If the occupation is going to end with the help of North American Jews, it will be owing to the growing force of millennials who stand up not only for their own rights, but the rights of others.
One of these individuals has taken to social media via a series of parody videos to get her message across. As Avi Does the Holy Land prepares to launch its second video-log season, I’ve been thinking about its creator, Calgary-raised Aviva Zimmerman. When I was first alerted to “Avi’s” Facebook page, I admit I was fooled. “Arab workers literally BUILDING the Tel Aviv boardwalk. And they call us a racist country?!! #TelAviv #coexistence,” she wrote. I nearly shot back in anger to the mutual friend who had acquainted us, before taking a closer look. Satire is supposed to cut close to the bone, and that’s certainly what Avi Does the Holy Land does.
In the v-log’s first season, “Avi,” a sexed-up Canadian Jew who “went on a Birthright trip and fell in love with Israel,” skewers Israeli treatment of liberal Zionist critics, Israel’s shoddy treatment of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers, Tel Aviv’s party scene as counterterrorism policy and Israeli LGBTQ policy as used in the government’s PR campaigns. A successful Indiegogo campaign for season 2 has now expanded to raising funds for a live show.
“Avi” is one type of millennial Jew – though, of course, a larger-than-life version. The differences in opinion and action among millennials regarding Israel, however, are real, ranging from those trying to burnish Israel’s image abroad via an uncritical look at the country to those trying to tarnish every image of the country. But there is a healthy cadre of young Jews deploying a sense of solidarity with their own, as well as with the oppressed.
Some young Jews are gravitating to Open Hillel, to encourage a more pluralistic discourse about Israel on North American campuses, or to the Centre for Jewish Nonviolence, which takes young Jews to the West Bank for projects in solidarity with Palestinians resisting settler encroachment. At the University of British Columbia, there’s the Progressive Jewish Alliance, which bills itself as “a group of progressive Jews committed to creating a new, vibrant, independent Jewish space.”
And there’s IfNotNow, whose anti-occupation mission has expanded into resisting the many moves of Trump’s administration. IfNotNow declares on its website, “Just as Moses was commanded to return to Egypt and fight for the liberation of his people, we, too, feel called to take responsibility for the future of our community. We know the liberation of our Jewish community is bound up in the liberation of all people, particularly those in Israel and Palestine.” Recently, IfNotNow created a hashtag called #ResistAIPAC. “When the Trump Administration Goes to AIPAC, the Jewish resistance will be there to meet them,” the site says.
With the message of Passover soon upon us again, we might best consider how to raise children whose connection to Israel can be transformed into one pushing for rights and freedom for all.
Mira Sucharovis an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is a columnist for Canadian Jewish News and contributes to Haaretz and the Jewish Daily Forward, among other publications.
Writing Lives is a two-semester project at Langara College, coordinated by instructor Dr. Rachel Mines, in which second-year students are connected with local Holocaust survivors to interview them and write memoirs of their lives before, during and after the Holocaust. The project is a partnership between Langara, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Azrieli Foundation. In the first semester, students learned about the Holocaust through reading literary and historical texts, and wrote a research paper on prewar European Jewish communities using the resources of the VHEC and Waldman libraries. This semester, students studied practical strategies for interviewing survivors and have conducted and transcribed their interviews. They are now in the process of writing the memoirs, which, when complete, will be presented to interviewees at a closing ceremony to be held at Langara later this spring. As part of their course work, students are keeping journals of their personal reflections on their experiences as Writing Lives participants. A recent journal entry was on the theme of multicultural relationships, and here are excerpts from three student journals.
One of my older relatives knew how to count in Japanese. She was not Japanese. My family is predominantly of Filipino descent. She only learned how to count in Japanese because she was forced to learn as a child, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. I learned this pretty late in her life.
I wanted to ask my relative questions, and I assumed I would get the chance at some point, but I was never sure if it was appropriate to bring it up. Two or three years after I learned that she could count in Japanese, she passed away. I never got to ask my questions.
When I decided to take part in the Writing Lives project, I was thinking of my relative. I have learned that having unanswered questions about someone you care for can lead to painful regret. Because of my own family’s unknown history during the Second World War, I wanted to help another family learn theirs.
– Jonathan Pineda
“Some”
Some feel sad when they see pain,
Some feel fascinated when they see pain.
Some feel broken
Once they see a broken heart.
Some feel fire
And mock that broken heart.
Some reach out a hand
Only to say “got you man.”
Some reach out a hand
Only to say “let me help you man.”
Some are inwards
Some are outwards.
Some love to inflict pain.
Some love to inflict love.
Some grab a gun.
Some grab a seed.
Some ignite a fire.
Some extinguish the fire.
There are always two sides to a story,
Whether good or bad it has a history.
Where do these people come from?
I used to ask.
They come from us,
They used to answer back.
Now I stand with a shattered heart.
Now I stand with a broken back.
Seeing is something.
Hearing is intriguing,
Both are fascinating,
The hearts are something.
– Mojtaba Arvin
I have listened to survivors tell their stories a few times before. Two survivors visited my school when I was in high school, and we had a couple of survivors come to our Writing Lives class last semester. Those were really the only encounters I had with the stories of Holocaust survivors. My family is not Jewish, and were not persecuted during the Holocaust.
My paternal grandfather and his father emigrated from southern Russia in 1925 to
escape the persecution and violence they were facing because they were Mennonites, but we have no personal family experience of the Holocaust or anything that the Jewish people endured. Because I could not bring my own perspective to this course, I am lucky that I had an amazing partner who was able to bring insight into many things because of her Jewish background. Overall, this project has been really incredible. My two partners are so supportive, and I have had the most amazing experience interviewing alongside them and writing the draft memoir with them. This is a project that I will remember my entire life.
David Coskun dances as Seemi Ghazi speaks. (photo by Matthew Gindin)
On March 9, Congregation Or Shalom, in collaboration with the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, hosted United in Compassion, an interfaith solidarity event featuring 15 different religious leaders from diverse communities of faith.
The packed synagogue was addressed by faith leaders in clerical collars, kippot, dervish dress, imam robes and even a Zen rakusu (ceremonial garment worn around the neck). During the hour-long devotional service, each leader offered brief words and contemplations on interfaith harmony and peace.
“God created a universe filled with diversity. Every human is free to choose their own beliefs. There is no compulsion in religion,” said Imam Mohammad Shujaath Ali, a Sunni Muslim of Masjid-Ul Haqq mosque, quoting the Quran. “For society to flourish,” he said, “we need these three qualities: compassion for others, collaboration among all, and toleration of views we disagree with. All creatures are God’s family, and God loves those who treat his family well.”
The imam was followed by David Coskun and Seemi Ghazi of the Rifa’i Marufi Sufi order. Coskun, dressed in a long, white, flowing robe and tall hat, performed a hypnotizing, meditative dervish twirl, while Ghazi spoke. “The path of the Sufi, it is all about tawhid (unity),” she explained. “Because of knowing the oneness of all things, we are unafraid to turn in all directions.”
Ghazi sang a haunting rendition of the Sufi song “I Desire Nothing But You,” commenting, “This is a love song to my brothers and sisters here in this synagogue and down south, that you flourish and are safe and protected.”
Sheikh Murtaza Bachoo of the Shia Muslim Community of British Columbia spoke about ar-rahma, compassion in Arabic, echoing the word for compassion in Hebrew, rachamim. “Compassion,” he said, “is the attribute of God we need to manifest in these times of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and xenophobia. God’s compassion is boundless and overflowing, and knows no boundaries among creatures.”
Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, former spiritual leader of Or Shalom and current director of Inter-Religious Studies at Vancouver School of Theology, chanted verses from Genesis describing the creation of human beings in the divine image. She cited a midrash explaining that, when God says “in our image,” it is a reference to all of the different creatures, all of whom are spiritually interconnected. God blessed us, saying, “May you become diverse, may you take good care of each other, and of all creation.”
Bishop Reverend Dr. Gregory Mohr of the B.C. Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada read some of the official pronouncements of his order on the subject of “welcoming the stranger,” stressing that “the stranger” refers not only to newcomers to Canada but to “people already here, people maybe right next door, who we have overlooked and do not know.”
Some of the presenters offered brief devotions or meditations. Eric Kristensen of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) invited audience members to consider some leading thoughts from Quakers of the past into silent questioning.
