science

Pill-popping for peace?

Antisemitism, dubbed “the longest hatred,” has seemed impervious to challenge. It is a social problem that shifts to meet demand, allowing perpetrators to tailor it to fit their “need.” What if there were a pill you could prescribe to “cure” a person of antisemitism? There may be.

It seems almost like an April Fool’s joke or a Purim spoof, but the timing isn’t quite right. Rob Eshman, senior contributing editor to the Forward, published a piece last weekend suggesting there may indeed be a pharmaceutical answer to this age-old problem.

MDMA, the understandably needed short form for the drug methylenedioxymethamphetamine – aka “Ecstasy” or “Molly” – has been popular for some time, primarily with people who enjoy what the U.S. National Institutes of Health calls its effects of “sympathomimetic arousal, sensual enhancement, feelings of euphoria, and emotional closeness to others.”

Like most good things, of course, this drug comes with a wide range of unwelcome side effects. But the trade-offs have been deemed worthy enough that the drug has been used in Israel since 2019 to combat post-traumatic stress disorder, Eshman writes, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve it for some uses in the next couple of years.

Israel’s use of MDMA for PTSD is far from the only Jewish connection the author found. The drug was first synthesized more than a century ago by Alexander Shulgin, a California pharmacologist whose Jewish family fled Russia, and who has been called “the zeyde of psychedelics.”

Last month, science journalist Rachel Nuwer (also Jewish) published the book I Feel Love: MDMA and the Search for Connection in a Fractured World, in which she shares the story of a white supremacist who was integral to the 2017 hate rally in Charlottesville, Va. After treatment with MDMA, the individual renounced his racist orientation and declared “Love is the most important thing.”

If there is a chance that an ingestible element (currently a banned substance in Canada, the United States and most places) could address a major scourge of civilization – not just antisemitism but all forms of hatred – do we not owe it to ourselves to allocate resources to investigating the pros (and cons)?

A variety of research is ongoing, of course, including an annual Jewish Psychedelic Summit, where medical, religious, psychology and other experts discuss psychedelics and Judaism. (It’s a virtual affair, so one can only imagine the hospitality suites if it were in-person.)

The application of plant medicines and synthetic drugs to combat what we generally deem a social problem may seem dubious – and researchers say it probably wouldn’t work if the recipient isn’t predisposed to change. However, the idea may not be as outrageous as it sounds. We recently ran an article about the late psychotherapist Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin, whose landmark 1990 book Anti-Semitism: A Disease of the Mindposited that bias against Jews could in many instances be considered a mental disorder. We have long accepted, welcomed even, pharmaceutical responses to treatable mental issues. Why not this one?

Of course, anything that changes brain chemistry or neurobiology should be approached with immense care – more care, for example, than we have demonstrated in wildly embracing over the past several decades the new technologies that have been shown to shorten our attention spans and alter the functioning of our brains, as we discussed in this space last issue.

At the same time, we would be foolish to ignore the potential for something that could ameliorate some of the worst characteristics of the human experience. Think back at the horrors that might have been alleviated had we been able to slip a “love potion” into the water glasses of history’s most evil figures.

Some experts, Eshman explains, are looking into the role MDMA could play in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While we work on other avenues for the changes needed to bring more love and justice to the challenges inherent in that conflict, if there is a glimmer of hope that a chemical solution exists for some of the most destructive features of our species, we would be fools to dismiss it.

Tracking earth’s winds

A band of clouds above the equator, created by the rise of air within the Hadley cell and responsible for heavy rainfall in this region. (photo from Weizmann Institute)

Why do parts of earth become rainforests, whereas others turn into deserts? A new study exposes the far-reaching impact of human activity on a global airflow phenomenon that crucially affects earth’s regional climates.

In the tropics, above the equatorial rainforests and oceans, the strong solar radiation hitting earth propels a stream of warm, moist air far upward. Once reaching the upper atmosphere, this stream moves in both hemispheres toward the poles; it then descends in the subtropical regions at around 20 to 30 degrees latitude, contributing to the creation of massive deserts like the Sahara in northern Africa. From there, the stream – known as the Hadley cell – returns to the equator, where it heats up and rises again, embarking on its circular journey anew.

The two Hadley cells – the northern and the southern – circulate most of the heat and humidity across low latitudes, greatly affecting the global distribution of climate regions. When the warm, moist air rises, it cools down, allowing water vapour to condense, which leads to heavy rainfall deep in the tropics. In contrast, the streams of air that descend toward the earth in subtropical regions are accompanied by warm, dry winds that reduce rainfall. In essence, the Hadley cells determine which regions in the tropics and the subtropics will have arid deserts and which will be blessed with abundant rainfall. Israel is located on the margins of the northern Hadley cell, which contributes to the country’s semiarid climate.

Because of their huge significance, the Hadley cells are of great interest to climate scientists. However, while there is plenty of global data about rainfall and temperature, measuring airflow throughout the atmosphere is next to impossible. Adding to the quandary, the various models seeking to make sense of the Hadley cells have been found to contradict one another. Global climate models, which are used for climate projections, indicate that the northern Hadley cell has weakened over the past few decades, whereas observation-based analyses suggest the exact opposite.

An uncertainty over a system that is so essential to earth’s climate detracts from the researchers’ ability to assess how much humans have contributed to recent climate change. This, in turn, undermines the credibility of climate projections, making it ever harder to formulate policies required for dealing with the climate crisis. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most important document in the field, makes a special point of this issue.

In a paper published in Nature, Dr. Rei Chemke, of the earth and planetary sciences department at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Dr. Janni Yuval, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, address the uncertainty that has plagued the existing models for the past two decades. They propose an observation-based method for measuring the intensity of airflow in the Hadley cells.

To tackle the challenge, Chemke and Yuval looked for readily available data they could use to formulate a new way of measuring the cells’ intensity. After examining physics equations describing airflow, they identified a relationship between the Hadley cell intensity and a constantly monitored parameter: air pressure at sea level. They then examined observational data collected over several decades and reached the conclusion that the intensity of the northern Hadley cell has indeed been weakening – just as suggested by global climate models. Moreover, they were able to show, with more than 99% certainty, that this weakening has been the result of human activity and will likely continue.

What, then, is to be expected? Over the coming decades, the weakening of the northern Hadley cell is likely to mitigate the projected precipitation changes at low latitudes. It will act to temper both the increase of rainfall in equatorial regions and the reduction of rainfall in the subtropical regions. This tempering, however, might only reduce, but not overcome, the projected aridification and desertification of Israel.

“In our follow-up study,” said Chemke, “we will examine whether a similar weakening in the Hadley cell has happened in the past thousand years owing to natural phenomena – and that will allow us to assess how unprecedented these human-induced changes are.”

– Courtesy Weizmann Institute

Uncovering Israel’s wonders

Igal Hecht filming Secrets of the Land. (photo from Chutzpa Productions Inc.)

The Western Wall area, with thousands of metres of subterranean space, contains much that is yet to be discovered. The latest find in this space is a market. While not open to the public, people can get a glimpse of the ancient market on the new Yes TV documentary series Secrets of the Land, directed, produced and written by Israeli-Canadian filmmaker Igal Hecht.

Each episode of Secrets of the Land, which is presented by Chutzpa Productions Inc., takes viewers behind the scenes of substantial excavations in Israel, and features some of the region’s top archeologists and most historically significant sites. The series debuted March 15, and runs each week for 13 episodes.

In addition to on-site discoveries, Hecht visits the labs that explore the meanings of each artifact.

“I realized that the way archaeology is explored today is very CSI,” said Hecht, referring to the popular television series. “The excavations themselves might be low-tech, but everything that comes after, such as carbon dating and things along those lines are very high-tech.”

One of many examples is when archeologists found grape seeds in 2,000-year-old donkey feces and, through that, determined the types of people who lived in the area.

photo - Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef speaking with colleagues in the archeology lab at Tel Aviv University — Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef speaking with colleagues in the archeology lab at Tel Aviv University. *(photo from Tel Aviv University / Chutzpa Productions Inc.)*

Hecht and his crew – which included Lior Cohen, Gabriel Volcovich, Nikki Greenspan and Julian Hoffman – take viewers on a journey through various parts of the Holy Land. Hecht said he learned something every step of the way.

“I had very little knowledge [of archeology],” Hecht told the Independent. “In fact, in the show, I don’t pretend that I do. That makes the show work. I am there experiencing the discoveries in the same manner that the audience does, as they watch at home.”

Among many sites, the crew visited Timna, the location of Solomon’s Mines, where Hecht was awed by the landscape. “The rock formation is something you’d see in Petra in Jordan or the Grand Canyon,” he said. “There’s so much beauty and history to explore there.”

