Community, Culture, Yiddishkayt
From our combined/condensed High Holidays to Hanukkah parties, Purimshpils, secular Passover seyders, and regular cultural shabbes (shabbat/sabbath) potluck dinners, the Peretz community gathers throughout the year to celebrate and learn about Jewish holidays. We also host educational classes, workshops, and reading groups related to holiday practices and themes.
The Peretz tradition is to engage with and adapt traditional rituals, songs, foods, and other practices from Yiddish and other Jewish cultures, including Yiddish ones, that are meaningful to us, and to create new ones for present and future generations. Our celebrations are rooted in secular humanist principles, honouring Jewish heritage, upholding the value of peace, justice, and diversity, and welcoming interfaith, inter-cultural, and LGBTQ+ members and families.
Peretz members, friends, and new faces of all ages are enthusiastically welcomed to participate in our cultural and educational holiday celebrations. Our doors are open to people of diverse cultures, beliefs, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities.
"As secular Jews, we believe that people are the thinkers of thoughts and the doers of deeds. Even if you believe that a thought came to you from a spiritual place, the power to act on it in a kind, caring, compassionate way rests with the people."
-- Gallia Chud, Peretz founder (as told by her daughter Gyda)
Jewish Secular Humanist Holidays
High Holidays
The Peretz combined/condensed Rosh Hashone (Jewish New Year) & Yom Kippur observance is based in Secular Jewish Humanist practices that reflects our community's progressive values and history.
With family activities, our High Holidays gathering offers a space to connect with family, friends, and the Peretz community, learn about Jewish traditions and practices, remember those we have lost in the last year (yizkor), and welcome the new year together by blowing the shofar for peace and justice.
Pictured: Rosh Hashone postcards illustration by Tsirl Waletzky, for a Yiddish language learning book for children, printed by the Educational Department of the Workmen's Circle (New York, 1971).
Khanike / Hanukkah
Festival of Lights? Celebration of rebellion? Miracle of the oil? Winter Solstice? Jewish Christmas? Feast of fried foods? The holiday contains many fascinating (and sometimes troubling) meanings.
At the Peretz Centre, our Khanike (Hanukkah) celebrations emphasize the things that bring us together as a diverse community -- not militarism or nationalism, but peace, justice, and mutual liberation. With joyful celebration, we affirm our capacity to create a better and more beautiful world for all living beings. Also, latkes.
Pictured: Peretz Hanukkah celebration, ca. 1960.
Peysakh / Passover
Each spring, we gather at our annual Peretz Community Peysakh (Passover) Seyder and return to our Hagode/Haggadah using traditional texts and our own interpretations. We tell the story of the struggle for freedom over and over, all of us together, to witness the bondage of others, past and presence, and to renew our commitment to the liberation of all people, everywhere.
With readings and songs from our own Jewish Secular Humanist community Hagode, we sign tradtional and non-traditional songs, share a Passover meal, and organize Afikomen and children's activities so everyone can participate.
Pictured: Tammy Neuman and Mark Neuman at the Peretz Passover Seyder, ca. 1990.
Upcoming Holiday Events at the Peretz Centre
Peretz Peacenik Khanike Party21 days to the eventSat, Nov 28Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir Sings Hanukkah!29 days to the eventSun, Dec 06Richmond Public Library, Brighouse
Peretz Community Passover Seder 2027162 days to the eventSun, Apr 18Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
Recent Holiday Events
Radical Readings 3: The Talmud and the Ethics of City LifeThu, Oct 08Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
Radical Readings 2: Recovering the Anti-Imperialist Vision of the Hebrew BibleThu, Oct 01Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
Radical Readings 1: Forgiveness in Jewish ThoughtThu, Sep 17Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
High Holidays at the Peretz Centre 2026Sun, Sep 13Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
Organizing as Optimism in Action: A Workshop on Jewish Influences in Modern Organizing & Their Practical ApplicationThu, May 21Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
Peretz Community Passover Seder 2026Sun, Mar 29Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture
