Sam Margolis – Page 2

On the lookout for wildfires

Tova Krentzman’s Fire Tower is a documentary about the people stationed high above the ground in the Yukon and Alberta, who are looking for smoke or signs of a wildfire. (photo from Tova Krentzman)

Tova Krentzman’s Fire Tower, a documentary about the people stationed high above the ground checking for wildfires in the Yukon and Alberta, has been covering the film festival circuit. Most recently, it was shown in February at the Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse, where the director resides.

The idea for the film arose when Krentzman was working as a cook at a firefighting camp one spring. Several lookouts, the people who comprise the first line of defence in battling wildfires, stayed at the camp as they were getting ready to head to their respective towers.

“I had a chance to talk to them and hear their stories. I even got to visit one of them. I was completely fascinated. The seed was planted there,” she told the Independent.

Krentzman’s diverse background includes experience as a geologist, cook, medic and merchant seafarer. She is also a photographer. Initially, she thought chronicling the stories of the lookouts would make an interesting photography book. However, when the pandemic struck, she became increasingly involved with video and turned the subject into a film.

For the documentary, she featured several different types of people who are lookouts, with ages ranging from young adults to seniors. Nonetheless, Krentzman said, they share a certain trait in common: the ability to be with themselves and thrive alone.

She was struck by the ability of the lookouts to climb a 100-foot tower every day, often many times a day, and to stay focused throughout the months they were on duty. In Alberta, where the season can last for six months, from spring to fall, lookouts work long hours without any breaks. In the Yukon, though the season is shorter, the job also requires a particular fortitude.

“It is definitely a certain kind of inner physical and mental strength to be able to do this job. When you are alone, everything you have ever done in your life comes into your mind, all your mistakes, everything,” she said. “You have to be the kind of person who can manage themselves. But these are also people who are able to feel very connected to their surroundings and derive a lot of pleasure of being connected to nature and what they are looking at.”

After spending large amounts of time with the lookouts, Krentzman observed how content they were with what they were doing. There was no drama, no breakdowns. Instead, the film raises the issue of how, in a hyper-connected world, solitude can inspire a different kind of connection with not only nature but community and one’s creativity.

“I think the film does get into what the struggles and challenges are. And so, people reflect on things and have some quiet reflective moments that they discuss and they are personal. I would say, overall, they are pretty satisfied with what they are doing,” she said.

photo - A scene from Fire Tower. To do their fire spotting, lookouts must climb a 100-foot tower every day, often many times a day — A scene from Fire Tower. To do their fire spotting, lookouts must climb a 100-foot tower every day, often many times a day. *(photo from Tova Krentzman)*

Krentzman hopes that, through watching the 47-minute film, more people will realize that the towers exist. She also hopes that the film will draw attention to the dozens of people perched in the air on the lookout for potential danger. While wildfire events can blanket the news cycle during summer months, the towers are not widely known and most provinces no longer have them, she said.

“It is important to realize all the steps that go into fire protection and prevention. The lookouts spot many of the smokes and call it in when it is a little wisp of smoke – that is when you can actually prevent it from becoming bigger. The idea is to catch it before it is a big fire,” Krentzman said. “If you can see a fire from a satellite, then it is too big – that is not prevention.

“They are really there to protect, as a first line of defence, and then they call in the fire agencies and there is a back-and-forth going on. It is quite incredible what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to fires.”

In the time since the documentary was made, Krentzman said, the fire seasons have started so early that she likely would not have been able to gain as much filming access to the towers because of liability concerns.

Originally from Montreal, Krentzman has lived in different places, including Israel, where many in her family still live. Yet, she was drawn to the Yukon and has spent several years there.

“The Yukon is one of those places that, as a Canadian, you have to see what it is,” she said.

Fire Tower debuted at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto last April and has appeared on screens in the United States, Asia and Europe. The documentary was to have been shown in British Columbia last summer at the ArtsWells Festival in Wells, but the event was postponed due to a wildfire.

For more information and to ask about a group screening of the film, visit underwirefilms.com.

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

Jews who’ve left their mark

In a March 2 lecture called Jewish Innovators Who Changed the World, Jonathan Bergwerk spoke about the lives and psychology of prominent historical figures.

“I’m especially interested in what makes these people tick,” said Bergwerk, the author of the Audacious Jewish Lives series, which covers a diverse selection of individuals who have left their mark on the world.

photo - Jonathan Bergwerk, author of the Audacious Jewish Lives series, spoke March 2 as part of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2024/25 Zoom series Kvell at the Well — Jonathan Bergwerk, author of the Audacious Jewish Lives series, spoke March 2 as part of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2024/25 Zoom series Kvell at the Well. (PR photo)

Bergwerk was the latest speaker in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2024/25 Kvell at the Well Zoom webinar series. He began his talk by referencing the number of Nobel Prize winners who have been Jewish – at least 214 of 976 individuals (and 28 organizations), with Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman and Jonas Salk among them.

“They have received over 100 times the number of Nobel Prizes than might be expected. That’s astonishing,” Bergwerk said, noting that Jews comprise just 0.2% of the world’s population.

Across fields, one finds seemingly inexhaustible lists of influential Jewish contributors: literature (Franz Kafka, Arthur Miller, IB Singer), cinema (Louis Mayer, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick) and music (George Gershwin, Barbra Streisand, Leonard Cohen).

Bergwerk argued that, to understand the Jewish drive for innovation, one might have to go as far back as the Hebrew Bible and the story of Jacob encountering a “man” (angel, perhaps) who tries to stop him from returning home.

“The act of wrestling enabled Jacob to confront his stealing and lying, and to accept responsibility for who he had been,” Bergwerk said. “He learned that it was through struggle, and not by running away from conflict, that he could become the person he was meant to be. So, our life’s purpose – our Jewish challenge – is to discover who we truly are.”

In Bergwerk’s view, the Torah is replete with innovators who had a clear vision and swam against the tide of society’s expectations. Moses, though unable initially to speak clearly, became an inspired and decisive visionary, developing the fundamentals of monotheism and condemning idolatry.

Other “audacious innovators” include Judah, Jacob’s fourth son, the first person not to blame others when things went wrong; Ruth, the Moabite, who went against the norms of a patriarchal society by leaving her people and supporting Naomi; and Elijah, who discovered “that God’s presence and guidance came through quiet, intimate moments of reflection and humility.”

Bergwerk included Jesus of Nazareth in his talk.

“Jesus was an observant, but unconventional, Jew, who was driven by profound beliefs in God, ethics and social justice. He was independent, courageous, an inspirational and charismatic revolutionary, who attracted committed followers,” Bergwerk said. “His teachings challenged religious and societal norms. He tried to be a radical reformer, but always operated within the boundaries of Judaism.”

As Bergwerk moved from the Hebrew Bible through history to present times, a lengthy catalogue of Jewish innovators was provided. Baruch Spinoza, the Rothschilds, Karl Marx and Theodor Herzl were but a few, though scores of others could have been chosen.

Having researched more than 100 such people, Bergwerk suggested possible reasons for the seemingly disproportionate level of Jewish success.

First, Jews are perfectionists, he argued. Though perfectionists are often disappointed, by setting unrealistic goals and expectations, they carry the drive to improve the world in the face of setbacks.

Next, he said, finding themselves as outsiders and not fully accepted has, at times, served as an advantage.

“Oppression, migration and desperate poverty were often creative forces,” said Bergwerk. “They also led to a focus on study. Jews have often been successful in the secular world because Judaism so strongly values learning.”

His third argument was the encouragement in Judaism to challenge tradition and to think independently. Here, he shared the anecdote of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi, whose mother, instead of wondering if he received good grades in school, wanted to know, “Did you ask a good question today?”

“Judaism, at its best, is a challenge to the world on how it can be improved. Many Jews dared to ask difficult questions, challenged the status quo and strove to leave the world better than they found it,” Bergwerk said. “Their story is truly inspirational. The message I take from these audacious Jews, is that we are being properly Jewish when we, like Jacob, are wrestling with our own challenges, and so contributing in ways we never thought possible.”

Bergwerk emphasized that this wrestling should not only be with ourselves, however, as that does not build community. Rather, one needs to take personal responsibility, as well as act as part of a community and take collective responsibility.

“We should live the Jewish values of learning, justice and tikkun olam – to strive to shape society for the better,” he said. “That’s what we have done for the last 3,000 years, and the world definitely needs us to carry on providing that hope today.”

The final speaker in this year’s Kvell at the Well series is Mordechai Pinchas, a scholar and scribe who serves communities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Pinchas will share stories from his career on April 6, 11 a.m., in a talk called Torah Tales: Adventures in Scribal Art. To register for this free Zoom webinar, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

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

Coping with loss, grief

The creative team of Bema Productions’ staging of Rite of Passage, with director Zelda Dean (centre). (photo from Bema Productions)

Victoria’s Bema Productions is staging Rite of Passage, a story of family, grief and coming of age by Los Angeles-based playwright Izzy Salant, at Congregation Emanu-El’s Black Box Theatre March 19-30.

The play centres on Harold, an autistic youth preparing for his bar mitzvah. His mother is suddenly absent and others are not sharing with him why she is not there. Harold’s father struggles with whether he should tell Harold the truth.

“The complex and incredibly human characters go through terribly hard times, yet handle it with grace and humour, even when things are in turmoil and the stakes are high,” Dean told the Independent.

At a young age, Jesse Wilson, who plays Harold, became involved in the local theatre scene that worked with the Victoria Society for Children with Autism. Noticing his passion for the arts, his mother encouraged and supported him in taking classes and performing.

Wilson appeared in Bema’s 2019 production of O My God, in which he played the autistic son of the lead character. He has also performed with a Victoria-based summer Shakespeare company.

“Because autism presents in such a diverse way, depending on the individual, I worked closely with Jesse, who is on the spectrum, to ensure that we portrayed the character in an honest way,” Dean said.

Salant, who will be in Victoria for opening night, said the play follows his family’s story. His mother died by suicide in 2007, and he had written extensively about the experience and his grief. But, he said, he had not explored his family’s grief as well.

“I sat down with my father and aunt for around six hours in the fall of 2016 and, later that same year, I wrote the first draft of the play in a playwriting class as a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,” Salant, a journalist and social media manager at Jewish News Syndicate, told the Independent.

Rite of Passage playwright Izzy Salant. (photo from jns.org/writers/izzy-salant)

At the time, the play was called From the Point of View of a Journalist. Several drafts later, it became Rite of Passage. After numerous workshops and rewrites, the work remains focused on the central premise of how to move forward amid grief.

In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Salant and his writing partner, Ryan Dunn, posted Peace Talks on New Play Exchange, a digital library. Written in 2019, the play explored the Arab-Israeli conflict and how it extended to college campuses.

Shortly afterward, Dean reached out to them asking about rights. Bema performed the piece on Zoom and, later, live at the Victoria Fringe Festival in 2022.

“My working relationship with Zelda has been amazing and she’s served not only as an amazing confidant and director, but mentor,” Salant said. “So, when I told her about Rite of Passage, she was overjoyed. She watched a live reading of it via Zoom back in 2022 and told me she wanted to do the play, and, three years later, after many rewrites and discussions, here we are.”

The first full reading of Rite of Passage took place at the University of Massachusetts in 2018, and Salant produced it the same year. During the pandemic, he met Noah Greenstein, an actor and theatre producer from Boston, and sent him the script. Punctuate4, a company for which Greenstein associate produced, liked the script and organized different readings throughout the United States.

Regarding the Victoria production, Salant said, “I’ve been incredibly involved from a writing standpoint. I’ve had almost weekly calls with Zelda about what’s working, what may need to be tweaked, rewritten, etc. The script has gone through around three draft changes from the time Zelda told me she was going to perform it this season to the show that you’ll see live.

“I’m incredibly grateful to Zelda for putting on this production, as I am to Punctuate4 for all their work, in part because numerous other theatres in my career have told me they loved the play but don’t know if they could realistically stage it, somewhat because Harold is autistic.”

Besides Rite of Passage and Peace Talks, Salant has written Balagan, The Scenic View and Unrequited. He also has penned several short plays and one-act plays, including 2082, which follows two best friends on a road trip to New Mexico in the aftermath of a breakup. It premiered in 2023.

Currently, Salant is putting together a piece titled Catatonic, which his friends have called “Zionist Angels in America.” It’s a two-part play about the post-Oct. 7 world and Salant’s experience covering it as a journalist.

Salant is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Alliance of Jewish Theatre. He is a graduate of the Kennedy Centre Playwriting Intensive and an Abby Freeman Artist in Residence at the Braid, a nonprofit Jewish literary organization in Santa Monica, Calif.

“I consider myself a Jewish artist through and through. Judaism is a core of my identity and I never want to shy away from expressing it,” Salant said.

Tickets for Rite of Passage can be purchased through the Bema Productions website at bemaproductions.com.

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

Determined to help others

Photos from the book include Joy Karp speaking to a group of people at a Terry Fox Run in Whitehorse. (photo from Rick Karp)

Creating a Lasting Impact: The Amazing Life of Joy Esther Karp was recently published.

Written by Rick Karp, who was married to Joy for 49 years – many of them spent in the Yukon – the account tells of her determination to make a difference and how she made numerous contributions to society, while having to overcome life-threatening issues every few years.

Joy Karp died in 2017.

“I promised Joy a few weeks before she passed that I would ‘tell her story,’ and that is what I have done. People need to know who she was, what she accomplished throughout her life, how caring and supportive she was for others,” Rick Karp told the Independent.

Two of the setbacks Joy Karp faced were a heart attack, after giving birth to twins in her early 20s, and a car accident, in which she was thrown from the vehicle onto a frozen Lake Ontario, smashing the bones in her left foot; she had to wear specially made shoes thereafter.

In 1986, the Karps moved from Ottawa to Whitehorse, where they brought the first McDonald’s to the North and were deeply involved in the economic, social and cultural fabric of the Yukon. But this didn’t protect the couple from life’s vicissitudes.

Joy was kidnapped in 1992 and buried in her car for close to 17 hours. The kidnappers shackled her wrists and ankles, blindfolded her, put a bag over her head and left her there without needed medication, despite knowing she had heart issues.

“After the kidnapping, Joy suffered horribly for years from PTSD and, a couple of years later, her heart gave out and she had to have a quadruple bypass operation,” Rick Karp said.

In addition, Joy’s foot was severely damaged after the kidnapping, and doctors considered amputation. The Karps, though, demanded that the doctors pursue another course, which allowed her to keep her foot.

A few years later, Joy had her first case of cancer and required operations, chemotherapy and radiation. The cancer returned after several years and proved incurable.

“The doctors thought it was a heart issue and all that Joy needed was a pacemaker,” Karp said. “The X-rays that they did to determine the positioning of the pacemaker showed that the issue was a cancerous growth that had developed in her right lung and had reached out and attached to her heart.

photo - Rick Karp’s book about his wife, Joy, was recently released — Rick Karp’s book about his wife, Joy, was recently released. (photo from Rick Karp)

“They said that it was inoperable and that Joy only had about three months left, but she survived for close to 11 months.”

Despite all these adversities, Joy had an innate ability to understand and see the potential in others, to learn what they needed, and then make things happen for them, said Karp. People were always drawn to her, he said.

“This was one of the amazing things about Joy. She thought of others. She was a great listener. As a student, she helped her fellow students with assignments, and she had the ability to resolve issues.”

One of Joy Karp’s legacies is the McDonald’s Hands-On Business Training Program. The story begins in Ontario in the 1970s, with a job she had helping an owner-operator grow to five stores, and managing the head office. Confronted with a high turnover rate in some towns, the owner approached Joy for a solution.

She created a training program in 1978 and implemented it at local McDonald’s restaurants. By the early 1980s, according to Karp, the program was used throughout the fast-food chain.

“This is a three-year program that takes employees, or others that apply, through training and development that solidifies their knowledge of all of the stations in McDonald’s, training in customer service, and all aspects of how the restaurant operates,” he said.

“Then, to the right people, the program offers the chance to rise from crew person to crew trainer, to swing manager, to assistant manager and to manager – it offers career opportunities. Also, embedded in the program is the concept of ‘promote from within,’ which has been adopted by businesses, well, everywhere.”

Among other accomplishments, Joy organized service and customer satisfaction workshops for the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce when the city played host to the Canada Winter Games in 2007. Her efforts, Karp said, were recognized by the event’s organizers.

Additionally, she played a key role in bringing the Special Olympics to Whitehorse, helped arrange for an outdoor play area and training computers at the Yukon Child Development Centre, and was pivotal in obtaining funding to make the Yukon Arts Centre wheelchair accessible. In 2013, she wrote The Power of Service: Service Through the Eyes of Customers, a book that emphasizes the importance for businesses to develop relationships and trust with those they serve.

Creating a Lasting Impact can be purchased on the Bookstore page at rwkarp.ca. A signed copy can be ordered by emailing Karp at rickkarp46@gmail.com.

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

JSA revamps advocacy

Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia’s Margot Beauchamp, left, and Jeff Moss, right, with advocate for seniors’ rights Howard Glick and Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors’ Care and Long-Term Care Susie Chant. (photo from JSA)

Jewish Seniors Alliance, whose mission is to reduce isolation, build connection and uplift and support Jewish and other seniors in the province, started 2025 with a new name.

At its annual general meeting last November, the organization chose to rename itself the Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia. Formerly, it was called the Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver. One of the motivations for the change was to better reflect the organization’s goals and the services it provides.

The new name comes as JSA expands its advocacy work throughout the province, with efforts such as extending its reach, via its Senior Line magazine, to more communities. The new name, it maintains, recognizes the need to connect with more seniors in the province. Initially, JSA intends to partner with outreach programs in the Sea-to-Sky, Burquitlam and Surrey regions.

Similarly, the JSA Peer Support Services program has been rebranded. It will now be known as Community Support Services (CSS), which the organization believes will express its objectives and more clearly define the services it offers with senior volunteers and clients: senior peer support and friendly visiting/calling.

Concurrently, JSA has relaunched its advocacy work around free home support for all BC seniors, stating that it had success with this effort in the run-up to the provincial election. It will continue to meet with government and opposition MLAs, as well as work with and through community partners to ask people to contact their MLAs to voice their support for the initiative.

“The JSA approach to advocacy and government relations has been focused and targeted on decision-makers,” said JSA executive director Jeff Moss during a Jan. 22 Zoom event, in which he discussed the proposal for universal home care in British Columbia as a way to reduce the burden on individuals and government spending.

Moss summarized a recent mandate letter to Susie Chant, parliamentary secretary for seniors’ care and long-term care, which advocated for increased health-care availability, cost containment, responsive health systems, increased senior care, engagement with stakeholders and communication with the health ministry.

Howard Glick, an advocate for seniors’ rights and barrier-free healthcare, joined Moss on the Zoom panel. Glick had recently produced a short video, The Home Care Imperative: A Humanitarian Solution, on the need for free home support in the province, which was shown to the audience.

The video emphasized the advantages of home care, including aging in place, which can allow seniors to preserve their independence and dignity. It can also produce systemic savings that reduce waits for long-term care and free up hospital beds. And its implementation can be expedited, as home care can be scaled more quickly than construction for long-term care facilities.

Also stressed in the video was the idea of accessible, personalized home care as a better way to benefit seniors in their daily lives. The video argued that such a measure would foster independence and connection while strengthening the health-care system overall. This issue is particularly pressing, as the number of seniors in the province, and across the country, is set to increase in the coming two decades.

Most older adults, the video pointed out, would prefer to stay at home. Research from the Office of the Seniors Advocate, under the leadership of both former seniors advocate Isobel MacKenzie (now a JSA board member) and current advocate Dan Levitt, shows that many admissions to long-term care could have been treated at home with the right supports. Women, people in rural communities and those living alone make up a greater percentage of those moving into long-term care, according to the office’s report.

According to the video, British Columbia, when compared to Ontario, is lacking in several features that pertain to senior care, such as funding, services, eligibility, caregiver support and integration. The costs associated with accessing care for seniors in British Columbia greatly exceed those of other provinces as well, the video contends, noting that Alberta, Ontario and other provinces offer free home support for older adults.

Following the video, Moss reviewed a long list of advantages of providing free home care.

“The benefits are personalized at-home care, ease of access, reduced hospitalizations, fewer unnecessary admissions to long-term care, better health outcomes, increased independence and peace of mind,” he said.

During the question-and-answer session, it was conceded that the home-care model proposed in the video is, at present, far from the current reality.

“At this point, the system is fragmented, disorganized and unreliable, and there are a whole bunch of other problems. What our video is advocating is how to make things work for people in the future and that means reevaluating the structure of the system completely,” Glick said.

“Before any changes can be made, we have to have influence and contacts, we don’t have that yet. We’re just in the starting process of trying to get our foot in the door with the people who have the money and make policy,” he added.

photo - Jewish Senior Alliance of British Columbia executive director Jeff Moss, left, with Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Polievre — Jewish Senior Alliance of British Columbia executive director Jeff Moss, left, with Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Polievre. *(photo from JSA)*

The January event was part of the JSA-Phyliss and Irving Snider Foundation Empowerment Series and was co-sponsored by the Kehila Society of Richmond, COSCO and West End Seniors’ Network.

Moss, Glick and Margot Beauchamp, JSA’s quality assurance liaison, have since met with Chant. According to Moss, Chant gave them her support to move the initiative forward by way of making an introduction to the ministers of finance and health, along with opportunities to speak with all MLAs. JSA is also seeking the support of Brennan Day, opposition critic for rural health and seniors’ health.

JSA is working to advance the interests of seniors at the national level as well. During Conservative Party of Canada head and leader of the Official Opposition Pierre Poilievre’s visit to Temple Sholom on Feb. 2, Moss said he took a moment to let Poilievre “know that 65% of BC seniors are living on less than $40,000 annually and that adjustments are needed in the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors so that they can ensure more sustainability to age better.”

Poilievre directed Moss to follow up with his policy team.

For more information on JSA’s home-care advocacy, visit jsalliance.org/advocacy.

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

Adaptability important

Canada’s westernmost Reform rabbis, Dan Moskovitz of Vancouver’s Temple Sholom, and Lynn Greenhough of Victoria’s Kolot Mayim, sat down for a discussion (and celebration) of the resilience of the Jewish people during a Zoom webinar on Feb. 2.

Greenhough, who posed questions to Moskovitz for an event that was part of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2024/25 Kvell at the Well series, described him in her introduction as a “one-man advertisement for Jewish resilience.”

photo - Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom was the most recent speaker in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s Kvell at the Well Zoom series — Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Sholom was the most recent speaker in Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s Kvell at the Well Zoom series. *(photo from rabbidanmoskovitz.com)*

Moskovitz began by bringing historical context to the topic, noting that the sages would often say that new questions and problems are the reframing of events that have happened in the past.

“Sadly, we have a history that can take us back to times of trial and challenge just as easily as it could to triumph,” said Moskovitz. “So, part of it is that we’ve seen this before and we’re still here. That is, I think, a key to our resilience.”

Another element to resiliency is adaptability, he said. Here, the senior rabbi at Temple Sholom cited a section of the Talmud that debates whether it is better to be a cedar tree or a reed.

“The rabbis conclude it’s better to be a reed than a cedar. While we can stand firm at some point, a strong enough wind from just the right angle will topple us over [if we are a cedar],” Moskovitz said. “But the reed can adjust. And that’s how we dealt with the destruction of the First and the Second Temple.”

Judaism, he continued, has maintained a fluidity that allows it to be open to new ways to grapple with present-day issues like identity, the role of women and modern concepts of morality, discarding past practices that might be distasteful today.

“I think that important to our resilience has been our ability to change,” he said. “When groups or religions don’t change, their survival becomes precarious.”

Judaism’s resilience, too, can be attributed to its portability; namely, texts were printed and studied. Further, discussions, such as those occurring in the Talmud – which Moskovitz described as the “original Wikipedia” – could be had not just in one place in time but across time, to create an “ongoing dialogue.”

“I think about Pesach and the printed Haggadah, but also the technology, if we can call it that, of the socialization of the story, that coming together every year to retell our story, as opposed to telling it and forgetting it,” he said. “What Pesach does is remind us of the story of redemption, remind us of our role, Moses’s role, God’s role, the role of miracles, and to reinterpret that through the lens of our modern experience, to see the pharaohs of our time.”

A recent illustration of Judaism’s ability to adapt, he said, occurred during the pandemic, as events and services shifted to Zoom. Most of Temple Sholom’s minyan services are still held online, as they have proved a valuable means for congregants to connect in a meaningful way.

Change and innovation, Moskovitz argued, are always going to happen, and it has been to Judaism’s advantage to move forward, to progress, and not shelter itself from the outside world. One such step practised by Reform Judaism, for example, is to use transliteration and English translations of the Hebrew text in prayer books, making the prayers and other material accessible to a wider range of people.

Later in his talk, Moskovitz referenced how times of crises and discrimination have empowered Jews to create their own institutions.

“I think that we have to have a deep appreciation for the resourcefulness of the generations that came before us,” he said. “Most of the institutions that we have been raised in were built by a generation of Jews who were excluded from general society.”

To the question of the post-Oct. 7 world in which university campuses and other spaces have become hotbeds of vitriol against Jews, Moskovitz stressed that flexibility and adaptability do not mean capitulation.

“If there are places that we have been and rightfully should still be and want to be, then we do have to stand our ground there,” he said. “We do have to insist and we do have to call out the hypocrisy of certain things or the blatant discrimination.”

Crucial in this pursuit, said Moskovitz, is to find allies. He told the Zoom audience that Jews will not defeat antisemitism, but non-Jews will.

“We can’t separate ourselves from the community,” he said. “While we could use our money to pull out of places like Harvard, we should absolutely stay at the boardroom table as long as they will have us. If not, then go to whatever audience will receive our message of why we were kicked out of that place, and stay in for the argument and the fight.

“I think that we shouldn’t abandon these institutions and say, I’m not going to send my kid there anymore because it’s antisemitic. It will only become more antisemitic if we stop sending our kids.”

Jonathan Bergwerk, author of the Audacious Jewish Lives books, is the next speaker in the Kolot Mayim Kvell at the Well series. On March 2, at 11 a.m., he will discuss Jewish innovators who have changed the world. Visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com to register.

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

JQT-JFS partnership thrives

JQT Vancouver’s table at the BC Hospice Palliative Care Association’s Grief, Bereavement and Mental Health Summit 2024, which took place Nov. 20-22. (photo from JQT)

In 2024, JQT Vancouver, a queer and trans nonprofit, and Jewish Family Services Vancouver teamed up – through financial backing from the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver and private donations – to create the JQT Mental Health Support Series, a set of informational workshops, resources and events for the LGBTQ2SIA+ community.

The organizations have now entered 2025 invigorated by the response and eager to continue and expand their offerings.

“Like any marginalized community, queer and trans people are aware of their needs and are tired of being surveyed. They have been historically, persistently and systemically marginalized and are waiting for changes in society and health care to be more inclusive of them,” JQT founder and executive director Carmel Tanaka told the Independent.

Tanaka added that a limited operating budget can present challenges when providing the necessary safe spaces, programs and awareness resources for Jewish queer and trans community members and beyond. These needs for support far outweigh JQT’s capacity alone, she said.

In her view, moving away from the survey model to a model of outreach and engagement not only fosters community between Jewish queer and trans people but ensures that Jewish queer and trans people are seen and treated as more than survey data.

Tanaka credited JFS Vancouver chief executive officer Tanja Demajo for understanding this. Demajo listened to the recommendations JQT had been urging for a long time and took steps to fill the gap in mental health support services for the Jewish queer and trans community, said Tanaka.

“This partnership has been an incredible learning experience for me personally,” Demajo shared with the Independent. “Working closely with Carmel and the JQT team made me recognize the importance of being present, listening and understanding how JFS needs to evolve to better serve populations that may have felt isolated. Empowering others to take the lead in this context was inspiring and has already resulted in some truly amazing programming.

“Seeing the community come together – sharing laughs, conversations and moments of joy – has reinforced one key takeaway: we should continue building these connections and creating even more opportunities to collaborate.”

The partnership between JQT and JFS dates back several years. In 2020, the two groups started conversations pertaining to diversity education, ensuring JFS supports for the social, physical and emotional wellness of all people, and providing a welcoming and inclusive organization for the Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ community. Their partnership was given the name Twice Blessed 2.0: The Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ Initiative. The Mental Health Support Series, rolled out last year, is the second phase of the initiative; it follows the 2022 Community Needs Assessment.

The mental health series provided numerous offerings last year that encompassed an array of topics – some serious, some lighter – such as dying and death, clay as a medium for mindfulness, and belly dancing. There was also an evening of comedy with Los Angeles-based performer Antonia Lassar and music from Victoria’s Klezbians.

“This series deals with very heavy issues, a lot of which are highly contentious and divide our communities in a number of ways. Our series also provides opportunities to laugh, have fun, relieve stress and move energy. When it comes to mental health, there needs to be a balance,” Tanaka said.

“There are many highlights for me personally,” she continued, “but one that stands out was when a group of queer Chinese folx attended our mahjong event to learn how to play mahjong because they didn’t have the opportunity to learn in their community. That’s when you know that you’re making a positive difference, when you are also helping out communities beyond your own.”

With the positive reaction thus far, JQT and JFS are maintaining their partnership into 2025 to bring more programs and support to the Jewish queer and trans community.

“We look forward to continuing our learning journey and offering meaningful programming and support for the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. In partnership with JQT, we’re excited to develop programs over the next year that will clearly reflect our ongoing commitment to inclusivity and connection,” Demajo said.

Throughout the partnership, Tanaka said, JFS “has learned our preferred style of collaboration and communication, and has borne witness to JQT’s growth and its limitations as a 100% volunteer-led organization.

“Today,” she said, “our quarterly JQT-JFS meetings run quickly, smoothly and are a whole lot of fun because we all genuinely like each other, enjoy the work we are accomplishing together, and can see the fruits of our labour.”

In 2024, JQT gained charitable status. This is a significant accomplishment for a small nonprofit, noted Tanaka, who this month starts her seventh year with JQT.

In 2025, she aims to secure an annual salary for the organization’s executive director position, as well as extended health benefits and program funding. These, she believes, will set JQT up for further success and future executive directors.

“With an increase in queer Jewish event offerings in town,” said Tanaka, “JQT can now focus on heavier lifting, specifically education and training of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in and out of community and health care, which has been a decades-long request from Jewish queer and trans people.

“We are starting to feel the synergy around our work and are finally being invited to the table,” she added. “It’s all been worth it and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with JFS in a good, organic way.”

The first event of the 2025 Mental Health Support Series, Jewish Magic Herbal Pottery, takes place on Feb. 25, 6 p.m., at Or Shalom Synagogue. To register, visit jqtvancouver.ca.

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

How Jews are indigenous

Last month, Ben M. Freeman spoke about his latest book, The Jews: An Indigenous People, as part of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple’s 2024/25 speaker series. (PR photo)

Ben M. Freeman, founder of the modern Jewish Pride movement, spoke from his home in London, England, about his work and ideas in a Zoom webinar on Jan. 12. Titled Building Jewish Pride and Recognizing Jewish Indigeneity, the virtual event was hosted by Victoria’s Kolot Mayim Reform Temple.

The author of Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People and Reclaiming our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride, Freeman’s latest, The Jews: An Indigenous People, will be released this month.

Freeman began by calling into question the perception that indigeneity implies people who have lived on the land and are primitive or oppressed.

“I have great issue with that because the idea of those things being inherent is to destroy the great diversity of the indigenous experience,” he said.

The United Nations, he explained, set up seven criteria used to determine the indigeneity of a people to a particular land. Freeman, in his writings and talks, argues that Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel even by the UN’s criteria.

“[The UN] also created rights for indigenous people: the ability to have self-determination, the ability to practise your own religion, have your own language, all of these different things. But, again, many of them are still rooted in this idea that indigenous people are inherently oppressed,” he said.

“We’re not here to say that indigenous people have not experienced oppression. That would be ludicrous. Many indigenous groups do experience that, but we can’t necessarily say these things are inherent….”

To view certain groups as only victims, he contended, strips them of agency. Freeman would define an indigenous people, rather, as a group whose collective identity begins in one specific land, and it is in that land they remain rooted either physically, spiritually or culturally.

“This is their home and is where they originated, developed and continue to be fixed through a connection to the environment and natural resources, living systems, culture and practice as a people, irrespective of their sovereignty in the land,” he said.

This definition, Freeman believes, not only applies to Jews in Israel but also refers to the experiences of the Maori in New Zealand and First Nations in Canada, and other peoples in other countries.

From his perspective, Jews were a small group of tribes that developed into a civilization over time. The Torah played a large part as it codified Jewish civilization by taking practices that already existed, reshaped some of them and retold some of the stories, creating a culture that contains religion.

“Almost all the practices were rooted in the land. Pesach was two different festivals: one was a matzah festival and one was a sacrifice festival. Rosh Hashanah, our new year, was the beginning of the agrarian year. Shavuot is an agricultural holiday,” Freeman said.

“One of the odd experiences of being Jewish is that we exist in this cognitive dissonance almost because we will describe ourselves officially in many ways as a religion, but then we have so much of our practice rooted in land.”

Freeman also put forward that a distinguishing characteristic of Judaism is that, unlike Christianity, it can be a religion but not exclusively a faith or creed.

“Christianity has creed. My partner is a Christian and I sometimes ask him, ‘Could you be a Christian without believing in Jesus?’ And he’s like, ‘no.’ We don’t have that,” said Freeman. “That’s why you can have atheist, secular or agnostic Jews who are part of Am Yisrael. There is nothing we have to believe to be Jews.”

Freeman went on to discuss Jewish pride, which, for him, bears three central tenets. The first is to encourage and empower Jews to reject the shame of antisemitism – to wear one’s Jewishness as a badge of honour.

The second point is to repudiate non-Jewish definitions of Jewish identity.

“I just feel it’s so egregious to me that non-Jews think they have a right to tell us what it means to be Jewish or any aspect of that experience. This is my identity. I will tell you what it means to be a Jew,” he said.

The third tenet is for Jews to go on a journey to explore their identity through a Jewish perspective. “We have to be able to say this is who we are,” he said, “but we have to humbly accept that takes time. We need to be doing real work to investigate our Jewishness and then, most importantly, [do it] through a Jewish lens.”

Freeman is scheduled to travel to Canada in March to discuss The Jews: An Indigenous People, with appearances in Toronto, Windsor and Edmonton. His schedule may include stops in Ottawa and Vancouver, as well.

Next up in the Kolot Mayim 2024/25 lecture series, on March 2, 11 a.m., is Jonathan Bergwerk, author of the Audacious Jewish Lives books, who will speak about Jewish innovators who changed the world. Go to kolotmayimreformtemple.com to register.

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

Whimsical “wood friends”

“Jug Band” by Anita Colman, whose work is on display at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre in Victoria through March 3. (photo from Anita Colman)

The distinctive, colourful characters that artist Anita Colman creates out of driftwood and various objects she discovers around Victoria are currently on display in hallway showcases at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre in Victoria through March 3.

Her “wood friends,” as she dubs them, constitute a wide assortment of critters – from avians to insects, canines to felines. There are birds nested on a woman’s head, a jug band and a dog with a beanie. There is also a unicyclist and a schoolboy riding a pogo stick.

photo - “Unicyclist and Pogo Stick Boy” by Anita Colman — “Unicyclist and Pogo Stick Boy” by Anita Colman. (photo from Anita Colman)

Colman grew up in Montreal and studied fine arts at Concordia University. After graduation, with what she jokes were “no applicable skills,” she worked building fences, painting houses and selling produce at an outdoor market.

“Then, in 1980, a friend and I went on an epic road trip from Montreal to the San Francisco Bay and I ended up staying,” she told the Independent.

With a penchant for cartooning, Colman, while getting settled in the United States, freelanced for several greeting card companies, including American Greetings, Marcel Schurman Fine Papers, Andrews McMeel and Hallmark Cards, among others.

One day, Hallmark contacted her to say that they wanted her to work in-house at their headquarters in Kansas City.

“As a single parent at the time, a steady income with a health plan was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” she said. “I’ll never forget the day we landed at the Kansas City International Airport in August. As soon as we exited the airport, we were hit with a blast of hot, humid air. It was an inferno. All I could think was, ‘What have I done?’”

At Hallmark, she was part of Shoebox, an alternative humour studio, where she illustrated not only myriad cards but books and calendars, and designed logos and fonts. Her artwork also was applied to stickers, school supplies, mugs, T-shirts, and dog and cat bowls.

The company, Colman recollected, had a farm where artists would go for what she called “creative renewal.”

“The barn had a fully equipped woodshop and welding area. That’s where I learned woodworking. We built crazy birdhouses and robots that moved and lit up,” she said.

“There was also a small woodshop for artists at headquarters. It was located beside the model shop, where carpenters built displays for shows, etc. I learned a lot from them. Any free time I had was spent in the woodshop.”

Anita Colman’s creations are on display in Victoria. (photo from Anita Colman)

As a humour artist, Colman said she was continually developing different characters and critters. Now she does the same with wood.

“The elements of design are the same – line, form, texture, colour. Driftwood already has texture and shape that can look like a nose, ears or tail.”

Accompanying Colman on her hunts for items to turn into art is her rescue dog Bean.

“He’s my sidekick,” she said. “He comes along when I walk the beach looking for good wood or browse ReStore, Value Village and hardware stores with an eye out for objects I can incorporate in my pieces. Bean’s always on the lookout for treats and makes out pretty good.”

The whimsical wooden creations have become an increasingly familiar sight in the capital city. Last fall, they were exhibited at the library in Victoria’s Commonwealth Place. In January, Colman was featured in a CTV News Vancouver Island report by Adam Sawatsky, which showed her, along with Bean, scouring a Victoria beach for things that could be incorporated into her work.

“Some people like shopping for shoes, I like shopping for junk,” she said.

Bean, too, is a recipient of Colman’s artistic flair. In the CTV report, he was seen clad in a denim vest with flames and a dragon embroidered into the back; his hair was molded into a mohawk to make him look “like a tough little dude.”

photo - Anita Colman creates distinctive characters, a wide assortment of “wood friends,” including dogs — Anita Colman creates distinctive characters, a wide assortment of “wood friends,” including dogs. *(photo from Anita Colman)*

Colman’s display at the recreation centre is part of a Family Arts Exhibition organized by the District of Saanich. One of the images the municipality’s website is using to promote the event is Colman’s woodwork of a cat ballerina. Other artists whose work will be shown are Tanya Bub, Randy Barron and Susan Wright.

In the midst of the exhibition, the recreation centre will host a Family Arts Festival on Feb. 17 (Family Day) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in what the municipality is billing as “a celebration of imagination, creativity and discovery.” Among the activities will be mini-quilt design, tin foil sculpture and LEGO robotics.

Colman’s finished products are not for sale. They can, however, be viewed on her website: anitacolmanart.weebly.com.

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

Women enrich Judaism

Rabbi Elyse Goldstein delved into the impact of women’s evolving roles in Judaism during a webinar hosted by Kolot Mayim Reform Temple on Dec. 8. Her talk – Open Doors, Open Hearts: How Women Have Enriched Judaism – was part of the Victoria synagogue’s 2024-25 lecture series.

Using her own journey, the rabbi emerita of City Shul in Toronto explored how women’s leadership and scholarship have not only enriched the Jewish community but also transformed it for the better.

From her vantage point as a (recently) retired rabbi, Goldstein asserted that Jewish feminism has been a lifeline to Judaism over the past several decades. She referred to the profound changes within Judaism regarding the involvement of women as “disruptions” in the positive sense of the word: namely, “a societal thought pattern that profoundly changes everything around it.”

photo - Rabbi Elyse Goldstein — Rabbi Elyse Goldstein *(photo from cityshul.com)*

For Goldstein personally, a disruptive point arrived during her bat mitzvah. When it was time for her speech, she announced to the congregation – to the widespread gasps of those assembled and the dismay of her rabbi – that she, too, wanted to become a rabbi.

“I never really thought when I was 13 that women becoming rabbis would shake the very foundations of Judaism,” she said. That women “would question every assumption of Jewish life, which was based on patriarchal power, that they would challenge what it means to be a Jew altogether. I didn’t realize that I was in the middle of a quiet revolution that would not remain quiet.

“One of the biggest disruptions of Jewish feminism to Jewish life is that people who identify as female are going to lead not in spite of being female but because of it. In other words, that’s a big part of who they are. That is part of their self-identity and they’re going to lead from within that identity – not push it aside.”

The changes brought about by women becoming leaders appear, Goldstein said, in the pages of prayer books, in seminaries, in the boardrooms of Jewish organizations, yeshivot and the Israeli government.

“Our liturgy would change to not only include the matriarchs,” Goldstein said. “We would use neutered language for God and start singing songs of Miriam in summer camp. We would learn Talmud from Orthodox women. We would feel empowered to create midrashim (interpretations of the Bible).”

She referred to the first stage of Jewish feminism as “equal access Judaism,” or the idea that women should be given the same religious opportunities and responsibilities as men.

The second stage, Goldstein said, went further by questioning notions, not simply behaviours.

“It challenged the way we think and our theological language in describing God,” she said. “It began to shake the foundational assumptions about women and men, Jewish tradition and Jewish law. We didn’t just have women rabbis – those rabbis made us rethink not so much about what a rabbi looks like but what a rabbi is.”

We are in the third stage of Jewish feminism, one that considers if there is more that can be done, she said. “We have to ask about violence against women in the Jewish community and if that’s ended. We have to examine the court system in Israel, where women are still routinely denied Jewish divorces. We have to talk about the ordination of Orthodox women and how that is happening … and we’re not paying attention to it.”

Goldstein went on to talk about what are, in her view, four disruptions to Jewish life brought on by Jewish feminism: the ordination of female rabbis, starting in 1972; Jewish rituals that speak more directly to the experiences of women; changes in religious garb, with, for example, women in a congregation wearing tallitot (prayer shawls); and the reshaping of the gender-related language pertaining to God.

In addition to being the founding rabbi of City Shul, Goldstein started Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning. An award-winning educator, a writer and a community activist, she has lectured across North America, Israel and the United Kingdom. Her works include ReVisions: Seeing Torah through a Feminist Lens and, as editor, The Women’s Torah Commentary.

Ben M. Freeman will present the next lecture in the Kolot Mayim series, on Jan 12. The author of the Jewish Pride trilogy, Freeman will discuss his latest book, The Jews: An Indigenous People, which will be released in February. Visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com to register for upcoming talks.

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