Features
New documentary focuses on heartwarming relationship between Israeli psychologist (& former Winnipegger) Solly Dreman and Indigenous local photographer Don Barnard
By MYRON LOVE Over the past few years, Yolanda Papini Pollock has created a solid body of work as a documentary filmmaker with a focus on human rights.
Her credits include “Painful Truth: the Falun Gong Genocide” , about the Chinese suppression of what is essentially a spiritual practice; “Never Again: A Broken Promise”, highlighting post-Holocaust genocides; “Get Over It: A Path to Healing” about the effects of residential schools on Indigenous health in Canada and ”Fixit” (“Tikkun Olam”), which captures the interaction between local Holocaust survivor Isaac Gotfried and the impact his recitation of his experiences had on students at J.H. Bruns Collegiate.
The former Gray Academy teacher’s newest documentary, “Unusual in Every Way”, is the story of the unlikely friendship between Don Barnard, an individual of Indigenous background, who lives with disabilities and post traumatic stress, and Solly Dreman, a former Winnipegger who made aliyah almost 60 years ago and is a retired Ben Gurion University professor of psychology.
As was reported by Jewish & News publisher and editor Bernie Bellan, in September, 2020, – and as Barnard says at the beginning of the documentary (which he collaborated on), the talented videographer has lived a troubled life. He was born into a Métis family, to a father who grew up in the foster care system and who experienced considerable discrimination over his lifetime. Coming from a disadvantaged background, Don Barnard, at the age of 12, was placed in foster care, where he was exposed to considerable physical and psychological abuse.
Barnard was determined to have an IQ of 163 during childhood. In his 30s, he was diagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder – which has caused him considerable hardship during his lifetime.
“Unusual in Every Way” is a collaboration between Barnard, Papini-Pollock and Orly Dreman. Barnard recalls (in the documentary) as a child dreaming about having a loving family and a warm home. In Dreman and his wife, Orly, he seems to have found that sense of family.
It was through Papini-Pollock that the Winnipeg-born Israeli professor and the filmmaker came to know each other. Barnard met Papini-Pollock while working with her and Rogers Ofime (an international award winning director and producer from Nigeria), on the film ‘Never again a broken promise’, a documentary about genocides.
In September 2016, Dreman and his wife Orly were in Winnipeg where Solly was giving a lecture on “Immigrants, Refugees and Terrorism: Is There Hope?”, sponsored by the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Friends of Israel (which was founded and led by Papini- Pollock), the Canadian Associates of Ben Gurion University and the JP&N. At that time Solly and Orly also hosted 60 friends and family members at a reunion luncheon. Barnard was suggested by Papini-Pollock to video both his lecture and the reunion.
The Israeli-born Papini-Pollock adds that Barnard has long been a staunch supporter of Israel. He views the Jewish people in Israel as an indigenous, displaced people – much as he perceives himself as a member of a displaced first nation.
The Dremans and Barnard hit it off and the Israeli couple invited him to come to Israel at their expense. It also so happens that among Solly Dreman’s post-retirement activities has been helping youth with severe learning disorders.
In 2020, thanks to the Dremans’ generosity, Barnard was able to realize his long-time dream of visiting Israel. He stayed with his hosts in Jerusalem for a week and toured the country with Orly’s son, Oren Cytto, as his tour guide.
Solly Dreman also bought his Canadian guest a professional level video camera.
His visit to Israel had a huge impact on Barnard.
“Unusual in Every Way” though, goes beyond being simply a feel-good story about an individual in Barnard struggling with emotional issues finding salvation thanks to the unconditional love he found in Israel with the Dremans. On a larger scale, it is an examination of how communities as well as individuals deal with trauma – contrasting the experiences of Holocaust survivors and Israelis who have been exposed to the terrors of war and how they dealt with that trauma with the trauma of Canada’s Aboriginal people, who have historically been victims of racism, prejudice, and physical and psychological abuse, as well as genocide by successive Canadian governments and institutions at all levels.
Nor does this film have a happy ending.
Papini-Pollock reports that overcoming trauma is not a simple process and Barnard’s personal recovery may take a long time. Despite being inspired by the stories he heard in Israel, his personal journey to healing has been a roller coaster. As he says near the end of the documentary, he has his good days and his bad days – and he never knows when his disabilities will cause him to have a meltdown.
