The Peretz Centre
The Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture was founded in 1945 to establish and conduct a school that provides students of all ages with a progressive and modern Jewish cultural education.
Located in Vancouver, BC on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, we hold classes, lectures, exhibitions, concerts, holiday celebrations and similar gatherings in order to teach and advance the cause of progressive and modern Jewish learning, culture, and education and the Yiddish language.
Our doors are open to people of diverse cultures, beliefs, genders, and sexual orientation.
Who We Are
The Vancouver Peretz Institute, also known as the Vancouver Peretz Shule, was founded in 1945 in response to the threat to Jewish culture and Yiddish language posed by the Holocaust and WWII. The founding families felt an urgent need to establish a school to ensure the continuity of Jewish secular humanistic culture and thought. And they opened the doors to all — Jews and non-Jews — who felt a connection to Jewish culture, history, and experience.
The Peretz Institute was renamed the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture in 2001. From the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir to our Pnei Mitzvah program for children 10-14, we sustain a unique space in Vancouver’s Jewish community for multicultural, interfaith, gender-inclusive, and LGBTQ+-friendly cultural education that honours and upholds a broad, inclusive understanding of Jewish culture.
Created for the Peretz Centre by artist Rob Friedman in 2002, the stained glass windows with their Yiddish calligraphy and secular content are unique in the world. The four panels make up a vertical window 22 ft by 18 1/4 inches wide and are designed to flow into each other. Each panel on average contains over 2000 cuts and each piece was beveled to fit into the very thin detailed leadwork.
"A people's memory is history; a people without a history can grow neither wiser nor better."
-- Isaac Leyb Peretz (1852-1915)
Secular Jewish Humanism
Secular humanism emphasizes human endeavour rather than supernatural intervention. We believe that people have a kinship with all living things and that people working together creatively, adhering to ethical and democratic principles, can make the world a better place.
The first secular Jewish organizations arose in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in both Europe and the Western Hemisphere. Those organizations defined the Jews as a people whose history, traditions, values and cultures could be researched and understood rationally, using the methods and insights of modern thought and science. The encompassing term was Yiddishkayt — Jewishness.
At the Peretz Centre, we believe that Jewish continuity is best assured in a pluralistic, inclusive society where mutual dignity and respect, justice, freedom, and peace prevail. This is the lesson of Jewish history and this is why secular humanist Yiddishkayt is at the core of Peretz Centre educational and cultural programs.
Learn more about humanistic and secular Judaism:
What is Yiddishkayt?
Yiddishkayt is the Jewish culture that blossomed in Europe from the late 1700s. Yiddish, the daily language of most Jews, began to be used by writers who were often rebels against the old religious establishment and who championed new ideas of social justice and human dignity. A rich literature of poetry, prose, drama, and song thrived until curtailed by antisemitic massacres in the 1930s and 40s.
As an educational centre dedicated to Yiddish language and culture, secular humanistic values, and progressive and social justice-related causes, we value Doikayt (“here-ness”), a concept that stems from Ashkenazi Jewish progressive movements and states the importance of connection and commitment to local social struggles for justice, equality, and mutual liberation.
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What We Do
Jewish Cultural Events
The Peretz Centre offers a vibrant space for celebrations, lectures, performances, film screenings, and cultural events open to all. From our combined/condensed High Holidays to Hanukkah, Purim, Passover, and more, we host Jewish holidays and shabbes dinners based in secular humanist principles, honouring our heritage, upholding the value of peace and diversity, and welcoming interfaith, inter-cultural, and LGBTQ+ members and families.
