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Beautiful life despite illness

photo - Rachel Goldman and her husband, Geoff McLennan

Rachel Goldman and her husband, Geoff McLennan. (photo by Avi Dhillon) Rachel Goldman is this year’s Courage to Come Back Award winner in the medical category. She couldn’t be there in person at the Vancouver Convention Centre June 9, but…

An unwelcome precedent

An Israeli cabinet minister visited Canada recently and, with due respect, some of our journalistic colleagues buried the lede. In journo parlance, the “lede” is the most important and, therefore, first item mentioned in a conventional news story. To “bury…

Witnessing as relationship

We’re experiencing a transformation in Winnipeg – one that holds hands with truth and reconciliation. Recently, a statue of Queen Elizabeth II, newly restored, was put back on a plinth in front of the Manitoba Legislature. The media showed it,…

Honouring ancestors’ stories

video still - Juan Villegas rehearsing Edictum, choreographed by Vanessa Goodman, which is about Villegas’s Sephardi ancestry. The work is part of Dancing on the Edge’s EDGE One July 6 and 8 at the Firehall Arts Centre

Juan Villegas rehearsing Edictum, choreographed by Vanessa Goodman, which is about Villegas’s Sephardi ancestry. The work is part of Dancing on the Edge’s EDGE One July 6 and 8 at the Firehall Arts Centre. (video still from Vanessa Goodman) “I…

Immerse yourself in music

Screenshot - from the video for the song “Medicine,” made by Gigi Ben Artzi, featuring Yonatan Gat and the Eastern Medicine Singers. “Medicine” comes off Gat’s album Universalists

Screenshot from the video for the song “Medicine,” made by Gigi Ben Artzi, featuring Yonatan Gat and the Eastern Medicine Singers. “Medicine” comes off Gat’s album Universalists. You never know when a life-changing moment will happen. For musician Yonatan Gat…

Art Downtown at Lot 19

photo - Art Downtown festival runs to Sept. 15 in Lot 19 downtown

Art Downtown festival runs to Sept. 15 in Lot 19 downtown. (photo from Vancouver Visual Art Foundation) On June 21, Vancouver Visual Art Foundation and Downtown Van (formally, Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association) launched the fourth edition of the outdoor…

JQT history exhibit launched

photo - Carmel Tanaka, JQT Vancouver executive director, speaks at the May 28 launch of the B.C. Jewish Queer &Trans Oral History Project online exhibit.

Carmel Tanaka, JQT Vancouver executive director, speaks at the May 28 launch of the B.C. Jewish Queer &Trans Oral History Project online exhibit. (photo by Brianne Nord-Stewart) The B.C. Jewish Queer &Trans Oral History Project online exhibit went live amid…

Remembering Alex Buckman

photo - Alex Buckman with students on the March of the Living

Alex Buckman with students on the March of the Living. (photo from thecjn.ca) Alex Buckman, a tireless stalwart for Holocaust education in British Columbia and a steadfast advocate for his fellow child survivors, died in Warsaw on April 21. He…

Help with road to recovery

Left to right: Jill Diamond, Lauri Glotman, Leslie Diamond, Gordon Diamond and Steven Diamond, in 2014. (photo from St. Paul’s Foundation) The Diamond family is speaking publicly about the tragic loss of Steven Diamond – a cherished father, son, brother and addictions…

Honouring human spirit

photo - Lorne Segal, chair of the Courage to Come Back Awards

Lorne Segal, chair of the Courage to Come Back Awards. (photo from kingswoodproperties.com) This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Courage to Come Back Awards – and 18 years since Lorne Segal has been chair of the event. “The…

Days pass quickly at Paul’s

photo - Nita and Michael Levy run Vancouver’s Paul’s Club

Nita and Michael Levy run Vancouver’s Paul’s Club. (photo from Paul’s Club) It’s a Thursday morning in downtown Vancouver and a group of spirited, educated and friendly individuals gather for a morning coffee and pastry. They discuss world events, their…

Ageism in medicine

“Studies show that one-third of Canadians admit to having been treated differently due to their age,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals in Toronto. Sinha, who is also a professor…

JCC campaign underway

photo - Hanging out at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver – a tradition for more than 90 years

Hanging out at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver – a tradition for more than 90 years. (photo from JCCGV) For more than 90 years, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) has been a centre of communal…

Seeking diverse voices

photo - Jimmy Chow, Burnaby resident and prop master since 1973. Burnaby Village Museum’s Many Voices Project is focusing on stories from people and communities who haven’t had the opportunity to add to the historical record

Jimmy Chow, Burnaby resident and prop master since 1973. Burnaby Village Museum’s Many Voices Project is focusing on stories from people and communities who haven’t had the opportunity to add to the historical record. (photo from Burnaby Village Museum, BV022.21.25)…

Helping Jews globally

photo - Candace Kwinter

Candace Kwinter (photo from Jewish Federation) “Tikkun olam,” said Candace Kwinter, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver board chair and Jewish Agency for Israel board member, about what drives her to donate so much of her time and energy both locally…

