The message on the Facebook post of this video from UnXeptable, who have been gathering weekly at Robson Square to protest the Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms, reads: “Rain never stops Vancouver 🇨🇦 from supporting you in your struggle ❤️🇮🇱”…
The Jerusalem Business Development Centre (MATI) helps people create or expand businesses in Jerusalem. Two leaders of the Israeli organization visit Vancouver on May 11 as part of a Canadian tour. (photo from CFHU Vancouver) Every year, the Jerusalem Business…
Amid the miasma of glum news from Israel is a light to be celebrated. A scan of the headlines reveals existential worries. Proposals from the governing coalition of Israel are derided as threatening the democratic foundation of the country, an…
Years ago, I briefly served on a synagogue board and did some research into membership dues. Some congregations had flat rates. Others had scales according to income or age. Others had no set dues, members gave according to what they…
At the therapeutic horse farm in Meir Shfeya Youth Village are, left to right, Yuval Perry, Moran Nir, Rachel David and Orly Sivan. Perry is a horse groomer at the farm, and David and Sivan are two of its four…
Near-fatal war injuries led Anat Yahalom to decades of mutual support for injured soldiers and others. (photo from Jewish Federation) In 1973, when the Yom Kippur War broke out, Anat Yahalom was a young Israel Defence Forces recruit in the…
Artist Anna Marszalkowska stands in front of “Levi,” which is part of her Tribes series, which is on exhibit at the Zack Gallery until May 4. (photo from Anna Marszalkowska) The challenge of visually depicting the tribes of Israel has…
Laura Leibow is one of the 14 comics featured on The New Wave of Standup, now streaming on CBC Gem. (photo by Emily Cooper) The whole thing was a highlight really! I still kind of had that post-COVID ‘I can’t…
Igal Hecht filming Secrets of the Land. (photo from Chutzpa Productions Inc.) The Western Wall area, with thousands of metres of subterranean space, contains much that is yet to be discovered. The latest find in this space is a market.…
Harriet Frost and the Universal Band (photo from Harriet Frost) Harriet Frost and the Universal Band are holding an album release party on April 15, 8 p.m., at Or Shalom. The Universal Band is Martin Gotfrit (strings, vocals), Wendy Rubin…
Mordechai Edel is among the artists featured in the latest edition of The Scribe, which will be released April 19 at VanDusen Botanical Garden. (photo from JMABC) The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia (JMABC) is releasing its 40th…
Grass is Green is at the Rothstein Theatre on April 25. (photo from Una Productions) B.C. Movement Arts and Chutzpah!PLUS present the Canadian première of Grass is Green in Vancouver and several other B.C. locations, starting April 25. Grass is…
Into the Little Hill is a multi-disciplinary re-telling of the classic Pied Piper tale. Performances take place May 19 and 20 at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre. (photo by Flick Harrison) In partnership…
Residents of Prince George might be forgiven for thinking there is more than one person named Eli Klasner in their midst. Among his many concurrent pursuits, the Toronto native is directing the Community Arts Council of Prince George, leading a…
Khalid Aziz (photo from Khalid Aziz) Khalid Aziz got out of Afghanistan about six weeks before the government fell. Eighteen months later, he has a job here at a local café/bakery and works part-time with a local advisory group on…
Al and Lola Roadburg (photo from Tikva Housing) With the help of a $10 million donation from the Al Roadburg Foundation, a four-storey apartment building has been purchased that will allow Tikva Housing Society to offer more affordable housing in…
The harrowing history of Ukraine’s past was recounted recently in the annual lecture honouring Rudolf Vrba, the late Vancouver scientist whose 1944 escape from Auschwitz brought the most concrete proof of the Nazi “Final Solution” to the world. Dr. Nataliia…
According to one tour guide, an hour spent walking around the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem and talking to the residents there is the best way to gain an understanding of the complex conflict that has caused so much suffering.…
When we think about Israel’s prominence now, with its population approaching 10 million, and its contributions in so many fields being far out of proportion to its size, it is sobering to recall its early beginnings, and its fragility, when…
The Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel. (photo from Wikimedia Commons) When I was a teenaged member of the Zionist youth group Young Judaea in Saskatchewan, we recited this pledge: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand lose its…
The southern and northern hemispheres look equally bright in this iconic image of earth, titled “The Blue Marble,” which the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft took on Dec. 7, 1972. (photo from NASA) Why do earth’s hemispheres look equally…
(photo from BGU) Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will soon produce 20% of its energy needs on the Marcus Family Campus from solar energy. Recently, solar panels were installed on the roofs of three buildings on campus in the first…
יושב הראש של הפדרציה היהודית של אזור מטרו ונקובר, עזרא שנקן, קורא לממשלת ישראל וראשי האופוזיציה, לקבל את מתווה הנשיא, יצחק הרצוג, לאור המשבר החמור הפוקד את ישראל בחודשיים האחרונים. זאת, על רקע החלטת ממשלת הימין של בנימין נתניהו, להחיל…
Mourad Bouayad, left, and Hillel Kogan in We Love Arabs, which is at the Dance Centre April 13-15. (photo by Eli Katz) “I don’t have answers so I can only ask questions,” Israeli choreographer Hillel Kogan told the Jewish Independent.…
“I like to dabble in things, I like to learn about things, and I think that’s where Peretz really shines,” says Maggie Karpilovski, executive director of the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. (photo from Peretz Centre) At 78, the…
A Gallup poll released last week shows that, for the first time, Democratic voters in the United States sympathize more with Palestinians than with Israelis. Among Democratic voters contacted, 49% sympathize more with the Palestinians and 38% with Israelis. Among…
Passover is coming. Its themes of freedom from oppression, the Exodus and Jewish identity stories are ready for the telling. More Jewish people participate in Passover than many other holidays. A 2013 Pew Research study indicated that 70% of Americans…
Pesach is approaching, and the connection to addiction is obvious – we were slaves in Egypt, we are slaves to substances and behaviours to our detriment. Sadly, we hear daily about the perils of addiction – certainly the news of…
Eleanor Boyle’s Mobilize Food! Wartime Inspiration for Environmental Victory Today offers concrete ideas for how food systems can be transformed. (Julie Doro Photography) I plan to make the Honourable Woolton Pie. Just for fun, not necessarily because I think it’ll…
Emerich Klein speaks to a student following his recent talk at King David High School. (photo from KDHS) For decades, Emerich Klein kept his story of survival during the Holocaust to himself. While raising two children in Vancouver and making…
