Skip to content

Where different views on Israel and Judaism are welcome.

  • Home
  • Subscribe / donate
  • Events calendar
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Israel
    • World
    • עניין בחדשות
      A roundup of news in Canada and further afield, in Hebrew.
  • Opinion
    • From the JI
    • Op-Ed
  • Arts & Culture
    • Performing Arts
    • Music
    • Books
    • Visual Arts
    • TV & Film
  • Life
    • Celebrating the Holidays
    • Travel
    • The Daily Snooze
      Cartoons by Jacob Samuel
    • Mystery Photo
      Help the JI and JMABC fill in the gaps in our archives.
  • Community Links
    • Organizations, Etc.
    • Other News Sources & Blogs
    • Business Directory
  • FAQ
  • JI Chai Celebration
  • [email protected]! video

Search

Archives

Recent Posts

  • Joseph Segal passes at 97
  • JFS reflects on Segal’s impact
  • Segal valued Yaffa’s work
  • Broca’s latest mosaics
  • Stand for truth – again
  • Picturing connections
  • Explorations of identity
  • Ancient-modern music
  • After COVID – Showtime!
  • Yosef Wosk, JFS honoured
  • Reflections upon being presented with the Freedom of the City, Vancouver, May 31, 2022
  • Park Board honours McCarthy
  • Learning about First Nations
  • Still time to save earth
  • Milestones … Chief Dr. Robert Joseph, KDHS students, Zac Abelson
  • The importance of attribution
  • מסחר עולמי
  • New havens amid war
  • Inclusivity curriculum
  • Yom Yerushalayim
  • Celebrate good moments
  • Father’s Day ride for STEM
  • Freilach25 coming soon
  • Visit green market in Saanich
  • BI second home to Levin
  • Settling in at Waldman Library
  • Gala celebrates alumni
  • Song in My Heart delights
  • Bigsby the Bakehouse – a survival success story
  • Letters from Vienna, 1938
  • About the 2022 Summer cover
  • Beth Israel celebrates 90th
  • Honouring volunteers
  • Race to the bottom

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @JewishIndie
photo - L’Chaim Adult Day Centre member Shirley Kort, right, and her friend Zoe Oreck, who came to visit, listen to Kort’s daughter, Shoshana Litman, tell a story

Maggidah Shoshana Litman entertains at L’Chaim

0 Flares 0 Flares ×

L’Chaim Adult Day Centre member Shirley Kort, right, and her friend Zoe Oreck, who came to visit, listen to Kort’s daughter, Shoshana Litman, tell a story. (photo from L’Chaim)

I was invited into a very special world on June 30 – that of L’Chaim Adult Day Centre. Described as a therapeutic day centre for home-bound elderly, a place where safe, caring monitoring is provided along with kosher, home-style meals in a happy, embracing atmosphere, with multilingual staff, it is all that and more.

I was asked by Shoshana Litman, a gifted maggidah (storyteller), to come and watch one of her sessions at L’Chaim. After receiving permission to attend from Annica Carlsson, who is in charge of the centre, I arrived in time to see 14 seniors, mostly women, actively enjoying a ball exercise led by Marla Simcoff. When that ended, Litman entered the circle, smiled, introduced herself and explained why she was there, and that I was there to take photographs.

Litman opened with a blessing over the water, which she drank, and then introduced her mother, Shirley Kort, a member of L’Chaim and her mom’s friend, Zoe Oreck, who had come to visit.

The story Litman had chosen was one of Peninah Schramm’s – The Innkeeper’s Wise Daughter – which included riddles and a song. It easily invited audience participation and the listeners were only too glad to do so.

After I listened, enjoyed and participated in Litman’s storytelling, and I heard the various questions and answers, I began to realize the scope of what is accomplished under the watchful eyes of L’Chaim staff and Carlsson, who explained that the wide range of work on cognitive skills is easily managed because of the small size of the group.

In honor of her visit and in her mother’s name, Litman presented a copy of a calendar commemorating the 151 years of Congregation Emanu-El in Victoria. She showed photos of the costumes worn on the anniversary evening last year, as the event included a reenactment of those times. The photos brought back precious memories for one audience member, who was reminded that she had attended that event.

I left with a good feeling, and the others, who were chatting away over lunch with one another, also seemed relaxed and happy. We are fortunate to have this facility in our midst. Let’s grow old together.

Binny Goldman is a member of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver board.

Print/Email
0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 Google+ 0 0 Flares ×
Format ImagePosted on July 25, 2014July 23, 2014Author Binny GoldmanCategories LocalTags L’Chaim Adult Day Centre, maggidah, Shoshana Litman

Post navigation

Previous Previous post: Canadian political support of Israel notable
Next Next post: Remembering Reb Zalman
Proudly powered by WordPress