{"id":48845,"date":"2026-04-24T01:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=48845"},"modified":"2026-04-23T09:35:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:35:06","slug":"keeper-of-vtts-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/keeper-of-vtts-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeper of VTT\u2019s history"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Bogoch, second from the left in the second row, is one of three generations of his family to attend Vancouver Talmud Torah. <\/i>(photo from David Bogoch)<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cDavid has been so dedicated to VTT,\u201d Vancouver Talmud Torah head of school Emily Greenberg told the JI<\/i> about why the school is honouring David Bogoch at their May 14 gala.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom his dedication to our archives and to his preserving our traditions and our history, to being really forward-focused and really understanding what the school needs to be successful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s also been very dedicated to our alumni and, as an elementary school, having an engaged alumni is a bit more challenging than a high school, just inherently, but he\u2019s really been an advocate,\u201d she added, noting that Bogoch has been a mentor to her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI came here seven years ago, and he was one of my very first meetings that I had,\u201d she recalled. \u201cHe and I meet semi-regularly and he\u2019s somebody I can pick up the phone and call at any time and say I need your advice on this\u2026. And what I know is that he has no other agenda than VTT must be a successful place, and we must make sure we\u2019re doing well to serve the community and to serve Vancouver\u2019s Jewish future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bogoch also connected VTT with Stable Harvest Farm. Syd Belzberg has a named space at the school, so was already a big supporter, but, in recent years, he has focused his philanthropic efforts on the nonprofit community farm. VTT\u2019s partnership with Stable Harvest has been central to the school\u2019s plant-based learning program and most of the students are out there at least once or twice a year, said Greenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now have curriculum across all grades where our kids are integrating and learning through plants \u2026 not just the growing cycle but environmental technology, environmentalism, how to care for the land, the agrotechnology that\u2019s coming out of Israel \u2013 drip irrigation, for example, it\u2019s in our garden and it\u2019s something that Syd uses\u2026. The partnership with the farm and then our Jewish Community Garden \u2026 has been just an amazing marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plant-based learning is one of the school\u2019s hallmark programs, what differentiates VTT from other schools, said Greenberg. Funds raised from the gala will go towards it, as well as the school\u2019s hallmark athletics, arts and other programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, of course, there\u2019s always tuition assistance \u2013 that\u2019s a piece that we want to continue to support so that all families who want a Jewish education are able to attain it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis coming year, we\u2019re introducing a universal lunch program, so all of our kids are going to be on a meal plan,\u201d Greenberg said, which means the kitchen will need outfitting and the dining hall updating so that the school can \u201cfeed about 600 people a day a kosher, healthy lunch that will be tied into some of our plant-based learning\u2026. That\u2019s definitely a high undertaking of the school that we\u2019re hoping to fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Bogoch said, \u201cI would love to see record amounts of money being raised \u2013 and I\u2019d like to see record amounts of attendance and satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bogoch\u2019s father, Dr. Abraham (Al) Bogoch, was \u201cMr. Talmud Torah,\u201d spearheading multiple building campaigns on behalf of the school, among many other things. And David Bogoch has followed in those footsteps. He\u2019s been the keeper of VTT\u2019s archive for more than 20 years and is responsible for the alumni portfolio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy? Because it\u2019s a good puzzle,\u201d he told the Independent<\/i>. \u201cTrying to find every person that went to TT since 1918, trying to identify them, whether they\u2019re living or dead, what\u2019s their current email address and phone number, their mailing address.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that, every decade or two, the names one sees on various boards and in other community activities and volunteer positions change. For example, when more Israelis started coming, there were more Israeli names. \u201cSame thing happened in the \u201950s, when all the Hungarian kids showed up, so they had different names. When Soviet Jewry ended up leaving Russia and coming over\u2026. When Yugoslavia broke up, there was an influx in kids at Talmud Torah with unusual last names.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
David Bogoch, curator of Vancouver Talmud Torah\u2019s archive, will be honoured at the school\u2019s May 14 gala.\u00a0(photo by Jennifer Shecter)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is from exploring the school\u2019s archives that Bogoch sees such trends.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time somebody adds something to the archives, whether it\u2019s photos or documents, it\u2019s always adding to the inventory, so now we\u2019re well over 50,000 documents, photos, in the archives,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s growing like crazy because we haven\u2019t included [yet] a lot of the digital stuff that Jenn [Shecter] or the other people at the school are taking. And, each year, there are new alumni.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archives has benefited from past presidents keeping material from their time on the school\u2019s board, said Bogoch. He also has gone through every Jewish Western Bulletin\/Jewish Independent <\/i>from 1925 to about 2010, copying every mention of Vancouver Talmud Torah.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got so much of the information about the history of the school through the Jewish Independent<\/em>, through the Jewish Western Bulletin<\/i>,\u201d he said, listing off some of the many types of fundraisers the school has had over the years. \u201cThe most weird one,\u201d he said, \u201cwas a Gentleman\u2019s Smoke, where they got together, they drank some whiskey and they smoked, either cigarettes, cigars or pipes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing how the community has evolved and how the city has changed are two of Bogoch\u2019s favourite aspects of working with the archives, \u201cfinding out the early stories of Strathcona,\u201d and stories from when most of the Jewish community moved \u201cto False Creek, and then to Oakridge, and spreading all over the Lower Mainland.\u201d<\/p>\n

