קנדה גדלה במיליון איש בשנה בגלל מהגרים. זאת לאור ההחלטה של ממשלת טרודו לפתוח את שערי המדינה לאזרחים זרים מכל העולם, כדי להניע את הכלכלה ולתמוך באוכלוסייה המזדקנת. ולכן כצפוי בשנה שעברה צמח מספר התושבים של קנדה בלמעלה ממיליון איש, כמעט רק בגלל המהגרים שמגיעים במספרים גדולים. המגמה תימשך לפי כל ההערכות. יש לזכור שגם היחס האוהד של הקנדים תורם לכך שיותר עולים היגרו אליה
הלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה של קנדה פרסמה בדוח האחרון שלה כי כי אוכלוסייתה של קנדה גדלה בשנה שעברה ביותר ממיליון בני אדם. מדובר בגידול משמעותי ביותר והוא נבע כמעט כולו ממהגרים ותושבי-קבע חדשים שהגיעו במהלך השנה שעברה. מדובר בגידול האוכלוסין החד ביותר שידעה קנדה בשנה אחת אי-פעם, והוא מדגיש עד כמה הפכה ארצו של ראש הממשלה הליברלי, ג’סטין טרודו, ליעד מועדף על מהגרים מכל רחבי העולם
לפי הנתונים החדשים, מראשון בחודש ינואר שנה שעברה ועד הראשון בינואר בשנה הנוכחית, גדלה אוכלוסיית קנדה בלא פחות ממיליון איש. ולפיכך כיום מספר האוכלוסייה בקנדה עומד על קרוב לארבעים מיליון בני אדם. בפועל מדובר בגידול של קרוב לשלושה אחוזים. זהו השיעור החד ביותר בקרב המדינות המפותחות וכן בגוש הג’י שבע המכובד, שכולל את שבע המדינות עם הכלכלות הגדולות ביותר עולם. בהנחה שמגמה זו תימשך אוכלוסיית קנדה אמורה להכפיל את עצמה בתוך עשרים ושש השנים הבאות
לפי נתוני הלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה של קנדה תשעים ושישה אחוזים מהגידול באוכלוסיית המדינה נובע, מהגירה לקנדה של תושבים הבאים מכל רחבי העולם
כדי להניע את כלכלתה קדימה ולתמוך באוכלוסייתה ההולכת ומזדקנת של המדינה, מסתמכת קנדה בשנים האחרונות יותר ויותר על הגעתם של מהגרים. מאז עלייתה לשלטון לפני כשמונה שנים (בשנת אלפיים וחמש עשרה) של הממשלה הליברלית ברשות טרודו, הוגברה משמעותית קליטת העולים מחו”ל
מלבד הקליטה של כוח העבודה הזר, קנדה גם מנהלת תוכנית קבועה שבמסגרתה היא קולטת זמנית פליטים מאזורי מלחמה מכל רחבי העולם. ובהם מהמדינות הבאות: אפגניסטן, סוריה, אוקראינה. וכן מאזורי מוכי אסונות כמו אלה שנהרסו ברעידות האדמה ובהם מדינות כמו טורקיה
מומחים אומרים כי מבחינה כלכלית קליטת המהגרים מוכיחה את עצמה מאוד משתלמת: מספר המועסקים במשק הקנדי נמצא בעלייה מאז חודש ספטמבר אשתקד. לפי הצהרות קודמות של הלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה הקנדית, להעסקה של עובדים שאינם תושבי קבע, יש תרומה משמעותית המגמה המתפתחת הזו במדינה. המהגרים אחראים לכמעט לכמאה אחוז מהגידול בכוח העבודה הקנדי
לפי הערכות עד לשנת אלפיים שלושים ושש המהגרים הם צפויים להפוך לכשליש מאוכלוסייתה של קנדה. לשם השוואה, בשנת אלפיים ואחת עשרה עמד שיעורם של המהגרים רק על כעשרים ואחד אחוזים
לרצון של מהגרים להגיע לקנדה תורמת גם התדמית שלה כמדינה שמקבלת מהגרים בזרועות פתוחות, לפחות באופן יחסי לעומת מדינות אחרות. במדד קבלת המהגרים שפרסם בחודש דצמבר אשתקד, מכון הסקרים גאלופ, דורגו הקנדים בצמרת הרשימה של אזרחי העולם הסבורים קהילותיהם הן מקום טוב למחיה עבור מהגרים. לצד זה, הלשכה המרכזית לסטטיסטיקה של קנדה מדגישה כי הגידול במספרם של תושבי הקבע והמהגרים הזמניים עשוי להציב אתגרים חדשים בפני כמה מחוזות וטריטוריות ברחבי בקנדה. זאת בכל הקשור לשיכון, לתשתיות, תחבורה ולהספקת שירות לתושבים שמספרם הולך וגדל במדינה השנייה בגודלה בעולם מבחינת שטח (אחרי רוסיה)
Vancouver Talmud Torah students of all ages worked together to prepare the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden. (photo from VTT)
The first few weeks of spring have been a particularly busy time for Vancouver Talmud Torah (VTT) students. Armed with child-size wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes and plenty of enthusiasm, students spent last March preparing the soil for Vancouver Jewish Community Garden. VTT’s head of school, Emily Greenberg, said the formidable task of building up the garden, which will provide crops for a variety of food security initiatives in the community, has been a big hit with the kids.
