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Adding health supports

Matti Feigelstock, left, and Alisa Farina (photos from Jewish Federation)

The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver is expanding its efforts to address the mental health needs of younger members of the community by forming a partnership with Project L’Chaim, and hiring a new child, youth and young adult mental health worker.

According to Shelley Rivkin, vice-president of local and global engagement at Federation, the partnership with Project L’Chaim, an organization helping adolescents and young adults through life’s challenges, stems from identifying the importance of raising awareness of mental health issues confronting youth and providing professional development for frontline workers.

To this point, stigma has long contributed to people not feeling safe in discussing the mental health issues faced in the community openly; many families, consequently, have felt very alone in their struggle to find the necessary services and supports.

However, as Rivkin explained, “The pandemic universalized and destigmatized mental health issues. More people started talking openly about the anxiety and depression they or their children were experiencing, as well as the challenges they experienced in finding the help they needed. Over the past two-and-a-half years, we heard from schools, camps, Hillel and youth workers in our various organizations that there was a need for an experienced child and youth mental health practitioner who had a visibility in the community and would be able to immediately support, whether it was crisis intervention or short-term counseling, and could be a resource to parents and families, as well as other professionals.”

For her part, Matti Feigelstock, Project L’Chaim’s coordinator, is able to promote teen mental health in the Greater Vancouver community “by bringing programming, training and curricula to the teens and teen-facing adults in our community, as well as mental health professionals.” Through both Zoom and in-person events, she aims to bring more awareness and remove the stigma of mental illness. She also wants to provide adults with the tools to be there for the teens in their care.

“Our curricula for middle and high schoolers provide students with the ‘why’ to live, helping them find their purpose and build resilience to face life challenges,” Feigelstock told the Independent.

Project L’Chaim has a lot planned for the upcoming year. “We have a full calendar of virtual training planned for parents, educators and clinicians on topics from anxiety in children to talking about substance abuse,” Feigelstock said. “We also are looking forward to hosting a mental health day in collaboration with all of the local Jewish organizations, along with an awareness campaign to promote the role every individual has in mental health. Additionally, we are working with the local schools to teach our course, the Happiness Hack, to students, ensuring the conversation continues in and out of the classroom.”

Feigelstock, who has been at the helm of Project L’Chaim since May, has been involved with community service work at several local nonprofit organizations over the past 19 years. She is currently co-executive director of the Mamatefet Community Society, a charity that supports expectant and new mothers. For the past year, she has been a therapist focusing on women and youth at Elevate Therapy.

Project L’Chaim was started through a grant from the Diamond Foundation in memory of the late Steven Diamond. It serves as the Vancouver branch of the Wellness Institute.

“Our partnership with Project L’Chaim creates opportunities for parents and family members, youth workers, teachers and other frontline workers to access opportunities to hear and learn from renowned youth professionals,” Rivkin said. “Project L’Chaim’s connections to the Wellness Institute open up significant educational opportunities for the community. Their excellent publications are also available throughout the community and provide critical information in an accessible manner.”

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In August, Jewish Federation welcomed Alisa Farina to the newly created position of community child, youth and young adult mental health worker.

Rivkin explained Federation realizes that young people who are struggling with their mental health are very resistant to seeking help through formal routes. By establishing a mental health outreach position, a person who can meet them in venues they are comfortable in, Federation hopes to create an environment in which more youth will seek help.

“We know that parents and family members struggle to navigate the mental health system and access the resources they need. This position will support and supplement the existing programs and services already available and diversify the supports available in the community. We want to make sure that parents and family members who are impacted by these issues feel supported and able to overcome the fear and despair they experience as they search for the right programs and resources to help their children,” Rivkin said.

Farina will provide direct support to children, youth and young adults struggling with mild or moderate mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. She also will provide assistance and advocacy to parents and families as they navigate mental health systems, including consulting with school counselors and other professionals. She has worked for the Burnaby School district for 29 years, the last 10 of which she focused on work with high-risk youth and their families.

“When children or young people experience vulnerable mental health, it affects the individual, family and our community,” Farina said. “Our approach will be to stand with young people and walk beside families by providing direct one-to-one support, family support, advocacy and mental health system navigation in a judgment-free, low-barrier and equitable way. We want to foster resilience and mental well-being in our young people.”

