All who attended Steven Finkleman’s online photo journey of the Jewish Diaspora on Sunday, November 7th, 2021, enjoyed a rapidly-moving presentation of his travels to visit the Jewish sites in Poland, China, Morocco and India. Entertaining and educational – lots of positive comments on the quality of the presentation. Keep on travelling – these days, mostly online.
Six OJC members are excited to have created their own ceramic menorahs under the guidance of Fern Helfand (OJC member) at her new, Clayline Pottery Studio. The artists are looking forward to returning in a week to paint and glaze their creations. The menorahs will then be fired and ready in all their colourful splendour, for candles on the first night of Hanukkah. (November 28)
OJC was treated to a “live, musical discussion” on the Many Faces of Jewish Music given by Moshe Denburg of the Tzimmes band in Vancouver on Sunday evening, October 24th. Fifty-three computers joined from Vancouver, through Kelowna and into Toronto for this event. It was a great discussion accompanied by both audiotapes and actual live music performed by Moshe on his guitar. A truly excellent, entertaining and educational lecture.
What a beautiful Fall “Walk and Meet’ for members and friends of OJC. The event took place on a beautiful and warm Sunday, October 17th at Mission Creek Park. Attended by 30 persons, it was great to meet new members, and of course, everyone enjoyed the Timmie’s coffee, donuts and muffins. What a beautiful day – enjoyed by all.
OJC members and friends were treated to an amazing private, virtual, online tour of the Western Wall Tunnels in Jerusalem. This event was hosted by Yifat Bear Miller, Head of the educational Division at JNF Toronto, and was guided on site by professional tour guide Ami Poraun. The ZOOM tour was incredibly done with amazing technology, leading us through the tunnel with excellent historical information. The event was attended by 17 “computers”. The feedback was extremely positive, and we must remember to invite JNF back for some of their other online tours from Israel.
High Holiday services were very well attended on ZOOM, especially Yom Kippur – Kol Nidre which attracted more than 50 computers. The services were very warm, personal and comforting to all, especially to see all the familiar faces come together and to welcome many, many new faces to our services. Kol ha’Kavod to Adam Tizel for again blowing a fantastically long Tekiah G’dola. Looking forward to next year – live in our sanctuary.
Our traditional Tashlich service was held IN PERSON by the swiftly-flowing Mill Creek by the Parkinson Recreation Centre. It was extremely nice to be with congregants and friends in a LIVE setting, as we sang songs lead by Rabbi Tom and his guitar, and threw our bird seeds into the creek as we metaphorically cast away our sins. The only ones NOT in attendance seemed to be the ducks this year!
OJC celebrated Rosh Hashana 5782 on line, with Rabbi Tom leading the services from the sanctuary with over 40 computers joining from Kelowna, North America and 1 guest from France. The services were meaningful, with very thought-provoking sermons for our very fresh start for the New Year. We hosted for the first time ever a second day service for Rosh Hashana which was quite well attended. Thanks go out to Rabbi Tom, and to Evan for helping in the service and to Adam for blowing shofar!
What a gorgeous day for OJC’s “Round the lake” cycle on August 29th, 2021. (That is, round Wood’s Lake – not Okanagan Lake). Perfect weather, not too hot. Minimal smoke. Great company. Ten persons participated in this 17 km cycle. Thanks to all that have come out! We must do it again – skiing anyone?
Was OJC to be set back because of the cancelling of the Annual Picnic due to environmental hazards? No way! We replaced it with an online, ZOOM, “Meet and Greet” to welcome Rabbi Tom into our Community and to meet one another. Joined by 22 computers, this event served a very much needed event to keep us all connected during these unusual times. Special thanks to Rabbi Tom for opening up the event with a Havdalah service and to Barb Pullan for technically pulling off the “Break-out rooms”.