The 2022 Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver annual campaign raised $13.17 million: $10.24 million through the campaign and $2.91 million in additional support (this includes additional special project funding, community relief and emergency relief). Federation chief executive officer Ezra Shanken noted in one of his weekly emails last month that 2,500-plus donors made “Amazing Happen,” the campaign’s theme. There were more than 900 donors “who gave for the first time or increased their gifts, 21 partner agency boards achieved 100% campaign participation, meaning that every one of their directors supported the annual campaign,” and there were more than 200 volunteer canvassers.
“The campaign is led by volunteer leaders from across our community,” wrote Shanken, “and I want to thank the entire annual campaign cabinet who did a remarkable job guided by the leadership of Lana Marks Pulver in her second year as chair: Shay Keil, Megan Laskin, Alvin Wasserman, Al Szajman, Chana Charach, Lindsay Isserow, David Linde, Catherine Epstein, Andrew Altow, David Porte, Michael Nemirow, Todd Thal, Sue Hector, Lucy Adirim and Justin Ergas.
“On behalf of the thousands of people, here and around the world, whose lives are made better by collective giving,” he continued, “I want to thank everyone who participated in the annual campaign and took our results to new heights for our community.”
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David Morley
Last month, Jerry Nussbaum and Lillian Boraks-Nemetz of the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada awarded the 2023 Janusz Korczak Statuette to David Morley, who has supported and advanced children’s rights and well-being in Canada and around the world in his 30-plus year career. He only recently retired from his position as president and chief executive officer of UNICEF Canada.
Prior to joining UNICEF Canada, Morley served as executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders Canada (during his tenure, Médecins Sans Frontières was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize); as president and CEO of Save the Children Canada; and was the founding executive director of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. Morley was invested into the Order of Canada “for his leadership in international development and for his humanitarian commitment to improving the lives of children and families around the world.”
The 2023 Janusz Korczak Statuette recognizes lifetime achievement in child advocacy, and vision and leadership in promoting a holistic approach to the well-being of children in the spirit of Korczak. It is awarded under the auspices of B.C. Lieutenant Governor Janet Austin (honorary patron of the association), who participates in the annual event. The ceremony this year took place at Government House in Victoria on May 3.
“Tikkun olam,” said Candace Kwinter, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver board chair and Jewish Agency for Israel board member, about what drives her to donate so much of her time and energy both locally and globally.
“I feel it in my heart and soul to assist every Jew in the world who needs help in whatever way necessary,” said Kwinter, who is concluding her two-year term as chair. She will continue with the board as immediate past chair.
As board chair, Kwinter works alongside fellow volunteers and Federation staff.
“We provide our more than 30 partner agencies, including the day schools, supplementary Hebrew schools, Jewish Family Services, the Jewish Community Centre and more, with support, not only through funding but by bringing our partners together to collaborate and innovate to meet our community’s evolving needs today and in the future,” she said.
With the Jewish Agency, Kwinter attends the board of governors meetings twice a year; additionally, she sits on the agency’s aliyah, unity of the Jewish people, and antisemitism committees.
“With antisemitism on the rise and aliyah doubling because of Ukraine and Russia, the Jewish Agency has been extremely busy. We are working hard to connect Israelis to world Jewry and, from a local perspective, more Jews in British Columbia specifically,” she said.
According to Kwinter, the partnership between Federation and the Jewish Agency is vital because each can achieve much more by joining forces. She noted that it is the federation system across North America – not only the local federation – that partners with the Jewish Agency by financially supporting the agency’s work on the ground.
“The impact our community can make at an international level is so much greater when we work together,” she said. “Locally, Federation supports the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) with funding to assist world Jewry in aliyah, humanitarian needs and security concerns, as well as bridging the gaps between Israelis and world Jewry.”
Largely due to the global pandemic, needs have shifted during Kwinter’s time on both boards. “COVID changed everything. We all had to pivot when the pandemic hit and it created a lot of uncertainty,” she said.
Among the social consequences resulting from COVID-19 – locally, in Israel and around the world – have been increased food insecurity, a surge in mental health issues, inflation and isolation. In 2022, humanitarian needs were exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, thereby increasing the demand for aliyah.
“I am incredibly proud of the way our community responded and, because of the partnerships already in place with organizations like the JDC and the Jewish Agency, we were able to get people the help they needed quickly and effectively,” said Kwinter.
Concurrent with the European conflict, the Jewish Agency established Tzur Israel at the beginning of 2022 to unite the remaining Ethiopian Jews with their families in Israel, she said. “Once again, world Jewry came together to fund the aliyah segment – the Israeli government funds the entire absorption costs. I had the privilege of being on the first plane of Operation Tzur Israel last June, where we brought 179 Ethiopians to Israel. It was incredible.” (See jewishindependent.ca/israels-new-ethiopian-airlift.)
Kwinter’s love of Israel derives from a concern about antisemitism and the history of the Holocaust and a commitment to “Never Again.”
“To me, Israel represents ‘Never Again’ and gives me a sense of security as the homeland for every Jew in the world,” Kwinter said. “It is with great pride I speak of Israel and all it has achieved in the past 75 years. It is truly a beacon of tikkun olam and innovation, for all the world to benefit. It is a light among the nations.”
Kwinter holds 40-plus years of experience in financial services, including owning and operating her own financial services agency for 29 years, before selling it in 2017. She has been involved with Federation in various capacities and volunteers with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver, the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee, and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Pacific Region. She is president of the North Shore Jewish Community Centre / Congregation Har El, having also served as synagogue president from 2005 to 2007. From 2008 to 2011, she served on the Pacific Northwest Region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
The rich and rugged history of Jews in the Yukon has found an internet home on the website of the Jewish Cultural Society of Yukon, jcsy.org. The lure of the Klondike Gold Rush and the stories of its enterprising and colourful Jewish personalities, some respectable and others salacious, comprise a large portion of the newly created virtual real estate.
The quest to get to the gold, a journey undertaken by 100,000 prospectors between 1896 to 1899, was treacherous, the site explains. There were several routes, but one of the more popular ones was boarding a ship to Skagway, Alaska, then trekking over the Chilkoot Trail to Yukon. Once there, prospectors and retailers set out along Yukon River for another 550 kilometres to Dawson City – a trip that could take months – traveling during the winter so they would be ready for the summer prospecting season.
Prior to venturing on their northbound journey, however, fortune seekers needed supplies, dubbed a “Yukon Outfit,” the equivalent of one ton of provisions, which were essential to live and work in the north. The website shows photos of people bearing heavy loads headed to Dawson City, climbing ice-carved stairs to get to the Chilkoot Trail.
On the same page, there is a newspaper ad by Cooper & Levy, a Seattle company equipping gold hunters for their excursions. “Are you going to the Alaska gold fields? If so, send for our Supply List for ‘One Man for One Year’…. The list will be sent free of charge to any part of the world,” the ad reads.
“The idea of getting to Dawson City was an unbelievably difficult task. People needed to get there on a raft with all their things. The strength of the people was incredible,” said Rick Karp, president of the Jewish Cultural Society of Yukon (JCSY). “It was not a party. It was unbelievably difficult and many didn’t survive. As well, the First Nations communities suffered life-changing events.”
Albert and Marcus Meyer, whose histories are told on the website, were but two of the many industrious Jews to land in Dawson City. They opened a jewelry business in 1897, were buyers of Indigenous gold and produced Indigenous-style gold jewelry. Expert silversmiths, they also crafted silver trade bracelets with carved Tlingit designs.
Other families with connections to the Klondike would rise to prominence elsewhere, such as the Barrons in Calgary and the Oppenheimers in Vancouver. And there is Sid Grauman, whose father wanted to build a theatre in the north, and who would later establish the famed Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
Diamond Tooth Lil, on the other hand, was one of the notorious characters to arrive north of the 60th parallel. Born Honora Ornstein, she started out as a star “entertainer,” popular among spendthrift gold seekers and purportedly owned a luxury home in Skagway that “catered” to wealthy clients.
Another page of the website includes photos and video footage of the discovery, restoration and rededication ceremony of the Jewish cemetery in Dawson City in 1998. Herb Gray, deputy prime minister of Canada at the time, made a speech at the ceremony.
The JCSY has plans to expand the website in the coming months. “We will be keeping the site up to date and will be posting more information and photos,” Karp said.
Originally formed as the Jewish Historical Society of Yukon in 1997 after the discovery of the Jewish cemetery in Dawson City – a century after the Gold Rush – its mandate was to clean, restore and rededicate the cemetery, as well as research those buried there. The identification of those interred inevitably led to questions about the others who participated in the Gold Rush, what they did during their stay, and the impact they had when moving on to other communities or returning to the families they’d left behind in search of fortune.
Upon completion of the cemetery project, the historical society believed its work was complete. However, by 2012, with the growth of the Jewish community in Whitehorse, interest in their work flourished and the JCSY was formed. Its mandate expanded to include forming a community to share Jewish culture, celebrate the High Holidays and Passover together and hold social gatherings.
The stories the society uncovered in its goal to learn more about the Jews of the Gold Rush resulted in the creation of a traveling historical display to share them. The display was exhibited both in Vancouver and on Vancouver Island, last making a stop at the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria in 2020. (See jewishindependent.ca/victoria-hosts-klondike.)
One can become a member of the JCSY through the website. The cost is $25 for a single membership and $40 for a family. Should a person make a donation of any size to the JCSY, they will be sent an email with a link to a new booklet (upon its completion), which outlines many of the notable stories of the Jewish presence in Yukon during and after the Gold Rush.
A section of the booklet’s introduction states, “While the north may not seem like an obvious choice for a nice Jewish boy from Milwaukee, Edmonton, Vancouver or Seattle, when you think about it, it is not such a stretch. Harsh times foster resilience and for every dreamer there is also a pragmatist. With a history of harsh times, Jewish people have been nothing if not resilient.”
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Rabbi Itzhak Marmorstein – a former spiritual leader of Vancouver’s Congregation Or Shalom – stands beside the ark in Beit HaRav Kook, where he is the gabbai (sexton). (photo by Gil Zohar)
Scores of congregants packed Beit HaRav in downtown Jerusalem June 2-3 to celebrate the centenary of the historic synagogue, yeshiva and home of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), a seminal Zionist religious leader during the British Mandate who founded the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
Born in Griva – then part of the Czarist Empire but today Daugavpils, Latvia – Kook arrived in Jaffa, Ottoman Palestine, on Iyar 28, 5665 (1904), where he became the city’s leading Jewish spiritual figure. The family’s private celebration became a national holiday during the 1967 Six Day War when Israel conquered the Old City of Jerusalem on the same date.
Exiled in Switzerland and then in Britain during the First World War, Kook – also known by the Hebrew acronym HaRaAYaH – played a key role in London in securing the 1917 Balfour Declaration by which Britain announced its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
Returning to the country then under British military occupation following the war, Kook served as the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Jerusalem. Both the city’s Jewish religious leaders and Whitehall were anxious to replace the Ottoman office of hakham bashi, chief rabbi of the former Turkish empire. Thus, in 1921, Kook was appointed to the newly created position of Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the Land of Israel.
But where was a scholar of such stature to live, especially since the representatives of other religions in the holy city all had an appropriate residence?
The issue was brought up in a July 24, 1921, meeting at Government House on the Mount of Olives – today the Augusta Victoria Hospital – between Britain’s newly arrived high commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel (1870-1963), and New York businessman Harry Fischel (1865-1948). Asked by Samuel to raise money for the project among his American peers, the philanthropist and his wife Shayna volunteered to fund the building themselves.
They identified Beit David, a one-storey kollel almshouse erected in 1873 by philanthropist David Reis. Owned by the Ashkenazi community’s Central Committee of Knesset Israel, the site was eminently suitable. The courtyard – opposite Rothschild Hospital (today Hadassah College) and near the residence of pioneering ophthalmologist Dr. Alfred Ticho and his wife, artist Anna – was located on Hadassah Street, which was renamed after Rabbi Kook following his death.
The yeshiva hall and beit midrash of Beit HaRav Kook. (photo by Gil Zohar)
A cornerstone for the second-floor addition was laid on Aug. 15 before the Fischels departed. Work began immediately. Fischel, an architect and real estate developer in Manhattan, ensured the structure included all the latest modern conveniences. The double-height ceilings were decorated with colourful stencil patterns. Built surrounding a central courtyard, one wing included a reception area, kitchen, bathroom and three bedrooms for the Kook family. The other side included the Central Universal Yeshiva, a synagogue and the scholar’s bureau – now restored to its appearance a century ago. At Kook’s insistence, the synagogue incorporated a moveable roof to permit a sizeable sukkah.
The Kooks moved in at Hanukkah 1922, though the synagogue and yeshiva were still under construction. That spring, the Fischels again crossed the Atlantic. Docking in Alexandria, they caught the train from Egypt across the Sinai Desert to Palestine. Arriving at Lydda (Lod) on May 9, they were greeted by a delegation of rabbis. The couple insisted on being immediately escorted to Beit HaRav.
The dedication began at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sivan 12, 5683 (May 27, 1923). The program – which included 33 events and speakers with a tea break – augured well for cooperation between the country’s growing Jewish community and the new imperial regime.
The many dignitaries in attendance included leading rabbis and Zionist figures. The event was a quasi-national holiday. Jerusalem was decorated with bunting in the Zionist, British and American colours. Flags flew everywhere across the city.
The orchestra of the nearby Institute for the Blind played the Star-Spangled Banner, God Save the King and Hatikvah, while the Etz Chaim Talmud Torah’s choir performed for the guests.
Among the dozens of speakers was Fischel, who addressed the assembly in Hebrew and then English: “Words fail me at this moment to express my gratitude to the Almighty for granting me this privilege of building this Beth HaRav and synagogue…. While my heart always beats for Palestine, yet my home is in America. I have, therefore, had to travel nearly 6,000 miles to participate in this holy celebration….
“The building committee has just presented me with the key of this house certifying thereby that the building is now completed. In view of the fact that this residence and synagogue are to be used for the benefit of the people of Palestine, and that Your Excellency [Samuel], is the chief executive of the land, I therefore deem it fitting and proper to present you with the key, and designate you as custodian of this combined edifice. May I ask you, please, to accept this golden key and keep it as a souvenir and memento of this occasion? I want to take this means also of publicly thanking you for the honour you have bestowed upon us. May God grant you, your administration and the people of Palestine continued security and peace.”
Turning to Kook, sitting next to him on the dais, resplendent in his Sabbath and festival fur spodek (tall, black hat), Samuel declared:
“I congratulate the Chief Rabbinate, Mr. and Mrs. Fischel and the Jewish community at large on this auspicious day. Among the many problems with which the civil administration had to deal on its establishment was the adoption of measures to place the Jewish community both on its secular and on its ecclesiastical side, upon a permanent and regular basis. The question of the organization of the secular side was not yet fully settled. But the government has been able to establish, on an electoral basis, the Chief Rabbinate and, for the first time after an interval of many centuries, a Jewish ecclesiastical authority has been founded on a permanent footing, based upon the decisions of the community itself.”
The ornately carved chair that Samuel presented to Kook on behalf of King George V remains in its place of honour on the synagogue’s eastern wall next to the aron kodesh (Torah ark).
The Beit HaRav dedication ceremony a century ago. Rabbi Isaac Kook, fourth from the right in the photo, is wearing the fur spodek. To his left is Harry Fischel. Herbert Samuel and Sefardi Chief Rabbi Yaakov Meir. (photo from Rabbi Aaron I. Reichel, esq., administrator of the Harry and Jane Fischel Foundation)
Asked about the importance of Beit HaRav, the institution’s gabbai (sexton) Rabbi Itzhak Marmorstein – also known by his nom de plume rabbanique Evan-Shayish – cited Kook’s dedication address a century ago:
“We are engaged here in declaring an elevated ideal that must proceed higher and higher. This ideal must develop and grow its activity through the gathering together of our scattered powers so that together we can proceed in the rebuilding of the ruins of Jerusalem together. This involves strengthening the physical building of the land and the nation in the material realm as the basis for the higher, holy and spiritual building of the Torah and holiness. This will illuminate the living light for the entire national renewal in all its branches.”
Kook’s funeral in 1935 was attended by an estimated 20,000 mourners. Beit HaRav continued to function as the flagship for the dati leumi (national religious) community, but a larger yeshiva was erected in Kiryat Moshe in 1964, and the old building fell into disuse.
Since 2008, Marmorstein – a Canadian-Israeli who formerly served at Congregation Or Shalom in Vancouver – has been engaged in reviving the original building. The building today operates as a neighbourhood synagogue with Sabbath services, as well as a museum.
The centre offers a class every Thursday at 9 p.m. taught by noted kabbalist Rabbi Yohai Yemini on Kook’s commentary on Rabbi Isaac Luria’s teachings. Those insights, recorded and edited in Safed between 1570 and 1572 by his disciple Haim Vital, form the basis for Lurianic kabbalah (mysticism), a system of thought Kook helped spread under which the arrival the Messiah and the ingathering of the Jews to Israel is imminent.
As of last Friday, June 16, the population of Canada surpassed 40 million people. According to data from the 2021 Canadian census released last year, 335,295 Canadians consider themselves to be Jewish by religion, up from 329,500 in 2011.
The 2021 census also asked about ethnic or cultural origin. In this instance, the number of people choosing Jewish as their ethnic or cultural origin (or one of several) decreased from 2011 to 2021, from 309,650 to 282,015, though the number increased in British Columbia, from 31,865 in 2011 to 34,395 a decade later. This article focuses on Jews by religion.
More than half of Canadian Jews live in Ontario, home to 196,100 Jews, while an additional quarter (84,530) live in Quebec. British Columbia’s 26,845 Jews are 8% of the national Jewish population. Other provinces with significant Jewish populations are Alberta, with 11,565 Jews, and Manitoba, with 11,390. Smaller Jewish communities exist in Nova Scotia, with 2,195 Jews, Saskatchewan, with 1,105 Jews, and New Brunswick, where 1,000 people listed their religion as Jewish.
In Canada, approximately 12,000 Jews (3.6%) identify as a visible minority, including 2,615 Black Jews, 1,505 Latin American Jews, 1,270 South Asian Jews and 1,155 Chinese Jews. Those numbers in British Columbia are 1,425 overall, including 235 Latin American Jews, 200 Black Jews, 170 Chinese Jews and 150 South Asian Jews.
British Columbia is home to the fastest-growing Jewish population in Canada, adding 3,715 Jewish residents since 2011, representing 16% growth. By comparison, Canada added 5,795 Jews to the national population, growing 1.8%. Ontario’s Jewish population only grew 0.3%, while Quebec’s Jewish population declined by 0.7%, making it the only province whose Jewish population decreased over the 10-year period. Western provinces recorded more robust growth: 6% in Alberta, 2.5% in Manitoba and 17.5% in Saskatchewan.
Home to a combined three-quarters of Canada’s Jews, the metropolitan areas of Toronto and Montreal both saw a decline in their Jewish population over the past decade. Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver’s Jewish population grew from 18,730 in 2011 to 20,125 in 2021, an additional 1,395 Jews. Elsewhere in Canada, Greater Ottawa’s Jewish community expanded, as did the metropolitan areas of Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton.
Even though their metropolitan Jewish populations decreased over the last decade, the municipal Jewish populations of Toronto and Montreal both grew slightly, suggesting a Jewish movement away from the suburbs and towards the city. Vancouver’s municipal Jewish population also grew during the same period, from 10,350 to 11,675, allowing it to surpass both Winnipeg and Ottawa to become the third-largest Jewish municipal population in Canada. While the City of Vancouver’s share of the B.C. Jewish population decreased slightly over the past decade, from 44.7% in 2011 to 43.5% in 2021, its percentage of Greater Vancouver’s Jewish population grew from 55% to 58%. Greater Vancouver is home to 75% of British Columbia’s Jews, down from its share of 81% in 2011.
Other B.C. cities with sizable Jewish populations include Richmond, whose 2,515 Jews make it the second-largest Jewish municipality in the province, and Surrey, where 900 people reported their religion as Jewish – although both cities’ Jewish populations declined since 2011. The District of North Vancouver had 845 people reporting Jewish as their religion in 2021 and Burnaby 620, both increases from 2011; and West Vancouver had 555, which was a decrease from 665 in 2011. Beyond the Lower Mainland, Victoria’s Jewish population grew from 550 to 960, Saanich’s Jewish community increased from 555 to 750, and the Jewish population of Kelowna more than doubled, going from 215 in 2011 to 530 in 2021.
In addition to provincial, metropolitan and municipal data, the 2021 census also provided information about electoral ridings. Vancouver Granville was the electoral riding with the largest Jewish population in Vancouver (3,275), while Vancouver Quadra was a close second (3,125), although the Jewish population of both ridings decreased since 2011.
Vancouver Granville remains home to 27.5% of Vancouver’s Jews, while Vancouver Quadra is home to 26% of the city’s Jewish population. The Jewish population of four other electoral ridings – Vancouver Centre, Vancouver East, Vancouver Kingsway and Vancouver South – all increased significantly, suggesting a population shift from Vancouver’s West Side to Downtown and East Vancouver. Using these electoral ridings as an approximate guide, 54% of Vancouver’s Jews live in the West Side, 27% live in East Vancouver and 19% live in Downtown Vancouver. By comparison, 64% of Vancouver’s Jews lived in the West Side in 2011, 20% lived in East Vancouver and 16% lived Downtown.
Along with religion, the Canadian census also gave information about language. Canadians who can speak Hebrew increased from 70,695 in 2011 to 83,205 in 2021, while Canadians who can speak Yiddish decreased from 23,750 to 20,155 over the same period. More than half of Hebrew-speaking Canadians, 47,380, live in Ontario, while more than half of Yiddish-speaking Canadians, 12,825, live in Quebec. Hebrew speakers in British Columbia increased from 4,505 in 2011 to 6,995 in 2021, while Yiddish speakers in the province declined from 540 in 2011 to 480 in 2021.
While the 2011 census only provided information about languages spoken, the 2021 census also gave information about Canadians’ mother tongues. In 2021, 19,595 Canadians spoke Hebrew as their first language. Meanwhile, 12,060 Canadians spoke Yiddish as a first language. In British Columbia, 2,260 people spoke Hebrew as a mother tongue in 2021, while 215 listed Yiddish as their first language.
Michael Rom is Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia. He received a PhD in history from Yale University, and has also held research fellowships at the Centre for Jewish History in New York City, the University of Cape Town and the University of São Paulo. His research examines Brazilian Jewish politics during the Cold War.
קנדה הפכה לא מכבר ליעד תיירות פופולרי. בנוסף, ישראלים רבים מבקשים לנסוע לקנדה עבור לימודים או כדי למצוא עבודה. אשרות כניסה לקנדה משתנות לפי המטרה שלשמה מעוניינים להיכנס למדינה. עבור כל מטרה המבקשים ידרשו להליך שונה כדי שרשויות ההגירה המקומיות יאפשרו למעוניינים להיכנס למדינה ולשהות בה את הזמן שהם רוצים בו
כמו מדינות רבות בעולם, גם קנדה עברה שינוי במדיניות הכניסה וההגירה אליה. המהגרים הרבים שביקשו להיכנס למדינה גרמו לרשויות ההגירה להחמיר את תנאי הסף הכניסה למדינה כדי למנוע את ההצפה של במהגרים. אם זה נשמע קצת מפחיד, אפשר להיות רגוע. זאת כיוון שבתור ישראלים המצב טוב יחסית לעומת מהגרים ממקומות אחרים בעולם
ממשלת קנדה לא דורשת מאזרחים ישראלים המעוניינים לבקר במדינה לתקופה של עד חצי שנה עבור טיול למשל, להוציא ויזה. כל אזרח ישראלי יכול להגיש בקשה באינטרנט ולקבל תוך כמה ימים אישור שמאפשר לו להיכנס לקנדה ולשהות שם עד חצי שנה. מעבר לזמן הוא יידרש להנפיק ויזה באמצעות קצין הגירה המקומי. הנה מספר דברים שחשוב
לדעת על הויזה הזו וכיצד ניתן לזרז את תהליך הקבלה שלה. כאמור, אזרחים ישראלים לא נדרשים להוציא ויזה כדי להיכנס לקנדה. האישור האמור לעיל מאפשר לשהות בקנדה חצי שנה ולא אמורה להיות בעיה להנפיק אותו. במקרים הבאים ידרשו הבאים להנפיק ויזה מוגדרת ואישור שהייה בלבד לא מספיק: ויזת תייר היא ויזה ניתנת למי שמבקש
ויזת תייר להגיע למדינה לצורך טיול. בדרך כלל אורכה של הויזה יהיה עד שישה חודשים. מי שמבקש ויזת תייר יצטרך גם להוכיח שזו אכן מטרתו האמיתית. וזאת, כדי למנוע מקרים שבהם מהגרים יגיעו למדינה בכיסוי של תיירים. לויזה הזו יזדקקו המעוניינים להישאר בקנדה לתקופה שעולה על חצי שנה. יש לזכור שבעת הגשת הבקשה יתבקשו המעויינים לשכנע את קצין ההגירה שהמטרה שאותה הם מציגים היא המטרה שלשמה הם מעוניינים להאריך את שהותם בקנדה. כידוע חשוב מאוד לא לנסות להסתיר פרטים מקצין ההגירה כדי לא לגרום לדחיית הבקשה לקבלת הויזה. ויזת עבודה מיועדת לאזרח ישראלי שמעוניין להיכנס לקנדה כדי לעבוד בה נדרש להנפיק לעצמו ויזת עבודה. את הויזה ניתן להנפיק בשגרירות קנדה בישראל, ובמקרים רבים הויזה תהיה ספציפית, והיא תהיה מוגבלת למקום עבודה מסוים, סוג עבודה והתקופה שבה המעוניינים רשאים לעבוד במדינה. עבור כל שינוי הם יאלצו לגשת לרשויות ההגירה המקומיות להאריך את משך האשרה
למותר לציין שאין לנסות להפר את הכללים, וחובה על המבקשים לעשות שימוש בויזה בדיוק לפי המטרות שמוגדרות בה. הפרה של אחד מהכללים עלולה לגרום לביטול האשרה ולאלץ את המבקשים לצאת מקנדה עוד לפני המועד המתוכנן
כדי לקבל ויזת לימודים שמאפשרת למבקש ללמוד במוסד להשכלה גבוהה בקנדה, יש להציג מכתב שבו המוסד מקבל אותו ללימודים. כמובן שהמוסד צריך להיות מוכר על ידי ממשלת קנדה. מלבד אישור הקבלה מהמוסד, יצטרך המבקש להוכיח שהוא מסוגלים לקיים את עצמו ואת המשפחה שלו מבחינה כלכלית. יש לזכור שעל המבקשים לעזוב את קנדה מיד עם סיום הלימודים שלהם
ויזה דיפלומטית היא ויזה מונפקת עבור דיפלומטים של המדינה הזרה והיא מאפשרת להם לשהות במדינת היעד שלהם במשך כל זמן השליחות הדיפלומטית שלהם. אם ישראלי ישלח לשליחות דיפלומטית בקנדה, סביר להניח שמדינת ישראל כבר תדאג לו כך שאפשר להיות רגועים בנושא זה
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day will be marked with a community-wide event hosted by Jewish Family Services, in partnership with many other agencies. (photo from nvrc.ca)
According to a World Health Organization study, half the world’s population bears a prejudice against the elderly. Jewish Family Services in Vancouver, which shares that statistic on its website, notes that roughly 17% of people over the age of 60 worldwide are victims of elder abuse. The agency also notes that about 20% of Canadians believe older people are a burden on society, and that approximately 80% of Canadian seniors report discrimination in health care.
On June 15, at 10 a.m., JFS will host a free community-wide event in recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Wosk Auditorium. Rights Don’t Get Old: Let’s Unite Against Elder Abuse will cover what can be done to prevent – what many recent studies have shown to be – a growing problem. Featured speakers include Michael Lee, MLA for Vancouver-Langara and shadow minister for Indigenous relations and reconciliation; Isobel McKenzie, British Columbia’s seniors advocate; and Linda Youk of Seniors First BC.
