Pat Johnson – Page 2

Survivor urges vigilance

Resilience and determination were the themes at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration at the Bayit synagogue in Richmond Jan. 27. It was the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Marie Doduck, a child survivor who was the youngest Jewish orphan admitted to Canada after the war, spoke of her survival story, as well as her life in Canada, and she urged vigilance in the face of rising contemporary antisemitism.

Doduck was born Mariette Rozen in Brussels, Belgium, in 1935, the youngest of 11 children. She was 5 years old when the Nazis invaded her hometown in 1940. She and her siblings were scattered across the city and countryside, hiding with non-Jewish families, in convents and orphanages, and at times assisting the resistance. While her parents and three of her siblings were killed, eight survived, a remarkable number given that an estimated 85% of Belgian Jewish children were murdered.

In 1947, she immigrated to Canada as a war orphan and, with three of her surviving siblings, was brought to Vancouver. Her memoir, A Childhood Unspoken, was published in 2023. (See the Independent’s review of the book at jewishindependent.ca/an-intense-urgent-read.)

Doduck spent the war years being shuffled from one place to another, even serving as a messenger between her siblings and for the resistance, because of her photographic memory.

“I lived mostly in darkness, literally in hiding places where the Nazis could not find me,” she recounted. “When I returned to Brussels years later, I could not recognize the city in the daylight, for my Brussels was a place of darkness.”

Her survival – and that of seven other siblings – is a result of series of near-miracles and near-misses.

“At one of the orphanages, the mother superior hid me in a rat-infested sewer after one of her nuns found out that I was a Jewish child and reported me to the Gestapo,” she said.

After liberation, Doduck was one of 1,123 orphans sponsored by Canadian Jewish Congress to migrate to Canada. Her adaptation to life in Vancouver, while smoother than many of the children, was very difficult.

“When I first tried to tell people what happened to me, they said, ‘Forget the past,’” she recalled. “We all find our own ways of dealing with pain. I became more resilient and learned from life’s harsh lessons to depend only on myself. I, as a child, had a strength to go on despite the mistrust, fear and pain that I then felt. I went on. I went on because I would not consider the alternative. Those lessons are, in a significant way, responsible for whom I am today.”

Doduck explained that the word “holocaust,” which came into the use in 1950s, originally meant a sacrifice burnt entirely on the altar. She contrasted her own experience with that nihilistic image.

“The person you see before you tonight, Marie Doduck, is a happy Jewish mother, a successful businesswoman, an author, a grandmother, a great-grandmother,” she said. “I’ve also been president of my synagogue and on the board of many Jewish organizations in our community.”

photo - Marie Doduck mingled with attendees after the International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration at the Bayit — Marie Doduck mingled with attendees after the International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration at the Bayit. *(photo by Pat Johnson)*

She is a co-founder of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC).

Doduck’s personal story of success and happiness is replicated among countless survivors of the trauma of that time.

“Although our childhood was ripped away from us, we survived and continued and we thrived,” she said. “We have achieved so much for ourselves, our families, and for our community. And I and many others will continue to speak about our stories and to remember, to acknowledge those who perished, who cannot speak for themselves. It is estimated that only 11% of Jewish children who were alive in Europe in 1939 lived to see 1945. As many as 1.5 million of the six million Jews cruelly murdered by the Nazis were children under the age of 18.”

Doduck said the world needs to learn from the past.

“No society is immune to the danger of prejudice, antisemitism and racism, and we must work together to stand up when we see injustice in the world around us,” she said.

She explained that the vision of the VHEC is a world free of antisemitism, discrimination and genocide, with social justice and human rights for all.

“This noble idea can only be achieved when governments, schools, educators and organizations work together hand-in-hand to teach future generations about the danger of racism and discrimination,” Doduck said. “Together, we must remember the past and pass on the teaching of the Holocaust together.… We must make ‘never again’ a reality, not just an ideal.”

Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, took exception to the term “survivor” to describe people like Doduck.

“They’re not survivors. They’re thrivers,” he said. “Survivors just get by. Survivors are what they thought we would have as a Jewish people after the Shoah. They thought we would have a group of survivors who could not make it in the world beyond the Shoah.”

The lives of these individuals defied expectations, he said.

“We have thrivers that not only found meaningful relationships, not only built families, not only had kids, but cured diseases and became artists and won Nobel Prizes,” said Shanken. “They did for the world, but the world didn’t do for them.”

The countries where survivors made their homes and contributed so much have become rampant with antisemitism, he said.

Shanken called on those in the room, especially elected officials, to demonstrate clear leadership.

“It is critical that people understand what is in bounds and what is out of bounds within our society…. I know it’s hard as politicians to get that done,” he said. “But I have to tell you, please, on our behalf, keep doing as much as you can because we need you.”

Parm Bains, member of Parliament for Steveston-Richmond East, sent greetings from Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Kelly Greene, member of the BC Legislature for Richmond-Steveston and minister for emergency management and climate readiness, brought greetings from Premier David Eby. Also in attendance were fellow MLAs Hon Chan (Richmond Centre), Steve Kooner (Richmond-Queensborough) and Teresa Wat (Richmond-Bridgeport).

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, in attendance with city councilors Laura Gillanders, Kash Heed, Andy Hobbs, Alexa Loo and Bill McNulty, read a proclamation from the city. He noted that there are fewer Jews in the world now than there were in 1939.

Doduck was joined in lighting memorial candles by three fellow survivors, Amalia Boe-Fishman, Miriam Dattel and Regine Fefer. Brodie and Dave Chauhan, chief superintendent of the Richmond RCMP, also participated in the candlelighting.

Sherri Barkoff, vice-president of the Bayit, emceed the event, which was presented by the Richmond Kehila Society, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the VHEC, the Bayit, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.

Rabbi Levi Varnai welcomed guests to the event, Cantor Yaakov Orzech chanted El Moleh Rachamim, Café McMullen, program officer at the VHEC, spoke of the organization’s work, and violinist Lior Perry played before and during the ceremony, including a piece from the film Schindler’s List.

