{"id":40289,"date":"2022-12-23T01:41:08","date_gmt":"2022-12-23T09:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=40289"},"modified":"2022-12-22T08:50:43","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T16:50:43","slug":"lights-shine-united-at-rjds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2022\/12\/23\/lights-shine-united-at-rjds\/","title":{"rendered":"Lights shine united at RJDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Dec. 12, Richmond Jewish Day School hosted Cornerstone Christian Academy, Richmond Christian School and Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy. (photo from RJDS)<\/i><\/p>\n

For the second year in a row, Richmond Jewish Day School hosted a holiday celebration at the school to promote community care, empathy and understanding.<\/p>\n

On the morning of Dec. 12, the Shine a Light project saw three schools joining RJDS to share their winter traditions. The posting on RJDS\u2019s Facebook page reads: \u201cCornerstone Christian Academy made 3-D stars to signify the star of Bethlehem, Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy made lanterns to represent light in Islam, Richmond Christian School made a stained-glass craft and talked about the advent season and, finally, our school taught the others how to play the dreidel game! We all have a role to play. Today, we dispel the darkness on antisemitism and hatred.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we did\u00a0an evening event during Hanukkah called A\u00a0Celebration of\u00a0Light\u00a0and invited members of the Highway to Heaven community,\u201d RJDS principal Sabrina Bhojani told the JI.<\/i><\/p>\n

The No. 5 Road area in Richmond, which is home to RJDS, is also home to some 20 different religious and\/or cultural institutions, hence the moniker \u201cHighway to Heaven.\u201d Richmond Mayor Malcom Brodie and Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, were among the attendees last year \u2013 and this year \u2013 along with several city councilors\u00a0and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, we changed the name\u00a0and format to create\u00a0a\u00a0more kid-friendly celebration,\u00a0and invited various schools to\u00a0attend,\u201d said Bhojani. \u201cActivities of the students included those that showcased their personal winter-themed traditions\u00a0and included singing\u00a0and\u00a0arts\u00a0and crafts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
This year’s Hanukkah celebration featured several activities for the kids. (photo from RJDS)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Shine a Light program was made possible by a grant from the Jewish Federations of North America, said Bhojani.<\/p>\n

In addition to her land acknowledgement on Dec. 12, Bhojani said, \u201cWe also acknowledge the Elders, the keepers of traditional knowledge, wisdom and Indigenous ways of knowing. We have much to learn about resilience and responsibility. We commit to asking questions, being open to learning from others and acknowledging that that which we do not know.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also commit to make the community we share with you a more peaceful, loving and safe place through the First Peoples\u2019 principles of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
(photo from RJDS)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With regard to the day\u2019s program, she said, it was \u201cdesigned to help each of us develop our understanding and respect for one another\u2019s faith and culture while growing in appreciation, understanding and commitment to our own faith traditions and their meanings. We hope that, through education and events like this one, we will collaboratively encourage people to work together, sharing the responsibility for addressing stereotyping, prejudice, racism, discrimination, antisemitism and social exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted, \u201cToday, as we gather together, we celebrate the unity and the unique religious coexistence of where we live. I hope you are reminded that is up to each and every one of us to be a \u2018Shine a Light\u2019 in the darkness of racism and discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n

One parent who saw the event photos on Facebook wrote Bhojani an email. Having experienced antisemitism, they wrote: \u201cWhat RJDS\u00a0is teaching, its values, and [the] education the children are receiving, it\u2019s world changing. It\u2019s hope. It\u2019s proof of a better future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Dec. 12, Richmond Jewish Day School hosted Cornerstone Christian Academy, Richmond Christian School and Az-Zahraa Islamic Academy. (photo from RJDS) For the second year in a row, Richmond Jewish Day School hosted a holiday celebration at the school to promote community care, empathy and understanding. On the morning of Dec. 12, the Shine a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781,4],"tags":[7599,21777,21089,5260,1353,22029],"class_list":["post-40289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","category-local","tag-diversity","tag-hanukkah","tag-highway-to-heaven","tag-interfaith","tag-rjds","tag-shine-a-light"],"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\/40289","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=40289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}