News – Page 208

Talmud Torah celebrates 100

Vancouver Talmud Torah’s expanded new campus includes many collaborative spaces. (photo from VTT)

On Sept. 17, Vancouver Talmud Torah will mark its centenary, celebrating “its humble beginnings as an afterschool cheder to the VTT of today – a modern, state-of-the-art facility with the capacity to educate generations of Jewish children in the decades to come, just as we have been doing for the past 100 years,” head of school Cathy Lowenstein told the Independent.

The focal point of the celebratory evening is the documentary Vancouver Talmud Torah Onward: The 100-Year History, written and directed by Adam Bogoch. The event sold out in three hours, said David Bogoch, Adam Bogoch’s father and chair of the VTT Alumni Fund, which supported the project.

David Bogoch was on the VTT board for seven years. He served as alumni chair when he was a board member and it’s a position he retains.

“It is my hope that anyone who attended the school could reconnect with the school and their classmates through the alumni organization,” he said in an interview with the Independent. “It is not an association, nothing formal, just a large family of friends, past students and parents of students.”

The alumni fund, he said, “receives donations and, in turn, makes gifts to the school. Over the last few years, the alumni fund installed an alumni garden at the corner of Oak and 26th, purchased band instruments for the students of the school, and purchased display cases for use in the hallway of the school.

“In an effort to get more people excited about reconnecting with the school, I felt it was necessary to document the 100-year history of the school, and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the school appropriately. It is important for future parents, board members, staff and administration, and the community at large, to know how much of a struggle it is to keep the school open, paid for, able to properly care for and educate the children who walk in the door. It takes great effort from many individuals, and the full support from the entire community to keep Talmud Torah doing its best.

“We must also recognize all of the leaders of the past and the people who helped the school become what it has become,” he added, “so the documentary was a natural fit. The film is a permanent reminder and a wonderful gift to the school.”

The film was produced independently from the school, said Lowenstein. While they knew an historical piece was being made, she said, “the fact that it was completed to coincide with VTT’s 100th anniversary year was sheer good fortune. Many of us were interviewed, but we actually had no idea how and when it would all come together.”

photo - Vancouver Talmud Torah head of school Cathy Lowenstein — Vancouver Talmud Torah head of school Cathy Lowenstein. *(photo from VTT)*

Lowenstein said the production of the film “is close to the heart of David and Adam, who are the son and grandson of the late Dr. Al Bogoch, z’l, a former VTT board chair who, through passion and conviction, single-handedly engaged our community to burn our last mortgage. Adam is a wonderful storyteller and he does his family proud through the recounting of Talmud Torah’s fascinating story. VTT Onward is a vitally important historical record of our school.”

Some members of the VTT leadership team were shown a rough cut of the film and, said Lowenstein, “while we might not endorse everything that’s said in the film, it would be an honour to kick off VTT’s 100th year by showing it to our community.”

The title of the film, she said, captures “the very essence of what our school is about. We are always looking to fulfil our mission of academic excellence and nurturing lifelong learners. We have a responsibility to look ahead, to plan and vision forward to ensure that we are offering the best possible in core academics and Judaic studies to our students and families.”

But looking back is also necessary. “The film relies on archival photographs and live interviews with some of the very community leaders who ensured that the school remained strong and viable through some exceedingly difficult periods,” she said. “I appreciated learning about different perspectives from many community stakeholders. It is not often that one has the opportunity to hear so many different points of view from those who have been intimately connected to the school.

“The challenges our predecessors faced are the very same challenges we also face today – and that Jewish day schools across North America confront as well. I found it encouraging to see the ebb and flow and highs and lows of this institution, yet with the reassurance that VTT is a treasured community asset that is vital to the growth, strength and future of our community.”

Stressing her pride in the school’s faculty, Lowenstein said, “Although our expanded new campus allows us to do things we never imagined possible, what happens inside the four walls of the classroom (and now in our many collaborative spaces) is still our top priority. I have a team of key professionals dedicated to ensuring that the academic and Jewish experience at VTT remains relevant and vibrant. We are continuously looking to improve our offerings, and each new school year brings new ideas and new innovations. This, to me, is the hallmark of a responsive and reflective school.”

As for some of the current challenges, Lowenstein said, “As the community knows, we have just completed the building of a magnificent new campus and now we must finish paying for it. Paying down the interest on our loan is one of our key priorities to remain financially sustainable. One of our greatest challenges – and it applies to almost every independent school on Vancouver’s West Side – is the decreasing number of school-age children in the catchment due to Vancouver’s high housing costs. This is an issue that VTT, [Jewish] Federation and so many other Jewish community agencies are exploring and trying to address. Our board of directors is also committed to ensuring VTT remains an affordable option to middle-income families.

“Ultimately, our goal is to ensure we meet the diverse needs of our VTT families. We want students to receive their Jewish education at VTT from the early years until they become proud graduates in Grade 7.”

