This year, Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library’s annual used book sale takes place Nov. 23-27 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. (photo from IWJPL)
For many of us, the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library is the go-to place when looking for that irresistible book to read. It’s also where we search for that compelling DVD on Jewish culture that other libraries are unlikely to carry. It’s the place where unique book launches are held, where we might send our kids (or ourselves) for Hebrew lessons and where there are discussions on Israeli politics, Jewish culture or Yiddish literature just about any day.
This month, the library revisits another tradition, with its annual book sale Nov. 23-27, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (concurrently with the Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival). The five-day event has been going on for almost 20 years and has become iconic for the library and its many patrons, said Waldman librarian Helen Pinsky.
“We sell literally thousands of books during that time,” she said. This year’s event will be no different. The library, with the help of volunteers, has been busily unpacking and cataloguing books that have been donated to them by patrons around the city.
“Some books come from the library because we have to keep everything circulating,” Pinsky explained. Older books that may no longer be read as frequently become great candidates for the sale, along with those that are donated by families and organizations. “We have assisted many, many people in downsizing.”
She added, “People wait for this event from year to year and tell us that this is one of the highlights of their book-buying.” Customers include not just members of the Jewish community, but many people from other Lower Mainland communities who rely on the sale for Judaic literature. “We also have a very huge following among the Christian community – people who know about it, and come in … to collect books that are valuable to them.”
And the money that’s raised is important, said Pinsky, who explained that many of the library’s financial engines are run on what is gained from the sale. Book purchases, operational costs and special presentations at the library all succeed, in part, because of the generosity of donors and the support of volunteers. “We have always relied on it as a very stable source of raising funds,” she said.
One of the benefactors of the sale is the library’s speakers series, which routinely hosts presenters from a wide variety of backgrounds. Pinsky said the library considers hosting presentations on the Holocaust and the experiences of concentration camp survivors to be one of its more important missions.
“We have been very conscious of [the need] lately, because the last of the survivors are coming to the ends of their lives,” she said. The library has previously featured presentations by local survivors and others who have wanted to share their stories. The book launches have often featured stories of individuals who have dedicated their lives to teaching younger generations. She said the library strives to offer “the kind of information that will help the community to constantly remember” the effects that the Shoah left in its wake.
Most of the library staff is volunteers. Pinsky said their service is essential not only to a smooth-running facility, but to the success of the book sale. Hannah Frankel, who unpacks and catalogues the donations, has been volunteering her time for four or five years. She said the popularity of the sale can be seen in the volume and quality of the donations. Just weeks before the event, donations were still arriving “in the hundreds.”
Frankel speculated that most of the donations are the result of “word of mouth” advertising. “People seem to know we exist,” she said simply.
For Frankel, ensuring that Vancouver has a strong and vibrant library is a large part of why she volunteers her time for the sale. “I just think it is important for the Jewish community to have a Jewish library,” she said.
Jan Lee’s articles have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, thedailyrabbi.com and Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism. She also writes on sustainable business practices for TriplePundit.com. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.
Left to right, Boni Putera, Titi Juwariyah and Bambang “Ho” Mulyono are the charismatic musicians at the heart of Daniel Ziv’s (inset) documentary Jalanan. (photo from jalananmovie.com)
Daniel Ziv’s first feature-length documentary, the multiple-award-winning Jalanan (Streetside), tells the uplifting, engaging story of three musicians who are part of a bustling street scene in Jakarta: Boni Putera, Bambang “Ho” Mulyono and Titi Juwariyah. Instead of playing on street corners, these captivating and charismatic buskers board city buses, transforming ordinary commutes into musical, spiritual and political journeys through Indonesia’s capital, a mega city of 10 million.
Ziv, who was raised in Vancouver, spoke with the Independent by email after the Vancouver International Film Festival, where Jalanan had its North American première. An author and political commentator, Ziv has lived in Indonesia since 1999.
JI: How did you get started with filmmaking and how did you come to this project in particular?
