If you’re asking, “What can I do for Israel?” consider joining Israel Connect, a program where local adult volunteers connect, one-on-one, via Zoom, with Israeli high school students who want to improve their English conversation and reading skills. The program starts up again this fall, organized by Chabad Richmond in partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Education.
There are currently 47 Metro Vancouver-area volunteers participating in the Israel Connect program as tutors/mentors, and Chabad Richmond is looking to increase that number, since the need in Israel continues to grow.
“We’re looking for volunteer retirees, seniors or any adults who have some free time to join the Israel Connect program. No previous tutoring or teaching experience is necessary and the curriculum is provided,” said Shelley Civkin, the local Israel Connect coordinator. “If you’re an adult fluent English-speaker, you have basic computer skills and you own a computer with a camera, that’s all you need,” she said.
Volunteers do not need to speak Hebrew and can tutor from home. Basic training and technical support are available. Time preferences of volunteer tutors/mentors will be coordinated beforehand and Zoom sessions take place in the morning between 7 and 10 a.m. Vancouver time, any day between Sunday to Thursday.
“Israel Connect asks for a minimum commitment of one school year, in order to ensure consistency for the students,” said Civkin. Sessions are once a week for 45-60 minutes, at the same time each week.
“It’s a very practical and impactful way for community members to support Israel and build bridges between diaspora Jews and Israelis,” said Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman, director of Chabad Richmond. “You’ll be doing a mitzvah, while investing in the future of Israel and its people. Plus, proficiency in English will give them an advantage in accessing post-secondary education and getting better jobs. Helping students improve their English inspires them to learn and grow, while empowering them to reach new heights.”
Israel Connect is now the largest external provider of services to Israel’s Ministry of Education, slowly removing the most significant barrier to social and economic mobility, focusing on teens from less advantaged neighbourhoods.
The curriculum consists mainly of a tour of Israel, focusing on the wealth of historical, cultural and biblically significant cities and sites. It’s not uncommon for both the students and the tutors to learn something new about Israel at each lesson.
“Most volunteers really enjoy helping their Israeli students and develop a lasting bond with them. It often goes beyond simply tutoring the curriculum, and turns into friendship and mentorship,” said Civkin. “This kind of one-on-one tutoring makes a huge difference in their lives, both educationally and personally. It gives them a feeling of confidence that they can converse in English without being judged or marked. It’s incredibly satisfying to know that you’re doing something tangible to help Israeli students better their lives.”
Civkin said several tutors have visited their students on trips to Israel and keep in touch beyond the school year.
To volunteer, or for more information, contact Civkin at 604-789-5806 or [email protected].
For anyone who can’t participate as a tutor, Chabad Richmond welcomes financial support for the Israel Connect program, which covers overhead costs like technical support, staffing and other administrative costs. To support the program, call Chabad Richmond at 604-277-6427 or email [email protected].
Gary Segal was one of 12 people appointed to the Order of British Columbia this year. The province’s highest honour celebrates people who have distinguished themselves and excelled in their field of endeavour. Segal was recognized in the category of Community Leadership for his philanthropic contributions to health care. A special investiture ceremony will be held at Government House in Victoria on Sept. 4.
Gary Segal (photo from Order of BC)
Born and raised in Vancouver, Segal is known for his philanthropic endeavours that transcend geographical and cultural boundaries. Described as a catalyst for change, Segal’s commitment to humanitarian causes has left an indelible mark on communities near and far. Notably, as capital campaign chair for Ronald McDonald House BC and Yukon, he played a pivotal role in raising $32 million to establish a new, state-of-the-art facility at BC Children’s Hospital, vastly expanding support for more than 2,000 families annually across BC and Yukon. His dedication extends globally through the Bring Back Hope initiative he founded following a transformative experience in Ethiopia, where he champions accessibility to life-saving surgeries for severely disadvantaged children in dire medical need.
Segal’s efforts have garnered prestigious recognitions, including the Order of Canada, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and appointments to boards such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
At the University of British Columbia, Segal’s impact is profound, particularly through his support for the faculty of medicine’s branch for global surgical care, where his contributions have funded groundbreaking initiatives and the development of a master of global surgical care program. As chair of the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, Segal continued to drive innovation in health care, ensuring sustainable and exemplary care.
