The Independent asked candidates we profiled two additional questions: “Will you (or won’t you) use your position as a platform to discuss international affairs, specifically Palestine and Israel?” and “If so, can you provide a brief explanation of your perspective…
Tony Yacowar (PR photo) Tony Yacowar will be vying for a seat on the Victoria city council this Oct. 15. Among his stated priorities, if elected, are affordable housing, addressing climate change and amalgamation within the Greater Victoria region. Housing…
Gayle Morris (photo from jewishvancouver.com) Gayle Morris joined the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver this summer as its annual campaign director. Morris arrives to the role with an abundance of experience in helping people both within the Jewish community and…
Vicente Sandoval and Sylvia Zaradic are among the cast of Raincity Theatre Company’s Cabaret, which opens Oct. 15. (photo by Nicol Spinola) Given the excellence of its previous two site-specific immersive musicals – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet…
The 35th annual Vancouver Writers Festival includes many members of the Jewish community among the more than 115 authors from across Canada and around the globe who will join the events on Granville Island and elsewhere Oct. 17-23. The festival…
As part of the Vancouver Recital Society’s fall programming, both pianist Sir András Schiff (above), and harpsichordist Jean Rondeau will perform J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations. The Vancouver Recital Society’s season opened last month with the Canadian debut of Italian pianist…
A scene from Clowns by Hofesh Shechter Company. (photo by Todd MacDonald) Double Murder takes audiences on a journey from cynicism and violence to hope and healing. The double bill from the United Kingdom’s Hofesh Shechter Company features Clowns, described…
Photograher David Cooper in a self-portrait. David Cooper is renowned for the skill with which he captures energy and light in photographs and film. But the multiple-award-winning artist was not appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2020…
Artists of Ballet BC in a previous presentation of Bedroom Folk by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar. (photo by Cindi Wicklund) Ballet BC will share five new commissions as well as beloved audience favourites in its 2022/23 season. From emerging,…
Anyone who knows more than a little bit about Holocaust hero Rudolf Vrba – a Vancouverite for 31 years – will approach Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World (London, UK: John…
Laura Soda, right, with her host family, the Lipiks, and some of her MITF colleagues at Rosh Hashanah. (photo from Laura Soda) Growing up as a Jewish young adult in White Rock, I always had mixed feelings about celebrating the…
Barbara Halparin writes about her experience of riding in the Greater Van Gogos’ sixth annual Solidarity Cycle, a fundraising event in support of the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign. (photo from Tikun Olam Gogos) Editor: On Sunday, Sept.…
I heard once about an executive who explained in an interview: we debate a lot behind the scenes, but when we present our opinion or policy, it is a united front. We expect all employees to avoid saying or writing…
Mouthwatering air fryer chicken satay with peanut sauce. (photo by Shelley Civkin) My father, alav hashalom, used to use the Yiddish phrase “Don’t hock me a tscheynik,” meaning, literally, don’t bang my teakettle. But, idiomatically, it means don’t bother me with…
הבירוקרטיה ממשיכה לנהל את החיים שלנו. חשבתי שסיימנו את הבעיות הביורוקרטיות אך הן ממשיכות לצוץ ולמרר את חיינו. הזכרתי בטור הקודם כי לאחר מותי אמי, אחי ואני נדרשנו לטפל בצוואת ההורים, אך לאור הבירוקרטיה הכל הפך למסובך הזכרתי עוד כי…
Matti Feigelstock, left, and Alisa Farina (photos from Jewish Federation) The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver is expanding its efforts to address the mental health needs of younger members of the community by forming a partnership with Project L’Chaim, and hiring a…
Fran Drescher, best known for the TV show The Nanny, among other comedic roles, enraptured audience members at the Jewish Federation annual campaign launch Sept. 8. She offered deeply vulnerable descriptions of being raped and of surviving cancer, and the…
Yael Eckstein, president and chief executive officer of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. (photo from IFCJ) Twice a year, the president and chief executive officer of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yael Eckstein, heads into Ukraine’s…
Ephraim Mirvis, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, issued a special prayer in English and Hebrew to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. It was shared by Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Infeld at the opening…
Over the Labour Day weekend, while many Canadians were soaking up the declining rays of summer or doing last-minute back-to-school shopping, Middle East politics eclipsed everything else – well, for those of us who track these things closely, which, it…
Last Flight Home follows Air Florida founder Eli Timoner’s last weeks of life. (still from film) The Vancouver International Film Festival opens Sept. 29, and this year’s festival will be impressive, if the releases reviewed by the Independent are any…
Image from 1341 Frames of Love and War, a photo by Micha Bar-Am. Photographer Micha Bar-Am, now 92, is considered perhaps the foremost visual chronicler of Israeli history. In 1341 Frames of Love and War, filmmaker Ran Tal creates what…
A still from the film The Forger, starring Louis Hofmann. The 41st Vancouver International Film Festival takes place Sept. 29-Oct. 9, 2022. This year, the Jewish Independent is the media sponsor of The Forger (directed by Maggie Peren, Germany/Luxembourg), so we’re doing…
The Jerusalem Business Development Centre (known in Hebrew by the acronym MATI) makes a direct contribution to shared living, and two leaders of the Israeli organization will visit British Columbia next month. (photo from CFHU Vancouver) Shared living in Jerusalem…
Kolot Mayim Reform Temple in Victoria is presenting a new season of its Building Bridges speakers series. The 2022/23 lineup will highlight the theme of Hineini: Answering the Call to Heal the World. The Hebrew word Hineini can be translated…
Anat Gogo, new executive director of Tikva Housing Society. (photo from Tikva Housing) Anat Gogo is the new executive director of Tikva Housing Society. Gogo took over leadership of the affordable housing society on Sept. 1, after several years in…
Vanessa Trester, manager of the Weinberg Residence, speaks to those gathered at the 20th anniversary party. (photos by Galit Lewinski) The Weinberg Residence has just entered its 20th year. The assisted living and multi-level care facility opened in 2003 as…
A photo break at the Okanagan Jewish Community’s annual picnic and barbecue. (photo from OJC) The Okanagan Jewish Community (OJC), centred in Kelowna, has grown tremendously in the last few years. Those living in the big cities seem to be…
Every election gives us the power to make a difference. Every election is an opportunity to make an impact. This municipal election, you can make both happen. The past two years have seen British Columbians head to the ballot boxes…
Loni the Percheron Horse comes in the entrance of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital. (photo from Louis Brier) Loni the Percheron Horse and his side kick Beau the Shitzu visited the Louis Brier Home and Hospital the afternoon of…
