May 15, 2015 | 26 Iyar 5775 | Shabbat Candlelighting at 8:30 p.m.
 

This message has 850 words and will take about 5 to 6 minutes to read.

We live in a society that often believes young people might not be ready to lead our community, but that’s not how we see it. From young professionals to university students to teens and children in our day schools, young people are defying expectations and either already taking leadership roles or starting their journeys.

Just last week we graduated our second cohort of Axis Leadership Lab participants. We now have over 40 Leadership Lab alumni ready to engage in community as leaders and active volunteers. And just this week we welcomed Bram Glottman to represent young adults in a newly created position on the campaign working cabinet. We’ve said it before: these young professionals are not waiting for an opportunity to get involved; they’ve already seized it.

Over lunch, Jordana Shani, managing director of UBC Hillel, and I had a spirited conversation this week that left me inspired by the incredible work our colleagues there are doing to develop young Jewish leaders, including the successful defeat of the BDS initiative on campus. Hillel staff are creating a non-threatening environment for students who, in turn, are creating their own personalized Jewish journeys that will carry them through the rest of their lives.

KDHS10yearsAs we continue plotting the journey into our future, we have to take into account the great importance of not just having Jewish children in schools but of having Jewish schools. Can you believe King David High School is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year? Their hard work developing a competitive curriculum has attracted so many students that they are bursting at the seams. That’s exactly the kind “problem” that we look for in a Jewish community. When so many are loosening their ties to Jewish life, our community is celebrating 10 years of a counter narrative in King David’s success. That’s what defying expectations is about.

Something must have been in the air 10 years ago, because Ma’ase is also celebrating a decade of service. This program is doing the impossible. They’re addressing social gaps in Israeli society by engaging at-risk youth in a year of volunteer service after high school. When they started people wrote it off as a losing endeavour, and yet here they are making impact on individual and societal levels. If that’s not defying the odds, I don’t know what is.

We’re helping teens and at-risk youth here at home, too, through a partnership with the JCC and Jewish Family Service Agency that supports a youth outreach worker and related programing. Chill Chat is a youth-driven program where teens can get support and guidance, and The Call Out is an online space for youth to learn about community events and get connected to programs, resources, and services. When we connect teens during these critical years when they form their identities, we lay a foundation for future community involvement.

But it begins well before the teen years. Meeting with the kids involved in VTT’s Mitzvah of Valuing Philanthropy (MVP) program a few days ago, we discussed the challenges of raising and allocating funds, and how they have joined us older folks on an ongoing journey of community leadership. You hear a lot about kids having a sense of entitlement these days, but that’s not at all what I’ve seen. Not from these kids, and not from any of the young people who are stepping up. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite. Every single one of them has demonstrated a selfless sense of caring and a genuine desire to affect positive change. Defying expectations, indeed.

Where does this come from? I think it comes from a sense of who we are that is rooted in our history. Those of you who attended the rededication of the Jewish cemetery at Mountain View earlier this month saw firsthand how this project connects us with the people who built this community. They came here from half way around the world, so determined to be a part of a Jewish community that they literally built one from scratch. Talk about defying expectations. It’s what our community was built on. Our Jewish Federation and our Jewish Community Foundation are proud to support this project, and we offer a huge kol hakavod to Shirley Barnett and her team for connecting us to our rich history.

This community is all about defying expectations, from our earliest leaders to our latest. What we at Jewish Federation recognize is that it takes an entire community’s support. Without that we don’t even meet expectations, let alone defy them. For many of us that’s unacceptable. And that’s why Jewish Federation exists, to bring us together to close that gap.

Shabbat Shalom!

Special Notice to Parents from CIJA:

The Government of Canada is increasing the UCCB and extending it to families with children aged 6 through 17. It will be available to every Canadian family with children. If you have children under 18, you qualify. Period. Families who already receive or have previously received the UCCB would automatically receive the new benefit amounts. If you do not already receive the UCCB, you must apply by today, May 15th. Apply here.

Ezra S. Shanken
CEO, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

 
Spark a Mitzvah
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, and to process donations.
Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver | Suite 200, 950 West 41st Avenue, Vancouver, BC