Other locales included Tower of David, also known as the Citadel, located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. There’s also an episode about Shiloh, in Samaria, or the West Bank, where the Israelites, prior to King David’s time, set up a sanctuary and city, and where the Ark of the Covenant was housed for hundreds of years. Meanwhile, Magdala is home to an ancient city from the first century, where recent excavations revealed the Migdal Synagogue, dating from the Second Temple.

Over the past quarter-century, Hecht has been involved in the production of more than 50 documentary films and more than 20 television series. His projects have appeared on Netflix, BBC, Documentary Channel, CBC, HBO Europe, and others. Secrets of the Land is the latest in a string of Jewish-themed films, such as A Universal Language, which taped six comedians performing in Israel. An upcoming project includes The Jewish Shadow, a documentary that explores the lives of Soviet Jews in 1970s Ukraine.

For Hecht, Secrets of the Land wasn’t merely a project, but very much a passion to do his part to help the Jewish people.

“I think the biggest takeaway for Jewish audiences is the historical and unbreakable connection of the Jewish people to that land,” he said. “That archeology truly proves that the Jews were, in fact, living in Judea and Samaria, Jerusalem and all over the Fertile Crescent thousands of years ago.”

Dave Gordon is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than 100 publications around the world. His website is davegordonwrites.com.

Look on bright sides of earth

The southern and northern hemispheres look equally bright in this iconic image of earth, titled “The Blue Marble,” which the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft took on Dec. 7, 1972. (photo from NASA)

Why do earth’s hemispheres look equally bright when viewed from space? Weizmann Institute scientists offer an answer to this decades-old question.

When looking at the earth from space, its hemispheres – northern and southern – appear equally bright. This is unexpected because the southern hemisphere is mostly covered with dark oceans, whereas the northern hemisphere has a vast land area that is much brighter than these oceans. For years, the brightness symmetry between hemispheres remained a mystery. In a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Weizmann Institute of Science researchers and their collaborators reveal a strong correlation between storm intensity, cloudiness and the solar energy reflection rate in each hemisphere. They offer a solution to the mystery, alongside an assessment of how climate change might alter the reflection rate in the future.

As early as the 1970s, when scientists analyzed data from the first meteorological satellites, they were surprised to find out that the two hemispheres reflect the same amount of solar radiation. Reflectivity of solar radiation is known in scientific lingo as “albedo.” To better comprehend what albedo is, think about driving at night: it is easy to spot the intermittent white lines, which reflect light from the car’s headlights well, but difficult to discern the dark asphalt. The same is true when observing earth from space: the ratio of the solar energy hitting the earth to the energy reflected by each region is determined by various factors. One of them is the ratio of dark oceans to bright land, which differ in reflectivity, just like asphalt and intermittent white lines. The land area of the northern hemisphere is about twice as large as that of the southern and, indeed, when measuring near the surface of the earth, when the skies are clear, there is more than a 10% difference in albedo. Still, both hemispheres appear to be equally bright from space.

In this study, the team of researchers, led by Prof. Yohai Kaspi and Or Hadas of Weizmann’s earth and planetary sciences department, focused on another factor influencing albedo, one located in high altitudes and reflecting solar radiation – clouds. The team analyzed data derived from the world’s most advanced databases, including cloud data collected via NASA satellites (CERES), as well as data from ERA5, which is a global weather database containing information collected using a variety of sources in the air and on the ground, dating back to 1950. ERA5 data was used to complete cloud data and to cross-correlate 50 years of this data with information on the intensity of cyclones and anticyclones.

photo - Prof. Yohai Kaspi, left, and Or Hadas of the Weizmann Institute of Science — Prof. Yohai Kaspi, left, and Or Hadas of the Weizmann Institute of Science. (photo from Weizmann Institute)

Next, the scientists classified storms of the last 50 years into three categories, according to intensity. They discovered a direct link between storm intensity and the number of clouds forming around the storm. While northern hemisphere and land areas in general are characterized by weaker storms, above oceans in the southern hemisphere, moderate and strong storms prevail. Data analysis showed that the link between storm intensity and cloudiness accounts for the difference in cloudiness between the hemispheres.

“Cloud albedo arising from strong storms above the southern hemisphere was found to be a high-precision offsetting agent to the large land area in the northern hemisphere, and thus symmetry is preserved,” said Hadas, adding: “This suggests that storms are the linking factor between the brightness of earth’s surface and that of clouds, solving the symmetry mystery.”

Will climate change have an impact?

