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This week we read parsha Va’eira, a turning point in our people’s history, when together with G-d we begin to be defined as a community, a family. It is in Va’eira that the Israelites cry out, and G-d hears their cries and remembers the covenant. We are reminded that that we are responsible to one another and to G-d; and that G-d is responsible to us. These are the themes that resonated for me throughout the week across the scope of our Federation’s work, including one particular encounter at a siyum this week.

Following up on our close work with law enforcement last week, we were privileged to meet with members of the Vancouver Police Department yesterday. It was an opportunity to thank them and recognize their consistently proactive and supportive work – and that of their local RCMP colleagues - to ensure that the security needs of our community continue to be met. We are fortunate to have an excellent working relationship with local law enforcement, and when we cry out, we can count on them to respond.

This week brought the tremendous honour of meeting Gregory Voyler, one of the last surviving Russian Jewish WWII veterans in Vancouver. He shared his story as we discussed plans for a May 9, 2015 commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Russian and Allied victory in Europe. Gregory and other WWII soldiers like him answered the cries against Nazism and changed the course of modern history.

We also met with Yossi Havusha and his team at Yossi Links about their plans to launch a full service website that promotes community connections. Of particular significance is their plan for a “New to Vancouver” section that helps fill an important gap for many. We often hear that it is difficult to be new to this city, and the more we do to help ease the way into community for newcomers, ultimately benefits us all. When new community members cry out for connections, we must answer them by building new pathways into community life.

Finally, one of the most poignant encounters of the week came when I attended a siyum (the celebration to mark the conclusion of the study of a portion of Talmud or Mishnah) at Rabbi Acoca’s home. There I met a man whose close family member was one of the hostages in the kosher supermarket in Paris last week. Since last Friday we have all felt like the French Jewish community is our extended family. Meeting this man, one of our own community members, and learning of his personal connections, reminded me how close a family we really are. We have all heard - and continue to hear - the cries of our family in France. Our partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) is one of the ways in which we answer them.

Over the past two years the number of French Jews who made aliyah doubled, and then doubled again. JAFI describes it as “a phenomenon that is changing the face of Jewish life in Europe and Israel. It reflects the opportunity that Israel represents and the complexity of Jewish life in the European diaspora. Sometimes, we make the error of thinking that the historic shifts in Jewish life took place between the Holocaust and the Six Day War—or perhaps the fall of the Iron Curtain. But dramatic changes continue to reshape the destiny of the Jewish People….”

Below is a summary from Jewish Federations of North America that outlines JAFI’s current efforts in this area and where they will be focused in the coming months.

• Jewish Agency staff are working with the SPCJ, the French Jewish community’s security agency, to assess the expanded security needs for the hundreds of Jewish sites throughout France. The professional team with direct responsibility for security operations includes The Jewish Agency, the Government of Israel and Jewish Federations of Canada - UIA.
• The Jewish community of France is in need of a holistic response plan that addresses both those who wish to make aliyah and the majority in France in need of additional security.
• Expanded aliyah and absorption services are needed for members of the French Jewish community who choose to make aliyah. France is home to approximately 500,000 Jews, making it the third largest Jewish community in the world. In 2014, 7,000 French Jews made aliyah—a 100 percent increase from the previous year. Prior to last week the estimate of olim for 2015 was 10,000. Predictions are now running as high as 15,000. Aliyah efforts in general are part of the core budget of The Jewish Agency, a large percentage of which comes from our Federations’ Annual Campaigns.

Jewish Federation and JAFI are leading the way when it comes to supporting the French Jewish community by assisting with aliyah, and providing for the physical security of Jewish communities across France.

We are truly privileged to be the ones able to answer the cries of those who need us, rather than to be the ones crying out. And so we must ask ourselves, when we hear the cries of those who need us, how will we answer?

For many community members our Annual Campaign is part of how they have chosen to answer. The campaign is drawing to a close, but there is still time to answer the call, to make your gift, and to be a part of our community’s collective efforts to honour our responsibilities to one another.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver