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Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

July 13, 2018 | 1 Av 5778 | Candlelighting at 8:56 p.m.

This message has 779 words and will take about 4 minutes to read.

This week’s message has connections to Israel, Vancouver, and the regional communities - just like our organization's work.

Let’s start in Israel. Participants in the Coast-to-Coast Canada/Etzba Hagalil Partnership2Gether Educators Conference were in Israel last week and met with Rachel Rabin Yaacov, sister of late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin z”l. Rachel is a respected leader in the field of education and is one of the founders of Tel Hai College.

The conference is held every second year as part of the Canada - Galilee School Connections Program, which works to create meaningful relationships between Jewish schools in Canada and schools in our partnership region of the northern Galilee. The overarching goal is to deepen the sense of belonging to the Jewish people on a personal, interpersonal, and community level. Delegations and reciprocal visits provide a unique opportunity to strengthen ties and relationships on both the personal and professional levels.

We are thrilled that so many Jewish educators and education supporters from our community attended. Dorin Eilon-Heiber, member of the Gesher Chai Coast-to-Coast Canada Partnership2Gether Committee and one of the engineering forces of the conference, had this to say: "The conference is a wonderful opportunity to deepen the connection between the school, principals and teachers. It inspires and provides educators with an experience of Israel, the people and the country. This conference helps educators make Israel a tangible element of the school’s environment and a solid part of community life. On behalf of our schools we would like to thank the steering committee for their hard work and Jewish Federation for funding this important mifgash."

Back here at home, we are very pleased to share updates from two of our partners, both of which are important responses to the issues of affordability and accessibility of Jewish life that are impacting our community and affecting its overall sustainability. When we think of life’s necessities, food and shelter top the list, yet many community members struggle with one or both.

In Vancouver, the cost of living is sky high and many people are struggling to find housing they can afford. And as the Jewish population continues to spread out geographically, there is a gap between where services are located (approximately 80% are in Vancouver) and where the people they serve live (half now live outside of Vancouver). It means we and our partners have to look at new and innovative ways of doing our work.

The first update I want to share with you is that registration is open for Tikva Housing’s Ben and Esther Dayson Residences in South Vancouver. These 32 brand new townhouses are perfect for families looking for two, three or four bedrooms. They’re gorgeous - and they’re affordable, costing 30% of gross family household income. They are located in River District, a growing neighbourhood close to schools, parks, walking trails, bike routes, transit and other amenities. There are already a number of Jewish families and individuals living in the area, and with the opening of these townhouses this winter ever stronger Jewish connections will flourish in this neighbourhood.  

Tikva Housing specializes in safe, affordable housing primarily for working-age Jewish low to middle-income adults and families. We are proud to support their work through the Federation Annual Campaign. A gift from the Ben & Esther Dayson Charitable Foundation will enable Tikva Housing Society to operate these townhouses.

The second update is the launch of The Chesed Program by our partner, Jewish Family Services (JFS). The program grew out of the work conducted by the Food Security Task Force, which was jointly led by JFS and our Jewish Federation. The Chesed Program will provide short term financial assistance to Jewish community members living in the Tri-Cities area, Maple Ridge and Mission who are in transition. Perhaps they have experienced job loss due to illness or injury and will return to work at a later date, or perhaps they require retraining before they can find new work. They will receive a pre-charged credit card, which is one way JFS is trying to provide choice and preserve dignity for these community members. It also addresses one of the challenges that the task force noted: the need to expand the scope of programs and services that address food insecurity both in Vancouver and the regional communities.

The task force members have completed their research and are writing their final report, which we expect to receive at the end of the summer. The work done by this task force and others like it is an important aspect of our community planning role and how we and our partners are responding to the changes taking place in our community.

Shabbat shalom,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

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