Mazel tov to Jordan and Kate Spevakow and their parents David and Natalie for a job well-done at their outdoor, COVID-friendly B’nai Mitzvah done on location lake side on Saturday, May 22, 2021. Nearly 100 computers were able to join from far and wide. The weather was very cooperative as were the ducks in the lake for their pass-by. Great job to all. The Community is very proud!
Another great evening of Jewish/Israeli music took place Saturday evening, May 1st at 7:30 pm. There were 9 music videos that were shown each being introduced by the submitting member. Great selection ranging from klezmer to rap, Yiddish to modern Israeli. Special thanks to Laura McPheeters for MC’ing and to David Spevakow for the technical assistance. Looking forward to another event in the Fall.
Congratulations to OJC members and friends for a great attendance at Yad V’Shem’s Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) event. The event on Wednesday, April 7th was advertised on our emailing and was a great educational and professionally presented event led by Noam Gitin from Yad V’Shem in Jerusalem. She has previously led virtual educational events and does a fantastic job. Of the international forum which had 54 computers in attendance world-wide, SIX of these attendees were from OJC! Way to go for all those who attended!
Thanks to Rabbi Tom for leading us in an exceptional online Passover Seder. Sixty-six computers were able to join in this auspicious event, from as far away as Oklahoma City. It was a great, modern, relevant interpretation of the Passover story, complete with the important traditions and songs. Kol ha’Kavod to Rabbi Tom, and thank you to all that attended.
What an exciting opportunity to have a personal, live, online tour of Israel’s newly renovated Museum of the Diaspora – now called the ANU museum. Our host, Yael Rosen, of the education division led us around the museum on a virtual tour, with us being able to interact live with questions and comments. The tour took place live from Tel Aviv (7pm), and was available to our members at 10:00 am on Sunday, March 21st. Thank-you to those who attended and appreciated this opportunity. The wonders of technology – what will be next.
Thank-you to Dr. David Meola of UBC(O) for his interesting lecture given to OJC on the topic of “Emancipation and Reformation in Germany in the early 1800’s.” Dr. Meola is currently a visiting professor in the Department of Language and World Literatures at UBC(O). His lecture was an example of academic research at a university level in the area of Judaic Studies. This was certainly a “first” for OJC, and particularly exciting since it involved local UBC(O) input.
Thank-you to Barb Pullan for leading OJC in its Tu B’Shvat Seder on Friday evening, January 29th. What a fantastic presentation! Four glasses of wine, snacks, songs, great fellowship, and a good night’s sleep to follow. We had great attendance with 27 computers, both far and near. Honoured to welcome friends and members from Vancouver, Osoyoos, Chicago and Vernon!
We all thoroughly enjoyed the Shabbat morning service on January 23rd, led from Montreal on ZOOM. How fortunate to have had Rabbis Orenstein and Gilbert, along with musician Fran Avni, delight us by putting the Shacharit service into a contemporary mode, with thoughts and music for the week. Thanks to all who attended and to our 3 guests from out East.
What a wonderful Saturday night out. Lively entertainment, great company, coffee, tea and wine. This was a great event that OJC is sure to repeat in the future. Thank-you to all who submitted a great selection of video-songs of a variety of styles. Special thanks to Laura McPheeters for MC’ing the evening and to David Spevakow, alias “the tech nerd” for figuring out how to best share these selections on your screens.
What a great week we had together, lighting the Hanukkah candles as a community on ZOOM! First time we have ever done this, and to boot, each evening the lighting was hosted by a Rabbi that has contributed significantly to OJC’s development over the years. Thanks to David Spevakow for arranging the week of lightings and to all the Rabbis and community members and friends who participated. The week culminated with the full menorah being lit on a cross-Canada event of Israeli entertainment brought to the Canadian small Jewish communities by Canadian Zionist federation. Kol ha’Kavod to all who made it possible!