Chronicle of a community

The past and future of Jewish journalism were on the agenda when Cynthia Ramsay addressed the Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia, Jan. 27.

In a Zoom presentation that was part of the alliance’s Empowerment Series, the publisher of the Jewish Independent spoke on the history of the newspaper and discussed the future of Jewish newspapers in general and the Independent in particular.

Ramsay spoke about the history and future of the Jewish Independent at the Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia Empowerment session Jan. 27. (photo by Karen Ginsberg)

While the paper celebrated its 95th anniversary last year, Ramsay said it could be a century old, depending on how one begins the count.

A Vancouver Jewish Bulletin was published in 1925, printed by Dr. J.I. Gorosh and this was succeeded by a mimeographed newsletter produced by the Jewish Community Centre and dubbed the Jewish Centre News. The name Jewish Western Bulletin dates to the 1930s.

Publishing transitioned to the Jewish Community Council of Greater Vancouver, a forerunner of today’s Jewish Federation, though it appears to have evolved a degree of independence under publisher Abraham Arnold, who took the helm in 1949, in conjunction with his wife Bertha.

The newspaper became formally separate from other institutions a decade or so after Sam and Mona Kaplan took over in 1960.

The Kaplans were very much committed to advocacy journalism, Ramsay said, most notably advocating freedom for Soviet Jewry.

The Kaplans ran the paper for 35 years and, after a period when it was contracted to an American Jewish media chain, it was sold to Ramsay and two partners, Kyle Berger and Pat Johnson. The latter two later left the business but Ramsay says she is happy that they remain friends and that Johnson is on the editorial board and still writes for the paper (including this story).

The new leadership brought fresh policies, including accepting notices of interfaith and same-gender weddings, as well as coverage of a broader range of topics that were previously considered off limits. The paper opened up to a wider range of opinions, including on Israel.

In 2005, Ramsay renamed the paper the Jewish Independent.

“I changed it because I didn’t think Bulletin really said ‘newspaper,’” she explained. “We got rid of the word ‘western’ also. By that point we were online … and it wasn’t just people from BC who were reading it.”

The paper walks a line between supporting the community and providing a critical eye where necessary, she said.

“I think there are concerns that should be played out in public, but then there’s others that really should be dealt with privately,” she said. “We’re not a gossip rag and we’re also not sensationalist or alarmist.

“We don’t ignore the bad stuff that goes on in our community or in the world, but we do try to cover stories in a way that doesn’t depress or paralyze,” said Ramsay, quoting from an article she wrote in the paper’s anniversary issue last May. “We want, rather, to open the door for solutions and at least positive attempts at change. We don’t want you to put down the paper in despair, but rather [consider] what you can do to contribute to making the world a better place.”

Above all, she said, the paper tries to provide a record of the community, a role it has played for most of a century.

image - The first issue of the Jewish Western Bulletin, Oct. 9, 1930 — The first issue of the Jewish Western Bulletin, Oct. 9, 1930.

“The Jewish Western Bulletin, the Jewish Independent, has been the only consistent historical record of the community since 1930,” she said.

“Now, of course, we miss a lot of stuff,” she acknowledged. “We have a very small staff. We have a limited number of pages every issue, we’re not going to cover everything.”

She provided an insider view of how the paper operates in terms of the amount of advertising determining the size of each issue, and how decisions are made about what is covered in each issue and on what page things appear.

The pandemic was deeply challenging to the economic viability of the paper, said Ramsay, and it was at that time that the publishing schedule shifted to twice monthly from weekly.

image - The Jan. 23, 2026, issue of the Jewish Independent — The Jan. 23, 2026, issue of the Jewish Independent.

The Independent has survived when other Jewish newspapers in Canada and across North America have not, she noted, even including Federation-owned publications that have gone under in some cities. She wants the paper to reach 100 and she also has her own retirement in mind, tentatively at age 60.

“I’m 56,” she said, noting that almost 30 of those years have been devoted to the paper.

“I’m already starting to think about succession plans,” she said. “I’ve kind of got a five-year window at this point where I’m looking and wanting to responsibly pass over [the paper].”

Innovation could make the publication more sustainable, perhaps a monthly format, she said.

All in all, she takes pride in her achievements and the longer history of the paper’s contributions to the community.

“I think we’ve been a great success, not just because we’re 96 years old, but … [almost] every year we’ve won an American Jewish Press Association Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism, mostly for our editorials, but occasionally for other articles,” she said.

The Jewish Seniors Alliance session was opened by Jeff Moss, the organization’s executive director. Fran Goldberg introduced Ramsay.

Supporting the Iranian people

A huge demonstration filled the blocks around the Vancouver Art Gallery last weekend, part of a weekly presence of Persian and other Vancouverites calling for regime change and democracy for Iran. (photo by Richard K. Lowy)

As the street protests in Iran grow – and the death toll caused by the regime’s police and military crackdown increases – so do solidarity rallies worldwide.

A huge demonstration consumed the blocks around the Vancouver Art Gallery last weekend, part of a weekly presence of Persian and other Vancouverites calling for regime change and democracy for Iran.

The global movement against the Islamic regime has coalesced around Reza Pahlavi, son of the late shah who was deposed in the 1979 revolution. Posters of the crown prince fluttered among hundreds of pre-revolutionary Iranian flags amid chants of “javid shah,” long live the shah.

“I am Stephen and I am Jewish,” said one of the speakers at the rally a week earlier, on Jan. 10, who preferred not to use his surname.

“I have attended almost all the Iranian rallies in recent years for one reason and one reason only: to tell the Iranian people loudly and clearly you are not alone,” he said. ”Anyone who knows what the Iranian people have suffered over the past 47 years can empathize, especially now.”

He emphasized the ancient and contemporary relationship between Jewish and Persian peoples.

