Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University honouree Martin Thibodeau, B.C. president of RBC Royal Bank, speaks at the June 9 gala. (photo from CABGU)
Less than six decades ago, the city of Beersheva, in Israel, had more camels than people. Now, it is home to one of the world’s most innovative post-secondary institutions – Ben-Gurion University – and 400 British Columbians packed a Vancouver ballroom June 9 to help launch the university’s new School of Sustainability and Climate Change.
The Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University (CABGU) event at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel honoured Martin Thibodeau, B.C. president of RBC Royal Bank, and featured Prof. Daniel A. Chamovitz, president of Ben-Gurion University (BGU), in conversation with event emcee Robin Gill.
Since taking the helm of RBC in the province, in 2018, Thibodeau has continued an involvement in Jewish community affairs that began earlier in his career, in Winnipeg and later in Montreal. He credits his mother with instilling in him a respect for multiculturalism and a connection with the Jewish experience.
In 2018, RBC Royal Bank created a cybersecurity partnership with BGU, investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to develop advanced cyber-security techniques. Two years later, RBC British Columbia sponsored the first two research fellowships at the new School for Sustainability and Climate Change and, later this year, Thibodeau will lead a summit to Israel, bringing a group of Canadian business leaders to BGU. He is engaged with a host of community organizations, including the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, United Way of the Lower Mainland, B.C. Children’s Hospital, Science World and others. He is also co-chair of RBC’s Diversity Leadership Council.
“I’m always amazed at the dynamic and progressive work that continues to be produced by the scholars and the teams at Ben-Gurion University,” Thibodeau said at the June event. “The world owes a great deal of debt to the outstanding advancements that have already contributed to how we live and work as a society. I am excited to see what the future holds in the hands of these amazing and brilliant individuals.”
Thibodeau, who oversees 7,000 employees in the province, was introduced by Lorne Segal who, with his wife Melita, co-chaired the event. Segal gave an emotional testimonial to his late father, Joseph Segal, who passed away 10 days earlier, at age 97. Segal said his father had not attended many events in the past several years but had been looking forward to being present to honour Thibodeau.
In his presentation, Thibodeau thanked the Segals for their support, and for their presence in a time of mourning. Thibodeau paid credit to Joe Segal, who called him soon after he arrived on the West Coast, invited him for lunch and offered advice and an open ear.
In recorded greetings, Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Ronen Hoffman, called Thibodeau “far more than just a businessman. He is a leader, innovator and community-oriented friend of the Jewish people, of Israel.”
Chamovitz, the university’s president, noted that David Ben-Gurion’s dream of a university “at the gates of the Negev Desert” was intended to uncover secrets: “How to make energy from the sun, water from the air and agriculture from the infertile sands, taking advantage of resources that, until now, were going to waste.”
The changing climate has made innovations such as solar energy, desalinization and agriculture in inhospitable places answers to urgent questions that affect lands far beyond the Negev.
“We all of a sudden realized that what we thought was a local problem is now a global imperative and people from all over the world started coming to Beersheva to learn from our expertise,” said Chamovitz, who grew up in Pennsylvania and has been president of the university since 2019. The Abraham Accords have opened new doors to cooperation between BGU and Gulf States that need these technologies, he added.
The School of Sustainability and Climate Change was announced last year and, so far, 25 departments are collaborating on planetary life-and-death topics. (See previous articles at jewishindependent.ca.)
“My simple challenge was to get them to collaborate in order to really leverage our expertise into something that’s much greater than the sum of each of those departments,” said Chamovitz. Even the department of Hebrew literature is involved.
“Hebrew literature did a big seminar on climate fiction, understanding how climate change is influencing what people write about and how this literature is influencing public opinion about climate change,” he said.
While BGU was created with the development of the Negev Desert in mind, the work they are doing is global, with impacts reaching British Columbia, said Chamovitz.
“You cannot look at British Columbia divorced from the world,” he said. Flooding and heat domes are processes that are happening worldwide. Mitigation and prevention must take place both locally and globally, he said.
Chamovitz credited the leadership of Thibodeau and RBC for making it easier for BGU to go to other major donors to fund the new school.
Another new development at the university, he said, is a high-tech park dedicated to advanced research in cybertech, agricultural technologies and green energy.
CABGU B.C.-Alberta board member Eli Joseph chaired the event and board member Rachelle Delaney was the convener. Si Brown, president of CABGU B.C.-Alberta, opened the event. The corporate sponsorship committee was chaired by board member Adam Korbin, and David Berson is CABGU regional executive director.
Terry Beech, member of Parliament for Burnaby North-Seymour, brought greetings from the federal government. Representing the government of British Columbia, Minister of Finance Selena Robinson spoke of her family’s connections to Israel.
Joseph and Rosalie Segal (seated) and family at the 2016 Summer Garden Party fundraiser for Vancouver Hebrew Academy. (photo by Jocelyne Hallé)
Joseph Segal, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who was recognized by the governments of British Columbia and Canada with the highest civilian honours, a Second World War veteran who helped liberate the Netherlands, a businessman who founded and led iconic companies and a community-builder whose imprint on the Jewish and general communities in Vancouver is indelible, passed away May 31. He was 97 years old and was actively engaged in philanthropy to his final hours.
Segal was born in 1925, in Vegreville, Alta. After the death of his father, when Joe was 14, the family experienced financial hardship and young Joe Segal experienced hard labour while building the Alaska Highway. He fought in the infantry in the Second World War where, with his compatriots in the Calgary Highlanders, he participated in the liberation of the Netherlands.
After the war, he arrived in Vancouver and, with $1,500 in savings, started selling war surplus goods, then founded Fields department stores. Eventually, his business took over the Zellers store chain – which Segal described as “a case of the mouse swallowing the elephant” – and, later, obtained a large share of the venerable Hudson’s Bay Company before he launched Kingswood Capital Corp., which has interests in real estate, manufacturing and finance.
In recent years, while lauded for his business acumen, Segal was most prominent as one of Canada’s leading philanthropists. For his work in both fields, he was a recipient of both an Order of Canada and an Order of British Columbia.
In addition to leaving his mark on a vast number of institutions and causes in the Jewish community, he was a strong supporter of charities such as Variety Club, the United Way, Vancouver General Hospital and B.C. Children’s Hospital.
Among his community roles was serving on the board, and as chancellor, of Simon Fraser University. Perhaps his most visible contribution in Vancouver was his donation to SFU of the historic Bank of Montreal building at 750 Hastings St., creating a home for the Segal Graduate School of Business.
In 2010, Joseph and his wife Rosalie donated $12 million to the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundations to create the Joseph and Rosalie Segal and Family Centre, a 100-private-room acute care centre serving the mental health needs of people in crisis.
Joseph and Rosalie Segal modeled philanthropy for the successive generation of their family, including children Sandra, Tracey, Gary and Lorne, their spouses and, now, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
At Joe Segal’s funeral on June 1, Gary Segal reflected on his parents’ 74 years of marriage, calling it “a love story for the ages.”
“My father worshipped my mother, he relied on her support and wisdom and insights,” he said. “They were true partners in everything they did and accomplished in life.”
Gary Segal called his father “a natural-born philosopher, a generous man, caring. He would never forget anything or anybody. He was passionate about life. He had many dreams – his own and those that inspired others. He had the ability to talk to people and make everybody, no matter what stage in life, feel important, like they mattered, that somebody cared about them.”
Although he knew the impact that his father had had on the world and the people in it, “to see these genuine expressions of sorrow and appreciation for the person my father was has been truly extraordinary for me and for my family.”
He shared three core tenets of his father’s philosophy:
• Don’t worry about what you can’t control, worry about what you can.
• You need to commit to life and you need to commit to happiness.
• Money is only worth something if you do something good with it.
Gary Segal quoted actor John Barrymore, who said, “You’re never old until regrets take the place of dreams.” In that respect, said Segal, although his dad lived to 97, “My father was not old. He never aged. Right up to the last minute, he was young. He was always young at heart, in spirit, and right up to the end, he had his dreams.”
Longtime friend and book collaborator Peter Legge reflected on a half-century of friendship after the pair met when Legge was an adman at radio station CJOR.
“Joe was a man who shared all he could with those who needed help,” said Legge. “Never to lift himself up, but to lift up those who needed help.”
Rabbi Yitzchok Wineberg noted that some people are saying the passing of Joe Segal is the end of an era.
“I beg to differ,” said the city’s longest-serving rabbi and Chabad emissary. “Joe didn’t live his life for himself or for himself and Rose. He lived his life for his children, for his grandchildren, for his great-grandchildren. They were there to observe everything he did and be inspired by it…. This family will continue his legacy. It’s not the end of an era, it’s a milestone. It’s a date that we all know we are going to have to face one day and, especially at such a funeral, we think about our own mortality. But it’s not just what you’ve accomplished in your lifetime. It’s what’s going to be accomplished after you leave this world. For that reason, I feel it’s not the end of an era. It’s just a continuation, and God should help that we should celebrate many happy occasions together in the future and we should be there for one another just as Joe was there for everybody else.”
Rob Schonfeld, a grandson, said that it may sound strange to be shocked that a 97-year-old man has passed away.
“But Grandpa Joe was so larger-than-life and still 100% on his game,” he said. “None of us really internalized that this day was going to come.”
Of Segal’s 11 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren, Schonfeld said: “We all had really unique and different relationships with him. None of them was the same and it’s because he always treated us as individuals. He respected us as grown-ups – even when we were little kids. I think that allowed each of us to bond with him in really different ways.”
Schonfeld shared one of his favourite “Joe-isms” – “You can’t ride two horses with one ass” – and said Segal’s secret weapon was “reading everything in sight.”
Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt of Congregation Schara Tzedeck compared Segal with the biblical Joseph. The moment before the Exodus, the rabbi observed, Moses was looking for the bones of Joseph to carry with the Israelites to the Promised Land.
“He’s fulfilling a promise, granted, but it’s more than that,” said Rosenblatt. “Moses needs a symbol of what it means to succeed materially in this world and to succeed with others. Joseph is that symbol. He is a symbol of somebody who can have material success and can have spiritual success as well. There are two chests that walk with the Jews through the desert. One holds the tablets that Moses brings down from Sinai and the other one carries Joseph. Our Joseph is a little like that, too. He is a lesson, a paragon, a role model, an icon. Just like the biblical Joseph, his personality, his legend, survives even him. Joe Segal will continue to be that for so many in our community.”
The rabbi remarked that he was professionally forbidden from sharing the many stories of individuals who Joseph Segal helped when called on to assist an individual or family in crisis.
Rosenblatt added that Segal specifically asked for donations in his memory to be given to Yaffa House and to the Jewish Food Bank.
The Independent spoke with some of the people who worked with and knew Segal in different capacities.
David Levi served with Segal on the board of the Phyliss and Irving Snider Foundation and is on the board of governors for Camp Miriam, one of the causes Segal championed.
“Over the years, he’s given [Camp] Miriam quite a large amount of money and he was always very supportive of giving money to the camp and the kids. It was a central focus of his,” Levi said, noting that Camp Hatikvah was another cause Segal admired.
“Joe’s view, I think, on camp in general is that it built a connection to Judaism for kids at a young age and he saw camps making that connection to the Jewish community and to Israel. Those were important things for him,” Levi said.
“The thing about Joe was his complete commitment to the community – to the Jewish community and to the larger community.” But Levi stressed that large gifts to major organizations were not the only way the legendary philanthropist operated. Echoing Rabbi Rosenblatt, Levi referred to “Joe’s secret life.”
“He would get calls not only from individuals but from rabbis and other leaders in the community on a very personal level for people who needed a hand up or needed some financial means for a brief period of time,” Levi said. “It was smaller amounts of money, but, in his mind, as important as the organizations that he worked with. People would call and say we have this family and they are really having a tough time and they need an injection of $1,000 or $500 and Joe would quietly do that. He never really talked about it. He certainly never talked about the individuals he supported. But he was always available for those kinds of emergency calls.
“He believed in hard work but he also believed that people who had difficulty in achieving the kinds of things that he would hope everybody would be able to achieve, people who are challenged by mental or physical disabilities, he would help in any way he could,” Levi said.
Bernie Simpson, who is also on the board of Camp Miriam, echoed Levi’s reflections of Segal’s support for Jewish camping.
