News – Page 3

Successful campaign

Anat Gogo, executive director of Tikva Housing. This year’s campaign was the most successful to date. (photo from Tikva Housing)

Tikva Housing Society’s annual fundraising campaign has concluded with its most successful result to date, raising more than $75,000 to support innovative, affordable housing solutions. The campaign brought together donors, volunteers and community supporters who share a common belief: that everyone deserves a stable place to call home.

“Our community showed tremendous generosity and engagement throughout this campaign,” said Anat Gogo, executive director of Tikva Housing. “Every gift helps us continue providing safe homes and strengthening community connection. We are deeply grateful to everyone who chose to stand with us.”

This year’s total represents a new milestone for the organization and reflects Tikva’s growing impact on community members across Metro Vancouver. Over the past year alone, Tikva expanded its housing portfolio by 45 units through the landmark acquisition of the Ronald S. Roadburg Residences in Richmond, the city with the second-largest Jewish population in the Lower Mainland.

“With ongoing support, we hope to continue to grow,” said Gogo. “Our goal is to build on this momentum and create more affordable housing solutions across the region.”

Support from donors and partner organizations has helped people like Olexandr, who fled the war in Ukraine with his family in search of safety and stability. After first relocating to Israel, his family once again faced the uncertainty created by conflict and ultimately decided to rebuild their lives in Canada.

In May 2025, Olexandr arrived in Vancouver ahead of his family to begin the immigration process and establish a new home. One of the biggest challenges he encountered was finding affordable housing.

With limited resources, he could only afford shared accommodations and was forced to move between three apartments in less than six months. Eventually, with the help of Jewish Family Services of Greater Vancouver, Olexandr connected with Tikva Housing and was offered a home large enough to reunite his entire family.

“This apartment with Tikva Housing means safety and freedom for me, and a comfortable life with my family,” he said. “I’ve met many people from Israel and Ukraine in this building. We speak about our lives, our housing and our Jewish connection. It feels like a big family, and we help each other.”

Donor support has also helped expand the reach of Tikva’s Rent Relief Program, which provides short-term subsidies to individuals and families living in market housing who are experiencing a temporary financial crisis.

When Elisheva moved to Vancouver from Israel with her family, they were initially able to support themselves using the limited savings they had brought with them. However, the high cost of housing for a family of five quickly drained those funds, leaving them uncertain about how long they could remain in their home.

“We started becoming very stressed about our situation and about being able to pay our rent,” she said. “Tikva Housing came just in time and saved us.”

Through the Rent Relief Program, Elisheva’s family was able to remain in their apartment while they worked to stabilize their finances.

“We have a roof above our heads and we don’t need to move from place to place,” she said. “My three young girls already moved from one continent to another. They had so many changes. Having stability means everything for our family.”

The annual fundraising campaign plays a vital role in supporting Tikva Housing’s work throughout the year. Donations help maintain existing homes, support residents through cultural and educational programming, and ensure the organization can continue responding to housing needs across the community.

The campaign’s success also reflects the dedication of volunteers, board and committee members, and community advocates who helped share Tikva’s mission and encourage participation. From spreading campaign updates to inviting friends and family to contribute, their efforts helped make this record result possible.

While the campaign has officially wrapped up, the need for affordable housing remains significant. As of February 2026, 499 applicants were registered on the Metro Vancouver Jewish Housing Registry, including 125 families with children and 173 seniors seeking stable housing.

“This campaign shows what is possible when our community comes together with compassion and a shared commitment to helping others,” said Gogo. “With continued support, we can ensure that more individuals and families have access to the safety, dignity and stability that come with a place to call home.”

For more information or to donate, visit tikvahousing.org.

– Courtesy Tikva Housing

Next-gen orthotic wins

Henry Chodos, a Grade 6 student from Vancouver Talmud Torah, won ADI’s sixth annual Make the Change Challenge and received the $1,000 grand prize. (photo from ADI)

In its sixth year, ADI’s Make the Change Challenge STEM accessible design contest drew more than 379 entries from students across North America – and Vancouver Talmud Torah sixth grader Henry Chodos won the contest’s $1,000 grand prize.

Chodos’s award-winning vision is a lightweight and slim-fitting orthopedic brace that automatically adjusts to provide users with rigidity and flexibility as needed.

Having struggled for years with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare autoimmune disorder that causes muscular weakness and sensory loss in the limbs, Chodos set out to help himself and others by designing NeuroStride, an orthotic with built-in micro sensors that would intuitively correct gait irregularities and allow users to make adjustments via an easy-to-use app, with no medical professional required.

The Make the Change Challenge is run by ADI (adi-israel.org), Israel’s network of specialized rehabilitative care for those touched by and living with disability, to mark Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month. The contest promotes “selfless STEM” (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and encourages students to hack the modern world to help people with disabilities overcome the challenges that hinder their independence and inclusion.

Instead of developing prototypes, entrants were asked to prepare compelling presentations that clearly explain how their solutions would solve the persistent accessibility issues they chose to tackle. In his contest submission, Chodos, who wears braces 24 hours a day, noted that the orthotics currently available are very uncomfortable, take a long time to mold to one’s body, don’t allow for growth and are prohibitively expensive. What’s more, they spotlight his condition and keep him from doing the things he loves.

poster - Henry Chodos’s NeuroStride took ADI’s top prize — Henry Chodos’s NeuroStride took ADI’s top prize. (image from ADI)

“When my CIPD flares up, I can’t ride or play basketball with my friends, and I can never sit on the ground in class or during assemblies, because I can’t stand back up in my braces,” he explained. “I don’t like feeling different, and I wanted to create an orthotic that would provide me and others living with CIPD, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida and other conditions with the support we need, just without all of the unwanted strain and attention.”

Upon reading Chodos’s presentation, the contest’s judges – which included members of ADI’s professional staff, innovation journalists and specialists in the field of accessible design – were overwhelmed by the young inventor’s maturity, creativity and attention to detail, and inspired by his desire to draw from his own experiences to change the world.