Papini-Pollock notes that “Unusual in Every Way” was made possible thanks to the support of The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba and has been picked up by two educational distributors to be made available to schools in Canada and the United States.
The filmmaker – who was also instrumental in launching Operation Ezra – further reports that she is already working on a new documentary for CBC with a human rights focus.
Features
Marathon Beneva de Montréal: An Occasion Not to Miss
The Marathon Beneva de Montréal 2024 is going to be one of the most breathtaking and fascinating marathons of the year. This is a beloved occasion for proficient athletes and runners-novices. The marathon is going to be carried out in the bright city of Montréal, Quebec.
There is no doubt that Beneva de Montréal is something more than a race. It is a demonstration of sportsmanship, the human spirit, and the rich cultural landscape of one of Canada’s most incredible cities.
Beneva de Montréal 2024: Dates and Location
Running has been an attractive activity for both athletes and conventional people for a long time. While proficient athletes partake in contests to win awards, spectators engage in live betting to acquire earnings by leaning upon a reliable bookmaker GGBet. But Beneva de Montréal provides ordinary people not merely to watch the marathon but likewise partake in it.
Being popular for its unique mixture of French and English heritage, Montréal proposes a memorable experience to runners. Historical landmarks, breathtaking scenery, and delighted supporters will line the course. Here are the primary details on the future marathon:
Dates | September 21 and 22, 2024 |
Organizer | Événements GPCQM |
Venue | Starting line at Parc Jean-Drapeau |
The occasion entices more attention with every passing year as the capability for athletes and tourists to discover the charms of this multicultural city. Qualified athletes will be able to progress to the 2024 AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships.
Registration and Categories
Registration is already open for the 2024 occasion. Partakers can sign up through the official Marathon Beneva de Montréal website. Various registration tiers are available, depending on the race category. Fees hinge on when partakers register. Early birds can take advantage of reduced prices. Those who register closer to race day may pay slightly more.
Partakers are split into different categories based on gender, age groups, and wheelchair athletes. This guarantees that runners of all abilities can partake and compete on a fair playing field. Top finishers in each category are proposed special incentives and prizes, involving awards and gifts from sponsors.
A Runner’s Paradise: The Course Overview
The Marathon Beneva de Montréal 2024 promises a route that showcases the best of the city. The 42.2-kilometer marathon route takes runners through lush parks, across picturesque bridges, and into vibrant central areas of the city.
Information on the Start Line
The location of the marathon is Île Ste-Hélène. It will kick off at 7:45 a.m. from Espace 67. Partakers will be informed of their start time several days before the occasion. The number of partakers per wave will correspond to the Public Health guidelines.
Details about the Finish Line
The Maisonneuve Park will be prepared as a welcome and celebration place for partakers. Presentation of medals, refreshments after races, therapeutic and medical assistance, and recovery zones will be guaranteed. This implies a welcoming environment for all partakers will be ensured.
Assistance Stations
Assistance stations will be established along the course to replenish the water balance of partakers and energize them. The operating conditions of the stations will correspond to the Public Health standards in force at the time of the occasion. Available stations will be depicted on the PDF course map.
The Legacy of the Marathon Beneva de Montréal
Formerly known as the Marathon Oasis de Montreal and Rock ‘n’ Roll Montreal Marathon, the Marathon Beneva de Montréal has transformed into a significant occasion that entices runners from all corners of the globe. The occasion is sponsored by Beneva (a leading Canadian insurance company).
The marathon has a legacy dating back over 40 years. It is renowned for its scenic route, warm crowd backing, and proficient organization. The Marathon Beneva de Montréal constantly positions itself as a premier race in the global sports arena.
Final Thoughts
Are you a proficient marathoner searching for your next challenge? Or are you a conventional runner excited to investigate a new city? Or maybe are you a spectator eager to experience the electric energy of race day? The Marathon Beneva de Montréal 2024 will propose something for everyone. The mixture of stunning cityscapes, complicated courses, and profound community involvement guarantees that this marathon will become a celebration of Montréal’s vibrant culture.
Features
Shall We Live by Our Swords Forever?
By ORLY DREMAN (Oct. 4, 2024) t is hard to believe a year has passed… the worst year of our nation… a year of grief, nightmares, sorrow, crying, pain, bereavement, anger, desperation, frustration, hurt and anxiety because of this horrible endless war. Every person in the country knows people who were killed. When an old person dies naturally one receives it with understanding, but when young people die it feels like Job.
