freelancer

freelancer

Mystery photo … Oct. 30/15

photo - Group of B’nai B’rith men, circa 1960

Group of B’nai B’rith men, circa 1960. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.12156) 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…

הקמפיין החיובי ניצח

screenshot - Justin Trudeau elected prime minister. (photo from hindustantimes.com)

ג’סטין טרודו נחבר לראש הממשלה. (צילום: hindustantimes.com) לתפקיד ראש ממשלת קנדה החדש והעשרים ושלושה במספר, נבחר ג’סטין טרודו, מהמפלגה הליברלית, במקומו של סטיבן הרפר מהמפלגה השמרנית. טרודו יקים ממשלת רוב לאחר שזכה בכארבעים אחוז מהקולות שיקנו לו 184 מושבים (לעומת…

Liberals sweep into power

photo - Justin Trudeau schmoozes after a speech to the Richmond Chamber of Commerce in July

Justin Trudeau schmoozes after a speech to the Richmond Chamber of Commerce in July. (photo from Justin Trudeau’s Office) As Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party swept to a majority victory Monday night, it was British Columbia that finally made a difference.…

Showcasing life’s complexity

photo - In The Singing Abortionist, Dr. Henry Morgentaler comes across as an enigmatic figure

In The Singing Abortionist, Dr. Henry Morgentaler comes across as an enigmatic figure. (photo from Vancouver Jewish Film Festival) This year’s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival will entertain, inform and challenge viewers, from its opening event – YidLife Crisis, a film…

Lighthouse as beacon

photo - Left to right, Lighthouse Labs’ Jeremy Shaki, Josh Borts and Khurram Virani

Left to right, Lighthouse Labs’ Jeremy Shaki, Josh Borts and Khurram Virani. (photo from Lighthouse Labs) The Jewish Independent first heard of Lighthouse Labs in January of this year, when it received a press release about Lighthouse’s second annual HTML500,…

Celebrating 50 years

photo - Ambassador Rolf Pauls of Germany presents his credentials to Israeli president Zalman Shazar on Aug. 19, 1965

Ambassador Rolf Pauls of Germany presents his credentials to Israeli president Zalman Shazar on Aug. 19, 1965. (photo from picture-alliance/dpa via CIJA) On Aug. 19, 1965, Ambassador Rolf Pauls of Germany presented his credentials to Israel’s president Zalman Shazar. The…

Will Israel policy change?

Days before the federal election, the Liberal party ran an ad in the Canadian Jewish News promising, “On Oct. 19, our government will change. What won’t change is Canada’s support for Israel.” This message effectively echoes what Prime Minister-elect Justin…

Longing for past headlines

How I miss those mundane headlines of my youth back in the ’Peg. Nothing more serious than potholes and (the more serious) urban decay of the city centre. I even miss those mundane headlines of the local papers here in…

Refugee system doesn’t work

According to David Matas, former president of Canadian Council of Refugees (CCR), changes that have been made to this country’s refugee system within the last few years have made it more difficult to sponsor refugees. “We set up a sponsorship…

Sometimes innocent jailed

photo - Ken Klonsky speaks on “Freeing David McCallum: A Story of Exoneration” at the Outlook fundraiser and social event Sept.27

Ken Klonsky speaks on “Freeing David McCallum: A Story of Exoneration” at the Outlook fundraiser and social event Sept.27. (photo by Winnifred Tovey) “Number one, never talk to the police.” The first tip Ken Klonsky gave when asked by the Jewish…

Ensuring fair, legal elections

photo - Kara Mintzberg (B.C. regional director of CJPAC), Ron Laufer, centre, and Michael Schwartz

Kara Mintzberg (B.C. regional director of CJPAC), Ron Laufer, centre, and Michael Schwartz. (photo from Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia) With Canada’s 2015 federal election so closely contested, Jewish community organizations continued to the dying days of the…

Expanding the financial field

photo - Michael Susser, left, and Murray Palay of Quadrant Asset Management

Michael Susser, left, and Murray Palay of Quadrant Asset Management. (photo from QAM) The first-ever Quadrant Asset Management Investment Conference was held on Oct. 2 at the University of Manitoba’s James W. Burns Executive Education Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It…

First-ever official visit

photo - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, left, welcomes President Pranab Mukherjee to the Knesset

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, left, welcomes President Pranab Mukherjee to the Knesset. (photo from Israeli Prime Minister’s Office via jns.org) In the first-ever official visit by an Indian head of state to Israel, President Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Jerusalem last…

Eatery’s unique offer

photo - Recent visitors to the Hummus Bar at the M Mall in Kfar Vitkin, near Netanya. The eatery is offering a 50% deal on its hummus for Jews and Arabs who share a table and eat together

Recent visitors to the Hummus Bar at the M Mall in Kfar Vitkin, near Netanya. The eatery is offering a 50% deal on its hummus for Jews and Arabs who share a table and eat together. (photo from facebook.com/Mhumusbar) An…

יש לנו תיש שמסרב לעזוב

screenshot - Tim Hortons employees to the police: We have a goat that refuses to leave the restaurant

עובדי טים הורטונס למשטרה: יש לנו תיש שמסרב לעזוב את המסעדה. (צילום: CTV News Saskatoon) בחירות 2015: לא ברור למי היהודים הצביעו בניגוד לבחירות הקודמות לא ברור למי היהודים הצביעו הפעם בבחירות שהתקיימו ביום שני. כך מדווח העיתון גלוב אנד…

Don’t vote for Momma!

A few weeks ago, I sat in the High Holy Day services looking around the room at the omany folks who make their annual pilgrimage to the synagogue that time of year. Most of them are there out of guilt…

Mulcair talks about choices

photo - New Democratic Party of Canada leader Tom Mulcair

New Democratic Party of Canada leader Tom Mulcair. (photo from Tom Mulcair’s office) “I think the values of the community that you’re writing for are very similar to the social values of the NDP historically, and I think that’s a…

A sentimental journey

photo - Stephen Aberle as Dan and Annabel Kershaw as Sue reflect on their life together in Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook, at Presentation House Theatre Oct. 28-Nov. 8

Stephen Aberle as Dan and Annabel Kershaw as Sue reflect on their life together in Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook, at Presentation House Theatre Oct. 28-Nov. 8. (photo by Megan Verhey, Megan Verhey Photography) Theatre often allows us, the audience, a…

Korczak’s legacy now

photo - Left to right, keynote speaker Irwin Elman and panelists Rachel Malek, James Copping and Jess Boon

Left to right, keynote speaker Irwin Elman and panelists Rachel Malek, James Copping and Jess Boon. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) “Children are not the people of tomorrow but are people of today. They have a right to be taken seriously,…

Housing woes in Vancouver

photo - As housing prices in Vancouver continue to rise, people will have to be creative about, and flexible in, their living arrangement

As housing prices in Vancouver continue to rise, people will have to be creative about, and flexible in, their living arrangements. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) Until recently, Naava Smolash was living in a collective house in East Vancouver with five…

Join the effort to help refugees

For me, it was those little blue shoes. In the picture of little Alan Kurdi, laying there like he was sleeping on the beach in Turkey. Only he wasn’t sleeping, I had been sleeping, we have been sleeping. It was…

Incitements to stab

It is an alarming phenomenon, to say the least. Seemingly ordinary Palestinian civilians, acting not on behalf of an organized terrorist organization but apparently on their own, taking everyday household instruments and stabbing Israelis with them on the streets. Violence,…

Make sure you vote

Voting always matters. But this election is among the least predictable in living memory. British Columbians’ choices could tip the balance to one party or another, or determine whether the next government is a majority or a minority. In a…

Focusing on students

There’s a new Jewish kid on campus – one who is confident about her rights, able to educate others who might try to intimidate and bully her, and willing to express her Judaism proudly, while helping to combat the rising…

Survivors living in squalor

photo - Survivor Mitzvah Project’s Zane Buzby, centre, in 2012 with Abramas and Malka Dikhtyar, the last two Jews in Bazaliya, Ukraine, the birthplace of Buzby’s grandfather

Survivor Mitzvah Project’s Zane Buzby, centre, in 2012 with Abramas and Malka Dikhtyar, the last two Jews in Bazaliya, Ukraine, the birthplace of Buzby’s grandfather. (photo from Survivor Mitzvah Project) It is officially autumn and British Columbians are nesting, settling in…

Commenting with cartoons

photo - Attendees at the opening of the Avrom Yanovsky exhibit in Winnipeg in September

Attendees at the opening of the Avrom Yanovsky exhibit in Winnipeg in September. (photo by Stan Carbone) The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada (JHCWC) and the United Jewish People’s Order (UJPO) are co-hosts of an exhibit in Winnipeg of…

CAMERA counters mistruth

photo - Canadian-Israeli Sidney Shapiro addresses the CAMERA conference in Boston last August

Canadian-Israeli Sidney Shapiro addresses the CAMERA conference in Boston last August. (photo from CAMERA) Sidney Shapiro had finished his Israel Defence Forces service just weeks before he arrived on campus at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont. “I walked into the…

נעצר שודד הבנקים

photo - Jeffrey James Shulman, “the Vaulter”

ג’פרי ג’יימס שולמן, “הקופץ” (צילום: York Regional Police Service via nationalpost.com) הפליליסט הקופץ: נעצר שודד הבנקים הקופץ הכי מבוקש בתולדות קנדה שעל ראשו הוצע פרס של מאה אלף דולר שודד הבנקים הכי מבוקש בתולדותיה של קנדה נעצר לאחרונה דווקא בשוויץ.…