Cynthia Ramsay – Page 69

Uniquely B.C. baseball story

Ellen Schwartz (photo from Ellen Schwartz)

Historical fiction is a great way to learn about the past and, while aimed at younger readers, many an adult will enjoy and learn from Ellen Schwartz’s Heart of a Champion (Tundra Books).

For Schwartz, a TV documentary led to her novel about the fictional Sakamoto family, set in the very real time when Japanese Canadians were interned during the Second World War. It was in watching this documentary that Schwartz first found out about the Asahi baseball team.

In the author’s note, she explains that asahi means “morning sun.” The team was established in 1914, winning their first title in 1919, the Vancouver International League championship. They won the Pacific Northwest League championships every year from 1937 through 1941.

After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and declared war on Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, writes Schwartz, “In Canada, Japanese Canadians were branded ‘enemy aliens’ and quickly lost their rights. The government, fearing that they would be loyal to Japan and would share war secrets with the enemy, took away their fishing boats, cars, radios and cameras. The Japanese were subject to a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

“In the spring of 1942, the Canadian government began to remove Japanese Canadians from the west coast of British Columbia. Men between the ages of 18 and 45 were sent to road camps in the Interior to build roads. Women, children and older people were sent to internment camps, many in abandoned mining or logging ‘ghost towns.’ Small, primitive shacks were hastily built to house them. The people lost their homes, businesses and possessions, never to get them back.”

In her research for the novel, Schwartz told the Independent, “I learned so much. In addition to the Asahis, I delved into the history of the Japanese-Canadian community in Vancouver and then in the internment camps. I hadn’t realized how established and prosperous the Japanese-Canadian community was in the pre-World War II years. Although there was a lot of discrimination – for example, Japanese Canadians didn’t have the vote, they were paid less than Caucasians for the same work and they often suffered racial slurs – these were middle-class families who were integrated into Canadian society. That’s why it was such a shock when they were uprooted and sent to internment camps in the Interior.

“I had heard about the internment camps but I didn’t realize how awful they were until I went to the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre in New Denver [on Slocan Lake in the Kootenay region] as part of my research. When I stepped inside the original 1942 shack that is preserved there, I was shocked at how primitive and barren it was. In that moment, the second half of the book came to me, as I experienced what it must have felt like for Kenny and his family.”

In the novel, 10-year-old Kenny (Kenji in Japanese) aspires to be an Asahi like his older brother, star player Mickey (Mitsuo). However, Kenny has been diagnosed with a heart condition, which means he has to practise secretly, so as to not worry his parents. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, dreams of baseball are replaced with the nightmare of having to register as an enemy alien, of being subjected to a curfew, of having his father’s business closed, of his father being sent to a work camp and of being evacuated to an internment camp, only allowed to bring minimal belongings. In Kenny’s case, he, his mother, older brother and younger sister (Sally) are sent to New Denver, where Kenny and his mother manage to find the strength to inspire others in the camp to hope – and play baseball again.

The Sakamotos’ neighbors, and dear friends, are the Bernsteins, who have two daughters, Susana and Brigitte (aka Gittie). This allows Schwartz to draw parallels between the treatment of Jews in Europe leading to the Holocaust and Japanese in Canada during the war.

“I wanted to point out that the treatment of Japanese Canadians, although obviously not nearly as lethal or horrific, was comparable to that of Jews in Europe,” explained Schwartz. “In both cases, a minority was being persecuted simply because of their religion or nationality. Giving Kenny a Jewish best friend would make both characters sympathetic about this issue.

“The other reason I made Susana Kenny’s best friend is that, because of his heart defect, he would not have been able to keep up with other boys and might have had a girl as a best friend. Initially, Susana was a minor character, but I really liked her – she had chutzpah – so I gave her a bigger role in the story. It’s her courage and loyalty that give Kenny the impetus to find his own.”

Schwartz herself didn’t have a particularly religious childhood. “My mother was religious; my father wasn’t. We went to High Holiday services and that was about it,” she said. “But we lived with my grandparents when I was little, and my grandfather was observant and I adored him, so I grew up with a real fondness for Jewishness. I loved the family seders with everyone together and my grandfather chanting the Haggadah. I feel Jewish inside even though I’m not observant now.

“When I’m thinking of characters, I don’t set out to make them Jewish, but sometimes they emerge that way. Even if a character isn’t identified as Jewish, I know that that character is, and that gives the character an inner richness for me. For example, my first novel series was about a girl named Starshine Shapiro. I never mentioned that Starshine’s family was Jewish, but in my mind they were, and some of the humor in the books had a definite Jewish flavor.”

Schwartz hasn’t always been a writer.

“After I stopped teaching elementary school in the late ’70s, I started writing educational stories. That was my first foray into writing,” said Schwartz, who grew up in New Jersey and moved to Canada in 1972 with her husband, Bill. “I wrote stories for kids about energy conservation and the environment, which were important to me. I suppose I started with educational writing because I was comfortable ‘talking’ to and teaching kids. I sold the first educational story to the government of B.C. and the second one to the National Film Board. Then I decided to try to write a regular story, and that became my first book, Dusty.”

Schwartz teaches creative writing at Douglas College and she also works as a corporate and technical writer and editor, she said. “My husband and I own a small communications company called Polestar Communications. We do all kinds of writing and editing for public agencies and companies – reports, brochures, articles, educational material, technical material, web writing, etc. We also do marketing and organize events. That’s how I spend most of my writing time.

“I also write magazine articles, mainly for the Costco Connection, the magazine of the Costco corporation,” she added. “The editor usually assigns me stories about books and authors, which, of course, I love. I have interviewed and written about some great authors, including Ann-Marie MacDonald, Richard Wagamese, Linden MacIntyre and Alice Munro.”

On her website, Schwartz notes that she hasn’t even always wanted to be a writer.

“Dancing is my favorite thing,” she said, “and I often tell kids that if God tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘You can be a professional dancer tomorrow if you give up writing,’ I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute. I take a jazz class once a week and love it.”

While her career path may have changed a few times, Schwartz said the process of getting an idea to publication hasn’t changed much since she published her first book more than 30 years ago.

“Essentially, it’s the same,” she said. “I get an idea, mull it over for awhile, make notes and then plunge in. Many drafts later, I send it to a publisher and hope for the best. Once a manuscript is accepted, I work with an editor (I love working with editors) and do another rewrite. Then the book goes into production, which I have very little to do with other than approving the cover. (I have no artistic talent – my abilities extend to stick figures – and don’t illustrate or do any book design.)

“Of course, now I can submit work electronically, and it’s a lot easier to bounce ideas back and forth with my publishers before I send them the story,” she continued. “And I do a lot of research on the internet rather than in the library, though, for most stories, I still read many print articles and books for background information.”

And she does more than that.

Linda Kawamoto Reid, research archivist at Nikkei National Museum in Burnaby, writes in the foreword of Heart of a Champion that Schwartz “thoroughly researched the times by talking extensively with members of the Japanese-Canadian community. She met Kaye Kaminishi, our last Asahi baseball player, who was a rookie in 1941, and sought out the facts by conducting interviews, reading books and watching films. The story has surprising elements of reality, from the food eaten to the description of events following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.”

Japanese Canadians were not allowed to return to the coast until 1949 and it wasn’t until 1988 that the Government of Canada formally apologized for the treatment of Japanese Canadians during the war. As for the Asahis, the team was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003 and into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2005; in 2008, the team was designated an Event of National Historical Significance.

