Breaking ground on village 

On Aug. 3, with more than 200 people in attendance, Chabad of Vancouver Island initiated the first of a three-phase plan to create a new intergenerational Jewish community campus beside the Chabad Centre for Jewish Life in Victoria.

Established more than 20 years ago, Chabad of Vancouver Island (CVI) has grown to include the centre, a synagogue, a day camp and more. In 2024, with the vision and financial support of the late Dr. Elior and Leah Kinarthy, CVI established the Jewish day school Kineret Tamim Academy of Victoria, the first to serve Vancouver Island. In 2025, they opened the grocery store Essential Kosher and set up Chabad at the University of Victoria. 

The groundbreaking last month celebrated the start of Dorot Village, which will eventually include classrooms and other space for the Ctots Childhood Education Centre and Kineret Tamim Academy, as well as a gymnasium and pool available to the entire Victoria Jewish community, a Jewish seniors residence, a kosher restaurant, green spaces and a playground to encourage interaction between older and younger community members. 

Local dignitaries at the ceremony, which was emceed by community member Iris Colyn, included Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto and Chief Constable Fiona Wilson of the Victoria Police Department, as well as Jewish community members Nina Krieger, BC minister of public safety and solicitor general; Dan Levitt, seniors advocate for BC; and Tamara Kronis, member of Parliament.

Speaking at the event, Rabbi Meir Kaplan noted that the spark to create Dorot Village came from the parents of Ctots a couple of years ago. The education centre “was bursting at the seams,” he said, and parents were asking for additional classrooms. Victoria’s Jewish community has experienced a 67% growth over the past decade and Rabbi Kaplan and his wife Chani, who runs Ctots, agreed there was a need to build more infrastructure to help support it. This led to the purchase of the property next door, which is where the new multigenerational campus will be built.  Phase 1 will see the new school and pool construction begin this year. Phase 2 will comprise the construction of the gym and more classrooms in 2027. Phase 3 will focus on the seniors residence and the outdoor communal space. As of the last week of August, $6.5 million of the $7 million goal for Phase 1 had been raised. The fundraising goal for Phase 2 is $3 million; for Phase 3, $12.5 million. 

At the groundbreaking event, community member Dr. Linda Green highlighted the seniors residence, while Elana Soijei, an 8-year-old student of Tamim Academy, spoke about the school. “I feel lucky to go to the very first Jewish school in Victoria,” she said. “Everyone knows each other and it feels like one big family.”

Mayor Alto called Dorot Village “unique, certainly now, in the city of Victoria” and “a model that we should all emulate.” Krieger noted that the Kaplans “have nurtured this vibrancy and helped lay the foundation for future growth.”

“The groundbreaking of Dorot Village is not simply a new building, but it is the launch of such a compelling vision of intergenerational living,” said Krieger (BC NDP, Victoria-Swan Lake). 

“True vision requires everyone to look ahead as one and, today, we are doing exactly that,” said Kronis (Conservative Party of Canada, Nanaimo-Ladysmith).

Noting that the name of the campus is Dorot, which means Generations, Kronis paid tribute to the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s vision of bringing generations together. 

“In Jewish tradition, we often think of generations as a chain, where one link follows the next. But, 40 years ago, the Lubavitcher Rebbe [the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson] shared a deeper vision,” said Kronis. “He spoke about the profound spiritual power of bringing the generations together in the same space, where elders offer wisdom and children offer energy.

“This campus will not separate us by age,” she said. “Instead, under one roof, a child learning their first Hebrew letters will smile at a senior sharing a lifetime of stories.”

“No senior should have to leave the place, the city, where they live to find housing and the supports they need as they age,” said Levitt. “They should find it in their own community.”

Levitt said, “Dorot Village emphasizes dignity, autonomy and personalized support.” He encouraged CVI to consider building an even larger seniors centre than the three-storey building planned, as Victoria’s Jewish seniors population continues to grow.

The groundbreaking ceremony ended when the Kaplans and local donors donned hard hats, grabbed shovels and upturned a piece of the earth, beginning a new chapter in the history of the Victoria Jewish community. For more on the village, click here.

David J. Litvak is a prairie refugee from the North End of Winnipeg who is a freelance writer and publicist, and a mashgiach at Louis Brier Home and Hospital. His articles have been published in the Forward, Globe and Mail and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. His website is cascadiapublicity.com.