Solidarity with and support for Vancouver’s Filipino community have suffused Jewish community events since the tragic deaths at the Lapu Lapu Day Festival in Vancouver April 26.
Eleven people were killed and many more injured, several critically, after a car rammed through crowds at the outdoor festival, which commemorates the historic victory of Datu Lapu Lapu over the Spanish forces led by Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan, on April 27, 1521.
Lapu Lapu is celebrated as the first Filipino hero who resisted foreign colonization and the Battle of Mactan marked the first recorded instance of indigenous resistance against European colonizers in the Pacific island archipelago.
A fund has been created by the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver to support affected families and Federation has seconded three staff members to assist the Filipino community with logistical and other supports. Jewish clergy and other leaders, including Jewish Family Services, have been on the scene with support. Vancouver Talmud Torah, Vancouver Hebrew Academy, Richmond Jewish Day School and King David High School have organized a group blood donation campaign. Synagogues have held services.
“This has been an incredibly tough week for our friends in the Filipino community,” Ezra Shanken, chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, said at the Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) ceremony April 30.
He spoke of the many close personal connections between members of the Filipino and Jewish communities.
“We have come together to support our Filipino community from day one and we will continue to do that as long as it takes to ensure that they are secure, safe and thriving,” he said.
The night before, at the Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Remembrance Day) ceremony, Geoffrey Druker also spoke of the tragedy.
“We send our sympathies and condolences to the individuals, families and the Filipino community who suffered horrific losses and pain this past weekend,” he said.
Rabbi Philip Bregman, who is engaged in multicultural and interfaith dialogue, told the Independent that he was among many Jews at several Filipino vigils and solidarity events recently.
“I’m here in support and solidarity for this tragedy,” he told them, “but you’ve got to know how important you are to the centrality of the Jewish community.”
Bregman noted that members of the Filipino community hold crucial roles in the Jewish community. He gave as examples the operational support Filipino community members provide to synagogues, as workers at the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, the Weinberg Residence, as individuals caring for the youngest and eldest in the Jewish community. He added that tens of thousands of Filipino foreign workers in Israel provide support to Jews there, especially the elderly.
Funds raised by the Jewish community and others will assist in the vast challenges facing the Filipino community individually and collectively. There are funeral expenses to be covered, Bregman said, including for those families who are sending their lost loved ones for burial in the Philippines. Many of the deceased were the family’s primary breadwinners and many of the injured will experience damaging loss of income. There will be ongoing rehabilitation and other expenses.
Donations are welcomed at jewishvancouver.com.