“To be honest, Henry’s presentation left us speechless. We work so hard promoting our ADI Bechinuch disability inclusion programming and helping students develop an empathetic worldview, but Henry flipped the script and became our teacher. His life experience has molded a passionate and compassionate educator and innovator, and he put on a masterclass in perseverance, perspective and vision throughout this competition,” said ADI’s North American director of advancement . “We are thrilled that we were able to provide Henry with a stage upon which to shine, and we truly believe that his brilliant design has the potential to become a reality and make the world a kinder and more accessible place.”

Nearly 50 Jewish schools across North America – including many affiliated with JNF-USA – used the ADI Bechinuch programming last year, employing the in-class activities and disability simulations, virtual tours and STEM contest to encourage the next generation of Jewish leaders to see the world through the eyes of others.

As February ended, ADI’s panel of experts met with the contest’s top five finalists, their parents and their teachers via Zoom to discuss the entries in greater detail. Following some discussion, the proceedings concluded with Chodos being crowned the contest winner and presented with the $1,000 grand prize, a gift from the Avraham and Esther Klein Young Entrepreneurs Fund.

The “Final 5” also included entries from students at the Ramaz School in New York, NY; Brauser Maimonides Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Hochberg Lower School (Posnack East) in Hallandale, Fla.; and the Bornblum Community School in Memphis, Tenn.

To learn more about ADI and to donate, visit adi-israel.org.

– Courtesy ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran

Garden City of Tel Aviv

Liebling Haus’s exhibit Life, Plant, City: 100 Years of Geddes’ Plan for Tel Aviv’s Garden City, which documents how Sir Patrick Geddes’ vision continues to shape the city’s urban fabric, includes multidisciplinary works by dozens of artists (photo by Yael Schmidt / Liebling Haus)

On April 11, 1909, 60 families gathered on the beach north of Jaffa to draw lots for the parcelization of the sand dunes they had purchased north of the ancient port. This moment in Israel’s history has been much mythologized, but one thing is clear – those garden suburb pioneers were clueless about urban planning. They turned their backs on the site’s most notable feature – its iconic Mediterranean beach.

The village that the founders initially named Ahuzat Bayit (Homestead), now called Tel Aviv, grew haphazardly, house by house, with an interruption during the First World War, when the Ottoman Turks expelled the newly established town’s Jews. In 1921, following the arrival of the British during the war and the replacement of their military rule with a civil administration, the growing suburb was granted township status separate from the neighbouring Arab-majority city of Jaffa.

It became clear that the township’s slapdash growth needed to be regulated. Into this planning chaos stepped Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932), a Scottish-born polymath who was at once a biologist, sociologist, landscape theorist and pioneering urban planner. The 62-page plan for Tel Aviv that he drew up a century ago remains among the most important documents in the history of the city. Liebling Haus – an architectural and cultural centre located in downtown Tel Aviv – recently opened the exhibit Life, Plant, City: 100 Years of Geddes’ Plan for Tel Aviv’s Garden City. It documents how Geddes’ vision continues to shape the city’s urban fabric, featuring not only archival materials but multidisciplinary works by dozens of artists and other contemporary interpretations of Geddes’ ideas and reflections on the city’s future.

photo - Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) was a Scottish-born polymath who was a biologist, sociologist, landscape theorist and pioneering urban planner — Sir Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) was a Scottish-born polymath who was a biologist, sociologist, landscape theorist and pioneering urban planner. (photo from shbt.org.uk/knowledge)

In 1925, Geddes – who earned a reputation for his urban planning in 18 cities in British India – was invited by Tel Aviv’s mukhtar, Meir Dizengoff, to prepare the first master plan to guide the town’s growth. (Tel Aviv achieved city status in 1934.)

Geddes believed that cities were living organisms, shaped by the interplay of nature, society and culture. This holistic approach – unusual for its time – made him particularly attractive to Zionist leaders, who envisioned Tel Aviv as both a future-facing modern metropolis and a cultural project rooted in Jewish history.

His plan was deeply influenced by the Garden City movement, but Geddes adapted it to the climate and social context of the Levant. It emphasized shaded streets to mitigate the Mediterranean heat, wide boulevards that encouraged airflow and social life, and parks and squares as communal anchors. Human-scale residential blocks were arranged around shared green spaces and courtyards.

Geddes’ plan expanded Tel Aviv north from its early neighbourhoods to the Yarkon River. It was delineated by the Mediterranean Sea to the west and what is now Ibn Gabirol Street to the east. Into this flat and featureless space, Geddes laid out a skein of streets with a clear hierarchy. Main north-south and east-west arteries allowed for speedy movement across the city. Secondary streets were narrower and designed for local circulation. Small residential lanes fostered neighbourhood intimacy. The goal was to create a walkable city that balanced efficiency with livability.

photo - On display at Liebling Haus: One of the artworks inspired by Sir Patrick Geddes’ century-old plan for Tel Aviv — On display at Liebling Haus: One of the artworks inspired by Sir Patrick Geddes’ century-old plan for Tel Aviv. (photo by Yael Schmidt / Liebling Haus)

The plan also contained what later scholars have identified as anarchist or cooperative elements. It emphasized worker-led housing blocs and resisted speculative land practices. These ideas resonated with the social and economic conditions of Tel Aviv in the 1920s and 1930s, when workers wanted architecture that reflected their egalitarian values.

Although Geddes’ plan was not executed in its entirety, its core principles shaped the development of the White City, which was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. By the 1930s, Tel Aviv had some 4,000 white Bauhaus-style buildings constructed within the distinctive blocks, boulevards and public gardens Geddes laid out.

Bauhaus was a school of arts, crafts and architecture that operated in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The rise of the Nazi party led to the shuttering of the academy. Some 60,000 Jews left Nazi Germany and Austria for Mandatory Palestine, including architects who didn’t study at the Bauhaus school but were greatly influenced by its style. There, they created a revolutionary, streamlined architectural style that suited the modernist ethos of Zionism.

Tel Aviv’s amalgam of Bauhaus (also called International Style) buildings arose from an accident of historical coincidence: first came Geddes’ town plan; then the wave of mass aliyah triggered by the Nazis’ ascent to power in 1933, which triggered an urgent demand for housing; and, thirdly, the International Style’s lack of expensive decorative features made the cost of construction relatively low. No decorative tiles or ornamental plasterwork meant cheaper construction that could be executed by less-specialized craftsmen.

For the Yekke newcomers, many of whom had to leave significant assets behind, cheaper housing that didn’t sacrifice style was a major draw. The streamlined design with porthole windows, curved walls and balconies was a snub to the values of Central Europe, which the newcomers had barely escaped.

Liebling Haus, built in 1936, is an example of this architectural era. While not designed by Geddes, it manifests the urban environment his plan envisioned. The house’s clean lines, functional design and integration with the surrounding streetscape reflect the synergy between Geddes’ urbanism and the architectural modernism that followed. The Life, Plant, City exhibit runs to May 31.

Gil Zohar is a journalist and tour guide based in Jerusalem.

Sanctuary garden benefits

Gal Raviv, left, and Prof. Tamir Klein in the plant sanctuary at Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. (photo from Weizmann Institute of Science)

When PhD student Gal Raviv thought of creating a sanctuary garden at the Weizmann Institute of Science, what she had in mind was saving endangered plants. But, after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the garden became for her a refuge of serenity and strength. “There’s something grounding about plants that keep growing no matter what happens around us. If they can do it, so can we,” she said. “They represent what the land of Israel can produce and, in these difficult times, they symbolize our own roots in this land.”

Raviv came up with the idea of the garden after hearing a lecture on plant conservation at a conference that Prof. Tamir Klein, whose Weizmann lab specializes in tree research, had organized at the institute. In late summer of 2023, they set up the garden in Weizmann’s greenhouses, with full backing from Weizmann’s Institute for Environmental Sustainability.

Raviv’s doctoral research, conducted in Prof. David Margulies’s lab, is unrelated to plants and focuses on molecular aspects of cancer therapy. Nonetheless, she volunteered to tend the garden, getting crucial help from the greenhouse staff and relying on their expertise.

“When people hear about endangered species, they usually think of a toad whose swamp has dried up, or other animals or birds. But at the basis of any ecosystem are plants: they are the very foundation of our existence,” Raviv said.

“Plant diversity supports diverse insects that in turn provide food for birds and animals. When plant species go extinct, their loss can disrupt the integrity of an entire ecosystem,” added Klein.

Of some 2,300 wild plants found in Israel, more than 400 are in danger of extinction, according to the Red Book of Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority. Plant species that are unique to Israel are particularly threatened: there are about 55 such species, and 35 of them are endangered.

“We have a global responsibility to preserve these plants,” Klein said.

The major threat to plants is habitat loss, which in Israel is especially acute along the Mediterranean. Sand dunes and other parts of the coastal plain are home to an unusually large proportion of wild plant species, yet, to the plants’ misfortune, that’s also where humans love to settle. Less than 30% of the pristine coastal sands that used to line the Mediterranean in the early 20th century remained undeveloped by the beginning of the 21st. These sands might disappear altogether if left unprotected.

There are several plant sanctuaries in Israel, but not all have the proper climate to grow coastal plants outdoors, whereas the Weizmann campus, with weather that’s similar to that of the coast, is well suited to this end. Raviv and Klein kept this in mind when preparing a list of plant species for the sanctuary. The final list was compiled in collaboration with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which also provided seeds.

Now in its third year, Weizmann’s sanctuary garden holds some 20 endangered plants, a number of which are unique to Israel’s coastal plain; others also grow in neighbouring regions. Most are flowering annuals, but there are also perennials, as well as two species of ancient wheat, genetic relatives of today’s crop varieties. These plants are gradually revealing their preferences and personalities to Raviv and the greenhouse staff, while occasionally serving up challenges and surprises.

For example, since the greenhouses have no bees or other natural pollinators, some of the plants bloomed but produced no seeds. “So, I became the bee,” Raviv said.

To help some species, she made adjacent flowers “kiss,” that is, touch in a way that pollen from one flower could get to the stigma, or ovary system, of another – a process known as self-pollination or cross-pollination, depending on whether the two flowers belong to the same plant or to different ones. She did that, for instance, for Erodium subintegrifolium, known as stork’s bill in Europe and heron’s bill in North America.

In other species – such as the perennial Salvia eigii, named for the botanist Alexander Eig – the reproductive organs are too deep inside the flower for the kiss method to work. Raviv came up with a creative solution. She collected whisker hairs shed by her three cats and used them to transfer pollen from one flower to the stigma of another.

Luckily for Raviv, however, most plants in the sanctuary garden manage to pollinate by themselves.

Other challenges now solved include “late bloomers.” Silene modesta, from a genus also known as campion or catchfly – an annual plant that grows in sandy soil on the coast and in the western Negev desert – thrived in the sanctuary garden from the start. However, even though it produced lots of flower buds, these seemed to dry up before getting a chance to bloom.

A plant conservation expert told Raviv to open one of the dried buds to see if it contained seeds. Indeed, it did, which meant that it had bloomed at some point without being caught in the act. So Raviv went to the garden late at night and, sure enough, found the slender Silene in full bloom. Keeping the bud closed after sunrise is the plant’s strategy for reducing water evaporation during the hot hours, while also protecting its flowers from the strong daytime coastal winds.

The discovery prompted Raviv to initiate a research project in which she compares Silene modesta with its non-endangered relative, Silene palaestina. The goal is to uncover the biochemical processes that ensure water conservation in the endangered plant.

In fact, a major goal of plant conservation is to preserve valuable properties that might be lost forever should their carriers disappear. Revealing the mechanisms behind such properties might make it possible to transfer them to other plants to, for example, help them grow in arid conditions or otherwise adapt to the adversities of climate change.

– Courtesy Weizmann Institute of Science

האנטישמיות גואה ביוון

חזרתי מחופשה בת שבוע מיוון ונוכחתי לדעת שגם במדינה ים תיכונית זו האנטישמיות גואה ומורגשת היטב. כיום ישראל ויוון נחשבות למדינות ידידותיות למדי אך מבחינת לפחות חלק מאזרחי יוון, ישראלים ויהודים נחשבים לאויבים לאור ההרג הרב של פלסטינים ברצועת עזה, כתוצאה מאירועי הטבח של השבעה באוקטובר

יחסי יוון וישראל התחממו מאוד מאז השבעה באוקטובר לאור קרע הגדול בין ישראל לטורקיה – שהמאשימה את ישראל בביצוע רצח עם ברצועת עזה. ביוון שלא שוכחים לטורקיה את כיבוש חלק מהאי קפריסין ולכן ברגע שנוצר נתק ביחסי ישראל וטורקיה, היוונים קפצו על המציאה והגבירו את יחסי החברות עם ישראל. לאחר השבעה באוקטובר ראש ממשלת יוון הגיע לביקור סולדירות בישראל, והצהיר אז שהוא מגיע לישראל לא רק כבעל ברית אלה גם כידיד אמת. שיתוף הפעולה ההדוק בין ישראל, יוון וקפריסין כולל הגנה אווירית ואימוני צבא משותפים, וכן גם פרויקטים של אנרגיה. יוון רכשה לאחרונה מערכות הגנה אווירית מהתעשיה האווירית של ישראל תמורת כשלושה מיליארד יורו

למרות קשרי הידידות בין ישראל ליוון האנטישמיות ביוון נגד ישראל מורגשת מאוד וישראלים לא מרגישים בטוח במדינה הים תיכונית. התקריות האנטישמיות הרבות ביוון גרמו לחלק מהישראלים שעברו לגור בה לקום ולעזוב למדינות אחרות. ישראלים הותקפו כאשר הגיעו באוניות ליוון, או ברחובות או באזורי הבילוי השונים. במקביל הפגנות מחאה רבות מצד פלסטינים ותומכיהם התרחשו בחלקי המדינה השונים. המפגינים מתנגדים למדיניות ממשלת יוון של שיתוף פעולה עם ישראל בתחומים שונים

אני ביקרתי ביוון במהלך חודש פברואר שנחשב לעונה שקטה יחסית, כדי להימנע מהחום הכבד והעומס הכבד של תיירים. הסתובבתי באופן חופשי בשתי הערים אתונה והרקליון (שנמצאת באי כרתים). במסגרת סיורי וביחד עם קבוצות מודרכות ראיתי לא מעט כתובות גרפיטי בגנות ישראל, הישראלים והצבא הישראלי – לאור אירועי השבעה באוקטובר. בהרקליון ראיתי באחד הרחובות כתובת בעברית מסביב גדר המקיפה עץ כדלקמן: “אתם הרוצחים לא רצויים כאן”. המדריכה היוונית ביקשה ממני לתרגם זאת עבורה ופניה הראו שהיא הרגישה מאוד לא בנוח כשהבינה במה מדובר

לאור האנטישמיות הקשה ביוון שרת התיירות של המדינה אולגה קפלויאני, אמרה כי יוון היא יעד בטוח, שיוויוני ומכיל עבור כל המבקרים – כולל תיירים מישראל. לדברי השרה יוון לא סובלת אפלייה ולא תקבל התנהגות שפוגעת או מבזה כל אדם. היא הדגישה כי המדינה שלנו הייתה ותישאר יעד בטוח, פתוח ומסביר עבור אזרחי ישראל. לדברי קופלויאני התיירות מהווה גשר של ידידות, שלום והבנה הדתית. הוא ציינה עוד כי משרד התיירות שבראשו היא עומדת פועל כל העת בשיתוף עם משרדים ממשלתיים נוספים במטרה להבטיח שכל מבקר ביוון – ללא קשר למגדר, מוצא או אמונה דתית – ייהנה מביטחון וכבוד. שרת התיירות של יוון אמרה עוד כי האנטישמיות בכל צורה שהיא, נחשבת לדבר דוחה, היא מקוממת ואין לה מקום ביוון, לא בתיירות, ולא בדמוקרטיה של המדינה שלנו. כבוד ואירוח הם ערכים שאינם נתונים למשא ומתן

וכיצד מגיבים ברשת הישראלים על האנטישמיות ביוון: וויתרתי על יוון עד שלא ישתלטו על הזבלים האלה, תחרימו את יוון, אל תסעו לשם ואל תקנו נכסים במדינה ותבזבזו כסף במקום עויין, היוונים לא אוהבים אותנו ורק רוצים את הכסף שלנו, לא להתקרב ליוון בגלל האנטישמיות, תשכחו ממני עד כאשר תשתלטו על המטורפים האלימים אלה, המציאות מגלה כי האנטישמיות ביוון עולה

Hateful messages intensify

The Douglas Park area is being covered with hateful chalk and stickers. (photo by Joshua)

A residential pocket near Vancouver’s Oak Street corridor has become the site of an increasingly bitter battle over political messaging, public space and antisemitism. At the centre of it is one Jewish resident who says his neighbourhood – and his sense of safety – has been upended by a neighbour’s anti-Israel graffiti campaign.

Joshua, who asked that his surname be omitted, said one particular individual began tearing down hostage posters shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. The same individual was filmed tearing posters down in front of a group of community members outside Schara Tzedeck before a commemorative event a year after 10/7.