“For 100 years,” said David Bogoch, “the school has been a focal point of the Jewish community. Students make lifelong friends from their years there. They learn so much about being Jewish and what that means. The students become successful leaders throughout the entire community as they grow up, and the entire community benefits from the school.”

Thrilled by community

Rabbi Philip Gibbs is the new spiritual leader of Congregation Har El. (photo from Rabbi Philip Gibbs)

Rabbi Philip Gibbs, who took up the pulpit at Congregation Har El / North Shore Jewish Community Centre in July, had an unusually straight path to Judaism in many ways, at least for someone living outside the Orthodox world.

“Judaism was always part of my life,” Gibbs told the Independent.

Growing up in Marietta, Ga., he attended a Reform synagogue, went to Hebrew school and lived in a home life structured by Judaism. He found Judaism both comforting and intellectually engaging. He loved the thorny moral questions of Jewish tradition and studying Torah stories for guidance about how to live in the world. By the time he finished high school, he was on the regional board of the Reform Jewish Youth Movement (NFTY).

Being a leader in NFTY helped Gibbs see what it meant to bring others to and through the experience of Judaism – and the seed of a rabbinic calling was planted.

Gibbs went to college at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and graduated in 2012 with a double major in Hebrew and the humanities. He also attended summer programs for intensive Talmud study and, as he settled into “that place of serious learning about Judaism,” he felt at home. He was enamoured by how the Jewish community supported each other in times of crisis and celebration, giving a wider sense of meaning to even happy moments.

Gibbs attended the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), attracted “by its academic emphasis and its acknowledgment of the evolution of Judaism.” It also fit his personal level of observance.

He focused on Talmud and halachah (Jewish law) at the seminary and became the secretary of the committee on Jewish law and standards. He became passionate in his interest in halachah, both theoretically and as a “road to values.” He enjoyed taking ritual practice and explaining “the goal and meaning of it from a place of depth.”

Gibbs graduated with a master of arts in Talmud and received his rabbinic ordination earlier this year.

As a rabbinical student, he was engaged with global social justice and human rights issues, and became a member of Rabbis Without Borders. In his second year, after touring Hebron with T’ruah, a rabbinic human rights organization, he was featured in an article in the Forward about younger rabbis willing to grapple fully with the moral complexity of life in Israel.

Gibbs connected to Congregation Har El, which has been without a permanent spiritual leader for just over a year, through the JTS matching process for new rabbis. He had been to Vancouver before and looked forward to flying out for the interview.

“B.C.’s wilderness and outdoors activities are a big draw for me,” said Gibbs, who led the Jewish Outdoor Leadership Institute camp Ramah in the Rockies and is looking forward to the hiking and skiing opportunities available in the Vancouver area. “I grew up doing a lot of hiking in the southeast and led backpacking trips with Conservative movement summer camps. When I got here, I was also thrilled to find a community of very nice and caring people, a place that wanted depth in what they were doing.”

Gibbs said his main priority right now is getting to know the community before he begins putting together any new ideas. He is also getting to know Vancouver.

“It’s great,” he said. “One of the first things I did was get a bike – it’s a city very easy to get around in. My first view was before the forest fire smoke came in, and it was absolutely beautiful.”

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

Helping out new immigrants

Sol and Shirley Kort (photo from Alisa Kort)

The Kort family – in an initiative led by sisters Beverley and Alisa – has established a scholarship in their parents’ names with the National Council of Jewish Women. The award will provide education funding to two newcomer women each year.

Beverley and Alisa’s parents, Shirley and Sol Kort, have both passed away. They met, said the sisters, in Shirley’s hometown of Edmonton at a Shabbat dinner event organized by the local Jewish community for the American Jewish soldiers stationed there – this included Detroit-native Sol, who was then in the U.S. army.

The couple moved to Vancouver in the 1940s and Sol started up the business Kent Chemicals with a fellow American who relocated to Vancouver.

Of Kent Chemicals, Beverley said, “He did that for many years, until the 1960s. Then, he sold his business and went into continuing education at UBC. On the side, he was leading and developing a lecture series called Search for Meaning, and more. He decided that, instead of being a chemist, he’d become an adult educator in the humanities.”

Sol was in his 40s when he changed career paths. In his new endeavour, he enjoyed connecting with people who were pushing the boundaries of understanding philosophy, science and psychology – people questioning the world.

Beverley recalled going to her father’s lectures, along with other kids, starting in her early teens. “I’d sometimes leave school and go to those lectures,” she said. “People came and stayed at our house. I was exposed to all sorts of interesting perspectives, like Buddhism and different types of spirituality, levels of consciousness, and ideas. I was already curious about human nature and this catapulted me onto the level of, ‘Oh, my God! Wow. What’s going on?’”

Meanwhile, Beverley’s mom, Shirley, was busy doing her own work, serving on the board of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver for many years and being involved in National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), among other pursuits. Later, Shirley helped form Shalom Vancouver, a welcoming service for newcomers to Vancouver.

“This was very important to her,” recalled Beverley. “People would describe her as one of the most welcoming, supportive people. When we did a special kind of presentation about my mom for the NCJW after she passed away, people got up and spoke about their relationship with her, especially young women who moved to Vancouver when she was quite involved in the council. They just found there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to help them get settled – connecting with people, coming to our house for dinner. Our whole family has this culture of, come for dinner, how can I help you connect, that kind of thing.”

Alisa added, “My mother was also on the board of the Volunteer Bureau of Canada and had been a president of the Vancouver chapter of the NCJW a number of times, [as well as being] involved in their mobile hearing testing project, HIPPY and Shalom Vancouver. My father was involved with the Vanier Institute of Canada and was director of humanities and science in continuing education at UBC.”

Alisa noted that one of her father’s good friends, author Ted Roszak, wrote of Sol that “he was ‘a bright, inquiring and caring educator who wanted to bring every leaping mind he could find to his school.’”

When Sol passed away, the Kort family established a fund in his name at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library, as he was an avid reader. They also sponsored the Sol and Shirley Kort Author Series, the opening night of the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival, for many years.

photo - Shirley and Sol Kort — Shirley and Sol Kort *(photo from Alisa Kort)*

“My mom, during her life with my dad, was always hosting events and having people come and speak, and dealt with the behind-the-scenes things, organizing and being social,” said Beverley. “For her, hosting the author series in her and my dad’s name was a nice continuation of that. We did that for many years. They would come to our house the night before. And, the author would come, and my mom would meet him and talk. We named it after both of them because we always wanted to do something for both of them together.”

When Shirley passed away, the family wanted to find a way to further commemorate both of their parents’ lives, and looked to the NCJW, even though Sol wasn’t a member of the council.

“He was like a feminist more than his own daughters were, and he was an educator and a mentor,” said Beverley. “He was always finding people who needed mentoring. We were hosts for a Bosnian family who we’re still good friends with. After retiring, they set up weekly sessions with him to talk about books. He led speaking series for seniors and was always looking for ways to teach.”

Among the NCJW initiatives that were important to Shirley was HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters), said Beverley, and she talked about it “a lot during the last three years of her life, as she struggled with dementia. HIPPY is about mentoring women and furthering their education. We wanted to do something that would further education and make a difference in someone’s life – that’s why we chose the scholarship.”

The Shirley and Sol Kort scholarship provides $2,500 per year to two newcomer women toward their education.

“HIPPY is a way of keeping my parent’s memory alive and supporting something that represents the essence of what they found important in the world, which is welcoming people, furthering education, being supportive and being larger than the Jewish community,” said Beverley.

According to Alisa, her parents were interested in people, above all – they were passionate about education and in helping newcomers to the Jewish community and beyond. Beverley and Alisa also are inspired in what they do by their late grandmother, who informally adopted one of the young children who made their way to safety via the Kindertransport.

Regarding the HIPPY scholarship, Alisa said, “It seemed to embody all that our parents held dear and it also seemed very important to support women, particularly women with children struggling to find a new life in a new country after having to let go of so much of what made them who they are.”

The initial recipients of the award, said Alisa, “were both very highly motivated and articulate about their experiences as immigrant women and mothers in Canada, and how … being involved in HIPPY has factored into their journey and continues enriching their lives. They’re multicultural in background. One of the women intends to complete her bachelor of social work and the other wants to get her social work diploma.”

Past president of NCJW’s Vancouver chapter, Debbie Altow, said, “Shirley Kort inspired us all in council. Besides working to bring HIPPY to Canada, she led the way – she was the first in our membership to use a computer; she worked tirelessly to pilot a hearing testing program for preschoolers (a project taken over by Vancouver’s health department); she hosted so many meetings that daughter, Beverley, printed up a neat collection of her recipes; and she had family and friends all over Western Canada, especially in Edmonton and Winnipeg.

For more information about NCJW in Vancouver, visit ncjwvancouver.org.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Recalling our history

An architectural rendering of the proposed Jewish Legion Centennial Pavilion to be built in Windsor, N.S. (image from MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Ltd.)

David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi will be among more than 1,000 men remembered when the 100th anniversary of the Jewish Legion is commemorated next year in Windsor, N.S.

These two prominent Jewish community leaders, who became the first prime minister and second president of the state of Israel, respectively, were part of the legion, which was approved by the British War Office as a Jewish military contingent for active duty during the First World War. Ben-Gurion and Ben-Zvi, as members of the training squad, earned 50 cents a day and slept in a bell tent on Nova Scotia earth.

photo - David Ben-Gurion, taken in Windsor, N.S., in 1918 — David Ben-Gurion, taken in Windsor, N.S., in 1918. *(photo from West Hants Historical Society)*

Jewish recruits from across Canada and the United States assembled at the Imperial Recruits Depot, located at Windsor’s Fort Edward, in 1918. Fort Edward served as a basic training centre and point of departure for all North American recruits of the Jewish Legion. Once their training was complete, they went to England, where they joined other Jewish battalions for the last phases of the campaign against the Ottoman Turks. This Jewish fighting force, which included the 38th, 39th, 40th and 42nd battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, would become known as the Jewish Legion.

In a letter to Windsor’s mayor in 1966, Ben-Gurion wrote, “In Windsor, one of the great dreams of my life, to serve as a soldier in a Jewish unit to fight for the liberation of Israel, became a reality. I will never forget Windsor, where I received my first training as a soldier and where I became a corporal.”

The Jewish Legion Centennial Society, chaired by former Atlantic Jewish Council executive director Jon Goldberg and guided by Sara Beanlands, principal of Boreas Heritage Consulting Inc., is commemorating the centennial of the training of the Jewish Legion in Windsor. In conjunction with the town of Windsor, West Hants Historical Society and the Atlantic Jewish Council, events are planned for the town in May and September of 2018. As well, a distinct earthworks Centennial Pavilion will be built, with considerable private funding, near Fort Edward. Names of the more than 1,000 North American Jewish trainees will be listed on a Wall of Honour at the pavilion.

To donate to the Centennial Pavilion or for further information, contact Goldberg at [email protected] or 1-902-221-2174. For historical information or to include a name of a Jewish Legion soldier, contact Sara Beanlands at [email protected] or 1-902-483-7999.

A shift to inclusion in Israel

The 2017 Select Fashion and Totto bags’ Back to School ad campaign, in collaboration with Beyachad, featured Israeli children of varying abilities. (photo by Nechama Orah Photography)

In 2010, Gabrielle Markowitz set up a Facebook account in the name of her then-newborn daughter, Hallel. Called Hallel Mini Supermodel, the page is part of Markowitz’s goal to change the public perception of people with disabilities. And she has made some progress.

Hallel has Down syndrome. Set to start Grade 1 this September, she was chosen, along with several other Israeli children of varying abilities, to model the 2017 summer collection in Select Fashion and Totto bags’ Back to School ad campaign. The shoot was in collaboration with the Israeli organization Beyachad, which works to increase and strengthen society’s inclusion of people with disabilities.

Beyachad was started by Channie Plotnick, a New Yorker who has been concerned with this issue since she was 9 years old.

“I was living in New York,” said Plotnick, who now lives in Israel. “Not far from the home where I was growing up, there was a home for adults with disabilities. I was going to school every day and doing my thing. I’d pass by the home and I could see the people with disabilities through the windows. I could see them just sitting around and pretty much doing nothing – being locked in that home for many, many hours, just sitting around.

“I saw this a couple times a day, every day. I felt that these people are jailed in this place. I figured, I have to figure out a way to get them out of this. One day, I asked my mom if I could invite them for Shabbat morning. My mom said to give them my phone number and see. So, one Friday, they actually called and said they wanted to come over for Shabbat morning.

“I can remember myself sitting at home at the window and looking out that morning, and waiting anxiously for them to come. It was sort of a big group. I think there were eight adults with two staff accompanying them.

“We had a wonderful Shabbat meal. We played games and they became part of the family. For me, it was like a victory to see them out of jail and … part of a community, of our family.”

Plotnick has high expectations of herself as well as of others. Where some see disability, she sees ability.

As an adult, Plotnick made aliyah. She attended Tel Aviv University and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in special education. From then on, it was no longer enough for Plotnick to be able to see ability in all people. It was now about figuring out how to care for these abilities and shape them toward everyday integration into society.

photo - An image from the Select Fashion and Totto bags’ Back to School ad campaign — An image from the Select Fashion and Totto bags’ Back to School ad campaign. *(photo by Nechama Orah Photography)*

“When I came to Israel, I was working as a supervisor in a special ed school,” she told the Independent. “I saw children who I thought could learn in regular schools, with help and support. I started looking around for schools and support, and I realized there were no services for children who wanted to be integrated in regular schools.”

So, in 2008, Plotnick started up Beyachad Foundation, to aid in the empowerment and inclusion of people with special needs.

“When someone wants to be in a regular school, we help them with resources, information, advocacy and case management, connecting them to the right people, figuring out how to get them resources from different departments,” said Plotnick.

The Knesset calls Plotnick when they are considering disability inclusion-related laws.

“In Israel, there’s a lot of welfare state taking care of people with disabilities,” explained Plotnick. “I call it a ‘stifling hug,’ as they’re taking care of the needy. But, it’s a situation where they are … making it so they are dependent, as opposed to helping special needs people be independent and able to contribute to society.”

According to Plotnick, the welfare system disperses benefits according to labels – it puts people into a box labeled “Down syndrome” or “autism.” These labels carry with them a set of expectations, and the people become the label.

“Today, when a social worker gets a person in front of him/her who has Down syndrome, she/he looks at his/her lists and says, ‘OK, we have schools with special education that focus on children with Down syndrome. And, when they are adults, we have what’s called workshops. This is what we have.’ You’re not looking at individuals and their abilities. You’re looking at a person with Down syndrome. You’re not even looking at the person. On the flip side, when you complement abilities, you look at individuals. That change of looking at a person and saying, ‘You’re an individual. Let’s see what your abilities are and let’s see what you can do with your abilities.’ That’s the change we are trying to make.”

Beyachad does not want to compete with, or put out of business, special ed schools or workshops. Its aim is to offer more options.

“It’s a lot easier for us, as society, to adapt to the needs of the less-abled than it is for the less-abled to adapt to our society,” said Plotnick. “As such, we have a duty to adapt to their needs.

“I’ll give you an example. If today we go out onto the street and all of the signs are in Braille, you and I would be the ones who are disabled, as we won’t be able to read them. Society has the ability to change people into disabled – and society has the ability to create people who are more able.

“As long as we adapt things in society for people with disabilities, they will end up being less disabled. If I come to a regular school and I’m a person with disabilities and the curriculum is adapted for me and school accessibility is adapted for me, I will be less disabled.”

Change will come slowly, but Beyachad has the motto ‘If it is to be, it’s up to me,’ and they work to provide the support individuals need to make accessibility possible. For more information or to lend support, visit beyachad.org.il.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Miraculous discovery

(photo from Israel Antiquities Authority via Ashernet)

A 1,500-year-old mosaic floor, with a Greek inscription, was discovered this summer following groundwork for a communications cable infrastructure near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. David Gellman, the director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Authority, said, “The fact that the inscription survived is an archeological miracle…. We were about to close the excavation when, all of a sudden, a corner of the mosaic inscription peeked out between the pipes and cables. Amazingly, it had not been damaged.” Hebrew University in Jerusalem’s Dr. Leah Di Segni deciphered the inscription, which “commemorates the founding of the building by Constantine, the priest. The inscription names the emperor Flavius Justinian. It seems that the building was used as a hostel for pilgrims.”

לישראלים בקנדה

כשמכניסים את המושג “ישראלים בקנדה” למנוע החיפוש של גוגל מקבלים מגוון רחב ומפורט, על אודות הישראלים כאן, מעשיהם והקשר בינם ולבין ישראל, קנדה ויהדות.

להלן חלק מתוצאות החיפוש בגוגל של המושג “ישראלים בקנדה” לפי הסדר שנקבע על ידי מנוע החיפוש:

(פורסם ב-19 באוגוסט 2017) “ביל ניגש, חשבנו שאנו מתים”: הישראלים שפגשו את הקלינטונים. בני הזוג גלעד מרמת גן ציינו 25 שנות נישואים בקנדה, ומצאו את עצמם באותו מלון עם ביל, הילרי והבת צ’לסי קלינטון.

(פורסם ב-15 באוגוסט 2017) “חוקרים ישראלים פיתחו אי.אל שמסוגלת להציע פתרונות יצרתיים”: המחקר, שבוצע בשת”פ של האוניברסיטה העברית עם קרנגי מלון מפנסילבניה, נערך בידי ד”ר דפנה שחף. היא מספרת שיכולת זיהוי הקשרים מקדמת את האנושות לעבר בינה מלאכותית בעלת דמיון ויכולת אלתור. החוקרים הציגו את הפיתוח שלהם בכנס קי.די.די 2017, הכנס החשוב ביותר בתחום שנערך בקנדה (הליפקס) לפני כשבועיים.

(פורסם ב-16 באוגוסט 2017): “בתו של השגריר עשתה עליה. גאים בבת שלנו”: טליה פרידמן, בתו של שגריר ארה”ב בישראל, דיוויד פרידמן, הייתה בן 233 העולים החדשים מצפון אמריקה שהגיעו לישראל אתמול במטוס שכולו עולים, ע”י ארגון ‘נפש בנפש’. העולים החדשים הגיעו מ-19 מדינות בארה”ב, ומשני מחוזות שונים בקנדה.

(פורסם ב-30 ביולי 2017): “טוב ליהודים. חוק הלאום החדש נכון ונחוץ, אך הקישור שלו לדמוקרטיה שגוי”. החוק חשוב לא כדי להודיע לעולם שהמדינה שהזו שלנו, אלא דווקא כדי לקבוע שהיא איננה רק של היהודים בישראל, אלא של העם היהודי כולו ברחבי העולם. של אלה שחיים כאן, ושל אלה שחיים בארגנטינה, בארבייג’אן, בקנדה ובכל מקום גלות אחר.

(פורסם ב-19 באוגוסט 2017): “אני חייבת להסביר את הסכנה שבאסלאם, כי חייתי שם”. סנדרה סולומון נולדה ברמאללה למשפחה של פעילי טרור, ספגה שנאה לישראל ולמדה להעריץ מחבלים. היום, בחזית ההסברה היא לא מצליחה להבין איך מדינת ישראל מוותרת על כבודה וזכויותיה. בעלה קיבל עבודה בקנדה, והגיש בקשה להתאזרח שם.

(פורסם ב-11 בדצמבר 2015): “לקרוא ולקנא? ישראלים מצליחים בקנדה”. שלומית שטייר עברה עם משפחתה לקנדה במסגרת רילוקיישן שהיה אמור להמשך כשנתיים – אך בינתיים עברו כבר תשע שנים. דן גולוב נסע לפני כשש שנים לוונקובר כדי לעבוד קצת בעגלות, וכיום הוא הבעלים של חנות גדולה בוונקובר. אין נראים החיים של ישראלים שעברו לעבוד ולחיות במדינה השנייה בגודלה בעולם.

(פורסם ב-30 בינואר 2017): “מכללה בקנדה לסטודנט ישראלי, לא מקבלים ישראלים”. מחרימים: מכללה קנדית בשם בית הספר איילנד לאמנויות הבנייה שנמצא באי גבריולה השוכן בבריטש קולומביה, דחתה את בקשתו של סטודנט ישראלי ללמוד במוסד בגלל הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסתיני ובגלל ההתנחלויות הבלתי חוקיות.

(פורסם ב-12 באוגוסט 2017): “חוקרים ישראלים גילו כיצד בויתה החיטה הקדמונית”. המחקר גילה את המוטציות שאחראיות לתכונה החשובה בשינוי, והיא היכולת למנוע את התפזרות הזרעים ברוח, ובכך לשמור על היבול. המחקר בוצע עם חברה ישראלית אן.אר.גן מנס ציונה, ועם מעבדות מובילות בגרמניה, באיטליה, בקנדה, בישראל ובארה”ב.

(פורסם ב-24 באוקטובר 2016): “ישראלים נתקעו בקנדה. טרטרו אותנו, הפסדנו את החג בבית”. שדה התעופה בטורונטו שותק חלקית בשל רוחות עזות ונוסעים שלא הספיקו להגיע בזמן ממונטריאול בטיסה ארצה נתקעו במשך מספר כמה ימים. הם מותחים ביקורת על היחס של חברת התעופה (אייר קנדה) כאשר אף אחד לא נתן להם תשובות. הם נאלצו להגיע כל יום לשדה ולא נמצא פתרון.

Tzedakah not charity

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin will be in Vancouver for FEDtalks on Sept. 13. (photo from HarperCollins)

A group of elderly retired men routinely gather in a Tel Aviv coffee shop and talk about current events. Given the world situation, their chats tend to be very downbeat. One day, one of the men in the group declares, “I am an optimist.”

His friends look at him in puzzlement and one of them asks, “You’re an optimist? So why do you look so worried?” And the man replies, “You think it’s easy to be an optimist?”

This is a joke Rabbi Joseph Telushkin tells when he speaks about Jewish humour – a topic on which he literally wrote the book. It also sums up his response to a question posed by the Jewish Independent in a recent telephone interview.

Telushkin is the author of more than a dozen books, including the two-volume A Code of Jewish Ethics, Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History and The Book of Jewish Values: A Day-by-Day Guide to Ethical Living. He is routinely cited as one of North America’s most engaging thinkers and writers on Jewish topics and he has devoted his life to Jewish education.

“I am by nature an optimist,” he said, explaining that his study of Jewish history inspires pessimism, but Judaism’s promise of messianic redemption makes him an optimist. “Hence, I end up as an optimist with a worried look on my face,” he said.

Telushkin is one of five leading thinkers – originally there were four scheduled – who will speak at FEDtalks, the kickoff of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s annual campaign next month.

Telushkin’s lifetime devoted to Jewish education was motivated in part by his concern that Jewish religious devotion tended to emphasize ritual observances “as if ethics were necessary, but sort of an extracurricular activity.”

Judaism, he said, has important and uplifting rituals, such as Shabbat and the observance of the holidays. “But there are these incredible insights in Judaism that apply to us in every day of our lives.” That is why he wrote The Book of Jewish Values, which is an exploration of ideas and lessons that can be applied day after day.

Exploring these ideas, he said, can ameliorate some of the challenges facing the Jewish people, such as assimilation and intermarriage.

“If two percent of Jews were intermarrying, you could make a big fight and just do everything in your power to stop intermarriage,” said the rabbi. “Once you’re dealing with intermarriage rates approaching 50%, you can either write off the future of the Jewish people … or you can say, guess what, Judaism has things to teach Jews and non-Jews. If Judaism has something to offer people, it can offer it to non-Jews as well. That’s the role that Jewish education can play. We can model values that people can look at and feel enriched by.”

If Jewishness plays a central role in one’s life, Telushkin said, a person should want to share that with a spouse and model Judaism “in a way that would also make them want to share in Judaism.”

With Dennis Prager, Telushkin wrote the book Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism. The provocative thesis suggests that something particular about Jews inspires Jew-hatred; that Jews bring it upon themselves.

“Antisemitism, we argue, is ultimately a reaction to Judaism and its values,” Telushkin said, “to the Jewish concept of God, which denied the gods of the others, to the Jewish concept of law.”

The centrality of education in the Jewish tradition has led to personal and collective successes that, in turn, have inspired jealousy, he continued. This jealousy leads to antisemitism and it is indeed, Telushkin said, something inherent in Judaism that provokes this response.

“The reason Jews have succeeded, often much more than their neighbours, is because Judaism entered the world with a demand that no other religion had made: that everyone has to be educated – and you shall teach it to your children – and that focus on education led to greater success.”

Antisemitism, he added, is also inspired by the unique theological relationship between God and the Jewish people.

“There is no other religion that fuses religion and peoplehood the same way,” he said. “When Ruth converts to Judaism in the Bible, she says, amech ami, your people shall be my people, Elohayich Elohai, your God shall be my God.”

This connection between religion and peoplehood also defined antisemitism and the way it morphed during the Age of Nationalism. Until around 1800, when the world in which Jews lived was primarily a religious one, antisemitism focused on the God of the Jews and the rejections of the prophets of Christianity and Islam.

“When nationalism emerged, antisemitism was increasingly focused on the people who were Jews,” Telushkin said. Conversion to another religion would no longer erase Jewish national identity, and membership in a peoplehood, a nation, became the focus of antisemitism. “Hence, the greatest antisemitism in the world today is anti-Zionism.”

The most catastrophic forms of tyranny in recent history, Telushkin added, were direct refutations of Jewish values.

“What was Nazism if not a rejection of all the values that Judaism was trying to bring into the world? What was Soviet communism if not a rejection of all the values the Jews bring into the world?” he said. “Nazism and communism were both radical repudiations of the Jewish notion of God. They held that the state had the highest value. That’s why Soviet dissidents used to chant the song ‘I Fear No One Except God,’ because, in a totalitarian society, people who fear God think that there is something higher than the government, higher than the party. Today, of course, there is the danger of Islamists, people who claim to believe in God but who certainly don’t believe in a God whose primary demand of humans is ethical behaviour.”

At FEDtalks, Telushkin will speak on the topic, Tzedakah is Not Charity. The word charity, he said, suggests something done voluntarily, out of love. “While the word tzedakah derives from the word justice, which suggests that it’s not only a voluntary thing to give tzedakah, it’s an act of justice, which means not doing so becomes an act of injustice,” he explained. “What I want to emphasize is that Judaism is rooted in the notion of not just volunteerism but also obligation.”

By example, he suggested comparing two types of diets. People go on diets, he said, usually for one of two reasons – to be physically more attractive or healthier – but few are able to maintain a strict diet for a month or longer without breaking it.

“Because, in the final analysis, it’s voluntary,” he said. “Everyone knows people who keep kosher, who can go for years without eating foods that are forbidden because they feel commanded … when we do something out of a sense of commandment, we do so with a greater sense of consistency.”

Charities often suffer during tough economic times, he added, because people see charity as voluntary. But, even during tough economic times, people pay their taxes because they are afraid of the consequences of not doing so.

“So the notion of mitzvah in

Judaism is a notion of commandment, something is obligatory,” he said. “I emphasize that point because people consider mitzvah a good deed, but it’s really a commandment.”

FEDtalks takes place at the Chan Centre on Sept. 13. For tickets and more information, visit jewishvancouver.com/fedtalks2017. The Independent has invited all of the speakers to be featured in advance of the event. Last week: Ruth Wasserman Lande. Next week: Rabbi Jay Henry Moses.

Fader joins HFLA

For the first time in the 100-year-plus history of the organization, the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Vancouver (HFLA) has hired an executive director. In July, HFLA brought Lynne Fader on board to fill the new role.

Active between 1915 and the middle of the Great Depression and then reinvented in 1979, the purpose of the volunteer-run organization is, as the name suggests, to provide interest-free loans to members of the Jewish community. As the community has grown and spread out, the current board of directors decided it was time to extend HLFA’s reach and hire a part-time executive director.

photo - Lynne Fader is the first executive director of the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Vancouver — Lynne Fader is the first executive director of the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Vancouver. *(photo from Lynne Fader)*

Fader is a familiar face for many in the Jewish community, especially those in Richmond, as she was a founder of the Richmond Kehila Society. Since 2000, Fader has been co-executive director of Kehila and she will continue her work there, as it and HFLA have complementary missions. She also has served as a volunteer on various boards, including those of Richmond Jewish Day School and Richmond Multicultural Society.

Fader recently sold the company she owned and ran for 14 years, ER Plus Risk Management Inc., an enterprise that involved her in efforts to advance access for women in the trades and in the safety industry. She has worked with different levels of government both professionally and as a volunteer, and is looking forward to using her networking skills and drive to significantly raise the profile of HFLA.

