” together. The other kid has been spotting woodpeckers on our dog walks and pointing out migrating birds as the weather turns.

Rabbi Saxe closed his sermon with Genesis 28:16, when Jacob wakes up and says, “Surely, G-d is in this place and I did not know it!” Perhaps, like Jacob, we can all wake up and discover the joys of small wonders, too. We just have to slow down, open up and look for them.

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.

Melding multiple forms of art

Karina Bromberg during Eden Shabtai‘s Elevate Intensive in Los Angeles in August 2022. (photo from Karina Bromberg)

“I think the difference between my dream as a kid and my wanting to do this professionally was getting to experience the behind-the-scenes of what it means to be a professional dancer and choreographer,” Karina Bromberg, 21, told the Independent. “I fell in love with the journey towards the ‘goal’ of being in a movie or on stage and that’s what made me want to keep pursuing this career path.”

Bromberg is the producer and director of the rishon series, which integrates choreography with live music, videography, photography and fashion. The first iteration, rishon.1, was held this past June and rishon.2 will take place at SKL Design+Vision in Burnaby on Oct. 14, at 1:30 p.m.

“Drawing from the knowledge acquired during the creation of rishon.1 and a careful analysis of the final product, my focus for the second instalment has primarily been on elevating the visuals displayed on screen, refining the choreography and creatively designing the performance space,” Bromberg shared with the Independent.

“Given that rishon serves as a platform for emerging and diverse creatives to converge, the cast for rishon.2 is intentionally different, maintaining a commitment to inclusivity and diversity. While the overarching goal and concept remain consistent,” she said, “the skills honed from the first iteration have empowered me to progress and further enrich what rishon offers to both the audience and the dedicated crew involved.”

The idea for rishon came in 2021, when Bromberg and a friend, during a freestyle session, gave each other different objectives to dance.

“I noticed I would analyze and apply the objective to my dance through the senses: How does it look? How would it feel? What smell would it have? Does it make a sharp, or soft sound?” said Bromberg, who is originally from Karmiel, Israel. “It was then that the idea to create something that will somehow involve the five senses formed. Months of pondering the idea led me to realize it needed to evolve into an in-person showcase, which later took the name rishon, meaning ‘first’ in Hebrew.”

Wanting to stage something different, Bromberg searched for venues that would allow audience members to stand amid the artists. “The ultimate goal,” she said, “was to create an immersive and intimate environment where both the audience and the artists were on the same level. Concurrently, I began working closely with TRS, a music artist, and was involved in campaigns for a fashion brand; getting to know artists from different industries, I saw the potential to bring us all together in one space. I expanded on rishon’s creative framework by bringing in the elements of live music, fashion design, modeling and video content of art created for screen.”

Bromberg has been dancing seriously since the age of 5, doing competitive aerobics in Israel, and, at 12, starting “hip-hop, house, popping and dancehall classes at the local dance studio,” she said. “I was dancing competitively at dance competitions like Hip Hop International in Israel and, upon immigrating to Canada, I stopped for about a year. It took me and my parents some time to understand how things work here and to find a studio we could afford and I could easily commute to alone. So, in the meantime, I learned routines off YouTube and danced in my living room.”

Bromberg was 14 when her family moved to Vancouver, and she admits to having been “resistant and closed-minded about the move … but my parents strived and worked hard to open up more doors and provide a better future for me and my younger brother.

“The story of why Vancouver is pretty funny,” she added. “My mom liked to go on Google Earth and see different neighbourhoods and, when she saw the Science World ball, she decided we were going to Vancouver. It was pretty, and less cold than the rest of Canada – which, coming from Israel, was important to us!”

Bromberg’s resumé now includes dancing in Netflix, Paramount+ and CW productions.

“In 2019,” she said, “there was a big audition for Christmas Chronicles 2, choreographed by Chris Scott. Unrepresented by a dance agency, I attended the audition and made it to the last round. I remember having a lot of fun, but I didn’t set my expectations too high. Two months later, while visiting my family in Israel, I received an email confirming that I had booked the job. It was such a proud and surreal moment. Being my first job, I absorbed a wealth of knowledge and remain thankful for the opportunity extended to me.

“The onset of COVID-19 resulted in a work hiatus until 2021, when I was directly booked for a short dance scene in Honey Girls. Being unrepresented at the time, I diligently pursued and submitted self-tapes to anything I could find. In the same year, I booked Monster High, my biggest commercial job to date. It was three months in length, and one of the best times of my life. I was invited back to dance in Monster High 2 in the beginning of 2023 and, following this gig, I was able to get represented by a local dance agency. I recently wrapped up filming for Riverdale Season 7, Episode 14, marking another milestone in my journey.”

Bromberg said she has always loved performing and would help choreograph end-of-the-year shows in her elementary school back in Israel. “I’ve just always had a pull to perform and dance and move my body,” she said. “I’ve always dreamed of being on the big stages or in music videos ever since I was allowed to watch MTV, but I think the dream became something more solid and realistic in my mind in 2021 when I was visiting LA to perform at a showcase. I have been training with a company based in LA since May 2020, four to five times a week over Zoom in my room or garage. The opportunity to work with the choreographer in person and to be in the room with people I look up to, I remember feeling so in my purpose and starting to believe even more that this is what I am supposed to be doing.”

Falling in love with the journey towards her goal includes a commitment to creating. She has videos on her website of solo dances that she has choreographed.

“I wanted to practise dancing for the camera, as well as start investing in my own ideas,” she said. “I often have a vision for visual art that can be made when I listen to songs, and I enjoy directing these videos and filming them, so I made a promise to myself to go through with every idea that doesn’t leave my mind and I have the itch to create.”

Several of the videos feature the music of Baby Keem.

“The production on the songs and Baby Keem’s delivery have stuck out to me since the first time I heard him, and the pull to choreograph and create to his music has been unstoppable since,” she explained. “I recently watched an interview with him, where he talks about constantly living in his art and taking inspiration from anything he does … and I feel very much the same. I go to concerts and watch for the creative direction, the choreography, the show flow, or I will put on a movie or a TV show and look at angles it was shot from and the editing. I am constantly playing music no matter what it is I’m doing and I often hit the ‘go to radio’ feature on Spotify to discover new artists and genres to continue the creative flow and keep an open mind. The inspiration comes from everything I do, consume and engage with.”

In this context, it is easier to see how Bromberg conceived and mounted the multifaceted rishon.

“From a technical standpoint, bringing rishon.1 to fruition in June required extensive research, numerous emails, location scouting, securing funds and making quick adjustments,” she said. “It was a significant learning experience for me, considering I had never organized an event before…. Building a team was crucial to me, and each member brought unique and specialized knowledge, contributing to the success of the show.

“Reflecting on the process, I almost forget the hard and consistent efforts, along with the many no’s I encountered while seeking funding and assembling my team,” she said. “Looking back, the overwhelming feeling is how right everything felt…. Creatively, outlining the show came naturally. I knew I wanted the soundtrack to be one album, and the ideas just flew to me. I went with my first thought, leaving no room for second-guessing. Whenever anxiety or ‘imposter syndrome’ crept in, I looked back at the progress I’d made, refocused on the work, and found it dissipating.”

For more about Bromberg, visit karinabromberg.com. For tickets to rishon.2, go to eventbrite.com.

Oktopus tours province

Oktopus performs at Massey Theatre Oct. 21. (photo © Emmanuel Crombez)

Juno-nominated klezmer group Oktopus brings their unique sound and high energy performance to Massey Theatre on Oct. 21. The New Westminster concert is the culmination of a BC tour that includes Oliver, Quadra Island, Duncan, Nanaimo, Salt Spring Island and Victoria.

Oktopus’s eight virtuoso musicians meld various components of classical, Quebecois and jazz repertoires. Their distinctive music is undeniably rooted in the klezmer tradition, reflecting the rich history of a thousand-year-old community, its persecutions and celebrations, tears and laughter, or both at the same time. Musicians of yesteryear incorporated in their repertoire the music they encountered on their journeys and, just like them, the members of Oktopus are inspired by the music they hear throughout their own travels.

The Montreal-based Oktopus octet was formed in 2010 at the initiative of clarinetist Gabriel Paquin-Buki, creator of musical arrangements and several original compositions. (See jewishindependent.ca/blues-klezmer-at-mission.)

After releasing its debut album, Lever l’encre, in 2014, Oktopus released Hapax in 2017, which earned nominations as Instrumental Album of the Year at the Juno Awards and World Music Group of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. For more on the ensemble, visit oktopus.ca. For tickets to the Oct. 21 concert, go to masseytheatre.com/event/massey-presents-oktopus.

– Courtesy Rona Goodman Music & Publicity

The fun in fundraising

Music and pop culture journalist Eve Barlow will speak at Choices on Nov. 5. (PR photo)

Two large-scale philanthropic events are slated for the coming weeks as part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s annual campaign. On Oct. 22, men’s philanthropy will host the inaugural Texas Hold’em Poker Night, which will take place in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Wosk Auditorium. And, on Nov. 5, women’s philanthropy will host the 19th annual Choices event, which will be held this year at Congregation Beth Israel.

Know when to hold ’em

“We wanted to create a new event that brought people together to strengthen their commitment to the community through tzedakah,” said Michael Nemirow, men’s philanthropy chair. “Knowing our community, and the men’s division in particular, our campaign chair, Shay (Shy) Keil, organized a poker tournament … as a way to increase participation through a fun event that people will look forward to attending. We have already received a tremendous response from the community, as well as requests for when the next one will be. If you haven’t yet reserved your spot, please register now at jewishvancouver.com to be part of this special event.”

One of the more popular forms of poker, Texas Hold’em can consist of between two and 10 players. Each player is dealt two private cards (known as “hole cards”) that belong to them alone. Five community cards are dealt face-up, to form “the board.” All players in the game use these shared community cards in conjunction with their own hole cards to each make their best possible five-card poker hand.

Pollock Clinics, which specializes in men’s sexual health, among other things, is presenting the poker event along with Federation. Dr. Neil Pollock and his wife Michelle have a long-standing history of supporting a diverse range of philanthropic causes. Michelle Pollock currently serves as co-chair, with David Fox, of Federation’s Israel and global engagement committee.

Other poker night sponsors include InstaFund, Glotman-Simpson Consulting Engineers and ZLC; beer will be provided in-kind by Mark James of Red Truck Beer Co. There will be three cash prizes – $750, $500 and $250, respectively – for the top three finishers.

Registration for the Texas Hold’em event and a deli dinner begin at 5 p.m., with the tournament starting at 6 p.m. The cost for a poker seat, which includes dinner and drinks, is $180.

Strength of Jewish women

Two weeks following the Texas Hold’em Poker Night, Choices takes place, starting at 11 a.m.

“We are honoured to have the opportunity as co-chairs and friends to bring women from our across our community together to celebrate the strength of women’s philanthropy,” said Choices co-chairs Lisa Averbach and Jaclyn Dayson. “As we are always looking for new ways to engage our community, we have a fresh new format this year. We invite everyone to join us for brunch and to hear from the incredibly impactful speaker, Eve Barlow. Eve will be joining us to speak on the important conversation of antisemitism and how important the ‘Power of Together’ is in our community, families and greater society.”

“Power of Together” is the theme of this year’s annual campaign, and tickets for Choices are $85 plus a minimum donation of $154 to the campaign – or a $36 minimum donation for first-time attendees. In addition to purchasing tickets for themselves, donors can buy an angel ticket (or tickets) to ensure that any Jewish woman who wants to can attend Choices, regardless of their income.

This will be the first time that Choices is held as a brunch, rather than as a dinner event. The main speaker, Barlow, is a music and pop culture journalist. Based in Los Angeles, she is a powerful advocate on social media in the fight against antisemitism and anti-Zionism online.

Originally from Glasgow, Barlow lives in Los Angeles. She has served as deputy editor of New Musical Express, or NME, an entertainment periodical in Britain, and she is a regular contributor to New York Magazine, the Guardian, Billboard, the Los Angeles Times and GQ, among other publications.

In 2020 and 2021, Barlow was selected by The Algemeiner as one of the top 100 people positively impacting Jewish life. For that distinction, the journal cited a quote from a 2020 article Barlow posted on medium.com, which read, “My Zionism is what makes me pro-Palestinian because how could I deny someone’s right to self-determination? I am a Zionist and I am pro-Palestinian.”

The goal of Choices is to engage women in the community “towards the fulfilling work of making the world a better place,” notes the press material. Speakers at previous Choices have included Ellen Schwartz, the founder of Project Give Back; philanthropist and entrepreneur Jill Zarin; and Michelle Hirsch, a Cleveland businesswoman who spearheaded fundraising efforts to help the Jewish community in Houston following Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Funds raised from Federation’s annual campaign support numerous organizations and causes both locally and internationally, and help seniors, vulnerable families and low-income individuals, among other things. To register for Texas Hold’em Poker Night and Choices, go to jewishvancouver.com.

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

Live music at JSA party

The Brock House Society Big Band performs after the Jewish Seniors Alliance AGM Oct. 26. (photo from JSA)

The Brock House Society Big Band will take part in the festivities that follow the Jewish Seniors Alliance’s annual general meeting Oct. 26, 2 p.m., at Beth Israel Synagogue.

JSA is celebrating its 20th anniversary. For the last 20 years, the organization, founded by Serge Haber, has served the Jewish and general communities through its education, advocacy and peer support programs.

The Oct. 26 AGM will consist of committee reports and the election of board members, and the birthday party/reception that follows at 3 p.m. will feature live music by the Brock House Society Big Band, balloons and loot bags. There will be a late, light lunch catered by Nava, at the cost of $36/person.

The Brock House band is an 18-piece ensemble that plays a wide variety of jazz and popular music. Their repertoire includes classic tunes from Count Basie, Duke Ellington and others, Latin and jazz standards and big band arrangements of contemporary popular music.

To register, call 604-732-1555 or email office@jsalliance.org.

– Courtesy Jewish Seniors Alliance

Survivors a cautionary tale

On Oct. 29 at the Phoenix Theatre in Victoria, there will be a one-night-only performance of Wendy Kout’s play Survivors, which is touring schools this month. (photo by Peter Nadler)

In light of the success of last year’s pilot tour, the educational play Survivors is touring middle and secondary schools throughout Vancouver Island this month. And, with the support of the University of Victoria, there will be one public performance of the play this month: at the Phoenix Theatre, Oct. 29, 2 p.m. Last year’s public shows sold out.

Following the mistaken honouring in Parliament recently of Ukrainian-Canadian Yaroslav Hunka, who fought in a Nazi unit during the Holocaust, there should no longer be any doubt about the ignorance of the history of the Holocaust. This conclusion is further supported by the existence of monuments in Canada that honour Nazi veterans who were members of the Galicia division of the SS in Ukraine. Furthermore, Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon has apologized for the Order of Canada given to Peter Savaryn in 1987. Savaryn was chancellor of the University of Alberta and president of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta in the 1980s – he also served with the Waffen-SS, a voluntary Nazi unit in Ukraine during the Second World War.

A 2019 study done by the Azrieli Foundation, Yad Vashem, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Claims Conference revealed Canadians’ lack of knowledge of this period in history. For example: 62% of millennials did not know that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust and 22% of millennials hadn’t heard or were not sure if they had heard of the Holocaust. Nearly one-quarter of all Canadians believe that substantially fewer than six million Jews were killed (two million or fewer) during the Holocaust.

History shows that when it comes to racist attacks and xenophobia, Jews are often the “canary in the coal mine.” Holocaust awareness and education could not be more timely or important. “We’re not just telling history,” said Survivors playwright Wendy Kout. “We’re telling history as a cautionary tale for the present and the future.”

Survivors explores hatred, the capacity to survive and thrive, and serves as a call to consciousness of the present challenges. Combining history with life lessons, the audience is guided through a time when hatred was normalized. The audience is both uplifted by the survivors’ triumphs and inspired to take action against present and future racism.

The play tells a chronological history of the Holocaust through the personal prism of experience, interweaving the stories of 10 Holocaust survivors, four of whom were still alive when the play premièred in New York in 2018. Though each has a unique story, all the survivors “went through this horror and came through the other side to build meaningful, contributing, beautiful lives,” said playwright Wendy Kout.

The Victoria production of Survivors will be touring throughout the four Western provinces for the next few years. For more about those tours and the organizations collaborating on them, visit jewishindependent.ca/theatre-that-educates and holocausttheatre.com. For tickets to the Oct. 29 matinée at Phoenix Theatre, go to eventbrite.ca.

– Courtesy Victoria Theatre Productions

The Debaters special edition

The special Chutzpah! Festival edition of The Debators will be moderated by Kate Davis. (photo from Chutzpah!)

This year’s Chutzpah! Festival opens with a bold question: “The Ten Commandments. Holy Moses, is it time for some new ones?” And the audience at the Rothstein Theatre Nov. 2 will be the ones to decide which comedian answers the question best at the special festival edition of The Debaters.

“As holder of stage rights for The Debaters comedy format, I have been presenting non-CBC stage productions for awhile, all with radio host Steve Patterson as moderator. These have been very successful, but I’ve also been keen to produce stage versions for specific audiences in different communities,” show creator Richard Side told the Independent. “This Chutzpah! Festival is the perfect opportunity to do that with a cast of comedians and a debate topic that will really connect with the audience and with [artistic managing director] Jessica Gutteridge’s vision for the fest.”

Debating the topic at the Rothstein Theatre will be comedians Jacob Samuel and Charlie Demers, and comedian Kate Davis will act as moderator. But the event won’t just be about making jokes.

photo - Charlie Demers — Charlie Demers *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

Demers, a Debaters regular, shared “his bona fides for this event” with Side: “I was team captain of the Canadian delegation to the World Schools Debating Championships in Jerusalem in 1998; you can also say that I am a novice Anglican Third Order Franciscan.”

“The 3rd order Franciscan movement,” explained Side, “is a group that includes religious and lay people who try to emulate the life of St. Francis of Assisi…. As for how it relates to the topic of the Ten Commandments – [Demers] is arguing that the 10 commandments do not need revising so, along with the jokes, I am sure he will have some heartfelt points as well. And that is why I thought him ideal for a comedy debate that was not going to just ‘roast’ the commandments but also might have some insight in it, too. Facts and funny is what The Debaters is all about, laughs – and logic.”

Samuel, who is Jewish, is on the other side of the argument. First appearing on the CBC radio show about six years ago, he told the Independent: “Preparing for The Debaters is always a combination of excitement, stress and wracking my brains on how to squeeze jokes out of a given topic. I do a lot of brainstorming, writing and rewriting, and pacing around going over my arguments out loud. For the Chutzpah! show I’ll be preparing as I always do. However, I am doing maybe a bit more research than I would normally do to try to be as accurate as possible when it comes to the Torah and Jewish beliefs. I think it’s fair to say that this audience may be a bit more knowledgeable about Judaism than the average crowd.”

photo - Jacob Samuel — Jacob Samuel *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

Jewish Independent readers will be quite familiar with Samuel, whose one-panel cartoons the paper has published and whose comedy career the paper has followed.

“I think the last time I was in the Jewish Independent,” he said, “it was to promote the recording of my debut comedy album in late 2019 (what a time that was!). Well, it turns out, I won a Juno Award for that very album in 2021. I also got married and now have a mini Bernedoodle named Mendl who, to me, is also Jewish (he’s loud, anxious and has a very sensitive stomach).”

Samuel has learned a lot since his first time on The Debaters, which was at the 2017 Winnipeg Comedy Festival. “The debate was about emojis,” he said. “I thought it would be really subversive and clever if I held up giant emoji printouts for my closing argument – not the greatest idea for an audio-only show but, hey, it was my first time on radio. Luckily, they had me back and enough times that I often lose count.”

Davis, a member of the Toronto Jewish community, is also a Debaters veteran.

“My first Debaters,” she said, “was in 2007 in London, Ont. – ‘Should dads be in the delivery room?’ Of course, I was for this, as dads are the ones who got us into this mess in the first place.”

For Davis, being a mom is not just part of her private life, she incorporates it into her writing and gives parenting workshops, too, as well as talks on various related, and unrelated, topics.

“I love performing comedy and my speaking is my comedy and everything I believe in,” she said. “Over the years, I have created four different keynotes on work/life balance, connectivity, mindfulness and mental resilience, all of which I hope contribute to a healthier, happier life. Whether I am writing my comedy, books, scripts or a keynote, I find being multifaceted is like going to the gym – you don’t just work out your arms. Each one contributes to each other. I might write an article and think that’s a great joke and try that in my standup.”

Davis said she is “super-excited to be moderator for The Debaters – Chutzpah! Edition” that stars Demers and Samuel.

“I know what great comics they are and, honestly, I think moderating is being a great listener and keeping things going. But, let’s be honest,” she said. “I am pretty excited for the puns!!! Also, to prepare, I will be eating as many matzo balls as I can.”

For tickets to the The Debaters – Chutzpah! Edition (which is not a CBC-affiliated production and won’t be recorded for broadcast), visit chutzpahfestival.com. A portion of ticket sales will benefit the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s inclusion programs.

A voice to Lithuania’s victims

Grant Gochin in J’Accuse!, which can be screened online as part of the South African Film Festival Nov. 2-12. (screenshot)

The award-winning film J’Accuse! is about the alliance between Grant Gochin, a Jewish activist for Lithuanian Holocaust truth, and Silvia Foti, the author of Storm in the Land of Rain, which reveals that her grandfather – Jonas Noreika – operated as a Nazi collaborator who ordered the massacre of thousands of Lithuania’s Jews. However, Lithuania continues to view Noreika as a freedom fighter because he fought against the Communists.

J’Accuse!, by filmmaker Michael Kretzmer, screens as part of the South African Film Festival, which runs Nov. 2-12, presenting more than 20 movies.

SAFF Canada brings together the combined histories and volunteer efforts of two in-person festivals – the Toronto South African Film Festival and the Vancouver South African Film Festival. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the organizations transitioned to one virtual South African Film Festival that could reach audiences across Canada. While most films are online, there are some in-person screenings and events in both Vancouver and Toronto.

photo - Silvia Foti in J’Accuse!, a documentary by filmmaker Michael Kretzmer — Silvia Foti in J’Accuse!, a documentary by filmmaker Michael Kretzmer. *(screenshot)*

The festival is part of, and raises funds for, Education without Borders, created in 2002 by local Jewish community members Cecil and Ruth Hershler.

“It is estimated that over 90% of South African Jews are Litvaks, [are] of Lithuanian descent,” said Cecil Hershler. “On a personal note, my maternal grandparents were born in Plunge. My grandmother, Ethel Sher, arrived on a ship in Cape Town in 1905 – she was 10 years old, she never saw her parents in Plunge again. On Ruth’s side, her paternal ancestors come from Riteva.”

More than 220,000 Jews – more than 95% of the prewar Jewish population – were murdered in the Holocaust. Kretzmer’s documentary exposes the scale and scandal of Lithuanian Holocaust denial by focusing on Noreika, who murdered as many as 14,500 Jews in the Plunge region in 1941. Gochin, whose family was murdered by Noreika, brought almost 30 legal actions against the Lithuanian government over more than three decades. In focusing on Noreika, the film also examines the role of the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Research Centre.

For tickets to watch J’Accuse! – the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre is a community partner on the film – or any of the South African Film Festival offerings, go to saffcanada.ca.

– Courtesy Education without Borders

Tzimmes helps close festival

Left to right, Tzimmes’s Saul Berson, Yona Bar Sever and Moshe Denburg perform in the Ukrainian Hall Community Concert and Social on Nov. 5. (photo from Heart of the City)

A festival favourite, Tzimmes, will perform at the 20th Annual Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, taking part in the Nov. 5 Ukrainian Hall Community Concert and Social, which closes out the 100-plus live and online events that take place at more than 40 venues over 12 days.

Presented by Vancouver Moving Theatre with the Carnegie Community Centre, the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians and other community partners, this milestone year of the festival – with the theme “Grounded in Community, Carrying it Forward” – starts Oct. 25.

“We have performed at DTES Heart of the City Festival on several occasions over the years,” Tzimmes founder and band leader Moshe Denburg told the Independent.

“November 2008 was the first time and, two years later, in October 2010, we performed again. We were invited a few years ago, in the fall of 2020, but couldn’t make it due to a scheduling conflict.”

In addition, said Denburg, a small group from the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO), which Denburg founded, played the festival in 2011. “The repertoire was, of course, intercultural, but included klezmer and Hebraic pieces as well,” he said. “Every time we played the festival, there was a truly welcoming atmosphere, and I would like to say it is an honour to be part of the mitzvah (good deed) that Heart of the City is performing for the neediest amongst us.”

“For 20 years, the Heart of the City Festival has been grounded in the Downtown Eastside and focused on listening and learning from the cultural practices of the community,” notes the press release. “The festival works with, for and about the Downtown Eastside community to carry forward our community’s stories, ancestral memory, cultural traditions, lived experiences and artistic processes to illuminate pathways of resistance and resilience.” The festival’s mandate “is to promote, present and facilitate the development of artists, art forms, cultural traditions, history, activism, people and great stories about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.”

The closing event at which a trio of musicians from Tzimmes will play – Denburg (lead vocal/guitar), Yona Bar Sever (lead guitar/backup vocal) and Saul Berson (clarinet/flute/saxophone) – will also feature the Barvinok Choir, Dovbush Dancers and the Vancouver Ukrainian Folk Orchestra. The concert will be opened by cultural speaker Bob Baker of the Squamish Nation and DTES resident, artist, poet and community activist Diane Wood will read “100 Years of Struggle” by the late Sandy Cameron, an historian and poet, among other things, who was very involved in the Downtown Eastside.

About what the Tzimmes trio will play at the concert, Denburg said, “The Tzimmes repertoire is always made up of Jewish music in the larger world context. So, there will be aspects of klezmer and Yiddish song (European), Ladino (Judeo-Spanish/Mediterranean), and pieces in a more Middle Eastern style as well. If anyone wants a primer on our repertoire, they can visit our YouTube page: @BigTzimmesProductions. Have a look/listen to ‘Dror Yikra,’ ‘Cuando’ and ‘Moishe’s Freylakh,’ and you’ll get an idea of what’s to come.”

The Independent last spoke with Denburg in 2021 about Tzimmes’s then-new two-CD album The Road Never Travelled. Since that interview, the group released, in 2022, a remixed and remastered version of their first album, calling it Sweeter and Hotter.

“In 2020, as we were creating our fourth album, The Road Never Travelled, I realized that there was almost enough material for a second disc, but it needed a few more pieces,” said Denburg. “Around that time, my dear friend and band mate, Yona, suggested that I try to remix our debut recording. We always felt that we were constrained by a simpler technology back in 1993, and that certain aspects of the mix could be improved – vocals could be clearer, instruments brought into better relation and so on. Looking around, I found a fine facility in Red Bank, N.J., that specialized in transferring old reel-to-reels to a digital format. The tapes of Sweet and Hot were 27 years old, but they transferred wonderfully to digital tracks.

“On the second disc of The Road Never Travelled, we included several remixed liturgical pieces from Sweet and Hot,” Denburg said, noting that the group continued the process and worked on every track of their 1993 debut album. He said, “The result, we believe, is an enhanced version of Sweet and Hot that does not compromise the original at all; in fact, we humbly submit, the result of all this work is that the sweet parts are even sweeter, and the hot stuff even hotter!”

The closing concert/social of the Heart of the City Festival – called Building Community: 20 Years of Friendship – takes place at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre, with doors opening at 2 p.m. and the concert at 3 p.m. Tickets ($30/$20) are available at eventbrite.ca.

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photo - Among the many Heart of the City events is a month-long exhibit at Carnegie Community Centre of photographer David Cooper’s work for the festival over its 20 years — Among the many Heart of the City events is a month-long exhibit at Carnegie Community Centre of photographer David Cooper’s work for the festival over its 20 years. *(photo from Heart of the City)*

Among the many other events taking place during Heart of the City is an exhibit of photographer David Cooper’s work for the festival over its 20-year history, curated by Vancouver Moving Theatre co-founder Terry Hunter. (For more on Cooper, see jewishindependent.ca/capturing-community-spirit.)

Cooper will attend the Nov. 1, 4 p.m., opening reception in the third-floor gallery at Carnegie Community Centre. The exhibit, which runs to Nov. 30, will feature two to four photos from each of the festival’s 20 years, displayed chronologically with the festival poster for each year.

Organizers said Cooper provided guidelines for selecting the images: “simple, elegant, expressive images with energy, movement and/or emotion that represent the cultural and social diversity of the festival’s programming and people.” The exhibit also will include photos of festival participants who have passed away.

For more information, visit heartofthecityfestival.com.