Earth has been undergoing rapid change in recent years, owing to climate change. To examine whether and how this could affect hemispheric albedo symmetry, the scientists used CMIP6, a set of models run by climate modeling centres around the world to simulate climate change. One of these models’ major shortcomings is their limited ability to predict the degree of cloudiness. Nevertheless, the relation found in this study between storm intensity and cloudiness enables scientists to assess future cloud amounts, based on storm predictions.

Models predict global warming will result in a decreased frequency of all storms above the northern hemisphere and of weak and moderate storms above the southern hemisphere. However, the strongest storms of the southern hemisphere will intensify. The cause of these predicted differences is “Arctic amplification,” a phenomenon in which the North Pole warms twice as fast as earth’s mean warming rate. One might speculate that this difference should break hemispheric albedo symmetry. However, the research shows that a further increase in storm intensity might not change the degree of cloudiness in the southern hemisphere because cloud amounts reach saturation in very strong storms. Thus, symmetry might be preserved.

“It is not yet possible to determine with certainty whether the symmetry will break in the face of global warming,” said Kaspi. “However, the new research solves a basic scientific question and deepens our understanding of earth’s radiation balance and its effectors. As global warming continues, geoengineered solutions will become vital for human life to carry on alongside it. I hope that a better understanding of basic climate phenomena, such as the hemispheric albedo symmetry, will help in developing these solutions.”

Other collaborators in conducting this study include Dr. George Datseris and Prof. Bjorn Stevens of Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Germany; Dr. Joaquin Blanco and Prof. Rodrigo Caballero of Stockholm University, Sweden; and Dr. Sandrine Bony of Sorbonne University, France. Kaspi is head of the Helen Kimmel Centre for Planetary Science; his research is supported by the Yotam Project and Rene Braginsky.

– Courtesy Weizmann Institute

BGU moving to solar

(photo from BGU)

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will soon produce 20% of its energy needs on the Marcus Family Campus from solar energy. Recently, solar panels were installed on the roofs of three buildings on campus in the first stage of the initiative.

The project is estimated to cost NIS 2 million (approximately $736,000 Cdn). Once completed, it will replace more polluting fuels that are typically used to power buildings. The university is expected to recoup this investment within a few years as it reduces its energy expenses.

Dr. Daniel Farb has donated a small wind turbine called the Tulip, developed by his company, which will charge laptops and phones from wind energy.

In April 2022, BGU announced it would stop investing in companies that produce oil and coal and move those investments and all future investments into alternative energies and investment vehicles governed by ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles.

The university was awarded Green Campus status by the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2010 and has been among the top universities worldwide in green rankings. Bike racks, electronic recycling and solar and wind-powered charging stations can be found all over campus.

BGU’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research have been studying environmental issues for 50 years. Leveraging these strengths, the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change was dedicated in May 2022. It brings together more than 150 labs on the university’s three campuses to tackle these issues.

– Courtesy Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, BC & Alberta Region

Research in community living

Left to right: Rachelle Patille, Cari Randa, Eireann O’Dea (Jewish Seniors Alliance board member and event moderator) and Boah Kim. (Courtesy JSA)

On Dec. 4, Jewish Seniors Alliance presented their fall symposium: Aging in Place: Gerontology Research in Community Living. The speakers – Rachelle Patille, Cari Randa and Boah Kim – and the moderator, Eireann O’Dea, are all graduate students in gerontology from Simon Fraser University and they shared their research on intergenerational connections, dementia-friendly communities and the role of informal caregivers for older adults.

The event took place at the Peretz Centre but was also available by Zoom. Aside from the JSA annual general meeting, this gathering was the first event presented in a dual format since the outbreak of COVID. Fifty participants joined online and about 20 were present in person.

Tammi Belfer, president of JSA, explained that the JSA’s fall symposium focuses on an educational theme and offers a more serious discussion than other programs. She said JSA wishes to provide outreach, advocacy and education services for all seniors, with the goal being “Seniors Stronger Together.” She then introduced the speakers and turned over the mic to O’Dea, who is a PhD candidate in gerontology at SFU. O’Dea’s interests are in social participation among older adults, particularly in volunteering and intergenerational activities; experiences among ethnocultural minority groups; and generativity. She has been a board member of JSA for three years.

The first speaker, Patille, conducts research focused on “intergenerational opportunities in bridging the gap between generations in Metro Vancouver.” She said she grew up having a lot of contact with her grandmother, and she believes that this fact led to her interest is this field. She defined intergenerational contact as a social benefit that facilitates mutual interaction and exchange between generations, and she discussed factors in society that have impeded such contact; for example, age segregation and geographic divisions among generations that lead to ageism.

Older adults living alone is the number one risk factor for isolation and loneliness, she said. These factors underline the need for connections through programming that will bring older adults into contact with other people, including other older adults. This can be accomplished through such things as home sharing, community programs, tutoring and art projects. These projects allow older adults to be part of the community through participation and mentoring, increasing the person’s feeling of self-worth. For some young people, this may be their first contact with older adults and can lead to reciprocity of social networks.

Patille spoke about generativity, which is the passing down and transfer of knowledge and information

between generations. She will also be looking at “voluntary kin”; that is, having younger members of society replace missing family for older adults.

The next speaker, Kim, focuses her research interests on integrated care, formal and informal caregiving, continuity of care and healthy aging. One of the difficulties for older adults is navigating complex community and healthcare systems. Two-thirds of older adults have health limitations and thus need a close connection with the healthcare system, she said. A geriatric care manager could be helpful in bridging gaps in services and helping to predict difficulties, she added. Many factors such as age, background or health issues, cannot be changed, but a care manager and caregivers could help with these situations.

The third speaker, Randa, is the project manager of the Public Health Agency of Canada-funded research project titled Dementia-Inclusive Streets and Community Access, Participation and Engagement (DEMSCAPE). The focus is on inclusion of those living with dementia in the

general community, as 70% live in their own homes. Planned inclusion in neighbourhood design is paramount in creating areas of accessibility, especially outdoor spaces, she said. Randa will be interviewing participants mostly in an outdoor setting to learn their feelings about public spaces with regard to safety and comfort. She is planning a documentary about these issues and the tools available to help, and DEMSCAPE is developing a design and planning guide to aid dementia patients in the community.

In the discussion that followed the presentations, someone noted that many countries are further ahead of Canada in a number of these areas raised. One of these is the availability of affordable home care, which would further facilitate aging in place. Jackie Weiler, a member of the JSA board and also a member of the Senior Advisory Committee for the City of Vancouver, mentioned the idea of a senior planner to promote accessibility.

Gyda Chud, chair of the program committee, brought the afternoon to a close with a quote from her 99-year-old mother, Gallia, expressing a hope for world peace, diversity, inclusion and social justice for all.

Shanie Levin is a Jewish Seniors Alliance Life Governor. She is also on the editorial committee of Senior Line magazine.

Growing plants on the moon

Prof. Simon Barak of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, right, is coordinating all the plant biologists and imaging specialists. (photo from CABGU)

Can plants grow in a barren landscape such as the surface of the moon? If so, what types of plants? Could enough plants grow to support a future moon colony? These are the types of questions the Lunaria One consortium has set out to answer.

An experiment proposed by Lunaria One, known as Aleph, was selected by SpaceIL, a nonprofit aerospace organization, to be included as one of the payloads on board their Beresheet2 lander. The Beresheet2 mission, scheduled to launch in mid-2025, will consist of two landers, landing on each side of the moon, and an orbiter that will continue to orbit the moon for up to five years. Aleph will consist of a tray of seeds and dehydrated plants, a device that will water them, heaters and cameras to monitor the plants.

Prof. Simon Barak of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is coordinating all the plant biologists and imaging specialists. They include three Australians, one South African and two of his colleagues from BIDR at Ben-Gurion University: Prof. Aaron Fait and Dr. Tarin Paz-Kagan.

“The chosen experiment has enormous value both for our life here on earth and for humanity’s progress in space exploration,” said Shimon Sarid, SpaceIL chief executive officer. “Examining plant growth under extreme conditions will help us as far as food security is concerned. Plant growth in extreme conditions will help humanity in the long run. We are happy to cooperate with Lunaria One and are very excited.”

“The motivation for this mission comes from humanity’s passion to explore and see life thrive in barren landscapes,” explained Barak. “We see the Aleph payload as an important step towards our eventual goal of providing plants for food, medicine, oxygen production, CO₂-scrubbing and general well-being for future astronauts inhabiting the moon and beyond.”

“The central value guiding this project is that space exploration is for everyone; we don’t want a future where only autonomous and remote-controlled machines inhabit realms beyond earth, but where humans can live and thrive,” said Lunaria One director Lauren Fell. “The key to this is to get humans involved and to give them a say in how we get there. The Aleph project aims to open up the science and engineering behind growing life on the moon so that anyone can be involved.”

Growing plants on the moon means overcoming several challenges, such as massive temperature swings on the way to the moon, a water supply for the plants, and high temperatures when growing the plants. The plant types will need to be those that can germinate and grow to an appropriate size for imaging within 72 hours of deployment.

The research team expects their plant selections to be relevant for vertical farming and resource-challenged landscapes here on earth.

The project also has a strong citizen science component. Parallel science experiments will be carried out by amateurs (for example, high school students) and professionals to compare growth to that on the moon.

Additional universities participating in Lunaria One include Queensland University of Technology, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the Australian National University, in Australia, and the University of Cape Town, in South Africa.

“The earth is finite,” said Barak. “Its resources are finite. So humanity’s future depends upon reaching the stars.”

– Courtesy Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Averbach reaches Kamloops

Day 17: Gary Averbach at Sicamous, a resort town about halfway between Calgary and Vancouver.

At press time, Gary Averbach had reached Kamloops, completing 23 days of his walk to raise money for cancer research, which started in Calgary on June 25. Averbach is doing the fundraising walk in memory of Robert (Bob) Golden, Ronnie Onkin, Darlene Spevakow and Angelita Tica.

In a June email, he wrote, “’Some years ago, as part of my ‘bucket list,’ I decided that, in my 80th year, I was going to walk from Calgary to Vancouver. But, early in 2021, my dear cousin, business partner and lifelong friend, Robert (Bob) Golden, was diagnosed with a rare and almost always fatal bone cancer, chondrosarcoma. On the eve of his passing, on Aug. 26,, 2021, Bob asked that I do my walk in his memory, to raise funds for cancer research, especially the insidious one that was killing him.

“Of course, I couldn’t refuse. And so I changed the focus from just being a personal bucket list item to cross off my list and instead started planning Bob’s Walk for Cancer Research.

“Then, sadly <\a> in the span of a little under seven weeks <\a> starting early in April, I lost two more cousins, Ronnie Onkin and Darlene Spevakow, and a treasured housekeeper, Angelita Tica, to lung, liver and pancreatic cancer, respectively.

“Because of those tragedies, I have since decided to do this walk in memory not just of Bob, but also in memory of Ronnie, Angelita and Darlene.”

At the end of Day 23, Averbach blogged, “So the challenge facing us today and the weeks ahead is not the ‘walk’ but making sure that we achieve our goal of $500,000, hopefully before I end the walk in August but most definitely by my 80th birthday on Oct. 10. My current projections – depending on the size of the outstanding gifts – has me as high as $425,000 to as low as $385,000.”

To donate, go to bccancerfoundation.com/events/community-event/bobs-walk-for-cancer-research. All donations over $10 will receive a tax receipt from the B.C. Cancer Foundation.

To follow Averbach’s blog, visit polarsteps.com/garyaverbach.

Ben-Gurion goes global

Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University honouree Martin Thibodeau, B.C. president of RBC Royal Bank, speaks at the June 9 gala. (photo from CABGU)

Less than six decades ago, the city of Beersheva, in Israel, had more camels than people. Now, it is home to one of the world’s most innovative post-secondary institutions – Ben-Gurion University – and 400 British Columbians packed a Vancouver ballroom June 9 to help launch the university’s new School of Sustainability and Climate Change.

The Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University (CABGU) event at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel honoured Martin Thibodeau, B.C. president of RBC Royal Bank, and featured Prof. Daniel A. Chamovitz, president of Ben-Gurion University (BGU), in conversation with event emcee Robin Gill.

Since taking the helm of RBC in the province, in 2018, Thibodeau has continued an involvement in Jewish community affairs that began earlier in his career, in Winnipeg and later in Montreal. He credits his mother with instilling in him a respect for multiculturalism and a connection with the Jewish experience.

In 2018, RBC Royal Bank created a cybersecurity partnership with BGU, investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to develop advanced cyber-security techniques. Two years later, RBC British Columbia sponsored the first two research fellowships at the new School for Sustainability and Climate Change and, later this year, Thibodeau will lead a summit to Israel, bringing a group of Canadian business leaders to BGU. He is engaged with a host of community organizations, including the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, United Way of the Lower Mainland, B.C. Children’s Hospital, Science World and others. He is also co-chair of RBC’s Diversity Leadership Council.

“I’m always amazed at the dynamic and progressive work that continues to be produced by the scholars and the teams at Ben-Gurion University,” Thibodeau said at the June event. “The world owes a great deal of debt to the outstanding advancements that have already contributed to how we live and work as a society. I am excited to see what the future holds in the hands of these amazing and brilliant individuals.”