DZ:Jalanan is my first film, and I never intended to be a filmmaker. Rather, the amazing story of these Jakarta street buskers, and how I felt that story, could illuminate so much about Indonesia as a society, and even globalization, sort of appeared in front of me and kept lingering there until I felt it needed to be told. Since the tale naturally contained so much music and energy and movement across this gritty urban space, I felt that film would be the right medium. So, I spent awhile getting to know the tools, and then learned through trial and error. Although filmmaking skills would have come in handy, I still believe that having a good story and good access are what really make a strong documentary. No degree of technical wizardry can replace those things.
JI: How were Boni, Ho and Titi chosen as the protagonists? Were there security concerns?
DZ: I knew that for the film to work, to really grab the attention and win the hearts of viewers, I needed strong lead characters – people with charm and charisma and agency, people with something to say about life. When I met Boni, Ho and Titi, I knew in each case that they would stand out as colorful individuals that viewers would be happy to spend two hours with in a theatre, or a few days with on the street, or even five years, as I did. They weren’t the archetypical victims that poor people are so often made out to be in social documentaries. They took control of their own fate, and they were fun to be with. And, of course, I looked for buskers with some musical talent and, more importantly, who composed their own songs and lyrics, which in turn reflected their condition. This added a whole other narrative device to the film that wouldn’t be there if it was just people talking into a camera.
In terms of safety, there actually weren’t really any issues. People assume since Jakarta is an enormous, chaotic, unruly, corrupt city, that it’s also somehow dangerous, but it’s not…. I spent five years shooting the film, totally exposed in some of the poorest parts of the city, carrying perhaps $10,000 worth of camera and sound equipment on me, yet I was never once harassed or mugged or even pickpocketed. I think if you’re at ease with your environment, the environment accepts you, but, of course, it helped that I’m fluent in Indonesian and that people knew I was with Boni, Ho and Titi. It provided me with a kind of street cred and belonging. I wasn’t some tourist leering in.
JI: What attracted you to Indonesia?
DZ: I didn’t plan any of this. I discovered Indonesia as a young backpacker in the early ’90s and was captivated by the country and its people, and then just kept going back. I did an MA in Southeast Asian studies and began a PhD in Indonesian politics, which is what moved me to Jakarta in 1999 for a year of field research. Then, I just got drawn into the dynamic changes that were happening to Indonesia at that time and into some irresistible job opportunities ranging from journalism and humanitarian aid work to book writing and filmmaking. And I got to work with the most amazing people, many of whom were the next generation of Indonesian artists and politicians and media personalities and social entrepreneurs. All of this has added up to a pretty fascinating career and life, but I also feel it’s been the result of deliberate choices: I didn’t opt for a safe, conventional path; I didn’t care about pedigree or official titles or big salaries. I only chose jobs that were truly meaningful.
JI: What were the challenges (rewards) of working on this project?
DZ: I guess the thing that is both the most challenging and rewarding is the intense experience of dreaming something up out of nothing, having the chutzpah and persistence to think you can create something that comes from inside you that wasn’t there before, and that it can actually find an audience and resonate with others…. [W]hen you make a film like this, that contains so much of your own experience and sensibility and sweat and tears, it’s really scary to wrap it up and then just watch the lights dim in a packed theatre and wonder if it will even work, if your vision and story will connect with people from a totally different culture and experience. And, when it does, it’s truly exhilarating.
JI: The response to the film has been positive. What’s that been like?
Jalanan is Daniel Ziv’s first film. (photo from jalananmovie.com)
DZ: Of course, it’s immensely gratifying. My greatest fear after all the hard years of work was that it would just go nowhere … but the opposite has happened, and the film’s political and social impact in Indonesia in particular has been incredible. Jalanan captured the imagination of the public and the media, and contributed to concrete policy changes at the highest level of government, which is something none of us dreamed of.
Boni, Ho and Titi are now mini-celebrities in Indonesia, so, of course, it’s been amazing for three marginalized individuals to be publicly acknowledged in that way and to become role models within their community.
JI: Boni, Titi and Ho have multiple challenges, but they seem to be living satisfying lives. Are there lessons for those of us who, by many accounts, have more privilege or opportunity?
