Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim introduces kids to Purim, numbers 1-10.
Fans of Once a Bear: A Counting Book by Ron Atlas (words) and Zach Horvath (illustrations) will be happy to find that their bear friends have returned – this time, in Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim. Both 24-page board books are published by the Collective Book Studio, which has produced several well-written and -designed books reviewed by the Independent.
Ten Purim Bears features all the same adorable bear characters as the first book, and follows the same format. Each scene spreads over two pages, with the numbers one through 10 written out on top and appearing numerically on the bottom, as borders. In the middle are 10 chairs, the first scene with mostly empty chairs, except for the one on the far left, where sits a baseball-costumed bear wondering, “Where is everyone?” As we progress through the story, we get more bear bums on seats, each dressed in a different costume. As each new bear enters, the new number of bears is highlighted in white on both the top and bottom borders.
Adi, bear #6, takes her seat in Ten Purim Bears: A Counting Book for Purim by Ron Atlas (words) and Zach Horvath (illustrations), published by the Collective Book Studio.
Directed to readers up to 6 years old, their reader-helpers will enjoy a laugh or two, as well. For example, Flor, “who lives next door,” sits down and says, “I’m saving a seat for my friend.” Turning the page, Pete, “from down the street,” has sat next to Flor, saying: “I’m the friend.” I hear him doing it in a deadpan voice and it makes me chuckle every time.
There are two short narratives for each scene – one introducing the next bear and the bears talking among themselves. It’s a nice touch, kind of like having a parent narrator and then the kids’ views on things. As we are told by the narrator that Adi’s sister, Mandy, “brought some sweets – lots and lots of Purim treats,” we see Mandy handing them out: “There’s some for everyone,” she says. “Thank you,” says her sister. The hamantaschen that Amari Bear baked to share with his friends are his favourite, he says, while Adi agrees, “Yum!”
Kids learns not only how to count, but a bit about Purim and its traditions. Sharing, politeness and a sense of community are encouraged. As is a sense of fun, with the various costumes. And the arts! The bears have all gathered to watch a Purim spiel, of course. And we get to see a scene of the play, with quadruple-threat performers – acting, dancing, singing and playing instruments – looking like they are having a good time. The 10-bear audience certainly is.
Ten Purim Bears and Once a Bear can be purchased at thecollectivebook.studio. Check out the publisher’s website further when you’re there, as there will no doubt be another book or two you’ll want to add to your collection.
Marcie Flom leaves the Jewish Community Foundation after 21 years, to pursue the next chapter of her professional life.(photo from Jewish Federation)
“I just want to say that I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to serve this community for as long as I have, and I want to acknowledge all the support of the staff and volunteers I have had the pleasure of working with,” said Marcie Flom, whose last day as executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver was Dec. 27. “Community work is a team effort, and we are very fortunate in the Vancouver community to have a wealth of talented and passionate volunteers and professionals who care deeply and contribute wholeheartedly to its success.”
Flom leaves her post after 21 years.
“It is always good to leave on a high note and I achieved my personal goal of stewarding the Jewish Community Foundation over the $100 million mark,” she said. “There is a very strong and competent team in place at the Foundation and Federation and exceptional lay leadership in the Foundation governors under chair Howard Kallner.
“With all that in place, it is the perfect time for me to move on to pursue the next chapter in my professional life. I’m planning to continue my work with donors and families to assist them with their philanthropy – it’s the piece of life’s work that brings me the greatest joy and fulfillment.”
Flom joined the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver in 2004, when she was recruited by then-new executive director of Federation Mark Gurvis, who now serves as chief executive officer of the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation, for the role of Foundation director. (The Foundation was founded in 1989 as the endowment program of Federation and has developed from there.)
“I had spent most of my career in the not-for-profit sector working in the arts, first for the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto and then for the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company,” said Flom.
This experience in marketing and development is one of the reasons Gurvis reached out to her.
“I was a new mother and consulting at the time, and I felt strongly that I wanted to raise my daughter in the community,” said Flom about why she accepted the Foundation position. “It was also a challenging time in Israel, and I thought it was the perfect time to use my experience for the benefit of the community here and in Israel. It was an excellent role for me, and I saw a great deal of potential for growing the Foundation and raising my daughter in a caring community.”
Flom’s role at the organization also grew.
“After a few years as Foundation director,” she said, “the Federation recognized that it needed a more donor-centric and holistic approach to working with donors to match their interests to fill gaps in community services and to meet emerging needs. I had the relevant experience in marketing and fundraising to integrate those functions operationally into a new philanthropic model which addressed financial resource development across the organization.
“I moved into a VP role, which was largely operational. With the level of operational experience and knowledge that I cultivated, I was positioned to serve in greater capacity, culminating in my most recent role, with oversight of the community engagement and local and overseas allocations processes. It was the perfect role as I wrapped up my time with Federation, the integration of revenue and the distribution and granting of charitable funds. I also managed the allocation of our communities Israel Emergency Funds alongside chair Stephen Gaerber and the director of Federation’s Israel office, Rachel Sachs. I cannot begin to express how meaningful and impactful that process has been for me personally during one of the darkest periods in the history of the country.”
Federation is currently recruiting a senior development professional to fill the vacancy Flom’s departure leaves. Not an easy task.
“One of the things that stands out most about Marcie is her people-first approach,” wrote Ezra Shanken, Jewish Federation chief executive officer since 2014, in his weekly Shabbat message last November, when he announced Flom’s decision. “She has mentored many of our staff over the years, and has built authentic and long-lasting relationships with partners and donors who speak of her impeccable integrity, her strategic approach, and her genuine care for community.”
Shanken wrote that it was with “mixed emotions that we share that Marcie will be stepping down from her role with us at the end of this year. We will miss her, but she is ready to start a new chapter in her career, and we are excited for her.”
Among the highlights of her time at the Foundation, Flom said, “Of course, participating actively in our community’s growth and seeing the funding directly impact capacity across community has been incredibly rewarding, but I am also so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many community members to help them achieve their philanthropic goals through association with Federation and through their funds at the Foundation. That aspect of my work has always been a true pleasure, and it was only possible because of the many trusted relationships I have with the people I have worked with across our community, including lay leaders and the professionals. Those are treasured and greatly valued.”
There were challenges over the years, notably COVID and Oct. 7.
“I also distinctly remember the financial crisis of 2008,” said Flom. “Isaac Thau was chair of the Foundation’s investment committee at the time, the markets were significantly down and there was tremendous pressure related to portfolio performance. Isaac fondly recalls it as ‘the time that we couldn’t walk through the JCC lobby without wearing a helmet.’ It was challenging for sure, but the Foundation closed the year with a moderate loss compared to others like the Vancouver Foundation and, in the end, the way we navigated that time helped to build our reputation.”
That reputation no doubt helped the Foundation reach the milestone of more than $100 million in assets under management.
“The growth is attributable to the strategic plan but, more importantly, the trust and confidence the Foundation has built in our community,” Flom affirmed. “The governance and committee structure in place, the passion, knowledge and expertise of our volunteers, particularly at the governor and investment committee tables, have all built confidence so more and more community members and charitable organizations are turning to the Foundation to manage their assets and assist them with their philanthropy.”
The Foundation distributes more than $3 million annually to “a broad range of charitable organizations and areas of service across community through its unrestricted grant program and from donor-advised and -designated funds,” she said. “The Foundation works with fund holders to meet new and emerging needs in the community, support organizations and their program delivery, and to provide legacy support for organizations to carry out their important work in perpetuity.”
Corey Levine has helped bring many Afghan women MPs and their families to safety in Canada. She will speak about her experiences at the Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Society event honouring her. (photo from Corey Levine)
The Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Society’s Civil Courage Award honours individuals who help others escape from unjust and dangerous situations at great risk to themselves, as both Sweden’s Raoul Wallenberg and Japan’s Chiune Sugihara did during the Second World War to help Jews flee the Nazis. On Jan. 19, at the society’s 20th Annual Raoul Wallenberg Day event, this year’s award will be given to Corey Levine, who has been helping women flee Afghanistan.
There were 69 women in Afghanistan’s parliament when the country experienced a brief period of democracy. When Kabul fell and the Taliban retook control on Aug. 15, 2021, these women had to flee or they would have been murdered. Most of them made it to Greece, Albania or elsewhere, where they lived until they were able to make their way to Canada or the United States. Others made it to Pakistan, where they live in hiding, in danger of being deported back to Afghanistan if found.
Levine has been doing human rights work in war zones for about 30 years. “I really embrace the idea of tikkun olam, that it is our individual responsibility to contribute to repairing the world,” she said.
Her first trip to Afghanistan, in March 2002, was as a consultant with the Canadian International Development Agency’s peace-building unit. “The Taliban had just been routed, and Western countries were starting to engage,” she said.
That was the start of a 23-year-and-counting relationship with the country, both as a consultant with various international organizations and personally.
The last time she was on a paid contract in Afghanistan, it was with UN Women. She was there for nine months, “seconded to work with Afghan women parliamentarians, to support them and develop some strategies, etc. I left Afghanistan six weeks before the Taliban took over the second time and, basically, from the time that I left, but especially the day that Kabul fell, Aug. 15, 2021, people started contacting me. At first, it was Afghan friends and colleagues – because I’d been going there for 20 years at that point – asking me for help. And I said, I don’t know, I’ll see what I can do. I couldn’t have imagined then that it would end up being a 24/7 crisis management [project] that I ended up doing for the past three-and-a-half years all on my own, voluntarily.”
Calls for help started coming from people Levine didn’t know. “In a way, it was almost like an underground railway,” she said, with so many people, as individuals or as part of organizations, trying to get out of the country, Afghans at risk of being killed by the Taliban. Helping people escape was unfamiliar work for many of the people involved. “We were all kind of flying by the seat of our pants,” she said.
“It’s one thing to get people into safe houses. That’s only a temporary Band-Aid solution. It’s how to help them afterwards, how to help them reach safety. And then I started organizing private sponsorship. Canada has this unique program where groups of people in a community can come together and raise money and privately sponsor refugees.”
Levine has managed to organize seven private sponsorship groups in Victoria, where she lives, and is working on an eighth. Amid this work, she returned to Afghanistan in June 2022. While there on that trip, she tried to help some of the women MPs who had been left behind, and this work became part of her ongoing efforts to rescue at-risk Afghans.
“In September 2022,” said Levine. “I went to a conference in Ottawa and I met a few MPs…. I don’t know how, but I put together an all-party group of MPs that were interested in helping me get these women out.”
The resulting group comprises Bloc Québécois citizenship and immigration critic Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, who was a co-chair of the Special Committee on Afghanistan; Conservative MP Alex Ruff, who twice served in Afghanistan with Canada’s military and was also on the special committee; Liberal MP Marcus Powlowski, who had spoken out, even before the Taliban retook Afghanistan, about the need for Canada to help Afghans; Green Party leader Elizabeth May, who used to be Levine’s MP and who had already helped Levine in this area; NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson and Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy, who were also keen to participate, said Levine.
“One of the women we were trying to help, and the event is dedicated to her memory, she was killed by the Taliban in January 2023,” said Levine, referring to Mursal Nabizada. “She was one of the women I had met when I was in Afghanistan in June of 2022…. Before that, we had been working under the radar with the government…. But then, once her death happened, because it was international news … the MPs released a statement about it, which got a lot of traction. The government stepped up after that, and we went back underground, so to speak,” mainly for security reasons.
However, the MP group has since become more public – a CBC documentary on their work aired last October. Its members continue to negotiate for more Afghan women MP refugees to be able to come to Canada and, from their efforts so far, seven Afghan families are here safely, said Levine. “One of them is going to be speaking at the event on the 19th.”
Former Afghan MP Gulalai Mohammadi, who escaped to Canada with her family last year, is that speaker. In addition to Mohammadi and Levine, May will also participate, representing the MP panel.
The Jan. 19, 1:30 p.m., event will take place at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. Admission is free, but donations are welcome, with donations of $36 or more receiving a tax receipt. A reception will follow the program.
For more information on the Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Society, visit wsccs.ca.
“Canada’s Jewish community is divided over Israeli and domestic Canadian politics, even though rising antisemitism and war seem to have increased the emotional attachment of Canada’s Jews to Israel,” writes sociologist Robert Brym in the executive summary of Arguments for the Sake of Heaven: A Jewish Community Divided. The report imparts the results of a poll sponsored by the New Israel Fund of Canada, JSpaceCanada, and Canadian Friends of Peace Now.
From Aug. 28 to Sept. 16, 2024, the polling firm Leger surveyed 588 Canadian Jews. The sample “was drawn from a large online panel of Canadian adults. It was weighted by characteristics of the Canadian Jewish population based on the 2021 Census of Canada and the 2018 Survey of Jews in Canada,” which was prepared by Brym, Keith Neuman and Rhonda Lenton for the Environics Institute, University of Toronto, and York University. The composition of the sample “is believed to be broadly representative of Canadian Jewry.”
