Category: News

A new voice for BC elders

Dan Levitt has been appointed to be British Columbia’s new seniors advocate (photo from Dan Levitt)

Dan Levitt is set to become British Columbia’s new seniors advocate. The appointment was announced last month by BC Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“Dan Levitt has championed the rights of seniors for 30 years and with his extensive experience he is an excellent choice for BC’s seniors advocate,” Dix said in announcing the appointment. The Office of the Seniors Advocate is an independent branch of the provincial government, which acts in the interest of seniors and their caregivers.

Levitt becomes only the second person to hold the role, replacing Isobel Mackenzie, who will retire April 5 from the position she initiated a decade ago.

Levitt spoke with the Independent over lunch in the community centre that is part of KinVillage, the Tsawwassen continuing care retirement community he has headed as chief executive officer since 2021. Over the din of an adjacent bingo game, Levitt spoke of his career, the footsteps of his father and his plans for the new job.

The role of seniors advocate is unusual, he explained. British Columbia’s was the first in Canada, being created by legislation in 2013. To date, only two provinces, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, have followed suit, though others are considering it.

The purpose of the advocate’s office, which has a staff of 17, is to look at systemic issues that impact seniors and make recommendations to government. 

“The five areas that we look at are transportation, housing, health care, income supports and community services that are geared around older people,” said Levitt. While the office has no authority to force governments to take steps, Levitt said his predecessor, Mackenzie, has recommended many proposals that have found favour with those in power. Not all recommendations will be adopted, he said, but “it usually helps to move the needle in a direction.”

“There isn’t that power, if you will, to say, ‘This must happen.’ But, many times, the recommendations are ones that are introduced and taken forward because they are the right things to do,” said Levitt, noting that his predecessor initiated a great range of measures that the government has taken up. 

“Isobel and the office have been real pioneers in shedding lights on challenges and opportunities with an aging population,” he said. “That’s the purpose of these independent offices. They can reflect, in this case, what matters most to seniors, what are their concerns, and then move that agenda forward in helping to influence public policy.”

The position is nonpartisan and independent from government. 

“In the recruitment process, no political official was involved,” said Levitt. 

Levitt is not the first in his family to work in the senior care field. His father, Ken Levitt, was a longtime administrator of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, during a time of significant expansion, including the development of the Weinberg Residence. The elder Levitt is now, among other things, past president of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver. 

“I am following in his footsteps, for sure,” said the son. “And I think I am honouring, as he did, our parents by ensuring the health and well-being of older adults.”

As his new position requires he hold no outside affiliations, Levitt recently resigned from roles on the boards of directors of CommonAge, which advances the interests of older adults in the 53 Commonwealth countries, and the International Federation on Ageing. He has also given up adjunct professorships in gerontology at Simon Fraser University and in the school of nursing at the University of British Columbia, and a sessional instructor position at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Levitt’s undergrad degree in psychology is from UBC and he graduated from the University of North Texas, Centre for Studies in Aging, with a master of science.

“I need to dedicate 110% of my working time to this role,” he said of giving up his other gigs, which included speaking engagements worldwide on topics of aging and extensive public commentary on related subjects. 

The vetting process for the seniors advocate position was a lengthy one – and Levitt compares getting the final word on his selection with the feeling of elation he gets when he places well in his avocation of competitive running.

“Probably like anybody else who’s been through a job search like this, when you get that nod, it feels pretty good,” he said. “I am a competitive runner in my age category and, when I place well in a race, you are elated. So, when I got the message, I was pinching myself, making sure I heard what I thought I heard. You feel this elation. Soon this wears off and you start realizing the responsibility, start realizing what this means now, and people are depending on you to make their lives better.”

Caring for seniors also means helping the people in their lives, he said.

“It’s not just the older people that we’re trying to support, who are directly impacted, but it’s their family members,” said Levitt. 

Although he is not yet in the job – he’ll have to move to Victoria, coming home to Vancouver on weekends – he already has the first few months scoped out.

“I’m going to be doing a tour around the province of BC [meeting with seniors],” he said. “I’ll be asking them questions around what are those policies that help or hinder them in those five areas of transportation, housing, health care, income supports and community supports. We’ll be looking at those issues, listening to them, then we’ll come back to the office, synthesize the information and then we will release a report on what we found. That report will give us a mandate of what the biggest concerns are that seniors have and we’ll make recommendations to the government on how we can improve different aspects of seniors’ lives.”

In the statement announcing Levitt’s appointment, his predecessor had kind words for him.

“It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as seniors advocate for the Province of BC,” said Mackenzie. “Our population is aging and seniors need the ability to live independently at home, knowing the programs and services to support them are easily accessible to everyone. As issues such as dementia, housing and elder care become more complex, it’s crucial to advocate for strengthened seniors services throughout the province. I know Dan is ready to continue the cause and his efforts will make a difference in the lives of seniors for years to come.”

“I have big shoes to fill,” said Levitt, “because Isobel Mackenzie has done a phenomenal job starting the Office of the Seniors Advocate and really setting a very high bar, really pushing forward the agenda of older people, shining a light on some of the inequities and some of the systemic issues that impact older people and making recommendations that have stuck and changed just about every aspect of life for seniors.”

Levitt has spoken out on issues in the past, weighing in, for example, on the controversy around Lisa LaFlamme, whose firing as CTV National News anchor was blamed on sexism and ageism, and in challenging the ageism of birthday cards. While he will be taking on systemic issues on the larger stage of provincial policy, he urges individuals to speak up against ageism in everyday life and to celebrate aging.

Be aware of even subtle language that debases older people and their experiences, he advises.

“Don’t use the language that demonizes or goes into the negative stereotypes we often will see,” he said. “For example, ‘I’m having a senior moment.’ No one who is young says they’re having a junior moment.”

He encourages everyone to reject negative connotations around aging.

