milestones – Page 4

Community milestones … Diamonds, Baitelmans, Bea Goldberg

Left to right: Lauri Glotman, Leslie and Gordon Diamond, and Jill Diamond.

The Diamond family has donated $7.2 million to the BC Cancer Foundation to expand BC Cancer’s Hereditary Cancer Program – expanding identification and screening for the BRCA gene mutation. This gene mutation increases the risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. Individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish decent are 10 times more likely (1 in 40) to carry the gene mutation. Screening for the gene enables early detection and intervention, and even prevention in some cases.

“We’re really proud to partner with BC Cancer because it fulfils one of our most important Jewish values, tikkun olam, which is the obligation to repair the world and make it a better place,” said Jill Diamond.

The Diamond family personally knows the impact of the BRCA gene mutation. “Our grandmother unfortunately died of breast cancer. Had she known she had a BRCA gene mutation, and been screened properly, the cancer could have been caught earlier and we would have enjoyed many more years with her,” Diamond explained.

The family’s gift – one of the largest ever to the BC Cancer Foundation – will fuel three clinical projects to:

• Expand outreach to people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, who are at greater risk.

• Establish a first-in-Canada initiative to directly contact high-risk relatives of mutation carriers to pursue genetic testing.

• Implement immediate genetic testing for breast cancer patients age 60 and under upon biopsy, eliminating the need for a doctor’s referral for screening and removing the burden on patients.

It will also fund three breast imaging fellowships at BC Cancer Vancouver, increasing the centre’s capacity and expertise for specialized breast radiologists.

“The Diamond Foundation’s generous donation is a giant step on the path towards transforming hereditary cancer care across B.C. Not only will this support three critical initiatives now, but it will also provide the groundwork for future programs and greatly increase our impact by reaching more families at higher risk of cancer,” said Drs. Kasmintan Schrader and Sophie Sun, co-directors of BC Cancer’s Hereditary Cancer Program.

“This is for our daughters, for everyone’s daughters,” said Jill Diamond and Lauri Glotman. “It will allow women to continue to be the backbone of their family, their community and society, and – armed with knowledge about their increased cancer risk and the preventative measures they can take – protect and care for future generations.”

The Diamond family has a long history of supporting BC Cancer, including donating the land that the BC Cancer Research Centre stands on in Vancouver.

The Diamond Foundation’s generosity will make BC Cancer a leader in hereditary cancer care, providing the groundwork for future programs, saving lives for generations of families.

* * *

photo - Rabbi Yechiel and Chanie Baitelman receive the Richmond Centre Outstanding Constituent Award from MP Wilson Miao — Rabbi Yechiel and Chanie Baitelman receive the Richmond Centre Outstanding Constituent Award from MP Wilson Miao.

Rabbi Yechiel and Chanie Baitelman, co-directors of Chabad Richmond, were recently honoured as recipients of the Richmond Centre Outstanding Constituent Award by Wilson Miao, member of Parliament for Richmond Centre.

Serving their community for more than 25 years, the Baitelmans are known for their compassion, inclusiveness and commitment to bettering the lives of Jews and non-Jews alike. Their mission has been to connect the values and ethics of the Torah and Judaism with the Jewish community and beyond. Together, they created the weekly Light of Shabbat Meal program that feeds both Jewish and non-Jewish households, with 150 meals delivered weekly by volunteers.

This award celebrates the contributions the Baitelmans have made to Chabad Richmond and other organizations in Richmond Centre, including their ongoing outreach, educational and social service programs. The Baitelmans’ hallmark is respect and love for every person, regardless of religious beliefs, social status or education. Generous with their time as well as their talents, they live their life’s mission by serving others.

Both of the Baitelmans sit on a variety of community boards, and the rabbi has served as a chaplain for the Correctional Services Canada prison system and is the chaplain to the local RCMP detachment in Richmond.

* * *

Bea Goldberg was born on April 25, 1923. Yes, that means Bea is 100 years old!! And what she has accomplished in those 100 years!

Bea, born Bernice Gropper, was known as “Bessie” during her school years. She was smart as a whip and graduated University of Saskatchewan by age 20.

She moved out to Vancouver, where she met Myer Goldberg, and the two were married in 1945. The day after returning from her honeymoon, Bea joined Hadassah-WIZO and chaired just about every event the organization had, including the Hadassah Bazaar, and held leadership positions both locally and nationally. She even rewrote (or reorganized) Hadassah-WIZO’s constitution!

photo - Bea Goldberg at 100 — Bea Goldberg turned 100 years old on April 25.

Bea was also involved with the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Community Centre (from when it was on Oak and 11th), the Louis Brier Home and Vancouver Talmud Torah, and supported Hillel BC, the Hebrew University, Jewish Family Services and many others.

Family and community are very important to Bea and she still is a woman who lives by her values and principles.

Mazal tov to Bea Goldberg, 100 years young!

Time of change at the Peretz

“I like to dabble in things, I like to learn about things, and I think that’s where Peretz really shines,” says Maggie Karpilovski, executive director of the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. (photo from Peretz Centre)

At 78, the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture may be an old dog among community organizations. But it is enthusiastically trying new tricks. The institution has undertaken a strategic planning process to reconsider everything they do, and to make sure they are responding to what their community wants and needs. Not least among the changes is a new face at the helm.

Maggie Karpilovski has been executive director of the Peretz Centre since last June and brings a breadth of experience in the not-for-profit sector and academia.

At a time of significant change for the organization, Karpilovski is applying skills garnered as a senior manager at United Way of the Lower Mainland and as national director of community impact and investment for United Way Centraide Canada. Previously, after completing a master’s degree, she worked at the Surrey school board developing and overseeing programs for vulnerable children.

Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Karpilovski moved with her family at a young age to Holon, Israel, where she received her elementary and secondary education. After her army service, she came to Vancouver to study cognitive science at Simon Fraser University.

Throughout her career, Karpilovski has merged research and practice.

“I really believe that practice has to be informed by research and research can’t be good research unless it’s grounded in practice,” she said.

The senior roles locally and nationally with United Way were fulfilling but Karpilovski got restless.

“Sitting in that kind of role – very, very high level, which was really interesting and very fulfilling, but we were talking about how to raise capacity for smaller organizations on the ground – I was saying, instead of teaching people how to do it, I wanted to get my hands dirty and do it myself,” she said. “I wanted to be closer to the impact.”

The planning process into which Karpilovski arrived resulted in the creation of several unique pillars within the centre. Notable among these is the creation of a distinct Yiddish Institute at the Peretz Centre, which is headed by Donna Becker, Karpilovski’s predecessor as executive director. Other pillars include art and culture, Jewish secular humanism, and Beit H’Am, which focuses on Israeli culture in Hebrew.

The Peretz is home to Western Canada’s most significant library of books in and about Yiddish. It hosts classes in Jewish culture, language learning, holiday celebrations and commemorations, a folk choir, and other offerings.

Karpilovski said the centre is committed to innovation while maintaining the roots of the organization, which originated in 1945 as the Peretz Schule. It is part of a network of schools, cultural centres, libraries and organizations honouring the legacy of Isaac Leib (I.L.) Peretz, one of the leading writers and thinkers of the Haskalah, the Jewish enlightenment.

Vancouver’s Peretz Centre was founded by a diverse group of Labour Zionists, socialists, communists and others who shared a goal of establishing a school to provide children with a nonpolitical, secular Jewish and progressive education. The shule’s first principal was Ben Chud who, in 1945, had just returned from the war and was active in the United Jewish People’s Order. He and his wife, Galya, were stalwarts of the centre, as is their daughter Gyda Chud, who currently sits on the board.

“We really try to balance the history as well as modernity and recognizing that, [for] people in 2023 in Vancouver, their connection to Judaism can be complex and interesting and multifaceted and we really try to meet people where they are at, to satisfy their curiosity and make sure we’re both providing a space of comfort and familiarity, as well as a space of stretch and of deeper interest and insight,” said Karpilovski.

Given that a majority of Jews in Metro Vancouver now live outside the city proper, the Peretz Centre, which is located on Ash Street near Cambie and 45th, is developing outreach programs and partnerships to reach those audiences. They have also removed their membership model, which may have acted as a barrier to access for some. The doors are open to all, she said.

They are partnering with like-minded organizations, including Camp Miriam and JQT Vancouver, the Jewish LGBTQ+ organization, offering space and learning to be supportive allies.

“What we really don’t want is to replicate efforts,” said Karpilovski. “We really want to find our niche and make sure that we are creating offerings that are unique and that complement and add to that broad constellation of things that are happening. We really see our space in Yiddishkeit as one that is not really offered anywhere else.”

One of the centre’s most unique offerings is its P’nei Mitzvah program, a two-year track for bar/bat mitzvah-aged young people to delve into Jewish history and culture, ancient and modern, but from a non-religious perspective. In addition to the overarching lessons, participants focus down into an area of particular interest for a major research project, which they then present at the graduation celebration.

This Passover, in addition to the traditional secular seder, a popular event that generally attracts more than 100 people, they are holding a family-friendly “un-seder” or “seder balagan.”

“We really turn the seder on its head and focus on activities, engagement, things like that,” she said. “Not something that is necessarily going to be offered at your traditional synagogue.”

An unexpected boon for the Peretz came from the redevelopment of the Oakridge shopping complex, which has turned a huge swath of the neighbourhood into traffic, construction and parking mayhem. The Oakridge branch of the Vancouver Public Library has taken up temporary quarters on the first floor of the Peretz Centre, which has provided the welcome influx of funds that enabled the centre’s strategic planning process. It also brought fresh walk-in traffic from locals, many of whom had no idea there was a Jewish space on the street and who are getting their first introduction to the centre.

“It takes a lot for an 80-year-old organization to turn itself into a learning organization and a curious organization and a brave organization,” Karpilovski said. “We might misstep, [but] we’re going to be brave and try something different. We’re going to listen to our community and not assume that we know everything. It’s a little scary, but it’s a lot exciting because there’s a lot of interesting spaces and interesting innovations that are happening.”

The time of change and exploration at the organization suits Karpilovski fine, she added.

“My own journey with Judaism has been complex and interesting and is incomplete,” she said. “I like to dabble in things, I like to learn about things, and I think that’s where Peretz really shines. There is no judgment. People are really welcome to come, experience, try things for size.”

For more on the Peretz Centre, visit peretz-centre.org.

A unique bat mitzvah

Chaya Mushka Hecht gives her bat mitzvah speech. (photo from Chabad Okanagan)

More than 50 women and girls gathered recently to celebrate a Jewish community milestone in Kelowna. It was the bat mitzvah of Chaya Mushka Hecht, the eldest daughter of Rabbi Shmuly and Fraidy Hecht, who have been serving together as co-directors of Chabad Okanagan for the last 12 years.

Raising their family while serving the Kelowna and outlying communities, the rabbi and his family have made it a priority to try and infuse their next generation with the gift of passion for a life of service and dedication to community, and making the world better for all.

In her bat mitzvah speech, Mushka spoke about her namesake, Chaya Mushka Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s wife, of blessed memory (obm). She shared a story about the rebbetzin helping prevent a family – who she did not know – from being evicted from their home. (For the full story, see jewishpress.com/judaism/parsha/a-beautiful-story-about-the-rebbetzin/2021/02/11.)

“I learn from this story to help someone else whenever I can, even when I know I will not get anything in return,” said Mushka. “I also learn from this story to help others just for the mitzvah and not to show off to others how great you are that you helped someone.”

For her part, Mushka has initiated several programs, including arranging a Monday night class for women that ran for almost a year. The class was about trusting in G-d and the healing it can bring to people. The book they learned from, Gate of Trust, was originally written in Arabic by 11th-century Spanish Torah scholar Rabbeinu Bachya Ibn Pekudah, and they started the last chapter just before Mushka’s bat mitzvah.

Mushka also carries with her Shabbat candle sets, which include candles, matches, blessings and a prayer, to give to any Jewish women that she meets while she’s out. She does this to encourage Jewish women to appreciate the gift of Shabbat and to celebrate their power in bringing Divine light to the world.

As well, she has stood with her brother on a street corner in downtown Kelowna distributing free cookies that she baked. Many passersby – none of whom were Jewish – expressed their surprise and appreciation.

After seeing Mushka around over the last couple years, and knowing the rabbi and his family and the work they do, Member of Parliament Tracy Gray (Kelowna-Lake Country) said she was “honoured to bestow upon Chaya Mushka a special parliamentary award for young leadership in honour of her bat mitzvah.”

The certificate offered congratulations to Mushka on her bat mitzvah and best wishes for her life journey. It read, in part: “This certificate recognizes your life dedicated to the service of others, even at such a young age, and your initiation into the prominent leadership role as a proud Chabad woman.”

photo - MP Tracy Gray reads the certificate she presented to Chaya Mushka Hecht on the occasion of Mushka’s bat mitzvah — MP Tracy Gray reads the certificate she presented to Chaya Mushka Hecht on the occasion of Mushka’s bat mitzvah. *(photo from Chabad Okanagan)*

“At the event, the women celebrated the honourable feminine power of leadership,” said Rabbi Hecht. “My role model and beloved life teacher was the Lubavitcher Rebbe, obm, who was passionate about establishing women in leadership groups and conventions as early as the ’50s.”

Fraidy Hecht spoke about the infinite and unconditional value of every human soul, and how precious children ought to be to their parents, first and foremost, for simply being a child of G-d here on earth in their care, and how blessed they are to be their child’s Divinely chosen custodian.

Everyone in attendance at the bat mitzvah received a book of Psalms, a mini-biography of Chaya Mushka Schneerson, and a copy of the novelette that Mushka wrote and published in honour of her bat mitzvah. The message of the novelette was how girls her age are being called upon to be a light and positive influence in the world.

Attendees participated in various activities, including beading, singing and dancing, and had dinner together.

Mona Steinberg, a member of the Chabad Okanagan community, shared her reflections of the event.

“Mushka’s bas mitzvah was just so wonderful, Mushka’s speech was so intelligent and mature,” she said. “I can tell she has worked hard to become an important and dedicated future leader and inspiration for Jewish women. [They] should be very proud.”

“The world has become a better place,” remarked Olya Krasavina, from Yumster Life Photography in Kelowna.

– Courtesy Chabad Okanagan

Acts of remembrance, respect

Reuben (Rube) Sinclair, centre, with Rabbi Levi Varnai and head of school Emily Greenberg. (photo by Tybie Lipetz)

In front of hundreds of students, staff and guests at Vancouver Talmud Torah elementary Nov. 11, Canada’s oldest veteran of the Second World took an honoured place and laid a wreath at the school’s annual Remembrance Day ceremony Nov. 10.

At the age of 111, Reuben (Rube) Sinclair is not only the oldest war veteran but certainly one of the oldest people in Canada. Soft-spoken and hard of hearing, Sinclair nevertheless quipped with family and reporters before the ceremony and beamed with pride at times throughout the midday event.

Sinclair was born in 1911, on the family farm near Lipton, Sask., a Jewish farm colony underwritten by Baron Maurice de Hirsch’s Jewish Colonization Association. Sinclair’s parents, Yitzok and Fraida, received property from the association but the farmland was poor so they saved up money Yitzok earned working for the Canadian National Railway to purchase better land nearby.

It was a vast undertaking – more than 2,500 acres, with milking cows and 42 horses. Among young Rube’s tasks was collecting the eggs from the chickens. He was driving vehicles at the age of 12.

Yitzok Sinclair (né Sandler) had migrated from Ukraine and was a leader in the small Saskatchewan Jewish community. He donated land and helped construct a school, which doubled as a synagogue.

Rube Sinclair was no longer a kid when he signed up for the war effort. At the age of 31, in 1941, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he became a corporal pilot and taught other pilots to take off and land in the dark using a “standard beam approach” that, in the days when radar was rare, involved a navigation receiver that lined the aircraft up with the runway.

The forces redeployed him to the West Coast and, after the war, with his youngest brother Joe, the siblings opened Sinclair Bros. Garage and Auto Wrecking in Richmond, just across the two long-disappeared Fraser Street bridges from Vancouver. Rube trolled in a tow truck, collecting old cars to salvage and the brothers refurbished and sold surplus military vehicles.

For three decades, from 1964, Sinclair and his wife, Ida, lived in southern California, where Rube worked in a family furniture business. Their philanthropy included raising more than a million dollars for a cancer hospital and research facility.

They returned to Vancouver, and Ida passed away in 1996. Rube is a great-great-grandfather and, among other recognitions, is a lifetime member of Congregation Schara Tzedeck.

At the VTT commemoration, Sinclair waved and grinned at students as his daughter, Nadine Lipetz, pushed him in a wheelchair, escorted by a bagpiper, to the place of honour at the ceremony in the school gymnasium.

photo - Reuben (Rube) Sinclair with students at Vancouver Talmud Torah on Nov. 10. — Reuben (Rube) Sinclair with students at Vancouver Talmud Torah on Nov. 10. *(photo by Tybie Lipetz)*

Also present were representatives of the lieutenant governor of British Columbia, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Vancouver Police, the United States Secret Service and the Royal Canadian Legion Shalom Branch #178. All these guests laid wreaths, as did representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, the VTT board of directors and VTT staff.

“Today, our community gathers to remember, pay our respects and appreciate the freedoms we have been granted by the sacrifices of others,” said Emily Greenberg, VTT head of school. She urged students to recommit themselves to being students of history and humanity “so that you can steward and inspire peace and compassion.”

In a d’var Torah, Rabbi Levi Varnai, the VTT school rabbi, held up the veterans as a model.

“What we can learn from their courage and their bravery is that we too should and could be brave and courageous, to always stand up for what’s right,” said Varnai. “Whenever we see something happening in the world, remember you have a voice and you can stand up and you can say always what’s right. That would be a legacy to their memories.”

Students sang and a video was screened of VTT students holding photographs of ancestors who had served in the military.

BGU advances in rankings

(photo from CABGU)

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev ranks among the top 50 universities graduating successful entrepreneur company founders from its undergraduate programs, according to Pitchbook, a financial data firm that publishes annual data. BGU moved up two spots from last year’s rankings, marking its third consecutive year on the top 50 list.

BGU has graduated 314 founders whose companies have raised a total of $8.3 billion, according to Pitchbook. Among the top five companies led by BGU entrepreneurs in capital raised are Deel ($630m), Fireblocks ($492m), Exaware ($420m), Fabric ($336m) and Hibob ($277m).

BGU’s entrepreneurial focus is led by Yazamut 360°, a suite of program offerings designed to enhance BGU’s academic curriculum and infuse entrepreneurship into the DNA of a BGU student. Yazamut 360° established Cactus Capital – Israel’s first student-run venture capital fund. It has also created two accelerators, one focused on technology entrepreneurship (Oazis) and one on e-commerce. Oazis pairs faculty members with chief executive officers to create companies through BGN Technologies. The accelerators serve as a resource for all entrepreneurs on campus through professional mentoring, financial consulting and technological consulting.

The 2021 Pitchbook university rankings are based on the number of founders whose companies received a first round of venture funding between Jan. 1, 2006, and Oct. 31, 2021.

– Courtesy Canadian Associates of BGU, B.C. and Alberta Region

At the top of his game

Shay Keil with daughter Tali, a student at King David High School. (photo from Shay Keil)

A Vancouver-area wealth manager and philanthropist is celebrating a trifecta of milestones.

Shay Keil (pronounced “Shy Kyle”) has just been named one of Canada’s 150 top wealth advisors by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine. The accolade comes just as Keil marks 30 years in the finance industry. To top it off, he set out to mark the 30-year milestone by raising and donating $30,000 to B.C. Children’s Hospital – instead, he recently handed over a cheque for $51,000.

photo - Shay Keil has been named one of Canada’s 150 top wealth advisors by the Globe and Mail — Shay Keil has been named one of Canada’s 150 top wealth advisors by the *Globe and Mail. (photo from Shay Keil)*

In addition to his work anniversary, the fundraiser was inspired by the son of Keil’s former assistant, who was in Children’s Hospital for an extended period last summer.

“He was diagnosed with a very severe form of epilepsy and he suffered from dozens of seizures in the month of July,” Keil said. “He is recovering well and the treatment program at Children’s Hospital seems to have resolved all of his seizure problems and he’s been seizure-free August, September, October. It’s quite a testament to the amazing work they did.”

Keil initially wasn’t certain his $30,000 goal was realistic.

“I was worried I wouldn’t even raise $30,000 but lots of people have rallied,” he said. “It was really amazing, so I was very proud.”

That achievement was still fresh when Report on Business rolled off the presses, placing Keil among the foremost Canadians in his field.

“I don’t often toot my own horn,” he said, “but, frankly, having 30 years, raising $51,000 and then being voted in by the Globe and Mail to be in the top list of wealth advisors is an enormously proud moment in my career. It’s validating all the hard work I’ve done all these years at delivering top-quality financial guidance to my clients and building a large client base of people who trust me.”

Keil’s work focuses on tax, income and charitable strategies. A confirmed “numbers guy,” he thrives on helping clients realize their goals, he said.

“I’m giving people comfort and peace of mind in dealing with their financial future,” he said.

Keil was born in Tel Aviv and moved to Vancouver as a child. He attended Vancouver Talmud Torah and graduated from Eric Hamber Secondary School. His entire three-decade career has been with Scotiabank, where he started as a bank teller and moved up through the ranks to become a wealth advisor with ScotiaMcLeod.

“Honoured, overwhelmed, proud,” are the words he uses to describe his feelings at the confluence of accolades.

“I’m very committed to giving back to my community and to educating young people on how to understand their financial pictures and objectives,” he said.

photo - nOne of Shay Keil’s passions is driving racecars — One of Shay Keil’s passions is driving racecars. *(photo from Shay Keil)*

Keil has been involved in a panoply of Jewish community institutions as a volunteer and financial supporter. He is a past president of Richmond Jewish Day School and is currently on the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, as well as co-chair of major donor gifts for Federation’s annual campaign. His other significant commitments include Jewish Family Services, Chabad of Richmond, Beth Tikvah and Beth Israel synagogues, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, King David High School and the Louis Brier Home and Hospital.

When not working or volunteering, Keil spends time with his family – wife Mickey, son Trevin (a third-year university student) and daughter Tali (Grade 11 at King David). He also loves camping and golf and has a thrill-seeking side, which he feeds driving racecars.

“I’m having so much fun I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing,” he said. “I’m having the time of my life.”

Fox retires from VHEC

Rome Fox has been associated with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre for 25 years. (photo from vhec.org)

Rome Fox has retired as assistant director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. She was recognized at the VHEC annual general meeting Oct. 20 by being named a Life Fellow of the organization.

Fox has been associated with the VHEC for a quarter-century, first as a volunteer, as a member of the board of directors and the executive committee and as co-chair of the annual Yom Hashoah commemorative event. Joining the centre’s staff as a part-time volunteer coordinator, Fox went on to serve as program coordinator, interim education coordinator and acting executive director, while also taking the lead on annual commemorative events.

In her remarks at the AGM, Fox reflected on the people she has met and worked with, emphasizing the Holocaust survivors.

“It has been life-changing and very fulfilling to participate in the growth of such an important and dynamic museum dedicated to Holocaust education and remembrance,” she said. “I’m truly honoured, fortunate and privileged to work with you, our remarkable and resilient Holocaust survivor community, and I cherish the lessons I’ve learned from you. You made a difference not only in my life but in the lives of thousands and thousands of B.C. students, teachers, citizens and government officials.”

Fox also expressed pride at the changes in the organization and the innovative projects, campaigns and commemorative events with which she has been involved.

She said she treasures her relationships with the three executive directors with whom she has served – Nina Krieger, Frieda Miller and Roberta Kremer – and the meaningful work they have done.

“Every day, when you’re working there, you know you’re making a difference somehow, someway,” she told the Independent. “Somebody’s life is being touched. When you hear the remarks of students of the impact of survivors or when they take a workshop, the questions that they ask, you know that kids are starting to get this stuff.”

Both of Fox’s late parents, Sarah and Al Rozenberg, were Holocaust survivors from Poland. Her mother was in the Warsaw Ghetto and worked in a munitions factory. Ultimately, Sarah was sent to Majdanek, while her entire family was sent to Treblinka and murdered. Many of Sarah Rozenberg’s artifacts are in the VHEC’s permanent collections.

Fox knows less about her father’s story, but he was mostly on the run and helping people as they tried to escape Nazi-occupied Poland.

The couple met in a displaced persons camp and moved to Edmonton, where Rome was born.

In a moving testimonial video shared at the annual general meeting, staff, volunteers and survivors paid tribute to Fox.