Aviva Rathbone, chair of JQT Vancouver, finds hope in the fact that “[t]here are lots of people in the community coming together right now and finding connections to heal what they can in what is a very broken world and what is a very broken situation.” (photo from JQT)
Probably all Jews have experienced emotional and mental impacts from the events of Oct. 7 and since. For LGBTQ+ Jews, these effects are often magnified by the climates in their multiple communities.
JQT Vancouver (pronounced J-Cutie), a volunteer-run Jewish queer and trans nonprofit group whose mission is “‘queering’ Jewish spaces and ‘Jew-ifying’ queer spaces,” has released the results of a survey that indicates LGBTQ+ Jews are experiencing profound pain – regardless of where they stand on an apparently vastly diverse spectrum of opinions about the conflict in the Middle East.
Titled 2024 JQT Temperature Check Report, the document collates responses from 91 individuals, including narratives of their experiences, and the overview it paints is bleak.
“There are a lot of really sad commentaries,” Aviva Rathbone, chair of JQT, told the Independent. “A lot of the folks who responded to the survey are people who are really struggling right now.”
She cautioned that the survey may not include the perspectives of others who may be having more positive experiences.
“Some people are feeling really accepted into community right now, they are feeling like they found a place,” said Rathbone. “We didn’t hear from those folks, but that’s not to say that they don’t exist.”
The results are not surprising, she said.
“We knew people were struggling,” she said. “It was a surprise, I think, the depth of anger and sadness that was there.”
Fewer than half of survey respondents indicated that they felt safe and accepted in Jewish spaces and only about a quarter said they felt safe and accepted in queer spaces. Fewer still, 14%, said they felt comfortable in both.
Since Oct. 7, approximately half of respondents indicated that actions and/or statements of queer (57%) and Jewish organizations (51%) have had a negative impact on their mental health.
A majority (57%) of respondents indicated that their safety and security felt threatened since Oct. 7 because of their Jewish identity. More than two-thirds of respondents (68%) said they experienced antisemitism online or in-person since Oct. 7.
Much of the discomfort centres on divergent attitudes toward Israel and the war against Hamas, as well as opinions around the definitions of antisemitism and what some respondents describe as exclusivist attitudes in the Jewish community, often described as overwhelmingly pro-Israel, and in the LGBTQ+ community, described by many as unwelcoming to pro-Israel Jews.
One respondent said the Jewish community should “acknowledge that anti-Zionist Jews are still Jews and should be welcome in Jewish spaces” and that “queer Zionist Jews are still queer and should be welcome in queer spaces.”
JQT serves members who self-identify as Zionist and those who self-identify as anti-Zionist.
“When the mainstream Jewish community dismisses Jews who criticize Israeli actions, it makes me feel alienated from that community, more than before,” wrote one respondent.
Two among scores of examples illustrate the chasm between the narratives shared in the report. One respondent accuses “queers for Palestine” of trying “to turn Zionism into a dirty word” and making them feel “unwelcome as a Jewish Israeli in queer spaces when not hiding myself.” Another writer says, “It makes me unsafe when Jewish organizations […] make wildly racist statements about Palestine. Conflating Judaism with Israel makes it seem like I am complicit in this genocide.”
Said another respondent: “None of the synagogues or even [Jewish queer groups] have made any statements that humanize the struggle of non-Zionist Jews and how we’ve been systematically shut out of spiritual, social and cultural Jewish spaces for far too long. In fact, the current climate within these spaces promotes a pro-war and anti-Palestinian rhetoric that pushes me and my friends away from feeling security and belonging in our identities.”
The divergence in attitudes is typified by another survey response.
“People wearing an End the Occupation T-shirt or other such slogans signal to me that the wearers believe Hamas to be righteous rather than terrorist, that all lives are not equal, makes me uncomfortable, as does the aggressivity of protesters, including [queer groups that support] Palestine. Standing in solidarity with Israel and its absolute right to defend itself, while not recognizing the numbers of non-Hamas Palestinians killed and the living conditions in Gaza during the war is also not comfortable for me,” wrote a respondent.
If there is a clear takeaway from the study, Rathbone said, it can be summed up in one word.
“Empathy,” she said. “We have the ability to hold space for our own pain and anger and for other people’s pain and anger. I fully believe that humans are expansive and the Jewish community for sure is expansive and we have done this many times. We have been able to hold space for ourselves and for other people who are suffering, even when we don’t agree with them.”
Disagreements over politics, no matter how intensely and personally held, should not erase the empathy Jewish people have for one another, she said.
It is possible to have conversations across that divide, as JQT did recently in a “listen and be heard” event, facilitated by two professionals.
That event was part of a major mental health initiative in collaboration with Jewish Family Services, with funding from the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver, that was in the works even before Oct. 7. Among numerous projects rolled out in recent months addressing the challenges facing LGBTQ+ Jews is a 10-page resource issued last week, titled JQT Affirming Care: A Toolkit for Mental Health Providers. It was developed by care providers Hannah Zalmanowitz and Anat Kerelstein.
Carmel Tanaka, executive director of JQT, said the toolkit, which Jewish trans or queer people can give to healthcare providers, as well as friends or anyone else who might benefit from a deeper understanding of their experiences, is a direct response to expressed needs in the community.
JQT Vancouver executive director Carmel Tanaka talks about Twice Blessed 2.0 at a recent event. The 2022 needs assessment includes 13 calls for action, including mental health support and being open to those who have a spectrum of opinion on Israel/Palestine. (photo by Kathryn Nickford Photography)
“We kept hearing that one of the barriers to receiving mental health support was linked directly to the lack of provider knowledge, training and competence around working with Jewish queer and trans people,” Tanaka said. “So, we created this educational toolkit aimed at reducing the burden on JQTs of having to educate their mental health providers on their lived experiences and mental health needs.”
Along with the Temperature Check report, Tanaka said, the toolkit provides tangible evidence of both the challenges and steps to improving the isolation and difficulties faced by affected individuals.
“I just really hope that leaders in the Jewish community, as well as leaders in the queer community, do take a moment to seriously read this so that they can better understand why we are doing this and why there is a need to support our community,” Tanaka said, adding that JQT continues to remain open to those who are on a spectrum of opinion on Israel and Palestine. “It really hurts to not be included in Pride events or in queer spaces, to not feel included in Jewish spaces. It’s an impossible situation to feel like you don’t belong.”
Even amid a plethora of discouraging responses, Rathbone said there is reason for hope.
“I don’t want folks to read it and to become really depressed and hopeless, because there are lots of ways to find hope,” she said. “There are lots of people in the community coming together right now and finding connections to heal what they can in what is a very broken world and what is a very broken situation. That also gives me hope, to watch people recognize that they can come together in community and do their part to heal something.”
Simon Fraser University assistant professor Dr. Lilach Marom gave a lecture May 27 called Where is Antisemitism in EDI Discourses in Canadian Higher Education? How Did We Get Here, And How Can We Move Forward?
Prevailing trends in equity, diversity and inclusion on campuses and elsewhere often exclude Jewish people and discount antisemitism, according to a Simon Fraser University academic.
Despite extensive policies around racism, discrimination and related topics, many universities and academic organizations have no explicit references in policy to antisemitism, says Dr. Lilach Marom, an assistant professor at SFU, who focuses on anti-racism and inclusion in education with a focus on structural and institutional barriers to access.
“When we look at references to antisemitism and Jewish identity across EDI policies and action plans, we see that there is not much reference,” she said during a lecture May 27 that was part of Diverse Approaches to Research in Education, a seminar series co-hosted by Faculty of Education’s Research Hub and the Research Advisory Working Group. For example, resources from the Canadian Association of University Teachers include a self-identification survey, but under the category of race and ethnicity, there is no option to select “Jewish.”
In addition to Jewish identity, the experiences of Jewish people with antisemitism are often not specifically addressed. “Sometimes, it is not named when there are other forms of oppression and racism that are named,” she said.
EDI stands for equity, diversity and inclusion (in the United States, Marom noted, it is reordered as DEI). Equity, she said, is the removal of systemic barriers and enabling all individuals to have equitable opportunity and access to benefit from higher education. Diversity is about the variety of unique dimensions, identities, qualities and characteristics individuals possess along with other identity factors. Inclusion is defined as the practice of ensuring that all individuals are valued and respected for their contributions and are supported equitably.
EDI has become the prevalent framework to address issues of social justice and equity in Canadian higher education, said Marom. Fully 90% of higher educational institutions in Canada reference EDI in their strategic planning and 91% have an EDI task force or are developing one, according to a Universities Canada survey of members in 2022.
Dr. Lilach Marom (photo courtesy)
Marom sees a number of reasons why antisemitism is excluded. Antisemitism is often categorized asreligious-based discrimination, which reclassifies it outside the realm of anti-racism.
“Jewish people see themselves as a people, which means they have shared culture, language, history, religious texts and rituals,” said Marom. “But, within the North American context, Jewishness is conceptualized as a form of religion.”
This is specifically the case in Canadian law, where antisemitism is categorized under religious discrimination and reported under hate crimes motivated by religion.
This creates a disconnect when it comes to EDI, said Marom. “In most cases, EDI typically does not centre on religious-based discrimination,” she said. “So those things are on the margins, they’re not core to the EDI discourses.”
Settler-colonialism and decolonization are core concepts in EDI discourse, which presents challenges around the way Israel and Palestine are considered.
“I’m worried about the new antisemitism that emerges at the intersection of anti-racism and settler-colonial discourses,” she said. “Both those discourses are insufficient and incomplete to understand Jewishness, the Jewish condition or the situation in Israel-Palestine.… They create this forced binary between Jewish people as the embodiment of white privilege and colonial oppression, and Palestinians as racialized and indigenous. I think this binary is not only inaccurate, it also feeds into new forms of antisemitism.”
Settler-colonialism is a leading framework for analyzing Canadian history, said Marom. Applying that framework to Zionism and the formation of Israel in a simplistic way overlooks the long and complex history of that land and creates a false dichotomy between Jewish people as the embodiment of oppression and Palestinians as indigenous, she said.
These constructions fail to acknowledge the historical, cultural and religious ties of Jews to the land dating back millennia. They also don’t acknowledge that there could be places in which there are coexisting claims to indigeneity in Israel-Palestine.
Meanwhile, the construction of Jews as white and privileged, she said, reflects a “legal and cultural whitening of Jews in North America.”
“This is not to ignore the fact that Jews definitely have gained some privileges from their ability to assimilate and integrate in this mainstream North American culture and those possibilities were not open to members of other racialized groups,” she said. “Jews have definitely gained some privileges from this ability. However, this also feeds into some antisemitic tropes or stereotypes – Jews as a ‘model minority’ or ‘super powerful’ – and have put them in a position that is not really in and not really out. These in-between spaces [mean] they can be targeted on one hand by conspiracies from the right like the Great Replacement Theory, but also pushed against from the left as an embodiment of white privilege.”
The construction of Jews as white overlooks the self-identification of Jewish people, she said, and it doesn’t recognize the diversity of Jewish people. While in North America many Jewish people are Ashkenazi, in places like Israel, the majority of people are from Asian, Middle Eastern and North African backgrounds.
“In critical discourses, we don’t talk about race as skin pigmentation nor as biological constructs,” Marom said. “We talk about it as a form of social construct. If you think about race as a social construct, looking at the history of Jewish people with marginalization, exclusion and genocide, they cannot be put aside from anti-racism discourses and be absorbed into whiteness.”
It is not useful, she said, to participate in “any form of oppression Olympics. But I think we need to acknowledge that antisemitism is not following the typical path of other racialized groups, where hopefully there is less exclusion and more integration with time,” she said. “With Jewish people, many times when they thought they were most integrated and most included, this is when they faced the most extreme forms ofexclusion and marginalization.”
Marom clarified that discussion about antisemitism and the protection and safety of Jewish people should not be confused with “protection” from challenging ideas.
“We need to be willing to step into risky discussions,” she said. “But I think what EDI does is really talk about impact. It talks about how can we be engaging in those difficult spaces while still feeling that we are being seen as human, that we are included, that we have space. I speak only on my behalf [but] I think this is the case with many Jewish faculty that I know. I don’t think that this is the way many of us [have felt] since Oct. 7.”
There is a balance to be found between academic freedom and protection of minority communities, said Marom – but the approach to this balance when it comes to Jews and antisemitism seems different than in other cases.
“I just find it very peculiar that a lot of my colleagues who usually are very sensitive toward issues of inclusion and belonging all of a sudden become the strongest supporters of academic freedom when it comes to the issues of antisemitism,” said Marom. “Not that academic freedom is not important – it is really important – I’m just curious to hear how come it becomes so important now when the people in question are Jewish people.”
She also cited a seminar on antisemitism and anti-Zionism that was sponsored by about 40 organizations, most of them Muslim and Middle Eastern academic groups.
“This we would never see on other issues, in which people from the outside explained to people on the inside what they need to know about themselves,” she said. There were some Jewish speakers at the event, she noted, but they came from a very specific ideological perspective.
“I’m not saying that they are not legitimate,” she said. “I’m not even saying that they’re not important and I don’t think that we need to define who is in and who is out to speak on behalf of the Jewish people – there is enough space in the world to speak. But I am worried for the tendencies in progressive circles to adopt those voices and put them in and check the inclusion box, because that is not how we do inclusion in any other circles.”
The principle of “nothing about us without us,” the idea that no approach toward a group should be adopted without the full and direct participation of the affected people, should not be overlooked when it comes to antisemitism, she said.
A video of Marom’s full presentation is available at youtu.be/FQbGiySUetM.
Upstanders Canada held a nationwide webinar last month to introduce a toolkit aimed at confronting antisemitism in the various forms it may manifest – particularly in the inherent biases people may not be aware they carry.
At the June 23 launch, Pat Johnson, the founder of Upstanders Canada, discussed the toolkit, called Be An Upstander: How Allies Can Recognize and Contest Antisemitism. Among those attending the online event were representatives of several faith-based organizations. Most attendees were not part of the Jewish community.
Johnson outlined how antisemitism works and the characteristics contained within antisemitism, such as “othering” (casting a group of people as different from the rest of society), victim-blaming, and inverting the victim and the perpetrator.
The toolkit demonstrates how these characteristics of antisemitism can lead to projection – where a society places the blame for things it fears, hates or does not understand onto Jews. This can lead to conspiracy theories in which complex world problems are simplified into a clearcut package that frequently places the blame on Jews.
Antisemitism is a foundation of many conspiracy theories in that the theories usually rest on the belief that a powerful group of Jews controls events. The theories do not need to specify Jews as the people behind what is considered wrong, but rather can use references to “Hollywood,” “cosmopolitan elites” or “globalists,” which equally fulfil the purpose of implying that Jews are doing nefarious, self-serving deeds behind the scenes.
Feelings of envy and inferiority, the toolkit points out, may distinguish antisemitism from other forms of racism. Whereas many types of prejudice come from a sense of superiority, antisemitism is derived in part from the belief that Jews “think they are better than everyone else.” This, in turn, leads to “punching up,” or, as Johnson says, “the idea that attacking a perceived ‘superior’ is a way to advance social justice, though the person being punched is always a victim.”
Johnson offered a picture of what antisemitism may look like when it is not obvious.
“Blatant antisemitism is easy to recognize,” he said. “It is also the form of antisemitism most likely to turn violent and is, therefore, the most dangerous. But all people of goodwill recognize and condemn that form of antisemitism. More subtle, unconscious forms of antisemitism exist in inherent biases, stereotypes and tropes that people may carry without even recognizing them.”
The stereotype of affluent, high-ranking or privileged Jews, for example, brings with it a specific danger, one that may not be violent but is nonetheless harmful. Antisemitism, Johnson explained, becomes the “perfect prejudice” because the concept of powerful Jews renders the notion of taking antisemitism seriously invalid as their supposed power makes them immune to discrimination.
The toolkit touches upon some historical tropes about Jews, such as an alleged “persecution complex” and Jewish “untrustworthiness and disloyalty” in business settings, citizenship and elsewhere. It also discusses blood libels, the Holocaust and blaming the killing of Jesus on Jews.
Regarding equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, Johnson notes that Zionism is the manifestation of Jewish self-determination in a state and that “anti-Zionism is not criticism of Israel, it is opposition to the existence of the state of Israel.” He discounts the idea that pre-existing biases against Jews have no impact on opinions about the Jewish state and admonishes those whoaccuse Israel of using historicaldiscrimination for political advantage. The toolkit references the three Ds developed by Israeli politician and human rights activist Natan Sharansky to determine if anti-Zionism is antisemitism: demonization, double standards and delegitimization.
The toolkit adds, “Zionism does not preclude Palestinian self-determination. Coexistence is the only path to peace and it is the responsibility primarily of the people who live there. The responsibility of overseas observers should be to encourage that coexistence – not to exacerbate the conflict by stoking intolerance, here or abroad.”
One of the problems well-intentioned individuals have when contesting antisemitism is not feeling adequately prepared to respond. For this, the toolkit not only provides many strategies for preparing, but offers encouragement and empowerment.
Be An Upstander, a 20-page pdf document available online, comes with numerous links that allow readers to explore in greater depth subjects surrounding antisemitism and ways of responding appropriately to it.
In addition to Johnson speaking about the toolkit, the launch event featured short speeches from Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on antisemitism; Zara Nybo, a campus media fellow for HonestReporting Canada and Allied Voices for Israel at the University of British Columbia; and Rabbi Lynn Greenhough of Kolot Mayim Reform Temple in Victoria, which hosted the event. Television personality Shai DeLuca emceed from Toronto.
The Upstanders toolkit was created in partnership with Kolot Mayim, with financial support from the Union for Reform Judaism, the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island.
Upstanders is a movement of mainly non-Jewish people standing up against antisemitism. It is a nonpartisan, non-denominational organization, open to Canadians across all differences of identity, orientation, outlook and ability. To find out more and to view the toolkit, visit upstanderscanada.com.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) and Jewish Family Services (JFS) have accepted bylaw changes allowing for service integration, in order to expand addiction support and services within theJewish community.
“JACS and JFS have a long history of collaboration in serving our community, and it just made good sense to form an even tighter relationship that leverages the relative strengths of each organization,” said Howard Harowitz, JACS board chair. “This move is driven by a shared commitment to improving service delivery, integrating substance use services with other supports, and utilizing the established expertise of both agencies.”
The strategic rationale behind this integration is clear: combining resources will enhance service effectiveness and accessibility, ultimately creating a more significant impact. This aligns with JFS’s long-term vision of becoming a leader in social services.
“This integration aligns with our strategic vision to enhance our service portfolio and provide more holistic support that meets the needs of our clients,” said Tanja Demajo, JFS chief executive officer. “We are excited to embark on this new chapter of community service together!”
This integration will provide the community:
• Increased accessibility to addiction services for clients and their families.
• Enhanced capacity to serve a greater number of individuals in need.
• A holistic approach to addressing clients’ diverse needs.
• Greater community awareness of where and how to access addiction services.
For more on the resources and services JFS provides, visit jfsvancouver.ca.
The JFS Moishe Farm Project garden at Richmond Jewish Day School. (photo from RJDS)
Richmond Jewish Day School and Jewish Family Services have embarked on a new initiative, the JFS Moishe Farm Project. At the back of the school, there is now a garden, growing a variety of fruits and vegetables, such as squash, butternut squash and zucchini. The project aims to increase food security in the Lower Mainland by providing fresh produce to RJDS families and JFS clients.
Food security is an essential aspect of this initiative. It means that all people, at all times, have access to nutritious, safe and sufficient food that meets their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life. With prices of fresh food and produce increasing, food security has become an increasingly difficult goal to achieve. Ensuring access to fresh and healthy produce is a fundamental part of this project.
The JFS Moishe Farm Project garden. (photo from RJDS)
Teaching students about proper nutrition and its effects on learning, brain function and mental health is essential. Proper nutrition is not just about having enough food, it’s about having the right kind of food that fuels bodies and minds. A balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables can significantly enhance cognitive function and overall well-being. By engaging in this gardening project, RJDS is not only providing fresh produce but also educating students about the importance of nutrition, sustainability and community involvement.
Larry and Marcy Vinegar and Glenn Laufer donated the ground cover and irrigation system for the garden, Daniel Garfinkel donated the seeds and plants. Volunteers have planted, harvested and coordinated this project and helped the school use its land to produce and give back to community in sustainable and helpful ways. Through this objective, RJDS students and community can see firsthand the fruits of their labour and understand the value of hard work, patience and teamwork.
RJDS is planning various activities and workshops around the garden. Students will participate in planting, tending and harvesting. They will learn about different fruits and vegetables, their nutritional benefits, and how to prepare the produce in healthy and delicious ways. These activities will be complemented by lessons on the environmental impact of food production and the importance of sustainable farming practices.
The long-term vision for this project includes expanding the garden and increasing the variety of produce. RJDS hopes to eventually supply a significant portion of its community’s fresh produce needs and possibly even create a surplus that could be shared with other organizations.
This project is more than just a garden. It is a symbol of RJDS’s and JFS’s commitment to the community’s health, well-being and future. By working together, a sustainable, healthy and connected community can be created.
Israeli writer Gil Zohar (standing, seventh from the left) with other 2024 Rockower Award winners in Nashville, Tenn., last month. (photo by Bill Motchan)
At the annual conference of the American Jewish Press Association, which took place in Nashville, Tenn., June 2-4, Israeli freelance writer and tour guide Gil Zohar was there in person to collect his Rockower Award for Excellence in Jewish Journalism. He won an honourable mention for the article “Identifying the victims,” published by the Jewish Independent Nov. 10, 2023. The Independent picked up four Rockowers this year, for work published in 2023.
Zohar’s article (jewishindependent.ca/identifying-the-victims) won in the Wild Card Category – Award for Excellence in Writing about the War in Israel: News and Feature Writing. It explains how staff at the Israel Defence Forces’ Shura base were working around the clock at the time to identify the remains of the 1,200 people murdered in Israel by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, a process made more grisly and difficult because of the extreme brutality of the attack.
Winning first place in the Wild Card Category for weekly and biweekly newspapers was “New era for world Jewry” by Chaim Goldberg, published by Intermountain Jewish News (Denver, Colo.). Taking second place was “A letter from Israel: It’s okay to start dreaming” by Chaim Steinmetz, published in the Jewish Journal of Greater LA (Los Angeles, Calif.).
The Jewish Independent won first place for weekly and biweekly newspapers in the category of Excellence in Single Commentary with Helen Mintz’s article “Opportunity for healing” (jewishindependent.ca/opportunity-for-healing). Originally presented as a d’var Torah at Or Shalom Synagogue, it was “intended as a beginning of a conversation about how we, as Canadian Jews, can heal our relationship with Ukrainians and Ukraine.” Of the article, the Rockower jury wrote: “A powerful reminder that there are many ways to view complex histories. The beautiful way the story is told is both intimately personal and ultimately universal.”
Taking second place in the Single Commentary category was “Wokeism and the Jews: A reckoning” by Monica Osborne (Jewish Journal of Greater LA), with “The inside story of how Palestinians took over the world” by Gary Wexler (also for the Jewish Journal of Greater LA) receiving an honourable mention.
Local musician, composer and bandleader Moshe Denburg earned the Jewish Independent second place for Excellence in Arts – Review/Criticism, weekly and biweekly newspapers, with his review “Erez’s new CD shows mastery” (jewishindependent.ca/erezs-new-cd-shows-mastery). The Rockower jury wrote: “Sounds like a great CD.”
Placing first Excellence in Arts – Review/Criticism was “Oppenheimer, and the lesson of brainy Jews” by Thane Rosenbaum (Jewish Journal of Greater LA) and Tabby Refael received an honourable mention for the article “For a deaf woman from Iran, freedom never sounded so good” (Jewish Journal of Greater LA).
Winnipeg freelance writer Joanne Seiff won the Independent its fourth award, placing second in the category of Excellence in Writing about Jewish Thought and Life. The JI submitted three of her articles for consideration: “Women’s rights evolve,” “Honouring others in death” and “A yearly reminder to return.” The first article (jewishindependent.ca/womens-rights-evolve) talks about parallels between modern events and talmudic discussions – in particular laws that limit women’s ability to control their own bodies. The second article (jewishindependent.ca/honouring-others-in-death) is about how Jewish tradition could inform the debate that ensued after the remains of four murdered Indigenous women were found in Winnipeg-area landfills, and the third piece (jewishindependent.ca/a-yearly-reminder-to-return) connects the renovation of Seiff’s home with the month of Elul and teshuvah, usually translated as repentance, but also meaning return. “Returning to our best selves might require us to listen, pay attention to our gut feelings, do some renovation,” she writes.
In summing up Seiff’s articles, a member of the Rockower jury commented: “I would love to live in Winnipeg, only to read Joanne Seiff regularly. She is an intelligent writer.”
First place in this category for weekly and biweekly newspapers went to “Ten measures of beauty, of fragility, of hope” by Tehilla Goldberg (Intermountain Jewish News) and Refael won another honourable mention, for the article “I’m an observant Jew, and I need Christmas music more than ever before.”
