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Khartoum changes tune

The latest Arab country to normalize relations with Israel is Sudan. It is the third Arab country in recent months to initiate bilateral relations with the Jewish state – and only the fifth in history. In addition to the practical…

Doctors urge mask use

photo - Dr. Anna Wolak is one of the doctors who started Masks4BC

Dr. Anna Wolak is one of the doctors who started Masks4BC. (photo from King Edward Medical Centre) Mandatory use of masks, in addition to physical distancing and hand hygiene, will help save lives and the economy in the wake of…

Kristallnacht programs

photo - Dr. Chris Friedrichs will deliver the lecture “How to Steal from Jews: A Story from Nazi Germany and What It Teaches Us,” which will be available from Nov. 9, 7 p.m., from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. The Victoria Shoah Project is also holding a commemoration, called “The Persistence of Creativity Emerging from the Shards of Tragedy

Dr. Chris Friedrichs will deliver the lecture “How to Steal from Jews: A Story from Nazi Germany and What It Teaches Us,” which will be available from Nov. 9, 7 p.m., from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. The Victoria Shoah…

Task force set up

Over the last several years, there has been an alarming increase in antisemitic incidents across the globe, with many originating online. As social media posts do not stop at international borders, members of the national legislatures of Australia, Canada, Israel,…

Choices event will inspire via Zoom

photos - Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver women’s philanthropy co-chairs Sue Hector, left, and Shawna Merkur

Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver women’s philanthropy co-chairs Sue Hector, left, and Shawna Merkur. (photos from Jewish Federation) There’s good news and bad news for the annual Choices gala, which celebrates Jewish women’s philanthropy in Metro Vancouver. The good news…

Bahr to host Chutzpah!

photo - Iris Bahr pulls double duty at the 2020 Chutzpah! Festival, as host and performer

Iris Bahr pulls double duty at the 2020 Chutzpah! Festival, as host and performer. (photo from Chutzpah!) Comedien, writer, actor, director, producer and podcaster Iris Bahr will both host this year’s Chutzpah! Festival, Nov. 21-28, and perform her stand-up live…

Living and working together

photo - Eman El-Husseini, left, and Jess Salomon with furry family member Esther Honey El-Husseini

Eman El-Husseini, left, and Jess Salomon with furry family member Esther Honey El-Husseini. (photo by Mike Bryck) Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini, aka the El-Salomons, close out this year’s Chutzpah! Festival on Nov. 28. They will live-stream from Brooklyn, and…

Generations combine

photo - Mary-Louise Albert returns to the stage Nov. 19-21 in a new work by choreographer Serge Bennathan

Mary-Louise Albert returns to the stage Nov. 19-21 in a new work by choreographer Serge Bennathan. (photo by Maxx Berkowitz) The Dance Centre presents Mary-Louise Albert: Solo Dances/Past into Present Nov. 19-21. Jewish Independent readers will be very familiar with…

Lucky to do what she loves

image - Stacy Lederman’s “past present future” is one of the works she will be sharing at the Eastside Culture Crawl this month

Stacy Lederman’s “past present future” is one of the works she will be sharing at the Eastside Culture Crawl this month. Despite the pandemic, the Eastside Culture Crawl is not only back this year, but it’s offering “an expanded celebration…

COVID stories and moments

photo - “Skewed Priorities” by Bob Prosser

(“Skewed Priorities,” photo by Bob Prosser) COVID-19 has upended all of our lives in multiple ways. More people work from home. Self-isolation has become customary. Masks are everywhere. The anxiety and fear of infection have spread as widely as the…

Childbearing choice

photo - Michael Scholar Jr. directs Lungs, which is at Studio 16 Nov. 13-22

Michael Scholar Jr. directs Lungs, which is at Studio 16 Nov. 13-22. (photo from Mitch and Murray Productions) If you’ve not been to the theatre in many months, consider treating yourself to a COVID-19-safe performance of Lungs, opening at Studio…

Arts Club stage opens

Among the theatre performances around town cautiously returning to live venues is the Arts Club’s production of Buffoon, a one-man play being presented at the Granville Island Stage until Dec. 6, and featuring the contributions of two members of the…

Nurturing love of storytelling

photo - Toronto-based Dana Fradkin will participate in this year’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program at Vancouver Opera long distance

Toronto-based Dana Fradkin will participate in this year’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program at Vancouver Opera long distance. (photo from Vancouver Opera) Dana Fradkin is one of six participants chosen for this season’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program…

Explore Torah’s secrets

“People tend to read biblical stories like they do mythology,” said Chabad Richmond’s Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman, one of the local Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) instructors. “Our course invites participants to look deeper and discover the underlying themes and relevant…

Salomé CD launched

image - Salomé: Woman of Valor record cover

Over the last three decades, poet and performer Adeena Karasick and composer and trumpeter Frank London have each transformed the worlds of poetry and music with work that is sensual and political, steeped in Jewish mysticism, exploding notions of high…

JNF panelists focus on heart

photo - Panel speaker Dr. Arthur Dodek in 1963, planting a Jewish National Fund tree as part of the second World Jewish Youth Convention. Dodek was in Israel representing the Student Zionist Organization of North America

Panel speaker Dr. Arthur Dodek in 1963, planting a Jewish National Fund tree as part of the second World Jewish Youth Convention. Dodek was in Israel representing the Student Zionist Organization of North America. (photo from Arthur Dodek) The Zoom…

Need more women leaders

photo - Dr. Patricia Daly

Dr. Patricia Daly (photo from vch.ca) Dr. Patricia Daly, the chief medical officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, provided an illuminating but discouraging perspective on the status of women in leadership positions in medicine during a National Council of Jewish Women…

Learning his family’s history

photo - George Heyman, ninth from the right, with family members in Poland last yea

George Heyman, ninth from the right, with family members in Poland last year. (photo from George Heyman) Like scores of other British Columbians, George Heyman owes his life to Chiune Sugihara. Heyman, who was reelected Saturday as MLA for Vancouver-Fairview,…

Shoah survivor offers a warning

photo - Judy Weissenberg Cohen, at the age of 92, recently published her memoir, Cry in Unison

Judy Weissenberg Cohen, at the age of 92, recently published her memoir, Cry in Unison. (photo from Riddle Films) On erev Yom Kippur, in a Nazi concentration camp, a group of Hungarian Jewish women and girls prevailed upon two comparatively…

An 80th birthday tribute

photo - Annette Whitehead has spent her life helping others

Annette Whitehead has spent her life helping others. Annette Whitehead – who turns 80 on Nov. 17 – continues to devote herself to helping others. Born in Winnipeg, but raised since infancy in Vancouver, her volunteer career started with her…

COVID’s impact on new year

photo - Rosh Hashanah table setting

(photo by Shelley Civkin) Not only did I never imagine that I wouldn’t be able to hug and kiss my family during Rosh Hashanah dinner; I didn’t even get to see them this year. Everyone is still hunkering down, keeping…

Consider soul maintenance

In a recent article, I learned that Gal Gadot, the famous Israeli actor, says the prayer Modeh Ani (“I give thanks”) when she wakes up. Even famous people can be grateful for “getting their souls back” each morning. In ancient…

Continuing to give it a whirl

A whirligig is a top, or spinning device, something constantly changing. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel my head spinning. Whether we are talking about the internal – the radical changes many of us experience in our…

Tower of David conservation project underway

photo - Tower of David conservation project underway

(photo from Tower of David Museum) The Tower of David Museum has started one of the largest conservation projects in Israel, with work underway for a $40 million renewal plan led by the Clore Israel Foundation together with the support…

רילוקיישן בחו”ל

image - the world

(Pete Linforth/Pixabay) ההתפתחויות הטכנולוגיות המהירות הובילו להיווצרות פערים בין מדינות מתקדמות ומדינות מתפתחות. מדינות רבות זקוקות לכוח אדם מיומן הבקיא ברזי הטכנולוגיה ומדינות נוספות מגייסות עובדים צעירים לצורך ביצוע עבודות פשוטות שונות. העידן המודרני והעובדה כי העולם הפך לכפר גלובלי,…

NDP proud of their record

Selina Robinson (photo from Selina Robinson) Premier John Horgan sent Selina Robinson a message: “A mensch is a good thing, right?” Robinson, the NDP government’s minister of municipal affairs and housing, is seeking reelection in the riding of Coquitlam-Maillardville. She sees…

Segal helms Liberal message

photo - Rachael Segal is media spokesperson for the BC Liberals

Rachael Segal is media spokesperson for the BC Liberals. (photo from BC Liberals) Facing a campaign unlike any other, with shaking hands and kissing babies prohibited by social distancing protocols, all parties needed to reimagine how they would reach voters. Rachael…

Green Jews front and centre

photo - Maayan Kreitzman

Maayan Kreitzman (photo from Maayan Kreitzman) Maayan Kreitzman said the Green party knew it was getting the “full package” when they tapped her as their candidate in the provincial election for the riding of Vancouver-False Creek. There are schisms in…

Highlighting goodness

photo - Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside: Adventures in Digital Community Art Making, led by Ruth Howard, is part of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, which starts Oct. 28

Grounds for Goodness Downtown Eastside: Adventures in Digital Community Art Making, led by Ruth Howard, is part of the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival, which starts Oct. 28. (photo by Adrienne Marcus Raja) Tikkun olam, the imperative to repair…