For more information, visit wellnessinstitute.org or jewishvancouver.com.

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

Israel’s Christian fellowship

Yael Eckstein, president and chief executive officer of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. (photo from IFCJ)

Twice a year, the president and chief executive officer of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yael Eckstein, heads into Ukraine’s rural districts to visit elderly Holocaust survivors. Eckstein says she prefers to make the three-hour flight to Kyiv from her office in Jerusalem in the winter, when the temperatures in Ukraine have often plummeted, and country roads to small, out-of-the-way villages are overgrown with ice and snow and almost impassable. She knows that’s when these Jews, most of whom are in their 80s and 90s now, will need help most: when the summer’s vegetable harvest is almost gone and there’s no money by which to purchase food, when “it’s freezing, so freezing you can’t feel your fingers and there’s no heat” because there’s also no electricity.

For 18 years, Eckstein has been making this trek to connect with Ukraine’s most vulnerable Jews, those who survived the pogroms and Nazi exterminations in the 1930s and ’40s and are distrustful of their neighbours, so have lived self-sufficiently for decades. For many of these residents, Eckstein said, maintaining formal connections with local Jewish communities is viewed as a risk. “They don’t want to be on any lists of the Jewish community or of the synagogue, because they were the lists that Ukrainians used in order to find the Jews and kill them [during the Holocaust].” And so, for decades, they have done their best to live on what they can grow and preserve themselves.

“That’s a lot of hard, physical labour and work. When they get to 80 or 90 years old, suddenly they can’t do that any more. They can’t go chop wood [for their wood-burning stoves]. They can’t grow the vegetables,” said Eckstein. And they can’t haul enough water from the well ahead of winter to store in their kitchens when it’s icy, “so it leaves them literally starving, without heat and water.”

This past winter, those needs became even more pressing. The IFCJ was already networking with the country’s many small Jewish communities when Russia began amassing its forces at the Ukrainian border. About 200,000 Jews in the former Soviet Union were receiving humanitarian aid, including life-saving aliyah to Israel. A war could further jeopardize Ukraine’s most vulnerable residents.

“Around four days before the war broke out in Ukraine, I flew into Kyiv and assessed the needs on the ground,” said Eckstein. “When I got back [to Israel] the first thing I did was [give] a $1 million emergency preparedness grant to Jewish communities across Ukraine.” She urged them to use the money to buy canned food, mattresses and other emergency supplies in case war broke out. Eckstein said they also connected with major charities in Ukraine, to formulate a broader plan for helping Jewish refugees displaced by the conflict.

As a Jewish philanthropy organization whose success is largely driven by Christian donors, the IFCJ holds a unique role in garnering support for Israel and Jewish causes. It remains one of the largest pro-Israel charities in the world and its data show that it has raised more than $2.6 billion US for Israeli and Jewish causes since its inception in 1983. Since this February, the organization has contributed more than $6 million in aid to Ukrainian Jewish communities, with $1.5 million coming through its Canadian affiliate, the IFCJ Canada.

When it comes to raising funds and support for aliyah, the IFCJ is a powerhouse. In 2021, it brought more than 5,500 olim (immigrants) to Israel. Another 4,000 were resettled this year, including 38 Holocaust survivors who got to Moldova on stretchers. The cost of the transportation to Israel and medical treatment were paid for by the IFCJ, “but the second they landed in Israel, the Israeli government took full responsibility,” said Eckstein.

But, as stated, aliyah isn’t the only way that the IFCJ has provided aid to Ukrainian Jews. In February, the Moldovan government opened its airspace so that the IFCJ could land a plane carrying 15 tons of supplies for Ukrainian refugees displaced by the conflict.

“We off-loaded the 15 tons of humanitarian aid to our partners on the ground to drive it to [refugees] inside of Ukraine and then we loaded the plane with 180 Jewish refugees who were making aliyah and flew them to Israel. When we had enough olim to fill two flights, we immediately flew two flights,” Eckstein said.

photo - Partnering with other Jewish aid organizations has been key to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews’ efforts to provide aid for Ukraine refugees — Partnering with other Jewish aid organizations has been key to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews’ efforts to provide aid for Ukraine refugees. *(photo by Jhanelle Alleyne / IFCJ)*

Partnerships are key to the success of many of IFCJ’s programs, especially to getting food and clothing to those in need. “We gave the [Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)] and Chabad, for example, millions of dollars. The IFCJ often works with the Jewish Agency in Israel, as well. We create the criteria and the program and they are able to implement it on the ground,” explained Eckstein. “[In] areas like Moldova, when there’s no one else who is able to do it, the fellowship creates the programmatic ability and implements the life-saving plans” that are then carried out by partners.

The IFCJ (initially called the Holyland Fellowship of Christians and Jews) was launched in 1983 by Yael Eckstein’s father, the late Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. According to the organization’s website, its mission was “to fulfil his vision of building bridges of understanding and cooperation between Christians and Jews,” a focus that was reflected in the rabbi’s writings, speeches and broadcasts. In 1990, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fellowship launched its On Wings of Eagles program to fund the transport of Soviet Jews to Israel.

In 2003, the fellowship’s sister organization, IFCJ Canada, was launched to connect with Canadian donors. It contributes to a variety of global humanitarian programs.

“In regard to aliyah,” said IFCJ Canada executive director Jackie Gotwalt, “we work on the ground with local partners providing support and resources for newly landed olim to help them start their new lives in the Holy Land.”

photo - The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews chartered planes and facilitated the aliyah of thousands of Jews this year — The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews chartered planes and facilitated the aliyah of thousands of Jews this year. *(photo by Jhanelle Alleyne / IFCJ)*

Since 2003, the Canadian organization has raised more than $120 million from its largely Christian donorship, which goes both to supporting aliyah and humanitarian aid in the former Soviet Union and other countries with at-risk Jewish populations, such as Ethiopia, Venezuela and, recently, France.

“The IFCJ focuses on support from Christian friends of the Jewish people to further efforts we support to address the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and in bordering countries and, in particular, assist members of the Jewish community caught in this tragic conflict,” Steven Shulman said.

Shulman serves as the president and chief executive officer of Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, which ensures direction and control of charitable funds raised by Jewish federations throughout Canada. He said the Jewish federations across Canada and IFCJ fundraise independently, though they both work with the Jewish Agency and the American JDC to further the same goals, which are to facilitate aliyah for those who request it and provide humanitarian aid to Jewish communities in the region.

Eckstein said there are many reasons why their Christian donorship contributes to the IFCJ, but at the core is a sense of obligation and a belief that they are doing their part to help Israel stay strong.

“It’s really biblical. Protestant and Evangelical Christians are mostly our donor base. What makes them unique from the other streams of Christianity is that they put a big focus on the Torah. They read the Tanach, what they call the Old Testament,” which places an emphasis on helping the Jewish people return to Israel, Eckstein explained.

“What I’ve seen in the past 18 years of working with Christian friends of Israel is they feel so lucky to be able to play a small part in both saving Jewish lives who [they feel] have been forgotten, neglected [or] persecuted by [others]. [The fact that] now, as Christians, they are able to help them, is something they feel [is] an opportunity and privilege.”

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.

It’s all about love and family

Last Flight Home follows Air Florida founder Eli Timoner’s last weeks of life. (still from film)

The Vancouver International Film Festival opens Sept. 29, and this year’s festival will be impressive, if the releases reviewed by the Independent are any indication.

Last Flight Home, a very personal and moving documentary written and directed by Ondi Timoner, will have viewers in tears. It will also have viewers contemplating mortality, family and what makes life full and worth living.

The film follows the last weeks of Timoner’s father Eli’s life. No stranger to hardship – he had been paralyzed on his left side since a stroke almost 40 years earlier – a bedridden 92-year-old Eli tells his family he wants to die. Immediately. Living in California, he could make that choice, and does make that choice. Once he passes the state assessment, the required 50-day waiting period begins.

During this time, Eli says his goodbyes to his wife, kids, grandkids and other relatives, to friends and to former employees. He offers advice and, with the help of those whose lives have been made better by his existence, he comes to love himself, finally shedding, after decades, the shame he felt at not being what he considered a good provider for his family. Before his stroke, he had been a wealthy businessman – founder and head of Air Florida – but, afterward, he and his wife had to declare bankruptcy and money was tight from then on.

