From left to right: Andy Kaplowitz, Camp Solomon Schechter vice-president/president elect; Sam Perlin, camp executive director; Sarah Kahn Glass, camp president; Jerry Cohen of the Samis Foundation; and Jay Holzman, leadership donor. (photo from CSS)
On July 10, Camp Solomon Schechter hosted a formal groundbreaking ceremony to commemorate the start of major construction at their facility. From 60 to 120: The Campaign to Build Jewish Continuity is a $12 million multi-year project, beginning this fall, to refurbish the camp’s facilities over the coming years.
But this campaign is about so much more than buildings. “Camp is kids,” said CSS executive director Sam Perlin, but “Schechter is also about adults. That’s because it’s not just a summer experience or a school-years’ experience. As we have found, it’s a lifelong experience.”
The facilities currently host more than 500 campers and staff each summer and are used during the year by the Osprey Camp program, which primarily works with distressed school districts in southwest Washington to provide students with an application of science concepts as they live and learn in the outdoors. It also provides a rental venue for a range of organizations and individuals.
Speakers at the groundbreaking included Sarah Glass, CSS board president; Andy Kaplowitz, CSS board vice-president; representatives of major donors, including Jerry Cohen for the Samis Foundation and Jay Holzman for the Holzman family; Tumwater Mayor Pete Kmet; and two CSS campers. Several local officials were in attendance.
The newly found Philistine cemetery in Ashkelon National Park. (photo by Leon Levy Foundation via Ashernet)
Over the past 30 years, excavations have been undertaken in the park by the Leon Levy Expedition and the cemetery was actually located in 2013, but kept secret until the excavation was complete. The cemetery is located about 10 feet below ground level on a site that was later used as a Roman vineyard, and between 150 and 200 bodies lie buried there. The findings, dated to the 11th-8th centuries BCE, may well support the claim that the Philistines were migrants from lands to the west who arrived in ancient Israel around the 12th century BCE. Some of the Philistines were buried with perfumed oil, bracelets, earrings and other jewelry. The findings are on display until February in an Israel Museum exhibit at the Rockefeller Archeological Museum in Jerusalem.
אולי מישהוא ראה את הכפיל של וינסנט ואן גוך? פסל מוונקובר מחפש מחפש ג’ינג’י שדומה לצייר ההולנדי המפורסם
“אולי מישהו מכיר ג’ינגי’ שדומה לווינסט ואן גוך?” השואל הוא פסל וסופר קנדי בשם דאגלס קופלנד, שגר בוונקובר. קופלנד מעוניין לפסל יצירה בדמות הצייר ההולנדי המפורסם, הנחשב לאחד מהגדולים ביותר בכל הזמנים.
קופלנד מנהל בימים אלה קמפיין תקשורתי בינלאומי גדול למציאת כפילו של ואן גוך, באמצעות אמצעי התקשורת השונים ואתר אינטרנטי (שכתובתו: איי אם וינסנט.קום), שמועלות בו תמונות של המועמדים השונים, שמאמינים שהם הם שדומים לוואן גוך. הגולשים בעצמם מדרגים מי לטעמם המתאים ביותר למשימה המכובדת – להיות לא פחות מכפילו של הצייר ההולנדי שחתך את אוזנו ברגע של משבר נפשי קשה. כתשע מאות גברים ג’ינג’ים מכל רחבי העולם העלו תמונות שלהם באתר. במקום הראשון מוביל בהפרש ניכר מהאחרים, נמצא ג’ינגי’ משבדיה שקיבל כ-17,000 קולות. במקום השני והרחק מאחוריו גם כן מועמד משבדיה שקיבל כ-14,000 אלף קולות. ברשימה קנדיים רבים ואפילו אף שני ישראלים שנמצאים הרחק מאחור במקומות האחרונים, וכמעט אף אחד לא חושב שהם יכולים לשמש הכפילים של ואן גוך. הראשון מבין הישראלים הוא פנחס אליהו סדרובסקי והשני הוא אליקו מימרן. הזוכה בקמפיין של קופלנד יקבל פרס מכובד בגובה חמשת אלפים יורו (שהם למעלה משבעת אלפים דולר קנדי) וכן כרטיס נסיעה זוגי לוונקובר ובחזרה מהמקום בו הוא חי.
קופלנד מתכוון ליצור פסל גדול מברונזה שגובהו יגיע לשלושה מטר ורחובו יגיע לשני מטר, נושא פניו של הכפיל. זאת לאחר שיסרוק ויצלם אותו בתלת מימד. פסלו של ואן גוך “החדש” יוצב בחוצות העיר. פסל זה יהיה הראשון בסדרת פסלים של ראשים ג’ינג’ים שקופלנד נערך ליצור בקרוב, שיוצבו ברחבי ונקובר. לדברי קופלנד ג’ינג’ים נחשבים לבני אדם נדירים ויוצאי דופן. הוא חקר ומצא שבין אחוז עד שני אחוזים מאוכלוסיית העולם הם ג’ינג’ים. בקרב מדינות צפון אירופה ומדינות המערב מספר הג’ינג’ים גדול יותר, והם יכולים להגיע אף לכשישה אחוזים. (כל הכנראה שבסקוטלנד יש את מספר הג’ינג’ים הגבוה ביותר עולם). קופלנד מאמין שהקמפיין התקשורתי שלו למציאת כפילו של ואן גוך, יעורר אף שיחות על קשרים חדשים בין המדע, האמנות והגלובליזציה.
קופלנד בן החמישים וארבע יליד גרמניה מוכר בין היתר בעקבות ספרי המדע הבדיוני שכתב, ופסלי חוצות יוצאי דופן שעיצב. הוא השתתף בעבודה במדיומים נוספים בהם קולנוע וטלוויזיה וכתב קרוב לשלושים שספרים . האמן משמש חבר באקדמיה המלכותית של קנדה לאמנות וזכה להכרות ופרסים רבים.
על פי תוכנית עבודה של הפדרציה היהודית ל-2020: מספר היהודים בסרי, וויט רוק ו’הטרי-סיטיס’ גדל משמעותית
בהתאם לתוכנית העבודה ארוכת הטווח עד ל-2020 של הפדרציה היהודית של מטרו ונקובר, מספר היהודים שגרים מחוץ לוונקובר עלה משמעותית בשנים האחרונות. התוכנית הוכנה כדי לקבוע את סדרי העדיפויות והמשאבים הכספיים הדרושים להתמודד עם האתגרים החדשים עומדים בפני חברי הקהילה, כיום ובעתיד הנראה לעין.
לדברי מנכ”ל הפדרציה היהודית, עזרא שנקן, לפי נתוני 2011 כ-46% מחברי הקהילה היהודית גרים מחוץ לוונקובר וסביר להניח שכיום מספרם גבוה יותר. מספר היהודים שגרים בערים וויט רוק וסרי גדל בהיקף של כ-50%. ואילו מספר היהודים שגרים בערי ‘הטרי-סיטיס’ גדל בהיקף של כ-45%. בערים מייפל רידג’, פיט מדוז ולאנגלי מספר היהודים גדל בהיקף של כ-23%. שנקן מוסיף כי כ-20% מאוכלוסיית היהודים הם ילדים וקרוב ל-900 מהם גרים מחוץ לוונקובר.
Potential Apparel co-founder Shane Golden. (photo from Shane Golden)
There’s one thing on the mind of Vancouverite Shane Golden, 24, and that’s tikkun olam. The Richmond native is co-founder of Potential Apparel, a sports clothing company that donates a portion of sales from each of its garments to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and has contributed $20,000 to the charity over the last three years.
“Since my earliest days at Jewish elementary school, even when I was a toddler at Beth Tikvah preschool in Richmond, I was taught the ideology of repairing the world,” Golden told the Independent. “It was reinforced through my family’s actions in the Jewish community. From my earliest memories, I grew up knowing that every action I take has an opposite and equal reaction. I’ve always asked myself, how can I use these physics to help the world around me, to help repair the lives of individuals I’ve never met, and faces I’ll never see?”
Golden and David Dotan founded Potential Apparel three years ago, while Golden was studying engineering at Simon Fraser University. He switched to marketing management at B.C. Institute of Technology but left 18 months ago to work on Potential Apparel full-time. The concept behind the company was Dotan’s, he said. “David used to play professional hockey in the NHL, and we thought we could use his connections and network to start developing the brand.” Those connections include professional athletes Brendan Gallagher, Martin Jones and Ryan Johansen of the Nashville Predators.
“We develop the shirts with them to create a product that they want to wear,” Golden explained. “Sure, they might have deals with Nike to wear clothes, but they’re wearing Potential Apparel when they want to be comfortable – and they’re definitely influencers.”
To date, Potential Apparel has sold more than 200,000 shirts, most of them in Canada. The clothing, which includes hats and hoodies, is made in Burnaby – which costs more, he conceded. “It’s interesting having to spend a bit more money to manufacture locally but we find people really appreciate locally made products,” he said. “Between local manufacturing and donating a portion of sales to charity, our business has been an interesting challenge, but we’ve figured it out, and we’re making money.”
One thing that’s helped is the charitable golf tournament the pair began last summer in Whistler (whistlerinvitational.com). They matched participants with NHL players for a round of golf and raised $16,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This summer, the tournament will be held Aug. 5-7 in Whistler, hosted by Johansen and fellow NHLer Brenden Dillon of the San Jose Sharks. “This year, we’re hoping to double last year’s donation,” Golden said.
Asked why he and Dotan selected Make-A-Wish as their charity of choice, Golden said, “At one time, I asked Ryan Johansen why he chose to spend so much of his free time working with charities. He told me that were it not for the privileged lifestyle in which he was raised, with parents who could drive him to the rink every morning and buy him new gear every couple of years, he wouldn’t be where he was today. Make-A-Wish grants terminally ill children the ability to achieve their dreams, and that ability to empower a child is what resonates with us. Whether we choose to stay with Make-A-Wish or, down the road, swap over to helping another charitable organization, it will always be to help kids.”
Golden’s hopes are that Potential Apparel will become a household name that makes a statement. “The statement is that you’ve chosen to reach your potential and help others achieve theirs as well,” he said. “Potential Apparel, since day one, has always been more than just clothing. We are a movement empowering people to take a leap of faith and inspire others while doing so.”
Golden said he’s always looked up to entrepreneurs and philanthropists Mark Cuban and Elon Musk, but that it’s his parents and grandparents who have shaped his character. “My grandmother Marie and late grandfather Sidney Doduck created a legacy called the Marsid Family Foundation, which actively contributes to the Jewish community and causes which they deem important,” he said. “I plan on following suit in a similar manner.”
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.
Bob Prosser’s “Cuts” is part of the PhotoClub Vancouver group exhibit now on at the Zack Gallery.
Members of PhotoClub Vancouver don’t consider their photography a way to capture moments in life as they come across them, but rather as a complex, multifaceted art form. They experiment with their cameras, discover the limits of Photoshop, and modify their images in unpredictable ways. Their group show at the Zack Gallery demonstrates the results of their explorations.
The club was founded in 1998, “as an outgrowth of a photography course a couple years earlier,” said Bob Prosser, the club secretary responsible for organizing the show, in an interview with the Independent. “I wasn’t among the founding members, only joined in 2011, but I can tell that this club is unlike many others in Vancouver. It’s more informal, less competitive, with a constructive, supportive atmosphere. We encourage experiments, and our members subscribe to all sorts of styles.”
Prosser said that, at the moment, the club counts 28 paid members. “There are men and women among the club members; most of them middle-aged or retired. I guess, younger people may be look for a different environment, more social media-oriented.”
The club offers a variety of services and activities to its members. “We critique each other’s works, organize guest speakers and presentations on some inspiring masters of photography, offer technical workshops and field trips to some interesting places, like an Italian festival on Commercial Drive or a Pride parade,” said Prosser. “We organize shows every year, usually at a different venue, and publish books, the best of [each] year. We also have a challenge once a month, and everyone is invited to participate.”
Most of the club members are amateurs. “It’s almost impossible now to make a living as an artistic photographer,” Prosser said. “Everyone has a camera in his cellphone. A professional photographer should be so much more. He should be versatile, able to make video, websites, engage in social media, marketing. Some of our members do very well selling their photos to stock photo companies. Others do it simply for fun.”
Prosser resides firmly in the second category. He shoots lots of photos and participates in club shows, but sales are not his priority. “Of course, I photograph when I travel – just came back from a trip to Japan – and I make portraits of my family but, in general, I’m not interested in capturing people with my camera. I don’t like it when people pose. I prefer doing studio shoots: objects, scenes, and then playing with Photoshop, seeing what I can do.”
The club encourages such an approach, and Prosser relishes its easy atmosphere and its emphasis on experimentation. “I’m not interested in copying nature,” he said. “I try to convey a mood, a message. I want to move my photography towards abstraction, and I use Photoshop to push my photos in that direction, enhance them. I’m fond of impressionist paintings and I’m trying to achieve similar solutions. With software, you can combine several images in different combinations, change colors and shapes. Not all of it is even possible in painting – photography is a unique art form.”
His image “Cuts” in the exhibit represents the Cubist movement. The visual style and the method of execution overlap in the picture, creating a sharp, edgy feel, a scattering of cutouts on a red background. It could be an echo of our hectic lives or a reflection in a broken mirror.
Another fascinating Cubist image is the experimental self-portrait by Wayne Reeves, one of the founding members of the club. The older man in the image comes across as a jumble of conflicting angles, just like so many of us.
In contrast, a lyrical, lovely picture of mother and child inspires contemplation and promotes harmony. It belongs to Richard Markus, the current president of the club.
On the opposite end of the range of expressions are various landscapes and cityscapes. Some are earthy nature snapshots, bursting with colors. Others stress glass-filled urban architectural motifs. Still others are romantic and airy, like Terry Beaupre’s “Floating on Fog,” a dreamscape rising out of the mist.
The selection at the gallery encompasses a number of genres: portrait and still life, street scenes and travel mementos. While some photographs lean towards the traditional, others push the boundaries of the medium. Beside the colorful landscapes or abstract compositions, there are also a few images in the black and white palette. “In certain cases,” Prosser said, “color could get in the way of feelings. It could be a distraction, lessening the impact of the message.”
The group show opened on July 7 and runs until Aug. 6. For more information about the photo club, visit photoclubvancouver.com.
Olga Livshinis a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum (photo from auschwitz.org)
On July 10, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum. He was accompanied by, among others, Nate Leipciger, a former prisoner of Auschwitz born in 1928 in Chorzów, who emigrated to Canada in 1948 and has visited the memorial on more than one March of the Living; Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion; and Rabbi Adam Scheier from Montreal, vice-president of the Council of Rabbis. The guests were welcomed by museum director Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, who told them about the history of the camp and the contemporary challenges of the memorial.
Trudeau laid a wreath and held a minute’s silence in front of the Wall of Death in the courtyard of Block 11, where executions by shooting were held, as a commemoration of all victims of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp.
