Joseph Segal plants a fruit tree with Yaffa Housing president Avie Estrin and Tracy Penner, back in 2010. Says Estrin: “Like a tree bears fruit only when properly nurtured and cared for, so too must we take responsibility and care for the most fragile and vulnerable amongst us, if we are to be healthy and fruitful as a community.” (photo by Susan J. Katz)
Until the final hours of his life, Joseph Segal was continuing a life of philanthropic engagement. On the weekend before his passing, the 97-year-old Segal had a meeting with Avie Estrin, president of Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society, of which the Segal family are leading supporters.
According to Estrin, in that meeting, Segal “reiterated his commitment towards helping bring Yaffa House the profile and community support he understood was so necessary and deserving.”
Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society group homes provide food, shelter, programming and on-premises support, within the context of Jewish traditions, culture and practice, for up to 18 Jewish adults struggling with mental illness. Segal’s backing of the organization goes back to the beginning.
“Joe was always a great supporter of Yaffa, right from the early days when my father Aaron Estrin (z’l) met with him in 1999 to discuss a capital campaign to raise the money to build the very first Yaffa House,” Avie Estrin said. “Even after his death, Joseph Segal was true to his word. Rabbi [Andrew] Rosenblatt’s eulogy reminded us of this in Joe Segal’s final wishes: that the Jewish community recognize Yaffa Housing Society’s work, and donate to our cause. While we have lost a great friend and supporter in the passing of Joseph Segal, he will always be remembered as the catalyst for our first house, and a champion for our mission.”
Segal’s support helped Yaffa through its entire history, not least in recent years, when the pandemic added hurdles to the delivery of service.
“Because kosher meal provision is so central to maintaining the Jewish aspect of our home, it was a terrible blow to our operations when we suddenly lost our arrangement with the Louis Brier Home and Hospital in January 2022, after 20 years’ cooperation,” Estrin said. “Fortunately, we were able to cobble together a new arrangement whereby JFS’s [Jewish Family Services’] Kitchen provides two wonderful meals per week. Café 41, along with L’Chaim Adult Day Centre, have been generously preparing subsidized meals the rest of the week. Our small band of volunteers pick up the meals from these different meal providers and bring them to Yaffa House every day. It goes without saying, we can always use more volunteers.”
The organization is also seeking new board members, including a treasurer.
Yaffa Housing has a permanent contract with Vancouver Coastal Health to provide funding to staff the facility part-time, said Estrin. “But we still depend on donations and community support to supplement this. Frankly, it’s not enough. Jewish Federation has been indirectly contributing to Yaffa House’s staffing the last several years but it’s very difficult to plan into the future without knowing for sure those funds are going to be there the year after next.”
Yaffa has no paid staff other than a 20-hour-a-week in-house mental health support worker.
“We have no budget for an operations manager, executive director, or weekend or evening staff,” said Estrin. “In the end, it comes down to our volunteer board to pick up the slack, but it’s wearing. As Yaffa has grown and matured over the last two decades, so too has our board. In fact, one of Yaffa’s original founding board members still actively serves on our executive – my mother, Tzvia Estrin, I am very proud to say. But the old guard can’t forever sustain Yaffa’s daily operations and a paid management is long overdue.”
Estrin said the organization is vital for the community.
“Yaffa is unique in so far as it represents the only dedicated Jewish mental health group home in Canada, west of Toronto. Over the course of more than 20 years developing our in-house supportive model, we’ve attracted interest and attention across the country as well as internationally…. Despite this, Jews in Vancouver remain largely unaware of the essential service the Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society provides our community. Despite the more recent public awareness, mental health has historically taken a backseat relative to other more mainstream community health concerns. The sad reality is that unless mental illness has somehow touched you personally, it’s simply not on people’s radar. This speaks to why, after so many years, Yaffa House remains virtually the only option for Jewish families struggling with this issue.”
To donate, volunteer or learn more, visit yaffahouse.org.
Lilian Broca stands with “Mary Magdalene, The Sacred Union,” which is one of seven panels comprising her current exhibit, Mary Magdalene Resurrected. (photo from Lilian Broca)
Lilian Broca’s artistic canon includes four series on biblical women. The latest, Mary Magdalene Resurrected, is at Il Museo at the Italian Cultural Centre until Aug. 15.
“Each series is an interpretation of a different concern,” Broca told the Independent. “Lilith is the rebel signifying hope for human courage and gender equality. Queen Esther, also courageous and wise, her story addressing the theme of sacrifice and self-empowerment, is actively involved in politics; in her time, known as an almost exclusive masculine realm. Judith, a warrior at heart who single-handedly saves her town from total annihilation, speaks of female effectiveness in the military world – a masculine tradition that she breaks, proving women don’t necessarily excel only in the domestic sphere.
“Unlike Esther and Judith, both actively involved in the masculine domain, Mariam [Mary] is a much more complex figure,” said Broca. “Her story has been greatly redacted in the first couple of centuries CE, leaving us various versions, which offer divergent perspectives of her importance and placement in the life of Yeshua Ben Yosef [Jesus]. One of the concerns in this series is about women’s place, or lack thereof, in institutions – which even in our 21st century – are restrictively based on gender.”
While it may seem odd that Mary Magdalene is included in Broca’s body of work, she reminded the Independent that Mary was “also Jewish until she died, as Christianity did not appear as such until the Edict of Milan in 313 CE and, universally, only at the Council of Nicea in 325 CE.”
A painter for many years, Broca’s Lilith series was created and exhibited in that medium, while Esther, Judith and Mariam are portrayed in mosaics.
“In 2000, I attended The Creation of the World in Jewish and Christian Art with Discussion on Illuminated Manuscripts at the Vancouver Public Library with speakers/presenters Bezalel Narkiss and Dr. Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, both of Israel,” explained Broca. “There, I saw a slide show Bezalel presented on ancient synagogues in the Levant. The Dura Europos in Syria had a beautiful fresco illustrating the Queen Esther story. I was mesmerized and, once home, I started to do some serious research on the Esther stories (more than one version)…. It was during the research that I found out that the palace in which Esther lived with her Persian king, Hashayarshah/Xerxes, had floors ‘encrusted with rubies and porphyry in pleasing designs.’ These were mosaics and, for me, a good omen. I knew I should return to creating mosaics one day, something I experimented with as a student (at 19) but stopped soon after. So, I decided to create the whole Esther series in mosaic glass.”
More than 10 years ago, Broca’s interest in Mary Magdalene was piqued by something she read on the discovery in the 1940s of the Gnostic Gospels, but various circumstances delayed further study, including a visit to her studio by Dr. Adolfo Roitman, curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls, who was in town to give a lecture. He loved the Esther series and suggested she do one on Judith, which she did.
Only in 2016 did Broca return her attention to Mariam. Over eight months, she read dozens of books and essays, and drew and painted the cartoons (drawings for mosaics) for the series now on display. In making the panels, Broca had the help of Adeline Benhammouda, who used to work for Mosaika Studio in Montreal. When Broca was diagnosed with cancer, she asked the studio to make the last two mosaics in the series.
“In the meantime,” said Broca, “the pandemic slowed down activities in all institutions, especially art galleries, and I didn’t know what would happen to my future exhibition.”
The pandemic also temporarily reduced the supply of N95 masks that protected Broca – who suffered a lung infection after her radiation treatment was complete – from the silica dust that results from grinding the glass mosaic tesserae.
One of Broca’s projects as a Shadbolt Independent Scholar at Simon Fraser University was to write a letter describing her activities during the self-isolation months of COVID. All the scholars’ letters were published and Broca’s can be found at the bcreview.ca/2021/02/14/broca-pandemic-magdalene. It is addressed to Mariam and, in it, Broca explains why she chose large (79-by-48-inch) panels for this series.
“In the past, women artists, their works and their stories were mostly associated with the intimate and the small, as though they dared not take up valuable space and time,” she wrote. “As you know from my past art works, I resent that timid notion. My heroines insist and demand the space and importance that long ago was offered to masculine achievements in the military, politics and commerce.
“And, finally, Mariam, after reading so many diverse accusations, betrayals, and the vilification you were subjected to over the centuries, I have decided to express the existence of disparate accounts of your story with text in each mosaic panel, hence the illuminated manuscript composition and unifying motif. Each panel displays three to four lines in an ancient language spoken during your time on earth.”
The languages featured are Aramaic, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Armenian, Latin, Amharic and Coptic. Broca chose to make seven panels because seven “is a sacred number in the Jewish tradition.”
“Symbolism plays an important part in my artworks and this series is no exception,” Broca told the Independent. “Each drawing includes symbols that are meaningful in both Judaic and Christian traditions. Whether they are flowers, fruit, boats, pottery or textile patterns, these symbols speak of the distant past, yet most of them are recognizable today. Just like an illuminated manuscript page, I sought to illuminate what lies hidden or repressed through the symbols on the borders of each ‘page.’ Hopefully, through them, new ideas can be brought to life.”
Lilian Broca working on the panel “Mary Magdalene, Defiled and Defamed.” Her exhibit, Mary Magdalene Resurrected, is at Il Museo until Aug. 15. (photo from Lilian Broca)
While the Esther and Judith stories have a beginning and an end, Broca said, “Mariam unfortunately is a figure that appears suddenly in Yeshua’s (arguably) 33rd year and disappears right after the Crucifixion that same year. The Gnostic Gospels and other historical documentation that refer to her following the crucifixion are interwoven with legend and myth, none of which is accepted by academics. I chose scenes from all sources, scenes that I felt relayed best her high social status during Yeshua’s life, the love and closeness the two shared, her marginalization once Yeshua died and there was no one to protect her against the ill will and jealousy of the Apostles, the relationship with Mary the Virgin and, finally, my personal vision of a balanced religion, any religion.”
For the series, Broca studied the history of the Jews in the first-century BCE to first-century CE period. “I loved all that research,” said Broca. “I learned so much about Judaism in the process. It was reassuring to read Yeshua’s Jewish parables and to realize that he was very, very concerned with the lack of faith he found in the small beit hamidrash(es) they had in those days and, of course, in the temple. The political situation at that time was extremely complex and the ‘ruling class’ of Sadducees and Pharisees kept the masses in poverty while most of them aligned themselves with the Romans and became wealthier than they had ever dreamed. Yeshua never planned on starting a new religion; on the contrary, he wanted a return to the old ways. My understanding is that the 12 disciples were responsible for all the changes that ensued after Yeshua’s death.”
During the drawing stage of the series, Broca said she consulted two academics – Dr. Mary Ann Beavis and Margaret Starbird – about “‘how far can I push the envelope?’ before I get reprimanded by Christians for profanity or blasphemy.” For instance, wondered Broca, is it OK to portray Jesus washing Mary Magdelene’s feet?
“Each time I heard their answers,” said Broca, “I weighed them carefully, because, after all, I do retain an artistic licence for expressing my own perspective in art. But, at the same time, as a Jewish woman (not a Jewish artist) who embarks on a sensitive subject, I had to make sure I respect the Christian beliefs. I would not appreciate a Christian person making art that endorses what I consider derogatory Jewish images or symbolism.”
At the exhibit’s opening, Broca said, “I am not a theologian nor a religious person and my point of view remains, as always, a feminist one.”
She noted, “Mary Magdalene lived in a strict patriarchal society when women had few rights and freedoms, yet she left her sanctuary, her home and family, in order to follow a single man, without a job or an income, without a fixed address, a man traveling with an entourage of 12 other men spreading the word of God.”