Robert Krell, founding president of the VHEC, spoke of “the strength you bring to the centre and the comfort and compassion to our survivors through your own personal understanding of our nature and our struggles.”

Frieda Miller, past executive director, said: “If an organization can be said to have a heart, you were that heart. As daughters of survivor parents, we shared that unique bond, one that I think also uniquely equipped us for our work at the centre. But, Rome, what I want you to know is that your contributions were not just valuable but truly fundamental to the VHEC’s remarkable achievements of over a quarter of a century.”

Lillian Boraks-Nemetz, a Holocaust survivor, said: “I read somewhere that the sturdiest pillars of human morality are compassion and a sense of justice. In all my interactions with you, I have experienced both. In your work at VHEC, you have been supportive and encouraging, you understood what it means to be a survivor of the Holocaust and have helped to guide us in many ways.”

Wendy Bross Stuart and Ron Stuart, who worked with Fox on the musical components of countless commemorative events, thanked her for years of achievements.

“She’s approachable, kind, competent, committed – she’s got the whole package,” Ron Stuart said. “I think you can get some of those qualities in other individuals but to get the whole package is quite unique.”

Krieger, the current executive director of the VHEC, spoke of the absence Fox’s retirement will leave.

“Although it is nearly impossible for us to imagine the centre without Rome as an integral part of our team, I know that we will continue to ask ourselves: What would Rome do?”

Familiar face celebrates 100

Goldie Kassen celebrated her 100th birthday on Aug. 12. (photo from Barbara Taranto)

Goldie Kassen, who turned 100 on Aug. 12, was fêted by family and friends from across Canada and around the world.

“My entire family was here for my birthday,” she told the Independent over the weekend. That includes two sons from Vancouver, another son from Alberta and a daughter from Israel, as well as 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In all, about 40 fully vaccinated guests celebrated at the home of son Dr. Barry Kassen.

“A lot of the children of my friends were there,” she added. “My friends are gone, but their children came from Calgary, Montreal.… I had a lot of out-of-town people.”

Kassen was born in D’Arcy, Sask., in 1921. While there were a number of Jewish farm colonies during that era in Saskatchewan, D’Arcy was not one of them.

“My parents were the only Jewish people there,” she said. “My father came to Canada in the early 1900s. He went to Montreal. He worked there for awhile, then he heard about this land that he could get, so he went out to the land with an axe and a hammer and made his start there. Then my mother joined him about four years later.”

The couple had met and married in the area just outside Kiev, Ukraine. “The town was destroyed during the Holocaust – and the people,” said Kassen.

While the family fled Europe well in advance of the Nazi era, they nevertheless experienced tragedy. A daughter in Ukraine died of pneumonia at three months of age. After the migration to Saskatchewan, another daughter also died of pneumonia, at age 10. That left one son, but then came another son and, finally, Goldie.

“I had wonderful parents,” she recalled. “We lived off the land. What we grew, we ate. We didn’t have money. My mother had a huge garden and we ate everything that she grew. My father, of course, eventually got cattle, so we had our own beef. We just lived off what they produced. There wasn’t any money for extras.”

Her father was handy with carpentry and built the elementary school in D’Arcy where Goldie got her primary education. The building still stands, she said, but it is now used as a church.

There was a high school in D’Arcy, too, but it was six miles from the farm, so Goldie moved to Winnipeg, where her elder brother, 13 years her senior, and his wife had set up home. She graduated from St. John’s Technical High School, then returned to the farm. She wanted to go into nursing, but her father said there was no money for a three-year program, so she enrolled in a business course in Saskatoon.

For four years, she was a stenographer for a lawyer.

“I met my husband during the war years,” she said, referring to Abraham Kassen. She and other members of her Jewish youth group would be bused to dance halls to attend events for soldiers stationed nearby. “I met him at one of these dances,” she said.

“He was working in a store called Adilman’s in Saskatoon. It was a huge department store.”

Although the store closed in 1974, the building still stands in Saskatoon and is recognized as one of the city’s finest remaining examples of Streamline Moderne architecture – think art deco rounded corners and sleek silver accents.

“He was the head of the shoe department,” said Kassen. “Eventually, he became the manager of the whole store.”

The couple had twin boys, then another boy and finally a daughter.

“My children all did well for a mother who came from …” she paused and began to laugh, “I don’t know where.”

After raising her family, Kassen was asked by the Saskatoon Jewish community to become the local representative for JIAS, Jewish Immigrant Aid Services.

“The [Jewish] Russians were coming out of Russia in 1979 and they needed someone in Saskatoon,” she recounted. “I met them at the plane and I found places for them to live, I found jobs for them, I took their children to register for school. I settled over 100 Russians in Saskatoon.”

Even though her parents were from the Russian empire, she didn’t know much of the language to ease the work of settling newcomers. “I know two words,” she said, again with her quick laugh.

“I did that from 1979 until I left Saskatoon.”

Abraham died in 1986 and the two sons who live in Vancouver (both doctors) convinced her to move to the coast.

Any regrets about the move? “Never.”