“When Israel was attacked on Oct. 7, 2023, the Iranian people came out in bad weather, in the rain and the cold and the snow, to march side by side with Jews all over the world. Why? Because they understand our pain, because it is their pain,” he said. “It is the collective pain of peoples who want what everyone wants: to live in peace and unmolested by those who want to control the world, who tell you what to think, what to wear, what to do, what to believe in.

photo - Several people at the rally carried an Israeli flag — Several people at the rally carried an Israeli flag. *(photo by Richard K. Lowy)*

“Persia was the first empire in the world, under Cyrus the Great, that brought people together and did not, did not oppress them,” he continued. “This is part of the Iranian historical identity. You can have all the Islamic revolutions you want. You will never erase this historical identity, with its great, great culture.”

He commended Iranian Canadians for their contributions to Canada and their devotion to democracy in their homeland.

“You here are Iranians who know what I talk about because you have been living in freedom in Canada and look how you’ve flourished. When people speak of Canadian Iranians, they do so with respect for a people that knows how to work hard and how to contribute to society, to give back, to become productive citizens of a free and open society,” he said. “Is that so much to ask for your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters in Iran? And it is a blessing that, when Iran is finally free, many of you will return to Iran to help rebuild.”

He called Pahlavi “a man who understands the world.”

“He knows the Iranian people inside Iran and outside Iran. Anyone who questions his commitment to his people can read about how he has worked tirelessly throughout his life to pursue a free Iran and return independence to Iranian people.”

Hundreds are dying in the name of freedom, Stephen said.

“The crackdown is brutal,” he said. “Many of us have seen the image of the older white-haired Iranian woman on the streets of Iran, bleeding from the mouth, her fist raised in defiance: ‘I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I have been dead for 47 years.’”

He commended US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for forcefully supporting the Iranian protests, and called for the leaders of Canada and other Western countries to express their support as forcefully.

David Zacks was one of several people at the rally carrying an Israeli flag. The response, he said, was “a hundred percent positive.” People were asking to take photos with him and thanking him for his presence.

“Iranians and Jews have been great friends for thousands of years,” said Zacks. “Everybody I talk to says, once the regime falls, they’ll be great friends again.”

Sharing latkes and light

On the fifth night of Hanukkah, Jewish community members delivered latkes and sufganiyot in the Downtown Eastside. (photo by Pat Johnson)

On the fifth night of Hanukkah, a group of Jewish Vancouverites delivered latkes and sufganiyot to frontline workers and people living in the Downtown Eastside.

Mordehai Wosk came up with the idea while speaking to a doctor about antisemitism. The doctor commented that the dark days of winter were a good time to bring light into the world by demonstrating the values of Jewish ethics.

“I thought it was a great idea,” said Wosk. “I loved it.”

Wosk called Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. Within a few hours, the whole thing was organized and arranged under the Federation’s program of Brighten BC.

The event turned into a family affair. Wosk enlisted wife Hana, their son Ariel, daughter-in-law Ayami and grandson Rey J Wosk.

Rabbi Philip Bregman, meanwhile, mobilized the Chickpea food truck, which is owned by Bregman’s daughter and son-in-law Jordana and Itamar Shani.

“The message is that we’re on this planet together,” the rabbi said. “We need to help to dispel darkness, not just for our own community, but for the world.

The food truck set up outside Firehall No. 2, in the Downtown Eastside. Volunteers fed firefighters and police before spreading out across the neighbourhood distributing food.

“People are very grateful,” said Hana Wosk, as she handed out food along Hastings Street. “We often say ‘happy Hanukkah’ and get a bit of a blank stare back, but we also say ‘happy holidays’ and this is just a gift to light up your winter.”

Terry Yung, member of the BC Legislature for Vancouver-Yaletown and minister of state for community safety and integrated services, was also on hand. He is a retired 30-year veteran of the Vancouver Police.

“Firehall No. 2 is actually the busiest fire hall in the country,” Yung said. “Day in and day out, they see people in crisis, in chaos. I think it’s really important for them to know that the public is supportive, is on their side.”

Jews in time of trauma

Many Jewish Canadians face unique mental health hurdles right now, and many of the professionals they depend on to help them are themselves struggling with related challenges.

The trauma that has affected Jews in recent years – from the horrors of Oct. 7 to the global explosion of antisemitism societally and in the personal lives of diaspora Jews – has created unprecedented needs in the mental health sector. Professionals in the discipline, including Jewish psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and social workers, are often dealing personally with some of the same issues their clients are confronting.

Dr. Rotem Regev (photo courtesy Rotem Regev)

Dr. Rotem Regev is a Vancouver psychologist with a private practice specializing in trauma, as well as expertise in therapist training, especially addressing practitioner burnout. Burnout in the profession was exacerbated by COVID. Then came Oct. 7.

Within days of the terror attacks, Regev’s inbox filled with requests from Jewish clients, and from therapists. Non-Jewish clinicians approached her about how to counsel their Jewish clients.

She assembled a webinar for non-Jewish practitioners about the intersectionality of trauma and Judaism, called How to Help Your Jewish Client in this Unprecedented Time.

There were 70 non-Jewish therapists in the first webinar.

“At one point, pretty early on, my Jewish therapist colleagues came to me and said, why is this only for non-Jewish therapists? We need to know what to do,” she recalled.

After other collective traumas, like the 9/11 terror attacks or Hurricane Katrina, counselors may have shared trauma with their clients. After 10/7, though, the antisemitism that swept the world meant many clients – and practitioners – did not feel safe seeking the help they needed.

“We can’t turn to our professional colleagues for consultations,” she heard from fellow practitioners. “We feel silenced. We’re unwelcome in places. And then I said, OK, this is unprecedented. There’s nothing about this in the literature. We need to document our experiences.”

Regev sent out questionnaires to more than 250 mental health practitioners in British Columbia who are Jewish. From the responses and her subsequent research, she coined the term “compounded traumatic reality.”

“It’s not only a shared traumatic reality, but it is compounded by the extra layer of antisemitism,” she said. Her paper on the subject was published last month (Nov. 11) in the peer-reviewed Journal of Human Behaviour in the Social Environment.

