AROUND OUR REGION : SAINT JOHN
SAINT JOHN NEWS BY SUSAN ISAACS-LUBIN This summer has been relatively quiet in Saint John. We have resumed holding Friday Night Services, although not always successful getting a Minyan. Social distancing and safety protocols are in place. I hope our numbers will increase once school starts and people try to return to a more normal life. So far, our “Snowbirds” have no plans to travel south this winter as the border is still closed and COVID-19 levels remain high in Florida and other southern states as well as the rest of the world. *** Monthly board meetings have continued via Zoom. This seems to be working well and we will continue to hold our meetings this way for the next while. We are also looking at Hebrew School to figure out the best way to hold classes, whether in person or via Zoom. *** Mazel tov to Eddie and Isabella Van Dam on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Ari. The Bar Mitzvah was held at the Synagogue, practising
social distancing, and with no food following. Although their family was unable to join them, we had a good turnout with Ari paying tribute to his parents, his brothers and his teacher, Phil Bloom. Ari and Phil shared an elbow shake at the end of his maftir. *** Due to COVID-19 our summer we have missed seeing our summer visitors. Hopefully, they will be able to make the trip “home” next year. *** Discussions have been held regarding the High Holidays, and the best way to celebrate this year. We will probably join a Zoom Service with a large Congregation from Canada or the United States. It will certainly be different than in past years, as are most activities in these times. *** Katherine Biggs-Craft has done a wonderful job in getting the Jewish Museum opened to the public. Katherine personally cleaned
REPORT FROM THE SAINT JOHN JEWISH HISTORICAL MUSEUM BY KATHERINE BIGGS-CRAFT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/CURATOR The limitations on travel in the midst of the pandemic which has led to the closure of borders, cancellations of cruise ships and few tourists, has impacted the Saint John Jewish Historical Museum in a significant way. Without the visitors from Central Canada and the United States, things are very quiet and it certainly impacts the revenue from admission fees and gift shop sales. We are finding new ways of doing things and using our time productively as you will see below. Although we have had to cancel or indefinitely postpone many of our annual events, plans for the 7th Annual Saint John Jewish Film Festival are going ahead. This year our sponsors and ticket holders will have the opportunity to enjoy the movies 32
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in the comfort of their own homes with a personalized link to watch one or more of our films online, followed by the opportunity to hear from someone involved in the making of the production and have the ability to ask questions. More information about our film festival, including sponsorship opportunities and ticket information can be found on our webpage—jewishmuseumsj.com/saint-johnjewish-film-festival.html We have taken what sometimes seemed like very long days through July and August and found a bit of a silver lining—this summer has presented our summer students with lots of time to work on many new and longneglected projects in the Museum. We’ve worked at catching up on some simple things like getting all of our accession theAJC .ca
all public rooms in the building, submitted a written plan to the government regarding the opening during COVID times, hired her summer students, and organized projects for them during a quiet summer with very few visitors to the Museum. Kudos to Katherine! *** Mazel tov to Anna Vinizer on her upcoming marriage to Francis Morneault. *** We wish good health to Linda Hamburg who is recovering from a fall in her home. *** Mazel tov to Shelley and Barry CohenThorley celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. *** We would like to wish everyone Shanah Tova Umetukah—a good and sweet year. S
information on to the computer—and thereby rediscovering a lot of interesting things that we forgot we had—and reorganizing the Hebrew books—mostly prayer books, many of them inscribed by community members from the early 1900s. Progress is also being made on organizing more than 50 boxes of archival material collected and catalogued over the past nine years, including a large section on Hadassah activities in the 1960s and 1970s (a very busy group of women!), the life and career of the late Senator Erminie Cohen including her community and political activities and lots of family photographs. Once all of this is done, we will be better able to track and find items of interest for research and exhibition. Research projects have also moved along very well. One student is researching the stories of the Holocaust survivors who came to Saint John in the late 1940s, making detailed notes of their experiences in Europe and Saint John. As we plan improvements on how we share those stories with visitors, researchers and students, this research will prove invaluable. Another student is creating
