The conference kicked off with a message from Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. He talked about how the conference was 10 years in the making.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis conference started with a simple question, how do we support Jewish life, everywhere in BC, in every place where people are trying to connect, trying to build community on their own?\u201d he said. \u201cHow do we support them? For years, we\u2019ve been hearing that regional communities want more connection to each other, more access to resources and more chances to share what\u2019s working. So, we listened, we had conversations, we showed up, we learned a lot, and now we\u2019re here together to move the conversation forward \u2013 because vibrant Jewish life doesn\u2019t look the same everywhere, and it shouldn\u2019t. What matters is that it reflects you \u2013 you in this room, your people and your values. Federation\u2019s job is not to decide what that looks like. Our job is to walk alongside you, to listen and to help open doors.\u201d<\/p>\n Shanken\u2019s statement encompassed what the conference was about: having regional communities coming together to network, engage and learn. The conference had numerous breakout sessions where attendees could learn about different subjects.<\/p>\n One session was on developing leaders in small communities, which was led by Lyssa Anolik, community connector, Squamish\/South Sea to Sky, at Jewish Federation. In the workshop, attendees brainstormed on various questions, and ideas were discussed on how to motivate and support volunteers, create visions for each community, and event planning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Another keynote speaker was Rabbi Mike Uram, chief Jewish learning officer for Jewish Federations of North America. The presentation was held over Zoom and questions were welcomed throughout. One person asked how to maintain relationships within a community, especially if they are challenging. Uram, who had worked with the late John McKnight and John Kretzmann at Northwestern University, said they had advice on this topic.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you make a map of everything that\u2019s wrong and then try to fix it, it creates a whole bunch of unanticipated negative consequences,\u201d said Uram. \u201cOne of those consequences is that, when you\u2019re thinking about things from a position of scarcity, then there\u2019s always a debate about what is the one magic bullet answer that\u2019s going to solve the issue, and both of them talked about [how,] just by flipping the conversation and beginning with the assets that you have \u2013 like, how do you map out what works? \u2013 that it actually dispels some political infighting, because you\u2019re not approaching what is the future of the community. So that, I think, works across the board as a way of preventing burnout in leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cOne of the tricks is to make sure that you\u2019re pitching the future and the conversation you\u2019re having as a community way off at the horizon and thinking about all the things we could do, rather than fighting about how we\u2019ve divided the pie as we have it, because that actually does, I think, tend to bring out people\u2019s fear and a little bit of animosity and that kind of zero-sum thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n The rest of the presentation talked about different theories or strategies that can build lasting and prosperous regional communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to other speakers and breakout sessions, there was a conversation with Nova music festival survivors Raz Shifer and Inbal Binder, who participated in many activities when visiting Vancouver from Israel. Both talked about who they are and their own experiences on Oct. 7. (See jewishindependent.ca\/healing-from-trauma-of-oct-7<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Having had trouble getting back to work after the horrific tragedy, the two attended a program at Healing Space Rishpon.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went there three times a week \u2026 and we made ceramics and candles,\u201d said Shifer. \u201cFrom just creating with our own hands, it helped us process all the trauma and just feel useful\u2026. For me, it really made movement again in my life and then I met Inbal \u2013 we\u2019re good friends now.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking at the conference was challenging, said Shifer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAlmost the day before I came here,\u201d she said, \u201cit was like, oh my God, how am I going to do it? I think the twist that came after is the power of the group. I heard that you all came from different places \u2013 but we are all Jewish, and it\u2019s something that I expect here in many kinds of communities.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Chloe Heuchert <\/b>is an historian specializing in Canadian Jewish history. During her master\u2019s program at Trinity Western University, she focused on Jewish internment in Quebec during the Second World War.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Jewish Regional Communities Conference April 27-28 brought together Jewish communities from throughout the province to network, engage and learn. (photo from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver) The Jewish Regional Communities Conference was the first of its kind. The April 27-28 event included Jewish communities from throughout the province and was a time for everyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6422,4352,23952,22725,24068,2893],"class_list":["post-46820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-british-columbia","tag-jewish-federation-of-greater-vancouver","tag-nova-music-festival","tag-oct-7","tag-regional-communities-conference","tag-survivors"],"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\/46820","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=46820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/may-30-BC.30.Regional-Conference-Article-IMG_8472_Shifer-and-Binder.jpg\")
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