The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Public Speaking Contest has been happening annually in Vancouver since 1989 and is open to students in grades 4 to 7. The registration deadline for this year’s event – which takes place March 7,…
Natalie Portman, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (photos from Variety) On Feb. 25, 1-5:30 p.m., the 58th annual Variety Show of Hearts Telethon will be broadcast on Global BC. The fundraising event will feature celebrity guests, including appearances by Natalie…
Raquel Benzacar Savatti, chief executive officer of Israel Bonds Canada. (photo from Israel Bonds Canada) The phones at Israel Bonds Canada have been ringing off the hook since Oct. 7, according to Raquel Benzacar Savatti, chief executive officer of the…
Segregated fund products can offer greater peace of mind for those looking to participate in the market but wanting the reassurance of insurance guarantees to help them sleep better at night. (photo from pxhere.com) Looking for an investment option that…
ראש ממשלת קנדה, ג’סטין טרודו, נועד עם מפקד משטרת טורונטו על רקע העליה החדה במספר האירועים האנטישמיים בקנדה. טרודו ציין כי הוא דן עם מפקד משטרה להבטיח את שלומם של היהודים בעיר ולפעול בכל דרך נדרשת כדי להתמודד עם השנאה…
Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver chief executive officer Ezra Shanken addresses those who gathered at the Vancouver Art Gallery Jan. 14. (photo by Pat Johnson) Vancouverites gathered Jan. 14 to mark the 100th day since the Oct. 7 terror attacks…
“If there is one thing we learn during difficult times, it’s that community plays a crucial role, fostering unity, resilience and offering emotional support,” writes Dana Camil Hewitt, director of the annual Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival, in her…
This week’s suggestion of a time-limited ceasefire that would free remaining hostages in Gaza and return the bodies of the dead to their families seems, in the context of a bleak historical moment, encouraging. The optics of bartering for the…
Screenshot of Nelson City Council’s Oct. 22, 2023, meeting. Left to right, Topaz Zafrir, Yael Finer and Judy Banfield of the Kootenay Jewish Community Association present their concerns about the rise in anti-Israel and antisemitic events to the council. Last…
The Antisemitism and Israel Crisis Response Team’s hands-on guide can be found at jewishvancouver.com Since Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver launched the Antisemitism and Israel Crisis Response Team (AICRT) in November 2023, the team has been dedicated to helping Jewish…
At the weekly rally Jan. 14, Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, called on attendees to take action around the latest flashpoint of anti-Israel activism locally. Earlier in the week, the PuSh International Performing…
Left to right: Michael Sachs, director of JNF Pacific Region, with Mission Mayor Paul Horn and city councilor Mark Davies, councilor Danny Plecas, Mission resident Eitan Israelov, councilor Angel Elias, councilor Carol Hamilton (back) and councilor Jag Gill. (photo from…
Area of Gaza controlled by the Israeli Defence Forces on Jan. 11, 2024. While the war in the Gaza Strip continues between Hamas guerillas and the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in the labyrinth of tunnels burrowed beneath Khan Yunis and…
As a 20-something in the mid-1990s, I taught high school English. Part of my course load was a collaborative Grade 10 World Civilizations course that I co-taught with a social studies teacher. One day, I flippantly advertised our next assignment…
On the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, I was in Vancouver, celebrating the holiday of Simchat Torah with my family. We woke up, my father went to synagogue, and I lay on the couch sipping coffee and reading a book.…
Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone spoke in a Zoom webinar hosted by Victoria’s Kolot Mayim Reform Temple on Jan. 14. (PR photo) Rabbi Dr. Tirzah Firestone unraveled intergenerational trauma, and offered solutions to help remedy it, in a Zoom webinar hosted…
Left to right at Chabad of Vancouver Island’s 20th anniversary gala last November: Rabbi Meir Kaplan; Iddo Moed, Israel’s ambassador to Canada; Dr. Elior Kinarthy and Leah Kinarthy, founders of Kineret Tamim Academy of Victoria; and Rebbetzin Chani Kaplan. (photo…
Hillel BC’s Holocaust Education Week takes place on campus at the University of British Columbia Jan. 29-Feb. 2. Every day of that week, there will be something going on to attend and learn from, including the exhibit from Yad Vashem…
The first session in the new JQT-JFS mental health series will be facilitated by Alycia Fridkin, left, and supported by Anat Kelerstein. Listen & Be Heard takes place Feb. 11, 1 p.m., at Or Shalom. “JQT and JFS are working…
Ben Schwartz and Jessica Kirson are on the lineup of this year’s Just for Laughs Vancouver. Just for Laughs Vancouver, which runs Feb. 15-24 at various venues in the city, features several members of the Jewish community. All three of…
For all intents and purposes, it shouldn’t work, but Steven Mayoff’s The Island Gospel According to Samson Grief is a grand work of, let’s say, magical fiction that uses humour in large measure to elicit some very serious thoughts about…
The immigrant experience is rarely if ever easy. It is hard to imagine sending a 13-year-old girl from Russia to the United States on her own, but, in 1913, the year that Pearl (“Polly”) Adler came through Ellis Island, “the…
It would be fun to be a fly on the wall at Vancouver Talmud Torah on Feb. 14 as Richard Ho reads from his book Two New Years, illustrated by Lynn Scurfield, and discusses it with the children. Being that…
Lemon loaf using a recipe by Jo-Anna Rooney, creator of A Pretty Life in the Suburbs. (photo from aprettylifeinthesuburbs.com) So, a husband walks into Costco … with no shopping list. And what happens? He comes out with $200 worth of…
Left to right: Rabbis Susan Tendler, Hannah Dresner, Philip Bregman, Carey Brown, Andrew Rosenblatt, Jonathan Infeld, Philip Gibbs and Dan Moskovitz in Israel last month. (photo from facebook.com/jewishvancouver) Eight Vancouver-area rabbis recently visited Israel where, among many other things, they…
“Constellation” by Rosamunde Bordo. (photo by Sol Hashemi) Every true artist at the start of their career undergoes a period of intense search: for their voices, for their themes, for their artistic expressions. Rosamunde Bordo is at that exciting stage…
For Jews around the world, 2023 was among the most traumatizing years in recent memory. The advent of a new secular year, the turning of the calendar page to 2024, presents a figurative new beginning, some optimism and hope for…
Christopher Morris as Jacob in The Runner, which is at Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre Jan. 24-26. (photo by Dylan Hewlett) Since this article was published, PuSh has canceled the production. For the statement, click here. Among the offerings…
Christopher Morris as Jacob in The Runner. (photo by Dylan Hewlett) Since this article was published, PuSh has canceled the production. For the statement, click here. The Belfry Theatre in Victoria has removed Christopher Morris’s play The Runner from its 2024…
The Jewish Independent received the following statements regarding the play The Runner after the Belfry Theatre in Victoria canceled the scheduled March performances of the play, which is set to run as part of the PuSh Festival in Vancouver Jan.…