Regev’s career has taken a decided shift. She created the International Centre for Collective Resilience, which trains mental health professionals in culturally responsive, trauma-informed care around these specific issues. In that capacity, she developed the CHAI Method™ for clinical practitioners to balance the needs of their clients with their own connection to the trauma.

The CHAI Method™ is a four-part framework that begins with “Connect,” where individuals recognize what is happening, followed by “Honour,” which acknowledges identity and lived experience, particularly in an environment where others invalidate these experiences. “Activate” moves the practitioner into culturally responsive strategies and setting appropriate boundaries. “Integrate” transforms the experience into lasting capacity for both the practitioner and their client.

Regev has already delivered trainings in the CHAI Method™ at McGill and Concordia universities in Montreal and will offer it in Vancouver on Feb. 8 and 9.

Eventually, she said, the training could be adapted for healthcare providers – physicians especially are facing profound challenges right now, Regev said – as well as educators, clergy and others who are not accredited mental health providers.

Regev was born and raised in Israel, though she spent several teenage years in Vancouver while her mother was doing a master’s and a PhD in psychology here. She returned to Israel, did her army service, but moved to Vancouver permanently at age 28.

Israelis and diaspora Jews are having parallel but different experiences, she said. While many diaspora Jews lost loved ones on Oct. 7 and in the subsequent war, that experience is almost universal among Israelis. The experience with antisemitism in the diaspora, on the other hand, is not something Jews in Israel live with. Above all, she said, Israelis are having a shared experience with their entire society. For two years, it has been impossible to escape the reality, if for no more apparent reason than the ubiquity of hostage posters and memorial placards everywhere in the country. Jews in the diaspora, no matter how connected they may be to their Jewish community, are nonetheless surrounded by non-Jews living a completely different reality.

For diaspora Jews, finding a mental health practitioner capable of addressing their unique needs has come down to word-of-mouth. Regev hopes there will be a systematization, perhaps a database of professionals accredited in her CHAI Method™, which will provide assurances to clients that the counselor they are engaging with is prepared to consider the specific contemporary experiences of Jews.

There is plenty to be done, Regev said, and she has been balancing these new responsibilities with her clinical and training work, taking on tasks that currently have no dedicated infrastructure or funding behind them. She is seeking financial backing to support her initiatives.

To register for the February seminar or for further information about Regev’s work, visit icfcr.ca. In addition to training, she is also available as a speaker.

Eby touts government record

More than 18 months ago, Charlotte Kates, who is identified as the international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, made inflammatory remarks at a rally in Vancouver. She celebrated the 10/7 terror attacks by Hamas against Israel, calling them “heroic and brave” and led the audience in chants of “Long live Oct. 7.” She referred to terrorist organizations as “resistance fighters” and “heroes.”

After an investigation, the Vancouver Police Department recommended charges against Kates based on Criminal Code provisions against incitement of hatred. Later last year, the federal government designated Samidoun a terrorist entity.

A year-and-a-half after the police sent its report to Crown counsel, no charges have been laid. In a year-end interview with BC Premier David Eby, the Independent asked why the attorney general has not acted to either bring charges or to explain why charges are not warranted. The premier assured the paper that he would check with the office of Attorney General Niki Sharma but his office did not respond by press time. The Independent will continue to press the government on the matter.

photo - BC Premier David Eby — BC Premier David Eby told the Independent: “We really have tried to be a government that takes on hate and racism from all angles.” *(photo from BC NDP)*

“It’s a really troubling case and it’s incredibly problematic,” said Eby, adding that he is “reluctant to weigh in too much until I know the exact status of the case.”

Speaking more broadly, Eby acknowledged the message hate crime charges send to the community.

“We believe strongly that an example is set to the broader community when someone is arrested and prosecuted for a hate crime,” he said. “We have seen some very high-profile incidents that have not met the kind of outcomes that I expect and that our government expects through the justice system. So, we’ve been working with Crown and the federal government to be able to come to better results through the criminal justice system.”

Eby touted his government’s range of antiracism initiatives.

In November, he said, the government announced a set of grants for groups targeted by hate and violence, including the Jewish community.

“While the Jewish community has been disproportionately impacted by rising hate, they’re not the only community that has been impacted by some of the international problems we’ve seen [and] a rise in racism here in British Columbia,” he said.

The government has committed to so-called “bubble zone” legislation, which would limit the ability of protesters to access space within a designated distance around religious and cultural institutions. Eby said the legislation is being spearheaded by Sunita Dhir, member of the legislature for Vancouver-Langara and parliamentary secretary for international credentials.

The bubble zone concept is also in the mandate letter for Nina Krieger, the minister of public safety and solicitor general, as well as that of Sharma. A mandate letter is the direction a minister receives on appointment to cabinet outlining what the premier and the government expect them to accomplish.

“They are working on it and we hope to be able to bring forward legislation soon,” the premier said. “I know it’s important for the community. It will not be this session, though.”

In addition to security grants that address negative outcomes, Eby stressed proactive measures that confront underlying hatred and racism.

“We really have tried to be a government that takes on hate and racism from all angles,” he said, citing the introduction of mandatory Holocaust education in the Grade 10 curriculum.

It is early in the process, so Eby could not comment on responses to the new curriculum, but acknowledged that many students had already been learning about the subject even before it was mandated. The fact that he has not heard of any negative outcomes around the rollout of the curriculum suggests to him that all is going to plan.

Anti-bullying programs across the school system are also aimed at inculcating inclusive values in society.

“We have our anti-bullying initiatives that we continue to support within schools, that educate students about the importance of understanding both the differences and strengths that come from our differences in this province,” he said. “Unfortunately, Pink Shirt Day has somehow become controversial with the Conservatives, but not for us.”

Eby was referring to internal Conservative Party discord around the anti-bullying day, with at least one Conservative MLA accusing “the left” of using the day to “bully” people into wearing pink shirts. Another MLA, Elenore Sturko, who was elected as a Conservative and is a lesbian, claims she was forced out of the Conservative caucus in part because of her support for Pink Shirt Day.

“We continue to support the idea that kids should be educated about bullying at an early age because that turns into adults who are more welcoming and understand the strength that our province draws from our diversity,” said Eby.

The government has also set up an antiracism hotline, partly because some people may be reluctant to go to police.

“That hotline connects to community groups that are able to reach out and support people that have faced racism in the community and [are] able to respond to it,” said Eby. “This provides us with information about where these problems are happening and allows us to support community groups with outreach, to be more proactive where there are hotspots of racist activity.”

There is no single solution, the premier said.

“There really is a wide array of initiatives related to this work and, unfortunately, there has been a rise in racism and it has disproportionately impacted the Jewish community,” he said. “We’ve been working to make sure that we’re not taking just one approach, but several approaches to deal with it.”

Eby expressed greetings to the Jewish community at Hanukkah, acknowledging the challenges of this year and optimism for the future. It has been, he said, “a very challenging year for the Jewish community and for all British Columbians who believe in a hate-free province and believe in the strength that comes from our diversity.

“I am certain that 2026 and forward will be better and I sincerely hope and expect that our shared work together, between government and the Jewish community, will lead to the kind of outcomes we’re looking for, which is a safe, prosperous and welcoming province for everybody.”

Jew-hatred is centuries old

Bar-Ilan University’s Dr. Mordechai Kedar spoke in Vancouver Nov. 17 at Temple Sholom on root causes of Jew-hatred. (from idsf.org.il)

The Enlightenment of the 18th century carried hopes for Jews that their long history of persecution would end, but the ideas of that period carried the seeds of a new form of Jew-hatred. Communism was intended to erase class and national differences, which might have eliminated discrimination toward Jews, but this ideology too carried a poisonous element. Zionism was intended as the answer to systemic discrimination against Jews. It too, though, merely sparked a variation on the ancient bigotry.

In a survey spanning centuries, one of Israel’s leading scholars of the Middle East explained the seemingly limitless justifications for Jew-hatred in Christian and Islamic civilizations.

Dr. Mordechai Kedar spoke in Vancouver Nov. 17 at Temple Sholom on root causes of Jew-hatred. Kedar is a senior lecturer in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies at Bar-Ilan University, where he has taught for more than 30 years. Kedar served for 25 years in Israeli military intelligence, specializing in Syria and regional Arab affairs.

Kedar said he prefers the term “Jew-hatred” to antisemitism because it subverts the rhetorical claim that Arabs, who are semitic, can therefore not be antisemites.

“We don’t find anti-Jewish sentiments in India, in China, Japan and Korea,” said Kedar. “One reason is the religion. Both Christianity and Islam are religions which are derivatives of Judaism. Therefore, in order to establish their validity and their legitimacy, they must undermine the validity and the legitimacy of Judaism.”

Another reason, he said, is that there have historically been few or no Jews in those places. In addition to being theological, Kedar argues, Jew-hatred has been a xenophobic reaction to the “other.” In the absence of Jews in India or Japan, this role was filled by other others.

Traits of Jews themselves also spark antisemitism, he said. Illiteracy in Jewish communities has been almost nonexistent, said Kedar, and this has created jealousy. More recently, the disproportionate number of Jewish Nobel Prize recipients may be a point of pride for Jews, but it can serve as a red flag for those seeking reasons for resentment. Jewish success in a range of fields spurs bitterness among some who are less successful or struggle to compete.

The historical trajectory of Jew-hatred is long and winding.

“Two hundred years ago, more or less, some countries, especially after the Enlightenment in Europe, started to give emancipation to Jews,” said Kedar. “Instead of erasing the differences between Jews and others, [this freedom] actually increased the hatred because now the Jew, the ‘other,’ invades our circles, he becomes a lawyer, he becomes an accountant, he competes with us in our court.”

When Jews in Germany abandoned traditional distinctive clothing choices, this caused a backlash among non-Jews.

“This is frightening for them because, all of a sudden, the Jew looks like us,” Kedar summarized. “Is he like me or not? All of a sudden, he wants to look like a German, sound like a German, act like a German.”

With the French Revolution, and gaining steam after 1848, the Age of Nationalism was another turning point. The collapse of empires, notably the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where as many as one-third of Europe’s Jews lived, brought unanticipated challenges for Jews. As Hungarians, Romanians and others gained both national sovereignty and greater ethnic identity, Jews were again isolated as outsiders.

“If we are Romanians, we are Christians,” Kedar said. “We speak Romanian.… We dance to the same music. We eat the same food. Who doesn’t? The Jew. He eats different food. He speaks a different language. So, he’s not one of us.”

Socialism and communism were meant to erase the differences between peoples, Kedar said, including the very concept of separate nationalities.

“And who is leading this erasing of nationalism? The Jew Trotsky and Lenin, with his [Jewish] roots,” said Kedar. The Jew is blamed when nationalism is ascendant and when communism is pushing nationalism to the margin, he noted.

Envy and othering even undermined Zionism, which was conceived as the ultimate answer to the inescapable antisemitism experienced by the stateless Jew.

“The Zionist movement was another reason to hate the Jew,” Kedar said. “Let’s imagine that we have a little town in Romania with problems of employment, problems of poverty, problems of alcoholism as well. The Jews are starting this new theology of Zionism, to leave the country and to go to eretz Israel. ‘What, you’re going to leave us and go to a better place? We hate you.’”

Kedar spoke extensively about Islamic theological and political antisemitism, which he described as like a “layer cake.”

“Judaism was canceled 2,000 years ago by Christianity,” he said. “And Christianity was canceled 14 centuries ago by Islam. So, Judaism was canceled twice.… Since Judaism is null and void, why do we need a Jewish state if there is no Jewish religion?”

Another layer rests on the Islamic concept of dar al-Islam, the domain of Islam, he said, which holds that no land controlled by Muslims must ever fall into the hands of the infidel.

Under the Ottomans, he said, eretz Israel was under Islamic rule and should forever remain so because, “according to the belief, according to Sharia, any land in the world has only a one-way ticket to enter the House of Islam, not to get out.”

A third layer is a widespread rejection of Jews as a people or as a nation. By reducing Jews to a religious group, he said, this idea subordinates Jewish identity to national affiliation, so a Jewish Canadian is Canadian first and that is their nation. This argument succeeds in justifying dozens of Muslim states while rejecting one Jewish state based on the premise that these are not Muslim states, but Turkish, Uzbeki or other states that happen to share a religion.

A fourth layer, said Kedar, is that some Islamic thought denies Jewish connections to the land and maintains that the people who today call themselves Jews are descended from central Asian Khazars who converted to the Jewish religion.

These concepts negate a core intention of Zionism, which was to resolve the problems created by Jewish statelessness. Muslim opposition to Israel, founded on these layers of theological justification, and Western opposition to Israel, mainly taking the form of political criticisms that extend into existential rejection, have prevented the Jewish state from serving the role Zionism intended, which was in part to make Jews a people like any other.

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz welcomed Kedar, who is associated with the right-wing in Israel, and said his congregation is a “big tent.”

“I did hear from some of you here,” said Moskovitz, “or in the community, [asking] why is Temple Sholom hosting Dr. Kedar?… As the senior rabbi of this congregation, it is my intention and mission to bring in voices, within the boundaries of the tent of the Jewish people, that represent the spectrum of Jewish thought. I tell my children all the time, you only learn when you listen to people that you don’t already agree with.”

Aron Csaplaros, BC regional manager for B’nai Brith Canada, which co-sponsored the event, introduced Kedar. He also highlighted his organization’s most recent audit of antisemitic incidents, noting they recorded 6,219 incidents of hate against the Jewish community in Canada in 2024.

“That’s the highest number we’ve ever recorded in the more than 40 years that we’ve been tracking this data,” he said. “That comes out to an average of 17 antisemitic incidents every single day.”

Incidents range from online harassment, threatening behaviour and vandalism targeting Jewish institutions to direct attacks against Jewish individuals, Csaplaros said.

“It is hostility directed at people simply because they’re Jewish,” he said. “Many in our community feel less safe today than at any point in their lifetimes. Parents hesitate sending their kids to school. University students are increasingly targeted and isolated. And Jewish Canadians who have always lived openly and proudly now find themselves looking over their shoulders or questioning whether this is still the country that can offer the sense of security that they once felt.”

Visit to cradle of Ashkenaz

Buried next to Maharam of Rothenburg’s grave is Alexander ben Salomon of Wimpfen (known in some sources as Alexander Süsskind Wimpfen) – the man who paid for the release of the rabbi’s remains. (photo by Pat Johnson)

They say that history repeats itself and, if this is true at all, it is perhaps more true for Jewish history. The recent exchange of almost 2,000 imprisoned Palestinian terrorists for the remaining Jewish hostages held in Gaza was an act of moral compromise that has a long lineage.

Throughout Israeli history, the centrality in Jewish values of the sanctity of life and the respectful burial of the dead have been exploited by the country’s enemies. Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the 10/7 pogrom, was himself freed in a 2011 prisoner release that saw more than 1,000 Palestinian terrorists set free in exchange for the freedom of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli held in Gaza for more than five years.

The ransoming of Jews goes back much, much further, however – at least to the very beginning of Ashkenaz.

In a recent brief visit to the German city of Worms, southwest of Frankfurt, I learned of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, who was the leading Ashkenazi halakhic authority of the 13th century. Also known as the Maharam of Rothenburg (an acronym of “Moreinu ha-rav Rabbi Meir,” meaning “Our teacher, the rabbi, Rabbi Meir”), he was imprisoned after attempting to leave the Holy Roman Empire around 1286. Jews were legally considered imperial property and valued for their tax revenue. His attempted departure was due to rising oppression, repressive taxes and broader political instability.

His arrest was intended both to prevent Jewish emigration and to extract a massive ransom by holding the most prominent rabbi of the era hostage. Although the Jewish communities were prepared to pay for his release, the Maharam refused to permit an excessive ransom, invoking the talmudic principle that captives should not be redeemed at exorbitant cost lest it encourage future kidnappings. He remained imprisoned until his death in 1293. After death, his body was held for 14 years, until a private individual paid for the release. He was ultimately buried in the Jewish cemetery at Worms.

The cemetery is known as Heiliger Sand, or Holy Sand, and the Maharam’s grave is adorned in mountains of memorial stones. Buried next to him, and also remembered with countless stones, is Alexander ben Salomon of Wimpfen (known in some sources as Alexander Süsskind Wimpfen) – the man who paid for the release of the rabbi’s remains. The parallel graves symbolize the duality of moral sacrifice and restorative compassion.

The Maharam aside, the cemetery is one of the most significant burial sites in the Jewish world. It is the oldest remaining Jewish cemetery in Europe, the earliest grave estimated to date from 1058.

Worms was one of the central pillars of medieval Jewish civilization because it stood at the heart of Ashkenazi religious, legal and cultural development during the Middle Ages. Together with Mainz and Speyer, Worms was one of the “ShUM cities,” the most important Jewish centres north of the Alps between roughly the 10th and 13th centuries. The ShUM communities created the foundations of Ashkenazi Judaism as it is still practised today. It was one of the earliest Jewish settlements in Central Europe after Jewish migration from the Mediterranean world. It was a cradle of Ashkenazi civilization and the Maharam its most venerated scholar.

Jewish life in Worms became a template for Ashkenazi Jewish communal life, developing the legal customs (minhagim) around marriage, mourning, tzedakah and education that spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Even after the devastation of the Crusades and later expulsions, Worms endured in Jewish consciousness and culture. The last burial in the cemetery was in 1942. Miraculously, unlike many other Jewish cemeteries across Europe, this one survived the Shoah relatively intact.

The symbiosis – if that is the correct word – of Jewish and Christian life in Worms is embodied in the larger dichotomy of European Jewish life. From the cemetery, the main edifice visible outside the grounds is the imposing Worms Cathedral. Worms may be central in Ashkenazi tradition, but it also holds a profound place in Christian history.

photo - From the cemetery, the main edifice visible outside the grounds is the imposing Worms Cathedral — From the cemetery, the main edifice visible outside the grounds is the imposing Worms Cathedral. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Martin Luther, the 15th-century monk who sparked the Protestant Reformation and drove the most significant schism in Christianity, nailed his 95 theses to the cathedral door in Wittenburg, about 400 kilometres from Worms. Luther’s history intersected with Worms when he was tried at the unappetizingly titled Diet of Worms, in 1521, and found guilty by imperial authorities. Refusing to recant, he became one of history’s most consequential heretics – or spiritual pioneer and reformer, depending on one’s perspective.

To Jews, Luther is a despotic figure. After effectively inventing Protestant Christianity, Luther was solicitous to the Jews, hoping that the stiff-necked people who had rejected the doctrine of Jesus as purveyed by the Vatican would jump on board the rebranded Lutheran variety. When they overwhelmingly did not, Luther transformed into a ferocious antisemite, putting quill to papyrus in some of history’s most vile racist tirades.

From the perspective of this history, the cathedral dominating the sightlines of the Holy Sand can be viewed as a place where one of history’s greatest Jew-haters got his comeuppance. Of course, the Catholicism that the building still represents has its own problematic history, to frame it kindly. And, for that matter, Luther landed on his feet, historically speaking.

Visiting the cemetery is a moving experience – with a bizarre and almost laughable twist.

Unsurprisingly, there were two security personnel seated at a table outside the gate. I attempted to gather some information, but our lack of shared language prevented much conversation. They did motion toward a box of what I thought were face masks, but which turned out to be makeshift kippot. In fact, they were peaked paper caps, the sort that short order cooks at Denny’s might wear. It was an odd experience to be walking around an ancient cemetery looking like I just stepped out of Mel’s Diner.

We should use caution in making sweeping parallels across history, but it is striking how the enemies of the Jews across the centuries have recognized and exploited the importance of pidyon shvuyim, the redeeming of captives. How many other traditions, I wonder, have prayers in the liturgy for specifically this eventuality? A visit to the Holy Sand reminds us how deep that tradition of exploitation goes.

Lessons in Mamdani’s win

Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York City, was a controversial candidate who won, in part, because of a campaign focused on local concerns, and not global politics. (photo by Kara McCurdy / commons.wikimedia.org)

New York City just elected as mayor Zohran Mamadani, an anti-Zionist who has been dogged by accusations of antisemitism. Recent civic elections in Canada, on the other hand, had brighter news for Jewish and pro-Israel observers, according to Emile Scheffel, managing director of CJPAC, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee.

Scheffel presented an online briefing Nov. 14 on how Mamdani won, what it means and how Canadian voters in several cities sent somewhat different messages.

During his campaign, Mamdani responded emotionally to accusations that he is antisemitic. In the end, according to exit polls, he received votes from about one in three Jewish New Yorkers and was endorsed by numerous prominent Jewish individuals, as well as organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the political arm of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace.

“When you have this kind of a movement running cover for Mr. Mamdani, it became relatively easy for him to skate past those or to push through those allegations of antisemitism,” Scheffel said. “I don’t know what’s in Mr. Mamdani’s heart. I don’t genuinely know exactly what he believes. But I’m a firm believer that you can tell a lot about a person’s character from the people with whom they choose to associate.”

Scheffel noted a controversy in which Mamdani was photographed with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who the US justice system calls an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 Al-Qaeda bombing attack on the World Trade Centre in New York City. Mamdani later chose not to distance himself from the imam.

Another controversy that dogged Mamdani was his hesitation to condemn the slogan “Globalize the intifada.”

“He repeatedly refused to condemn that language,” said Scheffel. “I want to again be fair by acknowledging that there are different interpretations of what ‘Globalize the intifada’ means, depending on the context. But I am a believer … that there is a great deal of evidence that ‘Globalize the intifada’ is first and foremost a call for violence against Jews and against Jewish institutions and individuals.

“But here’s the catch,” said Scheffel.

Prior to the mayoral election, Scheffel “did a pretty deep dive” on Mamdani’s website, looking for keywords like “Israel,” “Palestine” and “Gaza.”

He found nothing, because the Mamdani website and the campaign’s broader messaging was laser-focused on the core theme of affordability and lowering the cost of living for working-class New Yorkers.

Scheffel shared statistics about housing costs and other expenses in New York City.

“You can start,” he said, “to understand how he built a coalition of people who are primarily motivated not by Mamdani’s views on the Middle East, not by his relationship or lack thereof with members of the Jewish community, but by what he promised to do for the future of New York City and the people living there.”

In contrast, Scheffel, who has extensive background in political communications and issues management, skewered the website and messaging of Mamdani’s prime opponent, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. He said Cuomo’s campaign website was filled with mixed messages and meaningless jargon.

“If I can’t figure out what the candidate is trying to tell me, how would I trust them to have a clear vision or a reasonable plan to tackle the issues that are facing me and that are facing the city?” he asked. “Mamdani, whatever you think about him, ran an extremely effective campaign that’s in line with all the best practices we would recommend to a candidate running for any office anywhere.”

While many Jews have been tuned in to politics in the largest American city, they may have overlooked other elections closer to home.

Municipalities in Quebec voted on Nov. 2. In Montreal, which Scheffel noted has been home to some of this country’s most worrying incidents of antisemitism, and in some other communities, activists tried to make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict an election issue by asking candidates to sign a so-called “anti-apartheid pledge” and commit to cutting ties with the state of Israel.

The eventual winner of the election, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Montreal’s new mayor, refused to sign the pledge and was accused by opponents of complicity in genocide. In addition to her victory, her party won a majority of seats on city council, after a campaign in which they pledged to take seriously law enforcement and public safety, including a crackdown on protesters that Scheffel said include extremist elements that make Montrealers unsafe.

“That was a vision that ultimately proved to be compelling and appealing to the largest number of Montrealers,” he said.

A few days earlier, on Oct. 20, Calgary also elected a new civic government.

