Shuk owner Alon Volodarsky, left, and chef Evy Swissa. (photo by Lauren Kramer)
Shakshuka is not a dish that’s easy to come by in Vancouver. Until recently, that is. When Shuk opened its doors on Oak and 41st in early December, this favorite Israeli breakfast item made it to the menu, among a host of other Mediterranean foods, including house-made hummus, Moroccan fish, falafel, borekas, labneh and hatzilim.
Shuk’s owner is the multi-talented Alon Volodarsky, 35, an Israeli from Haifa who moved to Vancouver eight years ago and has had careers in professional dance choreography, carpentry and home renovation. He also has owned a store selling remote-controlled toys.
Soon after he arrived here, he tasted the food of chef Evy Swissa, who worked at Café 41, and quickly recognized his expertise. Volodarsky also noticed a dearth of establishments where parents could shmooze, enjoy good food and know that their kids were playing safely within eye- and earshot. So, when the opportunity arose to take over Café 41, he jumped at it. He invested $100,000 in a complete remodel and added a space for kids, with climbing structures in the large dining room to keep the 2- to 6-year-old crowd entertained. Then, he found a slab of cedar, cut and varnished it and made it a centrepiece bar in his new restaurant, Shuk. It’s a fabulous piece of carpentry.
Volodarsky hasn’t spared any expense transforming Shuk into a more sophisticated space, adding a state-of-the-art coffee machine, excellent lighting, a beautiful color scheme and quartz countertops. Dairy products are all chalav Yisrael and many of the ingredients he uses come from Israel, including
Israeli rosewater, tehina, za’atar, Moroccan spices and Turkish coffee by Elite. The kitchen is under Chabad supervision.
My shakshuka ($14.50) arrived on a skillet, presented on a wooden board accompanied by French fries in a neat stainless steel basket. It was also served with pita that Volodarsky was quick to point out is deliberately Israeli-style, sourced from Toronto, and hummus, which Swissa makes in five-litre quantities daily and was so good I had to bring a container of it home. Other items on the menu included the $7 boreka plate (three borekas served with boiled egg, tahini and pickled cukes), the $14.95 falafel plate (seven balls with a side of hummus, fries, Israeli salad and pita), hatzilim ($14.50, served on top of tahini with tomato salsa and pita) and za’atar focaccia ($14.50). There’s also poutine ($7.50), French toast ($8.95), eggs benedict with salmon and avocado ($14.50), pasta and wraps containing fish or falafel.
The food is a mix of Mediterranean, Russian and Yemeni influences, Swissa said. “It’s comfort food that brings you back to Israel,” he confided, adding that the menu is fairly simple with daily specials bringing new items to the mix. The two specials the day I came in were Persian fish balls with couscous, spinach and carrots ($17.30) and flatbread with caramelized onion, goat cheese and pesto ($14).
Volodarsky looked pensively towards the children’s area, where his 3-year-old often releases energy on rainy Vancouver days. “The idea is to attract families with kids,” he said quietly. “Out front we have a quiet area for coffee and meetings, but in the back are most of our 76 seats, and Sundays it’s packed in there.”
The fact that the restaurant is kosher is a big drawcard for Vancouver’s Jewish community and Volodarsky and his team of nine are fighting the perception that kosher means “super expensive.”
“We’re really trying to keep our costs reasonable,” he said. Still, some 55% of diners are not Jewish, Swissa noted. “And they love hummus!”
Don’t miss the desserts – there’s a fabulous selection of delicacies including tahini ice cream, chocolate-banana mousse cups and butter popcorn mousse.
And, if you don’t have the time or energy for a Friday night meal, Swissa can handle that in a heartbeat, complete with the challah, for any orders, even as small as a family of one or two. “I need just 20 minutes forewarning,” he said. He makes 12 challot each Friday in three different flavors, and they disappear fast, so pre-orders are crucial.
Shuk is open Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.; and Sundays, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. There is free underground parking and free wifi. Before Feb. 10, Shuk’s grand opening, access to the kids play area is free. After that date it’s $5 per child, $2.50 per sibling or $30 for a month-long unlimited membership. For more information or reservations, 604 563-4141.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.
“Panty By Post is about shipping a piece of self-love in a little package,” says Natalie Grunberg. (photo from Natalie Grunberg)
Underwear. We all wear it and it’s not something most of us think too deeply about – until our own pairs look too disheveled, torn or worn out to warrant further use. But Vancouverite Natalie Grunberg thinks a lot about underwear – panties, specifically.
She started considering these hidden pieces of apparel on a trip to France in 2009. “I was inspired by the lifestyle I saw,” she told the Independent. “I loved the way the women dressed, the kind of confidence they have when they’re walking down the street and looking so lovely, even if it’s just to get a baguette.” As she spent time in French stores, she noticed the beauty of French underwear and lingerie and, not long after she landed at YVR, she started her own company, Panty By Post (pantybypost.com).
“I feel like there is value in putting yourself together well, and it starts with your underwear,” she said. “Panty By Post is about shipping a piece of self-love in a little package – the sexiness, self-respect and confidence of the French comes to your doorstep like self-esteem in a box.”
Grunberg, 39, is a native Vancouverite and member of Congregation Or Shalom who has been vacationing in France since the age of 14. That French influence had a profound impact on the Grunberg kids. Paul, Natalie’s brother, owns the French restaurant L’Abattoir in Gastown, while Natalie, formerly a high school teacher, gave up her day job two years ago to focus on her business. The learning curve was steep and those first five years, she said, were “like a mini MBA where I taught myself the skills I needed.”
At first, she imported sexy, lacy panties. Then she surveyed her customers to find out what they were looking for in terms of panties and bras. She learned that her mostly North American customers wanted beautiful underwear that was comfortable and durable, “nothing poofy or scratchy. They need to be able to wear them under their business suits or under their jeans,” she explained. So, she created her own label and forged a manufacturing relationship with a Colombian company. “I prefer working with Colombia over China because they offer really great working conditions and give their workers health care and support for single moms,” she said.
Who buys panties by post? It’s an admittedly unusual way to source your underwear but Grunberg’s demographic ranges from 25 through 65. “Sometimes, it’s a mom buying for their daughter or themselves, other times a husband or boyfriend is purchasing for their partner, but this is not for the bargain shopper,” she insisted. “Our customer is not the Costco shopper who buys a Haines pack of 10 underwear. Rather, these are women and men who understand the quality and value of a good panty.”
The Panty By Post transaction starts on the internet with monthly panty subscriptions starting at $15 and increasing depending on the style and type of panty. Grunberg includes a handwritten note in each box of panties she ships and can personalize the notes if her customers have a specific message they want to relay. Some have been monthly subscribers for the seven years she’s been in business. Others prefer to use Panty By Post for special occasions like a bridal shower gift or Valentine’s Day treat.
There’s a massive difference in the mindset of French versus American women, Grunberg noted, and it goes well beyond the panties they choose. “French women focus on buying good quality instead of volume. They 100% understand the value of wearing beautiful underwear, not just for your partner, but for yourself. North American women are more focused on comfort and don’t see the value of those little details. We don’t care as much about quality because we’re more focused on buying a lot.”
Grunberg is determined to change that mindset. “It’s not OK to sacrifice beauty for practicality because we can have it all,” she said. “It’s not about impressing a man, it’s about taking pride in your appearance. I’m on a mission to change the panty drawers of North American women. I want to bring the experience of France directly to your door.”
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.
Nominations for this year’s Courage to Come Back Awards are open until Feb. 12, 2016, 5 p.m. The annual awards recognize abilities, celebrate differences and give centre stage to six British Columbians who have overcome tremendous challenges, yet reach out to help others in the province.
Courage recipients show us that people can walk again despite the predictions of some of the best medical minds. They teach us that disabled does not mean unable. They prove that hearing voices in one’s head does not mean a lifetime in hospital. These are valuable members of our community despite injury or illness: they are role models.
Nominations are open only to residents of British Columbia and the nominee must agree to be nominated for a Courage to Come Back Award. All nominees will receive a special certificate of nomination, which pays tribute to their outstanding courage.
A team of volunteer health professionals and community leaders will select one recipient in each category to be honored with an award. If your nominee is unsuccessful, he or she can be nominated again next year.
Any material submitted to Coast Mental Health will not be returned. Coast makes every effort to verify nominee stories but takes no responsibility for errors or omissions, and Coast reserves the right to place nominations in their award categories. Video or CD nominations are not accepted.
To nominate someone, tell the nominee’s story of a courageous comeback accurately and in detail. Submit only one nomination form for the nominee, and submit a minimum of three letters of support and testimonials, and optional supplemental documents, to [email protected]. Nominations will not be considered complete or eligible until a completed nomination form and all mandatory letters of support have been received.
Once you have clicked “submit,” an immediate message should appear confirming your nomination has been successfully submitted. You will also receive a confirmation email.
The Noah’s Ark Project began in 1997 as a response to the B.C. law stating that a newborn may only be discharged from a hospital in a regulation, rear-facing infant car seat. (photo from JWI-BC)
The Noah’s Ark Project, a Jewish Women’s International-BC (JWI-BC) program that supplies regulation, rear-facing infant car seats and essentials for newborns to 14 major British Columbia hospitals and other family agencies, is celebrating its 18th year of providing this essential service to needy families in the province.
Noah’s Ark began in December 1997 as a response to the B.C. law stating that a newborn may only be discharged from a hospital in a regulation, rear-facing infant car seat. The law negatively affected families who could not afford to purchase them. Since the car seat requirement did not apply to taxis, hospital social work departments were obliged to provide these families with taxi vouchers or coupons to transport newborns home without car seats.
However, hospital staff were dismayed at the lack of safety for an infant riding without a car seat in a taxi on their first trip home, as well as the likelihood of riding in a parent’s lap in the future. They were also aware that non-driving single moms without infant car seats would likely be unable to accept transportation offers from family or friends without putting the baby at risk, each and every trip.
In response to this situation, a volunteer program was started in 1997 by Isabelle Somekh to provide nearly new rear-facing infant car seats to St. Paul’s Hospital’s social work department. These rear-facing infant car seats were allocated to working-poor parents, refugees and single parents of newborns at the hospital’s maternity centre. In November 2000, the Noah’s Ark Project was taken on entirely by members of JWI-BC, as one of their many service projects.
Barbara Lucas, a social worker at B.C. Women’s Hospital, said of the program, “B.C. Women’s Hospital and Health Centre delivers 7,000 babies a year and we want them to stay safe after they leave the hospital. We appreciate the wonderful generosity of Jewish Women International-BC for donating hundreds of infant car seats over the years so that families in need can bring their babies home safely.”
