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Waters’ Vancouver talk

Martha Roth, left, and Itrath Syed. (photo by Matthew Gindin)

“I don’t get why people cannot look straight at what’s happening in the occupied territories and see it for what it is,” Roger Waters said to a full house at St. Andrew’s-Wesley Church on Oct. 26. “There’s a word for what is happening there: ethnic cleansing.”

The event took place a few days before the end of Waters’ cross-Canada Us and Them Tour, the final leg of a North American tour that kicked off almost a year ago. The primary songwriter behind Pink Floyd albums like The Wall and Dark Side of the Moon was invited to speak by Independent Jewish Voices (IJV). Among talk sponsors were IJV, CanPalNet, Seriously Free Speech, Not in Our Name, and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights. Waters was interviewed by Martha Roth, co-chair of IJV Canada, and Itrath Syed, a professor at Langara College.

Many in the Jewish community were opposed to his speaking, accusing Waters of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias. B’nai Brith Canada made a documentary called Wish You Weren’t Here and followed him around Canada showing it in conjunction with his concerts. A week before the talk, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs sent out a mailing identifying Waters as “the rock musician obsessed with boycotting Israelis” who has become “the face of the hateful BDS movement.” An online petition called for the talk to be canceled.

At the church, Waters said his genesis as a BDS (boycott, divest from and sanction Israel) activist happened after a 2006 trip to Israel. “I was going to do a gig in Tel Aviv,” he said, “and I started to get emails from Palestinians and others who said that might not be such a good idea due to this very new movement started by Palestinian civil society called BDS, and they tried to prevail on me to cancel the gig. As an act of compromise, I moved the show to Neve Shalom, where they grow chickpeas and there are Jewish people living there, Arabs living there and Christians living there. All of their children go to school together, so it’s a lovely experiment in what can happen when people don’t fixate on all the things that we disapprove of in each other.”

photo - A small group of protesters met across the street from the church, draped in Israeli flags and carrying signs — A small group of protesters met across the street from the church, draped in Israeli flags and carrying signs. *(photo by Matthew Gindin)*

Waters returned the next year for a tour of the territories with UNRWA and became a convert to BDS. “Since then, I’ve tried to open my big mouth as often as I can,” he said. “It’s been a long, quite trying, difficult road, not nearly as hard and trying, obviously, as living under occupation. The blackening of my name is just one more way of obscuring the truth. They want to stop the public discourse where people tell the truth about what happened in ’47-’48, what happened in ’67, in ’73, what’s happening now.”

Waters praised young Jews opposing the occupation. He said, “If you look at polls now, you find that younger Jewish people are no longer looking at the situation and not seeing anything. They’re saying, ‘This is not what Judaism is about, this does not represent the way I feel, it goes against everything I believe in with my heart. I am a human being, I am humane, and I do not want my people or anyone who pretends to represent me to behave like this. It’s happening, and it lightens my heart every time I hear someone speak out. It’s great.”

Waters also discussed his communist mother’s tutelage of him as a social justice activist, his opposition to the Trump administration, capitalism and militarism, and the inspiration behind songs on his recent album Is This the Life We Really Want?

A small group of protesters met across the street from the church, draped in Israeli flags. One entered the talk and unfurled a banner reading, “Boycotts Don’t Scare Us – Am Yisrael Chai,” before being peacefully removed. A college-age Israeli protester held a sign saying, “Israeli Lives Matter” and told the Independent that what was going on inside was “just like Nazi Germany.”

IJV sent someone out to invite the protesters in afterward for dialogue. While they declined, one Jewish protester exchanged phone numbers with a Palestinian from Gaza who had approached the group, agreeing to meet later and talk.

Matthew Gindin is a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He writes regularly for the Forward and All That Is Interesting, and has been published in Religion Dispatches, Situate Magazine, Tikkun and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.

The challah represents unity

Photos from the Vancouver Shabbos Project event Oct. 26. (photo by Lior Noyman)

photo - Participants collect their supplies — Participants collect their supplies. *(photo by Lior Noyman)*

On the night of Oct. 26, hundreds of Jewish community members came together at Vancouver Talmud Torah to bake challah and socialize in a welcoming atmosphere. The event was part of the Shabbos Project, a worldwide movement where Jews across the globe celebrates a Shabbat together.

Why challah for Shabbat?

Most challot are braided with either three or six strands of dough. In kabbalah, when we talk about the mundane and physical world with its limitations, we consider the (three) aspects of time, space and matter, and the six days of creation and the six directions in our three-dimensional world (north, south, west, east, up and down).

Throughout the week, we work to master our environment. We struggle with time – when is there ever enough? We are limited by space, and we attempt to control matter. We are preoccupied with succeeding in and dominating our physical world.

photo - The challah braid represents the unity of everything — The challah braid represents the unity of everything. *(photo by Lior Noyman)*

Shabbat arrives and it supersedes and gives meaning to all we do during the week. It brings us back to focus. Shabbat represents the soul and our inner self. It represents the G-dly, the infinite and the spiritual energy beyond the physical dimensions.

The challah braid represents the unity of everything. It ties all the physical properties of our lives to the divine.

Similarly, Shabbat uplifts time, space and matter and all the dimensions of the physical world. It brings everything and everyone together, reminding us of unity, peace and the purpose of creation.

Rabbi Shmulik Yeshayahu is director of the Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel.

Flowers for fundraising

Global TV was at Richmond Jewish Day School last week to recognize the efforts of Grade 6 and 7 students who are selling flowers to fundraise for the Variety Club, Richmond Animal Protection Society and the Jewish Food Bank. To date, the students have raised $2,000 for these charities. Pictured, left to right, are Rachel Marliss, Shai Rubin and Nathan Brown. (photo by Lauren Kramer)

Or Shalom’s new cemetery

Or Shalom Rabbi Hannah Dresner, reciting psalms, leads the congregation around the Or Shalom cemetery perimeter. (photo by Robert Albanese)

Or Shalom Synagogue celebrated a major milestone on Oct. 15 with the dedication of its new cemetery.

In March, after four years of discussions with the City of Vancouver, the synagogue signed an agreement for a small area within Mountain View Cemetery (MVC). The area runs along the west side of Fraser Street extending south from 33rd Avenue.

Rabbi Hannah Dresner noted that the dedication helped “connect our bayit (our home in life) to our beit kavurot (our home in death).”

The ceremony, attended by more than 50 people (and a few dogs), began with a service at the synagogue, followed by a walk along Fraser to MVC. After reciting psalms while circling around the Or Shalom cemetery perimeter seven times to consecrate the area, participants proceeded to a reception at the MVC Celebration Hall.

Or Shalom is affiliated with Aleph, the Jewish Renewal movement, whose core values support efforts to explore and redefine Jewish traditions in ways that are egalitarian and inclusive. Accordingly, the cemetery offers a choice of all-Jewish and interfaith sections, a green section and double burials.

The area contains 64 lots (burial sites). However, Jewish custom allows multiple burials in one grave in locations where land is scarce, such as Jerusalem and Vancouver. Many older Jewish cemeteries in eastern Europe followed this practice. The Or Shalom section permits two people, related or not, to share a lot. Due to the small size of the cemetery, purchases are limited to individuals who have been Or Shalom members for at least five years.

Lots are purchased directly from MVC, which is owned and managed by the City of Vancouver. MVC manager Glen Hodges supported the project from the beginning and Or Shalom member Catherine Berris, a landscape architect with Urban Systems, helped with design.

Referring to Abraham’s purchase of a cave at Machpelah to bury his wife Sarah (Bereishit/Genesis 23) as the “first Jewish cemetery,” Dresner said, “It is beautiful to be buried in community, and this is what we will now be able to provide for one another at Mountain View: community in death.”

