April 18, 2025

April 18, 2025 | 20 Nissan 5785 | Candle lighting at 7:52 p.m.

This message has about 1,030 words and will take about 3.5 minutes to read.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of hosting twenty-one guests for a meaningful Passover seder, including leaders from outside our community, such as Consul General Allan Najum of Chile, Consul General Jim DeHart of the United States, Pat Johnson from Upstanders Canada, Ines Ghozzi, General Manager of Le Relais Francophone BC, and Kassandra Linklater from Frontier Collective. This gathering was not only an opportunity to share the rich traditions of Passover, but also a powerful reminder of the importance of allyship—fostering meaningful connections between our community and the broader community. Through dialogue, shared values, and mutual respect, we continue to strengthen the ties that bring us together.

As we approach the final days before the federal election, it’s clear that our voices matter.

Voting is one of the most powerful ways we can stand up for our values, our community, and our democracy.

Make a plan to vote—and if you’re able, consider volunteering to support the process. Whether it’s driving voters, knocking on doors, or helping behind the scenes, every action counts.
Learn more and get involved here.

This week, we also reaffirmed our strong support for the Vancouver Police Department.

In our community’s most vulnerable moments, the VPD has shown up with courage, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to our safety. We denounce all hateful and dangerous rhetoric, and we call on all elected officials to lead with unity and respect—for the sake of all communities. Read our complete statement here.

Now, I'd like to turn this week's message over to Rachel Sachs, director of our Israel office, for an update on our partnership region and the work to heal and rebuild that we are supporting there:

Fifty-nine hostages are still in captivity in Gaza, and the war is still ongoing—it is hard to believe that it is the second Passover since October 7th, 2023. In the north, after more than 18 months of displacement, the journey home for tens of thousands of residents is underway, but it is riddled with challenges, opportunities and uncertainty. No two towns or communities are the same. In Kiryat Shemona, it is estimated that roughly 50% of the town’s population has returned.

The municipality is making a concerted effort to galvanize the community to assume proud ownership of their return home. They’ve held Purim festivals and Pesach gatherings, organized cleanups, and supported grassroots initiatives that the residents lead, all with the goal of fostering community resilience, amidst the array of challenges they all face.

Also returning home are the students, faculty, and staff of Tel-Hai College, whose two main campuses have been closed since October, while they hosted soldiers and army units for many months.

Tel-Hai, slated to become Israel's most northern university in the immediate future, is a critical growth engine in the region and its most powerful economic driver. It has been operating online and with improvised learning centers throughout the country since October 2023.

Reopening the campuses and the gradual return of the academic programs and the students and faculty to the region is of vital importance. As Eli Cohen, Tel-Hai Director General, shared with me recently, the spring semester opened with two B.Sc. programs and several research laboratories ‘back home’ on campus.

Also, four M.A. programs resumed studies in the East Campus, and two more will join after Pesach. These programs amount to hundreds of students rejoining those who never left the region, and together with returning residents, mark the determined will to revitalize the northern Galilee.

As our partner communities steadily move forward, allocations made by the Israel Emergency Campaign (IEC) Allocations Committee and the Israel and Global Engagement Committee, alongside meaningful gifts made by generous donors in the Greater Vancouver Jewish community, continue to generate sustainable impact and revival across our region.

One such project is the HeadSpace center run by Enosh, Israel’s Mental Health Association. Newly up and running in Kiryat Shemona, it offers vital mental health treatment to youth and young adults of the region. This center, one of seven new centers across the country, is funded by a coalition of Jewish federations, of which our Federation is a leading partner.

The IEC has also allocated funds to individualized communities in the form of grants to assist with their return home. These funds are supporting community events, equipping public spaces and resilience programs for the civilian squads and their families. Each project is chosen by the kibbutzim based on their priorities and immediate needs.

The return home is a meaningful milestone that has elements of hope, joy, and relief. However, it is not as celebratory as anyone would like it to be. Along with the monumental challenges the region faces as people come home, we continue to pray for the end of the war and, most importantly, the safe return of the hostages; true healing for all Israelis countrywide is impossible until their safe return home to their families.

As we focus on rebuilding, resilience, and the strength of the Israeli spirit, we are also reminded of the importance of memory—of honoring those who came before us and the history that shapes our identity.

On April 23rd, we will gather as a community to mark Yom HaShoah at Temple Sholom and honour the memory of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. This year’s commemoration, presented by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), JCC, and Temple Sholom, will mark the 82nd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

The evening will include music by Wendy Bross Stuart, performances by Cantors Yaacov Orzech and Shani Cohen, and reflections from Holocaust survivor Miriam Dattel and descendant Claire Sicherman. Learn more here.

To end on a hopeful note, there’s good news to share.
The provincial Attorney General’s Office has announced new funding for the Antisemitism Legal Helpline. This helpline connects individuals who have experienced antisemitism with trauma-informed volunteer lawyers. This grant, part of B.C. Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Grants for projects that combat racial inequity and promote intercultural understanding will help expand in-person support to smaller and rural Jewish communities. Read about it here.

Shabbat shalom and chag Pesach sameach,