Kassen didn’t know much about Vancouver or the Jewish community here when she arrived. But she did know a number of people from Saskatoon who had retired to the Louis Brier Home and Hospital. So, she walked in and volunteered shortly after arriving in town in 1988.

“I have to have something to occupy my time,” she said. “I worked there for over 25 years. Thirteen of those years I was the manager, the buyer and the bookkeeper of the gift shop.”

Her imprint on the gift shop was very personal. In addition to serving as a sort of tuck shop where residents can buy a chocolate bar or odds and ends, Kassen stocked it with collectibles she assembled from around Metro Vancouver and much further afield. Her frequent trips to Israel resulted in suitcases filled with kippot, tallitot, seder plates, mezuzot and other Judaica and tchotchkes that she thought shoppers might like.

Her time at the gift shop came to an abrupt end on Feb. 4 last year. With the emergence of the COVID pandemic, and on the advice of her MD son, she decided to close up shop. “I didn’t realize at the time that it would be the end,” she said.

The energy she devoted to the gift shop has not dissipated. “I still bake my own bread,” she said. “I gave away about eight challah on Rosh Hashanah. I’m always baking and cooking. I’m happy.”

The Independent spoke to her Sunday, just before she put a leg of lamb in the oven for family guests.

Phyllis and Michael Moscovich have been friends with Goldie since she arrived on the coast. Michael went to B’nai B’rith camp in Alberta with the Kassen boys.

“Her outlook on life is just always positive,” said Phyllis. “She just seems to take everything as it comes and to be cheerful all the time and positive all the time. I think that is who she is. She makes everyone around her feel good. Every time she comes to me for a meal, she brings something homemade with her. She cooks and bakes more than I will do in my lifetime, with ease. She just does it. That’s just who she is.”

Asked the inevitable question about the secret to longevity, the centenarian credits a healthy start and a refusal to settle down.

“I think the fact that I grew up eating from the earth, no toxins, everything was pure, I think that gave me a good start,” she said. “I’ve always kept myself busy volunteering. I have to be busy. I can’t just sit and sleep. I have to be doing something or making something. I have a determination to keep going and I’m going to work on the next hundred now.”

A special open house

Highlights of the Scotiabank Dance Centre’s 20th anniversary celebration include a performance on the outside wall of the building by aerial dance company Aeriosa. (photo by Louise Cecil)

Scotiabank Dance Centre celebrates its 20th anniversary on Oct. 2 with a special edition of its annual open house. Highlights include a performance on the outside wall of the building by dance company Aeriosa; a creative activation of the Granville Street frontage by Company 605 and guests; free classes, events and exhibits; and the online première of a short film by Milos Jakovic and Hossein Fani.

“The Scotiabank Dance Centre is an important and colourful feather in Vancouver’s cultural cap,” said Jewish community member Linda Blankstein, a former Dance Centre board chair and current Dance Foundation board chair. The facility was built “specifically for dance in all its creative forms, from hip hop to ballet and flamenco to contemporary and everything in between,” she said. “Pre-COVID, the building would see approximately 87,000 people pass through its front door every year. It is extremely important for people of all ages, from toddlers to seniors, and amateur to professional dancers, to have a facility where creativity is shared while nurturing a sense of belonging for individuals seeking activity and connection.”

One of the centre’s studios is named after another Jewish community member, Judith Marcuse, who has had her offices and rehearsal space in the building since its inception.

Some of the highlights of the open house – for which all recommended COVID-19 protocols will be in place – include Aeriosa’s Home/Domicile, choreographed by Julia Taffe in collaboration with visual artists Sarah E. Fuller and Stuart Ward. This new aerial dance work is inspired by moths, and the dancers, wearing “moth” cloaks designed by Fuller, will perform on the north wall.

Company 605’s SPLAY comprises a special program of artists who will animate various spaces of the Scotiabank Dance Centre building. Each artist will create encounters for viewers inside and outside, making their process and practice visible, culminating in a sharing of intimate performance experiences across a variety of formats.

There will also be a performance of excerpts of new works in progress from artists Sujit Vaidya, an exponent of Bharatanatyam (a form of Indian classical dance), and Dumb Instrument Dance. Classes include tap and footwork with Danny Nielsen and Shay Kuebler; flamenco with Kasandra “La China” of Al Mozaico Flamenco Dance Academy; hip hop, breaking, waacking and contemporary with Cristina Bucci of OURO Collective; and AfroBeats with AKS Bison.

The documentary by Jakovic and Fani – which has the working title of Our Dance – will also be screened. It captures the impact Scotiabank Dance Centre has had on the dance community over the 20 years of its existence.

Housing six dance studios and a theatre, Scotiabank hosts hundreds of rehearsals, classes, workshops, performances and events every year.

“It has been immensely rewarding to see how Scotiabank Dance Centre, which began as a dream so many years ago, has contributed to the arts scene in our city and the growth of B.C.’s dance community,” said Mirna Zagar, executive director of the Dance Centre, which operates the building and runs programming. “As hub for dance, it provides high-quality studio space, but it is much more than just a building: we have nurtured a stimulating environment that is supportive of the creative potential of dance artists, contributing to a thriving synergy within the arts sector in Canada.”

