This week, Sasha Troufanov and Sapir Cohen were married. The couple had only recently begun building a life together in Ramat Gan when terrorists burst into the home where they were visiting with family on Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. Troufanov was beaten and stabbed. Cohen hid beneath a bed, wrapped in a blanket, but was discovered. They were dragged into Gaza separately.
Cohen was released after about two months, during the November 2023 ceasefire. Troufanov remained in captivity for more than 400 days. During that time, he believed he would never return home.
After his release, Troufanov told Cohen that, throughout his captivity, he prayed not for himself, but that Cohen would find another man to love. He wanted her to have a future, because he had lost hope that he would have one.
On Sunday evening, surrounded by family, friends and fellow former hostages, they were married.
“I want to thank you for coming today to share this joy with us,” the groom told the guests. “You’ve been with us every step of the way. Thank you so much. I love you.”
For the pair, and for those who love them, this must have been a deeply meaningful simcha. For those of us who do not know them, it is also a ray of light emerging from a time of worldwide Jewish anxiety and grief. To know that two people who had endured such suffering are celebrating love and committing to a life together is uplifting.
Much has been said about the fact that, for the released hostages, and anyone who has endured prolonged trauma, the end of the ordeal is rarely the conclusion of the suffering.
Jews worldwide celebrated the return of hostages, thousands embraced them on their arrival home, we felt vast relief that, for the surviving hostages, the worst was behind them. We did not, though, assume that the future would be entirely rosy. We understand trauma now in ways we did not in times of earlier Jewish catastrophes. We know that each survivor will experience varying consequences from what they experienced.
For Troufanov, there is also the knowledge that, while he survived, his father, Vitaly, was murdered on Oct. 7. His mother and grandmother survived captivity. Countless others in their circle did not.
The road ahead will not be easy. Probably not for the happy couple and not for thousands of other families who have lost loved ones and experienced a range of tragedies. But every long journey begins with a single step. This wedding was one of those steps.
Judaism has always understood that joy is not a life without suffering. Joy is an obligation despite suffering. In Deuteronomy, Moses conveys G-d’s command to the Israelites: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life.” That injunction, u’vacharta ba’chayim, is not addressed to people whose lives are uncomplicated. It isaddressed to a people whose story has already been marked by slavery, wandering and loss. Choosing life is not always easy.
Jewish tradition insists on remembering and re-experiencing. At every wedding, a glass is broken to remind us that even at the height of personal joy, the world remains imperfect. But the converse is also true. Even in the deepest darkness, we insist on making room for joy. The defiant slogan of the Nova survivors was “We will dance again.”
There are people who imagine resilience as stoicism – the refusal to cry or to be affected by pain. Jewish resilience permits grief. It sanctifies memory. It insists that mourning has its time and place. Then, slowly, even painfully, it asks us to re-enter life, to love again, to laugh, to rebuild. This response, we understand, is not because the past does not matter or that it no longer has a hold on us. It is because the present and the future matter too; that what is past and what is to come are a balance, like joy and grief.
Sasha Troufanov and Sapir Cohen may have been, to some, symbols of unimaginable suffering. This week, for one evening at least, they were not former hostages. They were simply a bride and groom. That is worth celebrating.
In Jewish tradition, we often speak of bringing light into darkness. It is an image that can become so familiar we risk overlooking its profound meaning. Light does not eliminate the darkness all at once. It pushes it back, one candle at a time – this wedding was one such candle.
May there be many more joyous occasions, as survivors, their families, their friends and everyone affected by this tragedy – and that means all of us – rededicate ourselves to building the future.
Pat Johnson and Dr. Sheree Trotter at the University of Victoria on June 14, hosted by the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island. (photo by Janet Dirks)
“What we’ve seen happen in New Zealand with our indigenous movement is that Palestine has been held up as a way to fight against what’s happening in our country with our indigenous people,” New Zealand writer and academic Dr. Sheree Trotter told those gathered at the University of Victoria on June 14.
“So, what we do is that we identify with the Palestinians and we see them as brown, oppressed indigenous people; we see Israel as the Western foreign colonizers.” In this context, she said, the antizionist argument is reduced to one of settler colonialism, despite the differing histories of places like New Zealand, Canada and Palestine.
At the Victoria event, which was hosted by the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island, Trotter, who is of Te Arawa iwi origin, spoke on the topic Indigeneity and Zionism Versus Settler Colonialism.
“Each of these topics could be a whole university course,” Trotter acknowledged at the outset. Before talking about Zionism, she explained its standard definition: the right of self-determination and statehood for Jews in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.
Trotter said there have been several streams of thought that have led to the current antizionist movement, including the views of the Nazis, who saw Jews as conspiratorial subversives, and Soviet antizionism, which depicted Zionism as a global and racist conspiracy. Added to the mix, Trotter said, are Arab nationalist and Islamic movements and, more recently, Western settler-colonial theory.
Settler colonialism, Trotter said, is an ideology that has developed within academia as a particular kind of colonialism. The key feature of it is an imperial power that has sent its people to a foreign land to settle permanently.
“In this way, you create this binary that you’ve got two classes of people. You may call it the oppressor and the oppressed, the colonizer or the colonized, these sorts of ideas. This binary erases complexity. It’s not accurate. It’s not true to history,” Trotter said.
Using the example of the Māori in New Zealand, Trotter explained some of the problems in the settler-colonialist argument.
“There’s no room for nuance or complexity, no room for indigenous agency – the fact that, in my case, Māori embraced many of the new things that came, new technologies, modernity, certainly literacy,” she said. “In embracing Christianity, Māori turned away from tribal warfare, from cannibalism, from slavery, because they adopted a new way of thinking. Under settler colonialism, you don’t get to hear any of the good things that might have happened. It’s all just labeled as oppression and bad.”
More broadly, she argued, the settler-colonialist theory does not fully consider that many of the people who arrived in places like Canada and New Zealand were poor immigrants who do not fit the settler-colonialist power paradigm.
Regarding Israel, the settler-colonial standpoint is a tremendous stretch, said Trotter, because Jews, with more than 3,500 years of continuous connection to the land, are not foreign to Israel.
“In Māori thinking, we have a concept called ahikā, which means keeping the fires burning. If a tribe wanted to keep their connection to a piece of land, it would keep a fire on that land. It’s symbolic of the idea that somebody stayed on the land, even in small numbers,” she said. “Now, we’re finding the fact that there’s always been a Jewish presence in the land. Even though very small at times, they’ve kept ahikā, they’ve kept the fires burning, they’ve kept a continuous connection.”
Trotter is the co-founder, with former member of New Zealand’s House of Representatives Alfred Ngaro, of the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem and the Indigenous Coalition for Israel, nonprofits established to provide representation in Jerusalem forindigenous peoples from around the world. Her latest book, Zionism at the Ends of the Earth: A Story of Humanitarianism and Identity, chronicles the social history of the Zionist movements in New Zealand to 1948.
Following her talk, Trotter sat down for an interview and to answer audience questions with journalist Pat Johnson, a member of the Jewish Independent editorial board and founder of Upstanders Canada, an organization working to encourage non-Jewish Canadians to take a stand against antisemitism and antizionism.
The event attracted some protest. According to organizers, the technician who was scheduled to work that evening walked off the job before the event started because of their objection to the subject matter. And, in the middle of Trotter’s talk, a few members of the Jewish Faculty Network of Vancouver Island held up signs rejecting claims of Jewish indigeneity in the Middle East and protesting Israel’s military actions; the group was escorted out of the auditorium without incident.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Pat Johnson, left, interviews Jonathan Conricus at the Friends of JNF Pacific Negev Event on June 7. (photo by Galit Lewinski)
On June 7, a full sanctuary at Beth Israel Synagogue gathered for the annual Friends of JNF Pacific Negev Event.
Howard Jampolsky, vice-president of Friends of JNF Canada Pacific Region, emceed. He spoke of the rise in antisemitism since Oct. 7, including in Canada, “a country that many Jews believed was among the safest and most tolerant countries in the world,” yet where Jewish schools have been shot at, synagogues vandalized, Jewish students intimidated, and Jewish businesses and individuals targeted.
“Antizionism that denies the Jewish people the right to self-determination is antisemitism,” he said. “Israel is not an abstract political issue to us. Israel is family. Israel is history. Israel is survival…. For 2,000 years, we have said, we have prayed, l’shana haba b’Yerushalayim, next year in Jerusalem. Today, there is a Jerusalem. Today, there is a Jewish state – and we will never apologize for defending it.”
Funds raised by this year’s Negev event will support the Beit Elkana Centre for Holistic Therapy, in the Lakhish region of Israel’s Negev. Established by Galit Wiesel in memory of her late husband, Elkana Wiesel, a reserve combat officer who was killed in battle in 2024, the centre will offer care to those suffering trauma-related conditions.
“Projects like Beit Elkana are about more than buildings,” said Jampolsky. “They are about resilience. They are about healing. They’re about ensuring that Israelis living in the south of Israel know that they are not alone – that Jewish communities around the world stand beside them and with them. That’s what Zionism looks like. Not slogans, not hashtags, certainly not hatred, but building, planting, healing, supporting, creating hope…. Because our answer to hatred cannot be silence. Our answer must be courage. Our answer must be pride, and our answer must be action. We must support Jewish institutions. We must educate the next generation.”
In that vein, Friends of JNF Canada presented Rabbi Stephen Berger, head of Judaic studies at King David High School, with its Education Award, “recognizing his tremendous contribution to Jewish learning, Jewish dignity, a Jewish identity, and the strength of our community.” The honour was presented by two of Jampolsky’s children, Elise and Jake.
Berger started his work in the community with NCSY more than 20 years ago, moving to KDHS about 18 years ago. He considers himself a resource for the Jewish community, not just the high school, and half-joked that he’d been teaching the same one idea in 25 different ways.
“The idea, very simply, is that we are souls…. We are spiritual in nature. We are not just super-smart animals…. [Rabbi Israel] Salanter says the big problem with the world is we’re always worried about our own physical needs and everybody else’s spiritual growth, [and] if we just flip that, if we could just worry about our own spiritual growth and everybody else’s physical needs, then the world will be a much better place.”
Rabbi Stephen Berger holds the Friends of JNF Canada, Pacific Region, Education Award, presented to him by siblings Jake and Elise Jampolsky, whose father, Howard Jampolsky, emceed the event. (photo by Galit Lewinski)
Pat Johnson, who writes for and serves on the editorial board of the Jewish Independent, in addition to being the founder of Upstanders Canada, among other things, spoke about one of the main things he has learned in his 30-plus years of “hanging around” the Jewish community: “the depths of connection between Jewish people in Canada and the land, the state and the people of Israel.”
Engaged in political activism and progressive causes for decades, Johnson said that, during the Second Intifada, his communities diverged.
“Ostensibly, we were asked to choose to side either with Palestinians or with Israelis,” he said. “The real choice we faced, though, was between coexistence, peace and a negotiated settlement to conflict as characterized by the Oslo process, or supporting chauvinistic fanaticism, violence and the eradication from the Middle East of its only oasis of pluralism, democracy and equality.
“Why did I, and why did you, face that choice and make the right one, when so many others faced the same choice and opted to betray the values we thought we shared? Perhaps because we know Jewish history.
“People asked, ‘Could we be right and, seemingly, the entire world be wrong?’ Jewish history, for everything else it teaches us, reveals that the entire world can indeed be wrong – again and again,” said Johnson, who spoke about the inextricable links between Jews and Israel. He held up a JNF Blue Box, pushka, calling it “a tangible symbol of that bond.”
“In Jewish homes in Montreal and Minsk, in Vancouver and Vilnius, in Casablanca and Krakow, parents and grandparents dropped coins into boxes like this, demonstrating from generation to generation the centrality of this eternal connection.”
With Israel reestablished, the Zionist dream today, said Johnson, is “an Israel that is safe and indestructible. An Israel that exists in a changed region, where peace prevails. An Israel that is respected in a world without hatred.”
Jonathan Conricus believes Israel will have to continue fighting for its existence.
A retired lieutenant-colonel in the Israel Defence Forces, Conricus is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, where he provides analysis and insight on Israel, the Middle East, and the challenges facing democratic societies worldwide. His Vancouver talk was part of a cross-country tour with Friends of JNF Canada.
