fundraising

A responsibility to help

Dr. Jonathon Leipsic will be honoured by Schara Tzedeck at MOSAIC on June 16. (photo from Schara Tzedeck)

At its annual MOSAIC event on June 16, Congregation Schara Tzedeck will honour Dr. Jonathon Leipsic.

“It would be hard to find someone more worthy,” Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt told the Independent. “In addition to the countless hours that Jonathon gives toward advancing the synagogue goals, one cannot miss the fact that Jonathon loves Schara Tzedeck with his full heart. He attends, classes, services, programs regularly – which he is clearly fitting in between clinical, research and family responsibilities. Jonathon provides leadership in practice and in personal example and his commitment to personal growth, learning, community and helping others is almost without peer.”

Leipsic is professor and chair of radiology and professor of cardiology at the University of British Columbia, as well as a Canada Research Chair in Advanced Cardiopulmonary Imaging. He has more than 800 published peer-reviewed manuscripts and more than 300 scientific abstracts – he has been one of the top 1% most impactful scientists globally for multiple years, according to the Web of Science citation database.

In addition to his professional roles, Leipsic has been significantly involved in the Jewish community, notably with Schara Tzedeck, King David High School, Vancouver Talmud Torah and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.

Schara Tzedeck executive director Shelley Rivkin, who is also an active community leader, recently becoming board chair of Jewish Family Services and having worked with the Jewish Federation for 17 years, called Leipsic “a pillar of our community.”

“His impact extends far beyond the boardroom or the walls of our shul,” she said. “His leadership is defined not by title, but by character. As immediate past president of Schara Tzedeck, Jonathon led the board with steadiness, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to klal Yisrael.

“During the heartbreak of Oct. 7 and the resilience required in its aftermath, his voice as a tireless advocate for our shul and wider community – and his clarity of heart – were the anchor that held us together over challenging times. Jonathon is a man of many talents and accomplishments: community engagement, Torah study and medicine. We are celebrating all of these facets at the gala.”

The evening will feature Shulem, one of Leipsic’s favourite performers, said Rivkin. There will be tributes, followed by dinner and another performance by Shulem, who blends traditional cantorial melodies with classical crossover.

“I am honoured to even be a part of the Schara Tzedeck community,” said Leipsic about his being

recognized by the congregation. “The shul has played a foundational role in my spiritual growth and in infusing ahavat Torah and ahavat Yisroel in my family and amongst so many. I am humbled to have served the shul as a board member and as president.”

Schara Tzedeck has been the spiritual home of Leipsic and his wife, Karly Bogner, since they met. Bogner’s grandparents were members of the synagogue, said Leipsic. “I feel privileged to daven, to celebrate simchas and to join for moments of reflection and learning at Schara Tzedeck,” he said.

“I try to live my life in accordance with the talmudic principle of ‘Klal Yisroel arevim zeh lah zeh’ [‘All of Israel is responsible for one another’]. Karly and I feel deeply grateful to be part of klal Yisroel and to have the privilege to enjoy all that Jewish Vancouver has to offer – a community and institutions that we did not build but that we feel deeply responsible to help strengthen and build,” said Leipsic.

“As we enter our 119th year, longevity is finding the right balance between the responsibilities that the halachah demands and flexibility to meet our congregants’ needs on a contemporary basis,” said Rosenblatt. “We must have that backbone of daily service attendance and regular Torah study, reliable kashrut and Shabbat observance. At the same time, we have to be relevant to the contemporary generation, we have to provide opportunities for them to give back and to leverage Jewish wisdom in their own growth and in answering the questions and challenges they face today.”

This year, MOSAIC’s fundraising focus is the Clergy Sustainability Fund.

“Vancouver is a great distance from the large Orthodox centres, where we primarily recruit our clergy,” said Rivkin. “To attract additional clergy, we need to be able to support the real conditions that make long-term leadership possible: housing, family connection during the holidays, and professional growth. This fund

will enable us to address these concerns and help ensure that Schara Tzedeck can continue to attract outstanding young rabbis to our community and give them the foundation to stay and lead.”

To attend MOSAIC, visit scharatzedeck.com.

What wellness means at JCC

There are places that become part of who you are. For our family, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver has been that place across generations. As JWest prepares to build a new fitness centre that will carry our family’s name, we wanted to share, in our own words, what that space has meant to us, and why what gets built next matters.

Gary Averbach: When we moved from Richmond to the Oakridge area in 1975, joining the Jewish Community Centre was one of the first things I did. I enrolled my 5-year-old daughter in day camp and found my way into the gym shortly after. For the next four decades, until my office and home eventually moved downtown, I was there virtually every day it was open.

photo - Left to right: Justin Averbach, Mike Averbach, Gary Averbach and Benjamin Averbach (in front) — Left to right: Justin Averbach, Mike Averbach, Gary Averbach and Benjamin Averbach (in front). (photo from JWest)

The fitness centre has served this community well for a long time and, now, like the building around it, it’s ready for its next chapter. But, what kept me coming back was never the facility itself – it was the people within it. My community was the health club, and it was filled with friends I looked forward to seeing and connecting with.

I have a weak eye, which meant competitive sports were never really an option for me. Walking became my discipline instead. Over years of daily workouts at the JCC, including the treadmill, and long circuits around Stanley Park, I built myself up to at least 17 kilometres a day. In 2022, I decided to find out what that foundation could hold, and I walked from Calgary to Vancouver. It took about 42 days. [See jewishindependent.ca/ averbach-reaches-kamloops and jewishindependent.ca/averbach-back-home.]

