PEI News

BY JOSEPH B. GLASS

The Jewish community organized three gatherings for the High Holidays this year. These events were held at the York Community Centre which allowed for proper social distancing. Despite having taken all the recommended public health precautions, people were anxious about COVID-19 and attendance was poor.

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For Sukkot, the Hoersting family—Raquel, Rafael, Amalia, and Joel—constructed and decorated a sukkah in their backyard in Charlottetown. They opened it to members of the Jewish community to fulfi ll the obligation of sitting and eating in a sukkah. The sukkah was furnished with a lulav and etrog for visitors to fulfi ll the mitzvah of blessing them. This year, in adherence to COVID-19 measures, visitors were encouraged to stagger their visits and maintain social distancing. The community usually shares a potluck meal in the sukkah but this year, people were asked to bring their own snacks.

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Unfortunately, we could not gather to celebrate Hanukkah. A few of our younger members prepared video clips for the holiday which were shared with the PEIJC membership. Amalia Hoerstring beautifully sang the blessings for the lighting of the candles on the fi rst night of Hanukkah. Eli Opps provided a delightful piano performance for Hanukkah. Eli’s father, Sheldon Opps, added warm greetings and wishes to the community. He shared a special prayer for everyone and for brighter days ahead and the “hope that this Festival of Lights reminds us of how precious life is, how lucky we are, and how delicate the fabric of our lives can be.” A special thank you to Eli’s and Amalia’s Hebrew teacher, Ilana Clyde, for her tremendous generosity and kindness. Although she is wintering in Maine, we are so grateful for all that Ilana is doing for the community virtually.

Two community representatives were interviewed, and they discussed Hanukkah on CBC Radio. Speaker and writer Martin Rutte talked with Matt Rainnie on the program Mainstreet PEI. Martin, a stranded snowbird, enlighten the listeners with his information on the history and traditions around Hannukah. President of the PEIJC, Leo Mednick, chatted with Mitch Cormier on the program Island Morning. Leo provided his insights on how Hanukkah is being celebrated differently on PEI due to COVID-19.

The community also shared Hanukkah related photos and posts. The highlights were: Valen, Marley (Miriam Rivkah) Kwitko’s son, eating his fi rst latke; Felix and his mother Shamara Baidoobonso preparing to light the sixth candle; and Leslee Sack’s beautiful display of Hanukkah lights and blow ups. The display, which included a dreidel and two polar bears donning kipahs and tallits, illuminated Stratford and delighted passers-by.

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The PEIJC celebrates that achievements of its members. Our treasurer, Shamara Baidoobonso, a provincial epidemiologist, is on Chatelaine’s 33 Black Canadians Making Change Now list. CBC Island Morning host Mitch Cormier spoke to Baidoobonso about making the list. “I was initially quite speechless when I saw the full list and saw the people that are included on that list. Some names that I was familiar with, people that have been doing very high calibre work for decades,” she said. “I am humbled that someone thought my work was important enough, that my work should be highlighted.”

As an epidemiologist, Shamara is interested in how different communities are affected by viruses and has a particular focus on how HIV has a disproportionate impact on members of African, Caribbean, and Black communities. *** Congratulations to J. J. Steinfeld on the publishing of Morning Baffl ement & Timeless Puzzlement by Ekstasis Editions. The 102 poems continue the dialogue with and a questioning of the human condition as they hover above what the author sees as the absurd, the existential, and otherworldly elements of life, the ordinary and the extraordinary spheres of being, that J. J. Steinfeld embarked upon in his previous Ekstasis Editions poetry collection, A Visit to the Kafka Café (2018). These poems once again attempt to make sense out the way we conduct our lives, to fi nd meaning in our not always meaningful surroundings, to look at individuals caught in the sometimes joyous, sometimes frightening, yet endlessly fascinating moments of existence and being.