freelancer – Page 27

Community milestones … October 2025

Jewish Addictions Community Services (JACS) welcomes two members to its team.

Jordana Jackson, JACS’s new addictions specialist, is a certified addiction counsellor. In addition to having a wealth of experience working in addiction and recovery spaces throughout Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health authorities, she is the founder and director of AWARE (Addicts With Aspirations Recovery Entertainment), a therapeutic performance-arts program. Jackson is already making a difference at JACS, creating navigation support structures and providing counseling for clients.

Elana Epstein, JACS’s new group facilitator, is a certified recovery coach. More importantly, she has years of experience being a mother of a child who struggled with addiction and is now in recovery. At JACS Family Circle, Epstein is using both her spiritual and professional skill sets to hold space for individuals whose friends and family have been affected by addiction. These group counseling sessions are an important aspect of JACS.

* * *

Elvira Molochkovetsk takes on the role of a community connector in Victoria. This position is a joint Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island (JFVVI) and Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver project. Her goal is to connect and engage all community members but, in particular, those who do not attend any existing synagogue or Jewish association.

Over the past two years, Molochkovetsk has been part of the JFVVI as a PJ Library parent, volunteer, connector and, for the past year, as PJ Library coordinator for Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. PJ Library has focused on connecting people with children up to the age of 13 and, in her expanded role as a connector, Molochkovetsk will be expanding it to reach out to teenagers, seniors and young entrepreneurs.

The parents of four kids, Molochkovetsk and her husband, Dimitri, have run family businesses for the last decade. Almost three years ago, they moved to Victoria from Winnipeg, where they lived for seven years. They both grew up in Israel and have family there.

From the archives … Israel

אייר טרנזיט הקנדית טסה ישירות מקנדה לגרמניה

חברת הלואו קוסט הקנדית אייר טרנזיט החלה לטוס ישירות בקו טורונטו ברלין. קו זה מאפשר לישראלים שמגיעים לברלין להמשיך בטיסה ישירה לטורונטו. הקו החדש יופעל בשלב זה רק בחודשי הקיץ: מטורונטו לברלין בימים חמישי וראשון ומברלין לטורונטו בימים שני ושישי

הקו החדש הוא בשורה טובה לישראלים שרוצים לטוס לקנדה. זאת, לאור העובדה שאל על הפסיקה את הטיסות הישירות שלה בין ישראל לקנדה לפני כשלוש שנים. ואילו חברת התעופה לאומית של קנדה אייר קנדה לא טסה כרגע לישראל לאור המצב הבטחוני המסובך

למי שבוחר לטוס באייר טרנזיט לטורונטו יש אפשרות גם לקחת טיסות המשך בשיתוף החברה הקנדית הנוספת ללואו קוסט אייר פורטר, ליעדים נוספים בקנדה בהם: מונטריאול, ונקובר, קלגרי, אדמונטון והליפקס. או להגיע בטיסות המשך מטורונטו ליעדים בארה”ב ובהם: לאס וגאס

הטיסות של אייר טרנזיט מטורונטו וברלין ובחזרה מתקיימות באמצעות מטוסי איירבוס החדישים שכוללים מאה שמונים ושבעה מקומות במחלקת תיירים, שמונים ושבע מקומות במחלקת הפריום ועוד שנים עשר מושבים במחלקת העסקים. אגב משך זמן הטיסה בין ברלין לטורונטו נאמד בכתשע שעות

הטיסות של אייר טרנזיט מברלין לטורונטו מאפשרות גם גישה נוחה לקנדה לנוסעים ממדינות נוספות באירופה בהן צרפת, בלגיה, הולנד ושוויץ

אייר טרנזיט שמתמחה בעיקר בחבילות נופש ליעדים באירופה, ארה”ב והאיים הקריביים נבחרה לאחת החברות הטובות בתחום זה בשנים האחרונות

ואילו חברת התעופה הלאומית של איחוד האמירויות איתיחאד שחידשה לאחרונה את טיסותיה לישראל, כחלק מההתעצבות הגלובלית שלה, חנכה לאחרונה קו טיסות ישיר בין אבו דאבי לטורונטו. קו זה מאפשר לישראלים לטוס ישירות לאבו דאבי ומשם להמשיך ישירות לטורונטו. הקו החדש בין אבו דאבי לטורונטו באמצעות מטוסי איירבוס החדישים מגדיל את הקיבולת של החברה של איחוד האמירויות בכשלושים אחוזים. ובכך החברה מגיעה ללמעלה ממאה יעדים בעולם תוך שימוש בצי מטוסים מתקדמים. מדי חודש החברה מטיסה קרוב לשני מיליון נוסעים בקווים השונים שלה

צי המטוסים של חברת איתיחאד מונה כיום מאה במספר כולל חמישה מטוסי מטען

איתיחאד כידוע טסה ישירות לישראל ומאפשרת לישראלים להגיע למגוון רחב של יעדים ברחבי העולם, באמצעות טיסות המשך משדה התעופה של אבו דאבי

הקו החדש בין אבו דאבי לטורונטו של איתיחאד כאמור מאפשר לנוסעים מישראל אפשרות להגיע לטורונטו, בדומה לאפשרות להגיע לברלין ומשם להמשיך באייר טרנזט הקנדית לטורונטו

כידוע לחברת התעופה של אחיד האמירויות איתיחאד יש מחלקת עסקים מפוארת ביותר שכוללת תאים פרטיים סגורים עם חדר שינה, מיטה פרטית וכורסה אישית ומקלחת