The average life span of Israelis is going down every day. We try to relax, breath deeply, do mindfulness, exercise, meet friends. Israel suffers four times more from anxiety and depression than any other place in the world. I feel I just want to sit down one day, cry and release, and not be strong all the time. All our souls are already in reserves for a year . Since our army’s survival depends on its reserve soldiers it means they are tired, have lost their jobs, and wives are heroes and have to quit their jobs because the husbands are not there to help with the kids. Children see their parents recruited, they see people with weapons in the streets, they hear the word “hostages”, they hear war planes in the sky twenty four seven, they are scared, and no wonder there is regression in their behavior.
We are an injured society in a war routine- every new death swallows up the death from the day before.
When the six young hostages were murdered in the tunnels in September and the bodies were brought back by our soldiers, many people in Israel felt it is like the day their own parents passed away- it was so sad. It was revealed they were starved- the bodies weighed 35 kg. (close to 80 pounds). In the tunnels with no air, no light, low ceilings so they could not stand up, no sanitary conditions – tortured by Satan. They urinated in bottles that remained next to them. We all feel responsible for their deaths. Did we demonstrate enough? Did we pray enough? The members of the cabinet who voted with Bibi not to make a deal to save them – how can they live with themselves? What if the nightmare came true and there are babies who were born in captivity and survived? Then we have more than 101 hostages. Our country was established on social solidarity that we do not leave bodies and injured behind. We are going to pay a heavy price if we do not do the just and correct thing and bring them back home.
I recommend you read the book “One day in October” – forty heroic stories from that day told by remaining relatives and friends about the heroic citizens who saved the country. Who is a hero? A person who cannot stand aside if someone is in distress; hey come to help, like those who jumped on hand grenades to save the rest. The injured who continued to fight. Men who stalled the terrorists in order to enable women and children to escape until they were murdered. Women who ran out of their homes while the shooting was going on to pull the injured into buildings. Five young women and men soldiers who saved one hundred new recruits in their base till they themselves were killed. The paramedic Amit Mann in Kibbutz Be’eri who stayed to save many lives when she could have escaped until she was killed. (in that kibbutz out of 1000 residents 100 were killed.) Aner, who was at the “death shelter” and managed seven times to catch the hand grenades the terrorists threw inside; Aner threw them back out, until the eighth time he was killed while his friend Hirsh Goldberg Polin lost his hand and was kidnapped to Gaza where he was murdered 11 months later. The few survivors of this shelter survived because bodies fell on them and hid them. So many who already got to safety with friends, but drove back again and again to rescue young people from the festival until they themselves got killed. How parents had to close their babies’ mouths so they did not cry and be heard, with the risk of choking them to death. Even for those who held a gun, it was not enough against groups of hundreds of terrorists. The families in the center of the country heard their dear ones on the phone screaming they are burning us and they have RPGs (rocket propelled grenades). There were some who wanted to do like in Masada- kill their families and then kill themselves – just not to be kidnapped.
The first eight hours of the war the terrorists were stopped only by citizens and some police. The army was not there. Every person who in his lifetime had taken a first aid course – even people in their seventies, bandaged and put tourniquets on the wounded while they were without water, with no electricity. In the book, an officer of the “Zaka” organization- whose members are always on scenes of unnatural deaths to collect body parts and who have seen all possible atrocities, said that if he would have known what he is about to see on Oct. 7th he would have asked God to make him blind. Another story in the book is of a Holocaust survivor who said it was worse than things they have seen during the Holocaust.
Whole families on the kibbutzim on the border were murdered- children, parents, grandparents. A friend of my seven-year-old granddaughter told me her grandparents lived on kibbutz Be’eri. I asked her if they were evacuated and she answered yes. I was told later that the grandfather was murdered while protecting his wife, who survived. The seven-year-old is in repression and denial. We have friends who live on the Gaza border who told us how the father, the son and a friend left in two cars to return and rescue people, but in the chaos our army mistook them for terrorists and they shot at the cars. The friend of the son was killed while the son managed to roll out of the car. The father who was in the second car describes the car being riddled with bullet holes and he still does not understand how he survived. Unfortunately, there were quite a number of these incidents.
There are evacuees who moved almost 10 times this year with their families from place to place. They cannot hold a job, the children change schools and change friends. What is nice about “the good Israeli” is one sees requests on Facebook from evacuated families asking for a place to live because the government does not pay for some of the hotels anymore, or those people live in areas that were not officially evacuated by the army/government, but still are in the rockets’ range. Other Israelis open up their homes to host these people.
We are now fighting seven fronts. We just started in Lebanon and we already have eight soldiers killed there in one day, but the damage from Hizballah was growing every day and they were crushing us. If Hizballah would have joined Hamas in sending 6000 terrorists through their tunnels into Israel on Oct. 7th in addition to the 4000 terrorists Hamas sent, it would have been the end of Israel. We’d have hundreds of thousands dead. The tunnels we discovered now in Lebanon are bigger than those in Gaza and cannot be blown up because of the terrain; it will only make them wider. Iran lost again in this second round of 200 rockets on Oct. 1st. Our air defense systems shot down most of the ballistic rockets. We must retaliate with a strong hand. We cannot live by our sword forever.
Our challenges today are not just against our enemies, but also against others who have different moral and ethical values. How can Bibi even think of replacing our excellent defense minister in the middle of the war – only for political reasons? Instead of making a deal in the south- returning the hostages, making peace with Saudi Arabia, forming a coalition against Iran, he is busy eternalizing his coalition. We deserve an empathetic leadership which sees the good of its people before themselves.
We have thousands of new disabled servicemen and women. It is no wonder that at all the Para Olympic games we win the highest number of medals. For organ donors today doctors are especially asking for cartilage because we have 20,000 new wounded ; this is something they did not do in the past.
It has been a very challenging year and we learned how strong we are. For the New Year may we blessed to see the return of all our hostages, start to rehabilitate them, put a smile back on our faces, sleep at night, worry less and feel safe again.
Features
New documentary about expulsion of Jews from Arab lands
On Monday, October 7 at 9pm ET, VisionTV will present the world premiere of Forgotten Expulsion: Jews From Arab Lands, a new documentary from filmmaker Martin Himel specially commissioned by Executive Producer Moses Znaimer.
ABOUT FORGOTTEN EXPULSION: JEWS FROM ARAB LANDS
On October 7, 2023, Palestinian Hamas terrorists massacred 1,200 Israelis and took some 250 hostages in an invasion marked by methodically planned unprecedented levels of barbarism.
Not only was it the most extensive slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, it also sparked a wave of Pro Palestinian/Antisemitic protests worldwide. The protestors claim Israel should be destroyed because it is allegedly a colonial state artificially created by European and North American Zionists.
The documentary Forgotten Expulsion: Jews From Arab Lands shows that these Zionists are Jews, and that Jews have been indigenous to the Land of Israel and the Middle East for the past 3,500 years. Jews are, and have been an intrinsic part of the Middle East long before the Arabs conquered the region 1,400 years ago; 1,000 years before Christianity, 1,500 years before Islam.
In 1947/48, it was not only 700,000 Palestinians who were displaced during the Israel war of Independence, but 850,000 Jews were also expelled from their ancient homes in Arab countries by Islamic regimes + their murderous mobs. The film argues that if Palestinians are to be repatriated and to receive compensation for their loss, then Jewish refugees from Arab Lands should also be repatriated + compensated.
Forgotten Expulsion also highlights the strange case of the Palestinians, the only refugee population in the world that never declines. That original refugee population of 700,000 now numbers 5 million. Some genocide!
Featuring:
Rabbi Elie Abadi, Senior Rabbi for the Jewish Council of the Emirates in Dubai, UAE, prominent Sephardic Judaism scholar
Avraham El Arar, President, Canadian Sephardi Association
Judy Feld Carr, Rescuer of 3,228 Syrian Jews + Human RIghts Activist
Professor Henry Green, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Miami
Eylon Levi, Former Israeli Government Spokesman, Current Leader of the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office, prominent figure representing Israel internationally since the start of the October 7 War against Hamas
Simcha Jacobovici, Canadian-Israeli Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker
Professor Shimon Ohayon, Head of the Dahan Center for Culture, Society & Education in the Sephardic Heritage, Bar Ilan University
Ambassador Mark Regev, Chair Abba Eban Institute at Reichman University, Former Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs + International Communications
Eli Sadr, Former Jewish Refugee from Syria
Dr Stanley Urman, Executive Vice-President, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries
Levana Zamier, Former Jewish Refugee from Egypt
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