Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver has raised $16.3 million to address the crisis in Israel and is currently distributing $2.8 million to support the needs of survivors and evacuees. This distribution is in addition to the $2.1 million already hard at work on the ground in Israel.
As Israel transitions from “emergency mode” to “emergency routine,” citizens nationwide are bracing for what is likely to be a long and challenging period. More than 300,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes and communities, their lives turned upside down, physically and emotionally. Their needs range from mental health support to temporary burial service (in unbearable numbers) to educational activities to daily necessities and more.
This second release of funds has gone to the following organizations in Israel.
Bring Them Back Home: psychological support for the families of those missing and held hostage.
Beit Issie Shapiro: treatment and respite for evacuees and survivors with disabilities.
Ramat Negev Regional Council: kitchen centres for evacuated communities and mobile shelters for Bedouin schools.
Shaar Hanegev Regional Council: respite and treatment for young adults and terror attack survivors.
Tel-Hai College: supporting students and alumni through stress and trauma teams and art centres.
Mashabim Community Stress Prevention Centre: mental health care for the northern communities.
Galila: medical kits for communities of the Eastern Galilee Cluster.
Federation thanks everyone who has contributed to the Israel Emergency Campaign for making these vital and urgent supports possible. If you have not yet had an opportunity to donate, visit jewishvancouver.com/israel-fund.
Lox Stock and Bagel’s new chef Lina Fainblum, left, and recently retired chef of 33 years Rose Carr, who will still be involved with the deli’s operations. (photo by Sam Margolis)
In June, Lox, Stock and Bagel deli at the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria was in something of a … well … pickle. A replacement needed to be found for Rose Carr, who had been overseeing the kitchen for 33 years, nearly the entirety of the deli’s existence, and about whom there are not enough superlatives to express her significance to both the local community and the customers the eatery serves.
Confronted with having to search for another chef, the JCCV advertised the vacancy. Many people applied but there was not a good fit, that is, a person who could fully appreciate the haimish (homelike) atmosphere of the deli and commit to staying in the position long term. The deli was forced to close.
Fortunately, the despair loyal patrons had to endure was short-lived, as Lina Fainblum, a member of the community and someone who loves cooking, came along.
“Everyone was thrilled,” said Larry Gontovnick, president of the JCCV. Lox, Stock and Bagel reopened in October, with a Wednesday to Friday schedule. Within three weeks, the deli resumed its original Tuesday to Friday hours.
“From looking pretty bad, it is going to what we wanted,” said Carr, who remains a beloved fixture at Lox, Stock and Bagel. “Lina is a mini miracle. Our prayers were answered.”
Although she has cut down her work in the kitchen, Carr is still on the board of the JCCV and runs the deli. The social aspect of the deli is very important, Gontovnick noted and, in this regard, Carr, who is also known as “Grandma Rose,” is in a class of her own.
“I’m in my third generation at the deli,” she said. “When I started here, people were bringing their little ones. Grandma Rose goes crazy when infants come in. And these kids grow up and come back and then bring in their little ones.
“We also have a lot of seniors who come in and they are treated with respect because we are all seniors,” she added.
When Carr arrived from Los Angeles in 1990, the JCCV at 3636 Shelbourne St. in Victoria’s Cedar Hill neighbourhood was in its fledgling stages, having just opened in June 1988. She introduced herself and has continued in her efforts to bring New York and Los Angeles deli food to Vancouver Islanders ever since.
At that time, the deli was located in a space at the centre that could only accommodate 15 people. Since then, it has expanded to seating 60 and, as Carr says, “many a day, we are full.”
Word of the wonderful dishes – such as knishes and kugel – spread shortly after the deli originally opened more than three decades ago. On one occasion, a group of firefighters came to test the exits of the JCCV. They wound up staying for lunch and told their friends and family, who were also eager to have a delicious and nearby nosh.
“It was recognized fairly early on that the customer base was non-Jews who lived in the area, enjoyed Jewish food and saw this as an affordable offering,” said Gontovnick. “It continues to this day. Most of our clients are non-Jewish. They love the place, the volunteers, the affordability and the quality of the food. It’s second to none. We have had a steady clientele. People come three or four times a week to eat.”
“People love us. They feel at home, they start clearing tables and they have been very generous with donations. They have been incredible accepting us as being Jewish.” added Carr. “After the Hamas attack, people whom we didn’t know would come into the JCC. They didn’t know anyone Jewish but would come to say they were praying for us. We are very well known and well liked in the community.”
As did many other establishments, Lox, Stock and Bagel faced challenges when COVID-19 struck in March 2020. The JCCV, at the time, decided to switch to takeout via the side door of the building. When the weather was balmy, they would set up tables outside.
One lasting result of the pandemic at the deli was the removal of a partition at the JCCV to open up more space and allow people to dine at tables further apart from one another.
Lox, Stock and Bagel, which received its name following a contest in the mid-1990s, serves all the standards one might expect at delis in much larger metropolitan areas: blintzes, matzah ball soup, pastrami on rye, jumbo hot dogs, pickled herring and gefilte fish. For dessert, there is the “Better Than Sex Chocolate Cake,” a favourite at the deli and at local fairs and, according to numerous sources, an item that lives up to its billing.
Lox, Stock and Bagel is open Tuesday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. From Dec. 5 to 15, it will be the site of Latke Mania. Hundreds of latkes will be prepared on several fryers for all those in the community to have a chance to mark Hanukkah with the traditional savoury treat.
