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I just realized I missed an address this evening by a remarkable man of peace, Dr. Marc Gopin, who was speaking at the University of B.C.’s Vancouver School of Theology (VST) at a conference called “Encountering the Other”. As director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, he speaks widely and has trained thousands of people worldwide in and out of conflict zones in peacebuilding strategies for complex conflicts.

Yesterday, Gopin spoke at my synagogue, Or Shalom, about “Empathy with the stranger – why is it the most frequently repeated law in the Torah?” An ordained rabbi, he said the commandment to “love the stranger as yourself” appears more than 30 times in Torah, the Hebrew Bible. We are reminded not to forget that we were strangers in the land of Egypt. And he said you can’t really love the stranger until you love yourself.

The inter-religious studies conference at UBC is organized by my dear friend Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan, Or Shalom’s former rabbi and currently VST director of Inter-religious Studies and professor of Jewish Studies.

There is a free event tomorrow (Monday) evening in the Epiphany Chapel that I definitely will not miss. First at 7, is a Fossil-Free Faith Youth Panel, followed at 8:15 by a concert with Jewish world music band Sulam (which includes members of the Chanting & Chocolate band) plus Indian-Japanese fusion and Arabic music.

 

 

 

I love how my cohousing community works together, even when it comes to shovelling horse manure. When I’m feeling depressed, I tend to hunker down at home, but this afternoon I emerged to pitch in with our ambitious landscaping.

Colin and Wally picked up a couple truckloads of well-aged manure mixed with sawdust and straw from a Southlands (South Vancouver) horse farmer. I joined other volunteers shovelling it onto tarps in the back lane and then wheelbarrowing it to our raised beds where we’re growing fruit and ornamental trees, vegetables and flowers.

With guidance from Colin and Donnie, I helped spread the manure in the garden beds. The idea is to enrich the soil and also add a top layer of mulch to try to retain moisture during these increasingly warm days and the prospect of a long, hot summer. The front lawn is already suffering from the heat.

With water restrictions in Vancouver beginning tomorrow (Sunday), we’ve already set up rain barrels purchased from the city to collect rain water for the gardens. During this first year of our garden the plants are pretty vulnerable getting established. Keeping them adequately watered will help a lot.

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Also today, we celebrated two birthdays – Jude’s third and Josh’s 41st. There was an abundance of cake. One highlight of Jude’s was a parade of decorated scooters and bikes down the courtyard.

The birthday parade heads down the courtyard toward the common house. We’re serious about kids wearing helmets.

Jude blows out the candle on his birthday cake flanked by his mom Zoe and brother Marley.

As the Shabbat candles neared their last stand, I reflected on a lovely Erev Shabbat. It looked like there would be six of us for Shabbat dinner, but there was one no-show and two surprise guests – Inessa and Stav – who RSVP’d yesterday Thursday night through the Jews in Vancouver Facebook group but I didn’t see it. I’ll have to check my notifications.

So, we were seven; a little tight but doable in my space. A larger group would be better in the common house Great Room. I had booked the room but let it go last night when the numbers looked relatively small.

Next month it will be three years since I began offering 2nd Friday Shabbat potluck dinners. I had spent too many Friday nights alone, and this way I have company at least once a month. Shabbat – from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown – is my favourite Jewish holiday, an opportunity for a spiritual retreat every week. It’s so much more fun to bring it in with other people.

I never tell people what to bring for the potluck and it always works out. Tonight we had a quinoa salad, a spinach and mandarin orange salad, asparagus, a raw veggie tray, leftovers from last night’s lentils with broiled eggplant, and a stir fry with shiitake mushrooms fresh out of my wok.

I got to catch up a little with Inessa, who I hadn’t seen in about 20 years, and begin to get to know Stav. After dinner, I gave them, chanting regular José, and Nini, my old neighbour from Pennyfarthing Drive, a tour of Vancouver Cohousing. To that point, Inessa couldn’t see the difference between a regular condo and cohousing. Once she saw our common spaces and learn how much we collaborate and participate, she got it.

Reamick and Tom, who have already seen our place, stayed behind during the tour, and when we got back the dishwasher had been filled up – thank you! We ended the evening making a circle and singing several chants. Just beautiful.

 

 

It’s taken me three weeks to get back on track with my blog. Day after day I’ve let it go. That old devil procrastination and a bit of feeling down. But I really do want to create a book out of this year of “Being 69” diary posts. No content, no book.

Today I was excited to take my turn cooking for the Vancouver Cohousing community. We have four common meals a week – three weekday dinners and a weekend brunch. Every month or so we’re on a team to shop, chop, cook and serve a meal.

This time I was teamed with Vesanto, Paddy and Ben. Vesanto, a well-known author of vegan cookbooks, suggested a menu of fish-free filets, yam fries and salad. Simple enough, but I wasn’t sure how many people would want to make faux fish the main part of their meal.

So I suggested an additional dish from the cookbook I’ve been exploring, Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi. It’s called Lentils With Broiled Eggplant, something I’ve never cooked before. I was motivated because I love eggplant, the book described the recipe as an excellent weekday main dish, and I wanted to offer a gourmet creation.

It’s quite a challenge to take a recipe serving four and make 10 times as much for our hungry crowd. Chopping carrots, celery and grape tomatoes for about 40 people seemed to take forever. Same with scooping out 14 hot and juicy eggplants after the fun of roasting them on the barbecue.

Rising to the challenge elevated my mood. I’ve been grieving the loss of my ocean-view Kerrisdale apartment after finally giving notice at the end of April. And it’s depressing to still be single 23 years after the divorce despite some meaningful relationships along the way.

I enjoyed working with my cohousing neighbours as we raced to get dinner on eight tables by 6. Once the meal is served, the cooking team often has something to say. I offered a reading from Bless This Food, a book (there’s an app too) about ancient and contemporary graces from around the world. This one was by Chief Dan George (1899-1981), a gifted actor, writer and chief of the Coast Salish nation, who I had the privilege of interviewing for The Vancouver Sun in the late 1960s.

The beauty of the trees,
the softness of the air,
the fragrance of the grass,
speaks to me.

The summit of the mountain,
the thunder of the sky,
the rhythm of the sea,
speaks to me.

The strength of the fire,
the taste of salmon,
the trail of the sun,
and the life that never goes away,
they speak to me.

And my heart soars

 

I’ve been immersed in the joys of inner-tube water polo. It’s great fun, full of laughter and intense competition. My family in Ottawa, who met playing this sport, has organized a weekly night with their friends at a nearby pool.

At first I was hesitant to play, mostly because I’ve got a belly I’m self-conscious about. But I can’t let that control my life, so I jumped in. The hardest part for a beginner is staying in the tube, because I was taught you can’t simply let your butt sag into the centre. To free your legs for kicking, you need to sit more on tube itself. Then you kick like you’re cycling, except backwards.

Here’s how Wikipedia describes the game, which was invented by an athletics staffer at the University of California at Davis in 1969:

Inner tube water polo is a variation of the sport water polo with the important difference that players, excluding the goalkeeper, are required to float in inflatable inner tubes. By floating in an inner tube, players experience less contact and expend less energy than traditional water polo players, not having to tread water. This allows casual players to enjoy water polo without undertaking the intense conditioning required for conventional water polo.

I started out playing in goal – also in a tube – so I could watch how the game works. I managed to block some shots but also let in a bunch. Then I ventured out as an attacker. So much for attacking. When you’re moving backwards, it’s hard to see where you’re going. And I struggled just to stay in the tube.

This may require less energy than regular water polo, but it was still a major workout for me. I spent as much time out of the water as in. Today I’ll be more in my element on a tennis court.