“We undertook this survey in response to conservative establishment Jewish institutions and anti-Zionist Jewish groups co-creating a polarized, black-and-white public debate that didn’t reflect the diverse, nuanced Jewish community we know and love,” write Maytal Kowalski, JSpaceCanada executive director, Gabriella Goliger, national chair of Canadian Friends of Peace Now, and Ben Murane, executive director of NIF Canada, in the introduction to the report, which was released last month.
“Our research confirms that there is no such thing as ‘the Jewish community’s opinion’ as a monolith, nor can any segment of the community (or any institution) claim to speak for all others. In many cases, we see no majority opinion as well as high levels of uncertainty. Therefore, not only are claims of monolithic support misrepresentations of Canadian Jewish diversity, they also erase the spirited nature of Jewish life in Canada.”
Explaining the report’s title, they note: “One of the noblest ideals in Judaism is ‘arguments for the sake of heaven’ – that disagreement and debate are in fact coveted and celebrated as long as the disagreement is ‘for the sake of heaven,’ meaning an argument that seeks to uncover truth.”
They call upon “Jewish communal leaders to uphold and support the variety of opinions and ideas held by Canadian Jews – and to foster arguments for the sake of heaven,” and warn that “Canadian political leaders must engage all of Canada’s Jewish communities and not stereotype us based on a false monolith.”
Brym lists the poll’s highlights, which include that “Canadian Jews express stronger emotional attachment to Israel than in four previous surveys dating back to 2018. Specifically, 84% of Canada’s Jews say they are ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ emotionally attached to Israel [compared to 79% in 2018]. Ninety-four percent support the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.”
Brym notes, “Just 3% say Israel lacks that right, while another 3% say they don’t know or don’t answer the question. Belief in Israel’s right to exist does not vary significantly by gender, educational attainment, income or denomination. It does vary significantly by age and political party support. Ninety-eight percent of those over the age of 34 say Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, compared to 81% of those under the age of 35. Ninety-seven percent of Conservative and Liberal party supporters say that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. Some 79% of NDP supporters concur, although the number of NDP supporters in the sample is too small to provide a highly reliable estimate.”
When asked “Do you consider yourself a Zionist?” however, 51% of respondents said yes, 15% claimed ambivalence, 27% said no and 7% said they didn’t know, or didn’t answer the question.
“Given their strong emotional attachment to Israel and their nearly universal belief that Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state, one might be tempted to speculate that more Canadian Jews do not consider themselves Zionists because they confuse Zionism with certain policies of the Netanyahu government that they find objectionable,” writes Brym. “Future research needs to probe this issue.”
When asked whether continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank helped, harmed or didn’t make a difference to the security of Israel, 34% of respondents said it hurts Israel’s security while 27% said it helps, 22% thought it made no difference and 18% didn’t know or didn’t answer.
Half of respondents favoured a two-state solution, while 25% wanted an Israeli state (the annexation of West Bank and Gaza), while 8% believe that “the best resolution to the conflict is a single, secular, binational state that favours equal rights for Jews and Palestinians.”
“When asked whether Canadian politicians should increase pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to engage in a meaningful peace process, 55% of Canadian Jews agree and 23% disagree,” summarizes Brym. “When asked whether politicians should sanction Jewish West Bank settlers who engage in acts of vigilante violence against Palestinian civilians, 35% of Canadian Jews agree and 41% disagree. When asked whether politicians should recognize a Palestinian state in the near future, 21% of Canadian Jews agree and 53% disagree. When asked whether Canadian politicians should impose an embargo on the arms trade with Israel, 69% of Canadian Jews say no and 10% say yes.”
The survey also asked respondents to rank, in view of an upcoming federal election, their priorities among 11 different issues. From most to least important were cost of living, antisemitism, health care, housing, Israel-Palestine conflict, climate change and environment, crime and public safety, immigration, threats posed by China and Russia, discrimination against Indigenous people, and Islamophobia.
The question was asked, “Which political party did you vote for in the last (2021) federal election?” and also “If a Canadian federal election were held tomorrow, which party, if any, would you vote for?”
“Among decided voters, support for the New Democratic Party remained steady at about 9% between 2021 and 2024,” writes Brym. “Support for the Liberal party fell from 39% to 26%. And support for the Conservative party increased from 36% to 55%. These trends are similar to those in the general population, but the decline in Liberal support and increase in Conservative support is more pronounced among Jews.”
The whole report can be found at jspacecanada.ca/arguments_sake_of_heaven. It includes much more data – including more analysis of responses according to age, gender, level of education, household income, denominational identification and political party support – as well as commentary and recommendations from the survey’s three sponsoring organizations.
Mitch and Murray Productions’ presentation of Heroes of the Fourth Turning co-stars, left to right, Jennifer Clement, David Kaye, Elizabeth Barrett, Aaron Craven and Nyiri Karakas. (Shimon Photo)
This is a story about the interesting and intersecting balance of faith, peace, politics, sex, sexuality, deceit, forgiveness and mysticism with the modern world. How do we grapple with the changing self, while clasping hands with those we no longer align with, but feel we must commune?” said Mitch and Murray Productions’ Kate Craven about Will Arbery’s play Heroes of the Fourth Turning, which has its Western Canadian premiere Jan. 31-Feb.9 at Studio 16.
“It’s about letting go of preconceived notions,” she said. “It’s about being wrong, even when convinced otherwise. It’s complex and startling and astonishing and I truly think it is one of the great plays of this generation.”
Heroes of the Fourth Turning has won multiple awards and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. In it, reads the synopsis, “four young conservatives have gathered to toast the newly inducted president of their tiny Catholic college – one week after the Charlottesville riots in 2017. Their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos and clashing generational politics, becoming less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood.”
“The play’s title is a take on the book The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe, which hypothesizes the cycles of history and attempts to teach us how to live through these cycles via examples from past generations,” explained Craven, who is the theatre company’s board chair and operations manager. “They base their hypothesis on the past 500 years of American history and uncover what they deem as a distinct pattern: that modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting about the length of a long human life and each composed of four times 20-year eras, aka ‘turnings’ that comprise history’s seasonal rhythm of growth – maturation, entropy and rebirth. Otherwise broken down as the High, a period of confident expansion, followed by the Awakening, a time of spiritual exploration and rebellion. Then, the Unraveling, in which individualism triumphs over crumbling institutions. Finally, the Crisis (the Fourth Turning), when society passes through a great and perilous gate in history, a specific time that requires a generation of heroes to rise up, resolve crisis and reset imbalances created in prior turnings.
