Israel – Page 23

Community unites in grief

Jewish Vancouverites and allies came together in grief and determination in a community vigil Monday night, Oct. 9, outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Several hundred Jewish Vancouverites and allies came together in grief and determination in a community vigil Monday night outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. The unprecedented terror attacks in Israel that began Saturday brought a large crowd to the public venue in light rain for an emotionally charged hour of prayers, songs and shared stories of tragedy and resolve. The uncertain fate of a young Vancouver man who had not been heard from since Saturday brought the immediacy of the tragedy home. Hours after the vigil, it was announced that the body of Ben Mizrachi had been identified.

“A piece of this community is missing,” said an audience member who addressed the crowd and identified himself as Adam. “His name is Ben Mizrachi.”

Mizrachi, who graduated from King David High School in 2018, was attending a music festival in Re’im, in southern Israel near the Gaza border. An estimated 260 people were murdered as terrorists invaded the event around 7 a.m. Saturday. Mizrachi had not been in contact with family or friends since, according to news reports and messages from Vancouver friends. Late Monday Vancouver time, it was announced that he had been murdered.

photo - The Monday night vigil was organized by UnXeptable Vancouver — The Monday night vigil was organized by UnXeptable Vancouver. *(photo by Pat Johnson)*

“Every one of us here is feeling grief, is feeling loss,” said Adam. “We are all individuals here, but we are one nation and our nation has one heart. We will look at these candles, we will look at the light, we will look at all the universes they stole from us and we will say, this light will drown out that darkness.”

Leslie Benisz, who spent his first 10 years in Israel, spoke of his own family’s tragedy.

“I have a cousin and her husband who, unfortunately, were killed,” he said, “and, still, at this moment, we do not know the whereabouts of her four children. They were living on a kibbutz near the Gaza area.”

Benisz said his mother, who passed away in March, had advice for times like these.

“My mother used to say, ‘We have to be better than those people who hurt us. Just because they hurt us, don’t do the same thing to them. Maybe even show a level of tolerance and compassion they failed to show us, because there is a fine line sometimes between becoming a human being and becoming an animal and we have to show that we are better than that.’”

A small group of provocateurs carrying Palestinian flags, kept away from the vigil by police, screamed and taunted attendees throughout the event, including during two moments of silence, and vehicles repeatedly circled the venue, their occupants waving Palestinian flags and honking horns. A rally – ostensibly in support of Palestinians – was held several hours earlier at the same location as the vigil.

Monday’s event was organized by Daphna Kedem, who is the lead organizer of UnXeptable Vancouver, though the event was not affiliated with any group. The ad hoc vigil was organized before the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver scheduled a community solidarity event for the following evening, Oct. 10. Coverage of Tuesday’s event, which took place after the Independent went to press, is now online at jewishindependent.ca.

Daphna Kedem, one of the organizers, told the Independent that bringing the community together as soon as possible for mutual support was their priority. While awaiting notification of an event by community leaders, Kedem said, her group decided to schedule a gathering with haste.

“We are not waiting around for the community,” she said. “This is urgent and time-sensitive.”

“We are in the west, but our hearts very much are in the east,” said Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, senior rabbi at Temple Sholom. “We hold our loved ones and our families in those hearts and we come together as a community to pray and to mourn but also with resolve and resilience.”

Speaking above taunts and screaming from protesters on the sidelines, Moskovitz continued: “That’s what we want: to live in peace, to live in our native land in peace, to be together as human beings. Too often, the world ignores us. Too often, the silence is deafening. We who stand here today, we make our presence to call the world to conscience and to see us, to see how once again our people are in danger, our people are being killed and murdered and the world must not be silent again. We will not be silent. We are strong, we are a people with a nation now for the first time in 2,000 years and it will not slip from our grasp, it will not slip from our hearts or our minds or our prayers.”

Ofra Sixto, chef-owner of the Denman Street Israeli restaurant Ofra’s Kitchen, recounted her story of being harassed and of having her life threatened three years ago during a different time of conflict between Israel and Hamas. Then she made a prayer for those missing and for the survivors of those murdered.

“Please God, make them all come back home soon,” she said. “Please God, put solace in the hearts of the people who lost their loved ones.”

Another speaker recalled a year living near the Gaza Strip and hearing the endless sounds of explosions.

photo - Memorial candles were placed in the shape of a Magen David — Memorial candles were placed in the shape of a Magen David. *(photo by Pat Johnson)*

“We are here tonight to remind ourselves and our people back in Israel that we are all one country, we are all one family, we are all together in this, united,” said another speaker. “Despite the tough year it’s been, with different opinions, we are all sticking together, especially when it gets tough. That’s our biggest strength.”

She then led the vigil in the song “Am Yisrael Chai.”

“My sister was sitting 13 hours in a shelter room and the terrorists roaming her kibbutz didn’t touch their home,” another speaker from the audience recounted. “It was a miracle.”

He added: “The one thing that our enemies cannot do is put a divider between the Jewish people and eretz Israel. Please remember that. There is no Jewish people without Israel and there is no Israel without the Jewish people.”

“This horrific attack was an attack on Israel,” said another member of the audience who spoke. “Moreover, it was an attack on all of those who value human life. I know that some people are of the belief that you are left to fight this battle alone. I’m neither Jewish nor Israeli and I’d like to tell you that there are millions of people around the world standing together with you. This includes me and many, many, many others.”

“We have a very simple message to the world today,” said Rabbi Shmulik Yeshayahu of the Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel. “When we see those guys on the other side, and we see our crowd tonight, state proudly … we are human beings. We treat people fairly. We love Israel, we love humanity, we love the civil world.… We will never let terrorism take over. This is the message of Canada and all the Western world today.”

Yeshayahu lamented the hostages taken.

“We are talking about over 100 people, many of them little kids who were kidnapped, old people who survived the Holocaust and came to the holy land of Israel to live in a free country,” he said. “We are here for them.… No human being can stand by and see those bastards take little kids and kidnap 3-year-old kids and put them in a cage. This is not acceptable in 2023 and we are not going to be quiet about it. The eternal nation is not afraid of a long journey. We will defeat them.”