In Vancouver, I’ve been leading sacred Hebrew chanting events since 2004. In Eastern Canada, it’s pretty new. The last time and this time I’ve come to Ottawa for family visits, I’ve had chances to bring the joy and magic of chant to local audiences.

Thanks to organizing by Joel Yan, I joined with members of his Ottawa Simcha Band to present a chant evening Monday at the Jewish Community Centre, and again this morning with a seniors group at the JCC led by Merle Haltrecht. The wonderful musicians with Joel included Aditi Magdalena, Steve Shapransky and Elie Goldman Smith.

I’ve chanted on five continents and it’s always a beautiful experience. Each chant is a short phrase of sacred text, with a lovely melody and a deep kavanah (spiritual intention). And then repeated for about seven to 10 minutes. I told the participants in Ottawa that if it seems like it will never end, pause, take a breath or two, and dive back in.

Monday night’s program was similar to our evenings in Vancouver. We opened with my new favourite chant – one of my teacher Rabbi Shefa Gold’s many compositions for Modah Ani, the first prayer we say upon awakening, a prayer of gratitude for being alive. We included my chant for Ahava Raba Ahavtanu, A Great Love, and concluded with a Sephardic melody from northern Greece for Kadesh Urchatz that Charles Kaplan of Chanting & Chocolate discovered. Here are earlier recordings of the program’s chants.

After a first Seder Friday evening, I return to Vancouver in time for the April Chanting & Chocolate on Sunday. That’s 7:30-9 pm at or Shalom, 10th and Fraser. I’m baking gluten-free, kosher-for-Passover triple-chocolate brownies that promise to be yummy. Coming up is a special healing chant on May 22 – stay tuned for details.

Did I bring spring from Vancouver? Last week it snowed three times in Ottawa and after I’ve arrived on Thursday it’s been lovely, hitting 21C  (70F) today. It seems the whole city was out in shorts and I helped my family with a rite of spring  – changing from winter to summer tires, and cleaning the car inside and out, especially the salt stains.

Today was another fantastic meal in Ottawa. We went for brunch to Benny’s Bistro in the Byward Market, a small but attractive room tucked in behind a French bakery. I had the roasted forest mushrooms with aged white cheddar and potato dumplings, peas, pesto, greens, beets, preserved lemon crème fraîche and white truffle vinaigrette ($18). I’m usually a pretty fast eater, but I took my time savouring this excellent dish’s complex flavours.

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Ottawa’s two half-Japanese Jews

Also this weekend we visited the one-day Makers Market at Makerspace North with more than 40 handmade artisans and food vendors, including illustrator Yoko Feinman, who creates beautiful cards and prints. Her company is called Art Freed, which was the business alias of her grandfather, Aaron Feinman. It’s interesting that Yoko practises her Japanese mother’s Buddhism, while in our family it’s the father’s Judaism.

 

 

 

Ottawa doesn’t have a reputation for great restaurant eating, but I’ve had some wonderful meals here. I flew in from Vancouver Thursday for a family visit and we went out to New Mee Fung, a plain Vietnamese restaurant in the capital city’s Chinatown.

The daily special was one of my carnivore delights – roast duck, in a curry coconut soup with yam, potato and eggplant with vermicelli rice noodles. Truly a meal in a bowl, for only $9.95. The soup was so rich and tasty I could have been satisfied just slurping it up alone. The rest of the dish was a bonus.

I’m looking forward to Shabbat morning services tomorrow at Ottawa’s Reconstructionist synagogue, Or Haneshamah. I hope I can say something about the chant evening I’m leading at the Jewish Community Centre on Monday. I’m also doing a chant workshop with a seniors group on Tuesday.

Did I bring spring weather from Vancouver? It was bright and relatively warm today, reaching 13C (56F) in the world’s second-coldest national capital after Ulan Bator, Mongolia. It’s expected to hit 20C (68F) by Sunday.

As you can see from the photo, there are still remnants of winter dotted around the city.

The sun is melting the piles of crusty snow that remain in Ottawa.

 

Ugandan orphans Sarah, Willy, Joel and Abraham have changed from a boarding school to one where they can live in their home village in Namutumba. But now they live far from their new high school, Kisiki College, and have to walk two hours each way, beginning at 5 a.m. to attend early classes. It’s taking a toll on their health. They need bicycles to make the daily journey easier so they can focus on their studies.

The students lost their parents to malaria, typhoid and AIDS. I lived in Uganda 2009-2010 and since then have supported the education of these and other orphans in the Abayudaya Jewish community through my monthly Chanting & Chocolate events and Shabbat dinners in Vancouver.

But I don’t have the money for bikes. So I’ve launched a US$ 500 crowdfunding campaign with Generosity.com, the nonprofit arm of Indiegogo. Your donation will help buy them each a bike like the one in the photo, with a lock and a pump. I hope you can help. And please share this post on your timeline.

The Abayudaya (“People of Judah” in the Luganda language) have been Jewish since a Ugandan military leader studied the Bible over many years and eventually declared himself a Jew in 1919. Many people followed him. Several hundred of the approximately 1,500 Abayudaya have gone through formal conversions since 2002 when rabbis from the Conservative movement came to Uganda.

Just this week, there’s news that Israel’s Jewish Agency has ruled that the Abayudaya under Rabbi Gershom Sizomu are eligible to move to Israel under the Law of Return. Down at the bottom of the story in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz there’s a very interesting paragraph:

In a related development, the first member of the community to request permission to immigrate to Israel was contacted by the Jewish Agency this week and asked if he was still interested in moving. Mugoya Shadrach Levi had applied for citizenship under the Law of Return about five years ago but never received a response from the Ministry of Interior. The Conservative movement said it views this effort to reach out to him by the Jewish Agency as a hopeful sign.

That’s particularly interesting to me because Mugoya Shadrach Levi is my partner in supporting the Namutumba students, acts as the rabbi in the village, and is a student in the rabbinical ordination program of ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal, my stream of Judaism. Just Monday he sent me the photo he took of the four orphans.

 

Our team of three served an Indian feast for dinner at Vancouver Cohousing, complete with my fire-alarm eggplant bharta – named not for its spiciness (we dialed that down because of the kids) but because when I was sauteing the onions in smoking oil for it Sunday night I triggered the fire alarm that brought three firefighters to the common house to investigate. Now I’ll always turn on the fan before I turn on the stove.

The feast included vegetable korma, fresh-made coconut cilantro chutney and mango chutney, yoghurt and cucumber raita, naan and roti breads, white and brown basmati rice, and regular and vegan chai tea.

It was a huge hit with the 40 or so adults and children who turned out for the Monday night common meal. We have them also on Wednesday and Thursday evenings as well as a brunch on the weekend. The cost is $5 per adult; $7 for meat options when we have them.

Getting a headstart on Sunday gave Darcy, Tara and me the chance to offer a more elaborate meal than usual. Even with the fire alarm, it was so much fun working with them to present a feast to the community.

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Our baby boom

Catching up on some community news: Thursday night I heard even more footsteps in Andrew and Ericka’s unit above me than usual, like there was some serious pacing going on. It was getting to me until I remembered Ericka was full-term pregnant and I should cut them some slack. Little did I know.

Friday morning I spotted Andrew with a little bundle cradled in his arms. The baby boy was born at 9:37 pm in a birthing pool at home with a doula and midwife attending. Today Andrew said they were 90 percent set on a name for Jacob’s baby brother. Somehow I don’t think the name I suggested in jest is in the running – Strata, since he was born on the same evening as our first strata annual general meeting.

Baby boom? Leila in the unit next to me was born in November. There are now 21 children in the community, about half of whom have been born since we started this project four years ago.