An aerial view of the University of British Columbia campus. (photo by justiceatlast via Wikimedia Commons)
Aaron Devor, a leader in British Columbia’s Jewish community, has been appointed to the world’s first academic chair in transgender studies.
Devor, a professor of sociology who is also the president of the Jewish Federation of Victoria and sits on the board of Hillel BC, assumed his new duties Jan. 1. Devor is also the founder and academic director of the Transgender Archives, which was launched in 2011 and already comprises the world’s largest collections of documents recording transgender activism and research.
Devor defines the term transgender as including a diversity of people.
“Anyone who feels that the gender that was assigned to them on the basis of their genitals is not the correct one, that it’s not the proper fit,” said Devor, who is himself a transgender person. This includes, he said, people who want to present as or become the opposite gender but also many people who reflect “something more creative or original or different, or some combination of what we think of as the two standard genders.”
Devor has encountered surprise that Victoria, perceived by some as a parochial provincial capital, has become a global centre for transgender research and study. In his experience, he said, Victoria has always been a progressive community and the University of Victoria ranks high among the educational institutions in the world.
That Victoria would become a centre for transgender academia is due in part to Devor’s ongoing involvement in the subject as an academic and as an activist, but also through the support of the university for his endeavors, he said. Individuals who have been collecting relevant materials know Devor and contact him when they want to contribute them to a legitimate archive, and the imprimatur of the University of Victoria adds to their confidence, he said.
“I know the people who have been collecting and I have approached many of them and many of them have approached me after they started to understand what we have here,” he explained. “It’s all donated by people who have been amassing their own collections and want a safe place to put it.”
Popular culture, he said, has helped bring transgender awareness to a tipping point. In 2014, Laverne Cox, a star of the TV program Orange is the New Black, was on the cover of Time magazine. The program Transparent, in which a family addresses the gender transition of the father, began the same year. The openness of Chaz Bono, who North Americans have known since doing walk-ons on the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour in the 1970s, also helped increase consciousness.
“There are huge limitations, in a way, to communicating effectively through popular culture,” said Devor, but “one of the things that happens through popular culture is people tend to feel like they know the stars, know the personalities that they see on television and in the movies and that they follow on the internet and so on. Even if they’ve never met them, they start to feel like they know them. So, when public figures in popular culture say and do things, it becomes real for a lot of people. One of the things that we know helps to undermine prejudice is when you feel like you know someone of that particular type, whatever that type is that you’ve been prejudiced about.”
Many people still don’t understand it, he added, but are willing to keep an open mind.
“My sense of the public attitude that we’ve reached just very, very recently is that, by and large, the public takes the attitude of, ‘I don’t really get this but I guess it’s OK and I’m willing to go along with it,’” he said. “I haven’t done a survey on this but I’m a keen observer, a well-placed observer … that’s my take on it.
“I think we’ve reached a tipping point in terms of people holding goodwill toward trans people, and I don’t want to overstate that,” he continued. “We’ve just reached a tipping point, but I think in terms of knowing what to do to actualize that goodwill, I think people have very little idea what to do, which is why we need more research and more translation of that research into the real world.”
As the world’s first chair in transgender studies, Devor hopes to be a part of advancing understanding. He hopes that the research being developed will aid in the creation of better laws and policies, while also “changing hearts and minds.”
“There is law and there’s policy and there’s practice,” he said. “Individual members of societies put all of this into practice. You can have good laws on the books but it doesn’t necessarily mean that what’s going to happen in everyday life will very well reflect what those laws are.”
Legally, most provinces have some protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression.
“The province of British Columbia is not one of those, which is surprising,” he said. Some people contend that the word gender in the human rights code is sufficient, but most of the provinces, he said, have enacted legislation that specifies gender identity as a prohibited grounds for discrimination. Still, he prefers the term “gender expression.”
“Discrimination is based on what you look and sound like more often than on how you actually feel about yourself,” he explained. In other words, heterosexual people may experience bullying or violence if they exhibit what are perceived as traits of homosexuals.
In the Jewish realm, Devor said, religious organizations are addressing trans inclusion. Just last November, the Union for Reform Judaism passed a resolution on the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming people. The resolution affirms the Reform movement’s commitment to the full equality, inclusion and acceptance of people of all gender identities and gender expressions.
The Conservative movement has a responsum from 2003, which Devor consulted on, and may address the matter in future.
Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond speaks at the fourth session of “How to Love a Child,” the Janusz Korczak Lecture Series. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)
“Rights are paper tigers, just pieces of paper, unless there are people courageous enough to defend them, and unless there are mechanisms to enforce them and compel them. The child who has a right to be heard but no one listens to, and disappears without ever being heard, never really had a right to be heard,” warned B.C. representative for children and youth Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond at the fourth session of “How to Love a Child,” the Janusz Korczak Lecture Series.
The Jan. 21 lecture at the University of British Columbia, which is part of a six-part series co-organized by the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada and UBC’s faculty of education, focused on The Human Rights of Aboriginal Children. Also speaking was Dr. Mike DeGagné, president and vice-chancellor of Nipissing University, who was the executive director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF), which was established in 1998 with a grant from the federal government and wound down its work in 2014. Its mandate was “to encourage and support, through research and funding contributions, community-based aboriginal-directed healing initiatives which address the legacy of physical and sexual abuse suffered in Canada’s Indian residential school system, including inter-generational impacts.”
Dr. Grant Charles, associate professor at UBC School of Social Work, acted as moderator, and Janusz Korczak Association president Jerry Nussbaum also spoke, explaining briefly who was Janusz Korczak. The educator, writer and orphanage director – after whose book How to Love a Child the lecture series is named – not only wrote about his theories, but lived and died by them. When the Nazis created the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940, Korczak’s orphanage was forced to move there, and Korczak went with the children. In 1942, he and the almost 200 children in his care were taken to Treblinka, where they were murdered.
Nussbaum reminded the audience of Korzak’s philosophies on the rights of children and their direct influence on the content of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Korczak believed that every child has a right to love, said Nussbaum, and that “children offered love and care will reciprocate with love and care.” Children have a right to be taken seriously, to education, to protest an injustice, among other rights. Nussbaum explained that Korczak believed that the health of a society could be gauged by the health of its children.
Despite protection under the UN convention, there are many children and youth who are marginalized and, in Canada, First Nations children are among those who are the most at risk. Dr. Jo-Ann Archibald, associate dean for indigenous education at UBC, gave an example of one of the research programs at the university’s faculty of education that is trying to ameliorate this situation. Called Awakening the Spirit, “it’s about revitalizing canoeing at Musqueam,” she explained. There is cooperation among different faculties and some students are involved, “but the most important part is the Musqueam communities that partner in this research. They are the ones who determined this particular project because they felt that they wanted to have something positive in their community for the young people, for the youth.”
Canoeing, she said, was a very important part of the community lifestyle, “it was a way to build family and community cohesiveness and also have fun and learn about the environment at the same time.”
The benefits of the research project, she said, “will be realized in educational materials, in the way of revitalizing important values, the Musqueam language, ensuring we have intergenerational learning.”
DeGagné has had 20 years of experience working with the repercussions of residential schools. He said his views about rights, “especially indigenous children’s rights, I color it with the history of residential schools.”
Often when there is a conversation within the community about indigenous issues, he said, it begins with the high rates of suicide, poverty, over-representation in the justice and child welfare systems, “the rosary of our grievances.” Given that indigenous children have rights, yet the grievances continue, he asked, “How can we be sure those rights are being supported and upheld?”
When AHF began, he said, grant applicants would ask, for example, whether the foundation had an approved list of elders that they could use. “We were astonished. Can you imagine in your own community … in your own spiritual context, asking if your priest was OK, if your rabbi was OK? This is the making of the colonial mind. After years of being subjected to doing it someone else’s way, even when we came along, we could not engender people doing it their way.” He described this as “a learned helplessness,” and a lack of trust in their own culture.
To move forward, it is important to talk of the past, he said. He used the metaphor of a pebble being dropped into a pond to describe the effects of the residential school system. The child’s abuse at the hands of an adult is at the centre, it is the pebble being dropped; the next ripple out is one child at a residential school abusing another child (“learned behavior”); the next is when that person leaves the school and returns to their community and starts a family in which violence takes place; then the violence between that family and another in the community. As we look at the outcome, standing on the outside, we see the high rates of suicide, family violence, neglected children, but we, as observers, “can’t see anything but the dysfunction and so infrequently do we get to examine what happened in the middle, what happened in that first instance of violence, what happened when that child’s human rights” were disregarded. “This is why we talk about history,” this is why 100 years of residential schools is important, he said.
To change the situation, he pointed to two necessities: the establishment of fairness, “the money that we spend on First Nations child welfare should be equal to the money that we spend in the rest of the population’s child welfare systems”; and transference of control to First Nations peoples of their lives, agendas and resources.
DeGagné commended the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on capturing the hearts and minds of Canadians and drawing them to indigenous issues, and for talking about system reform as opposed to tweaking or just adding money to a dysfunctional system. But, among his criticisms of the commission’s recommendations is that they do not make him uncomfortable. “It turns out that, in the reconciliation between you and me, indigenous people and non-indigenous people, that 93 of the 94 recommendations require that you do something…. I’d like to feel a lot more uncomfortable reading these recommendations because reconciliation is going to require that I work and that you work, and not that you come to stand by me, but that somehow I come to stand in the middle with you. And so, I think, too often with these recommendations, and this could be a reflection of the colonized mind, we are calling upon someone else to fix the problems with our community. That’s a concern of mine.”
The TRC, he added, also describes issues as if there has been no progress in the last 20 years – by the churches, universities, governments and others – towards reconciliation. “We have much to do, but we have to start by acknowledging the good work of all us and how much progress we’ve made.”
Turpel-Lafond spoke about how long it takes to change systems. “You have to really make that investment [in change], and it takes time,” she said.
AHF “laid the groundwork for thinking about healing” and the view of storytelling and its importance in healing, she said. “Stories, particularly the stories of grievances that aboriginal adults have – and many of our parents and grandparents have – are stories that needed to be told, that needed to be heard, that needed to be listened to.” AHF “gave resources for people to validate that process of allowing individuals who had been through residential school, their personal experience and their collective experience, to be told and listened to in a very sincere way in which they were supported, but also could create that medicine toward healing.”
Turpel-Lafond’s great-great-grandparents were the first two students at St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Sask. She spoke of the difficulties in sharing some of the stories with her own children. “Children are not always ready to hear those stories. I’m not trying to be over-protective, but we need to think about children’s well-being … how we tell the stories to children, when we tell stories to children, and how we can put those stories in a context.”
She then went on to speak about Korczak and the lecture theme, “How to love a child.” For her, Korczak represents what it means to love children, even “where it was extremely unpopular to love and support some children, who were considered to be less worthy, who were considered to be disposable…. And also to bring forward the idea that love is a kind of medicine with respect to our society…. We express our love for our own society and its furtherance by how we love our children because we create a vision of something we may not even be here to enjoy, that we create through that very values-based process.”
We’re not talking about creating the perfect system or bureaucracy, she said, noting that Treblinka was an attempt at a perfect system, “we’re talking about values.”
The love that Korczak represents for her in the context of indigenous children is an approach that does not come from a perspective of shaming, blaming, contempt or judgment. This is “a really serious problem that we continue to have for the current generation of indigenous children, which is, we want to save them but we still want to blame their parents, and that’s a very unhealthy attitude.” We need to come “from a perspective of love and understanding and context, and seeing … [how] multiple shocks … can just devastate families, not every family, but some families.”
A second lesson she takes from Korzcak’s views is “the idea that nobody owns your story, that you have to have the courage to say it.” People may relate to your story in various ways, “but the story, and telling it, the courage to do that, to talk about the difficult things, is a very important instinct related to love and, if you can’t bring that out and you don’t have enough people in your society who are courageous, then your society is doomed. And how do you build courageous people? … [I]t’s about love and acceptance and space, but it’s also about having very strong adults to allow people like kids to tell stories.” Korczak “represented that right to be heard,” she said, and he went even further, going against the mores of the day in that he wanted “no corporal punishment of children.”
She said that many indigenous children have been “raised in an environment deprived of the type of unconditional love, culture, language and the right to know who they were and where they were…. If you love people and you’re prepared to understand that grievance and suffering is not permanent, it can be redressed.”
But, adults who love children must see something in the children that the children may not see themselves because they’re mired in rejection. “There have to be positive, healthy adults who see their potential and support them to get to their potential. That’s a very important concept because, not surprisingly, guess what, some of the children who have been most abused and ill-treated can be the most challenging to engage with in terms of their emotional regulation, in terms of their contact with adults, in terms of their anger.”
The government label is that these children are “service resistant,” she said, which means, “we will leave you alone because you’re too angry for me even to listen to your story. But, if you take a page from Andrew Solomon [author of Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity] and Janusz Korczak, what would you say? I am able to rise above it and listen to this story and, if I’m a good, healthy adult that’s coming from a place of love, I can probably see what’s in the story and see how it can be a medicine for the future.”
The third lesson she takes from Korczak, her experience as an indigenous person and as an advocate for children is that “rights are an important medicine.” Rights are so important because “rights are a way to reframe incredible vulnerability and systematic disempowering … into a different context that overnight takes, for instance, that residential school experience and now makes it appalling, completely unacceptable, who would ever do that to children? Because they have a right to learn, they have a right to be safe, they have a right to be heard, they have a right to their language, [to their] culture transmitted from their parents to them, and there’s nothing threatening or harmful about that.”
In British Columbia, we have a long way to go. Of the children in care, more than 60% are indigenous children. While Turpel-Lafond said we are in a better place as a society than when she left home and went out in the world, “we are not in a place where indigenous children can in any way be guaranteed equal opportunities with other children in British Columbia. By accident of birth, they’re going to be born with significant disadvantages that will only be overcome based on what we decide to do.”
In the half-hour question and answer period that followed, one of the listeners shared her story of how her child had been abused by foster parents and, when she tried to remedy the situation, she could not find help, no matter to whom or to which government office she turned. Turpel-Lafond was at a loss to respond, other than to empathize and say we don’t have the answers, “but we’ve got to find a way to get them.”
The fifth lecture in the Korczak series takes place on Feb. 18, 7 p.m., and focuses on the topic Social Pediatrics in Canada and Vancouver. The final lecture on April 6 provides a summary of the series. To register and for more information, visit jklectures.educ.ubc.ca.
As the Jewish community expands into Coquitlam and other cities in the Lower Mainland, there must be an adjustment in the allocation of community resources. (photo by Greg Salter via Wikimedia Commons)
The face of Vancouver’s Jewish community is changing, with 36% born outside of Canada – the largest percentage in any Jewish population in the country.
In the Grade 1 classroom at Richmond Jewish Day School, half of the class is learning English as a second language, its students hailing from Israel and Argentina and speaking a mixture of Hebrew, Russian and Spanish.
“There’s definitely a growing number of Israeli families in all our Jewish day schools,” said Abba Brodt, principal at RJDS. Among them is the second wave of Russian Jews, comprised of Russian emigrés who made aliyah as children and moved to Vancouver after doing army service in Israel and starting their families. “They maintain strong Russian ties but have an incredibly strong connection to Judaism and Israel,” he said.
The new arrivals place extra demands on Jewish day schools in terms of meeting their children’s language needs, and RJDS has had to shift resources internally so the children of new immigrants can learn successfully in class.
“When people come, what’s our obligation to them?” Brodt pondered. “They want their kids to get a Jewish education as they get established. Many of these parents come without jobs, are not established financially and are trying to adjust, but it takes many, many years. The only menschlik thing to do is to open our doors, figure it out and let them know they’re not a burden at all. I think that’s the right approach for any Jewish organization in town. The faster we help them get on their feet, the better for the community.”
Adjustment is easiest for the youngest children. Brodt recalled a Russian-Israeli family that arrived in June 2014 with a child who couldn’t speak a word of English. “He entered kindergarten and by December that year he was speaking to his parents outside of school hours in English!”
At Vancouver Talmud Torah, head of school Cathy Lowenstein has also witnessed an influx of new immigrants from Israel, as well as from Brazil, Estonia and Hungary. “For students in the younger grades, ESL support isn’t as much of an issue, as they can really immerse themselves in language much faster than students in intermediate grades. But, over the past few years, we’ve increasingly had to allocate budget to students who require ESL support,” she said.
That can be difficult because the ESL needs vary year by year. “Often, these students don’t present until late summer, so we’re left trying to reallocate dollars in August so that we can properly help them transition into the school,” she explained.
Tuition assistance is provided on a case-by-case basis, Lowenstein said. “Even though we may have allocated our cap, we do our very best not to turn away a family wanting a Jewish education,” she said.
The high cost of living in the Lower Mainland is having far-reaching effects on the 26,250 Jews who call this corner of the West Coast home. Approximately 14,000 of them live in Vancouver, close to 6,000 in Richmond and the remainder in outlying cities including Burnaby, New Westminster, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Port Moody, Maple Ridge and Langley, where Jewish resources are few and far between. That’s because the high price of housing forces many new arrivals into these outlying areas, where accommodation is a little more affordable.
While RJDS has space available for more students, the challenge lies in reaching those Jewish families who live in the suburbs.
“We know there are 700 Jewish school-age kids in the Tri-Cities of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody and, as much as the schools may want them, how many families are going to have their kids get on a bus for an hour’s commute each way?” Brodt said. “You have to be super-committed to do that when there are good public schools around. If I could create a pipeline to Burnaby, I’d do it, but the possible customer base there is not ready to make that sort of commitment. They’re managing their Jewish lives out there, as is their right.”
At the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, vice-president of community affairs Shelley Rivkin noted that more than 850 children now live in underserved areas beyond the borders of Vancouver and few are receiving any Jewish education. “With community support, Jewish educators can develop innovative programs via which these kids can access that education, sharing fully the richness of our traditions and strengthening their Jewish identities,” she said.
In one such program, Federation collaborated with the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and funded a pilot project to enable Jewish children living in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody to attend Jewish summer day camp. The project made transportation and fee subsidies available to 22 kids.
Federation has established a regional communities task force that began work last month. In the meantime, the organization contributes to a shuttle bus in Richmond that helps seniors attend various community activities, and Burquest seniors can enjoy another day of programming thanks to additional funding provided to Jewish Family Service Agency. For young families, PJ Library is an important outreach program, Rivkin said. “For many young families who are raising children in interfaith households and/or who live in the suburbs, PJ Library is a primary Jewish connection. Recently, 100 people attended a PJ Library Chanukah event in Coquitlam.”
Federation is seriously focused on the future of the Lower Mainland’s Jewish community and anticipating programming to reach its needs over the next 15 years.
“Our population of seniors is expected to double by 2030 and an increased number of them will be 85 or older, so programs and services for this group will need to be expanded,” said Rivkin. “As issues of affordability persist, we expect there to be more Jews moving to more affordable suburbs that have little or no Jewish infrastructure. We expect these regional communities to play a larger role, and Jewish Federation will increase its focus on programs and services to reach them.”
The cost of living in Vancouver will likely continue to impact those who pay a premium to live near Jewish services and institutions, but find that the cost of Jewish life prevents them from participating. “We expect that increased subsidies for program participation will be needed,” she added.
According to the National Housing Survey in 2011, 16% of the Lower Mainland’s Jewish community lives below the living wage of $36,504. Among Jewish immigrants to the Lower Mainland who arrived between 2005 and 2011, that low-income rate is 25%. As one communal effort in dealing with this issue, Tikva Housing Society will expand the affordable housing stock for the Jewish community by 42 additional units in Vancouver and Richmond by 2017.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net. A longer version of this article was published in the Canadian Jewish News.
Zeke Blumenkrans, chief executive officer of Generocksity. (photo from Zeke Blumenkrans)
Zeke Blumenkrans, a 21-year-old University of British Columbia student, is establishing a philanthropic younger generation one fundraiser at a time.
Blumenkrans is co-founder and chief executive officer of Generocksity Inc., a nonprofit that organizes concert and party fundraisers for a variety of causes, as well as educational workshops and help for young adults who are wanting to start their own philanthropic endeavor. It has held events across Canada and in Europe, and has active branches in Ontario (Kingston and Hamilton) with plans to expand to Montreal and Victoria later this year.
In operation since November 2013, Generocksity has received more media attention over the last year, as its events have become more popular and, therefore, the organization has been able to raise greater amounts for charities across the board. In January 2015, the organization was chosen as the best of the highlighted projects at UBC’s Student Leadership Conference and, in November, Blumenkrans was honored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Vancouver chapter with the 2015 Giving Hearts Award for outstanding youth philanthropist.
“I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and came to Vancouver with my brother and parents when I was 3 years old. Since our arrival in Vancouver, my family has been heavily involved in the Jewish community,” shared Blumenkrans about his background. “My siblings and I attended Talmud Torah for preschool and elementary school, and King David for high school…. I love discovering new music, watching documentaries and weird foreign films, outdoor rock climbing and playing any team sport I have time for, especially soccer.”
Blumenkrans noted that his passion for volunteering began at an early age, and he has been volunteering at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice for the past five years.
“Canuck Place allows me to interact with some of the most courageous and incredible children in the world, all while goofing around and helping them have fun and forget about their tough situations for awhile. It’s very easy to get tunnel vision and just focus on your career or academic pursuits, and sometimes it’s important to see the bigger picture and what’s really important in life,” he said.
Generocksity was formed after the death of his friend David, who he had met as a fellow volunteer at Canuck Place. When Blumenkrans met David, David had already been diagnosed with spinal cancer.
“One of my most memorable moments with David was when he was voicing his frustration about how he felt like he simply did not have enough time to do all the things he wanted to do in his life. He had only recently been diagnosed, so he had always thought, as most of us do, that you can always leave stuff for later and there will always be time in the future. Although he never knew it, David is the reason why I started Generocksity, so every success and achievement my team and I experience, I share with him for being my eternal inspiration.”
Blumenkrans combined the inspiration of David’s life with his own experiences. While he was a student at King David High School, Blumenkrans was positively influenced by events such as Random Acts of Chesed Week and Mitzvah Day. RAC Week was inspired by the life of alumna Gabrielle Isserow.
“I always looked up to Gabi Isserow and her incredible leadership working with my brother, Dan, on Mitzvah Day when I was in the eighth grade,” said Blumenkrans. “As a lowly eighth-grader, she was one of the only seniors who ever took the time to say hi or smile at me when I would see her in the halls. Although she was always an important leader in the school, she had a certain level of kindness and humility that I have seldom seen in my life and, although she likely never knew it, I always viewed her as a role model.
“RAC Week is one of the most beautiful examples of how one can find love and inspiration in the darkest of places,” he continued. “In Judaism, we are taught to always celebrate life and I genuinely feel that Gabi’s life will be forever celebrated through things like RAC Week and all the mitzvot done by those kids she unknowingly inspired just like me.”
While Blumenkrans is pensive about his past, he is very much looking forward to the future. He believes that the true impact of Generocksity will only be seen in the next couple of decades.
“Many of the young adults who attend our events will go on to become very successful business owners, lawyers, doctors, etc. My goal is that when their time comes to decide how much money they’d like to give to charity, they will remember the positive experiences they had associated with philanthropy and how easily they are able to integrate charitable giving into their day-to-day lives,” he said.
“I don’t want our charity parties to be an anomaly. I want it to become the norm. I want there to be so many people doing this type of thing that it’s oversaturated. I want every weekend when you go out to party or let loose with your friends, if at least part of the proceeds aren’t going to charity, people will think, ‘this is kind of messed up.’ I want it to get to that point and I think that we have proven that it can.”
When asked how he would respond to millennials who believe that they are above philanthropy, Blumenkrans said, “If you think that you are too good to attend a charity event, then you have probably been scarred by a really boring and dull charity event and/or never found an event that was benefiting a cause that really meant something to you. We are trying to redefine how people view charity – to make it something exciting, cool and really fun while still making it very meaningful and personal. I want people to not feel conflicted about dancing and letting loose with their friends while supporting a hospice or homeless shelter. I want them to see that you can help disadvantaged members of one’s community while having lots of fun!”
To learn more about Generocksity, and their future events, go to generocksity.com.
Jonathan Dickis a freelance writer living in Toronto. His writing has appeared in the Canadian Jewish News, and various other publications in Canada and the United States.
Nine B.C. Chabad rebbetzins were among the 3,000 women attending the annual conference of Chabad shluchos. (photo from Lubavitch BC)
The annual conference of Chabad shluchos (female emissaries) ended on Feb. 1 with an affirmation of the preeminent place of the woman in Jewish life and community. Some 3,000 women from 87 countries attended the International Conference of Shluchos at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn.
Nine Chabad rebbetzins from British Columbia participated in the five-day conference: Henia Wineberg of Vancouver, Chanie Baitelman of Richmond, Simie Schtroks of Surrey, Malkie Bitton of Downtown Vancouver, Miki Mochkin of North Vancouver, Esti Loeub of the University of British Columbia, Fraidy Hecht of Kelowna, Chanie Kaplan of Victoria and Blumie Shemtov of Nanaimo.
Each embracing multiple roles and responsibilities, the women explored relevant issues and learned from professionals and colleagues with years of experience. Among the diverse topics were raising a large family, mental health issues, events marketing, understanding troubled relationships, fundraising, inclusion, and a conference within the conference for Hebrew school and preschool directors.
Sessions were targeted to address the different demographics served by Chabad. Campus leaders, for example – there are at least 240 women serving in leadership positions on campuses in the United States and abroad – attended sessions on raising a family on campus, life on campus, psychodynamic counseling for anxiety, and Chabad House on a budget.
Organized and planned by a board of women, each a Chabad representative, the conference included a parallel track for lay leaders. “These are the pillars of our community who are true partners with us,” said a Chabad representative from Argentina who was joined this year by two members of her community.
Lectures and workshops aside, the opportunity to spend time with other like-minded women from so many disparate countries and cultures who are part of a worldwide project inspired by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, gave the participants, especially those going back to far and isolated outposts, an exhilarating sendoff.
“This was truly a larger-than-life experience that will sustain me for a long time,” said Sashi Fridman, an American who is now a Chabad representative in Moscow. “It illuminated the power of the Jewish woman to lead – drawing on the strength of our tradition – with wisdom, as it focused on women who effect real, meaningful change with courage and creativity.”
Jerusalem from Mount of Olives. (photo by Wayne McLean via Wikimedia Commons)
For a long time, we have been seeking ways to make Jerusalem more than just the centre of the Jewish people, but also a city revived, with a young, optimistic spirit. We have succeeded in many areas, but a major issue remains: housing prices in many neighborhoods are unaffordable for young people.
With this in mind, the idea of raising the municipal tax came to be, with the goal of addressing this important issue. The first time we went to the government with a proposal to double the municipal tax on “ghost apartments” (empty apartments owned by non-residents) in Jerusalem, we were promptly shown the door: the ministers viewed this measure as potentially damaging for their friends abroad. While we share the deep connection with the very same people abroad, we insisted the move would promote our shared goals of a flourishing Jerusalem. But it is in the nature of good ideas to finally break through all obstacles and for disagreements and misunderstandings to be solved, and eventually the idea was approved.
Not everyone thinks increasing municipal taxes for non-residents is a good idea, but such disagreements are part of a legitimate dialogue between friends. However, I believe we might have lost the context of our shared goals. In my opinion, we’re looking at this all wrong. Instead of viewing the increased taxation as a penalty for homeowners, we need to think about this measure as an opportunity.
Jerusalem is in full bloom. Over the last few years, we have seen much progress in education, culture, tourism and the economy. It has bounced back from politicking, social tensions and terror attacks. Today’s Jerusalem is all about innovation, creativity and optimism. Across all sectors of society, Jerusalemites recognize the inherent value of diversity and coexistence. Jerusalem is a pilgrimage site, home to
Israel’s basketball champions (finally!), a place of wondrous architecture, sacred sites, top-notch museums and world-class restaurants. Everyone wants a part of Jerusalem – not in order to save it, but to take part in its success as a city combining tradition and innovation, religiosity and diversity.
It is this success that has made the beating heart of the Jewish world attractive for investors from the world over. Jerusalem currently has around 9,000 “ghost apartments,” including whole neighborhoods such as Kfar David or Mamilla, at the very core of the city. In the building where I lived until recently, seven out of 11 apartments were only in use for a few days each year. It is sad to see whole sections of the city empty. But it is even sadder to think of the young, dynamic population that won’t be able to afford an apartment in central Jerusalem so long as there is someone who will pay more.
Jerusalem is unlike any other city in the world. It is the fountain of ideology and innovation in the Jewish world. It is a challenge and an opportunity. It enjoys a unique, mutual bond with the Diaspora: connections formed here are of special significance to Jews both home and abroad. The cohort of young leaders being formed in Jerusalem is hard at work trying to create new paradigms.
Many owners of “ghost apartments” have invested time, energy and money in Jerusalem with the best intentions at heart, and have a great share in what has become of the city in recent years. But this phenomenon has driven housing costs to the level where it is nearly impossible for the average young Jerusalemite to buy an apartment, or even rent one at a reasonable cost. These young people will not be able to stay, and that is what gave birth to the idea of doubling municipal taxes for non-residents. Or, as I like to call it, “the pro-affordable housing tax.” This new ordinance is projected to generate around 10 million NIS annually, solely dedicated to creating affordable housing for the city’s young.
Again, this is not a penalty, but an opportunity to take part in one of the great challenges of the contemporary Jewish world – maintaining Jerusalem as a vital, tolerant and dynamic city.
Hanan Rubinis a Jerusalem city councilor and a co-founder of the political movement Wake Up Jerusalem, which focuses on quality of life issues for Jerusalem residents.
Planned giving – the allocation of funds to charity in a will – is the lifeblood of many charitable organizations. But proper planning can deliver excellent financial benefits to the donor during their lifetime, too.
Aeronn Zlotnik, a financial advisor with ZLC Financial, said proper planning can ensure more money for a donor’s favorite charity and less money for Canada Revenue Agency.
“There’s a whole bunch of different vehicles we can use to make the experience much more tax efficient and better for the client,” he said. “For instance, you might be able to make a donation but then they’ll turn around and buy you an annuity so that you have some income on a go-forward basis.”
Buying an investment fund that is willed to the charity is another alternative. It could be structured so that the donor receives income tax-free. For instance, Zlotnik said, a $100,000 investment might provide $100 a month in income, which is designated return of capital, rather than new income, and is, therefore, tax-free.
“There are rules in place where you could donate securities and not have to pay for capital gains and so, effectively, you could increase your income today and make a charitable donation later and everybody wins,” he said.
The top rule of thumb, Zlotnik explained, is having a conversation with an advisor about intentions. There are other ways to decrease or eradicate taxes owed on an estate. Better still, there are ways to maximize the benefits while we’re still around to appreciate them.
Designating registered retirement savings plans or a registered retirement income fund to charity means the estate will avoid being taxed at the highest marginal tax rate of the deceased person, while at the same time generating a tax benefit for the plan’s total value. The dead have a tax advantage over the living, in that a tax credit arising from a bequest can be applied in its entirety to the estate’s tax bill, compared with a rate of 75% for a breathing taxpayer.
Transferring a life insurance policy to a charity allows the premiums to qualify for a tax benefit. Annuities, if arranged properly, can benefit the donor during life by providing interest income and a tax receipt for the donation to boot. In the end, the charity gets the principal.
The significance of planned giving to charities is crucial, according to Marcie Flom, vice-president, financial resource development for the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.
“These planned gifts ensure the long-term stability and viability of not-for-profit organizations,” she said. “They provide resources that the charity can count on as a stable source of funding to carry out its mandate, its charitable work. By having a stable source of funding for their core mandate, it enables them to allocate resources to take some risks, to try new programs. It provides that stability.”
Endowed funds, which are a common product of planned giving, let an organization breathe a little easier, knowing that there will be guaranteed income at a certain level each year.
“Obviously, that’s the benefit for those agencies,” Flom said.
For the donor, in addition to the tax benefits, this approach is also a statement of philanthropic vision, which can continue even after they are gone.
“It’s a wonderful way,” said Flom, “for them to create a legacy in the community that reflects their charitable giving through their lifetime … and then, again, for the organization, it provides that long-term, stable funding that is so critical to the organization’s operations.”
This RRSP season, you can give your portfolio a gift – the potential for better returns and reduced risk. (photo from 401kcalculator.org via Wikimedia Commons)
Many RRSP portfolios struggled in 2015 to produce returns sufficient for the goals of retirement building and wealth preservation. An over-reliance on equities, and particularly Canadian equities, left many RRSPs in negative territory and, so far in 2016, the stock market has continued to erode savings. But, this RRSP season, you can give your portfolio a gift – the potential for better returns and reduced risk.
The concept of what we call a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) was introduced by the federal government in 1957 to encourage Canadians to save for their retirement. Although the rules have changed over the years, the basic benefits are every bit as valuable today as they were at inception: the ability to contribute pre-tax dollars and thereby reduce income for taxation, and the ability to compound gains within an RRSP while deferring taxes on the gains.
Many of us are good about setting up our RRSPs when we’re young, and dutifully contribute the maximum allowable each year. Typically, our RRSP accounts start out as just another brokerage account with an emphasis on long-only stock investing. But, by the time we reach our 40s, those RRSP dollars can start to add up. For top-earning Canadians contributing the maximum allowable, an RRSP account can hit $500,000 by middle age and keep going from there.
In addition, our risk tolerance changes as we age and our runway of remaining working years shortens. Conventional wisdom is that longer-term investment vehicles like RRSPs can take on more risk, as greater volatility over the long term often yields greater return. Unfortunately, this notion fails to anticipate how long it can take to overcome the drag of a negative year, and the fact that when a major loss occurs late in a life, there may not be enough time for wealth to catch up to needs. Consider, for instance, the unfortunate plight of anyone who had to rely on their RRSP in late 2008, before the Federal Reserve and its counterparts stepped in and refloated stock markets.
The collapse of stock markets in 2008 and 2009 prompted many to take their RRSP money out of the market and rethink their risk tolerance. The disappointment of 2015’s performance will likely reinforce that wariness of the equity markets. An RRSP that closely tracks the TSX would have been down 8.32% last year. That account will have to appreciate by 9.08% just to get back to the values at the beginning of last year. Given average return expectations of 8% per year, it will take 13 months just to recover, let alone get ahead. (And the numbers get worse if you go back further – the TSX is still below the high it reached in 2008.)
Even after our inauspicious start, 2016 may be a great year for equities, or it could be a repeat of 2015 (or worse). Either way, the safer, more reliable route to a more secure portfolio is to decrease downside volatility by employing two of the touchstones of risk mitigation: diversification and non-correlation. Both allow portfolios to absorb and offset downdraft periods, while benefiting from the correlation between return and risk (most assets with a higher-return profile also carry a higher-risk profile).
