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freelancer

Good news on Alzheimer’s

For the last three years, I have been researching, interviewing and writing articles for Senior Line, the magazine published three times a year by Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver. In that capacity, I read everything I can about dementia,…

Between parent and child

When my father died in 2014, I was already familiar with the notion that mourning progresses in stages. These include denial, anger, grief, bargaining and, finally, acceptance, and they are widely recognized by the therapeutic professions. Two years after my…

Advance in treatment

photo - Dr. Mark Freedman, left, and Dr. Harold Atkins

Dr. Mark Freedman, left, and Dr. Harold Atkins. (photo from Ottawa Hospital) A Canadian research team led by Dr. Mark Freedman and Dr. Harold Atkins at Ottawa Hospital has managed to reverse severe multiple sclerosis (MS) using a patient’s own…

Cancer research breakthrough

photo - Assistant Professor Avi Schroeder of the Technion faculty of chemical engineering and the Technion Integrated Cancer Centre

Assistant Professor Avi Schroeder of the Technion faculty of chemical engineering and the Technion Integrated Cancer Centre. (photo by Ashernet) Technion researchers in Haifa have developed a new technology for determining the suitability of specific anticancer drugs to a specific…

Creeps is a Canadian classic

photo - Left to right, Aaron Roderick, Paul Beckett and Adam Grant Warren in Creeps, which is being mounted at the Cultch by Realwheels Theatre, Dec. 1-10

Left to right, Aaron Roderick, Paul Beckett and Adam Grant Warren in Creeps, which is being mounted at the Cultch by Realwheels Theatre, Dec. 1-10. (photo by Tim Matheson) David E. Freeman’s Creeps premièred in Toronto in 1971. Forty-five years…

What made your list?

photo - Robin Esrock contemplating ancient wonders in Turkey

Robin Esrock contemplating ancient wonders in Turkey. (photo by Paul Vance/EWM) Read about Robin Esrock’s visit to a fountain of youth in Colombia, his rail journey across Siberia, his diving lessons in Papua New Guinea. Esrock has traveled to more…

Threepenny in 2016

photo - Left to right: Ariel Martz-Oberlander (Dolly), Damon Jang (Walt Dreary), Katie Purych (Polly Peachum), Kevin Armstrong (Macheath), zi paris (Bob the Saw) and Adam Olgui (Street Singer)

Left to right: Ariel Martz-Oberlander (Dolly), Damon Jang (Walt Dreary), Katie Purych (Polly Peachum), Kevin Armstrong (Macheath), zi paris (Bob the Saw) and Adam Olgui (Street Singer). (photo by Colin Beiers) The Threepenny Opera “has a grassroots design to it…

We are all connected

photo - Kerry Sandomirsky as Alice, centre. In Long Division, the way in which Alice’s son reacts to bullying “connects all the characters in the play, and it makes my character deeply question herself,” explains Sandomirsky

Kerry Sandomirsky as Alice, centre. In Long Division, the way in which Alice’s son reacts to bullying “connects all the characters in the play, and it makes my character deeply question herself,” explains Sandomirsky. (photo by David Cooper) Math, movement,…

Keeping things simple

photo - “Overseas” by Ivor Levin

“Overseas” by Ivor Levin. (photo by Ivor Levin) Ivor Levin’s path to artistic photography was a long and gradual one. “Photography is my hobby,” he said in an interview with the Independent, but one couldn’t have guessed it from his…

Mixing of cultures, religions

photo - Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt, authors of JewAsian, will be at the Jewish Book Festival on Nov. 28

Helen Kim and Noah Leavitt, authors of JewAsian, will be at the Jewish Book Festival on Nov. 28. (photo by Matthew Zimmerman Banderas) The recently published book JewAsian: Race, Religion and Identity for America’s Newest Jews by Helen Kim and…

Campaign continues

“Let’s make it easy, not just to be Jewish, but to feel part of the community. We have to make it easy and we have to find ways of connecting,” Alex Cristall told the Jewish Independent in a recent phone…

Okanagan’s New Year

The Okanagan Jewish community celebrated the High Holidays with spiritual leaders Rabbi Larry Seidman and Rabbi Linda Seidman from California officiating at the services. The husband-wife team had prepared special pamphlets for everyone in the community to be able to…

What now, America?

Many of our readers survived the predations of fascism or communism; some endured both. It is probably safe to say these people do not take democracy for granted, as some of us who have been fortunate to live our entire…

The strength of family circle

There is a wise Jewish saying: “A little hurt from a kin is worse than a big hurt from a stranger.” (Zohar, Genesis 151b) Why is that? Strangers come and go in our lives. Some remain to become friends, others…

Theatre arts support

Langara College Foundation’s Langara Studio 58 Legacy Fund campaign reached and exceeded its original $250,000 goal, raising more than $273,000 in support of theatre arts at Langara. Most than 538 individual donors contributed to the success of the campaign, among…

Getting through menopause

photo - Harriet Berkal unveils the secrets of menopause. Berkal began the support group Menopause Matters after experiencing a lack of help when she went through that stage of life

Harriet Berkal unveils the secrets of menopause. Berkal began the support group Menopause Matters after experiencing a lack of help when she went through that stage of life. (photo by Manny Berkal-Sarbit) Medical advocate Harriet Berkal recalls eagerly anticipating going…

Making a life in Israel

photo - Emily Rose and Aviv Eisenstat in the Israel Defence Forces’ officer’s training school in 2008

Emily Rose and Aviv Eisenstat in the Israel Defence Forces’ officer’s training school in 2008. (photo from Emily Rose) When Emily Rose, 28, moved to Israel almost 10 years ago, her plan was to serve in the Israel Defence Forces…

Unique rabbinical road

photo - Sandra Lawson is studying at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Sandra Lawson is studying at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. (photo from Sandra Lawson) Sandra Lawson, an African-American lesbian who converted to Judaism after being raised in a secular home, is now studying to be a rabbi at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, in…

Feeling at home in Ecuador

photo - The Jewish Community Centre of Quito is a magnificent building containing two synagogues, its architecture reminiscent of Old Jerusalem

The Jewish Community Centre of Quito is a magnificent building containing two synagogues, its architecture reminiscent of Old Jerusalem. (photo by Lauren Kramer) It was Friday night in Quito, Ecuador, and, as dusk fell, my husband and I approached the…

Mystery photo … Nov. 11/16

photo - B’nai B’rith, 1960

B’nai B’rith, 1960. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.12160) If you know someone in this photo, please help the JI fill the gaps of its predecessor’s (the Jewish Western Bulletin’s) collection at the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. by…

Ancient coins found

photo - A 1,200-year-old gold coin fonud at Kfar Kama

A 1,200-year-old gold coin fonud at Kfar Kama. (photo by Israel Antiquities Authority via Ashernet) Two teenage students from the lower Galilee, Dor Yogev and Ella Dicks, who were participating in an Israel Antiquities Authority dig in nearby Kfar Kama,…

מגפת הפנטניל

photo - Fentanyl epidemic: 555 residents died in British Columbia over nine months

מגפת הפנטניל: חמש מאות חמישים וחמישה תושבים מתו בבריטיש קולומביה בתשעה חודשים. (צילום: Crohnie via Wikimedia Commons) מצב חירום הוכרז במערכת הבריאות של מחוז בריטיש קולומביה לאור מגפת הפנטניל, הסם הקטלני שהורג מדי יום בממוצע שני מכורים במחוז. מספר המתים…

The aftermath of war

photo - One of the displays in the exhibit Canada Responds to the Holocaust, 1944-1945, at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre until March 31

One of the displays in the exhibit Canada Responds to the Holocaust, 1944-1945, at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre until March 31. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) Canada Responds to the Holocaust, 1944-1945, opened on Oct. 16. The exhibit, said Nina…

Printmaker comes to city

photo - Ian Kochberg at work

Ian Kochberg at work. (photo from Ian Kochberg) Next week, at the Circle Craft Winter Market, local community members will have a rare opportunity to meet Ontario artist Ian Kochberg and buy some of his work. Kochberg has been a professional…

Stories from Europe

photo - Teaching Racism, which looks at discrimination against Roma in the Czech Republic, is one of nine videos currently comprising the Global Reporting Centre’s Strangers at Home project

Teaching Racism, which looks at discrimination against Roma in the Czech Republic, is one of nine videos currently comprising the Global Reporting Centre’s Strangers at Home project. (photo from strangers.globalreportingcentre.org) Shayna Plaut has long been concerned with the plight of…

Becoming who we are

photo - One of the best parts of Moos, which screens Nov. 10 as part of the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, is the friendship between Moos (Jip Smit) and Roel (Jim Deddes)

One of the best parts of Moos, which screens Nov. 10 as part of the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, is the friendship between Moos (Jip Smit) and Roel (Jim Deddes). (photo by Greetje Mulder) Moos is a delightful and unpretentious…

Temple Sholom’s roots

photo - Left to right: Michael Schwartz of the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, Rabbi Philip Bregman, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, Mike Harcourt and Chris Gorczynski

Left to right: Michael Schwartz of the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, Rabbi Philip Bregman, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, Mike Harcourt and Chris Gorczynski. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) Lisa Wilson, special projects coordinator at Vancouver Heritage Foundation, welcomed the…

Part of Operation Overlord

photo - Bernard Jackson joined the British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1941, and landed on a Normandy beach on “D-Day plus one”: June 7, 1944

Bernard Jackson joined the British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1941, and landed on a Normandy beach on “D-Day plus one”: June 7, 1944. (photo by Shula Klinger) Bernard Jackson joined the British Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in…