Significant progress has been made in Gaza and Hamas has been diminished, Conricus said. “In terms of long-range weapons, far less, almost nothing; in terms of capital, far less, almost nothing; in terms of senior terrorists with decades of experience, almost nothing; and, in terms of an ability to project force and to threaten Israeli civilians, almost nothing. But you’ll notice that I said almost in each and every sentence – and almost is a temporary situation. The nucleus of Hamas remains.
“Nobody has disarmed,” he said. And anyone who thinks they will “see a jihadi fighter lay down their weapons, doesn’t know what a jihadi fighter is.”
Laying down weapons “is not in their DNA – they cannot do it,” he said, adding that, if they did, “they are dead men walking … not necessarily because Israel will kill them all … but because there are long lists of grievances within the population in Gaza with most of the thugs and terrorists of Hamas.”
Gaza will continue to challenge Israel, said Conricus, as the IDF continues to fight in Lebanon, “clearing away the last remains of Hezbollah: storage facilities, bunkers, sniper positions and many other things that Hezbollah had built underneath and within civilian homes in Lebanon.”
The goal is to create a cleared area, “where there’s no infrastructure that Hezbollah can use in order to attack Israeli civilians along the border,” he said.
“I believe that, currently, we’re in the best position that we’ve ever been … [to] help our neighbours to the north in being a sovereign state for the first time in their history,” Conricus said. “The Lebanese state was granted sovereignty in 1946 from the French colonial powers [when foreign troops finally left the country], and they haven’t enjoyed a day of sovereignty in their whole lives.”
On the Iranian front, the IDF is ready “to get going against Iran again, with the purpose of dealing much more severe blows against targets that, up until now, have not been engaged by the IDF,” said Conricus, but the Israeli government is holding back.
“Up until now, Israel has decided not to do so, whether independently or together with the US, mostly thinking about the future of the Iranian people and wanting to leave intact infrastructure for the people of Iran to continue with their lives.”
Before Oct. 7, Conricus said, “We were responding, but we weren’t really fighting strategically back.” Now, however, “all the Iranian proxies that the Iranian regime spent billions and billions of dollars building, arming, training and equipping – none of those are even half as strong as they were before Oct. 7. Most have been dealt significant blows by Israel. And Iran itself, the Islamic Republic, is the weakest that it has ever been in its 47 years of existence.”
While concerned about “the looming threat of an imperialistic Türkiye” and about unity within Israel and between Israeli and diaspora Jews, Conricus said people should take everything they see in international media “with many grains of salt.”
“Please know that the situation in Israel is much happier, stronger, more resolute, united, and better than it is portrayed in international media. Please know that Am Yisrael, in Israel, is strong, committed to prosperity, to life, to creation, to peace, to beautiful things, and that, despite two-and-a-half years, almost three years, of relentless attacks against the very basic legitimacy of the state of Israel to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people, we’re here, we’re fighting and, much to everybody else’s disapproval, we’re going to continue to be so.”
In the conversation between Johnson and Conricus that followed, several topics were covered. One of the last questions was about Malmo, Sweden, where Conricus, who was born in Jerusalem, partly grew up.
“For a lot of us, the word Malmo … is shorthand for European multiculturalism gone wrong,” said Johnson. “Is there something from that experience you would want Canadians to know?”
Malmo is “a cautionary tale,” said Conricus, noting that most young Jews have left the city.
“There’s not really a future,” he said. “Within a generation and a half, I think that the Jewish community won’t exist there.”
He encouraged the community to focus on Jewish education and fostering Jewish identity, “how we love each other, how we nurture the bond between the Jewish people and the Jewish state.”
During the event, David Greaves, executive director of Friends of JNF Western region, and Lance Davis, the organization’s chief executive officer, also offered remarks, and Ilene-JoBellas, board member and event chair, thanked the speakers.
Many American Jews have given up on the Democratic Party. Seeing intractable opponents of Israel within its congressional ranks, many Jewish and pro-Israel voters decided that their best or only hope was within the Republican Party.
This trend was based partly on the seemingly knee-jerk antizionism of a chunk of the Democrats’ congressional caucus and by the oft-repeated idea that Donald Trump is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.
There are myriad problems with these assumptions.
First, abandoning one party in a two-party system is a high-risk strategy. Putting all eggs in one basket is not a wise approach in any scenario.
It is especially unwise in a scenario where the egg basket is controlled by a mercurial figure who has demonstrated no consistent loyalty to any person or idea, and whose fits of rage are directed at ostensible allies as often as they are at enemies.
The US-Israeli war with Iran earlier this year held the potential for a complete reshaping of the Middle East region. The defeat of the Islamic revolutionary regime in Iran would have tectonically altered the course of the region’s history, eliminating the greatest source of state-sponsored terror, massively (and further) reducing the capacity of Israel’s nearest enemies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Based at least partly on the idea that regime change must come from within Iran, the United States in particular (but Israel as a partner in the war) stopped short of pursuing regime change.
The resolution to that war – the memorandum of understanding and ongoing talks aimed at a lasting cessation of violence – is apparently intended to prevent Iran’s drive toward nuclear military capacity. Perhaps it will.
At the same time, however, although concrete details are suspiciously sketchy, indications suggest that Iran is likely to come out of the war not chastened, but strengthened.
What is known about the apparent accord drafted by the United States and Iran is that it will deluge the Islamic regime in hundreds of billions of dollars in “reconstruction and development” funds. Time was that the defeated in a war paid reparations. Under the Trump doctrine, it seems, the historical penance is reversed. The defeated now apparently receive unprecedented windfalls. And this reputed $300 billion avalanche of cash does not include the freeing up another colossal sum of currently frozen Iranian assets.
Many commentators had suggested that a debilitated and humiliated Iran, economically devastated by the war, would be weakened to the point where the Iranian people would be able to rise up and overthrow their oppressors.
Instead, it appears that the regime will see itself in an erstwhile unimagined place of wealth and triumph.
The widespread idea that a weakened Iranian regime would lead the populace to revolution based on continued and worsening daily economic realities seems likely to be averted by a cash bonanza that will allow the ayatollahs to bribe their populace into complacency.
Worse for everyone, the flush regime will be able to rearm Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and its broader network of evildoers.
What several weeks ago looked like the potential for the greatest realignment for the better in regional history now appears like the worst possible outcome. Iran seems to be given a free hand to pursue its darkest agendas, bankrolled by the “peace agreement” improbably crafted by the author of the 1980s bestseller The Art of the Deal.
If there is a single lesson here for Canadians and citizens in other democracies, it is that we must not allow the well-being of the bilateral relationship with Israel to become politicized. Party regulars in challenging environments must remain and fight, rather than abandon the traditional multipartisan approach to Israeli security.
There can be no denying that, at present, one party in Canada has a near-monopoly on pro-Israel policy. This appeared to be the case in the United States until a few hours ago. We can see how quickly things can change, leaving Israel effectively friendless at the highest levels.
Defending Israel in centrist and leftist political environments may seem challenging if not futile. But abandoning those spaces to haters because a mouthy carpetbagger comes along saying the right things until he turns like a mad dog on those who thought they were his friends leaves us in the worst imaginable spot.
As a tour guide in Israel, Renee Halpert “thrive[s] on engaging with people, the constant learning, and exploring the country.” (photo from Renee Halpert)
In the late 1970s, Renee Swartz was a teenager living in West Vancouver. Even though she went to Sunday school, attended Jewish camps and had her bat mitzvah, she always felt a yearning to be more involved in the Jewish community.
Today, now with the surname Halpert, she belongs the modern Orthodox community in Israel. She has four grown children with her husband Joe and is a tour guide living in Beit Shemesh. She comes to Vancouver often to visit her parents, and I met up with her on a recent visit. She is still her bubbly old self. Thinking back to her experience growing up here, she said, “In terms of Jewish community, we were isolated. Only three Jewish families that I know of attended Hillside High School at the time.”
Everything changed when Renee joined Hillel House in 1980, when she started attending the University of British Columbia.
“When I stepped into Hillel, I found an entire community of young, affiliated and active Jews,” she said. “Rabbi Daniel Siegel was an incredible mentor, encouraging Jewish-focused learning, activism and family-life with his wife, Hanna. We would study Jewish texts. We would discuss current events. He encouraged us to join the North American Jewish Students Network, a non-denominational activist community of university-aged Jews across the continent. Thus began my Jewish activism, advocating for Soviet Jews and participating in Israel Week on campus. I felt connected to a community and inspired by all the energy, creativity and meaningful activity.”
I knew Renee as a fellow student activist. All of us helped Judy Feld Carr fundraise to smuggle or pay for Jews to get out of Syria, which was ultimately a success.
After her first year at UBC, Renee studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. When she returned, she continued being vocal on behalf of Syrian Jews, Ethiopian Jews and Israel.
“I also facilitated Holocaust educational programming and raised awareness of Nazi criminals in Canadian academia,” she said.
Renee’s connection to Israel began with traveling there when she was 14, “thanks to the insistence of my mother, who always acknowledged the importance of Israel for the Jewish people. The trip was a real eye-opener and fascinating,” said Renee. “At 16, I returned to Israel for the summer on USY Pilgrimage. I loved the adventures, hikes, Jewish content and the community feeling.”
After graduating, Renee returned to Israel yet again. “This time,” she said, “it was to deepen my knowledge of Judaism itself through textual study at Pardes. During my year at Pardes, I began to keep kosher and keep Shabbat on a regular basis. You could say that I began my journey as an affiliated but not-so-educated Jewish teenager and peripheral Zionist, and as a young adult became more connected to Orthodox Judaism and modern Israel.”
Renee moved from Vancouver to Toronto in 1986, during the recession, looking for job opportunities. Her romance with her now-husband began when a cousin invited her to a Shabbat dinner at a local synagogue.
“Honestly, I was so new to town that I was not really paying much attention, but Joe and I kept meeting – through mutual friends and at Jewish events,” said Renee. “Both of us loved the outdoors and were on similar personal journeys to deepen our connection to Judaism. Joe and I were married at the Schara Tzedeck in Vancouver in March 1988, with both Rabbi [Mordechai] Feuerstein of Schara Tzedeck and Rabbi [Wilfred] Solomon of Beth Israel officiating.”
A few years later, the couple decided to live in Israel for at least one year.
“We had a house, good jobs, great friends [in Toronto], supportive family and two young daughters, but I never let go of my dream of one day making aliyah,” said Renee. “Joe had also made a quiet promise to himself to give it a try one day.”
Ultimately, Renee says they were successful in adapting to Israeli society because they treated every day as an adventure.
“Our attitude was positive and we were motivated to make the transition work for our family,” she explained. “Our move from urban Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh a few years later provided us with a strong, dynamic community, where we still live today. I think our kids thrived being close to nature within this supportive community atmosphere.”
That was 32 years ago, and the couple hasn’t looked back. In 2013, Renee became a licensed tour guide.
“I thrive on engaging with people, the constant learning, and exploring the country. I am thrilled to be able to share my passion for Israel with others who are interested in experiencing Israel firsthand.”
After Oct. 7, 2023, most tourism in Israel ceased. One of Renee’s sons and both sons-in-laws were called to their army reserve units. Her daughters and grandchildren moved in for several weeks.
“Besides helping them out, I would cook for soldiers, purchase supplies to take to different bases and volunteer at many farms,” she said. “There was no creative energy. There was barely any energy! But I made a choice to keep busy and be useful.”
By early 2024, Renee began leading educational trips to southern Israel and the Gaza Envelope for synagogue missions, educators and individuals supportive of the Jewish state.
“I’ve led almost 100 such trips,” she said. “Many of these trips combine meeting with locals and survivors, volunteering and fundraising for communities or projects. We speak of the heartache, the heroism and the gradual renewal that is taking place. While these trips give me purpose and a chance to process what I am personally going through, the real impact is felt by supporting locals and by helping my overseas visitors gain insights, so they, in turn, can continue to inform others and stay involved.”
And so, my friend continues to be the activist she was all those years ago.
“The past two-and-a-half years have certainly been the most challenging, scary and heart-breaking since we moved here 32 years ago,” said Renee. “There is so much pain … yet, our lives are rich and interesting, our children and grandchildren are well-adjusted, we have a sense of purpose, and we maintain hope for better days ahead. We have no regrets having chosen to live here.”
For more information about Renee’s tours, go to israeldiscovered.com or find her on Facebook at Renee Halpert-Your Guide to Israel. In addition to guiding in Israel, Renee is available for online virtual tours and presentations about sites in Israel, its geopolitics, history and cultural diversity.
