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Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

June 15, 2018 | 2 Tammuz 5778 | Candlelighting at 9:01 p.m.

This message has 802 words and will take about 3 minutes to read.

It’s hard to believe that spring has gone by so quickly and that summer is almost upon us. For many in our community summer means one thing - the end of the school year.

I try to attend the graduation ceremonies at all the schools, as well as their special moments throughout the year. After all, Jewish education is one of the areas to which we direct a significant amount of support, whether from the Annual Campaign, special giving opportunities, our innovation in education grant program, or disbursements and grants from our endowment program, the Jewish Community Foundation.

As the school year draws to a close, students from TJEX, the Schara Tzedeck supplementary school, celebrated their year-end along with their Shalhevet Girls High School buddies. This program matches each participant with a Shalhevet student for one-on-one learning. Based on the hugs and smiles shared between the students and their buddies, the program is obviously meaningful for both groups, and we are proud to support it.

All of the schools in our community have fantastic programs that encourage students to practice mitzvot and Jewish values in a meaningful way, from Random Acts of Chesed Week at King David High School and Richmond Jewish Day School to Vancouver Hebrew Academy’s program with BC Children’s Hospital, and more, which we can write about over time. One example is Vancouver Talmud Torah’s Mitzvah of Valuing Philanthropy (MVP) program, in which students raised over $38,000 this year to support 34 charities. One of the really beautiful things about this program, and others like it, is how the kids are involved in choosing charities that touch their hearts.

Speaking of Jewish education and Jewish values, two of our longstanding volunteers, Bill and Risa Levine, were awarded the University of British Columbia President’s Medal of Excellence for "their significant contributions to the purposes and ideals of the university." Bill and Risa have both been deeply involved in our Federation, and indeed throughout our community. Bill is a past chair of our endowment program, the Jewish Community Foundation, and Risa served on our Allocations Committee and co-chaired our Jewish Education Task Force. They support our work at the major donor level, and they have provided additional support for innovation in Jewish education. We are deeply grateful for the impact they have made and continue to make.

Jewish learning often begins in the home, but for many children in our community their first experience in a Jewish educational program is at a daycare, such as the one at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC). It’s one of an incredibly wide selection of programs and services offered at the JCC and supported by our Federation. Pretty soon, with the redevelopment of the JCC, you won’t just be able to come here for programs or to work; you’ll be able to live here.

Three hundred new rental units are part of the redevelopment plan, and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Selina Robinson just announced $200,000 from the provincial government to support the planning phase of this project. Before she read her prepared remarks she reflected on how her Jewish identity informs her work and the importance of helping community members who want to make their home in Vancouver, close to the centres of Jewish life. Well, you can’t get much closer than this.

At the same time, we are making headway in the regional communities as the Jewish population continues to spread out. This week, our Connect Me In program wrapped up the last class of its Hebrew school program for children in Squamish. What a wonderful success this has been - and same with the similar program that has run in Langley. We also said goodbye to the Shinshiniyot, who’ve played a big role in our Connect Me In programs over the past several months. We wish them all the best as they head off to camp and then back to Israel.

Before we sign off, we want to say yasher koach to Serge Haber, a founder of the Jewish Seniors Alliance (JSA), who celebrated his 90th birthday and was honoured at a Chai Tea hosted by JSA. We also want to say yasher koach to Harry Lipetz, who has served as chair of the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation for the past decade and was honoured by them for his service.

Finally, we want to remind you about our Annual General Meeting coming up Tuesday, June 19th. If you enjoy reading this message every week, then you’ll get even more insight into our work by joining us and hearing from your fellow community members who lead our organization. Come celebrate our volunteers and the Vancouver Police Department, too. See you there!

Shabbat shalom,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

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