Feb 22
FOR CHILDREN AGES 6-9
Sunday, Feb 23, 10:00am FREE Pre-register
PJ Library & JBF PRESENT
CAROL MATAS / Kai and the Golem
llustrated by Elisa Vavouri
Rain in the morning makes Kai say, “That’s not what I want!” After school, he wants to read stories with Bubbe, but she isn’t there. “That’s not what I want!” says Kai. Maybe, he thinks, there’s a creature that makes bad things happen. Could it be a Golem, big and scary? But maybe things aren’t so bad if you look at them in a different way…
CAROL MATAS is the internationally acclaimed award-winning author of over 50 books for children and young adults. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.
This event will be in a hybrid format (in-person / on Zoom)
Also presenting at VTT on May 5 (for gr. 6-7)
A Storm Unleashed is a gripping tale about a girl and her dog set in Berlin during the lead up to WWII. It’s 1935 and life changed radically for Mia and her Jewish father, with antisemitism now
official state policy. After a girl from the Nazi Youth tries to take Max, her beloved German
Shepherd dog, life becomes even more dangerous for Mia and her veterinarian father — who is now being forced to help the Nazis train Hitler’s army of dogs.
LOVE, MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD
Sunday February 22, 11:30am $18 Buy tickets
LIHI LAPID / I Wanted To Be Wonderful: A Braided Novel
In Conversation
This book begins where most love stories leave off: at the beginning of real life, and follows the lives of two women in their first years of motherhood. One is a fictional character trying to live the happily-ever-after life we all imagined for ourselves. The second woman is the author herself, relating her own story.
In trenchant, thoughtful, and often laugh-out-loud funny prose, Lihi Lapid tells a true-life story of women – and men – struggling to live up to modern pressures: a story about shattered dreams and about finding the strength to gather up the pieces and to learn to smile again.
LIHI LAPID is a bestselling Israeli author and journalist whose books – On Her Own and Woman of Valor – deal with women’s issues. Prior to becoming a writer, she was a professional photographer.
This event will be in a hybrid format (in-person / on Zoom)
SPONSORED BY JULIE & MICHAEL SEELIG
ANTISEMITISM IN ACADEMIA
Sunday Feb 22, 1:30pm $18 Buy tickets
TED ROSENBERG MD / Ayekha, Where Are You?: A Memoir and Reflection about Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism and the Western Response to October 7
This book is part memoir, part historical documentation about the author’s Israel advocacy and part educational essays. Dr. Rosenberg tried to warn the deans of the UBC Faculty of Medicine about the dangers of anti-Zionist antisemitism that was unleashed by students and professors. When UBC failed to acknowledge these issues or even that antisemitism existed on campus, he chose to publicly resign. He later met with public figures, including the premier of BC, and testified before the Federal Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice , warning about the dangers that delegitimization and use of double standards against Israel and diaspora Zionist Jewry poses to society as a whole.
Dr. TED ROSENBERG has developed an innovative interdisciplinary house-call practice for frail elderly in Victoria, and has taught and published research about geriatrics in leading medical journals.
Will also present at 4:00pm at WRSS JCC
2nd GENERATION MEMOIR
Sunday Feb 22, 2:00pm FREE Pre-register
at Temple Sholom
ARON HIRT-MANHEIMER and MARTY YURA* / Sons of Survivors: Making Peace with Inherited Trauma
In Partnership with Temple Sholom
Two lifelong friends uncover their families’ long-hidden Holocaust history, confronting silence, reclaiming memory, transforming inherited trauma into a powerful legacy of love. The authors of this dual memoir were conceived in the same Displaced Persons camp in occupied Germany, and grew up in the close-knit community of Yiddish-speaking refugees in America. Though the Holocaust formed the backdrop of their lives, they didn’t talk much about it—until, as older adults, they embraced the imperative to bear witness, and set out to discover everything that happened to their families in Poland. Navigating through this haunted terrain, the friends realized that the love they inherited from their parents transcends the trauma.
ARON HIRT-MANHEIMER was described by Elie Wiesel as “a writer possessed of a rare blend of integrity, persuasiveness, and good literary sense.” His is the author of several history books, founder of the Davka magazine, and editor of the Reform Judaism magazine.
*MARTY YURA (not appearing) is a psychologist and yoga teacher in the US.
HISTORY & HEROISM
Sunday Feb 22, 5:00pm FREE Pre-register
DOUGLAS CENTURY / Crash of the Heavens: The Remarkable Story of Hannah Senesh And the Only Military Mission to Rescue Europe’s Jews During World War II
In Conversation with CAFE McMULLEN
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH VANCOUVER HOLOCAUST EDUCATION CENTRE
In 1939, at just eighteen, Hannah emigrated from Hungary to the British Mandate for Palestine, where she dreamed of being a poet and a schoolteacher. Instead, she became a poet and a paratrooper… Five years after fleeing Europe, Hannah parachuted back into occupied territory as a freedom fighter with a most crucial role: the wireless operator tasked with sending and deciphering top-secret British radio codes. Captured after crossing into her native Hungary, she refused to give up her radio codes, despite months of torture. Her final act of defiance—choosing to die rather than beg for clemency—cemented her legendary status as the “Jewish Joan of Arc.”
DOUGLAS CENTURY is the author and coauthor of numerous bestselling books including Hunting El Chapo, Under and Alone etc. Born and raised in Calgary, he is a veteran investigative journalist who has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Globe and Mail, and The Guardian.
Will also present at King David High School on Mon Feb 23
HEROISM & SURVIVAL
Sunday Feb 22, 7:00pm $18 Buy tickets
YISHAY ISHI RON / Dog
In Conversation with the book’s translator YARDENNE GREENSPAN
Moderator: Helen Pinsky
Dog tells the story of a soldier broken open by war, addiction, and unbearable guilt. It is not a “nice” book – it is an honest one. It speaks the language of men who never learned to describe their pain. It speaks to anyone who has ever carried a wound they could not name. In this compelling narrative, Ron masterfully delves into the complexities of PTSD, the struggle for self-forgiveness and the transformative power of unconditional love.
In Israel, the book’s impact has been immediate and visceral. It was longlisted for the Sapir Prize and recommended by the National Library of Israel as one of the strongest and most important books ever written about PTSD.
YISHAY ISHI RON is an Israeli author, a former elite combat soldier, and a survivor of severe PTSD. Writing has been an essential part of his healing journey, enabling him to channel deeply personal experiences into his work.
YARDENNE GREENSPAN is a writer and Hebrew translator born in Tel Aviv and living in New York.
SPONSORED BY DANIELLA GIVON & BERNARD PINSKY