Arts & Culture

Deceit, desire & the divine

In Seattle, hours after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, two FBI agents knock on Monty’s door, asking questions about his Afghan partner, who has seemingly disappeared. How much does Monty really know about Jamal? What does he know about himself?

Vancouver writer Gareth Sirotnik’s Endless Blind Passions (Capsicum Press, 2025) jumps right into the chaos and uncertainty that 9/11 sparked in the United States, and beyond. The novel centres on the character of Monty, a Jewish, gay man in his mid-50s, who thought he had finally settled into himself and his life, yet is forced to reevaluate that thought when the FBI arrive.

Alternating between the repeated visits of the FBI agents and the memories their inquiries trigger for Monty, we witness the fragility of Monty’s contentment and the tumultuous paths that he has chosen. He has lived fully, most would say, experimenting sexually, spiritually, politically and morally. He is a seeker and his soul-searching is a work in progress, despite his initial belief that he had found himself – and peace – once he’d met Jamal.

Endless Blind Passions is a thriller-meets-coming-of-age story, unusual perhaps in its seriousness, which sometimes gets in the way (as does dialogue that doesn’t always sound natural), but it’s entertaining. Most of us don’t really “find” ourselves as teenagers – Monty certainly didn’t – but are continually discovering aspects of ourselves. In our lives, we do things that make us proud, and things that carry shame or regret. Hopefully, we learn from our experiences and become a better person, but who is even to say what that means.

Sirotnik’s personal journey inspires Monty’s, that’s for sure. Sirotnik grew up in Los Angeles, graduated from college in Portland, moved to Canada in 1971 (Monty’s brother lives in Canada) and, most notably, is gay, Jewish and a longtime practitioner of Zen Buddhism.

As the novel’s title implies, Zen is a vital component of the story. Monty’s spiritual awakening occurs alongside drug-fueled encounters and unconventional relationships. He works (both consciously and subconsciously) to strip away social personas and confront his “true self.” He lives intensely, even hedonistically, but not necessarily deeply in the introspective sense, or even in knowing his various romantic partners. His ego prevents him from seeing the reality of situations, including the impact of his own actions on others throughout his life.

That’s all on a personal level. Paralleling Monty’s understanding of his “blind passions” is the realization that American society is not what it was, let’s say, sold as being. Sept. 11, 2001, marked a significant increase in racism, xenophobia, paranoia, government surveillance – it did not create them. In the novel, Jamal represents “the other” that became society’s “blind passion” after the attacks that day on the United States, but Monty’s past – though only going back 50ish years – highlights that the concept of “the other” has existed as long as humanity.

Ultimately, the novel posits that true spiritual awakening only happens when we acknowledge our “endless blind passions,” drop our masks and face reality as our true selves. It does this in an engaging way, with readers learning a lot along the way, while rooting for love to win out.

Reclaiming sacredness

“Everything changes when we are rooted in our sacredness,” writes Jeff Golden in his self-published, award-winning book Reclaiming the Sacred: Healing Our Relationships with Ourselves and the World (2022).

“When we can feel that we are an essential part of the universe, that we are the breath of the divine,” Golden believes that we can transform what he describes as our “morally, spiritually, ecologically, and, soon enough, economically” bankrupt system into “an entirely different way of living and being, rooted in the wonder, reverence, and connection that have long nourished our ancestors, yet unique to our times and needs and opportunities.”

Reclaiming the Sacred is a densely packed book, almost overflowing with facts and ideas (there are 38 pages of endnotes). Golden includes narratives, data, poems, blessings and philosophy from countless thinkers and doers. He repeats key themes – a necessary action given the amount of information he imparts. He has some punchy and creative, if long, chapter headings (“More Sleep, Less Cow: Physical Health and Happiness” and “Retail Therapy: Taking Our Insecurities and Fears to the Mall,” for example) and writes conversationally.

His thesis is that materialism not only can’t make us happy but prevents us from realizing our own inherent wealth, and that of the world, which we are destroying, along with many of its inhabitants. “Between 40 and 80% of all species may not survive to see the next century,” he writes. “We are one of those species.”

Golden argues against the idea that we come into the world alone and die alone; in fact, he contends that we are never alone, so intertwined we are with the world, its elements, its creatures, its plants, its particles. He sees “religion as the experience of profound belonging,” rather than as “a set of doctrines that must be believed and obeyed.” He hopes the book will support readers on their journey to reclaim themselves and the world as sacred.

Proceeds from the sale of Reclaiming the Sacred go to nonprofits doing work related to its themes. For more information about that and about the courses and workshops Golden teaches, go to reclaimingthesacred.net.

Creative project ideas

Considering the extra challenges Jews have faced these last few years, there are many of us who have reacted by delving more into our Judaism and our Jewish identities. Perhaps that’s why a book the Independent received a handful of years ago seems even more relevant now – both as a way to explore one’s identity, but also one’s creativity. With summer approaching and school soon letting out, who couldn’t use some ideas on how to fill the coming increase in a young person’s unstructured hours?

DIJ – Do It Jewish: Use Your Jewish Creativity! by Barbara Bietz, with colourful and playful illustrations by Daria Grinevich, is targeted to children 8 to 12 years old, but, honestly, any older person who has been contemplating their creative side would glean something, many things, from it. Published by Intergalactic Afikoman in December 2020, in the heart of the pandemic, it fell by the JI’s wayside, unfortunately, but not out of mind. So, while not hot off the press, it is hot off the JI bookshelf, and well worth adding to your household as a guide for worthwhile projects that could be used simply to pass the time in a fun, imaginative way, or it could spark a career or hobby path.

The book has chapters on filmmaking, cartooning and graphic novels, cooking, songwriting, painting and art, midrash, and Judaica. Each chapter comprises a main interview with a practitioner of the artform being presented, with the interview divided into four main sections: Doing It Jewish, Keeping It Going, Making It As Good As It Can Be, and Taking It Further. Then, there is a secondary artist spotlight.

