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RPL honors Daysons

photo - Mayor Malcolm Brodie, left, and Philip Dayson listen as Shirley Barnett addresses the 50-plus people who attended the Nov. 18 event at Richmond Public Library that honored the Dayson family

Mayor Malcolm Brodie, left, and Philip Dayson listen as Shirley Barnett addresses the 50-plus people who attended the Nov. 18 event at Richmond Public Library that honored the Dayson family. (photo from Richmond Public Library) On Nov. 18, the Richmond…

Make time for Chutzpah!

photo - Gallim Dance

Gallim Dance (photo from Gallim Dance) Tickets are now on sale for the 16th annual Chutzpah! Lisa Nemetz International Jewish Performing Arts Festival. The 2016 festival will run from Feb. 18 to March 13, and it will once again showcase…

Continuing relationship

photo - Abba Brodt, Richmond Jewish Day School head of school, with Sheikh Murtaza Bachoo, religious consultant of Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre

Abba Brodt, Richmond Jewish Day School head of school, with Sheikh Murtaza Bachoo, religious consultant of Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre. (photo from Abba Brodt) Grade 6 and 7 students at RJDS and Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy distributed meals to homeless members of…

Beautifying a sukkah

photo - Grade 6 and 7 girls of Vancouver Hebrew Academy joined Louis Brier Home and Hospital residents in making decorations for the home’s sukkah

Grade 6 and 7 girls of Vancouver Hebrew Academy joined Louis Brier Home and Hospital residents in making decorations for the home’s sukkah. (photos from Vancouver Hebrew Academy) Just before Sukkot, the Grade 6 and 7 girls of Vancouver Hebrew…

Mystery photo … Nov. 27/15

photo - Women gathered around a table with a candled cake, National Council of Jewish Women, circa 1955. Leonore Freiman is in the middle

Women gathered around a table with a candled cake, National Council of Jewish Women, circa 1955. Leonore Freiman is in the middle. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.13952) If you know someone in this photo, please help the JI fill…

יהודים בקנדה עושים מעשים חיוביים

photo - Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan

מחנה הפליטים הסורים זעתרי בירדן. (צילום: U.S. Department of State via commons.wikimedia.org) יהודים בקנדה עושים מעשים חיוביים: עוזרים בשיפוץ מסגד שנשרף ומסייעים להביא פליטים מסוריה בדרך כלל שוררים יחסים טובים בין קהילות היהודים והמוסלמים בקנדה בניגוד למקומות אחרים בעולם. לאור…

Creating artistic storm

photo - Shevy Levy’s Storm Brewing is at Zack Gallery until Dec. 6

Shevy Levy’s Storm Brewing is at Zack Gallery until Dec. 6. (photo by Olga Livshin) This month, Zack Gallery is dedicated to abstract art. The exhibition Storm Brewing introduces gallery patrons to an unusual artist, Shevy Levy. Nobody looking at…

First Israel on Campus event

photo - Yael Steinberg, left, and Zina Rakhamilova at Israel on Campus’ first event of the year at the University of British Columbia

Yael Steinberg, left, and Zina Rakhamilova at Israel on Campus’ first event of the year at the University of British Columbia. (photo by Zach Sagorin) “Often Jewish students on university campuses struggle to express any kind of pro-Israel sentiment. They…

Six Jewish MPs part of Parliament

photo - New Canadian MPs, clockwise from top left: Jim Carr, Michael Levitt, Karina Gould, Anthony Housefather, Julie Dabrusin and David Graham

New Canadian MPs, clockwise from top left: Jim Carr, Michael Levitt, Karina Gould, Anthony Housefather, Julie Dabrusin and David Graham. (photos from cjnews.com) The Liberal tide that swept away the Conservative government of Stephen Harper brought in what is believed…

Panelists talk about BDS movement

photo - Left to right, panelists Gabor Maté, Michael Barkusky and Yonatan Shapira

Left to right, panelists Gabor Maté, Michael Barkusky and Yonatan Shapira. (photo by Zach Sagorin) Independent Jewish Voices-Vancouver hosted A Conversation About BDS (boycott, divestment and sanction) on Nov. 8. IJV’s Martha Roth, moderator of the event, told the Jewish…

We stand …. together

There has been an outpouring of grief and solidarity since the terror attacks in Paris a week ago. At some point, though, people began to ask why there was not a parallel response to the terror attack the previous day…

Limits to free speech

Last week, a Quesnel man was found guilty of criminal hate speech for anti-Jewish postings to his website. Arthur Topham’s RadicalPress website is packed with the kind of “commentary” you have to read to disbelieve. Many of us imagine we…

Remain open to discussion

As hot as things have become in Israel and the West Bank over the last many weeks with escalating violence, here in North America a chill is palpable. It comes in the form of silencing within and across communities –…

Kids in the classroom

photo - Maria LeRose, left, speaks with Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl

Maria LeRose, left, speaks with Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl. (photo from Janusz Korczak Association of Canada) The second lecture of the “How to Love a Child” series, co-sponsored by the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada and the University of British Columbia…

Remember the Weston Girls

photo - Weston Girls Estelle Sures, 17, centre, with Yvonne Harris, left, and Toni MacDonell before they set sail in 1953

Weston Girls Estelle Sures, 17, centre, with Yvonne Harris, left, and Toni MacDonell before they set sail in 1953. (Photo from Estelle Sures) The Weston Girls were named after the man who sent them from Canada to Great Britain –…

Sacred for three faiths

photo - The Hellenistic/Hasmonean excavation at Nebi Samwil

The Hellenistic/Hasmonean excavation at Nebi Samwil. (photo by Anthony Bale) Just over 10 kilometres north of the Temple Mount, the Old City and east Jerusalem, where terrorist attacks continue, Muslims and Jews both go up to Nebi Samwil, to what…

Holiday treats for your pets

image - A bowtie for your dog, cat or ferret from moderntribe.com

Chanukah-themed pet gifts can be found aplenty on the internet. Some examples? A bowtie for your dog, cat or ferret from moderntribe.com. Pets are integral members of the family and there are many options to include your furry companion in…

הזדהו עם הקורבנות פיגועי הטרור שפקדו את פריז

photo - Vancouverites came to the French consulate on Pender Street downtown, stood for a moment of silence at the entrance, put flowers and photos of Paris and lit candles

אזרחים של ונקובר הגיעו לבניין בו ממוקמת הקונסוליה הצרפתית ברחוב פנדר בדאון טאון, עמדו דקת דומיה בכניסה, הניחו זרים ותמונות של פריז, והדליקו נרות נשמה. (צילום: Roni Rachmani) קנדיים מזדהים עם קורבנות פיגועי הטרור הקשים שתקפו את פריז אזרחים רבים…

Consuls save thousands of lives

photo - Consul General of Japan Seiji Okada, centre, Yasuko Okada and Dr. George Bluman

Consul General of Japan Seiji Okada, centre, Yasuko Okada and Dr. George Bluman. (photo from Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre) There are Vancouverites who owe their lives to the wartime actions of the then-obscure Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. The mid-level official,…

It’s all about people

photo - William Samples and Christine McBeath in People, now at Jericho Arts Centre until Nov. 29

William Samples and Christine McBeath in People, now at Jericho Arts Centre until Nov. 29. (photo by Adam Henderson) Character actors are like wine – they only get better with age. Nowhere is this more evident than in the United…

Better access to education

photo - Aaron Friedland at Semei Kakungulu High School in Uganda. Friedland has written the book The Walking School Bus, both as a first reader but also as a means to generate funds for students to access education. To get it published, he has started an Indiegogo campaign

Aaron Friedland at Semei Kakungulu High School in Uganda. Friedland has written the book The Walking School Bus, both as a first reader but also as a means to generate funds for students to access education. To get it published,…

Spreading pain, not peace

A member of Israel’s Knesset spoke at a Kristallnacht commemoration event this week and equated Israel’s actions to the events of Nov. 9-10, 1938. Hanin Zoabi, an Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset, spoke at a Kristallnacht “memorial” in Amsterdam that…

Kohelet and Kristallnacht

“Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.” The day of remembrance for Kristallnacht was this week. Looking at what’s happening in Israel and globally, I’m reminded of the Preacher. By the Preacher, I mean Kohelet, traditionally thought to be King Solomon,…

Survivors’ immense impact

book cover - Holocaust Survivors in Canada: Exclusion, Inclusion, Transformation, 1947–1955

Holocaust survivors who came to Canada after the Second World War remade this country’s Jewish community. Before survivors arrived in numbers, beginning in 1947, Canada’s Jewish community had a few poorly resourced social service agencies. The demands created by thousands…

Life-changing lecture

photo - Avrum Nadigel

Avrum Nadigel (photo from Avrum Nadigel) Not only is there no quick fix to making a relationship work, but there’s no quick fix for absorbing the main points of Avrum Nadigel’s Learning to Commit: The Best Time to Work on…

Chabad expands in Victoria

photo - Chabad of Vancouver Island Rabbi Meir and Rebbetzin Chani Kaplan at the Aug. 23 groundbreaking

Chabad of Vancouver Island Rabbi Meir and Rebbetzin Chani Kaplan at the Aug. 23 groundbreaking. (photo from lubavitch.com) Announced in April 2014, Chabad’s plans to build a centre in Victoria proved a relevant and exciting development for locals. The day…

More than Slim Peace

photo - Filmmaker Yael Luttwak spoke at Choices Nov. 1

Filmmaker Yael Luttwak spoke at Choices Nov. 1. (photo from jewishvancouver.com) A film that brings Palestinian and Israeli women together in a weight-loss group. Who would have thought that was possible? American-Israeli Yael Luttwak did, and she made it happen.…

Stories that empower

photo - Shanie Levin

Shanie Levin brought Sholem Aleichem’s stories to life with Al Stein. (photo by Binny Goldman) Tell me a story, please…. Which one of us has not made this request of a mother, a father, a zayda or bubbie? On Oct.…

Hot off holiday press

book cover - Hanukkah Lullaby

In the last couple of months, three new Chanukah-themed picture books have been published. Most recently, out of Mahone Bay, N.S., is Hanukkah Lullaby. Out of New York City are Oskar and the Eight Blessings and The Parakeet Named Dreidel.…