The board of Congregation Emanu-El of Victoria has unanimously approved a motion to proceed with sponsorship of a Syrian refugee family. They believe that this is a moment to step forward as Jews and “welcome the stranger.”
Many in Victoria’s Jewish community trace their families’ arrival in Canada from the time they fled brutal pogroms in the Russian empire, and some came as the surviving remnant of European Jews after the Holocaust. Others landed here because they were expelled from their countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
“As we cannot forget our oppression and persecution over millennia, we also count our blessings for living in freedom and comfort in Canada. Jewish ethics enjoin us to reach out to others to help end their suffering. The concept of tikkun, or repair, is central to Jewish belief, in that it is our duty to try and fix what is broken in this world,” said Congregation Emanu-El’s Rabbi Harry Brechner.
The synagogue welcomes all who wish to join in the fund-raising efforts. Office hours (1-250-382-0615) are Tuesday to Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., to make credit card donations, or cheques can be sent to 1461 Blanshard St., Victoria, B.C., V8W 2J3. Tax receipts will be issued for all donations.
For more information, contact Jean Dragushan, chair of the refugee sponsorship steering committee, at [email protected] or 1-250-818-4132.
Try your hand at ski jumping in one of ROX’s five simulators. (photo from ROX)
There’s no question the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver changed the region considerably, but some of those changes are as recent as November 2015. That’s when the Richmond Olympic Experience, or ROX, opened at the Richmond Olympic Oval, the massive structure built on the banks of the Fraser River to accommodate the Olympics’ speed-skating competitions.
A $10 million museum, ROX is all about hands-on experience and is filled with interactive exhibits and activities that engage visitors. Take the five sport simulators, for example, three of them designed and manufactured specifically for ROX. On the ski-jump simulator, you experience the thrill of ski jumping on one of Whistler’s world-class runs, while on the bobsleigh you feel the rush of speed on the same track traveled by Canadian Olympic bobsledder Chris Spring. There’s a race-car simulator, a kayak and a sit-ski simulator, too. While the simulators are the most exciting of the interactive exhibits (and the highest in demand), there are many others. Visitors are encouraged to learn how high and how far they can jump, to measure their hand-eye and foot-eye reaction times, to score goals in soccer and hockey and to compare their results to those of Olympic athletes.
There are also lots of interesting artifacts, including a display of Olympic torches that date back to 1936, when the torch relay was introduced to the Games by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party. One case displays sports equipment including tennis rackets, showing how they have evolved over the years. Another showcases Olympic medals, which have also changed considerably in size and design over time. For those who want to spend time researching the participation of a specific country in the Olympic Games, or the performance of one or more athletes, ROX has a data lounge where a wealth of information is digitally archived and easily accessible.
There are many images at ROX. One of my personal favorites is a massive photograph of athletes who have competed, all wearing black bikinis or swimsuits. Since they’re scantily clad you can get a sense of the many different body types and how a specific sport has shaped individual bodies. The photographic collage delivers a powerful message about the beauty of the human body and the many reflections of that beauty, big and small.
(photo from ROX)
While most of the displays are not specific to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver but cover the Games in general, there is one wall that pays tribute to the 2010 Games with statistics on how many medals Canada won that year (26), how many viewers watched on TV (1.8 billion!) and how many media representatives were present (a mere 10,000). A large screen in the vicinity replays the most memorable moments from the Games and another encourages visitors to try their hand at being a TV announcer.
One wall pays a noticeably teensy tribute to tragic Olympic events. It’s here that the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich is mentioned in two short lines.
Of the plethora of museums about the Olympics worldwide, only 21 are accredited members of the IOC Olympic Museums Network. ROX is the only member of this network in North America and that membership allowed the City of Richmond to expand its budget from the humble $575,000 initially allocated for the museum to $10 million, by opening the door to a robust sponsorship drive. It also enabled loans of Olympic resources like the torches. Ted Townsend, spokesperson for the City of Richmond, said the most priceless exhibit at ROX is that of the medals and torches.
While you’re at ROX take a peek at the Olympic Oval. After the dismantling of the speed-skating rinks, it now includes two hockey rinks, facilities for pilates and yoga, courts for badminton, baseball, basketball, soccer, table tennis, tennis and volleyball, a wall for climbing, and areas for golf, gymnastics and rowing. And don’t forget to look up at the wood panels of the Oval’s roof. Created from pine beetle-damaged wood, it contains the signatures of 8,000 Richmond residents who inscribed their names in the early construction stages.
For more information, visit therox.ca or call 778-296-1400.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner, left, White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin and Simie Schtroks of the Centre for Judaism present the 2015 Young Lamplighters Award to Sarah and Amy Aginsky on Dec. 13. (photo from Lauren Kramer)
Sarah and Amy Aginsky, 12-year-old identical twins from Richmond, are this year’s recipients of the Centre for Judaism of the Lower Fraser Valley’s Young Lamplighters Award. With this annual award, the Centre for Judaism honors individuals between the ages of 5 and 18 who have performed outstanding community service.
In March 2015, Sarah and Amy, Grade 7 students at Homma Elementary in Richmond, hosted a Street Store for the homeless and impoverished. The Street Store concept was founded in Cape Town, South Africa, in January 2014 to help the homeless. Based on retail shopping, it involves collecting clothes and other items, organizing a pop-up, one-day store and giving shoppers the opportunity to select apparel and shoes without the exchange of money. The Street Store provides people located all over the world with an infrastructure, support and inspiration to host their own such stores.
The twins’ parents were born in Cape Town and their grandparents and relatives live there to this day. They saw how the Street Store had helped the homeless in cities including Sao Paulo (Brazil), Kentucky, Brussels, Tepic (Mexico), Grande Prairie (Alberta), Tucuman (Argentina), Oslo (Norway) and Vancouver, among others, and were inspired to host a Street Store of their own.
Between January and March, Sarah and Amy collected truckloads of donated clothing and footwear, distributing them to the needy on March 6 at the Lighthouse Mission in Bellingham, Wash.
“It was humbling to see how much people were prepared to give and how eagerly they wanted to help us help others,” said Amy. “Seeing the appreciative faces of our Street Store shoppers was heartwarming and beautiful. Many of them have very little and are living difficult lives. It felt great to know we were helping others and that, as a result of our mitzvah project, their lives might get a little bit easier.”
Rabbi Falik and Rebbetzin Simie Schtroks, directors of the Centre for Judaism, with Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner and White Mayor Wayne Baldwin, presented the Lamplighters Award to Sarah and Amy at a public menorah lighting at the Semiahmoo Shopping Centre in White Rock on Dec. 13.
“Chanukah celebrates the victory of light over darkness and goodness over evil,” said Simie Schtroks. “This is a most appropriate opportunity to motivate and inspire young people to make this world a brighter and better place. By filling the world with goodness and kindness, that light can dispel all sorts of darkness.”
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Elizabeth Wolak and her daughter-in-law Anna Wolak (photo from Arthur Wolak)
Elizabeth Wolak and her daughter-in-law Dr. Anna Wolak were both nominated for the 2015 British Columbia Multicultural Awards. As nominees, they were honored to attend the official awards gala evening, together with representatives from the provincial and federal governments, which took place at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver in November.
The B.C. Multicultural Awards is an annual event hosted by the provincial government and the Multicultural Advisory Council to recognize and honor the multicultural accomplishments of individuals, organizations and businesses throughout the province. Elizabeth Wolak was nominated for her decades of multicultural work bringing the beauty of Jewish choral music to the attention of diverse ethnic communities through her numerous annual concerts. Dr. Anna Wolak was nominated for her health-care work, treating and educating patients and medical practitioners in British Columbia’s multicultural setting.
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Leila Getz has been selected by Musical America Worldwide as a 2015 Influencer and is profiled in its MA 30 Professionals of the Year: The Influencers special report, released this month, which lists 30 honorees. The report’s editors, “recently asked the MA community to nominate 30 people who are making a difference in our business, either by virtue of their position, their creativity and/or their dedication – folks about whom you could say, ‘When they speak, we listen.’”
“Leila Getz looms large as one of the primary driving forces on the classical music scene in Vancouver, B.C.,” reads her profile in the report. “In 1980, at the age of 40, this South African native founded the Vancouver Recital Society, a presenting organization that has consistently aimed high and brought many of the world’s leading artists to a relatively isolated region.
“It seemed like a foolhardy project at first, especially since there was an economic recession in Canada in the early 1980s…. But the series gradually expanded from five events at the beginning to 20 in 2015….
“Most striking is Getz’s knack for finding major artists before they become widely known. She presented the Canadian debuts of mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, who reportedly stopped the first rehearsal cold after she sang her first note (the baton flew out of the amazed conductor’s hand), and pianist Lang Lang, who was all of 15 at the time. Other Canadian debuts on this series include those of violinists Joshua Bell and Maxim Vengerov, Anne Sofie von Otter and, one of Getz’s earliest discoveries, pianist András Schiff.”
The Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver has announced that Sharon Dwek has joined the centre as director of development.
Sharon Dwek has joined the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver as director of development. (photo from JCCGV)
Dwek comes with more than a decade of experience in development, fundraising, community service and marketing, in Vancouver, Israel and the United States. She most recently worked as the director of development at King David High School.
Eldad Goldfarb, JCCGV executive director, said the appointment of Dwek to this new position was a positive step for the centre. “Sharon’s wealth of experience and knowledge has already made her a key addition to the JCC family,” he said. “We view her appointment as a sign of our commitment to being a leading communal organization in our Jewish community.”
Goldfarb suggested the hiring was as much about the centre’s future as it was about its current success. “Our growing programs and our evolving vision for the future led us to look for an addition to our team who will fit in with our values and exceptional service,” he said. “It is very fortunate that we were able to find someone of Sharon’s calibre to fulfil this role.”
For Dwek, coming to work at the centre was a natural fit. “Five years ago, my family and I relocated to Vancouver and we turned to the JCC and immediately felt at home and connected,” she said. “As a place of connecting, care-giving and learning, the JCC has truly become our second home and I am honored to help usher the JCC into the next stage of its future growth and development.”
For more information on JCCGV programming or staff, visit jccgv.com.
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The 613th mitzvah of the Torah is the obligation for every Jew to write a Torah scroll. In the words of the verse: “And now, write for yourselves this song, and teach it to the Children of Israel. Place it into their mouths, in order that this song will be for Me as a witness for the Children of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 31:19)
Congregation Beth Israel has been blessed to receive a generous gift of a new sefer Torah with the opportunity for its members to complete it by scribing the last 100 letters. As space is limited, participation is by lottery. For more information on the project, visit bethisraelvan.ca/asitiswritten. The deadline for entry into the lottery is Jan. 18, 2016.
Under the guidance of sofer Rabbi Moshe Druin of Florida, families will participate in scribing and other activities for all ages Feb. 19-21. The following weekend, Feb. 26-27, the dedication of the congregation’s new sefer Torah will take place, as will a celebration of Debby Fenson’s 10th anniversary as BI’s ba’alat tefillah.
There are 304,805 letters in the Torah and, if any is missing, the whole Torah scroll must be wrapped up and put away until it is repaired. Every letter in a Torah is vitally important. Now imagine all the Jewish people as one Torah scroll. Each person, big or small, rich or poor, a pious scholar or just a simple Jew, is one letter; all of us as important as each other.
As of Nov. 24, the Government of Canada was processing 4,511 applications for privately sponsored Syrian refugees (not including Quebec, which has its own procedure). The map shows communities where private sponsors have submitted an application. (image from cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/welcome)
Vancouver’s Jewish community is mobilizing to welcome refugees from Syria. The federal government has announced that 25,000 Syrian refugees will come to Canada before the end of February. While most of those will be government-sponsored, groups of Canadians, including many in the Jewish community, are leaping at the opportunity to be a part of the resettlement project.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Anglican church to streamline the process. The federal government has a number of sponsorship agreement holders, which are established, experienced groups that are engaged in aiding refugees on an ongoing basis. To expedite the process, the Jewish community is primarily working through the partnership with the Anglican Church of Canada so that synagogues and other Jewish groups that may want to sponsor can do so efficiently.
“The Anglican diocese, rather than setting up a separate relationship with each of the synagogues, proposed that there be one memorandum of understanding with the Jewish community,” said Shelley Rivkin, Federation’s vice-president for planning, allocations and community affairs. “We will be the holder of the memorandum of understanding so the synagogues will raise the funds and issue a tax receipt. The funds will then come to us and be in a restricted account and, as those funds are distributed, they will go directly through us so that the diocese is not having to deal with multiple parties.”
Or Shalom Synagogue has already raised two-thirds of the funds necessary to sponsor three families. Natalie Grunberg, a member of the Or Shalom Syrian Refugees Initiative, said they are expecting their sponsored refugees as early as January. The group has launched a series of events, including a concert of Syrian music, to raise awareness and money for the project. The federal government estimates the cost of sponsoring a refugee family for a year to be about $30,000, but Vancouverites involved in the process are working on an assumption of about $40,000, based on housing costs here.
Or Shalom is working through existing partnerships they have built over the years. Rather than going through the Anglican church, they are working with the United Church of Canada. Grunberg acknowledged that some in the Jewish community have differences with the United Church’s stand toward Israel, but the priority was to expedite the refugee sponsorship process and they believed working through existing relationships would be most effective.
Grunberg is noticeably proud of her congregation’s efforts so far.
“We’re a very small synagogue and we’re sponsoring three families,” she said.
Through existing relationships with the Syrian community here, Or Shalom will focus their sponsorship efforts on reunifying families that already have some members in Metro Vancouver and also on members of the LGBT community.
Temple Sholom is also rallying for refugees. Almost immediately after announcing the idea during the High Holidays, the synagogue raised enough money to sponsor one family.
“We’ve now decided to sponsor a second family,” said Rabbi Dan Moskovitz.
He acknowledges that there have been some anxieties among his congregation about bringing Syrian refugees here.
“I met with every person that voiced that concern to me,” he said. “I met with them personally. We talked about it. We talked about the people that we are bringing in – they were concerned about terrorists coming across – we talked about the difference between private sponsorship, as we are doing, and what we’ve been seeing in Europe with refugees flooding across borders … that we were sponsoring families with young children, that our sponsorships were family reunification, so they would have real roots here in B.C., particularly in Vancouver. We acknowledge the fears but at the same time we also recognize that this is a crisis and that the Jewish tradition teaches us quite clearly to love the stranger. Israel is doing things for refugees on the Syrian border right now with their hospitals and we had to do our part.”
Moskovitz cites Torah as the basis for his enthusiasm.
“Thirty-six times in the Torah, in the Bible, it says to love the stranger because you were once strangers in the land,” he said. “The Jews were once refugees ourselves and this goes all the way back to the land of Egypt and the slavery of the Israelites under Pharaoh, where we were running for our lives; in that case from the famine, according to the biblical story, and the Egyptian people welcomed the Jewish people, welcomed us in and gave us food and shelter and we lived there for 435 years, according to the Bible. From that and so many other times in the Bible, the most often-repeated commandment in all of Jewish tradition is to love the stranger, to love the immigrant; love the stranger, because that was you once.”
More modern Jewish history is also a factor, he added.
“We are largely still here even though throughout our history people have tried to destroy us because at critical times in our history some people took us in,” said Moskovitz. “We like to think we did it all by ourselves and there is no doubt that there is a tremendous resiliency of the Jewish people but, at the same time, we have been the beneficiary of others sheltering us at times of mortal danger.”
Congregation Beth Israel has created a task force to look into possibly sponsoring a Kurdish Syrian refugee family. Executive director Shannon Etkin said the group will analyze the resources available within the congregation community to provide for a family beyond the minimum requirements set out by the federal government.
Other synagogues, organizations and individuals who may not have the resources to directly sponsor a refugee or family are being encouraged to support on-the-ground efforts by the Joint Distribution Committee, which is aiding refugees in Turkey and Hungary. This support is being organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.
“They’re doing a lot of direct aid for women and children and also doing some work with frontline responders,” Rivkin said.
Chabad Nanaimo Rebbetzin Blumie and Rabbi Bentzion Shemtov with their children. (photo from Chabad Lubavitch BC)
All around the world, Chabad houses welcome Jews of all ages and stages to participate in a variety of activities from social Jewish identity gatherings to serious Torah study. According to chabad.org, “4,000 full-time Chabad emissary families direct more than 3,300 institutions.” Traveling in China and yearning for a Shabbat dinner? Nine cities have Chabad houses. Thailand has four, Sweden has three and even Armenia has a chief rabbi in the capital city, Yerevan.
This fall, two new areas locally are being served by Chabad because the organization saw a need. In early September, just in time for the High Holy Days, Rabbi Mendel Mochkin, his wife Miki and their three young children arrived in West Vancouver to begin their outreach work on the North Shore, as well as in Squamish and Whistler. The rabbi had spent time in Vancouver in 2008 and again in 2011 so, when he was asked to return by Rabbi Yitzchak Wineberg, executive director of Chabad Lubavitch BC, Mochkin jumped at the chance to start his own Chabad House in British Columbia.
Chabad of North Shore Rabbi Mendel and Rebbetzin Miki Mochkin. (photo from Chabad Lubavitch BC)
“I love it here. I feel very privileged to have moved here and to raise my family here,” said Mochkin about his new home. “I love every day, meeting new people, starting new programs.” He said his wife is also working hard to start programming for women. Miki Mochkin hosts, for example, Chabad’s Loaves for Love, which is a women’s circle; participants meet in her home and make challah as a group. The couple also hosts people every week for Shabbat meals, which is not an easy task, considering their own children are ages 3, 2 and 1.
The programming is not only out of their home. With a wide geographical area spanning the Sea-to-Sky corridor, Rabbi Mochkin said they have big plans for the winter. On the North Shore, they had a menorah lighting and festive food at Lonsdale Quay on Dec. 9 and they have a weekend planned at the Pan Pacific hotel in Whistler Dec. 11-12 to celebrate Chanukah, as well.
Even more freshly arrived in the province is Rabbi Bentzion (Bentzi) Shemtov and his wife, Blumie. They and their 3-and-a-half- and 2-year-old children are still adjusting to life in Nanaimo. They arrived in Victoria on Oct. 20, where they stayed briefly with her brother, Rabbi Meir Kaplan, who is the Chabad rabbi in that city. On Nov. 10, they moved fully into their house and they hosted their first Shabbat meal with guests just over a week later. Shemtov spoke with the Jewish Independent as he was driving to meet Nanaimo’s mayor to confirm plans for a Chanukah party at city hall along with a menorah lighting scheduled for Dec. 8.
“In the past, my brother-in-law has driven up to Nanaimo to light the menorah. He was there for half an hour and then he’d take it down and move on. This year, it will be a real Chanukah party, with hot latkes inside city hall,” said Shemtov.
Although he’s been in town just a few weeks, he has already met quite a few people who are Jewish.
“Every time I walk into a grocery store, someone new approaches me and tells me that they’re also Jewish and that there are no other Jews in Nanaimo,” Shemtov said. He estimated that, in the central Vancouver Island area, which is his new turf and includes Parksville and Qualicum Beach, there are between 1,000 and 1,500 Jewish residents. There are Jews but no Jewish community.
As they plan programs in Nanaimo and the surrounding area, the Shemtovs will serve as the only full-time, functioning Jewish presence. “We were worried that, at first, there wouldn’t be enough to do but the response has been so amazing, far beyond what we had imagined,” said the rabbi. “There is a need and a thirst for a Jewish connection.”
As did Miki Mochkin, Blumie Shemtov started a Jewish women’s circle in her home. The first session, called The Miracle of Oil, was on Dec. 1 and it was filled to over-capacity. Her husband explained that his wife had “bought supplies for 15 to be safe but she had over 20 women register.”
While neither new Chabad family know each other, they have a great deal in common. All four adults grew up in homes that were Chabad houses. They also all have siblings who are running Chabad houses around the world. Once married, members of Chabad are eligible to go out and fill a need for a Jewish presence. The Mochkins have siblings in places as far apart as St. Petersburg, San Francisco and St. Denis, just north of Paris, the neighborhood from which the recent Paris attacks were organized. For the Shemtovs, there are siblings in Pu Dung, China, and, notably, Malmo, Sweden. “My brother-in-law just received the unfortunate title of most persecuted Jew,” explained Bentzi Shemtov. “He lives in Malmo, Sweden, and he has reported over 600 hate crimes against him, but there are Jews who need him there so he stays.”
From left to right, Julius Maslovat, Carmel Tanaka, MP Murray Rankin and MLA Rob Fleming at the Victoria Holocaust Remembrance and Education Society’s annual Kristallnacht Commemoration on Nov 9. (photo from Victoria Hillel)
The following remarks have been slightly modified from the original welcoming and closing addresses given at the Victoria Holocaust Remembrance and Education Society’s annual Kristallnacht Commemoration, which took place at Congregation Emanu-El on Nov 9.
Shalom and welcome. Thank you all for coming to share in this evening of remembrance and resiliency. It is a dark Monday night in November, but you have chosen to be here. That is a statement in itself, and we thank you for taking part in tonight’s program.
We are remembering Nov. 9, 1938, a tragic night of destruction that carried on into the next day and was a portent of things to come. Remembering events such as these, as painful as they are, is vital. We don’t need to dwell on them so much as we need to draw on them for the lessons they can offer us.
Rabbi Harry Brechner of Congregation Emanu-El reminded me recently that one of our congregants, Steffi Porzecanski, may her memory be forever blessed, was a witness to the Night of Broken Glass. She lived in Berlin at the time. She would talk about how you couldn’t walk on the streets afterwards without feeling and hearing pieces of glass crunching under your feet. By the end of the destruction, some 1,000 synagogues had been burned, windows smashed, Jewish property damaged, ritual objects and cemeteries desecrated and some 30,000 Jews sent to concentration camps.
Sometimes, words are not sufficient in the face of epic horrors. Rabbi Leo Baeck, who also lived in Germany during this period, and who was eventually sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942 but did ultimately survive, wrote a prayer some years before for Jews to read at Yom Kippur. This prayer was eventually banned by the Nazis. Near the end of the prayer, he says: “We are filled with sorrow and pain. In silence, will we give expression to all that which is in our hearts in moments of silence before our G-d. This silent worship will be more emphatic than any words could be.”
Elisheva Gray, left, and Micha Menczer. (photo from Victoria Hillel)
This is where we would like to begin tonight – allowing the silence to speak. I ask you to join me in just looking around our sanctuary and at our windows. All of the colors and nuances of our magnificently crafted windows can’t be fully appreciated at night, but they are, nevertheless, beautiful windows. At our early morning service on Thursdays, those of us who come are often treated to an extraordinary light show, as the soft, morning light gently begins touching on the blue glass.
We have all experienced the sound of breaking glass. Can we even begin to imagine the quiet and tranquility being shattered by the sound of window glass suddenly crashing to the ground and breaking into a thousand pieces, as happened in synagogues throughout Germany and Austria, beginning on that November night in 1938. The only reason? Because we were Jews. How would we feel if we witnessed that happening here, in our sanctuary, in our community, to these very windows?
As a symbol of our desire to work together in unity, to respect one another’s differences and to strive for a community that has tolerance and respect at its centre we will rebuild a window together tonight, a window resembling one of our very own windows.
While we are blessed to live somewhere where we haven’t had to witness an event like Kristallnacht, we also must be realistic of the need to remain vigilant and caring for one another in a world where such events have taken place and could, potentially, take place again. The more fractured and fragmented our world becomes, the more vital it is for us to come together, to put our differences aside and see each other on that most human level, stripped of labels and roles and categories. We may all pick our fruit from different trees, but we all share the same garden.
Tonight, as we commemorate the tragic events of that fateful November night and all that followed in its wake, we also recognize the strength and resilience of our people, the courage of the survivors, and we look towards the future with hope for a world where no group is targeted for attack, as the Jews were on the Night of Broken Glass and in the years that followed.
We are truly honored to have Holocaust survivors with us tonight, as well second- and third-generation descendants, representatives of political leadership, law enforcement agencies, faith groups and persons targeted for their sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, participating in this symbolic reconstruction and in our candlelighting ceremony.
Our candlelighters will light seven candles. Six of them represent the six million lives lost in the Shoah. The seventh candle represents the many other persecuted victims of the Shoah. It is also our candle of hope.
Closing remarks
I’d like to thank our wonderful planning committee, our readers, volunteers and musicians for their hard work and dedication. Thank you, as well, to Rabbi Harry for his help and for his words. We are, again, especially honored and deeply grateful to our survivors, descendants of survivors and everyone who helped us with our candlelighting and our window building, especially Julius Maslovat (child Holocaust survivor), the b’nai mitzvah children from Congregation Emanu-El, local grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, MP Murray Rankin, Rabbi Harry of Congregation Emanu-El, Very Rev. Ansley Tucker, Constable Rae Robirtis from Victoria Police Department and Carmel Tanaka (Victoria Hillel director, granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and interned Japanese-Canadians).
The many problems out there in the world sometimes seem too big and too overwhelming for us to solve. Rebuilding our window here tonight may seem small in comparison to the challenges that face us in the wider world. But tonight, as we gathered to remember a difficult chapter from our past, it is our hope that, together, we injected a little more shalom into the world.