To read the writing of all the 2024 Rockower winners, visit ajpa.org.
Pat Johnson and Cynthia Ramsay after their presentation about the Jewish Independent at Congregation Har El’s Seniors Lunch July 17. The pair were asked to participate by lunch organizers Tim Newman and Kala Solway. They each received a certificate of thanks and a thank-you gift from Noga Vieman, the synagogue’s programming and education director. (photo by Lorraine Katzin)
A screenshot of the Anti-Oppression Educators Collective’s resources page. The AOEC is a provincial specialist association of the BC Teachers’ Federation.
A group of BC teachers has filed a complaint against their union with the BC Human Rights Tribunal, alleging a culture of discrimination against Jews.
BC Teachers Against Antisemitism filed a complaint last week, after the BCTF rejected a proposal to create a provincial specialist association devoted to developing resources around antisemitism and Holocaust education.
The provincial government announced last year that Holocaust education would become mandatory in BC public schools for the first time in 2025. Provincial specialist associations within the BCTF develop and disseminate resources on areas of relevance, such as social studies, culinary arts and Aboriginal education. The proposal to create a PSA to develop the materials teachers will need when Holocaust education becomes a mandatory part of the Grade 10 social studies curriculum next year was rejected by the branch of the BCTF that vets the groups.
Paul Pulver, the lawyer representing the teachers, said this is only part of the complaint. He did not provide the text of the complaint to media, as he is adhering to the letter of the tribunal’s regulations and waiting for the quasi-judicial body to formally make the documents in the case public.
“There is a whole raft of allegations,” he said. “They involve the fact that pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel groups and members within the BCTF are able to, and encouraged to, state their position and lobby for their position and encourage change in support of their position, and those who do not agree with them are silenced and oppressed and discriminated against.”
The rejection of the PSA focused on antisemitism and Holocaust education is but one example, he said.
One PSA, called the Anti-Oppression Educators Collective (AOEC), with the imprimatur of the BCTF, is publishing and distributing and disseminating materials Pulver calls “quite anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, frankly anti-Jewish.”
“It publishes false accusations about occupation and genocide,” he said.
The TeachBC website, an official BCTF platform advertised as “your go-to site for free downloadable lesson plans, posters and classroom resources,” contains no materials about the Holocaust or about antisemitism, Pulver said, but includes “some really harsh anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish materials,” including a poster that says “Zionists, f*** off.” After controversy around some of these items, the BCTF appeared to remove some of the AOEC’s materials from the website.
“As a teacher who isn’t interested in putting on a keffiyeh and lobbying for pro-Palestinian goals and objectives, or pro-Hamas goals and objectives as the case may be, you’re persona non grata, you’re a second-class citizen,” Pulver said. “And they are sick of it,” he said of his clients.
Rich Overgaard, director of BCTF’s communications and campaigns division, told the Independent, would not comment on the substance of the complaint.
“The Federation values the critical role of the Human Rights Tribunal in upholding the BC Human Rights Code and, in respect for this process, as well as any members that may be involved, will not comment before the tribunal has reviewed the matter,” he said in an email.
Pulver does not expect a speedy resolution, although the BCTF could resolve the case by entering discussions to find a solution.
“But, if that doesn’t happen, it’s just like any other human rights complaint,” he said. “It goes to the Human Rights Tribunal and information is exchanged and, ultimately, there’s a hearing and they make a decision.”
If the complaint goes to a hearing, the process could stretch late into the year or further.
“Unfortunately, the wheels of justice within a number of administrative bodies in the province grind slowly and the Human Rights Tribunal is no exception,” he said. “We are looking at months, plural.”
The teachers’ complaint is a tip of the iceberg, in one professional area, of what Jews in British Columbia and beyond are experiencing today, said Pulver.
“This is a microcosm of what’s going on in our daily life and in the daily work life of people who are Jewish or have pro-Israel or pro-Zionist views,” said the lawyer, who is a partner with Pulver Crawford Munroe LLP. “They are facing discrimination, they’re facing oppression, intimidation, they are being ostracized. In this case, they are being prevented from exercising democratic rights that, as union members, they ought to have and be able to exercise. They are in fear on a regular basis because they hold views or have origins that are not well-received in the current climate. I think anybody who cares about that sort of thing – which should be everybody – would look at this and say they deserve to be treated fairly, and they are not right now.”
