Rabbi Elyse Goldstein delved into the impact of women’s evolving roles in Judaism during a webinar hosted by Kolot Mayim Reform Temple on Dec. 8. Her talk – Open Doors, Open Hearts: How Women Have Enriched Judaism – was part of the Victoria synagogue’s 2024-25 lecture series.
Using her own journey, the rabbi emerita of City Shul in Toronto explored how women’s leadership and scholarship have not only enriched the Jewish community but also transformed it for the better.
From her vantage point as a (recently) retired rabbi, Goldstein asserted that Jewish feminism has been a lifeline to Judaism over the past several decades. She referred to the profound changes within Judaism regarding the involvement of women as “disruptions” in the positive sense of the word: namely, “a societal thought pattern that profoundly changes everything around it.”
Rabbi Elyse Goldstein (photo from cityshul.com)
For Goldstein personally, a disruptive point arrived during her bat mitzvah. When it was time for her speech, she announced to the congregation – to the widespread gasps of those assembled and the dismay of her rabbi – that she, too, wanted to become a rabbi.
“I never really thought when I was 13 that women becoming rabbis would shake the very foundations of Judaism,” she said. That women “would question every assumption of Jewish life, which was based on patriarchal power, that they would challenge what it means to be a Jew altogether. I didn’t realize that I was in the middle of a quiet revolution that would not remain quiet.
“One of the biggest disruptions of Jewish feminism to Jewish life is that people who identify as female are going to lead not in spite of being female but because of it. In other words, that’s a big part of who they are. That is part of their self-identity and they’re going to lead from within that identity – not push it aside.”
The changes brought about by women becoming leaders appear, Goldstein said, in the pages of prayer books, in seminaries, in the boardrooms of Jewish organizations, yeshivot and the Israeli government.
“Our liturgy would change to not only include the matriarchs,” Goldstein said. “We would use neutered language for God and start singing songs of Miriam in summer camp. We would learn Talmud from Orthodox women. We would feel empowered to create midrashim (interpretations of the Bible).”
She referred to the first stage of Jewish feminism as “equal access Judaism,” or the idea that women should be given the same religious opportunities and responsibilities as men.
The second stage, Goldstein said, went further by questioning notions, not simply behaviours.
“It challenged the way we think and our theological language in describing God,” she said. “It began to shake the foundational assumptions about women and men, Jewish tradition and Jewish law. We didn’t just have women rabbis – those rabbis made us rethink not so much about what a rabbi looks like but what a rabbi is.”
We are in the third stage of Jewish feminism, one that considers if there is more that can be done, she said. “We have to ask about violence against women in the Jewish community and if that’s ended. We have to examine the court system in Israel, where women are still routinely denied Jewish divorces. We have to talk about the ordination of Orthodox women and how that is happening … and we’re not paying attention to it.”
Goldstein went on to talk about what are, in her view, four disruptions to Jewish life brought on by Jewish feminism: the ordination of female rabbis, starting in 1972; Jewish rituals that speak more directly to the experiences of women; changes in religious garb, with, for example, women in a congregation wearing tallitot (prayer shawls); and the reshaping of the gender-related language pertaining to God.
In addition to being the founding rabbi of City Shul, Goldstein started Kolel: The Adult Centre for Liberal Jewish Learning. An award-winning educator, a writer anda community activist, she has lectured across North America, Israel and the United Kingdom. Her works include ReVisions: Seeing Torah through a Feminist Lens and, as editor, The Women’s Torah Commentary.
Ben M. Freeman will present the next lecture in the Kolot Mayim series, on Jan 12. The author of the Jewish Pride trilogy, Freeman will discuss his latest book, The Jews: An Indigenous People, which will be released in February. Visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com to register for upcoming talks.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
BC members of Team Canada U16 Junior Girls Volleyball sell donuts to raise funds to travel to Israel next summer. (photo from Maccabi Canada)
Young volleyball players and their families are calling on the community for assistance to send their team to Israel for the 2025 Maccabiah Games next July.
Team Canada U16 Junior Girls Volleyball includes 10 athletes, including four from Vancouver, five from Toronto and one from Winnipeg. The team is fundraising to cover the expenses, which amount to almost $10,000 per participant.
“These girls are devoting themselves to bringing their best game to the Maccabiah Games next summer,” said Roman Pereyaslavsky, the team manager. “It is not only a powerful goal for them, but the celebration of international athletic competition in Israel next year is also a huge message of solidarity with the people of Israel at this time of unprecedented challenge.”
The girls and their parents do not underestimate the hurdles they face in raising the funds to make the trip to Israel possible.
“Traveling to Israel and competing as Canadian representatives with Jewish girls from around the world is a massive dream,” said Liel Lichtmann, a Richmond Grade 10 student and member of the national volleyball team. “We are fundraising every way we know how and we are confident we can make this happen. We hope our community will make our dream a reality.”
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Rolene Marks had a heartrending plea to the hundreds of people who attended a virtual event titled Stop the Violence.
“As our hostage plight fades from the minds of the world, we plead to you, be the voices of our hostages,” she said. “We know what our women and girls are enduring – they’ve been sexually violated and continue to be violated. The impact on their mental health is unfathomable. Don’t let your government or the world forget that there are 101 hostages and we need them home now. We are a devastated nation, deep in trauma. Unless we get them home, this will be a wound that will never, ever heal.”
Marks, a South African-Israeli consultant and journalist, was one of two panelists interviewed by Dana Levenson on Nov. 25 in a virtual event organized by CHW (Canadian Hadassah-WIZO), Na’amat Canada, Momentum Canada, Canadian Women Against Antisemitism and National Council of Jewish Women of Canada. She was joined by Jay Rosenzweig, a lawyer dedicated to advancing safety for women, in speaking out about violence and femicide.
Globally, in 2023, a woman was killed every 10 minutes. In 2022, 133 women or girls were killed daily by someone in their own family. And one in every three women experiencesphysical or sexual violence in their lives. But statistics don’t resonate, Marks insisted. People remember stories, not numbers.
Both panelists said the silence from the United Nations and the media with respect to the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas against women in Israel is – and continues to be – deplorable. Marks said that, in October 2024, when members of the foreign press visited the sites decimated by Hamas terrorists, she saw a complete lack of empathy. “It was like they were ticking something off their to-do list by being there. They’ve completely lost any impetus to report and tell the truth,” she said.
But it’s possible to “fell an elephant with a mosquito,” she continued, citing an African proverb. “We’re not powerless or voiceless. We need to become that mosquito, to demand that journalists employ the ethics of good journalism. We’ve got the law and ombudsmen there to adjudicate, and we need to make use of the tools available to us, remembering that every one of us has power.”
Rosenzweig said members of the Jewish community need to do more in leveraging technology to confront injustice.
“We can do better when it comes to communicating online, because technology and the digital world can be a neutralizer,” he said. “Dialoging outside of our community can also help turn the tide, so we should be reaching outside the Jewish community to find commonality with other communities, for example the Indigenous community. We can find common cause with them by speaking as one indigenous people to another.”
Marks suggested participants host screenings of the documentary Screams Before Silence. She encouraged younger members of the community to get involved by “adopting a hostage” or a victim of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and becoming familiar with their lives.
“By making those stories very personal, it is easier to share with others and to connect with peers from other communities,” she said. “Tell the stories of Naama Levy, Daniella Gilboa and the other girls being held hostage. They are stories of teenagers who went to dance for peace, and our teenagers can connect to these people. These stories help to humanize us as a people at a time when dehumanization is so pervasive.”
Left to right: Haleema Sadia, Emily Schrader, Christine Douglass-Williams and Goldie Ghamari formed the panel of the Dec. 4 event in Toronto called The Head of the Snake, the Islamic Republic of Iran. (photo by Dave Gordon)
American-Israeli journalist Emily Schrader believes it took years for Canada to designate the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps a terror group, as it did in June, because of “moral cowardice.”
She said other Western countries have “refuse[d] to stand up for moral values and their countries and civilizations” and that is “all the reason to vote for those who will protect democracies and freedoms in Canada.”
Schrader spoke in Toronto at the Lodzer Centre on Dec. 4. She was part of a panel with cofounder of TAG TV Haleema Sadia, Iranian-born Ottawa-area Member of Provincial Parliament Goldie Ghamari, and journalist Christine Douglass-Williams, in a talk called The Head of the Snake, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Schrader is an anchor on ILTV in Israel, co-hosts a panel show on Jewish News Syndicate, and is a contributor to ynetnews.com. In her opening remarks, she spoke of growing up “nominally pro-Israel” until her time at the University of Southern California as an undergrad student. “I didn’t realize how much people passionately hateIsrael and Jews until I went to university,” she said.
Her first time “really seeing this visceral, irrational obsession with the Jewish state, which really is an obsession with Jews,” was during an Israel Apartheid Week, held by Students for Justice in Palestine. She said she was “irritated” by the “lies they spread across campus.” She joined Students for Israel in response to “this obsessive hatred towards Israel.”
“I always joke that Students for Justice in Palestine – the best thing they ever did was make me the biggest Zionist in the world,” said Schrader. “I would not be Israeli today if it was not for Students for Justice in Palestine. So, I guess I have them to thank for that.”
It was only after making aliyah that Schrader became aware of the historical connection between Iranians and Jews, going back to Cyrus the Great (circa 590 – 529 BCE), who allowed the Jewish exiles to return to the Holy Land. Iranians and Israelis are “really fighting the same evil,” she said.
American-Israeli journalist Emily Schrader spoke in Toronto on Dec. 4. (photo by Dave Gordon)
In 2024, Schrader founded the Israeli Iranian Women’s Alliance (IIWA) to promote women’s advancement and democratic values.
She said Iran’s human rights violations have gotten worse. “There are more restrictions and gender apartheid than we have ever seen before.” She added: “The world is not paying attention because of everything else that’s been going on.”
Ghamari said Canada has been “courting the Hamas votes,” meaning immigrants from countries with “fundamentally different values than Canada.”
Schrader added that “the left overestimates the values of these voters” and “they are against the West – whether it’s a right or left government – so courting them is a fundamental mistake.”
“One of the best ways to support Iranians is to support our king,” Ghamari said of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi – son of the late, deposed shah – who visited Israel in April 2023. “He is the one true voice of the Iranian people. He has 90% support,” she said.
A way to battle the anti-Israel forces is to build connections with like-minded allies, said Douglass-Williams. “They want the outreach just as much as the Jewish community.”
Ghamari seconded that: “All your support gave me the motivation to speak out and speak up.”
Sadia’s advice to win hearts and minds was to “multiply the voices” on social media.
Douglass-Williams alerted the audience that Venezuela has now sold a million hectares of land to the Iranian regime. “The IDF says they are developing weapons there that could reach America and Israel,” she said.
The Dec. 4 talk was organized by the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation, OneGlobalVoice, Allied Voices for Israel, Tafsik, and Canadians for Israel.
In an exclusive interview with the Jewish Independent, Schrader said the new Trump administration will be “excellent” on cracking down on Iran. She believes that moral-minded countries need to “de-recognize” the Islamic regime and ramp up sanctions. “It’s going to be a tall order,” she said of countries who have economic ties.
As for the wave of anti-Israel protests, they are primarily concerned with “support for terrorist organizations and an attempt to infiltrate and undermine Western values and the West,” Schrader told the JI.
If they cared about Palestinians, she said, they would protest the estimated 4,000 Palestinians killed in Syria by the Assad regime during that country’s civil war, she said. The Islamic regime’s “vast majority of the victims” are Arab and Muslim, but again, these protesters are silent.
Law enforcement, she believes, is to blame for allowing “multiple antisemitic assaults and attacks,” because “there’s zero accountability for these crimes that are being committed with a racist, hateful, pro-terror agenda.”
“You have to deter it, or it will only grow,” said Schrader. “And we see that happening. It’s a year after Oct. 7 and, I would argue, that it’s worse.”
Dave Gordonis a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than 100 publications around the world. His website is davegordonwrites.com.
Most of us could benefit from a little more chutzpah, as defined by Julie Esther Silverstein and Tami Schlossberg Pruwer, authors of Chutzpah Girls: 100 Tales of Daring Jewish Women (The Toby Press, 2024).
According to Silverstein and Pruwer, chutzpah is: “ A Jewish superpower: the daring to speak when silenced, to take action when others won’t, to try when they say it’s impossible, to persevere in times of doubt, to be yourself when it’s easier to conform, to stand tall when made to feel small, to believe when it all feels hopeless, to shine your light in the face of darkness.”
With Chutzpah Girls, Silverstein and Pruwer “hope to power up a generation of knowledgeable and confident Jewish kids by zooming in on Jewish women with extraordinary stories across the diverse Jewish experience.”
Chances are that many of the adults reading these stories will also be inspired, learning about several, if not a dozen or more, Jewish women they’d never heard of before: brave and action-oriented women from all over the world, from ancient Israel (1500-587 BCE) to the 21st century.
Prophetess Abigail, from Ancient Israel, whose portrait was created by Rinat Hadar.
The 100 are listed alphabetically by first name, rather than chronologically, which gives a timelessness to the feats of each woman. Whether one is a prophetess in ancient Israel, a philanthropist in the early modern era, a trade unionist in the emancipation era, a human rights activist in the 20th century or an intelligence and cybersecurity official in 2024 is mostly irrelevant to the courage one can show.
There is a timeline at the beginning of the book that outlines the eight time periods into which each of the 100 Chutzpah “girls” is placed. Near the end of the book is a map, showing their global and historic presence: Argentina, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Germany, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, Persia, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Yemen, and others.
There are three Canadians who made it into Chutzpah Girls: Judy Feld Carr, Lori Palatnik and Rosalie Silberman Abella. And they illustrate how people who are just like us can do impressive things and step up when need be.
Carr was a musicologist, she had a young family. Then, she read an article about Syrian Jews who, after Israel won the Six Day War against its Arab neighbours, were suffering. “Although she was far away, she wanted to help,” write Silverstein and Pruwer. “She reached a rabbi in Syria’s capital city of Damascus by telegram and began sending boxes of needed supplies, including religious books.”
Even after the sudden death of her husband left Carr a single mother, she continued to help, recruiting volunteers from her synagogue. “Using religious terms as coded messages, they started a secret communication system with the Syrian Jewish community. Judy’s home turned into the hub of an underground escape network to help the Syrian Jews flee to safety…. She negotiated ransoms, planned elaborate escapes, and even smuggled people across heavily guarded borders.”
Carr helped save more than 3,000 Jews.
Palatnik is founding director of Momentum, a global organization that connects women to Jewish values and to Israel, and encourages them to take action to promote unity that embraces difference.
“One day, Lori was asked if she’d donate her kidney to a stranger,” write Silverstein and Pruwer. “Hesitant at first, she drew on her sense of achrayut, the responsibility we have for one another. ‘For someone I don’t know?’ she wondered hesitantly. ‘But someone knows her. This is someone’s wife, mother, daughter, friend. Why would I pass up this mitzvah just because I don’t know her?’” (Years earlier, Palatnik had been willing to donate a kidney to a friend, but hadn’t been a match.)
