Category: News

Vancouver joins rallies

The Feb. 18 silent march in honor of Alberto Nisman began on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

Approximately 75 members of the local Argentine community and their friends and supporters gathered at the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery on Feb. 18 in memory of Argentina’s federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman.

photo - Jewish community member Gabriel Patrich (left) was one of the Vancouver march organizers
Jewish community member Gabriel Patrich (left) was one of the Vancouver march organizers. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

A silent march, there were no speeches, but participants carried signs. They would like the government of Argentina to conduct a full investigation of the suspicious death of the 51-year-old Jewish lawyer who was found dead on Jan. 18 at his home in Buenos Aires. Nisman was investigating alleged Iranian involvement in the terror attack on the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) Jewish community centre in 1994, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds of others. He was found dead the day before he was to appear before a congressional hearing to air his contention that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, among others, arranged a deal with Iran to cover up its involvement in the bombing in exchange for economic benefits.

Jewish community member Gabriel Patrich, one of the organizers of the march in Vancouver, was satisfied with the local support. “The main rally in Argentina drew [up to] half a million people, and there were big events in Miami, Australia, Spain, France and Israel. We are proud to take our part and demand a full investigation of Nisman’s murder and the truth he was about to bring to light.”

In addition to the call for justice, Patrich told the Independent, “we were also there … to honor a courageous man, who knew that his life was in danger – he said that his investigations might cost him his life.”

Reports are that some 400,000 people attended the Buenos Aires march alone. On her website, Kirchner criticized that event as being politically motivated and, “not at all an act of homage to the tragically deceased, with the obvious exception of their immediate families.” She said its one merit was that it showed “that in Argentina, your country, you can disagree, you can insult the government and the president, and can move freely. It was not always so, so do not speak of dictatorship.”

For those interested in more about the AMIA bombing, Argentine author Gustavo Perednik has written a “lightly veiled” fictional account based on documents provided him by Nisman. It has been translated into English – To Kill Without a Trace: A Prequel to 9/11, the 1994 Terrorist Bombing in Buenos Aires and the Iranian Connection (Mantua Books Ltd.) – and Perednik will be in Vancouver for the book’s launch at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library on March 23, at 7 p.m. Also speaking will be Dr. Elena T. Feder, who wrote the introduction to the English translation. Anticipating a full house, the library requires an RSVP to 604-257-5111, ext. 248, or library@jccgv.bc.ca by March 19.

Shahar Ben Halevi is a writer and filmmaker living in Vancouver.

Momo’s first migrants arrive

Members of the Momo Minyan with Lhamo Dolma, Phurba Jompa and Lobsang Dolma. (photo from David Berson)

After a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2007, and with the later support of then citizenship and immigration minister Jason Kenney, a resettlement plan for 1,000 displaced Tibetans in Canada was announced.

Seven years later, in April 2014, Or Shalom congregant Vicky Robinson gave a presentation on sponsoring Tibetan migrants. The presentation resulted in a number of congregants coming together to establish the Momo Minyan. The group was named by David Berson to represent a mixture of Jewish and Buddhist culture to help facilitate the move and integration into Canadian Society of two Tibetan refugees. (For a March 2014 story about the background of the group, click here.)

“I feel like I won the birthright lottery living here in Vancouver,” Berson said. “We started discussing the responsibility that this involves, because the Canadian government had given a go ahead for 1,000 people to come from Arunachal Pradesh, which is on the border with Tibet.”

Many of the refugees have been without status for more than 50 years, after India stopped granting Tibetans citizenship in 1959. As described by Berson, the Tibetans who are being sponsored lack many of the rights associated with citizenship and have been left with few choices.

“Tibetans that are on the border have limited rights, limited education [and] health care, but can work. We were moved by their story and their whole notion of the immigrant experience…. It is what the Jewish people have gone through.”

A trip was organized by the Minyan and its partners to visit the Tibetan communities in the fall of 2014. The trip involved assessing the conditions in remote villages in Arunachal Pradesh while trekking in the Himalayan mountains. On the journey, the participants traveled through areas considered sacred to Buddhists, where religious texts have been buried in Pemako, an area with 108 lakes.

Berson attended on behalf of the Momo Minyan, which joined with members of North Shore Search and Rescue. Many members of Or Shalom fundraised for the trip through donations to the Tibetan Cultural Society of British Columbia.

The main destination was Tuting, a city where 200 of the migrants live. When Berson arrived there, he was shocked at what he saw. “In Tuting, there is no internet, so any communication has to be done via snail mail. It can sometimes take a month or two … the way of life for Tibetans in this city is involved in some commerce and some farming, but they are still not looked at as full citizens.”

The trip also was an opportunity to promote Canada as the refugees’ new home. “We went to visit the resettlement office and presented them with a big Canadian flag, and we gave out a lot of Canadian pins along the way,” he recalled.

Since that trip, two Tibetan women who are being sponsored by the Momo Minyan have arrived in Vancouver. In September, Vancouver welcomed 36-year-old Lobsang Dolma and, in December, 28-year-old Lhamo Dolma arrived with her sister Phurba Jompa (who was sponsored by another group).

Once in Vancouver, members of the Momo Minyan assisted the new migrants in obtaining medical insurance, signing up for a social insurance number, assisting with English tests, helping to find work and housing for a one-year period.

Lobsang’s first job was at Or Shalom Synagogue, where she worked in the kitchen and as a custodian for pay. She has since worked as a dishwasher elsewhere four days a week and continues to take evening English classes.

While Lhamo continues to attend English classes alongside her sister four nights a week, her road has been less smooth and she has had less luck with employment.

According to Berson, members of the Momo Minyan are committed to introducing the migrants to people in their new communities. “It is hard for them; they left their families behind, want to be with their families. It is a sense of urgency many of us here do not need to experience because we do not need to worry about the basics of life.”

There are other challenges for members as well, Berson described. “It is clothing, it is language, it is how to get from one place to another, we take a lot of things for granted … and language is so important. And, at the same time, these women want to start working because they will need to support themselves and to make a living, a real tradeoff between learning the language and wanting to earn.”

Financial challenges are deepened, as the two women want to make money to support themselves, but also want to save money to send back home to help their families.

Cultural norms also affect the migrants’ experience in Canada. An example is in acquiring doctor’s services, which can lead to issues with communication, and access to health services. In India, services are far away and there is not an expectation that there will be an interaction between patient and doctor. “There are different expectations [here],” Berson explained. “Canadians interact more with their doctors than in India.”

The minyan and the Tibetan Cultural Society of B.C. are committed to bringing as many Tibetans from Arunachal Pradesh as are on the list to resettle in Canada and welcome support for the project. Residential accommodation and employment opportunities are areas where the minyan has asked for assistance. More opportunities to sponsor future migrants may occur, as well.

Gil Lavie is a freelance correspondent, with articles published in the Jerusalem Post, Shalom Toronto and Tazpit News Agency. He has a master’s of global affairs from the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.

JFSA appoints Richard Fruchter

Jewish Family Service Agency has appointed Richard Fruchter as senior management consultant. He began working in this position on Jan. 7, and will be leading JFSA while the executive director search committee continues its efforts in identifying candidates and hiring of the long-term ED.

photo - Richard Fruchter
Richard Fruchter (photo from Jewish Family Service Agency)

“We are pleased to welcome Richard, who not only brings with him tremendous experience and a proven track record in not-for-profit organizations in Jewish communities in North America, but also has a thorough knowledge of our Jewish community, having served as the senior management consultant of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver from 2013-2014,” said board chair Joel Steinberg.

“Richard will support the agency with his extensive knowledge in areas of finance, fundraising, communications, board governance and human resources – initiatives that were identified in our strategic plan. Prior to his tenure in Vancouver, he was the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and, over the last 30 years, he has been in top executive positions with federations, Talmud Torah [schools] and other general community organizations in Seattle, Wash., Minneapolis, Minn., and Tucson, Ariz.”

“It’s an exciting time at the JFSA as we build for the future,” said Fruchter. “I will be playing a strategic and advisory role with the board and staff to help JFSA continue to transform the lives of individuals and families, through quality services and innovative programming. The last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to visit some of our programs, see their impact, and learn more about how we respond to evolving community needs. I found our staff to be dedicated and committed professionals – passionately working day in and day out to care for their clients. Our board and volunteers are talented and willingly share their wisdom and resources to provide for our community’s welfare. During this transition, I look forward to having renewed and fresh conversations with our community members, leaders and donors about how JFSA can even more effectively service our community.”