She said, “For 20 centuries, Yeshua, or Jesus, has been both a bridge and a barrier between the Jewish and the Christian faiths. Although I find Jesus equally fascinating, this body of work here, is not about him. It is strictly about his favourite and beloved disciple, Mary the Magdalene.”
The documentary Mary Magdalene in Conversation with Lilian Broca is in post-production. The film, for which Broca wrote the script, is fully subsidized by the Canada Council for the Arts. It follows the journal Broca started in early 2016, when she embarked on her research.
“My hope is that the Mary Magdalene series will open new avenues to perceive the hugely influential relationship between Yeshua and Mariam … as well as considering what happened to that relationship in the hands of the male founders of Christianity,” said Broca. “In addition, I hope that, through my Mariam mosaics, viewers will be profoundly motivated to reexamine this whole critical episode of human history.”
In a 2020 article, Italian Cultural Centre director and curator Angela Clarke spoke in this context about Broca’s body of work as a whole, noting: “Through her mosaics, Broca looks to glass shards as a means to remind viewers that the traditional paradigms associated with traditional institutions and power dynamics can be broken through and reconstructed into a world that is more healing.”
Last week, John Horgan sent a welcome letter to the Pacific regional office of CIJA, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. The British Columbia premier committed to fighting antisemitism, including using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism as a measuring stick in the ongoing fight against anti-Jewish discrimination.
The premier’s statement came on the very day that Abacus Data, an opinion research firm, released data from a survey of 1,500 Canadians. The alarming results show that a huge number of Canadians subscribe to appalling ideas.
Nearly one in five Canadians, according to the survey, believe there is a cover-up to hide the “fact” COVID vaccines kill people, while fully another 25% of Canadians think that might be true or aren’t sure.
One in 10 believe that vaccines implant a microchip to control human behaviour, and another 14% think that could be accurate.
Things go downhill from there. More than half of Canadians say that official government statements cannot be trusted – a serious allegation in a democratic society.
The poll also found that 44% of Canadians believes a “secret cabal of elites” control world events. As alarming, about 37% of respondents agreed with the statement: “There is a group of people in this country who are trying to replace native-born Canadians with immigrants who agree with their political view.”
Whenever phrases like “secret cabal of elites” are employed, informed people know exactly to whom that dog-whistle refers. And the second concept, dubbed the “Great Replacement” theory, was the motivation for the mass murder of 10 Black people in Buffalo, N.Y., last month. The “group of people” frequently accused of masterminding such alleged “replacement” are, of course, Jews. This was something that came to broader public awareness during the fatal white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., five years ago, when tiki torch-bearing racists chanted “Jews will not replace us!”
It is above our paygrade to understand or explain the socio-psychological reasons why, at the first sign of crazy, attention seems inevitably to turn to Jews. (At least the caricatured Jews of the antisemites’ imaginations, a pathology that inevitably has impacts on actual Jews.)
For whatever reasons, as we noted in this space a month ago, when a society leans into conspiracies, it seems inevitable that sights turn to Jews. These poll numbers suggest Canadians are further down this slippery slope that we might have imagined.
Canadians – Jewish and otherwise – can be forgiven for feeling a sense of smugness in recent years as we have watched some seriously messed up stuff happening with our nearest neighbours. Many of us have hedged our bets, knowing that, in societies that are in some ways going off the rails – not only the United States, but parts of Europe and other erstwhile stable liberal democracies – Canada cannot be immune from some of these tendencies. And, it seems, we are not.
It is important that government officials say the right things, as Horgan did last week. Of course, that so many Canadians do not trust elected officials presumably dulls the impact of these actions somewhat, but this does not detract from the urgency of forging ahead with what we know is the right thing to do.
The answer remains, as it was when we wrote about this issue (albeit less urgently) a month ago: we must stand verbally and forcefully against misinformation and disinformation. We must recommit, every day, to liberal values of tolerance, pluralism and the quest for truth and justice. We must ourselves exercise as well as teach young people the critical thinking skills to discern truth from fiction, and how to evaluate facts. And we must challenge politicians, commentators, family and friends who promote, or justify, the sorts of ideas that, we now know, are held by far too many Canadians.
“Remembrance” by Michael Shevloff. Part of PhotoClub Vancouver’s Connections exhibit at Zack Gallery until June 27.
Whenever a photographer – amateur or experienced – snaps a picture, they establish a connection between themself and their subject. They shout to the world that this image at this time and in this place is an important occurrence and should be preserved and treasured.
The PhotoClub Vancouver group show, Connections, opened June 2 at the Zack Gallery. People and birds, industrial cityscapes and soothing nature shots, close-ups and panoramas – every image in the exhibit tells a story about the world and the photographer’s place in it.
The club was officially established in 1998. Its friendly, non-competitive environment for photographers of all skill levels encourages members to develop their technical and artistic abilities through various activities, including peer critique, field trips, workshops and seminars. And, of course, exhibitions like Connections, which allow members to share their art beyond the group.
Some of the photographers took the Connections theme literally, like Ivor Levin’s “Roped In.” The orange ropes in the image are taut and sure, but the objects they hold together are left outside the frame. Only the connection itself is important to the artist.
A similar approach characterizes Lynn Copeland’s “Cranes and Planes.” The image’s graphic simplicity is almost abstract, as the harsh lines of the industrial cityscape, viewed on the background of the distant sky, induces the sense of a steel labyrinth where any uninitiated human would be lost.
Barb Kaiser’s “Hanging Around” also includes ropes as the connecting medium, but the feeling it inspires is vastly different. A window washer hangs in his harness in the foreground, doing his job. Behind him, a skyscraper-studded panorama of North Vancouver is visible in all its urban majesty. We are all connected, the image seems to say, in every window of every building.