Abella (née Silberman) was the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Born in a displaced persons camp in Germany, she was 4 years old when the family “immigrated to Canada with little more than hope for a better future.” She became “the first Jewish female judge in Canada and the youngest in the country’s history,” never trying to hide that she was Jewish to succeed, write Silverstein and Pruwer.
“In her career, Rosalie worked tirelessly to eliminate the disadvantages faced by people with disabilities, women, people of colour, and the native aboriginal community. After 25 years as a champion of human rights and equality, Justice Rosie became the first Jewish woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada.”
Written in a concise, clear manner, there is a lot to learn about some amazing people in Chutzpah Girls. Every entry comprises the name of the woman, her era, when she was born and in what country, her job or title, a writeup about one of her chutzpah aspects, and a quote from the woman that reflects what she did or general words of wisdom.
Jewish defenders Zivia Lubetkin, who helped command the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and her granddaughter, Roni Zuckerman, an Israeli fighter pilot, as envisioned by Shiri Algor.
Alongside the text for each woman is a beautiful, colourful, expressive portrait created by one of the dozen-plus illustrators and graphic artists that Silverstein and Pruwer enlisted for this book. The styles are so varied, but all are bold and capture the essence of the woman portrayed.
The last story and portrait in the book are left blank for the young (or old) reader to add their tale of chutzpah and a drawing of themselves.
But the book isn’t the end of it. Readers are encouraged to let Silverstein and Pruwer know who you’d like people to know more about – “a favourite figure from the Torah, a changemaker in your local community, or a leading lady in your own family. It’s even possible our next Chutzpah Girl is you!”
Therese Joseph’s solo show at the Zack Gallery opened Oct. 12, but the official opening reception, which she will attend, takes place Oct. 30. (photo from Therese Joseph)
The new solo show at the Zack Gallery – Women, Words and Wisdom: Therese Joseph – celebrates the power of women in our lives.
Artist Therese Joseph’s mixed media paintings combine imagery and words in her depictions of women she admires. Not any specific woman, but all of them, a symbolic woman, and what she means to the artist. On the walls of the gallery, Joseph’s women are sad or sleeping, doubting or searching, traveling or dancing, but they all represent the artist’s interpretation of “woman,” in all her multifaceted complexity.
Joseph grew up in Switzerland, and her road to Vancouver and an artistic career was a round-about one. When she was in her early 20s, she traveled to England to study English. There, she met a young engineer from Borneo. They fell in love and stayed in touch. A few years later, after he found work in Vancouver, he invited Joseph to join him. She had never been to Canada before.
“At first, I came for three months,” Joseph told the Independent. “I loved it here. Everyone was so open and friendly. I felt free here, felt that I could do anything I wanted. Life here was much less structured, not as many rules as back home in Switzerland. It felt like there could be more than one way to do stuff, and that freedom attracted me.”
Like many others, she was captivated by the nature of British Columbia.
“The mountains, the sea, the forest. It was like Switzerland, but more – more open, more generous,” she said.
Of course, it took time for every document to be signed and she could finally settle into her married life in Canada.
“Home in Switzerland, I had an education as a kindergarten teacher, but my diploma wasn’t accepted here in Canada,” Joseph said. So, she opened an after-school art club for local children.
“Wear Your Words” by Therese Joseph. (photo from Therese Joseph)
“I’ve always loved doing art, loved being creative,” she said. “I was involved in several community art projects with my young students in North Vancouver. We painted balconies, murals, created some street banners.”
But, eventually, she wanted to dedicate herself to art full-time, and she felt she needed more education in this regard.
“At about the same time – year 2000 – a couple of my family members in Switzerland died, and it was hard for me. I couldn’t be there with my family as much as I wanted,” she shared.
Creating art felt like a necessity for her then, a balm to her grieving heart. She sold her art studio business and enrolled in art-related continuing education classes at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Langara College.
“I took many classes and workshops in the next few years,” said Joseph. “Whenever I liked an artist, I found a way to learn from them. Among my mentors were Jeanne Krabbendam, Don Farrell, Lori Goldberg, Nurieh Mozaffari, Steven Aimone and more. I’d call it a self-directed art education.”
She emerged from that time an accomplished artist and art teacher. She exhibited widely in Canada and abroad. She taught both children and adults.
“I love teaching art,” she said. “At first, I preferred teaching children, but, as my own children grew older, I gravitated towards teaching adults and seniors. Everything has its time.”
Through all the changes in her life, Joseph kept making art. She paints figures and faces, flowers and feathers in her Dandelion Art Studio in North Vancouver.
“Women are my predominant subject,” she said. “They inspire me. They embody how strength and resilience can coexist with vulnerability, and how setbacks are merely steppingstones on the path to achieving one’s goals.”
Her technique is often mixed media. “I collect old magazines, newspapers, cards. People bring them to me, too. I rip them to pieces – never cut with scissors – and glue those text fragments to my canvases to see what could emerge. I love the process of creation, love the empty canvas that becomes an image with a meaning and a message. I never know what the current painting is about until it is done. The painting itself guides me.”
At the beginning of this year, Joseph learned about the Zack Gallery’s call for artists and submitted her proposal for a solo show.
“I had enough paintings with text and letters to fill a gallery,” she said. “I wanted to emphasize the texts, so I started searching for quotes from famous women to attach to each painting. I read thousands of quotes on the internet before I made my selection for each painting. It was very interesting and amusing.”
Her palette is colourful and her compositions sophisticated.
“None of them depict a specific woman,” she said. “They all come from my imagination. I wanted to paint something about perfume, and my painting ‘Fragrant Rain’ was the result.” The woman in the painting saunters under her umbrella, while the rain hides the details, though one can make out a perfume bottle in her bag. Coco Chanel’s tongue-in-cheek quote accentuates the painting.
“Wear Your Words” boasts three female figures, in red, pink and orange, their clothing decorated with disjointed texts. We don’t know what the women are doing. Are they dancing? Are they passing each other on the street? The letters filling their clothing jump at the viewers. “Words are the clothes your thoughts wear,” says the quote by Amanda Patterson that accompanies this painting.
“Shadows in Motion” by Therese Joseph, whose exhibit Women, Words and Wisdom is at the Zack Gallery until Nov. 18. (photo from Therese Joseph)
Most of the works on display are full of colour, so the one in black and white draws the eye. “Shadows in Motion” is actually a diptych. Joseph explained its roots.
“I’ve always loved traveling, and we traveled a lot. When, after 37 years of happy marriage, my husband passed away, I wanted to prove to myself that I could travel alone, too. I went to Mexico. I walked on the beach and watched my shadow. After awhile, I started posing, jumping and photographing my shadow in every awkward position. My hands were here and there, up and to the sides. I bent. I stretched. The sun was strong and my shadow seemed to dance. I wanted to capture every nuance. The painting was born out of those photos.”
Another travel destination – Amsterdam – inspired a couple of paintings. “Strength Becomes Her” and “Moving On” both have the word “BISON” in them.
“I was in Amsterdam and visited an art show about bison,” Joseph explained. “It was in a warehouse – a huge building with many different artists. They had a catalogue as large as a newspaper, and I asked for two catalogues. When I came home, I tore those catalogues into shreds and used the ripped words in the paintings.”
Both paintings employ bold, punchy colours. Both are rather large.
“The bison is huge and powerful, and I wanted my paintings to reflect that,” said Joseph.
Women, Words and Wisdom opened Oct. 12 and will run until Nov. 18. The official opening reception, with the artist in attendance, will be held on Oct. 30, at 6 p.m. To learn more about the artist, visitthereseljoseph.com.
Olga Livshinis a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].
CHW Vancouver Centre’s opening luncheon on Sept. 22 honours longtime members and contributors Bev Corber, left, and Dolly Jampolsky. (photos from CHW)
This year’s CHW Vancouver Centre opening luncheon on Sept. 22 will honour Bev Corber, a past CHW Vancouver Centre president, and recognize the volunteer efforts of Dolly Jampolsky.
“I have had the pleasure of knowing both women for a long time,” CHW Vancouver Centre president Toby Rubin told the Independent. “During Bev’s tenure as CHW Vancouver Centre president, I ran the annual campaign, and I have worked on other committees with her. I am excited for her to finally be recognized for all she has done and continues to do to support CHW and all its projects.
“Dolly is the Energizer bunny in my opinion,” continued Rubin. “At the age of 90, she continues to be our number one volunteer for both obtaining silent auction items and canvassing – no one seems to be able to say no to Dolly. Both Bev and Dolly exemplify strong women and are role models for myself and the rest of the community.”
Rubin has been a supporter of CHW for more than 30 years, Corber has been a member of CHW for almost 40 years, while Jampolsky joined the group more than 60 years ago.
“I had just moved to Vancouver and was seeking friendship and community,” Jampolsky said. “It was also very important for me to do something in support of Israel. CHW seemed to be a good choice.
“Early on, I was very involved with the bazaar. I recall that I would reach out to the better hotels in the city and ask for donations of linens. I also did the pickups of these donations. One time, I was at a very exclusive hotel in downtown Vancouver and I loaded up the elevator with a huge donation of linens. I stepped inside and pushed the button to go down and I got stuck.I was there inside the elevator for one or maybe two hours; no phones at the time. All I could do was press the emergency button and wait and wait.”
Stephanie Rusen, immediate past president of CHW Vancouver Centre, recalled Jampolsky’s involvement with the Hadassah Bazaar, including that her chapter had the clothing booth, then moved to linens.
“After the bazaar,” said Rusen, “Dolly switched to Pro-Am [golf tournament] and the silent auction. She has continued with the silent auction, expanding it to the Aviva Games Day and then to the openings. For a number of years, she sold the entertainment books.”
According to Rusen, “Dolly said that I was the one to get her calling donors, first for annual campaign, then end-of-year, and finally SOS. Give her a list of 20 names to call and a day later she wants more names. Three years ago, when she asked for yet another list, I only had one with 100 names and told her to call just the first 20. She called them all!”
Corber also joined CHW after moving to Vancouver and, in her decades with the organization, she has contributed in many capacities, including helping create CHW’s Legacy Circle, which allows donors of varying incomes “to create a philanthropic legacy for a cause they care deeply about.” She was active in the Hadassah Bazaar, has served as chapter and centre president, been convenor of multiple fundraisers and events, and participated in different committees, among other things. In 2021, she completed her role as CHW Vancouver Centre’s immediate past president.
“Over the years, I have made lasting friendships with women of all ages,” she said. “I value the opportunity to work with others to support our projects in Israel. With each additional commitment I have made to the organization, I have found that I have been amply rewarded for my efforts. I have particularly enjoyed the opportunity to make a difference (tikkun olam) while connecting to others in the Jewish community.”
For Jampolsky, CHW has met all the goals she had when joining.
“I was able to form many wonderful and lasting friendships that I still treasure to this day and to fulfil the promise I made to myself to support my community and Israel,” she said. “Joining CHW gave me the satisfaction that I could lend my time, energy and creativity to support Israel and set an example for my friends, my community, my children and grandchildren.”
One of the reasons Rubin was attracted to CHW was that it was a women’s organization, “bringing together like-minded women and supporting causes close to women’s hearts.
“It is an organization whose projects in Israel are not only about things that are important to all women – helping at-risk children, empowering women and providing vital health care – but also supports our local community here in Canada,” she said. “CHW looks at what the current needs are, finds the gaps in support and fills them. I am proud to stand strong with CHW and all it does to proudly support Israel and Canada.”
Rubin, who is beginning her third year as CHW Vancouver Centre president, writes on the CHW website: “Since coming in as CHW Vancouver Centre president in the fall of 2022, we have held an almost sold out Games Day, heard World WIZO chairperson Anita Friedman and cookbook author Adeena Sussman, have held SOS (Starting Over Safely) Walks, surpassed expectations on our campaigns, and we continue to try and grow the under-40 chapter.”
She also notes that there have been some tough times, notably Oct. 7.
“I think Oct. 7 has done the complete opposite of what Hamas and other terror groups thought – it has brought Jewish people together, not pulled them apart,” Rubin told the Independent. “I have found that people want to be together more than ever and are not afraid to attend meetings/events at the JCC, shuls or public places. We are always showing people how CHW is not the same organization it was when our grandmothers were involved and, since Oct. 7, more people are looking to belong to a community like CHW.”
In addition to honouring Corber and Jampolsky, the CHW opening will feature remarks and a Q&A livestreamed with Idit Shamir, consul general of Israel in Toronto and Western Canada. CHW chief executive officer Lisa Colt-Kotler will talk about her recent trip to Israel, where she visited CHW projects and bore witness to the atrocities of Oct. 7. Proceeds from the luncheon will benefit CHW partner Michal Sela Forum (MSF).
“MSF uses technology and innovation to improve the lives of victims of domestic abuse and helps them and their children take back their lives,” explained Rubin. “MSF is about keeping at-risk women safe in their homes instead of relying on shelters. The safety programs, like Michal Sela Canines, also allows women to return to their daily lives without fear of violence – this is so important. Also, everything MSF does, creates and establishes are things their CEO, Lili Ben Ami, wants to share with the world!”
For tickets to the Sept. 22, 11 a.m., opening lunch at Richmond Country Club, go to chw.ca/luncheon.
Team Canada and Team Israel at Softball City July 3 to compete for the Canada Cup International Softball Championship, Women’s division. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)
The Canada Cup International Softball Championship, Women’s division, took place June 28-July 7, with Team Canada winning the competition in a game against TC Colorado (7-0) on the last day of the tournament.
This year, 12 women’s teams competed for the cup: Saskatchewan 222s, TC Colorado, Team Australia, Team Canada, Team Chinese Taipei, Team Czechia, Team Greece, Team Hong Kong, Team Israel, Team Mexico, Team New Zealand and Team Philippines.
Team Canada and Team Israel played each other July 3 at Softball City, and attendees cheered on both teams, despite the presence of anti-Israel protesters outside the stadium. While Team Israel scored the first two runs of the game, Team Canada went on to win 10-3. In all, Israel won four of its seven games and Canada won all its eight games, which included the final.
For more about the annual event, visit canadacup.com.
On March 3, many stories of heroism were shared at the weekly rally for Israeli hostages, of whom 13 are women, still being held by Hamas. The gathering marked International Women’s Day, which takes place on March 8. (photo by Pat Johnson)
On Oct. 7, Amit Mann, a 22-year-old paramedic, spent six hours treating the wounded and dying in a dental clinic on Kibbutz Be’eri.
“Six hours during which she did not stop treating the wounded, six hours during which she did not lose hope,” recounted Ruth Jankelowitz at the weekly rally for Israeli hostages March 3. “Amit Mann, a Magen David Adom paramedic, treated the wounded at Kibbutz Be’eri with her dedication and heroism with the sounds of gunfire all around her and the threatening voices of the murderers getting closer. Together with a nurse and a dentist … she tried to do everything to save everybody as she had done since she was 13, until the bullets of the vile terrorists hit her, too.”
Mann’s tragic story of heroism was one of numerous shared at the gathering Sunday, marking International Women’s Day, March 8, where speakers called for the release of all the hostages, including 13 women still being held.
Ofra Sixto, owner of Ofra’s Kitchen restaurant, whose pro-Israel activism in recent months has attracted threats and intimidation, led a moment of silence for female victims of Oct. 7.
