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Category: Celebrating the Holidays

About the art on the cover of the JI’s Rosh Hashanah issue

About the art on the cover of the JI’s Rosh Hashanah issue

Merle Linde, working out of Malka’s Studio in Steveston Village, chose four symbols of Rosh Hashanah for her painting.

The shofar: the mournful cry, sounded 100 times during the traditional Rosh Hashanah service, evokes the freedom we gained when we returned to the Holy Land.

image - The cover of the JI's Rosh Hashanah issue by Merle LindeThe pomegranate: a symbol of righteousness, knowledge and wisdom because it is said to have 613 seeds (arils), each representing one of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah.

The apples: slices dipped into honey are eaten to symbolize the desire for a sweet new year.

The honey: given to us by the bees, who can inflict pain with their sting and yet produce delicious honey. Linde would suggest that we eat only “sustainable” honey (the food of the bees) so that the bees can survive and continue to pollinate the pomegranate and apple trees.

L’shanah tovah u’metukah! Wishes for a good and sweet new year.

Format ImagePosted on September 16, 2022September 15, 2022Author Merle Linde – Malka’s StudioCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags art, Malka’s Studio, New Years, painting, Rosh Hashanah
Importance of food in celebration

Importance of food in celebration

A round challah symbolizes a long life, or the unbroken circle of the full new year to come. (photo by Przemyslaw Wierzbowski)

On Rosh Hashanah, we are supposed to feast. Why? This is said to come from the passage in the book of Nehemiah (8:10): “Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy unto our lord.”

Round, sweet challah

The most common Rosh Hashanah custom for Ashkenazi Jews is the making of sweet challah, primarily round in shape, to symbolize a long life or the unbroken circle of the full new year to come. Some people place a ladder made of dough on top of the loaf, so our prayers may ascend to heaven, or because it is decided on Rosh Hashanah “who shall be exalted and who shall be brought low.” Some place a bird made of dough on top, derived from the phrase in Isaiah: “as birds hovering so will the Lord of Hosts protect Jerusalem.”

According to John Cooper, in Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food, the tradition in disparate Jewish communities of baking fresh loaves of bread on a Friday morning has its roots in the talmudic era. The custom was ignored by medieval rabbinic commentators, he writes, but was revived by the Leket Yosher, a report compiled by Joseph ben Moses in the 1400s on the teachings and practices of his teacher, Austrian Rabbi Israel Isserlin; and by Rabbi Moses Isserles, the 16th-century Polish scholar of halachah, at the end of the Middle Ages.

According to Jewish tradition, the three Sabbath meals (Friday night, Saturday lunch and Saturday late afternoon) and two holiday meals (one at night and lunch the following day) each begin with two complete loaves of bread. This “double loaf” (lechem mishneh) commemorates the manna that fell from the heavens when the Israelites wandered in the desert after the Exodus. The manna did not fall on Sabbath or holidays; instead, a double portion would fall the day before the holiday or Sabbath.

Pomegranate blessings

photo - The pomegranate is eaten to remind us that G-d should multiply our credit of good deeds, like the seeds of the fruit
The pomegranate is eaten to remind us that G-d should multiply our credit of good deeds, like the seeds of the fruit. (photo from pxhere.com)

On the second evening of Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to eat a new fruit not yet eaten in the season and recite the Shehechiyanu, a prayer of thanksgiving for the first time something happens. It is said that, in Europe, this fruit was often grapes; in Israel today and around the diaspora, it is often the pomegranate.

The pomegranate is eaten to remind us that G-d should multiply our credit of good deeds, like the seeds of the fruit. For many Jews, pomegranates are traditional for Rosh Hashanah. Some believe the dull and leathery skinned crimson fruit may have really been the tapuach, apple, of the Garden of Eden. The word pomegranate means “grained apple.” In Hebrew, it is called rimon – also the word for a hand grenade!

Some say each pomegranate has 613 seeds for the 613 mitzvot, or good deeds, we should observe.

Symbolism of fish

The first course of the Rosh Hashanah holiday meal is often fish. Fish is symbolic of fruitfulness: “may we be fruitful and multiply like fish.” Fish is also a symbol of immortality, a good theme for the New Year, as are the ideas that we should aim to be a leader (the head) and that we hope for the best (to be at the top). Another reason for serving fish might be that the numerical value of the letters of the Hebrew word for fish, dag, is seven and Rosh Hashanah begins on the seventh month of the year.

Importance of tzimmes

Tzimmes is a stew made with or without meat and usually with prunes and carrots. It is common among Ashkenazi Jews, particularly those from Eastern Europe and Poland, and its origins date back to Medieval times. It became associated with Rosh Hashanah because the Yiddish word for carrot is mehren, which is similar to mehrn, which means to increase. The idea was to increase one’s merits at this time of year. Another explanation for eating tzimmes with carrots for Rosh Hashanah is that the German word for carrot was a pun on the Hebrew word, which meant to increase.

Tzimmes also has come into the vernacular as meaning to make a fuss or big deal. As in, they’re making such a tzimmes out of everything.

Lekach & other sweets

Among Ashkenazim, sweet desserts for Rosh Hashanah are customary, particularly lekach, or honey cake, and teiglach, the hard, doughy, honey and nut cookie. Some say the origin of the sweets comes from the passage in the book of Hosea (3:1): “love cakes of raisins.” There is also a passage in Samuel II (6:10) that talks about the multitudes of Israel, men and women, “to every one a cake of bread and a cake made in a pan and a sweet cake.”

Ezra was the fifth-century BCE religious leader who was commissioned by the Persian king to direct Jewish affairs in Judea and Nehemiah was a political leader and cup bearer of the king in the fifth century BCE. They are credited with telling the returned exiles to eat and drink sweet things.

According to Cooper’s Eat and Be Satisfied, references to honey cake were made in the 12th century by a French sage, Simcha of Vitry, author of the Machzor Vitry, and by the 12th-century German rabbi, Eleazar Judah ben Kalonymos. By the 16th century, lekach was known as a Rosh Hashanah sweet.

Among the Lubavitch Chassidim, it was customary for the rebbe to distribute lekach to his followers; others would request a piece of honey cake from one another on Erev Yom Kippur. This transaction symbolized a substitute for any charity the person might choose to receive, like the traditional kapparot ceremony, where, before Yom Kippur, one transfers their sins to a chicken.

Some Sephardi customs

Food customs differ among Jews whose ancestors came from Spain and Portugal, the Mediterranean area and primarily Muslim Arab countries. For example, whereas Ashkenazim dip apple in honey, some Sephardim traditionally serve mansanada, an apple compote, as an appetizer and dessert, according to Gil Marks (z”l) in The World of Jewish Desserts.

Just as gefilte fish became a classic dish for the Ashkenazi Jews, baked sheep’s head became a symbol – dating back to the Middle Ages – for many Sephardi Jews for Rosh Hashanah. Some groups merely serve sheep brains or tongue, or a whole fish (with head), probably for the same reason – fruitfulness and prosperity and new wishes for the New Year for knowledge or leadership.

The Talmud mentions the foods to be eaten on Rosh Hashanah as fenugreek, leeks, beets, dates and gourds, although Jewish communities interpret these differently. According to Rabbi Robert Sternberg in The Sephardic Kitchen, Sephardi Jews have a special ceremony around these and sometimes other foods, wherein each one is blessed with a prayer beginning “Yehi ratzon” (Hebrew for “May it be thy will”). The Yehi Ratzones custom involves preparing in advance and then blessing the Talmud-mentioned foods, or dishes made with the foods, as well as over the apples and honey, the fish or sheep head (some substitute a head of lettuce or of garlic) and pomegranate. In doing this, people recognize G-d’s sovereignty and hope He will hear their pleas for a good and prosperous year.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications.

Format ImagePosted on September 16, 2022September 14, 2022Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags Ashkenazi, food, New Years, Rosh Hashanah, Sephardi, symbolism, tradition
Bafflement part of life

Bafflement part of life

Just as in life outside shul we don’t understand everything we encounter, we don’t all necessarily understand the Torah reading and other parts of the High Holiday service. The High Holidays serve as a metaphor for life itself. (photo from flickr / Lawrie Cate)

Throughout the High Holidays, we repeat in the liturgy pronouncement after pronouncement about our lack of control: we are born against our will, we die against our will, we are but clay in the hands of God, we turn our eyes heavenward as children before a parent, and as slaves before a master. It would be dissonant in such an environment to try to assert our autonomy, to try to shape the experience around our own emotional needs.

And, while we want the High Holidays to be relatable for people, the season by necessity must not be customized to the individual. This is because their meaning lies precisely in the challenge of giving up our individual sense of entitlement in favour of something more important: meaning.

The High Holidays serve as a metaphor for life itself. During this season, we enter into an experience that has been curated for us, that existed before we ever did and which has elements that we are comfortable with and elements that challenge us. I may find myself standing in a synagogue next to people I don’t know, reciting words that I don’t know or would never have written, on a date that means very little to me personally except as a construct of the Jewish calendar.

This is true to life in general: I participate in a world that I don’t completely shape, with others who think differently than I do, within a system that I did not create. We do not choose to be born, nor to which families, nor under what circumstances or accompanied by what baggage. We likewise do not choose what natural successes or tragedies befall us. And, while we do our best to shape our lives, so much of the table is set for us and is beyond our control.

The High Holidays then bid us instead to think about meaning, about the control we do have. If life is not about what we choose, it is about how we choose to engage with what we encounter. We choose how we are going to interpret and how we are going to make meaning of it. How will we choose to see life, and how will our attitudes guide our actions? We may choose to read what we experience charitably or stingily, optimistically, realistically or nihilistically, or more often a messy combination of all of the above. But make no mistake: it is our own choices that will give rise to what we make of those lives that are given to us, to those circumstances that challenge us.

Eschewing a sense of entitlement and control in favour of a sense of meaning and potential is the work of the High Holiday season. It allows us to reflect on how and why we get in our own way, how our sense of entitlement, whether consciously or subconsciously, overrides our good judgment. This helps us to understand the idea of repentance, which is at the core of the High Holidays.

The talmudic sage Rava declared: those who are willing to forgive others easily will likewise be forgiven by God. The language attributed to him is literally, “One who overlooks his/her measurements, [God will overlook all of their sins].” Forgiveness, too, is about letting go of what we may still feel we are owed in favour of building relationships with others. Rather than standing on ceremony over what could have been, I am willing to loosen the reins, to be open to what might emerge. Oftentimes what needlessly keeps us from forgiveness is a focus on what we deserve, what we are entitled to. And, when this happens, we find ourselves once again getting in our own way and holding on to a vision of complete control over what happens or does not happen to us.

Letting go of trying to control the experience is hard. But it can also be liberating. For the High Holiday season, it relieves us of the expectation that we need to relate to everything. More importantly though, for life itself, it relieves us of the expectation of perfection – from ourselves, from others, from life itself.

At the same time, it reminds us of the depth of the human heart and the power of our own will in deciding how we will chart our path forward: that we can come to synagogue not only to be forgiven, but also to forgive; not only to be moved, but to choose to move ourselves.

Wishing all a meaningful New Year.

Dr. Elana Stein Hain is the director of faculty and a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where she serves as lead faculty, directs the activities of the Kogod Research Centre for Contemporary Jewish Thought and consults on the content of lay and professional leadership programs. Articles by Stein Hain and other institute scholars can be found at hartman.org.il. This article was first posted on Times of Israel.

Format ImagePosted on September 16, 2022September 14, 2022Author Dr. Elana Stein HainCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags High Holidays, Judaism, Rosh Hashanah, Shalom Hartman Institute

A traditional break fast recipe

image - illustrated Mock Liver Pate recipe

Beverley Kort is a registered psychologist by day and a cartoonist in her off hours. She has a private practice in Vancouver

Posted on September 16, 2022September 14, 2022Author Beverley KortCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags cooking, Leyla Sacks, recipes, Shirley Kort, Yom Kippur
Sweet apples for New Year

Sweet apples for New Year

(photo from flickr / s2art)

My favourite fall/winter fruit is apples, and not just because they are a main symbol of Rosh Hashanah, helping us start off the new year with a sweet dip of honey. I believe the adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Although the phrase was uttered by Benjamin Franklin, it originated in 1866 in Wales – “eat an apple on going to bed and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread.”

Why are apples healthy? They may lower high cholesterol and blood pressure; they have fibre, which can aid digestion; they support a healthy immune system; are a diabetes-friendly fruit; and the antioxidants in apples may play a role in cancer prevention.

All that aside, they just taste great. Here are some recipes to try out, one of which features another New Year’s symbol – the pomegranate.

MOTHER’S ROSH HASHANAH APPLE CAKE

2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
2 cups applesauce (or 2 finely chopped apples)
2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tsp wine
4 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups raisins
1/2 to 1 cup finely chopped nuts

  1. Grease two cake pans. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. With an electric or hand mixer, cream oil and sugar.
  3. Add eggs, cinnamon and cloves.
  4. Add applesauce, dissolved baking soda and blend. Add flour, vanilla, raisins and nuts.
  5. Pour into the well-greased cake pans and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

APPLE ENCHANTMENT
(This recipe was in my files from the 1970s, from Carmel wine company.)

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup caramel amaretto
grated rind and juice of 1 orange
4 large, firm apples

  1. In a saucepan, combine sugar, amaretto, orange rind and juice. Bring to a boil.
  2. Peel, core and thickly slice apples. Place in the pan as they are sliced. Reduce heat and simmer until apples are tender and liquid has evaporated.
  3. Remove to a dish. Chill.
  4. Garnish with shredded coconut or whipped cream.

BAKED STUFFED APPLES
(This recipe by Ann Chantal Altman is from a 2001 Food & Wine cookbook.)

3 tbsp lightly toasted slivered blanched almonds
1.3 ounces of finely crumbled kosher amaretti (almond-flavoured Italian macaroons)
1/3 cup dry currants
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp softened unsalted butter or margarine
4 apples
1 cup apple juice
2 tbsp dark rum

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a square baking dish.
  2. In a bowl, mix almonds with amaretti crumbs, currants, brown sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest.
  3. Remove interior core and seeds of apples within half-inch of bottom. Score apple skin lengthwise at 1.5-inch intervals and arrange in the baking dish. Spoon filling into apples. Pour apple juice and rum around the apples.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes. Cover loosely with foil and bake 45-50 minutes longer or until apples are very soft. Transfer to plates. Spoon juices on top.

QUICK AND EASY MICROWAVE APPLE COMPOTE

4 large apples
3 to 5 tbsp water or apple juice
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 to 3 tsp sugar

  1. Cut apples in small pieces, discarding cores. Place in a microwave-safe dish with water or apple juice.
  2. Cover and microwave on high for three minutes. Stir and microwave for two more minutes.
  3. Add cinnamon and sugar. Cover and microwave for one to two minutes or until tender. Sprinkle some sugar on top.

APPLES BAKED IN POMEGRANATE SYRUP

4 apples, cored and cut into 16 wedges each
juice from half a pomegranate
apple juice
1/3 cup apricot preserves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
seeds from half a pomegranate

  1. Use non-stick vegetable spray on a microwavable baking dish.
  2. Place apple wedges in the dish.
  3. Squeeze juice from half a pomegranate and add apple juice to make 1/2 cup.
  4. Add preserves and cinnamon and mix well. Pour over apples and coat. Cover.
  5. Microwave on high for two minutes and stir. Continue until apples are barely tender, at least two minutes more.
  6. Remove seeds from remaining pomegranate half, discard white pith. Sprinkle over apples and serve.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications.

Format ImagePosted on September 16, 2022September 14, 2022Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags apples, baking, recipes, Rosh Hashanah
Fish dishes for dinner, lunch

Fish dishes for dinner, lunch

A fish head is one of the symbols of the Rosh Hashanah meal, so why not add a fish dish to the menu? (photo from rawpixel.com)

Soon we will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, for which a fish head is a symbol of leadership (be the head and not the tail) and fertility. This is reason enough, perhaps, to include fish on the holiday dinner or lunch menus. If so, here are a few recipes you could try.

TUNA AIOLI
(8 servings)

2 cups mayonnaise
4 large minced garlic cloves
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dry mustard
2 10-ounce packages frozen Italian green beans
4 7-ounce cans drained tuna
2 20-ounce cans drained sliced beets
8 sliced carrots
2 thinly sliced red or white onions

  1. In a bowl, blend mayonnaise with garlic, lemon juice and mustard. Cover and refrigerate.
  2. Cook green beans following package directions.
  3. Arrange tuna, beets, carrots and onions on a serving platter. Serve with mayonnaise-garlic sauce.

FISH AND ARTICHOKE SALAD
(6 servings)

1 pound fish of your choice
1 cup pareve chicken soup (or vegetable stock)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 14-ounce can drained and quartered artichoke hearts
2 tomatoes, cut into eighths
1/2 cup halved black olives
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
a few lettuce leaves
4 chopped green onions

  1. Place fish, soup and wine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let cool.
  2. Place fish in a bowl with artichoke hearts, tomatoes and olives.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk oil, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour over fish and toss to mix.
  4. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least three hours.
  5. Line a bowl with lettuce leaves. Spoon in fish mixture. Garnish with green onions.

GRILLED SALMON SALAD
(8 servings)

8 centre-cut salmon fillets
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
8 cups rinsed, dried and coarsely chopped arugula leaves
4 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup diced red onion
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

  1. Place salmon in a shallow dish. Combine oil, lime juice, salt and pepper and pour over salmon. Marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turn and continue marinating 30 minutes more.
  2. Oil a grill. Grill salmon, skin side down, 8-13 minutes, until medium rare.
  3. Meanwhile, combine arugula, tomatoes, red onion, salt, pepper, olive oil and wine vinegar.
  4. Place a salmon fillet in the centre of each dinner plate. Divide the salad equally and place each portion atop a piece of fish.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications.

Format ImagePosted on September 16, 2022September 14, 2022Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags cooking, fish, recipes, Rosh Hashanah

Chicken with a French twist

Chicken always makes for a nice holiday meal. For a special treat, however, try out these French kosher chicken entrees.

CHICKEN DIJON
(8 servings)

1/4 cup water or vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp dry Italian seasoning
8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
lemon slices or fresh herbs

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. In a plastic bag, combine mustard, water or oil, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Add chicken and shake to coat.
  3. Place chicken in a baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until done.
  4. Garnish with lemon slices and fresh herbs.

CHICKEN LEGS COQ AU VIN
(I’ve adapted slightly Chef Eric Ripert’s recipe that was in Food & Wine. It makes 8 servings.)

16 chicken drumsticks
salt and pepper
6 tbsp flour
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup finely chopped carrots
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped celery
3 cups chopped mushrooms
4 thinly sliced garlic cloves
1 cup brandy
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 bottle dry red wine
2 cups chicken stock
4 thyme sprigs

  1. Heat oil in a large pot.
  2. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dust with 1/4 cup flour. Add chicken to pot and cook over high heat five minutes. Remove to a plate.
  3. Add carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic and cook five minutes.
  4. Add brandy and cook one minute. Stir in tomato paste and two tablespoons flour. Add wine, chicken stock and thyme and bring to a boil.
  5. Return chicken to pot, cover and simmer 1.5 hours. Remove chicken.
  6. Simmer sauce until reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Discard thyme. Return chicken to sauce and heat.

CHARDONNAY-BRAISED CHICKEN THIGHS
(I’ve made a few changes to cookbook author Grace Parisi’s recipe that was in Food & Wine. It makes 8 servings.)

4 tbsp unsalted margarine
4 tbsp olive oil
16 chicken thighs
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup flour
8 peeled, quartered shallots
2 pounds parsley root or parsnips, cut into 3-by-0.5-inch pieces
2 rosemary sprigs
2 cups Chardonnay or dry white wine
3 cups chicken soup

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Melt margarine in a large frying pan with oil.
  2. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dust with flour. Add to frying pan, skin side down and cook until brown, about six minutes. Place on a plate.
  3. Add shallots, parsley root or parsnips and rosemary and cook one minute.
  4. Add wine and cook three minutes or until reduced by half.
  5. Add chicken soup and bring to a boil.
  6. Place chicken skin side up in frying pan and place in oven. Braise 25 minutes or until cooked through.
  7. Broil chicken for three minutes. Return to stove and boil until sauce is thickened, about three minutes. Discard rosemary. Transfer to bowls and serve.

Sybil Kaplan is a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She has edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and is a food writer for North American Jewish publications.

Posted on September 16, 2022September 14, 2022Author Sybil KaplanCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags chicken, recipes, Rosh Hashanah
“Never again” still resonates?

“Never again” still resonates?

Left to right: Mia Givon, Lorenzo Tesler-Mabe, Kat Palmer and Erin Aberle-Palm. (screenshot from Kat Palmer)

Holocaust survivors and their descendants were joined by top elected officials and Jewish community leaders in a series of commemorations marking Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, across Canada last week.

In Vancouver, community members gathered together at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver April 27, while scores more watched remotely as the traditional in-person ceremony returned for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

Marcus Brandt, vice-president of the presenting organization, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, welcomed guests and invited Holocaust survivors to light Yahrzeit candles.

“On Yom Hashoah, we join as a community to remember the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust at the hands of Nazi Germany and its co-conspirators between 1933 and 1945,” he said. “It is also a day to pay tribute to the Jewish resistance that took place during the Holocaust.”

This year marks the 79th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which is the most notable of many acts of Jewish resistance to Nazism.

Marsha Lederman, a journalist who is the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, spoke of the importance of telling our stories.

“When I was growing up,” she said, “the Holocaust was everywhere and nowhere. As far back as I can remember, there were hints and references. My parents talked about things happening in camp. What was this camp? I knew it wasn’t like the summer camp that I went to. I knew a lot of their friends were also at these camps, but I didn’t know the details.”

At the age of 5, Marsha met a new friend whose home was filled with laughter and extended family.

“One day, when I came home from a visit at my friend’s house, I asked my mother what was really a simple, innocent question,” said Lederman. “She has grandparents, why don’t I? My poor mother. She was caught off guard and her answer was truly horrifying – at least as I remember it, because I know memory is very faulty. But, as I recall, she said I didn’t have grandparents because the Germans hated Jews and they killed them by making them take gas showers.”

This response raised more questions than answers for the young girl, not least of which was: “What did we do to make the Germans hate us so much and do they still hate us? It was a horrible introduction to the details of the tragedy of my family and it taught me another terrible lesson: be careful about asking questions because the answers could be murder.”

As a result, much of Lederman’s Holocaust education was gained “through osmosis, rather than sitting down and asking questions,” she said.

Her father died when Lederman was a young woman and, in a tragic turn of events, her mother died just as Lederman had bought a ticket to visit her in Florida, armed with a recorder to finally ask the questions she had hesitated to broach in earlier years.

“It’s taken me years to try to figure out what I could have learned in an afternoon at my mother’s kitchen table,” she said. “I have no way of knowing these things because I didn’t ask. We need to ask and we need to tell.”

Lederman explores these questions in a book being released this month, titled Kiss the Red Stairs: The Holocaust, Once Removed.

Amalia Boe-Fishman (née van Kreveld) was the featured survivor speaker at the Vancouver event. Born in the Netherlands, she was less than a year old when the Germans invaded her country. Her grandparents were soon transported to Auschwitz and murdered.

In what is an extremely rare phenomenon, Amalia, her parents and her brother all survived the war years because a Dutch Christian resistance fighter, Jan Spiekhout, and his family hid members of the de Leeuw family in a variety of hiding places over the course of years. Amalia’s mother even gave birth to another child in 1944. (That child, as well as Boe-Fishman’s oldest son, are both named Jan in honour of their rescuer.) Their survival was a statistical miracle. The Netherlands had among the lowest Jewish survival rate of any country during the Holocaust. Of 140,000 Dutch Jews in 1939, only 38,000 were alive in 1945.

Boe-Fishman recalled the day Canadian forces liberated the Netherlands – it was one of the only times in three years that she had set foot outdoors.

“It was strange and frightening outside and close to so many strangers,” she said. “The Canadian soldiers came rolling in on their tanks, handing out chocolates, everyone smiling, dancing, waving Dutch flags. Then I was told I could go home to my real family. But who were these strangers? I did not want to leave the family Spiekhout. They were my family. After all, I had not seen my real family for three years.”

In 1961, she traveled to Israel to meet members of her family who had made aliyah before the war and to reconnect with her Jewish identity. There, on the kibbutz she was staying, she met a Canadian, whom she married and they subsequently moved to Vancouver and had three children.

In 2009, Boe-Fishman and her three sons traveled to The Hague for the investiture of Jan Spiekhout and his late parents, Durk and Froukje Spiekhout, as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

“To be together with my children, my brother, and the grown children of the Spiekhout family, this was such a moving event in our lives,” she said.

As part of the Vancouver ceremony, Councilor Sarah Kirby-Yung read a proclamation from the City of Vancouver. Cantor Yaakov Orzech chanted El Moleh Rachamim. Lorenzo Tesler-Mabe, Mia Givon and Kat Palmer, members of the third generation, as well as Erin Aberle-Palm, sang and read poetry, accompanied by Vancouver Symphony Orchestra violinist Andrew James Brown and pianist Wendy Bross Stuart, who was also music director of the program.

The following day, a hybrid in-person and virtual event was held at the British Columbia legislature, featuring Premier John Horgan.

“On Yom Hashoah, we are challenged to ensure the words ‘never again’ are supported by action,” he said. “Over the past few years, there has been an increase in antisemitism in B.C., and the Jewish community is one of the most frequently targeted groups in police-reported hate crimes. That’s why our government will continue working to address racism and discrimination in all its forms.… Today, as we remember and honour those who were lost and those who survived, we must recommit to building a more just and inclusive province, where everyone is safe and the horrors of the past are never repeated.”

Michael Lee, member of the legislature for Vancouver-Langara, spoke on behalf of the B.C. Liberal caucus.

“Every year, we commemorate this day and remember the heroes and the Righteous Among Nations who stood up to oppose the most vile, hateful oppression,” Lee said. “We recognize the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, we make a solemn promise to never forget and never again allow such horrific actions to take place. This is a responsibility that we all must carry with us not only today but every day. It is a responsibility we must be better at upholding, as soldiers at this very moment commit war crimes once again in Europe. We have not done enough. Right here in Canada, we see another year of record rises in antisemitism. We have to do better.”

Lee called on the province to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism.

MLA Adam Olsen represented the Green party.

“While time distances us from the horrific events, the memories and the stories remain steadfast in our mind and are carried and passed from one generation to the next,” said Olsen. “The Holocaust was an ultimate form of evil, persecution, oppression, genocide, complete disregard for human life, pushed to the most appalling degree…. The Holocaust is a stark reminder of the darkness, the wickedness, that can exist among us. However, it is also important to acknowledge that this is a story of strength, resilience and humanity and, to that, I raise my hands to all of the survivors, the Jewish community, that have ensured that the world knows and hears the stories. As difficult as it is to continue sharing them, we cannot stop hearing them or else we will fall victim to thinking that we have passed that now.”

Rabbi Harry Brechner of Congregation Emanu-El lamented the deaths of Holocaust survivors in the current war in Ukraine, “who died when they were cold, again, and hungry, again, and who died in the face of violence.”

“That never should happen and we all know that,” the rabbi said. “I don’t know how to make those big changes. I’m not a world leader. I’m the leader of a small congregation. But I think we are all leaders of our hearts and if each of us can make that difference, it’s got to have a huge ripple effect.”

Holocaust survivor Leo Vogel said that history records the end of the Holocaust in 1945. “But, for the people who lived through it and survived that horrible blight of human history, for them, 1945 is not when the Holocaust ended,” he said. “It continues to this very day to live in memories and nightmares and ongoing health problems.… The fascist attempt to eradicate the Jewish people must never be forgotten. The memory of the tortured and murdered cannot be shoveled underground as the Nazis did with the ashes. As children in the Holocaust, we were the youngest and, now, in our older years, we are at the tail end of those who can still bear witness.”

Vogel spoke of the unfathomable choice his parents made to hand him over, as a child, to a Christian family for hiding.

“Not long after that deeply painful decision to separate me from them, they were deported to Auschwitz and there they were murdered without ever knowing whether their desperate act to allow me to go into hiding saved my life,” he said. “I get cold chills when I think of the intense agony they went through in making their decision. It would have been their hope, I’m sure, that one day we would once again get together. That day never happened. Their pain must have been overwhelming. Many times, I have wondered what they said to each other and to me the night before they gave me away and, countless times, I have asked myself whether I would have had the strength to do an equal act when my children were young.”

In Ottawa, earlier on April 27, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted his government’s steps in fighting antisemitism, including the creation of a special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, currently held by Irwin Cotler, and proposed legislation to make denying or diminishing the Holocaust a criminal offence.

“Earlier this year, our country and people around the world were shocked and dismayed to see Nazi imagery displayed in our nation’s capital,” the prime minister said, referring to trucker protests in Ottawa. “For the Jewish community, and for all communities, those images were deeply disturbing. Sadly, this wasn’t a standalone instance. Jewish people are encountering threats and violence more and more both online and in person. This troubling resurgence of antisemitism cannot and will not be ignored. The atrocities of the Holocaust cannot be buried in history.… We must make sure that ‘never again’ truly means never again.”

Shimon Koffler Fogel, chief executive officer of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, picked up on that theme, noting that the term “never again” was “born out of the Jewish experience but was always intended to be universal in its application.”

“How can we witness the atrocities visited on the Rohingya, the Uighurs or the Yazidi and claim the cry of ‘never again’ has meaning?” he asked. “How can we observe the unvarnished aggression against Ukraine and assert we have taken the lessons of the Holocaust to heart?”

He said he derives hope from the fact that Canada seems to have learned the lesson of the MS St. Louis, the ship filled with Jewish refugees that was turned away from Canada and other safe havens in 1939. Now, Canada is a place, he said, “where fleeing Syrian and Iraqi refugees can rebuild their lives, where Afghani women and girls can fulfil their dreams, where displaced, wartorn Ukrainians can find safe harbour.”

“I take great pride that Canada is so committed to Holocaust remembrance and education,” said Michael Levitt, president and chief executive officer of the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, “A major reason is because of the survivors who, after suffering unthinkable adversity in Europe, rebuilt their shattered lives here, in our great country. Their strength, resilience and willingness to share their deeply personal and harrowing stories have been a gift and a source of inspiration to all Canadians.”

Dr. Agnes Klein, a Holocaust survivor, spoke of her family’s wartime experiences. Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Ronen Hoffman, commended Canada on adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Antisemitism.

A day earlier, at another virtual commemoration from the Montreal Holocaust Museum, Holocaust survivor Max Smart told of his family’s harrowing Holocaust experiences.

Paul Hirschson, consul general of Israel in Montreal, compared the loss of Jewish life, with its incalculable loss of talent, in the Holocaust with the explosion of Jewish talent taking place in this century.

“Jewish talent lost was one of history’s greatest tragedies,” said the diplomat. “The talent emerging is perhaps the most exciting story of the 21st century…. Antisemitism is still widespread, also here in Canada. Montreal, where many survivors found a home, is no exception. We will defeat hate every time. Hatred will never again rob the world of Jewish talent.”

Format ImagePosted on May 6, 2022February 1, 2024Author Pat JohnsonCategories Celebrating the Holidays, NationalTags Adam Olsen, Amalia Boe-Fishman, antisemitism, CIJA, Harry Brechner, Holocaust, John Horgan, Leo Vogel, Marcus Brandt, Marsha Lederman, Michael Lee, Montreal, Ottawa, remembrance, survivor, SWC, Vancouver, VHEC, Victoria, Yom Hashoah
Celebrating Israel together

Celebrating Israel together

Israel’s Gilat Rapaport and the InJoy Band headline this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration on May 4 at the Vogue Theatre. (photo from injoyprod.com)

This year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration on May 4 at the Vogue Theatre, headlined by Israel’s Gilat Rapaport and the InJoy Band, marks 20 years since the first large-scale community-wide event to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day was organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.

“Growing up in Vancouver, the community had occasional large Yom Ha’atzmaut events with Israeli performers and I have wonderful memories of attending them,” said Stephen Gaerber, who co-chaired that first major gathering. “I was incredibly impressed by a large event held to celebrate Israel’s 50th in 1998 at the Orpheum [which was chaired by Judy Mandleman]. It was 2001, the Second Intifada was raging, Camp David had resulted in failure and Israel was, as usual, being disparaged in the press. My friend, Rick Schreiber, had become the chair of the Federation’s Israel department, and I told him that I thought the community should be having large-scale events every year to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut and all that is wonderful about Israel. His response was, ‘OK, you chair it.’ That’s how I became chair for the 2002 Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration, first co-chairing with my wife, Shari, and then, starting in 2003, with my brother Allen.”

Of course, local groups celebrated Israel’s birthday in various ways prior to 2002, notably the now-defunct Canadian Zionist Federation (CZF). Bernard Pinsky was CZF chair in the late 1980s.

“In the 1980s,” said Pinsky, “CZF brought in big names from Israel for a Yom Ha’atzmaut concert, including top artists like Nomi Shemer, Chava Alberstein, and Haparvarim. The concert was held at the JCC and wasn’t always right on Yom Ha’atzmaut, it was when the artists were available. The venue meant that we could only sell about 400 tickets, and CZF did a lot of fundraising to cover costs.”

Geoffrey Druker, who still leads the community’s annual Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day) ceremony, said he was recruited by Pinsky to become involved in CZF and it was from Pinsky that Druker took over the role of local CZF chair in the early 1990s.

“We ran most Israel-related community programs,” said Druker, including Yom Ha’atzmaut, Yom Hazikaron, Walk with Israel (which took place on Jerusalem Day), the student public-speaking contest and other programs. When CZF closed nationally, Druker said he gathered past local leaders of the group to decide “whether to become an independent local organization or join Federation.”

The choice was to join the Israel desk at Federation, and Druker continued to chair many of the events, with most of the Yom Ha’atzmaut activities being held at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, he said.

“Federation didn’t have the funds for a large Yom Ha’atzmaut, and we couldn’t risk having a large celebration … while keeping the event tickets affordable to all,” said Druker. “So we ran smaller celebrations and with less-known artists.”

Affordability remained key when Federation, led by a committee put together by Stephen and Shari Gaerber, took over the event.

“Our goal wasn’t to just make it a concert, but a real community celebration,” said Stephen Gaerber. “We kept ticket prices very low so that everyone could afford to attend – and if they couldn’t afford even that, we made free tickets available through JFS [Jewish Family Services]. We invited all Jewish organizations in the city to add their names as Community Partners, and dozens did. We had children from Hebrew Academy, Talmud Torah and RJDS performing in addition to Israeli singer Danny Maseng.

image - The ad promoting the 2002 Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration
The ad promoting the 2002 Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration.

“We were given no budget (other than staff time) for the event from the Federation and I didn’t want one. I was determined that the Federation not take anything away from what they were allocating to local community agencies in order to make this event happen. We believed that the community would support the event and we were right. We raised the funds from generous donors, rented the Chan Centre and signed a contract with the performer. We put tickets on sale and we sold out all 1,200 seats very quickly. The event itself is a bit of a blur, but my most vivid memory is the joy people expressed to us at its conclusion.”

With that success behind them, the goal was to involve even more individuals and organizations in the celebrations.

“For years,” said Gaerber, “Jonathan and Heather Berkowitz wrote a piece for young community members to perform and we were fortunate to have Wendy Bross Stuart direct them. We later added the JCC’s children’s Israeli dance troupes to the program, sometimes joined with dancers from our partnership region in the Upper Galilee.

“Pam Wolfman took over chairing the event in 2014 and continued to tweak things to make sure everything is new and fresh and even better each year, including involving the entire community in the community song,” he said. “What hasn’t changed is the support from the community. To this day, other than staff time, the Federation has not had to give any funding at all towards putting on the event. The group of donors has grown over the years and that allows the event to continue to stay true to our initial vision – tickets are still affordable and many are available at no cost to those who need them – and the events continue to sell out.”

The annual celebration brings Israeli performers – from veteran musicians to up-and-coming singers and musical groups – to Vancouver on Yom Ha’atzmaut.

“For many,” said Gaerber, “it was their first time performing outside of Israel on Yom Ha’atzmaut, as they hesitate to leave the country for this important day. Without exception, they have all expressed how incredibly meaningful it was for them to experience the warmth of our community and its love for Israel. A number of our performers who would not have otherwise considered coming to Vancouver for Yom Ha’atzmaut have only done so because they have heard from other performers about their experience and our Jewish community.

“Despite our Jewish community’s relatively small size,” he said, “we have been told by Israeli diplomats that Vancouver’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration, always occurring actually on erev Yom Ha’atzmaut, is one of the largest celebrations of its kind taking place on that day outside of Israel.”

For tickets to this year’s event and a sneak peak at the program guide, go to jewishvancouver.com/yh2022.

Format ImagePosted on April 8, 2022April 7, 2022Author Cynthia RamsayCategories Celebrating the Holidays, Performing ArtsTags Bernard Pinsky, dance, Geoffrey Druker, Gila Rapaport, history, InJoy Productions, Jewish Federation, music, Stephen Gaerber, Yom Ha'atzmaut
About the 2022 JI Passover cover

About the 2022 JI Passover cover

Liba Baitelman, the 2021 JI Chanukah Cover Art Contest winner, was commissioned to create this year’s cover of the Jewish Independent’s Passover issue. (photo by Merle Linde)

Liba Baitelman, daughter of Rabbi Yechiel and Chanie Baitelman, is a fun-loving, always religiously correct and mischievous 10-year-old. Her artistic talent and vision of a completed painting is not taught, it is spontaneous. She is so receptive to learning new techniques and this year’s Pesach cover showcases her skills.

When Liba started her Pesach painting with pencil sketches, she knew she wanted: two candles, four cups of wine, six seder plate symbols and three round shmura matzos. What worried her was her lack of drawing skills. To overcome this, she used templates throughout the design: margarine tub lids for the curves of the ribbons, flattened paper cups for the goblets, small plastic cups dipped into silver paint for the dishes, self-adhesive vinyl letters used for outlines and diligently painted with a very thin brush.

Her joy and pride with the completed painting should spearhead a lifelong hobby.

– Courtesy Merle Linde – Malka’s Studio

Format ImagePosted on April 8, 2022April 7, 2022Author Merle Linde – Malka’s StudioCategories Celebrating the HolidaysTags art, Jewish Independent, Liba Baitelman, painting, Passover

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