“For over 50 years, Joe was a strong supporter of Camp Miriam,” said Simpson. “He joined the late [B.C. Supreme Court] Justice Angelo Branca, who was the chair of the finance committee of Miriam in rebuilding the camp in 1970. Fifteen years ago, Joe was responsible for the building of the camp infirmary through the Snider Foundation, honouring Joe and Rosalie Segal’s close friends Mike and Rita Wolochow.… Joe’s support of the camp policy that every child should have a Jewish camping experience, regardless of their financial means, goes back to when he was a youth himself from very humble beginnings. Several years ago, he praised the camp and its leadership for their devotion to the youth whose attendance at camp was possible through the campership fund. He will be sorely missed.”
Simpson said Segal was in frequent contact with his wife, Lee Simpson, when she was president of the board of the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation, to catch up on developments at the Jewish home and hospital.
“I understand, from other organizations, he would constantly keep in touch with what was going on in the community,” said Simpson. “He looked at the big picture.”
In a message to the Independent, Vancouver Hebrew Academy (VHA) said, “Mr. Segal took his responsibility to the Jewish community very seriously and he showed it in many ways. Of course, he was a strong financial supporter of Vancouver Hebrew Academy, as he was for many of our institutions, but his advocacy went further than that. He believed strongly in Torah education and what it means to the future of the Jewish people. In the summer of 2016, Joe and Rosalie were the honourees at VHA’s Summer Garden Party. There, Joe spoke passionately and emotionally of the importance of our mission.”
Rabbi Don Pacht, VHA’s former head of school, remembers fondly the conversations with Joe Segal about the school, the community and his admiration for those who chose to dedicate themselves to building community.
“I often came away from our visits encouraged in the work we were doing,” said Pacht. “Mr. Segal always had words of wisdom to offer … and sometimes a bottle of scotch too!”
Michael Sachs, executive director of Jewish National Fund of Canada, Vancouver branch, reflected on a long relationship.
“He was a titan in the business world and a leading philanthropist to all communities, but most of all he was a family man through and through,” said Sachs. “I have many fond personal memories with Joe from my childhood up until a few weeks ago. He touched everyone in our community and I count myself amongst one of those touched.”
Segal’s legacy was celebrated and remembered outside of the Jewish community, including by many organizations that Segal, wife Rosalie and the family had collectively supported.
“Joe was an enthusiastic champion of the university,” Simon Fraser University said in marking Segal’s passing. “His advice, energy and wisdom supported eight presidents and his business savvy and connections helped SFU to thrive. His commitment to community-building and philanthropy was recognized in 1988 with a doctor of law, honoris causa, from SFU and in 1992 with the President’s Distinguished Community Leadership Award, honouring his innovation, optimism and strong sense of public service to SFU’s community.”
The VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation issued a statement honouring Segal.
“A pledge of $12 million in 2011 to initiate planning of a new purpose-built mental health facility was the largest individual donation to this cause in B.C. at the time. This commitment initiated a $28 million fundraising campaign and the construction of an $85 million purpose-built mental health facility which stands as his legacy: the Joseph & Rosalie Segal & Family Health Centre.”
It continued: “Joe never retired, and his mind and memory were sharper at 97 than many people years his junior. Until very recently, he remained active in business, working from home as was required throughout the pandemic. Similarly, he continued to support the causes he cared about, offering sage advice, wisdom and guidance. He continued to support VGH and UBC Hospital’s most innovative clinician-researchers and surgeons, kicking off a campaign in support of the Vancouver Stroke Program and seed-funding research for innovative medical talents, as well serving as the honourary chair of the Brain Breakthroughs Campaign.”
After performing “My Way” in its original format, Paul Anka sings a custom rendition of the song to Joseph and Rosalie Segal at a 2013 gala spearheaded by Lorne Segal, which celebrated Joe Segal’s life and achievements, and raised $2.3 million for Coast Mental Health. (photo from Lorne Segal)
Coast Mental Health declared Segal “B.C.’s most significant supporter of mental health services.” His devotion to the cause began in 1999, when he first attended the Courage to Come Back Awards, where he heard people share personal stories of living with mental health and emotional challenges. His devotion to the cause was born out of a belief that no one is immune from the detrimental effects that mental illness can have if not properly treated.
Lorne Segal has chaired the Courage to Come Back Awards for the past 17 years, and the family as a whole has championed the cause.
Shirley Broadfoot, the founding chair of Courage to Come Back, recalled meeting Joe Segal for the first time.
“He was inspired by the power of the evening but said, ‘You really don’t know how to fundraise.’ It was true. We didn’t. So his son, Lorne, took on the role of chair for Courage and all that changed. Through Lorne’s leadership, Courage has risen to be the largest event in Vancouver. We could never have imagined that the awards would flourish and go on to give hope to people for 24 years, including through a global pandemic, while raising over $22 million and honouring 139 heroic British Columbians,” she said.
Coast Mental Health chief executive officer Darrell Burnham added: “Joe Segal was an incredible leader who gave so much to the community of Vancouver. I met Joe in the ’90s, and I was so pleased when he chose mental health as one of his philanthropic causes. Joe knew everyone in the city. He also had the charisma to engage other philanthropists in social causes that needed visibility and support. When Coast Mental Health Foundation and the Courage to Come Back Awards took shape, it was Joe Segal and his family who stepped up to provide financial assistance to support Coast Mental Health.”
Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, said Segal “was not only a titan in the business and philanthropic worlds, but a genuinely caring and compassionate person – a true mensch. He is among a generation of leaders who helped shape our Jewish community.… Joe was a steadfast supporter of countless worthy causes both within and beyond our Jewish community, including the work of our Federation and our partners. We are deeply grateful to him for his incredible generosity over the decades.”
The Jewish Food Bank operates out of Jewish Family Services’ the Kitchen, on East 3rd Avenue. (photo from JFS)
Like so many other individuals and organizations since Joseph Segal’s death on May 31, Jewish Family Services Vancouver has been reflecting on the impact he has had.
“Joseph Segal was a very generous supporter of the program,” said Carol Hopkins, coordinator of the Jewish Food Bank, which was one of the two organizations people were asked, at Segal’s funeral, to donate to in his memory; the other being Yaffa House.
“He touched the lives of many people through our Seniors Home Support program and annual Passover holiday campaign. However, food security and food access was his passion and a clear priority,” said JFS in a statement. “His dedication to help underwrite our food voucher program was notable. This was a special program for many, especially in the early days, before we had satellite food hubs across the Lower Mainland.”
Those vouchers allowed people to purchase groceries near where they lived. Further, the program presented recipients the opportunity to maintain anonymity and a sense of dignity – by not having to line up at a local food bank or use discount coupons at a till. Segal placed great value on a dignified means of accessing support.
More recently, JFS has directed its efforts towards mitigating food insecurity in the community to the food bank, of which Segal was an ardent and magnanimous backer. Currently, the food bank, which operates from JFS’s the Kitchen, at 54 East 3rd Ave., serves more than 800 clients regularly and delivers more than 10,000 kilograms of healthy food every month.
On its website, JFS notes, “While not a kosher food bank, the Jewish Food Bank does not offer any meats, poultry or shellfish. In addition, for those clients who do keep kosher, it ensures that kosher items are available to them.”
Since its inception, the food bank has been operated in partnership with Jewish Women International-BC. It started with a few volunteers and has operated from various locations since the mid-2000s. It first served clients from the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Later, it switched to the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, where it was based until COVID-19 hit.
At the beginning, the food bank was mostly a walk-in model. Clients would come in and people would select the items they needed. This changed to an all-delivery model during the pandemic: bags were packed and then dropped off to clients who needed support.
The number of clients has grown since March 2020, with deliveries going across the region, including the North Shore, Surrey, Coquitlam and Burnaby. In April 2021, the food bank made its move to the Kitchen, where it maintains a warehouse facility with refrigerators and freezers, allowing JFS to keep perishable donations until they are ready to be used.
In addition to providing people the chance to pick up food at the Kitchen, JFS can distribute directly to clients and to its hubs across the Lower Mainland. Food is brought into the Kitchen on Mondays and sent out to different locations from Tuesday to Thursday. In an average week, more than 40 volunteers help the program.
“We are seeing more and more the challenge of food prices going up in conjunction with expensive housing, not to mention seniors on a fixed income,” said Hopkins. “People are having trouble supplying food. Our grocery service allows people to get support and the nutritious food that they need. We really pride ourselves on that.
“JFS is fortunate,” she said. “Distributors supply us with the best pricing that they can. This allows JFS to stretch the financial contributions it receives and buy in bulk.”
JFS depends largely on donations, both monetary – to buy supplies – and of items such as food, soap, shampoo, toilet paper and diapers.
JFS estimates there will be 150 new families accessing the food bank in the coming year, given economic trends; costs are increasing and needs are growing. Rising food prices are changing the perception and the reality of who needs the help of the food bank.
Joseph Segal plants a fruit tree with Yaffa Housing president Avie Estrin and Tracy Penner, back in 2010. Says Estrin: “Like a tree bears fruit only when properly nurtured and cared for, so too must we take responsibility and care for the most fragile and vulnerable amongst us, if we are to be healthy and fruitful as a community.” (photo by Susan J. Katz)
Until the final hours of his life, Joseph Segal was continuing a life of philanthropic engagement. On the weekend before his passing, the 97-year-old Segal had a meeting with Avie Estrin, president of Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society, of which the Segal family are leading supporters.
According to Estrin, in that meeting, Segal “reiterated his commitment towards helping bring Yaffa House the profile and community support he understood was so necessary and deserving.”
Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society group homes provide food, shelter, programming and on-premises support, within the context of Jewish traditions, culture and practice, for up to 18 Jewish adults struggling with mental illness. Segal’s backing of the organization goes back to the beginning.
“Joe was always a great supporter of Yaffa, right from the early days when my father Aaron Estrin (z’l) met with him in 1999 to discuss a capital campaign to raise the money to build the very first Yaffa House,” Avie Estrin said. “Even after his death, Joseph Segal was true to his word. Rabbi [Andrew] Rosenblatt’s eulogy reminded us of this in Joe Segal’s final wishes: that the Jewish community recognize Yaffa Housing Society’s work, and donate to our cause. While we have lost a great friend and supporter in the passing of Joseph Segal, he will always be remembered as the catalyst for our first house, and a champion for our mission.”
Segal’s support helped Yaffa through its entire history, not least in recent years, when the pandemic added hurdles to the delivery of service.
“Because kosher meal provision is so central to maintaining the Jewish aspect of our home, it was a terrible blow to our operations when we suddenly lost our arrangement with the Louis Brier Home and Hospital in January 2022, after 20 years’ cooperation,” Estrin said. “Fortunately, we were able to cobble together a new arrangement whereby JFS’s [Jewish Family Services’] Kitchen provides two wonderful meals per week. Café 41, along with L’Chaim Adult Day Centre, have been generously preparing subsidized meals the rest of the week. Our small band of volunteers pick up the meals from these different meal providers and bring them to Yaffa House every day. It goes without saying, we can always use more volunteers.”
The organization is also seeking new board members, including a treasurer.
Yaffa Housing has a permanent contract with Vancouver Coastal Health to provide funding to staff the facility part-time, said Estrin. “But we still depend on donations and community support to supplement this. Frankly, it’s not enough. Jewish Federation has been indirectly contributing to Yaffa House’s staffing the last several years but it’s very difficult to plan into the future without knowing for sure those funds are going to be there the year after next.”
Yaffa has no paid staff other than a 20-hour-a-week in-house mental health support worker.
“We have no budget for an operations manager, executive director, or weekend or evening staff,” said Estrin. “In the end, it comes down to our volunteer board to pick up the slack, but it’s wearing. As Yaffa has grown and matured over the last two decades, so too has our board. In fact, one of Yaffa’s original founding board members still actively serves on our executive – my mother, Tzvia Estrin, I am very proud to say. But the old guard can’t forever sustain Yaffa’s daily operations and a paid management is long overdue.”
Estrin said the organization is vital for the community.
“Yaffa is unique in so far as it represents the only dedicated Jewish mental health group home in Canada, west of Toronto. Over the course of more than 20 years developing our in-house supportive model, we’ve attracted interest and attention across the country as well as internationally…. Despite this, Jews in Vancouver remain largely unaware of the essential service the Vancouver Yaffa Housing Society provides our community. Despite the more recent public awareness, mental health has historically taken a backseat relative to other more mainstream community health concerns. The sad reality is that unless mental illness has somehow touched you personally, it’s simply not on people’s radar. This speaks to why, after so many years, Yaffa House remains virtually the only option for Jewish families struggling with this issue.”