The Vancouver Police Department’s diversity unit initially advised Joshua to stop putting up pro-Israel or hostage posters and allow the city to “neutralize” the space to de-escalate tensions. He complied for several months, he said, but anti-Israel messages only intensified. He has been in discussions with police since last June; he worries that the situation will escalate as the weather improves.

photo - Over the past six to seven months, chalked and adhesive messages have appeared across sidewalks, utility boxes, crosswalk placards and construction signage. — Over the past six to seven months, chalked and adhesive messages have appeared across sidewalks, utility boxes, crosswalk placards and construction signage. *(photo by Joshua)*

The same individual has become a near-constant presence in the area, waving a Palestinian flag at busy intersections such as Oak and 12th, usually at rush hour and sometimes for hours at a time. According to Joshua, who admits he has done his share of flag-waving as a regular participant at City Hall rallies for Israeli hostages, the anti-Israel activism has gone far beyond flag-waving.

Over the past six to seven months, chalked and adhesive messages have appeared across sidewalks, utility boxes, crosswalk placards and construction signage. While some read “Gaza” or “Free Gaza,” the messaging has grown more aggressive, including “Zionism is terrorism” and “Death to the IDF,” sometimes accompanied by an inverted triangle associated with Hamas imagery and implying terrorist targets.

The most recent messaging, Joshua said, is “Stop Israel Sadistic Cult” and equating the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with Israel – “ICErael.”

Joshua said he has documented the activity extensively, as well as the antisemitic rhetoric on the individual’s social media, and filed numerous 311 complaints with the City of Vancouver. If graffiti appears on city property, the city contracts a third-party removal company. But response times range from 48 hours to more than a week – sometimes longer, Joshua said. In one park, spray-painted slogans remained for more than three weeks before being removed.

Because chalk is temporary and easily reapplied, the individual can rewrite messages almost as soon as they are washed away.

Frustrated by what he sees as municipal inaction on targeted harassment and hate speech, Joshua has purchased an 11-litre backpack sprayer and walks the neighbourhood with water and scrub brushes to remove the chalk.

According to Joshua, the individual leaving the messages has “doxed” at least six area residents, sharing their personal information online, including their images and their licence plates. He posted Joshua’s first and last names and the cross street where he lives, with the comment, “Be sure to say hi and other things if you see him.”

Someone wrote Joshua’s full name on a public sign along with the words “IOF soldier” – IOF meaning “Israeli Occupying Forces” – and he has been accused online and in person of serving in the IDF, which he has not. In one incident, a woman confronted and filmed him at 7 a.m., shouting accusations and telling him, “We know where you live” and calling him an “IOF baby-killer.”

Joshua reported that encounter, as well as the doxing incidents, to police. Officers took a statement but indicated their options were limited, citing freedom of expression, Joshua told the Independent.

Meanwhile, the impact on the neighbourhood is tangible. A local rabbi told him that one Jewish family moved away because their children felt unsafe seeing hostile messages near their home and synagogue.

Joshua has removed his name from his building directory out of concern for his family’s safety. Confrontations and cleanup efforts are framed online as attempts by “Zionists” to silence dissent.

Within the Jewish community, there is debate about how to respond. Some have suggested stopping cleanup efforts in hopes that broader community frustration will grow. Joshua believes a coordinated, multi-block volunteer cleanup effort – involving Jews and non-Jews – is the only way to demonstrate that the issue is about shared civic space, not a private feud. He has set up an online group at facebook.com/groups/cleaningupdouglaspark.

photo - Because chalk is temporary and easily reapplied, the individual can rewrite messages almost as soon as they are washed away — Because chalk is temporary and easily reapplied, the individual can rewrite messages almost as soon as they are washed away. *(photo by Joshua)*

Residents should not have to navigate obscenities and hostile rhetoric on sidewalks and parks, said Joshua, and he questions whether the city would respond differently if racist or homophobic messages appeared in neighbourhoods with significant populations of the targeted communities.

This sort of conflict, in different permutations, is taking place in cities across Canada and worldwide. In Toronto, anti-Israel protesters have routinely set up demonstrations in areas with concentrations of Jewish residents and even marched through residential areas. Many Jews and their allies have repeatedly asked why there do not seem to be consequences for perpetrators of such deliberate harassment and intimidation.

That question was the subject of a Feb. 10 webinar with legal and policing experts, organized by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, titled Why Can’t There Be More Consequences?, which was moderated by Richard Marceau, CIJA’s senior vice-president and general counsel.

Mark Sandler, the chair of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism, and Rochelle Direnfeld, that organization’s senior criminal counsel, have been delivering educational modules to police, making them aware of tools they have to enforce existing laws. Training for prosecutors is also necessary, Sandler noted.

Law enforcement and justice officials need to be able to recognize antisemitism and how it manifests, said Sandler.

Direnfeld provided examples, noting that average police officers cannot, for example, be expected to understand a sign that appeared at one rally: it read “Israel’s only friend is the Gharqad tree.” This is a reference to a Muslim religious verse about the only tree that would protect Jews from Muslims at the end-times.

Even the nuances of more seemingly straightforward messages – “From the river to the sea,” “Globalize the intifada” and “By any means necessary” – may not be immediately evident to those who are not engaged with the narrative, panelists said.

Sandler said police have been asking for sharper tools and the federal government is responding with Bill C-9. (See jewishindependent.ca/new-bill-targets-hate-crimes.) Panelists noted that existing laws against mischief, intimidation and unlawful assembly should suffice in cases where protesters are blocking roads or crowding into shopping malls.

Hank Idsinga, a retired inspector with the Toronto Police Service, said insufficient staffing can be used as an excuse for inaction, but this is not an appropriate response. “Police need to be prepared for various scenarios,” he said.

On the other hand, said Joseph Neuberger, chair of the Canadian Jewish Law Association, Jewish community members need to know what is and is not acceptable within the bounds of the law. Chanting allegations of genocide is protected speech, he said, whether or not the allegations are false.

Neuberger is enthusiastic about components of C-9 that would criminalize intimidation around and obstruction of cultural and religious spaces. The bill is in committee stage.

The full webinar is available at youtube.com/watch?v=kAj_D0gREIM.

Creating entrepreneurs

Yazamut 360° co-founder and general manager Dana Gavish, left, and Gadi Bahat, an entrepreneur who heads Yazamut’s academic programs. (photos from bgu.ac.il)

Representatives from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s entrepreneurship centre, Yazamut 360°, will be coming to Vancouver in April.

