Let’s say it at the outset: this book is a gem. Every page of The Story of Hebrew by Lewis Glinert (Princeton University Press, 2017) is packed with information about the language, from its beginnings through post-1948 Israel. In addition…
Robert Gottlieb is the most renowned American book editor and publisher in the latter half of the 20th century, much as was the legendary Max Perkins in the first half. And in his riveting memoir – Avid Reader: A Life…
Nidje Israel – now called Sinagoga Histórica – was built by Eastern European Jews who came to Mexico in 1930. (photos by Rubén López Vargas) Walking around the historic centre of Mexico City, where the main buildings are Catholic churches…
If you’re coming for the natural splendours of Costa Rica, you won’t leave disappointed. (photos by Lauren Kramer) This travel story comes with a caution: if you’re visiting Costa Rica for any reason other than its nature, don’t bother. Don’t…
If you are seeking a mecca for happiness, and are going to take your first trip with your baby, you might want to consider a relaxing and beautiful place like Hawaii. (photos by Masada Siegel) According to a 2014 Gallup…
A painting from Pompeii showing gladiators fighting. It is housed in the National Archeology Museum in Naples. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields) Among the fabulous finds of Pompeii is the helmet of an apparently Jewish gladiator. Who would have thought?…
“Basket on the Nile” by Carol Racklin-Siegel. “She could not hide him any longer, so she took for him a wicker basket and smeared it with clay and pitch; she placed the child into it among the reeds at the…
Naomi Nachman’s Fudgy Chocolate Bundt Cake with Coffee Glaze is gluten-free. (photo by Miriam Pascal) What? Another cookbook for Pesach? Yes. And a welcome one – Perfect for Pesach: Passover Recipes You’ll Want to Make All Year by Naomi Nachman…
Heron among the flowers near Kibbutz Be’eri, in southern Israel. (photo by Aliza Reshef via PikiWiki) There is something about Passover that speaks to almost every Jew. In 1840, in a book titled Der Rabbi von Bacharach, Heinrich Heine wrote:…
What food, served with cooked beef, is an essential component of a traditional wedding dinner in southern Germany? It is also used in salad served with lamb dishes at Easter in Transylvania and other Romanian regions. In Serbia, it is…
More than 100 years ago, no one could have imagined the destruction that would ravage the earth, nor the scientific breakthroughs that would transform it. Yet, in every generation there are rare visionaries who provide us with a blueprint for…
“The Crossing of the Red Sea,” a painting by Nicolas Poussin, which was commissioned in 1632. It can be found at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. (photo by Nicholas Poussin via Wikimedia Commons) The Israelites left Egypt…
Pages from the 1500s Passover Haggadah that was recently sold to the National Library of Israel. (photo from Sotheby’s) On the right, a man sits and prays holding a liturgical book. On the left, a rabbi is seen explaining the…
(image from wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il) Say someone claims to have developed a system to “capture” any odour in the form of a digital code – one that could be transmitted online or uploaded to the internet and faithfully reproduced at the receiving…
השבועון האנגלי לחדשות ואקטואליה ‘האקונומיסט’ פירסם את המדד השנתי שלו על הערים היקרות ביותר בעולם. קנדה מיוצגת בדוח על ידי שלוש ערים בלבד: ונקובר במקום ה-39, מונטריאול הרחק במקום ה-62, ואילו טורונטו במקום ה-86. (צילום: Cynthia Ramsay) השבועון האנגלי לחדשות…
The April 9 panel discussion Israel, Canada and Me in the Age of Trump will feature, clockwise from top left, Dr. Shayna Plaut (photo from Shayna Plaut), Ofira Roll (photo from Ofira Roll), Rabbi Susan Shamash (photo by Robert Albanese)…
Queenie Choo, chief executive officer of SUCCESS (photo from SUCCESS), and Jacob Switzer, member of CIJA’s Local Partners Council (photo from CIJA Pacific Region), spoke with the Independent about the upcoming townhall April 2. Immigration, security, inclusivity and affordability are…
At a sentencing on March 13, Arthur Topham, the man convicted of deliberately promoting hatred against Jewish people on his now-defunct website radicalpress.com, was given a ban on public online activity and a six-month curfew. B.C. Supreme Court Judge Bruce…
There should be a word for the phenomenon where an individual comes to mass public attention only when their reputations are imploding due to impolitic remarks on social media. Milo Yiannopoulos, a former editor of the far-right Breitbart news, was…
If the occupation is going to end with the help of North American Jews, it will be owing to the growing force of millennials who stand up not only for their own rights, but the rights of others. One of…
Writing Lives is a two-semester project at Langara College, coordinated by instructor Dr. Rachel Mines, in which second-year students are connected with local Holocaust survivors to interview them and write memoirs of their lives before, during and after the…
David Coskun dances as Seemi Ghazi speaks. (photo by Matthew Gindin) On March 9, Congregation Or Shalom, in collaboration with the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, hosted United in Compassion, an interfaith solidarity event featuring 15 different religious leaders from…
Grace Haan, JSA Peer Support trainer and supervisor, and Charles Liebovitch, JSA Peer Support coordinator, at the March 8 Food and Film Empowerment session. (photo by Binny Goldman) The screening of Dough at the March 8 Food and Film session…
Feinberg Graduate School-Weizmann Institute student Vered Shacham-Silverberg is coming to Vancouver with two of her peers. (photo from Weizmann Canada) Cliché as it may sound, the future is almost here. On March 29, three PhD students from the Feinberg Graduate School…
Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia hosts a new supper club and a podcast. (photo from JMABC) The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia is launching two new programs celebrating the diversity of food traditions represented within the…
Avi Zimmerman chose for Talk17 a format that would allow a speaker to share their stories and views uninterrupted. (photo from Avi Zimmerman) There is a range of strong opinions when it comes to Jewish community development east of the…
(photo from Haifa University via Ashernet) The replica of the Ma’agan Michael ship took its first voyage on March 17, near where the original vessel was discovered in 1985 by Ami Eshel, a member of Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, some 70…
ג‘רוד סין שלמד לרקוד בתקופה כשהוא היה סטודנט, לא התבלבל לרגע והצטרף אל הצעיר ורקד עימו, אל מול הצעירים הנדהמים שליוו אותו במחיאות כפיים סוערות. (Vivid Media) פלילים כמו כמו בסרטים 1: שוטר שנקרא לאירוע פלילי באונטריו רקד מול המצלמה…
Adeena Karasick has donated her archive to the Collection of Contemporary Literature at Simon Fraser University’s Bennett Library. (photo from Adeena Karasick) Critically acclaimed poet and Vancouver native Adeena Karasick was in her hometown last month to celebrate the donation…
