freelancer

freelancer

Searching for my ohmmmm

I’ve never really been able to meditate. At least not in the formal way most people depict meditation. There have been no ohhmmmm moments for this guy. Oh, I’ve tried – with the most patient teacher I’ve ever known. But “calm”…

ג’ייסון קני מגיע לוונקובר

ידיד של ישראל: ג’ייסון קני מגיע לוונקובר באוגוסט לערב ראיונות של המרכז לענייני ישראל והיהודים בקנדה שר ההגנה והשר לענייני הרב-תרבותיות בממשלת השמרנים של סטיבן הרפר, ג’ייסון קני, יגיע בחודש הבא לערב ראיונות מטעם המרכז לענייני ישראל והיהודים בקנדה. האירוע…

Amy doc a dismal portrayal

photo - Image from the movie Amy. Amy Winehouse died four years ago this month

Image from the movie Amy. Amy Winehouse died four years ago this month. (photo from epk.tv) Amy Winehouse, the brash little Jewish girl with the great big voice, died four years ago this month. There are any number of ways…

Bridges built with art

photo - From left to right, Echoes artists Sidi Schaffer, Sorour Abdollahi and Devora

From left to right, Echoes artists Sidi Schaffer, Sorour Abdollahi and Devora. (photo by Olga Livshin) The term “artistic brotherhood” was coined in the 19th century. Among the most famous of such brotherhoods were the Pre-Raphaelites in England and the…

Constant musical evolution

photo - Babe Gurr’s Butchart Gardens Summer Festival concert on July 24 is the first of several in July/August

Babe Gurr’s Butchart Gardens Summer Festival concert on July 24 is the first of several in July (photo from Babe Gurr) Musician Babe Gurr has a busy summer ahead with concerts at Butchart Gardens Summer Festival, Islands Folk Festival, Harmony…

Is it paradise or pinkwashing?

photo - Organizers estimate 180,000 people marched in the Tel Aviv Pride parade, June 12

Organizers estimate 180,000 people marched in the Tel Aviv Pride parade, June 12. (photo by Robin Perelle) Alberto Lukacs-Böhm dabs a handful of birds onto the sunny sea-to-sky poster he’s painting for Tel Aviv Pride. To live openly as a…

Report offers mixed bag

On the one hand, good news. On the other, bad. The Jewish People Policy Institute delivered its annual assessment to the Israeli cabinet a few weeks ago and it’s a mixed bag. The annual assessment purports to be the sole…

Ethical will still holds true

photo - Family, Israel remain at centre of Dvora Waysman’s ethical will

Family, Israel remain at centre of Dvora Waysman’s ethical will. (photo by Ashernet, taken on Jerusalem Day 2015) Very often wills – including ethical wills – are updated as circumstances change. I wrote my ethical will in the early 1970s,…

Painter and sculptor David Aronson passes away

image - “The Golem,” by David Aronson, 1958, encaustic on panel 57” x 64”

“The Golem,” by David Aronson, 1958, encaustic on panel 57” x 64”. (all photos from David Aronson Archive via Braithwaite & Katz Communications) American painter and sculptor David Aronson, 91, of Sudbury, Mass., passed away on July 2, 2015. He…

הנוהגים מחפשים פתרונות יצירתיים

photo - Temporary high-occupancy vehicle lanes were installed on the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto for the 2015 Pan American Games

נתיבי רכב מהירים זמניים הותקנו באוטוסטרדת דון ואלי בטורונטו עבור משחקי פאן אמריקה 2015. (צילום: מגנוליה באמצעות ויקיפדיה) נהגים קריאטיבים: הנוהגים מחפשים פתרונות יצירתיים שיאפשרו להם לנסוע בנתיבים המהירים עומסי התנועה הכבדים במחוז אונטריו שהוא הגדול ביותר בקנדה הביאו לסלילת…

Alt-neu klezmer sound

photo - Shtreiml and Ismail Fencioglu will play at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, as well as concerts on Vancouver and Salt Spring islands

Shtreiml and Ismail Fencioglu will play at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, as well as concerts on Vancouver and Salt Spring islands. (photo from Vancouver Folk Music Festival) Shtreiml and Ismail Fencioglu will be right at home among the top…

Community talent in TUTS

photo - Left to right: Nathan Piasecki (the Artful Dodger), E. Marie West (Nancy) and Stephen Aberle (Fagin) in Theatre Under the Stars’ production of Oliver! He also plays Mr. Brownlow

Left to right: Nathan Piasecki (Artful Dodger), E. Marie West (Nancy) and Stephen Aberle (Fagin) in Theatre Under the Stars’ production of Oliver! Aberle also plays Mr. Brownlow. (photo by Tim Matheson) Actor Steven Aberle describes Theatre Under the Stars as…

Hoping to run for NDP

Jewish community member Mira Oreck, director of public engagement for the Broadbent Institute, has announced that she will seek the federal NDP nomination in the riding of Vancouver Granville. She spoke with the Jewish Independent about that decision. For more…

Dire new poll results?