“Our motto is: everyone’s welcome,” said Gontovnick. “This is nice place to come and just have a Jewish experience.”
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Book designer Barbi Braude and filmmaker Cory Bretz, both experienced in family history preservation, have launched FamilyMovieStoryBooks.com, to help “do-it-yourself family historians in crafting and publishing compelling family storybooks and producing cherished family movies.” (photo from Barbi Braude)
Irene Jacobson put the months of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic to good use, researching and publishing the history of her Jewish family’s long settlement in South Africa.
With that ambitious project completed, the retired schoolteacher thought it was time she put together her own story, which began in South Africa and carried on in the United States, where she raised three children and continued her career, after immigrating in 1977.
But, like many people, Jacobson did not feel she could write an autobiography on her own – all that ordering of memories, distinguishing between fact and anecdote, and selecting from photos and documents amassed over the years seemed overwhelming. The technological tools now available to make that task easier and the finished product more professional-looking are not widely known or may seem intimidating to the amateur.
So, Jacobson, who lives in the Chicago area, turned to a new online platform created for people like her by book designer Barbi Braude and filmmaker Cory Bretz of Vancouver, both experienced in family history preservation.
The website FamilyMovieStoryBooks.com, which they launched after a year’s development, is intended to enable anyone to craft an heirloom that they can feel proud to hand down to future generations, say Braude and Bretz.
They believe that telling stories in an appealing and lasting format, whether book, film or both, provides a sense of fulfillment to the author and can inspire their descendants.
A few examples of books about Vancouverites – Ben Dayson, the Nemetz family and Lou Segal – with which FamilyMovieStoryBooks has helped. (photo from Barbi Braude)
The platform can serve as a step-by-step guide for those who want to work independently, or Braude and Bretz can arrange to have clients accompanied as much or as little as they want throughout the process.
If someone already has written a draft or taken home videos, they can be polished into a finished product, or the pair will take on the project from the very beginning, doing interviews online and going through possible imagery, shaping the material for the client.
“This innovative website aids do-it-yourself family historians in crafting and publishing compelling family storybooks and producing cherished family movies,” said Bretz. “The platform offers an array of valuable resources, including unwavering support, educational courses, interactive workshops led by experts, and professional design services.” Prospective users can take a free trial, and initial consultation is available without charge.
Jacobson had worked with Braude on her first book. “It’s fabulous. It is about my great-grandparents who went to South Africa with their four adult children, of whom one was my grandmother. We could not go further back than the great-grandparents, so we went forward and did a history book of the four siblings, their lives and descendants.”
The book about the Mierowsky family on her mother’s side, who were from Lithuania, is more than 400 pages long, with numerous photos. A copy was deposited with the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia.
“The book I’m doing now through FamilyMovieStoryBooks is much less complicated and much smaller,” said Jacobson. “It is basically my biography, which I had written over a few years. As I’m older I felt I needed to get it done soon and in a simpler fashion. It’s my memories in chronological order.”
Jacobson (née Albert) was born in Port Elizabeth, a fifth-generation South African on her paternal side. She was a high school teacher there.
She and her husband came to the United States in 1977, where her children were born. Jacobson taught middle-school math and science at Jewish day schools.
“As my mother’s family is in my first book, I am going to have a small chapter, as an addendum, on my father’s family in my biography,” Jacobson said. After her autobiography is finished, she hopes to do a more comprehensive story of her Albert ancestors.
“I’m doing this book for me and my children and grandchildren. I will give copies to two friends I grew up with, as their children might find it interesting,” Jacobson said. “My first book is about how my parents’ generation grew up in South Africa. Mine is about how I grew up in South Africa and then my life in the US. I think everyone should do something for their family, especially if they have an interesting story to tell. Stories should be told, not lost.”
Jacobson chose FamilyMovieStoryBooks because it’s easy and affordable. “Barbi brainstormed a theme, so that helped me organize my thoughts. She also told me how to organize my photos to help me make choosing them easier,” said Jacobson.
“I am not particularly computer literate, but getting everything online has been easy to do. I could not find another place that did the same quality work. I wanted photos and more design. My brother-in-law worked on his memoirs with a ghost writer and it’s very dull with no design or photos. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product, which is still a few months away, as I do what I can between traveling.
Braude said all communications with Jacobson are done remotely using Zoom for conversations and Google Drive for sharing chapters and images.
“At first I had to tutor Irene on how to use Google Drive. We are always happy to meet clients where their skill sets are computer-wise. We have the patience to empower our clients to use the internet.”
Working on the design remotely is fairly straightforward, said Braude, who employs the user-friendly Adobe Cloud for proofing feedback. FamilyMovieStoryBooks aims to serve people worldwide.
A peek inside the book about Ben Dayson shows what FamilyMovieStoryBooks can do. (photo from Barbi Braude)
Clients receive a high-quality hardcover book with glossy pages that reproduce photos and documents like birth certificates, immigration papers and letters in the best definition.
The movies directed by Bretz have the advantage of preserving the living presence and voice of the storyteller, he said. “It’s surprising how little people at shivas know about their deceased relative.”
Distance has not precluded close collaboration, both Jacobson and Braude attest. “A wonderful relationship does form between FamilyMovieStoryBooks and our clients,” said Braude, who is also currently designing a book for a Vancouver family. “The story is a collaboration between a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor and her daughter. The daughter said to me the other day, ‘What am I going to do when we complete this project? I have so enjoyed working with you as much as seeing my mom’s story come to life.’”
Asked if the platform can be especially valuable to Jewish families in general, Braude replied, “Absolutely! I’m reminded of a quote by Sue Monk Kidd from her book The Secret Life of Bees. It goes like this: ‘Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.’
“Jews have lived in challenging times. We are the sum of our family legacy and life’s experiences. What better gift to give to future generations than the stories that made their families who they are,” said Braude.
Bretz commented that such a meaningful experience is “a testament to the power of bridging generations through the art of storytelling.” The FamilyMovieStoryBooks platform shares publishing and cinematic know-how with the general public that can transform what might be soon-forgotten family lore into a cherished artifact, he said. Along the way, family members wherever they are can bond and share a laugh or tear while exploring their common heritage, made possible through an innovative digital environment.
Janice Arnoldis a freelance writer living in Summerland, BC.
On Nov. 5, Dr. Joshua Grayson, a genealogist specializing in Jewish families from Central and Eastern Europe, was the lead-off speaker for the 2023-24 L’dor V’dor (Generation to Generation) lecture series on Zoom, organized by Victoria’s Kolot Mayim Reform Temple.
Grayson is the founder of Lost Roots Family History, a website, virtual museum and research service devoted to helping Jewish families reconnect with their roots, discover their past, engage with the present and preserve their heritage for the future.
Titled In Search of Lost Roots, Grayson’s talk elaborated on how he was able to trace his family history across three-and-a-half centuries, or 10 generations, to approximately 1650. Proficient in many historical scripts, he has conducted genealogical research in German, Russian, Polish, Hebrew, Yiddish, French and Spanish.
“There’s truly an astonishing amount of information out there,” Grayson said. “With a combination of computer research, language skills, a lot of perseverance and just the right amount of luck, the depth of information you can find about your family history can be simply astounding.”
Dr. Joshua Grayson, founder of Lost Roots Family History, launched this season’s L’dor V’dor lecture series, organized by Victoria’s Kolot Mayim Reform Temple. (photo from Kolot Mayim)
Grayson’s interest in family history started at a young age, when visiting his grandparents’ home and being captivated by a photo at the bottom of their staircase. Taken in 1904, it depicted his grandfather’s grandparents and the first five of their 10 children, including his great-grandmother at the age of 11.
“To my childish imagination, I was sure I could almost feel their presence looking over me and their other descendants. At times like these, I would muse at how my close connection with my grandfather was similar to his connection with the people in this photograph. And so on down the unbroken chain of time,” he said.
As a child, Grayson remembers, he was fascinated by the notion of all the people to whom a person could be related.
He recounted later honing his research skills at the University of Southern California, where he earned a PhD in historical musicology – skills, he said, that are particularly well suited to genealogy. They include gathering historical evidence, evaluating sources and communicating ideas.
When he typed in the name of one of section of his ancestry, Penzias, into a database on the Gesher Galicia website, Grayson said, “I quickly discovered records from as early as 1805 because our family name happens to be unique. I felt fairly sure that these were long forgotten family members.”
He said, “These databases allowed me to accomplish in just a few minutes what would otherwise have taken months or years of digging through archives, scanning old record books or microfilms one record at a time.”
As a side note, Grayson stressed that creativity with spelling can be helpful, as names were not written in a standardized way until much later into the 19th century and even into the early 20th century. Although most databases use technology to automatically include names that are spelled in similar ways, the technology is not perfect.
The Zoom lecture brought to light the remarkable and inventive methods of deduction Grayson employed to ascertain his own ancestry – from an egg merchant to a Cubist painter – and the sorts of investigations he performs to uncover the family histories of those who request his services, all while conveying an infectious enthusiasm for Jewish genealogy.
As an example of his research, Grayson spoke about a client who knew nothing of her family history other than her father was from Lublin and lost his entire family in the Holocaust. Grayson was able to trace the client’s father’s family back to 1750 and followed her family members as they moved around rural Poland and to Lublin in the 1880s. He discovered relatives who fought against the Nazis with the underground resistance and, ultimately, connected her with previously unknown family members on five continents.
Grayson is currently in the final stages of constructing a text database of the names of people buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague. The database is based on two 19th-century efforts to preserve names on the tombstones, one of which was published in a book in 1880 and the other of which appears on the website of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
Commissioned by E. Randol Schoenberg, the former president of Holocaust Museum LA, formerly the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, Grayson’s database will cover the names, death dates and, in some cases, biographical details of approximately 15,000 Jews who died in Prague between 1437 and 1787.
“In my experience,” said Grayson, “I’ve found that finding out about family history can be a great way to get people more involved in Judaism. Understanding where we came from and the historical forces that shaped our own families can be a powerful motivator to exploring our Jewish identity.”
Kolot Mayim’s next Zoom speaker will be Dr. Jennifer Caplan, associate professor and chair of Judaic studies at the University of Cincinnati and author of Funny, You Don’t Look Funny. Her talk – titled Jewish Humour from the Silent Generation to Millennials – will take place on Dec. 3, at 11 a.m. To register, and for the full lineup of speakers, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Cooking Tips for Desperate Fishwives: An Island Memoir by Margot Fedoruk (Heritage House Publishing) won a silver in the Culinary Narrative category at the 2023 Taste Canada Awards.
