Israeli field hospital personnel look after those injured in the earthquake in Nepal. (photo by Sam Amiel) Cardiac surgeon Lt.-Col. (res.) Dr. Ofer Merin is deputy director general of Shaare Zedek Medical Centre and lectures at the Hebrew University in…
From The Completely Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green, by Eric Orner. It was never on Eric Orner’s agenda to go to Israel. He resisted his mother’s entreaties to join a young people’s synagogue trip to the Jewish state. A relatively…
The Conservatives, Liberals and NDP have all expressed strong support for the Jewish state. Is there any difference between them? Line up the platforms of the three main political parties and, despite the rhetoric, they are all solid allies of…
From left to right, are Naomi, Michelle and Max Dodek with Gil Lewinsky in Abbotsford. Michelle is holding a one-day-old Jacob sheep. (photo by Jenna Lewinsky) A couple living in Abbotsford is gaining international attention for their unusual quest. They…
On Rosh Hashana we will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur we will be sealed, who will live and who will die, who by fire and who by water. It’s a jarring incantation. Religious or not, however, this time of…
In the longstanding debate over whether collective narratives should be transmitted as capital-T truth, or whether they should be challenged and problematized, there is a flurry of activity around rethinking Israel education for the next generation. As if they were…
The silver-medal-winning volleyball team at the JCC Maccabi Games in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (photo by Kyle Berger) They weren’t the largest delegation at the JCC Maccabi Games in Fort Lauderdale this past August, but Team Vancouver’s 13 athletes certainly made their…
The new Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia website, jewishmuseum.ca. The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia has launched its revamped website, unveiling a new look for the organization, simplifying navigation and making it easier for users to…
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“Day of Atonement” by Isidor Kaufmann, circa 1900. “We cannot afford the luxury that accompanies the perception of atonement as an end unto itself. We must look at every facet of our lives, internal and external, collective and individual, and…
Following your dreams takes guts, hard work and perseverance. You have to admire someone who goes for it, whether or not they succeed. And if they succeed, it’s all the more impressive – and inspiring. Two books came across my…
Most of us love a good mystery. Add intergenerational secrets to the mix and you’ve just upped the grip quotient. Add to that a medical procedure that’s the stuff of nightmares and horror movies, and you’ve got a potential hit.…
Does terrorism work? This is the question that opens Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917-1947 (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015). Western leaders insist that the work of terrorists will never lead to the ends they seek, but one of the…
Limmud Vancouver is accepting submissions until Oct. 15 for presenters at the 2016 learning festival. (photo from Limmud Vancouver) After two successful events in the past two years, Limmud Vancouver is returning for a third learning extravaganza in 2016. Following…
One of my Haaretz blogs several months ago told the stories of two individuals who left the Orthodox fold. This past June, I nearly swallowed whole the new former-Chassid memoir everyone was talking about: Shulem Deen’s All Who Go Do…
Apples and honey are essential at Rosh Hashana’s festive table. An old tradition of eating apples dipped in honey reflects our hopes for “sweet” and prosperous New Year. Shall we try and make this treat together? 1. Take a toothpick…
The writer and her husband, Ted Ramsay, hiking along a coastal path near St. Ives. (photo by Karen Ginsberg) A trip this spring to Cornwall in southwest England gave my husband and me the opportunity to experience the unique treasures…
Some of the most stunning sunsets can be seen right from the Pierside Restaurant while eating dinner. (photo by Baila Lazarus) As a realtor with more than two decades of experience, Joel Korn knows the golden rule that location is…
The roof of Sofia’s synagogue. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields) Until recently, if someone had asked me what I knew about Bulgaria, I would have said, “Isn’t that the name of a cheese?” Now having visited Bulgaria, I realize how…
Sim Shalom founder Rabbi Steven Blane leads the services and the band on the online synagogue’s new CD. (photo from Sim Shalom) Google “Canada synagogue live streaming” and a handful of choices come up, including Vancouver’s Temple Sholom. There are…
When my husband opened the package with Modern Jewish Cooking: Recipes and Customs for Today’s Kitchen by Leah Koenig (Chronicle Books, 2015) in it, he remarked, “This one you’re going to like!” And he was right. Koenig is a writer…
Roger Sherman’s Florentine Films crew chows down at El Babor restaurant in the Haifa area. (photo from Florentine Films) It might seem absurd that an American filmmaker, who, until five years ago, thought that falafel and hummus were the only…
Atomic Falafel poster. (photo from Atomic Falafel PR via israel21c.org) While world headlines focused on the landmark Iranian nuclear deal, an enormous billboard outside a Tel Aviv building announcing the upcoming opening of an Iranian embassy in Israel in August…
This coming October, some 30 Jews from around the world will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for SHALVA, the Association for Mentally and Physically Challenged Children in Jerusalem. (photo from SHALVA) Scaling the largest free-standing mountain in the…
Life in its individual expression is finite. Nearly all of us accept that. Living things reproduce themselves, so life goes on in that way. But, for the individual, life begins and, after a time, it comes to an end. An…
Salomon Centre for American Jewish Thought fellow Eliana Rudee, left, and senior editor Joanie Berger enjoy lunch in Chicago. (photo by Paul Miller) As I sit on a bench at the First Station in Jerusalem, just about to leave Israel…
Among the coins and other archeological treasures discovered in a ruined Byzantine public structure near the Temple Mount’s southern wall in 2013 was a gold medallion (inset) inscribed with a menora, a shofar and a Torah scroll, reflecting the historical…
Yemenite Jews participating in Tashlich, Rosh Hashana, 1926. (photo by Shimon Korbman, Shalom Meir Tower, Tel Aviv via Wikimedia) Readers will perhaps find it hard to believe, but the custom of Tashlich, which has become an integral part of the…
Until this summer’s drought, most Vancouverites would have prayed for weather that made their umbrellas unnecessary. These High Holidays, however, many of us will be joining more wholeheartedly in the prayer for rain. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) I never gave…
Among the events that began the Jewish year of 5775 (2014/15), Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu traveled to the United States, where he addressed the United Nations to warn of the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran, and met with U.S.…
