Kirkland Lake students paint a mural as part of the Indigenous Awareness project. (photo from Toronto Heschel School)
The Toronto Heschel School has announced the recipients of its first-ever social justice Prize for Teaching Excellence 2016. The top award goes to Erin Buchmann at the Kirkland Lake District Composite School in Ontario, which took first prize for its Indigenous Awareness program. Second prize goes to Todd Clauer at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school in Overland Park, Kan., for its Upper School Social Justice Project.
Heschel, a Toronto Jewish school, invited educators around the world – including public, private and religious schools of all denominations – to share how they bring social justice into the classroom through heritage, culture or religion. The call was issued in THINK Magazine, Heschel School’s semi-annual educational thought publication, last November. It invited educators to submit their original class projects and school initiatives that met the following criteria: Is it rooted in heritage, culture or religion; does it inspire social responsibility in children; and has it been implemented successfully?
Toronto Heschel is committed to encouraging today’s youth to be citizens of the world by celebrating and recognizing teachers who use their students’ identity and cultural values to incorporate social justice learning as part of the everyday school curriculum. The award received entries from across Canada, the United States and Israel, and collected many inspiring stories of teachers and students committed to making positive change in the world.
The completed mural, which was painted by Kirkland Lake students as part of the Indigenous Awareness project. (photo from Toronto Heschel School)
Buchmann took top honors for the project Indigenous Awareness, based on the Seven Grandfathers’ teachings – core cultural values that teach responsibility to self-govern, take care of the land and one another by standing up for social justice. Students created a large mural in the school, installed an art installation called “Red Dress” around the school and dramatized the Seven Grandfathers’ teachings in a play. The project resulted in a 100% pass rate in the class, where there had been 50% failure level before. The school is also now expanding its aboriginal studies program to include a junior and senior course in 2016.
“We are so proud to win the Prize for Teaching Excellence,” said Buchmann. “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls on Canadians to act to promote equality and fairness. We are creating opportunities for students to explore and celebrate their individual identities and heritage while promoting social justice for all. By encouraging and supporting students to take action, we are taking steps towards reconciliation, promoting awareness of social issues and creating a more inclusive environment in our school and our community.”
The Upper School Social Justice Project, which won the second Prize for Teaching Excellence 2016, is implemented across three years of high school. Clauer teaches his students that their Jewish heritage teaches them to embrace and pursue justice through everyday advocacy for the dignity of all peoples, and all faiths.
The project saw Hyman Brand students focus their study and engagement on inequity in access to health care in their community; promoting voter engagement; and campaigning for free, universal, early childhood education. The project, conducted in partnership with a local charter school, also took students – Jewish and African-American, more advantaged and less advantaged, city centre and suburban – on a civil rights journey across the southern United States.
Named for Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Toronto Heschel School was founded in 1996 to give children the spirit of awe and wonder as they learn. The school teaches social justice through the philosophy and social action leadership modeled by Heschel. It is a pluralistic Jewish day school, which means it welcomes all Jewish children; it now has more than 270 students (junior kindergarten through Grade 8) from Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox and secular families. Jewish thinking and ethics are integrated throughout the curriculum to deepen learning, enrich school culture and inspire social responsibility. For more information, visit torontoheschel.org.
On Oct. 22, 200 teachers from across British Columbia and Ontario participated in Code Class, a one-day coding and computational thinking crash course.
The inaugural class was hosted by coding education experts Lighthouse Labs, which partnered with Kids Code Jeunesse, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering kids and teachers through code, and Computer Using Educators of British Columbia (CUEBC).
Code Class is a free, full-day workshop designed specifically for K-12 educators that aims to introduce educators to computational thinking and inspire them to bring code into the classroom. It supports teachers by removing barriers and fostering an understanding of computational thinking, technology and basic code.
Computational thinking is problem solving; it’s understanding larger structures with both human and technological systems. It could be as simple as following a recipe, or as advanced as coding a website. Computational thinking is to computers as astronomy is to telescopes; it’s about how people conceptualize information, and how they put those concepts into practise.
With the introduction of code into the new ADST (Applied Design, Skills and Technologies) curriculum across British Columbia, Code Class organizers believe that it is more important than ever to invest in teachers and to give them the tools and resources needed to bring code into the classroom.
“Lighthouse Labs is proud to support teachers across Canada,” said Jewish community member Jeremy Shaki, co-founder of Lighthouse Labs. “We believe that great education starts with great teachers and grows from there. The best solution for incorporating technology into the classroom is to provide teachers with the tools and resources they need to inspire their students.”
“By educating children with the tools needed to create and communicate within the 21st century, we are providing them with the skills needed to build their own future success,” said Kate Arthur, founder and co-director of Kids Code Jeunesse, which is based on the belief that coding is a basic literacy as important as reading, writing or math.
K-12 teachers of all subjects who attended the 2016 CUEBC conference could participate in the free-of-charge one-day workshop held at School District 43’s École Riverside Secondary School in Port Coquitlam. More than two dozen software developers from local technology companies mentored participants during the workshop, and no previous coding experience was required to attend.
Computational thinking already exists within some key aspects of teachers’ classrooms, said Jon Hamlin, president of CUEBC, an organization of volunteer teachers in the province dedicated to promoting the educational uses of technology in schools. “We hope to reframe their understanding of the subject, see how it connects in cross-curricular ways, and see computers and coding from a new perspective. Together with Lighthouse Labs, we aim to support all K-12 teachers in their adoption of the new ADST provincial curriculum.”
For more information about Lighthouse Labs, its approach to teaching web and mobile software development, and the courses it offers, visit lighthouselabs.ca.
Rabbi Yosef Ben Zruel, aka “Rabbi Yossi,” engages with students at Boys Town Jerusalem. (photo from BTJ)
As 32 out of Boys Town Jerusalem’s 100 seventh graders took their places in class on the first day of school, their teacher, Rabbi Yosef Ben Zruel, surveyed the rows of anxious students with a smile. “I look at you and I see myself,” he told them.
“I remember my mother bringing me by bus to Boys Town on my first day of school in seventh grade. We have a lot in common!”
Like their teacher, the current students come from difficult and disadvantaged backgrounds: broken homes, unemployment, poverty, neglect and abuse. Although many students are Israeli, the school also has boys who have come from Ethiopia, France and Russia. As situations around the world become more difficult, parents are sending their children to Boys Town, where they know they will be well educated and properly cared for. The school provides a safe haven for 900 boys annually, who might otherwise have no place to go.
The school focuses on preparing the boys to be productive citizens of tomorrow, benefiting the state of Israel and beyond, as many of the students eventually work for international companies. Graduates serve in the military, and then go on to careers in business, high-tech, medicine or education, like their teacher.
Now in his forties, “Rabbi Yossi” notes that he gained vital teaching skills from that first day at Boys Town onward. “I teach what I learned from my own teachers, who gave me tools for life,” he said.
Yet his journey to become a member of the faculty of Boys Town took several decades to complete. After graduating with honors in 1991 from BTJ’s electronics department, Ben Zruel served a three-year term of duty in the Israeli air force. He then entered university to pursue advanced electronics studies before realizing he’d taken a wrong turn. “I always wanted to be a teacher,” he said.
Turning to education and Jewish studies, Ben Zruel became a rabbi and taught elementary school for nearly 20 years. Three years ago, he was delighted to accept a job at his alma mater.
“I walked back into the school, and everything had changed – except, of course, for the students. As in my days, I saw boys struggling to grow and develop, to overcome hardships and to meet the demanding BTJ curriculum that combines academic, technological and Jewish studies.”
That’s when he knew that his course of teaching had already been charted. “I tell my students what my teacher – Rabbi Elimelech Yaakov, today a BTJ principal – told us: ‘You are the elite! You are the finest, most capable students to have ever studied here!’ That lifted our spirits and spurred us to believe in ourselves and to soar.”
The emotional and psychological problems that affect the students take a heavy toll on their well-being. For many, there is no food at home and the three nutritious meals provided by the school are important. Dealing with these issues is an integral challenge to a BTJ teacher, Ben Zruel said. “I tell all my students, as I was taught, if you fall, get up. Believe in yourself. Be curious about your world, and learn as much as you can so that you can give to others.”
To his students’ joy, Ben Zruel often expands the curriculum beyond the classroom walls.
“Boys Town once taught practical courses in carpentry, mechanics and printing,” he said. “In today’s technological world, I still find it essential to learn to build from scratch.”