I’m 83 now – and I still show up. My goal is to reach 93 in good health. I don’t want to let the old man in.

When the opportunity arose to support JWest, I knew exactly where to direct my support. It was a natural choice to have our family’s name on the fitness centre. It’s where I spent most of my time.

What I hope for is simple – that the people who walk through those doors feel that this is a quality place. And that some of them, over time, find what I found: not just a gym, but a second home.

Mike Averbach: For me, the JCC gym was a rite of passage, and one that I have many fond memories of.

As a teenager, I spent a lot of time there, working out and goofing around with friends. It added a lot to my life in terms of strength and physicality, but it wasn’t all just physical. The mental discipline of showing up regularly, of pushing yourself in a space surrounded by people you knew, added something to how I understood myself. I grew up in that gym, in more ways than one.

My father has given a lot to the JCC over the years, and this gift reflects a connection that spans nearly five decades. It resonates for me too, because I lived it alongside him.

What I think about now is the next generation – my kids, and the families joining the JCC for the first time. A state-of-the-art fitness facility inside a Jewish community hub is not something every young person gets access to. To offer a space where physical wellness and Jewish community life coexist is genuinely special.

When my kids walk into that gym and see our name, I hope they feel what I felt growing up there: that this place is theirs, that it was built for them, and that the people who came before them believed it was worth building. That belief is what carries a community forward, generation to generation.

Gary Averbach chaired a fundraising campaign in the early 1990s that resulted in a renovation of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and Mike Averbach has served on the RBC JCC Sports Dinner committee for years.

BGU fosters startup culture

Left to right, at Ben-Gurion University’s Spark to Start-Up gala in Vancouver April 12: David Berson, Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, Michael Fugman, Martin Thibodeau, Caroline Desrosiers, Andrea Freedman and Adam Korbin. (photo from BGU Canada)

Israel is set to catapult into an unparalleled era of economic and creative growth, according to Saul Singer.

Singer is co-author, with Dan Senor, of the bestselling book, Startup Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, and their most recent book, the The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World.

Singer made an analogy to a workout regimen in which people run with weights attached to them.

“The idea is, if you’re running with weights and you take those weights off, it’s really easy to run,” he said. “That’s what’s going to happen with Israel.”

Singer foresees something no less than “an opportunity to re-found the country.”

The generation that has fought in Gaza and in Lebanon are going to return to civilian life and feel like weights have been lifted from their shoulders, he said. “You’re going to see tremendous growth,” Singer said. “A tremendous force of building and optimism.”

Singer was in conversation with Niels Veldhuis, president of the Fraser Institute, at a gala event April 12 for Ben-Gurion University (BGU) Canada. Spark to Start-Up: Resilience Ignites Leaders took place at Beth Israel Synagogue and honoured community leader Michael Fugman. Revenue from the event supports Yazamut 360° Entrepreneurship Centre at Ben-Gurion University (jewishindependent.ca/creating-entrepreneurs).

Like Canada, Israel is a nation of immigrants, Singer pointed out. “Immigrants are natural entrepreneurs,” he said, noting that moving from one place to another takes drive and involves risks.

In their books, Singer and Senor credit mandatory military experience with instilling entrepreneurial skills in young Israelis. Singer has three daughters in the army right now, and one was put in charge of liaising with suppliers around complex weaponries, a subject in which she had no background.

“She said, ‘How am I going to do that? I can’t do it, any of this,’” Singer recounted. “And, sure enough, a year later, she was doing it. Israelis go through this experience time and time again, and it really helps make them entrepreneurs.”

Israeli society also benefits from being a unique hybrid of individualism and collectivity, he said. Most Western societies are becoming more polarized, with citizens dealing with mental health problems, depression and other consequences, which Singer puts down to, in part, “the unbridled march of individualism.”

“What is unique about the Jews is that they’re able to balance these two things: to be individual and yet have community,” he said. “That’s kind of our superpower. I think it’s a big chunk of why we survived for 2,000 years … and I think Israel has doubled down on it.

“You understand that you’re part of something larger than yourself,” he said, something that is emphasized by national service. “Service, by definition, is not just about you.”

The evening’s emphasis on entrepreneurship was underscored by Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, president of BGU. Under his leadership, the university launched a 10-year, $1 billion US global development campaign to double BGU’s physical footprint in Beersheva and expand its research capabilities.

Chamovitz described BGU’s venture capital initiative Cactus Capital, which provides funding to undergraduate students. “What’s unique about it,” he said, “is the advisory committee, which is dealing out the money, are also undergraduate students. We take our undergraduate students … train them as analysts and then give them the venture funds for them to fund different undergraduate ventures.”

Last year, three graduates of BGU’s women entrepreneur program addressed the problem that women in religious, traditional communities, whether Muslim or Jewish, tend not to get routine mammograms. The students developed a wearable app that monitors breast density and uses an algorithm to alert a doctor to call the woman in for a mammogram. The company received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, and garnered seed funding of $26 million.

Chamovitz summarized the ethos of David Ben-Gurion and of his eponymous university: “The possible we can do. The impossible takes a little bit longer.”

Given the closure of Israeli airspace due to ongoing conflict, organizers had a backup plan if Singer could not make it to Vancouver. In the end, attendees got a double bill, with Nuseir Yassin joining the evening’s lineup.

Known online as Nas Daily, Yassin is a social media influencer with 68 million followers. He promotes peace and understanding with one-minute videos that focus on stories that highlight humanity and transcend political conflict.

Yassin was the first Arab Israeli to attend Harvard University.

“After 19 years of being alive,” he said, his arrival at Harvard was an awakening. “I made my first Jewish friend, my first Israeli friend, my first female friend, my first gay friend, my first Black friend and my first Canadian friend. And, to be clear, these are not the same person.”

Attending Harvard in the shadow of Mark Zuckerberg, entrepreneurship was in the zeitgeist, Yassin said.

After an unsatisfying time as a software engineer in New York, Yassin quit the 9-to-5 and started pumping out videos. He made a splash posting 1,000 videos in 1,000 days.

“I made a video and I put it on the internet,” he said. “It failed. Nobody saw it. I made another video, it failed. I made another 270 videos in 270 days, and they all failed until video 271 – and that became the beginning of what we know today as Nas Daily.”

In the past 10 years, Yassin has visited 100 countries, but, when he is looking for fascinating story subjects, he realizes, he keeps coming back to Israel.

“Every time I was looking for people who think different to make videos about, I found them in Israel,” he said. “A vegan steak company: Israel. A technology to make cars drive: Israel. A security startup to hack your phone: Israel. Even my Singaporean team asked me, ‘What’s in the water in Israel?’ And I told them, ‘Nothing. It’s not the water, you fool, it’s the air.’ The air in Israel is really different. If everyone around you is thinking of a startup idea, you think of a startup idea, too. If everyone is into tech, you are into tech. Humans are memetic animals. We mimic the people around us. It’s as simple as that. And, clearly, the startup culture is super-contagious.”

Yassin is now moving away from video creation and has launched a new venture. “It’s an AI business platform,” he said. “It helps anybody start a business just by taking a picture of what they want to sell. AI creates the store, it creates the marketing contents, the videos and the pictures and finds the customer.”

Entrepreneurship – and Israeli entrepreneurship in particular – is an antidote to the negativity evoked by world news, he said.

“Open your phone and it’s all depressing,” said Yassin. “But, in these moments, I remember Canada’s greatest contribution to the world: hockey. And, in hockey, you don’t skate to where the puck is. You skate to where the puck is going. That’s what we’re doing today – we’re skating to where the puck is going. Even if today is super-depressing, the puck is going towards more peace, more collaborations, more entrepreneurship, less death, more prosperity…. So, the only option we have is to pick the damn puck up and push it forward together – and that, we can do.”

The Spark event honoured Michael Fugman, a community leader who has served on the boards of many organizations, including the United Way, Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, Richmond Country Club and the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. A former president of his family’s apparel business, Fugman managed more than 100 staff and oversaw $100 million in annual sales. He is now in business development with PearTree Canada, a financial firm that created a system to help people donate to charities in a tax-efficient way. PearTree and RBC Royal Bank were the event’s presenting sponsors.

Honorary co-chairs of the event, Caroline Desrosiers and husband Martin Thibodeau, who is regional president of RBC in British Columbia, presented Fugman with the BGU Canada Award for Outstanding Leadership. They were joined for the presentation by Chamovitz, BGU Canada chief executive officer Andrea Freedman, BGU Canada regional president Adam Korbin and BGU Canada regional director David Berson.

Fugman credited his family – going back to his immigrant grandparents – for instilling in him Jewish values, devotion to family and commitment to Israel. He noted his cousin Mordechai, who died, at age 17, in Israel’s War of Independence. Fugman acknowledged his family in the audience, including wife Kathi.

Simon Margolis, who has known Fugman since Grade 1 at Vancouver Talmud Torah, was emcee.

Rabbi marks 13 years

Over the weekend of May 8, Temple Sholom celebrates Rabbi Dan Moskovitz’s “bar mitzvah” year as leader of the congregation. (photo by Pat Johnson)

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz will celebrate his bar mitzvah for the third time on May 9. Marking 13 years since his arrival as senior rabbi at Vancouver’s Reform Temple Sholom, the congregation is fêting him with a 1980s-themed bar mitzvah party.

Moskovitz may experience a sense of déjà vu, since he had not one but two bar mitzvahs in 1983.

“My dad was president of the Reform congregation and vice-president of the Conservative synagogue,” the rabbi said of growing up in Foster City, in the San Francisco Bay Area. “I’m a Jewish mutt, I like to say.”

He had a Reform bar mitzvah on Friday night and a Conservative one on Saturday morning. The weekend of his Temple Sholom celebration will be similarly packed.

Friday night Shabbat services are open to the entire community, with speakers reflecting on his tenure, something that makes Moskovitz feel awkward.

“It’s weird to say, ‘Can you talk about me?’” he said. “I love showering praise on others. I truly don’t want to be the centre of attention.”

He understands, though, what the moment represents, not just for him, but for the congregation.

“I recognize that I play a significant role in people’s lives at the most important times,” he said. “That’s a privilege.”

Letting people say thank you, he added, is part of that relationship.

Moskovitz, commonly known as “Rabbi Dan,” has no similar reluctance when it comes to the menu for the Friday night Oneg, which will be stocked with his favourite desserts – Rice Krispie squares and caramel apples.

Saturday morning will belong to someone else entirely: a bar mitzvah boy whose thunder Moskovitz is not about to steal. “This is all about you,” the rabbi assured him.

The Saturday night party will be ’80s nostalgia – but tasteful, Moskovitz promised. Members of the congregation will speak, as will Rabbi Philip Bregman, Temple Sholom’s rabbi emeritus, and leaders of the broader community. Tickets are available on the shul’s website, templesholom.ca.

Sunday morning will feature a bagels-and-brunch gathering for the religious school’s 220 kids and their parents.

The festivities are in support of causes that are close to the rabbi’s heart. Funds raised will go into two endowments.

The first is a pastoral care initiative, led by Rabbi Sally Finestone, whose sole focus is seniors, including regular visits, supporting their families, even driving people to appointments. As the congregation has grown to more than 1,000 households, Finestone is able to take some of the burden off Moskovitz, Associate Rabbi Carey Brown and Cantor Shani Cohen. This program, and Finestone’s position, began through an endowment in memory of Michael Jacobson.

The second endowment, originated by Susan Mendelson and her husband, the late Jack Lutsky, supports a scholar-in-residence program, which has allowed Temple Sholom and the broader community to learn from Israeli writer and thinker Yossi Klein Halevi for the past several years.

Though Moskovitz’s visit to Vancouver before being hired was in a typical Vancouver rainstorm, he instantly felt he had found a home.

“I just fell in love with this congregation,” he told the Independent.

What stands out most, he said, is that, in Vancouver, congregants don’t simply attend services, they participate. “They own it,” he said.

It’s a contrast, he suggested, to parts of American Reform Judaism, where it can feel like congregants outsource their religion to the rabbi, drop their kids off at shul and pick them up after. “I call it drive-by Jewing,” said Moskovitz.

“Our congregation shows up. The parents don’t just drop off their kids. They come in the building. They stay for minyan,” he said.

Something else that surprised him about Vancouver is the level of collaboration among Jewish institutions, exemplified by the inter-denominational Rabbinical Association of Vancouver. It’s a model, he believes, that could reshape Jewish communal life elsewhere.

Of course, not everything has been easy. Rising antisemitism in Canada has forced him into a more public, defensive role than he ever expected. It’s not why he became a rabbi, he said, but it has become part of the job.

Thirteen years in, Moskovitz has no plans to leave.

“I never want to,” he said.

Neither, apparently, does the congregation ever want him to go. They gave him a life appointment, or to age 67: “Whichever comes first,” he said.

Aside from missing his extended family and Trader Joe’s, Moskovitz has no regrets about the move to a new city and country – the citizenship test for which, he noted, he aced, with 20 right answers out of 20.

“My parents are older now. It’s hard for them to travel,” he said. “My father-in-law is older also, so that’s hard. My kids grew up without that drop-by grandparenting, which is so special. So that’s been a trade-off.”

His family has likewise found a home at Temple Sholom, Moskovitz added. His wife, Sharon Mishler, is a true partner in the work, he said.

“When I’m in the front of the congregation leading the synagogue and services, she’s in the back of the congregation creating relationships and connecting people,” said the rabbi. “She takes brides to the mikvah. She meets with our seniors. She takes people out to lunch. She makes phone calls. She’s a great source of information for me when people tell her things that they think I should know about somebody being sick or whatever it is.”

Their son Judah, 20, studies political science and history at the University of Ottawa and works on Parliament Hill for Vancouver Granville Member of Parliament Taleeb Noormohamed. He was just selected as the co-chair of the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee Fellowship.

Son Levi, 18, graduates from King David High School this spring and was accepted early to Western University’s Ivey Business School.

Daughter Estee, 14, also a student at King David, has an aptitude for science and, like her brothers, is very involved with BBYO (formerly B’nai B’rith Youth Organization), where she is vice-president of the chapter board.

“I never thought that I would be the rabbi of a synagogue that I’d want to join,” Moskovitz said. “I thought that I would always have to compromise my spirituality to serve the masses of my community.”

At Temple Sholom, he is truly at home.

“It is Judaism in the way that I like my Judaism,” he said. “It’s traditional but inclusive and egalitarian. Progressive in what I think are all the right ways in terms of trying to adapt and respond to modernity, but not watered down Judaism in the process. And it’s a loving, caring congregation.”

Keeper of VTT’s history

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)

“David has been so dedicated to VTT,” Vancouver Talmud Torah head of school Emily Greenberg told the JI about why the school is honouring David Bogoch at their May 14 gala.

“From 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,” she said.

“He’s 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’s really been an advocate,” she added, noting that Bogoch has been a mentor to her.

“I came here seven years ago, and he was one of my very first meetings that I had,” she recalled. “He and I meet semi-regularly and he’s somebody I can pick up the phone and call at any time and say I need your advice on this…. And what I know is that he has no other agenda than VTT must be a successful place, and we must make sure we’re doing well to serve the community and to serve Vancouver’s Jewish future.”

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’s partnership with Stable Harvest has been central to the school’s plant-based learning program and most of the students are out there at least once or twice a year, said Greenberg.

“We now have curriculum across all grades where our kids are integrating and learning through plants … not just the growing cycle but environmental technology, environmentalism, how to care for the land, the agrotechnology that’s coming out of Israel – drip irrigation, for example, it’s in our garden and it’s something that Syd uses…. The partnership with the farm and then our Jewish Community Garden … has been just an amazing marriage.”

Plant-based learning is one of the school’s hallmark programs, what differentiates VTT from other schools, said Greenberg. Funds raised from the gala will go towards it, as well as the school’s hallmark athletics, arts and other programs.

“Then, of course, there’s always tuition assistance – that’s a piece that we want to continue to support so that all families who want a Jewish education are able to attain it,” she said.

“This coming year, we’re introducing a universal lunch program, so all of our kids are going to be on a meal plan,” Greenberg said, which means the kitchen will need outfitting and the dining hall updating so that the school can “feed about 600 people a day a kosher, healthy lunch that will be tied into some of our plant-based learning…. That’s definitely a high undertaking of the school that we’re hoping to fund.”

For his part, Bogoch said, “I would love to see record amounts of money being raised – and I’d like to see record amounts of attendance and satisfaction.”

Bogoch’s father, Dr. Abraham (Al) Bogoch, was “Mr. Talmud Torah,” spearheading multiple building campaigns on behalf of the school, among many other things. And David Bogoch has followed in those footsteps. He’s been the keeper of VTT’s archive for more than 20 years and is responsible for the alumni portfolio.

“Why? Because it’s a good puzzle,” he told the Independent. “Trying to find every person that went to TT since 1918, trying to identify them, whether they’re living or dead, what’s their current email address and phone number, their mailing address.”

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. “Same thing happened in the ’50s, when all the Hungarian kids showed up, so they had different names. When Soviet Jewry ended up leaving Russia and coming over…. When Yugoslavia broke up, there was an influx in kids at Talmud Torah with unusual last names.”

photo - David Bogoch, curator of Vancouver Talmud Torah’s archive, will be honoured at the school’s May 14 gala — David Bogoch, curator of Vancouver Talmud Torah’s archive, will be honoured at the school’s May 14 gala. *(photo by Jennifer Shecter)*

It is from exploring the school’s archives that Bogoch sees such trends.

“Every time somebody adds something to the archives, whether it’s photos or documents, it’s always adding to the inventory, so now we’re well over 50,000 documents, photos, in the archives,” he said. “And it’s growing like crazy because we haven’t 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.”

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

“We got so much of the information about the history of the school through the Jewish Independent, through the Jewish Western Bulletin,” he said, listing off some of the many types of fundraisers the school has had over the years. “The most weird one,” he said, “was a Gentleman’s Smoke, where they got together, they drank some whiskey and they smoked, either cigarettes, cigars or pipes.”

Seeing how the community has evolved and how the city has changed are two of Bogoch’s favourite aspects of working with the archives, “finding out the early stories of Strathcona,” and stories from when most of the Jewish community moved “to False Creek, and then to Oakridge, and spreading all over the Lower Mainland.”

In preparation for the gala, he’s been going through material with his son, Adam, who knows the school’s 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’s centenary celebrations.

While the most visible Bogoch link to VTT is via the paternal side, from father to son to grandson, David Bogoch’s mom, Margaret, was also involved – in the PTA and in fundraising – as well as with other Jewish organizations, such as Hadassah.

The gala event honouring Bogoch is aptly called The Roots We Share.

“There are families that have four generations who have gone to TT. That’s pretty amazing,” he said.

“Right 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’t fail, it’ll stay. That’s the way I look at my role – behind the scenes. I don’t like to be up front, that’s why this is so unusual, to be up front,” he said about being honoured.

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.

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

“Time capsules, in a sense,” said the younger Bogoch. “Guests will be transported into different decades of the school’s 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.

“The 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.”

“When we understand that we’re part of that history,” said Greenberg, “we understand the purpose of what we’re doing – and no one understands that more than David – that we are linked to our history, we’re linked arm and arm with it, and that’s 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…. He’s such a bridge in so many ways for the school.

“He’s a bridge between the past and the future, he was a bridge to Stable Harvest Farm, he’s been a personal bridge for me to this community and I’m just so grateful for his ongoing engagement in the school,” she said. “He obviously gets great joy from it and I always tell him, he’s not allowed to go anywhere.”

For tickets to the gala, go to talmudtorah.com.

Gala fêtes Infeld’s 20th

Rabbi Jonathan Infeld, centre, with his wife Lissa Weinberger, and their kids, left to right, Yair, Naomi and Avishai. Congregation Beth Israel’s Be the Light Gala on June 4 celebrates Infeld’s 20th year as the synagogue’s spiritual leader. The rabbi says he and his family have “been very lucky to raise a family here and help build a synagogue.” (photo from Beth Israel)

At Congregation Beth Israel’s Be the Light fundraising gala on June 4, the star of the show will be Rabbi Jonathan Infeld, who is celebrating his 20th anniversary as the congregation’s spiritual head. Known for his warmth, charisma and approachability, the rabbi has spearheaded profound changes in the BI community, both physically and spiritually.

The synagogue building itself has been completely transformed, but the heart of BI has grown exponentially, too, both in congregation numbers and in participation. Gary Averbach, a BI member since the 1970s and chair of the committee that fundraised for BI’s rebuild, recalled a younger Infeld, who was 33 when he first applied for the position at Beth Israel.

“He was young and was anxious to live in Canada, and especially in Vancouver,” he said. “He and his wife had decided on their honeymoon that, if there was one place to live other than Israel, it was Vancouver. That impressed me because we didn’t want a rabbi who would see Vancouver as a steppingstone to Los Angeles or New York. We wanted someone who would see Vancouver as a home and a place to raise their family.

“The total change in the physical and human structure of Beth Israel over 20 years is a testament to Rabbi Infeld,” Averbach continued. “As an overseer of the community, he is humble, never arrogant. One example of this is his reluctance to sit on the bimah during services. He designed the bimah such that he could sit with the congregation because he felt the rabbi’s place was with the congregation, not above the congregation. That shows his humility.”

Peter Lutsky, a past board member and past president at BI, spoke fondly of Infeld. “He’s caring, approachable and able to blend the practical and the spiritual,” said Lutsky. “For me, from a Jewish perspective, he’s connected the head and the heart, truly endearing himself not just to me, but to all shul members over the years.”

Infeld is proud of what the congregation has achieved over the past two decades. “The best part of it has been the building of a community with so many people involved,” he reflected. “We’re the largest egalitarian, twice-daily minyan on the West Coast, and we’ve been able to maintain that. When my family and I first arrived in Vancouver, BI Shabbat morning attendance averaged between 35 and 40, but today it’s grown to 150 to 200. And that’s on an ordinary Shabbat! Seeing that growth is fabulous.”