Rabbi Carey Brown, associate rabbi at Temple Sholom, said the prayer for Israeli soldiers in Hebrew, while a lone soldier who had served in the Israel Defence Forces a decade ago, shared the prayer in English. Rabbi Jonathan Infeld of Congregation Beth Israel led El Maleh Rachamim, the prayer for the souls of the departed.

After the main vigil, the Independent spoke with a number of attendees.

“With the horrors that happened in Israel, and all the innocents killed, bodies desecrated, kids getting kidnapped, I just had to come and show support,” said Adar Bronstein, who moved to Canada from Israel a decade ago. “I think local Jews and Israelis don’t really protest much. We’re actually quite a quiet society overall, so, when something as big as this happens, we have to make some sort of a stand. All my friends over there have been drafted and my Facebook page is full of my friends posting about their killed loved ones. My family is there and they are terrified. It’s been very, very difficult.”

“What brought me out tonight was seeing things that I didn’t think I would ever see in my life,” said Alex Greenberg. “This is my family, this is my people. I came just to show that people in Israel have support.”

Jillian Marks was huddled in a group of young women, some hugging and wiping away tears. The alumna of Vancouver Talmud Torah and King David is now a University of British Columbia student and president of the Israel on Campus club.

“We need to show that we are together, that we support each other in these times,” said Marks. “Just being here is a mitzvah and a blessing. I think it’s quite surreal. I have people fighting on the front lines. I have people missing. I have friends missing and friends hiding in bomb shelters. I’m just sad. But I’m grateful for the community here in Canada. I’m grateful we are all together tonight.”

A small group of Iranian Canadians waved the national flag of Iran – not the flag of the Islamic revolutionary government.

Dr. Masood Masjoody, a mathematician and activist against the Iranian regime, said he came “to show support for Israel and the Israeli people.”

He said he was surprised that anyone would be surprised to see him there.

“We’ve been dealing with the regime that has been behind these heinous attacks for more than 40 years – 44 years – so we know this regime more than any other nation in the world,” he said, referring to the Iranian regime’s support for anti-Israel terrorism.

There are many organizations through which people can donate to help Israel, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Israel Emergency Campaign, at jewishvancouver.com/israel-fund.

The situation is surreal

Downtown Jerusalem is deserted apart from Israel Border Police deployed in Zion Square. (photo by Gil Zohar)

It is Oct. 9. My wife Randi calls me while I am riding Jerusalem’s all-but-empty light rail, returning from a bat mitzvah celebration of a forlorn family of tourists from Arizona who are stuck in Israel. We simultaneously hear the air-raid siren blaring as we talk. Fighter jets are screaming overhead. With an edge of panic in her voice, Randi asks me what she should do. I calmly instruct here to follow the Home Front Command orders for civilians, which we have repeatedly reviewed. I’ve downloaded the app on my cellphone.

Our beautiful stone home in downtown Jerusalem, built in 1886, lacks a reinforced steel and concrete bomb shelter, known by the Hebrew acronym MaMaD (Makom Mugan l’Diyur), a protected residential place.

I remind Randi go to the neighbour’s basement apartment quickly but without running, and to wait there. Grabbing Bella our dog, she leaves the apartment door and windows open so that a blast from an explosion will not result in the windows being shattered and glass debris obliterating our house.

Below-grade structures make for poor bomb shelters since poison gas is heavier than air, I think. But there is no alternative. Nine Bedouin children were killed by Hamas rocket fire in the Western Negev. Their village lacked a MaMaD.

We hear the twin boom of Israel’s air defence system, the Iron Dome, intercepting a rocket barrage fired from the Gaza Strip. The strike lights up the sky. The threat is over until the next alert. The media reports that seven civilians living in towns in the periphery of Jerusalem were wounded in the barrage.

At the time of this writing, nearly 1,000 Israeli civilians have been killed, including 260 massacred at the Nova festival near Kibbutz Re’im – an all-night party in the desert. More than 130 civilians and soldiers have been taken hostage and dragged back to Gaza. Apart from 35 Israel Defence Force soldiers who fell in the line of duty, the names of the deceased have not been released.

It remains unclear if Hezbollah will open a full-scale second front from Lebanon. Israel has threatened to destroy Damascus, the capital of Syria, which backs the Shi’ite terror group, should the war broaden to the north.

Families of the kidnapped, missing and 2,200 wounded civilians are begging for news. Israel remains shrouded by military censorship. Nor is the news from the 2.3 million people in Gaza any clearer. Al-Jazeera lists long-out-of-date statistics. Based on data reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry, the Palestine Red Crescent Society and Israeli Medical Services, 560 Gazans have been killed. That number is likely to rise substantially.

More than 48 hours from when Hamas attacked and war broke out at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, the IDF spokesperson announces that the army has neutralized the terrorists who overcame 22 cities and villages near Gaza. Israelis are being evacuated from the border area in anticipation of a ground invasion. Some are being housed in empty hotels near the Dead Sea.

I’ve offered our adjoining apartment. All our Airbnb guests have canceled. Apart from El Al, airlines have stopped flying to Ben-Gurion Airport.

The number of the dead, missing and wounded is surreal. The IDF has called up 300,000 reservists in the last 48 hours for what it has termed “Operation Swords of Iron.” Among them is my nephew Guy Carmeli, a Canadian-Israeli dual citizen and veteran tank gunner who lives in Herzliya with his wife Yael and 2-year-old son Oz. Randi doesn’t know of his callup. Maybe she’ll read it here. My wife doesn’t do well with stress.

A press release from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies Egypt is trying to broker a ceasefire. The statement reads: “No message has arrived from Egypt and the prime minister has neither spoken, nor met, with the head of Egyptian intelligence since the formation of the government, neither directly nor indirectly. This is totally fake news.”

The implication? Israelis must gird themselves itself for a “long and difficult war ahead,” according to Netanyahu.

The electronic tom-tom drums uniting immigrant Israelis have been busy. As I write this, nine Americans have been confirmed dead, and 10 Brits are assumed to have been killed.

Adi Vital-Kaploun, the adult daughter of Ottawa native Jacqui Vital and her husband Yaron who live in Jerusalem, was kidnapped from her home by the Gaza Strip. Adi’s two infant children, aged 1 and 3, were also taken hostage but were abandoned at the border by their captors who felt the children would slow down the gunmen’s retreat. [On Oct. 11, after the Independent went to press, it was announced that Vital-Kaploun had been murdered by Hamas terrorists.]

There are other Canadians missing, including former Winnipegger Vivian Silver. And there are Canadians who were killed by the terrorists: Alexandre Look, who grew up in Montreal, and Vancouverite Ben Mizrachi; both young men were among those killed at the music festival near Kibbutz Re’im.

Canadian-Israeli Shye Weinstein, who was at the festival, too, documented how he and his friends fled. He described their nail-biting escape to Tel Aviv: “We only slowed down for checkpoints and bodies.”

Nuseir Yassin, who writes the blog @nasdaily, described his conflict as an Arab citizen of Israel: “Personal Thoughts: (not for everyone, feel free to skip) For the longest time, I struggled with my identity. A Palestinian kid born inside Israel. Like … wtf. Many of my friends refuse to this day to say the word ‘Israel’ and call themselves ‘Palestinian’ only. But since I was 12, that did not make sense to me. So I decided to mix the two and become a ‘Palestinian-Israeli.’ I thought this term reflected who I was. Palestinian first. Israeli second. But after recent events, I started to think. And think. And think. And then my thoughts turned to anger. I realized that if Israel were to be ‘invaded’ like that again, we would not be safe. To a terrorist invading Israel, all citizens are targets. 900 Israelis died so far.

“More than 40 of them are Arabs. Killed by other Arabs. And even 2 Thai people died too. And I do not want to live under a Palestinian government. Which means I only have one home, even if I’m not Jewish: Israel. That’s where all my family lives. That’s where I grew up. That’s the country I want to see continue to exist so I can exist. Palestine should exist too as an independent state. And I hope to see the country thrive and become less extreme and more prosperous. I love Palestine and have invested in Palestine. But it’s not my home. So from today forward, I view myself as an ‘Israeli-Palestinian.’ Israeli first. Palestinian second.”

Gil Zohar is a writer and tour guide in Jerusalem.

The sounds of terror attacks

Editor’s note: This article is a reprint of an Oct. 7 Facebook post.

“What the heck?!” I sat up in bed and looked at my husband. There was a siren blaring.

Instinctively, I reached for my phone – but it wasn’t on my night table. I checked under my pillow, where did I put it?

Then I remembered. It was Shabbat and Simchat Torah. We had gotten home late last night after a beautiful celebration with the Torah in the small Chabad synagogue down the road. “Rabbi Heber’s Chabad,” as we called it, was filled with Jews from all over: Israel, Morocco, the former Soviet Union, and a small sprinkling of English-speakers. That night, everyone danced the “hakafot” together in unity, celebrating the beautiful gift God gave to us.

Before heading home, we hugged and told each other we’d be back tomorrow for the day celebrations, when again we’d dance around with the Torah together.

On Shabbat and Simchat Torah we don’t use electric technology, and so when the air raid siren blared, my phone was in my drawer on airplane mode.

My husband and I leaped out of bed. “You get the girls, I’ll get the boys!” I said.

The kids were already awake, all but little Leah had climbed out of bed and began running towards our shelter. My husband grabbed Leah and, within seconds, we were in our bomb shelter, door closed shut.

We were caught completely off guard. The kids were confused.

“Why didn’t you tell us there would be a siren?” my son asked.

We didn’t know. We didn’t expect it. Maybe it was just a fluke? Maybe the Israeli army assassinated a Hamas terrorist and there was going to be a couple rockets in retaliation?

The siren went on for awhile. We heard lots of explosions. When it stopped, my husband stepped out to look at the clock. It was 6 a.m. The sun would be up soon, not a chance of the kids going back to sleep. We sat on the living room couch and said the morning prayer, Modeh Ani, thank you God for returning my soul to me.

We wondered if the sirens would stop soon and if we’d be able to go to the synagogue to celebrate Simchat Torah. Moments later, we were back in the bomb shelter. Sirens, explosions, on and on and on.

During a small break, we returned to the couch and listened to the sounds of war. Early on a Saturday morning, there was no other noise pollution, and so we heard everything for miles around. Sirens in the distance, explosions, military jets taking off, first responders whizzing by.

“Mom, I hear booms, we should go back to the shelter.”

I explained to my kids how to tell if a boom is close or far. If it’s a deep sound, it’s in the distance. The higher the pitch, the closer.

Sirens again, back to the shelter.

“Mom, that boom was very close.”

It was. But it was a thud, no crashing explosive sounds after. It couldn’t have hit a building. The sirens continued, and we stayed put.

On our bomb shelter windowsill are a pair of gas masks, sitting there since the Gulf War of 1991. They’re useless now, but staring at them sent a shiver down my spine.

My husband and I looked at each other. This was no ordinary operation going on. We had already lost count, but were sure that hundreds of rockets had been fired at Be’er Sheva in the past few hours.

It wasn’t just the air-raid sirens; there were nonstop first-responder sirens, too. Way more than we ever remembered hearing during any military operation.

Finally, at 10 a.m., another break. Our bomb shelter gets very stuffy, so we were relieved to step into the living room, where we had all the windows open.

“It smells like smoke.”

My daughter was right. It did. We went out our front door and saw a thick cloud of dark smoke rising behind our home.

Our neighbour walked out of his house, followed by his teenage daughter.

“It’s the park!” she shouted. “The park behind our house is on fire!”

A rocket must have made impact there. Probably the one my son pointed out. Just a few metres away from our home.

Our neighbour looked at us, and realized we probably hadn’t seen the news.

