(photo from CJCF)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe first serious discussions among the group started in January, said Elterman.\u201cWhat we are interested primarily in doing is creating and resurrecting what was an essential theme that brought us all into CJC, which was that it was primarily a grassroots organization where people could become individually involved in, or take ownership of, the Jewish agenda in Canada,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess the feeling is that we would like to re-create that again and get people more engaged and more involved and feeling personally responsible for what happens to the Jewish community in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
The focus will be primarily on domestic affairs, he said, although the direction the group takes will be determined, first, by a major survey CJCF intends to undertake of Jewish Canadians and, later, through the sort of plenaries and democratic debates that typified CJC.<\/p>\n
While the group boasts a wealth of experience, Elterman stressed that a young cohort is also at the heart of the new group.<\/p>\n
With the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), which effectively subsumed CJC and the Canada-Israel Committee in 2004, as well as B\u2019nai Brith Canada and Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Canada has no shortage of national Jewish agencies. Elterman sees room for one more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were many people \u2013\u2013 which is why you are seeing such interest in the organization \u2013 who would like to be more involved both in the setting of the agenda and in the actual participation in an organization,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The new group doesn\u2019t intend to detract from existing agencies. \u201cI don\u2019t think this organization is in contrast to or competition with any other organization,\u201d said Elterman. \u201cThe emphasis on being a grassroots, bottom-up organization, having the agenda driven by the community rather than by a particular group of people, that I think is what is going to make this unique and that is what made CJC unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers have not reached out to CIJA or the others as yet, he acknowledged. \u201cIf they would like to join with us, that\u2019s great, but it\u2019s not something that is being done jointly with any other organization,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Funding for CJCF is bootstraps for now, with members of the steering committee anteing up for federal incorporation and other essentials. The group will seek charity status to issue tax receipts and Elterman said they hope donors will step forward in time.<\/p>\n
A priority for CJCF will be to build bridges with other communities on issues of shared concern, something at which Elterman said CJC excelled.<\/p>\n
On the new group\u2019s website (cjc1919.blogspot.com<\/a>), a four-point statement of purpose includes a promise to \u201cengage with other faith, Indigenous, racial, ethnic and cultural communities to find common cause in matters pertaining to the promotion of civil discourse, reconciliation, inclusivity and mutual understanding and to fight against antisemitism, discrimination, racism and hatred in all their forms. Many important issues facing society at large are viewed to be relevant to the Jewish community. If we are to have a voice in the society we are creating together, we must discuss and address issues as they emerge together as Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a new national Jewish community agency with a decidedly retro feel and familiar faces. Several leaders from the defunct Canadian Jewish Congress have founded Canadian Jewish Community Forum, saying they are filling a gap in grassroots activism. Dr. Michael Elterman, who, in the 1980s and \u201990s, was a two-time chair of Canadian Jewish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6299,601,4236,20636,20638,20637],"class_list":["post-37012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national","tag-activism","tag-canadian-jewish-congress","tag-cjc","tag-cjcf","tag-grassroots","tag-michael-elterman"],"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\/37012","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=37012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"photo](\"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/jun-11-cov.11.CJCF-Elterman-IMG_2180.png\")
<\/a>