“The Fourth Turning was written in 1997, at the tipping point between Gen X and the Millennial generation,” said Craven. “It references the Fourth Turning being in line with the coming of age of Millennials, a generation which three of the play’s characters fit into.”
One of those characters is played by Jewish community member David Kaye.
“I play a Catholic man in his late 20s named Kevin who is currently experiencing tremendous crises of identity and faith while struggling with alcohol abuse,” Kaye told the Independent. “A graduate of the Transfiguration College of Wyoming, Kevin received wilderness training, learned to scale mountains, ride horses, build igloos, memorize poetry and speak conversational Latin. Initially believing that he was being groomed to become ‘a leader of the world,’ Kevin has realized that he was woefully underprepared to actually live in the real world.”
While the character is drunk for most of the show, he is the only one asking questions, said Kaye. “He is often the butt of the joke but, ultimately, I think Kevin is the wise fool. Kevin wants so badly to connect with other people, regardless of their political leanings or religious affiliations. He wants to have hard conversations and expand his mind and is open to new ideas; unfortunately, he is not the greatest conversationalist.”
The role has certainly expanded Kaye’s mind. Having attended Vancouver Talmud Torah and King David High School growing up, the actor said “all of the knowledge of Catholicism I have is from pop culture, so building my character’s world has involved quite a lot of reading in theology and philosophy that I was completely unfamiliar with. As far as being a Jewish actor in the context of this play, I think that Kevin is actually the easiest character for me to identify with because he is constantly questioning things, and that was a core part of my Jewish education and exploration.”
Craven, who is also Jewish, “had the unique experience of growing up in a bi-faith family, one half Jewish, the other Pentecostal Christian.”
“It’s a difficult thing to belong to a family unit which falls on both sides of the faith divide and subsequently (often) political divide,” she said. “Perhaps this prepared me for a play like Heroes of the Fourth Turning. I find myself reaching for empathy for these often confused, sometimes wildly misguided characters and that makes this play very uncomplicated and uniquely human.”
She added that it feels like Arbery, the playwright, “is managing a perilous dance between faith, violence, truth and real-world events as his characters evolve and devolve in front of us. It feels much less about faith, religion and belief than it does about the crisis of being human. That’s relatable no matter who youare or which people you belong to.”
“This show can be viewed through many different lenses and each one will have a different takeaway,” said Kaye. The play will “ruffle some feathers,” he said. “But, if you are open to it, this is a show that will provoke thought, challenge perceptions, and might make you question the world around you.”
For Kaye, that is one of the main things he has learned from the character he is portraying – “that it is OK to question everything you have ever known to be true. It may be ugly and uncomfortable, but challenging your beliefs can lead to more authentic connections and a more fulfilling life.”
Craven said Mitch and Murray Productions’ goal has always been to present “bold, smart pieces that require the audience to be willing participants in the discourse and discussion. Our hope is that our productions showcase what it is to be a complex, imperfect human, as opposed to being a human who fits into a specific political, religious or cultural box, the aftermath of which potentially opens us up to empathy and understanding instead of division and despair.”
Set in rural Wyoming, Heroes of the Fourth Turning references hunting, there is a prop rifle on stage and gunshots are heard throughout the play. Other warnings include the use of coarse language and “heavy political debates which cover a range of difficult topics,” said Craven. “With this in mind,” she encourages people to come to the play with “a spirit of open-mindedness and an attitude of willingness – to see, hear and learn. All of which hearkens back to what I mentioned earlier about the plays Mitch and Murray attempts to produce – stories about a conflicted and imperfect humanity. We may not be able to see ourselves uniquely and specifically reflected in these characters, but there is certainly a reflection of humanity that is profound and deeply moving.”
Stories, she said, have “the capacity, when told well, to move and shape our molecules in a unique way. If we can be even a small part of creating compassionate debate, then we’re doing our job.”
Cantor Shani Cohen and Wendy Bross Stuart (photo below) team up for another Shabbat Shira concert at Temple Sholom, on Feb. 8. (photo from Temple Sholom)
“I’m looking forward to the Shabbat Shira concert as an opportunity for our community to come together and enjoy some beautiful music as a temporary respite from the challenges of the past two years, within the safety of our own walls,” said Temple Sholom’s Cantor Shani Cohen of her Feb. 8 performance at the synagogue with Wendy Bross Stuart.
“Shabbat Shira is the annual day when we read the Song of the Sea, which is the climax of the Exodus story,” explained Cohen. “To celebrate this Torah reading, there is a tradition of adding some extra musical elements to the weekend. That was the inspiration for the Shabbat Shira concert that Wendy and I are doing. We started this tradition last year, and it was a wonderful evening of music that brought the community together.”
Cohen and Bross Stuart have chosen a range of musical styles for the concert, from musical theatre to jazz to classical art song.
Wendy Bross Stuart (photo from Temple Sholom)
“One of our focuses in the concert is highlighting Jewish composers,” said Cohen. “In this vein, we will be performing ‘How Much Do I Love You’ by Irving Berlin, ‘Still Hurting’ from Jason Robert Brown’s Last Five Years and ‘Vanilla Ice Cream’ from Jerry Bock’s She Loves Me. There will also be some songs by the very talented Jewish songwriting duo Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler, including ‘The Last Song’ and ‘Let Me Grow Old.’
“Finally, I am excited to be sharing a few classical art songs, including some by contemporary American composer Lori Laitman from her song cycle ‘The Mystery,’ and one from Hector Berlioz’s song cycle, ‘Les nuits d’été.’”
Before Cohen went to cantorial school, she studied to be an opera singer. She still feels a strong connection with classical music, she said.
“While I love being a cantor and find the role incredibly fulfilling and meaningful, I realized that I still have a passion for opera,” she said. “Singing opera, for me, is like a workout for my vocal muscles, keeping them in shape and, in turn, helping me sing my cantorial music more confidently.
“I also think it’s important and healthy to have a work-life balance. For me, that means finding activities outside of synagogue life. Over the past two years, I have found some creative outlets that have allowed me to delve into classical music again in a different way than I do as a cantor. It has been an exciting and fun journey that has challenged me in new ways.”
Cohen’s passion for classical singing led her to Opera Lirica, headed by artistic director Trudy Chalmers, which is dedicated to bringing classical music to the community and providing performance opportunities to local opera singers. Among other things, Cohen was invited to perform as part of their Heritage Salon Series.
