![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/may-24-SynLife.24.MOSAIC-Howard-Kallner.jpeg\")
<\/a>For his part, Kallner was on the board for seven years before becoming\u00a0president. He served three years as president and three more as past president, for a total of 13 years. He was serving as president when the pandemic hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the COVID pandemic hit, we needed to pivot immediately to online programming, online services where applicable, continue live services with restrictions and make sure our community members, particularly our vulnerable ones, were connected and taken care of,\u201d he said of how his role was affected. \u201cOne of the programs that came out of this was\u00a0Shabbat in a Box. We recognized a need amongst our members and others in our community and delivered over 450 meals a week at the height of the pandemic. For the Jewish holidays, we were delivering over 650 meals accompanied by holiday-specific items so they\u00a0could celebrate the holidays.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditionally, Schara Tzedeck, being an Orthodox synagogue, could not have Shabbat services online,\u201d said Kallner.\u00a0\u201cWith the exception of a few weeks when the government would not allow any public gatherings, we continued services in person with some significant\u00a0modifications. When limited to 50 people per gathering, we moved services outside, in a tent in our\u00a0parking lot. At times, services were held in sub-zero temperatures, with most attendees wearing ski jackets, toques and gloves. For the High Holidays that\u00a0year, we had nine services a day for a maximum of 50 people. We had to find three sets of Torah readers, shofar blowers and leaders of the services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile, during COVID, it was undoubtedly the hardest I worked as president of the shul, it was also the most rewarding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Now officially \u201cjust\u201d a member and supporter of the synagogue, Kallner continues to be part of the Schara Tzedeck Cemetery Board and is a governor of the Jewish Community Foundation, as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGiving back to a community that has given me and my family so much was very important,\u201d he said. \u201cWith different experiences in my life and my relatives\u2019 lives, including immigrating to a new country with little means and losses during the Holocaust, strong Jewish institutions ready for whatever the world would throw at them seemed crucial, and I wanted to do my part.\u201d<\/p>\n Schara Tzedeck\u2019s senior spiritual leader, Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, described Kallner as representing the beginnings of a new generation of leadership. At the time Kallner was getting involved, said the rabbi, \u201cThere weren\u2019t a lot of people in their 40s who were stepping up to the highest levels of leadership at Schara Tzedeck.\u201d<\/p>\n Kallner helped take the synagogue from being a 20th-century organization into being a 21st-century organization, said Rosenblatt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201dThe backbone of an Orthodox synagogue, certainly in the Pacific Northwest, certainly in Vancouver, is people who have come from much more traditional Jewish communities,\u201d he explained. \u201cFor example, Schara Tzedeck has a lot of Holocaust survivors. These are people who came from very traditional Eastern European communities, but you could also have people from Winnipeg or Toronto or Montreal, New York, those places you associate with very traditional, very committed Jewish communities. For a long time, we were able to be a community of people who grew up in that kind of tradition, but there was a recognition at Schara Tzedeck that we needed to be able to be a place which translated to\u00a0<\/span>people who did not have that kind of traditional upbringing.\u201d<\/p>\n Kallner had the analytical, organizational and people skills to help the synagogue do that, said Rosenblatt, highlighting Kallner\u2019s leadership during the pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe was practically a paid member of the staff at that point, in terms of generating and developing policy,\u201d said the rabbi. \u201cHe was involved in helping us make sure that we were operating on the next level. And he also understood that our organization had to be structured in a way where we could have the manpower to be able to do that, and that outreach. Part of that was that the information technology had to be updated.\u201d<\/p>\n Describing Kallner as \u201ca very humble person but also very hard working,\u201d Rosenblatt said, \u201cone of the things that he was strongest at was helping us transition into a place where we were reaching out more…. One of the programs we developed under his watch was Shabbat in a Box. There were some pre-iterations before that, but it came to its full maturity under him.\u201d<\/p>\n Among the other programs that will benefit from the funds raised at MOSAIC are the synagogue\u2019s education initiatives, some of which reach beyond the shul to the broader Jewish community, such as the series Rosenblatt gave on the history of the Marranos.<\/p>\n \u201cI recognize,\u201d he said, that \u201cone of the great sources of inspiration in Jewish identity is Jewish history.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and the subsequent war, his education efforts have been more focused on Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Oct. 7th hit, and people started to hear immediately just garbage about colonialization, I realized that there was just so much that people didn\u2019t know or understand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Zionist story most of us have been taught is the inspirational one, he said. \u201cNot that it\u2019s wrong, it\u2019s just not complete, and all histories have complexities. I didn\u2019t want people to be caught flat-footed on these things and be surprised by them.\u201d<\/p>\n He gave the example of a sign he saw on an overpass on the way into Whistler Village recently.<\/p>\n \u201cIt says there can be no peace on stolen land. And I\u2019m thinking to myself who stole the land from whom? At what point do you decide that the land belongs to someone? Are you willing to say that 638 is where we\u2019re going to start everything, when Omar ibn al-Khattab conquered Jerusalem, is that the right time? Should we ask ourselves when the Abbasids or the Fatimids or the Umayyads, which one of them? Were the Ottoman Turks? Which one becomes the real owner? At what point do you decide that these things happen? People don\u2019t know \u2013 maybe now they do more, but certainly on October the 8th they didn\u2019t know \u2013 when was Israel first called Palestine, when did Muslims come to Jerusalem, when were Jews forced out, which empires conquered it … what really happened at Deir Yassin, what were the stages of the War of Independence, what happened? These things, there are a lot of resources on them \u2026 and, I thought, Jews didn\u2019t know these things \u2013 not to mention that there are libraries full of evidence on Jewish indigenous life in Israel that is far, far older than anything having to do with the name Palestine, and I wanted\u00a0Jews to be able to know that. I wanted Jews to be able to articulate it. I want Jews to understand a stronger connection to Israel. And I think that has been something that has been a real value added to people\u2019s knowledge base.\u201d<\/p>\n The congregation has several individuals who have gone to do military service in Israel. \u201cThey are primarily Israelis who are here for various purposes, as shlichim<\/i> [emissaries] or for educational reasons, and we\u2019ve had real success in having them share their experiences and stories over the past number of months,\u201d said the rabbi.<\/p>\n These types of programs have been a priority, said Rosenblatt, \u201cto make sure that our community\u00a0<\/span>really stays close and understands the nuances and the issues. Every time we have the opportunity to give further insight, we do that.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the people from Schara Tzedeck who has gone to serve was Assistant Rabbi Ishay Gottlieb. \u201cHe\u2019s a major in the reserves in the IDF, and he left on Oct. 9th and wasn\u2019t really back until the beginning of January,\u201d explained Rosenblatt. \u201cYou\u2019re essentially funding a staff member, like many Israeli organizations [are having to do], but there\u2019s lots that had to be compensated for in that context.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some ways,\u201d added Rosenblatt, \u201cwe\u2019ve doubled our programming \u2013 run a regular program plus an Israel program. Not that we\u2019re that different from the other synagogues [in that respect] but everything costs money and this is part of a case for giving. Since Oct. 7th, we really have been prioritizing the connection with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n He said, \u201cWhen you walk into Schara Tzedeck, we want you to feel like you\u2019re in a little embassy of Israel in this building. And participating in MOSAIC means that\u2019s what you\u2019re doing, you\u2019re helping to support that \u2013 you\u2019re helping to support a branch of Am Yisrael that is in Vancouver.\u201d<\/p>\n