Unlike the stark, sharp-angled industrial imagery, logical and attractive on a cerebral level, the pictures reflecting nature flaunt softer lines. They appeal to our emotions. For example, Terry Beaupre’s “Canada Geese Flying Off Together” depicts two geese. Their dark silhouettes soaring together on the background of a pink sunset evoke ideas of love and companionship. “I couldn’t have asked them to pose more perfectly for me,” Beaupre says in her artist’s statement, although she admits that she painted the dramatic colours of the sunset later on, to enhance the picture.
Terry Beaupre’s “Canada Geese Flying Off Together.”
The grace of a couple in love is also implied in another bird picture – Levin’s “Peck.” The two doves in the image are sharing a kiss. Or maybe they are sharing a bug to eat. Whatever they are sharing, their affection for each other is unmistakable and heartwarming.
The charm of the loving doves is absent in Drago Tutnjevic’s “Bus Stop.” The four people standing in line to board a bus are strangers. Their estrangement is made even more obvious by the fact that three of them are absorbed in their phones. The one not on the phone looks straight ahead, thinking her own thoughts. No doubt, each of the passengers has multiple connections – their friends, family and others – but here, at this bus stop, nothing connects them except the expectation of the bus itself. The photo reflects the complex networks that link us all, as well as the separateness of every person in our huge technology-permeated world.
In contrast, a simple path in the park, portrayed in John Konovsky’s “Onward No Matter What,” reminds us of the mysteries of childhood adventures and the romantic wandering of our youth.
Another image reminiscent of the joy of childhood is David Beaver’s “Balloon Man.” Even in black and white, the man holding bunches of balloons in both hands brings to mind birthday parties and vacation frolicking. The photo is part of the club’s Henry Ballon B&W Challenge.
“Line S” by Ivor Levin.
An entire wall of the gallery is reserved for the black and white photographs, by different photographers, all parts of the challenge, which was started in 2015 in memory of the late Henry Ballon. Ballon was an avid monochrome photographer and advocated photography with minimum retouching by any software. Club members honour Ballon by creating their own art using his principles. The photos demonstrate how deep the artists can reach, even if their expression palette is limited to the gradations of black and white.
But the most visceral and poignant image in this exhibition is “Remembrance” by Michael Shevloff. A mother crouches beside her young daughter in front of a staircase. Their backs are to the viewer. They face the stairs together, just like everyone who looks at this photograph. And on the stairs reside memories. Toys. Shoes. Hats. Books. No people. What does this young mother tell her child? Who were the owners of the objects on this staircase? What happened to them? Where? When? The photograph raises many questions, and all of them remain unanswered – unless the artist decides to answer them, which Shevloff did.
“The photo was taken at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where there was an outdoor installation commemorating the discovery of the unmarked graves found at a residential school recently. It affected many people and brought a dark period of history to light. Flags were lowered across Canada for many months.
“I took the photo on July 1st of 2021. Normally on Canada Day, there are parades and many people celebrating our history. However, last year, with the pandemic and the dark events I mentioned above, it seemed like no one was celebrating our national day.
“In the photo a woman is talking to her child. In my mind, I tried to imagine how she would be explaining the memorial and the events surrounding it to her daughter. Just as the memory of the dead children is elicited by the installation, the mother and child are also photographed from behind and also remain nameless in time.”
Connections is on display until June 27. For more information, check out photoclubvancouver.com.
Olga Livshinis a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
Jewish artists participating in Dancing on the Edge July 7-16 include Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg in Pants. (photo by Wendy D Photography)
Several Jewish community artists are part of the 34th annual Dancing on the Edge lineup, which includes more than 30 productions July 7-16.
Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg will share part of a new solo called Pants, which is a work-in-progress. Tasha Faye Evans will perform in the première of Raven Spirit Dance’s Confluence and Vanessa Goodman’s Core/Us will see its local debut. Rebecca Margolick will bring the now-complete solo Bunker + Vault to the festival, whose home base is the Firehall Arts Centre.
Of Pants, Cheyenne Friedenberg said, “The full-length show will premiere at the Firehall in the ’23/24 season and centres around my experience as a ‘mostly’ female-identifying person who has been questioning the gender binary in private and in my art practice all my life. The younger generation, including my child, is inspiring the challenging of the gender binary in ways my generation never had the language for. Pants uses personal narrative comedy/stand-up and dance to trace how gender stereotypes and expectations affect a life, an identity, and how poking holes in all of it can bring healing and catharsis.”
She noted, “The piece is being created with consultation, interviews and collaboration from a variety of artists working outside the gender binary.”
Cheyenne Friedenberg created Pants in collaboration with choreographer Kate Franklin, theatre artist Cameron Mackenzie (ZeeZee Theatre) and dramaturge Joanna Garfinkel (who is also a member of the Jewish community).
Evans is a theatre and dance artist, writer and festival producer, with Coast Salish, Welsh, and European Jewish heritage. She described Raven Spirit Dance’s Confluence as “a beautiful weaving of Indigenous women from across these lands. The piece is about the things we carry as women, how we hold each other and how the land holds all of us.
“The piece,” she said, “was shared two years ago at the Talking Stick Festival and, days later, we all went into lockdown and our worlds changed.”
Tasha Faye Evans in Raven Spirit Dance’s Confluence. (photo by Erik Zennström)
When theatres began to reopen, Confluence was the first piece that brought Raven Spirit together again – they performed an excerpt of it at Dancing on the Edge. “This year,” said Evans, “we are delighted to be brought together again, premièring the work and being able to take a deep breath together as life continues to unfold in these unprecedented times.”
Goodman’s Core/Us is a new group work that she has been in the process of creating on and off since the fall of 2019. During the piece, which runs about 70 minutes, Goodman said “four dancers transverse our perception of how we hear movement and see sound, with mesmerizing results. The live movement and sound score sculpt an ever-evolving atmosphere that builds gravity for the body. Patiently shifting states and layers of momentum define this piece, marked by its immersive world-building. The work asks for both tenderness and strength from the performing artists.”
Vanessa Goodman’s Core/Us. (photo by David Cooper)
Core/Us will be performed by Anya Saugstad, Eowynn Enquist, Ted Littlemore and Adrian de Leeuw with lighting by James Proudfoot. Shion Skye Carter and Sarah Formosa have also been a part of the creative process, said Goodman.
The group has worked closely with artist Brady Marks on the piece. “Her incredible knowledge of sonic composition has made a deep impact on our process together,” said Goodman. “We are looking forward to sharing the work in Seattle with On the Boards and Velocity just before DOTE, then we are excited to première it here in July.”
Rebecca Margolick in Bunker + Vault. (photo by Maxx Berkowitz)
Margolick has performed the first 10 minutes of the solo Bunker + Vault in Vancouver previously and said she is excited to be bringing the full show to DOTE.
“It’s now a finished 35-minute solo,” she said. “I showed 20 minutes in Montreal, and I showed the full piece in Carcassonne, France, and in San José, Costa Rica, once in November 2021 and just recently in May 2022.
“The work is very much based on personal experience,” she continued. “In it, there is a lot of imagery steeped in memory, women, mothers, womb and resilience. Some inspiration and imagery in the solo came from reading through the archives at the 92nd St Y in New York City detailing the lives of immigrant Jewish women, from 1890 to 1950, residing at the Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, and where and how my experience has overlapped with theirs.”
Dancing on the Edge takes place at Firehall Arts Centre, Scotiabank Dance Centre and various other locations. It also features online performances, as well as dance films and discussions. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish from $15 to $35, and offsite outdoor performances are free. For tickets and more information, visit dancingontheedge.org.
Artist-in-residence David Greenberg has multiple performances at this year’s Vancouver Bach Festival: Scottish Baroque and Other Traditions. (photo by J.B. Millot)
Violinist David Greenberg teaches a course called Cape Breton-Baroque Integration, which is “devoted to creating living moments on the violin through the art of ‘keeping it swirly.’” He keeps it swirly by a range of techniques, but the intangible part derives from his love of Baroque and Cape Breton music.
Greenberg is co-artist-in-residence at Early Music Vancouver this year along with David McGuinness, and the pair will play in a few performances as part of this summer’s Vancouver Bach Festival: Scottish Baroque and Other Traditions, which takes place July 26 to Aug. 6 at various venues in Vancouver.
Early Music Vancouver’s artists-in-residence program started last summer, with Cree-Métis Two-Spirit baritone Jonathon Adams. The program was initiated by EMV artistic and executive director Suzie LeBlanc “to honour Canada’s diverse heritages while at the same time exploring the convergences between ‘world music’ and early music.” Greenberg came to be an artist-in-residence through his connection to LeBlanc, who is an interdisciplinary artist – he has performed with her many times over the years.
“Many of those collaborations involved a degree of integration between folk and Baroque music,” Greenberg told the Independent. “Often, those collaborations included David McGuinness, who is also a close friend and colleague from Glasgow, a scholar of 18th-century Scottish music, a brilliant musician on various keyboard instruments and the founder and director of Concerto Caledonia.
“David and I have worked together for over 20 years,” said Greenberg, “mostly on projects that involve some degree of Baroque-traditional stylistic integration. Suzie asked David and me to be co-artists-in-residence for the 2022 festival since this year’s theme is the integration of Baroque and Scottish traditional music.
“Over the two-week festival … David and I will perform solo, chamber and orchestral concerts. We will also coach young musicians and perform with BOMP (Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Program) as part of our activities.”
Greenberg was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Maryland. He lived in Canada for 30 years, but is currently living in Corvallis, Ore.
A graduate of Indiana University’s Early Music Institute, he has performed, taught and recorded in multiple places around the world, but mainly in North America and Western Europe. In addition to LeBlanc, he has performed with more than a dozen groups and performers, and been a guest soloist and/or director with several orchestras. Between these collaborations and his own ensemble Puirt a Baroque (pronounced poorsht-a-baroque, and meaning tunes from the Baroque), he has recorded more than 80 CDs. As well, he is a composer and arranger, and he co-authored Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton: The DunGreen Collection with Kate Dunlay.
“I started playing at age 4, dabbled in both classical music and traditional folk fiddle as a kid, went to conservatory and got depressed, switched over to Early Music performance, which suited my temperament better, and joined Tafelmusik (Toronto-based Baroque orchestra) for a decade in the ’90s,” said Greenberg.
“Alongside my Baroque playing, I dove into learning the Cape Breton fiddle style, started a few bands, worked with many colleagues around the world…. The combination of the Baroque and Cape Breton musical languages is where my sense of 18th-century Scottish violin music comes from. Italian and Scottish composers are connected by way of some Italians living and working in Scotland in the 18th century, resulting in an inevitable mixing of the styles, though to what degree is a matter of opinion.”
He said the fun thing about the Baroque and Cape Breton styles “is how their esthetic hierarchies are totally different. So that means they work as effective comic relief for each other! Cape Breton music is basically the continued, naturally evolving, living tradition of 18th-century Scottish Highland fiddling. A strange fact is that Baroque music was popular in Scotland about 50 years beyond when it died out in continental Europe. That means that the Scottish traditional music and Scottish Baroque music coexisted side-by-side in 18th-century Scotland, including many examples of music that lie somewhere between the two styles.”
Greenberg plays a Baroque-style violin made in 2000 by Masa Inokuchi in Toronto. He said, “Cape Breton music is played on a modern fiddle these days, but it works on a Baroque fiddle within the appropriate context.”
And as for a little more context on Greenberg and his musical range, he shared, “My mom has always loved singing Yiddish songs and accompanying herself on the piano. I enjoy backing her up on fiddle when I visit her.”
For tickets go to the Vancouver Bach Festival, visit earlymusic.bc.ca.
Back row, left to right: Jocelyne Hallé, Debbie Cossever, Nassa Selwyn, Susan Goldstein, Arnold Selwyn, Karon Shear and Marshall Berger. Middle row, left to right: Beryl Israel, Maurice Moses, Daniella Givon, Muriel Morris, Dawn Hurwitz and Rona Black. In front: Sara Bernstein, left, and Tamar Glaser. (photo by Jocelyne Hallé)
Shortly after she arrived in Vancouver from South Africa, in 2002, Beryl Israel founded Showtime, a seniors’ singing and dancing group. In the decades since, Showtime participants have performed 230 concerts. After a hiatus forced by the global pandemic, Showtimers are back to rehearsals, hoping to have their first public performance in September or October.
“It’s old-time, happy favourites, from the movies and from Broadway shows,” Israel said of the Showtime repertoire.
For most of the group’s history, rehearsals took place at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, but, as rehearsals return, they will be meeting at Kerrisdale Community Centre. Concerts are performed wherever they can bring happiness and good memories – community centres, church groups and Jewish venues like the Richmond Kehila Seniors, the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and the Weinberg Residence.
From the start, 20 years ago, the group – which usually consists of about 16 performers, many of whom are Jewish – has done a concert every three or four weeks. That came to an abrupt halt with the arrival of COVID. Now, as the group plans the first post-pandemic activity, Showtimers are reflecting on what the group – and Israel in particular – has meant to them. In a series of testimonials collected by participant Karon Shear, members spoke of the impact of their participation in general and of their friendship with Israel. The testimonials were compiled “behind my back!” Israel noted, and were shared in Senior Line, the publication of the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver.
Muriel Morris, who has just retired as the group’s pianist, said the Showtime experience was important at a pivotal time in her life.
“Beryl came into my life shortly after Ben, my husband, died,” said the musician. “Meeting her was so fortunate for me. Showtime filled a great void in my life, as pianist of the group, giving pleasure to all our audiences and giving myself a true feeling of well-being and fulfilment.”
With Morris’s departure, the group will sing to music recorded by North Shore musician Bob York.
Beryl Israel founded Showtime shortly after she arrived in Vancouver from South Africa, in 2002. (photo by Jennifer Friezen)
“We’re very privileged and lucky that he’s done this for us,” Israel said.
While Showtime includes a cadre of singers and dancers, Israel alone fills many roles.
“I’m the everything,” she said with a laugh. “I’m the director, producer, choreographer, I make the costumes, I do the arrangements, I do the bookings. I ended up doing it all.”
Most of the performers are north of 70.
“I don’t know what’s happened with the 60-to-70 age group,” she said. “They sort of disappeared.”
A number of the most active participants are in their 90s – and maybe singing and dancing keeps them young.
“It’s very rewarding, both for participants and for the audience,” Israel said, a theme reflected in the many testimonials collected by Shear.
“I love the costumes, the rehearsals, being on the stage, singing and dancing and entertaining folks,” said singer Debbie Cossever. “Beryl gave me the opportunity to use my talents bringing joy to the lives of seniors. I have been with her troupe for 17 years
because I love it! I am so proud I am a Showtimer.”
“Beryl has enhanced my life and my dreams have been fulfilled,” said singer and dancer Sara Bernstein. “It has been an honour over the 17 years being part of Showtime. I witnessed how people sprung up from wheelchairs in elation of the dance, costumes and musical joy Beryl produced. I shall never forget seeing stroke victims joyfully tapping a finger or toe in unrestrained elation. Caregivers and staff mentioned that the residual energy of the shows carried on for days.”
“Although my stage presence in acting and singing goes back over 75 years,” Arnold Selwyn added, “the last 16 years, performing with Beryl’s Showtime group, has given me, without a doubt, the most satisfaction and pleasure. Her professionalism, choice of content and skill of program arranging, makes each show run smoothly and [be] enjoyable for the varied audiences. It is a joy to work with her and watching her dance is a delight.”
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do a mitzvah (again and again) while I do some of the things I love most – singing and dancing,” said Daniella Givon. “It is a pleasure to bring light and colour, music and movement to those who are wheelchair-bound, who cannot live on their own and who need special care. Every time I see our audience smile, nod their head, clap their hands and sing with us, I know this mitzvah counts.”
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart pins the Freedom of the City medal to Dr. Yosef Wosk’s lapel in a ceremony May 31. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)
Yosef Wosk, a scholar, educator, author, businessperson, art collector, explorer, rabbi, peace activist and philanthropist, has been awarded Vancouver’s Freedom of the City.
The top honour bestowed by the City of Vancouver, the Freedom of the City is in recognition of Wosk’s philanthropic work benefiting libraries and museums, academic excellence, nature conservation, health care, community and social services, heritage preservation, science, humanities, reconciliation, and the arts in Vancouver and around the world.
The honour was bestowed by Mayor Kennedy Stewart at a ceremony May 31 at the Roundhouse Community Centre. Also recognized that night with an award of excellence was Jewish Family Services’ the Kitchen.
Born in Vancouver in 1949, Dr. Yosef Wosk is a multidisciplinary thinker and community activist who founded the Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars, the Philosophers’ Café, and a number of schools. He has championed museums and libraries on every continent, assisted individuals and institutions with publication grants, planted hundreds of thousands of trees, and endowed the City of Vancouver’s Poet Laureate. His extensive travels culminated in expeditions to both the north and south poles.
Wosk is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Member of the Order of British Columbia, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He is the recipient of both the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, the United Nation’s Culture Beyond Borders Medal, the President’s Award from the Canadian Museums Association, and a Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Community Service from the NAACP.
The Freedom of the City is the highest award given by the City of Vancouver. The city grants the honour only in exceptional cases to individuals of the highest merit. The recipient is usually someone who has gained national and international acclaim in the arts, business, or philanthropy, and who has brought recognition to Vancouver through his or her achievements.
The city began honouring individuals with the Freedom of the City Award in 1936. While several Jewish community members have been awarded the medal – most recently landscape architecture Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, just four days before she died on May 22, 2021 – Wosk and his late father, Morris J. Wosk, are the only father-son recipients in its history.
Yosef Wosk delivered an address to the audience, who assembled to witness a number of civic awards presented by the mayor and city councilors. Among the organizations recognized – in the category of Healthy City for All – was the Kitchen, a program of Jewish Family Services Vancouver.
Jewish Family Services’ the Kitchen is honoured for excellence. Left to right: Mayor Kennedy Stewart, Councilor Jean Swanson, JFS chief executive officer Tanja Demajo, JFS board chair Jody Dales, JFS Food Security Task Force co-chair Stan Shaw, JFS volunteer and food security committee member Paul Becker, and Councilor Michael Wiebe. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)
Recognizing the vulnerability of people with food security challenges in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, JFS transitioned to delivering food for those most in need. The number of people they served and the frequency of food distribution more than doubled, and JFS saw the need to open a new multipurpose space in Mount Pleasant in March 2021.
The new purpose-designed food distribution centre has enabled JFS to establish all of its food operations under one roof, store and distribute a larger supply of food, prepare meals in-house, and eliminate the need to set up and reassemble the food bank every second week.
The Kitchen now provides a wider array of options, particularly for those with specific dietary needs, and serves a more diverse group of people across Vancouver. Produce, dairy, and healthy and nutritious food items are part of an ongoing food preparation operation that prepares and delivers vegan meals to community members and local Jewish day schools from the main Mount Pleasant location, as well as six satellite locations in the Vancouver area.
Mayor Stewart, councilors, laureates of awards of excellence, family and friends, in contemplating the idea of Freedom of the City, I asked myself, “What is the city?” and “What is the nature of freedom?”
A city – characterized as an amalgamation of buildings – is also a social contract wherein a large number of people agree to live relatively close to one another. The price we pay is giving up some of our freedoms. They are restricted in return for other mutual benefits such as law enforcement, culture, infrastructure, education, health and social services. However, in the very act of abdicating our individual freedoms, civilization fills us with discontents[1], for we resent – consciously or unconsciously – having been so domesticated.
The metropolitan fair, however, is occupied by more than just humans adorned in the robes of their constant drama. We may be a poem of our city, defined by the parenthesis of mountain and sea; we may be wandering pilgrims and humble hermits, thieves and lovers among the woods and waters of Lotus Land, but we are only one species, a minority in the midst of many.
Remember the moss and the mushroom thriving in lavish rainforest where each drop is a diamond and morning-dew a jewel of the resurrected dawn.
Ours is a garden city: every garden has its rose; each rose, its thorn.
The city is a living organism; the atmosphere dynamically charged.
The land itself knows our name.
This evening, let us celebrate our urban oasis, embrace its wholeness, the cornucopia of all existence.
What then is freedom and where does it dwell?
It is a mosaic of principles that are frequently taken for granted: they guarantee the ability to express ourselves, to elect politicians and critique society.
We must also consider what it is not. Freedom does not give others the right to steal our property or invade our privacy. Anti-hate speech and libel legislation protect us from the abuse of freedoms by others.
The fullness of freedom – the insecurity borne of its great responsibilities – can prove too much for some to bear. We speak of “free will” but generally act as if by habit or according to the doctrines of others. Authentic free will is not without cost. It is among the rarest of phenomena.
While freedom is often expressed as a declaration of independence, ironically it also implies discipline. When paired with imagination, the one who is disciplined is the most emancipated of all. Such is the trained dancer, champion athlete, or master musician. The hands of a skilled surgeon save lives; a critical thinker solves problems; the voice of confidence banishes despair.
In the course of my life, I was given much, strove to increase what I could, and gave away even more. I have risen and fallen with the tides; been lost and found ten thousand times. I explored much, found wondrous things, and tried to integrate teachings from every corner of the world.
And yet, after a lifetime of labour, I recognize there is still much to accomplish: trees to plant and minds to cultivate, libraries to build, souls to heal and words to compose. Every moment is precious; each day a treasure.
My quest has been long and arduous. Over the years, after too many opportunities that ended in regret, I, along with Kierkegaard, learned to dare greatly: “Have I dared wrongly? (Oh) well, then life will help me with the punishment. / But if I have not dared at all, who will help me then?”
I fear that although I worked hard and studied until time abandoned its clock, although I chased sleep from my eyes and rest from my exhausted body, dreamt with the stars and traveled to the very ends of the earth in search of wisdom, I still feel empty, aware there is so much more to learn, to know, to be.
What was achieved is only a small percentage of what could have been implemented. Regarding this, King Solomon affirmed that “No one dies with even half their desires fulfilled.”[2]
However, when I look back upon my life, I am filled with gratitude and wonder that my few and fleeting years have been an offering to a rather astonishing journey of unrelenting adventure here on Spaceship Earth.[3]
I would have liked to share with you further reflections about “freedom and the city” but my allotted time has expired. I trust that you listened in stereo and intuited more than I could ever express.
In conclusion, I thank city council for this recognition. I am deeply grateful for this profound honour, one before which I tremble.
And thank you to my family, teachers, colleagues and friends for their unwavering love and inspiring support, for their tears and laughter, for their lessons in the art of living.
Allow me to close with a blessing for Vancouver:
Oi, Yehi ratzon milfa’nekha, El Melekh hie ve’kayam: May those who care for our city – citizens and volunteers, professional staff and elected officials – be guided with wisdom and compassion as they administer to all that is necessary. May your dedication result in peace and security, happiness and healing, creativity, prosperity, justice and freedom for all.