“It’s a balagan,” he said. “They kidnapped a soldier, they’re shooting in Ofakim. Hundreds of rockets. It’s a mess.”

I didn’t process what he was saying. Shooting in the city of Ofakim? Kidnapped a soldier? I probably wasn’t understanding him right.

My son found a piece of shrapnel on the street, right next to our parked car. We went back inside. It stunk of smoke. I closed the windows.

More air-raid sirens. More explosions. Nonstop first-responders. Some sounded different – maybe military ambulances or fire trucks? Maybe there was another big fire and they were all rushing to put it out? I couldn’t imagine why else there would be so many. Just in case, I locked the doors.

More sirens, back to the shelter. We spent most of the morning in that stuffy room. It’s also our laundry room and dairy kitchenette. There were a few dishes in the sink, I washed them, tidied up a little.

We realized there was no going to synagogue today, and began prayers at home. By this time, the sirens were further spread apart, and we were

able to spend most of our time in the living room.

It was Simchat Torah. How would we do the hakafot dancing without a Torah? Without a community come together in joy?

My kids ran towards the bookshelf.

“Look! It’s Torah Ohr! Lekutei Torah! We can dance with these!”

My husband found a mini set of the five Torah books, my oldest daughter a Tanach – the complete Bible set in one.

The Simchat Torah dance goes around the bima, the table on which the Torah is read. First the congregants repeat lines from the prayer book after each other, sharing l’chaims in between, and then begin the dancing.

We gathered around our dining room table.

“L’chaim to the safety of the IDF and all of Israel!”

“L’chaim!”

My husband read the first line, my kids and I repeated.

“Atah horaisah l’dat.…”

Around the table we went, my husband and I, and the kids, each taking a line, some around the table, some in the bomb shelter.

Then we began the hakafot and danced around and around the table, holding up our Torah books. My littlest had chosen a giant Torah Ohr that was almost half her size. I couldn’t help but lift her up and dance around as she giggled away.

We paused in between hakafot, and I told the children a story: After the Holocaust, a few survivors returned to Vilna, in Lithuania. On Simchat Torah, they gathered in the grand

Vilna synagogue, but all the Torah scrolls were gone. There was one child. The survivors picked him up over

their shoulders and danced around with him, “This is our Torah! This is our future!”

We finished hakafot around our table, and ate a Simchat Torah lunch.

In the distance, we heard children singing: “Anachnu maaminim b’nei maaminim!” “We are believers, children of believers! We have no one to lean on but our Father in Heaven!” We sang along.

The sounds of war were loud. Too loud. Jets, explosions – that we knew. But why were there so many first-responders?

My husband stepped outside. Maybe there was another fire? The kids followed him.

A neighbour was pacing back and forth in the street, staring at his phone. My husband asked him why all the sirens.

“The sirens are nothing. Nothing. 80 dead. 800 injured. Who knows how many kidnapped. We are at war! You don’t want to know what you will see when you turn your phone on.”

My son ran back inside: “It’s a war! It’s a war! We need to lock the doors so they don’t come and shoot us.”

I felt like vomiting.

Be’er Sheva has the closest hospital to most Gaza border communities. The nonstop first-responder sirens were ambulances. Hundreds of ambulances carrying patients to the hospital.

“Kids, let’s say Psalms. The best we can do right now is pray for the people who were injured or kidnapped, and for the IDF soldiers to be successful.”

We said Psalms. My kids kept asking when we can check our phones. We were inside and safe; I felt we could wait until Shabbat was over. I wanted to wait. I didn’t want to see.

But Shabbat and Simchat Torah came to an end, and I saw.

I still have not processed.

More than 300 dead [at the time of original writing]. Well over a thousand injured. At least 52 kidnapped.

A mass door-to-door slaughter of Jews. In 2023.

I will not process this. It cannot be real.

Three kids are sleeping in our bomb shelter. My oldest refuses. She’s in her own bed, in a much-needed sleep.

I’m still hoping this is some messed-up nightmare and I’ll wake up soon to a good world, with the same amount of Jews alive as there was before Simchat Torah began.

Bruria Efune lives in Be’er Sheva with her husband Mendy and four children. She is co-founder of Ohr Chabad, building a new community in Israel. Born in Vancouver, she is the daughter of Rabbi Tzvi and Nomi Freeman.

Grief is overwhelming

The Jewish community worldwide is experiencing pain and despair. Feelings of grief for the murdered, empathy for the injured, rage at the perpetrators and anguish and terror for the kidnapped are overwhelming. The deep heartbreak is palpable.

While events in the past have harmed Israelis’ sense of security and hopes for peace, these attacks seem to have shattered them. The invasion of Jewish homes, the seizing of Jewish people, young and old, reaching for their loves ones as they are dragged away – these are images hauntingly redolent of a stateless past, without a government capable of preventing large-scale, coordinated assaults on the dignity, human rights, freedom and lives of Jews. The magnitude of this terror, with the heart-rending images and videos that illustrate the dehumanization in a way impossible until recent technological advances, means this moment is uniquely affecting.

Israeli politicians and military strategists have largely aimed to “manage” the conflict. Now, there will be calls for a lasting resolution. Israelis will not tolerate a second experience like this. After a decade and a half of successive skirmishes and wars with Hamas, many, including top military officials, are warning this will be the last.

A resolution to the status quo is something everyone – even Hamas terrorists – agree on. What that resolution will look like is where differences emerge. The approach Israel takes will affect not only the reality there but, secondarily, the world’s attitudes and approaches to Israel … and to Jews, as is often the case. There is fear and anger and understandable calls for retribution – actions that, at press time, were partly being tempered by the presence in Gaza of an estimated hundred-plus hostages from Israeli villages and towns.

History has shown one thing to be sure of, and to brace for – the window of empathy for Israeli victims will inevitably close. The author Dara Horn wrote that “people love dead Jews.” What the world seems to welcome far less enthusiastically are Jews, and a Jewish state, that are very much alive, with agency in the world. As Israel’s response rolls out, we can expect much of the nascent public sympathy to evaporate.

We cannot predict the mayhem and pain that seems imminent for both Israelis and Palestinians in the coming days, weeks, months and possibly years as a result of this radically changed circumstance. However, the temptation to assert that “this changes everything” is almost certainly false. Some things will remain the same.

There is a core of intolerance and hatred at the heart of opposition to the Jewish presence in the region and to Jewish national self-determination. Peace has rarely seemed further away.

Not incidentally, some of the central values of Israeli society – providing affected individuals and families with support and resources in times of crisis – have been left to individuals and various networks of mutual aid. The governmental and political failure goes beyond not having been prepared for the terrorist attacks but extends to the aftermath. Families have been left by their government with little communication or intelligence on their lost, possibly dead, loved ones. Among all the sacred things left in ruins today, this may prove to be one of the most shattering remnants from this time. That, at least, was something that Israelis could rely on – and even that has been ripped away.

For Jewish Canadians, this conflict is at once so far away and so close and, for some of us – like the family and friends of Ben Mizrachi, the young Vancouver man murdered Saturday – so very close. Wherever we are, we must be there for one another, across all lines of geography, affiliation, background and, yes, politics. Right now, a resolution forced by military might be the preference of the most vocal people. The middle of a war can be a hard time to talk about peace. A moment of agony and outrage is a difficult moment to encourage reflection and restraint. And yet, lasting peace and justice depends on what happens next and how our institutions react. We cannot control the actions of others, as psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankel suggested, we can only control our responses to these events. This is the choice each of us makes as we assimilate the inhumanity around us and reflect on our deeply held values.

Lanyi debuts in March

Israeli pianist Ariel Lanyi performs in Vancouver March 3. (photo by Kaupo Kikkas)

Israeli pianist Ariel Lanyi will make his Canadian debut on March 3, 3 p.m., at the Vancouver Playhouse in a concert presented by the Vancouver Recital Society.

Born in Jerusalem in 1997, Lanyi is now based in London, England, having recently completed his studies at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2023, he received the Prix Serdanag, a Swiss prize awarded by Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, and was nominated as a Rising Star Artist by Classic FM. In 2021, he won third prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition and was a prize winner in both the Young Classical Artists Trust YCAT (London) and Concert Artists Guild (New York) International Auditions. Also in 2021, Linn Records released Lanyi’s recording of music by Schubert, with other releases also planned. Lanyi’s 2021 Virtually VRS recorded performance can be viewed on the Vancouver Recital Society’s YouTube channel.

Lanyi has appeared with orchestras in Israel, the United Kingdom, Argentina and the United States, and highlights include playing with the Israel Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the latter of which he will return to this season for Mozart K503. Other notable future engagements include his debut with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the Grafenegg Festival, a return to Australia at the Sanguine Estate Music Festival, followed by a tour to China, and the Stars & Rising Stars concert series in Munich.

An avid chamber musician, Lanyi has collaborated with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Concertgebouw Amsterdam, as well as with musicians such as Maria João Pires, Marina Piccinini, Charles Neidich and Torleif Thedéen. He also recorded with the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg under the auspices of the Orpheum Stifftung, as part of their Next Generation Mozart Soloist series, and gave recitals at the Kissinger Sommer, Fundaçion Juan March in Madrid, and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Lanyi’s March 3 performance in Vancouver will feature Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, Frédéric Chopin’s Mazurkas, Op. 59, and Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61, as well as Max Reger’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Bach, Op. 81. The concert will be followed by a talkback session. For tickets, visit vanrecital.com.

– Courtesy Vancouver Recital Society

Talking on democracy

Left to right: Ora Peled Nakash of the America-Israel Democracy Coalition and Michal Muszkat-Barkan of Safeguarding Our Shared Home listen to a question posed by Temple Sholom Rabbi Dan Moskovitz at an event Sept. 26. (screenshot)

More than 300 people pre-registered to attend Hear From Leaders in the Israeli Protest Movement at Temple Sholom on Sept. 26 and the sanctuary was full. Presented by the synagogue, UnXeptable Vancouver, the America-Israel Democracy Coalition, and Safeguarding our Shared Home, in partnership with JSpaceCanada, New Israel Fund of Canada, Ameinu Canada and Arza Canada, this was the first time that a Canadian Jewish establishment hosted protesters from Israel’s pro-democracy movement on Canadian soil.

Speaking before the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 6, Michal Muszkat-Barkan of Safeguarding Our Shared Home, and Ora Peled Nakash of the America-Israel Democracy Coalition were touring as part of an effort to educate North American diaspora Jewry on the judicial coup attempt and other fundamental issues with which Israel’s society has been grappling this past year. The unprecedented protest movement was, at 39 weeks, the longest sustained protest movement in modern Israeli history. In response to the war, however, the movement suspended protests in Israel and around the world, including Vancouver, standing in solidarity with their fellow Israelis.

The Sept. 26 evening began with Rabbi Laura and Charles Kaplan singing Oseh Shalom, Salaam (Od Yavo) and Lu Yehi followed by Temple Sholom Rabbi Dan Moskovitz’s introduction of the partner organizations. He said, “We have tried to partner at every opportunity we can to bring a dialogue about Israel, to bring an understanding of the challenges Israel faces and the reality that it faces, as well, through a lens of Zionism that is pro-Israel, pro-democracy, pro-human and civil rights.”

Daphna Kedem, lead organizer of UnXeptable Vancouver, spoke about the global protest movement started by Israeli expats, which has grown from 24 to 70 cities, with chapters in five Canadian cities. She said, “The only reason [the current Israeli government] has not succeeded [with the judicial coup] is millions of determined protesters in Israel and around the world who have been fighting for 38 weeks in a row to save Israeli democracy.”