“Embrace your own age,” he said. “Embrace who you are and enjoy those birthdays and celebrate them and celebrate getting older. Don’t hide your age.” 

Tikva campaign to start

The most vulnerable members of the Jewish community are struggling. The lack of affordable housing and a persistent high inflation rate are causing individuals and families to exhaust their income, which can lead to homelessness. The reality poses a major crisis that affects more than 350 people in the Jewish community who need a safe, secure and affordable home. 

photo - Anat Gogo, executive director at Tikva Housing
Anat Gogo, executive director at Tikva Housing. (photo from Tikva Housing)

The Jewish community witnessed Tikva Housing’s significant growth in 2023, as the organization’s portfolio grew from 98 to 168 units. Also, in keeping with its mission, it increased the monthly maximum rent subsidies available for families, couples and individuals in an effort to reduce the effects of market rental increases. But such hopeful news is overshadowed by growing demand. Vancouver’s vacancy rate is below 0.9%, and, as an example, two-bedroom rents grew by 8.6% on average. Substantial increases in rents of units at turnover drove this growth, and the outlook is not encouraging. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported: “Affordability worsened for low-income households: vacancy rates for the most affordable units were lower than average, and these households already spend a greater share of their income on rent.”

“In the last three years, we saw an increase of 458% in people registered with the Jewish Housing Registry,” said Anat Gogo, executive director at Tikva Housing.

The Jewish Housing Registry (JHR) was launched in 2020 to provide affordable-housing seekers with a convenient point of application. It also serves housing providers with demographic information, therefore, a studied approach to future housing developments and partnerships.

“Today, we know that, among those over 350 individuals and families waitlisted, 84 are families with children, 72 are applicants with disabilities, and 129 are seniors over 65 years old,” said Gogo.

Housing is a human right, and we all have a role in ensuring that more people have the dignity and safety of an affordable home. From Feb. 26 to March 11, support Tikva Housing’s annual fundraising campaign. Visit tikvahousing.org. 

– Courtesy Tikva Housing

L’Chaim program grows

L’Chaim Adult Day Centre is now open five days a week. (photo from L’Chaim)

L’Chaim Adult Day Centre has received funding from Vancouver Coastal Health to expand its program. It can now offer its services to frail senior citizens in the community on a five-day-a-week, 16-clients-per-day basis.

L’Chaim first opened its doors on Sept. 14, 1985, in the Maccabee Room of Beth Israel Synagogue. At first, L’Chaim operated only one day a week and was run completely by volunteers. A project of the National Council of Jewish Women and the Jewish Family Services Agency, it was able to secure funding from the Jewish Community Fund and Council, as well as NCJW.

Soon afterward, a committee was formed to secure funding from the BC Ministry of Health, which allowed the program to operate two days a week. Ten years later, L’Chaim moved to the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, thanks to a $400,000 grant from the BC government, which enabled the JCC to renovate the premises to meet L’Chaim’s needs. On April 1, 1996, L’Chaim opened at the JCC and, since then, it has been operating three days a week, serving 13 clients a day.

As the Jewish population has grown and aged, the number of clients seeking L’Chaim’s services has increased. Unlike other adult day centres in Vancouver, L’Chaim has a cultural mandate to accommodate Jewish seniors who live outside Vancouver’s geographical boundaries, but prefer to frequent L’Chaim precisely because of the Jewish component of its activities. This has not precluded the intake of seniors in the area who, though not themselves Jewish, want to attend L’Chaim because of its cultural programming and level of care, but demand has been greater than L’Chaim can service and the wait list and wait times are long.

With the recent expansion, under the supervision of L’Chaim’s trained activity specialists, more participants will be able to benefit from the variety of programs offered, including exercise sessions, discussion groups, live entertainment, expressive art and garden therapy, games, and day trips into the community. Participants receive a culturally and nutritionally appropriate meal prepared fresh daily, consisting of a three-course kosher lunch tailored to their dietary needs. As well, L’Chaim has a nurse on the premises who supervises medications, monitors participants’ health status and other aspects. Of course, Shabbat and Jewish holidays are occasions for special celebrations, often in conjunction with other stakeholders and programs at the JCC.

 “Old age,” as Tennyson wrote, “hath yet his honour and his toil,” and the longer people can stay at home surrounded by loved ones and visit those places that have become familiar, the better off we all are. L’Chaim is honoured that it can provide care and comfort to the frail elderly and thereby offer support to their relatives and caregivers. Anyone who goes by the JCC will see that it is a hub of activity and being located within its walls makes L’Chaim all the more vibrant. Relatives can drop off their loved ones and take advantage of JCC activities; L’Chaim clients can see people they know who drop by the office.

Now that L’Chaim has obtained funding to expand its services, it looks forward to growing from strength to strength, and this will require time and money. Fortunately, L’Chaim has an active board of committed individuals, as well as day-to-day onsite volunteers, who aid its director, Leah Deslauriers.

Deslauriers was hired by the JCC as the seniors program coordinator shortly after she graduated from the gerontology program at Simon Fraser University. In 2008, she started overseeing L’Chaim, when their administrator went on vacation, and she left her position at the JCC and became the director of L’Chaim in 2017. The position includes intake, fundraising and strategic planning, and it is in large part due to her accomplishments that L’Chaim now embarks on the next stage in its development.

L’Chaim benefits from the financial support of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, several Jewish foundations, and the donations, large and small, of many friends and supporters. To all of them, L’Chaim is grateful. 

To see if you or your loved one is eligible for L’Chaim’s services, contact the home and community care office in your local health authority or get in touch with Deslauriers by calling 604-638-7275. 