In preparation for the gala, he\u2019s been going through material with his son, Adam, who knows the school\u2019s history as well as his dad and grandfather, having not only attended VTT but also having written and directed the one-hour documentary Vancouver Talmud Torah Onward: The 100-Year History, which was released in 2017, as part of the school\u2019s centenary celebrations.<\/p>\n

While the most visible Bogoch link to VTT is via the paternal side, from father to son to grandson, David Bogoch\u2019s mom, Margaret, was also involved \u2013 in the PTA and in fundraising \u2013 as well as with other Jewish organizations, such as Hadassah.<\/p>\n

The gala event honouring Bogoch is aptly called The Roots We Share.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are families that have four generations who have gone to TT. That\u2019s pretty amazing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the school is so strong, I could not see it failing. You never know what happens in the future, but I can almost guarantee that, if you have people in the background who are willing to step up and make sure it doesn\u2019t fail, it\u2019ll stay. That\u2019s the way I look at my role \u2013 behind the scenes. I don\u2019t like to be up front, that\u2019s why this is so unusual, to be up front,\u201d he said about being honoured.<\/p>\n

He hopes that people will be inspired by what fellow community members have done to keep Jewish communal life going. He wants people to feel as excited about the school as he is.<\/p>\n

At the May 14 event, guests will enter through a passageway of photos from throughout VTT\u2019s history. Adam Bogoch also will create a video tribute to his dad, as well as a video for the night\u2019s formal fundraising ask. He has been tasked with creating other event exhibits that highlight his dad\u2019s archival work.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime capsules, in a sense,\u201d said the younger Bogoch. \u201cGuests will be transported into different decades of the school\u2019s history, seeing themselves as children, their parents\/grandparents and their old teachers\/colleagues, visually experiencing where the school has been, where it is today, and hopefully how it will continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe event is called The Roots We Share and, whether those are old roots or ones just taking shape, what will hopefully be realized is a continuum of values, experiences and purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we understand that we\u2019re part of that history,\u201d said Greenberg, \u201cwe understand the purpose of what we\u2019re doing \u2013 and no one understands that more than David \u2013 that we are linked to our history, we\u2019re linked arm and arm with it, and that\u2019s what will help propel us into the future. We have to have that proper respect and honour for the past, and also the shoulders we stand on, and he really understands that\u2026. He\u2019s such a bridge in so many ways for the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a bridge between the past and the future, he was a bridge to Stable Harvest Farm, he\u2019s been a personal bridge for me to this community and I\u2019m just so grateful for his ongoing engagement in the school,\u201d she said. \u201cHe obviously gets great joy from it and I always tell him, he\u2019s not allowed to go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets to the gala, go to talmudtorah.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Bogoch, second from the left in the second row, is one of three generations of his family to attend Vancouver Talmud Torah. (photo from David Bogoch) \u201cDavid has been so dedicated to VTT,\u201d Vancouver Talmud Torah head of school Emily Greenberg told the JI about why the school is honouring David Bogoch at their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5555,7343,3076,3128,20440,4242,24829,4365,1558],"class_list":["post-48845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-archives","tag-david-bogoch","tag-education","tag-fundraising","tag-gala","tag-history","tag-the-roots-we-share","tag-vancouver-talmud-torah","tag-vtt"],"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\/48845","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=48845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}