Linda Mackintosh of the Sathya Sai community offered some thoughts of her guru on world peace, and Sandra Leigh of Give Peace a Chant Kirtan shared the musical chanting of the ancient Gayatri Mantra. Parvin Manshadi of the local spiritual assembly of the Baha’is of Vancouver recited a prayer for peace written by Baha’ullah, and Firdosh Mehta of the Zoroastrian Society of British Columbia shared teachings of the Zoroastrian scriptures on universal ethical values and peace. Michael Newton of the Mountain Rain Zen Community led the congregation in meditation on loving-kindness for ourselves and one another.
Bishop Melissa Skelton of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster read two poems by secular poets – Israeli Yehuda Amichai and Palestinian-American Naomi Shihab Nye – to express the need for Israelis and Palestinians to embrace one another.
“Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,” concluded the poem by Shihab Nye. “Only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread / only kindness that raises its head / from the crowd of the world to say / It is I you have been looking for / and then goes with you / everywhere / like a shadow or a friend.”
“In the parashah for this week,” said Rabbi Adam Stein of Congregation Beth Israel, “it says, ‘Build Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them.’ It does not say God will dwell in the sanctuary, but rather ‘among them.’ Tonight, I feel we have made a sanctuary for God and brought out the godliness that dwells among us.”
Or Shalom’s Rabbi Hannah Dresner closed the evening, leading the audience in a niggun, a sacred, wordless melody. She chose the Rav’s Niggun, composed by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, symbolizing the soul’s ascent to God, which is commonly sung at Lubavitcher weddings. “The melody brings out the solemnity and the beauty of when souls come together to truly connect with each other,” said Dresner. “This is what I feel we have done tonight.”
After the service, people met downstairs for food and drinks, having conversations together facilitated by a set of posted questions at each table on hope, inter-communal tolerance and peace.
Matthew Gindinis a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He writes regularly for the Forward and All That Is Interesting, and has been published in Religion Dispatches, Situate Magazine, Tikkun and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.
Grace Haan, JSA Peer Support trainer and supervisor, and Charles Liebovitch, JSA Peer Support coordinator, at the March 8 Food and Film Empowerment session. (photo by Binny Goldman)
The screening of Dough at the March 8 Food and Film session of the JSA Snider Foundation Empowerment Series continued the 2016-17 series’ theme of “Eating our way through Jewish history: Food, the doorway to our culture.”
Presented in partnership by the Jewish Seniors Alliance and the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, this latest session took place at the Unitarian Centre.
JSA president Ken Levitt greeted those gathered, taking the opportunity to introduce the alliance’s new motto – “Seniors, stronger together.” He emphasized the comma in the phrase, as it had been the topic of much discussion. He also credited me for the motto’s origin.
Gyda Chud, convener of this third session of the food-related Empowerment Series, said she was happy to see so many women in the audience as the event took place on International Women’s Day. Chud was wearing a scarf commemorating the World March of Women that took place in Montreal in 2000.
Michael Schwartz, JMABC coordinator of programs and development, noted how women were responsible for the existence of many organizations in the province. He stressed the importance of families contributing their own pieces of history to the museum to help future generations know the community’s origins and its past. And he asked audience members to become members of the museum, the benefits of which include receiving The Chronicle, which will keep them up-to-date on the museum’s events and research. One upcoming event, he said, is the Supper Club, which will take place at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, where the museum is housed. He concluded, “Without further a dough we hope you enjoy the movie Dough.”
Dough depicts the desperation that sometimes drives people together. Widowed and finding it hard to manage, Nat Dayan is desperate to save his London bake shop from closing – his grandfather had opened Dayan and Son 60 years ago. Customers are getting scarce, moving away or dying, and Nat’s son, a lawyer, is not interested in continuing the family business or helping it survive. In addition, competition is becoming a concern, with a shop next door that is selling baked goods, as well as groceries, and Nat’s apprentice has left to work for them.
Struggling to keep his kosher bakery open, Nat hires Ayyash, the teenage son of his cleaning lady. Ayyash has been selling drugs to help support his mother and himself and, when Ayyash accidentally drops cannabis into the challah dough mix, sales at Dayan and Son soar. Long lines appear and the closing of the shop seems far off.
A warm and special friendship develops between the Muslim boy and the Jewish baker, as Ayyash and his mother go to live at Nat’s when their home floods. A line in the film – Fiddler on the Roof meets West Side Story – helps describe what we see developing.