Dodie Katzenstein is a member of Or Shalom and a founding member of the cemetery planning committee.

Looking for nominees … the nominated and the winners

The Centre for Judaism of the Lower Fraser Valley is looking for nominations for its annual Lamplighter Award, which honours a young person who has performed an outstanding act of community service.

Candidates must be between the ages of 6 and 18 and submission of potential recipients must include two references describing the child’s community service. The chosen lamplighter will receive the award during Chanukah at an evening ceremony at Semiahmoo Shopping Centre.

“Chanukah celebrates the victory of light over darkness and goodness over evil,” said Simie Schtroks. “This is a most appropriate opportunity to motivate and inspire young people to make this world a brighter and better place. By filling the world with goodness and kindness, that light can dispel all sorts of darkness.”

To nominate a candidate for the award, contact Schtroks as soon as possible at [email protected].

* * *

This summer, David Granirer received a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada. The award recognizes a deed or activity that has been performed in a highly professional manner, or according to a very high standard: often innovative, this deed or activity sets an example for others to follow, improves the quality of life of a community and brings benefit or honour to Canada.

Granirer is a counselor, stand-up comic and mental health keynote speaker. Granirer, who himself has depression, has taught stand-up comedy to recovering addicts and cancer patients, and founded Stand Up for Mental Health, a program teaching comedy to people with mental health issues, in 2004. He has trained Stand Up for Mental Health groups in partnership with various mental health organizations in more than 50 cities in Canada, the United States and Australia. His work on mental health is featured by media worldwide and has garnered several awards.

Granirer also teaches Stand-Up Comedy Clinic at Langara College, and many of his students have gone on to become professional comics.

* * *

This year’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Community Engaged Arts went to Earle Peach. A singer, songwriter, composer, conductor, arranger, teacher and performer, Peach leads four choirs in the city and hosts a monthly community coffee house in Mount Pleasant. He teaches privately, and records musicians for demos and albums. He performs with Barbara Jackson as a duo called Songtree and also has a band called Illiteratty.

The emerging artist honour went to Ariel Martz-Oberlander, a theatre artist, writer and teacher. As a Jewish settler on Coast Salish territories with diasporic and refugee ancestry, her practice is rooted in a commitment to place-based accountability through decolonizing and solidarity work. She divides her time between theatre and community organizing, and specializing in creative protest tactics on land and water.

Martz-Oberlander is a facilitator with the True Voice Theatre Project, producing new shows by residents of the Downtown Eastside and vulnerably housed youth, in collaboration with the Gathering Place and Covenant House. Her most recent work, created with support from the LEAP program, won a research and development prize from the Arts Club. Martz-Oberlander is also the associate producer for Vines Festival, presenting accessible, free eco-art in Vancouver parks. Good art is accountable to the community, raises up voices rarely heard and is vital to repairing our world.

* * *

On Oct. 3, the Koffler Centre of the Arts announced the four winners of the 2017 Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature, all of whom were on hand at the award luncheon at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Toronto.

Winners in two of the categories are based in Vancouver. Miriam Libicki won the non-fiction award for Toward a Hot Jew (Fantagraphics Books Inc.), which the jury described as, “An admirably complicated response to being a woman and a Jew in our time, a thrilling combination of memoir, journalism and art.” And Irene N. Watts and Kathryn E. Shoemaker took the prize in the children’s/young adult category for Seeking Refuge (Tradewind Books), which the jury described as, “A superb graphic novel dramatizing the Kindertransport, a powerful story enhanced by firsthand experience and beautiful black-and-white illustrations.”

The other winners were Peter Behrens’ Carry Me (House of Anansi Press) for fiction and Matti Friedman’s Pumpkinflowers (McClelland & Stewart) for history.

The history shortlist included Max Eisen’s By Chance Alone (Harper Collins Publishers) and Ester Reiter’s A Future Without Hate or Need: The Promise of the Jewish Left in Canada (Between the Lines). Runners-up in the fiction category were Eric Beck Rubin’s School of Velocity (Doubleday Canada) and Danila Botha’s For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I’ve Known (Tightrope Books). In non-fiction, Sarah Barmak’s Closer: Notes from the Orgasmic Frontier of Female Sexuality (Coach House Books), Judy Batalion’s White Walls (Berkley/Penguin Random House) and David Leach’s Chasing Utopia (ECW Press) were runners-up, while Deborah Kerbel’s Feathered (Kids Can Press) and Tilar Mazzeo and Mary Farrell’s Irena’s Children (Margaret K. McElderry Books) were on the children’s/young adult short list.

* * *

In September 2017, local community member Dr. Arthur Wolak was elected for a three-year term to the board of governors of Gratz College, a private liberal arts college in suburban Philadelphia. Founded in 1895, Gratz is the oldest independent and pluralistic college for Jewish studies in North America. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Gratz is also recognized by Israel’s Ministry of Education and Culture. Through its undergraduate and graduate programs, Gratz educates students to become effective educators, administrators and community leaders.

Israelis design beauty

Albi Serfaty with the Lucky Lamp. (photo from Aqua Creations)

When Renee Switzer launched the SwitzerCultCreative showroom in 2016, she was adamant that they include pieces by Israeli furniture and lighting designers, giving them a Canadian stage exclusive to Vancouver.

“I visited the New York showroom of Aqua Creations in 2015, and their designs completely blew me away,” said Switzer of the Israeli brand. “The same with Hagit’s [Pincovici] furniture, that reflect beautiful craftsmanship made in Italy and have never been seen here before.”

Together with her son, Adam Bellas, and daughter, Jennifer Wosk, the third generation of a legacy begun by their grandfather in the 1960s, Switzer is delving into modern, high-end furniture collections for Vancouver interiors.

It’s impossible to look at Aqua Creations’ lamps, lighting installations and furniture without feeling a sense of wonderment. The urge to curl up in the enveloping Gladis Lounge Chair in the SwitzerCultCreative showroom is overpowering. When co-founder Albi Serfaty heard my confession, he laughed in agreement. “This is what art is all about,” he said, Skyping from his home in Tel Aviv. “There must be this emotional connection, both for me as a designer, because I’m passionate about my work, and hopefully from our pieces as interior décor in a home, a restaurant or hotel.”

What began in 1994 as a small atelier in Tel Aviv is now a global brand with an Aqua Creations showroom in New York and their lighting installations worldwide, including 1 Hotel, Brooklyn; Savoy Hotel, Seychelles; and Hotel Okura Fukuoka, Japan.

As a photographer and designer, Serfaty re-interprets organic forms and abstract sea life into lighting and furniture. Morning Glory Floor Lamps, in silk over metal, when illuminated, seem to take on an otherworldly beauty all their own. Collections since 1994 show a definite evolutionary progression, with current geometric shapes like the Simon Says Yes Pendant, part of Aqua Creations’ Mino Collection. Whether as a singular hanging pendant or grouped together as colourful wall mounts, as shown in the SwitzerCultCreative showroom, they add a sculptural yet functional addition to interiors.

If you can imagine thousands of magnified neurons under a microscope, you will see the genesis of the Mimosa Collection. Composed of laser-cut galvanized metal, sprayed with clear polymer, the hand-sculpted shades transmit a dreamy, calming light.

The Lucky Lamp wall fixtures are Serfaty’s newest iteration, using groundbreaking technology in which each sustainable and dimmable light is controlled by a micro-computer that alters colour, motion and intensity.

“I’d love to collaborate in the future with a fashion designer like Missoni,” confided Serfaty, “and, at some point, build a place that combines home, work and studio in one location.” He added, “I’m like a sheep dog in that way – I like everything together.”

* * *

When Hagit Pincovici was a little girl in her grandparents’ atelier in Tel Aviv, she remembers the exhilaration of playing with and running between colourful sheets of Plexiglass that would eventually be moulded into trays, frames and furniture by her artisan grandparents.

photo - Flamingo Storage Side Table, by Hagit Pincovici — Flamingo Storage Side Table, by Hagit Pincovici. *(photo by Fabrizio Checchi)*

“When my grandfather left Romania for Israel, he brought the recipe for making Plexiglass and I remember it was a kind of paradise looking through all the colourful pieces,” said Pincovici, now third-generation maker, in a Skype interview while she was visiting Tel Aviv.

It’s not entirely coincidental, then, that her multi-hued Art Deco-inspired furniture evokes a modern twist on a bygone era. Pincovici’s From Above Coffee Table from the Eclipse Collection is a geometric Carrara marble “moon” integrated into an abstract path of black shadow and coral sun in lacquered wood on a brushed brass base. Flamingo Storage Side Table, also from the Eclipse Collection, is a stunning sculptural platform perched atop stilt-like legs inspired by its namesake; a secret compartment rotates out to store jewelry, if placed in a bedroom, or becomes a handy bar for drinks, sure to spark conversation in the living room. The Metaphysics Sideboard is Pincovici’s take on elegance. The blue and black lacquered geometric wood console designed at multiple heights is mounted on brushed brass and immediately recalls the glamour of the 1920s and ’30s. “I love the thin minimalist lines just bordering on the decorative,” she explained.

After working her way up as head of product development for Aqua Creations in Israel and organizing their exhibition at the annual Salone del Mobile, in Milan, Pincovici decided to relocate to Italy, “where I fell in love with the Italian spirit of creativity,” not to mention her husband, Fabrizio Checchi.

She opened her own design studio in the furniture district of Brianza in 2014, where she sketches her designs by hand. The furniture is made with traditional craftsmanship and sold internationally. When not working on her first collection of lighting, Pincovici is also an instructor at NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) in Milan.

“You know, we [Israeli] designers are like chameleons,” said Pincovici. “I don’t think we share a common style but we do share that drive to create and, in Italy, they really appreciate that approach.”

* * *

London-born Eli Chissick of Chissick Design is waxing poetic about wood. Skyping from his home-studio near Tel Aviv, the award-winning designer is concerned about the environment, recycling and products that will increase the mobility of people with disabilities.

photo - Gradient Cocktail Table by Eli Chissick — Gradient Cocktail Table by Eli Chissick. *(photo from Chissick Design)*

Unlike the vast forests found in Canada, trees are not harvested for the lumber industry in Israel and wood is usually imported. That forces the industrial and product designer to be ingenious about scavenging off-cuts and repurposed wood from carpentry floors. “It’s a magical transformation when I sort what is usually thrown out, then press it into large sheets from which I create my furniture,” said Chissick.

The results are as sculptural as they are utilitarian. Mosaica, from Chissick’s Wood-Con-Fusion series, is a coffee table (or bench) composed of more than 2,000 intricate puzzle pieces of multi-coloured wood. The Marmelade coffee table is a mouth-watering compote of wood with inlaid lime-, raspberry- and white-striped Formica laminate. It’s built on wheels for easy manoeuvring in any space.

“I’m really excited about working with Renee at SwitzerCultCreative because I’m now able to send my furniture designs created on the computer to her and then have many pieces handmade in British Columbia with the same quality as in Israel,” said Chissick.

Those pieces include the Gradient Cocktail Table, handcrafted from eight types of veneer juxtaposed from light to dark in wenge, imbuia, American walnut, teak, African walnut, anigre, white oak and maple. Mirror 2012, from Chissick’s Wood-Con-Fusion series, is set in a painted and lacquered salvaged wood frame and can be customized in various colours. (It was a 2015 platinum winner at the U.S. ADEX Awards for Product and Project Design.)

He’s also a proponent of TOMS (Tikkun Olam Makers), a global movement of makers who donate their specialties to create solutions for people struggling with a debilitating problem. Over three days, 100 designers, engineers and techies meet with potential users personally then brainstorm in small groups and set to work making prototypes. Chissick has participated in these “Makeathons” in both Tel Aviv and San Francisco, resulting in a walker that allows a person to navigate stairs, a door opener for someone who has quadriplegia, and a digital hand and a high-tech go-cart for a child with disabilities, to name only a few.

Switzer, who has visited Israel several times, is planning a scouting trip there in 2018. “It gives me tremendous personal gratification to showcase such talented makers,” she said.

For more information, visit switzercultcreative.com or call 604-736-3020.

Laura Goldstein (lauragoldsteinwriter.com) was an arts publicist and writer in Toronto for 22 years before moving to Vancouver. She’s a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail’s design section, Westcoast Homes & Design, Canadian House & Home and Destination BC, among many others. A highlight of her career was covering the Royal Tour in Vancouver last year.

Writing Lives begins anew

This academic year marks the second session of Writing Lives, a two-semester project at Langara College, coordinated by instructor Dr. Rachel Mines. Writing Lives is a partnership between Langara, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Azrieli Foundation.

This fall, students are learning about the Holocaust by studying literary and historical texts. They are using the resources of the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library to help them write detailed research projects on prewar Jewish communities in Europe. In January, students will begin interviewing local Holocaust survivors and then write the survivors’ memoirs on the basis of the interviews. Students are keeping journals of their personal reflections on their experiences as Writing Lives participants. Many students used their first journal entry to reflect on how the course material is changing their perceptions of current events. Here are some excerpts.

I have learned that a racist interaction between a person of colour and a white person is not only between those two specific people. In that interaction is embedded an entire history of racism. A racist society supports white and racist ideology in a way that has historically privileged white people and embeds power in a racist interaction. The social conditions in a racist society psychologically prime the person of colour to strategize in certain ways during interactions they may perceive as dangerous.

Similarly (I realize now), Jews were emotionally and psychologically primed by their history of using appeasement as a successful, non-violent form of survival-as-resistance. This history surely psychologically primed the German oppressors to see the Jews as appropriate targets for their unprecedented scapegoating and the ensuing genocide.

This is one of the few times so far that a concept I have learned as an undergrad is beginning to take hold in my mind, tangibly changing the way I think and interpret information. I am learning to more broadly apply what I have learned about oppression and resistance. My evolving thought process gives me hope that I will in my life have a greater understanding of such dynamics and that I will contribute to the effort to understand, influence and mitigate, or even transform, dynamics between people of power and vulnerable populations.

– April Curry

Learning about the origins of Nazi Germany, the slow and steady rise to power of Hitler and his party, and the various influences that led to the Holocaust has been enlightening, in a troubling way, of course. One of the scariest eye-openers about what I have learned recently is just how human this chain of events was. A hurt and angry nation was ready to find anything and anyone to take their frustrations out on. It’s scary how this chain of events makes sense in retrospect. Yet it’s also disturbing how little thought I gave to this chain of events; they were things that happened, so I left it at that. But there is so much insight to be gained from reading into this history. Learning the history of the Holocaust and the build-up to it has given me a sense of awareness. I feel much more enlightened thanks to learning this history.

– Clayton Dott

There has been much focus on Hitler’s personal pathology (his lack of self-esteem, sense of being an outsider, etc.) to explain his primal role in the Holocaust. Problematically, this view assumes that Hitler’s racist system of values and beliefs arose outside of the environment he lived in. It is clear, however, that antisemitism, a racist ideology, existed long before his time. Furthermore, restricting the discourse to individual pathology denies the connection between Nazi violence and antisemitism, as though “lone wolves,” driven by individual malice, had committed the crimes. For example, the claim that “without Hitler, no Holocaust” denies the incessant influence of historical antisemitism and other dominant ideologies, such as Aryan supremacy and nationalism. Moreover, placing an emphasis on personal characteristics fails to take into account structural oppression. Fascist and authoritarian leaders may be charismatic, but the popular support they garner relies heavily on their ability to create a sociopolitical framework that allows for organized and systematic coercion and manufacture of consent, achieved by subjecting people to and satiating them with dogmatic education and media propaganda.

– Marc Perez

As the class explored the factors that contributed to the prejudice and antisemitism that led to the Holocaust, I was confronted with the reality of the deep and painful cost that the fear of disconnection and abandonment has on our society. Research has shown that the human need for belonging, connection and community is in fact one of the precipitating causes of racism. It is strange and uncomfortable to step away from my generally positive understanding of connection and find that belonging can be built on the loyalty earned by excluding others. In fact, the act of ostracizing and dehumanizing others can help form a shared identity and sense of belonging.

In what ways do I meet my own needs for belonging when I fail to speak up after a racist joke is told or someone is scolded for not speaking English to their own peer group in the line at Starbucks? We have to ask ourselves, what does it mean when people like myself, with so much social privilege, fail to disrupt these sorts of racist attacks? In this way, am I not complicit in the propagation of intolerance and social isolation in my own community?

– L. Ann Thomas

A widening community

Alex Cristall, general chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s annual campaign, has pledged $250 for every new donation this year or donation from someone who didn’t donate last year. (photo from JFGV)

The hashtag for this year’s Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver annual campaign is #WeCan’tAffordToLoseThem. “We want to make everybody feel needed and part of the community. For the health of our community, we need everybody,” explained Alex Cristall, general chair of the campaign.

“Last year, due to the times, we focused on security. This year, it’s about affordability and connectedness,” he said. “If you live in the core, where we have a lot of infrastructure, it is extremely expensive, even people of means struggle. When you add being Jewish on top of that – sending your kids to Jewish day school, going to summer camp – it’s costly. It’s also very expensive for seniors. People are making decisions that it’s too expensive to be Jewish. That’s a big issue. We want to make it easy to live a meaningful Jewish life.”

For this year’s campaign, Cristall has pledged $250 for every new donation or donation from someone who didn’t donate last year, a fact he’s eager to get out to the community. “The last couple of years, we’ve had some real success with the growth of our campaigns, but we’ve also had a number of donors that we’ve lost,” he said. “We want people to know that every donor counts, no matter what the dollar value is, because when people get involved and give, that’s how you grow community.”

Federation has been working to expand its reach to the Jewish communities developing in regions outside of the city. “This is the first time that half of our growing population lives outside of Vancouver,” said Cristall. “We have to figure out a way to get services out to Surrey, Burnaby, Langley, the Tri-Cities, North Vancouver. We’re going to see continued Jewish growth in the suburbs. The big push is to help our partners reach these people and connect them to the community.

“To that end,” he said, “the Federation has had events in Port Moody, [and supported] a camp out in the Tri-Cities, with kids coming in from Langley. We’re increasing our subsidies to schools, camps, the JFSA [Jewish Family Service Agency], so that everyone who wants to participate can find a way to participate. If you live in the city, we want to make it affordable and accessible and, if you live out in the suburbs, to make them feel part of the community and to embrace them.”

This is the second year of Cristall’s time as campaign chair. “I have a great cabinet with me,” he said. “We’re all equals but, for these two years, I’m the voice of the campaign. The core message we’re trying to convey is ‘building community,’ helping people to live meaningful Jewish lives.”

Despite the centrality of fundraising to the Jewish Federation’s activities, giving money is not the only way to help Federation serve the Jewish community.

“Volunteering, reaching out to more donors, canvassing, boards, different agencies, coming to events – our job is to fundraise for these agencies, give up some time. There is a spot for everybody to help,” said Cristall.

