Thank you to my friends who shared their city with me! I loved my first trip to Calgary.
Nicole and I worked on cruise ships together decades ago and we had a reunion in Banff in 2018. She took me strolling to see her favorite spots in the Mission and Inglewood. The trails and parks in Calgary are stunning! I also loved swimming at MNP Community & Sport Centre. What an incredible complex. I could swim there every day!
I loved wandering through living history at over 180 attractions and exhibits from the 1860s to the 1950s at Heritage Park.
My favorite place in the park was the Little Yellow Prairie Synagogue, which served a Jewish community in eastern Alberta from 1916. In 1910, Romanian Jewish farmers left Europe as under the Tzar, Jews could not own land. Canada offered ownership of a quarter section of farm land for $10.
I learned so much from my guide, Eli Kogut! The Ark and lions were donated from Winnipeg and the Torah is from Prague, it is 250 years old and the oldest artifact at Heritage Park Calgary. The Torah was stolen during the Holocaust and rescued from Hitler’s Museum of Extinction where it now can be used for Bat Mitzvahs! I love how this building was rescued and brought here to share the resilience of our people!
Do you love cars? You need to see Gasoline Alley! With cars from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s including a Shell station.
Do you like heights? Join me at the top of the Calgary Tower with views of the Rocky Mountains, foothills, and prairies! It is 626 ft tall and was built to celebrate Canada’s centennial of 1967. When it opened it was the tallest structure in Calgary and the tallest in Canada outside Toronto. I also loved climbing outside of the CNTower on Edgewalk in Toronto! https://www.calgarytower.com/
I walked all around downtown Calgary and photographed The Famous Five Statue– Emily Murphy, Henrietta Edwards, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, and Nellie McClung– about their extensive legal battle in the 1929 ‘Women are Persons’ Case.’ Walking in Olympic Plaza which held the medal ceremonies at the 1988 Winter Olympics as well as City hall and the stunning Central Library. Thank you to Tourism Calgary, Travel Alberta and especially Noelle Aune for helping me discover your vibrant city.
Thank you to Calgary’s top travel writer, Petrena, for spending the day with me at Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary. We learned about wolf conservation and the problems of backyard breeding of wolfdogs as exotic pets. 40 wolfdogs live on property in 16 different packs. Take a tour, volunteer, donate at the ONLY wolfdog sanctuary in Canada.
We mourn on Oct. 7, but Nov. 8 gave us something to celebrate: a community that showed up, on its feet, public and proud. Now we need to make that response a habit.
JSU is a network of Jewish culture clubs in public and secular private high schools in North America, and it’s a program of NCSY, the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union.
Over the last few weeks, Americans and Israelis voted in elections that are consequential to the characters of both countries. For many, these elections represent inflection points, where the outcome signals the directions their respective societies will take moving forward.
The future of the U.S.-Israel relationship will not be secured by winning one more primary. It will depend on whether Americans understand why Israel matters, why Jewish self-determination is legitimate, and why the alliance benefits both nations.
Everyone is entitled to choose how to live, but the state is not obliged to finance every choice. Those who do not complete secondary education, do not serve in the military, and do not work should not receive state support to maintain that way of life.
Carroll, having helped swing Maryland toward independence, was elected to Congress on July 4, and signed the Declaration in August, the only Catholic among the signers and the only one to add his estate to his name.
It is easy to be proudly Jewish when our identity is celebrated. It is harder when Jewish solidarity demands disagreeing with one’s friends or political party.
Rabbi Kushner provides a path for elevating our humanity, appreciating the wisdom of Jewish tradition and practice, and experiencing the divinity residing within all humans, even those who do not yet acknowledge God’s presence.
When Eli Beer recently learned that Eli Cohen’s widow, Nadia, was still alive at 91, he knew he wanted her to be the guest of honor at United Hatzalah’s annual gala in Los Angeles.
The results will bring the number of Jewish governors to seven in January 2027. The incoming U.S. Senate will have 10 Jewish members, including nine Democrats and one independent.
Raman has called BDS a legitimate form of protest, while her campaign says a boycott of Israel will not be part of her agenda as mayor. I take her at her word, and I will hold her to it.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.
What to DO in CALGARY, Canada?
Lisa Ellen Niver
Thank you to my friends who shared their city with me! I loved my first trip to Calgary.
See PART TWO of my Calgary adventures for where to stay and eat!
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