|
|
Oct. 14, 2005
B.C.'s promised land
Okanagan Jews multiplying, planning for future.
PAT JOHNSON
With the Okanagan Valley one of Canada's fastest growing population
centres, the Jewish community there is facing the enviable but challenging
task of accommodating new members. Mel Kotler, president of the
Okanagan Jewish Community Centre, said his group is laying the groundwork
for an inevitable and necessary expansion of their facility.
The Okanagan Jewish Community Centre, which incorporates meeting
spaces, offices, a large kosher kitchen and a day-care centre, is
leased to a nondenominational operator. There is also a sanctuary,
Beth Shalom, where services take place monthly and on holidays,
led by a student rabbi, Vancouverite Daniel Mikelberg.
The valley, about five hours northeast of Vancouver, has seen a
massive spike in retirees and young families drawn to the region's
(slightly) more affordable real estate and temperate climate in
recent years. It is the seniors who make up the backbone of the
community.
"Definitely we have a lot of retirees who are coming here to
enjoy the good life, who feel they have put in their time in building
communities where they brought up their children and so on,"
said Kotler.
The Okanagan Jewish community (OJC) was formed in 1983. Its community
centre was dedicated in 1992, in a residential area a few kilometres
north of the city centre of Kelowna.
Kotler celebrated 20 years in the Kelowna area on Oct. 1. When he
arrived in 1985, there were 17 families in the OJC. The community
at that time rented space in a local church for High Holiday services
and a Chanukah party.
"Once we built the building in 1992, our membership had expanded
to about 35 families and from that point on, it's doubled,"
said Kotler.
The Okanagan gained when other, older Jewish communities were diminishing,
Kotler noted.
"We were fortunate to be able to inherit the artifacts and
a Torah from the Moose Jaw [Sask.] Jewish community when they closed
in the early 1990s, which enabled us to equip our sanctuary in a
proper, traditional fashion," Kotler said. Similarly, many
of the books in the centre's library were inherited from Moose Jaw
- and the OJCC benefitted from donations from individuals and organizations
in Calgary, Vancouver and elsewhere.
Kotler said the OJC has about 70 member families and estimates the
Okanagan's Jewish population is about three times that size. Another
10 or so families are loosely affiliated with the community. The
sanctuary aims to accommodate the widest swath of Jewish observance
possible, bypassing affiliations like "Conservative" or
"Reform" to call itself simply "traditional."
Kotler said he fields calls frequently from people wanting to know
about Jewish life in the area.
"The week before Rosh Hashanah, I had five individual calls
from people who were moving here from Toronto, from Montreal, from
Israel," he said. "We had inquiries from Los Angeles –
people who are moving here or considering moving here. We're getting
calls continuously and inquiries and e-mails. With the growth of
the Okanagan, there's going to be certainly a growth in the Jewish
community."
The growing population will permit expanded services for his organization,
Kotler said.
"It'll enable us to perhaps enhance the student rabbi program,
to be able to perhaps hire a part-time professional executive director,
someone who can guide us from more than a layman's position,"
he said.
The community already has a packed schedule of regular and special
events. The centre hosts a regular seniors' lunch, Israeli folk
dancing, Hebrew classes, Philosopher's Cafés and many guest
speakers, in addition to a full schedule of holiday services and
informal opportunities for socializing.
There is plenty of good news in the community, but not all is as
bright as the Okanagan sun.
"There have been incidents of racial [discrimination] and anti-Semitism
in a couple of different forums, but they've been dealt with quickly,
quietly and effectively through dealing with the various local officials,"
Kotler said.
Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX Multicultural Digest, www.mvox.ca.
^TOP
|
|
