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July 3, 2009
ACN speaks to Kollel
Business event aimed at helping the community.
DEENA LEVENSTEIN
For those who are familiar with the word kollel, it naturally conjures up images of tables surrounded by men dressed in button-down shirts and dark-colored pants, pouring over large volumes of Talmud. A kollel is traditionally a place where, by day, a group of young scholars pursue full-time study of Talmud and other Judaic subjects and, by night, they share their knowledge through classes.
This image is all but shattered once you're introduced to Vancouver's local kollel. Yes, there are rabbis and people do study at the Ohel Ya'akov Community Kollel, but this organization has taken the kollel concept beyond the traditional, focusing on the literal meaning of the word kollel – inclusive. The Kollel offers traditional services such as classes in Judaism, but there's more to it than that, with social events, business clubs, pub nights, summer barbeques and Friday night dinners on offer.
On June 18, the West Broadway location was the venue for a new type of Kollel event. Nathan Goldberg, the regional vice-president of All Communications Network (ACN) in Quebec, was the guest speaker on the topic, the Power of Residual Income and Relationship Marketing in Slow Economic Times. The event was basically a sales-pitch for ACN, a home-based business marketing opportunity and, according to their website, the world's largest direct seller of telecommunication services.
About 50 people enjoyed a complimentary kosher dinner as they listened to Goldberg, who gave a motivational talk about getting involved with ACN. He spoke about how he went from rags – as a waiter – to riches by becoming part of ACN, recruiting new people below him and selling the products ACN has to offer.
Rabbi Shmuel Yeshayahu, outreach director of the Kollel, explained that the regular business club, which meets about once a month, has speakers who share general ideas. Goldberg, on the other hand was speaking about a specific concept in which the audience was being asked to consider participating. The Kollel is not involved in this business idea, it was only the venue for sharing the idea with others.
So what is the connection between a sales-pitch and an organization focused on helping Jews connect to each other and to their heritage? "It's the nature of the people who come to us, too," said Yeshayahu. "The idea is that we want to create a centre, where young people this age come to the Kollel for all kinds of things, not only to pray. It's more than a place to pray. It's a place to meet Jewish people. It's a place to connect to people on all levels – business levels, dating, just friendship, all levels."
Because of this greater goal of the Kollel, Yeshayahu is continually looking for ways to expand the services provided by the Kollel and is always open to hearing about new ideas. When Yossi Klein, an attendant of Kollel events and someone who works for ACN, approached the rabbi with a request to have Goldberg speak at the Kollel, Yeshayahu listened, researched and agreed. Yeshayahu saw that Goldberg has helped a lot of people and, "whatever helps people, this is my spirituality," he said.
You can contact the Kollel at communitykollel.org or [email protected] or Yeshayahu at 604-738-7060.
Deena Levenstein is a freelance writer from Toronto, Jerusalem and now Vancouver. You can visit her blog at deenascreations.com.
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