The incumbent had declined to attend the annual menorah lighting ceremony at Calgary City Hall, claiming it was too pro-Israel and too political, said Scheffel, who lives in the city.

“She was rejected by 80% of voters,” he said. “She became the first mayor in 45 years in Calgary not to win a second term. That happened not because she didn’t show up to a menorah lighting or because she made every effort, frankly, to isolate the Jewish community at a time when the Jewish community needed support from elected leaders. She lost – and she lost in such a crushing fashion – because voters believed that she had failed to tackle the everyday quality-of-life, cost-of-living issues that are facing people here in Calgary.”

Jeromy Farkas, the new mayor, won narrowly, with the incumbent mayor placing third.

Scheffel made the case that none of these campaigns pivoted on issues of foreign affairs but were determined mostly by voters who wanted potholes filled and cities to run efficiently. He then made a case for engagement in the political process, noting that many of the elections turned on very small vote counts. Farkas, for example, won the Calgary mayor’s race by fewer than 400 votes after a recount.

CJPAC engages Jewish Canadians in the political process and encourages them to build strong relationships between the Jewish community and elected officials across parties, said Scheffel. Close races like some recent municipal elections, he said, underscore the impact an individual can have in the process by volunteering as little as two hours of their time to a campaign.

Plenty of hopefulness

Avi Benlolo of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative was in Vancouver Nov. 5 to screen the AGPI’s new film, Heart of Courage, about Jewish resilience in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Against a “tsunami” of anti-Israel and antisemitic content online and in the broader society, Jews and pro-Israel voices need to do a better job getting their message out, according to Avi Benlolo.

Benlolo is founding chair and chief executive officer of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI), whose mandate is to study and research international human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy, global peace and civil society in Canada, Israel and around the world. He was previously founding president and CEO of Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre and writes weekly in the

National Post. He was in Vancouver screening AGPI’s new 40-minute film, Heart of Courage and spoke with Rabbi Jonathan Infeld at Congregation Beth Israel Nov. 5. He was introduced by Diane Friedman, the congregation’s adult program director.

The film features a soldier playing John Lennon’s “Imagine” on a piano in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square.

“His music becomes his voice, a testament to the resilience of his spirit and the strength of his people,” the narrator intones. “His teary eyes remain wide open, reflecting the weight of his generation’s struggle. He plays for a world he longs to see, a world of peace. In that moment, his dreams reach beyond the darkness, yet his resolve remains unshaken. This soldier is part of a chain, a line of defenders stretching back through history, each bound by an unyielding commitment to Israel’s survival.”

Produced prior to the ceasefire, the film includes Benlolo interviewing people at the weekly rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of people in Tel Aviv, many of them family members of hostages. Some have risen to prominence as voices for those held in Gaza and their relatives.

Benlolo visits an art installation that serves as a memorial monument adjacent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ building in Jerusalem. The work, titled “Memory Pomegranate 7.10.2023,” is a sculpture of a pomegranate with multi-coloured glass and ceramics, visual shards and fragments that metaphorically reference broken lives, trauma and loss, but together form a hopeful whole, emphasizing life, resilience and collective memory. The artwork integrates electronic tags that allow a smartphone or other device to access digital content to learn more about the events of 10/7 and the people and communities affected.

Sharing stories of non-Jews who saved lives on 10/7, the film declares, “In Israel, heroism knows no bounds of religion, ethnicity or background. On Oct. 7, amid the chaos, countless stories emerged of Muslims, Druze, Christians and Bedouins risking everything to protect their fellow citizens.”

After the screening, Benlolo and Infeld spoke of the hurdles to getting the message out.

Benlolo, who has worked extensively in multicultural and interfaith sectors, plans to screen Heart of Courage for diverse audiences, as his organization has done with previous films.

The biggest challenge, Benlolo said, may be reaching younger audiences, for whom anti-Israel activism has become “cool.”

“We have to go to them and get to them through the technology that exists today,” he said. “Social media in particular.”

This presents its own challenges, he noted, as there is a “tsunami” of anti-Israel and antisemitic content.

The silver lining of this era, according to Benlolo, is a new generation of engaged Jewish young people.

“What we all saw as a result of Oct. 7 was Jewish youth for the first time ever walking proudly with Magen Davids around their necks, fighting back, distancing themselves from people who have rejected them and reject the state of Israel,” he said.

While the film paints a picture of a unified Israeli society, Benlolo acknowledged divisions, rifts that will likely be exacerbated in next year’s national elections.

One of the most visible points of discord is the debate over Haredi conscription. Benlolo is unequivocal on this topic. Asked by Infeld what he would say to the Haredi community, Benlolo said, “What’s wrong with you? I mean, honestly.… To not participate in defending the country and to insist that others do it for you, I think, is wrong.”

Benlolo also pulled no punches on issues closer to home. He said Canada’s government is “pretty much siding with Hamas” and other leaders, such as Toronto’s mayor, are “emboldening the other side.” This inspires violent people to act out, he said, citing a vicious attack on Jewish students near Toronto Metropolitan University earlier that day.

“What gives them permission to do that?” Benlolo asked. “It’s the environment that feeds it. It’s the political leadership that allows it. That is the central problem.”

Responding to a question from Infeld on the future of Jewish life in Canada, Benlolo noted that Jewish schools and other institutions in parts of Europe are protected by armed guards and he warned that North American Jews may find themselves “in a much more defensive posture.”

“I can’t promise you that there’s going to be a good future here in Canada,” he said. “But, in Israel, at least, we have an ability to wear the uniform and protect ourselves, and that’s an important distinction. It doesn’t mean Israel is 100% safe, as we all know, it doesn’t mean that’s an easy life, but at least it’s a place where we can stand up for ourselves.”

He has plenty of hopefulness for Israel.

“I think that the next chapter for Israel is an optimistic one,” he said, suggesting that more countries will normalize relations with Israel and join the Abraham Accords. He suggests also that Israel’s economy will skyrocket, in part because of all the technology developed as a result of the war. He also predicts continued increasing levels of aliyah.