Margot Fedoruk won a silver in the Culinary Narrative category at the 2023 Taste Canada Awards for Cooking Tips for Desperate Fishwives: An Island Memoir. (photo by Vital Image Photography)
On Oct. 30, Taste Canada announced the winners of the 26th annual prizes during a soirée at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, hosted by Ali Hassan. The shortlists were announced in June, listing finalists in five categories in both French and English. Taste Canada is Canada’s only national, bilingual food writing awards.
Cooking Tips for Desperate Fishwives has been featured in the Jewish Independent(jewishindependent.ca/reading-expands-experience), Stir Vancouver, Winnipeg Free Press, BC BookWorldand other outlets. Fedoruk participated in the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival in February 2023.
Part love story, part survival story, part meditation on family dysfunction, Fedoruk’s offbeat memoir chronicles the unpredictable life of a young wife and mother on a tiny BC island.
True to its title, the memoir is infused with recipes, from the hearty Eastern European fare of Margot’s childhood to more adventurous coastal BC cuisine. The narrative follows 23-year-old Margot when she left Winnipeg and her volatile Slavic-Jewish family for the wilds of British Columbia and fell in love with a sea urchin diver. Determined not to repeat the same mistakes as she had witnessed during her parents’ marriage, Margot paints a portrait of a modern-day fishwife left behind to keep the home fires burning.
Fedoruk is a writer, book reviewer and entrepreneur, whose work has been published in the Globe and Mail, Quill & Quire, BC BookWorld, Ormbsy Review and Portal. She holds a BA from the University of Winnipeg and a BA from Vancouver Island University, where she majored in creative writing. She was awarded the Barry Broadfoot Award for creative nonfiction and journalism and a Meadowlarks Award for fiction, both from Vancouver Island University.
Visit heritagehouse.ca for more information about Cooking Tips for Desperate Fishwives, Fedoruk or Heritage House. For more details about the Taste Canada Awards, visit tastecanada.org.
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Journalist Marsha Lederman won a 2023 Webster Award for “Arts in the Crosshairs.” (photo by Ben Nelms / Penguin Random House)
Western arts correspondent for the Globe and MailMarsha Lederman received the Excellence in Arts and Culture Reporting Award for the article “U.S.-style book bans could happen in Canada too, if we’re not careful,” or “Arts in the Crosshairs,” at the 2023 Webster Awards.
The winners in the 14 categories of the 2023 Webster Awards were announced Nov. 15 during a live in-person event hosted by CHEK TV’s Paul Haysom and Gloria Macarenko from CBC Radio, who also conducted a fireside chat with the featured guest, veteran anchor/journalist Lisa LaFlamme. To see who the finalists and winners were of the 2023 Webster Awards, and to view the finalists’ work, visit jackwebster.com.
BC cabinet minister Selina Robinson speaks Nov. 5 at Schara Tzedeck Synagogue. Other panelists at the B’nai Brith Canada event that day were, left to right, Schara Tzedeck’s Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, BC United MLA Michael Lee and Aron Csaplaros, BC regional manager for B’nai Brith. (photo by Pat Johnson)
British Columbia is to become only the second province in Canada to mandate Holocaust education in the school curriculum. In a surprise announcement at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver on Oct. 30, BC Premier David Eby was flanked by Jewish community leaders and survivors of the Holocaust when he said that Grade 10 students will be required to learn about the Holocaust, beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
Until now, it was possible for a student to graduate from the school system in British Columbia without ever having encountered the subject. Teachers have discretion to include the Holocaust in social studies classes and an elective on genocide is available in some schools, but there was no universally mandated requirement for learning about the Shoah. Ontario recently instituted mandatory Holocaust education at the Grade 6 level, becoming the first province in the country to make the subject compulsory.
Speaking at an event on Nov. 5, BC cabinet minister Selina Robinson recounted how the milestone decision unfolded. She credits former BC education minister (now minister of transportation and infrastructure) Rob Fleming with launching the idea in 2018. Fleming came to Robinson and asked if she knew that Holocaust education was not mandatory.
“Just like many, many others, I was surprised to learn that,” said Robinson. “He started the ball rolling.”
The COVID pandemic derailed the plans, as educators and administrators struggled to simply deliver learning to kids.
It was while reading Vancouver author Marsha Lederman’s book Kiss the Red Stairs that Robinson, who is the province’s minister of post-secondary education and future skills, wondered what had happened with Fleming’s idea.
“So, I picked up the phone and I called Rachna [Singh, the current minister of education] and then I called Rob Fleming and then I called a couple of my other colleagues who had an interest in seeing this move forward,” she recounted. “And then I called the premier and I said, David, this project that we started is moving at a snail’s pace and this needs to get done. We cannot wait any longer. I want to give kudos to our premier, to David Eby. He said, I’m on it.”
Robinson was speaking at Schara Tzedeck Synagogue on Sunday as part of a panel on antisemitism and Holocaust education organized by B’nai Brith Canada. Numerous members of the legislature, as well as mayors, councilors and school trustees from around the province joined the event virtually. Robinson’s fellow panelists were BC United MLA Michael Lee and Schara Tzedeck’s Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt. Aron Csaplaros, BC regional manager for B’nai Brith Canada, moderated, with senior leaders from B’nai Brith beaming in from Eastern Canada.
From Robinson’s post-COVID jumpstarting of the Holocaust education planning, things leapt forward, she said.
“It really moved, I would say, from June until probably the beginning of September, at lightning speed – and anyone who’s ever had to work with government knows that nothing ever moves at lightning speed,” Robinson said. “So, I want to give kudos to our partners at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and CIJA [the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs] and [the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver] for coming together and working in partnership. I know that B’nai Brith is new on the scene [in BC] and this is a very important piece, but I also think it’s really important to recognize those that have been working … for a number of years to make this happen.”
The timing of the announcement, in the weeks after the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel and in the midst of a massive spike in antisemitism worldwide, was coincidental. The issues, though, are related.
Robinson said the provincial government has been vigilant in monitoring antisemitism and potential for violence in British Columbia. She credited Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth for spearheading the response.
“He called me every single day from Oct. 7 for about 10 days, to report in to me about what was happening on the ground,” she said. In addition to her official role with advanced education, Robinson said she is known among colleagues as “the Jew in the crew,” as the provincial elected official who is most publicly visible in her Jewishness.
On Nov. 1, Robinson convened a meeting of the heads of the 25 post-secondary institutions in the province.
“I got agreement from all 25 presidents that they would do everything within their power to make sure that everyone felt safe on their campuses,” she said. “I don’t think solving that is going to be an easy task, but it’s absolutely a requirement of all of them, because, in this province and in this country, we believe that everybody has the right to be who they are and to feel safe and, if it’s not happening, then we need to fix it.”
A bipartisan love-in that has been going on between Robinson and Lee, who represents Vancouver-Langara (the provincial constituency that includes many of Vancouver’s Jewish institutions and residents), continued Sunday in the obvious respect and affection between the two MLAs despite party lines. Lee made the news last week after rising in the house to give a personal tribute to Robinson’s strength as a leader who is Jewish in this challenging time and Robinson reciprocated kind words at the B’nai Brith event.
“Michael Lee has been a steadfast supporter, not just in this particular situation,” she said. “But also [to me] as a Jewish person who is having her own experience as a Jew around what is happening.”
Robinson spoke emotionally about the impacts of current events on her family, which includes her Israeli soon-to-be son-in-law, who became a permanent resident of Canada at the end of September.
Making Holocaust education a mandatory part of the province’s education curriculum has been a dream of the people at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre since the organization was founded, in 1994, according to Nina Krieger, the VHEC’s executive director.
“I think stars aligned and David Eby acknowledged Selina Robinson as being a key driving force in this initiative,” Krieger told the Independent.
A process of consultation will now begin and Krieger expects her agency will be central to that work, identifying and providing resources to help craft the new curriculum, which is likely to be a component of the Social Studies 10 learning outcomes.
“Certainly we bring a wealth of experience and a roster of programs and resources and best practices that will be relevant to the curriculum development process,” she said. “We are also poised to work with the minister of education to play whatever role is needed for that process. Also, we know the implementation and resource tools and training that teachers are going to need will be really important as well, so we’re looking forward to supporting the province and the teachers directly with that.”
The Jewish Federation and CIJA will continue to be engaged with the planning for mandatory Holocaust education. Both organizations issued statements after the announcement Oct. 30.
“When left unchecked, antisemitism culminates in some of the darkest chapters in human history. By learning from the Holocaust, we honour the memories of its victims and, we hope, contribute to preventing future tragedies,” said Ezra Shanken, Federation’s chief executive officer. “Today’s announcement shows the BC government’s commitment to creating a safer society for all.”
“Education is key to ensuring that our children learn to combat hate and that the Jewish community can live in a safer province,” said Nico Slobinsky, CIJA’s vice-president for the Pacific Region. “We look forward to working with the BC government on implementing mandatory Holocaust education in our province’s K-12 curriculum.”
At Sunday’s event, Marvin Rotrand, national director of B’nai Brith’s League of Human Rights, speaking virtually from Montreal, noted that 15 US states have some form of mandatory Holocaust education – and early indications from studies in those jurisdictions indicate a decrease in hate crimes not only toward Jews but other groups as well.
On Nov. 1, about 200 Jewish students and their supporters engaged in a low-key demonstration, with many holding posters of kidnapped Israelis. (photo by Pat Johnson)
When the new president of the University of British Columbia arrived for his first day on the job Nov. 1, he already had a full plate, including a 9 a.m. meeting with Jewish representatives and an urgent letter from community organizations expressing concerns about the safety of Jewish students on campus.
Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon starts his tenure at a contentious time, as Jewish, pro-Israel, anti-Israel and other students engage, sometimes constructively but often much less so, with events taking place in the Middle East.
Rob Philipp, executive director of Hillel BC, was joined by his assistant executive director, Ohad Gavrieli, and Nico Slobinsky, Pacific region vice-president for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, at the meeting with Bacon. Afterward, Philipp told the Independent the university has been on the right track but needs guidance.
“Generally speaking, I would say UBC has been very supportive of us, to the best of their ability,” he said, noting that Bacon’s welcoming of Jewish representatives is a good sign. “I had one of the very first meetings with him, so that speaks to how important this is on their radar.”
The university administration has been “somewhat consistent,” said Philipp.
“We are seeing support,” he said. “We don’t always see the right action, so that’s where we have to help and guide them.”
The larger issues, he said, are the serious affronts to civility on campus during the weeks since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“There are so many red lines being crossed right now, it’s incredible,” said Philipp. “It seems OK now to kill civilians, to murder people for the ‘just’ cause and it keeps spilling over. People aren’t always understanding the details behind it all, so it’s as difficult a time as I have ever seen in this community – and it’s not just UBC, it’s all the university campuses all over North America.”