Thankfully, Eli had those 50 days. While it was sad that he didn’t know how successful he really was in life until he chose to die, at least he did die knowing that he had loved and that he was loved.

* * *

photo - In Karaoke, married couple Meir and Tova rediscover their love for each other — In Karaoke, married couple Meir and Tova rediscover their love for each other. *(still from film)*

The Israeli film Karaoke, written and directed by Moshe Rosenthal, also deals with mortality and late-in-life realizations. Long-married couple Meir and Tova have long lost their passion for each other and, really, for living. It takes the arrival of a new neighbour, Itsik, to bring out both the best and worst in them and in their relationship.

Itsik is rich and confident, a player in every sense of the word. While his loud karaoke parties annoy most everyone in the building, the residents who gain the privilege of an invitation feel not only special, but a little superior, more worldly, as they open themselves up to the possibilities that Itsik embodies.

Billed as a comedy, Karaoke is more cringey than funny, and the musical score even makes it seem creepy at times, as does the pacing and lighting. That said, the acting is excellent and it does have some funny moments. As well, the messages are refreshing: love can be reignited and you can have adventures at any age.

* * *

photo - To make Killing Ourselves, Maya Yadlin got her parents and sister to come out to the desert to film — To make Killing Ourselves, Maya Yadlin got her parents and sister to come out to the desert to film. *(still from film)*

To make the 15-minute short Killing Ourselves, Israeli filmmaker Maya Yadlin took her parents and sister to the desert. According to her bio, this is something Yadlin often does – make movies about and starring her family. The result in this case is a delightful, amusing peek into their relationships. Most viewers will appreciate the interactions, with her parents both begrudgingly and proudly helping “film student” Yadlin with her homework and her sister, an actress, coming along for the ride – and the work.

* * *

VIFF runs until Oct. 9: viff.org.

Photographic chronicle

Image from 1341 Frames of Love and War, a photo by Micha Bar-Am.

Photographer Micha Bar-Am, now 92, is considered perhaps the foremost visual chronicler of Israeli history. In 1341 Frames of Love and War, filmmaker Ran Tal creates what amounts to a family reminiscence among Bar-Am, his wife Orna and sons Barak and Nimrod, complete with snippy retorts and full-throated arguments. All of this is set against thousands of Bar-Am’s photos, creating a barrage to the senses of blown-up buses, dancing hippies, funerals and the scope of Israeli life captured in still photos. The family, whose voices make up the narration of the documentary, are seen only in the pictures.

Although Bar-Am was present to immortalize in images the Eichmann trial and the liberation of the Western Wall, his work is mostly of ordinary Israeli people and events, including war, which has been all too “ordinary” for the country and its people. The photos predictably begin in black-and-white – the first colour photo in the film appears during the 1967 war, perhaps not merely a sign of changing technology but also of the before and after times of the occupation.

A photo from the time – an image Bar-Am captured of a soldier praying at the newly liberated Kotel – is a prism through which Micha and Orna chronicle their own changing views of their country. The soldier had fashioned an ammunition belt into a makeshift prayer shawl. Orna explains how they loved the photo at first, apparently as a symbol of resistance and survival. After a few years, they came to detest it as a representation of the connection between religion and power. Now, in their later years, they are agnostic about the thing.

“That’s how it was then,” Orna says. “We don’t have to feel love or hate toward it. That’s how it was.”

Bar-Am acknowledges that he was a shy young man and the camera was an excuse to get closer to things, to understand people better. Through his eyes, and the immortality of his images, Israelis and others can perhaps view themselves and the world around them more closely.

The film is an intimate exploration into the work of a legendary craftsman and, through him, a snapshot into the past.

For the full film festival schedule, visit viff.org.

Chance to win 2 tickets to VIFF’s screening of The Forger

A still from the film The Forger, starring Louis Hofmann.

The 41st Vancouver International Film Festival takes place Sept. 29-Oct. 9, 2022. This year, the Jewish Independent is the media sponsor of The Forger (directed by Maggie Peren, Germany/Luxembourg), so we’re doing a draw for free tickets to one of the screenings!

Email [email protected] by Sept. 23, 2022, to be entered in a draw for the Thursday, Oct. 6, 1:15 p.m., screening at International Village 9.