The guests visited the vast portion of the museum’s exposition. They saw, among other places, Block 4, which was dedicated to the extermination of Jews and which contains German photographs documenting the arrival of the transport of Jews from Hungary, a model of gas chamber and crematorium II from Birkenau, Zyklon B canisters, as well as human hair taken from the murdered. There is also a display dedicated to the story of storage rooms for looted property which, in the jargon of the camp, were called “Kanada.” In Block 5, the visiting delegation saw personal objects of victims that were found in these storage rooms after the liberation of the camp, such as shoes, suitcases, glasses, brushes and kitchen utensils. The delegation also visited the building of the first gas chamber and crematorium in Auschwitz I.
In the second part of the visit, Trudeau walked through the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. He walked along the rail ramp where the Germans conducted selection of the Jews, and also saw the ruins of the gas chamber and crematorium III, where the Jewish prayer for the dead, the Kaddish, was said. Candles were lit at the monument, commemorating all victims of the camp.
The prime minister also made an entry in the guest book of the museum. “Tolerance is never sufficient: humanity must learn to love our differences,” wrote Trudeau. “Today, we bear witness to humanity’s capacity for deliberate cruelty and evil. May we ever remember this painful truth about ourselves and may it strengthen our commitment to never again allow such darkness to prevail. We shall never forget. Nous nous souviendrons.”
Dr. Robert Krell, left, listens to Prof. Elie Wiesel, as Wiesel addresses the capacity crowd that came to the Orpheum in 2012 to hear him speak (photo by Jennifer Houghton). Elie Wiesel passed away on July 2. May his memory be for a blessing.
The following article was originally published on Sept. 21, 2012, and initially reposted on July 2, 2016. The photographs were added with its republication in the newspaper and online July 15:
“The Jewish people is based on what is called in the Prophets, ‘Edim atem l’Hashem,’ ‘You are witnesses to God.’ Says the Talmud something horrible: the Talmud says God says, ‘If you are my witnesses, I am your God. If not, I am not your God.’… That is the importance of testimony.”
This was part of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel’s response to a question about the role of March of the Living alumni. “You are now the witnesses,” he said. “Remember, to be a witness to the witness is as important as to be a witness.”
Wiesel was in Vancouver to launch the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s annual campaign on Monday, Sept. 10. The event, which was held at the Orpheum, featured Wiesel in conversation with his friend, fellow survivor Dr. Robert Krell, as well as a presentation of another of Wiesel’s friends, Robbie Waisman, who accompanied this year’s March of the Living program to Poland and Israel. Participant Jenna Brewer read the account written by Monique de St. Croix of Waisman’s emotional return to his birthplace, after which Waisman himself addressed the nearly 2,700 people in attendance.
The campaign launch was the culmination of Wiesel’s day here, which included a proclamation from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson declaring Sept. 10, 2012, Elie Wiesel Day.
Among Wiesel’s many activities was the receipt of an honorary degree from the University of British Columbia, where he spoke to university administrators, students and Holocaust survivors. A formal academic procession led Wiesel into the hall and a short panel discussion followed his remarks, involving the university’s president, Prof. Stephen Toope, Prof. Richard Menkis, a professor of modern Jewish history, and Barbara Schober, a graduate student. UBC Chancellor Sarah Morgan-Silvester presented Wiesel with the doctorate.
Also on Wiesel’s itinerary was a morning interview with the Jewish Independent; one of only two interviews he granted while here, the other being with the Vancouver Sun.
As editor Basya Laye and I introduced ourselves, Wiesel admitted his dependence on the New York Times, a copy of which he had not yet picked up that day. Once the “bible of journalism,” according to Wiesel, he lamented the Times’ decline in quality as the newspaper industry itself has declined. He wasn’t worried about the change to internet media, however.
“Our stories are not dominated by concern with the press, it’s person to person,” he said. “If you relied on the New York Times, the New York Times’ background, record in those years, is not the best, during the war.”
Wiesel recounted how, years ago, he complained to the Times about how little there was in the paper about the Holocaust while it was happening. Subsequently, he was invited to a luncheon, at which he gave them a piece of his mind. As a result, said Wiesel, in the paper’s offices, they have a plaque/letter saying, “We failed,” as a reminder to themselves.
Yet, admission of failure on the world level – that countries did not do enough to prevent the Holocaust – has not resulted in the prevention of other attempts at genocide.
“Can human nature change?” Wiesel said about that fact. “It’s society. Whatever the issue we have is, for instance, believe me that, I say, a sex story will have the front pages. Not what we try to say, but the sex story will have the front pages. It is our culture. We go with what is easy, what is cheap, and what is accepted as interesting by more people than before. And that goes everywhere, that’s in literature, that’s in the movies. I don’t know where we are heading.”
For his part, Wiesel has spent most of his life – as a witness, storyteller and teacher – trying to ensure that “never again” is a promise kept.
Born in Sighet, Romania (which was in Hungary during the war), Wiesel was 15 when he and his family were taken to Auschwitz. His mother and younger sister were killed there, his father died in Buchenwald, where Wiesel also was imprisoned when the war ended; his two older sisters survived. Wiesel’s book about his experiences in the camps, Night, was first published in 1956. It has since been translated into more than 30 languages, with millions of copies being sold.
A professor at Boston University since 1976, Wiesel was founding chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which created the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and, with his wife, Marion, he established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity soon after he received the Nobel. He has written more than 50 books, and his lengthy resumé continues.
When asked how he would categorize his body of work, Wiesel told the Independent, “Not enough.”
“What would you like to have been able to do?”
“More.”
“In terms of?”
“More,” he repeated. “Not enough. Look, look, on the surface, I’ve done a lot, published many books. Many books have been published about me, and so forth. I have approached presidents and kings, but all of that, somehow, it is not enough. Maybe, deep down, all of us who have survived have had a feeling, if we told the story, the world would change, and the world hasn’t changed. Does it mean that we did not tell the story? Or not well enough? Simply, we did not find the words to tell the story? Had we told the story well enough, maybe it would have changed the world? It hasn’t changed the world.”
“Do you feel like you have failed in some measure there?”
“Not failed,” Wiesel replied quickly. “I didn’t say fail. Failing, if I had not tried. Look, I know I tried. I still try.”
Complementing his activism for human rights, Wiesel is a dedicated student of Talmud and has a deep appreciation of Chassidic and biblical stories, which the Independent referred to as “old” in asking a question about such stories’ relevance today.
“They are not only old, they are immortal,” said Wiesel. As to specific lessons we could learn, he added, “It depends what area. If it’s the Bible, then the eternal truth, or at least the eternal quest for truth. The Talmud, it’s my passion – I grew up with the Talmud and, to this day, every day, I study – I love it. I love study.”
Wiesel explained, “There is so much beauty in all that. There is so much….” He paused. “Truth is a difficult word because my truth may be mine, but not yours, but learning, the quest for truth, is extraordinary. For me to teach those texts is so rewarding, so rewarding. And we take a theme, a talmudic theme or a biblical theme or a prophetic theme, and it can go on, it can last for us for hours and hours and hours in class.
“Come on, the beauty of an Isaiah, the tragic sense of a Jeremiah, and the immortal dimension of a Habakkuk. It is all these. They survived. The very fact that they survived, you know, how did they survive? These are texts conceived, written and spoken 3,000 years ago or so, 2,500, and they survived. What made them survive?”
The concept of truth came up again when the Independent asked Wiesel’s opinion – as a former journalist himself – about how much a newspaper should reflect extremes within the community it serves.
“I gave up journalism. Do you know why?” asked Wiesel. “I liked journalism at the beginning; I loved it. It was to be at the nerve centre of history, come on, I loved it. Then I realized, what, two things. Number one, I repeated myself – which means I changed the names, but the words remained the same.” He paused, then continued, “I am going to spend my life like that? Second, I realized the people that I loved and admired; occasionally, they had such an attitude of fear and respect for the journalist – I said, I don’t want that, I don’t want to inspire that. That’s when I moved to the academic. I gave up, for that reason.”
Hesitant to give advice, Wiesel eventually said, “Young lady, your truth is truth. Listen to it. It’s your truth that matters. Don’t accept somebody else’s truth. And, if you are a journalist, if you have the respect for your own words, that will be read by hundreds or thousands of people, who will read it and maybe be influenced by it – you, just you, don’t listen to [anyone,] not even to your editors. Don’t tell them, don’t even listen to that,” he said, looking at Basya as he made the comment, and laughing. “You decide. When you publish an article under your byline, it’s yours.”
Despite having wondered aloud as to the effectiveness of his efforts to change the world, Wiesel still gets up every morning to do just that. “What is the alternative?” he asked rhetorically. “What is the alternative? There is no alternative. True, I fought many battles and lost. So what? I’ll continue fighting. Look, my life is not a life of success or victory, much more of failures. I tried so many things and failed, you have no idea. Of course, so what? I’ll continue. The only area where I feel I must continue is, first of all, education. Whatever must be done in Jewish life, and in life in general – not only for Jews – education must be a priority. Not the only one, but the main priority, education. Let’s surely aim for that. And then, Israel, to me, of course is – the centrality of Israel in my life is here,” he said, putting his hand over his heart.
A few moments later in the conversation, Wiesel returned to the topic of journalism.
“You know, as a journalist, my love would be to interview, not for news, [but] to have the interview. And that’s really what I loved about it, to meet people, to have real conversations, I mean, real dialogues – not questions and answers, because I know now about you more than you think, simply by the questions that you ask. But that’s the journalist in me.”
“So, you obviously have faith in human nature … and you like to know more about people?”
“I do,” he said, with hesitation. “In spite of. It’s not because of, but in spite of.”
On the back cover of Arnold Wesker’s book Say Goodbye: You May Never See Them Again, Alan Tapper is the third boy from the left seated on the ground and Arnold is the fourth.
British playwright and author Arnold Wesker passed away in April. He and I were good friends, and I miss him greatly.
I went to school with Arnold 80 years ago. We were in the same class at Commercial Street School. I am among the students in the photo on the back cover of his book Say Goodbye: You May Never See Them Again – I am the third boy from the left seated on the ground and Arnold is the fourth. The book’s paintings, by John Allin, were of the old Jewish East End of London, England.