Ruling against terror

Bodies are taken away following an explosion at the cafeteria of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University on July 31, 2002. Hamas took responsibility for the bombing, which killed seven people and wounded 70, but a new U.S. federal court ruling found the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority liable for that attack and other committed during the second intifada. (photo from Flash90)

A New York City-based federal jury on Monday ordered the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to pay $218.5 million in reparations to American citizens who were targeted by terror attacks in Jerusalem, and to the victims’ families. The ruling is seen as a major victory for those seeking to hold so-called moderate Palestinian factions accountable for terrorism.

The court ruled in favor of 10 American families who sued the PLO and PA for six different terrorist attacks that were linked to those groups during the second Palestinian intifada. Thirty-three people were killed in those six attacks between 2002 and 2004, and 450 were injured. Since the lawsuit was filed in a U.S. court under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the reparation amount is expected to triple to $655.5 million.

Among the families involved in the landmark ruling were representatives of four victims of a Hebrew University cafeteria attack in 2002, in addition to Palestinian shooting attacks and suicide bombings that took place between 2002 and 2004 in Jerusalem.

The plaintiffs won the case after a 10-year legal battle in which the defence claimed that the PLO and the PA were not directly responsible for the attacks, which were carried out by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Hamas. The verdict is likely to bolster Israel’s longstanding claim that Palestinian factions such as Mahmoud Abbas’ PA – which many in the West consider to be more moderate than Hamas – support terrorism.

“The PA and the PLO and the Fatah faction were all involved in terrorism during the second intifada,” said Jonathan Schanzer, vice-president for research at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies and a former terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. “Abbas reined in those groups and has done a reasonably good job of preventing their resurgence. But the sins of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, continue to haunt him. And now it looks as if it will cost him, as well.”

Read more at jns.org.

 

Using art to bridge peoples

The gallery includes work by Almagul Menlibayeva of Kazakhstan. (photo from AMOCAH)

When people in Israel saw that Belu-Simion Fainaru and his partner Avital Bar-Shay were considering opening yet another art museum/gallery, some eyebrows were raised. But what this dynamic duo in life and in art had in mind was much more than another one-dimensional art space. Their far-reaching ideas will likely quiet the doubts of any naysayers.

Fainaru and Bar-Shay, both Jewish artists living in Haifa, decided to create an art meeting space for Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Bedouin and Druze artists – a place where they could display their art alongside one another. They created the Arab Museum of Contemporary Art and Heritage (AMOCAH) in Sakhnin in the Lower Galilee, which was declared a city in 1995 and has a population of 25,000 of mostly Muslims and a minority of Christians. It also is home to a significant population of Sufis, Muslims who adhere to a mystical stream of Islam.

Bar-Shay and Fainaru originally met in Israel. Fainaru made aliyah from Romania in 1973. A successful visual artist, he has curated exhibits around the world, making international connections along the way. Bar-Shay is an Israeli-born artist, designer and architect. She has exhibited in Israel and abroad and has vast experience in public art, working as a cultural entrepreneur. She specializes in artistic activity in the periphery.

The idea for AMOCAH started with Fainaru and Bar-Shay initiating and curating the Haifa Mediterranean Biennale four years ago. This led to a second biennale in 2013, which took place in Sakhnin. At the Haifa biennale, they used shipping containers to exhibit the artwork. In Sakhnin, the biennale was held in a building that the town’s mayor offered for the occasion.

“Right now in Israel, a lot of … Jewish people feel a special energy when it comes to Sakhnin,” said Fainaru. “So, we did this big project in the Sakhnin area, where a lot of Jewish people are already using various art mediums to bring communities together.”

Fainaru said that the various communities do not usually do things together and, even within the Arab community, Muslims and Christians generally keep to themselves.

“The art will have an urban dimension and we can approach art for a population that’s not very familiar with contemporary art,” said Fainaru. “We think it’s important to decentralize the art scene in Israel.”

Going with the biennale (Italian for every two years) concept seemed the most feasible, with politics and budgets in Israel regularly being in flux. “We had a big project with the Ministry of Education, but a few months after we decided to move ahead with [the minister], he [had] just resigned,” noted Fainaru, as an example.