Hours after the meeting with the university president, about 200 Jewish students and their supporters engaged in a low-key demonstration, walking from Hillel House to the student union building, with many marchers holding posters of kidnapped Israelis. A student entered the building to deliver a letter to the president of the student government, the Alma Mater Society, expressing the group’s collective concerns. An emailed response to the letter from the AMS president was characterized by Hillel officials as positive.
Jewish students and their supporters at the University of British Columbia on Nov. 1. (photo by Pat Johnson)
A Jewish student leader from Simon Fraser University who asked that her name not be published said she came to the rally to protest the antisemitism in the world and, specifically, the lack of regard among student bodies to recognize what happened in Israel.
“It’s an extremely complex conflict that isn’t just black-and-white and I wish people would pay more attention or just seek a more nuanced view on the subject,” she said, adding that the climate at Simon Fraser does not seem as negative as at UBC, but that could change. In the last couple of years, the student government at SFU has demonstrated unbalanced, anti-Israel approaches, including adopting a motion on Israel and Palestine for which they consulted what the student called “tokenized [Jewish] fringe groups” while excluding Hillel and other mainstream Jewish voices.
Other participants at the rally said they felt the need to attend to be seen, and to register empathy with Israelis overseas and with Jewish students in Canada.
“We are here today so UBC acknowledges what’s going on in Israel – the kidnapped kids, elderly, children, women, Israelis – and what happened on Oct. 7,” said a 21-year-old Israeli-born woman who is not a student but came to support her brother, who is.
“I’m feeling very alone and feeling a lack of empathy and sympathy with what’s going on in Israel, feeling like people are too quick to comment sometimes,” she added.
Several non-Jewish students participated in the rally.
“I’m here because even though I’m not Jewish, I have a lot of Jewish friends and I believe the Hamas attacks against Israel are terrorism,” said fourth-year political science student Joe Latam. “The university’s attitude towards these literal terrorist organizations has been completely inadequate and they need to take better action.… The Jewish people have been systematically discriminated against for thousands of years and Israel is the one place where they can feel safe.”
Zara Nybo, who is also not Jewish, was motivated in part because her partner is Jewish and she sees the impact of events on him and his family.
“It’s important for me to stand up against terrorism and help spread the word that there are still innocent hostages who have been taken out of their home country,” she said. “We see a lot on the news that is politicized and very emotionally heartbreaking. I’m not here to say that Palestinian citizens have not died in this war, but I am here to say that death is death and we need to be able to recognize that heartbreak is heartbreak, so we are all here together.”
A first-year student who is Sikh called statements he has seen from peers and student leaders “frankly shameful.”
“I think there are many international students here that have been espousing hate, that have been espousing terrorist beliefs,” he said. “They have been saying they are pro-Hamas, they are saying [the Oct. 7 attacks were] a ‘beautiful act of resistance.’ I think we should double-check whether they deserve to be students at our wonderful university institutions.”
Bar Wolpert, an Israeli doing a one-semester landscape architecture exchange at UBC, said he was accosted by someone who tried to “shame” him as an Israeli.
“He just approached me out of the blue,” said Wolpert. “He was [aiming] his camera in front of my face.”
The person asked Wolpert if he supports “genocide.”
“I’m holding a [poster of a] kidnapped woman,” he said. “I am Israeli. I have a loss. So, please, first, respect my loss, respect my grief. And we are all standing here with many signs of kidnapped people and dead people, that is what is mattering for us right now, so before you are attacking me, respect my loss.”
Also at the rally were two brothers, Israeli high school students, whose parents sent them to stay with Canadian friends and family during the conflict.
A mother, walking with her young adult daughter, teared up when she realized that the poster she was carrying of a 21-year-old French-Israeli hostage could have been her own daughter.
“I can understand the pain,” said Evelyn Fichmann. “I think anybody can understand the pain.”
As he walked alongside scores of Jewish students and allies, a UBC student said the event gave him much-needed optimism.
“It really gave me some hope about unity,” he said.
Rabbi Dr. Michael Berenbaum spoke at Congregation Schara Tzedeck on Nov. 5. He said: “We can’t raise a generation that is scared of being Jewish.” (photo from kolotmanagement.com)
The mood at Congregation Schara Tzedeck was solemn Sunday night, Nov. 5, when parents, grandparents and students from the Jewish community gathered to listen to Rabbi Dr. Michael Berenbaum, an American professor who is considered one of the world’s preeminent Holocaust scholars. Berenbaum came to discuss the importance of campus conversations, and specifically how to handle the critics of Israel who are voicing their support of Palestinians vociferously on college campuses throughout Canada and the United States.
Until the Oct. 7 terror attacks, Berenbaum said, our children had never known serious difficulty as Jews. “They’ve had the privilege of living in the greatest time to be Jewish, maybe in the history of the Jewish people,” he said. “Now, we’re asking our kids to toughen up, because they’re now going to face difficulty, pain, anguish and danger – physical or intellectual – for being Jews. This is our test of the hour, and it comes with the shattering of easily held assumptions about Jewish life.”
The Oct. 7 pogrom, he said, was worse than the 1906 Kishinev pogrom and worse than Kristallnacht in 1938 in terms of the number of Jews killed and the vehemence with which they were killed. “We believed Israel was founded to protect its people from these pogroms, and yet we were not safe.”
Berenbaum said it is crucial for Jewish students to be armed with accurate knowledge so they can counter the anti-Israel rhetoric they hear on campus. That means refuting claims that Israel is committing genocide. “Understand that this is war, and it has both direct and collateral consequences,” he said. “You cannot deal with war at this point without significant civilian casualties. While Israel is taking significant steps to avoid that, it’s unavoidable.” He noted that, since March 2011, the conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of 500,000 people – “and the rest of the world has heard nothing about this.”
On the claim that Israel is “occupying Gaza,” he clarified that Israel left Gaza in 2005, displacing 8,000 settlers so that Gazans would take control of their lives. “Israel is the only country in the world who has sacrificed land for normalization. We gave up Sinai for normalization with Egypt, and the reason the invasion happened now was because it appeared Saudi Arabia would establish a certain kind of peace with Israel,” he said. “Normalization represented a danger to the lateral forces in the region and that’s why this broke out now.”
On the claim that “Jews are colonizers,” he noted that Jews have never forsaken their connection to the land of Israel, and that there have been five cities with a permanent Jewish settlement in Israel. “When they came to Israel, they settled and worked the land, which is the opposite of colonization,” he said. “They didn’t take its resources and export it elsewhere.”
He noted that Palestinians were offered a state in 2000 and again in 2006, and they turned both opportunities down. “The Palestinians have never lost an opportunity to lose an opportunity, because their leadership is weak and corrupt,” he said.
There are a few things we can do now to ensure we are strong, he continued. One is to educate ourselves on the history of the state of Israel and Zionism. Another is to ensure we have solidarity by reaching out to one another.
“These are not easy times and we need Jewish toughness and resilience,” said Berenbaum. “We can’t raise a generation that is scared of being Jewish. I want our Jewish students to be proud, tough and confident enough to accept the animus that will come their way, but to have the human capacity to respond to it.”
He ended his talk by calling Jews the “canary in the coalmine. You want to know if a society is healthy? See how it treats its Jews. We’re living in a world that’s fundamentally unhealthy, but it’s important to remember that we have many friends, we are not alone. We have to cultivate and respect those friendships, and not take them for granted.”
The events of Oct. 7 precipitated an earthquake, he added, “and the ground won’t settle for awhile. But earthquakes give the opportunity to build in a different way. We are in for a tough and difficult time, which will demand the best of us. But I fundamentally believe we have it in us to rise to the occasion.”
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.
Adrianne Fitch is project coordinator for the Vancouver Disability Solutions Network, which is hosting the Mental Wellness for People with Disabilities Forum on Nov. 28 at Heritage Hall in Vancouver. (photo by Adrianne Fitch)
Adrianne Fitch has turned her disabilities into assets. Suffering from severe-to-profound hearing loss and episodes of anxiety and depression throughout her life, she understands firsthand the barriers that people with disabilities face and what could help make life better.
Fitch is project coordinator for the Vancouver Disability Solutions Network, or VDSN, a group of 200 nonprofit organizations and other providers serving people with visible and invisible disabilities. This includes people with physical disabilities, people with a mental health diagnosis, and people suffering from anxiety and depression in a post-COVID world. The network is hosting the Mental Wellness for People with Disabilities Forum on Nov. 28 at Heritage Hall in Vancouver.
“I don’t think the mental health needs of people with disabilities are any different than those of people without disabilities,” said Fitch.
However, depending on the nature of the disability, accessibility can be an issue.
“As someone with a severe-profound hearing loss,” she said, “I would have a really hard time taking part in a group therapy session unless captioning services were available.”
Fitch said many people in British Columbia have faced problems within the mental health system, such as limited access to services, long waiting times, insufficient resources, inadequate service coordination and continuity, and shortages of qualified mental health professionals.
“I think most of us can agree that the COVID pandemic and lockdown resulted in a great deal of isolation and a general decline in mental wellness all over the world.… [W]hen you’re also living with a disability, accessing quality mental health care can be even harder,” she said.
“At the forum, we hope to develop collaborative initiatives to promote mental wellness in our community,” she told the Independent.
Last year’s VDSN forum was on Newcomers with Disabilities. It resulted in a collaborative partnership between MOSAIC and Disability Alliance BC to support immigrants with disabilities receive provincial disability assistance.
At this year’s gathering, Fitch is hoping participants will collaborate to create new mental wellness programming adapted to people with disabilities; extend the reach and impact of what is currently being provided and what could be provided by organizations working together; raise awareness of existing programs geared to mental wellness; and educate families, friends and peer groups on how to support their loved ones to promote mental wellness.
Fitch likes the term “mental wellness” because the term “mental health” is sometimes perceived as medicalizing or stigmatizing something that is universal.
“Our focus for the forum is on improving mental wellness rather than fighting an illness or condition. Whether or not we have an actual diagnosis,” she said, “we can all benefit from practices, strategies and information related to managing our mental wellness.”
In a recent focus group that Fitch led, the people with disabilities participating felt that their mental wellness would be enhanced by exercise and fitness; a place to go to experience spirituality; financial stability; better access to psychiatrists; a compilation of existing services; and education for their families about how to support them.
“I would like to encourage your readers to check in with their friends and family, especially if they show signs that they are struggling with mental wellness,” said Fitch. “Sometimes just knowing you have people in your life who care about you and are ready to lend a hand or a sympathetic ear can make a world of difference.”
Fitch acknowledged that the pandemic was a tragedy, but said it revolutionized her professional life because, for the first time, she could take part in online meetings and events where captioning was provided.
Fitch is a past executive director of the West Coast Mental Health Network, the province’s only completely peer-run organization for people with a mental health diagnosis.
“On a community level, the network allowed me to meet some of the most interesting, compassionate, talented and dedicated people I have ever known,” she said.
The province cut the network’s funding years ago, she said. Today, there are occasional events listed on its Facebook page.
Fitch said she struggles with depression and anxiety but is helped by having many diverse interests, including playing Scrabble, especially with players that are higher ranked than her, and attending folk music festivals.
“On special occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries, I pay tribute to people in my life by writing personalized poetry,” she said, “and I also bake them customized birthday cakes based on their favourite flavours.”
Her other creative hobbies include bead weaving and pottery. She has exhibited her “Creepy Head Menorahs” at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. And, once a year, she likes to write Passover song parodies based on her favourite music, especially songs by the Beatles.
Anyone interested in participating in the Mental Wellness for People with Disabilities Forum on Nov. 28, should contact Fitch at [email protected] or go to eventbrite.ca/e/mental-wellness-for-people-with-disabilities-forum-tickets-723149328107. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Cassandra Freemanis a freelance writer living in Vancouver.
Jewish Seniors Alliance honoured volunteers Merle Linde, left, and Gyda Chud for their many years of service. (photo by Rita Propp)
Jewish Seniors Alliance celebrated its 20th anniversary at its Oct. 26 annual general meeting, which took place at Congregation Beth Israel. The meeting was followed by a reception honouring two volunteers, Merle Linde and Gyda Chud, and entertainment was provided by Brock House Big Band, with party sandwiches and dessert by Nava Creative Kosher Cuisine.
The AGM was called to order by JSA president Tammi Belfer, who paid tribute to Serge Haber, who had passed away the previous week. Haber’s family urged JSA to carry on with the proceedings, which included paying respect to all the JSA members who had died in the last year.
The 2022 minutes and the agenda for this year were approved. The president’s report followed and Chud presented a summary of committee reports. Larry Shapiro spoke about the financial position of JSA as of May 31 on behalf of treasurer Alan Marchant, who was unable to attend the meeting. Jerry Bleet gave an update on fundraising plans and the election of directors was presented for the nominating committee by Ken Levitt.
Once the formal part of the afternoon was completed, the 62 members of JSA assembled in the reception area, where tables had been set up and the band was already playing. Brock House Big Band is an 18-piece ensemble whose repertoire comprises a variety of jazz and popular music. Rabbi Adam Stein, a JSA board member, said Hamotzi, so lunch could begin.
Brock House Big Band plays at Jewish Seniors Alliance’s annual general meeting Oct. 26, in celebration of JSA’s 20th anniversary. (photo by Miguel Mendez)
Levitt gave another tribute to Haber, emphasizing Haber’s work in creating JSA from scratch, his care and compassion for seniors, and his work with them. Levitt said Haber thrived on challenges. “How many people can say that they created an organization?” asked Levitt.
A video was shared in which Haber talked about the needs of seniors, the importance of dealing with loneliness and isolation, and the need for emotional support.
Michael Lee, MLA for Vancouver-Langara, said a few words. He had met Haber seven years ago at a seniors’ event and Lee praised the work Haber had done in Holocaust education and his efforts in building JSA to serve seniors in British Columbia. Lee thanked the board and staff for the work JSA has done.
Maurice Moses, a longtime personal friend of Haber’s, spoke about singing with Haber and with Saul “Pucky” Pellman and Arnold Selwyn at the Louis Brier Home and at Congregation Beth Israel for many years. He said Haber called him every Friday to say Shabbat Shalom. Moses made reference to “lech l’chah” – literally meaning “Go to yourself,” “go forth,” the essence of our lives and spiritually being within ourselves – and sang a song about it honouring Haber.
Then it was the time to honour the two volunteers.
Linde has been a peer support volunteer since 2005. She is inspired by the humanitarian ideals of tikkun olam(repairing the world) and chesed (acts of kindness) to ensure a safeguard for those who are at a disadvantage. This work is a natural progression for Linde, from her participation for many years in community organizations in both South Africa and Canada.
Charles Leibovitch, coordinator of peer support services, made the presentation to Linde, as Grace Hann, trainer and supervisor of peer support services, was away due to a death in her family. He presented Linde with a bouquet of flowers and a certificate, praising her for the many years of service to the seniors she has supported. Hann sent a note saying that Linde has been a role model for her.
Linde thanked Leibovitch and Hann. Apparently, all four of her clients had been artists and Linde used with them her own artistic skills and artwork. She said people eventually tell you their stories in such an environment and this enables her to offer emotional support.
Marilyn Berger made the presentation to Chud, calling Chud “our star.” She said Chud seems unable to say no and takes a lot on herself. Chud is a past co-president of JSA and presently chairs two committees – peer support, and programs. In her thanks to Berger and the committee, Chud spoke about the three Rs that are important in education and life: relationship, reflection, restorative practice. She ended with JSA’s motto: “Seniors Stronger Together.”
Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, addressed the group briefly. He said the JSA is important to the community and thanked the organization for their crucial work with seniors.
Entertained by the band, a few people danced. Dessert was served and people chatted with one another and listened to the music. This was the first of several upcoming events that will celebrate JSA’s 20th anniversary.
On Nov. 19, JSA’s fall symposium will present “Serge Haber, A Visionary.” Everyone is welcome to join in a tribute to Haber, whose vision of a kinder future helped shape the Jewish community. For more information, visit jsalliance.org.
Shanie Levinis a life governor of Jewish Seniors Alliance and on the editorial board of Senior Line magazine.
