Shabbat Message - April 16, 2021

This message has 814 words and will take a little more than 4 minutes to read.

Israel and our community are connected by profoundly personal bonds. Many local community members have put their lives on the line, or their children have, and there are community members who have survived terror attacks. The memorial service organized this past week by the Yom HaZikaron committee, chaired by Geoffrey Druker, was very moving and an estimated 1,000 people joined us online. We want to commend the volunteers and staff for this touching event. If you missed the ceremony, click here to watch it. We have created a Yizkor site for our community's fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks. You are invited to read stories, add your family members or friends, and light a candle in their memory.
 
The next night, we celebrated 73 years of Israel’s independence at the biggest online community event of the year. We were thrilled to present local and Israeli artists, as well as a special tribute to our dear colleague, Shelley Goldberg z”l. We couldn’t let this Yom Ha’atzmaut go by without her favourite song, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. If you missed the celebration, or you’d like to relive the fun, watch it here.
 
Many thanks to the Yom Ha’atzmaut committee, led by chair, Pamela Wolfman, and all the volunteers who made this a night to remember. A special yashar koach to our Israel and Global Engagement team: If’at Eilon-Heiber, Dafna Silberstein and Aluma Zweifler Reicher.
 
We’re proud to present this event each year, but we can’t do it alone. Joining us are the Jewish Independent, our media sponsor; more than 50 community partner organizations; and of course the organizations and businesses that purchase space in our program guide, which you can view here. 
 
Pre-COVID, there would have been tens of thousands of teens from around the world celebrating Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut in Israel as part of their March of the Living experience. If you haven’t been to Israel over the Yoms, consider planning to be there one year for an unforgettably inspiring set of experiences.
 
If it’s inspiration you’re looking for, you’ll find plenty of it right here at home, as well.
 
Two local community members recently received incredible honours, starting with Joe Segal, who received the 2021 Rix Award for Engaged Community Citizenship at this year’s virtual Greater Vancouver Board of Trade Governor’s Banquet. There is hardly an organization in our community that has not been a recipient of Joe and Rosalie Segal’s generosity, and their commitment to philanthropy can been seen throughout the broader community, too.
 
The Vancouver Board of Trade summed it up beautifully: “In a complex world, Joe Segal's life offers a clear example for leaders today and the leaders of tomorrow. Simply put, a life well-lived will be most marked by the ways in which we give back to our community and contribute collectively towards a brighter future.” You can read about Joe’s extraordinary journey from growing up in Vegreville, Alberta to serving in WWII to receiving both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia here. Mazel tov, Joe! We are so proud to see you honoured this way.
 
One of the great things about being a Jewish communal professional is that we get to work with some amazing colleagues. Shelley Rivkin, our vice president, global and local engagement, is one of them, and we were excited to see her honoured by Shalhevet Girls High School as a Guardian of the Flame. Shelley is always one to take things to the next level, so it was impressive, but hardly surprising, that she responded by setting up an endowment fund at the Jewish Community Foundation to support the school..
 
“I established this endowment fund," said Shelley, in an interview with the Jewish Independent, "because I believe strongly that young Jewish women should have full access to quality general studies and Judaics education. As an Orthodox woman myself, I am committed to ensuring that young Orthodox women living in Vancouver have the best educational opportunities available.” If you’d like to contribute to the Shalhevet Girls High School Fund, please call us at 604.257.5169.
 
As part of the virtual gala, we invited some of our volunteer leaders to talk about their experiences working with Shelley. Click here to see the video to which Jill Diamond, Stephen Gaerber, Hodie Kahn, Risa Levine, Nico Slobinsky, Alvin Wasserman, and I contributed. You can read the Jewish Independent’s full interview with Shelley here.
 
Part of Shelley’s work is community planning, and central to that is the demographic information that we receive from Statistics Canada’s long-form census every 10 years. It helps us understand how our community is changing and where will need to focus our work in order to invest strategically in the right areas. In order for Stats Can to be able to supply this information to us, community members need to identify themselves as Jewish when they complete the census. It doesn’t matter how you define Jewish, as long as that’s how you see yourself. Our advocacy agent, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is working with Stats Can on this, and you can expect to see more from us as we gear up for the census in May.
 
One last opportunity for inspiration: Jewish university students and a recent grads, aged 20-24, now have an awesome opportunity to take part in the Jewish Changemaker online leadership program from Jewish Federations of North America. Sign up here to be notified when registration opens, and share the link with the young adults in your life.

Shabbat shalom.

Ezra S. Shanken
Chief Executive Officer