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In British Columbia, this summer has been among the finest in living memory. Yet, for Jewish British Columbians and for all those watching events around the world right now, the summer has brought a very dark cloud. It has not…
Cecilia Peck, left, and Linor Abargil in Princeton, N.J. (photo by Motty Reif) Former Israeli beauty queen and international cover girl Linor Abargil is a sharply intelligent woman with a cause: survivors of rape. Empathetic yet unsentimental, highly visible but…
Members of the Gitxaala Nation at the 2014 Qatuwas Festival. (photo by Kris Krug) Vancouver, Erev Tisha b’Av (Aug. 4): As Jews across North America are preparing themselves for the sombre, mournful fast commemorating the destruction of the holy temples…
The holy month of Elul has begun, the sixth month in the Hebrew calendar. There is a rabbinic allusion that the month was named from the initial letters of “Ani le dodi v’dodi li” (“I am my beloved’s and my…
Group in evening dress, State of Israel Bonds, Vancouver, B.C., 1960. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.14505) 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…
Some of the violence in the Middle East has inflamed tensions closer to home. Online, there is a recent interview conducted by the University of British Columbia with its resident expert Prof. Robert Daum, who offered his thoughts on navigating…
London, Ont. What began as a last-minute visit to one of the most solemn places in history has grown into a nationwide campaign supported by many distinguished people and groups, including the Canadian and Polish ambassadors and the Centre for…
Teens on this year’s March of the Living helped Lillian Boraks-Nemetz face down haunting memories. (photo by Adele Lewin Photography) Lillian Boraks-Nemetz, a Vancouver poet and author who was a child survivor of the Holocaust, initially declined the offer of…
The ambulance being sent to Israel by the Winnipeg CMDA is the same type as the one pictured here. (photo from CMDA) With the recent violence and tensions in Israel, Magen David Adom (MDA) is, once again, being pushed to…
Mordechai Edel at work in the studio. (photo from the artist) Mordechai Edel is not a stranger to grief and pain. His parents escaped Austria in 1939. His uncle spent years in the Nazi concentration camps. His father died when…
Claudia Segovia’s creations are colorful, whimsical monsters. (photo from Claudia Segovia) It took Claudia Segovia a long time to find her niche. “I always liked art,” she said in an interview with the Jewish Independent, “but I’ve been primarily a…
Dorrance Dance will perform at the Rothstein Theatre on Aug. 30. (photo from Vancouver International Tap Festival) “It would be like a jazz festival presenting Oscar Peterson,” said Sas Selfjord, executive director of the Vancouver International Tap Festival. She is…
Zoe Kazan and Daniel Radcliffe on the red carpet in New York City. (photo from facebook.com/thewhatifmovie/photos_stream) When Elan Mastai’s father said hello to a pretty stranger in a Jerusalem café some four decades ago, it was the only English word…
Weapons recovered from a Hamas tunnel. (photo from IDF/FLICKR) “One hundred Israeli schoolchildren killed in Hamas attack.” Israelis say this would have been just one of many similar headlines announcing untold loss of civilian life had Operation Protective Edge not…
Fact: There are 200 Christian Arab Israelis serving in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Fact: There are 200 Muslim Arab Israelis serving in the IDF. Fact: There are 1,400 Bedouin serving in the IDF. Fact: There are 4,000 Druze serving…
The Babani family at New York’s JFK airport, moments before they boarded the plane to Israel. (photo by Shahar Azran via Nefesh b’Nefesh) Despite tensions surrounding the war in Gaza, 338 new olim (immigrants) from the United States and Canada…
The Six Day War may have been history’s most illustrative example of the limitations of a weekly newspaper. Reviewing this newspaper’s archives from 1967 shows one week’s paper filled with ominous foreboding and the next issue, triumphal jubilation. Every year,…
I’m home when my phone buzzes with a text from my son. Playing for the school basketball team in a city an hour away, his five words carry disappointment, sadness. “I’m just a benchwarmer, mom.” I’m not one of those…
Bard on the Beach’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one cheeky dream. (photo by David Blue) Summer in Vancouver brings the sun and, with it, things like beach time and bike rides, barbecues and picnics. It also brings the magic…
Sarah Haniford’s granddaughter, Alice Campbell, with Schara Tzedeck Synagogue Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt at the unveiling of Sarah’s headstone. (photo from Jewish Cemetery at Mountain View Restoration Project) “You live as long as you are remembered.” – Russian Proverb Fifty people…
A group of Herzliya Science Centre students working on Duchifat 1 in the clean room with Dr. Ana Heller. (photo from Herzliya Science Centre) In Israel, high school students helped launch a satellite into space – something typically reserved for university…
On a hot Sunday in June, a grandmother climbs up to a backless seat in the bleachers of a high school gym whose air-conditioning has conked out. Students are handing out water bottles to the sweating crowd. She fans herself…
The start of a new school year used to just mean dealing with the end-of-summer blues, figuring out which classes to take and which books to buy, and making sure you had a first-day-of-school outfit. For today’s kids, however, there’s…
Gaza, July 28, 2014: An Israel Defence Forces soldier examines a newly revealed tunnel in the Gaza strip. (photo by IDF via Ashernet) It’s been awhile since I’ve written. There’s a story I’ve been meaning to share but, unfortunately, circumstances…
My new friends! A mixed group of Arab and Jewish kids playing hockey together in Israel. I have to admit that it has been tough to concentrate on much these days with everything going on in Israel this month. The…
Kibbutz Magen member Shunit Dekel speaks via Skype to the almost 800 people who came out to Temple Sholom to show support for Israel. Dina Wachtel, executive director, Western Region, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University, is at the podium. (photo…
Rally in support of Israel drew a few hundred people to the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday afternoon. (photo by Shahar Ben Halevi) Nearly 300 people gathered around the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday, July 27, at noon, to show support for the…
The PNE is hosting a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance! and, on Aug. 24, 4:30 p.m., there will be a show featuring 2014 participants in the program, Perry Ehrlich’s ShowStoppers and Sound Sensation troupes, as…
Left to right: Simon Bonettemaker, Hinda Avery, Claire Cohen and Colin Nicol-Smith. (photo by Olga Livshin) “We decided we’ll be the Peretz Painters,” said Colin Nicol-Smith, one of the collaborators of the inaugural art show that opened on July 16…
When Fiona (Lindsay Warnock) asks her savior to take off his helmet so that she can meet her prince, Shrek (Matt Palmer) is reluctant. (photo by Milan Radovanovic) An ugly ogre and a beautiful blonde. You wouldn’t think they’d have much…
