freelancer

freelancer

Turkey under scrutiny

Paris terror suspect Hayat Boumedienne’s recent escape from France to Syria has renewed concern about Turkey’s ability and willingness to prevent terrorists from transiting through its territory. Boumedienne is the romantic partner and alleged accomplice of Amedy Coulibaly, who was…

OK for Shalom home

photo - Residents and staff from three of Shalom Residences’ homes in front of the home on Enniskillen Avenue

Residents and staff from three of Shalom Residences’ homes in front of the home on Enniskillen Avenue. (photo by Kelsey Halldorson) A few months ago, Shalom Residences was given the green light from Manitoba Family Services to add a new…

Barry Sisters recordings now available

photo - Left to right: Yiddish music icons, Merna and Claire Barry, entertained generations of Jewish Americans with their jazzy versions of Yiddish songs

Left to right: Yiddish music icons, Merna and Claire Barry, entertained generations of Jewish Americans with their jazzy versions of Yiddish songs. (photo from rsa.fau.edu) For more than 40 years, the Bagelman Sisters, later known as the Barry Sisters, were…

Ignorant conspiracies

After the murders in Paris this month, it did not take long for the forces of conspiracy to switch into high gear. Among those in the anti-Israel movement were people who suggested that the murders had been perpetrated by Israeli…

Unpacking Lintel’s background

Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre kicked off the new year with Underneath the Lintel, on stage until Jan. 31. Though it seems the well-known Emmy-winning playwright Glen Berger did not intend the bigotry implied by his play, his thematic choices create a…

The word “Palestine”

Does Palestine exist? A blogger on the often-provocative website JewsNews doesn’t think so. A package of dates marked “Palestine” must be “magic,” he says, since there’s no such country. And this echoes Moshe Arens’ trotting out of the old canard that…

Finding beauty on travels

After a three-month travel adventure with the purpose of seeking beauty wherever I went, many thoughts raced through my mind. I had quit my job, gone on the road, run out of money, and had no clue what came next.…

More Canadas needed

photo - Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor speaks in Vancouver on Feb. 3 and in Victoria on Feb. 4

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor speaks in Vancouver on Feb. 3 and in Victoria on Feb. 4. (photo from Ron Prosor via Jewish National Fund Vancouver) Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations says Canada’s foreign policy is…

Brodie lands Beckett role

photo - Leanna Brodie plays spinster Ms. Fitt (and the boy Jerry) in Blackbird Theatre’s Canadian première of Samuel Beckett’s All That Fall, at the Cultch until Jan. 24

Leanna Brodie plays spinster Ms. Fitt (and the boy Jerry) in Blackbird Theatre’s Canadian première of Samuel Beckett’s All That Fall,  at the Cultch until Jan. 24. (photo from Leanna Brodie) She is an actor, playwright, librettist, feminist, social activist – bilingual…

Interpreting time and place

photo - Derek Gillingham at the opening of New Work from the Road

Derek Gillingham at the opening of New Work from the Road. (photo from Derek Gillingham) Derek Gillingham’s solo show New Work from the Road at the Zack Gallery looks like a travelogue, where the artist’s moments and memories have been…

Israeli representative at UN

Rasha Athamni was the first Israeli selected to represent the nation as a youth delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, serving during the 69th session from September through November 2014. The youth delegates program was started…

Help soldier-students

image - Canadian Friends of Hebrew University (CFHU) is raising money to sponsor soldier-students pursuing their undergraduate degrees

Canadian Friends of Hebrew University (CFHU) is raising money to sponsor soldier-students pursuing their undergraduate degrees. The Jewish calendar is full of remembrances and commemorations underscoring that, as a people, we find value both spiritually and culturally in reflecting and…

Multiculturalism only solution

The murder of 12 at Charlie Hebdo and the murder of four at a kosher supermarket in Paris last week were not just examples of mass murder, violence to which we as a society have become sadly accustomed. These were…

E-books for deaf kids

image - page from an eMotion kids book

A person – as opposed to an avatar – signs American Sign Language in the eMotion Stories app. It is hard to beat the pleasure of sitting down with your children or grandchildren and reading them a bedtime story, whether…

Red rocks, Jewish lullabies

photo - Today’s Sedona Jewish community is spread out over the surrounding Verde Valley

Today’s Sedona Jewish community is spread out over the surrounding Verde Valley. (photo by Lauren Kramer) “Whatever you do, please don’t write about vortex or New Age stuff!” I was socializing after Friday night services with congregants at Sedona’s synagogue…

Auschwitz survivors at 70th

photo - 1945, by Alexander Vorontsov via Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

(photo by Alexander Vorontsov via Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum) More than 100 Auschwitz survivors from at least 17 countries will travel to Poland to participate in the observance of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination…

Specialty camps work

image - cover of New Jewish Specialty Camps: From Idea to Reality

In the early to mid-2000s, research estimated that only 10 percent of the Jewish youth population were being served by existing Jewish camps. There was concern that many Jewish youth were instead attending non-Jewish camps that offered more unique opportunities.…

Dosanjh courage recognized

photo - Ujjal Dosanjh will receive the inaugural Civil Courage Award at the 10th annual Raoul Wallenberg Day on Jan. 18

Ujjal Dosanjh will receive the inaugural Civil Courage Award at the 10th annual Raoul Wallenberg Day on Jan. 18. (photo by Patrick Tam) In honor of the 10th annual Vancouver Raoul Wallenberg Day, the Wallenberg-Sugihara Civil Courage Society will present its inaugural Civil Courage…

Join Kosher Lust revolution

photo - Rabbi Shmuley Boteach will speak at the Rothstein Theatre on Jan. 17

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach will speak at the Rothstein Theatre on Jan. 17. (photo from Shmuley Boteach) Rabbi Shmuley Boteach will be in Vancouver later next week to talk about his most recent book, Kosher Lust: Why Love is Not the Answer. Boteach, a rabbi,…

Music is the poetry of life

Local jazz musician Ayelet Rose Gottlieb happily juggles music and babies. “You have to have music, right? Music is life. It’s a necessity. And you have to have kids.” Gottlieb just released her fourth album, Roadsides, and her adorable six-month-old…

Tribute from the paper

The Jewish Independent family is mourning the loss of one of our own. Ron Freedman, who was an account executive at the Jewish Western Bulletin and the Jewish Independent from 1968, passed away at Irene Thomas Hospice in Ladner on…

Open Hillel raises questions

On the issue of Jewish belonging, I have always pushed for as wide a tent as is necessary to accommodate the range of Jewish experience. Inclusion, rather than ideational boundaries, has been my watchword. But now, since the Open Hillel…

Menorah’s ultimate fate?

photo - The Arch of Titus remains standing in Rome today. Built in 81 CE, it depicts the triumphal procession of enslaved Jews and Temple spoils, including the Menorah, whose ultimate fate is unknown

The Arch of Titus remains standing in Rome today. Built in 81 CE, it depicts the triumphal procession of enslaved Jews and Temple spoils, including the Menorah, whose ultimate fate is unknown. (photo by Basya Laye) Sixty-thousand heavily armed, well-trained…

How to identify skin cancer

photo - Dr. Victoria Taraska

Dr. Victoria Taraska (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa) On Dec. 11, the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Winnipeg section, held an information session at the Rady Jewish Community Centre about recognizing skin cancer. The talk, part of the section’s…

Federation sustains success

As the 2014 Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver annual campaign draws closer to a record $8 million mark, preparations are well underway to build on that success in 2015. Cindy Behrmann, campaign director since 2012 and one of the primary…

First Lamplighter Award

photo - Young philanthropist Yosef Nider receives recognition

Young philanthropist Yosef Nider receives recognition. (photo from Naomi Nelson Photography) On Sunday, Dec. 21, the Centre for Judaism in Surrey/White Rock held its annual menorah lighting at Semiahmoo Centre, and awarded its inaugural Young Lamplighter Award to Yosef Nider,…