{"id":31201,"date":"2018-12-14T03:37:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T11:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31201"},"modified":"2018-12-12T13:18:04","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T21:18:04","slug":"supporting-their-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/12\/14\/supporting-their-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting their community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(photo by Rebecca Zaidi)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years ago, Rabbi Audrey Pollack of SolelCongregation in Mississauga, Ont., decided to follow the lead of Rabbi DebraDressler of Temple Israel in London, Ont., and create an interfaith peace campin Mississauga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pollack, who hails from the United States,\nmoved to Canada in 2015. The Reform congregation Solel \u201chad a tremendous\nreputation in the movement in terms of the education,\u201d said Pollack, as did\n\u201cthe rabbi of the congregation at the time, Rabbi Lawrence Englander, who\nretired after 40 years here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the idea of the camp, Pollack told the Independent<\/em>,\n\u201cWhen I spoke with Rabbi Dressler, it sounded like a great opportunity to bring\ntogether interfaith dialogue and cooperation. And so, I went out there that\nsummer for the day to see what they were doing. I thought it was a great\nexperience for kids, adults and the teen volunteers that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the chair of the Interfaith Council of Peel,\nPollack was well-positioned to start the interfaith camp, and Solel does a lot\nof outreach in the Mississauga community in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suburb of Toronto \u201chas about 700,000 people\nand we have about 250 families in our congregation, so we\u2019re relatively small\nin terms of Jewish community here,\u201d said Pollack. \u201cWe do a lot of dialogue and\nconversation with the community, because we are a diverse community. It\u2019s\nimportant for people to know who Jews are and what we are about, to make\nfriends and to really to support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pollack wanted to find an Islamic partner who\ndid a lot of English-language programs, as opposed to Arabic. They found Sheikh\nJaffer H. Jaffer from the Masumeen Islamic Centre in Brampton, who was excited\nto join, said Pollack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe church \u2013 Canon Jennifer Reid from Saint\nPeter\u2019s Anglican Erindale \u2013 we had already been partnering with for awhile,\u201d\nshe said. \u201cI knew the minister there. They run a day camp program, like a\nvacation Bible study program. So, that was helpful our first year, just in\nterms of setting up and running a day camp. They already had a few people in\nplace that had some background.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, the interfaith camp\u2019s content was a\nbit of mishmash, said Pollack, but it is continually being developed and\nupdated to meet the needs of the community. One of the bigger challenges has\nbeen to maintain a balance from each denomination; the mosque membership is\nmuch larger than that of the church and synagogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first day, we always try to do something\nthat everyone can do together, like a get-to-know-you day,\u201d said Pollack. \u201cKids\nneed to get to know each other as kids. We do a training beforehand for our\nadult and teen volunteers, and, I should mention that each faith centre makes a\ncommitment to bring a certain number of volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first summer we did something on tzedakah<\/em>, or charity, and this summer we\ndid something on building friendship and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each day of camp, they go to visit a different\nfaith centre. The campers learn a little bit more about what each group\nbelieves and how they practise their beliefs. Everyone has an opportunity to\nvisit, have a tour and ask questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe really expect the youth from each of the\nfaith centres to do some of that explanation,\u201d said Pollack. \u201cIt\u2019s an\nopportunity for them as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember the first time we came here [to the\nsynagogue] with the kids for summer. Our kids were so excited, because they\u2019d\nbeen to the mosque the day before, and they wanted to give the tour and to\nexplain what a Torah is, why we wear kippot and things like that. So, it\u2019s an\nopportunity \u2013 not only for them to learn about other faiths, but for the home\nfaith group to be proud of who they are … and to really make the connection\nthat there are things we share in common, and that we need to get along with\neach other. Basically, we need to know our neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the participating kids go to public\nschools around the city and may sit next to each other in class, but they\nrarely get to share anything about their faith in class. They may have some\nmisconceptions or stereotypes about what someone else\u2019s faith or culture is,\nsaid Pollack, because they don\u2019t really discuss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(photo by Rebecca Zaidi)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The camp is a great opportunity to share some\ntruth and dispel such misconceptions, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The kids who have had this camp experience are\nalready looking forward to next summer, asking when registration will be open,\nsaid the rabbi. Their parents, too, are interested in what is going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the last night of camp \u2013 we\u2019ve been running\nthis as a four-day camp, maybe five next summer \u2013  we get together at one of the centres for a potluck meal,\u201d\nsaid Pollack. \u201cIt is all-vegetarian, so everybody can eat. There\u2019s a\npresentation and a slideshow. After the first dinner, all the parents said they\nwanted to go to camp and learn, so we started doing an adult session, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did a progressive dinner,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\nstarted with appetizers at one centre, and then moved on to the next centre and\nhad dinner. By the time they got here, at the synagogue, I could barely talk,\nbecause they were all chatting away with each other. And, it was great, because\nmany of them, before this, didn\u2019t know each other well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a really great day and we\u2019re looking at\ndoing some other programming this year. During the camp off-season, we\u2019ll have\nan opportunity for dialogue and discussion, and some activities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With budget and space limitations, the camp is\ncapped at 12 kids from each faith centre. While the campers pay to attend, the\ncamp makes sure cost is not a prohibitive factor. \u201cWe want anyone who wants to,\nto be able to come, so we try to keep our costs low,\u201d said Pollack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The congregations are looking to create a\ncouple more opportunities this coming year for people to meet, she said, \u201cand\nthey would like to do something for the older kids as well … to do an evening\nor afternoon activity where they could do a craft or cooking or something like\nthat, and the adults could have a discussion on something that we have in common\nwith each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
(photo by Rebecca Zaidi)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Because the Jewish community in Mississauga is\nsmall, said Pollack, \u201cfor our kids, when they come together at synagogue, it\u2019s\nreally important for them to connect with Jewish kids. For them, the\nopportunity to talk to their new friends from different religions and cultural\nbackgrounds, with pride and support of each other, is important. It\u2019s also\nreally important for them to see that there are ideas and values and ethics\nthat we hold in common. Often, we talk about what divides us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor younger kids, they just like hanging out\nwith their new friends. They\u2019ll talk about the activities they did together,\nwhile, for the older kids, they\u2019ll articulate and express what they\u2019ve learned\nor didn\u2019t know before. Each time they go back, they gain something a little\ndifferent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA very valuable part about this camp\nexperience,\u201d she continued, \u201cis building relationships through intentional\ndialogue and intentional conversation, and the opportunity to do that in a camp\nsetting means that people are doing it in different modalities. They are\nconnecting with each other through play and through giving back to the\ncommunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the other things we\u2019ve made part of our\nprogram each day, in addition to the activities we are doing, is giving back.\nWe\u2019ve invited representatives from the hospital to come and the kids have made\ncards for people in the hospital. We\u2019ve invited people from our greening and\nplanting area of the city to come also. So, they understand that, no matter\nwhat community you come from, there\u2019s a value in supporting community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(photo by Rebecca Zaidi) Three years ago, Rabbi Audrey Pollack of SolelCongregation in Mississauga, Ont., decided to follow the lead of Rabbi DebraDressler of Temple Israel in London, Ont., and create an interfaith peace campin Mississauga. Pollack, who hails from the United States, moved to Canada in 2015. The Reform congregation Solel \u201chad a tremendous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8602,1573,5260,8603,3753],"class_list":["post-31201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-audrey-pollack","tag-camp","tag-interfaith","tag-mississauga","tag-youth"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}