Synopsis of the film:
Based on a true story, Cioma Schönhaus, a young Jewish man living in 1942 Berlin, works at a munitions factory until he’s recruited by a former Nazi bureaucrat to forge passports for Jewish people to escape the country. Cioma waltzes through Berlin with reckless abandon, impersonating military personnel even as he risks discovery by the Gestapo. Adapting the story from Schönhaus’s memoir, director Maggie Peren gives her film the same immaculate attention to detail as Cioma does his forgeries, contrasting the dimly lit Berlin of Jewish people struggling with food rations with the decadence of the Nazis. The film balances the playful atmosphere of his ingenuity against the sombre backdrop of Nazi Germany and the looming danger he faces.

https://viff.org/whats-on/the-forger/

Shared society in Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Business Development Centre (known in Hebrew by the acronym MATI) makes a direct contribution to shared living, and two leaders of the Israeli organization will visit British Columbia next month. (photo from CFHU Vancouver)

Shared living in Jerusalem takes many forms and, even during periods of unrest and tension, shared living continues for many people in the city. In the public spaces of Jerusalem, you will find Arabs and Jews and many others. They share the same spaces but they rarely have meaningful interactions and they often don’t even share the same language for communication.

The challenge of building bridges, trust and communication between diverse population groups has been one of the mandates of the Jerusalem Foundation since its establishment. For many years, it has created new community centres, cultural venues and parks and schools for all neighbourhoods across the city, working to ensure that equal access to services and leisure could be achieved.

The foundation supports programs for learning Arabic in Jewish schools and Hebrew in Arabic-speaking schools, assisting Jewish and Arab women in creating art together, in increasing their skills and employment opportunities, in finding ways for Jewish and Arab children to learn together, to play together, to understand what they have in common and not what makes them different.

Jerusalem is home to the Hebrew University which, like the city, encompasses students from a mosaic of religions, languages, ethnicities, cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. The university leadership understands that this rich diversity is a precondition for academic excellence, critical examination, intellectual stimulation and the cultivation of the next generation of Israeli and regional leaders. Over the past decade, Hebrew University has devoted considerable efforts and resources to social and academic inclusion, as well as support of traditionally underrepresented populations.

The Israeli public elementary and high school system is separated for Arab and Jewish youth, as well as for religious and secular Jews and many places of residence are homogenous. Campuses, therefore, have great potential for shaping students’ perceptions and views regarding fairness, diversity and inclusion. Indeed, a positive campus experience will motivate university graduates from all groups in society to work alongside those from other groups in the workforce and to function as agents of change in their communities.

There are many challenges to shared living in Jerusalem, yet both the Jerusalem Foundation and Hebrew University believe that the diversity of Jerusalem is the city’s greatest asset and creates the resilience and strength needed to face all challenges for living together.

The Jerusalem Business Development Centre (known in Hebrew by the acronym MATI), which was founded by the Jerusalem Foundation in 1991 to strengthen and develop small businesses and entrepreneurship in the city, makes a direct contribution to shared living. The centre focuses on the city’s weakest economic populations: new immigrants, the ultra-Orthodox and East Jerusalem residents. Each year, MATI Jerusalem helps thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners create or expand businesses in the city, thus aiding in the creation of thousands of new jobs and advancing the city’s overall economic development.

A joint project of Hebrew U and the Asper Innovation Centre, together with the Jerusalem Foundation and MATI, sponsored microloans for women in East Jerusalem and led to the establishment of a full-time MATI centre in East Jerusalem.

Hebrew U established the Al-Bashair Program for Excellence in East Jerusalem, with the Jerusalem Municipality, as a leadership program for excelling students at the university from East Jerusalem. They attend a two-year program that includes leadership skills, internships, tours and career support. Al-Bashair for High Schools aims to prepare excellent high school students (grades 10-12) for higher education.

On Oct. 27 and 30, the Jerusalem Foundation of Canada and Canadian Friends of Hebrew University will bring the women leaders from MATI to Victoria then Vancouver, to tell their story and, through them, the story of Jerusalem. Michal Shaul Vulej, deputy chief executive officer, and Reham Abu Snineh, East Jerusalem manager, will speak about their experiences in East and West Jerusalem, and working to help empower and support underserved communities in workforce development and business opportunities. Their visit across Canada is sponsored by the Asper Foundation. In Vancouver, the visit is organized in partnership with the Jerusalem Foundation, CFHU and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.

