April 2, 2022
Kabbalat Shabbat Drash: April 1, 2022
By Jacque Friedland, Chair of Holy Blossom Temple’s Refugee Relief Initiative
Holy Blossom will continue to work in partnership with JIAS (Jewish Immigrant Aid Society) to support newcomers to Canada – this time, those arriving from Ukraine. JIAS anticipates that they will need volunteers and donors to help in a number of ways, including:
Document Support– This is a top priority right now. JIAS is seeking paralegals, lawyers, immigration consultants, and articling students who can help newcomers with filling out applications for entry into Canada as well as additional applications for newcomers once they have entered Canada.
Welcome Circles – JIAS is seeking teams of 5-8 volunteers who will be matched with an individual or family unit of newcomers for a 6-month to 1-year commitment. The goal of Welcome Circles is to provide coordinated, wrap-around support for newcomers by JIAS, volunteers, and the community. Welcome Circles may involve welcoming the family at the airport, securing temporary housing, helping to find long-term housing, English language supports, registering children for school and programs, social support/friendship as well as communication with the family’s JIAS Toronto settlement worker.
We are hoping to organize several Welcome Circles of Holy Blossom members. If you are interested – either individually (to join with other individuals) or as a group, please contact Jacque Friedland at [email protected] or Renee Leventhal at [email protected].
Language Support –JIAS needs additional volunteers for English Conversation Circles, English Reading Clubs, and Conversation Companions. To help newcomers acquire the language skills they will need to be successful in Canada all you need is patience and compassion. If, however, you or someone you know is fluent in both English and Ukrainian or Russian, please let JIAS know, as they need interpreters.
Monetary Donations – Newcomers arriving in Canada today – both those Holy Blossom has already committed to in the recent past, but have not yet arrived in Toronto, as well as those arriving as a result of the Ukrainian crisis are expected to have a significant need for financial support as they resettle in Canada. Thus, financial contributions for refugee relief are needed. You can send your donation to Holy Blossom and designate it for Refugee Relief.
Stay Informed — You can keep up to date with JIAS’s efforts to support the Ukraine crisis by visiting: Ukraine Update – JIAS Toronto – Jewish Immigrant Aid Services. You can subscribe to receive JIAS’s weekly e-newsletter for up-to-date developments.
Friday, April 1 is Matzah Mitzvah Shabbat
At the ECC instilling the values of mitzvot, tzedakah and tikun olam are integral to our program. We do what we can to engage the children in hands-on learning experiences to help teach them these concepts. For example, our Chanukah toy and our weekly tzedakah box coin collecting.
The ECC has always participated in The Passover Food Drive, which is now in its 39th year of helping those in need to celebrate Passover with dignity.
Our tzedakah on Friday, April 1 will be allocated specifically to Matzah Mitzvah.
By: Shira Lester, Director of Development and Donor Engagement
I am embarking upon my third month at Holy Blossom Temple and I’m starting to feel at home. Our cautious reopening continues and the administrative offices, while not quite bustling, are certainly humming with activity. I took on this role at Holy Blossom because, in addition to fulfilling my professional goals, I felt that Holy Blossom was a place I would love to come to every day and that has proven to be the case. The recurring theme in my daily interactions with colleagues and congregants, as we tentatively move past COVID, is that we’re back!
Way back in 2016, Rabbi Splansky had an idea about a social enterprise café at Holy Blossom Temple. Through discussion with Les Rothschild, Vice President, Kehillah Kedoshah (Sacred Community), and others, the idea took shape – the creation of a social enterprise that would operate from the Café on the first floor. The enterprise would train and employ members of the neurodiverse community and would be called Holy Grounds. Les began his inquiries and was introduced to Naomi Azrieli with whom he began the initial conversations. Naomi was inspired by her brother Rafi to support such a social enterprise. She was looking for just the right space. Meetings took place, discussions ensued and Naomi agreed that Holy Grounds could be the perfect launchpad for her vision of several social enterprises in different locations, all training and employing members of the neurodiverse population. Naomi envisioned steaming cups of coffee accompanied by aromatic, warm-from-the-oven baked goods, all being prepared fresh and sold by Holy Grounds at the Café. Holy Blossom has a kitchen off the Mishkan on the second floor, but no oven. Naomi saw the kitchen, saw the potential of Holy Grounds, and became interested in bringing the project to fruition. Fast forward through a two-year pandemic, continued conversations, and thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Azrieli-Blanc family, the second-floor kitchen will have a new oven and stovetop units, and Holy Grounds is coming soon! We are grateful to the Azrieli-Blanc family for this inspirational sponsorship and for partnering with Holy Blossom Temple on this meaningful enterprise.
I have a picture in my mind of morning drop-off at the Early Childhood Centre or Religious School on Sundays. Mummys, Daddys, and Caregivers deposit the kids and pop over to Holy Grounds in the Café. They pick up a delicious latte and a muffin and linger to chat. If it’s Friday, there will be freshly baked challah to purchase. While this vision is still a little while off, Holy Grounds is opening soon! Please come back to Holy Blossom Temple on Sunday, April 24 between 9:30 am and 12:30 pm, and join me and Holy Grounds for a cup of coffee.
The Café is dedicated by Harley Mintz, Judy Nyman, and Family.
1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5P 3K9
(416) 789-3291
[email protected]
Emergency Funeral Contact
Cell: 416-565-7561
Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.