A shortened version of the speech that American-Israeli author and journalist Yossi Klein Halevi, this year’s resident scholar at Temple Sholom, gave at the synagogue during Rosh Hashanah was played. Klein Halevi said: “Now, in Israel, we’re confronting a situation for the first time that I’ve experienced where there are no two sides. There are no two legitimate sides – one side is trying to destroy the foundations of Israeli democracy and the other side, the side that is in the streets every week for the last 37 weeks, sometimes more than once a week, waving giant Israeli flags, that side is trying to save the Israel that’s embodied by the two flags on the bima [pulpit of Temple Sholom]. These two flags represent the entwinement of Jewish and democratic values – that is the Israel that the diaspora fell in love with and that is the Israel that we’re fighting to preserve.”

Temple Sholom member Rina Vizer, in introducing the two main speakers of the evening, dubbed them “the new wonder women, ahead of Gal Gadot,” for their dedication to their cause, taking a 17-hour flight just as Yom Kippur ended in Israel, landing in Seattle, and driving to Vancouver, arriving mere hours before the event.

Peled-Nakash is a software engineer from Kibbutz Ramat David, just outside of Haifa. She was the first woman to graduate the naval officer’s academy and first woman to serve on a missile ship. She is a member of Forum Dvorah, a nongovernmental organization with a network of professional women in an array of fields relating to Israel’s national security and foreign policy.

Muszkat-Barkan is a professor of Jewish education at Hebrew Union College. She is the director of the department of education and professional development and heads the Rikma program in pluralistic Jewish education in partnership with the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at Hebrew University. She is also the founder and head of the Teachers’ Lounge, a professional development program for Arab and Jewish Educators in Jerusalem.

Peled-Nakash presented a slideshow about what brought her to quit her day job at IBM and volunteer full-time with the protest movement. As the first woman to graduate from the naval officer’s academy, she was inspired by the Alice Miller Supreme Court ruling in 1995, she said. When Miller – who had made aliyah from South Africa with her family when she was 6 years old – applied to the Israeli Air Force Flight Academy in 1993, she was rejected based on her gender. Miller sued the Israel Defence Forces, with the case ending up at the Supreme Court, where the rejection was deemed unconstitutional.

Tying the Miller case to the current attempt by Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin to weaken the Supreme Court, Peled-Nakash said, “Alice’s appeal to become a fighter pilot, that completely changed the course of my life…. I didn’t become a fighter pilot but I became a naval officer … following the same steps [as Miller], of opening equal opportunities for women in military service, which is a fight that is actively going on.”

Peled-Nakash has two daughters, ages 8 and 12, and regularly brings them to protests. She sees this act as a continuation of her family’s long Zionist legacy – to fight for Israel as a democracy, whether you live in Israel or in the diaspora.

Muszkat-Barkan grew up in an Orthodox Zionist home in Jerusalem. She spoke of the liberation of Jerusalem following the Six Day War in 1967 and how the night of celebration was also one that opened her eyes to those around her. “I just looked up, I don’t know why, and I saw a hand closing a window and I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, someone is living there and it’s four o’clock in the morning. How come I didn’t think about that? How come we are all here singing and shouting and we didn’t think that someone is living up there?’”

This experience is what led her to dedicate her life to multiculturalism and pluralism, her realization that we are not all the same, but we must live together and respect one another.

It was a WhatsApp message that led Muszkat-Barkan to begin the Jerusalem-based protest group Safeguarding our Shared Home with a few of her friends. The movement grew, with more people coming out to the streets every weekend. “If you came to Jerusalem to protest with us,” she said, “you would see groups of people against the occupation … you would see groups of religious people, you would see Reform people, educators, many groups all together.”

In wrapping up the question-and-answer period, Peled-Nakash left the audience with two messages for diaspora Jews.

“I would ask each and every one of you to take a hard look at how you are supporting, financially, current causes,” she said, “and to make sure that they are in line with your values because the fact is we’ve seen a lot of this coup has been funded by well-intended people that actually thought they were supporting Israel but they weren’t aware of which kind of Israel they were supporting. So, start with an audit to make sure that the causes you’re currently supporting are in line with the values we’re talking about.”

A recording of the entire presentation can be found on Temple Sholom’s YouTube channel.

Maytal Kowalski is a board member of JSpaceCanada and the New Israel Fund of Canada. Based in Vancouver, she serves as the executive director of Partners for Progressive Israel, a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to the achievement of a durable and just peace between the state of Israel and its neighbours.

Past, present & future

Jewish tradition says that all Jews were at Sinai. The people of Israel who fled Egypt received the Torah, but not just the travelers from the Exodus story were there. In the Jewish narrative, the handing down of the word was so definitive and essential that even Jews not yet in existence – up to the present day and on into forever – were said to have been present when Moses descended from the mountain. So profound was this moment that every Jew in all of eternity needed to be there to witness it.

Talk about togetherness! A people who humour portrays as intrinsically divided – “two Jews, three opinions”; the lone Jew rescued from the desert island who had built two synagogues (“The one I attend and the one I’d never set foot in”); “Everyone to the right of me is meshugenah, everyone to the left of me is a goy”; the jokes are endless – all in the same place at the same time, all united (well, except for the little golden calf incident).

It is tempting to imagine the Jewish people today as more divided than ever, at least in recent memory, especially in contrast with the aforementioned story of togetherness across all time and space. The various divisions in the local and global Jewish community are exacerbated by significant divisions in the body politic in Israel.

It may be true. Perspective on the forest is difficult when you are surrounded by trees. The present reality depends on the future. If the current political situation in Israel proves to be an aberration – if the proposed judicial reforms were to fail, say, and attempts to impose a more permanent intolerant conservative and religious imprint should falter – future Jews might look back on this moment as just one of Jewish history’s eras of communal discord. On the other hand, the future may cite this critical moment as a turning point.

There have been many turning points in Jewish history, of course. The Exodus was a pretty big one. Another big one was the declaration of the state of Israel, tangibly marked by the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And there have been many more turning points in between.

In an article recently, the chairman of the World Zionist Organization, Yaakov Hagoel, makes an interesting historical connection. Like the unity at Sinai, he argues that all Jews were present in Tel Aviv on that day in May 1948, each adding their name to that historic scroll.