Last year, Ben Zruel instructed his students in the ancient Middle East art of building a “tabun” oven from clay and stone to bake pita bread.
“Perhaps it’s crazy to be a teacher,” he mused, “but it’s clearly a mission of love. Hopefully, my students will someday continue the circle of passing on the gift of knowledge and energy for life.”
With the help of its many supporters, Boys Town Jerusalem will be able to keep providing hope, encouragement and opportunity to thousands of disadvantaged boys.
Shalva founder Kalman Samuels, left, and Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat, centre, help youngsters cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the new Shalva National Children’s Centre. (photo from IMP)
Dozens of smiling preschool and kindergarten youngsters recently filed into a revolutionary new inclusion class, which integrates both special needs and other children in the same classroom environment. The opening of the inclusion class was attended by Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat, who has championed the needs of special education since he took office nearly eight years ago.
Housed in the new $55 million dollar Shalva National Children’s Centre – built on seven acres near Shaare Zedek Hospital – this class is part of the wider umbrella of services for the special needs community in Jerusalem. The new state-of-the-art National Children’s Centre provides services to the Israeli community, as well as serving as a research facility focusing on special needs.
Shalva has been the leading Israeli institution providing programs to children with special needs since it was founded by Canadian immigrant Kalman Samuels, along with his wife Malki, in 1990. The land on which the campus was built was donated by the municipality.
Barkat praised the Samuelses for their selfless dedication to the community.
“Shalva was a jewel when it originally opened in Har Nof. Now, it’s a bigger and more expensive jewel, but it’s worth every shekel and every dollar invested in this place,” said Barkat.
“It’s overwhelming. After 10 years getting the land, working to get all the permits, all the challenges we faced, the battles we had to fight to build this centre, the people that tried to stop us. It’s a complete miracle,” said Kalman Samuels, with tears welling up in his eyes, as the children and their parents filed into the building.
Sara Chana Wolff, the mother of Avraham, a 5-year-old child with special needs who will be participating in the educational program, was effusive.
“I just feel endless gratitude towards Shalva,” she said. “When they see that there is something else they can do to help the kids, they turn the world upside down to make it happen. It’s very humbling and inspiring when I look at what Shalva and the Samuels family has done for the community.”
Gal Katzir, whose 3.5-year-old son Sahar will be attending kindergarten classes at Shalva and helped cut the ribbon with Barkat, remarked, “We are so happy with our choice. We thought this would be a special opportunity for Sahar to get to know kids that are different from him. Also, they have so many resources that aren’t in any other kindergarten that we know Sahar will benefit from. Sahar was just great on his first day, he didn’t cry or anything, he just said, ‘Bye-bye, Mommy.’ I was the emotional one!”
A longtime advocate for Jewish education, Leon Glassman has established the Leon Glassman Fund for Jewish Continuity through Education with a $1 million endowment at the Jewish Community Foundation. (photo by Don MacGregor)
Learning of new challenges in accessibility to Jewish education in Greater Vancouver, Leon Glassman did exactly what he has always done: he stepped up.
A longtime advocate for Jewish education, Glassman established the Leon Glassman Fund for Jewish Continuity through Education with a $1 million endowment at the Jewish Community Foundation. This endowment fund will support tuition assistance at Jewish day schools and ensure that every family that wants to send their children to a Jewish day school on the Lower Mainland can do so, regardless of their financial means.
As a young father, Glassman made the decision to move his family from Regina to Vancouver because, at the time, the Saskatchewan capital did not have a Jewish school. Looking back, he recalled that, as a child, he had a very limited Jewish education, “so it was always important to me that my children would know their background and have a Jewish identity.”
Glassman’s son-in-law, Jonathan Berkowitz, said that his father-in-law also embraces “the principle that all Jewish children should have access to a Jewish education.”
Over the decades, Glassman has invested untold amounts of time, energy and resources in improving the quality of, and access to, Jewish education. But, he recently discovered that local day schools have been facing the daunting dual challenges of the impact on families of the Lower Mainland’s high cost of living and the schools’ accompanying difficulty in keeping pace with subsidy requests. Families continue to grapple with Metro Vancouver’s housing costs: being reasonably close to a Jewish day school, for many young families, means they spend so much on housing, they cannot afford tuition. The schools, in turn, have faced significant challenges meeting the demand for increased subsidies.