Yazamut – which means entrepreneurship in Hebrew – aims to provide the BGU community with the skills and mentality to excel in any career. It also promotes innovation.

Since its establishment in 2018, Yazamut 360° has seen more than 240 startups and ventures created, had more than 2,000 program participants, fostered an entrepreneurial community of 11,000+ members, and had more than $45 million invested in its companies.

“It was clear to us from the very beginning that, if we’re starting a new entrepreneurship centre at BGU, it needs to be special. We decided to touch very different audiences because entrepreneurship for us is a set of skills, and that set of skills needs to be mastered by everyone,” Dana Gavish, Yazamut’s co-founder and general manager, told the Independent.

“With these different audiences in mind, we went on to develop nine different programs that would match these different audiences and would be the correct ones for entrepreneurship. But the one thing that they all have in common is the idea that you need a learning-by-doing experience.”

Those who enrol in Yazamut are taught such skills as putting together a team, examining problems and solving them, coming up with ideas, conveying messages, presenting in front of a crowd and, on occasion, rejecting a first idea and pursuing another. Yazamut trains participants to move out of their comfort zones towards greater resilience and mental toughness.

“It’s a difficult journey but, when you graduate, you are self-empowered and better educated when you go out to the outer world,” said Gavish, who emphasized that students from across the university are coming to the centre because they see value in what it offers.

“Our graduates really aim high and reach high. We know that they’re hunted today by HR [human resources] specialists from different companies and VCs [venture capitalists]. They’re more daring, and they are employed in wonderful places.”

Among its entrepreneurial offerings, Yazamut features a leaders program that not only teaches entrepreneurship and other skills but forces students to take a fresh look at how they run things, how they manage other people, and how they manage their relationship with failure, said Gadi Bahat, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist with extensive experience in Israel’s tech sector, who heads Yazamut’s academic programs.

“If you want to be a good entrepreneur, it’s not enough that you know how to build a startup. It’s not enough that you know how to measure the right pricing or how to get penetration into the right market,” he said. “You also need to be a different type of person, and that goes into your ability to talk with people. It goes to your ability to present yourself in the right way. It goes to your ability to survive this roller-coaster period. Because, as an entrepreneur, you get a lot of ‘no.’ You get a lot of problems.”

According to Bahat, participants in the program do not come solely from science, engineering and technology backgrounds. Almost half are from other fields, such as medicine and the social sciences. In total, 18 different BGU departments are represented in Yazamut, and half of the participants are women. The startups created, therefore, have sprung from many fields, including medical technology, agriculture and software development.

On April 12, Gavish and some of the entrepreneurs in Yazamut’s leaders program will be in Vancouver for Spark to Startup: Resilience Ignites Leaders. The event will feature the “RBC Lion’s Den,” which will see BGU student entrepreneurs pitching their ventures to a panel of judges and the audience, with a focus on the Negev.

“They will be presenting a potential solution, products and potential markets,” Gavish explained.“It will be a taste for the audience of how we teach entrepreneurship at BGU. The kind of experience these guys get is literally priceless. No other university teaches like it.”

The winning team will receive a monetary prize.

The keynote speaker for the Spark to Startup event will be Saul Singer, an advisor to various companies and nonprofits, who, with Dan Senor, wrote Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle and The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Troubled World. Michael Fugman, with PearTree Canada, will be honoured for his entrepreneurship and leadership, both in work and community. Martin Thibodeau, regional president of RBC British Columbia, and his wife Caroline Desrosiers, a community leader and advocate, are the event’s honorary co-chairs.

For more information, visit bengurion.ca/events/vancouver-events/spark-to-start-up.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Empowerment & more

CHW’s SHE DAY is a multi-city celebration in honour of International Women’s Day, activating communities across Canada, including in Vancouver on March 8, and elsewhere.

Programming explores themes of women’s empowerment, leadership, health, mental wellness, fashion and beauty. Across the country, participants will experience a lineup of speakers, artists and performers who spark conversation, creativity and change.

SHE DAY Vancouver will feature guest speakers Dr. Tamara Shenkier, Laura Mossey and Ruth M’Rav-Jankelowitz in a panel discussion moderated by Jocelyn Brown.

photo - Dr. Tamara Shenkier — Dr. Tamara Shenkier *(photo from chw.ca)*

Shenkier is a Vancouver-based medical oncologist and educator who retired from BC Cancer in November 2025 after a 31-year clinical career, which was focused on breast cancer care from 2014. She held various leadership roles in medical education and governance, including at the University of British Columbia and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and was the inaugural medical director of the After Breast Cancer Service, a BC Cancer-BC Women’s Hospital collaboration supporting survivorship care. More recently, she served as vice-chair of the Provincial Health Services Authority Health Authority Medical Advisory Committee (PHSA HAMAC). She was recognized with the YWCA Women of Distinction Award (education, training and development) in 2024.

Outside of work, Shenkier has raised significant funds through sponsored cycling events for Callanish, a local nonprofit that offers a restorative retreat and healing community for people whose lives have been irrevocably changed by cancer (callanish.org). She also supports the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver as a long-time volunteer canvasser and is an inaugural and ongoing board member of the Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia, founded in early 2024 to help create a supportive professional home for Jewish physicians and health professionals, foster mentorship across generations, and strengthen Jewish voice and belonging in health care.

Mossey joins the SHE DAY Vancouver event as an ally.

Raised in Ontario, Mossey earned a bachelor’s in history from the University of Western Ontario, where she was first introduced to Middle Eastern history. She completed her teaching degree at UBC and returned to Ontario for a full-time career as an elementary school teacher and literacy consultant with the Durham District School Board. In 2013, her family relocated to Port Moody.

photo - Laura Mossey — Laura Mossey *(photo from chw.ca)*

Today, Mossey works as a teacher-on-call with SD43 Coquitlam, often teaching history and using the classroom as an opportunity to clarify misconceptions about Israel. She has committed herself to listening and learning so she can speak with factual integrity in defence of Israel and Canada’s Jewish community. Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, she has read more than 30 books on Islam, Israel and the broader conflict. In March 2025, she traveled to Israel with Jewish National Fund Greater Toronto.

