Arts & Culture – Page 147

Arcady survives with soccer

Eugene Yelchin’s illustrations are an integral part of the storytelling in Arcady’s Goal.

What a special tribute to a parent. Eugene Yelchin’s most recent children’s book,

Arcady’s Goal, started with a 1945 photograph of the Red Army Soccer Club. One of fewer than a dozen photos of his family that “survived the turbulent history of the Soviet Union,” it includes the team’s captain, Arcady Yelchin, his father.

Historical fiction aimed at kids age 9 to 12, Arcady’s Goal (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2014) will hold the interest of older readers and elicit much discussion. Set in Soviet Russia during Stalin’s reign of terror, its main character, Arcady, is a feisty, self-confident 12-year-old who has lived in several children’s homes (“home” being euphemistic for camp or prison) since he was 3 years old and his parents were arrested on the charge of “participation in a terrorist organization. Preparing to overthrow Soviet power and the defeat of the USSR in a future war.”

Arcady has survived on his wits, his courage to stand up to those in authority and strength to deal with the consequences, and his incredible skill at soccer. Playing one-on-one soccer with other kids for rations, Arcady initially seems ruthless, but the act of it is revealed when he returns his winnings (“an eighth of bread, our daily ration”) to the boy he beats. And, when a group of inspectors comes to the compound, Arcady makes a deal with the director: Arcady will play whomever the director lines up and, for every win, the director will give him and the loser of the match two bread rations.

During the “games,” one of the inspectors seems especially interested in Arcady. While Arcady didn’t believe the director who, when trying to convince him to play, said there might be a soccer coach among the inspectors scouting for new talent, Arcady nonetheless starts thinking that this man is indeed a coach. When Ivan Ivanych returns to adopt Arcady, the boy thinks it’s because of his soccer talent – and that, if he fails to perform as expected, he’ll find himself back at the children’s home.

Without revealing what happens, the relationship between Arcady and Ivan is really touching. Reading how it develops, the hurdles they both have to overcome, the trust they both need to gain, the courage they both need to find, is inspiring, especially surrounded as they are by people who would do them ill out of fear or ambition – with two notable exceptions. Arcady’s Goal is a well-told story that respects its readers and doesn’t shy away from difficult material even while delivering a positive, hopeful message. The black and white illustrations by Yelchin communicate an additional depth of feeling and movement, or stillness.

image - The black and white illustrations by Yelchin communicate an additional depth of feeling and movement, or stillness. — The black and white illustrations by Eugene Yelchin communicate an additional depth of feeling and movement, or stillness in *Arcady’s Goal*.

Yelchin, who was born in Russia, left the former Soviet Union when he was 27. Arcady’s Goal is considered a companion novel to Breaking Stalin’s Nose (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 2011). Also written and illustrated by Yelchin, the 2012 Newberry Honor book centres around 10-year-old Sasha Zaichik, who has wanted to be a Young Soviet Pioneer since he was 6 but when the time comes to join, “everything seems to go awry. Perhaps Sasha does not want to be a Young Soviet Pioneer after all. Is it possible that everything he knows about the Soviet government is a lie?”

In the author’s note that follows the story in Arcady’s Goal, Yelchin writes about an experience he had in the summer of 2013 when he was at Oakland University in Michigan to speak to students who were studying Breaking Stalin’s Nose. After his talk, he caught a cab to the airport. The driver had also come from St. Petersburg. When the reason for Yelchin’s trip came up in conversation, the driver fell silent, then revealed that his grandfather had died as a result of being sent to a hard labor camp for 10 years by Stalin. “I caught myself leaning in close to hear Yury,” writes Yelchin. “He was whispering.

“And so it goes. The terror inflicted upon the Russian people by Stalinism did not die with those who experienced it firsthand but continued on from one generation to the next. It is as if anyone born in the Soviet Union continued to suffer from a post-traumatic stress disorder that has never been treated.” The Communist Party, with its preemptive strikes against people who might disagree with them, “ensured that this trauma would live on even after the demise of communism. It did so by shattering families of the enemies of the people. Their family members were denied places to live, work, permits and food rations. Children suffered the most. Infants were separated from their mothers, placed into the security police-run orphanages and often given different surnames.” Yelchin notes that everything was taken away from these children, and that children could receive the death penalty at age 12. For these and other reasons, says Yelchin, even 60 years after Stalin’s death, a cab driver thousands of miles away from Russia whispered “as he shared the fate of his grandfather, an enemy of the people.”