In Hebrew, every word has a three-letter root from which other words are formed. From the same root for the word shalom, peace, comes the word shalem, whole, and shlemut, wholeness. Each time we inject more shalom into the world, we are, in essence, diminishing brokenness and creating more wholeness. A little shalom goes a long, long way.
Our window may be fragile, but it is full of possibility. The cracks are a necessary reminder of our vulnerability. They are the scars that must be there, reminding us of our past, reminding us of the Night of Broken Glass.
A window allows us to look in – in this case, looking into the past, back to Nov. 9, 1938. And a window allows us to look out. What is that world that we, as individuals and as a community, want to see when we look out? A window also shows us our reflection. Who do we see looking back at us? Who do we want to see?
Elisheva Gray is a member of the Victoria Holocaust Remembrance and Education Society and is on the planning committee for the Kristallnacht Commemoration in Victoria.
Shane McNeil, formerly of Bridges Restaurant, is the new executive chef at Weinberg Residence. (photo from Weinberg Residence)
For the Weinberg Residence’s recently hired executive chef Shane McNeil, formerly of Bridges Restaurant, his new job is about more than just cooking great-tasting kosher food.
“What I love about cooking is that it puts a smile on people’s faces, which gives me a lot of satisfaction. My philosophy on cooking is simple: use the freshest ingredients possible, local when available, and let the ingredients speak for themselves. I tend to use a nice light seasoning or sauce, so the quality of the ingredients really stands out,” explained McNeil, who began at the Jewish seniors home in September 2015. “I also like to check in with the residents pretty much every day. Getting that regular feedback from them is really important, as it helps me become a better chef and gives me the pleasure of knowing that I’m a bright spot in their day.”
McNeil’s lifelong passion for cooking began as a young man in Toronto, where he attended George Brown College’s Chef School, which counts several internationally recognized chefs among its graduates. He then relocated to Vancouver, where he excelled under the tutelage of local talents, chefs Scott Kidd and Chef Dino Gazzola of Raincity Grill and Bridges Restaurant.
Shane McNeil’s incorporation of classic French culinary techniques with contemporary flair showcases the fresh, local and seasonal ingredients of the West Coast. (photo from Weinberg Residence)
McNeil’s culinary acumen has already begun to have a considerable impact at the Weinberg Residence. His roasted sablefish with orange-ginger glaze and green-beans almondine, his Italian beef stew with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted corn and his sockeye salmon farfale with ratatouille are all garnering praise. His incorporation of classic French culinary techniques with contemporary flair showcases the fresh, local and seasonal ingredients of the West Coast.
“The food is absolutely delicious. He’s an excellent chef who’s open to suggestions. He made a polenta lasagna the other night that was absolutely wonderful and he makes the best cheese sandwiches I’ve ever tasted!” said resident Sheila Cantor.
The residence executive is also pleased. “We are extremely grateful and very excited to have such an exceptional chef on our team and we look forward to this exciting enhancement to our hospitality offering,” said Vanessa Trester, gerontologist and leader of the Weinberg.
To share the good news with the community about the new dishes being served at the Weinberg Residence, if you, your spouse or family member is considering assisted living or multi-level care, the Weinberg is currently offering a complimentary lunch when you book a tour. To make a reservation, call Trester at 604-267-4722.
Simon Fraser University biologist Dov Lank with some of the ruffs he and his team have been studying. (all photos from SFU Communications)
Simon Fraser University biologist Dov Lank and a team of researchers have identified the genes responsible for three different kinds of male ruff (Philomachus pugnax) – a species of wading bird. The ruff is the only bird species in which three kinds of males exist, each having its own approach to courtship and mating and with distinct physical characteristics. One is a fighter, the second is a “wingman” and the third is a cross-dresser.
The paper, “A supergene determines highly divergent male reproductive morphs in the ruff” was published on Nov. 16 in Nature Genetics. Researchers found that, 3.8 million years ago, an inversion occurred in the chromosomes of the ruff, creating a second kind of male. Then, half a million years ago, a second chromosomal rearrangement between the inversion and the original sequence occurred, creating a third kind of male. As a result, there are three types of male ruffs: one with ancestral sequences, another with an older kind of the inversion and a third with a newer kind of inversion.
Lank said, “Today, we have the tools to identify exactly what genes are involved and, over the next few years, we will describe how they work. These genes control differences in aggressive behavior and the expression of gender-specific traits, and the pathways and processes involved will provide a model with general applicability for vertebrates, including ourselves.”
The author’s one photograph of her great-grandmother, Betty Brotman, “stiff-necked and corseted, with her dark hair combed tightly across her head.” (photo from Shula Klinger)
I have been researching my family history for many years, on and off. Much of my research has been online, using resources like JewishGen, the internet database of Jewish genealogical records. I have also found a home at Czernowitz-L, an email group hosted by Cornell University for people whose families come from what is now the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi. Once known as “Jerusalem on the Prut,” Czernowitz – as it is still called by those who recall its Habsburg past – was once home to 50,000 Jews. Less than a third of this number survived the war.
Like many third-generation Czernowitzers, I write messages to Czernowitz-L in the hope that someone, somewhere, will remember hearing my family name and be able to point me in the direction of a lost relative. Very often, we hear nothing, but once in a blue moon, we strike gold.
That’s what happened when I sent out an email asking list members if they knew of the family name Brotman. I had just received an image of my grandmother’s birth certificate from Czernowitz in 1902, which showed that Regina Picker’s mother, Betty, had been born a Brotman.
Shortly after I shared this information, I received an email from a lady in Portland, letting me know that she had married into the Brotman family in Oregon. She asked me if I would be interested in contacting one of her in-laws, whose mother had been a Brotman. He was very well-informed, she said. A conversation with him might yield some results. Not knowing that I lived here in Vancouver, she told me that Cyril Leonoff here. Naturally, I was thrilled and eager to talk to him as soon as I could.
Having corresponded with Cyril’s daughter, Anita, for awhile, we set a date and I drove over to meet them both. My children were very excited to find out if this man was a relative. I fielded the same question from them over and over again: “Are we 100% for sure, for sure related to him, Mommy? Or just 99%, do you think?”
On arriving at the Leonoff home, I was greeted by Anita. She showed us into the house, where a beautiful table had been set with fresh fruit and homemade poppy seed cake. Anita showed the children where to find some toy ships and I brought out my family photograph: my one photograph of my great-grandmother, Betty Brotman, stiff-necked and corseted, with her dark hair combed tightly across her head. Betty Brotman, who passed away at a young age, leaving her husband and children behind to survive the fall of the Habsburg Empire and the devastation of two world wars. But, back to the present.
Cyril asked me about the photo. I was eager to ask him a host of questions. Was I about to discover something extraordinary? Would I learn, after almost 20 years in Canada, that I had been living a few miles away from a relative, all this time? And after growing up in England, completely isolated from my extended family, was this man one of my elders? What did he know? What could he tell me? What did he remember of his people and their original home in Europe?
I watched his face as he calmly – and silently – looked at my photo. I tried to guess at what he was thinking. He suggested that we sit for tea before looking at his records upstairs. I accepted, glad of the tea, but thinking that this was a wonderful opportunity to practise mindfulness. Peace. Serenity in the face of burning curiosity and decades of longing for grandparents that I could talk to, family members who were able to tell me about their journeys, their struggles, their triumphs.
We sat quietly and poured tea while I tried not to boil over myself. We drank our tea and talked about the delicious poppy seed cake, which Anita’s daughter had made. And then Cyril asked me, “What are you looking for? What brings you here?”
His gaze was direct, his voice was polite. I told him the truth: I have no story, and I need one. My family was fractured, over and over, between Czernowitz, Cairo, Haifa and London. What little I do know of our history was told to me by an unreliable witness. A witness who had not wanted me, or anyone else, to find other, more reliable witnesses. A man who went to great lengths to separate his children from their story, or anyone that might refute his own accounts. A man who may have survived the war – and wars – physically, but who continued to fight their battles every day of his life, until he died. And, when he did die and I was finally able to say, rest in peace, it was truly the only peace he had ever had. He was traumatized, barely existing, unable to communicate or listen, to tell the whole truth or make any kind of authentic connection with another human being. My father, who I spent a lifetime trying to love, but who would never let me.
Cyril is 10 years older than my father was when he died. His intelligent gaze was steady and he listened quietly when I answered his questions. Difficult questions whose answers may well have been a lot longer than he had anticipated.
He didn’t respond directly, but we finished our tea slowly and he asked me up to his library. He said he had a book to show me. We climbed the stairs and entered a room with a high ceiling, filled with books. It reminded me of the shelves of my own family home, now gone. My father’s books.
Cyril walked over to a shelf by the window and removed a small volume of poetry. He opened it on a table and said, “I think you’ll want to see this.”
“This” was the inside cover of an old book inscribed in sepia copperplate. “Betty Brotman.”
“May I take a photograph of it?” I asked, after a few seconds, feeling a little superficial but not knowing where to put my happiness or my hands, other than on a camera.
“Yes,” said Cyril, so I did.
When the emotion had subsided and reason returned, I considered the facts: Cyril’s Betty may not be my great-grandmother, but still: there have been not one but three women named Betty in my family and the first was Betty Brotman. It isn’t impossible that his Brotmans were cousins to mine. It’s tenuous but, still, it’s a trace. A faint trace that proves we exist. That we left our mark on the world somewhere. That I am still connected to my people, even with my father’s concerted efforts to keep us all apart.
Cyril brought me to another room, where he kept his family records. He laid out a map showing where his family had come from. Indeed, our families were from nearby cities, again suggesting a possible link. He showed me his work on the history of Jewish farmers in Canada, where his branch of the Brotman family had homesteaded in 1889, and gave me some of his books to read. I thought about taking notes but was too moved to multitask. Simply sitting down with a man who might be a member of my family, who cared so deeply about his roots and was so proud of his family’s achievements, was overwhelming. He had done his own research and he had written it down – he had not hidden from it, or excised the story from memory. He is devoted to talking about and preserving it, just as I am.
And not only that, he wanted to talk to me, and he wanted to listen. To find out what I knew that might prove to be an irrefutable link between our families. He was curious; wanted names, dates, places.
“How old are you?” he asked me.
“Forty-four,” I replied, and cringed, feeling self-conscious. There was a pause.
“That old, eh?” he said, sounding shocked. Then he smiled – with his bright blue, 90-year-old eyes.