In response, Glassman established the education fund. It will be a legacy that reflects his passion, generosity, lifetime commitment to community and, most importantly, to the continuity of Jewish life and Jewish identity through education.
When asked why Jewish education is important, Glassman said, “Antisemitism is, sadly, once again on the rise, in part through anti-Israel sentiment. Israel is a big part of who we are. Most criticism of her is unfounded and the younger generation must be able to counter the falsehoods. That’s the negative side. On the positive side, the younger generation should know their background, take pride in where they came from and, above all, take pride in who they are.”
While Glassman’s million-dollar gift has started his namesake fund, it is his hope that the community will increase the capital of the fund by making contributions to mark the significant life events of friends and family. In that way, the entire community will both participate in and benefit from the growth of this fund.
The Peretz Centre is moving towards a renewed commitment to social justice, Yiddishkeit, the arts and building community. (photo from peretz-centre.org)
If you walk into Vancouver’s Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture on a Sunday afternoon between September and June, you are likely to find a group of families singing Yiddish songs such as “Shabbes Zol Zayn” and “Az der Rebbe Tanz,” making latkes or doing arts and crafts, while learning new and unique approaches to being Jewish. Some of the children are “officially,” i.e. halachically, fully Jewish by birth, with a Jewish mom and dad, but many are “half-Jewish” (with the Jewish parent being either mom or dad) or “double half-Jewish,” with parents who themselves were raised in half-Jewish families.
This is the Peretz Family Education program, where adults and kids learn together. Bubbies and zaydies often come to visit, and there is song, story and food that is shared in a community of families eager for a connection to their roots (or half-roots, as the case may be) that is not dogmatic or religious. This program, now entering its third year, is a remarkable success, attracting inter-cultural as well as LGBT families and others who feel at home at Peretz.
“We had families coming to us for years, asking us to create a place for their children to feel connected to Jewish culture, as well as progressive humanistic values, that was not focused on religion,” said Donna Becker, Peretz coordinator.
Vancouver Jews may know of the Peretz Centre from its 70-year legacy as the home for Yiddish-speaking, secular Jewish education. Loosely affiliated with sister organizations in Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal, Peretz was founded by non-religious Jews who loved the Yiddish language, culture and traditions. These founding members were more focused on humanism, social justice and activism than on ritual, prayers and liturgy.
For decades, the Peretz community boasted a school with hundreds of students learning Jewish cultural identity and progressive values. The hub of Yiddish culture in Vancouver, it hosted (and still does) the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir, theatre groups, classes and study groups, and artistic events celebrating Judaism from a cultural perspective. However, as the only organization in the Vancouver Jewish community that spearheaded a secular humanist and progressive perspective on the Jewish experience, it was for a long time somewhat on the margins of the community.
Then came a period of contraction. With many of the founders gone, and with Yiddish increasingly becoming a boutique, intellectual study rather than a living language and tradition, Peretzniks were not able to sustain the school-age programs. Apart from a thriving secular b’nai mitzvah program, the focus has been on strengthening the Peretz community through adult discussion groups, seniors programming, lectures, concerts, the choir, plus alternative non-religious celebrations and observances to mark Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Passover and other important Jewish holidays.
But, once again, the Peretz Centre is going through changes. Increasingly, young families in Vancouver and the surrounding area have been seeking a place where they can raise their children with a secular Jewish identity resonant with modern concerns of environmentalism and reconciliation and healing from the trauma so prevalent in many Jewish communities.
The new family education program is the brainchild of Dr. Danny Bakan, a PhD in education with more than 20 years experience facilitating Jewish Renewal and secular Jewish education.
“When we started, I insisted that this be a family education program; everyone is here to learn together,” said Bakan. “We focus on creating a joyous way to be connected, staying away from the common narrative of being victimized as Jews.”
In the last two years, Bakan has been helping Peretz reboot. And, it seems to be working.
“There is nothing like it, to my mind, in the city: secular, progressive and filled with an incredible range of activities that appeal to all of us, ranging in age, I suspect, from 5 to 75!” said family education parent Greg Buium.
Now, with new young families flocking to join via the program, the Peretz Centre is moving towards a renewed commitment to social justice, Yiddishkeit, the arts and building community. New offerings for the fall 2016 session will include secular Hebrew for children and adults, a b’nai mitzvah boot camp for teens and adults, art exhibits and a youth open stage and coffeehouse.
