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United Church of Canada Endorses Boycott of Israeli Goods
Last week, the General Council of the United Church of Canada (UCC) endorsed a boycott of goods produced in Israeli communities east of the "Green Line". Additionally, the UCC passed a resolution expressing regret for previously calling for Palestinian recognition of Israel's Jewish character. Both of these decisions by the United Church are one-sided and represent a radical shift. The resolution flies in the face of countless years of interfaith dialogue conducted between members of our local Jewish community and representatives of the UCC. A recent survey commissioned by CIJA in partnership with Faithful Witness, a grassroots group of United Church clergy and members, reveals the extent to which most UCC members sharply disagree with the Church's biased approach to these issues. Further, the resolution’s silence with respect to the plight of their fellow Christians around the world in places like Nigeria, Syria, Egypt and Iran, reinforces a clear sense that only Israel is targeted for such attention. Sadly, the UCC delegates chose to walk down a narrow and deliberate path of delegitimization targeting the Jewish state. Regardless of our community's diverse views on settlements and Israeli policy, boycotting Israel and questioning its Jewish character undermines the United Church delegates’ professed desire for peace and justice. Concerned individuals who want to communicate with CIJA directly can email them. For more information on this issue please visit www.cija.ca.

PJ Library and JFSA Team Up for Outreach in Tri-Cities Area
On Wednesday, PJ Library and Jewish Family Service Agency met with a group of young Jewish families in the Tri-Cities area (Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster). While PJ Library staff conducted a program with the children, JFSA and Federation staff met with parents to seek their views about programming needs in the region. The group, which has been primarily self-organized by enthusiastic local leaders, had much to share about the activities they are already organizing, and the challenges they face maintaining connections to Jewish life. Adult attendees left feeling empowered to continue to create and build Jewish community, and the kids enjoyed their Jewish-themed story time and art project.

Jewish Community Perspective on Immigration Policy Changes
Given our communal history in Canada, national immigration policies are important to our Jewish community. Many in our Jewish community celebrate with pride their acceptance in Canadian society. At the same time, we know that there are also very painful chapters of Canadian history with respect to whether Jews could get into the country when needed, most particularly when trying to flee Nazi Germany. To this day, our national community welcomes new immigrants from all over the Jewish world and works to integrate them into our local communities.

Recent policy changes introduced by the Federal government have sparked much debate. The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs issued a background paper recently looking at the changes from the Jewish community’s perspective.

Last Call for Community Youth Survey
A last call for Greater Vancouver Jewish youth to fill out a confidential online survey to help us understand and address the issues faced by young people today. Information gathered from the survey will help Federation's Planning Council make meaningful recommendations moving forward. Youth between 13 - 22 years have until midnight on Monday, August 27th to submit before we draw three lucky names to win $50 iTunes gift certificates.

Parashat Shoftim
This week's parasha begins with the appointment of judges to ensure the fair and impartial adherence to a legal code. "Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that Adonai your God is giving you." The pursuit of justice within society is one of the central themes not only of this parasha and the Torah, but really the whole of Jewish tradition. It is woven into biblical injunctions related to business dealings, how we treat the poor, and even how we engage in social, political and international matters.

Last week, a group of Jewish youth in Jerusalem surrounded and beat a 17-year-old Arab, Jamal Julani, who is now recovering in the city’s Hadassah Hospital. Six of the perpetrators were arrested, including the accused ringleader, a young Jewish girl. Israeli police have created a special investigative team to deal with the incident and expect additional arrests in the coming days. Teachers across Israel have been instructed to address this incident by having a discussion about values with their students on the first day of school, next Sunday. In a second troubling incident, also last week, a fire bomb was thrown at a Palestinian taxi in the Gush Etzion region, wounding six passengers.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, in promising to bring the perpetrators of these acts to justice, stated "The State of Israel is a democratic state, an enlightened state, a state where when we come across acts such as these, the entire state and all of its leaders come out together against such phenomena, and we will continue to do so. That is what makes us unique in the environment around us and this will continue to make us unique. I hope that one day our environment will change as well. But we will be persistent in our complete opposition to racism and violence. We are not prepared to tolerate racism in Israel. Neither are we prepared to tolerate the combination of racism and violence."

Israeli is not a perfect society (although I'm not aware of any perfect societies) and there are times that evil acts occur. But, in taking these steps to address them forthrightly, Israel's government is acting within the spirit of justice called forth by our Torah and tradition.

Shabbat shalom!