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<\/a>\u201cWell,\u201d said Fuerst, \u201cit\u2019s eight years later and here we are. Actually, not quite so simple. We\u2019re only here today because of the many people who have helped to put this together and it\u2019s my honour to be able to thank them.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, our thanks to the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation. You often hear at events like this, \u2018without your donation, this project, this program, wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u2019 Well, without hyperbole, I can say, without [the foundation\u2019s] contribution, this project would not have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fuerst also thanked the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver for the \u201celevator that will be working on Monday\u201d; the Lutsky family Foundation, whose donation allowed Or Shalom to \u201cexpand and completely renovate our kitchen\u201d; the Phyliss and Irving Snider Foundation, whose contribution towards the new classrooms was \u201cmade in honour of our teacher and our mentor Gloria Levi\u201d; and both the Jewish Federation of BC and the Government of British Columbia, who gave the congregation grants for its security systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy thanks to the Adamah Climate Action Fund, who gave us an interest-free loan, which enabled us to put together our decarbonation system, our heat pump system,\u201d said Fuerst, who thanked RBC Dominion for the shul\u2019s mortgage and architect Erika Gerson, who recently retired. \u201cShe heard what we needed and she designed it,\u201d he said, expressing appreciation to Chris Boni and Anthony Boni of Boni Maddison Architects; to the general contractors, Novacom Building Partners; and to Jon Hardybala of PCA Pacific Construction, who was the site superintendent. Instrumental in the decarbonization aspect was Chris Higgins of BC Hydro, said Fuerst. And, offering the congregation a home for the months that the renovations took was Cityview Church, whose spiritual leader, Pastor Trevor Josh, joined the celebration, along with the church\u2019s Pastor Jeff Groulx.<\/p>\n Fuerst thanked rabbis Dresner and Labowitz, and the synagogue\u2019s Efrat Gal-Or \u2013 \u201cCoordinating a construction project needs the skills of a surgeon, the vision of an eagle, the patience of a kindergarten teacher. You\u2019ve shown all three and you\u2019ve helped bring this project to where it is.\u201d He voiced appreciation for Or Shalom staff Tracey Fagg and Katy Ormiston.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Or Shalom members contributed $1.8 million toward the project and there were many volunteers on various committees and on other tasks, Fuerst said. \u201cWhat a wonderful contribution for our little East Side shul.\u201d<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI do want to mention one member in particular, Jackie Levitan, of blessed memory. Jackie served on the housing task force. She\u2019s actually responsible for much of the redesign of the office space. And, a month before Jackie\u2019s passing \u2026 she called me up and said, \u2018I want to make a donation.\u2019 Jackie donated the largest single donation towards this project.\u201d<\/p>\n David Bogdanov, a director of the Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation, said, \u201cOr Shalom offers a unique and important pathway to Jewish life in Vancouver,\u201d and noted how thrilled he was that it is the first carbon-neutral shul in North America, as decarbonization is a priority of the foundation.<\/p>\n Mira Oreck, who is a board member of the synagogue, spoke as a parent.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is a shul without classrooms for learning, playing, sneaking away from services, and forming Jewish identity and friendships?\u201d she asked. \u201cOur new classrooms will enable our kids, so many of whom do not attend Jewish day school, to be together to learn songs and prayers, holidays and text; a place to study for their simchat mitzvah; and a place to grapple with and hopefully connect to our traditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMore than that,\u201d said Oreck, \u201cI want to acknowledge the founders and stewards of Or Shalom for creating a Jewish spiritual community fit for Jewish life and Jewish families today\u2026. The first net-zero synagogue in Canada. A shul with access for people with disabilities. A place where you can come as you are\u2026. A place of songs without words, niggunim<\/i>, creating more open access to Jewish families of all backgrounds. A Jewish home that incorporates nature, culture, place and community. There is nothing like us in Vancouver.\u201d<\/p>\n When Labowitz returned the bimah, he said, \u201cThis moment was built through thousands of visible and invisible acts of devotion, through generosity and patience, through courage, through people saying yes again and again, even when the road was long.\u201d He thanked not only major donors but \u201cthose whose gifts may never appear on a plaque but are written into the soul of this place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJudaism understands that there is a holy relationship between the vessel and the light that it carries,\u201d he said. \u201cThe vessel alone is not enough, but light without a vessel can scatter and disappear. This renewed bayit is a vessel for the light of Or Shalom. And it is preparing the way for more or<\/i> [light]: more song, more questioning, more justice, more tenderness, more learning and more becoming, more or.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis building will continue to hold so much life,\u201d said the rabbi. \u201cThese walls will hear children playing, elders teaching, mourners grieving and community growing. They will hold disagreement and reconciliation, search and discovery. They will shelter people who feel at home in Judaism and people still searching for their spiritual home.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hope is that everyone who walks through these doors will feel there is room for their whole self here,\u201d said Labowitz, because \u201cthat is what sacred community is and can be at its best\u2026. So, we return not simply to a renovated space but to a renewed sense of possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n In calling Dresner up to speak, Labowitz praised her \u201cwisdom, vision, determination and relentless devotion helped bring this dream into a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be here to mark this milestone in the unfolding of Or Shalom\u2019s history,\u201d said Dresner. \u201cI did put the renovation bug into John Fuerst\u2019s eager ear and, later, I was privileged to write the story of Or Shalom for our seminal Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation grant. Now, I shep nachas<\/i>, meaning \u2018at rest,\u2019 as in resting on my laurels. And I derive profound satisfaction in your achievement bringing this project to near-enough completion. The blessing we celebrate today is not just of a refurbished bayit and what it can hold. We also celebrate the courageous innovations of our leaders who keep Or Shalom on the cutting edge of inclusion and on the cutting edge of social justice work, of dialogue and of spiritual expression in the Jewish world.<\/p>\n \u201cFor our elders who created this outreach organization to answer their own unmet needs, this is a celebration of an era and its threshold of paying it forward, as they have given way to renewed policies and modalities that centre you who will carry Or Shalom into its next era,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey decided not to wind the experiment of Or Shalom down with their eldering, but instead to outfit her for the next generation, midor l\u2019dor<\/i>, to bless the next generation with a well-run organization, comfortable in its finances, strong in its professional and lay leadership\u2026. In response and in gratitude, the youngers, you must care for our current role models, taking over their delivery of gemilut chesed<\/i>, institutional loving kindness, taking over their heroic volunteerism more and more so that they too have a chance to shep nachas, rest in the stewardship of Or Shalom\u2019s younger members, delight in the gorgeous kindness and creativity of the next wave.\u201d<\/p>\n Dresner offered the congregation a benediction framed around the week\u2019s Torah portion, Naso, in which Moshe finishes setting up the tabernacle and sanctifies it. After, Labowitz introduced the mezuzah hanging.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>