Aug. 29-30, 17 families – each serving as Chabad shluchim (emissaries) – came together for an event known as a Kinus Hakhel. (photo from Chabad Lubavitch BC) In a display of unity and camaraderie, 17 families – each serving the…
More than 200 kids went to Camp Gan Israel this summer. (photo from Camp Gan Israel) More than 200 children attended Camp Gan Israel this summer. They had a varied schedule, with baking, crafts, skateboarding, swimming, sports and field trips…
I often chat with a retired doctor neighbour as I walk by his house with my dog. When he mentioned hiking solo on the famously difficult Mantario Trail in southeastern Manitoba, it sounded risky to me. I asked him what…
Don’t let anybody tell you that recovery from knee replacement surgery is a walk in the park. It’s more like a hobble through hell. A very slow, frustrating, hobble with plenty of hurdles, pain and frustration. But, also, gradual victories…
קנדה מחזרת אחר עובדים שעובדים מרחוק במגזר הטכנולוגי ומציעה תכנית נוודים המאפשרת למבקרים לשהות במדינה עד שישה חודשים. זאת ללא צורך באישור עבודה, ובכך פותחת את הדלת למה שיכול להפוך למדיניות קבועה. זהו מידע חשוב למי שמעוניינים לעשות רילוקיישן לקנדה.…
This photo was taken from about a block away from the Okanagan JCC just after the evacuation. (photo by Anne Zazuliak) On Aug. 17, the McDougall Creek Fire, which began 10 kilometres northwest of West Kelowna, descended upon the community…
Citizen West performs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver annual campaign launch Sept. 10, 7 p.m., at Congregation Schara Tzedeck. (photo from Citizen West) The word “fun” came up more than once in the Jewish Independent’s interview with the…
This fall, for people with compromised immune systems or other health issues, extra precautions – social distancing and masking – remain a wise choice. For most people in Canada, the pandemic is over. While the pandemic will never truly be…
With the economy in crisis in Gondar, aid groups are moving quickly to bolster food supplies to cover 1,500 Jewish households. (photo from SSEJ) The ethnic violence that engulfed Ethiopia’s Tigray region in recent years is now gaining a foothold…
L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty co-founder Cantor Michael Zoosman on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman on Aug. 2, 2023, reiterating L’chaim’s opposition to the death penalty for the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooter – and in all cases.…
Grace Hann, Jewish Seniors Alliance senior peer support services trainer and supervisor, and co-trainer Miguel Méndez. (photos from JSA) For a senior experiencing loss, isolation, health challenges, a change in housing or other stressors, knowing that someone cares can make…
Avishai Infeld speaking during a mock question period at CJPAC’s Generation: Student Leaders Program. (photo from CJPAC) When it comes to making a mark in Canadian politics, waiting for elections is a thing of the past. The Canadian Jewish Political…
B.C. Regional Hebrew Schools currently serves more than 120 children – in Langley, Port Coquitlam, Vancouver and Whistler (photo from B.C. Regional Hebrew Schools) It’s late Monday evening when Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld loads a half dozen plastic containers of canvases,…
Looking for a new mitzvah to take on, while making a difference in the lives of Israeli teens? Consider joining Israel Connect, a program where local adult volunteers connect, one-on-one via Zoom, with Israeli high school students who want to…
I love the High Holidays and the opportunity they present to get together with extended family, to visit with friends and to reach out to colleagues. In addition to the special foods of the season, it’s a time to remember…
Zanna Linskaia and Rudy Rozanski were key in making the video Burquest Jewish Community: Past, Present, Future, which is available on YouTube. (screenshots) Burquest Jewish Community, which serves people in the eastern suburbs of Vancouver, turns 50 next year. Whether…
Team Vancouver getting ready for the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony in Israel. (photo from JCCGV) Twenty athletes and coaches represented Team Vancouver-Galil at two separate JCC Maccabi Games experiences this summer – in Israel and in Fort…
When we hear about addiction and recovery, most of us might think of the incredibly difficult journey to achieve and then sustain sobriety. For certain, this is one reality. That said, it’s one thing to refrain from using, and quite…
Yitzchak Ickovich (right) before boarding the plane at JFK Airport in New York Aug. 22. (photo by Shahar Azran) Recent University of Victoria graduate Yitzchak Ickovich, 23, was one of 215 olim (immigrants) from the United States and Canada who…
Israeli artist Ya’acov Agam’s Holocaust memorial is located in Woldenberg Park. (photo by Adina Horwich) On Friday, June 2, about 20 minutes before Shabbat candlelighting, I checked my email. I saw one from Cynthia Ramsay, editor of the Jewish Independent.…
An Israel Defence Forces patrol. The mural on the right was painted by Batsheva Schneider when she was doing her military service. (photo by Gil Zohar) Fans of Fauda may recognize the Tze’elim Urban Warfare Training Centre (UWTC) in the…
“I see how it looks…. Just another teen suicide. Or maybe an accidental OD. Another addict who fooled his parents. No…! I know my Owen…. Never, never, never….” This is the reaction of Owen’s mother – who happens to be…
A recently retired rabbi who was born and raised in Vancouver is offering an insider’s look at life as a congregational leader. Rabbi Allan Tuffs, who now lives part-time in south Florida and in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina,…
Family friends in their 80s just came over to visit. It was perhaps their first time at our house in a year or so. They’ve been busy. They had a family member move back to Winnipeg, there’s been a pandemic…
I spent hours online trying to find a suitable piece of art for this year’s Rosh Hashanah cover, then even more hours for what I might do myself. I really wanted to include a shofar in whatever I did, as…
A family performs the kapparot ritual with two hens and a rooster, circa 1901. (photo from Library of Congress via brandeis.edu) Whether or not the custom of eating chicken for a High Holiday meal arose from a desire to replace…
Twelfth-century Jewish thinker Moses Maimonides described the sound of the shofar at Rosh Hashanah as a wake-up call for the soul. (photo from flickr.com/photos/gsankary) The sound of the shofar at Rosh Hashanah, the great 12th-century Jewish thinker Moses Maimonides wrote,…
The existential themes of the High Holidays are meant to create a sensitivity and appreciation of the precious significance of everyday existence. (Jordan Gillard Photography) The themes of death and the “thinness” of human existence recur in the liturgy of…
In his diaries, Franz Kafka reflected that our not knowing “the real highway” we’re on means that “we drift in doubt. But, also in an unbelievable, beautiful diversity. Thus, the accomplishment of hopes remains an always unexpected miracle.” (photo from…