“The world is angry when women are being raped, abused, disrespected and brutally murdered by men – unless they are Jewish women,” she said. “Then the world is silent, complacent and, at the time, had the audacity to question the acts.
“What gets me the most is the young and old women that support Hamas, knowing what they know of how they treat women in general and our women in particular,” Sixto said. “It’s beyond me.”
Masha Kleiner, an Israeli-Canadian who co-founded NOAH, Nonviolent Opposition Against Hate, said that, for every Jew, “Oct. 7 is absolutely personal.”
“Each and every single one of us knows it could have been me who was tortured and kidnapped and killed,” she said. “I am selfishly lucky that nobody I personally know was killed or kidnapped on Oct. 7, but many of our tribe have been, so this is a personal loss for every one of us.”
Jews worldwide are grieving the loss of life, she said, but Jews lost something else that day and in the months since, she said.
“One other thing that we are all grieving in the post-Oct. 7 world is our illusions, the illusion that the world around us is safe and sane and friendly,” she said. “We grieve, and this grief can be lonely because some people that we considered friends chose to keep their distance and some of them turned their backs on us. But, while this happens, we become so much closer to the people who do have the moral clarity and the courage to stand with us.”
Mirit Murad – an Israeli who came to Vancouver two decades ago and has two nieces, Gal Klein and Ofek Elias, serving as reservists since the onset of the war – urged people to take time on International Women’s Day to honour and celebrate Israeli women, both civilians and soldiers.
“These women are demonstrating unparalleled strength, resilience, resourcefulness, bravery, intellect and protective instincts,” she said. “They embody the very essence of courage, never hesitating to leap into action or shield others from harm.”
The week’s rally took place at Jack Poole Plaza, rather than the usual location at the Vancouver Art Gallery because that space was provided to organizers of Vancouver’s International Women’s Day event.
That event’s theme was Palestinian women and featured images of “activists” including Fatima Bernawi, Ahed Tamimi and others.
Bernawi served a decade in Israeli prisons after planting a bomb in a Jerusalem movie theatre in 1967, which was discovered before detonation. Tamimi is something of a social media star, a young woman who came to prominence as a 16-year-old when a video of her assaulting an Israeli soldier in 2017 went viral. After the Oct. 7 attacks, Tamimi wrote on social media: “We will slaughter you and you will say that what Hitler did to you was a joke, we will drink your blood and eat your skulls.”
“These women are arbiters of Palestinian resistance who advocated for the rights and freedoms of Palestinian people and are continuing to do so every day,” organizers of the Vancouver IWD event said in a statement.
“International Women’s Day belongs to everyone, everywhere,” said Daphna Kedem, organizer of the weekly vigils. “Where are you, women’s organizations? Believe Israeli women. Release our women.”
Israeli women among the hostages still being held by Hamas
Amanda Alvaro, left, and Rachael Segal cohost the podcast Beyond a Ballot, on which they will interview former BC premier Christy Clark live on stage at the Waterfront Theatre on March 25. (photo from NCJW)
International Women’s Day is marked today, March 8, and this month one of Canada’s oldest women’s organizations is partnering with a new female-focused startup to encourage greater engagement with politics.
National Council of Jewish Women, Vancouver branch, is holding a special event March 25 with Beyond a Ballot. The social enterprise launched by Rachael Segal, a Vancouver woman with extensive experience in politics and broadcast journalism, aims to encourage women to get more informed and involved in politics at every level. Segal is cohost of the Beyond a Ballot podcast, which will be recorded in front of a live audience for the first time at this month’s event. She and Amanda Alvaro will interview former BC premier Christy Clark on stage at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island.
The collaboration between one of Canada’s oldest Jewish women’s groups and one of the newest innovations on the Canadian political scene is a product of the friendship between Segal and Jordana Corenblum, Vancouver chapter president of National Council.
Corenblum took over less than two years ago as president of the local section of NCJW, which is marking its 100th anniversary this year. The chapter is in the process of a major generational shift, she said, and partnering with a new female-focused organization on a live podcast fit the group’s vision. It is also a consequence of their personal connection.
Jordana Corenblum, Vancouver chapter president of National Council of Jewish Women. (photo from NCJW)
Corenblum’s first job out of university was as a youth director at Congregation Beth Israel, where she met a 14-year-old Segal. They have remained tight ever since.
Corenblum, who is a career youth worker, said she had been urging Segal for some time to create something that educates and encourages women to get more involved in politics. With
Segal launching Beyond a Ballot last year and Corenblum taking over the local branch of National Council, a partnership was a cinch.
Segal holds a master’s in law and worked on Parliament Hill with Conservative members of Parliament, ministers and senators. She has extensive broadcast experience in TV and radio and is a commentator on CBC’s Power and Politics. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Victoria, she was president of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students and she has worked with the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee. She has served as senior director of the BC Liberal party.
Segal’s podcast cohost, Alvaro, who lives in Toronto, runs a communications agency and has also worked as a political advisor for provincial and federal Liberals. She is a regular commentator on CBC TV’s Power and Politics and appears regularly in national print media.
“For a generation, we’ve been talking about putting your name on the ballot,” Segal said. “We need more women in the Legislature. We need more women in the House [of Commons]. But nobody was ever talking to the women who didn’t want to put their name on the ballot, [who] just wanted to be more engaged. I decided to launch this company, which uses media product, educational product and the building of community to try to talk to women differently about politics.
“My goal is for every woman in Canada to have a daily touch point with politics, whether that means having a conversation with your girlfriends, talking to your kids about something in the news, reading a news story or maybe that means deciding to run,” she said.
The podcast has been “astronomically successful, beyond belief,” Segal said. “Amanda and I put hours and hours a week on it.”
Future plans for Beyond a Ballot include developing a mentorship model that allows women to engage in smaller, more intimate groups, and hosting national conferences to give a platform to women in politics.
“Nothing like that exists right now in this country,” she said.
Beyond a Ballot is all about multi-partisanship and that comes through in the podcast.
“We don’t care what your position is, just that you have one,” said Segal. “Amanda is from the Liberal side, I’m from the Conservative side, but we have a really interesting conversation, where it is not divisive. We don’t go after people based on their political positions. It’s really about education above all else.”
While Segal started Beyond a Ballot from scratch last year, Corenblum took over as the new face of an established organization already in progress.
The Jewish community has a long history of women’s philanthropic and leadership organizations, which have had huge impacts over more than a century. Social changes – not least the increase in women working outside the home in the past several generations – have had an impact on these groups. Moreover, as happens in any volunteer agency, leaders burn out or simply weary of the commitment.
Local leaders approached Corenblum, who had not been involved previously, and urged her to take a role.
“The people who had been involved in the leadership for decades were all stepping back,” said Corenblum. “They were looking to the next generation and courting me and my friends and really flattered us and said, we need you young people to be involved. When you’re in your mid-40s and somebody’s calling you young, it’s flattering. We’ll listen to anything they have to say.”
The relevance of National Council, she said, has not diminished, as there is backsliding on some of the issues facing women. More than many other women’s groups of longstanding, NCJW has always been deeply engaged in political issues, she said.
“I think there’s a lot of overlap between this vast array of Jewish women’s groups,” she said. “The unique piece about National Council is that it is specifically focused on social justice work. They have a long history of being involved in political advocacy.… The entire focus of the organization is about social justice and engagement of women in tikkun olam.”
Corenblum and the mix of new and experienced local leaders are conscious of the embarrassment of riches the Jewish community has in terms of organizations doing good works.
“There doesn’t need to be another organization that is doing programming,” she said. “We don’t need to get in and continue to offer more, because our community has so much to offer. What we really want to focus on is collaboration with organizations that are doing work or have values that are aligned with ours and doing things with them and supporting them in their work.”
One new NCJW initiative is working with Jewish Family Services on a garden-to-table project where they join with families planting vegetables in a community garden, then nurturing and harvesting the produce and cooking healthy meals.
Ideas sometimes fall into their laps. A thread on an online Vancouver Jewish moms group indicated that several families were coming to Vancouver from Israel for a respite from the chaos there. People were asking for car seats, warm clothing, highchairs, toys and other needs for families visiting for a few weeks.
“With National Council support, we were able to create a new local program called Warm Welcome,” Corenblum said. Before long, they had more donations than they could handle.
Ongoing projects the group runs include Books for Kids.
“It’s about getting kids books to families and institutions that don’t necessarily have access to new beautiful books for families and children to take pride in,” she said.
In January, as a local part of a national fundraiser, NCJW organized a games day that raised $8,000 in Vancouver alone to support a counseling service in Israel that has been overwhelmed with demand since Oct. 7.
“The thing that I love about this organization is that it so incredibly flexible,” said Corenblum. “People who are doing small projects around BC can apply to us for funding to help with whatever projects that are going on.”
She calls on anybody who has a passion project or is excited about an idea to reach out and make it happen together. “We really want this to be a grassroots organization for things that matter on the micro scale – and sometimes on the macro scale,” she said.
Corenblum acknowledged that her own politics do not mesh with those of the guest at the live taping her group is sponsoring – but that dialogue across divides is precisely the point, she said.
For Segal, Clark is a great get.
“Christy was on our A-list for our dream conversations,” Segal said, “so she very kindly agreed to do this one not only with us, but in person, which is amazing.”
The partnership with NCJW is an opportunity to reach new audiences, Segal added. “They approached us with this idea,” she said. “I think it’s pretty awesome that they’ve recognized the importance of this conversation and they have been incredible partners and hosts for this event.”
Segal said that, as a Jewish woman in the current climate, finding a supportive community is important.
“We saw everything with Selina Robinson on the provincial level, we’ve seen international issues, and I think there’s a lot of women who are feeling like they want to do more,” she said. “Beyond a Ballot aims to provide women with that opportunity. Engaging with us and knowing that you have a community across the country that is here to support whatever issues are important to you, and give you the tools to be a better advocate for your community, is what women across Canada should know about Beyond a Ballot.”
Tickets for the March 25 event, at 7 p.m., are $18 and available online at eventbrite.ca.
“If you’re going to go and engage in Women’s Month events, please consider putting this one on your calendar because it may not be the sexiest of all topics, but it is definitely the one that impacts your life every day,” Segal said.