DZ: Certainly. But I’ve always been averse to simplistic, clichéd responses like “If poor people aren’t complaining, who are we to be discontent with our lives?” I mean, of course it’s important to recognize that we have privileged lives, but I think anyone’s pain or challenges are independently valid and very real. Having money and comfort doesn’t immunize us from pain, and being dirt poor doesn’t deny them immense joy. This is why it was so important for me to not let Jalanan become an exercise in finger waving or audience guilt. In fact, what I think many viewers respond to most is not how different they are than Boni, Ho and Titi, but how much of ourselves we see in them, and them in us. I think poverty needs to be de-fetishized and dealt with at face value, and poor people need to be seen as our friends and equals, rather than as objects to be analyzed or pitied. I know they prefer it that way.
JI: Are you still in touch with Boni, Ho and Titi?
DZ: We are close friends, and in almost daily contact. They are doing well, and enjoying a whole slew of new opportunities opening up to them as a result of the exposure from the film, but … they are still members of Jakarta’s marginalized poor, they are vulnerable and face multiple challenges. This is why I’ve started up a fundraising campaign that aims to buy each of them a small, humble house in a simple Jakarta neighborhood, something that will put a roof over their heads for life (details at jalananmovie.com/housingfund).
JI: I read an article in which you said that the buskers “were really just the lens through which we could manage a far bigger, more complex view of the country today.” Can you expand on that? Why do you think it took an expat to make an Indonesian film that had such global appeal?
DZ: That’s a great question. My interest from the start was in trying to understand, and hopefully shedding light on, Indonesia. I don’t think there’d have been anything inherently fascinating or important in a film that merely focuses on street busking, so my agenda was to probe deeper and treat my protagonists as a kind of microcosm for the country at this really fascinating juncture in time.
I’m not convinced an Indonesian couldn’t have made this film and, strangely, quite a few reviewers in Jakarta remarked that Jalanan feels “like a totally Indonesian film” rather than a documentary shot by a foreigner…. But this is probably because I created the space for Boni, Ho and Titi to tell their own very Indonesian story in their own voices and perspectives, and left space for my very talented Indonesian editor, Ernest Hariyanto, to lend his local sensibility to the cut. My goal was to open a window on to Indonesia, not to interpret it in my own image.
JI: Were you raised in a Jewish environment and, if yes, did it affect your choice of profession or other aspects of your life/filmmaking?
DZ: It’s probably fair to say my choice of profession was despite my Vancouver Jewish environment, not because of it. I grew up surrounded by a community of lawyers and doctors and academics and business folks, and most of my childhood friends didn’t stray far from that. I was lucky to have parents who secretly admired the creative and adventurous tendencies my sisters and I harbored.
One of my sisters became a ceramic artist and urban heritage expert; my other sister is a professional chef and musician. Our parents never pushed us toward establishment careers. They taught us a love for travel and culture, and that it was more important to lead an interesting life than a safe one. They probably got more than they bargained for in my case, and lament the fact that I live halfway across the world, but I doubt they’d be any happier if I were a senior partner at a downtown law firm. And, I dare say, they seemed pretty proud when the lights came on at the end of our screening … at VIFF.
Basya Layeis a Vancouver freelance writer and former editor of the Jewish Independent.
Bron Studios has won multiple awards for its work. (bronstudios.com screenshot)
Aaron L. Gilbert had every reason to be smiling broadly at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The Burnaby-based producer had three film screenings: Welcome to Me (starring Kristen Wiig and Tim Robbins); Kill Me Three Times (starring Simon Pegg) and Miss Julie (starring Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell).
“This is one of the top three most prestigious film festivals in the world, rivaling Cannes in terms of its importance to our industry,” Gilbert said. “Having three there was pretty exciting. It’s tough to get in, it’s an honor to be there and it’s a wonderful launching ground to create awareness of your film.”
As a result of the TIFF screenings, all three of Gilbert’s films are closing deals with American distributors. Welcome to Me (which also screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival to rave reviews) will be released in March, and the other two are also likely to be on the big screen in the United States and Canada over the next year, he said.
Aaron L. Gilbert (photo from bronstudios.com)
The 42-year-old from London, Ont., was studying at McMaster University when he had an opportunity to work in the music industry in 1993. That changed his life track, and Gilbert found himself moving between Vancouver and Los Angeles doing music management, managing artists and handling the international licensing of music. He credits his passion for the arts to his parents, Gloria and Joseph Gilbert.