Oct. 2’s open house runs from 1 to 6 p.m. at Scotiabank Dance Centre. For more information, call 604-606-6400 or visit thedancecentre.ca.

– Courtesy Scotiabank Dance Centre

Tzimmes celebrates 35 years

The Tzimmes sextet, in 2019. Left to right are Saul Berson, Phil Belanger, Tim Stacey, Amy Stephen, Yona Bar-Sever and Moshe Denburg. Also part of the ensemble in the new recording, but not pictured here, is Fabiana Katz. (photo from Tzimmes)

Vancouver Jewish musical ensemble Tzimmes celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the group, led by Moshe Denburg, has released a new album, The Road Never Travelled, its first in 23 years.

Denburg, who is also a classical composer, founded Tzimmes in Victoria in 1986. Throughout that time, the ensemble’s modus operandi has been to incorporate as many types of Jewish music as possible – traditional Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi, along with more contemporary and secular styles.

The new album is comprised of two discs. Disc 1 offers secular pieces, while Disc 2, Liturgy Lane, presents listeners with original music based on sacred texts.

The repertoire includes “Hahmi-ini” (“Let Me Hear Your Voice”), which was written in 1966, when Denburg was in his teens; the title track, “The Road Never Travelled,” from 2005; and “other original arrangements of more recent vintage,” such as “Oyfn Veg” (“On the Way”). Some of the songs on Disc 1, including the title track, are English pop/folk/world music. And not all the songs on the album are Jewish. There is, for example, a rendition of the Beatles’ “In My Life.”

The recording and mixing history for the collection stretches 28 years. When it became clear that this was more material than could fit on one album, Denburg decided to turn it into two.

“For a number of years,” he told the Independent, “we had some tracks that were on the back burner, so to speak – unfinished recordings that were begun in 2005-06. Tzimmes kept working in general – some concerts, lots of simchas, but completing a new recording was not in the cards, mainly because my own work was focused on founding and husbanding the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO).

“A few years ago, I wound down my administrative duties with the VICO, and started considering, in earnest, completing a new Tzimmes recording. The final impetus occurred when I turned 70, in 2019. I brought the group together, worked on a lot of new, and older, material, and took them into the studio to complete the older tracks and to lay down some fresh ones,” he said.

The Road Never Travelled features many past members, and several other musicians who have collaborated over the past 20 years, to become the Tzimmes of today. Denburg (voice, guitar) is joined by Fabiana Katz (voice), Yona Bar-Sever (lead guitar, voice, electric bass), Saul Berson (clarinet, flute, saxophone), Amy Stephen (voice, accordion, whistle, lever harp), Tim Stacey (bass, electric bass) and Phil Belanger (drums) to form the ensemble. A dozen other musicians, including guitarist Itamar Erez, cellist Finn Manniche and vocalist Myrna Rabinowitz – as well as international instrumentalists Joseph “Pepe” Danza, Yuji Nakagawa and Adel Awad – also appear, among others.

Tzimmes’ last album, KlezMyriad, was released in 1998, though the ensemble has performed at concerts and larger-scale projects since then. While changes have taken place over the past many years, it continues to be a tight-knit group of musicians.

When asked about the ensemble’s longevity and how it has maintained its cohesion, Denburg explained, “I believe Tzimmes has steered clear of the more difficult conflicts that are legion where artistic collaborations are concerned. But, as a bandleader, it has taken the wisdom that comes only with much experience to keep one’s passion alive while allowing for the artistic expression of one’s colleagues. This is what a good bandleader ought to do.

“Tzimmes is more a family than an enterprise, at least that’s the way I look at it,” he continued. “So, as in all families, there is the joy of knowing that everyone is basically rooting for each other and, yet, at the same time, conflicts do occur. We have lived long enough together, and have matured as people together, to have buried most of the hatchets and be guided by our natural affections for each other, and our love of our common purpose – the making of music.”

About the ensemble’s history, Denburg said, “Over 35 years, ensemble members come and go, and, actually, no one who was with me in 1986, when Tzimmes was formed in Victoria, is with me today. Tzimmes has changed and evolved over the years. Of today’s members, some have been with the ensemble for 30 years, some for over 20, and others are newer additions. One of the hallmarks of the new recording is that almost all Tzimmes members, of yesterday and today, are part of the recording.

“Tzimmes has always been dedicated to presenting Jewish music in all its facets,” Denburg concluded. “The challenge has always been to deal with the variety of these musical expressions in a non-superficial way, to make an original contribution to Jewish music-making.”

As the pandemic eventually fades, there are plans for a concert to herald the release of the CD and celebrate the ensemble’s 35 years. And Denburg sees many possibilities in providing musical services of various kinds.

“Speaking for myself, in the longer term, it would be nice to see Tzimmes continue with some next-generation musicians,” he said, “to carry on the tradition of original Jewish music-making in Vancouver.”

For information on buying tracks and sheet music, visit tzimmes.net.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.