Thibodeau, who oversees 7,000 employees in the province, was introduced by Lorne Segal who, with his wife Melita, co-chaired the event. Segal gave an emotional testimonial to his late father, Joseph Segal, who passed away 10 days earlier, at age 97. Segal said his father had not attended many events in the past several years but had been looking forward to being present to honour Thibodeau.

In his presentation, Thibodeau thanked the Segals for their support, and for their presence in a time of mourning. Thibodeau paid credit to Joe Segal, who called him soon after he arrived on the West Coast, invited him for lunch and offered advice and an open ear.

In recorded greetings, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Ronen Hoffman, called Thibodeau “far more than just a businessman. He is a leader, innovator and community-oriented friend of the Jewish people, of Israel.”

Chamovitz, the university’s president, noted that David Ben-Gurion’s dream of a university “at the gates of the Negev Desert” was intended to uncover secrets: “How to make energy from the sun, water from the air and agriculture from the infertile sands, taking advantage of resources that, until now, were going to waste.”

The changing climate has made innovations such as solar energy, desalinization and agriculture in inhospitable places answers to urgent questions that affect lands far beyond the Negev.

“We all of a sudden realized that what we thought was a local problem is now a global imperative and people from all over the world started coming to Beersheva to learn from our expertise,” said Chamovitz, who grew up in Pennsylvania and has been president of the university since 2019. The Abraham Accords have opened new doors to cooperation between BGU and Gulf States that need these technologies, he added.

The School of Sustainability and Climate Change was announced last year and, so far, 25 departments are collaborating on planetary life-and-death topics. (See previous articles at jewishindependent.ca.)

“My simple challenge was to get them to collaborate in order to really leverage our expertise into something that’s much greater than the sum of each of those departments,” said Chamovitz. Even the department of Hebrew literature is involved.

“Hebrew literature did a big seminar on climate fiction, understanding how climate change is influencing what people write about and how this literature is influencing public opinion about climate change,” he said.

While BGU was created with the development of the Negev Desert in mind, the work they are doing is global, with impacts reaching British Columbia, said Chamovitz.

“You cannot look at British Columbia divorced from the world,” he said. Flooding and heat domes are processes that are happening worldwide. Mitigation and prevention must take place both locally and globally, he said.

Chamovitz credited the leadership of Thibodeau and RBC for making it easier for BGU to go to other major donors to fund the new school.

Another new development at the university, he said, is a high-tech park dedicated to advanced research in cybertech, agricultural technologies and green energy.

CABGU B.C.-Alberta board member Eli Joseph chaired the event and board member Rachelle Delaney was the convener. Si Brown, president of CABGU B.C.-Alberta, opened the event. The corporate sponsorship committee was chaired by board member Adam Korbin, and David Berson is CABGU regional executive director.

Terry Beech, member of Parliament for Burnaby North-Seymour, brought greetings from the federal government. Representing the government of British Columbia, Minister of Finance Selena Robinson spoke of her family’s connections to Israel.

Investing in the climate

Martin Thibodeau, RBC’s B.C. region president, will be honoured at the Ben-Gurion University Gala Dinner June 14. (photo from RBC)

On June 9, Ben-Gurion University president Daniel Chamovitz and members of the Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University (CABGU) will visit Vancouver to recognize the launch of its new School of Sustainability and Climate Change (SSCC) and the local supporters who have helped make its opening possible. In particular, Royal Bank of Canada and Martin Thibodeau, RBC’s B.C. region president, will be honoured at the event.

SSCC opened last October at BGU’s Be’er Sheva campus, where its growth has been rapid. Seven months old, the school currently offers two undergraduate degrees and four graduate-level environmental science-related degrees. Its two graduate fellowships, which have supported work in renewable energy and smart city design, were funded by RBC.

“The RBC Research Fund at BGU’s School of Sustainability and Climate Change [is] being established in Martin’s honour, [and] will enable undergraduate and graduate students to be trained as, and pursue meaningful careers as, climate change innovators, entrepreneurs and policy experts,” said David Berson, who serves as CABGU’s executive director for the B.C. and Alberta Region. The funding that is raised at the gala will help further SSCC’s research programs.

SSCC’s mandate isn’t just to address environmental concerns at home in Israel, said Chamovitz. It will have a global reach, as well. BGU is currently working to cement research partnerships with universities and countries that have similar interests in addressing climate challenges. Chamovitz said RBC’s investment in its new school will provide a pathway to meeting that global need.