Tragedy is averted when a fire set by a competitor, instead of destroying the shop as well as Nat’s dream forever, serves to bring them closer together with mutual aspirations of continuing to exist. Dayan and Son survives with the “son” being Ayyash. The theme is an especially moving one – overcoming racial prejudice and bringing about closeness through the will for openness, acceptance and understanding, which can be found in unexpected places.
Chud thanked the delighted audience and invited all to enjoy baked goods – though not the cannabis-filled ones in the movie. The JSA staff worked hard to bring this event to the public, and Stan Shear was invaluable for all his technical work.
May we “break bread” together in the future. B’tayavon, b’shalom.
Binny Goldmanis a member of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver board.
Feinberg Graduate School-Weizmann Institute student Vered Shacham-Silverberg is coming to Vancouver with two of her peers. (photo from Weizmann Canada)
Cliché as it may sound, the future is almost here. On March 29, three PhD students from the Feinberg Graduate School at Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Rehovot will arrive in Vancouver. As part of a North American speaking tour called Scientists of Tomorrow, Vered Shacham-Silverberg, Adi Goldenzweig and Uri Weill will share not only details of their research but also their passion for the Weizmann Institute.
Rather than highlighting established scientists, this tour focuses on the experience of students who are performing the experiments being conducted in the labs.
“I believe that we, as students, enjoy many of the benefits the WIS provides and we can shed more light on those benefits,” said Shacham-Silverberg about why she believes she and her colleagues are well-suited to spread the word about what’s happening at the institute.
“We know firsthand how important it is to have a supporting and nurturing environment in research,” said Weill. “We can also bring stories from the working bench of live research that is happening now.”
WIS focuses exclusively on basic science research, the kind of investigation and experimentation that answers big questions. Its students are given the opportunity to have some of the brightest minds in the world as their supervisors and to use some of the best equipment in their research. WIS scientists are uncovering mysteries such as how the body works on the molecular level, and are translating their findings into ways to improve the world in which we live.
For example, Weill is creating a living catalogue of more than 6,000 yeast strains, so scientists can study how certain proteins function both as healthy organisms and diseased ones. His research in the department of molecular genetics could have far-reaching applications to finding cures for many illnesses.
Goldenzweig’s study of how proteins work with molecules has led to the discovery of a way to stabilize proteins that are usually structurally fragile when created in large quantities in a lab. The algorithm she has developed was recently successfully applied to a protein to combat malaria. This could be the key to developing an effective malaria vaccine.
And Shacham-Silverberg is working to discover how to improve the way the body gets rid of unproductive neurons in order to make room for the ones that will lead to best function. Her research will lead to discoveries in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, ALS and Parkinson’s.
Having these students visit Vancouver is a unique chance for the local Jewish community. The students will not only share some of their research but also their perspectives on being students in Israel.
“Although there are many women in the life science faculties,” said Goldenzweig, “unfortunately … their number decreases dramatically in established positions. But this keeps changing and we’ll hopefully be closer to 50% within a few decades.”
WIS is also interested in promoting benefits for Canadian students interested in science. Every year, two Canadian second-year undergraduate students receive a fully paid two-month supervised internship over the summer in a lab at the institute. Two years ago, one of the recipients of this scholarship was a University of British Columbia student whose experience was so positive, he was asked to return the following summer.
The other program is the Kupcinet-Getz International Summer School, a four-week internship with funding currently for six Canadian students. The program brings together 80 pre-university students interested in research in physics, math, chemistry and the life sciences from a total of 17 countries. Many of these students are experiencing Israel for the first time, and form lasting impressions of and connections to the country. As well, they are introduced to some of the possibilities for their future in science.
The immersive scientific experience is what makes these summer programs so exciting for students, and is part of what drew Shacham-Silverberg, Goldenzweig and Weill to study at WIS.
Weill said he chose the institute because of the access to cutting-edge research tools, which enable him to ask and find the answers to new questions. He added, “At the WIS, we have collaborations with labs from around the world. It makes for the perfect conditions for scientific discovery.”
On March 29, all are welcome to come and learn more about scientific innovation in Israel. At the end of the students’ presentations, a dessert reception will provide a chance to meet the speakers, as well as the Feinberg Graduate School academic secretary, Dr. Ami Shalit. The event is being held in a private home, so if you would like to attend or are looking for more information, contact the WIS Western Canadian development associate, Camille Wenner, at 604-260-8506 or [email protected].
Michelle Dodekis a freelance writer living in Vancouver.
Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia hosts a new supper club and a podcast. (photo from JMABC)
The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia is launching two new programs celebrating the diversity of food traditions represented within the B.C. Jewish community. From all corners of the world, from Baghdad to Bangalore, Kiev to Cape Town, Jewish families have made a new home here, bringing with them a wealth of culinary traditions.
One of the programs, the Chosen Food Supper Club, will give guests the opportunity to try these foods and hear the stories behind them. Why do Syrian Jews eat leeks, Swiss chard and gourds on Rosh Hashanah? What are boerewors and bobotie? How do you prepare the ultimate chicken tagine? These mysteries and more will be solved (deliciously) at the supper club, which will take place over 10 evenings between April and September. Each dining experience will run from 5-8 p.m. on a Sunday evening. Guests will enjoy a complete dinner while hearing firsthand stories from members of the Jewish community. All meals are kosher-style, not certified kosher. Tickets are $40 per person per meal, and are available at jewishmuseum.ca/programs/the-chosen-food; they must be purchased in advance.
The JMABC’s other new program is The Kitchen Stories podcast.
When we talk about food, we often end up talking about so much more. Family traditions, patterns of migration, gender dynamics, our relationship to the land. More than just a source of nourishment, food is a means of communication. And, in The Kitchen Stories series, listeners will hear what it was like to be a Jewish family living in far-flung places such as Eritrea, Chile and India. They will hear about the pressures to fit in or stand out, and how food was often a means of doing both. They will hear about the difficulty of maintaining family culinary traditions after migrating to a new country.
Podcast episodes will include community members developing new traditions or reviving long-forgotten ones, a Jew by choice who is learning to cook Jewish cuisine while not wanting to forget her own family’s food traditions, and families adopting new traditions to strengthen their relationship to the land.
The 12-episode series will be available for download on the iTunes store, Google Play, Soundcloud and at jewishmuseum.ca.
Avi Zimmerman chose for Talk17 a format that would allow a speaker to share their stories and views uninterrupted. (photo from Avi Zimmerman)
There is a range of strong opinions when it comes to Jewish community development east of the Green Line. Many around the world refer to these Israeli communities as “settlements.” But, to Avi Zimmerman of the Ariel Foundation and many Israelis, Ariel is something else.
Zimmerman was born and raised in West Orange, N.J. He made aliyah in 1995 and served in the Israel Defence Forces. After earning a degree in occupational therapy at the Hebrew University and then working in the field for four years, he and his wife decided to move to Ariel. There, Zimmerman started up an aliyah program.
“I was then asked to run the Ariel Foundation, which is what I’ve been doing for the last eight years or so,” Zimmerman told the Independent. “The foundation is not only for raising funds for city projects, it also provides accurate information about the city of Ariel to an international public.”
Ariel will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2018. Established on Aug. 17, 1978, with 40 families, it is now a city of close to 20,000 residents, plus an additional 15,000 students studying at Ariel University.
Geographically, Ariel is east of Tel Aviv, past the Green Line. Given what he – and others – see as misinformation being spread about Jewish communities east of the Green Line, Zimmerman decided to share stories from the people actually living in the area and how local people feel about various issues.
To do this, Zimmerman copied a format that has worked very well for TED Talks on YouTube, and created Talk17.
“Our lives are not lived through a conflict lens, fortunately, nor are those of our Palestinian neighbours,” he explained. “Those elements possibly do exist. It’s not that they don’t exist. But, they are not the primary theme of the way life is lived here.
“If people are interested in what goes on here, I think it’s only fair to the international community to provide more accurate information – not in terms of stats or facts, although that’s part of it … [but] beyond that, in terms of the voices from the region.
“The concept is, instead of talking about us in a well-intentioned yet disenfranchising way, just listen to us and hear what we have to say.”
Zimmerman chose the TED Talk format because it is not confrontational, as are debates and as can be panel discussions. The format allows a presenter to tell their whole story without interruption.
“We want to give authentic voices an opportunity and a fair platform, so there’s no debate, no winners and losers, no questions and answers,” he explained. “There’s no objective right or wrong to that. It’s authentic…. I think, ultimately, people are interested in the breadth and depth of the story.
“There are a lot of people who like to live in what they are calling echo chambers … in a world where everybody says what they like to hear, and they de-friend you if you say something else. A lot of the world is just moving in that direction. But they are not our target audience. If you already know everything, we can’t convince you otherwise. You’re going to turn off the video when you hear something you don’t like and that will be the end of it. My target audience is authentic people. They actually care and are willing to listen to new ideas they’re not familiar with.”
While an 18-minute video is hard for some people to get through, Zimmerman has been finding that, organically, Talk17 has been successful by having speakers who are on the frontlines of change-making. He gave as an example an exchange he’d had just before his interview with the Jewish Independent – an artist had happened upon Talk17’s Facebook page and was very excited about the concept. The artist runs an organization that uses the arts as a form of intercultural dialogue and they and Zimmerman are now working on plans for an arts-themed program, including an exhibition, at the end of April.
“It was just a preliminary conversation today,” said Zimmerman. “But, the thing is, these are the kinds of people who can help us open new doors.”
Since starting Talk17, 90% of the views, as it happens, have been from Arab-speaking, self-identified Palestinians, said Zimmerman. “We’re reaching across the aisle,” he said. “There’s something very real to this.”
While Palestinians, Israelis and Canadians are open to listening to talks in languages other than English, Zimmerman has found that Americans are less willing to do so. Because of this, he has decided to stick with English for Talk17.
“We automatically limit ourselves to English-speakers,” he said. “They don’t have to be native English-speakers. We try to get a fair balance of Arab and Palestinian voices among the Jewish and Israeli voices. We try to get a fair balance of women and men.
“We try to find people that have a unique story … so, it’s not just a personal story, but there’s a new concept to it. If you follow the first videos we’ve been launching, you’ll see each story is very different. We’re also trying to work on themes, events with themes.”
He said an upcoming theme will be diplomatic options for the future. “For 50 years,” he said, “we’ve heard about the two-state solution, we’ve heard about it since the 1947 Partition Plan. But, the point is, it’s not going anywhere. So, people are saying that, if not that, then what? So, we want to examine that.”
Zimmerman hopes that, by the end of the process, he will have been able to create a video archive that people can access to deepen and broaden the conversation about the region, so they can realize there is more to the story than they thought from just reading a short article or hearing a news clip.
Zimmerman also hopes that, in the future, visitors to Israel will be more willing to venture out of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and will come visit Ariel to experience firsthand the beauty of the region and its people.
“We all need to remember that, regardless of the terms of the deal that one day will hopefully be reached between Israel and the Palestinians, and regardless of where the lines will be drawn, Jews and Arabs will be neighbours forever,” said Zimmerman. “With that in mind, we need to figure out how to work with them directly, and we’d appreciate it if the world would allow us to do so, by appreciating the dynamics between us … by having this window into our interactions.
“However, the objective of Talk17 is not for me to have a better relationship with my Palestinian neighbour. That’s an added value … something we do anyway. We don’t need Talk17 for me to meet with my friend on Wednesday. We need Talk17 for the relationship between the Israelis and the international community, and the Palestinians and the international community.”
The replica of the Ma’agan Michael ship took its first voyage on March 17, near where the original vessel was discovered in 1985 by Ami Eshel, a member of Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, some 70 metres from the kibbutz. Organized by the University of Haifa and the Israel Antiquities Authority, the replica has been built over the past two years, using the same materials and methods as 2,500 years ago. The ship was removed from the water in 1988, and is on display at the university’s Hecht Museum. Most of it had been covered in sand, so the keel, numerous wooden plates, 14 crossbars and the base of the mast were all preserved, offering researchers rare insight into the method used to construct the ship. In addition, a carpenter’s toolbox was found, which sparked the dream of building a replica using the same methods as the original shipwrights. After two year’s work, the project was completed and the replica was taken to Israel Shipyards and then to Kishon Harbour. Prof. Yaacov Kahanov, the leading spirit behind the project, passed away just before the work was finished. (Edgar Asher)
פלילים כמו כמו בסרטים 1: שוטר שנקרא לאירוע פלילי באונטריו רקד מול המצלמה
בדרך כלל שוטרים לא גורמים לאזרחים להרגיש בנוח והם מעדיפים להתרחק מהם עד כמה שאפשר. בוודאי שאף אחד לא מצפה שלובשי המדים המפחידים ירקדו ככה סתם ברחובות. אך מתברר שמה שקורה בדרך כלל רק בסרטים, קרה באחד הרחובות הסמוכים לקמפוס של המכון הטכנולוגי של אונטריו, במרכז העיר אושווה.
