{"id":48405,"date":"2026-02-13T01:43:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T09:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=48405"},"modified":"2026-02-11T09:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T17:44:10","slug":"avodah-dedicated-to-helping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/avodah-dedicated-to-helping\/","title":{"rendered":"Avodah dedicated to helping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of Congregation Emanu-El\u2019s Avodah at last year\u2019s Coldest Night of the Year event. <\/i>(photo by Penny Tennenhouse)<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i>A 12-member team from Avodah, the social-action arm of Victoria\u2019s Congregation Emanu-El, will be participating for the ninth time in the Coldest Night of the Year, a fundraising walk to support various charities that help people experiencing poverty and homelessness, on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

Funds raised by Avodah will go to Our Place Society, which provides more than 1,400 meals a day, as well as shelter, supportive housing, hot showers, paramedic services and other assistance. It is Vancouver Island\u2019s only long-term therapeutic recovery community.<\/p>\n

Penny Tennenhouse, a central figure in Avodah since its inception, said the name of the fundraising event, the Coldest Night of the Year, is misleading \u2013 and not because of the temperature reading on a thermometer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call it the warmest night of the year. It\u2019s festive, actually. It\u2019s love in motion because it\u2019s enjoyable to come together, especially after the pandemic. And it\u2019s enjoyable because we feel good about what we\u2019re doing and we know it\u2019s important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This year, Avodah\u2019s participation will be in honour of Annette Wigod\u2019s 99th birthday. Wigod has been a regular presence in Avodah\u2019s efforts. Her daughter, Eve Abrams, will be walking with the Avodah team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnnette has been involved with Avodah for many years. She used to come every month with me to Our Place to serve ice cream and cake. She\u2019s a very caring and dedicated person,\u201d Tennenhouse said.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Avodah at last year\u2019s Coldest Night of the Year event. (photo by Penny Tennenhouse)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are 47 groups and 224 walkers taking part in the 2026 Victoria event, which is divided into two- and five-kilometre routes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As of press time, Avodah\u2019s team had raised $6,702, which placed them second in terms of fundraising among the groups participating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the last three years, Avodah has raised more than $21,000 for Our Place. Collectively, after this most recent walk, it hopes to exceed $50,000 in funds raised since the group first started participating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one woman I have to mention, Debbie Yaffe, who I consider my partner in originating this involvement. She\u2019s been amazing,\u201d said Tennenhouse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As of earlier this week, Yaffe had raised $2,221, with 30 people donating to her walk, placing her second on the Coldest Night of the Year scoreboard. Tennenhouse, who had raised $1,425 with 18 donors, was in sixth place.<\/p>\n

Across Canada, there will be fundraising walks in 222 locations for the Coldest Night of the Year. Nationally, the walks are organized by the Blue Sea Foundation, which is based in Kitchener, Ont.<\/p>\n

Avodah was inspired by Rabbi Harry Brechner, who wrote in the synagogue\u2019s newsletter in 2003 that the core beliefs of Judaism \u2013 care for one\u2019s neighbour, acts of loving kindness, repairing the world \u2013 should be put into practice. Avodah<\/i> can be translated from Hebrew as work or service.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin about a nanosecond of the rabbi\u2019s post, a few other people and I responded that we wanted to be involved in such an initiative,\u201d said Tennenhouse. \u201cBecause we were starting from scratch, we thought we would support those groups that are already in existence that are devoted and dedicated to serving people in dire need, vulnerable people in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brechner, who retired in 2025 after serving the congregation for 24 years, remains active in the community and holds the title of rabbi emeritus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Avodah\u2019s outreach over the years has included offering shelter at the synagogue to youth experiencing homelessness, giving away thousands of pairs of socks to people living on the street and serving up annual lunches during Hanukkah at Our Place, located a block away from the shul.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a long history in supporting these groups, and it\u2019s been made possible largely through the support of our congregation, because, if we didn\u2019t get the support of our congregation, we wouldn\u2019t be able to do these things,\u201d Tennenhouse said. \u201cWe provide financial resources, but we also think it\u2019s important to volunteer our actual time and energy to be connected to people that way as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Our Place, Avodah gives financial and volunteer support to organizations such as the Burnside Gorge Community Centre, the Quadra Village Community Centre, 1Up Victoria Single Parent Resource Centre, St. John the Divine\u2019s Food Bank and SOLID Outreach, a group that provides harm reduction for those on the street.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Every Thursday, several Avodah volunteers serve meals, clean tables and engage with visitors at a free lunch sponsored by the James Bay United Church. Monthly, Avodah provides \u201cgood food boxes,\u201d fresh fruit and vegetables, to families of students at an inner-city school.<\/p>\n

In addition to donations from Emanu-El members, Avodah receives support from Vancouver\u2019s Betty Averbach Foundation.<\/p>\n

For more information about Victoria\u2019s Coldest Night of the Year, visit en.cnoy.org\/location\/victoriapandora<\/a>. To find a walk near you, go to cnoy.org\/locations<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Margolis<\/b> has written for the <\/i>Globe and Mail, the <\/i>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of Congregation Emanu-El\u2019s Avodah at last year\u2019s Coldest Night of the Year event. (photo by Penny Tennenhouse) A 12-member team from Avodah, the social-action arm of Victoria\u2019s Congregation Emanu-El, will be participating for the ninth time in the Coldest Night of the Year, a fundraising walk to support various charities that help people experiencing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1338,24634,24635,1332,3128,24636,1336,6224],"class_list":["post-48405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-avodah","tag-cnoy","tag-coldest-night-of-the-year","tag-emanu-el","tag-fundraising","tag-our-place-society","tag-penny-tennenhouse","tag-victoria"],"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\/48405","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=48405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}