“We’ve always been a family where the arts was important,” he reflected. “My parents introduced me and my siblings to theatre and music and gave us an opportunity to see and do a lot of things. Today, my brother and sister are also active in theatre and arts, and our love for it comes from the introduction our parents gave us as kids.”
Today, Gilbert is managing director of Bron Studios in Burnaby, which he co-founded with his wife Brenda in 2010, and where he wears many different hats. “Financially, I’m involved in putting the different pieces together for our films and with production partners, but I’m also very involved in all creative elements, such as finding a script, working on it and developing it, and selecting editors, directors of photography, talent agents, managers, casting directors and marketing people,” he explained.
Bron Studios specializes in live action and animation, and the tremendous talent pool in Vancouver’s animation industry makes this an excellent place to be, he said. “There’s a very mature film and TV industry here, and tremendous incentives for tax and government support for the animation industry in Vancouver, but it’s also about quality of life. I love the proximity to L.A. that Vancouver gives me and I often fly into L.A. for the day. This is as close to L.A. as I want to be!”
In the last few years, Gilbert has worked with Olivia Wilde, Will Ferrell, Helen Hunt, Jennifer Hudson and Julianne Moore, among many other Hollywood actors. “I’ve met such incredible, talented people, and to watch them perform just blows my mind,” he admitted. “I’m often astonished by how down-to-earth the actors are and, in many cases, we become friends. Will Ferrell, for example, is an incredible guy in addition to being crazy talented.”
Gilbert is actively working on several projects, one of them based on an original play about the inner workings of a Jewish family. Being Jewish certainly influences his decisions and the kinds of material he’s attracted to, he said. “My parents have always been so active in the Jewish community and that’s part of who I am and how I live my life, overall. I’m not in synagogue every Saturday, but I’m Jewish and culturally aware, and I know my roots. I’m definitely attracted to real-life stories about how Jews live in our existing world.”
Gilbert is also particularly attracted to films containing serious thematic material. “A lot of films I’ve done cover difficult subject matters in ways that can be accepted by wider audiences,” he explained. Welcome to Me, for example, is about a woman who is bipolar, while Decoding Annie Parker (2013) deals with breast cancer and heredity. “We want to approach difficult subject matters in a way that can be entertaining, but never preachy, to our audiences.”
Recently, he partnered with Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media on the psychological drama Into the Forest, from Canadian writer/director Patricia Rozema. And, in October, he was in Shreveport, La., working on I Saw the Light, a Hank Williams biopic, in partnership with Brett Ratner.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond, B.C. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net. This article was originally published on cjnews.com.
Shlomo and Hagar Yekutieli’s tablecloths feature many different designs, including Chanukah and other holiday motifs. (photo from shlomohagar.com)
As Chanukah appears on the horizon, our thoughts inevitably turn to two things: gifts, and fatty foods. If you’ve distributed all the socks, dreidels and menorahs in years past and are all out of ideas, rest assured, there’s more out there. Lots more.
Light it up
Most families are going to need Chanukah candles as the festival approaches, so a gift of decorative candles never has time to get stale. If your pet peeve is Chanukah candles that drip hard-to-remove wax all over your countertops, you’re not alone. A good alternative is Safed Candles’ dripless Chanukah candles at $9.95 for a box of 45 (traditionsjewishgifts.com). Another option: Rite Lite Judaica sells eco-friendly, hand-dipped multicolored beeswax Chanukah candles ($17.99) or regular hand-dipped candles at $15.04 without the eco-friendly label.
Decorate with it
Vancouver couple Shlomo and Hagar Yekutieli manufacture beautiful tablecloths decorated with Jewish motifs, among them menorah designs. Using 100 percent cotton fabric and a combination of vegetable and regular dye, the pair has been crafting cloths from their home for the past 26 years. They have designs for all the Jewish holidays, as well as waterproof sukkah hangings. Prices start at $35 and go up to $180 depending on the size of the table. For information, visit shlomohagar.com or call 604-603-4629.
Just for laughs
Cafepress.com is a website with a variety of cute gift ideas for Chanukah, some of them bordering on ridiculous. There are T-shirts that say “I Wanna be a Maccabee ($22+), baby clothes that ask “Got gelt?” and $23 baseball jerseys with the words “Blowing the shofar can get you only so far.”
