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June 17, 2005
Bright light in the community
Erlichman honored for dedication to Orthodox education in Vancouver.
DANA BOOKMAN
Vancouver Hebrew Academy (VHA) is lucky to have Ruth Erlichman.
The city's Jewish community credits her as the driving force behind
reviving the Jewish day school when most thought all had been lost.
It was only seven years ago that VHA was on the verge of collapse.
It was losing the space it had rented for years and it was lacking
the student numbers and money to continue. Erlichman had a son enrolled
in Hebrew Academy at the time, and she says she knew the school
would close unless a certain amount of money was raised.
"We were losing our school," she said, "and we needed
to step up and do something about it."
Erlichman, who works in real estate, led a grassroots effort to
save the school. She and her colleagues worked tenaciously, driven
by the belief that an elementary school in the Orthodox tradition
is absolutely crucial to the survival of the community.
"A few of us felt that we had to have an elementary Orthodox
education here in Vancouver, so we tried to do whatever we could
and spoke to some of our donors, people in the community who gave
us [the] courage to pursue it," said Erlichman.
With their efforts, she and her group were able to develop a budget,
rent a new school space, hire a principal and keep the school financially
afloat for several years.
"Whatever effort we put in we get out of it," said Erlichman.
"It's our community, our children. We have to be involved in
it."Erlichman comes from another small, but thriving, Jewish
community. She was born Ruth Kate Mattuck in Kobe, Japan, to parents
of Sephardi origin. In 1975, Ruth left Japan for Vancouver, to attend
Simon Fraser University. She received a degree in linguistics, French
and Spanish. She met Syd Erlichman during Shabbat services at Schara
Tzedeck synagogue. The two became inseparable and were soon engaged.
Shortly after they were married in 1978, they welcomed into the
family their first son, Yaakov. Rachael, David, Ari and Yoni followed
him in succession.
Erlichman hopes her children are inspired by her work in the Jewish
community.
"I hope they would appreciate the education they're getting,
because it wasn't easy," she said, "and I believe they're
more sensitive to understanding that things aren't simple, but with
faith and determination, nothing is impossible."
It's that tenacious attitude, along with her strength of character
and her vision, that have led Erlichman to be honored by the community.
In a gala event on June 27, Erlichman will be presented with the
first-ever Ner Tamid award. The name literally translates as, "a
constant light." It's meant to represent the fire that burns
within every Jew. For Vancouver's Jewish community in particular,
Ner Tamid symbolizes the constancy with which Erlichman pursued
her task of laying the foundation for Orthodox Jewish education
in Vancouver, never faltering and always shining bright.
Hebrew Academy is not the only community project in which Erlichman
has been involved. She was a board member of the Jewish Community
Centre for five years, serving until 2001. She has also volunteered
in many other Jewish institutions in the city, including N'shei
Chabad, the Louis Brier Home and Hospital and the JCC Seniors program.
Although Erlichman achieved her goal of a vibrant and vital Orthodox
school - one that is open to the entire community, while maintaining
its unique traditions and character - her vision and ambition still
burn. With one son in Grade 11 at the Pacific Torah Institute, Erlichman
has naturally turned her attention to strengthening Vancouver's
Orthodox education system all the way up to Grade 12. And she still
hopes to find a permanent home for Vancouver Hebrew Academy.
"We have our lease for another four years," she noted,
"but we would like to have our own home someday."
In the end, Erlichman says she feels privileged to be involved
with what she calls a miracle. "I go to the school now,"
she said, "and it's an overwhelming feeling to see the kids
playing out there and to see that I had some involvement in it and
that it'll be there forever."
The gala evening honoring Erlichman will be held Monday, June 27,
at 6:30 p.m., in Schara Tzedeck synagogue's youth auditorium.
Dana Bookman is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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