Also in 2025, Mossey received an Allyship Award from the Vancouver Jewish community, presented through the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. She is an outspoken advocate for social justice and Israel on social media.

Raised in the Anglican Church, Mossey has always understood Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. Her resolve to stand up for Canada’s Jewish community is rooted in a respect for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and for the Jewish values of ethical responsibility, social justice and compassion. She is currently studying the Torah through participation in Israel’s 929 Project (named for the number of chapters in the Hebrew Bible).

photo - Ruth M’Rav-Jankelowitz — Ruth M’Rav-Jankelowitz *(photo from janksdesigngroup.com)*

Jankelowitz is an interior designer with more than 30 years of experience in commercial and hospitality design. Known for her strategic and practical approach, she brings expertise in translating brand identity, operational needs and customer experience into built environments that perform.

Jankelowitz has worked internationally with leading fashion and lifestyle brands including Timberland, Bebe, Polo, DKNY, Nike, Balle and Nine West. Her portfolio spans retail, restaurant, corporate and hospitality environments. She currently works with restaurant groups and commercial clients, including OEB Breakfast Co., Tap & Barrel, Earnest Ice Cream, Field and Social, and Return-It.

photo - Jocelyn Brown — Jocelyn Brown *(photo from chw.ca)*

The panel moderator, Brown, is a health and hospital administrator and project manager with more than 25 years’ experience. She has been employed by BC Children’s Hospital, GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre, BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Currently, she works as a project manager and health-care consultant.

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Brown has lived in the Lower Mainland since 1997. She and her family currently live in Steveston. She has served the Jewish community as a board member of Hillel BC, CHW, Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, Richmond Jewish Day School, and the Kehila Society of Richmond.

In addition to the speakers, SHE DAY Vancouver will feature a community shuk (market) featuring local, women-led businesses, vendors in beauty, fashion, health and wellness.

Proceeds from SHE DAY events will support the Eden Association Trauma Therapy Centre, which was founded in 1997. The association opened a new treatment centre in the heart of the Gaza Envelope communities following the events of Oct. 7. The centre provides trauma-focused care for girls and women from the northern Negev and Gaza Envelope regions and is strategically located in Kibbutz Dorot, near the city of Sderot.

Since Oct. 7, there has been an urgent need for therapeutic support for women. Untreated trauma worsens over time, affecting mental and physical health, daily life and relationships. For women, the impact extends to their families, communities and Israel’s social resilience. With support from CHW, Eden is expanding its trauma therapy centre to prevent long-term suffering, restore hope and build a healthier future.

To attend SHE DAY Vancouver on March 8, register at chw.ca/she-day.

– from chw.ca

Successful trip to Cuba

Cantor Eric Moses led a delegation from his synagogue to Havana, Cuba, this month. (photo from Beth Sholom)

Earlier this month, I traveled to Havana with a delegation from Beth Sholom, the Toronto synagogue where I serve as cantor. Together, we represented the first Canadian Jewish group to visit the island since 2019. Travel to Cuba has been complex and unpredictable for some, but our mission was simple – to support the Jewish community in Cuba and remind them that they are neither forgotten nor alone.

The island nation continues to face an unprecedented and protracted crisis. There is a shortage of nearly everything, most notably fuel. Gas stations, if open at all, have hours-long lineups. Illicit WhatsApp groups gouge desperate consumers for the little gasoline that remains. Electricity is out for 12 to 14 hours each day. Medical supplies are scarce to nonexistent. Surgeries have been canceled, public transportation suspended and schools closed. Along the highways, people stand with wads of Cuban pesos, hoping someone will stop and offer a ride. And yet, despite these hardships, the small but remarkably resilient Jewish community has not lost hope.

On Friday evening, we arrived at Beth Shalom Synagogue, locally known as the Patronato, before Shabbat for a briefing with the community’s vice-president. Moments into her remarks, the lights went out. There was no panic, no drama. She calmly pulled out a few flashlights and continued speaking, as though nothing unusual had happened. She then guided us through the synagogue’s modest pharmacy, where scarce medical supplies are distributed not only to Jewish families but to the broader community as well. We were proud to have brought generously donated supplies from pharmaceutical distributor Kohl & Frisch and members of our congregation – though we knew it would not be enough.

As I entered the sanctuary for services, my contact, William Miller, pulled me aside. “Eric, we have enough generator power for about 20 more minutes.” That meant the Shabbat dinner we had sponsored would likely be served in the dark and with cold food. Again, there was no panic, just another fact of life in today’s Havana. (Our group had helped purchase that very generator during a visit in 2008.)

Our time on the island was filled with meaningful encounters. We visited all three synagogues – Orthodox, Conservative and Sephardi – participated in hands-on volunteer activities and spent time connecting with community members. We toured the Jewish cemetery, the Holocaust memorial and museum, and visited shut-in seniors during a power outage. We visited the Canadian embassy and heard from the ambassador and her team about Cuba’s precarious future. We found brief moments to experience Havana’s incredible charm, including a ride in a classic car, the taste of a mojito and the sounds of Cuban music.

By the end of the trip, our group of 16 left Havana feeling enriched, united and deeply humbled. On Friday night, the entire service was led by the youth at the Patronato – a powerful testament to the community’s commitment. I was honoured to address the congregation and shared a simple reflection: in Canada, we have almost everything, while they have almost nothing; yet they possess something we can learn from, a profound sense of pride, spirit and the determination not merely to survive, but to thrive again. One taxi driver summed up the mood of the country when he told me, “We are in a dark tunnel without a way out.” But we were welcomed with open arms and open hearts.