While the idea of a biennale was born 100 years ago in Venice, Fainaru and Bar-Shay wanted to go with that premise and added a new twist – creating a biennale melting pot of cultures, and eventually transform that into a permanent museum in Sakhnin.

“We think countries around Israel and the Mediterranean should cooperate and exchange ideas in the area of contemporary art,” said Fainaru. “We put a lot of emphasis on education and doing workshops with artists from abroad.

photo - Afghani-German artist Jeanno Gaussi’s work is at AMOCAH
Afghani-German artist Jeanno Gaussi’s work is at AMOCAH. (photo from mfa.gov.il)

“We want to develop projects under the umbrella of the biennale and museum, also with Jewish and Arab children – the next generation – to communicate and get to know each other, have fewer misconceptions, and make a better living here not based on violence.”

It took some time and meetings with the right people to get the Sakhnin museum off the ground. Fainaru and Bar-Shay met with the mayor of Sakhnin, Mazin G’Nayem, who was open to the idea. The mayor spoke with his culture deputy and the pieces began to fall into place.

“He [the mayor] thinks it’s important to have contact between Jews and Arabs, as we have to live together,” said Fainaru. “He understands that art will help the people of Sakhnin and promote coexistence between Jews and Arabs. He saw that with the football team he put together that has Jews and Arabs playing together.”

During the first biennale in Sakhnin in 2013, Sakhnin was flooded with people coming to participate in the festivities. AMOCAH is open to the public and, so far, the majority of the visitors have been students of contemporary art. The educational component of the museum is still being developed. “We hope, with these educational activities with the biennale, Israel’s sense of art will become known to people all around,” Fainaru said.

AMOCAH carries art from the various cultures in the region and from different religions, but Fainaru is especially proud of the art coming from countries without political ties to Israel, like Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey.

“Normally, relations between Israel and Turkey are very bad,” he said. “Even I was dismissed from a biennale exhibition in Turkey, because of war between Israel and Gaza [last] summer.”

To facilitate cooperation between the Jews and Arab artists involved, the biennale and the museum are being organized by both communities.

“Tel Aviv-area people are self-sufficient in art, culture, cinema, food … in life,” said Fainaru. “They don’t feel they have to go to another place inside Israel. But, in the periphery, what we’re doing is creating an alternative activity in art in Israel and having an influence on life here – making a change and bringing art to people while incorporating cooperation between Jews and Arabs and neighbors around. This is just a beginning.”

The next Sakhnin biennale is scheduled for the end of 2015, with Fainaru and Bar-Shay already working to bring in the works of many new artists from Israel and abroad.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Halper talks across Canada

Dr. Jeff Halper speaks at the University of Manitoba on Feb. 9. (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa)

Dr. Jeff Halper, an Israeli anthropologist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, spoke on four different occasions in Winnipeg over two days, Feb. 8 and 9, as part of a cross-Canada speaking tour, which also brought him to Vancouver Feb. 10-12. He is the head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), an organization self-described as “dedicated to ending the Israeli occupation and [that] advocates for a just peace between Israel and the Palestinian people.”

The first of Halper’s Winnipeg talks was An Israeli in Palestine, and it was held at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church. He then spoke at the University of Manitoba on Academic Freedom and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, reprised An Israeli in Palestine at the University of Winnipeg and, finally, did an interview with Jewish Post & News editor Bernie Bellan at the Free Press News Café (which can be found at icahd.org/node/568).

The U of M lecture on Feb. 9 was sponsored by the department of history, the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, and the Global Political Economy program. Halper began this talk by saying that “the side” most people are aware of is the one that “only demolishes houses of terrorists and that is trying really hard to make a fair peace with the Palestinians.” But, he said, people are not very aware of the side that is “building settlements in the West Bank and refusing to issue building permits to Palestinians in the West Bank.”

According to Halper, Israel has been working for years to physically eliminate the proposition of a two-state solution by creating in the West Bank a Palestinian territory that is so fragmented with Israeli settlements that such an option is no longer viable. “A solution that the Israeli peace camp, including myself, supported for many years … the solution accepted by the international community … U.S., Canada, the UN, the Palestinians and every Arab country, is gone,” he said.