Each chapter concludes with a how-to summary of sorts, featuring ideas of what to do and what questions you might ask yourself as you work through an idea. And, each chapter includes a list of necessary tools for the project, as well as a glossary of terms comprised mainly of Jewish words, like Talmud, kreplach, Shavuot or dreidel, but also script, graphic design, choreography and beatnik.

DIJ – Do It Jewish features almost 20 artists sharing some of their inspirations, processes and advice, as well as concrete steps for aspiring artists to embrace their Jewishness and express it creatively.

Revisiting myth of Lilith

Throughout her long career, award-winning artist Lilian Broca has tried many styles and various media, but, over the years, her main theme crystallized: the power of women. Her current show at the Zack Gallery exemplifies this theme.

photo - Lilian Broca — Lilian Broca *(photo from Lilian Broca)*

“I studied abstract art at university and worked in it in the beginning,” Broca told the Independent. “In the 1960s and 1970s, abstract art was on the rise; figurative art was considered commercial, and it wasn’t a compliment. I worked in the abstract style, but it didn’t speak to me. There is no humanity, no emotions in the abstract. I wanted human figures, and I started introducing them into my paintings, but disguised with overlayed belts of colours. The figures were invisible, but they were there.”

Broca’s tendency to work against the established mode started that early. Then she got married and had her first son. After being immersed in diapers for months, she had a revelation. “I realized that I would never be on the cover of Time magazine,” she said. “I might as well paint what I wanted. I started working in a realistic style and never looked back. And, of course, after having a baby, I wanted to paint women. I wanted to explore their place in our society.”

Biblical women – Esther, Judith, Mary Magdalene – became the focal point of her art. She wanted to analyze their stories, to see them through new eyes. “Everyone knows their names, but I’m a storyteller,” Broca said. “My paintings always tell a story, and they always have an unexpected twist, an aspect nobody else ever painted. I do lots of research for my works, as I want to show those women as powerful in their own right.”

Broca’s love of mythology contributed to her selection of topics, but she has always been attracted by feminist ideas, too. It is no surprise that she was drawn to the myth of Lilith, which firmly resides at the intersection of mythology and feminism.

Before the Lilith works, Broca painted a series of angels. To do so, she studied the anatomy of a wing. “Wings are difficult to draw,” she said. “Once, I was in Seattle, participating in a show, and I saw a real wing from a bird – a raptor maybe – in a hunting shop, alongside guns. I bought that wing and studied it. All the Lilith wings are based on that one wing. I still have it at home. It looks so old and sad now.”

After learning about the Jewish-American feminist magazine Lilith, Broca recalled, “I was intrigued. I decided to study the story of Lilith. Both Lilith and her counterpart, Eve, are two central female figures in Christian and Judaic origin stories, which are very important in any society – the origin story always sets the place for both men and women in any culture,” she said.

Broca found that not much was known about Lilith. “She is not in the Bible. I needed to dig deeper, to find other sources. I read Midrash and the medieval text The Alphabet of Ben Sira.”

She started working on her Lilith series in 1993. “From that time until 2000, when I painted the last one, I made 58 large drawings. About half of them were sold during various exhibitions. The rest, I put in crates, until Sarah Dobbs from the Zack Gallery contacted me. She thought that the theme of Lilith was experiencing a revival nowadays and wanted to show my series at the Zack. The current exhibition includes 16 mixed media paintings of that series.”

The series traces Lilith’s journey in two senses: historical and symbolic.

“In early traditions, Lilith is Adam’s first partner. They were created equal at the same time by God,” Broca explained. “But Adam wanted dominance, and Lilith refused to submit. She ran away, choosing self-imposed exile over subordination and obedience.”

photo - “Let Us Proclaim Freedom,” by Lilian Broca, is part of her Lilith series — “Let Us Proclaim Freedom,” by Lilian Broca, is part of her Lilith series. *(photo from Lilian Broca)*

Broca’s drawings, richly detailed and infused with light and shadows, follow Lilith on her difficult quest toward autonomy and freedom. “In ancient times, leaving your community was often a death sentence,” Broca explained. “Exile was a punishment, as the outside world was usually hostile. But Lilith had to go. She had to brave the unknown dangers, because her independence was paramount to her.”

Patriarchal society couldn’t let it stand. “The authorities didn’t wish Lilith to become a role model for young women, so they turned her into a demon,” said Broca. “They portrayed her as an evil temptress, to be feared and reviled, while she only wanted her emancipation.”

That’s why the legend of Lilith was so important to Broca. She wanted to re-evaluate the story from a modern perspective, to show Lilith as a composite heroine in the middle of mythology, theology and contemporary feminist discourse.

The contrast between Lilith and Eve is glaring in Broca’s version of the tale. While Eve is obedient and nurturing, Lilith stands as rebellious and free, bowing to no one. “We, modern women, are a mix of Lilith and Eve. Not one or the other but both at once,” Broca said.

Broca’s high school friend, cellist Kristine Bogyo, produced a multimedia performance involving classical music, poetry and Broca’s images of Lilith. Bogyo’s A Song of Lilith, which premiered in 2001, fused music by Larysa Kuzmenko, poetry by Joy Kogawa and Broca’s images. “We toured for a few years in several Canadian cities,” said Broca.

After Lilith, after 2000, Broca started working on large panels, telling new and equally as inspiring stories of biblical women in the ancient medium of glass mosaic. She continues to reach for other creative horizons to explore. Her newest project is going to be a collaboration with a 99-year-old nun from Jerusalem, Sister Maureena Fritz.

“We met in 2024 in Saskatoon,” said Broca, “during Sister Maureena’s Canadian tour to promote her latest book, Redeeming the Name of Jesus. It was fascinating to me, especially because I did a huge amount of biblical research for my Mary Magdalene mosaic series.”

They started corresponding, and Sister Maureena expressed her appreciation of Broca’s mosaics.

“Two months ago, Maureena emailed me,” Broca said. “She plans to write a new book and asked me to illustrate it with my drawings. My initial reaction was, oh, I can’t. I have done enormous research on ancient goddesses and I wanted to pair them with female robots in a new mosaic series – there is a kind of AI worship in our 21st century. But then I thought better about it and agreed to Maureena’s proposal.”

The Lilith exhibit, which opened at the Zack Gallery on May 20, is part of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Festival of Jewish Culture. Sponsored by the Averbach Family Foundation and Ben Shneiderman, it runs until June 29. For more information about Broca, check out her website, lilianbroca.com, and jewishindependent.ca.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

A chime of metal tags

photo - This wind chime with metal tags holds the energy of the people who wore them, and the hostages who we still remember in our hearts — This wind chime with metal tags holds the energy of the people who wore them, and the hostages who we still remember in our hearts. *(photo from Rina (Lederer) Vizer)*

It seems so long ago, but it was only on Jan. 27, after 843 days, 12 hours and six minutes, that all our hostages returned home; the living and the dead. Finally, the clock at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv was turned off.

A lot of forces played into this “miracle” of living up to the Israeli ethos of freeing our people, but, in my view, the main force was the power of the people: the hundreds of thousands that flooded the streets, week after week, in Israel and in cities around the world. Here in Vancouver, we echoed the outcry for their return, every Sunday, for almost two-and-a-half years.

As an artist, I thought that I should find a new role for the metal tags we wore during that period, one that would reflect the spirit of our people; a spirit with a force that can move and sway: a wind chime! The word in Hebrew for “wind” is ruach, the same word used for “spirit.”

I turned to my friends in the circle of Israeli folk dance, who had been dancing with the tags on their chests for those almost two-and-a-half years. I asked them to donate their tags to the project.

Glenda Leznoff, who was part of the creative design, and I collected the tags, and Glenda’s son-in-law, Dave Smith, built the chime. The result: a beautiful wind chime with metal tags that holds the energy of the people who wore them, and the hostages who we still remember in our hearts.

The chime will be offered to the highest bidder in a silent auction this weekend, during the annual BeLev Echad Israeli Dance workshop at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. (“BeLev echad” means “With one heart,” in Hebrew.) The proceeds will go to the Vancouver Israeli Folk Dance Society, a charitable organization that promotes Israeli dance here.

Rina (Lederer) Vizer is a Vancouver artist who has exhibited her work many times over the years. In October 2024, she curated, as well as participated in, the exhibition Memory and Hope, at Temple Sholom, which commemorated the terror attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. Her art is displayed in Temple Sholom, which commissioned from her 10 panels depicting Israel’s views from north to south.

Expanding the healing

Elana Epstein shares her family’s narrative of recovery in Today I Will Be Fearless. (photo from Elana Epstein)

When Elana Epstein and her husband, David, confronted the reality that their son, Noah, was an addict, her life shifted on its axis.

In her emotional, practical, moving book, Today I Will Be Fearless: Rising Through My Son’s Drug Addiction, Epstein shares her family’s narrative of recovery, while digging into complex related issues like intergenerational trauma, societal silence and stigma, and finding purpose, resilience and power in the darkest moments of life. In the process of writing and sharing her story, Epstein has found new meaning and mission for her life.

“Writing the book was how I got better, deepened into my own recovery and saw the pattern of what recovery asks of us,” the Vancouver mother of three adult sons told the Independent. “And, the deeper I went into the story, the deeper I uncovered the gems of the why I was doing things.

“This is happening for more than just my own son’s healing,” she said. “It’s my healing.”

She took her son’s recovery as an opportunity for her own self-understanding and improvement. The book, though, intends to expand the healing.

“It’s for a wider community,” Epstein said. “I was determined to be a channel for whoever needed support and a companion along this journey because people do this alone.”

Epstein, a yoga teacher, reiki master and spiritual practitioner, had long understood the language of healing. But addiction, she said, stripped her of any illusion of mastery.

“It felt as if everything I had learned was a waste because I did not know my son was struggling with addiction,” she said. “It felt as if the tools were more of a hindrance than a help. But quickly my spirit reminded me the tools I had were the ones that would support me to get through this if only I could go deeper with them. That was the pivotal moment of my knowing I could and would get through this.”

She also realized that Noah was not the only one who needed to adapt to changing realities.

“I took the lens of recovery and turned it onto me and took the opportunity to delve into the 12 steps and see where I needed to release myself from the clutches of my ego and some of my ancestral teachings or just threads that were hanging around,” she said, adding that she began to see the impacts of intergenerational trauma.

“I needed to peel back the layers and see that I was codependent and I was a people-pleaser and I didn’t know how to love myself well enough – all while my son is learning to do the same thing.”

Several months into Noah’s recovery, Epstein broke her leg while skiing. She took it as a sign from the universe to step back, focus inward and accept help.

“Maybe four days after surgery I was at home. I was sitting on the couch and I was feeling really sorry for myself. What has happened to my life? Isn’t it enough? How many more things … COVID and Noah and the war. And then I break my leg and I hear immediately, ‘You are going to write your book.’”

There has always been a book in her, Epstein said. She just didn’t know what it was going to be about. Now, it became clear.

“This is my story, how I got through the journey of loving my son through his own addiction,” she said. “So, I started just journaling, and one thing led to the other and, a year later, I had a blueprint.”

As the book came together, she realized the writing process was no longer just for her own healing. “This was how I was going to show up for people,” she said.

Among the self-doubts she had to overcome was the realization that she has wisdom to share.

“I would say things like, ‘in my opinion’ and ‘in my humble experience,’” she said. “That was classic Elana. I started to accept that I actually do know what I’m talking about and there’s no reason to hold back and let’s go and let’s be authentically who we are.”

It turns out there was a demand for the wisdom of someone who has been through what Epstein’s family has.

“Although I had a desire that this would be a companion, I couldn’t have imagined it would be this well received … not just by families who are wading in the waters of addiction and recovery, but by people who are curious,” she said. “People are telling me this is a blueprint and a companion for life. One woman just said to me yesterday, ‘I keep you by my night table and, every once in awhile, I just pick it up and I read a sentence and it’s my teaching for what I’m struggling with in my own life.’”

Finding light in darkness is a recurring theme in the book.

“When bad things happen, people look for the reasons and they look for the why. And they definitely want to blame something or somebody,” Epstein said. “You don’t have to do that. You can accept what happens as a gateway to becoming and connecting to a version of yourself that is more beautiful than you can ever imagine and stronger that you can ever imagine. Stop being afraid of the potential things.”

Her family’s Jewishness infuses the book.

“My message to the Jewish reader is this book is filled with mystical wisdom that can guide you to a more peaceful existence one day at a time with what is coursing through our blood and bones,” said Epstein. “I had the vision early on that I was going to be a part of bringing more awareness into the Jewish community because we have lost too many. Many children and too many people suffer in silence.”

When Rabbi Josh Corber took over the Jewish Addiction Community Service and Jewish Family Services took the group under their umbrella, Epstein discussed how she might contribute to the work.

She took the lead on running a group for families navigating a member’s addiction or recovery. She said she hopes that the book might land in the right place, just when an individual or family needs to hear her message.

“If that person can pick up my book, then we’re living that old adage that the Talmud teaches: if you save one life, it is as if you are saving an entire world,” she said, “And I truly believe that.”

Hannah Senesh – a unique hero

Douglas Century signs copies of his book Crash of the Heavens at the JCC Jewish Book Festival earlier this year. (photo by Tova Kornfeld)

Douglas Century’s Crash of the Heavens: The Remarkable Story of Hannah Senesh and the Only Military Mission to Rescue Europe’s Jews During World War II is a meticulously researched and spell-binding narrative of Senesh’s life, and pre- and postwar Europe and Palestine.

Senesh, born in 1921, grew up in a middle-class family in Budapest until the Nazis came to power in the 1930s. The rise of antisemitism drove her to join a Zionist youth group and she became obsessed with emigrating to British Palestine. In 1938, she made aliyah to a northern kibbutz, and part of her metamorphosis was to Hebraize her identity, changing her name from Aniko Szenes.

As word of the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis started to leak out, Jews in Palestine (numbering about 600,000) sought ways to rescue their European brethren. British Intelligence MI9, tasked with assisting the escape of thousands of Allied POWs, needed people with local language skills and area knowledge. In 1943, Senesh was recruited, one of three Jewish women in a cohort of 37, to be trained as a paratrooper and radio operator. She made her first jump – into Yugoslavia – in March 1944, where she liaised with Partisan groups to carry out sabotage missions. Her hope was to cross into Hungary to save her family and others, but she was captured by Hungarian gendarmes, imprisoned, tortured, tried for treason and executed by firing squad on Nov. 7, 1944.

Sharing details from her diary, which Senesh kept from the age of 13, Century takes readers into her pains, her joys. Her poetry is part of her legacy: “A Walk to Caesarea” is almost a second national anthem in Israel, where many streets, parks and schools bear her name. Ironically, Hungarians know little about her.

The Independent interviewed Century by email.

JI: How did you first become interested in Senesh?

DC: I first learned about Hannah when I was about 8 years old at the I.L. Peretz Shul in Calgary. Our principal was a Holocaust survivor – he’d lived through the Shoah as a boy in Poland. He told us the story of Hannah’s courage, her refusal to give up her secret British radio codes despite months of horrific physical and psychological torture at the hands of the Gestapo.

At that age, I’m sure it was just the broad strokes of the story: she wouldn’t betray her people, she was sentenced to execution by firing squad when she was 23 years old.

Who could understand the concept of martyrdom at the age of 8? Certainly not me. But I did understand that this was a brave young woman who went to her death and wouldn’t beg for mercy “from hangmen and murderers” – those were her exact words.

She refused to wear a blindfold as she faced the firing squad, daring the Hungarian soldiers with rifles to look her in the eyes as shot.

To hear that story age 8 – well, it was amazing. It was also terrifying. Clearly, it’s haunted me since childhood.

JI: This is the first time you are writing about a woman. Was that decision purposeful?

DC: I never thought about it that way. I’ve tended to write books with male protagonists. Technically, though, the first book I ever published – when I was in my mid-20s – was a young adult biography of the Nobel-laureate novelist Toni Morrison.

I conceptualized this book as a military rescue mission – most of the action takes place between late 1943 and late 1944, with a “ticking-clock” thriller pacing – and, yes, in the book proposal, I consciously chose to focus on the three women Palmach commandos and parachutists: Hannah Senesh, Haviva Reik and Surika Braverman.

As I was writing … it became clear that the central storyline needed to be Hannah’s. To a lesser extent, I write about the other parachutists’ missions in Slovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia.

JI: What research did you do for the book?

DC: There are so many primary source documents available. All of Hannah’s poetry, diaries, letters and photographs are in the National Library of Israel archive. There are also many memoirs – most of them out of print – by the various parachutists. There are invaluable oral histories in the U.S. Holocaust Museum and at Yad Vashem. For four years, I felt like I was basically living in archives and military libraries, but I knew that I’d never do this story justice solely on previously published research.

I flew to Tel Aviv in the summer of 2023 to do what we used to call “shoe-leather reporting.” I spent weeks in Israel, retracing the footsteps of Hannah Senesh and the other parachutists. That summer of 2023, I met David Senesh – Hannah’s nephew – a renowned psychotherapist specializing in treating trauma. David was himself a POW and tortured by the Egyptians in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

I’ve become close friends with David and his wife…. They really gave me some valuable personal insights into the family dynamic – and I learned things that have never been in other books.

JI: Was there a particular demographic you were trying to capture?

DC: I set out to write this book for one reader – my daughter, Lena. She’s studying English and wants to be an author. My daughter was 22 when I finished the book; Hannah was 22 when she embarked on her paratrooper mission in March of 1944. My daughter said, “Thank God you’re not writing about another complex, sociopathic antihero! Hannah is a courageous and talented woman who the reader can actually admire.”

JI: How did you arrive at the book’s title?

DC: When I was pitching the idea to my literary agent, I was already writing about Hannah, but it was about to be the centenary of her birth in July 2021 and 150 IDF paratroopers were recreating her jump in a mission called Operation Crash of the Heavens. The title comes from Hannah’s most famous poem, “A Walk to Caesarea,” better known by its musical adaptation, “Eli, Eli.” It’s a very short poem, and Hannah’s next-to-last line in Hebrew is “barak hashamayim.” The literal translation is “the lightning in the sky,” but, to me, the most artful translation is, “the crash of the heavens.”

JI: What has the reception to the book been like?

DC: It’s been wonderful, warm and very appreciative. Even people who know about Hannah Senesh – especially people from Israel – tell me that I introduced stories and things they never knew before.

I’ve spoken at a few schools: the Hannah Senesh Community Day School in Brooklyn, King David High School in Vancouver, Yeshiva University in New York. When I’m talking to teenagers, I try to contextualize the story by stressing how assimilated the Jews of Hungary were, especially in Budapest. They felt fully Hungarian. But then the series of so-called “Jewish Bills” came into effect, limiting the number of Jews in the professions, setting quotas for university – Hannah had wanted to study education and become a schoolteacher but that became impossible. Ultimately, Jews couldn’t own property, couldn’t have a telephone. They were stripped of all civil rights – by the Kingdom of Hungary, of course, not by Nazi Germany.

I ask high school kids and university students: Do you guys feel Canadian? You’re proud of Canada? Cheer for Canada in the Olympics? What if, overnight, the government said: “You’re not Canadian. Turn in your passport. You can’t go to university. You need to move out of your house – you can only live on certain streets in houses marked with a yellow star. You can’t be out in public past noon.” Why? Because Parliament passed a new law that says you’re no longer a Canadian – you’re a Jew. That means you’re an alien living among Canadians without the rights or privileges of a citizen. How would you feel? What would you do?

JI: You started this book before Oct. 7, 2023. Did that tragic event and its aftermath affect the way you wrote the narrative?

DC: Absolutely. I was deep into the writing process before Oct. 7, 2023. I knew that words like Zionism, Israel and Palestine were hot buttons when I started writing the book, but after Oct. 7, they became third rails.

I tried not to let it affect the way I was writing the book. Of course, seeing all the anti-Israel protests exploding on campuses and in city streets the past couple of years, hearing all the outright distortion of history, it affects a writer’s psyche. As we were designing maps for the book, for example, I insisted that they said, “British Mandate for Palestine” as well as “Eretz Israel.”… While writing the first draft, I had non-Jewish friends asking me, “Doug, what is Zionism?” and I realized that, in the post-Oct. 7 world, it was a critical question. I felt I should let Hannah define what Zionism meant to her. On Oct. 27, 1938, she writes in her diary: “I don’t know if I’ve already mentioned that I’ve become a Zionist. This word stands for a tremendous number of things. To me, it means, in short, that I now consciously and strongly feel I am a Jew, and am proud of it.” Full stop.

JI: If you would have been able to interview Senesh, what would you have asked?

DC: I have so many questions. I don’t want to give any plot spoilers, but there’s one story which hasn’t been told before in previous books. In the summer of 1944, Hannah helped a young Slovakian-Jewish woman named Matilda Glattstein to escape from the Gestapo prison in Budapest. Hannah learned that Matilda was pregnant and devised a complicated escape plan, which means she knew exactly how to break out of the prison and yet she herself didn’t. She saved another woman’s life – but not her own. I’d ask Hannah this question: “If you could rescue Matilda Glattstein, a pregnant woman with no military training, why didn’t you rescue yourself?” I’ve got my own theories, but I would love to ask Hannah.

JI: Why should people read your book?

DC: On the most basic level, I hope they want to read a compelling, exciting and emotional story of heroism during the darkest days of World War II. In hindsight, I didn’t write the book just for my daughter, or just for young Jewish women, or for anyone who aspires to do what Hannah did – become a poet or author and leave her mark on the world. Within the story, I’m asking some more universal questions: What do we mean by courage? Where does moral conviction come from?

We’re living in a crazy era, and it’s worth remembering that there are some causes for which it might be necessary to make the ultimate sacrifice….

JI: Tell me about your collaboration with Kosha Dillz?

DC: Kosha Dillz is someone I’ve known for years and years. His real name is Rami Even-Esh. [He’s] an Israeli-American rapper, filmmaker, social media personality and influencer. I sent him an ARC [advance reading copy] of Crash of the Heavens last October and we just started bouncing around ideas.

We agreed that, with this terrifying rise in antisemitism, it’s the perfect time to make the name Hannah Senesh – poet, paratrooper, Palmach commando – known to all the millions of people in their teens, 20s and 30s who are too busy “doom scrolling” to read the book. I figured, what better way to reach them than to have a gifted modern-day poet like Kosha Dillz breathe fresh energy and inspiration into her story? He wrote some amazing lyrics based on my book and we shot a video on the streets of New York for his song called “Hannah Senesh.”… You can find it on all the streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

JI: Are there any plans to use your book as the basis for a film or play?

DC: Yes, people have been talking about an adaptation, but the world of TV and film adaptations is so mercurial. Right now, we’re working on an adaptation of my previous book, The Last Boss of Brighton, about the life and times of a Soviet-born Jewish mobster – the aforementioned “complex, sociopathic antihero.”… At the same time, one of my earlier books – also about the Mafia in New York City – is being developed for a series…. But we’ll see what happens. Stay tuned.

Tova Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.

Multiple Tony n’ Tina roles

Marc Gelmon as the priest in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. Gelmon has played several roles in the production, which will be at Legion #179, on Commercial Drive, May 22-23. (photo from Marc Gelmon)

The priest is drunk and sleeping it off at our table. The bride is slow dancing with her former boyfriend and the caterer is highly recommending that I eat my bun by dipping it in the chicken sauce. The nun keeps chatting me up and, by now, I’m thinking she has a crush on me.

Welcome to Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding (TNT), an interactive, comical dinner theatre production starring, among others, Jewish community member Marc Gelmon. The night I attended in April, he was playing the caterer and emcee.

In one scene, he ran around the large, decorated hall wrapped in an Italian flag. In another, he joked about the 10 things you will never hear from an Italian husband. The almost 100 audience members laughed or groaned in appreciation.

Gelmon has played several different characters in TNT, first with Hoarse Raven Theatre Etc. from about 1995 to 2005 and, in the last year, with Hammer Up Productions. You never know, but he might be playing the priest when you arrive on May 22 or 23 at 6:30 p.m., upstairs at Legion #179 on Commercial Drive.

“For the show’s purpose and for my fun of pretend, I take each role seriously and immerse myself as much as I can into that world and character,” Gelmon told the Independent. “In doing so, I have had many audience members ask if I’m really a priest!”

In real life, Gelmon works in the health sector, including having been a mental health worker. He says that TNT does wonders for both his and his audience’s mental health.

“It’s just a great way to escape for a few hours amongst the mishigas [craziness] that goes on,” he said. “There’s always somewhere to look and someone saying or doing something ridiculous. The cast and production team are all really great people who want nothing more than to ensure the audience has a good time.”

photo - Marc Gelmon as the emcee in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding — Marc Gelmon as the emcee in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. *(photo from Marc Gelmon)*

Gelmon has had many adventures with TNT, including one time where the Vancouver Police showed up to break up a pretend altercation between Tina’s ex-boyfriend and the groom and groomsmen.

“I can recall when we’d have the final fight scene and, at that time, we ran outside the restaurant, and around to where there were these big windows, so audience members could see us outside against the windows in this fight. I’m aware of at least two times when the VPD happened to be in the vicinity and ran after us to stop the ‘fight.’ We also had an audience member decide to strip during the end of the show.”

Incidents like this are rare, though, Gelmon insisted.

“My experiences with both shows have been really wonderful. Michael Fera and Tanja Dixon-Warren were the first ones to bring Tony n’ Tina’s to Vancouver and they gave me the room to grow and develop as a performer, as well as becoming lifelong friends. I hold them in the highest esteem, as they have been a source of love and support for decades.

“Director and producer Jeff Laurin has taken this production and infused it with his love, care and devotion,” Gelmon continued. “Plus, our stage manager, Chellé Tanner, and the loving and funny cast have really made this second time around so good for my soul!”

Gelmon said he has been influenced by watching actors on SNL and SCTV. His favourite comics today include Gary Gulman, Jon Stewart, Sarah Silverman and Gianmarco Soresi.

“These are my favourite comics because they’re all really smart, make me laugh, especially Gary Gulman, and they all talk about their Jewish experiences, and I love that,” said Gelmon, whose big break was performing in the children’s play Puss in Boots at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in 1994, where he played a lord and the king’s assistant.

“I was absolutely terrified, as this was my first actual play and I had two parts in it,” he said. “All I can tell you is that I loved it. I loved the costumes, makeup, being on stage, and camaraderie. That gave me a bit of confidence that I was really lacking, when I saw an advert in the Georgia Straight for Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding.”

Gelmon also loves the stories of Yiddish theatre and how many people in the early days of music, theatre and TV were often Jewish.

“I always feel that I have a Jewish sensibility to life and that always adds to my performance, even when playing a Catholic priest!” he said.

Over the years, Gelmon has been part of a few different community events.

“I think I’m most proud of participating in the Hanukkah convoy, which I first heard about over Facebook a few years ago,” he said. “I am not someone who people know I’m Jewish unless I tell them, so this was a great feeling of pride to drive, alongside many other cars, with these big electric menorahs on the tops of our cars, driving through downtown.

“The first time I did this, the folks at Chabad let me keep the menorah on my car for the remainder of the holiday. At that time, I was working at an elementary school and the teachers loved it, and a couple asked me to come and talk about Hanukkah to their classes. Also, someone left a note on my car. At first, I was worried, but then I read it and smiled. Whoever wrote the note described being thankful for seeing other people’s traditions and it made them feel good to see the menorah on the roof of my car.”

TNT runs for close to four hours, so you might want to bring a cushion if you have a sensitive tush like mine. If you have mobility issues, you can sit on the legion’s stairlift all the way to the festivities. Dress up and put on your dancing shoes because you are going to a wedding!

For tickets, go to linktr.ee/Tntweddingshowvancouver.

Cassandra Freeman is a Vancouver storyteller and improviser.

Stories of trauma, resilience

Love runs through every word in Voices of Resilience: An Anthology of Stories Written by Children of Holocaust Survivors, edited by Deborah (Devora) Ross-Grayman with Wendy Bancroft and the writers.

This compelling, hopeful and inspiring collection of stories will be launched on May 25, 7 p.m., in the Floral Hall at VanDusen Botanical Garden in an event supported by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC). Some of the authors will share parts of their stories, and signed books will be available for purchase.

The 12 contributors of stories and poems are children of Holocaust survivors and members of the Vancouver Second-Generation (2G) Group, which Ross-Grayman joined in 1993 and of which she is now a facilitator. Bancroft, a former journalist and researcher, is a trained instructor of guided autobiography.

“After an extensive investigation to better understand the impact of the Shoah’s legacy, Wendy adapted and crafted themes for our group,” writes Ross-Grayman in the book’s preface.

“What began as a six-week course for six of us grew to a two-year writing project for 12 participants,” she explains. “Through laughter and tears, we marveled at the similarity in our felt experiences despite the varied external circumstances. At times it was challenging to face and hold our parents’ pain and loss; at times we were sleepless and anxious, but we supported each other, developed deep bonds, and persevered. Through listening and reﬂecting on each of the stories, our understanding of ourselves and each other grew as we shared what some of us had never shared and, with understanding, came to a deeper compassion for ourselves and our parents.

“Our narratives so impressed Wendy that she recommended organizing an anthology. We included accounts of our parents’ survival to honour their lives and illustrate examples of post-traumatic growth – the positive psychological changes that can unintentionally arise from a life crisis or traumatic event, even while acknowledging the profound distress such experiences entail.”

The simultaneous holding of grief and contentment, even joy, is remarkable, as is the strength to continue, to grow, to heal – as much as healing is possible. The authors (in order of entries) – Gabriella Klein, Ross-Grayman, Henry Ross-Grayman, Jane Heyman, Marg Van Wielingen, Fran Alexander, Agi Rejto, Marianne Rev, Esther Chase, Barbara Gard, Olga Campbell and Sidi Schaffer – are open, sharing personal, vulnerable experiences on the page. The intergenerational impacts of trauma are clear from their diverse experiences, but so is the capacity for finding peace, for building community, for embracing one’s cultural roots while forging your own individual identity. While specific to the Holocaust, these stories, these remembrances, speak to a universal experience of living through and with historical trauma.

The anthology, put out by Amsterdam Publishers as part of the series Holocaust Survivor True Stories, is dedicated to the writers’ families; “to those who risked everything to save lives; to those who survived; to the millions who perished in the Holocaust; and to all people affected by war, displacement and genocide.” It is published in memory of Rev, who passed away in January.

Dr. Robert Krell, a psychiatrist, author, child survivor and founding president of the VHEC, wrote the book’s foreword, in which he shares some of his own story – he is both a Holocaust survivor and a 2G child – and offers emotional context. Dr. Chris Friedrichs, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, provides historical context.

Krell explains that, in general, “the second-generation consists of those born after the war, thousands in the displaced persons (DP) camps, which, for several years, recorded the highest birth rate in the world!” He talks about some of the experiences that 2G have in common, such as the need to sometimes parent their parents, how it feels to live “with the ghosts of the missing.”

“There are moments one cannot forget, must not forget, and these memories linger and reverberate throughout life, reviving the inner rage about the outrage committed against our parents and us,” writes Krell.

“It should therefore be no surprise that this collection of recollections reveals evidence of a surviving rage, problems with trust, confrontations with the meaning of death, and remarkable attempts to reinvigorate a life with meaning, including a meaningful spiritual engagement, whether within the Jewish traditions or not.”

“Mass murders were nothing new in history, but the Holocaust revealed that a once civilized society could orchestrate a program of extermination of human lives on a scale and in a manner that had never been imagined before,” writes Friedrichs. “It was so extensive and so unspeakably brutal that it gave rise to the very concept of genocide.”

Friedrichs writes concisely of the origins of the Holocaust, what happened and about how there are any survivors, as well as about some of the challenges survivors faced after the war.

“This volume reveals not only the enormous variety of what survivors went through but also the tremendous range of emotions and experiences that shaped the lives of their children,” he writes. “Though the Shoah ended 80 years ago, it is a living presence for all members of the Jewish people, and for none more so than those Jews whose own parents had survived this event without comparison in the modern history of humanity.”

In Voices of Resilience, each 2G writer’s chapter includes a brief biography, their parents’ survival stories and a few of their own stories or poems. Maps near the anthology’s beginning shows where all the authors were born and all the survivor parents’ birthplaces. The geography spans continents: Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

Despite vastly different experiences, there are recurring topics: dealing with antisemitism; taking care of their survivor parent; feelings of insufficiency, fear and sadness; being conflicted about religion and feeling like an outsider even inside the Jewish community.

The writers have worked to make their lives and the larger world better, as did their parents. The word “love” is prominent in these stories, as is its expression in the enduring strength of the family relationships, the caring for others, as well as oneself, the compassion shown, the emotional connections forged.

“We offer our stories as a source of hope and the possibility of resilience in the aftermath of trauma,” writes Deborah Ross-Grayman in the afterword.

No one contribution is more quotable than another. The collection does indeed offer hope, as well as thought-provoking explorations of memory, displacement and the generational impacts of genocide.

To attend the launch, RSVP at vhec.org. The anthology is available on Amazon for those who can’t make it on the 25th.

Photography and glass

Wes Bell’s photography and Hope Forstenzer’s sculptures are on display at the Zack Gallery until May 18. (photo by Sarah Dobbs)

The current exhibition at the Zack Gallery is actually two separate shows: Wes Bell’s series of black and white photographs, called Snag, which is part of the Capture Photography Festival, and Hope Forstenzer’s glass sculptures, called If Not Now, When?

The connection between the artists’ works is not immediately obvious.

“I was initially drawn to the idea of colour and black and white and the impact that would have on the visitors to the gallery,” curator Sarah Dobbs explained. “Both Wes Bell and Hope Forstenzer use everyday materials and imagery to explore complex emotional experiences, transforming the ordinary into something deeply symbolic. Their works consider ideas of vulnerability and change, whether through Bell’s weathered landscapes of loss or Forstenzer’s delicate glass forms that capture fleeting human feelings. Together, they create a dialogue about presence, inviting people to consider the fragility and urgency of being alive.”

Bell hasn’t always photographed in black and white. After he graduated from the Alberta College of Art in 1980, he worked as a fashion photographer, first in Milan, then in New York. “I was well known for my colours and my attention to details when I was in fashion,” he said. “I was published in many prestigious magazines, but I burned out after awhile. The commercial freelance roller-coaster hollowed me out.”

In 2008, the global financial crisis was the final straw. He fell into depression. “I felt that my life had too much colour,” he said. “I needed to simplify, but I didn’t know what my new direction should be.”

He went back to school. “I took classes in the history of photography and history of cinema, among others,” he said.

Bell returned to Alberta to say goodbye to his mother, who was dying of cancer. “As I drove back to the airport, my attention drifted to the roadside, to the flapping remnants of plastic bags snagged in barbed-wire fences running alongside the highway,” he recalled. “Mile after mile, the fences lining the ditches were embellished with forgotten shreds of plastic, whipped by the wind. They might’ve been blown off trucks or thrown away out of cars. Frayed, lacerated and punctured, they drew me in. There was melancholy there that resonated, like souls of the people we lost or wings of some fantastic creatures. I stopped the car and took photos.”

He uploaded the photos to his computer and converted them to black and white, to reflect his sadness. “Seven weeks later, Mom passed away. It is in remembrance of her that these images first came to life,” he said.

Bell returned to those ditches and fences. “I came there for three years, from 2015 to 2017, to photograph those bags fluttering in the wind. I photographed 68 different sites, always during the transitional season from winter to spring, when everything appeared dead, when no green vegetation, foliage or flowers distracted from the forms. Every time I took photos, I removed the bags from the barbed wire and put them in the closest garbage bins. I tried to take care of the environment.”

photo - "Snag - 11th Avenue NE, Medicine Hat, AB, Canada, 2015," a photograph by Wes Bell. — “Snag – 11th Avenue NE, Medicine Hat, AB, Canada, 2015,” a photograph by Wes Bell.

For Bell, these images symbolize his grief over the loss of both his parents. His father passed away just a few weeks before the show opened.

“This show for me is about loss and memory, about the universality of grief, not just for my parents but for everyone who dies. There is so much death in the world right now, so much oppression,” he said. “And mourning and funerals in many cultures around the world are often associated with black. That’s why I decided to go with the black and white approach. My original, coloured pictures don’t have the same impact.”

In contrast, Forstenzer’s sculptures are infused with colour. Only one sculpture is white – “Spine.” Every vertebra of that twisty glass spine is inscribed with a negative emotion: despair, trapped, brittle, inferior, inadequate, doomed. The little sculpture inspires profound sadness.

“It is about my sister’s spine,” said Forstenzer. “She has severe scoliosis. She has been grappling with many health issues for years, and this unnaturally curved spine is symbolic of her problems.”

Forstenzer’s road to glass artistry was somewhat convoluted.

“My background is in graphic design, photography and film. I’ve been writing stories since childhood, but I always wanted to have a visual aspect for my stories, too,” she said. “For years, I was the artistic director of a multimedia company in New York. We worked on short avant-garde plays: mine as well as ones written by others. We produced them around New York. It was an amazing job, very interesting and successful, but it didn’t pay the bills.”

For that, she worked as a graphic designer. She also taught graphic design, first in the United States – New York, Seattle, Baltimore – and, later, in Vancouver, after her wife accepted a job at BC Children’s Hospital in 2012 and the family moved here. Forstenzer taught at Emily Carr and Simon Fraser.

After years of working hard but being unable to make a living with art, Forstenzer was burned out. “There is no system to support artists in America,” she said. “We all need a day job to survive. Or a spouse with a paying job, if we are lucky. I’m one of the lucky ones.”

Forstenzer started looking for a new direction.

“I lived down the street from Urban Glass Studio in Brooklyn. I took a class from them and paid in kind with my graphic designer services. I was 30 years old and I fell in love with glass. I knew it was the medium for me, the way to express myself, to tell my stories. In theatre, in painting, in photography, the artist provides the focus, and his audience accepts it. But with glass, my story might be totally different from the one my viewers see. Everyone sees glass through their own life experience, supplies their own interpretation.”

At first, glass art was a hobby.

“I wanted more glass classes – there is so much to learn,” she said. “We moved to Seattle. I took more glass classes and always negotiated to pay with my designer skills for the studio time.”

photo - "Omen 2" by Hope Forstenzer — “Omen 2” by Hope Forstenzer. *(photo by Olga Livshin)*

After moving to Vancouver, glass became her full-time artistic practice, and she joined the Terminal City Glass Co-op.

“When Sarah [Dobbs] asked me if I would like to share the show with Wes Bell, I agreed. I thought it would be a nice contrast. Wes’s photos are all about grief and desolation. I find my place in between grief and optimism. The world is a mess right now, but I want to believe that we can pull through if we act now. That’s why I called my part of the show ‘If Not Now, When?’” said Forstenzer. The famous saying is attributed to first-century BCE sage Hillel the Elder.

Two sculptures of wings attract the attention of everyone who enters the gallery. Both are parts of Forstenzer’s series Dream of Flight. “I made 12 sets, all belonging to different winged creatures, for a show in 2021,” she said. “You know, every human religion, every system of spiritual belief, uses wings or winged creatures in some way.”

Another memorable work is “Mourners.” Four small glass figurines, abstract depictions of people in mourning, occupy a stand in the middle of the gallery. Their bright, intertwined, yellow-and-blue hues shine against the black and white of Bell’s photographs.

“I don’t think grief is always dark or colourless,” said Forstenzer. “When my mom died, I grieved, but I also remembered her beautiful heart and the colours she brought into my life. Death doesn’t remove the colours of our memories. I think it is a different aspect of grief, just as there are different ways to tell the same story.”

The two shows run until May 18.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].