“We had every single one of our students, including our littlest 3-year-olds, coming out to the garden and helping to move soil into the planter boxes,” Greenberg said, adding that it took about a week to fill all of the planters. “At the beginning of the week, I saw a mountain that was easily over seven feet tall of dirt and, by the end of the week, they had taken it down to the ground.”
Their work paved the way for two community days in early April, in which families from throughout Metro Vancouver turned out to help.
The Vancouver Jewish Community Garden is the brainchild of three Jewish agencies: VTT, Congregation Beth Israel (BI) and Jewish Family Services (JFS). Approximately 1,800 square feet of the 6,000-square-feet garden will be dedicated to growing food to support various BI and JFS initiatives. The property will also include an education centre, walking paths and seating areas.
BI’s Rabbi Jonathan Infeld said the synagogue has been looking for ways to grow food that could support its philanthropic programs, such as the Veggie Club, which cooks up fresh soup that’s distributed through JFS, and One Heart Dinner, which provides sit-down meals to community members experiencing homelessness or food insecurity. He said the new garden will not only supply BI’s programs with freshly grown food, but serve as an outdoor classroom for its Hebrew school and for expanding community education programs.
“We will be creating and using this opportunity for our Hebrew school students to literally learn [about] Judaism connected to the land while getting their hands dirty in the garden,” Infeld said.
According to the rabbi, the garden’s unique gift isn’t just that it can teach community members how to grow food. “This garden is truly about feeding hunger, whether we are talking about those who physically hungry or those who are spiritually and Jewishly hungry as well,” he said, noting Judaism attaches communal responsibility to the act of growing food, instructing Jews to dedicate parts of their crops to those in need, a commandment that dovetails with the garden’s very purpose.
“Judaism [also] commands us to say blessings before and after every time we eat, to recognize that we are given a gift of food from God. When we go to the supermarket and we buy our food and prepare it and make it, it’s easy to forget from where it came.”
The tasks involved in building and tending this garden, he explained, also serve to remind us that food doesn’t arrive easily. “It needs a lot of hard work, it needs our interaction and it needs divine intervention” in order to feed a family. “By being involved in the farming and producing and the growing of food, our community will be able to see in front of their eyes what the Jewish laws pertaining to eating are really all about,” Infeld said.
For JFS, it made sense to support a program that produces food for community sustainability initiatives and also serves as a classroom for youth education, said JFS chief executive officer Tanja Demajo.
“The garden is a very important part of the food justice and inclusion and community engagement [programs] that we are trying to build through the Kitchen and our food initiatives,” she said. “So, it really wasn’t hard for us to lend our support and voice. It was very meaningful, and what’s even more meaningful is this opportunity to build partnerships between VTT and BI. That’s quite unique and amazing.
“It is really neat to see how we can all think through different lenses of the ways to build a community; how to put education … and community engagement and food production together and create this accessible space for everyone to participate in.”
Vancouver Talmud Torah students filling planters at the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden. (photo from VTT)
Greenberg said this may be the first project of its kind – several Jewish agencies with differing mandates partnering to create a community garden.
“That is something that we are really proud of and we hope it sets a standard for collaboration, because we are always stronger together, and we know that this is something that was only achievable because we were able to work together to accomplish it,” she said.
According to Greenberg, several founding donors played an important role in making the garden possible.
“The Diamond Foundation secured a long-term lease of this land for future development,” she said. “We would like to thank the Diamond Foundation for allowing us the opportunity to use this land for a Jewish community garden on a temporary basis.”
Greenberg said they are also grateful to the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, in partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation and the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation, for their significant financial seed gifts.
Left to right: Tanja Demajo (Jewish Family Services), Emily Greenberg (Vancouver Talmud Torah) and Rabbi Jonathan Infeld (Congregation Beth Israel) contributed leadership and labour to the new Vancouver Jewish Community Garden, a joint initiative of their respective organizations. The community is invited to an open house May 28. (photo from VTT)
With the planters filled and seeded, the garden is now well on its way. Community members spent April planting a cornucopia of flowering plants like black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, sweet peas and sunflowers. Fruit trees, including apple and plum, already had been planted, along with grapes, raspberries, strawberries, and lettuces.
“Once we begin having students regularly in the garden, we will be holding lessons for all students, from rishonim (3-year-olds) to Grade 7,” Greenberg said, noting that the new classroom melds well with the school’s iSTEAM (Israel innovation, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) program. “The garden gives us an opportunity to dive deep into iSTEAM and look at, for example, drip irrigation,” an Israeli invention that the community garden will be using and which is now used globally. “It’s completely transformed the agricultural sector,” Greenberg said. “So, for kids to see how innovation has come out of Israel and is then being transplanted all over the world … [it is] a very meaningful way for them to engage in learning about Israel as well.”
Finding ways to build connections to Israel is also a priority for BI. “We are always looking for opportunities to meet our goals of bringing Jews closer to God, Torah and Israel,” Infeld said. Michelle Dodek has been hired to help teach the Hebrew school students about the ancient and enduring connection between Judaism and the land.
Demajo said work in the garden doesn’t stop now that the plants are in the ground. There will still be room for more volunteers to get their hands dirty and participate in its maintenance.
“There will be a place to engage, whether it is with growing food, whether it is with programs that are more social or it’s more related to education,” Demajo said. Individuals who didn’t have an opportunity to volunteer for the build-up of the garden can reach out to Maggie Wilson at [email protected] for more information and to register as a volunteer.
On May 28, 3-5 p.m., the garden, which is located adjacent to the synagogue, will open its doors to visitors for the first time. Organizers are asking those who would like to attend the open house and fundraiser to register using the link at talmudtorah.com/vjcg, so they have an idea of how many people will be attending.
Jan Lee is an award-winning editorial writer whose articles and op-eds have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism and Baltimore Jewish Times, as well as a number of business, environmental and travel publications. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.
On May 30, the Global Reporting Centre’s Peter Klein will give the talk Disinformation and Democracy. (photo from VST)
Emmy Award-winning journalist Peter Klein will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Making Meaning in a Time of Media Polarization conference, organized by the Vancouver School of Theology (VST). Klein’s talk on the evening of May 30 – titled Disinformation and Democracy – is free and open to the public.
Klein, a professor at the University of British Columbia School of Journalism, Writing and Media, also heads the Global Reporting Centre, an independent news organization based at UBC that focuses on innovating global journalism. His lecture will explore the role that disinformation plays in both confusing the public and in undermining journalism.
“Open information is central to democracy,” said Klein. “There is no open society without open dialogue. In the past, the challenge was simply to restrict governments from curtailing the media. That was a challenge in itself, but, today, there are so many forces of propaganda and disinformation, many much more subtle than dictators arresting journalists.”
The origins of disinformation go back a long way, Klein noted. He referred to a Jan. 24, 2018, message on World Communications Day from Pope Francis who spoke of the “crafty serpent” in the Book of Genesis that created “fake news” to lure Adam and Even to “original sin.”
Klein will focus his talk on more contemporary efforts to lead people astray – from Germany’s Hitler to the Russian newspaper Pravda to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein. He will first look at disinformation from a North American context, then provide several international examples.
The Global Reporting Centre recently competed a study on disinformation attacks on journalists, or what he refers to as a “special subset of disinformation.”
“Attacking the messenger is an old trick that people in power have traditionally used, but social media has made it so much easier to undermine the authority of journalists,” said Klein, who has served as a producer for 60 Minutes, created video projects for the New York Times and written columns for the Globe and Mail, among other publications.
“Publish a critical story about a politician or business leader, and there’s a chance they or their supporters will come after you any way they can,” said Klein. “What we found in our study is that those wanting to undermine media do so by attacking on basis of race, gender and a number of other factors, which vary geographically.”
Though social media is what Klein calls “the pointy end of the stick,” mainstream media has, sometimes through disinformation, become polarized, too, he said. The Dominion Voting Systems case against Fox News, ending in April when the network paid a $787 million US settlement, is a clear example. Fox had falsely claimed that Dominion manipulated the results of the 2020 American presidential election.
“Fox had to pay for this, but they’re still standing, and I don’t necessarily see much change at the network,” Klein said.
The latter part of Klein’s talk will examine ways to combat disinformation. A key element of lessening the problem comes down to “public sophistication,” said Klein.
“We’re awash in fake news, not just political but calls to your cellphone that the RCMP is going to arrest you because of unpaid taxes, ads for incredible deals on household goods that just need a small deposit to hold the item, and the classic Nigerian prince scheme. I think we’re getting better at spotting that kind of fake information, although people still fall for it on a regular basis – including me recently, when looking for a deep freezer. As the public gets more sophisticated, so do the scammers.”
The same holds true for disinformation, according to Klein, and people need to improve their ability to identify falsehoods. He spoke about the visit a few years ago to the Global Reporting Centre by a journalist who exposed that torture was being committed by Iraqi special forces fighting ISIS. Following the visit, an Iraqi graduate student arrived at Klein’s office and presented a video that portrayed the journalist as a fabulist and a torturer himself.
“It turned out this video was part of a disinformation campaign in Iraq meant to undermine his embarrassing reporting, but she fell for it. We’re all susceptible, but if we can be better educated about disinformation and better equipped to spot it, we have a chance to combat it,” Klein said.
“In many ways, we’re more powerful than those who are combating traditional heavy-handed censorship and attacks on media. My parents fled Soviet-controlled Hungary, where public dialogue that was not in line with the state narrative could get you tossed in jail. We have the agency to combat it,” he said.
Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, director of the conference Making Meaning in a Time of Media Polarization, which looks at how religious communities might respond to a crisis in public discourse. (photo from VST)
Making Meaning in a Time of Media Polarization, which will be held May 30-June 1, will be VST’s eighth annual inter-religious conference on public life. Its participants will seek answers on how spiritual and religious leaders might proceed at a time when social media, politicians and some news organizations sow polarization and cultivate outrage.
“Under COVID restrictions, our society’s stress points started to crack. We saw bad actors use media and social media to divide people, and we saw innocent, well-meaning people get drawn in,” said Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, director of Inter-Religious Studies and professor of Jewish studies at VST, who is the conference director.
“Ideally, in spiritual communities, people learn how to live a meaningful life with others. So, we started to think about how religious communities might respond to a crisis in public discourse,” she said. “We designed a conference where media experts can help us understand the crisis, and religious teachers can help us respond.”
The number of antisemitic hate crimes in Canada declined a fraction last year, according to the B’nai Brith Canada League for Human Rights Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2022. The decline, though, is from 2021, which saw the highest number of incidents since the audit began 40 years ago so, despite the marginally good news, 2022 remains the second-worst year on record. In all, 2022 saw 2,769 incidents, down 1.1% from the 2,799 incidents reported in 2021.
“When viewed from a historical perspective … the numbers are less reassuring,” Marvin Rotrand, national director of the League for Human Rights, writes in the report. “In 2012, the Jewish community sounded the alarm when that audit noted 1,345 antisemitic incidents, the highest ever since we first began auditing in 1982. Ten years later, the number is an alarming 105.9% higher than that reported in 2012, and the second-highest total since we started tracking 41 years ago.”
Aron Csaplaros, British Columbia regional manager for B’nai Brith Canada, noted the most significant finding is that the majority of hate incidents are online.
“The audit says that 74% of hate is now online and that violent incidents are down,” he told the Jewish Independent. Violent incidents across Canada dropped to 25 last year from 75 the year previous. “But incidents have been moving online in the past decade or so and it’s kind of equally, if not more, dangerous when hate is online because it’s much easier to spread, more people read it,” he said. “It’s about context. It’s obviously different than a violent incident but it is equally as dangerous.”
Csaplaros does not have a clear explanation on why violent incidents saw such a drop. It may have to do with the fact that 2022 saw slightly less incendiary conflict in Israel and Palestine, overseas problems that invariably have repercussions worldwide.
“Obviously, we’re happy that violent incidents have gone down,” he said. “Hopefully, the reason for that is that certain provinces have adopted, for example, the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism, and that might have filtered down into education for police forces and how they respond and deal with these situations. But we don’t really have a theory on why the violent incidents have gone down.”
In British Columbia, the number of violent crimes declined from two in 2021 to a single incident in 2022: a threat against Victoria’s Jewish Community Centre during the annual Jewish film festival in the capital city. Other B.C. instances include 51 cases of vandalism, 53 cases of harassment and 137 cases of online hate.
Csaplaros acknowledged that it is difficult to place a number on online antisemitic incidents.
“There are, unfortunately, probably thousands, millions of anti-Israel and antisemitic comments online and, obviously, just because of the sheer number of them, we don’t catch all of them,” he said.
The criteria B’nai Brith uses to measure hate online includes the question, “Is it antisemitic in that it targets Jews as a people and attribute negative things to them? For example, that they caused COVID, or do they use antisemitic stereotypes like Jews control the banks and so on and so forth,” explained Csaplaros. “With a lot of these comments, they are clearly antisemitic.”
B’nai Brith, he said, uses the “three Ds” measure created by Natan Sharansky: delegitimization, demonization, and applying double standards to the state of Israel.
While 74% of incidents were online, 15% involved vandalism, 10% in-person harassment and 1% were violent incidents.
In British Columbia overall, incidents declined more than 40%, to 242, compared with 409 the previous year. (For the purposes of the report, British Columbia and Yukon are reported together.) Examples of B.C. incidents included in the B’nai Brith report are the Simon Fraser University student society’s passing of a resolution referring to Israeli “war crimes and apartheid” and a Tweet accusing Jews of Satan worship and seeking world domination.
“At the end of the day, hate is hate,” said Csaplaros. “It’s important to have a record of how many antisemitic incidents occurred, regardless of whether it was a Laith Marouf-type thing or a violent incident or a swastika drawn on the sidewalk. Hate and antisemitism is hate … and it’s important to record all of that.”
Laith Marouf is a Montreal activist whose Community Media Advocacy Centre received more than $133,000 in federal government consulting fees before his antisemitic social media postings became widely known, including one in which he called Jewish people “loud mouthed bags of human feces.”
Csaplaros called on the province of British Columbia to join half of Canada’s other provinces in adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism and to follow Ontario’s lead by introducing Holocaust education into the elementary school curriculum. The core curriculum in British Columbia does not mandate any Holocaust education, Csaplaros said. Students can learn about the Holocaust in elective courses and may learn about it in core courses, depending on the teacher’s choices.
Okanagan Chabad House’s Rabbi Shmuly and Fraidy Hecht with their family. (photo from Okanagan Chabad)
For almost three months now, residents of Kelowna have had the opportunity to participate in the mitzvah of mikvah, following the completion at the Okanagan Chabad House of the ritual bath, the first to be built in the British Columbia Interior.
“Just having the physical edifice implanted in the earth of the city of Kelowna already emits holy energy and divine blessing to all the inhabitants of this city,” Rabbi Shmuly Hecht said following the Feb. 21 (Rosh Chodesh Adar 5783) opening of Mikvah Chaya Mushka.
“In addition to that, families – by bringing this age-old unifying and beautiful part of our heritage into their home – enhance the home. They bring the light and the warmth of Judaism and its impact into the home, into the marriage and the relationship between children and parents,” he said. “Many beautiful stories concerning our mikvah have already happened.”
Before this year, women in Kelowna needed to travel hundreds of kilometres to larger cities, such as Vancouver or Calgary, to participate in the mikvah ritual. The costs for some were substantial, both in money and time.
The story of the new Kelowna mikvah goes back to 2019, when Hecht started considering means to raise funds – together with rabbis at other Chabad centres in smaller-sized cities throughout North America, who also wanted to build mikvahs for their communities.
With the other rabbis – who were based in Regina and Saskatoon, Sask.; Fargo, N.D.; Mobile, Ala.; Salem, Ore.; and Arcata, Calif. – Hecht hoped to collect about $1.5 million US for the seven mikvahs.
Initially, their efforts to find donors and philanthropists did not yield the results they sought. After a few months, the group decided to announce their goals more publicly, and therein was launched the Bring Mikvah Home campaign.
More than a thousand people in Jewish communities from New York to Sydney, and scores of places in between, contributed to the cause, in sums, according to Hecht, ranging from $5 to $5,000.
“They were people from all corners of the world who had never heard of us and never met us, yet they are Jewish and they know every community needs a mikvah, so they were willing to give their funds to support us. And that is one of the most inspiring things in this campaign,” he said.
When the donations were finally tabulated, the seven rabbis had reached their goal. Yet, there would be another hurdle for Hecht in the effort to complete the Kelowna mikvah. At the height of COVID, as they were ready to build, the contractor increased the cost estimate of the project.
Thus, the Kelowna contingent started a second campaign, called Finish the Mikvah, and raised $46,000 in that process. Hecht credits his wife, Fraidy, as instrumental in guiding the project through this last phase and towards fruition.
“My wife took it upon herself to be the contractor of the project, while juggling being the mother of seven children, who are home-schooled, and all the responsibilities, including being the program director and everything else she does at the centre,” the rabbi said. “She was working tirelessly as the contractor for hiring all the trades. She was on the ground every day, dealing with the city and the tradespeople on a daily basis. I don’t know how she did it. She saved us thousands.”
The new mikvah at Okanagan Chabad House opened Feb. 21. (photos from Okanagan Chabad)
To Hecht, the importance of the Kelowna mikvah cannot be overstated. He explained that the mikvah, it is believed, connects each woman and her family to their innate spirituality, bringing blessings to themselves and those around them; water has the power to purify, restore and replenish life.
“In Jewish law, a community has to build a mikvah before a shul. The future is dependent on mikvah,” Hecht said.
Hecht, too, seeks to dispel the notion that a mikvah is something to be used only by religious Jews.
“There are people who are not observant who have used the mikvah. It is for every Jew,” he said. “There is no label. There are many families in Kelowna learning about mikvah who have used it. It is not religious. It is a foundation of Judaism. It is something that every Jew should have – the opportunity to bring this holiness and beauty to their life.”
Hecht compared the challenges of building the mikvah to settling in the B.C. Interior more than 12 years ago and starting a Chabad centre. At that time as well, he said, he needed determination, vision and a belief that his goals would be achieved – and he needed the assistance of others.
“I learned from my father that, whenever you do something good, try to bring in someone else to bring in more blessing,” he said. “Our whole life is how can we go and service Jewish people … that don’t have the availability, the resources or the opportunities to have a Jewish education at their doorstep, such as having a rabbi to speak to locally, and a feeling of closeness and support within a Jewish community.”
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Standup comedian Cory Lupovic will perform at Congregation Beth Israel’s gala next month. (photo by Joan Ullyett)
Congregation Beth Israel’s Be the Light Gala Presented by Gerry & Ruby Gales & Family takes place June 4.
The fundraising event features the Candlelight Experience – the synagogue will be lit by hundreds of candles and a string quartet will perform songs by ABBA and Queen. The night’s emcee will be Dr. Erik Swartz, comedian Cory Lupovici will perform and Howard Blank will serve as auctioneer.
The “Be the Light” theme was inspired by the concept of people either being a light to Beth Israel and the Jewish community or how the synagogue has been a light to those in need.
“It gives us light and hope,” said Gerry Gales about why the family donated to the synagogue. “The work the Beth Israel does for the community is essential and must be supported,” he said.
Formerly known as Friends of Beth Israel, the newly redesigned and revamped event will include a mix-and-mingle cocktail reception for major donors followed by the concert (compliments of Beth Israel), dinner and entertainment. It is being planned under the leadership of Beth Israel’s new director of development, Jacci Sandler.
Swartz, the emcee, is head of pediatrics for Richmond Hospital, Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care, and is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia. Born and raised here, Swartz graduated from Vancouver Talmud Torah and attended medical school at UBC. After years studying and practising elsewhere in Canada and abroad, he and his family returned to the city in 2008, and have been members of BI ever since.
Lupovici is a Chinese-Jewish comedian based in Vancouver – he spent his childhood summers at Camp Hatikvah and is a King David High School alumnus. Lupovici describes himself as an observational comic, in that he observes his parents and makes fun of them to strangers. His jokes mainly stem from his unique background and are a mix of personal anecdotes and silly everyday observations. With a Montreal Jewish father and a Hong Kong Chinese mother, the well of humour and rare perspectives is deep.
Rounding out the event’s main performers is Blank, chief executive officer of Point Blank Entertainment Ltd. Over the past 25 years, Blank has helped raise more than one billion dollars for organizations across North America, and his auctioneering is something to behold. He has received many accolades and awards and is recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the British Columbia Community Achievement Medal and the Order of Canada Sovereign’s Medal for volunteerism. In 2021, he was featured in Business in Vancouver’s BIV 500 as one of the top executives in the province.
Funds raised from the gala will help ensure that the synagogue continues providing programming and services to the community. Attendance at BI for morning and evening minyan, as well as for various programs, is back to pre-pandemic numbers – this isn’t the case at most Conservative synagogues in North America. Most recently, BI had more than 800 people in attendance for its Purim programs and well over 350 people for its Passover seders.
Tickets for the June 4 gala can be purchased until May 19 at bethelightgala.com.
This fall, Susan Inhaber, left, will take over the presidency of Na’amat Canada from Dr. Sandi Seigel. (photos from Na’amat Canada)
Na’amat Canada’s 20th Triennial Convention takes place Oct. 13-15 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Calgary. The event will include a thank you to outgoing president Dr. Sandi Seigel of Hamilton, Ont., and it will welcome new president Susan Inhaber from Calgary, Alta. Inhaber will be the first national president from Western Canada since 1975.
Inhaber became a member of Na’amat Canada Calgary in 2000. “In short order,” she said, “I was president of a new chapter and, a few years later, I became the president of an amalgamated chapter. I served in that role for many years, immersing myself in all of the projects and programs that our group was involved with, including being the bingo chair, casino chair and grocery store gift card chair. My involvement in all activities continues to this day. As city president, I was a member of the national board, later becoming a member at large and, lastly, the vice-president of Na’amat Canada.”
Inhaber has been to Israel several times with Na’amat. “Everyone who goes always comes back with a renewed sense of energy for the organization,” she said. “We can see the impact that we are making in the lives of others and that is what drives my passion for Na’amat. My next trip will be as the leader of our newest leadership cohort.”
Delegates from across Canada and guests from Israel and the United States will attend the fall convention, and special guests will include Hagit Pe’er, president of Na’amat Israel, and Shirli Shavit, director of the overseas division of Na’amat Israel. There will be speakers on the topics of antisemitism, human rights, breaking the glass ceiling, and more.
“It has been a privilege serving as Na’amat Canada national president since 2020,” said Seigel. “I am most proud that we have supported our organization throughout the pandemic and not only have we survived but thrived. We have built on our relationships with our chaverot internationally and in Israel and have had four successful fundraisers with Na’amat USA.”
Contributing to the success has been the quality of programming, both on Zoom and, more recently, back in-person, she said. “Despite many challenges, we have been able to transmit significant funds to support our work in Israel and continued to maintain important local projects such as our school supplies for kids program.”
Stepping down as president doesn’t mean leaving the organization. “I feel that I have lifelong friends at Na’amat, and it is wonderful to be united in the work that we do on behalf of Na’amat,” said Seigel. “As we near our convention in Calgary, I am excited for the future of our organization as we approach our 100th anniversary in 2025.”
For her upcoming three-year term, Inhaber said she is looking forward to continuing the relationship building that Seigel and, before her, Doris Wexler-Charow brought to the organization. “My main goal is to further grow our membership and donor base,” said Inhaber. “I hope to increase awareness of what Na’amat Canada does in Israel and Canada, especially among Western Canadians.”
For more information, contact Vivian Reisler at [email protected]. To register for the convention, visit naamat.com.
Lucy Samuel, left, and Tori Segal, co-chairs of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s Ben Gurion Society. (photos from BGS)
“Both of us were BGS members before becoming co-chairs. We are so grateful for the leadership opportunities that BGS has given us,” said Tori Segal (née Simons), who co-chairs the Ben Gurion Society with Lucy Samuel (née Adirim). “We recognize that the Jewish community of Greater Vancouver made us the leaders we are today, and so we jumped at the chance to give back.
“We were shaped by this community,” Segal continued. “Through BGS, we have connected with like-minded young adults, donated to Jewish Federation in support of our community, and been afforded special opportunities for us all to learn from leaders spanning multiple fields in our community.”
The Ben Gurion Society is Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver’s national donor recognition program for young professionals ages 25-45, who support the community through the Federation’s annual campaign with a gift of $1,000 or more.
BGS offers its members a range of possibilities, from private speaking events and social cocktail hours with donors and community leaders, to professional development and leadership opportunities. Recently, for example, BGS members listened to presentations from David Shore, the executive producer of The Good Doctor and House, and Lillian Boraks-Nemetz, the author of Mouth of Truth and Out of the Dark, among several other titles. Later in the spring, they will hear from Anat Yahalom, an advocate in Israel for those with disabilities, and other local Jewish leaders.
Additionally, BGS offers members a chance to gain a better understanding of community needs from the Jewish Federation’s many partner agencies, which are based both locally and in Israel.
“New members are typically found by word of mouth or through our campaign volunteer canvassers,” Samuel explained. “We invite community members in the BGS age range (25-45) to events we hold for both BGS and non-BGS members, so that they can experience our programming and learn about our philanthropic mission, the types of events we hold and how they can join if they are interested.”
Samuel, who was born and raised in Vancouver, learned the importance of engaging with her Jewish values at a young age – at Vancouver Talmud Torah, King David High School and Camp Hatikvah. She enrolled at McGill University and studied cognitive science. Throughout her time in Montreal, she was involved in both Hillel and Chabad. She was also a long-term chair of Save a Child’s Heart McGill.
After graduating in 2016, Samuel became a realtor and started working with her father at the family business. Upon returning to her hometown, she joined Axis, where she met her husband.
Axis is a network of Jews in their 20s and 30s whose stated aim is to build a vibrant young Jewish community in Metro Vancouver.
“In addition to my time on the Axis board, I recently helped start a new chapter of Canadian Hadassah-WIZO, the BVLGARI chapter,” Samuel said. “I am looking forward to continuing to grow and expand the wealth of opportunities available to young adults in the Vancouver Jewish community.”
Segal, too, is a native Vancouverite and has enjoyed being brought up immersed in the local Jewish community. She also attended VTT and KDHS, where, she said, she “learned about community values and history.”
An alumna of McGill University as well, she, like Samuel, continued her involvement there in the Jewish community through the school’s Chabad and Hillel organizations. She graduated from McGill with a degree in dietetics, and works as a registered dietitian at Vancouver General Hospital in cardiology and cardiac surgery. Alongside that work, Segal is a clinical instructor at the University of British Columbia, supervising and teaching dietetics students in their hospital placements. Further, she is currently completing a postgraduate program in healthcare safety, quality, informatics and leadership through Harvard University.
“I joined the Ben Gurion Society upon its restart at the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and have recently taken on co-chairing the society with Lucy. I married Dylan Segal in August 2022 and am looking forward to building a Jewish home and supporting others in doing the same. I am excited to join the Federation board and support initiatives that help create the Greater Vancouver Jewish community,” Segal told the Independent.
Over their two-year term, both Samuel and Segal said they will continue to seek out new members to help support the community, and engage existing members through a broad range of events.
For more information, visit jewishvancouver.com/bgs.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
There was no question that Zac Abelson (centre) would attend the Excelerate23 Summit in New York City this past March. (photo from Zac Abelson)
“I believe my Excel journey is only just getting started,” Zac Abelson told the Independent. “The last summer and the Excelerate conference have solidified my belief that there are not only bright young leaders in the world that will one day make an incredible impact, but that the Jewish community will forever be one that is strong, defiant, welcoming and passionate.”
Born in South Africa, Abelson moved to Canada with his family when he was 8 years old. “I have now lived in Vancouver for 15-plus years, being part of the Chabad Jewish community while growing up in South Surrey,” he said. “I learned my bar mitzvah on a tape recorded by my grandfather with the Chabad rabbi and went back to do my bar mitzvah with my grandfather in South Africa.”
Last year, Abelson was one of 60 international students chosen for a Birthright Israel Excel summer internship in Israel. One of the highlights of working with Deloitte, the company with which he interned, was “getting to learn and understand how the Israeli culture conducts business and truly see the impact they have on the world without most people knowing,” said Abelson.
Birthright Israel Excel, which started in 2011, is described as a business fellowship that offers select students an internship in Israel, followed by membership in a “community of peers focused on professional development, personal growth, Israel engagement and philanthropy.”
The most exciting part about being selected for the program, said Abelson, was the people.
“Excel selects not only the best and brightest but also the most genuine and caring individuals,” he said. “Being able to spend 10 weeks in a tight-knit community made every moment a life-changing experience and every memory one I will never forget. Mix those people with all that Israel has to offer and you have a recipe for an incredible summer.”
It was “an adjustment to be surrounded by so many talented people from the best schools in the world,” he acknowledged. “One can see it as daunting, but I chose to see it as an opportunity to learn and mix with the people who will push me to be a better version of myself.”
Abelson has just completed his studies at the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business, graduating with a bachelor of commerce. “I now work full-time in real estate development,” he said, “helping shape and grow diverse and sustainable communities.”
In March, Abelson was one of more than 300 Birthright Israel Excel fellows from around the world who gathered in New York City for the Excelerate23 Summit.
“Having had such an incredible time with the Birthright Excel community this past summer in Israel, attending the Excelerate Summit in New York City was no question,” he said. “The opportunity to again be surrounded by such incredible Jewish leaders and innovators is rare and one I wanted to take full advantage of.”
Throughout the March 24-26 weekend, attendees participated in networking, industry panels and discussions about topics such as business development, Jewish identity and Israel engagement. The summit also held workshops on combating antisemitism.
Among the events Abelson attended was one entitled Scrappy to Scaled: How Entrepreneurs Turned Startups into Sustained Multi-Figure Operations.
“This was a fantastic session where we truly got to hear the grit required to turn an idea into a reality,” he said. “What I found fascinating was listening to Nathan Resnick – seeing how, rather than conforming to the expectation of what businesspeople and investors would look for, he allows his true light and personality to shine through, ultimately getting investments in the person over the product.
“Additionally, listing to [activist and former NBA player] Enes Kanter Freedom speak about his journey from hatred of the Jewish people to now embracing the community was eye-opening. It was unbelievable to see how his deep passion for acceptance and the international community drives him every day despite all that he has had to sacrifice. It also puts into perspective the sad reality of how stuck in the past the world still is and how unwilling to speak on important issues many sporting organizations still are.”
When asked what three things he would recommend about the Excel program, Abelson said, “One, you don’t know the value of an international network until you truly have one. Excel has allowed me to since travel the world and feel comfortable knowing there will always be an Excel fellow somewhere close by.
“Two, the feeling of connecting with like-minded, passionate and bright Jewish business leaders … will fill you with joy and hope for the future of both Israel and the world.
“Three, the Excel experience is more than just adding the internship to your resumé. It’s an experience of a lifetime that everyone in interviews will be intrigued with and ask you more about. Few in the workplace have such a wonderful story to tell.”
Food insecurity is a growing problem on the University of British Columbia campus. The Alma Mater Society (AMS) Food Bank saw a 600-visit spike in the past year. Around “40% of undergraduate students and 50% of graduate students said they were worried about running out of food at least once in the past 12 months,” according to the 2022 AMS Academic Experience Survey.
In an open letter to the UBC board of governors, UBC Sprouts highlighted how “[d]espite UBC’s self-proclaimed dedication to reconciliation and equity, they perpetuate food insecurity which disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, low-income, houseless and/or disabled UBC community members.”
However, Jewish students are also an underrepresented minority group that is subject to this inequity.
Keeping kosher has been one of my greatest personal, physical and spiritual challenges so far in my life. Finding meals on campus that nourish myself and that are within the dietary restrictions of kashrut, all while staying true to my faith and not compromising my values, has been an uphill battle.
As one representing hundreds of Jewish UBC students, I believe there needs to be more access to kosher food on campus.
In Hebrew, the word kosher means “fit” or “acceptable,” according to halakhah, which is Jewish law. Any food grown from the earth is naturally kosher. However, any food that has been processed and prepared by humans must be carefully supervised by an Orthodox rabbi.
You can think of keeping kosher as a form of hygiene. The facility, the kitchen and production line in which a product is manufactured, processed and prepared must be kept very clean – undergoing frequent checks by an Orthodox rabbi – and must avoid cross-contamination with non-kosher food (like pork and shellfish), all with zero signs of any animal infestations (like rats).
In Jewish tradition, mixing milk (representing life) with meat (representing death) is another big no-no. For example, I cannot eat a cheeseburger or order a meal at a café that cross-contaminates dairy utensils with meat utensils. So, even a restaurant that advertises as 100% vegetarian or vegan is not officially kosher until it strictly meets the dietary, hygienic and/or rabbinical supervision requirements above.
Many vendors throughout campus incidentally sell kosher, pre-packaged snacks with a hekhsher, an official certification by an Orthodox organization approving a product as kosher. Although pre-packaged snacks are available, they do not constitute a sufficient meal on their own. There needs to be fresh kosher meals that are healthy, ready-made and affordable.
Since last summer, I have been doggedly persistent at trying to improve vendor availability of kosher food at UBC. I had been in correspondence with UBC Hillel BC, Chabad Jewish Student Centre, UBC Food Services and UBC’s VP Finance and Operations team to arrange a supplier setup and establish “requestor” contact on campus, along with a potential supplier such as the vegan Kosher Experience food truck. But UBC’s bureaucratic system has delayed this process indefinitely.
Kosher food has the potential not only to serve Jewish students, but vegan, vegetarian and Muslim students as well.
While UBC food security initiatives like the UBC Meal Share program, AMS Food Bank, Sprouts, Acadia Food Hub, Agora Café, and the residence meal plan (which has provided some kosher meals since 2020 and kosher meals can be requested in advance, but are only available at designated times for students living in select residences) offer nutritional support for students facing food insecurity, none of them provides kosher-certified meals from a kosher-certified kitchen. For example, the dining halls collaborate with UBC Chabad “to provide support and consultation on kosher food availability at UBC,” but they do not provide kosher-certified meals from a kosher-certified kitchen, according to a statement.
Regarding the plethora of options above tackling food insecurity, one UBC student remarked, “I really like the diversity that the market offers. When I was walking by, you can see a lot of different ethnic foods, a lot of foods that people would enjoy.” Yet, the diversity of food options (such as halal) and the accommodation of dietary needs (such as gluten-free foods) at UBC happens to include everything except kosher-certified meals. Or, namely, it excludes Jewish students.
For many Jewish students applying to university, kosher food is the deciding factor in their enrolment. If other top Canadian universities, such as the University of Toronto or McGill University, offer access to kosher food, then why can’t UBC?
In my personal experience living off campus, there are some days where I wake up late, rush out the door with no meal and, with no access to kosher-certified meals on campus, go hungry throughout the day. I am tired of it.
With UBC’s recent approval of allocating $500,000 toward food security programs and the AMS’s recent launch of their food security initiative, the AMS Food Bank can establish a contract with the leading Orthodox kosher certification organization in British Columbia – Kosher Check – to supervise the preparation of kosher meals (such as falafel and sandwich wraps) in the facilities of the AMS Food Bank.
While establishing and maintaining a kosher kitchen may not be feasible, having access in the Nest to a microwave, refrigerator and a dry goods rack designated only for kosher-certified meals would be the first most practical action to take.
I stand tall and proud to share my identity with others on campus. But, if there is not even any access to kosher-certified meals on campus, it furthers the marginalization of Jewish students like myself.
If the AMS and the UBC are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, then they must commit to making kosher-certified meals accessible on campus.
Eitan Feiger is a third-year history student at UBC
Editor’s note: The original version of this letter to the editor was published in the Ubyssey.
