Shabbat Message - November 27, 2020

This message has 914 words and will take about 4 minutes to read.

Food is one of the foundational elements of our community, our families, and our traditions. It is often through the foods we eat, the sharing of meals, and the passing down of recipes that we connect with each other and with our heritage. We often use food to express ourselves and show our love. It’s part of our celebrations and how we mourn. It’s part of our everyday lives and our very identities. Food insecurity, an issue facing a growing number of people in our community, is complex and nuanced. Combatting it requires an equally complex and nuanced approach.
 
On Wednesday night, our partner, Jewish Family Services (JFS), announced the creation of a Jewish community food hub. This is an important milestone that will transform our community’s overall approach to food insecurity, and evolve the role that JFS plays. The hub will be grounded in a holistic approach that is the cornerstone of building a more food-secure community. It has the potential to deeply root Jewish culture, values, and support networks in a Jewish context.
 
Tanja Demajo, CEO of JFS, sees the new hub as “a multi-functional and welcoming place where we will offer learning opportunities through our community garden and life-skills classes in our in-house kitchen, for example.” It is expected to open in the spring.
 
Community members in need will find a range of social services available, with JFS care managers available onsite. Post-COVID, the hub will become a focal point where people can build lasting relationships with each other and with community, while celebrating holidays and finding new ways to innovate. We also hope to see programs like cooking classes, a community kitchen, and perhaps even a farmer’s market that would result in lower-cost food purchases. The hub will also house the Jewish Food Bank.
 
There is a second part to JFS’ announcement, which is equally exciting. Through the support that JFS has generated by working with their donors, and through funding from the Federation Annual Campaign, they have secured enough funds to cover the first year of the hub’s operation. In addition, the Jewish Community Foundation has provided a grant to fund the hub’s renovations.
 
This has been a long time in the making, with the hub being one of the key recommendations of the Food Security Task Force that we led jointly with JFS. The mandate of the task force, helmed by co-chairs Renée Katz and Stan Shaw, was to recommend a community-wide food security strategy, including strategies to ensure dignity and promote healthy choices for people in need, while raising awareness about available and accessible healthy food options. We are very pleased to see the progress that JFS has made, and we are proud to be their partner. 
 
Speaking of exciting news, we learned this morning that Dr. Yosef Wosk, O.B.C., was named an Officer to the Order of Canada. Yosef was recognized for “his far-reaching contributions to his community as a scholar, educator and writer, and for his generous philanthropy.” Yosef’s many contributions to our community over the decades have been life-changing, and we couldn’t be prouder to see him receive this prestigious honour. Kol HaKavod!
 
While we are on the subject of big announcements, earlier this week the Government of Canada also announced the appointment of the Honourable Irwin Cotler, P.C., O.C., O.Q., as the country’s first Special Envoy for Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. A former Justice Minister and a widely-respected human rights lawyer, he will lead the government's delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, working with other member countries and reaching out to Canadians.
 
Irwin Cotler was our first FEDtalks speaker in 2015, and much has changed about how we gather since then. Our Israel and Global Engagement department is finding new ways to keep you connected to our partnership region of the Upper Galilee Panhandle. Last Sunday, they held another installment in the webinar lecture series featuring Tel-Hai College professors. Dr. Irit Sasson’s lecture focused on designing more effective learning environments by incorporating nature and including, as she put it, “the flexibility, dynamism, [and] the ability to adapt the surroundings to a child who wants his personal space.”
 
With large-scale in-person events on pause across the world, it was only natural that International March of the Living made it official that they will not proceed with their annual journey to Poland and Israel in 2021. We look forward to hearing more about the virtual commemorations that they have planned, and their smaller-scale ceremony at Auschwitz. While March of the Living 2021 will look very different, what remains the same is our shared commitment to remembering and honouring our history.
 
Before we sign off for Shabbat, we want to leave you with some happy news. We received a very generous donation from PearTree Canada to fund a matching gift program during the lead-up to Giving Tuesday. PearTree Canada will double your gift to the Annual Campaign and the Community Recovery Fund up to $25,000!
 
We would like to thank PearTree Canada not just for their support, but for inspiring others to give. Whether your gift is big, small or somewhere in between, the simple act of giving means you are a part of something bigger than any one of us. Please consider giving today; every gift will be matched until this Tuesday or until we reach the match limit. It feels good to be part of the work we and our partners are doing. Now, it can feel twice as good and you can make twice the impact.

Shabbat shalom

Ezra S. Shanken
Chief Executive Officer