Camp Miriam adapted during the pandemic, but nothing quite compares to being back in the old stomping grounds of Gabriola Island. (photo from Camp Miriam) Camp Miriam is a place that holds fast to tradition. This tendency is obvious if…
At Camp Solomon Schechter, campers are encouraged to take some risks, embrace imperfection, connect and make new friends, and grow as leaders and good citizens of the world. (photo from Camp Solomon Schechter) The pandemic and its restrictions on socializing…
Foundation for Jewish Camp has been awarded a grant to explore how Jewish overnight camp nurtures and promotes character development. (photo from jewishcamp.org) Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) has been awarded a three-year expansive research grant from the John Templeton…
(IDF Spokesperson’s Unit / CC BY-SA 3.0: צילום) לאור תוצאות הבחירות הכלליות האחרונות שנערכו בישראל בראשית חודש נובמבר, צפוי שההגירה אל קנדה תגדל. יש ישראלים שיתייאשו מהמצב החדש בישראל, כאשר ממשלת ימין קמה בהשתתפות המפלגה הימנית קיצונית הציונות הדתית, והם…
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and B.C. Premier David Eby interact with kids at Richmond Jewish Day School on Dec. 2. (photo from Province of BC) On Dec. 2, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and federal Minister of Families, Children and Social Development…
Minister and MP Harjit Sajjan speaks at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on Dec. 5, while Jewish Federation chief executive officer Ezra Shanken looks on. (photo from Jewish Federation) On Dec. 5, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver…
Coalition negotiations continue in Israel after the fifth election in less than four years. And the signs are ominous for the future of Israeli democracy, for women’s equality, for religious pluralism, for LGBTQ+ rights, for peace and for coexistence. Bezalel…
It’s that time of year again. Which I face with trepidation on occasion, because my family celebrates Hanukkah – and that’s it. Some years, I manage to float by in a haze of patience, busy with my family’s celebrations and…
Anita Neville’s swearing-in ceremony on Oct. 24 included the blasts of a shofar blown by her rabbi, Anibal Mass. (screenshot) Anita Neville says she “feels the responsibility” of being the first Jewish person to be appointed as the lieutenant governor…
Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) estimates that one in six members of the Jewish community in Metro Vancouver – or more than 4,000 people – are in need of support for dealing with substance use disorder. And yet, it is…
Lori Goldberg’s artwork reminds viewers that “that which we discard doesn’t disappear.” (photo from Lori Goldberg) If you attend a performance at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, you will see the artwork of Lori Goldberg. She is one of the artists whose…
Charlotte Schallié, a University of Victoria scholar and Holocaust historian who is leading the graphic novel project, with survivor David Schaffer and graphic artist Miriam Libicki, left, at Schaffer’s home in Vancouver in January 2020. (photo by Mike Morash) A…
King David High School’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies 12 class with Liliane Pari Umuhoza. (photo from KDHS) On Nov. 24, King David High School Holocaust and Genocide Studies 12 teacher Anna-Mae Wiesenthal invited a guest speaker. The class had the…
Toby Rubin was invested as the new president of CHW Vancouver on Oct. 16. (photo by Sid Akselrod) A vast amount of progress has been made in gender equality in recent decades, but organizations where women come together for philanthropic…
Archer’s Westberry Farms Hive dessert. (photo by Diane Tucker) Opening several weeks ago, just in time for winter holiday festivities, Archer restaurant is the newest contribution to Vancouver’s fine dining scene from restaurateur Iain Bell, a member of the Jewish…
Left to right: Wendy Bross Stuart, Jessica Stuart and Katey Morley in a Joan Beckow Legacy Project performance at Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto, on Nov. 19. (photo by Robert Saxe) The Joan Beckow Legacy Project performance at Holy Blossom Temple, Toronto,…
Zlatomir Fung (cello) and Benjamin Hochman (piano). (photo from vanrecital.com) The Vancouver Recital Society (VRS) presents American cellist Zlatomir Fung and Israeli pianist Benjamin Hochman at the Vancouver Playhouse Jan. 15. Fung has racked up a slew of awards: in…
Az Yashir is an original Jewish music album of songs for Shabbat from singer and composer Yair Rosenberg. As a journalist, Rosenberg has interviewed White House officials, profiled Israeli prime ministers, covered Jews in baseball, and even chronicled the translation…
Flame Towers, in the capital city Baku, reflect the forward-looking economy and the ancient Zoroastrian roots of the Azerbaijani people. (photo by Pat Johnson) It is a Muslim-majority country where Jews proudly draw visitors’ attention to the fact that their…
One of the ways to prepare a child for a vacation is to start small. For example, take them to a local aquarium or other nearby attraction to get them used to the idea of touring. (photo from Dawn M.…
Vancouverite Eitan Nurick, right, with Aardvark madrich (counselor) Alon. (photo from Aardvark Israel) “When my siblings came back from their year abroad and couldn’t stop raving about it, I couldn’t help but experience it myself. When the day came and…
Prof. Simon Barak of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, right, is coordinating all the plant biologists and imaging specialists. (photo from CABGU) Can plants grow in a barren landscape such as the…
Gloria Levi’s recently published creative memoir The Hotelkeeper’s Daughter is a tribute to her family. And not just the family from whom she comes – the people who inhabit the main part of this story – but also the family…
I had the privilege of seeing Mark Leiren-Young’s play Bar Mitzvah Boy when it premièred at Pacific Theatre in 2018. It was funny, edgy and insightful, and well-acted by Gina Chiarelli and Richard Newman. It contained a lot of local…
A basketball game may not be able to bring about world peace, but at least one game has acted as a bridge to increasing mutual understanding and empathy. The graphic novel The Basketball Game (Firefly Books, 2022) is based on the…
When Toronto poet Simon Constam emailed me with a request to read his debut collection of poetry, Brought Down, he described it as “notable because it addresses people’s daily experience of God and the Jewish religious tradition.” He noted, “it…
I always look forward to reading whatever Adeena Karasick writes, even though I know I won’t understand all of it. To be generous to myself, I’d say at least 20% of her latest publication, Massaging the Medium: Seven Pechakuchas (Institute…
It’s been eight years or so since I reviewed Mark Binder’s The Brothers Schlemiel, which recently has been reissued by Light Publications with the title The Village Twins, and written under Binder’s pen name, Izzy Abrahmson. I knew this story…
A Visit to Moscow is a beautifully illustrated and haunting graphic novel. In a brief 72 pages, it relates the story of an American rabbi who, on a 1965 trip to the Soviet Union, sneaks away from his delegation in…
Danny Danon, former Israeli envoy to the United Nations. (photo from IGPO / Chaim Tzach) “Jerusalem is an inseparable part of Israel and her eternal capital,” said an Israeli prime minister. “No United Nations vote can alter that historic fact.”…
