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On Yom Kippur, as I stood on the bima at Temple Sholom watching the winding line of people waiting for their moment in front of the aron kodesh, the scene spoke to me about the power of gathering. In a few days we’ll gather again, this time to share a meal in the sukkah. There’s a saying in the business world that decisions are made by those who show up. We think of it a little differently in the Jewish communal world: community is made by those who gather together. We create something when we gather together that is more valuable than what each of us brings on our own.

The work of our Federation is in large part about the power of gathering, whether it’s two people or 20 or even 1,000. Whether it’s supporting seniors' peer support services or outreach to Jews in regional communities. And when we talk about regional communities, we’re talking about the nearly half of our Jewish community who now live outside the City of Vancouver. They are raising families in places like Richmond, the North Shore, New West, the Tri-Cities, Maple Ridge, and White Rock, where I spoke on Yom Kippur. Between distance and cost, many of those who live there find it tough to participate in Jewish life, because effectively servicing these cities is often beyond the reach of our community institutions. And for those who are living in Vancouver, closer to the centres of Jewish life, the fact that they are paying top dollar to be close to institutions like schools, synagogues and the JCC is creating barriers to participation. Addressing the affordability and accessibility of Jewish life is key to securing our community’s future, because it’s key to being able to gather together.

More than 15 years ago, the Council of Presidents – which is made up of all the presidents of our Jewish community organizations – established a set of guidelines for when and how our community organizations schedule fundraising events. These guidelines acknowledge a dedicated window of time to allow for community dollars to be raised through the Federation Annual Campaign. Why? Because collective giving is crucial to the health of our community.

This is very different from how many other communities have dealt with such campaigns. In some cities, Federation mandates the timeframe, but not here. Here, nearly all our community organizations recognized the power of our community’s central fundraising initiative, and worked together to create space for the Annual Campaign to exist. Some of these organizations benefit from the campaign, but many do not. Regardless, they worked together. It takes a singularly special community to do this, and we are deeply grateful.

That window of fundraising time is now upon us, but it is short. So, when you get the call, please answer the call. Get your pledge in today, even if you need a little more time before you can pay it. Get together with your canvasser now, and an extra $500 will be donated to the campaign just for meeting in person. And if they haven’t yet called you, call them. Don’t wait. Because these, too, are moments of gathering, and each one propels our community forward.

Shabbat shalom and chag sameach,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver