I am the proud owner of a Pnina Granirer work. More importantly, I am privileged to know the wonderful human being who is Pnina Granirer. After reading Light Within the Shadows: A Painter’s Memoir, I now know more about her…
The cast of Calendar Girls, at Metro Theatre until Nov. 25. (photo from Metro Theatre) It takes courage for a small semi-professional theatre to tackle a play that was made into an internationally acclaimed film, with Helen Mirren and Julie…
Five years before the end of his life, Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, gave six hours of interviews to an American who had recently made aliyah and moved near to Ben-Gurion’s Negev kibbutz retirement home in Sde Boker. The…
Left to right: Choices co-chair Debra Miller, Choices co-chair Sarah Marel-Schaffer, keynote speaker Lisa Friedman Clark, Choices co-chair Judith Blumenkrans and Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver women’s philanthropy chair Megan Laskin. (photo from JFGV) This year marked 13 years since…
A sold-out crowd attended CJPAC’s Women in Politics Pecha Kucha event on Oct. 24, which featured four speakers, including CJPAC’s Sherry Barad Firestone (standing on the left). (photo from CJPAC) On Oct. 24, CJPAC (the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee)…
Martha Roth, left, and Itrath Syed. (photo by Matthew Gindin) “I don’t get why people cannot look straight at what’s happening in the occupied territories and see it for what it is,” Roger Waters said to a full house at…
Photos from the Vancouver Shabbos Project event Oct. 26. (photo by Lior Noyman) On the night of Oct. 26, hundreds of Jewish community members came together at Vancouver Talmud Torah to bake challah and socialize in a welcoming atmosphere. The…
Global TV was at Richmond Jewish Day School last week to recognize the efforts of Grade 6 and 7 students who are selling flowers to fundraise for the Variety Club, Richmond Animal Protection Society and the Jewish Food Bank. To…
Author Nathan Englander with the Globe and Mail’s Marsha Lederman at an Oct. 22 event held by the Cherie Smith Jewish Book Festival, which runs Nov. 25-30. Englander was in Vancouver as part of a North American tour of his…
Congregation Beth Israel event, 1990. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.09769) If you know someone in this photo, please help the JI fill the gaps of its predecessor’s (the Jewish Western Bulletin’s) collection at the Jewish Museum and Archives of…
צריך לדעת מתי לעזוב: גבר העלים מבת בת זוגתו לשעבר כי הם זכו בשישה מיליון דולר בלוטו. (צילום: olg.ca) אם מחליטים להיפרד מבן או מבת הזוג צריך לדעת מתי לעשות זאת. לא מומלץ לעשות זאת לאחר שרוכשים כרטיס להגרלת הלוטו…
Left to right: Advah Soudack, Tom Pickett and Adam Abrams co-star in Two Views from the Sylvia, playing at the Waterfront Theatre Nov. 8-12. (photo from Kol Halev) “For me, the ‘coolest’ thing is Sylvia herself,” Advah Soudack told the…
Or Shalom Rabbi Hannah Dresner, reciting psalms, leads the congregation around the Or Shalom cemetery perimeter. (photo by Robert Albanese) Or Shalom Synagogue celebrated a major milestone on Oct. 15 with the dedication of its new cemetery. In March, after…
(facebook.com/keepthechangefilm) Like one of her favourite romantic comedies, Crossing Delancey, writer-director Rachel Israel’s narrative feature debut, Keep the Change, is a New York love story with a tangible Jewish undercurrent. The romantic duo in the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival’s opening…
Left to right, MP David Sweet, MP Michael Levitt, CIJA chief executive officer Shimon Koffler Fogel, MP Scott Reid and MP David Anderson pose for a photo during the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearings on M-103…
Breakfast at Andrésy circa 1945. René Goldman is holding his bowl out for more food. The children peering through the windows are from another dining room, who had likely finished their meal but had not yet been given permission to…
From the left: Zack Gallery’s Linda Lando and jewelry artists Julie Kemble and Barbara Cohen. (photo from Zack Gallery) Just as our clothing defines us to some degree, so does the jewelry we wear. Our choices often reflect not only…
Balfour Street in Jerusalem. (photo by Pat Johnson) One hundred years ago, on Nov. 2, 1917, one of history’s most consequential letters was typed. Simple and short, the Balfour Declaration, as it would become known, is a central artifact in the…
The Centre for Judaism of the Lower Fraser Valley is looking for nominations for its annual Lamplighter Award, which honours a young person who has performed an outstanding act of community service. Candidates must be between the ages of 6…
Albi Serfaty with the Lucky Lamp. (photo from Aqua Creations) When Renee Switzer launched the SwitzerCultCreative showroom in 2016, she was adamant that they include pieces by Israeli furniture and lighting designers, giving them a Canadian stage exclusive to Vancouver.…
Burgers made with insect protein, and no meat. (photo from Eran Gronich) While the thought of eating insects or worms may sound outlandish or disgusting to many of us, there is growing support for doing just that. In less than…
שינוי כללי המשחק בקרב יצרניות המטוסים: בומברדייה תשתף פעולה עם איירבוס נגד בואינג. (צילום: Laurent Errera) ההסכם לשיתוף הפעולה אסטרטגי בין יצרנית המטוסים האירופאית איירבוס לבין יצרנית המטוסים הקנדית בומברדייה, שנחתם ביום שני שעבר, משנה לחלוטין את כללי המשחק בענף…
Noa Koler in The Wedding Plan, which screens Nov. 9 at Fifth Avenue Cinemas. (photo from Roadside Attractions) The grin-inducing trailer for The Wedding Plan nonetheless suggests one question – did Israeli filmmaker Rama Burshtein sell out? The Orthodox writer-director’s…
Dulcinea Langfelder, being carried by Eric Gingras, in Victoria, which is at Massey Theatre for two shows only next week. (photo from Dulcinea Langfelder & Co.) Victoria is coming to New Westminster next week for two shows only. Created and…
Kosher Love’s director Evan Beloff, left, with Michael Gamliel, his wife, Miriam. (photo from cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/kosher-love) To all those who believe in marrying for love, Montreal-based matchmaker Rabbi Yisroel Bernath asks, “What happens when the romance fails?” Bernath is spiritual director…
A Heartbeat Away follows Save a Child’s Heart pediatric cardiologist Dr. Akiva Tamir to Africa on a medical screening mission to find children in need of lifesaving heart surgery. (photo from Save a Child’s Heart Canada) Jewish Independent readers can…
The United States and Israel will withdraw from UNESCO. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is one of the most impressive and vital global agencies addressing international cooperation on this range of human endeavours. Unfortunately, like the United…
Have you heard about the sacred text in which the Almighty says, “Stand back from this community so that I may annihilate them in an instant?” What about the king who gives permission to a people “to destroy, kill and…
This academic year marks the second session of Writing Lives, a two-semester project at Langara College, coordinated by instructor Dr. Rachel Mines. Writing Lives is a partnership between Langara, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Azrieli Foundation. This fall,…
