The Israeli group, HaGroovatron brought its festive, energetic style to Winnipeg at this year’s JNF Gala honouring Larry and Tova Vickar on June 1, 2010. Lead singer Dror Ahava Romem turned the Hebrew words Lilah Tov (good night) into “Larry and Tova”—wishing the audience a “Larry Tova,” and a “Lilah Tov.”
This article was published in the Vancouver Jewish Independent on June 10, 2010.
Established in 1953 as the world centre for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, Israel’s Yad Vashem safeguards the memory of the past and works to impart meaning for future generations.
A crowd of about 200 was privileged to be at the most hysterical event in Winnipeg in a long time. This hilarious comedy hypnosis event was held at the Park Theatre on Wednesday, June 2, 2010.
Brock Corydon School’s musical production for 2010 was a delightful twist on the perennially popular New York story of Bugsy Malone, a fast-moving period piece whose title character is a likeable rogue in 1920s New York. The production served as a late-spring showcase for the school’s music and arts curricula, especially given the scope of the Bugsy Malone piece and the opportunities provided for the children who participated.
I don’t know anything about music, nor do I know anything about Yiddish—which means I know doubly less about Yiddish music.
There is no question that Voices of Winnipeg Holocaust Survivors is an important book. Edited by Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada volunteer Belle Millo, the book features the stories, photographs and documents of 73 Winnipeg Holocaust survivors.
David Gale dishes out plenty of comical and raunchy Spoonfuls at CJA’s “Fress with the Best”
“Why is your Italian parsley limp?,” comedian David Gale, emcee of “Fress with the Best” asked Chef Tony DeLuca with a straight face on the stage of the Berney Theatre on April 7, 2010 as the audience of 200 women burst out laughing.
Playwrights throw their hands up in the air in frustration. “What do they want from us?” they wonder about artistic directors who won’t program their new plays. Artistic directors shake their head slowly at the exasperation shown by playwrights. “Why won’t they write something great?” That is not to say that the relationship between playwrights and artistic directors is destined to be like oil and water.
‘Thompson to Represent Canada in Dance Championships in Poland’
Fourteen year old Gray Academy of Jewish education student Sara Thompson has won first place overall in the junior soloist category of the Canadian National Dance Competition for her lyrical piece entitled "Dear Dairy" which is about the damaging effect of teenage bullying.
For those of us that went to Hebrew school in my generation, there was generally not much emphasis given to speaking Yiddish. Growing up around my house, Yiddish primarily consisted of four basic words – mensch , chutzpah, meshugaas and potz –you hoped to fall in the first category but often got caught in one of the latter three.
Former Winnipegger and Joseph Wolinsky graduate, Janelle Silverstone ( nee Devere) has published her first children’s book called, Kid Power – Kids Like You Figure It Out. The book of four Jewish themed stories is published under her Hebrew name, Chaya Silverstone, by Israel Bookshop Publications, and is illustrated by Racheli David.
Witty wordplay provides lots of laughs in world premier performance “I’m not your letter to the world. I’m a real person”, says Rebecca to her father, Harry as she attempts...
[Editors note: Former Winnipegger Rochelle Mass is an award winning poet living in Israel.] Each year as the Winnipeg sun grew strong my mother would tell me how her mother made lockshen how she...
I certainly don’t want to play into the myth that all Jews are rich, least of all in Winnipeg. As the Jewish Child and Family Service often reminds us, many Winnipeg Jews struggle with poverty...
The historic heart of Old Havana, Cuba, (Habana Vieja) which was declared part of the cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO in 1982, is a must see destination for travelers with an interest in modern Jewish history. (Pictured: Former Jewish area of old Havana, Cuba)
Over 300 people packed into the Berney Theatre and overflow seating in the Jewish Heritage Centre’s Holocaust auditorium for the official book launch of “Voices of Winnipeg Holocaust...
Having read numerous Holocaust survivor testimonies over the last few weeks, I’ve been reminded about the tremendous hardships that so many survivors faced as they tried to make their way to Israel in the waning days of the British Mandate. This illegal immigration is the subject of Day After Night, the newest novel from Anita Dimant. American author Dimant is best known for her blockbuster novel The Red Tent.
As a Jewish Winnipeger and book reviewer I am always excited to read novels that are set in Winnipeg’s Jewish community. There have been a few of these in recent years,
Two years ago, I spent Channukah in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico’s second-most visited resort (after Cancun),
Yelapa, an island in Mexico straight out of a tropical fantasy is a no more than an hour’s ride by an inexpensive “water taxi” from the popular destination of Puerto Vallarta. (On my water taxi I even overheard someone from Manitoba talking about Lake Winnipeg !!)
Isle Mujeres, which in Spanish means “Women’s Island” is less than an hour by boat ride from the bustling Mexican city of Cancun and easily lures tourists to its white...
It was May of 1996 and I had moved to Toronto from Winnipeg six months earlier. I longed to see some of my friends from the West, so I was very excited that my girlfriend Sharon was coming to visit me.