Cassandra Freemanis a freelance journalist and improv comedy performer living in Vancouver.
Itai Anghel, one of Israel’s most recognizable documentary reporters, was with his wife and toddler son in New York City, celebrating his Emmy nomination for Last Stop Before Kyiv, in which Anghel and cameraman Eddie Gerald reported from Ukraine during the early months of Russia’s invasion.
As the glitter of the celebratory excursion dissipated, Anghel began receiving news from home. Thousands of terrorists from Gaza had flooded into Israel, in a cataclysm that was only beginning to be understood.
Israeli airspace shut down on Oct. 7, 2023, but, leaving his family in the safety of the United States, Anghel managed to return, and focus his camera on the catastrophe.
Itai Anghel, in Vancouver, provides bleak assessment of the future. (photo by Pat Johnson)
Anghel shared his story here in a lunchtime event for business community members May 29 and that evening at Shabbat services at Congregation Schara Tzedeck.
Anghel is the recipient of the Sokolov Award, Israel’s highest award for journalism, and is a university lecturer in history and international relations. He is a correspondent for the television news program Uvda, sometimes referred to as Israel’s 60 Minutes.
On arriving back in Israel, Anghel received a call from a stranger at Kibbutz Nir Oz, in the Gaza Envelope, urging him to get to their village immediately and record the atrocities committed there.
Anghel told the caller that, as far as he understood, Israeli military officials were preventing outsiders from entering the region. The stranger insisted Anghel come, telling him that, if the military tried to prevent his visit, they would shoot the soldiers. The government, the stranger told the reporter, would seek to cover up the reality of what happened and the failure of the Israel Defence Forces to intervene, and getting the reality on video was of utmost importance.
The suspicion of a government coverup may not have been based in reality, but what Anghel saw at Nir Oz was like nothing he had witnessed in war zones in Bosnia or the killing fields of Rwanda.
The Nir Oz survivors took Anghel from home to home, where he filmed the aftermath of some of Oct. 7’s most grisly atrocities. More than 10% of the community’s residents were murdered and 76 residents, almost 20% of the population, were taken as hostages to Gaza.
“They set on fire whole families, whole communities, the terrorists were in Nir Oz for seven hours and not one Israeli soldier confronted them,” Anghel said.
At a home where a mother and child were shot point blank, Anghel reflected on their final seconds.
“The last thing that this boy saw before he was shot to death was someone shooting his mother to death,” he recalled. And, if that didn’t happen, the mother saw her son murdered before she was killed.
Anghel asked for a break, maybe to have a bottle of water, but the people of Nir Oz wouldn’t let him stop witnessing and recording, insisting that he continue his documentation.
As he moved through the kibbutz, he did not process what he was seeing. He admits that his camera is a shield between him and the world. Often, he said, it is later that he begins to process what he sees.
“It was only when I got back to Tel Aviv that I understood what I saw and began reflecting,” he said. “For the first time, I was crying.… The reflecting would come later, when I’m in the editing room.”
He has harsh words for people sitting in comfortable TV studios opining on places they have never visited or who practise, as he acidly calls it, “hotel journalism,” rather than “field journalism.”
The latter, in which Anghel embeds himself among ordinary people and even terrorist fighters, is how journalism used to be done, he said, before the 24-hour news cycle created demand for semi-qualified talking heads to discuss things of which they have only surface knowledge.
Anghel has an American passport – his parents were students in the States when he was born – so he can go places his Israeli passport would not permit.
“People are so focused on ‘everyone’s an enemy,’” he said, but when he interviewed people in Damascus, Syria, Israelis couldn’t believe their openness to good relations with Israel.
Being relatively fluent in Arabic opens doors for Anghel.
“I tell them I’m from the US, but I’m not a soldier, I’m not from the army,” he said. “They are in a state of shock because they have never heard an American speak Arabic.”
He tells them he studied the language so he could communicate with people like them and, from there, he almost always finds a willingness to open up.
Anghel took special aim at the New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who last month published an at least partially fictionalized account of IDF atrocities, including attack dogs allegedly trained to rape Palestinians.
“It is so radical and parts so far-fetched,” said Anghel, noting that the organization Kristof cited as the source for some of his most incendiary allegations is Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which Anghel and Israel’s diaspora affairs ministry characterize as a Hamas front organization in Europe.
“Anyone with very basic knowledge knows that Euro-Med is an affiliation of Hamas,” he said. “If you get information from there, at least be honest and say so.”
That the Kristof piece could pass the standards of the New York Times is, Anghel said, symptomatic of a decline in basic journalistic rigour, in which terms like “apartheid” and “genocide” are applied without qualification.
“They know already, they’ve decided already and there is no openness to hear anything else,” he said.
On the other hand, Anghel admits to getting criticism from all sides. Some Israeli viewers condemn him for platforming anti-Israel terrorists. Israel’s government is no fan of Anghel or Uvda, either.
Anghel is blunt in his assessment of Israeli cabinet minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“He’s a fanatic, a criminal, in charge of law enforcement in Israel,” Anghel said.
Anghel and his TV program have also been condemnatory toward what he calls Israel’s abandonment of the Kurdish people.
“We knew that jihadists in Syria would like to crush them and we did nothing,” he said.
The relations are complicated, he admitted, but Israel prevailed upon the new Syrian regime to protect the Druze people in the south of Syria, because Israel has a special relationship with the community because of the Druze population in Israel. The Kurds, in northern Syria, who Israel has allied with at times, were left to their own devices, Anghel said.
Of all the threats to Israel’s future, Anghel said, his greatest fear is internal strife.
“Israel is divided like it has never been,” he said. “The situation is awful. You cannot make it look nicer. It is awful.”
While some Canadian Jews are thinking about leaving, he noted, in the past two or three years, 10,000 Israelis came to live in Canada.
The schism between ultra-Orthodox, who generally do not serve in the military, and the majority of Israelis, who have been carrying the burden of service, is a particular point of division. At the same time, the birth rate among ultra-Orthodox portends a country that is demographically shifting toward that group.
Many Israelis are concluding that the current government does not care about people like them.
“You make the calculation and you realize maybe it is not the place for you to live,” said Anghel.
“I’m not afraid of Hezbollah, I’m not afraid of Syria, I’m not afraid of Iraq, I’m not afraid of Yemen’s Houthis, I’m not afraid of nuclear weapons from Iran,” Anghel said. “I’m afraid of ourselves.”
Schara Tzedeck’s Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt thanked the Diamond family for sponsoring the event in memory of the late Charles Diamond. Josh Pekarsky interviewed Anghel.
On May 17, Tafsik Organization and Stop Antizionism hosted a full-day World Symposium Against Antizionism. With justifiable pride, the organizers declared that this was the first conference in the world specifically dedicated to combating antizionism. Keynote speaker was Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, along with Gad Saad, Eve Barlow, Leora Shemesh and a packed A-list of inspiring Jewish leaders from around the world.
The fire of Jew-hatred has been ravaging the Jewish community across our country, and elsewhere, and absolutely every option must be considered to put it out. At the same time, I wonder, What if this conference had been organized around the topic of Zionism, where these same speakers focused on all the many visions, projects and ways that Jews everywhere could support the cause of Zionism?
Whether you identify more with Zionism, Jewish peoplehood, Israel or Judaism, if we really want to declare war on antizionism and antisemitism, I think it is by embracing everything that makes us proud to be Jewish and to live Jewishly. For every action each of us takes to combat antisemitism/antizionism, imagine the impact if we also did an equal action that deepens our Jewish identity. Consider it a one-to-one combating antisemitism, promoting Zionism challenge.
As Canadian Jews, we have endured longstanding discrimination. Many of us remain vigilant, knowing our lives will be shaped by the latest surge of“protesters” in Jewish neighbourhoods, or by flash mobs of such protesters at Toronto subway stations or at public forums like Phillips Square in Montreal. where effigies were hung.
When, in Vancouver, someone sets fire to the entrance of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue and the Jewish Federation of BC reports that 62% of Jewish community members have experienced at least one antisemitic incident, wearing Jewish symbols in public is an act of pride and defiance against any of our fellow Canadians who secretly, or openly, hate us for being Jews.
Even before Oct. 7, 2023, B’nai Brith recorded that, in Canada, in 2021, for the sixth consecutive year, records were set for antisemitic incidents in the country, reaching 2,799 that year. In their recently released 2025 Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents, B’nai Brith found there were 6,800 incidents of antisemitism documented that year.
Zach Bodner, chief executive officer of the Palo Alto Jewish community centre and the head of the Zionism 3.0 movement, declares: “We have to stop pretending that anti-antisemitism will keep Judaism alive for the next generation…. We have to stop believing that fighting against antizionism will keep our kids loving Israel.”
Rabbi David Hartman, in his 1982 essay “Auschwitz or Sinai?” challenges us to examine if we will live our Judaism shaped by trauma, persecution and hatred, or if will we be shaped by covenant, responsibility and moral purpose. “It was not Hitler who brought us back to Zion, but rather belief in the eternal validity of the Sinai covenant,” he wrote.
Recently, as a simple test, I went to the Jewish Independent archives and clicked on the antisemitism tag, I found 45 pages of articles. When I went to the Zionism tag, I found only four, but the tag for Israel had 111 pages, while antizionism/anti-Zionism had three pages of results combined.
I then decided to compare the number of articles published in 2026 between the antisemitism and Israel tags. I found about 30 articles in the former and roughly 25 in the latter. Of those 25 Israel stories published in 2026, at least four dealt with antisemitism and included that tag search as well. Of the 21 remaining Israel articles, most could be construed as some form of cultural connection, solidarity with or interest in Israel, more than enough to classify as Zionism.
While close in number, so far in 2026, antisemitism stories are outpacing stories about Israel and/or Zionism. I have no doubt this same test could be used with any other Canadian Jewish publication, with similar findings.
I’m sure we can agree that there is so much more we can do to inspire ourselves and pass the torch from Sinai to our future generations, rather than allow so much of our creative and intellectual drive and energy to be focused on those who hate us.
We are living in the aftermath of 1948, the year when we Jews finally transformed the seemingly impossible dream of reestablishing statehood into reality. We have a strong North American Jewish community and representative organizations that make us an undeniable political force.
With these resources that were unimaginable to previous generations of Jews, we have new goals to set, new visions to dream, new swamps to drain, new heights to achieve – as Jews.
So, I ask every one of you reading this: What inspires you about being Jewish? What about Judaism, Zionism or Israel inspires you? What leads you to live a Jewish life and gives you strength during tough times? What drives you to be the best Jew you want to be?
For every statement, action, rally or event you attend where you roar with defiance against our haters, please take a moment to express why you are the Jew you are; how you live Jewishly; and why you are proudly part of the Jewish nation. Your words, your ideas, your vision can and will inspire many others.
Alan Hermanhas lived in Israel twice, including when attending Ben-Gurion University, where he completed his master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies. He participated in the Quebec-Israel Committee’s parliamentary program in Montreal, and organized many Israel and Zionism related events as a co-chair for the Toronto chapter of the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research from 2013 to 2025. He is a proud member of the board of Upstanders Canada.
The May 31 Festival of Jewish Culture finale will be a concert by a trio of musicians coming in from Los Angeles: Rabbi Tori Greene, accompanied by Yonatan Dror (wind instruments) and Daniel Feldman (percussion). (photo from JCCGV)
A local artisans market, food trucks, dance performances, workshops and a concert – the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Festival of Jewish Culture takes place on May 31, from noon to 4:30 p.m. The event is the culmination of the JCC’s celebration of Jewish Heritage Month.
The marketplace will include Elmwood Candles, Lana’s Jewelry Collection, Keep Turning Studio, AMLiora Designs, Rheya Taylor Designs, Sind Studio, Creative Beading, Lind 3D Wurm, Circles by Nava, Nomi’s Paletas, Braids On, and Egg Plant and Co. Planted Love and Ping BBQ food trucks will be on site.
The festival will once again feature a dance showcase in the Rothstein Theatre, starting at 12:30 p.m. There will be performances by JCC Orr Chadash and Orr Yeladim, Vancouver Talmud Torah, Richmond Jewish Day School, Kol Halev, Aviv Dancers, Dena Wosk School of Performing Arts and others.
At various points in the day, there will be workshops for which people will need to sign up to attend: Israeli dance, krav maga, hamsa-making, and how to make hummus and Israeli salad. There also will be a community street art-mural-making workshop in the arts and crafts room.