Asked how he got involved serving the community, Cristall pointed to his parents, Lorne and Sylvia Cristall, decades-long philanthropists and volunteers in the Jewish and general communities.

“As a kid,” he added, “I also went to Jewish day school, to summer camp. I was always very involved in the community. I’ve benefited from being part of the community and it feels good to give back.”

For more information about the campaign and to donate, visit jewishvancouver.com.

Three Vets closes this month

Jerry, left, and Keith Wolfman. (photo by Matthew Gindin)

I’m vacillating between anxiety and bliss,” said Jerry Wolfman. After 50 years of working alongside his younger brother Keith in what was once their father’s store, Vancouver’s Three Vets is coming to an end.

“The anxiety comes from thinking about what happens the day after the doors close,” Jerry explained to me from behind one of the two cash registers at the front of the store. “The bliss comes from the freedom that will follow.”

photo - Three Vets has always been bustling — Three Vets has always been bustling. (photo from the Wolfmans)

The camping equipment and military surplus store first opened its doors 70 year ago, at Prior and Main streets. The building of the Georgia Viaduct forced the store’s move to its current location, on Yukon Street at 6th Avenue, which will close Oct. 29. A giant banner over the front door announces, “Closing Out Sale: Up To 70% Off!”

Inside, the shelves are still littered with camping goods, gadgetry, clothing and hunting equipment. Through a small door on a side wall, First Nations masks and decorated wooden paddles can be glimpsed, belonging to Jerry’s other business, selling indigenous arts and crafts, which, he said, he plans to continue.

Keith is a little more sanguine about the future, at least on the surface. “What am I going to do? I’m going to take a chair yoga class and go swimming at the JCC.” He said he might also help members of his family with their business or kibitz around with other side projects.

Both Keith and Jerry grew up helping in the store, which was founded by their father, Bill Wolfman, and two other army veterans. Wolfman senior began the business with the idea of ending a shortage of bedding in logging and mining camps by using military surplus.

Keith and Jerry’s early trajectories seemed to point away from involvement in the business. Jerry went to college to study anthropology but didn’t see a future in it. Keith went traveling, at one point backpacking overland from Istanbul to Kathmandu through Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. Both brothers made their way back to their father’s store in their 20s, however, and haven’t left.

photo - Keith, left, Jerry and their mother Esther in years past — Keith, left, Jerry and their mother Esther in years past. *(photo from the Wolfmans)*

Jerry said it was their love of camping and the outdoors that resulted in the expansion of the store from a military surplus provider to “the great outdoor store” their sign declares them to be. Eventually, their range of merchandise expanded even further, to include housewares, emergency preparedness supplies, rain gear, travel accessories and other odds and ends that struck the brothers’ fancies. They also offered repairs for lanterns and stoves. The business often served police officers, firemen, ambulance personnel and film crews.

Some years ago, Keith and Jerry were approached by a land developer to sell the store, but they refused. The next offer they received was too good to turn down.

Other factors influencing their decision to close up shop, said Jerry, was the increase in big-box competitors, the growth of the online marketplace and increasing property taxes.

Earlier this year, on April 24, Three Vets announced the closure on its Facebook page. “It has been an absolute pleasure helping all of you with your outdoor needs,” said the statement. “We have enjoyed helping you get ready for camping trips, hiking treks, summer camp and other outdoor activities and we loved hearing about your adventures when you returned home. We can’t thank you enough for all the support you have offered us over the years.”

The Wolfman brothers have not just received support but given it in abundance, supporting a number of causes and organizations in the Jewish and general communities.

Rosh Hashanah market

(photo by Shula Klinger)

Paul Harnett shows off his wares at the recent open house and market at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. (For more on Harnett, see jewishindependent.ca/time-for-new-shofar.) The JCC Rosh Hashanah Marketplace took place Sept. 12-14 and 18 and featured several vendors – of jewelry, art, glassware, clothing, hats and more – and some community organizations also had stands.