The Options Israeli music cover band closes the Festival of Israeli Culture on May 26. (photo from the JCC)
This year’s Festival of Israeli Culture takes place May 21-26, with the main event at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver the afternoon of Lag b’Omer, May 26.
Falling on the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer, between the second night of Passover and Shavuot 49 days later, Lag b’Omer is a celebration amid tragedy. It commemorates the end of a plague that is said to have killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef’s students during the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Roman Empire in the second century. Only five students survived, one of whom was Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the sage who wrote the Zohar, among other things. Jewish tradition states that, after Rabbi Shimon offered his last kabbalist teaching, he died, on Lag b’Omer, having requested that his death not be mourned. For Rabbi Shimon, death means a soul has taken its place with God.
Among the traditions of Lag b’Omer are bonfires (perhaps in remembrance of fires the Bar Kochba rebels lit to relay messages), weddings, a boy’s first haircut, singing and dancing.
“I felt that it is so sensitive to be celebrating when there is such a complex and sad situation going on in Israel,” Nomi Zysblat, organizer of the annual JCC festival this year, told the Independent. “But, after researching the meaning of Lag b’Omer, I really see it as our community coming together with our individual sparks of light, a way of staying together, of communicating, a collective medura [bonfire or campfire] of strength and warmth.”
This year’s festival will be on the quieter side.
“We thought about this a lot,” said Zysblat. “Is it OK to ‘celebrate’? Is it safe? After many conversations, we decided that we need a gathering, we need to feel safe, we need to remember and we also need to be proud. We aren’t having a huge event, it’s going to be slightly more intimate … more gatherings and community enjoyment rather than huge events, both for the general feeling and also for security reasons. We aren’t flaunting but are also still wanting to enjoy being together.”
On May 21, there will be a dance party, kibbutz-style, at the Anza Club (tickets, $15). The night will be hosted by DJ Guy Hajaj, who will showcase modern and alternative Israeli music.
“He’s had a show for 10 years on Israeli radio and also a popular music blog, among other things,” explained Zysblat. “He DJs at events in Israel throughout the year but has been based in Vancouver for six years.”
On the afternoon of May 22, the JCC parking lot will become an arts space where kids/teens can participate in a collaborative mural project led by Zohar Hagbi, a local Israeli artist. And, on the evening of May 23, the JCC atrium will come alive with music in a sing-along-style show led by musician and former Israeli radio broadcaster Moshe Bonen with Zysblat (tickets, $10, include a glass of wine).
“I have a music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston and used to write and perform my own folk/rock music back in the day,” said Zysblat. “But, my favourite thing in the world to do when I was living in New York was to go up to the Bronx to Moshe’s loft and sing while he played his grand piano. He is an amazing player and accompanist.”
Zysblat’s professional background is both in music management and in the food industry. She started her own company 12 years ago – Paletas, which makes and sells natural popsicles. She got the idea while living in New York, discovering the icy Mexican treat at a grocery store.
“After she brought the idea to the restaurant where she worked as a cook in Brooklyn and created unique desserts for the restaurant’s menu, she realized that it could be a lot of fun to make them in Israel,” it says on the company’s website. “Naomi went on a trip to Mexico to learn from local paleteros, their method and tradition, and get inspiration for special and different flavours, then came back and opened her small business here in Tel Aviv.”
“I was born in Jerusalem to Canadian-born parents – my dad was from Calgary and my mom is from Vancouver,” Zysblat told the Independent. “We grew up visiting our grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins every summer in Canada so it’s like a second home to me. I even spent a few sabbatical years my parents took here in Vancouver, and attended school here. I knew this was an experience I wanted for my kids as well and, after Oct. 7, realized there’s no better time to come here. My husband Adi always loved BC because he was a mountain biker and beer brewer, so it was a win-win.”
It’s not surprising then that a nature walk is also part of this year’s festival. On the morning of May 25 at Central Park in Burnaby, there will be a walk led by young community madrichim (leaders). The terrain is suitable for all ages and abilities. There will be songs, stories, snacks.
At the festival’s main event at the JCC on May 26, there will be food trucks (Planted and Meet2Eat), a marketplace (jewelry, glass work, flower arrangements, photography, home decor, Israeli popsicles and jachnun, a Yemenite Jewish pastry), DJ’ed Israeli music, Israeli dance shows (troops from across Metro Vancouver, including Or Atid youth dancers), a drum circle, wine-tasting, arts and crafts, a gaga pit, face-painting, and dance, art and hummus workshops. In the Zack Gallery, the Tikun Olam Community Art Installation is already on display. The day closes with a performance by the Options, a group of local Israelis who cover Israeli rock and other songs.
For more information, visit jccgv.com/ event/festival-of-israeli-culture.