Play it
Who needs Monopoly on Chanukah when you can play the Maccabee Adventure Game? (amazon.com, $29) In this board game, players must lead a band of Maccabees to find enough oil to light the menorah, trying to avoid the roaming remnants of the Seleucid Empire on the way. The game comes with instructions in Hebrew and English and offers around 45 minutes of entertainment for up to four players age 8 and older.
Read it
Read about Hershel of Ostropol, who gives a Jewish village the gift of celebrating Chanukah by taking care of some nasty goblins that haunt the synagogue.
Chanukah is all about kids, so if you’re stuck for a gift for the special children in your circle, look no further than Eric Kimmel’s Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Scholastic, 1990, scholastic.com, $3.71 paperback). In this story, Hershel of Ostropol gives a Jewish village the gift of celebrating Chanukah by taking care of a series of nasty goblins that haunt the old synagogue, blow out Chanukah candles, throw potato latkes on the floor and break dreidels.
Illustrated by the careful hand of Trina Shart Hyman, the goblins are mesmerizingly hideous and the story of their defeat is at once scary, defiant, courageous and humorous as they are shown to be cowards, easily fooled by Hershel’s tricks. This book is a must for any Jewish kids’ bookshelf, a text that gets pulled out year after year and captivates kids as young as 3 and as old as 8.
Make it
A great resource for Chanukah crafts for kids is Crafting Jewish by Rivky Koenig (Mesorah Publications, 2008, artscroll.com, $26.99). Featuring a chapter for each of the Jewish holidays, the Chanukah section has seven crafts and two recipes, as well as ideas for a doughnut and ice cream party where everyone makes his/her own dessert combinations. The crafts are varied and include creating a glowing glass menorah, making dreidel-stamped gift wrap, crafting clay dreidel charm jewelry and building a Chanukah tray made from a large picture frame. The activities are beautifully explained, with a list of needed items, an estimated duration for the craft and a picture on the opposite page showing the finished product as inspiration. If there’s a crafty kid in your house, this book will be well used.
Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond, B.C. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net.
Hand in Hand was started in 1997, with the goal of creating integrated schools wherein both Arab and Jewish kids could study together in a bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic) framework within the public school system. (photo from Hand in Hand)
Starting with just two classes in 1998 – a kindergarten and a Grade 1 class – Hand in Hand now has five schools throughout Israel, serving 1,200 students.
Hand in Hand is the brainchild of Lee Gordon and Amin Kalaf. Gordon grew up in Portland, Ore., before making aliyah; he lived in Israel for 20 years, returning to the United States a few years ago. Kalaf grew up in a small village near Afula and now lives in Jerusalem. They founded Hand in Hand in 1997, with the goal of creating integrated schools wherein both Arab and Jewish kids could study together in a bilingual (Hebrew and Arabic) framework within the public school system. The concept involves both improving the quality of education and being a model for partnership between Jewish and Arab citizens, as well as the public and private sectors.
“We have mayors in the various towns supporting our projects and giving us buildings to use and some funding … so, it’s a public-private partnership,” said Gordon. “There is public funding from Israel and also a lot of private philanthropic support [from] around the world,” he said, referring to the United States, Canada, Europe and, of course, Israel. When Gordon moved back to the United States, he created (and heads) American Friends of Hand in Hand, a nonprofit fundraising organization.
Kalaf’s oldest child graduated from Hand in Hand’s first class of Grade 12 graduates. “We’ve had four high school graduating classes now at our only high school in Jerusalem,” said Gordon. “That’s our biggest school, with 600 students from pre-k to 12th grade.”
Two years ago, Hand in Hand added another component to the organization. “We’ve been doing a community initiative, which we call Shared Communities, in which we’re working to build relationships between Jewish and Arab adults, not just kids,” said Gordon.
Today, there is a whole range of programs for adults, including language classes, holiday celebrations, discussion groups and a men’s basketball team. “We probably have about 3,000 adults in programs around each of our schools,” said Gordon. “Sometimes, the programs are at the schools in the evenings, or in other places.