So, is the country in which we’re now living less, more or similarly susceptible to the factors that allowed the refusal of Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust and the internment of the Japanese, as but two extreme examples of the racism of those decades?

“Call me a cockeyed optimist, but I think we’re less susceptible to that kind of racism and exclusion in Canada,” said Schwartz. “The recent acceptance of the Syrian refugees is a heartwarming example. When my kids were in school in Burnaby in the ’90s, there were kids of every color and nationality in their classes and no one thought anything of it. We can’t ever take tolerance for granted, but I think that Canada in 2016 is a pretty welcoming place.”

Ellen Schwartz will be at Word Vancouver on Sept. 25, at the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival Oct. 18-23 and at the Calgary Jewish Book Festival Dec. 4-11.

Remembering Elie Wiesel …

Dr. Robert Krell, left, listens to Prof. Elie Wiesel, as Wiesel addresses the capacity crowd that came to the Orpheum in 2012 to hear him speak (photo by Jennifer Houghton). Elie Wiesel passed away on July 2. May his memory be for a blessing.

The following article was originally published on Sept. 21, 2012, and initially reposted on July 2, 2016. The photographs were added with its republication in the newspaper and online July 15:

“The Jewish people is based on what is called in the Prophets, ‘Edim atem l’Hashem,’ ‘You are witnesses to God.’ Says the Talmud something horrible: the Talmud says God says, ‘If you are my witnesses, I am your God. If not, I am not your God.’… That is the importance of testimony.”

This was part of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel’s response to a question about the role of March of the Living alumni. “You are now the witnesses,” he said. “Remember, to be a witness to the witness is as important as to be a witness.”

photo in Jewish Independent - Elie Wiesel with friend and fellow survivor Robbie Waisman — Elie Wiesel with friend and fellow survivor Robbie Waisman *(photo by Jennifer Houghton)*

Wiesel was in Vancouver to launch the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s annual campaign on Monday, Sept. 10. The event, which was held at the Orpheum, featured Wiesel in conversation with his friend, fellow survivor Dr. Robert Krell, as well as a presentation of another of Wiesel’s friends, Robbie Waisman, who accompanied this year’s March of the Living program to Poland and Israel. Participant Jenna Brewer read the account written by Monique de St. Croix of Waisman’s emotional return to his birthplace, after which Waisman himself addressed the nearly 2,700 people in attendance.

The campaign launch was the culmination of Wiesel’s day here, which included a proclamation from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declaring Sept. 10, 2012, Elie Wiesel Day.

Among Wiesel’s many activities was the receipt of an honorary degree from the University of British Columbia, where he spoke to university administrators, students and Holocaust survivors. A formal academic procession led Wiesel into the hall and a short panel discussion followed his remarks, involving the university’s president, Prof. Stephen Toope, Prof. Richard Menkis, a professor of modern Jewish history, and Barbara Schober, a graduate student. UBC Chancellor Sarah Morgan-Silvester presented Wiesel with the doctorate.

Also on Wiesel’s itinerary was a morning interview with the Jewish Independent; one of only two interviews he granted while here, the other being with the Vancouver Sun.

photo in Jewish Independent - Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declares Sept. 10, 2012, Elie Wiesel Day — Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declares Sept. 10, 2012, Elie Wiesel Day. *(photo by Jennifer Houghton)*

As editor Basya Laye and I introduced ourselves, Wiesel admitted his dependence on the New York Times, a copy of which he had not yet picked up that day. Once the “bible of journalism,” according to Wiesel, he lamented the Times’ decline in quality as the newspaper industry itself has declined. He wasn’t worried about the change to internet media, however.

“Our stories are not dominated by concern with the press, it’s person to person,” he said. “If you relied on the New York Times, the New York Times’ background, record in those years, is not the best, during the war.”

Wiesel recounted how, years ago, he complained to the Times about how little there was in the paper about the Holocaust while it was happening. Subsequently, he was invited to a luncheon, at which he gave them a piece of his mind. As a result, said Wiesel, in the paper’s offices, they have a plaque/letter saying, “We failed,” as a reminder to themselves.

Yet, admission of failure on the world level – that countries did not do enough to prevent the Holocaust – has not resulted in the prevention of other attempts at genocide.

“Can human nature change?” Wiesel said about that fact. “It’s society. Whatever the issue we have is, for instance, believe me that, I say, a sex story will have the front pages. Not what we try to say, but the sex story will have the front pages. It is our culture. We go with what is easy, what is cheap, and what is accepted as interesting by more people than before. And that goes everywhere, that’s in literature, that’s in the movies. I don’t know where we are heading.”

For his part, Wiesel has spent most of his life – as a witness, storyteller and teacher – trying to ensure that “never again” is a promise kept.

Born in Sighet, Romania (which was in Hungary during the war), Wiesel was 15 when he and his family were taken to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister were killed there, his father died in Buchenwald, where Wiesel also was imprisoned when the war ended; his two older sisters survived. Wiesel’s book about his experiences in the camps, Night, was first published in 1956. It has since been translated into more than 30 languages, with millions of copies being sold.

A professor at Boston University since 1976, Wiesel was founding chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which created the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and, with his wife, Marion, he established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity soon after he received the Nobel. He has written more than 50 books, and his lengthy resumé continues.

When asked how he would categorize his body of work, Wiesel told the Independent, “Not enough.”

“What would you like to have been able to do?”

“More.”

“In terms of?”

“More,” he repeated. “Not enough. Look, look, on the surface, I’ve done a lot, published many books. Many books have been published about me, and so forth. I have approached presidents and kings, but all of that, somehow, it is not enough. Maybe, deep down, all of us who have survived have had a feeling, if we told the story, the world would change, and the world hasn’t changed. Does it mean that we did not tell the story? Or not well enough? Simply, we did not find the words to tell the story? Had we told the story well enough, maybe it would have changed the world? It hasn’t changed the world.”

“Do you feel like you have failed in some measure there?”

“Not failed,” Wiesel replied quickly. “I didn’t say fail. Failing, if I had not tried. Look, I know I tried. I still try.”

Complementing his activism for human rights, Wiesel is a dedicated student of Talmud and has a deep appreciation of Chassidic and biblical stories, which the Independent referred to as “old” in asking a question about such stories’ relevance today.

“They are not only old, they are immortal,” said Wiesel. As to specific lessons we could learn, he added, “It depends what area. If it’s the Bible, then the eternal truth, or at least the eternal quest for truth. The Talmud, it’s my passion – I grew up with the Talmud and, to this day, every day, I study – I love it. I love study.”

Wiesel explained, “There is so much beauty in all that. There is so much….” He paused. “Truth is a difficult word because my truth may be mine, but not yours, but learning, the quest for truth, is extraordinary. For me to teach those texts is so rewarding, so rewarding. And we take a theme, a talmudic theme or a biblical theme or a prophetic theme, and it can go on, it can last for us for hours and hours and hours in class.

“Come on, the beauty of an Isaiah, the tragic sense of a Jeremiah, and the immortal dimension of a Habakkuk. It is all these. They survived. The very fact that they survived, you know, how did they survive? These are texts conceived, written and spoken 3,000 years ago or so, 2,500, and they survived. What made them survive?”

The concept of truth came up again when the Independent asked Wiesel’s opinion – as a former journalist himself – about how much a newspaper should reflect extremes within the community it serves.

