{"id":35691,"date":"2020-11-13T03:53:04","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T11:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=35691"},"modified":"2020-11-13T08:22:27","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T16:22:27","slug":"father-son-campaign-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2020\/11\/13\/father-son-campaign-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Father-son campaign leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonathon Leipsic is chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver\u2019s annual campaign, and his father, Peter Leipsic, is co-chair of the annual campaign of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. (photo from Leipsics)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Father and son, Peter Leipsic and Jonathon Leipsic, are chairing the Jewish Federation annual campaigns in their respective hometowns. Peter is co-chair, with Neil Duboff, of the Winnipeg fundraising effort, while Jonathon is in his third consecutive year of leading the fundraising here in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

For Peter, \u201cgrowing up, helping others was something that just got ingrained in you. You see somebody in trouble, you reach down and help them. My father served in Europe and following in his steps I went to Israel as a volunteer, in the \u201967 war. It was just an automatic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember being at our synagogue and … on the cover of Time Magazine, I guess May of \u201967 … there was a picture of 800 Syrian tanks, 600 Egyptian and Iraqi…. It made Israel look like they were going to be toast. At the synagogue, they were asking for money from all the members and I remember the cheques being torn up and being returned to people … saying, that, \u2018No, we\u2019re not interested in this. We\u2019re interested in a cheque that hurts. Don\u2019t give us your $1,000…. We want $10,000.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw that,\u201d said Peter, \u201cI was probably 21. I think that just sort of instilled in me how to look out for the underdog. People would make fun of me for handing out money to people on the street and I\u2019d say to them, \u2018Where are you sleeping tonight? Are you having a shower or not?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter has been raising money for the Combined Jewish Appeal (CJA) for more than 50 years now, and he has learned that, with some people, giving is automatic, one doesn\u2019t even need to ask. \u201cIn the end, we all end up in the same place. Eventually, I don\u2019t know where the cemeteries are in Vancouver, but, in Winnipeg, they\u2019re in the North End \u2013 we\u2019re all going to end up there, and you ain\u2019t taking it with you!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Leipsics do their best to help out beyond the Jewish community, as well. Peter established a scholarship program at Winnipeg\u2019s Gordon Bell High School, where applicants are judged, not according to scholastic achievements, but on how much of a mensch they are. This past year, there were nine recipients \u2013 the highest number yet. \u201cThey sent the bios on these people, and, they were just gut-wrenching,\u201d said Peter. \u201cAfter reading the bios, I said, \u2018OK. Can I add another $1,000?\u2019 And, of course, I sent [the list] to Jonathon, too. Well, I raised it to $6,000 and Jonathon doubled it, up to, I think, $11,000. So, instead of them getting $400 per person, they each were given $1,018. And Jonathon, of course, explained to them the significance of 18 in Jewish life. To me, I\u2019m tickled … to actually be able to see somebody\u2019s face, and how I changed that face \u2013 taking a massive weight off of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While both Peter and Jonathon are calling on people to help, they each have their own unique styles, with Peter being more direct and Jonathon having a more diplomatic approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably burned a couple of bridges,\u201d said Peter of his method. \u201cWhen you know that somebody has the ability and you tried to explain to them the need, yet they back off and they back off … and, at some point, they say, \u2018Do you want me to hang up on you now?\u2019 Some people just don\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in times such as these, some people, like the Leipsics, are downplaying the negative aspects and focusing on the needed work at hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mentioned in my campaign opening address that we, the Jewish people, certainly have known challenges greater than COVID,\u201d said Jonathon. \u201cWhile the challenges are profound, I always like to remind people that, even though, in the last 1,000 years, the challenges were seemingly insurmountable, we overcame and moved from strength to strength by never forgetting our call from Sinai and the centrality of community and Klal Yisroel. I think that COVID has been an eye-opener for people of my generation and younger. It has to start at home, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathon said that he has really learned from his father\u2019s commitment and that it has set the tone. \u201cWe\u2019re taught in our homes and taught through Torah … we have to make community a priority, and my father has always done that,\u201d said Jonathon. \u201cWhether he does it by giving more, giving his time and whatever we were in the position to be able to do, he made those decisions up front \u2013 not after all our spending was done, rather at the beginning. \u2018First things first,\u2019 as they say. He showed me the way to a life of tzedakah, commitment and meaning\u2026. To be in the same position with him, I think, is actually really, really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having had the benefit of helping fundraise in Winnipeg, Jonathon understands the different challenges that exist in Vancouver. \u201cWe have a bigger community, but it\u2019s spread out,\u201d he noted. \u201cAnd, as a result, the binding of the community is less tight than it was when our community was more closely tied to Oak Street [in the past, and in] the North End of Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning from both campaigns, Jonathon said, \u201cWe work together and do what we can. At the end of the day, food security and access to safe housing is becoming more and more challenging. And then, the isolation with COVID, obviously, is really profound with the elderly and those who can\u2019t get out…. I can imagine, when it\u2019s raining all winter or cold, the social isolation will become even more profound … the potential [effects] it can have on them, but also, their sense of community. I think, more than ever, these sorts of community initiatives are essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want Jewish life to continue,\u201d Peter added, \u201cyou must reach down and support the people that are in need. You never know who the next leaders of your community are going to be. A lot of people that have received help had nowhere else to turn, and they may turn out to be your future leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as both Leipsics are concerned, Judaism is defined by the talmudic words, Klal Yisroel areivim zeh bah zeh<\/em>\u00a0(all of Israel is a guarantor for one another).<\/p>\n

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

Jonathon Leipsic is chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver\u2019s annual campaign, and his father, Peter Leipsic, is co-chair of the annual campaign of the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. (photo from Leipsics) Father and son, Peter Leipsic and Jonathon Leipsic, are chairing the Jewish Federation annual campaigns in their respective hometowns. Peter is co-chair, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5432,3128,3649,19955,2763],"class_list":["post-35691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-annual-campaign","tag-fundraising","tag-jewish-federation","tag-leipsic","tag-philanthropy"],"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\/35691","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=35691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}