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Hamas a “net disaster”

Author and human rights advocate Raheel Raza spoke with Gaza-born American writer and peace advocate Ahmad Fouad Khatib in a June 28 online briefing presented by HR Canada Charitable Organization. (screenshot)

A Gaza-born American writer and peace advocate told a Canadian audience that Hamas has been a “net disaster” for Palestinians and that much of the Western pro-Palestinian movement has become detached from the needs of the people it claims to defend.

Ahmad Fouad Khatib, who was raised in Gaza and now lives in Washington, DC, said genuine advocacy for Palestinians must combine criticism of Israeli policies with an honest examination of Hamas, Palestinian political failures and an international aid system that has sustained Gaza without helping it develop accountable institutions.

Khatib spoke in a June 28 online briefing presented by HR Canada Charitable Organization, which carries out research and public education activities to combat antisemitism and anti-Jewish discrimination. HR Canada was founded in 2019, and is a separate legal entity from HonestReporting Canada, which operates as an independent, grassroots organization promoting fairness and accuracy in Canadian media coverage of Israel, the Middle East, and issues related to and affecting Canadian Jews. The discussion was moderated by author and human rights advocate Raheel Raza. It examined Hamas, Palestinian political culture, Western activism, antisemitism and the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Khatib said the central challenge facing Gaza is not simply reconstruction after the current conflict, but the creation of a political and economic future in which Hamas no longer controls the territory or its people.

“Hamas is mainly now holding two million Gazans hostage,” he said.

Khatib argued that Hamas’s remaining military infrastructure no longer represents the same immediate threat to Israel that it once did, but it continues to prevent meaningful recovery in Gaza. International donors, Arab governments and European states, he said, will be reluctant to invest seriously in rebuilding while Hamas retains its weapons, tunnels and political control.

Gaza, Khatib said, should not merely be rebuilt as it existed before the war. It must be “reimagined.”

“If we don’t solve Gaza, there’s no peace,” he said. “If Gaza doesn’t become a role model for effective Palestinian self-governance, if we don’t de-radicalize, if we don’t rejuvenate and reinvigorate Gaza to show what the West Bank can and should look like under Palestinian leadership, there’s no two-state solution.”

Khatib’s criticism of Hamas is rooted in both personal experience and profound loss. He said 34 members of his immediate and extended family have been killed in the war and both of his childhood homes have been destroyed. One of his brothers remains in Gaza and works with a major British medical and humanitarian organization.

He described conditions in the territory as catastrophic. Large portions of the population have been displaced, many people are living in tents or crowded into the homes of others, and residents face shortages of clean water, sanitation, privacy, education and medical care.

“No one is thriving, no one is healing, no one is recovering, no one is moving forward,” he said.

Khatib nevertheless rejected the contention that acknowledging Palestinian suffering requires silence about Hamas. Oct. 7, he said, was a choice, not an unavoidable response to Israeli policy. He argued that Hamas has repeatedly diverted Palestinian resources, undermined opportunities for state-building and used violence in ways that predictably brought further devastation upon Gaza.

“Any way you slice and dice Hamas, it has been a net disaster for the Palestinian people,” he said.

Khatib left Gaza in July 2005, about a month before Israel removed its settlements and military presence from inside the territory under the disengagement plan of then-prime minister Ariel Sharon. Khatib was 15 and traveled to the United States through a US State Department exchange program intended to build connections between Americans and young people from Muslim-majority countries after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

He lived with a host mother in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended an American high school. When he attempted to return to Gaza in 2006, Hamas’s abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit contributed to border closures that left him stranded in Egypt for three months.

With assistance from American human rights activists, including Jewish supporters and a Holocaust survivor, he returned to the United States and applied for political asylum. His asylum interview took place on the day Hamas completed its violent takeover of Gaza.

Khatib said he grew up in a devout Muslim family and was exposed early to the terror organization’s efforts to shape Gaza’s religious and social culture. As a child, he attended part of a summer camp that he later recognized as being dominated by Hamas activists. Even then, he said, he was repelled by its propaganda. He argued that Hamas did not simply promote a political program. It reshaped language and social expectations, making resistance an unquestionable virtue while turning peace into a synonym for cowardice, surrender or betrayal.

The consequences, he said, extended beyond Gaza. Hamas attacks during the Oslo peace process and later from Gaza contributed to the rightward movement of Israeli politics and strengthened Israeli politicians who argued that Palestinian independence would create an additional security threat, he said.

Khatib characterized Israel’s 2005 withdrawal as a missed opportunity for Palestinians to demonstrate that Gaza could succeed without a permanent Israeli military presence. Instead, Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian election and seized exclusive control the following year.

Gaza received vast international humanitarian assistance over the next two decades, he said, but Hamas was able to govern without assuming normal responsibility for public services because the United Nations, foreign donors and humanitarian organizations took on much of the burden of caring for the population. This produced what Khatib called a perverse incentive system: Hamas could prioritize weapons and warfare while outsiders repeatedly paid to repair the damage after each conflict.

He criticized Western activists who reduce Palestinian advocacy to opposition to Israel and refuse to acknowledge Palestinian agency. A credible pro-Palestinian framework, he said, must define a positive political objective rather than rely on demands to destroy or dismantle Israel. Calls to eliminate the “Zionist entity,” he argued, are not policy proposals and offer Israelis no reason to engage.

“Destroying Israel is not a goal,” he said. “That’s rhetoric. That’s hate.”

Authentic Palestinian advocacy should promote governance, economic opportunity, institution-building and political renewal, he said. It must also recognize that approximately nine million Israelis regard the country as their home and are not going to disappear.

Khatib said there is little organized space in the Palestinian diaspora for people who support Palestinian rights while rejecting Hamas and seeking engagement with mainstream Israelis and Zionists. Palestinians who question dominant activist narratives may face social exclusion, accusations of betrayal and pressure from their families or communities. He said people frequently contact him privately to express support for his arguments but are afraid to state similar views publicly.

Criticism of Hamas, he added, remains taboo in parts of Arab, Muslim and Palestinian diaspora life. Since Oct. 7, he has seen some people move from a reluctance to condemn Hamas to open support for the organization.

“This is not a fringe position,” he said.

Khatib has also experienced hostility from pro-Palestinian activists at universities. Although he opposes West Bank settlements, supports Palestinian freedom and has condemned Israeli conduct in Gaza, he said activists have branded him a traitor because he also criticizes Hamas and supports dialogue with Zionists.

At one campus appearance, protesters followed him toward his vehicle and he required a police escort. At another, demonstrators depicted him as having been bought by Israel, using dollar signs in a manner he considered both anti-Palestinian and antisemitic.

The assumption that an independent-minded Palestinian must have been paid by Jews or Israel, he said, denies Palestinians intellectual diversity while reproducing traditional conspiracy theories about Jewish money and control.

Khatib said antizionism can, in theory, be distinguished from antisemitism as an intellectual position. In contemporary practice, however, it frequently serves as a shield for hostility toward Jews.

He drew a distinction between criticizing Israeli policies and demanding Israel’s elimination. Opposition to violent settlers or to statements by far-right Israeli ministers, he said, is legitimate political discourse. Holding Jewish communities abroad collectively responsible for Israeli actions is not.

He cited attacks on synagogues and Israeli diplomatic personnel, as well as rhetoric that treats such violence as an understandable consequence of events in the Middle East.

“That is antisemitic,” he said. “That is double standard. That is normalizing violence against Jewish communities because somehow what happened overseas, over there, 10,000 miles away, needs to come to our shores.”

Despite the obstacles, Khatib ended with a measure of optimism. He believes many Palestinians, freed from social pressure and fear of reprisal, would prefer peace, coexistence and economic security.

“The individual is smart, the group is dumb,” he said. “One-on-one, if left to their own devices, most Palestinians would choose peace.”

He said Gaza, the source of the Oct. 7 attacks and repeated regional conflict, could eventually become the place where a new political direction begins.

“I fully believe that Gaza can, and inshallah [God willing] will, be ground zero for the beginning of the end of the conflict and for true peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Connecting with nature

Growing Together – a garden program for young adults with varying abilities, run by the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and Jewish Family Services – is facilitated by Ran Keren. (photo from JCC)

This spring, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver launched Growing Together, a garden program for young adults with varying abilities, in partnership community with Jewish Family Services (JFS). The program runs biweekly on Sundays through August and is offered free of charge.

“It is well established that spending time outdoors can benefit mental health,” Shiri Barak Gonen, Inclusion Services program coordinator at the JCC, told the Independent. “The JCC wanted to create a safe, welcoming space where members of our community could connect with nature, build meaningful relationships and experience personal growth.

“We also have a deep appreciation for agriculture. Living in an urban environment, we felt that community gardening would be a meaningful way to introduce participants to the growing process and foster a stronger connection to the natural world. We recognized that experiencing the entire growing cycle – from planting and nurturing to harvesting – would provide participants with a genuine sense of accomplishment and pride.

“In addition,” she said, “we recognized that our adult inclusion programs serve a broad age range. This initiative was designed to give our young adults the opportunity to connect and build friendships with peers who are closer to their own age and at a similar stage of life.”

It was developed with a clear vision, she said: “to engage participants in gardening and outdoor activities while encouraging connections with one another, with the facilitator and with nature itself. Once we had that vision clear, we began searching for the right location to bring it to life.”

The JCC initially approached Congregation Beth Israel, said Maggie Wilson, coordinator of the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden, which was established in 2020 by Vancouver Talmud Torah, Beth Israel and JFS, and which is situated alongside the synagogue building and behind the school. However, the congregation realized the program would be a better fit for a partnership between the JCC and JFS, she said.

Wilson and Carol Hopkins, director of food security at JFS, explained in an email that “the JCC coordinates the program, managing participant recruitment, registration and the program facilitator” and, through its partnership with JFS, the program takes place in the garden.

“As part of this collaboration, JFS will lead specialized food literacy programming with the participants,” they said. “The participants have also been given the use of a bed to care for throughout the season. This allows them to experience the full cycle of gardening, from planting seeds and caring for growing plants to harvesting food they have grown themselves, all while building confidence, developing new skills and fostering a sense of ownership and connection to the space.

“By combining expertise in inclusive programming, a shared dedication to food literacy and a vibrant outdoor learning environment, this partnership between the JCC and JFS has created an experience that neither organization could have offered on its own.”

Wilson provides professional guidance and ongoing support for the program, which is designed for young adults aged 18 to 25 with a wide range of support needs. Barak Gonen said the initiative has allowed the JCC “to engage new participants who had not previously taken part in our inclusion programs.”

photo - The JCC-JFS Growing Together program takes place in the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden — The JCC-JFS Growing Together program takes place in the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden. *(photo from VJCG)*

For the initiative, the JCC recruited Ran Keren, an experienced facilitator, who, Barak Gonen said, “has done an exceptional job leading the gardening activities while also creating engaging outdoor arts, crafts and nature-based experiences that foster learning, bonding and enjoyment.”

“We started our program this spring with learning about the various herbs, veggies, fruits and greens that grow in the beautiful Jewish Community Garden,” said Keren. “Every meeting, we do some work in the garden and connect with the plants in some way; making herbal tea from the garden herbs, printing T-shirts with the garden flowers, putting together birdhouses and bug hotels, and nurturing our own little plot of veggies. There is something dynamic in gardening work, as it depends on the weather and the ever-changing crop growth and cycles, but the most important part in our work and activities is to create space in which we get to know one another, and feel safe and welcome to share thoughts, experiences and feelings. To borrow from [noted Indigenous botanist] Robin Kimmerer, ‘A garden is a nursery for nurturing connection.’ My main goal, and hope is that our program is shaping to be such a space.”

Growing Together is a seasonal initiative, so it will continue for as long as the weather conditions allow. “We hope to extend it through the current growing season and are planning to offer it again next spring, giving participants the opportunity to reconnect with nature and continue building on the relationships and skills developed through the program,” Barak Gonen said.

“There is still space for new participants to join the current program cycle,” she added, “and we welcome anyone interested in taking part.”

For more information, contact Barak Gonen at shiri@jccgv.bc.ca. For more about the garden, go to jewishcommunitygarden.ca.

Mikvah at Chabad now open

Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld, left, and Rabbi Yechiel Oirechman cut the ribbon at the July 6 dedication of the newly completed Mikvah of Chabad. (photo by Lior Noyman)

Metro Vancouver Jewish community members gathered July 6 at Chabad Lubavitch of British Columbia to dedicate the Mikvah at Chabad, a new ritual bath that will serve Jewish women and families throughout the region. The evening marked the completion of a project first envisioned by Rabbi Yitzchok and Henia Wineberg, founders of Chabad Lubavitch of BC, when the Chabad centre on Oak Street was built more than 25 years ago.

A mikvah has long been considered one of the foundations of a Jewish community. While often associated with the laws of taharat hamishpacha (family purity), a mikvah is also connected with other moments in Jewish life, including preparation for marriage and conversion. As Vancouver’s Jewish community has continued to grow, the need for additional mikvah resources has grown as well. The Mikvah at Chabad represents an expansion of the community’s ability to support women in fulfiling this mitzvah. It builds on the foundation established by those who have been serving mikvah needs for years: Congregation Schara Tzedeck and the Bayit.

The dedication of Rabbi Dovid and Chaya Rosenfeld, together with many others, brought the Mikvah at Chabad project to completion. While the mikvah received support from individuals and organizations beyond Vancouver, most of the funding, both for the construction and the ongoing needs of the mikvah, has been raised locally, reflecting the commitment and generosity of Vancouver’s Jewish community.

The dedication ceremony took place shortly before Parshat Masei, which recounts the 42 journeys of the Jewish people through the wilderness. Rabbi Rosenfeld reflected on the connection between those journeys and the long path toward completing the mikvah.

“There were many miracles that led to this moment,” said Rosenfeld, sharing the personal journey that ultimately brought the project across the finish line. Last Simchat Torah, Rosenfeld made a public commitment that the mikvah would be completed during the coming year.

“Nobody believed me,” he recalled with a smile. “I didn’t even believe, myself!”

Several weeks later, while attending the International Kinus Hashluchim in New York, Rosenfeld visited the Ohel, the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. There, Rosenfeld wrote of his commitment and asked for assistance in making the vision a reality.

Soon afterward, an unexpected chain of events led him to Rabbi David Darli of Israel, whose encouragement provided the momentum to complete the project. Rosenfeld described the experience as a moment of renewed confidence and inspiration.

“I felt right there that the Rebbe was telling me, ‘You can do it,’” he said.

photo - Rabbi Yitzchok Wineberg speaks about seeing the 25-year-old dream of a new mikvah become reality — Rabbi Yitzchok Wineberg speaks about seeing the 25-year-old dream of a new mikvah become reality. *(photo by Lior Noyman)*

The July 6 evening featured reflections from Rabbi Wineberg, who spoke about seeing a dream he had envisioned decades earlier finally materialize. Riki Oirechman, who helped oversee the design of the mikvah, discussed the many people and details that came together to create the finished facility. Amanda Aron Chimanovitch shared her personal connection to mikvah and its role in Jewish life.

One of the night’s most personal presentations came from Chaya Rosenfeld, who spoke about why the mitzvah of mikvah continues to hold deep meaning for Jewish women and families.

“Every month, your marriage starts again,” she said. “The wisdom built into this mitzvah reminds us not to take each other for granted.”

She explained that mikvah creates a powerful connection: to one’s spouse, to God and to generations of Jewish women who came before.

“It connects me to my husband, it connects me to Hashem and it connects me to generations of Jewish women who came before us,” she said, emphasizing that taharat hamishpacha is not only an individual mitzvah but one of the foundations of Jewish continuity.

photo - The Mikvah of Chabad was designed to create a peaceful and welcoming environment — The Mikvah of Chabad was designed to create a peaceful and welcoming environment. (photo by Lior Noyman)

“A community can exist without a synagogue or even a Torah scroll,” she said, “but these mitzvot cannot be observed without a mikvah. That is why a mikvah is so essential.”

She expressed the hope that the Mikvah at Chabad will become a place where Jewish women can prepare for weddings, strengthen their marriages and deepen their connection to Judaism in an atmosphere of warmth, comfort and dignity.

Following the speeches, guests gathered for the official dedication, including the ribbon-cutting ceremony and the affixing of the mezuzah. They then toured the new facility, which features heated floors and spaces designed to create a peaceful and welcoming environment. Throughout the building, plaques recognize the many families and individuals whose generosity helped make the project possible.

The dedication came just weeks before Chabad Lubavitch of BC hosts the annual BC Kinus Hashluchim, which brings together Chabad rabbis and rebbetzins from communities throughout the province. The gathering provides an opportunity for Chabad emissaries to connect, collaborate and share ideas as they reflect on the needs of their communities and discuss how they can continue to strengthen Jewish life throughout British Columbia.

The timing of the Kinus reflects a broader story taking place across the province: the continued growth and expansion of Jewish life in communities large and small. Over the past year alone, new Chabad centres have been established serving the North Shore, the Sea-to-Sky corridor and the University of Victoria community. These initiatives join the network of Chabad centres already serving Vancouver, Richmond, the Tri-Cities, the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and the Okanagan.

For Rabbi Rosenfeld, the purpose of the BC Kinus is not only to celebrate what has been accomplished, but to look ahead – to ask how Chabad can continue to strengthen existing communities and reach Jews in places where new opportunities and needs are emerging.

“The idea is that no matter who you are or where you end up, Chabad is there for you,” he said.

To find out more about the Mikvah at Chabad or Chabad in your local community, email info@lubavitchbc.com.

David J. Litvak is a prairie refugee from the North End of Winnipeg who is a freelance writer and publicist, and a mashgiach at Louis Brier Home and Hospital. His articles have been published in the Forward, Globe and Mail and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. His website is cascadiapublicity.com.

Whistler welcomes Chabad

Rabbi Schneur and Bina Druk and their family are enjoying life in Whistler. (photo from Chabad of Whistler)

The Jewish community in Whistler has warmly welcomed Rabbi Schneur and Bina Druk, co-directors of Chabad of Whistler, and their family, who arrived almost a year ago to establish a Chabad centre in the mountain resort town, to serve it and the Sea-to-Sky corridor.

“The response has honestly been incredibly warm,” Rabbi Druk told the Independent. “We’ve met many locals who’ve lived here for decades, seasonal workers spending a winter on the mountain, families who return year after year, second-home owners, and visitors from around the world. Many have told us they never realized how many other Jewish people were here until Chabad opened.

“People are excited to see Jewish life growing in Whistler and to have a place where they can connect with other Jews,” he said.

“One of my favourite parts has been meeting new people throughout the year. Every season brings a different mix of families, visitors, locals and people from all over the world,” said Bina Druk.

“It’s especially meaningful,” she said, “to watch people from different backgrounds and levels of Jewish observance come together and connect, whether it was a Passover seder, Hanukkah celebration, a Purim après-ski event, a Hebrew school program or a Friday night dinner during the ICSC [global trade association] conference…. Those moments remind us that, despite our different backgrounds, we’re one family. That’s what makes the Whistler Jewish community so special.”

With its relatively new community connector model, the Jewish Federation of British Columbia has increased its support of Jewish communities in places like Whistler, and various Metro Vancouver congregations hold programs in the municipality. For its part, Chabad of Whistler offers a Hebrew school, Shabbat services, Jewish Learning Institute and other classes, and kosher catering.

“Here, pretty much only the fruits and vegetables are kosher,” said Rabbi Druk. “So, keeping kosher in Whistler means regular trips to Vancouver and a lot more planning. But that is one of the reasons we are here. We are working on some ideas on how to make kosher food accessible in Whistler. It’ll take lots of effort and creativity to get it done.”

Efforts are also being made to create a dedicated physical space for their activities.

“For now, we rent different venues for Shabbat services, holiday celebrations, classes and community events, and we partner with one of the local schools for Hebrew school,” said the rabbi. “We try to choose a venue as central and accessible as possible. Our long-term plan is to create a permanent Chabad centre in a central, visible location where anyone can easily find a welcoming Jewish home, where any Jewish person can walk in for a Shabbat meal, a class, holiday celebration or just a conversation.”

Bina Druk grew up in Toronto and has spent many years in Jewish education, serving in various positions at Hebrew schools in Toronto and Brooklyn, and teaching in Jewish camps in several cities.

“Her father is the dean of the Chabad yeshiva there, and her mother teaches young children, as well as in the Jewish high school there. She grew up in a home where Jewish education was a focal point,” said her husband. “I grew up in the Detroit area, where my father is also a teacher in the local yeshiva. My mother actually grew up in the Soviet Union, where her family took great risks to remain religious Jews despite all the attempts of the authorities and their secret police to stamp out religion. Her family immigrated to Montreal in 1971 through a series of what could only be described as miracles…. I myself studied in yeshivot in Manchester, Montreal and New Jersey. In 2022, after our marriage, we moved to New York.”

Rabbi Druk described his wife as having “a real passion for helping children develop a strong and joyful Jewish identity. On my end,” he said, “I am thankfully no stranger to outreach. In the Chabad yeshiva system, students spend every Friday visiting local offices and homes, offering [people] … a chance to pause and connect to their Judaism as the week comes to a close.”

Druk has served Jewish communities across the globe, “ranging from Wyoming to Nigeria, as part of the annual ‘roving rabbis’ program, which dispatches rabbinical students to bolster local outreach efforts in small Jewish communities.” And he has served as a temporary chaplain at prisons across the US East Coast.

“Between the two of us and our experiences,” he said, “we knew that we wanted to open a Chabad House somewhere.

photo - Chabad of Whistler offers Shabbat services, community events, classes and more — Chabad of Whistler offers Shabbat services, community events, classes and more. *(photo from Chabad of Whistler)*

There are Chabad centres in more than 100 countries. For the most part, they run independently, he said.

“When a young couple is searching for a location to set up shop, there is no central bureau that finds you a place,” he explained. “There are two ways that a location shidduch [match] would be made. The couple contacts an existing Chabad centre and asks about a specific location under its purview, where they identify a community that has both a real need for Jewish life and the potential to sustain a Jewish centre. In some cases, when a Chabad rabbi feels they need more hands in their existing centre, they might reach out to young couples who are in the process of searching. We went with the first, more common, approach. We researched several locations before finding out about Whistler.”

The couple found out about Whistler from a cousin, who used to take skiing trips there and saw that there was a local Jewish community.

“After some basic research about the location and the community, we paid our first visit to Whistler for Hanukkah of 2024, and we immediately fell in love with it,” said Rabbi Druk. “What has become clear to us is that, besides the local Jewish community, there are many others who have some connection to Whistler…. Another thing is that people are generally happy here. It’s a place where they come to relax and enjoy themselves. We felt Jewish life should be present in a place that people already love and feel very connected to.”

They arrived last September but almost didn’t make it.

“On our way to look at a house we hoped to rent, we were involved in a serious accident on Highway 99. We sustained serious injuries, but nothing life-threatening,” said Druk. “But our baby son, who was only a few months old, initially appeared to have suffered serious head injuries, and the doctors were concerned there might be bleeding in his brain. I remember praying and saying, ‘G-d, we’re coming here to do Your work. Please show us a miracle.’ Thankfully, after another review (and three days in the hospital!), the radiologist determined the initial reading had been mistaken. Our son recovered quickly and, today, thank G-d, he’s doing great. That miracle helped cement the feeling that we were meant to be here.”

Mendel is now 1 year old and the Druks’ daughter Mushka is 3.

“They absolutely love it here,” said their father. “They’re already learning to enjoy the mountains, the trails and the outdoor lifestyle.”

Last month, the outdoors ventured indoors – with a bear paying a visit.

“It was a hot day and we had left the door open to let in some fresh air and cool down the house,” said the rabbi. “I was upstairs preparing for a class, and my wife and children went to the park. When I came downstairs, I saw a mess in the dining room and immediately knew it wasn’t the kids, since they were at the park. I went outside and saw a black bear eating a bag of rice. When I checked the security cameras, I was shocked to see the bear wandering around the house and on the deck. The door to the elevated deck was broken and being repaired at the time, so the bear was able to get onto the deck and enter the house from there. We know that we live in bear country here in Whistler, and we have seen bears nearby before, but we had never experienced anything like this inside our home.

screenshot - The Druks had a recent uninvited guest – a bear was caught on their home-security system’s video camera — The Druks had a recent uninvited guest – a bear was caught on their home-security system’s video camera. *(image from Chabad of Whistler)*

“We are very grateful that the children were not home at the time, thank G-d. We also made sure all the neighbours knew about the bear in case it returned,” he said.

“One of the nicest cultural adjustments has been discovering how active everyone is,” said Rabbi Druk. “Instead of saying, ‘Let’s grab a coffee,’ people say, ‘Let’s go for a hike’ or ‘Let’s meet on the mountain.’ We’ve really come to appreciate that lifestyle, and it’s become one of our favourite parts of living here.”

For more information, visit chabadwhistler.org.

Companionship is vital

By supporting the Al and Lola Roadburg Special Companion Endowment Fund at the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, community members can help ensure that more Louis Brier Home and Hospital residents receive the compassionate presence they deserve. (photo from LBJAF)

At the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, care is measured not only by clinical outcomes, but by moments of connection, dignity and compassionate human presence. It is often the quiet moments, rather than the clinical ones, that leave the greatest impact on a person’s quality of life.

Within a home where residents range in age from 40 to over 100, and where many live with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or complex geriatric health challenges, the smallest acts of care often carry the greatest meaning: a hand held during moments of confusion, a calming voice during agitation or a familiar presence that transforms uncertainty into comfort. A companion’s presence can mean the difference between fear and reassurance, confusion and grounding, isolation and connection. This is the heart of the Louis Brier Companion Program.

Companions at Louis Brier provide an essential layer of care support that extends far beyond what is publicly funded through government care. While essential medical services and daily care needs are covered, companions fill a critical gap in quality of life by offering something health care cannot always provide: time, consistency, emotional connection and genuine human presence.

Their role includes emotional reassurance, cognitive stimulation and one-on-one support, from mealtime assistance and accompaniment to medical appointments, to the gentle redirection of residents who may wander or become disoriented. Equally important, companions provide continuity of presence, particularly for residents experiencing isolation or those without family nearby.

One of the most meaningful yet often unseen contributions of companions is the preservation of personal dignity in daily care. While government-funded services may provide bathing support once per week, companions help residents maintain greater comfort, hygiene and well-being between scheduled care by offering additional personal support. These acts make a profound difference in how residents feel in their daily lives. These are not extras. Through these quiet, consistent moments, residents are reminded that they are seen not simply as patients, but as individuals with histories, preferences and inherent worth.

The Louis Brier Home and Hospital, together with the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, is grateful for the generous support of the Al Roadburg Foundation, which has established the Al and Lola Roadburg Special Companion Endowment Fund. This enduring contribution will help sustain and strengthen the Companion Program for generations to come.

Approximately 75 Louis Brier residents, notably those in extended care, have been identified as needing companion support. Because each resident’s needs vary, the number of hours required differs widely. The endowment is expected to provide approximately 3,000 hours of companion support each year, allowing more residents to receive it than otherwise would be possible.

While this extraordinary gift has transformed the program, it does not fully meet the growing need: demand continues to exceed available resources, and families are often left to make difficult choices. Some residents needing mealtime assistance may receive support for only one or two meals a day despite requiring help at all three. Many others would benefit from additional companion hours that provide emotional support and enhanced quality of life.

Louis Brier is recognized as a leader within British Columbia’s health-care community, with honours including Nonprofit Employer of Choice (2021-2025), Stars of Vancouver Awards (2021-2025), BC’s Top 100 Employers (2025, 2026) and Accreditation Canada’s Commendation Standing designation. These achievements reflect the home’s commitment to excellence, innovation and compassionate, person-centred care rooted in the Jewish values of chesed (lovingkindness), dignity and tikkun olam, the shared responsibility to care for one another and help repair the world.

Above all, the Companion Program reflects a simple yet profound truth: no one should experience aging alone. Every hour of companionship creates moments of comfort, connection and dignity that cannot be measured, yet are remembered. By supporting the Al and Lola Roadburg Special Companion Endowment Fund, community members can help ensure that more residents receive the compassionate presence they deserve.

For more information, visit thelouisbrierfoundation.com, email foundation@louisbrier.com or call 604-261-5550.

– Courtesy Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation

Preserving our stories

Abrasha Wosk testimonial evening at Congregation Schara Tzedeck March 6, 1977. Back row: Joyce Wosk, Sonny Wosk, Esther Aroni and husband Hymie, Rosalie and Joe Segal. Front row: Abrasha and Chava Wosk. (photo from JMABC L.01598)

The Jewish Museum & Archives of British Columbia (JMABC) has launched its 2026 annual campaign – Preserving Our Stories. Connecting Our Future – an initiative that invites the community to help preserve and share the remarkable stories of Jewish life throughout British Columbia.

For more than half a century, JMABC has served as the steward of British Columbia’s Jewish documentary heritage, preserving hundreds of thousands of photographs, documents, oral histories and archival collections, while sharing these stories through exhibitions, programming, publications, research services and community partnerships.

“History isn’t created only in archives,” said JMABC president Daniella Givon. “It begins with families, photographs, letters and memories. This campaign is an invitation for our community to recognize the importance of those stories and help ensure they are preserved for future generations.”

Funds raised through the campaign will support archival preservation and digitization, oral history recording projects, educational programming, exhibits, collections care, research access and province-wide storytelling initiatives that connect communities.

Throughout the summer and fall, JMABC will also launch a new Campaign Stories series on its website, featuring articles that highlight remarkable people, places and moments from its archival collections. Drawing entirely from existing resources, the series will introduce readers to the individuals, neighbourhoods, businesses and institutions that have helped shape Jewish life here. The campaign introduces a unique community storytelling initiative inspired by the simple idea that every family has a story worth preserving.

Also starting this summer, and continuing throughout the year, JMABC will invite community members to bring a treasured photograph of a parent, grandparent or other ancestor to select public programs and community activities, where they will have the opportunity to create a contemporary portrait that connects their family’s history with the present day. The resulting images will celebrate the enduring links between generations while encouraging participants to reflect on the importance of preserving their own family histories.

“Our archives exist because previous generations chose to save photographs, documents and memories,” said executive director Eli Klasner. “This project encourages people to think about the stories in their own families and the role each of us can play in preserving them.”

photo - Jewish young adults on outing at Capilano River, circa 1917. Back: Myer Franks, left, and Birdie Grossman. Middle, from left: Rose Myers, Essie Raphael, Rose Izen, Leah Franks and Birdie Izen. Front, from left: Sara Jocoby, Etta Koenigsberg, Dick Jacoby and Sadie Jacobs — Jewish young adults on outing at Capilano River, circa 1917. Back: Myer Franks, left, and Birdie Grossman. Middle, from left: Rose Myers, Essie Raphael, Rose Izen, Leah Franks and Birdie Izen. Front, from left: Sara Jocoby, Etta Koenigsberg, Dick Jacoby and Sadie Jacobs. *(photo from JMABC L.00020)*

The campaign complements JMABC’s expanding public programming, including initiatives that will be gradually delivered throughout the province this year.

“Every photograph, every oral history and every archival collection tells part of a much larger story,” said Klasner. “By preserving those stories today, we help future generations better understand the people and communities that built Jewish life in British Columbia.”

To learn more about the campaign, explore JMABC’s online exhibitions or support the preservation of British Columbia’s Jewish heritage, visit jewishmuseum.ca.

– Courtesy Jewish Museum & Archives of British Columbia

Group buying platform wins

The Ben-Gurion University student team of BeeShop receives the top prize from Dana Gavish, left, and Gadi Bahat, right. (photo from BGU)

Palpably exuberant crowds, both in person in Be’er Sheva and virtually, assembled on June 24 to watch and vote in Leaders’ Spark Night, a live-pitch session featuring six student teams from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Yazamut 360° entrepreneur program. The teams presented startup venture concepts they had been developing throughout the year.

Originally planned as a live RBC Lions’ Den competition in Vancouver in April, travel disruptions in Israel led to the postponement of the event. In the interim, the students continued building, and last month’s Leaders’ Spark Night showcased the culmination of their work.

Dana Gavish, founder of Yazamut 360°, began the event by offering thanks to the Friends of BGU organizations in the diaspora, making special mention of those in New York, Boston and Vancouver for “pushing the program forward.”

“The past year was extremely challenging for all of us, and especially for our dear students. Yet, even after all the uncertainty that we experienced, here we are today showing you their amazing and incredible work,” Gavish said.

“As the world is transformed by AI, big data and automation, the pace of change often exceeds our ability to predict it. In this reality, the most valuable skill is the ability to adapt. This is exactly what we try to instil in our students – the confidence to navigate uncertainty, embrace it and lead it.”

Before introducing the teams, Gadi Bahat, head of academic programs at Yazamut, said, while the program fosters the development of ideas into fruition, its objective is also to promote leadership, to get students through difficult situations, such as standing on a stage or hearing the word “no” when pitching their ventures.

Each student group had five minutes to pitch their concept. Industry experts from North America then asked questions. Afterwards, audiences in Israel and abroad scanned a code to vote. The three teams with the most votes won cash prizes to help them continue to develop their startups.

The pitches reflected the times, with an emphasis on computer and cellphone applications, as well as harnessing the positive potential of artificial intelligence.

DEXO, an online platform that connects customers and skilled designers to create precisely customized products, led off the proceedings. According to the student entrepreneurs, the venture has already launched in the United States, aims to complete 100,000 projects in 2028 and expand to other countries.

NightLine, a tele-health service linking new mothers with professional consultants for personalized, accessible and immediate parenting support, followed. The group, which will use AI to triage urgency, addressed the universal need for postpartum care and the market it represents.

In the third slot was BuilDEER, whose goal is to change the construction industry through an AI plugin that analyzes design codes and past solutions to generate the engineering fix that is compliant with building regulations, thereby reducing delays and costs.

Heedly, a service that prevents phone scams in real time – before damage is done – came next. Such scams are a problem worldwide, with elderly people most likely to fall victim. Heedly representatives said their fraud detection alerts the victim, a trusted family member and the financial institution when a scam call is taking place.

BeeShop, a group buying platform that hopes to leverage shared demand to lower prices, was the fifth to pitch. The concept behind the venture is that the more people who want a particular product and shop in bulk will force a supplier to reduce the cost of an item, whereas a single shopper is forced to pay a higher markup.

CourtX concluded the pitches. The startup focuses on sports, particularly basketball. Their service analyzes data in real time – i.e., during a game and using AI – to help coaches make quicker decisions than pen and paper allow. Capitalizing on basketball’s popularity internationally, the group plans to market its product in Europe initially and later in North America. They also intend to branch out into other sports.

The atmosphere online and in the Negev turned electric after the pitches wrapped up and voting began on the question: Which venture would you invest in? A screen appeared with the logos of all six teams, and the attendees could watch the results as the votes were tallied.

In the end, BeeShop was the convincing winner with BuilDEER in second and CourtX a close third. The three top finishers received cheques to invest in their ventures.

The three Vancouver industry experts who were slated for the April competition took part virtually, asking questions of the teams. They were Wendi Campbell, president and chief executive officer of Junior Achievement of British Columbia; Ryan Benn, CEO of Alive Publishing Group Inc.; and Shuli Gortler, CEO of SimplyAsk and a BGU alumnus.

Since its establishment in 2018, Yazamut – which means entrepreneurship in Hebrew – has seen more than 240 startups and ventures, with more than 2,000 program participants, 11,000-plus members of its entrepreneurial community, and more than $45 million in funds invested in its companies.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Community milestones … July 2026

On June 26, Governor General of Canada Louise Arbour announced the latest appointments to the Order of Canada, which recognizes people across all sectors of society who have made extraordinary and sustained contributions to the country. Among the recipients were two members of the Vancouver Jewish community: Dr. Trevor Hurwitz and Lorne Segal.

photo - Dr. Trevor Hurwitz — Dr. Trevor Hurwitz *(photo from UBC)*

Hurwitz, a University of British Columbia faculty of medicine clinical professor, was appointed for his contributions to complex brain disorder treatments. Considered the founder of neuropsychiatry in British Columbia, he created the province’s first programs in the discipline, which remain at the forefront nationwide. He is also a patient advocate and advisor on medico-legal and ethical issues in psychiatry.

photo - Lorne Segal — Lorne Segal *(photo from Coast Mental Health)*

Segal, president of Kingswood Properties Ltd., was recognized for his decades of leadership in real estate development, as well as his enduring commitment to philanthropy, mental health advocacy, youth empowerment and community service.

As chair of the Coast Mental Health Courage to Come Back Awards for 21 years, Segal has been instrumental in shaping the event into British Columbia’s premier mental health campaign, increasing awareness of the need for more mental health support and raising millions for the cause. Through his involvement, the inspiring recipient stories have reached thousands of people, reminding us all that setbacks do not define us and that courage can transform lives.

For years, Segal has championed the belief that mental health deserves the same attention, understanding and care as physical health. His leadership has helped reduce stigma, open important conversations and create opportunities for people to seek support when they need it most.

* * *

photo - Hannah Marazzi — Hannah Marazzi *(photo from VHEC)*

Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre executive director Hannah Marazzi has been appointed to the international steering board of the newly established Hilda Dajč International Digital Holocaust Memory Award.

Launched through a partnership between Terraforming, a Serbian organization dedicated to Holocaust education and remembrance, and the Landecker Digital Memory Lab at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, the award recognizes excellence, ethical integrity and innovation in the digital memorialization of the Holocaust.

The award honours Hilda Dajč, a Jewish architecture student and volunteer nurse who was murdered in 1942 at the Judenlager Semlin (Staro Sajmište) camp in Belgrade, Serbia. Her four letters from the camp are among the most moving and important testimonies of the Holocaust.

The Hilda Dajč International Digital Holocaust Memory Award was created in response to growing concerns about Holocaust distortion and misinformation in digital spaces, as well as the need to strengthen democratic values through education and remembrance. The award seeks to elevate the relevance of Holocaust memory for younger generations, drive innovation in digital remembrance, establish international standards for digital Holocaust education and foster shared responsibility in countering antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

Projects will be evaluated on criteria including technological sophistication and creativity, pedagogical impact and youth engagement, collaborative digital ecosystems and the amplification of marginalized and overlooked Holocaust histories.

Marazzi joins a board composed of experts from institutions including Arolsen Archives (Germany), the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum (Israel), the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Jewish Heritage Network and European Memory Data Space (Netherlands), iRights.Lab (Germany), the Memorial Centre Staro Sajmište (Serbia) and the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University.

* * *

photo - Sarah Mali of JFC-UIA Canada in Israel, left, and Rachel Sachs of the Jewish Federation of BC’s Israel office — Sarah Mali of JFC-UIA Canada in Israel, left, and Rachel Sachs of the Jewish Federation of BC’s Israel office. *(photo from JFBC)*

This month, Jewish Federation of British Columbia received the 2026 Tel-Hai Dignitary Award, recognizing the longstanding partnership between our community and the Galilee.

Rachel Sachs, executive director of the Israel office, accepted the award on behalf of the BC community. Alongside Federation, the award was also presented to Prof. Mooli Lahad for his lifelong contributions to trauma and resilience, and Prof. Ran Ziv, whose leadership has helped bring technology companies and employment opportunities to northern Israel.

The award reflects the deep relationship our community has built with Tel-Hai and the Galilee over many years. Federation is grateful to Sachs and Adi Kaye of the Israel office for their leadership, the relationships they have built and their on-the-ground presence.

* * *

photo - Katrina Hermann — Katrina Hermann *(photo from VHEC)*

In June, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre’s new research and program assistant, Katrina Hermann, presented on the centre’s symposium on the Holocaust – now in its 50th year – at the Association of Canadian Jewish Studies annual conference at York University, Toronto. Through analyzing the early years of the symposium, Hermann demonstrated the important pedagogical innovations of Vancouver’s survivor and educator communities, contributions rarely discussed in academia. She was awarded the Marcia Koven Award for best student paper for her presentation.

* * *

Each year, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre presents the Meyer & Gita Kron & Ruth Kron Sigal Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education to teachers in British Columbia who have demonstrated excellence and sustained commitment to teaching students about the Holocaust. The award was established in memory of the Kron family, Lithuanian Jewish survivors of the Holocaust who reestablished their lives in Vancouver. Through their lifelong involvement in education and community, the family touched the lives of thousands of students.

The VHEC received a record number of applications and nominations for this year’s award, reflecting both a renewed commitment to Holocaust education in the province and a recognition of the important role it plays in helping students understand the challenges facing democratic societies today. The applications were of exceptional quality, and the centre commends the dedication and skill of all those who applied.

This year’s award recipients are Ryan Holly and Hofit Sabi.

photo - Ryan Holly — Ryan Holly *(photo from VHEC)*

Holly, an educator at Kelowna Secondary School, enables students to understand the Holocaust not only as history, but as an event with contemporary resonances. He confronts a dearth of education about antisemitism in public school with lesson plans inviting students to analyze the continuity and change of historical antisemitism, as well as an in-depth case study of antisemitic propaganda during the Holocaust. His emphasis on evidence-based learning encourages student engagement with primary sources, particularly survivor testimony. Holly has been involved in professional development activities, attending annual conferences and seeking out self-directed opportunities globally. Students and colleagues alike commend his compassion, care and dedication as he handles this difficult subject with nuance and engagement.

photo - Hofit Sabi — Hofit Sabi *(photo from VHEC)*

Sabi, a Grade 6 educator at Vancouver Talmud Torah, is recognized for her ability to translate the complexities of Holocaust history into age-appropriate, inquiry-based learning for younger students. Her pedagogical approach is distinguished by its global scope, particularly her development of a pioneering mini-unit on the often-overlooked experiences of Jewish communities in North Africa to challenge single stories of Jewish identity and show how international political dynamics like colonialism and fascism intersected during the war. Sabi’s curriculum prioritizes evidence-based experiential learning, and she empowers students to become informed, compassionate civic stewards.

An honourable mention goes to Diana Weld of Quw’utsun Secondary School in North Cowichan for her leadership in modernizing Holocaust education within her department and her commitment to school-wide professional development. Weld developed a comprehensive Humanities 10 unit from the ground up. Her curriculum bridges historical context with modern media, using survivor memoir, film and literature to help students navigate complex ethical issues like indoctrination, blind loyalty, complicity and indifference.

The first Jew buried in BC

Cayoosh Flat (now called Lillooet), in 1865. Cayoosh Flat (now called Lillooet), in 1865. (image from JGSBC)

In the Jewish Cemetery in Victoria, there is a small concrete slab on which is inscribed: “In memory of Morris Price. Killed at Cayoosh B.C. Buried May 6 1861. First interment in this cemetery.” Cayoosh, today the town of Lillooet, was, in 1861, a cluster of about 30 buildings with a reported population of 190 people, most non-British. It lay at the end of a difficult trail from the Fraser River via Harrison Lake and Penticton through a series of lakes and portages.

The murder of Morris Price took place on the night of Feb. 1. His body was discovered in his store the next morning with “his throat cut from ear to ear … his nose broken and his buttocks mutilated … numerous stab wounds in other parts of the body amounting to 25 in all,” according to the British Colonist correspondent. The correspondent further wrote: “He was interred today [Feb. 3] by his fellow Masons with every mark of respect and deep-felt sorrow.”

The perpetrators were quickly identified as three members of the Shuswap First Nation from the Big Bar area, north of Lillooet. On April 12, Justice Matthew Begbie held a trial of the three and found them guilty. Two, who took part in the murder, were sentenced to death, while a third, who had stood watch, was sentenced to a year’s hard labour.

Although Price’s body had been buried in Cayoosh, this proved a temporary arrangement, as Masons in Victoria raised money to transfer his body to Victoria. The funeral took place on May 6 with “Masonic honors and Jewish rites” and with many participants “who had long known and deeply respected their deceased brother.”

image - Morris Price’s grave marker in the Jewish Cemetery in Victoria — Morris Price’s grave marker in the Jewish Cemetery in Victoria. (image from JGSBC)

The cemetery records state that Price was born in Kepten, Germany, although no town of that name has ever existed. On Nov. 1, Jacob St. Losky of Victoria, Vancouver Island, was granted probate for Price’s estate, as he was “the natural and lawful Brother and next of kin” of the deceased.

In late 2024, Martin Friedland, emeritus professor of law at the University of Toronto, who was studying the criminal case that resulted from the murder, approached the Jewish Genealogical Society of British Columbia (JGSBC) and asked: “Who were Morris Price and Jacob St. Losky?” What follows are the answers to that question.

Other than the probate records, there was no mention of Jacob St. Losky in any of the local newspapers or records. The estate administration files that usually accompany the probate are not in the BC Archives, so the estate’s net worth or how St. Losky disposed of its contents aree unknown. Further searches for St. Losky revealed two UK records: In 1847, he was trading as a cigar manufacturer and importer in Bishopsgate in London and, in 1858, he arrived at the Port of London from Amsterdam.

The name St. Losky was exceedingly rare and only one other UK family had it. Samuel and Hanna St. Losky, who had married in December 1848, were Orthodox Jews in the upper echelons of British society. There was no mention of Samuel St. Losky in any records before the marriage, but, in the early 1850s, he formed a cigar manufacturer and importer in London named Levy Brothers & St. Losky, which also traded as St. Losky, Levy & Co. in San Francisco. This branch of the firm was wildly successful and remitted tens of thousands of dollars of specie to London.

Further searching revealed that Samuel St. Losky’s father was Hirschel Schenkolowsky of Kempen in Posen, Prussia. “St. Losky” was clearly a made-up name created to ease their way in British society. Was the same true of Jacob? Indeed, it was – Jacob Szenkolowski, an American citizen, born in Kempen, arrived at the Port of London on Sept. 27, 1844, after which he seems to have adopted the St. Losky pseudonym. He became a UK citizen in 1847, which meant that he would automatically have been a citizen of any of the UK colonies, including Vancouver Island. Jacob later became an agent for Levy Brothers in 1859 and 1860. The last listing before his appearance in Victoria is a record of “Jacob St. Losky of New York” buying $11,000 of US government debt.

Searching the records found no entries for either Samuel or Morris Szenkolowski (variant spellings included). The breakthrough came when a JGSBC member discovered a newspaper listing acts passed in the Mississippi legislature in January 1846. One line read: “To change the name of Morris Shenkloski into that of Morris Price” – providing the key to understanding the family’s history.

The first record of Morris is dated 1840, when he, under the name Shenkloski, applied to become an American citizen in the state of New York. He had arrived in America five years earlier and, at the time of his naturalization, was 23, having been born circa 1817. Samuel, who also used the name variant Shenkloski, signed the naturalization document as well.

The name Morris was also a pseudonym. Kempen Jewish community records before 1825 do not exist; Morris was almost certainly named Moses at his bris, and is likely to have used the secular name Moritz, as was common in Prussia at the time. From other sources, it is clear that Morris, Samuel and Jacob were sons of merchant Hirsch Szenkolowski and his wife Jette Jereslaw.

Samuel Shenkloski became a US citizen in September 1843, aged 32, and obtained a passport in August 1845, while Jacob Szenkolowski, aged 30, became a US citizen in July 1843 and applied for a passport the same day. There is no evidence that Morris ever obtained a passport.

Morris and Samuel were shopkeepers in New York. A city directory from 1840/41 lists “Shenkloski S. & M. drygoods, 30 Maiden-Lane.” The store does not appear in any subsequent directory, suggesting it was short-lived, a characteristic of many subsequent stores that Morris was involved with.

After his sojourn in New York, Morris Shenkloski next appears in a newspaper listing of peddlers licensed to operate in Georgia from April 1841 to April 1842. This listing also gives some details of Morris’s physical features. The record shows that he was relatively short, 5’ 4 3/4”, with black eyes, black hair and a dark complexion. His two brothers’ passports show that they had similar features. Samuel was an inch taller and Jacob the same height; both had dark hair and complexions, and hazel rather than black eyes.

Over the next few years, Morris opened a number of short-lived stores in the southern United States. Adverts appear in Savannah, Ga. (November 1842), Columbus, Ga. (June 1843), Little Rock, Ark. (March 1845) and Van Buren, Ark. (April 1845). All were signed “M. Shenkloski” and offered dry goods, jewelry and sometimes cutlery, “all at the lowest prices.”

The next reference to Morris is as Price at Fort Smith, Ark., a few miles west of Van Buren. Fort Smith was on the border with Indian territory (present-day Oklahoma) and the majority of trade was with the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations.

The California Gold Rush of 1849 induced Morris to move on. He is listed in the state census of 1852 as “M. Price,” a merchant, aged 35 (born ca. 1817), an American citizen, born in Prussia, whose last domicile was Arkansas, living in the mining camp of Shasta, Calif. In the same census, his brother, Samuel St. Losky, was enumerated in San Francisco.

image - The notice of Morris Price’s death, 1861 — The notice of Morris Price’s death, 1861. (image from JGSBC)

In 1854, Morris was in the small town of Nevada, Calif. “M. Price” had a store selling cigars obtained from St. Losky & Co., San Francisco. The two brothers were collaborating again, as they had in New York 14 years earlier.

The last California reference is an 1856 newspaper listing of letters that had arrived at the post office of Georgetown – one was addressed to Morris Price. Georgetown is where the richest veins of gold were found, but it is unknown whether Morris ever set up a store there.

When gold was found in the Fraser Valley, Morris was part of the flood of Americans who arrived in Victoria, most traveling from or via San Francisco. From newspaper reports after his death, it seems likely that he arrived in Victoria in late 1858, where he established himself. In early 1860, he moved to Cayoosh, where he set up his store and remained until his death. While many Americans returned from the gold fields disappointed, Morris seemed to have set down roots by buying land in both Victoria and New Westminster. Moses Szenkolowski, known as Morris Price, died at age 43, a well-liked and highly respected member of BC pioneer society.

There are no records or newspaper entries about Jacob St. Losky/Szenkowloski after the probate was issued in 1861 and what happened to him remains a mystery.

Samuel St. Losky outlived his brother by only a few years – he died in London from kidney disease in 1864, aged 52. JGSBC was able to find one of Samuel’s great-great-great-grandchildren in the United Kingdom to share these findings about his family.

This is an abridged version of the story and the research that uncovered it. Readers interested in the full details, and who would like to see pictures of the original documents, can visit the Presentations section of the JGSBC’s website, jgsbc.ca.

David Scriven is a long-time member of the Jewish Genealogical Society of British Columbia and sits on its board.

SFU honours Gloria Gutman

Laurel Weldon, dean of Simon Fraser University’s faculty of arts and social sciences, and Dr. Gloria Gutman at the April 22 reception celebrating the naming of the university’s Gerontology Research Centre in honour of Gutman’s service and lasting impact. The event was held at SFU Harbour Centre. (photo from SFU)

Simon Fraser University has honoured Dr. Gloria Gutman, a pioneer in the field of aging, by naming the Gerontology Research Centre, which she founded, after her. They have also bestowed upon her an honorary doctor of laws.

This is not the first recognition of Gutman’s work in her areas of research, which include, but are not limited to, seniors housing, health promotion, elder abuse, LGBTQ+ aging, age-friendly hospitals and communities, and advance care planning. She has been awarded the Order of British Columbia and a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and been appointed to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.

“I really feel grateful for the opportunities that SFU gave me, and the honorary degree in particular – universities very seldom honour their own,” she told the Independent in a recent interview. “Usually, if you look at who are the recipients of honorary degrees, it’s people from elsewhere.”

Almost as a proof of point, Gutman received an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Ontario in 2010 for her work “as an international authority in the field of gerontology.”

Part of the appreciation for such awards is that they highlight her field, said Gutman. “That’s the important thing for me, that it puts the word gerontology, or aging, or the concepts that I’ve worked on, or areas that I’ve tried to work on, brings them forward, gives them visibility. So, the honours are really a way of continuing to promote the organizations, the academic units, that I work for.”

Laurel Weldon, the dean of SFU’s faculty of arts and social sciences, which includes the gerontology department, has known Gutman for a few years. “But,” Weldon told the JI, “I first heard her on the radio being interviewed about Martha Stewart’s cover for Sports Illustrated!”

In 2023, Stewart became the oldest model to be featured on the magazine’s cover. In her convocation address last month, Gutman expressed the goal of a future of “aging without ageism,” which “involves making assumptions about a person’s abilities, values or role in society based solely on age rather than their individual characteristics.”

While their research areas overlap, including on gender and age discrimination, Weldon said, “the real way I’ve got to know Gloria has been as dean of the faculty in which she is a very active retired faculty member, applying for grants, running conferences, giving me her input and background on the department of gerontology and the Gerontology Research Centre.”

By the time the JI reached Gutman for a 10 a.m. Zoom interview on June 18, she had already been a panelist in an international webinar on witchcraft (in the larger context of financial abuse of the elderly) and attended a webinar on the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. It was a typical start to the day for Gutman, who was heading to a FIFA watch party in the afternoon.

“I’m essentially a curious person, and I attend a lot of different webinars, some where I know nothing about the topic, mainly because I want to learn,” she said.

In her convocation address, Gutman talked about “not being afraid to undertake work in an area or sub-area that is unfamiliar. In my case, it was being invited to lead a research project on seniors’ housing. When offered that job,” she recalled, “I blurted out, ‘But I don’t know anything about seniors’ housing.’ I was told, ‘You have 90 days to learn.’ I read everything I could lay my hands on and became a 90-day expert.”

After having been invited to the FIFA watch party, Gutman told the JI she used AI to learn all the fundamentals of soccer and how the World Cup worked – she became “a three-day expert,” she said.

In her knowledge on aging, however, Gutman is a decades-long expert, though she attributes her career choice to happenstance.

“It was serendipitous,” she said of becoming a gerontologist.

Gutman lived in Calgary for some of her childhood – though she was born in Seattle – and her late husband, Gary, was from the city. Because of these connections, she did part of her post-secondary schooling there, at the University of Alberta’s satellite campus (which became the University of Calgary in 1966).

Gutman, who had majored in English and psychology at the University of British Columbia, said she went to the U of A English department and was told, basically, “Why don’t you go home and have a baby?” (She and her husband would have three children.) Her experience with the psychology department went differently.

Faculty member Dr. A.E. David Schonfield, a pioneering figure in gerontology and the psychology of aging, suggested Gutman do a master’s in the field – and she did.

After about five years in Calgary, the Gutmans moved back to Vancouver. Her husband continued to build his practice as an accountant and Gutman started her PhD at UBC. “At that time, nobody was doing aging, so I had to do it in social and developmental psychology,” which then covered ages 0 to 14, she said.

After finishing her PhD in 1971, Gutman taught Psych 100 for 10 years at UBC. She developed the first psychology of aging course ever to be taught in the province. She was a part-time assistant professor when she asked her dean for a full-time position. He refused, describing the study of aging as a “flash-in-the-pan phenomena.”

“The next day, I called out to SFU, made an appointment with Jack Blaney, who, at the time, was the dean of continuing education, and I went to see him,” said Gutman. “I was called the coordinator of programs in aging, but my first job was to create a program to coordinate.”

photo - Dr. Gloria Gutman with Dr. Jack Blaney at the April 22 reception at SFU Harbour Centre. Blaney hired Gutman when he was dean of continuing studies at Simon Fraser University — Dr. Gloria Gutman with Dr. Jack Blaney at the April 22 reception at SFU Harbour Centre. Blaney hired Gutman when he was dean of continuing studies at Simon Fraser University. *(photo from SFU)*

While still at UBC, Gutman had written a proposal for the development of a research centre on aging in response to a call for proposals from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The competition was delayed, and there was a second call for proposals when she was at SFU, so she wrote one – the Gerontology Research Centre at SFU was established in 1982.

Gutman also wanted to create a gerontology department, and she did. It began as a post-baccalaureate diploma, grew to a master’s program, followed by the addition of a minor and a PhD.

“I would define myself as an academic entrepreneur,” Gutman told the JI. “The people that have developed research centres, or who have developed a teaching program, tend to have similar kinds of characteristics and part of it is curiosity. And the other is identifying a gap and leaping in.”

And yet another, she identified in her convocation address, is: “You can’t be a one-person show if what you develop is to be sustainable. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team to develop successful academic and research units.”

Despite all her successes, Gutman had to retire after she turned 65, as mandatory retirement was a widespread policy in that era. She was director of the GRC and the department of gerontology until 2005.

“The way the Gerontology Research Centre is structured is that it has a director and it has research associates, so I stepped down as director, but could still be a research associate of the centre,” she explained. “And, having been a full professor in the department, could be a professor emeritus…. But I never used the term for the first 10 years after age 65, because people roll their eyes sometimes when they see it. They figure you’re passé.”

When Gutman wrote the proposals for the research centre, she identified three areas in which it would specialize.

“The first one was housing for the elderly, which is what I had started and where I became the expert at UBC,” she said. “The second one, I looked around the campus, [and asked] who’s doing what? And there was a professor in the criminology department who was interested in crime and victimization of the elderly … and the third one, there was a professor in sociology who was interested in changing demography and lifestyles.

“We started out with those three and, gradually, then I added health and aging when I realized I was a health promoter,” said Gutman. “And, subsequently, I got interested in technology, so we added a fifth theme to the research centre, which was gerontechnology.”

Currently, Gutman – who has held many high-profile roles in national and international associations – is the vice-president of the International Society for Gerontechnology, is on International Longevity Centre-Canada advisory committees and is a member of the Research Management Committee of the Canadian Frailty Network. She has a long list of monographs, articles and books.

“What I said in my convocation address,” she said, “is there are the people that retire and are happy to sit in their rocking chair; the people who unretire themselves and go back to work, but in something different; and then there’s the never-retires.”

She’s in that last category. “It’s still interesting,” she says of her work, “and these issues come up, new issues, every day.”

That said, she makes sure she leaves the house every day. Up at 6 a.m., she usually shuts off the computer by 3 p.m. and goes out to do her 6,000 steps. She watches TV in the evenings. Her six grandchildren, ranging in age from single digit to university-age, don’t live in the city, “so I don’t have access to grandkids here,” she said.

In the Jewish community, Gutman (née Chertkow) was on the original advisory committee to develop the L’Chaim Adult Day Centre. She noted that Leah Deslauriers, who heads the program, is an SFU gerontology grad.

Gutman’s father attended L’Chaim, which brought Gutman back onto the board. “And,” she said, “when my husband [was] in his last years, that was a lifeline for me, as I cared for him at home in his last six months. It was one of the few places that I felt it was safe to leave him…. It gave me respite.”

She also has been on the board of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, consulted with JQT (Jewish Queer Trans) Vancouver and other organizations. Notably, B’nai B’rith was a family endeavour of sorts.

Weldon, the SFU dean, describes Gutman as “an impressive, energetic, brilliant person. She is great at identifying important research topics and themes and has incredible persistence.”

“I am so happy that SFU was able to recognize and elevate Gloria Gutman in this way,” said Weldon. “It is so well deserved and, in this day and age, it’s wonderful to see someone who has worked hard, been a conscientious contributor and mentor, and who has done so much for her students, colleagues, the university, discipline and community, be recognized.”