There is a teacher’s guide for Arcady’s Goal that can be downloaded from eugeneyelchinbooks.com/arcadys-goal.php. It is quite intriguing in and of itself, and would be an excellent resource for non-teachers as well.

Writers play with reality

Men’s books. Normally, I don’t classify the novels I read along gender lines, though I have read and reviewed “chick lit.” Both Wiseman’s Wager by Dave Margoshes and Fun & Games by David Michael Slater are far removed from that genre – the sex is less romantic, the language more crude, the energy more confrontational or aggressive. My guess is that the former will appeal most to older male readers, the latter to younger.

Both novels feature main characters with whom readers can sympathize. Despite their faults, they are likable, and they have an energy that drives the narrative, even as it circles, as in Wiseman’s Wager, or spins out of control, as in Fun & Games.

In Wiseman’s Wager, Zan Wiseman, 82, has recently moved to Calgary from Las Vegas. His longtime partner, Myrna, has passed away and his only remaining sibling, Abe, lives in Calgary, where his wife, Dolly, lies in a coma. In the late 1980s, the “A to Z Brothers, together again after all these years.”

Zan grew up with his brothers in Winnipeg, participating in the labor movement through the General Strike in 1919. The family moved to Toronto for a short period after the strike but returned to Winnipeg. Zan himself moved to Toronto soon thereafter and lived there for many years, continuing his union and communist party involvement.

Early into his stay in Calgary, Zan, suffering from severe constipation, lands in hospital, where he makes a joke about killing himself. We mainly learn about his younger days, his one novel – The Wise Men of Chelm, published in 1932 with little fanfare because the publisher goes bankrupt (it was the Depression, after all) and republished some 30 years later to great acclaim – his many wives, his brothers’ escapades (arrest for robbery, going to war, etc.), his relationship with his parents and his feelings about religion, politics and love, through his government-imposed therapy sessions with the “Lady Doctor,” Zelda, on whom he develops a small crush. There are also journal entries, “duets” in which he and Abe exchange brief, rapid-fire repartee, and Abe’s one-sided conversations with Dolly.

Zan is opinionated, sarcastic and difficult at times, but he is also endearing. He has led (perhaps) a fascinating life in an historically fascinating time. The confessional of an elderly man, there is uncertainty as to what did and did not happen, but readers won’t struggle with that aspect. While probably realistic as to how such memories would unfold, the repetition impedes the flow of the story somewhat and, at times, the dialogue crosses into stereotype; two bickering old Jewish men (Zan and Abe) or a crotchety old grump (Zan with Zelda).

The issues raised during the novel, however, are extremely engaging. Zan’s involvement with the Communist Party in Canada; his views on religion, particularly Judaism, of course; the losses we incur as we age; the different paths that members of the same family take; the way in which we fall in and out of love. There is much to recommend this novel, but it just didn’t hold my attention from start to finish. As Zan’s mind wandered, so did mine. A more exacting editor would have helped.

As for Fun & Games, it is much more focused and is also very well written, but it takes many trips to Crazy Town. It is a very stylistic novel that will appeal to many with its dark humor and intelligent take on various aspects of life, but the plot was a little over-the-top unrealistic, though the characters felt real enough.

The expression is, “It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.” And, sometimes tacked on to the end of that is, “Then it’s hilarious.” Well, there is much that is funny in this book but it didn’t reach hilarity for me, despite, not to ruin any surprises, the fact that many, many people get hurt (i.e. die) – I don’t know how high a body count there is for most coming-of-age tales but if there were a list, Fun & Games would be pretty high up on it.

We meet Jon Schwartz, his three main buddies, his parents and two sisters, as well as his grandparents, when he is in Grade 9. It is the late 1980s. Not surprisingly, sex – or, more accurately, curiosity about it – is a prominent part of Jon’s life. He and his friends discuss it a lot, experiment with it a little, and fall victim to Jon’s sisters’ use of it to manipulate them.

Religion and Judaism feature prominently in Fun & Games. Jon’s grandmother is constantly making discomforting “jokes” about Jews, Israelis and the Holocaust – she and her husband are survivors – and his father is an avowed atheist and a respected scholar and author on the topic. One of Jon’s friends covets the rabbi’s daughter, and the rabbi is apparently one of the few people able to argue with his father about religion to any effect.

Jon, who more than one character remarks, “handle[s] everything so well,” handles a lot from Grade 9 to his first semester at university, where Fun & Games leaves us. If you can suspend your disbelief to the full extent, you will enjoy the fast-paced exhilarating ride that is Fun & Games. And it’s not an empty ride. I can still feel the thrill that came for me from the more philosophical parts, the ideas Slater’s presents amid the contrived chaos, and the reflections on family, friendship, loss and life.

