There has been an outpouring of love and support from around the world for the late Vivian Silver, the Canadian-born peace activist whose remains were identified last week, five weeks after she was murdered by Hamas terrorists in the safe room of her home in Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7, 2023. Silver was buried in a private ceremony on Nov. 17 at her kibbutz, with just her two sons and her siblings and a few soldiers as witnesses. The zone is still considered the front lines of Israel's war with Hamas, making access severely restricted.

But the day earlier, hundreds gathered for a public memorial service on the lawn of a kibbutz she founded, Kibbutz Gezer, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. They paid tribute to the woman who made it her life's work to build bridges with Palestinians, founding charities and social justice organizations dedicated to solving the Israeli-Palestinian crisis—without violence.

While the Jewish community of Winnipeg plans to hold its own memorial in the coming weeks, on today's episode of The CJN Daily, you'll hear sections from her memorial service and tributes from those she was close to: her brother Neil Silver; a childhood friend from Winnipeg, Lynne Mitchell; and Deborah Lyons, Canada's new special envoy for combatting antisemitism.

What we talked about

Read how Silver’s family learned her remains had been identified, in The CJN
Watch the full memorial service for Silver from Kibbutz Gezer, on Facebook
How Vivian Silver worked for peace and bridge building with Palestinians, on The CJN Daily

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

Hundreds gathered to honour Canadian peace activist Vivian Silver at memorial in Israel