A year of celebration

June 2 parade and gala – two of many events.

As Congregation Emanu-El turns 150, this is a year for commemoration, celebration and education. It is also a year to restore and maintain the building so that it will last another 150 years. It needs a new roof before it pulls the walls apart, and renovations to the windows, the front entrance and the floors are required. The congregation’s planned events, then, are twofold: joy for the present, and care for the future.

Several events have already been held: the talk Bricks and Torah on March 10 by Hal Kalman, architectural historian, and the unveiling of a new chuppah; the concert Hodaya! on March 23, featuring performers from many cultures in the city; the site-specific performance on April 11 of a new play, The Girl Rabbi of the Golden West, written by Jennifer Wise; and, on May 8, From Bimah to Broadway: An Evening with Cantor Rob Menes, with former congregation member and choir leader Rob Menes, who was joined by the present Jewish Community Choir and Josie Davidson.

The next events take place on June 2, beginning with a parade, which forms up at 11:15 a.m. at the corner of Fisgard and Douglas (the Freemason temple) and sets off at noon with the Royal Canadian Navy’s Naden Band leading. At 12:10 p.m., the parade pauses at City Hall to pick up Mayor Dean Fortin and some city councilors and, at 12:30 p.m., the procession arrives at the intersection of Pandora and Blanshard streets. There, the commemoration of the laying of the cornerstone will take place – Fortin, Israel’s Ambassador to Canada Miriam Ziv, the grand master of Freemasons in British Columbia and other dignitaries will mark this historic occasion and welcome the 150th year of Congregation Emanu-El, the oldest synagogue in Canada in continuous use.

Following the ceremonies, the Emanu-El sanctuary and social hall will be open for a tour and an opportunity to view various historical displays of artifacts, artwork, documents and archives. Later that day, there will be a gala (kosher) dinner at the Fairmont Empress Hotel, 6 p.m., with keynote speaker Dr. Irwin Cotler, MP, human rights advocate and professor emeritus of McGill University, as well as live entertainment to dance away the night – tickets are $150.

On Sunday, June 16, at the synagogue, Seattle Jewish Chorale will have their Canadian première, with a repertoire including songs in Hebrew, English, Yiddish and Ladino, incorporating a wide variety of styles and genres within the Jewish choral tradition: sacred and secular, a cappella and accompanied, classical, jazz, folk and pop. Admission is $20.

On Wednesdays, from noon to 3 p.m., and on Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be tours on the hour, June through August, as well as on Sundays at 8 p.m. in July and August. Canada’s first ordained maggidah (Jewish storyteller), Shoshana Litman, will lead the tours, weaving local history and Jewish customs with tales both ancient and modern, highlighting the arrival of Victoria’s first Jews and the development of a dynamic congregation over 150 years to the present. The tours cost $10/person.

Until September, the synagogue’s social hall will be filled with artifacts illustrating the many years of Jewish life in Victoria. Wedding photos, family pictures, ritual objects, heirlooms, artwork and documents show the richness and diversity within the Emanu-El congregation. The hall is open Tuesday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and admission is by donation.

Looking to Rosh Hashanah, two of Congregation Emanu-El’s Torah scrolls are being restored and will return during the High Holidays – these scrolls were discovered to be more than 300 years old. Another Torah scroll, a new one donated by Miriam Fisher z’l, will be brought to the synagogue from Israel, where it has been written for the congregation. These great treasures, old and new, will be placed in the aron kodesh.

On Sunday, Sept. 29, 2-5 p.m. the eighth Calling All Artists project art show opens in the social hall. The project brings together artists of diverse media – visual, graphic and fabric artists, sculptors, poets and other writers – to explore a biblical or midrashic text with Rabbi Harry Brechner and to interpret the text through their art. This year, the text has been the story of the Binding of Isaac, the Akedah. At the Sept. 29 opening, the artists will speak about their creative process and talk about their work. A catalogue of the art will be on sale, and admission is by donation.

On Sunday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m., CBC’s Eleanor Wachtel will visit the synagogue. She has interviewed almost every great writer on the planet, and will discuss her experience with writers, as well as the Jewish literary scene in Canada.

Rounding out the scheduled events is a performance by the Lafayette String Quartet – Anne Elliott-Goldschmid, Joanna Hood, Pamela Highbaugh Aloni and Sharon Stanis – on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2 p.m., at the synagogue.

For more details on these events and Emanu-El’s 150th anniversary, visit congregationemanu-el.ca.

– Courtesy of Congregation Emanu-El

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