Debbie Rootman is a member of the basic resources team and coordinator of the Lower Mainland’s Jewish Food Bank, which is co-funded by Jewish Family Service Agency, JWI-BC and donors from the community. She said, “We are grateful for the assistance received from Noah’s Ark – 2015 was an extraordinary year for pregnant clients and JFSA requested and received many nearly new items to assist these new mothers in the community. Noah’s Ark has provided essentials such as a new crib mattress, cuddle cloths, newborn diapers, sleepers, complete layettes, strollers and infant car seats. All we had to do was ask. It is very much appreciated to have this partnership to support us.”
Since the services that are provided by JWI-BC’s Noah’s Ark Project depend on community support and grants, cheques or Visa donations are appreciated to keep this vital service available for all who depend on it. Donations can be mailed to Jewish Women International-BC, c/o 106-7580 Columbia St., Vancouver, B.C., V5X 4S8. Donations over $18 receive tax receipts.
For more information on the rear-facing infant car seat program, call 604-838-5567 and leave a message for Somekh, the Noah’s Ark Project chair, or e-mail [email protected].
Mardy Yager, manager of fund development at Marymound. (photo from Mardy Yager)
Mardy Yager manages the resources of Marymound, the second largest agency in Manitoba that provides support to some of the province’s highest-needs kids. Every day, he has to deal with an overburdened social services system that is struggling to keep up with demand.
A lifelong Winnipegger, Yager has been working in the child welfare field for 26 years. He has been serving at Marymound for the past 15. “I began working frontline with the kids and now I’m the manager of fund development,” he said.
“I have a passion for the kids and intimate knowledge of the work, so I’ve been effective in raising funds and awareness for child welfare here in Manitoba,” he said of his choice of profession, “which isn’t historically a choice for most people.”
When he was 14, his father passed away. Although Yager is not a practising Jew, he feels strongly that his passion for service stems from his Jewish heritage and the example set by his father, who was vice-president of their synagogue, among other things.
Marymound was started in 1911 by Sisters of the Good Shepherd. Yager said he felt privileged to work alongside the sisters when he first began working there, and found their values to be the same as any other religion’s ethics. “You look after those less fortunate, you honor people’s differences, you celebrate other people’s religions,” he said. “Spirituality is very important, regardless of what faith you practise.”
The overwhelming majority of Marymound’s kids – 70% – are indigenous. As such, the focus of Marymound’s assistance is not so much about religion. “That’s kind of how the sisters looked at it as well,” said Yager. “The focus was more on spirituality and healing, and that’s what’s kept me here.”
Marymound’s staff is a mix of professionals with different cultural backgrounds, including indigenous, Christian, Muslim and Jewish. There are more than 300 full-time and another 200 other staff working with approximately 3,000 children annually.
Manitoba has the highest number of children in care (11,000) compared to any other province. For example, the province has almost double the number of Saskatchewan (6,000) despite the fact that the population breakdown of each province is similar.
“The system is overburdened here in Manitoba,” said Yager. “And it’s struggling to meet the needs of all those kids. Some are very high needs. A lot has to do with fallout from the residential schools. Lots has to do with our indigenous populations being marginalized over the decades.
“We also, unfortunately, did the 1960s scoop, where we pulled kids out of their homes and adopted them out to white families all over North America. We’re just starting to understand the issues and making some corrections as to how we approach the problems.”
Most of the kids Marymound works with are dealing with family breakdown, physical and sexual abuse, neglect and poverty. Some are battling mental illness, fetal alcohol syndrome and other issues that mainly afflict the most vulnerable segments of the population.
While Marymound has serviced Jewish kids and still does in their foster-care programs, those percentages are small.
Al Benarroch, executive director of Jewish Child and Family Services (JCFS) in Winnipeg, knows all too well how Marymound and similar organizations help.
“They run some very specific programs around treatment for sexual abuse,” said Benarroch. “Working at JCFS, being a small sliver of child and family services in Manitoba, we work in our own community. But, in my past professional career, when I was in private practice, I used to see a lot of cases of sexual abuse – both in adults who are survivors … and also with youth and children who were in the welfare system because of that.”
But Benarroch was quick to point out that sexual abuse is the smallest percentage under the abuse category – at least on paper – with 10% or 12% of all reported cases of abuse being sexual abuse.
“There is a much higher number being reported of physical abuse, and the highest number is probably neglect,” he said. “What does that mean? Does that mean there’s less sexual abuse or does that mean that it’s underreported? The likelihood is, it’s most likely extremely underreported by virtue of its nature – the nature of the secrecy and the nature of the disruptive levels of trust that a person has when they’ve been victimized.”
While Benarroch said that anyone who can afford counseling can find it very readily, in general, accessing quality, well-trained therapists is difficult for those who are less financially well off.
“With JCFS, we deal with sexual assault very little for a few reasons,” he said. “Number one, our agency is almost exclusively serving the Jewish community. I’m not saying this doesn’t occur in the Jewish community but, as a cultural community, we don’t like to air our dirty laundry. So, as an agency, JCFS is constantly working on raising awareness about these issues so we can peel away those layers of secrecy.”
Benarroch said JCFS sees many more cases in which there has been high levels of neglect and dysfunctional parenting that usually stems from the parents’ past trauma, thereby impacting their ability to parent. In these cases, he said the parents can overcome their challenges and positively parent through talking about childhood experiences, which may involve physical or sexual abuse, to work through those traumatic experiences as adults.
“For me,” added Yager, “it’s always been about the kids and the kids don’t pick and choose. They are just here and we need to help them…. They didn’t ask for the things afflicting them…. We need to do our best to help them get a handle on the issues and go into the community in a productive way.
