freelancer

freelancer

Family’s tale of immigration

image - New Home, New Hope book cover

New Home, New Hope edutains on aliya and the Soviet Union. With the themes of Passover still reverberating, I read Aliza Ziv’s book New Home, New Hope (Contento de Semrik, 2014). About a single mother making aliya from the Soviet…

Writing is really on the walls

photo - An inscription on a water fountain built by Suleiman the Magnificent

An inscription on a water fountain built by Suleiman the Magnificent. (photo by Ariel Fields) When it comes to Jerusalem, the writing really is on the wall. The problem is, some people (easily recognized, as they go around saying “it’s…

Cookbook resurfaces

photo - Having received letters asking for copies of her 40-year-old cookbook, the author has had it reprinted, and it is available for purchase

Having received letters asking for copies of her 40-year-old cookbook, the author has had it reprinted, and it is available for purchase. (photo by Barry A. Kaplan) In the 1970s, when I made aliya, I discovered that Israel was a…

Unique taste of Israel

image - The Seven Fruits of the Land of Israel

Chana Bracha Siegelbaum is founder and director of the Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin: Holistic Torah for Women on the Land. Located 20 minutes south of Jerusalem in the Gush Etzion community since 1994, its programs include monthly seminars for English-speaking…

Israeli election scenes

photo - Left to right: Winnipeg transplants Miriam, Ronit, Dor and Bruce Brown

Left to right: Winnipeg transplants Miriam, Ronit, Dor and Bruce Brown. (photo by Bernie Bellan) Rehovot, Israel Once again, Election Day has come and gone and the world continues to spin; albeit slightly more rightward for Israel. I went to…

Jerusalem: eternal city

photo - Jerusalem has been known as the Eternal City of the Jewish people since the days of King David and his son Solomon

Jerusalem has been known as the Eternal City of the Jewish people since the days of King David and his son Solomon. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) My daily routine probably doesn’t differ much from yours. This morning, I went for…

Dynamic science at Weizmann

Prof. Idit Shachar, an expert on inflammation from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, spoke to a group of almost 70 people at VanDusen Botanical Garden on March 25. Shachar discussed why issues arise in the body when there is…

Help fund new game

screenshot - Playing Kujamma

Playing Kujamma. (screenshot)  Aryeh Altman, inventor of the game Kujamma, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund $25,000 to manufacture an initial run of Kujamma for retail. The game’s concept revolves around collecting and accumulating, which is exactly what kujamma…

Antisemitism so engrained

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” – Rabbi Hillel I was more than incensed when a teacher at our public elementary school…

זה לא חלום אלה

photo - Amazon experiments with UAVs in Canada

אמזון מבצעת ניסויים סודיים במזל”טים בקנדה. (צילום: amazon.com)  הונאת הפונזי הגדולה של קנדה: 3,000 משקיעים איבדו קרוב ל-300 מיליון דולר פרטי פרשת הונאת הפונזי הגדולה ביותר בתולדות קנדה נחשפים בימים אלה, במהלך משפט פלילי נגד שני אזרחים מקלגרי. גרי סורנסון…

Rock pioneer plays at Chan

photo - Micha Biton headlines the community’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations April 22

Micha Biton headlines the community’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations April 22. (photo from Micha Biton via Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver) Seven years in the making, Laura Bialis’ documentary Rock in the Red Zone premièred last October at the Haifa Film…

A vision for the future

photo - Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of United Reform Judaism

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of United Reform Judaism. (photo by Ian Spanier) Temple Sholom is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. As part of its continuing celebrations of this milestone, Rabbi Richard Jacobs, president of United Reform Judaism, and Paul…

A friendly, fun contest

photo - Dr. Neil Pollock hands out some of the awards, as Larry Barzelai and student participants look on

Dr. Neil Pollock hands out some of the awards, as Larry Barzelai and student participants look on. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) Based on the numbers alone, the 27th Annual Public Speaking Contest on March 19 at the Jewish Community Centre…

Modern Uncle Vanya

photo - Robert Salvador, left, Anna Galvin and Jay Brazeau in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Robert Salvador, left, Anna Galvin and Jay Brazeau in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. (photo by David Cooper) Ah, the trials and tribulations of brothers and sisters. It’s the few and far between who go through life without…

Anatevka brought to Abbotsford

photo - Arne Larsen as Tevye and Ruth Kult as Golde in Gallery 7 Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roof

Arne Larsen as Tevye and Ruth Kult as Golde in Gallery 7 Theatre’s production of Fiddler on the Roof. (photo by Dianna Lewis) Growing up in a Jewish home, I always cherished Fiddler on the Roof and its Sholem Aleichem…

Conversation with Dr. Ruth

It was election week in Israel when I had the chance to speak with Ruth Westheimer. Though the noted sex therapist and celebrity Manhattanite served in the Haganah pre-state militia and is planning a trip to Israel in May, she…

Campus, church extremism

Last week, students at the University of British Columbia rejected a referendum question that would have urged the student society to boycott Israeli businesses and products. But the news was by no means all good when the results came in…

Biggest improbability?

