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Ruta’s Closet reissued

Lady Esther Gilbert speaking at Vancouver City Hall April 8, when Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim proclaimed Ruth Kron Sigal Day in the city. (photo by Keith Morgan)

Ruta’s Closet, the Holocaust narrative of the late Vancouverite Ruth Kron Sigal, is being reissued for a new generation of audiences – and the book’s author is ensuring the survivor’s inspiring story of survival and resilience reaches the widest possible global audience.

Vancouver journalist Keith Morgan, who completed the book shortly before Kron Sigal’s passing, at age 72 in 2008, has updated the publication – and created an extensive range of multimedia projects to expand the impact of the written volume.

First issued as a fundraising initiative for the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, Ruta’s Closet was later published in the United Kingdom, with distribution there reaching new audiences.

The book recounts the harrowing survival story of the Kron family, imprisoned in the tiny Shavl (Šiauliai) ghetto in Lithuania, through the eyes of the youngest daughter, Ruta (later Ruth). Their survival against Nazi persecution hinged on the courage and resourcefulness of her parents, Meyer and Gita Kron, as well as the bravery of non-Jewish rescuers. Depicted with novel-like narrative power but rooted in rigorous research and eyewitness testimony, the memoir vividly portrays atrocities such as mass murder, a Nazi ban on Jewish births and the deportation of children to Auschwitz, while also shining a light on courage, compassion and human resilience amid the evil.

Kron Sigal didn’t live to see the book in print but she saw the final draft.

“She said to me shortly before she died, ‘You are going to carry on telling my story, Keith, aren’t you?’ And I said, of course I am,” Morgan told the Independent. “So, I took that on as a mission.”

Surveys indicating widespread ignorance of Holocaust history, combined with skyrocketing antisemitism, motivated Morgan to launch a series of Ruta’s Closet-related projects.

“We updated the book and decided it was time to go basically worldwide with this,” he said.

In addition to the re-release of the hard-copy, Morgan and his small team of colleagues recorded an audiobook and released an ebook. They revamped the existing Ruta’s Closet website and made it more interactive.

Working with Bill Barnes, a local radio producer, Morgan developed a 25-segment podcast.

“We are doing Zoom interviews with people around the world who are a part of a driving force behind an imaginative, creative initiative in spreading Holocaust awareness and education,” he explained. “I’ve got Ruth’s kids – Michael, Marilee and Elana – each week doing an introduction for book clubs.”

The VHEC has produced a downloadable guide for book clubs, as well as a teacher’s guide to the book, which makes it additionally relevant as British Columbia’s education curriculum mandates Holocaust education this year for the first time as part of the Social Studies 10 coursework.

“The beauty of it, for British Columbia, is it’s technically a local story,” Morgan said. “It’s about Ruth. It’s about somebody who came here and did a lot for her adopted society.”

photo - Journalist Keith Morgan, author with Ruth Kron Sigal of Kron Sigal’s memoir, Ruta’s Closet, is ensuring that her story of survival and resilience reaches the widest possible audience — Journalist Keith Morgan, author with Ruth Kron Sigal of Kron Sigal’s memoir, Ruta’s Closet, is ensuring that her story of survival and resilience reaches the widest possible audience. *(photo from Keith Morgan)*

Morgan, who spent many years as the crime reporter at the Province newspaper, met Kron Sigal when his editor asked him to take on a more uplifting assignment and begin a series about people doing good works at home and abroad.

“Somebody said, ‘Oh, you should talk to Ruth Sigal,’” who was sharing her Holocaust story with students. “I went to meet her. I was very impressed. She told her story and it had an amazing impact on me. I just knew this was an important story to tell.”

He found immediate support from Dr. Robert Krell, the founding president of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

“Robert Krell kind of took me under his wing – he was a close friend of Ruth – and he said, ‘I’ve got just the guy to introduce to you, who will be really helpful to you for pulling the story together.’”

The person was renowned historian Sir Martin Gilbert.

“The British schoolboy in me thought, ‘How do I curtsy?’” Morgan joked.

Morgan met Sir Martin in London and got a one-on-one master course in writing about the subject.

“He looked me right in the eye and said, ‘You have to tell the story as though you were writing it for your newspaper and make it accessible to all people,’” Morgan recalled. “Sadly, Martin died [in 2015], but Lady Esther Gilbert took up his mantle and, since then, she’s been an ally and was very important in this edition in terms of going through it, adding bits here and there.”

