Women of distinction
Award winners or not, three Jewish women are distinct in their own righ
ROBERTA STALEY STAFF REPORTER
Three women from the local Jewish community are nominated this year, alongside more than 50 others, for the prestigious YWCA's 13th annual Women of Distinction Awards.
About 1,000 people are expected to attend the Thursday night gala (May 9) at the Hyatt Regency hotel. Past winners include singer Anne Mortifee, former prime minister Kim Campbell and former Tory cabinet minister Pat Carney.
The YWCA Women of Distinction award was created in 1984 to recognize women whose outstanding activities and achievements contribute to the health and future of residents in the Greater Vancouver, Eraser Valley and Whistler/Squamish areas. A panel of nine judges will determine who takes home the coveted glass sculpture trophies.
Roslyn Kushner Belle
— nominated for the Education, Training and Development division award.
Roslyn Kushner Belle is the creator of model child-care facilities and a highly respected child-rearing instructor.
But it wasn't always so.
When Ms. Kushner Belle's three children were small, by her own admission she had poor parenting skills — the result of an unhappy home life.
So she took early childhood education classes, developing a passion and awe for the intelligence
of little people and a sensitivity for the challenge of parenting.
"It was a struggle. So if I can facilitate for people who are struggling — who want to be a part of this environment — then I want to be there for them."
Ms. Kushner Belle is overseeing the fall opening of a revamped $1 million child-care facility at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. It will include an area for twelve 18-month-old to three-year-old toddlers. The tots' area vidll likely be dubbed the Shalom Pre-school Centre and is part of the Karen and Gary Simkin Family Child Development Centre for 120 children, ranging from 18 months of age to Grade 5-age students.
Ms. Kushner Belle has developed innovative science and arts programs to help set children on the path to adulthood. "I think childhood lasts forever. I think that what happens to people in their childhood, they carry with them always," Ms. Kushner Belle says over the noise of shrieking, playing children.
"That's why I feel that it's so important to be respectful. My long-term goal would be for a child to grow up and feel really good about themselves and give back to the community what they got from it."
Although she no longer goes to sjmagogue, Ms. Kushner Bell says she expresses her Judaism through teaching. "We do all the holidays here. We prepare to celebrate shab-bat. We sing aU kinds of shab-bat songs and do the blessings and light candles and pretend to have wine."
Ms. Kushner Belle also takes her charges to the Louis Brier Home for the Aged. "This is a very spiritual time. I want the children to know where they come from," she says. "The kids get a sense of community and belonging, roots and identity, and joy."
A Langara College and University of British Columbia continuing education instructor, Ms. Kushner Belle is also a former National Council of Jewish Women member who now works with the local Hadassah-WIZO Council.
Bonnie Sherr Klein
-Arts & Culture division.
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Bonnie Sherr Klein is still leading the quiet revolution.
Her first shakeup of national complacency came in 1981 with the release of the acclaimed documentary. Not a Love Story, an expose of pornography through the use of violent sexual images.
"I wanted people to know what it looked like. I thought we couldn't talk about it any more without knowing what it does," says Ms. Klein, 55.
"I was a feminist, not in the career sense — to get a bigger piece of the pie — but because I thought we were making a revolution and making the world a better place. And in that way I relate to my roots as a Jew."
Her encore to that powerful work was a documentary about a 1986-87 cross-Canada, anti-nuclear peace tour by high school students, including her son, Seth, one of two children.
Then the roof caved in.
At 46, Ms. Klein survived the first of two massive strokes which left her a quadriplegic. "I had to learn how to walk, how to sit, how to stand — I had to releam everything like a baby," says Ms. Klein, who is married to Dr. Michael Klein, head of the department of family practice for B.C.'s Children's and Women's hospitals.
"Living with illness gives you an opportunity to find out about all your strengths. I never be-
lieved I could have done this," says Ms. Klein, who is training her golden retriever, Lou, to be a balance dog so she can manoeuvre using a cane. Ms. Klein detailed her struggle in a stiU-untitled book she wrote in collaboration with Vancouver sculptor and writer Persimmon Black-bridge to be published by Knopf Canada.
Now she's not only an outspoken feminist but an advocate for people with disabilities. Ms. Klein successfully lobbied for wheelchair-friendly ramps and washrooms at Or Shalom synagogue, which she at-**V tends.
^ "I feel community within Judaism. It's very much about making the world a little bit of heaven on earth."
Ms. Klein says these idealistic principles still drive her to "bridge the gap" between the unfortimate and the rest of society. Women are still "being exploited, abused and violated," she feels. "The majority of the poor in the world are women and children. And the poorest population among disabled people are women." • ••
Nava Mizrahi
— Young Woman of Distinction division.
Nava Mizrahi is calling from the Big Apple. "I'm whacko, I'm so overwhelmed," she enthuses.
No, the 17-year-old hasn't come
face-to-face with Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt. She's shaken hands with the widowed Leah Rabin at the B'nai B'rith-Yitzhak Rabin United Nations Pursuit of Peace Conference at UN headquarters.
"I went over and said, 'Hi.' 1 admire her the most. She's very inspirational," says Ms. MiznJii of the woman whose 73-year-old husband dicKl Nov. 4 at tlie hands of assassin Yigal Amir.
"She hiis so much murage to be able to keep on being hopeful and determined lor peace, especially after the loss that she's had," Ms. Mizrahi gushes.
The wundcrkind of Jewish youth was in New York City representing the 20,000-member B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (BBYO) as its shlicha, or international chair. The regional president of BBYO in Vancouver, Ms. Mizrahi had flown in for the one-day, April 25 meeting after a week-long conference in Georgia, Ga. on women, body image and eating disorders.
To an ambitious teen contemplating a career as a high-level diplomat, the UN feels like home. She's rubbing elbows with B'nai B'rith ambassadors from around the world, discussing such lofty topics as Japan's future in world affairs and how to combat international terrorism.
"It's a good opportunity, not only to be exposed to but to be able to bring it back to the region," says Ms. Mizrahi, an Israeli citizen who is graduating witli a 3.8 grade point average from Vancouver's Eric Ham-ber secondary school.
An active debater, peer counsellor and tutor, Ms. Mizrahi has already garnered over 20 academic, community and BBYO awards. She was also a nominee for the Cecil Groberman Senior Leadership Award in Vancouver. Never one to aim low, she's also contemplating a run at the international presidency of B'nai B'rith.
But for now, there's more pressing matters. "I have to go," says the dark-haired young woman who's too busy for boyfiiends. "I have to go to the reception." n
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