Halper believes that the two-state solution is “tremendously pro-Israeli.” He said, “If Israel in fact wants peace and security, it could have had that 27 years ago. And, it could have kept 78 percent of the country. This two-state solution was adopted unanimously by the Arab League. Every Arab country said that if Israel relinquishes the occupation, we will not only make peace with Israel, we’ll integrate Israel into the region. There was even talk of Israel joining the Arab League.”

In Halper’s view, “Israel has always said no and never seriously considered a two-state solution…. In 1993, there were 200,000 settlers. By the year 2000, after seven years of negotiation, there were 400,000 settlers. Today, there are 600,000 settlers. In four years from now, there will be a million Israelis living in the occupied territory.

“What Israel has done to ensure its permanent control, to ensure that the Palestinians are imprisoned in areas, is not a bi-national state … heaven forbid, because it has to be a Jewish state…. There’s no chance Israel will be forced out of the occupied territory. Israel has laid over the West Bank what I call ‘a matrix of control.’”

Halper argued, “There is no more West Bank: it’s gone. There are today more Israelis living in east Jerusalem than there are Palestinians. And whether it’s east Jerusalem or the West Bank, Palestinian territory is completely fragmented.

“Also, out of the 600 checkpoints in the West Bank, only 17 are actually between the West Bank and Israel. All the others are inside the West Bank, preventing Palestinian movement, confining them to these islands.

“How will a Palestinian state emerge from this?” he asked. “The whole idea of the two-state solution was based on a north/south axis, here’s Israel and, alongside, it’s a Palestinian state.”

Halper sees Israel as “working to force Palestinians out of homes located in the ‘wrong’ place, largely through house demolition. None of those homes had anything to do with security.”

As an example, Halper used the house of ICAHD member Salim Shawamreh. To date, said Halper, that home has been demolished and rebuilt by the ICAHD six times. “They bought a small plot of land in the town of Anata, which is right next to Jerusalem,” said Halper. “The land is registered. When they went to apply for a building permit, the answer was ‘no.’ Israel has zoned the entire West Bank as agricultural land so, when a Palestinian comes to build a home on land he owns, the answer is ‘Sorry, but this is agricultural land.’ It applies to Jews and Arabs.”

Beside Anata is the Israeli town of Ma’ale Adumim, which, Halper said, is built on the same agricultural land with a permit. “You have 50,000 Israelis living in government-built cities on the same land,” said Halper. “If you want to rezone from agricultural to residential, it takes a second.”

Many families build without a permit, said Halper, and Shawamreh “decided to build his house without a permit and the Israeli authority sent a demolition order with a dozen solders. They aren’t coming to arrest him. They’re coming to demolish his home…. Salim resisted and was taken out by force. His wife, Arabiya, managed to lock the door and stayed inside with the children. So, the soldiers broke the windows and threw in tear gas to flush the family out. Arabiya was taken out unconscious, the kids running and screaming in every direction. We get into the act if we can. She managed to call us … [and] we resist the demolition of homes.

“We rebuild homes as political acts of resistance,” he continued. “We’ve rebuilt 587 homes over the last 14 years or so … 587 joint acts of resistance. We refuse to be enemies. That’s one of our slogans.”

Halper’s tour, organized by United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine/Israel and Independent Jewish Voices-Canada, as well as various local groups, fundraised for ICAHD’s building of a house for a Palestinian family whose home was demolished. Admission to events was free, though donations were welcomed.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Taking care of elders

Cindy Greenlay, therapeutic recreation manager at Winnipeg’s Simkin Centre, is one of the first to admit that no one plans to retire and move into a care home. But, she explained, “Circumstances happen and the support we’re able to provide here is something needed in the community.”

On Feb. 18, the women’s philanthropy of Combined Jewish Appeal (CJA) in Winnipeg hosted an educational evening at the Simkin Centre on the centre’s programming. Daniela Jacobson, co-chair of women’s philanthropy, began the event, noting that the Simkin Centre “is our newest agency to the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.” She then gave the floor to Greenlay.

photo - Simkin Center’s therapeutic recreation manager, Cindy Greenlay
Simkin Center’s therapeutic recreation manager, Cindy Greenlay. (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa)

According to Greenlay, people don’t come to the Simkin Centre at the end of their lives to die – they come to continue living. Something about which the centre staff feel strongly is the importance of getting to know each of the residents individually. “We don’t assume that everyone who is 75 likes to play Bingo,” said Greenlay by way of example.

The staff meet with each resident several times and gather as much information about what he/she likes to do, so they can build activities to match. One of the most important things to understand, said Greenlay, is that residents have a lot of free time on their hands and the centre needs to fill that time with relevant programming.

“We need to do that every single day – 13 hours a day,” she said. “As 80 percent of our population is cognitively impaired, so we have some people here who make those choices…. We’re all trained in specific areas to adapt to different disabilities…. We have one recreation staff for every 40 residents. That person works five days a week to fill up this big piece of the pie.”

The centre’s programming is funded by the local Jewish federation and private donors.

“To brag a little bit, our facility is chosen every year by Red River College to bring the recreation students to,” said Greenlay. “The students come here every fall to see what they want to be when they ‘grow up.’ They shadow our staff every fall to see what the programs are supposed to look like.”

Until a year ago, Simkin’s spiritual health care was led by Rabbi Neal Rose, and it was based on a chaplaincy model. “Once Rabbi Rose retired, the board met and did some rethinking,” said Barb Findlay, the centre’s spiritual health care practitioner. “They researched what spiritual health could look like going forward. I think that in the whole world – and the Jewish world is not different – generally, people today are less religious and more spiritual. People use yoga and meditation and different ways to access the Divine. It’s interesting, as I go around and meet new residents and introduce myself, I get one refrain that I hear all the time, ‘Wait a minute. I’m not too Jewish.’ And, you know, actually, they are very Jewish.”

photo - Barb Findlay, Simkin Centre’s spiritual health care practitioner
Barb Findlay, Simkin Centre’s spiritual health care practitioner. (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa)

Spiritual health has been recognized by the Canadian Medical Association and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) as an integral part of the health profile, which includes physical and emotional health.

“Spirituality is defined as that which gives meaning and purpose to life, besides the physical,” explained Findlay. “The purpose of spiritual health is to symbolically walk beside people and to occupy that liminal space between what’s known and what’s not known in life.”

Although the overwhelming majority of people at the Simkin Centre are Jewish, the centre operates as the Victoria Hospital emergency placement location. As such, the spiritual health personnel have to provide support for people from all religions, including Buddhists, Catholics, Evangelical Christians and First Nations.

“What is important is their belief system and helping them to boost that and work with that for whatever needs they have,” said Findlay. “Israel has embraced this new profession. They named it the ‘livui ruchani,’ which is Hebrew for ‘spiritual accompaniment.’

“The Simkin population is roughly 200, and about 15 percent aren’t Jewish,” she continued. “The average age is 90, and about 85 percent of our people have some element of dementia. Ninety-six percent of elders live out their lives in the community with or without some supports, so, what we have here is a very small percentage of our elderly population – about four or five percent.”

Dr. Harvey Chochinov, a geriatric psychiatrist in Winnipeg, has dedicated much of his work focus to end-of-life care, and has found that distress at the end of life is usually connected with people feeling as though they are a burden.

“He’s developed a whole process which involves questioning and reflection, so we can help people review and rebuild, and hopefully move away from feeling they’re a burden for their loved ones,” said Findlay.

The evening’s talk ended off on a lively and light note, with Cindy Bass, the centre’s music therapist demonstrating how she engages residents. “Music memory is one of the last remaining faculties for the elderly population with Alzheimer’s disease,” said Bass. “For example, if you take a song like ‘My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,’ everybody knows it. And it’s been shown that some people who can’t speak anymore can still sing, which is also why it works well as therapy for stroke victims, helping them relearn to speak.”

Music can increase attention span and be very useful for the cognitively impaired, she added, as it opens new brain pathways, evidence of which has been seen using MRIs.

Bass led the crowd in a few songs to illustrate the power of music and she explained the many benefits gained through music, including the building of community ties and increased socialization, as well as its use in prayer and to enhance self-expression.

“Music,” she said, “provides people of all ages, regardless of disability, with ample opportunity for meaningful responses to all aspects of our environment.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Brush up kids’ STEM

(photo from e2 Young Engineers)

The Israeli education revolution is here. e2 Young Engineers, which started operating in 2008, is pioneering the concept of “edutainment” in the classroom, combining education and entertainment. The edutainment method is used to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. In turn, Young Engineers is helping foster the next generation of engineers.

e2 Young Engineers was founded by Amir Asor, a young Israeli entrepreneur. Asor, who dealt with learning difficulties as a child, understood from firsthand experience that the way schools teach STEM does not engage all children, challenge them or give them the desire to continue learning these subjects. Inspired to change this reality, Asor began to develop the Young Engineers’ curricula. In its first year of operation, the company opened 10 centres across Israel. During the following year, 2009, the company grew to 90 centres.

The curricula created by Asor are aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 15, and operate in community centres, after-school programs, private schools, teen centres, private homes and more. e2 Young Engineers lessons are built on a logical progression of teaching theoretical material in a lively way – using engaging stories, demonstrations and experiments – and then giving the children the opportunity to build a K’nex (for the younger age group) or LEGO bricks model that illustrates the principle being studied in that lesson. At the end of the year, children who have participated in a e2 Young Engineers lesson will be able to explain, for example, what transmission is, the difference between a power-increasing transmission and a speed-increasing transmission, what centripetal and centrifugal force are and how Bernoulli’s Law works. These concepts and basic principles of physics and engineering are not sufficiently covered by traditional school curricula, and e2 Young Engineers’ courses give children great exposure and access to these professions.

e2 Young Engineers operates from north to south in Israel, and continues to grow. International recognition arrived for the company in 2011, when Asor was awarded the Youth Business International Entrepreneur of the Year prize, presented by YBI’s founder, HRH Prince Charles. Building on this, e2 Young Engineers’ franchise operation was launched in 2012; in the space of two years, franchisees from 15 different countries spanning five continents signed up, forming a family of 40 franchisees – a number that is still growing. In addition, the University of Carnegie Mellon has chosen to market Young Engineers courses through its subsidiary, iCarnegie.

The company is continuing to develop its curricula at both the technological and pedagogical levels. An intensive project to bring digital technology to the classroom is nearing completion, with the development of a 3-D application exclusive to e2 Young Engineers. The application, which is used on a tablet, contains all the building stages for every model, which can be viewed 360°. It also contains pop quizzes, fun and educational cartoons (featuring Eureka, the e2 Young Engineers mascot), and a very popular function that allows the child take a photo of themselves with the model they built and email it to their parents – or whomever they choose – via the app. In this way, parents can receive instant insight into what their child is learning and how much they are enjoying themselves.

As an Israeli company, Young Engineers has a particularly special connection with Jewish communities worldwide and, to this end, has generated much interest from Jewish schools and educators across the world, supported by the company’s active approach to cultivating such ties. The Jewish community in Vancouver – and the wider British Columbia area – has been identified as having potential for being a flag-bearer for the company in Canada. The company is open to potential franchisees from across British Columbia. Find out more by visiting youngeng.net/franchise or by emailing natasha@e2youngengineers.com.

לקראת הבחירות בישראל

בנימין נתניהו – 5 בינואר. סוגיית מתן הצבעה לישראלים שגרים בחו”ל חוזרת לחדשות. (צילום: Ashernet)

לקראת הבחירות: יש ישראלים שרוצים שיאפשרו להם לבחור בחו”ל

סוגיית מתן הצבעה לישראלים שגרים בחו”ל עולה על סדר היום בדרך כלל, לקראת קיום בחירות חדשות. הנושא שוב חוזר לחדשות לקראת הבחירות הקרובות שיתקיימו ב-17 במרץ.

אליהו גורדון שגר בחו”ל כבר למעלה מ-16 שנים, עוקב בדאגה אחרי מה שקורה בישראל. גורדון (50, נשוי+3) גר ב-12 השנים האחרונות בריצ’מונד ועובד ברשות המיסים הקנדית. הוא בעל תואר ראשון ביחסים בינ”ל ומדע המדינה.

גורדון חושש מאוד ממה שעומד לקרות בעתיד הקרוב בישראל. לדבריו: “הנתונים הדמוגרפים לא משקרים ובשנת 2020 חלקם של הילדים החילוניים בכיתה א’ בבתי הספר הממלכתיים, יהיה פחות מ-50 אחוז, למרות שהם מהווים למעלה מ-50 אחוז מכלל האוכלוסיה. ומה המשמעות של נתון זה? שמספרם של האזרחים הלא ציונים, החרדים, הדתיים וכן הערבים ילך ויגדל בחברה הישראלית, ואילו כוחם של החילונים ילך ויקטן”.

