Shabbat Message - March 5, 2021
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One of the most effective ways we keep young families engaged in community right now is through our PJ Library program, which is part of an international effort that sends high-quality Jewish children’s books to families every month—for free. Well, nothing’s ever really free. The program is supported by a number of organizations (including ours) and individual donors (including you, through your Annual Campaign gift) whose generosity means the books can be provided as a gift.
The 10th anniversary of our local PJ Library program is coming up this year, and Lissa Weinberger, our manager of Jewish education initiatives, is busy planning a celebration. Save the date of April 18 and get ready to bake birthday cupcakes with Justine Balin, and to dance the afternoon away with Jordan Zwicker.
Hot off the heels of their successful Purim event, which featured Mainstages, a virtual theatre troupe out of NYC, PJ Library has a great lineup this spring, including a Canada-wide PJ Our Way event for kids aged 8-11 years. Click here for more.
One of the biggest influences in a child’s life is their teacher, and for students enrolled in Jewish schools and educational programs their teachers help develop and reinforce their students’ Jewish identity. In a year when so much has been asked of teachers, we were particularly proud to support the bi-annual professional development day for Jewish educators.
Lissa worked closely with Rabbi Stephen Berger, Ellen Wiesenthal and Jesse Claudio, and in consultation with school and program heads they identified inclusion/differentiation as the number one issue that educators wanted to hear about.
Sam Levin, the grade six Humanities teacher at Vancouver Talmud Torah, said the session she attended was “really valuable. It gave me practical, useful tips on how to alter my assessments in a simple way to cater to students in my classroom. It… left me questioning my practice (in a good way).”
The organizing committee intentionally focused the program on general educational issues, rather than specifically on COVID. While a large part of inclusion is related to academic and learning disability issues, Lissa says that part of it is also social-emotional, which in turn is linked now to COVID. After all, what isn’t related to COVID in one way or another these days?
While COVID certainly changed the game in 2020, there were positive disruptions, too. One only has to look at Israel and the new relationships that have evolved between Israel and several Arab states, as a result of the Abraham Accords. One of these is the United Arab Emirates.
Last September, our partner, the Jewish Agency for Israel, announced that it had begun operating in the UAE and providing services to the Jewish community there. We are incredibly fortunate to have two members of our community who serve on the JAFI Board of Governors: Karen James, our immediate past board chair, and Candace Kwinter, vice chair of our board and chair of our Israel and global engagement committee. They both represented our community at the recent JAFI Board of Governors meetings, and we are so proud to have these two astute and committed leaders devoting their time and energy to JAFI’s work and making sure our community plays an active role with the largest Jewish non-profit in the world.
Since JAFI made its announcement, relations have been growing stronger, and there was an opinion piece published in the New York Times that I want to share with you. If my recommendation isn’t tempting enough, the title of the article, written by Thomas L. Friedman, is Jumping Jehoshaphat! Have You Seen How Many Israelis Just Visited the U.A.E.? Quoted in the article is Gidi Grinstein of the Reut Institute, who happens to be one of our past FedTalks speakers. To find out more about what Jewish life is like in the UAE right now, watch this video from JAFI.
I wonder how Jews in the UAE will be celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut this year. Here on the Lower Mainland, our community’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration has built up an incredible reputation over the years and is the biggest community event of the year. You can look forward to some fantastic local talent joining this year’s lineup, in addition to top Israel artists. Kyle Berger and Lu Winters will be hosting, so get ready to have some fun! The only problem is that no one’s told Lu…
Shabbat shalom.
Ezra S. Shanken
Chief Executive Officer