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Community support valued

photo - Camp Hatikvah donors are not only helping ensure the quality of the camp but its inclusivity

Camp Hatikvah donors are not only helping ensure the quality of the camp but its inclusivity. (photo from Camp Hatikvah) Camp Hatikvah is well known for its program offerings, as well as its facilities and its spectacular natural setting in…

COVID-free camp summers

photo - Camp Miriam offered both day and overnight camping experiences this past summer

Camp Miriam offered both day and overnight camping experiences this past summer. (photo from Camp Miriam) Camp Miriam is celebrating that, for the past two summers, its youth leadership has pulled out all the stops to provide programming for hundreds…

Seven summer camp benefits

photo - Kids playing parachute in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

(photo from flickr) There’s a single destination that gets kids outside having fun, experts say, while teaching them lifelong skills. It’s called camp. The benefits of camp are plenty, from life lessons beyond the classroom and the value of playtime…

נסיעה לישראל בעידן הקוביד

photo - an El Al plane in flight

אבי, משה רחמני, נפטר בראשית פברואר השנה מסיבוכים רפואיים לאחר שנדבק בקוביד, בבית החולים בתל אביב. בן תשעים ואחת היה במותו וזה לא היה פשוט עבורי לצפות בטקס הלווייתו באמצעות ‘זום’ מוונקובר. כמה עשרות בני משפחה וחברים הורשו להגיע לבית…

מבול של גשם שלא היה כדוגמתו

photo - Premier John Horgan; Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General; Rob Fleming, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure; Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, and officials from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and RCMP, provide an update on recovery from recent flooding and mudslide events in British Columbia, November 17, 2021

ראש ממשלת בריטיש קולומביה, ג’ון הורגן, ציין כי עלינו להסביר לשבעת מיליארדי תושבי כדור הארץ כי מוטל עלינו לפעול עכשיו, למנוע מאירועים כאלה לקרות בעתיד  (flickr.com/photos/bcgovphotos) מצב חירום הוכרז ביום רביעי האחרון שעבר במחוז בריטיש קולומביה שבמערב המדינה עקב גשמי…

Supporting Jews worldwide

photo - Michelle Pollock, chair of Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Israel and global engagement committee

Michelle Pollock, chair of Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Israel and global engagement committee. (photo from JFGV) For Montreal native Michelle Pollock, chair of Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Israel and global engagement committee (IGEC), love and loyalty to world…

Lively driftwood sculptures

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Victoria artist Tanya Bub’s current exhibit at the Art @ Bentall Gallery features life-size works of animals that occupy land, sea and air. (photo from Tanya Bub) “Working with driftwood has given me a great appreciation of the power and…

Ideas worth the fight

During Chanukah, we celebrate the victory of light over darkness, of the triumph of our values over the hegemonizing ideals and practices of the oppressor. A crucial part of Jewish tradition is applying the wisdom of the past to the…

The small things matter most

With Chanukah coming early this year, more than one person has prompted me with, “Can you believe it? Are you ready for the holiday?” Meanwhile, on the news, we’re being bombarded with concerns about supply chain management. The message from…

Legacy of the “Ghetto girls”

The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre’s Dr. Abby Wener Herlin, left, interviews author and historian Dr. Judy Batalion at this year’s Kristallnacht commemorative event on Nov. 4. (screenshot) Jewish girls and young women in Poland were uniquely positioned to play major…

Our obligation to remember

screenshot - Isa Milman, a member of the Second Generation, lights a candle of remembrance at the Victoria Shoah Project’s Kristallnacht commemoration Nov. 9, accompanied by grandson Isaac Phelan

Isa Milman, a member of the Second Generation, lights a candle of remembrance at the Victoria Shoah Project’s Kristallnacht commemoration Nov. 9, accompanied by grandson Isaac Phelan. (screenshot) In a Kristallnacht commemoration no less poignant because it was held virtually,…

OJC welcomes rabbi

photo - Rabbi Tom Samuels is Beth Shalom’s first full-time spiritual leader

Rabbi Tom Samuels is Beth Shalom’s first full-time spiritual leader. (photo from OJC) Okanagan Jewish Community’s Beth Shalom Synagogue recently welcomed Rabbi Tom Samuels to be the organization’s first full-time spiritual leader. Established in 1980, the OJC has flourished in…

At the top of his game

photo - Shay Keil with daughter Tali, a student at King David High School

Shay Keil with daughter Tali, a student at King David High School. (photo from Shay Keil) A Vancouver-area wealth manager and philanthropist is celebrating a trifecta of milestones. Shay Keil (pronounced “Shy Kyle”) has just been named one of Canada’s…

Fox retires from VHEC

photo - Rome Fox has been associated with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre for 25 years

Rome Fox has been associated with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre for 25 years. (photo from vhec.org) Rome Fox has retired as assistant director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. She was recognized at the VHEC annual general meeting Oct.…

Chanukah Market at JCC

photo - Chanukah treats will be plentiful at the JCC Chanukah Market

Chanukah treats will be plentiful at the JCC Chanukah Market. (photo from JCCGV) Come celebrate the Festival of Lights on Nov. 28 at the first-ever Chanukah Market. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day, the parking lot at the Jewish…

JQT’s 2021 Hanukkah Hotties

image - This year's Hanukkah Hotties

(image from JQT) JQT Vancouver has a sizzling lineup of Hanukkah Hotties this year. Tune in to daily livestreams on Facebook with each Hanukkah Hottie, as they light their chanukiyah or share another tradition, and chitchat with JQT about their…

Discussing Jewishness

image - Maxine Lee Ewaschuk, in a still from the documentary Periphery, which premièred last month at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre in North York, and is available to view online

Maxine Lee Ewaschuk, in a still from the documentary Periphery, which premièred last month at the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre in North York, and is available to view online. On Oct. 28, the Prosserman Jewish Community Centre in North York…

London’s Ghetto Songs

photo - Frank London recently released a new album, Ghetto Songs (Venice and Beyond)

Frank London recently released a new album, Ghetto Songs (Venice and Beyond). (photo by Chuck Fishman) Trumpeter and composer Frank London, an unwavering presence in numerous musical genres for more than four decades, released a new album, Ghetto Songs (Venice…

Walking through our history

Left to right: Drew Carnwath, Measha Brueggergosman and Sam Rosenthal are the main creatives behind the podcast The Christie Pits Riot

Left to right: Drew Carnwath, Measha Brueggergosman and Sam Rosenthal are the main creatives behind the podcast The Christie Pits Riot. (photo by John Ebata) On Aug. 16, 1933, Toronto experienced what is viewed as one of the worst race…

Lean into our identity

screenshot - Left to right: Eve Barlow, Noa Tishby and Bari Weiss participate in a Nov. 3 panel hosted by the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies

Left to right: Eve Barlow, Noa Tishby and Bari Weiss participate in a Nov. 3 panel hosted by the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies. (screenshot) In a time of burgeoning antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Jews need to…

The quirky stories of Israel

image - The images posted at facebook.com/sipurisraeli highlight the diverse stories and people covered on the Israel Story podcast, which is in its sixth season

The images posted at facebook.com/sipurisraeli highlight the diverse stories and people covered on the Israel Story podcast, which is in its sixth season. The podcast Israel Story started its sixth season in September. The show, which offers a long-form journalism…

Wherever did the time go?

photo - A few of the clocks that were stolen from Jerusalem’s L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in 1983, and eventually found and returned.

A few of the clocks that were stolen from Jerusalem’s L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in 1983, and eventually found and returned. (photos by Daniella Golan) Over the past few weeks, many countries, including Canada, switched from daylight savings…

Kalla’s latest great read

There’s something comforting about reading a thriller writer whose novels you’ve enjoyed in the past. You know exactly what to expect, and yet the pages almost turn themselves. Given, however, that we’ve been living through a real pandemic for almost…

Can Syn save garden?

After a three-year wait, local writer Michael Seidelman’s Garden of Syn trilogy comes to a fast-paced, satisfying conclusion. We first met our protagonist, Synthia Wade, in No One Dies in the Garden of Syn, which was released in 2016. (All…

Poems and photos meld

For anyone who has thought about publishing their own story, poems, photos, artwork – really, anything they have created – The Gate and Other Poems on a Life’s Journey (FriesenPress) should be an inspiration to just do it already. This book…

A story of Hava Nagila

image - I Am Hava book cover

Among Intergalactic Afikoman’s newest picture books is I Am Hava: A Song’s Story of Love, Hope & Joy, written by Freda Lekowicz and illustrated by Siona Benjamin. It tells the story of the song “Hava Nagila,” from its birth as a…

Beautiful Persian cookbook

photo - While my Barbari bread (above) looked nothing like the photo from the book (below), as my dough was too wet to allow for the requisite creation of vertical ridges, it tasted really good nonetheles

While my Barbari bread (above) looked nothing like the photo from the book (below), as my dough was too wet to allow for the requisite creation of vertical ridges, it tasted really good nonetheless. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) I was…