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How else could I start this week’s message but by sending some major kavod out to the three co-chairs of our Choices event, Debbie Jeroff, Wendi Klein and Yael Rubanenko Horwitz and their committee, along with Lisa Pullan our chair of Women’s Philanthropy. What fantastic work they did bringing together nearly 500 women to celebrate tzedakah, and to hear from filmmaker Yael Luttwak about her documentary A Slim Peace. You can see photos from this inspiring night on our Facebook page.

Amongst the women in the room were the three volunteers from the ShinShinim program, Lian Suissa, Ophir Golombeck, and Tomer Tetro. These are the young women I’ve written about before who are volunteering for a year in our community. We’re hearing very positive feedback from students, parents and community organizations about the impact they are having and the great job they are doing. Case in point is the very successful all girls Teen Talk program they just led, where they discussed the current situation in Israel from their perspectives.

One of the highlights of Choices was Ricki Thal, who shared her incredibly personal and moving account of how her grandparents survived the Holocaust by working in Oskar Schindler’s factory, and her experience confronting that history on March of the Living. In fact, Ricki’s speech was so powerful that we asked her permission to share it with you. Please, if you do nothing else before welcoming Shabbat, take a few minutes and read it here. We are very proud that Ricki was able to connect with our shared history and with her family’s story through March of the Living – a program we support through the Federation Annual Campaign.

Last week I wrote about some of the partners whose work is supported by the campaign, one of which is the Jewish Food Bank. I was reminded of an experience I had in Colorado. A man came to the Jewish Family Service Agency there seeking help for his family of four – but the food bank was closed. No matter, the staff opened it up and began to fill a basket with food. Then they started to notice he was pulling things out. They put more in. He took more out. They realized he was taking out food he could eat right then. They went around the office to see what else they might have for him, and they gave him some crackers and tuna. He sat in the lobby to eat, and cried, because he hadn’t eaten in so long.

This story is real, and it’s not the only one of its kind. The need in our community is just as real, even if you don’t encounter it so strikingly in your everyday routine. The frontline staff at our partner agencies certainly do.

We know that many families have figured out creative ways to teach their children about need. One of them is the Nider family, who were featured on CBC for taking the Welfare Food Challenge and trying to feed their family of six on $21 per person for six days. Break it down and that’s $3.50 per day, or 88 cents for each of three meals and one snack per day. Yasher koach to the Niders for raising awareness of this important issue, and for teaching their family about chesed, empathy, and tikkun olam. You can read about them here.

If you’d like to involve your children in a Jewish discussion about chesed, tikkun olam and tzedakah, there is a great article by Your Money colunmnist, Ben Lieber, that you might find helpful. It’s about teaching children about giving by showing the how your own family has been helped. What a beautiful way to educate your children about Jewish values, whether on Shabbat or throughout the week.

Speaking of educating our kids, I attended Vancouver Hebrew Academy’s AGM on Wednesday, where they honoured their two past co-chairs, Meyer Mattuck and David Emanuel who have provided board leadership for over 10 years. Guest speaker, Rabbi Hillel Adler from the Jewish Day School Consortium, talked about the positive impact of word of mouth as a way of promoting and supporting our day schools. The voices of parents and other community members are powerful indeed, and it will be interesting to see the results of the new parent ambassador program he’s launching to put this research in action.

Finally, we remembered a tragedy this week, the loss of Yitzhak Rabin z”l. Our community gathered at Temple Sholom to light a candle in his memory, followed by a presentation from Gilad Perry, songs and discussion. I was in what is now Rabin Square not long after his assassination, and I remember the wax still caked on the ground. As I flew home, the first two bus bombings hit, which heralded the next round of violence. Why do we work so hard to bring community together? Why do we try to find common ground between people who don’t always agree? Because all that is good comes from working together, and no one knew that better than Yitzhak Rabin z”l. And on that note, I leave the last word to him. Here is his speech from that tragic night, in Hebrew with English subtitles.

Shabbat shalom,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver