This week, I have been reflecting on covenant: the Covenant at Sinai, where the Jewish people accepted not only Torah, but a shared responsibility to one another; the covenant of l’dor v’dor, which calls us to carry Jewish life from generation to generation; the covenant God makes with Noah; and the covenant that Jewish leaders uphold in service to our communities.

I once sat with a non-Jewish ally who was asking about leadership and governance in our community. Who was I accountable to? I said, our community. But he pressed on. Who was our community accountable to? Who was the higher power? I replied, “God.”

This past week, I was fortunate enough to convene a retreat with our leadership from across the country. I am blessed to have colleagues who deeply care about Canada’s Jewish community, who support one another, and who are each, in their own ways, strengthening Jewish life, and fostering connection. It was an opportunity to talk about the values we uphold and the collaborations that can further unite us nationally.

This week’s Parsha, Matot-Masei, brings these themes into sharp focus. Matot opens with the seriousness of vows—the words and commitments that bind us. Masei then recounts the journeys of the Israelites, reminding us that the Israelites’ story carries from place to place, generation to generation. It also tells of the tribes of Reuben and Gad, who ask to build their homes outside the Land of Israel but are required to stand with the rest of the people before settling into their own future. Their responsibility is not only to themselves but to the whole community.

That is the work before us as Jewish communal leaders in Canada: to protect the dignity of each person, to strengthen the bonds that unite our people, and to see that our leadership is not only about responding to the crisis of the moment but also about sustaining the responsibilities that connect one generation to the next.

We also welcomed Sarah Mali, director general for Israel for the Jewish Federations of Canada - United Israel Appeal, to both the Spuds ‘n Suds breakfast at Stampede and to our community to meet with donors and leaders. While I kept telling Sarah that Alberta is not always rainbows, we were fortunate enough to see a rainbow in its full arc on two separate days. Sarah is a values-based leader who immediately anchored us with a traditional blessing: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His promise.”

Rainbows are deeply symbolic in Judaism. The principal source of this is the ninth chapter of Genesis, where God blesses Noah after destroying the earth with a flood, crowning humankind as masters over all of nature and charging Noah to be fruitful and multiply—an echo of the blessing God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden. God then promises never again to destroy the world by flood and establishes the rainbow as a sign of the covenant.

We are currently in the Three Weeks, which began with a minor fast on the 17th of Tammuz and culminates with Tisha B’Av, when we mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Our people, dispersed for millennia, have maintained their connection to Israel and longed for Zion. While we continue to see attempts to separate us from this fundamental part of who we are as Jews through demonization, false narratives, libels, and intimidation tactics, we will not capitulate. Our connection to Israel is inseparable from our Jewish identity.

L’dor v’dor is not an abstract idea; it is the work of building a vibrant future for the next generation and the infrastructure to support it here in Edmonton. We must continue to raise strong, proud Jews—through formal education like Talmud Torah, informal education like camp, meaningful Shabbat and holiday experiences, and opportunities to build a lived connection to the land and people of Israel.

This is the work of Jewish Federation: to gather our community, strengthen Jewish identity, support the institutions that sustain us, and carry the responsibilities of l’dor v’dor from one generation to the next.

Shabbat shalom,

Stacey