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Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

October 19, 2018 | 10 Cheshvan 5779 | Candlelighting at 5:56 p.m.

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This is the first of two Shabbat Messages that will come to you from Israel this month, so let’s dive right in.

I'm in Israel this week with Karen James, our Board chair; Candace Kwinter, chair of our Israel and Overseas Affairs Committee; and leaders from our community for the bi-annual Partnership2Gether (P2G) meetings, to be followed by Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly (GA), and then the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Board of Governors meetings. A common thread binding all of these meetings is the relationship between Jews in Israel and Jews in the Diaspora. We don’t always see eye to eye, but at the end of the day we are extended family.

P2G pairs Diaspora communities with regions in Israel, strengthening the ties between Canadians and Israelis. We are joined in our Coast-to-Coast partnership by five other Canadian Jewish communities: Atlantic Canada, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Winnipeg.

Since the mid-1990s, our Federation has worked closely with our partnership region, Etzbah HaGalil (the Northern Galilee Panhandle). Geographically, economically and politically removed from the country’s centre, Etzbah HaGalil is challenged by a lack of jobs, infrastructure, and opportunity. Security has often been a challenge for the region - the area bore the brunt of the 2006 Lebanon War - and it is difficult to ensure that residents have the same opportunities that are available in the centre of Israel.

Through P2G we strategically invest funds to strengthen this region through education and social welfare programs, capital projects and regional development, and build enduring relationships between members of our community and residents of Etzbah HaGalil.

The meetings kicked off with an appearance by Prime Minister Netanyahu at the Arthur and Ancie Fouks Community Centre in Kiryat Shmona, announcing the opening of the new medical facility in the city. This will improve the lives of residents in our region, and the Coast-to-Coast communities advocated for this through P2G. When we met the Prime Minister, Candace; Pam Wolfman, Board member and Israel and Overseas Affairs Committee member; and I let him know that the Fouks family were instrumental in building our Federation. There’s a great photo with him, and we’ll share it with you when it becomes available.

We were joined there by Mark Gurvis, executive vice president of Jewish Federations of North America, and former CEO of our Federation. Mark was such a big part of our community for so long, and he was instrumental in establishing many of the relationships and investments in the region that continue to grow in depth and impact every year. It was wonderful to see him and his wife, Leah Pomerantz.

We also visited the first cohort of Galil-UP, a local program initiated by professionals in our region and operated by Tel-Hai College to develop young leaders. Through Galil-UP we have formed a group of up-and-coming leaders who will take a role in shaping and implementing a community vision in the region for years to come.

Next, we spent time at Beit Vancouver, the jewel in the crown of our partnership region. Beit Vancouver and its hubs in four neighborhoods of Kiryat Shmona reach nearly 70% of at-risk youth in the city, providing them with opportunities to reach for their dreams, through dance troupes and music classes to a youth-led computer repair shop to professional counselling services. It was very moving to hear Mark Gurvis describe the poor condition Beit Vancouver was in when he first saw it many yeas ago, compared to how beautiful it is today.

Supporting Galil-UP and Beit Vancouver are just two of the ways your campaign gift is changing lives in Northern Israel. Follow @JewishVancouver on Twitter to see the stories we’ve been sharing about the people in our partnership region, as well as more about what your campaign gift supports.

As the partnership meetings close, we turn our attention to the GA, where we will gather to welcome Shabbat at the Kotel.

Back at home, the Hebrew school we launched through our Connect Me In initiative in Langley last year is hosting an information session this Sunday, so spread the word amongst your friends and family who live there.

Connect Me In is also presenting an adult study group, Talmudic Ethics: Finding Your Way to Good Decisions, with Rabbi Beitelman of Chabad Richmond, which kicked off on Monday in New Westminster and runs until November 26th.

Both of these programs exemplify how we are working with our partners and with community members to build community outside of Vancouver.

If you haven’t yet made your campaign gift, we hope we’ve given you plenty of reasons in this message to be inspired to give today. If you have already made your gift, we are very grateful - todah rabbah!

Shabbat Shalom.

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

P.S. If you’re a podcast lover, please be sure to subscribe to receive a podcast version of the Shabbat Message each week.

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