Category: Local

Some superior senior solutions

Michael Geller, left, and Dr. Eric Cadesky. (photo by Binny Goldman)

Every year, we look to the Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum for inspiration and the 170 people gathered in the Wosk Auditorium at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on April 26 found it.

Debbie Cossever, representing the Jewish Seniors Alliance, and Claire Weiss of the L’Chaim Adult Day Centre were co-chairs of the partnered event, entitled YOLO: You Only Live Once – How Full is Your Cup?

Marshall Berger opened the afternoon’s program with a humorous song to the tune of “Side by Side” about a newly married aged couple. Cossever welcomed the audience, described the aims of JSA and invited newcomers to join the organization. JSA has approximately 700 members, including 34 affiliates representing more than 5,000 seniors in the Greater Vancouver area.

Cossever introduced Weiss, who explained that the afternoon was also a celebration of L’Chaim’s 30th anniversary, the group having started in the Beth Israel Youth Lounge in 1985 and then moving to the J in 1988. Last year, their staff delivered 1,933 client hours. She reminded those present that they are always looking for more members to join their “family.” The candles on a huge chocolate cake celebrating the 30 years were lit and all sang “Happy Anniversary,” which ended with calls of mazel tov!

Moderator Gloria Levi, a social services consultant, was then introduced. Levi has a master’s degree in public policy and is the author of Dealing with Memory Changes As You Grow Older and a series of booklets, Challenges of Later Life.

She introduced Michael Geller, an architect, planner, real estate consultant and property developer, who serves on the adjunct faculty of Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Sustainable Community Development. The talk was conducted in an interview format.

Geller’s topic was Lessons My Father Taught Me. He acquainted listeners with the unique and collaborative relationship he shared with his father, Sam Geller, who was one of the first members of the Jewish Senior Advisory Council (the original name of the JSA). He passed away 11 years ago at the age of 92.

Sam Geller was born in England and was a soldier in the Second World War who had survived being a prisoner of war. That occurrence colored his life. The very fact that he had survived made him happy and grateful to be alive and he never sought material things for happiness, often saying that things could have been so much worse. He moved to Vancouver from Toronto and enjoyed life at Langara Gardens, his grandchildren visiting him, doing Sudoku, crosswords, swimming and exercising daily. Then, after an emergency life-saving surgery, Geller said his father attempted to live each day to the fullest, saying, after all, it could very be his last.

Geller said his dad was a stoic, truly enjoying what he had rather than accumulating more items just to impress others who he may not care about in the first place. The lesson he received from his father was “Do what you enjoy, what makes you happy and continue contributing to the happiness of others, as that increases one’s own inner joy.” Geller recommended the book The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine.

The love and respect that Geller said he felt for his father was reflected on his face throughout the talk. Thoughts of his father swimming are with him as he does his own laps in the pool.

Levi then introduced Dr. Eric Cadesky, a family physician, assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, medical coordinator at Louis Brier Home and Hospital and a board member of Doctors of British Columbia. His presentation was entitled Getting It Just Right: How to Maximize Your Quality of Senior Life.

Cadesky disclosed that his mother-in-law was amused when she learned of his topic and asked, “What do you know about aging?” He explained that all of us age, no matter our number of years, but it is how we do it that is really important.

Cadesky believes that some of the choices we make act to decrease our quality and length of life and suggested that people live by three guidelines: Do enough. Not too much. Start now.

Enough means to be active, to walk or swim, as movement will lessen and ease pain. Enough also means to eat fresh, colorful foods that don’t require a microwave or have an expiry date. Enough means to socialize, learn a new language, do puzzles, these activities help to keep dementia at bay. Enough also means to use patience to deal with people who give you advice and knowing what advice to toss aside.

Not too much reminds us that anything that sounds too good to be true usually is. Certain vitamins (except for Vitamin D and B12) can be unhealthy to take in pill form. For example, post-menopausal women should not be taking calcium, and A, C, E, copper, zinc and selenium should be acquired from fresh food only. It is very important to be honest with your doctor when seeking medical advice. Sometimes “de-prescribing” is necessary – and an assessment can be made on all of your medications.

Start now means that we should be discussing with our doctors challenges that may be stopping us from doing what we want to be doing. Also, we generally do more for others than we choose to do for ourselves and we should start thinking of ourselves.

Cadesky advised us to have a realistic approach to life and not to fall for advertisements, which may be totally misleading. Scrutinize, be critical and intelligent in your choices and have confidence in your doctors, he said. Remember, too, he said, making others happy enriches our own happiness.

Audience questions were many. How can we ease a senior’s loneliness? Get involved in activities, he said, perhaps at JSA or L’Chaim. What are the benefits of fish oil? There is benefit in eating fresh fish but not in taking fish oil in pill form, he answered. There was also a discussion around the value of probiotics and alternative medicine. Cadesky recommended directing individual questions to your physician and stressed how critical it is to be honest with your doctor. A question, which made everyone laugh, was “Are you taking any new patients?”

Marilyn Berger, JSA president, and Serge Haber, JSA president emeritus, thanked the many volunteers who made the event possible. Special thanks went to the co-chairs, table sponsors and staff, Annica Carlsson, Karon Shear, Rita Propp, and to Stan Shear for videotaping the session, which will be posted to the JSA website (jsalliance.org).

Door prizes were then handed out to the delight of the recipients. Over tea and coffee and chocolate cake, as well as fresh fruit and veggies by Susy Segal’s Nava Catering, helped by Bagel Club volunteers Ophira Schwartzfeld, Harriet Corda and David Benbaruj, attendees felt we had experienced an extraordinary afternoon and had adhered to the advice of our two speakers and that adage of Dr. Charles Glassman, “Live your everyday extraordinary!”

Binny Goldman is a member of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver board.

Film on fate of Polish town

Filmmaker Haya Newman’s father Ozer Fuks grew up in Wolbrom, Poland. He escaped the town in 1939. (photo from wolbrom.pl)

The town of Wolbrom, Poland, had a population of around 10,000 in 1939; about half of the residents were Jewish. Because it was very close to the German border, it was occupied on the day the Second World War began with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939.

Haya Newman, a Vancouver teacher of Yiddish and now a filmmaker, has spent the past several years investigating what happened to the Jews of Wolbrom. On April 14, the evening before the community gathered to mark Yom Hashoah, Newman premièred her documentary Wolbrom: My Father’s Hometown in Poland before a packed audience at Temple Sholom.

Newman’s father, Ozer Fuks, came from the town, and trouble began well before the invasion of the Nazis. When Ozer was 4 years old, his father was murdered in front of his leather goods shop. In 1939, Fuks was in the Polish army and he managed to escape the Nazis through the Soviet Union.

photo - Filmmaker Haya Newman’s father Ozer Fuks grew up in Wolbrom, Poland. He escaped the town in 1939
Filmmaker Haya Newman’s father, Ozer Fuks. (photo from Haya Newman)

The project of assembling information on her father’s hometown began from almost nothing, given that her late father kept his past during the Holocaust secret.

In her attempts to gather information, Newman visited the few remaining members of her father’s family in Israel. When that branch of the family opted to leave Europe for Mandate Palestine, Newman said, the remaining family told them they were crazy, heading to a barren desert. They are the only members of her father’s family that survived.

Newman’s documentary, which was filmed by her husband, Tim Newman, follows her first to Israel and then to Wolbrom, in search of the missing pieces.

The outline of the story of Wolbrom’s Jewish residents is similar to that of Jews in thousands of other Polish villages, towns and cities.

The Jewish residents were rounded up by the Nazis and their collaborators. Some were shot on the spot while the rest were forced on a six-day march that circled back to the same town. The able-bodied who survived were forced into slave labor.

In 1941, about 8,000 Jews from the surrounding area were forced into the ghetto in Wolbrom. Eventually, some were transported to concentration camps. But most of them met a grisly fate closer to home.

A memorial was erected in 1988, apparently by residents of Wolbrom themselves, remembering the 4,500 Jews killed and buried in mass graves outside the town.

“This must be carved in Polish memory as it is carved in stone,” the memorial reads in Polish.

Walking to the site, Newman ran into locals who shared some of the stories that had come down from the older villagers.

Three holes were dug in a clearing, they said, and planks were placed across them. The Jews were ordered to undress and as they individually walked across the planks, they were shot and fell into the ravines. When the dirt was pushed over the bodies, one local recounted, the earth cracked from the movement of those still alive.

A story survives of a boy who did not. A youngster managed to escape through the forest as the murdering was going on. Police chased after him, calling out to local boys who were tending cows to catch him, which they did. An officer stood on the boy’s hands and shot him point blank.

Wolbom’s synagogue was turned into a pile of rubble during the war. The Jewish school is now an agricultural supply store – with Nazi graffiti covering the doors. While Newman said she was largely greeted with warmth during her visit, which took place in 2005, she sensed some defensiveness among Poles.

“The fact of the matter is that 90 percent of Polish Jews were killed and a lot had to do with the Polish population,” she said, adding that hundreds of Jews who had been in hiding and survived were killed after the war by Poles. There are 327 documented cases of killings, either individual murders or in pogroms in the immediate aftermath of the war, but estimates are that as many as 2,000 Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust were murdered after liberation.

The reactions from some of the locals caught on video are intriguing.

“There is nothing to look for,” said one man, “You can’t turn back time.”

Another told her, “Take it easy, it’s all in the past.”

Newman visited the home where her grandmother had lived and the woman who resided there at the time was somewhat nonchalant about the property’s provenance.

“When we bought the house, it was empty,” she said.

Other residents spoke of the horror and upset felt by non-Jewish people at the fate of their Jewish neighbors. One woman said her mother picked up Yiddish playing with the Jewish kids in town before the war. Others provided helpful information to direct Newman to the relevant sites of the former Jewish community.

Overall, the people of Wolbrom were open and very willing to speak with her, she said. “It seemed like they were waiting for me there.”

It has been 10 years since the trip that formed the backbone of the film and Newman noted that it is not only the survivors who are passing away, but the eyewitnesses who can add to the fullness of what happened during that period.

“Within five, 10 years, they are not going to be there anymore,” she said.

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz spoke after the screening and referenced the just-ended Pesach holiday to emphasize the need to tell the stories of the more recent past. Just as the Hagaddah marks the narrative of the Exodus, he said, today’s generation should be recording the narratives of this era.

“We need to tell our stories so our children can tell them the way we tell the Hagaddah,” he said. “Go home, write down and tell your story.”

Newman’s next projects include a documentary about Yiddish on the West Coast, a film about her mother’s hometown in Poland and another about Vancouver singer Claire Klein Osipov.

Pat Johnson is a Vancouver writer and principal in PRsuasiveMedia.com.

A moving Shoah memorial

Dozens of Vancouverites who survived the Holocaust were joined by their children, grandchildren and hundreds of others in a solemn, powerful commemoration for Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The catastrophic impact of the Holocaust on individuals, families, communities and the world was made evident through words and music, as stories of survival and loss, and their impacts on the living, were interspersed with Yiddish songs that recalled the civilization destroyed by the Nazis.

The annual event took place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on April 15, the eve of Yom Hashoah.

A procession of Holocaust survivors passed through the hushed auditorium, taking their places at the front of the hall and placing candles on a table before Chazzan Yaacov Orzech led the Kol Simcha Singers in a poignant El Male Rachamim, the prayer for the souls of the departed. Chaim Kornfeld led the room in the Kaddish.

Hymie Fox, a member of the second generation, told the audience that his parents, Jack and Freda Fuks (Fox), struggled to keep their experiences from their children, but the Holocaust permeated the family’s life in unanticipated ways.

“During the day, my mother could control her thoughts, her words, her stories,” Fox said. But at night, he would be awakened by his mother’s screams.

He wanted to ask about the trauma that caused the night terrors, he said, but his mother had devoted herself so completely to sheltering these memories from her children that to inquire would suggest that all her efforts to protect her children were for naught.

Fox’s father came from an extended family of more than 70 and was one of 11 children. Just Jack and one brother survived.

Though unspoken, his family’s Holocaust experience was especially present at holidays, when the small family of four would celebrate alone.

“Death was a part of our everyday life,” he said. “Yet, there was nobody to die.”

Kornfeld was the survivor speaker for the evening. He recalled his childhood in a village on the Czechoslovakian-Hungarian border, his early schooling and the strict adherence to Judaism with which he was raised, one that forbade the touching of an egg laid on the Sabbath until after sundown.

In March 1944, when the Nazis occupied the town, they rounded up the intelligentsia, Kornfeld assumes because it would be easier to control the masses if the heads of the community were removed.

A ghetto was established for the surrounding areas and, inevitably, Kornfeld was loaded onto a train car destined for Auschwitz.

An older inmate pointed out Josef Mengele and warned the young Kornfeld to tell the evil doctor that he was 18 years old and a farmer. A week later, Kornfeld was transported in a railcar destined for Mauthausen that was so packed people could only stand.

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp was a huge constellation of slave labor facilities, intended for the most “incorrigible political enemies of the Reich.” There, Kornfeld was put to work digging caves in a mountain where the Nazis constructed munitions and equipment, unassailable by Allied bombing.

At one point, he developed an abscess on his leg and was unable to walk. He was taken to the infirmary, which was an extremely dangerous situation in a dystopia where only those capable of work survived. One day, all patients capable of walking were ordered to leave the infirmary and a Polish man carried Kornfeld on his back, fearful of his fate should he remain in the infirmary. A German soldier ordered the man to put Kornfeld down. The officer put his hand toward his holster.

“I pleaded with the officer,” he said. “I begged for my life.”

He reminded the Nazi how effective he was as a worker and his life was spared. He was liberated from Mauthausen on May 5, 1945.

After a time on a kibbutz in Israel, Kornfeld came to Canada and learned of an opportunity as a Hebrew school principal in Saskatoon that allowed him to work evenings and study at university in the daytime. He became a lawyer, married and has four children.

Claire Klein Osipov sang and interpreted Yiddish songs that, while often melancholy in themselves, had added resonance as evidence of the people, culture and language that were almost completely extinguished in the Shoah. She was accompanied on piano by Wendy Bross Stuart who, with Ron Stuart, artistically produced the event. The Yom Hashoah Singers – a group of Jewish young people including members of the third generation – delivered a message of both mourning and hope with such songs as “Chai” and “The Partisan Song,” the defiant anthem of Jewish resistance that is an annual tradition on this day. Lisa Osipov Milton also sang, and Andrew Brown, associate principal viola with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, performed excerpts from Milton Barnes’ Lamentations of Jeremiah and Ernest Bloch’s Meditation.

Corinne Zimmerman, a vice-president of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, which presented the event with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the Jewish Community Centre and the Province of British Columbia, also spoke.

Moira Stilwell, member of the B.C. Legislature for Vancouver-Langara, said the day is a time to “learn, mourn and pledge, ‘Never again.’

“Yom Hashoah is not only about learning from history, but about passing those lessons on to the next generations,” she said.

Pat Johnson is a Vancouver writer and principal in PRsuasiveMedia.com.

 

Corrin retires

After 20 years, librarian Karen Corrin retired in March from the Waldman Library. (photo by Olga Livshin)

Karen Corrin retired from her position as a librarian at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library on March 30, after exactly 20 years with the library. She has been with the Waldman from the very beginning.

“There was always a small library at the old JCC,” she remembered. “I took my children there when they were young. The new library opened on the second floor of the new building in 1994. I was studying for my master’s at the library school at UBC then. My program was for two years, from 1993 to 1995, so I didn’t apply to work there, but I was at the opening. I remember Amos Oz speaking. He talked about the importance of words.”

With the new library space came new funding, so the Waldman could hire a librarian and a library technician. Corrin wasn’t among the new hires but when, a few months later, the position of the librarian opened again, her friends urged her to apply.

“I was still at school. I wanted to be a cataloguer when I graduated, but a job was a job, so I applied and got it.” She started working for the Waldman in April of 1995.

Her previous experience, both personal and professional, prepared her for this position. “I have always loved libraries,” she said with a smile. “I would go with my kids to a local library, and we would bring library books home for everyone.” Before she started her program at the University of British Columbia, she worked as a volunteer coordinator and in fundraising. She also had management skills and knew computers. All of this combined made her a perfect fit for her new duties as the Waldman librarian.

“Waldman is almost unique. There are so few JCC libraries in North America,” she lamented. “Most city libraries are funded by the governments, but Waldman is a community library. The funds come from fundraising. That’s why, from the beginning, it was run by volunteers.”

According to Corrin, there are about 30 regular volunteers at the Waldman, and she considers them the best PR people the library could have. “They care about the library, about books and about the community. They have time to chat to the patrons, to explain things, to help everyone find what they are looking for. The value of the library volunteers is great, it can’t be overrated. They are our gems.”

Corrin herself also worked as a volunteer, although not for the Waldman. “About my history with libraries,” she said, “I always volunteered at my children’s elementary schools in their school libraries. First for my son in Richmond and then for my daughter at [Vancouver] Talmud Torah.”

She emphasized that the volunteers who run the front desk of the Waldman liberate the librarians to do their main jobs – fundraising, acquisitions and event planning.

“There are several kinds of events,” she explained. “People would come in and ask us, why don’t we have a book club? So we would start a book club. We saw what events the community centre was running, and if there was something missing, something a library could supply. Another kind of event comes with the Canada Council grant. We would apply for a grant to pay a writer. If we got it, we could invite a writer for an event or a reading. We had a few children’s writers speaking at the library through this grant. We also had some book launches of local authors and sometimes poetry readings – those were often funded by Yosef Wosk. It all comes from what the community wants.”

Recently, the most profound community-inspired change at the Waldman was the introduction of ebooks. Before that, but also during Corrin’s term at the Waldman, it was computerizing the catalogue. “When I started, we still used cards,” she recalled. “Libraries are always reinventing themselves, but I think that the most important purpose of a library is to be a community hub, a meeting place. That’s why we ran educational courses and children’s events at the Waldman. There is always something going on. You’re never bored at the library.”

Surprisingly, the profession of a librarian wasn’t Corrin’s first choice. When she was young, she wanted to be a teacher. “I always thought a teacher has to be perfect. He is the one molding children’s minds. I was afraid I wasn’t perfect enough,” she recalled of her youthful dreams. But the library job gave her a lot of satisfaction, and now she has plans to be a teacher, too. She and her husband plan to travel to Spain as volunteer English teachers. They have already done this in Hong Kong, with high school students, and loved it.

“I have lots of other things I’d like to do now that I have more free time: walking, learning how to play piano, swimming outside at Kits pool. I might come back to the Waldman as a volunteer,” she mused.

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

We walk a little taller

Karon Shear, left, and Marilyn Berger. (photo by Binny Goldman)

Moshe Feldenkrais is quoted as saying, “When you know what you are doing, then you can do what you want!” How appropriate that some of us who spent the two nights of the Passover seders sitting at the table – or reclining, as directed – were now being taught to sit properly.

On April 13, about 50 people gathered at the Oakridge Seniors Centre (OSC) to attend an event co-hosted by Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver to learn the helpful movements of the Feldenkrais Method.

Alexandra Henriques, manager of OSC, graciously welcomed the audience and called upon JSA president Marilyn Berger, who said how impressed she was with the surroundings and the newsletter put out by OSC, and said she would come back to sample some of the lunches being offered at the centre. Berger then acquainted those gathered with the aims of JSA, mentioning its advocacy for the betterment of the quality of life for seniors and the peer-counseling courses being offered.

photo - Feldenkrais instructor Vita Kolodny
Feldenkrais instructor Vita Kolodny. (photo by Binny Goldman)

Berger then introduced Vita Kolodny, a nurse and a movement educator, who gently eased the audience through the mindful movements that can be used to ease back pain. By a quick questioning of the audience, we learned that almost all in attendance had suffered from back pain at one time or another.

We all sit so much during the day, doubling the stress placed on our back compared to when we stand, Kolodny explained. That is why we may prefer to stand when experiencing back pain.

Kolodny led those gathered through the correct way of positioning our bodies and ways of strengthening the skeletal muscles. It is important to reeducate our brains to the new ways of sitting by repeating the movements we learned, slowly and with awareness of how our whole body participates, with a rest in between the exercise.

A question was asked by Lou Segal: “Is it better to train one’s body to sit in the new and correct way, even while resting, so it becomes our natural way of sitting?” The answer was yes.

Dr. Norman Doidge’s book The Brain’s Way of Healing was recommended reading if attendees cared to learn more about neuroplasticity and the Feldenkrais Method.

Some constructive and supportive suggestions were made during the demonstration. For example, sit forward in a chair with feet flat on the floor. A pillow may be placed behind your back, remembering to maintain the arch in your back. As well, it helps to sit on an armless chair, stool or exercise ball while maintaining good balance.

Gyda Chud of JSA thanked Kolodny, using her penchant for alliteration, saying “Vita was vital, vivacious and vibrant in her presentation,” echoing the feelings of the audience, all of whom were visibly sitting upright, already making the changes suggested by Kolodny that afternoon.

Not only were our hearts smiling – as suggested in the theme – but our spines were, as well.

Discussions followed over dessert and hot drinks.

Berger, in thanking “the gregarious Gyda Chud and our ever incredible Karon Shear,” reminded everyone of the JSA Spring Forum on April 26, which will take place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. The theme is YOLO: You Only Live Once.

So, let’s live it tall!

Binny Goldman is a member of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver board.

A friendly, fun contest

Dr. Neil Pollock hands out some of the awards, as Larry Barzelai and student participants look on. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

Based on the numbers alone, the 27th Annual Public Speaking Contest on March 19 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver was a success. Participants: 120. Prizes: 30. Volunteer judges and moderators: 30.

Founded by Larry Barzelai in memory of his father, the event was co-sponsored by Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and State of Israel Bonds, with additional support from the J and the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library. As one of the volunteer judges, I witnessed a well-organized event that thrived on controlled chaos – almost all of those 120 student participants were accompanied by family and/or friends, and in the crowd were potential future speakers and their parents sussing out what participating next year might be like.

“My father, Morris Black, alav ha’shalom, would be very pleased to see the legacy he created,” Barzelai told the Independent.

Indeed, he would. Speakers were from grades 4 through 7, and they had their choice of topic from a list of 10, one of which was to choose their own. The most popular choices in the Grade 4 class I co-judged were to create a day to mark an event from Jewish history that is not currently being celebrated or commemorated; to describe an app that would enhance Jewish studies at your school; to explain why recycling is a Jewish concept; and to explain what you think is/are the best innovation(s) to have come out of Israel in recent years.

The enthusiasm of the competitions taking place in rooms around the J was corralled in the Wosk Auditorium afterward, and Alex Konvyes entertained the excited students and their guests while the results were being tallied. As each winner was announced, huge cheers went up. As some winners read their speeches, the auditorium came to a hush.

“Several parents in attendance this year had previously been public speaking contestants in their youth, so the legacy continues,” Barzelai noted.

While pleased that “the contest continues to be healthy” and that it is strongly supported by the principals and teachers of the three day schools – Vancouver Talmud Torah, Vancouver Hebrew Academy and Richmond Jewish Day School – Barzelai expressed concern about “the inability to attract students from Jewish supplementary schools and students that are not affiliated with Jewish schools. In former years, the contest had a wider cross section of students,” he said.

Barzelai credited Lissa Weinberger, JFGV manager of Jewish education and identity initiatives, for doing “all the work, with only occasional input from me. Her organizational skills are great. A few prospective judges dropped out close to the event, and she was able to recruit new ones at Shabbat services. Beware, synagogue attendees!”

2015 winners

In order of first, second and third, this year’s Public Speaking Contest winners in each contest were:

Hebrew: Omer Murad (Grade 4, VTT), Ofek Avitan (Grade 5, VHA), Yael David (Grade 4, VTT).

Grade 4: Rachel Marliss (RJDS), Mendel Bitton (VHA), Jesse Millman (VTT).

Grade 4: Zac Peter (VTT), Ellis Jackson (RJDS), Chase Dodek (VTT).

Grade 4: Aaron Guralnick (VTT), Cassie Porte (VTT), Devorah Leah Yeshayahu (VHA).

Grade 5: Ava Abramowich (VTT), Benjamin Gutman (VTT), Elana Robibo (VTT).

Grade 5: Sarale Bitton (VHA), Adin Tischler (VTT), Rubi Katz (VTT).

Grade 5: Alex Ritch (VTT), Shoshana Pollock (VTT), Tristan Georges (VTT).

Grade 6: Menachem Yeshayahu (VHA), Riva Berger (VHA), Mordechai Wolfson (VHA).

Grade 7: Eva Dobrovolska (VTT), Neev Mizrachi (VHA), Teah Bakonyi (VTT).

Grade 7: Avrel Festinger (VTT), Romy Ashkenazy (VHA), Elliot Pollock (VTT).

Message to Vancouver

Masha Shumatskaya’s visit here was part of an American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee tour of North American cities. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)

All Masha Shumatskaya wants is for the fighting to stop so she can go home. The 24-year-old Jewish Ukrainian English teacher was living and working happily in the city of Donetsk until April 2014, when pro-Russian separatists arrived two hours north of her hometown and declared their intention to form a people’s republic.

Until that moment, her life had been quite ordinary. Shumatskaya, a slender beauty with gentle eyes, was one of some 15,000 Jews in Donetsk, a city that boasts a Jewish community centre, a Chabad-run synagogue, a kosher café and various Jewish youth and cultural groups. “I never once experienced antisemitism growing up there,” she said. “I was never afraid to say I was a Jew.”

By May 2014, the pro-Russian separatists had moved into Donetsk and were threatening the safety of civilians. They bombed the Donetsk airport and the violence forced the closure of many schools and business offices in the city. Shumatskaya and her friends began making plans to move to other cities in Ukraine, such as Kiev, Odessa and Kharkov. She chose Kharkov, five hours’ drive from Donetsk, leaving her parents behind.

But Shumatskaya is one of the lucky ones. There are some 7,000 Jews still living in the war zone in Ukraine, many of them elderly. They’re dependent on the Joint Distribution Committee’s aid for food, medical support, rental subsidies and basic necessities.

Shumatskaya was in Vancouver recently as a guest of JDC, where she met with Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver representatives and media to tell her story. With her was Michael Novick, executive director of the American Jewish JDC in Bellevue, Wash. “The situation in Ukraine has become a high priority for the JDC,” he said. “It’s not just the Jews, mostly elderly, still living in the conflict zone, but also the 2,500 Jews who’ve fled and need assistance, and another 60,000 Jews we’ve been helping all along with basic humanitarian supplies.” The JDC estimates the cost of its monthly relief for these Jews to be more than $387,000 US.

The political unrest has had widespread effect. The Ukrainian economy has plummeted, the purchasing power of the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, has dropped more than 50 percent and inflation is between 25 and 30 percent. “A year ago, the average pension of an elderly person we were assisting was equivalent to $150 US. Today, that same pension is only worth $50 US,” Novick said. “People have lost their jobs, their businesses, and Jews who could previously take care of their own families are now coming to the JDC’s Hesed welfare centres.”

The JDC has 32 Hesed welfare centres in Ukraine, and 160 of them across the former Soviet Union. Among those Jews requiring their services in Ukraine, Novick said they represent “the poorest Jews on earth, living in really dire conditions. For them, the lifeline provided by Hesed in terms of supplemental, basic humanitarian assistance, is vital.”

He added that the emergency funds being supplied by JDC are not part of its budget. “But the situation in Ukraine is so dire that we’re not waiting – we’re simply spending money and hoping that individuals, federations and foundations that meet Masha and hear about this story will come to our assistance.”

Shumatskaya’s 10-day visit to North America included stops in Seattle, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York. Last year, JFGV made a $25,000 grant to JDC for its various programs.

As she looked to the future, Shumatskaya was uncertain what it would hold for her. “I feel attached to Ukraine and I feel some responsibility to help with what’s going on there,” she said. “If I had to leave Kharkov I don’t know where I’d go. But I know that I don’t want to become a war refugee again. Once in my life was quite enough.”

Her message to Vancouver’s Jewish community is twofold: a reminder that Jews are responsible for each other, and one of gratitude for the support she and her fellow Ukrainian Jews have all ready received.

“Without that support we literally would not have survived,” she said. “I wish we could finish this need for assistance fast, but it’s out of our hands. We’re praying every day that we can live in a peaceful country without the assistance provided by the JDC.”

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

An historic agreement

Left to right: Glen Hodges, manager, Mountain View Cemetery; Damian Koo, City of Vancouver legal services; Francie Connell, director, City of Vancouver legal services; Dr. Penny Ballem, city manager; Shirley Barnett, chair, MVJCRP committee; and Herb Silber, Schara Tzedeck Cemetery board. (photo from Mountain View Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project)

“Sometimes it takes awhile,” said Shirley Barnett, chair of the Mountain View Jewish Cemetery Restoration Project. But generally not 124 years! In 1891, Vancouver mayor David Oppenheimer, member of a prominent pioneer Jewish family, was approached by the growing Vancouver Jewish community to reserve a section within the city-owned Mountain View Cemetery to be consecrated and used exclusively for Jewish burials. At the time, when a Jewish person died, they were sent to Victoria, where the community had already established a cemetery.

Oppenheimer knew the small Jewish community of Vancouver well. The Gintzburgers, Weavers, Fleishmans, Golds and Goldblooms traveled in the same circles as the Oppenheimers. They had all emigrated from Western Europe, some via the United States, around the same time and all had prospered. Perhaps, as Barnett speculates, “they had even helped to get Mayor Oppenheimer elected.”

photo - David Oppenheimer, circa 1891
David Oppenheimer, circa 1891. (photo from Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, L.00179)

Oppenheimer was born in Germany in 1834, one of 10 children. He emigrated to New Orleans in 1848 with his sister and four of his brothers. Becoming a bookkeeper, and later a trader in the California gold rush, the Oppenheimers relocated to Sacramento, where David invested in real estate, and married his first wife Sara in 1857. After the gold rush, the Oppenheimer brothers moved to Victoria, establishing stores throughout British Columbia, catering to prospectors and settlers. Also building a real estate portfolio, they expanded their interests in Vancouver.

Although Malcolm MacLean was the first mayor of Vancouver, it was Oppenheimer who is remembered as the “Father of Vancouver.” In his four terms as mayor, from 1888-1891, he implemented many basic civic services: fire department, streetcars, water supply, utilities, schools and parks. He was also a philanthropist, a founding member of the YMCA, Vancouver Board of Trade, Vancouver Club and many charities.

Establishing a Jewish cemetery at Mountain View in 1892 was one of his many accomplishments. Without minutes of meetings or other documentation, however, the only evidence of this was a number of articles published over the years, and the records of burials.

In 2015, 124 years later, the City of Vancouver recognized the historical establishment of the Jewish section at Mountain View and, based on this, an oversight agreement with Schara Tzedeck Cemetery board was signed. The agreement confirms that the cemetery board has the right to oversee all interment and funeral services within that Jewish section.

Although Oppenheimer himself was buried in New York, many of his colleagues were laid to rest at Mountain View. Over the past two years, a restoration of this old cemetery been undertaken. Now complete, the rededication will take place on Sunday, May 3, at 1:15 p.m.

Cooking to fill others’ tables

Mere days before heading to Israel for a couple of weeks, Sara Ciacci, 90, called the Jewish Independent to make sure that I had received her new cookbook, Sara’s Kitchen: 90 Years of Devotion, 90 Recipes from the Heart (Gateway Rasmussen, 2015), and that I had all the information I needed about the Jewish Food Bank. For Ciacci, food and tzedaka are inextricably connected with life and community.

“Sara Ciacci is the beating heart of Temple Sholom’s kitchen,” reads the cookbook’s introduction. “From her kiddush lunches to the Sisterhood catering committee, second seders, women’s seders and the annual Yom Kippur break-the-fast, Sara has made a mission of nourishing her congregation since its earliest days. She is queen of all hamantashen, blintzes and latkes, and, every year, she and friend Leonor Etkin produce challot by the dozen for Temple Sholom’s High Holiday celebrations. Sara also makes the Vancouver Jewish Food Bank her priority, and all the hungry in our community will be the beneficiaries of all the money raised from the sale of Sara’s Kitchen.”

The Jewish Food Bank supports close to 400 Jewish individuals each year, according to its 2013-2014 report. Ciacci shared with the Jewish Independent an email she wrote to the Jewish Family Service Agency, which co-funds the food bank with Jewish Women International-B.C. and community donors. In it, she traces her memories of the service agency back 80 years, to the Depression era, when, like many families in the Jewish community, she writes, “my mother, two sisters and I needed help. I also remember Theresa Blumberg, the social worker who came to our home and found a reason to look in the food pantry, to talk with me and ask about school. She also found time to visit me during the 18 months that I was in the children’s preventorium for tuberculosis. It was Miss Blumberg who made sure that I had proper shoes and school supplies. My only possession from childhood is an 11th birthday book inscribed, ‘To my dear Sara, from Theresa Blumberg.’…

“My adult association with the Jewish Food Bank started in 1984 when our president, Jean Cohen, was helping a Jewish senior and found canned cat food in her cupboard. She did not have a cat. Jean brought the idea of a food bank for seniors and immigrants to our board. We then approached the Jewish Family Service Agency (JFSA) and an unofficial partnership was born. B’nai B’rith Women (now JWI-BC) would be responsible for collecting food and JFSA counselors chose the recipients. Hampers were provided based on a list that identified recipients only by a numbered card that specified their specific needs.”

Organized for a number of years by “two wonderful women who are no longer with us,” Renee Lifchus for BBW (now JWI-BC) and Isabel Lever from JFSA, “We packed the first hampers … in Safeway paper bags on the workbench in Carol Fader’s basement…. Hampers contained non-perishable food items that our members donated or collected from friends and family.”

In this tradition of community, several recipes in Sara’s Kitchen are Ciacci’s “by way of being begged, borrowed, copied, changed or invented.” The sources of these recipes are acknowledged, which adds to the community feel of this cookbook.

There are three chapters, starting with most everyone’s favorite meal: dessert. The second chapter comprises Passover recipes, the third, “and everything else.” There is an index for quick finds, a page on which to note your favorite recipes and their page number for easy reference, as well as a couple of pages to write in a few of your own recipes. Each section is headed by a full-color page of some of the treats waiting to be made.

The desserts section starts with a few tips, such as the need to chill cookie dough for at least an hour. Ginger snaps, blueberry drop cookies, and apple and honey cake bread pudding with butterscotch sauce are among the 36 pages of desserts to try after Passover.

In addition to the Passover conversion table – offering substitutes for flour and Graham cracker crumbs, for example – there is a spice guide, and pieces of advice offered throughout, such as how to ripen avocados more quickly and how to make radish roses. Appropriately, on page 90, is “Sara Ciacci’s Recipe for a Rich Full Life,” featuring nine wise ingredients.

Since I’m reviewing this cookbook in the Jewish Independent’s Passover edition, the recipes I tested are all kosher for the holiday: spinach vegetable kugel, red cabbage and almond crisps. Everything turned out according to plan, except the almond crisps, which were golden brown in about half the suggested time. I will remember this next time I make them because they are so good and easy to make, there will be a next time.

SPINACH VEGETABLE KUGEL

3 large carrots
10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
1 cup chicken [or vegetable] bouillon
3 eggs
3/4 cup matza meal
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat over to 350˚F. Grease an eight-inch square pan.

Cut up and grate carrots. Set aside. Chop spinach, onion and celery. Place in a two-quart saucepan. Add grated carrots and bouillon. Cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes until vegetables are soft.

Place the eggs and matza meal in a mixing bowl. Stir in cooked vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Spread the mixture evenly in the baking pan. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Cut into squares before serving.

RED CABBAGE

1 medium onion
1 average-size red cabbage
4 medium apples
1/4 cup canola oil or butter
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp (or more) red wine vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 or 4 whole cloves
1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)

Slice onion and sauté in oil/butter until translucent. Shred cabbage. Peel, core and slice up apples. Place cabbage in a pot and top with the sliced apples. Add water and remaining ingredients. Place on medium-low heat and simmer one hour (or longer), stirring occasionally until cabbage is tender.

Adjust vinegar/sugar to taste. Some lemon juice can be substituted for the vinegar.

ALMOND CRISPS
Perfect for Passover, these cookies also make a great gluten-free option at any dessert buffet.

3 cups sliced almonds with skins, lightly toasted
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg whites. at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix (do not beat) egg whites with sugar. Add vanilla. Stir in almonds.

Using a tablespoon, make mounds of mixture on cookie sheet and flatten into thin rounds with your fingers dipped in cold water or with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Turn off the oven and leave cookies in the oven with door open for 10 more minutes.

Makes 20 to 22 cookies.

For copies of Sara’s Kitchen, contact Darcy Billinkoff at [email protected].

Israelis skate into Vancouver

Canucks alum Eddie Hatoum, originally from Lebanon, with several Arab Israeli athletes. (photo from Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver)

Anyone who caught a glimpse of the 20 young hockey players during their week-long training camp in Vancouver March 4-10 probably didn’t think much of it. That is until they looked a little closer and saw the Canada Israel Hockey School (CIHS) logo all over their jerseys, jackets and bags.