Curl up with books from Waldman Library

There was an old lady who swallowed a dreidel … perhaps it’s fatal! There are many great stories to read to your kids over Chanukah. What a wonderful way to spend time with your family – curling up with a good book or CD. The Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library has lots of each from which to choose.

Two of the newest books for Chanukah are Honeyky Hanukah by Woody Guthrie and I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel by Caryn Yacowitz.

Written in rhyme, Honeyky Hanukah lights the way for a night of family, friends, food and fun in a warm and joyful celebration, and it includes a CD performed by the Klezmatics.

I Know an Old Lady is also a rhyming book, written in a cumulative style, and with the help of the artwork, this well-known folk song takes on a new life in this tale about celebrating Chanukah with Bubbe and her family.

Two of the library’s most popular classic storybooks to read aloud are A Hanukkah Treasury by Eric Kimmel and The Stone Lamp by Karen Hesse and Brian Pinkney.

Treasury is a Chanukah compilation filled with history, flavor, legends, contemporary stories, recipes and games, suitable for the entire family. Stone Lamp comprises a series of eight free-verse poems in which the authors capture the resilient spirit of the Jewish people through the imagined voices of eight children at Chanukah.

These are just some of the Chanukah books available at the library. There are also dozens of holiday CDs and the library even has a Chanukah klezmer collection. To peruse the entire catalogue, go to jcclibrary.ca or just come up to the second floor of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, say hi, and browse through the collection in person.

Eight crazy dog nights

Narrated by the dog himself, Latke, The Lucky Dog by Ellen Fischer (Kar-Ben Publishing, 2014) is a charming book for kids 2-7 years old. In it, Latke the dog tells readers how lucky he is that a family with two children came to a shelter on the first night of Chanukah and took him home, naming him Latke because of his color. However, since poor Latke isn’t used to being with a family, his story is all about his eight nights of misadventures, coupled with his repeated acknowledgement that he is such a lucky dog to have been chosen by this family.

Although the story is very cute, there isn’t much about the family trying to train Latke, so parents could use the book as an opportunity to talk with their kids about what it means to adopt a pet and the responsibilities pet ownership entails. Or, parents could broaden the discussion to what it means to bring someone or something new into your environment – what role you might play, what changes you might need to make in your daily routine.

Fischer has written a number of children’s books and lives in Greensboro, N.C. The lively illustrations in a jagged style by artist Tiphanie Beeke, who lives in the south of France, fit the mood of the book very well.

Sybil Kaplan is a journalist, foreign correspondent, lecturer, food writer and book reviewer who lives in Jerusalem. She also does the restaurant features for janglo.net and leads weekly shuk walks in English in Jerusalem’s Jewish food market.

Mendes joins Tapper on 100.5 FM

Marcus Mendes in Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem, last year. (photo from Marcus Mendes)

Marcus Mendes has joined Alan Tapper in hosting The Anthology of Jewish Music, which airs Sundays, 10 a.m., on 100.5 FM and coopradio.org. Mendes will be playing a variety of genres of Jewish music: traditional, pop, religious and especially Israeli artists.

Recently, Mendes was a volunteer at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library. For a couple of years, as a child, he lived on Kibbutz Gesher Haziv and Kibbutz Dorot. He spent another year in Israel when he was 17, he recently visited there and will be traveling to the country again next year.

“I’m completely in awe of Alan’s dedication to bringing us this great show of Jewish music every week for the last 34 years,” said Mendes. “The man deserves a star on a walk of fame. If I could play a theme song, it might be the Knack’s ‘My Sharona!’ except I’d replace those words with, ‘Alan Tapper!’ and sing them with feeling!”

Cultivating composers

For the past eight years, Turning Point Ensemble (TPE) has taken their Creating Composers music education program into schools across Metro Vancouver. This year, the program has expanded and, with the support of the B.C. Arts Council’s Youth Engagement grant program, Creating Composers will travel to more remote communities in the province.

The announcement was made by the program’s founder, Jeremy Berkman, who is TPE’s new director of education and community outreach. What’s the Score! will take members of the ensemble to Prince George and Terrace to work with young creative artists ages 13-18 to give them the skills to be a composer. The workshops will not only focus on creative composition in general, but will focus on orchestration by augmenting the Turning Point Ensemble with members of the local musician community and the guidance of two of the province’s most renowned composers for orchestral forces, Jeffrey Ryan and Rodney Sharman. The Prince George concert will take place on Dec. 7, 2 p.m., in Vanier Hall with Sharman, TPE mentor composer, and a Terrace concert will take place in April.