In September of 1978, U.S. president Jimmy Carter was at his wit’s end after 12 days of face-to-face negotiations between himself, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. Neither party was at all inclined to make peace,…

Mystery photo … April 3/15

photo - ORT Installation eve, 1983

ORT Installation eve, 1983. (JWB fonds; JMABC L.14060) 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 contacting…

אורח הכבוד בערב הגאלה של קק”ל הוא שר החוץ לשעבר בירד

photo - Former Canadian Foreign Minister John Bird, when he visited the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on January 20 this year. Bird is the guest of honor, the Negev Dinner of the JNF in Vancouver on June 7

 שר החוץ הקנדי לשעבר ג’ון בירד, עת ביקר את ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו, בירושלים ב-20 בינואר השנה. בירד הוא אורח כבוד ‘בנגב דינר’ של קק”ל בוונקובר ב-7 ביוני. (צילום: Kobi Gideon-GPO via Ashernet) מחלוקת בין ידידים: הרפר שוב תומך בהקמת…

Message to Vancouver

photo - Masha Shumatskaya’s visit here was part of an American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee tour of North American cities

Masha Shumatskaya’s visit here was part of an American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee tour of North American cities. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver) All Masha Shumatskaya wants is for the fighting to stop so she can go home.…

Make time for Elbow Room

photo - Allan Zinyk as Patrice, left, and David Adams as Bryan in Elbow Room Café: The Musical (Phase 1)

Allan Zinyk as Patrice, left, and David Adams as Bryan in Elbow Room Café: The Musical (Phase 1). (photo by Emily Cooper) Allan Zinyk and David Adams are veritable doppelgangers for Patrice (Patrick) Savoie and Bryan Searle, who started the…

Sephardi group in Ottawa

photo - Rabbi Ilan Acoca, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Parliament Hill

Rabbi Ilan Acoca, left, shakes hands with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Parliament Hill. (courtesy of Prime Minister’s Office) Last month, a Jewish delegation paid a visit to Parliament Hill with two main items on the agenda – educating the…

Imagination in full blooms

photo - Lauren Morris

Lauren Morris (photo by Linda Lando) Local artist Lauren Morris loves every aspect of her art form. “I even like the smell of paints,” she said in an interview with the Independent. “When I come to my studio, the smell…

Bibi’s self-made mess

Prime Minister Stephen Harper reiterated Canada’s support for a two-state solution in a conversation last week with Binyamin Netanyahu, the just-reelected prime minister of Israel. The commitment to Palestinian self-determination was a subtle but clear message to the Israeli leader.…

Hard-earned wisdom

photo - Seymour Bernstein, left, and Ethan Hawke

Seymour Bernstein, left, and Ethan Hawke. (photo from Ramsey Fendall/Risk Love LLC) Two kinds of people will fall under the spell of Seymour: An Introduction, Ethan Hawke’s respectful and affectionate study of virtuoso pianist, composer and teacher Seymour Bernstein. Fans…

An historic agreement

photo - Left to right: Glen Hodges, manager, Mountain View Cemetery; Damian Koo, City of Vancouver legal services; Francie Connell, director, City of Vancouver legal services; Dr. Penny Ballem, city manager; Shirley Barnett, chair, MVJCRP committee; and Herb Silber, Schara Tzedeck Cemetery board

Left to right: Glen Hodges, manager, Mountain View Cemetery; Damian Koo, City of Vancouver legal services; Francie Connell, director, City of Vancouver legal services; Dr. Penny Ballem, city manager; Shirley Barnett, chair, MVJCRP committee; and Herb Silber, Schara Tzedeck Cemetery…

Folk music in the Holy Land

photo - The author enjoying a day of folk music from around the world at Israel’s Jacob’s Ladder festiva

The author enjoying a day of folk music from around the world at Israel’s Jacob’s Ladder festival. (photo from Miri Garaway) I have always been a folk music aficionado, so when I heard about the Jacob’s Ladder Music Festival in…

Cuban shul in distress

photo - Rabbi Yacob Berezniak in Havana’s Agath Israel synagogue

Rabbi Yacob Berezniak in Havana’s Agath Israel synagogue. (photo by Baila Lazarus) On a small side street in Old Havana, an innocuous sign on a decaying wall announces “Synagoga Adath Israel.” A few steps away, on Picota Street, an entrance…