Thursday, Feb.20
QUEBEC CINEMA
Three films of particular Jewish interest will be screened during the 32nd annual Les Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois, which opens today, including The Lady in Number 6, nominated for a 2014 Academy Award for best short documentary.
Directed by Malcolm Clarke and co-produced by Frederic Bohbot, the film is about 109-year London, England resident Alice Herz Sommer, a still-gifted pianist, who is reputedly the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, and perhaps the most cheerful.
The others are Abbey Neidik’s documentary Shekinah: The Intimate Life of Hasidic Women, a candid look at how young Lubavitch women attending a Ste-Agathe seminary view life, love and their non-Jewish neighbours; and La Longueur de l’alphabet by Joe Balass,a portrait of the life and times of Iraqi-born writer Naim Kattan. Les Rendez-vous is on at the Cinémathèque Québécoise and four nearby cinemas until March 1. www.quebeccinema.ca.
Saturday, Feb. 22
IMAGINARY MEETING
The Black Theatre Workshop’s The Meeting opens at the Segal Centre’s Studio and continues until March 1. Written by Jeff Stetson and directed by Quincy Armorer, the play is a fictional encounter between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, who explore their different approaches to gaining civil rights. Tickets, 514-739-7944.
Sunday, Feb. 23
GRANDPARENTS & TOTS
An intergenerational program for grandparents and children is offered at the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors’ West Island branch, 96 Roger Pilon St., on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. 514-624-5005, ext. 230.
FRENCH WRITER
French writer Guy Millière, author of Qui a peur de l’Islam! and Le Désastre Obama, among many other books, speaks on “Israël et les autres,” at La Communauté Sépharade Hekhal Shalom, 825 Gratton St., St. Laurent, at 6 p.m., in collaboration with the Communauté Sépharade Unifiée du Québec. 514-747-4530.
Wednesday, Feb. 26
TALK ON ALICE MUNRO
Professor Irving Smith discusses “Alice Munro: Our Own Canadian Nobel Prize Winner” at a meeting of the FAB (Fifty and Beyond) Group of Act to End Violence Against Women at the Côte St. Luc Aquatics and Community Centre at 1:15 p.m. Reservations, 514-487-2330.
TAKE TWO TABLETS…
Learn how to make the best use of your Samsung Galaxy or Android tablet computer at a Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors workshop at 10 a.m. Continues on March 5. Registration, 514-342-1234, ext. 7348.
Thursday, Feb. 27
COMEDY SHOW
Another Laugh Pack Late Show, featuring local professional and emerging standup comedians, takes place at the Segal Centre’s ArtLounge at 10:30 p.m., hosted by Keith Waterfield. Tickets, 514-739-7944.
BRAIN EXERCISES
Challenge your memory and ability to process information and reason logically at an interactive session of brain-teasers at the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors, 2 p.m. 514-342-1234, ext. 7305.
…Et Cetera…
FIRE SAFETY
In the wake of the deadly fire at a L’Ile Verte seniors’ residence, the two largest Jewish long-term care institutions are reassuring the community that they have stringent fire safety measures in place.
Maimonides Geriatric Centre and the Jewish Eldercare Centre, which merged last year, issued a memo that both institutions have extensive sprinkler systems throughout their buildings. The buildings themselves are constructed from cement slab and have fire doors designed to prevent fire from spreading.
Fire drills take place every two months, led by a team of staff members trained by a City of Montreal fire marshal to be first responders in case of an emergency.
In addition, there are emergency stations located on every level and wing, including a fire extinguisher, hoses and other supplies. Evacuation plans are posted at each stairwell, and an evacuation plan is practised on a yearly basis. Maimonides, in Côte St. Luc, has 387 beds, while Eldercare in Côte des Neiges, has a total of 320 beds in its two buildings.
NEW YIDDISH PLAY
A Yiddish adaptation of the Broadway musical Soul Doctor: Journey of a Rock-Star Rabbi will be presented by the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre at the Segal Centre from June 8 to 29. It replaces the previously scheduled The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Soul Doctor, based on the life and music of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, was a hit last year on Broadway. The Segal production is both its Canadian and Yiddish premiere. Written by Daniel S. Wise with lyrics by David Shechter, the play is described as uplifting and focusing on Rabbi Carlebach’s friendship with “the high priestess” of soul, the late Nina Simone.
After its debut last summer at New York’s Circle in the Square Theater, the New York Times hailed Soul Doctor as a “joyous, leaping roar” and an “unabashedly celebratory show.” It features more than 30 of Rabbi Carlebach’s songs that became the anthems of a Jewish revival movement in the 1960s.
The Segal production is directed by Bryna Wasserman and Rachelle Glait, and will have English and French supertitles. Tickets, 514-739-7944.
JGH A TOP EMPLOYER
For the second consecutive year, the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) has been named one of the best places to work in Montreal. It was among the workplaces chosen by the judges of Mediacorps Canada’s annual competition, organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers.
Among the reasons are that the JGH provides maternity and paternity leave top-up payments, including to adoptive parents; helps employees achieve work-life balance through a variety of alternative work arrangements; gives new employees four weeks of paid vacation; and offers a defined benefit pension plan.
THESE TEENS COOK
Secondary I students at Herzliah High School celebrated their cultural diversity and gave their parents a break by preparing a multicultural Shabbat dinner. The dishes they prepared from scratch represented the 13 different backgrounds of the students in their grade, who are Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Israeli. The kids even shopped for the food, set the tables and served their families – more than 300 people. Students and parents talked about their various traditions during the meal.
SENIORS CLASSES
The Creative Social Centre, which meets at the Chevra Synagogue, offers folk and line dancing with Maurice Perez Wednesdays from 11 to noon, and art with Miriam Cohen the same day from 10 to noon or 1-3 p.m. Registration, 514-488-0907.