“My concert was on Nov. 10, and it was entitled The Sacred Tongue and the Mother Tongue: A Concert of Hebrew and Yiddish Songs. I had a wonderful time preparing for the concert with pianist Roger Parton [Opera Lirica’s music director]. I explored my own Israeli and Ashkenazi family background, and performed both new and familiar Hebrew and Yiddish repertoire…. It was a deeply personal concert, and I was proud to share it with not just the Jewish community, but the wider Vancouver music community. It meant a lot to me that after Oct. 7 and the rise in antisemitism that we have experienced, Trudy and Roger were both so supportive of this project and of me. This is the kind of crucial cross-cultural relationship building that I believe music can help us do.”
In another cross-cultural endeavour, Cohen will join the Jan. 26 performance of Songs of the Wasteland about survivor Renia Perel, which was written by Perel, who died in 2017, and arranged by Larry Nickel. The Vancouver Academy of Music is once again presenting the work, in honour of International Holocaust Remembrance Day (vancouveracademyofmusic.com/events).
For the past two years, Cohen has performed with the Reform Cantors and Cantorial Soloists of Canada (RCCC) organization in Toronto. “This year, we will be hosting the RCCC concert at Temple Sholom in May! More information to come,” she said.
Cohen and Bross Stuart first worked together on the community Yom Hashoah commemoration a few years ago, and in which both have participated multiple times. They also worked together in the Chutzpah! Festival concert debut of the Joan Beckow Project and album release; Bross Stuart and her daughter Jessica Stuart, who is also a musician, are co-directors of the project.
“We each bring a different musical perspective,” said Cohen of working with Bross Stuart. “Wendy has a wealth of knowledge and experience in musical theatre, Yiddish music and jazz, while I have a background in Jewish and classical music. We each learn from the other, and are able to meld our experiences into programs that I believe are intriguing and exciting for our audience.”
When Cohen started working at Temple Sholom back in 2021, she was straight out of cantorial school, and had just moved to Vancouver from New York. Grateful for the opportunities she has had at Temple Sholom, she said, “I am especially thankful to work with the supportive and inspiring clergy team that we have: Rabbi Dan Moskovitz and Rabbi Carey Brown. It was Rabbi Moskovitz’s vision to bring in an ordained cantor to our synagogue for the first time, and both he and Rabbi Brown have been supporting me through every step of my transition into this vibrant community.”
Over the years, Cohen has found ways to bring more of herself into her job: “more of my passions, interests and identity into what I offer.”
“On a basic level,” she said, “my role includes leading prayer services, running our b’nai mitzvah program and officiating lifecycle events like weddings and funerals. Beyond that, I am passionate about growing our musical offerings at Temple Sholom, and I believe in the power of music to help us tap into our spirituality. That’s why I started a small vocal ensemble that sings at our High Holy Day services, as well as a few special Shabbatot throughout the year. I also started a Temple Sholom band, called the Temple Tones, who enrich our Friday night services a few times a year for holidays and Shabbatot.”
Cohen oversees the Sholom Shishim (60-plus) program.
“My goal with this group is to find new and creative opportunities to engage our seniors,” she said. There have been lunch-and-learns, speakers, concerts and various outings. “We now have on average 70 attendees per month, and our annual Hanukkah party gets up to 100 seniors!” she said.
“I run a monthly Temple Sholom Tea gathering at the Louis Brier for our members who live there, though anyone is welcome to join,” she added. “A few years ago, I began a program I call Teatime with Cantor Cohen, where I meet with small groups of Temple Sholom seniors in local cafés and tea shops, so they can get to know me, each other and, hopefully, create meaningful relationships in their own neighbourhoods.”
One thing Cohen loves about her cantorial role is that she works with people of all ages, from teaching classes at the shul’s religious school, to various adult offerings. “Recently,” she said, “I began a High School Prayer Leader program to train the next generation of prayer leaders.”
Cohen also started a Queer Torah Study group, which has evolved into Kehilateinu, the Temple Sholom Pride Club.
“When my wife and I moved to Vancouver, we were welcomed into the community with open arms, and I want to ensure that our growing number of queer members feel welcomed at Temple Sholom as well,” she said. “I know that Kehilateinu’s events have been especially meaningful since Oct. 7, when so many queer Jews were rejected by their social circles.”
Tickets for the Shabbat Shira concert are $18 for synagogue members and $36 for non-members. The Feb. 8 event starts at 7 p.m. with a happy hour and the concert is at 7:30 p.m. Register at templesholom.ca.
The JCC Jewish Book Festival opens Feb. 22 with Selina Robinson talking about her memoir, Truth Be Told. (photo from JCC Jewish Book Festival)
This year’s JCC Jewish Book Festival opens Feb. 22 with Selina Robinson talking about her recently published memoir, Truth Be Told.
Most Jewish Independent readers will be familiar with the events that propelled Robinson to write this book. The first chapter, called “Four Fateful Words,” starts at what some people may think is the beginning – when, during a Jan. 30, 2024, webinar, Robinson said the state of Israel was reestablished on a “crappy piece of land.” But she believes she had been targeted for months.
“It was sloppy language, nothing more, but it provided the Gotcha! for anti-Israel extremists to build a case that I was racist, Islamophobic, intolerant and an evil monster that needed to be canceled,” she writes.
“In an ideal world, it would have been the extremists who were dismissed, not me. In an ideal world, we would be blessed with leaders who can differentiate between right and wrong.”
Truth Be Told covers the fallout from her comments. Premier David Eby initially seemed prepared to stand by Robinson, but the political pressure – including from a group of Muslim clergy who threatened the NDP’s access to Muslim voters unless Robinson was dismissed – soon led to him firing her from cabinet, though he never used the word.
“I told the premier that if he wanted my resignation, I would give it to him, but he needed to ask for it,” writes Robinson.
“In the end, he didn’t fire me and I didn’t resign, although the undeniable conclusion of the call was that I was no longer in cabinet.”
After taking some time to absorb the situation, Robinson rallied.
“As part of my t’shuvah [repentance], the premier asked that I make a series of calls to Muslim community leaders,” she shares. “I began to think: What if I could engage with these groups and bring the Jewish community and the Arab and Muslim communities together in some way? These two heartbroken communities, both fearful for their families overseas and feeling powerless to effect change, could find commonality in that shared experience, at the very least. Action is always an antidote to hopelessness and helplessness. I could do this as part of my role as an MLA and the government could take credit for doing something meaningful that makes a positive difference for both these aching communities. For me, this would be a profound form of redemption, of t’shuvah, and also of tikkun olam [repair of the world].”
But this ray of light was soon extinguished, the idea being deemed “too political.”
“I knew in that moment that this was no longer my place, no longer my government, no longer my political party,” writes Robinson. “A place and a party where I belonged would recognize the opportunity for someone who was seen to have transgressed to do some good. My place, my party, would recognize the value of bringing people together. A place where I belonged would not be afraid to try something unique and potentially powerful.”
Robinson quit the NDP and finished her term as an MLA as an independent. She was going to retire anyway, but this was not how she wanted her political career to end.
And it was quite a career. With a master’s degree in counseling psychology, Robinson spent most of her working life as a family counselor and in senior roles in various social service agencies.
“I never planned to enter politics,” she writes. “The first real engagement I had was speaking to Coquitlam City Council, my hands shaking, in support of an emergency cold weather refuge for homeless people proposed by a church in my neighbourhood.”
One of the councilors suggested she run for council, and she did. She was elected to Coquitlam City Council in 2008 and reelected in 2011. Truth Be Told gives readers a glimpse of what that experience was like, what Robinson accomplished as a councilor, and more. We find out how and why she made the leap to provincial politics in 2013 – a decision in which the late John Horgan played a pivotal role. The memoir is dedicated to Horgan, for whom Robinson had great respect and a close relationship. As premier, Horgan was the one who appointed Robinson minister of finance after the 2020 election that gave the NDP a majority government. She held that position through COVID, the government managing to file budget surpluses despite the challenges the pandemic brought.
“What saddens me right now is that people are losing faith in government,” writes Robinson. “That is especially distressing because if anything should have renewed people’s faith in government, it was the collective response to the pandemic.”
When Horgan stepped down as premier in 2022 because of the toll his cancer treatments were taking on him, Robinson began to more seriously reflect on her own future. She had been in public service for so long, she wanted to spend more time with her family. In Truth Be Told, we learn more of her own fight against cancer – a fight that started in 2006, a fight she seems to have won, finding out on Oct. 6, 2023, that her cancer had disappeared. The celebration was short-lived. That evening, news started coming in of Hamas’s terror attacks on Israel.
Robinson’s ambivalence about running for reelection was one of the reasons she didn’t pursue the party leadership vacancy Horgan’s departure opened. Other candidates bowed out, and Eby was anointed the new leader of the BC NDP and became premier in November 2022.
Robinson calls herself an “eternal optimist,” and that attitude has served her well. Despite being effectively demoted by Eby after he became premier, Robinson threw herself into the position of post-secondary education and future skills minister. It is interesting to read about some of the issues in that sector, and of the other portfolios Robinson held, as well as get some insider knowledge of how politics works and about the personalities of the people who represent us.
The crux of Truth Be Told is Robinson’s “four fateful words,” the reactions to them, and what was said and done – or, more importantly, what was not said and what was not done. Many of her colleagues were “quiet allies,” not willing to speak out.
“There are lessons from my experience that transcend my personal story,” she writes. “There are lessons for our democracy about the necessity to stand up to coercion from interest groups and harassment from mobs. There are lessons for leaders about how to act (and how not to act) when presented with choices between what is easy but wrong and difficult but right. There are lessons about speaking up rather than remaining silent.”
Truth Be Told is about a person doing what they passionately believe in, a person living their values – some of which were instilled at Camp Miriam, where Robinson was a counselor in her youth – and trying to make what they feel are positive contributions to the world.
Given what happened to her, Robinson could be forgiven for giving up and going quietly into obscure retirement. But that’s not who she is. She asks Canadians to have the courage to speak up, while recognizing that we should not “kid ourselves that a millennia-old problem will be resolved in a day.” She ends her book with calls to action, suggestions of what we each can do to counter antisemitism, as Jews (for example, don’t hide, “engage respectfully or not at all” and don’t give up) and non-Jews (speak up and engage with Jews, among other things), and as a society (for instance, protect students and nurture real inclusion). She includes some resources for readers wanting to explore various topics more.
In the “Final Reflections” chapter, Robinson writes, “We will never be perfect. The world will never be faultless. But repairing the world must always be our guiding star. Our reach must always exceed our grasp.”
History is fickle. Who becomes known as great in their field, whose work is displayed in museums or taught in schoolbooks? When there is a tangible product – a building, a painting, a book, whatever – the chances seem higher that you’ll be remembered. But what if you were mainly a muse to others, what if you could enthrall audiences with your voice but never recorded an album, if you created works of art that people liked and even bought, but you didn’t create in the popular style of the day, or you were a woman in a man’s world?
Most readers will not have heard of Kiki de Montparnasse, born Alice Prin in 1901, in Châtillon-sur-Seine, about 240 kilometres southeast of Paris, to an unwed mother who wasn’t much into mothering. But most would likely recognize her – she modeled for many an artist (Alexander Calder, Tsuguharu Foujita, Amedeo Modigliani, to name a few, as well as Maurice Mendjizky, with whom she fell in love for awhile). And, during her seven-year relationship with surrealist photographer Man Ray (who thought himself more of a painter), she posed for him many a time. In 2022, one of Ray’s most famous images of her, called “Le Violon d’Ingres,” sold for $12.4 million, the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction.
Yet, what of her own work, her talents, her accomplishments?
Cultural historian Mark Braude gives Kiki her overdue due with his latest book, Kiki Man Ray: Art, Love and Rivalry in 1920s Paris, which Braude will discuss with University of British Columbia professor emeritus of history Chris Friedrichs at the JCC Jewish Book Festival on Feb. 24, in an event called Art & History: Paris, Jews and Surrealism.
While Kiki wasn’t Jewish, so many of the artists she hung out with were, including, of course, Ray, who was born Emmanuel “Manny” Radnitzky. If she hadn’t lived among the who’s who of Dada and Surrealist art, perhaps she wouldn’t have been overshadowed, mostly forgotten. She was a commanding performer, she sold at least a few dozen paintings, wrote a memoir, appeared in films. By all accounts, a success. But, as “Queen of Montparnasse,” the early-1900s bohemian paradise in Paris, Kiki lived on the more wild side. Addiction would speed along her end – she died in 1953, only 51 years old. Another reason, perhaps, that her legacy was not as lasting.
