Shabbat Message - January 29, 2021

This message has 857 words and will take about 4 minutes to read.

This week, we released $416,000 in Community Recovery funds to 21 local organizations as part of the first of three rounds of funding we have planned. This is in addition to the $505,000 in emergency funding we released last spring, just days after the initial shut down.
 
We asked a lot of our donors this year: to support the regular layer of community needs and, if you could, to give an additional gift to support community recovery. We wouldn’t have asked so much if the needs hadn’t been so great, but they were—and still are, as COVID continues to hit us all. So many of you rose to this additional challenge, and you have every reason to be very proud of the work you are making possible. We want to start by saying thank you and todah rabbah to you for your generosity!
 
We would also like to thank the Community Recovery Task Force, chaired by Risa Levine. Risa would be the first to tell you that the deep dive they did to understand the unique needs of every local Jewish organization and the people they serve was only possible because of the dedication and expertise of the task force members: Andrew Altow; Jill Diamond; Michelle Gerber; Hodie Kahn; Candace Kwinter; Risa Levine; Shawn Lewis; David Porte; Justin Segal; and Isaac Thau. We would like to extend our thanks to them for the important work they are undertaking.
 
One aspect of their work that should be celebrated is the inclusive nature of their approach. Nearly all local Jewish organizations receive funding through the Federation Annual Campaign, but some have chosen to fundraise exclusively on their own. The Louis Brier Home and Hospital (LBHH) and the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Vancouver (HFLA) are two of them, and we are particularly proud that we were able to support their great work through the Community Recovery Fund.
 
Our staff and leadership worked together to get these funds into the hands of our partners as quickly as possible. On Monday night, our Board approved the funding recommendations made by the Community Recovery Task Force. At 8:45 the next morning, Alex Cristall, our Board chair, signed the cheques and representatives of the organizations picked them up at staggered times throughout the day so we could maintain COVID protocols. We know how important it is to get these funds working in the community, and to show you that your donations are making a difference.    
 
This is so much more than fundraising. That may be the part that you see on the outside, but the pandemic has challenged us to flex all of our muscles at once. We would not be able to do this without our expertise in community planning and our strength as a convener, bringing more than a dozen diverse groups of stakeholders together to seek collaboration and solutions.
 
There is no other organization that is poised to help in all of these ways. This is the core of the important work of Jewish Federation and of the unique role we play in our community.
 
Watch this video to see some of the ways in which your donations are already making an impact, including a very timely example from HFLA. We want to say special thanks to the JCC for helping us distribute the cheques and film the video in a way that was COVID compliant.
 
More examples of impact are pouring in, and we’re excited to share them with you in the coming days. One that we want to highlight today is from the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), because, yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
 
Thanks to Jewish Federation's Community Recovery Fund, the VHEC’s Holocaust Survivor Speakers are able to continue to engage with students in online seminars, at a time when increasing antisemitism, racism and xenophobia are making Holocaust education more critical than ever. One teacher commented: “Thank you again for bringing a survivor speaker to my students. There is one student in particular I've had a hard time getting through to. He strongly connected with the survivor’s story about settling into Canada after the war. The survivor speaker really gave this young man a sense of hope, and I am so grateful.”
 
We know the importance of remembering the Holocaust every day, and on Thursday we saw a remarkable outpouring of support from across the world—and throughout the Lower Mainland—when buildings were awash in yellow light, symbolizing the flame of the memorial candle. When I stood in Olympic Village and looked at BC Place all lighted in yellow it was very meaningful. It really felt like everyone was standing together with us.
 
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart released a very moving video to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which he talked about how “hatred has flourished in the digital age.” Our advocacy agent, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, is working with Canada’s Department of Canadian Heritage to combat online disinformation and strengthen digital citizenship through a project supported by the Government of Canada. Together, they have created Stop the Transmission!, a website and campaign raising awareness about COVID-19 disinformation and providing extensive tools and resources to confront these challenges and to foster critical thinking. Because, as we know from painful experience, online hate can—and does—lead to real-world violence.
 
Before we sign off for Shabbat, we want to thank you again for the support you are providing to our community, and for choosing to do that through Jewish Federation. The pandemic has affected all of us and our community as a whole. There is a still a long way to go before we get through to the other side, but we are community and we have each other. We’re in this together, and we’ll get through this together. If you haven’t yet made a donation to the Community Recovery Fund and you would like to, you can do so here.

Shabbat Shalom.

Ezra S. Shanken
Chief Executive Officer