One of the greatest sources of volatility for a portfolio is the particular market or strategy it’s primarily invested in. The TSX, as an example, has historical volatility of more than 15%, which is quite high. To offset this inherent risk, it’s necessary to incorporate additional components that are both uncorrelated to the TSX and to each other.
Finding diversified, uncorrelated components is easier than you may think. There is a range of non-equity investment options available for RRSPs. Real estate, infrastructure and lower-risk funds of alternative funds can all be beneficial components of a balanced RRSP portfolio. Even the traditional RRSP component of Canadian equities can be turbocharged by replacing a long-only mandate with a long-short manager. And all of the above are available to accredited investors in bite-size pieces appropriate to an RRSP.
As with all portfolios, when constructing an RRSP portfolio, it’s important to distinguish the particular characteristics of each component so the portfolio achieves the greatest possible appreciation with the least possible risk. Real estate and infrastructure both have valued histories as long-term wealth generators with lower volatility, but they usually come with liquidity restrictions, and each is subject to cyclical trends. Funds of alternative funds can combine lower risk and reasonable liquidity while offering access to a range of investment themes far beyond the Canadian economy, an important way to break out of the limitations of living in a country that constitutes less than 3% of the world’s GDP. Long-short equity can achieve market neutrality and have great liquidity, but even some of the better Canadian funds can be highly volatile.
Your investment advisor should be able to suggest suitable choices for each component, and you can evaluate those recommendations (and come up with alternatives) by doing some internet research of your own. When assessing providers for each component, you and your advisor should consider the usual metrics such as beta, volatility, standard deviation, Sharpe Ratio and correlation to the TSX. While the names may be new to you, the concepts are easy to grasp and very useful when comparing performance over time. When it comes to choosing a fund of alternative funds, identify a manager with a proven record of nimbleness, as he or she will have to keep updating the mix of exposures to benefit from evolving market conditions.
Many pundits agree we are likely in the final innings of history’s longest equity bull market. Additional headwinds may result from bonds and credit, beginning a long overdue tightening cycle, which many are expecting will increase volatility. Now is the time for investors to rethink portfolio construction and embrace asset classes that are less influenced by the equity markets. Sophisticated investors like family offices and institutions embraced non-correlated alternatives decades ago. It’s time for the rest of us to catch up.
Ari Shiffis president and chief strategist of Inflection Management Inc. (inflectionmanagement.com), and manager of the Inflection Strategic Opportunities Fund. He has more than 20 years experience in hedge funds and can be reached at [email protected] or at 604-730-9147.
Arava International Centre for Agriculture Training executive director Hanni Arnon spoke to audiences across Canada as part of a Jewish National Fund nationwide tour. (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa)
As part of a nationwide tour, with stops in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, Hanni Arnon, executive director of Arava International Centre for Agriculture Training (AICAT) of the Arava Development Co., introduced the training program to Canadian audiences.
In 1994, Arnon founded AICAT. The goal of the centre is to educate students from countries around the world on how to form successful agricultural businesses. Her cross-Canada talks – Feeding the World through Education – were organized by Jewish National Fund of Canada, its local branches and support from various other local Jewish organizations.
In her presentation in Winnipeg, Arnon shared her personal story about having been born and raised in Jerusalem. About 30 years ago, she chose to follow her dream and move with her husband, Moti, to the Arava region.
“We were looking for a life with challenges and fulfilment,” she said. “We wanted our children to grow up connected to nature and to be a part of a community that understands and appreciates the meaning of hard work, Zionism, solidarity and friendship.”
Some 900 families live in the central Arava, which is a desert. Given the harsh climate, general lack and poor quality of water, residents had little choice but to find creative solutions and overcome the daily difficulties they encountered. They have gathered more than 50 years of experience and research, with science as the foundation.
“With hard work, we made the desert bloom,” said Arnon. “We are the world leader in desert beautification and a prime example for effective water use. We have the ability to think outside the box and make the impossible possible.”
The global population is reaching more than seven billion, including 800 million people in poverty. Arnon is looking for a way to feed them by focusing on collaboration and the transfer of knowledge, which she feels will lead to empowerment and the opening of opportunities. She acknowledged that knowledge itself is not enough, that it needs to be coupled with training.
“For over 20 years,” she said, “AICAT has had the great privilege to bring every year, with the permission of the Israeli government, hundreds of students from 12 developing countries, such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia, South Sudan, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Indonesia – a multitude of cultures, religions and nationalities that have participated in the unique program across borders.”
AICAT provides students with practical knowledge in everything from vegetable production to business management, marketing, research, technology and strategic thinking. The goal is for students to return home to “establish their own agriculture business and improve their farms,” said Arnon.
According to Arnon, AICAT – which has 40,000 graduates to date – teaches the most important lesson – that if you want something earnestly enough, you can make it happen. Every year, she said, she sees how, after 11 months, the students have a light in their eyes and are keen to apply the new ideas to helping their home countries.
“We give them hope and self-confidence to follow their dreams and improve their lives,” said Arnon. “They become entrepreneurs and future leaders of their countries.”
Arnon noted that not only do the students gain the knowledge and inspiration, but they go on to become goodwill ambassadors for the state of Israel. “They go home and talk about how much Israel means to them,” she said. “This is positive action on the Israeli side, which shows Israel in a different light.”
When Arnon was asked a question about cooperation with the Jordanians, she spoke about the different ways AICAT works with neighboring farmers. “Just to make sure you understand how close we are, the place where our fields end, this is the border,” she said. “It’s an open border with no fence. We have a peace agreement, so it’s a quiet border. We send our expertise to support farmers in Jordan. We are open for any collaboration with the Jordanians and would especially like cooperation with our neighbors.
“We also have a project [called] Clean Arava and we must do that together with the Jordanians, because we are so close to them. This is one of the projects we are doing together.”
Arnon explained that the Arava region is the biggest vegetable exporting area in Israel, producing more than 60% of the fresh vegetables Israel exports. The main crops are sweet peppers, tomatoes and melons, but they also grow flowers, grapes, mangos and dates. (The Arnon family owns a large date farm.)