Beth Israel’s “culture of chesed” is also a point of pride for the community, Infeld noted. For example, One Heart Dinner delivers a free monthly meal to those with food insecurity, and the Soup Troupe offers a litre of soup each month to families receiving assistance from Jewish Family Services’ the Kitchen. The Vancouver Jewish Community Garden, a partnership between BI, JFS and Vancouver Talmud Torah, allows students, seniors, congregants and others to participate physically and meaningfully in the act of growing fruit and vegetables. Last year, the garden team donated 1,000 pounds of produce to families in need.

Emily Greenberg, head of school at VTT, worked closely with Infeld on the vision for the community garden. “We envisioned a place where everyone could come together to be Jewish and get their hands dirty in what it means to be Jewish and part of the community,” she said. “It’s been a tremendous project to do together alongside JFS.”

Greenberg said VTT is deeply indebted to Infeld for the many years he has committed to actively promoting Jewish education.

“He truly understands how important it is that we plant the seeds of Jewish education early, and he works with our Grade 5s all year, investing in those relationships and getting them jazzed up for their b’nai mitzvah. As a parent whose kids went through Beth Israel for their b’nai mitzvah, I’ve gotten to know him well. Rabbi Infeld just exudes so much care about what he does. His work is incredibly genuine and purposeful.”

Looking back on his job acceptance 20 years ago, Infeld said it was a great decision to come to Vancouver. “We’ve been very lucky to raise a family here and help build a synagogue,” he said. “All our kids have gone from preschool at the JCC, to VTT and then to KDHS, so we’ve been direct recipients of the excellent Jewish institutions in Vancouver.”

In terms of what he’s accomplished at Beth Israel, he insisted “it’s never about me – it’s always about us. At Beth Israel, we’ve built our community together, and it’s taken fabulous leadership, lay and spiritual. Yes, we rebuilt the entire physical structure of the synagogue, but we’ve also worked on the soul, and continue to build the soul of the congregation.”

Infeld reflected on the growth of key Jewish organizations since 2006, including JACS, JFS and the Jewish day schools. “When we first arrived, KDHS was just getting off the ground and now it’s one of the vibrant hearts of our community,” he said.

A rabbi’s job is never easy, but Infeld said he and his family are grateful to have found a warm, lovely home in Vancouver and at Beth Israel.

“We’ve found people who are extraordinary, and who are more than just congregants, but who are friends and family,” he said. “They’ve been there for us in challenging times and in times of celebration, such as the gala. I’m looking forward to the gala, and kudos to Jacci Sandler, the gala committee, donors and participants, who are working hard to make it a success.”

Infeld’s contract takes him through to retirement, and Averbach said he hopes that’s a long way away. “He’s still young,” said Averbach, “and I hope this 20th anniversary represents not even half of his term in Vancouver!”

For gala tickets, go to bethelightgala.com.

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.

Building JWest together

A rendering of JWest as seen from above. (image from JWest)

There is a version of the JWest story that is easy to tell – the renderings, the numbers, the names on the donor wall. However, there’s another story that came before that: the story of what this community had to agree to before a single dollar was raised publicly, and what it took to get there.

JWest is, at its core, a collaboration between three independent institutions – the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, King David High School and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. Each has its own governance, its own mandate and its own community of stakeholders. Over decades, each has built something distinct and worth protecting. Getting all three to formally commit to a shared campus, shared planning and shared accountability wasn’t a given. It required a multi-party agreement that had never been attempted at this scale in Vancouver’s Jewish community. It required each organization to trust the others with something it had always controlled on its own.

That trust didn’t emerge from enthusiasm alone. It was earned through years of consultation, through difficult governance conversations and through a shared recognition that what any one of these institutions could build alone was smaller than what all three could build together. The agreement that confirmed this partnership wasn’t a formality; it was the trust in one another and a level of collaboration that our Jewish community had never tested before.

The philanthropic chapter of this story required the same kind of leap. The JWest campaign has now secured more than $147 million from our community, a figure that reflects confidence in the project’s direction and the people steering it. Major donors took their positions early, when the vision was still largely on paper and the path forward still unknown. They weren’t simply giving gifts – they were signaling to our Jewish community that this project was worth investing in, and the community responded by expanding that circle, one family at a time, with each gift a vote of confidence in the ones that came before.

What that philanthropic momentum produced is something harder to quantify but just as important: proof of what the Jewish community can accomplish when it organizes around a shared long-term vision and commits to making it a reality. That proof compounds. Each milestone – the matching funds, the families who stepped in at every level – made the next conversation easier, and the project’s momentum more visible to everyone watching.

The move to a public campaign this spring marked another milestone. For the first time, JWest opened its doors to the full breadth of our community, including JCC members, KDHS families, Jewish Federation supporters, and people who have never thought of themselves as major donors but who care deeply about what Jewish life in Vancouver looks like for the next generation. That broadening matters not just for what it raises, but for what it means: this campus is being built by our community, not simply for it. Ownership is the point.

We are now approximately $14 million from completing the philanthropic goal. That number is not small. But it is the most achievable it has ever been, because of everything that came before it. The governance works. The partnership holds. Our Jewish community has shown, at every stage, that it is willing to bet on itself.

Every milestone in this project has asked something of us, whether it’s a new level of coordination, a new threshold of trust or a new circle of participation. This one is no different. The final milestone belongs to whoever chooses to step into it.

