Don’t Break the Chain is the first publication of what the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia hopes will become a Family History series. The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia has released the first book in what…
Mykhailo Chomiak edited a Ukrainian-language Nazi newspaper in occupied Poland. It happens that Chomiak was the maternal grandfather of Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s foreign minister. This fact is a matter of historical record, but apparently Russian operatives were shopping the story…
The following joint statements were issued by the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. They can be read in full at jewishvancouver.com, where readers can also find out more about the community’s security…
Islamophobia and antisemitism have again reared their ugly heads this year, including with mosque burnings and desecrations of Jewish cemeteries in the United States. In response to the attacks on the St. Louis cemetery, Muslim-American activist Linda Sarsour helped launch…
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) lauded the House of Commons’ March 8 passage of a private member’s bill to prevent genetic discrimination, which survived a last-minute push by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to oppose it on jurisdictional…
Igor Sadikov, the McGill University student under fire for his “punch a Zionist today” tweet more than a month ago, resigned his remaining student government post, thereby preempting a vote by his peers on his removal. On March 8, Sadikov…
In June 2016, it became legal in Canada for a doctor or nurse practitioner to assist someone with their death, as long as they meet certain criteria under the law. “We’ve been providing this service here ever since,” said Dr.…
Israel’s Knesset last week passed legislation against the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, representing just one of several setbacks this month for BDS around the world. The Israeli bill, which passed its third and final reading with a 46-28…
When a group of eight couples in their 40s and 50s meet once a month to discuss different Jewish topics with Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman, co-director of Chabad of Richmond, no subject is off limits. The program is called Toward a…
Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia archivist Alysa Routtenberg holds a minute book from Victoria’s Congregation Emanu-El, circa 1920. (photo from Alysa Routtenberg) The documents and artifacts collected, processed and housed by the Jewish Museum and Archives of British…
Although he plays several instruments, the trumpet remains Gabriel Mark Hasselbach’s first love and his first choice. (photo from Gabriel Mark Hasselbach) Music is a dazzling mistress. Once Gabriel Mark Hasselbach fell in love with it, he could never let…
At the première of Hear My Music at Labia Theatre in Cape Town on Feb. 15, are, left to right, Ntandazo (Didi) Gcingca, associate producer, and Dizu Plaatjies, the documentary’s subject, with Wendy Bross Stuart and Ron Stuart of WRS…
Israeli business owner and chef Yair Yosefi helped spearhead a fundraiser for Syrian refugees. (photo from Yair Yosefi) A Tel Aviv restaurateur and bar owner wanted to do something about the dire situation of Syrian refugees, so he turned to…
איומים על הג’י.סי.סי של ונקובר: ממשלת המחוז תעניק מאה אלף דולר להגברת הביטחון. (צילום: Cynthia Ramsay) הג’י.סי.סי של ונקובר מצטרף לרשימה ארוכה של למעלה מ-140 מרכזים ומוסדות יהודיים בצפון אמריקה, הנתונים לגל אנטישמיות חדש בחודשים האחרונים, ומקבלים איומים שונים בהם…
“Young Man as Bacchus” by Jan Franse Verzijl was among about 400 works owned by Max Stern that were forcibly sold by the Nazis in the 1930s. (photo from Max and Iris Stern Foundation) When the painting “Young Man as…
The Peace Factory founders Joana Osman and Ronny Edry spoke at the University of British Columbia on Feb. 6. (photo by Zach Sagorin) “Israel loves Iran,” “Palestine loves Israel,” “Israel loves Palestine,” “Iran loves Israel & Palestine.” The Peace Factory…
The appeal of Arthur Topham, convicted of promoting hatred against Jewish people in November 2015, was rejected last month by the B.C. Supreme Court. On his website, radicalpress.com, Topham wrote that Jews should be forcibly sterilized. He described Canada as…
Vancouver City Council has voted in favour of an agreement giving Congregation Or Shalom the right to develop a section of Mountain View Cemetery for use by the synagogue’s members. This follows three-and-a-half years of discussion and negotiations with the…
Purim is a time of deception and inebriation. The story we commemorate in the reading of the Megillah is one of hidden identities and near catastrophe. As is often humorously pointed out, the Purim story ends as most Jewish holidays…
The Feb. 22 panel discussion at Congregation Schara Tzedeck featured, left to right, moderator Dr. Auby Axler and panelists Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, Dr. Jenny Melamed, David Berner and Rebecca Denham. (photo by Zach Sagorin) Approximately 5,000 Jews in the local…
Left to right: Nina Krieger (Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre), speaker Mark Wolynn, Richard Fruchter (Jewish Family Service Agency), Nicky Fried (Congregation Beth Israel) and Shanie Levin (Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver). (photo by Rhonda Dent Photography) On Feb. 15,…
Among the offerings at Olive+Wild are mezuzot, textiles and fragrances. (photos from oliveandwild.com) Judaica. Most of us have some in our homes. A mezuzah, Shabbat candlesticks, a seder plate, a menorah. As much as synagogues are a crucial part of…
Goldie Kassen at Louis Brier Home and Hospital’s Purim party last year. (photo from Barbara Taranto) There are not many news stories in print or online that laud the everyday work of women. Occasionally, studies are published regarding the status…
Sol and Shirley Kort (photo from Alisa Kort) Catherine Stoller, president of the Vancouver section of the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, announces the Shirley and Sol Kort Family Award to HIPPY, which will enable HIPPY home visitors…
Orphans from the IDF Widows and Orphans organization plant olive trees in the Givat Koah forest along with Tami Shelach, IDFWO chair, herself an IDF widow. (photo from IMP Group Ltd.) Eleven-year-old Maya Keidar lost her father, Lt.-Col. Dolev Keidar,…
Planting trees as a community project in Jerusalem. (photo by Ariella Tzuvical) Are Israeli city-dwellers still attached to the land? The answer is yes, but the connection to the land plays itself out in a surprising way. By and large,…
Fashion designer Noa Raviv (photo by Ryan Duffin) Avant-garde fashion designer Noa Raviv says her award-winning fashions were triggered by her interest in the power of mistakes. Born in Tel Aviv in 1987, Raviv is currently developing her couture brand in New…
