Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue (photo from Bema Productions) Bema Productions, directed by Zelda Dean, is bringing the play Peace Talks to the Victoria Fringe Festival, Aug. 25-Sept. 4. Performances will take place at Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue’s Black Box Theatre, 1461 Blanshard…
Day 17: Gary Averbach at Sicamous, a resort town about halfway between Calgary and Vancouver. At press time, Gary Averbach had reached Kamloops, completing 23 days of his walk to raise money for cancer research, which started in Calgary on…
Candance Kwinter, far right, and other members of a foreign delegation to Ethiopia, take in a synagogue service in Gondar. (photo from Candace Kwinter) The latest airlift from the Horn of Africa is underway – and a Vancouver community leader…
Entire Jewish families were rounded up and interned in the Vel d’Hiv and other places in France, when La Grande Rafle began on July 16, 1942. (unattributed image) It is 80 years this summer since La Grande Rafle (the Great…
Carmel Tanaka in front of the house on Jackson Street from which National Council of Jewish Women once offered social services. (photo by Ari Fremder) A series of Vancouver walking tours with a Jewish connection took a queer twist recently. Cross…
Dror Israel representatives Noam Schlanger and Joanna Zeiger-Guerra visited Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver last month. (photos from Dror Israel) Last month, two representatives of Dror Israel, Noam Schlanger and Joanna Zeiger-Guerra, paid a visit to the region – Seattle, Victoria…
Tag Meir chair Dr. Gadi Gvaryahu speaks, as moderator Maytal Kowalski and the live and Zoom audience listen. (photo from New Israel Fund of Canada) Dr. Gadi Gvaryahu, chair of the Israeli anti-racism organization Tag Meir, addressed live and Zoom…
Imam Mohammed Tawhidi once preached hatred, but now is known as “the Imam of Peace.” (photo from imamtawhidi.com) Imam Mohammad Tawhidi once preached hate towards Jews from the pulpit, and believed the very worst stereotypes about the Jewish people. He…
Mexican-Canadian singer Gustavo Herrera helped finish off the 2021/22 season of the Jewish Seniors Alliance Snider Foundation Empowerment Series. The classically trained operatic tenor, who has a powerful and melodic voice, entertained the audience with a mixture of classical and…
Leamore Cohen (photo by Efrat Gal-Or Nucleus Photography) The Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s inclusion services program is one of the recipients of the Lieutenant Governor’s Arts and Music Awards, in the category of visual arts. This one-time honour,…
ORT delegate Nata Saslofsky with students from the D. Dan and Betty Kahn STEAM Centre at the Rodman Middle School in Kiryat Yam, Israel. (photo from ORT) As a town with one of the highest percentages of new immigrants in…
British-Israeli composer Loretta Kay Feld. (photo by Michal Sela) Loretta Kay Feld was asked by someone close to Queen Elizabeth II to compose three tributes, which, said Kay Feld, “were gifted to Her Majesty to honour her 70 years on…
As soon as they got into power, German Nazis began to make life hell for German-Jewish men – partly to promote their sadistically comic-book ideal of “Aryan” masculine supremacy, and partly out of a desire to plunder valuables and property.…
The author with her grandmother. (photo from Becca Wertman-Traub) In the story of the Jewish people, it is not just about our patriarchs but the matriarchs, too. I grew up knowing that both my grandparents, Babi and Zaida, were Holocaust survivors.…
I was driving down the back lane, kids in the car, when I saw a neighbour. I stopped and rolled down the window for a chat. The neighbour’s children lived nearby and they were looking for flooring to refinish the…
חזרתי מנסיעה שנייה לישראל בסוף חודש מאי. בראשית חודש פברואר טסתי בדחיפות לישראל כיוון שאמי היתה מאושפזת במצב קריטי בבית החולים איכילוב שליד ביתה, לאחר שנחנקה מחתיכת תפוח שהיתה בסלט שאכלה. היא נפטרה לאחר מספר ימים ונקברה בדיוק באותו יום…
The company of Bard on Beach’s production of Midsummer Night’s Dream. (photo by Tim Matheson) The thespian delights of Shakespeare set against the glorious backdrop of mountains, sea and sky have been missed. But now, after a COVID-induced two-year hiatus,…
Marsha Lederman’s Kiss the Red Stairs begins in 1919, when her father was born, on erev Yom Kippur. (photo by Ben Nelms) In the last couple of decades, researchers have identified traits that affect many children of Holocaust survivors. There…
The explosive debate around abortion spurred by the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of a woman’s right to reproductive self-determination reminds us that the Jewish perspective on the topic is nuanced. “Jewish law approaches each case according to its particular circumstances,”…
Michelle Demers Shaevitz, artistic director of Mission Folk Music Festival, which runs July 22-24. (photo from Mission Folk Music Festival) “Mission Folk Music Festival is a wonderful combination of the familiar and the magical,” artistic director Michelle Demers Shaevitz told…
Pat Johnson, founder of Upstanders Canada. (photo by Paul Tillotson) There has been a widening split between many progressive movements and the Jewish community in recent decades, according to Pat Johnson, the founder of Upstanders Canada. His Vancouver-based organization aims…
Helen Pinsky still chairs Waldman Library’s Jewish Book Club, which she started in 2015 when she was librarian there. (photo from Helen Pinsky) Helen Pinsky founded the Waldman Library’s Jewish Book Club in 2015, when she was the librarian there.…
A Caplansky’s Deli fan takes a selfie with the restaurant’s founder, Zane Caplansky. (photo from Zane Caplansky) As Zane Caplansky describes it, his journey in the world of deli, which ultimately led him from Toronto to Tofino, began on a…
At the Freilach 25 gala on June 19, left to right, are Yocheved Baitelman, Chanie Baitelman, Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman, Natan Sharansky and Avital Sharansky. (photo by Kasselman Creatives) Natan Sharansky, the most famous “Prisoner of Zion” and a former Israeli…
Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University honouree Martin Thibodeau, B.C. president of RBC Royal Bank, speaks at the June 9 gala. (photo from CABGU) Less than six decades ago, the city of Beersheva, in Israel, had more camels than people. Now,…
Winnipeg has had a bagel renaissance. It’s not exactly a bagel mecca, and these are definitely not the New York City bagels my husband was raised eating. However, the recent bagel trends here are a step forward. In the earlier…
Who among us enjoys using a 400°F oven during the summer? That would be: Nobody. Ever. For me, summer is synonymous with barbecuing, which is first cousin to steak, hamburgers, chicken and grilled veggies. Recently introduced to tuna steaks, I’ve…
Peach cobbler (photo by sk/flickr) Tabbouleh is such a popular Lebanese salad that the first Saturday of July is known as Lebanese National Tabbouleh Day. Although there are variations, classical tabbouleh is bulgur, parsley, tomatoes, mint and onion with olive…
Joseph and Rosalie Segal (seated) and family at the 2016 Summer Garden Party fundraiser for Vancouver Hebrew Academy. (photo by Jocelyne Hallé) Joseph Segal, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who was recognized by the governments of British Columbia and Canada with…
The Jewish Food Bank operates out of Jewish Family Services’ the Kitchen, on East 3rd Avenue. (photo from JFS) Like so many other individuals and organizations since Joseph Segal’s death on May 31, Jewish Family Services Vancouver has been reflecting…
