For a great number of Canadians, particularly those too young to remember the Second World War, Remembrance Day is not the day of intimate commemoration it was for previous generations. Canadian engagement in Afghanistan, however, has once again bestowed on…
Jonathan Fader, left, and his business partner Borhan Jiang show a class at Urban Tactics Krav Maga how to disarm an attacker who has a knife. (photo by Albert Law) When Jonathan Fader copied the Jewish Independent on an open…
In a recently published memoir, A Childhood on the Move: Memoirs of a Child Survivor of the Holocaust, René Goldman, professor emeritus of Chinese history at the University of British Columbia, pieces together a fragmented and tragic childhood and adolescence.…
The Shabbat Project brought hundreds out to bake challah, celebrate Shabbat and dance over three nights, Oct. 23-25. (photo by Alan Katowitz) Oct. 23 saw more than 400 people make Vancouver history by participating in its first community-wide challah bake. The event…
Left to right: Chaim Chesler, Diane Wohl, Matthew Bronfman and Sandra Cahn. (photo by Yossi Aloni) Canadian Member of Parliament Irwin Cotler said the country needs to toughen security measures against terrorism, while preserving the nation’s democratic freedoms. Cotler addressed…
At the recent Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver fall symposium, left to right: Peggy Casey, Lorilee Mallek, Nora Paul, Mark Godfrey and Grace Hann. (photo by Binny Goldman) A capacity crowd of 175 gathered at the Peretz Centre for Secular…
Benjamin Mintzberg and Clementina Tai at CJPAC’s mayoral event. (photo from Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee) On Oct. 7, CJPAC (Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee) hosted Vancouver Connect: Meet Your Next Mayor at Congregation Beth Israel. The event brought together more…
The B-Shoe prototype. (photo from b-shoe.com) While observing his elderly father, Yonatan Manor, a chemical engineer from Haifa, decided to create a shoe to help prevent falls, an all too common danger faced by the elderly. Manor’s father was often losing…
In her film The German Doctor, Lucia Puenzo tries to capture Josef Mengele’s “very sociopathic, complex personality.” (photo from Vancouver Jewish Film Festival) As a high school student in the 1990s, Lucia Puenzo was fascinated and mystified by an open secret:…
Michael and Phyllis Moscovich in Cuba. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver) When community lay leaders Michael and Phyllis Moscovich were planning their most recent mission trip, they never imagined discovering Jewish ties to former Cuban president Fidel Castro, and…
Anne, left, and Eva Gitelman. (photo from Deborah Rubin Fields) The things we take for granted. Today, we spend countless internet hours looking for someone (or something). We assume increasingly rapid communication systems will effectively power these searches. Yet, for Eva…
When I lived in New York for 10 years in the 1960s, going to the Lower East Side was a very regular part of my Sunday routine. However, while the name Yonah Schimmel might sound familiar to anyone traveling the…
Tabor Winery uses only 10 growers, which is unique and helps control the quality of the grapes. (photo from taborwines.com) The fifth in a series featuring nine Israeli wine producers features Justin Kohn of Tabor Winery. The most recent article –…
(photo from wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il) Our species’ waking and sleeping cycles – shaped in millions of years of evolution – have been turned upside down within a single century with the advent of electric lighting and airplanes. As a result, millions of…
For more cartoons, visit thedailysnooze.com.
Swiss Consul General Urs Strausak at the opening reception of the Carl Lutz and the Legendary Glass House exhibit, which features panel displays as well as various artifacts. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) He was the first Swiss national to be…
Michael Fish initiated a unique VSO-JFSA collaboration, which will see JFSA clients attend the symphony on Nov. 15. (photo from Michael Fish) “There is a direct relationship between cultural experiences and good health. Whether it’s participation in the arts or…
Julie Cohen’s The Sturgeon Queens is informative and delightful. From the fraught origins of the state of Israel to what a possible peaceful future for Israel might look like, this year’s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which runs Nov. 6-13 at Fifth…
Israel’s L-E-V is at the Playhouse Nov. 14-15. (photo by Gadi Dagon) It feels like it’s all been leading up to this. In 2009, Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company performed at DanceHouse. In 2013, Norway’s Carte Blanche brought Corps de Walk,…
Buckminster Fuller in front of the Montreal World’s Fair geodesic dome. (photo from Magnum Photos) Most of us know Richard Buckminster Fuller as “the dome guy” or, more formally, as the 20th-century genius whose life and vision eventually led to…
Left to right, Jerry Wasserman, James Gill and Mehdi Darvish star in United Players’ production of Facts. (photo by Doug Williams) United Players is set to present Canadian Jewish playwright Arthur Milner’s provocative political drama Facts, loosely based on the…
Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver board and staff 2014-15. Standing, from left: Janet Kolof, Timothy Newman, Marilyn Glazer, Barbara Bronstein, Lyle Pullan, Claire Cohen, Gyda Chud, Ida Gitlina, Rubin Feldman and Binny Goldman. Seated, from left: Karon Shear (staff),…
Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who came to our attention as the conduit for Edward Snowden’s Wikileaks cache, has a theory on why members of the Canadian military have been killed in terror attacks like the one last week in Ottawa.…
Sarah Marel Schaffer, left, and Sandy Hazan pause while sorting clothing for Operation Dress-Up, a social action project sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women, Vancouver section. (photo from NCJW Vancouver) Shlepping bags of new underwear and socks plus…
“Do it! Just do it!” Cherie waves her hands impatiently, puzzled by my hesitation. We are sitting on the white sofa in her bright living room on Point Grey Road. Behind us, through the large picture windows, I see the…
The Ministry of Health building in Jerusalem was the scene of a macabre wedding in 1881. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields) A government building, a zoological park, a bird observatory and a residential city street: What do these four Jerusalem…
A group of women at a Hadassah-WIZO event, 1950. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.19711) 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…
Roberta Grossman (director), left, and Nancy Spielberg (producer) on the Duxford set of Above and Beyond. (photo from playmountproductions.com) On Nov. 6, the 26th annual Vancouver Jewish Film Festival begins with the Canadian première of Above and Beyond, about a…
Maya Tenzer joins Ballet BC for its 2014/15 season. (photo by Michael Slobodian) Earlier this year, Ballet BC welcomed five new company members, bringing the total to 14, and four new apprentices. Now part of this intimate group is Maya…