A new report suggests potentially alarming trends in support for Israel among Americans. Frank Luntz, a Republican consultant produced a poll, sponsored by the Jewish National Fund, of the country’s “opinion elites” – highly educated, very active political operatives –…

Investing in our futures

photo - Left to right are Stephen Gaerber (Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver board chair), Mayor Ilan Orr of Yesod Hamaaleh, Mayor Rabbi Nissim Malka of Kiryat Shmona, Mayor Giora Saltz of Galil Elyon, Vancouver Deputy Mayor Andrea Reimer, Mayor Binyamin Ben-Muvchar of Mevoot Hahermon and Ezra Shanken (Federation CEO)

Left to right are Stephen Gaerber (Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver board chair), Mayor Ilan Orr of Yesod Hamaaleh, Mayor Rabbi Nissim Malka of Kiryat Shmona, Mayor Giora Saltz of Galil Elyon, Vancouver Deputy Mayor Andrea Reimer, Mayor Binyamin Ben-Muvchar…

Showtimers wow audience

photo - JCC Showtime’s cowgirl dance was an audience favorite

JCC Showtime’s cowgirl dance was an audience favorite. (photo by Binny Goldman) The duet sung by Maurice Moses and Debbie Cossever, “Teach the World to Sing,” set the tone for the entire afternoon performance by JCC Showtime at the last…

Ben-Gurion the leader

The story is told that the idea of building a modern city in Beersheva came from David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister. He appointed a committee of experts to examine the idea. The committee reported back that it could not…

Mystery photo … July 10/15

photo - Pioneer Women having tea, circa 1955

Pioneer Women having tea, circa 1955. (JWB fonds, JMABC L.12595) 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.…

Summer, sun … melanoma

A public service video produced a few years ago and making the rounds again this year hits me close to home. Produced by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund and called Dear 16-Year-Old Me, the video warns of the dangers of…

A look into the Ashernet archives

photo - Traveling by car between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 1973

Traveling by car between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in 1973. (photo by Edgar Asher) In the 1970s, Edgar Asher worked at BBC Television News as a photojournalist. In 1973, he went to Israel to take photos of the country, mainly for…

The sweets of summer

photo - There’s almost nothing better than eating outside in the summer

There’s almost nothing better than eating outside in the summer. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) Think lazy summer days. Think warm evenings under a star-strewn sky. Think entertaining friends. Think luscious fruits, the chill of ice cream on your tongue, party…

Cookbooks for the summer

While it might be hard to contemplate cooking on these hot summer days, there are a few recent cookbooks enticing enough to draw you into the kitchen – with savory results. Jewish Soul Food: From Minsk to Marrakesh (Schocken Publishers,…

The love of chocolate

photo - Goodies from Sarina Chocolate’s kids workshop

Goodies from Sarina Chocolate’s kids workshop. (photo by Viva Sarah Press) Israeli chocolatiers aren’t worried about the reported shortage of the sweet treat despite warnings by the world’s largest cocoa grinder, Barry Callebaut, that a potential chocolate shortage by 2020 is…

Handmade by artists

photo - Left to right are artists Robin Adams, Jan Smith and Julie Kemble

Left to right are artists Robin Adams, Jan Smith and Julie Kemble. (photo by Olga Livshin) In common perception, the word “manufacture” is associated with industrial production and machinery, but it wasn’t always so. The word’s origins are found in…

Choosing the side of hope

When focusing on Israeli-Palestinian relations, as I do for a living, it’s nice to have a good news story to relay once in awhile. On June 22, the annual Victor J. Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East (run…

Montreal can be the model

photo - Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre at the Jan. 11, 2015, rally in Montreal in support of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre at the Jan. 11, 2015, rally in Montreal in support of the victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting. (photo by Gerry Lauzon via commons.wikimedia.org) A hate crimes department within the city’s police force might be a…

Nonsense is Trudeau’s

The Islamist group ISIS is the most technologically and media-savvy terror group ever. Their propaganda employs the highest calibre of videography and documentation. The images they capture – and successfully disseminate to the world – are among the most gruesome…

No errors in Comedy

photo - Josh Epstein, left, and Andrew Cownden in Bard on the Beach’s production of The Comedy of Errors

Josh Epstein, left, and Andrew Cownden in Bard on the Beach’s production of The Comedy of Errors. (photo by David Blue) It’s summer in Vancouver and with it comes sun, surf and Shakespeare – that is, Bard on the Beach…