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November 28, 2008
Jewish youth join in Whistler
Rabbis make Metrofest weekend memorable for all participants.
DEENA LEVENSTEIN
More than 100 young Jews, mostly students, attended the Metrofest weekend in Whistler. At $36 US for an all-expense paid weekend – including four-star hotel accommodations, gourmet meals and educational programming – it was an offer that was hard to pass up.
Rabbi Label Lam, one of the spiritual leaders who flew in from New York for the weekend, is a freelance rabbi, working for different organizations that focus on bringing Jews closer to Judaism. Initially, he was worried that the participants on the Whistler trip wouldn't be very interested in the lectures scheduled. By the end, he said, he was pleasantly surprised to find that, "People had a sense that we belong together. That's the main thing. We're not so different."
Max Anteby, a financial advisor for a manufacturing company of women's swimwear in the New York-area was also flown in. His wife, Susan, accompanied him. His role in the retreat was to give presentations on the question: "Did God write a book?" An unassuming, quiet man – without a beard – he got up in front of his audience and immediately engaged them in a discussion mixed with the occasional Jewish-style joke.
Rabbi Moshe Greene, also from New York, had a very positive first impression of the students on the trip. Upon stepping into the bus that would take everyone up to Whistler, he met with the passengers, shmoozing in an easy-going way. Greene is a teacher in the Shor Yoshuv Yeshivah in Far Rockaway, N.Y. He also teaches in a Jewish enrichment centre in Greenwich Village. Both places focus on Jewish outreach. Greene, who said that he's addicted to Jews, was impressed with rabbis Avraham Feigelstock, Shmulik Yeshayahu, both of the Ohel Ya'akov Community Kollel in Vancouver, and Rabbi Chaim Shapiro, currently working in Whistler's Jewish community. He said he considered them sincere, open and caring people.
Students said they attended for various reasons: they wanted to meet more Jewish peers, learn more about their heritage and get out of the city for a few days (for much less than it would normally cost).
One participant, 22-year-old Daniel Elnecave, is a fourth-year student of animation at Emily Carr Institute of the Arts. He explained that he is currently in the process of teshuvah (returning to Jewish tradition). "People are always afraid of what happens when you're involved with a religion," he said. "And there's this looming dark shadow of fear that follows the rabbis around. It was interesting to see people come here and be surprised." He said that he heard many people express the feeling that it wasn't nearly as "scary" as they thought it would be.
The fact that the rabbis were open helped the students connect to them. Lam gave an oral autobiography before lunch on Saturday morning. He poked fun at himself, as he drew a vivid picture of his spiritual journey from a kid who hated Hebrew school to a high school student obsessed with sports to a rabbi. He felt this was important because, "When I tell them my story, all of the defence mechanisms go down," he explained. "I can tell them what I'm thinking and no one can argue with it. And they can see from an example instead of being told what they 'should' do."
A large majority of participants showed up for all the classes, despite the few-minute walk in the cold Whistler rain from the hotel to the building in which the programs were held.
Marat Ahmad, a third-year commerce student at the University of British Columbia, said he found the speakers to be very motivational. He said he could connect to a lot of the ideas expressed. He also found that the trip was a great opportunity for him to ask the rabbis questions that he had about Judaism. He said he left Metrofest more educated about his Jewish heritage and found the rabbis to be "totally unintimidating." He said he didn't feel any pressure from them and, because of this, he felt more at ease to be a part of what was happening.
Nikki Kitay, 20, a third-year science student at UBC, is president of the Jewish Students Association at the university. She said she always gets motivation from Jewish events but that it fades over time. She said she got a refresher from the weekend and that the Havdalah ceremony really touched her. It was a celebration with guitars and singing and lots of dancing; she said that, when she looked at the dancing and saw the smiles on people's faces, she felt uplifted. "It makes you believe that there's more to life than just parties and things like that," she said. "A perfectly sober event, everyone's singing and dancing. It's very rewarding, I think." The experience instilled more faith in her, she added.
Yeshayahu suggested that the weekend may have been an historical event. Bringing so many young Jewish adults, all from the Vancouver area, together for a weekend is not a regular occurrence out here, he said. Anders Nerman, a young adult who lived in Vancouver until eight years ago and only recently returned, said that when he used to live here, he felt alone in his Judaism. Now, as a musician, he led the Havdalah service, in which everyone sang and danced with him, as he moved between the men's and women's circles, playing his guitar and singing.
Aish Connections sponsored the Metrofest event in Whistler, as well as eight other such events across North America.
Deena Levenstein is a freelance writer from Toronto, Jerusalem and now Vancouver. You can read more of her writing at www.deenascreations.wordpress.com.
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