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Interview with Julie Elizabeth for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Julie (she/her) talks about her involvement in community organizing, including her time with Victoria Lesbian Senior Care Society or VLSCS.

Interview with Julie Elizabeth for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Julie (she/her) is a queer Jewish woman, born in Toronto and residing in Victoria, B.C. Julie shares about her parents’ lives in Toronto and family origins based in Russia. She talks about various childhood memories including the close relationships with her father and sister, but also the struggles of family members living with mental illness. Julie talks about rediscovering her father’s family connections in Montreal, leading her back to family history in France. Julie talks about discovering her bisexuality and being discouraged from coming out to her mother. She also talks about her journey with Judaism: as a child alienated from upper class Jewish kids in Toronto, to having a bat mitzvah on her 65th birthday after feeling acceptance and belonging on Salt Spring Island with her partner Reva. Julie talks about her education and career changes over her life. She talks about living with Reva and being accepted by her family. She closes with advice to ‘follow ones bliss’ and anecdotes about trying other religions like Wicca to find herself, and ultimately her way back to Judaism.

The fonds consists of administrative and operational records (including minutes, reports, and financial statements), correspondence with representatives of other organizations, and publicity materials (including newsletters, flyers, and posters). It also includes reference material (e.g. magazine and newspaper clippings, pamphlets, press releases) on topics relevant to Jewish life such as conflicts in the Middle East, as well as anti-Semitism and the persecution of Jews around the world. While the fonds consists largely of textual records, there is also a small number of photographs as well as a few unique items (such as buttons and stickers).

The fonds is arranged into 6 series: Finances, Publicity, Administration, Relationship with other organizations, Reference and resources, and Programming and outreach.

Interview with Marsha Ablowitz as part of the BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. In part 1, Marsha shares her experience being both lesbian and Jewish in BC. She worked as a social worker in both the Jewish and general communities in Vancouver. Marsha taught the first self-defense classes for women in the city. The classes were held at the University of British Columbia. In part 2, Marsha discusses her late uncle, Max Dexall. She talks about his life as a gay man in Vancouver and shares her own personal stories about him.

More detailed summaries are provided on the respective Part 1 and Part 2 pages nested herein.

Interview with Julie Elizabeth for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. In part 1, Julie shares her experience being both bisexual/lesbian and Jewish in Canada. She discusses feeling accepted in both the Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities. In part 2, Julie talks about her involvement in the Victoria Lesbian Senior Care Society.

More detailed summaries are provided on the respective Part 1 and Part 2 pages nested herein.

Interview with Marsha Ablowitz regarding her uncle Max Dexall for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Marsha recalls what she knows of Max (he/him) and his family who originated as farmers in and around Antopol, Belarus. He immigrated from Belarus to Vancouver with siblings in attempt to avoid Russian pogroms. Marsha describes how Max was well connected in the gay and Jewish communities, including stories of meeting gay men at gender-segregated synagogue meetings and how the community had hoped to make a Jewish gay synagogue in Vancouver similar to San Francisco. Marsha also discusses how Max continued in the family shoe store business where he was very successful and offered a safe space for the queer community including gay men and drag queens. Marsha shares the story of how Max would meet his life-long partner George at the store and discusses their relationship dynamic, including caring for the queer community in Vancouver. Marsha goes on to relish stories Max had shared about his time as a drag queen, different men he encountered and how he would get recognized wherever they went based on his reputation from his shoe store.

Interview with Jack Huberman for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Jack (he/him) is a gay Jewish man born in Calgary, Alberta. Jack talks about his family’s origins in Poland and his parents’ livelihoods as grocers and property owners upon immigrating to Canada. Jack shares he realized he was gay very late in life, and how little dialogue about being queer and Jewish at the time made him reluctant to ‘come out’ within his Jewish community in Vancouver. He discusses the writing and mentorship of Rabbi Gil Steinlauf as a catalyst for understanding his sexuality within a Jewish context, though shares how ‘coming out’ did not make him feel welcomed across all parts of his Jewish community, including his own congregation. Jack talks about his desire to foster a greater awareness and acceptance for queer Jews. He discusses his experiences through school, including how he eventually became lawyer, and volunteering throughout the Jewish community in Vancouver. Jack closes by talking about his immediate family, including his husband, children, and grandchildren, and the importance of treating others equally and maintaining good relationships with those around you.

Interview with Marsha Ablowitz for On The Record: The BC Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in collaboration with JQT Vancouver. Interviewed by Carmel Tanaka via remote Zoom video call. Marsha (she/her) is a Jewish lesbian born in Vancouver. Marsha discusses her family’s origins both in Canada, and as immigrants from Europe. She tells stories of her immediate family in Winnipeg and Vancouver. She talks about her heterosexual marriage, and how she didn’t realize she was interested in women until after getting married. She explains her little exposure to queer Jews outside of her uncle Max, and how she experienced discrimination more through racism against her husband, than through anti-Semitism or homophobia in the community. Marsha talks about being aware of the Holocaust and Jewish issues as a kid, being involved in Jewish youth groups into her twenties, and eventually becoming a social worker. She describes her community initiatives within Jewish community organizations, teaching women’s self defense classes and empowering women and LGBT communities. Marsha closes the interview by talking about Quirk-e, a queer writing collective she is presently involved in, life with her partner Maribel during COVID, and her connection to feminist counselling and women’s health movements across Canada.

Oral history interview with Harvey Gerber, who worked at Simon Fraser University as a logician when it opened in 1965. Harvey relates attaching himself and his wife to the Vancouver Jewish community, opening up a Peace in the Middle-East chapter at SFU and overall the academic climate towards Israel.

Oral history interview with Irving Rivkin who was born in Winnipeg, 1915. Father Samuel Rivkin was in Russian army stationed in St. Petersburg, around 1905-1912; Irving's mother Lena Romalowski worked in St. Petersberg's large knitting factory. Ivring's wife, Ann, comes from England.