המשטרה הוזעקה על ידי אחד מהתושבים המקומיים שדיווח על מריבה אלימה מרובת משתתפים באחד הרחובות. השוטר ששמו ג’רוד סין, נהג במהירות למקום בניידת שלו מלווה כרגיל במקרים שכאלה, עם תאורה מהבהבת וסירנה. הוא החנה את הרכב בצד רחוב וכשיצא ממנו במהירות הבחין בבחור צעיר שזז בצורה מוזרה, מתחת לתאורת הרחוב, ומסביבו מתגודדים מספר גדול של צעירים סקרנים. לאחר כמה שניות של אבחנה קלט סין שלא מדובר בכלל באירוע אלים, אלא שהצעיר פשוט רוקד בסגנון היפ פופ וחבריו עומדים סביבו ומסתכלים, ואחד מהם אף מצלם אותו במצלמת וידאו.
סין שלמד לרקוד בתקופה כשהוא היה סטודנט, לא התבלבל לרגע והצטרף אל הצעיר ורקד עימו, אל מול הצעירים הנדהמים שליוו אותו במחיאות כפיים סוערות. לאחר שסיימו לרקוד והצעיר התחבק עם השוטר והודה לו, הוא הסביר את הרקע למעשיו: “אני סטודנט מהמכון הטכנולוגי המקומי שמתאמן בימים אלה לתחרות ריקודים חשובה מאוד. כן. אני רוצה לזכות בה”. אחד מחבריו העלה לרשתות החברתיות בהן יוטוב ופייסבוק את סרטון הווידאו של השוטר היפ פופ הרוקד עם הסטודנט, שזכה איך לא לצפיות רבות מאוד.
פלילים כמו בסרטים 2: בן 14 צבר כבר ארבעה עשרה הרשעות בדומה לגנגסטר
ילד בן 14 נמצא בדרך הנכונה והבטוחה לקריירה של גנגסטר אלים. הוא הספיק לצבור כבר לא פחות מ-14 הרשעות רק בשנה האחרונה. השופט במשפטו האחרון דיבר אליו ישירות ואמר לו בצורה ברורה: “אתה רק בן 14 ומדבר ממש כמו גנגסטר. מה טוב בזה. אין שום זוהר בחייהם של הגנגסטרים. אילו הם אנשים שנמצאים בצרות צרורות. אל תשכח זאת”.
הילד (שהמשטרה לא מפרסמת את שמו מפאת גילו הצעיר) מקמלופס נשפט בבית המשפט המחוזי בעיר, לאחר שממש איים לירות באחד מחבריו. הוא לא פחד לכתוב בדף הפייסבוק שלו את הדברים הבאים נגד אותו חבר: “באמת שלא אכפת לי אם יקח לשוטרים מספר חודשים למצוא אותי. אני אהרוג אותך לפני שאתפס על ידי כוחות המשטרה”. הילד המאויים שחשש לחייו טען בחקירתו במשטרה, כי חברו שאיים להרוג אותו נושא אקדח כל הזמן. הוא אף מאמין שהוא משתייך גם לאחת מכנופיות פשע של אזור קמלופס.
עורך דינו של הנאשם ציין במשפט כי מרשו פשוט כעס מאוד על חברו, שדיבר בגנות אמו. וכן הוא סובל מעת לעת מהתפרצויות כעס. עורך הדין הציע לשופט שהנאשם יבצע עבודות שירות לטובת הקהילה המקומית וכך ילמד את הלקח לעתיד. השופט חשב אחרת ולא קיבל את הצעת הסנגור של הילד. הוא החליט להטיל על נאשם מעצר בית למשך שבעים וחמישה יום תחת פיקוח הדוק בשעות הלילה. בנוסף הוא אסר עליו להחזיק בנשק וכן אסר עליו לבוא במגע עם הילד שהוא איים עליו. עם תום מעצר הבית הילד יהיה בפיקוח קצין מבחן במשך שמונה עשר חודשים. השופט הוסיף וציין עוד כי אם הילד המסוכן יפר את תנאי העונש שנקבעו לו הוא ישלח הישר לכלא, ממש כמו גנגסטר.