In Vancouver, the orchestration workshops will now include nearly the entire Turning Point Ensemble collaborating with Vancouver Pro Musica to develop and present a program of new compositions as part of Pro Musica’s annual Sonic Boom Festival that will be performed March 29.

The Creating Composers youth music education program returns to schools in Metro Vancouver in 2015. The ensemble members love taking part in it, and are excited to welcome Mark Haney and Dorothy Chang as mentor composers this year.

In brief, TPE musicians and mentor composer help students develop creative ideas to write a composition in a supportive learning environment that includes a dialogue with the artists, who will then interpret and perform the young composer’s work. In addition, Remy Siu is TPE’s emerging composer in residence, assisting with the Creating Composers programs, as well as coordinating a competition for young composers.

Music is a universal language and students can develop confidence through self-expression, regardless of economic, language or cultural barriers. TPE provides the catalyst to spark the interest in music or the arts in general.

For more information on the ensemble, its programs and performances, visit turningpointensemble.ca.

Lokash cast in musical’s title role

Julian Lokash plays the title character in Carousel Theatre’s James and the Giant Peach. (photo by Tim Matheson)

When asked how long he’s been an actor, 11-year-old Julian Lokash didn’t hesitate. “Since I was born!” was his immediate response.

The young actor is the star of the upcoming Carousel Theatre production of James and the Giant Peach. As James, he’s in every scene, which has meant that he has been in rehearsals for two months, from 9-5 each day, except on Mondays, when he has the chance to go to school like other children his age. He is in Grade 6, in the French immersion program École Jules Quesnel in Point Grey.

Julian is not only an actor. He is what the theatre world calls a triple threat. “I dance and sing as well,” he said. “When I was just 1 or 2 years old, I was always dancing around and singing, even before I could talk,” he explained when asked about how his parents knew he was interested in the performing arts.

Julian shook his head emphatically (perhaps even a bit theatrically) when asked whether anyone else in his immediate family has any talent for musical theatre. He did say that his father’s cousin works for Dreamworks and that his dad also has an aunt who played in an orchestra but, as far as Julian is concerned, he’s an anomaly in his family.

Looking outside of the family for performance role models, Julian said he is a big fan of many of the actors on the TV show Glee because he thinks they have great voices. He also loves the Disney movie Frozen and, specifically, Idina Menzel, the voice of Elsa.

When he was younger, Julian was involved in Stage Coach, a theatre arts program that developed his interest and talent for musical theatre. More recently, he spent his last two summers in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! musical theatre summer school run by Perry Ehrlich. “Perry was the one who told me to try out for James and the Giant Peach,” said Julian. “He’s sort of like a musical theatre agent because he’s watching out for things for me.”

In fact, Julian has had an acting agent in the past. Through that agent, he did a commercial for Crayola. “I’m at a pause right now because I don’t have time for TV or commercials right now,” he said. He admitted that, at this point in his life, he prefers musical theatre but thinks that, in the future, he may have to do some TV. He’s confident that he’s found his calling and already has part of his acceptance speech ready for his Tony or his Oscar. “My friends wanted me to tell you that they are really supportive. My family is so supportive, too,” he said.

With theatre such a big part of his life, Julian does ballet, tap and jazz dancing, as well as voice lessons. The busy schedule of rehearsals, not only for James and the Giant Peach, but for any production, requires strong family backing. Luckily, his parents are happy to see their son doing what makes him happy.

It’s not all about the arts, however. Julian likes to be active and he gets that through dance as well as regular family ski weekends at Whistler. “I love to ski but I think this winter my brother and I are both going to tone it down and maybe only ski Saturdays,” he said. He admitted that he’d like a bit more time to spend with his friends.

Despite his busy schedule, Julian has found time to participate in a Jewish education class organized by a number of parents in his neighborhood. All of the students are kids living in Point Grey who attend public school and whose parents want their children to have some Jewish education without formalizing a connection to a synagogue. He mentioned that he’s not very religious but he does like to celebrate the Jewish holidays.

James and the Giant Peach tickets are available through Carousel Theatre for Young People. The musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s novel is at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island from Dec. 6 to Jan. 4, after which Julian will return to the life of a regular, but talented, Grade 6 student.

Michelle Dodek is a freelance writer and community volunteer living in Vancouver.

