Thursday, Oct.25
CHILDREN’S RESCUE
The documentary film Nicky’s Children, which tells the nearly forgotten story of how Englishman Nicholas Winston,now 103, organized the rescue of 669 Czechoslovakian children on the eve of World War II, will be shown at the Jewish Public Library, 7:30 p.m. After the screening, Montrealer Jane Litwack, one of the rescued children, talks about her experience. The event is part of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre’s Holocaust Education Series. Tickets, 345-6416.
JEWS AND FARMING
Naftali Ejdelman talks about the Yiddish Farm, a project he launched last year in upstate New York where vegetables are being grown on a farm where Yiddish is the only spoken language, 7 p.m. at the Federation CJA building. The event is presented by Teva Quebec, the Green Kippah Collective and the Shefa Project, local groups devoted to environmental awareness, with the federation’s Le Mood initiative.
WALLENBERG HONOURED
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews in Hungary, will be made an honorary citizen of Montreal in a private ceremony at city hall. The event is part of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Wallenberg’s birth. This posthumous tribute was organized with the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.
SPA NIGHT
Women are invited to a spa night benefiting the Friendship Circle for special-needs children at its centre. Hair care, makeup, manicures and waxing are on the agenda. Tickets, rochel@friendship circle.ca.
Friday, Oct. 26
HELEN THOMAS EXPOSER
David Nesenoff, who videotaped anti-Israel remarks by Helen Thomas, the doyenne of the White House press corps, in 2010, is guest speaker at Chabad of Westmount for the weekend. He’ll give the Irwin Beutel Lecture on “Antisemitism in the U.S.” at a Shabbat dinner, then deliver another talk on “Israel and the Media,” Oct. 27 at noon, and he’ll also introduce the screening of 3,000 Miles on Saturday evening. [email protected].
Saturday, Oct. 27
PARTISANS OF VILNA
The heroism of the partisans of Vilna will be commemorated this weekend at the Jewish Public Library with the 1986 documentary Partisans of Vilna: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During World War II tonight at 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. when the filmmaker Joshua Waletsky presents poems and songs that pay tribute to Vilna’s Jews. Tickets, 345-6416.
Sunday, Oct. 28
FALL FAIR
The Jewish General Hospital Auxiliary holds a Fall Fair in the Pavilion A auditorium from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and again on Oct. 29. All new clothing, housewares, jewelry and collectibles, as well as “vintage” furs, will be on sale. Proceeds will go to the Mohs Surgical Unit at the hospital’s Segal Cancer Centre.
Monday, Oct. 29
PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
CTV News reporter Caroline Van Vlaardingen moderates a panel discussion on “Personalized Medicine,” 7:30 p.m. at Ruby Foo’s Hotel, sponsored by Weizmann Canada. Panelists are Dr. Ido Amit of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Dr. Sarit Assouline of the Jewish General Hospital. Karen Malkin-Lazarovitz also speaks about her own experience. A dessert reception follows. Reservations, [email protected].
Tuesday,Oct. 30
ITALIAN RESCUERS
As part of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre’s Holocaust Education Series, tribute will be paid to 50 Italian men who heroically saved 50,000 Jews during World War II, at the Casa d’Italia, the Montreal Italian community’s historic cultural centre, at 6:30 p.m. 345-2605.
ANTISEMITISM SERIES
A free seminar series on “Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective” organized by the New York-based Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) launched Oct. 16, continues today with a lecture by Jonathan Spyer, a senior research fellow at Israel’s Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya, who recently returned from Syria, from 12-2 p.m. in Leacock 738 at McGill University. His topic is “Antisemitism in the Contemporary Middle East.”ISGAP, an academic research centre, was founded and is directed by Montreal native Charles Asher Small, the Koret Distinguished Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Registration, [email protected].
RICHLER BIOGRAPHER
Charles Foran, author of the award-winning biography Mordecai: The Life & Times, speaks about the book and Mordecai Richler, at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim at 8:25 p.m. His talk is preceded by Rabbi Uri Deutsch, Abby Brown Scheier and Nitza Parry discussing Jewish literature at 7:30 p.m. The event is part of the Shaar’s free Tuesday Night Learning Series.
Wednesday, Oct. 31
BOOK REVIEWS
The Last Brother by Natacha Appanah will be reviewed by Janie Respitz at the Mount Sinai Hospital Auxiliary Literary Breakfast Club, held at Congregation Beth-El following a 9:30 a.m. light breakfast. Tickets, 369-2222,ext. 1337.
Rabbi Alan Bright reviews Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson at Shaare Zedek Congregation at 7:30 p.m. Reservations, 484-1122, ext. 101.
TELLING STORIES
Selena Eisenberg Smith, one of 30 storytellers, authors and illustrators, selected for the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week cross-country tour next May, speaks about her craft at a Canadian Hadassah-WIZO Golda Meir Chapter meeting at the Chevra Mishnayis Jacob Josef synagogue in Chomedey at 1:15 p.m. Reservations, Evie Applebee,chapter president, 450-681-9342.
…Et Cetera…
London-based Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter’s company presents his powerful work Political Mother at Place des Arts, Nov. 1-3, as part of the Danse Danse series. He’ll perform for the first time in an Arab country, Qatar, in December…
J & R Kosher Meat Delicatessen in Cavendish Mall is celebrating its 60th anniversary this month. The first shop was opened in 1952 by a Romanian Holocaust survivor, Robert Nemes, at 1329 Van Horne Ave. in Outremont with $400 he borrowed from his father-in-law. It remained open until 1996. His son, Sidney, the current owner, points out that the business has outlasted the 73 other kosher meat retailers that were around at the time. The elder Nemes still occasionally helps out at the shop when he’s not in Florida…
Université du Québec a Montréal history professor Yolande Cohen has been elected president of the Royal Society of Canada’s Academy of Arts and Humanities. The society, founded in 1882, is Canada’s oldest scholarly association. Among Cohen’s specialities is the history of Moroccan Jewry, including their emigration to Canada in the 1960s and ’70s.
