Fun and meaningful ways to celebrate Jewish Heritage Month

[Image Source: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, William Kurelek (1927–1977), Jewish Wedding in Calgary, 1975.]

Jewish Heritage Month is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate Jewish traditions, art, culture and history and to honour the contributions of Canada's Jewish community.  

Jewish Canadians have made significant and valuable contributions to our communities across all sectors, and have shown a tremendous amount of resilience and bravery throughout history. 

Around 400,000 people of Jewish heritage call Canada their home. Despite Canada being the country with the 4th biggest Jewish community in the world, Jewish Canadians today continue to experience a rise in the acts of antisemitism and xenophobia. 

Jewish Heritage month is a time for us to reflect on how we can take a stand against antisemitism, violence and xenophobia. It is also a moment for us to commemorate and honour the memory of those lost to the Holocaust. 

We encourage everyone to self-educate, reflect on and learn about the profound contributions of Jewish Canadians to Canada, and to find ways of supporting and celebrating Jewish-led organizations, events and communities. 

With that in mind, here are a few ways that you can celebrate National Jewish Heritage Month: 
 

VISIT A JEWISH MUSEUM OR A SITE OF HISTORICAL JEWISH INTEREST

Learn more about Jewish history by visiting a Jewish museum, a Holocaust memorial museum, a Jewish library or a historical synagogue. 

• The Jewish Museum and Archives of BC

• The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre

• Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library

• The Jewish Virtual Library

• Canadian Jewish History Virtual Tour

LEARN MORE ABOUT CANADIAN JEWISH HISTORY

Did you know that Vancouver’s Jewish community emerged through the immigration of people from Victoria? And that Victoria is home to Canada’s oldest continuously operating synagogue that still holds services?

Read this Daily Hive story of the evolution of British Columbia’s Jewish community.

• For more information about Jewish history in B.C., visit: https://jewishmuseum.ca/

• For more information on Victoria’s Congregation Emanu-El, visit: https://congregationemanuel.ca/

• For information on Lower Mainland Jewish community organizations, including schools, synagogues, cultural and social service organizations, visit: https://www.jewishvancouver.com/

 
JOIN A JEWISH BOOK CLUB

Join the lively discussions centred around a Jewish novel with chair Helen Pinsky.
Thursdays 1:00pm
April 28 – “The plot against America” by Philip Roth
May 26 – “The Hidden Palace” by Helene Wecker
June 30 – “Morningside Heights” by Joshua Henkin

TAKE A JEWISH HERITAGE WALKING TOUR

Explore the early roots of Vancouver's Jewish community in this entertaining family-friendly tour of scenic Strathcona.
 

ATTEND AN EVENT

Celebrate Jewish music by singing along and learning more about traditional Jewish songs.

• On Saturday May 15 JunkOy! Klezmer band will sing Jewish songs from Odessa and play Klezmer tunes from Eastern Europe. All proceeds will go to supporting refugees from Ukraine in BC.

• On May 15, Queer Jewish Languages will feature a lineup of linguists and everyday speakers of what the organization calls “queer Jewish languages (nonbinary Hebrew, Ladino, Yiddish, queer Jewish English, and Farsi)”. The guests include Eyal Rivlin of the Nonbinary Hebrew Project, Nesi Altaras, Faith Jones, Grace Elizabeth Dy and Ellen Perleberg, and Yosef Jay Nemanpour.

• On May 28, Bridging Water Rituals will come together for accessible and virtual embodied practice, music, song, poetry and celebration

SUPPORT A JEWISH ORGANIZATION

Do your part to strengthen the impact of the Jewish people by supporting Jewish arts organizations and museums in BC, such as the Chutzpah! Festival, the Norman Rothstein Theatre, the JQT, a volunteer-run Jewish queer and trans nonprofit organization, the Peretz Centre for Jewish Culture, the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery, the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival or the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, to name a few.

The list above is by no means comprehensive. We hope you find these resources useful in your celebration of Jewish Heritage Month!

Support the Artist Survival and Healing Fund this May 18

Vines Art Festival is organizing their first official Fundraiser for the Artist Survival and Healing Fund. For more information about the Fund, please click here. 

Artists are often under-resourced, subject to debilitating systemic barriers, and are in dire need of space and time for healing from the trauma inherent in navigating all of the above and more. 

Having access to this fund can help artists whose tenuous financial stability makes it hard to bounce back from the emergencies that come up in life.

The fundraiser, held on 18 May 2022 at 6:30 pm will include a delicious meal from Tamam: Fine Palestinian Food and will showcase some of the most enchanting performances from drag artists, poets and musicians alike. There will also be a silent auction throughout the evening, generously donated by local artists, businesses and community members. 

Performers will include Chelsea D.E. Johnson, Maiden China, King Fisher, Toddy, erica hiroko isomura, DJ Kota, Oliver Barnes.

You can get tickets here.

ADDITIONAL WAYS YOU CAN HELP

• Become an Artist Care Community Partner. $250, $500, $1000. Vines will shoutout and thank all community partners both at the event and on social media. Support via Canada Helps

• Like to personally support this cause? Donations can be made via Canada Helps or on their website. 

• Don’t have capacity for any of the above? Share this information via email, on social media or in your organization’s newsletter.

[copy courtesy of Vines Art Festival]

May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit people (MMIWG2S)

May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women & Girls. It is widely recognized as Red Dress Day but officially known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit people (MMIWG2S). This is a day for us to recognize, honour and raise awareness about the lives of Indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit people that were lost to violence.

The movement began in 2011 with an art installation called the REDress Project by Jamie Black, a Métis artist from Winnipeg. Black used the red dresses to symbolize “both the violence that women are experiencing, but also the presence and power of Indigenous women.” Since then, red dresses have become a powerful symbol for the movement and a way to commemorate the women, girls and Two Spirit people who have gone missing or have been murdered.

This day is an opportunity for all of us to reflect, both privately and publicly, on our commitment to creating a safer society for indigenous women, girls and Two Spirit people, who are statistically and historically the most in danger of violence and harm than any other population in Canada.

On this day we reflect on ways in which we can support, see and hear those affected by MMWIG2S+. In order to educate ourselves and our community at large, we invite you to read the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls’ final report, Reclaiming Power and Place, and it’s 231 Calls for Justice to raise awareness, broaden your understanding, and learn how to take further action. 

We also invite you to wear red to raise awareness about this important issue among your community, and to hang a red dress in your window or your yard.

If you would like to show your solidarity through social media, use hashtags such as: #MMIWG2S, #RedDressDay, #WhyWeWearRed, #EndTheViolence, #NotForgotten and #NoMoreStolenSisters.

You can also make a donation to an Indigenous organization which works with Indigenous Women, girls and Two Spirit people such as the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre or Pacific Association of First Nations Women(PAFNW).

The Alliance recognizes that this day can be triggering for those affected by MMWIG2S+ loss. The MMWIG2S+ free crisis line is 1-844-413-6649, and it operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Below is a short list of some associations and organizations which you can support and learn from on this important issue, as well as some educational videos:

Data For Indigenous Justice

Native Women’s Association of Canada

National Indigenous Women’s Resource Centre

Walking With Our Sisters

Keetsahnak: Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters

Protect Our Future Daughters

Butterflies in Spirit Video Collaborations

National Centre For Truth and Reconciliation

We invite you to take the time to self-educate and learn about our shared history of colonization and how it continues today.

[Hero image credit: CHF BC]