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July 8, 2005
Downtown gets more Jewish
New group aims to bring Yiddishkeit to those living in the urban
core.
PAT JOHNSON
When the 2001 census results came out, Jewish community planners
were surprised to find about 1,200 Jews living on Vancouver's downtown
peninsula. Never considered the location of a significant Jewish
community, the downtown area has been growing, with entirely new
neighborhoods springing up in Coal Harbor and Yaletown.
Now, if volunteers in the Downtown Jewish Community Project have
their way, downtown will soon have a permanent Jewish space where
local residents and tourists can get a hit of Yiddishkeit without
crossing any bridges.
The Downtown Jewish Community Project has emerged through a coalescing
of different forces, including the National Council of Jewish Women,
the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and a handful of committed
local volunteers. A Passover seder at the Roundhouse Community Centre
and a Shavuot picnic at Second Beach confirmed the organizers' suspicion
that there was a desire for Jewish activities downtown.
The project's co-chairs, Mark Elster and Aida Davis, were impressed
by the turnout at the two events and at another planning meeting
in March. Their own stories mirror those they are hearing from attendees.
"I'm a new downtowner," said Elster, who is on the board
of Temple Sholom and active in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater
Vancouver. He doesn't see the present lack of Jewish services downtown
as a huge impediment, but said more would be a benefit.
"I don't consider Vancouver such a big city that I can't do
the 15-minute ride [to the Jewish services on or near Oak Street],"
said Elster. "If you come from cities like Toronto or New York,
you realize that this is not a big deal. But for the people who
live here – and some of them are not as mobile as I am –
this has become an issue. Just judging by the response to some of
our events, I feel that there is a tremendous need here. As we organize
and offer more programs, more and more people will be coming, there's
no question about that."
Elster and others estimate that the Jewish population has grown
substantially since the 2001 census and now guess there to be about
2,000 Jews downtown.
Though the group is currently organizing holiday events and other
social outlets, their dream is of a permanent location for a Jewish
community facility that could be a place to meet for locals and
a destination for the many Jewish visitors who travel to the city.
"It's our vision to have a location where we can advertise
people to come," said Davis. "We'd also like to be open
to tourists who come downtown. There are many Jews coming as visitors
or for conferences."
Though such a location would require substantial fund-raising and
planning, it is a priority, as organizers believe a physical location
would be a boon to the group's efforts. In the meantime, Daniel
Frankel, a local restaurateur who runs the Pavilion in Stanley Park,
has offered the group the use of his space, a welcome venue in the
interim.
Davis's own involvement with the organized Jewish community began
only after she retired from her demanding job recently. A West End
resident for eight years, Davis acknowledged she had almost no contact
with the Jewish community.
"After I retired, I began to look around and I thought, 'How
do I get involved with the Jewish community?' and I just assumed
that there weren't many Jewish people living in the West End,"
she said. But about that time – last spring – her doctor,
who is Jewish, told her about the plan to create a more active Jewish
presence downtown. Davis called Iris Toledano, a planner for the
Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, who is helping spearhead
the project.
"I thought, I'm not going to get really involved, but I'll
go to their activities," said Davis, now the co-chair of the
committee.
The experience of Jewish camaraderie is one she hopes to expand
to others like herself.
"Since I've been on this committee, not only have I met people,
I feel like there are other Jews around me and I'm not here by myself,"
she said.
She and Elster have kind words for the National Council of Jewish
Women and the Federation, which have aided them in getting the Downtown
Jewish Community Project off the ground.
Elster credits Toledano with keeping the organizing group together
and focused.
"As you know, if there's more than one Jew, there's more than
one opinion," said Elster. "With Iris's help and patience,
we've been able to come this far."
But Davis emphasizes that the project is very much locally run.
"It's a very grassroots project," she said. "I like
the self-determination. We identify the need and we come up with
programs to meet the needs. It's not someone laying it on us. It
gives a feeling of ownership to the endeavor."
As the federation's point person to the downtown community, Toledano
said her agency took on this task because it exemplifies Federation's
mandate.
"Their mandate is to make sure that Jews, wherever they are,
have a place they can call home, and to take up projects for strengthening
Jewish identities, not letting people drift away because there's
not a response to their needs," she said.
Downtown is the second- fastest-growing Jewish community, after
Richmond, in the Lower Mainland, Toledano said. But there is also
a symbolic meaning to the project.
"Downtown is, after all, the heart of Vancouver, the centre
of Vancouver," she said. It was also the home of one of Vancouver's
most famous and influential Jews, David Oppenheimer, who was a four-time
mayor of the city in the late 19th century.
To get involved in the Downtown Jewish Community Project, contact
Toledano at 604-257-5100 or [email protected].
Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.
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