For more information about Peretz Centre programs, events and activities, visit peretz-centre.org or contact Becker at [email protected] or 604-325-1812.
CJPAC is a national, independent, multi-partisan organization with a mandate to engage Jewish and pro-Israel Canadians in the democratic process and to foster active political participation. Among its programs are two aimed at younger community members, for which it is now accepting applications.
The CJPAC Fellowship is an intensive, yearlong program that provides university students with the tools to engage further in Canada’s democracy. It trains 45 of the top pro-Israel, politically engaged university students to become part of the country’s next generation of leaders, and provides the opportunity for fellows to enhance their understanding of all levels of government in the Canadian political system.
The program includes an exclusive national conference in Ottawa, where fellows meet with members of Parliament, senior political strategists and receive advanced campaign training. The conference will take place this year from Nov. 16 to Nov. 20, and attendance is required.
CJPAC welcomes applicants from Jewish and non-Jewish communities, all political parties and every region of Canada. All fellows must be pro-Israel and demonstrate a strong interest and experience in Canadian politics. Applicants must meet the following criteria:
Be enrolled full time in an undergraduate or graduate program at a post-secondary institution for both semesters of the 2015-2016 academic year.
Be Canadian citizen or permanent resident; unfortunately, CJPAC cannot accept exchange students.
Be available to attend all five days of the national conference in Ottawa; no exceptions.
Applicants cannot be employed in a political position at the federal or provincial level for more than four hours per week; unpaid volunteers in these offices will be considered.
The CJPAC Generation program is designed to provide a select group of young, motivated and passionate high school students with the opportunity to become more politically involved.
Participants will gather with other students throughout the school year and meet with a variety of speakers. They will engage in discussions that will enhance their political knowledge and help cultivate their political opinions. They will make connections and expand their peer and professional networks – in turn, bolstering the voice of the Jewish community in Canada. The program culminates with a trip to Ottawa, where they will continue their engagement in the political process by meeting with elected officials and political staff.
Applicants must be Jewish high school students in grades 10-12, have an interest in politics and the Canadian political process and a commitment to attending monthly sessions, beginning in November 2016, and a trip to Ottawa in May 2017. Applications for the Generation program are due to cjpac.ca/cjpac-generation-student-leaders-program-application-2016-2017by Oct. 14, 2016.
Alison Lebovitz (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver)
The original meaning of tikkun olam, as seen in the Talmud, was to “decorate, beautify or refine” the world. The modern meaning of “repairing” the world came to be emphasized much later, in kabbalistic writings. Alison Lebovitz was taught the importance of this older sense of tikkun olam by her grandmother Mimi, though she had a different way of putting it: “Pretty is as pretty does.” In the Jewish ethical context in which she was raised, “beautiful actions” meant making the world a better place. To this day, that priority shapes Lebovitz’s life.
Lebovitz is among the speakers who will help launch the annual campaign of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver on Sept. 22, with this year’s FEDtalks.
Growing up in Montgomery, Ala., Lebovitz was an active volunteer in the Jewish community. One summer, she worked with refuseniks, who had come to Birmingham as refugees. Seeing them clustered around a shelf offering several different kinds of toothpicks, paralyzed by the alien surfeit of choices, unable to select a brand, Lebovitz had a visceral confrontation with the way people lived outside of her middle-class American bubble, and how much our own over-abundance of resources should inspire us to be givers.
After moving to Chattanooga, Tenn., Lebovitz became involved with the documentary Paper Clips, working to have it shown in more schools. Paper Clips takes place in the rural Tennessee community of Whitwell, where a middle-school class attempts to understand the magnitude of the Holocaust by collecting paper clips, each of which represents a human life lost in the Nazis’ slaughter of six million Jews and millions of others.
For Lebovitz, this work naturally developed into her initiative One Clip at a Time, which is a program for taking kids from the message of Paper Clips further, into personal application and action. Students discover ways to make positive changes in their own classrooms and communities and are encouraged to continually look for ways to make a difference. “For me, growing up,” Lebovitz told the Independent, “the question my family always asked about any idea was, ‘So what?’ What does it mean in the real world? Next was, ‘Now what?’ How are you going to put that into action?”
In addition to her work with One Clip, Lebovitz has been involved in an impressive roster of other activities. For 20-plus years, she has written a column on the trials and tribulations of daily life and lessons learned called “Am I There Yet?”; columns of which were published as a book by the same name. She is host of the PBS talk show The A List with Alison Lebovitz, and is a regular public speaker, including for TED Talks.
Lebovitz views herself as a “curator of stories” and an entrepreneur with a passion for social justice. These two themes will coalesce in her FEDtalks presentation in Vancouver, where she plans to speak on “the power of story and the power of community.” She said the end game, for her, is to light the torch of the next generation and invite them to run along with us, but then to also pass on the flame to the generation that follows them.
FEDtalks takes place at Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Sept. 22, 7 p.m. For tickets and information about all the speakers, visit jewishvancouver.com/fedtalks2016.
Matthew Gindinis a Vancouver freelance writer and journalist. He blogs on spirituality and social justice at seeking her voice (hashkata.com) and has been published in the Forward, Tikkun, Elephant Journal and elsewhere.
Left to right, reciting the Four Questions at the Okanagan Jewish community’s Passover celebration: Adarah Challmie, Ben Levitan, Jordan Spevakow, David Spevakow, Samara Levitan, and Kate Spevakow. (photo by Misty Smith)
Kelowna’s Jewish community may be small, but it’s poised for growth. The latest development: an expansion of its Hebrew school’s curriculum.
Led by the family of David and Natalie Spevakow, who moved to Kelowna from Calgary some 13 years ago, Hebrew classes were first provided last year. Now, more Jewish content will be added to the lessons, as well.
At the moment, the Spevakows are spearheading this task. Parents lead classes every Monday after school, with kindergarten to Grade 3 first, followed by grades 4-to-7. The parents rotate each week, teaching the kids about Jewish traditions and the Hebrew language, prayers and blessings. Currently, there are 14 students in total (two of whom are Spevakows).
“Trying to have a Jewish life in a small community can be a challenge,” said Natalie Spevakow. “I would say our congregation at the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre is about 100 members, but only 25 to 30 are active members.
“We have a visiting rabbi who comes once a month, Rabbi [Shaul] Osadchey from Beth Tzedec congregation in Calgary. We set this up to bridge the gap with our communities, and that’s been wonderful. With us having young families, we’ve all decided that it’s important that we get together, and we wanted to build a Jewish community for ourselves and our kids.”
The Spevakows are looking to hire a part-time teacher to start in September and work through June. They are searching for a creative, energetic person knowledgeable in Hebrew and the Jewish traditions to teach children ages 4 to 14. The position involves two hours of teaching a week, plus preparation time, and the teaching material is provided. In addition to an hourly wage, the teacher would receive a free annual family membership to the Okanagan JCC. (Interested readers should call Anne at the OJCC, 250-862-2305.)
“All of our parents just want our kids to be with other Jewish children and get a sense of what it is to be Jewish,” said Spevakow.
“We also try to get together with our Hebrew school every few months for a potluck,” she added. “When we have the visiting rabbi come, we do a potluck with the rabbi and do services with our children and our families as well. We make that a time to get together and bring the community together.”
Dressed for Purim, left to right: in the front row, Bria Tizel, Anderson Parnes, Kate Spevakow, Ryder Golbey, Skyla Golbey and Chase Golbey; in the back, Jordan Spevakow, Abbey Parnes and a friend, and Adarah Challmie. (photo by Natalie Spevakow)
As of now, all the children involved in the school are Canadian-born, but there are Israeli-born children who will be joining classes when they come of age. The class curriculum is a combination of programs that the Spevakows sourced online with guidance from Osadchey. Parents are encouraged to take material home to practise during the week.
“The learning works better if they do take stuff home,” said Natalie Spevakow. “I know, for the little guys, they’re just learning the Hebrew letters and can repeat the words they learned…. We try to make it hands-on and more fun for them.”
Looking ahead, Spevakow feels that the Jewish community is growing, anticipating that one day it will be big enough to warrant more frequent visits from Osadchey.
“But, right now, with our smaller numbers, it’s very difficult for us to finance having a rabbi here all the time,” she said. “As is, we’re making it work, getting our kids educated and getting the resources we can.”
The older students are learning to lead Friday night services, with the goal of having them lead a service by May 2017, and then again, have them lead a service with Osadchey.