World musician at Rothstein

On Dec. 5, Lenka Lichtenberg will perform traditional and original songs at the Rothstein Theatre, self-accompanied on piano, guitar, harmonium and percussion. (photo from lenkalichtenberg.com)

Three new CDs in three years made in three different regions of the world, garnering at least as many awards and even more nominations. Toronto-based Lenka Lichtenberg has been on creative fire. She sent the Independent greetings from Prague earlier this month, as she was preparing for a concert there, and early next month, she will be in Vancouver.

The group Art Without Borders is bringing Lichtenberg here for a Dec. 5 solo performance at the Norman and Annette Rothstein Theatre.

According to its website, the nonprofit organization has two missions: “it strives to promote an understanding and appreciation for Czech culture through the arts both within and without the Czech community” and “it endeavors to cultivate dialogue between Canada and Central Europe.”

Lichtenberg’s work certainly forms cultural connections, and it greatly expands upon the dialogue. Consider only her most recent recordings, all of which bring together top-notch musicians from around the world to create music that blends multiple languages, cultures, melodies and rhythms: Songs for the Breathing Walls (2012) with the help of many international artists, Embrace (2013) with Canadian world-music group Fray and Lullabies from Exile (2014) with Israel’s Yair Dalal.

In addition, on her website, Lichtenberg has a virtual museum that displays some of what she has discovered about her family. Born in Prague, she didn’t find out she was Jewish until she was 9 or 10 years old. “It took me awhile to learn about my roots, as my mother did not say much about it; she did not know herself,” writes Lichtenberg. “My mother, while 100 percent Jewish, was brought up a Catholic by her family who left Judaism one by one. My great-grandmother described herself as ‘without faith’ already in 1919, and my grandmother and grandfather left Judaism some three to four years later. There were no signs of Jewish roots in the households, Christmas was celebrated. Not a completely atypical Czech Jewish urban family, I believe; assimilation was widespread. Then, the Holocaust … and my family was murdered. As an adult, I began learning.

“The activities of the past 25 years of my life, since my first trip to Masada, have largely been an attempt to learn about, and honor, my heritage in ways available to me: as a Yiddish singer (picking up Yiddish as an adult) and musician, composer of music built in one way or another on Jewish traditions, and a singer of beautiful liturgy. My 2010-2012 project Songs for the Breathing Walls was the most determined milestone in my quest to honor and connect with the past – via the history of the wider Jewish community of Czech and Moravian lands.”

The album Songs for the Breathing Walls connects that past with the future, preserving traditional Hebrew liturgy and poems in contemporary arrangements that were performed live in 12 different synagogues, or buildings that were once synagogues or used as such (nine Czech and three in Moravia). The recordings were made from July 2010 through July 2011. “The journey ended in Terezin, where my mother’s family was incarcerated; for the first time, I walked in the halls of the building where my mother had lived for two and a half years,” writes Lichtenberg in the liner notes. Appropriately, the memorial prayer El Maleh Rachamim was recorded there. Several of the recordings are prayers from the Yizkor service, but they mix with an Adon Olam based by Dalal on a melody of Babylonian Jews, an Avinu Malkeinu arranged by Lichtenberg and other holiday or weekday prayers.

Mourning and hope, sadness and joy cohabitate easily in this beautiful, moving and meaningful recording, the idea for which came to Lichtenberg in 2009. Performing on consecutive days in synagogues in Plzen and in Liberec, she noticed a difference in sound, ambience and feeling, “a unique character stemming from something deeper than mere acoustics … perhaps something left behind by those who built these structures and filled them with their lives.” Her hope is that, in listening to Songs for the Breathing Walls, people “will be able to hear the ‘breathing walls’ as well, embracing those who lived among them, love, suffered, prayed for peace. Perhaps then, their memory will live on….”

In all of Lichtenberg’s music, the memory and traditions of those who have lived before can be heard – they are celebrated, and merge with the memories, traditions and passions of Lichtenberg and the artists with whom she collaborates. A completely different mood infuses Embrace than Songs for the Breathing Walls, yet it too crosses temporal, cultural and geographic borders. Recorded in Toronto with Fray, co-led by percussionist Alan Hetherington, Embrace features lyrics inspired by religious texts, folk tales, poems, family and friends, with melodies rooted in the Middle East, North America, South America and India.

Lichtenberg is at home in many languages and musical styles, and every release highlights her talents, and those of the musicians with which she works, Lullabies from Exile being another example. It is one of the most distinctive collections of lullabies you’ll ever hear. With songs recorded in Israel, Canada and Czech Republic, it brings together Babylonian and Yiddish music, songs sung to Dalal and Lichtenberg by their mothers, literally intertwining them in eight medleys, each arranged from a song from each of their traditions.

As explained on Dalal’s website, the collaboration on this CD “was born before a joint concert in Kosice, Slovakia, when Lichtenberg played the album’s opening lullaby, ‘Yankele,’ for Dalal to see if he could accompany her on oud. Soon, Dalal was playing an Iraqi lullaby from his childhood [‘Wien Ya Galub’] that connected to Lichtenberg’s Yiddish song with a remarkably natural intuition…. While most of these lullabies are in Judeo-Iraqi Arabic and Yiddish, the concept grew to include songs in Czech, Slovak and Hebrew in order to reflect the artists’ personal histories, as well as English, to acknowledge the experience of the English-speaking Diaspora.” The CD also includes two non-medleys.

When the Jewish Independent first interviewed Lichtenberg (“Eclectic Jewish music,” Dec. 15, 2006), it was about her third CD, Pashtes/Simplicity, a collaboration with Brian Katz, in which she set the Yiddish poetry of Simcha Simchovitch to Jewish, jazz, Brazilian and other melodies. Having performed previously “in lounges, bars, in a rock band, more bars, and a cruise line,” she explained what she realized in Israel: “… I needed to change my direction and truly embrace my roots, my identity, which at that time was barely visible. I decided to ‘do Jewish.’ Being a musician, it meant dropping the kind of music I made my living with up to then in Canada and starting from scratch as a Jewish singer…. I concentrated on Yiddish, as I felt it would be closer to my true identity than Hebrew, even though my family, my mom and grandma, Holocaust survivors, didn’t speak a word of Yiddish. [They were] totally assimilated, as [were] most Czech Jews.” Lichtenberg, who had also been studying cantorial music for several years by 2006, described her experience with Jewish music as being “a growing process.”

While it is tempting, having listened to these latest recordings, to say that Lichtenberg’s Jewish music is all grown up, so to speak, written and performed with a confidence and skill that is remarkable, she seems like someone who will continually push herself to keep growing, experimenting in each new project. And, of course, she has several on the go. For more information about Lichtenberg, visit lenkalichtenberg.com. For tickets to her Dec. 5, 8 p.m., solo concert at the Rothstein Theatre, visit arwibo.org ($25) or the theatre box office at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver ($28).

Buy book, help library

This year, Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library’s annual used book sale takes place Nov. 23-27 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. (photo from IWJPL)

For many of us, the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library is the go-to place when looking for that irresistible book to read. It’s also where we search for that compelling DVD on Jewish culture that other libraries are unlikely to carry. It’s the place where unique book launches are held, where we might send our kids (or ourselves) for Hebrew lessons and where there are discussions on Israeli politics, Jewish culture or Yiddish literature just about any day.

This month, the library revisits another tradition, with its annual book sale Nov. 23-27, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (concurrently with the Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival). The five-day event has been going on for almost 20 years and has become iconic for the library and its many patrons, said Waldman librarian Helen Pinsky.

“We sell literally thousands of books during that time,” she said. This year’s event will be no different. The library, with the help of volunteers, has been busily unpacking and cataloguing books that have been donated to them by patrons around the city.

“Some books come from the library because we have to keep everything circulating,” Pinsky explained. Older books that may no longer be read as frequently become great candidates for the sale, along with those that are donated by families and organizations. “We have assisted many, many people in downsizing.”

She added, “People wait for this event from year to year and tell us that this is one of the highlights of their book-buying.” Customers include not just members of the Jewish community, but many people from other Lower Mainland communities who rely on the sale for Judaic literature. “We also have a very huge following among the Christian community – people who know about it, and come in … to collect books that are valuable to them.”

And the money that’s raised is important, said Pinsky, who explained that many of the library’s financial engines are run on what is gained from the sale. Book purchases, operational costs and special presentations at the library all succeed, in part, because of the generosity of donors and the support of volunteers. “We have always relied on it as a very stable source of raising funds,” she said.

One of the benefactors of the sale is the library’s speakers series, which routinely hosts presenters from a wide variety of backgrounds. Pinsky said the library considers hosting presentations on the Holocaust and the experiences of concentration camp survivors to be one of its more important missions.

“We have been very conscious of [the need] lately, because the last of the survivors are coming to the ends of their lives,” she said. The library has previously featured presentations by local survivors and others who have wanted to share their stories. The book launches have often featured stories of individuals who have dedicated their lives to teaching younger generations. She said the library strives to offer “the kind of information that will help the community to constantly remember” the effects that the Shoah left in its wake.