“Helping those less fortunate, who can argue with that? Right? Those are all things we should all be doing. That’s what makes our country as great as it is, because we focus not just on getting ahead, but on trying not to leave the less fortunate behind.
“I think the values we have here, at Marymound, even though it started from an order of nuns, those values cross all religions.” As an example, Yager said, “I know that philanthropy and caring for others are basic values that all Jews share. We’re quite charitable. It’s also part of the values that the Sisters of the Good Shepherd have provided to us at Marymound.”
In Petriplatz, Pastor Gregor Hohberg, left, and Imam Kadir Sanci listen as Rabbi Andreas Nachama recites a prayer for peace. (photo by Frithjof Timm)
In the middle of Berlin, on the grounds of where a church was destroyed in the Second World War, a pastor, imam and rabbi are collaborating to create a new reality wherein Christianity, Islam and Judaism can be practised under the same roof.
“It seems so logical that something like this would take place, but it never has before,” said Rabbi Dr. Andreas Nachama who leads the only Reform congregation in Berlin, Sukkat Shalom (House of Peace).
Some congregations and groups of people refrain from intermingling out of fear of losing members to other groups. For Nachama and the other House of One proponents, this is not a concern.
“I think that the congregations are solid and I don’t think that this might turn out to be a problem,” he said. “We have a lot of experience from sharing a building with Catholics, Protestants and Jews, and we’ve never had that kind of problem. The problems we had were very secular and could be solved quickly with a short discussion – things like who is cleaning the toilets after congregation and so on.”
As for the risk of intermarriage, Nachama said intermarriages “take place because people are studying at the same university or classroom, sitting in the same office, or meeting in a restaurant or theatre. I haven’t had a single case where intermarriages originate from a Christian-Jewish dialogue group in all my years.”
The idea for House of One originated five or six years ago with Nachama’s predecessor, Rabbi Tovia Ben Chorin. He was working to bring the concept to life until he retired and moved back to Switzerland. Nachama has been involved with House of One since April 2015.
Nachama is no stranger to Christian, Jewish and Muslim trialogue. He has been involved in the field since 1972, starting at summer camps in western Germany, where a local school invited members of each of the three faiths to discuss common stories and problems.
As Nachama went on to take Jewish studies in university in the 1970s, he also took basic courses on Islam and Catholicism. Gaining a good understanding of these religions has enabled him to effectively introduce his congregation to interfaith interactions since 1999, bringing in his Islamic and Christian counterparts to teach in the synagogue alongside him.
The clergy meet on a regular basis, sometimes involving leaders in their respective communities, but always aiming to keep meetings to no more than 15 people. So, the interfaith groundwork began long before the excavations started in 2007 of Petriplatz, the site of the old church, among other structures, and a new House of God was being planned. The church wanted to build a house where the three religions would each have a holy space of their own.
“Each would have their own synagogue, mosque and church, working together in one building,” said Nachama. “But, everyone would follow his/her own faith tradition, so it was not about some new religion being created.
“Instead, the idea was to build a house of teaching, of worship, wherein the teaching might bring us together; the worship, everyone does for him/herself in his/her religion.
“We can do programs on some aspects of interest to many, like looking at the differences between kosher and halal. We can also offer teaching programs to the general public.”
Worship times do not seem to be an issue either, with the holy day for Muslims being Friday; for Jews, Saturday; and, for Christians, Sunday.
“But, what happens if Christmas Eve is on a Friday night or during Shabbat?” admitted Nachama. “We can always find problems in terms of holy days on the calendar. They will be solved, but it’s not so easy.”
According to Nachama, the most difficult challenge is in the area of politics. “Islam, in particular, is being taken as a hostage for Islamic fundamental brutality,” he said. “That makes it difficult, because those Muslims that we deal with are not part of that. It makes it difficult … in the public eye … to make it understandable that we, as individuals and as congregations here in Berlin, can cooperate and speak with each other, whatever happens.
“My congregation is very much involved in Christian-Jewish dialogue, and we also sometimes have teachings or panel discussions together with Muslims, so it’s not new to my congregation and, as far as I see, the other congregations have had experience in the field before as well.”
As far as reaching beyond congregational circles, Nachama understands all too well that if someone has prejudice, it is he or she who needs to be willing to open their eyes and ears to seeing the other side. “We can’t do it for them,” he said. “If they are willing, we then can try to show them how we see things.”
While the project is gaining momentum and more than a million euros have already been collected, much more is needed to even break ground on the building project.
Nachama anticipates that his congregants will have no problem with the move when the time comes. “We’ve moved already once and, when completed, either parts of the congregation will move or the whole congregation. It won’t be a problem.
“We believe this project is a result of the history in Berlin,” he continued. Given the history of antisemitism in Germany and the Holocaust, people want to create “a new page of history,” he said. “People really try to look for new ways of cooperation, coexistence and respect for other peoples and faiths.”
For more information or to join the project, visit house-of-one.org.
פגישה נוספת בין ג’סטין טרודו לבנימין נתניהו: השניים נפגשו בשבוע שעבר בדאבוס
ראש ממשלת קנדה, ג’סטין טרודו וראש ממשלת ישראל, בנימין נתניהו, נפגשו בפעם השנייה. הפגישה הפעם ארעה במסגרת הפורום הכלכלי העולמי בדאבוס שהתקיים בשבוע שעבר בשוויץ. כנס דאבוס נחשב לאחד האירועים הכלכליים הבינלאומיים החשובים ביותר, ומשתתפים בו גורמים בכירים מכל העולם. בפעם הראשונה מאז טרודו מונה לראש ממשלה בחודש אוקטובר, נפגשו השניים בוועידת האקלים בפריז שנערכה בסוף חודש נובמבר.
נתניהו ציין כי הפגישה הנוכחית בינו ובין טרודו שנערכה בשבוע שעבר הייתה מצויינת “ויש לנו יחסים מאוד מאוד טובים”. כידוע לנתניהו וסטיבן הרפר, ראש הממשלת קנדה הקודם, היו יחסים מצויינים והם נחשבו למנהיגים מקורבים ביותר. עתה נתניהו משתדל לצייר תמונה של עסקים כרגיל וכי גם הוא וטרודו נמצאים במערכת יחסים טובה מאוד. זאת למרות שבממשלת ישראל חששו מאוד מהניצחון של המפלגה הליברלית בחירות הפדרליות האחרונות כאן ותבוסתו של הרפר שעמד בראש מפלגת השמרנים.
עם זאת נתניהו בוודאי לא אהב לשמוע את טרודו מצהיר שוב בנאומו בדאבוס כי הפתרון למשבר הגרעיני עם איראן הוא פוליטי ולא צבאי. וכן על הכרזתו של ראש ממשלת קנדה בתשובות לשאלות שהופנו אליו בכנס, שקנדה אכן מפסיקה להפציץ מטרות של דאע”ש במזרח התיכון.
ג’סטין טרודו צפוי ללכת בדרכו של אביו פייר טרודו ולהנהיג מדיניות מאוזנת במזרח התיכון
ראש ממשלת קנדה הנוכחי, ג’סטין טרודו , כמו אביו, פייר אליוט טרודו ששימש ראש ממשלת קנדה בשנים 1968-1979 ו1980-1984, צפוי להנהיג מערכת יחסים יותר מאוזנת עם ישראל, תוך ניסיון לחזק את הקשרים עם מדינות ערב, שנחלשו מאוד בתקופת ראש הממשלה הקודם, סטיבן הרפר. שר החוץ של טרודו הבן, סטפן דיון, הזדרז מייד אחרי הבחירות והודיע שקנדה מבקשת לחזור לתפקידה המסורתי (לפני עידן הרפר), ולהיות מתווך הוגן בין הצדדים במזרח התיכון. זאת תוך חיזוק הקשרים מחדש עם מדינות ערב השונות. לדעת פרשנים טרודו כמו אביו לא יעמוד מאחורי ישראל באופן אוטומטי (כמו הרפר) ויבדוק כל נושא לגופו. כאביו הוא כבר הודיע כי קנדה תתנגד לכל חרם על ישראל “שזה סוג חדש של אנטישמיות”.
פייר אליוט טרודו היה קשור וקשוב לקהילה היהודית. הוא מינה שר יהודי לממשלתו, החזיק ביועצים יהודים, והיה ראש הממשלה הראשון בקנדה שמינה שופט יהודי לבית המשפט העליון. הוא היה תומך נלהב של ישראל אך הבין שצריך גם לשמור על איזון עם הפלסטינים. האב כעס מאוד ששמע על החרם הערבי נגד חברות שסחרו עם ישראל. הוא גינה את פעולות הטרור נגד ישראל מצד הפלסטינים והבין את הדאגה הטבעית של ישראל לביטחון. במקביל התנגד לפלישת צה”ל ללבנון ב-1982. המלחמה ואירועי סברה ושתילה סימנו את תחילת התהליך התקררות היחסים בין קנדה לישראל, שהתחממו בעידן הרפר. פרופסור לפוליטיקה באוניברסיטת מקגיל שבמונטריאול, גיל טרוי, טוען שלטרודו הבן גם יש יועצים יהודים ורבים מאנשיו מכירים את ישראל. אביו הבין את ישראל ואין שום אינדיקציה שהבן יהיה שונה ממנו. ברני פרבר מבכירי הפעילים בקהילה היהודית אומר שלא יהיה הבדל המהותי בין הרפר לטרודו, אך טון הדברים יהיה שונה. לדבריו שלטונו של הרפר “הזיז” את הקהילה היהודית חזק ימינה, ומעולם לא היה קיטוב כה גדול בתוך הקהילה כמו היום. פרבר מקווה שקנדה של טרודו תחזור למדיניות יותר מאוזנת במזרח התיכון, כך שקולה ישמע שוב בזירה הבינלאומית וזה יהיה גם טוב יותר לישראל.
Limmud Vancouver 2016, which takes place Jan. 30 and 31, includes seminars, lectures, workshops and discussions on a wide range of topics. This second article in a two-part series features a few of the presenters.
The love of two women
People who have a familiarity with modern Jewish and Zionist history know the name Eliezer Ben-Yehuda as the man who nearly single-handedly revived Hebrew into a modern language. Ben-Yehuda’s grandson, also named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, contends the history of modern Hebrew, Judaism and Israel would be very different were it not for the two women in his grandfather’s life.
“The story of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is really very, very interesting and there’s an aspect of it which is really overlooked very often and it’s the issue of the women,” he said in a telephone interview from his home in Florida.
Ben-Yehuda was married, consecutively, to two women – sisters – and the grandson contends that they are the reason the world still knows his name.
“Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, at the beginning of his path, was doomed to an early grave and all his dreams and all his great ideas about reviving the Hebrew language and reviving the Hebrew people in their land could have come to naught,” he said.