קנדה תכיר במדינה הפלסטינית

ראש ממשלת קנדה, מארק קרני, הודיעה לאחרונה כי קנדה מתכוונת להכיר במדינה הפלסטינית במושב השמונים של האו”ם שיערך בספטמבר. הוא הוסיף כי הכוונה להכיר במדינה הפלסטינית כרוכה במחויבות של הרשות הפלסטינית לבצע רפורמות נחוצות ומשמעותיות ביותר, לקיים בחירות כלליות בשנה הבאה ללא החאמאס, ולפרק את המדינה הפלסטינית מצבא. קרני ציין עוד כי קנדה עובדת יחד עם מדינות נוספות לקיים את פתרון שתי המדינות, ישראל ולצידה מדינת פלסטין, שהוא הולך ונשחק מול עיננו

זאת לאחר שבמהלך ועידת שתי המדינות שהתקיימה לאחרונה במטה האו”ם בניו־יורק ביוזמת צרפת וסעודיה, הכריזו מדינות נוספות על כוונתן להכיר במדינה פלסטינית, במסגרת העצרת הכללית של האו”ם הצפויה להיערך בספטמבר הקרוב. קנדה מצטרפת אפוא למדינות נוספות שהחליטו להכיר במדינה הפלסטינית ובהן צרפת, בריטניה,מלטה, ספרד, אירלנד ונורווגיה

Innovative approach to care

On Sept. 30, Canadian Friends of Sheba Medical Centre will host Medicine Reimagined, an evening with Prof. Amitai Ziv, deputy director of Sheba Medical Centre and head of its Rehabilitation Hospital, which is the national rehabilitation facility of Israel. Ziv is also the founder and director of the Israel Centre for Medical Simulation (MSR), an innovation hub for improving patient safety and clinical training.

Originally from Montreal, Ziv is spending his sabbatical in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia.

“This will be the first Canadian Friends of Sheba event in Vancouver, as we launch our chapter here, and we are truly thrilled to welcome Prof. Amitai Ziv,” Galit Blumenthal, manager of donor relations and events at Canadian Friends of Sheba Medical Centre, told the Independent. “Our goal is to raise awareness of Sheba Medical Centre and highlight its profound impact both in Israel and on the global stage.”

photo - Prof. Amitai Ziv, deputy director of Sheba Medical Centre and its Rehabilitation Hospital, speaks in Vancouver on the topic Medicine Reimagined — Prof. Amitai Ziv, deputy director of Sheba Medical Centre and its Rehabilitation Hospital, speaks in Vancouver on the topic Medicine Reimagined. *(internet photo)*

Sheba Medical Centre was established in 1948. Located in Tel HaShomer, near Tel Aviv, its website notes the facility has 159 medical departments and clinics, almost 2,000 beds and 75 laboratories, and receives about 1.9 million clinical visits and 200,000 emergency room visits a year. Its seven major facilities comprise a cancer centre, an academic campus, a research complex and four hospitals: children’s, women’s, acute care and rehabilitation. It also has several centres of excellence and institutes, notably for cancer, and heart and circulation. It counts 10,000 healthcare professionals, 1,700 physicians and 200 PhD research professionals.

“I support them, along with many other Israeli institutions, as I feel that this is at least some contribution that I can make during these difficult times,” said Tova Kornfeld, who connected Canadian Friends of Sheba Medical Centre (CFSMC), which is based in Toronto, with the Independent.

“I sometimes feel powerless living here in Canada when I see what is happening in Israel,” said Kornfeld. “If I can help in any way, whether by bringing awareness to the work being done by the various organizations or by making financial contributions, then I feel I must. As far as Sheba is concerned, it stepped up to the plate when Soroka Hospital was hit by an Iranian missile and took in all the ICU patients.

“It is also the biggest rehab hospital in Israel and is providing rehabilitation for thousands of soldiers who have been injured since Oct. 7,” she added. “I have family members in the IDF and it is comforting to know that, if something were to happen to any of them, there would be hospitals like Sheba to care for them.”

Ziv’s areas of expertise are medical education, simulation and rehabilitative medicine, and he has served as a consultant and speaker at academic and health institutions around the world. The event in Vancouver will offer a look at Sheba Medical Centre and its innovations in, among other things, the rehabilitation field.

On Sept. 30, Vancouverites will also get to meet Einat Enbar, chief executive officer of CFSMC, which was established in 2017 to raise awareness and funds for Sheba Medical Centre, the care it offers, the research it conducts and the educational training it provides.

For Kornfeld, there is another aspect to supporting Israeli organizations and institutions. She hopes that financial and other assistance from the diaspora “gives the Israelis caught in the fray the message that we have their backs and that we are all in this together regardless of where we live. I would hope that this would be comforting to them when it appears that most of the world is against not only Israel but the Jewish people themselves.”

For more information on CFSMC and SMC, visit shebacanada.org. To attend the Sept. 30, 7 p.m., event in Vancouver (location upon registration), go to weblink.donorperfect.com/ProfAmitaiZivInVancouver. While free to attend, donations are welcome. Readers can email Blumenthal at [email protected] with any questions.

Both personal & cosmic

Eric Goldstein and Jenny Judge are different in their backgrounds and creative philosophies, in their media and techniques, but they have two characteristics in common: their images are abstract, and strings drive their artistic perceptions. (photo by Jenny Judge)

A string is a simple, utilitarian object. Usually, it connects things, but rarely is it associated with beauty. However, String Theory, the current two-artist exhibition at the Zack Gallery, definitely brings beauty to gallery patrons.

The artists participating in the show – Jenny Judge and Eric Goldstein – are different in their backgrounds and creative philosophies, in their media and techniques, but they have two characteristics in common: their images are abstract, and strings drive their artistic perceptions.

Judge has been an installation artist for decades.

“I received a BFA in sculpture and printmaking in 1983 and completed an MFA in sculpture in 1991,” she told the Independent. “I often integrate a variety of craft-based material and processes in my installations, and I have exhibited them in Canada and abroad, but I have never exhibited my drawings before this show. I’ve been drawing for a long time, but my drawings were never the focus of my art. They were for clearing my head, as was my writing, which is also essential to my practice. Both helped me understand my own concepts better. I guess it is time for my drawings to be in the foreground of a show.”

photo - Jenny Judge — Jenny Judge (photo by Mads Colvin)

Like her installations, Judge’s drawings have depth, displaying multiple layers of texture and meaning.

“The heart of these drawings is transition, the two different sides coming together, connected by lines or strings,” she explained. “Light versus dark. Old age versus youth. Northern hemisphere versus southern. Sky versus water. My family lives in Canada and New Zealand, and I’m often traveling from there to here and back. My drawings help me to make sense of these transitions.”

All her pieces in the show are a wash of muted paint in the background overlaid by a network of strings and nodes in faintly contrasting colours. The web of strings and their junctions is complex and delicate, the lines gossamer-thin, reflecting the artist’s contemplation of belonging to the emotional and physical landscape of both Canada and New Zealand.

“My drawing are like landscapes,” she said. “There is even a horizon line in most of them, the line where two different worlds meet, the areas of constant shifting and negotiations. But there is much more to the story I want to tell. That’s why I paint in the abstract style. A simple landscape is just that – a landscape, a forest or a mountain. But an abstract picture always leaves room for interpretation. Everyone can come up with their own story.”

Like her images, Judge’s titles are also open to interpretation: “Crossing,” “Striations,” “Pass Through,” for example.

“They underscore my feelings of not always knowing where I am in time and space, of always seeking connections,” she said.

Inspired by the concepts of meeting points, of confluence and repetition, Judge also sees parallels between her compositions and knitting.

“I learned to knit from my mother when I was 10. I remember sitting with her as we talked, knitted and counted stitches. I still enjoy knitting. When you knit, you have one string of yarn and you repeat the same pattern over and over again. And, suddenly, you have something else: a scarf or a sweater. That’s what I do when I draw. I repeat endless variations of the same pattern until something meaningful emerges,” she said.

Another link between her drawings and her knitting is the tool she employs. She draws with a bamboo skewer (very like a knitting needle), dipped in acrylic ink. “It is a very domestic item,” she said. “But it has a sharp point, sharper than any brush. It allows me to draw very thin lines. I build those webs of lines over one another, rows and layers, until I’m satisfied with the result. Sometimes, it takes several layers until the whole starts making sense. Of course, it takes a long time to draw all the lines I visualize for even one painting.”

Perhaps the length of time it takes her to create her pieces contributes to the fact that she doesn’t take commissions. “I tried,” she said. “But I didn’t like the clients’ constant demands. I don’t create art for the money.”

Goldstein, however, does take commissions and he relishes seeing his pieces in people’s homes.

“I create mixed media collages,” he said. “I use coloured fibres, gold foil, glass, paint, plaster.”

While Judge’s web-like pictures imply multiple dimensions, Goldstein’s fibre string collages tend to one-directional geometries, either horizontal or vertical, their colour patterns cheerful and dazzlingly bright. The gold foil and the glass fragments provide even more pizzazz to his deceptively simple compositions. “I build my canvasses like an architect builds a building,” he said.

Goldstein came to the visual art from the movie industry. Over the past three decades, he has been the director of photography for more than 75 film projects, from Hollywood features to documentaries. Creating gorgeous, highly decorative fibre collages for the last 15 years has provided him with a different outlet for his artistic vision.

“I’m inspired by nature, by the West Coast landscape,” he said. “Not as it appears on the surface. Instead, I want to capture how it feels to experience it – often chaotic, often incomprehensible. I try to convey feelings. As a mixed-media artist, I delve into the intricate, visual storytelling of people and the world around us.”

The pieces Goldstein presents in this show have rather mundane titles, in contrast to the elaborate poetry of the images themselves. “I call my paintings ‘Poetic narratives with kinetic energy,’” he said.

One of the paintings, “View of the Bay,” is a symphony of blue, where glass tiles twinkle among the strings like windows on the far shore. “No Curtains Needed,” on the other hand, is a subtler image, hinting at an open window and a playful light. The artist offers a short description for every canvas, and this one reads: “The absence of curtains allows for unfiltered light to dance freely upon the walls. It creates a sense of freedom and awe. Reminding us to let go of our barriers, both physical and cerebral, so we can.”

One of his most notable pieces in the exhibit – the white and blue “What Remains” – feels like a scream of the artist’s soul.

“The colours are the deconstructed Israeli flag,” he said. And his description of the image reads like a part of a poem: “This is my way of bearing witness to the horror unfolding in Israel and Gaza. It expresses my profound sense of conflict and loss of a meaningful identity. This piece isn’t about right or wrong or even resolution; it’s about holding space for complexity, for grief and empathy, and hope that something sacred remains.”

Goldstein exhibits a lot, and his works are in demand. “Next month, I’ll have a show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre,” he said. “I’ll have 12 paintings there.”

