Local – Page 133

Cabinet appointments

George Heyman, MLA for Vancouver-Fairview, and Selina Robinson, MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville, were elevated to cabinet. (photos courtesy of George Heyman and Selina Robinson, respectively)

Two Jewish members of the B.C. Legislative Assembly were elevated to cabinet when the new provincial government was sworn in Tuesday. George Heyman, MLA for Vancouver-Fairview, was named minister of environment and climate change strategy. Selina Robinson, MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville, was named minister of municipal affairs and housing. Both New Democrats were first elected to the legislature in 2013 and were reelected in the May 9 election with increased pluralities. The Independent interviewed both new ministers before the election. Premier John Horgan was sworn in on Tuesday, more than two months after B.C. voters returned the first minority legislature since 1952. The Independent’s interview with Horgan is also online. Judy Darcy, who first publicly shared the story of how her father hid his Jewish identity with the Independent, was named head of the new ministry of mental health and addictions.

Enjoying food in story, song

Caviar and Lace entertain the audience at the final Empowerment Series session of the season. (photo by Stan Shear)

The fourth and final session of this season’s Jewish Seniors Alliance Snider Foundation Empowerment Series was held in partnership with Kehila Society in Richmond and the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia on June 26. About 150 people came out to Beth Tikvah Synagogue for what was called A Day in the Life of Israel.

The theme of the season was “Eating Our Way Through Jewish History: Food, the Doorway to Our Culture” and the lunch, catered by Stacey Kettleman consisted of hummus, falafel, pita, Israeli salad, couscous, and cake for dessert.

After lunch, everyone moved to the sanctuary, where JSA president Ken Levitt welcomed everyone, reiterating the new JSA motto, “Seniors, stronger together.”

Michael Schwartz of the Jewish Museum reflected on the JSA-JMABC partnership for this season’s series featuring Jewish food, and introduced the guest artists.

Caviar and Lace, featuring Saul Berson and Michele Carlisle, were superb. Carlisle on keyboard and Berson on clarinet, saxophone and flute, got everyone moving, clapping and singing to Hebrew and Yiddish melodies. There were renditions of “Hinei Ma Tov” in two parts and “Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem.” The concert ended with a medley of wedding songs.

Toby Rubin of Kehila Society thanked the guest musicians and everyone for coming. It was a fitting end to a great season, which started in November 2016 with Sholom Aleichem Seniors of the Peretz Centre for Secular Culture, and was followed by the second session in January with JCC Seniors and the third at the Unitarian Centre in April.

Shanie Levin is a member of the Jewish Seniors Alliance board.

Lunch with bestselling author

Robin Esrock speaks at the Jewish Family Service Agency’s Seniors Lunch program. (photo from JFSA)

Well-known travel writer Robin Esrock gave an inspirational talk to the Jewish Family Service Agency’s Seniors Lunch program, which took place at Congregation Beth Israel on July 11.

Esrock has written for several publications, has been a TV host and his book The Great Canadian Bucket List was on the bestseller list in Canada and Australia. He told the approximately 40 guests the story of how his adventure-focused career began and how he has been very fortunate in the unorthodox path he has chosen. He also shared his philosophy, which is “you are just where you are supposed to be.”

JFSA’s Seniors Lunch program comprises a kosher meal once a month at Beth Israel and twice a month at Temple Sholom on Tuesdays at noon. All Jewish seniors are welcome. For more information and reservations, call Queenie Hamovich at 604-558-5709.

Community achievements, travel & good deeds

Jeffrey and Elizabeth Nider, a local couple from Vancouver, were part of more than 200 North American immigrants to move to Israel on July 4. (photo from Nefesh b’Nefesh)

***

The board of directors of Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the board of governors of the Jewish Community Foundation are pleased to announce the appointment of Marcie Flom to the position of executive director of the foundation. Marcie brings more than 25 years of nonprofit leadership experience to the role.

photo - Marcie Flom — Marcie Flom *(photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)*

Marcie previously served as both director of JCF and vice-president, financial resource development, of Jewish Federation, where she was responsible for the revenue functions of the organization, including the annual campaign, special projects and corporate funding of nearly $15 million annually. Prior to that, she had a consulting practice and held leadership roles at the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company and the National Ballet of Canada.

“I am very pleased to welcome Marcie into her new role,” said Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of Federation. “Marcie has extensive development and planned giving experience, along with a solid record in major gift fundraising, which perfectly positions her to lead the foundation through the next phase of growth.”

“I am thrilled with Marcie’s appointment and look forward to continuing our strong working relationship,” said Judi Korbin, chair of the foundation’s board of governors. “In addition to her decades of experience and stellar track record, Marcie’s work is characterized by her donor-centric approach. On behalf of the board of governors, I would like to say that the Jewish Community Foundation is extremely fortunate to have Marcie as its new executive director.”

This newly created role is one of several outcomes of the strategic planning process recently undertaken by JCF under the leadership of Korbin and with professional guidance from a strategic management and development consultant. It is a central component of the three-year operational plan approved by Jewish Federation’s board of directors and adopted by the foundation’s board of governors. The foundation’s new strategic and operational plans were driven by Jewish Federation’s 2020 Strategic Priorities, and will serve to support the organization’s overall goals of generating the resources required to address the community’s current, emerging and future needs.

“The foundation is investing in resources, including full-time staff for the first time since the economic downturn in 2008. Re-investing in staff resources will enable the Jewish Community Foundation to grow, which is critical to the long-term viability of the Jewish community. The board of governors remains committed to ensuring the philanthropic goals of the foundation’s fund holders are fulfilled, that our community organizations are strengthened and that the continuity of the Jewish community is ensured through legacy planning,” said Korbin.

* * *

At the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s annual general meeting on June 20, Karen James became the new board chair, while Stephen Gaerber is now immediate past chair. Marcie Flom was appointed executive director of the Jewish Community Foundation and Diane Switzer was appointed an honorary life director of Federation. The Young Leadership Award was presented to Bryan Hack and Mike Sachs, the Elaine Charkow Award to Lisa Pullan for her ongoing leadership role in women’s philanthropy and the inaugural Bob Coleman Award to Risa Levine for her leadership role on the local allocations committee, positively impacting Federation’s partner agencies.

* * *

photo - Rabbi Philip Gibbs — Rabbi Philip Gibbs *(photo from Congregation Har El)*

Rabbi Philip Gibbs is the new spiritual leader of Congregation Har El in West Vancouver.

Gibbs grew up in Marietta, Ga. He went to college at Washington University in St. Louis and graduated in 2012 with a double major in Hebrew and humanities. After college, he attended rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary, receiving a master of arts in Talmud and rabbinic ordination in 2017. During his time at JTS, he had the opportunity to work in different synagogues and appreciated the warmth and mutual support in synagogue communities.

Following his love of the outdoors, Gibbs led the Jewish Outdoor Leadership Institute at Ramah in the Rockies, and is looking forward to hiking and skiing in the Vancouver area. He served as the secretary to the Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards. Playing violin since childhood, he also had the opportunity to join the JTS house band, the Committee on Jewish Music and Standards, for celebratory occasions.

The entire community is invited to come and meet Gibbs at a Shabbat dinner at Har El on July 28. For more information about the event, click here.

* * *

A true mensch resides in the Vancouver Jewish community, and that person is Aria Smordin. Aria has just returned from a gap year in Israel and, while there, did something that greatly impacted the lives of children with special needs in Jerusalem. Aria participated in the Shalva Ambassadors Program, investing time and energy volunteering at the Shalva National Centre.

At the centre, life-changing services are provided to thousands of flourishing kids every year. As an ambassador, Aria not only volunteered every week, but was responsible for bringing in new volunteers. Many of them ran the Jerusalem Marathon for Shalva, threw parties for the Shalva kids (where they all danced like crazy) and sleepovers, and even got their hands dirty painting the recycling centre and working in the therapeutic garden.

Aria’s choice to be in a position of giving is a true inspiration to us all.

In Aria’s own words, “Volunteering at Shalva was rewarding, uplifting and gratifying. There is a strong feeling of love and homey-ness that permeates the entire (beautiful) building. From the first time I visited Shalva, to all the times I came back to volunteer, these feelings always remained the same. The service Shalva provides and the care they take in doing so is inspiring. I am truly thankful that I was able to assist in carrying out their mission.”

Thank you, Aria. We at the Shalva National Centre are looking forward to seeing what you do next and to writing about next year’s fleet of mensches from Vancouver!

* * *

Jeffrey and Elizabeth Nider, a local couple from Vancouver, were part of more than 200 North American immigrants to move to Israel on July 4, on a chartered Nefesh b’Nefesh flight, the organization responsible for removing or minimizing the financial, professional, logistical and social obstacles of immigration to Israel.

The charter flight took off from JFK Airport in New York City and is in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth Le’Israel and Jewish National Fund-USA.

The Niders will be moving to Beit Shemesh with their four children, ages 10, 7, 5 and 2. Both Jeff and Elizabeth will enrol in Hebrew classes and Jeff will be looking for work in pharmaceutical sales or in business development for a medical startup.

* * *

The 35th Annual Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards were held on June 26 at the Commodore Ballroom, saluting excellence in theatre. Among the winners was Itai Erdal for O’wet/Lost Lagoon, presented by Alley Theatre in association with Full Circle: First Nations Performance, in the category of outstanding lighting design, small theatre.

With numerous theatre companies in the small theatre category, eight companies earned a Jessie, with Reelwheels (Rena Cohen, managing artistic director) leading the group with total of three for their production of Creeps, which co-starred David Bloom and David A. Kaye. The winners were Lauchlin Johnston for outstanding set design; the production itself for outstanding production of a play; and, for significant artistic achievement, Paul Beckett, Bloom, Genevieve Fleming, Brett Harris, Kaye, Aaron Roderick and Adam Grant Warren, recognized for outstanding ensemble performance.

Among the nominees for other awards in the small theatre category were Erdal for Walt Whitman’s Secret, the frank theatre company (outstanding lighting design) and Cande Andrade for am a, Mindy Parfitt and Amber Funk Barton Present (significant artistic achievement, outstanding innovation in video design).

In the large theatre category, Ryan Beil was nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a lead role (Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Arts Club Theatre Company), Erdal for outstanding lighting design (Moonlodge, Urban Ink) and Amir Ofek for outstanding set design (Pericles, Bard on the Beach).

* * *

In recent decades, many individuals and organizations in Germany have raised awareness of a once-vibrant Jewish history and culture in their communities through educational programs, exhibitions, restoration of synagogues and cemeteries, installation of Holocaust memorials, genealogical research, development of websites, publications, stolpersteine, public programs and other activities. They have forged meaningful relationships with former residents and descendants of those who once lived in their towns. They are teachers and engineers, publishers and judges, artists and bankers, lawyers and business executives, and they come from every corner of the country. These volunteers have devoted countless hours to such projects.

The Obermayer Awards recognize and encourage those who have been devoted to such activities and bring international attention to their work. Five individuals and/or organizations are honoured each year.

The award program was initiated in 2000 by Dr. Arthur S. Obermayer and the awards are co-sponsored by the Berlin Parliament and the Leo Baeck Institute. They will be given in the Parliament’s Plenary Chamber on Jan. 22, 2018, as its principal Holocaust Memorial Day event. They follow in the tradition of recognizing righteous gentiles who protected Jews during the Holocaust.

Many American Jews have been beneficiaries of the work of these dedicated Germans, and the majority of the nominators have been American Jews – Canadians are also eligible to receive the award.

For more information, visit obermayer.us/award. A hard copy of the call for nominations can be requested by sending a letter to the attention of Betty Solbjor, Obermayer Foundation, 15 Grey Stone Path, Dedham, MA, 02026, or by email to [email protected]. The deadline for submission this year is Sept. 12.

Instilling responsibility

Vancouver Talmud Torah head of school Cathy Lowenstein Lowenstein addresses those gathered for the closing of this year’s Mitzvah of Valuing Philanthropy program. (photo by Jennifer Shecter-Balin)

On June 15, Grade 7 students at Vancouver Talmud Torah celebrated the close of the year’s Mitzvah of Valuing Philanthropy (MVP) program. Started by the late Sari Zack Weintraub Greenberg nine years ago, MVP integrates a curriculum of tikkun olam (repairing the world), rooted in traditional Jewish teachings, into the students’ educational experience.

Head of school Cathy Lowenstein said Greenberg’s work “revolutionized the school’s tikkun olam curriculum.” Greenberg encouraged the students to “lovingly expand their universe of obligation,” said Lowenstein. The program is something that the kids look forward to in their Grade 7 year, she continued, noting that “tikkun olam is a cornerstone of the school.”

Since its inception, the MVP program has raised a total of $220,000. This year’s 39 Grade 7 students raised an impressive $27,000. On top of this fundraising record, this year’s Tzedakah Project has also contributed $10,000 as a grant to “motivate and inspire” the kids to develop their passion for tzedakah (charity/justice) and chesed (loving kindness).

photo - VTT MVP Ariel Lewinski and Judy Boxer of Chimp — VTT MVP Ariel Lewinski and Judy Boxer of Chimp. (photo by Jennifer Shecter-Balin)

The MVP group expressed thanks to Cambridge Uniforms for their ongoing support of the program. This year also saw the involvement of Chimp representatives Judy Boxer and Ariel Lewinski, who offered support via the company to this generation of philanthropists. Boxer and Lewinski gave gift cards totaling $10,000 out to the members of the audience on June 15. Each card could be used to donate $100 to a charity of the recipient’s choice.

The MVP program is support by the Irma Zack MVP Endowment Fund, established by Dr. David Zack – Greenberg’s father – in memory of his late wife, and the original seed funding was donated by Sylvia and the late Lorne Cristall. It is through these funds that the school has been able to run MVP and other such initiatives.

The MVP students followed a careful process of selection of charities to support. They picked ethical commandments to work with, such as healing the sick, helping others in difficulty, or feeding the hungry. They researched the agencies that satisfied these criteria and found contacts with whom to work. Having interviewed these contacts, the kids then had 20 minutes to convince their class to contribute to their agencies, turning classrooms into boardrooms for allocation meetings.

Funds were donated to 24 different organizations this year, including household names like UNICEF and Magen David Adom, and local beneficiaries like the Vancouver Aquarium and Big Sisters. Students also selected Down Syndrome Research and CEASE, an agency that supports women victims of sexual exploitation and domestic violence.

Several students offered their perspectives on the MVP initiative to the Jewish Independent.

Asher Teperson described how “we assumed the roles of principal researchers, primary investigators, bankers and lawyers to assess the needs in our community and respond to them in concrete ways.” For the MVP students, this was a rite of passage. “We had a taste of what it means to become an adult in the eyes of the Jewish community,” said Asher.

Estie Kallner echoed these sentiments: “How often are 12- and 13-year-olds asked to make phone calls to strangers, conduct interviews in corporate offices, request clarification on financial matters and pester agency executives on their overhead costs?”

Julia Huber closed the program remarks with a reflection on how much they had grown through the experience. She described a group of “restless, nervous and confused” kids at the start of the program. However, she said, “with support and encouragement, not only did we embrace the challenge, but we exceeded even our own ambitious goals.”

As another student, Isabella Leipsic, observed, the program left them with a profound sense of their own “strength” in “moral decision-making.” She added, with thanks to the program, “our lives will never be the same.”

Shula Klinger is an author, illustrator and journalist living in North Vancouver. Find out more at niftyscissors.com.

Telling our stories with food

Michael Schwartz, director of community engagement at the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, speaks to guests at a Chosen Food Supper Club gathering. (photo from JMABC)

This spring, the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia began airing the podcast The Kitchen Stories. The series, which is focused on Jewish food, is the brainchild of Michael Schwartz, the museum’s director of community engagement.

“A podcast is not so different from a museum exhibit,” said Schwartz in an interview with the Independent. “It is a way to present a story…. It doesn’t have a visual component but, unlike a museum exhibit, people can take a podcast with them, listen to it whenever they have the time.”

While podcasts have evolved on and from the internet, Schwartz considers the format a renaissance of a much older type of media – the radio talk show. “Like radio, a podcast is an audio presentation, but on a different technological level. In the past couple of years, there have been some creative and innovative podcasts, and we’re trying to add to their number.”

The idea of a food-related podcast came to him after he experimented with a couple of other topics. “My role at the museum is to make people, both Jews and non-Jews, more aware of our museum. I tried several different themes – architecture, photography – but food seems to be universal. Everyone is interested in food, especially in Vancouver. We are a foodie city, so it seemed appropriate to ride that momentum, to let people tell their stories about food. That’s what a museum does: it lets people tell their stories. Ideally, the museum staff should be invisible.”

The Kitchen Stories concept, as well as the museum’s Chosen Food Supper Club – a dinner series where people meet each other, learn about and enjoy the food being served – crystallized for Schwartz simultaneously. “We started the podcasts a bit earlier, in March, and the supper club in April…. Lots of storytelling happens during the club meetings,” he explained. “Like the podcasts, each club meeting has a theme. Sometimes, it is geographical: food from different parts of the globe. Sometimes, thematic, like holiday food.”

photo - Chef Lior Ben-Yehuda puts the finishing touches on a salad as Erika Balcombe, left, and JMABC archivist Alysa Routtenberg look on — Chef Lior Ben-Yehuda puts the finishing touches on a salad as Erika Balcombe, left, and JMABC archivist Alysa Routtenberg look on. *(photo from JMABC)*

A similar variety of themes characterizes the podcasts. To date, shows have examined food links to family dynamics and worldwide migrations, climate and gender roles, cultural customs and regional culinary quirks.

“We brainstormed the possible themes as we listened to other podcasts, read books on culinary history. We tried to pinpoint what is missing and use those points as our guidelines. One of the underlying themes in our podcasts is the tension between traditional and modern. How people adapt to the local food sources when they move, how the familiar recipes change with times and places. How those recipes diverge when members of one family move to different countries, or continents, and the usual ingredients become unavailable.”

Schwartz believes that the museum has to be open to the stories of all Jews, regardless of their religiosity, affiliation or geographic roots. “The museum’s role is not to provide answers but to discuss a question, to open a forum for conversation. In The Kitchen Stories, food is a medium of telling stories. We explore healthy food choices and how they change with generations: what our grandmothers thought healthy and what we think healthy could be different. We talk about kosher food and organic food. And, of course, when people talk about food, everyone has an opinion.”

The topics are approached often from an historical perspective. “Food is a way to keep history alive,” Schwartz said. “When a kid asks his parents or grandparents why do you cook this way, stories emerge. We wanted to showcase those stories. Food is also a way towards peace and harmony. When we share food with friends, we talk and try to understand each other. Food is a means of communication.”

Schwartz doesn’t create the podcasts alone. Co-producer April Thompson has been working for the museum for the past year.

“I do research on the theme we select, I conduct the interviews,” Thompson said. “Sometimes we interview people in their homes or their businesses. Other times, they come here to the museum; we use a quiet room for the interviews. The museum has had an oral history program for decades, so we use the existing museum equipment for recording. Then I do the editing, choose the music. After I’m done, Michael listens to my material. He records the narration, inserts special terminology sometimes, or we move the pieces around to structure the story better.”

“April is very important to the series,” said Schwartz. “She is not Jewish, and that fact has given her an interesting angle on the project. She brings necessary curiosity to some things those of us within the Jewish community take for granted.”

“Yes,” Thompson agreed. “I’m like a child. I ask: why do you do this, because I don’t know. I want to know. I’m now working on a podcast about [dealing with] grief through food, about the Jewish shivah custom. It’s different from many other cultures.”

All of the podcasts can be found at jewishmuseum.ca/the-kitchen-stories.

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

Homemade shakshuka

Shakshuka is a combination of flavours, aromas and colours that appeals to all our senses. (photo from Café FortyOne)

Choosing a dish that defines us gastronomically is an impossible task because Jewish cuisine comprises a long and varied history of aromas and flavours fused by our many journeys around the world. But, if we narrow our task to discussing a representative Israeli dish, then shakshuka might be it.

Although there are many variations, shakshuka is generally made with stewed tomatoes, spices and eggs. It is one of the foods most loved by Israelis and it is a dish that has been enjoyed by countless tourists to the country. It is said that its secrets were brought to Israel by Jewish immigrants from North Africa but, for me, it also has a taste of home. My parents used to prepare it to pamper us, using the recipe of my grandparents from Turkey and giving it an Argentine touch. And there is nothing like shakshuka as an example of how certain foods have traveled with us throughout our history and to the different countries in which we have settled.

Shakshuka means “a mixture.” It is a combination of flavours, aromas and colours that appeals to all our senses. In Israel, it is often eaten for breakfast, a bright and spicy way to start the day. But it is also an excellent dish for lunch or for a special brunch.

Like many great dishes, there are as many versions of shakshuka as there are cooks who have made it, and it can be found on café and restaurant menus throughout the world. Modern culinary interpretations enhance the basic dish with salsa, with all kinds of vegetables, including eggplant and kale, and with cheeses such as feta. Some even incorporate meat into the recipe, modifying it according to personal taste. Some variations replace the tomatoes entirely – for example, there is a version that replaces the tomato sauce with one of spinach and cream.

Although there are many ways to cook shakshuka, from the Mexican version called huevos rancheros to the Turkish menemen, my shakshuka cuts to the traditional. The recipe below will give you a lovely shakshuka, rich in flavour. Once you have mastered the basics, you can add your own touch by using other ingredients that you like. However, this dish has one must: it must be accompanied by pita, challah or one of your favourite breads. Why? Simply because the sauce is really delicious and you will not want to leave a drop of it in the pan.

But, enough talk. This recipe I’m sharing is special – it is the one my family uses and which has given us many beautiful memories. It makes enough for two people.

SHAKSHUKA

5 ripe large tomatoes
1 large chopped onion
1 red pepper
4 garlic cloves (if you find it too strong, remove the centre)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 eggs
touch of kosher sea salt
2 tbsp paprika
pinch of cumin
chopped parsley for decoration
tomato paste or concentrated tomato (optional, for a stronger taste)

Pour the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté until lightly softened, stirring occasionally. Add the red pepper and garlic, frying for a few minutes until they are soft and lightly browned.
Add chopped tomatoes, paprika, cumin and salt. Stir until all ingredients are well mixed, then cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. The idea is for the tomatoes to become soft.
Once the tomatoes are cooked, stir and then make two holes with a spoon in the surface of the sauce. Break an egg into each one of the holes. Arrange the eggs and the surrounding sauce so that the egg whites are below the surface of the sauce.
Cover and let simmer for five to seven minutes, until the egg whites are cooked but the yolk is still runny.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately in the pan it was cooked in, along with pita (or other bread), hummus and an Israeli salad.

Yamila Chikiar co-owns Café FortyOne with her husband, Daniel Presman.

Marketing of technology

Yonatan Avraham, student ambassador of HUstart, left, and Tamir Huberman of Yissum are two of the four speakers who will be participating in Jerusalem of Gold: Capital of Innovation & Tech on July 16. (photos from CFHU Vancouver)

“I have always loved the thrill you feel while creating your own project, seeing it grow and being responsible for the outcomes – and the satisfaction you feel while convincing a stranger to give his or her resources (time or money) for your product,” said Yonatan Avraham, student ambassador of HUstart, Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s entrepreneurship centre, about what excites him about being an innovator and entrepreneur.

Avraham is one of four speakers who will participate in Jerusalem of Gold: Capital of Innovation & Tech, which will take place on July 16 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. The event is being hosted by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, the Jerusalem Foundation and JCCGV. Avraham will be joined by Lior Schillat of Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research; Maya Halevy of Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem; and Tamir Huberman of Yissum, HU’s technology transfer company. The Jewish Independent’s interviews with Schillat and Halevy appeared in last week’s issue (see jewishindependent.ca/jerusalem-a-high-tech-hub).

“All of the speakers are coming from Israel especially for this tour in Western Canada. We will be in Vancouver on July 16, Calgary on July 17 and Edmonton on July 18,” said Dina Wachtel, Western region executive director of CFHU, of the tour, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem.

“Tamir is going to give a talk on Friday, July 14, at Simon Fraser University titled The Power of Social Networks: Boosting the Marketing of Innovations, organized by Fred Popowich, executive director of Big Data Initiative at Simon Fraser University,” she said. “Part of our mandate is to create these living bridges between Hebrew U and our local universities; hence, this is part of this initiative.”

Huberman is Yissum’s vice-president of business development and director of information technology. At the JCCGV, he will talk on Marketing Innovation: Changing Israel and the World.

In the press material, Huberman notes, “As the only university in Israel with a school of agriculture, research in non-GMO hybrid seeds at Hebrew U is changing the way millions of people eat now and into the future.” He also notes that Mobileye, which recently sold to Intel for $15.3 billion US, was founded by HU Prof. Amnon Shashua.

Yissum “operates on a royalty-based model which channels proceeds from successful products back to the researchers, their labs and the university itself,” he explains. It also generates funds “by attracting corporations to collaborate with Hebrew University labs to find the answers the businesses are seeking.”

About what B.C. (and other) universities could learn from HU, Huberman told the Independent, “I believe that the top lessons are how to be more effective and how to remove barriers for doing business. In most cases, tech transfer companies around the world are [viewed] as a bureaucratic entity that complicates things. The greatest lesson is making adaptations that would make things simpler for the companies that want to do business with us…. The second lesson is the realization that, for each new technology, there either has to be someone in the world that would be interested in acquiring a licence, or someone in the world that knows the technology does not have a chance. It is the ‘job’ of the tech transfer to find that ‘someone’ and, from my experience, the best way to do that is by using social networks. The revolution of social media allows getting fast replies from people all around the world, even if you’ve never met them.”

Huberman has always loved innovation and, he said, “it was a big dream of mine to be an inventor and work with new inventions.”

While working for the company Medis from 1996 to 2002, he was exposed to the world of patents and the process of writing patents as an inventor. “After my own experience as an inventor,” he said, “I knew I had to find a place that works with new patents at a massive scale.”

It was his “strong passion for new patents and ideas that was the top reason for joining Yissum,” he said. “Second was the opportunity to work with some of the most brilliant researchers in their fields. Third was my realization that there was something missing at the time before I joined Yissum, which had to do with the very low use of the internet in order to expose the technologies from the universities to the world.

“Before I arrived at Yissum, I made a simple search using freely available patent databases and saw that only a small fraction of the patents I found [were] on the tech transfer websites. When I realized this, I had a vision of changing how tech transfer companies worked…. My dream materialized when I created the first portal for all the technologies at Yissum and later created the ITTN website (Israel Technology Transfer Organization). ITTN was the first website in Israel that allowed all of the inventions from academic institutions in Israel to be found in one central portal.”

He added, “I believe that there is a lot that can be done to make a better and faster connection between companies seeking talent or innovation to the offerings of universities…. [B]uilding a portal that connects more universities in Israel and the world could help make that matching much more efficient.

“Another realization is that tech transfer companies traditionally showcase technologies and I believe that this is not the best approach…. [T]he portals should focus on the researchers and their capabilities, rather than just the patents that a small portion of them invented. We have multiple examples of companies that were interested in researchers that we did not even know [because] they never had any patents.”

One of the jobs of HUstart – of which Yissum is part, along with HU’s science faculty and business school – is to provide “practical education, support, mentorships and connections needed” for students and others “to become effective entrepreneurs.”

Avraham is a third-year physics student at Hebrew U and is in the first cohort of the new Physics and Entrepreneurship program, which connected him – during his second year of study – with his business partners. Avraham and fellow students Michael Levinson and Tom Zelanzy co-founded the start-up Gamitee, which “links social media and shopping websites, making it possible for friends to easily invite others to join them in a shopping experience.”

Avraham has other ideas, such as one for an “infant sleeper that monitors a baby’s vital signs, a technology that could potentially prevent SIDS.” And he and his wife – who is an archeologist – also run a tutoring business. In Vancouver, he will speak on The Making of a Serial Entrepreneur.

“I think they have a lot of similarities,” he said about physics and building a tech start-up. “In both, you need to solve complex questions and problems that are comprised of several independent factors. Both of them are professions that people rarely choose. And they are both very, very hard to understand. I think my physics background [increased] my range of abilities needed [to be] an entrepreneur.”

Jerusalem of Gold: Capital of Innovation & Tech is open to the public. Tickets are $45, though students who register at the CFHU office can receive a free ticket. For tickets and the speakers’ bios, visit cfhu.org, email [email protected] or call 604-257-5133.

Jerusalem a high-tech hub

Lior Schillat of Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research and Maya Halevy of Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem will speak at Jerusalem of Gold: Capital of Innovation & Tech on July 16. (photos from CFHU Vancouver)

“Hebrew University is probably the only university that ‘founded’ a state rather than vice versa, as the cornerstone for the university was laid on July 24, 1918, and, on April 1, 1925, the Mount Scopus campus was opened,” Dina Wachtel, Western region executive director, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, told the Independent. “The contemporary history of the city of Jerusalem and the story of the Six Day War is intertwined with the story of the university – what better way to celebrate that than by bringing in four of Jerusalem’s change-makers?”

The July 16 TED Talk-style event at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver – hosted by CFHU, the Jerusalem Foundation and JCCGV – “is a celebration of the start-up nation and the role the city is playing in becoming a centre for innovation and technology,” said Wachtel. “Thus, it is also the story of how innovation improves the lives of humanity in this world regardless of boundaries of any kind: geographical, political, ethnic, religious.”

At the event called Jerusalem of Gold: Capital of Innovation & Tech, the speakers will be Lior Schillat, director general of Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research; Maya Halevy, executive director of Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem; Yonatan Avraham, student ambassador of HUstart, the university’s entrepreneurship centre; and Tamir Huberman, vice-president of business development and information-technology director of Yissum, the technology transfer company of Hebrew U. The Jewish Independent interviewed each of the presenters in anticipation of their Vancouver visit, and will feature Schillat and Halevy this week, and Avraham and Huberman on July 7.

Schillat will talk about Jerusalem’s Population: What Does the Future Hold? But first, what about the Jerusalem of the past – what would have inspired a Canadian Jew to make aliyah 50 years ago?

Actually, said Schillat, in the 20th century, the biggest wave of immigrants from countries such as Canada came right after the Six Day War.

“If you’re Canadian and you’re making aliyah in ’67 and you’re choosing Jerusalem for your home, I guess the main reason you would do that would be because of the spiritual effect the glorious victory of 1967 would have on you,” said Schillat.

“If you are a bit more practical, you also understand that, with this victory, Jerusalem, for the first time since 1948, became again the centre of the country … centre in the geographical meaning and also the centre of attention as to what was going on in the country.”

Fifty years later, he said, while “we still haven’t reached some kind of stability in the situation in Jerusalem,” the city “is one of the most interesting … cities in Israel, and why is that? First of all, it’s Jerusalem, meaning it’s beautiful, it has stories that are in the heart of billions of people all over the world…. I would say the Jerusalem brand is stronger than any other brand in Israel, including the Israeli brand itself…. So, if you would come to Jerusalem, it would be because you want to spend your life in a way that is a bit more meaningful than … in any other city in Israel, in any other Western country.”

In Jerusalem, he said, “from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep, you live for something, for an idea. It’s true for everyone – of course it’s true for religious people, but it’s also … true for secular people. Life here just has much more meaning. You know, it’s not for nothing that Jerusalem is 10% of the Israeli population but 25% of civic society organizations are based here. And if you look at Israel’s biggest struggles or debates, many of them were generated from the Jerusalem society.”

Jerusalem is a completely different city than it was 50 years ago, said Schillat. “Jerusalem is one of the most advanced high-tech ecosystems in the world today…. When you look at the numbers, you see that, today, Jerusalem is considered among the 30 biggest ecosystems in the world. And some of the researchers even say that they would consider it for next year among the 20.”

It’s not the tech hub that Tel Aviv is, he acknowledged, but, in proportion to its population, Jerusalem rates high on the tech scene. And this shouldn’t be surprising, he said.

“People here are using their minds all the time, and high-tech is exactly that – it’s how you use your mind in order to create gain, in order to create technology that could help better the world…. The number of technological companies in this city has more than doubled in the last four years. The number of employees in high-tech is growing 15% every year for the last three years.”

Schillat gave as the best example of Jerusalem’s growing prominence in this area the recent acquisition by Intel of Jerusalem-based company Mobileye for $15.3 billion. Not only that, he said, but Intel also has decided to base in Jerusalem its international research and development centre for autonomous cars.

“I don’t see the Jerusalem of the future as being another New York or another Frankfurt or another Tel Aviv; it won’t be a financial centre. I see it as a city of knowledge; of creating fruits from thinking, from knowledge, from discussion. And I also think that Jerusalem is facing now the amazing challenge, and very hard challenge, of integrating into this group of thinkers and builders the more weak populations…. The real test for Jerusalem for the next 50 years would be, ‘Did you integrate the Charedi groups, did you integrate the Arab groups into this economic development model of a city of thinkers, or did you just go with this idea by yourself, meaning just a small elite group of thinkers went with it by themselves and left the majority of the city behind?”

One facility that is trying to integrate various population groups is Bloomfield Science Museum. Founded and operated by the Jerusalem Foundation and HU, the museum is supported by the national and municipal governments. Its website describes science “as a common language that disregards physical borders, cultural and religious differences and enables dialogue among participants with a common interest and diverse backgrounds.” Halevy will talk on the topic Raising a Start-up Nation.

“There is much research that shows that young kids love science and science classes,” she said, “but they don’t see themselves in a STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] career, mainly because they believe that having a STEM career is being a scientist, which they think it is to work alone in a lab, and can be relevant only to the best scholars. Our role is to show the variety of opportunities that STEM learning can open for them in a future career.”

Bloomfield serves as a lab and hub for education programs, she said. “As a lab, we develop new approaches, new pedagogy, new tools, and we test those with a variety of people, as we are also a hub for all the communities in Jerusalem.”

The museum collaborates with institutions around the world, as well. A current exhibit that will travel to Ottawa, among other places, is the Bicycle Exhibition 2 x 200. The new Canada Science and Technology Museum is set to open in November after extensive renovations and the exhibit is scheduled to arrive there after a few other stops.

The idea for the exhibit came when Halevy was on a visit to Ottawa in October 2015, at the request of then-Israeli ambassador to Canada Raphael Barak, “who wished to develop cooperation among cultural institutions from Canada and Israel.”

Visiting the museum while it was under renovation, Halevy saw the collection of bicycles it had in storage and learned that 2017 would mark 200 years since this invention.

“So we decided to focus our cooperation on a bicycle exhibition,” she said, “to use their collection and to add interactive exhibits – we are very experienced in this field – and the idea was that we will develop and build the whole exhibition in Jerusalem and later on it will travel to Ottawa.

“We were lucky to find two more partners, from Germany and Italy, that loved the concept of the exhibition and that wished to join us, so the tour will start in Jerusalem, will move to Bremen (July 2018) and then to Naples (July 2019) and will end in Ottawa (2020). We were also approached by other museums that wish to present the exhibition after the partners’ tour ends.”

Bloomfield signed a letter of intent with Ontario Science Centre last year. “The main idea is to develop our cooperation around the culture of innovation and to start developing this culture from an early age, as the future of both our economies is based today on innovation and entrepreneurship,” explained Halevy. “We plan to develop together an interactive exhibition and special programs for young children and youth and to connect them to each other. We wish to open the exhibition and launch the programs in 2018 – 70 years to the establishment of Israel. During my time in Toronto, I will have a meeting with the CEO and president of the Ontario Science Centre, Dr. Maurice Bitran, to discuss it more in-depth.”

As for other collaborations with Canadian institutions, Halevy said, “We might develop new collaborations on my tour, as I plan to visit my colleagues from Calgary and Vancouver.”

Jerusalem of Gold: Capital of Innovation & Tech is open to the public. Tickets are $45, though Wachtel said, “Students who are interested in coming to the event are welcome to register at our office and receive a free ticket.” For tickets, the speakers’ bios and other information, visit cfhu.org, email [email protected] or call 604-257-5133.

Pediatric leaps and bounds

Artist Pnina Granirer signs copies of her book Light Within the Shadows: An Artist’s Memoir at its May 25 launch at Lord Byng High School. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

***

In every community, there are folks who frequently capture the spotlight for their work while others quietly get things done behind the scenes. In our Kibitz & Schmooze profile, we try to highlight members of our community who are doing admirable and mention-worthy work out of view of the general public. If you know of profile subjects who fit this description, please email [email protected].

We all love a quick turnaround, but when it involves a transition from illness to health, it’s especially meaningful. That’s one of the things Erik Swartz loves about his career as a pediatrician at Richmond Hospital, where he attends complicated deliveries, looks after preemies in the neonatal intensive care unit and sees outpatients at the Child Health Centre. “Children get sick very quickly, but they also recover very quickly,” he notes quietly. “It’s very gratifying, as a doctor, to see how quickly their health improves.”

photo - Erik Swartz — Erik Swartz *(photo by Lauren Kramer)*

Swartz, 43, is a homegrown Vancouverite who attended Vancouver Talmud Torah, Eric Hamber Secondary and then studied pharmacology and medicine at the University of British Columbia. After graduating, he specialized in pediatrics in Edmonton and worked in that city until 2008.

It was a great time, he recalls wistfully. “Our friends there were like family, and the training I got there, the professional environment, was wonderful.”

Swartz, always one to say an enthusiastic “yes!” when opportunity comes a-knocking, also had a weekly segment on Edmonton’s Global Morning News, where he’d answer questions from parents worried about their kids’ health. “For awhile, I was a C-list celebrity,” he says with a laugh.

Family ties and a great job opportunity enticed him back to Vancouver, where he remains today with his wife and two daughters. At work, he wears a number of different hats. When he’s not at Richmond Hospital, you’ll find him at B.C. Children’s, where he works in the pediatric emergency department and attends inpatients at the clinical teaching units. He also heads pediatrics for Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care, a position that involves overseeing physicians in a wide geographic area – from Lions Gate and St. Paul’s hospitals to clinics further afield in Powell River and Bella Coola. “If a child comes into a hospital in Sechelt and there are issues, we troubleshoot what happened from an administrative point of view,” he explains.

There are “big picture” guys and “small picture” guys in every field, but Swartz is both. He helped bring the Pediatric Early Warning System, PEWS, to the Richmond Hospital emergency room a few years ago. Children admitted to the hospital receive a PEWS score, which determines the level of monitoring and care they’ll need. “It’s our attempt at figuring out which children are going to deteriorate before that happens, so we can mitigate the risk,” he explains. Swartz and his team were the first to use PEWS successfully in an ER setting in British Columbia and, possibly, in all of Canada.

“In a hospital that is not used to looking after many children, the PEWS score is a number that clearly identifies how sick that kid is,” he notes. “We assessed the confidence and knowledge levels of staff before we introduced PEWS and reassessed them after its introduction and, by comparing those results, we can see it’s been a wild success. Because of that, the whole province is wanting to introduce it.”

Swartz’s work is his passion, and his dedication to improving care on a systemic level is remarkable. He decompresses from his days training for half-marathons, but says his life is filled with “aha moments” that make everything seem purposeful and worthwhile. “I’m often called out in the middle of the night when a baby is born with a low heart rate and isn’t breathing,” he reflects. “To do the appropriate things in five to 10 minutes and see the improvements, you feel really satisfied that a few minutes of your life changed the trajectory of another family’s life forever.”

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.

* * *