We departed on Sunday evening on what felt like the last fumes of jet fuel, just hours before Air Canada and WestJet announced the suspension of flights. Those who remain behind do not have the option to leave. They continue to live with constant uncertainty, navigating daily hardships while carrying the weight of more than six decades of a revolution that has failed to deliver on its promises. And yet, the Jews of Havana remain determined, resilient and passionate about their heritage and their future.

Eric Moses is the cantor at Beth Sholom Synagogue in Toronto.

Tackling antizionism head on

Adam Louis-Klein was deep in the Amazon on Oct. 7, 2023 – three months into fieldwork with an Indigenous community, living without any internet or phone contact. Two days later, in a local town, he reconnected with the outside world and saw the news. Then he saw something else: how people in his professional orbit were responding to the atrocities perpetrated against Israelis.

“I spoke up and said I stood in solidarity with Israelis, and spoke up against the bigotry I was already seeing, and I was quickly, basically purged,” he told the Independent.

photo - Adam Louis-Klein — Adam Louis-Klein *(photo by Adam Louis-Klein)*

Louis-Klein, a McGill University PhD candidate who now lives in New York state, describes a swift loss of “all my social and professional contacts.” But that didn’t stop him from expressing his views. He felt an obligation, he said, to offer a Jewish voice that speaks the same language as the academy and the left, especially in response to antizionism.

“As I wrote more about it, I think my understanding of antizionism got sharper and sharper,” he said. “I got more focused on antizionism itself as an ideology, not just antisemitism.”

That shift – treating antizionism as something that should be named and confronted directly, rather than in the context of its relationship with antisemitism – has become central to his work. In his view, focusing on antisemitism as the lens can become a rhetorical trap, positioning antizionism as a respectable political position.

His ideas went viral.

“I was posting on Facebook and people kind of liked the little mini-essays I wrote,” he said. He launched a blog at the Times of Israel, then began writing for other outlets. “One thing led to another.”

The visibility has accelerated in recent months, he said. Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ), the organization he founded and leads, has also caught on rapidly.

People found his Times of Israel blog and were on the lookout for voices explicitly naming and confronting antizionism, he said. The people he works with have helped refine his language. Looking back at his writing over a short span, he said, “I already see a kind of progression whereby I get sharper at naming antizionism and making that the focus.”

The backlash was instantaneous.

“People tried to shut me down,” he said. “There were fake complaints against me … they would call my advisor, they would call the anthropology department to try and get me expelled.” He said he was removed from WhatsApp groups, a book club he organized collapsed, a presentation he organized on the Soviet roots of antizionist rhetoric was canceled without explanation.

He described a hardened ideological environment.

“I was told that no one would discuss with me whether it’s a genocide,” he said. “The genocide libel was not something that could be discussed.”

While the university environment may be a hotbed of antizionism generally, anthropology is particularly hostile, he said.

Early anthropology was connected to colonial infrastructures and later efforts to reckon with that legacy have put “settler-colonialism” at the centre of the discipline, Louis-Klein said. In his telling, the field has “swallowed wholesale” a narrative in which “Israelis are these evil white settlers.” He no longer sees a future in the discipline. “It’s not a field that Jews who do not profess loyalty to the antizionist movement … can exist in at this point,” he said.

Louis-Klein, who grew up mostly in Seattle and who spent time in Whistler growing up, holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Yale University, a master’s in philosophy from the New School, a master’s in anthropology from the University of Chicago, and is nearing completion of his PhD at McGill.

With academic doors closing in front of him, he sees a new possibility: the creation of a serious intellectual space for the study of antizionism itself.

“There is now a movement to try and create an academic space for critical studies of antizionism,” he said, adding that he wants to “provide an intellectual framework for treating antizionism as an objective study, as something that we can critically understand, break down, trace its genealogy, understand how it functions in the present as its own phenomenon.”

In his view, the public conversation must change for practical reasons, not just academic ones.

“We cannot fight anti-Jewish violence today without naming and opposing antizionism,” he said. “The vast majority of anti-Jewish violence is directly motivated by antizionism.”

Even attacks rooted in “more classical” right-wing antisemitism now unfold within “the overall hysteria that has been created by antizionism since Oct. 7 and the genocide libel,” he said. Besides, he argued, as a strategy, equating antizionism and antisemitism is failing.

“Calling antizionism antisemitism is also not working,” he said. “We’re assuming that if we just say it’s antisemitic, a number of institutional levers will set into place Holocaust memory, and it’ll shut it down.”

But that’s not happening, he said, “because antizionism doesn’t look like classical antisemitism.”

Instead, he thinks people need to be taught what antizionism is.

“You can’t just say it’s antisemitic,” he said. “You have to explain to people what antizionism is as an ideology, and you have to stop treating it as political critique.”

He draws a distinction between debating Zionism and describing antizionism as a social phenomenon.

“Talking about antizionism also doesn’t mean … explaining how Zionism is actually good. It goes far beyond that. It means explaining how antizionism is a hate movement,” he said.

“It’s a mob movement,” he added. “There are lynch mobs … people who hunt down Zionists and try and shame and humiliate them.… They vandalize buildings, they smash windows.”

MAAZ delivers training in different sectors, including education, business, arts and journalism, designed to help people understand antizionism and “to fight back and to give people a language.”

“We really think naming and labeling is the way to defeat it,” he said.

Louis-Klein described teaching people to “maintain boundaries,” and to label recurring accusations – “colonizer libel, apartheid libel, genocide libel” – as antizionist so that Jews and allies stop feeling obligated to defend their legitimacy and instead “hold antizionism to account.”

The organization also includes legal thinking, with scholar Rona Kaufman developing a legal concept of antizionist discrimination.

Beyond training, MAAZ emphasizes public education. Louis-Klein encourages people to explore the organization’s website (movementagainstantizionism.org), which he describes as “kind of like a museum … a curation where you enter inside of the whole history of antizionism and its different forms and the different libels.”

He emphasized a point he sees as essential for long-term success: expanding beyond the Jewish community.

“Having non-Jewish people who can get behind that … will just be the key,” he said. “That will be the thing that catapults it to the next stage.”