The day’s finale is a concert of global Jewish music, sounds and prayers from across the Jewish diaspora and Israel, by a trio of musicians coming in from Los Angeles: Rabbi Tori Greene, accompanied by Israelis Yonatan Dror (wind instruments) and Daniel Feldman (percussion).
“I’m so excited this year for the sense of togetherness made possible by the incredible artists we’re hosting. From professional dancers to chefs to musicians, it’s truly a gift to experience it all beyachad, together. I can’t wait to see everyone, happily full of great food and fun finds, arriving at the Wosk for our grand musical finale,” said Nomi Zysblat, coordinator of Jewish and Israeli engagement at the JCC.
The May 31 program caps off a month of activities at the JCC centring on Jewish culture and heritage.
On May 10, 10 a.m., there is Hebrew Sunday Storytime & Breakfast ($7.50/adult, $5.50/child).
The Project Heroes concert with Israeli singer and storyteller Gilad Segev – celebrating courage, resilience, Jewish pride and unity through music and personal stories – takes place May 13, 7 p.m., in the Rothstein Theatre ($18/$36/$54; $10 for VTT, RJDS, KDHS and Hillel students).
There are two author talks: Caryl Eve Dolinko on A Woman’s Guide to World Travel, hosted by Circle of Friends for Women 55+ on May 14, 2 p.m., at the centre; and Adeena Sussman on Zariz: 100 Easy, Breezy, Tel Aviv-y Recipes, hosted by Hadassah USA/Canada online on May 19, at 4 p.m. For a review of Dolinko’s book, go to jewishindependent.ca/traveling-as-a-woman.
Lilian Broca’s exhibit Lilith – in which she revisits the myth of Lilith, Adam’s first wife, exploring the struggle of an empowered, independent woman whose conflicts echo those faced by women today – opens at the Zack Gallery May 20, and runs through June 29. Broca gives a talk and slide presentation on the exhibit on May 26, at 7 p.m.
For Shavuot, there will be ice cream served in the atrium on May 21, 3-5 p.m., and candlelighting on Shabbat May 29. There will be a community Shabbat dinner (dairy) for Hebrew speakers, including a short Kabbalat Shabbat with songs and readings, on May 22, at 6:30 p.m. Another Hebrew-oriented event is the May 24, 7 p.m., sing-along with Miriam Benny.
There is a community tiyul and picnic – a family nature walk, ending with a snack picnic and games on the beach – on May 24, 10 a.m., and a piano recital at the centre on May 27, 11:30 a.m., featuring Dmitri Kristalinsky showcasing the music of Jewish composers.
Geoffrey Druker, who leads the community’s annual memorial ceremony, consoles a young speaker on Yom Hazikaron. (photo from Geoffrey Druker)
Emotions were close to the surface April 20 at Vancouver’s annual Yom Hazikaron commemoration. The Jewish community gathered at Temple Sholom to mark Israel’s day of remembrance for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism – an evening that bridged decades of loss with the raw immediacy of the present.
Geoffrey Druker, who has led the annual ceremony for many years, shared multiple stories spanning decades, reflecting the losses in Israel’s many wars and incessant terror attacks.
A photograph from 2005 showed four young commanders from the Golani Brigade. Within a year, two of them – Benji Hillman and Roi Klein – would be killed in the Second Lebanon War. Hillman died in battle and, six days later, Klein was killed after throwing himself on a grenade to save his soldiers.
Nearly two decades later, the tragedy continued.
On Oct. 7, 2023, the two surviving commanders in the photo – Roi Levy and Yizhack Ben Bassat – rushed from their homes to defend Israeli communities under attack. Levy was killed that day at Kibbutz Re’im. Two months later, Ben Bassat was killed during the war in Gaza.
Col. Yizhack Ben Bassat’s sister, Hamutal, is a member of the Vancouver community and lit a candle in his memory.
In the 40 days of Operation Roaring Lion, the initial war with Iran, Druker said more than 20 civilians and 13 soldiers were killed. Among the civilians killed was Ofer Moskovitz.
“He was better known in the region and throughout Israel as ‘Pushko,’” said Druker. He was a farmer in charge of the avocado orchard of Kibbutz Misgav Am, which is located right on the border with Lebanon, in Vancouver’s partnership region of the Upper Galilee.
“Veteran members of our Federation partnership committee met with him numerous times during visits to the region,” said Druker. “He was 60 years old.
“Tonight we remember them all,” Druker said, as the congregation rose for a moment of silence.
The ceremony moved between individual stories and collective grief, underscoring the scale of loss while emphasizing its personal nature.
The evening became intensely personal with the remembrance of Ben Mizrachi, the young Vancouver man killed at the Nova music festival.
“Ben did not run away to save himself when he had the chance,” his mother had said in a previous address that was recounted. “He showed tremendous courage … as he tried to save others.”
This year, the graduate of King David High School was remembered by his uncle, Mooshon Mizrachi.
Many other stories were read aloud and relatives and community members read Yizkor and lit candles, transforming the ceremony into a living bridge between Vancouver and Israel.
“These past years, Israel has been engaged in wars on five fronts,” Druker noted, referencing the sustained conflict that has affected every part of the country.
The story of brothers Amit and Yigal Vax, killed defending their community during the Oct. 7 attacks, was told as a recollection of that morning – sirens, explosions and the sudden realization that terrorists had entered their village. The account described fear giving way to terror, as residents hid in safe rooms as gunfire echoed outside.
“Amit … heard gunfire … grabbed his weapon … and was killed,” Druker recounted. His brother Yigal, armed only with a machete, was also killed trying to defend their home.
Sivan Keidar, a member of the extended Vax family, lit a candle in their memory.
Throughout the ceremony, music and ritual provided a framework for mourning. Songs such as “Ad Machar” (“Until Tomorrow”) and “Makom L’de’aga” (“A Place to Worry”) reflected the emotional landscape of grief.
Shinshinim, Israeli teenagers participating in a year-of-service program in Vancouver, spoke about the legacy they have inherited – one shaped by wars they did not experience directly, but which continue to define their lives.
Eliyahu Kaminsky of Congregation Schara Tzedeck synagogue recited the memorial prayer El Maleh Rachamim.
