Friday, July 2
LE CONCERT OPENS
The movie Le Concert by Romanian-French director Radu Mihaileanu, which won the people’s choice award last November’s Cinemania, opens at in Montreal theatres. This is the story of a celebrated Bolshoi Orchestra conductor who is demoted to janitor during the repressive Brezhnev era for his support of his Jewish musicians. He finds vindication 30 years later when he triumphantly reassembles the fired musicians for a concert in Paris. The film, which stars Russian actor Alexei Guskov, won France’s César awards for best sound and best music.
GAZA DOCTOR
Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, author of I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey, is on Jewish Digest, Radio Centre-Ville 102.3FM, 8:30 a.m.
NETWORKING EVENT
The Jewish Chamber of Commerce holds a networking cocktail at Macaroni Bar, 4448 St. Laurent Blvd., at 6 p.m. Reservations, Julia Ruhlyada, 345-2645, ext. 2639.
THEATRE OUTING
Na’amat Montreal is headed to Theatre Lac Brome to see the play The Dock Brief and Edwin, two comedies by John Mortimer, creator of Rumpole of the Bailey. Bus leaves from Cavendish Mall. Reservations, 484-0252.
FOR TOTS AT LIBRARY
A three-session “Summer Rhythm, Rhyme & Story Time” begins at the Norman Berman Children’s Library with early childhood educator Linda Kravitz. There are separate sessions for children aged six to 14 months and for those 15 months and up. Registration, 345-2627, ext. 3012.
KABBALAT SHABBAT
A Kabbalat Shabbat inspired by the soulful music of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach takes place at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, 6:30 p.m. A light kiddush follows. Rabbi Schachar Orenstein, 737-3695.
WALK-IN CLINIC
The Herzl Family Practice Centre at the Jewish General Hospital now has a walk-in clinic. Patients can be seen without appointment 365 days a year. Although part of the goal is to reduce pressure on the JGH’s emergency department, the clinic isn’t intended for critical cases. Located at 5858 Côte des Neiges Rd., fifth floor, it’s open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. and weekends 9 a.m.-5 p.m. This is a pilot project in collaboration with McGill University and the Montreal Regional Health and Social Services Agency. In addition to tending to acute medical problems, the clinic’s multidisciplinary health-care team can follow patients with chronic conditions between appointments with specialists. Patients with regular appointments at the Herzl will continue to be seen as usual on the second floor of Pavilion H.
SURVEY UNDERWAY
Federation CJA is undertaking what it calls the most comprehensive research on the Montreal Jewish community in nearly two decades. Community members are asked to complete a 79-question online survey at www.federationcja.org/survey, which will provide demographic data and an opportunity to express views on where the community should be headed. The poll is part of the federation’s long-term strategizing project called Imagine 2020. A blog, focus groups and random phone polling by Léger Marketing are also part of the study.
KIDS HELPING KIDS
Pre-K children at the the Centre de la Petite Enfance at the West Island Jewish Community Centre stuffed 63 teddy bears and other toy animals and gave them to patients at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. The kids raised more than $750 through its Coins for a Cause. This is the third year of the project, which was the idea of Ethan Elharrar when he was a five-year-old in the CPE in 2008.To date, more than 165 toys, which the kids made themselves at a Build A Bear store, have been donated to the hospital.
INTERNEES REMEMBERED
The story of the German Jewish refugees who were interned during World War II in Quebec is being told at Fort Lennox on Ile-aux-Noix on the Richelieu River. The 19th-century British army fort, from 1940, was a detainment camp for German Jews shipped over from Britain. A total of 273 German Jewish men and teens, classified as prisoners of war because of their nationality, spent up to two years there until it was determined that they weren’t Nazis, but rather victims. Fort Lennox, now under Parks Canada, was one of eight such POW camps in the province. This history is documented in the museum and part of the guided tour.
EXTRAS: The Canadian Nurses Association named the Jewish General Hospital as the top hospital in the country for its support of RNs who want to earn a certification credential. The JGH provides funding for enrolment, study days and examinations, as well as a luncheon to celebrate RNs who achieve certification… The U.S, subsidiary of the Israeli investment company Delek is reportedly interested in buying the Shell oil refinery in Montreal East, which is facing closure and the loss of 800 jobs… The National Council of Jewish Women has scheduled day trips to the Festival de Lanaudière July 11, Saratoga Ballet July 15, Upper Canada Playhouse July 21 and Piggery Theatre July 29. Reservations, 733-7589.
On her 65th birthday, Beverly Spanier was afforded the rare opportunity for a woman of delivering the dvar Torah at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim’s morning minyan. Spanier, a retired high school teacher, is a special volunteer at the synagogue. For more than 30 years, she has organized its third service during the High Holidays, which is free of charge to those who might otherwise have nowhere to go. Special arrangements are made to bring residents of the Miriam group homes, for instance.
In her address, Spanier spoke of the necessity of seniors stepping aside and letting younger people take over. She made clear, however, that it may be years before she completely relinquishes her role. “One of the lessons of life and particularly of growing old is that no one is indispensable and each of us ends up giving over his or her responsibilities to others… A major part of the aging process is being humble and having the courage and faith to believe in youth and to say to them, ‘Now it is your turn.’” Spanier was tickled that no fewer than five rabbis attended the service or her kiddush: Wilfred Shuchat, Adam Scheier, Yonah Berman and David Woolfson from the Shaar, and Schachar Orenstein from the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue and formerly the Shaar’s associate rabbi. Expressing appreciation was Shayvie Berkovic, whom Spanier mentored from Grade 11 through undergraduate and graduate school at New York’s Touro College, where she obtained her master’s in education with a 4.0 grade point average. Berkovic came from an observant family, but Spanier didn’t believe that should be an obstacle to her goal of a university education. She has been teaching for seven years now…
Burney Lieberman, a stalwart of the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre, placed first at the Senior Star 2010 regional competition, sponsored by Chartwell-Quebec, for his interpretation of Old Man River. Lieberman moves on to the provincial finale Sept. 29 at the Corona Theatre, where a jury from the artistic world will crown the Senior Star of Quebec. The prize is $5,000… Young American comic Mo Mandel appears in the Ethnic Heroes show at the Just for Laughs Festival this month.The California native won Comedy Central’s Open Mic Fight in 2007 and has since performed in the series Reality Bites Back and appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Recently, he was chosen as one of the leads in a new Fox sitcom pilot by the creators of Will and Grace.
