VANCOUVER — Six-year-old Vancouverite Yosef Nider knows about tzedakah. Unfortunately, he’s also been exposed to facts about cancer and death, since his grandfather, Marvin Nider, 65, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last February.
Yosef, who plays the violin, recently told his mother, Elizabeth, that he’d like to use his violin to help find a cure for his zaide’s cancer.
They have now planned a Feb. 26 concert at Vancouver Hebrew Academy’s gymnasium, and are pleased with the response to date.
“We reached and surpassed our $1,000 fundraising goal within 24 hours of telling people about the concert,” Elizabeth said. “The response has been tremendous and we’re blown away by people’s sensitivity to and appreciation of what Yosef is doing.”
Nider’s 45-minute performance will include a recital of the songs he’s learned on the violin over the past two years, a compilation from the Suzuki method of instruction that includes Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Go Tell Aunt Rodie, and Andantino. He’ll be accompanied on the piano by Robin Wenham, an instructor at the Vancouver Academy of Music, and on the clarinet by Connie Gitlin, a Richmond, B.C., music teacher and performer.
“We’ve now raised $3,000, and Yosef doesn’t understand how much money that is, but we tried to explain that it’s a lot of lego” Elizabeth said, laughing. “We’re so proud of him doing something so great.”