לדברי גורדון למדינה צפוי גורל קשה אם בתחום הילודה לא יהיו שינויים, וכנראה שלא יהיו שינויים, כי כידוע במגזרים הדתי והערבי עושים יותר ילדים. לכן הפתרון יכול לבוא רק מצד הישראלים שגרים בחו”ל. כיום גרים בחו”ל למעלה מ-600 אלף ישראלים בעלי זכות בחירה, ורובם המוחלט חילונים.

גורדון: “עומדות לפנינו שתי אופציות. לאפשר להמשיך ולתת לאנטי ציונים, החרדים והערבים להמשיך ולהגדיל את כוחם. או לאפשר לישראלים בחו”ל להצביע כאשר כוחם שווה בין 10-15 מנדטים שיתחלקו בכנסת, בין המחנה החילוני והמחנה הלאומי. ועל ידי כך המחנה החילוני יגדל באופן מאוד משמעותי. ומה שלא יעשה הרחם של האמהות הציוניות, יעשה קול הבחירה של הישראלים בחו”ל. בעיני רבים בארץ, הישראלים שגרים בחו”ל נחשבים ליורדים, נפולת של נמושות ובוגדים שנטשו את המערכה ולא מוכנים לשאת עוד בנטל. אז לתת להם לבחור ממרחקים ולהשפיע על מה שקורה בישראל? אולי כדאי לעצור רגע ולשאול מי יכול באמת לעזור לעתיד המדינה. הישראלים בחו”ל שילמו ביטוח לאומי ומס הכנסה ועשו מילואים. לעומת זאת רבים שגרים כיום בישראל לא עושים בכלל צבא. כמו שכבה שלמה של המגזר החרדי והערבים, שמהווה נטל גדול על המדינה, בזמן שהם חיים על קצבאות. אך יש להם כוח רב ביום הבחירה”.

גורדון מציין כי בכל המדינות הנאורות בהן ארה”ב קנדה, אנגליה, גרמניה, צרפת, איטליה והולנד, מאפשרים לאזרחים שגרים בחו”ל להצביע. ואילו ישראל שייכת למחנה קטן שכולל את סין ורוסיה, שלא מאפשר לאזרחים בחו”ל להצביע.

גורדון מסכם את דבריו: “חלון ההזדמנויות הולך ונסגר ואם לא נתעורר הדמוקרטיה הישראלית חילונית תעלם, ובמדינה ישלוט רוב דתי חרדי עם מיעוט של ערבים שהולך וגדל בהתמדה. אך לעומת זאת אם ניתן לישראלים בחו”ל להצביע מפת הכנסת תשתנה לחלוטין, ויתאפשר לרוב החילוני ציוני לנהל את ענייני המדינה, ולחוקק חוקים חשובים ונאורים, בזמן שכוחן של המפלגות הסוחטות יקטן משמעותית. ומי שלא יעשה צבא יחוייב לעשות שירות לאומי, כך שהנטל יתחלק שווה בשווה בין האזרחים. הארכת שעון הקיץ תבוצע כמו בכל מדינה מתוקנת במערב, כדי להגדיל את החסכון במשק. תתקיים תחבורה ציבורית בשבת לעזור בעיקר למעוטי היכולת והקשישים. יתוקן העיוות בקצבאות

הילדים, כך שעד הילד השלישי תהיה בהן עליה, ומהרביעי תהיה ירידה באופן יחסי. ובסופו של דבר את גורל המדינה לא יקבעו החרדים הלא ציונים והערבים, אלה הישראלים שגרים בחו”ל. הם אלו שיצילו את הציונות ויחזירו את השליטה למחנה החילוני. ובכך גם יגרמו ליותר חילונים ודתיים ציוניים לחזור הביתה”.

Angels make delivery

(photo by Lauren Kramer)

Lynne Fader, Courtney Cohen and Toby Rubin hold some of the 500 care packages that were distributed to the needy in Richmond recently by Rose’s Angels, an organization founded by the Kehila Society and Cohen, in memory of her grandmother Rose. Each package contained toiletries and food, while additional bundles supplied socks, toque, gloves and scarves. The packages were distributed to CHIMO, Richmond Family Place, the Jewish Food Bank and Turning Point Recovery House.