About Town: June 10

 
Thursday, June 10


SURVIVING CANCER

Cancer survivor Kathryn Stephens speaks on “Dare to Dream,” at the Chomedey Seniors Club, at the Young Israel Synagogue, 1:30 p.m. Toby Banks, 450-688-7020.

Friday, June 11


CHASSIDIC FEMINIST

Rivkah Slonim, education director at the Chabad Centre for Jewish Student Life at Binghamton University, offers “Reflections of a Chassidic Feminist” at a Shabbat dinner at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, 7:45 p.m., sponsored by the Irwin Beutel Lecture Series. She speaks on Shabbat at Chabad of Westmount, after 9:45 a.m. services on “An Exploration of the Evil Eye,” and at 7 p.m. at a teach-in. Register at 937-4772.

KABBALAT SHABBAT
Shaare Zion Congregation holds a Kabbalat Shabbat service at 5:45 p.m. with singing and dancing led by Cantor Boaz Davidoff in “The Band’s Last Stand.”

Saturday, June 12


ON AIR

Robby Hoffman, who grew up in a chassidic family in Brooklyn and now lives here, talks about her one-woman The Robby Who Show at the Montreal Fringe Festival, Jewish Digest, Radio Centre-ville 102.3 FM, 8:30 a.m.

Sunday, June 13


ROSH CHODESH

A women’s Rosh Chodesh service  for the Hebrew month of Tammuz takes place at the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue at 9:30 a.m. Children welcome. Dvar Torah follows. Barbara, 683-4926.

Monday, June 14

BAR/BAT MITZVAH INFO
Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom holds a bar/bat mitzvah information meeting with Rabbi Leigh Lerner at Federation CJA’s West Island branch, 7:30-8:30 p.m., for parents of children born in 1998, 1999 and 2000. West Island classes will be Mondays. Another information session will be held at the temple June 16, 7:30-8:30 p.m., for the Westmount classes. 937-3575.

Tuesday, June 15


CANTORIAL CONCERT

Congregation Zichron Kedoshim stages a cantorial concert featuring some of the top young chazzanim in the world, including Congregation Shaar Hashomayim’s Gideon Zelermyer, 7:30 p.m. Tickets, 733-3374.

MOVIE NIGHT
The Israeli film Turn Left at the End of the World will be screened with English subtitles at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom at 7 p.m., as part of the In the City program for seniors. It’s the story of two immigrant families, one Indian, one Moroccan, living in an isolated village in the 1960s. Munchies provided. Registation, Stefani Novick, 342-1234, ext. 7201.

FREE LOAN MEETING
The Hebrew Free Loan Association holds its 99th annual meeting at 4:45 p.m. at its office.

OSTEOPOROSIS NEWS
Physiotherapist Debbie Gencher gives “A New Look at Osteoporosis,” at a Beth Ora Seniors meeting, 1:30 p.m. 342-1234, ext. 7348.

HERESY IN JUDAISM
Montreal native Rabbi Allan Nadler, director of Jewish studies at Drew University, lectures on “Defining Theological Heresy in Medieval and Early Modern Judaism, from Maimonides to Spinoza,” at Concordia University’s engineering building, room 1.605, 5:30-7 p.m. Second of a three-part series “Not Such Nice Jewish Boys: Heretics and Heresy in Jewish History.” Reservations, 848-2424, ext. 4397.

FOR BRIDES & GROOMS
“Soulmates: The Kabbalah of Marriage” is the topic of the last lecture of the season, sponsored by the Jewish Institute for Brides & Grooms at Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem, 8 p.m. 482-2472.

ELDER ABUSE
An Elder Abuse Awareness Symposium is hosted by the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors, 4-7:30 p.m. Marguerite Blais, minister responsible for seniors, and D’Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman are among the invited guests. Reservations, 484-7878, ext. 1609.

…Et Cetera…


HOPE & COOK

The cookbook Nourishing Hope with Recipes to Cope has been published by the Jewish General Hospital’s Hope& Cope program to help cancer patients eat well. Several dozen volunteers contributed and tested the recipes, with the help of the Wellness Centre’s dietician, while others edited, proofread or provided photos, artwork or graphic design. The book was launched at this week’s Annual Cancer Survivorship Celebration, which was addressed by designer jeans entrepreneur and philanthropist Joëlle Berdugo Adler. To purchase copies, call 340-3616. Proceeds will support Wellness Centre programming.

VISITING ISRAELI MD
Israeli professor Rafael Beyar, a developer of the stents used in cardiac surgery, was in Montreal to give talks at the Montreal Heart Institute on mechanical innovations that benefit cardiovascular patients. Beyar, CEO of the Rambam Health Care Campus, affiliated with the Technion in Haifa, is a professor of both medicine and engineering. He also met  privately with a small group of interested lay people, convened by former Jewish General Hospital executive director Henri Elbaz. When he was dean of medicine at Technion, two faculty members shared the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2004. Beyar was instrumental in encouraging collaboration between the faculties of medicine and engineering.

PHOTO EXHIBITION
An exhibition of photos taken at last year’s Montreal International Yiddish Theatre Festival by Robi Cohen opens at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts’ArtLounge June 10  at 6 p.m. Shuttering the Stage captures scenes from productions presented by Yiddish theatre companies worldwide at the historical gathering. Cohen hold a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Florence and has worked as an architect, artist and photographer for more than 30 years.

Amy Leitner has been named executive director of the Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Montreal chapter. Born in Israel, he emigrated to Canada with his family at age four. During college, he volunteered for three summers at Israel’s first kibbutz, Degania. Leitner has a business background but has volunteered in the community for many years, including teaching English as a second language to immigrants at the YM-YWHA. He hopes to raise awareness of BGU’s leading role in desert and water research, solar energy and robotics, as well as in the development of the Negev. BGU is located in Montreal’s twin city of Be’er Sheva, a relationship he wants to build upon… Choreographer Edouard Lock, founder of the contemporary dance troupe La La La Human Steps, is one of two winners this year of the $50,000 Molson Prize, presented by the Canada Council for the Arts. The prize recognizes outstanding lifetime achievement. Lock is also a 2010 Governor’s General Performing Arts Award recipient… David Wagner, a Grade 10 student at Lower Canada College, is one of 12 Canadians aged 15-17 selected as winners of this year’s Beaverbrook Vimy Prize. This scholarship, awarded by the Vimy Foundation, enables youths to spend two weeks in Europe in August, where, along with peers from the United Kingdom and France, they can gain deeper knowledge of World War I. They will participate in educational seminars and visit historic battlefields and gravesites, including the Vimy War Memorial in France commemorating Canadians’ heroic role in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The 12 were chosen on the strength of their essay submissions, academic achievement and potential as future leaders.