“We’re not on our own, trying to make things up on our own,” she said. “It’s just a matter of people making time for their kids, so the program works. I think all the parents recognize they want this for our kids and are willing to put in their time.
“We used to do it on weekends, but, with so many of us really big into skiing, it wasn’t working out. So, weekdays are definitely working better for us.”
They also recognize there may be some older members of the community who may be interested in helping with classes, so they hope to bridge the gap and find ways to bring them in, too.
“There’s something to be said about a small community, in that you really get to know all your members,” said Spevakow. “They truly do become an extension of your family. You realize that anything you’d like to see happen, things that, in a larger community you might have taken for granted because it’s available, in a small community may not exist yet…. Connecting on a deeper level with the people in our community, figuring out the assets that each can bring to the table, has really benefited our community. Knowing everyone’s faces really helps.”
Vancouver Hebrew Academy head of school Rabbi Don Pacht, right, presents Joseph and Rosalie Segal with a Stanley Cup-inspired Kiddush cup. (photo by Jocelyne Hallé)
Vancouver Hebrew Academy has outgrown its current facility and is looking to build a new school. It’s in the early stages of a capital campaign to raise $18 million, of which almost 15% has been pledged to date. Its annual Summer Garden Party added to those funds – and it also celebrated the school’s impact, the broader community, and Joseph and Rosalie Segal for their “lifetime of commitment to our Jewish future.”
The party was held on July 21 at the home of Lorne and Mélita Segal. The other event ambassadors were their siblings: Norman and Sandra Miller, Dr. Mark and Tracey Schonfeld, and Gary and Nanci Segal. The night was emceed by Howard Blank and catered by Chef Menachem.
Emcee Howard Blank in action. (photo by Jocelyne Hallé)
The evening’s program noted that VHA’s facility, which it rents from the Vancouver School Board, “doesn’t provide the space and the tools for modern education,” and doesn’t allow for growth. “The main building was built in the 1940s. Three portables have been added. The current 12,000-square-foot space is insufficient and well below the area standards recommended by the Ministry of Education for elementary schools.” VHA’s vision? “A new home for Torah education.”
Starting off the formal portion of the evening, Elizabeth Nider, co-chair of the VHA board of directors, thanked Joe and Rosalie Segal, “not just for being our honorees, but for providing an inspiration and example to our community of what it means to give.” She said this is a value that the teachers and staff of VHA are effectively imparting to students.
By way of example, Nider related the story of what happened three years ago, when her father-in-law, Marvin Nider, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her son, Yosef, who was 6 at the time, asked her and her husband what he could do to help. Over the course of a few weeks, Yosef planned and held a violin concert, raising more than $10,000 for the B.C. Cancer Foundation, “knowing that this money might not help his grandfather, but would maybe help others with cancer in the future.”
The most meaningful part for the family, she said, was that her father-in-law could watch the concert on Facetime from his hospital bed. “To us, giving back means giving and not expecting anything back. It means giving because you know it’s the right thing to do. And I thank Vancouver Hebrew Academy for teaching our children the importance of giving, and I also thank Joe and Rosalie for leading by example.”
In his dvar Torah, Rabbi Don Pacht, VHA head of school, gave a brief lesson on the mitzvah of charity, “the commandment to give and to offer assistance.” One of the most known lessons is that of the half-shekel, he said. “Everyone in the community was invited to participate and the funds raised would be incorporated into the treasury of the Temple and would benefit the entire community equally.”
“Charity is a two-way street,” he added, talking not only about those who give – making special mention of the evening’s honorees – but the receivers. “For those of us who do receive, it creates an obligation, wherever possible, for us to give back. And that is the value we try to impart at the Hebrew Academy for our families, for our students.”
VHA class of 2008 alumna Kira Smordin said, “VHA gave me the values and the skills of a Torah education, a love for my Jewish heritage, the ability to navigate across the broad spectrum of the Jewish world and the tools to engage and thrive in the secular one.”
Smordin spoke of a couple of teachers in particular who inspired and encouraged her to become a teacher herself.
“This past April,” she said, “I finished my second year of a five-year dual degree arts and education program at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.”
As part of the curriculum, she has to do an annual teaching practicum and, this year, she chose VHA. “My teaching practicum was the perfect opportunity for me to give back to a school and a community that has given so much to me,” she said, adding that the most important lessons she learned at VHA were about chesed (compassion) and tzedakah (charity), and that the Segals “are those lessons come to life for me…. You demonstrate by example what it means to give back. You set the bar high and challenge all of us to reach for it.”
