West End Shabbat dinner a success

ARIEL ZELLMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

With optimism, enthusiasm and ruach (spirit), about 30 Jewish residents of Vancouver's West End brought in Shabbat together at the B'nai B'rith Manor, holding its first- ever Shabbat potluck dinner June 25. Zmirah Rosenthal, director of the manor, along with a dedicated core of West End volunteers, prepared the salmon dinner and Shabbat challot; attendees brought home-made dishes of all varieties; and Jeff Huberman and Steve Lipari from the Community Kollel led the group in Shabbat songs and gave a d'var Torah. With a broad mix of people, from the manor to elsewhere in the West End, babies to grandparents, everyone had a fabulous time. Although the event two Fridays ago was put together with very little publicity, the organizers were very happy with the turnout.

Sponsored by Yad b'Yad the Coalition on Poverty, the dinner was the first of what organizers and participants hope will be monthly events to help build up the downtown Jewish community, where, until now, there has been very little visible Jewish presence. It also formally inaugurated Yad b'Yad's newest initiative, the West End Jewish Outreach Project (WEJOP), with which the coalition will be identifying the needs and wants of Jews living in the West End, as well as putting on events and community building activities.

Prompted in part by last year's Mapping and Mobilization report, which identified areas of need for those living on limited income, as well as the 2001 Canadian Census, Yad b'Yad has made community building and outreach in the West End one of its most important focuses.

With a growing population of more than 1,300 Jewish residents, with 34 per cent of them living below the low-income cut-off (LICO) as defined by Statistics Canada, the financial needs are significant. Also noteworthy is the large Jewish senior (over 65) population of the West End, which makes up 16 per cent of the Jewish population there. Of these, 85 per cent of seniors are both poor and disabled and 75 per cent are disabled and living alone. The need for a stronger Jewish community and improved dissemination of Jewish services to the West End is therefore quite evident.

As well as sponsoring regular events in the West End, Yad b'Yad is also exploring ways of making the Jewish Western Bulletin newspaper available to residents of the West End and facilitating the training of West End volunteers by Shalom B.C. to help pilot a storefront drop-in centre in the neighborhood. Currently, Yad b'Yad is conducting interviews with Jewish residents of the West End and the surrounding area in order to complete a needs assessment and identify more clearly how the project should proceed. If you are Jewish living in the West End and are interested in participating in this project either as an interviewee or as a volunteer, please contact either Ariel Zellman or Larainne Kaplan at 604-257-5100 or e-mail azellman@ jfgv.com or lrkaplan@jfgv.com.

Ariel Zellman is a summer student intern with Yad b'Yad and a Vancouver freelance writer.

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