As for the students involved in the project, Arnon noted that they pay for a one-way ticket to Israel, a medical exam and a passport. They can work while in Israel to earn their fare back home and tuition fees, while also taking home with them $2,000-$3,000 to help put into practice what they have learned.
“We see the impact on students,” said Arnon. “They are going back home as leaders, entrepreneurs, with knowledge, skills and money to start an agricultural business. Many of them, about 30%, continue on to higher education.”
The original inspiration for AICAT was the need to teach Thai workers in the 1990s about agricultural systems. Arnon, having been trained as a teacher for that work, immediately felt that a school should be created to teach the subject on an ongoing basis to as many students as possible.
AICAT presently teaches about 1,200 students per year, but Arnon is hoping to double that number with a new campus that will break ground in March.
As for funding, no government funding or support is provided, apart from providing the students with visas. It is JNF that provides support for facilities, dormitories and programs.
Ariel Karabelnicoff, director of JNF Manitoba and Saskatchewan, closed the Winnipeg event by sharing that the school has 80 students from Indonesia, an Islamic country with no diplomatic ties with Israel.
While in Winnipeg, Arnon also took time to speak to University of Manitoba students and visited the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. In Vancouver, hosted by JNF Pacific Region, she spoke at Temple Sholom, Beth Israel and Schara Tzedeck.
The talks were timed with the celebration of Tu b’Shevat and JNF’s fundraising campaign for a 6.5-kilometre park in Eilat. For more information on the campaign, email [email protected] or call 604-257-5155.
At a Winnipeg Jets game, Judith Heumann, U.S. special advisor on international disability rights, speaks to hockey fans and draws the winning 50/50 ticket. (photo from Judith Heumann)
The journey of Judith Heumann, U.S. special advisor on international disability rights, is featured in the Canadian Museum of Human Rights’ (CMHR) exhibit Turning Points of Humanity. On Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, Heumann visited CMHR, which is located in Winnipeg, and gave a talk on the disability rights movement.
Heumann is an internationally recognized leader in the disability community and a lifelong civil rights advocate. For more than 30 years, she has worked with various organizations and governments to advance the human rights of people with disabilities.
A daughter of Holocaust survivors and the oldest sibling of three who grew up in Brooklyn, Heumann had polio in 1949, when she was 18 months old. She has used a wheelchair ever since.
“My parents were Jewish German immigrants who came over when they were teens from Germany,” Heumann told the Independent. “During the war, my parents lost both of their parents and other relatives. Being Jewish was a big part of our family life, and also addressing issues around the Holocaust was important.
“My parents didn’t speak that much directly about their experiences. I did find out later that they were doing classes at a junior high, talking about their experiences living in Germany in the ’30s.”
Heumann’s first experience with discrimination due to her disability happened when she was 5 years old. Her mother took her to school and the school principal denied her admission because she used a wheelchair. The city sent a teacher to her house for home schooling for a total of 2.5 hours per week up until halfway through Grade 4.
“In that time period, my parents were looking for opportunities for me to be able to get into school,” she said. “I finally was able to get into school when I was in the middle of the fourth grade, but it was just segregated classes for disabled kids.
“My mother learned to become an advocate over the years. Not just for me, but working with other parents, and she and my dad were very important role models for me.”
It was Heumann’s parents’ advocacy that spurred her onto her own path of advocacy work in different communities in the United States, to start, and then in countries around the world.
At CMHR, Heumann spoke to about 200 people about the types of human rights violations disabled people experience and the need for good and enforced laws. She encouraged Canada to look at having laws similar to the United States’ Disabilities Act.
“This is so that there could be more uniformity in the country as far as construction and non-discrimination,” Heumann explained.
She added, “I know the Trudeau administration is looking at this as a possibility and I think Manitoba and [British Columbia] are also looking at this as provinces.
“I think Canada is doing good work in the area of disability,” she said. “I know people are very hopeful that the Trudeau administration will allow Canada to be more of a player internationally than they have been in the past number of years in the area of disability.”
Heumann has had her share of experiences with the lack of construction standardization in Canada, recalling a time when she was visiting a Holiday Inn on one of her business trips. Heumann’s staff confirmed her reservation and made sure to request a roll-in shower. When she checked in, she made sure the roll-in shower request was noted on paper, yet, when she got to the room, there was no roll-in shower.
“I thought they’d mistakenly put me in the wrong room,” said Heumann. “When I called the front desk, they informed me that they didn’t have any roll-in showers. I was told that although I requested it, they don’t have one. I asked when they were planning on telling me that they don’t have one, then I called the 1-800 Holiday Inn number to express my deep concern, because Holiday Inns in the United States are accessible. It’s one of the hotels that you can make a reservation at and ask for what you need, and they will tell you if they have it or not. The woman on the phone said, ‘Oh no. That’s not possible that you couldn’t get a roll-in shower at a Holiday Inn.’ She asked where I was and I told her Canada, and she said, ‘Oh, Canada.’
“It’s not at all to say that we don’t have all kinds of problems in the United States, too, but the problem in Canada is you don’t have uniformity in your new construction or modifications.”
A similar situation happened at the hotel in which Heumann was staying in Winnipeg. The room was great, except that it had an adjoining room with a door between the two that was too narrow for her wheelchair. Heumann could not get from one room to the other without having to exit and enter through the front doors. She used this as an example during her talk at CMHR.
Also during her stay in Winnipeg, Heumann went to her first hockey game. “I really felt the spirit of people in Manitoba when I gave a very brief response to a question asked by the commentator right before I pulled the ticket for the 50/50,” said Heumann. “He asked me about the State Department and what we were doing in the area of disability. I thought, nobody is going to listen, but when I left and we were going back to the hotel at the end of the game, it was clear people were listening. Some people came over and said they liked what I’d said. I didn’t care if they liked what I said, but I was impressed that they actually listened and took the time to say something. Manitoba was a great experience.”