She spoke at a ceremony at Vancouver City Hall on April 8 this year, when the mayor proclaimed Ruth Kron Sigal Day in the city.

Kron Sigal’s story resonates profoundly with people, according to Morgan.

“We can all relate to what happened to Ruth and her sister Tamara,” he said. “It also tells us compelling stories about how, through their own devices, they basically survived and helped others along the way. We also see what other members of the family did to help the broader community.… We get this family story, which, in itself, is very dramatic, but we also get this wider picture of how a community in the ghetto work with each other, help each other.”

Morgan sees Kron Sigal’s narrative as an inspiration not only because of her survival against the Nazis but in all she did after becoming a Canadian.

“Ruth came here, an adopted country, and spent 25 years at the Women’s Resource Centre and the VHEC Child Survivors Group,” said Morgan. “That’s an example to everybody: come into a new society, an adopted country, and just roll up the sleeves and get working. Isn’t that an example to anybody that comes in?”

No less a triumph, Morgan said, is the family Ruth and her husband, Dr. Cecil Sigal, created.

“You look at that family and you think, ‘Victory!” he said. “Because they beat Hitler.”

Changing face of libraries

Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library librarian Helen Pinsky, left, and master’s student Alisa Lazear, who is working on the library’s audiobooks collection. (photo by Olga Livshin)

In past centuries, reading aloud was an integral part of family life. People gathered in their parlors to read books to friends and family. In the 20th century, the experience migrated towards radio. When favorite personalities read new novels or classics on the radio, it was a unique pleasure in many communities, especially where access to live entertainment was limited. Then came the TV and the internet. But reading aloud is seeing a comeback – with audiobooks.

The Wall Street Journal ran an article recently about how audiobooks are the fastest-growing sector in the book business today. In 2015, audiobook sales in the United States and Canada increased 21% from the previous year.

The Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library has reacted to this latest development by expanding their audiobook stacks.

“The modern libraries have to change to keep up with the times,” said Helen Pinsky, Waldman’s head librarian, “but they also stay the same. As ever, they answer the patrons’ curiosity, provide access to information. They are the source of knowledge, whether on their shelves or through their computers. The changes come from different angles. For example, some libraries in the Greater Vancouver area explore novel ways of organizing books: by theme or by the time of publication instead of alphabetically by the author’s name. Such a method is especially convenient for teachers – who could find books on a particular theme grouped in one spot of the library – or for researchers.”

Pinsky also expressed concern about the negative impact of technology, however. With internet search engines, in particular Google, and sites like Wikipedia, people have stopped coming to libraries for information.

“They Google their questions and get a thousand websites as the answers,” she said. “But who could guarantee that the data they find in the first 37 hits is correct? Google is dangerous. It is destroying the value of encyclopedias, while librarians know where to find the right stuff. It is specifically true for the medical or legal areas.”

Of course, there are positive technical innovations, and Pinsky emphasized those, especially the digital formats. After ebooks became a huge segment of publishing in the last decade, and audiobooks followed a few years later, public libraries had to adapt to the new demands, although print books still dominate in the Waldman Library catalogue by a ratio of approximately 20 to one.

“It might be a different ratio for the city libraries,” Pinsky mused. “The exclusive supplier of digital books to Canadian libraries is Overdrive. There were a few smaller companies before but they’ve all gone out of business by now. Unfortunately, Overdrive doesn’t have much interest in the Jewish content, so their selection of Jewish-themed books in both epub format and audio format is rather narrow. They don’t have anything in Hebrew either. It might change in a few years, or publishers might start distributing digital content themselves.”

Still, there are some books available through Overdrive that are of specific interest to a Jewish readership, and the Waldman takes steps to broaden its digital choices.

“Audiobooks are trendy now,” said Alisa Lazear, who is working on the Waldman’s audiobook collection.

Lazear is studying for a master’s degree in library and information studies at the University of British Columbia.

“I need to do 120 hours of professional experience as part of my program. It’s an equivalent of one course,” she explained. “I approached Helen to do my professional experience at the Waldman because I love the library. It was Helen’s idea that my focus should be the audiobook collection. We already have some audiobook CDs, so I concentrated on the online streaming from Overdrive. I had to figure out how to download their books, choose which ones would interest our readers, and integrate them with the main catalogue. Then I had to design flyers to educate the patrons how to use such audiobooks.”