For more about JWest, visit jwestnow.com.

Emily Pritchard is executive director of JWest Foundation and Alex Cristall is chair of JWest Foundation.

Art chosen for new museum

From a specific vantage point, the dispersed lines of Nicolas Baier’s Candelabra – winner of the Montreal Holocaust Museum’s public art competition for its new building – create the shape of a sphere. (photo from MHM)

The Montreal Holocaust Museum (MHM) has selected Montreal-based artist Nicolas Baier as the winner of its public art competition for its new museum opening in 2027.

Baier’s artwork, Candelabra, will be installed on the museum’s rooftop terraces. The sculpture is a luminous, constellation-like network of polished stainless-steel lines and points of light set against the Montreal sky. The work is reminiscent of countless survivor stories about imprisonment in ghettos and concentration camps, where the only form of escape was looking to the night sky. Inspired by the human impulse to connect stars into meaningful patterns, the piece reflects bonds built between individuals, communities and generations.

Rather than reproducing traditional constellations, Baier has created a new network based on astronomical data from the sky above Montreal. From a specific vantage point on the terrace, the dispersed lines create the shape of a sphere, evoking our shared planet and humanity.

photo - Nicolas Baier’s Candelabra — Nicolas Baier’s Candelabra. *(photo from MHM)*

In a museum dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, Candelabra speaks to the fragility and resilience of human connection. The Holocaust was marked by the systematic destruction of Jewish life, the devastation of whole communities and the severing of social bonds. At a time when antisemitism and other forms of hate are on the rise, the sculpture serves as a reminder that societies are shaped by the networks we build and protect, and that, even in darkness, light endures.

The competition was held in accordance with Quebec’s Politique d’intégration des arts à l’architecture et à l’environnement des bâtiments et des sites gouvernementaux et publics, which mandates that approximately one percent of the construction budget of public buildings be dedicated to the commissioning of a work of art.

The selection committee was composed of Marie-Blanche Fourcade (head of collections and exhibitions at the MHM); Adrian Sheppard (user representative); Renée Daoust (architect); Suzelle Levasseur (visual arts specialist); Stéphanie L’Heureux (ministry representative); Martha Townsend (visual arts specialist); and Helen Malkin (observer, chair and consultant for the new MHM).

“Nicolas Baier’s proposal moved us because it expresses the importance of human connection,” said Rachel Gropper, Holocaust survivor and co-president of the museum. “In a place devoted to memory and education, this work reminds us that each individual life matters, and that together we have the responsibility to uphold compassion and hope.”

To contribute to the MHM’s building campaign, Give Voice, go to museeholocauste.ca/en/give-voice.

– Courtesy Montreal Holocaust Museum

Raising funds for Survivors

Artists Claire Kujundzic and Bill Horne have created a Bondi Beach memorial shirt. Monies raised are being donated to Bema Productions’ high school Holocaust education tours of Wendy Kout’s Survivors. (photo from Amazing Studios)

After the terror attack at Bondi Beach, Australia, on Dec. 14, in which two gunmen killed 15 people and wounded some 40 others who had gathered to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah, Victoria artist Bill Horne hosted a print-your-own glow-in-the-dark menorah shirt event at his and partner Claire Kujundzic’s Amazing Space Studio.

“Claire and I were very distressed by the antisemitic murders at Bondi Beach, and wanted to do something,” Horne told the Independent. “I’ve screen-printed with glow-in-the-dark ink before, e.g. images of aurora borealis, and the image of a glowing menorah popped into my mind. I thought it could symbolize the spirits of those killed at Bondi Beach, as well as literally ‘light up’ a menorah on a shirt this way.”

On Facebook, Horne invited anyone who wanted to print their own glow-in-the-dark menorah to bring a shirt to the Saanich studio before one of the Hanukkah light-up events in Victoria.

image - The front of the shirt features a menorah that glows in the dark — The front of the shirt features a menorah that glows in the dark. *(photo from Amazing Studios)*

“I had a few spare, unprinted black shirts in the cupboard, so I printed them,” he said. “When our visitors saw them, they asked if they were for sale. I hadn’t conceived of this as a commercial project, and that would have felt completely wrong, so I thought it could be a fundraiser. With Zelda Dean’s permission, I announced through word-of-mouth and our studio’s newsletter that we would be printing the shirts to raise funds for the high school tours of Bema theatre’s production of Survivors, as part of BC’s Holocaust education.”

Horne and Kujundzic, neither of whom is Jewish, have seen the play.

“It was an excellent production,” said Horne.

“The first production we attended at Bema was Si Kahn’s Stranger in a Strange Land,” he said. “I had heard Si sing at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival many years ago, and didn’t know he wrote plays. We saw a poster for this play of his at the [Victoria] Jewish Community Centre one day when we went for lunch. The musical was great, and Si was in attendance, which was a bonus.”

That was when the couple first met Dean, the founder and managing artistic director of Bema Productions, which is based in Congregation Emanu-El.

“We think she’s one of the best things about Victoria!” said Horne.

He and Kujundzic have since seen various plays and readings at Bema.

image - The back of the glow-in-the-dark menorah shirt lists the names of those murdered at Bondi Beach, Australia, on Dec. 14, while celebrating the first night of Hanukkah — The back of the glow-in-the-dark menorah shirt lists the names of those murdered at Bondi Beach, Australia, on Dec. 14, while celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. *(photo from Amazing Studios)*

The fundraising initiative is just starting, with $100 donated from that first, unplanned small batch of shirts.

“Once we receive enough orders to print and sell at least a few dozen more shirts, we’ll be able to make a larger contribution,” said Horne. “In terms of raising spirits, most people who see the shirt (especially with the lights out) have been moved or glad to see something positive in response to the Bondi Beach massacre. I also think it’s important for gentiles to wear a shirt like this in solidarity.”

“I am so grateful to my dear friends Claire and Bill for their tremendous generosity and their ongoing efforts to make the world a better place,” Dean told the Independent, noting that fundraising “becomes more difficult every year and we welcome donations toward this very important Grade 8 to 10 educational play, which is approved by the provincial government.”

Bema will be doing its fifth annual tour to BC schools with Survivors, which was written by Wendy Kout, based on recorded testimonies of 10 survivors talking about their experience as teens during the Holocaust, said Dean. “We have so far presented at 45 schools on Vancouver Island and in Greater Vancouver and hope to reach the Interior as well this year.”

Horne and Kujundzic operated Amazing Space Studio and Gallery in Wells, BC, for more than 25 years, before moving to Saanich in 2021. While not a retail gallery anymore, people can arrange a visit to the studio.

The Bondi Beach memorial shirt is completely in character for the couple, who have been involved in many causes and projects since they met in 1981.

“Tools for Peace published two fundraising calendars of Claire’s Nicaragua-themed art in the late 1980s,” said Horne. “We’ve produced art and design for fundraising or promotion projects for groups such as BC Black History Awareness Society, the Wells Historical Society, Friends of Barkerville, families of Nicaraguan political prisoners, Ukrainian refugee families, RAVEN Trust and Treaty 8 First Nations (resisting the Site C dam), the United to End Racism delegation at the World Peace Forum (Vancouver, 2006) and the successful Wells Save Our School Campaign of 2002-2003.

“Claire has designed logos, graphics and posters for Pacific Post Partum Society, BC Organization to Fight Racism, Potters Without Borders, Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council, Kettle Friendship Society, International Women’s Day, many unions, including Union Women, and the International Metalworkers’ Federation.”

As a printmaker, Horne can silkscreen shirts, as well as editions of prints for exhibitions, he said. He has also designed books of poetry and photography.

“Claire learned the printing trade in her 20s, worked as a designer doing layout and logos, and produced paintings, prints and sculptures as well,” he noted.

A reprint of the menorah shirts will take place this spring, with probably another run in the fall. Horne needs to first create a secure online order system.

If anyone wants a shirt, contact the studio for details of the next printing, shirt size/style options and prices: amazingspacestudio.com. To donate to Bema Productions’ high school tours of Survivors directly, go to holocausttheatre.com.

An invite to join JWest

If you’ve been through the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver lately, you may have noticed a simple question appearing in the hallways and around the building: “Are you in yet?”

It’s the invitation to join JWest, the re-construction of the JCC and King David High School, but it didn’t start as a marketing slogan. Its origins are more personal.

Some time ago, Shirley Barnett – a longtime JCC visionary and supporter who regularly works out there – made an observation that stuck with me. We were talking about the campaign, and she said, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have something that made it easier to start a conversation about what we are building here? The community centre is full of people who recognize each other from being there regularly. You see the same faces in the gym, in the hallways, or in the change rooms. But, often, you just smile and move on.”

That idea resonated with me. What if the campaign had a line that felt natural for one person to say to another to get them engaged? Something simple and inviting: “Hey, are you involved in the project? Have you thought about contributing?”

From there, we worked with Traction Creative, a small agency that has deep ties in the Jewish community. They came back with a few ideas, including the one I had penned, and when we saw “Are you in yet?” with some sample layouts, we knew that was indeed the one. It’s friendly. It’s direct. And, most importantly, it sounds like something people would actually say.

The creative team had some fun with the idea by tailoring messages to different parts of the building. For example, in the long hallway between the gyms, one sign reads: “Less long hall, more pickleball,” a nod to the multi-use athletic courts planned for the new space. Wherever you see the signs, they all tie back to that same question: “Are you in yet?”

Over the past several years, the JWest project has raised close to $200 million from governments, foundations, and donors from the Jewish community and beyond. At one point, many people believed government funding at a significant level for a project like this would be impossible. Eldad Goldfarb, the executive director of the JCC, doggedly courted them. After years of making our case, both the provincial and federal governments stepped up at the early stages of the project, and it was a moment of elation. This could and would be a reality.

photo - Alvin Wasserman in front of a model of the proposed JWest development — Alvin Wasserman in front of a model of the proposed JWest development. (photo from JWest)

Now the campaign is in its public funding phase, with an invitation extended to the entire community. Yes, major gifts were instrumental in getting us here, but JWest has always been about something bigger than that. It’s about participation. When someone contributes, whether it’s a “good luck multiple of $18” gift or a larger one, they’re signaling, “I’m a part of this.”

This sense of belonging is exactly what the centre has always been about. I often describe it as the living room of the community, a heimish space to come together. On any given day, you might see kids from daycare singing, seniors gathering for coffee and students from KDHS stopping by between classes. The mix of ages, backgrounds and activities is inspiring. It’s like a small, vibrant city inside one building. The JWest project will make that experience even stronger and ensure its continuity.

So, if you see the campaign message and wonder whether to get involved, my answer is simple: you’ll want to be part of this. It’s going to be amazing.

I encourage community members to give at whatever level feels comfortable. Remember, stretching always makes you feel better. What matters is being able to say, years from now, that you helped build something that will serve the community for generations.

So, are you in yet?

Alvin Wasserman is a JWest Foundation and Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver board director, and was a two-time board chair of the JCCGV.