We grew up together in the Spitalfields area of Stepney. We regularly visited each other’s homes; his house was on the next street to mine. His family were staunch communists and his aunt – who lived on the same street I did – was involved with the local garment workers union. I was introduced to political discourse at an early age through the discussions that regularly took place at his home, but we also enjoyed playing games, like Monopoly. And we did so often.
Arnold, like me, was evacuated to Barnstaple in North Devon during the war. I was evacuated three times: when war broke out in September 1939 to Aylesbury; in the early 1940s to Barnstaple; and, in 1944-45 to Newcastle upon Tyne, returning to London the day that the last rocket landed on a tenement building not far from where we lived, killing and injuring many people. One of my friends, Mossy Berkovitch, was a survivor from the rubble.
Arnold and I kept in touch after returning to Stepney after the evacuation to Barnstaple. I remember visiting with him the different air-raid shelters in the local area but we lost touch after the war. We both served in the Royal Air Force – he wrote about his RAF experiences in two of his plays, The Kitchen (1957) and Chicken Soup with Barley (1958).
We connected again in 1953, when I went to see a production of R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Czech futurist writer Karel Capek. Arnold was in a local drama group, called the Query Players, who performed the play. The show and his performance gave me the theatre bug and I also joined the Query Players a short time later, appearing in many of the group’s productions. Arnold was my mentor, and. I continued to act and write, but became involved in local politics. Since moving to Canada, I have been involved with and worked on committees of many Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, and presented and produced Anthology of Jewish Music on Vancouver Coop Radio for 35 years.
I am currently re-reading Arnold’s autobiography, As Much as I Dare, which he wrote in 1994. It is a vivid account of his life to that point, and I am pleased that he remembered me in his story. He was a prolific and multi-award-winning writer and his plays have been performed all over the world. He was one of the first among the Angry Young Men literary group and was knighted by the Queen for his service to English literature. But, mostly, I will remember him as my friend.
Alan Tapperis a local freelance writer. His work has been published in the Vancouver Sun, Province, Courier, National Post, among others, as well as the Jewish Western Bulletin, now the Jewish Independent, and online publications. His first story was published in the London Evening Star when he was 14.
Bard on the Beach opened its 27th season with Romeo and Juliet. (photo by David Blue)
William Shakespeare wrote a beautiful but tragic love story in 1595 and called it Romeo and Juliet. Its theme of forbidden love resonates with modern-day audiences as much as it did with the Elizabethan crowd – and countless crowds in between. Bard on the Beach opened its 27th season under the red and white tents at Vanier Park on the BMO Mainstage last month with renowned Canadian director Kim Collier’s innovative twist on the timeless tale.
Two prominent families of Verona, the Montagues and the Capulets, have been feuding for years. Their children, Romeo and Juliet, meet one night at a masked ball and become infatuated with each other. Then follows a secret wedding, a banishment, a miscommunication and two suicides – such woe.
Collier sets the story in its proper period but with some modern gadgets – Bose headphones on the friar, Moosehead caps and beer cans for Mercutio and Benvolio, Romeo’s friends. Collier also has the cast break down the fourth wall to move into and interact with the audience – an interesting approach if used sparingly.
The success or failure of any Romeo and Juliet production depends on the actors in the eponymous roles. Collier imported her two leads from Ontario. Hailey Gillis portrays the 13-year-old Juliet in an endearing and playful manner and Andrew Chown, as the slightly older Romeo, has moments of brilliance. There is clearly chemistry between the innocent young lovers and their scenes together are lovely.
The supporting players, mostly Bard veterans, give depth to the story, one driven by supposedly intelligent adults, whose actions lead to the ultimate tragedy. Jennifer Lines plays the nurse – usually portrayed as older and subdued – as young, sexy and vibrant, more a friend and confidante than anything else. Scott Bellis is a kind and caring Friar Laurence, and Andrew McNee as Mercutio and Ben Elliott as Benvolio steal the scene every time they appear together.
Although McNee’s forte is comedy, he shows the versatility of his thespian skills in Mercutio’s death scene, as he chokes out, “A plague on both your houses.” Killed by the sword of Tybalt – played by Jewish community member Anton Lipovetsky – Tybalt is subsequently killed in a sword fight with Romeo, who is banishéd from Verona by Prince Escalus (Victor Kolhai). Interestingly, it is not the sword that does Tybalt in.
Romeo’s parents are played by David Marr and Amber Lewis and Juliet’s by Ashley Wright and Dawn Petten. These are smaller roles but with some touching moments, particularly at the end, when the parents finally understand what the feud has done to their respective families.
This production is very much about the visuals. Pam Johnson’s set design is simple but powerful: two grey metal bunker-like walls that are separated and joined as needed – perhaps a metaphor for the rifts and couplings of the feuding families – to create a ballroom, balcony, bedroom, tomb and other places, all against the spectacular backdrop of the North Shore mountains. Gerald King’s lighting provides the proper mood. Nancy Bryant’s costumes are a mix of the historical and the contemporary. Bringing it all together is Brian Linds’ sound design, which runs the gamut, from soft romantic lilts to heavy metal clunk.
While the play gets off to a slow start, the second act picks up, culminating in the final scene that had most of the opening night audience on their feet. One hopes that, over the next three months, the shaky bits will be ironed out. Overall, it is certainly worth a trek to the beach to partake of the tale of the star-crossed lovers.
Rockin’ Merry Wives
Playing in repertory on the BMO Mainstage with Romeo and Juliet is The Merry Wives of Windsor. This country and western musical farce played to soldout audiences on the smaller Douglas Campbell Stage in 2012. Moving it to the big stage has only added to its pizzazz. When you walk out of a theatre on opening night thinking you have to tell everyone to come see the show, you know you have just been treated to something special.
The play is set in Windsor, Ont., circa 1968, at the Garter Pub, a honky-tonk bar that is home to some eccentric characters. It is open mic night and mesdames Page and Ford (Katey Wright and Amber Lewis) start the evening off with a rocking version of “These Boots are Made for Walking.” Portly Sir John Falstaff (Ashley Wright), an expat, penniless, full-of-himself Brit and frequent bar patron, decides to seduce the married housewives for financial gain. To that end, he writes each of them an identical letter. The women learn of Falstaff’s deceit and set a scheme in motion to humiliate him to avenge their honor. Then, the fun begins.
Round 1: a secret tryst, the arrival of a jealous husband (Scott Bellis as Mr. Ford) and Falstaff’s quick exit in a laundry basket, culminating in his unceremonious plunge into the river.
Round 2: Falstaff in drag, a golf club-wielding Mr. Ford and a hasty exit stage right.
Round 3: The final knock-out round of humiliation takes place at night near an abandoned curling club amid prancing fairies – a bit far-fetched but, surprisingly, it works.
A sub-story revolves around young Anne Page (Hailey Gillis) and her three suitors, Slender (Ben Elliott, who does double duty as the musical director), Dr. Caius (Andrew Chown) and Fenton (Daniel Doheny). Which swain will win her hand?
Ashley Wright, reprising his role as Falstaff, owns the stage. Katey Wright, Lewis and Bellis – also reprising their roles from 2012 – are even better this time around. In particular, Bellis’ beatnik portrayal (a disguise to trick Falstaff) and that of the cuckolded husband are priceless.
Other notable performances include David Marr as Justice Swallow bopping around on his scooter, Anton Lipovetsky as the hippie host of the bar, Dawn Petten as buck-toothed Simple, Jennifer Lines as Mistress Quickly – who takes her housekeeper character over the top with her flaming red hair, nails, lipstick and bawdy wiggle – and Andrew McNee as Pastor Evans, who has to quickly learn to fence to stave off the challenge of the foppish Dr. Caius.
It is a credit to the talent of this company that they can move from the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to the light-hearted Merry Wives with such ease. Each of the cast is a quadruple threat – they sing, dance, play an instrument and, boy, do they emote. This is an ensemble that really works well together and their chemistry is palpable.
Pam Johnson’s set is legion hall kitsch complete with moose heads, dartboards and the obligatory photograph of Queen Elizabeth. The sub-set – white picket fence, pink flamingos and garden chairs – is pure sixties nostalgia. The costumes are fab (kudos to designer Drew Facey) – very Mad Men, with pedal pushers, crop tops, saddle oxfords, crinolines, bouffant hairdos, zoot suits, and some Canadiana touches, a Hudson’s Bay blanket and a curling sweater. Elliott’s sound design and Valerie Easton’s fancy choreography ties it all together. Director Johnna Wright notes that Merry Wives was Shakespeare’s “love letter” to the Elizabethan middle-class, his only comedy that takes place on “home turf” and his only play written almost entirely in prose. What a gift.
While purists will shake their heads at the thought of this Shakespearean musical, their toes will be tapping to the likes of “Baby, Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” “Your Cheating Heart” and “Ramblin’ Man.” The whistling and foot stomping of the opening night crowd seems to indicate that this will be the hit of the season. It is a lot of fun. Don’t miss it.
Bard runs until Sept. 24, and reviews of its other two productions – Othello and Pericles – will appear in a future issue of the Independent. For more information and tickets, visit bardonthebeach.org or call 604-739-0559.
Tova Kornfeldis a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.
Left to right, emcee Yael Dirnfeld with panelists Penny Gurstein, Tom Davidoff and Michael Geller, who discussed the Metro Vancouver real estate market. (photo by Lior Noyman)
Few topics in Vancouver are debated more intensely than real estate. “It is now possible to use the words ‘housing crisis’ without being labeled an alarmist,” noted Michael Geller at the Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel’s Stunning Views: Vancouver Real Estate panel discussion last month.
Held on June 28 by the Barry & Lauri Glotman Kollel Business Network, the event was the second meeting hosted by the Kollel to look at the situation in the Metro Vancouver real estate market and its impact on the Jewish community. This second session focused on practical, grassroots solutions, featuring once again presenters Tom Davidoff, Michael Geller and Penny Gurstein and emcee Yael Dirnfeld.
Davidoff is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business and incoming director of the Sauder Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, and Geller is an architect, real estate consultant and property developer, president of the Geller Group and an adjunct professor in Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Sustainable Community Development. Gurstein is a professor and the director of the School of Community and Regional Planning and the Centre for Human Settlements at UBC, while Dirnfeld is director and team lead in private banking with Scotia Wealth Management.
Each of the three presenters brought differing but complementary perspectives. Davidoff spoke in rapid-fire witticisms and big picture sketches, focusing on the international picture and willing to offer speculative answers and predictions about the future. Geller was more cautious, and drew on his extensive knowledge of Vancouver history and urban planning to weigh different possible futures and suggest options for buyers and investors. Gurstein spoke of political solutions, emphasizing the importance of both legislative changes and broad community organization and activism to effect change and provide more housing, increased diversity of housing and a sustainable real estate economy.
Davidoff discussed different possible ways forward. Should the city build more housing to drive down prices? Should the province raise taxes? Should the federal government intervene? Davidoff said the situation is authentically worrisome and there are possibilities of the market undergoing “a nasty correction.” He argued that legislative changes were the most effective long-term solution, and that the tax on vacant houses being discussed by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robinson is a good start.
From where will change come? asked Davidoff. Quoting George Orwell’s book 1984, he said, “If there’s hope, it’s from the proles,” the proletariat, or the common people. Pressure needs to be put on government from people other than wealthy homeowners, investors and developers, said Davidoff.
Geller warned the audience that everything being discussed should be taken “with a grain of salt.” He said, “None of us up here know very much but, since we are sitting up here and you down there, we are obliged to be sage.”
Geller pointed to the impending crackdown on unscrupulous real estate agents as a positive development, as well as the federal government’s allocation of $150 million for affordable housing in British Columbia, the utility of which Davidoff doubted. Geller emphasized the cyclical nature of markets and the likelihood that the boom would not go on much longer. “I think it will peak, but I am not sure it will crash,” he said. “I am inclined to think the correction will not be severe.”
Gurstein also thought that there have been positive developments in the last few months. “We need a government intervention,” she stressed. But, she said, “… there is a fear that, if they intervene, it could have a serious impact. This points to the need for a serious, wide-ranging economic strategy: we cannot be dependent on global capital coming in and generating a whole real estate industry from that.”
Gurstein emphasized the need for large-scale diversification, as well, pointing out that Vancouver needs different kinds of housing to meet everyone’s needs, as opposed to a market-driven fixation on condos and detached single-family dwellings.
The audience’s questions were directed to future developments and which investments are best. “Michael,” an attendee asked, “where are things going, what will prices look like in five to 10 years?”
“You’re going to have as many people saying prices will go up as go down,” replied Geller. “Some will say it will go up because of Brexit, or matters in China, or the stable Canadian economy. Other people will say it simply cannot continue and, if you look at the history of Vancouver, we have seen bubbles like this before that burst. Some of the remedies that people have been asking for – taxing foreign investment and vacant homes, government money for affordable housing, taxing BnBs, building more houses, all of those things – will have some impact in dampening things a little bit but, again, I don’t see a severe crash coming.”
Geller also spoke about the subjective nature of assessments. “Will things drop or stabilize? … After Brexit, the market dropped 200 points, then 200 points more, then it was 150 points up again because some people said Lloyds Bank is down 40% and it has to be a good time to buy! So, now it’s going up. Why did it drop at first? Fear. Then it comes up because of hope. It’s all so psychological.”
Geller and Davidoff agreed that investing in central Vancouver real estate is unlikely to pay off at this point, but looking farther afield to New Westminster, Squamish, the Sunshine Coast and other developing communities is a good bet. Asked whether one should rent or buy, Geller suggested, “Why not rent somewhere near a shul and buy a property elsewhere you can rent out for income?”
Gurstein spoke about Tikva Housing Society, which was formed to address the needs of working families, single people and others having difficulty finding affordable housing. “What they’ve done is work with other nonprofit housing societies and the Jewish community and they are now building housing,” she said. “They have one development in Richmond with 10 units, they have [one with] 32 units in Vancouver, and they are amazing and beautiful.”
Gurstein cited Tikva Housing’s work as an example of proactive, effective action. “We need to be supporting these kinds of institutions because they are going and making connections with other nonprofit housing societies to really address this,” she said. “Forty-two [new] units doesn’t solve the problem, but it begins to address it.”
Geller added that Tikva is not the only Jewish housing society and advised that people should take a close look at what’s on offer.
Asked what was the most effective activism for change, Geller emphasized the importance of going to town hall meetings, writing editorials and otherwise making it clear to government that there is a sizable, active constituency desiring intervention. All three presenters agreed that, absent such public activism, the only voices likely to be heard by government are the ones that have prevailed so far: those of wealthier homeowners, developers and foreign investors.
Matthew Gindinis a Vancouver freelance writer and journalist. He blogs on spirituality and social justice at seeking her voice (hashkata.com) and has been published in the Forward, Tikkun, Elephant Journal and elsewhere.