“Beside the 37 actual signatures on it,” he writes, “there are millions more invisible signatures. Everyone has signed the Declaration. Each of us with his own special pen, values, stories and hopes. Over the years, we learned to unite around the Declaration, adding more and more signatures. Today, the Declaration is the basis of Israeli identity for all.”

The Declaration is indeed a model of compromise and inclusion. Notably, the inclusion of the “Rock of Israel,” which could be interpreted as God by the religious or literally as the rock, the land itself, for those of a less traditional bent.

Today, some enemies (and, frankly, some friends) depict Zionism as inherently a right-wing ideology. Of course, it is not. The belief that Jews have the right to national self-determination transcends politics. Zionism is not left, right, centre or limited to any other segment. It is a universal belief, inclusive of all who believe in the right of Jews to be “a free people in our own land.”

This is a pretty idea, easier in theory than in practice. Recently in this space, we lamented the large number of Israelis who say they are prepared to abandon the enterprise and leave Israel. We cannot judge people for the choices they make in their lives. Israel is not an easy place to live. Most, if not all, of us reading this right now do not live in Israel. We can, though, do everything in our power to advance an Israel and a Zionism that is inclusive … a Zionism that recognizes the diversity – as well as the unity, obscure though it may seem at times – among the Jewish people. We can commit what voice and power we have to advancing an Israel that not only encourages those already there to stay, but makes it a welcoming homeland for Jews everywhere, both in the present and in the future. Even, we might add, an Israel that is welcoming to Jews of the past – that is, respectful of the diversity they represented. The 37 diverse Jews who put pen to parchment 75 years ago represented the spectrum of Jewish ideas and visions at the time. The least we can do is attempt to do the same.

Dialogue on democracy

Next week, Temple Sholom and UnXeptable Vancouver, with Israeli protest group Safeguarding our Shared Home and US-based registered charity America-Israel Democracy Coalition, will host a discussion about how the Jewish community in Vancouver can support the pro-democracy protest efforts in Israel.

The event, scheduled to take place at Temple Sholom on Sept. 26, beginning at 7 p.m., will feature a discussion with Michal Muszkat-Barkan, PhD, of Safeguarding Our Shared Home, and Ora Peled Nakash of the America-Israel Democracy Coalition. Attendees will hear their perspectives and engage in a dialogue about the efforts by the Israeli democracy movement to build a strong civil society upholding Israel’s Declaration of Independence and its commitments to Jewish history, Jewish values, democracy, equality and justice.

Israel’s pro-democracy movement brings together nearly 200 different organizations. These organizations span various facets of Israeli society, including religious and secular groups, LGBTQ+ and women’s rights advocates, military veterans, medical professionals, anti-occupation activists, and many community-specific groups.

“The pro-democracy movement isn’t about politics, it is about the soul of the country,” said Jonathan Barsade, president of the America-Israel Democracy Coalition. “In modern history, the soul of Israel has been a critical element for the well-being of the Jewish community worldwide. That is why it is so important for the Israeli movement to engage and include the international Jewish community in this momentous event.”

In partnership with JSpaceCanada, Arza Canada, Ameinu Canada and the New Israel Fund of Canada, the gathering at Temple Sholom mirrors in many ways the inclusivity of Israel’s pro-democracy movement, by bringing together the leading organizations of progressive Jewry in Canada to engage in dialogue at a critical time in the history of the Israel-Canada relationship. It will be the first opportunity in Canada for Canadian Jews to meet with Israeli protest leaders live and in-person.

“We are honoured to host this event at Temple Sholom, which provides a platform for open dialogue and the exchange of ideas,” said Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom. “By bringing together these influential Israeli protest leaders and showcasing the multifaceted nature of Israel’s pro-democracy movement, we aim to promote understanding and empathy while answering their call for solidarity from diaspora Jews.”

Daphna Kedem, lead organizer of UnXeptable Vancouver, added, “as an Israeli expat and proud member of the Vancouver Jewish community, I know how much pain both these communities feel about the current political climate in Israel. It is my hope that, through listening to those on the ground most affected by the potential regime change in Israel, we can work together – diaspora and Israeli Jews – to keep Israel Jewish and democratic, as stated in its Declaration of Independence.”

The Sept. 26 event is open to the public, and all interested individuals are encouraged to attend. Admission is free, and light refreshments will be provided following the discussion. All those wishing to attend should RSVP at bit.ly/SaveIsraeliDemocracy.

– Courtesy Maytal Kowalski, Press Pause Collective

Moment for gratitude

This fall, for people with compromised immune systems or other health issues, extra precautions – social distancing and masking – remain a wise choice. For most people in Canada, the pandemic is over.

While the pandemic will never truly be past for those who lost family members and those whose health has been permanently affected (in ways we may not fully understand for years), this will be the first fear-free High Holidays since 2019 for the vast majority of Jews.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we were told it might take a couple of weeks’ isolation to overcome the spread. That stretched to three years of various levels of regulation and recommendations, decreasing and increasing again based on numbers of transmissions. Each new cycle of the calendar brought its own adaptations, beginning with outdoor seders and simchas – fine in Tel Aviv and Miami, less so, sometimes, in Winnipeg and Warsaw.

It is perhaps a symptom of both Jewish and human nature that, when one problem is resolved, we focus on another. It has been a dependable habit since the creation of the state of Israel that, when immediate external threats subside, attentions turn to internal disagreements – “Who is a Jew?” is a repeating topic, for example. Of course, one thing need not preclude the other. Israel is currently experiencing both external threats, in terms of a spate of terrorist attacks, and unprecedented political and social divisions.

But let’s not be so quick to find something to worry about. At this time of reflection, we all deserve to take a moment to consider the successes of the recent past. As we gather around holiday tables, we probably do not need to be reminded how fortunate we are to be together. Let us consider extending that sense of gratitude into the rest of our lives.

As young people return to classes, let’s celebrate the incredible resilience of kids who had formative years of their lives disrupted – and their teachers, who responded to exceptional circumstances! And parents, who admirably acted in the breach.