Judge and Goldstein didn’t know each other before Sarah Dobbs, the gallery curator, decided that their works were complementary. “Together,” she said, “Judge and Goldstein show that both our lives and the universe are shaped by invisible threads – of memory, matter and meaning. String Theory is … about the poetic links between the personal and the cosmic, reminding us that everything is connected.” Both artists agree.

String Theory is at the Zack Gallery until Sept. 22. To learn more, check the artists’ websites: ericgoldsteinart.com and jennyjudge.com.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

Hope for a good year

We begin the cycle of a new year in the coming days. We are all reflecting on our lives, our actions and our place in the world at this time of year. Perhaps, in the past two years, we are doing this more than ever before, even without the catalyst of the month of Elul or the impending holy days as motivation.

One of the things many of us are certainly pondering is how we move through life, and whether we approach the world with the balance tilted towards wonder and hope or towards cynicism and pessimism. These choices are challenging no matter where or under what conditions you live. For Jews in Israel and the diaspora right now, they are especially poignant.

A strength of Jewish life and practice is the capacity to hold sadness and joy in the same moments – life is rarely all one or the other. We mourn that there are still people being held hostage, the deaths in Israel and Gaza and in other conflicts, loved ones facing illness and confronting mortality, natural disasters, climate change, creeping

authoritarianism in many countries, and all the big and small sadnesses of being human, but these are, above all, a part of being alive. In Judaism, it is a mitzvah to choose life through our actions and choices. This commandment appears in a Torah portion we read prior to Rosh Hashanah, reminding us that we can choose hope over despair, that we can choose a different reality.

This duality will be on full display in the coming days as we move through the holy days, including navigating the joys and now sorrows of Simchat Torah, which will forever be equated in our memories with the atrocities of 10/7.

Along with holding joy and sadness in the same moment is holding more than one truth, that being strong is being able to experience things that sadden or madden us and not permit their presence to destroy what happiness or equanimity we have.

Pirkei Avot asks and answers: “Who is mighty? One who conquers his impulse.”

If our impulse is to be angry, vengeful, depressed or miserable, we might conclude that we have no control over these responses. We do. It’s not easy, but it is within our capability.

Without minimizing the challenges, neither should we dwell on them exclusively.

In the context of Jewish history, victory of a sort in our era comes from being physically safe, with the opportunity to live a contented, meaningful life.

As you hopefully gather as a community in prayer spaces and around holiday tables in the coming days, may you find a greater sense of ease in the balancing of the sweet and the sorrowful, and may you grant yourself and those you love the consent to live well, with hope for a truly good year.

Problematic work in exhibit

“Delible (poppy, watermelon, wheat, walnut, blackberry)” is on display at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria until Oct. 26, as part of the Architectures of Protection exhibition. (photo by Toni Hafkenscheid, courtesy Susan Hobbs Gallery)

Beth Stuart’s “Delible (poppy, watermelon, wheat, walnut, blackberry)” is part of the Architectures of Protection exhibition, which opened at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV) on May 24 and ends Oct. 26.

In each of the five “Delible” pieces, a black ledge has replicas of food items on top of it and a length of black mesh suspended below. Stuart used plaster, iron oxide pigment, dyed silk, steel and Sumi ink to create the works. The replicas are casts of halved walnuts, pizza crusts, poppy hulls, blackberries and watermelon seeds. According to the artist, each original mold was made from the source itself, except for the watermelon seeds, which were cast from clay originals.

On a wall leading to the five pieces, there is a several-square-foot textual display featuring more than 1,600 words, written entirely in capital letters, with the thoughts seeming to randomly jump from one topic to another; there are no paragraphs, but the words cover five columns. The text, an integral element of the overall artwork, was hand-stenciled by Stuart and relates to the physical pieces.

photo - Beth Stuart’s “Delible (poppy, watermelon, wheat, walnut, blackberry)” installation comprises a wall of text and five structures — Beth Stuart’s “Delible (poppy, watermelon, wheat, walnut, blackberry)” installation comprises a wall of text and five structures. *(photo by Mike Andrew McLean, courtesy Art Gallery of Greater Victoria)*

The text begins with mention of the Himalayan blackberry, an invasive species in British Columbia, and then moves to Luther Burbank, an American botanist, horticulturist and eugenicist, before discussing the Armenian Genocide (1915-16) and Canada’s residential schools.

In the middle portion of the textual display, Stuart describes what she sees as the plight of Gazans and the attitudes of certain Israelis.

“AS I WRITE, THERE HAS BEEN NO AID OF ANY KIND FOR ALMOST TWO MONTHS AND EVERY WATER DESALINATION PLANT HAS BEEN BOMBED,” Stuart writes. “IN EARLY 2024 THERE WAS A CLIP CIRCULATING FROM ISRAELI CHANNEL 14, OF A PUNDIT SAYING EVERY PALESTINIAN OVER THE AGE OF FOUR YEARS IS A POTENTIAL TERRORIST AND A NECESSARY TARGET OF WAR. SINCE THEN TWO KNESSET MEMBERS HAVE DECLARED PUBLICLY THAT EVEN INFANTS ARE TERRORISTS. THE DELIBLES BAGS ARE APPROXIMATELY THE SIZE OF A BAG OF FLOUR OF THE TYPE THAT SOMETIMES ARRIVES IN GAZA, AND ALSO COULD CONTAIN THE BODY OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHILD.”

Stuart then talks about tree-planting, which she apparently did in university, then writes: “THIS IS THE FOURTH VERSION OF THIS TEXT I HAVE WRITTEN OVER THE PAST 20 MONTHS. THIS WEEK THERE ARE MASSIVE WILDFIRES NEAR OCCUPIED JERUSALEM. THEY ARE BURNING IN AYALON CANADA PARK, A SEVEN SQUARE KILOMETER PARK LOCATED IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE. THERE HAD BEEN THREE PALESTINIAN VILLAGES ON THIS LAND IN 1948. AND APPROXIMATELY 10,000 PALESTINIANS WERE KILLED OR EXPELLED FROM THE AREA AND THE VILLAGES RAZED.”

She talks more about “THE ORGANIZATION THAT FUNDED THE PARK” without naming it and then raises the issue of the Canadian government’s involvement with Israel and, specifically, its military.

“BETWEEN OCTOBER 7TH 2023 AND THE FIRST WRITING OF THIS TEXT, MY GOVERNMENT HAD SENT 30 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF MILITARY SUPPORT TO ISRAEL,” she writes. “ON SEPTEMBER 10TH 2024 THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT CLAIMED THAT THEY WERE NO LONGER SENDING ANY ARMS TO ISRAEL. IN FACT, WHILE CONTRACTS FOR ARMS SALES ARE NOT BEING OFFERED, ONLY 12% OF EXISTING CONTRACTS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED, AND MANY PARTS, RAW MATERIALS AND MUNITIONS ARE BEING SOLD TO THE U.S. AND THEN SENT TO ISRAEL. CANADA ALSO BUYS ARMS AND SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY FROM ISRAEL.”

The text moves into Stuart’s comments on residential schools before she concludes with the sentence: “FOR THE SECOND SPRING SINCE OCTOBER 7, 2023 THE BLACKBERRY HEDGES ARE BLOOMING.”

To at least one member of the Victoria Jewish community, Stuart’s work is an example of “artfully coded antisemitism – all the more reprehensible for its coyness.”

“In itself, ‘Delibles’ are very beautiful, evocative works,” Maurice Yacowar, a professor emeritus (English and film studies) of the University of Calgary, wrote in a letter to the art gallery that was also sent to the Independent.

“What renders the work problematic is the full-wall text – in spectral grey – that accompanies the sculptures,” Yacowar said.

He said,“As a whole, the work contrasts the self-renewal of nature’s produce with humans’ murderousness. Unfortunately, the art is undermined by the artist’s ignorance and prejudice in its Palestinian references.”

He said Stuart misrepresents Israel and its media by choosing to reference a news outlet “that even in Israel is considered extremist.” And, he argues,“She omits the Oct. 7 context. A Hamas spokesman flatly stated, ‘There are no civilians in Israel’ – ie., only targets in war.”

Stuart’s exhibit does not include the word “Hamas.”

In a statement to the Independent, the AGGV said:

“The gallery is aware that some members of the community disagree with the subject matter of a current work of art on display. We are always interested to hear how the public, and our members, respond to our exhibitions. We also embrace learning, new ideas and critical perspectives.

“At the AGGV, we respect the artists and curators who work with us to create exceptional exhibitions. As an arts institution, our role is to amplify artists’ voices and create space for conversation and learning. We encourage an exchange of ideas that results in meaningful dialogue and understanding through art.”

The Architectures of Protection exhibition, in the synopsis posted by the AGGV, is supposed to reflect “on ideas and modes of protection and refuge – with regards to oneself, to community, knowledge, culture, identity and land. What are these spaces and practices? What is protection for some and not for others?

Together, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the current global social and political climate, the artworks in Architectures of Protection direct critical attention towards systems and structures that shape and impact everyday and sacred environments and encounters, alongside individual and collective relationships with the land.”

The exhibit also features the artwork of Dana Claxton, Jessica Karuhanga, Emilio Rojas and France Trépanier.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

VIFF’s mixed offerings

Franz stars newcomer Idan Weiss. (photo from lene Film Production)

As it does every year, the 2025 Vancouver International Film Festival, which runs Oct. 2-12, has offerings of particular interest to the Jewish community. Below are the synopses (less some of the hyperbole) from the festival’s website of the three films featuring Jewish content, as well as the three films about Israel, all of which are from Palestine and other countries – there are no films from Israel in this year’s festival. The Jewish Independent, which has been a media partner of the festival for more than 20 years, has chosen to sponsor Franz.

Franz

You don’t need to have read Kafka to know what “Kafkaesque” means – the idea that the world is a nightmare, a sick joke at your expense, continues to resonate a century after the writer died. Franz Kafka’s “uneasy dreams” have inspired filmmakers like Orson Welles, David Lynch, Michael Haneke, Terry Gilliam and Roman Polanski, to name a few, and now director Agnieszka Holland has delivered a biopic that’s Kafkaesque and then some.

Holland blends scenes from Kafka’s life as a German Jew in Austro-Hungarian Prague with dramatizations of his short stories and – at the film’s most surreal – documentary footage of Kafka’s present-day tourist economy (“Who will join me for a Kafka burger?”). Franz (2025) is densely layered but lively, starring newcomer Idan Weiss, whose tragicomic presence suggests a persecuted clown somewhere between Charlie Chaplin and Adrien Brodie.

Franz is in German and Czech with English subtitles, and runs 127 minutes. It screens Oct. 7, 8:45 p.m., at Vancouver Playhouse, and Oct. 11, 3:30 p.m., at Granville Island Stage. (18+)

Orphan

Orphan (2025) is set in communist Hungary in the late 1950s. Conceived during the war and brought up by his mother, Andor (Bojtorján Barabás) is convinced his father will return one day. Instead, another man emerges to stake his claim to both mother and child. Berend (Grégory Gadebois) is a butcher and a gentile and, even worse, a divorcee. Appalled, Andor is determined to save his mother from this brute.

The latest film from Son of Saul director László Nemes builds Andor’s world from the inside out, through the child’s troubled eyes. This personal vision grants us access to the wider history unfolding on the edge of the frame, which Andor barely comprehends: the fallout from the Holocaust, the crushing grip of the communist state.

Orphan is in Hungarian with English subtitles, and runs 132 minutes. It screens Oct. 2, 8:45 p.m., at Fifth Avenue Cinema (19+) and Oct. 4, 6:30 p.m., at International Village 9. (18+)

Cover-Up

Cover-Up (2025) pulls viewers into the uncompromising ethos of journalist Seymour Hersh. From exposing the My Lai massacre to unraveling CIA abuses and Abu Ghraib atrocities, Hersh has spent decades dragging concealed histories into the light – often at great personal and political cost. In this portrait, Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) and Emmy-winning Frontline producer Mark Obenhaus trace Hersh’s process. “I barely trust you guys,” Hersh quips, establishing a candid and often thorny dynamic between subject and directors.

Cover-Up is a meditation on source protection, moral clarity and the imperative to report when it’s needed most. Its story bridges past and present: Hersh is still reporting, now turning his gaze toward Gaza.

Cover-Up has a content warning for graphic violence. It screens at Fifth Avenue Oct. 11, 5:45 p.m. (19+), and at International Village 10 on Oct. 12, 3:45 p.m. (18+)

Divine Intervention

Palestinian Elia Suleiman is at the height of his powers with this series of deadpan, interconnected, absurdist vignettes about Palestinian life on either side of an Israeli military checkpoint. Mutely following the travails of two lovers – one who lives in Nazareth, the other in Ramallah – as they navigate the wall between them, Divine Intervention (2002) is surreal, satirical and biting in its political criticism. It’s both sad in its vision of the world but also warm in its humour.

All but forgotten from the mainstream filmgoing consciousness, Jacques Tati’s innovations with form and tone have been repurposed by filmmakers as varied as Roy Andersson, Aki Kaurismäki, Ulrich Seidl and, perhaps most of all, Wes Anderson. But Suleiman’s method of feeding the Tati-esque through the prism of Palestinian experience creates something completely new that walks a line between melancholy and absurdity. And what an amazing soundtrack!

Divine Intervention is in English, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles, and runs 92 minutes. It screens Oct. 6, 8:45 p.m., at VIFF Cinema, and Oct. 12, 3:45 p.m., at the Cinematheque. (18+)

Palestine 36

Set during the 1936 Palestinian uprising against British colonial rule, this historical drama follows an ensemble of characters. Yusuf (Karim Daoud Anaya), a peasant, straddles two worlds – the city of Jerusalem and his farming village. Denied fair wages, a Jaffa port dockworker (Saled Bakri) joins the rebel movement. Elsewhere, a widowed mother (Yafa Bakri) stashes away an heirloom gun in hopes of defending her family from the British military’s raids.

Shot on location and interspersed with archival footage, the film boasts an international cast, including Hiam Abbas, Jeremy Irons and Liam Cunningham. Palestine 36 (2025) is the third feature from writer-director Annemarie Jacir to be selected as the Palestinian entry for best international feature at the Academy Awards.

Palestine 36 is in Arabic and English with English subtitles, and has a running time of 118 minutes. The film is at Fifth Avenue Oct. 9, 9 p.m., and Oct. 10, 11:45 a.m. (19+)

With Hasan in Gaza

Three unearthed MiniDV tapes from 2001 offer a time capsule of life in Gaza before devastation. What begins as a search for a former prison mate leads to a road trip from the north to the south of Gaza, accompanied by Hasan, a local guide whose fate remains unknown. As the camera moves through Gaza’s streets and landscapes, it captures fleeting moments of everyday life: vendors, schoolchildren, shopkeepers, relatives and strangers, all going about their days in a place that, today, has been forever altered.

In With Hasan in Gaza (2025), Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari transforms forgotten footage into a time capsule. What was once ordinary is now precious, even endangered. “It is a film about the catastrophe and the poetry that resists,” Aljafari writes.

With Hasan in Gaza is in Arabic with English subtitles, and runs 106 minutes. It screens Oct. 10, 3:30 p.m., at VIFF Cinema and Oct. 12, 6:30 p.m., at International Village 8. (18+)

– from viff.org

Writers fest starts soon

he 38th annual Vancouver Writers Festival takes place on Granville Island Oct. 20-26. Among the 130-plus local and international authors at 87 events are several members of the Jewish community. A glance through the lineup finds, in order of appearance, Rachel Hartman, Marsha Lederman, Guy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Ashenburg, Jill Yonit Goldberg, Eve Lazarus, Sam Wiebe and Jerry Wasserman. There are, no doubt, others.

Hartman, author of the bestseller Seraphina, comes to the festival with Among Ghosts, which has a found-family theme set in a vibrant fantasy world. She participates with other writers in Paranormal Activity: Ghost Stories for YA (grades 8-12) on Oct. 21, 1 p.m., at Granville Island Stage ($12).

Lederman talks with Linden MacIntyre about his latest work of nonfiction, An Accidental Villain, on Oct. 21, 6 p.m., at the NEST ($27), and she is in conversation with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Oct. 22, 5:30 p.m., at the Revue Stage ($27), about her own new book, October 7th: Searching for the Humanitarian Middle. October 7th is a collection of Lederman’s columns for the Globe and Mail, which have been a real-time archive capturing a period of deep division and trauma.

Kay, the internationally bestselling author of Tigana, All the Seas of the World and A Brightness Long Ago, talks about his latest fantasy novel, Written on the Dark, which is set in a magical version of medieval France, replete with ambitious royals, assassins and invading armies. He also talks about his overall body of work with moderator Robert J. Wiersema on Oct. 24, 8 p.m., at the Revue Stage ($27).

Ashenburg, author of Margaret’s New Look, published her first fiction book at the age of 72. She will join two other writers in the session called Wisdom, Age & Beauty, which takes place Oct. 25, 5 p.m., at Waterfront Theatre ($27). She also participates with several other writers in the Afternoon Tea on Oct. 26, 3:30 p.m., at Performance Works ($50), which includes high tea delicacies, including a signature glass of sherry.

The Soundtrack of Life panel, on Oct. 25, 8 p.m., at the Revue Stage ($27), includes Jill Yonit Goldberg with her book After We Drowned, a haunting coming-of-age story with a fierce feminist subplot set in 1984 to the music of Tina Turner, Madonna and Stevie Nicks.

On Oct. 26, 10:30 a.m., at Performance Works ($40), Lazarus joins six other authors of nonfiction in an event described as TED Talk meets café social, with a morning snack included. Lazarus explores a forgotten tragedy in Beneath Dark Waters, an account of the 1914 sinking of the Empress of Ireland.

The Crime Scene on Oct. 26, 7 p.m., at Waterfront Theatre ($27) is moderated by Jerry Wasserman and the authors featured include Sam Wiebe, whose The Last Exile finds PI Dave Wakeland at the centre of gang warfare on the streets of Vancouver.

In addition to Lederman’s October 7th, there are a couple of other Israel-related books included in the program, the first directly, the second only tangentially.

Palestinian-Canadian author Saeed Teebi is one of the writers joining Blood in the Pen: Stories, Crises, Repair and the Writer on Oct. 21, 8:30 p.m., at Granville Island Stage ($27), and he will be in conversation with Adel Iskandar on Oct. 22, 8:30 p.m., at Waterfront Theatre ($27). Teebi is also one of the writers featured in A Doctor, a Lawyer and a Journalist Walk into a Literary Festival, on Oct. 23, 8:30 p.m., at Waterfront Theatre ($27). He describes his memoir You Will Not Kill Our Imagination as exploring “what it means to be a Palestinian in this moment, the effects of the genocide on Palestinian art and imagination, and that to even claim a belonging to the land from a country thousands of miles away is an act of subversion.”

Queer Stories on the Map on Oct. 23, 8 p.m., at Revue Stage ($27) includes Ziyad Saadi, whose reimagining of Mrs. Dalloway, Three Parties, follows a Palestinian refugee who plans to come out to his entire family at his birthday dinner party.

For more information about festival events and to purchase tickets, visit writersfest.bc.ca.

– from Vancouver Writers Festival program

Genocide claims examined

The authors of Debunking the Genocide Allegations: A Reexamination of the Israel-Hamas War from October 7, 2023 to June 1, 2025 sought to do two things in their research: assess the factual basis of war crime and genocide allegations, and examine how information is gathered and transmitted in conflict zones. Among the claims examined is whether enough aid was getting into Gaza from Israel. (IDF Spokesperson via besacenter.org)

A new study conducted by a team of researchers critically examines accusations that Israel committed crimes against humanity, such as planned starvation, deliberate massacres and even “genocide,” during the Israel-Gaza War, between Oct. 7, 2023, and June 1, 2025. Using a blend of quantitative-statistical analysis, forensic documentation, primary sources and comparative military history, the study aims to distinguish propaganda from fact and highlight systemic failures in major international information bodies. Its authors emphasize that their objective is not legal or moral exoneration, but a factual analysis of the methodologies and evidence behind genocide claims.

Research for the 311-page study – Debunking the Genocide Allegations: A Reexamination of the Israel-Hamas War from October 7, 2023 to June 1, 2025 – was led by Prof. Danny Orbach, a military historian from the department of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Boxman, an expert in quantitative research; Dr. Yagil Henkin, a military historian at the Shalem Centre and the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security; and attorney Jonathan Braverman, a member of the Israeli bar and a lawyer for International Humanitarian Law. It is published by the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in collaboration with the aforementioned institutions.

The researchers sought to do two things: assess the factual basis of war crime and genocide allegations, and examine how information is gathered and transmitted in conflict zones, particularly in regions ruled by oppressive regimes and/or populated by closed societies with a strong “resistance” ethos. Special emphasis was placed on cross-referencing Israeli, Palestinian and international sources, while actively avoiding ideological bias and preconceived assumptions. The authors highlight that subordinating factual analysis to advocacy narratives can undermine public policy and distort ethical and legal discourse.

The study’s key findings are:

No basis for starvation claims prior to March 2025

• More food entered Gaza during the war than before Oct. 7, 2023. The claim that 500 aid trucks are required daily stems from a misrepresentation by United Nations bodies, one that was left unchallenged and unchecked. Prewar UN records cite an average of 73 food trucks per day in 2022. During the fighting (until Jan. 17, 2025), the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) recorded an average of 101 food trucks daily whereas retroactively corrected but still incomplete UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) data indicated 83 food trucks per day. Food that entered the Gaza Strip during the ceasefire should have sufficed until late July 2025, according to World Food Programme projections, even absent any aid following the resumption in the fighting. It is hard to explain this gap without considering extensive looting by Hamas, for which the study’s authors provide ample evidence.

• Although UNRWA initially reported a 70% drop in aid after May 2024 and the Rafah operation, it later retroactively corrected these reports. This correction was effectively unannounced and hence the supposed aid drop continues to be cited broadly.

• Contrary to the claim that 44% of Gaza’s food comes from local agriculture, the study finds this number was baseless even before the Hamas takeover. It is likely that, even in 2005, Gazan agriculture accounted for no more than 12% of Gazan caloric consumption and the number is almost certainly much lower today. The study further finds that even if every ton of crops produced in Gaza in 2011 (the last year in which an analysis was published) was substituted, the number of trucks entering Gaza per capita throughout the war would still be 58% higher per capita than it was in 2011.

• Notwithstanding the above, the authors strongly criticize the decision to stop aid to Gaza between March and May 2025.

No evidence of a systematic civilian targeting policy

While isolated incidents may point to negligence or localized misconduct and suspicion of individual war crimes, no evidence was found of overarching directives aimed at harming civilians. The authors did, however, try to map the patterns of Israel Defence Forces misconduct and possible crimes, and examine which crimes were probably more prevalent and which ones were relatively absent from this conflict.

Data manipulation by Hamas

The Gaza Health Ministry, per Hamas directives, categorizes all deaths as civilian. This manipulation has significantly skewed international reporting. Indications have been found for the inclusion of age-related natural deaths, particularly of women, in the ministry of health’s lists and exclusion of combat-aged men.

IDF’s exceptional precautionary measures

The IDF has implemented unprecedented steps, such as early warnings, precision targeting and mission aborts to avoid civilian harm. These actions, while costly to the IDF, have reduced non-combatant casualties.

Evacuation zones were significantly safer

According to partial data, less than 4% of deaths occurred in Mawasi and the central camps – areas marked as evacuation zones by the IDF – undermining claims of deliberate attacks on safe areas. The failure of the UN to cooperate with the establishment of such zones resulted in considerable loss of civilian life.

Systematic failures in UN and NGO reporting

Numerous claims were based on circular citation, opaque assessments and unannounced retroactive corrections. For instance, UNRWA’s truck count discrepancies were corrected without sufficient publicity. Updated UN data confirms Israel’s consistent assertion of increased aid after May 2024.

A precedent for this kind of flawed reporting can be found in the aftermath of the 2009 Gaza War. Former UN jurist Richard Goldstone, who led the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, later expressed regret over some of the report’s conclusions. In a 2011 Washington Post op-ed, he wrote: “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”

The suffering of civilians in Gaza is both tragic and undeniable. However, this research calls on the international community to ensure that humanitarian discourse remains anchored in verifiable facts. Without accurate data, advocacy loses credibility – and future atrocities may be overlooked due to inflated or politicized claims.

While the suffering of civilians in Gaza is indisputable, the authors caution against humanitarian advocacy narratives built on unverified or manipulated data. Their study does not aim to exonerate or diminish the suffering experienced, but rather to protect the integrity of academic discourse and, by implication, humanitarian and public discourse. When advocacy eclipses accuracy, policy decisions become distorted and genuine accountability is compromised, the authors warn. They urge the international community to uphold higher evidentiary standards in conflict reporting – regardless of the actors involved.

Broader methodological analysis

This study is not unique to the Israel-Gaza conflict. Similar patterns of humanitarian data distortion were identified in Iraq under sanctions, raising broader questions about the methodologies employed in closed or authoritarian environments.

The study also examined other conflict zones, such as Iraq in the 1990s. During that period, it was widely claimed – based on Iraqi government data and a UN Food and Agriculture Organization survey – that hundreds of thousands of children died due to sanctions. The survey reported a rise in infant mortality from 40.7 to 198.2 per 1,000 children. These findings were later revealed to be fabricated by Iraqi authorities. Even when the researcher who conducted the survey acknowledged being misled, the correction failed to impact the wider humanitarian discourse.

Likewise, inflated assessments of violent and nonviolent Iraqi deaths during the Iraq War were widely disseminated and accepted during the conflict – only being laid to rest definitively in 2023.

“Humanitarian bias”

The authors introduce the term “humanitarian bias” to describe a tendency among aid organizations to accept alarming claims from stakeholders in order to mobilize urgent action. In this context, factual corrections are often met with hostility or ignored altogether – undermining accuracy in humanitarian reporting. Even when myths are disproven, corrections are rarely incorporated into public or academic understanding.

The study proposes a new methodological framework for analyzing violent conflicts – one that prioritizes cross-referencing multiple sources, systematic scrutiny and transparency, and resistance to political and media-driven narratives.

The authors emphasize that credible allegations of war crimes demand serious legal and ethical investigation – not only due to their consequences but also in adherence to international law, Israeli law and moral standards.

Orbach warns: “If every severe urban war were defined as genocide, it would ultimately dilute the legal and moral power of the term. ‘Genocide’ would become an empty political slogan, rather than a tool to prevent atrocities.”

This study builds on that call for greater evidentiary caution, particularly in war zones governed by authoritarian regimes.

Debunking the Genocide Allegations can be downloaded at besacenter.org. Following the publication of the Hebrew edition on July 4, 2025, there was extensive feedback from readers, critics, experts and commentators. In some cases, there was valid criticism that warranted corrections and revisions. Consequently, the English edition is not a mere translation of the Hebrew version but a thoroughly revised, corrected and updated work.

– Courtesy Hebrew University of Jerusalem