Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture

The Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture is a centre for secular Jewish culture and humanistic Judaism in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Peretz Centre

The stated purpose of the Peretz Centre is to "provide a quality alternative approach to Jewish life through the appreciation of Jewish history and culture in the context of world history, and the celebration of secular (non-religious) and humanist Jewish traditions."

The Peretz Centre is affiliated with the International Federation of Secular Humanistic Jews, Cultural and Secular Jewish Organizations, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.[1]

With roots including the Jewish Bund, the Peretz remains committed to social justice and diversity. Though as a cultural organization it doesn't take a position on Israeli, Canadian or world politics, it is associated with Vancouver's Jewish left community.[2]

History
Gathering at Peretz School in 1945

The Vancouver Peretz Institute, also known as the Vancouver Peretz Shule,[1] was founded in 1945 at 13th Avenue and Birch Street[3] in response to the threat to Jewish culture and Yiddish language posed by the Holocaust and World War II. The Centre was named after Isaac Leib Peretz, who, along with Sholem Aleichem and Mendele Mochim Sforim, is one of the "fathers of Yiddish literature and culture."[1]

In 1959–1960 it had 118 children, but by 1971 its enrolment had dropped to below 50.[2]

In 2001, a new building was constructed at the same location, and the name was changed to the "Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture".[1]

Programs

The Peretz Centre runs a two-year pnei mitzvah program, a coming-of-age ceremony for boys and girls, that focuses on developing a connection to Jewish heritage through learning about Jewish history and culture.[4]

The Centre also hosts the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir, which performs Jewish songs in Yiddish, Hebrew, Ladino, and English.[5]

In addition, the Peretz Centre has Yiddish classes, Sholem Aleichem Speakers Series (SASS), Exploring Jewish Writers (EJW), and regularly hosts secular humanist versions of Jewish holidays.[6]

It is also home to the Jewish Museum & Archives of British Columbia, Ahavat Olam Synagogue, Jewish Food Bank storage and distribution, MOST/Bridge Russian Seniors, and the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival.[7]

Pandemic

During the current restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, all Peretz programs and shabbes/holiday observances have moved online.

References
  1. "History of the Peretz Centre". Peretz Centre for Secular Judaism. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  2. Elazar, Daniel J.; Waller, Harold M. (1990). Maintaining Consensus: The Canadian Jewish Polity in the Postwar World. University Press of America. pp. 399, 401.
  3. "First Peretz School Parent-Teacher Association, Vancouver". Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  4. "B'nai Mitsvah Program" (PDF). Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  5. "Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir". Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  6. "Rituals and Ceremonies". Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  7. Wolak, Arthur (6 April 2011). "BC's Jewish Museum finds new home at Peretz Centre". Jewish Tribune. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
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