As much as Braude’s account is about Kiki, it is about the time in which she lived and the people among whom she lived. Because, “as she experienced her era and channeled that experience into her art, Kiki shared drinks and cigarettes and ideas with many of the people who would shape how their century saw and thought and spoke: Modigliani, Stein, Picasso, Barnes, Matisse, Guggenheim, Calder, Duchamp, Breton, Cocteau, Flanner, Hemingway,” writes Braude. “And Man Ray, whose emergence as a modern artist must be understood as intimately linked to her own.”
While Kiki may not have left much physical evidence behind of her influence, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t influential. Living as she did, with whom she did, Braude writes: “Evolving in concert with them, watching them become who they were, challenging them and joking with them, working with them and through them, Kiki, too, played her role in shaping the cultural history of the past hundred years.”
Braude’s book is not only a fascinating read, but a reminder that none of us is insignificant. Even if our names are lost to history, we matter, we impact others and the world around us.
Maya Arad and Eshkol Nevo are featured in the JCC Jewish Book Festival prologue event Jan. 19.
The JCC Jewish Book Festival begins its 40th year with a discussion that’s sure to be as intriguing as it is relevant. The two Israeli writers featured in the festival prologue event Jan. 19 – Maya Arad and Eshkol Nevo – are keen observers and talented communicators, even as their characters are not.
Boundaries, generational differences, family, love, work, politics, social mores, and other themes run through both Arad’s (New Vessel Press, 2024) and Nevo’s Inside Information (Other Press, 2023). Each book comprises three novellas, though Nevo’s very loosely connects all the narratives, so dubs itself a novel, despite the stories being almost completely unrelated. Melancholic would best describe the mood of both works.
While the English version of Arad’s The Hebrew Teacher was published just this year – translated by Jessica Cohen – the Hebrew version came out in 2018. Its stories retain their immediacy, and readers will be able to relate to some aspect(s) of every one.
The title story, “The Hebrew Teacher,” is brilliant. When Ilana arrived in the United States from Israel in 1971 and started teaching, her Hebrew classes, both children and adult, at her synagogue and at the university, were packed: “Parents wanted their children to be able to chat in Hebrew, not just recite the prayers…. Everyone wanted to know a little Hebrew before they visited Israel. They wanted to learn the new songs.” Of course, those songs are far from new at this point in Ilana’s career, yet she still holds them and their visions of Israel dear.
But enrolment in the Hebrew-language university courses has been dropping for almost two decades, both because “Israel was a tough sell these days. It wasn’t the fledgling little country of 45 years ago. Nor was Ilana the same beaming young woman who’d arrived, thick copper braid over one shoulder, to regale the riveted students with stories about hiking from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee, working on a kibbutz, and firing an Uzi when she served in the Israel Defence Forces.”
Into Ilana’s tenuous professional world – her husband has just retired from the university and other key allies have moved on – comes a new hire, Yoad Bergman-Harari, who’d been born Yoad Harari but had “added on his father’s original name, Bergman.” When Ilana asks why, he responds, “‘To negate the negation of the diaspora’ … as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.”
The differences in their worldviews – particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – and approach to collegiality are stark. While Ilana has taught at the university for decades, she holds none of the cards here, as Yoad is the latest newfangled intellectual thing, and a professor, so can pretty much write his own ticket, and does.
In “A Visit (Scenes),” Miriam comes to the States for a three-week visit with her only child, Yoram, his wife Maya and their son Yonatan. Miriam makes the journey because her son rarely returns to Israel and she has yet to meet her grandson in person. In a string of short snippets, mostly from Miriam’s perspective but also from Yoram’s and Maya’s, we are privy to what everyone is feeling – which boils down to a lot of unhappiness. The lack of honest, open communication contributes to the tensions and dissatisfactions, which build as the visit goes on.
The final story, “Make New Friends,” is kind of mystifying at first, as we watch Efrat, an educated, successful woman with a good husband, start to spiral as she tries to protect their unpopular teenaged daughter from being hurt by so-called friends. She gets way too involved, even entering the teen social media universe, and it’s only when Efrat realizes that she herself doesn’t belong to any group or have any real friends that she begins to understand her reactions (and actions) to her daughter’s situation.
One review of The Hebrew Teacher comments that Arad, in these novellas, “probes the demise of idealism and the generation gap that her heroines must confront.” This is an apt description. And it could be said that Nevo also explores the demise of idealism in Inside Information, which was translated from Hebrew into English by Sondra Silverston.
The first two stories of the novel have similar plotlines – men who are led by their sexual desires to act in illegal or inappropriate ways. The main difference between the protagonists is that the “hero” in “Death Road,” Omri, goes mostly willingly towards his potential downfall while Dr. Caro, the main character of “Family History,” tries to convince himself that he did nothing wrong.
In “Death Road,” while on a trip to Bolivia following the recent breakup of his marriage, Omri runs into newlyweds Ronen and Mor. Once back in Israel, he reads in the newspaper about the death of Ronen in a cycling accident in Bolivia. He decides to go to the shiva – as he drives there, his “mind filled with more and more images of Mor’s surprise nocturnal visit to my room two weeks earlier.”
As Omri lays out the story, he proves an unreliable narrator. Nothing ultimately ends up being what it seems at first. More details become known. Questions arise. It’s a thriller of sorts, but one that doesn’t seem all that original or urgent. There are twists but nothing that’ll stop readers in their tracks.
The femme fatale reappears in the next story, “Family History,” this time in the form of a young medical resident who supposedly mistakes the ostensibly paternal gesture of the respected Dr. Caro for sexual harassment and files a complaint that threatens the good doctor’s reputation. Even as Caro tells his story, he’s trying to convince himself as much as us about the purity of his motivations. But he’s a widower who obviously loved his wife, he seems well-liked at work and good at his job. He is a more empathetic character than Omri, and the twist in this story does elicit some surprise, and puts Caro’s actions into an even darker light.
The last part of the novel, “A Man Walks Into An Orchard,” is a direct rift on the talmudic tractate about four Jewish sages who went into pardes, which means both paradise and orchard, and only one came out unharmed. In Nevo’s story, husband and wife Ofer and Chelli go for one of their regular Saturday walks in the orchard. This Saturday, though, Ofer needs to pee, so he gives his phone to Chelli and goes into the trees, while she waits on the road. And waits. He never comes back. He is never found.
The way in which Chelli and her two children work through their loss is emotionally engaging. She and her son become estranged, while she and her daughter become closer as they search Ofer’s blogs for clues to his potential whereabouts. He had intended to complete 100 stories of 100 words each, and then publish a book. He had posted his 99th story the week before he disappeared.