The synagogues and nonprofit organizations that are the backbone of our community transitioned on a dime to deliver programs and services as best they could during the pandemic – in many cases reaching more people virtually than they had in person, and expanding inclusivity and accessibility for all ages and abilities, as well.

Businesses that form the foundation of our economy – locally and globally – encountered supply chain (and plenty of other) constraints that they confronted as best they could.

We should also celebrate the manner in which our community steps up to respond to other urgent issues. Most recently, wildfires in British Columbia, Canada’s north, Hawaii and elsewhere – with Jewish people and organizations helping with accommodations for evacuees, food and other supplies, and more.

We have plenty of reasons to be concerned about the state of the world. There is time for that. During the month of Elul and into the Days of Awe, as we ponder the transcendent, take a few moments to consider and celebrate both the recent challenges overcome and the good fortune you experience in the day-to-day of life.

Local teens in JCC Maccabis

Team Vancouver getting ready for the parade of athletes at the opening ceremony in Israel. (photo from JCCGV)

Twenty athletes and coaches represented Team Vancouver-Galil at two separate JCC Maccabi Games experiences this summer – in Israel and in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The games in Israel July 5-26 celebrated the first return to the Holy Land for JCC Maccabi since 2011. The 1,000-plus athletes spent their first eight days engaged in athletic competition along the Mediterranean coast, from Ra’anana to Haifa. After all the competitions were completed, the teens then hopped on buses for two weeks of touring the country with a sports lens.

Aside from the usual Israeli hot spots, the tour included stops at Kfar Maccabiah Hotel, which has a sports complex, rafting down the Jordan River, surf lessons and a mega party event sponsored by RootOne, which also provided significant subsidies for the visiting athletes.

In Israel, Vancouver’s athletes competed in baseball, hockey and volleyball. Thanks to support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, the delegation there included participants from Vancouver’s partnership region of Etzbah HaGalil in Israel’s north, who joined the hockey team.

photo - The Vancouver/Alberta combined hockey team at the JCC Maccabi Games in Israel — The Vancouver/Alberta combined hockey team at the JCC Maccabi Games in Israel. *(photo from JCCGV)*

Ayla Greenberg, who represented Vancouver on a mixed team with players from San Diego and Long Beach, said one of her fondest memories from the competition in Israel came after they played against a team from Ukraine and she bonded with some of her opponents.

“We talked about volleyball and being in Israel and how cool it was that we got to play with people we have never met,” said Greenberg. “It showed me that sports and competition were able to bring hundreds of teenagers from all around the world together in Israel and, no matter our differences, we were able to make friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.”

Greenberg went on to share her favourite story of the touring portion of the trip, when she arrived at the Western Wall.

“When I first got to the wall, there was a child next to me who was crying and her mother was on the other side of her,” explained Greenberg. “The child looked up at me and grabbed my hand and stopped crying. As I stood at the wall next to this child, I was extremely proud of being a Jewish woman and couldn’t help but be excited about the future and how I can make a difference in the world.”

The delegation in Israel included Greenberg, Tanner Barnett, Brody Winkler, Eli Tonken, Jesse and Ari Filkow, as well as Israelis Shay Rachevski and Josh Losinsky. They were joined by hockey coach Marie Vondracek and me, in my role as delegation head.

photo - The golden moment for the U16 soccer team in Fort Lauderdale, which included Vancouver’s Sam Perez (second to left) — The golden moment for the U16 soccer team in Fort Lauderdale, which included Vancouver’s Sam Perez (second to left). *(photo from JCC Maccabi Fort Lauderdale)*

In that capacity, I also traveled to Fort Lauderdale. The delegation attending the week-long games there Aug. 4-11 competed in hockey, baseball, soccer, basketball and swimming.

Team Vancouver brought home four medals, including two gold and one bronze for swimmer Daniel Litvak, and a gold medal for the U16 soccer team, which included Vancouver’s star striker, Sam Perez.

photo - Daniel Litvak with his gold medal, for winning the 100 freestyle swimming relay at the JCC Maccabi Games in Fort Lauderdale — Daniel Litvak with his gold medal, for winning the 100 freestyle swimming relay at the JCC Maccabi Games in Fort Lauderdale. (photo from JCCGV)

The Vancouver delegates in Florida also included Sierra Brosgall, Laylah Bronstein, Ouri Tzvella-Sculnick, Bryson Lexier and Matai David. They were led by chaperone Mark David and me.

Next year’s JCC Maccabi Games will be hosted in Detroit and Houston, while a new Israel tour program will be offered for teens who want to experience Israel with a focus on sports.

This was a very special summer for the JCC Maccabi Games and the spirit and energy were incredible. These teens returned home with a long list of life-changing experiences and a connection to Israel and the Jewish peoplehood that will stick with them for life.

photo - Nava and Mark David with their Western Canadian Championships gold medals — Nava and Mark David with their Western Canadian Championships gold medals. (photo from JCCGV)

Softball victories

The day after arriving home from chaperoning Team Vancouver at the JCC Maccabi Games in Fort Lauderdale, Mark David resumed his position as head coach of the Richmond Islanders U15 softball team, as they competed in the Western Canadian Championships Aug. 11-13. David’s team, which included his daughter, Nava David, had a big weekend, winning the tournament and taking home the gold.

“These underdogs played with heart, determination and teamwork and came out on top with a gold medal,” the coach said. “It all came together with every player contributing in their own way.”

In other softball news, after a slow start to the season, the Purple Meshugeneh Cobras finished strong, winning the 2023 JCC Softball League championships.

photo - The Purple Meshugeneh Cobras won the 2023 JCC Softball League championshi — The Purple Meshugeneh Cobras won the 2023 JCC Softball League championship. *(photo from JCCGV)*

Kyle Berger is Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver sports coordinator, and a freelance writer living in Richmond. For more information about the JCC Maccabi Games or the Vancouver JCC’s upcoming year-round programming, email Berger at [email protected].