Judy Boxer-Zack, VHA class of 1996, added her reflections.
She compared a community to an orchestra, in which everyone has a part to play. She then shared why VHA is close to her heart, and a bit about Chimp (Charitable Impact), the organization for which she works.
At VHA, she said, students were taught to treat everyone with respect, dignity and a sense of inclusiveness. “What naturally flowed from this for us was a distinctive sense that we had a responsibility for our local and broader communities. This was one of the many ways that VHA was setting the stage to inspire the next generation of Jewish leaders.”
And it specifically inspired Boxer-Zack in her career path. She has worked for a variety of nonprofits, leading up to her job at Chimp, and she was visibly proud to introduce Ariel Lewinski, vice-president of Chimp, who was the next speaker.
Recently, Lewinski and his wife, Rachael, had met with Joe Segal, learning a bit about Segal’s life and business endeavors. “What struck me,” said Lewinski, “is how Mr. Segal was so proud to mention that his children and grandchildren have carried on in this tradition of giving back, and thus creating a family legacy of giving.”
Lewinski noted, “We are all here tonight, in some capacity, because we value the importance of Torah education and recognize that, regardless of how each of us chooses to raise our children, a Torah education and an institution that serves that purpose is at the foundation of any vibrant and diverse Jewish community.”
Lewinski’s wife is a VHA alumna and currently sits on the executive board; his mother-in-law, Ruth Erlichman, was the board’s first president and currently sits on the board of governors; and his son, Yaakov, will be starting school at VHA in September. He said that he and his family are such strong supporters of VHA because not only does it provide a strong Torah education but also an excellent secular education.
Lewinski spoke about Chimp, and its objective of reversing the trend of declining charitable giving in Canada by creating and nurturing “a culture of giving by making charity accessible and an everyday part of life.” Everyone at the garden party was given a $100 gift from Chimp to give to any charity, or charities. During the proceedings that followed, Hodi Kahn challenged attendees to give to VHA, saying that the Kahn Family Foundation would match all donations, up to $10,000. As of Tuesday, with 15 days left in the fundraiser, more than $17,000 of the $20,000 goal had been donated.
Dr. Peter Legge and his wife, Kay, provided a copy to every family in attendance of his book Lunch with Joe. (photo by Jocelyne Hallé)
Another type of donation was also presented during the evening, with Dr. Peter Legge and his wife, Kay, providing a copy to every family in attendance of his book Lunch with Joe, which features a biography of Joe Segal, shares some of Segal’s philosophies on business and life, and includes the stories of more than 90 people who have had the chance to lunch with Segal at the Four Seasons Vancouver.
Addressing the honorees, Erlichman said she has had many meetings with Joe Segal over the last 18 or so years. “I always came away not only with material support, but practical suggestions to move the needs of our school forward,” she said. “You and Rosalie have been and continue to be incredible mentors – so many of us have benefited from your leadership and generosity of spirit.”
Pacht then presented the Segals with a Stanley Cup-shaped Kiddush cup. Just as the blessing over the wine helps us transition into Shabbat, said the rabbi, “you have also taught us how to take the mundane and to elevate it to the spiritual. The way that your family supports the community is exceptional in every way. It’s inspiring for every one of us here, and countless generations of children and families at the Vancouver Hebrew Academy have felt and will always feel the impact of your family.”
The inscription on the cup recognizes the Segals’ “lifetime of commitment to our Jewish future.”
When Joe Segal spoke, he acknowledged that, while he and his wife had received many accolades during the night, they were not the only ones deserving. “Everybody in this room, I’m sure, has had a special affinity,” he said, “something that was important to them [to support]…. The important thing in life is to do what you can. And the measurement is not how you do it or how big you do it, but doing it the right way.”
Segal described VHA as a “very worthy institution” because it is a “nurturing breeding ground of understanding and of belonging and of responsibility.”
He added – sharing part of a conversation from earlier that day – that Jews comprise such a small percentage of the world’s population. And so, he said, holding back emotion, “This is directed to you, Rabbi Pacht, because what you’re doing is so important – you’re planting the seeds for the evolution and the continuation of the race. Thank you.”