Left to right: Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver chief executive officer Ezra Shanken, Temple Sholom Senior Rabbi Dan Moskovitz and commentator and author Yossi Klein Halevi. (photo by Pat Johnson)
The special relationship between the United States and Israel is at its greatest peak, according to American-Israeli thinker and commentator Yossi Klein Halevi. The bad news is, he predicts, it’s all downhill from here.
In conversation with Temple Sholom’s Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, Klein Halevi warned that, whoever succeeds US President Donald Trump, it is almost inevitable that the next American leader will be less supportive of Israel.
“After Trump, the deluge,” said Klein Halevi. “There really is this sense of this moment as bittersweet. We have never been in a closer alignment with the United States than now.… This is really the culminating moment of the special relationship, that it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Were Vice-President J.D. Vance, a Republican, to become president, Klein Halevi warned, the US-Israeli relationship would almost certainly deteriorate.
“If it is just about any Democrat, it’s not going to be good,” he said. “In some cases, it would be extremely negative. So, there’s a sense that this is sort of the final play.”
Change is inevitable in Israeli politics, as well, he argued. Klein Halevi emphatically believes Netanyahu will not be reelected. The only question, he said, is whether someone else can cobble together a workable majority.
Klein Halevi is scholar-in-residence at Temple Sholom and the event April 23 was presented in cooperation with the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.
Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and one of Israel’s most influential and widely read public intellectuals, exploring Israeli identity, Jewish peoplehood, faith and the moral complexities of power. His books, including Letters to My Palestinian Neighbour and Like Dreamers, have shaped critical conversations across the Jewish world, according to Karen Kollins, the institute’s director of Canada, who introduced him.
Kollins described her organization as a leading Jewish think tank and educational centre working in Israel and across North America to “help the Jewish people engage thoughtfully and courageously with the most complex moral, religious and political challenges of our time.”
Klein Halevi co-hosts, with the institute’s president, Donniel Hartman, the think tank’s award-winning weekly podcast For Heaven’s Sake, which focuses on the moral aspects of issues affecting Israel, world Jewry and Zionism.
The stresses of living in Israel, always intense, have been unprecedentedly exacerbated in recent years, said Klein Halevi in his conversation with Moskovitz.
“This has been Israel’s longest war,” he said, noting that reservists have been called up for very long tours, upending families, businesses and society at large. “I think that we’re going to start seeing the cracks in the next generation.”
Even as new olim (immigrants) are arriving from France and elsewhere, he said, more and more Israelis are questioning whether they and their children have a future in the country.
“At what point do Israelis start to say, I – we – can’t do this anymore?” Klein Halevi asked.
Disenchantment is further aggravated by widespread dissatisfaction with the government.
“We’ve never had a government in wartime that more than half the country doesn’t trust,” he said. “When you combine that with the endless pressure, there’s this sense that I think many young Israelis have of, What’s the future here right now?”
In contrast, the post-Oct. 7 societal unity, while fraying over time, remains a uniquely enveloping Israeli phenomenon.
Moskovitz asked if the war with Iran has been successful.
“I think the question is, What were the realistic expectations going into this war?” Klein Halevi replied.
He accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of prioritizing his own political interests ahead of those of the country, as well as raising expectations of not only eliminating Iran’s nuclear threat but deposing the Islamic regime.
“So, he was plugging this idea of total victory,” said Klein Halevi. “There’s not going to be a total victory.”
Setting back Iran’s nuclear ambitions has been successful, but regime change in Iran will come only from internal forces, he said.
From that perspective, he believes that, in the near to medium term, the Iranian regime is finished.
“When you lose the legitimacy of your people or, to put it more strongly, when you massacre tens of thousands of your own citizens, there’s no recovery from that,” he said. “You’ve decisively lost your legitimacy.”
Klein Halevi said that Israel, for decades, has fallen into Iran’s trap, engaging with Iran’s proxies – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis – instead of confronting the source of the conflict, which is Iran.
“This war will be resolved not in Lebanon, and not in Gaza,” he said. “It will be resolved in Tehran.”
Responding to critics of Israel, Klein Halevi said he has high standards for Israeli morality, but all things have context.
“[Israel] was never an exemplar of democracy in an absolute sense,” he said, “but it was very much an exemplar of a democracy in conditions of extremity. No democracy anywhere has experienced the kind of sustained opposition – war, terrorism, siege, diplomatic boycott – that Israel has known since literally the day of its birth. The fact that we have managed to sustain an imperfect democracy is extraordinary.… And then when you bring in wave after wave of traumatized refugees who themselves come from countries with no democratic [traditions] – 90% of Israelis do not come from the West; they come from the Middle East or Eastern Europe, and yet we have managed to sustain a credible democracy. That, to me, is really the glory of Israeli democracy.
“If you strip away the context, which is what the critics of Israel do … they just leave the fact that, well, Arab Israelis don’t have full rights – and that’s true. And, for me, that’s a scandal,” he said. “But it’s also a scandal that I understand, because I can’t think of another more complicated minority/majority dynamic than having as your main minority people who are culturally and even to some extent politically aligned with the enemy you’re fighting.”
Moskovitz asked how Israeli media covers antisemitism in the diaspora and whether Israelis are conscious of the extent of the crisis.
“It is reported the way the Israeli media would cover an Israeli crisis,” said Klein Halevi. “It’s very much seen as a major Israeli story. That’s good news and bad news. It’s good news that the Israeli public really cares about the diaspora more so than in the past.”
Conversely, he said, the traditional Zionist mindset toward the diaspora tends to assume that, if Jews around the world are not making aliyah en masse, the situation they are facing worldwide can’t be that bad.
Since Oct. 7, Klein Halevi said, there has been an upsurge of spirituality and Jewish observance, as well as a resurgence of creativity in music and art. He also noted a shift within some components of the ultra-Orthodox, with “a whole new ideological stream called Israeli Haredi,” that is, ultra-Orthodox who want to be more integrated into society while maintaining the differences that matter most to them.
Amy Frankel, Temple Sholom president, welcomed the packed sanctuary and said that the program and others like it would not be possible without the generosity of the late Jack Lutsky, whose wife, Susan Mendelson, and brother, Peter Lutsky, recently established Temple Sholom’s scholar-in-residence endowment fund as a perpetual benefit to the congregation and the broader community.
Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, thanked Klein Halevi.
