Flying camels still don’t exist
We’ve been getting a lot of weird phone calls lately. The caller ID says it is from our credit card company or the bank. Yet, the person on the phone seems a little off. What we realize, before giving away…
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Productive collaboration
The Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research team includes, left to right, Dr. Gal Meiri, Prof. Hava Golan, Prof. Ilan Dinstein, Mazal Malka and Prof. Idan Menashe. Dinstein and Menashe will be in Vancouver in May to meet…
Candidates share views
Parm Bains, incumbent MP and Liberal candidate in Richmond East-Steveston, and his Conservative opponent, Zach Segal, spoke at Beth Tikvah April 15. (photo by Alan Marchant) Liberal and Conservative candidates made their pitches to the Jewish community in a candidates’…
Art Vancouver underway
“Warm Blossoms” by Lauren Morris. (image courtesy Art Vancouver) Jewish community members Sky Lilah, Lauren Morris, Taisha Teal, Talin Wayrynen and Lisa Wolfin are among the artists participating in Art Vancouver International Art Fair, which runs until April 27 at…
Guns & Moses to thrill at VJFF
Filmmakers Salvador and Nina Litvak with Guns & Moses cast members Neal McDonough, left, Dermot Mulroney, centre, and Mark Feuerstein, right. (photo from Pictures from the Fringe) Los Angeles filmmaker and author Salvador Litvak (no relation) will be in the…
Spark honours Siegels
Camp Solomon Schechter’s Spark event in Vancouver on May 4 honours the Siegel family’s generational connections to the camp. (photo from campschechter.org) Once again, Camp Solomon Schechter (CSS) is hosting one of its three annual Schechter Spark events in Vancouver –…
An almost great movie
Coexistence, My Ass! follows Israeli activist and comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi as she develops her show of the same name. (photo from DOXA) Coexistence, My Ass!, directed and produced by Amber Fares, is almost a great documentary. But it fails…
20 years on Willow Street
Left to right: Head of school Seth Goldsweig, former head of school Perry Seidelman, deputy head of school Alex Monchamp, head custodian and building manager Jess Sabado and former head of school Russ Klein at a February gathering of alumni…
Students are resilient
A Night of Resilience, held at UBC Hillel House March 27, was emceed by students Samantha Schwenger and Izaiah Isaac. (photo from Hillel BC) Jewish students, allies and community members packed the second-floor social hall at the University of British…
Reinvigorating Peretz
Itamar Manoff and Adi Burton, co-directors of the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, whose vision respects centre’s history. (photo from Peretz Centre) Adi Burton and Itamar Manoff became co-directors of the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture last summer.…
Different kind of seder
Held on April 15, the Third Seder: Understanding Addiction and the Path to Freedom focused on the slavery of addiction. (photo from JFS Vancouver) There was matzah, grape juice, charoset and horseradish on the table. Guests read from the Haggadah…
Beckman gets his third FU
The big reveal: Vitaly Beckman fools Penn & Teller a third time with his illusion “Still Life.” (image courtesy Vitaly Beckman) “It’s a real privilege to be able to share something that was created from just an idea, and see…
הדמוקרטיה בישראל נחלשת בזמן שהציבור אדיש
הדמוקרטיה בישראל הולכת ונחלשת וראש הממשלה הכוחני שחושב רק על טובתו מנצל את המצב, בזמן שהציבור הרחב נשאר אדיש. כך דמוקרטיות מוחלפות בדיקטטורות ותופעה מדאיגה זו הולכת וצוברת תאוצה ראש הממשלה המושחת, בנימין נתניהו, מחזיק במושכות השלטון כבר שבעה עשרה…
Healing from trauma of Oct. 7
Healing Space has treated more than 20,000 people since it began in response to the trauma caused by the Oct. 7 terror attacks and the ensuing war. (photo from Healing Space) “It’s important to talk about it because there are…
Film Fest starts soon
Sabbath Queen is a film about the life of Amichai Lau-Lavie, part of a rabbinic dynasty going back 38 generations. (still from film) The 36th annual Vancouver Jewish Film Festival runs April 24 to May 4, beginning with opening night…
Test of Bill 22 a failure
A small cluster of anti-Israel activists protested outside the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver last week, apparently assuming incorrectly that an Israeli diplomat was in the building. Regardless of the motivations, the protest was against the law. And police…
War is also fought in words
David Jablinowitz, opinion editor for the Jerusalem Post, answers a question at one of his March talks at Congregation Beth Israel. (photo by Pat Johnson) The intensely emotional debate in Israel right now centres on whether the government and military…
Pondering peace post-Oct. 7
Commemorations of individuals murdered at the Nova festival. (photo by Pat Johnson) Since I returned home to Vancouver from Israel a few weeks ago, it has taken me time to write about my reflections. There’s the usual getting over jetlag,…
Birthday musings on mitzvot
It’s almost Israel’s 77th birthday! And a birthday is a good opportunity to reflect on things. When my kids attended Chabad preschool, they celebrated their birthdays at school. The teachers encouraged them to think about a mitzvah (commandment) to take…
Drama teacher back on stage
People of a certain age will have seen the iconic 1980 comedy 9 to 5, starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman. Even more will know the eminently singable title song of the movie, written by Parton,…
Scribe camp issue launches
The Jewish Museum & Archives of British Columbia (JMABC) is releasing the 41st edition of The Scribe – which has a summer camps theme – on April 24, 6 p.m., at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. The JMABC’s…
Carousel stages Stuart Little
“When Mrs. Frederick C. Little’s second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse. The truth of the matter was, the baby looked very much like a mouse in every way. He was only about…
Flowers for those murdered
A new daffodil garden at Beth Israel commemorates the 1,200 people murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) “It’s not much, but I wanted those in the Jewish community to know that they are not forgotten,…
Preparing for election
Canadians will elect a new federal government on April 28. The resignation of Justin Trudeau upended expectations, and opinion polls suggest a more competitive contest than was predicted when the year began. While British Columbia’s Jewish community has not historically…
Left returns to City Hall
The left in Vancouver came roaring back to life last Saturday, April 5. In the civic by-election to replace two city councilors, Sean Orr, candidate of the far-left Coalition of Progressive Electors, topped the polls, with Lucy Maloney of the…
Bregmans’ invaluable impact
Rabbi Philip Bregman, rabbi emeritus of Temple Sholom, has spent 45 of his 50 years since ordination in Vancouver, having joined the Reform congregation in 1980. (photo from Philip Bregman) Temple Sholom and the larger Jewish community came together on…
Meet new director of JACS
In February, Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) appointed Rabbi Joshua Corber as its new director. The Vancouver-born Conservative rabbi spent the last 10 years as a congregational rabbi in Calgary, Vaughan, Ont., and Louisville, Ky., before returning home in July…
Video shares Spiers’ legacy
Artist Naomi Spiers explains the first panel of her wood-framed paper-cut mechitzah (partition) at the Chabad of Vancouver Island location in Victoria. A new video by David Cooperstone highlights some of Spiers’ creative path. (still from film) Salt Spring Island…
Women’s leadership summit
BC emissaries joined the Kinus Hashluchos in February. (photo from chabad.org) Some 4,000 Chabad-Lubavitch women emissaries and lay leaders from around the globe gathered in February in New York for the 35th annual International Conference of Chabad Women Emissaries, the…
New draw to Ben-Gurion site
In 2023, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev opened a new home in Sde Boker for the David Ben-Gurion archives. (photo from Ben-Gurion University) For visitors to Israel – and for Israelis looking for an engaging getaway – there is a…