At age 21, while studying in Paris, Ben-Yehuda nearly died of tuberculosis. He wrote to his fiancée, his childhood sweetheart Devora Jonas, breaking off their engagement. “He wrote a letter and said forget about me, find yourself another man who is going to give you a life,” said the grandson. “She refused to be jilted. She said, you promised to marry and by God I’m holding you to your promise.”
The couple had five children before Devora died of tuberculosis. Three of the children died of diphtheria in short succession after their mother’s passing. Before she died, Devora insisted that Ben-Yehuda marry her sister, Paula Beila, who later took the Hebrew name Hemda.
“Hemda got this letter from her sister and it said if you want to be a princess, come marry my prince, my husband,” said the grandson. “Hemda decided that, yes, she wants that … and she says I’m going to come to Jerusalem, I’m going to marry you, I’m going to take care of your children for my sister and we’ll have our own children and I will help you in your job.”
They did have children – six, although only three survived, including the father of the Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who will be in Vancouver this month. He credits the two women for everything his grandfather accomplished.
“The first one [Devora] rebuilt his morale,” he said. “He was really quite resigned to the fact that he was going to die.… He married her and she filled him with hope and with strength through love and through her enthusiasm and through her caring of him.”
Hemda was the force that got a world-leading publisher to print Ben-Yehuda’s magnum opus Hebrew dictionary and, after he died with six of the 17 volumes completed, pressed her son Ehud (father of Eliezer the grandson) to complete the series.
Ben-Yehuda’s work changed the course of Jewish history, but his grandson assigns credit elsewhere. “The thing that made it possible was the love of two women,” he said.
Progressive Zionism
Kenneth Bob’s Zionist credentials are pretty strong. He is national president of Ameinu, the progressive Zionist organization, he chairs the board of directors of the American Zionist Movement and serves on the Jewish Agency for Israel board of governors. He believes it is those like him, who identify as progressive Zionists, who can have the most impact confronting the boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) movement against Israel.
“We share some of the criticism of Israeli policy,” he said of progressive Zionists and the BDS movement. “Where we differ is the BDS movement generally doesn’t support Israel’s right to exist and we are very strong supporters of Israel’s right to exist, we just disagree with some of Israel’s policies. Because the criticism of Israel is coming from the left, it is best for the left Zionists, the ones who can speak the language of the left, to combat their attacks.”
Some commentators argue that BDS is having little real impact, while others see it as a genuine advancing threat. “I take the middle ground on this,” said Bob. Most of the BDS resolutions are emerging on large or elite campuses and gain much media attention, “so the number of BDS resolutions is actually maybe smaller than people might think. It’s in the dozens, not in the hundreds.” However, BDS is making inroads in the trade union movement.
In a world that sometimes seems awash in inhumanity and rights abuses, some people suggest singling out Israel for approbation is evidence of bigotry. As a strategic argument, he said, this approach is not very useful.
“We did some focus group work and liberals … don’t claim to be consistent. When you ask them in focus groups why you’re picking on Israel, they say, well, Israel wants to be like the West, so we’re going to treat Israel like we would the West. And I say, yes, I think we can hold Israel to a higher standard than we do Libya or Syria. I think that’s valid.”
His approach is that single-mindedly attacking Israel isn’t going to resolve the problem of Palestinian statelessness.
“If you really want to try to bring about a two-state solution, then let’s work with those coexistence NGOs on the ground in Israel and Palestine,” he said. “Let’s invest in Palestinian businesses and Israeli businesses that are trying to work across the border. Let’s do all kinds of positive things to encourage our kind of people on the ground in Israel and Palestine, but just punishing Israel doesn’t make sense.”
Life before 1492
The topic of Jews in the Iberian Peninsula immediately raises the spectre of 1492, the year the Jewish people were expelled from Spain. In his Limmud presentation, Robert Daum will delve into the dramatic history that came before that fatal date.
“It would be a distortion of the history of any European Jewish context to focus only on the catastrophes that punctuated many centuries of dynamic community life, intellectual creativity and fascinating politics,” said Daum, a rabbi and academic with appointments at the University of British Columbia and a fellow at Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue, among other positions. “To use an analogous case, the Shoah more or less destroyed European Jewish civilization, but it does not represent or describe European Jewish civilization. At the same time, one cannot ignore the elephant in the room, so to speak, and, of course, 1492 is a critical part of the story. We also need to understand what happened before 1492.”
The lasting impacts of Spanish and Portuguese life on the following half-millennium of Jewish history, Daum said, is panoramic.
“Just as one cannot begin to understand the history of Spain without knowing about the history of Romans, Christians, Jews and Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula,” he said in an email interview, “so, too, one cannot begin to understand many aspects of Jewish civilization, from politics to law to Talmud study to poetry to the development of the Hebrew language, without knowing more about developments in Jewish communities on the Iberian Peninsula before 1492.”
Daum said that most people know that the history of the Jews in Iberia is a rich and storied one, but, he added, “the history is even more interesting than this!” Moreover, this history is still having an impact on Spain and Portugal today, something he will touch on during his presentation.
“In addition to exploring a few fascinating stories, one should expect to come away with a sense of some of the major debates about Jewish (and Muslim) history on the Iberian Peninsula, and an awareness of how these debates are deeply connected to heated debates within Spain today about that fascinating country’s founding narratives and its place in the region,” he said.
Old meets new
For a city that is so new – it celebrated the centenary of its founding in 2009 – Tel Aviv has become a global hotbed of artistic and literary ferment. That’s no coincidence, says Naomi Sokoloff, a professor of modern Jewish literature and Hebrew at the University of Washington.
“It was designed to be that way,” she said. “It’s been a magnet for writers and artists and publishers almost from the beginning.”
Tel Aviv was created not only as the first Hebrew city, but also as a secular sibling to Jerusalem, the sacred city.
“The city was founded by visionaries,” she said. “Some of them were more utopian and some of them were more pragmatic, but they really founded the city as an idea and as an ideal.”
The name itself is a figment of literature. Theodor Herzl’s utopian novel of a Jewish state, Altneuland (Old New Land), was almost immediately translated into Hebrew and the title of the book was Tel Aviv. Aviv means spring, representing the rebirth of the Hebrew nation, while tel reflects the ancient heritage, meaning accumulated layers of civilization.
Sokoloff’s presentation at Limmud will look at the literature and art of Tel Aviv through the writings of S. Yizhar, a song by Naomi Shemer, a story by Etgar Keret and some paintings of Tel Aviv, all of which may shed light, she said, on the tension between the founding ideas of Tel Aviv and how things turned out.
In fall 2015, Yael Levin, third from the right, participated in the program Jewish Life in Germany – Past, Present and Future. (photo from Yael Levin)
Last year marked 50 years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel. To celebrate this milestone, events took place everywhere. The Canadian West Coast was no exception. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Pacific Region, was approached by the German Consulate in Vancouver to plan the celebrations locally.
I had the privilege of working with a fantastic team at the consulate. I was impressed by the fact that everyone, from the consul general himself to the person that welcomes visitors, was involved. Among other activities, we held a concert by operatic soprano Johanna Krumin and pianist Markus Zugehör performing pieces by Jewish and non-Jewish German composers.
Following months of hard work, it was not only a memorable celebration with the German and Jewish communities but also a strong relationship that led the consul general in Vancouver, Josef Beck, to invite me to participate in the program Jewish Life in Germany – Past, Present and Future. Put together by the Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe Institute, the fall program packed eight days of nonstop activities that allowed North American Jewish professionals and lay leaders to visit Germany and explore both the current reality of Jewish German life, as well as the Israel-Germany relationship.
My experiences on this trip could fill several pages so I will share just a few that left a special impression on me.
We began with a visit to Berlin’s historic Jewish Quarter, on the trail of Moses Mendelssohn. We visited the site of the first synagogue, the Centrum Judaicum, the old Jewish cemetery, the Jewish high school and the house of the world’s first female rabbi, Regina Jonas, ordained during the Nazi regime in 1935. Hers is a little-known and fascinating story that would be an inspiration for every Jewish woman (and man).
Following the theme of female leadership, we sat with Deidre Berger, managing director of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin to discuss their work lobbying the government on issues that affect the Jewish community and Israel, such as the European Union’s newly adopted guidelines for labeling goods from Israel’s disputed territories, combating the boycott, divestment and sanction movement, and antisemitism. Their work doesn’t stop there: they are actively engaged in Jewish interfaith dialogue, particularly with the Turkish community, and they work closely with the government helping develop civic education curricula in schools.
The next day, we moved to the subject of anti-terrorism at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, where we spoke with Richard Reinfeld, head of Division ÖS II 3, the office of terrorism and extremism by foreigners. Among other topics, we heard about the great cooperation between Israel and Germany in terms of intelligence exchange.
After the imperative, behind-the-scenes visit to the Jewish Museum of Berlin, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Topography of Terror Foundation, we had the opportunity to meet with Gerhard Friedrich Schlaudraff, head of the Near East division of the Federal Foreign Office, which covers Israel and all its neighbors. It was frustrating to confirm something that we all know: while there is always someone on the Israeli front to be held accountable for negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, no reliable partner can be found on the PA side.
We left Berlin after meeting with some of the many Israelis that continue to move to the city. More than 18,000 Israelis have made Berlin their home. Listening to their stories got me thinking about our homeland. Many leave Israel, we were told, because it has become hard to stay, a situation they described with words like “incredibly expensive,” “stressful,” “constant anxiety” and “hopelessness.” I still have mixed feelings about this. While I’m happy they are able to live in a situation that is better for them, I think about the irony: the very place where, years ago, life became absolutely unsustainable for Jews has today become a safe haven of sorts for many.
Our next stop was Munich, where we met with some outstanding people. Listening to Janne Weinzierl from the Stolpersteine Initiative was uplifting. This initiative is a whole topic on its own, but, for now, I will just say that this woman and her husband, neither of whom is Jewish, have volunteered tirelessly to keep the memory of thousands of Jews, and other minorities across Europe murdered during the Nazi regime, alive with a simple “stumbling stone.” To learn more, visit stolpersteine.eu/en/home.
From Dr. Charlotte Knobloch, we heard about the 200-year history of the Bavarian Jewish community and its 70th re-founding anniversary. Knobloch is a pillar of Jewish life in Munich, at 83 years old still actively working for the community.
I particularly enjoyed a conversation with Rabbi Steven Langnas, who is very involved in interfaith dialogue. At some point during lunch, he asked us to pass this message on to our communities: “Many people think that Jewish life has come to an end in Germany and practically in many places in Europe. We are showing that the Holocaust was a tragic pause but it wasn’t the end … the Chabad House now stands across from Hitler’s Munich residence. He’s not there anymore and we still are; just that, is a reason to go on….”