We looked around the room at framed photos and other artifacts of his family’s past. His record was abundant, both in photographs and documents. He pointed out a carved wooden picture frame that had been made by one of his relatives. I told him that my great-grandfather and my uncle were both carvers, that our family had worked in the lumber industry in Czernowitz. That our family had worked with trees for generations, in one way or another – whether as lumber, through sculpture or carpentry, or tree-planting in Israel in the 1940s. Another connection. Maybe.
The author’s grandmother’s birth certificate from Czernowitz in 1902, which shows that Regina Picker’s mother, Betty (“Betti”), had been born a Brotman (“Brutmann”). It also shows that Regina’s father, Betty’s husband, Simon Picker, was a carpenter. (image from Shula Klinger)
When it was time to go, my older son asked me again. “Is he a relation? Is he ours?” I told him, “Very possibly.” And, again, he wanted to know the percentage probability. “Ninety-nine percent, then,” Benjamin decided.
It was hard to leave. After so many years, I wanted to stay until I dealt with that niggling one percent of doubt. I wanted to be sure. I had to know.
I don’t know how much of Cyril’s story is really my story, which he has taken such pains to write down. I don’t know if his Betty knew my Betty, if they were cousins, second cousins, or even more remotely related than that – or not at all. And I may never find out.
But, then again, even if we are just an appendix to his main narrative, I had a chance to read between the lines. To meet the Leonoffs, to eat with them and to ask questions about our fractured family stories. Because what matters is that we tried to knit those fractures together, to heal the tremendous wounds created by the past and the efforts made by those who refused – or were unable – to heal them on their own.
Months later, my children still talk about “our 99% relative.” They are proud to have an elder in Vancouver and they mention Cyril regularly. I love to hear them talk about him with affection and respect.
When it comes to family, I have discovered that 8- and 4-year-olds aren’t too worried about evidence. They really don’t care about that missing one percent. And now, as my children are also my teachers, neither do I.
Shula Klingeris an author, illustrator and journalist living in North Vancouver. This article is written with grateful thanks to Anita and Cyril Leonoff.
Eight of 11 B.C. shluchim joined 5,200 other Chabad rabbis and guests in New York City Nov. 4-9 for the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries. (photo by Shneor Shif)
Eight local B.C. rabbis made their way to New York City Nov. 4-9, joining a group of 5,200 Chabad rabbis and guests from 86 countries for the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim).
The conference, now in its 32nd year, offered a chance for the rabbis to recharge their batteries in an atmosphere of camaraderie and inspiration before returning to their communities. It also gave community members the opportunity to better appreciate the global impact of Chabad-Lubavitch and its underlying philosophy, and spend some quality time with fellow Jews from around the world.
Known as shluchim – the plural of shaliach, which means agent or emissary – these rabbis were dispatched by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zt’l, to communities all over the globe to dedicate their lives to serving the Jewish people. They work to connect Jews to their heritage, raise Jewish awareness and mitzvah observance, and teach Torah. Yet their mission is not only a spiritual one; the Rebbe charged them to discover what the unique needs of their respective communities are and to meet those needs by opening their hearts and homes to help every Jew in any way they can.
The rabbis arrived on Nov. 4 for five jam-packed days, which included extensive Torah classes, prayer with thousands, a range of workshops and talks and, of course, a visit to the Ohel, the resting place of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his father-in-law, the previous Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, zt’l.
This year’s conference carried added significance, being a Hakhel year, a year focused on unity gatherings in rededication to Torah and mitzvot. The biblical Hakhel took place once every seven years at the conclusion of the Sabbatical (Shmitah) year, and brought Jewish men, women and children to the Temple in Jerusalem to be inspired by the Torah, which was read by the king. During Hakhel in years past, the Rebbe would regularly urge Jews worldwide to assemble and inspire one another to increase their Torah observance and study.
This unity and rededication was perhaps best exhibited at the gala dinner on Sunday night in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. Powerful presentations on Hakhel were given by a Chabad Hebrew school student, a CTeen participant, an active student leader in Chabad on Campus, a middle-aged professional who first met the Rebbe as a young man and is now a member of his local Chabad community, and a Holocaust survivor. They all mentioned increasing their observance as a result of interaction with Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
Moshe Holtzberg, who is nearly 9 years old, is the surviving child of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, shluchim who were murdered in a November 2008 terror attack on their Chabad House in Mumbai, India. Moshe led the crowd of thousands in the recitation of psalms during the banquet.
The eight B.C. shluchim who traveled to New York were Rabbi Yitzchak Wineberg, executive director of Chabad-Lubavitch BC, Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman of Chabad of Richmond, Rabbi Binyomin Bitton of Chabad of Downtown Vancouver, Rabbi Meir Kaplan of Chabad of Victoria, Rabbi Schneur Wineberg of Chabad of East Vancouver, Rabbi Chalom Loeub of Chabad of the University of British Columbia, Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld of Chabad-Lubavitch BC and Rabbi Mendel Mochkin of Chabad of the North Shore. Rabbi Falik Schtroks of Chabad of Surrey, Rabbi Bentzi Shemtov of Chabad of Nanaimo, and Rabbi Shmuly Hecht of Chabad of Kelowna were unable to attend the conference this year.