Hee’nai mah tov u’mah Nayim, shevet ahim gam yahad: How good and how pleasant it is for all of us to dwell together.
Grace McCarthy Plaza in Queen Elizabeth Park was dedicated on May 27. Left to right are Mark Weintraub (family friend); Mary McCarthy Parsons (Grace’s daughter); Stuart Mackinnon (Park Board chair); John Coupar (Park Board commissioner); and Donnie Rosa (general manager, Parks and Recreation). (photo from Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation)
On May 27, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation commemorated politician, former Park Board vice-chair and lifelong ambassador for the city’s greenspaces Grace McCarthy with a new plaque and plaza in Queen Elizabeth Park, by Bloedel Conservatory.
“Grace McCarthy was a true Park Board pioneer and her passion for her hometown of Vancouver can be seen across the city,” said Park Board chair Stuart Mackinnon in a release. “VanDusen Botanical Garden, Stanley Park Christmas Train, the lights of Lions Gate Bridge, we can enjoy these cherished landmarks today thanks to Grace’s unwavering drive and commitment.
“Grace was instrumental in seeing the Bloedel Conservatory opened in 1969 and I can’t think of a more appropriate place to celebrate her legacy. Grace McCarthy Plaza is a fitting tribute to a proud public servant of the city.”
During her three terms on the Park Board between 1960 and 1966, McCarthy led efforts to secure open spaces for park development and coordinate recreational activities for people with disabilities. She was elected as the first female vice-chair in 1966 and successfully ran for provincial election the same year.
A former florist, McCarthy’s love and appreciation for horticulture influenced some of her most noteworthy work with the Park Board. She worked tirelessly to ensure that Bloedel Conservatory was completed as a Canadian Centennial project, and campaigned throughout the 1960s for part of the abandoned Shaughnessy Golf Course to become what is now known as VanDusen Botanical Garden. Once elected to the legislative assembly, she continued her fight to fund the garden and, in 1970, made the announcement that the province would provide $1 million to its development.
Mary McCarthy Parsons sits in Grace McCarthy Plaza, beside the plaque that briefly describes her mother’s contributions to the city and the province. (photo from Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation)
In her time as member of the legislative assembly for the Vancouver-Little Mountain constituency, she successfully lobbied provincial and federal governments to enable women to apply for mortgages without a male guarantor. Her appointment as the first female deputy premier in Canada paved the way for generations of women in provincial politics. As deputy premier, her portfolios included economic development, provincial secretary, human resources, social services and tourism, and she initiated the province’s bid to host Expo ’86.
Following McCarthy’s passing in 2017, the Park Board directed staff to identify an appropriate space to recognize her legacy. One of the non-family members involved in that five-year process was Jewish community member Mark Weintraub, Q.C., a partner at the law firm Clark Wilson. He spoke at the May 27 ceremony.
“I did not personally know Grace well,” he said, “but I have felt her presence almost my entire life and, therefore, I am gratified to be here for all of the British Columbians who may not have known her well but who were very much aware of her as an exemplary model of public and community service.”
Weintraub’s first encounter with McCarthy’s reputation “was in the 1960s,” he said, “when I would walk to school and pass the family home. Somehow I knew it was the McCarthy house. How I knew it was the McCarthy house I don’t really know – my parents must have pointed it out one day and I have no idea how they knew. But somehow as a young boy, I had absorbed that there was a very important woman living close to us and that whoever Grace was and whatever she did, my parents thought I should know about her.
“Fast-forward about 25 years, when I became involved in Jewish community advocacy, I had the opportunity to meet with her on several occasions on political issues of concern. It was during this time that I began to realize why Grace had this almost celebrity heroic aura around her that I had somehow absorbed as a young boy. With these few community encounters, I, in fact, learned that her reputation as a dynamic, forward-thinking, compassionate woman of extraordinary action was well-earned.
“I saw firsthand that Grace listened carefully to the Jewish community’s deep concerns about antisemitism and was seen as a strong community supporter, friend and advocate,” said Weintraub. “With passage of time it is very apparent to me that she was one of the modernization forces within the B.C. political system advancing equality and human rights. I became involved in this dedication project in part to show my gratitude to Grace for her unshakeable friendship with many members of the Jewish community; her dedication to public service; her trailblazing of gender equality and her enthusiastic embrace of new Canadians.”
McCarthy was in the Jewish Independent newspaper and its predecessor on numerous occasions – with respect to activities concerning, among others, Jewish National Fund, Pacific Region; Jewish Women International, B.C. chapter; and Lubavitch BC. She also was in the paper for the CH.I.L.D. Foundation, which she founded in 1995; the organization raises money for research funds to help children suffering from Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and liver disorders. The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia’s oral history project contains a 2011 interview with McCarthy.
Weintraub shared with the JI a letter from Monsignor Gregory Smith, pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish in West Vancouver. It confirms that McCarthy’s impact extended beyond the secular and across religions. Smith, who attended the plaza dedication, commended Weintraub on his remarks and said, “In particular, I could not help but think that if I substitute ‘Catholic’ for ‘Jewish’ I could have delivered your text with equal conviction! Grace was a remarkable supporter of people of faith, and on many occasions she was also a great help to our church.”
“Grace modeled optimism and hope in the face of adversity and she was a rock,” said Weintraub at the dedication. “How fitting that we remember her on this hard plaza surface built on rock quarry and now so beautified.
“This plaza overlooking her beloved parks, her Shaughnessy home of many decades, the ocean and mountains – the highest point in the city – is so appropriate for one who achieved pinnacles and, as importantly, mentored the way for so many of us to achieve our best.”
– Jewish Independent, Vancouver Board of
Parks and Recreation, and Mark Weintraub
