If you attended or passed by a synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, you likely saw the extra duty detail police car and officers from the Edmonton Police Service out front. They had suspended this service in recent years, and Chief Dale McFee promised this security to former CEO Debby Schoctor and President Steve Shafir. Ability to book these officers was no small feat, and the cost to arrange this help is significant. We were proud to subsidize this to a stronger extent this year, ensuring that the full community could attend services safely at all four entities over the high holidays. Maintaining relationships with our security partners and subsidizing the program is one of the many steps we put your United Jewish Appeal (UJA) donations to endeavour to support the community.
Our offices are closed over the high holidays, but that has not stopped us from finding the time when we returned to pursue to meet with federal candidates. We are asking questions about their platforms and informing them of the priorities of the Jewish community, including enhancing the Security Infrastructure program and combatting antisemitism. Thank you to our board members for stepping up and taking part in these conversations.
We have alluded to an event for the entire community to join and meet mayoral candidates in early October. Given the rising COVID-19 case numbers, we are once again pivoting and will bring you a different opportunity to get to know the candidates. We will send each candidate three questions and ask if they can send back a video response that we will provide to you via email and on our website. Do you have a question you think is a concern for the Edmonton Jewish community? Email us at info@edjfed.org by Monday, September 13. We will try to incorporate it, and if you have further questions, many of the candidates would welcome a discussion as well if it inclined you to contact them individually!
Have you registered for the United Jewish Appeal launch program yet? A conversation with Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, is a free online event and if you register before September 13, we enter you in a draw for his book. Yossi is a highly regarded and very well-known lecturer on Israeli issues. We are bringing this event to you along with our friends in Calgary, reflecting the many aspects we can benefit from when we partner together.
PJ Library families have received a Rosh Hashanah package and Mira Campbell has been hard at work planning for fall programs. If your children and grandchildren (living in Edmonton or surrounding area) aren’t receiving PJ Library or PJ Our Way books or emails about our programs and events, contact Jenn Magalnick at magalj@edjfed.org. We look forward to starting up more PJ Our Way events later this fall.
If you are reading this message on September 10 or before Yom Kippur, we are in the Days of Awe/ Days of Repentance. I can concede I strive for perfection, but don’t always get there. For the times that I may have offended or wronged you, I ask for your forgiveness. In the spirit of Teshuvah, of returning, I want to share a moment with you that truly touched me. A woman inspired me this week (not in the Jewish community) with end stage cancer, who is well known in the Edmonton Twitter community, and for her advocacy for patients’ rights. When she was asked where she discovers the strength, her answer was resolute. She finds it in knowing she is part of something greater than herself, in community. Let us all come to teshuvah with community in mind, to continue to care for one another and for our community in 5782. G’mar Chatimah Tovah, may you be inscribed in the Book of Life.
Shabbat Shalom,
Stacey