“I gave up journalism. Do you know why?” asked Wiesel. “I liked journalism at the beginning; I loved it. It was to be at the nerve centre of history, come on, I loved it. Then I realized, what, two things. Number one, I repeated myself – which means I changed the names, but the words remained the same.” He paused, then continued, “I am going to spend my life like that? Second, I realized the people that I loved and admired; occasionally, they had such an attitude of fear and respect for the journalist – I said, I don’t want that, I don’t want to inspire that. That’s when I moved to the academic. I gave up, for that reason.”

Hesitant to give advice, Wiesel eventually said, “Young lady, your truth is truth. Listen to it. It’s your truth that matters. Don’t accept somebody else’s truth. And, if you are a journalist, if you have the respect for your own words, that will be read by hundreds or thousands of people, who will read it and maybe be influenced by it – you, just you, don’t listen to [anyone,] not even to your editors. Don’t tell them, don’t even listen to that,” he said, looking at Basya as he made the comment, and laughing. “You decide. When you publish an article under your byline, it’s yours.”

Despite having wondered aloud as to the effectiveness of his efforts to change the world, Wiesel still gets up every morning to do just that. “What is the alternative?” he asked rhetorically. “What is the alternative? There is no alternative. True, I fought many battles and lost. So what? I’ll continue fighting. Look, my life is not a life of success or victory, much more of failures. I tried so many things and failed, you have no idea. Of course, so what? I’ll continue. The only area where I feel I must continue is, first of all, education. Whatever must be done in Jewish life, and in life in general – not only for Jews – education must be a priority. Not the only one, but the main priority, education. Let’s surely aim for that. And then, Israel, to me, of course is – the centrality of Israel in my life is here,” he said, putting his hand over his heart.

A few moments later in the conversation, Wiesel returned to the topic of journalism.

“You know, as a journalist, my love would be to interview, not for news, [but] to have the interview. And that’s really what I loved about it, to meet people, to have real conversations, I mean, real dialogues – not questions and answers, because I know now about you more than you think, simply by the questions that you ask. But that’s the journalist in me.”

“So, you obviously have faith in human nature … and you like to know more about people?”

“I do,” he said, with hesitation. “In spite of. It’s not because of, but in spite of.”

Songs with meaning

Geoff Berner brings his hard-hitting, eminently entertaining klezmer to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on July 16 and 17. (photo by Fumie Suzuki)

Geoff Berner doesn’t mince words. An excellent musician, he puts them to melodies that range from mournful to joyous to angry, sometimes all in one song, sometimes all at the same time. There are lyrics that inspire and those that disturb. Every song makes you think, feel, move. Berner will no doubt draw an enthusiastic crowd at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival next weekend.

His latest CD, We Are Going to Bremen to be Musicians (2015, Oriente Musik/COAX), was produced by Socalled, aka Josh Dolgin, who also contributes piano and vocals to the recording. The title song is a reinterpretation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Town Musicians of Bremen.

“I had an urge to retell that fable,” he told the Independent in an email interview. “At the time, I didn’t know why. I just became obsessed with it. It’s so strange. It’s a kids story about talking animals who are condemned to death but instead run away, with the plan of becoming professional musicians. Then they drive some thieves from their den, and take over the den and all the stolen goods. ‘The End.’ What?”

The animals in Berner’s song, who “people say” are “too used up to be allowed to live,” head to Bremen to be musicians, “to speak of death another day and have a sacred feast with what we stole from the thieves.” The donkey fearlessly leads his small troupe, “realism is something he’s not needing. People talk like they understand the world but they may find, when it kicks them in the head, it’s liable to change their mind.” The rooster, meanwhile, “thinks he can predict the future. Actually, he’s just a rooster. If he could read his own entrails he would see the comfort-giving chicken soup that is his destiny.” Finally, the “dog is full of moral confusion, but the cat is under no illusion. The dog did his killing out of loyalty, and for pay, but the cat knows why he would have done it anyway.” The animals are on their way to Bremen to be musicians: “They’re going to build a statue of us in the square. To commemorate the fact that we were never there.”

Berner told CBC that he thought that his obsession with the story was connected to the loss of both of his parents from cancer within a short amount of time of each other (2013-2014). “Grappling with the story,” he said, “was me trying to find a back door to processing what was going on in my life at the time … contemplating and dealing with mortality of people who were really great parents and very important to me.”

Raised in Vancouver in the Reform and Conservative traditions, Berner’s lyrics, while mostly English, are steeped in Yiddish culture and his style is most definitely klezmer.

“My grandparents spoke Yiddish,” he explained to the JI, “but it was not seen as something worth teaching to their children. So, to a certain extent, I’m trying to reclaim my heritage. We listened to some klezmer music at home and at Hebrew school, and a lot of other stuff, too.

“I originally learned music playing improvised blues piano. I love all kinds of music but, by bringing klezmer into my songwriting, I get to connect with a part of myself that I’d otherwise feel was missing from my life. And I feel strongly that there’s a radical left-wing Jewish culture that deserves to live, as much or in fact more than the nutso Orthodox tradition that represses women and worships a toxic, murderous form of Zionism.”

Berner has strong opinions, that’s for sure, and his songs can be highly critical, no doubt – just ask Gregor Robertson or Stephen Harper, among many others who have made their way into Berner’s discography. But, while he may be tilting at windmills, Berner is trying to rouse action and, with his music, he is trying to do something himself to change the world. Which is why a description of Berner in the Ottawa Citizen as “eternally cynical” doesn’t quite ring true, nor do other similar categorizations.

“I guess I get more of a thrill than a lot of people out of somebody saying flat-out, unvarnished, just how bad a thing really is,” Berner told the JI. “Does that mean I’m a cynic? I don’t know. I like the way George Orwell defined himself, as ‘an independent man of the left.’ That’s how I would define myself, politically. Am I cynical if I believe that a lot of public figures are lying and don’t have the public interest at heart? OK, so be it. Am I cynical if I don’t believe that the narrative of the human story is ‘progress upwards’? OK, so be it. I believe that there’s genuine, eternal divinity residing in the act of fighting the good fight, even if you strongly suspect you’re going to lose. To me, God lives there, so I don’t need optimism in order to feel hope.”

One of the most fun and, at the same time, discomforting songs on Berner’s latest recording is “Dance and Celebrate,” which doesn’t just talk about celebrating the “misfortunes of people we hate” but wishes misfortunes on people, and lumps together the likes of Joseph Stalin, Margaret Thatcher, Ariel Sharon and Harper.

“That song is more about allowing yourself to feel so-called ‘negative’ emotions like, for instance, white-hot, burning hatred, without judging yourself,” Berner explained. “I’m a big believer in that. What you then do with those feelings, that’s another thing. I think the Irish peace process is a good model for other conflicts because, in that case, instead of demanding a utopian, inhuman level of forgiveness from enemies, it asked less of people. Let’s not worry about whether or not we love each other, or whether or not, deep down, everyone is the same, blah, blah, blah. Let’s just begin by not actually killing each other – today. Then take it from there. If we acknowledge our real emotions, truthfully, maybe that’s a better way to begin improving the situation than to ask for the moon.”

Realism – unnecessary to the Bremen-headed donkey and so many of us – is at Berner’s core, and it sets him apart. A Georgia Straight article earlier this year was headlined, “Geoff Berner finds the humor in being a Lotusland outsider.”

“I don’t know if I really am on the outside – I have loads of privileges – but I feel like I’m on the outside,” he told the JI. “I feel apart from this culture that we’re living in, which seems floridly insane to me. In this world, there are half the birds that there were the year when I was born. Half the birds are gone. It doesn’t seem to matter to anyone. People go to plastic surgery and pay thousands of dollars to cut themselves up to look more like magazine covers. Christmas. Weddings. ‘Camping.’ What the hell? None of the things that seem central to this culture make any sense to me. I need an alternative culture to belong to, so I don’t just feel like everyone else is right and I’m a monster. So, my writing is a way to try to be part of building that. The feedback I get is that some people appreciate it. And, of course, some people don’t.”

Many people have appreciated We Are Going to Bremen to be Musicians, it seems. In addition to the recording, Berner created a book of the tale, with illustrations by Tin Can Forest. Tin Can Forest Press’ first printing of it, published in 2015, sold out; the second printing will be available next month.

Berner has also written a novel, Festival Man (Dundurn Press, 2013) – wherein “[m]averick music manager Campbell Ouiniette makes a final destructive bid for glory at the Calgary Folk Festival” – which was well received, and he has a second novel on the way, called The Fiddler is a Good Woman, expected in late 2017.

On Berner’s website, the Bremen story is described as “an absurd tale of irrational hope and optimism in the face of horror, and that’s where the story connects with the songs on the album.” Berner describes the album “as a compendium of strategies against despair.”

He’s right – as serious as Bremen is, it’s uplifting. There is much humor, as song titles such as “I Don’t Feel so Mad at God When I See You in Your Summer Dress,” readily attest, and much with which Vancouverites in particular will relate – take the song “Condos,” for example. And where else will you hear David Bowie’s “Always Crashing in the Same Car” in Yiddish?

Berner is one of more than 60 performers scheduled to perform at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival this year. The festival, which takes place at Jericho Beach July 15-17, also includes Israel’s Yemen Blues with Ravid Kahalani. For a 2011 interview with Kahalani, click here. For the full lineup and tickets of the folk festival, visit thefestival.bc.ca.

Dancers explore our humanity

Naomi Brand’s En Route will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project. (photo by Chris Randle)

New works and the pushing of boundaries. Just what audiences expect from the Dancing on the Edge contemporary dance festival, and just what the three participating Jewish community members have created.

This year’s Dancing on the Edge (DOTE), which takes place July 7-16, includes work by Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Amber Funk Barton and Naomi Brand.

Friedenberg’s I can’t remember the word for I can’t remember is an excerpt from a work-in-progress – a new solo she is creating with director John Murphy.

Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg has worked with actor John Murphy to create I can’t remember the word for I can’t remember. (photo by Wendy D Photography)

“I will be performing but a lot of what we’ve been making has come out of our conversations about memory and the displacement of our memories in the digital world,” she explained. “The piece explores how our minds, our selves escape us and the panic that brings.”

Friedenberg and Murphy met years ago, when she was choreographing a Fringe show in which he was performing.

“He is one of the funniest performers I know and a very smart playwright and director,” said Friedenberg. “I wanted to do research into narrative structure and comic writing, as well as explore being ‘myself’ onstage. Once John and I started researching, we both got excited about turning the research into a piece. Marc Stewart will create an original score for the work as well.”

As for other future projects, Friedenberg said she had recently returned from a residency in Italy where she was collaborating with Italian dance-theatre-performance artist Silvia Gribaudi. “We will be premièring our duet next year at the Scotiabank Dance Centre – it’s a co-production with the Dance Centre and Chutzpah!”

In addition to DOTE, Friedenberg is also choreographing West Side Story for Theatre Under the Stars this summer.

“It’s my first time working for TUTS and the cast is fantastic!” she said. “The amazing Sarah Rodgers is directing – I also met her years ago on the same Fringe show where I met John. It’s a very edgy take on West Side and I am able to bring my contemporary vision to it.”

Barton is also bringing a new work to DOTE that she hopes will evolve into something larger – Village, a 15-minute group piece, performed by members of the response.’s apprenticeship program.

Dancers from response.’s apprenticeship program will perform Amber Funk Barton’s Village. (photo by Chris Barton)

About it, Barton said, “I am always interested in working with narrative and story and, lately, I seem to be inspired by small towns and their intimate interactions. When I travel, I find it fascinating that, as a human race, we all have a similar rhythm to our lives but the diversity of how we carry out this rhythm is what continues to make us interesting to one another. We all wake up. We all eat breakfast. We all go to work. We all struggle to define what our short lives on this planet mean. We all love and have our hearts broken. We all want to be loved. We struggle to attain happiness…. So, I’ve decided that I would like to make a dance that reflects these inspirations; I want to portray a group of people who live by the sea and survive a storm.

“My intention in creating Village for the festival this year,” she continued, “is that it is a starting point for a much more developed work with possibly a larger cast. But, to start, I am working with four dancers – Andrew Haydock, Antonio Somera Jr., Marcy Mills and Tessa Tamura – who have all gone through my company’s apprentice program. So, this is also a special endeavor, as it is giving these emerging dancers an opportunity to perform in the festival, as well as working with them as professional dancers. It’s really exciting to witness their growth. I’ve also decided not to perform in Village because I want to focus solely on the creation of it.”

Another focus of Barton’s has been working to make VAST, her first full-length solo, a reality. “I’ve been doing a lot of movement research and performing works-in-progress in support of it and I’m currently working towards a 2017 première,” she said.

“I’ve also held two more cycles of my company’s apprentice program. It’s hard to believe, but my company’s 10th anniversary is on the horizon, so I’m dreaming about what I would like to create to celebrate that. I’m also teaching regularly and am currently on staff as the head of contemporary at Avant Dance Company in Burnaby.”

And, if that weren’t enough, Barton recently did a residency with the company EDAM Dance.

“This spring,” she said, “with the support of EDAM, I was invited to create a 20-minute work for three dancers. I called the trio Scenes for Your Consideration and it was recently performed at EDAM’s Induction performance series.” The work featured Elya Grant, Somera Jr. and Haydock, she added, “and became a collection of scenes and interactions where the relationships between the dancers continued to shift. When I watch the work, I see them shift between friends, enemies, lovers, siblings – all the various roles that we encounter in our everyday lives.”

Brand’s work for DOTE is about a different form of shifting. Called En Route, it “explores different ways to traverse public spaces and negotiate our place in a crowd. The piece celebrates and exploits the fine line between practical and performative ways of getting from point A to point B.” To the program description, Brand added, “Directionality and determination to get somewhere are contrasted with meandering, circuitous pathways towards our goal.”

The piece will be performed in the inner courtyard of the Woodward’s Building, which, she said, “requires me to think more creatively about the three-dimensional experience of watching a living choreography. The Woodward’s space is also a space with its own complex choreography of people moving through it in myriad diverse ways towards their own destinations. We are excited to build upon the existing dance of that space.”

En Route will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project, which she described as “an inclusive group of movers who experience and perceive the world differently.”

Brand launched All Bodies Dance Project in September 2014 with Mirae Rosner and Sarah Lapp.

“The three of us were/are interested in making a space in Vancouver to explore an inclusive dance practice that was open to movers of all abilities,” said Brand. “We have been really fortunate to partner with the Vancouver Parks Board and the Roundhouse to make this project possible.