Not only will Fader be meeting in the coming months with community leaders, but she will be planning and implementing educational opportunities for people who could most benefit from an HFLA loan. “I recognize that the HFLA is a hidden community treasure,” she told the Independent. “I look forward to meeting with fellow agency professionals in the effort to allow front-line professionals to have a face and a contact to connect with for their clients and members.”

The grassroots nature of HFLA – it has been run by volunteers for nearly 40 years – is a great fit for Fader. She understands the association’s mission and method: help people before they fall into poverty and as they emerge from financial difficulties. With a deep knowledge of the Lower Mainland’s various social safety networks from her work with Kehila, Fader is in the unique position of being able to refer applicants who don’t fit the HFLA framework for a loan to the appropriate assistance.

The HFLA board will continue to perform the work of interviewing and granting financial assistance. The association currently has $417,000 in loans out in the community. The loans are primarily to people in the Lower Mainland but reach as far away as Tofino, Victoria and Salt Spring Island. One of the reasons HFLA was looking to hire an executive director is the increasing number of Jews migrating to more affordable locations in the province, such as Squamish, the Sunshine Coast and further into the Fraser Valley.

In addition to Fader, HFLA also has recently hired a new office administrator, Judy Walker.

“I’m confident that Judy’s unique blend of technical and interpersonal skills will ensure those inquiring about loans are met with a professional experience,” said Leana Gaerber, vice-president of HFLA’s board of directors.

For more information on applying for a loan or becoming involved as a donor or guarantor, call 604-428-2832 or visit hfla.ca.

Michelle Dodek is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.

Beth Tikvah’s rabbi

Rabbi Adam Rubin, wife Judith and their children. (photo from Rabbi Adam Rubin)

When Rabbi Adam Rubin and his family visited Congregation Beth Tikvah in February of this year, they fell in love. “They seemed to like us, too, I guess, because I got the job,” the rabbi told the Jewish Independent.

Rubin was born in Santa Monica, Calif., and grew up in Tustin, a small community outside of Los Angeles. He went to a public high school, which had only a few Jews, and first found a connection to Jewish community when he went to Jewish summer camp in northern California.

Rubin worked as a counselor in his college years, then furthered his journey into Jewish culture with a trip to Israel. He had a remarkable experience there, staying with a working-class Israeli family and wandering around Jerusalem for hours every day, fascinated. After a friend handed him a brochure for Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, he was intrigued and made plans to study there.

After graduating from University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in American and European history, Rubin spent two years at Pardes. Despite the traditional yeshivah curriculum, there is no expectation of Orthodox observance. Free to experiment and find his own relationship with Judaism, Rubin became observant.

He studied Israeli politics and history and went on to do his doctorate at University of California, Los Angeles, in Jewish history, focusing on the Hebrew culture of the Yishuv in the 1920s and 1930s, in the era of Hayim Nahman Bialik. He was interested in people who came to Palestine to refashion Jewish life, as Ahad Ha-am (Asher Ginsberg) and the followers of cultural Zionism did. Cultural Zionism was more focused on the renewal of Jewish culture than the political renewal of a Zionist state.

Rubin settled into an academic life in Los Angeles, teaching rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College (HUC) as well as students at University of Southern California (across the street). After several years in academia, though, he was less than happy.

“The core thing in an academic life is research and writing,” he said. “I can do that, but I’m a people person, very social. I love to be with people, and my favourite part of the job was the faculty connection to the broader community, which HUC required of its teachers.” Also, over time, “the love of history faded and was replaced with the love of Torah.”

By that time, Rubin had become “egalitarian observant,” was involved in an independent minyan and had enjoyed a study chavruta (group, literally friendship) for years. He was “living a meaningful, wonderful Jewish life,” he said, “and didn’t feel like I needed to be a rabbi to do that.”

As he increasingly wanted to serve the Jewish community more directly and to be with people, he turned to the rabbinical path. After his ordination at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, he became assistant rabbi at Beth Shalom, a Conservative synagogue in Seattle.

“I wouldn’t have been able to make this major transition without the support of my wife Judith,” said Rubin, noting that he needed to take a significant loss of income and become a student again to become a rabbi. His wife, an experienced elementary school teacher, will be teaching secular studies at Richmond Jewish Day School.

Although Rubin had a “great experience” at Beth Shalom, he wanted his own pulpit. “I used to joke that I was the oldest assistant rabbi in the U.S.,” he said.

The Rubins have two children: Elior, 7, who will be going to RJDS, and Na’amah, 3, who will be going to a francophone preschool.

The rabbi is looking forward to taking up the spiritual helm at Beth Tikvah.

“I love that Beth Tikvah congregation has a do-it-yourself spirit – a great deal of the religious life of the shul is done by the congregants themselves. I love how deeply committed our members are to the flourishing of the community, and how much they love and support one another.”

When asked what he hoped to bring to Beth Tikvah, Rubin replied, “My passion for exploring the spiritual riches of the Jewish tradition and sharing the sacred experience of living a life of mitzvot, combined with a commitment to the intellectual rigour and seriousness of deep Torah study.”