Dr. Paige Axelrood and Ivan Sayers were among the 25 British Columbians honoured with a 2020 BC Achievement Community Award. (photos from BC Achievement Foundation) On April 27, Premier John Horgan and Anne Giardini, chair of the BC Achievement Foundation,…
Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Al-Issa receives an award, virtually, from Sacha Roytman-Dratwa, director of the Combat Antisemitism Movement. (screenshot) During a worldwide virtual event this month involving Jewish leaders and government officials from various countries, one of the leading figures in…
The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver were among 125 partners presenting a global commemoration of the 77th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising recently. Beginning and ending with stirring renditions of the “Partisans’…
Left to right: Devorah Abramson, Yehudit Dribben and Sheva Chaya blow the shofar at Miriam’s Well on Lake Kinneret. (photo by Aviva Spiegel) In the annals of the current COVID-19 pandemic, artist Maureen Kushner has a rare happy story –…
A human jawbone found in the Misliya Cave on Mount Carmel near Haifa. (photo by Israel Hershkowitz, Tel Aviv University via Ashernet) A human jawbone and other fossils found in the Misliya Cave on Mount Carmel near Haifa indicate that…
Oxytocin, a peptide produced in the brain, may bring hearts together – or it can help induce aggression. (image from Weizmann Institute) During the pandemic lockdown, as couples have been forced to spend days and weeks in each other’s company,…
בשבועות האחרונים מפגינים רבים יוצאים לרחובות בערים שונות ברחבי קנדה כדי למחות נגד הגעזנות והאפלייה בארה”ב, קנדה ובעולם כולו. (רוני רחמני) קנדה התמודדה בשבוע שעבר עם פרשה הקשורה להפעלת כוח מופרז על-ידי שוטרים נגד בני מיעוטים. ראש הממשלה הקנדי, ג’סטין…
Avram Finkelstein will be participating in the Queer Arts Festival, which takes place July 16-26. (photo by Alina Oswald) A lot of it feels familiar, said New York-based artist and activist Avram Finkelstein about the current situation in the United States.…
On June 4, New Brunswick resident Chantel Moore, originally from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation near Tofino, B.C., was shot to death by a police officer sent to her home to check on her well-being. On May 27, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, an…
Left to right: MP Joyce Murray, MLA Selina Robinson and Vancouver Councilor Sarah Kirby-Yung spoke at a June 3 webinar hosted by the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee. (photos from the internet) “Intense” was the word used by speakers from all…
Joel Chasnoff spoke at a Zoom event presented by Jewish National Fund of Canada on June 1 and he’ll speak at a CHW Montreal Zoom event on June 21. (photo from APB Speakers) Michael Levin grew up in Philadelphia, joined the…
Michael Geller at the groundbreaking of ConWest’s IRONWORKS development in 2017. (photo from Michael Geller) The COVID pandemic and the months of social isolation it created will have impacts on real estate prices, urban design and human behaviours, says a local…
Members of Temple Sholom Men’s Club at last year’s Whistler retreat. This year’s event, scheduled for May but canceled due to the pandemic, was to focus on indigenous issues. (photo from templesholom.ca) Temple Sholom Men’s Club, which hosted the Michael Geller…
My family plants a garden every summer. We live in a city and don’t have lots of room. Since our house is more than 100 years old, we created small raised beds, filled with compost and soil, to avoid growing…
Several years ago, Chabad Richmond launched the Light of Shabbat program with the purpose of helping Richmond Jewish seniors celebrate Shabbat and feel connected. At first, the program involved making and delivering a free, homemade, kosher kugel and challah to…
While B.C. residents have been given the go-ahead for local travel, there are still safety restrictions in place, so plan accordingly. (photo by Colin Keigher) What a year so far. For many of us, a driving tour of the Fraser Valley…
The tablet found by Imri Elya. (photo by IAA via Ashernet) Imri Elya was on an outing with his parents at Tel Jemmeh archeological site near Kibbutz Re’im when he picked up the square clay object. His parents contacted the…
(photo by Cynthia Ramsay) Normally, this special issue would be called Summer Celebration and have a multi-page pullout calendar of events. This summer, however, is unique and more sobering. The photograph is meant to reflect our current reality. We have no…
ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו (U.S. Department of State) המראות הקשים מהחדשות האחרונות העיבו על רוחי. המגפה הנוראית הזו גבתה את חייהם של רבים בקנדה ובעולם כולו. מה עושים שאלתי את עצמי מספר פעמים עד שעלה במוחי רעיון מעולה. דבר שישמח…
Storyteller Naomi Eliana Pommier Steinberg’s years-long Goosefeather journey has taken her around the world. This photo was taken in Paris in 2015. (photo © lineka) A travelogue of observations and experiences from the unique to the mundane, the personal to…
In a Temple Sholom webinar May 6, ZLC Financial’s Garry Zlotnik, left, and Jon McKinney spoke on the topic Financial Planning in a Pandemic. (photos from Temple Sholom) Reflecting on previous financial downturns – in 1987, 2000 and 2008 –…
Those who missed the Vancouver performances of Deborah Vogt’s Big Sister, which is performed by her real-life sister, Naomi Vogt, can rent it online until June 11. (photo from JW3) Former Vancouverite Deborah Vogt’s play Big Sister is available to…
Clockwise from the top left are Amanda Blitz, Kathleen Monk, Amanda Alvaro and Chad Rogers. Political pundits Amanda Alvaro, Chad Rogers and Kathleen Monk recently participated in an hour-long panel discussion on politics during COVID-19, examining how Canada’s leaders have…
British Columbians, like others in much of the world, are stepping gingerly into what may be a post-pandemic period – or an “inter-pandemic” phase, if the predicted second wave bears out. Our daily briefings from Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial…
Lianne Cohen prepares to take a “PORCHtrait” of the Gorski family. (photo from Kehila Society) As a fundraiser for Kehila Society of Richmond and/or Pathways Clubhouse, professional photographers Lianne Cohen, Jocelyne Hallé and Adele Lewin are volunteering their time (in…
In the first eight weeks of Jewish Family Services Vancouver’s COVID-19 emergency response program, more than 400 calls were received, 1,500 meals and groceries were delivered, and 672 hours of service was provided on the Community Care Hotline. In addition…
Israeli artists Yair Levi and Shai Sol sing Moses’s prayer to heal his sister Miriam of leprosy. The song, “Refa Na,” has resonated with people during the pandemic. The song “Refa Na” (“Heal Her Now’”) by Israeli composer Yair Levi,…
Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women’s Voices from the Gulag by Monika Zgustova (Other Press, 2020) is the first book to focus exclusively on women who lived in the Gulag. It is an intimate look at nine women,…