After a special and vibrant Shabbat service at Ohel Jakob synagogue, we headed to Dachau. Can you imagine how it felt after walking to shul to gather with another 300 or so Jews – including some survivors – in the middle of the city, praying the same prayers and singing the same songs that we have sung for hundreds of years (at least) and then proceeding to the sombre and moving visit to a concentration camp?
The entire trip, in fact, was so intense that, most nights, I could not sleep. There was so much to think about at the end of every day. We had sad moments, including our visit to the memorial for the victims of the 1972 terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team, and amazing, positive experiences that no one in the group will forget.
I rediscovered Germany on this trip, saw it as never before and, like many mission participants visiting Israel on CIJA trips, I changed many of my opinions about the country – one that marked our people in a very profound and complex way.
It is evident that there is still antisemitism in German society, though definitely not more than in other European countries. I also perceived ambiguity in some of our meetings with German government officials, especially with regard to Israel, but don’t get me wrong, I could see that Germany is one of Israel’s strongest and closest partners today.
It is also clear that Germany has completely changed for the better in relation to our community – not only acknowledging a heavy responsibility for the past but also honestly seeking to create a better future by supporting, protecting and fostering Jewish life and by educating the new generations against antisemitism and hatred.
This is important for us both as Jews and as advocates of justice and tikkun olam.
Yael Levinis manager, community relations, at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Pacific Region. This article was originally published by CIJA’s The Exchange.
Madrichim at Camp Miriam palling around in summer 1990. The author is in front. (photo from Mira Sucharov)
On a little corner of Gabriola Island lies an enclave of old-style Jewish utopianism. Modeled after a kibbutz, campers (chanichim) and counselors (madrichim) talk about heady topics like radical justice, equal worth, unionization, socialism and Labor Zionism.
They learn Hebrew, engage in physical labor and debate topics like whether O Canada adequately addresses the reality of First Nations, the fate of the Palestinians, and how to make a radically inclusive society within Israel. It’s Camp Miriam, part of the network of Habonim-Dror camps across North America. Among the founders of the camp was my grandmother, Marian Margolis, and I spent one memorable summer there as a counselor in 1990.
A lot has changed in Israel – and especially across the kibbutz movement – over the decades. I spoke to the current rosh (director), 22-year-old Leor Laniado, a student at the University of British Columbia majoring in environmental and sustainable geography.
The camp instils in its campers the value of “shivyon erech ha’adam,” a principle that every human being is of equal worth. It’s heady stuff for 10-year-olds who don’t measure themselves in terms of professional status anyway, but the idea is there. Alongside the usual fare of swimming, sports and crafts, campers choose a daily work branch where each task is valued. Fittingly, bathroom-cleaning detail has become one of the most popular options, Laniado tells me.
Campers also have a long tradition of running a kupah (common fund). An initial donation of pocket money is placed into a pot where campers decide how to spend it. Maybe the kids want to pool the funds for a party, maybe a portion will be donated to charity, maybe one camper needs a new toothbrush and applies to the treasurer – who is, of course, a fellow camper.
Rachel Fishman logged eight years as a camper before joining the staff. She values how much she sees Camp Miriam embodying the ideals of youth empowerment. Within limits, she points out, “youth are given space to make their own society.”
Trilby Smith spent 13 summers at Camp Miriam and is currently vice-chair of the camp committee. She sends both her kids to Miriam so “they can develop a sense of community defined by their peers, so that they can be in an environment that is open to questioning and thinking critically about Israel and what it means to be Jewish, and so that they can learn to be leaders.” And, she added, “So that they can have fun!”
Socialism isn’t the only tricky concept permeating the walls of the dining hall. (Yes, campers even do the dishes.) So, too, is Zionism. “I think that Jews in the Diaspora are facing a crisis of how to support Israel. A lot of madrichim struggle with this internally, especially studying in liberal universities,” Laniado said. It’s about “simultaneous love and criticism” at Miriam. “Recognizing that we’ve created a vibrant Israeli society, there’s a lot of work that remains to be done,” she said.
In Israel, Habonim-Dror partners with Hanoar Haoved on projects such as teaching English in Arab high schools. Called the Shared Existence project, it seeks “a joint liberation of both Israelis and Palestinians, striving towards a diverse and vibrant Israeli commonwealth,” in Laniado’s words.
Struggling with Israeli-Palestinian relations and with Zionism is a common refrain these days, but what Camp Miriam – and Habonim in general – manages to do is offer a way for youth to grapple with these issues head-on rather than abdicate altogether. Abdication – or what sociologists have been calling a “distancing” from Israel and Jewish life – is one of the biggest challenges.
These days, the radical secularism that I recall from the summer of 1990 has been replaced by an inching towards Judaism. While they still forego the Hamotzi in favor of a Labor Zionist chant, campers are now more likely to hear about Jewish values, embrace Jewish texts or be treated to a discussion by the rosh on the weekly Torah portion.
While the simple porridge my Baba Marian made for the campers in the 1950s when she was the first “camp mother” has been supplemented by scrambled eggs, fruit salad, yogurt and granola, along with gluten-free and dairy-free options, Zionism is wrestled with rather than taken for granted as a simple solution to the ills of antisemitism, and a commitment to Hebrew is now paired with a desire to “engage with Arabic language and culture.” The big values – leadership, debate, a commitment to Israel, Jewish identity, justice, labor and inclusiveness – remain.
For more information on Camp Miriam, visit campmiriam.org.
Mira Sucharovis an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is a columnist for Canadian Jewish News and contributes to Haaretz and the Jewish Daily Forward, among other publications.