“They really stood out this past summer when there was all the violence – the kidnappings, the revenge murder of the Palestinian teen, and the two-month-long war in Gaza.”
Shared Communities was active throughout Operation Protective Edge. Despite the tensions and differing views, participants found common ground. One example of this was the program organizing Jerusalem adults and kids going on evening walks together, wearing T-shirts that read, “We refuse to be enemies.”
“They weren’t really protests, but they were saying not everything about Jews and Arabs is about war and conflict,” said Gordon. “Here, we are working together in our school … and, in a little town, people came out onto the side of the roads with signs that read, ‘We are neighbors in peace,’ which is more than just saying, ‘We are peaceful neighbors.’”
Today, there is a whole range of programs for adults, including language classes, holiday celebrations, discussion groups and a men’s basketball team. (photo from Hand in Hand)
At the schools, Hand in Hand works toward keeping the numbers balanced between Arabs and Jews, and between boys and girls.
“These are the main prerequisites,” said Gordon. “Earlier on, we had more Arabs than Jews. Now, we have waiting lists on both sides, though there’s a larger waiting list on the Arab side.
“Most importantly, they are growing fast. For example, in the new school in Tel Aviv (which is a preschool and kindergarten for now), last year, we had one class of 30 students. This year, we have three classes with 100 students in total. And, there was enough interest that we could’ve had 150 kids if we’d have had enough room.”
Gordon added, “There are great teachers and a wonderful curriculum. It looks at multiculturalism, backgrounds and narratives of different religions, because we have Christians, Muslims, Arabs and Jews…. In the younger grades, they have two full-time teachers in each class, one Arab and one Jewish.”
Gordon spoke of the schools’ broad reach.
“You can have an Arab friend the same way you can have a Jewish friend,” he said. “It can help you in the workplace, academia or your social life, and I think that’s a direct impact of Hand in Hand…. From the very beginning, when a Jewish child was invited to an Arab’s home for a birthday party, this involved the parents taking that child in and they’d meet each other. So, there are a lot of friendships happening beyond the walls of the schools … and sometimes the parents’ friendships were long-lasting, even if the children changed friends…. And the families aren’t just the parents. They are uncles, aunts, sister, brothers, cousins…. People hear about it and are impacted.
“We want to be visible because we want the rest of Israel to know about this and to be an example, as an alternative. Things can be different. Jews and Arabs can get along.”
Canadians can make a tax-deductible donation to Hand in Hand via the Jerusalem Foundation of Canada, with which it has a partnership.
“Our goal is to bring this model to as many places as there is interest and to work with populations to help them build a model school in the community,” said Gordon.
Ofer Biton with a therapy dog. (photo from Ofer Biton)
For years, therapists and other professionals have used animals to break down barriers and achieve breakthroughs in a multitude of situations. Recently, a pair of educators from Israel found a way to combine two of their passions – dogs and helping children with mental challenges.
Ofer Biton and Liat Bartov succeeded in getting recognition for the practice of canine therapy, and have since been teaching the how-to’s at universities across Israel.
Biton and Bartov met 20 years ago while working in special education. Some 10 years ago, “We started to think about dog training and teenagers [at risk],” said Bartov. “We started doing courses for teenagers in a youth group, and we had a lot of people wanting us in other schools in Jerusalem.”
Bartov and Biton found it challenging to find others to take on some of the rapidly increasing workload, which led them to teaching, beginning with one course in Jerusalem and one at Bar-Ilan University. Two years ago, they moved their base of operations to the Broshim campus of Tel-Aviv University, offering a one-year course that teaches both dog training and therapy methodology.
Ofer Biton with a therapy dog. The dog is the tool for the therapist, facilitating the initial connection with the client. (photo from Ofer Biton)
“We really like to teach the students how to deal with dogs and special education kids,” said Bartov. “The students who come to learn this dog training love animals, and dogs in particular. They come because they had a dream, they remember when they were kids, when the dog was their best friend, and now they still want to do something with dogs.”
Bartov emphasized that students learn that it is not the dog that is the therapist. The dog is the tool for the therapist, facilitating the initial connection with the client.
“The kids enjoy working with the dogs,” she said. “They feel like someone is waiting for them and they want to take care of someone else, so it gives you a very good starting point. Then, you must do what you learn in the course – build on that connection and create a triangle of trust.”
Anyone can benefit from this kind of therapy, according to Bartov. “It could be a very young child and it could be a very old man. It depends if there is connection with animals and dogs, especially. And, if you have this connection, you can do [the therapy] with anyone.”
Contrasting canine therapy to equine (horse) therapy, she explained, “The difference is in the size of the animal and the connection to it. The dog is waiting for you, wants to connect with you. You can do lots of things with him and he can come to your place, the hospital or your school.”
While schools that specialize in working with young students with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were the initial focus for Bartov and Biton’s canine therapy, they are also doing some work with young offenders. As well, private therapists who have heard about the program are approaching Biton and Bartov for advice.
“Typically, people with the financial ability have started to use the service, because of the name of it,” said Bartov. “They like to show their kids that they’re not going to a ‘psychologist’ – that they’re taking them to a dog trainer or to play with dogs, then they move on to very long-term therapy.”
She added, “These are mainly private [clients] as well as special education schools. Regular education schools don’t have the funding to support it, so they’re not doing it yet.”
Overall, Bartov said canine therapy is currently “very trendy … and it’s been growing for the last five years. It begins with schools, and then people hear about it and are really interested. We can see it in how much work our students get. There are over 100 practising dog therapists in Israel, with over 50 students graduating every year.”
The university offers a summer and winter session course for dog therapy. The summer course has had waiting lists.
“My dream is that every school will use dog therapists,” said Bartov. “I hope we can do this and that people will understand the benefit of the school. Ideally, every place that has kids will have a small kennel with a few dogs, and the children can be with the dogs and can have this therapy.”
Bartov and Biton hope to one day bring government-supported canine therapy to public schools. Currently, no Israeli insurance provider covers the costs associated with canine therapy, although Bartov and Biton have begun working with insurance companies to one day make that part of the coverage options.
The Hon. Lynne Yelich, Canada’s minister of state (foreign affairs and consular), right, with two fellow panelists, moderator Melissa Eddy, New York Times correspondent in Berlin, and Miroslav Lajcák, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign and European affairs, Slovak Republic. (photo from Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada)
On Nov. 13, the Hon. Lynne Yelich, Canada’s minister of state (foreign affairs and consular), concluded her participation at the High-Level Commemorative Event and Civil Society Forum on the 10th Anniversary of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE’s) Berlin Conference on Antisemitism.
The Berlin Declaration was proclaimed 10 years ago; it spelled out a series of commitments for OSCE member states, including Canada. Canada is deeply engaged in the fight against antisemitism, both at home and abroad, and remains committed to enhancing Holocaust education, remembrance and research.
Yelich participated in a panel that reviewed efforts over the past 10 years in addressing antisemitism throughout the OSCE. The panel analyzed ways that member states can counter contemporary antisemitism and discussed recommendations put forward by civil society groups.
Yelich reiterated that Canada encourages all states to take a similar, zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. “As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on antisemitism, we must acknowledge that antisemitism continues to be a sad reality,” she said.
The complete address delivered by Yelich at the conference, as it was written, follows:
It is both a pleasure and a privilege to represent Canada at this important event in Berlin today and to reflect upon what has been achieved in fighting antisemitism throughout the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe over the past 10 years.
As a matter of priority and principle, Canada supports efforts to combat all forms of racism and discrimination. However, the Government of Canada understands that hatred can manifest itself in specific ways requiring specific responses.
We recognize that antisemitism constitutes a unique form of racism, whose extreme manifestations have led to some of the darkest hours in the history of mankind. As Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said, antisemitism is “a pernicious evil that must be exposed, confronted and repudiated whenever and wherever it appears, an evil so profound that it is ultimately a threat to us all.”
As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on antisemitism, we must acknowledge that antisemitism continues to be a sad reality.
Our Nationally Standardized Data Collection Strategy on Hate-Motivated Crime indicates that Jews are the most likely religious group to be targeted for hate crimes, even though Jews constitute less than one percent of the Canadian population.
Too often, not enough is done to ensure our societies, and especially our younger generations, remember the lessons of the Holocaust.
On April 23, 2013, the Government of Canada announced that a site had been selected in our capital city of Ottawa to build Canada’s National Holocaust Monument. This monument, to be inaugurated in fall 2015, will encourage people to reflect upon the events of the Holocaust, remember the victims and pay tribute to the survivors. It will also encourage people to reflect on the responsibilities each of us has to protect human rights and dignity.
In the same spirit of education, reflection and prevention, the recently opened Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Man., houses a permanent exhibition devoted to the Holocaust.
With respect to law enforcement and protection, the Canadian government continues to develop its systems for collecting data on hate crime. Combined with law enforcement training, these systems allow the authorities to better address violence against groups at risk, including the Jewish community.
In this context, to help protect communities against hate-motivated crimes, we created a program called Communities at Risk: Security Infrastructure Program. Renewed in February 2013, this program allows not-for-profit organizations to apply for funding to allay the costs of security infrastructure improvements for places of worship and community centres vulnerable to hate-motivated crime.
Canada is also at the forefront of the fight against antisemitism on the international stage.
In November 2010, Canada hosted the second Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism Conference. Parliamentarians from around the world came together to develop mechanisms to combat antisemitism and address antisemitic propaganda in the media and on the Internet.
By unanimous consent, parliamentarians issued the Ottawa Protocol on Combating Antisemitism, which seeks commitments from governments to collect and report data on hate crimes, including antisemitism; to monitor and share best practices; to propose a common working definition of antisemitism; and to engage further with the United Nations on this issue.
Through our Office of Religious Freedom, established within Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada and headed by Andrew Bennett, Canada works internationally to combat antisemitism and other forms of intolerance on the basis of religion or belief, including by supporting projects implemented by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
The Government of Canada also recognizes the scourge of the “new” antisemitism. This sometimes-violent movement, which often portrays itself as anti-Zionism, rejects the right of the Jewish people to a homeland. We made our stand clear when Canada – the first country to do so – decided to withdraw from the United Nations Durban Review Conference because of profound concerns about the manifestations of antisemitism that had marred the first Durban Conference, as well as the participation of such overtly antisemitic regimes as Iran in the planning of the review conference.
As we collectively seek ways to improve our response to antisemitism, Canada encourages all states to take a similar, zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. This can include supporting the principles of the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, the London Declaration on Combating Antisemitism and the Ottawa Protocol; further developing data collection systems on hate crimes; and fully implementing the provisions of the 2004 OSCE Berlin Declaration on antisemitism.
Fifty-four cyclists from Toronto, Vancouver, New Jersey and New York City participated in Beit Halochem Canada, Aid to Disabled Veterans of Israel’s annual Courage in Motion bike ride in Israel recently. The organization is devoted to helping the more than 50,000 Israeli disabled veterans and victims of terrorism rehabilitate. For five days, the group cycled from Jerusalem to Eilat, raising funds to support ongoing cycling programs and purchase equipment for rehabilitative sports and cultural centres in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Nahariya and Beersheva. More than 50 members of the Israeli centres joined them, riding hand bikes and tandems, inspiring participants with their strength, determination and positive outlook.
Left to right are Judith Cohen, Rachel Shanken, Alina Spaulding, Ezra Shanken and Diane Switzer. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)
Close to 500 women, inspired and united by one cause – strengthening community through tzedakah – gathered at Congregation Beth Israel on the evening of Sunday, Nov. 2, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Choices.
Choices co-chair Melanie Samuels, left, women’s philanthropy chair Judith Cohen, centre, and Choices co-chair Lisa Pullan. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)
To mark the anniversary, this year’s event featured Alina Spaulding, who was the inaugural Choices keynote speaker. Spaulding emigrated from Russia to the United States in 1979 with the help of many Jewish agencies funded, in part, by Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. Ten years since sharing her inspirational story here, Spaulding’s continued involvement in humanitarian causes in the United States and overseas provides proof of how the support of those in need can have a profound impact on lives and communities around the world.
Event sponsors – Manulife Financial, Browns, Inflection Alternative Assets, Marni Tritt and Shannon Ezekiel Real Estate Outside the Box, Max Mara and Scotiabank – contributed to the evening’s success.
To take part in Federation’s annual campaign, which provides the financial resources to support many programs and services in the community, visit jewishvancouver.com.