– Courtesy L’Chaim Adult Day Centre

Exploring past, present

During Hillel BC’s Holocaust Education Week, Drs. Gene Homel (pictured above) and Rachel Mines offered Unheard Echoes, a program on Jews in Lithuania. (photo by A. Jaugelis)

Unheard Echoes, a program on Jews in Lithuania, was held Jan. 29 during Hillel BC’s Holocaust Education Week on the University of British Columbia campus. Dr. Gene Homel, an historian, and Dr. Rachel Mines, a Yiddishist and English instructor, spoke about the past and present experiences of Litvaks, Jews with roots in the region of Lithuania.

Homel began by introducing Lithuania, a liberal democracy in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union, currently in the news because of possible threats from Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He explained that Jews have been a key, productive part of Lithuania since at least the early 1300s, when they were invited by nobility to settle in these territories and were granted a charter to run their own affairs in their own communities. By the 1700s, the largest Jewish population in Europe was in what was then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, occupying much of Eastern Europe. The partition of Poland in the late 1700s absorbed the region into imperial Russia.

Vilnius, now Lithuania’s capital but then in the Russian empire, was known as “the Jerusalem of the North” for its role as a world-renowned centre of Jewish learning, culture and publishing. However, poverty and Russian conscription motivated many Jews to emigrate in the early 20th century to North America,  South Africa and elsewhere.

In 1918, with the First World War winding down, Jews joined the successful push for an independent Lithuanian state. While the restored Polish state, which now included Vilnius, slid into enhanced antisemitism in the 1930s, the much smaller Lithuanian state avoided pogroms and other extreme manifestations of antisemitism. Lithuanian Jews and Christians lived side by side in relative peace.

The 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and the communist Soviet Union divided Eastern Europe between the two tyrannies, and the Soviets forcibly annexed and Sovietized Lithuania and the other two formerly independent Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia. Mass deportations of Baltic peoples to Soviet Siberia included many Jews, who comprised an estimated 7% of Lithuania’s population but 10% of the deportees.

Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Baltics and the Soviet Union in mid-1941 initiated the Holocaust in Lithuania. Of the 220,000 to 250,000 Jews there, 95% were murdered, most in the early stages of Nazi occupation and control.

Lithuanian historians and researchers agree that, while most Lithuanians were passive bystanders, some thousands (the exact number is unknown) were (by degrees) active collaborators with the Nazis. Homel pointed out that collaborators were active in almost all other European countries, and there were some Lithuanians, such as Catholic clerics, who served as rescuers of their Jewish neighbours. More than 900 Lithuanians have been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations, and there were doubtless many more.

In 1944, the Soviets returned to the Baltics, robbing Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia of their independence, and costing many people their freedoms and their lives. Decades later, the fall of Soviet Communism – Lithuania was the first Soviet republic to declare its independence in 1990 – led to a revival of Jewish culture and institutions, as the Soviet Union had not only suppressed religious and cultural expression but denied or downplayed the Jewish Holocaust in the areas it controlled.

Homel discussed a particularly sensitive issue in Lithuania’s history of wartime Nazi occupation, since there was some overlap between those who were both anti-Soviet partisans from 1944 to the early 1950s (thus nationalist heroes) and Nazi collaborators. Recent published research on Lithuanian collaboration in the Holocaust has caused a stir of controversy, raising the problems of a competing sense of victimhood and of definitions of genocide. This can be seen as a sort of zero-sum game.  Collaboration has been a contested issue in other countries’ histories, of course, for example France and, notably, Poland.

That said, the Lithuanian government has accomplished much by way of justice since the restoration of independence. Shortly after that time, in May 1990, the government issued a declaration condemning “without reservation the genocide perpetrated in Lithuania against the Jewish nation … and notes with sorrow that among the executioners who served the occupiers there were also citizens of Lithuania.” The declaration also stated that there would be no toleration for any expressions of antisemitism, and that all bodies of government and citizens should “create the most favourable conditions for the Jews of Lithuania….”

Four years later, the government created the annual Sept. 23 National Memorial Day for the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews. Commemorations are held in schools and other public and governmental institutions. The prime minister recently joined a march to Paneriai, a site of mass murder of Jews and non-Jews during the Nazi occupation. The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum includes five sites, one being the “Green House” Holocaust museum. In 2011, Lithuania committed to pay 37 million Euros over a decade in compensation for Jewish communal property seized during the mid-20th century, and recently the government passed a bill to transfer another 37 million euros. Rescuers have been honoured in the country, as well as by Israel’s Yad Vashem. International teams of archeologists are working on a project to recover Vilnius’s historic Great Synagogue, which was utterly destroyed by the Soviets in the 1950s.

Mines followed Homel’s presentation with a more personal view of Lithuania, based on her reconnection with her Litvak roots, and her experiences with the non-Jewish Lithuanian community both in Lithuania and in British Columbia. She detailed her father’s family life in Skuodas, a lively and thriving town near the Latvian border, which, prewar, had many Jewish-owned enterprises. His relatives once owned a productive boot and shoe factory in town. In 1936, her father, Sender, moved to Kaunas, then capital of Lithuania, and married. In 1941, Sender and his family were imprisoned in the Kaunas ghetto. That winter, Sender was deported to Latvia and forced into slave labour in several Nazi ghettos and concentration camps. As a survivor, he emigrated to Canada in the early 1950s, where he remarried and started a second family.

photo - Dr. Rachel Mines presented a more personal view of Lithuania, based on her reconnection with her Litvak roots, and her experiences with the non-Jewish Lithuanian community both in Lithuania and in British Columbia
Dr. Rachel Mines presented a more personal view of Lithuania, based on her reconnection with her Litvak roots, and her experiences with the non-Jewish Lithuanian community both in Lithuania and in British Columbia. (photo by A. Jaugelis)

Mines and Homel have visited Lithuania a number of times in the last 16 years or so, including a Yiddish summer program at Vilnius University. They found a warm, welcoming reception in Skuodas, where the local museum featured a display on the town’s Jewish population, including Mines’s father. Locals took them to sites of interest, including the Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorials, which date back many decades, to when the country was still under Soviet occupation. In 2015, Mines was invited to Skuodas to address high school students and adults during that year’s commemoration of the Holocaust in Lithuania. As she learned more about her father’s origins, Mines created a bilingual website on the town, shtetlshkud.com, as a genealogical and historical resource.