In Lazear’s opinion, the current popularity of audiobooks has to do with people’s chronic shortage of time.

“Audiobooks are great for multitasking,” she said. “You can drive, do chores, work out at a gym, and listen to an audiobook at the same time. A narrator also plays a huge role. He is part of the experience, almost like a friend reading to you. Some narrators have a huge following; people would listen to anything by them.”

Lazear thinks that the new digital formats are accessible across the generational spectrum.

“My young cousins enjoy listening to their favorite audiobooks before bed or in a car,” she said. “Some older people develop visual impairment, and audiobooks might be the only choice for them as a form of reading.”

Regarding this latter point, Lazear created an audiobook program, Coffee & Stories, for the Louis Brier Home and Hospital.

“We had our first meeting on Aug. 7,” she said. “Several people came to the activity room. I brought cookies and selected two different audiobooks. We listened to 10-minute clips from each and then discussed them. It was a very active discussion.”

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

World is at your fingertips

At the latest Empowerment session, co-hosted by Jewish Seniors Alliance and JCC Seniors on Jan. 27, Philip Morris offers advice on avoiding fraud, scams and identity theft. (photo by Binny Goldman)

It was interesting to me – a person who still enjoys using one of the “original computers,” namely, the pencil – that I was about to attend a workshop entitled Technology: Give us the Tools to Finish the Job.

On Jan. 27, about 100 people gathered in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Wosk Auditorium to hear three experts in the field of technology at a workshop hosted by Jewish Seniors Alliance in partnership with the JCC seniors department. It was the second session of the current season’s JSA Snider Empowerment series.

JCC seniors program coordinator Leah Deslauriers welcomed the audience and outlined the afternoon’s activities, while Gyda Chud welcomed everyone on behalf of JSA. Chud explained how she was introduced to JSA via the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture four years ago and that JSA is always looking for new partners in its aim to make its workshops easily available and accessible to all who may be interested. Chud added that she hoped the Technology session would help build her own confidence when it came to computers and other aspects of the tech world.

Noting that living is learning, the first speaker, Stan Goldman, demonstrated the simplicity of mobile technology. Once one learns how to use the iPad, the knowledge can be applied to the iPhone, which uses the same system, and one may watch free movies, read free ebooks and newspapers, and get email by accessing the right app. To illustrate, Goldman and Deslauriers used voice commands to ask for directions, dictate an email and do advanced math. Goldman offered a seemingly endless list of things that can be done with this technology, including Skyping with family and friends in other countries, enjoying music, playing games, etc. – all by using apps, many of which are free. The world is, indeed, at your fingertips.

Philip Morris, an expert on fraud, scams and identity theft, spoke next. He said that, once we have let the world in, so to speak, we must be cautious when using our devices – protecting them with passwords, and keeping private our personal information (social insurance numbers, birth certificates, passports, etc.) and not easily accessible to hackers. Morris advised shredding all discarded documents and, when buying a new cellphone, making sure all of the personal information has been deleted from the old phone, as hackers can retrieve data from seemingly wiped phones. It is important to be alert in public places, to keep wallets and purses out of easy reach and to ensure that you have received your own credit card from the server in a restaurant. He also suggested taking a photograph of passports and credit cards in case of theft.

New words have been coined, such as “smishing,” the ability to obtain information from people’s texts. Morris recommended changing passwords annually and, when writing cheques in payment for credit cards, to reference only the last four numbers of the card. To report a theft or loss, Morris gave two numbers to call to check your credit profile: 1-800-465-7166 (Equifax) or 1-800-663-9980 (TransUnion Canada). For instances of fraud, he said to call the Canadian Anti-fraud Centre, 1-888-495-8501.

Mark White, “the gizmo guru,” gave advice on the latest fun gadgets, including some lesser-known ones, and where to get them. As far as finding directions, however, he warned people to keep paper maps on hand in case the technology fails to connect. White added that he reads the Vancouver Sun’s online version, and that the library offers many newspapers online to members. In order to keep Skype conversations private, he suggested using earphones if Skyping in a public place.

Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library librarian Rossana Caritey explained that the Waldman has an extensive collection of ebooks, which can be read on any device – ebook readers, laptops, for example. If someone brings in their device, a librarian or volunteer can show them how to download books. Waldman librarian Helen Pinsky handed out further information to attendees.

Chud thanked the speakers, noting that each of them had exhibited in their talks the mission and ideals of JSA – that of advocating for, inspiring, educating others to be the best they can be.

The audience retired to enjoy light refreshments. Long lines formed at the workstations set up in the auditorium, clearly showing the keen interest in the session. The workshop may have eased many fears, allowing timid souls to venture through the now-open doors leading to new technological possibilities.

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

Digital lending gets a boost

Rita and Marvin Weintraub with Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library librarians Karen Corrin, left, and Helen Pinsky, second from the right. (photo from Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library)

The e-book market has been growing by leaps and bounds, particularly in Canadian libraries, where the concept of a book that doesn’t get dog-eared, doesn’t fall apart and can be carried around on something as small as a phone or tablet seems to appeal to young and old alike. According to a 2014 report published by the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, the interest in e-books in libraries “has exploded” since 2011, when e-book borrowing constituted just one percent of the overall circulation in Canadian libraries. By 2013, that number had jumped to 10 percent, demonstrating that library readers were now comfortable with the digital book format.

The Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library has been tapping into that surge, thanks to a grant from the Sonner Family Foundation. The library launched its digital book-lending program in 2013, said librarian Helen Pinsky. The program got going at the encouragement of Eve Sonner, who manages the family foundation in her parents’ memory. The list of available books now numbers around 206 titles. “[It] is just amazing how much we were able to do and how much we were able to achieve [with this grant],” she said.

But keeping up with the expansion has been a challenge at times, she added, particularly because of the cost that publishers charge libraries for digital books.

“The popular books are extremely expensive in e-book version,” Pinsky explained. This is because most publishers charge libraries a higher price for e-books, which are regulated under usage licences based on the amount of times the book is checked out and the length of the licence. The top five Canadian publishers – HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan, Penguin and Random House – will all licence to libraries, but with varying terms. Simon & Schuster’s pilot library program was not available until 2014, when it made its digital property available on the electronic public library system.

Isaac Waldman licences its e-books through OverDrive, an e-book platform that sets its own contracts and costs. Pinsky said the average cost of an e-book licence for a newly released book can run as much as $85. That allows for it to be listed for two years or 26 views (whichever limit is reached first).

“So it is very difficult for us to maintain this,” she said, explaining that the library naturally wants to carry the most popular and requested titles, but must find a way to balance the costs. “It is our intention to, but we would really love to get more financial support to keep this collection growing.”

One of the ways the library hopes to expand its funding is through the upcoming telethon, which this year will run March 15-22. The annual telethon, which was started in 1994 by Rita Weintraub, is a vital part of the library’s fundraising network for many areas of the library.

“We serve so many [interests], and are constantly trying to keep each area current and meaningful to its reader base,” explained Pinsky. The money raised is allocated according to need. “For example, we’re always updating the storytime corner, where parents and grandparents come with their little ones to hear stories being read, or to read together. Our non-fiction books include the latest in politics, economics and history/biography, especially about Israel. We try to entice and encourage young readers with the latest in their favorite genres, all with a Jewish motif.” Some of those selections may be in print, while others are in electronic format. Pinsky said the library generally tries not to duplicate print editions in its electronic listing, but makes exceptions in some cases.

“Many of the purchases these days are in direct response to requests. And so, what we want to do is make books available to our members that wouldn’t necessarily be available through [other] library systems.” So books that have long wait times at other libraries, or are hard to get, are also considered for the program.

Some of the most popular e-books that the library has carried include My Promised Land by Israeli journalist Ari Shavit, The Remains of Love by Zeruyah Shalev and Growing Up Jewish in China by Dolly Bell. Pinsky said there are also books that are difficult to supply on the OverDrive system, and those include books in Hebrew and children’s picture books.

Asked if she had any advice for readers, she said simply, “Avoid long lines by borrowing from us.”

Those who wish to contribute to the library can either do so at the time of the telethon, by going online to the Isaac Waldman site at jccgv.com or by calling 604-257-5181. Those who donate $36 or more automatically become Friends of the Library.

“We are grateful to the Sonner family for their generosity in initiating the e-book program and helping us to build the collection,” said Pinsky. “Eve chose this initiative to honor the memory of her father, who was an innovative and creative thinker.”

Jan Lee’s articles have been published in numerous publications. She also writes on sustainable business practices for TriplePundit.com. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.