“RBC was one of the early supporters of SSCC, and this support was essential for leveraging subsequent support,” he said. “The Royal Bank of Canada believes in us,” and that support has served as an encouraging model for other companies to invest in BGU’s programs as well, he said.

Lorne Segal, president of Kingswood Properties and director of the Vancouver Board of Trade, who is an honorary co-chair of the June event with his wife, Mélita Segal, said corporate sponsorship is crucial to startup programs like SSCC. He said corporate support is also vital to finding answers to environmental challenges like global warming.

“Sponsorship from leading businesses and industry leaders does provide imaginative solutions to complex issues impacting our people and the planet,” he said. “Without significant and generous sponsorship support, this crucial work, simply put, would not be possible.”

Segal said supporting initiatives that bring about positive change is part of Thibodeau’s nature.

“Martin Thibodeau truly is a lifelong builder of community,” said Segal. “He is deeply praised by Ben-Gurion University for his commitment to the cause of finding solutions to climate change. It is truly remarkable how much he and RBC Royal Bank have done to enhance the capacity of the Ben-Gurion University community programs and agencies, and advance the conversation on Canada’s transition to a net-zero economy.”

Thibodeau’s support of Canadian Jewish communities and of Israel goes back decades. Originally from Quebec, he served as RBC’s regional president in Montreal until he moved to Vancouver. He oversees some of the largest – and smallest – branches and more than 4,000 employees.

In 2015, while working in Montreal, Thibodeau volunteered as a co-chair for Quebec’s largest multi-day walk for women’s cancers, held by Pharmaprix, to raise money for research at the Jewish General Hospital. “I have been involved with the Jewish community for almost my entire RBC career,” he told the Independent.

He is a strong supporter of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and their community initiatives, and he has been to Israel several times. It was in 2014, said Thibodeau, that he and his wife, Caroline, visited Be’er Sheva and learned of BGU’s environmental research. “[I was] so inspired by the research [and] the innovation,” he said, noting that it wasn’t hard to get behind the creation of a school that was working to find solutions to climate concerns.

“It’s right there in front of me every day,” he said. “I am a proud father of three children and I believe we have a responsibility to make sure that our climate can continue to thrive, and well beyond my lifetime. It is my personal belief that we need to do that today more than ever.”

Thibodeau said it’s been an interesting journey since that first visit to BGU in 2014. “It’s become such a tough priority for the world,” he said of climate change. In Canada, among other things, he supported RBC’s Blue Water Project, which helped provide clean water access to Canadian communities.

Still, Thibodeau is a reticent honouree. He admits that he is uncomfortable with the idea that he will be the guest of honour at a gala, even if it is for a cause he loves. “I’m very humbled,” he said. “I don’t like to have that kind of spotlight on me.” But, he said, raising money for research that might one day create a safer and better environment, that is something he will gladly get behind.

photo - Mélita and Lorne Segal, honorary chairs of the BGU Gala Dinner for Sustainability and Climate Change — Mélita and Lorne Segal, honorary chairs of the BGU Gala Dinner for Sustainability and Climate Change. *(photo by The Collective You)*

The gala will also acknowledge Lorne and Mélita Segal, who are well-known for their philanthropy and other work. Both have been recognized by Capilano University with honorary doctor of letters, and Lorne Segal has a doctor of laws (hon.) from the Justice Institute of British Columbia. He was inducted into the Order of British Columbia for his work as founding chair of Free the Children’s WE Day Vancouver and as chair of the Coast Mental Health Courage to Come Back Awards. The Segals regularly open their home to fundraising galas.

“When Lorne and I built our home, we didn’t really do it for ourselves but, rather, to share it with the community,” said Mélita Segal. “Whether it was Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, Arts Umbrella, Chor Leoni, JNF [Jewish National Fund] or WE Charity … it has been a great joy for us and very fulfilling to give back and share in this way.”

Berson described the Segals as “tireless builders of community, leading by example while creating opportunities for people in the business world to make a difference in the lives of others. Ben-Gurion University, Canada, is genuinely fortunate to have their leadership for this event and for our organization.”

The Ben-Gurion Sustainability and Climate Change Gala on June 9 takes place at Fairmont Pacific Rim. Tickets and tables can be purchased at bengurion.ca/vancouver-gala-2022-tickets or by contacting Berson at [email protected].

Jan Lee is an award-winning editorial writer whose articles and op-eds have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism and Baltimore Jewish Times, as well as a number of business, environmental and travel publications. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.