“All Bodies Dance Project is accessible to anyone and welcomes difference as a creative strength,” she continued. “Our work poses questions about dance and how it is practised: Who has access to dance training? Who gets to make dances? What is the artistic potential of different types of people dancing together?

“By bringing together ‘standing dancers’ with dancers who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids, our practice seeks to challenge the ideas of normalized dancing bodies and make space for a new and innovative community of dance makers. We want to widen the spectrum of who dances and what dance can be.”

All Bodies Dance Project has created two full evening productions to date, See & Be Seen (2015) and TRACE (2016), and have done numerous community performances in local festivals and events, said Brand. “We are interested in continuing to create new and innovative pieces of choreography, allowing new audiences to see the choreographic possibilities of difference.”

In the fall, she said, there will be a new session of the group’s open classes at Trout Lake Community Centre and the Roundhouse, in addition to a new class it is launching for young dancers ages 8-12 at Mount Pleasant Community Centre and a new group at Sunset Community Centre (allbodiesdance.ca).

In addition, Brand continues “to make and perform contemporary dance across a wide spectrum of contexts, from my own solo work to work with professional dancers to dance with diverse populations. I have just completed a three-year residency at the Roundhouse, where I was working with an ensemble of 20 older adults called the Ageless Dancers.”

As well, when the JI contacted Brand by email for this interview, she was on Toronto Island where, she said, “I am working with a group of 24 dance makers from across Canada on a project called 8 DAYS. This is my fourth time at this intergenerational gathering that aims to connect choreographers, to share their practices and create dialogue about the form.”

For the full schedule and tickets for the DOTE festival, visit dancingontheedge.org.

Outlook’s final edition

The cover of Outlook magazine’s final issue features a painting by Lithuanian artist Yehuda Pen (1854-1937). The newspaper in the image, explains the caption, is Der fraynd (The Friend), which, “founded in 1903, was one of the major Yiddish newspapers of its day before it was closed down in 1913 by czarist censors.” For Outlook – “Canada’s only progressive Jewish periodical” – it wasn’t censors that caused its demise, but the economy, one that has seen many print publications close their doors.

“We have struggled uphill for quite awhile with the difficulties and expenses of sustaining a print publication with a small and specialized – although devoted – readership, and we must finally let go,” writes editor Carl Rosenberg in the magazine’s final issue, the Spring 2016 edition.

“Looking back, we are proud of having given a home to diverse voices in the left and Jewish communities: liberal Zionist, non- and anti-Zionist, Yiddishist, Marxist, feminist, anarchist, environmentalist, social democratic,” he continues. “We have covered and reflected the Canadian and international scene, including labor struggles, environmental issues, women’s issues, issues of sexuality, gender, human rights and civil liberties. We have hosted lively, often impassioned, debates on many issues, and we hope they have usually been respectful as well.

“We have upheld a cultural heritage dear to most secular Jews – that of Yiddish language and literature. We have published works by and about a wide variety of Yiddish writers, men and women, and recounted the rich and dynamic history of the secular Yiddish culture that emerged in Eastern Europe a century and a half ago and has played such a large part in modern Jewish history and culture.

“We have remembered one of the greatest crimes in recorded history – the Nazi Holocaust or Shoah against the Jews of Europe, paying tribute to those who resisted against impossible odds. We have tried to draw universal lessons from this monstrosity, speaking out against racism, chauvinism and fanaticism of all kinds. On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we have supported the rights of both peoples to exist in peace and equality, while opposing violence on all sides, and we have opposed the decades-long Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and the systematic Israeli violation of Palestinian human and national rights.”

In an article by Leslie Dyson, managing editor Sylvia Friedman – whose involvement with Outlook goes back 43 years – explains a bit of the publication’s history. While she connected with the magazine in Toronto in 1973, it started in 1963, evolving, writes Dyson, “from an English-language insert in the Vochenblatt (Weekly Paper),” which closed its doors in 1978, “due to the ill-health of its editor, Joshua Gershman, who was also for a time the de facto editor of Outlook, where [Friedman] worked with him.

“In 1979, Friedman announced that she was moving with her family to Vancouver. It seemed that Outlook (known then as Canadian Jewish Outlook) would have to fold. Ben Chud and Hank Rosenthal, progressive Jewish activists in Vancouver, asked if they could jointly take over the role of editor and have Friedman manage the magazine in Vancouver – an arrangement that was accepted.”

The magazine describes itself as “an independent, secular Jewish publication with a socialist-humanist perspective.” Published six times a year, it had collectives in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. It has had an office in the Peretz Centre for Secular Culture (which used to be called the Vancouver Peretz Institute) since the late 1980s. Rosenberg became assistant editor in 1993 and editor in 1998.

“We didn’t follow a particular policy,” Friedman told Dyson, “but we have been critical of what’s happening in Israel, the States, Canada and B.C. I guess the focus has been on equality and principles of socialism. But even left-leaning governments never received blind support.”

Financed by fundraisers held in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto; subscriptions; and funds bequeathed by “Joseph Zuken (a long-time openly communist city council member in Winnipeg) and Ben Shek (a professor, social justice activist, active member of the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir and regular contributor to Outlook),” making ends meet has always been challenging for Outlook. At its highest, circulation was 3,000 copies in the 1990s.

With older readers literally dying off and younger readers getting their information from the internet, plus constantly increasing printing and mailing costs, publishing the magazine just became too expensive.

The final issue features many comments from readers about what Outlook has meant to them, essays on such topics as the future of the NDP and the state of public broadcasting, and several book reviews.

Scribe 2015/16 launch

(photos by Cynthia Ramsay)

On May 15, the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia launched the latest issue of its annual journal, The Scribe. This year’s edition follows the history of Jewish clothiers in the province, so the museum kicked things off with a fashion show curated by local fashion historian, Ivan Sayers, featuring clothing from the 1940s through to the 1970s. Some of the pieces exhibited were made or sold by clothiers included in the journal, which can be purchased for $20 from [email protected] or 604-257-5199. To see more of the fashion show photos, click here.

Sisterhood winds up its 50th

The current Sisterhood of Temple Sholom board at its installation in June 2015. (photo from the Sisterhood)

The Sisterhood of Temple Sholom obtained its charter from the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods, now Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ), in 1966. Since its inception, the Sisterhood has provided vital funding and services not only to its congregation and the broader Jewish community, but well beyond. It has had much to celebrate in its 50th year.

The group has held several events, some marking the anniversary specifically, others part of the normal course of business. It began last October with Her Story, A Celebration of Women and Culture. Among the many events since then was Sisterhood’s annual Autumn Fling fundraiser in November and its Sisterhood Service in December. There was the Women’s Passover Seder in April and the recent Golden Anniversary Tea on June 5. The closing event takes place June 21 and the entire community is invited to the catered dinner, installation of the board and special guest Sarah Charney, WRJ vice-president of programming and education; Temple Sholom Rabbi Dan Moskovitz will also attend.

And these only touch upon what Sisterhood has done this year. The 200-plus-member group also held a Shabbaton weekend, co-sponsored scholar-in-residence Anat Hoffman of the Israel Religious Action Centre, and extensively researched Sisterhood’s history. Seven articles on the latter can be found via templesholom.ca/programs/sisterhood.

Donna Ornstein, a past Sisterhood president and current co-vice-president of marketing and communications, with Annette Kozicki, highlighted one major undertaking.

“To celebrate our 50th anniversary, our Sisterhood has just created a new fund called Sisterhood Open Door Accessibility Project, which is to be used to improve accessibility to the Temple building for the benefit of the Temple and the congregation,” she told the Independent in an email interview. “We have set aside $10,000 from our 2015-2016 budget and the intention is to add more funds each financial year as determined by our board to continue this project.

“This initial $10,000 is directed towards upgrading the Temple’s handicap washroom, and other washrooms as funds permit. Future projects will be determined by the Sisterhood board in consultation with the Temple. In 2014, Sisterhood completed paying the Temple $20,000 towards the cost of the construction of the accessibility ramp to the bimah.”

The Sisterhood’s mission statement is: “We, the Sisterhood of Temple Sholom, are an organization rooted in Reform Judaism. Journeying together, we aspire to engage in the pursuit of gemilut hasadim (acts of kindness), tikkun olam (healing the world, and tzedakah (righteousness).” In every measure, and then some, the group has met this aspiration.

“We have been fortunate in having many of the Sisterhood leaders over the decades reach out to the women in the Temple, encourage their participation and mentor their leadership training, not only in-house, but by encouraging new women to attend the WRJ Pacific District conventions,” explained Ornstein about the keys to the group’s success. “There was only a period of three years in the 50 years where we could not find a member to step up as president and, in that case, there was a group who rotated.

“Strong friendships have been created among our Sisterhood members, which have lasted for decades,” she continued. “We offer many different types of activities, and the women participate in what interests them: for example, book club, WRJ Lilith discussion group, women’s knitting group, Rosh Chodesh study group, Sisterhood Choir, walking group, mah jongg, games days.

“We form committees for larger projects and portfolios, bringing new women onto the committees and encouraging them to move up onto the board, such as fundraising, membership and social action.

“Sisterhood,” she added, “has enjoyed and appreciated the support of the Temple clergy and the office staff for our many events and projects over the 50 years.”

There have been almost 30 presidents of the Sisterhood, with the late Jan Pollack having been the founder and Reesa Devlin the current president.

“In the early years of Temple Sholom, Sisterhood’s social action adhered to charity begins at home, as it raised funds for items a new shul needs, such as libraries, kitchens, furnishings and office equipment,” write Sisterhood members Marie Henry and Joyce Cherry in their joint 50th-anniversary article. “As it became more established, Sisterhood helped those in the community around them and the world at large. In the late 1980s, Sisterhood contributed to the Armenian Earthquake Appeal and sponsored a Jewish camp for a youth group member. They participated in various community projects, such as the Jewish Food Bank and the Committee for Soviet Jewry.

“In the 1990s, Sisterhood sponsored a Russian family to come to Canada. A very special program saw a workshop on Understanding the Impact of AIDS in the Jewish Community that … led to the beginning of the Temple Sholom HIV AIDS committee. Funding also went to Emily Murphy Transition House, a vital resource for women fleeing violence in relationships. This involvement led to co-sponsoring Peace in the Home – Shalom Bayit – along with Jewish Women International, to address problem of domestic violence in the Jewish community.”

Sisterhood has sponsored teams in the annual Run for the Cure for Breast Cancer, has held sweater drives to collect winter clothing for those in need and has collected prescription glasses for developing countries.

“Another very important presentation program in 2009 brought addressing human trafficking in B.C. to everyone’s attention with the persistence of its originator, Marnie Besser,” note Henry and Cherry. “This program led to the spearheading of a successful lobby to the Canadian Senate for the passing of Bill C-268 regarding the minimum sentencing for the trafficking of minors.”

In the next decade, Sisterhood created “Bedtime Kits for Kids, filling backpacks with donated pyjamas, toiletries, underwear and some comfort items for children who arrive at a shelter with nothing but what they are wearing.” Sisterhood sponsors Tikun Olam Gogos, it collects clothing and toiletries for WISH (Women’s Information Safe Haven), a nonprofit operated by women to help women in Vancouver’s street-based sex trade, and also donates women’s business clothing and accessories to Dress for Success.

As well, it contributes to the World Union for Progressive Judaism and the ongoing WRJ initiative YES (Youth, Education and Special Projects) Fund, which, as one of the unbylined 50th-anniversary articles notes, “represents the collective financial efforts of individual donors and WRJ-affiliated Sisterhoods to strengthen the Reform Movement and ensure the future of Reform Judaism. YES Fund grants provide Reform Jewish institutions and individuals worldwide with the tools necessary for religious, social and educational growth, and enhance Jewish life by supporting clergy, cultivating women’s leadership, advocating for social justice, providing programming and offering support.”

In her 50th anniversary article, Bonnie Gertsman focuses on the history of the Sisterhood and food. “Preparing food has traditionally been the responsibility of women, to both nourish and nurture those they care about. And so it was at the beginning of Sisterhood 50 years ago,” she writes. “Although the group was small [at the beginning], the enthusiasm was keen. Refreshments for Oneg Shabbats were looked after by Sisterhood members, as was food for all special events.

“Over the years, the women’s skills increased and, when Bunny Rubens (rebbetzin of Rabbi Harold Rubens) became involved, Sisterhood took up catering. Regarded as a way to provide a service to members and at the same time raise money for the Temple, catering bar/bat mitzvahs and other events became a key component of Sisterhood life.”

Sisterhood started Temple Sholom’s first Second Seder, as well as the break fast following Yom Kippur. Rubens started the latter on her own, notes Gertsman, “and it morphed into a Sisterhood project, with members supplying the food. Sara Ciacci took it on many years ago, and continues to oversee it.”

In 1987, Sisterhood published Favorites from our Kitchen. “As the years passed,” writes Gertsman, “Sisterhood’s involvement with cooking for Temple has changed as the Temple grew and paid staff and caterers were hired for the kitchen and catering. Now, Sisterhood has Soup in the Kitchen and Soup Schvesters. These ‘soup sisters’ prepare soup to have on hand in the freezer, ready to be delivered to people in need of a helping hand.”

On the spiritual side, Sarah Richman writes in her 50th-anniversary essay on religious and educational programming that, as a member of WRJ, Temple Sholom Sisterhood “is committed to egalitarian participation, leadership and education.”

She notes, “The annual Sisterhood Service was one of the first and most enduring examples of this commitment. The first Sisterhood Service was conducted in the 1970s and was a Friday evening, erev Shabbat service that recognized the contributions of women to the congregation. The Sisterhood Service evolved over the years, affirming the right of women to participate and lead worship services. Over time, the service began including the Torah service … and also having a sisterhood member deliver the drash (sermon), demonstrating that women not only have the right to full participation in religious services, but also the knowledge and ability to do so.”

photo - Sisterhood of Temple Sholom Choir — Sisterhood of Temple Sholom Choir *(photo from the Sisterhood)*

Richman highlights the Sisterhood Choir, the Rosh Chodesh Renewal program that “encourages women to explore and study our ancient texts together” and the purchase by Sisterhood of 126 copies of The Torah, A Women’s Commentary for the congregation. She also discusses Sisterhood-hosted Shabbat education seminars, which began in 2007, “motivated by the Shabbat initiative of Rabbi [Eric] Yoffie,” then president of the Union for Reform Judaism, and Sisterhood’s contribution to Temple Sholom’s scholars-in-residence program.

“The Blessings Wall Project,” she adds, “is an example of a program that blended each individual woman’s Shabbat candlelighting process (the spent matches), together with fabric, paper, photos and/or artwork that represent her personality or character. Each woman’s matches, paper/fabric and photos/artwork became an individual panel on the wall.”

WRJ is the organizational umbrella for hundreds of sisterhoods, and the North American (“national”) affiliates are divided into eight districts, with WRJ Pacific District representing 57 sisterhoods in the western United States and Canada. The Blessings Wall Project, Camp Kalsman Campership Fund/Fashion Show Project and A Community Conversation about Death and Dying are but a few of the Sisterhood programs and initiatives that have received recognition at both the district and national levels. Temple Sholom Sisterhood members have served on the district board, and member Alexis Rothschild has also served on the WRJ board.

Ornstein told the Independent that, in November, “we will send as many of our Sisterhood members as possible (hopefully about 10) to the Women of Reform Judaism Pacific District convention in Las Vegas where we will meet women from over 50 sisterhoods and participate in workshops on leadership training, spirituality, programming. We come home from these biennial conventions energized with lots of new ideas.”

And so begins the next 50 years.

First book of trilogy now out

Michael Seidelman is donating 10% of novel profits this month to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. (photo from Michael Seidelman)

May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month, so author Michael Seidelman will be donating 10% of the profits from this month’s book sales to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to help find a cure.

The connection? The heroine of his Garden of Syn young adult series suffers from CF.

“When I was 10 years old, I watched a TV movie called Alex: The Life of a Child, the true story of an 8-year-old girl who died from CF. Seeing that a child could lose her life so young had a profound impact on me then and continues to do so all these years later,” he explained.

Having his protagonist suffer from CF “could potentially raise awareness about the devastating illness,” he said. “I learned a lot about CF while researching for the book and I’m sure anyone who reads it will as well.”

But, while an integral part of her character and of the plot, CF does not define Syn, though it does offer her challenges most people do not have to face, and has made her more responsible and mature than her years. But so have several other factors.

The first book of the trilogy – No One Dies in the Garden of Syn, which was released last month – introduces us to Syn. Right away, we find out that her parents went missing when she was 5 years old and her aunt has looked after her ever since. In addition to dealing with her illness, Syn has regular teenage problems with friendships, boyfriends and school, and exhibits that brand of cynicism so often found in kids of that age.

“Syn,” she notes. “Short for Synthia. I don’t know why my parents spelled my name with an ‘S’ but if I could ask them anything, that would be my last question. Aunt Ruth tells me it’s likely because I was special and deserving of a unique spelling. I highly doubt that’s it.”

Syn is a formidable and likable hero for whom readers will root. And the constant action will keep readers turning the pages. Along her accidental journey, she must face situations and enemies that are potentially more threatening than her illness.

“Young adult novels are usually geared towards an audience of 12 years and up,” said Seidelman when asked whether he was concerned with how young readers might react. “While it does contain some dark themes, I think kids in that age group are familiar with the topics that are explored. I also think that this book is more appropriate for younger readers than many other books in the young adult category. I probably wouldn’t recommend the Hunger Games or Twilight for a 12-year-old reader. While No One Dies in the Garden of Syn may be a bit scary towards the book’s climax, any kid who is comfortable reading the Harry Potter series should be more than fine reading this.”

His own creative journey was sparked by books he read as a kid.

“My favorite stories growing up were about secrets worlds, like Alice in Wonderland and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Since I was in high school, I had wanted to write my own book about a secret world. It took me many years before I came up with the right story – one that is inspired by the tales of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum and C.S. Lewis, but at the same time is very different and geared towards an older audience.

“The ideas that triggered the story I ended up telling came to me when I immersed myself in nature and let the ideas flow. I jotted down notes for a few months and made many changes to the story and characters before I sat down in April of 2014 and plotted out each chapter in detail. That took about a month and then it took another four months to write the novel. But that was only the beginning, as there were many rewrites and edits that followed.”

No One Dies in the Garden of Syn is Seidelman’s first published novel. But, as much as he enjoyed writing it, he said, it was not an easy task.

“The rewriting and editing process probably took six times the effort that writing the initial manuscript did, if not more,” he said. “Every single word is immensely important, as are continuity and proper tenses. But, for the second book in the Garden of Syn series, which I am currently working on, I think that part of the process will be smoother. Having now done this once, I now know what works and what doesn’t.

“For anyone wishing to self-publish a book,” he advised, “I cannot emphasize enough the importance of paying for a professional editor. You also need a professional-looking cover that will stand out as people really do judge a book by its cover. Having it professionally formatted for the physical copy and ebook readers is also important. With over 3,000 books published every single day, you need to do everything in your power to make yours the best it can possibly be.

“And then, when it is published, your journey has just begun. You need to use every avenue available to let people know about your book and encourage them to read it. The internet offers many wonderful tools to help do this but you really need to put in the time to market it. As I write my second book, at least 25% of my time goes to marketing the first one.”

The next book in the trilogy will be out next year, and the conclusion in 2018. The first novel is available in paperback and as an ebook from online sellers, including via michaelseidelman.com.

Learning about other faiths

Grade 6 students from Vancouver Talmud Torah – Sophie Chelin, Ava Abramowich, Sayde Shuster, Ruth Nahmad and Rachel Seguin – do the blessing over the candles at an interfaith Shabbat dinner on May 6. (photo by Jennifer Shecter-Balin)

The joy of learning, the excitement of meeting new people, the comfort of community, the satisfaction of a job well done. All of these energies filled the room at Congregation Beth Israel on May 6. And, while that Shabbat dinner marked the culmination of Vancouver Talmud Torah’s Grade 6 Term 2 Tikkun Olam course, it seemed like a beginning as well.

With the knowledge and relationships gained and curiosity and compassion further engrained, these students now have an even more solid foundation from which to carry on their interfaith connections and broaden their experiences beyond the Belief project.

The initiative of Jennifer Shecter-Balin, director of admissions and communications at VTT, who guided the students with Grade 6 humanities and tikkun olam teacher Meghan Davey, the project was inspired by Oprah Winfrey’s seven-part Belief series.

Every week, students watched an episode of the series, explained Shecter-Balin in an email to the Independent. They then “completed related assignments and activities to both deepen their own connection to Judaism and broaden their understanding of other world religions and belief systems.”

“Each week, we journeyed across the globe to learn about different streams of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and other non-traditional beliefs systems,” she explained to those gathered on May 6. “In addition to gaining further grounding in their Judaism, our students expanded their perspectives and worldviews through learning about myriad different spiritual practices, rituals and beliefs.”

“Throughout the term,” added Davey, “we broadened our vocabulary and learned terms such as monotheism, agnosticism and atheism…. We debated the merits of arranged marriages; we compared the divinely inspired versus the scientific; and we discussed the concept of miracles and what constitutes one. But most satisfying was the fact that the students all agreed that being alive and having one’s health is indeed miraculous.”

Davey also noted that, “They have learned to identify similarities across the religions – the importance of water for purification in so many traditions, for example – as well as significant differences between the major world faiths.”

For the course’s final assignment, students had to interview someone of a faith other than Judaism and then write about that person’s beliefs and influences.

“For many students, this was their first time ever interviewing an adult and someone of a considerably different background to them,” said Shecter-Balin.

The result is a nicely designed spiral-bound book of essays on the 40 interviews conducted. A copy of the book was placed at every Shabbat table and Shecter-Balin invited guests – the students’ families and many of the interviewees – to read through it.

“Like us,” she said, “you’ll learn about a host of beliefs, practices and unique life experiences, and you’ll read our students’ enthusiastic reflections about this assignment. Most importantly, their hearts and minds have further opened without compromising the integrity of who they are or where they’re from. In fact, we believe it will only serve to strengthen their identity.”

For many of the guests, the dinner was their first time in a synagogue and their first time attending a Shabbat dinner. Sharing this experience and more about Judaism, said Shecter-Balin, is a way to continue to build bridges of understanding. “This, we believe, is tikkun olam, or the Jewish commandment to repair the world,” she said.

Davey thanked all the parent volunteers who helped prepare the meal with Shlomo and Hagar Yekutieli; VTT head of school Cathy Lowenstein and assistant head of school Jessica Neville “for their support with this initiative and trusting us to think a bit outside the box”; Ellen Wiesenthal, VTT’s director of curriculum and programming, who led everyone in a few Shabbat songs after the blessings; and Beth Israel’s Gaynor Levin, for her help in planning and organizing the dinner.

Lowenstein said a few thanks of her own, including to Beth Israel Rabbi Jonathan Infeld for being so welcoming. She also introduced Rabbi Marc Kasten and his family, who came to Vancouver for the weekend. Kasten – who is currently at Temple Beth Am Day School in Miami – will start in August as VTT’s new school rabbi and director of Jewish life and learning. He spoke about some of the Shabbat rituals before they were fulfilled, mainly by the students: the singing of L’Cha Dodi, the candlelighting, the blessing of the children by their parents, the Kiddush and Hamotzi.

The next step in the project, Shecter-Balin said, is “to send a copy of the book to Oprah along with notes from the students sharing their personal reflections of watching the video series.”

JFSA lunch raises $266K

Hootsuite’s Ryan Holmes speaks to an attendee at the Innovators Lunch on May 4. (photo by Sandra Steier)

More than 550 people at the Jewish Family Service Agency’s Innovators Lunch on May 4 raised more than $266,000 for the important services JFSA provides.

Starting the event at the Hyatt Regency, featuring Hoosuite founder and chief executive officer Ryan Holmes, was Beth Israel Rabbi Jonathan Infeld who, before the motzi, said a few words about volunteer Elayne Shapray, whose funeral had been that morning. Incoming JFSA board chair Karen James also spoke about Shapray’s contributions, noting that she had been “honored with the highest volunteer award from JFSA, the Paula Lenga Award, for her quiet strength and years of support.”

photo - Innovators Lunch committee members, left to right, Shannon Ezekiel, Hillary Cooper and committee chair Sherri Wise with keynote speaker Ryan Holmes, CEO and founder of Hootsuite — Innovators Lunch committee members, left to right, Shannon Ezekiel, Hillary Cooper and committee chair Sherri Wise with keynote speaker Ryan Holmes, CEO and founder of Hootsuite. *(photo by Sandra Steier)*

When event chair Dr. Sherri Wise took to the podium, she thanked everyone involved in making the lunch possible, including her co-chairs, Shannon Ezekiel and Hillary Cooper. Richard Fruchter, senior management consultant at JFSA, added his thanks and, after a video about JFSA’s impact, introduced Dr. Neil Pollock who, with his wife Michelle, matched all new and increased donations to the lunch up to $20,000.

Pollock spoke about his family’s involvement with JFSA. In particular, he spoke about Dorita Flasker, who came to Vancouver from South America as a senior, having had all her wealth expropriated by her home country’s government. In the years since JFSA connected them, she and the Pollocks have become family, and they all recently celebrated her 80th birthday together.

Shay Keil of Keil Investment Group of ScotiaMcLeod, one of the lunch’s co-presenting sponsors, introduced the keynote speaker. Holmes founded Hootsuite in 2008, said Keil, taking the company from a small startup “to a global leader in social media with over 13 million users, including 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies.”

“My parents were both teachers – they left teaching in the ’70s to get back to the land, to become farmers,” said Holmes. “They bought a hobby farm. I grew up with goats, chickens … kerosene lamps, a water well in the Okanagan Valley.”

He discovered computers – “magical things” – at the library. The librarian noticed his enthusiasm and suggested he enter a schoolwide programming contest. Two months later, he won the contest – the prize, an Apple IIc computer, which had to be connected to the family car’s battery, as their home had no electricity.

His first business was a paintball company he started in high school. He went to university to study business, but dropped out and opened a pizza place, which he ran for a couple of years. After selling the restaurant, he moved to Vancouver, bought a computer and started learning how to build HTML websites. He got a job at a dot-com that crashed about six months later, so founded his own agency, Invoke. He continued to learn his craft and eventually hired employees. They had customers to whom they would provide computing services and they built a number of products, such as product-management and e-commerce systems.

“Around 2008, we started to do marketing on social media for our customers,” he said. “What we realized very quickly was that there weren’t very many tools out there to manage social media…. We needed a tool to help manage multiple team members and multiple social networks all from one place, and that was the aha moment for Hootsuite.”

Soon thereafter, Hootsuite was launched. Investors were found about a year later – “Remember, this was at a point when people were asking, ‘Is Twitter just a fad?’ ‘Is Facebook just the next MySpace or the next Friendster, is it going to be obsolete in a year?’ People didn’t know if social media was relevant and was here to stay.”

Hootsuite – which has about 800 employees – is headquartered in Vancouver, but has offices around the world. “We send 28 million messages a week and these messages reach three billion users across the planet every week.” Among those users have been the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements, and the White House.

“We’re in an era of unimagined disruption,” he said, pointing to three trends driving it: social (sharing videos, for example, which can go viral), a more collaborative economy (businesses like Uber) and mobile.

“Sixty percent of people who complain on Twitter expect a response within one hour,” said Holmes. “So, if you’re a brand, if you’re a business, and you’re not there … it’s like you don’t have a website, like you don’t have a telephone…. The thing about social is there is an implied contract: you’re naked and transparent….” If customers do not get a response, “they’re going to talk about it over and over again and, so, you’re going to be brought into the open as a business.”

Holmes compared various communications technologies. “The telephone took 75 years to reach 50 million users, radio 38, television 13, LinkedIn six-and-a-half, Twitter four, Facebook three, Instagram 1.7. Adoption is happening quicker and quicker.”

He then talked a bit about Snapchat, and showed the audience how to use it.

About the next big thing, he hopes that, like “the PayPal mafia” – “a group of alum … [who are] driving a lot of the innovation that’s happening in Silicon Valley” – there will be a “maple syrup mafia.”

“I would love to see the alum of Hootsuite go on to create the next 10 Hootsuites within Vancouver and more within Canada,” he said.

Already, the B.C. technology sector employs more people than the mining, oil and gas, and forestry sectors combined. To create an even better ecosystem for innovation, he said, there are three key requirements: capital (money to build companies), environment (places for people to live and work) and talent (education and immigration, as there currently is a lack of supply).

“There is huge opportunity for people who want to head into this industry,” he said, predicting an increasing demand for these types of jobs.

During the question-and-answer period, Holmes responded to concerns about privacy – he believes the good aspects of technology outweigh the bad; housing – a problem for every business, he said, putting the onus on the government to increase supply, create more diverse product (not just 500-square-foot living spaces) and implement policies to control demand; and corporate responsibility, which he thinks will become more of an issue. To him, the lack of what once were basic skills – such as writing – is simply the evolution of language, the next steps being the keyboard and more voice-activated technology.