E-books for deaf kids

A person – as opposed to an avatar – signs American Sign Language in the eMotion Stories app.

It is hard to beat the pleasure of sitting down with your children or grandchildren and reading them a bedtime story, whether that story is a classic like Goldilocks, a Yiddish folktale or even a book written by someone you know. This simple pleasure was not even an option until recently for families with deaf kids, as Israeli American, Eyal Rosenthal, 34, discovered.

While visiting family in New York, Rosenthal had a chance to read a bedtime story to his nephew before heading out to visit with a friend over coffee. Rosenthal told his friend about his nephew, and she told him about her niece, who was born deaf.

“I asked her how she reads to her niece,” said Rosenthal. “She said, ‘We don’t…. We can go to Barnes and Noble across the street and you can find some books with baby sign language or whatever, but you won’t find any actual story to read to a deaf child.’”

Learning of this inspired Rosenthal to look for a solution. “Being an Israeli, we tend to think we can solve everything,” he noted. And, in this case, he could – he created an app called eMotion Stories.

Coming from a high-tech background and being an investor/developer of apps, Rosenthal initially mulled over the idea of creating an avatar to sign the books for eMotion Stories, but found that it was much simpler and less costly to have a live person do it.

“It’s the placement of a sign, the body language within that,” said Rosenthal. “To try to get an avatar to do that is incredibly difficult and costly, and probably something that’s 10 years down the road.”

The other problem Rosenthal encountered was that sign language varies from country to country. “It’s not a universal language,” he said. “Each country, each region, actually develops on its own.”

While Rosenthal was able to overcome most obstacles by himself, there were two that stumped him – the sign language itself, as noted, and the development work of the videos. “One of the good things about being in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv, is there are developers everywhere,” he said.

Rosenthal found Go UFO, a company that was just getting started at that time. On connecting with the Go UFO team, Rosenthal said, “It was like two minds meeting. The moment they heard the idea, they were like, we love this, we love your passion for it, we want to help you create it.”

Choosing the stories to feature was the next challenge. Rosenthal decided to start with the Brothers Grimm.

Since the whole concept began with Rosenthal wanting to enable his friend to share a story with her niece, he opted to do the stories in American Sign Language (ASL). And, to find a signer for the e-books, he went to New York Deaf Theatre. As for the illustrations, a Go UFO team member’s father was an illustrator, and he offered to have some of his friends help out (making it possible for Rosenthal to afford the illustrations).

“It was interesting convincing people to help when you don’t have the money to pay them what they want and you have to successfully convince them to do it anyway,” said Rosenthal. “That took some learning.”

As of now, five e-stories have been created for the iPad. When downloading the free app, the e-book of The Ugly Duckling is included. Each additional story is $4.59. The stories available are The Ugly Duckling and Goldilocks and the Three Bears so far, with Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and The Three Little Pigs coming soon.

Rosenthal would like to produce five more books.

“The classic stories are ones that a parent can relate to because he/she read that story as a child and they can read it to their child,” he said. “One of the unfortunate facts I uncovered in the research is that the level of comprehension for deaf children is several levels below that of [hearing] children. This is a gap that widens through the years. One thing I was hoping was, at least, to be able to bridge that gap. When you’re 6 years old and you’re one year behind, it’s not the same as when you’re in high school and you’re … behind.”

One of the goals Rosenthal has for this coming year is to create a version in another language, one similar to ASL, the simplest example of which would be Canadian Sign Language.

“The guys at Go UFO are trying to create more of a platform where any country can simply add its sign language videos or an individual can add videos to a particular story and modify the text, since the illustrations already exist, to make it more broad,” said Rosenthal.

So far, the app has been downloaded 3,000 times.

“I’ve gotten emails from parents saying that they love it and when are more stories going to come out,” said Rosenthal. “Some were asking when an android version would come out.”

Rosenthal would like to create an android version, but that will require more funding, which he hopes to raise with a Kickstarter or Indigogo campaign.

Many people have been helping move the project along, such as members of the Israeli Society for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing. Rosenthal has also been recently approached by a deaf Israeli actor who asked Rosenthal to let him know when things proceed on the Israeli front because he would like to help.

Rosenthal said that without the Go UFO programmers eMotion Stories would never have come to fruition. “I’m incredibly indebted to those guys,” he said.

For more information about the app, visit emotionstories.com.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.