Both Mines and Homel are members of the board of directors of the Lithuanian Community of British Columbia (LCBC), which welcomes Litvaks and acknowledges the Jewish contribution to Lithuanian history and culture. The last two years, the LCBC has commemorated Lithuania’s National Memorial Day for the Genocide of Lithuanian Jews, first at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture and then at the Italian Cultural Centre. LCBC’s website is lithuaniansofbc.com. 

– Courtesy Gene Homel

A need to shift thinking

New approaches for getting younger generations to engage in communal Jewish life were put forward by Rabbi Mike Uram, the first-ever chief Jewish learning officer for Jewish Federations of North America, in a Zoom talk organized by Kolot Mayim Reform Temple in Victoria on Feb. 4.

Uram admitted he does not have a magic answer to the problem that has been confounding leaders of Jewish institutions for several years. Instead, he regards himself as a “provocateur” who stimulates novel thinking and a sense of possibility.

photo - Rabbi Mike Uram urges organizations to create new entry points and ways for Jews to connect with Jewish life
Rabbi Mike Uram urges organizations to create new entry points and ways for Jews to connect with Jewish life. (photo from Kolot Mayim)

He started by addressing Jewish communities and Jewish institutions, saying they no longer exist as they have in the past. He suggested that there is no longer the same power of gatekeeping and that the concept of who is a Jew has become more fluid. What may be seen as a community – through a synagogue, federation, university campus or geographic area – is, according to Uram, more accurately described as a network. 

“There’s something imprecise about the language, and that imprecision leads to imprecise strategies,” he said, adding that this view is more aligned with an operating system that was in place several decades ago. “And the operating system, which was perfectly aligned with the North American Jewish population in the 1950s and 1960s, is now almost perpendicular with the ways that North American people and Jews access almost everything else in their lives.”

Using television viewing patterns as an example, Uram demonstrated a shift from “macro-communities to micro-communities.” That is, in the 1950s, close to three-quarters of the American public watched an episode of the hit show I Love Lucy at the same time. Today, a successful show might obtain a viewership in single-digit percentages. 

A similar pattern can be identified in Jewish circles, if one were to observe the steep decline in the numbers of Jews affiliated with a synagogue today as opposed to the 1960s, he said. The drop is not singular to Jewish groups; a corresponding fall in institutional engagement has occurred across a range of civic and political organizations.

More broadly, people are spending less time out of the house and have fewer friends than in previous generations. As well, with social media and streaming services’ algorithms, people are now living more in “customized little bubbles.” To solve this dilemma, Uram proposed a change in the language and thinking used by institutions to bring the unaffiliated into their realm. 

“When we say us and them, we’re thinking we’re the core, they’re the periphery. We’re involved, they’re uninvolved. We’re affiliated, they’re unaffiliated. The problem with that thinking is [that] it is measuring Jewish identity on a very linear and highly judgmental spectrum,” Uram said.

The challenge, too, with this institutional mindset, he argued, is that people do not wake up each day thinking they are an uninvolved or unaffiliated Jew and wondering how they can become more involved or affiliated. In fact, he said, many have a negative stereotype of organizational Judaism, as a place they feel judged and like an outsider.

Nonetheless, Jews not participating in institutional Jewish life are no less proud of being Jewish.

“They don’t feel broken,” Uram said. “They don’t feel like they need a synagogue or a federation to fix them. What has changed in American life is that, as affiliation rates have gone down, positive Jewish feelings have actually gone up.” Many Jews are interested in Judaism but not affiliation, he said. Hence, rather than focusing on programming and marketing, institutions should concentrate on building relationships, he said.

While emphasizing that he is not disparaging affiliation, Uram urges organizations to create new entry points and ways for Jews to connect with Jewish life.

“It’s a one-on-one conversation, and it’s more like community organizing than it is like traditional programming,” he said, noting that the organized Jewish community can often function like a taxicab in the age of ride-hailing companies or network television when there are streaming services.

“We’re not in the business of preserving network television,” he said. “We’re in the business of changing people’s lives with amazing shows. So, we should be doing anything we can do to get people to interact with the magic and the power and the wisdom of Jewish values.”

Another issue within a community is infrastructure, such as buildings, staff and program calendars, said Uram. Here, he advocates a change in philosophical approach, focusing on impact over affiliation.

“Spending a little bit more time talking about how we’re going to make a difference in people’s lives, rather than how they can help us keep the organization strong, will trickle down and change the way emails are written, the way the website looks, the way people are greeted,” he said.

Towards the end of his talk, Uram threw some questions out to institutions, asking if they were in the synagogue preservation business, the program planning business, the membership business or the transforming people’s lives business.

“My guess is they do not say that our mission is to make sure that the next generation of Jews joins. It probably says that they’re going to engage in Judaism in a way that transforms them and the world, that makes them feel closer to community and that helps them live more enriched lives, and all those things,” Uram said.

If organizations are to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities offered in the future, they must understand the perspectives of the next generation, he said. Millennials, he added, bring with them their own insights and values that can “guide the future of Judaism in exciting ways.”

Uram is a former executive director of Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of the 2016 book Next Generation Judaism: How College Students and Hillel Can Help Reinvent Jewish Organizations, which received a National Jewish Book Award. He was speaking as part of Kolot Mayim’s 2023/24 Building Bridges Speaker Series. On March 3, Rabbi Dr. Nachshon Siritsky, spiritual leader of the Reform Jewish Community of Atlantic Canada, will talk on the topic Our Evolving Jewish Understanding of G!d and Gender. To register, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com. 

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

Supporting one another

On Jan. 22, Jewish Seniors Alliance, as part of its Empowerment Series, presented a lecture by Dr. Honoré France. An educator, artist, writer, therapist and consultant in the field of mental health, France explored the early history of seniors peer support, which is based on the concept of seniors helping seniors. 

Grace Hann, trainer and supervisor of Senior Peer Support Services at JSA, co-hosted the Zoom event with Andrea Krombein of South Vancouver Seniors Network, which co-sponsored it. About 60 seniors participated. Gyda Chud, past president of JSA, welcomed everyone.

In her introduction of France, Hann said she uses his writings in the JSA’s peer-support training program. She noted that France has presented his ideas on training in many countries and has been involved with peer support since the late 1970s, when he moved to Victoria. He was influenced by the works of Viktor Frankl, as well as work done in a hospital in Paris, where a doctor and a former patient began a program to help patients by using recovered patients as volunteers. Much research has been done in this area, she said, and it has been shown that paraprofessionals can be as effective as therapists.

France has written a book on peer counseling and peer support. As well, he said, Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning and Erik Erikson’s eight stages of life (of psychosocial development) are still being used by therapists. Communication and listening skills are of prime importance in peer counseling, he said, and Hann pointed out that silence, as well as mirroring back what the client has said, are useful in opening communication and forming a bond between the volunteer counselor and the senior. Two volunteers, Marie and David Kirkpatrick, said they had learned from the training provided by Hann and Charles Leibovitch, senior peer support services coordinator with JSA, and through contact with clients.

France also discussed some of the myths about aging. For example, we are just as mentally fit at age 80 as at age 20, he said, but our reaction times are slower. To keep healthy, we need to exercise both the body and the mind, he said.

Chud thanked France for his comments and his work, noting how effective it has been in JSA’s peer support training program. Comments and questions included Margot Beauchamp on the connection between isolation, loneliness and general health, and Larry Shapiro said volunteering should be first on any list of things seniors should be doing.

A new training session for peer support will begin on March 1 and those interested should contact the JSA office. The next Empowerment program will take place in March, with the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia. More details will soon be available at jsalliance.org. 

Shanie Levin is a Jewish Seniors Alliance Life Governor. She is also on the editorial committee of Senior Line magazine.

Community milestones … Jewish Medical Association, Freilich & Karasick

Left to right: Drs. Larry Barzelai, Ran Goldman, Mor Cohen-Eilig, Marla Gordon and Maya Rosenkrantz. (photo from Dr. Marla Gordon)

The Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia held its inaugural event Monday evening, Feb. 12, at Schara Tzedeck Synagogue, with 100 attendees in person and 20 via Zoom. Three speakers presented and all were inspiring, relaying hopeful words, with the broad message being to unite and stand together.

Dr. Dynai Eilig, an Israeli-born and -trained orthopedic surgeon who works and lives in Vancouver, traveled to Israel on Oct. 9 to work in Soroka Medical Centre’s trauma centre. He shared heartbreaking stories, but also stories of resiliency. He spoke about the 150,000 reservist army volunteers from outside Israel who came in the early days after Oct. 7.

photo - Dr. Dynai Eilig presenting at the inaugural event Feb. 12. (photo from Dr. Marla
Dr. Dynai Eilig presenting at the inaugural event Feb. 12. (photo from Dr. Marla Gordon)

Dr. Robert Krell, a retired child psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, explained the correlation between the rise of antisemitism now and that in Europe in the 1930s. He said Holocaust education is needed in all universities and all faculties and that medical and other educators must not resign from their teaching posts.

Dr. Yael Glassberg, an Israel-based pediatric gastroenterologist, joined via Zoom. She spoke on the child hostages who were released and her assessment and involvement with these children.

Planning for the JMA community-building event took place over a two-month period, led by pediatric emergency room physician Dr. Ran Goldman and elder-care physician Dr. Marla Gordon.

The Jewish Medical Association of British Columbia was started by Gordon and family physician Dr. Larry Barzelai in November 2023 as an attempt to get Jewish physicians together to support one another, especially in the current situation of increased antisemitism. The group has almost 300 members.

– Courtesy Dr. Marla Gordon

***

photo - Eric Freilich
Eric Freilich

Eric Freilich was recently promoted to director of legal, private equity and M&A (mergers and acquisitions) at BMS Group and heads the Canadian legal team for the multinational insurance broker.

Eric grew up in Vancouver and is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, where he was a proud and active member of Hillel and of the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi. Following graduation from UBC, Eric moved to Toronto to work in the film industry. He then went back to school and received his doctor of law and a master of business administration from York University. He worked at two prominent Toronto law firms prior to going in-house, focusing on corporate/commercial work and mergers and acquisitions.

Eric has recently found his way back into academia, contributing to teaching courses on mergers and acquisitions and risk management techniques in transactions at the Schulich School of Business.

Outside of work, Eric’s strongest sense of identity comes from being the best father and husband he can be.

***

Adeena Karasick and Ian Keteku are the inaugural winners of the League of Canadian Poets Spoken Word Award, which consists of two $1,000 awards, presented annually to two poets for a single poem or suite of poems up to 10 minutes in length.

Karasick won for the poem “Eicha,” featured in Aerotomania: The Book of Lumenations (bit.ly/aerotomania).

“Attuned to sound poetry’s domain, Adeena Karasick’s homophonic translation ‘Eicha: The Book of Lumenations’ unfolds as a dynamic interplay of acoustic and material expressions,” wrote LCP Spoken Word Award juror Eric Schmaltz. “Immersed in the intricacies of language’s auditory, textural and tonal dimensions, Karasick engages the original text, the Book of Lamentations, and brings it into dialogue with the multifaceted layers of our present. A simultaneous act of lamentation and ecstatic intertextual exploration, Karasick’s performance traverses sonic texture and electroacoustic manipulation to resound with a symphony of hope and sorrow.” 

Keteku was honoured for the triptych: “Mr. Tally Man,” “the space between” and “The Light.” LCP Spoken Word Award juror Andrea Thompson called him “a master of spoken word,” noting: “With impeccable comedic timing and understated affect, Keteku’s performances are a triumph of wordplay and musicality, driven by wisdom and humanity – alive as a heartbeat.”

For more about the League of Canadian Poets, visit poets.ca.

רילוקיישן לקנדה: מידע מעודכן לישראלים בימים קשים אלה

מרכז הקהילה היהודית והישראלית נמצא בטורונטו שהיא העיר הגדולה ביותר בקנדה
צילום Fabian Roudra Baroi

קנדה היא אחת מהמדינות האטרקטיביות ביותר להגירה: מדינה מבוססת כלכלית, יפה, רגועה ועם תנאים סוציאליים נדיבים לתשוביה. עם זאת, רילוקיישן לקנדה כרוך בקשיים ואתגרים

 בשנים האחרונות הפכה קנדה לאחד מהיעדים הנחשקים ביותר להגירה עבור ישראלים. בניגוד למדינות רבות אחרות, המדינה הקנדית דווקא מעודדת הגירה לתחומה. בהתאם לכך, מדי שנה מהגרים אליה בין שלוש מאות אלף לחצי מיליון איש. לקנדה מערכת בריאות אוניברסלית מהטובות בעולם (בניגוד לשכנתה מהדרום ארצות הברית), חקיקה סוציאלית נרחבת, יציבות פוליטית וכלכלית, נופי טבע מדהימים ועוד. היא מדורגת במקום השלישי במדד המדינות שהכי טוב לחיות בהן (ולעומת זאת: ישראל מדורגת במקום הארבעים ושלושה בלבד)

עם זאת, ישנם מספר דברים שכדאי לקחת בחשבון לפני שעושים את הצעד המשמעותי  להגר. כמו: הגשת בקשות ההגירה לקנדה כרוכה בעמלות של אלפי שקלים, החורף קר להפליא ויכול להגיע גם עד למינוס חמש עשרה מעלות צלזיוס. וכן שקנדה קנדה רחוקה משראל מרחק של לכל הפחות עשר שעות טיסה (והטיסות לרוב יקרות), מה שמקשה על ישראלים המהגרים אליה להגיע לביקורים תכופים בארץ

קהילות יהודיות וישראליות בקנדה: מרכז הקהילה היהודית והישראלית נמצא בטורונטו שהיא העיר הגדולה ביותר בקנדה. זו עיר רב-תרבותית ותכולו למצוא בה קהילות מהגרים מכל העולם כולל ישראל כמובן

ממשלת קנדה הקימה פורטל המפרט את סוגי הויזות השונים וכן את ההליכים הנדרשים על מנת לקבל כל אחת מהן. הוויזות השכיחות ביותר הן: איחוד בני משפחות עם אחד מבני המשפחה יש כבר אזחרות קנדית. ויזת סטארט אפ – ניוד של חברת סטארט אפ לקנדה או הקמתה כאן (אשרת עבודה וכן שהייה קבועה). יש גם ויזת עבודה לבעלי מקצועות מבוקשים. קנדה מעודדת הגירה לאנשי מקצוע העובדים במקצועות מבוקשים עליהם נמנים בין היתר: סיעוד, הנדסה, תכנות, פיננסים ופיזיותרפיה

ויזת עבודה לעצמאים: חלק מהפרובינציות בקנדה מציעות תוכניות קליטת הגירה משלהן, כחלק מתהליך בחינת הויזה על המועדמים לעבור מבחנים בידיעת השפה האנגלית (או הצרפתית למי שמעוניין להגר לקוובק). יש לשים לב שתהליך הגשת בקשת הויזה כרוך בעמלות שיכולות להגיע גם לאלפי דולרים קנדיים. ממולץ להתייעץ עם סוכני הגירה כדי לוודא את העמידה בתנאים, תקינות מסמכים ועוד

איך מוצאים עבודה בקנדה: אחד מהיתרונות הגדולים הטמונים בהגירה לקנדה הוא העובדה שהיא מדינה דוברת אנגלית (אלא אם עוברים לקוויבק ששם השפה המדוברת היא צרפתית). לפני ששולחים קורות חיים באנגלית מומלץ לוודא עם דובר אנגלית שפת אם, שאין בתרגום שגיאות ושהמונחים המקצועיים המצוינים כתובים נכון. עוד מומלץ לפתוח/לעדכן פרופיל ברשת החברתית-עסקית לינקדין, הנחשפת למרכזית בהליכי חיפוש עבודה בקנדה. מומלץ גם להעלות לפרופיל שלכם בה פוסט המבשר על המעבר המתוכנן ועל חיפוש עבודה מתאימה. מומלץ עוד לחפש ישראלים בלינקדין מתחום העיסוק הרלוונטי שגרים בעיר אליה מתכננים לעבור ולנסות להיעזר בהם

מערכת הבריאות הקנדית נחשבת לאחת מהטובות בעולם ומדורגת באופן קבוע בעשירון העליון בדירוגים שונים, כולל של ארגון הבריאות הנילאומי. בניגוד לשכנתה ארצות הברית ובדומה לרוב מדינות אירופה, בקנדה קיימת מערכת בריאות אוניברסלית הנגישה לכולם, ובנוייה על תשלום מס בריאות. כמו בישראל, ניתן להוסיף לכף ביטוח רפואי פרטי, שבכוחו להגדיל את הכיסוי, לקצר זמני המתנה לרופאים מומחים ועוד. ישנם מקומות עבודה המספקים ביטוח רפואי פרטי כהטבה לעובדיהם. כל הפרטים הללו רלוונטיים לאזרחים קנדיים. אם עדיין לא קיבלתם אזרחות של המדינה – מומלץ להצטייד בביטוח רפואי פרטי

Robinson out of cabinet

Screenshot of the Jan. 30 B’nai Brith Canada panel discussion during which Selina Robinson spoke her controversial words.

Selina Robinson, who has called herself “the Jew in the crew” that is British Columbia’s cabinet, is out. The minister of advanced education and future skills resigned Monday after a torrent of protest following comments she made last week during a B’nai Brith Canada online panel discussion, in which she referred to the area that would become Israel as “a crappy piece of land.” 

Premier David Eby announced Robinson’s departure from cabinet, saying her comments were “belittling and demeaning.”

“The depth of work she needs to do is substantial,” said Eby. “What has become apparent is the scope of work, the depth of the hurt. As a result, we came to the conclusion together – she needed to step back.”

The announcement came after protesters threatened to disrupt New Democratic Party events, forcing the cancelation of a major fundraising gala Sunday night and a government news conference Monday. A network of Muslim societies issued a statement over the weekend that no NDP MLAs or candidates would be permitted in their sacred spaces until Robinson was removed from cabinet.

Robinson will not run for reelection as member of the Legislative Assembly for Coquitlam-Maillardville, a decision she says she made earlier.

Response from Jewish community leaders was fast and critical.

“The removal of MLA Robinson, who apologized for her comments and promised to do better, sends a chilling message that Jewish leaders are held to a different standard than non-Jewish ones,” said Nico Slobinsky, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ vice-president for the Pacific region, in a statement. “In the past, when BC NDP politicians and staff have made antisemitic comments, the Jewish community has been asked to accept their apologies and – on every occasion – we have. As a show of goodwill, we never publicly demanded their resignations and, instead, placed our trust and faith in the premier and the BC government when he said that his team would learn from the incidents and not repeat their egregious errors.

“When, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day – a day to commemorate the six million Jews slaughtered in the Second World War – one of Premier Eby’s staff tweeted that ‘we stand with the Muslim community,’ we were asked to accept that stunning gaffe as a mistake. And we did.

“We were also asked to work with a Parliamentary Secretary for Anti-Racism Initiatives who made remarks that were deeply hurtful to our community,” Slobinsky said. “And, despite her repeated offensive actions, she continues to remain in her role.”

This reference to Vancouver-Kensington MLA Mable Elmore alludes to a history of problematic remarks, from claiming before her election that her union was dominated by “Zionist bus drivers” to more recently using a speech in the legislature ostensibly about transgender rights to call for Israel to end the war with Hamas. 

Slobinsky added: “Today, as the Jewish community in BC is confronted by an alarming increase in antisemitism and by frequent pro-Hamas protests calling for the Jews of Israel to be eradicated, the loss of MLA Robinson is especially distressing, as we no longer have our strongest advocate – who understands the challenges and sensitivities of the Jewish community – at the table.

“The community is both offended and hurt by what has happened to a great ally and British Columbian, and it has seriously undermined the confidence of the Jewish community in the Government of British Columbia. Given this obvious double standard and loss of Jewish representation in cabinet, Premier David Eby must share what steps he is going to take to repair the relationship and restore the community’s trust in him and his government.”

“Facing an unprecedented increase in hate, the Jewish community in BC is hurting,” Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, said in a statement. “The level of online vitriol aimed at Selina Robinson leading up to her resignation – which mirrors the reality faced by much of the Jewish community since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks committed by Hamas – shows worrying trends in our public discourse. We are saddened to have lost one of the strongest advocates fighting against antisemitism from within cabinet – especially at a time when it is needed most.

“It is shameful that Premier David Eby has bowed to pressure from a loud minority whose campaign to discredit MLA Robinson was centred in anti-Jewish bias and lacked the offer of grace they demand when others falter.

“We need stronger leadership from this government to bring our communities together – not divide us,” said Shanken.

The Rabbinical Association of Vancouver sent a letter to the premier, signed by nine rabbis, expressing disappointment.

“We believe you have capitulated to a small but loud group of people,” the letter read. “Now it feels like you have given in to bullies for political expediency. We will remember this day the next time you ask for our trust and support.”

At least one voice in the Jewish community was pleased with Eby’s decision. “The decision to remove former MP [sic] Selina Robinson from office is a crucial win for organizers including IJV-Vancouver and our allies, who stood firm and united against anti-Palestinian racism,” tweeted Independent Jewish Voices. “The rhetoric we all heard was shameful. Thank you to all who helped hold BC accountable.”

B’nai Brith Canada told the Independent they are grateful for the work that Robinson undertook to combat antisemitism on BC’s post-secondary campuses as minister. 

“It is unfortunate that comments she made last week have resulted in her feeling compelled to step down from her ministerial position,” Richard Robertson, director of research and advocacy for B’nai Brith Canada, said in an email. “We believe her apology was sincere and that MLA Robinson will work to regain the confidence of the constituents who were offended by her remarks.” 

“B’nai Brith Canada believes that this incident underscores the need for the province to take further steps to combat racism and hatred,” said Robertson. “One such step, amid rising levels of antisemitism, is for the BC government to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism.” 

United in grief and resilience

Bassem Eid, right,  addresses those who gathered Feb. 4 for the event United, as fellow speakers Virág Gulyás, left, and Yuval David listen. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Yuval David knew 32 people who were murdered on Oct. 7. Among them were 10 friends who gathered to celebrate a birthday and headed to the Nova music festival. 

“All 10 …” he said, struggling to maintain his composure. “Not one made it out of that celebration.”