For more information on specific events, contact Dina Wachtel, [email protected], or Nomi Yeshua, JFC, [email protected].

Anat Gogo now heads Tikva

Anat Gogo, new executive director of Tikva Housing Society. (photo from Tikva Housing)

Anat Gogo is the new executive director of Tikva Housing Society. Gogo took over leadership of the affordable housing society on Sept. 1, after several years in other senior roles with the organization.

In making the announcement, Rhonda Sacks, board chair of the society, praised Gogo.

“As we welcome Rosh Hashanah and this exciting next chapter on an unprecedented growth trajectory, we are very pleased to welcome Anat as our new executive director and have full confidence in her ability to lead Tikva Housing,” said Sacks.

“The affordable housing issues in our communities across British Columbia continue to grow,” said Gogo. “I am honoured to take on the role of executive director and to continue the mission and vision of Tikva Housing.”

Originally from Israel, Gogo moved to Canada in 1991. She has worked with Tikva since 2016, initially as a housing administrator. In April 2020, she became manager of programs and donor relations.

“I feel very excited and very blessed to take over the management of the organization,” Gogo told the Independent. “I feel like I will be able to act on the mission and vision of Tikva and the values that it was formed on, which are dignity, community, innovation and tikkun olam [repair of the world].”

Tikva originated in 1994 as the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver Non-Profit Housing Society, a response to the housing needs identified in the Jewish community. The name was changed to Tikva Housing Society in 2007.

image - An artist’s rendering of Susana Cogan Place, which is one of Tikva Housing Society’s many partner projects — An artist’s rendering of Susana Cogan Place, which is one of Tikva Housing Society’s many partner projects. *(photo from tikvahousing.org)*

Tikva’s mission is to provide access to innovative and affordable housing solutions, primarily for Jewish individuals and families. The agency addresses housing issues through a range of initiatives, including short-term rent subsidies to households living in market housing who are unable to afford their rent due to a temporary crisis.

More visibly, the society acquires and operates affordable rental housing developments, which are home to individuals and families with low incomes. Tenants pay about 30% of their income in rent.

To realize their mission Tikva focuses on partnerships. Tikva currently operates a constellation of housing facilities that have been created through alliances with other government, community and private groups.

Dany Guincher House, in South Vancouver, has 11 units and is funded through capital donations from the Guincher family and a B.C. Housing grant.

Diamond Residences, also known as Storeys, in Richmond, is a 129-unit joint venture with four other housing societies and with capital funding from the Diamond Foundation, the City of Richmond and the federal and provincial governments, as well as other private funders. In it, Tikva owns and operates 18 units.

The 32-unit Ben and Esther Dayson Residences, in Vancouver’s River District, was completed in August 2020 in partnership with the Community Land Trust Foundation and the City of Vancouver. It was made possible with a major capital donation from the Ben and Esther Dayson Charitable Foundation. Sixty-seven children currently live in this development, a specific need Tikva identified.

“We are living in one of the most unaffordable places in the world,” said Gogo. “While all levels of government are focusing on increasing the inventory of affordable homes, the majority of this new inventory are studio, one- and two-bedroom units. This leaves a real void for families in need.”

Tikva operates 37 units in the 125-unit x^wƛ̓əpicən / Arbutus Centre. The centre is a partnership led by the YWCA, which leased the air space from the City of Vancouver and subleased it to Tikva and the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of British Columbia. Rents are subsidized through private donations, including a substantial initial donation from the Diamond Foundation.

In total, Tikva operates 98 housing units, all of which are always occupied, said Gogo, and there is a long and growing waitlist.

Currently under development is Dogwood Gardens, which is being created in partnership with SUCCESS Affordable Housing Society and a leased air space parcel from the City of Vancouver, as well as Susana Cogan Place, in Burnaby, which is in partnership with Polygon Homes and with the financial support of B.C. Housing. The completion of these two projects will bring Tikva’s total number of units to 148.

Tikva was led by Susana Cogan until she passed away in 2017. Since 2018, Tikva has been led by Alice Sundberg, director of operations and housing development.

Weinberg Residence’s 20th

Vanessa Trester, manager of the Weinberg Residence, speaks to those gathered at the 20th anniversary party. (photos by Galit Lewinski)

The Weinberg Residence has just entered its 20th year. The assisted living and multi-level care facility opened in 2003 as the city’s first Jewish residence for people who choose the round-the-clock care and companionship they might not have at home. A celebration took place Aug. 21.

photo - Sandra Bressler, who just completed her term as chair of the Weinberg Residence board, cuts the birthday cake while Vanessa Trester, manager of the residence, looks on — Sandra Bressler, who just completed her term as chair of the Weinberg Residence board, cuts the birthday cake while Vanessa Trester, manager of the residence, looks on. *(photo by Galit Lewinski)*

The Weinberg is located at the Dr. Irving and Phyliss Snider Campus for Jewish Seniors, which is also the location of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital. While the residents and staff are celebrating this anniversary milestone, plans are afoot for big changes in the years to come.

The Weinberg, which is a private, but not-for-profit, facility, opened at a time when the idea of assisted living was relatively fresh. The concept is a step between fully independent housing and supportive living – residents are able to live independently but sometimes need or desire a little assistance with things like personal care, and they enjoy the liberty of not having to cook.

The Weinberg includes a kosher dining room and special meals for Jewish holidays, as well as private dining for family events. There is 24-hour staffing, as well as a range of cultural, therapeutic and recreational activities. The Chava and Abrasha Wosk Synagogue is located on the campus, with regular and holiday services available without having to leave the premises.

The multi-level nature of the facility means it can welcome people across a large span of ages and physical needs.

“What’s really unique about the 24-hour care unit is the different residency options that historically we’ve offered within the unit,” said Vanessa Trester, manager of the Weinberg Residence. In addition to the assisted living option, there is the possibility of convalescence periods, post-surgery recovery, shorter stays, including for out-of-town guests who need support, as well as palliative support.

photo - Dr. Norman Stein, who has been a resident at the Weinberg Residence since it opened, speaks at the residence’s recent 20th anniversary party — Dr. Norman Stein, who has been a resident at the Weinberg Residence since it opened, speaks at the residence’s recent 20th anniversary party. *(photo by Galit Lewinski)*

Trends in senior living have had an impact on the Weinberg, as they have had on all such facilities. Health authorities are encouraging aging in place, with governments funding more services to keep people at home longer and out of institutional care. As a result, said Trester, residents tend to be coming to the Weinberg at a later age than they might have in times past.

“It just means people are coming later in life,” she said. People who come in their 90s, rather than their 70s or 80s, will most likely have higher needs and require additional services upon first arrival.

“We see more people who are requiring 24-hour care,” said Trester. “The longer people wait, the more their needs increase.”

The residence was built by the Jewish community, Trester stresses, who raised $11 million to make it a reality.

“We are the Jewish campus,” she said. “So there should be a lot of pride and contentment from the community.”

However, like so many other institutions in Vancouver’s Jewish community, the Weinberg and the entire Snider campus are facing dramatic changes.

The campus is located kitty-corner to the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, whose $450 million redevelopment plan, called JWest, represents the most ambitious construction project in the history of Jewish Vancouver. Originally considered as part of that project, the 4.3-acre Snider Campus site will be revamped independently.

“There are tentative plans in place for Louis Brier redevelopment,” said Dr. David Keselman, chief executive officer of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and Weinberg Residence. “There are assumptions of what it should be, can be and may be. It all really depends on approvals from the City of Vancouver, funding from Vancouver Coastal Health, all this kind of stuff.”

Management is in the due diligence stage, Keselman said. But even though the Weinberg Residence is far newer than the Louis Brier Home that shares the campus, both institutions are almost certain to be replaced in the future.

“The new build, of course, will be looking at going up versus horizontal,” Keselman said. “It depends on what the decisions are going to be, and approvals we get in the end, how big that building is going to be and how many beds it’s going to end up being.”

The Brier began as a seven-room seniors facility 70 years ago. It has transformed, grown and moved over the decades – and time marches on.

Timing of the redevelopment also depends on how fast approvals can be obtained, plans are finalized, costs are determined and funds are raised. “I’m going to say anywhere between eight to 12 years,” Keselman said.

Update from the Okanagan

A photo break at the Okanagan Jewish Community’s annual picnic and barbecue. (photo from OJC)

The Okanagan Jewish Community (OJC), centred in Kelowna, has grown tremendously in the last few years. Those living in the big cities seem to be looking for the slower lifestyle that the Okanagan has to offer. People from Vancouver, Toronto and cities in the United States are discovering the beauty here and acclimatizing very quickly to their newfound home. As the Okanagan blossoms, its Jewish population grows along with it.

OJC provides a place where the region’s Jewish community can find commonality and a sense of belonging. It supports the timeless traditions of Judaism from across the diaspora and throughout history.

Comprised of the unaffiliated Beth Shalom Synagogue and the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre, OJC members from diverse Jewish backgrounds come together to create a welcoming, pluralistic congregation that conducts services and celebrates holidays in an all-inclusive manner. The community has historically maintained an active involvement and a strong presence in the culturally diverse Okanagan community-at-large. As a result, it has evolved to be a progressive community with a growing and enthusiastic membership.

photo - Rabbi Tom Samuels, OJC’s spiritual leader, in front of their community centre — Rabbi Tom Samuels, OJC’s spiritual leader, in front of their community centre. *(photo from OJC)*

OJC developed in the 1970s and ’80s with a group of local Jews meeting in houses and rented church and hotel halls. It formalized in the early 1980s by becoming a nonprofit organized society in British Columbia. Also in the 1980s, a cemetery was purchased, which was consecrated by Rabbi Emil Klein. In the 1990s, the OJC building was built under the leadership of the late Mel Kotler.

For several decades, services were conducted by local lay leaders, visiting student rabbis from the Reform movement and visiting cantors and rabbis from Western Canada. In July 2021, with the help of generous donors and foundations, OJC was able to hire its first full-time resident rabbi – Rabbi Tom Samuels.

Samuels, who was born and grew up in Toronto and spent the last many years in the Chicago area, now leads OJC’s weekly Shabbat services and its holiday events, as well as the children’s Hebrew school. He teaches bar/bat mitzvah classes and meets members and potential new members. The advantages to the Jewish community in Kelowna of having rabbinic leadership have become obvious.

photo - Some 120 people attended the OJC’s Passover seder this year — Some 120 people attended the OJC’s Passover seder this year. *(photo from OJC)*

On top of the religious programming, there has been a host of cultural and social programs this year, ranging from Kelowna multicultural events, like Canada Day and West Kelowna Multicultural Day, to the many OJC activities: OJC’s annual summer picnic and barbeque; monthly Shabbat dinners and traditional services; a Passover seder attended by well over 120 people; Skate and Schmooze at a downtown outdoor skating rink; What’s your Chai-Q? games night; a Tu b’Shevat seder; and a film festival. OJC also has hosted several educational programs with international guest speakers. These included Are Your Grandparents from the Shtetl? with Evgenia Kempinski, from Haifa; Following King David to the Stronghold of Ein Gedi, with Sharona Liman, from Kfar Saba; Journey to Freedom – 1940, with Monique Rubens Krahn of the Sousa Mendes Foundation, New Jersey; and a special trans-Canada event, The Sepharad – The Greatest Story Never Told, featuring Dr. Isaac Amon, Jewish Heritage Alliance, New York City.

More events are being planned for the fall and beyond. For those interested in further information about OJC, visit ojcc.ca, email [email protected] or call 250-862-2350. Or visit the community in person!

Steven Finkleman is a member of the Okanagan Jewish Community.

Special visitors at Louis Brier

Loni the Percheron Horse comes in the entrance of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital. (photo from Louis Brier)

Loni the Percheron Horse and his side kick Beau the Shitzu visited the Louis Brier Home and Hospital the afternoon of Sept. 7. This was the third (and last) time this year that the pair visited the home.

photo - Loni the Percheron Horse's sidekick Beau the Shitzu at the Louis Brier — Loni the Percheron Horse’s sidekick Beau the Shitzu at the Louis Brier. *(photo from the Louis Brier)*

The program is designed to give residents the opportunity to have a personal experience with one of these beautiful, gentle giants – and not-so-giants – in the comfort of their own home. Horses evoke a sense of peace and tranquility, as do dogs. It is no secret that visiting with animals is therapeutic.