Most of the library staff is volunteers. Pinsky said their service is essential not only to a smooth-running facility, but to the success of the book sale. Hannah Frankel, who unpacks and catalogues the donations, has been volunteering her time for four or five years. She said the popularity of the sale can be seen in the volume and quality of the donations. Just weeks before the event, donations were still arriving “in the hundreds.”

Frankel speculated that most of the donations are the result of “word of mouth” advertising. “People seem to know we exist,” she said simply.

For Frankel, ensuring that Vancouver has a strong and vibrant library is a large part of why she volunteers her time for the sale. “I just think it is important for the Jewish community to have a Jewish library,” she said.

Jan Lee’s articles have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, thedailyrabbi.com and Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism. She also writes on sustainable business practices for TriplePundit.com. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.

A window on to Indonesia

Left to right, Boni Putera, Titi Juwariyah and Bambang “Ho” Mulyono are the charismatic musicians at the heart of Daniel Ziv’s (inset) documentary Jalanan. (photo from jalananmovie.com)

Daniel Ziv’s first feature-length documentary, the multiple-award-winning Jalanan (Streetside), tells the uplifting, engaging story of three musicians who are part of a bustling street scene in Jakarta: Boni Putera, Bambang “Ho” Mulyono and Titi Juwariyah. Instead of playing on street corners, these captivating and charismatic buskers board city buses, transforming ordinary commutes into musical, spiritual and political journeys through Indonesia’s capital, a mega city of 10 million.

Ziv, who was raised in Vancouver, spoke with the Independent by email after the Vancouver International Film Festival, where Jalanan had its North American première. An author and political commentator, Ziv has lived in Indonesia since 1999.

JI: How did you get started with filmmaking and how did you come to this project in particular?

DZ: Jalanan is my first film, and I never intended to be a filmmaker. Rather, the amazing story of these Jakarta street buskers, and how I felt that story, could illuminate so much about Indonesia as a society, and even globalization, sort of appeared in front of me and kept lingering there until I felt it needed to be told. Since the tale naturally contained so much music and energy and movement across this gritty urban space, I felt that film would be the right medium. So, I spent awhile getting to know the tools, and then learned through trial and error. Although filmmaking skills would have come in handy, I still believe that having a good story and good access are what really make a strong documentary. No degree of technical wizardry can replace those things.

JI: How were Boni, Ho and Titi chosen as the protagonists? Were there security concerns?

DZ: I knew that for the film to work, to really grab the attention and win the hearts of viewers, I needed strong lead characters – people with charm and charisma and agency, people with something to say about life. When I met Boni, Ho and Titi, I knew in each case that they would stand out as colorful individuals that viewers would be happy to spend two hours with in a theatre, or a few days with on the street, or even five years, as I did. They weren’t the archetypical victims that poor people are so often made out to be in social documentaries. They took control of their own fate, and they were fun to be with. And, of course, I looked for buskers with some musical talent and, more importantly, who composed their own songs and lyrics, which in turn reflected their condition. This added a whole other narrative device to the film that wouldn’t be there if it was just people talking into a camera.

In terms of safety, there actually weren’t really any issues. People assume since Jakarta is an enormous, chaotic, unruly, corrupt city, that it’s also somehow dangerous, but it’s not…. I spent five years shooting the film, totally exposed in some of the poorest parts of the city, carrying perhaps $10,000 worth of camera and sound equipment on me, yet I was never once harassed or mugged or even pickpocketed. I think if you’re at ease with your environment, the environment accepts you, but, of course, it helped that I’m fluent in Indonesian and that people knew I was with Boni, Ho and Titi. It provided me with a kind of street cred and belonging. I wasn’t some tourist leering in.

JI: What attracted you to Indonesia?

DZ: I didn’t plan any of this. I discovered Indonesia as a young backpacker in the early ’90s and was captivated by the country and its people, and then just kept going back. I did an MA in Southeast Asian studies and began a PhD in Indonesian politics, which is what moved me to Jakarta in 1999 for a year of field research. Then, I just got drawn into the dynamic changes that were happening to Indonesia at that time and into some irresistible job opportunities ranging from journalism and humanitarian aid work to book writing and filmmaking. And I got to work with the most amazing people, many of whom were the next generation of Indonesian artists and politicians and media personalities and social entrepreneurs. All of this has added up to a pretty fascinating career and life, but I also feel it’s been the result of deliberate choices: I didn’t opt for a safe, conventional path; I didn’t care about pedigree or official titles or big salaries. I only chose jobs that were truly meaningful.

JI: What were the challenges (rewards) of working on this project?

DZ: I guess the thing that is both the most challenging and rewarding is the intense experience of dreaming something up out of nothing, having the chutzpah and persistence to think you can create something that comes from inside you that wasn’t there before, and that it can actually find an audience and resonate with others…. [W]hen you make a film like this, that contains so much of your own experience and sensibility and sweat and tears, it’s really scary to wrap it up and then just watch the lights dim in a packed theatre and wonder if it will even work, if your vision and story will connect with people from a totally different culture and experience. And, when it does, it’s truly exhilarating.

JI: The response to the film has been positive. What’s that been like?

photo - Jalanan is Daniel Ziv's first film — *Jalanan* is Daniel Ziv’s first film. *(photo from jalananmovie.com)*

DZ: Of course, it’s immensely gratifying. My greatest fear after all the hard years of work was that it would just go nowhere … but the opposite has happened, and the film’s political and social impact in Indonesia in particular has been incredible. Jalanan captured the imagination of the public and the media, and contributed to concrete policy changes at the highest level of government, which is something none of us dreamed of.

Boni, Ho and Titi are now mini-celebrities in Indonesia, so, of course, it’s been amazing for three marginalized individuals to be publicly acknowledged in that way and to become role models within their community.

JI: Boni, Titi and Ho have multiple challenges, but they seem to be living satisfying lives. Are there lessons for those of us who, by many accounts, have more privilege or opportunity?

DZ: Certainly. But I’ve always been averse to simplistic, clichéd responses like “If poor people aren’t complaining, who are we to be discontent with our lives?” I mean, of course it’s important to recognize that we have privileged lives, but I think anyone’s pain or challenges are independently valid and very real. Having money and comfort doesn’t immunize us from pain, and being dirt poor doesn’t deny them immense joy. This is why it was so important for me to not let Jalanan become an exercise in finger waving or audience guilt. In fact, what I think many viewers respond to most is not how different they are than Boni, Ho and Titi, but how much of ourselves we see in them, and them in us. I think poverty needs to be de-fetishized and dealt with at face value, and poor people need to be seen as our friends and equals, rather than as objects to be analyzed or pitied. I know they prefer it that way.

JI: Are you still in touch with Boni, Ho and Titi?

DZ: We are close friends, and in almost daily contact. They are doing well, and enjoying a whole slew of new opportunities opening up to them as a result of the exposure from the film, but … they are still members of Jakarta’s marginalized poor, they are vulnerable and face multiple challenges. This is why I’ve started up a fundraising campaign that aims to buy each of them a small, humble house in a simple Jakarta neighborhood, something that will put a roof over their heads for life (details at jalananmovie.com/housingfund).

JI: I read an article in which you said that the buskers “were really just the lens through which we could manage a far bigger, more complex view of the country today.” Can you expand on that? Why do you think it took an expat to make an Indonesian film that had such global appeal?

DZ: That’s a great question. My interest from the start was in trying to understand, and hopefully shedding light on, Indonesia. I don’t think there’d have been anything inherently fascinating or important in a film that merely focuses on street busking, so my agenda was to probe deeper and treat my protagonists as a kind of microcosm for the country at this really fascinating juncture in time.

I’m not convinced an Indonesian couldn’t have made this film and, strangely, quite a few reviewers in Jakarta remarked that Jalanan feels “like a totally Indonesian film” rather than a documentary shot by a foreigner…. But this is probably because I created the space for Boni, Ho and Titi to tell their own very Indonesian story in their own voices and perspectives, and left space for my very talented Indonesian editor, Ernest Hariyanto, to lend his local sensibility to the cut. My goal was to open a window on to Indonesia, not to interpret it in my own image.

JI: Were you raised in a Jewish environment and, if yes, did it affect your choice of profession or other aspects of your life/filmmaking?

DZ: It’s probably fair to say my choice of profession was despite my Vancouver Jewish environment, not because of it. I grew up surrounded by a community of lawyers and doctors and academics and business folks, and most of my childhood friends didn’t stray far from that. I was lucky to have parents who secretly admired the creative and adventurous tendencies my sisters and I harbored.

One of my sisters became a ceramic artist and urban heritage expert; my other sister is a professional chef and musician. Our parents never pushed us toward establishment careers. They taught us a love for travel and culture, and that it was more important to lead an interesting life than a safe one. They probably got more than they bargained for in my case, and lament the fact that I live halfway across the world, but I doubt they’d be any happier if I were a senior partner at a downtown law firm. And, I dare say, they seemed pretty proud when the lights came on at the end of our screening … at VIFF.

Basya Laye is a Vancouver freelance writer and former editor of the Jewish Independent.