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As you read this, I’m in Tokyo with our Board chair, Karen James, and leaders from our community, preparing to have Shabbat dinner with the local community. We are here on a short stopover before continuing on to Siberia where, with our trusted overseas partner, the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), we are helping to support some of the poorest Jews in the world.

Jews have lived in Siberia since the 17th century, through many social and geographic challenges, including the Soviets’ official “discouragement” of Jewish life. Today, the JDC promotes Jewish life throughout the region through Jewish renewal and community development programs that are run in Hesed Centers. Hesed Centers support impoverished seniors with food assistance, medicine, winter relief, and social connection through homecare visits and social programs. Hesed Centers also provide welfare services and programs for Jewish children and families in need.

While in Khabarovsk next week, we will visit the Hesed Center, and make home visits to seniors served by them. We’ll also meet with teen leaders and have dinner at Moishe House, where young adults are creating a thriving community for themselves and their peers. We’re very proud to support the JDC’s Metsuda program for the fourth year, empowering young adults to build Jewish community, and we look forward to seeing this program in action. Midweek, we will travel to Birobidzhan, where synagogues and Yiddish were banned by Stalin in the 1930s, and where the Jewish community now offers classes in Yiddish and Hebrew, music, dance and theatre.

We will truly bear witness to the perseverance of the Jewish people.

Did you know that ours is the closest Federated community to the Jewish community in the Russian Far East? It is part of why we take our responsibility to Jews in this region so seriously, and why we’re so excited that Zoya Shvartzman will be joining us as a FEDtalks speaker on September 16th. Zoya’s story will make us feel far closer than a map ever could.

The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Zoya grew up in the former Soviet Union where her family was forbidden to practice Judaism under the communist government. Even so, she always felt a connection to her Jewish roots.

It was only when Zoya and her mother made aliyah and later immigrated to Vancouver that she truly felt that she was part of a Jewish community. Through our local community, she made friends, received scholarships to JCC summer camp, and turned the connection she felt to her Jewish roots into strong ties to her heritage.

Our community provided financial support to Zoya and her mother when they needed it. It was here that they first experienced the power of a Jewish community that helps newcomers for no reason other than that they are Jews in need of help. “The Jewish community helped us with food, but they didn’t only fill our stomachs. They also filled our souls,” she says.

Now, as director of strategic partnerships at the JDC, Zoya is in a position to help many more Jews in need. She works to build vibrant communities in countries where Jews were nearly wiped out by the Holocaust and then by communism. By establishing communal places like alternative Jewish cafés in Budapest and Jewish youth clubs in Warsaw, Zoya helps young Jews connect with their heritage in these re-emerging European Jewish communities. She also runs JDC’s “Bereshit” program—an intensive community course in Jewish Studies.

Zoya’s life and experiences have nurtured her belief that all Jews are responsible for one another – which is a central theme of this year’s Federation Annual Campaign. “Judaism is a lot more than religion,” she says. “It’s a people, a tribe - and we take care of each other.” It’s a belief we share here at Jewish Federation.

Come hear Zoya’s compelling story and gain insights into how we are helping our global Jewish community thrive. Buy your FEDtalks tickets today!

Shabbat shalom,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

P.S. As you know, the JCC is embarking upon a redevelopment. Vancouver City Council will vote on the proposal at a public hearing on September 5th, and our community has an important opportunity to attend, and to submit feedback beforehand. Share your thoughts online by clicking here.

P.P.S. The skies may have cleared somewhat, but we are all thinking about our fellow British Columbians who are affected by the wildfires. We are continuing to work with our partner JFC-UIA to find the right way for our community to make the best impact, and we look forward to sharing details with you soon.