“A very important element of elder abuse is that it can happen to anyone,” said Cindy McMillan, director of programs and community partnerships at JFS. “We shouldn’t make assumptions about who is at risk and who is not. Awareness that it exists, and that there are supports out there … is what June 15 is all about.”
For JFS, “a nonprofit that supports up to 1,200 seniors annually to live at home safely and with dignity, elder abuse prevention, detection and response is an essential part of support,” she said. “This year, following several years of COVID, and subsequent isolation of many older adults, I felt it was very timely to bring the community together to create more awareness around this issue.”
Elder abuse comprises varying forms of mistreatment, the most commonly reported being neglect, followed by emotional and financial abuse. Physical abuse is also prevalent, with 8.8% of abused seniors experiencing physical violence, according to data provided by JFS. Elder abuse can occur in numerous settings, including within the home, at care facilities and in the community. Most reported cases involve family members, with adult children and spouses being the most common perpetrators.
A Statistics Canada report released in 2019 stated that nearly one in five seniors had experienced some form of abuse. A report from the Office of the Seniors Advocate in British Columbia, using data from 2017 to 2021, found a 49% increase in neglect and self-neglect, an 87% increase in reported physical abuse and a 49% increase in financial abuse over that five-year period.
Neglect is often underreported, both because of a lack of awareness as to what constitutes neglect and the potential stigma associated with the admission of neglect, explained McMillan. Neglect can manifest in different ways, such as providing insufficient food and water, failing to administer medication, leaving an older adult in dirty and unsafe living conditions, and not seeking medical attention for the elderly person when it is needed.
Financial abuse, or the exploitation of older adults for monetary gain, can have serious ramifications. Despite numerous laws in place to prevent it, B.C. seniors lose an estimated $50 million annually because of financial abuse, with only one in five cases reported.
WEAAD was launched in 2006 by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations.
“JFS has always been involved in WEAAD, primarily through our Better at Home program, where we have partnered with different community organizations to have smaller events that promote awareness,” said McMillan. “Our involvement stems from our connection with the Marpole Community Response Network, who is at the forefront of providing information and education on elder abuse.”
Better at Home is a JFS-coordinated program, administered by the United Way, which helps seniors in Kerrisdale, Oakridge, Marpole, Southlands and Dunbar with non-medical, day-to-day tasks such as housekeeping, transportation, grocery shopping, visits and handyperson repairs. The program’s objective is to assist seniors so that they can continue to live independently in their own homes and remain connected to their communities.
This year’s June 15 event will have numerous resource tables located in the atrium of the JCC. Among the groups presenting are the Alzheimer Society of British Columbia, JQT Vancouver, Kerrisdale Oakridge Marpole Community Policing Centre, L’Chaim Adult Day Centre, ASK Friendship Society and ReAct Adult Protection Program of Vancouver Coastal Health.
In a statement to the Independent, JFS said it “was very grateful to have partners like the Jewish Federation, the JCC, the Better at Home Program and Seniors First BC coming together to put on such an important event.”
To register for Rights Don’t Get Old: Let’s Unite Against Elder Abuse, visit jfsvancouver.ca. Refreshments will be provided.
Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Tikva Housing Society executive director Anat Gogo speaks at the May 24 opening of the Al and Lola Roadburg Residences. (photo filmoit.com courtesy Tikva Housing)
When the Kerrisdale building she has been living in for 24 years went up for sale last year, worried she would be cast out, like so many Vancouverites who have been “renovicted.”
She and other residents of the characteristic midcentury building on West 41st Avenue, many of whom had done no more than nod to one another in the hallways, anxiously discussed their fate, knowing that it was largely out of their hands. The tenants had experienced minimal rent increases over decades, as the elderly family owners provided minimal renovations, and the tenants enjoyed exceptionally low rents for the location.
Anxiety turned to jubilation when they learned that the building had been purchased by a nonprofit – Tikva Housing Society, the Jewish community’s agency for affordable housing.
Speaking May 24 at the official opening of the Al and Lola Roadburg Residences – Tikva’s new name for the building until then known as the Bonnie El – Bernstein said her worries for the future had begun to wear on her well-being.
“I decided to surrender, as the ruminating was truly disturbing my life,” she told the crowd. “All that was left was prayer. I asked many friends and family to pray for the best possible outcome. Lo and behold, we were given the incredible news that Bonnie El had been bought by a nonprofit organization, Tikva Housing Society. The only conclusion I can come up with is that God answers prayers.”
Throughout her life, from her early years in South Africa to her migration to Vancouver and a new beginning at Bonnie El as a single mother, Bernstein said, “I have experienced such incredible compassion, generosity and empathy from throughout the Jewish community no matter where in the world I have been. I am honoured to be part of that community and to witness firsthand what so many do day after day to help make the city a better place.”
All existing residents of the building will be grandfathered, but Tikva officials were surprised and pleased to discover that, by pure coincidence, about a quarter of the existing residents are Jewish.
And that’s not the only Jewish connection. In doing their due diligence on the building, they discovered that it was built in 1961 by the Golden and Averbach families. It didn’t take long to sleuth out more information. Local businessman and philanthropist Gary Averbach explained that Bonnie El was named after his sister, Bonnie, and her husband, Elliott Leyton.
The new Roadburg Residences, made possible by a grant from the Al Roadburg Foundation, includes four studio apartments, 13 one-bedrooms, two two-bedrooms and one three-bedroom suite. The acquisition and renovation of the building brings to 148 the number of units owned and operated by Tikva, with a further 20 opening in Burnaby this summer. Tikva also provides rent subsidies to people living in market housing or facing housing challenges, according to Anat Gogo, Tikva’s executive director. In all, 300 people, including 120 children, benefit from Tikva’s housing solutions. There remain 302 applicants on the community’s Jewish Housing Registry.
