Friday, Oct. 2
KING OF STORYTELLING
“Four Snowy Days in January” is the title of Joe King’s next lecture at the Eleanor London Library, 2 p.m. The five-part series is based on his trilogy of Montreal Jewish history, the latest book being this year’s Fabled City. It’s enhanced by stories yet to be published.
BARUCH’S ODYSSEY
Baruch’s Odyssey, a biography of Baruch Tegegne, one of the first Ethiopian Jewish children brought to Israel in the mid-1950s who later returned to his native country and undertook a harrowing mission to get his people out of Africa to Israel, is the subject of a lecture by its author, at the Jewish Public Library, 7:30 p.m. Jewish educator Phyllis Schwartzman Pinchuk was asked to write the incredible story of Tegegne, who now lives in Montreal. The evening also includes the local premiere of the documentary The Name My Mother Gave Me, an English-subtitled Israeli film about Ethiopian and Russian Israelis who meet at a leadership training program. Reservations, 345-6416.
LEARN SKYPE
Learn how to use Skype to make free phone calls over the Internet, in a course at the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Registration, 342-1234, ext. 7348.
PANCREATIC CANCER
Dr. Petr Kavan, director of the McGill Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program, and oncology social worker Brahms Silver lecture on “Finding Hope: Living With Pancreatic Cancer and Other Life-Threatening Illnesses,” at the Jewish General Hospital Hope & Cope Wellness Centre, 5:30-7 p.m. Reservations, 340-3616.
INVESTMENT ADVICE
Financial guru and journalist Hugh Anderson discusses “How to Stay Afloat in Stormy Investment Seas,” at the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Registration, 342-1234, ext. 7201.
PIANIST PERFORMS
Pianist Vladimir Krassof performs at a Sukkot celebration of the Gevurah Club at the Young Israel of Chomedey Synagogue. Claire, 450-978-7056.
STAYING FIT
McGill University professor Patricia McKinley talks about “Physical Activity and Seniors,” at a Beth Ora Seniors meeting, 1:45 p.m. 342-1234, ext. 7220.
HOSPITAL CARE
Johns Hopkins University professor Dr. John R. Burton, director of the school’s Geriatric Education Centre, speaks on “Hospital Care for Seniors: A Time for Change,” at the Gelber Conference Centre, 5-6:30 p.m. This is presented by McGill University’s Lindsay Memorial Foundation Lectureship in Community Geriatrics. Hedwige Moss. 340-7501
Yale University philosophy professor Shelly Kagan tackles the issues of suicide and euthanasia, while Rabbi Leigh Lerner responds with Jewish sources, including the Book of Job, at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom. Part of the Dine & Discover series, the meal begins at 5:30 p.m.
Also at the temple, at 7 p.m., the Book Lovers Forum presents a review of Martin Gilbert’s Churchill and the Jews, by Prof. Ronald Cohen. Reservations, 937-3575.
EDGAR BRONFMAN HERE
Former World Jewish Congress president Edgar Bronfman launches his latest book Hope Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance at McGill University’s Moyse Hall at 6 p.m. He’s slated to be interviewed on the future of the Jewish community. Register at www.alumni.mcgill.ca/events/openotfear.
The French-language play Etty Hillesum, based on the diary of a young Jewish girl in Amsterdam in 1942 who died in Auschwitz the following year, will be staged at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts by France’s Le Théâtre de l’Arc en Ciel, in collaboration with Espace Art Nature au Québec, Oct. 15-22. Hillesum is said to have been perceptive beyond her years. The two-woman show combines acting, music, lighting and graphics. Since 2001, the play has been presented more than 100 times in France, Belgium and Switzerland, including a month-long run in Paris last fall. Reserve at, 739-7944… Israel is among the more than 20 countries competing in the World Professional 10 Dance Championship taking place in Trois-Rivières Oct. 1-3. Couples entered must dance two of the 10 styles, ranging from the samba to waltz to fox-trot… A new translation of Franz Kafka’s Josephine the Singer or The Nation of the Mice has been published by Concordia University’s Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies under its Hungry I chapbook label. The translation was done by Karen Doerr, Barbara Galli and Gary Evans, and includes an afterword by Doerr on the story’s relevance to Kafka’s Jewish identity and Prague during his lifetime. Hungry I has also published Blessings: Art and Essays on Jewish Blessings, a catalogue of the art exhibition held at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in celebration of its 125th anniversary with an introduction by the event’s organizer, Loren Lerner. 848-8760.
The Young Israel of Chomedey Synagogue recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gala evening attended by hundreds, and presided over by president Jerry Baranoff. Many politicians were on hand, including Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt, Laval-les Iles MP Raymonde Folco, Chomedey MNA Guy Ouellette and D’Arcy McGee MNA Lawrence Bergman. The shul was founded when Chomedey was a new suburb populated by Jewish families looking for affordable housing and open spaces to raise their children. Greetings were sent from Israel by Rabbi Solomon Spiro, the shul’s spiritual leader from 1957 to 1993.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts recently inaugurated its new Graphic Arts Centre, located in the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion, which was made possible by a significant donation from Freda and Irwin Browns, major donors and collectors with a passion for prints and drawings. The centre’s premiere exhibition is The Fantastical World of Erik Desmazières, the first retrospective in Canada of the contemporary French printmaker’s work, which continues until Jan. 3. The approximately 60 prints are on loan from the collection of Irhold Inc., Irwin Browns’ company. The Browns have known and collected the artist for more than 25 years. The museum has one of the most important collection of works on paper in Canada – some 10,000 prints, drawings and photos covering five centuries. Until now, the public exhibition space for the holdings was restricted to a narrow gallery that permitted the presentation of only about 20 works at a time. The new Graphic Arts Centre has two sections, the Freda and Irwin Browns Gallery and the Marjorie and Gerald Bronfman Gallery, with a total of 115 square metres of space. The centre also offers improved storage and research facilities. The Browns, who have been married for 48 years, have amassed one of the most distinguished private print collections in Canada. In 2007, the museum presented more than 130 of their prints, including ones by such masters as Dürer, Manet, Gauguin,Toulouse-Lautrec and even Rembrandt and Picasso.
Lawyer and Internet entrepreneur Lionel Perez is Mayor Gérald Tremblay’s Union Montreal candidate in the Darlington district of the Côte des Neiges-Notre-Dame-de -Grâce borough in the Nov. 1 municipal election. The seat was held for 23 years by Saulie Zajdel, a Union member and first Lubavitcher politician in Quebec, who isn’t running again. Perez, a Herzliah High School graduate (’87), is active in the Jewish community, sitting on the boards of Yeshiva Gedola Mercaz Hatorah and Agence Ometz, and volunteers with the MADA Community Centre. He’s lived in the area more than 20 years.