Goldie Kassen celebrated her 100th birthday on Aug. 12. (photo from Barbara Taranto) Goldie Kassen, who turned 100 on Aug. 12, was fêted by family and friends from across Canada and around the world. “My entire family was here for…
Highlights of the Scotiabank Dance Centre’s 20th anniversary celebration include a performance on the outside wall of the building by aerial dance company Aeriosa. (photo by Louise Cecil) Scotiabank Dance Centre celebrates its 20th anniversary on Oct. 2 with a…
This photo was taken at the home of Harry and Ida Fishman, 4862 Ridgelawn Dr., in Burnaby, in the 1960s. If you recognize anyone in it, please email Roni (Fishman) Wosk at ronandroniwosk@gmail.com.
A cover story in the Oct. 14, 1987, JWB announced that Ida Nudel would be granted her long-sought-after exit visa from the USSR. In the Jewish Independent’s special 90+1 issue this past May, reader Ronnie Tessler recalled one of the…
I was very much looking forward to two recent novels. Both are love stories, but unconventional ones. I enjoyed them, and read them cover to cover – generally, I allow myself to stop reading, watching or listening to whatever it…
Do you realize that everyone you know will die? Of course you do. All of us know that. But, most of the time, we don’t think about it. We forget about it insofar as it motivates our actions, our interactions…
As a kid, Sukkot wasn’t a holiday we observed at home. Our congregation was where I decorated and visited a sukkah, but it wasn’t a big festival for us. The temple did feel like an extension of my house since…
“Stuffed vegetables – a most ancient Sukkot dish, probably having its genesis with the grape leaves remaining on the vine after the harvest that were then filled and simmered until tender – are common sights on holiday tables in all…
המכר של מדרום אמריקה מנסה להסביר לי מדוע עדיף לגור ביבשת שלו ולא במערב. מה הוא אומר: “החיים במערב לחוצים פי כמה מאשר במדינות הלטיניות, זה ברור. אני מדבר על הכלל. אדם צריך לעבוד קשה כדי להתפרנס, מה שלא צריך…
The Tzimmes sextet, in 2019. Left to right are Saul Berson, Phil Belanger, Tim Stacey, Amy Stephen, Yona Bar-Sever and Moshe Denburg. Also part of the ensemble in the new recording, but not pictured here, is Fabiana Katz. (photo from…
Much has been made of the challenges facing Canadians as the country engages in its 44th federal general election while still in the grips of a pandemic. For Jewish voters, the succession of holidays in the weeks leading up to…
Jewish community members Tamara Kronis (Conservative party) and Avi Lewis (NDP) are running in the upcoming federal election. (photos from candidates) British Columbia’s comparatively small Jewish community has produced a number of senior political figures, including the province’s first Jewish…
Or Shalom members Lorne Malliin and Marianne Rev organized a demonstration at the office of Harjit Sajjan, federal minister of national defence and MP for Vancouver South. (photo from Lorne Mallin) The heat dome that sent much of British Columbia…
The leading federal political parties have pledged their support to the redevelopment of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Kailin Che, the Conservative Candidate for Vancouver Granville, issued a release Sept. 1, saying that a Conservative government would commit…
Oct. 21, 2019, seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? That was the date of the last Canadian federal election. Since then, it’s been a world of endless uncertainties and instability. The Jewish community has witnessed levels of antisemitism that haven’t been seen for decades. Hate crime numbers are way up. The…
An important – and surprising – court decision in Poland last month is a small victory in a longer battle over the history of Polish behaviour during the Second World War. On appeal, two Holocaust scholars had an earlier decision…
At the dinner table, I asked my family what I should write. One of my kids, age 10, immediately said, “Climate change. People think the problem’s all hot air, but the problem’s really hot water.” There was a smirk at…
A proposed fall semester course at the University of Victoria has raised concerns that it will become what B’nai Brith Canada described as “a forum for antisemitism.” The concerns were sparked by inflammatory comments the course’s instructor, Dr. Shamma Boyarin,…
Afterlife is Isa Milman’s first work of nonfiction. (photo by Shea Lowry) Midway through Isa Milman’s Afterlight, which came out this week, the author cites Reb Nachman of Breslov, who said, “The whole world is a very narrow bridge.” In…
Ariel Martz-Oberlander wrote and co-stars in on behalf. (photo from Julia Lank) In the Aug. 20 issue of the Jewish Independent, there was a short article on the Vancouver Fringe Festival show A Coveted Wife of East Van, which “tells…
Bard on the Beach’s Done/Undone, written by Kate Besworth, co-stars Harveen Sandhu and Charlie Gallant. (photo from bardonthebeach.org) Throughout COVID, Vancouver’s Bard on the Beach has been unable to mount its popular summer festival at Vanier Park. However, it is…
Michal Wiets uses her great-grandfather’s diaries as the basis for her film Blue Box. (image courtesy) At press time, the Vancouver International Film Festival lineup had not yet been announced. But the Independent received the names of some of the…
Josh “Socalled” Dolgin leads an evening of Yiddish songs as part of Chutzpah! 2021. (photo from Chutzpah!) The Chutzpah! Festival returns this November, presenting music, theatre, comedy and dance that reflect the joy of coming back together. For more than…
Nicholas Guerriero as John Lennon, left, and Perry Burton as his Jewish lawyer, Leon Wildes, in Bema Productions’ rendition of Mazel Tov, John Lennon by David Wells, which had a virtual run at the Victoria Fringe Festival this year (photo from…
Light of Shabbat Volunteers packaging kosher meals for the High Holidays. (photo from Chabad Richmond) On Aug. 29, a contingent of 12 Chabad Richmond volunteers worked to ensure that recipients of the Richmond community Light of Shabbat (LOS) meal program…
I have more years behind me than most of you. I remember what seems to me all the big events. While prominent in my mind, I do try to pay more attention to the daily round. Today, for example, I…
JQT Vancouver executive director Carmel Tanaka at the Zack Gallery, where the Chosen Family exhibit is on display until Sept. 30. (photo from Carmel Tanaka) In a Simon Fraser University survey of more than 4,000 elderly Canadians (55+), conducted from…
In Bayla’s Issues, the title character is plagued by the travails of aging and anxiety, and a desire for acknowledgement in the art world. Bayla’s Issues, a 2020 animated short based on the comic strip Bayla’s Comics by Vancouver artist…
(photo from internationalaffairs.org.au) The interview was a moment of clarity and despondency. A cable news anchor asked an Afghan-Canadian activist what the West should do to save the Afghan people, especially women and girls, from the Taliban. The hesitation by…
Brian Jessel has loved cars since he was a kid. (photo by Alfonso Arnold) Brian Jessel chose one of the most consequential years in Vancouver’s history, 1986, to embark on his self-named BMW dealership. Since Expo 86, both the city and…