“In our mission to provide access to affordable housing solutions, we dream big,” Gogo told the audience in the spacious covered alcove outside the building’s front door. “Our staff and board are committed to tackling housing insecurity, but we can’t do it alone.”
Gogo credited support from across the community, citing, in addition to the Al Roadburg Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Jewish Family Services and others for bringing the project to fruition.
“Rather than demolishing and building new, Tikva is preserving this 20-unit building that still has many years remaining,” she said, to applause and whoops of approval from assembled residents.
Robert Matas, director of the Al Roadburg Foundation, spoke of his longtime association with the late philanthropist and the Roadburg family’s commitment to causes in Vancouver and Israel. He acknowledged family members in the audience, including Al and Lola Roadburg’s daughter, Lorraine, and Matas’s wife, Alicia, who is a niece of Al and Lola Roadburg.
Rhonda Sacks, board chair of Tikva, thanked the staff of the organization and celebrated the exponential growth of the society and its housing units – up more than five-fold from 28 units in the last several years.
Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, spoke of his family’s experience with renovictions in the city, having twice been forced from homes before purchasing their own.
Tikva board members cut the ceremonial ribbon and Rabbi Carey Brown, associate rabbi at Temple Sholom, said the blessing and affixed the mezuzah to the front doorpost of the building.
Left to right: Jeff Ross and Stephen Kaye, King David High School co-presidents in 2006, and Diane Friedman and Alain Guez, this year’s co-presidents. (photo from KDHS)
“At King David, Jewish memory and education intersect, creating a unique and powerful learning experience that prepares our students for a lifetime of meaning and purpose,” said King David High School board co-president Alain Guez in his closing remarks at the school’s Golden Thread Gala May 18.
The gala is KDHS’s primary fundraising event of the year, and more than 300 people filled the ballroom at Congregation Beth Israel, including some 50 King David alumni, to celebrate the school’s 18 years in its current building, at Willow Street and 41st Avenue. The school itself is double chai (36) years old, its origins being found in Maimonides Secondary School, which opened in September 1987.
“We would not be here today if Maimonides … had not started us on our path, our derech, to where we are now,” said head of school Russ Klein in his opening remarks.
“This evening is to celebrate what our community has built together,” he said. “The Diamond Foundation, who support so many of our community efforts, made King David possible with their generous support, belief in our importance, and their strong Jewish values.”
Rabbi Stephen Berger, head of Judaic studies at KDHS, noted that the event was taking place on erev Yom Yerushalayim. He compared Yerushalayim – “a holy place for all people, all people can worship G-d in this one place” – to KDHS, in that there are many different Jewish schools in Metro Vancouver but only one high school, and this one high school has to serve everybody across the religious and cultural spectrum. “We don’t always get it right, but it is a place where we can try, and respect and show love to everybody,” he said.
Event co-chairs Heidi Seidman and Sherri Wise said a few words about the school, as well. “It is important to note,” said Seidman, “that not one student is left behind and, when you look around the room tonight, you are all part of the village that makes that possible.”
As auctioneer, Fred Lee – who is a regular contributor to CBC, the Province, Boulevard and Vancouver Magazine – stressed this idea. He spoke about the Jewish community and the importance of the high school. He also helped raise funds that will go towards the school’s programs and students. There was a silent auction, a 50/50 draw and other opportunities to donate.
Throughout the Golden Thread Gala, there were musical performances. (photo from KDHS)
The gala featured panelists Stephen Kaye, and Jeff Ross and Reisa Schwartzman, who were integral to the transition of the school from Maimonides to King David, and for taking the school from the portables it occupied on Baillie Street to having its own building on Willow. They were introduced in a video by their respective children, David Kaye and Zachary Ross, graduates of the inaugural KDHS Class of 2006.
Stephen Kaye came to Canada from South Africa, where there is a network of Jewish day schools called King David Schools. He described himself as “very passionate about Jewish education” and said, “The feedback we got from the community was that, if we could show enough commitment from parents to send their kids to a Jewish high school, there would be support from the community.” It was a hard sell, he said, but then the Diamonds bought the land at Willow and 41st.
Stephen and Sandy Kaye shlepped three kids from North Vancouver to King David in Vancouver, noted Klein, who emceed the panel discussion.
Ross spoke of studies showing that kids who have gone to a Jewish high school are more Jewishly knowledgeable and involved. And yet, he said that, in the beginning, there was almost a feeling that you were sacrificing your children to the experiment of a new high school, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. Ross gave Rabbi Mordechai Feuerstein, a co-founder of Maimonides, kudos for his efforts to keep the school going.
When the school was in “the shack” (portables) on Baillie Street, said Schwartzman, there were fewer than 60 kids and now there are more than 270. Back when she was helping bring KDHS into existence, she said she was confident this growth would happen, based on a survey that was conducted at Vancouver Talmud Torah, which would be the main feeder school into the high school. She was president of VTT at the time, and the survey of parents showed that about 50% of the kids from VTT would go to a Jewish high school if there were one.
Quality education was important to everyone, said Schwartzman, and one of the things the group behind KDHS did to ensure quality was to bring Perry Seidelman in as principal. Seidelman, who had some 30 years’ experience in teaching and administration at the time, had been contemplating retirement, but took on the principalship and held the position until 2008; he was succeeded by Klein.
In a video that featured Gordon and Leslie Diamond and their daughter Jill Diamond, as well as Class of 2023 students talking about how the school has positively impacted them, the Diamonds spoke of how proud they were of KDHS, its students, staff, and all the people who have given it its “personality” and contributed to its success. Calling the school “a labour of love for the Diamond Foundation,” Jill Diamond said, “And the most wonderful thing about King David is that it is teaching the Jewish values of tikkun olam, of chesed, of mitzvot and of tzedakah to the next generation of leaders of our community.”
Such has been the growth of the school that it added a modular unit last year, the building of which was funded by the Diamond Foundation. In her remarks with Guez, KDHS board co-president Diane Friedman spoke about how the addition is affectionately called the school’s “East Campus,” and thanked the foundation, as well as the donors who filled the modular with state-of-the art equipment, furniture and technology.
The evening came to a close with Klein and Seidelman. The former principal said he had worked at many schools before King David, and that he liked all of them – but he “loved King David.” He said he felt very proud as he looked around the room.
The gala also featured, under the direction of music teacher Johnny Seguin, the KDHS jazz band, who played at the cocktail reception – Luca Jeffery, Max Kimel, Jesse Millman and Nikki Wiseman – and performances throughout the night by singers Ella Ankenman, Kailey Bressler, Rachel Gerber, Mhairi Hemingson and Nikki Wiseman, with choreography credit given to Shai Rubin.
Gala committee members were Cyndi Ankenman, Dalia Bressler, Laura Feldman, Andrea Foxman, Nicole Ginsberg, Margaret Hemingson, Anna Herman, Ruth Jankelowitz, Joelly Simkin and Annie Simpson. Other volunteers were Lina Chernov, Kim Fisher, Jessica Forman, Simon Karsyente, Matilda Rosman Levsky, Melina Baum Singer, Gaenor Vaida, Jacqueline Wener and King David students Danielle Agulyansky, Eden Almog, Ali Fadida, Tamir Gini and Yuli Kabazo.
Rabbi Chalom Loeub and student Sagiv Fadida put on tefillin at the weekly Chabad booth at the UBC campus. (photo from Chabad at UBC)
This year marks a milestone, as the Chabad Jewish Student Centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC) celebrates its 10th anniversary. As part of the global Chabad on Campus movement, UBC Chabad has remained steadfast in its commitment to providing a warm and welcoming home for every Jewish student, regardless of their educational or religious background. UBC Chabad offers opportunities to build meaningful relationships with other Jewish students, deepen their connection and sense of belonging to their Jewish heritage, and strengthen their Jewish pride.
Rooted in the mystical traditions of the Hasidic revival of the late 18th century, Chabad-Lubavitch continues to try and make Judaism accessible and personally relevant to Jews worldwide. The teachings of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, also known as the Rebbe, emphasize the importance of caring for the spiritual and material needs of all Jews, from Vancouver to Berlin to India and beyond. Inspired by his philosophy, Chabad emissaries, or shluchim, have established thousands of Chabad Houses, providing all Jews a home away from home.
Chabad on Campus students from Western Washington University, University of Washington and University of British Columbia at an annual U.S.-Canada get-together. (photo from Chabad at UBC)
Over the past decade, Rabbi Chalom and Esti Loeub, the shluchim at UBC Chabad, along with their five children, have supported Jewish students’ physical and spiritual needs. They have hosted many fun and meaningful events, including weekly Shabbat dinners, Lunch & Learns, interactive tabling, and Grill the Rabbi barbeques. They have led holiday programs with lavish kosher meals, hosted a monthly Jewish Women’s Circle, and led educational initiatives such as the study of the Tanya (Chabad’s foundational book), Sinai Scholars (an eight-week series on the introduction to Judaism) and a course on the Six Day War (in partnership with the Jewish Learning Institute).
One of the many weekly Lunch & Learn sessions that take place at the UBC campus. (photo from Chabad at UBC)
However, the true measure of their impact lies in their ability to help Jewish students connect with their Jewish identity by performing mitzvot (good deeds). By encouraging students to give tzedakah (charity), wrap tefillin(phylacteries, or black leather boxes containing parchment from the Torah), light Shabbat candles, affix mezuzot (small pieces of parchment with a verse from the Torah rolled in a container) on their doorposts, and keep kosher, UBC Chabad has made a difference in the lives of countless Jewish students on campus.
“When I first came to university, I felt a distance between myself and the Jewish community,” said Gabby Tselos, president of UBC Chabad on Campus. “I always had my family and synagogue at home, but I felt like I was missing a piece of me when I came to UBC. Thankfully, in my second year, I became involved in Chabad and that has changed my whole college experience. Not only do I feel I have a Jewish family at UBC, but one that will remain with me as I continue to explore the world and my future.”
A recent BBQ hosted by Chabad at UBC. (photo from Chabad at UBC)
Baruch Eckermann, outreach chair of UBC Chabad on Campus, also spoke about the positive impact Chabad has had on him.
“Chabad at UBC has helped awaken the Jew that was dormant inside my heart,” he said. “Without the love and care I received from Rabbi Chalom and Esti Loeub, I would not have become the Jewish man I am today. They work so dedicatedly for the students on campus, going far and beyond, not only in relation to religious needs, but in personal matters. They care about every Jew so much, it is beautiful to watch. All I can say to them is thank you. And please keep on doing your amazing work. We need you!”
To me, Rabbi Chalom and Rebbetzin Esti are like family. Whether on campus or at their Chabad house, they always put Jewish students’ needs first. What I love is that they genuinely see the inherent goodness in every Jewish student and believe that, by encouraging students to do more good deeds, the students will bring more blessings into the world.
For more information or to connect with the Chabad Jewish Student Centre at UBC, follow them on Instagram (@chabadubc) or visit their website, chabadubc.com.
Eitan Feigeris a student at the University of British Columbia, Class of 2024. He is vice-president and treasurer of UBC Chabad on Campus.