There is something satisfying in this third tale, though it takes a detour into Chelli’s drug-induced visions to somewhat resolve the mystery of Ofer’s disappearance. It highlights our desire for things to make sense, to know what happened. When that’s impossible, storytelling can fill in the blanks.
The Maya Arad and Eshkol Nevo event on Jan. 19 takes place at 1 p.m., at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Olga Campbell gives a talk on her memoir (jewishindependent.ca/a-multidimensional-memoir) and its exhibit on Jan. 23, 7 p.m., at the Zack Gallery. The book festival and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre present a talk by Roger Frie on his book Edge of Catastrophe: Erich Fromm, Fascism and the Holocaust on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, 7 p.m. The festival itself opens Feb. 22 – with Selina Robinson in conversation about her new memoir, Truth Be Told – and runs through Feb. 27. Events will be posted at jccgv.com/jewish-book-festival as they are confirmed.
Cirque du Soleil’s ECHO, at Concord Pacific Place untilJan. 5, is just beautiful. (photo by Jean-François Savaria)
Beautiful. Cirque du Soleil’s ECHO, at Concord Pacific Place until Jan. 5, is just beautiful – the costumes, the movements, the music, the projected images. As with most Cirque productions, there is a minimal storyline. This one follows heroine Future and her dog Ewai as they try to restore balance to the world, between humans, animals and the environment. It is an optimistic, fantastical show, an uplifting break from a reality that sometimes seems hopeless.
“Double Trouble,” Cirque du Soleil’s ECHO. (photo by Jean-François Savaria)
The performance the audience sees under the Big Top is, of course, as much the result of many behind-the-scenes and front-of-house workers as it is the performers’ hours of practise and great skill. Every Cirque show is a highly orchestrated experience, international in scope. According to its website, since Cirque du Soleil’s creation in 1984, “more than 400 million people have been inspired on six continents and 86 countries. The Canadian company now employs more than 4,000 employees, including 1,200 artists from more than 80 different nationalities.”
One of those employees is Jewish community member Sarah Sananes, who was born in Florida but grew up in Montreal. She and her siblings attended Hebrew Foundation School for elementary.
“We learned to read, write and speak Hebrew, attended synagogue every Friday morning at Congregation Beth Tikvah, and learned both French and English at the same time,” Sananes told the Independent. “I was young, but I remember loving everything I did and learned during my time there, especially getting to eat TCBY [kosher yogurt].
“To this day, my father still uses the menorah I made, which consists of bolts to hold the Hanukkah candles. We celebrated Shabbat every Friday and attended synagogue for the High Holidays. It truly is a beautiful religion to celebrate. As I grew up, I still celebrate the High Holidays and attend Shabbat dinners whenever I can. I continue to educate myself on my religion even as I get older and don’t always have the chance to celebrate like I used to when we were younger.”
Sarah Sananes is a guest experience supervisor with Cirque du Soleil’s ECHO, which is in Vancouver until Jan. 5. (photo from Cirque du Soleil)
Sananes entered the workforce right out of high school.
“I was always more of an active kid than a quiet one who liked to sit in class. This led me straight into the hospitality industry, where I quickly fell in love with the fast pace,” she said. “I worked hard to climb the ladder into assistant manager roles, which led me to managerial positions. I take great pride in my work ethic and leadership skills, even to this day. This is one of the main things that led me to Cirque, and has kept me here. Whether you are presented with a happy guest or an angry guest, the outcome can always be positive, depending on the way you see and handle the situation. One of my favourite quotes is: ‘We can’t control the winds, but we can adjust the sails.’”
Sananes is now a guest experience supervisor with ECHO.
“I first began my journey with Cirque du Soleil in the summer of 2022. I was hired when I started working as the on-site manager on another show, named KOOZA, with the local staffing agency. Once the summer ended, I returned to my job as an entrepreneur,” said Sananes, who owns an employment agency.
“The following summer, I heard Cirque du Soleil was launching a brand new show and, sure enough, I returned once again to manage the local staff. As the Montreal run neared its end, the guest experience position on ECHO became available and, after my interview, I was asked to join the team!”
Sananes had so loved working on KOOZA that, she said, “When ECHO came out, I knew, if it was anything like KOOZA, I would love what I did, everywhere I did it.”
As to what her job entails, it’s a lot.
“The guest experience team is the team that manages everything that has to do with guests in the front of house. Our team is made up of nine supervisors across six departments, which are box office, concierge, merchandise, food and beverage, VIP, and usher,” she explained. “We also have an inventory supervisor and then myself. Each supervisor manages their respective department every day, whereas my role is more like the chameleon of supervisors. Each day, I morph into a different role. Within my time here, I have learned the ins and outs of every single department, being able to cover or assist any of my co-workers whenever and wherever needed.
“Another part of my role is being the direct link between our partnerships and our visibility departments at Cirque du Soleil’s international headquarters located in Montreal and the tour,” said Sananes. “I make sure all our signage and branding are properly managed and set up. This includes physical signs and all digital assets. Lastly, due to my previous experience as an on-site manager, now being on the other side, I work closely with the local staffing agency and their on-site team to ensure they are able to deliver what we need to successfully operate our show call operations, day in and day out. Some markets are tougher than others when hiring and managing local staff, but it wouldn’t be fun and rewarding if it was always easy!”
Sananes has worked in many markets since ECHO launched in Montreal in April 2023. She has been with the show since the beginning, traveling with it from Montreal to Washington, DC, Atlanta, Ga., and Miami, Fla., before returning to Canada, with performances in Toronto and in Gatineau, Que., among other places.
“Human Cradle,” Cirque du Soleil’s ECHO. (photo by Jean-François Savaria)
“After five different cities, we landed here in beautiful British Columbia’s Vancouver,” said Sananes. “My plan is to remain on tour and continue to travel with the show for the foreseeable future. I’ve already got my cowboy boots ready for Houston, so I don’t plan to go anywhere just yet! One of the beautiful perks about being on tour is being able to travel to all these places I’ve never been before, some of which I probably wouldn’t have gotten to see at all.”
When asked if there was anything else she’d like to tell JI readers, Sananes expressed gratitude for her parents.
“My father was born in Jerusalem and my mother was born in Canada. They have both taught me very valuable lessons in life, from when I was little until this very day, and, I pray, for all the days to come,” she said. “Because of my mother, I am tough, courageous and kind. Because of my father, I am resilient, fearless and wise. To my mother and my father, thank you for teaching me the importance of being independent, while still being able to spread love to all those around me.”
