For a Hanukkah night gathering or on Dec. 31, as we move into a new secular year with a celebration, small or large, appetizers are a wonderful addition to any party. Here are some quick and easy recipes for appetizers when you’re hosting – or contributing to a potluck.
CHEESE PUFFS (makes 40)
1 cup water 6 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup flour 1 tbsp Dijon mustard 4 large eggs 1 cup coarsely grated kosher Swiss cheese
1.Preheat oven to 425°F. Prepare several large cookie sheets with vegetable spray and flour.
2. In a saucepan, combine water, butter pieces, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, add flour and stir vigorously about two minutes with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a ball and is firm. Remove from heat.
3. Beat in mustard, eggs and cheese.
4. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto cookie sheets one-and-a-half inches apart.
5. Place one sheet in top third of oven and one in bottom third of oven. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. Reverse position of sheets and bake five minutes more or until puffs are golden brown. Serve hot.
1. Preheat oven to 325°F and grease a large baking dish.
2. Drain artichoke hearts, reserving two tablespoons of marinade. Place in a bowl.
3. Place reserved marinade in a frying pan and sauté onions.
4. Remove from heat and add artichokes. Add eggs, crackers, cheese.
5. Pour into baking dish and bake 35-40 minutes.
6. Cut into one-inch squares. Serve immediately or reheat before serving.
Garlic bread “fries” (photo from jewishlink.news)
GARLIC BREAD “FRIES” (Grace Parisi is a well-known chef, and she created this party snack for Food & Wine. It makes 8-10 servings)
4 tbsp unsalted butter 1/2 cup olive oil 3 large minced garlic cloves 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley 1 large split and halved baguette 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino-Romano or a sheep’s cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a frying pan, melt butter in olive oil. Add garlic and cook one minute.
3. Remove from heat and add parsley.
4. Place bread on baking sheetcut sides up. Spoon garlic butter on top, sprinkle with cheese and bake 10 minutes.
5. Turn on broiler and broil one minute.
6. Cut bread into half-inch “fries” so they look like bread sticks.
MARINARA “KETCHUP”
1/4 cup olive oil 3 peeled, halved garlic cloves 1 tbsp tomato paste 35 ounces canned, whole, peeled Italian tomatoes salt and pepper to taste pinch of sugar 2 sprigs basil
1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Add garlic and cook, stirring, five minutes.
2. Add tomato paste and cook one minute.
3. Add tomatoes, crushing them with the back of a spoon.
4. Add salt and pepper.
5. Stir in sugar and basil and bring to a boil. Simmer until sauce is reduced to three cups and thick. Discard basil and garlic.
Sybil Kaplan, z”l, was a Jerusalem-based journalist and author. She edited/compiled nine kosher cookbooks and was a food writer for North American Jewish publications, including the Jewish Independent. We communicated regularly, but mostly in the leadup to a holiday issue. Not having heard from her in advance of this Hanukkah paper, we reached out, getting the sad news that Sybil recently passed away. It was a pleasure working with her for these past 20+ years and we will miss her. She always provided more stories than we could use, so, in this issue, we run a few we had yet to publish, honouring her in our way. May her memory be for a blessing.
The steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery were illuminated by lights representing those murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7, as the community gathered Nov. 7 to mark shloshim, 30 days of mourning. Here, Ohad Arazi addresses the crowd. (photo by Pat Johnson)
The steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery were illuminated by hundreds of lights representing lost lives, as the community gathered Nov. 7 to mark shloshim, 30 days of mourning, after the unprecedented terror attacks in Israel.
Among the lives lost on that single day was Ben Mizrahi, a 22-year-old Vancouverite, for whom Rabbi Shlomo Gabay of Congregation Beth Hamidrash recited El Moleh Rachamim.
“The past 30 days have been some of the most difficult of our lives,” said Ohad Arazi, who spoke at the gathering. “They have been difficult for some of us as Jews, for others as Israelis. They have been difficult for all of us as humans.
“There are not two sides here. It is not about politics, history, land, religion or anything in between,” Arazi continued. “This is about one thing and one thing only. This is about humanity. Nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies the horrific crimes that were committed 30 days ago. I do not know what comes next from the region as Israel and its allies must now fight to end Hamas’s regime…. But one thing I do know is that we here in Vancouver, here in Canada and elsewhere, we have a voice. We have a voice to stand up for humanity and to cry out against the senseless massacres that were carried out a month ago.
“For now, we need you, all of you, to stand up for Israel. Speak up. Your voice matters. Call them terrorists, not militants, for crying out loud. Do not give up hope that we will bring home all 242 hostages. These are dark days for Israel, but it’s an even darker time for the world, as many choose to side with evil or to not take a stand unequivocally in support of humanity.”
Another speaker, Moti Kotik, is an Israeli who has lived in Vancouver for 20 years. His friend’s daughter, Agam Berger, was kidnapped to Gaza on Oct. 7.
“Tonight, I don’t want to talk about the barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas,” Kotik said. “Nor do I want to speak about those crimes against humanity that so many failed to condemn. Instead, I’d like to share some personal thoughts and realizations that I’ve had in the last 30 days about what it means to be an Israeli Jew in the diaspora.”
For Israelis abroad, he said, it’s challenging to witness events from afar. He cited the Yom Kippur War, which began 50 years to the day before the October pogrom, calling it “a war that changed the lives of our parents.”
“This is our Yom Kippur and it’s already changing us,” he said. “For the first time, I was able to look from the outside and imagine what life for Jews would have been if there was not the state of Israel.”
Kotik said there has traditionally been a division between Israelis and other Jews in the community.
“Many times, we don’t mix with the local community,” he said. “For me, that is done. There is no more duality. I realize that I cannot escape from what I am, from what we are, which is one people, Jewish people, one community that supports each other, that makes us stronger.”
Kotik said the soldiers defending Israel on the frontlines today carry a burden of history.
“They are not there for their families and friends or neighbours, they are not even there just for the people of Israel or even for all of us,” he said. “They are there right now, risking their lives, in the name of every Jew that ever lived. Every Jew throughout history who did not have someone to protect him, who did not have someone to defend him, for every Jew throughout history, they are risking their life and putting it on the line. But they feel us and they feel our warmth and our support and our unconditional trust and they know, while they are on the front, we have their back and it helps them carrying that weight.”
The community gathered Nov. 7 to mark 30 days of mourning since Hamas’s terror attacks. (photo by Pat Johnson)
Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, welcomed elected representatives and said he does not take for granted the presence and support of government officials and police.
Michael Lee, member of the Legislature for Vancouver-Langara, said he has been hearing from parents whose children in public schools and at universities are experiencing antisemitic taunts and bullying. He commended the City of Vancouver and the Government of Canada for adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism and said he has been advocating for years that the province of British Columbia likewise adopt it, so that Crown counsel and law enforcement have that tool to aid in prosecuting hate crimes.
John Rustad, leader of the B.C. Conservative party, said he was disgusted that Canada has allowed pro-Hamas rallies to take place.
“It should never, never happen in this country,” he said. “I will do everything I can to stand with you, to stand for peace and to make sure that people understand history.”
Lenny Zhou, a Vancouver councilor, brought greetings from city hall.
“This is not about Israel and Palestine,” Zhou said. “It is not about Jewish or Muslim. It is about Israel and Hamas. It is about civilization and terrorists.”
Rabbi Susan Tendler of Beth Tikvah Congregation read a prayer written for the shloshim and spoke of the anxieties felt by Jews worldwide.
Rev. Doug Longstaffe, a United Church minister and a founding member of the Multi-Faith Summit Council of BC, but speaking on his own behalf, said he believes it is a mistake that more non-Jews are not stepping up in solidarity.
“No group has had power used against them for so long, systemically and lethally, in such a variety of ways and places and it is staggering,” he said. “While I am not arguing that it is harder to be a Jew than to be Black or Brown or Asian – how would I know? I’m white – but it is different. I see that. And it is different mostly because of the history of antisemitism, which I have been privileged to learn about and horrified by.
“There are more hate crimes today against Jews in Canada each year than [against] any other group,” Longstaffe said. “I think our first responsibility as gentiles to Jews is to understand that, considering their unique history, the right of every group to protection under the law needs to be applied most rigorously to Jews.
“Second, considering this unique history of the Jewish people, we need to lose our naivety, so that we do not unconsciously jeopardize Jewish safety by thinking they should simply assume goodwill,” he said. “Third, we need to be especially understanding, as gentiles, of Israel’s need and right to self-defence when surrounded by terrorist groups who wish to destroy all Jewish citizens.”
Regular weekly rallies to free the hostages continued Sunday. That vigil, which emphasized the approximately 40 children held hostage – including an infant born in captivity last week – recognized United Nations World Children’s Day Nov. 20. Four Vancouverites whose cousin, 17-year-old Ofir Engel, is a hostage in Gaza, attended, with one giving a moving sketch of the youth, who was visiting his girlfriend at Kibbutz Be’eri when the attacks occurred. Attendees then marched down Robson Street to Denman, where they amassed outside the restaurant Ofra’s Kitchen, whose proprietor, Ofra Sixto, has been subjected to hateful anti-Israel harassment.
At the Nov. 9 Kristallnacht commemorative event, left to right: Dr. Janus Møller Jensen, Nina Krieger, Prof. Chris Friedrichs and Abby Wener Herlin. (photo by Rhonda Dent)
The rescue of Danish Jews during the Holocaust – an operation that mobilized almost the entire strata of Denmark’s population – is one of the bright lights in the history of that dark era. That extraordinary event, which took place 80 years ago last month, is one of the reasons Denmark had one of the highest survival rates of any country during the Shoah. Even this uplifting story, though, has its “shadows,” according to an expert who spoke in Vancouver Nov. 9.
Dr. Janus Møller Jensen, an historian and director of the Danish Jewish Museum, was the keynote speaker at the annual community-wide Kristallnacht Commemoration, presented by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and held at Beth Israel Synagogue.
Denmark has an unusual history in the context of Nazi occupation. After the Nazis invaded the country with minimal opposition, in April 1940, politicians and the king, Christian X, surrendered, but managed to negotiate terms that allowed the Danish democratic system of government to continue in a so-called “peace occupation.” Importantly, one of the Danish demands was that no Dane be singled out according to their race or faith, said Møller Jensen.
This status quo fell apart in 1943, after a series of strikes and uprisings around the country. Amid the Nazi crackdown came rumours at the end of September that an action against Danish Jews was imminent. At the same time, word spread that Sweden was prepared to accept Danish Jews as refugees. A mobilization of fishing boats began – as did the Nazi mobilization – in early October. Up and down the coast of Denmark, small and larger boats carried their cargo of Jewish Danes across the straight to neutral Sweden. In all, an estimated 7,220 Jews and 686 non-Jewish spouses were transported. Of all Danish Jews, 472 were captured by the Nazis and transported to Theresienstadt, in present-day Chechia, a waystation to the extermination camps. Of these, all but 53 survived the war, in part because the Danish government persuaded the Nazis to allow food and medicine packages to be delivered to the Danish inmates.
Another stunning reality was that, when the Danish Jews who survived – estimates of survival range from 95% to 99% – returned to Denmark, almost all found their homes and possessions intact – a stark difference from what Jews elsewhere in Europe discovered if they returned to their places or origin.
Not all of Danish history is so bright for Jews, said Møller Jensen. A long history of Catholic and Lutheran theological antisemitism permeates Denmark, and immigration policies before the Second World War prevented many Jews from elsewhere from reaching refuge.
“We have letters of refusal in our collection, of people who we know later died in the camps,” said Møller Jensen.
In addition, Danish companies and agricultural producers provided materials to the German war effort, although this was required of all occupied countries, he noted.
Not all rescuers acted on altruistic motives, either, Møller Jensen added. Some fishers took money to transport Danish Jews, but he also noted that, while hindsight suggests the Nazi occupiers turned something of a blind eye to the rescue operation, those involved at the time did not know this and would likely have assumed they were risking their lives.
BC Premier David Eby spoke at the Kristallnacht event. (photo by Rhonda Dent)
In addition to the hands-on rescue, Danish society rose up against the Nazis’ action. “Organizations from the entire strata of society – doctors, professors, students, lawyers, industries, working unions – protested,” he said. “The Danish church promulgated a so-called ‘Shepherd’s Letter’ to be read aloud in all of the churches in Denmark the following Sunday, stating that this was an unchristian act, that all people were the same in the eyes of God and that this was wrong and the congregation should assist and protect their fellow human beings…. One of the priests remembered, having read the letter aloud, that the entire congregation spontaneously rose to its feet and shouted ‘Yes!’”
Beth Israel’s Rabbi Jonathan Infeld thanked Møller Jensen and reflected on his words.
“The Danish people,” he said, “did exactly the opposite of what happened in Poland. When the Jews came back to Poland, they were murdered and their property was stolen, and when the Jews came back to Denmark, dinner was waiting for them on their tables. That is righteousness.”
BC Premier David Eby spoke at the Kristallnacht event, saying he wanted to provide assurances that all parties in the Legislature are committed to ensuring that the Jewish community in British Columbia is protected from antisemitism and feels safe. He acknowledged the proximate anniversaries of Kristallnacht and Remembrance Day, and noted that his government had just announced that Holocaust education will become mandatory in the BC school system.
“The thing about remembering is you can’t remember something you’ve never learned, you can’t remember something you were never taught,” Eby told the audience. “I’m proud to stand with you, to support your community, to stand against antisemitism, to stand against Islamophobia, to stand against all forms of hate, for British Columbia to be a beacon of hope in the world of what is possible at a time when those who want to promote division and hate seem to be on the rise just about everywhere. We have lots to be proud of in this province and part of what I’m incredibly proud of is the strength of our Jewish community here and I’m very honoured to be with you here this evening.”
Before the keynote address, Prof. Chris Friedrichs, emeritus professor of history at the University of British Columbia, contextualized Kristallnacht and called the Danish rescue “the most spectacular episode of rescue in the entire history of the Shoah.”
The Kristallnacht gathering was presented in conjunction with Congregation Beth Israel and funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, with support from the Robert and Marilyn Krell Endowment Fund of the VHEC. Møller Jensen’s visit was facilitated by Norman Gladstone and Birgit Westergaard.
Corinne Zimmerman, president of the board of the VHEC, introduced a procession of Holocaust survivors, who carried memorial candles. Nina Krieger, executive director of the VHEC, opened the event and read greetings from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Cantor Yaacov Orzech recited El Moleh Rachamim. Councilor Sarah Kirby-Yung read a proclamation from the City of Vancouver. Taleeb Noormohamad, member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville, sent video-recorded greetings from Ottawa. BC cabinet ministers Selina Robinson and George Heyman were in attendance, as was Michael Lee, member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Langara.
The event drew a record crowd, according to organizers, of 420 in-person attendees and an additional 120 watching via livestream, including groups at the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and the Weinberg Residence.
The author’s husband, Dr. Scott Fields, picking tangerines in southern Israel, on Kibbutz Nitzanim. (photo by Deborah Rubin Fields)
I have just returned from laundry brigade duty. Of course, your first question is, what is the laundry brigade? As you may or may not know, in my city of Jerusalem, as well as in other parts of Israel, the hotels are currently filled with people who, for safety’s sake, have left their homes in southern and northern Israel. These moves have created an unprecedented event in Israel’s history. As one friend from Adamit, a far northern kibbutz pointed out, “We are refugees in our own country.”
In my neighbourhood, as well as in other Jerusalem neighbourhoods, residents are volunteering to clean the clothes of those evacuated to hotels. This help is very organized, with a pool of volunteers listed on an Excel file. So, I just returned the laundered clothes of a young family from the northern town of Shlomi.
And, speaking of clothes, there have been clothing drives to help those who left their homes quickly. Books and games have also been donated so that displaced families have some positive way to occupy their time.
But there are so many other noteworthy acts of goodness. One of our sons and other staff from Kfar Saba’s Meir Hospital recently drove south to the Netivot area to help a farmer pick and box watermelon. The farmer’s usual Thai or Palestinian workers are gone. In their place, hundreds, if not thousands of ordinary citizens are in the fields picking – and this is happening all over the country.
One of our daughters spent a week at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Art School sewing uniforms and add-ons for protective ceramic vests, equipment the soldiers currently need. Sewing machines were even delivered to some kibbutzim so kibbutz members could also help with this task.
While there is enough food for soldiers, some people are still providing extra food. One Jerusalem restaurant owner prepared a meal for 70 soldiers (including his son) serving up north. The food was driven to the soldiers by someone else whose partner is serving with this platoon. In my area, one of my older religious neighbours gave his Pesach dishes to observant soldiers who are staying in a university dorm (camping “in” rather than “out” as it were).
