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Courage’s two records

Lorne Segal, chair, Courage to Come Back Awards. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

In its chai year, the Courage to Come Back Awards had a record night on May 5 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, with more than 1,500 guests and more than $1.43 million raised for Coast Mental Health.

In his address, Courage to Come Back chair Lorne Segal pondered the question of why the event is so popular. “Because,” he said, “at these awards, like nowhere else, we feel the extraordinary power of the ordinary spirit and the deep humanity so often lacking in our daily lives.”

He said, “We all shed a tear tonight and, whether it was a tear of joy, of hope, of love, it was not because we wanted to, but because we needed to. You see, we need to know that, even against the worst hand we could be dealt in life, we too can triumph. Because our six heroes tonight could do it, so can we.

photo - Cynthia Ramsay, publisher of the Jewish Independent, and Shay Keil of Keil Investment Group of ScotiaMcLeod
Cynthia Ramsay, publisher of the Jewish Independent, and Shay Keil of Keil Investment Group of ScotiaMcLeod. (photo from Cynthia Ramsay)

“Each of us came into this room for a different reason, but we will all leave with our nourished souls tied together by one common thread: the unshakeable belief that, by seeing the very best in others – courage, faith, hope, endurance – we will somehow find the strength to face our own fears and achieve our greatest dreams. And for that, we need to thank our six superstars who are symbols of the possibilities which lie within us all.”

This year’s six honorees were Christy Campbell (in the physical rehabilitation category), Jemal Damtawe (addiction), Meredith Graham (social adversity), Dr. Barbara Harris, (mental health), Coltyn Liu (youth) and Tom Teranishi (medical). Since 1999, Courage to Come Back has now honored 103 individuals who have had the “courage to overcome serious adversity, change their lives for the better and move forward to help others do the same.”

Co-hosting the gala evening were Randene Neill and Kevin Evans, while Howard Blank emceed the fundraising portion of the proceedings. In his comments, Blank noted that Coast Mental Health helps an average of 12 clients a day and that its programs address three main pillars: housing, employment and support services.

The largest donation of the evening came from B.C. taxpayers, as Minister of Health Terry Lake donated $100,000 from the province on behalf of Premier Christy Clark and Minister of Finance Mike de Jong. The largest private donation came from Joseph and Rosalie Segal, who contributed $50,000. Many other individuals and companies made donations, several citing the Segal family as their example of what it means to give back to community.

There was no shortage of role models for giving that night, with the six honorees leading the way. There were many meaningful takeaways, including Liu’s statement: “Mom’s lesson: don’t feed the negative monster inside; rather, fight with a belief in yourself and for a reality you want.” And Graham’s reminder that, “sometimes, you can give what you didn’t get.”

“What part will you play,” she asked the crowd, “to change lives today?”

Home for our war veterans

Shalom Branch 178 began as Fairview Branch 178 in 1945. (photo by Shula Klinger)

As the Second World War was drawing to a close, servicemen and -women began returning to Vancouver. Among them were Jewish veterans. As they looked for ways to reintegrate with civilian life, they found many clubs and associations closed to them on religious grounds. So, a group of them founded the B.C. Jewish Veterans’ Association. The association applied to the Canadian Legion and, on June 20, 1945, Fairview Branch 178 came into being. In 1972, thanks to the efforts of Charles Eppel, it became Shalom Branch 178. It has been a social hub for the veteran community now for more than 70 years.

photo - Bernard Jackson, president of Shalom Branch 178
Bernard Jackson, president of Shalom Branch 178. (photo by Shula Klinger)

At the time of the legion’s original charter, membership stood at 81. By 1950, this had risen to 219 and, in 1960, a ladies’ auxiliary was founded. These days, the legion’s membership stands at 75, but it’s falling, with the passing of many veterans.

Bernard Jackson has been the president of Shalom Branch 178 since 2002. Last year, the French government awarded him the Légion d’Honneur (France’s greatest honor for military and civil merits) for his service in Normandy in 1944.

Jackson speaks proudly of the original group of veterans. “They sold lottery tickets to raise money, with the object of building homes and a legion branch,” he said. “They bought land and built a property with assistance from BC Housing. The building of 102 apartments [Maple Crest] is in full use – it’s a mix of one- and two-bedroom suites.”

Every member of the legion takes part in the annual Poppy Campaign, which raises funds for veterans and needy families. Maple Crest residents are also supported by the Jewish Family Service Agency.

In the past, the legion has given bursaries to students at the University of British Columbia, the B.C. Institute of Technology and Vancouver Talmud Torah, as well as provided grants for medical equipment to local hospitals. Shalom Branch supports the Navy League of Canada and Brock Fahrni Pavilion, which is home to many veterans of the armed forces. The legion has installed a memorial to the fallen at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, and Schara Tzedeck Cemetery’s war memorial was dedicated in 1990. Other achievements include the purchase of a bus for Magen David Adom in 1982.

photo - A page from the program commemorating Shalom Branch 178’s 70th anniversary
A page from the program commemorating Shalom Branch 178’s 70th anniversary. (photo by Shula Klinger)

Jackson is extremely concerned about the falling membership, and is disappointed at the lack of support. “Jewish support has disappeared but the need is still there,” he said. “It’s sad to see that we have such a crisis in the provision of low-cost apartments at a time when antisemitism is on the rise.”

Mark Perl is a more recent member of the legion. Born in Cluj, Romania, he moved to Israel in 1959 and fought in the Six Day War of 1967. “We need community support for our legion – not just funding,” he said. “This is our tradition, our unique history. Who’s going to carry this on?”

Jackson is determined to see a growth in education programs for today’s youngsters. “My generation made a big mistake,” he said. “We didn’t want to talk about the war. Now, young people watch all that shooting for fun. My generation knew what it was really about, and we thought this would be the last war.”

Jackson has spoken about this issue at Jewish Seniors Alliance, of which he also a member.

Shalom Branch 178 is entirely staffed by volunteers. Located at 2020 West 6th Ave., in Vancouver, new members are welcome and the hall is also available for rentals (604-737-1033).

Shula Klinger is an author, illustrator and journalist living in North Vancouver. Find out more at niftyscissors.com.

A people or a religion?

Ludicrous as it may sound, it is difficult for some people to understand what Jews are. To be Jewish is to be part of a peoplehood. To adhere to Judaism means one practises the religion of the Jewish people. Yet one can be Jewish and not practise Judaism. This may be called variously humanistic Judaism, cultural Judaism or any number of other imaginative descriptors.

At root, Jewishness is both a peoplehood and a religious identity, sometimes overlapping, sometimes not. This is problematic because it means Jews do not fit neatly into the categories the world likes to assign people. This becomes increasingly difficult as the world moves further toward communicating even complex ideas in 140 characters or less.

Writing in Haaretz Monday, Joel Braunold, executive director for the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Middle East Peace and a former leading member of Britain’s National Union of Students, says the antisemitism being exhibited by members of the U.K. Labor Party and the NUS stems at least in part from leftists’ refusal to see Jews as a national group and instead narrowly defining Jews as adherents of a religion.

Braunold makes some insightful observations about how self-identified anti-racism activists can treat Jews differently. In one instance, he writes, an ostensibly anti-racist group distributed flyers lamenting the Holocaust’s toll on Roma, homosexuals and members of other groups, while not mentioning the Shoah’s Jewish victims. They are doing Jews a favor, Braunold says some have told him, by not falling into the Hitlerian trap of defining Jews through racial categorization.

Dejudaizing the Holocaust, obviously, is appalling. Yet there is a far more common approach employed almost universally by people condemning antisemitism. It is the seemingly well-intentioned habit of condemning antisemitism and then carrying on to list many other forms of discrimination. In other words, while it is fully acceptable – as it should be – to condemn anti-black racism when it occurs in the United States or elsewhere without numerating a laundry list of other forms of racism that are unacceptable, it seems almost impossible for many people, including some elected officials, to condemn antisemitism without subsequently providing an exhaustive list of other bigotries that deserve denunciation.

It is hard to argue that this is a sign of ill will. After all, every opportunity to condemn discrimination of every kind is a good opportunity. But when it seems anti-Jewish animus is the only one that cannot be singularly condemned, it should raise questions. We can condemn Islamophobia, misogyny, historical and contemporary treatment of indigenous Canadians, inequality of minorities in Western societies, the historical wrongs perpetrated on Chinese and Indian immigrants (or would-be immigrants who were prevented from entry) to Canada and all range of other victims, yet condemnations of antisemitism seem to need qualifiers.

It may be precisely that Jewishness is confusing to some – is it a religion or is it a national identity? – that allows people to behave the way they do toward Jews. I can’t be racist, one might say, because Judaism is a religion and I should be free to criticize religion.

There is also, in contemporary Canada, a stream of anti-religiosity. “Imagine there’s no countries … and no religion too,” John Lennon sang in an anthem of a generation of dreamers.

In addition to antipathy toward religion, there is a stream of anti-nationalism at play. Some of the criticism of Israel stems from the dream of a post-national world, where, to quote Lennon again, there is “nothing to kill or die for.”

And yet, many who subscribe to some variation of this quest for an ideal post-nationalistic world by targeting for elimination the one state of the Jewish people, a people whose statelessness was the primary reason six million were able to be murdered seven decades ago, should be an obvious indicator of misplaced priorities. Especially when many of these same activists support Palestinian national self-determination, but not the Jewish version.

In his Haaretz piece, Braunold posits a unique motivator for some of the attitudes we see on the left toward Jews. It may not be the magic key that explains it all, but it is a part of the puzzle.

Why should we volunteer?

Why do we volunteer? As a volunteer myself, I never gave this topic much thought until the editorial committee of Senior Line determined to feature volunteering in an upcoming edition.

A volunteer is someone who offers their service of their own free will or without being asked. Most people who volunteer do so because they are making a contribution to society or to a selected part of society. Some volunteer because of values that have been instilled in them or are part of their heritage, or because of the examples that others have set.

Volunteers are the backbone of every not-for-profit organization that exists. They run the gamut of everything that an organization does: sit on boards of directors, raise funds for the operation of the organization, plan and chart the future of the organization, visit seniors who are shut-ins or visit the sick and infirm. These are but some of the ways that volunteers make an enormous contribution.

My interest in volunteering likely came from observing my parents while growing up in what was considered rural Surrey in the late 1940s and 1950s. Both were involved in the Royal Canadian Legion and the Newton Athletic Club. I became involved in a number of organizations that included the B.C. Association of Social Workers, Habonim Dror Camp Miriam, the Performing Arts Lodge, Congregation Beth Israel and, more recently, Jewish Seniors Alliance. My motivation? To use my experience in supervision, management and organizational development. What could I do to make a difference? It was important for me to believe in the purpose and direction of the organization and how I could fit in. I have never wanted to be a spectator but an active contributor to the positive evolution of an organization and, of course, to the services they provide.

Norman Franks represents the quintessential volunteer. Franks is a native Vancouverite whose family has a long history in the city. During his student days at the University of British Columbia, he served as president of Hillel House. At the invitation of brothers Jeffrey and Peter Barnett, who helped pioneer the establishment of Variety Club in Vancouver, Franks became a member. He agreed with the purpose of Variety and, perhaps more important, identified with them because of being the parent of a severely challenged child.

Franks also has been involved with State of Israel Bonds, as executive director and as volunteer, he was involved with Project Isaiah, the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, Vancouver Talmud Torah and the Mountain View Cemetery Restoration Committee. He has served on the board of Beth Israel and, for the past nine years, has served as parnass, helping with the administration of the congregation. Franks works for the personal satisfaction he gets from the task at hand. In his own words, “I feel blessed and volunteering is my way of showing gratitude.”

Courtney Cohen, 27, sets the standard for younger people who demonstrate a passion for volunteering. In 2013, while brainstorming with Lynne Fader, co-executive director of the Kehila Society of Richmond, Rose’s Angels was born. Cohen’s inspiration comes from her late grandmother, Rose Lewin, who she describes as “the most compassionate and selfless person I have ever known.”

Rose’s Angels is a yearly event that provides a special package to assist people who live in poverty. Agencies that received packages this year included the Jewish Food Bank, Chimo Outreach, Richmond Family Place, Turning Point Recovery and many others. The decision of what to include in the packages was based on what the agencies’ clientele needed, such as non-perishable food, toiletry items and warm socks, toques, gloves and scarves. Donations came primarily from individuals and, on Feb. 14, more than 40 volunteers recruited by Cohen gathered at Richmond Jewish Day School to assemble and deliver a total of 400 care packages and 750 warmth bundles. Cohen said she measures success by “knowing others are benefiting from our care packages and the satisfaction felt by all volunteers and donors.”

Elayne Shapray, z’l, represented a special class of volunteers for her courage and for her convictions. She was a registered nurse by profession and graduated from the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. In her own words, “Volunteering was always in my blood and I had the luxury of not having to work. I wanted to give back to the community. I got more from volunteering.” Shapray had an enviable record for the volunteering she undertook: Planned Parenthood, palliative care at Vancouver General Hospital, helped start L’Chaim Adult Day Centre, UBC Women’s Resources, served on the boards of Jewish Family Service Agency and Beth Israel – it was Shapray who initiated the annual coat drive at BI 22 years ago.

At age 39, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but she never disclosed her malady to the organizations she volunteered with so she would not receive any special treatment. Her days as an active volunteer ended about two years ago. Her most recent diagnosis was progressive secondary MS and, from 2011, she had been in the media about the “right to choose,” physician-assisted dying. She will be remembered for her caring, involvements and beliefs.

Larry Shapiro is a “wild and crazy guy.” He is energetic, entertaining and fun to hang out with. He and his wife, Dianne, moved to Vancouver from Montreal more than two years ago to be closer to family. In Montreal, he was involved with civil

defence, Zionist causes and his Masonic lodge. He became an advocate for his very independent late mother’s well-being, ensuring all her needs were being met.

As a new Vancouverite, it was important for him to meet new friends and to become involved. Initially, he joined Oakridge Seniors’ Centre, where he now sits on the board of directors. Shortly thereafter, he met Serge Haber, the founder of JSA, who invited him to volunteer as a peer counselor. After meeting the program’s trainer, Grace Hann, Shapiro entered the 55-hour training program. Today, he has five seniors with whom he is in regular face-to-face contact, and he is now on the executive committee of JSA.

Shapiro has some thoughtful insights about seniors who may feel isolated, lonely and possibly depressed, and believes that interaction with seniors in need requires more than mere physical care. He noted, “Listening is important and it is something not all of us do well. People have a story to tell and they want to relive their lives through storytelling even if it’s repetitive. I have seen the positive effects that peer counseling can make. It is often an instantaneous and spontaneous return to normalcy because it involves another person who listens and cares unconditionally.”

Do volunteers make a difference? Re-read this article and you will know the answer.

Ken Levitt is a vice-president of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver and a former chief executive officer of Louis Brier Home and Hospital. A longer version of this article will be printed in a forthcoming Senior Line.

 

 

Jewish-Muslim unity efforts

On March 13, members of Calgary’s Muslim community visited Congregation Beth Tzedec. Jewish community members had visited Green Dome Mosque the week prior. The events were part of the Our House is Your House program. (photo from Shaul Osadchey)

After a 2014 clash between Palestinian and Israeli supporters on the grounds of Calgary City Hall that ended violently, Imam Syed Soharwardy of Green Dome Mosque reached out to local rabbis and Jewish community leaders, and Rabbi Shaul Osadchey of Beth Tzedec responded by inviting Jewish and Muslim leaders to his synagogue for discussions.

The discussions helped make the next demonstrations peaceful. They also helped transform the general relationship between the Muslim and Jewish communities, which led to two unity events held this past March.

“From that conversation, we made a commitment to meet again and continue the conversation,” said Osadchey. “We continued to meet at Beth Tzedec monthly and, within about two months, we decided to form the Calgary Jewish Muslim Council.”

That council has been meeting for almost two years, discussing various issues that affect both communities. Through this, the rabbi proposed the concept of Our House is Your House, the program that hosted the recent unity events. The program’s purpose is to bring together lay members of the communities for table conversations – not for lectures about religion, but simply to come together to explore mutual commonalities.

On March 6, about 50 Jewish community members made their way to Green Dome Mosque in northeast Calgary for the first of two consecutive Sunday events, the second of which took place at Beth Tzedec.

“We had a very inspiring program in which the clergy spoke at the beginning and then a lot of people were then invited to ask questions and express how they felt about doing these kinds of programs and getting to know each other,” said Osadchey. “We had refreshments and people visited with each other. It was quite a significant day.”

According to Osadchey, those who attended were impressed, finding the imams forthright in explaining how they felt the use of certain quotes from the Quran, such as, “you shouldn’t make friends with Jews or Christians,” were often used out of context and not in the true spirit of Islam.

The plan is to expand Our House is Your House with the program My House is Your House, matching people up for dinners in community members’ homes. There is also another program, funded by a Beth Tzedec member, that will see Jewish and Muslim teens (15- to 16-year-olds) engage in philanthropy.

“We’ll have six to eight Jewish youth and six to eight Muslim youth meet for six sessions, alternating between the mosque and the synagogue,” said Osadchey. “They will focus on learning about charity in each other’s traditions. They’ll identify common values, and then will go through a process of selecting and then allocating funds that have been donated to organizations in Calgary that they think reflect the values that they’ve articulated. So, it’s going to be an opportunity for the teens to get together and build a relationship, and do something constructive and positive to influence the community.”

Another initiative between the communities involved the Soup Sisters, an organization that was started by two Beth Tzedec women and has grown to include chapters in many Canadian cities, as well as one in Los Angeles. (See jewishindependent.ca/soup-ladled-with-love.)

“They make soup that is then donated to abused women in shelters and other facilities,” said Osadchey. Wanting to do a soup project for Syrian refugees, “the women came to me and asked how to get halal meat. I sent an email to several imams, asking them if they knew anyone who’d be willing to donate 86 kilograms of halal meat. Within an hour or two, I got a response from an imam saying he has the name of an individual able and happy to do that and that he’s expecting my call. Again, things are working in ways that we’re able to accomplish wonderful goals to help people in the community.”

Soharwardy, who initiated the Jewish-Muslim unity talks, is also the founder of Muslims Against Terrorism and the Islamic Association of Canada. He is a Sunni Muslim who follows the Sufi tradition.

“About three months ago, Rabbi [Osadchey] and I were chatting,” said Soharwardy. “He said, ‘Let’s do something grassroots instead of a rabbi and an imam talking. Let’s involve our families, women, children, everybody.

“I think this was the first time in the history of, at least Canada, that such a large group from the Jewish community came to the mosque. They had a dialogue, they had food … we sat together for an informal discussion…. That inspired so many Muslims. It removed misunderstanding. People realized, Jewish people are not our enemies, we have so much in common.”

photo - About 80 or 90 members of the Muslim community went to Beth Tzedec on March 13
About 80 or 90 members of the Muslim community went to Beth Tzedec on March 13. (photo from Shaul Osadchey)

About 80 or 90 members of the Muslim community went to Beth Tzedec on March 13, he said. “We sat down, we saw the Torah, we heard three rabbis there. We were so amazed. I was happy to see we have so much in common. I’m so happy and I’m still, in my mind, still in that synagogue, listening to this rabbi and the way he was performing. I can’t call him anything except a person of faith, and his Jewish faith is very close to my faith. It’s just an amazing feeling. I don’t understand why we are enemies. I don’t think we are enemies.”

Soharwardy can hardly wait for the next step of inviting some new Jewish friends to his house to share food and conversation.

“I think, at the family level, we should start engaging ourselves,” he said. “That will build the relationship among adults as well as children … so our children will get the understanding that we are not enemies, we don’t hate each other. We are normal humans, Canadians, and neighbors.”

Osadchey added, “We recognize there’s still a lot of work to be done in both communities. There’s a lot of suspicion, a lot of stereotype and misinformation that exists in our communities about the other. To further break that down really takes people-to-people contact.

“There’s a lot of anxiety and a lot of cynicism and doubt about whether these efforts are really viable,” he continued. “I think the more that we’ve done together as two communities, the more the message is emerging that, yes, this is worth doing. We’re not under any illusion that we are going to change events in the Middle East, but we are creating an alternative model that will have a ripple effect beyond Calgary, that will say to people, having good relationships and learning about each other and respecting each other is definitely possible and desirable.

“We’re doing it with people in the Jewish community and Muslim community. We all have relatives in the Middle East. We have relatives elsewhere, too. So, to be able to model what we are doing and let people know about this will put the seed of change elsewhere … so that it goes beyond our local efforts.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Caring for people at life’s end

Henry Fersko-Weiss, president of the International End of Life Doula Association. (photo from Henry Fersko-Weiss)

Doulas offer support to expectant mothers, guiding women and their partners through the childbirth process and into their first steps of parenthood. Now, a similar concept is gaining ground to fill a need at the end of our lives.

Fear, exhaustion and uncertainty often leave us unsure of how to best support a loved one during their last days, while we also try to deal with our own impending loss.

The idea for end-of-life doulas was conceived by licensed clinical social worker Henry Fersko-Weiss, who works in hospice care in New York and New Jersey.

“There seemed to be a gap in the services that were traditionally available to people,” Fersko-Weiss told the Independent. “As wonderful as hospice is in the U.S., where most people die in their own homes – which is the ideal, unless there’s a cultural reason not to – that’s when people really need help the most.

“They recognize that death is very close and now they can’t avoid thinking about it. They are exhausted and the care demands have increased. They need more help than they were able to access through normal programs. So, I started to think about how to figure this out … and, at the time, a friend of mine was learning how to become a birth doula.”

Fersko-Weiss had not heard about doulas before then. But, as his friend shared with him what she was learning in her training, he increasingly felt this would also be an ideal way to approach the end of life.

“There are a lot of tremendous similarities between birth and death, clear differences as well,” he said. “I became intrigued and started learning more about birth doulas. And, I took the training myself, so I would learn exactly what they were learning.”

By then, Fersko-Weiss was convinced that there were many tools, techniques and principles of care from the birthing world that could be transferred in a very positive way to the end-of-life sphere. So, he went to Carolyn Cassin, the chief executive officer of Continuum Hospice Care in New York City, where he was working at the time, and presented the idea to her. She encouraged him to follow it through.

By 2015, Fersko-Weiss had established a not-for-profit organization that trains and supports end-of-life doulas.

“Currently,” he said, “my work is focused on promoting the use of end-of-life doulas through organizations that care for people at end of life, as well as training people publicly and helping them to achieve certification through the organization that I head: the International End of Life Doula Association.”

To create the program, Fersko-Weiss incorporated some of the concepts from the birth doula training, such as visualization and guided imagery, techniques used by birth doulas to help ease pain.

“I started building on that and writing the training, looking for material that would support some of the things that were important and created a model of the different phases of care that this would offer,” he said. “At that first training, I had 17 people. Once we went through that first training, which was a weekend – which has become the standard for us, about 22 hours – we went on and kept training, and developing the program, and serving patients and their families.”

There are three phases to the model Fersko-Weiss has created, the first of which is summing up and planning. This occurs as early as possible, when the patient and the family are shifting their focus to end-of-life comfort care and away from a cure.

“But, even if they were still focused, to some degree, on a cure, parts of what we do would still make sense, probably even months before somebody would be at the point of dying,” said Fersko-Weiss. “We work on exploring the meaning of their life, as they look back over their life, and help them think about what they might want to leave behind as a legacy that reflects that meaning that they’ve uncovered or what they think is important for their loved ones and friends to remember them by or to carry into their lives.”

Psychologist Erik Erikson has examined the different developmental stages that we go through within our lifespan and refers to the last of these stages as “integrity versus despair.”

“When somebody is dying and facing death, they are automatically propelled into that final developmental stage, no matter what age,” said Fersko-Weiss. “In that stage, they have to contend with coming to the point of a positive completion of their life as they go through reviewing their life. Or else, they move towards despair, anguish and feeling that their life either didn’t matter or didn’t fulfil their dreams.”

The other aspect of the first phase of Fersko-Weiss’ program is planning what one’s last days of life will look like. This entails finding out what would be most helpful to them and their family to allow those last days to unfold in a way that honors who they are, carries deeper meaning for everyone involved and makes it easier for the person to approach death.

The second phase of the program is when the person is actively dying, which generally comprises the last two to four days of life.

“We stay with people as much as possible, around the clock,” said Fersko-Weiss. “We help them understand what is coming next. We support the family emotionally and spiritually, and we assist with physical care in a basic way.

“We will stay [with the family] through the death,” he continued. “We will wait hours afterwards to give them time to process it and have the death experience sink in a bit. We sometimes call the funeral home for them, or friends, if they are too emotional. We stay with them through the body being removed from the home and also up to the point where they feel more comfortable being on their own.”

Phase three of the program has the doula returning to the family three to six weeks following the death to review and tell the story of the dying process. This helps the family see some of the many beautiful and loving things they did together during that time, reminding them how things went, as they may have not have been thinking clearly during that time due to the pain of loss.

“This is done as a way to reframe some of the negative pieces that they are carrying that may be coming back to them over and over again in their mind, and help them to begin the very early stage of grief, understand what grief work is about,” said Fersko-Weiss. “We help them through some of the early grief work and then refer them to programs in the community or within the organization that were perhaps involved with the care as well. We may, at that point, do a final ritual to bring closure to our work with them.”

The end-of-life doula service is provided primarily by hospice and out-care programs, which may be part of a hospital. Fersko-Weiss is working to spur interest in this service at assisted living facilities and nursing homes. This type of care is also starting to be done by groups of people getting together to provide the service to a dying person and their family.

Fersko-Weiss has been teaching at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Toronto, doing a compressed form of the doula training he offers in the United States. Students attend classes one weekend a month for six months, and graduate as certified contemplative end-of-life-care practitioners.

“My understanding of hospice in Canada is that many people are very underserved,” he said. “There are a lot of people who are dying without the ability to access hospice care in Canada.”

Fersko-Weiss has also been working with a Canadian organization called the Home Hospice Association.

“They are still in the process of forming, but their intention is to provide home hospice in Canada and to solve the problem of lack of access,” he said. “Their intention is to build into that program the utilization of end-of-life doulas.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Changes at Shin Bet

Nadav Argaman, left, is congratulated by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office on May 8, as he takes over as head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service. In the centre is outgoing head Yoram Cohen, who had led the security service since 2011. Argaman became deputy head of the service in 2011. Prior to that, he was the chief of operations from 2003 to 2007 and, from 2007 to 2011, he was Shin Bet’s representative in the United States. (photo from Ashernet)

Maccabi sports camp

The Maccabi Sports Experience at Ontario’s Camp Northland offers a traditional overnight camp with outdoor activities, blended with multi-sports instruction. (photo from Maccabi Canada)

Maccabi Canada and Camp Northland have partnered to create a unique program for children wanting to stay involved with sports over the summer. A first of its kind, the Maccabi Sports Experience at Ontario’s Camp Northland offers a traditional overnight camp with outdoor activities, blended with multi-sports instruction over a period of three weeks. The program will debut this summer July 27-Aug. 16, during the camp’s second session.

“A lot of kids found that, at camp, they don’t get to the opportunity to really focus in on the sports that they love to play as much as they’d like,” said Simon Wolle, director of Camp Northland. “But they don’t want to give up camp either, despite that strong interest, so they end up coming to camp but kind of missing sport.… Why not try to find a way to marry the two?”

The new offering features two weeks of rotating skill development clinics in four different sports – basketball, beach volleyball, soccer and tennis – followed by a specialty week, where participants can choose one sport to focus on. Parts of each day will be dedicated to the Maccabi sports program, while also giving the group the opportunity to integrate with other campers. The program will be run by a combination of Maccabi coaches and Camp Northland staff.

Tommy Bacher, president of Maccabi Canada, called the new endeavor a natural progression of the organization’s ongoing community sports initiatives. Bacher believes launching a summer camp experience under the Maccabi banner is the perfect way to build on the weekly sports programming offered in basketball and volleyball over the past year. The eight-week programs feature grassroots learning in 90-minute sessions, where the focus is on honing skills and having fun. The camp is the next step in those growing efforts.

“It allows us to touch a lot more kids. For every kid that goes to camp, 500 [others] hear about it,” said Bacher. “For us, it’s an opportunity to bring more kids into a quality program that revolves around sport and them being Jewish. The more things we can do with that, the better. My whole goal is connecting the next generation to their past, to their heritage and to the state of Israel. And we’re using sport as a way of doing that.”

Bacher said the camp will also provide a parallel overnight setting to the Maccabiah Games in Israel, allowing participants to form bonds with each other through a shared three-week experience. Wolle is excited to provide that outlet.

“We want to create a home for every Jewish kid to find their place and make connections and stay connected to the Jewish community,” said Wolle, echoing Bacher’s sentiments. “There are kids using the medium of sport to feel more connected to the Jewish community and we wanted to create that pipeline … between sport and camp, and say you don’t have to give it up. You can have your cake and eat it, too.”

For more information, visit maccabicanada.com.

המציאות הקשה של פורט מקמורי

עלות נזקי השריפה הענקית בפורט מקמורי מוערכת כבר בתשעה מיליארד דולר. (צילום: YouTube)

העלות הגבוהה של נזקי השריפה הענקית שהפכה את פורט מקמורי לעיר רפאים, מוערכת כבר בתשעה מיליארד דולר. אין ספק שמדובר באסון הגדול ביותר בתולדות קנדה. נזקים גדולים נגרמו לרכוש, בתים, דירות, עסקים, חנויות, מוסדות, רכבים, ציוד, קווי חשמל, קווי מים, קווי ביוב ותשתיות אחרות. הליך השיקום הארוך ימשך חודשים ארוכים ואולי אף שנים.

השריפה שהחלה ביום שבת שעבר (ה-30 באפריל) והפכה תוך יומיים-שלושה לשריפה מפלצתית, גרמה לכך שממשלת מחוז אלברטה הכריזה על מצב חירום כולל וכ-90 אלף תושבים מאזור פורט מקמורי והסביבה, נאלצו לעזוב את בתיהם ולעבור למקומות בטוחים יותר. הליך פינוי התושבים נמשר מספר ימים והוא הגיע לסיומו בסוף השבוע האחרון. טורים טורים ארוכים של אלפי תושבים שממתינים בסבלנות במכוניותיהם לצאת את האזור הפגוע, הפכו לתמונת היום באמצעי החדשות, שברקע נראית השריפה הענקית שכאילו לקוחה מסרט אימה נוראי. ומצד שני התמונות הקשות של אזורים נרחבים שנחרבו לחלוטין לאחר שהשריפה עברה בהם והפכה כל דבר לאפר, מזכירים אזורי מלחמה קשים. מתברר שהמציאות הקשה של פורט מקמורי קשורה בה עולה על כל דימיון פרוע.

בשלב זה אין הערכה מתי יצליחו מאות הכבאים שהגיעו מכל רכבי קנדה, עשרות כלי הטיס (מטוסים והליקופטרים), בליווי ציוד כבד, להשתלט על השריפה שרק הולכת וגדלה. שטח השריפה נאמד כבר ביותר ממיליון וחצי דונם והיד הקשה שלה עוד נטויה. מזג האוויר החם מאוד והרוחות החזקות מנפיקים אנרגיה נוספת לשריפה, שעברה כבר את פורט מקמורי והיא נעה עתה לכיוון צפון מזרח – אל עבר מחוז ססקצ’ואן. תחזית מזג האוויר מצביעה על התקררות מה בחום אך זה לא יספיק להשתלט על השריפה. גם הגשם שצפוי לרדת באזור לא בטוח שיעזור בהרבה, כיוון שלא נראה שהוא יהיה חזק במיוחד. הליך השתלטות והכנעת השריפה הקשה הזו ימשך בוודאי עוד מספר ימים. בינתיים איכות האוויר באזור הפגוע גרועה מאוד ואפילו באזור נברסקה שבצד האמריקני של הגבול, מדווחים כבר על איכות אוויר גרועה.

פורט מקמורי היא העיר המרכזית הסמוכה לחולות הזפט בהם נמצא מאגר הנפט הגדול ביותר בקנדה, שנחשב לשני בגודלו בעולם אחרי ערב הסעודית. מרבית חברות האנרגיה באזור נאלצו להפסיק את פעילותן ולהשבית את קווי הנפט לאור החשש שהאש תגיע גם אליהם. הירידה בתפוקת הנפט מעלה את מחירו בשוק העולמי, אם כי לא נראה שזה יואיל לענף האנרגיה של אלברטה שסובל קשות בשנתיים האחרונות, מירידה דרסטית של מחירי הנפט בשוק העולמי.

גופים רבים נתרמים לעזור לעשרות אלפים התושבים שהפכו כל כך מהר להומלסים. לרבים מהם לא היה לאן לחזור והם יאלצו להתסגל למציאות קשה זו. הצלב האדום של קנדה מרכז את מרבית מאמצי העזרה לתושבים. הארגון הצליח בתוך ימים ספורים לרכז תרומות בהיקף של יותר מארבעים ושישה מיליון דולר. הממשלה הפדרלית הבטיחה לתרום למען התושבים סכום זהה לסכום שיגוייס על ידי הצלב האדום. ממשלת אלברטה מפעילה קרן חרום מיוחדת לנזקקים שהיקפה יותר מ-200 מיליון דולר.

הקהילות היהודיות ברחבי קנדה נתרמות אף הן לאזור לנפגעי פורט מקמורי והסביבה, והן מפעילות קרנות מיוחדות לגיוס כספים עבורם. מנכ”ל הפדרציה היהודית של אזור מטרו ונקובר, עזרא שנקן: “ביחד עם כל הפדרציות היהודיות בקנדה אנו מגייסים כספים לעזור לנפגעי אלברטה. מאה אחוז מהתרומות יוקצה לטובת הנפגעים באמצעות הפדרציה היהודית של אזור אדמונטון”.