In a joint venture of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the 10-to-14-year-old boys and girls were hosted by local families, trained by special guest coaches, toured around the city and treated to an unforgettable night by the Vancouver Canucks.

photo - Canada Israel Hockey School students listen to skating coach Barb Adelbaum.
Canada Israel Hockey School students listen to skating coach Barb Adelbaum. (photo from JCCGV)

Aside from its being a hockey school in a country where that sport is as foreign as olive trees are to Vancouver, CIHS is also special for using hockey as a cultural bridge: half the participants touring Vancouver were Jewish and half Arab. Here are a few stories that stood out from the week-long adventure.

Skate like NHLers: After arriving late the night before, the kids wasted no time hitting the ice at the Richmond Olympic Oval. Their first practice was led by Barb Adelbaum, power skating consultant for the Vancouver Canucks and various NHL players around the league. After taking them through some skating drills, Adelbaum noted that many of them had dull skate blades. She connected the team with Cyclone Taylor Sports in Vancouver and arranged to have all 20 pairs of skates sharpened, as well as a much-needed new stick for one of the goalies.

KDHS meets CIHS: On day two, thanks to a Purim-themed professional development day at King David High School, several hockey-playing students from the high school joined the CIHS kids on the ice. Instead of playing against each other, each team was formed from members of both schools, which made for a spirited community game.

photo - CIHS students with skating coach Barb Adelbaum
CIHS students with skating coach Barb Adelbaum. (photo from JCCGV)

Flying like a Raven: When the JCC found out that the CIHS squad included two girls, talks began with the Richmond Ravens Girls Hockey Association on bringing them all together. The Ravens happily obliged, donating one of their ice times to a scrimmage and practice with the Israelis. After fitting the two Israeli girls into Ravens jerseys, a boys versus girls game was played.

All they have is love: Sunday afternoon was spent touring the city. The group walked along the water from Granville Island to Kitsilano Beach. As they approached the beach, Virgin Radio was there, with a large balloon-like ball with “LOVE” written on it, offering folks the chance to be photographed with it. As the Israeli kids swarmed for their photo, the radio station reps were told of the special meaning behind the Jewish and Arab group, standing shoulder to shoulder, symbolizing the love of a game and being a team overcoming other boundaries.

CIHS meet JCC hockey: The Israeli athletes had the opportunity to see what Jewish community hockey was all about in Vancouver. They took in one of the final regular season games of the JCC’s Adult Ice Hockey League, providing a cheering section the local weekend warriors weren’t used to. After the game, the students had their chance to show the JCC league the skills they had brought from Israel, and to play a little hockey with them. Led by the generosity of Daniel and Ariel Wosk, several members of the JCC league donated money for new equipment for the CIHS players (more to come on that below). The Wosk brothers had visited CIHS in February 2014 as part of a hockey team tour and wanted to be involved when the Israelis came to Vancouver.

“The joy and passion that [Jewish] and Arab children were exhibiting together was a sign that with the right influences and opportunities there could be a better future there,” said Ariel. “When we heard that some of the kids were coming to Vancouver, we knew that we wanted to do something for them.”

“A highlight for me was not knowing who was who on the ice, yet their teamwork was excellent,” added Daniel of his time playing with the kids here. “It’s awesome to see their relationships grow in a positive direction … [that] will translate into their daily lives.”

photo - CIHS student being interviewed by CBCs Shane Foxman for Citizen Shane
CIHS student being interviewed by CBCs Shane Foxman for Citizen Shane. (photo from JCCGV)

The final day: The last full day of the CIHS visit had more highlights than an evening news report.

The morning started on the ice, with two members of the Vancouver Canucks Alumni Association as guest coaches, along with local hockey pro and JCC member Harrison May and his brother Kevin.

One of the alum, Eddie Hatoum, was born in Beirut and still speaks Arabic at home. Upon arriving and learning of the mix of the CIHS athletes, he entered the locker room and asked, “Who speaks Arabic?” in his native tongue. Half the room raised their hands with huge smiles on their faces. “We’ve done a lot of work with young groups as the Canucks alumni, but this really warms my heart,” Hatoum said, also smiling. “When I tell my siblings in Ottawa that I got on the ice with these kids, they won’t believe it.”

Hatoum was joined at the practice by B.J. (Blair) McDonald, who once scored 46 goals playing with Wayne Gretzky in the early 1980s.

After the practice, the group headed to Sports Exchange in Vancouver for a shopping spree. With the money from the JCC hockey league players in hand, along with several donations and great deals from the store managers, the team packed six bags’ worth of brand-new gear. The kids also had a chance to pick up some items of their own that they can’t get in Israel.

While it seemed almost impossible for the day to get any better, the CIHS kids and several of their host family friends were treated to an evening with the Canucks that started with a meeting with team president Trevor Linden and chief operating officer Victor de Bonis. De Bonis led the group on a tour of the facility in advance of the Canucks versus Anaheim Ducks game, which they watched from a hospitality suite, where they were offered a buffet dinner and all the popcorn they could eat. Visits to the suite from Adelbaum, McDonald, de Bonis and Canucks mascot Fin topped it all off.

The trip continues: The group said goodbye to Vancouver and hello to a week in Calgary before heading back to Israel. Several JCC league players will meet the kids again next February at an annual recreational hockey tournament in Israel. The Vancouver squad, as usual, will get on the ice with the CIHS for a couple of practices and continue their friendship.

Kyle Berger is Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver sports coordinator, and a freelance writer living in Richmond. For more information on this visit or future hockey trips to Israel, contact Berger at 604-638-7286.