There has been a big emphasis on checking people who live alone or who have mobility issues. Volunteers are helping with shopping, picking up medication, or just visiting these solitary individuals.
During this war period, Jerusalem’s branch of Magen David Adom has held more than one blood drive. Each turnout has been unbelievable, as potential donors stood in line for hours waiting their turn. Moreover, in addition to the sandwiches the MDA staff and volunteers regularly eat on their extended 12-hour shifts, volunteers have been cooking and delivering meals (including vegetarian portions) to the staff.
On the kibbutz where one of our sons lives with his family, each family is responsible for the needs of the 100 evacuees who are currently living on the kibbutz. Yad Sarah, the Israeli nonprofit that loans medical equipment, has offered to loan equipment that the evacuees were unable to take with them. In addition, volunteers have given their time to fix up these temporary living spaces while other locals have organized hazit habayit, drop-off sites where furniture and electronics are collected for those who have had to relocate. Another nonprofit, Tenufa Bakehila, is right now fixing up neglected bomb shelters and repairing homes damaged by rockets.
Other nonprofits have opened their doors to evacuees. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel has people lodging in its Eilat Field School. For the past month, it has likewise been providing meals.
All over the country, evacuated children have been enrolled in local schools. Even the National Library of Israel has become involved. It just moved into a beautiful new building, but its old building on Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus has become a temporary school for children from Shlomi.
There is the story of a small family consisting of two sons and the father. When one son, Sgt. Maj. (Res) Gil Phishitz, was killed on Friday, Nov. 3, the word went out on social media. Thousands of people dropped what they were doing to attend the funeral in Hadera. Out of respect and to show support for the tremendous sacrifice of these fallen soldiers, people who don’t personally know the families have also been visiting during the shiva period.
Israeli farmers employ many Thai citizens. On Oct. 7, some of the Thai farm workers witnessed their co-workers being kidnapped. Some even saw their friends brutally murdered by Hamas. Our younger son, along with other volunteers, has been helping Thai workers find necessary food, lodging and medical care. Volunteers organized counselors and translators to help these people deal with what could easily turn into post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Volunteers advocated for these Thai workers with the Ministry of Agriculture and with local councils. At this point, many (estimates are 8,000 out of 30,000) Thai farm workers have left Israel.
In some places, acupuncturists and massage therapists are offering free sessions to people who have been evacuated. Several social workers and psychologists continue to give voluntary assistance to those put up in Dead Sea hotels.
Volunteerism is not just with people, it is also with animals. Volunteers have gone to the south to rescue pets and farm animals that were left behind. Veterinarians have provided medical care for injured animals. The rescued animals are now in shelters, awaiting foster homes.
Last, but certainly not least. In the big cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, many have been showing up at memorial services and vigils for the fallen and the kidnapped.
Why are people doing all these things? I think the best answer comes from Hillel in the Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot), 1:14: “If I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?”
Deborah Rubin Fields is an Israel-based features writer. She is also the author of Take a Peek Inside: A Child’s Guide to Radiology Exams, published in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
Lox Stock and Bagel’s new chef Lina Fainblum, left, and recently retired chef of 33 years Rose Carr, who will still be involved with the deli’s operations. (photo by Sam Margolis)
In June, Lox, Stock and Bagel deli at the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria was in something of a … well … pickle. A replacement needed to be found for Rose Carr, who had been overseeing the kitchen for 33 years, nearly the entirety of the deli’s existence, and about whom there are not enough superlatives to express her significance to both the local community and the customers the eatery serves.
Confronted with having to search for another chef, the JCCV advertised the vacancy. Many people applied but there was not a good fit, that is, a person who could fully appreciate the haimish (homelike) atmosphere of the deli and commit to staying in the position long term. The deli was forced to close.
Fortunately, the despair loyal patrons had to endure was short-lived, as Lina Fainblum, a member of the community and someone who loves cooking, came along.
“Everyone was thrilled,” said Larry Gontovnick, president of the JCCV. Lox, Stock and Bagel reopened in October, with a Wednesday to Friday schedule. Within three weeks, the deli resumed its original Tuesday to Friday hours.
“From looking pretty bad, it is going to what we wanted,” said Carr, who remains a beloved fixture at Lox, Stock and Bagel. “Lina is a mini miracle. Our prayers were answered.”
Although she has cut down her work in the kitchen, Carr is still on the board of the JCCV and runs the deli. The social aspect of the deli is very important, Gontovnick noted and, in this regard, Carr, who is also known as “Grandma Rose,” is in a class of her own.
“I’m in my third generation at the deli,” she said. “When I started here, people were bringing their little ones. Grandma Rose goes crazy when infants come in. And these kids grow up and come back and then bring in their little ones.
“We also have a lot of seniors who come in and they are treated with respect because we are all seniors,” she added.
When Carr arrived from Los Angeles in 1990, the JCCV at 3636 Shelbourne St. in Victoria’s Cedar Hill neighbourhood was in its fledgling stages, having just opened in June 1988. She introduced herself and has continued in her efforts to bring New York and Los Angeles deli food to Vancouver Islanders ever since.
At that time, the deli was located in a space at the centre that could only accommodate 15 people. Since then, it has expanded to seating 60 and, as Carr says, “many a day, we are full.”
Word of the wonderful dishes – such as knishes and kugel – spread shortly after the deli originally opened more than three decades ago. On one occasion, a group of firefighters came to test the exits of the JCCV. They wound up staying for lunch and told their friends and family, who were also eager to have a delicious and nearby nosh.
“It was recognized fairly early on that the customer base was non-Jews who lived in the area, enjoyed Jewish food and saw this as an affordable offering,” said Gontovnick. “It continues to this day. Most of our clients are non-Jewish. They love the place, the volunteers, the affordability and the quality of the food. It’s second to none. We have had a steady clientele. People come three or four times a week to eat.”
“People love us. They feel at home, they start clearing tables and they have been very generous with donations. They have been incredible accepting us as being Jewish.” added Carr. “After the Hamas attack, people whom we didn’t know would come into the JCC. They didn’t know anyone Jewish but would come to say they were praying for us. We are very well known and well liked in the community.”
As did many other establishments, Lox, Stock and Bagel faced challenges when COVID-19 struck in March 2020. The JCCV, at the time, decided to switch to takeout via the side door of the building. When the weather was balmy, they would set up tables outside.
One lasting result of the pandemic at the deli was the removal of a partition at the JCCV to open up more space and allow people to dine at tables further apart from one another.
Lox, Stock and Bagel, which received its name following a contest in the mid-1990s, serves all the standards one might expect at delis in much larger metropolitan areas: blintzes, matzah ball soup, pastrami on rye, jumbo hot dogs, pickled herring and gefilte fish. For dessert, there is the “Better Than Sex Chocolate Cake,” a favourite at the deli and at local fairs and, according to numerous sources, an item that lives up to its billing.
Lox, Stock and Bagel is open Tuesday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. From Dec. 5 to 15, it will be the site of Latke Mania. Hundreds of latkes will be prepared on several fryers for all those in the community to have a chance to mark Hanukkah with the traditional savoury treat.
“Our motto is: everyone’s welcome,” said Gontovnick. “This is nice place to come and just have a Jewish experience.”
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Jeff L. Lieberman – director, writer and producer of Bella! – with his mother, Carole Lieberman, at the documentary’s July screening in San Francisco. (photo by Pat Mazzera)
“I could feel defeated now / I could be broken-hearted / I could be finished long before I’d even started / But that would be too easy and I never take the easy way.”
In his production notes, Jeff L. Lieberman – director, writer and producer of the award-winning documentary Bella! – rightfully highlights these lyrics from the original song Mark W. Hornburg and Doug Jervey composed specifically for this film about Bella Abzug (1920-1998). Abzug never shied away from a fight and would always come back after a loss.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim issued an official proclamation of Oct. 15, 2023, as the opening night of the film Bella! in Canada. (photo from Re-emerging Films)
Lieberman, who has lived in New York City since 2007, returned to his hometown of Vancouver for the Canadian première of Bella! Oct. 15 at the Park Theatre. The film was presented by the Vancouver Jewish Film Centre and sponsored by Dexter Realty. Ahead of the event, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim issued an official proclamation of the opening night of the film in Canada. The proclamation recognizes that the documentary “explores the remarkable life and accomplishments of the late Bella Abzug, the trailblazing activist, feminist, congress member, and global advocate for equality.” The proclamation acknowledges that Lieberman grew up in Vancouver and that the idea for the film originated here. It was a suggestion from Carole Lieberman, who had gotten the idea from a neighbour, but more on that later.
For those unfamiliar with Abzug, she was one of only 12 women (of 435 members) to enter Congress in 1971. There, she was instrumental in getting women the right to have credit cards in their own name; she introduced curb cuts that allowed people with disabilities or other mobility issues more freedom of movement; and she brought in the Equality Act, the first federal LGBTQ+ rights legislation in the United States. Other issues about which she was vocal included ending the Vietnam War and supporting the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
Abzug was the first woman to run for the Senate from New York and the first woman to run for mayor of New York City. After she lost both races – in heartbreaking fashion – she took on other challenges, including being one of the leaders of the feminist movement and a co-founder of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization.
“Raised in a community filled with strong Jewish women, Bella Abzug was not a totally unfamiliar name,” writes Lieberman in his director’s notes. “Her orbit filled my 1980s home: the books of Letty Cottin Pogrebin (featured in Bella!) and Anita Diamant lined our bookshelves; we sang the songs of Debbie Friedman; and were proud to see Gloria Steinem (also featured in Bella!) appear on the evening news. However, Bella’s name did not quite push through like it had in other homes throughout the 1970s, when she appeared on magazine covers and became one of the most recognizable faces in Congress – due in part to her trademark branding – her iconic hats.”
Lieberman includes many audio clips of Abzug talking about various things, including her first jobs as a lawyer – she enrolled in law school at Columbia University in 1944, where she was one of six women in a class of 120, and graduated in 1947. She said she would go out to clients on behalf of a firm and be told to sit and wait until “the lawyer” arrived.
“So, I had an identity crisis and, in those days, professional women wore hats,” she says. “So, I put on a pair of gloves and a hat and whenever I appeared anywhere, they then knew I was there for business. I’ve since taken off the gloves, but I grew to like wearing hats and that was merely my way of being me.”
Congresswoman Bella Abzug, in 1979. (photo from Bernard Gotfryd, Library of Congress)
Bella! captures Abzug’s big personality and her passion for politics and social change. She made an impact on abortion rights, gay rights, equality for women and minorities, climate issues and more. Not understanding how a person who accomplished so much had basically disappeared from public knowledge was one of the reasons Lieberman made the film.
“In 2016, after completing my previous film, The Amazing Nina Simone, I began brainstorming ideas for my next project,” he writes. “My mom came up with a list of documentary ideas that like any well-meaning parent included suggestions that ignored many boundaries of reality. After politely rejecting most of the ideas, I paused when she mentioned Bella Abzug. I liked the idea but was pretty confident that her story had been told many times before. My mom said the idea had come from a neighbour who had met Bella when she visited Vancouver for a climate conference. I didn’t know George Febiger, but spoke to him on the phone and he told me about his very memorable day spent touring the city with Bella, and the many stories and insights that she had shared. He thought Bella’s story was long overdue. After doing some research, I quickly realized a comprehensive documentary film about Bella Abzug had never been done before, and George was not alone in his belief – it was Bella’s time.”
And Lieberman gives Abzug her due. He had access to never-before-shared audio and video footage, of which he and the production team of Re-emerging Films – Jamila C. Fairley, Tamar Kaissar and Amy Wilensky – made brilliant use. The film includes interviews with Abzug’s children and we meet her supportive husband, Martin, who died in 1986, through archival recordings, as well as other Abzug supporters and rivals. The film features interviews with a host of political activist celebrities who worked with and were inspired by Abzug, including Hillary Clinton, David Dinkins, Phil Donahue, Marlo Thomas, Barbra Streisand, Maxine Waters and many others.
Returning to the original song that ends the film, Lieberman writes, “It is easy for any one of us to retreat and be discouraged by the onslaught of overwhelming, bad news. It takes more work to stand up and fight – but less work if we all do it collectively. With the perils of climate change, dismantling of civil rights, and our democracy being challenged by both inside and outside threats, we hope that Bella! inspires a future generation of leaders who will pick up the bullhorn and lead us toward sustainable solutions. And we hope this film inspires everyone to find those small things they can do improve the world and never take the easy way.”
Bella! had its world première this summer in the United States. While there currently are no other screenings planned for Vancouver, the film will be aired on PBS, and will also stream more widely in the coming months. It can be rented to stream at vimeo.com/ondemand/445444. For more information, visit bella1970.com.
Book designer Barbi Braude and filmmaker Cory Bretz, both experienced in family history preservation, have launched FamilyMovieStoryBooks.com, to help “do-it-yourself family historians in crafting and publishing compelling family storybooks and producing cherished family movies.” (photo from Barbi Braude)
Irene Jacobson put the months of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic to good use, researching and publishing the history of her Jewish family’s long settlement in South Africa.
With that ambitious project completed, the retired schoolteacher thought it was time she put together her own story, which began in South Africa and carried on in the United States, where she raised three children and continued her career, after immigrating in 1977.
But, like many people, Jacobson did not feel she could write an autobiography on her own – all that ordering of memories, distinguishing between fact and anecdote, and selecting from photos and documents amassed over the years seemed overwhelming. The technological tools now available to make that task easier and the finished product more professional-looking are not widely known or may seem intimidating to the amateur.
So, Jacobson, who lives in the Chicago area, turned to a new online platform created for people like her by book designer Barbi Braude and filmmaker Cory Bretz of Vancouver, both experienced in family history preservation.
The website FamilyMovieStoryBooks.com, which they launched after a year’s development, is intended to enable anyone to craft an heirloom that they can feel proud to hand down to future generations, say Braude and Bretz.
They believe that telling stories in an appealing and lasting format, whether book, film or both, provides a sense of fulfillment to the author and can inspire their descendants.
A few examples of books about Vancouverites – Ben Dayson, the Nemetz family and Lou Segal – with which FamilyMovieStoryBooks has helped. (photo from Barbi Braude)
The platform can serve as a step-by-step guide for those who want to work independently, or Braude and Bretz can arrange to have clients accompanied as much or as little as they want throughout the process.
If someone already has written a draft or taken home videos, they can be polished into a finished product, or the pair will take on the project from the very beginning, doing interviews online and going through possible imagery, shaping the material for the client.
“This innovative website aids do-it-yourself family historians in crafting and publishing compelling family storybooks and producing cherished family movies,” said Bretz. “The platform offers an array of valuable resources, including unwavering support, educational courses, interactive workshops led by experts, and professional design services.” Prospective users can take a free trial, and initial consultation is available without charge.
Jacobson had worked with Braude on her first book. “It’s fabulous. It is about my great-grandparents who went to South Africa with their four adult children, of whom one was my grandmother. We could not go further back than the great-grandparents, so we went forward and did a history book of the four siblings, their lives and descendants.”
The book about the Mierowsky family on her mother’s side, who were from Lithuania, is more than 400 pages long, with numerous photos. A copy was deposited with the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia.
“The book I’m doing now through FamilyMovieStoryBooks is much less complicated and much smaller,” said Jacobson. “It is basically my biography, which I had written over a few years. As I’m older I felt I needed to get it done soon and in a simpler fashion. It’s my memories in chronological order.”
Jacobson (née Albert) was born in Port Elizabeth, a fifth-generation South African on her paternal side. She was a high school teacher there.
She and her husband came to the United States in 1977, where her children were born. Jacobson taught middle-school math and science at Jewish day schools.
“As my mother’s family is in my first book, I am going to have a small chapter, as an addendum, on my father’s family in my biography,” Jacobson said. After her autobiography is finished, she hopes to do a more comprehensive story of her Albert ancestors.
“I’m doing this book for me and my children and grandchildren. I will give copies to two friends I grew up with, as their children might find it interesting,” Jacobson said. “My first book is about how my parents’ generation grew up in South Africa. Mine is about how I grew up in South Africa and then my life in the US. I think everyone should do something for their family, especially if they have an interesting story to tell. Stories should be told, not lost.”
Jacobson chose FamilyMovieStoryBooks because it’s easy and affordable. “Barbi brainstormed a theme, so that helped me organize my thoughts. She also told me how to organize my photos to help me make choosing them easier,” said Jacobson.
“I am not particularly computer literate, but getting everything online has been easy to do. I could not find another place that did the same quality work. I wanted photos and more design. My brother-in-law worked on his memoirs with a ghost writer and it’s very dull with no design or photos. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product, which is still a few months away, as I do what I can between traveling.
Braude said all communications with Jacobson are done remotely using Zoom for conversations and Google Drive for sharing chapters and images.
“At first I had to tutor Irene on how to use Google Drive. We are always happy to meet clients where their skill sets are computer-wise. We have the patience to empower our clients to use the internet.”
Working on the design remotely is fairly straightforward, said Braude, who employs the user-friendly Adobe Cloud for proofing feedback. FamilyMovieStoryBooks aims to serve people worldwide.
A peek inside the book about Ben Dayson shows what FamilyMovieStoryBooks can do. (photo from Barbi Braude)
Clients receive a high-quality hardcover book with glossy pages that reproduce photos and documents like birth certificates, immigration papers and letters in the best definition.
The movies directed by Bretz have the advantage of preserving the living presence and voice of the storyteller, he said. “It’s surprising how little people at shivas know about their deceased relative.”
Distance has not precluded close collaboration, both Jacobson and Braude attest. “A wonderful relationship does form between FamilyMovieStoryBooks and our clients,” said Braude, who is also currently designing a book for a Vancouver family. “The story is a collaboration between a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor and her daughter. The daughter said to me the other day, ‘What am I going to do when we complete this project? I have so enjoyed working with you as much as seeing my mom’s story come to life.’”
Asked if the platform can be especially valuable to Jewish families in general, Braude replied, “Absolutely! I’m reminded of a quote by Sue Monk Kidd from her book The Secret Life of Bees. It goes like this: ‘Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.’
“Jews have lived in challenging times. We are the sum of our family legacy and life’s experiences. What better gift to give to future generations than the stories that made their families who they are,” said Braude.
Bretz commented that such a meaningful experience is “a testament to the power of bridging generations through the art of storytelling.” The FamilyMovieStoryBooks platform shares publishing and cinematic know-how with the general public that can transform what might be soon-forgotten family lore into a cherished artifact, he said. Along the way, family members wherever they are can bond and share a laugh or tear while exploring their common heritage, made possible through an innovative digital environment.
Janice Arnoldis a freelance writer living in Summerland, BC.
Left to right, Caylen Creative, Michelle Avila Navarro and Terrence Zhou co-star in Studio 58’s production of Blood Wedding. (photo by Emily Cooper)
Studio 58, the professional theatre training program at snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College, brings flamenco dance to the stage with Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding Nov. 23-Dec. 3.
Recognized for his surreal and socialist works, Lorca’s Blood Wedding is a tragedy of love, repression and duty. Set in rural Spain, a bride is torn between her fiancé and her former lover, and must balance feuds between the families. Blood Wedding is a poetic play that explores the isolation of loyalty versus personal freedom.
“Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding premièred in 1933, three years before he was assassinated by the fascists during the Spanish Civil War for being a socialist and a gay man,” explains director Carmen Aguirre in the press release. “This play is about forbidden love, resistance to oppressive societal norms and a foreshadowing of the war. I have set the play in an Andalucian bar on the eve of that war, where a group of flamenco dancers, musicians, actors and cantaores tell us this tragic story.”
The Studio 58 production creative team includes lighting designer Itai Erdal, who is a member of the Jewish community.
Blood Wedding will have 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. showtimes. New this season will be a relaxed performance, on Dec. 2, 3 p.m. The show is at Studio 58 at Langara College, 100 West 49th Ave. Tickets (from $10) are available at studio58.ca.
Domitille Martin in Pli, part of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, which runs Jan. 18 to Feb. 4. (photo by Lucie Brosset)
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival returns to Vancouver Jan. 18-Feb. 4. The mid-winter event that delivers innovative, contemporary works asks the questions, “Can a live art festival be a ritual for social change? A cultural strategy? A means to rethink history while imagining possible futures?” Participating artists include Jewish community members and a production presented with Chutzpah! Festival.
Vancouver’s Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance) is co-creator with Tangaj Collective (Simona Deaconescu, from Romania, and Gaby Saranouffi, from Madagascar) of BLOT, Body Line of Thought: “Our bodies are strong and fragile. BLOT redefines how we see our physical selves and their relationship to the world. In a stark set reminiscent of a science lab, two dancers observe the intricacies of the body and using salt, microbiome and physiology demonstrate how interconnected we truly are.”
BLOT will be presented Jan. 22-23, 7:30 p.m., at Left of Main, with a post-show talkback after the Jan. 22 production.
PuSh, with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs & Touchstone Theatre, presents Toronto-based theatre company Human Cargo’s The Runner, Jan. 24-26, 7:30 p.m., at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. The play description reads: “When Jacob, an Orthodox Jew, makes a split-second decision of who to help, his world comes crashing down. Urgent, visceral and complex, The Runner invites us into a nuanced exploration of our shared humanity and the value of kindness.”
In Pli, by France’s Les Nouvelles Subsistances (Inbal Ben Haim, Domitille Martin and Alexis Mérat), “paper becomes a playground. This visually stunning, philosophical work considers risk and transformation, as told through a circus artist moving through a set made entirely of paper – like a vast, changing sculpture. The relationship between body and paper offers a new conversation about the relationship between strength and vulnerability.”
Presented with Chutzpah! Festival, the circus/dance Pli runs Feb. 2-3, 7:30 p.m., at Vancouver Playhouse and Feb. 2-4 online.
In all, PuSh features 17 original works from 15 countries, including four world premières and seven Canadian debuts. The works presented offer personal accounts of resistance and acts of vulnerability, and push us to examine our relationship to themes such as migration, displacement, labour, injustice and artificial intelligence.
Events include Club PuSh, a casual atmosphere where people can connect with artists and party with fellow festival-goers; the PuSh Industry Series, which, in partnership with Talking Stick, stimulates dialogue with attendees during the second week of the festival; youth programming for participants aged 16 to 24; and, in partnership with Playwrights Theatre Centre, free artistic consultations with visiting dramaturgs representing diverse artistic points of view and cultural contexts.
Tickets for PuSh range from $16.75 to $39, with a top-tier seating option of $69 for Pli at the Playhouse, and PuSh passes for people who want to see multiple shows. To buy tickets, visit pushfestival.ca or call the festival audience services line at 604-449-6000.
– Courtesy PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
Chicago a cappella in June 2022. The ensemble released Miracle of Miracles: Music for Hanukkah last month. (photo by Kate Scott)
The CD Miracle of Miracles: Music for Hanukkah arrived at the Jewish Independent unsolicited. The album, released last month by Cedille Records, features a range of songs from the American Jewish musical tradition, performed by Chicago a cappella vocal ensemble. As someone who spent a good portion of her teenagehood in a choir at a Conservative synagogue and about a decade singing in another Conservative synagogue choir later in life, I have been happily singing along to this recording, enjoying the fresh take on songs with which I am mostly quite familiar.
Miracle of Miracles will appeal most, I think, to someone like me, who grew up in a Conservative Judaism milieu where a cantor and choir formed a large part of the service, or someone who appreciates classical music, as Chicago a cappella are classically trained A-listers, who perform a repertoire of music from the ninth to the 21st centuries. The current artistic director is John William Trotter, and Miracle of Miracles was recorded over a few days last January at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.
The CD opens with an arrangement of “Oh Chanukah / Y’mei Hachanukah” by Robert Applebaum that the liner notes describe as “modern versions of the song form from the confluence of at least two streams, the first springing from Hebrew lyrics, the second flowing together from Yiddish and English sources. Turning again to [composer] Harry Coopersmith’s mid-20th-century collection … to create something of a mash-up of ‘Oh Chanukah’s’ popularity.”
There are several Applebaum arrangements. His “Haneirot Halalu” (“These Lights We Light”) mixes English translation and commentary into the traditional Hebrew lyrics, and his “Maoz Tzur” is a cantor-choir interplay that comprises elements most of us will recognize and be able to join initially, but then becomes more complex. His finger-snapping arrangement of Samuel E. Goldfarb’s well-known “I Have a Little Dreidl” – called “Funky Dreidl” – is in English with the Hebrew “nes gadol haya sham,” “a miracle happened there,” as a kind of chorus. It’s followed on the CD by a lively rendition of Mikhl Gelbart’s Yiddish “I Am a Little Dreidl (Ikh bin a kleyner dreidl).”
Other Yiddish offerings are Mark Zuckerman’s arrangement of “O, Ir Kleyne Likhtelekh” (“O, You Little Candle”), the lyrics of which were written by poet and lyricist Morris Rosenfeld, and an arrangement by Zuckerman of “Fayer, fayer” (“Fire, Fire”) by Vladimir Heyfetz, about burning the latkes while frying them.
Applebaum’s jazzy “Al Hanism” (“For the Miracles”) is one of three versions of the song on this recording. There is also an arrangement by Elliott Z. Levine that is the traditional, fast-paced version I’ve sung countless times and love, and the expansive, movie soundtrack-sounding arrangement by Joshua Fishbein.
Levine also contributes “Lo v’Chayil” (“Not by Might”), based on text from the Book of Zechariah, which is not a Hanukkah song per se, but, as the liner notes say, “rather the more transcendent spirit that underlies the commemoration of Hanukkah.” Translated from the Hebrew, the verse is: “Not by might nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.”
Other composers/arrangers whose work is featured on this CD are Steve Barnett (“S’vivon” / “Little Dreydl”), Gerald Cohen (“Chanukah Lights”), Daniel Tunkel (four movements of his “Hallel Cantata”), Jonathan Miller (“Biy’mey Mattityahu” / “In the Days of Mattityahu”).
Two bonus tracks are included: an arrangement by Joshua Jacobson of Chaim Parchi’s Hanukkah tune “Aleih Neiri” and Stacy Garrop’s take on the prayer for peace “Lo Yisa Goy”: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
In the program notes, Miller, who is Chicago a cappella’s artistic director emeritus, talks about the limited number of Hanukkah songs that are appropriate for an ensemble to perform, commenting that “Jewish choral music is a recent phenomenon, begun in earnest only about 200 years ago in Berlin, so there’s a simple quantity issue: we have much less repertoire to peruse than in other choral traditions. Given all of this, we are especially grateful for the composers and arrangers whose persistence and skill have given us the works found here.”
Chicago a cappella artistic director John Trotter. (photo from Cedille Records)
Despite the dearth of Hanukkah choral music, Trotter, the ensemble’s current artistic director, observes that the CD comprises “a sprawling variety of styles.”
“There are at least two reasons for this breadth,” he writes. “On the one hand, we are in debt to the fertile imaginations of our composers, who envisioned so many different sound worlds and so many different ways to clothe these texts. But there is also the nature of Hanukkah itself, which offers so many different modes of personal, social and spiritual practice. Consider just three of these. Hanukkah offers the chance to reflect on the historical significance of the Maccabean revolt, with its consequences echoing through to the present day. It invites quiet contemplation of the candle flames, set aside from any utilitarian purpose. And it provides an opportunity to gather with family and have a really great party with really great food.”
Miracle of Miracles would provide a perfect acoustic background for a Hanukkah gathering. To purchase a CD or buy or stream the music digitally, visit cedillerecords.org/albums/miracle-of-miracles.