David was speaking Sunday night at United, one of the largest community gatherings since the events of Oct. 7 and probably since before the pandemic. About 800 people gathered at Temple Sholom, where three diverse speakers brought their perspectives to an audience of Jews and non-Jewish allies.

The Feb. 4 afternoon event was the brainchild of Megan Laskin, a community leader who organized a similar event last November geared to women, who were asked to bring their non-Jewish friends; hundreds attended. Sunday’s gathering was presented by Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Jewish National Fund of Canada, StandWithUs and Temple Sholom. David, an American actor, filmmaker and activist, who is gay, was joined by Palestinian advocate and media commentator Bassem Eid, and Virág Gulyás, a Hungarian-born former diplomat who grew up with what she described as typical antisemitic stereotypes and has become a leading voice for the Jewish people and Israel. The audience alternated from rapt silence to thunderous ovations. 

Since Oct. 7, David has been thinking about his grandparents, Holocaust survivors who saved others in the camps. His grandfather was known as the “Magic Man” for somehow obtaining desperately necessary medications and helping others out of life-threatening scenarios. 

“When I was a little child in Israel, I couldn’t walk more than a few steps with them in public without somebody rushing up not only to them but to me, to say, ‘Do you know who your grandfather is? Do you know who your grandmother is?’ And they would lean down to me and they would say, ‘If it wasn’t for what your grandparents did, I would not be here today,’” he said. “As a little child, holding their hand, walking in the street, I knew that I was walking with heroes. I knew that I was walking in the footsteps that I must walk someday.”

His grandparents instilled chutzpah in him, he said, for precisely this moment in history.

“I was raised to understand what it means to have chutzpah because I was raised to understand what it means to not have chutzpah,” he said. “I was raised to understand what ‘never again’ actually means.”

His worldview and his Zionism were reframed by Oct. 7, he said.

“But it was also reframed by Oct. 8,” he said, referring to global reaction to the events of the day before. Not only did he lose friends on Oct. 7 and others who have died in battle during the war, but another friend, who survived the Nova festival, recently committed suicide because she could not live with the memories. Closer to home, in a different way, he says he has lost most of his friends in the United States.

“I also lost two-thirds of my friends in my life in America who revealed themselves,” he said. “Revealed that they were not my true friends, revealed that even though they came to my Shabbat dinners and they came to my film screenings and they were plus-ones at fabulous events, especially if they were gift bags … crickets. Where are they?”

Some even sent him photographs of themselves protesting against Israel.

“These aren’t pro-Palestinian marches,” he said. “Whoever calls them pro-Palestinian marches is a liar. These are pro-Hamas, pro-terrorism, anti-Palestinian, anti-Jewish and anti-democratic events, he said.

“I used to be woke,” he said of his years as a progressive activist. “Now I’m awake.” He calls his former allies who condemn Israel and side with Hamas “fauxgressives.” 

“If you are going to be ‘pro,’” he said, “then do something good for the people. If you are pro-Palestinian, help create businesses, help create schools, help refugees – do something that helps somebody’s life. But, if all of your fake ‘pro’ activity is to be ‘anti,’ is attacking, is subjugating, is belittling, then you are a racist bigot. Shame. We must name and shame.”

Gulyás is an academic and former European Union diplomat who devotes much of her time contesting anti-Israel and antisemitic narratives. She spoke of how she confronted the anti-Jewish biases she was raised with in Hungary. She noted that anti-Israel street eruptions began on Oct. 8, before Israel’s military had responded to the pogrom – worldwide, she said, activists were prepared.

“They had all the slogans, all the flyers, all the social media posts, all the hashtags ready,” she said. On the other hand, most Canadians and others in the West do not subscribe to the hatred and anti-Israel vehemence seen on the streets, yet remain silent.

Would large numbers of people have reacted as street activists and social media keyboard warriors have if any other sovereign country were invaded by terrorists with the intention to mass murder, she asked.

“Unless you’re a psychopath, you wouldn’t,” she said. “But, somehow, when it comes to Jews and Israel, we remain silent, we look at the other side and with this we normalize Jew-hatred.”

Eid is a rare Palestinian voice in international media against the defamation of Israel and the corruption and ideology of the Palestinian regimes. He shared a story of a friend who lives in the northern Gaza Strip, who told Eid that Hamas representatives knocked on his door at night. They told him they wanted to pay him $50 a month – a windfall – to build tunnels under his home. Eid asked him how he replied to the request.

“He said, ‘My answer was, “Please try to build four tunnels and give me $200 a month,’” Eid recounted. This is how Hamas exploits the poverty of its people to meet its objectives, he said.

The high Palestinian death toll, Eid told the audience, is due partly to Hamas officers forcing civilians back into the homes and neighbourhoods the Israel Defence Forces has warned them to evacuate.

At the expense of millions of dollars in foreign aid, Hamas has built hundreds of kilometres of terror tunnels, he said. “But, in the meantime, Hamas didn’t build one shelter for their own people.”

When you ask Hamas why they don’t protect their people, Eid said, they reply that keeping Palestinians safe is the responsibility of the United Nations and the Israelis.

Eid blamed the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has recently been under fire for its employees’ involvement in terrorism, for holding Palestinians hostage for more than 75 years.

“Peace is possible between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” said Eid. “But it is impossible while Hamas is still ruling the Gaza Strip. This is the first thing that we should have to get rid of. The day after the war, the first thing is how to trash UNRWA from Gaza.”

Temple Sholom’s Rabbi Dan Moskovitz opened the event. Laskin, who conceived the event, spoke of the grief of this time.

“As the war goes on and more innocent lives are lost on both sides, it is hard,” she said. “But let me be clear. We can strongly support Israel and the Jewish people and also express sympathy for the innocent Palestinians who are suffering. They are not mutually exclusive. We are mourning for all innocent lives lost. You can take a side though, and that side is against Hamas.”