Preserving links to past

screenshot - inside of Edenbridge synagogue

Screenshot from Jordan Amit’s video on the former Jewish settlement of Edenbridge, Sask. The synagogue and the Jewish cemetery are cared for by the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation. Almost 120 years ago, 56 Jews fled Lithuania and ended up in a…

Yukon Jewish history online

screenshot - Images on the Gold Rush section on the website of the Jewish Cultural Society of Yukon

The rich and rugged history of Jews in the Yukon has found an internet home on the website of the Jewish Cultural Society of Yukon, jcsy.org. The lure of the Klondike Gold Rush and the stories of its enterprising and…

Beit HaRav Kook at 100 years

photo - Rabbi Itzhak Marmorstein – a former spiritual leader of Vancouver’s Congregation Or Shalom – stands beside the ark in Beit HaRav Kook, where he is the gabbai (sexton)

Rabbi Itzhak Marmorstein – a former spiritual leader of Vancouver’s Congregation Or Shalom – stands beside the ark in Beit HaRav Kook, where he is the gabbai (sexton). (photo by Gil Zohar) Scores of congregants packed Beit HaRav in downtown Jerusalem June…

Quick look at Canadian Jews

As of last Friday, June 16, the population of Canada surpassed 40 million people. According to data from the 2021 Canadian census released last year, 335,295 Canadians consider themselves to be Jewish by religion, up from 329,500 in 2011. The…

איך משיגים ויזה להגר לקנדה – חלק א

קנדה הפכה לא מכבר ליעד תיירות פופולרי. בנוסף, ישראלים רבים מבקשים לנסוע לקנדה עבור לימודים או כדי למצוא עבודה. אשרות כניסה לקנדה משתנות לפי המטרה שלשמה מעוניינים להיכנס למדינה. עבור כל מטרה המבקשים ידרשו להליך שונה כדי שרשויות ההגירה המקומיות…

Prevention is ultimate goal

photo - seniors painting in a class

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day will be marked with a community-wide event hosted by Jewish Family Services, in partnership with many other agencies. (photo from nvrc.ca) According to a World Health Organization study, half the world’s population bears a prejudice…

Tikva grows even more

photo - Tikva Housing Society executive director Anat Gogo speaks at the May 24 opening of the Al and Lola Roadburg Residences

Tikva Housing Society executive director Anat Gogo speaks at the May 24 opening of the Al and Lola Roadburg Residences. (photo filmoit.com courtesy Tikva Housing) When the Kerrisdale building she has been living in for 24 years went up for…

Talking about antisemitism

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden released its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism recently. Unveiled by First Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Jewish husband of Vice-President Kamala Harris, the strategy rests on four main pillars: to increase awareness and understanding of…

KDHS chai celebration

photo - Left to right: Jeff Ross and Stephen Kaye, King David High School co-presidents in 2006, and Diane Friedman and Alain Guez, this year’s co-presidents

Left to right: Jeff Ross and Stephen Kaye, King David High School co-presidents in 2006, and Diane Friedman and Alain Guez, this year’s co-presidents. (photo from KDHS) “At King David, Jewish memory and education intersect, creating a unique and powerful…

UBC Chabad celebrates 10th

photo - Rabbi Chalom Loeub and student Sagiv Fadida put on tefillin at the weekly Chabad booth at the UBC campus

Rabbi Chalom Loeub and student Sagiv Fadida put on tefillin at the weekly Chabad booth at the UBC campus. (photo from Chabad at UBC) This year marks a milestone, as the Chabad Jewish Student Centre at the University of British…

Playfulness & laughter

photo - Left to right: Gyda Chud, Carol Ann Fried and Tammi Belfer at Jewish Seniors Alliance’s Spring Forum May 28

Left to right: Gyda Chud, Carol Ann Fried and Tammi Belfer at Jewish Seniors Alliance’s Spring Forum May 28. (photo from JSA) The first in-person Jewish Seniors Alliance Spring Forum after a pandemic-imposed hiatus was held at the Peretz Centre…

This year’s book award winners

The fourth edition of the Western Canada Jewish Book Awards, presented by the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival, culminated in a May 24 event at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver at which the winners in six categories…

Israel’s antiquities trade

photo - A brochure about antique coins from Zak’s Antiquities

A brochure about antique coins from Zak’s Antiquities. Israel’s central role in the global antiquities business was the subject of a Zoom lecture on May 2 sponsored by the W.F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research in Jerusalem and the Palestine…

Tracking earth’s winds

photo - A band of clouds above the equator, created by the rise of air within the Hadley cell and responsible for heavy rainfall in this region

A band of clouds above the equator, created by the rise of air within the Hadley cell and responsible for heavy rainfall in this region. (photo from Weizmann Institute) Why do parts of earth become rainforests, whereas others turn into…