Shabbat Candlelighting 4:39 p.m.                                             Friday, January 25, 2013/14 Shevat 5773
 

This message has 994 words, and will take about three to four minutes to read.

Fresh Baked From Hillel
Last night I had the opportunity to visit Hillel at UBC for a presentation by Graham Hoffman from Hillel International. Hoffman was here providing training for Hillel staff, and meeting with student leadership. Last night’s presentation to a mixed group of Hillel board members, campus faculty, community stakeholders and staff focused on a compelling new approach promoted by Hillel International around student engagement.

Near the end, a few students stopped in to share some fresh challah baked by members of the Israel Advocacy Club. As I was leaving I stopped to visit with the students. Their challah was among the best I’ve tasted here in Vancouver, and I thought they should know. I found a group of about 15 students who were enjoying an Israeli meal they had prepared. And I learned that the challot they bake each week are sold on campus; the proceeds go to support an Israeli charity providing youth programming. It was nice to see a live example of the kind of programming that Hillel International is increasingly focused on – programs that simultaneously build community, engage students in activities that provide Jewish meaning and learning, create memories, and contribute to enhancing the Jewish people and the world.

Half Baked from Israel
In the wake of Tuesday’s dramatic Israeli national election we are reminded of one of the essential elements of Israeli democracy. The election is not the culmination of the process through which Israeli governments are formed; only a step along the process. Now that the results are in, the hard work of building a governing coalition is underway, and there will be weeks of uncertainty until the dust settles.

In the lead up to this particular election there has been a lot of buzz about the ongoing need for electoral reform. In particular, analysts are focused on the need to dramatically reduce the number of political parties that compete and end up in the Knesset, in order to reduce the power of small special interest groups. Having read various analytical pieces on the subject over the past week, I have to confess it is not so clear that the Israeli system is as broken as it is commonly perceived to be.

It is not as if democracies with fewer political parties don’t have small special interest groups acting on the political system. One way or another they find a way to exercise their interest and their influence. If the Israeli electorate seems incapable of producing election results that provide a clear and overriding centrist governing coalition, it is mostly because the results reflect the fragmented nature of the Israeli citizenry.

There are two things that are clear from the election results:

  1. A vibrant and dynamic democracy is working its way through the electoral process to a coalition that will bring together enough common and balanced interests to be able to govern; and

  2. The much touted (and feared by some) swing to the right anticipated in this election simply didn’t materialize. The results still show a broad centre, and one largely focused on domestic social and economic issues. Is that so different from what is going on in most of the major democracies in the world today, four years into a global recession? Not really.

If you would like to read more about the election results, the Israeli Consulate General in Toronto has produced a comprehensive round-up of election reviews, analysis and resources that you may find helpful.

Young Leadership Advocacy Training Available
The Young Leadership Israel Advocacy Program is a national training program sponsored by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, and CJPAC that provides participants with the knowledge, skills and political connections to make getting involved in advocacy meaningful, exciting and fun. It enables participants to make a difference in their respective Jewish communities while advancing the pro-Israel agenda.

Throughout the program, participants have the opportunity to meet senior Canadian parliamentarians and government officials in Ottawa, listen to various experts on monthly conference calls, and travel to Israel with Canadian parliamentarians. By the end of the program, participants are equipped to become active players in Canadian politics, and are well prepared to make a difference for themselves, their communities, and their local Federations.

The deadline for the next cohort is rapidly approaching. For more information contact Dana Troster at 604.257.5128 or dtroster@jewishvancouver.com.

Parashat Beshallah
In this week’s parasha the Israelites have begun their journey in the desert, chased by the Egyptian army. Having finally been compelled to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh regrets his decision, and pursues them as they approach the Red Sea. Caught between the shore and the army, the Israelites are panicked and complain bitterly: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt, only to perish in the desert?”

Rabbi Amy Scheinerman of Baltimore reads this parasha and finds herself wondering where the gratitude and hopefulness of the Israelites is. After the miracles God wrought on Egypt to gain their freedom, after the miracles that occured that kept the Egyptian army from reaching the Israelites, and after ultimately bringing the Israelites through a parted sea to safety - even after all that, the Israelites’ response is more complaints about their fate. The Israelites are reacting from fear, which ultimately leads to bitterness and anger.

What is missing is hope. Rabbi Scheinerman writes that hope is what feeds the vision of a better future. With hope, today’s Israelis can look at a gridlocked political system and enormous external threats and still build a thriving nation. With hope, the First Nations in Canada can harness the energy of the Idle No More movement to engage the Canadian government and public in working together towards a better future for their peoples. With hope, we can build an even more vibrant, dynamic, engaged, inclusive and compassionate Jewish community. With fear, anger and bitterness, none of these things is possible.

Shabbat shalom!

 
This is an official email sent to you from the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. Federation respects and upholds an individual’s right to privacy and to protection of his or her personal information. We use personal data for providing up-to-date information on our objectives, services, to process donations.