To donate, volunteer or learn more, visit yaffahouse.org.
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart pins the Freedom of the City medal to Dr. Yosef Wosk’s lapel in a ceremony May 31. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)
Yosef Wosk, a scholar, educator, author, businessperson, art collector, explorer, rabbi, peace activist and philanthropist, has been awarded Vancouver’s Freedom of the City.
The top honour bestowed by the City of Vancouver, the Freedom of the City is in recognition of Wosk’s philanthropic work benefiting libraries and museums, academic excellence, nature conservation, health care, community and social services, heritage preservation, science, humanities, reconciliation, and the arts in Vancouver and around the world.
The honour was bestowed by Mayor Kennedy Stewart at a ceremony May 31 at the Roundhouse Community Centre. Also recognized that night with an award of excellence was Jewish Family Services’ the Kitchen.
Born in Vancouver in 1949, Dr. Yosef Wosk is a multidisciplinary thinker and community activist who founded the Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars, the Philosophers’ Café, and a number of schools. He has championed museums and libraries on every continent, assisted individuals and institutions with publication grants, planted hundreds of thousands of trees, and endowed the City of Vancouver’s Poet Laureate. His extensive travels culminated in expeditions to both the north and south poles.
Wosk is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Member of the Order of British Columbia, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He is the recipient of both the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, the United Nation’s Culture Beyond Borders Medal, the President’s Award from the Canadian Museums Association, and a Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Community Service from the NAACP.
The Freedom of the City is the highest award given by the City of Vancouver. The city grants the honour only in exceptional cases to individuals of the highest merit. The recipient is usually someone who has gained national and international acclaim in the arts, business, or philanthropy, and who has brought recognition to Vancouver through his or her achievements.
The city began honouring individuals with the Freedom of the City Award in 1936. While several Jewish community members have been awarded the medal – most recently landscape architecture Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, just four days before she died on May 22, 2021 – Wosk and his late father, Morris J. Wosk, are the only father-son recipients in its history.
Yosef Wosk delivered an address to the audience, who assembled to witness a number of civic awards presented by the mayor and city councilors. Among the organizations recognized – in the category of Healthy City for All – was the Kitchen, a program of Jewish Family Services Vancouver.
Jewish Family Services’ the Kitchen is honoured for excellence. Left to right: Mayor Kennedy Stewart, Councilor Jean Swanson, JFS chief executive officer Tanja Demajo, JFS board chair Jody Dales, JFS Food Security Task Force co-chair Stan Shaw, JFS volunteer and food security committee member Paul Becker, and Councilor Michael Wiebe. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)
Recognizing the vulnerability of people with food security challenges in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, JFS transitioned to delivering food for those most in need. The number of people they served and the frequency of food distribution more than doubled, and JFS saw the need to open a new multipurpose space in Mount Pleasant in March 2021.
The new purpose-designed food distribution centre has enabled JFS to establish all of its food operations under one roof, store and distribute a larger supply of food, prepare meals in-house, and eliminate the need to set up and reassemble the food bank every second week.
The Kitchen now provides a wider array of options, particularly for those with specific dietary needs, and serves a more diverse group of people across Vancouver. Produce, dairy, and healthy and nutritious food items are part of an ongoing food preparation operation that prepares and delivers vegan meals to community members and local Jewish day schools from the main Mount Pleasant location, as well as six satellite locations in the Vancouver area.
Mayor Stewart, councilors, laureates of awards of excellence, family and friends, in contemplating the idea of Freedom of the City, I asked myself, “What is the city?” and “What is the nature of freedom?”
A city – characterized as an amalgamation of buildings – is also a social contract wherein a large number of people agree to live relatively close to one another. The price we pay is giving up some of our freedoms. They are restricted in return for other mutual benefits such as law enforcement, culture, infrastructure, education, health and social services. However, in the very act of abdicating our individual freedoms, civilization fills us with discontents[1], for we resent – consciously or unconsciously – having been so domesticated.
The metropolitan fair, however, is occupied by more than just humans adorned in the robes of their constant drama. We may be a poem of our city, defined by the parenthesis of mountain and sea; we may be wandering pilgrims and humble hermits, thieves and lovers among the woods and waters of Lotus Land, but we are only one species, a minority in the midst of many.
Remember the moss and the mushroom thriving in lavish rainforest where each drop is a diamond and morning-dew a jewel of the resurrected dawn.
Ours is a garden city: every garden has its rose; each rose, its thorn.
The city is a living organism; the atmosphere dynamically charged.
The land itself knows our name.
This evening, let us celebrate our urban oasis, embrace its wholeness, the cornucopia of all existence.
What then is freedom and where does it dwell?
It is a mosaic of principles that are frequently taken for granted: they guarantee the ability to express ourselves, to elect politicians and critique society.
We must also consider what it is not. Freedom does not give others the right to steal our property or invade our privacy. Anti-hate speech and libel legislation protect us from the abuse of freedoms by others.
The fullness of freedom – the insecurity borne of its great responsibilities – can prove too much for some to bear. We speak of “free will” but generally act as if by habit or according to the doctrines of others. Authentic free will is not without cost. It is among the rarest of phenomena.
While freedom is often expressed as a declaration of independence, ironically it also implies discipline. When paired with imagination, the one who is disciplined is the most emancipated of all. Such is the trained dancer, champion athlete, or master musician. The hands of a skilled surgeon save lives; a critical thinker solves problems; the voice of confidence banishes despair.
In the course of my life, I was given much, strove to increase what I could, and gave away even more. I have risen and fallen with the tides; been lost and found ten thousand times. I explored much, found wondrous things, and tried to integrate teachings from every corner of the world.
And yet, after a lifetime of labour, I recognize there is still much to accomplish: trees to plant and minds to cultivate, libraries to build, souls to heal and words to compose. Every moment is precious; each day a treasure.
My quest has been long and arduous. Over the years, after too many opportunities that ended in regret, I, along with Kierkegaard, learned to dare greatly: “Have I dared wrongly? (Oh) well, then life will help me with the punishment. / But if I have not dared at all, who will help me then?”
I fear that although I worked hard and studied until time abandoned its clock, although I chased sleep from my eyes and rest from my exhausted body, dreamt with the stars and traveled to the very ends of the earth in search of wisdom, I still feel empty, aware there is so much more to learn, to know, to be.
What was achieved is only a small percentage of what could have been implemented. Regarding this, King Solomon affirmed that “No one dies with even half their desires fulfilled.”[2]
However, when I look back upon my life, I am filled with gratitude and wonder that my few and fleeting years have been an offering to a rather astonishing journey of unrelenting adventure here on Spaceship Earth.[3]
I would have liked to share with you further reflections about “freedom and the city” but my allotted time has expired. I trust that you listened in stereo and intuited more than I could ever express.
In conclusion, I thank city council for this recognition. I am deeply grateful for this profound honour, one before which I tremble.
And thank you to my family, teachers, colleagues and friends for their unwavering love and inspiring support, for their tears and laughter, for their lessons in the art of living.
Allow me to close with a blessing for Vancouver:
Oi, Yehi ratzon milfa’nekha, El Melekh hie ve’kayam: May those who care for our city – citizens and volunteers, professional staff and elected officials – be guided with wisdom and compassion as they administer to all that is necessary. May your dedication result in peace and security, happiness and healing, creativity, prosperity, justice and freedom for all.
Hee’nai mah tov u’mah Nayim, shevet ahim gam yahad: How good and how pleasant it is for all of us to dwell together.
Grace McCarthy Plaza in Queen Elizabeth Park was dedicated on May 27. Left to right are Mark Weintraub (family friend); Mary McCarthy Parsons (Grace’s daughter); Stuart Mackinnon (Park Board chair); John Coupar (Park Board commissioner); and Donnie Rosa (general manager, Parks and Recreation). (photo from Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation)
On May 27, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation commemorated politician, former Park Board vice-chair and lifelong ambassador for the city’s greenspaces Grace McCarthy with a new plaque and plaza in Queen Elizabeth Park, by Bloedel Conservatory.
“Grace McCarthy was a true Park Board pioneer and her passion for her hometown of Vancouver can be seen across the city,” said Park Board chair Stuart Mackinnon in a release. “VanDusen Botanical Garden, Stanley Park Christmas Train, the lights of Lions Gate Bridge, we can enjoy these cherished landmarks today thanks to Grace’s unwavering drive and commitment.
“Grace was instrumental in seeing the Bloedel Conservatory opened in 1969 and I can’t think of a more appropriate place to celebrate her legacy. Grace McCarthy Plaza is a fitting tribute to a proud public servant of the city.”
During her three terms on the Park Board between 1960 and 1966, McCarthy led efforts to secure open spaces for park development and coordinate recreational activities for people with disabilities. She was elected as the first female vice-chair in 1966 and successfully ran for provincial election the same year.
A former florist, McCarthy’s love and appreciation for horticulture influenced some of her most noteworthy work with the Park Board. She worked tirelessly to ensure that Bloedel Conservatory was completed as a Canadian Centennial project, and campaigned throughout the 1960s for part of the abandoned Shaughnessy Golf Course to become what is now known as VanDusen Botanical Garden. Once elected to the legislative assembly, she continued her fight to fund the garden and, in 1970, made the announcement that the province would provide $1 million to its development.
Mary McCarthy Parsons sits in Grace McCarthy Plaza, beside the plaque that briefly describes her mother’s contributions to the city and the province. (photo from Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation)
In her time as member of the legislative assembly for the Vancouver-Little Mountain constituency, she successfully lobbied provincial and federal governments to enable women to apply for mortgages without a male guarantor. Her appointment as the first female deputy premier in Canada paved the way for generations of women in provincial politics. As deputy premier, her portfolios included economic development, provincial secretary, human resources, social services and tourism, and she initiated the province’s bid to host Expo ’86.
Following McCarthy’s passing in 2017, the Park Board directed staff to identify an appropriate space to recognize her legacy. One of the non-family members involved in that five-year process was Jewish community member Mark Weintraub, Q.C., a partner at the law firm Clark Wilson. He spoke at the May 27 ceremony.
“I did not personally know Grace well,” he said, “but I have felt her presence almost my entire life and, therefore, I am gratified to be here for all of the British Columbians who may not have known her well but who were very much aware of her as an exemplary model of public and community service.”
Weintraub’s first encounter with McCarthy’s reputation “was in the 1960s,” he said, “when I would walk to school and pass the family home. Somehow I knew it was the McCarthy house. How I knew it was the McCarthy house I don’t really know – my parents must have pointed it out one day and I have no idea how they knew. But somehow as a young boy, I had absorbed that there was a very important woman living close to us and that whoever Grace was and whatever she did, my parents thought I should know about her.
“Fast-forward about 25 years, when I became involved in Jewish community advocacy, I had the opportunity to meet with her on several occasions on political issues of concern. It was during this time that I began to realize why Grace had this almost celebrity heroic aura around her that I had somehow absorbed as a young boy. With these few community encounters, I, in fact, learned that her reputation as a dynamic, forward-thinking, compassionate woman of extraordinary action was well-earned.
“I saw firsthand that Grace listened carefully to the Jewish community’s deep concerns about antisemitism and was seen as a strong community supporter, friend and advocate,” said Weintraub. “With passage of time it is very apparent to me that she was one of the modernization forces within the B.C. political system advancing equality and human rights. I became involved in this dedication project in part to show my gratitude to Grace for her unshakeable friendship with many members of the Jewish community; her dedication to public service; her trailblazing of gender equality and her enthusiastic embrace of new Canadians.”
McCarthy was in the Jewish Independent newspaper and its predecessor on numerous occasions – with respect to activities concerning, among others, Jewish National Fund, Pacific Region; Jewish Women International, B.C. chapter; and Lubavitch BC. She also was in the paper for the CH.I.L.D. Foundation, which she founded in 1995; the organization raises money for research funds to help children suffering from Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and liver disorders. The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia’s oral history project contains a 2011 interview with McCarthy.
Weintraub shared with the JI a letter from Monsignor Gregory Smith, pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish in West Vancouver. It confirms that McCarthy’s impact extended beyond the secular and across religions. Smith, who attended the plaza dedication, commended Weintraub on his remarks and said, “In particular, I could not help but think that if I substitute ‘Catholic’ for ‘Jewish’ I could have delivered your text with equal conviction! Grace was a remarkable supporter of people of faith, and on many occasions she was also a great help to our church.”
“Grace modeled optimism and hope in the face of adversity and she was a rock,” said Weintraub at the dedication. “How fitting that we remember her on this hard plaza surface built on rock quarry and now so beautified.
“This plaza overlooking her beloved parks, her Shaughnessy home of many decades, the ocean and mountains – the highest point in the city – is so appropriate for one who achieved pinnacles and, as importantly, mentored the way for so many of us to achieve our best.”
– Jewish Independent, Vancouver Board of
Parks and Recreation, and Mark Weintraub
Gerry Sheena shows students his method of carving. (photo from Vancouver Talmud Torah)
Vancouver Talmud Torah invited Interior Salish Nation carver Gerry Sheena and his son Matthew Sheena for a week-long program where each grade participated in a session to learn about the history of Indigenous carving, the tools used and the process of carving and design.
Gerry Sheena has been carving for more than 17 years and his work is shown in galleries throughout British Columbia. He describes his carving style as “traditionally Salish, informed by modern painting techniques and innovative use of colour and design.”
The Sheenas’ visit related to the applied design, science and technology curriculum, notably the woodworking aspect. However, VTT has been working on creating a more meaningful implementation of First Peoples’ education, which sparked the idea of integrating the two areas and having presenters from the First Nations community educate students on carving, drumming and storytelling. The timing for the presentation was matched with the month of June, which is National Indigenous History Month. Teacher-librarian Nicolle Wade created a display of Indigenous books and shared Learning to Carve Argillite by Sarah Florence Davidson and Robert Davidson, to give students an idea of what they would be seeing. She also installed a welcome display shining the light on Gerry Sheena’s art.
Matthew Sheena at Vancouver Talmud Torah. (photo from VTT)
The program was unique in that the Sheenas were at the school for an entire week, not only presenting but also working in the playground, carving a welcome sign for the soon-to-come community garden. Students were able to come out every recess and lunchtime to watch Gerry Sheena carve and listen to Matthew Sheena drum, and additional Q&As took place organically. Teachers had the opportunity to bring their classes out to watch the carving take place firsthand.
“Having an Indigenous carver join our VTT community for one whole week has helped us to organically elevate Indigenous education and ensure that our students are engaging in meaningful learning about the Indigenous peoples and their traditions. We are honoured to have Gerry and Matthew Sheena join us from the Interior Salish Nation as we find ways to recognize National Indigenous History Month now and moving into the future,” said Emily Greenberg, VTT head of school.
Gerry Sheena shared how he got started in carving, his love for art and his happiness when creating totem poles, masks, paddles and many other ceremonial carvings. Matthew Sheena is a passionate drummer and graced the school with his drumming and singing of a Squamish Nation song, “Snowbird,” acknowledging the land and sending a powerful message to love and to lead “through your heart, spread love to others around you and to be kind.”
Among the many lessons learned from the week were:
• The power of passing on knowledge through storytelling.
• The connection to the land being the foundation of Indigenous ways of knowing and practices. The land, plants, animals and sky are all teachers, and taking care of the land and everything living is of utmost importance.
• Honouring language. The Sheenas taught students how to say thank you, and the importance of respecting elders and cherishing their roots.
• Older students had questions about residential schools that the Sheenas approached in a gentle and meaningful way.
• Matthew Sheena spoke to the students about always reaching for the stars, never giving up no matter what life throws at you, and being the best you can be every single day. Also, he encouraged them never to give up on art, drawing, singing and dancing – and to do things that bring them joy and will help them tell a story. He said his favourite tool when carving is a pencil and spoke about the power of the pencil to create.
During their week at Vancouver Talmud Torah Gerry Sheena and his son Matthew Sheena taught students and teachers about carving, drumming and storytelling. (photo from VTT)
VTT was so grateful to spend time with Gerry and Matthew Sheena, both of whom inspired students and faculty through their presentations. The themes of building community, recognizing that everyone can be a potential source of inspiration and knowledge, and fostering respect by encouraging students to speak honestly, listen to one another, be active in problem-solving, take care of the land and value their surroundings were a few of the key takeaways from the week.
VTT aims to grow in the area of Indigenous education and make links to Jewish history, cultures and traditions, as the Sheenas’ presentations revealed that there are many similarities. The week’s activites and interactions left students with more knowledge and understanding of First Nations peoples, and it is hoped that students will continue to reflect upon questions like, What do I know about Indigenous education and First Nations communities? How can I contribute to changing the world we live in by storytelling and passing on knowledge? How can I learn more about Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people? How can I build meaningful relationships? How can I protect the world we live in; the land, animals and people? and What connections does First Nations education have to Jewish education?
Jessie Claudiois director of learning and innovation at Vancouver Talmud Torah.
Indigenous activist, scholar and farmer Dr. Randy Woodley was the keynote speaker on May 24 for the Vancouver School of Theology conference Religious Responses to Climate Change. Based in Yamhill, Ore., Woodley addressed the assembled Zoom audience on the topic Indigenous Spirit: Weaving Justice and Peace in a Wounded Land.
“The West has largely failed in its mandate to till and keep the soil; that is, to serve the community of creation, the whole community of creation,” Woodley began, introducing the concept of humankind’s responsibility to assure the well-being of those in its care, namely, the land and all the creatures that reside on it and in it.
Humans are co-sustainers of the earth, he stressed, showing a slide that highlighted the billions of bacteria, millions of protozoa, metres of fungi and thousands of nematodes in just one cup of soil.
Woodley gave examples of the unflattering views Western scholars have often had of Indigenous cultures and how such scholars (and others) have overlooked “many things that ‘primitives’ still know.” While North American curricula contain lessons on Greek, Egyptian and Chinese civilizations, for example, education on ancient American civilizations is lacking.
Indigenous American societies brought about such things as micro-agriculture and macro-environmental management, including botany, agronomy, forestry, raised beds and naturally self-sustaining fertilized gardens, said Woodley. Further, there was sustainable architecture that incorporated passive solar design, solar heating, water capture systems and mass water transport.
“I would argue that the Western worldview has been a failed experiment,” he said. “We need to dump it and we need to adopt a more Indigenous approach.”
He said the “faster, bigger, cheaper” method of food production in the Western world is depleting soils and leading to the loss of crop varieties. At the same time, forests are shrinking, species are going extinct and droughts are increasing. Blame for water waste could be placed on big agriculture, he asserted.
Meanwhile, Indigenous people have lived in North America for more than 20,000 years without permanently endangering the land. He said, “The earth has had enough and is not going to let humans get away with knocking things out of balance forever.
“Nature’s chaos, which we’re understanding now, is actually stable because it continues to adapt. If there’s one thing true about all of creation … it will adapt. Human beings are the only ones who resist that. Adaptation is stability.”
The nature of a closed system is to collapse in on itself or be consumed by other more adaptive systems, he argued. Therefore, he said, the religious response to climate change should be to adapt as well. Within adaptation, there is an order that builds open systems of unity and diversity. The West, on the other hand, introduced chaos and continues to maintain it.
“Lots of different diseases we have are because we have not lived in the way we should with the animal kingdom. We only have a short time to come back from our own unsustainable chaos and back to the Creator’s sustainable order,” Woodley said.
A handful of human generations has accelerated consumption exponentially. Mother Earth is now trying to rebalance the overuse through “random acts of nature,” he said. The planet is reclaiming its territory and “spitting out the inhabitants in order to restore harmony, the top of the food chain temporarily is now Mother Earth herself.”
It was a particular kind of human being, Woodley reiterated – the Europeans and Americans, and not the species itself – that brought us to this perilous stage. Woodley sees a connection between the way Europeans and Americans treat both creation and people, especially women, immigrants, the poor and other marginalized groups – with respect to nature and fellow humans, they have a need to control, exploit, expect production from and objectify, he said.
Practical steps forward, in Woodley’s view, include a critical examination of the Western world approach, the shedding of unhealthy paradigms, and the adoption of a more Indigenous perspective, such as sustainable ecosystems, a respect for the wisdom found in nature and an acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of all living things.
Woodley quoted environmentalist and economist Winona LaDuke as saying, “Food for us comes from our relatives, whether they have wings or fins or roots. That is how we consider food, food has a culture, it has a history, it has a story, it has relationships.”
And he cited a Shoshone elder: “Do not begrudge the white man his presence on this land. Though he doesn’t know it yet, he has come here to learn from us.”
Together with his wife Edith, Woodley runs Eloheh Indigenous Centre for Earth Justice, an organization that focuses on developing, implementing and teaching sustainable and regenerative earth practices. Eloheh is a Cherokee word meaning harmony, wholeness, abundance and peace.
Woodley has written several books, including Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview: A Decolonized Approach to Christian Doctrine, and Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision.
Director of the VST conference was Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
On May 25, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs honoured Chief Dr. Robert Joseph (holding the sculpture) with the Victor Goldbloom Award for Outstanding Interfaith Leadership. (photo from CIJA)
On May 25, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs honoured Chief Dr. Robert Joseph with the Victor Goldbloom Award for Outstanding Interfaith Leadership.
In memory of the late Dr. Victor Goldbloom, the Victor Goldbloom Award recognizes the contributions of leaders from various faith communities in advancing interfaith relations.
Joseph is a hereditary chief of the Gwawaenuk First Nation and the founder and current ambassador for Reconciliation Canada, an Indigenous organization dedicated to dialogue with multifaith and multicultural communities. He is also the former executive director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society and a member of the National Assembly of First Nation Elders Council. As a result of his work, he has received numerous awards and recognition for bringing people of different faiths together.
Joseph is a dear friend to the Jewish community who has worked with Robbie Waisman, a Holocaust survivor, to make connections between survivors of the Holocaust and the residential schools.
On May 26, representatives from the Sikh, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Ismaili, Muslim, Ahmadiyya, Ukrainian Catholic, Anglican, Baha’i and Black-Canadian communities, as well as Indigenous leaders, joined to celebrate Chief Joseph’s lifetime of work serving British Columbia, urging people of all faiths toward truth and reconciliation, and renewing relationships between Indigenous people and all Canadians.
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Left to right: Emmett Simkin, Max Koenigbaur, Zachary Bordan, Joseph Gabay, Ezra Heayie, Sierra Brosgall and Ziv David. (photo from KDHS)
The Maccabiah Games take place every four years in Israel, and the 21st Maccabiah will take place July 12-26, with some 10,000 athletes from 80 countries competing in more than 40 sports. Seven King David High School students were selected to play in a variety of sports and faculty member Matt Dichter is the coach for a basketball team. KDHS is so proud and wishes them all a successful time in Israel!
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On May 31, Birthright Israel Excel selected 60 college students worldwide for its fellowship in business and technology, which began on June 7 and runs in Israel for 10 weeks. Forty participants are from the United States, while 20 come from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Mexico, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom. Thirteen of them will be visiting Israel for the first time.
Zac Abelson (photo from Birthright Israel)
One of the participants is University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business student Zac Abelson, 21, who is majoring in commerce, with a double minor in operations and logistics, and entrepreneurship. He will be doing his internship with Deloitte.
Since 2011, the Birthright Israel Excel Fellowship has selected top students from hundreds of applicants for summer internships with leading business and tech companies in Tel Aviv. This year’s cohort features an equal number of women and men and the most first-time visitors to Israel. Their internships will be in such areas as environmental sustainability, software development, consulting, finance, venture capital, engineering, marketing, cybertech, biotech, business development and startup development. Students will intern each Israeli workweek, Sunday through Thursday, and attend an evening series of speakers from across Israeli society.
A core component is the one-on-one pairing between each Excel fellow and an Israeli, enabling the foreigners to acclimate quickly to the local culture and see the country through a more authentic lens than as typical tourists. Many peer-to-peer relationships grow into long-term friendships. Some have invested in each other’s business ventures.
Birthright Israel Excel fellows enjoy free time to explore Israel with their peers, and three weekend trips as a group bring them throughout the country: the north, typically including the Golan Heights, a winery tour and a rafting trip down the Jordan River; Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and the Machane Yehuda outdoor market; and the south, for a desert trek, a mud bath in the Dead Sea and a sunrise hike on Masada.
After their return home, the Excel fellows enter a network that provides resources for professional and personal development, Israel engagement and encouraging them as philanthropists.
Birthright Israel Excel fellows have gone on to positions at companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase, Bain & Company and Google. Others have developed strategic partnerships with Israeli companies and started their own companies, often hiring other fellows.
