{"id":38052,"date":"2021-12-17T01:41:34","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T09:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=38052"},"modified":"2021-12-16T19:14:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T03:14:22","slug":"community-lights-shine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2021\/12\/17\/community-lights-shine\/","title":{"rendered":"Community lights shine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie speaks to those assembled at RJDS\u2019s Celebration of Light event. (photo by Adele Lewin Photography)<\/em><\/p>\n

Richmond Jewish Day School is on No. 5 Road, which has been named the \u201cHighway to Heaven\u201d because it is home to more than 30 places of worship, education and cultural practice. The temples, churches and religious schools all celebrate light during the winter season and RJDS\u2019s Celebration of Light event celebrated the diversity within the school and throughout Richmond.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Jewish Federation chief executive officer Ezra Shanken lights the chanukiyah. (photo by Adele Lewin Photography)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the last night of Chanukah, Dec. 5, RJDS hosted a night of coexistence, unity and light. After parking at the India Cultural Centre, folks aged 5 to 70 lined up at the entrance as the school gym filled with excitement. The night moved through hopeful speeches given by Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver; Rabbi Yechiel Baitelman of Chabad Richmond; Rabbi Susan Tendler from Beth Tikvah Congregation; Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie; and Richmond City Councilor Bill McNulty. The words \u201cbridges,\u201d \u201cfreedom,\u201d \u201cunity,\u201d \u201clight\u201d and \u201ctogether\u201d echoed. Also in attendance were city councilors Andy Hobbs and Alexa Loo, showing their support.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
RJDS Choir sings. (photo by Adele Lewin Photography)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The RJDS Choir sang classic Chanukah songs, including a piece that called upon the audience to \u201ccelebrate our light,\u201d and the school\u2019s Israeli dancers showcased two Israeli dances.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
RJDS students perform an Israeli dance. (photo by Adele Lewin Photography)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The voices of RJDS\u2019s neighbours were also heard. The school sent the question out to the community asking what \u201clight\u201d means to them during this holiday season. Each response had a different point of view, however, at the core, every answer reflected on hope, optimism, knowledge, community, compassion, joy, openness, anticipation and the goodness in humanity. Respondents included Navshina Savory from the Richmond School District, Umran Bhatti from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, Balwant Sanghera from Gurdwara Nanak Niwas (and chair of the Highway to Heaven Association), Edward James Wong from St. Monica Parish Roman Catholic Church, Baha\u2019i community representatives, and Russ Klein and Rabbi Stephen Berger from King David High School. They all had thoughtful insights and their participation was appreciated, as was that of everyone who spoke at, attended and otherwise contributed to this event.<\/p>\n

On their way out, guests could help themselves to coffee, water and Chanukah delights like latkes, sufganiyot and other fried goods. The night ended with hearts filled with the warmth that unity, a strong community and good food on a cold winter night can bring.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Courtesy RJDS<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie speaks to those assembled at RJDS\u2019s Celebration of Light event. (photo by Adele Lewin Photography) Richmond Jewish Day School is on No. 5 Road, which has been named the \u201cHighway to Heaven\u201d because it is home to more than 30 places of worship, education and cultural practice. The temples, churches and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[2517,21089,5260,21131,21130,1353],"class_list":["post-38052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-chanukah","tag-highway-to-heaven","tag-interfaith","tag-neighbours","tag-politicians","tag-rjds"],"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\/38052","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=38052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}