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By the time you receive this Shabbat message I will have arrived in Montreal, where I am attending the Jewish Federations of Canada Board of Governors meeting, with representatives from our Vancouver community. We will join other professional and volunteer leaders from across Canada to review the critical issues and activities that engage us collectively on a day-to-day basis - from advocating for the public policy interests of our community through the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, to improving the lives of Jews in Israel and around the world, in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel. We will even be treated to a Dvar Torah from Jonathan Berkowitz, a past president of Jewish Federation, which we will share with you in next week’s message.

This past week was a productive one for us as we continued our final push on what has been a rewarding 2014 Federation Annual Campaign and held the first meeting of our Community Assets Initiative. This initiative will explore how we can optimize space usage and establish a long-term, strategic vision for our community capital assets. Many in our community also had the honour of attending a reception hosted by UBC’s new President Arvind Gupta and Bill Levine, former chair of UBC Board of Governors, to meet members of the Jewish community. This is yet another example of how we continue to build relationships and reinforce bridges to the broader community.

High School Exchange Visit
We also continue to focus on building sustained relationships with Israel through Jewish Federation’s Partnership2Gether program. The recently concluded exchange visit between King David High School and their Israeli sister school, Har Vagai, was a tremendous success. The visiting group of 24 students and 2 teachers was the largest delegation to visit a North American school. In a thank you letter to those involved in coordinating the visit, the visiting teachers acknowledged the importance of the program in strengthening Jewish and Israeli identity, both here and overseas.

High School Debates
The High School Debates will be taking place next Thursday, December 11, at 6:00 p.m. at King David High School. Jewish Federation’s sponsorship of this event is one of the ways we work at creating identity for our teens, who represent our emerging leaders. Students research, analyze and share their perspectives on many of the issues affecting both Israel and the North American Jewish community and this helps them to understand the complexity of the world they will enter when they graduate. You are invited to hear nearly 100 teenagers from King David, Pacific Torah Institute, Shalhavet and Torah High shine and demonstrate their knowledge at this event.

Federation Annual Campaign
The Federation Annual Campaign is your opportunity to ensure that our youth benefit from programs, like the High School Debates, which stimulate their intellectual development while reinforcing their Jewish identity and strengthening their ties to Israel. Support our high schools, youth and future leaders by making a gift to this year’s campaign.

Parshat Vayislach

We continue to share reflections on the week’s parsha by young professionals from across North America. This week's Shabbat Message was written by Jewish Federations of North America National Young Leadership Co-chair Designate Beth Liss from Kansas City.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver