Category Life

A rockin’ Yom Ha’atzmaut

photo - Israeli musician Micha Biton headlined the community’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration

Israeli musician Micha Biton headlined the community’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration. (photo by Rhonda Dent) It was just shy of a sellout crowd on April 22 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, as Israeli rock pioneer Micha Biton headlined…

Mystery photo … April 24/15

photo - Pioneer Women of Na’amat at tea, circa 1950

Pioneer Women of Na’amat at tea, circa 1950. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.12587) 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 the Jewish Museum and Archives of…

Mystery photo … April 3/15

photo - ORT Installation eve, 1983

ORT Installation eve, 1983. (JWB fonds; JMABC L.14060) 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 the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. by contacting…

Folk music in the Holy Land

photo - The author enjoying a day of folk music from around the world at Israel’s Jacob’s Ladder festiva

The author enjoying a day of folk music from around the world at Israel’s Jacob’s Ladder festival. (photo from Miri Garaway) I have always been a folk music aficionado, so when I heard about the Jacob’s Ladder Music Festival in…

Cuban shul in distress

photo - Rabbi Yacob Berezniak in Havana’s Agath Israel synagogue

Rabbi Yacob Berezniak in Havana’s Agath Israel synagogue. (photo by Baila Lazarus) On a small side street in Old Havana, an innocuous sign on a decaying wall announces “Synagoga Adath Israel.” A few steps away, on Picota Street, an entrance…

Brief Kauai vacation tutorial

photo - The path to Nounou Mountain is a gentle incline through a forest of magnificent Norfolk pine trees

The path to Nounou Mountain is a gentle incline through a forest of magnificent Norfolk pine trees. (photo by Lauren Kramer) There were only a few items in my grocery basket so, when the cashier asked me for $100, I…

Israel issues travel warnings

photo - A view of shore from a dive shop in Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt

A view of shore from a dive shop in Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt. (photo by B. Simpson via commons.wikimedia.org) During the upcoming school holidays of Passover, followed by the summer months, many Israelis travel abroad. Europe is only a few…