Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia

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Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia Collecting, preserving, and sharing the stories of over 160 years of Jewish life in BC. Summer Walking Tours are back!

For more information and to get your tickets click:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/the-jewish-museum-and-archives-of-bc-8317423242 The Jewish Museum and Archives of BC is dedicated to the collecting and sharing of community memories of Jewish life in British Columbia. The ever-growing collection includes documents, photos, and oral histories that recount the history of our community. Through innovative exhibits and programming, the JMABC builds bridges with the diverse communities of BC and heightens awareness of the rich 150 year history of Jews in BC. Founded in 1971 as the Jewish Historical Society of BC, the JMABC collects and cares for documents, photographs, artifacts and oral histories chronicling all facets of our community’s history.

Come visit JMABC staff this weekend at The Newcomers Welcome Event!Whether you arrived this year or a few years ago, thi...
10/15/2026

Come visit JMABC staff this weekend at The Newcomers Welcome Event!

Whether you arrived this year or a few years ago, this is an opportunity to explore community resources, meet new people, and discover more of what Jewish life in BC has to offer.

Already finding your feet? Come share your experiences and help those who have just arrived feel welcome. Your perspective could make a real difference to someone beginning their journey.

Sunday, October 18, 2026
10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. | JCC, Vancouver

Bring the whole family for a welcoming morning featuring:
A community fair to discover local organizations, programs, and services.
Round-table conversations about employment, community services, cultural differences, adjusting to life in BC, and more.
A dedicated round table for teens to connect, share experiences, and discuss the challenges of settling into a new place.
Activities for kids, making this a family-friendly event.
A light breakfast and time to connect with fellow newcomers.
JCC pool access will also be available starting at12:30 p.m., so bring your bathing suits!

This event is free. Registration is required: https://www.jewishbc.ca/newcomers-welcome

Join us this Remembrance Day for a bagel lunch and stories of Jewish service as we honour the courage, sacrifice and con...
10/15/2026

Join us this Remembrance Day for a bagel lunch and stories of Jewish service as we honour the courage, sacrifice and contributions of Jewish veterans.

Our featured guest speaker will be Captain Adam D. Braverman. The program will conclude with a memorial ceremony featuring El Malei Rachamim and Kaddish, led by Rabbi Kylynn.

📅 Wednesday, November 11, 2026
🕛 Arrival, registration and bagel lunch at 12:15 p.m.
📍 Hillel UBC House
🎟️ Free admission; registration required

Register here:
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=rlL1xgwxCEaQucZQsXcQovzMSPBSEvlAtXtD8ucfi49URFpSWkRCOFE0WVMwMzdJMEdZVEtDSjQwRS4u&route=shorturl

Presented in partnership by Hillel BC, the Jewish Museum and Archives of BC, the Jewish Federation of British Columbia, the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia.

As one year ends and another begins, we find ourselves thinking about the curious relationship between past and future.A...
09/11/2026

As one year ends and another begins, we find ourselves thinking about the curious relationship between past and future.

At the JMABC, we spend much of our time preserving history. But history doesn't begin in an archive. It is being created around us every day—in our families, our communities, the things we save and the stories we choose to tell.

This Rosh Hashanah comes at an exciting moment for JMABC: new staff, new exhibitions and programs in development, an ever-growing archive, and new relationships being built throughout British Columbia.

It also marks the close of our 2026 Annual Campaign, Preserving Our Stories. Connecting Our Future. You can still learn more about us and the campaign here: https://jewishmuseum.ca/donate

We are deeply grateful to our members, donors, volunteers and friends who have supported the campaign and our work—and we extend a warm welcome to those who are only beginning to discover JMABC.

As we look toward a new year, we do so grateful for the stories entrusted to us, and excited about the stories still waiting to be discovered, preserved and shared.

L'shana tovah. May the new year be a good and sweet one.

From the Archives: Rabbi Wilfred Solomon blowing the shofar at Beth Israel Synagogue, 1996. Accession .2001.006

📖 Preserving Our Stories - Someone Kept the LettersOnce upon a time, people wrote letters. They teased. They worried. Th...
09/03/2026

📖 Preserving Our Stories - Someone Kept the Letters

Once upon a time, people wrote letters. They teased. They worried. They flirted. They wrote I love you. They wrote I miss you. They wrote write soon.

And then someone kept the letters.

Nobody had to. Yet somehow those fragile pieces of paper survived — through moves, through families and through generations.

Today, letters preserved by the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC let us encounter people in the midst of their lives. They weren't trying to create history. They were simply writing to someone who mattered to them.

Thank goodness someone decided not to throw them away.

Explore the remarkable stories behind Letters Home, Letters of Love and Laughter and A Transcontinental Love — and perhaps take another look at the letters, photographs and family papers tucked away in your own home.

Sometimes an archive begins with someone saying: "don't throw that away!"

Read the story: https://jewishmuseum.ca/programs-and-events/someone-kept-the-letters/

Support our 2026 Annual Campaign: https://jewishmuseum.ca/donate/

Preserving Our Stories. Connecting Our Future.

📖 Preserving Our StoriesBefore Oakridge, there was the East End.Our recent Oakridge story explored the neighbourhood tha...
08/19/2026

📖 Preserving Our Stories

Before Oakridge, there was the East End.

Our recent Oakridge story explored the neighbourhood that became a centre of Jewish life in Vancouver during the post-war decades.

But what came before?

Beginning in the late 1800s, Jewish newcomers were among the many immigrant communities who made their homes in Vancouver's East End—today's Strathcona. Here, families established businesses, synagogues, schools and community organizations and helped lay the foundations of Jewish life in the growing city.

Our East End Stories video series brings that history to life through six short films featuring the people, families and traditions that helped build a community.

It's the story before the story.

▶️ Explore East End Stories: https://jewishmuseum.ca/exhibits/east-end-stories/

And help us preserve the stories still waiting to be told.

Preserving Our Stories. Connecting Our Future.

📖 Preserving Our StoriesBefore the Redevelopment: Remembering Jewish OakridgeAs Oakridge enters a new chapter, it's wort...
07/29/2026

📖 Preserving Our Stories

Before the Redevelopment: Remembering Jewish Oakridge

As Oakridge enters a new chapter, it's worth remembering the generations of Jewish families and community builders who helped shape this remarkable neighbourhood.

Long before today's redevelopment, Oakridge became one of the centres of Jewish life in British Columbia. Today, it continues to serve our community through the Jewish Community Centre, schools, synagogues, seniors' residences, and countless organizations that call the Oak Street corridor home.

Our latest Our Stories feature explores the memories, photographs, and oral histories that capture this important chapter in Vancouver's Jewish history—and its continuing legacy.

Explore the exhibit:
🔗 https://jewishmuseum.ca/exhibits/oakridge/

Please consider contributing to our 2026 Annual Campaign: Preserving Our Stories. Connecting Our Future: https://jewishmuseum.ca/donate/

🏛️ Historic Jewish Victoria Walking TourSunday, August 2 | 10:30 a.m.Step back in time and discover the remarkable stori...
07/28/2026

🏛️ Historic Jewish Victoria Walking Tour
Sunday, August 2 | 10:30 a.m.

Step back in time and discover the remarkable stories that helped shape British Columbia's oldest Jewish community.

Join the Jewish Museum and Archives of BC for a guided walking tour through historic downtown Victoria. Along the way, you'll uncover the people, businesses, synagogues, and landmarks that reveal more than 160 years of Jewish life in the provincial capital.

Whether you're a history enthusiast, a lifelong Victorian, or visiting the city for the weekend, this engaging tour offers a fascinating new perspective on one of Canada's oldest Jewish communities.

🎟️ Space is limited—reserve your spot today through Eventbrite.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/walking-tour-of-historic-jewish-victoria-tickets-1347108771599

Every photograph. Every oral history. Every letter. Every archival collection tells part of the remarkable story of Jewi...
07/21/2026

Every photograph. Every oral history. Every letter. Every archival collection tells part of the remarkable story of Jewish life in British Columbia.

Today, we're proud to launch the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC's 2026 Annual Campaign:

Preserving Our Stories. Connecting Our Future.

For more than 50 years, JMABC has preserved the people, places, and moments that have shaped Jewish life across British Columbia. This campaign will help us continue that work through archival preservation, oral history projects, exhibitions, educational programming, digitization, and province-wide community partnerships.

But this campaign is about more than preserving history.

It's about ensuring that future generations can discover where they came from, understand the communities that helped build British Columbia, and appreciate the enduring contributions of Jewish British Columbians.

Over the coming weeks we'll share stories from our collections, introduce new projects, celebrate our supporters, and highlight the many ways our community is helping build tomorrow's archives.

Because every story we preserve today becomes a gift to the future.

If our work matters to you, we invite you to be part of it.

Support the 2026 Annual Campaign:

🔗 https://jewishmuseum.ca/donate/

Step into British Columbia's oldest Jewish cemetery and discover the stories of the people who helped build our communit...
07/14/2026

Step into British Columbia's oldest Jewish cemetery and discover the stories of the people who helped build our community.

Join the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC on Sunday, July 19 for a guided walking tour of the historic Victoria Jewish Cemetery—one of Canada's oldest Jewish burial grounds and a place of remarkable history, memory, and resilience.

As we walk through this sacred site, you'll hear the stories of early Jewish settlers, community leaders, and families whose lives helped shape Jewish life in Victoria and across British Columbia. Their legacies continue to connect us to the province's rich and enduring Jewish heritage.

🕙 Sunday, July 19
10:30 a.m.

🎟️ Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/8317423242

Space is limited. Reserve your place today and experience one of British Columbia's most significant Jewish heritage sites.

Step back in time and discover the stories that helped shape Vancouver.This Sunday, the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC i...
06/30/2026

Step back in time and discover the stories that helped shape Vancouver.

This Sunday, the Jewish Museum & Archives of BC invites you to explore Vancouver's Jewish history through a choice of two unique guided walking tours.

🏙️ Jewish Strathcona Walking Tour
Explore Vancouver's first Jewish neighbourhood, where generations of Jewish families built businesses, established community institutions, and helped shape the city we know today.

🕍 Mountain View Cemetery Jewish Heritage Walking Tour
Discover the lives and legacies of the pioneers, community leaders, and families whose stories helped build British Columbia's Jewish community.

Both tours begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 5. Choose the tour that interests you most and join us for a fascinating journey through Vancouver's Jewish past.

🎟️ Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/8317423242

Space is limited—reserve your spot today!

Address

6184 Ash Street
Vancouver, BC
V5Z3G9

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+16042575199

Website

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